City Council Meeting - 10/7/2025

There you go. Smack back down.

Okay, now we have everybody's attention.

Call this meeting to order in the Virginia City Council and formal session and the mayor will be here. He uh is at the state of the region and he's just going to be a little bit late. And then uh Council Lady Rouse uh and Council Lady Henley both have some family matters they take take care of this afternoon, but they feel like they're going to be here for the final meeting.

With all of that being said, Mr.

Manager.

All right, Mr. Madame Vice Mayor, members of city council, just want to note that um there's been a change to the schedule. The Army Corps of Engineer was um projected to present today to give the city council and the public an update on the coastal storm risk management project. But however, due to the furlows, they haven't they're not able to make it here today. Um please note that LJ and I will work to brief

you all probably in oneonone meetings before the Army Corps takes on their um public meetings on this in December. But the Army Corps was not able to attend due to the furlows. The first presentation that council will receive today will be from city staff regarding ebikes and its impacts in the community.

The presentation will be led by um legis director McKenzie and we'll have the support of the city attorney's office as well as the police department to answer any questions.

Well, good afternoon madam vice mayor, members of council, Mr. City Manager and Mr. City Attorney. Uh appreciate the opportunity to be here with you all today. uh as the city manager mentioned, I'm joined by Donna Hernandez from the uh city attorney's office and Brad Wesler from the Virginia Beach Police Department who assisted in putting together this presentation and will uh likely answer the bulk of your

questions. I'm just going to throw them to them. So, um so today's presentation will walk you through the Virginia code sections that govern ebikes. Uh go through the local code sections. We'll talk a little bit about some of the enforcement challenges, show you some of the awesome things that our communications, police, and parks teams are doing in this space already to improve safety, and then go

over a few recommendations and options.

Uh, at the conclusion of today's presentation, we are seeking your guidance on how you would like to proceed with amending the local code sections using existing authority and then uh what new authority you would like to seek from the general assembly, if any. Uh, as you will see, the Commonwealth does provide some uh some limited authority to restrict where ebikes can operate, but they do not

provide authority to ban them or to keep them off local roads or out of local parks.

Um, so we uh you know, we all know that community concerns surrounding ebikes are on the rise and mostly center around safety. And while we don't have hard data to back it up, we're all hearing from constituents that there is an increase in both the number of accidents and the severity of those accidents. And we've heard about concerns over how ebikes are interacting with our community, weaving in and out of people

walking on paths, trails, and the boardwalk and on streets, raising concerns for motorists.

Uh so the first section of our presentation will walk us through how the code of Virginia governs ebikes. In 2020, the Commonwealth adopted what is widely considered to be model legislation. 41 states in total have adopted this legislation in some form or another. Uh, and the basic premise of the legislation is that it treats ebikes the same as a typical bike. It requires that manufacturers place a label on the

bike that includes the bike class, top speed, and motor wattage, which we'll discuss here um in a second.

So, uh, the Virginia code defines, uh, an ebike as a vehicle with no more than three wheels that has pedals for propulsion, and an electric motor with an input of no more than 750 watts. That 750 watts number is important to keep in mind. The code goes on to categorize uh, ebikes into three separate classes.

Class one, the motor only works while pedaling and has a top assisted speed of 20 miles an hour. So that means the while you're pedaling the motor will operate but once you reach 20 mph the motor shuts off. Class two the bike contains a throttle that will propel the bike even while not pedaling and has a top assisted speed of 20 mph.

So again it'll shut off at 20. And then the class 3, the motor only works while pedaling and has a top assisted speed of 28 miles per hour.

Um, so the model legislation requires all operators of a class 3 ebike to wear a bike helmet at all times. It says that ebikes can be ridden in places where a typical bike is allowed, but it provides three options for local government to make an exception. And you'll see those three options here in orange, and I highlighted them in orange because these are this is an area where we are not

currently utilizing this authority. And you'll see on the next slide there's a couple more things in orange. Um, so the code allows a locality to prohibit the use of a class one and class 2 ebike on shared use paths, but requires a public hearing and requires that such restriction be necessary for public safety or compliance with other laws, but it allows a locality to prohibit the

use of a class 3 ebike on a shared use path without a public hearing or without any other reason.

Um, and it allows a locality to prohibit the use of any ebike on a city-owned trail. Again, no public hearing is required for uh for regulating ebikes on a trail. So, uh there there's just this distinct difference between a shared use path and a trail and then uh what type of class the bike is.

Um so, there are other uh sections that govern ebikes. Most of these govern ebikes and regular bikes and other kind of small motorized vehicles all in the same manner. So, uh the Virginia code allows localities to require anyone 14 and under to wear a helmet, which we're doing that currently. Uh 46.2-903 uh specifically permits ebikes to ride on a sidewalk um along with other bikes

and other motorized vehicles. But 904 allows a locality to prohibit ebikes on sidewalks. Um it specifically requires there to be signage placed in the areas that are prohibited. Um the code sets a minimum age for driving a class 3 ebike without supervision of an adult. Uh they set that age at 14. So if you're under 14, you're not allowed to drive a class 3 ebike without somebody supervising you

who is 18 or older. uh requires all bikes to have a headlight and rear reflector if they are driven at night.

Prohibits someone from riding a bike uh and wearing earphones in both ears.

Apparently, you can wear them in one ear, but not both. Um and lastly, there is a provision that would allow a locality to require the registration of different types of wheeled devices in a locality.

Um, so the next few slides will take us through our local municipal code. The city allows ebikes on sidewalks and bike paths except where prohibited specifically like on Atlantic Avenue during the resort season and on sidewalks in the resort area anytime.

Uh, the city currently prohibits bikes and ebikes on the beach, sand dunes, and boardwalk unless authorized by a special events permit. and ebikes are prohibited on the boardwalk bike path, the sidewalks at Town Center, and in all city-owned parking garages.

Uh, it's important to recognize that uh the American I'm sorry. It's important to recognize that the Americans with Disability Act allows for an important exception to all of these code sections.

If an ebike is being used by an individual with a mobility disability, the ADA requires the ebike to be allowed anywhere a pedestrian is permitted to walk.

Uh, additional sections of our municipal code govern some of the operations of an ebike. So, uh, we talked about, uh, everybody 14 and under is required to wear a bike helmet. That's, uh, the same for a regular bike or an ebike. Um, it requires that anybody on a bike give the right of way to a pedestrian. So, if you're on a sidewalk or you're in a crosswalk and you're encountering a

pedestrian, the pedestrian has the right of way. Uh, and it prohibits reckless uh, riding, which is punishable as a traffic infraction with a fine of not more than $200.

Uh so there are many challenges to enforcing these rules uh including what is often seen as confusing or conflicting code sections as you saw and as we displayed some of these code sections especially the local code sections. They're allowed in some places not in others. Uh they're allowed on Atlantic Avenue during certain times of the year, not in other times. And so it it gets a little confusing for the

writers and probably for our law enforcement as they're trying to enforce these rules. Um, they've pointed out that there's a need for additional signage in areas where ebikes are prohibited. Uh, there's a difficulty in IDing the class of an ebike, including if it should be classified as a moped instead of an ebike. Uh, it's challenging for our officers to safely stop an ebike rider, as you can imagine.

Um, and then, you know, maybe the hardest part of enforcing any of these rules is that the police need to witness the infraction in person. Um and as most of these folks who are riding these bikes are uh kids, they typically take an educational approach to enforcement.

Um so there is an additional so there is a need for additional messaging about how to safely and legally operate an ebike and our great comms parks and wreck and police departments have been working on just that. Uh they've added a landing page to our city website.

They've been meeting with the resort uh area transportation committee. They've developed videos and blogs and have uh additional engagement planned in the near future. Uh and they've developed a brochure which is included in your materials here today that includes safety tips, rules of the road, and um go to the next slide. And includes this great chart that really breaks down where ebikes are allowed um in a much

more simpler form than the way that I displayed it based off of the code sections. And so this this is uh fairly new and it's started to be distributed throughout the community. Now uh so here you will see a couple of recommendation from the city's attorney's office to clean up the local code. They recommend removing the prohibition of ebikes on Atlantic Avenue as this is now preempted by state law.

Alternatively, we could also request authority from the general assembly to prohibit ebikes on certain streets or roads. Uh we don't have that authority now. Um, they also recommend adding the three classes of ebikes to the local code. This will put our our code in harmony with the state code regarding the age to ride a class 3 ebike and the class 3 ebike helmet laws.

Uh, the next two slides provide options for council's consideration. These aren't recommendations uh from the staff. These are just options based on the authority that we currently have.

Uh, we'll seeking your guidance on which direction you want to take this. So, as we talked about in the beginning of the presentation, uh, state code allows localities to prohibit the use of ebikes and shared use paths. I'm sorry, to prohibit the use of ebikes on shared use paths, trails, and sidewalks.

Again, to prohibit the use of a class one or two ebike on a shared use path would require a public hearing, but no public hearing would be required to prohibit a class 3 ebike on a shared use path or to prohibit any ebike on a trail or sidewalk. doesn't mean you couldn't hold a public hearing still. It's just not required.

An additional option utilizing existing authority would would be to uh explore the creation of a registration program for ebikes. This would likely require an extensive communications effort, additional staff and budget. And finally, we can seek additional authority from the Commonwealth. uh some ideas that we came up with but aren't limited to uh we can request authority to prohibit ebikes in parks similar to

the authority that exists to prohibit ebikes on shared use paths. We can request authority to increase the helmet requirement age. Currently it's 14 and under. Um and currently they're only required to wear a bike helmet. With the speeds that some of these bikes go, maybe it'd be a good idea to request that they have to wear a more uh uh I don't know what the right word is, more stringent type of helmet. maybe some

sort of same sort of helmet maybe they'd have to wear for a moped. Um and then uh you know another idea that was kicked around was eliminating the class 3 definition of an ebike and ask those to be classified similarly as mopeds. Um so that's the conclusion of uh presentation. Madame Vice Mayor, I'll turn it back over to you for uh any questions and discussion.

Okay, Stacy.

Oh, I'm sorry.

That's all right. Um thank you.

So, uh, two or three things. Um, one is is that I think might be helpful.

Um, is to show the pictures of the class one, two, and three if we I don't we don't seem like we have them, but that might help us or those of us that aren't uh in the know about the three. Um, because a class one looks almost identical to a regular bike and it almost operates like a regular bike. And my hope is that we kind of move that direction of how we separate things. Um

I know that I I personally have u a brother, a good friend, and another person that rides down there, rides at the ocean front. And that's the other thing I was going to say is we have like an oceanfront issue and we have a neighborhood issue. So it's a it's a different ballgame. And we have a young person issue a part of this, you know.

Um there's no question that the class 3 in my mind needs to be heavily uh regulated, but we have that's a that's a gamecher that is it's a light motorcycle. It's a scooter. I don't know what we want to call it, but it's well over 50 lbs and that's a problem. Like down at the ocean front though, I would hate to see the class one taken out of this area of being able to be ridden

down there cuz it's pedal assist. And there's a lot of folks, two of the three that I just mentioned, wouldn't be able to ride down there if you didn't. Now, you could say, well, they got to ride on Pacific, but they have a kind of a club.

They literally have ridden 300 out of 365 days down there, you know? So, it's it's kind of their way of life. Um, doing this every morning they're down there. Um, so I'd hate to see that.

Yeah. Something like this, but with a you know, like which one is which, you know, how they look, cuz I think that would give us a better idea um on what that what that means.

Councilman, I guess two comments from my perspective.

And I know I kind of shotgun you there.

I'm sorry.

No problem at all. I can keep up sort of. Um, so I have no experience with these things other than the kids in my neighborhood that I see on them, like we all do, right?

Um, and so in in my very limited research, just looking at the photos, man, it's hard to differentiate between a one, a two, and a three for from my point of view. And I think the police would say something similar as they're zooming by them. Um, and so that's that's a challenge. That's that's a really big challenge. And there is a label on the bike that has to tell you

what it is, but as it's driving by you, like who would know, right?

And then the second thing I would point out, um the ocean front part I think is a challenge as well in that um as you can see currently the ebikes aren't aren't operating there. uh I don't want legally maybe Vermont is a too strong a word but they are not authorized to be operating at the ocean front on the boardwalk on Atlantic Avenue between May and October. they're not allowed on the

sidewalks and so that's a challenge as well and some an area that you guys may want to whichever way you want to take that some clarification is likely um having some experience with this across the Commonwealth and then in North Carolina and different things where I ride is is that that's what we do unintentionally we put we say ebikes and it captures everything you you're not dealing with a

14-year-old my brother's 70 you know he's you're not looking to do anything but have, you know, go out in the morning and see the sunrise, you know.

So, um, there's a big difference in what we're talking about. And the bike, I would suggest from a one to a three wouldn't take much and you would I don't I don't think it'd be any problem telling the difference in a one cuz a one a one looks like a bike with just a little bit more thickness in the frame.

Um whereas the three is big tires, it has a throttle. You know, there's a there's a there's a difference in my my humble opinion. Um so I'm not sure, Brent, Mr. Manager, how we go forward on this, you know, as far as talking like where are we looking at? What do we what's the angle of this? You know, I'd be interested in either being a part of it or if is this it right here today?

you know, um, this right here is to give council options to consider. Council may ask for additional information for us to come and brief them on or council may send us down a path that he may want to explore.

But right now, we were trying to bring something together that council can have a discussion at the table in terms of does council want us to explore any of these extra restrictions.

Thanks, Stacey. Right. Um, I'm going to choose my words carefully here but this has been a subject topic of discussion since April that I know when I brought it up and we were just given a tremendous amount of information in a short period of time to digest and there are a lot of options here that need to be considered. We can talk about it later, but um this is not something I

don't think we can sit around this table and come up with recommendations right now. This needs to be explored in depth, well thought out, and um as I've been begging, you know, we we needed,

excuse my words, we need some um prohibitions on these. We need to rein these in and using just what we've heard here. We have some avenues that we can go down. We also need to get some more avenues from the state. But this is more than a fiveminute discussion around this table given that tremendous amount of information we were just given. And like Councilman Hutcherson said he'd like to

be involved. I'd also like to be involved because we need to put some real parameters around these things.

Are you done?

Um well, so I guess this past weekend my family and I we stayed down at the resort for the Neptune Festival. Um, I was walking down the boardwalk and I felt like a gush of wind behind me, one of these people on the bike path. Um, and I I I can't believe it was just 25 mph they were going. It was much faster than that. Um, I I do think and I agree

completely, council member, that this a lot of information. We do have some choices and we probably need obviously input from public safety you know hearing hearing from people like what kind of injuries you know that that are occurring on these things. Um um you know where where might be the right you know places for for some increased um you know scrutiny and restrictions. But but I I think I think

people people are asking us to do something kind of you know quickly in response to what I think is disruptive technology or whatever. Right. So um the class 3 bike seemed to me like a real lowhanging fruit if we wanted to do something while a group was taking a look at the rest of it. But um class three, those those basically dirt like mini dirt bikes on shared use paths have

no business being anywhere on those or sidewalks um where pedestrians might be present. And then some of these other recommendations seem more just like adding the vocabulary and the tools to to to address it later on page 16. So, so if we wanted to do something quickly to set us up for a more maybe productive kind of follow on um that that would include just just coming coming out and

saying no more class 3 on shared use pass. I'd be good with that recognizing of course then that presents enforcement challenges you know zoning in our police police department but I think it's a message we got to send.

Thanks, Vice Mayor. Um, and I thanks Brent for the presentation. If you go go back to page 75, and I agree with colleagues that we should take our time, I agree totally on this. A lot of dots up there. Uh, coming from the resort area though. Um, yes, the difference between class 1, two, and three is significant, but class one and two can go 20 miles an hour. Class 3 28. 20's

still fast, but to prohibit ebikes from being on a street, Atlantic Avenue for example, um we I think we need to talk about that. The big issue to me at the oceanfront on the boardwalk are both bikes and ebikes being on the boardwalk and not on the bike path. And now I see that even a class one ebike would not be allowed on the bike path. Yeah, they there are some perpetrates, some bad

actors out there, but a lot of folks are just paddling their bike at the same time. So, it's does come down to enforcement. This is not an easy topic because I'd hate to prohibit what probably ought to be most people would would can use the ebike safely. Uh it's just some bad actors and I know it's hard to enforce to stop say hey stop you know slow that would be the best way but

there's no way there's no enforcement past that. So difficult topic public safety I think we do need a lot of input civic leagues um resort area advisory commission and committees um everyone town center this is a mode of transportation for people for work too so I think it's really important but back to not allowing ebikes on Atlantic Avenue I I think that's a little for class one would be a little too restrictive

so Councilman I just want to point out this is the current this is our current law. So that is a current enforcement that we are taking place although the city attorney's office is recommending a cleanup of that because the state code supersedes it and so and Mark looked like he was about to lean in and explain that better than I would but u that is one of the recommendations is to clean that up

which would allow um all classes of ebikes on Atlantic Avenue.

So the point there is that the state code says that on streets a bicycle and an ebike have to be treated the same and on a street they are treated as a vehicle. So, while we have a current city code that prohibits them for part of the year on Atlantic Avenue, um that was preempted when the standard legislation was adopted so that we probably should clean up the code so it's not inconsistent with what the

state code currently requires.

Thank you, Michael.

Thank you. Um, it's a challenging conversation in many ways because we have to seek to find balance and uh I agree with what's been said that we we need time to digest this. Um, but I have some thoughts and just some feedback.

Um, you know, we've been getting emails and there have been news reports of horrific injuries that have occurred in the city. A lot of people I know um who are some of the most dedicated civic servants that I know are have raised alarms about the use of ebikes in neighborhoods and parks and at the oceanfront too and all over the place.

Um and I I take their concerns very seriously. And then I also understand that there are thousands of people across the city who use ebikes as recreation. They enjoy them. It's unlocked new and exciting recreational opportunities for them. Um there's a there's an industry of um bicycling uh stores that are selling these ebikes to Virginia Beach residents and they're obviously very popular and they're

enjoying them. And I've heard from people with disabilities who are able to go further distances and and longer times outside and on their bikes because of this technology. And I think we really need to take our time and make sure we get it right. Um, and I don't have the answer necessarily, but one thing that I will say is that I think this decision has to be data driven and I think we need more information. For

example, I've done my own research that shows that um injuries are are um more common and they are more uh serious when they involve an ebike for the reasons that are we know speed, the weight of the of the bike um and and other factors than a non-electric bike.

But I don't think we really have a sense of what the numbers are in Virginia Beach. At least I've never seen that. Um and I wonder if that can be something that can be reported. And and so we need, for example, I remember when we were talking about the um scooters at the oceanfront and we pulled the EMS data that reported the injuries that occurred from scooters. And of course, I

remember at the time also questioning, well, we need to look at lots of different types of injuries. You know, that hopefully I don't know if we have information that would include injuries related uh to non-electric bikes. Um, anytime you get on a bike or a skateboard or a scooter, you're we know you're taking a risk, but that risk is amplified when it involves an ebike. But let's actually understand what it means.

And if we don't have those numbers for Virginia Beach, let's maybe someone can pull some data from similar communities, national information so that we have a factual basis on which to make a decision like this. I think that part is really important. The other I guess concern that I have is that um we could sit around in this room and create an ordinance that uh that makes restrictions and then the enforcement of

that ordinance is going to be um thrusted upon the police department and and we the challenges to that enforcement were recognized and I don't know maybe maybe you did say this branch but Um, no. The another enforcement challenge is what is the opportunity cost for public safety.

At the oceanfront, I I spend time down there. I I I spend time at Mount Trashmore. I spend time in public spaces throughout the city and I see police officers, very professional men and women who are tasked with very serious public safety challenges that we're all well aware of. drunk driving enforcement, speed enforcement, um any suspicious vehicles and individuals, any number of very serious public safety

hazards. And how much of their time do is it appropriate to invest in enforcing class one, class 2, class 3 when and when we have another very serious host of public safety challenges that are looming out there. Um and and anyway, I don't like I said, I don't have a well articulated position on it at this point, but these are some of the things that are bouncing around my head and I

think for me um emphasize the um care in which we need to take in crafting any response to this. It may make us feel better to make something up um that imposes restrictions, but what's actually going to make meaningful improvement and one that is also modern because people like this technology and they enjoy this technology and so we need to be responsive to that as well as to the safety needs. That's what's on my

mind as part of this. Councilman, I will uh point out that, you know, we we had some conversations with some different uh departments and coming up with hard data was complex. You may have seen the article in the Virginia pilot that mentioned, you know, 17 accidents and they only had hard descriptions on three of them. And um you know, the the the challenge that was described to me was

in differentiating between an accident that involved a bike and an ebike and that um it's not typically categorized in a different way. uh but we'll look around nationally for some additional data. I mean I think as you mentioned anecdotally um there is a natural assumption and reality of anything that's going faster being operated by somebody that's typically younger that often times can lead to um to worse

outcomes. So but we'll look for some additional data for for you.

Thank you. And just as one uh point of followup what are other communities doing? you know, it's we don't necessarily have the full benefit of um of all the other best practices that are out there. It's something that I often ask around this table and as part of these discussions, what are the best practices in in ebikes? What are similarly positioned communities? How are they responding to

this? Um and maybe we could look at that and glean some um some best practices.

And I agree with you as well, and I had that natural uh inclination as well.

This seems to be um a relatively newer phenomenon and I haven't seen a lot of reaction to it yet. Um as I mentioned in the presentation, 41 states have adopted basically the same um code as we have in Virginia. There are some variations and um Florida seems to be a bit of an outlier in having um more recently put in some some additional provisions including allowing localities to um

decide their own age requirements for ebikes. I think that would be more difficult in Virginia being a Dylan rule state, but that was something Florida did. Um but other than that I have not yet seen much of a reaction as we've looked through some of the industry uh websites and organizations NCSL and VML and the and the like. There has not been a lot of movement beyond adopting the

standard legislation yet. But I think that's because just like us this is a relatively maybe not new but it's certainly a um uh an issue that is just now maybe rising to towards the top. And sorry, I know I said last followup, but one truly the last followup. So, I'm I this is uh something I'm just learning about that ebikes I just want to make sure I understand, although I know it's

been said. Ebikes are not permitted on Atlantic Avenue at any time.

I believe it's between on Atlantic Avenue between May and October, but they're not allowed on the oceanfront bike path or the boardwalk or the sidewalks at any time.

At any time.

So then May and October. It says bicycles though. Um, so for you see the one at the bottom, Atlantic Avenue is it? So if there's a green that means they are allowed and then the red. So bicycles are allowed on Atlantic Avenue but not ebikes. Yeah.

And and so and I would say again related to the to the actual data. Has any enforcement occurred on that? Not that I'm encouraging it, but um I know a lot of people very close to me who ride day down Atlantic Avenue on ebikes. Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for that?

Captain Wesley, you're pull statistics, but Wesley, sorry. I'm not saying they should.

No, we could definitely pull the statistics for you and provide it to this group. However, the main approach that we use is educational. I think you see if you live in certain parts of the city, what may be allowed there is not permitted at the oceanfront. It's even more double uh noticeable when you have tourists coming in, what's permitted in their home state is now not allowed. So,

we do have a a difficult time and we try to do educational and the ones that we want to try to stop are very similar to what the council member mentioned before. You feel like us when they're going past you, we're on foot or on a pedal bicycle and keeping up is very difficult for us.

Captain Wester, can you also explain that if somebody indicates they have a mobility reason, you can't pick them or find them or anything like that as well?

Correct. Under the ADA, we do allow them to travel as anywhere. I believe it's anywhere a person on foot could travel.

So they're granted a lot more uh options and that is very difficult for us down there as well.

And you're not allowed to ask them about the size as well.

We cannot ask them and we cannot get any clarifying information on that sir. Yes, that is correct.

And then are you proposing or is it's being discussed and said you want to clean that up. What is what is when you said you want to clean that up? What does clean that up mean?

So, as the city attorney pointed out, so uh the Virginia state code when they adopted the model legislation, it supersedes this prohibition on Atlantic Avenue between May and October. And so, uh the recommendation would be to eliminate that prohibition so to allow it so that it's in line with the state code.

Stacy, can you go back to page eight?

Yes, sir.

Are are these descriptions of these codes is this verbatim or is this a summary of the language? Um, sadly, probably some combination of both, sir.

But I can get you anything you want and I think I actually have in the resource slides I may have the exact code. Um so is there one in particular your question about or you want all I'm just asked because as I've been saying this is a very hot topic throughout the citizens in this city and I am I've been receiving quite a number of citations of city code.

Yes. And I don't know, you know, I look, I'm the least trusting person of the internet to get my sources of information, but you know, there people are sending me these saying that these are, you know, city codes and it it varies greatly from what's up there. I'm not saying the internet's right. I'm not saying this is wrong. I'm just asking, can I rely on this information or should

we? You can rely on this information, but these are this is a summary as I look at them more closely. These are summaries of the code sections, but I can provide you the full code sections.

I provide the whole council if you're uh they're vastly different from what's being circulated on.

I know uh same thing in my neighborhood.

I had a woman tell me that you couldn't go more than 5 miles an hour on a on a trail. I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." And then I looked it up and that didn't turn out to be true.

There's lots of things.

I'm talking about people sending actual like Yeah. pictures of the of the city code.

And again, I'm not I haven't gone to it myself. I'm just asking if I need to.

We can pull those code sections for you that I've highlighted here and um share those with you. Sir, those are not, by the way, those are those are state code provisions.

Okay.

The city code start on um page 10.

Oh, so here's where the local code sections start, but again, I summarized them to fit them on a slide.

Um yeah.

So provide verbatims of any state or city code you would have.

Yes sir.

Especially the one on um it would be a state code and they again they site they cited as a city code but it's um the 46.2-9081.

Yes. what's being cited on the internet is vastly different from that language.

Really?

Yeah.

Interesting. Um, are they Well, again, I'm not relying upon that as my source of information.

I'll get you that it would nip that argument in the butt, but I just need to know which is Yes, sir. We'll get that for you.

You're welcome.

So, I I agree with everything that's been said around this table. I didn't what I and I've been questioning the data too. Could we get Dr. Padati to check with the emergency rooms at the hospital to see who've been coming in?

If there's any data that we can gather from there about injuries because in my heart I just know there's got to be a lot more injuries than we know about.

And she's our um with our health services.

Maybe she can go into the emergency rooms and get us some some more definitive information of the different types of injuries. I think something important that we really need to know.

And living on the boardwalk, I mean, there are so many of these ebikes on there and they're mixed with pedestrians and I really didn't even realize they weren't allowed on the bike path until now. I mean, till few days ago, actually. It's a very nice brochure. by the way, comms and parks and wreck and police did a great job with that. Yes, ma'am.

It's very, very nice. I was really impressed with it. Um, but it's dangerous and I know it's hard because our police who I'm a huge supporter of our men and women in blue. I mean, they do a fantastic job, but this is a safety issue. People are getting hurt and I see and I've talked to people and a lot of my constituents that live down there, they're terrified of these things and

then they see officers standing around and these zipping up and down the boardwalk and nobody says anything to them and nothing happens and and nothing is really going to change unless we do have enforcement. People are going to continue doing the same thing they're doing now, tomorrow, next year unless there's enforcement. Why why would they want to change their habits if nothing's

going to happen? If there's no reason for them to stop. I think the signage is important so that they they know that this is not allowed. And then and then once you get that signage up, I think we've got to enforce it. And I I know it's tricky, but we've got really smart people who work to create a safe environment. I mean, we take pride that we are the safest city of our size, and

this, I think, is a safety issue. So, uh, I'm hearing that maybe we should do a task force. Is that what, uh, Stacy and Dave are suggesting? And we'll have to get the mayor involved so he can help appoint, um, do, you know, a small task force, a temporary. And what I was going to say too was is like I'm sure you maybe have but like ATAC and rack I mean there's some other

people here that are going to have some the ATAC right I mean they and they've been working on this and maybe put you know another little task force together to sort of narrow down because there's there's there's a lot of information and all these different categories and it's too big of an issue for we for like you said for us to make a decision right here but maybe create a

small task force but I I do believe and and I know that our law enforcement probably doesn't want to hear it, but we've got to we have to have enforcement. People are not going to change their habits unless we give them a reason to change them. Josh, um I I like that the idea of getting some people from um multiple stakeholder groups around the table to to talk through some of this stuff. I I I I

would I would even just suggest these these these ads on 16 that the city attorney's office is suggesting might help. I mean, just because it just adds a vocabulary that the task force can can use when they do their work. And then I and again, I'd be I'd be open to like if if it isn't it is a hot button issue, um I I don't think we need class three

bikes on sidewalks. I mean, you know, I I just personally don't. Um, so to give some immediate relief, um, maybe that's something that we can consider and set up a task force, but I just I thought I'd just throw that suggestion out there.

Anybody else?

Yes, Mr. Dehaney.

The other thing that Brent mentioned, but I just want to point out when we're talking about the classes of ebikes, if you go, for example, on Amazon and you look at ebikes or what they classify as ebikes, you'll see that many, many of these ebikes that are marketed and sold now actually are well in excess of 750 watts.

Mhm.

So, none of those are even an ebike.

they I think the appropriate classification for them would be a moped which can under existing law be ridden only on the street and only um with the different greater requirements.

So, I'm just bringing that up to point out that we will also need to deal with that other class that it looks like it's an ebike, but it's really different from class one, two, or three.

And we I have some if you go to the la very last three slides, Andrew, like the actual last three and some of those resource. Oop, maybe not. Thought I had included them.

Um, all right. Well, I had some resource slides included anticipating maybe some questions about mopeds, but um we can get you that information as well about how the mopeds are governed differently.

Vice Mayor, I think if the council creates a task force, I think the idea makes sense to pull them from different committees because different groups have different motivations by ebikes. Some of them want to promote greater use of ebikes. Some of them want to control them and restrict them. Some of them are the business proprietors that actually are in the business of selling ebikes or

renting ebikes in the um oceanfront or resort area in Sandbridge who don't want any particular changes because they've set up their business plan based on the current rules and regulations. I think it'll be good to have representatives from each of those groups but also give them clear direction on what the council is seeking of it. The purpose of this task force is to find pragmatic

realistic enforcement measures so that the council can amend the code accordingly and not give them a broad scope, right? Just basically if the council wants restrictions, which I'm feeling we hearing a majority of you all saying, then give them that task and then give them a quick turnaround, you know, 60 90 days to come back with um options for the council to consider, you know.

So, would you like to work on that list, Mr. Dehaney?

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Thank you for volunteering.

Is there anybody else like to say anything? I think it's a very productive conversation.

This is it's a real serious issue and it's become worse. I mean, people are terrorized by these things. U so thank you for all the work that you've done and thank you to our law enforcement. We really appreciate you.

Yes, I do have a question. I just want clarity on the course. It's I'm I have every expectation that law enforcement will be part of it. I think they should be an active part of it. My concern continues to remain about the mechanics of the enforcement and what the requirements of that what the impact of the requiresments of that enforcement would have on other mission essential um operations of our police department.

Yeah. And um M vice Mr. Vice Mayor can I respond to that?

Yeah, please. But um Mr. Beluchcci, that's the nuance the police department has with it as well because the enforcement measure that they have is to take people off of it, which a lot of times means people will end up on the ground. A lot of times folks may have mobility issues, right? So that's their big concern. I do think if we get to a place where we know what the laws are,

we get the appropriate signage on, we can we can do a lot in terms of education, a lot in terms of pushing a narrative, right, to kind of help corral a little better and make pulling somebody off a bike the actual last resort, right? Because I think that's what their biggest concern is is that the only way for them to really get them if they catch them is to get somebody

off of it, you know? But I think between the ambassadors, between our communications team, we can kind of take a co approach how we did during CO when we put all the mass signs up and we put all the social distancing signs up. You know, we can probably push a lot of messaging and get a lot of information out once we kind of adopt the the standard that Virginia Beach wants in

terms of how we enforce this before we actually put the police department in a place where they had to pull somebody off a bicycle. when and not only just pull off a bicycle and your COVID analysis is an interesting one because that was a point in time when a lot of people expressed concerns about the infringements upon their freedom and individual choices about their own lives. Uh which I think is actually

gerine in some way in some ways as part of this conversation as well. But it's not just that we know that our police department is understaffed. there's a constant um initiative about recruiting and you know respectfully when vice mayor talked about you know they see police officers just standing there I don't think you meant in any way I'm sure you didn't mean in any way to um characterize that they were just

standing around because every second of the they're always working they're always working on something sometimes we don't understand what they might be doing in that moment and I just have reservations about sending our highly trained competent police officers after kids on electric bikes when there's a lot of other things out there that need to be addressed.

Okay, everybody.

Thank you so much. Very good.

Thank you. Appreciate the time.

Brent, we're waiting for you, buddy.

Appreciate it, sir.

Hey, Mr. Manager.

All right. So, madam vice mayor, members of city council, the next briefing will be presented by Kyle Kla Kba. Kbla Kba.

Okay. KBA. He's the city's um stormwater extension agent. Um as council council may not recall, but around 20 fiscal year 2024, city council provided funding to create a stormwater extension program. And this is really to help residents navigate stormwater related related issues not associated with a citycip project. Right. This really helps them with flooding and stormwater related issues on their property. Um

we've been taking some time to put this together. Kyle is going to roll this out to council and the public and after this he's going to move forward with starting to reach out to the community and helping them solve problems related to storm water on their properties. So at this time you hear from Mr. Kuba.

Yes.

All right. So go ahead Kyle.

All right. Thank you madam vice mayor.

Thank you members of council and to the manager and the attorney for allowing me to speak about stormar extension program.

Can you say your name for the record?

That's Kyle Kuba.

Kar.

Very cool name. Well, thank you. Um, so the agenda today is just talk about, you know, where this program came from, um, the resources that are available to our residents and our business owners. Uh, the funding of the program, what awareness are we raising about the program. Finally, we'll end up with some metrics on the program and um, a brief or a discussion. Um, before we go any further, this briefing is

purelyformational, not asking for any additional funding, any additional staff at this time. Just want to make sure that you all are aware of what everything is in this program and what's available to our residents.

So, at its core, this program is about awareness and information and how do we get that information out to our residents? Um whether it's flooding mitigation information, the opportunities for grant funding that residents can pursue or about real-time flooding information, what are the waterways, what is what's actually happening in the world around them right now. And this program is fairly unique

um among communities that a lot of especially coastal communities out there they'll have a brochure a PDF that explains different mitigation tactics and that's really where it ends. This program has actually dedicated resources to directly to helping the residents of our city. And it is a very good feeling going to conferences, going to, you know, industry events and hearing from

people in Northern Virginia, Maryland, uh, North Carolina and say these same two things, this is a great program that you guys have and why don't we have this in our community? That's that's a good feeling to hear that because that really shows this city's commitment to dealing with the flooding that we're experiencing.

So, a little bit on the background. This program was first fleshed out in the sea level wise report back in 2020. This is a phase 2 adaptation strategy that really focused on providing the research and the appropriately scaled mitigation strategies appropriate for residents and business owners. I'm going to focus in on that appropriately scaled um phrase here in a moment.

So the program began in January of last year and the initial efforts were focused on figuring out, okay, there's a lot of different ways to mitigate flooding. What is the best thing for Virginia Beach and even within Virginia Beach, will things work better in certain areas versus others? And all of that mitigation information was aggregated and collected into documents the screenshot there on the slide as

well as um in the packet that you guys have in front of you, the flooding mitigation toolbox.

So, this document takes the information for 17 different mitigation strategies and condenses it down into two pages that was designed to be easy to understand and straightforward for residents to understand and comprehend how they could do these mitigations on their property.

Um, each strategy is presented in two pages. The first page gives you basically the bullet points and the highle overview. What type of flooding is it designed to mitigate? rainfall, inundation, or both. Um, information about costs, uh, lifespan. Do you need to go to planning or DSC to get permission? Things like that. And then below, pictures and diagrams of when I put it together, I tried to find

examples of all these in Virginia Beach.

And I'm proud to say most of them, if not if not all of them, are from Virginia Beach. And the second page dives more deeply into the information.

So, what are the what is, you know, this sort of thing? What is a French drain?

What is a rain barrel? is structural elevation. Um what concerns are there when implementing that? And then it gets more into the specifics of each individual strategy. Then at the end of the document, there is a table that lays all of it out in um you know, one view.

So if a resident knows, okay, I have a rainfall issue, I can look at tree planting, rain barrel, bio retention, but I can leave out a living shoreline because that's not going to do me any good.

So in addition to this, and this is really where the Stormar Extension program really shines, is that you can ask for someone from the program, namely me, to come out and actually look at your parcel, your situation. What is the unique situation that you're facing, and then I can help bridge that gap between here's the information, here's how you take that information, actually apply it to your situation.

This also rolls into advocating on behalf of residents. So, this was something that when I started this program, um, I wasn't expecting as much, but quickly became evident, okay, if there's an opportunity where the state government or the federal government can help them out, I need to help them find that right person, find the right contact to get their information where it needs to be. There's also grant

opportunities available on the website on um, virgin beach.gov/stormmartwart extension. um as well as engagement programs. And these are more wide target programs designed to reach a larger segment of the population to really explain to them how flooding impacts your life. You know, whether your house, your street floods or not.

And last slide on resources is the storm water extension program oversees the sensor program in public works. These sensors are located all throughout the city and they are constantly collecting information on rain, wind, um water levels and other parameters. This data is invaluable. This data, we use this data in public works every single day to figure out how's our storm water system

handling the storms that we've seen, the storms that we expect to see. And I I could talk for hours and hours about sensors. U my colleagues from public works, they they can attest to that. Um Please don't.

No problem. Um, we are also adding cameras into our flood monitoring. This is something I'm very excited about because this increases our situational awareness of what's happening out in the world and by providing both information about flooding and what else is happening. Um, and in addition just having the cameras, we are using AI and machine learning on these cameras to see instead of just

having a picture, oh, it's flooding.

Okay, cool. We're actually going to start using machine learning to say, "Okay, there's flooding. Has it reached a threshold?" And then we can send a text message, an email, a phone call at 2 p.m., 2 a.m., whatever it needs to be to staff that needs to respond. And all of this information is going to play a very large role in the upcoming uh storm water operations center.

So funding, the program is first funded by city council in the fiscal 2324 budget, and there's one uh FTE as part of the program. The funding for the program comes out of storm water utility fund and should the program continue to grow um and demand from the public increase. We definitely will continue to track our metrics, track how many people are interested in the program, how many

views is a website getting, how many people am I reaching out to, am I contacting or contacting me? um gathering all this information, figure out, okay, if we need additional staffing and bringing that to council that we make sure we make the appropriate decisions at the appropriate time.

So, messaging for storm water extension has slowly been ramping up as we prepare to fully open the program to the public.

both WHRO and Channel 13 have done items on storm water extension program. And now that I've gotten a chance to speak in front of council, um we've considered this is our pretty much our last step to fully opening up to the public and saying, "All right, give me what you got and I'm going to see how best I can to help you." Um that's going to be through again working one-on-one with residents,

working with larger groups like HOAs and civic leagues. And then we're also going to be increasing our messaging through our communications department who's been a huge help since day one in this program.

And lastly, a quick slide just um with some metrics about the program. Um updated this slide yesterday and is already out of date. It should now say 38 total cases, eight of which are considered active. Um and you can see the breakdown since the program had its first, you know, case. Um handful of residents in the Kings Grant area. You can see how the different districts are represented here on the pie chart.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Yes.

Okay. So, Kyle, thank you. That was really informative and like all that part. I really do find it interesting.

Um, one of the questions I wanted to ask you though is I think a neat addition to this is uh the cameras. So, uh, but could you just real quick give me is it the cameras of the of like this picture and we've got a, you know, a 1T, two foot, three foot thing or is it a picture of the pipes or both? Or what are we looking at there? So, right now

we're going to start with incorporating our traffic cameras that we have at, you know, our big intersections and using those just to see, okay, is water coming in? Um, that'll be especially helpful at was it 21st and Baltic. That's, you know, a well-known flooding intersection.

We are installing um cameras in known flood locations. Actually, the first camera is being installed as we speak um on the sewer pump station in the Pinewood area of the city. Pinewood Road right there is one of the lowest um streets that we have and it floods, you know, just a little too windy. Road floods, moons full, road floods. Um we have five camera locations identified as part of the pilot program to focus

cameras solely on, you know, areas that are flooding or flood infrastructure. Um and those as well as traffic cameras that forms the first step in our camera network.

Yeah, I think it'll be good. I think counc have a pretty extensive um sensor um network as you recall the cameras would also give us qualitative information as well because we can usually get a good sense of what it is per per inches and like how many feet per inches per hour.

This will give us a a more holistic qualitative look at what actually going on as well. Well, and just for us, like at the EOC, if you're if you if you see the picture at 9:00 and it says 4 in and you see it at 10 o'clock and it says 8, you're like, "Okay, it might be an actionable step, right?" So, okay. Thank you.

And that's that's the best example cuz when when we had the last storm event and we had a lot of issues in district 3, I kept asking staff for can we pull up a camera? I know the sensors are saying, "Can I see what actually is going on?" Yeah. So, that actually give you that's a prime example right there, sir.

Yeah. Thanks, Thanks Rosemary.

Thank you.

Okay. Hello everybody.

Back from the state of the region work.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Welcome. Thank you, Mr. Koval, for the um presentation.

I have two constituents that I sent this program to, and I don't know if they're one of the six cases or not, but u they were both of their residences were impacted fairly significantly recently with this with the rainstorm.

And in both instances, one is from an adjacent potentially adjacent property and one's from the street. So out out of their control. So my question is if one of the solutions or solutions plural is a French drain or other method of getting water preventing water from getting on the property or getting it off of their property. The cost for that solution is borne by the residents homeowner.

Yes.

No city. Currently there is no city mechanism, no city funding to um work with uh with those situations.

There Mr. Mayor, there are examples of some programs across the um across the country that can help with things like help homeowners with these kind of costs. you know, that could be something that the council could consider, you know, especially if you work with in tandem with nonprofits, you know, but um you know, they're they're limited and a lot of times they they involve taking taxpayer dollars to create a grant

program, you know, but there are opportunities council wants to discuss that.

Okay, Amelia, yes, I think this is very important. I noticed that and thank you again. I notice on district four where I think you're the third that you have on cases right here. And it is important because many people don't understand what's going on along that stretch and especially in the southern area near Burton station along that area. Um yeah, I think the third right something like

that. But as for example along Baker Road right now they're doing a project there and people are wondering what is this yellow bridge that's going on there. So they understanding what is going on at the port and that they can be um knowledgeable enough to see certain other situations to contact you. I think it's really worthwhile.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else at this point?

Okay. Hey, thank you.

Thank you.

Well, I just got time here for council liaison reports. Anybody work?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, got a lot to report at the oceanfront. Um, couple weeks ago, everyone enjoyed a beautiful weekend for the most part with the Neptune. Last weekend was a beautiful weekend across the city. The Phil was at Rudy Loop. well attended uh there Atlantic Park both the surf park and the dome were very busy sold out concert Saturday night so I've been in and around of course I live close down there

I've seen a lot of people um at the oceanfront which is great this is the shoulder season so it's great to see all these um events festivals this weekend is the boardwalk art show uh Friday Saturday uh at the boardwalk and then also at um pickle pickle ball Virginia PVA at Birdneck, excuse me, General Booth Boulevard and Birdneck Road where there's I think 46 pickle ball courts

now and that's where we decided to spend $2 million to upgrade that facility.

This year is the second year this October 6 um which started yesterday through the this Sunday that the best pickle ball players in the United States men and women are competing this week and so they'll probably last through the weekend at pickle ball Virginia at General Booth Boulevard and Bneck Road.

Parking is kind of tight there but I encourage you it's very exciting. Pickle ball is an up and cominging sport across the country and so proud. this last year it was on ESPN will be on ESPN again this year also the tennis channel of course but uh that's very exciting to me and I think to a lot of people all that being said um our staff uh both code enforcement and the resort management

office has gone up and down Atlantic Avenue giving some uh citations for code enforcement and so I believe I'm I'm told that over 80 citations were delivered so we're working through that with um owners, business owners and and property owners. Um but we still have some issues with uh the vulgar t-shirts that are still out uh in front and it's I've heard a lot about it actually uh

from the last couple of weeks. So going to give you all that great news, but I still we have a lot ahead of us on that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you Mr. mayor and um and thank you council member and and to the code enforcement people who who've been out there trying to help with the um you know just the situation with the t-shirts and making sure our our resort is a friendly place for families. Um I I hope you don't mind. I'm going to share just a short anecdote. Um my my wife and I my three girls stayed in an oceanfront

hotel this past weekend because we participated in in the Neptune Festival and it was awesome. Um, and I decided I wanted to take a walk down Atlantic Avenue uh on Saturday night late. And so I did and just to see what kind of, you know, the result of the efforts so far.

And um, I got to be surpris I got to tell you, I was surprised at the number of of vendors that have voluntarily complied. Um, and those people really deserve a thank you. Um, because they didn't have to. and um and I know a lot of vendors have been um very amanable and and uh understanding. However, um when I got to um an area around I I would say the 22nd Street area, um I

went in uh you know, just myself saying that I was a you know, a parent staying across the street in a hotel with my kids and um that you know, it would be nice if we could put some of this stuff inside. Um I stopped by three shops in that general vicinity. Um, two of those uh, managers at at those shops um, met me with disdain and were incredibly

impolite to me. Um, and um, one of them I did mention I was a city council person too and and was appreciative of the fact that this was just an aspirational type of thing. Um, but the other one I just approached as a parent and the icing on the cake for me was after the sand sculpting competition.

Um, when we went to go view the sculptures, we hopped on the trolley bus, which was awesome. It was run in 15-minute intervals. We were sitting in the back of the bus in open air and my kids were with me and lo and behold, there was a bus stop right in front of these t-shirt shops and my kids jaws dropped straight down in their mouths and I was just I can't, you know, was

like I I don't even know what to tell you. So, um I I I don't I don't mean to put too fine a point on it, but um I just wanted to make sure that I had this opportunity for the public shaming that those um shops deserve. and um my sincere hope that some of the surrounding businesses and other community members around their shops can help um them, you know, can come come to

a understanding that that is not the image that we want for Amelia Rosemary.

Okay, thank you. Um, now that I'm moving around a little bit, I was able to um attend the Vive Creative District and uh that 10th anniversary and see how wonderful everything has grown. It was good to see Vice Mayor was there with you, Michael Worth, Dave and Dave. They came over. We did the ribbon cutting. The crowd was very amanable and we're all having a great time and we thanked um Kate. She has

done a great job, Kate Fitman with that and Laura as well as um Andre.

So I cannot believe 10 years is gone because three of us weighed in when I was on council first. There was um Ben Davenport, John N, myself walking just like we do here and talk with other councilmen and they all agreed to have this happen and it's really worthwhile. So congratulations to the V creative district for 10 years.

The second thing I went to was the Philist.

It was really interesting. I had to crown the Miss Princess Phillam and they had ages. I was impressed how they worked with the little kids.

The funniest part was they had a dance I hadn't seen before called Boots on the Ground and they had these huge fans.

That's Have you seen that?

That's my song. I like song.

Oh, really?

Yes.

I hadn't seen it. And can you imagine the little five-year-old this big fan trying to go and the others helping. I just had a laugh, but it was a really nice and me and that group did a great job. And then two other things I attended, we had a group about 85 African-American retired educators and I got to know about it through council member Cash Green. And I thought here they are coming from all over the

different H.B.CU and boasting I'm from Hampton Institute when it was institute.

I'm from Dennis. I'm from Spellelman.

But the bottom line, I thought this is a great opportunity to let them know about our city. So I talked with Nancy Helman and Samantha and called them. I said, "Do you have any little trinkets that maybe can be a welcome to them?"

And they got right on it. And they told me once I saw them, we got taffy and soul from the city. What a wonderful city. The point is to get them back. And I thank Nancy and her group, Samantha, for pulling that together to get 85 items for them. And I went over, got to talk with them, shared with them my self-guided tour of African-American um historic areas. And

they were very happy to to get that. And they called me today. They said, "We really enjoyed it. We're sharing things wherever we are. So, the last thing is for you to remember, I tried to send I don't know how well I did that, but let you know this weekend we're having the um Virginia African-American Community Festival, and we're honoring two of the pioneers. Uh Dr. Patricia uh Turner who was one of the pioneers

for civil rights who u desegregated um in North the public schools and then we have a young man as I call him he keeps saying really but Ed joiner he's been doing talent promotion getting students of all groups any race to come together and um 65 years he's been doing is. So, we're excited. We're praying and I'm doing a sunshine dance cuz I heard it may get a little shaky on the weekend

that if we all do a sunshine dance, we ought to be able to to go through with that and we're really excited. We've got some sponsors. We got an opportunity and we end with that crazy old boots on the ground. At least now I know what it is with all the fans and so please take a minute come out the honoring will be 12:30 to 1 for those people going to have

health and wellness as well and again it's bringing lot of people together for the education people ask us why we do this everybody don't have a chance to go to the ocean front or have ways to go there but I tell you they try to come to this because it's bringing entertainment into them. We're going to have bands and African drummers and lots of things. So, one of my board members is right here

across Worth and he's been helping too for getting sponsors. So, if you got a minute between 11 and 5, just drop by.

Oh, it's going to be at 7:44 Hamampshire, which is on the land that the city gifted us to one day build our cultural center.

That was a long one.

No, but that's good stuff.

Good stuff. Way to go, Rosemary and Michael.

Um, just briefly, uh, Shadowlon had their tour to Shadelon on Saturday where there's probably about 130 people visited the the local restaurants and they ride their bicycles and all of that and they end up at uh the uh ice house and have a party in the parking lot. And so, it's a way that they can say thank you to all the the businesses that are in Shadelon. And then on Sunday, which I

saw the mayor at, uh, Rescue 14 had an open house and which really did a lovely job to show you their ambulances and how different things operate. It was it was very, very interesting. And then I want to give a shout out to the Pine um, Ridge neighborhood that they had their fall fest and I did the fairy hair there. I'm looking I have I got I did the fairy hair and the lady that

did it, Mr. Dhaney, uh her husband was just hired two weeks ago. Her name is Chelsea and her husband was hired two weeks ago for economic development and they were very excited because they had one of the arts and humanities grants this past year that they were able to really do a lot of things to enhance their so that was that was really fun.

Yeah, the oysters at the rescue squad were really good.

Michael.

Uh, thank you. Um, thanks, Mayor. Just a few things. One is that since we last met, uh, we had a public safety self-defense workshop, District 3, that was presented by the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Rocky Hulcom. And it was really, really, really fun. And it was more important than that, it was um, we we they shared a lot of really, really good information. I'm bringing this up

because I want to encourage um you all to do that in the different uh districts that you serve or in organizations that you're part of. Um they pro I learned a lot and they gave a lot of really good tips on how to keep our neighborhoods and our homes and our comm community and our families safe safer and um I they've got a great program and I I really encourage you to connect with them and

and for the anyone who's watching to to go to one of them um they're really fantastic and I want to thank council member um Russ Hammond for bringing up uh both the incredible vibe uh um anniversary 10 here is that the five is thriving and it's something no matter where you live in Virginia Beach that it there's um incredible resources and uh and experiences for every Virginia Beach

resident and also visitor and I really want to join you in congratulating the vibe and particularly Kate Pitman co-founders um Laura Wood and Andy Fine and the entire Vibe board and all the businesses there and community um servants who make that place a a very special arts and creative district in Virginia Beach and and really in the region. We're lucky to have Vibe here because it sets the standard across

creative districts really um around the country. People look to us and study what the Vibe has done uh to u be to provide inspiration for what they can do in their own communities. So, we're very lucky for all of that. We're also lucky to have the most vibrant Philam community in the country here and I did get a chance to go to Philf Fest along with Mayor Dyer and I know many of you

attended at other times as well and um I've been to a lot of Phils over the years and I have deep admiration for the Filipino American community in Virginia Beach. We all know and I think anyone who lives here knows how special Virginia Beach is because of the Philan community and I think that Philf Fest was the best one that I've ever attended. It was well organized. It was fun. There were great vendors, really

good food and drinks and um I had a pineapple smoothie thing that was really good. And um and it was just a really beautiful weekend at Philf Fest. And I want to also join you in congratulating them. It was really where they had it Rudy Park.

Yeah, it still needs work. But um but it was good to see so many people who live in Virginia Beach at the Rudy Loop and at the resort enjoying everything that is happening there. So I'm I'm really happy about that. And I also thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing up the impact of the cultural investments that we've made.

And I'm looking forward to a time at the appropriate time, I don't know when that will be, when we can hear a report about all the incredible things that are happening. You know, we directed a portion of the emissions taxes, which previously exclusively went to the tourism investment fund, into and directed them into um uh the cultural affairs department. and they're using those funds to continue to

promote tourism, but all and all the great things that happen with that, but also to bring arts, culture, creative expression into civic leagues, into neighborhoods, public art into more evenly distributed across all parts of Virginia Beach. And it's really amazing.

Um the last National Night Out, we went to an unveiling of new benches, basketball courts, um murals on the sidewalk, um that are deeply connected to the community where they were placed. And that's happening all across the city just in year one. So we um should be celebrating I think some transformational um shifts in how we interact with uh our cultural community, creative community,

the impact that has on our economy, but most importantly how we connect with each other as neighbors. So um just another plug for that and and I'm I'm can't wait till we can hear about all of them together. It's pretty neat.

Okay. Anybody else? Hey, thank you. On October 20th, I will be having a town hall meeting uh at the Oprah uh Marra Oberdoff Central Library at 5:30.

Um the topic of that is going to be centered around the uh referendum that's on the ballot this year. Uh that'll be given by the uh city attorney's office.

And we'll also have a presentation on ebikes, which is going to be a lot different than I thought it was going to be like about an hour ago. So, but we'll have a presentation on uh ebikes to be presented by the uh city manager staff and the um police representative from the police department.

Okay. Anybody else at this point? I tell you what, folks, just hearing you all say about what's going on, there's a lot of remarkable things going on in this city and we got more things, you know, on the horizon that I really think are going to define define us in a way. And uh once again I ran a little late. I attended the uh state of the region.

There were 800 people u at this and they brought forward our challenges. They brought forward our opportunities.

And I tell you what, I think our f our future is going to be bright. Um I just want to highlight one thing that you know Michael brought up. It was about the Phil Fest and it was a tremendous amount of energy there and um I I asked uh Michael to read the resolution because they were so impressed. This was the first time we ever gave a resolution signed by everybody on council

uh and not just a proclamation from the mayor and that was significant. I just thought it only appropriate that, you know, that Michael was the one to give it. And then they gave a a new award, uh, the Bobby Matti annual recognition award to George Alcarez, you know, for his thing. And I tell you what, this was, but once again, you know, there's so many positive experiences that people

come to Virginia Beach and and truly enjoy. And uh you know this morning I intended attended a ceremony uh where the secretary of defense uh you know came into town and swore in and it might have been you know well over a hundred people that were joining all branches of the armed forces and it was really cool.

It was a military ceremony, but you know, it was covered by the press, but once again, it really highlights who we are as Virginia Beach as being a strategic uh part of the national defense of our country. And the thing is uh the commanding officer, you know, said in an interview and he really complimented the relationship that they have with the city of Virginia Beach helps make this

successful. So I thought I would pass that on. Okay. Thank you all very This was great stuff today. Outstanding.

Okay. How about the uh agenda?

Agenda.

So there's no speakers on the legislative package. Um, I have a letter.

We have one now.

Okay.

Okay. All right. Well, uh, I have a letter that I'm going to pass around from the Farm Bureau.

Uh they could not be here tonight, but it's from the president and the vice president, John Cromwell and Barry Knight, president and vice president.

and their board has unanimously endorsed the charter amendment and they asked tonight if since they couldn't be here it's a very short you see it's one little paragraph we can do it can we read that yes you can so um on ordinances and resolutions the the Jericho road one which is number five I just wanted to ask the council if it if you would mind if can't do it today,

but in a in a couple of weeks if we could recognize the Arona family for donating that property to the to the schools and now it's going to be to the city and I imagine it's going to be voted on unanimously. But uh so I was talking to Amanda about drawing up a resolution. Does anybody have an objection to that?

No, let's go. I think it's it's a really wonderful thing to recognize the family and Oh, yeah.

And they would really like to do that.

So, um, so anyway, under ordinance resolutions, does anybody have anything else on those items?

The plan.

Okay, the planning. So, the only one that we have uh multiple speakers on that's Well, let me back up. I think Mrs.

Henley has some changes that she wants to recommend and I haven't seen them. Do you know where they are? Mar to pass them around.

I assume so. Yes.

These are some changes that she would like which we haven't seen yet, but the applicant has not agreed to them. My understanding that's what I was informed of this morning.

So that is number six.

tracking.

So, we'll have to pull that.

Okay. So, we're backing up everything else. There's no more speakers on. So, does anyone have anything they want pulled on planning?

That's it.

Okay. At this point, the chair will entertain a motion to recess into a closed session pursuant to the extensions from the open meeting allowed by second section 2.23711A code of Virginia as amended for the following purposes. Consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation where such consultation or briefing in an open

meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body pursu pursuant to section 2.23711A7 23711A7 and that would be Atlantic Park in Holloway Edall versus City of Virginia Beach. And then publicly held property discussions or considerations, acquisition of real property for public purpose or the disposition of public uh publicly held property where discussion

and open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or the negotiation strategy of the public body.

pursuant to section 2.2 3711 A3 and that would be district 5 district 6 and public contract discussions of the award of a public contract involved in the expenditure of public funds and discussion of the terms and scope of such contract where discussions in an open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or the negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to section 2.2 to 3711 A29

and that would be Atlantic Park party at the Pier and Silos Grand Lakes affordable housing applications and then finally personnel matters discussions considerations or interviews of prospective candidates for employment assignment appointment promotion performance the motion salaries disciplining or resignation of the specific public officers appointees or employees of any public body pursuant to section 2.23711A1

and that's council appointments of boards commissions committees authorities, agencies and appointees and also performance of council appointees.

Have a motion second.

Hi Hi Mayor.

Hi.

Okay, we are into recess.

Welcome one. Welcome all. I'm going to call this meeting to order and if you're willing and able to stand for the ed invocation, please do so.

Okay. Heavenly Father, you are always with us and beside us. Please be with us this evening as we consider the affairs of our great city. Give us the patient to listen, the wisdom to decide, and the strength to act. Amen. And if we may please have a moment of silence for all of those Virginia Beach heroes who have paid the ultimate price to keep us safe.

And pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay, Madame Clerk. Do we have a roll call?

Yes, your honor. All present, excluding council member Rouse.

Okay. Thank you very much. At this point, ask for a motion for the certification of the close session.

Second.

I apologize in advance. We will have to be doing verbal votes tonight. Council member Beluchcci.

I.

Council member Cummings.

Hi.

Council Henley.

Hi.

Council member Hutcherson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green.

Hi.

Council member Remick.

Hi.

Council member Ross Hammond.

Hi.

Council member Ralph.

Oh, it's absent. Sorry. I know that.

Council member Schman.

I.

Vice Mayor Wilson.

Hi.

Mayor Dyer.

I.

By a vote of 10 to zero. You've certified the close session to be in accordance with a motion to recess.

Okay. Uh next we have the uh approval of the minutes for the informal and formal sessions of September 16th, 2025 and the formal session of September 23rd 2025.

Do I have a motion?

Second by I'm sorry. Council member Beluchcci.

Hi.

Council member Cummings.

Hi.

Council member Henley.

Hi.

Council member Hutcherson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green. Hi.

Council member Remick.

Hi. Council member Ross Hammond.

Hi.

Council member Rouse is absent. Council member Schulman I.

Vice Mayor Wilson.

I. Mayor Dyer.

I.

By a vote of 10 to zero to approve the minutes as submitted.

Okay. Uh thank you. Now we uh move on to public comment. Any speakers on the 2026 uh draft legislative agenda?

We have one speaker, Bob Mandigo.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council, my name is Bob Mando. I live in Chemsville, District 1. I'm here representing the Taiw Anglers Club and the Virginia Saltwater Sport Fishing Association on the legislative the draft legislative agenda regarding menhaden.

We thank you. We really thank you for putting this in the package. We have a lot of sport fishermen in Hampton Roads and in particular in Virginia Beach and we've been we've been fighting this issue for years. So I just came down to tell you thanks. We appreciate it.

And Bob, thanks for thanking us.

Appreciate it.

And and I'd like to recognize my old friend and colleague former colleague Bob Mandigo who used to sit with this council and be the former vice mayor.

Thank you for coming out.

Thank you. I know that you don't get thanked as much as you should. So, and I just would like, sir, I would just like to point out that we appreciated District One member doing that. So, thank you very much.

Yeah, you got it.

That's all the speaker. Sir, Rosemary, do you have a letter that you would like to Well, this is for the charter amendment.

Are we ready for the charter amendment?

That's all.

Oh, is that part of the uh Okay.

Have you called the charter amendment?

Okay.

Okay.

Any speakers on the charter amendment?

Okay.

So, I have a letter that uh I was asked to read and this came from the Farm Bureau because they couldn't be here tonight. Um and this is directed to the and they wanted this on the record. Uh this is a statement from the Virginia Beach Farm Bureau Board of Directors.

Let it be known that at the last official meeting of the Virginia Beach Farm Bureau board of directors held on September 11th, 2025, the board voted unanimously to endorse the Virginia Beach Charter change recommended that any increase in density below the blue line requires a supermajority vote of city council. And that's signed by John Cromwell, the president, and Barry Knight, vice president.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. And then uh moving on uh the number two public hearing acquisition of agricultural land preservation ARP easement installment purchase for 90.77 plus or minus acres located at 5548 Buzzard Neck Road.

There are no speakers, sir.

No speakers. Okay.

No, sir.

All right. Um are there any uh Okay.

Okay, let me go ahead and read the uh speaker uh policy. I want to remind everyone that the city council speaker policy that allows certain representatives of groups to speak for 10 minutes applies only to planning items. All other uh speakers which speaking individually or on behalf of a group will have up to three minutes to speak on any single item. Speakers are reminded that uh the comments during the

formal session of the meeting must be limited to the item that is being considered by the council at the time you are called. For items placed on the consent agenda, a speaker will speaker will have up to three minutes to address any single item. If the speaker wishes to have uh address multiple consent agenda items, the speaker will have a cumulative time of six minutes to address those items. Against the speaker

must limit his or her time to the subject matter of the items that have signed up to address. And finally, I call upon all speakers um and all persons in the chamber as as and to be civil under discussion and decorum.

Whatever views you hold and wish to express, the city council wants to hear from you and to ensure that all viewpoints and all persons are respected. The best way to do this is for all to strive for civility. Uh you know, madame clerk, do we have any speakers, multiple item speakers on consent?

No, sir.

And do we have uh we have speakers on the one item uh later?

Yes.

Okay. Which which number was that?

I think it was number six.

Yeah, that was number six. So, it's going to be pulled. Okay. If you uh madame vice mayor, if you can do the consent agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. An ordinance is a resolutions number one is the resolution to designate October 2025 as breast cancer awareness month and authorize the city manager to eliminate Greenwich overpass with pink lighting. This was requested by Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, and council members Rene and Shman. Number two is a resolution to designate November 3rd, 2025 as Alzheimer's Awareness Day and authorize

the city manager to eliminate certain city facilities in teal requested by Vice Mayor Wilson and council members Cummings Hutcherson Remick Ross Hammond, and Schulman.

Number three is a resolution to designate Bridal Creek Boulevard in honor of Timothy Timberland Mosley requested by Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, and council members Hutcherson, Jackson Green, and Ross Hammond. Number four is a resolution to authorize and direct the city manager to execute a first amendment to agreement for use and support of a solid waste disposal system with Souththeastern Public Safety

Authority of Virginia SIPA to extend renewal terms. Number five is the ordinance to authorize the city manager to negotiate the terms and conditions for the transfer of Virginia Beach schoolboard property to the city at 4622 and 4722 Jericho Road. Ray Park use and the board chair from the school board is here and after this if we could have her come up and say just a couple of words.

Yeah. After we vote on it. Uh number six is the ordinance to extend the date for satisfying the conditions in the matter of Commonwealth Brewing Company LLC reclosing a portion of Lake Drive adjacent to 2444 Pleasure House Road. Number seven is the ordinance to authorize and convert a part-time position to full-time position of the city attorney's office may assist with increased workload. Number eight is

the ordinance to authorize and appropriate bonuses for city staff.

Number nine is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $341,5252 from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and Old Dominion University Research Foundation to the FY202526 Park and Recreation Operating Budget Race Support Programs focused on expanding access to preschool services.

Number 10 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $218,830 from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation from Damex for dam safety flood preventional protection assistance fund to the FY202526 for capital improvements program number 1640 Stumpy Lake Dam Improvements and authorize a local match redesign and construct of dam modifications. S number 11 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $127,63

from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles DMV to the FY202526 Police Department operating budget and authorize 50% in grant match to overtime and equipment expenses related to the seat belts and speed enforcement. Number 12 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $90,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the FY202526 Department of Information Technology

operating budget to support part of the city's lead data science salary. Number 13 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $48,463 from the Supreme Court of Virginia's Office of the Executive Secretary to the FY202526 Commonwealth Attorney Operating Budget and authorize a 25% grant match for drug and alcohol trading services testing services, excuse me. 14 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $45,52

from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to the FY202526 Police Department operating budget and authorize a 50% in grant match rate overtime, training, and equipment comp expenses related to the DUI enforcement.

Number 15 is the ordinance to accept and appropriate $25,000 from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Service Department through the witness protection grant to the FY 202526 Commonwealth Attorney Operating Budget for safety planning, emergency, food, clothing, child care, and witness transportation.

Open a public hearing on planning.

Number number one is the Concord Apartments LP Norfolk Premium Outlets LLC for conditional change of zoning from I1 Light Industrial District to conditional A35 apartment district. Ray construct 180 unit multifamily development and a variance to section 4.4B of subdivision regulations. Ray lot width and street line frontage at parallel directly southwest of 5945 Brutin Station Road and that is in district 4.

Number two is the Westnet Community Association Inc. for a modification of profers to a conditional change of zoning at a conditional use permit Ray Outdoors Recreation Facility at partial east of 3072 Signature Circle and that is in district 2. Number three is SS New Town LLC DBA Airhead Care Arahead 3 LLC for a conditional use permit rate automotive repair garage at 5773 Arrowhead Drive in site sweet suite 107

and that is in district 1. Number four is the church in Virginia Beach for conditional use permit Ray religious use at 5263 drainage road and that is in district 1. Number five is J. Ernie Herman Douglas Pashall revocable trust for a conditional use permit ray alternative residential development at 1524 Gumbridge Road and that is in district 2. Number seven is Michael Buckle Michael S. Michael D. and Susan

Elbachle for conditional use permit. Ray Braywood SEP um preparation facility, a parcel directly southeast of Firewood Preparation, excuse me, southeast of 1625 Indian River Road in that is in district 2.

Number eight, Blendigale Hill for conditional use permit to homebased wildlife rehabilitation center at 709 to Laura Lane and that is in district 9.

And number nine, Jen Eugene Cila IRA just a Jen Esila for conditional use permit rate short-term rental at 516 22nd Street, unit 300, District 6. Move for approval.

I have a second. We have a motion and a second.

So moved.

Any comments?

May.

Okay. If we could go ahead and uh have the a call for the vote, please.

Thank you. Council member Luchie.

Hi.

Council Cummings.

Hi.

Henley.

Hi.

Council Hutcherson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green.

Hi.

Council member Rimick.

Hi.

Council member Ross Hammond.

Hi.

Council member Rouse is absent. Council member Schulman.

Hi.

Vice Mayor Wilson.

I.

Mayor Dyer.

Hi.

By 10 to zero. approve the consent agenda as read by Vice Mayor Wilson.

Okay, we're going to have a couple uh comments here. First, uh first uh Council Member Green, I think you have some news for us.

We are excited. As you know, I'm Councilman Cash Green. I represent District 7. We are honored to have such a display of talent. Um we're honored that um fourtime Grammy award winner uh Timberland is going to be in town um and he's going to come back to give back at Salem High School which is the visual performing arts academy the school he graduated from and so this was a big boost for our um high schools ourmies

we are proud of the leadership of Dr.

Robertson. We are proud of the leadership of our colleagues here who've all uh voted unanim unanimously that we could honor one of our own, one of our legends. And so with that being said, this is a great boost in the arm for the kids who are uh talented, who are creatives.

And so we are so happy that the city of Virginia Beach is going to have a street naming ceremony that will take place on Saturday, October 18th. And it's going to say Timberland Way. I want to thank you, Virginia Beach. I want to thank you for being so one of the best cities that you welcome your home, you welcome your talented back. And with that being said, he is going to come back to give back

because that's what legends do. And so with that, I am grateful for my colleagues because without you, this wouldn't be possible.

Now, do I understand we have the sign here tonight?

Yes, sir.

Okay. Do we have a family member here to accept it?

We do. Miss Michelle, come on up.

Come on up. And Tamaya, come on up.

She's family, too. Go grab the sign and give it to them.

It's here.

Welcome.

How are you all doing?

Just stay right there in front of the lecture. No, you're fine. In front of the lectern and he'll be over to you.

Thanks to come too.

Yeah. Come on. If you want the whole council can come excited.

Thanks for being here.

Well, you're going to hold this. You hold this because that's what this is about. I'm gonna have both of you right here and we're going to be on the side of you. Okay.

This is called a shameful photo op.

This is the Oh okay.

Get my doctor hand moving around.

Okay. Cash cream.

You too. You have to as well.

This is really cool.

There's two of them.

Oh, there.

If you want to wait until they just take their seat, then you all can make a few comments. Sure.

Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

PJ has the other one.

Oh, yeah. His legislative aid has the other one.

Nothing like being put on the spot, right?

Yeah, I can handle it.

Finger is shaking.

Yeah. Just take another minute.

There we go.

Okay. Welcome and good evening.

Introduce yourself.

This is definitely being put on the spot, but I want to say um my name is Tamaya Davis um and Michelle. Um it's been a long time coming. We definitely want to thank the city of Virginia Beach. We want to thank all of you for saying yes to us. This was just a vision that we had. two years ago, we were in Miami with Timberland working and um he was at this event and he was

playing his music and the people was just having such a great time and I told her I said, "Yo, we got to bring this back to Virginia Beach. Like, we have to do this. You know, we have the Missy's and the Clips and Forel and just, you know, everybody that's from this area that has done so well." We was like, "We got to do it for Timberland." and we ended up meeting Mr. Cash Green,

official Cash Green. Sorry, I'm nervous.

And um he he said he would walk us in the door and try to make this happen for us and it happened. So, we definitely appreciate you. Um we've been doing interviews. Timberland was on an interview with us this morning on the news and he said how excited he was to come back home to do this and he's going to love seeing the city is what he said.

He said, "It's not just about the street. It's more about the city humbly." So, we want to thank y'all so much from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely, y'all about to make me cry.

Yeah. But we want to thank you all sincerely and everybody here in the city of Virginia Beach. Um I'm a Virginia Beach native from the Blood Salem High School graduate as well. So, we're very happy and I hope everybody gets to come and celebrate with us. And let me just say this, we we take a lot of pride in saying that Virginia Beach is a city of heroes, which we are. But what people

don't realize, our city and our region, we have a number of Grammy winners and people in the industry.

Yes.

That flat out do us proud.

Yes, sir.

And Timberlin has done so many things giving back to Salem High School. I had a long talk with superintendent of schools, Don Robertson, and he was back in the day he was, you know, there. Yes.

And I'll tell you what, you know, we love honoring people that deserve honor.

So, thank you and God bless you and we'll see you in a couple weeks.

Yes, sir. One more thing. We're going to be giving back even more. We're giving sneakers to kids. We're giving about four scholarships away. We're giving to the Boys and Girls Club. So, when we did this, we wanted it to be about community. So, we have a lot of events, but we are giving back to the city of Virginia Beach is where we kept everything going. So this is going to be wonderful

and that defines Virginia Beach. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you everybody.

So much and Dr. Ross Hammond, you have a statement.

Yes. I just want to thank attorney Don and also this is to do with the Concord apartments. As you know, we've been looking at trying to get many more workforce attainable housing. So, to have this come in district 4,80 units, our teachers, so many people will get an opportunity to have a place that they'll call home. So, thank you very much and please pass that on. Thank you all.

Thank you. And Vice Mayor Wilson, you have a special guest to introduce. Yes, we have a special guest in the house and it's uh the chairwoman of the Virginia Beach School Board, Kathleen Brown.

Kathleen, would you mind coming down?

And I think we're really excited about this collaboration that we've had between your school board and our council. If you'd like to say a few words.

Yes, thank you. Um thank you, Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, members of council. Um I want to first start by saying I'm the chair of the Virginia Beach School Board. My name is Kathleen Brown. And um I also want to thank Dr.

Amelia Ross Hammond, Council Member Schulman um as well for serving on the Jericho Road ad hoc committee and also schoolboard members Vice Chair Williams and Dr. Alvida Green also served on the committee that brought this recommendation. And just for the community's purpose, um this property that we're talking about that the Bayside sixth grade campus formerly sat on on Jericho Road was gifted uh by the

Aragona family to the school board. And the school board has enthusiastically recommended that we enter into a partnership in collaboration with city council uh to recommend that as open space or a park and work with you guys to do that. And we're very very excited.

Good. and thank you for everything you and your school board do. Uh we have a a stellar reputation of our schools which really helps define Virginia Beach as the great city it is. Thank you and I appreciate your partnership.

Thank you.

Take care, Mr. Mayor.

Mr. Mayor.

All right. That was an incredibly good Mr. Mayor. Yes.

I'm sorry. I just I I I I just want to say thank you for inviting um the school board chair up up here to say a couple words and and I want to also say thank you for for your work and your collaboration and um that of your board.

But I'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the the folks in Aragon Village and and Pemrook U Manor and Meadows the neighborhoods. Um these these are folks who are very excited that after 60 years of asking um that that we are in a position to be able to walk together perhaps and and uh this is just the first step um an authorization to uh have our our staff and the manager and our attorneys engage with one

another to come up with a set of terms that we can hopefully all agree on. Um and it looks promising that we will.

Um there'll be other steps down the road, but uh just really want to give a shout out to the neighborhood. It's a really important time for them.

Thank you.

And in a future meeting, we're going to be recognizing the Arona family for the generosity of this parcel to this first to the schools and now it'll be to the city.

Thank you. And I just want to mention Lorine, Lorine Samco, so you can let her know we appreciate her being, you know, persistent for all of this. Thank you.

Okay, great. Okay, thank you. It's great to honor people that deserves to be honored and thank you all for being here tonight. Okay, we'll go to the regular agenda and uh the only other item we have is item number six. Mark and Summer Brown Wild Acres Farms VBC LLC conditional use permit rate for an outdoor facility at 5917 Blackwater Road. And Mrs. Henley, do you have a motion and some comments?

Uh yes, thank you. Uh we will kind of go about this in a little bit different way. Uh I there was one uh little error in the conditionals that were passed out to you earlier. So this is a correction.

Uh it was in item um three. Uh so I I just want to um say that this is a a very unusual application and it had a very interesting transcript from the planning commission which I'm sure all of our council members have read carefully. Uh, so we heard all of or we have read all of the comments that were made at the planning commission and I thought that it might help those

of you who want to make comments tonight to know what I have pulled together as what I am planning to make as a motion to approve this. Uh, the last I checked, I think all the speakers tonight are speaking in favor of this application.

Um, and so I think if you hear what is in this list, it may uh help you know what what we have heard. And I want those who were in opposition to know that we've also heard their concerns.

And I've tried to work this out so that I'm I'm hoping that uh it will uh leave the concerns that those who uh have been a little bit uh nervous about this will know what it's going to be and what it's not going to be. I was even getting emails uh up to last night uh with people who were concerned about what this was going to be. So I hope we can

can uh kind of allay those fears. What I want to emphasize, this is not a dirt bike racing track. Uh, this is a conditional use permit for an outdoor recreation facility. That is actually a dirt bike training facility. And I think that's the the point that we want to make certain everyone understands uh that that's what this is. It's it's it's a training facility for uh young people who are interested in dirt bikes

and uh I think some of the comments in the transcript said that even some of those are ebikes and that's certainly something that um we are hearing a lot about these days. So this is the motion that I am planning to make in approval and I will read these are the conditions that the planning commission suggested.

Uh and a couple of others that I added that we have normally been putting on to um issues of of this magnitude. Um and uh that one other little change that I did as well.

First of all, these would be the conditions of this conditional use permit. Uh the number one, this conditional use permit shall not restrict personal use of the track on the property. Two, there shall be no more than 20 one-day camps permitted every calendar year. Three, the operator is permitted to have two individual or small group lessons per week with no more than five children per lesson and

all lessons shall conclude by 8:00 p.m.

Uh five and actually this came from the uh uh listing that we had as background on this. This was bullet five in that listing. Attendees of the camps and lessons shall be responsible for providing their own dirt bikes which shall be removed from the property at the conclusion of the camp and or lesson. There shall be no storage of dirt bikes associated with the outdoor recreation facility on the property.

Five, the hours of operation of each camp or lesson shall be between 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Sunday.

Six, there shall be no amplified music or outdoor lighting associated with the outdoor recreation facility.

Seven, portable restrooms shall be brought onto the property during the time of the camp and removed afterward in a timely manner. Eight, all vehicles shall be parked in the designated parking area depicted on the attached site plan. No overnight parking is permitted.

Nine, all camps, events, and lessons held on the property shall only be organized and operated by the property owner. 10 is a very important one which I hope will allay the fears of those folks who have been concerned. There shall be no competitions or similar events permitted on the property. 11.

And this is where I did make one adjustment. The uh planning commission has said there shall be no more than 40 students. I've changed that to 25. I think throughout the transcript, the applicant said she really didn't need 40. 25 is a much more doable and acceptable number. So, that's the one I've used. There shall be no more than 25 students on the property at any time.

All students shall be accompanied by a parent or guardian who shall remain on the property with their child throughout the duration of the camp and or lesson.

12. Upon approval of this application, a site plan and an erosion and sediment plan shall be submitted to the development services center for review.

13. All improvements currently located within the agriculture easement that are not permitted must be removed within 12 months of application approval. 14.

Driveway improvements to include a concrete apron in the right ofway shall be completed upon approval of this application and after securing all necessary approvals and permits. that was requested by our public works department. And this is something that we uh often include in issues of this magnitude. The owner shall provide and maintain proof of liability insurance of at least $1 million underwritten by

insurers acceptable to the city. And then this is something that we also have done in the past which has worked quite well and I hope will uh help alleve those folks who have been concerned.

Number 16. The conditional use permit shall expire one year from the date of approval. The renewal process of this conditional use permit may be administrative and performed by the planning department only if there are no substantiated complaints and or violations associated with the use. If there are substantial substantiated complaints and or violations associated with the use, then a new conditional use

permit must be approved by the new city by the city council. So if after a year everything has been well done and there have been everything's been fed and the staff can automatically uh continue the use permit. If it has not been acceptable then the council will rehear it. And so this is going to be what I move to approve and I hope I can have um comments that will say that we hit it on

the money. If we haven't we'll see what we can do.

Okay. There's a motion with a considerable amount of changes. Uh is there a second on this?

Mayor, we have speakers.

Okay. Speakers. Okay.

Several speakers that wanted Okay, let let's go ahead. Okay, we did that.

Thank you. The first speaker, well, the applicants Mark and Summer Brown.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, and members of council. My name is Summer Brown, and my husband, Mark, and I are lifelong residents of Virginia Beach, and we are the owners of Wildacres Farm in Blackwater on Blackwater Road, which we purchased in 2021, and and adjoins our home, which we purchased in 2020 2014. We are seeking um approval for a conditional use permit for outdoor recreational purposes. We

wanted to take a few minutes to tell you more about who we are at Wildacres Farm, what we do, and why we are so passionate about this project. Our family's farm spans over 27 acres, of which we lease around 21 acres to local farmer Don Horesley um to grow soybeans. We want to assure everyone that we do not have any plans to decrease the amount of farmland currently leased if this project is

approved. The remaining portion of our property, we've started our own farm ventures, and have built a personal use motocross track. Our farm has an emerging orchard with over seven types of fruit trees, mature pecan trees for harvesting, and an ever growing flock of chickens. Our 12-year-old daughter, Olivia, runs her own egg business. This spring, we are working on adding aupic

wildflower field for families to enjoy.

And in 2024, we began the process to add cattle in our back field. The best part of our vision is while a child comes to visit for a training camp, the rest of the family can enjoy all the other farm experience we will offer. It's truly an exciting time of growth for us. On a personal note, we are parents of a young motocross rider, and safety is the most important thing to us. Our son, Dayton,

has been riding on two wheels since before he could walk. He began racing at age four, and by age six, he had competed in the most prestigious motocross event in the country. What made that experience so special was not where he finished. It was watching our son at such a young age set set a goal, train hard, overcome obstacles, and never give up. The lessons kids learn on the track, perseverance, focus,

responsibility, carry into every part of their lives, and shape them into productive members of our community. My husband, Mark, has also been riding since he was a kid. He's had some incredible experiences over his riding career. Today, as a local business owner and father, his focus is not on competing anymore, although he does still slip in a race when he can. It's assuring that our son and his friends

develop the skills necessary to ride competitively and as safely as they can.

What started out as just helping our son improve his skills has grown into a passion for helping other young riders also. On Mondays, our son's friends come over to ride and they do what they love.

It is truly the highlight of our week and has become known to the riders and their families as Moto Monday. Most Mondays, we have around 20 kids who come to ride and have never had anyone contact us about excessive noise. As a matter of fact, my closest neighbor sent me a video on September 22nd that she took from her backyard. Um, her video demonstrated that the noise from her

pool fountain drowned out the noise from the bikes. Also, ebikes are now a huge part of motocross, and so a lot of kids who are out there riding don't even make any noise. As we began searching for structured, safe training opportunities, we realized that most um training programs cater to older, more advanced riders, we saw a huge gap in the need for beginner focused safety first

training, a place where young riders can learn proper fundamentals before bad habits form. The closest facility that occasionally offers this style training is in South Carolina. We believe that having a youth training closer to home would be a significant benefit to the motocross community and to Virginia Beach through revenue generated as visitors spend money in our community instead of in another state.

This is where the dream for Ride Wild Acres was born. A space to teach the basics to give the kids a foundation. We like to think of it as the te-ball of the motocross world. Our camps will include pre-riding warm-ups, safety instruction, off and on bike training.

Um, as noted in the sample schedule I emailed over to camp council, only about around three hours of the eight hour training day would actually be on the bike and these kids would be broken into small groups when they are on the track.

Since sharing our plans, we have been overwhelmed by the amount of positive support we have received from the community. A WHRO news article about us received over 2,000 likes, comments, and shares combined. All of it was positive, which in this day and age rarely happens. We have received support from motocross families across the country who are looking forward to this opportunity becoming available for their

children. Even the biggest name in dirt bikes and action sports has vouched for Mark, his ability to teach and the need for this kind of training for kids.

After reading a few the the few opposition letters, we noticed that the title of youth dirt bike training facility gave the impression that this is something much bigger than the occasional training camps we want to hold on our farm. And we believe with the information we have shared, it may change some of those opinions. Two vacant non-adjoining property owners and a neighbor who was already in the

process of moving out of state before this application was submitted do not reflect the sentiment of all the neighbors who surround us and have reached out to us and council with support. While we believe that what we are doing falls under the state definition of agurism, which is defined as any activity carried out on a farm for the general public for recreational, entertainment, and educational purposes

that can only be regulated by a locality if there's a substantial impact on the health, safety, or general welfare of the public, none of which was noted in any of our staff planning reports. We are willing to work with the city to work to with us to establish reasonable conditions for our plans through this outdoor recreation conditional use permit. We're hoping to create something

that not only sustains our farm, but also gives back to our community's youth, teaching discipline, safety, and respect while allowing families to enjoy our farm. We want to create a sense of attachment to this land for our children so one day when it's theirs, they want to preserve and protect its agricultural purposes.

Good evening, Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, city council members. Uh, I'm gonna just bore you guys a little bit with some uh background of myself and why this is so passionate to me and means so much. Um, my name is Mark Brown and I was born and raised in Blackwater area, Virginia Beach. My parents house is three minutes down the road from where we currently live. So, this rural area has always been my home. As a

child, we rode go-karts, minibikes, and at age seven, I started riding dirt bikes. My cousins lived next door to me.

Growing up, we had a track in our backyard and we practiced on riding with multiple people each time we rode is what led us to our success in the sport.

We were always pushing each other to be better. My youngest cous youngest cousin qualified and raced at the national level at a very young age. His older brother went all the way to the top and became a professional racer. I have competed in and won multiple events aired on national television, one of which will be aired in the next couple of weeks and I'm not even allowed to share what the outcome results for that

were. Um, in 2022, I competed in X Games out in California and I go through life.

I realized that motocross is what molded me to be who I am. Through my teenage years, my focus was on a goal to ride faster, beat the kids that I was racing against. This kept me from getting involved in things I shouldn't be doing like other kids my age. Things that would have just slowed me down. And even though I wasn't doing the things that other kids were doing, I was still

considered cool because I was successful at racing.

Today, I continue to conduct myself in the same way. My wife and I own two very successful businesses that we started from scratch, employing multiple people in the Tidewater area. We own two properties in Virginia Beach, one being our 27 acre farm and three commercial properties in southern Chesapeake. This determination and ability to focus on a goal came directly from the motocross

lifestyle I grew up in. We now instill these same values in our children and see them gaining the confidence and abilities to do things on their own because of it as well. Our 12-year-old daughter, Olivia, shows us through softball as well as her business where she sells eggs from her chickens. She has 20 chickens and she takes care of and purchases all the items they need with her own money. She is getting her

own farm stand in the spring to expand her venture. Our seven-year-old son, Dayton, achieved his goal last year, qualifying for the biggest national event out of 719 kids. At such a young age, our children are setting and achieving goals for themselves through our farm. We would like to spread these types of life skills to the kids in our community, the ones that share a passion

for outdoor recreational activities such as motocross. We feel as though we have the knowledge, the skill, the expertise, and the perfect location to make this possible for our area. A safe place for kids to come and learn to ride while enjoying our farm at the same time.

Um, the last thing I wanted to touch on was just the agurism. So since coming in um last time and we've discussed this a lot the Virginia state code 3.2-6400 agurism activity means any activity carried out on a farm or ranch that allows members of the general public for recreational entertainment or educational purposes to view or enjoy rural activities including farming, wineries, ranching, horseback riders.

horseback riding. Uh with what we are trying to do, we are educational recreational and entertainment activity that occurs on a farm, which fits completely in the state's definition of agurism. Virginia Beach has already determined that our activity is considered outdoor recreation. That along with the educational aspect making it fall directly under the state's ACU agurism definition. Thank you for allowing us to

present our application before you tonight and hopefully we can work together to build something the youth can enjoy and learn from while preserving our agricultural land.

Oh, thank you. And I you know I think uh you have a dynamic plan here and very well received. Uh could I ask you to count a comment of Mrs. uh Henley's recommendations?

Yes. So, so do you want us to go like one by one through the changes?

No, let's let's f do it as quickly as possible so we can all we can hear the other people, too.

Okay. Mrs. Henley, we're going to give them the opportunity.

Okay.

Yeah, because I mean, we just got these a couple hours ago. So, it was that's why I did it early. Um so the num for the part where it says that um number four which is um the attendees of the camps lessons shall be responsible for providing their own dirt bikes which shall be removed from the property at the conclusion of a camp andor lesson.

Um that that one we're not necessarily okay with because we have prior to coming to planning commission we didn't realize how many people would want to come to these things from out of state.

Um, and a lot of people are are excited because not only do they get to come ride dirt bikes, they get to go visit the ocean front and go to the beach and, you know, spend their their dollars here instead of in another state. Um, so if we're if somebody comes with a truck with their little dirt bike in the back of the truck and they have to go park at

the ocean front at a hotel, the chances of them coming out the next morning to their dirt bike being gone um is probably very big.

Yeah. And we have a 4,000 ft² pole barn that some of our friends that come over on Mondays that live in neighborhoods, they they'll leave their bikes there because they don't feel like bringing it back and forth every Monday. So, we feel like that one is going to kind of restrict some of what what we already do personal like on our personal side.

And what else do you have problems with?

Um the other one is the um the number 11 where it went from 40 to 25 students.

So, it's kind of already set with like an industry standard. The number 40 was something that we that we came up with because what we do at South of the Border, which is right there, I don't know if y'all ever driven by South of the Border with the big sombrero and everything at South Carolina. That's actually a motocross training facility.

That's what makes the money at that place. So, u when we go to those youth camps, the number is generally 40 people and they split them into two groups of 20. Um you normally have two trainers.

One takes one group, one takes the other. They kind of separate them based on age. So the little younger kids maybe like four to six will be together and then like the six to eight kids be together. Um it's very manageable. Um in our sport generally when we race it's a 42 person gate and all 42 are on the track at one time. Um, so when we do these camps, having having a few more

kids, it helps us be able to teach that.

Um, if if we're not able to have the amount of people learning with very small groups doesn't get you ready for that big, you know, if you have more people around you. Um, so we felt that the 40 was was a decent number there.

Um, that was one of them. Um the number 10 about the no competitions or similar events um permitted on the property. Um that one's kind of outside the scope of what we're even applying for. Um like we said, we use our our property for our friends to come over and ride on Mondays and every time if somebody's over there and you know, somebody wants to call and say they're holding a race, but we're

just out there, you know, riding, then it's just going to be unnecessary.

you know, you they call, they report, then we have to come and explain, no, we're just we're just riding. It's, you know, some of our drills are even, you know, to get three kids who are very close in in speed and see, you know, which one can get this turn faster, and that's going to be kind of considered racing, right? Um, but that's what we're training them to do. Like, we're

training the these kids are racing. So, some of those are going to be little individual races. And I don't it's not um and to say like never hold a race on the property I feel like is just outside of the scope of the training facility.

Isn't the purpose to train people how to race in races safely?

Yes.

Minimize injury.

Yes. That's our main goal.

And these are young kids. They're not you know with with the people on the track. Some of our main focuses are the fact that the some of the slower kids and some of the faster kids when a faster kid is coming upon a slower kid, slower kid needs to learn to stay in his own line and not to move out of the way because the guy behind you can expect what

you're about to do unless you make a rash decision. We need the other people there to make that possible to kind of show that and to show the faster kid how to get around safely, the slower kids, you know.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think you're you basically got some pro. if we can. Let's hope. Can we open it up for questions for you now? Anybody?

There's a few more.

There's a few more.

Yeah. So, the the one about the driveway, the concrete driveway, that was voted down during the planning because the um our main use is farm.

Our main use is still farming the land.

And they pull the combines and everything right into that driveway.

It's a 50ft gravel driveway that enters the property. Um, it's a very good like farm driveway that that pulls into there. So, they had voted that down during planning since it's still, you know, we do our other stuff like the pecans, the wide wildflower field. This is just a secondary use to our farm. It's not the sole use to our property. Um the other one about the um the insurance I'm we're

going to have insurance of course, but the part where it says that it has to be acceptable to the city. I don't have a list of who's acceptable to you guys. So I it's hard for me to agree to a condition when I don't know if if you know say nationwide is who wants to insure me and Nationwide is not on your list and then I can't find somebody else to insure me, then I'm in trouble

because now I don't have insurance. So now I can't hold the camps. Um, and then the one about the conditional use permit expiring after a year. Um, we won't even have our track moved. I mean, if we're lucky, we're hoping to start camps next spring. Um, and I'm not I'm not aware of if unless there was more outside of the three letters that came, but like I said when I was talking, um, one man, it's a

vacant property that he does not he visits once a month to hunt. The other is a vacant house that a woman purchased to flip and it has been vacant for the last seven years. And then the other one was from a neighbor who was already moving prior to us even applying for this. But every single neighbor who lives around us is supportive. A lot of them are are here. Um actually a lot of

them came over last night to meet Miss Henley, but she had to leave prior to them getting there so that they could tell her in person how excited they are for it. So that was that was the other one. Um, and we did want to see about um possibly changing the wording to number seven. I believe it I don't know if it changed when we um the one where it's um that we're agreeable that all the

vehicles should be parked in the designated parking area as noted on the site plan, but we were hoping that you might reconsider um the no overnight parking for the same reasons I listed before about the um dirt bikes being removed. So like if somebody wants to leave a trailer and we can park it in our barn or behind the barn or leave a dirt bike in our barn, you know, just

people will park there for the camps, but if somebody goes to stay at the oceanfront or at, you know, at Sandbridge or whatever, they could leave their items with us and then they can pick them up the next day.

Okay, great. Okay, any questions? Josh, quick question. Mr. Thank you very much for taking the time to so thoughtfully articulate all of these issues and and uh and your plans for the property. Um I was confused. You said you had only just seen this.

Um I got it this afternoon around like 2:00.

Okay. And I'm just Where did this come from? I'm just That was taken from that was a compilation of the uh recommendations from the planning commission with a few that I added on at the end. The two or three. So these I came from the planning commission. This is this is going to be my recommendation. Anybody certainly is uh u able to submit a a secondary recommendation if you want, but I tried

to fit this to adjust to the concerns that I had heard from the people who have concerns. So anybody certainly willing to uh uh put in a second secondary motion? appreciate the clarity. Um, and thank you for coming up and doing this. Um, I'm glad you did it because we all learned a lot about uh great things you do. So, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else? Okay, we're going to go Michael and then we're going to go Hutch and then Stacy.

Thank you. And um and I I can say in the more than in the years that I've served uh more than 5 years, I I I think can think of few applications where we've received as many um emails of support as for your application. So that tells me that um people really are responding to what you are doing and and I appreciate your um presence and service to the community.

Uh, I just want to um ask one question about events.

So, it looks like events was crossed out and it's hard for me to know if this is a planning commission recommendation or if this is something that Mrs. Henley is is presenting, but um m if I could finish Mrs. Henley. Thank you. Um uh sorry, if you don't mind me, Mrs.

Henley, you're out of order.

You're out of order.

Okay. All right.

Um, thank you. So, can you just clarify for me? I know you've talked about camps.

Mhm.

Um, but are you is there any circumstances under which you would have an event? And if you did, would that event be required and maybe this is also a planning question, would that event require to be permitted separately? And that's a separate process from the conditional use permit. We were actually we we noticed that the word events was was taken out and we're fine with that for

this because all this is supposed to be for is for our um youth training camps.

You know the conditions for that. Um I don't anticipate holding events but you know if we had say a opening party because you know we we're going to have our first training session then I believe we would just have to apply for a special event permit outside of this this stuff. um which was why we kind of had when we talked to staff um them put at the top that this you know doesn't

hinder our personal use of the property.

So there may be an in an occasion where you might wish to have an host an event but that process would be pursued separately through the special city's special events office.

Yes.

And there are a variety of limitations related to that as well as um regulatory oversight around hosting events. I'm quite familiar with. So, so that you could have an event and but you're not uh necessarily specifically planning for that for this. We just wanted to stick to the you know youth training camps at our at our property.

And then if I just could just ask you for to state for the record and for my awareness that the changes the alternate conditions that we've been presented as well just a few hours ago are it sounds like I heard you say that you um have not agreed to any of those conditions.

Yeah, I think the only one we agree to is that number nine where the word events is is crossed out.

So, you did agree to a commission number one.

Thank you. Okay, we're going to go Hutch Stacy and Barbara.

Hey, first thing uh as a long long long time ago Kawasaki 100 owner um that I wrecked on the first day, but uh I could have used could have used some training cuz the Elizabeth's River was a hard hard training ground on the banks.

Anyway, um the other thing I was going to say was a smart move sending your dad to uh coach softball and you being here.

Um her dad is a 35-y year retired district chief with Diane Beach Fire Department. Something to be proud of.

won't miss practice, but probably not best to have him here and you there, right?

Yeah.

Um, so, uh, but moving on with some things here. Uh, I travel all over the East Coast riding a bicycle, not a motorized or ebike. Um, but I know what you're saying when you talk about storing and I don't want to say that anybody would have it stolen here or whatever, but just the thought of three $4,000 whatever the bike cost, it's just going to cause stress that doesn't that doesn't matter. I know when we're

booking our trips to go on these long bike rides, you know, when the person says, "I have a secure area or I have something cuz otherwise you're having to carry them up steps and bring them in and people don't like them in the rooms and it's just a whole another whole another level." So, I know it seems small, but I completely support you and not supporting that one. Um,

so the other the other part is and this may be for the director of planning is so because we too just got this and I know Miss Henley was trying to to do her due diligence here, but there were um, you know, several on here that that obviously y'all are not in agreement to and I know we said about doing a second um, whatever we call it and is is how

does how does I'm looking at the director. How does Summer work through this with what she agrees to and what we agreed to? Sorry. Go ahead.

So, the planning commission recommended for approval this application with 11 conditions. Some of them are modified as um outlined in this alternative condition. The applicant doesn't necessarily need to agree to the conditions. if council sees fit to apply conditions to the cup, they don't have to agree with the conditions. Um, but if there's something different from the alternative conditions, we're happy to

revise them here.

Okay. And then just for the public, and we did receive an outstanding amount of support, and to my knowledge, I I think I got one that wasn't. It was like 50 to1. Uh, planning commission and planning department were agreeable to this.

This was recommended for approval from staff and recommended from the planning commission with a vote of 8 to one.

Eight in favor, one against.

So we have all these letters for one against planning commission, planning department. Okay. And they do not have to go back through all this if they choose not to for us to vote on it.

Correct.

Thank you very much, Stacy. And then Barbara.

Good evening.

Good evening.

So, um you said that more and more of these bikes are become are ebikes now.

Yes, sir.

And not ebikes like bicycles. They're electric dirt bikes.

Okay. Can Can in your training, can you train those folks not to ride on the boardwalk?

Hey, it would give them a great place to come and ride.

Great. Thank you.

It's not an agricultural area at the boardwalk. Yeah.

Okay. And Barbara, I was going to ask Mr. Styles who put this together. When I looked at that events with the line through, I thought it was just a line on the paper that happened to be there. It wasn't. And so you were the one who did you notice that?

Yes, ma'am. I think we deleted that thinking that it would create ambiguity with the condition number 10 that you sought to add which says there shall be no competitions or similar events permitted on the property. And since um the preceding one talks about camps, events, and lessons, and the applicant was asking for camps and lessons, we thought to avoid that ambiguity, we would delete that word. But if that was

not your intent, we can certainly um uh delete the deletion and put it put that word back in. I apologize for that confusion.

Right. Well, I just wanted to clarify that this was something that just I I looked at that and I thought it would had just been a one of those lines that show up on a page of piece of paper sometime since it hadn't been.

I really appreciate the city attorney pulling together all of these things in a short while and I appreciate what a good job you did and that everybody has been trying to work together and I really appreciate the community that's tried to work together. Uh those who were very concerned about all of this and trying to keep everybody happy is not always easy. Um but thank you very much Mr. Styles for clarifying that

word.

Okay. Anybody else at this point?

Okay. Thank you. I tell you what, we're going to have some more speakers and if I'm not mistaken, you can come back and you know for a rebuttal if necessary.

Thank you so much.

The next speaker is Ben Topping.

After Mr. Topping is Michael Dippen, welcome.

Good evening. I had a speech prepared, but I'm just going to speak from the heart because it it would just reiterate what Mark just said. Um, I have a three-year-old and a four-year-old and watching them ride and and just just grow as young men and learn skills.

Sorry, I'm pretty nervous. Um, learn skills, um, decision making, reaction time, physical capability, all of the above. They're so much farther ahead of their peers than than non-moto kids. I'm just going to say it blatantly.

It's incredible to see the contrast between kids who ride, all these kids in the room right now ahead of their peers in the same class, in the same grade, in the same age. So, it's it's amazing to see. I'm very thankful to be a part of it. And um that's all I have to say about that.

Hey, really appreciate you coming.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Michael Dippen.

Sorry, I'm totally messing that up. I'm sure. And then Kelsey Newton.

Good evening.

Good evening. How are you? Uh my name is Michael Defbuk. I live at uh 2441 uh Bomb Road in uh Chesapeake, which just about 2 miles up the road from uh where the Browns are. Uh I'm a family friend of the Browns. Um and then I also own about 50 acres uh within eyesight of their property. Um I want to kind of veer off of what I had planned a little bit to just kind of

talk about. So I um am actually in the process of uh doing a couple conditional uses in a chess speak. Um, so kind of learned a lot about, you know, what takes place and, uh, how the conditions are. And, uh, one of the things we had a hard time with, uh, with ours, so we actually had a condition on, uh, on ours as well that put a 2-year uh, time limit

on the conditional use permit. And, uh, we got it. That came from the planning commission. And then ultimately at council they changed it to a what they called I believe was a two-year review.

Um and the reason we pushed for one we wanted to just kind of take that out but you know the you have to invest a lot of money to do you know a type of project like this or any type of project. So the idea of it, you know, being on the chopping block after a year when you're just getting going, you know, they're not the Browns aren't some large commercial enterprise. They're not the

Breedens or something like that, you know, they're just trying to do something good for the community. Um, so that one kind of caught me off guard there when you were going through uh the different ones. It's definitely hard for, you know, a small business to invest their money, time, and everything into an application like this to then, you know, in a year possibly have it not work. Um, and

there's plenty of ways around if they get a lot of complaints, you guys still have the power to pull their conditional use down the road if there's a lot of complaints against them. It doesn't need to automatically have to come back up.

Um, that's one of the big things that I wanted to uh kind of touch on there. Um, and then, uh, you know, having to do the work on the driveway and all that. Uh, we own a bunch of property out there.

Uh, same people, uh, farm our properties that do theirs. You know, again, they have huge combines, tractors. We have the gravel driveways just like um they do. Never have any issues there. The idea of having 20 to 30 cars once drive over it.

Really really appreciate you taking a time to come.

Thank you much. Appreciate it.

You got it.

The next speaker is Kelsey Newton and then John Paul Abato.

Good evening.

Hello.

I'm Kelsey Newton and I am excited and hopeful that the decision will be voted to approve Wild Acres. Motocross teaches kids valuable life skills both physically and mentally such as discipline responsibility and decision-making, all while maintaining balance, coordination, and overall physical fitness. While motocross is considered an individual sport, the community that comes with it is truly

like no other I've ever seen. I can't count how many times I've seen the dads, including a lot of the ones that are present here in this room, stop what they're doing with their own child on the gate to help another kid get their bike started just so that they can start and complete a race. If you need a part for a kid's bike, chances are someone has it. And if it's for a PW50, chances

are it's in my husband's trailer.

That's what this sport is about, family and community. The friendships that are developed in this sport are so amazing to witness. competitors on the track and best buds off the track. We are thankful for the Browns for putting in so much effort for these young kids. Approving this for Wild Acres would provide a safe and structured environment for young kids to learn and grow at the sport that

they love. It would not only mean a lot to my boys and our family, but for countless young riders across the country. Thank you.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Jean Paul Abatada and then Alexis Moors.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening members of the uh city council and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm not going to read this whole thing because most of what I've written down was already uh spoken has already been spoken about and I don't want to waste anyone's time. But uh my name is John Paulate and I came here tonight to advocate for Wildacres Farm. I'm originally from Cypress, Texas, but my

wife and I are now living in Chesapeake and we have been for the last 5 years.

Uh as of right now, many young riders in the uh Chesapeake and Hampton Road seven cities have nowhere safe to practice or learn how to ride. That was certainly the case for my young child before we were fortunate enough to have met the Browns who welcomed us and my son Maverick into their farm. Uh, excuse me.

Most parents are forced to drive to North Carolina where their children can only ride at a dirt bike track. The track is not ideal for beginner riders and kids as it's open to riders of all ages, experience levels, bike sizes, and even quads. Uh, it also charges a hefty fee for every single rider and it's only occasionally open. This all makes for a dangerous intimidating expensive and

ultimately unsustainable environment for young and new riders who don't know track etiquette or maybe even how to ride a bike safely yet. Uh, Wild Acres addresses all these issues. Mark and Summer Brown have created an environment over there designed specifically for safety and youth riders. Uh, Mark is a seasoned dirt bike racer and he humbly gives all of his knowledge and experience to each of the kids, teaches

them how to ride safely and uh, helps to grow their confidence and character in the process. This is a place where kids can ride under professional guidance and supervision and not a free-for-all like at a track out in town. Um, I also wanted to touch on the character and growth aspect because that's why I'm actually here tonight. Uh, Wildacres Farm isn't just about riding, it's about

developing character, confidence, and community. I've personally watched my seven-year-old son grow tremendously, not only in his skill level since riding at Wild Acres, but more importantly in his confidence and his and his respect for himself and for others. Uh his teachers have actually noted have noticed as well. They emailed my wife and I about the profound personal growth they have seen him him over the last

year noting specifically his newfound confidence and belief in himself which has spilled over to his classmates who now see him as a leader and follow his example. You see children are easily molded and influenced by those around them. So when a kid comes to Wild Acres and learns respect for themselves and others, learns to be confident and brave, it carries over to his peers.

Whether it's at a baseball practice, school, or just a community playground, the kids around them are also positively impacted. I believe dirt bike riding can be a tool for building spiritual resilience. It teaches you to be steadfast during challenges, to get back up after you fall, and to believe in yourself even when you're intimidated or scared. The kids who come to Wildacres learn that success comes from

discipline, hard work, humility, perseverance, and respect. Um, at the end of the day, I took time out of my day to speak here tonight because this request isn't just about a track or a permit. It's about providing a safe space for our community's youth to grow.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

The next speaker is Alexis Moors and then Michael Keys.

Alexis.

Yes. I just wanted to make sure.

Hey, good evening.

Hi. How are you?

All right. I'm going to sound like a broken record, I'm sure. Um, but I do want to read through this because it's it's important um to me and my family.

So, my name is Alexis Morris, and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be here and support the Browns and Wild Acres today. Um, I'm a mother of three children, all of whom were involved in motocross at one point. However, my son, who's nine, got his first bike when he was two, and he took off, never looked back. Um, I've been broke ever since then. Um, so motocross is a sport that's

incomp in incomparable with any other.

It's a sport that builds community, strengthens family bonds, and supports youth in ways that are truly transformative. This sport teaches courage determination strength respect, and resilience. It brings individuals together from all walks of life and from every socioeconomic background. When you go to a racer training facility, you'll often see the family that has given everything they

can to get their child there on a 10-year-old bike that they bought off Facebook Marketplace, but they're parked right next to a family in a half a million dollar rig. And next thing you know, their their kids are best friends.

They don't see wealth or status. They see another kid who shares their passion. They push each other to do better, cheer each other on, and play together in the dirt when the race is over. There's no jealousy or division, just encouragement and mutual respect.

And then there's the parents. Parents in the sport have an unspoken understanding of what it takes. The long drives, late nights, scraped knees, and broken parts.

The moment a bike has an issue, another parent is there with the tool in hand.

The moment a child crashes, another parent is running to help. Even if it's the same kid, the same kid that their own kid has been battling all day. It's a community rooted in respect, perseverance, and unity. And that is what the Browns are trying to bring to our area through Wild Acres. Now, I understand one of the main concerns from previous meetings was agricultural zoning of of the land. I would like to

highlight that motocross is in many ways deeply aligned with the agricultural principles similar to those similar to horse barns or riding arenas which are commonly approved under agricultural zoning. A motocross training facility teaches real tangible skills that are both mechanical and agricultural in nature. These young riders learn far more than how to twist a throttle. They learn about engines, machines,

maintenance, mechanics, and problem solving. They develop an understanding of logistics, how to transport equipment, manage fuel, and care for machines, much like the way agricultural students learn to manage livestock or oper or operate tractors. Building and maintaining a motocross track also teaches skills that directly connect agricultural land use. Understanding soil types, drainage, erosion control,

and the use of heavy equipment such as tractors and compactors to build safe, sustainable riding surfaces. The tracks designed from its jumps to and angles and BMS and ruts follows the same principles of land contouring and grading that are used in farming and ranching. The youth who ride here gain an appreciation for the land, how to maintain it, and how to work with it responsibly. While this course is

exciting and fulfilling, it's also intimidating. Every time you let your child on the track, you send your heart out there. You hold your breath and pray they stay safe. It's not for the faint of heart, but many accidents occur in motocross, especially with younger riders, and they're all preventable, often due to lack of training or understanding in youth. What Mark and Summer are building here is a place

where riders can prop can be properly trained, where safety comes first, and where children can learn in a controlled, structured environment under responsible supervision.

Hey, thank you so much. Right on time.

Right on time. Way to go.

Thank you all very much. The next speaker is Michael Kee.

and mayor, members of council, he's our last speaker, so then the Browns will be back up for rebuttal.

Okay.

Good evening. Let me fix this mic. Um, my name is Michael Kei. I'm a 14time state champion in motocross here locally. I'm also a member of the City of Chesapeake Business Alliance. Um, local business person myself. I wanted to touch on something that they haven't touched on yet and that is the availability of motocross tracks in the area. The closest Virginia based motocross track is within two hours.

That's Sussex, Virginia. It is public.

They own compet they do have competitions there. And the closest available public track to this area is in North Carolina, Elizabeth City.

That's an hour away. So, I wanted to come here today to speak in front of the council just to give uh my opinion of the Browns character and what they're doing. Um, blatantly they're opening their home to help children and their families. So, very proud of that. Have a great relationship with them. I also own a National Motorcross Association racing program uh called Pit Bike Moto LLC. Um,

I am an AMA referee. AMA is American Motorcycle Association. So, we do offer racing events. Um, and that's how I've gotten to know the Browns and all the families and to see all the kids. Just great to see them. I ride with them on Mondays. Um, I help them learn fundamentals alongside Brown family. Uh, very proud of what they've been doing and what their families come here today to say. Um, in respect to time, um, I

strongly recommend, uh, approving this conditional use permit as I believe, uh, they're going to do great things for the children in Virginia Beach.

And thank you for taking time to come.

Thanks Mark and Summer Brown, if you'd like to come back up.

Do you have any rebuttal or comments?

I think the only comment is um we agreed to what the planning commission recommended um originally at our meeting and just with the request to modify number seven.

Okay. Any other questions?

Yes, I have a comment.

Okay.

Uh this comment is not so much for you.

First of all, you seem so young for what you've done. But I would love all the little kids back there to stand who have been attentive. This is a testimony.

Can they all stand? Can we see these kids?

Cuz this tells they're very attentive.

I've been watching and listening.

So, thank you for what you do.

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you folks very much for coming. Okay. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

We're done. Thank you.

You're done.

Okay. All right. Uh, you know, Mrs.

Henley, you know, given u, you know, what we heard and, you know, we appreciate your recommendations, but there's been overwhelming response for this. Nobody has come to spoke uh in opposition. Uh would you support making a motion to uh you know to go along with the what the uh staff and uh planning commission have recommended?

Well, that's pretty much what's in here.

This is where I took it from.

Okay. But but the actual document that we got in the planning commission that you know you because you know quite frankly I found some objections with some of your concerns.

Well then this was my this would be my motion. So, you're free to certainly make a substitute motion.

Okay. Do we have a second on this?

There be no uh second. Is there another primary motion?

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

Any other discussion?

Just the motion is to for approval.

Thank you.

In line with the planning commission's recommendation.

And I did hear that um the overnight parking presented an issue. So would it be all right if we did the overnight parking no overnight parking for anything other than bikes. So like cars I think that's probably what they were getting at but planning commission recommendations plus the no parking for cars is permitted. Okay. All right. I think we're good. We got a second. All right.

Any other discussion?

Let's open the vote.

I'm sorry. I Well, we're doing verbal votes. U but I did not get who made the second.

I did.

Thank you very much.

Um Council Member Beluchcci.

I council Cummings.

Hi.

Council Henley.

No.

Council Hutcherson.

I.

Council Jackson Green.

I.

Council member Rimick.

Hi.

Council member Ross Hammond.

Hi.

Council Rouse is absent. Council member Schulman.

I. Vice Mayor Wilson.

I, Mayor Dyer, I.

By a vote of 9 to one.

All right. Yes. 9 to one. Uh, the application has been approved as amended.

Planning recommendations are approved as amended for Mr. Schulman.

No parking.

No parking. Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you folks for all coming.

and say good night to the kids for me.

Okay. How about appointments?

Take them out for ice cream. Okay. Under uh from the Clean Community Commission, we'd like to appoint We'd like to appoint Julie Dixon. uh the Historic Review Board to appoint um Jeffrey Coleman, the Southeastern Public Service Authority of Virginia to appoint LJ Hansen, and the Virginia Beach Cannabis Advisory Task Force to appoint Adam Dobbins.

Move for approval.

Council member Beluchcci, Council Member Beluchcci, may have your vote.

I thank you, Council Member Cummings.

I council Henley, I'm sorry. Hi. I'm sorry. I just didn't for the appointments.

Okay. I Thank you. Council member Hutchinson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green.

Hi.

Council member Remick.

Hi.

Hi.

Council member Schulman.

Hi.

Vice Mayor Wilson.

I.

Mayor Dyer.

I.

By a vote of 10 to zero pointed those as read by Vice Mayor Wilson.

Okay. Great. Is there any unfinished business? New business. Okay. We will adjourn. Open mic. Thank you all very much.

Who made the motion?