 No, they were, what they did last night, for the first time, I think it was about a week before they did. So obviously, you know, I think with any committee, I'm just not this far. Good evening. We'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order. Today being Monday, the 19th, and it's 7.02 p.m. so we want to welcome all of you there in the tennis with us this evening. We just take a moment for silent meditation, please. Thank you. Ask Councilman Brown if he would lead us in the pledge. All rise. Madam Clerk, will you call the roll please? Mayor Bell. Present. Mayor Pro Tem Cole McFadden. Council Member Brown. Council Member Katari. Council Member Davis. Council Member Moffitt. And Council Member Shul. Before I do the ceremony items, I'd like to recognize some guests we have here this evening. Mr. Mason E. Brooks retired cup master from Emeritus, really cup master Emeritus. With cup pack number 137 from St. Joseph's AME Church, passed by Reverend Dr. Owens. I'd like you to stand if you don't mind. Mr. Brooks has been working with Scouts for over 43 years. And we'd really be commended for that and takes it very seriously and does a great job. I see him when I have an opportunity to get to St. Joe's. He's always engaged and certainly welcome you for being out here this evening. And certainly all the young men that are here with you. Certainly welcome to stay throughout our meeting. We're getting ready to start the meeting in just a few seconds. We have one proclamation to present this evening. And we'd like to ask Margaret Williams, the Director of Public Works, if he would join me please. This has really been a week for him. He's a modern screw with people with storms and all the things that have happened. It speaks to the fact that where it's public works services provided in our community are an integral part of our citizens' everyday lives. Whereas the support of an understanding and informed citizenry is vital to the efficient operation of public works systems and programs such as water, sewers, streets and highways, public buildings and solid waste collection. Whereas the health, safety and comfort of this community greatly depends on these facilities and services. Whereas the quality and effectiveness of these facilities as well as their planning, design and construction is vital to dependent upon the efforts and skill of public work officials. Whereas the efficiency of the qualified and dedicated personnel who staff public works departments is materially influenced by the people's attitude and understanding of the importance of the work they perform. Now, therefore, I, William V. Bilbell, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim the week of May 18th through 24th, 2014 as National Public Works Week in Durham. And hereby I call upon all citizens and civic organizations to acquaint themselves with the issues involved in providing our public works and to recognize the contributions which public work officials make every day to our health, safety, comfort and quality of life. With my hand, Corporal Silver City of Durham, North Carolina, this is the 19th day of May, 2014, and I want to present this to Marvin for the comments that he may have. Really quick, thank you all for acknowledging National Public Works Week. There are several staff members in the audience tonight, I believe, if they wouldn't mind standing up, because these are really the people that do the work every day. That really goes unnoticed. So unfortunately this week we're not going to have a lot of community service projects just because it fell on the week of end of grade testing for most schools. So we're taking this opportunity to do a lot for ourselves as co-workers, service to co-workers. So we're going to do some beautification work around the Public Works Operations Center down on MLK. And we're also going to do a lot of job shadowing this week so that the people within the different divisions can actually get some insight into what each other does on a daily basis. So it will be very beneficial to us and all of our staff to understand what we do throughout the department since we're so spread out. And then we're just going to have a get-together on Friday afternoon. I'd like to invite all the council members down to the Operations Center around lunchtime, Southern Boundaries Park, where we're just going to get together as a department for a couple of hours and just enjoy each other's company. So you're more than welcome to join us. But thank you again for acknowledging the work that we do on a daily basis. It is appreciated. Let's find members of the council. Do you recognize Council Member Moffitt? Yes, that's a perfect lead in the question I have for the manager given the storms that we had over this past weekend. If you could just say a little bit about the staff's work, I understand it was exceptional. But if you could just brief us a little bit on that. Thank you, Council Member Moffitt. If I could, I'd ask Deputy Manager Bo Ferguson who oversaw both the emergency response as well as the recovery over the weekend to provide a few comments. But thank you for giving us that opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Manager, members of Council. Bo Ferguson, Deputy City Manager for Operations. Thank you for recognizing the work of staff. Obviously, they prefer not to have these opportunities, but when we have them, we're very proud for the service they provide. From the city's standpoint, you're obviously probably mostly aware of the work that the Police Department and Fire Department do in responding to something like this, but almost immediately after the event, we had staff from Public Works, General Services, and in the next day Solid Waste who all responded worked really well to get the streets reopened, to get debris cleared, both debris in the streets, but we also offered to help clear debris from private property. I also know that because General Services was working in the public rights of way, the Parks and Recreation Department took responsibility starting to get the trails cleared, because as you know, near the event on MLK, we've got Third Fort Creek Trail. It did get closed for a short period of time because of some downed trees. I would also be remiss not to mention some of the partners of the city. The Sheriff's Department were on scene. The county emergency management also played a pretty important role and they activated the EOC Thursday night. And then volunteer agencies, the Red Cross, did shelter two families on Thursday night. The Baptist Men's Association sent five chainsaw crews on Friday morning primarily to help private property owners. So really as a group effort, and obviously Duke Power played a major role throughout the night Thursday night and Friday. So unfortunately, as you will call right after the event, the torrential rain continued well through Thursday night, Friday morning. So all the people we just mentioned were not working in ideal conditions, but primarily all the streets reopened, still a lot of debris to clear up, been working on that today, and we'll continue a little bit through the week. Thank you. And it was a tornado, right? It was. It was an EF-1 tornado. The National Weather Service came out Friday afternoon and confirmed that. I know I speak for everybody on staff, everybody on council, in appreciating all the work that you and your various teams have done. Thank you. Well, I know several of the directors are here this evening. I'll ask them to share your appreciation with their staff who all did tremendous work for this event. Thank you. Recognize Councilman Davis. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd also like to thank the staff members, particularly ones in the Durham Parks and Recreation Department, as well as other departments and volunteers that helped to make last weekend's Bimbay Festival a wonderful event. Rock Quarry Park. It was a wonderful location made for good parking at the stadium and the music and the food and the cultural events were wonderful. I'd also like to thank the staff members for that. Also, I want to let all of us know about the wonderful midday program that was held at WNC radio. The State of Things, the Frank Statio program, today featured two of our firefighters and emergency response folks, along with others who talked about the whole idea of firefighting. And that, along with the front page article today about the fire truck that we are saving, made it, as people might call it, a red letter day for our fire department. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Comments? Recognize Councilman Monk. I'll just add on that. I went, I was at Bimbay. I assure your perception is that I saw Councilman Schulder as well. My family enjoyed it. It was a great location. Thanks. Thank you. We'll proceed with the agenda. The first item, the first priority items about the city manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, everyone. No priority items this evening. Likewise, Assistant City Attorney. Mr. Mayor, no priority items. And likewise, the City Clerk. No items, Mr. Mayor. Okay, we'll proceed with the agenda. The first item being the consent agenda. Consent agenda items may approve with a single vote. That's one item that's pulled by a Council member. I remember the audience and we'll discuss that later in the program. The first item is approval of item one is approval of City Council minutes. Item two is network hut license agreement between the City of Durham and Google. Item four is amendment to existing home investment partnership agreement with south side revitalization phase one LP and the amount of $500,000. You're sure that I apologize. The speed is an item two has been poor. Item five is renewal of urban search and rescue memorandum of agreement. Item six is compensation and classification plan recommendations. Item seven is adoption of proposed water and sewer rates for physical year 2014-2015. Item eight is proposed updates to fee schedule for water and sewer capital facility fees. Item nine is water reclamation facilities master plans engineering services contract amendment number two. Item 10 is turnage height lift station abandonment project. Item 11 can be found on the general business agenda. Item 12 through 15 items that can be found on the general business agenda as public hearings. Entertain emotional approval consent agenda with exception of item two. It's been properly moved in second. Madam clerk, will you open the vote? Close vote. It passes seven is zero. We move to the general business agenda item 11 which is proposed physical year 2014-2015 budget and physical year 2015-2020 capital improvement plan. And I'll turn it over to our city manager for the presentation. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening. Again, Mayor Bell, Mayor Pro Tem Korakol McFadden, members of the city council, city staff and residents of Durham, both present here tonight or viewing on a Durham television network. It continues to be my honor to be entrusted to lead this great organization and over 2,400 employees committed to service within the organization and throughout the community. I am pleased to be before you this evening to officially present the proposed budget for the city of Durham for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. Over the last few years, Durham residents told us we're a city moving in the right direction. And according to the latest resident satisfaction survey, we still are. In fact, some might say we're preparing to move at the speed of light. City council recently approved agreements for the city to work closely with two major fiber network providers to bring ultra-fast broadband to Durham. So what does ultra-fast broadband service mean? According to one of the providers, with an ultra-fast fiber-based network, information can be downloaded or shared 10 times faster than what is available to most residents in Durham now. Put another way, you can download 25 songs in one second, your favorite TV show in less than three seconds, and an online movie in 36 seconds. The impact of this latest technology is obvious for residents and businesses, and more so for the long-term economic development and investment in Durham. It quite simply lays the foundation for our community to keep moving forward with increased connectivity, cooperation, collaboration, innovation, and inclusion, all of which are valuable characteristics for developing a budget that meets Durham's residents' needs and continues to move our great city forward. No matter the provider, each has a strategic focus aimed at providing a superior product that leads to satisfied customers. Not much different from Durham's own strategic goals that support our effort of making a city that's a great place to live, work, and play. That's why Durham's strategic plan goals continue to play a major role in driving the budget process for the city. These goals are supported by programs and services measured to ensure that resources are used effectively with budget decisions based on reliable data that show whether programs are meeting the needs of our residents. The continued prioritization of programs aligned with strategic planning goals demanded that budget priorities and new programs clearly support improving the city's economy, community, neighborhoods, management, or its infrastructure. For the past few months the city has worked closely with the fiber providers, learning their needs and what is required from the city to move gigabit broadband service from an idea to reality. Installing thousands of miles of fiber throughout the city is a huge construction project and as you might imagine it's not a simple task that should be undertaken without a lot of advanced planning. Planning that included the city sharing volumes of information about existing infrastructure and processes all to get ready for construction when the hard work begins. And we know the work can be inconvenient but it is worth it in the end. We learned that preparing for ultra-high speed internet can be quite similar to the steps the city takes to prepare our annual budget. One provider called it their fiber-ready checklist which includes providing information about the city's existing infrastructure helping to ensure access to existing infrastructure and making the construction process speedy and predictable. We'll refer to our preparation as our budget-ready checklist which includes gathering information in other words what are our revenues and costs and how do they support residents' needs and desires. Creating and sustaining and facilitating partnerships and implementing high quality services and programs. In the past years we listened to elected officials and residents in many different ways as we prepared the budget as in the past years. I do would like to take this opportunity to thank the mayor and the city council for their guidance and participation from the very beginning of the budget process and the residents who made their voices heard as well. Each budget continues to be a collaborative process that cannot be done well without the input of the council and the public. With any major project you must know what your resources are and understand what factors influence them short and long term. And working with the fiber providers we provided them with information about our infrastructure and processes. So our budget checklist item number one gather information what are our revenues and costs and how do they support residents' needs and desires. As always in developing our budget we look at our overall resources financial and human to understand available resources needed to sustain a well managed city including the cost of services adequate resources to provide them including fair and reasonable tax rates along with responsible debt ratios bond ratings and reserves. We also look at the potential impact of the state legislative decisions on our budget. The proposed total budget for fiscal year 2014-15 is $386.7 million an increase of $10.2 million or 2.7% from last year. The proposed general fund budget which covers most of the city's core services is $173.6 million a 2.3% increase from last year. This budget represents slight increases in property and sales tax revenues and decreases in business license revenues inspection and planning fees due to the completion of several large commercial projects. This year I am recommending an increase of 1.29 cents in the tax rate to $58.04 per $100 of assessed value. The owner of a $150,000 home would pay a total of $870.60 an increase of $19.35 per year. This includes a .73 cent increase per $100 of assessed value for voter approved debt service costs and a .56 cent in the general fund to pay for pay and benefits for 16 police officers and 15 firefighters whose salaries had been covered by grants that recently expired. The table shows how the property tax will be allocated to cover property tax supported city expenses. Overall sales tax and state collected revenues are expected to increase by almost $1.8 million or a little over 3%. It will be important to closely monitor these revenue sources throughout the year as a result of the changes brought about by the tax reform legislation approved by the General Assembly last year. Proposed general fund expenditures include increases in personnel and transfers and a decrease in operating expenditures. The economy continues to rebound but slowly. As a result we continue to scrutinize programs and services and limit any increases to what is needed to accommodate population growth and other cost factors and also to support our strategic plan. This year departments also eliminated about $1.6 million from their budgets to help close the gap between projected revenues and expenditures. The proposed budget continues to meet our general fund balance reserve policies and that is projected to be at 13.5%. The proposed budget also uses $440,000 of fund balance for one-time expenditures. The city continues to enjoy an outstanding credit rating by all rating agencies. The debt ratio in the budget this year is projected to be 14.66% which is below the budget guideline of 15%. Our commitment to being a well managed city includes rewarding employees who are committed to excellence, creativity, and service. According to the most recent resident satisfaction survey, 8 in 10 residents say our employees are courteous and easy to contact. I am pleased to announce that after several years we are recommending the city to return to a differentiated pay for performance system. Rewarding employees who perform at a high level is a top priority. Employees will receive an average 3% pay increase while police and fire pay plans will continue at an average of 3.5% pay increase. We are also happy to say that we don't project a change in health insurance due to great performance by the city's self-insured health plan including employee wellness initiatives. A moderate 5% increase is projected in our self-insured dental insurance program in the proposed budget. Budget checklist item number two, create, sustain, and facilitate partnerships that benefit Durham residents. Over the past few months we've learned a lot of new terms as we've prepared for the possibility of entering the gigabit world. Terms like fiber hut, quite literally little huts that house the fiber connections that can reach out to as many as 20,000 homes. When I think of the role of government this checklist item reminds me of our charge to initiate and facilitate partnerships that help us achieve many of our strategic goals. At the same time we strive to reach out to distressed communities and areas to ensure that everyone, no matter where they live, work or play can be a part of our community's success. We continue our strong collaborations throughout the community to continue to stabilize and grow the economy, partnering with the Durham Chamber, our great universities, Durham County, Durham Public Schools, and downtown Durham Incorporated. The city will continue to provide resources that help businesses create jobs, recruit and retain employees, and even help businesses get their footing. Earlier this year city and county managers embarked on an initiative to develop a joint strategic economic development plan. While the level of community interest in this joint strategic plan has been high, only some progress has been made to date. While there is no immediate budgetary impact to propel the Durham economy forward, it is essential that the elected leadership of the city and the county and city and county management make completing and approving a joint economic strategic plan by the end of the calendar year a high priority. The city will also continue its partnership with Durham County to fund programs that benefit both county and city residents. Here's a list of the many joint initiatives that serve our community. At this time I'd like to extend a special welcome to new county manager Wendell Davis. I along with city staff look forward to working with him into continuing our strong partnership with Durham County. You need only drive downtown to see evidence of growth and revitalization in the community. Business improvement grants are proposed to continue for the Paris Street and Ninth Street areas to support this revitalization. And last year Durham stepped up its already cool art scene. After a year of planning, the Art of Cool Jazz Festival burst onto the scene attracting thousands and injecting nearly a half a million dollars into our economy over one weekend. The first annual Bull City Sculpture Show began earlier this month and will bring thousands to Durham over the next six months. Installed throughout downtown, it includes 12 new works by artists from all over the country, six of them from North Carolina. It's possible in part through a $10,000 grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and a contribution from the Durham Cultural Advisory Board. Supporting the arts is essential to Durham's economy and I recommend that we continue our funding of the arts as shown. Now turning to neighborhoods, which in a way serve to connect us all to our community and to our city. Neighborhoods are our home base and our goal is to make each one thriving and livable. The city is working to support and achieve Mayor Bell's challenge of reducing poverty one neighborhood at a time. During next week's budget presentations, department directors will highlight programs that support reducing poverty in Durham's neighborhoods, in particular census tract 10.01. To that end, the city continues to take a holistic approach to helping Durham's most distressed neighborhoods. The penny for housing will continue to address many affordable housing needs. If you've driven by Southside lately, you know how much a difference a year makes. 132 rental units are nearing completion and 19 of the 48 available lots for single family homes have already been reserved. Planning for Phase 2 rental and home ownership is also underway. While other efforts also ramp up this year that sharpen our focus on creating thriving neighborhoods, I'm excited that the city with the support from a $96,000 grant from HUD will conduct an extensive fair housing training and outreach this year to the Latino community. We've talked about vacant and boarded houses for many years now, and we've made progress toward bringing many of those unsafe and deteriorating properties up to code. We found 502 of those properties in 2011, and we're projecting that number, which is now at 150, to be only about 75 by the end of next fiscal year. Code enforcement will continue through the proactive rental inspection program and we lot cleanup efforts. Many residents attended events aimed at encouraging healthy living and guests getting to know your neighbor, including Thanksgiving and Spring and both cities play streets. We'll continue to support efforts like these. Working with our partner Triangle Transit Authority to improve our transit system to meet resident expectation continues to be a priority. Funding from the new half-cent sales tax increase and a $7 motor vehicle registration fee began in 2013 and has helped increase frequency as well as alleviate overcrowded routes. Improvements to bus stops, facilities, and security are planned for the coming year. Soloway's collection is a service that consistently maintains high rankings in resident satisfaction. Despite that, it's an area in which revenues don't support the service of more than 80,000 households. Last year in a move to more clearly define solid waste costs and adequately fund capital needs, such as heavy equipment and collection trucks, the solid waste fund was created in a capital recovery fee of $1.80 per month began. Despite these changes, the solid waste fund this year will require a general fund subsidy of more than $9.6 million. Although additional fee increases to shore up some of the operating costs were necessary, as shown on the slide, other operational efficiencies were also needed. I'm proposing a reduction in code enforcement and that it be done on a reactive basis when residents inform us of a need, enabling the department to eliminate two positions. Also, while waste reduction continues to be an important effort to encourage recycling and waste diversion, this activity will be absorbed by other positions within the department. Rest assured, we remain committed to providing a high quality solid waste services to our residents despite these necessary reductions. Nowhere in the city are partnerships more vital than our work to keep our community safe and secure. As warranted, this area uses the greatest share of city resources and personnel as well as facilities and equipment. Reducing crime remains a high priority for our city, and while we recognize that crime rates do fluctuate from quarter to quarter in year to year, no number of homicides, assaults, and other violent crimes is acceptable. All sworn positions are fully funded in the police and fire departments, including previously grant-funded positions as shown on the slide, and vital life-saving equipment is also funded for both departments. As pointed out last year, Durham's underfunded criminal justice system continues to burden city resources next year by over $250,000. And while supporting these efforts is crucial for our community at this time, it forces the city to reprioritize resources to subsidize the state criminal justice system in Durham with funds that could be used for other local crime-fighting needs. This budget provides funding to support a domestic violence judge, witness victim legal assistance, and a gang assistant district attorney. We also will continue our partnership with Durham County to help redirect youth from gangs. Budget checklist item number three. Implement programs and services that are efficient, effective, and high quality. This checklist item is where reality sets in, where putting our programs and services into action to make a difference in the lives of Durham's residents. In addition to programs taking care of the infrastructure of the city is crucial for our future. For that reason, we continue to keep maintenance at the top of our priority list. The city has made significant strides to commit funding over the past few years to address long-standing infrastructure maintenance deficiencies. The proposed budget does not include any additional funds for parks and recreation facilities maintenance. However, during the budget workshops next week, staff will present a plan to enhance maintenance quality, which if approved would require an additional half-cent tax increase above what is recommended in the proposed budget. City Council has already considered the rate increases for water and sewer fund with an average of 3% rate increase that will generate about $1.4 million for ongoing maintenance of water lines and other infrastructure. Also, to continue meeting stringent environmental challenges for Jordan and Falls Lakes, stormwater rates will need to increase about 7.5% for customers. While we've come a long way over the past few years, the conditions of our streets continues to be a concern for our residents. According to our most recent resident satisfaction survey, I'm proposing that in addition to $400,000 for sidewalks, the street repaving funding be increased this year to $1 million in the proposed budget. A new position is also proposed to be funded in the Public Works Department to support street sidewalk and bike lane project delivery. Capital improvement project funds are also budgeted for much-needed parks improvements including ADA upgrades, field and court repairs. You'll see some of the other major capital improvement projects listed here totaling more than $93 million for current and new projects. These projects are funded through fees, water and sewer revenues, revenue bonds and other financing. In our effort to improve transparency, funds are proposed budgeted for an upgraded Web 2.0 that improves two-way communications with residents including mobile apps and social networking. We're also excited about a joint city-county open data project to foster open, transparent and accessible government by sharing data freely. At this point, we've done our best thinking to deliver a budget that propels the city forward. It has been a collaborative process assessing resources, trying to predict relying on data in past experiences, what the immediate future holds, relying at all times during the long-range implications of budget decisions. I'm confident that this budget has all the benefits that being a gigabit fiber community offers. It's collaborative, it's forward thinking, it's inclusive, it's strategic, it's innovative, affordable and most importantly meets the needs of a city that is headed in the right direction. And now, some might say even at the speed of light. It's a little wonder there's great excitement and anticipation about fiber coming to Durham. Just as with fiber possibilities, your thoughts about the 2015 budget are important. And while you might not be able to send your suggestions and comments at the speed of light, you can get them to City Hall by email on the city's Facebook page or Twitter feed and even by video submission on the city's YouTube channel. So here's your chance to tell us what you think. Then we'll respond to your comments and answer any questions as we can during our second annual E-Town Hall event on Monday, June 2nd, which will be aired live on Durham Television Network and live streamed on the city's website. In addition to our E-Town Hall event, there are other ways that you can let us know your thoughts about the budget. Copies of the preliminary budget are available on the city's website and the city clerk's office and in the management budget and management services department. As always, special recognition and thanks go out to the budget and management services director Bertha Johnson and her entire budget staff as they provide superior leadership to ensure that our strategic plan guides as well as aligns with the city's budget priorities. Thank you Bertha. I continue to appreciate and value the close working relationship between the mayor, city council and city administration and say that now that our preliminary checklist is done, let's work together on the proposed budget to get up to speed. Thank you. Thank you Tom. As usual, you've done a great job of sitting us on the path as you've indicated. We really start to work on Wednesday, May 28th when we begin to sit down and go through the proposed budget and try to shape a budget that hopefully we can all be comfortable with. This is not a public hearing, but it is an opportunity for persons who may want to speak on what's been presented to do so and I'm going to recognize Victoria Peterson who is signed up. I don't know if it's anyone else that is signed up. They wanted to speak on this item. If not, Miss Peterson you have three minutes. If you come to the podium to the right. Can I, I like to talk to the city council member. Let me see if I can use my muscles. I used to lift weights and run track years ago, so I must still have it. Mr. Mayor and city council members, thank you very much for allowing me to have a few minutes here. I wanted to talk a little bit about one issue but I decided I want to talk about something else and thank you Mr. Bonfield for your report. I'm really glad that the city is trying to bring fiber to this community. I have spoken about fiber optic for quite a few years. But one of the problems that the city still has is our crime problem. We've got to address the crime problem in this community. And lately over the last several months council members I have gotten numerous phone calls numerous phone calls on citizens here in Durham who family members are lingering in the Durham County jail. And they are there because our police force has gone around in this community arresting persons who are innocent throwing them into Durham County jail and they are basically have been left there. We have persons from this city that our tax dollars are paying for the police force thousands and thousands of dollars of individuals who are lingering in our county jail. And there's a serious problem in this community and I know I'm going to get in trouble for what I'm going to say now with some of our attorneys our attorneys who are supposed to be working working with the indigent they are not doing their job there should be no reason in this community that a citizen in Durham city goes to jail close to a year and they have only had one court date. Now I know the city may say well Mrs. Peterson that's not our issue that's the Durham County the jail is run by the county the court system is run by the county but it starts with the city it starts with our police force I want us to have a good police force. I have a criminal justice background we have to make sure that our police force is not going into the poor communities just arresting any old body so the numbers will look good so when people come here and give their report they give you the impression that crime is going down in Durham I've said it numerous times over the years crime is not going down in Durham we have a serious crime problem in this community and now on top of that we're going out we are arresting folks keeping them in jail some of them are losing their jobs they have lost their apartments and some of them even dealing with childcare so Mr. Mayor I'm asking that some of the dollars can I at least finish my statement you're allowed three minutes I thought you were going to speak on the budget but you swayed away from that so I'm going to ask you we heard you thank you let's move to the next item we'll move into a public hearing and the first items item 12 unified development ordinance text amendment tree coverage calculations good evening Mr. Mayor members of council Pat Young with the planning department I'd first like to certify for the record that all public hearing items before you tonight have been advertised in accordance with the requirements of law and their affidavits in the planning department the item before UTC 13 00002 is a proposed text amendment regarding tree coverage calculations council first heard this request at the February 3rd meeting and it was continued until tonight's meeting May 19th the applicant has recently requested that this item be referred back to the administration for additional modifications so we would request that the public hearing be closed that it be referred back to the administration the applicant has expressed his intent to make modifications coordinate with staff and it will be reprogrammed for a future meeting with new notifications the cost of which will be borne by the applicant I'll be happy to take any questions alright this is a public hearing matter the public hearing is open we've heard the staff recommendation but before we move further I would ask are there any comments by members of the council on this item is there anyone in the public who wants to speak on this item let the record reflect that no one in the public asked to speak on this item I would encourage the public hearing to be closed as a matter of fact with the council if you've heard the staff recommendation I would entertain a motion to accept the staff recommendation it's been properly moved to the second Madam Clerk we open the vote close the vote it passes 7-0 next item is item 13 consolidated annexation item corners at Briar Creek good evening again Mr. Mayor members of council I'm with the planning department before you is the requested consolidated utility extension agreement annexation and initial zoning item for the corners at Briar Creek which is a proposed annexation of approximately 123.5 acres at the northern corner of T.W. Alexander and U.S. Highway 70 and the recommendation the request is to the extension agreement which has been reviewed by the public works and water management department which found that at the proposed density associated with this action which would allow to 141 single family homes or a place of worship there would be no negative utility impacts and that there are adequate water and sewer capacity in the area to serve the proposed project a voluntary petition for annexation has been submitted and the budget management services department has reviewed that and determined that for a fiscal impact analysis and determined that at the proposed density the project would be revenue positive following annexation and finally if the annexation is approved initial zoning would have to be applied by the city staff is recommending that initial zoning of rural residential or RR be applied to the property the applicant in this case expressed interest in a subsequent zoning to a higher density at a later date and that would appear before you later this item would allow the RR density to be applied and a maximum of 141 single family units to be developed staff recommends council approve the extension agreement voluntary annexation and initial zoning for this project I'll be happy to take any questions you referred the staff report this is a public hearing I would ask other questions but I remember the council if not we have one person that has signed up to speak Patrick biker why Patrick has come is anyone else who wants to speak on this item all right Patrick good evening Mayor I don't even need that sir good evening Mayor Bell members of the city council my name is Patrick biker I live at 2614 Stuart Drive I'm here tonight with Tommy Craven who's our project engineer and we represent any questions that you may have about this project that's primarily in Wake County thank you any questions of the developer recognize councilman Moffitt close the public hearing first is it anyone else who wants to speak on this item if not let the record reflect no one has to speak close the public hearing Matt is back before the council if I might I'm sorry to interrupt very quickly there was a Scrivener's air and attachment 11 which is the proposed order for the annexation identifying the date of tonight's hearing as the 18th so that's been corrected in on base to the 19th that's wanted to make that for the record thank you recognize councilman Moffitt I'll move the item it's been proper to move the second any further questions if not Madam Clerk will you open the vote close the vote passes 7-0 let me make a comment on this item and Patrick you may want to speak to that I had some discussions with Patrick earlier about this particular item and there's an item that may require further action either open Raleigh City Council or it may require action over in the General Assembly and what I said to Patrick if it's something you decide needs to go to the General Assembly I told him we have meeting with our local delegation when is it Friday and he will be welcome to come and explain to them if you don't mind thank you Mayor Bell our team has put together our client has put together this property about 120 some acres as Mr. Young stated over 10-15 years or more unfortunately the annexation agreement that Durham and Raleigh entered into I shouldn't say unfortunately the fact is it was entered into before T.W. Alexander went across U.S. 70 Glenwood Avenue and when that happened that road was extended it created three very small parcels that total 1.07 acres which are in the city of Raleigh's jurisdiction so out of the 123 acres in the project we have a very small percentage of it in Raleigh and we're trying to work through that to make sure that we're able to get that done but if there's a conflict between the two ordinances then I met with Senator Mike Woodard and it may be something that the General Assembly takes a look at during this short session so that's where it stands right now and again be happy to answer any questions Do you think it will be necessary for you to attend our meeting and what you haven't worked up before then because if it's something that's going to require action we've got our local delegation there all the delegation is in agreement at least on the outside if it works It won't be worked out by the 23rd so we'll attend the meeting but we'll just have to keep pushing ahead and hopefully get it all worked out in the next few weeks Thank you Mayor The next item is Item 14 Unified Development Ordnance Texas Amendment Watershed Protection Overlay Rural Village TC Item 13-0-0-0-0-0-3 Thank you again Mr. Mayor Members of Council, Pat, and with the Planning Department This text amendment is a proposed text amendment to Article 8 of the Unified Development Ordnance which would affect regulations that pertain to lot size and impervious surface limits within the rural village of Rougemont which is located, as I think you all are well aware entirely within the county's jurisdiction so there'd be no direct impact within city limits or consistency between the county adopted version and the city adopted version of the UDO the county recently adopted this item on a unanimous vote and the Planning Commission recommended approval by a vote of 12-0 at its February 11, 2014 meeting so again this pertains only to lot size and impervious surface limitations within the Rougemont Rural Village and I'll be happy to take any questions Thank you This is a public hearing item by members of the council and staff Is anyone in the audience that wants to speak on this item? It's being a public hearing Let the record reflect that no one in the audience has to speak I'll declare the public hearing to be closed as a matter of fact before the council It's been a property movement Second Madam Clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote It passes 7-0 The final public hearing item is item 15 adoption of proposed stormwater rates Being Mayor Bell and Council the City of Durham stormwater funds supports repair, operation and maintenance of publicly owned stormwater systems within the city and funds programs that protect water quality as required by the city's NPDS National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit and various state regulations including nutrient management strategies Current rates for all residential tiers and non-residential use are middle of the pack when compared with benchmark cities that have stormwater fees Proposed increase of 7.5% supports increased capital funding for stormwater retrofits to comply with the Falls Lake Stage 1 existing development requirements. This increase is 1% lower than was anticipated this time last year Customer bill impacts will average annually for Tier 1 residential less than 2000 square feet of impervious and annual increase of $2.76 for Tier 2 residential from 2000 to 4000 square feet of impervious surface and annual increase of $5.64 and for those residents with impervious surfaces of greater than 4000 square feet their annual increase will be $11 and 28 cents All non-residential customers will have an annual increase of approximately $110 per year In order to continue retrofit program development in the Falls Lake Watershed while maintaining required activities associated with our national pollution discharge elimination system permit the staff recommends adoption of a stormwater rate increase of 7.5% effective July 1 Again, this is a public hearing You've heard the staff report on this item I would again ask that our questions by members of the council If not, is there anyone in the public who would like to speak on this item? I'd like to reflect on the one else in the public who wants to speak on this item We're about to move to the second Madam clerk, will you open the vote? Close the vote It passes 7 to 0 We'll move back to Consent Agenda item number 2 which is pulled by Ms. Peterson Ms. Peterson, you have 3 minutes on this item If you go through the podium to the right Item 2 is network hut license agreement between the city of Durham and Google Yes, if this project really goes all well here in the city to bring fiber to the homes I really would like to know about how many homes that they are speaking about bringing the fiber to Also, they are also looking at using some of the city property when you read the report or their proposal It does not mention what city property that they are planning to use Fiber is an awesome industry bringing fiber optic to the commercial buildings as well as the residential homes It's a booming business around the country, but if it's not done right it's going to really pass Durham residents and Durham citizens They will be able to get the service but they will not really be able to generate the income from to help build it to bring the economic development dollars to our community and what I would like to see the city to really share a little bit more information to the public tonight on how many of our young men in this community who linger in poverty in the mayors on a project trying to with the city manager trying to uplift our people who live in poverty in this community trying to get them out of training and skills I would really like to know how this project is really going to help our citizens get employment I do know that Durham trained over 200 and some young men in this community and women a few years ago in the areas of copper cable and fiber optic but after a lot of them were trained a lot of the companies would not hire them because but if they actually lay the fiber outside of the buildings they can get employment because some companies will hire them for that but when it comes for them to actually bring the fiber not just to the wall of the building but bring the fiber inside of the building or bring the fiber inside of the home a lot of companies will not hire persons who have criminal records I've been in this industry for a long time I know this industry a little bit and so I'm glad I'm happy that we're going to bring fiber to this community hoping that this project will go off but I do have some concerns unless the city really put something in place to encourage these companies to hire our local folks again a project a lot of our local people will be able to benefit from this project the homes and the residents will but when it comes to the jobs to employment Mr. Mayor and the city manager and city council I'm very concerned about that thank you I'm not so sure we're at the point where we can answer those questions that you've answered but you can be assured that if in fact we're fortunate enough and it requires city support there'll be strong emphasis to try to make sure that local persons are employed and hopefully some of the people that you've identified will also be a part of that so just stay tuned we can't give you any more than that but thanks for your comments it's been property moving second Madam Clerk we open the vote we close the vote it passed the 7-0 thank you any other items to come before the council tonight if not adjourn at 7-56 p.m. thank you