Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 9/15/2025

Date: Monday, September 15, 2025
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 1h 59m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/vtqbst3wtx

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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[00:00:20] I have one point one is the city of Manassas 2026 to 2030 strategic plan and Mr. Arciere He is graciously here to help us through that.

[00:00:53] Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Council. This is the next step in the update of the City's Strategic Action Plan. Just to back Council up a little bit at your retreat, you worked through with our consultant from UVA on the vision and mission statement, and that has been incorporated in here for reference.

[00:01:12] So backing up a little bit further, this is obviously the community-based plan, council's plan for the next five years uh setting strategic goals based on the five areas that council identified as priorities so council has worked through the mission and vision and over the summer with that guidance staff worked through the so-called strategic priorities um again your strategic priorities are community vitality economic prosperity advancing mobility educational attainment and sustaining excellence staff took the guidance that you provided from your vision statement and you also did go through kind of the high level um the slides forward as

[00:01:51] i talk the language that guides each of these strategic priorities and provided feedback so we've made those revisions that you gave us a retreat um what staff did then is going to the next section so each of the sections then comes with a goal and then what we call success measures things that we actually measure in a meaningful way to show progress over the next five years this This will ultimately be incorporated into your FY27 budget.

[00:02:15] So that's why we're talking about it tonight, to get ahead of that process. So key staff from the departments that are most responsible. So as an example, community vitality, the police department, my office with code enforcement, went through the goals and success measures to update them. The economic development department went through economic prosperity and so on and so forth.

[00:02:35] So what we have here tonight is kind of a draft with updated goals, updated success measures. And it's really here for council to take some time to review. It doesn't have to be completed tonight unless there's obviously we'll take initial feedback. But the next step in this process is the one piece that's missing is the budget objective.

[00:02:52] So if council is generally good with where we're going with this document, the budget objective. So if you think into your big budget book you get each year, each department page actually has budget objectives. Those also need to be aligned to the new plan. So that actually that process, the development of the budget on the staff side actually starts in the next 30 days or so.

[00:03:11] So we really need to take the work that we've done on this document to date and have the departments align their budget objectives. And then any new supplemental budget requests also need to be aligned with the new strategic plan. So it's a bit of a process, but we're moving forward in terms of getting the plan up to date.

[00:03:28] The only other thing I wanted to point out on the high level, and we can talk about any of the success measures or goals if you have questions. The city managers recommended renaming one of the strategic priorities. So in the current strategic plan, it's called transformative mobility. Based on some of the conversations you all had at the retreat, you'll recall transformative mobility sounds great, but when we're talking about walking, biking, buses, trains, and cars, the word transformative is a bit misleading.

[00:03:57] We don't have any revolutionary goals in this plan. So the city manager is respectfully suggesting advancing mobility is a better name for that strategic priority. Did I miss anything at this point where we are? It's really, we're looking to our council over the next, you know, take your time, let know if you have any questions on these we can still align it but we do need to move forward with the departments to start aligning our budget objectives as a repair before the FY 27 budget we're about to do all I would add is I would would thank Matt and his staff for coming up with what we hope is a simpler version of it we did try to make it easy to understand as well as it would

[00:04:37] allow us to better align the budget to your goals as we go forward so I do do thank Madden and his crew for that. Thank you. You mentioned the input from the departments. Each department will be asked to address all four goals, not selected. It's actually, and that's actually a really great question, Councilmember Smith. We, if you look at the current budget, you look at the objectives, it's very heavy on sustaining excellence. Diane is not here yet, but Diane and I have talked a lot about, as part of the budget guidance, asking departments to really, sustaining excellence is great, but we have four other strategic priorities. So

[00:05:14] So is there something in your core department mission you can do to address, especially community vitality is one we hear a lot more about these days, neighborhood issues and quality of life. So I think some of the budget guidance that's going to come out from the city manager and from the finance department is take a hard look. All of your objectives are sustaining excellence.

[00:05:32] You need to take a deeper dive at the department level and think about where else you can impact the council's strategic plan. Okay. I'm fine. Oh, okay. It seemed like you were going to say something else.

[00:05:48] I was thinking I would have some goals to see how it plays out. Well, you said that they kind of sort of each department.

[00:06:05] Well, then there's departments and then there's the divisions within the department. So take my department, for example. So we try to touch on the full breadth. So, you know, there's three that go with kind of overall community development. There's three with code enforcement. They're going to be more in community vitality. Planning is going to be looking at housing and transportation.

[00:06:21] So I think generally, Councilmember Smith, we are trying to get that breath. I don't think we have it with all departments, and certain departments certainly are going to be more, you know, economic development is going to be highly, it's going to be heavier weight on economic prosperity. But I do think there is a need to broaden that out and try to get the departments to look through the whole plan.

[00:06:40] Yeah, just in terms of support, each one must be a role to play. But I think I'm following what you're planning to do. That's good. Thank you, Madam Mayor. My question is when it comes to the school system, it's the educational attainment presented to them.

[00:07:04] And is that something they worked on or it's a suggestion? I don't know why I'm not familiar with that. Yes, educational attainment, the current strategic plan for educational attainment, we haven't made a ton of changes to the section of class. It was developed, I actually worked back in the day on that staff committee with Dr. Newman, school staff at the time so we haven't changed those goals um educational attainment is broader than just the public schools it gets in the workforce and also folks who are not in the in the um public education system but yes we we do share county council strategic plan once it's

[00:07:40] developed for the schools to see where they fit into that process when um you look at the uh surveys and also at the different stages or elections or things like that um the public Like, all the residents are always talking about holding us accountable for the school system and the ratings and everything.

[00:08:06] And even though here, you know, all the goals, you know, go on and talk about preschoolers and everything. And I, you know, understanding, not get me wrong, understanding of where my line and what we can do. It just, you know, today hit me like, you know, because what they do impact us, but we don't have a way to do that.

[00:08:29] So I think I was looking mostly at Goal 3, number 2. I know they do an amazing job. It says all the students residing within the city will have equal access to workforce grants, internships, dual enrollment, and opportunities for educational attainment.

[00:08:48] It gets so specific, but I think that's why I wanted to see if there is, other than saying it, there is a commitment like the departments in our side for having that commitment city manager can you want to address that one because it's something again this plan is intended to be your your goals and aspirations you are correct we don't have direct influence over the school system so it's we can we can work with you we can continue to work

[00:09:27] with dr newman to to refine that um but it is one that we really didn't put a lot of effort into just because our departments don't influence it significantly so we'd be happy to take direction from council if you want to continue to have that as an aspirational goal and then just remove the goals and just simply say that we'll support the school system as as we can to attain their goals or I don't know how y'all would want to proceed with that no knowing what they would like you

[00:10:06] know I really like it I don't want to take it out I just would like to make sure that um other than us getting information from their website and things like that you know that are they able to when we finalize it that all the electors get to see it and you know just you know to read where we are but i under for me understanding you know you cannot ask them to do it our you know our way of being influenced by this but at least they know where we stand as when we do the budget we're looking at these things so possible other side the city manager

[00:10:43] has been asking the departments and hr is actually putting together a way to simplify our existing internship programs and expand them we're really looking one of the initiatives we're working on over the next couple months is to expand all the departments trying to get especially into the high school if we have positions to build so we there's ways we can beyond funding the schools that we can work with the school system to expand some of these workforce initiatives that's just one steve you don't want to take credit for but he's been telling you to do it yes for me it's it's the word

[00:11:15] attainment that i'm not speaking about it's just not it doesn't say a lot educational attainment so you know i don't know i and i'm not picking you know it's just for me it just it's very flat it's not it's not the effort is not in that word to me i don't know i mean that's just maybe just me i just attain it like we want everyone to attain education but what are we doing as a city that are we're going to make sure that it is the top it is the best for me it's just another word

[00:11:53] that that could be better used there on better than attainment because it is it's about creating success and it is about them being the chosen ones for you know our workforce and our you know future manassas and attaining education is like okay good what else you know i don't know it just leaves me kind of flat but i don't know if anybody else agrees or thinks that word it could just be me i don't know i just look for more in it you're open to suggestions this is your plan after all yeah yeah so that that's just one thing that kind of stands out to me the rest of it is great you

[00:12:30] something to gather the energy that the school board is putting in this new efforts with you right special training yeah I mean the CTE and the pathways and the I mean the alt-ed and I mean we got so much that it's just attainment just kind of leaves it flat we can reach out to dr. Newman and see if they maybe has some fluff words you call it more aspiration some pretty aggressive goals and show that we support what we're involved.

[00:13:10] Thank you for that. Any questions or input for Matt? We'll touch on it again at retreat. You've got plenty of time to discuss it as part of your budget.

[00:13:27] Thank you. Back in the spring. Thank you very much, Matt. Item 1.2 is the Church Street Battery System. Is this what you're handing out now? This is part of what Chief Mills has has put for additional information following the discussion and your regular meeting chief Mills has reached out to some of the contacts that were suggested primarily a chief in San Diego California to inquire about their experience with the different battery packs and this is basically a summary of

[00:14:06] those findings for y'all's information or over the chief okay so having the opportunity to listen to the citizens last week it allowed me to be able to think about questions that needed to be asked as we continue to look into these systems and how they operate and a little more understanding of the

[00:14:44] functionality of them because those were some of the things we couldn't answer before. The system that we're looking at, the Megapack 2XL, meets or exceeds all of the standards written by the Underwriters Laboratory, NFPA 855, 168, 69, and 70, and the International Electric.

[00:15:11] So what each one of those standards means is the UL 9540 is the standard for the systems and the equipment, how they have to be manufactured. The UL 9540A is the testing standard that goes into every component, and once they're assembled, the testing standards for the cabinets themselves

[00:15:41] that everything is in. So prior, the first standard that was written in 2019 by the NFPA for electric vehicles and electrical supply systems came out in 2019 during that time the manufacturer of those products were able to lobby the people that they needed to to have an exemption or compliance with those standards so as

[00:16:18] things started to evolve in technology and they were seeing the incidents play out that they were. Every two years, NFPA brings back every standard that they write for review and updates. Sometimes it takes two to three years for them to come out. The 2021 removed some of those exemptions for the manufacturers and changed the things that they had to do.

[00:16:50] 2023 standard removed all of those exemptions. So now they have to be 100% compliant with every one of these standards. So with some of the incidents that have taken place, and one that gets referenced a lot is Moss Landing, the incident in Arizona, which was in a, like a shipping container. You can't put these systems in those shipping containers anymore. That's

[00:17:21] no longer allowed. The systems that were installed at Moss Landing that had the problems were all installed prior to the strengthening of the standards. And one consistency in the incidents that had large-scale fires was each one of them was tied to a specific battery that was utilized that was manufactured by LG. And three of the major incidents were installed by the same company

[00:18:00] out of Texas. So there were some consistencies out there that raised some concerns. So with the system that currently is being looked at, meeting all of the standards, they have had incidents, but they also, because of the standards, have safety features built into those.

[00:18:25] Speaking with the battalion chief in San Diego, who is heavily involved in a lot of the research that goes into what happened with these incidents, the incidents that have involved the Megapack 2 have been relatively small compared to the other ones, but all of the safety systems in each one of those incidents has performed the way it's supposed to, which helped keep everything small.

[00:19:01] Some of the systems that they have in place is the fully integrated battery module, which allows everything to be containerized within the unit, the battery packs, the bidirectional inverter, the thermal management systems, and everything is pre-assembled and pre-tested.

[00:19:22] The power electronics, they combine all of those systems to where there's a total management system in control as well as a thermal management system.

[00:19:43] And the way the thermal management system works is it's got sensors within the container. Each container has their own system in it. So it's able to detect rise in temperature. It's able to detect flame.

[00:20:01] But they also have a technology that is called a sparker within that system because if the batteries were to start off-gassing and creating flammable fumes, once those detection systems within that cabinet start finding them, these sparkers start going off and it burns off the flammable gases so they don't escape out.

[00:20:32] Now, there's also pressure sensors within those cabinets. The vent system, and one of the questions last time was do the fans always vent and stuff. Well, they're designed to where if the pressure rises more than two and a half times what the set pressure is for inside that container, they will automatically open up so that everything releases out of there.

[00:21:00] So that reduces any opportunity for explosion. And when the sparkers burn the flammable gases, that is your hydrogen fluoride. So that's your most flammable gas in there. So it is burning that off within the container.

[00:21:19] And when it does that, because it's going to have the pressure go up, it will vent that out, what's left of it. So the San Diego Fire Department working with the manufacturers, they actually went out into the desert and they took a standard lithium-ion battery and a lithium-ion phosphate battery and they shot both of them with an AR-15.

[00:21:46] When they did that, because one of the things that was talked about is how if there's damage to them, how they can go into thermal runway. So when they did that, the lithium ion battery exploded in a ball of fire.

[00:22:04] The lithium iron phosphate didn't start burning. It started to off gas, but they also had sensors throughout the area because they didn't know which way, based on weather conditions and moving wind, how the remnants of it would blow.

[00:22:24] Right in the immediate areas where they were detecting the hydrogen fluoride, as the smoke drifted away, they weren't detecting hydrogen fluoride anymore. It was dissipating into the air. So by burning it off within the cabinet itself and then allowing the remnants to vent out, the exposure to the lithium, to the hydrogen fluoride is going to be relatively low.

[00:23:00] What they were able to determine is that because of the components that are used to manufacture the batteries, they would detect like heavy metals. You would get the cobalt from the lithium iron batteries.

[00:23:21] You would get copper and aluminum from the iron phosphate batteries. So that was the biggest stuff that they were detecting out of that. It wasn't the flammable toxic gases or anything like that. So with the explosion control system, being able to burn those things off and being able to vent, they haven't had any incidents of any explosions involved in any of those.

[00:23:53] The incidents that they've had has also not been a result of thermal runway or battery damage in that sense.

[00:24:10] But what it has been caused by is intrusion of water into the cabinets, getting on the electrical components. There was one where an AC unit hatched to the cabinet that was part of the cooling system, shorted out and caught on fire.

[00:24:34] on the side of the unit where it was mounted, and the fire was able to get inside the cabinet. But the batteries themselves didn't go into thermal runway. Everything with these systems can be monitored and is monitored by a Tesla operations center 24-7, and there are alarms that go off in that operations center to where they are able to immediately go in and shut down the things that they need to do um the cooling system works similar to what the cooling system

[00:25:12] in a vehicle it uses the same uh ethylene glycol uh water mixture not at the same uh ratios but it's it's kind of the same and that's how they cool that one of them one of the incidents had to do with a uh cooling leak which was introduced into the cabinet but as i said earlier every one of the incidents that they have documented with these have stayed relatively small compared to

[00:25:45] some of the large fires that everybody's aware of the largest one that he spoke about was the one that involved the fire on the outside of the cabinet and that was able to make its way into two of the cabinets and even their evacuation plan they set up their initial perimeter of 300 feet And then they figure out from there what they need to do based on the information that they're

[00:26:22] getting from Tesla, talking to the operations center, and what they have when they get on the scene. He said the majority of them have not resulted in mass evacuations, that they've been able to hold things with shelter in place in most of them.

[00:26:46] And there was one of them where they did do an evacuation for about four hours. He said the whole incident was mitigated within six hours.

[00:27:04] So the systems now have to be a standalone system to where they're not enclosed in any way. The batteries are in the case, but similar to what they had in Arizona, where it was in that shipping container. And all those gases build up, and then when they open the door, that's when it exploded and injured the firefighters.

[00:27:26] So having it set up the way it is eliminates that probability. The lithium iron phosphate batteries have a much better track record of being able to withstand much higher temperatures and are less likely to go into thermal runway because of the components that are made in the manufacturing of the battery.

[00:27:56] And they have a stronger bond that holds them together. And when they see that they're rising in temperature, they can shut the battery system down, and then those batteries will start to cool on their own, and that's an advantage of the monitoring system.

[00:28:16] So I've said a lot, so I'll stop right there and see if anybody has any questions so far. So what I'm more interested in is, and that was a lot of information, and thank you for following up, though.

[00:28:32] Did you want to jump in front of me? Yes, ma'am, if you don't mind. Okay, go ahead. Well, the one thing that we did hear from the battalion chief, The major concern that they have when they're responding to an incident like this is that, oddly enough, it's a large amount of carbon dioxide that typically gets released.

[00:28:50] And that's why if you see first responders responding to this type of incident, they are wearing their breathing apparatus, but that's simply because there's no oxygen in the area. The chief and I did talk about the installations that they've had, and we do feel that the potential risk is minimized.

[00:29:11] However, we did talk with the battalion chief that the majority of the installations of these units are in temperate climates. We weren't aware of a large scale that had been installed in an environment where it was susceptible to snow.

[00:29:30] And with recognizing that the venting is typically at the top of these units, how the potential for a snowpack on these types of units would potentially occur. And that would have to be something we would have to work out either with our operations or with the manufacturer.

[00:29:54] Along with this, Tarek has gone through and talked with FEMA. he did an analysis to see if there was the potential to separate the the full seven megawatt installation from Church Street to see if there's other locations in the city where we could potentially do that and unfortunately the majority of our electric demand is over on the east side of the city the further west we go there's less demand so even if we were just to look at a two or three

[00:30:27] megawatt system over there while they're designed to discharge in two hours we don't feel that the demand in those other substations would draw down two megawatts in two hours to achieve the peak reduction that we need effectively we'd have a big battery that would take longer than two hours to draw down so we wouldn't get the net effect Derek also has talked with Vima recognizing the concerns that have been expressed from the community if the city were to not

[00:31:03] pursue installation at the Church Street location Vima has confirmed that they could locate a full 14 megawatt system at a different location they would talk with some of their other partner jurisdictions to see if they would be interested but they have confirmed that the full 14 megawatt could be installed in Harrisonburg if if that if that is it's needed the installation of the 14 megawatts outside of the city we would still realize some benefit because when

[00:31:39] there is a peak demand since we purchase all of our power through bema there would be a net savings unfortunately with the removal of that seven megawatts from the city we would not realize the full benefit because our peak would still be high and in further discussion with Karek what we would if we if the city does not pursue installation of the electric facility at Church Street we will look at transitioning some of the diesel generation that we have at this at the other sites where we're not in as much

[00:32:16] demand over to Church Street so that we could achieve as high of a generation through diesel generation at that site and that'll be a long-term project but so basically the chief did a great job of locating information to confirm that if council does desire to go forward we do believe that the likelihood of incident is small but it is still there we would also have to pursue additional

[00:32:51] information as to operation in the winter and part of our peak is through the the winter when electric demand is high to warm houses so there is the potential that we may not always have the opportunity to operate the electric you know if there's a deep snowstorm it's cold people turn their electric heaters on we don't know that we would be able to operate the electric generator As as desire so I'll throw that out to council if if you wish we can continue to pursue the church street

[00:33:30] If you don't we can communicate to Bema that they should pursue alternate locations And one of the other things that he brought it out when we brought up snow and some of those things to him on top of the Some of the causes that have been involved with these is to make sure that if we go that route that we have a pretty robust contract and maintenance plan stipulating what those requirements are going to be for that maintenance.

[00:34:05] And whenever we come up with that, also make sure that we are getting all of the documentation from the operations team that's there so that we know that those inspections and everything are getting carried out whether we specify monthly or uh however we work that out but to make sure that we have a good maintenance plan uh to go along with that and hold them to it so i'm going to finish my thought i was going to say earlier no that's okay um and everything that

[00:34:39] i've heard and and for me it's not worth the risk but it's at the council i i understand that we can get what we need going with harrisonburg or whatever whatever we need to do we don't have to do this and be okay correct the Bima as a whole will still achieve the peak reduction the city would not realize our individual people peak reduction but we will still benefit from the system-wide peak reduction that's when you're saying

[00:35:15] that's the shaving when there's a high demand and Dominion says city Bima you guys have to operate generation during this period to reduce the demand on them and the for the benefit of the residents the highest demand of our electrical system from Dominion sets the rate that we will be charged next year so anything that we can do that FEMA can do to reduce that peak demand saves us money

[00:35:53] long-term. So for me, to me, it's a no-brainer to not, but that's me. You guys have to talk, and nobody said anything to me from council. So I saw Mark and Sonia and all. I'll just say, I appreciate the chief's efforts. This is not worth the squeeze. Harrisonburg, you just got yourself some generation. Let's be done. I believe the new times, you know, brings us opportunities. I feel that part of the risk, especially with today's presentation, is based

[00:36:26] on the short history not sure but uh but because it's newer technology and because of the location that we have uh this year that we bought the jet they've yes we just analyzed it yesterday yeah so it's another way no continuing doing something to uh to make it better um i'm mindful of the 17 000 customers that we have and it does make a difference but as i asked before you know

[00:36:59] those dates are as predictable as the weather it makes it difficult but i think you know continuous you know this is the part where we all can contribute and make a difference if we know when that might happen so i know that's not a solution um i want to leave it with that one you know continues to modernize you know our systems i don't think gas is everything and i I know we're doing it.

[00:37:30] My question, and I know it's too early, but if we were to move or to change, especially where we have the gas pumps right now, if that will create a safer environment for the future to play something like this, if the opportunity comes along, you don't have to answer.

[00:37:49] It's more like, you know, so you know what I'm thinking. Because I do care. I just don't, you know, nobody's life or nobody should be living the quality of life and having this over top of them or the feeling that you're not safe.

[00:38:07] Sometimes the way you feel, it makes a difference. - On the good life. - Yes, I'm at the location because even though I feel better with the information that he provided, I still am against it. But I don't want that to be saying I'm against this location, it's not I'm against the batteries So other modernization, I feel like maybe in the future we can do better, but I do want to continue to be better for the customers.

[00:38:40] Thank you, Mayor. So at occasion, we had a utility commission meeting last week, and this was a topic of discussion among the commissioners. Now, keep in mind that on your commission, you've got a lot of talent on there.

[00:38:57] You've got people who are knowledgeable in water. We have a former UOSA executive director, for instance, on there that we as council have appointed. We also have someone who has worked for an EV battery company, so we have that, along with staff members.

[00:39:20] So there was a robust discussion there. From their outlook and having heard residents who spoke and getting a sense, And then Tarek shared some of the insights from MIMA and things of this sort.

[00:39:39] They concluded that this is new technology. It's coming on. But given the fact that this may not be the appropriate time and location for us to use that.

[00:39:58] And I agree with them. I don't think that where we want to put it, as much as we'd like to make things fit, we'd be shoehorning it in there and not a lot of room to spare. As the chief talked about, we have to continue to put a moat around the facility as well, and there's a lot of other things along the way.

[00:40:22] I do appreciate the additional information, and more so, I think this is the sort of thing where we've got to keep this together because we're going to have other opportunities. Hopefully, we'll be able to make things smaller, more compact along the way, and there may be new technologies that come along, whatever they might be, for us to take advantage of that.

[00:40:45] Residents do need to understand the real importance of this is the peak shaving, that it is a significant savings on our electric rates. We're buying electricity there and whatever we can do. And, you know, in addition here, diesel is great, but, you know, diesel is beginning to become old technology along the way.

[00:41:09] And the innovation is not so much on diesel engines, making them better and better, but rather on these sorts of things as batteries. So long story short, I'm with my side of the table here, so to speak, in that I would not be in favor of moving forward.

[00:41:29] delighted that there are some alternatives elsewhere for this to happen, and I hope that we'll continue to be looking at this. It's a new thing. The other thing I will bring up that also came up with the Utility Commission that's related to this, and I don't need an answer at this point, but it would sound to me that having some, you know, site plan regulations in terms of setbacks and so forth in an ordinance is probably something that ought to be looked at.

[00:42:04] The commission members were very interested, and if asked, they would be happy to work with the planning commission or however that might take shape along the way here. But this is a great learning time, and let's go ahead and get those things in place now.

[00:42:23] So next time this comes up, we've got a better framework to work with in terms of those sorts of things and we'll know can fit here can fit here where it can fit that's worth mayor thank you uh yeah i wanted to make sure uh it's clear on a few things so since manassas is one of the seven members of the mea so we would get 27 that that's what we would get out of it right that doesn't change you're you're correct as a group we still benefit that would okay that wouldn't

[00:42:58] but we also still bear a cost okay so that is what we're that's the loss we have to pay for it instead of well we would still be paying for it as a group we the whole uh we weren't going to be owners of the system it was going to be uh owned by bima or at least by bima and then we would have a more direct benefit with it located here that we would have the instantaneous shaving as a group of purchasing you know we we all purchase power through bema so we as a group will benefit there's

[00:43:37] we still benefit we still pay it's just the total benefit may not be as much as if it was located within the city okay um another thing you said about the diesel generators that the plan might be later to somehow increase the diesel generators or i think they're like 50 capacity We used to have six over there now we have three so the plan would be to try to bring them all up online To bring back the three that are have been taken offline. Yes, okay, so that would help with the

[00:44:15] That would give us increased Well with the fire a few weeks ago Yeah, we had perfect with the move towards the more diesel generation we will not be introducing any more significant risk no sir thankfully even with the fire that

[00:44:48] we experienced the it's old-school technology we put a bunch of hoses on top of it if there's a fire detected it sprays water on it it doesn't cause significant issue and then our fire department responds and provides additional containment and so that we would not be introducing new fears for our residents no sir no sir and and because we've had six there we're not really introducing additional noise or anything of that beyond what has been there before so it should not be any change to the neighboring

[00:45:24] properties when we when and and and if we finally bring back the full six chief i've joined and really thanking you and appreciating the work i don't think it's going to go to waste but i just think this location let me just ask one question you said 300 foot is that 300 yards or 300 feet yeah mr thomas is here this side i think we have i would say i would i would go for a

[00:45:59] relocation into some area that takes away some of the concerns that current residents i mean the the current area that brought out the chief's research is very valuable but I've also seen a strong case that we should relocate. Yeah I wanted to echo the gratitude for you continuing these conversations gratitude to the residents for bringing these contacts and and situations up to us I think we're going to continue to see these types of batteries develop over the years I don't think that we're never going to see them here in Manassas so I think the preparations that

[00:46:37] we can do are going to be important um hearing that we're so in mentioning of getting three generators back online at church street um and in comparison to you know one of the things we were saying that we couldn't put these at the airport because of the amount of power already being generated there right the the demand and we have to batteries have to be discharged in two hours we wouldn't have the full demand of electricity to pull that out in two hours where with a generator with a diesel generator we can operate them

[00:47:17] over a longer time and and meet whatever peak demand we have so there is some currently there's there's some functional benefit to the diesel generators that the battery generators did not have we have as long as we have diesel gen diesel fuel the diesel generators can operate to keep whatever window we would have for that peak amount okay um so yes kudos to the staff for the quick turnaround you know i mean i think that um recognizing where where their heads were at with the benefits that

[00:47:52] it could have brought the city in um and then just of course the need for energy um but still kudos and proud to everybody that was able to pivot and kind of look at other options and you know we're reaching to not only harrisonburg but to california to get some good information so i think that's very telling of our staff for going the extra what is 3 000 miles um so thank you all i just want to say that uh i always get the question about what keeps me up at night

[00:48:24] i felt like i i had to bring something to you to point out potential benefits but i also have to you there's a risk associated with it and make sure that that gets there and thank you night night right thank you thank you thank you chief for that and also I mean I could not be and I'm not trying to be condescending at all but certainly to the residents who were who came out to our meeting and support you

[00:49:02] don't speak during work session but we see you and I could not be just more happy and proud of how you all came forward at the meeting respectfully and stated your case and said what you had to say and you understand what what they all have to to deal with um in in considering these things and i i appreciate it on their behalf because they get up get beat up pretty badly and for decisions that have to be made and but we have to consider everything for the city so i sincerely appreciate you all coming out um at the meeting and for being here tonight to see it through so that's how we get stuff done um but we're going to move forward as as

[00:49:42] we need to and it's as a community that we do that so thank you all for again and thank you council members for doing the homework and taking the time to look into it and considering our resident safety as number one so that's what we're about so thank you very much okay next thing we're ready to move on to item 1.3 is the commercial car wash noise ordinance amendment yes

[00:50:06] Yes ma'am. A while back, Councilman Olsena had indicated that there was a desire to pursue some sort of effort to limit the amount of noise from commercial car washes to residential properties.

[00:50:23] staff have come up with modification to your noise prohibitions code section 58 - 4 that would prohibit the operation of any car wash within 100 feet of a residentially zoned property between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. here to see if there's any concerns or additional items that you all might want to see included in that amendment thank you very much so you'll recall I think we

[00:50:56] We talked about this at our last question back in July, where it was first introduced, and I explained to you, there's a quality of life issue, and there have been residents who are affected by car washes, specific car washes that does cause a problem.

[00:51:19] there are no limitations on its hours at this point it's unattended so consequently you have folks who who are trying to live their normal lives like all of us and uh you know gave you the example of putting their kids to bed at you know get ready for school let's say eight nine o'clock a school starts early and that thing could be going on at 10 11 o'clock at night for instance people will work in different shifts and so forth coming in here and it does you know when we talk

[00:51:54] about quality of life we're talking about your happiness and enjoyment of your property here you know in a perfect world people would you know know all these things and what have you but in terms of staying you know quieter not playing music not you know all that sort of stuff but that as we know doesn't happen particularly as we're in a city and we do bump into one another just in my townhouse community here we have neighbors who do those kinds of things you know at three o'clock in the morning some of them are really doing parties and going on at night and it can

[00:52:33] be if you live right next to them it can be a problem i'll just tell you you know at three o'clock in the morning won't go away here and so uh most of the time we we work it out uh in that regard. But this has been an ongoing case, and folks, particularly in the Bristow neighborhood, have over the years pointed out to me that this has been a problem. Hopefully, you each had a chance to read the email. I did receive a notice along with a petition from residents who actually back up, who signed because they weren't sure if they could be here for our town hall meeting to

[00:53:10] speak and so you've got to see that along the way uh in that regard we may hear from some of them during the town hall meeting but i hope you would look favorably and and uh direct the city attorney to prepare an ordinance that we could go to public hearing with and actually hear from everybody in the city and see see if this is uh the right path to go appreciate your support on it so we're looking at 10 to 7 is the amendment and that's why they the car wash has adopted a 10 to 6

[00:53:46] hour operation right now we had understood we had understood from the discussion that that for the ordinance you would prefer a 10 to 7 a.m. doesn't this also mirror the noise for the city your noise code generally uses 10 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. as the prohibited hours for most noisy activity. And just if I might explain, so number one, since we're, when I say uncharted territory, we're trying to make it easy for enforcement, easy to just, you know, adapt. And if we find that

[00:54:24] there, I think my recommendation to you is to have the hours just be consistent. And if we find there is a problem, like we did with, for instance, parking districts, for instance, we will make the

[00:54:39] appropriate change along the way. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. That was my question to start with, but now I might come back and bring it up later. But no, this is good, and again, it's about the way of life. I believe this is the last discussion. We know there's not that many affected, so even though the ordinance will take place, it's really, you know, I mean, nobody's washing the cars at six o'clock, and people, they are

[00:55:13] doing it but you know this will affect at least the specifics without being so i appreciate it yeah my initial concern as councilman has seen and i discussed was an ordinance that's only impacting one business or one area where businesses are instead of in the whole city so i know that what we're talking about would then apply to all of the similar entities in the city and i think that's important for fairness if they're within 100 foot of a residential zone Currently, there could be.

[00:55:51] Is there? We've checked. The one on Liberia up against Oakenshaw? A little further. Yeah, it's beyond. It's close. It's a little further in. They have closed hours. Yeah. Closed hours. They closed. Yeah. But should future ones come along, for instance, they now know the lay of my eyes.

[00:56:12] That is correct. That's all. Yeah. I want to thank the residents. I know there were a few that were very active and persistent. since I was electing a council many years ago. And I really am happy that this is coming together for them.

[00:56:32] Everybody good? That was a closed meeting. Everybody for being here tonight. Good evening, Madam Mayor, members of council. Next item on your agenda is a closed session to consider the potential sale of city-owned property pursuant to terms and conditions that were in an unsolicited proposal received by the city pursuant to the public-private education facilities and infrastructure act that discussion can take place in a closed meeting and it can be in a closed

[00:57:09] session that would recommend council's adoption of resolution number r-2026-192 resolution authorizing a closed meeting of city council move adoption of resolution 2026-192. Second. Motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe seconded by Council Member Luna to approve resolution number R-2026-192 authorizing a closed meeting and a discussion. Hearing and seeing none, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Yes. Council Member Vasquez Luna. Yes. Council Member

[00:57:45] Ellis. Yes. Council Member Smith. Council Member Osina. Yes. Council Member Hudson. Yes. Motion to carry. Thank you. Good to see everyone out tonight. Mr. Smith, please call the roll.

[00:58:09] Thank you very much for that. We have one item on the agenda for discussion items.

[00:58:29] We have a presentation of the 2045 comprehensive comprehensive plan and mobility master plan update and City manager Burke has something he wants to say before we jump in Yes, just in case there's any members of the public who have come here to speak about the the city's Pursuit of the battery installation over at Church Street and at our work session prior to this meeting by consensus council did hear the concerns of the residents in that area and we will be communicating to vima that the city will not be opting to participate in that program and and vima will be locating the

[00:59:08] battery system outside of the city most likely in harrisonburg so if you were concerned about that and wishing to talk about that that item has been uh addressed okay thank you mr arcieri once we finish the comprehensive plan we will be opening up the meeting for the town hall at that time so we'll do this for this item first thank you for being here thank you and i'm not going to do a lot of talking i just wanted to take a moment to do a lead-in to the presentation from mr samper and ms del ohm i just wanted to take a moment first to thank the planning commission and the city staff who've been working for the last year plus on this update um while it is technically a

[00:59:46] technical update and christian will take you through those details the comprehensive plan is the single most important document that the city considers and approves for the guidance of long-range land use and your capital program so this five-year update is absolutely critical to take every opportunity including town halls to first hear what the community is thinking and then hear what is in the draft to this date if you're not here this evening you're not able to turn the town hall the formal public hearing is next Monday September 22nd any comments that we received this evening we have been keeping track of every comment received throughout this update that'll all be part of the package that council receives so there's a very detailed as we do with any of these

[01:00:24] public processes a very detailed comment and response which will be updated after we hear from the comments this evening without further ado I'm happy to turn it over to my staff my planning manager Christian thank you madam mayor members of the council and members of the public my name is Christian samples and today I'll be presenting along with Chloe will be presenting the conference plan update and the mobility master plan so how did we get here so on February 20th 2020 the current comprehensive plan was adopted code of virginia requires that every five years jurisdictions have to look at their plan and

[01:01:00] consider whether an update is needed council authorized an update on march 11 2024 with a focus on reviewing the progress of the plan how are we doing provide updates for completed projects and then also consider current opportunities and challenges the city's comprehensive plan committee met 11 times between may 2024 to june 2025 and presented a draft to the planning commission planning commission recommended approval on august and here we are so overall the um what the conference plan update consists of is data updates stemming from the 2020 census as well

[01:01:37] as demographic updates and other changes so a lot has happened in five years so we've captured a lot of that demographic change as well as other changes in the proposed plan several goals were completed and projects were removed for example the very city hall we're sitting in was finished the public safety building is also completed we also acknowledge the challenges facing the city in the weight of the wake of the cova 19 pandemic and there are also statutory required updates from the code of virginia in that five years there have been at least one change to the code of virginia that we had to include in the plan so we've done that and also the cover sheet and photos were

[01:02:13] updated so big picture items so addressing new opportunities within land use allowing for the potential creation of a tourist corridor along route 28 as well as a more focused redevelopment i guess attention to the mathis character area so the code of virginia does allow jurisdictions to consider tourist overlay corridors throughout their city in order to bring um people to like their downtown for example so something like this um i guess something like this would um

[01:02:49] is included in the plan for you to consider later in the future um housing has been on everybody's everyone's mind so we're increasing focus on attainable housing development as well as building housing partnerships with princelium county this city of manassas park other big opportunities the marsteller site obviously purchased that site and recommending that for the location for fire station number one within our environmental sustainability and health chapter focusing on increasing sustainability measures and increasing tree canopy in the city within our parks culture and rec chapter incorporating that newly purchased

[01:03:28] Marcellar Park as well as recommending updates to the that the 2016 parks recreation and cultural needs assessment be updated as well as continuing those partnerships such as with the schools and with the library and with that I will turn this over to Chloe to talk about the mobility master plan thank you Christian so the mobility master plan is the update of the transportation master plan which was completed in 2019 it is a multimodal model plan which looks at roadways, transit access, bike, and phase train facilities.

[01:03:58] It provides a comprehensive overview of existing conditions and provides recommendations for improvement incorporated into the mobility chapter of the comprehensive plan and updated city policies and standards. The existing conditions were summarized into a two-page fact sheet broken down into different sections.

[01:04:18] First, talking about demographics, moving in Manassas, commuting in Manassas, some information about the transportation network, the different modes, and then opportunities for improvements.

[01:04:36] The mobile master plan updated the traffic model for the city. Here's a map of the existing signalized intersection showing the level of service, which is a measurement of delay in second per vehicle and we consider acceptable level of service in the city level of service c or better or d or better on godwin drive and liberia avenue acknowledging that those two corridors are highly impacted by traffic outside coming from outside the city limits so 50 out of 62 intersection operates at level service c or better 12 out of 62 at level service

[01:05:14] or worse, and one intersection at level of service F, which is a greater than 80 second delay. And then the traffic was forecasted for 2045, and here we can see the intersection not operating at an acceptable level of service, mainly major intersections like Liberia Avenue at Princeton Parkway and Liberia Avenue at Route 28, but also Godwin Drive at Knoxville Road, and then some intersections throughout the downtown Route 28 corridors.

[01:05:45] So all those intersections not operating at an acceptable level of service, the consultant team made recommendations to bring those back to an acceptable level of service. And so for the major intersections, most of the recommendations are innovative intersections, different type depending on the location, but overall this is primary and it will require additional study to determine the preferred alternative.

[01:06:13] In terms of pedestrian recommendation, here's a map of the pedestrian network. In gray, you can see the existing sidewalk network and then in color, the gaps. The gaps are prioritized with a matrix based on criteria about access, safety, and equity.

[01:06:29] And in red, you can see high priorities, medium priorities in orange, and then low priorities in yellow. You can also see some areas in green that are opportunities to connect to the pedestrian Network, looking at Dead End and cul-de-sac. The four areas showing up here are around Stonewall Park, Kizde Mill Park, Winters Branch, and Hayden Elementary School. For the bicycle recommendations, a level of traffic stress analysis was completed looking at how comfortable or how stressful it

[01:07:04] is to ride a bike on any roadway in the city. And then depending on that, a type of bicycle That facility was recommended. And here you can see in orange are the off-street facilities, which can be a shared use path.

[01:07:20] On-street facilities protected in blue, which are on the street but separated by a vertical barrier. In pink, on-street facilities not protected, which can be commercial bike lanes. There could be a buffer but no vertical barrier.

[01:07:36] And then share roads or sand, share roadway, which is marking on the travel lane and then signage on the side. These recommendations were also prioritized based on different criteria such as access safety and equity.

[01:07:52] In addition, a historic route and nature route were proposed. The historic route would be an eastern and western loop connecting through downtown, connecting all the historic sites throughout the city. And the nature route would be a west-east spine going through the city but also a city of Massachusetts Park and Prince William County connecting Broad Run to Bull Run.

[01:08:14] Those are not new facilities, they just overlay with the recommendation I shared in the previous slide. Another element of the mobility master plan is traffic calming. 80% of fatal and severe crashes in the city are due to speeding. We've received numerous public complaints and concerns about speeding and cut-through traffic in residential area.

[01:08:35] And with the Route 28 bypass cancellation, it's projected to further increase traffic through downtown. So in terms of project, we're looking at safety corridors identified as part of the current comprehensive plan such as Liberia and Hastings. We have a current pilot project on Main Street. The Route 28 downtown corridor reconfiguration project is included in the key transportation project table in the mobility chapter and then potential treatments along corridors or at specific intersections. One element that was not included in the transportation

[01:09:09] master plan in 2019 is performance metrics. So here we have about 15 performance measures that will help track the evolution of the transportation network as well as travel behavior. And for each of those performance measures, there is a 2025 baseline, a 2030 target, which will be the next update of the mobile master plan, and a 2045 target, which is the comprehensive plan horizon.

[01:09:35] And I'll turn it back to Christian to conclude the presentation. - So through both the comprehensive plan update and the mobility master plan update, we've done several engagements with the public. As you can see, we had our comprehensive plan committee, which had 11 meetings which were open to the public, several work sessions, focus groups, things like that.

[01:09:59] And so through all of that engagement, what we received were, and we also had a survey between January and April this year, open to the public as well. And through those efforts, we've received 188 comments for the mobility master plan and 32 comments for the comprehensive plan.

[01:10:16] And that includes comments received from the public, the Parks and Rec Committee, airportv.drpt and VTA and PwC. So before you is the website to the comprehensive plan update as well as mobility master plan. So public comment is being taken at this meeting as well as will be taken at next week's public hearing.

[01:10:36] Anyone in the public wants to reach out to staff, we're definitely happy to take those comments and answer questions for people. And plan adoption can be considered at the October 27th city council meeting. And that concludes our presentation, thank you. - Thank you very much.

[01:10:51] Any questions, council members? Thank you, Christian and Chloe and Matt. Any questions at all? - Okay. - Oh, Ashley has one, sorry. Councilman Hudson. - Thank you. Could you talk a little bit more about the tourist overlay corridor and just maybe where else that exists in the state for a point of reference, what that might look like for Manassas?

[01:11:13] I think that terminology is kind of buzzing around town, so just a little bit more about that. - Right, so the Code of Virginia allows jurisdictions adopt um standard i guess more enhanced standards along specific corridors so that would be for landscaping pedestrian sidewalks um things like that and that's to in order to give i guess a nice visual reference as you're coming into your your city clearly this is where the activity is downtown um off the top of my head i matt what's that leesburg yes thank you leesburg does have

[01:11:41] one um that they've implemented so thank you miss ellis i'm just a little just to back up because we're getting a little I don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves the comprehensive plan is a guide I'm so long-term and what it means the immediate term is just something for the Planning Commission and Council to consider in the future the general idea is we get a lot of comments about community appearance the appearance going into the downtown especially in

[01:12:20] this way so this would be an enhanced architectural set of standards that would gradually improve the appearance there's a lot of details that have to be worked out there's a zoning process you have to go through what the plan does is set the stage for consideration and addresses something we've heard for a long time from the community which is what can be done to enhance the appearance of 28 coming in from this direction into the city so again just a planning document no proposals nothing set to be adopted anytime soon but this sets the stage for future consideration this similar to the Mathis Avenue corridor like the improvements that we are doing now and that was set a long

[01:12:57] time ago this would be more akin to an architectural overlay district to be work into what the ARB does in the downtown thank you thank you for the hard work and forget it here and also I know how hard everybody has worked to try to get the feedback as well I believe the 20 years is a long time but it's also when it comes to transportation it's not that long as the plans they're different one thing that I wanted to highlight is how the

[01:13:31] department goes after all possible funding that it's it also helps the city and sometimes we don't talk about that so this also not only that we're required to do it but it also help us see in the future I believe right now and TPV we're looking at 2030 20 after 2030 projects so this also gives the public an opportunity to give feedback but it doesn't mean that when the project comes about you you still will have another opportunity but it's uh it's our way for everybody the city

[01:14:09] the residents and even future businesses to see where we're going i appreciate it thank you anyone else any other comments or questions for christian okay all right thank you so much christian all right this opens up our town hall and kelly has an announcement to make we have interpretation

[01:14:29] available so you want to come up and do. Thank you.

[01:14:50] Thank you Kelly. I do have a sign-up sheet here but we won't miss anyone even if you have not signed up we'll give you ample opportunity to speak. Just like public comment time we do have a timer for three minutes and so i'll call the names on the sheet first that i have in front of me father ramon dominguez good evening thank you very much father ramon dominguez from the light of hope alliance don bosco center first i wanted to applaud the city the planning community development section office for the tremendous work that they have been doing we've seen this

[01:15:28] great work with the trails development paths connectivity that's really really been done in a spectacular way. We're also very happy and applaud the great work done with the improvements at Dean Park and with the Marsteller facility coming online a little bit more robustly recently.

[01:15:45] That was really great. And then the skate park that soon will be, you know, ribbon cutting there. And so that I'm really very happy and I want to celebrate them. I think they've done a tremendous job with that. I know the kids are very excited to see these things come online. One of the things wanted to speak to for Mathis Avenue sector is we did a little study in terms of accessibility and we looked at comparing what is within a 10 minutes walking so we did a look at what's within 10 minutes of Marsteller and and

[01:16:24] then we looked at well let's say something is in the middle of the Mathis Avenue area what would that be we found that actually they didn't they overlapped but only a little bit so this so having a facility or space over there is really important now you know when you look you say well there are park areas there and that is true but most of them are historical they're they're not intended for you know active recreation things like that and so I think when we're looking at what is going to be developed for Matthews Avenue I think having a space that is friendly for families and I really think that the

[01:17:00] Having a mixed development in that section is vital to get the vibrancy between people who live and work and shop, but also play. They have some areas that they can play soccer or other things, basketball, those kind of things.

[01:17:15] I think that's very important. I also, because I drive around the city, on the mobility plan, I have three intersections that I think are important to look at. and it's not a surprise, it's actually in the report.

[01:17:32] And so one of them is Liberia and Centerville Road. So if you're on Liberia and you're turning left on Centerville going out to Fairfax, the light there to make the left is like a blink of an eye. Literally, it doesn't even clear out the left-hand lane.

[01:17:48] And it's a photo light. And so you have people who are panicking, like me, I don't want to get my picture taken, so I'm pressing a gas a little bit to clear the light before it turns red. And so that's an issue. I think the timing there bears attention. Prince William and Wellington, when you're on Prince William, you're facing the school, Jenny Dean, and you're going to make a left.

[01:18:11] That light goes on forever. There's probably nothing, no sensors there at this point. But now with the adjustment of Grand Avenue, I find that it's easier for me to go down Prince William Street, and so that is affected. So I would like you to look at those intersections if you could.

[01:18:29] Thank you very much. Thank you, Robert Ramon. Next, I have Alonzo Nunez. Good evening. I'd like to thank you guys for taking the time to listen to me. My name is Alonzo. I'm a senior at Osborne and a member of the National Honor Society and a participant of the Don Bosco Center.

[01:18:50] One of the things we did this year at the Don Bosco Center was to look at how close parks are to people's houses and how many places there are to play ball. By ball, I mean play soccer, of course. Soccer has been a great way for me to keep healthy, make positive friendships, and learn how to follow my dreams and goals. When the new fields were opened at Dean Park, I thought it was a win.

[01:19:08] I waited so long to see high-quality fields in the city, and I thank you guys for it. Today, I wanted to focus on implementation strategy, PCR 9.1.12. This idea is really close to my heart. Having small-scale turf fields right near the neighborhoods is really, really important if we want kids to come out and play.

[01:19:25] If the parks are too far, or if we can't play ball because it's not allowed, or because the elite has it reserved all the time, then we're just going to stay home and play video games. Small-scale fields are a win for everyone. Since they are small, you can play an official game on it. If it's not a special team or elite game, then most people won't be coming by car.

[01:19:41] They will walk or bike there. Finally, it creates a shared space where neighbors can get to know their neighbors and really build a community, making a safer place for everybody. While you can just put up goalposts, and that is great in my mind, I would say that artificial turf fields are also great for these small fields. I don't think they need as much extra stuff like a big soccer field.

[01:19:59] Also, they can be used even after the rains and still look good. There are a couple of these already in Manassas at the Don Bosco Center. It has helped install it, and they're active all the time. like the one in GTS where I grew up with the soccer field, and if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have my closest friends to this day.

[01:20:16] While I'm looking forward to graduating this year and getting to college, I'm really looking forward to have a place to play with my friends and meet new ones when I'm not in class. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Next, we have Mr. Chip Rohr signed up.

[01:20:39] Good evening, sir. Good evening, and thank all of you for all that you do. As you know, I grew up with my dad sitting there, So I'm very well aware of everything that you have to do at home in the middle of the night, so forth and so on.

[01:20:56] I want to thank you for the fact that the car show's coming up this weekend back in Old Town Manassas. I think that's great. A lot of things that you have done to help Old Town Manassas has been wonderful. The fact that Marsteller is open and available is great, and what's happening with the airport is fantastic.

[01:21:15] I opened up my little notebook tonight to check my notes for tonight, and what notes did I find? The notes from the last meeting, and my notes of the new meeting. The first thing in both says, there's too many festivals in Old Town.

[01:21:33] And as you know, I rent to retailers, and I'm in touch with retailers and restaurants up there. And when the festivals are in town, the parking is not there for the customers and the people that attend the festivals, And what I'm giving you is what I'm told by the people who own the businesses.

[01:21:55] And those people don't come in to spend much money. So there are days on the days of a lot of the bigger festivals, they don't do well. And certainly there's plenty of things that we bring to Old Town that do help them. But apparently the festivals are something that I continually hear about.

[01:22:15] Personally, I have a big problem. And I saw this written up the other day in the paper with Grant Avenue through Georgetown South. Initially, it was like, oh, boy, this is going to be pretty nice until you saw the buildings thrown up.

[01:22:33] And now as you see all the big buildings being thrown up, you see how much more traffic is going to be going through there. You've already got a big problem where you get up to Prince William Street and you have to sit through two or three lights to get through Prince William Street to get up into Old Town.

[01:22:49] and that's common, and I go that way frequently, except now I don't go that way. Now I go up Grand Avenue and take that little right that cuts through the housing development there and comes out at Osborne High School and then go up Main Street and come into town that way.

[01:23:07] Well, but of course that won't be there for long because as soon as all those houses skip, there would be too much traffic there and too much additional traffic coming out on Grand Avenue. I think Grand Avenue is becoming and is going to be a horror show, and I think that it hurts businesses in Old Town Manassas because people can't get there.

[01:23:29] I don't want to run out of time. Mobility plan, my big comment about the mobility plan is doing what that mobility plan says is going to be done to the depot is horrendous. That depot is one of the most historic sites and one of the sites that's used the most in promoting Old Town Manassas.

[01:23:52] It's even on the record cover. And I've had two or three people mention that to me in the past few months that are people not from here. So we can't turn the depot into a bus lot. Depot has got to be kept more or less like it is.

[01:24:10] It's got to be the welcoming center for the visitor center. It's got to be the depot that's aimed at trains, not at buses and other mass transportation. All that stuff can go down to the parking lot that we don't use. Thank you again for everything that you do.

[01:24:29] Thank you, Mr. Rohr. Ms. Ellis wants to... Mr. Rohr. Mr. Rohr, don't leave. This is a town hall, so we can actually talk back to you. Not talk back in a bad way, but respond accordingly.

[01:24:45] I can't say all that and just leave you. I'll be glad to hear from you. I'm always glad to hear from any and all of you. I have a question. You know, since you do have, you're in touch with, you know, quite a few businesses in the city. You had mentioned that the events sometimes take traffic and sales from the retail.

[01:25:07] But some things do bring business. Well, what does bring business? Like what are you hearing is benefiting them? Things like the Jubilee, things that are bringing people more into Old Town than bringing people to the museum lawn for a specific thing that they're parking, sometimes even down my way, but going to the museum.

[01:25:38] And they're basically going back and forth to the museum lawn. Now, I know we're trying to cut back on the museum lawn and do more things at the pavilion, but if it's something that is very specific to a very specific group of people, then they're going there.

[01:25:57] They're parking to go there. They're not parking to go around Old Town. The car show is one thing, and I'm so glad that it's back, because people come for the car show, but they also come to Old Town, and a lot of those people are Manassas area people who are coming into Old Town because of the activity that's going on in Old Town, but they're coming into Old Town.

[01:26:20] They're not just going to the pavilion because of their specific thing that's going on in the pavilion. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate that insight. Mr. Ossina. So I appreciate your comments. If I could ask Mr. Arcieri to come forward for a moment here.

[01:26:37] I had advocated and counsel other members of council as well last year that we'd have this year some and if you let him answer this for a moment and this may elucidate some of the things about having some yeah there we go all right some blackout weekends in in Old Town so that some of these festivals that you're referencing here there wouldn't be anything going on for several reasons there. You know, the overtime, the city staff, police, and what have you, that could be

[01:27:14] reduced. But it was also to give city businesses, particularly in Old Town, an opportunity to do, you know, to be in business unencumbered. So first of all, Mr. Arcieri, could you elaborate a little bit about how that translated for 2025?

[01:27:35] And I appreciate that lead. And so over the last two years, council has been very much, and staff has been really focused on the number of events that are going downtown. Obviously, the use of the museum lawn is a concern. Council has taken a number of steps, directed staff, to look at how we can balance events, whether they're at the pavilion or the lawn, with the needs of the downtown businesses.

[01:27:55] So this is actually the first year that the rentals, whether it's the pavilion or lawn, have had a restriction. So we've limited rentals to once a month. We've made that rule change. This summer, Council tightened up that restriction even further. We have actually narrowed down the event rental season and then as Councilmember Osina hinted We've been working with HMI on weekends where we just blackout for a combination of being able to Give some of the resources primarily public safety a break Those are the blackout weekends and then we've been talking with HMI and with their change in leadership We'll be talking with a new executive director about how you take those blackout weekends

[01:28:30] They the HMI made some attempt they did a restaurant week to kind of look at what might be done during a blackout weekend It's a work in progress, but the idea is if we black out events, not only do we want to just shut down activity for those days, what can HMI do in partnership with the city to program things for the downtown businesses?

[01:28:48] So it is a work in progress, but I will say that, especially from the park staff, which I supervise, we've been really focused on trying to get the right balance between the level of event activity in the downtown and the needs of the downtown businesses. And I should just add also, HMI is now tracking each and every event, whether it's on the lawn or at the pavilion, to see how many people when they attend an event actually go into the downtown for more than a half hour so we know some of those folks are doing more than looking for parking we hope um where that's also something we'll be tracking and be able to give council better numbers as hmi develops that uh uses that software so it's we're working on trying to get that right balance and and so to

[01:29:27] follow up so you you mentioned that hmi has been able i i think starting this year to track when these festivals do take place here, how many people basically cross Prince William Street and come into Old Town here. Mr. City Manager, it might be helpful if we could get with HMI and maybe they could give us a monthly tabulation of what they're seeing, you know, during the time that the various festivals are, you know, on those weekends when those festivals are taking place.

[01:30:01] And then lastly, just an observation. It had always been my hope that by having these blackout weekends, Chip, is that businesses would take advantage by actually, you know, doing some self-promotion there to say, you know, love Old Town.

[01:30:19] This is your weekend to come down and love Old Town and, you know, make sure you stop by or do these sorts of things because we all know that marketing is a key part of business there. I follow a variety of these businesses, you know, on Facebook, and some are good about taking advantage of that and others are not.

[01:30:40] And so I think it's probably a mixed bag as to who has business and who hasn't, but that's just a personal thought. I have no data to back that up, but I do appreciate you, you know, sharing what you're hearing because that's important. Before Ms. Luna, I know City Manager is doing meetings with HMI and the businesses.

[01:31:19] think you have one coming up this week actually Wednesday so I don't know if you're coming to those or not or even aware that he's doing those with HMI and it is the businesses meeting with you sharing concerns and all of that so he's he's now started to do that I think he's done it a few times now so I mean there's one coming up this Wednesday so Wednesday at 8:30 8:30 to 9:30 at ground central station so if you're interested ground central station over Main Street so that's a good opportunity for you as well mr. or anybody else that

[01:31:57] wants to come out and share with and it's just the city manager HMI director or executive director Lisa here over there so Marlo I think sorry miss Luna you had something i thank you madam mayor uh i serve as a commissioner uh uh alternate commissioner to the prtc and uh councilman smith is our commissioner i will say you know the feedback is important when we uh when all three uh um organizations are doing that i believe that is

[01:32:37] is the preferred location. It wasn't the only location, it was the preferred location. And they were, you know, it's still time to go, so it's important when we hear that, so I appreciate it. I will say, you know, it hasn't been a time where we had time to share our sentiment on that location, but it has, for the depot, for the depot and the buses and making it a hub.

[01:33:04] But there is a lot of other things going on there, So that also is making it confusing for other people, but I just want to make sure that the public and that you know that even though it's the preferred location, there's no set in stone. And I believe feedback like yours and other residents and businesses can make a difference in where that may become the final location.

[01:33:27] So I just want to make sure that I said that when it comes to some of the events, like Saturday, I tried to go to different places. There was no parking lot. I saw you take a long, long walk in order to make it there.

[01:33:44] I didn't do that, but I understand. I believe the members here, they know and they understand that we go through the same thing. So for me, you know, HMI, whatever we can do to help so the business get more attraction.

[01:34:00] We do wanna be successful, but at the same time, we don't wanna be the place where you, you know, I don't wanna become the festival in chief city. So just to give you an idea, but I believe the recommendations from staff are gonna help and I hope you see, hopefully not only for the business, but the hub, which is HMI Farmers Market, that is also important to me that when they are running, that you don't have also other competitions and that we do have good parking.

[01:34:34] So thank you for the comment and for bringing all that to us and for making time to be here tonight. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank all of you again very, very much. - Looking forward to the car show and being here on Saturday, so. All right, I don't have anyone else signed up, but if anyone is present that wishes to address council, please come forward.

[01:34:55] On down, Chris. - Evening, how's everyone doing? Just wanted to thank you all for considering the car wash ordinance here with a couple other residents from Bristow Station.

[01:35:18] Well, I can't tell you the complete history of that particular lot. I did research a little on our Manassas website, you know, dating back to 2000, 2002. A lot of opposition from residents at the time where it was going to be a Peruvian Motors at one time.

[01:35:38] And then it was going to be a hotel at one time, I believe, that type of thing. And a lot of residents spoke out. Although I did not ever find out when this was approved to be a car wash around 2003 to 2005. That information was not available because there's a lot of mystery here as to why I can't speak to all the car washes in Monassau City, but why this particular car wash has morphed into a 24-hour car wash.

[01:36:04] Because I hear from residents that it used to close at 11 p.m. So it's kind of interesting. Perhaps two of the residents back here can speak to that, but I don't know. So I just wanted to thank you for that piece. You guys did see where we had a couple of the residents, more than a few, sign a petition on that that are directly impacted.

[01:36:26] And we urge you maybe to get out and talk to some of the McDowell residents, even look at the fences that they've built that are seven feet tall in the back of their houses to block from the light, to block from the noise of this car wash, that type of thing. And I appreciate everyone working together on this.

[01:36:45] And I also had seen where there was some confusion back in the day of B2 and B4 zoning, that type of thing, too. Perhaps you can speak to that. But I'm still learning. But I do know that the noise has gotten worse and worse every year, even back to three years now where it was a self-car wash.

[01:37:07] And now with one automatic bay about three years ago, I think it was approved for a second automatic car wash. That second automatic car wash is extremely loud. The blowers are different than the ones in the first car wash bay.

[01:37:23] If you'd like to listen, I can send you a video from 100 feet away. And talking to the neighbors, we actually think that the improvements of that in the last month, yet again, they are louder. And they can be turned down, the blowers on those.

[01:37:40] So anyhow, open to any kind of questions you might have. Anybody have any comments or, Mr. Ossien, I know you've been working with us. Well, you know, and yes, I have been working with Chris and the neighbors there on this along the way here.

[01:37:56] So we do appreciate getting the word out and, more importantly, the petition. And as you heard, council decided at its work session to ask the city attorney to prepare an ordinance that very shortly we would be, you know, reviewing and having a public hearing.

[01:38:15] and that's the best time to not only hear from your neighborhood but also every resident in the city to to weigh in on on this proposed car wash ordinance so thank you 10 to 7 10 to 7. it goes with the noise ordinance for the city yeah i'm just restating that yeah that is correct so chris can you give us your address i'm sorry i did not ask you for that when you came nine four six mcdowell eight nine four six we just need it for the record thank you i forgot to ask uh And I was just going to say, on that 10 to 7 piece, it's interesting.

[01:38:47] I just did a little research for the whole community. And in Manassas City, Manassas Park, Noakesville car wash, I don't find any car washes that are open past 8 o'clock at all. And they normally open at 8 a.m. So just something I hope that everyone considers as well.

[01:39:05] And there's a big distinguishment between a detail shop and a car wash. And we're not talking just a car wash. We're talking about car washes that have multiple bays. thank you thank you because anyone else who wishes to address council come on down and just give us your name and address please right into the mic thank you again yeah art siegel and my address is 8805 quarry road and i'm just up here to while we're doing thank yous i really appreciate you guys listening to our concerns about the battery energy storage system on each church

[01:39:42] East Church Street, and they're no longer going forward with it. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you for that. Anyone else? Come on down. Welcome. Give us your name and address, please.

[01:39:59] Hi, my name is Ray Brady, and I live at 8650 Plantation Lane. A couple things that others have touched on that I just want to reiterate about, but I do have a question. On the comprehensive plan idea, page 18 out of 200, They mentioned something called H-E-A-L or HEAL.

[01:40:22] I've never heard of it before. I don't see a lot of explanation about it. It's just curious to me that I had never known about it and certain questions about it as far as, you know, would it cost anything for us to implement or if so, you know, the details on it.

[01:40:43] It also mentions, in talking about a tree canopy in some areas that's very important, this fire station that is proposed next to the new community center. Where do we draw the line between, you know, taking down another building and constructing a larger building and taking whatever greenery that's around that building?

[01:41:10] I mean, after all, it is a community center, and it does have a park behind it. Isn't that going to kind of negate the idea of having a quiet or a park or anything else for the immediate citizens?

[01:41:25] We already have the Wawa there, which is quite noisy, I'm sure, with lights and everything else. So it might be a consideration. The last thing is, I agree with the too-many-festival idea, also, by the way.

[01:41:42] The last thing is that less than until the Mathis Avenue corridor gets completed in whatever capacity that happens, the light timing right at, it's Mathis, really Mathis and Sudley, is dismal, absolutely dismal.

[01:42:03] Either if you're going down Sudley and you're trying to take a left onto Mathis, Either the left turn signal is not consistent or it allows one car, maybe two, and people then are trying to go around you.

[01:42:20] And it's a, I'm surprised that more accidents haven't happened on a daily basis. And I go there very frequently because I utilize the Walgreens and to the point where I try to find another way. I mean, I literally go out of my way just to go around down Centerville so I can go in that little side turn to get to the Walgreens.

[01:42:46] And so it's just, it's a hard place. And I know that tomorrow it's not going to happen, that anything is going to change. Please don't consider a roundabout. Please don't consider a roundabout there. And I think that's it.

[01:43:04] According to the time. Well, it is now. Yes, it is. Thank you. Matt, do you want to address Ms. Brady right now? - Thank you. Oh, right, good, thank you for that. Okay. - Let's start with signal timing because we had a couple of comments about signals around the city.

[01:43:22] So something we don't get to talk a lot about is every five years, the city of Manassas actually, as part of, we developed the traffic model with a plan, and then we retime every signal in the city to adjust all of our signal timings to make sure that, you know, with the focus on making sure our 28, our Liberia corridors are flowing as effectively as possible.

[01:43:43] That is about to occur. So there's a process that has happened for the last two planned cycles. It's something that we actually have funded every five years out through at least 2030, far out into 2030, that every five years after we do our model, we attempt to improve traffic flow by retiming the signals and adjusting the traffic pattern.

[01:44:03] So the comment you're making, Chloe, we'll get that 'cause we are literally in the process with the consultant of putting those timings together. So that's, and we can also address the two comments from Father Ramon to make sure that's being handled. We are making intersection changes at Grant Daven and Wellington.

[01:44:19] So one of the comments that Bother Ramon made, HEAL. - HEAL, yes. - HEAL is Healthy Eating Active Living. - Active Living, okay. - It's an initiative that our Parks and Rec Committee has championed. It's obviously about healthy food and active living. There was a grant funding associated with that one point, but that funding has expired, but the Parks and Rec Committee has continued that initiative with things like looking at where we might do community gardens, and of course encouraging active living through all of our trail projects and through all of our park improvement projects so um while it's not being funded at the state level with the grant it's something that our parks and rec committee

[01:44:53] continues to promote and then last but not least the idea at marsh stellar is to put the fire station where a piece of the existing building is so that we're not taking down any more trees so that's and you look at the concept plan and with a word of caution because i see the skepticism but we are a few years out from doing that design so we will have more opportunities for community input and comment as we start to design station one of that location well my concern was when concern was when the talk about having the community center and buying it etc etc nowhere

[01:45:27] on those beautiful little plans that they showed us as the taxpayers was a a fire station potential and b the wawa so therefore and that was already there so therefore it was kind of a false presentation for us to get an idea of what we would be looking at in the future because they weren't included in the plans even though the plans for the community center were already a done deal um at very last second because it just came to my mind if anybody is traveling south on

[01:46:04] suddenly at digs road where the wawa is on one side and if you're turning in to go to the other shopping center there on most given days weekdays especially when school is in session the traffic can back up if you are trying to turn left going onto digs road the traffic there has become a complete nightmare there must be eight nine cars backed up people try to go around those cars but if you're not real quick you're not going to bake it i live on plantation so i i might have

[01:46:43] to sit through two, three, five light cycles just to be able to go one more. It's almost like there's either too many lights or, no, please, don't put a roundabout there. But every time I say something about light, I feel like there's going to be a roundabout.

[01:47:01] But what I think is the problem is possibly that the trees are there, but the turn lane has become shortened just because of the amount of traffic that is turning there. you get one school bus that takes up two three cars so if we could maybe play with that median a little bit sadly take down a few trees but make that turn lane longer um i mean because obviously whatever work they've been doing to make that third lane has is not going any farther right now

[01:47:37] so um you know possibility so thank you thank you thank you very much thank you matt My comment will be like, sometimes we have to wait, and I don't mean you, but for us, we are here.

[01:47:55] Sadly, all those places are also, you know, I'm more than likely waiting on the light as well. So I do understand it. I love it that you bring it up. I appreciate it. Thank you for making time. But it also is about cost, about when, you know, like the right time is coming up and it's gonna happen.

[01:48:15] But yes, and I'm also scared of getting a ticket there too. In some of the locations that were set before. So we know and the staff know, it's just about timing for one. For the community center, for me, it's important the residents know that firehouse is coming.

[01:48:37] It's still, you know, I don't know when, but I just wanna make sure that residents don't get so comfortable that they forget That is the most, the best place when it comes to timing to answer calls, especially for that area.

[01:48:54] So for me, it's really important that the location, it's the best location so we can do our best. The first responders can get there right away. And yes, you know, I believe, you know, at least for me, the greens are so important.

[01:49:14] and I will try to continue to make it a priority. - Any other comments? Thank you, Ms. Brady, for being here. Come on up. Give us your name and address, please. - Cynthia Lowry, 8805 Quarry Road.

[01:49:32] Again, I wanted to echo my thanks for you all listening to the citizens' concerns about the battery energy storage system and doing the right thing there. I wanna echo Mr. Rohr's concerns. We walk our dog downtown on the weekends and too many times we have seen people flooding from their cars, going to the museum lawn for the Thai food festivals, trampling the lawn and then heading directly back to their cars and talking with the shop owners and the restaurateurs and they're not getting any business on those days.

[01:50:09] So maybe rethinking that some more. mobility plan when we talk about quarry road quarry road we have to walk down our sidewalk between the fence and utility poles that are in the middle of the sidewalk we were told by neighbors and i had this confirmed by someone in the utilities department that when prescott avenue had all of their utilities buried that it was supposed to go around the corner and quarry road was supposed to happen too but then some noise happened over on grant avenue and funding and

[01:50:48] crews got diverted another way we have um cory station senior apartments down the street i'm a little concerned about the replacement or relocation of that fire department that fire station because almost nightly they come past our house to go down to cory station i'm worried about their response time down there. But by the same token, I am worried about those who live there. They are using mobility carts. They are using rollators. People with baby carriages turn down the street

[01:51:26] and then they turn around and go back the other way because they cannot traverse the one and only sidewalk. We have a stop sign at Loyal. We have a stop sign at Prescott and Quarry. And the cars will get up to 50 miles an hour in the in front of our house where where there are rumble strips rumble strips don't work okay we need to think about speed tables we need to think about enforcement I have heard that in the past there was argument made about speed tables or speed humps not being

[01:52:02] good for the fire equipment we have a Fairfax County fire captain lives across the street And he says they don't damage the equipment. So we have video of senior citizens on these mobility carts having to traverse as these cars are speeding by.

[01:52:24] And they don't care that somebody's on the shoulder of the road. They will still go. And they're sitting there on their cart like this and waiting until the cars go by. So this corridor needs some attention. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

[01:52:45] Next. Good evening Mayor and Council. I'm Lynne Farkel-Green. I'm a Monassah City resident. I'd like to point out, I think it's a little inappropriate to say that we have to give the new mark, you know, our physical address.

[01:53:01] I think just stating that we are a Monassah City resident should be enough and if you need to follow up with them to get their information offline for the safety of our citizens. I know myself have recently been put at risk and I put myself in the public eye and so I'm asking that perhaps you don't do that unless you're willing to attach.

[01:53:20] for it for the record i'm going to let you know what i'm saying i'm allowed to say it thank you and so if you're going to not put for the record all of the emails that you receive for these meetings then i think they can just simply say they're monasa city resident something to consider um i'm here tonight just to remind you of the commitment you most of you made in 2021 with regards to gmbl in the ballpark at um the eg smith ball fields um the reason to bring this up is because i notice in the comprehensive plan it's pretty silent on the

[01:53:56] matter um it doesn't mention the park it talks about the acreage of the park it also mentions that we are now three ball fields in the positive although it states that we are still 112 acres in the negative of parkland and so without real commitment to maintain and improve that park that park's still at risk for your economic development views however i'll bring up again the agreement that was made february 28th 2011 and put into motion by andy hereover seconded by

[01:54:34] mark wolf where they accepted the gift from ibm for these fields and they made a commitment that if these fields were ever to be sold every dollar would go back to parks and rec so this is not a windfall for the city if you do not have the acreage to replace these parks inside the city like your comprehensive plan is stating i really would like your commitment to work with gmbl gmbl to invest and improve this space there is a lot of economic opportunity as a park it could be a place where the little league world series comes it would be a complete improvement

[01:55:11] of what it has now and bring a lot of tourism and really emphasize our commitment to not only youth sports baseball but that particular park at large and i would really ask that you look into that finally i would just like to state um there's been a lot of conversation with regards to mobility in the city but at the same time there's a lot of initiatives in here regarding high density with high density comes more traffic so when you're making these decisions along the way and you're making them in a piecemeal manner then you don't get the whole picture so i would ask that you really look into what you're stating i don't disagree with all of the things in here i disagree

[01:55:49] with how they're written and maybe what the long-term expectation and outcomes will be especially with regards to high density housing our restaurants and our businesses do need your attention with regards to the tourism and hmi whatever changed with hmi and how that is being addressed has affected the type of service our residents our restaurant owners are getting whether or not it should be the restaurant or HMI or all of us working together in partnership I think the concern is with the blending of Manassas City Economic Development team with HMI there's been a loss of

[01:56:29] service to our restaurants how you fix that is up to you but that continues to be the pain point and so I know that when I was on council there were some conversations about moving all of the tourism to here I don't think that's the answer and I ask that you work with HMI in the restaurants thank you thank you next to come forward Diane Lane Manassas City 9327 Camper Court so one of the few

[01:57:06] things Miss Forkill Green and I agree on passionately is the baseball fields I also believe they are a welcoming site for the city and it shows that we are interested in our children and in our community and common gathering secondly the depot I also agree with mr. Ward that the place for the depot should be the VRE parking lot with expansion of the sidewalk between the depot and the train station such that there is multiple ways to get there because the

[01:57:42] VRE parking lot currently is underused based on the recovery from COVID and it has the opportunity to do that the idea of large buses in the city on our narrow streets is not one that gives me a lot of confidence in the ability for us to remain low accidents low impact and maintaining the quality of the streets because those buses are heavy so my recommendation and and I put this in the event that I attended over at the museum is that that depot be located at

[01:58:18] VRE and made accordingly and finally I am very happy to see in the plan quantitative data and measurement for greenhouse gas reductions that was missing in the 2040 and I look very much forward to hearing how we're going to achieve those three new goals between now and 2030 and then 2045 thank you very much thank you anyone else on down good evening I'm Janet Plevniak I'm in the city of

[01:58:57] Manassas you all have my address on Williams Road I just want to say thank you tonight that's not my usual MO but thank you for the citizens with the the best system and madam mayor I'd like to thank you for your Facebook posts regarding Charlie Kirk I am seeing a movement of people coming together and that's what I want for the city so I thank you for that it's been a rough way good bad or whatever for everybody but I just want to say thank you to everybody

[01:59:32] every tonight and I'll be back thank you thank you anyone else bang the gavel if nobody else wants to cover going once and going twice okay we are adjourned thank you so much for coming out

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