The Fredericksburg City Council approved the purchase of a mobile stage for Riverfront Park and voted to update a Capital Impacts study related to future residential developments at its meeting on Tuesday night.
Director of Parks and Recreation Todd Brown said during his presentation that a mobile stage would allow the city to hold a wide range of events while also making use of remaining funds from a $1.2 million federal grant from the Economic Development Association after the recent construction of a restroom at the park.
The mobile stage, which would measure 24’x32’ and include the truck to transport it, would cost $400,000 and take approximately one year to build, Brown said.
Originally, Brown and his department sought bids for a permanent stage at Riverfront Park. Initial options included a “tensile-shade covered stage,” which would have cost an estimated $2.3 million.
“That far exceeded our available funding,” Brown said.
Other benefits to the mobile stage, said Brown, include an unobstructed view of the river when it’s not in use and the potential for income via renting it out for private events in the city or to other localities.
The mobile stage comes equipped with an 8,000-watt generator and is ADA-accessible, as it comes equipped with a 48” wheelchair ramp. According to the manufacturer, it can withstand winds up to 110 miles per hour.
“I hope I don’t have to witness that to be true,” Brown said.
Councilor Jason Graham (Ward 1) asked Brown whether any currently planned projects would be precluded by the purchase of a mobile stage. Similarly, Councilor Will Mackintosh (At-Large), asked what portion of the grant would be returned, unused, to the U.S. EDA.
“So, like, I don’t love sending back money,” Mackintosh said with a chuckle. “I wonder if you have any thoughts about other things that could fit in the scope of work in the park that would allow us to capitalize on what we’ve been given.”
Brown responded that approximately $800,000 would be returned and explained that the change of scope the city is seeking would prohibit the funds from being used on other projects. Under the grant structure, the city would be required to match 20 percent of the cost for the stage.
“I’m with you that I don’t want to give money back,” said Brown, “but since it’s an 80/20 split, it would be less burden to taxpayers in the city.”
Ultimately, the motion to approve the purchase passed 7-0.
After extensive and, at times, highly technical discussion, the council also voted unanimously to update its Capital Impacts Study. Initially adopted in 2022, the study is “a document that calculates the anticipated cost of capacity that a new development zoned to a new category would produce,” senior planner Mike Craig said.
Councilor Jon Gerlach (Ward 2) added a friendly amendment to remove averages from the entire report, as their inclusion could put the city at a disadvantage during negotiations. Gerlach likened the proffer process between localities and developers to buying a new car.
“The dealer has a sticker price on the window, which is what they would like to get, and a lot of buyers negotiate down from that sticker price,” he said. “But then you have savvy buyers who do their own research to figure out what the dealer’s cost was, and they negotiate up from the dealer’s cost—not down from the sticker price…
“Doing away with the average avoids a situation where we’re going to get proffers that hover around the midpoint and never approach what we consider to be the maximum capital impact.”
