Chesapeake City Council Meeting – September 26, 2023
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Chesapeake City Council Meeting – September 26, 2023
The Chesapeake City Council held a work session at 5:30 p.m. and a regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on September 26, 2023, at City Hall. The work session focused on a broadband update, while the regular meeting included public hearings, consent and regular agenda items, citizen comments on ward voting, streetlights, and red-light cameras, appointments to boards and commissions, and a resolution confirming a state of emergency from Tropical Storm Ophelia. All votes were unanimous except for the acceptance of a planning commission resignation (8-1). A closed meeting was held from 7:27 p.m. to 8:24 p.m. to discuss economic development and the performance of the acting city auditor.
Work Session – Broadband Update
- Chesapeake Connects: CIO Dan Constantino reported that the city-owned fiber network will connect 210 facilities (54 schools, 156 city facilities) via 172 miles of conduit. As of the meeting, 48 miles of conduit were completed. Phase 1 construction began December 2022 and is expected to run through April 2024; Phase 2 will begin in October 2023 and conclude August 2024; Phase 3 will run June 2024 to March 2025. The project includes a wireless overlay (LoRaWAN and private LTE) for smart city applications.
- Southside Network Authority: Bob Crum (HRPDC) and Stephen DeBerry described the 119-mile regional fiber ring connecting to transatlantic subsea cables. The authority is building a middle-mile dark fiber network with a public-private partnership with Global Technical Systems (GTS). GTS will lease 96 strands of fiber, paying the authority $2 million per year for 20 years, and will maintain the ring. The authority expects to vote on a comprehensive agreement at its October 13, 2023 meeting.
- Councilmember Ritter noted that BEAD (Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment) funding is available to private ISPs, not governments, and that the city has provided a list of over 100 potential anchor sites to leverage those funds.
Consent Calendar
- Refunds: Three refunds totaling $60,181.36 were approved: Towne Realty LLC ($29,338.29 for 137 Mount Pleasant Road; $11,854.33 for 700 Greenbrier Parkway) and Rose & Womble Co. LLC ($18,988.74 for 300 Cedar Lakes Drive).
- Grant Contingency Transfers: Three emergency food and shelter program grants from the Department of Homeland Security were accepted: $28,558 (Phase 39), $24,478 (Phase 40), and $28,557 (American Rescue Plan Act) – all for Human Services.
- Transportation Alternatives Program: A resolution authorizing the city to apply for VDOT funding for public works projects was approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
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Public Hearing Items:
- Item B (Drainage Easement Vacation): Grady Palmer, representing Kotarides Developers, spoke in support of vacating a 67,000 sq ft public drainage easement at 401 Volvo Parkway and dedicating a new 128,682 sq ft easement. He requested a waiver of the fair market value fee, noting the city would receive a larger easement and the ditch would be cleaned. Council approved the waiver unanimously.
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Citizens’ Comments on Agenda Items:
- Vic Nicholls (self) urged the appointment of Blazon Bloom to the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Board, citing his community involvement and qualifications. He also expressed concern about nepotism and lack of environmental representation on the Planning Commission and Stormwater Committee.
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Citizens’ Comments on Non-Agenda Items:
- Clifton Randolph (New Chesapeake Men for Progress) advocated for a hybrid ward voting system, arguing it would improve representation and prevent concentration of power.
- Dr. George Reed (New Chesapeake Men for Progress) stated that at-large voting suppresses minority votes, citing the closure of polling places in majority-minority neighborhoods (Camelot: 95.5% minority, South Norfolk: 52.5% minority). He threatened a lawsuit under the Virginia Voters’ Rights Act if the council did not change the system within 90 days.
- Kim Sudderth (self) supported ward voting, citing her experience in Norfolk and the need for direct representation.
- Brad Moore (self) reported that in a three-mile drive in South Norfolk, he counted 56 streetlights out, with some unrepaired for two years. He questioned the city’s agreement with Dominion Energy and the incentive for timely repairs.
- Vic Nicholls (self) criticized the placement of red-light cameras, alleging they target Democratic-leaning areas, and called for data on accidents. He also requested the city recognize Disability History and Awareness Month and create a volunteer app to report handicapped parking violations.
Mayor’s Responses:
- Mayor West stated that City Council has no role in red-light camera placement.
- He read Section 3.01 of the City Charter, which mandates at-large elections, and clarified that only the General Assembly can amend the charter, not the council. He expressed willingness to discuss pros and cons of ward voting in a group setting.
Discussion Items
- Public Hearing Items:
- Item A (Surplus Property Sale – Oriole Drive): A resolution authorizing the sale of city-owned surplus property was approved unanimously.
- Item B (Drainage Easement Vacation): Approved with a waiver of the fair market value fee (9-0).
- Item C (C-PACE Financing Program): Removed from the agenda and continued to the October 24, 2023 meeting.
- Regular Agenda:
- Resignation of Levin Turner from Planning Commission: Councilmember Ike requested the item be considered separately. The resignation was accepted 8-1 (Councilmember Whitaker voted no). The original resignation letter was included in the permanent record.
- Funding Transfers for Road Projects:
- $3,100,000 transferred from the Residential Roadway Repaving Project to the Mount Pleasant Road Widening Phase 2 project (emergency action, 9-0).
- $3,143,065 appropriated from the General Fund balance assigned to street maintenance to the Residential Roadway Repaving Project (9-0).
- New Business:
- Emergency Declaration: A resolution confirming the state of emergency from Tropical Storm Ophelia (September 22-23, 2023) was approved (9-0).
- Councilmember Bunn congratulated Councilmember Carey on receiving the 2023 Workforce Innovation Award from the Hampton Roads Workforce Council.
- Councilmember Carey presented a video on the Chesapeake Worlds of Work program, which introduced 3,400 eighth graders to career opportunities. He noted that the program is expanding and attracting other cities.
- Councilmember Ward congratulated Judge David Jones on his appointment to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
- Councilmember Ritter requested that the City Attorney’s Office and Legislative Affairs Liaison provide language for the legislative package stating that attorney-client privilege for a legislative body can be waived only by a majority vote of that body.
- Councilmember Newins discussed streetlight repairs (responsibility of Dominion Energy) and requested an agenda item to address concealed weapon permit fees sooner than the FY 2024-2025 budget.
Key Outcomes
- Votes:
- All items on the consent agenda (except the resignation) and regular agenda were approved unanimously (9-0) unless noted.
- The resignation of Levin Turner from the Planning Commission was accepted 8-1.
- The closed meeting was approved 9-0 (Councilmember Ritter abstained from one economic development discussion topic due to a potential personal interest).
- Appointments:
- Chesapeake Bay Preservation Area Board: Karen Toida, Richard Underhill, and Christopher Wilson (regular members); Benjamin Green and Justin Matthews (alternates) – reappointed/appointed.
- Chesapeake Hospital Authority: Sandra Baynes, Baxter Ennis, and Dr. Angela Ferebee – reappointed.
- Planning Commission: David Hackworth (full 4-year term) and Eric Stichler (1-year partial term) – appointed.
- Airport Authority: Scott Bechtold, Andrew Hochhaus, and Thomas Russell – appointed.
- Chesapeake Bicycle/Trails Advisory Committee: Steve Froncillo (citizen) reappointed; Lakela Lofton (civic organization) and Christian Saxon (citizen) appointed.
- Chesapeake Community Criminal Justice Board: Judge Andrew Kubovcik – appointed.
- Stormwater Committee: Theresa Harris, Dominique Moody (alternate), and Davis Watson (alternate) – appointed.
- Directives:
- City Manager to review the streetlight repair process with Dominion Energy and provide a briefing to council.
- An agenda item to consider concealed weapon permit fees to be brought forward before the FY 2024-2025 budget.
- Next Steps:
- Non-Planning Public Hearing Item C (C-PACE) continued to October 24, 2023.
- The Southside Network Authority is expected to vote on the comprehensive agreement with GTS on October 13, 2023.
- The city will provide a list of community anchor sites to support BEAD funding applications.
Meeting Transcript
I want to welcome everyone to our city council September 26, 2023 work session. And we have some interesting topics and exciting topics to talk about today. And I want to turn the floor over to our city manager, Mr. Price. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilmember Ritter, if you'll recall, requested that we give more frequent briefings on the status of the broadband project. Very quick overview. There's two uh big initiatives going on in the region. One is uh with South Side Network Authority, and we have representatives from the authority here today. Um Councilmember Ritter sits on the authority. Um they're gonna give us an update on the regional picture of the Southampton Roads localities and and the existing uh nature of that project, progress and the future of that project. Uh but we're gonna start with uh Chesapeake's ring. That that's our own piece of the puzzle to make sure we're providing service, uh deploying it throughout the the community. And so I'll turn it over to our our new Chief Information Officer Dan Constantino. Uh thank you very much. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of City Council. Uh as Mr. Brooks said, I'm Dan Constino, the Chief Information Officer, and I'm pleased to be here to provide this update about Chesapeake Connects. Uh here with me this evening is Jay Crail, and Jay is Chesapeake Connects project manager and has been serving in that capacity since 2019. I thought it'd be beneficial to quickly review some of the reasons for this project. Uh Chesapeake Connect's project was created to provide city-owned high-speed network connectivity for city facilities and schools while reserving excess capacity to provide for uh future ISP lease agreements. These agreements should produce income that will help offset the ongoing maintenance and operating costs of the network. Uh they should also help to encourage newer internet service providers to enter the market and through competition uh competition decrease overall prices for uh their customers. Uh with the city-owned asset, we should be able to provide us with maximum flexibility as future technologies and use uh cases materialize, and we'd be ready to take uh advantage of those. So, readily accessible broadband connectivity will certainly help make uh Chesapeake more competitive when working to attract new companies uh to the city. So Chesapeake Connects has both uh wired and wireless elements to it. Uh if you've ever wondered what the internet looks like, you can see those uh conduits coming out of the ground. That's sort of a very base level. Uh underground conduit is currently being deployed throughout the city and it will be used to house our fiber optic cables. And of course, those fiber optic cables will be the digital transport, provide the sort of uh speed and capacity that we need to handle even the most uh bandwidth intensive applications. Uh there is also a wireless side to uh Chesapeake Connects, um, and it will have actually two wireless systems that'll be part of it, and they will help to enable uh smart city initiatives. Uh the first wireless network is known as LORAWAN, which is short for low power wide area, and this technology allows for low-powered battery operated devices to be able to run for years really, consistently exchanging information through the wireless network. Uh advanced metering infrastructure, AMI water meters are an example of this. Uh, and they can use this means of communication, and they are part of our testing. Uh the second wireless system to be implemented is private LTE. Uh as you're likely aware, LTE has been used for years by the cell phone providers to give speeder um customers speedy uh data connections. So LTE is really a great match for a lot of our higher bandwidth applications uh like traffic cameras, traffic control systems, uh, and SCADA systems. If we look at this map here, uh you can see that we've divided the project into three phases. Uh phase one, which we're in right now, uh, will help us to connect 136 facilities. Uh the green phase or phase two, another 65 uh facilities. And then finally, phase three down on the uh southwestern portion of the uh city. Uh the late blue will be nine facilities. If you look toward the top, you'll see a large uh dark blue ring. Um that is the regional connectivity ring. And we do have Bob Crumb from HRPDC and Stephen DeBerry uh from the South Side Network Authority here to talk about the uh the work that's occurring there. So taking a look at some of the project plans, the total build out will be 172 miles of conduit and fiber throughout the city. About 18 and a half of those miles will be a co-build with the South Side Network Authority to help with the build of the regional connectivity ring across Chesapeake as well. And it will reduce costs to both Ches Peak and the South Side Network Authority by doing that work at the same time.
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