I'm a place.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Okay, we have a quorum.

Um, so we have two important items on the agenda tonight for our work session.

So I'm gonna go ahead and call the meeting to order.

Um, this isn't I'm still not used for those of you in the room.

I'm not really used to being in this chair.

So chairing the meeting, I ask you to try to bear with me.

Um I know the mayor is sorry to miss this, but he is on an important trip for economic development purposes.

So with that, I'll turn this over to the city manager.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

So uh two items tonight related to our community development programs.

Um, as you know, Chesapeake, uh our vision is to make Chesapeake an exceptional place to live, learn, work, farm, and play.

Um we do a lot of work planning with the community to identify um opportunity areas, preserve the character of the community, and then also uh work towards um economic prosperity initiative.

So we have two presentations tonight.

One is a presentation that we had scheduled for last week.

We had to continue to tonight, and that's the Deep Creek Area Plan update.

And then second, we will have economic development give a presentation on some of the wonderful work that they've been doing with our small business assistance program.

So, first up, I'll turn it over to planning director McDemarrow.

So good evening, and thank you for your time this evening.

We're really excited to share the work that we've uh completed so far with the Deep Creek Area Plan.

I'm gonna spare my words tonight and turn things over to Anna Nagornik, who is our planner with the department, and she's our project manager for the Deep Creek Area Plan.

And also we have with us uh Devin Simpson with Kimley Horn, who is project manager on uh the consulting side.

So turn things over to Anna.

Good evening, Vice Mayor, uh Council members.

Um, like Director McNamara said, I'll be providing a brief overview of the Deep Creek Area Plan tonight, and I'll go ahead and jump into things.

Um this area plan uh looks at the Deep Creek and Camelot planning areas, which cover approximately a 37 uh square mile area, excluding uh majority chunk of the Great Dismal Swamp, which of course is a nationally protected area.

Um this plan will serve as a component of the comprehensive plan and it really seeks to further the goals of enhancing the quality of life, improving connectivity, and strengthening the economic vitality for the Deep Creek and Camelot communities.

A little bit about the plan process.

Um the project launched in the summer of 2024.

Um, the phase that followed exploration, that's really where uh the project team dove into some data collection, some early community engagement efforts.

Um we had several stakeholder meetings at this time, uh, really gathering information in preparation for the plan development, um, moving after that into visioning, uh, which we had additional community engagement opportunities, stakeholder meetings, um, working internally with different city departments as well as externally with community groups, um, really to gather information on the wants and needs of the community.

Uh from there moving into planning, uh, really the development of the plan framework itself, uh, followed by illustrating, digging into the draft document, working on uh renderings, mapping, things like that.

Um and then now we are, as you as you may know, uh moving into this um time moving towards adoption.

Um we did have our first uh city council work session back in January of 2024, um, and then uh we had our presentation to planning commission on January 14th, 2025, where Planning Commission had uh provided a recommendation of approval for the plan.

Uh as one of the early phases I mentioned, uh sort of in that exploration phase, uh we looked at the existing conditions and performed an analysis um of the current context and trends that impact the Deep Creek and Camelot communities.

Um this includes information and data related to uh important demographic trends in the area in the study area, looking at existing land use patterns uh and character, um, existing parks, natural space, open space, um, transportation uh conditions, um, connectivity and safety, uh, historic assets in the area, as well as environmental considerations, um, and then as well as other planning uh efforts and context that sort of set the foundation for this effort as well.

So, as you all may know, um this area is very diverse and encompasses a wide variety of uses and land use character, ranging from commercial areas to residential areas to agricultural areas, historic assets.

Um, really taking a closer look at all of that and understanding that provided the foundation, an important foundation for this study.

A little bit about the community engagement process.

So, from the onset of the project and throughout the process as a whole, um the project team conducted extensive community engagement, including 11 community outreach events, nine stakeholder meetings, several surveys, um, and other interactions with the community, um, along with online outreach, um, along with also regular updates, monthly updates given to the planning commission subcommittee for the Deep Creek Area Plan, um, as well as monthly updates to um and regular pre-meeting updates during planning commission meetings.

So some clear themes emerged from what we heard from the community, our stakeholders, and other parties involved in the community engagement efforts for this plan.

One of those key themes was connectivity.

We did hear a lot about things like traffic concerns, a desire for improved connectivity, walkability, pedestrian and biker safety across the study area, and really a need to improve connections to things like parks, schools, and other areas of and key points of interest for the community.

The second theme sort of being around centered around preservation.

We heard a lot from the community that they really value the character and the feel of Deep Creek and the communities in Deep Creek, and they want that small town feel to be maintained and honored, as well as preserving the unique parks and natural areas that residents in this area value a lot, as well as a desire to honor the history of the area and the existing historic assets within Deep Creek and Camelot.

On the sort of theme of growth, we did hear a desire and a need to channel growth into areas that can support it, such as existing commercialized areas, but also balancing that with a need and a desire for more local businesses, retail, restaurants, places to go eat, take your family, places to gather for residents of this area, and really reduce the need to travel outside of Deep Creek to find those things to do and places to go.

And then finally, we heard a lot on the theme of design, including cohesive design in terms of architecture, residential communities and other communities within the area, and ensuring that the infrastructure and design of infrastructure reflects the needs of Deep Creek over time.

So from this input emerged directly our five guiding principles for the Deep Creek Area Plan.

These underpin all of the recommendations, policies, projects, and work that went into this plan.

And these include preservation, accessibility, connectivity, community empowerment, and balanced and responsible progress.

From there, the plan framework really came together, and the plan framework consists of the character districts for the study area, opportunity areas, which I'll talk about shortly, the mobility plan that really looks at transportation for different modes of access, the open space plan, and then finally the policies and projects for the plan.

So the character district recommendations, this is the same sort of land use model that we use in our comp in our 2045 adopted comprehensive plan.

The Deep Creek Area Plan makes specific recommendations, some of which align with what the adopted plan calls for, and some are additional recommendations that really focus on encouraging complete communities in Deep Creek rather than having them be isolated from the daily goods and services that folks need to access outside of their neighborhoods.

And then the open space plan within the study also identifies opportunities for parks, open space, trails, and water access points.

And these recommendations are in line with other city adopted plans, including our 2050 Trails Plan, the Master Transportation Plan, but it also provides some additional recommendations and additional opportunities to improve access, open space, and park space in the area.

The plan includes 47 policies that will guide investment decision making and drive the vision for the Deep Creek and Camelot communities.

These include policies that apply to the study area as a whole, as well as more tailored opportunity area specific policies.

So in addition to looking at the study area as a whole, this plan includes four distinct opportunity areas that were really identified as areas that are well poised and well positioned for a greater degree of transformation or enhancement over time.