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466 ORDINANCE: "AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND CHAPTER 34 (ZONING) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE (1990), AS AMENDED, RELATING TO SPECIAL USE PERMITS, HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS, TEMPORARY SIGNS, AND MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES TO THE ZONING CHAPTER" (2nd reading) PUBLIC HEARING/RESOLUTION: CHARTER AMENDMENT RE: AUTHORITY TO HAVE WARD OR MIXED WARD/AT LARGE SCHOOL BOARD Mr. Brown said that we will change to an elected School Board in May of 2006 as a result of the recent referendum and those elections will be at large assuming there is no objection from the Justice Department. He said the public hearing for the Charter amendment has been advertised and would give Council the authority to create election districts or wards for all or some of the School Board seats, but does not require creation of wards. He said the number of wards are not specified in the proposed amendment. He said he does not think the current wards can be used because of the inequity in their populations. Dr. Brown explained that State law directs us to move forward with at large School Board elections, which was the interpretation of the outside attorney and the attorney for the State Board of Elections. He said we must have elections in May and they will be at large. He said we need to seek pre-clearance for at large elections from the Justice Department. He said what is being discussed tonight and what the purpose of the meeting is what we really want: at large elections, all wards, or a mixed ward and at large system. He said Mr. Schilling has raised the issue of why make this submission to the Justice Department now, why not wait until after the public hearing. He said the reason is that current State law does not allow us to do anything else. He said that to do anything else we would need enabling legislation which is what is before us tonight. He said if we do not receive pre-approval from the Justice Department, we need to know. He noted that the letter to the Justice Department says there will be an addendum which will be included with the submission. Mr. Lynch noted that Council did have the option to not seek pre-clearance until after the General Assembly session, but if that had happened, we could not have had a May election and would have once again appointed School Board members. Dr. Brown added that having at large elections in May works well with the scenario of having a mixed ward and at large system as the ward seats could be elected in November of 2007. The public hearing was opened. Mr. Stan Tatum, Park Street, said that voters have spoken resoundingly and the support of the referendum was bi-partisan. He said the School Board should be responsible and serious about education, responsive and realistic about the need for education, and responsible and answerable for their actions and inactions. He said he supports a mixed ward system based around elementary school districts. He said those members could then speak to those schools. He said he does think that a 24 hour delay in sending the letter to the Justice Department would have sent a better message to voters. Mr. Peter Kleeman, 407 Hedge Street, said this is an important issue and the people who get elected should feel they have the support of people. He said in other localities people have been elected with only 5% of the vote, and he recommended that whether we have ward, mixed or at large elections that we should have another form of vote tallying, such as automatic runoff voting. Mr. Jeffrey Rossman, 1862 Edgewood Lane, supported a mixed ward system which he thinks would be the best way to assure racial and economic diversity. He said a ward system would provide more diversity than at large elections. He said the Justice Department always prefers wards. He said there is an issue of expense, noting that $7,000 was spent in support of the referendum. He said at large candidates would need to raise much more money than ward candidates. He said wards would open up the playing field socio-economically. He said we need electoral wards with one or two at large