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382 Public~i~heami~g re: Special assessments for downtown mall WHEREAS Har~ey Laboratories, Inc., has applied for a special permit to use a portion of the Preston Plaza Shopping Center located at 923 Preston Avenue in a B-3 Business District as an analytical laboratory; and _WHEREAS such application has been duly advertised as provided by law and has Been the subject of public hearings held by the City Planning Commission on December 9, 1980, and Council on January 5, 1981; and WHEREAS the City Planning Commission has recommended approval of such special permit; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, that: 1. A portion of the property known as Preston Plaza Shopping Center located in a B~3 Business 'District at 923 Preston Avenue, designated as Parcel 99 on City Real Property Tax Map 36, is hereby granted a special permit for use as a research and testing laboratory as permitted upon Section 31-93 of the City Code. 2. City Council finds that such use conforms to the requirements for special permits generally imposed by Article XX (Section 31-128 et,seq.) of Chapter 31 of the City Code and this permit is subject to .all conditions and restrictions imposed generally by such article. 3. Such special permit shall be limited to that portion of the aforesaid property.designated for such use on the site plan submitted With the special permit application and s~all further be conditioned upon development and use of the property zn accordance with such site plan, as conditioned by the Planning Commission and finally approved by the Director of Planning, including specifically the requirement that the parking required fOr such use be physically marked as shown on such site plan. Council held a public hearing on the proposed special assessments for improvements to Phase II construction of the downtown mall, the final two blocks to the west. Mayor Buck disqualified himself from discussion and vote due to a conflict of interest and turned the chair over to Vice Mayor Gleason. Mr. Bill Elwood, representing several owners of the property at 107~West Main Street, stated that their estimated assessment had been $5,000 but they have now been assessed a final amount of $16,000, over 300% more than the original estimate. He stated that this had come as a shock and the owners considered the inaccuracy of the original estimate~!to be a problem. Mr. Albro asked whether any other owners had experienced a 300-400% increase in their assessments and Mr, Wiley responded that in the present assessments for Phase II construction, none had, but in the Phase I assessments, several had. He stated that the increase was due to both the increased value of the property after renovation and the cost overrun of the construction, both of which had not been foreseen in the original estimate, Mr. Albro asked if the owners had been informed about the process by which assessments were to be made and Mr. Hendrix responded that they had, reading from a latter sent to the owners previously to support his point. Mr. Wiley pointed out that if Council lowered one assessment, the others would rise accordingly, as they are all tied to the same total amount, 21.3% of construction costs or $171,700. Council members and Mr. Elwood agreed that there seemed little that could be done about this situation at this point, without changing the process by which assessments are made, as it was the general feeling of Council that the Phase II assessments should be consistent with the Phase I assessments. Mr. Joseph Bosserman of 107 West Main Street addressed the general question of assessments and urged Council in future to consider giving tax incentives to those who develop