Subject:
Title
Role of Planning Commission in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) (10 Minute Presentation)
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BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
The Commonwealth of Virginia envisions a potential role for local Planning Commissions in the preparation of jurisdictions’ capital improvements programs. This work session agenda item provides an opportunity for the Town Council to discuss what role, if any, it may wish the Vienna Planning Commission to play in this process.
OVERVIEW:
The Town of Vienna has not, at least in recent years, included the Town’s Planning Commission in its process of developing and recommending the capital improvements program (CIP). The current process is that staff develops a draft CIP, coordinated through the staff Budget Committee that the Director of Finance chairs and in which the Town Manager and other Directors participate. The Town Manager then recommends his CIP to the Town Council. Every other year, the Town Council approves the CIP, to be funded by issuing a bond; and in the non-bonding year, the Town Council approves the CIP for planning purposes only.
Commonwealth of Virginia
The Code of Virginia Section 15.2-2239 (Attachment 1) contemplates a role for local planning commissions. The Code provision is entitled “Local planning commissions to prepare and submit annually capital improvement programs to governing body or official charged with preparation of the budget.” The code section starts with the following:
“A local planning commission may, and at the direction of the governing body shall, prepare and revise annually a capital improvement program based on the comprehensive plan of the locality for a period not to exceed the ensuing five years. The commission shall submit the program annually to the governing body, or to the chief administrative officer or other official charged with preparation of the budget for the locality, at such time as it or he shall direct.”
In jurisdictions where there is a very small number of professional/government staff, the Planning Commission may, in fact, develop and recommend the CIP. In jurisdictions with professional staff, which is virtually all jurisdictions in northern Virginia, professional staff prepares the draft CIP and includes the Planning Commission in its review process.
Nearby Local Jurisdictions
Staff has reviewed documents related to the inclusion of the Planning Commission in the CIP process from Fairfax County (Attachment 2, with relevant sections highlighted). For both the City of Fairfax (Attachment 3) and the Town of Herndon, Town staff reviewed documents and spoke with personnel (Attachment 4). All three jurisdictions formally include the Planning Commission in their CIP processes and each includes:
1) Staff presentation of the draft CIP to the Commission
2) Commission work session(s)
3) Commission public hearing
4) Commission vote to recommend CIP.
There is one key distinction in the processes. The Planning Commissions in both Fairfax County and the City of Fairfax provide recommendations on the draft CIP directly to their elected bodies. Herndon’s approach is slightly different, in that the Commission’s recommendation is directly to the Town Manager.
According to Paul Nabti, Planning Division Chief at Fairfax City, the process works as follows:
• Staff develops the draft CIP and releases it in the fall.
• Soon afterwards, either the City Manager or Director of Finance present the CIP to the Planning Commission.
• Early in the new year, the Planning Commission requests meetings with various City staff (Director of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Fire, etc.) to understand better the proposals.
• The Planning Commission holds a public hearing.
• The Planning Commission approves through a resolution its recommendation to the City Council regarding the draft CIP.
• The City Council considers the Commission’s recommendation, makes any changes it wishes, then adopts it as part of the overall City budget.
According to Lisa Gilleran, Herndon’s Director of Community Development, the formal process is as follows:
• Staff develops the draft CIP in the late fall for review by the Planning Commission.
• The Planning Commission holds a work session early in the new year (January, if possible) in which staff presents the draft and the Commission has an opportunity to ask questions.
• The Planning Commission holds a public hearing on the draft CIP.
• The Planning Commission adopts a resolution in which it makes a recommendation to the Town Manager.
• The Town Manager takes into account the Commission’s recommendation in finalizing the Town Manager’s recommended CIP to the Town Council.
• The CIP is then reviewed by the Town Council, along with the Commission’s recommendation, changes are made as warranted, and then the Town Council adopts the CIP as part of the Town’s overall budget every year.
There may be other approaches by other jurisdictions, but staff has not reviewed any others. There are certainly others that, similar to Vienna, do not include the Planning Commission as part of the CIP process.
The Comprehensive Plan and the CIP
The primary reason for Planning Commission input on the CIP is to ensure that the CIP is consistent with, and furthers the goals and policies of, the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan elaborates a jurisdiction’s long-range vision, policies and goals across a series of topic areas. State-required elements of the Comprehensive Plan include all the topics that capital projects cover - transportation, water systems, parks, public facilities - to ensure that capital investments are aligned with goals for land use, development and preservation.
The current Comprehensive Plan was developed in 2014 and 2015, with final adoption in May 2016. As such, it is now almost 10 years old, though minor amendments were made in 2020 when the Town acquired two properties. That plan includes the now-deleted Maple Avenue Corridor vision, the need for a new Police Station, and other outdated components.
The Planning Commission is working diligently to complete its draft update of Vienna’s Comprehensive Plan. Staff anticipates that the Planning Commission will vote to forward a recommended plan to the Town Council in March 2026. The Town Manager’s list of projected agenda items shows that the first step in the Town Council review will be a joint work session with the Planning Commission, as requested by Council, in April. The Town Council would then hold a public hearing (likely in early May), provide direction to staff on any changes it wishes to make to the draft, and then adopt a final Plan. A target for completion could be before the summer break, but it could come soon after the summer break.
The current schedule for the FY27 CIP process (Attachment 5), as developed by Director of Finance Steven Barlow, anticipates staff preparing its draft CIP in March-May 2026, a Town Council work session on June 8, 2026, and adoption on July 6th. As such, the updated Comprehensive Plan is very unlikely to be adopted in time to be incorporated into the process this year. Were the Planning Commission to be incorporated this year, it would be required to review the draft CIP against the Comprehensive Plan that was adopted in 2016.
SUMMARY/STAFF IMPRESSIONS:
Staff suggests that there are the following options for the approach that the Town Council could take with respect to the Planning Commission and the development of the Capital Improvements Program.
Include the Planning Commission? How?
1) The Town continues in its current approach and not include the Planning Commission in the review process.
2) The Town formally incorporates the Planning Commission into the review process and asks that the Planning Commission review the draft CIP and provide a recommendation to the Town Manager in advance of the Town Manager’s formal submission to the Town Council. (The Town Council would also receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation.)
3) The Town formally incorporates the Planning Commission into the review process and asks that the Planning Commission review the draft CIP and provide a recommendation to the Town Council after the Town Manager has formally submitted the proposed CIP to the Town Council.
If the Planning Commission is included, when to start?
If the Town Council wishes to formally include the Planning Commission in the process, a decision would need to be made regarding the budget year when this change would start. Options include:
1) Start in the next budget year (2027), which is a CIP bonding year, so that the Planning Commission’s input (including work session, public hearing and vote) can be incorporated into the budget calendar and, significantly, there would be an updated Comprehensive Plan.
2) Start this coming budget year (2026), which is a CIP planning (not a bonding) year, with the likelihood that the Planning Commission would need to conduct its review considering the 10-year-old Comprehensive Plan.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Town Council strongly consider:
• Formally including the Planning Commission in the Capital Improvements Program process and allowing time in the calendar for the Commission to hold a work session, public hearing and recommendation vote.
• Asking the Planning Commission to provide its recommendation to the Town Manager, to inform the Town Manager’s submission to the Town Council, and asking that the Planning Commission recommendation be provided to the Town Council.
• Implementing this change for the 2027 CIP process, rather than this year.