 X, your isennial. Mark is a solid X. Mark is a solid X, but your, your isennial. I mean, the way that they cut it out, Gen X is 10 years long. You know what else, sisters and friends? Generations don't exist. Yes, they do. They don't. Also that. Good evening, Mayor. The live stream will be starting in 30 seconds, one minute to air. Mayor, and then when we get to that point, I have a bit of an announcement to make. I will try to keep the fire from flying for my fingertips. Okay, difficult. We'll be moving slow tonight because I'm adjusting to this new zoom. Got this. You got this. It's gonna be great. Just a reminder that the live stream has started. So anything you say is now progress to be recorded on the live stream and available to the public on the live stream. We are 30 seconds from air. Thank you, Vivian. Is that a new bow tie? I don't have a problem with that being on the air. It's new to me. This does city art. This is a piece of artwork that's actually in the city that they did locally was spoon fed and a Natty network. Natty network. Nice. Nice. The open is now playing. I'd like to call the Durham city council meeting to order for this state 20th day of December, 2021 at 7 p.m. We certainly want to welcome all of you. I'm here in your beautiful city hall in attendance and we want to welcome everybody who's joining us remotely this evening as well. Please join me in a moment of silent meditation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'd now like to recognize councilwoman, Deidreana Freeman, who will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. And just asking you all to join us as I lead in the pledge. Pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you to see you now. Madam clerk, if you will please call the roll and welcome this evening. Thank you. Mayor O'Neill. I am present. Thank you. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. I'm here. Council member Caballero. Here. Council member Freeman. Present. Council member Johnson. Here. Council member Reese. Here. Thank you. And council member Williams. I'm here. Thank you. Thank you, Madam clerk. We are all present and accounted for. And so I'd like to recognize my colleagues for any announcements or comments that you may have. I see Councilman Charlie Reese who's raised his hand. And so I'd like to recognize him at this time. Happy Monday. Happy Monday, Mayor O'Neill. I just wanted to say hello to my colleagues and city staff who are on the meeting and folks watching from the comfort of their homes. I know we'd all prefer to be in our chambers tonight as we have been for the last couple of weeks, but our situation was overtaken by events. And that was the first thing I wanted to announce is that the Omicron variant has officially arrived in Durham. Our county public health department announced this morning that a number of cases of the Omicron variant to the coronavirus have been identified in Durham County. News late breaking just this evening indicates that the Omicron variant is now the dominant strain of COVID here in the United States, something in the neighborhood of over 70% of all sequenced cases are believed to be the Omicron variant. New York City, it's somewhere north of 90%. So this is obviously coming upon us very, very quickly. That's why Mayor O'Neill, I want to thank you for the display of leadership that you showed and getting us back in the virtual format for the next little while, while we all try to take care of ourselves and take care of our community. Just wanted to encourage everyone who is eligible to get a booster shot to schedule that immediately. What we have learned about the Omicron variant is that folks who have been fully vaccinated plus a booster shot are far less likely to have serious illness or need hospitalization. And so that is the very best thing that we can do along with continuing the social distance and wear masks indoors. So I just wanted to thank you, Mayor O'Neill, for your leadership and getting us to where we need to be here in Durham today. And I know there's going to be additional there. And I know that we're going to have to continue to be vigilant as this particular season wears on. The other announcement I wanted to make, Mayor O'Neill, is I'm angry tonight. I don't get angry a lot. I try to live my life, I'm pretty even keel, more or less. But tonight I'm very angry. I joined a couple of my colleagues tonight Council Member Cupier and Council Member Williams, the intersection of Buchanan and Englewood this afternoon for a press conference organized by community members who are rallying in support of tenants who live at the Braswell properties that are located at that intersection. As I'm sure you know, Mayor O'Neill, late last month, tenants were alerted to the fact that their property at which many of whom have resided in the neighborhood of 2030, 40, almost 50 years had been sold out from under them by their longtime landlord. And the new owner and the new property manager wrote to the residents telling them that they needed to vacate their homes by the end of this year. Obviously, that is very short notice in under any circumstances, but especially in a community like Durham with our soaring housing costs and at a time of year when folks should be gathered around with their families celebrating the holiday season and not suffering from the stress and strain of trying to find a new place to live here in our city. I just wanted to express, first of all, the solidarity of me and my family for the folks who are going through this excruciating experience at a time when we should be celebrating one of the great times of our year. We've made a contribution to the support of these folks we'll probably do so again tomorrow after I explain to my wife exactly how bad it is. And I encourage everyone who can to go to trinityapp.org, which is a church in the neighborhood that is offered to host the financial support for these folks, scroll down to the donate tab and search for the tenant support donation option. And that's how you can get money to help support these residents who are gonna need our entire community to put their arms around them and take care of them during what should be one of our most joyous times of year. My anger, Mayor Anil, is not just that this is happening because it is, but because it's happening as a result of what appears to me to be sheer avarice on the part of the new owners. There's no real need to kick these people out on New Year's Eve. There's no real need to force them to leave before they have found another place to stay. And these folks could easily, very easily have granted these tenants the right to continue on, to continue paying rent while they look for another place to live. They've chosen not to do that. And so tomorrow I'll be doing my best as I have over the last week or so to try to contact the new owners, to talk to them about why it's so important to let these residents stay in their homes. If I can figure out where they are, I will go to where they are and get down on my creaky 51-year-old knees and beg them to give these folks an opportunity to find new places to live. But I don't anticipate that will work because this is how the capitalist system operates with respect to housing. As my colleague, I'll just remember Johnson repeatedly tells us, this is one of the side effects of commodifying housing in this country. So all of that being said, there is community support that is being gathered for these folks. I encourage everyone who can to do that. But I was hoping that I could ask the city manager for a little bit of on the spot help, not tonight, but tomorrow in our work session. I know we've got a very quick turnaround and a long agenda tomorrow's work session. But I was hoping that we could hear just a brief summary from our neighborhood improvement services staff about what interactions the city has had with this property over the last little bit. You know, some of the residents today at the press conference told horrible stories about living conditions in these apartments. And I want to know what the city knew about those conditions and when we learned it. And more broadly, I think it moves all of us to know a bit more about how residents can report substandard living conditions and what the consequences of that reporting are. What happens next? What are the steps that go from a resident reporting a problem, like a hole in the floor, like a leaky roof, like electrical systems that are completely fried and don't work, or as is in the case of one resident that one of my colleagues spoke to today, heat that hasn't worked for the entire month of December and a refusal by the new property owner to repair that. What are the steps between a resident reporting that problem to the city of Durham and the problem being rectified? One thing that the tenants and organizers that put on today's press conference asked, there were a lot of demands of the property owner. But the one demand that made of the city is that the city deploy resources to repair these residences, bring them up to a minimum level of habitability, and then somehow build the current owner for the cost of that. One of the things I'd like to talk to our neighborhood improvements services staff tomorrow about is whether that's a thing that happens. I hadn't heard of that, but is that a thing that happens? What are the steps that have to lead from where we are today to that point? And so I just, I think that would be really helpful to me and I think to my colleagues, but also to the community at large to help them understand where the cities, how the city can get its own arms around the problem, not just for these folks, but for other residents in the city. You know, these aren't the only people in Durham that are living in substandard housing right now, but the act of reporting a violation can trigger the repair cycle that again I'd like to hear described, but also unfortunately can in many cases lead to displacement because we don't have any tools available to us to make sure that tenants can stay in their homes after these repairs. And that's the excuse that the current owner of the Braswell Properties is giving folks that what they have told the media at least is that the repairs to these properties will cost upwards of $750,000. That is a result. Yes, of course, the rent will go up. Now, again, in a perfect world, in a world where people are human beings to each other, this new owner could and still could pay to allow these residents to live somewhere else in return for the rent they are currently paying right now to live somewhere else while he repairs these units and then let them come back in and also allow them to sign long-term leases which the previous landlord did not do. That's something that the property owner could still do. And again, I'll be trying to find ways to beg them to do that in the days ahead. It's important to remember that these folks have to be out as it stands right now at the end of the year. So December 31st. So it's really, really important that as a city, that as a community, that as human beings, we do everything we can to support these folks, but also to let everyone in the community know how they can go about trying to solve these kinds of problems with their own rents and properties. I've talked a lot, Mayor Neal, and I apologize for that, but as I said, I got super angry today and I had to do something with it. This is a thing I can do and so that's what I'm doing. There'll be other things that we can do in the days ahead to try to support these folks. And I know that my two colleagues who were there, Council Member Capierre and Council Member Williams had a chance to talk to some of the residents one-on-one after the press conference. And I hope they'll share some of what they learned with us tonight as well. And that's what I had to say as far as announcements. I appreciate your patience, colleagues. Thank you, Mayor Neal. Thank you, Council Member Beast. I'm going to, at this time, ask Council Member Williams and then followed by Council Member Capierre if she'd be willing to share some of what she saw today as well. I thank you, Mayor, and good evening to you and my colleagues and the Durham community and all of our staff. So I've been going over to Brasswell Apartments for the last maybe about a week and a half or so since I first heard about it. This is the type of work that I've always done. And I'm fortunate to be on a council with others who do this type of work as well. And that's to be present. Now that's one thing that we do well. I think where my heart really broke was the first day that I was on site, there was only one resident available to speak with me. And there was a little boy just kicking the ball in the yard and asking in Spanish where his mother was or his father, when he got his mom. And I told her, I said, hey, I'm Council Member Williams, but I'm here because I'm really concerned about what I'm hearing. And you could simply express to me what's happening. And we were speaking in Spanish, but my Spanish, it's really, really bad. So her 12 year old son was translating for us. And throughout the conversation, the worst part was when a 12 year old kid had to translate to me that my mommy said, we're going to be looking for a place to live for Christmas. That is a reality that not a lot of folks in Durham are going to experience, but we know for a fact that there are some who will experience that. And that's the media, that's also the time that I immediately went into, I can't focus on what we can't do, but more so what we can do. And so that is what I'm interested in exploring from the city's coffers, to the county, to the state. I know that there are some long-term policy issues that we need to advocate for. No one should be, no one, it should never be legal for someone to get kicked out of a home in 30 days. You know, and I'm trying really hard to not let my anger, like Councilor Marisa, get in the way of this advocacy to where I'm not making the best choices of my words and so on and so forth, but it's the reality that our families in this community are facing. And I want to say that I'm present and I'm going to continue to fight and find whatever solutions there are. But I know the city is limited, or at least I've learned that the city is limited in what we can do legally right now and we're exploring what those options may be, but that does not hold our community back. So for however appropriate it is, there are families in our community that are being kicked out of their homes. And yes, there was a lady there today who's been there 50 years and there was a man there who was born there and still lives there, you know? And they were getting kicked out. They were notified November 29th. They have to be out by December 31st. And their own fixed income is low income and they can't find anywhere else. The resident that I spoke with had applied to four other places and there is nowhere that will accept, nowhere. So I don't know how we're gonna do that in the public domain, but when the situation happened at Madougal, our community came together. When the situation happened in Afghanistan, our community came together and I'm asking our community to come again, come together again for these 12 families that are in need of shelter, food and a holiday. So there are resources that we're working on getting together privately, but I am using this public space to ask the community to be present, to find out what's really going on with Roswell Apartments and let's come together and help our neighbors once again. I also took some time to just, as I'm touring the city still, and there are some folks that we've been talking about this and I think we need to keep talking about it until we do something about it. But you know, today I witnessed a few homes that had gunshot holes in them. And there are folks that are sleeping at night with one eye open and one eye closed in case they need to jump on the floor. And so I hope that we can remain sensitive to that issue as well. We see the notifications coming in well too often. So as we are exploring, as we are looking at our agenda tonight and we are making decisions on every item on there, I hope that in the background of our mind and our heart that we are remaining sensitive to some of these realities that our neighbors are facing. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Councilwoman Cabriero, would you be willing to share a little bit? Yeah, thank you. Good evening Mayor O'Neill. Good evening to my colleagues and to the Durham community. I was, as Council Member Ruiz said, I was also at the press conference earlier. Unfortunately, I remember this neighborhood from a few years ago. There's a few Latino families who have organized in the schools and many of us actually did ice watch when I stood some big raids in 2018 in the beginning of 2018. So these are folks who've been traumatized quite recently for other reasons. And what has become very apparent and I think many of us knew this already but what has happening, I think within the Latino communities folks, they don't even know they can report their landlords and be are scared to and see folks are very much taking advantage of these types of tenants. I've seen them in eviction court. They have been repairing their own units for many, many years at their own expense, living in substandard conditions. Often because of their documentation status, they cannot access the systems in place that often protect many of the rest of us and are also fearful of accessing those systems. And so I think that we are dealing with a lot of barriers that many of us on council in our community are very aware of but it never lessens the blow when you're speaking to people and you realize that people are taking advantage of them and refusing to have heat turned on for them or fix their heat or fix their electricity and there's children living in these homes. These are our community members that it's unacceptable. We need to do more both as a council, as a city and as a community. And so I appreciate my colleagues urging community members to do more for these folks and for the many folks that we know are facing eviction. I know we'll be taking up this issue again tomorrow on our workstation agenda. I know that ERAP too will be opening soon but we are in a really, really hard times community between gun violence resurgence of COVID and the housing crisis that is not getting better. I will end on one happy note just because that seemed very morbid. I wanna congratulate the new president of Chile, the youngest president in Chilean history, Gabriel Boric for an amazing victory. It was an extremely emotional night for many Chileans watching democracy continue and watching the concession which we did not get in this country when there was a presidential election last year of the candidate who did lose and just to see in a country with a history of a coup and a dictatorship that democracy will and can thrive and succeed when we do the right thing. Thank you. Is there, are there any of my other colleagues that would like to have an announcement at this time? Ligirana, councilman, councilwoman Friedman if you will please. Thank you, Mayor O'Neill. I did want to chime in and just take a point of personal, personal reference and just note, I do wanna highlight, I do think we might have missed the persons for disability month acknowledging that this month is just a testament to those folks and so acknowledging how as we layer on all of these issues around housing I wanna note that the folks who have disabilities whether they're cognitive, physical or mental are at even more risks during the holiday season and just make sure that I don't leave that point out. And then I will note that the update that I think we'll hear in January from our staff around the safety and affordable housing resolution that I brought forward would be around trying to find ways to build in our tenants rights. And so I do wanna make sure that my colleagues are chiming in with all of the kind of stories that you're hearing, the qualitative data that you're getting and trying to figure out what our city can do because it is gonna take us actually stepping outside of the box to actually address the needs of our community. You know that we did this last year with the housing authority, but I mean I've been meeting with other residents around the city and it's not limited to Braswell properties. And the fact that COVID has made it harder for property owners is also a factor. And so we can do ERAP that funds for rental but we don't have a way to address the repairs yet. And so we just need to make sure that we're covering on both sides the ways that we keep our housing affordable on keeping the repairs, the repairs in line and cost low and then also on the income side acknowledging that our folks need to be able to make money and travel. So all of those are tied together. And so just circling back, I just also wanna point to how we had the conversation prior to our new council being set about public health the public health crisis of racism. And so just knowing that these are all tied together and we have to address it not just here in our city but at the state level because the way in which our laws and regulations are put in place are meant to benefit a certain subsection of folks in our community and those subsection of folks have to be able to speak to how and why that these things need to change. And so I would love to have more conversations around how race and racism plays a part in this and also formerly incarcerated folks are facing the same types of discrimination around whether or not they can actually get into housing. And so these are our issues and going into the new year I'm excited about the work ahead. I will say that and I am grateful that you all had the chance to meet the residents of Braswell Properties and I would encourage you to meet all of the residents that have been in similar situations and just keep documenting it for our city so that folks know it. Thank you. I appreciate council member Reese, council member Reese Williams and council member Macaviero for attending the press conference. All right councilman mayor pro 10. Thank you, madam mayor. Thank you so much, ma'am. Good evening. Good evening to my friends here and colleagues and to everyone watching. I wanna thank my colleagues so much for championing this cause. When the story first broke, I was actually out of town and one of the residents, my friend Scott Cogwell contacted me about it and on behalf of the friends that I have that live there and folk that I've served actually that live there. I wanna thank my colleagues for really taking up this mantle. The reality of being a city council, we're not as powerful as people think we are sometimes in terms of being able to issue mandates and issue directives but what we do have is the power of voice and the power to convene and the power of moral suasion. And sometimes, it's that ability to bring attention to something where the real power perhaps influence I should say lies. And I wanna thank my colleagues for speaking up. Just because something's legal doesn't mean it's right. And you may have the legal right to do something but that don't make it right or moral. And I think Councilor Reese gave wonderful voice to the immorality of this. And I also want to, and for the folk that have contacted me and said what about us? We know that we're not trying to make any particular issue a cause to lab that we know there are a lot of people in our city with date-certains in their hand, with slips of paper with a date on it. And some of them are this month who are gonna be evicted who need help as well. And we want you to know that we do our work for all of you and for all of those people. And we're not going to just focus on one group and not remember others which is why we do the work of ERAP, which is why we do the work of eviction diversion and it's why we do the work that tries to address the problem as a whole. So I wanna thank my colleagues for their moral power. And this season, this is a season where many of the great faith traditions of the world focus on lights. Whatever your tradition is, it's about light because it confounds darkness and it pushes back. So I wanna thank my colleagues for the lights that they've been lifting up. Two very quick things that they've already been touched on. So I don't need to spend long. I'm gonna thank, I have my word of thanks to Harana the mayor for your leadership and bringing us to this place, this virtual environment. For those that have been in our inbox and in my inbox, this is not theater. This is not alarmist. We are not trying to shut the city back down or take us back down a road of economic ruin. But I hope that these actions taken by the mayor and the council, which are really continuing Durham's leadership, Durham's national leadership. We were one of the first cities in the state to pull back and to say, listen, we need to protect life. And Durham led in this state in terms of our response to this pandemic based upon science and empirical evidence and sensible action and we're leading against. I wanna thank the mayor for that and say that this is not, as I said about being alarmist, but I hope that the actions of the council and the actions of the mayor will convey how serious we need to take where we are now. We don't wanna go back to 2020. So we need to take it seriously. If you're eligible to get the vaccine and you haven't got the vaccine, please get the vaccine. And if you're eligible for the booster, please get boosted. No matter what happens, you are in better position to deal with this pandemic vaccinated than not vaccinated. You will be in a better position to deal with it. So while we are in this place, we want to say that this is a signal of how serious we're taking this as a city, how serious our mayor is taking this. This is not for us to move backwards. This is to ensure that we can keep moving forward and to build upon the progress that we've made. So I wanna thank her honor the mayor for her leadership and for my colleagues who've already acknowledged that. And finally, Council Member Williams touched on it. I wanna, I know on behalf of all of us and our heartfelt thoughts and love to folks that have been victimized even within the last 72 hours by gunfire in this city as if COVID wasn't enough, and Omicron wasn't enough. We continue to be plagued by gunfire. The good news is that Durham still makes the list. Durham is still the it city where everybody wants to live. We still are, you know, second best place to live in the country. But we know those of us that actually live here know that we can't say who are too much while so many of our residents and friends and neighbors are living under the scourge of gunfire. So as we move into the new year, I'm excited about us redoubling our efforts and us focusing on strategies, both within city hall and within the community at her honor has already begun discussions with folk in the city to bring the bear all of our ingenuity and creativity to deal with the scourge upon our city. And it is a scourge. We will not allow that narrative to overtake the narrative that we're all proud of the Durham. But if we don't do something, it will overtake it. So I want to again, send out love and light to those families that have been victimized to those whose lives have been lost to those who've been traumatized by gunfire who continue to be traumatized by gunfire and just re echo or echo that we continue to be focused on it. It continues to be top of mind for us. And we can walk and chew gum at the same time as we deal with Brad as well as we deal with poverty as we deal with those that are facing eviction. We will also deal with gunfire. We must because we're Durham. And when bull comes along, we take it by the horns and we pull it down. So thank you so much, Madam Mayor. Thank you colleagues, God bless Durham. I want to thank you all. And I want to add my comments as well to some of the things that we've talked about. I think about two weeks ago around this time we were being sworn in and I was being sworn in and tonight is a very different kind of night for us in this city. We're on the verge of a major holiday that's supposed to be full of joy and happiness and waiting for a new birth for those of us who believe. And even during this time for those of us who don't believe this is a time for taking a break and having a holiday. But it's not like that for everyone. And we see it on so many fronts. I have to thank my colleagues for giving me and allowing me the space to catch up. In two weeks, I know just enough to make a mess if I move wrong. And so I try to take a very measured approach trying to listen to as many experts, especially the six I have around me that sit beside me and the two ladies that sit on my left hand and my right hand as well as those experts of you out in the community before we make a move. I like collaborative leadership where everybody has a say and every voice counts. But at the end of the day, I know that certain things will last or fall on me and I'm willing to shoulder that. But in the COVID situation, we've had a couple of my colleagues who've come forth to help bring me up to speed along with people in the public health arena. And it is for that expertise that I am grateful for and that I rely upon to make these very difficult decisions, but these decisions are based on the reality of wanting people alive and safe to the extent that the government can. And so now we're back on virtual and I will continue to learn more and more about this virus that is now plaguing us. Be that it is me as an individual, I'm boosted, have been. And everybody in my family, I'm encouraging to do the same thing because I do know that this is the same government that produced the vaccines that allowed me as a judge not to catch the flu every year. It's the same government that produced the vaccine that I've never had measles or any other childhood diseases. It's the same government. And while it may not be perfect, it has within its realm and reach medical scientists and doctors whose very aim and calling is to keep us safe and well. And so I will continue to listen to that government that has gotten me to almost 60 years of age safely in careers that have allowed me to touch people from all walks of life. So I would encourage you to look back on what it has done for you in the health arena in terms of vaccinations. When I think about the housing issues, it was just so interesting that I was having a meeting today with Anthony Scott of our Housing Authority just asking him some general questions. Another area that I have to catch up on and that I know just a little bit. I like to ask questions just to see where our community has been. So I asked him during the McDougal crisis, how many private property owners who had large development, small developments who came and asked you or offered their help. He called one name and he said that he would have to go back and research it, but only one name came to mind. To me, my heart dropped then because if we don't begin as people to see other people, if we don't begin to know who our neighbors are, we're always gonna be in the reactionary mode of trying to put together the broken pieces of people's lives. We should never be in a position where we're telling people at Christmastime or any other holiday that they're getting ready to move out. That means you're not seeing people. Do you know where a Roshiel manor is? Do you know where a Bluefield is? Do you know where a heart side is? Do you know where people are living off of Juniper? Have you seen them? We've gotta be able to see people. Not as things, not as UFOs that have landed in the middle of our communities. It's so often when you think about gangs and gun violence, we put those labels on them and it's like they just kinda land in our neighborhoods. They're not UFOs. They're not unidentified flying objects. It just kinda happen. There are situations and things that we can control and we can control it better if we just see people and be willing to help. We cannot continue to have the tale of two dirhams and you can look at your main street and you can see that's what you have. These crimes are not happening in a vacuum. They're happening for a reason and a lot of times it's rooted in housing instability. And the government cannot provide enough housing to handle the problem. And we cannot as individual city council members or the city council fix it all. I have gotten, I know 200 emails or more in the last couple of days with suggestions on how to fix it and I'll pose it the same way that I posed it to the business community. When you ask me or ask us, what are we gonna do about violent crime again? I'm gonna pose that question back to you. What are you willing to do about housing? What are you willing to do to help? This is a community effort. It's gonna take that. If we are going to move things in a better direction for all of us. So none of us who have a decent house should sleep well tonight and comfortable. When we know we have these families who are about to be put out and now with that we will move to our next order of business. The first order of business we have are our priority items and I will recognize our city manager for her priority items, manager Paige. Madam manager, we can't hear you or I can't hear you. All right, thank you. Can you hear me now? Yes, ma'am. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Pro Tem and members of the Durham City Council. I would first like to respond this evening to the request to have our staff from the community building portfolio, specifically the neighborhood improvement services department come and speak at our work session tomorrow around our housing code as well as any strategies or information surrounding the properties that have been discussed this evening along with just general information for our community to know what to do in instances where there's substandard conditions in housing that is rental property that they're living in. So we will be prepared to make some remarks tomorrow at the work session and respond to questions. I also have two priority items for you this evening. Agenda item number nine, the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30th of 2021. A presentation was received at the December 9th, 2021 City Council Work Session. And finally, agenda item number 13, award of service contract to EMA Resources Inc. for handling and disposal of water and wastewater treatment plant bio solids. Attachment number five, the contract was updated to specify a five year contract period in section three and section five was revised to include the annual adjustment of unit prices based on the consumer price index. These contract revisions do not change the total contract amount. That is all I have for you this evening. Thank you. Down to your page. And now we'll recognize our city attorney for any priority items. Good evening, Madam Mayor, Mayor Pratton Middleton and members of the city council. It's good to see you all. The city attorney's office has no priority items this evening. Thank you, Attorney Reaper. And I now turn to our city clerk for any priority items. Also, my teacher. Good evening, everybody. The city clerk's office has no priority items tonight. Thank you. All right. The ladies and gentlemen of the public, the next order of business is our consent agenda. The consent agenda consists of items that the council has previously considered in a work session. All items on the consent agenda may be approved by a single vote of the council. Items may be removed from the consent agenda by a council member or a member of the public. And those items will be considered separately at the end of the meeting tonight. I will now read to you the title of each consent item on the consent agenda, which would be number nine, the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2021. Number 10, Laura Barker Company Foundation grant award to support Durham's guaranteed income pilot. Number 11, roadway safety improvements on Holloway Street, which is Highway NC 98, Atlanta Road. Number 12, the award of a construction contract to classic protective coatings ink for the 2021 water tank maintenance project. Number 13, the award of service contract to EMA resources ink for handling and disposal of wastewater and wastewater treatment plant biosolids. Number 14, the award of a service contract to HydroMaxUSA LLC for the Valve Auditing Program Project. Number 17, the Tile River land conserver, why can I never say that word? Conservancy, Bombeck Nouse Farm Wardship Protection Project authorization to fund. Number 18, the Triangle Land Conservancy, Terry Rowe Farm Wardship Protection Project authorization to fund. Number 19, the appointment of a finance officer, deputy finance officer and tax collector, collector of revenue. Number 20, a group purchase contract, 29, Mark, police sedans. Number 21, the contract renewal will Exxon Enterprise Incorporated for police body one cameras and in-car cameras. Number 22, the contract with Mars and McDaniel Ink to conduct promotional testing and assessment services. Number 23, the revisions to the Northeast Creek residential septic to sewer cost share project. Now I would like to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So moved. Second. Okay. All right. It has been moved by, I think that was Councilwoman Freeman and seconded by Councilman Williams. And now are we ready for the vote? If so, I would ask our Madam Clerk to please call the roll. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro Tem Middleton. I will die. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Thank you. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. And Councilmember Williams. Aye. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The ayes have it and the consent agenda is approved unanimously. We now turn our attention to to our item number 27, which is a zoning map change at 518 Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway. And we, this public hearing is a zoning case. And so we will now receive our report from our staff. Thank you very much, Michael Stock with the Planning Department. Good to meet you. Mayor O'Neill and Councilmember Williams for the first time. So looking forward to future presentations and this is very exciting. Thank you. As you recall, this case was presented and heard at your December 6th, council meeting and was continued to this date. As a reminder, the request is a zoning map change from Coulter Jules Thames for one parcel located at 518 Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway of approximately just over nine and a half acres. The site is currently a zone commercial general with a development plan or CGD and is within the suburban development tier. The applicant wishes to change the zoning to residential suburban multifamily also with a development plan or RSMD for up to 173 apartments. The planning commission at their October 12th meeting did vote for recommendation of approval of seven to five. And there are two motions before you tonight if you wish to tackle them. The first motion is to adopt an ordinance for the zoning request. And the second motion is to adopt the appropriate statement of consistency as required by general statutes 160D-605. One note of correction for the plan that's in front of you tonight. There is a commitment number three under the text commitments regarding a variance for a landscape buffer that is a remnant note that is no longer needed. And they are handling their buffers accordingly on their proposed conditions page. Thank you very much. Staff and the applicant team are available for any questions. Thank you so much, Mr. Stowe. I appreciate that. You have heard the report from staff and I am now going to declare this public hearing open. First though, are there any questions for staff from members of the council? All right, councilman Reese, if you would, please. Thank you, mayor and Neil. Good evening, Mr. Stock, I have a quick question. Maybe it's not so quick. Can you help me understand what the applicant is able to do with the property today? What does the current zoning allow the owner to build as it sits right now? Right now, a place of worship. It was rezoned to accommodate a place of worship and is still owned by, I believe, the Methodist Church. OK. Does the current, does the, so there is an existing development plan to that effect? Right. Does that development plan limit, for example, the number of trees that could be taken down in order to build that place of worship or the attendant facilities that went along with it? I'm aware of. I don't believe that there were additional commitments. I would have to take a look at the attachment. If you give me one second, the legacy development plan here, let me pull that up and scroll. There it is right there. Yes, we did include. We did include sometimes. Sometimes we don't. So no worries. Let me take a look at the committed development plan elements. Let's see. The use shall be limited to a place of worship. OK. The 10% minimum tree coverage requirement shall be satisfied by tree preservation. That is the current minimum tree coverage requirement. Great. OK. That's that's my question. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Thank you. Councilwoman Freeman, I think I saw your hand raised as well. Thank you. Actually, my question was similar to Councilmember Reese's. But I just wanted to kind of just ask in a more general sense, have we been seeing cases because I can't recall one, cases where we're changing from commercial to residential more frequently? I don't think we've seen any trend one way or the other. We've actually there was just a case that went to Planning Commission that is also changing part of their site from commercial general to a PDR, which is a plan development residential. So it's not an uncommon occurrence. And then just just an internal question. Does do planning staff have a criteria or a way to kind of check and balance against if there's if there is a commercial property and they're switching to residential? I guess like the format that you're using to say in this case, on Fayetteville Street, a church in that area wouldn't create as much of a kind of I guess traffic on a regular consistent basis as a housing development. Is there a mechanism or I guess a tracking that kind of talks directly to that? Yes, the transportation analysis that's in your agenda packet does do a compare and contrast. And I believe it is attachment eight transportation of school impacts. And it does a compare and contrast done by the transportation department of the current designation and allowed use and what is proposed. This one's pretty straightforward because the development plan that's currently on the site is very specific in terms of it's it would have to be a place of worship. So there's not a lot of estimating going on there. But except for the size, but other than that, they do a compare and contrast as you as you described. Not exactly, but yes, I hear you. So if there were a way to add a compare and contrast around specifically traffic accidents that are occurring, that would be in this area. Traffic accidents, I'm not quite sure. That would be a police department report. But I don't know of a traffic accident rating, and maybe Bill Judge from Transportation has more insight on that. But are you looking for a comparison as to what could possibly be it caused traffic incidents compared to what's there now? Yes. OK, I'm not aware of what could generate that, but maybe there is something I'm just not aware of that. Council Member Freeman, I can try to answer that question if you'd like. I mean, anytime you generate more traffic, particularly at busier times, peak hour traffic, AMPM with a residential use, you are likely to increase the likelihood of vehicle crashes, the more traffic. But we don't have any standards or estimates that we could provide as to what that would result in. Church use is likely going to generate very few trips during the AMPM peak hour, where most of the trips would likely be Wednesday evenings, Sunday mornings during when the adjoining streets have much lower volumes. And I guess that's helpful because the AMPM peak hour kind of measure is a good way to determine the difference. Yeah, that was all. Just keep listening. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this matter from the council? We'll now turn our attention to our public speakers for that. I'm sorry. Sorry, I was using this little hand raised thing here. OK, thank you. Go ahead. Yeah. So question, maybe Mr. Judge, you can answer this. The infrastructure for transportation in that area, would you say it can or will it strain the traffic? I know there's some new construction going on over there with the roads and expanding it. Would it fit that capacity? Are we OK there? Yes, Bill Judge Transportation. I should have introduced myself before answering Councilmember Freeman's question. But the Fayetteville Road has recently been widened. I think the bulk of the construction is now finished. There's still just a little bit of minor or minor work left. But with that additional roadway capacity, there are no capacity issues on either Fayetteville Road or Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway at this time. Thank you. All right. Now we're going to turn our attention to those who have signed up for our public speakers for this. And I have and I want to just make sure that I have everyone before we speak to them. I have Dan Jewel who will be speaking as an opponent. Bernice Johnson as a proponent. Mr. James Bradford as a proponent. Mr. Mark Gallifanakis as a proponent. And Wendy Ramston as a proponent. And I also understand that Jackie Wagstaff is also there. And I'd ask if she is speaking to this item as well and if she will be speaking as a proponent and anyone else who may be out there as well. Madam Mayor, those are the five that I have as well. OK. All right. I will ask that each speaker be given three minutes to speak, and we will start first with Mr. Dan Jewel. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Can you hear me all right? Yes, we can. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you, and as well, good evening to Mayor Pro Tem Middleton and other members of the city council. I am Dan Jewel of Coulter Jewel Thames. We are located here at 111 West Main. We are the applicants for the project. Therefore, obviously a proponent. We've been asked by our clients to help them with this rezoning request and to tell you a little bit about it. Also with me this evening is the project manager, landscape architect in our office, Wendy Ramston, and our clients, James Bradford and Mark Galifonakis, as you mentioned. Mark, Wendy, and James are here to answer questions. I will be giving the presentation. They will not be doing the presentation and don't need to speak, but they will be helping me answer any questions you might have. In advance, we'd like to thank the planning department for the very thorough presentation that they did two weeks ago and this evening and for all their assistance on the application to date. As we stated, we are requesting a rezoning to residential suburban multi-family with a development plan, which allows up to 18 units to the acre, 473 apartment units. The current CG zoning was put in place for the place of worship, as previously mentioned. The church that owned it has found another location and hopes to be able to sell this parcel to help them with retiring their mortgage on the new location. What this proposal offers for Durham is more desperately needed housing and not just housing that is auto-centric. We are directly adjacent to the American Tobacco Trail and have committed to building a direct connection to it so residents of this community can walk, jog, or bite to points north and south. There are existing dedicated bike lanes on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard directly in front of the property. And we are within a five to 10 minute walk to stop on three separate bus routes on Fayetteville, Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, and Cornwallis. We are within walking distance to restaurants, parks, aloes, and Pearson Town Elementary School. And further, we are within a mile of Hillside High and a short bike or bus ride to drug stores and grocery stores. In other words, there are numerous mobility options for getting to the places people want and need to go other than using their car. Perhaps more so than the other suburban location that I have looked at. I'd also like to speak just a little bit about our clients and the type of community that they would like to create. Mark Gellifanakis is a Durham native. And many of you may know that his family has deep roots in Durham going back to the early part of the last century. James Bradford has lived in Durham nearly half his life and been involved with building small residential projects over those years. What Mark and James are not, though, are big regional or national developers. Rather, they want to create what is a rather modest size apartment community not targeted toward the top of the market. Very unlike most of what you see being built in Durham today. And because they were able to get the land under contract for a reasonable price and will not be building fancy amenities like dog parks, pools, spas, community center, et cetera, that have become standard with the bulk of new luxury apartments being built, they instead want to build these apartments and market them for rents typically below what you see today. These cost savings will help them to do so. And I think just as important, they intend to build, hold, and manage this community for many years to come. For these reasons, we would respectfully request that you follow the Planning Commission's recommendation and fight fit to approve our request. Thank you for your time. And that concludes our team's presentation. Thank you so much for that. I also ask if Ms. Bernice Johnson is available for her comments. And then we will have, I think Mr. Jane, I'm sorry. I'm here, Bernice Johnson. Hi, Ms. Johnson, you have three minutes to speak now. I'm doing great this evening. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor, and members of the City Council. My name is Bernice Duffy Johnson. Ms. Johnson, are you still there, ma'am? Yes, I am. Can you hear me? Well, you dropped off for a little while, if you would just start over. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. I think you're gonna have to pick one device if you're listening to the broadcast and trying to talk at the same time, yeah. Let me try back with the computer. What is happening? I could not, I could not, I could not, I could not. Now I think Ms. Johnson, we see one, if you would, well, you're back on on, you have two devices on. Yeah, I've got it corrected now. Okay, thank you. You may start whenever you're ready. I am very sorry. Good evening, Mayor O'Neill, and members of the City Council. My name is Bernice Duffy Johnson, and I am the lay leader and a member of the trustee committee for a new creation United Methodist Church. New creation United Methodist Church is an intentionally integrated and welcoming community that seeks new life in Jesus Christ through radical discipleship, worship, reconciliation, hospitality, and justice in our Durham community. Our worship and meeting space is located at 4705 Old Chapel Hill Road in Durham, North Carolina. Our church owns the property being considered for rezoning, and I am here tonight to support this effort. We have been working with the rezoning applicant, Mr. James Bradford, for three years on this transition of ownership, and look forward to his development of the property. When the church found an existing facility to purchase instead of building from the ground up on this site, we needed to sell this property. We had several interested buyers, and the church leadership was most interested in Mr. Bradford's plans for the property because he is local to Durham and plans to build quality new housing for working people in Durham. Additional quality housing is needed in our city. The proceeds from this sale will help pay off mortgage on our new home on Chapel Hill Road and enable us to fund the continuation and expansion of our church's mission. We understand the concerns about traffic patterns at the site of the new development. I live five blocks from the rezoning site, and over the years have experienced increases in traffic along Martin Luther King Junior Parkway and Fayetteville Road. An increase in development brings with it an increase in people and travel. This is a sign of progress for our community. It also means an increase in revenue for the city of Durham. We hope that you will vote in favor of this rezoning request, and we thank you kindly for your consideration of this request. Thank you so much, Ms. Johnson. We appreciate your comments tonight. We'll now move to Ms. Wendy Ramson. I believe she's up to speak as well. Hello, Ms. Ramson, we can hear you. And I may be mistaken. You may have been a part of the supporting team. If so, that's fine. And I don't need to speak tonight. Unless you have a specific question for me. I'm sorry, we had a little trouble hearing your response. Madam Mayor, she said that she's on the applicant team and doesn't need to speak unless we have a question for her. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Johnson. I appreciate that. I believe we still have one person, Ms. Wagstaff. Did you want to speak to this issue? See your hand raised. All right, I believe our clerk will be unmuting you in just a second. Madam Mayor, Mrs. Wagstaff has been unmuted. All right, Ms. Wagstaff, you will unmute yourself. I think you will be able to speak and you have three minutes. I see her hand has gone down. Just want to give you a second or two more to make sure I'm not missing anything. As you know, this is my second meeting presiding. Okay, I see your hand is going up. I believe you are able to speak now, Ms. Wagstaff. If you would, you have about three minutes. But you have to unmute yourself, I believe, at this point. Madam Mayor, if she's having trouble without the chat function, there's no way to see it. Right, Ms. Child City Clerk, driver, if you could, has she been unmuted from your end? Yes, she has, Madam Mayor. Okay, then it will be on her. And I don't want to not allow anyone to speak. So, can you try star six? Ms. Wagstaff to see if that will help. Hello? Okay, there we go. We can hear you now. Madam Clerk, I must apologize because I didn't get any, normally I get a message to ask which item I would like to speak on, but I was not planning on speaking on this item tonight. So, just to be apologetic, since I didn't. So, I just want to say that I'm okay with not having anything to say and thank y'all for acknowledging me, but I don't have anything to say on this item tonight. Thank you, Ms. Wagstaff. I appreciate you. Are there any others that I have missed or overlooked? I think we covered everybody on our list. Any, anybody else that I missed? Madam Clerk. Madam Mayor, you've covered everyone tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much. I now declare the public hearing to be closed and the matter is back before the council. Now we will, we have two motions before us this evening and we will take them beginning with motion number two, second motion. I believe is the correct way to do this. If it is not, please correct me at this time. Madam Mayor, I have a few questions just for staff, just hearing the comments from our speakers. All right, we will open the floor up. I am sorry for questions from council at this time. Thank you, Councilman Freeman, you have the floor. Definitely, we're a team here. We're all working together and it's all good. I just really wanted to check back. I'm trying to see, but I couldn't really tell if there's an opening from Cornwallis into this site. Let me take a quick look, but there I'm, I don't like to go off of memory. So let me just quickly go off, but there is no connection to Cornwallis directly from this site. The access points would be from Martin Luther King and also potentially from I believe industry lane. And I just, I just wanted to ask staff if there was any reason why you were shifting towards industry lane as opposed to Cornwallis? They don't have frontage along Cornwallis. The industry lane I believe does run to Cornwallis, but it also looks like there's a right-of-way and I couldn't tell if that was just by happenstance. So that whole side on the, on the right side of that. That's industry lane. Okay. Mr. Stock, this is Dan Jewel. I can, I can help answer that a little bit and clarify if that's okay. That would be appreciated. Great, great. So our clients did purchase the adjacent property which does a but industry lane. They will be building a road that connects from this proposed multifamily community to industry lane. And of course, once cars get to industry lane, they can either go down to Martin Luther King, Junior Boulevard and make a left turn on the Martin Luther King, which they cannot from the frontage of the site because there's a median or they could go up to Cornwallis and access Cornwallis as well. So we did that on purpose just so there'd be good traffic distribution and not everybody having to just come out and make a right on MLK. Thank you, Mr. Jewel. That helps a lot. Thank you. I will just note a comment and saying that I do have concerns about the switching this site to residential, knowing that there's very little commercial area there around specifically a grocery store or like amenities for folks that are in this area. And just know that this is a large opportunity to actually have something more commercial in that area. I do want to just raise that point. And then I'm open and amenable to the affordable housing or the workforce housing conversation, but I do want to know if any funds have been made available for our affordable housing fund. And Dan Jewel, excellent question, Councilman Freeman. And I have, we have discussed this with our client and they are very happy to contribute $50,000 toward Durham's affordable housing fund. That's the same amount that was proffered by the Rosewalk community that you approved last month. But this project will have about a half a number of units with Rosewalk. So we're happy to provide $50,000 to that fund. I appreciate that. Thank you. Those are my questions. Are there any other questions from Councilwoman Johnson? Thank you, Madam Mayor. Also on the subject of proffers, wanted to ask about whether your clients would be willing to make a proffer to the Durham Public Schools for the 37 additional students that this project is projected to generate. Yes, Dan Jewel again. Thank you, Councilman Johnson. Yes, they are quite happy to provide the standard $500 for additional school child that would be generated by this project. So we will make that a proffer, $500 per additional student. Thank you, Mr. Jewel. I appreciate both of those proffers. I also had a quick question for staff, just something that wasn't clear in our report. There's an attachment that's labeled attachment seven community goals and objectives that is a template that y'all have been giving to us and these rezoning cases, but doesn't appear to have any information in it or maybe it's been updated. I tried to refresh, but it just looks like it's just the template without any answers. Can somebody help me with that? I am looking at that same template on my computer and it does have the responses on it. So I'm wondering if it's, it looks like it's a PDF issue. Okay. Do other, Carol, you don't have responses. Okay. We'll look into that and hopefully get that resolved. Okay, thanks. That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you so much. Are there any other of my colleagues, councilmen, Mayor Pro Tem Middleton, if you will, please, sir. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, colleagues for your great questions. Firstly, in any interest of full disclosure, this is my practice, these are friends of mine from New Creation, United Methodist Church. I know that one of the constituents feeding organizations was a former Asbury Temple, United Methodist Church, which occupied that beautiful historic building on Austin Avenue. That was one of the feeder back when it was led by Shane Benjamin, who's a dear friend of mine and I have many friends in New Creation. So I just want to, you know, that that's having any bearing on my decision, but I do want to at least disclose that, many of these folks are familiar to me. I plan on supporting this rezoning for a couple of reasons. One, I found the Planning Commission remarks very helpful. Congratulations on getting an approval from our Planning Commission, although it was seven to five, it, the fact that they did approve it, I think it is something noteworthy. But I did think the comments in the Planning Commission's reports do kind of give voice to some of the balance we have to strike as a city moving forward, but it also I think gives voice to a part of the discussion that sometimes goes silent. We tend to talk about either affordable housing on the low end or ultra luxury housing on the high end. And oftentimes I don't think we talk about enough workforce hire or housing or folk who are somewhere in the middle to North Carolina Central graduates or Durham Tech graduates or partners who are combining two incomes who may not be able to get a $600,000 house that may not qualify for low income housing but who are right there in the middle. And I think that's an important niche that we need to be addressing in the city. And I think that this particular complex does that. I'm pleased with the proffers that the folk, the developers have made. I also do, I do get excited when I see developers that are local and germane to Durham who are trying to be reflective of our values and the products that they offer us. I did, I also, the council member Johnson was looking at the goals and objectives thing as well. Mine looked kind of blank too, but I did see a note on the staffs, the staff report that 16 of the 17 community goals and objectives were met. So I assume that they were met notwithstanding the blank looking pages on my report. So I'm gonna take the staff at their word. But I do appreciate the attention being given to this particular niche of workers, of Durham workers and Durham residents who aren't ballin' out of control at the high end but who aren't in the 30% AMI range either who need this type of housing. So I look forward to approving this development and I wish the folk from New Creation the best wishes as they move forward. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilor Maurice, then Councilman Williams. Ballin' out of control on the high end is what I'm gonna write down. I'm gonna keep that one. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. I always learn a lot from you. You're a great conversation partner that way. I'm also gonna be supporting this measure tonight. I agree with everything the Mayor Pro Tem said. It was actually great. Thank you for kind of weaving us back down through the pedigree of this particular faith community. It was really, really great walk down memory lane. The only thing I wanna add to the excellent marks of the Mayor Pro Tem is to say that this is the second project in a little while that's been maybe the third. This is one of a handful of projects in my time on the council that have been directly adjacent to the American Tobacco Trail. And my colleagues will not be surprised to hear that I have frequented this particular stretch of the American Tobacco Trail many, many, many times. The last time we had a project like this, the former Mayor Steve Shul and I gave the developer kind of a hard time about their proposed proximity to the trail, the need for a better buffer, thanks mostly to the Mayor Shul giving the developer a pretty hard time. The developer was willing to step up and create a buffer that I guess I mostly lived with. This buffer is much, much better right out of the gate. And so I just wanna thank the applicant for your concern for this real jewel of Durham. That particular stretch is already hampered by a large roadway on the one side. And so having plenty of trees on the other side of the trail reinforces that kind of perspective that that particular stretch of the trails, it's a great straightaway. The trees hang overhead. It really is a beautiful spot. And while I would love to have kept that particular parcel wooded on Infinitum, as we mentioned, the question is that I asked before the opening of the public hearing might have indicated there's really nothing that we could do at this point to prevent a number of those trees from being taken even under the existing zoning. A significant amount of those trees could be taken. And so if that's gonna happen, the project, if the parcel is gonna be developed, let's make sure number one that it benefits the city and we haven't seen a new multifamily project like this in some time, which is fantastic. And as the Mayor Pro Tem mentioned, it's that we hope and believe that the applicant tells us it's gonna be at a good price point for folks in our city. And it carefully stewards the American tobacco trail directly chasing to it in a way that I think reflects our values and trying to keep that, the very special amenity that it is for so many folks in our city. The only other thing I wanted to mention is that there are lots of places in Durham where I think traffic is a real concern. This intersection is absolutely positively not one of them. If you were gonna put up, if we were gonna jack up traffic and extra 1,000 car trips a day, as much as I hate to do that, this is one of the spots where it will barely be noticed. But the great thing about this intersection and the fact that it is so busy is that it has a great proximity to a number of transit opportunities for folks to get around without a car. That's something that we've been talking about for quite some time. One of the things that the planning commission has made a top priority of theirs, which I suspect is one of the reasons why this project was successful. The last thing I want to say is that the prospect of a local development or developer is great, as the mayor for Tim said, but the idea that you would have a local developer who would be building a multifamily project near transit, near the American Tobacco Trail and that they intend to keep, hold and operate it. I don't think I've ever seen that. I don't think I've seen that in Durham yet. And so that's really hitting a lot of targets. It keeps that rent money right here in Durham. And we know that these folks are gonna be building it to own it long-term, which is a fantastic way to ensure that they're putting thought and an intention behind what they're putting, we're bringing it out of the ground. All of which is a long way of saying, I agree with the mayor of pro 10 and I'm gonna vote for it. Thanks. Councilman Williams. You know, I pretty much everyone said what I was gonna say. So thank you guys for still all my thoughts. You know, I look at this from an economic, through an economic lens and it does check off many of the boxes, you know? And I just want to say, I believe that this is a new day. I believe this is how we do it. You know, actually there was a grocery store not far from there and we lost it, you know? And this is a really diverse neighborhood. It's this MLK strip. It's a very diverse residential area and I think it has a lot of potential and we do want to balance, you know, retail with residential to make sure folks have access to be able to shop and spend and expand our tax base. You know, but often as we, as many of us know we have a lot of self-inflicted wounds when it comes to zoning and developing and growing the city. I think this is how we own that growth. I think this is how we do it, you know? So anytime that there's a local developer who lives in Durham, raised in Durham, knows the ways of Durham and give a dig about Durham and want to make sure that they're building in the best interests of Durham, I will most definitely support. This is how we do it. So thank you for preserving, you know, our local culture here and the ways of Durham. I'm looking forward to supporting and I'm hoping that we can look at this as, you know, building a template, you know, or at least starting a basis or whatever we're moving forward and that others will take heed and learn from this in a perfect world, I guess I should say. So thank you to the applicants and thanks for the collaboration with the current owners of the property. And I'm looking forward to supporting it. Thank you, Councilman Williams. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Carvera. I was about to call on you and ask you to please make some comments. I learned from you all and so it really helps me to begin into the mindset of how we approach those issues. So please have some comments. Thank you. Good evening. I also will be supporting this rezoning. I think it's an excellent site. I appreciate the proffers. I know those were some of the questions that our planning commission had and I particularly appreciated a planning commissioner. I'm pulling it up right now. Apologies. Cut right. I think what he spoke to there, the tension we do face with development, but then thinking about the workhouse and while I know there's not a clear definition, I think Commissioner Durkin also spoke to that, not having a clear definition of what workhouse developed, workhouse, workforce housing is, excuse me, the fact that these folks are trying to put it at a price point that is much more affordable than what we're seeing in Durham is really important. It's helpful. The connectivity is also helpful. And I'm glad that the last two rezonings, this one in Rosewalk were both local developers. It's important. And I think that we get better products because they are from Durham and they know what we need. I thank you all for that. You know, the last time we were together on this particular item, I'd ask that it be postponed to allow for Council Williams and I to get a little bit more education. Since that time we have been briefed more by the planning department and I also have gone to New Electors School with the UNC government on Thursday and Friday so I just have just a little bit more knowledge but I do recognize the expertise that I have around me who've done with these types of things and I sort of pluck their brains a little bit to kind of get me in a mode. And the general public as to how we think, how we consider these issues and how much it weighs on each of us. So I appreciate them being willing to share kind of their thought processes tonight with you all and with me as well. So I've struggled in this arena. These are hard decisions. Once you make a decision to put housing somewhere, you know that that's going to probably outlast our tenure in these seats. So you want to make sure that you're making good decisions for generations to come. And so in that particular area, we're concerned like we are in our areas of Durham or making sure that we have balance in those areas that you have retail in those areas that you have people of all kinds of incomes being able to access the things that they need to do to go about their everyday lives. So I'm grateful that they have provided those explanations to us all and I've done my homework and I too will be supportive of this. I've wrestled with it before at the last meeting because a lot of these things we really didn't understand but the fact that you have a local developer is a great thing, you know, that's a great win. The fact that this is going to hit some of the middle the middle ground where we've sent a lot of growth in Durham where it's been high end and we are struggling to make sure that we can cover things on the lower socioeconomic end but the middle, the average one, we also have to look out for them. So this seems to address it. My only reservation is what others have mentioned and that is the amount of retail around it and whether we'll be able to be able to support folks who have to walk back and forth to get to the grocery store or on a bus line but even cover some of that. So thank you all for that. And I think unless, okay, I think we do have two other hands. I think councilwoman Freeman and councilwoman Johnson's hands went back up. So we will please allow you all to speak at this time. I guess I'm first. I just wanted to track back and just know, I appreciate my colleagues comments on this case and I can agree that it's a great opportunity. I do want to also just know that the opportunity can be missed if we're not tracking. And so I do want to make sure that staff is figuring out a way to make sure that we're tracking these locations. So the shift from commercial to residential and our comprehensive conversation and then also workforce housing without a definition, just making sure we do get a little bit more guardrails around what workforce housing means. So is that 1,200? Is that 1,500? Is that 2,000 for one bedroom apartment? That's definitely got to be spelled out a little bit more but otherwise I'm supportive of moving forward. Thank you. Councilwoman Johnson. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I did also just want to ask the developer to respond to tell us if they have a sense of what the rents will be. They indicated that they think that they'll be workforce accessible, but just wanted to know if they have a number in mind. Councilwoman Johnson, this is Dan Jewel. We don't have an exact number at the moment. Things are so volatile in this business right now. I think you all know that lumber prices have been crazy. Construction costs have been crazy. Everybody's busy, that sort of thing. But we do know because of all these savings that it will be less than the market rates that you're seeing on all these high end downtown projects going in. But as we get closer to construction and get those numbers tied down, we'll certainly be happy to share those. Okay, thank you. Yeah, I'm also gonna be supporting this project. I think this is the kind of housing that Durham needs. We need more density, more multifamily and access to transit and some walkable commercial space is great. So I'm excited to see this get built and trust that the developer will do what they can as they've indicated to make sure that this housing is accessible to as many of our residents as possible. And especially those lower income and middle income folks who are struggling to find affordable housing right now. Thank you. Also, I'm a Freeman. Thank you. Just one additional follow-up and a staff conversation just looking for some direction and making sure that we do have a way because I'm thinking about Braswell properties right now. If for any reason this property were to be sold, just trying to make sure we nail down, whether it's 60%, 80%, 120, AMI, that would also be helpful. Just thinking about that. Thank you. Thank you so much. And Mr. Jewel, if you would, please let us know as soon as you know what those price points will be. I think that will be very helpful for us to know that information. If you do so. Right, all right. Are there any other comments before we move to the motion? Motions one and two, all right. Motion number one, is to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the commercial general with the development plan, district to residential suburban multifamily with the development plan district. Who is ready? Second. Second. All right, I believe it has been moved by Mayor Pro-Tim Middleton and seconded by Councilwoman Freeman and Madam Clerk, if you will call the roll for the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro-Tim Middleton. I will die. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. Councilmember Williams. Aye. Thank you. All right. It has passed unanimously. And now we will move to our second motion. And that is to adopt a consistency statement as required by Governor Carolina General Statue 160D-605. Second. I believe it has been moved by Councilwoman Caballero, seconded by Councilwoman Freeman. I'm gonna ask our clerk if she would please call the roll for the vote. Mayor O'Neill. Aye. Mayor Pro-Tim Middleton. I will die. Councilmember Caballero. Aye. Councilmember Freeman. Aye. Councilmember Johnson. Aye. Councilmember Reese. Aye. Councilmember Williams. Aye. Thank you. And I believe that motion passes unanimously. Thank you all. All right. I now believe that we will move to our next matter of business, which would be other matters. Are there any other matters that will come before the council this evening? Kind of, Mayor, just a quick housekeeping thing. I'm excited that the staff will be presenting to us on Council Reese's excellent recommendations. It's usually customary that when a council member requests a staff to bring something in addition to the agenda that's already been established that we either give a thumbs up or take action as a council, but my sense is that there's no objection to it. And I'm glad that staff will be bringing the matter before us and be able to answer the question that I just wanted to put out that housekeeping note because I wanted to talk about Star Trek one time and maybe let me know how to put it on. So yeah, exactly. So just wanted to put that out there. Excellent meeting though tonight, Madam Mayor, thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Freeman. And I was just gonna concur and say that again, you run an excellent meeting, I think to be done by 8.30 with over 20 items is pretty good. So you're doing a great job. Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman Williams, I think I saw your hand as well. Yeah, I just wanna take this moment to just encourage our small business community to re-up, tighten up. I'm a crime as unpredictable and encourage our local community to support our local businesses as much as possible in this time. It's about to get tough again. And I would wanna make sure we can face this wrath. So the best way to do it is take care of one another. And great job, Mayor, your mama here. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have any further comments? Well, you did a great job, Madam Mayor. Really, really happy tonight. And also can we get those to go cocktails back? Can we talk to the governor about that? I know that really helped a lot of people during the pandemic, businesses, I mean, not me. Okay, kind of me, but anyway. Who would love to? Of course. It's my second meeting presided, but I learned so much from each of you. And I wanna tell you that I value each of you. At the end of the day, we're human beings that have been called to do this specific task. And it's not an easy one. And we may not always agree, but tonight we did. And so I'm grateful for that. And I'm grateful to each of you for what you're teaching me, how you're helping me to grow in this role. And I just wanna honor you all tonight. This is not a one person show. The way that this meeting was made easy was because all of us were here on the same wavelength doing what we do, what our people have elected us to do. And so with that being said, I thank each of you and all of you out there on the internet land. Keep Durham safe. We are Bull City United. We are proud of who we are. And we love our neighbors and we're gonna see them. Make sure you see somebody tomorrow in a space that you've never seen before. So let's keep Durham well. Let's move forward. And I appreciate each and every one of you. Since there's no other business coming before us tonight, this meeting is now adjourned at 8.39. We'll see y'all tomorrow at the work session. Be safe and care about somebody. Anybody else gotta stay up late to do your homework? Because it's gonna be a long night for me, I'd say, right? Yes! Right here. A bunch of us. All right. Take care y'all. We'll be drinking the coffee tomorrow. We want to learn from you all tomorrow.