City Council Special Formal Meeting, 2/10/2026

call this uh meeting to order. Um, in accordance with Virginia Beach City Code 2-1 and by the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Virginia Beach, I hereby call for a special formal session in the Virginia Beach Virginia Beach City Council on Tuesday, February 10th, 2026 at 20 p.m. City Council conference room 2034, building one, second floor 241 Courthouse Drive. The purpose of the

special formal session is allow city council following its regularly scheduled formal session as listed in the agenda to convene a close session to discuss the following matters. Publicly held property in district 6 contract project grant personnel matters of city council appointments boards commissions committees authorities agencies task force and appointees. And at the conclusion of the close session,

the city council will reconvene into an open session for the purpose of certifying the closed session. The special formal session will be broadcast on uh cable TV, virginia.com and Facebook live sincer.

Okay, welcome one. Welcome all. Mr.

Dhaney, let's go ahead and get started.

All right, so Mr. Mayor, members of council, the first briefing will be given by our legislative affairs director, Brett McKenzie, who's joining us live from Richmond, going to give us an overview of all the general assembly's comingings and goings. Brett, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager, and good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, members of council. Um, so we're entering our fourth week here in the general assembly. Uh, today, like few of the other briefings, we're just going to provide a brief status update on our legislative agenda items. And today we're going to mention some of the items that have fiscal impacts. Uh give you an update on some land use legislation that

we've seen some action on over the last week. Uh mostly in a positive manner and um some legislation that has uh some revenue streams attached to them. Uh so with that, we'll kind of get started here.

Uh just as a quick update or reminder, uh some upcoming milestones. So next week, February 18th is crossover. That's the day that each chamber has to complete all of their work on their legislation and then whatever passes goes over to the other chamber. Um on February 22nd, each chamber will present their budgets and they have until February 26 to complete uh complete their individual budgets. Uh and then

the session scheduled to uh uh to end on March 14th and then we have reconvened session session on April 22nd.

You guys likely saw in the news, I think it was on Friday, Governor Spamberger signed uh into law four constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot this year. Uh three of these will be on the ballot in November. Uh one dealing with reproductive freedom, one dealing with voting rights restoration, and one dealing with marriage equality. Uh the fourth one is scheduled to be a special

election on April 21st dealing with congressional redistricting. If you're following the news at all, you've probably seen a lot of information and news about this. Um there's a lot of litigation tied up in this that it's at the Virginia Supreme Court now. So, um they are moving forward with scheduling that election and putting all of the procedural requirements in place uh as the court action plays out.

So, our legislative agenda, the things here in bold are the things that are still active. Uh just a couple of things that have moved since my last briefing.

Our um EMS funding bill HB 57 from Delegate Fagens uh passed the House and has been referred to the Senate Transportation Committee. So that's uh great progress. uh HB390 from delegate ascq dealing with uh some of those permitting issues that we're having um is on third read today so should pass the house today and move over to the senate and then the men fishing study um they had divided the

bill into two separate two separate bills one dealing with some of the restrictions they wanted to put on the menhaden fishery one dealing with the study um they they've combined certain portions of that but uh the study part of is moving forward as uh HB 1049. Uh that passed committee yesterday. So that was exciting news. Um and then unfortunately uh this past Friday, our pop-up event zone legislation was uh

unfortunately not successful in the House County Cities and Towns Committee.

So, uh, all of the legislation on the screen here, these are things that are, you know, have a fiscal impact to local government. Uh, nothing on here. You've seen everything that's on here before.

We just want to continue to highlight these things for you. Uh, the House version of the collective bargaining legislation is scheduled to be heard in the full uh, labor and commerce committee this afternoon and then we'll get sent over to appropriations. Um I guess the one real common theme as you'll see through the rest of this pre uh presentation is that most of the real heavy legislation is uh through its

original committee and has been sent to the money committees. These are the places where um most of these decisions get get made in the money committees because they have to uh not only agree with the policy but they also have to fund many of these things. And so you'll see that on most of the status updates on most of these pieces of legislation is that they're sitting in finance and

in appropriations. So, uh, that's collective bargaining. Um, the sovereign immunity legislation from the Senate Majority Leader Scott Suravel. Uh, its initial iteration was uh, pretty ambiguous and we had a lot of questions with what its intent was. From our reading of it, we believe that it only impacted a very small segment of local government employees. Uh the Senate majority leader cleared all of that up

by uh dropping a substitute bill in the courts committee uh earlier this week or I guess it was last week u to where it would cover uh basically all local government employees and local government actions. Um, looking at the fiscal impact of that, working with the city attorney's office and, um, our budget folks, we think it would probably double or triple some of our insurance

requirements, uh, probably with a fiscal impact of somewhere between five and $6 million. And that is, uh, you know, before there's any sort of, uh, lawsuits or anything that may be, uh, come with it from from result from that, um, sovereign immunity going away. Uh so we're continuing to watch that legislation very closely and we're lobbying against that change.

Um you'll remember from my first briefing there was a piece of legislation that would require uh local governing bodies to fund uh the school budgets of need regardless of what that budget in need came over and asked for.

Uh that legislation was uh rejected in the appropriation subcommittee. Um, and then I'll I'll highlight one more here for you guys. We talked a little bit about this last week, but I think it's worth talking about again. Uh, there was legislation introduced by Senator Rouse and Delegate Fagens that would require all public works projects to operate under uh prevailing wage Davis Bacon

rules just like a lot of our federal projects do. Um there's a lot of complications with that from um just reporting and paperwork and and the added cost obviously, right? Uh Senator Rouse amended his bill to only apply to state projects, not to local projects.

And um there's a lot of folks working with Delegate Fagens to get those same amendments made to his legislation.

Um, so on land use legislation, last week I think I came to you and I had a lot of bad news on land use legislation and uh I was personally pretty dejected on a lot of this. Over the last week we've seen a lot of progress in making some of these pieces of legislation um much more palatable and better for us and for local governments across the Commonwealth. Um, so SB454 from Senator

Van Vulcanberg and HB816 from Delegate Dan Helmer. This is a piece of legislation that would require u every local government or every locality to designate 75% of all of their uh um zoning or districts that are zoned for business to uh allow by family um multif family housing to be built on those zoning districts. That was a terrible description, but hopefully I think you got it. Um, we were able to get a

carveout for our Oceanana and AQ's issues in there and, uh, local governments have been working with Senator Van Bulenberg. He's been very generous in taking some additional amendments under consideration as we try to make that legislation uh, more more workable for local governments. With the success of that bill, Senator Van Dulenberg uh, agreed to have his SB488 uh, stricken from the docket. he was

really hoping for one or the other would pass this year. And so, uh, by working with us on the, um, 75% bill, he has stricken his housing targets bill. We're optimistic that the House version of that will see the same fate when it comes over to the Senate after crossover. Um, and then I'll highlight one more here for you, I guess two more actually. Um, SB531 deals with uh, accessory dwelling units.

And so the House version of that bill was defeated in the House committee. It was a complete mandate on localities that you would have to allow anybody any property in a single family residential zoning district to allow them to do an ADU. Um obviously we're historically um against those sort of mandates. Um after the senator saw that fate in the house, he went back and kind of reworked his

bill to uh he tried to make it a little more permissible and more workable for local governments. We think he's maybe halfway there. We've got a little bit more work to do on that, but again, lots of positive progress there. Uh and then similarly um the faith and housing legislation that I mentioned to you guys before that would basically give any church owned property and any nonprofit owned

property the right to build uh multif family housing on it. The original version of that bill had almost no restrictions on it. the newest version of it has some restrictions on it and our housing folks and um planning folks are taking a look at that now and u providing me some advice and guidance on where we might be able to go with that.

Um and then uh I guess I might as well just mention the last bill on the list since I talked about the others. Uh there was originally legislation that would have eliminated the ability for local governments to enforce any sort of parking minimums. The uh this version HB888 from Delegate Shin of Northern Virginia is a bit of a compromise where it um it restricts the ability for local

governments to set parking limits for properties that are near transit stations and near like um kind of small area plans, things like Town Center, places like that that are meant to be more more urban and less suburban. So again, um the first version we didn't like, the newest version we don't love, but is market improvement from where we started. So, uh lots of lots of positive movement on land use legislation this

week.

Uh and then here, similar to the bills that uh have a fiscal impact, some of the legislation that would provide some new revenue streams for local governments. All of these are currently in the finance and appropriations committee. Uh things like skill games um are are both in there are both in the uh money committees. Uh retail marijuana marketplace. Uh there's currently two versions in the Senate, one version in

the House. Uh the version from Senator uh Ayard and delegate Kryek Crez would uh give local governments the authority to institute a sales tax and you'd have the choice between 1% and 3 and a.5% and that would be on top of the already existing 1%. Um, the version from Delegate Lucas, Senate Bill 826 mandates and requires a 3% sales tax and in my reading of it, it's absent talking about

if that's 3% on top of the 1% or not.

So, they still have some things they need to work out on those fronts. Um, we talked a little bit last week about the legislation that would give local governments the authority to call for a referendum for a 1% sales tax increase to pay for school construction. Um, the House version of that bill has made it all the way through the House on a 70 to 28 bipartisan vote and is now headed

over to the Senate. There's two versions in the Senate from Senator McPike and Senator Lucas that they're still working out some of the details on on um dealing with some of the bonding authority and the ability to kind of supplant some of the payments there. Uh and then the last bill here that I'll highlight for you is uh on vaping products. The Senate version ran into some of the same

complications we've had in the past on this bill. Um, and the House version is uh is sitting in House Appropriations and hasn't been docketed for uh committee hearing yet.

With that, Mr. Mayor, I'm going to turn it back over to you for uh any questions. You know, it's the week before crossover. There will be a ton of action happening this week. Um next week, we probably will be waiting still for um a lot of this this action to take place prior to crossover. and then after crossover, we'll have a a better grasp of how this session's going to look for us.

Okay, let me start it off. Um, you should be all gotten a copy of a letter that I forwarded to the uh delegates and senators, you know, with regard uh to the collective bargaining. And let me just give everybody an assurance that 757 mayors, we, you know, we appreciate the value of collective bargaining. Uh but basically, you know, we just want, you know, to have a say in it. And um

and so what I did was send forward something to given the potential of uh some pretty negative stuff that they experienced in Fairfax County to do a study, you know, to defer it until they can do a financial impact about how it would affect uh the uh the locality. And you of course should all have a copy of that going forward. And uh you know Brent, thank you for uh your help in

crafting that. And uh you know we'll see what happens.

Okay Amelia.

Um thank you again uh Brent for all you're doing up there. Sorry the second time when I went up. But one interesting one where you have faith in housing with M Pike go there. Um the VML we were calling it why like yes in God's backyard. All of you know the other nimi but this is what they were calling it. Yes in god's backyard. And I thought that was an interesting because

many people are looking at you know something like that to address the housing and um I looked at it and we already as a city have started doing some of that. So for many it was new but they were pushing that forward. And um there was the other that you mentioned about the schools construction.

You could go back to that clip.

Yes, ma'am. And and I think you know you bring up uh what the argument that we make as local governments is that you know we have the authority already to work with um religious organizations, nonprofits, really anybody that wants to build housing that to come and work with the city to uh to move projects like that forward. um these sort of pieces of legislation that you know just grant

these small pockets of people with special authority and without really especially in the original version without any sort of restrictions on it um you know are are they they raise a lot of concerns for us as a local government and local governments across the Commonwealth. Um, you know, I think I think you're right that we we already have a lot of that authority and we can work with folks and I think we do. Um,

and that's what we kind of been talking to the legislators about, but the new version's better. Probably not great, but we'll see what our planning folks say. They're the experts on it. They'll help me out with that. Um, and then, you know, I I think I've mentioned this local sales tax for school construction in most of my briefings so far this year. um you know it's passed the legislative legislature two years in a

row and was vetoed by Governor Yncan.

Governor Spamberger has said she will sign it. So you know uh I think the expectation is that this this new authority will uh be coming to local governments this year. Um nothing's ever guaranteed. Crazy things happen, but that's certainly the expectation at this point.

Thank you ma'am.

Mr. Mayor Brent, thank you again. Um, and just to chime in, um, Councilwoman Ross Hammond's, um, you know, just just points about housing and just over the last few years as as we've all been sitting here, at least I have, we've seen these legislative updates, um, and and a lot of times I know our preference and and for good reason, is to to resist a lot of what what some of the general

assembly um, you know, tries to try to push from the top down on us. Um because I mean especially in land use, I mean this localities are like where the rubber meets the road for real and and uh and we've got to listen to our constituents and our and our friends and neighbors and and uh land use issues are understandably, you know, can be controversial just because that's their everybody's primary investment and and

and source of wealth. Um, but I hope that we can look at some of these issues and even if even if our posture is um, you know, not necessarily in alignment with where the the legislature wants to go, these can be conversations as we move about, you know, with their zoning ordinance update. Um, you know, ADUs, for example, I think ought to be a topic for conversation to help people get a

little bit more comfort around what what what that means and what it doesn't mean for our neighborhoods. Um and instead of mandates, how about some freedom to create some incentives um to include housing and mixed use uh and redevelopment opportunities, especially in our aging uh commercial districts. So um I I would be looking at the general assembly as, you know, for for ways to

help us unlock opportunities as opposed to from the top down require us to to do things that put us in difficult uh positions. Um, and lastly, I'm I'm happy to hear that the men agent study um ended up coming out. Um, I know that's important for all of us, but especially those of us um along the bay front. So, thank you, Bren.

Yes, sir.

Anybody else at this point?

Bren, we can't wait to welcome you home.

I appreciate that, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

All right. Appreciate it.

Okay, moving on.

All right, so Mr. Mayor, members of council, next proposal is an opportunity want to bring forward to the council about transferring the first T um site to Southampton to Blampton Roads. We got a presentation that will provide council a list of options and we look forward to council discussion and possible direction following the briefing.

Hey, welcome Amanda. Good afternoon, Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, members of city council, manager Dhaney, and city attorney Harmire. As the manager mentioned, I'm here today to talk about a potential first land donation um to the YMCA of Southampton Roads and the clicker is not working.

Here we go. I think I got it now. Here we go. Um, so as I mentioned, I'll provide an overview of options for a potential long-term lease or land donation to the YMCA of Southampton Roads in support of the First T program, and we'll seek your direction on next steps. Um, just to provide you an overview of the services they provide, the YMCA of Southampton Roads operates first te in an effort to teach youth the

game of golf, life lessons, and leadership skills. The property is approximately 80 acres. It includes a nine-hole junior golf campus, clubhouse, and a driving range. They provide a variety of services to include golf classes as well as camps. The property is located in an agriculturally zone district and is within the ITA overlay, which uh falls in district 2. They have over,00 members that participate in the

programs every year, and they've experienced um 400% growth in the past three years.

So, the city of Virginia Beach owns the property and leases that property to the Virginia Beach Development Authority.

The Virginia Beach Development Authority in turn subleasases this property to the YMCA of Southampton Roads. The initial subleasase was executed in 1997 and that was for a 5-year term with six 5-year renewals at the YMCA's option. So, the current subleas term is through 2037.

So, as you all are aware, uh, based on council's direction, we did issue an RFP for Virginia Beach National. Um, that RFP, important to note, did include that the lease for the first two property would remain in effect despite any potential sale or lease of VB National.

Um, we have received nine responses to that RFP. The review committee convened, um, and there was a close session briefing to council earlier this year.

So, the YMCA has requested either a long-term extension of the lease or to take title of the property so they can continue to invest the program and make necessary capital expenditures into the program and property. Um, the first campus can be subdivided into its own parcel based on feedback and discussion with our planning department. Um, an extension of the lease or property transfer, as I mentioned, will allow the

YMCA of Southampton Roads to continue to invest in this incredibly valuable program for our community.

And so, we're here today to seek your direction. Um, there are a number of avenues available to you. So, first, we could renew and extend the existing lease beyond the 2037 time frame. Um, the VBDA, the Virginia Beach Development Authority, does have um the ability to enter into very long-term leases. is they don't have the limits that are placed on city council for terms of leases. Or we could transfer or sell the

property to the YMCA uh with a verion clause should that use change. Um we could take no action and keep their current lease in place which as I mentioned does go through 2037 and then obviously any other direction that you may provide and I'm happy to take any questions.

Okay, Rosemary, thank you. always well done. Um, it sure has been a lot of discussion about BB National and the first TE and I think in in everything we ever said, we wanted to make sure that first TE was held harmless, that their mission was very important to us and we wanted to make sure that that was maintained. And I would like to make a recommendation that we I guess either you sell it for a dollar

or you gift it to them. And and this is why uh first of all it kind of gets it off our plate and it also sets the stage that we really want them to be on their own and they have told us that they can be self- sustaining. The Y and the first TE board have told us that they can be self- sustaining and they can do it on their own. Um, but most importantly is

some wonderful group of volunteers that are doing this and they would like to go out and fundra and improve what they have. I mean, they do some really wonderful things. Um, Councilman Belaluchcci and I went out there and we did the golf course tour and and the golf cart tour and they have a lot of ideas and plans of things that they would like to do to improve it, but they

can't do it for property that they lease.

If they own it, then then they could be able to make all to raise money to do all these different um ideas that they have. And they would have to have a revert clause that anytime that that mission changes, it comes back to us. I mean, they can't take it and sell it and do anything like that. As long as it's the first TE and they keep that mission, I think they should own it themselves.

So, I I hope the council will support that, but the uh the Y board and the first T board would really like to see this happen as well. So, thank you. Hey, Michael and Worth.

I think Worth was before me, so Okay. Uh, well, I agree with with the vice mayor. I agree with what she said and um and that would be my request as well. Um, first, he is a extraordinary and remarkable city partner um who is engaged in youth development, which we know is a an essential component of our quality of life in Virginia Beach and it's priority for the council. Um and

they also provide um golf access and introduction to the sport which is increasingly popular and increasingly diversifying to um traditional audiences but also to underserved audiences and emerging audiences and I think that's very exciting. They're a known entity proven partner and I think that um I was talking to someone who said you know sometimes when there's an easy button

you press the easy button and in my view this is an easy button um it's an investment it's a public investment into the extraordinary work that's happening there and and it will allow them to leverage that investment that which is already effectively present and make enhancements to not not only their facilities and to the uh course and range that's there and putting green but also to and and I

another use sometime in the future is contemplated, then it would revert to the city. So they couldn't turn flip it and sell it for another use. So, it's a long-term investment in um into what I think has become an essential community and civic partner and I think it's the right move for us to make and as someone wisely stated, I think it's the easy button.

Thank you, Mayor D. Thank you, Mr.

Chair, for the presentation. And I also agree with what's been said about the transfer with these two questions or and or comments and then really for the city attorney Mr.

from our um or the city manager.

Currently, there's no real estate taxes assessed or collected on this property because it's a nonprofit. And so, and then going forward, if it's a sale, that would remain the same.

Typically, a leaseold would be subject to real estate taxes unless the leaseold is held by another nonprofit that has a tax exemption. So, it is exempt presently.

And I think that's what we intend. And I just want to be make sure. And then secondly, I agree totally with the uh pro provision that the reversion clause I guess that's in the form of a deed restriction, but that's ironclad. It's a legally enforcable document that the public has questions about that. And I would certainly endorse this with all those um because I did also do a golf

cart tour. It's my kind of course. It's all par three. It's, you know, get it done in an hour or so, hour and a half short. and uh but they do they teach not just the game of golf but lifelong lessons values and they're it's a great organization. I fully endorse this.

Stacy, thank you. Um there's been a great outcrying of support for first team and been able to learn a little bit about the organization through that. Uh it's incredible uh benefit to the community.

I fully support letting them have their own self-determination, but I would just want to say that there are some shared facilities that we need to be aware of that we need to make sure that there are no unintended uh consequences from, you know, having the city being able to use the BB National the way that we would like it to be used. And um there are also some encroachments I guess based upon where

the current lease is. So just those things need to be worked out so it's nice and clean and that our hands the city's hands are not going to be tied um by doing a good thing and relinquishing control down the road that we would say oh wow we didn't think about that and wish we would have thought of that. And so that we need to have the flexibility that we're doing a good thing for them, but

we don't want to be held up moving forward.

Absolutely. Council member Cummings, a preliminary conversations regarding the shared services have occurred and we're confident that that can be resolved and we'll certainly take any encouragement into consideration.

Okay, Josh.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I I I fully concur. I think this is um a great signal to the community that we we meant what we said we did in the RFP um that we were going to hold them harmless. And um just me personally, I grew up single mom. My grandfather was a scratch golfer and we lived nearby a golf course and he said, "Josh, you should get a job caddy

in there someday." And I said, "Okay, grandpa." And then he passed away. I got a job caddying and golf taught me just so much. um especially being a young kid, not growing up that much and and um it taught me how to kind of um think in my own head. Um taught me how to respect nature. Um it teaches you how to deal with other professionals and communicate um at a at a different level

than I was used to at my age. And and golf is one of the only games um that you play against yourself. Um and it's one of the only games you can spend your whole life trying to be reasonably good at and um and still come short. although the the the couple of moments here and there are always nice. So, um I I just what it what this does for young people

um and and how it helps elevate um who they think they can be and who they know they should be. Um I I think it's a wonderful mission and um and it's a and it's a great statement by this council to um put put the money where our mouth is, so to speak. So, okay. Anybody else at this point?

Ameilia?

Yes. Um men can you go back? You said something. I just want to make sure you said that whatever happens national they are also comfortable with this. Yes. No.

So with regards to the shared services, we have had preliminary discussions with them and we're confident that that can be resolved and we'll take any encroachments into consideration. Um and as always, as was outlined in the RFP, um VB national uh first TE's lease or any transfers to be held harmless by whatever decision the council may make related to VB National. But should we

pursue with a transfer or sale of this property to First T, then that would that would remove that from being any conflict related to VB National.

Thank you. I'm on board.

Okay. At this forward, I think it's uh prudent to go ahead and go forward. You know, once again, Stacy brought up a couple little things that need to be addressed, but I am confident that they can be addressed. So, unless anybody objects, let's go forward and get it done.

Thank you. Oh, without I'm happy for first date.

Okay. At this point, any council disc discussions at all? Michael, thank you, Mayor. Um, one thing that I wanted to bring up is a report from our cannabis advisory task force who met yesterday and um, I know we received a legislative update that included some um, updates about cannabis, but I just wanted to bring to the public's attention and also to this council's attention some of the changes

that are imminent and where local influence is expected to um, to occur in this in these changes. Um there are two areas where it appears uh that local influence will be prioritized and that is in zoning decisions as it relates to the manufacturer, processing and um retail sales of cannabis products.

And it's anticipated by uh members of our task force and also folks from Virginia Beach who are involved in these discussions at the statewide level that there will be uh local authority conveyed in terms of zoning. So to put a finer point on it, um would would the distribution that would the sales occur in which types of business districts or industrial?

um would agricultural occur for example by right or with the permit would the sales require additional permit these are things we're going to have to figure out and then there's also the question about the tax rate I think it's variable from one and to 3.5% uh local locally taxed and the locality makes those decisions um working from the expectation as they've shared and you know these are experts who are

engaged in this on daily basis. Um that retail sales would begin in Virginia on January 1st, could begin in Virginia on January 1st of 2027 and then manufacture would begin long before that. Um I'm happy once again to share that we have a cannabis advisory task force that's actively working and engaged in these things and providing recommendations. Um but I also think it's really and I and and I'm grateful

to them. At the same time, I want to just bring to the council and to Mr.

Duhane's attention, city attorney's attention that we've got to get to work on this and we've got to do some public engagement.

Um we it's going to be our community's decision about how they envision these. And I know that people are going to have um not only different opinions, but we don't want to catch anyone off guard.

Next thing you know, there's a dispensary in their neighborhood that they weren't anticipating. Um, and there's lots of restrictions. There's a broad regulatory environment expected, but um, we've got to get on it. And I don't know, and and I know we got a great um, briefing from planning yesterday, and I know that they're being very thoughtful about this. Our police department, it appears to is in a wait

and see. you know, they're they're very interested in in what this is going to look like cuz they're going to have be tasked with enforcement on a lot of these things. Um, but we've got a lot of work to do and but more than that, what I'm thinking about is we have public feedback that we need to receive and before we can even really do that work.

So, I don't know what that looks like, but you know, we got a briefing from the task force and they kind of they gave us this.

There was a heads up, but it's coming and it's coming fast. So, um anyway, I I welcome if you have any thoughts about it or um happy to talk about it in another time, but I think we really we really need to understand as a community where is the local control and then what how what decisions are we going to make about that.

Okay. Rosemary and Ameilia and then uh W Stacy and Barbara.

I'm really glad that um Councilman Bluchcci brought this to our attention and he and I spoke about it earlier today and I said this kind of reminds me and you may relate to this to the tanning salons. I mean not tanning salons, the tattoo parlors when we we were allowing any tattoo parlor throughout our city and then it came to a point that we didn't have a choice anymore and we're this is going

to be something we don't have a choice anymore and so I think we did a lot of things to put in restrictions. We we didn't have it down in the resort. We don't have them down in the resort. You don't have them near school. You don't have them near a lot of different things. And so taking some of that in mind, we may want to look at those kind of things for this, but also uh let's

look at best practices maybe across the the country of of what they're doing that might relate to what our what our values are and how we would like to go forward with something like this. And so I we don't have a lot of time, but we do have a little time.

And I think Michael's right. We really need to get in front of this. So, I'd like to see what we're doing, what people are doing across the country, but also what what will work well for us.

Hey, Millia.

Yes. Just to uh Oh, good thing it didn't spill on what uh Michael just mentioned. Um, I attended the BML uh conference as one of the executive board and um we were up there two days talking and working with people and one of the things that we were working on is cannabis retail sales, local referendum, land use and we mentioned that BML urges the general assembly to authorize local

governments, cities, towns and counties to regulate land use and zoning, hold a referendum on retail sales, and tax recreational cannabis retailers. They also support the statewide authority for local government to establish an excise tax on the sale of vaping products. We also support the statewide authority for local governments to establish an excise tax on the sales of cannabis products.

So that is also important at the um BML.

Other areas we we visited different people. I'll just name off a few of our priorities. local land use, local revenue resources, support for public education, uh assistance to local police departments, authority for retired law enforcement to handle temporary detention orders, um compensation for wrongful incarceration, deed fraud, housing tools for local communities. Um, in fact, who spoke to

us at the our reception was Senator Mark Warner and he talked about the same situation to do with housing, but he mentioned a new kind. Instead of just affordable, attainable, he brought up manufactured housing. So, afterwards, you know, I talked with him briefly.

What's the big difference? where seemingly now they're looking at building this house like how they have the acoustical steel area, putting it all together, picking that up and delivering it to the land. So that that was an interesting thing. It reminded me of prefab housing, but it's not called that. Is now called manufactured housing. And then um the last two things uh statemandated tax

policy changes, storm water local assistant funding and study of mandatory property tax exemptions and changing.

This is very important and I pray that our council members come up there. We need one of two up there. an incoming president is um Curtis Bethany from City of Newport News. So, they are there and it doesn't look so good with just one Virginia Beach person is there because we can also um vibe for what's going on as we're going around and visiting the different senators and delegates. So, I

please implore you all. Councilwoman uh Rosemary was the first one that told me about this in 2012 and I said well let me go and learn about it and gradually I've raised up to be on the executive board so they need to hear from us because we are the largest city and then on another thing I hope I brought enough but as you know yesterday was um transit diversity day where they had free bus

trolleys rails that you could ride and up there they gave us little buttons. So I always this is from my mom when she goes to something she used to always bring something back about the conference. So we have little buttons keep transit affordable and some others fund our trains fund our buses. So we have a few that will pass over.

Oh Michael.

And finally, we had a really nice event even though it was under 30°.

We did the neighborhood um signs program and we had a good group turnout and we changed it around a little bit. We thank Emily was there and um Gina, we asked Drew, he was also helpful, but the whole group we got out there, we did it at Michael's Lita and we left and went out.

That one's because it was so cold. We're supposed to stand around, you know, and then on build, but we switched it. We did all the program inside, then went out. The mayor was there did a lovely speech. The council member, the honorable worth Rick, they were so happy to see him. And we also had a sheriff who came and his wife and little one and they he also donated um the hot chocolate and

Virginia African-American Culture Center. Each of these we provide refreshments. So everyone enjoyed themselves. All the four ministers in that area came out and they're really proud that the mayor and our council continue to support this. This is our fifth one and we still have two more to go and we pray the weather be better.

Well done.

Thank you.

Well done.

Okay, good stuff. All right, we got Worth, Stacy, and Bar.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh just three things.

Uh this Saturday, a group of sponsors including uh Virginia BB250 sponsoring the 245th commemoration of or anniversary of the skirmish at James Plantation 11:00 at Nemo Church. It's a great program. This uh skirmish did not happen at the church. It happened right down the street at right where Target is right now at Redmill Commons. But great program this Saturday 11 o'clock. Um, tomorrow night, February 11th, at VB

Middle School, I'll have my 12th community meeting at 6:30. VB Middle School, uh, 6:30 it starts promptly.

Doors will open at 6. We have a presentation from Virginia Beach City Public Schools on how our schools are preparing our students for the workforce. And then Kathy Warren uh, is going to present on the current status of the comprehensive land use plan. And then we'll have some other questions and comments. And then thirdly, and lastly, I was I was honored last Sunday, two days ago, to be at the CATAC sign

dedication recognizing and honoring that historic great community. So, thank you, Councilwoman Ross Hammond, for your leadership on that as well as the staff for putting that together. It was wellreceived and thank you for that, Stacy.

Um, the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame started off well I started off but for for quite a while had a building in Portsouth. is really nice building and over the years they've accumulated quite a bit of stuff, some really nice um memorabilia and for the last several years this memorabilia has been displayed throughout uh uh town center in different offices and lobbies.

They are now going through a transition and uh it's going to require them to remove these displays from where they are in town center and they were going to put them into storage. And when I heard of that, I thought, you know, we got this convention center and we have this sports center with big open spaces.

I thought that would be a nice place to display some of this stuff. And you know, no cost to the city. They'll do all the they'll do everything that would be required. And I think it'd be a nice display to some of this stuff is really a lot of it. It's all it's all nice, you know, but to have that in the lobby of the convention center, which right now it's just basically kind of open, empty.

It would give people a reason to go in there or something to do while they're waiting to uh go to their event. And I I don't know that I see a downside to it, but I I throw it up.

Can I ask you a question?

Sure.

Why do they want to take it out of the town center?

They're required to. They lost they their lease is expired at town center and they're in transition.

Okay, Josh. And then just uh that's a really neat idea. Um and um happy to maybe we can investigate a little bit further the town center situation, but um you know, it just strikes me that we've got also public sports use facilities down in the Prince Stan Commons area, you know, and and I'm sure we have soccer and field hockey um you know, Hall of Famers and other types of sports um folks that we can celebrate.

And there's room there, too.

Okay. Cash, did you have something on this?

I did. Um, yeah, Bruce Rider has been, who's the new chair, has been trying to reach out to council to get us to really um uh show that we are in line with sports tourism, right? And um and so Town Center is is is gone. Um that's that's a thing that is gone. Um minutes, what do you mean it's gone?

Well, the lease is is uh not just want to make sure.

Correct.

Thank you.

But our identity is sports tourism. And I think um there was an email that Joe Rubin sent to several council members telling us and reminding us our identity, right? Meaning sports tourism.

And that's what he was that's what this is really about. um it moving to Enrio uh sends a message to us that we've got talent here, we've got celebrities here and I know we care. We are a council that cares about sports tourism. I just think somehow the message has been um deliluded or not uh picked up correctly.

But here it is. I think Stacy, you bringing it to the table shows that we are for sports tourism as well as the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

You know, Amelia just wanted to ask, you said Bruce is now the chair because as you know, the original person is now with um HealthNet on Net Health.

He's not the original person. He was the last person. He was the last one, but I was here when they brought it from Porchman and asked us to help out and we did. And that's when we divided it all over the place. And now um the young man at Lifeneck, he was great. So now that he's gone, suddenly I had a feeling things will become rocky cuz you know, he really had

that. So if we can still save that, I mean they're beautiful, the jerseys and everything. the idea of having it somewhere in our city. That's the largest city.

Usually we have a special event and bring in Virginia's top and it's usually a really nice event.

Yeah.

So, I'm glad you brought that.

Thank you, Stacy. And then work.

Yeah. I was just going to say that I think maybe a um might have an inverse because you said that since Will's been gone. Yes, you know that it's been shaky. I think it was shaky for a while and now with um and and for a lot of reasons, but I'm not I'm not pointing fingers at anyone.

I'm just saying that uh Bruce Rder coming in as the executive director has added a great sense of stability and they've got some found some financial footing behind them and but it doesn't matter because they're not asking for anything, you know, they're just looking for a place to store this stuff and if it's, you know, no cost to us.

Thank you for bringing it up.

Yeah, that's good. Worth, are you going to talk about this?

Yes. Just just to clarify from what I believe in that email from Joel. So we haven't necessarily lost it to Henriiko.

I think it's for two years that they'll have the annual induction ceremony and we may have competed for that and maybe Henriiko got a better presented a better financial package. But the location of the of the sports hall of fame really is not any one particular building city or other. I think this is the what we lost to Reicho was the induction ceremony and not the but I do think whether it's

a town center or the convention center I think we should talk about it and find a location in the city and not put it in storage for sure.

We should be a sports city.

Okay. Okay. Barbara, I just sports tourism in general, not the this particular Okay. Are we finished on this one?

Just to wrap up in Riel, we we probably need to do some studying on this because they are preparing to house the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame. They are um rolling out the red carpet with Bruce and telling them that they're going to have freeway signs and some others. So they are they're not just thinking of two years and and so this is what the letter in the email uh was sent to us was

trying to get our attention and saying and Michael is not just preparing for two years they're preparing yeah I I I think we're getting off the road a little bit here whether it's it there is no as worth said there is no physical home to the sports hall of fame it's a Virginia organization Henriiko's offered to sponsor officer for a couple of year commitment. But I I don't want

to get lost in the weeds and and that part of it. It's just that this is a good place to store the stuff.

Yeah. But let me ask you this. Isn't it stored at different locations?

There's not a presence. You know, there's some, you know, we have economic development.

There's some that Hoffler building and things. So bringing it all together at the convention center and the sports center would be give people a reason to come.

Okay.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, I think um I'm picking up what you guys are asking for. We'll reach out to them and see if we can possibly um at three hopefully, you know, find a way to host them in our locations. We do know that they do currently do provide um a trophy case inside the sports center as well.

So there's already a relationship. So, we'll see if there if it makes sense to um to kind of incorporate them within some of our spaces.

Okay, we'll see what kind of shake down.

Barbara, I just had something about the sports district. Okay. I did the uh required sending council members an email indicating that I was asking the city attorney's office to develop a resolution to establish a uh Virginia Beach Sports District. And so, um, I have copies, uh, for you all of this proposed resolution, and some of you have already told me you would like to be sponsors of this as well. Please let me

know if you would, but this would establish the Virginia Beach Sports District and authorize the city manager to take actions and support thereof. And they have attached a nice map to show just what the sports district is.

moving forward with this at this time is certainly apppropo from what we've been talking about that we officially name this area the sports district and they can use this in their branding uh going forward the folks out there have been very active in wanting to do this particularly Chuck Thornton has been pushing this and so he's probably talked with a lot of you about it I yes mayor just really quick I think that

Thank Thank you, Councilwoman Henley. I I really think and I've been my initiatives have been sports uh driven for a reason. I I I I want us to know that we have some of the top talent here in Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads. And um I think this is a good move with identifying um who we are as a um as a resort city.

A part of our identity is sports tourism. It's a driver for taxes being low. How can we keep the taxes low ex except uh inviting traveling sports team here to stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants? It's an identity that I think we are starting to classify and very correctly. So I thank you for this um resolution.

Can I ask a question?

Yes.

Is it just for what's currently Oh, no. Well, of course they are you expanding it to complete what we've always planned to be there. And so when you look at our ITA and comprehensive plan that is existing. There are parts parts of this that are not yet built. And so that's what you know I think we need to do. And I know uh uh Stacy has been talking about the cross country track. You know,

track is something that we really need to have out there. And so, you know, there are other sports things that need to be built in this area to complete what we've always planned.

Well, does this include the whole ITA? I'm just No, it would be Well, it would be up to us to determine what it is depending on when we do it.

So, Mr. Mayor um and members of Council, I just want to clarify that, um, Mr.

Harmire and Miss Warren can clarify if I misspeak. Currently, right now, what's drafted is only the highlighted areas.

Council can expand it at a later date should council wants to do that, but currently what's drafted right now, it'll be it'll apply to the highlighted areas. Is that accurate?

Yeah. So, that's correct. So, it's it's set forward the the four main facilities in that area. And then in the resolution, it it states that council may want to revisit this to expand it as council makes other decisions down the line. So this is a starting point for what facilities are there today.

So I think it's a great idea to to name that where the sports is and the soccer fields and all of that, but until we know what's going to happen to the rest of that area, I'd really like to just kind of keep it concentrated on on what is sports now. And then as we just like when we did the town center, you know, that was able to expand as things went along. So

that's what I would be interested in seeing.

So Mr. Mayor, I think Vice Mayor, you said it more succinctly and concisely than anybody, but said that's what this does right now. It's whatever is sports now is um highlighted to be that sports district with a carve out that should council want to expand it at a later date, council can expand it at its um in its consideration or as it desires.

No problem going forward with that.

Okay.

All right. Anybody else at this time?

We'll work to bring that on your agenda for the 17th or you want Yeah, let's go ahead and put on 17th.

Barbara, anything else? Uh yes, I have been asking I I believe that that we have a consultant on board that is looking at the ITA uh for review and expansion or some such and I've been asking for a scope of that work. I'd like to get that and what is the scope of the work that they're doing? What is their timeline? Uh, and I I happened to see this article in one of

the newspapers this week about Portsmouth planning their innovation district and how they're doing their work with citizen input. We see the citizens involved in the design. That's what I think we need to be doing now with the ITA. Don't bring it to the citizens after something's already been developed by the consultant. We need to have the citizens involved in the planning. That's the way we've always

done it and I hope that's what we will do uh with this plan that we are developing because I see the ITA as the biggest opportunity area we've got in this city. When you look at it, you look at our three primary industries tourism agriculture, and the military. And they're all very much involved in that area. That of course started out as transition area one but with the B it became the inter facility traffic area

because this is what saved Oceanana and I think that's the big thing with anything we do in the ITA we have to measure it by whether it's going to be okay with the Navy not only now but in the future as they need to change. So I think this ITA plan is something that is one of the most important things we've worked on and it holds the future of a

lot and uh I would really like to know what the scope is of this work that is now underway and when the citizens are going to have a chance to have input.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and I I first of all, I just I want to say that I I support this. Um, and I I've got maybe a couple questions about it, but I think it's a wonderful thing that um, you know, we help our partners there brand that area so that we can attract um, more people from out of town and and and to emphasize the the role that and

amenity that is for for our residents.

Um I I just I want to just carefully say if you don't mind um that that the ITA plan however whatever that ends up being when we end up taking a look at um I have no doubt will be shopped around and and talked about with community. Um and and I and I also um I recall the parks plan um that was um that was a request made in a reconciliation letter several

years ago which I um I think is a wonderful plan. Um has a lot of great amenities. Um, I don't remember that plan before it was drafted on paper being shopped around community um and and talked about in in in spaces where you have input going into it. I I just remember that being a request that was made of staff um based upon the ITA plan that had been in long long long since in

existence. But but I mean the the point really that I'm trying to make, mayor, is that in order for us to have input, meaningful input from people about any given thing, we got to show them what it is we're talking about first. Um and and and that that that's why I think it was um you know, I I think the parks plan is a is a is a was a wonderful piece of

work and and I'm glad that you requested that work be done. Um but but the point is that I guess I'm trying to make is that that plan was drafted um and and it wasn't it wasn't done um at the tail end of a lot of public input and it it it it alnered a lot of public input afterwards because there were a lot of boards and commissions and a point of agencies that

weighed in but but that's because they had a piece of paper to look at and that's that that's the point all I'm trying to make and I and I think all of this is stuff that we we do need to talk about and we do need to make sure that's out in front of the public. But what what I don't want the public to think is that that we're we're we're putting pen

to paper on plans and and there's no intention of ever going to talk to anybody about any of it, which is the furthest thing from the truth possible.

Well, this is the first meeting I've been to in months that I did not bring our ITA plans with me, but they were getting a little shorn. They're about this big. The first one was done in 2010 and then we did an update in 2017 and that's what's in our comprehensive plan now and both of those were from day one the public was involved just like it's showing in this picture and they're

actually pictures in those plans showing the public participation.

So when we did the first ITA plans and I'll tell you what happened and I was not on the council during the Brack but in 2005 when Oceanana was going to be closed and everything was going to be shut down and then the council and I wasn't here to know exactly what was going on but as a citizen I followed it. The council came up with the plan of that area being the

ITA. I mean that's what it is the inter facility traffic area the traffic area between the two facilities Oceanana and Fentress. And the thing that saved Oceanana I believe was the agreement that the city had that there would be very careful use of that property. There would be no residential. There would be nobody sleeping in those areas. no use that would allow somebody to sleep

overnight because Oceanana was pretty dag on tired of all the complaints they were getting from the people with the noise. And so the ITA was born to save Oceanana. And when I came back on the council in whatever it was, 2007 or eight, the people out there were saying, "Well, what can I do with my property? I can't put what everybody else was going to put residential and so forth. What

can I put on my property?" So that's when we did the first ITA plan that came out in 2010. It was intended to tell these people what they can put on their property. And then one of the things that the city was required to do as a part of the Brack was to purchase up to $15 million worth of property every year. They started out in the accident potential zone, but

later they said, "Okay, you can also purchase some of that $15 million property in the ITA because of the high noise." And so that's when the city purchased what 2,000 acres in the ITA to satisfy Oceanana.

And so that's why we've got the ITA primarily was to save Oceanana and to protect the area from all the complaints that they were getting. And so that's why when we're looking at the ITA, we really have to look at why do we own all that property? Why did we purchase it?

And what do we what is expected of us now? And so I think the first measure of anything that goes in the ITA is what does the Navy think about it and then we go to the other issues as well. But it's but those first two ITA plans were done very much with the citizens participating because they wanted to know what they could do with their property. And I'll share those with you anytime. They're great plans.

And uh and so now we as we are amending those plans, what is it about those plans that we need to change? I think that's what we're looking at now. And that's why I'm asking to see what the scope of this study is that's underway now.

How's it going to change things? We certainly can't shake up no ocean or the Navy.

Dave, let let me comment on that. You know, back in 2005, I was part of the little U design uh team that put together the plan that did save Oceanana and that a matter of fact is now regarded throughout the country as the gold standard of how the municipality uh interacts with an adjacent um aircraft bill. And I can tell you that there was nothing that we have done in the OPA ITA

uh whether it be a building project, a housing project, uh where the Navy was not on board at a recent confer long ago. People were up there, well, we're going to get put back on the brack list. But the problem is we had a letter from Captain Janetti making a request that we do that because housing is a critical factor for military readiness in terms of recruitment, retention, but

also having people living close to the base. housing is and daycare or to the uh especially Navy but all the armed forces uh need and be assured any project that we go that even when it is in concept it it it is run up the flag pole with the Navy um and uh so be assured that whatever we do in the ITA uh you know we'll have the blessing of the Navy

Okay. All right. Anybody else at this point?

All right. At this point, the chair will entertain a motion to access to recess into a closed session pursuant to the exemptions for open meeting allowed by section 2.237 11A code of Virginia as amended for the following purposes. per uh publicly held property. Discussion or uh consideration of acquisition of real property for public purpose or of disposition of publicly held property. Clear discussion

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

or negotiating strategy of the public body pursuant to section 2.2 to 3711A29 and that's project RAM and then personal matters discussions considerations or interviews of prospective candidates for employment assignment appointment performance demotion salaries disciplining or resignation of specific public officers appointees and employees of any public body pursuant to section 2.23711 to 3711A1

and that's council board, boards, commissions committees authorities agencies and appointees. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

Second.

Okay. Roll call, please.

Council member Beluchcci.

I.

Council member Cub.

I.

Council member Henley.

Hi.

Council member Hutchinson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green.

I.

Council member Reik.

Hi.

Council member Ross Hammond. I council member Shelman I Vice Mayor Wilson I Mayor Dyer I by vote of 10.

Okay we are recess into close uh

certify the close session.

So move second.

Second.

Okay. Call the role. Council member Beruchi.

Yes.

Council member Hi.

Council member Hedley.

Hi.

Council member Hson.

Hi.

Council member Jackson Green.

Hi.

Council member Renick.

Hi.

Council member Ross.

Hi.

Council member Rouse. Council member Schman.

Hi.

Vice Mayor. Hi. By vot.

Thank you. We are. Thank you.