City Council will meet on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in a business session at 7 p.m., followed by a work session. Both sessions will be held in the Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building, which is located at 427 Patton St.
The meeting is open to the public, but attendees may have their temperature screened and must maintain social distancing due to ongoing public health concerns related to the COVID-19 virus.
Also, visitors will be asked to wear a mask while in the building unless they have a medical condition that exempts them from the mask requirement.
Access to the Municipal Building is limited to the first-floor entrance on Court Street.
River City TV, the city’s government access channel, will air the business session. Watch it live on cable (Comcast channel 10 and Gamewood channel 122) or streaming on the River City TV Facebook page.
City Council is scheduled to vote on two resolutions for a new police station. The project will be a combination of new construction and historic restoration of the former Dan River Mills executive office located at 2291 Memorial Drive. One resolution is to approve a lease agreement for the existing building once renovated. The second resolution is for a purchase and sale agreement for a separate lot adjacent to the former executive office. The new construction will take place on this lot.
The developer plans to use historic tax credits to lower the cost of the renovation of the existing building. The historic building will be subdivided from the rest of the property and the plan is to lease that portion for a period of 15 years with a first right of refusal during the entire 15-year term of the lease.
The developer will build an additional building adjacent to the existing historic building on a separate lot for $8 million. The City will enter into a purchase and sale agreement for this property and the developer will owner-finance the cost of construction
All obligations are contingent upon passage of the casino vote referendum on Nov. 3.
Should the casino referendum pass, the City will use $5.924 million from the initial $20 million payment from Caesars to pay toward specific tenant up-fits for the new construction and to set aside two years of lease/purchase payments. After the initial two years, the City will use gaming tax revenue proceeds to pay lease/purchase payments.
Should the referendum fail, the structure of this agreement will likely change and the City Council would need to determine whether it is willing to raise taxes to cover the cost.
Several other matters are on the agenda for the business session:
- A resolution to support the creation of a regional alliance.
- Resolutions in support of the proposed Virginia Department of Transportation Smart Scale projects.
- An ordinance authorizing a cable franchise agreement with Verizon.
- The first reading on a budget amendment for a $91,550 federal grant for use by the Police Department to establish a program for proactive police response to prevent domestic violence.
The full agenda for the business and work sessions are available online.
Citizens who do not wish to attend the meeting due to concerns about the COVID-19 virus may submit before the meeting a comment for the public hearing by using an online form available on this website: http://danvilleva.gov/council. The form also may be used for public comment on other topics.
Under the City Council’s rules of procedure, comments are limited to 750 words, which is the equivalent of five minutes speaking, for communications from visitors, and 400 words, which is the equivalent of three minutes speaking, for public hearings.
Citizens also may submit comments before the meeting by calling a public line set up for the meeting. The phone number for the line is (434) 857-3348.