Planning Commission Members Present

Town of Buchanan Planning Commission

Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, September 5, 2017 at 7:00 pm

Planning Commission Members Present:

John Mays

Jim Kidd

Meade Stull

Della Hylton

Planning Commission Members Absent:

Bernadette Dawson

Staff: Mary Zirkle

Harry Gleason

Chairwoman Della Hylton called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. asking for a motion to approve the Agenda. John Mays motioned to approve the agenda, which was seconded by Jim Kidd and passed.

Chairwoman Hylton asked for a motion to approve the Minutes. Jim motioned to approve the minutes, which was seconded by John and passed.

The Commission moved to discussion of the August minutes. Jim questioned some of the statements in the proposed Vision statement as follows: on page 3 Jim suggested the comments discuss that many who volunteer live outside of Town and choose to participate in activities and planning activities. He also questioned the “vibrant downtown” language in the Vision statement discussion. Meade said the Vision is to state what you hope to occur. With no additional comments the Minutes were passed by acclamation.

At 7:04pm Della moved to the Citizen Comment Period. Noting no one is present, Della moved the meeting forward to address the Comprehensive Plan asking Mary to bring the members up to date.

The Commission began discussion on the draft Vision statement for the Comprehensive Plan from the August meeting. Mary pointed out the proposed Vision statement presented for discussion is based on the group’s last meeting and is the Planning Commission’s to change. Meade said he liked the statement.

Della said she had a citizen come in this morning complaining. Della said it is difficult to have other businesses when the local citizens do not support the businesses. Mary said she had a comment about there being too much for tourists. She said the individual wanted a grocery store where she can purchase a cucumber. Della added she spoke with this same individual trying to explain the Town has made efforts to attract a grocery store and have been told by several chains that there is not a large enough volume of customers for a store to make the investment. Della pointed out that while there is not a large grocery store there are options such as Hilltop Market and D&J Produce. Harry suggested if people look at the positives of the new shops, they provide jobs, tax revenues and items for the local residents to shop, customers will be surprised to find what many of the shops offer. Meade added the public needs to educate themselves about what businesses offer because there are more options than people recognize. Jim said the community needs to take a realistic look at what can survive with just Town support; without tourists and outside shoppers he wonders if any business could survive.

Mary asked the group what they want to do with the Vision, specifically how the group feels about the statement about proximity. John suggested the statement should include “living, working and playing or visiting Buchanan”, while Meade suggested using the phrase “striving to become small town America at its best”. Jim wants the statement to say we also need to increase and improve the elements such as walkability, safety and other items. John added we might change the phrase about the proximity as an asset to “we recognize the importance of being close to other localities while maintaining our distinct identity.” Jim believes volunteerism is critical to the Town. John feels the statement about “residents committed to investing in the Town” covers investments through time and money. Harry suggested it could read “donate time, talent or financial resources”. The group asked Mary to wrap the information up and bring back a Vision statement to the group in October.

Continuing on with the Comprehensive Plan, Mary asked the group if there were comments about the August 7th draft. She asked where the gaps are and where she should focus efforts. Jim asked why there is a median home value on page 27 then discussion of permits in the surrounding community why are they there and why not information on Buchanan. The group also discussed a goal of attracting young families and that the community needs to be a more desirable place to live.

While addressing tourism Jim added page 43 should add information about the Events Calendar. Meade asked if he wants the calendar, or, mention of major repeating events, which Jim said is what is needed. Mary added the purpose of events falls within the “Four Point” Main Street approach to revitalization activities, the goal is to attract people to come here, see here and then live here.

Jim asked about the mention of Fodor’s and the lack of shops. Harry pointed out that there are 5 antique shops and the Town cannot enforce business hours. Mary pointed out that a former business owner told her they felt that the businesses that do not open are just storage facilities and they believed these individuals are holding the Town hostage and hurting the community. The group continued to discuss the low rental rates of some properties allow people to be casual about business practices. Harry asked the group if they look at the real estate listings for Buchanan because this is what the public sees as being available in Buchanan. He asked them if they believe Buchanan looks like a desirable place. The group discussed how many vacant lots are there throughout Town if they would be offered for sale.

The group continued on to Transportation in the draft plan with Jim adding he hopes to see sidewalk expansion throughout the Town including the area towards Mt. Joy to tie the community together. Jim added that there are too many differing speed limits along Main Street and while we all prefer to drive fast, it is not safe for the community and maybe speed limits should be reduced especially in downtown and the surrounding residential neighborhoods. Della added speeding occurs on many streets including Lowe Street and even Second Street and something needs to be done. Mary pointed out this is often a need for enforcement.

Next the group moved on to Food Vendors. Mary gave the group a summary on previous actions addressing itinerant food vendors, while the Town Code addresses food vendors for taxing, it does not address where it may occur. Mary said she will be speaking with existing businesses about their views on this. Mary provided the group with code examples for food trucks from Vinton, Blacksburg and Roanoke City.

Jim asked John how the restaurant situation was with his customer base. John said if restaurants are open things are fine, if they close on holidays and Sundays it detracts from business. An example he gave was that the restaurants were closed on Sunday and Monday of Fourth of July weekend, the busiest weekend of their business year. John said he can see property owner’s view if they have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars for a business it would be challenging to see Food Vendors prop up. John added there is also a parking issue already and to add the Food Trucks would compound this. John believes Food Vendors will only want to be there on the busiest days of the season. Jim added the samples are from much larger communities with much larger populations to draw from. Meade said he thinks the Food Vendors usually offer different varieties of food such as tacos. Della asked how the vendors get power and John and Meade pointed out they use generators or propane. The group said they like some of the samples health regulations. John asked what the current taxes are for food vendors; he thinks if it is high they will not come. The group thinks they will just come on weekends and holidays. Mary pointed out if a vendor set up 10 times over a season it would be $50 a day and this is not a big burden. Della asked if the public drive through / by or walk up to do business. John said most of the people will be people at the ramp. Mary pointed out the Tourism Office treats them as a destination and lists them.

Mary asked where they should be allowed. Meade asked if they cannot be in parking spaces where can they be. Jim suggested they could be placed on private lots such as the gravel lot at Purgatory or the Bank of Botetourt’s lot. Mary added Mr. Lopez’s lot on Bedford and Meade suggested Solomon’s Mission could rent spaces to help raise money. John said he thinks Solomon’s Mission is close, it would help them and it would not add to the heavy traffic which is a concern. Mary asked member if it is going to be okay to have them on a private lot, places like Copper Top lawn would also be possible. Mary asked what zoning districts trucks should be allowed in the group’s opinion. John said he would recuse himself when it’s time because he is too close to the issue, having been approached by a person who wants to locate a food truck at his business. Mary also pointed out the Groendyk property. Meade said he liked Blacksburg’s regulation because it does not allow one to be on the same property for two times a week, preventing monopoly of a location. Meade said it is important to find how we can do it fairly to not impact the brick and mortar businesses.

Mary told the group they need to know this will be on their radar, expecting that the issue will come up at Town Council but they have not been formally directed to do anything yet.

Della said she can see how there may be a need there. Meade said he thinks it is something to try and it might prompt the restaurants to expand. John added they may be incubators for future restaurants. John closed with he and his brother are in the outfitters business not the restaurant business and they do not wish to open a restaurant and hope people will take advantage of the opportunities out there.

With no additional business the meeting adjourned at 8:42 pm.

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