Kevin Wright - Leesburg Town Council

4th of July Events in Leesburg...

There will be several events on Saturday to mark Independence Day.

Parade 10:00 AM - The town's annual Independence Day Parade will begin at Ida Lee Park traveling down King Street and concluding at Fairfax Street.

Picnic @ Dodona Manor 11:30 AM - 4:00 PM - The lawn of Dodona Manor, the historic home of General George C Marshall will be open to the public to enjoy a picnic. Bring your own picnic. Tours of the Manor will be available at 1/2 price.

19th Annual Celebration in the Park - 6:00 PM - This years musical guests are the nationally recognized, family friendly band, The Landsharks. The Landsharks are a Jimmy Buffett cover band and will also be playing other summertime favorites. The event at Ida Lee Park features a full food court, gates open at 6:00 PM.

Fireworks - 9:30 PM - The area's best and largest fireworks show will launch from Ida Lee Park at 9:30 PM.

I hope you and your family have a happy and safe Independence Day Holiday.

4th of July Holiday Schedule for Town Services

Here is the schedule the Holiday Schedule for the Town from July 3 - July 5. I'll skip to the main point for a lot of us. Recycling and Yard Waste Pick Up will run on its normal schedule on Friday July 3rd for residents in Northwest and Northeast Leesburg. Those businesses that receive curbside trash pickup on Saturday will not have pick up on Saturday July 4th.

	Friday, July 3, 2009	Saturday, July 4, 2009	Sunday, July 5, 2009
Town Hall Offices	Closed	Closed	Closed
Town Hall Visitor Center (Lobby Area)	Regular Schedule 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM	Regular Schedule 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM	Regular Schedule 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Ida Lee Park Recreation Center	Regular Schedule 5:00 AM to 10:00 PM	Modified Schedule 6:00 AM to 12:00 PM	Regular Schedule 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Tennis Bubble	Regular Schedule 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM	Modified Schedule 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM	Regular Schedule 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
AV Symington Aquatics Center	Regular Schedule 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM	Modified Schedule 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM	Regular Schedule 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Thomas Balch Library	Closed	Closed	Closed
Leesburg Executive Airport Administrative Office	Closed	Closed	Closed
Town Trolley	Not running	Not running	Regular Schedule 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Town Safe-T-Ride	Not running	Not running	Regular Schedule 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM

First Night Leesburg & Town Support

At our council meeting last week the Town Council voted to authorize the town manager to sign an agreement between the Town of Leesburg and Bluemont Concert series regarding support for the First Night Leesburg program. The process for this agreement began last fall when the board members of First Night Leesburg approached the town indicating that they intended to disband the LLC that is running First Night Leesburg and would like the town to support a transition. The primary concern for the program was the need of "insurance" in the event of bad weather or significantly low turnout. Throughout this process the Town has been clear that we will not become the primary funding source for First Night Leesburg and that we will hold Bluemont accountable to performance standards to insure the events success. The agreement that the Town council has supported accomplishes both of those goals. The Town will be fully reimbursed for any "insurance paid", a fund will be created to accumulate "profits" in order to allow First Night to again be self sustaining, and clear organizational and performance metrics have been laid out that will hopefully foster success of the event going forward. First Night Leesburg is a family friendly, alcohol free, New Years Eve event hosted throughout downtown Leesburg at a variety of venues and featuring a variety of performers.

Form Based Code Moves to the Planning Commission

The Form Based Code Steering Committee voted 7-0 today to recommend that the current draft of the code be passed forward to the Planning Commission for their review and recommendation. This meeting followed the joint meeting with the Steering Committee, Planning Commission, and Town Council on May 20th. During that meeting the Steering Committee presented their work to date on the Form Based Code and facilitated a discussion regarding the code and more specifically the proposed road network, size of the district, and triggers for compliance. The purpose of the Form Based Code is to serve to help facilitate and revitalize the Crescent District (the commercial area adjacent to the historic district along Catoctin Circle and extended along East Market Street to Plaza Street) utilizing a zoning designation that is more focused on appearance, design, and exterior characteristics than on use. The Steering Committee has worked for over a year on review of the Form Based Code and has facilitated numerous meetings in addition to public input sessions in drafting the code. The committee which consisted of members of the planning commission, board of architectural review, property owners, real estate and design professionals, and citizens worked to reach a consensus on the best draft of the code to pass forward for review.

The next steps for the code will be review by the Planning Commission, the format of that review is to be determined by the commission but will include at minimum one public hearing prior to a recommendation being made. Following the recommendation by the Planning Commission the Town Council will conduct their review which will also include a public hearing prior to a vote on whether or not to adopt the Form Based Code. In tandem with this review, staff will be working on modifications to the other development regulations in the town that would be needed to facilitate Form Based Code.

Assuming that the Form Based Code is adopted therehas been further discussion to incorporate aspects of the Form Based Code into other areas of the Zoning Ordinance to encourage appropriate development that protects and enhances Leesburg's character throughout the town.

I would like to thank my colleagues on the Form Based Code Steering Committee for their diligent work to date on this significant undertaking.

H2 Committee Recommends Changes

At last Monday's Town Council work session we heard the recommendations of the H2 Committee. The committee was formed at the request of Council to review issues raised regarding the feasibility and function of the H2 Overlay corridor. The executive summary of the committee's findings are that the current H2 Overlay corridor is not effective as a planning tool due to incomplete guidelines but that the intent of the H2 Corridor is still important and worthy of revisions to achieve the original goals of the corridor.

The H2 Corridor is an overlay district to allow for architectural control on the main approaches to the H1 historic district. In english that means that the corridor covers properties along Market Street and King Street outside the historic district. Building design in this area is reviewed by the Town's Board of Architectural Review. Design review in the H2 only applies to commercial development, residential development is excluded.

The executive summary of the committee's findings make sense. I do however have some concerns about some of the more detailed recommendations of the committee. Most specifically I have reservations regarding the recommendation to review expansion of the H1 district to apply to additional residential properties. Any expansion of the H1 should be driven by the property owners impacted as opposed to it being done to the property owners. I support a review and update of the guidelines, making the H2 process more administrative, and anything that helps to protect and enhance the character of Leesburg. We will need to review and fine tune some of the other recommendations of the committee.Click here to review the whole report Download Tab%2008%20-%20Final%20H-2%20Committee%20Report.

Pleasure to serve on "Jury Duty"

This morning I had the distinct pleasure to serve on a jury as part of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Mock Trials. The trials marked the conclusion of the Leadership in the Law Summer Camp. The camp, which is for rising high school seniors, provides campers with an introduction and experience with the law and legal system.

I was truly impressed to see these young men and women presenting their cases today. The poise, confidence, and experience they demonstrated in presenting a legal case before a judge and jury was most impressive. It was also impressive to see the members of our community who took time out to serve as instructors, mentors, and chaperones for this camp.

My compliments to all those involved in the camp. My admiration to these young men and women for the job they have done. It is always impressive and heartening to see members of our youth community showing the signs of the future leaders they will become.

Clarification Regarding Letter to the Editor re: Town Parking Garage

This week's Leesburg Today features at letter to the editor regarding a plan to charge for handicap parking in the town garage. Please find below excerpts from an email that the Council received from Town Manager John Wells clarifying that the town Is Not Charging For Handicap Parking In The Town Parking Garage.

 Madam Mayor and Members of Council,

There is a letter to the editor in today’s June 26 Leesburg Today (page 77) ... concerned about a plan to charge for Handicapped Parking in the Garage.  We are issuing a press release ...to make sure that everyone knows we are not planning to charge for handicapped parking.  We have already issued clarifications to downtown businesses when this question arose a few weeks ago. 

There are two issues we are currently trying to address in the garage and communication/notification was not clear.  First, we have added additional handicapped spaces in the garage on the roof.  Since there are several town employees that have handicapped permits we didn’t want all the first floor handicapped spaces used by Town employees.  By adding the additional spaces to the roof, adjacent to the elevator in compliance with ADA and other regulations we are, in a practical sense, adding more spaces for the public in the garage at lower levels.    

The second issue involves a payment abuse issue in the garage that our policies as written have not been able to correct.  Payment by handicapped users was contemplated as part of a broader solution but has been abandoned.  ...  Unfortunately that decision was not made before [the] letter was composed and sent. 

John 

Bluemont Concert Series Set to Open at Dodona Manor

The Bluemont Concert Series continues their long summer tradition of presenting concerts on Sunday evenings in Leesburg. This summer's series will be in a new venue with Dodona Manor, the historic home of General George C Marshall, playing host. The series will open this Sunday June 28th at 7:00 pm with Scott Ainslie performing. The series will continue every Sunday through the summer concluding on August 23rd. Find more information on Bluemont's website.

Wegman's Hiring for Leesburg Store

I was forwarded a link to Wegman's Leesburg site, they have positions posted for the Leesburg store. They have a Leesburg hiring office located at 50 Catoctin Circle NE Leesburg VA 20176.

Council Receives Requested Report on Facade Grant Program

Some of you may have read the online coverage regarding Council's discussion of a possible Facade Improvement Grant Program.

And now "the rest of the story"...The conversation about the possibility of such a program started for me almost a year ago when I spoke with a member of Purcellville's Economic Development Commission about their program. I had requested staff to investigate further if this was something that was feasible or at least worth a discussion. In the fall of last year the I requested through our normal procedures for a discussion of the program to come to council following an initial review by the Economic Development Commission.

At our work session on Monday the council received the report on the program. This report was very preliminary and outlined that such a program could be feasible and beneficial. The question to the Town Council was would we like the EDC to continue their review to refine the program and under what parameters. The parameters that would be considered in an additional research period would be the maximum size of a grant, the funding source, if the program would operate more as a loan program, if the program would be administered by the Town or perhaps a Downtown Management Association, etc.

Several council members expressed concerns of if the program is the right step or a necessary step to help the downtown and preservation of its historic buildings. The Mayor expressed her very strong concern that no taxpayer funds be used for such a program and indicated that she would not support this program.

The envisioned purpose of such a program is to encourage property owners to enhance and/or restore the facade of their buildings to the benefit of the overall downtown community. The condition of some of the buildings in downtown has been a regular and ongoing discussion, methods to help encourage owners to make upgrades has also been an ongoing discussion. It is important to note, in no circumstance in this program intended to pay for simple maintenance, nor is it intended to pay the majority of the project cost but rather be the incentive to get the project into the starting block.

It is my belief that this program is worth additional research and discussion regarding its viability and whether it will accomplish the goals of the Town. The concerns about use of taxpayer funds, the extent of a grant, and the eligibility of property owners are all valid concerns that should be addressed. The risk that we take when we start these research projects is the perception that a decision has been made, versus simply starting a discussion on whether or not an idea has merit for review. I have not made a decision but as we continue to have discussions about how we protect and enhance our historic district this seems like a part of the discussion worthy of further consideration.