 Well, it got big we are live Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us for this February 3rd meeting of the joint city County Planning Committee here in Durham My name is Charlie Reese. I'm a member of the Durham City Council, and I am privileged to serve the next Five minutes or so as chair of Joint City County Planning Committee. Thanks everyone for being here And as Cole if you'll take the role that would be great Councilmember Reese. I'm here Commissioner Jacobs Here Councilmember Caballero here Councilmember Middleton. I'm here Commissioner Howard here Planning Commissioner Busby member Busby here Did I miss someone? Commissioner Burns Did you say commissioner Burns? She's on the committee. I don't know if she's here yet or not. Is she replacing Reco? Yes, okay. I had not received that information Okay. Well, I was Thank You miss Cole. I appreciate that. I was very eager to welcome Commissioner Burns, but I Suppose if she if she does get in the call will do that then Otherwise, I'll leave that to the next chair Are there any adjustments to the agenda from staff? Good morning, everyone. There are no adjustments from staff today And I'm working behind the scenes to make sure that Commissioner Burns gets an invite just to make sure there's no mishap there Thank You miss young. I appreciate that Any announcements for us this morning All right seeing none. I'll move on to the next agenda item, which is election of officers as I may have mentioned This is my last meeting as chair of joint city county planning committee. It's been incredibly rewarding Especially as our last year of service together with former commissioner Ellen rec how and Been been proud to lead this group as we work through some of the foreign east issues and local government With the best planning staff I can imagine So I just want to thank everyone for the opportunity to serve in this role and look forward to continuing to serve with you As a member of joint city county planning But in that in that vein when last we met We combed the records and determined that given the natural rotation that we That we do here on joint city county planning as I remember the city council the next year Should be a member of the county commission the next vice chair should be a member of the city council And as we discussed last time I would accept a motion at this time That Wendy Jacobs of the Durham County Commission I'd be our next chair of joint city county planning and my colleague Mark Anthony Middleton from the University Council Be the next vice chair of joint city county planning So moved Okay Thank you. I've had a motion in a second. I'm as cold will you call the vote? Sure council member Reese. I vote I commissioner Jacobs I Council member a cabillero I Council member Middleton I vote I commissioner howerton I Planning commissioner member Busby. Hi Motion carry six to zero. Thank you miss Cole Commissioner Jacobs now chair Jacobs the gavel is yours Well, thank you so much council member Reese and I want to thank you for doing such a great job of leading this joint Committee and I hope to follow in your footsteps. I will try my best and I also I'm excited to welcome Councilmember mark Anthony Middleton as vice chair and I look forward to the two of us working together in leadership of this committee and I'm really excited to to get to work As council member Reese said we have an awesome staff and This is an exciting time For joint city county planning as we work on the update of our comprehensive land use plan So we will start off with Approval of the minutes from December 2nd 2020 and what is the pleasure of the committee? Move approval Let's go Thank you commissioner Little punchy this morning. I don't know what So moved by commissioner Howard and seconded by Brian Busby so planning commissioner Busby so can we do a roll vote please council member Reese I Commissioner Jacobs Yes, member Cabirro I Council member Middleton of what I commissioner howerton I Planning commissioner member Busby. I Motion carry six to zero Thank you Next we have city and County managers priority items Nothing from the county. It's Patrick with us. I think it's done. Oh John. I'm sorry Sorry, nothing from the city. Yes, sorry about that John Okay, thank you very much We have a number of reports this morning from our fantastic boards and commissions and We'll start with a report from the board of adjustment 2020 annual report and we have Jessica dockery with us to provide that report Okay, okay, thank you Jacob. Thank you for being with us this morning. Thank you for having me I'll go through this rather quickly and take any questions that you all may have 2020 was quite a weird year, but We heard and disposed of around 45 cases Which is about a 20% decrease from 2019 and if you all remember This time last year I remember presenting in for the 2019 case load we had about a Between a 40 and 50 percent increase and we were expecting that in 2020 Going in January and February our case load was strong. I think our February meeting of last year Was an eight or nine hour meeting. It was a long day But we did not have any meetings in March or April We only had we didn't have any public hearings in May. So I really created a backlog I do know we had two meetings in June and then we ended up having two meetings in December just to try to catch up But we still had quite a decrease there We distributed them as follows as you can see on the report about 20 minor special use permits were approved 23 variants requests were approved One variance request was withdrawn after continuation at the hearing and then one administrative appeal, which was a Continued until a time when the board can meet again Which is something that I know you all have heard me talk about or at least read something about Legislative priority of changing that if if someone Opposes the remote meeting platform. It is continued to a time when we can meet again No one knows when we can meet again right now and that's I think that's going to create a greater challenge of some of these cases for the community as well Out we have great attendance at the BOA. We have a really good board Arrange an expertise and and Lots of land use policy experience lots of planning experience Community experience is actually a we've got a great board Who always show up? We always have alternates who are available just in case someone has to either recuse themselves or Is a not able to attend so as you can see about Board members were present for approximately 85% of the board meetings That was pretty good and I think at this point we're actually have a full board which is great. So if there are any questions, I'll Definitely take this Well, thank you Jacob and You know the the board of adjustment some of we have is one of our boards that people put in a lot of time Obviously when you're talking about doubling up on meetings and the amount of work that you all do So we really appreciate your service and everybody who's on the board When you mentioned the backlog are you caught up yet, or is there still a backlog? Oh Well, I think I'd have to ask Jessica about that but We do not have a backlog at this point We do have outstanding cases that haven't come forward But that's for various reasons mostly related to site plans that are under review but we are no longer with backlog as Chair Rogers noted we do have a few cases that we haven't been able to hear due to Objections to the virtual hearing. So I I guess you could call those a backlog, but those are more my choice of the The parties rather than us not getting to them Okay, well, thank you any comments or questions from members Well, thank you again for your great work and hopefully we'll In the next year see a trend back up to where we were before Thank you so much Next we have the Historic Preservation Commission annual report and our staff person is Carla Rosenberg and welcome Carla and I'm not sure if the actual chair is here with us or not. Okay. He is with us. Okay, great Thank you so much. Good morning, everybody Good morning. I'm Grace Smith with the Planning Department. Carla was not able to be here this morning. So I'm going to Try to fill her shoes. I hope I can do that And do it well So as you can see from the annual report things really did not slow down for Historic Preservation Commission Much like BOA last year or Planning Commission We kept trucking along even though we had to move to a virtual meeting environment I will not go through the all of the numbers that are in the report But as you can see most of the coas that we Process or minor coas that approved at the staff level The major coas go to the Historic Preservation Commission for action and there are definitely more minors than majors But that's not to say the hbc was not very busy last year Chair Hamilton is on the call and she would like to add a few things But I would like to say that give you a highlight of some things to come The staff is working on a newsletter to go out to all of the property owners in the that own property in the local historic districts within our jurisdiction and That newsletter will cover a cover variety of things that we're also going to host some open houses virtually the spring For people to come and just talk to us like a like a free free Free for all kind of if you will not even any particular agenda We we just want people to be able to speak with us ask questions We'll probably do those open houses In a few in the maybe a couple in the evening and maybe one or two on saturdays Just because we know people are busy during the week working So um more details on that to come but I wanted to put that out there a plug for things to come in the future And uh chair hamilton is on the call and I'll let her Give her version of the report now Thank you grace. Um, my name's Thanks. Um, thank you for having me my name's kitty hamilton and actually as of yesterday I'm now the former chair of hpc and We have transitioned to a new chair for the 2021 year And as grace mentioned, we did continue to see a large number of coas. We process 22 major coas That was in large part due to city staff and their continued support and the seamless transitions. We were able to have As was mentioned in the last report doing these quasi judicial hearings over A digital platform is always an experience and we are following the same process that boa is where if there is a Individual who does not want to do hearing digitally. We are continuing it until there is a time where we can meet in person And I did want to also mention that february is black history month and one of our Members, abral johnson is the executive director of preservation Durham So I just encourage anyone and everyone who has the chance to look at the programming preservation Durham has in place this month to explore Durham's history And the black history that we all know and love in our community So uh with that I thank you and if you have any questions, please And let me know Well, thank you, katie. Um, and great report Again, appreciate all the Work that you and everybody on the commission does it's really so important To the fabric of our community um, and so especially with increasing Activity at the board of adjustment And the planning commission that impact things that you all do it's all related. So thank you um, any comments or questions from committee members Well, thank you and the new and the newsletter and the open house both sound great as ways to Get more information out to the community and create more engagement With uh with the work of historic preservation. So thank you for that And next we have a planning commission annual report And grace I see you are this the contact for that And i'm not sure if we have the chair of the planning commission with us or not, but i'll let you Um take over. Thank you Good morning. Uh grace smith again the planning department. Um, we do have uh chair busby Actually, bram busby is our chair this year. He rotated back on Yeah, when we when we lost chair hyman, uh, she was term limited So uh chair busby rotated back in that position. He didn't have much of a break So we uh, again, we were planning commission was very busy last year. Um, we looks like we processed Even through covet. Um, and the virtual meeting environment. We were able to hear 55 cases You will notice in the annual report. There were a couple of cases that I was not able to Note the final action on because at the time I drafted the report. They had not been to uh city council or board of county commissioners Um, but you may Notice that they don't have final action and that's why but we have processed some since I drafted the report Just this past month At any rate very busy month. I mean a very busy year. Uh, we exceeded. Um 2019 by 17 cases, I believe Chair buzz we will probably hit on that in his report And I don't see any this trend slowing down at all our case volumes are are maintaining at high volumes And we also have the comp plan obviously coming about with lots of More probably more hours to be spent on that this year Virtual meetings public hearings info sessions. So I see us staying very busy in 2021 And I'll turn it over to chair busby now Thanks grace Yeah, most of our information's in the report. I just wanted to hit on two highlights The first is given that dramatic increase in caseload and then the need to switch to the remote hearing I just wanted to thank the staff. They've been remarkable with the amount of work They've had to handle and so sarah grace Everyone with the planning department. You know chris peterson on the technical side We were meeting twice a month through the summer into the fall. So we were meeting twice as often Thankfully, we got through the backlog. We have another Backlog coming up. So we're going to meet twice in march But I think it's for a good reason because we're handling the increased caseload plus as you all know We're very excited about advancing the comprehensive plan the small area plan that we're embarking on. So again, thanks to the staff and my fellow commissioners who Have really been putting in the time to not only handle the caseload, which isn't going to slow down anytime soon But also to be doing the really important proactive work and listening carefully to the community to make sure we've got really strong community engagement So we're excited about the year ahead Look forward to the time where we can start to be back together when it's safe to do so But again, thanks to the staff and my fellow commissioners for all their work to keep everything moving Well, thank you, brian, and it's great to have the chair of the planning commission on this committee too as well And congratulations on serving on in that role Again, you know, we we all knew that we were spending more time at meetings with cove it but now hearing, you know, the reports from all of these commissions Really attest to to that and again and thank you to the staff because it means extra work for all of you as well and You know, I think the these three commissions historic preservation boa planning commission are all Three boards and commissions that have that make decisions Make important decisions Are that our residents are making for on our behalf. So and So thank you Brian I I'm and I'm wondering from you to grace or anyone when I glanced at that workload of 55 cases Of course, most of them are coming to the city council. So that means that's the city council's workload, too um, and I was just you know, I would be interested in hearing your Your high-level assessment about what it tells us about what's happening in Durham because geographically I could see patterns In those cases And I just I would love to hear your insights Um under what you think the big issues are or what's happening development-wise based on What's coming to you city council members and what's coming to the planning commission? um, so I'll say a few things and then the Chair busby and the planning director may want to echo or even add to what I have to say Obviously, we have some fairly significant development trends on in the east and southeast region of the county right now in the city adjacent to the city But um, what we call this the sorals area, which is the southeast regional lift station area The city council has seen a major uptick and annexation petition requests for that area in general The eastern eastern part of the county is seeing a lot of development requests proposals Some in the county some already in the city some split. We even had a we had a petition This past monday night the city council heard where part of the property was in the city and part was in the county We're seeing we're just seeing a lot a lot of growth in that area right now Of course, we're we're also receiving petitions for other areas that we're staying fairly busy in all the other quadrants as well But that is a very busy area right now And we are that that was the reason for the small area plan for the sorals area that that development spurred that that small area plan to become Something and take its own life and shape and form so the staff's working on that now um I would love for chair busby and the planning director to add anything they would like to add to that Sure. I'll I'll chime in if that's all right chair busby um I will say that You know, it's it's funny. That's not funny. But um The development that we're seeing in terms of trends is really what we're kind of basing Our thinking of the comp plan on in terms of things we need to address and so generally we've you know for a couple of years now We've been saying that um, we see Three buckets of development types. Um, there's obviously greenfield development. Um, which is a particular kind of pressure It's really heavy on um infrastructure and service demand And that's what we're seeing in southeast Durham But we're also seeing a couple of other buckets one is uh infill and You know, not just like tiny super urban infill But infill that is um in urban slash suburban areas We're seeing that pressure. Um, and you know bragg town area. We're seeing that pressure in the quadrant Kind of between, you know, 85 and cheek road and gear that kind of neck of the woods And in a few spots and then, you know, we're also seeing a fair amount of interest in The third bucket which we call kind of redevelopment and for the most part that's non residential redevelopment, right? What happens when north gate gets redeveloped? What happens when? vacant shopping centers, you know start to turn over um, we're um, it's hard to predict what might happen, but you know, I think the village is one of the places that is kind of Reach kind of one end of one life cycle and is potentially a place where in the future We're going to see some redevelopment and so being able to put in policies and address that beforehand Is one of the things that we're trying to to do in the comp plan. So um We're really basing the comp plan on Dealing with the patterns that we're seeing and trying to anticipate where we think they'll they'll go next But I don't want to steal the thunder of the team because I know there is a comp plan update But I hope that framing is at least a little bit helpful That's great. Thank you so much. I think it really helps. I know it helps me Uh from hearing from you all, you know, what are these big patterns and trends that you're seeing? um As we go into The comp plan and thinking about the work of this committee over the next year. So Thank you so much um, and I just want to recognize elaine highman and george brine who both Went off the planning commission and were real rock stars Uh for their contributions to to the planning commission over a long time. So I really appreciate their work I actually served with george brine like in 2005 On the planning commission. So I don't know what his total number of years were but really long long time so But anyway, I appreciate both of their their great legacies on the planning commission Thank you all so much for the report Um, and we are going to move on to the next Oh, I'll be far stop any other comments from other board committee members Madam chair, I do Yes council member middleton. Thank you so much. Good morning, everybody. Good to see all of you and let me uh Madam chair congratulating on the assumption of the gavel and thank my friends and colleagues for Allowing us to move into leadership as well. I want to thank um My friend and colleague counselor reach for an amazing job. He did as chair anybody who watches any Meeting that charlie reaches part of it. It knows it's no secret the thoroughness that he brings At any assignment that he takes on so I want to thank him for Doing a great job and for the bulwark that's already in place Uh for this committee for us to kind of take over they say that um when a plane The two most dangerous times are takeoff and landing for an airplane most of modern and modern aviation They fly themselves. So all you've got to do is not crash it Um, so this plane is at cruising altitude and all the amazing work that's been done I'm going to try not to press any buttons and mess anything up Because it's already flying high. So thank you so much, uh friends, brian I wanted to give you an opportunity to um Defend the honor of the planning commission. I live in southeast germany. I see a lot of the work going on Here in my neighborhood changing right before me. Um, I've had some some developers and others in the community Say that the planning commission was becoming a bit activist almost like a an activist supreme court that A lot of their decisions are Are prescriptive where they think the city should be going which should be happening as opposed to sometimes adherence to What the rules on the books are and I wanted to give an opportunity to defend Of the honor of the planning commission and speak to that and give your sense uh to the public As to chair kind of the animating spirit of our planning commission These days and again, I'm just channeling what's been said to me as a member of the council But I don't believe in talking about people behind their back. So I want I want to give you an opportunity to to address it head on Well, thank you for raising it. I mean to be frank. They have not come and told us that so it's it's good to hear that feedback um, I would say our intent has been as a group number one as uh, Chair Jacobs mentioned we've had a lot of institutional turnover this year Which is a a loss for the community, but at the same time it's an opportunity for new voices to come on And we've got as you know, half are Appointed by the county commission half are appointed by the city council. So, you know, we we view our job as advisory And so one of the things I think that we've worked hard to do Is to make sure that we are providing equitable engagement opportunities So for example, I know the case that the council heard the other night We were brought of that case originally in july And the community was very active at our july hearing looking for opportunities to understand the proposal To be more active and engaged. So we actually Move that and postpone that until our september meeting Which gave the community and the proponent more time to work together So that then came to you just the other night So that's been a big part of our job is to make sure that the community has the time that they need to Share their thoughts and to be able to then work with the developers as appropriate I know when we write our comments, we have to be able to say why exactly we if we're voting for or against something We're always Required and encouraged to then make our points to connect directly to our the udo and the comprehensive plan And so, you know, again as an advisory board We see our role as being able to point out what we're hearing from the community what we're seeing in the proposals Tying it back to the udo and the comp plan and then always making sure that the community understands That we're advisory only Up or down we vote forward or against it it will move to the governing body for that final decision So we really do see our role as as a partner and a sounding board But always having to then connect it right back to the the udo and the comprehensive plan Which is why we're so excited about having an updated comprehensive plan that matches the moment that we're in I'll say one last thing and you know this is that is remarkable how many cases come forward that are zoned industrial And we are now moving to looking to change those to residential development And it's just a reminder that we're operating with a comprehensive plan that is Quite old and that was when we thought Durham would have enormous amount of industrial Land and we're now seeing today the needs for residential So we're just excited to be able to then have a new comprehensive plan But I will say that you know we always as volunteers If anyone wants to meet with us either a developer or a community member I know all of us spend a lot of time in meetings. They're mostly virtual now But we we always want to be open to hear people's thoughts So I think if as the chair i'm happy to help facilitate that if there's anyone that has concerns about How the planning commission is operating and or wants to engage with us more deeply We're ready to to work with them and and do our best job as a advisory group to the electives Well, thank you so much chairman and you're on record and you know, you said something that struck me you reminded me That's right. You're our volunteers any incredible workload Uh that you take on and the service you do for our city Is just remarkable and so I just want to thank you and the members of the planning commission as well And thank you for for taking the time to address Some of those things. Thank you madam chair. I yield back Thank you councilmember middleton. I want to acknowledge. Um, we have commissioner burns with us This morning. So welcome We're glad to have you joining the joint city county planning committee Meeting me and never switched me and commissioner long switch. So She's on joint seat joint city county and I took this one. So they just sent me the email. So good morning to all We're glad to have you here um Yes, councilmember reese Thank you madam chair commissioner burns. Welcome to joint city county planning If if uh, if we had gotten you the email on time, I could have gotten to introduce you So that's a bummer for me, but I'm really excited to have you. Um, I think you'll find the work in this committee very rewarding Um, so welcome aboard. It's great to have you with us I just wanted to make a quick comment about the question that councilmember middleton raised because it's really important I've also heard similar remarks from folks in the community No developer would actually say that to my face but uh, but uh, but I have heard folks in the community And I will just say that I think that is a byproduct of the fact that That almost always in this iteration of the planning commission or in previous iterations the planning commission recommends denial Um In situations where sometimes the city council regardless of that says yes Um, and so it is I think a natural byproduct of our process that occasionally that happens And when that does the planning commission can seem Uh to have a different set of perspectives in the city council. I don't think that's actually true I think it's exactly what chair busby said They are fulfilling a particular advisory role for us Um, and it's invaluable I don't think there's a member on the city council or for that matter the county commission when y'all hear these cases Who hasn't relied heavily? heavily on the planning commission's very deliberate and detailed work Especially the written comments although sometimes I actually go go back and watch planning commission hearings Because I feel like occasionally there are situations where the written comments are a little bit thin or I can't really get to What the point was until I actually go back and listen And that's so helpful to us Whether I agree with the ultimate decision of the planning commission or not Having this group of volunteers from a broad variety of perspectives in our community city and county In a kicking around these issues is so helpful to me as a member of the board that the governing board And so brian, I just want to thank you and hope you'll pass along my thanks to to your fellow commissioners um, because I couldn't do the job Nearly as well without the incredible amount of work and the example you gave brian about the falset avenue Annexation and rezoning working Monday night is a prime example Of of of when the planning commission really gave that community an extra To to push to prod the developer to have their concerns aired in a public forum um And it was just super helpful to them and to us as we wrestled with it um, and that was a situation where we came to Uh the same conclusion the planning commission did By the same margin Uh, and so I felt like that was a great great example of the kind of the partnership we have So I just wanted to also rise to the defense of planning commission You know, like I said, occasionally we'll disagree But that doesn't mean that we're not all trying to get to the same place Uh, and so, um, I just wanted to say that. Thank you. I'm sure Thank you. Council member Reese any other comments from committee members Council member habira Thank you. Good morning everyone. Um, just real quickly as we are we've Seen a lot of the turnover and turn on on planning commission. Um On the city side as well and we have I think now voted in all new members. Um And I just want to note that I think that there has been a lot more diversity Then historically on that board and that's something that I know that on on city council side We have worked really diligently over the last few years to ensure that our boards and commissions really represent What Durham residents look like and their perspectives and so as Planning commissioners roll off in the future. It's just something that I am Encouraging on both sides both council and commission to think about uh, think about the The you know different types of Durham residents that are out there who want to serve And I am encouraged to see the folks who have been applying and I'm glad that that has shown Thank you Thank you everybody for your your comments. This has been a good discussion Um, you know planning commission, especially as you noted, um council member Reese Um, we really depend on um You know, we don't have many cases that come to the county commission anymore because all the annexations Go directly to the city council, but um You know, we with we know that we have as elected officials many issues that are on our agendas And the and the beauty and the value of the planning commission is this is all they do And so they can really dig in and spend their time and they become the experts on them and um, and I'm and I say that as a former planning commissioner that um, you know, it We just we just can't get into we know that we as elected officials We don't have the ability to really get into the issues the way the planning commissioners do so um, again, I want to recognize their their contributions and um um, this was a good conversation and I think in the context of what, um Sarah young was talking about and grace and about some of the conflicts that we have Coming before us obviously the the planning commission Work and the work that really comes to you all city council members will continue to be challenging So thank you because you're the ones who have to make those final decisions So thank you as well okay, so we're going to move on to the um Comprehensive plan update and we have lisa miller And kayla cybull with us. Thank you Good morning, everyone With me just a minute. All right. Good morning folks. I'm lisa miller with the Durham planning department as with all of our updates to you all each time you meet Preparing the memo and the presentation were a team effort But this morning my teammate kayla cybull and I will be talking through the slides And brook is going to be helping us go through the power point And at the end we'll all be available for answering questions and responding to any concerns that come up Next slide So before we get into the presentation I want to start by introducing amy mahia Who started with us in late december as our new engaged Durham program assistant We're super excited and we now have two folks in these roles amy and liquida mcdonald Ami is going to have a specific focus on helping us engage hispanic and latino residents in Durham And before we move on i want to let amy introduce herself just a bit more Buenos dias y'all It's so good to see some familiar faces Mark anthony middleton I've seen a metapulita Obviously how iyera has also been working with us on that effort Um, we had our first latinx focus group last night actually and we have a lot of excitement from folks um A lot of surprise to see the city being as intentional as they are And they actually carl was on the call and they congratulated carl for hiring me because it's the exact kind of intentional um Familiar faces and also given an opportunity to a younger person Um exactly the kind of actions they want to see from the city. So thank you so much for Making this all happen. Um folks are even more excited to see these goals implemented Thanks y'all Awesome Thank you amy. We're super excited to have you working with us um, so This slide just shows the things that we're going to highlight from the memo today As always we're happy to answer questions on anything related to the project Some of the um engagement updates we're going to go through relatively quickly So we can focus our time on a bit more detail on kind of the overall content and strategy for the goals and objectives as they move forward To your respective bodies for adoption And some of the work that we were getting started on the southeastern focus area Formerly called the serals or southeast regional lift station Next slide So just a couple of reminders of things we discussed last time We have been doing some focus groups in order to try and hear from residents that we Had not heard from through the listening and learning engagement We had scheduled shortly after your last meeting on december 10th a session with rural residents We really appreciate the help in spreading the word. I know we had at least one Last-minute addition thanks to a connection from commissioner jacobs In that session we heard a lot of resident concerns and hopes for derm's future And some good ideas about how we can better engage rural residents At your december meeting we also walked through in some detail the qualitative data analysis process that led to our draft objectives that erin perish from the office of performance and innovation led our team through We also continue to mention our ongoing partnership with the outreach team In their sessions to review draft objectives before they've been publicized They are going to be looking at kind of the introduction to the goals and objectives as well as the Proposal for southeastern focus area engagement at their meeting this month Um, and we also shared updates on all of the different methods as we're working towards engagement at that time was focused heavily on coordinating with the transit plan engagement and getting social pinpoint up and running, uh, which was published back on december 23rd so the The team will be beginning engagement around possible scenarios the transit team will be beginning engagement again um later this month for the possible scenarios on the transit plan just as a as a hot tip next slide So just always like to remind you all why we're here today We are Coming to you every time you meet not just to provide updates But also to make sure that you all are comfortable with the direction the work is headed kind of a right track wrong track Check and make sure that what we're doing is in line with your perspectives and recommendations And this morning we'll be asking for some specific feedback later on So we now have drafted 33 different objectives Reflecting the needs and priorities we heard from residents through our engagement so far While completing initial drafts of all the objectives we spent some time trying to make more transparent The objective drafting process for the community Building on the description that we provided to you all of the process in december Two of our teammates put together a graphic novel style description of the process the screen shows a snippet of that there And that has been shared through our website a news post and through social pin point Trying to kind of Make more transparent the work that we're doing and how we got to the point where we did with the draft objectives Next slide in addition we spent some time kind of working on the remaining Aspects of the goals and objectives that we'll be asking you all to adopt in full This slide lays out a rough outline of what we anticipate the final goals and objectives document to look like Working drafts of everything besides the objectives That had been shared previously Were shared with you all yesterday It begins by introducing what's a comprehensive plan Making sure folks have that context Then includes a guiding value statement, which is a commitment to overarching values that came through Repeatedly in resident input and is reflected in the objectives as drafted Then a quick introduction to the goals and objectives before leading to the big picture goal statements Which are based on groupings of the draft objectives So we're sharing those working drafts with you all today because we wanted to make sure that you saw these Before they come to you in final form We will be getting input on these from both the outreach team next week And then from the folks who've been acting as engagement ambassadors both last fall and the last Month or so in the next two weeks since these groups have spent a lot of time reviewing And or engaging residents on the draft objectives So another important conversation that we've been having internally with other department staff as well as with residents Is around the breadth of topics and interconnected themes that are covered by the drafts objectives The drafts reflect what we heard from residents that were important needs and priorities We want to make sure both that we're reflecting back what we heard to the community And also that we're raising awareness within our city and county organizations of those resident concerns As it relates to the comprehensive plan, we also know that some of the areas of concern don't have as strong of connections to land use So many of the objectives cover topics that are explicitly about land land use And are typically found in comprehensive plans things like Things that the planning department can more directly influence like development regulations Zoning and environmental protections But for other objectives that land use connection is not as clear And it may not be immediately obvious How a land use plan could influence some elements of the topics discussed Some of the examples of that include funding for school programs and operations job training programs and partnerships Or youth and senior programs and resources So it's important for residents for staff For our planning commission and elected officials to have a shared understanding Of what the comprehensive plan can impact and how these objectives will be applied So we've been working on a strategy to balance those things Reflecting back and raising awareness of what we heard from residents as well as right sizing expectations and understanding The role of the goals and objectives within the comprehensive plan So to show you what we're talking about the following Three slides We'll show all 33 draft objectives, which we've color coded based on the strength of their land use connection Those objectives that are not highlighted have the strongest connection Those that are highlighted in yellow have a moderate land use connection and those highlighted in red have weak land use connections The strategy that we propose is that for those highlighted in yellow Um while we know that working towards all of the objectives will require partnerships with other departments and agencies It's particularly important for those with this highlight We anticipate partnering with departments and agencies in developing policies to support these objectives together That can both be in the comprehensive plan and in their plans and programs For the red highlighted objectives We plan to meet with our partner agencies during the next month to discuss the relevant goals and objectives to their work Get their feedback engage their buy into those objectives For those our work is to continue to identify Partners to bring into the work of implementing this vision that's coming from the community so for example Participatory budgeting the strategic plan update Coordination with different city and county departments with during public schools and with community organizations and institutions Will all have an important role in making those objectives a reality and responding to the resident input that formed them So if we have buy into this proposed approach Both from from our elected officials from you all And from our partner agencies Then the highlighted the red highlighted objectives would go into the comprehensive plan But instead of land use policies coming from those objectives, we would essentially have cross references First to the department or agency responsible and then later to how that group is addressing the objective If we don't have that buy in From you all and from our partners Then we wouldn't include these objectives as separate objectives within the comprehensive plan But instead we would work to make revisions to the existing objectives So that there are clear land use ties But the priorities from these red highlighted objectives are still reflected in those In the objectives that go into the comprehensive plan And the policies that are developed through the comprehensive plan Would be only expressly addressing the land use portions of those But the priorities would still be reflected So just running through the next three slides. I know that was a lot of information So just a couple of examples So integrated housing Is an example of one Where certainly the Possibilities of partnership with community development or the Durham housing authority Would be important for The jobs associated objectives Not just with our office of economic and workforce development But with our institutions and universities within Durham Next slide There are a whole bunch of aspects of transportation where that coordination with our transportation department With the city and with the county with the metropolitan planning organization With go-triangle are all super important to making those systems work together Next slide And here we've got a couple of the red highlighted objectives. These are primarily addressing things around Durham the department of parks and recreation kind of programming and activities As well as some aspects of Durham public schools operations that are less about Kind of where schools are placed and more about how the schools are functioning So those are the ones that we've identified Where there is this Need to to work with these two partners In order to make sure that we're on the same page and figure out um how we can How we can highlight these objectives In line with the desires of those two agencies, so After the presentation, we'd like to hear from you all on two main questions arising from all of this information The first is are you comfortable with the approach we've proposed if you have questions about it? We'll happy to clarify and the second If we do have that buy-in from our partner agencies around commitment to the objectives that are highlighted in red Are you comfortable with adapting them as part of the objectives within the comprehensive plan? Or are you not? So uh with that we will move on to just a couple of engagement updates um, so we've been uh Working with a number of groups around small group engagement um, essentially opportunities to have more in-depth discussion around a few of the drafted objectives to get more More in-depth feedback on how to revise and reflect resident perspectives um Our colleagues in neighborhood improvement services have been really helpful in making connections with several of these groups And have provided staff support for the the Spanish sessions as well. So huge. Thanks to them We have had discussions with three groups so far Ami uh reflected some back from the Hispanic and Latino resident focus group that happened last night um, we also had a session with the Fayetteville street fellows um One uh piece of feedback from them Was a desire for us to be really specific with the language that we use in these objectives To say what we mean clearly so that accountability is an option and a catalyst for the change that they're really hoping to see in the community Um, and we also had a focus a small group discussion with uh, north Durham rural resident residents again They highlighted the challenges particularly during the pandemic of not having workable high speed internet in many parts of the county The impacts that that's had on schooling for their children And also emphasized a desire to keep north Durham rural and character and maintain or increase farming possibilities in the county I just wanted to give you all some Some highlights from those conversations so far. They've been really rich In addition to these groups We've reached out to five additional groups and are scheduling those discussions over the next month Next slide So as we've shared with you all in the past We worked with the transit team to have engagement ambassadors over the fall or late fall early winter in november and december Um, those sessions closed shortly after your december meetings. So just wanted to share a few highlights of that work This slide shows the high level race ethnicity demographics For the residents that engagement ambassadors worked with Um, as with the first round of engagement ambassador sessions The demographics of this group are really different from those that engaged through the online survey Next slide Here we just wanted to share out a quick graph of the engagement ambassador the the responses through engagement ambassador sessions to one question Um, for each of the objectives that they looked at the question was does this objective feel true for you in your community? Their response options ranged from strongly disagree to strongly agree The chart shows that overall we had a lot of confirmation that these objectives feel true for folks Uh, we also have open-ended feedback on ways to improve the objectives that we'll be going through With all of the other input during the month of march to see How we can revise the objectives to better reflect resident perspectives So we'll have a lot more to share later, but just wanted to give you this preview for now Next slide. Um, so we've contracted with ideal ortees who Is a part of the transit plan team as a sub consultant And had been managing the engagement ambassadors work So we set up a separate contract for her to continue that same structure Um with engagement ambassadors for uh engagement around the remaining comprehensive plan objectives Um ideal has shared a number of lessons learned so far and has seen how ambassadors are building on the strategies That they learned in the fall sessions um to reach more folks in this round So we have approximately 200 responses for this round in a little less than a month Um, which is more than the overall responses from the last round Ideal has also been able to help us build up some predictability and continuity with engagement ambassador opportunities So as we close with the sessions around the draft objectives, the transit plan engagement opportunities And work with engagement ambassadors will be kicking off again. So uh with that I will hand it over to kala Good morning everyone. Uh, my name is kala cybull. I'll be wrapping up this presentation and open it up for your feedback So just have a few slides left So for this phase of engagement, I think as we mentioned in previous Meetings we're using an online engagement platform called social pinpoint As our broad engagement opportunity to supplement our work with engagement ambassadors The outreach team and the small groups that lisa just covered Um, we launched the site in late december and have shared it out widely with contacts through the city and county Oregon and organizations that the outreach team helped us identify All this amounted to over a hundred community organizations that we've shared this with As we work with the outreach team to finish the remaining objectives, we have the full list of 33 objectives And we highlighted this in a news post that was sent out in mid january. So the site is open until february 19th So please help us share this opportunity with your networks. Um That'll greatly help us get more participation on the online engagement platform Next slide So just to mention very briefly There are a few things residents can do when they reach social pinpoint They can learn about the process. This takes residents to our engage germ.com or main project website Or they can learn about how we understood and worked with resident input To draft the goals and objectives. So there's also pdf downloads of each objective all 33 For folks who want to read and see it in that form and another way Another thing residents can do on the site is review the draft objectives So we've broken down the objectives into topic areas for residents to read and give feedback Through the survey tool on the site And last we've designed a creative opportunity. It doesn't require working through all the objectives But asks a fun prompt that's in line with What we're asking folks about the comp plan We want to collect community artifacts such as photos drawings and quotes here So we're prompting users to imagine the derm of their dreams using their five senses On a tool called the ideas wall There's categories for each of the five senses and residents can choose and submit an idea As well as joining in a discussion with other residents on their submissions So it's like a forum and they can make comments if they want So that's an overview of what's what's on social pinpoint right now for goals and objectives For the next slide Jumping to what's next as we're wrapping up this phase of goals and objectives We wanted to provide you all with a brief update on the southeast derm focus area of the comprehensive plan This is the area where there's a project to go in For the southeast derm regional lift station We mentioned this earlier in the meeting. So this focus area It's the first land use component of the comprehensive plan For those unfamiliar with this part of Durham. It's in the southeastern part of of Durham. It's bounded by Sharon road to the west Highway 98 to the north carpenter pond road in the county line to the east And highway us highway 70 to the south So there've been uh been and continued to be many requests before planning commission and city council to change the zoning of property in this area as well as annexations So this is an opportunity for us to pilot how we get from goals and objectives to land use and policies So as we look closer into this area and engage with residents We wanted to understand Which objectives are most important here? So we're developing the engagement strategy right now We're we're going to use the mapping tool on social pinpoint. So residents can Can help us understand where land uses are most appropriate with what they would like to see there And we're going to host two focus groups one in english one in spanish over the next month to identify what what the residents needs are What they want to see here And we'll be seeking adoption of this component In late summer. So after the goals and objectives For the next slide just a reminder This is what we say every meeting we continue to face uncertainties and challenges because of cova 19 During this time things tend to take longer than anticipated, especially as we're trying to better coordinate engagement across different projects We've been updating the schedules in your memo each time. We provide an update to reflect this Next slide So just some upcoming work our focus over the next month will be finishing up engaging residents on this work For the goals and objectives Through engagement ambassadors focus small group outreach and online engagement We'll then spend the month of march working through All the all the data that we receive that we have been receiving Through additional data analysis work to bring this input into a revised list of objectives Then we'll bring this to planning commission board of county commissioners and city council for adoption We'll also be beginning to engage residents in the southeastern focus area as I mentioned next slide So I know this is a lot of information With that we like to hear reflections concerns and questions you have from the presentation of the memo to make sure We're continuing on the right track. We're excited to have the draft guiding values and goals statements that we that we shared with you yesterday or the day before And we'd love to hear any questions or concerns or reflections you have on that work as well And we have a couple of specific questions for you about our proposal that Lisa went through for how we identify and address Those objectives that are important residents needs, but can't be impacted by the comprehensive plan alone or much at all So what questions or feedback do you have about this approach? If we're including objectives with moderate or weak land use connections And are you comfortable adopting all of this as the goals and objectives as part of the comprehensive plan? So that concludes our presentation. Uh, lisa and I are here along with the rest of our team to answer any questions and hear your feedback. Thank you Thank you, uh, lisa And kayla and also welcome to amy. Great to have you as a part of the team and as always, um Really appreciate the depth and the intentionality of the work, um, that you that all the staff is is Engaged with including the folks that are that you brought in as contractors Um, just want to open it up to um committee members Who are questions and comments? Uh councilmember cabera Thank you. I really appreciate this presentation and I you know, I I deeply admire the work you all are doing. I think it's fantastic that we're engaging residents in such a meaningful way I do have a couple of Kind of questions and kind of reflections. How much are we using this also as an opportunity to educate folks? Because what I am seeing And this is based on the just the the zoning case we had on monday night was really challenging For me as an individual council member Um, we were deep in the weeds on transit questions and our city staff did an amazing job explaining the technicality Using a bunch of acronyms that no one understands probably as as a resident just listening in You know discussing things at the mpo level all of these places that most residents don't even know exist so For me, it's really a challenge I know what we hear pretty consistently what residents want as well One of the things we heard real loud and clear at that zoning case on monday night is that they wanted Really great infrastructure bike lanes connectivity sidewalks. It's a state road We would be lying to our residents saying that the state is going to provide any relief there for the next decade at best so how are we going to Um really listen to residents and their desires and then also really practically implement what we actually have control here What we as local both county commission and city council have within the context of the state and the federal government Can share a little bit about kind of responding to the initial question about using the engagement as an opportunity for education and then Others want to want to jump in and reflect as well Um, it's something that we've been really focused on trying to right size how much information folks can take in at once um One of the things that we sometimes say about our profession as planners is that it seems like We go to school to learn how to take our everyday experience and making it obtuse to regular people So we've been trying to really unlearn the way that we talk about and um, even in in large part the way that we think about our work Being focused on people First which is something that's really clearly not the case in our last comprehensive plan um, so we've been trying to uh, you know one of the things that you'll see in the attachment that was sent yesterday Is a description of you know, what the comprehensive plan is that's something we've been trying to get better at being able to relatively quickly explain What is it in a way that we don't get bogged down in the details? but we're we're being true to what the opportunity for impact is and I we definitely see as we start moving into Looking at specific geographic areas as we've been working on developing the Engagement strategy for the southeastern area. How do we talk about, you know, what land use is what's land use planning? and What are the kinds of opportunities that the plan has to influence what happens in that place? Nice. There's something just as a follow-up real quick Um, what when we're thinking about that I think it's a great Example because it is smaller, right? It's not kind of overwhelming of the comp plan and so what What we've learned through the pandemic so there has been some positives As much as people have digital gaps. It's also in some ways a lot easier to reach people People don't have to drive anywhere. They don't have to leave. They don't have to find childcare necessarily They can cook their dinner and still participate um We the city of Durham has invested recently Tech infrastructure that they are now testing to be able to stream meetings and up to three languages um, and so I think about that possibility Uh, and we are learning a lot through the pandemic around communication in in multi-lingual communication How do we really get information in the communities have a lot of barriers? and so I hope you all reach out to me because it's something that There's an immigrant refugee task around table that is associated with The recovery and renewable task force and happy to brainstorm with you all about how to be Use the lessons we're learning around COVID and the infrastructure That the city's already purchased to really reach out to more communities That's fantastic. Uh, sarah actually just shared with us Pre information about the session you'll have coming up so that we could keep that in mind. We'll definitely follow up Thank you. Um, councilman recovery arrow I think that's a great point about The conundrum about wanting to get people's input, but then um, the education piece and You know, um, a lot of frustrations that people have about things Some of the things we don't have control over whether it's Because we live in a capitalist Society and the market place the power of the market Versus, you know, whatever rules the state legislature has And the fact that we don't have local authority over a lot of land use decisions. So Um, yeah, I think that's a good point Thank you for raising that Any other question commissioner burns? I had a really quick one and um, I do echo the sentiments of Councilwoman Cabrera if for no other reason, um, you know, having fact sheet knowledge of an issue Uh, we'll also stop a misinformation campaign, which is I think something that Durham suffers with a lot You know, some of the emails, you know, I would believe I had I don't know three heads if I read all the emails that I went out but my question or my comment Has to do with the fact that I'm happy to see Um, this this tool about Ambassadorship continually be used here I yesterday the county commission was updated on the transit plan and we saw the survey that went out When you saw the folks who answered it was a stark contrast to the individuals who were able to answer the survey via Boots on the ground knocking on the door and again, I think um, these were the transit Authority's word that the transit updates were is not mine She says when it came to the survey the majority of the individuals and I think it was 70 or the 71 Were individuals who were wealthy and white again, nothing against anybody who's wealthy and white But we all know that that is not ridership and then via the ambassador program What we saw was about 50 african-american about 20 38 percent maybe uh, Latinx and then we also saw like those socioeconomic levels were a little bit different And it was more representative of ridership So those are things that I can I can appreciate And I also want to throw this out as we're working on these surveys There are certain surveys that people might a not receive And b if they do receive them They don't want to fill them out because they don't trust the medium in which they receive them from So as these things come out, I would uh, um as new commissioners as new councilman Commission and alarm isn't here But I think she would echo my sentiment sense and make sure that you make a very active push to us Because there are a lot of surveys that I've actually only seen for the first time Since becoming um a member of county commission and I actually like to think of myself as a pretty active individual um in in um in Durham And so I'm thinking if I haven't seen these and then the list serves the very active lift serves that I'm on If they haven't seen them there might be some representation that we're missing. So please continue to use us So that's what I wanted to throw out to you all and also just keep up the good work. So thank you Thank you commissioner burns other comments feedback councilmember middleton Thank you, madam chair and thanks to friends and colleagues for all of the Wonderful feedback thus far. Let me commend lisa and kala on this. It's incredible a piece of work um It it takes into account mistakes. We've made in the past um It's aspirational It's it's it's far reaching It's it's comprehensive. I'm particularly pleased to see the attention to southeast Durham Obviously bias. I'm sitting in a house right now here in southeast Durham and a large swath of ward two is in Of course southeast Durham. So so you know, let me just uh be transparent about my uh personal bias I did take a note Couple of notes. I wanted to ask one question and one of the slides. I think it was about small Group participation. One of your bullets was incentives to participation Could could you talk a little bit about what what the incentives are or were? or uh, so what we did for the small groups is uh anyone that participated was offered a $20 gift card to one of three black owned businesses or to food lion And so as people they're we basically just set up a survey We verify that they participated We send them the the gift card through email And with a thank you and and tie the more information so How many roughly if you recall if you don't remember it's okay. How many were distributed do you uh So we actually have not had a ton of responses. We've done a lot of follow-up with folks encouraging them to just It's a two-question survey you put in your email address and select a gift card So we've only issued one card so far But we've had and we've had three groups Some folks may be opting out of the incentive But we're continuing to push that one of the groups was just last night So we may get some in from from that group. Okay, and the incentives are available to everyone Everyone that Okay And based upon your your your your response now, that's probably just questions probably moot, but There wasn't I'll ask them anyway. There wasn't any observable Spike or or did did it make a difference you think in participation or is it making a difference? That's a good question. I mean, I think for us we know that this is something Uh, you know when we started the work with engagement ambassadors It was Coming out of the development of the equitable engagement blueprint and just recognizing how much we're asking residents for their time And their their expertise in order to do our work better and not compensating them for that and so you know the engagement ambassadors was stipends for engaging other folks, but this is the first time where we've done something directly incentivizing participation in these group discussions Um, so I'm sure that we'll learn from this process How to do it better how to share that information better? and how to make sure that that that kind of From offer to actually receiving the card is taken up by as many folks as possible But I know it's something that Folks are asking about like is this a an opportunity where there's an incentive or some sort of compensation That's helpful. Thank you so much. I um I was a A little intrigued by the uh, some of the feedback particularly residents in in the northern part Of durham and the Well, let me let me just say this way I think it's going to be important as we move forward with the comprehensive plan to to be honest About what is what we can actually codify and what what's an ask what's aspirational that there's it doesn't just become a wish list On the part of residents and the impression is created that your wishes are our command For example, the the comment about keeping north Durham rural Um, we had a a zoning case. I think it was off angier not too long ago And the mayor made it rather pointed common And if you were carefully would have almost thought it was a throwaway comment but he said that this is a city And you know and it's a growing city and that the notion that Because you may live in a cloistered kind of environment now That it's going to remain cloistered and the impression that it's cut off or this kind of you know Oasis in the middle of an urban that was a that was a prerogative back in the day of folk Who had money and influence and could kind of you know Keep their neighborhood the way they want to either through covenants or restricted covenants or whatever that so the notion that What your neighborhood looked like 20 years ago when you first moved in Is going to remain that way? I think we have to be very honest with with with res all of us I'm still I used to be able to walk up to a golf course and hit, you know, well, I'm still Mad I'm in my feelings about lakeshore golf courses appearing. But but you know, nothing I can do about it, right? Because the neighborhood's changing and the city's uh changing. Um, y'all pray for me so so That's making sure that that uh, we are clear in our comprehensive plan that that you know What is aspiration on what we're actually codifying not creating the impression that as I've already said that your wishlist is kind of Going to be you know, have the force of law Behind it as we move forward, but I think you the the work that I see this far I'm really excited about the the anatomy and architecture of the plan and the the incredible amount of diligence and passion you're bringing to reaching all assets all aspects of our community Latinx community. I'm really excited about the intentional outreach to that community and and Black and brown folks. So, um, you know, but with all things, you know Military leaders always say that first contact with the enemy puts the plan, you know, it's a little disarray. So Um, but I want to I want to at least commend you on the incredible amount of work you've done And I'm very excited about the prospect of this comprehensive plan and the way we are have charted Our path forward. So that's all I wanted to say, uh, madam chair. Thank you so much Thank you for your comments. Um, additional comments feedback for Kayla and lisa Council member Friedman I uh, I apologize. I'm trying to cover two meetings at once of course, but um I uh, I couldn't miss this meeting on the heels of our meeting on monday And so I caught like the beginning and the like this tail end of the sections and I I really appreciate all the work of the boards and committees Um, surrounding this commission or this committee and hearing all of the I mean, I think that there's so many people pouring into just what our city Um vision is and I am grateful for all of that But I just can't help but keep pushing us and acknowledging that there are so many areas We are still missing and so many folks who are still missing in the conversations. And so I I would be like I can't speak for for those folks in the way that they can speak for themselves And so I just want to encourage us to just be mindful of who's not at the table In all of these conversations and to continue to push as much as possible even though it may seem Um needless and also to continue to understand like there are folks in this community who do have a very good handle on I think like commission of bugs be missed mentioned losing that institutional knowledge on On uh, the planning commission is going to be a huge hit because I want to say that developers have The institutional knowledge and the residents do not and the residents come to us and they say things like traffic They say things like safety and they say things like You know that they weren't engaged and we have to be the ones to pick up on what that means and oftentimes I feel like we missed that and so as as staff develops protocols and processes um I think that this should be equity of mind among making sure that youth are engaged in the process Seniors are engaged in the process and people with disabilities who are always Saying they have not heard anything about this And so uh, I continue to press in on on making sure that that our staff is mindful of that Um, I know they work for both the city and the county and I just wanted to make sure I shared that here Thank you. Thank you councilmember freeman Any other comments questions Well, I just wanted to follow up and make sure that we also give Feedback on the two specific questions that that the staff asked us about And um, I I do want to commend everyone because This is so different than our Preview that our existing comprehensive plan And it's just you all are just charting new ground and new territory, especially during covid And I'm I'm actually amazed at the amount of engagement that you've even accomplished um, and I think the community the Ambassador model is is is really incredible and the fact that you've got 36 New ambassadors just trained. Um, so I think about the foundation that is being, um Created in the community to keep building upon and investing in people in our community and I So I'm I'm excited about that and then with the also the transit plan the fact that That you all have been working together with the um ambassadors But um So so I just this is very rich rich and when we talk about how process is just important as the outcome And so I I appreciate that you all are so focused on the process as well My feedback about the um, you know, you asked two questions One is um, are we on the right track with? Basically the goals and objectives that we've come up with so far. I can say personally I I am And I really when I read through them what jumped out at me is um How integrated they all are and how connected? um and How they really get at the heart of like everything that we're trying to do and sitting in county government Which is about people's lives and you know, what kind of life quality of life people have You know well-being things like that that are hard to Like quantify. So I I'm I think they're great um, and then the second question you asked was about um The secondary objectives of the ones that you now are kind of saying are like mediumly moderately related to land use or or not weekly and Um, how they should be in the plan. I I personally think they should be in the plan um What I'm getting the feeling about especially that you all are doing this southeast area plan at the same time it feels like This plan is going to be a living document Which feels really different than our last comp plan like it feels like this is something that's going to be actively implemented and I think Making sure it is connected to other plans and other agencies and and trying to facilitate that is important but I would actually argue That some of the things that you said were weekly connected may be actually not so weak because For instance, you talked about jobs um I mean, I think that that does have a really big land use component because if we're going to create um mixed use Developments live work play environments then we're talking about having jobs Right where people are living that they can walk to like that's like a land that part of it to me is land use related and also Encouraging more residential development where some of our biggest employers are now like You know duke university and duke medical center rtp Traeburn, so thinking about where are the best jobs? And how do we promote more residential development that people can get to those jobs easily so in my mind I guess i'm seeing those things still very much Land use related so I I just wanted to hear Your thoughts on that I think what you laid out is absolutely land use connected and that's I think the two jobs ones are highlighted in yellow Which just means when you look at the content of the objectives Some of it is around job creation, which The city and county have less of a prominent role and kind of what kinds of jobs come to Durham Um, but the land use piece of where those jobs go is very much related. So This is one where we see a partnership being really important With other departments and agencies as opposed to it being kind of more focused on just land use Okay Thank you. And so I don't know maybe we could do I like a thumbs up Which you get the consensus of the committee about um, the two questions So the the first one was about the um, the current approach the current goals and objectives That they Have come up with so far are people On board with those in general Any objections to those? Okay, so I think people are okay with those And then the second question that you asked was about including the More moderate or weekly You know land use related Goals and objectives In still including those and then specifically tying them to other Plans or other Agencies or partners Um still but still keeping those Identified in the plan are people okay with that? Okay. All right. So we sounds like you all are on the right track with those things Thank you so much for getting us good answers to those questions. We appreciate that everyone Okay, and and just to clarify the timeline When is it that you are saying that the goals and objectives will be you think approved? So our schedule is to have them approve this fiscal year Okay And then what tell us what the next step comes after the goals and objectives So the work in the southeast area that focus area is the first where we're starting to look at How do the goals and objectives play out with specific land uses on specific parcels and policies that would Be born out of those goals and objectives Um looking at a particular area talking to engaging folks around a specific geography As opposed to looking at the county as a whole And we're identifying Where we're working through a us kind of plan for Where all focus areas we look at throughout the community. There's an opportunity for us to Learn from some areas that may be representative of the kinds of issues that come up in multiple other areas. So looking at Land uses and policies in one area that could potentially be applicable in some similar areas So we're trying to look at those patterns right now to identify what the additional focus areas will be We should have a lot more information on that at your um next meeting or Let's see april if not april then june will have what will be heavily looking at that so Okay, well, thank you. And I just want to add We all just received um The annual resident satisfaction survey and when I was reading Through everything that you provided to us. I thought that I don't know if you all had had a chance to look at it But a lot of the things that were highlighted In that survey that residents said that they were priorities and cared about I think would be another source of information for for you all And there was already a lot of alignment that I saw especially around affordable housing and housing issues so So that that we just got that on monday. I don't know if the city council members have seen it yet, but That's just wanted to share that as another source for you guys to look at So thank you so much for your great work Really appreciate all of you and sarah go ahead I just wanted to put in a quick plug that when we go to seek adoption of the goals and objectives We're going to be looking at scheduling a joint meeting of both full governing bodies So we'll be working through both administrations and both clerk's offices to do that We have actually we did that way back in the past. I think it may predate all of you But there have been a couple of instances where for some big planning projects like the last comp plan We actually it was just much easier to get both bodies in the room or in the virtual room So discussion can happen simultaneously Together, so that's what we'll be proposing as we go through the comp plan as well Sounds great. Thank you Adam's chair if i'm going to recommend that council caviar will be a designated survivor for that meeting and not attend that session Just in case anything happens for continuity of government. Thank you, ma'am I'll remember you didn't ask me to be the designated survivor I'm like, thanks for the pressure there Our fate will be the same Reese. You here with me All right, so um item number 11 is uh the tc 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 omnibus 16 and They definitely are omnibuses The terminology But we have michael stock with us here for it Uh, thank you very much commissioner Jacobs and Other council members and commissioners michael stock with the planning department I'll I'll try to be brief because the time as Has been running late this morning. Um before you is the next round of omnibus text amendments to the unified development ordinance Just as a brief descriptor Many of you are familiar with these text amendments that come through but um those who are listening may not and I know that commissioner burns new new to her role as county commissioner has not yet been uh Exposed to these and these are are basically a collection of of Proposed text amendments to the unified development ordinance that are basically seen as technical in nature or do provide some Minor modification of intent of the ordinances We get this information from the everyday work that the planning department does in reviewing applications working with the ordinance We get it from staff members. We get it from community members We collect the list and we go through it. We we you know vet the issues and then we we come up with it We try to do it on an annual and even semi-annual basis So the list what that comes before you isn't isn't monstrously long and cumbersome to review Sometimes we're successful with that sometimes we're not so successful, but we do our best And so the presentation that I want to briefly go with you today is just hitting the highlights Of what's in this let this round. We'll finalize it after we get feedback from this board And any other reviewing department and agencies We do Seek to try to get this to I believe we're looking for the march planning commission Probably april at the latest And then it would go to the both governing bodies Depending upon the scheduling that's that's available Unfortunately kind of hits around budget time and and other major aspects that might be going to city council and board of commissioners So it would either be Early summer or late summer But this is the list of the least the highlights And I'll go through this Briefly and concisely as possible our next slide, please So the next so the first hit upon is just common review procedures We are looking to Modify the requirements for pre-application Conferences and neighborhood meetings and not the ordinance currently requires them in the singular where only one is required for each But as we are reviewing our processes for these meetings and looking to expand Community engagement for a lot of these applications We will be seeking that There may be instances where multiple meetings are going to be required And thus we want the ordinance to reflect that possibility So moving from the singular to the possibility of a plur or at least that flexibility Depending upon with the application also, we are looking to Remove for some quasi judicial Hearing for quasi judicial hearings state statute does not require publishing the notice. So we are we are going to remove that Requirement that is a big cost savings not only to the city and county but also to applicants And Mailed notice will still be required and postings on the property will also still be required A lot of these applications are Not big-time developer type applications, although some of them can be But a lot of them are everyday citizen applications and the cost savings can actually Be substantial with these applications when not requiring a published notice in the newspaper Next changes to approve development plans. We're seeking to codify the way Development plans that have been approved over The years and we're talking about decades going back even into the 70s How how they are interpreted and what a proposal that might not That is coming in under a development plan What a what a change would require them to to do Whether it's a full change and a new rezoning that's needed Or it's just amending the plan in some way Council just heard a case with the forest at duke recently Where it was just really amending the plan by adding a height provision But it wasn't a full change in the zoning And then also clarifying and it doesn't change what the howdy ordinance Affects it but just makes it more explicit how the affordable housing bonus would work with approved development plans And basically saying that you can do it by right and you don't have to change anything about the development plan Uses updating some of our use categories with the adoption of the modified definition of family increasing it to six non related persons We have two uses that are defined In the ordinance right now called rooming house and boarding house and those uses have been defined They've been translated from historical zoning ordinances those those uses and definitions have not changed over time And they're a little bit outdated The more recent and more modernized Housing of co-living we wanted to reflect that And replacing those two uses with the term co-living and we do define co-living The allowances for co-living versus rooming and boarding house Don't change much actually The permissibilities don't change you would still need use permits in certain situations and other situations you would still Allow them by right But we just wanted to kind of modernize and update the way Housing is is is coming about these days We also wanted to expand the allowance for shelters and food pantries. I'm sorry for that Um typo there and meal centers The currently they're under social service institutions and The they're very limited to where they can go Thank you pantries. Thank you That they can It happens it happens folks. Um They they're actually very limited into the number Places where they can go only like three or four zoning districts and they all require Uh a major special use permit. Um staff has felt that these are critical social service Community service Uses and institutions and they should be reflected that way and zoning should not necessarily get in the way Organizations and government nonprofit organizations or whoever wanting to provide these these services. So the use is and These have been specifically called out and expanded allowances we've also and finally clarified Event venues and conference centers and retreat houses. That's not as interesting a clarification, but we've also clarified those And relocated them within the use table Next slide We're revising height allowances in these districts In the rsm district you you're limited to 35 feet, but You can go unlimited amount higher with if it's specified on the development plan Um And um, we're looking to coordinate that Change with the oi and cg districts Just kind of make them all consistent where the Every other place where you can seek additional height Uh, you seek it through a use permit Um, so we're clarifying the rsm district to seek it through that same process But also to limit at 55 feet and we're also changing oi and cg to be allowed to go to 55 feet For consistency purposes that way also from 50 to 55. It's not much of a change in the rc district There is a place where you can only go up to 45 feet where all other places Instances you can go up to 75 feet. We're adding just The possibility to go up to 75 feet with the use permit. So we're maintaining the same strategy as other places in the ordinance to seek additional height And then we're also clarifying the height allowances in the s2 districts of the design districts to allow for Additional when you are seeking additional height that is allowed through the provision specifically of affordable housing You would have to do a step back. You have to step the building back. Um, and we are Uh offering a provision that you could either do that or do it as a change of materials. So it kind of Creates an opportunity of flexibility. Um, possibly even cost savings for that development Next slide please And then finally, um, we are clarifying the variants request process for, uh, intrusion into stream buffers that are beyond state requirements We are also clarifying project boundary buffers For when sites are mass graded along rights of way And then also something that has that came up and this is the final Highlight I want to point out many cases deal with interconnectivity from between new and new neighborhoods and existing adjacent neighborhoods and Many times planning commission members and city council members hear about the concerns raised by residents who didn't know that a road was going to connect to A neighboring property or that the road was going to be built out. Um, we felt, you know, maybe it's worthwhile that we let residents Know that, um, where someone buys a house or moves into a onto a street and they and they see a dead end street And they are made aware clearly made aware that that street could in the future It's not necessarily going to happen the next year could be in five years could be 10 years But that road will be built out or connecting to another community and they should be made aware of that So we're we're putting that into the ordinance. We will most likely also have to update the reference guide for development To but we wanted to put that in the ordinance also That's it. And I apologize again for the typo again my my gaffa but I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. I see sarah's just shaking her head I know well That type of where where it was We'll blame powerpoint for not catching Anybody who uses the word gaffa in a public setting automatically gets a pass So Well, thank you for the presentation and I I really appreciate How especially I it really is very apparent in these changes that how the staff is trying to respond to What you all are seeing and people are experiencing and Trying to address concerns You know, I hate to say but on the ground or that are really impacting You know people's lives and and making our Ordnance is more user friendly or you know impacting people's life Quality of life. So really appreciate it Any comments or questions from committee members about these proposed changes Commissioner basby Thank you, ma'am chair Yeah, great update really I really appreciate this I wanted to in particular call out a few things that I thought were really important the the changes on the public meeting notice and the neighborhood meetings is really I think a great step forward Often the additional neighborhood meetings then lead to things coming to us at the planning commission that have had more time To work through and then by the time it goes to the governing body A lot of the issues have been resolved just through good public interaction. So that's great the The changes to the landscape and buffering section I think is really good as well and then that street connection notice I think we do hear that a lot. So I think just allowing the community to understand what could happen Is important and will resolve a lot of conflicts before they even become a conflict Michael I had three questions and I can deal with some of these offline if it's faster since I know we're running out of time I was interested in learning more about the thinking In section 6.5. You talked about that increase in the residential compact development intensity So that was one of the second was Understanding the changes for the encroachment into the stream buffers That's one of the things we hear a lot at the planning commission. We hear about traffic first Usually but we are hearing more and more about flooding issues and concerns about neighborhood flooding as we see more development happening Throughout Durham and then the final thing was an understanding on the thinking on the reduction on Parking from a half mile to transit to a quarter mile So those those three things as as time allows just interested to hear the thinking on those Yeah, I'll gladly try to address them concisely with the rc district There you're generally allowed 75 foot height But if you are at the edge of the Compact neighborhood tier and it it adjoins In a residential area, you're limited to 45 feet And use but the only thing that That's being proposed is that there might be instances where Additional height Is warranted based upon what's being proposed and just offering the ability to at least ask for that Up to the maximum height of 75 feet. So it would go to the board of adjustment So it's not a by right ask the second Oh, it's not a by right. I should say um, the second with the stream buffers, um, there are instances In the state statute that's also mimicked within the udo where That section calls them uses, but they're really encroachments. Um, the term uses can get confusing But encroachments just are prohibited flat out and there's variance procedures Uh, to, uh, consider those technically prohibited encroachments and the state handles them for the buffers that they are responsible for But there's no specific method beyond the standard variance Application for the buffers that exceed state review that that the state doesn't care about the larger extended buffers that that the udo has The state doesn't care about those because it's not their purview. It's not their jurisdiction So it's just clarifying that Honestly, that provision might be delayed a little bit We've been looking at the state rules in more detail and there might be some other changes that we need to consider And we might bring back pull that out and bring you a more comprehensive repairing buffers update text amendment moving forward, but it's in it now But you may not see it at the planning commission and I hope that answered your question with that one. Um, and the third one Could you remind me the third one once more again? Right. It was page four article 12. I'm sorry. No page four article 10 the reduction in parking to transit Oh, um, yeah, so uh, we're extending it from a quarter mile to a half mile We've based all our compact neighborhood tiers off of the standard Uh, best practices that um people are comfortable going to transit stops and centers from within a half mile So we wanted to allow that reduction in parking to reflect that half mile Versus a quarter mile. That's currently in the ordinance Great. Thank you. Thank you I do hope you pull out the the buffer standard just because there's evolving Evolving state and federal guidance. I think so I think it is wise for us to wait and see how that all plays out first Yeah, and the state just recently updated its rules this summer. Um, and there's other things that we were catching to so Again, we just had to actually that conversation yesterday about that. We'll most likely pull it out Chair Howard, thank you Thank you. I'll give you a call back Thank you Permission to howerton I believe your mic is open, ma'am Okay. Thank you Uh, great questions. Thank you, brian. Uh, any other comments or questions from committee members? Um, well, I just wanted to follow up and say I appreciate removing the language about rooming houses and boarding houses Um, I think they have connotations that um, I'm glad we're removing those and focusing on I like the concept of co-housing co-living um, and uh group living um, and, um I'm glad to see dog parks. I'm thinking there about dog parks. Um I'm now a grandmother of my of a dog that I'm hearing all about Complaints about dog parks So I'm glad that that's getting some attention. Um, my question was about the, um The changes related to height allowances And moving those to um special use permits. Do you see any impact to? people not using the affordable housing density bonus by doing um by doing that Or just even in general the that we're using using special use permits for that um versus Using any impacts with our trying to incentivize people to use the affordable housing density bonus to get more height I haven't seen that and they and the affordable housing bonus program has built in additional height allowances by right so you can um, so I I don't see a conflict at this time Okay, thank you And I guess if you do you'll let us know As always as always we'll we'll we'll try to address it as best as we can if we do At what point do you do we get a report on whether that's being used or not or How how that's actually going? Um, I don't we um, I'm not aware of significant use of it yet. We've we've reported generally On an annual basis not officially, but the question has always been arisen based upon the topic How's that bonus program working and it's still very modestly used um, I believe there's still only one that's been used and the Farrington road development obviously went the development agreement route instead of the affordable housing bonus program route because of uh, certain special Considerations of the type of development that it was so we may see And crossing our fingers With develop with affordable housing development. Maybe we'll see it take the more development agreement route than the density bonus route or maybe it's a combination of that Based upon the uniqueness of each case that might come in Okay, well, thank you. I guess This might be something that this committee wants to at least track on an annual basis. I know we Councilmember Middleton and I were talking last night about, um You know, we we know we're getting our regular reports about expanding housing choice Um, we get those but you know, this might be something for us To really track how we're doing on Supporting more affordable housing development overall Um, as we know it's such a big issue A priority in the community. Um, sarah Yeah, I just want to add we can definitely do that. I think annual Is something that's very reasonable and achievable for us to track particularly because we're not getting much usage of this so anything um More frequent you probably wouldn't see see very much but I also want to use this opportunity just to mention that I think when we started tracking EHC We said we agreed on quarterly But since this body meets every other month quarterly doesn't quite work Because that would be every third month and so we'd like to See if you all are willing to let us do that every other one of your meetings every four months There's not really a whole lot of change every two months to document Um, which is why we did not come back this month with another EHC report But we're planning to do so next time. So I just since you mentioned that I wanted to throw that out there and see if You all would be amenable to doing it every four months Do we have a I see one thumbs up any other? Okay, sounds like everybody's okay with that. Thank you sarah. Thank you All right. Well, um Any other comments before we adjourn the meeting on this item? Well, thank you again To everybody great comments today from committee members Appreciate everybody's input Again outstanding work from our staff During coveted with all the extra work That people are doing Especially to support all of our our boards and commissions Um, and I just I know we have other Reports that we receive Are those coming at our next meeting sarah? Yeah, these were ready early. So we went ahead and moved these through since they're mostly kind of a number crunching exercise The other two advisory boards, uh appearance commission and Dost will be ready for the April meeting Okay, great All right, so uh seeing we have no other business before us that And i'm sure if I might just take a quick quick point of personal privilege I know we're at the end of the Agenda and I probably should have said this during announcements I just wanted to remind folks that at noon today the city county's joint recognition of martin lucid king The martin lucid king holiday will take place on youtube and just wanted to invite everybody if you're available to Look at that a wonderful wonderful speaker and member of our community karen haulderman Will be keynoting that event And I think we'll all be the better for it if we take a moment and just kind of tune in We're available. So just wanted to put that out there by way of announcement. Thank you madam chair Thank you so much for uh for mentioning that councilmember middleton. Thank you Yes, so we we will many of us will be together soon for that uh great event I'm sure yeah, I've always looked forward to that city county chorus. So um But anyway, so if we have no other business before us That I would move that we adjourn and hope everyone has a great rest of your day Thank you. Take care everybody. Bye. Thank you