OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Hampton City Council Work Session - November 12, 2025

City Council — Wednesday, November 12, 2025
BodyHampton, Virginia
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, November 12, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:16:24

Transcript — Verbatim
0:45

Good afternoon and welcome to Hampton City Council work session.

0:49

I want to ask the clerk to call the role, please.

0:51

Councilman Bowman.

0:52

Present.

0:53

Vice Mayor Brown.

0:54

Here.

0:54

Councilwoman Campbell.

0:55

Present.

0:56

Councilwoman Bay RB.

0:57

Present.

0:57

Councilwoman Harper.

0:58

Present.

0:59

Councilwoman Muggler.

1:00

President Mayor Gray.

1:01

Present.

1:02

And we have several presentations this afternoon.

1:05

So I'm going to get started.

1:07

Ask the city manager to uh introduce the first one.

1:10

Yes, thank you, Mr.

1:11

Mayor.

1:12

We have with us this afternoon to give an update on the proposed uh General Assembly legislative priority document that's on your agenda for adoption this evening.

1:21

Mr.

1:21

Ed Reed, Vice President of Two Capital Consulting.

1:24

You all received a report last month.

1:27

There were some changes recommended at the time to delete one item, and since that time, based upon the VML meeting and other uh legislative conversations at the regional level, there have been a few items that we have also added by you know checking in with each of you.

1:42

But we wanted the public to see the changes and to know the changes that have been made.

1:46

So Mr.

1:46

Reid is just going to go briefly over both the deletion as well as the additions that are uh showing up in your final package for adoption this evening.

1:57

All right, good afternoon.

1:59

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, uh city manager, city attorney, and city clerk.

2:04

I appreciate the opportunity to uh brief you today on uh those additions and deletions to the uh the presentation that I gave on back in October.

2:15

And so I'll try to be pretty brief today and not to bore you with some of the information that you've you've already heard uh last month.

2:23

And so we'll jump right in.

2:25

The first thing that I wanted to tackle is um we've had some changes uh since the last time I've uh presented to you all, and so I wanted to give you a bit of a election recap and talk about the implications for that for the upcoming uh general assembly session.

2:41

So the the Democrats swept all three uh statewide offices that you'll see there in the presentation.

2:47

So we'll have a new uh new governor, Lieutenant Governor, and attorney general coming in in those offices.

2:53

Those transitions are underway.

2:56

Um our team's been uh communicating with the respective uh transition teams to to find out how we can be be helpful as that transition takes place.

3:05

Uh we have um in House District 87, delegate Jawan Ward was re-elected and and she'll be serving in in that capacity, and then in House District 86, uh delegate elect Virgil Thornton will be representing uh the district there.

3:21

And so uh likewise we've been in communication with the members of the delegation as well to give them a little bit of a heads up on what's in the legislative package before uh council formally adopts that um this afternoon.

3:33

Um to the right there you'll see just some of the implications with the pickup of of 13 additional seats on the Democratic side and the House of Delegates, um, it will create um a ripple effect in terms of the way the committees are made up.

3:48

And so um that is something we we likely won't know the extent of until the beginning of session in January, but we'll keep a close eye on how that impacts the work that we're doing here on behalf of the city.

3:59

Um but we do expect some of the the makeups um in terms of committees to change.

4:04

Um we also have a special election that will take place as a result of uh Lieutenant Governor elect Hashmi being elected, and now her um Senate seat will need to be filled in there at this point.

4:17

There are two House members that have announced that they're running for that seat in the central uh Richmond area.

4:23

And so if one of them is victorious, we'll have another special election for that house seat as well.

4:28

So again, some ripple effects in terms of that, um, but work is well on the way to to ensure that we're off to a great session.

4:35

Some important dates here to keep in mind, and there's one slight correction here on November the November 17th date is actually the beginning of the pre-filing uh period.

4:44

Uh the uh it ends on December 1st, and so um usually a little bit later in the process with the beginning of that deadline um after the election in the House, and so we we saw the election uh last week, and so we have a little bit more time in terms of the pre-filing uh deadline there.

5:02

Two important dates are coming up next week, and that's the 18th and the 20th through the 21st.

5:07

That's the House appropriations and the Senate finance retreats respectively.

5:12

House appropriations will meet in Prince William and the Senate Finance will meet in uh Radford.

5:19

So our team will be actively participating in both of those meetings.

5:23

Um it is we're hoping to glean a better understanding of the fiscal uh outlook for the Commonwealth going into the session.

5:31

Um you might recall back in October I said the mandated unmet needs for the commonwealth based on some of the federal impacts and just some things that we have in terms of obligations as a commonwealth.

5:43

We're in the couple billion dollar range.

5:46

Um we've heard some estimates now that get that up to four billion dollars over the two-year period.

5:51

So a lot of challenges, I think, ahead in terms of the fiscal environment, and we'll hope to get a better understanding of that next next week.

5:59

Governor Yuncan is still slated to present his outgoing budget on December 17th.

6:04

Um, at that point, we'll um know what his proposals are on the outgoing budget, and the General Assembly will have their way in that during the session, and you'll see there that the budget amendments uh are due as a result of that on January 16th.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Zoning and Land Use██████████████████████████████30%
Legislative Advocacy█████████████████████21%
Community Engagement███████████11%
Technology and Innovation█████████9%
Strategic Planning████████8%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████8%
Personnel Matters██████6%
Procedural████4%
Economic Development██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Hampton City Council Work Session - November 12, 2025

The Hampton City Council convened for a work session to review the upcoming General Assembly legislative priorities, receive a strategic shift presentation from the Community Development Department (CDD) detailing operational improvements, and hold an in-briefing on proposed Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) amendments. Council members engaged in discussions regarding collective bargaining mandates, zoning code modernization, and customer service enhancements, while setting the stage for evening voting on these items and a motion to proceed to closed session.

Consent Calendar

  • The General Assembly legislative priority document, including the identified additions and deletions, is scheduled to be placed on the consent agenda for adoption during the evening council meeting.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Councilwoman Harper expressed concern regarding outdated zoning ordinances, specifically regarding Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), and sought confirmation that the department reviews and updates old codes incrementally or as part of a broader modernization effort.
  • Councilman Faraby sought assurance that the CDD had benchmarked its processes against other localities and industry standards to ensure efficiency, rather than relying solely on internal feedback.
  • Councilwoman Mugler emphasized the critical need for the new software portal to integrate seamlessly with existing systems and expressed a desire for robust reporting capabilities during the technology implementation phase.
  • Councilwoman Campbell provided positive feedback on early citizen interactions showing improved staff tone and responsiveness, while predicting high demand for the new customer service team and suggesting a review of current versus needed staffing levels.

Discussion Items

General Assembly Legislative Priorities (2026 Session)

  • Ed Reed (Vice President, Two Capital Consulting) presented updates to the legislative package, highlighting election results (Democratic sweep of statewide offices) and their fiscal policy implications.
  • Deletion: The item related to TNR (Trap, Neuter, and Release) for 2026 was removed based on prior feedback.
  • Additions: Three new priorities were added:
    1. Support for a statewide study on the Virginia Tax Exemption for Disabled Veterans program and a study on local impacts thereof.
    2. Opposition to legislation mandating collective bargaining for local governments, emphasizing the desire to maintain local choice.
    3. Opposition to legislation shifting compensation costs for wrongful incarceration to local governments and withholding state funding for non-compliance.
  • Regional Policy: Support was added for "pop-up zones" legislation (led by Virginia Beach) to increase enforcement against unpermitted large gatherings, and continued support for license plate readers. A support statement was also added for the creation of a regional secondary road fund.
  • Fiscal Context: Estimates for mandated unmet needs in the Commonwealth were discussed, with updates suggesting the gap may be closer to four billion dollars over a two-year period.

Community Development Department Strategic Shift

  • Kim Michael (Interim CDD Director) presented a comprehensive update on the department's transformation, driven by staff and consultant (Clarion) feedback to improve responsiveness and customer satisfaction.
  • Staffing & Culture: The department reported filling 28 additional positions compared to two years ago, resulting in drastically decreased turnover. New certifications were achieved for permit technicians and inspectors.
  • Operational Changes: The department outlined a new motto and vision statement, modernized workflows, and is preparing a software proposal for a customer-focused permitting portal. Review timeframes have significantly improved, with staff now completing plan reviews days ahead of statutory standards.
  • Division Highlights: Specific achievements were noted for the Development Services Center (increased permit revenue), New Construction (full staffing, 11,000+ inspections), Property Maintenance (strategic focus on commercial corridors), Housing & Neighborhoods ($2 million+ in grants), Community Engagement (3,000+ notices), and Zoning (stabilizing staffing).
  • Council Q&A on Zoning: Council confirmed that the zoning code modernization will follow a phased approach: first cleaning/reorganizing the code, followed by a comprehensive modernization after the comprehensive plan amendment. Incremental updates, such as the ADU ordinance, will proceed in the interim.

Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Zoning Amendments

  • Quinn (Planning Staff) presented proposed amendments (25-0018, 25-0019, 25-0268, 25-0269) to permit ADUs in all one-family residential properties.
  • Key Standards:
    • ADUs are limited to 50% of the principal dwelling's area, capped at 800 square feet.
    • Height is limited to 16 feet or the height of the principal dwelling (with specific flood zone exceptions).
    • ADUs are prohibited from being used as short-term rentals (STRs).
    • Owner-occupancy is required for both the principal and ADU.
  • Planning Commission Revisions: The Planning Commission recommended changing the minimum dwelling area to a maximum, increasing the side setback for detached ADUs from 3 feet to 5 feet, and codifying that Chapter 1 standards supersede existing Buckrow Bayfront district standards.
  • Staff Recommendation: Staff recommended approval of the amendments with the Planning Commission revisions and an effective date of December 31, 2025 (or January 1, 2026) to allow for administrative preparation.
  • Council Clarifications: Questions confirmed that existing detached garages could remain as such while a new detached ADU is constructed, and that living in trailers/campers remains prohibited.

Key Outcomes

  • Legislative Package: The Council has reviewed the updates to the 2026 General Assembly priority package, including the deletion of TNR and the addition of positions on disabled veteran tax exemptions, collective bargaining, and wrongful incarceration compensation.
  • CDD Performance: The Council acknowledged and approved the Community Development Department's strategic shift, noting significant improvements in staffing, turnaround times, and customer satisfaction metrics.
  • ADU Ordinances: The Council accepted the briefing on the ADU amendments, with staff recommending approval of the four proposed ordinances with specific Planning Commission revisions and a delayed effective date.
  • Closed Session: The Council voted unanimously (7-0) to convene in closed session pursuant to Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A:
    • Point 1: Performance of appointees to a local board/commission.
    • Point 5 & 8: A prospective industry in the Hampton Roads Center area (no prior public announcement made) and legal consultation regarding it.
    • Point 7: Consultation with legal counsel regarding a potential settlement of a pending legal case.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon and welcome to Hampton City Council work session. I want to ask the clerk to call the role, please. Councilman Bowman. Present. Vice Mayor Brown. Here. Councilwoman Campbell. Present. Councilwoman Bay RB. Present. Councilwoman Harper. Present. Councilwoman Muggler. President Mayor Gray. Present. And we have several presentations this afternoon. So I'm going to get started. Ask the city manager to uh introduce the first one. Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. We have with us this afternoon to give an update on the proposed uh General Assembly legislative priority document that's on your agenda for adoption this evening. Mr. Ed Reed, Vice President of Two Capital Consulting. You all received a report last month. There were some changes recommended at the time to delete one item, and since that time, based upon the VML meeting and other uh legislative conversations at the regional level, there have been a few items that we have also added by you know checking in with each of you. But we wanted the public to see the changes and to know the changes that have been made. So Mr. Reid is just going to go briefly over both the deletion as well as the additions that are uh showing up in your final package for adoption this evening. All right, good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, uh city manager, city attorney, and city clerk. I appreciate the opportunity to uh brief you today on uh those additions and deletions to the uh the presentation that I gave on back in October. And so I'll try to be pretty brief today and not to bore you with some of the information that you've you've already heard uh last month. And so we'll jump right in. The first thing that I wanted to tackle is um we've had some changes uh since the last time I've uh presented to you all, and so I wanted to give you a bit of a election recap and talk about the implications for that for the upcoming uh general assembly session. So the the Democrats swept all three uh statewide offices that you'll see there in the presentation. So we'll have a new uh new governor, Lieutenant Governor, and attorney general coming in in those offices. Those transitions are underway. Um our team's been uh communicating with the respective uh transition teams to to find out how we can be be helpful as that transition takes place. Uh we have um in House District 87, delegate Jawan Ward was re-elected and and she'll be serving in in that capacity, and then in House District 86, uh delegate elect Virgil Thornton will be representing uh the district there. And so uh likewise we've been in communication with the members of the delegation as well to give them a little bit of a heads up on what's in the legislative package before uh council formally adopts that um this afternoon. Um to the right there you'll see just some of the implications with the pickup of of 13 additional seats on the Democratic side and the House of Delegates, um, it will create um a ripple effect in terms of the way the committees are made up. And so um that is something we we likely won't know the extent of until the beginning of session in January, but we'll keep a close eye on how that impacts the work that we're doing here on behalf of the city. Um but we do expect some of the the makeups um in terms of committees to change. Um we also have a special election that will take place as a result of uh Lieutenant Governor elect Hashmi being elected, and now her um Senate seat will need to be filled in there at this point. There are two House members that have announced that they're running for that seat in the central uh Richmond area. And so if one of them is victorious, we'll have another special election for that house seat as well. So again, some ripple effects in terms of that, um, but work is well on the way to to ensure that we're off to a great session. Some important dates here to keep in mind, and there's one slight correction here on November the November 17th date is actually the beginning of the pre-filing uh period. Uh the uh it ends on December 1st, and so um usually a little bit later in the process with the beginning of that deadline um after the election in the House, and so we we saw the election uh last week, and so we have a little bit more time in terms of the pre-filing uh deadline there. Two important dates are coming up next week, and that's the 18th and the 20th through the 21st.

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