Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 4/20/2026

Date: Monday, April 20, 2026
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 0h 40m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/gnl0fgrjpf

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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[00:00:00] work session to order. Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Mayor Davis Younger. Present. Vice Mayor Wolfe. Council Member Ellis. Here. Council Member Smith. Here. Council Member Osina. Present.

[00:00:18] Council Member Vasquez Luna. Present. Council Member Hudson. Here. Formish present. Thank you very much. Thank you all for being here as well and get all we got there. Pretty short agenda yes and uh plus we have a closed session so we have one discussion item we'll go ahead and dive right in item 1.1 is consideration of resolution r2026 896 amending the fiscal year 2026 budget by transferring 372 000 from general fund contingency to public works for snow removal

[00:00:54] cost mr. Morgan is here but basically everybody knows that we suffered a pretty significant winter event and Public Works here to request the $372,000 to cover additional costs associated with the salt and and pre-treatment chemical as well as the contracted services I will let Mike provide any of the details that you might have and this is just a request for bringing to y'all's attention we if council is comfortable we will be putting this on

[00:01:27] your 27th agenda is this retroactive versus for the future like are we covering past costs or is this like okay and then it's spent on the snow cream yes and then is this is and then is this amount going to be planned for public works for the future like no this is just a one time no we typically put in about a hundred and seventy thousand sixty thousand in that neighborhood for

[00:01:59] these two items we're hoping so for chemical and contracted services the we were the overtime is also built in for our staff we were able to maintain that access within the budget it's simply because we relied heavily on contracted

[00:02:30] services to augment with pushing the snow during and after once it solidified the 27th meeting next month Monday I've got lots of answers if you have any questions but it seems like it's relatively wrapped up thank you for that Thank you for your time.

[00:03:08] Don't we have them down for item 7.3 and 7.4? Do we have what? I'm sorry. Oh, oh, oh, oh. All right. Then moving forward, item 1.2, presentation on Matthew Shopping Center Result Study.

[00:03:25] Ms. Herover at RCRA here to help us with that. So, Your Honor, members of council, good evening. We're here this evening for the final presentation. Our consultant has finalized the master plan. It was presented to the EDA last Tuesday. So, this evening, Ms. Harrover will take you through.

[00:03:42] We've just, the entire report's attached to your agenda. We've started the master plan, and we're going to really hone council in based on some of the conversations we had at the retreat, really honing in council on kind of what are the must-haves for this project.

[00:03:58] This is a master plan. It's conceptual. It's designed, as Denise will explain in a moment, to have a lot of pieces be flexible, depending on what a developer brings to in the future. But there are really some key elements that we think, based on what we heard from the community, what we heard from the council, from the EDA, that we want to make sure are locked down in any plan that gets presented to this council in the future.

[00:04:18] So I think with that, Ms. Harrover can take us through where we are. Thank you, Mr. Arsuri, and thank you, Council, for having us here this evening. And on behalf of the EDA, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to work on this project over the last year. You won't see a whole lot of changes on this plan since we met.

[00:04:37] The intention for the last overview was to give you what the community and the feedback that we did receive from City Council, this kind of blended them. We did hear from you that there were parts and pieces that you wanted to make sure were here, but potentially could be moved, in particular the park.

[00:04:58] We had a healthy discussion about the park's location. The intention of this plan is really to give us an opportunity to look at the pieces. And what are the pieces that we absolutely would want to make sure any developer that comes forward incorporates into this plan?

[00:05:21] And there were a number of things from the community as well as council that I had told you I'd come back and give you that feedback. First and foremost, what we heard from everybody was about parks and open space. So this gives you an idea of how the pieces could look, but also incorporates the linear park as well as the park on the hard corner of Sudley and Portner.

[00:05:47] So that, I would say, is probably one of the number one wish list items from all parties that we heard from. Number two, what we heard was affordable housing. As far as everybody was happy with housing, there didn't seem to be a big consensus that it had to be any particular type.

[00:06:07] Most people were thinking multifamily or towns so that you could get better density. I know Council Member Wolf would like to see maximum density. In order to achieve that maximum density, parking decks would be needed. Surface parking, we looked at it both ways.

[00:06:24] We surface parked it to see what the low number would be, and then we added the decks to see what that higher number would be. That gives you flexibility in any one you're dealing with. And obviously, the more density that you're bringing to a project like this, the better opportunity you have to work with a developer to require some affordable units.

[00:06:44] Hopefully, a group that will come in and do like a LITECH problem like we're seeing with the Good Works people. So, like I said, parks, number one, affordable product, number two.

[00:07:00] Most folks really were interested in seeing some retail in this area again. That was a lot of the feedback we've gotten from the public and that mixed use being closer to Mathis Clearly gives us an opportunity to have this development, have the step, if you will, starting with your lower, more intense uses along Mathis Avenue and your residential going deep into the site.

[00:07:31] So, in summary, those three things seem to be what I would say the key issues from the feedback we got from the entire community. Excuse me, one second. Yes, sir. Go back to the screen.

[00:07:47] there's a point you make so well maybe there's a time to emphasize it as you look at the screen it doesn't have to they won't necessarily be placed where they're placed now again she was trying to ensure that the elements we wanted were there a developer may come in and propose that parks be on the you know anywhere when Eric is to update in our technology we'll have technology we can move around the screen for you but I just want to re-emphasize that don't focus on where things are sitting on the masses right now that that is exactly what this image is

[00:08:23] for is to kind of show you the blocks so that if I put my developer hat on site number two and site number one have the highest profile being at the hard corners um I think anybody uh looking at this site those are going to be the most valuable corners if you will whether they're both ones Park or if we looked at maybe senior living, you know, two-level independent living facility.

[00:08:51] The site is developed in such a way we are limiting access from Mathis over to Portner intentionally. But what this allows us to do is Site 5 could be developed first with all multifamily. You could move into Sites 3 and 4 to bring your retail up towards the street.

[00:09:11] It gives you opportunity to be flexible with anyone who comes in the door. One of the tasks the EDA was sent away with after the update at the retreat was what are the key components that we want to see?

[00:09:27] And what my feedback and in discussion with the EDA and the community and more particular is the parks. They really do want to see like a central plaza gathering space, the affordables, and then what I would consider some mixed use.

[00:09:48] It's not a have to's. Those are the wish list items, if you will. This is just to give you a vision of the linear park. In my mind, this really is probably one of the first things out of the gate that would be envisioned being put in because it gives you that natural barrier to the existing residential in the back.

[00:10:14] It also provides a buffer between anything that's going to happen on that site to the existing residential. There's no two ways about it. When the site gets developed, it's going to be disruptive. That is just the nature of construction and redevelopment when you're close to residential.

[00:10:31] And then we have the aerial view. And again, if you think about these in pieces, you could shift these pieces in many ways, shapes, and forms and get additional density. As you can see, we show a parking deck on the north and closer to Riley's so that if you look at that whole block, that's all multifamily with a large parking deck.

[00:10:57] We did not show a parking deck at the corner of Sudley and Portner, but clearly you could bring one in on that surface-parked area as well. Questions? A lot of work, a lot has been done.

[00:11:16] Thank you for the presentation. I think it does capture, like, everybody's input. Would you mind introducing anybody from your board that is present so residents and everybody watching can see them and know them? Of course, of course.

[00:11:31] I have with me Carmela Patrick. She is the chair of the EDA, and I want to make sure nobody else snuck in that might be on the board, but thank you. Can you show me that slide? This slide.

[00:11:49] Is there a benefit or a reason that Site 1 and Site 2 are separated in this concept? So the feedback we were getting, we actually looked at several versions for Site 1.

[00:12:07] One of those versions included townhomes. One of those versions had the park. It could be looked at as one large block and developed as one large block. We were trying to be mindful of the fact that you are directly across the street from existing single-family detached.

[00:12:32] In most development and even in redevelopment, you really don't want to have that single-family detached home have a five-story building directly across from it. It's not to say you couldn't do it and step it back appropriately, but we also heard from the community that they really wanted a large usable park site located in this area.

[00:12:58] So we were able to kind of do two things at once by locating the park on that corner, giving some grace to the existing residential while providing a large usable area. But any developer that comes to you may have a different vision for that block in its entirety.

[00:13:18] Because the green line is only indicative of the linear park on this diagram, correct? Correct. And that's what we're considering, like the divider. That's kind of the buffer for the existing colonial townhomes. And the reality is you can effectuate a continuation of any linear park.

[00:13:40] It doesn't have to go straight through those sites. You could wrap it around Site 1 or bring it out to Mathis. There's many ways to accommodate continuing that connection. But, yeah, it is conceivable Site 1 and 2 could be developed together.

[00:13:58] Sondra? Thank you, Madam Mayor. One more thing. I mean, my concern when there are phases, we have been through phases 10 years in a place that it has been quite difficult. And I know this is different, but I believe whether it is attainable homes or regular homes or mixed use, the housing is a bit, maybe I'll see it as something that more developers are after than the commercial.

[00:14:28] It could be different because we are, you know, our area is very busy. But do you or anybody from the board have a concern that if this is done in phases, then maybe the homes or the housing will be done faster, and then maybe the park won't be a priority.

[00:14:55] Your point's well taken because we're trying to come up with a concept in 2026, and we all don't know what the market's going to be looking for in a year. I saw the latest Manassas numbers come out where we are still very strong, if you will, for retail.

[00:15:18] I can speak from Van Meter's point of view. Sales at Ashbury have been going gangbusters. So in all fairness, I don't think we will ever have a problem in Manassas with any type of units either for sale or for rent doing well because we just don't have a lot of stock.

[00:15:36] But does this end up perhaps, you know, right now nobody's building commercial because, you know, commercial took a huge hit during COVID, but that's not to say the commercial market won't come back. It's not to say that we don't already have a user in Manassas that needs a new, wants a bigger, newer home that might come out of the woodwork at some point and say, I want the corner of Sudley and Mathis for a 20,000 square foot office building because we don't have a new one of those available.

[00:16:09] So there's, this is going to change and the market's really going to dictate what a developer is going to bring to you because a project like this, build out of something like this could take a few years to begin with.

[00:16:24] So we know that that's why we kind of built the flexibility into the sections, but I do believe it will be a developer that comes to you with a vision for this. It would be hard to, well, we have tools.

[00:16:46] Once this project goes through a rezoning so that it can be developed during that rezoning, you have the ability to insist on design guidelines to make sure that this project has a unified look and feel. What I don't think anybody would want to see is something that looks like it was chocker blocked and looks like five or six different, you know, I don't want to say it's messy because it's done all the time, but when we have a unified block like this, I think the vision has always been that it would be done with one look and feel to it, so that it's a unified look. It

[00:17:25] can have different feels and different distinct characteristics, but at the same time still feel like it blends. So I think right now this is what we're hearing today, but what is the market going to to bear out in the next few years the rezoning would give the flexibility for that it's just where what does council want to see what are the must-haves and i do believe the must-haves we heard from the community are that open space affordable housing and some mixed use that's

[00:17:59] so just to wrap that with the bullet points um uh all the way sorry the other direction Until you get to it. So kind of piggybacking on what Denise was just saying, you know, the key vision elements, we spent some time after the council retreat trying to really make sure that these bullet points will always be what you see in future development proposals.

[00:18:22] So making sure we pick up on the open space, some commercial, the flexibility, the connectivity, diverse housing options, including affordable, age-restricted, really trying to make sure whatever developer we bring to you in the future, whenever developer comes and says we have a big idea, we're always going to go back to this table in particular and say, if you don't hit a good number of these key points, you're not capturing the community's vision, you're not capturing the process that we went through with the EDA, try again.

[00:18:51] And these bullet points are really key just to hone in on this stuff that we're going to use as our guideposts as a staff when we talk with future developments before we bring something to council. Thank you, Madam Mayor. That's exactly where I was looking at. Any other questions?

[00:19:11] I like the way this was presented to us as we are showing, we're now willing to show like a developer or somebody interested what our expectations are so we can shuffle things around, you know. you know because when i look at it i'm like do we want residential in the corner of suddenly and mathis you know because i'm like that's like a really key corner for commercial but i'm not going to like dwell on that because i understand we're trying to look at number of units we want in there and where to like percentage of mixed use and parking garage and stuff but yeah i think it

[00:19:48] looks i think it looks good it's uh checking off all the checking off the lists of the things that that we want we think will work presentation yes i will just add that so that my my desire is that we are creating as i've said before repeating myself creating a neighborhood and i want this to be a livable the idea is not something that we i can see anywhere where you pull in road town

[00:20:25] homes, road, apartment buildings, or what have you. But there's thought included and passed on to any potential developer that the idea is that trying to create livable spaces, not only for now, but for the foreseeable future and how people might live and commune, so to speak, along the way here. So while I appreciate the fact that the mixed retail is gathered together and the residential is kind of spread out along the way and just want to make sure that that that thought

[00:21:00] is included as one of the must-haves not as a like to have because otherwise you know we could just plow everything down and asphalt the whole thing and build whatever and that would be it this is a chance to come to my opinion create a whole whole different vision for not only the Gateway, but I'm looking at this to be a catalyst for the Mathis Avenue, Centerville Road, and the whole report, that whole study area of where it expanded. So that

[00:21:36] somehow can be incorporated. I would appreciate those thoughts. Thank you. Thank you for all your work, too. Thank you. It's been enjoyable, even though I had to work with Matt. Did you get through all your slides? I love working with Matt.

[00:21:54] and roadside was fantastic they really are a good group but uh to to your point miss ellis that corner of sully and and mathis what we're showing is just a multi-story building it could be anything it could be office it could be multi-family it could be senior living facility we just wanted to be able to show some scale on that corner since we do believe and have since the beginning that that is prime territory right there yeah that that hard corner is definitely

[00:22:33] a good seller you've got annaberg right across the street right there so and then the senior housing so yeah it's it's gotta to me even out you know like you don't want too much of one thing. So you got to break it up a little, my opinion. And if you've ever been to a, what I would call an over 55 independent living facility, typically they are three or four stories. So that would actually be a beautiful addition to that corridor. It's not commercial commercial, but at

[00:23:09] the same time, it is providing a much needed type of housing in our area. But again, you might get lucky and have somebody who wants 20 000 square feet of office brand new that that we have we have the spot do you see that coming i honestly think with all of the different businesses that we have in manassas that as they grow or or or maybe expand their footprint internationally with you know headquarters here or at least some of their division here um we we don't have we have we have

[00:23:49] class a office but not a whole lot of that is available so if one company wanted to you know branch out and needed more space um this is a great opportunity but no i not today no i think it would be a unique situation but i also think we have some really big players in manassas that that that really could be an opportunity so talk when you when you were talking earlier you said you can't help but have disruption on portner did i hear you right i mean are you talking for

[00:24:27] the residences for the just construction in general next to existing residential is noisy okay well just the noise yes what you're talking about yes not necessarily things no access to this site i think um the city's different since we own our roads i i don't think we would want to have any of our developers construction traffic coming down portner they'd have to access i would assume

[00:25:01] off mathis only and try to limit the disruption but invariably the noise in and of itself because this is a large development it would be nice if it was getting done all at once but i don't think that's realistic um you may so no matter what happens it's just going to be just mostly yeah Because just the residents, you know, back there, the noise is one thing, but then impeding anything, getting in and out and having to maneuver things.

[00:25:33] This plan has been looked at so that we are really, with that linear park, that will change their entire living because they will no longer have that alley being used by service trucks or people going to the shopping center through the back doors.

[00:25:54] we met with the townhome HOA and that was their biggest concern is we already have enough traffic on Portner we have a lot of cars parking on Portner we have a lot of cut through traffic what are you going to do about that so that we when we looked at this plan we wanted to limit access we're taking two access points off the table so it really will be a game changer for them. Thank you. That's what I was getting at. Any other questions or comments? Did you make it through all your slides? I just want to make sure. I did. Yeah, backwards and forwards.

[00:26:36] Thank you. And it might be more like a specific three-day, but depending on when a developer comes over, but what was the longest? Was it over 2030, the longest lease? Our agreement is no new leases past December of 2030.

[00:26:56] So any existing tenant that had a lease that came up between now and then, we have extended a few leases. And they all understand December of 2030 is the latest. As you are aware, we do have tenants that have leases that go beyond that date.

[00:27:17] But right now, we've only had, I think, two that we've extended to 2030. And my last one is more like assurance that, like, we will make sure that, you know, economic development department support those businesses to relocate if they have to when the time comes.

[00:27:41] Yes, ma'am. Questions or questions? Thank you, Ms. Haley. Thank you. Appreciate your time. All right. Item two, city manager's time.

[00:28:00] Nothing really to speak of just following up on the math shopping center the EDA will be considering adoption of Master plan at their main meeting and there that's when they start marketing looking for potential redevelopment partners

[00:28:24] Are you aired or is this too soon as to talk about dominion? For for the public without the city was notified today that fuel adjustment rate for our contract with Dominion Effectively what it does is if there is an increase in the fuel costs that Dominion is encountering

[00:28:56] They are able to account for that through an adjustment in the fuel adjustment rate We were notified that it's going up 250% effective April that will translate to our customer billing in May for a typical home that will result in about a $50 increase and for a typical townhome about a $30 increase that this doesn't have anything to do with data centers or

[00:29:34] anything of that sort it is purely because the price of gas and fuel has gone up that Dominion has the ability to recover those costs they do have to justify it to MEPAV, which is the organization that the city and a number of other municipal electric providers work through, but just because of current conditions, there is an adjustment that will be included in the forthcoming bills. Can't you, if

[00:30:10] it's possible at this point, to elaborate a little bit of what Dominion is saying is driving these increased costs here. First of all, secondly, this does appear to be rather sudden. Is there anything in our agreement that requires them to give us a certain number of days in notice?

[00:30:33] I would imagine so. And then lastly, for how long would this increase be in effect? Would it be until another, until they make notice that they're either dropping it or increasing it or what have you?

[00:30:49] But any additional information you can share? Well, it is a factor that adjusts periodically. There can be a reduction should fuel costs go down. And basically, it's the same that everyone has seen.

[00:31:07] Go to the gas station and you're paying 50 cents to a dollar more than you were a year ago. I don't believe that there is a specific more than 30-day notice that they have to provide us. And there historically have been incremental adjustments up and down just because we've not had this rapid of an increase in the cost for fuel in recent history.

[00:31:35] So hopefully it could go down if there is a decrease in the cost for fuel. And as that happens, we will let you know. But unfortunately, just due to the agreement that we have with Dominion is intended to allow our customers to have a relatively low fixed cost, fixed agreement that we have with them.

[00:32:07] But we do allow adjustments specific to certain items like fuel where it's a commodity and they have no control. They, Dominion, have no control over the cost for that commodity. what's the impact so how how does this impact uh customers let me play it differently so our department of social services what assistance do we they've been able to weigh in recognizing that

[00:32:45] you've just learned about this uh when i say weigh in in terms of uh do they been able to estimate what kind of additional requests for assistance might be coming in? We've not, but again, if any of our residents, now that they would be aware of this increase, by all means, please reach out to social services.

[00:33:12] If there is any way that an increase in any assistance can be made, I'm sure that we will make that. But to your question of is there a direct correlation between the power of the fuel adjustment rate and what is available, I don't believe there's a direct connection, but all we can do is just, if you need assistance, please reach out to social services, and they will do everything they can to make that a combination.

[00:33:40] And then lastly, what can residents, and I take it this will affect businesses as well? All of our utility customers, data centers included. What is the plan for informing all our businesses, data centers and and residences here from the public and this is working with our public affairs department to put out a notice hopefully tomorrow if not if not Wednesday again we only found out about this this this morning so we are

[00:34:14] trying to get the word out because it is such a significant increase okay thank you mayor do we know what the average increase would be on our non-residential customers or basically it's about a $24 per kilowatt hour increase per thousand sorry and the average home is using about 2400 2500 kilowatt hours per bill or billing cycle so that equates to about the $50 it's less for a townhome so if

[00:34:52] there's a business that's using 10,000 kilowatt hours it would be a $200 $240 increase. Is that about the average of what a small business uses? It depends on the business. They're going to get hit the hardest. If you were operating a laundromat that had electric dryers and washers, it would be significant. It all depends on how what equipment is being used to any business.

[00:35:26] Thank you, Madam Mayor. I was speaking to Anna about this a few minutes as I was coming in and you shared and maybe if you could share with the group about what other recent increases or decreases have happened in the past few years so the uh the pca increases or decreases in may so it's we've been notified like mid to end april and it's going into effect with the may billings last year it actually went down by 200 so yeah the pca was very very low which kind of scared me knowing that that is

[00:36:05] way too long is not going to be able to be sustainable. And here we are. But we can't collect more. We can't increase it. We can only do what we're, what we've been given by Dominion, Virginia, Power, and Vima, right? So we had a whole year of very low. Now we're going up double two and a half times. And this rate is going to be in effect until next May, until we get something different i have seen within years when we had a low rate and then they did an adjustment mid-year

[00:36:40] in november to bring it up to you know to catch something they didn't do it this year what they didn't bank on was snowcrete snowcrete really affected the pca this year so if i'm thinking if they would have known that we're going to have this call spell we would have had a mid-year increase that didn't happen so now we're looking at a big one follow-up question um so you said when the 200 decrease was being presented it made you nervous

[00:37:13] but we did not have the option to do anything different thank you it is concerning but it's not something that we can uh that we can do my ask is that we continue you know the city as a whole would do the uh you call it the mid-work shaving and that wouldn't be different you know for uh for the residents i know i crank it up even though it's hot but you know there are many different ways that you know it's until it's sustainable but i worry about you know people they have life-threatened conditions or you know that they have no option so i do you know i'm very

[00:37:52] concerned because this comes along with the needs of the the fund itself uh but yeah that's my ask is it please you know that we get it out and also you know to me it was a surprise but also to let customers know this is the time it is still within the time frame and you know what else can we do to to support it it's going to affect all of us i believe the most expensive one is you also and we always talk about it and you know as i had said you know i'm glad there are no changes in there but this is no different it's most like most like pass through and we don't have power over it but

[00:38:30] i believe uh well explained and provided information it will go a long way because it's difficult times for everybody comments or questions on that i think that putting making sure that folks know it ain't us this is really interesting just have to go online all right okay

[00:39:19] good evening madam mayor and council next item on your agenda this evening is a closed meetings tonight there are three items for discussion those are potential disposition of city-owned property at one mathis shopping center at math at manassas shopping center excuse me at mathis avenue number two disposition of 9518 fairview avenue each of those is pursuant to terms of submitted letter of intent where discussion in an open meeting would adversely affect the city's bargaining position or negotiating strategy and third it's also necessary for the council to discuss qualifications of applicants for appointment to the position of city attorney

[00:39:57] those are all allowable in a closed meeting under section 2.2 3711a part one for the appointment section and part three for the disposition of property so to convene a closed meeting i'd recommend for your adoption. Resolution number R-2026-883, resolution authorizing a closed meeting of City Council. So moved. Motion by Vice Mayor Wolfe, seconded by Council Member Vasquez-Luna to approve resolution number R-2026-883, authorizing a closed meeting. Any discussion?

[00:40:34] Hearing the same name, Mr. Smith, please call the roll. Vice Mayor Wolfe? Yes. Council Member Vasquez-Luna? Yes. Council Member Ellis? Yes. Council Member Smith? Yes. Council Member Ocina? Yes. Councilmember Hudson? Yes. Motion to carry. Thank you very much. Thank you all for being here.

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