Fredericksburg City Council August 26 Meeting Preview
An overview of items on the agenda for Tuesday's work session and business meeting.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
Email Adele
Items on the agenda for the work session and regular meeting include introduction of a new street outreach coordinator, discussion of an appeal of a Planning Commission decision regarding the Gateway data center project, and neighborhood conservation districts.
Work Session
The work session begins at 5:30 p.m. in the large conference room in City Hall. The agenda includes the following items (there is no additional information included with any of the items):
Cox Cable franchise renewal
Introduction of new street outreach coordinator
Political signs
Regular Session
The regular session begins at 7:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.
Presentations
Council will present a proclamation to Tonya Lacey, who is retiring from 16 years as Clerk of Council, and 33 total years of employment with the city.
Consent Agenda
There are 10 items on the Consent Agenda, including:
Assignment of $250,000 from the fund balance to support the city’s 300th anniversary celebrations.
Resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute a grant agreement with the state Department of Environmental Quality for the wastewater treatment plant expansion and upgrade.
Approval of recommendation to add Janice and Lawrence Davies and Thomas Williams to the city’s Wall of Honor.
Approval of minutes from Architectural Review Board, Economic Development Authority, Board of Social Services, Public Transit Advisory Board, and Recreation Commission meetings.
Council Agenda
Ward 2 representative Jon Gerlach will discuss neighborhood conservation districts. Council will approve minutes from its December, January, February, and March work sessions, and from the July 8, 2025, regular meeting.
Board and Commission Appointments
Council will consider three applications to fill three vacancies on the Memorials Advisory Commission.
City Manager Agenda
Consideration of a recommendation to extend through December 9, 2025, an appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision regarding the rezoning application for the Gateway data center project.
According to the staff memo, the Commission voted on July 8, 2025, finding that the rezoning request was not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The applicant appealed the decision on July 18, and on August 1 requested a continuance “to allow time for the Applicant to revise its proffer statement and Generalized Development Plan to address concerns raised by the Planning Commission as to the project.”
Initiate amendments to the Chesapeake Bay Overlay District ordinance to reflect new legislation and state guidance.
Initiate amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance to reflect legislative updates “aimed at streamlining local land use review and permitting
processes with the goal of increasing housing supply throughout the Commonwealth.”
According to the staff memo, the “major effect of the legislative change is that City Council and Planning Commission will no longer participate in the review of subdivisions involving 10 or more lots (identified in the
existing code as Minor and Major Subdivisions). Subdivisions involving fewer than 10 lots and boundary changes (identified in the existing code as Administrative Subdivisions) as well as site plans were already administrative processes locally.”
Name members to the Blue Ribbon Steering Committee to design, plan, budget, and raise funds for the city’s 300th Anniversary celebrations in 2028.
Meeting Details
Local Obituaries
To view local obituaries or to send a note to family and loved ones, please visit the link that follows.
Support Award-winning, Locally Focused Journalism
The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
First to detail controversial traffic numbers submitted by Stafford staff on the Buc-ee’s project
Our media group also offers the most-extensive election coverage in the region and regular columnists like:
And our newsroom is led by the most-experienced and most-awarded journalists in the region — Adele Uphaus (Managing Editor and multiple VPA award-winner) and Martin Davis (Editor-in-Chief, 2022 Opinion Writer of the Year in Virginia and more than 25 years reporting from around the country and the world).
For just $8 a month, you can help support top-flight journalism that puts people over policies.
Your contributions 100% support our journalists.
Help us as we continue to grow!
This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND. It can be distributed for noncommercial purposes and must include the following: “Published with permission by FXBG Advance.”