 I remember because the late meeting, you know, when 21st is the late meeting, why do you think it would be? It works, that's what you want to know. That's a good thing. Good evening, everyone. We can do better than that. Good evening. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I will call to order our City Council meeting of December 21st, it's 7.06. If we could just pause for a moment of silent meditation. Thank you. Mr. Davis, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? 50th anniversary, is it ceremonial item over there? Yes, that's the ceremonial item the Mayor is supposed to handle tonight. Okay, all right, but it's not here. It is here? Yes, I'll go ahead. He's supposed to administer O tonight. Who's administering the O? The Mayor is supposed to administer O to a state appointee. Okay, well, let me do this. I'll do the first one. Yeah, I'll just hold on to you. I'll do this one, I'll do this. This is not the right one. That's what, we're at the ceremonial. Thank you, sir. I apologize, I was up in my office working, seriously. And the clock on the wall is wrong. Thanks for the clerk, she came in and told me to meet in the start and said your clock isn't working. She's right, so I apologize, sincerely. I got you back, Mr. Mayor. Okay, good. Well, it's my pleasure to have an opportunity to administer an O to a friend, Dr. Birch, who has been appointed as a member of the North Crown Credit Union Commission. And Dr. Birch, would you join me please, and anyone else? Probably most of us know Dr. Birch from his community involvement, and particularly with the American Dance Festival. As I read, if you just state your name. I. Barry Angelo Birch, senior. Do solemnly swear, affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States. I. Barry Angelo Birch, senior. Do solemnly swear and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of North Carolina and to the constitutional powers and authorities, which are or may be established for the government thereof, and that I will endeavor to support, maintain, and defend the Constitution of said state, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States. I. Barry Angelo Birch, senior. Do solemnly swear and affirm that I will well and truly execute the duties of my office as a member of the North Carolina Credit Union Commission, according to the best of my skill and ability, according to the law, so help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. Thank you, sir. I signed it. I didn't put his hand in the Bible. We understood that. Thank you. Happy holidays to you. Thank you, sir. Do I remember as a council? Recognize Councilwoman Jillian Johnson? I just wanted to take a minute to thank the city staff who have been working so hard to get me oriented and up to speed the last couple of weeks of being on the council, the folks in the mayor and the council office, the city clerk and the staff in the clerk's office, the city manager and his staff and technology services, general services. I feel like I've used a lot of time and resources and I have felt very welcome and supported and thank you all so much for your help. Again, welcome aboard. Well, since my system is not working, I'll first entertain prior time for my city manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, everyone. Happy holidays, no priority items received. Likewise, city attorney. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, no priority items. And likewise, city clerk. Therefore we will proceed with the agenda. First item being consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda may be approved for a single vote of a member of the council and member of the audience removes an item. We will discuss it at the appropriate time. Item one is approval of city council minutes. Item two is the Durham city county appearance commission appointments. Item three is the Durham open space and trails commission appointment. Item four is citizens advisory committee appointments. Item five is request to amend the 2000, physically the 2015-2016 budget and other grant and capital project ordinances. Item six is housing opportunities for persons with AIDS known as Hopper contract with Duke University. Item seven is contract amendment for professional engineering services for the turnage height lift station abandonment project attachment number one, amendment number one. Item eight is contract for professional engineering services for the hydraulic model update, water distribution system study and water order project award of contract to the Kim and Creed Inc. Item nine is the contract award to Jeff Wilkerson contracting company Inc. for contract SR 63 Wilson street and it'll be Creek sewer outfall replacement project. Item 10 is bids term contract for liquid ferric sulfate solution 4,600 tons. Item 11 is the bid term contract for sodium hydroxide. Item 12 is the bid purchase of two automated refutes trucks. Item 13 is the bid term contract for water meters. Item 14 is in a local corporation agreement between the city and the County of Durham for the management of the future Southview park and associated conservation areas. Item 15 is human relations commission request to amend Durham city code section 34-108 the human relations commission ordinance. Item 16 is contract extension with environmental conservation laboratory incorporated for laboratory services for the public works stormwater program. I am 1920 items that can be found on the general business agenda of public hearings. Item 27 is the resolutions in support of universal access to pre-kindergarten and other appropriate strategies to improve early literacy in Durham County. Entertain a motion for approval consent agenda. So moved. Second. It's been properly moved. Second. Madam clerk, we open the vote. Close the vote. It passes seven to zero. Move to the general business agenda of public hearings. Item 19 is street closing woodland drive. Street closing 15, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5. Thank you, Mayor Bill. I'm Jacob Wiggins with the planning department. And before I begin, I would like to note that I can certify that all public hearing items before you this evening have been no distinctive coordinates with all applicable laws and that there are affidavits attesting to such within the planning department. The current request before you was submitted by cultural Joel Timbs and they requested to close a 732.25 linear foot portion of woodland drive. This portion is located north of West Club Boulevard and south of Interstate 85. If the request is approved, the right of way is expected to be recombined with the adjacent properties under single ownership. What you can see is attachment for is the street closing plate reduction in your packet. Do know that the application submitted by the applicant indicated that the name of the street was Sally Street up in a research by city staffed efforts. It was determined that the street was renamed likely in the late 30s to woodland drive. The site is ultimately proposed for residential development as part of the Rosewalk rezoning request. The most recent version of that development plan is seen as attachment five in your packet and staff expects that rezoning request to be heard by council early in 2016. No service impacts were indicated during the review of this request. Staff finds that this portion of the right way likely has a little value to the public and recommends closure of the street. You've heard the staff report. This is a public hearing. The public hearing is open. We'll answer the questions first by members of the council. Is there anyone in the audience that wants to speak on this item before or against? Let the record reflect and no one in the audience has to speak on this item. I'll record. We're gonna be closed as a matter of fact for the council. It's been a proper movement. Second Madam Clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes seven and zero. Move to item 20, consolidated annexation, Ravenstone, Anderson, Marlowe, BDG 1500-012. Thank you, sir. Staff has received requests for utility extension agreement, a voluntary annexation petition and initial zoning from Marlowe builders for two contiguous parcels located along Wake Forest Highway. So be a total of 4.74 acres. And the subject side is located at 5,200 Wake Forest Highway and 5,204 Wake Forest Highway. The site is presently zoned CCD and is located within the Falls Jordan Lake Watershed Protection Overlay District. The site was previously rezoned to commercial center with a development plan in 2006 and 2007 by both the city council and county commissioners respectively. A copy of that approved development plan is seen as attachment nine in your packet. Public Works and Water Management have reviewed the request and indicated that there is adequate utility services for the subject site. And the fiscal analysis performed by the Durham Budget Department indicated that this request will be revenue positive immediately upon annexation. The applicant has requested an exact translation of the current zoning, which is not consistent with the council policy of designated the least intense zoning district based upon the tier and size of the lot. The memo summarizing this request is seen as attachment eight in your packet. And if the request is approved, staff recommends translating the existing zoning. One motion with three components is required by law to approve the extension agreement, the annexation petition and the initial zoning request. Staff recommends that the council approve the extension agreement, voluntary annexation and the initial zoning. And if the council is inclined to do so, staff recommends that the council have a separate vote to adopt a consistent statement as required by state law. Again, this is a public hearing. You've heard the staff report, the public hearing is open. Let me ask first, are there questions, comments by members of the council? I have one person that has signed up to speak on this item, Gerard Edens. Is anyone else that wants to speak on this item? If you could go to the clerk's desk, sir, and if you've got a card signed up with your name, then you can go ahead and proceed. You have three minutes. Gerard Edens with Edens Land Corp. I'm just here in case you have any questions. I don't have anything to add to the staff report. We'll wait until this gentleman is signed up and would hear his comments. You have three minutes, sir, if you could just state your, sir? Yes. If you could just state your name and address, please. Okay, my name is James Edward Brinkley, Jr. I live at 5210 Went Frost Highway. I had briefly spoken with Mr. Wiggins on the phone. I've also came in and I have talked to Kathleen Snyder about this matter. As it stands right now, there is a lot of traffic coming through the shopping center. People trying to beat the light at the intersection of 98 and Sharing Road. Introducing this into the mix is gonna create chaos. I've had two cars come through that field into my backyard trying to race down the highway to get to Wake Forest since I have put a privacy fence up. My concerns are the open space requirements, vegetative screening or growth between me and the future development for the shopping center, light pollution, and as far as footage that again me and Mr. Wiggins had talked about because I've got some paperwork here that states that there can be no closer than 25 feet, but they're saying they may go as far as 50 feet. I'm just trying to figure out where I stand in all this. Could you tell me again what your address is, the street that you're on? 5210 Wake Forest Highway. And where are you relative to the property? Did you say you're across the street from it? I'm right next door to it. I'm right next door to it. There's Raven Cross Shopping Center, then there's the development area, and then I'm the next house you come to, I'm the very first house you come to. Does staff have any response to questions these raised? Sir Jacob Wiggins with the planning department. Is that previously indicated, Mr. Brinkley, the buffer along his property, I'm not aware of any means in the ordinance, which would permit that to be reduced to 25 feet. The approved development plan indicates a 50-foot buffer between his property and the proposed development at this site. Jacob, just to be clear, is this property to the east or the west of the? Directly to the east, thank you, sir. Anything else to add? Steve Medlam with the Durham City Gunning Planning Department. In terms of the questions that were raised by Mr. Brinkley and as it relates to lighting, I would just simply say that at the time of site plan approval, any application would be evaluated to meet the minimum and maximum lighting requirements as established by the Unified Development Ordinance as council is aware. There is a maximum height for light fixtures and you can have no direct off-site light other than just the ambient light that may meet the minimum standards at the property lines. So Steve, just to be clear, many of the issues that were raised are more site plan determinations and issues or issues that will be addressed and respond to a site plan process. Excuse me. Yes, Mr. Manager, that is correct. The Unified Development Ordinance as you're aware does have very significant sets of development criteria that have to be evaluated and adhered to in order for a site plan to be approved. That includes, as Mr. Wiggins has indicated, the buffer requirements. Just to clarify, there is no ability under the ordinance to reduce the buffer width in this case because the buffer was actually shown as a 50-foot buffer and the developer is well aware of that and has programmed that width of buffer into his development. Let me ask other questions from the council. Recognize the council. Sure. Staff for their planning staff. This is currently already zoned for this. It is already zoned as a commercial center with a development plan. Is that right? Council Member Schul, that is absolutely correct. If you look at the development plan that you have in your package, that is a copy of the approved development plan that was approved by the Board of County Commissioners in 06. The developer is bound by that if the council agrees to accept that zoning with that development plan as part of this action. I appreciate, sir, your concerns. If I live next door, I would share those concerns. I understand it. But this shopping center can be built whether or not this annexation takes place. Is that true? With this commercial property, I'm sorry. If the developer were successful in finding adequate onsite well and septic facilities to serve it, that would be the case. However, in this case, because of the need to tie into city utilities, as you're aware, the policy is that they have to petition the council and they can only receive those utilities if it is annexed into the city. Right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Recognize, Council Member Reese. This is for the staff. The applicant is requesting an exact translation of the zoning district from the surrounding area and that's not consistent with city council policy, which would designate the least intended zoning district base. What is the rationale behind that city council policy? If I can just clarify the comment that was made. Whenever there is a development plan of record, we accept that as a equivalent transition and acceptable under the city policy. It's when you're going from a district like a residential district that is not covered by a development plan in the county, there may be a rural residential component that we would then want to convert that to an RS 20, which is the preferred minimum residential density. So in this case, this is following the policy as envisioned by the council. That was the reclated catch. Thank you, sir. Other questions? Again, let me ask if the developer has any response to anything before we close the public hearing. Yes, we're not, I mean, we're here requesting annexation and extension agreement. We're not here requesting approval of any particular site plan or use or anything like that. We are full expectation was to have the existing zoning that my client bought the property under a few years ago just to translate with the annexation. So I can't really address the gentleman's concerns as far as plans go because I don't have a particular plan for the property. We're just asking for to be in city limits. Recognize councilman Moffitt and then councilman Schult and the mayor pro tem in that order. Mr. Medlin, I'm aware that the council passed a policy several years ago that said that if you provided a site plan, for example, in a development plan, that whatever you showed graphically became a committed element. Are the, is this site plan? I note on it that there is a site plan, but it says illustrative. And I also know that the site plan is dated several years ago. Sure. If I can very quickly call council's attention to page five of five in the staff report for the zoning request. I want to very clearly point out that the committed elements on the face of the development plan do limit the use to not include residential uses. The maximum of square footages shall be capped at 27,800 square feet. And that there are three very specific building envelope locations that are shown that they will be held to specific parking areas that are called out on that development plan. So they themselves have committed to those types of site constraints in terms of how the site will be developed. So to confirm, make sure I understand where there are buildings shown on the development plan, that is the only place those buildings can be placed. That is correct. Okay. So I do want to say that I also understand your concerns. I mean, and I guess if there's good news here, when I look at, I'm looking at aerial photo as it exists right now, looking at your property, there's a 50, if there are people, did I understand you say there are people that are driving through your property? Cause it looks like you're 200 feet from the driveway. No, sir. The comment that I made is the traffic as it stands right now is so congested. There's been numerous fatalities on that highway, major fatalities. In the morning, the traffic starts at five o'clock in the morning and it doesn't let up any until about nine o'clock. Afternoon, it starts about two o'clock and from two to seven, you cannot get out of my driveway. There is that much traffic. And my concern is the way the building is gonna be structured with the parking lot. The parking lot is going straight into the shopping center and people are gonna try to get in and out of that shopping center to get to that new structure and it's gonna create havoc. It's gonna be a total disaster. It's gonna be even worse than it is now. Thank you. Appreciate that. I will say that I think that you're in the end because the building is sited up against the buffer so there's no loading or unloading behind the building and the 50-foot buffer with a fairly dense, what's called opacity, closing off sight lines should serve you well. In a typical up-zoning where someone's asking for a more intense use than they're currently zoned for, we would be looking at all of the issues like transit road impacts and so forth. In this case, because it's a translation, it's a straight from the county to the city, we don't actually have that information in front of it like what the roads designed for and how many cars are on it today. But I understand your concerns. I appreciate you coming out. I do think that, I will say that because this is a direct translation from the county zoning and I actually considered this case when I was on the planning commission and supported it then and I will support it this evening. Thank you guys. May I add one other thing to it? Between my fence and the new structure going up, I would like some other kind of metal fence or some kind of birmage or vegetative growth that divides me from this new structure. Is that possible? If I can just quickly confirm for the council and Mr. Brinkley that the development plan does call out that there would have to be a 0.8 opacity buffer installed which is inclusive of vegetative material that will provide an 80% opacity maturity. That is a requirement of the ordinance. At this point, I don't know that there is enough room there to add any additional materials because of the growth area that you have to allow for vegetation that are required. That's councilman Schwell then to Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So Mr. Edens, during this process, would you be meeting with Mr. Brinkley to discuss his concerns? Would you plan to do that? I mean, I would be glad to if we're hired to actually engineer the site. Like I said, at this time, we don't have a plan. When we're referencing a structure, I don't know of any structure because I haven't designed anything on the property yet. But we have no problem meeting with the gentleman during the design process. Thank you. Recognize the mayor, Pro Tem. I'm really going to make a motion. Oh, they know the comments from the council public. If not, I'll close the public hearing as a matter of fact, before the council. The property moved in second. Madam Clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes seven to zero. The property moved in second. Madam Clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote. It passes seven to zero. Are there any other items to come before the council this evening? If not, we're adjourned at 7.34 p.m. Happy holidays, everyone. I know we'll see you Thursday for tomorrow, Tuesday. I might see you Thursday, gentlemen. All right, thank you for your time.