City Council meeting preview: reassessments, the budget

Tuesday will be a busy night for the City Council. Here’s what the council has coming up:

In its work session at 5:30 p.m.:

• City Staff will present the proposed FY2013 Budget to the council. The council received copies of the budget on March 13 and over the next several weeks will review it and make changes.
• The City Council will review the proposed rezoning for downtown (from C-T commercial-transitional to C-D downtown business)

In its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m.:

• There is a presentation from Tim Ware, executive director of the George Washington Regional Commission
• A presentation from Fred Pearson, of Perason Appraisal about the general property reassessments.
• A presentation from David Whyte of Kimley-Horn and Associates about proposed roadway improvements to protect the City Cemetery wall
• The city manager and the superintendent of the city schools system will formally establish a memorandum of understanding regarding the use of the James Monroe Theater for community events. Mayor Tom Tomzak said when the theater was built, one of the justifications for the cost was that community groups would be able to use it. He said that this MOU would formalize that.
• The mayor will sign a formal document that establishes a sister city relationship with Schwetzingen, Germany in December 2012 as part of the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg.
• Councilman Fred Howe III has requested a budget review and city forecasting/planning analysis.
• Several items that passed on first read at the last meeting will be up for approval on second reading – including adding trade schools as special uses in the commercial/office transitional zoning district and prohibiting the use of loudspeakers and amplifiers at a distance of 100 feet in the downtown business district; and staggering terms for members of the Board of Building Code Appeals.
• The council will discuss increasing the tree canopy within the city by 5 percent over 10 years.
• The council will pick up the discussion over two zoning changes that were tabled at the last meeting- one to expand the downtown parking district, and another to add uses to uses permitted by right and one use as a special use in the commercial-transitional zoning district. 
• The council will also discuss an incentive agreement between Ed Whalen’s Inn at the Olde Silk Mill and the Economic Development Authority.

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