MEETING MINUTES TOWN OF PURCELLVILLE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING THURSDAY, JUNE 5TH, 2025 TOWN HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS Video Link: pneahileasmissmdlistin2nisx id-I&redirect-true COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Ronald B. Rise, Chair William Hombach, Vice Chair Christopher Bertaut, Town Council Liaison, Commissioner (arrived at 6:36pm) Troy Brown, Commissioner Ryan Feber, Commissioner COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: Matthew Davis, Commissioner STAFF PRESENT: Kwasi Fraser, Town Manager; Summer Wilkes, Director of Planning and Community Development; Jordan Andrews, Planner; PJ Flynn, Intern; Kendall Wisniewski, Planning Operations Coordinator CALLTO ORDER: Chair Rise called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. A moment of silence recognizing the 81st anniversary of D- Day and the Pledge of Allegiance followed. AGENDA AMENDMENTS: After asking the Commission if there were any proposed agenda amendments, Chair Rise declared the agenda approved as distributed. COMMISSIONER DISCLOSURES: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: 5.a 05/01/2025 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes Chair Rise proposed dispensing the reading of the May 1st, 2025, meeting minutes by the Clerk unless there were any objections. There were none. Chair Rise asked if there were any corrections to the May 1st, 2025, meeting minutes. There were none. Vice Chair Hombach motioned to approve the May 15t, 2025, meeting minutes. Commissioner Feber seconded the motion. The Commission unanimously approved the May 1s, 2025, meeting minutes. (Approved: 5-0-1 absent) 1/Page CITIZEN COMMENTS: None in person. Dawn Bowman, 221 N 28th St, submitted a comment to the Planning Commission via email sharing her support of the Virginia Main Street Program. The email is attached. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Commissioner Brown thanked the mayor, town staff, and community for attending the Memorial Day ceremony. Vice Chair Hombach welcomed Bagel Chicks Bakery to the Town. Chair Rise shared that there are pop-up cruise events every Saturday at 5pm in Purcellville for locals to bring their vehicles. He then shared the VDOT project tracking status of the 7/690 Interchange project. The VDOT status report is attached. He then congratulated Vice Chair Hombach and Commissioner Davis on completing the Certified Planning Commissioner program. COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE REPORT: Commissioner Bertaut briefed the Commission on potential items that may come before the Planning Commission soon, including brainstorming possible uses for the land currently zoned IG and owned by the County, as well as a potential annexation proposal for the Ralph Fields property. PRESENTATIONS): 9.a Historic Survey Update Intern PJ Flynn presented the updated Historic Survey to the Commission and shared his research findings from the recent re-survey. The presentation slides are available in the agenda packet. Vice Chair Hombach asked if a map could be created showing all historic homes in Town, not just those within the National Register Boundary. He also inquired about the criteria used to determine whether a home is considered historic. Director Wilkes responded that a survey of the entire Town will be conducted this summer. Chair Rise asked PJ why he believes the historic homes have been better maintained than the downtown area. PJ explained that, while unusual, this trend likely began several decades ago due to a shift in focus toward suburban neighborhoods rather than commercial areas and shopping centers. Chair Rise then raised the question of whether the condition of the downtown area is the result of private or public sector decisions. Chair Rise then asked staff about the next steps. Director Wilkes stated that the Town holds a VCRIS license, allowing staff to view, edit, and add data as the full-town survey is completed 2IPage this summer. The data collected will also be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan as it is updated. PLANNING STAFF REPORT: 10.a Plan Tracking Summary Planner Andrews provided the Commission with updates to the proposed commercial plans within the Town. The report can be found in the agenda packet. Updates include: A site plan for a new construction of mixed-use retail buildings at 871 E. Main St. A new site plan submission for the construction of townhomes on Hatcher Ave. One of the properties involved in this project has since been sold SO this project will likely be withdrawn. Plans for the drive- thru restaurant at the Shoppes at Main and maple are nearly complete. Norbo's project is currently waiting for a resubmission of plans for further review. The Woodlands project has been conditionally approved by the Town, the applicant is finalizing minor edits from VDOT before it is completely approved. The Town is waiting for a resubmission of plans for the Western Loudoun Rec. Center. The rezoning application for the Valley Commerce Center has just been resubmitted to the County for the 4th time and referred to the Town for further review. 10.b Work Plan Update Director Wilkes provided the Commission with updates to the Planning Commission Work Plan. The report can be found in the agenda packet. Updates include: The Comprehensive Plan subcommittee will give a presentation on their progress at this meeting. The next Planning Commission quarterly report to the Town Council will be due at the end of the month. The Western Loudoun Rec. Center website has been updated to include land surveying and research documents for the project. The Loudoun County Arts Plan is still available for comments until June 17th. Two workshops have been planned with a consultant to move forward with creating a smaller scale Downtown Focus Area Plan. Commissioner Feber asked if members ofthe Planning Commission should sit in on one of the downtown workshops referenced in the report. Director Wilkes said that that would absolutely be a good idea. ACTION ITEMS: 11.a Virginia Main Street Participation Town Manager Fraser introduced the item stating that the Town Council referred the Virginia Main Street Program to the Planning Commission for review and consideration. He then 3/Page introduced Amanda Dayton, the president of the Purcellville Virginia Main Street, member of EDAC, and downtown business owner. He opened the floor for discussion. Commissioner Brown noted that "main street" is mentioned 59 times in the Comprehensive Plan and the second goal listed in the document is to encourage smalltown businesses along main street and downtown. "Main street" is mentioned 36 times in the Zoning Ordinance with the goal of protecting the Town's S unique historic and architectural character while promoting tourism opportunity and main street revitalization. He shared that the Virginia Main Street Program is supported by both of those documents, it isn't a big fiscal burden, and that he supports the initiative. Vice Chair Hombach shared that he discussed the Virginia Main Street Program at the Certified Planning Commissioner's Program training he recently completed. He explained that the general opinion was that if the community is willing to invest time with the private sector, then it will be successful. He asked Mrs. Dayton why VMS was the chosen program for Purcellville. She explained that it originated from a citizen-led effort supported by a previous Town Council, with volunteers, including herself, steering the initiative. She described the program's tiered approach, noting that if the Town is not ready to commit significant resources, small rejuvenation projects can still be undertaken. Vice Chair Hombach asked if there is a charge to the Town in tier 1. She responded saying there is not, but there will be some involvement from the Town should the program move forward. She added that a grant currently being pursued by the steering committee is in-kind, with the match based on volunteer hours rather than a financial contribution. Vice Chair Hombach expressed interest in incorporating the program' S initiatives into the Comprehensive Plan. Chair Rise shared that he hopes that the Planning Commission will work to support this program and their nitiatives as they maintain alignment with the Zoning ordinance and Comprehensive Plan and don'tl have a fiscal cost to the Town. He asked Mrs. Dayton if this program disenfranchises any oft the many businesses on Main Street in any way. She responded that the goal is to include the entire business community, but as a small organization, they are focusing their initial efforts on 21st Street, where need is greatest. She then reiterated that the current tier that the Town is in with VMS allows for small scale projects and improvements, they hope to work on projects throughout all of Main Street in the future, but a whole master project isn' 't yet realistic. Commissioner Feber asked what kind of matching is happening in tier 1. Mrs. Dayton shared that it is currently non-dollar matching. All of the matching comes from the Main Street volunteer hours. Commissioner Feber asked ifthat would be the case for tiers 1 and 2 to which Mrs. Dayton responded that the committee does not plan to ask the town for any money or move up in tiers unless the committee and the town both support this initiative. She further explained that establishing the 501c3 was important to have for funding community events and initiatives as the committee is citizen run. She then shared some of the projects that the committee is currently working on with the planning staff and EDAC. 4IPage Commissioner Bertaut asked how the committee is promoting stakeholder engagement. Mrs. Dayton shared that an open membership launch is planned for the end of June, with invitations to be hand-delivered to all businesses on 21st and Main Street. Commissioner Bertaut asked if the committee or anyone has studied what the contribution 21st street and the surrounding blocks has to the local economy including real estate, property tax, meals tax, etc. Mrs. Dayton replied that she doesn't know that data, but it is nowhere near where it should be. Commissioner Bertaut asked if she knew what the return ofinvestment might be for redevelopment downtown. Town Manager Fraser responded that the planning staff will analyze revenue contribution sector by sector along Main Street. Mrs. Dayton further discussed her goals for downtown with the Commission. Commissioner Bertaut asked how walkability can be improved downtown. She suggested the addition of more crosswalks and burying the power lines to make the sidewalks ADA compliant. Director Wilkes then reported on the upcoming efforts from the Town to improve safety and ADA compliance. Chair Rise expressed that he is not happy with the proposed resolution and distributed an alternative version, which is included in the agenda packet. The goal of the alternative resolution is to set definitive roles for the committees, commissions, and everyone else involved with the VMS program. The Commission discussed the alternative resolution. Vice Chair Hombach made the following motion: "I move that the Commission adopt this version of the resolution as handed by the Chair and with some additional effort by this Commission that we will postpone the signing ofthe resolution with the further enhancements until the next session. We will have the opportunity to see the revised version and make the decision at the time to sign the resolution." Commissioner Feber seconded the motion. Commissioner Brown expressed concern about further delaying the passing of the resolution in support of VMS. The Commission was in agreement that they are in support of the Virginia Main Street program, they just need to edit the proposed resolution before passing it. The motion passed unanimously. (5-0-1 absent) DISCUSSION ITEMS: 12.a5Year Comprehensive Plan Amendment Review 5Page Commissioner Feber presented an update on the Comprehensive Plan. The presentation slides can be found in the agenda packet. The presentation consisted of a high- level schedule of the process, a framework for incorporating the 21 proposed amendments into the Comprehensive Plan, and an approach for obtaining public engagement. The Commission then discussed their upcoming meeting schedule. They agreed to cancel their next regular scheduled meeting on June 19th and schedule a special meeting on June 18th. They further agreed to cancel the regular scheduled meeting on July 3rd and to schedule a special meeting on July 16th. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business, Commissioner Feber motioned to adjourn at 8:21 pm. 653562 1 Ronald B. Rise, Chair Linduu La Kendall Wisniewski, Planning Clerk 6IPage Wisniewski, Kendall From: Dawn Bowman <db1122@me.com> Sent: Thursday, June 5, 2025 10:53 AM To: Planning Commission Cc: Only Town Council Subject: Citizen Support of VA Main Street Program CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. To Planning Commission - am writing in support of the VA Main Street Program. Our downtown area is in need of revitalization and I believe that this program is a great first step to see some progress. visited the VA Main Street booth during the Arts and Music festival and it was great to see the momentum the program has already garnered and also starting to research much needed grants to improve the historic corridor. The town's support of this program is not monetary but rather an "on record" support of the town which is already in place. Please do NOT recommend removal of this support to the town council. Thank you Dawn Bowman 211 N 28th Street Purcellville 1 1 - & C 4 5 a a a