Posted on January 17, 2022

Downtown Norfolk Civic League

I. Lelia Vann, DNCL President, called the meeting to order at 6 pm. Leila thanked the outgoing Vice President and Treasurer, John Miller, and Tina Wright, respectively, for their service on the DNCL Board and welcomed the newly elected Vice President, Preston Carraway, and Treasurer, Yvette Baker. The recording of this meeting is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/if1lE0mVACo

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

III. Crime Report – Miriam Dillard, CRO, Norfolk Police Dept. Officer Dillard noted that while the crime statistics for December 2021 showed decreases in several areas, car larcenies increased dramatically. As a result, NPD will be posting signs throughout downtown reminding parkers to lock their car doors, take their keys, and remove any valuables from sight.

IV. Downtown Norfolk Council Report – Mary Miller, DNC President and CEO. Mary reviewed the Operations report for December 2021.

V. Guest Speaker – John White, Storm Water Engineer with the Division of Environmental Storm Water, City of Norfolk presented information on the Downtown Floodwall and the plans for both vertical and horizontal extensions that are needed. Final plans will have to go through the Architectural Review Board so the Civic League will have another opportunity to provide input before the project plans are final.

VI. City Planning Commission Projects/Architecture Review Board – John Miller.

A. CPC: For a Development Certificate with a waiver to modify the ground-floor use requirements for a mixed-use development called Seventy Eight at Saint Paul’s located at 698 St. Paul’s Blvd. Lisa Murphy with Wilcox Savage, Bruce Smith with Bruce Smith Enterprise LLC, and Burrell Saunders with Saunders Crouse Architects spoke about the project.

B. ARB: Downtown Norfolk Community Garden Project located 412 Bank Street at the Freemason Street Baptist Church received a Certificate of Appropriateness and is moving forward.

VII. Old/ New Business

A. Downtown Outdoor Seating Survey Results – John Miller. John will disseminate the results from the survey.

B. DNCL Priorities for 2022 – Lelia Vann/DNCL President. Lelia presented the 2022 DNCL priorities based on one-on-one interviews, emails, and chats with DNCL members

VIII. Announcements

A. DNCL February 28, 2022. Guest Speakers: Business Compliance Unit: Katherine Taylor/Assistant City Attorney; Michael Goldsmith & Patrick Roberts/Deputy City Managers

IX. Adjourn – The meeting was adjourned at 6:57 pm.