 seconds of the Durham City Council to order now a good afternoon I want to call this special meeting of the Durham City Council to order at three o'clock on Wednesday June the 24th and want to welcome everyone who is viewing this meeting through any digital means and we're glad to have you with us Madam Clerk will you please call the roll your shul here Mayor Pro Tem Johnson here councilmember Caballero here councilmember Freeman present member Middleton here councilmember Reese here thank you thank you very much Madam Clerk colleagues we have one ceremonial item and we also have at the end of our meeting a schedule a supplemental item a resolution on racism a public health crisis I'm going to move the supplemental item up to follow the ceremonial item because Ms. Wanda Boone is here who's going to be making brief comments about the supplemental item and I don't want to hurt her to have to wait through our entire meeting to do so but first we're going to start with the ceremonial items and I'm going to I'm going to turn the microphone over to Mayor Pro Tem Johnson thank you Mr. Mayor so I'm going to be reading a proclamation in celebration of LGBTQ pride month here in Durham and then the director of our local LGBTQ Center Jay Clap is going to accept the proclamation and make a few comments whereas the lesbian gay bisexual transgender clear communities of Durham are an integral part of the vibrant culture and fabric of our city and whereas lesbian gay bisexual transgender clear LGBTQ pride month is celebrated nationally each year in the month of June and commemorates the riots that took place at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan the morning of June 28th 1969 often viewed as the birth of the modern LGBTQ rights movement and whereas several major United States Supreme Court decisions impacting LGBTQ rights in a positive way have been announced in June including war to be Texas USB Windsor Oberfell be Hodges and Pavin be the Smith and of course a recent case that we published this too early to include but the case including that discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment is a violation of the Civil Rights Act was passed this year this June whereas the city of Durham has a proud history of advancing the rights of LGBTQ North Carolinians including being the location of North Carolina's first Pride March in June of 1981 passing a resolution supporting LGBTQ equality in June of 1986 hosting an annual pride parade and celebration in September each year since 1986 and vehemently opposing amendment 1 in 2012 and the passage of HP 2 in 2016 and whereas while we celebrate progress made for LGBTQ rights we also reflect on challenges that remain including pending US Supreme Court decisions that will address whether LGBTQ employees are protected under the Civil Rights Act we are and whether face-based child welfare organizations can reject LGBTQ foster parents and whereas unfortunately there is still much physical and psychological violence inflicted on LGBTQ people both at home and abroad there is increasing violence towards transgender women of color LGBTQ people continue to face discrimination and employment in public accommodations and there continues to be bullying and harassment of LGBTQ youth who make up a disproportionate number of homeless youth in the United States and whereas Durham is committed to standing with and supporting the LGBTQ community and to working to ensure that all of its residents regardless of their sexual orientation gender identity or gender expression are treated with respect and dignity now therefore be it resolved that I Stephen M. Scholl mayor of the city of Durham do hereby proclaim June 2020 as LGBTQ Pride Month in the city of Durham and urge all residents to take note of this observance this is the 24th day of June 2020 and I will pass the mic over to Jay Klatt from our LGBTQ Center if they're on the line I'm here thank you so much Mayor Pro Tem I am so happy to accept this on behalf of the LGBTQ community here in Durham we are very excited to be able to still be together in the digital ways that we can to celebrate the pride that we have but also to remember that there's still so much work to be done and we're so thankful for this proclamation thank you so much thank you thank you very much Jay Klatt for being here to accept the proclamation and thank you for all the work that you all do at the LGBTQ Center we appreciate you very very much thank you so much all right that was a great it's a shame that we can't be together and the usual ways for pride it's always such a fantastic celebration in Durham but I'm really glad that we had the I'm really glad that we had the the proclamation today all right we're gonna now go to the last item on our agenda which is the resolution and I'm gonna ask our clerk if she could unmute Ms. Wanda Boone who I see as one of the attendees today I'm gonna read the resolution and then I'm gonna ask Ms. Boone if she would like to make some comments racism of public health crisis whereas the American Association of Pediatrics calls racism a socially transmitted disease passed down through generations leading to inequities observed in our population today and whereas racism fairly disadvantages specific individuals and communities of color while unfairly giving advantages to other individuals and white communities and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources in Durham's collective prosperity depends upon the equitable access to opportunity for every resident regardless of the color of their skin and whereas historically white supremacy in the socioeconomic context refers to a system in which white people enjoy structural advantage privilege over other ethnic groups or both a collective and individual level and whereas racism is a social system with multiple dimensions individual racism that is internalized or interpersonal systemic racism that is institutional or structural and a system of structural of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one loves and whereas racism causes persistent discrimination and disparate outcomes in many areas of life including housing education employment criminal justice and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism itself is a social determinant of health and whereas overt racism discrimination lead to worst health outcomes for people of color that can result in traumatic stress and link to negative mental health outcomes such as depression anger physical reactions avoidance intrusion hyper vigilance and low self-esteem and whereas microaggressions to find as brief and commonplace daily verbal behavioral environmental indignities whether intentional or unintentional to communicate hostile derogatory or negative slights and insults by true aggressions have been found to increase suicide ideation and whereas the american public health association has declared public violence a public health problem negative police violence i'm sorry and a public health problem negative police encounters among african-american men are associated with depression pregnant african-american women experience stress related to the likelihood that the children will have future negative encounters with the police and the stress from negative youth police encounters is associated with depression and whereas the greatest disparity in low birth weight is seen among african-american newborns in durham non-hispanic white five four four percent hispanic seven point four percent non-hispanic black 13.5 percent and infant deaths non-hispanic white 630 hispanic 313 non-hispanic hispanic black 850 and whereas diabetes affects minorities and low-income populations disproportionate race is a factor as of 2015 10.9 percent of white durham residents had diabetes compared to 20.2 percent of black residents and whereas the city of whereas the durham city council stands with the durham committee on the affairs of black people and residents of durham growth carolina now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the durham city council and certain racism as a public health crisis affecting our entire city work to progress as an equity and justice-oriented organization the city council and staff leadership continue to identify specific activities to further enhance diversity and to ensure anti-racism principles across leadership staffing and contracting to promote equity through all policies approved by the durham city council and enhance educational efforts aimed at understanding addressing and dismantling racism and how it affects the delivery of human and social services economic development and three support community efforts to amplify issues of racism and engage actively and authentically with communities of color wherever they live four to always promote support policies and prioritize the health of all people especially people of color by mitigating exposure to adverse childhood experiences five ensure ongoing anti-racism racial equity training with the goal of reaching all members of the city council leadership and staff six encourage current racial equity training among all community partners grantees vendors and contractors seven identify clear goals and objectives including periodic reports to assess progress and capitalize on opportunities to further advance racial equity so this is the resolution for us and i'm treating this as if there was an agenda item pulled from our pulled from our agenda and i'm going to give miss boone three minutes to comment miss boone are you with us yes i am can you welcome and we appreciate you being here and that you have three minutes thank you uh mayor mayor pro tem city council members thank you so much for hearing the resolution i was asked to draft the resolution by omar beesley chair of the Durham committee on affairs of black people before the first of june the document was reviewed by neil wilson spirit house and dr ronda bullock from we are and adopted by the county on june 8th 2020 i'm pleased to have the city's acknowledgement today i believe that we as black people each have a personal story about how racism has impacted our lives we should listen to our stories and understand that whether we come from real or perceived poverty or real or perceived privilege we cannot hide from the trauma of racism racism shows up in every walk of our lives and in every institution whether implicit or unconscious my work in social justice began 50 years ago if you could see the gray in my hair you know that that was true as a teenager bringing policy recommendations to the state of new jersey in response to racial unrest and police brutality it sets me beyond measure that necessary changes have not taken root to this day and i have not stopped fighting when i arrived in Durham in 1971 i found a city that was still segregated on day one a little restaurant at five points cleared out of its white patrons leaving only url and i at the counter i've gained recognition statewide and nationally in the areas of adverse childhood experience historical trauma implicit and institutional bias and racism and built environmental conditions but more important than this recommend recognition are the environmental strategies developed collaboratively with community coalition members that strengthen health safety and well-being one of which has been adopted by the Centers for Disease Control i'm pleased to bring my expertise to chair the health and safety committee of the Durham committee on the affairs of black people where i along with the other expert committee chairs and executive team are likewise laser focused on erasing the crisis of racism in Durham along with this resolution i'm asking that the eight requests for action be taken seriously with accountability and follow-up with the Durham committee on the affairs of black people and made public to help ensure that these requirements are not just words on a page but rather a living document that will lead the city of Durham into an equitable and community involved future thank you so much for allowing me to make comments miss Boone thank you for drafting the resolution thank you for being here today to comment i wish we could be in person with you but we are appreciative of you being here this afternoon and this is important work and you're absolutely right it can't just be words on a page and i know that we're all committed to it and i'm very grateful to you to bring this to us thank you colleagues um i would like a motion uh to approve this resolution please so move second i can't move by council member Freeman and seconded by mayor pro tem johnson madam clerk will you please call the roll mayor shul aye mayor pro tem johnson aye councilmember caballero aye councilmember freeman aye councilmember middleton i vote yay councilmember arise aye thank you thank you madam clerk thank you miss boone and thank you to the Durham committee for advancing this resolution thank you so much there's nothing more sailing it uh in our community right now so thank you we'll now move on to announcements by members of the council and i'll ask you are there any any any of our colleagues to have announcements at this time councilmember reese and then councilmember middleton thank you mr mayor good afternoon colleagues staff and all the folks watching along whatever digital means that they have um i am i'd like to just mention uh for the council and for folks watching that currently we are scheduled to next discuss the word three vacancy in the city council at our august sixth work session between now and then we have about six weeks uh during that time i intend to reach out to each of my colleagues individually as i did prior to the last time we had this conversation as well as reach out to a number of community members to talk about how we might move forward this fall in feeling that vacancy in a matter consistent with our values and that is safe given the current public health situation and so just wanted to make that announcement let everyone know that that we are again we're going to be talking about this at our august sixth work session at that time i hope to be able to present at least a framework for moving forward but obviously that will depend on the input of each and every one of my colleagues as well as other community members between now and then so just wanted to make that announcement and i thank you for your time mr mayor thank you for leading that councilmember reese it's really important and appreciate the time and effort you put into it and we'll look forward to a framework uh that you might suggest to us on august sixth thank you so much councilmember middleton thank you mr mayor and good afternoon colleagues and to all who are watching us whatever medium you're using uh mr mayor i i want to use uh brother j claps from the lgbtq centers uh remarks is kind of a jump off point on on ramp uh where he spoke about today being celib celebratory but there's still much work to be done i think it's also fortuitous that we declared racism of public health crisis in the city as well so i want to thank our friends at the germ committee and dr boone for bringing that to us today um because i believe there is more work to be done and and we are facing a significant uh crisis in our country we're at an inflection point in our country um mr mayor last week i issued a statement instead of proposals um that i'd like to i intend on instigating a debate uh in the city uh on and and tend on um reaching out to each of my colleagues in the coming weeks i want to for the record state that each each person on this council represents a significant swath of influence in the significant part of our population here in derm each and every one of us some of them overlap some of them are distinct but i want to i want to recognize and honor the leadership uh that each of our my colleagues uh provides for the city and each of the constituencies that they represent i think it's important uh in light of that for us to to come together um i believe to do something uh that could be transformative for our city we didn't ask for this moment in history but this moment in history has come knocking at our door um and i believe that that we are in a position this council in particular given who we are each individual to do something at the municipal level as impactful as social security was and the affordable care act was at the national level and that is to fundamentally transform the trajectory of this city uh from a budgetary point of view i know at our last meeting although it was a bit uh contentious and divided we talked about setting aside a million dollars uh to impart fund the wellness task force and then impart the rest of it to fund whatever recommendations they come from i feel pretty confident in saying that we know the changes that we need are going to be far more than a million dollars uh in our city going forward and that's not to usurp the work of the task force but i believe that now is the time to start preparing our city and our staff for that fundamental change for whatever the amount is going to take i believe now is the time to begin talking about what that's going to look like in terms of our priority setting moving forward as a city uh and start talking about where that money may come from now beyond that million dollars and that's a discussion i believe is is apart from uh any discussion the wellness task force might have there are some things that we know that we need now we need to start thinking about um having a more robust menu of option response options for officers when they encounter folk that have a mental health crisis we can start talking about that now and i think we should start talking about it now as a city and as a council so i intend to reach out to each and every council member uh to have conversations about what that might look like uh going forward i'm offering no resolutions today and i have no ordinances that are imminent although i think at some point it will come to that so i just want to go on record saying that i think um this inflection point calls for us as a council to begin thinking about some fundamental revolutionary trajectory changing steps to deal with this crisis that we did not ask for but history has come knocking and i could not think of a better collection of people to answer the call at this moment and sit on this council than those that sit on this council right now uh so thank you mr. mayor i just wanted to go on record with that i look forward to the uh upcoming days upcoming months upcoming years here in Durham thank you god bless Durham black lives matter thank you very much council member and i'll look forward to those discussions as well council member reese can i just real quick ask council member middleton to send us a copy of that statement that'd be great sure thank you uh council member freeman for an announcement thank you i um appreciate council member middleton um sharing and um bring into like the work that he's been pondering and i'd also um appreciate um council member reese's comments around uh what we have to look forward to in the fall and trying to figure out what uh what a three-seat will look like i just wanted to share that i had the opportunity to view and check out a new book by a former city council member who has uh hosts hominin hominus um published book for synthia with love which celebrates the life for the life beauty and moving um reflections of synthia brown regarding her her battle with cancer and i just wanted to make sure that folks knew that it was a way that was being offered online um through a limited uh option and so i just want to make sure that folks are are are checking in and then reaching out to find the book and i wanted to note i will make the link available on on the website or through our our staff and books are being published in copy and copies proceeds are being forwarded to the breast cancer action uh to care incorporated to synthia brown social justice memorial scholarship at benet college and to spirit house i just felt like it was uh just a way to kind of center us and recognize that this work is uh long and hard and so she served in 1995 to 1999 and the work she was doing then is the same work we're doing today and so i i know that it it it's hard to think about how multi-generational or um how many lifetimes of this work has happened but there's lots of us who are in this and i'm and i'm grateful to her for sharing uh just a piece of what what her work was and the battle that she had was cancer and that was awesome thank you thank you very much councilmember yes synthia brown was a wonderful wonderful wonderful leader in durham and i appreciate you bringing that to us any more announcements uh hearing no more announcements i'm going to now move to priority items and ask first are there any priority items by the city manager thank you mr mayor members of council good afternoon everyone hope you're well uh the city manager's office does not have any priority items but i do want to on behalf of the staff and the administration extend our appreciation for your willingness to hold these extra sessions over the next couple of weeks to clear the backlog in these land use cases so thank you for committing that extra time and that's all i have thank you thank you mr manager and i would say we're glad to do it i would say we are we are uh we know that it is our duty and we are here to do our duty to do it well thank you um madam madam maternity uh any priority items good afternoon mr mayor madam mayor pretend members of city council it's good to see each of you uh the city attorney's office does have one priority item i would ask that the city council approve a motion to go into closed session at the conclusion of today's meeting i need to consult with the city council for attorney attorney client consultation concerning the handling of potential claims thank you very much madam attorney madam attorney i don't believe we need to vote on anything now we'll want your priority out and we can simply have a motion at the end to do that is that correct very good yes sir thank you thank you madam attorney madam clerk any priority items today good afternoon mr mayor and city council the city clerk's office has no items thank you madam clerk and madam clerk thanks again to you and to the technology solutions uh staff and the clerk staff to daniel terry and others who are making these meetings possible ashley white and all of you all who are behind the scenes we appreciate you doing our best thank you mr mayor and i will say also i'm sure my colleagues agree these meetings have gotten smoother and smoother and so thank you for everyone who's helped to do that um we'll now move on to our general business agenda we have on our general business agenda the three remaining items today before our closed session and those are those items are public hearing items the first is item 41 good wind crossing i'm going to ask uh first from a report from staff good afternoon good afternoon mr others hi with the planning department i would first like to state for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and after david's of all notices are on file in the planning department i'm now presenting good wind crossing request for a zoning map change has been received from jared edens with the ends land and anerson marlowe of marlowe builders the 75.43 acre site is located at 1301 and 1312 goodwin road the applicant has applied for a zoning map change from plan development residential 2.310 to plan development residential 2.167 the proposed development plan will remove commitments from the legacy development plan key commitments of the proposed development plan include that the proposed development will be limited to 149 single family residential lots with a minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet as well as a 300 foot wildlife protection buffer along cabin creek a 50 foot undisturbed perimeter buffer in some areas roadway improvements and off-site sidewalk additional commitments are identified in the staff report and on the development plan the Durham planning commission at their december 10 2019 meeting recommended approval by a vote of 12 to 0 of the proposed pdr 2.167 zoning staff determines that this request is consistent with comprehensive plan including the future land use map and adopted ordinances and plans two motions are required for this application the first is to adopt a consistency statement and the second is for the zoning ordinance staff is available for any questions thank you thank you very much mr others colleagues you have heard the report from staff and i'm going to now declare this public hearing open i'm going to first ask if there are any questions for uh mistruthers or for staff by any members of the council the members have any time any questions at this point all right um madam clerk are there speakers to this item i am searching uh here mr mayor i have a jared edens to the item um and that's the only one to my knowledge yes unless is there any uh can you unmute mr edens sure i think we should come up with another verb for that i think i should say can you make mr edens available to speak i think that would be better it's hard to unmute mr edens anyway mr edens is unmuted mr mayor thank you mr edens welcome um i'm going to give you three minutes if you need longer than that we can figure that out mr edens needs to unmute himself mr edens can you unmute yourself there we go can you hear me yes we can very good thank you um yeah my wife's ears perked up on the mute mr edens part of the conversation so i'm glad we're moving on i appreciate your time we'll come up with a better verb thank you this is an interesting zoning case for us it turned out to be sort of a really a case study of older development standards versus more current development standards the existing zoning was done in 2005 when lots were larger homes were larger uh grading was different um and as time has gone on we've we've you know products have gotten smaller and and homes sedatives and has become more compact and we found just by going through this exercise that that just by changing a few of the conditions that we're able to to get the same density that was approved before basically but just in a much better way uh you know the previous plan could not accommodate a 300 foot natural buffer along the creek the previous plan couldn't accommodate the 50 foot undisturbed buffers that we were able to add we added those adjacent to every occupied parcel so that's why it's only parts of them but every parcel we saw the structure on and we added a 50 foot undisturbed buffer again we can only do those things because of the restrictions being removed from what was there before so as Emily mentioned we had a 12 vote planning commission and I'd be glad to answer any questions you have thank you thank you very much mr edens are there questions or comments from mr edens at this time or for staff by any council member a council member Reese thank you mr mayor um this is for staff or for mr edens whoever wants to answer can you have there been any changes to this application since the matter was before the planning commission hi uh staff can address this um and uh the applicant may be able to back me up as well but uh the off-site sidewalk um to avoid the gap uh between the property where there's uh parcels that are um surrounded by the proposal that off-site sidewalk was um addressed and uh added as a commitment um is that along goodwin road yes the portion great and mr others I believe also there was a a um I believe that the applicant also proffered a uh minimum lot size yes that is correct they um additionally proposed um let's see a minimum of 5 000 square feet for the lot size wow okay uh that that's my only question mr mayor thank you thank you councilmember colleagues any other questions or comments for staff or for mr edens and is there anyone else who's listening uh who would like to make themselves heard on this item this is a public hearing item if so please raise your hand uh digitally I don't think we have anyone doing madam clerk no we do not mr mayor all right thank you I'm going to declare this public hearing closed and the matter is back before the council will need two motions to approve this motion one would be to adopt a consistency statement and the second motion will be adopted in ordinance amending the udo so I'll accept the motion first to adopt a consistency statement so moved moved by councilmember freeman is there a second second second by councilmember reese madam clerk will you please call the roll mayor shul hi mayor pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman hi member middleton i vote i councilmember reese hi thank you thank you madam clerk the eyes have it the motion carries unanimously well now move on thank you mr edens and good luck everyone thank you mr mayor mr mary it looked like council reese was seeking recognition I was thank you councilmember middleton before I make the second motion to adopt an ordinance amending the udo is set for oh yeah that problem before I do that mr mayor I would like to have about 15 seconds to say or maybe 20 that uh that I obviously intend to support this measure um I think rather than getting into the complexities of the original rezoning and now while we're here today I just wanted to say to the apple and how much respect I have for the fact that even though they got a 12-oh vote out of the planning commission they made the additional commitments that one of the commissioners asked them to consider that's pretty awesome and I just want to say thank you for that thank you councilmember reese and thank you for reminding me we needed a second motion that you would like to make I would I'd like to move to adopt the ordinance amending the udo is set forth in the agenda second and seconded by councilmember freeman before we vote I want to ask if you all think I make more parliamentary mistakes digitally than I do when we're in person no not at all mr mayor about the same we can take a vote on that later they seem about the same amazing let me just tell you that I'm grateful for your corrections I really am and please keep me on track thank you we don't have a parliamentary and so all of you are going to have to twist my arm all right we have a motion and a second we adopted the ordinance amending the udo madam clerk will you please call the roll mayor shul hi mayor pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman hi councilmember middleton I vote aye councilmember reese aye thank you thank you madam clerk the eyes have it the motion passes unanimously and now we'll move to item 42 he brought village mr mayor if we could just take two seconds to just agree with uh what councilmember reese pointed out and then to add that it was it's the pdr I mean decreasing the the acreage is just helpful and making sure that the buffers are stronger is just phenomenal so thank you thank you madam uh uh miss struthers are you up here for item 42 yes me again uh so now presenting hebron village this request as far as zoning map change uh it was received from tim tim cybers of corvath associates the 31.267 acre site is located at 4728 denfield street the applicant has applied for a zoning map change from residential suburban 20 and residential suburban 10 to plan development residential 5.117 key commitments of the proposed development plan include a maximum of 160 units single family and townhouses with a minimum of 10 percent of each unit type within the development as well as reduce reduction of the drainage area from within the project to the northwest property corner discharge point by a minimum of 20 percent contributions to the Durham public schools and affordable housing fund additional commitments are identified in the staff report and on the development plan staff has also vetted additional proposed prosperous that the applicant may be presenting tonight the Durham planning commission at their november 12 2019 meeting recommended denial by a vote of zero to 13 of the proposed pdr 5.117 zoning staff determines that this rezoning request is consistent with the comprehensive plan including the future land use map and other adopted ordinances and plans two motions are required for this application the first is to adopt a consistency statement and the second is for the zoning ordinance and staff is available for any questions thank you thank you mr others colleagues you've heard the comments from staff i'm going to declare this public hearing open excuse me first to ask you if there are any questions or comments for staff by members of the council all right seeing none i'm going to move on to the speakers and i know we have several speakers i'm going to call the ones that i see here in madame clark's email to me earlier tim cybers jim chandler scott hurst are three people that i see attending i also believe in the um the chat that we've had some other people who would like to speak on that as well um and that includes angela retic i believe yes angela retic and there may be others um and i believe yolanda williams also it appears to me madame clark does that seem right to you that is correct mr mayor and i'm not sure about india rounds but perhaps in his rounds uh or india rounds uh is is also here for that item but will i just want to let everybody who's listening know that you will have a chance if you're here you will be able to speak even if i haven't called your name yet i don't want anybody to worry about that so um we are in a situation that's different than usual colleagues usually we're able to get people to say uh when they sign up with a clerk are they proponents or opponents of a rezoning um and as you all know it is uh we we try to make sure that we give equal time to proponents and opponents or at least as much time as is needed without knowing this the um the posture of these speakers i'm going to have to do a little improvising and uh colleagues i will bear your i will i will ask for your indulgence as we go through this it might be a little uneven uh mr cybers i'm going to let you begin i know you're here to present for the applicant uh and can you tell me mr cybers if you know there are any other people here as well who are proponents of this zoning uh of this rezoning if you know that that will be helpful is mr cybers able to speak i've unmuted him he needs to unmute himself there he goes mr cybers could you unmute yourself please yes i believe i'm available to hear me now is that correct yes sir thank you every uh before you get going do you know if there are any of these other speakers who are proponents of the uh of this rezoning uh so uh jim chandler and myself are um with are both part of the application i believe um there is one other proponent um of the recognized name um scott first i believe is a neighbor um other than that i don't recognize the other names okay thank you thanks that was helpful mr cybers yes mr cybers um is i'm i'm i'm i'm going to give you and the other proponents 10 minutes uh and then i'll give 10 minutes total to the opponents and then we will see how it goes from there okay that's fine thank you sir yeah welcome and and we're glad to have you go ahead thank you thank you out to to emily and all the staff members for all the work they've done in this project also to all the council members as was mentioned earlier about the additional meetings you guys are scheduled i really appreciate the additional effort that's been put forward this project in front of you this afternoon is a rezoning the proposed rezoning is from rs 10 and rs 20 to a pdr of 5.117 the project area is just over 31 acres the current future land use plan does allow for four to eight units per acre um and our density will allow a maximum of 160 townhome and single family units even though a builder is not currently involved with this project at this time uh based on the broker's professional opinion um who will speak here shortly and comps in the area we anticipate the price of the townhome to start around 180 to 190 thousand and the price of the single families will anticipate to begin around the low 200s our site is located within about a mile of the gross of a grocery store and a little over a mile to the city park we did hold a voluntary neighborhood meeting where two primary concerns were raised there the two concerns were access point into the existing subdivision as well as landscape buffers between the proposed area project area and the existing residential to the north and to the east the existing neighborhood um didn't want the connection however the it is a street stub so this afternoon as emily mentioned i'll providing a commitment to include a traffic calming device at that access point as for the landscape buffers was the second item that was of concern to the neighbors we've provided um the the adjacent property to the north and to the east is also a pdr so the udo does not require a buffer but we've provided a 0.4 opacity 20-foot buffer along the adjacent homes to the north and to the east of the project the development plan does commit to additional right-of-way dedication landscape buffers as mentioned tree preservation area 50 maximum pervious area a maximum of 160 units as well as access points on hebron road and summer breeze drive at the planning commission hearing an optional access point was illustrated on denfield street based on the recommendation by the planning commission members that optional access point has been revised to now be a requirement of the development we did work with ncdot and city transportation as they reviewed the plans and they recommended east and westbound turn lanes on the hebron road at access point what number one those items are graphically committed on our development plan we've also included bike lanes on both hebron road and denfield street as recommended by the bike and pedestrian advisory commission as well as commitments or as well as recommendations by some of the planning commission members planning commission did recommend denial of this project but after we reviewed their input have incorporated many of the items they suggested i do believe this project is much stronger in front of you today and i do appreciate all the input and comments that were provided but not only the planning commission members but also the neighbors during the planning commission hearing we did have one neighbor that spoke up that lives to the northwest of the project area about flooding concerns on their property so tonight we'll be have willing or this afternoon we'll be including additional stormwater comments on this project as well for that so a summary of a few comments that are included on your development plan packet that were added after the planning commission hearing so these again are part of the packet that's in front of you this afternoon number one was that we will have a commitment to at least 10 percent of each unit type single family and townhouse number two as i mentioned earlier the additional widening of five foot of asphalt for bike lanes on both denfield and hebron three the development reduced the drainage area from inside the project to the northwest property corner by a minimum of 20 and four as mentioned earlier the vehicle connection vehicular connection to denfield street is now a requirement not an option as previously shown in addition to those commitments there's some there's additional commitments that we want to provide this afternoon that emily introduced a little bit number one is average block lengths you guys have seen that over the past on multiple projects so we want to provide an average block length not to exceed 500 feet our block length will be defined as a distance from intersection to intersection or project boundary measured along the centerline of the street we want to increase our tree coverage area to 21 percent when we originally submitted this project there was no requirement for tree preservation area we made the commitment at that time of a 20 percent tree preservation area and we want now that the udo requires a 20 percent tree preservation area we want to increase that to stay above the udo requirements as we did initially five minutes the minimum 20 percent open space which is an increase from 16 percent we're going to commit to some items for open space as well including possibly a dog park tot lot disc golf or a play field we're going to be making a commitment of minimum of 30 of the units there'll be single car garage bays in order to help promote variation in appearance we're also going to be committing tonight to providing no building with an exterior elevation or color palette identical to the building on either side of it or directly across the street from it we want to make the architectural commitment that each building shall include a front facing gable as well as each building will have transparent windows or decorative hardware on the on the garage doors we want to make the additional commitment to provide either a bus stop or bus pullout based on go Durham a go triangle recommendations and finally the stormwater commitment that we're really proud of the city requires one two and ten year treatment device we're going to increase that to a pre-development conditions immediately downstream to the 25 year storm event which again is an increase of the requirement of a one two and ten year storm in summary it's my opinion that if these text commitments were included now that we're part of the project during the planning commission hearing i do believe our planning commission's vote would be different uh since the planning commission we've added 15 text commitments which is quite a few 15 text and graphic commitments including the access point to provide better circulation traffic calming device variety of unit types maximum block lengths bus stop increased our tree preservation and open space provided programming for that open space multiple architectural design commitments as well as string more stringent stormwater commitments for all of our downstream parcels i've been these comments are in direct response to the concerns identified by both planning commission members as well as the neighbors i do ask that you vote in favor of the rezoning tonight to prove this proposed development of 5.117 units per acre that is within the city's current future land use designation for the for the area if you have any questions i'm available thank you thank you very much mr cybers i'm going to now call on mr chandler uh madam clerk can you make mr chandler available to speak hello everyone hello mr chandler welcome 34 seconds available uh how much time madam clerk two minutes and 34 seconds all right mr chandler i'm going to give you three minutes if you need longer than that we'll discuss it hello everyone i shouldn't need that much time um thank you just wanted to let you know that i'm available for any questions on value we we plan to come to the table at the at the 180 to 190 range on the any town homes that will be built here and also in the low 200s on the single family homes we wanted to try and stay in step with what was happening at magnolia creek to the south and uh we're not obviously you know with the carver street project coming online soon we just want to make sure that we're staying in a in a good spot price wise for the area and uh i guess uh you know right now with with everything happening with with the coven and the different things going on uh you know politically it's it's very difficult and i wanted to recognize that you know everything that's going on the effort that everyone's making in the time of make needed change so that was all i had to say i hope you vote in favor of this project thank you mr chandler mr chandler what is your role with the project um i represent the landowner as the a listing broker okay thank you you're welcome to think all right i'm now going to ask are there any other members of the public here who are uh here today to speak as a proponent of this rezoning anyone here who favors the rezoning that i'll first ask them to be heard and if i see one of them maybe i was raised their hand madam claire mr scott hurst could you make mr hurst available to be heard yes i did thank you thank you mr hurst are you uh can you make yourself heard yes thank you everyone mr hurst you have three minutes thank you very much my name is scott hurst and i'm the owner of the adjoining property at four three three hebron road and i just wanted to express my that i'm in favor of this project i think it suits the development of this area well especially with the high school coming in i think affordable housing in this area is is a good thing thank you thank you very much mr hurst thank you for being here all right i'm now going to ask if there are other speakers to this item who are opponents of this rezoning um and i will ask them to raise their hands uh and i'll i think what i'll do is i'll start with the people that have signed up first um and that includes see here um i see the i see the the one person i see his hand is raised angela reddick but i know there are other people that i have on my list just give me one second and let me look at the clerk's email very helpful um but first i have india rounds is india rounds here and what india rounds like to be heard clerk could you make india rounds available to be heard i've unmuted her she needs to unmute herself all right india rounds could you unmute yourself please and let us know that you can be heard yes can you hear me yes we can welcome and we are glad you're here and you have three minutes okay i don't need three minutes at all i just i really didn't have anything to say about this the particular um subject that we're speaking on i just wanted to really get an idea of how these meetings go and i guess how to be able to bring up an issue or something that i just see that i have concerns with in my community with germ county and just things that i see so i don't really have anything to speak on for this particular subject all right well thank you for being here with us and yeah let me just say that in the future if there are things that are of concern to you the best way to to deal with that if there are things that you think that our city council related is to send us an email or write to us and let us know what you're thinking and what i what what uh what concerns one of the things that concern you we're always happy to hear from you but we're glad to have you here today too sir okay thank you for your time thank you all right i'm now going to call on yolanda williams madam clerk could you make miss williams available to be heard she's unmuted mr mayor all right miss williams could you unmute yourself please and let us know that you're here okay can you hear me yes thank you welcome and you have three minutes thank you um i am one of the residents of summer meadows who did speak at the last meeting uh and i am not a proponent for this proposal um but i do have to say um i do appreciate the commitments that mr severs and his company has decided to make um still my main concern is traffic um i don't know what traffic calming devices they intend to install but we still have a concern with using our subdivision as an entrance to a new area um at the beginning uh the entrance of our subdivision is where the children wait for the school bus um i have a concern for increased traffic in that area um coming through when the school buses are coming through uh and also while the children are standing out there right now it's just our subdivision traffic we increase that um i just see uh dangers in that happening considering not only do we have magnolia point across the street but we also have another large uh subdivision that's mixed family also continuously being in uh they're still being built um also i do like the fact that they will do uh bike lanes uh the flooding i will need more information on that i was the one that spoke up about the flooding we have a neighbor at that dead end she has since moved but she used her own money to haul bricks um rocks to prevent flooding so i don't know what will happen once that land is flattened or another entrance is put there in order to put up more housing will the flooding get worse her actual home was flooding before she had the stones hauled in in addition to our backyards flooding that's that's that's all i have is williams thank you so much we appreciate you being here you raised important questions and uh at the appropriate time after we hear from um the uh other speakers i'm going to ask uh mr cybers uh and put the possibly mistrothers to address some of those issues so thank you so much for being here um okay i'm next going to call on angela reddick and madam clerk could you make angela reddick available to be heard this is reddick is unmuted matt can you hear me yes we can miss reddick we're glad you're here and can you you have three minutes okay um i just want to state it that when we purchase our homes and our housing development this this new development they're trying to put in um on hebron drive it would be in my backyard and already we're kind of congested and we have um and it wasn't you know part of the plan and they had assured us you know that nothing else would be built over here and it shouldn't be about making money but about safety and um my neighbors and different ones both neighbors on each side of me and different ones have already had car accidents um just with the traffic that comes off hebron onto denfield and now they're talking about putting 160 units and all these other people congesting the area even more with more traffic and they haven't ever put a light or anything out here for us and it's already dangerous and like i do a lot of walking and things too it is very dangerous and um i've been ran off the road myself coming up denfield right there with hebron at and those will be the two main areas hebron and denfield where the traffic is gonna be and it's just it's just too much and this area is already too congested it shouldn't be about making money but about safety and then with my backyard with with this development you know i already can imagine people trying to cut across my backyard in different things and no privacy at all and i would have never built here in the first place and i you know i built my home from the ground 13 years ago i would have never built here if i would have knew it was going to get congested and this area would be done like this and so i pray did you deny this project miss reddick thank you for being here and we appreciate your comments and we'll make sure that they get addressed uh we'll we'll we'll make sure that uh we hear from the developer and staff around these issues thank you i'll next call on charles barns madam clerk could you make mr barns available to speak mr barns is unmuted mr barns uh can you make yourself heard yes mr mayor this is mr barn speaking thank you for being here mr barns we appreciate it and you have three minutes also thank you mr mayor the council members um i live in the somo meadows division that's just north of the project and um i already uh as some of the neighbors already expressed concerns of the traffic common area at denfield and he barns uh for those of us that's been living in this area already but i've been over here since 2006 all of the recent developments to include the magnolia it is really getting congested and i've always seen that the developers have starting to clear property on the uh on the denfield area already um so are they ready or you guys going ahead and moving forward or is this something that the city has required um and then my second question is as far as the city and county zone it with the high school coming in the plate is the somo meadows division will fall into the city um uh city limits now because we were in the county at first and like the lady that just spoke they said that it wasn't going to do any more development in this area yet we've seen townhomes and more housing developments and now you got 160 units coming in uh townhomes and single units uh coming in as well so it's quite a bit of of development going on in the last five years so i mean you know are we the only area for building i mean so and then the last question is taxes i mean how many of these units are producing taxes because you know there's a concern for those that already stand here to do pay taxes i mean how is it going to affect in the area the taxes going up you know these are questions i don't know have they been addressed in answer i appreciate the developer addressing the concerns and throwing in the uh commitments and everything but you know as like i said dussel's been here 10 years already we've seen these developments and and not even getting the traffic light at the heat brine um denfield exit is is dangerous enough because i've ridden motorcycles and almost got ran off the road at that intersection along so there's quite a bit of safety concerns i'm sure that you know us as neighbors and and residents are are concerned about so just trying to see what is going forward it's going to happen especially with a high school coming in the area as well so um i'm i'm hoping that the city will keep all the residents duly informed as to how you plan on addressing all of these issues because uh nobody i haven't seen where people are against growth it's just how much growth and how fast mr barnes thank you i appreciate your concerns and um again we'll be discussing these uh in a minute with our staff and so forth but thank you very much for being here today thank you um madame clerk uh do we see anyone else who would like to speak on this item i don't i'm looking at the at the attendees and i don't believe we have anyone else mr mayor we do not all right thank you so much madame clerk all right um i'm going to first now uh ask mr cybers mr cybers i'm going to ask you to actually i'm not i'm first going to turn to mr judge is mr judge here yes i see he is uh mr judge you heard the concerns of residents about uh traffic in this area we know that the high school is eventually coming here um especially at denfield and hebron can you comment on the traffic uh in this area especially as related to this particular development yes so uh bill judge city of daram transportation department the uh as you know the traffic impact analysis was not required for this development so they did not specifically look at the traffic impacts at that intersection but the long-range plan does show a slight realignment of hebron road through this uh development which they are providing the right-of-way for to relocate that intersection to a better location where there'd be better site distance away from that curve uh in the road there's a bit of a horizontal curve but then long-term also would be extending hebron on our comprehensive transportation plan there's plan to extend hebron directly over to rocksboro just south of the proposed high school site will go along the southern boundary of the proposed high school site extension of the road and that primarily is intended to we have we get a lot of we have a number of complaints about cut through traffic and speeding traffic particularly on monk road um from traffic that's basically coming in and out of coming from hebron heading down denfield month the rocksboro so that's intended to help relieve some of that uh connectivity particularly for um fortune the residents in the eastern part that are trying to get north on north rocksboro to some of the retail and other other amenities in that area could you comment on uh whether when that uh the change in the realignment that hebron is expected is that along with the high school construction or do you have that kind of anticipated it is not funded at this point so we don't have a timeline um and they uh be happy if the neighborhood uh yeah if mr barns or someone in the neighborhood wants to sort of act as a representative of summer meadows we'll be happy to sort of coordinate any future studies we do in terms of signalization of that and intersection with them uh select them now and the signalization and you heard people talk about the desire for a stoplight at denfield in hebron correct um any any and is when you say you is that the signalization that you said you you'd uh like to talk to the neighborhood about yes um we'd be happy to take a look at that i suspect it's probably not going to be warranted um under the current conditions particularly because denfield just goes to the quarry there there's not going to be a lot of traffic to and from the north of that intersection um but so it's probably not going to meet the requirements for signalization at this time but uh we have not recently looked at that so i think we'd be happy and upon request of the neighbors to take a look at that in the future here in the next few weeks once traffic patterns resume we can't do it right now due to covet but once traffic patterns resume and stay at home orders are lifted we can we can examine that thank you very much mr judge all right um i have some other questions uh i guess one other thing i'll just clarify and then i'll ask my colleagues to ask questions or comment um the um there was a question about but i wasn't quite sure about that maybe mistruthers can help with mr barns asked about his i believe his neighborhood is not in the city at this time um and he was asking about annexation if i am understanding is that is it correct mistruthers that that neighborhood is not in the city at this time summer hills i believe it's called sorry bear with me as i am trying to find the controls on my zoom uh cap here um so the proposed site is within the city um i did not catch the name of the neighborhood being referenced most of this area is within the city with the exception of some areas to the north and then to the east along west avenue and further east okay well just to be clear i think that as i understood mr barns's concern was that that he lives in a county area and was wondering if they would be annexed having to do with this and i would just say there's nothing in this that would annex any other property except this particular parcel and there would be no impetus to annex that um you know if that neighborhood doesn't want to be annexed we can't we don't the city doesn't have the ability to uh force anyone to be annexed anymore we used to be able to but not anymore so mr barns i hope that answers that one concern all right colleagues i'm now going to ask any questions or comments that you all may have for either the applicant or mr uh mr cypress or uh just with staff anybody okay i have okay councilman milton thank you mr mayor um thank you all for uh participating in in this public care i want to say to the uh the residents of the community i i i thank them so much for taking the time on this Wednesday afternoon to express their concerns about this development um i wish i could say to them you know that we can stop this type of concern all over the city this city is growing um you know i sit on the city council and i when i'm driving to my subdivision at the end of the day i look at the new developments going on around me and how the traffic is changing and you know i say to myself wow the city's growing so so i want the residents to know that we we hear you and i feel you but some of this this comes with living in a growing city um living in the city that's hot people want to come to um and and it's going to continue how to get uh to be that way uh but your your concerns are are noted and they're important and they're impactful i didn't want to ask mr cybers and i know he's made the rounds to us individually but just for the record today um to just kind of succinctly uh tell us what you what you perceive as the biggest concern to get an absolute uh goose egg uh from the from the planning commission in terms of approving the project and uh what what succinctly do you think is the biggest thing about your proffer since then that would address the concerns of the of the planning commission yes councilman middleton thank you for that question um i i do think that our project is much stronger with the you know about uh approximately 15 tax commitments and graphic commitments um some of the the the i guess really the two larger two or three larger ones that that you're referring to i would say it would be the flooding concern that really hit home um to me at planning commission um i was uh unfortunately um uh you know the the neighbor to the uh northwest came up planning commission and spoke with me afterwards um and i don't know if if that neighbor is here not tonight this afternoon but and and said they weren't necessarily against the project at that time but and again i i can't i know that they may not be here and i can't speak for them but just had some concerns about flooding and i think by our two tax commitments um to address stormwater not only reducing some of the drainage area that drains to that northwest corner but also by increasing our stormwater devices again the udo requires one two and ten year treatment um we are increasing that so these stormwater devices all the devices on the site will treat a 25 year storm so that was part of our tax commitments i mentioned earlier i think that one is is one that we're we're most proud of if you will that um was really spearheaded by the neighbors and they they uh they asked for that and and us providing that the second one was um really about buffering um and and that was one from day one uh it was a voluntary neighborhood meeting because it was not a required meeting but prior to our submittal we did hold that meeting where about 20 neighbors came out and that was their concern about buffering because it wasn't required um and i told them i said i understand if i lived right there i would want a buffer as well so that's why from day one we've included that that buffer so i think those are probably the the big key items but most importantly the the biggest probably sense planning commission would be the the flooding issues that were brought up at planning commission as well as some of the traffic concerns and adding that traffic calming device into that existing subdivision to the west to help minimize that traffic so the the intent of trying to add that traffic calming device is that the residents of this potential subdivision would use the access out on the head brawn and now that the access to dent field is required they would use those access points as opposed to trying to cut through the existing neighborhood that that that's helpful thank you and the fact that this particular project did not cross the threshold that requires a traffic impact analysis kind of left me depending more on on i don't want to say anecdotal but but the concerns of when neighbors raised concerns about traffic which is something we hear in just about any time any development comes and without the tia that becomes a bit more art and science trying to figure out you know what the impacts really are and how that should inform a vote i will say i'm inclined to support this project one because i'm convinced that at some point this land is going to be developed uh if not now at some point and i am i uh i have to say that the price points that you've said today are becoming more far more elusive for projects in derm that aren't dubbed affordable housing project i think you said townhomes in 180s and single homes in the low 200s i don't think those would be the same prices when this land if this land is developed you know it's only going to go up from here later than than sooner uh so i'm i'm i'm curious i'm still listening i'm i'm curious to see what other inquiries my my colleagues have but i i'm inclined uh to support the project i um i'm impressed by the the moves you made uh subsequent to the planning commission's vote um i and i do want to say the planning commission's vote for at least for me carries great weight and their comments i read them all the time are helpful but i do think you've made some substantive uh steps the project's made some substantive steps since then so i'm inclined to support this project today for the reason i've stated uh but i am listening uh to to further discussion from my colleagues thank you mr. mayor thank you council member um can i ask a couple of questions of follow-up on council member billton and i'd like to ask this to mr. others um mr others uh the proffer regarding traffic calming measures um i i read this a little while ago so i'm i'm struggling to remember uh but how did staff view those proffers sure thank you for asking um i know this has been a point that's come up in the past um but the text commitment proposed um the text and graphic commitments referring to um the traffic calming uh is specific enough and references uh the uh Durham traffic calming guidelines uh that we're we're comfortable with them i'm sorry mr. rows i didn't hear you did you did you are able to accept them we are comfortable with them all right so i so i maybe i misremembered i thought that there was some comment uh having to do with staff's response to the b-pack comments but maybe they've been made more specific since then yes they've been made more specific since that comment okay and they are in line with Durham's traffic calming policies uh yes they've been vetted by transportation i'm sorry i'm having troubles with my monitor it's all right we can see and hear you and then my second question is also regarding the storm water proffer that's also uh in a form that's acceptable to the planning department yes that has been vetted uh through storm water as well all right thank you all right colleagues other questions and comments councilmember freeman thank you i i wanted to know i just wanted to the developers of note or the property owner to note what they meant by buffers and what that would include okay well mr. cybers can you talk about the buffers please yes now that i'm unmuted i'd be happy to do that um so we've we've added the buffers um along the back of the residences it's a point for opacity 20 foot minimum the option there is to do a natural buffer as well the point for opacity based on the udo requires a mixture of evergreen and deciduous shrubs evergreen and deciduous understory as well as canopy trees when it's planted to provide that screening of at least 40 of that view that will be located at the back of all the residences that are either our project is either behind or adjacent to is that a question it does and i really wanted to make sure it was clear for folks that were listening i know i heard a few comments around um you know having a development in your backyard and not know what that buffer what what you mean by buffer is often not clear and i also wanted to touch back on the price points uh i know that the listing agent is noting the price points without a builder in mind can you explain how you're doing that would you like me to take that or are mr chandler to answer that question i either one is fine okay i can answer that question so um we've uh the the broker and mr chandler and i we've we've looked at the comps in the area um along the the subdivision to the north and to the to the east that have single family and a few townhomes as well to make sure they're comparable for that one of the neighbors mentioned about concerns about tax increase as well so we want to make sure that it's comparable in the area and not only that just with our expertise of the land the value of land in the area and what the products are selling for that that's where that those numbers are based from thank you and i i just wanted to note the 25 year device that you're talking about can you well this is more a question for staff so just noting that because there's um flooding in the area already the 25 year uh device would be would be helpful in preventing the flooding on the side of the new development but what do we have on the side of sit of the city to to help in that area to make sure to mitigate the flooding or what plans do we have in place that are moving forward to mitigate the flooding that's already occurring hi um i would like to introduce Rajesh um he's with stormwater and able to better answer this questions than i can i believe he's available uh good afternoon everybody can can everybody hear me yes okay um so my name is Bridges to worry i'm from city of city of Durham storm water review group um so i would like to make a comment on the city of Durham requirement on the um uh storm water requirement on this particular project uh it seems that like the applicant has mentioned mentioned two texts um um um offering that one on the northwest side reducing drainage area by 20 percent and also providing 25 percent detention uh 25 year storm detention but our um uh reference guide for development states that if there is a downstream flooding situation uh we can we uh we will be requiring up to 100 year uh storm water uh detention so i just want to make make sure the like applicants understand that uh because we haven't seen any development plan or any storm water analysis on this project yet but given that the neighbors has uh make uh complaints about the downstream flooding condition um it we will be requiring up to 100 year storm detention during site plan stage and that will be done at the site plan stage mr toari yes sir so what i think you're saying if i understand you is that uh in an answer to council member freeman's question that the city will have an additional or could have an additional requirement of up to handling up to the hundred year floods flooding uh and that you may you are able to require that of the developer at site is that correct yes that's true and and and this requirement is stated in our reference guide for development as well and mr syvers mr syvers you understand that yes sir and we just wanted we wanted to show that we were absolutely committing to going over the minimum requirement but we understand the additional could be included at the time of site plan yes sir all right thank you thank you just wanted to make it clear that because of how hard it is to make that decision or to make those adjustments based on the decision now based on a site plan that'll come later to staff and whether or not it moves forward in a way that that is beneficial to the community being that they have no input on that side i would be voting no on this case thank you thank you council members any other questions or comments i have a couple of other questions um the um yeah there was a question about the property being some clearing taking place on the property now mr syvers can you comment on that uh tim syvers again with horvath associates uh there's no i'm not aware of any clearing on this property um yeah maybe on an adjacent property but not on our property no sir okay thank you all right any questions or comments council member reese i didn't have any questions but i did have some comments about the underlying case if there's a better time to make those i'm happy to wait or i can do it yeah i think that i'll just make sure there's no other questions or comments by council members and if not then i'm going to declare this public hearing closed and the matter is now before the council be happy to entertain any comments council member reese why don't you get started thank you mr mayor i want to thank staff for bringing this item forward i want to thank the owner um and their agents i guess uh for making the presentation on this um i think the concerns that i have about this project are really endemic to all of these kinds of um requests it i think mr syvers put it best although he didn't mean to he said i hope you will approve this development there is no development we don't know what the development will look like ultimately the owner has agreed to burden the property with certain requirements but within that we have no idea what this is going to look like and that was the repeated concern expressed by every single planning commissioner and the underlying concern is less about the things that were prompt that the that the owner is promising to encumber the property with today and more about the fact that it's impossible at some level as council member freeman noted it's impossible given what we know now to understand the implications of this kind of project on this site uh and what that the impact will be on the folks who live in this part of our city and i i am quite certain that if you went back in the voting records you will see me having voted in favor of one of these pdr's without a development plan but it's always irk me it irks me today um it just makes it really difficult for us to figure this out and um what would have helped would have been uh to um to realize you were going to once you decided to make these additional commitments um take it back to the planning commission and figure and i know there's there are lots of administrators for that after the planning commission is voted but i mean that's the board that's supposed to advise us and i have this problem with lots of these projects that go to the planning commission they get a negative recommendation and then they make a ton of changes and expect and come to us to parse the difference between the two and would that have been is that enough to address the concerns raised by the planning commission that's that's tough but that's why they pay us the big bucks mr mayor um i guess what i would say about it is i appreciate the revisions that were made uh after the planning commission this is slight this is somewhat better than some of the other larger annexation and rezoning we've seen in the eastern part of the county come into the city because this at least is about half a mile from uh bus stop so that's not horrible there's no sidewalks between there and where the bus stops are that's not great um and the bike lanes are very helpful but not helpful getting over to where uh that transit line is um and so essentially we're built we're being asked to approve um in many ways side unseen a number of houses that can realistically only be served can only be serviced by or owned and and lived in by people who have cars and um i am have become in my time with the council increasingly increasingly wary of that kind of development i find myself even wearier under these conditions where you've got a pdr request without any plan development um so that that that is a problem for me and so i plan to vote against the measure thank you mr man thank you councilmember other comments mayor pretend thank you mr mayor um just wanted to comment that um i recognize the many concerns that have been brought up by the planning commission i appreciate um the developers changes that they've brought to um to this proposal in that time for me um the affordable housing crisis in our city is always at the top of my mind and um these homes are are as affordable as i think we see on the private market um under two hundred thousand dollars is um is unusual and i in spite of um other you know concerns that have been brought up my my priority is um is going to have to be with with providing those affordable homes in an area of the community that um that desperately needs them and so i'll be supporting the uh rezoning thanks thank you councilmember councilmember caballero thank you um i just wanted to say i think i hear councilmember risa's concerns and and and they're extremely valid uh i think that we are then to me it's the developers doing what is allowed as far as doing it without a site plan and so i think that we if we want that to be the the commitment then that i mean that the burden is not us to to change the rules um so i i hear what our my colleague is saying if i'm thinking about where the new northern high school is going to be the density that is coming to the area and the density quite frankly that's already there i do see it as different than what we've been seeing with the annexations out 98 uh there is already a bus that goes up there there's ways to connect to transportation that aren't you know far very far flung i see that happening within a few years because of the high school that'll be there uh so i will be supporting this measure today i also want to acknowledge what the neighbors have said i feel that although we don't have a clear idea of what the housing is going to look like there are some really really important proffers that have been made or commitments i should say text commitments that have been made uh and uh i appreciate the developer putting that forward i would say that um i think that we maybe are getting to a point where we're going to have to think about some of the processes that we are are using right now i think about how we've been handling annexations and this and it kind of opens up other questions for me as well around if we if we're struggling around okay you created all these text commitments after you got a vote do we want to make it so that folks have to go back to the planning commission before they before they change what their plans are are saying before we take it up as a council so i guess these kinds of cases open up deeper questions for me but in this case i will be supporting thank you council member all right any other comments and i have a few myself but i'll just wait to councilman freeman thank you mr mayor i um just want to thank um council member reese for highlighting some of the comments um and kind of pinpointing some of the issue i also want to add that this this is not just a uh development that's just in the middle of a you know of flatlands this isn't a watershed and so noting that i probably if i were on council i wouldn't have approved the development the way that they were in the first place i'm trying to figure out how we do like support development in that area that is that fits that context acknowledging that magnolia point and summer medals are right there and that also is cognizant of all of the overarching push that's happening in brad town that is going to create the increase in tax rates and i want to be clear and noting that there's no way to ensure or for staff to be able to even verify that any of the housing that's developed after this passes today or in the future or what have you that those houses would be affordable so they could say that they work at 180 to 200 000 but that would easily i mean just with the pressure of cost and included with covid and just normal you know cost increase but i mean there's no way to guarantee that this would be affordable these could be 380 000 houses easily it could be 500 000 it just depends on what what the market will will hold for the the sale of those properties and so there's no way to mitigate the issue that the residents have raised and so yes i can understand that they're the owners impetus or their wish would be to make sure that those homes are sold at that right at that price but they can guarantee that and so i don't think that's a fair assumption to make that this would be affordable housing i think that's kind of misleading and so just want to make sure i make that point and then also just still on the other side of this is to say that in these watershed areas it's important to note that the flooding that's occurring is only going to increase and so the 100 year device or 100 year retention that's set up will be beneficial for that property but what are we going to do to mitigate the flooding that's already occurring the residents that are coming forward are not talking about or not saying they're against the development coming in they're saying they're against or there's a problem with traffic or there's a problem with flooding and we see this across the city and i'm really hopeful that when we do the cop plan that there will be conversations at the neighborhood levels that actually address the issues in each neighborhood differently because there's no overarching form that's going to work for every neighborhood especially with the differences in land and topography thank you thank you councilmember councilmember middleton and then councilmember race thank you mr mayor i i want to associate myself with a counselor a copieros comments i i i'm not a big fan of fiction fiction fixing structural issues on a per vote basis i think it's important that if we do recognize something is structural or systemically wrong that at some point we're going to have to go in and fix that structure or system so i want to associate myself with our comments i i have some overarching philosophical issues with with development and some views on development as well and i try very hard to balance those my overarching views on development as a whole with each case that's brought before us i also want to associate myself with the mayor pro tem's comments again about the affordability of the price points my operating assumption is that developers who are scrupulous and want to continue to do business are not going to just blatantly go the opposite direction of what they represent to us now i know there are folk out there like that but you know my my my assumption is that um they say they're going to do something you know fool me once you know shame on shame on you um so i i i i um i take very seriously what they make representations about as a business who i assume wants to continue earning profits beyond this project uh on the record to us i also take very seriously staff recommendations uh and and staff okay uh so i'm i'm again i appreciate the debate that's going on and the discussion is going on in this but i feel comfortable um again still uh supporting this uh this project again these price points are are very elusive um as derm continues to develop and uh i will you know absent any reason to believe otherwise will take at face value that the representations that this developer is made they will govern themselves accordingly uh for they won't be doing business in derm anymore we're going to get on a line and talk about it they won't be doing business anywhere else probably either uh so i i'm comfortable with um supporting this development uh this this this proposed development as presented today um so thank you mr mayor thank you council member council member race thank you mr mayor appreciate you give me the opportunity i forgot to mention one thing in the and everyone else has mentioned it so let me just talk about the pricing issue for a moment as the as the owner has said there is no developer here when a developer makes a representation about what they intend to sell the units at that's something i take stock in uh because as council member middleton said the folks are going to have to come back for us again um they understand that we expect people to abide by what they say in these meetings but this owner has no way to know what a future builder developer will charge for these homes no way they have done a market analysis of what they think the market is in that area but there is not this is not a commitment um and this is not a developer saying we're going to build these houses and sell them for x when that happens i listen to that that's not what this is i just want to make sure everybody understands that thank you mr mayor thank you council member all right anybody else council member freeman just a note to clarify i i acknowledge with um council member middleton's comment i just want to be clear was not implying that the because there is no developer not some of the developer the property owner is not inclined to try to deceive us i was just trying to say exactly what council member um reese mentioned in that there isn't a way to guarantee that that's all thank you well colleagues i have a few questions to make i mean sorry a few comments to make and i um i'm also uh this is close this is a close call um i'm going to support this but i do want to talk about it a little bit um i think that that that uh the council member reese makes a great point and which a couple of planning commissioners made as well about the fact that we don't have a developer and that is definitely a problem um i and that's what makes this hard for me um if the developer if this if the developer was here and had made these commitments this would be you know post planning commission this would be very clear that not being the case it is a close call i am given a lot more confidence honestly by the fact that mr cybers the whorebath is involved here because you all and and council member milton made this point you know you all are are are here you're well respected i have we've all dealt with you you you approved yourself trustworthy and i am absolutely sure that if you came back with three hundred and eighty thousand dollar houses on this plot you would not be welcome here again with that same level of trust so i believe that that that uh i feel confident that we can trust that and if we can't then that will be a future problem for this developer this representative um but i still get what council member reese is saying it's very important and it's trouble and uh council member cabrera mentioned it as well and i understand why this is troubling to all of us um on the other hand i do think this is uh it is an elusive price point well put by council member middleton i agree with mayor pro tem this is also if i have to pick you know an extremely high priority for me that this is it um there is density here and we want density here we're about to have a high school here the other thing that density creates eventually is transit and this is one of the things i want to say to my colleagues who voted against uh the development last time out 98 the delweb community i don't believe that we ought to be basing our votes on suburban development on the fact that they haven't got transit i think that we need to be getting transit to suburban development and 98 for example is a key quarter and i think that that's our job the other thing i think is that it'll take time i'm not pretending it's going to happen immediately uh but the other thing is that again i want to say the thing that's going to eventually create the demand for transit for mass transit in our community is density and when we have density and key corridors that's they're going to become eventually the same kind of transit emphasis quarters that we're getting halfway out 98 now or you know a third of the way out 98 now and so that's i i really i want to ask folks to be thinking about that if we move forward with other developments in terms of the the flooding i i am appreciative of the proffer but even more appreciative of what our staff has said that we will potentially be requiring a site plan have a lot of faith in our staff to do this you know we all cast a we cast a difficult vote to raise our stormwater rates and this is the kind of work that that does and that's important the the residents a couple of the residents and uh and you know miss reddick and others have raised an issue that i very much understand which is that they've been used to living in a place where there wasn't a development behind them and maybe we're not told by the people who built their houses that there would ever be a development there but that's the city we live in uh the same way that the folks in the adjoining neighborhoods had a development built where they could build their houses and live a the kind of life they want there are thousands of people moving into Durham every year and they deserve that same opportunity and this land is i think uh a good place for that i am very you know struck by the excellent comments of all of my colleagues about kind of the problematic situation that we find ourselves in and i think it's particularly problematic because of our comp plan being slowed down by covid-19 and the public engagement aspect and i really am i'm worried about it because i think that you know what council member reese council member caballero council member freeman council member everybody has talked about um we have some things that we know need changing we're working on changing them but we're we're approving developments considering developments proving them at the same time that we know that we need to have changes and so i'm gonna i'm hopeful i see miss young is here to respond to that uh which is awesome way to pop up and and i appreciate that so would you like to make some comments miss young and miss young let me just say first thank you for stepping into the breach again we're grateful to you uh to for stepping into the interim role at i mean can you believe that pat left during covid-19 it left this with you right i'm angry too but anyway would you like to make some comments about my very rambling comments yes i would thank you mr mayor and council members i just want to share that we as staff also recognize and we've been planning from the beginning of the comp plan effort to not wait till the end of the comp plan to start implementing changes there are a lot of things that we know need improvement um need a new mindset and while we very much value genuine public engagement um from everyone in our community we know all we already know a lot of problems that need to be fixed and so we have on our work program for next year which you will be seeing in the not too distant future an item to start working on some even if they end up being interim policies or interim regulations changes to the udo to go ahead and start making some changes to address some of the common issues that come before you and that the planning commission raises in addition i also wanted to share that the planning commission at a recent meeting um created a committee where they are going to be working to propose some udo text amendments of their own and so we as staff will be working with them i can imagine there's probably going to be a fair amount of overlap between things kind of on our bucket list and things on theirs and so hopefully in the not too distant future you will start to see proposals certainly joint city county planning committee would see them in the not too distant future about some things that we may want to see change sooner rather than later thank you very much um that's really helpful um that that's extremely uh good to know and i always appreciate the fact that our staff is ahead of the rep ahead of us all the time and i'm grateful for that and um you know i think the jccpc is going to have a key role to play here and um that we have we have our we're going to have hear from our staff we're going to hear from our planning commissioners who are going to be making some recommendations but i know that we're going to need the leadership of joint city county planning and looking forward to you all weighing in at the at the right times helps uh councilmember freeman thank you i just wanted to follow up on a question regarding um some of the interim changes with staff and acts if there were going to be any ideas or changes that would be implemented around developments that have already been um done so i know that uh i'm not sure if that's through planning or through storm water but i know that the issue that i keep raising around the flooding is not something that's going to change with new development and so planning is a piece of it because it would offset some of the flow of the storm water but is there anything that's going to come alongside on the already developed sites to mitigate some of the flooding that spokes are seeing that they're usually bringing to us as an issue and the new developments councilmember freeman that is a really good question i will tell you that um in the planning department we have had discussions about you know the fact that we can't retroactively apply regulations to already developed sites and that a proactive approach with our partners in public works in terms of trying to remediate or change storm water flows would be required so while we envision that that's something that will come out of a comp plan because that is a bigger effort i can't say for certain whether that's something we will be able to definitively tackle in an interim measure but that is something that is on our radar um to address thank you and i just want to note that that because it's not on our radar and because people consist consistently have to face flooding whenever there's a heavy downpour as one folks to be mindful of that when we do move forward that these cases are repetitively bringing forward the same thing in different areas of this of the whole city um that needs to be addressed thank you all righty i'm now going to ask uh if we can get a motion on this item the motion would first motion we do adopt a consistency statement move to adopt consistency statement second been moved by councilmember middleton seconded by councilmember carvillero that we adopt the consistency statement madame clerk will you please call the roll mere shul hi mere pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman nay councilmember middleton i vote aye councilmember reese no thank you madame clerk the eyes have at the motion carries four to two the second motion will be to adopt an ordinance amending the udo move to adopt ordinance second moved by councilmember middleton seconded by councilmember carvillero that we adopt the uh ordinance amending the udo madame clerk please call the roll mere shul hi mere pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman nay councilmember middleton i vote aye councilmember reese no thank you uh madame clerk the eyes have it four to two the motion passes thank you to the residents who came out today and made your concerns heard we appreciate you thank you to mr cybers and his team uh for uh being here and for making the changes you did post planning commission and we all look forward to those housing those that housing coming in at the price point that you uh pose it all right uh we'll now move on to uh uh the the third public hearing item the unified development ordinance text amendment more of a housing dwelling unit definition and we'll be hearing from staff oh thank you very much michael stock with the plane department um text amendment tc 1905 amend the current definition of affordable housing dwelling unit within uh this amended definition does three primary three things primarily uh while keeping the definition focused and consistent with federal definition of low-income housing um first it reflects differences between rental and for sale uh units um secondly allows flexibility for residents that has their income increases and thirdly and just as importantly it it ties it ties the definition to the new cleavage june michael you turn your video off michael will you turn your video off you uh you don't have enough bandwidth to get both i think maybe just go to go to audio only thank you thank you for letting me know that i will thank you can you hear me now yeah and mike could you say what you thank you could you repeat the last few uh things sentences that you said about importing with a new definition and so forth ah yes so um so i'll just back up and say that the new definition does three um primary things first it reflects uh differences between rental and for sale units secondly it adds flexibility to uh for residents when their income increases in terms of counting those units as affordable and thirdly uh it ties the definition to uh the recently adopted compliance rules and procedures uh that community development drafted and that council adopted back at june 1st the um those are the basic changes um as a reminder there are two actions that you would need to take that council would need to take first would be the consistency statement that's attachment a in your agenda packet and second would be the ordinance itself attachment b be happy to answer any questions and carol lada with community development is also here to answer questions thank you thank you mr stock colleagues you have heard the report from staff and i'm now going to declare this public hearing open uh and first i'm going to ask if there are any questions for staff by members of the council councilmember reese thank you mr mayor um michael can you talk a little bit about um the about how what the staff's response is to commissioner miller's long and detailed concerns about some of the legal drafting issues around this particular item um the best that i can summarize is that what has been drafted are legal and appropriately worded regulations um uh we the rules that we have linked them to our adopted rules and procedures um by council they are not just guidelines that a department has developed and will act on as they see fit um the draft the language itself has gone through review by the city attorney's office and they have felt that it's appropriate language so um at this point we're comfortable with what's in front of you that works for me thank you michael thank you other questions um i think councilmember freeman are you raising your hand yeah go ahead i am thank you i just wanted to follow up on that question and ask is there going like is there an understood way that this is going to be enforceable like am i missing something in the text amendment because i don't i don't see how your how will be tracked or like how the eligibility will be verified is there is like is this going through community development how is that spelled out and then yeah it yeah i mean most most of these most affordable housing dwelling units are going to be falling under if um they they go through the affordable housing uh bonus program and um as council voted on on June 1st you adopted those compliance rules and procedures that will hold uh uh property owners and and other parties accountable for that uh karen may be able to expound more on more on that but it also goes through a site plan review process to where the um initiation of that um recognition of that units are going to be by definition affordable housing dwelling units will come into play so is there going to be a way to track i guess backwards through this and then forward again because pretty much what i'm saying is that there's no body that's in place that'll be reviewing this prior to i guess after it comes out so there's no commission on affordable housing that's going to track alongside of site plan review to make sure that that's what's happening so there's no there's no public way for folks to see or understand exactly what you're getting from developers after it goes through the planning commission there's no public hearing you can't get any public input like how does that aspect work out well your affordable housing density bonus program has already been adopted by council and is within the ordinance so they would be complying through those procedures and planning in conjunction with community development will be making sure that uh any applicant is abiding by those rules and procedures established within the udo for the affordable housing dwelling unit um that the and that community development will afterwards through the compliance rules and procedures will be tracking and monitoring that and i think this is more a question for council and trying to figure out how we're going to keep track of making sure that there are more people than just the six of us or seven of us when there is a seventh member um keeping an eye on this because it does take more eyes then um to note if something is awry like how would how would complaints be filed who would like where would that go who would that go through like it would be nice if we could circle back around to figure out the public input kind of public output side of this as well which is what i which is what i drew from some of the comments from the commissioners and that this was it's it's set up and it's in place policy wise but implementation wise it leaves a lot of gaps if if i may say it's it's it's actually beyond policy at this point um the rules and procedures have been adopted um so there would be um you know if they're in violation of maintaining affordable housing dwelling units there are the violations uh that come through rules and compliance but also udo violations that would come through our own compliance uh enforcement section and will that be a report that comes in annually Karen might be able to better explain community development discussion please um good afternoon Karen Lotto community development um so currently the way this definition would be applied as as um mike indicated is in the context of the affordable housing bonus um the affordable housing bonus um basically requires affordable units and in order to do that we have to define what we as the city mean by affordable units so the affordable housing bonus um does require that the owners um or the the owners of the property that take advantage of the bonus and that are required to provide the affordable units provide information about compliance annually it also authorizes the community development department to actually physically monitor annually this is something we do in general for all of our affordable housing units that we monitor them either by reviewing files in the office or by actually physically monitoring on site um on an annual basis so we would be incorporating these units that might be created through the bonus program into the monitoring that we do on an ongoing basis for properties that we fund that are income restricted so how do we hear about it if there is a violation it's how what is the mechanism i'm looking to to is it just when you make the report um if there is a but me is there is somewhere other than calling you up that I can do um there I think this would be a system that we could set up between community development and council if council wanted to hear on a regular basis at this point we have no units that fall under the bonus um and we are even if the folks who are talking about it take us up on it we are two or three years away from having any units um so at this point there would be nothing to report but we could certainly set up a system whereby on on the intervals that council would like that community development presented an update on compliance um of of projects utilizing the density bonus or any other udo um incentive that might be created that sites the affordable definition and I just say that because in addition to the density bonus it would be nice to track back to say and it's the previous case where we're getting information that says oh we're going to do this we're going to do xyz with the property how do you track back and if community development is the arm that's able to put together a system that would be very helpful and I'm looking at my colleagues to figure out um where they all stand because I know I can't just you get a lot of decision but and I would I would just say that community development would only engage in the case where there is actually an affordable unit um involved that is that is our role to be the monitor you know the monitoring agency of affordability in in this particular situation and if you're the only yeah only on the units then how do we track the other side okay thank you thank you thank you councilmember thank you Ms Lotto are there other questions or comments all right thank you uh no one is here to comment on this item so I'm going to declare this public hearing closed and the matter is back before the council um let me just get back to that item there are two items two motions needed to approve the item first will be to adopt the consistency statement do I have a motion to adopt the consistency statement move to adopt consistency move by councilmember reese second second by mayor pro tem madam clerk will you please call the role mayor shul hi mayor pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman hi councilmember middleton i vote aye councilmember reese aye thank you thank you madam clerk the eyes have it the most and passes unanimously the second motion will be to adopt an ordinance amending the udo move to adopt ordinance second moved by councilmember middleton seconded by mayor pro tem madam clerk please call the roll mayor shul hi mayor pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman no councilmember middleton i vote aye councilmember reese aye thank you madam clerk the eyes have it five to one uh the motion passes thank you thank you thank you mr stock and now we will uh need a motion uh to go into closed session madam uh madam attorney uh can you give me the appropriate language i can mr mayor let's just hold on for one second is a motion to go into closed session for attorney client consultation pursuant to 143-3 18.11 a 3 thank you i'm not going to try to repeat that but i'm going to ask you to have a motion to go into closed session on that basis move this stated second let's let me ask it looks like the manager may have a comment no i just wanted to say and whenever we're ready probably just need to pause for a number of people to to move off the meeting that's all guys and i am waiting for tony to tell me that we are off the air okay let's let's make the vote first uh madam clerk please call the roll on going into closed session mayor schulier hi mayor pro tem johnson hi councilmember caballero hi councilmember freeman hi councilmember middleton i vote aye councilmember rice i thank you thank you madam clerk the eyes have it and the motion passes unanimously and we will move to the closed session colleagues we're going to take a five minute break so make sure that everybody is who needs to be in the room is in and everybody is not the room is not in uh and it's now 502 we'll reconvene at 507 is that okay madam attorney that sounds great mr mayor thank you thank you everybody