Good evening and welcome to the Hampton City Council legislative session.

Madam Clerk, if you call the roll, please.

Councilman Bowman.

President.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Present.

Councilwoman Theraby.

Present.

Councilwoman Harper.

Present.

Councilwoman Muggler.

President.

Mayor Gray.

President.

And this evening, we have an invitation, which will be led by Councilwoman Martha Muggler and followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

So would you please stand for both?

Please join me in prayer.

Oh God of all creation, as we meet to serve this community, we ask for your wisdom and grace.

May your Holy Spirit guide us in our decisions, and may we serve with humility and integrity.

Help us to work for the greater good and to make our community a better place for all.

Ethan Alexander Ahart, Hampton High School.

Ethan, would you come up, please?

Hampton High School junior Ethan Ahart is a dedicated and well-rounded student who consistently demonstrates leadership, service, and commitment to his school and community.

He balances academics with active involvement in the band, choir, drama club, the YMCA Youth Leaders Club, the Hampton City Youth Commission, and the Health and Human and Financial Services Academy, where he serves as a student ambassador.

He is also a member of the principal student advisory board.

And through his many activities, Ethan has demonstrated that leadership is grounded in service, collaboration, and authenticity.

His recognition as citizen of the month reflects the character, integrity, and positive examples he provides both to his peers and the broader community.

Ethan, would you just come right down here?

Okay, congratulations.

He serves as a youth leader for the Youth Alcohol Drug Prevention Project, the Academy College Experience Advisor, Class President, and Chairman of the Principal's Advisory Council.

Josiah has also gained workforce experience as an intern with the Hampton Roads Workforce Council and serves as a lead ambassador for Hampton City Schools.

His leadership, service, and community involvement reflects his commitment to making a positive impact and serving serving as an outstanding example for his peers.

Give him another round.

And then next is Caleb Norman from Kikatan High School.

Come on up, Kaelin.

Kikatan High School freshman Caleb Norman, a student in the Academy of Entrepreneurship and Information Design with a focus on entrepreneurship and marketing, is actively involved in both school and community activities.

He is a member of the track team and participates in the youth and government club, where he continues to develop leadership and teamwork skills.

Caleb is also dedicated to the community service through his involvement with the Boy Scouts of America, leadership work with Cub Scouts, and a volunteer and volunteer service at his church supporting the children's ministry and technology needs.

His strong commitment to leadership, service, and personal growth makes him an excellent example for his peers and his community.

So again, round of applause for Caleb Norman.

Not yet.

Okay, so with that, I'd like to uh oh, I'm sorry, I did have a couple of other things I wanted to acknowledge this evening is um today, and I don't know if you caught him in the hallway at some point in the day, but we had a couple of tables set up downstairs in the lobby with uh staff from our audit team here in Hampton, and they were recognizing internal audit awareness month.

And May is recognized internationally as Internal Audit Awareness Month, time to acknowledge the important role internal auditors play in promoting accountability, transparency, and effective governments within organizations and public institutions.

And local government internal auditors serve as trusted partners in strengthening internal controls, evaluating risk management practice, supporting compliance with laws and policies, and helping ensure public funds and resources are managed responsibly and efficiently.

Their work contributes to operational excellence, ethical stewardship, and public confidence in government service.

And we recognize and appreciate the dedication and professionalism of our internal audit team and their continued commitment to improve processes, safeguarding public resources, and supporting good governance, good governance in the communities we serve.

And so, congratulations to uh Terry Tennessee and all of our audit team here at the city of Hampton, and uh we appreciate the great work that they do for us.

Thank you so much.

Okay, so with that, I'd like to uh ask the clerk to read the protocol for the consent agenda.

The consent agenda consists of routine, non-controversial items requiring council approval.

These items are typically adopted with one motion and without discussion.

Tonight your consent agenda begins the process of amending portions of the zoning ordinance pertaining to the process of revoking approved use permits and also to incorporate new state legislation.

It amends the city code to authorize the city manager to establish monetary bonus programs for any officer or employee of the city or a constitutional officer.

It amends the FY26 budget to appropriate additional funding of approximately 9.3 million dollars and additional revenue from state funds to Hampton City Schools.

It directs the disposal of surplus computers and related equipment that are obsolete or unusable and have little value by donating them to a local nonprofit, which will refurbish them for distribution to low income families, and it approves the minutes from six city council meetings.

All right, we need a motion and a second.

Mr.

Mayor, move approval of tonight's consent agenda.

Second.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Fairby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

And if you will bear with me just one moment, we have another special presentation for a student who is on the way up, and I didn't want to dive too deep into the next item on the agenda until she comes through the door.

All right.

Well, I'm sure she'll be here soon.

Mayor Craig, you can look back and explain a little bit about the program while we await the state winner.

Um, there is a contest sponsored by the Virginia Municipal League.

It's open to seventh and eighth graders throughout the state, where they write an essay on if they were mayor.

And it would help if I turned on my microphone.

I apologize.

So I'm very pleased to announce that this year the winner came.

She's a seventh grader from Lindsay.

Her name is Serene.

I don't have her last name written here.

And she is probably walking through the door just a minute.

Um, we're gonna blame this on the weather, but basically, the annual contest invites Virginia's seventh and eighth grade students to submit essays describing what they would do if they were the mayor of their hometown.

They are asked to write a short essay identifying an issue in their locality, talk to others about possible solutions, and then present the solution they believe will best address the issue.

Serene addressed protecting Hampton from flooding, and I believe Serene is now going to join the mayor up front for a few moments.

Um we had a representative from the Virginia Municipal League here, but she had a seven o'clock meeting, so she had to leave.

But she has a um framed certificate for Serene.

I believe there's also a card on the back that has a significant amount of cash on it and a sticker, and I believe the mayor will take it from here.

That's right, and you have a lot of nice things up here.

But um, first we're gonna let you read uh your essay, and this is it right here, right?

Okay, so we're gonna give you the mic and uh let you tell the audience all about how the essay you wrote and why you wrote it, and it was very nicely done.

So, let's take it away from here.

Imagine waking up after a heavy rain and seeing your sheet covered in water.

Cars cannot pass soon as they are late for school, and families are worried about damage to their homes.

If I remember mayor of Hampton, the most important problem I would focus on is flooding.

Hampton is a coastal city, which means flooding happens more often than people may think, even if short storms can cause water circlect on roads and in neighborhoods.

Some streets flood almost every time there is hard rain.

I spoke with the family member and a neighbor, and they bit they both said certain low areas are always a problem.

This shows that flooding is not just a rare event, it is an ongoing issue that affects many people.

Flooding is serious because it affects safety and daily life.

When roads are underwater, emergency vehicles can be delayed.

People may miss work or school.

Water can also damage homes, cars, and businesses.

Families should not have to feel stressed every time it rains.

If I were mayor, I would start by improving Hampton's stormwater drain system.

First, I would work with the city engineers to find the areas that flood the most.

These places would become top priorities.

Residents can report flooding and can get updates during storms.

When leaders listen and respond, people feel safer and more supported.

If I were mayor, I would work hard to hard to protect Hampton from flooding now and in the future.

By fixing drainage systems, using natural solutions, and listening to residents, we can make our city shaper and stronger.

Preparing today will help keep Hampton safer for years to come.

Great job.

Mayor Gray, I believe her mother is here, Serena Green, her teacher, Stacey Ann Facey, and her principal Sharif Hicks.

Okay, good.

They're all here.

So we're gonna go down front right here and present you with some gifts and take some photos, and that is uh excellent.

So come on, follow me.

So Serena mentioned that she was the statewide member of the survival air context.

And uh being a statewide women, we'll probably get right here.

Well, it is a issue in our city.

It's one that we spend a lot of time on.

It's one that I spent a lot of time on thinking about uh working with our teams for the projects that we do to try to make our city more resilient, ready for all of the storms and time of flooding that comes our way.

So very perceptive on your part, and no, you know, a major issue in our community that we have to deal with here.

So we're proud of you for thinking about that and hopefully one day when you graduate, you'll join our uh resilient Hampton team and be a part of the team that works on some of the resilient projects we have to uh protect our coastal community here from uh from tidal flooding and storms.

So, congratulations again.

Now that comes with uh a gift card on the back for two hundred and fifty dollars from Virginia Municipal League, as well as that plot.

And then this is a gift from here, the city team, Hampton City Council and our staff, just to let you know how proud we are of you for writing that essay and for you know making us proud and putting the spotlight on Hampton and yourself and your school.

So, congratulations to you.

Let Mom and Mr.

I hope they have it pleasure.

Also, I told Serene's mother that if she'll get in touch with us, our resiliency team has offered to take her on a tour of some of the projects so you can learn more about that topic.

Okay, so we will move on with our agenda.

So I'm going to ask the clerk to uh read the protocol for public hearings.

The city council is committed to fair and respectful hearings.

The following guidelines help ensure an orderly process.

Individuals wishing to speak must sign up in the city hall lobby starting one hour before the meeting and ending when the meeting begins.

Speakers will be called in the order they signed up.

Speakers shall address council from the center podium.

Each speaker is allowed three minutes.

The timer has a green light, which will turn yellow with one minute remaining, then red when time is up.

All comments must be addressed to the council, and speakers may not yield their time to others.

After all the speakers are heard, the mayor will close the public hearing and invite council discussion and action.

The applicant is allowed to speak for 10 minutes and can request three-minute rebuttal.

Thank you.

And your first public hearing is item number seven.

It's 26, that's zero one eight five.

It's consider appeal of revocation of the zoning administrator permit ZAP issued to James Jordan for a short-term rental, STR, located at 317 Woodside Drive, LRSN one two zero zero zero eight nine, due to violations of conditions contained in the ZAC.

Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you.

So this is the public hearing for the appeal of the revocation of zoning administrator permit for 317 Woodside Drive.

A closer view shows the location on Woodside Drive.

Applicable ordinance authority.

So the short-term rental located at 317 Woodside Drive operates pursuant to zoning administrator permit issued under Hampton Zoning Ordinance 3-329.

And pursuant to Hampton zoning ordinance 3-329D.

The permitte agreed by the decision of the zoning administrator to revoke their zoning administrator permit issued under this section shall appeal that decision to city council.

So the maximum overnight occupancy can be no more than eight persons between 8 p.m.

and 7 a.m.

Maximum daytime occupancy is no more than 16 persons between 7 a.m.

and 10 p.m.

Events are strictly prohibited, and operations shall comply with the City of Hampton Noise Ordnance.

Upon entering the residence, they counted 16 individuals after 10 p.m.

Daytime occupancy violations that include those on April 4th.

HPD received multiple complaints regarding a gathering of more than 100 individuals at the property.

They responded and confirmed the occupancy substantially exceeded the approved daytime limit.

Prohibited events.

So these were discussed previously, but there was a party, a loud pool party on May 25th, a graduation party occurred on June 14th, and then again on April 4th, HPD responded to a large gathering which had loud music, traffic interference, and repeated calls for service throughout the evening.

Noise ordinance violations include May 25th, HPD advised that noise from the part property was plainly audible at 100 feet or more within a residential area.

Again, June 14th and April 4th, HPD also advised that the noise ordinance was violated.

Based on the documented incidents and repeated violations of approved operational conditions, the zoning administrator determined that the short-term rental was operating outside the conditions of the ZAP.

Pursuant to the approved zap conditions and Hampton Zoning Ordinance 3-329.

This zap was revoked on April 21st, 2026.

The applicant has a appealed the revocation, so the appellant will have an opportunity to present.

Staff recommends that city council uphold the revocation of the zoning administrator permit based on the documented repeated violations of approved operator operational conditions with a short-term rental use at 317 Woodside Drive.

And I am here for any questions that you may have.

Okay, and so the uh applicant is here, uh, Mr.

Jordan.

Ms.

Jordan, you have 10 minutes.

Uh timer is set right here, so uh it turns red and your time is up, so feel free to go ahead.

Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm Angela Evans.

This is James Jordan, property owners of 317 Woodside Drive.

Uh, we want to thank you for accepting our appeal letter and hearing us tonight.

Um, you all have been provided with a packet, and I intend to follow along with that packet to make it easier to go through the evidence that we have.

Okay.

Um, sorry, and I didn't get you in the packet.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You might is this better?

Yes, I didn't get your name.

Okay, Angela Evans.

Angela Evans, okay.

Um, so number two in the table of contents is a copy of the house rules.

Uh if you could please look over that, it does include these rules uh are posted to each platform of our home.

So when someone does go to book the home, they do see these rules.

They are um very specific.

They are laminated and placed throughout the home, as well as um specifically noting no large parties, no excessive noise or loud music, and the city quiet hours are between the hours of 10 p.m.

and 7 a.m.

The second rule clearly states parking is only allowed in the driveway or in front of the home.

It does also specifically specify not to park in front of neighbors' homes or block their driveways.

The fourth rule addresses no laundering and being and that being strictly prohibited.

At the very end of the house rules, if you'll please take a look at that, it's on the back side at the very bottom.

You'll notice that in red it does say if the house rules are broken, you will be uh that will result in immediate removal from the property and without a refund.

We do take these rules seriously.

All bookings have been screened by the platforms, and we have been notified if someone has attempted to book and has a bad review from another um property owner.

Uh so they are red flagged.

They actually allow the person to apply for the booking as an inquiry.

However, they do block it.

So if hosts are appropriately rating the renters, we can see that the platform can see that, and their rental is denied.

Number three in the table of contents is also a letter submitted by a neighbor next door to 317, uh, in which she does depict us as being a responsible and attentive, states there have been very few issues at this Airbnb.

Uh, and does also note our prompt and immediate uh response in resolving any issues.

I'd also like to note that this this Airbnb has been operational since 2021.

Number four in the table of contents, excuse me, our copies, excuse me, our copies of the requested receipts from the police communication logs for the dates in question of May 25th, 2025, and also June 14th, 2025, and then April 4th, 2026.

We didn't get on.

Unfortunately, we did ask for those on April 28th, and we did pay as well as um the receipt does show, and we have yet to receive those.

I can't specifically speak to those other two dates because that was over a year ago.

I don't I don't recall.

I do apologize.

I can speak to the most current, and I will get to that.

Um it does show uh number five with the bookings May 25th or May 2025.

That guest did book for eight guests total in the house.

That is that's what they reserved for.

For June 2025, that guest booked for a total of six guests for that rental.

In April 2026, our home was booked by a gentleman by the name of Seth Wright.

Please note there is also a copy there of his booking.

He requested to book our home for two guests.

This was our very first booking.com and our last.

We immediately removed our home from that platform.

Um, and that does also show you at the very bottom of that printout that the home is no longer rentable on that site.

It was determined under the unofficial advice of the Hampton PD who stated that booking.com, that platform individually was known for these types of incidences and are usually people that have been blocked from other platforms.

As a result, uh they use booking.com as a last resort.

We appreciated that advice very much so, and again, we removed our home immediately.

This was a one and done.

Um, number seven in the table of contents will show screenshots of several new postings inside of the home.

Uh, and they're located at each entrance and exit.

Now, this occurred after the uh the June, the recent um, I'm sorry, the recent April 2026.

We worked with Airbnb, and their advice was the only other suggestion that they had for us was to implement a uh a noise monitoring system.

So we did create a new um installed or yes, we installed um that rule, which you can see, those are photos of where those are located in the home.

By Airbnb, our rules are very specific, they are in line with the city ordinances, they are in line with the city permit.

Um we really were at our wits' end with this uh uh this um booking.

Number eight in the table of contents is a screenshot of the social media post that was posted by the April 4th, 2026 renter.

Please note he was selling tickets.

This was not something we were allowing.

This was a party brought to our attention on April 4th, the day of the party by uh via the Airbnb website where a neighbor did state they wanted to stay anonymous, and they send us a message, and that did not make it in your packet.

I do have copies of that if you would like them.

I did make seven.

I wasn't sure how many to make.

If you would like to look at those, so that does that does state the neighbor reaching out to us at 401 p.m.

notifying us of a party brewing.

Uh he provided me with uh the Instagram page of this person stating that the granddaughter um notified that our neighbor, and in turn the neighbor notified us.

I'm sorry, I'm a little nervous.

So um, in number nine of the table of contents is a screenshot showing all of the times that I did call the Hampton PD non-emergency phone number.

Please note my first call was at 4 41.

I was not home at the time of the notification at 401.

I did go home, survey that area, and realize this was not okay, and this was going to be out of my control.

There was not anything I could do for this.

So that uh in calling the Hampton PD, I notified them that um they had violated the permit.

They had violated our rules, and I needed help getting them evicted from the property.

Um I did uh the police did come.

I noticed six six uh police officer vehicles.

It took longer than usual to end up clearing the party and evict the renter and all of their guests.

If you could recall, this is the same day that 900 plus people invaded Buckbow Beach.

I do not have proof that this was the same, however, it was overheard by some of the guests in the streets from our neighbors that it was the same.

It was flow over.

This was out of our control, and certainly not something we we allowed or um or knew about ahead of time, number 10 in the table of contents are the damages and cleanup pictures and the bill submitting to booking.com, and they are all date uh and timestamped.

It was quite the cleanup.

Lastly, number 11 in the table of contents does show correspondence that I had with Hampton PD Sergeant Bradford.

That is a screenshot of a text message of me sending him uh yet another posted brochure from the same gentleman on his same Instagram social media platform stating he was having another party the very next Saturday.

He asked me, Well, what is the location?

And I said it's it looks to be set up exactly how he did that to our home.

It states you have to message him, pay for tickets, and then receive the address and location of the party, our short-term rental operates as a business.

We have an EIN, we have insurance, this is part of our livelihood.

I hope we have been able to show that we are responsible renter uh rental property owners, and we do strive to meet all of the city and city permit requirements.

On this day, our entire community fell victims to these individuals.

We have cut ties with booking.com due to this incident.

We have installed the noise monitoring systems as recommended by Airbnb, which was the only additional recommendation they had for us as all of the other rules we had implemented.

Oh, I'm sorry, okay.

Thank you.

Do you have any questions?

All right.

Do you have any uh questions for the uh permit home?

Uh councilman bowling.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I noticed that you your rules stated that um you had STR rules that they contact you and then you would immediately um fix someone.

Yes, um, out of the three incidents, how many people have you?

This is the only eviction we've had.

You guys have records of it, we were never notified of it.

We asked the police for the notification.

We still haven't resumed.

Yeah, I think they never notified us about the other two incidences that you guys are bulletined on the board.

The two from 2025.

I which is why I really can't speak to that because going back through our Airbnb records, there is no notification that we said anything to the renters uh about police being notified.

Uh we didn't receive a call.

Uh, and I I do have a neighbor across the street that will notify me of incidences.

I even went back through the text messages uh uh with that neighbor, Kevin Owens, and I did not see any notification of that.

Okay.

Yes, thank you for your uh report.

Uh so you're saying that there were two incidences where you were not notified, yes, sir.

From the city or from anyone regarding that.

That's correct.

Okay.

That's correct.

Uh on the 25th of May, uh the pool party that you guys had.

They had a lot of noise and a lot of people and persons there.

Um, 100 or more people at your residence.

You know about that party?

No, sir.

Yeah, no, no.

Never got brought to my attention or flagged or anything on social media or nothing.

What about all the calls for service to the address?

No, sir.

No one knows you're the first guy I heard about it.

That's why we requested the police report.

Okay, because we couldn't believe it.

So you you're saying that all the calls for service and all the disruptions and those kinds of things, you were never notified.

That is correct.

That's correct, yes, sir.

No letter, no notification, no nothing.

Well, you got the letter of revocation.

Did you dispute it?

I'm sorry, repeat that we got the letter of revocation.

Did you dispute it?

Well, that's when we no, no, no.

I can't hear both of you at the same time.

Yeah, so the the letter of revocation did specify the three dates, and that is when we did in turn petition and pay for a copy of the 911 and non-emergency phone call logs so that we could investigate and see, but we have not received them, and that is was paid and requested on April 28th.

So I think he's I think you're clear to clarify.

We were notified when all of the incidents happened.

So that one letter came with all of the other two.

That's when we got notified about it.

Correct.

We were not notified at the time.

We were notified as the events happened last year.

We were all notified about it, the letter that came in the mail, notifying us we were done.

What about on April the 4th when the police were called for alcohol uh beverages being served, loud noise impeding traffic in that community?

That is the one that is the same day.

That was Easter sa the Easter weekend where the same incident occurred at Buckrow Beach.

We had a neighbor reach out to us through Airbnb.

Um that that's the printout that I did just submit.

Uh, if you're able to see, he wanted to the neighbor wanted to remain anonymous and was notifying us of a party brewing.

Uh he knew I was notified on the app at 401 p.m.

My first phone call to the police was uh under an hour after that.

I had to go home, survey that, see what was going on.

I'd had a recent knee replacement and wasn't able to do a um a lot of walking, so I did explain that to the officer.

I did not feel comfortable with that many people going to the home by myself.

The officers were wonderful.

Unfortunately, they were pulled to go to Buck Row, so it left um three officers to try and man this, and it was a lot.

Were you guys aware that when you started your STR that there is a requirement that once you're called about a violation about a situation in your property that you have a time limit to respond?

Um, not sure of that time.

I was not aware of that, but I did respond in under an hour.

Within an hour we responded to it.

Oh, you responded with an hour in person, or you called, you came by.

She drove there.

I was at down.

Do you know the police officers that you property three hours that day?

I'm sorry.

Did you know the police officers about your property for three hours that day?

Yes, sir.

I am aware.

I was there the whole time.

Yep.

They wouldn't leave.

Okay, it's a public right away.

Okay, so they were hanging out.

They also attempted to come back and stay at the property, which is why you see that 10 fit um the after 10 p.m.

phone call to the police once again.

So it took three hours to mitigate the problem.

No, but five hours.

It took a little bit longer than three hours, sir.

Well, once the officers were pulled from our property to go to Buckrow Beach and handle the 900 plus uh people there, it left very few officers at our property.

Uh, and there was a lot of loitering.

There was no arrest made.

Uh, they were trying to keep everything peaceful, uh, which it which it was, uh, and they did successfully get everyone to go.

It just it did take time.

That was correct.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions for Mr.

Jordan or Ms.

Evans?

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Um I do have a question for Ms.

Michael.

Okay.

Oh no, uh, my question is I mean, were any kind of notices sent on the incidents that occurred before the big Saturday event?

So the first of the first issue that happened, which was the noise complaint.

I know that HPD verbally warned the renter, and they complied.

On the second event, the HPD officer noted that they did call the RLP and got no response.

So they they attempted to notify the RLP and gotten a response.

I know on the April 4th incident, I myself called the RLP and did get a hold of him and make him aware that the event was happening.

So I want to specify what RLP is that's registered.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

Responsible local person, which is required by the zap conditions.

And I don't know if the officer who in the back came up if he had any comments regarding the response of HPD to the to the two incidents.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Any questions for the officer?

Can you can you share?

Were you there or you from you were aware of the incidents that occurred?

I was not personally there, but I am aware of the incidents.

Okay.

Um for the June 14th incident, officer did go out, um, made contact with the renters.

He actually went into the home, um, they invited him in.

There was more than 16 people present.

They admitted to having a graduation party, um, and they advised them that hey, it's a violation, and they left.

Uh, it was a visa complied.

Um, the previous incident in May, uh, road officer went out, responded, made contact with someone who claimed they were the renter, they admitted they were having a party, um, advised them to hey.

They got complaints about the music, they said they would turn it down, it was advised, complied, and they left for the April 4th incident, um, when there was the you know 100 plus people there, officers responded out.

It took them like you said, multiple hours to try and clear out the the party goers.

Um part of the issue was a lot of the people that are had arrived by ride share, so when the party was being shut down, they had to wait hours for people to get their rides back off off the property and out of the area.

Um there was music being played in the backyard.

It was a DJ actually had security on scene.

The person who was organizing the party had paid for a security guard, was in the backyard in the pool area.

Okay, thanks, Mayor Brown.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh is it Roosh?

Roush.

Roush.

I'm sorry, I apologize, Mr.

Rouse.

Um, the party on that large party.

Yes, sir.

That's just residents.

Um were were people inside and outside of the residence?

Yes.

There was both people inside the home and then in the backyard.

So we had more than 16 inside.

Yes.

And certainly enough on the outside.

Yes, sir.

Do you see where parking was impeded?

So in the body cam footage you can see that there is multiple vehicles parked up and down the road, and as you can see, people leaving going to multiple different vehicles on on the roadway.

One of the complaints we received, the department received seven total calls almost back to back to back about the party going on.

Neighbors called.

Neighbors called, yes, sir.

Um Ms.

Givens did also call, um, but they were calling about the parking issues, um, and this the the foot traffic in the area and the loud music and the event going on at the house.

Okay, and were the owners cited or warned or no.

No, no citations for anything were issued.

Did they show up?

Yes, Ms.

Gibbons did show up.

Ms.

Who?

Evans.

I'm sorry, Miss Evans.

I apologize.

Miss Evans, yes.

Evans, uh Ms.

Evans showed up.

She did respond out to the property, yes sir.

Okay, and what was the conversation with her?

The conversation with her was between her and the officers was she said, Hey, they're having a party at this address.

I need help getting them out.

Um, the police helped facilitate that.

Uh just because of the scale of the event and other events occurring in the city at the same time, and the fact that most of these young people came by ride share, it just took hours and hours of time and resources to try and clear everything out.

Were there any littering or trash, anything around?

I didn't see any littering and trash in the general public area of the roadway or the sidewalks, but there was some you know trash and and litter left behind in the yard.

What about alcohol?

I don't recall.

I didn't see anything.

I believe there was drinking in the backyard.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

Any other questions for the officer?

Okay, thank you, Officer Ross.

Yes, sir.

Okay, so uh this is uh item requires a public hearing.

I'm gonna open a public hearing.

Uh I only had two people sign up for the public hearing.

That uh, Miss Evans and Mr.

Joy, but you all didn't need to sign up to speak because you were already given the opportunity to speak because you uh um you were the permit holder here, and so you had 10 minutes to speak.

So there were no other speakers signed up.

So I'm gonna close the public hearing.

And that's a call for uh motion on this item uh for revocation.

Mr.

Mayor move that the city council deferring the revocation of rezoning administrative permit twenty twenty-four-0271 short-term rental located at 317 Woodside Drive due to multiple violations of permit conditions as presented in the May 27-26, 2026 city council legislative session.

You have a motion, is there a second?

Second, all right.

We have a motion to second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right, there's no further discussion.

Would you call a roll, please?

Councilman Bowman.

Aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Fairby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Item number eight on your agenda is 26-0156.

Consider revocation of the use permit issued to Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge for restaurant three in the limited commercial C2, Coliseum Central Overlay, O-C districts located at 2163 and 2165 Cunningham Drive, portion of LRSN 700 1532, due to violations of conditions contained in the use permit.

Mr.

Mayor and Council members, uh, Miss Michael is going to do this presentation for you tonight as well.

All right.

All right.

Good evening again.

So this is the proposed revocation of use permit number 26-0039 for Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge at 2163 and 2165 Cunningham Drive.

A use permit may be revoked for any violation of a term or condition of the permit.

Procedures to consider revocation of a use permit is the same as those to approve a use permit.

Here you see the location indicated by the red star.

Here you can see that the location is near the intersection of Cunningham Drive and Enfield Drive.

A little bit of history, September 9th, 2020.

Southern Comfort Restaurant Lounge obtained ownership of the restaurant.

Same year they obtained a zap for a restaurant with alcohol subject to the standards below.

This zap predated the restaurant one, two, and three ordinance update.

September 29, 2025, they obtained a zap for a restaurant two with the standards below.

So our hours of operation were 5 a.m.

to midnight.

Compliance with all laws, floor plan, live entertainment, and Southern Comfort sought this app to extend the hours of operation to 12 a.m.

pending the restaurant three use permit.

December 10, 2025, they obtained a use permit to operate as a restaurant three with hours extending until 2 a.m.

on a limited schedule and allowing for live entertainment.

The hours of operation were daily, 5 a.m.

to 12 a.m.

Sunday through Thursday, and 5 a.m.

to 2 a.m.

Friday through Saturday, and some holidays.

Again, compliance with all laws, floor plan, live entertainment.

And just to note, security personnel at this time was calculated based on the total approved occupant load of the entire establishment, and then any applicable outdoor dining.

March 11, 2026, they sought amendments to use permit 25-0285 to modify security requirements and extend hours of operation.

This use permit was issued, granting the requests in part.

Hours of operation, council declined to amend the hours of operation.

And in terms of security requirements, they separated the event space area from the main restaurant area and modified security requirements as follows.

The event space will operate on an as needed basis, and access would be restricted to the event space when it's not in use.

The establishment is required to notify HPD in advance of any use of the event space.

Security personnel requirements were reduced by two on nights when the event space is not in use, based solely on the approved occupant load of the lounge and restaurant areas, and all exterior security requirements remain the same as the previously approved use permit.

These are the current conditions.

We'll talk about the current condition and then I will talk about the violations of those specific conditions.

So we'll start with security.

So the conditions state that they will monitor and control patron behavior inside the restaurant and upon exit from the building into the parking lot and surrounding areas.

They shall maintain no more than fewer, more no fewer than two security officers to patrol the parking lot and monitor and control patron behavior from 10 30 p.m.

until 30 minutes after closing each night.

They shall contract two extra duty police officers from the Hampton Police Division to serve from 10 30 p.m.

until 30 minutes after closing on any night when the restaurant is open past midnight.

The restaurant and its security personnel shall take all reasonable measures to prevent an act of violence from occurring on the premises.

And the restaurant shall notify the city of Hampton chief of police or their designee in writing not less than seven calendar days before any use of the event area.

Violations of use permit condition number eight.

Around two in the morning on April 5th, a shooting occurred outside of Southern Comfort in the parking lot immediately adjacent to the establishment.

Security staff were not patrolling the parking lot at the time of the shooting.

The security staff were not monitoring patron behavior as this incident occurred, and no security staff reported the shooting to HPD.

On the night of April 4th into April 5th, there was a DJ performing in the event area described in condition eight.

The permit holder did not communicate this event in advance to the chief of police.

On April 11th, Southern Comfort held another event.

This event was also held in the event space, and the permit holder did not notify the chief of police in writing advance in advance of this event.

Current use permit condition number 11 in regard to criminal investigation.

State that any criminal activity observed by the restaurant staff or security personnel shall be reported to HPD, and restaurant staff and security personnel shall cooperate with HPD in their investigation.

The restaurant shall install and maintain two external cameras for the purpose of monitoring the entryways of the restaurant and provide continuous access to those cameras to the Hampton Police Division's real-time information center.

Violations of that condition include April 5th.

No one from the security personnel or restaurant staff reported the shooting to HPD.

We were notified by Centera Careplex when the victim arrived there for treatment.

During the investigation, an employee admitted to hearing a gunshot.

As part of HPD's investigation into the shooting, HPD requested the video surveillance footage from the permit holder.

They explained that the outside cameras were not functioning properly, and HPD also learned that the cameras had never been connected to HPD's real-time information center.

Use permit condition number four states that no exterior or interior window treatment shall be installed that would impede visibility into the restaurant.

They were found to be in violation of this condition as well.

And I will now pass it over to MPO Raush to talk about the HPD enforcement history.

Good evening, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, members of council.

Continuing with the HPD enforcement history on April 5th, shooting occurred.

Dispatch received a call from Centera Careplex in reference to a walk-in gunshot victim.

Dispatch was advised the incident happened at SOCO.

Units arrived on scene, checking for a crime scene.

Multiple security guards were in the parking lot.

The guards communicated that they did not hear or see anything.

One security guard did eventually come out and speak with a sergeant who was on scene and stated he was inside and heard a pop that he thought was a gunshot.

Came outside to see multiple people fleeing the area.

He communicated uh the sergeant requested, hey, is the owner on scene?

He communicated the owner wasn't on scene because it wasn't his night, and that there was a promoter running the event that evening.

Um security guards when the when the sergeant arrived on scene, searching you know for potential victims or any kind of crime scene.

Um they were just like we didn't see anything.

They did eventually also find a blood trail uh in front of the business from from the shooting incident.

Do you guys have any questions for the questions about the shooting incident?

Okay, questions regarding the shooting?

Yes.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mayor.

On the on the this April 5th with the shooting.

Was it April 5th?

Yes, sir.

Well, fourth into the fifth, yes, sir.

Fourth and fifth.

The shooting happened what?

On a like a Saturday morning, early Saturday morning.

Um it was that I believe it was a Friday night into a Saturday.

Okay, until Saturday.

And it's like 2 a.m.

on the on the and HPD was not called.

Correct.

Uh dispatch received no calls from the business, um, patrons of them.

I mean, no one, no one from that location called.

Um, we were notified by Centera Hospital.

They reported that hey, they've had a walk-in uh gunshot victim, and the victim relayed that they had been shot at SOCO.

Okay, and you did say that uh that night the cameras were not working.

That is correct.

The uh cameras, the exterior cameras, um, which are required to be connected to the Arctic were not functioning.

Um, so investigators were unable to get that camera footage, which would have been beneficial in the investigation.

Um I have also checked as recent as this evening as to whether the cameras, the cameras are now functioning, but they are still not connected to Arctic.

Okay, real time.

Real-time information, yes, sir.

And that allows for the real-time information, or is to view the camera feed from the exterior cameras in the parking lot.

Should an event or an incident occur, they can start getting that data and information in real time.

Do you know the condition of the victim?

I do not.

No, sir.

Um, far as that they were released, it was uh considered to be non-life-threatening shooting.

Okay, thank you.

Councilwoman Harper.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I have one question.

It says through here that no uh security or personnel were outside.

And then on another sheet, I'm trying to find it says that the security were in the parking lot near the ladder.

So I'm a little confused.

There was definitely security outside in the parking lot when responding units went to the toco for the shooting incident.

Um, there were multiple security guards in the parking lot at the time.

Um, they began engaging with them again, asking them, hey, did you hear anything?

Did you see anything?

Um they were advised no, we didn't hear or see anything.

Um, so there were definitely security guards present and in the parking lot, at least when units arrived on scene.

Okay.

So did they come?

Because they this was says the security staff were not patrolling the parking lot at the time of the shooting.

The security staff were not monitoring patron behavior as this incident occurred, and no security staff reported the shooting to HPD.

So nobody came out to after they heard the pop.

Am I correct?

Um, there was only one security guard that advised they actually heard the pop, and then he was inside and came outside.

Um, because the exterior cameras were not functioning.

I can't accurately tell you whether they were in the parking lot at the time patrolling or not, um, but they were present and outside when units arrived, but no one from the business called.

And I'm um I'm just being a little fair here.

If if the cameras were not working and you can't verify, so how did how was it say that the security staff were not patrolling the parking lot at the time of the shooting?

I couldn't, I couldn't explain that, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Other questions for Vice Mayor Brown?

Yeah, so um just picking up where Councilwoman Harper left off in terms of security uh at the event that night.

Uh once there is an incident, like shooting, fighting, or whatever, is the applicant required to call HPD?

Yes.

Um, part of the use permit is they are required to report any criminal activity to the Hampton Police Division.

And you didn't get a you guys didn't get a call that night.

We got received no calls from the business whatsoever.

You found out by Center.

The hospital calls, yes, sir.

Okay.

Was it on social media?

Uh later it was, but the time we were unaware of that.

If anyone posted it immediately or anything, we were not aware of that.

We received the call shortly after the victim arrived at the hospital.

Was the person shot inside or outside the uh in the parking lot?

In the parking lot.

Yes, sir.

And so prior to the shooting, were there security guards monitoring the parking lot?

I'm I couldn't.

To your knowledge.

Where it is supposed to be?

There should be, yes.

There's supposed to be a minimum of two outside at all times.

Um there was supposed to be extra duty present that night as they were operating past 12 p.m., but extra duty was not requested that evening.

So you guys did not get a call for extra duty?

For that evening, no, sir.

And they were required to do that?

Yes, sir.

After midnight.

Yes, sir.

Two additional security persons.

Uh HPD, if they're operating past the the midnight hour, they're required to at least request for the two extra duty officers.

And you did not get a call.

No, sir.

That request was not made for that evening.

Okay.

Uh the security guards in the parking lot supposedly when you guys came up.

Had it always been monitoring the parking lot to your knowledge, or did it come out like councilwoman said after the shooting?

So it's been my my experience and my knowledge, there's always two security guards in the parking lot, usually working the front door, checking guests and stuff as they come in and monitoring these people exit there near the front front door.

And they said didn't hear anything?

That is correct.

That's what we were.

That's what the responding officers were initially told by security personnel that were in the parking lot, um, that they didn't hear or see anything.

But the security said inside, he heard a pop.

The security guard from inside who came out and spoke to the sergeant.

Came outside and observed multiple people fleeing.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Councilman Bowman?

Yeah, I have two questions.

The first question the blood splatter or blood droplets in the parking lot.

How close from the splatter to the front door was it?

And then the second question, um, was it has an arrest been made?

So in reference to the blood splatter, um, it was if I had to guess, probably 30 to 40 yards from the front door, would be my guess's um nearest approximation of how close it was from the entrance of the business.

There has to my knowledge not been an arrest made in the case.

The victim in the case was rather on cooperative with investigators, so it is investigation is stopped.

Thank you.

Another question.

So Martha Capital Day.

Councilwoman Mudler.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, so on this particular date, May 6th, and I'm not sure if this was also stated about the April 4th fifth date, but um it was stated that I um third party promoter was involved in this event.

Uh that was the claim for the um April 4th incident, the shooting incident.

Uh the same security guard that advised he had heard the pop and came outside.

Um, he's because the sergeant asked him, hey, is the owner on scene wanted to make contact with the owner?

Um he advised the sergeant that he was the owner was not here tonight and that it was a promoter running the event that evening.

And um can you speak to it or do we need staff other staff to speak to?

What is the policy with respect to third party promoters?

Per his approved use permit conditions, third party promotions are prohibited.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Yeah.

Uh, um, Master subject, master Police Office officer, I'm sorry.

That's um Roosh.

Um, uh you said as of today, May 27, those cameras are not connected to real time.

Correct, sir, as of just, you know, less than an hour ago.

I checked the cameras are not actively connected to the Arctic system.

And the use permit would have required.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

All right, thank you, sir.

Um moving on to the uh the May six incidents.

Uh the following video will exhibit two fights that occurred in SOCO that evening, one earlier in the night between two females, and the second is a much larger fight involving multiple people.

During the second altercation, pepper spray was deployed by security.

They can be seen trying to separate the parties involved.

One subject was choked unconscious while being punched in the face multiple times by a second subject.

Mr.

Gomez confirmed that the incidents occurred.

Uh, the incident began with arguing between several subjects inside the business.

A security guard who was standing nearby failed to act or intervene in any way.

He just stood there while the people started arguing back and forth.

Mr.

Gomez advised that that guard had been barred from working SOCO for failing to act that night.

Um the business was open past midnight.

It was Cinco de Mayo, and it is one of their listed holidays.

The business is allowed to operate past midnight.

The videos I'm gonna show um have been slightly edited to make them more viewable for public.

And the first video was a view of that second larger fight.

Um, this video here will show the fight from earlier in the evening and then a second view of that second fight.

This is the fight from earlier in the evening.

The subjects were separated by security and then removed from the property.

And the young man on the ground here is being choked while the subject in the purple is punching him in the face.

There all parties were pushed out by security, and all parties left.

None of the parties involved wished to speak to police.

They all just left in the in the the chaos that ensued.

Um I went back and made a report um due to concern that there, you know, the one subject there in the video may turn up later with some significant injury, so I wanted to document the incident.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Yeah.

Were you guys called out to this particular fight?

So when I look through the call history, we were not called, but police were already on scene.

This evening extra duty was requested, but the extra duty spots were not fulfilled due to other events and stuff going on in the city.

There weren't any officers who signed up to work it.

But officers were on scene in the parking lot who were working just the ship.

They were out there on a keep check.

Okay.

Um they were already on scene when the people started coming outside.

Officers called in the incident.

And was anyone hurt?

Unknown.

We said everyone involved just fled.

They all got in their vehicles and left the property.

Officers weren't able to figure out as the group was being pushed out.

These all could these incidents occurred inside, and the officers were in the parking lot.

So as people came out and they just left, they weren't advised of, you know, by the people involved, they didn't tell the officers what happened.

Did anyone notice in the video that we just saw that someone was look appeared to be unconscious and they were getting whailed on?

Yes, sir.

That is what I noticed.

Yes, sir.

And that that is the reason I went back after the fact when I was made aware of the videos and the incident occurred to document it in case an individual turned up later with some some injuries.

Did you all know that a young man was taken to Santero Hospital in very serious condition that night?

Was not aware of that.

Okay.

Yeah, I was gonna ask if you don't I was under the impression from the chief that that young man was hospitalized at Sunterra and was there for several days.

I was not aware of that information.

It has a little blare up here.

I'm not sure if you could run the video back on the first video.

Yes, sir.

But it appears that the owner, instead of trying to help, he walked off in the opposite direction, and I don't know, but I know if that was my house or my restaurant or whatever.

I would go and be like, hey, come on, let's stop this.

But is that the that is Mr.

Gomez?

Depicted there in the video, yes, sir.

And he's walking off away from the disturbance.

Um, yes, I believe he is on his uh mobility device at the time.

Um he has uh a scooter, he had a foot injury a while back, and he's uh been on a uh a scooter.

But that is Mr.

Gomez, okay.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Councilman Harper.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So uh just to confirm both of these videos came from social media.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, also um, I really don't need to ask my next question because Councilman Bowman uh answered it for me.

I did have an inquiry uh to confirm that the owner was in the first video and walked past it was uh one young lady in the front, I think, and one young lady in the back as he was walking um right past this big fight here.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, so I know on this uh the May 6th date they were operating past midnight.

It was Cinco de Mayo, which is one of the dates that is laid out as um an option for um certain business owners to um remain open for a holiday event, so to speak.

Is there still not a requirement to engage officers in or to report to HPD that they are having something that day?

So they are required because they were operating past midnight to request for extra duty.

Um, as I said, the extra duty was requested for this evening, uh, but no one no one signed up for it.

The extra duty is a voluntary um assignment, and there were multiple other events occurring throughout the city because of the holiday, and no one signed up to work this location that evening.

Okay, and um but they are they are required to report to HPD that they are having an event on one of those holiday dates, even if it's it's specified that they can hold events, but they still need to notify that they're having an event, correct?

They have to notify um the Chief Rose Dexony within seven days if they're opening the event space, um, if they're utilizing that larger space within the business, which they were.

These these um these videos here took place inside the lounge area, not the event space.

Okay, okay.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Councilwoman Ferr.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Just for clarification, if they request HPD and HBD is not available, then does that mean they're not allowed to use that space?

That is a question I'd have to pass off to staff.

So just to clarify, for per the conditions, they have to notify police anytime seven days prior to using the event space, but specifically when they're required to have extra duty police officers as any time they're open after midnight, so midnight to 30 minutes beyond closing.

So they're required to so per the use permit condition, it states that they are required to contract extra duty police officers for those hours.

Um if they do not contract uh extra duty police officers, they are not to be open beyond midnight.

They would be out of compliance.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mayor Brown.

And this is another incident.

This is the May 6th.

Those videos were made with that May 6.

Yes, sir.

This is another incident where the cameras were not connected to real time.

Correct.

The cameras were not corrected connected to real time at this time either, sir.

And the cameras were working, and I requested a copy of the video from the internal cameras as well to show an overall view.

They have a better view of the entire incident.

Have you seen that yet?

I have seen it.

I responded out to the business and spoke to Mr.

Gomez the days following this event, so I was able to view it on his camera system.

I requested a copy of the video, and I have yet to receive it.

Did it show the fight?

It did, yes, sir.

Was it clear?

It was.

Okay, and so you've seen that.

I have seen that, yes, sir.

Was he there?

He was there.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilman Bowman.

Uh, the question is for Miss Michaels, if you don't remind coming back up, please.

So I'm a firm believer in second chances, giving people a second chance.

So let's go back to 1225 when the R 3 was issued.

Were the issues prior to 1225 before council agreed to the conditions that would have said that hey, we're gonna give you guys a second chance, but you had several um incidents prior to that 1225.

Yeah, one specifically that I can speak to.

My apologies for that.

Um, prior to obtaining their first use permit, they had they were operating under a zap initially, um, and they were the zap the original zap only allowed them to be open until 10 p.m.

and they were continually operating until 2 a.m.

at that time.

Um, once they obtain the zap for the restaurant too.

I am not specifically aware of any um violations.

Roush may be able to speak to that a little bit more clearly, but um it has seemed to be a consistency of not being clear on the conditions that are imposed on them and not complying with the conditions whether it was for the zap or the use permit conditions so when you say not being clear, so for my understanding, you get all the information and it's like a roadmap.

What and it's really designed and created to how and how to help you run your business.

It's like an SOP.

So it's up to you to follow everything in that SOP that we give you, and if you don't, then you're not running your business or manage your business correctly.

Is that correct?

Absolutely.

Okay, thank you.

And I will just state for the record too that um he has never reached out to ask for clarification, ask questions about the conditions or anything uh in terms of not understanding the the conditions of the zap or the use permit.

So can by Kim Bychman.

Kim, so when that happens, we would just assume that there are no issues in terms of what he's required to do.

Is that correct?

If you ask for help, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I can say specifically for the ZAP, they have to initial each condition for to be for the approved permit, and then for the use permit condition, of course, staff works closely with them when we're writing the conditions.

We notify them of the conditions that we're recommending.

And of course, he's at all of the city council hearings to hear and understand the conditions that he must abide by.

Can we send a letter?

Correct.

When it's approved, absolutely.

Yes.

You guys ever get any communication from the owner regarding anything maybe misunderstood, miscommunicated, assistance, remedial assistance, anything like that?

They have never reached out proactively.

Um it's always been an after the fact saying that there's not an understanding.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions for Ms.

Michael or Officer Roush?

For our bring up, give the permit holder the opportunity to speak.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, and and just uh we have a couple more slides here if you don't mind if I just run through those.

And so I'll just outline the grounds for revocation.

So, first failure to comply with use permit condition number eight regarding security.

They failed to notify police in writing prior to the events, failed to monitor and control patron behavior, failure to take reasonable measures to prevent an act of violence, and failure to monitor the parking lot until 30 minutes after closing.

The current window treatment impedes visibility into the restaurant from the outside, and lastly, failure to comply with use permit condition number 11 in regard to criminal investigations, so failure to maintain surveillance equipment, failure to connect to the real-time information center, failure to report criminal activity to HPD, and failed to cooperate with HPD in an investigation into criminal activity.

And in conclusion, the permit holder will have an opportunity to present.

There will be a public hearing.

Staff and planning commission recommend revocation of use permit number 26-0039.

All right, thank you, Miss Michael.

Uh Ms.

Gomez.

Yes.

You do have 10 minutes.

Uh I understand your presentation went a little long in the planning commission, but you only get 10 minutes here.

So are you speaking or do you have a representative?

Okay.

Do you have uh any videos or slide presentations?

Okay.

Okay.

Do you if you have if you're gonna use the PowerPoint, you can use this podium over here?

Good evening, Mayor Gray, Vice Mayor Brown, and members of the city council.

My name is Nia Poe, and I'm the general manager at Southern Comfort, as well as the fiance of Eddie Gomez.

I'm originally from Chicago, but I came to Hampton to attend Hampton University where I earned my bachelor's degree in finance shortly after we started a family and built this family business together.

Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge appears before the Hampton City Council with clear with a clear purpose to take full responsibility for the operational failures that gave rise to this proceeding to demonstrate that meaningful corrective action has already been taken, and to respectfully request the opportunities, continue serving the community under enhanced oversight rather than permit revocation.

Ownership does not appear here to minimize the city's concerns or dispute the seriousness of what occurred, the incidents described in the notice of the incidents described in the notice of revocation are unacceptable.

They reflect failures in execution that we own entirely, and that we have moved decisively to correct them.

Southern Comfort has operated in Hampton for five years, serving thousands of patrons and contributing to the community we call home.

We believe the corrective measures are already implemented, demonstrate our commitment to operating this business the right way in our sincerity in ensuring these failures do not get repeated.

The purpose, the purpose of this presentation is to review the conditions identified by the city as violations, provide context and clarification regarding each violation, present corrective actions already implemented, and demonstrate Southern Comfort's commitment to compliance and public safety.

Before addressing each condition, we want the commission to see a clear picture of what has already been done, not promised, but done.

Security personnel who abandoned exterior posts on April 4th have been terminated.

Additional licensed security staff retained for all weekend operations.

Mandatory exterior patrol rotations implemented during all operating and closing hours.

New incident escalation procedures require immediate HPD notification for any criminal violent or suspicious activity.

Weekly mandatory security meetings established every Monday reviewing permit requirements, response protocols, and reporting obligations.

All scheduling will be confirmed in writing.

Exterior camera technical issues are fully resolved.

RTIC system integration has been completed.

Window tent removed in full compliance with condition four, and staff members have completed additional RSVP and MARC training to strengthen responsibility responsible alcohol service practices and enhance overall patron safety.

This training is intended to reinforce staff awareness, approve recognition of signs of intoxication and ensure appropriate intervention when patrons should not longer be served alcohol.

Our objective is to promote a safe, responsible, and well monitored environment for all customers and staff.

Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge recognizes that the video presented before the city council reflects conduct that is concerning and understandably creates a negative impression.

We do not minimize how the footage appears, and we fully understand the city's responsibility to take such incidents seriously.

At the same time, we believe it is important to provide appropriate context for the council's consideration.

The footage shown represented approximately 30 seconds from the course of an eight-hour evening of operations involving a large number of patrons.

While the incident was disruptive and unacceptable, no serious injuries were reported, and Southern Comfort was not operating in violation of its required security staff and conditions at the time.

Importantly, as soon as ownership observed the situation escalating, immediate action was taken to assist in de-escalation efforts, including turning the music off, turning the lights on, and directing security personnel to intervene and restore order.

Hampton police division personnel were also present on site during the incident.

We also respectfully note that the presentation of this video came as a surprise to ownership as it was not identified among the violations outlined for consideration prior to the hearing.

We raise this concern not to challenge the city's process but simply to ensure the council has complete and balanced understanding of the circumstances surrounding the footage presented.

Southern Comfort fully acknowledges that any disturbance occurring within or around the establishment reflects on the business and remain committed to maintaining a safe environment.

Southern Comfort acknowledges that security operations on the evening of April 4th did not meet the standards and expectations outlined under our use permit.

Following a thorough review of surveillance footage, management determined that establishment established security protocols were not properly followed.

Specifically, the officers assigned to monitor the exterior parking areas failed to remain in their designated posts and were instead stationed inside the building.

As a result, those individuals were no longer employed with our security team.

At the time of the incident, staff heard what appeared to be a single gunshot, but were unaware that an individual had been injured as the person involved had already left the scene.

We became aware of the reported injury the following day and immediately began reviewing our procedures and response protocols.

We do not offer this as an excuse.

The exterior post existed precisely to prevent this kind of information gap, and those officers failed to fulfill that responsibility.

Corrective measures implemented.

Management conducted a full review of all use permit requirements and security with security leadership.

Additional licensed security personnel have been retained for weekend operations.

New incident escalation procedures now require immediate notification to the Hampton Police Division for any criminal violent or suspicious activity.

Security expectations and accountability measures have been reinforced with staff and contractors.

As a result, at the time of the incident, management believed that required extra duty officers had been contracted and scheduled for that evening.

That belief was incorrect, and we accept full responsibility for this compliance failure.

We understand that believing an obligation has been satisfied is not the same as independently verifying and documenting that it has been fulfilled.

And we acknowledge that this distinction is where our process failed.

Corrective actions taken.

Ms.

Martin, Corporal Kennedy, and Lieutenant Kepler have been designated as our sole point of contact for all extra duty officer scheduling.

All scheduling communications and confirmations are now maintained in writing, creating a clear compliance record.

No qualifying evening will proceed without documented confirmation of officer assignment.

Condition AF.

Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge recognizes the significance of adhering to the notification provisions outlined within the use permit and appreciates the city's interest in maintaining appropriate oversight of events hosted within the event area.

In response, we have taken steps to strengthen internal coordination and administrative procedures to promote more timely and consistent event reporting moving forward.

Additionally, we respectfully seek further clarification regarding the practical interpretation of the seven-day advanced notification requirement.

Within the entertainment and hospitality industry, performer appearances and special event confirmations are not always finalized within that time frame.

Likewise, our venue frequently accommodates a community-centered functions and private gatherings that arise with limited advanced notice due to unforeseen circumstances.

For instance, we periodically receive requests from families seeking to arrange repass or memorial receptions following the unexpected their unexpected loss.

These occasions are often organized within only a matter of days.

As such, we appreciate additional guidance from the city regarding whether these types of time-sensitive community or private events will remain subject to the same advanced notification standard or whether alternative procedures or reasonable accommodations may be considered under those circumstances.

Southern Comfort clarification for condition AF, the event space usage.

We respectfully submit for the accuracy of the record that the event space was not open to patrons on the evening of April 4th, leading into April 5th.

Our review of surveillance footage shows the event space remained empty and closed to the public that night.

We raised this solely to ensure the factual record is accurate for the commission's consideration, not to challenge the city's authority or diminish any other aspect of accountability we have accepted in this presentation.

Supporting documentation available.

Sorry, but your time is up.

All right, you can stay here in case council members have uh questions.

Um Vice Mayor Brown.

Ms.

Poe, was it?

Yes.

Ms.

Pole.

Yes.

Yeah.

I have a lot of questions.

Just a quick observation.

Uh, the real-time cameras.

Do you know they're not connected?

The to my understanding, the invite was sent yesterday for those to be connected.

As of this morning, the police officers here tonight that said that they're not connected as of this morning, they're connected now.

Yes.

Okay.

Come up, sir.

Come on.

Yes, sir.

Can you give us update on the cameras?

Yes, sir.

I checked just prior to the hearing this evening, and they are not currently connected or active in the Arctic system.

Appreciate it.

Um the night of the shooting, you guys did not know someone had gotten shot.

No, sir.

Was there a manager on duty?

Yes, sir.

Was your staff on duty?

Yes.

What is the protocol when someone gets injured in your business?

No one needs to know to the next day.

We were unaware that someone was injured until the next day.

So the protocol was not to contact the owner or the rent or the leasey or none of that?

It had we known that someone was injured, yes, we would have contacted management.

Okay.

So all right, thank you.

Um you mentioned that in in your presentation that had you known some of the things that should have been done that in should have been written form.

Uh when you get a use permit from the city of Hampton, they lay out all the things that the owner should be doing in it in written form.

Did you guys get that?

Yes, we did.

So you referenced that had it been in written form, you guys would have known what to do, what communications were necessary, but you did get that in written form, correct?

Just for clarification, which part are you are you with I'm referring to?

I'm I'm regurgitating what you said to us that had been more written communication in terms of what you guys are supposed to do with your business, you would have known.

But the use permit gives you all the written conditions and everything.

So when you see that you've got a a problem with it or don't understand it, you have access to city staff to clarify that.

Did you see that?

Yes, we seen we seen it, and I'm not saying I didn't understand the that certain condition.

I'm just saying that pretty much we we didn't know that we needed to have that information in writing, and it holds us accountable as well if we have that information in writing, because again, we did uh notify someone that we needed extra duty officers every weekend moving forward on Fridays and Saturdays, but we just didn't know that we should have kept that information in writing.

Y'all didn't see it in the in the uh in the protocols recording in the condition that doesn't state that we have to have it in writing that we contract them.

Okay, all right, and my last um uh okay, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Councilwoman Harper.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

How you doing, Ms.

Pope?

Thank you.

Good, how are you?

Your presentation, no problem.

Um, I have several questions.

Aren't you a general manager?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, because in the statement you you just said that if um you had known about the shooting that you would have let mad management know, but you are the general manager, so nobody let you know about the shooting.

What I meant was staff would have let someone know if someone was shot that evening.

If they knew, you know, that someone was shot.

I was not personally there that evening.

However, again, if any member owners, managers, staff, if we had known someone was injured, we would have notified HPD.

Okay, um, so can you confirm the question I did ask the officer about the security guards the night of the shooting?

Um, were there any security guards in the parking lot at all?

At the time of the shooting, no.

Okay.

And did you know that you um that the third party promotion was prohibited in your use permit?

Yes, I did, and there was no third party promotion.

We were unaware that the security said that the owner wasn't there.

He definitely was present that day.

Mr.

Gomez was coming out.

Good evening.

Members of the city council.

We when officers came out the next day to do their investigation.

We also watched footage.

They was in my office for about three hours.

We watched footage.

We didn't know anyone had got shot.

Someone definitely said they heard a pop.

It was an isolated event.

Two guys knew each other.

The one guy got in his car and drove to the hospital, which is two blocks away.

So we didn't actually know anyone had got shot.

We didn't see any trails of blood.

When the officers came that night to do their investigation, it was still people just actually outside in the parking lot, just you know, just hanging around, just typically there, just waiting to go home like nothing really never happened because no one knew that anyone had got injured that night.

I'm sorry.

So if nobody knew that somebody had got shot that night, nobody heard anything, nobody called John, told y'all nothing.

No, no, that's that's incorrect.

I again I was there.

Okay.

Yes, I actually was aware that there was some form of uh gunshot sound.

However, when I went outside, there was no evidence of anyone there.

The gentleman had literally just got into it.

So whoever did, they just they left.

So when you okay, nothing was going on at that time.

Correct, that is correct.

And when the um officers came to review the footage, the detectives, they also seen that actually as a part of what their investigation was.

Okay.

Mr.

Gomez, one more question.

The same thing I I asked the um young miss Pope.

Um the the third party um party or pro promotion.

Did you even know anything about that?

Again, I don't know where that came from.

Um we definitely have any kind of footage that the city would like to see on the night that the cameras wasn't working.

It was just specifically the outside door camera.

Every other camera was working, so it's plenty of evidence that shows that I was there and the other event space wasn't being used.

Um I also we also have email chain from the security company explaining to us that the camera was not working properly, and we were actively back and forth in communication with them, taking steps to fix that.

It just so happened that it fell within those days that we were trying to fix the cameras.

Okay, one more question that I have.

So you wait well only this evening you got access to the real time cameras with HPPD tonight.

So to answer your question, I know this sounds like, but again, we have I have email chains to show everything.

Um the company that we ordered the camera through, you know, basically apologized on getting the cameras, the little box that we have to connect to us.

Um, you know, once I've called and I've I have email chain and they apologize, and we did just get the cameras as soon as we got the cameras.

I was basically on the phone with the lady last night for about three hours to make sure that the cameras are functioning.

We sent two invites.

Um I have the app on my phone.

Um, I could sign into the app and it shows that the you know, basically the real time is working.

I don't know if anyone accepted the invites that were sent through email last night.

Maybe they didn't get a chance to get to it to accept it to be able to see, but yes, everything on our end is done for sure.

Oh, okay.

All right, thank you, sir.

You're welcome.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Yeah.

Thank you, Mr.

Gomez.

Uh I'm just trying to you benefit the doubt.

One just want to ask this question.

The night of the shooting, did you know a shooting had occurred?

So again, I was informed that something that was sounded like a gunshot did go off, but I was also on my scooter at the time.

So by the time I was alarmed and I had scooted outside, there was no no sign of chaos, no sign of anything.

We didn't see any blood, and we didn't know anyone had got shot, sir.

No, sir.

So do you have a protocol that something like that happens to be contacted?

Are you to get be contacted?

Yes, so security actually dropped the ball on that.

The security company.

Okay.

So we probably didn't, you know, have defined clarification because trouble doesn't follow us, so that's like one of the only times where we basically even had to call HBD because we show a record of not having any problems to where we need police on the scene.

Okay.

Mr.

Ms.

Poe indicated in your in her presentation that there was an eight hour event, and what we saw was on last only 30 seconds.

Correct.

That video was long than 30 seconds.

Maybe it was about maybe a minute, maybe, but it was very, very short for sure.

And we didn't have any problems that night, we didn't have no, it was no arguments.

Everything was nice and calm until the end of the night when two guys started fighting.

Okay.

30 seconds.

Okay.

All right.

And no one got hurt.

No reports of injury was made, no, sir.

We checked with the hospital.

No, sir.

You sure?

Well, we didn't get any, we didn't get any um, we didn't get any calls.

No, um, no one that was involved in the fight made a call to us.

What about the agent?

The gentleman that was unconscious on the floor, was he hurt?

Well, he was unconscious, but from my understanding, he wasn't hurt.

He was just basically, I guess, of a loss of air, and he passed out, but he wasn't from what I understand, he didn't and hear me.

I'm not trying to debate with you on this point to argue with you, but he was being pummeled.

He was being pummeled, and he was out.

He was lent when he picked him up.

Okay, okay.

Just want to let you know that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, thank you for for sharing your information with us tonight.

Um, a couple of questions uh um at this juncture based upon what's what's been said thus far.

Um the gentleman that um that uh Vice Mayor Brown was referencing was unconscious on the floor.

You you acknowledge that.

Um it appeared in the video that someone got him up out of the floor.

How did he get up and get out?

Do you have any knowledge of where he went from the your floor?

Um, so to my understanding, he had to gain conscious because once it was and there were um HBD on the scene that night, it was actually a lot of HPD on the scene that night, and they watched the crowd disperse, and like no one left like unconscious or unwaverly, everybody was conscious.

So I'm guessing that you know he came to consciousness or whatever and walked out.

Now there were people that like getting helped out, but no one got carried out, no ma'am.

And that and no ambulance was called to assist him.

No, ma'am.

Um, I there wasn't there was an ambulance.

I had an ambulance was called.

I'm trying to verify whether it was a transport.

Okay.

I mean, good my inclination would be to call an ambulance if I if I saw someone unconscious on the floor.

Um, but I but that to your knowledge, no ambulance was called.

Yeah, I didn't say I just know it was a lot of uh a lot of lights in front of the establishment, a lot of officers, you know, people were leaving out in a fashion, so I probably did it probably was I probably missed it, but we didn't see anyone getting carried out, no, no ma'am.

And um because you've come forward to to give some information on I I I do feel compelled to ask you.

You were you were shown in the video earlier yes um on on that date um in May.

Um, and you were shown sort of coming into the picture and then kind of going out.

What what were you doing at that juncture, or what were your managers doing to manage the situation that was unfolding there?

So it the video looks, you know, looks like that, but yes, I was actually going to make more security guards aware because the security guard that I guess froze up he had the walkie talkie in his pocket that was he was supposed to be using to call other assistance from security guards and other positions of the building and he failed to do that and once I seen he was very shaken up I was basically rolling to get more security guards which I did and how that's how I came to the conclusion.

Okay.

Okay I I think that's all the questions I have um thank you so much for welcome for your information thank you Mr.

Mayor I may I just wanted to clarify this.

I'm I'm trying to get the EMS records about what happened to verify everything I've been able to verify there was a tra there was a call for service I'm still waiting on verification about a transport or not.

I referenced earlier a conversation I recall having with the chief I'm trying to verify all those details with him too so just wanted to be clear okay where I am on that.

Councilman Faraby Ms.

Mayor thank you actually um councilwoman muggle asked the question I was gonna also ask for clarification based on what we saw in that first video it looked like you were moving through the crowd but I think you answered that but I but since I do have the floor I guess I'm a little bit puzzled um because I think someone asked if anyone was injured and you mentioned that no they weren't injured they weren't breathing and I I guess I'm just a little bit baffled by that because if someone isn't breathing that means that they're in distress if I did say he wasn't breathing I didn't mean he wasn't breathing but I did see someone had him in the chokehold so I'm guessing when you lose consciousness once you you know run out of oxygen but I was under the impression and under the production by HPD that no injuries were reported so that's the only reason why I'm saying that because they said no injuries are reported.

Thank you.

Any other questions officer Rows did you have you need to make a comment?

Yes sir in reference to the the ambulance call medics did respond for initially for assault but they cleared it patient refused transport that evening I didn't hear I'm sorry the uh medics did respond to the business that evening in reference to an assault complaint but they cleared it patient refused so the person chose not to be transported so the medics cleared okay so let me pick up from here so the person who refused transport was the individual who was limp and appeared unconscious on the floor is that is that the same person that eventually refused treatment okay unknown it was um that was called for I believe it was a female patient um but they refused patient all right um okay thank you yes Ms Poe um your your position is operations manager or general manager general manager and what is your role and responsibility as general manager basically helping overseas staff ensuring everyone's following protocols and and you know doing their job scheduling things like that okay so are you familiar with all of the use permit conditions and what's required in terms of security um you know notifying PD for incidents uh connection uh the cameras need to be working at all times the can the cameras need to be connected to the real time information center are you familiar with all of those requirements as the general manager yes I am okay I would I would like to say though as far as the camera situation um I guess I needed more understanding of that uh permit condition as I was I thought I was under the impression that somehow HPD could automatically get um access to our cameras, so I wasn't aware that there was actually you know different steps that we needed to take to get that connected.

I thought as long as we you know gave them access that that would suffice.

Um so yeah, it was just a uh misunderstanding of that condition.

Okay.

All right, and then um, you know, Mr.

Gomez, I think there's a there's a there's a whole lot of non-compliance issues here, but I want to be fair to you know on uh use permit condition number eight because but I want to understand because you and I talked uh on May, I guess it was May 2nd.

What what night was the baby here?

Um, it was in the spot.

I think it was the 6th, maybe or something like that.

Okay, somewhere around there, yes.

But I've recalled but during that day that Saturday he was you you you contacted me, he was scheduled to be here.

Uh you needed the permission, I think you needed to have the officers that's required so that you could use the event space, and um you were supposed to settle up a portion of your um balance to the balance on public.

Did that all happen and did you get connected with with HPD absolutely even?

Yes, sir.

Okay, because because the event space according to the use permit, you're supposed to notify HPD seven days in advance of using that.

So I don't know when you notify them, but did you notify them?

Uh obviously they obviously you didn't notify them in writing, but did you make contact somebody seven days in advance?

Yes, I did, Mr.

Gray.

We um, well, that was that's the reason why I have reached out to you because we were already scheduled to have off-duty officers, but then that Friday came, and that's when I got the information Friday afternoon that they wouldn't be dispatched because of the whole balance thing.

Okay.

So they definitely was aware, yes, sir.

Okay, all right.

Uh any other questions for Mr.

Gomez or Ms.

Poe.

All right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, all right.

This is a uh public hearing.

This item requires a public hearing.

Uh so I'm gonna open the public hearing.

Uh I don't have anyone signed up to speak on this item on the public hearing, so we're gonna close the public hearing.

And uh with that, um, City Manager Bunny.

I just want to make sure that we're I'm being accurate in everything that I share with you.

I'm like I said, I've been communicating with Chief Monk and Chief Wideman.

Although I feel certain I was told that there was a person who was choked unconscious at Sentera Hospital, we're not able to immediately verify that.

So I don't want that to be a factor in any decision because if the person refused transport, we can't verify that right now.

So I just I didn't want to leave that, you know, as a certain thing, even though I seem to recollect that.

Everyone can be wrong about something, and I want to be transparent.

Okay.

All right.

Okay, so uh we're we're done.

We don't have any item with anyone sign up for public hearing.

So is there a motion uh on this item?

Yes, Mr.

Mayor, I move that city council revoke use permit 26-0039 restaurant three, Southern Comfort Restaurant and Lounge located at 2163 and 2165 Cunningham Drive due to violations of the use permit conditions as presented during the May 27th, 2026 City Council legislative session, second.

All right, so we have a motion to second.

So any further discussion?

Vice Mayor Brown?

No.

All right.

Um I do have one question for uh Ms.

Michael.

Um so if council uh votes to revoke the permit, what are what are Mr.

Gomez's options for his business going forward?

So he would be able to operate as a restaurant one by right, which means he can operate as a restaurant without alcohol and without live entertainment and some other conditions that would be applied to that.

Otherwise, he could apply for a restaurant to zoning administrator permit, which would restrict his hours to 12 a.m.

daily um and some other conditions around restricting live entertainment to 75 square feet um and some other things, but he could apply for that, and if he meets the conditions of that, he could potentially acquire a restaurant to permit.

Okay.

All right.

Any other questions, comments from counsel, councilwoman Ferraby.

Thank you, Ms.

Mayor.

Um, could you clarify what um in addition to the with the restaurant too?

Does that also allow alcohol?

Uh yes, ma'am.

For the restaurant, too, they would be allowed to serve alcohol.

Um, it would limit the hours, it would limit the area of live entertainment.

Um, and I believe that's pretty much the biggest differences.

Thank you.

I just wanted that for clarification for the postman.

Councilman Bowman.

Uh, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

And just for the record, um, before we do our vote, um, I just want to be clear that this council, we're not out to close any business, not black businesses, not white businesses.

We give everybody an ample opportunity to run their business very fairly.

We give them an SOP, and it's up to them to follow the SOP, as well as we have open door for you to have communication with us if you don't understand something.

So I wanted to be very clear that in this instance, um, Mr.

Gomez was given a second chance per pretty much on 1225.

Um, and his use permit spelled out everything that should have been done.

It's up to the individual how you manage your business.

Our first concern is safety and making sure that we don't have any tragedies, any deaths.

And that's why this these policies were put into place to help govern businesses that have unruly situations.

You can't control everything, but the things that you can control, it spells it out.

And when you fail not to do things such as call the police or report things, or not having vehicles in place, such as security systems to make it feasible for the police to track down and apprehend someone for these crimes, that is a problem.

So I just want to say that we are not closing businesses.

We welcome businesses, but at the same time, it's up to the business to stand up to their part.

Okay, any further discussion.

All right, we call for the vote.

Uh, call the roll, madam clerk.

Motion was made by Councilwoman Harper, seconded by Councilwoman Muggler, Councilman Bowman, aye.

Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell.

Aye.

Councilwoman Faraby.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Muggler.

Aye.

Mayor Gray.

Aye.

Motion carries.

Item number nine on your agenda is 26-0118.

It is an ordinance to amend and reenact the city code of the city of Hampton, Virginia by amending specific sections of chapter 35.1 site plans to clarify language, reduce ambiguity, and create new definitions for major and minor site plans to better classify submissions.

Mr.

Mayor and Council members, uh, tonight you have our chief site plan and subdivision uh agent, Miss Saruhair D.

Hobb.

I think this is her first time presenting before council, so we welcome her.

Okay.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor and uh members of the city council.

Thank you for giving me the time.

Miss Diab, you might want to get a little bit closer to the mic.

Okay.

There you go.

Better?

Is that better?

Okay, thank you.

Uh, my name is Sir Diab, and I'm here to um present the amendment side of plan code proposal, explain the benefits uh it will provide to the community and how it will align with the city goals for growth and development.

Uh so first of all, we want to understand what is the side of plan.

A cider plan is an engineering details uh drawing, shows existing conditions of a property and the proposed development details, uh such as buildings, sidewalks, land escape, utility connection, traffic, and more.

Uh the importance of the CIDA plan and why it is matter of side of plan help prevent conflict, improve safety, and guide the clear decision making during planning and permitting process.

And at the end, it's all for a better and a safe community.

Why we are amending the code now?

We are amending this section to align with the state code, clarify vogue area, define key terms, and make the process clearer, faster and easier for the citizen to use.

This slide outlined the section numbers proposed for amendment.

In the 13th section, which shows on the right side of the screen, we are only proposing technical corrections and a few housekeeping.

In the five sections shows on the right uh left side of the screen, amendment are expanding definitions and major revisions.

So I'm gonna go through only the five major sections, the major changes.

Section 35.1-2.

In this section, we are proposing language to define major and minor side plans and outline key elements.

This will improve clarity and help applicant understand the class of the CIDA plan, so they will not submit application for some work that is not required.

Section 35.1 2.2 B and C.

So two amendments proposed in this section.

B this amendment clarify that only when required green area is reduced, side of plan is required, and this will ensure the applicants are not asked to exceed city ordinance requirements.

C, this amendment allow large larger building addition without tricking additional requirement, giving property honors greater flexibility while reducing regularity burdens.

Section 35.1-23 and 23.2 and 35.1-23, this formalized digital submitted submissions in the place of paper copies, reducing cost, improving efficiency, and speeding up the process.

35.1-23 clarifies responsibilities for coordinating with public utilities, uh, creating a clear process to improve efficiency and reduce delay.

35.1-25.

This amendment reduced the review timeline to align with the state requirement.

For example, it's reducing the review period from the current time, which is 60 days to 40 days.

The conclusion, staff and planning commission recommend approval of amendment number 26-0118, and we're working on any question that the council may have.

Thank you.

Okay.

Any questions from Ms.

DM?

Okay.

Mr.

Mayor.

I move that city council.

Yeah, the public hearing.

Oh, public hearing.

Sorry.

Okay.

Well, don't have any questions for you.

Thank you for your presentation.

Uh this uh this item requires a public hearing, but there uh is no one signed up to speak, so we're gonna close the public hearing and then we'll call for a motion.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I move the city council approve and adopt item 26 0 1 1 8 amendments to city code chapter 31.5 site plans as presented in the agenda package.

Second.

Alright, we have a motion, a second.

Is there any further discussion?

All right.

There'd be a none.

Uh would you call the role, please.

Councilman Bowman.

Aye, Vice Mayor Brown.

Aye.

Councilwoman Campbell, aye.

Councilwoman Farabee.

Aye.

Councilwoman Harper.

Aye.

Councilwoman Rugler.

Aye, Mayor Gray.

Aye.

The motion carries.

Item number 10 on your agenda is 26-0168.

It's a resolution authorizing the transfer from the City of Hampton to Hampton Redevelopment and Housing Authority of the following properties.

Three unaddressed parcels on Grant Street identified as LRSN's 1300 2697, 13005365, and 13005364.

One unaddressed parcel on Briarfield Road identified as LRSN 1300-5433.

And 406 Settlers Landing Road identified as LRSN 2001959.

Mr.

Mayor and Council members, the city owns the parcels that the clerk just referenced.

And because we've designated the Hampton Redevelopment and Housing Aid Authority as the agency to implement our city's community plan as it relates to residential development and development with residential components.

And because these items, these properties are to be used for such developments, we are requesting council authorize the transfer to the redevelopment and housing authority.

All right.

Mr.

Mayor, I uh move the city council approve 26-0168 resolution authorizing transfer of three unaddressed parcels on Grant Street to Hampton Redevelopment Housing Authority as presented in the agenda package.

Second.

Alright, we have a motion and a second.

Is there any further discussion?

There be a none.

Madam Clerk, would you call the roll, please?

Council Chair.

Aye.

Aye.

Councilwoman Barber.

Aye.

Councilwoman Mother.

Aye.

Aye.

All right.

Next is uh public comment.

So uh madam clerk would read a protocol for public comment.

Council meetings are for conducting city business.

Public comment is allowed on matters within the council's authority and follows public hearing items.

Speakers must follow the citizen participation protocol.

Speakers may sign up in the lobby one hour before the meeting and until it begins.

Speaker shall address council from the center podium.

Each speaker is allowed three minutes.

The timer has a green light, which will turn yellow with one minute remaining, then red when time is up.

Please speak respectfully and avoid personal attacks.

Focus on topics within council's jurisdiction.

Do not use the platform for political campaign speeches.

Comments must be directed to the council and yielding time is not allowed.

Audience must remain respectful and refrain from interruptions.

Council typically listens without engaging in discussion.

Responses may be provided by the city manager, the city attorney, or council members after public comment.

Failure to follow the protocol may result in removal from the podium or meeting after a fair warning.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you.

And you know, we always have somebody who's speaking that may have not been before city council before.

The indicator for your time is right here, and it's uh in front of the vice mayor.

The green lights on, that means you have three minutes.

When the yellow light comes on, you have one minute left, and when the red light comes on, you are done.

Um you have three minutes to speak, as she mentioned.

If you wrote a five-minute speech, you still only get three minutes to say it.

So uh we want to call the first speaker, Megan Baker.

Good evening.

Good evening, uh, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, and staff.

My name is Megan Baker, and I am from Chesapeake.

Um I'm the founder of the Reunite Tonight Project, a Chesapeake Base 501c3 nonprofit focused on reducing shelter intake and helping lost pets get home faster through microchip education and 24 7 public microchip scanning stations.

The idea for this project came from years of rescue and fostering, where I saw some heartbreaking situations over and over again.

Loving families desperately searching for pets that were often only a scan away from being identified.

The problem is that while many pets are microchipped, access to scanners is limited after hours.

Most shelters and veterinary clinics are not open 24-7, and not everyone who finds a lost pet is able to hold that animal safely overnight until somewhere opens the next day.

That gap in access is where our project steps in.

We install publicly accessible microchip scanning stations that allow community members to scan a found pet and begin the reunification process immediately.

All stations are fully funded by our nonprofit at no cost to the community.

We also provide microchip education classes and free microchip vouchers through participating clinics.

Our goal is simple.

Keep pets out of overcrowded shelters when possible, reduce strain on animal services, and help families reunite with their pets faster.

We launched our first public scanning station with Chesapeake Humane Society, and we now also have a station at the Virginia Beach SPCA.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we've already heard from residents in surrounding communities, including Hampton, asking how they can bring this resource to their communities.

That's why I'm here tonight.

We would love the opportunity to work with Hampton to explore placing scanning stations in accessible community locations and expanding public education around microchipping and lost pet reunification.

This is a preventative community-driven approach to animal welfare.

Every pet reunited outside of the shelter system means less strain on municipal resources, less stress on shelter staff, and less trauma for pets and families.

Most importantly, it gives people hope during what is often one of the worst days of their lives.

Thank you for your time for the work you do for this community and for considering ways we may be able to help, we may be able to partner together to help more pets find their way home.

I'd be happy to answer any questions.

But if you stay until the in uh city manager or somebody city staff, we'll connect with you after.

Thank you so much for your time.

All right.

Next speaker is Marlon McDaniel.

Marlin McDaniel.

Alright, next speaker is Debbie Noor.

Hi, I'm Debbie North.

I'm actually the interpreter for Miss Paul, and I was asked to speak before her just to explain the process.

If anyone doesn't understand um how to use an interpreter, if you do, I notice you're not going to ask any questions, but if you did have any questions for her, there is a little of a delay in um you asking and me interpreting, just to be aware of that.

Um she will also be speaking about the reunite tonight.

She'll be speaking for herself.

So if there's something not clear, I'm assuming you will ask and I will interpret that to her to speak again.

Um, and that's all I had to say.

All right, thank you.

Okay.

Next speaker is Melanie Paul.

Can you even miss Banting, Mr.

K.

Council?

I'm the intimate chihuahua S.

Megan.

I'm the individual S Megan to come tonight.

Because two weeks ago, I saw on the SBCA website, I'm Virginia Beach.

This reunite tonight.

I was interested in it because I served before on Hampton Animal Control, and I saw that to all the meetings here.

I thought that this was necessary for our community because in March Animal Control is saved.

621 cults for this.

114 only for dogs and cats that were strays.

In April babies, it's 451 cults for safety.

In four pets and talks that were strays.

Last week I attended the Anton and my control meeting, and I brought this up to the council that they were all interested in this project.

I say this as a win-win for I said it.

And my hair will be you and I'm still fine on the street without first having to go to animal control.

If they have this scanner, and I have it here, we give it to you.

They can go and open this box for the scan and scan the tiger.

Also, I told Mystic, they would be mine.

My paper if I can buy the first one for our city.

Then it's it is located central.

Because I spoke to Mr.

Mitz about this last week at the meeting.

I said if we locate this in the central position and we see that it is successful, then the city can buy two or three items to put them in the audience of the city.

Thank you for adding this bit.

Yeah.

This is anything.

Thank you, Miss Paul.

Next speaker is Lewis Banks.

My name is Lewis Banks and live on Corner Shale Road and Winona Drive.

And I'm here tonight.

I was told to come here by the grass situation.

It's an area behind my house, just big enough to have 10 houses built there.

I've been cutting the grass for over 15 years in this area, free of charge.

But that's only like one-fifth of the area.

And I would like to cut the whole area.

A week before last two little boys playing in the field.

One of them about eight years old, other than about six.

When they walk from mine from the area I cut to the uncut area, I could not see the six-year-old.

That's how tall the grass is.

But the city cuts it twice a year.

And I do have another issue.

I got a ticket there, no problem.

A lot of people did.

My problem is where is the money going for when you pay the ticket?

I tried to pay the ticket at City Hall.

They say the money goes to Ohio, Ohio, somewhere other state.

And I just want to know if that's true or not.

Cause then I'm wondering why are we sending our money to other states and we're not getting no benefit from it.

That's all.

I do have a couple pictures, so whatever.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Banks City Manager will answer your question regarding at the end of the public comment session.

All right, next speaker is Craig Knott.

Good afternoon, City Council.

Mayor Gray and uh everybody.

Uh, appreciate you guys allowing us these three minutes to always talk.

Uh, it's been a while since I've been here.

Uh, a few things that have uh I've seen lately have concerned me.

Um, one of them is the redistricting uh member that was out there now.

Um obviously everybody's free to talk about whether yes or no.

Now, my concerns are that I seen a couple of members from city council advocating for yes.

Now, maybe you see it one way versus how others may see it with the advocation of yes, it's basically saying to discriminate upon conservatives, republicans, libertarians, independents on saying their vote does not count.

And it's made something that you may want to think about uh before you say vote yes on that.

Um, just want to bring that to light.

Um, one of the other things too, uh, down at Buckrow Beach lately, and down there, I seen somebody that had a sign with uh Mark Warner sign.

Um I think it's on uh Buckrow ad.

Anyhow, um, the uh hundred days prior to November 3rd is July 26th.

So it's like 60, 61 days, like too early.

Anyhow, um the person that owns that house may want to look at that.

So, um, what else?

When we were talking about audit month, um, one of the things my concern is is that the city council just writes an open check to city to uh the school board.

One of the things that I was kind of curious about is does the school board do an internal audit of the money that they get the year before or something like that?

And that was kind of a concern, so of this year.

What we've seen is a lot of audits producing fraudulent, a lot of fraud stuff going on.

So it maybe something that maybe we want to consider is having the uh city council look at previous years' audits before we just openly send them a check.

So that's all I had.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Knopp.

Um, next speaker is Joan Weaver.

Good evening to everyone.

Hampton City governance.

I stand here, a 64-year resident of the city of Hampton, Hampton University graduates strong.

If anybody has a care and concern for this city, I do from the city attorney, manager, mayor, vice mayor, and city council.

Keep one thing in mind.

You may sit up, but when you look down, you lift someone up.

Mr.

Gurley was in here and he gave a phenomenal presentation with his men regarding the re-entry program.

City Council in the city of Hampton somehow has a those people look, turn it around.

Those people are our people.

When you all give your city council spotlight recognition, the next one that you give May 29, his graduates will be graduating.

I want you to call them here to the chamber.

I want you to have them here and give them presentation.

We all fall short.

City attorney, city manager, council members, and vice mayors.

Keep in mind, you two have skeletons in your family or in your own closet.

So none of us are perfect.

I stand with the same.

Give people respect and dignity that they are due.

I want to get to leadership.

Anytime our own leader can look at me and two of other citizens who were at the strategic plan update and tell us that we were troublemakers because we are advocates for our uh community.

Guess what?

I'm gonna be good trouble.

I will continue to call everything out that is against our marginalized community.

And for the voiceless to give them a voice, you open up with your invocation.

Would Jesus do some of the things that you do?

No.

Humanity is non-negotiable.

And for your codes and compliance in treasurer's office, I want those to be opened up too.

I want the city manager to tell us how citizens can express discord when we are treated with less than respect and substandard service.

Remember citizens first.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Weaver.

And final speaker is Gayleen Kanoyton.

Good evening, Mayor Gray, members of council and staff.

My name is Gayland Kanoit.

I'm the president of the Hampton Branch NAACP.

I do want to say the early vote starts June 19th.

So we're right in the right in the way over the signs.

I just needed to say that.

I am here today to express, and I made my notes, to express my concern about the violence and the black owned establishments in Hampton, particularly restaurants.

This issue not only affects the businesses, but also tarnishes our city's reputation.

It's important to address the systemic inequities faced by black businesses and businesses in Hampton and around.

Non-black restaurants have also experienced shootings yet remain open and thriving.

While circumstances may differ, the outcomes from violence are the same.

It is important.

I mean, what measures are being taken to prevent these incidents?

Is there a mentorship program for black businesses and all businesses and business owners?

Why doesn't a city reach out to these businesses for support?

I know there's a person that's doing it, but she's that we get complaints that everybody's not treated the same.

New businesses often complain about how difficult it is to start in a business in Hampton, while they are challenges, I believe a review of rules of engagement is needed.

I don't want to see another news article that says, especially a black owned business has had their license revoked.

Economic empowerment contributes to the health of our viables of a viable city.

Cities like Washington, DC, Atlanta, and Houston are widely recognized for fostering thriving businesses, especially black businesses and restaurants.

They successful successively drive prosperity by implementing targeted resources centers, streamline city permitting, promoting collective real estate ownership, and running high impact local procurement and marketing.

We often get complaints from businesses reporting on equal treatment despite availability of resources.

We just don't want to hear another black business.

We're having violence.

We got to get to the root of the issue, and we're here to help.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Canoy.

That uh concludes our speakers, uh City Manager, do you want to address uh before you address the comments?

I would like to add that please uh make sure you share uh the work that Mr.

Martez Gurley is doing with our hopeful Hampton Divergent Program.

I would also acknowledge that he's a member of the Hampton Roads Committee of 200 plus men, in which I'm a mentor, I mean a mentor, he's one of our mentors for our organization.

And then also regarding the signage that's not properly located.

I failed to mention when I got out of my car today on the Eton Street side of City Hall.

Somebody has a uh running for Congress sign, it's not Congressman Scott.

I believe the name is Gary Anderson, but I'm not sure what to say campaign sign posted on city property right there.

And I forgot to tell you about that earlier today.

Thank you.

Well, since you brought up Mr.

Um Gurley's program, I'll start with that, even though I normally go on order.

I will um amplify what the mayor said, um, both in terms of the work that he's doing with the Hopeful Hampton Divergent Program.

For those of you who are not aware about that program, that is a targeted effort where we try to intervene with the family and community members of young people who have been identified as likely to be victims or perpetrators of violence, so that we can try to change the trajectory that their lives are on.

Many times these individuals are identified either by their family member, by a minister or a caring person in the community that's worried about that young person's future, and we pair them up with a mentor.

In this case, Mr.

Gurley is one of those um uh Mr.

Martez is um one of those uh mentors along with several others that we have, and they work with the young people for 12 weeks in a specific program where we work on various skills from wellness skills, financial skills, workforce skills, uh mindfulness skills, de-escalation, all those kinds of things.

So that's something that he's been doing for quite some time.

The program that he spoke about a couple weeks ago is a newer program that he started with returning citizens, as he spoke about, and I have met with him uh to talk about how we might support that program growing.

Um, some of that depends upon the availability of some resources that we hope to get when the state budget is finalized with the safer grant that we've talked about before.

But he has invited us all to the graduation.

Um, and I I don't know if we all can go, but I know some of us are intending to go to the graduation.

Uh, but we we very much um appreciate the efforts that he and others like him are doing in our community.

We try to recognize them.

We actually did have a spotlight on citizens for the hopeful um Hampton folks, I think last year, if I'm not mistaken, probably in the September timeframe, but I'll I'll be glad to check the records on that.

Um, returning to the Renite Reunite Tonight project.

I think it's a beautiful project.

It's the first I've heard of it.

Um we do, as was referenced just for the benefit of the public, all of our animal control officers do have scanners, but of course they're not on on staff 24 7.

So the presence of such um communal resources where people could check the microchips would obviously help more people so they don't have to wait till the next day.

Um so I I completely get the notion of the program and and the intent behind it.

We will definitely follow up and learn more about it.

Appreciate that Ms.

Paul has suggested maybe sponsoring one of the um the scanners.

Yeah, I don't know if that's the right term for it.

Um, but um, and you know, we'd want to find out more about how much they cost and you know what the experience has been in terms of how far apart they might go in the community.

If you look behind you, you'll see Jason Mitchell, he is our assistant city manager who's currently overseeing our public safety activities to include animal control, and he had texted me that he would be glad to stay back and chat with you all to make an appointment to learn more about the program.

But I I want to commend you for such an innovative program.

Um, in terms of Mr.

Banks' questions, uh the red light camera money, um, it does come back to the city budget.

Uh we use a third-party vendor to collect it a lot of times with collection of mass numbers of either tax receipts or tickets or things like that.

If we had to hire enough people to take all that, you all would be paying a lot more than if we use a third-party service.

But the third party service is just processing both the tickets and the money for us.

We get 100% of the proceeds after covering the actual cost of the employees who do that work and the equipment to do it.

So the money has been going into the city budget.

We have two different programs.

We have the red light program that you spoke about, that money has been dedicated to public safety, and then we have the school zone program, which it sounds like you have not had to pay.

I hope you leave you won't have to pay it because it's a hundred dollars, but that money goes to support improvements on our roads, specifically, preferably around the schools, pedestrian safety kinds of projects.

But after covering the cost of the processing fees and the equipment, 100% comes back to the city budget.

Whether that ticket is paid by a Hamptonian or someone from out of town.

And Mr.

Mitchell also oversees public works, and so he's going to get with you and talk with you about the cutting that um you brought up the grass cutting at 2214 Shell Road.

If I got the address correct, okay.

Um, I don't address political issues, so I'm not I'm not gonna get into the redistricting issue as I have not in the past.

Um, I will say the school board does get an external audit, just like the city gets an external audit.

Um they do that every year.

Um, and and just for the record, the city council has no purview legally over the school board and how they spend their monies.

That's by state contract and state construct.

Uh, the elected school board would be the one that would need to determine if they wanted to do a particular internal audit.

I'm sure they have a function like that.

Most large organizations have an internal audit function, whether they're corporate or their um government, just as we do, but I'm not familiar with how they do that, and that's really not our purview as a city government.

But I did want to let you know I am aware they do annual external audits.

Um, and I want to just address Ms.

Kenoiton's.

Um, I thought it was a really great suggestion to do small business support, especially for restaurants.

We do have a small business program in economic development, but I don't think we have anything targeted specifically for restaurants, and I think that's a really great idea.

I appreciate that suggestion, and I will get with Leonard Sledge and we'll work on how how we might do that because I think we all struggle every time we let as Councilman Bowman rightly said, none of us want to see any business close.

We want every business that opens to succeed, and if we can do more in the way of support, you know, we will we will do our best to do so.

Um I will also note in case you're not aware, the council talked about some time ago when we're we're getting ready to get to the point where we would be making appointments about creating a small business advisory committee.

Um we've been doing the work groundwork to sort of lay how the areas that they would look at, but the whole notion behind the small business advisory committee is to support the ecosystem of startups and and new businesses that are of a smaller nature because many times they face uh challenges that other businesses don't have like cash flow, how quickly they can get paid.

If they want to bid on city projects, oftentimes you need bonds for for that, and so how might we help support them?

But the one thing I don't think we had thought of maybe Leonard has but I know I hadn't was specific restaurant support and I think that's a great idea so we'll follow up on that I think I covered everything Mr.

Mayor okay so uh I'm gonna ask the uh clerk to read the motion required for appointments you have one motion tonight and that is with respect to the peninsula airport commission to appoint Clayton Turner to a first term which will end on May 31 2030.

Mr.

Mayor so councilwoman Faraby sorry Miss Mayor so move all right is that require second second second all right we have a motion to second any further discussion all right recall roll please councilman bowman aye vice mayor brown aye councilwoman campbell aye councilwoman fairby aye councilwoman harper aye councilwoman mugler aye mayor gray aye okay so are there any reports from the city manager city council staff or committees is there any new business does anybody want to vote to extend the meeting beyond 11 o'clock all right if not we adjourn