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Leesburg CRA approves NAPA facade grant, sends Mystic Ice Cream mural to Arts Advisory Board
Summary
The Greater Leesburg Community Redevelopment Agency approved a facade grant for a NAPA auto-parts sign after debate about bidders and contractor origin, and directed staff to route a separate Mystic Ice Cream mural application to the city's Public Arts Advisory Board for review.
The Greater Leesburg Community Redevelopment Agency voted Feb. 24 to approve a fiscal-year 2025 facade sign grant for a NAPA store and to send a separate mural proposal for Mystic Ice Cream to the Public Arts Advisory Board for review.
The grant resolution — described at the meeting as the FY25 facade sign and landscape grant awards — prompted commissioners to press staff about vendor selection and procurement practice. Several commissioners said they were uncomfortable awarding public grant money when the NAPA sign builder was out-of-state and when the application included only a single contractor quote.
Commissioners questioned whether the program should require multiple bids or a local preference. Staff noted the program’s $25,000 grant cap and that internal purchasing policy calls for three written quotes for city expenditures above about $19,000; staff also said the facade program historically has not required three quotes for every award. After discussion about whether the NAPA contract was subject to a corporate nationwide contract, staff confirmed that some corporate vendors are designated by their companies and must be used under those contracts.
Commissioners initially moved to table consideration of both the NAPA sign and the Mystic Ice Cream mural while staff sought additional bids and routed the mural to the arts board. After the NAPA representative explained the vendor's corporate procurement constraints, the maker of the table motion withdrew it and the commission voted to approve the NAPA sign award as recommended (roll-call vote recorded in the transcript: four yes, one no).
Separately, the commission discussed an oversight: staff had not submitted the Mystic Ice Cream mural to the Public Arts Advisory Board before bringing the award to the CRA. Owner Darryl Tay spoke in support of the mural, saying the project represented months of planning and that the business had applied for the grant under prior program rules that did not reference review by an arts board. Commissioners agreed to send the mural to the arts board for formal review; the commission later approved language allowing the mural to proceed subject to the arts board’s review (roll call recorded: four yes, one no).
The votes resolved two items in the same resolution: the NAPA sign award was approved and the Mystic Ice Cream mural will undergo the arts board review before the commission takes final action on that element. Staff said it would return to the commission with any required follow-up once the arts board and the applicants provided their materials.
Community members and applicants in the meeting noted they could have supplied additional local quotes if asked at application time. Staff said the facade program was intended to be business-friendly and that any change to require multiple bids or a firm local-vendor preference could be implemented prospectively if the commission directed it.
The commission’s action leaves the NAPA award in place and routes the Mystic Ice Cream mural to the Public Arts Advisory Board for formal recommendation back to the commission.
