 first. So good evening. Today is November 1st, first day of November. Happy November to everyone. Hopefully nobody ate way too much candy last night. Today is November 1st, 2022. Thank you for joining us in person. Not in conjoys but downstairs in the Bush or conference room and online for the special meeting of the Burlington City Council. The time is 5.35. We do have two Councillors that are joining us via Zoom. That is Councillor McGee and Councillor Hightower. We'll go to the first item on the agenda which is a motion to adopt the agenda and I'll go to Councillor Travers for a motion. Move to adopt the agenda. Thank you. Is there a second to that motion? Seconded by Councillor Shannon. Is there any discussion on that motion? Seeing none, all those in favour of motion please say aye. Aye. Any opposed please say no. That means we have an agenda. Thank you. So the next item on the agenda is the public forum and we don't have anyone signed up online for public forum. I would have to go because I'm not on Zoom to find out if there is anyone who has raised their hand. And I don't believe there's anyone here who has asked to speak during public forum except for one. Is that correct? Okay. So there's one person who would like to speak during public forum and that is Claire Will who is the chair of the Burlington School Board. Why don't you come up here so you can be near the microphones and it's a little bit informal. We get downstairs and we all of a sudden get a little informal but if you can keep your comments to two minutes it would be great. Great. Thank you so much. Thank you City Council for being here. Thank you Mary. I'm here tonight to share with you our home stretch via seven days to go excuse me before election day. I want to thank all City Councils for their support and I want to acknowledge the time that our school board and district and citizens have spent in getting out the vote since ballots were received in people's mailboxes on October 1st. I wanted to share with you again to reiterate to those public that are watching the vote yes for BHS and our campus at BTC is for a safe and toxic free school. It is to provide robust property values. It creates a family friendly city. It promotes student wellness at adolescence ages. It also stands for academic achievement as we've shared with you before over the last six years. The US presidential scholars to our chosen in the state of Vermont, Richardson High School, has had four presidential US presidential scholars in the last six years graduate. That's an incredible accomplishment for our student success and acknowledgement throughout the entire state of Vermont. A community that values children and an investment in the future. So voting yes means that you value community safety and education and so to our colleagues here tonight I want to thank you again for helping us with this campaign and supporting us. I want to acknowledge the no campaign that is there out there in the public and I understand the concern that taxpayers have and I acknowledge it as a school board but we as a community I'm sad that it has to divide our city but we as a community will work together with the governor with our state elected representative all who are voting yes for this bond to secure those funds that we know exist 32 million dollars exist at the state level for PCB cleanup. We are the only school in the state of Vermont that has been closed by the Vermont health department due to PCB contamination. We look to the state leadership for that those funds to take the burden of Burlington City taxpayers. So again we as a school board and as a school district are determined to seek the proper funds that are eligible for us at the state level or the PCB cleanup which is estimated at 22 million dollars on top of federal and other funds that we know exist and that we're eligible for given our dire situation. Thank you for your time tonight we'll end on a positive note we have had incredible support from all ages non-school family public school family members people understand the value people are proud of DHS it's our only high school we're a whole city to our state university on top of many other institutions of higher learning and this community values public education thank you for your time thanks Claire thanks for coming and I will be leaving only because we have a school board meeting tonight and we're presenting to the UDS Student Senate as well thank you thank you I'm seeing that there is no one else wanting to speak in the public forum we'll close that item and move on to item 3.3 or actually item 3 which is the Consent Agenda is there a motion to move the Consent Agenda and take the action by Councillor Shannon seconded by Councillor Travers is there any discussion on that seeing none all those in favor of approving the Consent Agenda and taking the action as indicated we say aye. Aye. Any opposed please say no we've approved our Consent Agenda which brings us to our deliberative agenda the first and only item on the agenda is 4.01 which is a resolution authorization to execute second amended and you stated development agreement also known as the ARDA 2.0 and other associated documents with city place partners LLC and before we get to the business of this item I will recognize Mayor Weinberger for some remarks and a presentation from some of the key players in the city the city place project as well as then going to a legal overview of the development agreement that will be voting on this evening. Mayor Weinberger. Great thank you President Paul I would like to ask Dave Farrington for CPP partners and so she has an interest to come up and join me here at the table. Well thank you council for convening part of this special meeting that we called on Friday so we could take action tonight at the earliest opportunity of action. We have all been waiting for this project for a long time. We have partners and city place partners that are ready to move forward and we have briefed you twice in executive session on the agreement that is before us and very hopeful that we're ready to act and move forward. You know we've had these two extended sessions together we have not really talked very much publicly up until now about about the changes in the agreement that we are proposing to make and so this before we go to deliberation hopefully a vote tonight that we want to take a few minutes to to do that to really lay out what what it is what is this action and so to start that my thoughts were to hear from Dave and Mike and then I will share some remarks on how well we're at and then we'll as President Paul said we'll have Jim Sampson our project attorney on this come up and walk you all through the memo that has been posted and we have David White here as well as for our development consultant on the process so that's that's the plan but that Dave just share where you guys are at and what you plan to do if we uh group this agreement tonight. Yeah so like like Marlowe and Tam will explain a lot of the changes in the development agreement we're just kind of clarifying stuff that in the previous one said you need to do this this and that we've done this this and that um recognizing some of those accomplishments recognizing the new schedule recognizing the opportunity that the state extended on doing an extension on the fifth um window of opportunity um we've got the new project schedule in there that's reflecting a start date um almost now as soon as uh we we find out the results tonight the foundation permit is in for review public works we've worked over the last six months with public works the CEDO office mayor's office everybody involved um David White the project manager for the city just spent a ton of energy and enthusiasm to getting this thing to this point tonight that reflects the revised project and revised partners and we're raring to go and and excited to get going on this project and so thanks for considering this uh revision well see you guys you've got the your hats ready to go on this as well I uh you know with you sitting here you just wanted to be very clear that uh I'm very grateful and excited that you Scott and now have uh stepped up in this way stepping forward when um you've had two different groups before you uh you have not been able to move this project forward between Dunn-Sinnex and then Brodefield uh Balmond the biggest developer in the world and they were learning about that to move it forward I appreciate that you guys are stepping up putting your own resources and and your your your names on I'm moving this forward and uh great respect for uh all you uh the three of you have accomplished in this community and I can't think of a better partner for the city in this moment to move forward this project so thank you I'm also excited that template housing trusts the preeminent affordable housing organization in Chinne County developer uh since uh you know for what pushing 40 years now since uh seeing since the Community Academic Development Office uh launched uh the processor to to we didn't call it CHT back then um but uh it's exciting um that uh CHT is going to be a part of this project as well maybe my client I know you did a couple weeks ago but maybe just share where you guys are how briefly repeat some of the things but just to say that you know our we're excited about the project we've been watching for a long time we wanted to be a part of the project uh for for the whole period that it was sort of being uh some undertaken and sort of going through various machinations in the went through we're excited about these three partners we've been in contact with you know contact with communication with them for a period of time now prior to even them settling their agreement we often with ever north it was our partner that was the best tax indication with us we often partnered with private developers it just sounded we actually have something going on with Scott right now our co-chester we've done a fair all within a number of that it's actually a good way for us to do things uh it works for us to our pricing to us that seems to be reasonable and affordable and also of land's value of things in private development in terms of the work of data we'll meet the inclusionary zoning ones and meeting the inclusionary zoning we're not just going to meet it but we'll get much deeper than it really provides any audience to sell we will become even more affordable in terms of grants provide a level of service and a level of sort of support to the tenants who are going to come into our 85 for mobile apartments in a way that is so unusual different than perhaps private technical help and like I could have some when you're ready I can certainly give you the schedule of branch let's just say that the ordinance is here we're here in terms of the rest of the rents they're going to be more affordable and meet a better standard the ordinance does so when we do this the value proposition is not only meeting the ordinance but going going stronger in terms of and more units right the 85 is at least right the ordinance almost certainly would are on the 15 percent as it is okay we may need you guys back a little bit but now David White and Tim Samson coming up we've been working towards this moment for a long time so yeah I would like to just take a moment to kind of share my reflections on it on this where we're at I what I think is important for the public to understand about the action we're going to take tonight surely I think three key points one this is clearly a major step towards a one of our long-standing goals for our downtown secondly this is a project that has based we're all painfully aware as face challenges in recent years and I want to be clear with the council the public we could face challenges still in the future this is not the end zone here this is a T milestone but it is not it is not it's not the fish line third critical point is the revised development agreement before you is designed it's written it's crafted in such a way that even if we do face future challenges the city taxpayers are well protected let me expand on each of those points a little bit when I say this is a major we're we're on the cusp of achieving a milestone a major milestone we've been working towards for a long time I don't just mean with respect to this project we said as a city through the biggest planning process that we have ever undertaken more than 10 years ago it started in the kiss administration I was there when it finished the plan BTB downtown a waterfront plan and I think it's a point in and important to note that the reason the city was in position to access hundreds of thousands of dollars of federal funds and do that planning process was because uh carol paul is a as a city counselor early in her time on the council had identified the reconnecting communities pilot program that the obama administration president obama had created inside its opportunity that helpful you know the city to rally the city team to work for that grant and that grant uh resulted in this document that was approved by the city council in 2013 called plan BTB downtown waterfront again um there that that is a document that covers many many areas as the name would suggest but one of the most significant one of the boldest uh recommendations goals set by that document was that we would we envision and we really transform the heart of our downtown that was labeled in that document the mall um there that document identified that it was a problem for the city that those streets st paul and pine street had been cut off by urban renewal that that had negatively impacted the whole northwest quadrant of the city the document identified that area as a place where you get a lot more houses and where uh that was perhaps uniquely situated within our city for larger buildings taller buildings um that um we were clear at the time that wanted that plan to be more than just uh just uh um uh lofty document as many planning documents are and wanted to be a working document a document that actually represented where we wanted the direction one ahead and then we would be working to achieve what was laid out in that plan and here we are less than a decade later on the cusp of an action that will get those streets reconnected and see that um that vision realized second point about there being future challenges i want to be really clear and explicit with everyone what the action what what we know flows from tonight tim will go through this and maybe more technical detail if that's desired but the um the the agreement uh the update to the agreement um will uh allow cplace partners to move forward and build what they are calling uh term that i think we're all going to get a little more familiar with in the over the year ahead is the podium of the project it is the concrete foundation to the three buildings in the parking garage um the cpp partners has committed to us that they with their approval tonight as you just heard will be in the you know days ahead moving forward with with that podium um they're and then and their agreement once started commits them to finishing that podium um the buildings the three separate buildings that get built upon uh on top of the podium um should be thought of in some sense as uh projects in on themselves that get built on top of the podium and they are still working with cht and with other entities to finalize all the details for the construction of those of those paid of podium of those buildings on top of the podium um clearly they are very confident that they are willing to be moving forward with those three buildings but i think it is important uh if i if i regret anything about the discussion that we had back in 27 and 2018 is we did not have enough discussion at the time about the uncertainties of development the risks of development um we plan for them the document that we have the council approved at that time that we brought forward has protected the city taxpayers very well through this period of delays on the private developer side so we plan for them but i think it was a bigger surprise to the community than maybe it should have been if we had had um you know maybe i had done a more proactive job about making sure um everyone fully understood how much uncertainty there was i think there's a lot less uncertainty now we this team has brought this project a long way but it's important to recognize that in the area of big complicated development projects um there uh there are there are uncertainties and we can't promise the people that were completely done with facing those what we can promise my third point is even if there are further further delays even if there are unexpected events that happen from now um city city city's taxpayers will be in a better position in the future that we are today as a result of the council approving this agreement tonight and the project report uh i i mean that from several respects first of all one of the only way in which the city has directly had any negative financial impacts as a result of the delays uh since 2018 is that we only anticipated a one-year period in which there would be lower property taxes paid by this project into the tiff district um we knew that there would be one period of year period of lower taxes is to have the project continued um on schedule by the spring of 2019 there would have been more value in the building in the ground and the assessment would have started going back up again instead the building came down and has not gone back up um uh because of the delays uh one of the elements of this uh the agreement we signed in 2021 but that is um confirmed and that will start actually being implemented uh following tonight is that a cpp is repaying the tiff district for the um the years of lower taxation that we're not anticipating um and uh so that is a benefit that flows from the pot on approval tonight um further the uh he um by going forward tonight by seeing the podium put into the ground the value of the property will uh will start rising as soon as they start putting uh bill structure into the ground and the taxpayers position will will improve you know literally every day as that work is is taking place um and uh further there are some changes uh the way that tiff district works um the city whenever the project moved forward we reimbursed ourselves for um the majority of design mostly design and project management expenses legal expenses that the city has incurred up until now we've been had several opportunities over the years to reimburse uh the city for those costs this agreement um has a change in it that uh further advances the city with respect to their reimbursement of um of past and anticipated expenses and so uh about a quarter of a million dollars moves up to the priority um it can be bring before you and there are other ways that the taxpayers are protected as well but I uh won't won't belabor it further um uh I hope those points are clear and happy to answer questions about them um before that though why don't I uh hand them the phone order okay Tim Sampson again he's been our project attorney on this to uh in some greater detail lay out the major changes of this document from the one that you approved that I'm going to 2021 sure thank you thank you mayor thank you folks it's a privilege to be here with you for the next round as um as the mayor said the uh you know think about the changes that that are happening and so why would you change an agreement that's very interesting there's four material things going on in the new documents I see them and they come in the context of kind of two broader changes that that you need to keep in mind as you consider this one I think material change is important to keep in mind is the change in ownership we talked about this several times along the way the past six months but it has been a dramatic advantage to the project or progress has been made of the project in the last six months been in prior two and a half years that I've been involved with you on um how has that been revealed that's only because you've only been here for two and a half years I'd say only by two and a half more progress than since 2018 for sure um how has that been revealed it's been the progress that they're making on the plans right there wasn't the plans weren't progressing as they have been out the progress that they're making on the partnerships you've heard from mr montague from cht and a substantial progress that did not exist before other conversations as well with other third parties that may join the progress that they have made eliminating litigation from the floor right now that it was a bar to the project proceeding previously it was not going to get financed in advance with those things hanging over the project these guys have managed to put that in in a rear view mirror those are major major steps directly related to in my view the new ownership secondly fortuitously as you for reference to the state legislature amended on a statewide basis not specific to the city but amended a piece of legislation that that had the effect of extending the time within which the city has the issue to tiff that from june of 22 which is already missed of course to june of 23 that happened after the art of 1.0 after the agreement that's in place now but in in a kind of serendipitous opportunity for the new partners to to come in and breathe new life into into the project so that's the context the opportunity that you have to address changes to the document what's happening in the document number one as you've heard several times is the ability for the project to start almost immediately and as the mayor referenced we've all wanted the project to start almost immediately for years but the framework had been in art of 1.0 that all of the project would be put together in its contracts and its financing packages and everything before it started again that was a relic in a sense of where we came from in part of 1.0 out of the darkness of litigation with the prior owner and and needing to be in a place to compel you know no more false starts so again i think there's a new day with the new ownership is a new day with a different momentum that they bring and the opportunity to start now is a substantial benefit to the city substantial benefit to the project for all kinds of reasons and i think the momentum that it will bring will build on itself and let those other phases fall in line with it another material change as i as we talk in the documents to reflect what i talked about in terms of the TIFF making adjustments so the milestones for the project meeting requirements for TIFF construction contracts and financing requirements and clearances through the state processes are all extended about a year in the new document to reflect that extended time frame again i think that's a a win-win for everyone it allows the project to proceed with the TIFF in place it really is the opportunity to keep the project going and i suspect it would be very difficult to make any progress material progress without that change a third thing in the new document is to reflect the relationship with cht that is developing um and we have talked about this in a high level and and as you heard mr. Monta explain cht has a has a program for inclusionary units in this project that would exceed the number of units that would be required under the city's ordinance uh and would reach to levels of subsidy well below what the ordinance would otherwise require of a for-profit developer in doing that it's not known yet how the program that cht will have meshes with the market rate program in terms of their relative balance of unit sizes in terms of bedrooms uh and unit sizes unit uh bedroom types and and the schedule for delivery of the units and without knowing those things exactly you can't gauge exactly whether uh the project is going to fit squarely within the existing confines of the ordinance and what the commitment the administration is making in the in the agreement is to work with the project work with cht so that if they are in a place delivering more units at deeper subsidy but are being constrained by the confines of the existing ordinance to look at a way um that you know in a in a way that is beneficial to the city as a whole um the ordinance could be adjusted to allow the project to proceed i say that with the gigantic caveat that there's nothing in this agreement that binds the city to adopt any ordinance change it is it is it is a commitment of the administration to work toward that if if if a change is required again we don't know whether it will be but in in the interest of full disclosure full visibility we want to bring that to everyone's attention to make sure it's it's clear part of uh which what's on the table and then the last material change i was going to reference is one actually that the city has has uh encouraged and and that the the city place partners have willingly accommodated and and and done so um not without any disruptions of their plans and it's kind of later in the day but the city has an opportunity to apply for several federal grants that have the opportunity to inject more uh resources from different places um into the project which would have to see put the city in a place of being able to deliver or in the way of uh public improvements in surrounding streets and sidewalks not right on the project but adjacent to the project in particular all along cherry street bank street um those opportunities will be further by the city and will be known in greater detail in the months ahead what the agreement structures is the opportunity for the city as necessary to take over portions of the public improvement work from the developers if that's required and can actually do the work under this under this claim so in in a nutshell those are the broad strokes the changes that are that are material uh to what's in front of you now um and if if i can indulge you for just a moment i would end on a bit of an editorial notice the mayor said these things are difficult these projects are complicated um hey there is um any development agreement can only reflect what we know now right and we set out a good faith on a path forward life gets in the way sometimes in that path forward and we we have to make adjustments in a project as complex as this it should be no surprise anyone that we're here talking about an amendment and i'll be candid we may be talking about an order 3.0 or at least amendments to this one before you know 2025 and the expected finish of this that's just the nature of these things they are that complicated i will say with for a note of confidence to to wrap up on it i have been around complicated development projects like this for over 25 years as a lawyer and i know enough to not to not promise you that i know what's going to come next because i don't but i have seen a lot and i will i can tell you that that that the commitment that these gentlemen are making to the city uh of their energy and their resources in very challenging economic times again a lot of ways for a project like this is truly extraordinary um from what i have seen and and i i mean that sincerely and i encourage the city to you know meet them in the in the partnership it's going to take to get this to get this done it is an extraordinary commitment they're making and uh it it it should be that should be understood and i think respond thanks i'll be glad to answer great thank you tim um about to turn it back over you david white again our developments along this project is is here to help answer questions brian pine uh is it's not uh it's about vacation this week like has said uh semen they're done assistant director for community works that represents you know here and then we also um have laura wheelock senior engineer with department public works who has played a key role in um the years of work now on the public improvements laura why you come up and sit with us here well i guess there are questions about about the public improvements since that is a big part of what this agreement is about which then there has been changes here i would let me last two points as laura is coming up here so i should have listed on on the ways in which this taxpayers the city's position is being improved with tonight's action and like that proving the fact that the podium moving forward uh importantly with respect to the new streets st paul street high street which are being reconnected fixing this my perspective mistake that the city has been living with going back to the 1960s during this period of urban renewal we are we are guaranteed to get those streets back today because of the current part of 1.0 and the guarantees in there that those streets will be reconnected the that guarantee is substantially strengthened by the approval of the agreement this this art at 2.0 because the uh podium is moving forward the work that will be done underground subsurface in the event uh that we do need exercise that those modified public improvement provisions of the contracts which we hope not to and we're pretty confident we won't have to but if in the bad case scenario that we have always been planning for if we have to we'll have much more work done much uh or stormwater improvement much more much just greater public infrastructure in the ground um for the podium being built uh the other important point that tim touched on but i want to expand on it here because i know it's it's an issue it's a it's a big part of the conversation we have with voters back in 2016 um at the time when we asked for the voters to approve the taxing from a financing investment uh in this project we said to voters we are going to have we're going to rebuild up to eight blocks of uh infrastructure in and around the project so the new streets and then six blocks jason to the project we were very clear uh in that public discussion that there was no guarantee we would get all eight blocks done and we even laid out what the priority would be first the new streets then the streets that then the sections of cherry street and bank street that front on the project and then the additional segments of bank street and cherry street because the project delays because the project now forward is a substantially smaller project than the the project that was contemplated in 2016 tiff district alone will clearly not pay for all eight blocks however because of the opportunities created by the federal infrastructure act because of the opportunities created um frankly by by senator lady and his his leadership we believe that we have a very good chance of securing additional federal dollars that will allow us to build not only perhaps even more than the eight blocks that was initially anticipated work buying the possibility of adding a ninth block block east of church street um on cherry street is at least in discussion and possibility right now so um that's an important part of what's before you and mora has been very committed to that work and getting that work right for for years now so with that thank you person for the chance for this extending uh opening and get it back to you but we played an alarm under this moment I think a few a few moments is uh is certainly in order so thanks for the remarks and the comments and all the insight uh into the into the vote before us um with that uh I'll look to councillor shannon for a motion on the resolution to move us forward thank you president all I move to adopt the resolution and ask for the floor back after a second so a motion made by councillor shannon thank you and seconded by councillor jane councillor shannon the floor is yours um thank you I just want to thank all of the partners who have stuck with this project and really stuck with the city of burlington for for all of this time I think that in what we're doing today we're actually moving forward with something I think our community is far more comfortable with than the original project plan I mean some of the things that that we heard we did create the vision as the mayor said in plan btb downtown and waterfront um mr cynix come came to us before we had an opportunity to actually take that vision and put it into a zoning ordinance and so we did that kind of simultaneously with the development of the vision but certainly a lot of people were not comfortable with the original height um of this proposed project a lot of people wanted more housing and more affordable housing and they also we heard quite a lot about wanting local developers involved in this project and having a greater trust in our local developers and low enough people local developers have have stepped forward to help our community out and to create the project that really represents our community vision um and I think as as the mayor noted one of the most important elements of that is uh is reconnecting our streets and making our grid downtown complete this nobody obviously whether people were for our zoning changes or against our zoning changes nobody is for the pit and this advances us from the pit we are filling the hole with a project that will provide housing in our community and um I wish that over the course of the last few years our pit had been a community pool if you all may have you know our desires I think it's important to remember this is actually private property that the city doesn't own this project we entered into this development agreement because we are in partnership with uh with the developers to create the public infrastructure uh that that is allowed here by taking advantage of uh tiff dollars so I really look forward to uh moving moving this forward and I will say what I believe I have said every single time that we have adopted some kind of amendment or change to this project this is not the last hurdle we can't expect that this is our last hurdle but I think we can take great comfort in the in the partners that we're now working with and um thank you to everybody who has gotten us to tonight thank you for providing those comments councillor shan and uh I think you and I have traveled the city place road since inception and uh today is a day that we long we long hope would come um are there other councillors who wish to offer comments or have a number of people here to answer questions my councillor bergman and then councillor jay um well thank you slaughter um you mentioned the possibility for the changes down the line and you're also mayor if you mentioned maybe that in hindsight more communication should have been done so that we can clear up this anxiety and so what I'm wondering is sort of what the plan is if you have one if not to just encourage a plan for communication so that we don't wait till the last minute to then be asked for a change of 3.0 there are there are timeframes in here that are relatively tight and we as a representative body and the people as the ultimate authority need to have that information given to us so that we can know what's going on as it's happening and can make those decisions so that is sort of the first thing I don't know that I have an ask accept or commitment that that is going to happen it's obviously very I can't anticipate but the future will hold except that is likely that change will come and so I need I need assurances that they'll be prompt um communications before we get uh lots of requests absolutely for my part there will absolutely be open and this will come in that's why we're raising it now right there's a lot of paper here and this will work this will get us to the end if if everything goes as we anticipated going today it's not that um I think that you know there's holes in this that need back filling later I've just I think we've all been you've all witnessed it as well right we've all been around us long enough life is going to present itself there will be changes that a curve will have to figure out does it fit within here or not and if it doesn't I know the matter will be right in front of it and and certainly I might commit the to be as forthcoming as I can about uh making sure everybody's got visibility on what's going on excellent um I want to thank councillor Paul Braston the developer to give a what I think it must be seen as a temporary as a tentative schedule of you know of dates of how construction is going to roll out because as we know construction is a tricky business I think it would be very helpful for the council and the public to have as much communication about the events that are going to be happening and not only when they start but when they're anticipated to be finished for example we're looking at doing things that will allow for construction you know the reconnection of the street to happen um over the next few years but being really clear about like the scheduling will be essential for everybody to know what's happening with this project the same is true in terms of the nature of the project I was pardoned by the by the developers local folks who said that they were not coming in with any changes that the project that was going to that was permitted is the one that we're going to do which is a lower prior lower in the original um and had other aspects which were positive I actually opposed the first and quite honestly voted against it right did not prevail um I'm very happy that this zoning that the project being built is under that 14 story so I really pleased with that but the I had a question today from somebody regarding retail and whether it's going to all be done there are there's communication in terms of the nature of this project knowing full well that things change but to be able to communicate what the intention is now what the what the permit is now will be really critical and let me um just end by saying there are things in this agreement which we haven't been talking talking about but which also need a fair amount of public communication and in regard to that there is the whole community benefits aspect of the labor piece the the the local procurement piece um that was a really positive thing in the original plans I was very happy to support that maybe it's only 10 stories the first way you would have gotten the yes book but um but those are really important for our community and for equity and I would hope that those and the transportation demand management pieces that are embedded in this contract are publicized they are actively pushed they're exceeded just like Michael was talking about exceeding the the the inclusionary zoning and that we can you know after many years use this project as an example of what really good things can happen you know for people at the values and then do the the project so I would just ask that that communication um be part of the ongoing work so that people know about it they understand it they can take advantage of it and uh and we can all benefit more and I'll be happy to support uh the motion and pass this yeah I can say this is the first step kind of a baby step bringing in the uh you know getting through this development agreement getting our foundation permit in for approval and it's like the mayor said there's kind of three buildings going on along with that full retail all the way around so again nothing's changed a whole activation of retail all the way around the worst streets of the the different blocks but we'll be coming back number of times when we get to the next level of the the south building permit build out and the the cht group when they come in with their vinyl plans and pricing and and get ready to go on that they'll be applying for their permit for that piece so there's going to be a lot of public interaction along the way and again the the last step is building the the rest of the north building the parking garage the streets there's going to be we're going to be out there not hiding behind the fence so I appreciate that your presentation at the FBA at 1, 2, 3 was really important you got some feedback regarding construction as it relates to bus terminal there and I thought it made a lot of sense so you know people will help with that engagement be able to avoid problems just because they're raising things that maybe other people haven't thought about so and as the project develops we'll be more information through David to the senior office who has a page on their website to update people and then so that'll probably be the repository for most of the public information things we have to look at plans look at the the traffic patterns as they change as we work our way around the blocks so thank you thank you councillor for and we'll go to councillor jane you fell by councillor carpenter um go ahead thank you president um I just wanted to say congratulations to each and every single one of you for the hard work over the past couple of years and it's particularly for being ch in for this I hope that's an element that many community others are appreciating right so you know progress definitely have been made which you come from the pit to the podium and I was just wondering if there is one question that the council should have asked that they haven't asked you yet it's not coming to my perspective and it's just that you know and respectfully starting to be like the politician this would work and and I'm fine by role I want us to use you know words that we can you know tomorrow anything goes south that we can you know stand up and accept to be held accountable for some reason um but I just wanted to say again um congratulations and my only year is we moving from the pit to the podium but I do not want us to go forward and then for this podium to become the big podium was going to be whatever it is that's my only but um I think you need to hire your own communication person about this project connect directly with the community I think you know you need to have your own twitter your own whatever it is and inform the people about what is happening that is for you I think it will be accountable um and again I want to congratulate Mr. Mayor Wilder and his administration for bringing this in this stage and we definitely hope that you know that it will go to this time thank you and I'm happy to support this and happy to see us also thank you thank you councillor jane we'll go to councillor carpenter thank you um this is really an exciting day and I'm so pleased with the progress you made particularly in the partnership with chd I was reminded of a meeting I had with gone cynics where I suggested years ago perhaps they want to partner with chd perhaps they would be interested in having tax credits perhaps they'd be interested in a few other things and did not seem to interest him so I can do it I can do it on my own so see for that way in in the vein of the conversation around um potential changes to illusionary zoning which I really like do believe I understand because of the workiness of the housing tax credits which are going to fund the important housing I'd like a little kind of affirmation that um in the big picture the expectation is that 15 to 20 percent of the building will be affordable because I think that's the spirit of zoning is dedicate a chunk of the building to affordable housing and that's the affirmation I think the details that will follow and so they just sort of affirm that yes okay okay absolutely because I think that's really important for people will get lost in the details and again I think the goal of inclusionary is the developers dedicate a minimum of 15 percent of the building to affordable housing we're a little over 21 percent right yeah it's okay that's I also just wanted to build a little bit on Councillor Bergman's point about the labor and use of labor and I get asked all the time oh are they going to bring in a lot of out-of-towners and I say first and foremost the three partners are all local and they will use probably every single work person you could get within a hundred miles that's sure maybe 200 miles but I'm just again looking for an affirmation that um your intent is to use subs and well to the degree you get them and I understand mason's and still workers don't pop out of the woodwork and really different environment you know well combined our three companies uh Ireland family it's Barrington and the E.S. Seneca's 150 years of relationships in this community working with subcontractors developing I think was their total headcounts over 600 employees between all the companies and he was every single one of them that we get here obviously there are some some larger trades that will need a specialty contractor who can't be found here but they will be encouraged to hire the local subcontractors to bolster their their troops and you know this is what we know we deal with all our suppliers in town for materials and flooring and painting and all that and we're going to continue to offer everything to to those people to uh to join us get this built that's my experience and I just wanted to say more publicly but I think that's a screen report for people to understand that this is a local company and they will use local workers because that's in your best interest and your only problem is going to be that you right now find enough of that it's going to be a struggle but our definite goal is to keep it keep the workforce ready for all the people can what they do some from state problems but our definite goal is that our work insurance is made our three companies we have the best work to go on so I agree with them we're going to build the project great thank you thanks councillor carpenter we'll go to councillor trappers thanks president paul I just want to briefly echo the congratulations to marijuana burger and your administration group multiple election cycles now the future of our downtown has been one of the top issues facing our community and for multiple election cycles our community has continued to place its faith in you to address this issue and although faced with every frustration and obstacle you really dedicated your commitment to seeing this through and I really wanted to go to congratulations that have been stated by others to you to represent this from dpw to represent this from uh cdo as well um I know it's taken a large part the commitment of the local partners as well so I also want to echo my thanks to you all I think when I was relatively new to the council when you came on board to this project I think in seeing local partners joining this there was a great deal of thought that well now we have some folks who really have some reputations on the line but more so than that we have some folks who have that are companies but more so companies full of people that have years and decades worth of demonstrated commitment to this community and I want to thank you as others have stated for your ongoing commitment to this community I think that you're bringing in handling housing trust is only further the trust from myself and other members of this council as well that you all are going to see this through and while I know that we still have a ways to go it appears to me that we're closer now to getting shovels in the ground than we ever have been in risk memory it's a good problem to have here in Burlington that we're a place that people want to be in but with that comes issues right we have a vacancy rate that's too low we have housing prices and rental prices that have gone up and created issues with respect to affordability we've had taxes that have gone up and we've certainly heard that from folks particularly in the context of the school bond vote that's coming up and while there's many ways that we can address here one of the primary ways we can address it is by welcoming a whole lot more housing especially affordable housing to this community so I'm grateful that we can go back to our communities to our constituents now and say that we are again closer now than at any point in recent memory when it shovels in the ground on nearly 500 additional housing units including 85 and four more housing units so thank you for that and then finally I suppose the last point I want to make is that since joining the council one of the primary concerns I've heard from constituents is regarding the current state of our downtown and over the last two and a half years because of the pandemic in large part but also because of you know activities in the downtown area where the mall formerly was we've seen a trans transformation to our downtown area that has a number of our constituents members concerned about its current state and its current future this city council in partnership with the marist administration over the last few months from my perspective has continued to take steps to address the future of our downtown through transforming our public safety system to making investments in addressing recruitment and retention challenges with our peace department to making additional investments in the church street marketplace to supporting a downtown tiff district that that's going to give us a great new main street to the opening of city hall park and now in our taking this step in supporting this new development agreement to get us that much closer to taking it from taking it from pit to podium this council changes like that and I really hope that other business leaders and neighbors in our community see the commitment that this administration is making see the commitment that this council is making sees the commitment that the local partners are making to our downtown now is the time to to stick with burlington to come to burlington to invest in our community and i'm excited that we continue to take steps to address our downtown and maintain it as a really vibrant thriving part of our community so thank you and congratulations to all of you and for council travers before we get to a vote I also wanted to acknowledge counselors and to thank councillor shannon carpenter barlow travers and jang for their cosponsorship of this resolution that we're going to be voting on speaking with me on seeing no other counselors in the queue we will go to a vote on the motion and the motion was to waive the reading and adopt the resolution uh we'll go to we have a couple of counselors on zoom and we will go to a roll call vote if the clerk can please call the roll councillor barlow yes councillor bergman yes councillor carpenter yes councillor jane yes councillor hightower yes councillor megey yes councillor shannon yes councillor travers yes councillor president paul yes nine eyes one accident so the motion passes unanimously indeed this is a historic and exciting moment for our city many thanks to the administration and the mayor to our legal team and consultants to the local uh i'd like saying that word local local city place partners to the local uh to template housing trust for their partnership and we look forward to many milestones to come that we know will be achieved with this project in the weeks and months ahead that brings us to the end of our agenda i would i would that just ask for a motion to return i'm not sure who said it but someone on uh and that would be second by seconded by uh someone else um all those in favor of the motion to adjourn please say aye let me oppose please say no we are adjourned at 6 36 our next meeting is next monday november 7th and hope you have a good week and a good evening