February 21, 2023

I. Lelia Vann, DNCL President, called the meeting to order at 6 pm. The recording of this meeting is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TKX5BaGKV14

II. A motion to approve the minutes from January’s meeting was made and seconded. The minutes were approved without change.

III. Financial/Membership Report—As of February 21, 2023, the DNCL had a balance of $936.88, 84 individual members, and 15 business members.

IV. Crime Report – Alan Driskell, CRO, Norfolk Police Dept. Larcenies from auto continue to trend downward. The Fountain Park Garage was hit with teens on scooters and bikes. Lime personnel attending this meeting offered to help NPD learn the names of the scooter riders. There was another burglary at Harbor Park; the burglar was arrested at the scene. Catalytic converter thefts are back on the rise. Violent crime is non-existent downtown currently.

V. DNC – Mary Miller, President & CEO. Mary noted that the Virginia Arts Festival is presenting the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Saturday, Feb. 25. In tandem with that event there is an HBCU jazz residency bringing 9 universities to town. The MEAC basketball tournament is in town March 8 – 11. Mary also reminded members to review the Fast Facts distributed weekly to learn of other downtown events and happenings.

A. DNC Ops Report –Audrey Fussell, DNC Ops Manager, noted that FRED is back on the road. FRED’s hours are Mon. – Thurs., 11 am to 8:30 pm and Fri. – Sat., 11 am to 11:30 pm. With respect to the Operations Report, graffiti is down. The team is getting ready for spring and the Volunteer Day on March 11.

VI. Guest Speaker – Dorian Allen, Norfolk Transportation Strategic Planner. Dorian introduced others from the Micromobility team who are on the call: Anna Dewey from Norfolk’s Transportation Department and from Lime: Jared Share, Jordan Roberts, and Drew Lake.

A. Micromobility devices include “any small, low-speed, human- or electric-powered device.” The safety and operational challenges include sidewalk and underage riding, proper parking incentives/ disincentives, and garage geo-fencing. Some solutions to the sidewalk/underage riding issues include an informational campaign, an increase in Lime foot patrols, and streamlining incident reporting. Some solutions to the problems caused by haphazardly parked Lime vehicles include designating downtown as a mandatory park zone and the continuation of charges until the vehicles is parked and locked appropriately. Garage geo-fencing is designed to keep e-bikes and scooters out of the parking garages. Geo-fencing is tested regularly but there are some technological issues, like GPS drift, which allow some riders into the garages despite the geo-fence. An additional solution to problems caused by Lime vehicles downtown includes implementing a “Slow-Go” zone on Granby street Thursday through Saturday evenings from 10 pm to 3 am. Proposed solutions that have yet to be implemented include creating a Micromobility Ad Hoc committee, developing special vehicle identifiers to keep track of non-compliant e-bikes and scooters, and assessing fines, suspensions, and removal from the Lime platform.

VII. City Planning Commission Projects/ARB –Preston Carraway, DNCL VP.

A. CUP: Private Events located at 259 Granby Street presented by Grant tenHoeve.

B. ARB: Hurrah Players – Additions to the Glass wheel Studio in the NEON District presented by Edward Lazaron with The Design Collaborative Architects

C. Downtown CUP/Enforcement Status: These issues have largely been addressed so this item will be removed from the agenda going forward.

VIII. Announcements

A. Tammy Dantzler, Norfolk’s City Auditor, gave a briefing on how the City Auditor’s Office serves the city.

B. John Miller, co-founder and manager of the Downtown Norfolk Community Garden gave an update on the progress of the community garden.

C. DNCL February Social: Norfolk Seaford Co. aka Big Easy on Wednesday, February 22nd starting at 5 pm.

D. DNC’s Volunteer Day will be on March 11 at 10 am. Volunteers will be planting/cleaning select tree wells downtown.

E. DNCL’s March Zoom Meeting – Monday, March 20 at 6 pm.

F. DNCL’s March social is not yet determined. Information will be sent via email.

G. DNCL’s April social will be at Brothers Restaurant in their new location in Macarthur Center. The date is not yet determined.

IX. Adjourn – The meeting was adjourned at 6:58 pm.