Hampton City Council Meeting – August 15, 2024
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Hampton City Council Meeting – August 15, 2024
The Hampton City Council met on August 15, 2024, to address a wide range of items including consent agenda approvals, public hearings on zoning and short-term rental regulations, and public comments on neighborhood concerns. The council also approved a sister city relationship with Malange, Angola, and received an update on violence reduction efforts showing a significant decrease in shootings.
Consent Calendar
- Approved amendments to the FY2025 budget to accept and appropriate grant funding for homelessness prevention, services for infants/toddlers with disabilities, sheriff’s reentry programs, medication-assisted treatment, victim witness services, dispatch training, fire and rescue operations, election improvements, a multimodal safety action plan, traffic signal retiming on 21 arterial roads, and crime prevention for seniors.
- Appropriated funds for the Transportation Initiative project, accepted funds from the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice, approved FY2024 fourth-quarter budget adjustments, requested VDOT to program Little Back River Road Phase 2 into the six-year improvement plan, and approved minutes from four meetings.
- Vote: All aye except Councilwoman Mugler (abstained).
Presentations & Proclamations
- Crime Prevention Community Recertification: The Hampton Police Division received recertification as a Certified Crime Prevention Community for three years, one of only 12 in Virginia.
- Sister City Resolution with Malange, Angola: Council unanimously approved a resolution establishing a sister city affiliation with the Province of Malange, Angola. Vice Mayor Gray and Councilwoman Harper shared details of their June trip to Angola, noting high-level interest including the president’s desire to participate in a signing ceremony.
Public Hearings
- Rezoning – Trilogy 2 (24-0329): Approved rezoning of 12.45 acres at 1232 West Queen Street from R-11 to MD-4 (multifamily) and C-1 (neighborhood commercial) with 13 proffered conditions. The development will include 90–114 two-story townhomes (fee-simple, 2-car garages) and a small commercial parcel (daycare, restaurant, retail). Staff and Planning Commission recommended approval. No public speakers. Vote: unanimous.
- Daycare Use Permit (24-0325): Approved a use permit for Amazing Child Care and Learning Academy at 1416 Todd’s Lane (R-13 zoning) to operate a daycare for up to 51 children (ages 16 months–12 years), with 11 conditions. The site previously housed a daycare. No public speakers. Vote: unanimous.
- Homestay Rental & Short-Term Rental Separation (Items 24-0276, 24-0277, 24-0313): Council adopted three ordinances:
- 24-0276: Created a definition for “homestay rental” (resident-occupied, one bedroom rented to transient guests).
- 24-0277: Allowed homestay rentals by zoning administrator permit in residential districts with conditions (owner present during overnight hours, no signage, no events).
- 24-0313: Reduced the minimum separation between short-term rentals from 500 feet to 300 feet.
- Public speakers expressed concerns about noise, parking, and enforcement, while supporters noted benefits for traveling medical personnel. Vote on 24-0276 and 24-0277: unanimous. Vote on 24-0313: 6–1 (Councilwoman Mugler dissenting).
- Flood Zone Overlay Clarification (24-0314): Approved an ordinance clarifying that the coastal A flood zone must meet the same construction standards as the coastal high hazard (VE) zone, aligning with building code and FEMA guidance. No public speakers. Vote: unanimous.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Theresa Roundy: Raised concerns about development at 217 Woodland Road, citing arsenic risks from a historic cemetery and questioning the adequacy of ground penetrating radar.
- Ursula Barkers: Criticized the council’s decision to rezone and sell land to North Point (industrial use), describing ongoing noise, dust, and tremors, and demanded mitigation like sound walls and a traffic light at Greenbrier Avenue and Shell Road.
- Craig Knobb: Inquired about the status of Lake Hampton (completion expected by end of 2024) and requested help organizing adopt-a-spot training sessions using city facilities.
- Bob Smith: Highlighted safety hazards at Greenbrier and Shell Road, calling for a traffic light.
- Jeannie Belgrave: Reported a water leak on Curl Road since March 2024 (ticket #SS2409934) and asked for city follow-up.
- Aaron Weaver: Criticized the vacation of Pine Avenue, described resulting safety issues such as cement pillars installed by a neighbor, and asked how residents can seek redress.
- Joan Weaver: Continued advocacy for a permanent display honoring the Virginia State School for the Deaf and Blind at the Hampton History Museum, and criticized the council’s 2022 rezoning decision in her neighborhood.
- City Manager Bunting responded: clarified the cemetery process, noted ongoing temporary traffic measures at Shell Road, directed citizens with claims to risk management, and affirmed commitment to honoring the school while balancing museum space.
Discussion Items
- Open Burning Ordinance (24-0274): Approved an ordinance amending Chapter 14 to clarify definitions of open burning vs. recreational burning, removing language that allowed subjective enforcement of smoke complaints. Fire officials explained recreational fires (e.g., fire pits) are legal if within size and setback limits, and the city will no longer mediate neighbor disputes over smoke. Vote: unanimous.
- Lease Agreement with HRHA (24-0283): Approved a one-year lease (with four renewal options) for office space in the Ruppert Sargent Building at $15,255/year with 3% annual increases. Vote: unanimous.
- Fort Wool Restoration Priority (24-0372): Designated restoration of Fort Wool as a city legislative priority to request state funding, aiming to reopen the fort to the public after bird relocation by 2027. Vote: unanimous.
- Towing Advisory Board (24-0288): Re-established a towing advisory board to review the city’s police-requested towing ordinance. Vote: unanimous.
- Appointment of City Attorney: Approved appointment of Courtney R. Sidnore as full-time city attorney starting September 16, 2024. Vote: unanimous.
Key Outcomes
- All consent agenda items passed (6–0–1, one abstention).
- All zoning/public hearing items passed with conditions (votes recorded above).
- Homestay rental ordinance adopted; short-term rental separation reduced to 300 feet (6–1).
- New city attorney appointed.
- Council appointed members to FADA, CPAG, and Fort Monroe Authority.
- City Manager reported that fatal and non-fatal shootings are down over 50% year-to-date, based on presentations during the afternoon work session.
- Mayor announced a joint press conference with Newport News Mayor on August 16 to recruit male mentors for middle school boys.
Meeting Transcript
Who produce the wonderful local products we enjoy? Brought to you by the Virginia Farm Bureau. Here's what's coming up in this week's show. Produce auctions are a pivotal link between farmers and consumers. Chef Tammy helps us figure out some new fig recipes. And we visit Lunaburg County for this month's county close-up segment. Virginia. Welcome back to Real Virginia, everyone. We're coming to you this week from Paris View Farms in Lunenburg County. We'll have more from Lunimburg County coming up later in the show. But first, produce auctions are a vital link between farmers and farmers' markets and grocery stores. Here's a look inside Virginia's largest produce auction held in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Auctioneer Lyndon Wenger manages the bidding over a pallet of fresh produce this summer. It's one of hundreds of crates of produce, flowers, and other goods bought and sold to the highest bidder at the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction in Rockingham County. All of this buying and selling create a pivotal link in the supply chain between farmers and the consumers who enjoy fresh food. Most of our bread and butter buyers here at the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction are roadside stands and farm markets that you may see around here in the Shenandoah Valley. And most of those places grow, you know, a number of produce themselves, but they can't have the whole variety that they want to offer, so they come here to fill that out. Access to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables allows vendor John Henry to focus on specializing what his farm does best, such as tomatoes, while buying enough other goods to draw customers to his retail operation. The auction is super useful for our business, particularly for acquisition since we have a roadside stand, and so we're able to get everything that we would need to keep our store stocked from you know April till November. So our buyers, most of them are small business owners as well, just like the growers. And so, you know, they're looking, they for their livelihood, they need to be able to come here, get a wide variety of stuff, get it at a decent enough price that they can turn around and resell it and make money, you know, for their small business that they have as well. Since many farmers' markets are only open on weekends, it could not always be practical for farmers to have a presence at every farmers market within driving distance. Selling goods at auction gives farmers an immediate economic benefit for their work. That in turn gives farmers the option of focusing on one or two specific farmers' markets over the weekend, or skipping the retail side altogether so they can focus on the supply side of growing. This auction began nearly two decades ago. Heat Wolf says local growers saw the model working well in Amish parts of Pennsylvania and decided to give it a try in the Shenandoah Valley. This is great for our growers here in that a lot of them uh don't necessarily want to spend a lot of time going to a place where they're dealing directly one-on-one with the customers and selling that way. And so this gives them the opportunity to focus on what they do best, growing good quality produce. They can bring it in here and they can drop it off and leave 15 minutes later and go back to what they do instead of having to spend hours and hours and hours of a day uh trying to market their produce to people that way. Many of the farmers who do business here are also involved in dairy or other livestock operations. Growing produce helps them diversify, and having a convenient place to sell their products is an added incentive to enter the marketplace. Retail vendors aren't the only customers who buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Small and mid-sized grocers are all drawn here for the opportunity to buy local and support their neighbors. The stuff's fresh. It's picked within 24 to 48 hours. So the shelf life is just a lot longer for us, so we can really get a lot more out of it as compared to a national vendor, you know, where something might sit on a truck for a week before it even gets to you. Fresh flowers are also a significant commodity sold here. Florists and other retailers buy here for many of the same reasons as produce buyers. The opportunity to bring fresh merchandise to their customers. The auction also has a strong relationship with the Blue Ridge area food bank. Heat Wall says they provide over 100,000 pounds of fresh produce to the food bank each year. You don't have to be a buyer or a seller to visit the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction. Visitors can watch the proceedings, and there's even a cafe if you want to take a break. The facility is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from April to October, and in November on Tuesdays until Thanksgiving. For real Virginia, I'm Burke Muller reporting. This year, the first full week in August is National Farmers Market Week. There are almost 300 farmers' markets tracked by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. And plenty of other places where someone is selling from a booth on the side of the road or the back of a pickup. Many of these markets operate under Virginia food safety regulations and are inspected by the state. To learn more about the rules covering farmers' markets, visit the agency website at the link on your screen.
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