 One minute watch him slide in here with like 10 seconds to go watch. Oh, he's here. You can't see him. I didn't see him Yeah, it's right there. Oh, hello. Oh Steve Shule mayor of the city of Durham Oh Look on the whole gang is here. This is awesome. I thought you were talking about Mark Anthony. We're talking about me. Okay We were talking about you. I slide in here at time every time Good to see everybody 30 seconds Good evening Seven o'clock and I would like to call this meeting of the Durham City Council to order On August the 17th 2020 and certainly would like to welcome Everybody who's here with us virtually this evening glad to have you with us and now Could you please join me in a moment of silent meditation? Thank you very much And now we'll move to the Pledge of Allegiance councilmember Reese Good job tonight, mr. Mayor. Thank you. How do you find my background? All right, let's do this. I Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands One nation under God and divisible with liberty and justice for all Thank you very much councilmember And now madam clerk, will you please call the roll mayor shul here Mayor pro tem Johnson here Councilmember Caballero here councilmember Freeman Councilmember Middleton here councilmember Reese here. Thank you Thank you so much And now we'll move to announcements by the council. Are there any announcements by members of the council? Councilmember Middleton. Thank you, mr. Mayor. Good evening, sir And good evening to my colleagues and to all of our residents and citizens watching wherever you may be Hope you're all are well. Mr. Mayor colleagues. We had a very tough week a Durham and end Durham last week Regarding gunfire and certainly our prison thoughts go out to to victims and families that continue to be plagued We know that in the overall scheme of things mr. Mayor The numbers Maybe in a general sense may be trending right but for those that are affected most directly That's not really any consolation So I want to just give voice to that to the two realities one that overall We may be doing well in the aggregate in terms of crime and our city But the other reality is that there are folk that are that are directly affected regularly who See this really as a state of siege for them So I just want to give voice to that also want to Voice my my excitement About upcoming conversations That we will be having as a council to address this issue this scourge really on our nation and our city But but in a little bit of a departure I also want to say that we all know that this is not a at bottom a Crime problem or a law enforcement problem. We're not going to police our way out of this We all know that root causes are what we need to to be addressing as a city and as a council to that in I want to announce them. I'm very excited to be a guest of impoverty Durham this Wednesday to be discussing a Universal basic income a municipal experiment with universal basic income. Those that are watching know that I called for us to consider An experiment with it some time ago. I'll be joining my friends and others within property Durham this Wednesday To discuss that when I invite all to tune in via zoom I don't have the link to send out, but if you go to their website in property Durham, you'll be able to join that conversation or view it I believe on Facebook as well because we know at bottom We've got to attack and address the root problem of root causes My hope is that in coming months and years as a city that we will not just approach this conversation strategically But that we would be able in the tactical short-term way be able to point to initiatives attached to money That are reflective of our city how city how seriously our city takes the need to address root causes Rather than just in a strategic or long-term way. So prayers and thoughts Out to victims of non violence next week and hopefully very soon a money and policy will be joining those prayers and thoughts In the short term. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. Thank you colleagues. Thank you everyone Thank You council member Are there other comments by members of the council any announcements council member Caballero? Yes, I just wanted to extend a big congratulations to everyone who got through Their first day of school today. I know that there was many hiccups across the state I want to thank our fantastic educators and admins in the city. It was a huge endeavor to get 33,000 students We were You know with what I think five weeks worth of time to this shift So as a parent of three DPS students while we had some hiccups overall We had a fantastic day and I just want to extend a lot of gratitude because I know it took a huge effort Thank you very much council member Any other comments? Thank You colleagues And now we'll move to priority items and I'll first ask are there any priority items by the city manager Thank you, mr. Mayor members council. Good evening everyone. Hope you're doing well City manager's office has three priority items this evening The first is agenda item number eight the agreement for watershed protection with triangle j council of governments and Authorization to participate in triangle land Conservancy down to earth farms project at your request. There's some additional information that's been provided an attachment number eight There are two supplemental items and I'll get to those in a second agenda number 13 Is the interlocal agreement with discover Durham to support the recovery and renewal task force back on the bull campaign? And then agenda item number 14 is also supplemental, but I apologize the title of that agenda item was not modified when the two Action items or recommendations were modified. It should be interlocal agreement with Durham County and Interlocal agreement with the UNC Gillings School of Public Health to support the COVID-19 public health ambassador initiative And for items number 13 and 14 mr. Mayor, I believe at the work session The motion was that those would be consent items I'll leave that up to you if you want to handle them on the consent agenda or as supplemental items for separate action Particularly item 14 Which is a different situation than where we thought it would be At the work session. Those are my priority items Thank you very much, mr. Manager I Think I saw councilmember Freeman did I miss you for an announcement councilmember? Yes, my apologies go ahead It's okay. Yeah, I just wanted to the attorney in a minute Yeah, so I just wanted to just take a moment and also note that I believe is a celebration is coming up in the coming week or next week I should say around the hundred years of women voting in this country And so I just wanted to acknowledge that 2020 mark when white women were allowed to vote and 40 years later for Black men and women allowed to vote in this country and I just wanted to make sure that we didn't leave the meeting without noting that and then also Making sure that we encourage folks to participate in the census our census count is down in the county And I know it's been stated previously and I just want to continue to make sure we uplifted that Folks need to continue them to ask their neighbors if they've already done it to ensure that we're all getting counted As these funds that are allocated based on our population will be Severely cut if we're not we're not getting counted and then I just wanted to also note long Custom of Caballero's point. I really do want to send a special heartwarming you know just Breathe fresh air and and just take in the moment and acknowledge and that does that we will get through this moment as we get kids Back into schools and just go day by day. Thank you. That was all Thank You councilmember All right We will now hear from the city attorney madam attorney any priority items tonight Good evening mr. Mayor madam mayor pretend members of city council the city attorney's office has no priority items this evening Thank You madam attorney. Thank you clerk Hi mayor. Hi council. We have no priority items tonight. Thank you madam clerk. It's good to have you with us tonight Ashley Thank you in the hot seat All right colleagues before I go through the consent agenda We have already gone through items 13 and 14 at the work session and had voted to or to ask to put them on Consent but because they were new items. They came in a supplemental items If if there are any if there are no objections I will treat them as consent items as we had originally intended If we get any items, of course that you would like to pull as usual feel free All right, I'm now going to Read the consent agenda the consent agenda is Consist of items that the council has previously worked on And can be approved by a single vote of the council A can a consent item can be pulled from the agenda by a member of the public or member of the council If pulled will be considered at the end of the meeting The consent agenda item one approval of city council minutes item two boards committees and commissions attendance reports for july 1st 2019 to june 30th 2020 item three policy link cities and counties for fines and fees justice grant Mr. Mayor, I don't want to pull that item I just want to make sure that I take a moment and thank staff And uh, erin perish specifically for stepping up to lead on this Acknowledging that it is a lot of work and I do appreciate staff's attention to fines and fees on this Thank you. Thank you very much councilmember and thank you for your work on this item five Raleigh Durham airport authority rdu a a federal aviation administration f a a airport improve the project grant offer Item seven purchase authorization for the replacement of eight go Durham buses Item eight agreement for watershed protection with triangle j council governments and authorization to participate in triangle land concerns He down to earth farms project Item nine travel management service contract item 10 utility extension agreement with s.r. Patterson place llc item 12 discussion of ward three vacancy timeline item We're going to move down to the supplemental items and treat them as consent Item 13 and a local agreement with discover Durham to support the recovery and renewal task force back on the bull campaign And item 14 interlocal agreement with Durham county to support the covet 19 public health ambassador initiative I'm sorry now reads interlocal agreement with Durham county and interlocal agreement with the gilling school of public health To support the covet 19 public health ambassador initiative with the unc gilling school of public health You have heard the consent agenda and I'll now accept a motion for its approval So may it's just before you move forward item 13 and 14 just noting that in the The attachments it's showing as if the budgeted items are Duplicate and I just want to make sure it's clear that they are just Like it's the same. It's not it's not It's not two items that that'll be an added that it's one that's together And so it's 600,000 or 620 something thousand all together and that's what's just making point of clarity that was Okay Do you want mr. Mayor? Do you want me to answer that or do you want to sure? Why don't we have a comment on that mr. Manager? so councilmember Freeman is I When that when this item changed for the city to be the contract administrator and oversight for the gilling school project The contract will actually be for that total amount between the city and gilling school But then the contract with Durham county will be to reimburse us for half of that amount Thank you, mr. Manager. Does that make sense or clear enough? Thank you for clarifying that Thank you All right, I'll take a motion now to approve the consent agenda so moved Is there a second? Moved by councilmember Reese and seconded by councilmember Freeman. Madam clerk. Will you please call the roll? Mayor schul Aye Mayor pro tem johnson Aye Councilmember caballero Aye Councilmember freeman Aye Councilmember middleton I vote aye Councilmember Reese Aye Thank you Thank you, madam clerk and now we'll Move to the general business agenda public hearings item 11 a 19 0008 z 19 00023 farrington towns And we will begin uh, this is a public hearing item. We'll begin by hearing report from staff. Good evening mistruthers Good evening I would like uh, good evening. I'm emily struthers for the playing department I would like to state for the record that all playing department hearing items have been Advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and affidavits of all notices are on file with the planning department Request for a zoning map change and change the future land use map designation Have been received from jim anderson with fuller land and development and jared eden's of eden's land for a 3.87 anchor site This two parcel site is located at 4917 old chapel hill road and 412 farrington road The applicant proposes to change the zoning from residential suburban 20 to residential suburban multifamily with a development plan For a maximum of 25 multifamily units There is no change proposed to the existing falls jordan district the watershed protection overlay The applicant also proposes to change the future land use map designation From low density residential to low median density residential At the june 2nd planning commission meeting Motion to recommend approval of this case failed 6 to 7 This was the second time that the case was heard at planning commission due to the removal of commitment for wetland retention Previously at the december 10th planning commission meeting motion to recommend approval passed 11 to 1 Staff determines that these requests are consistent with the comprehensive plan and applicable policies and ordinances Three motions are required for this application The first is to adopt a resolution amending the future land use map The second is to adopt a consistency statement and the third is for the zoning ordinance. Thank you staff is available for any questions Thank you, mr. Others Colleagues who have now heard the report from staff and i'm going to declare this public hearing open And first i'm going to ask if there are any any comments or questions for staff by members of the council Council member race Thank you, mr. Mayor There was a um, there weren't a ton of comments Written comments. I'm sorry submitted by planning commissioners on the june 2nd hearing And that made it a little bit hard to understand Why the they what happened? Could someone from staff give us a little bit more of a sense of why the planning commission's recommendation changed? Um, then just the one sentence we just got that'd be great. Thank you Sure, I can dive into that a little bit more. Um at the first planning commission meeting prior to their voting on the case Conversation ended in at the applicant adding a commitment. Sorry if you heard my dog in background added the commitment To remove let's see there were wetlands shown on the existing conditions And the conversation and the initial planning commission meeting came up of if those were to be retained at that meeting The applicant offered to retain the larger of the two wetlands They later came back and said that wasn't something that they were able to do And so since they had committed to retaining that wetland first planning commission meeting They needed to revisit planning commission because they intended Not to retain that uh, not to necessarily retain that Pond and so that is where you see the difference in in voting Great. Thank you so much. Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you council member Council member middleton Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you. Mr. Other's good to see you was was that second vote? um An actual called meeting where the applicant appeared before the commission again and voiced there um non-compliance or refusal to Meet that proffer or was that little taken in absence of the uh applicant The applicant was there the meeting was um, the request was reheard. So it was a second public hearing Gotcha all right Thank you Thank you colleagues any more questions at this point for mr. Others All right, um, we'll now hear from Anyone who would like to speak on this item the one person that I see signed up as mr. Jared Edens Uh Madam clerk, are you aware of anyone else at this point who would like to speak on this item? Mr. Mayor, we have james anderson who's raised his hand to speak All right Mr. Edens Madam clerk, can you make? Mr. Edens and mr. Anderson available to speak All right, uh, mr. Edens Welcome I assume mr. Edens at you and mr. Anderson are here together you're representing him is that correct? Yes, that is correct. Jim has signed up just in case there are questions or more clarification needed All right, I should be able to handle things for us. Okay All right, uh, mr. Edens, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you five minutes Is there uh, madam clerk, is there anyone else that we know of who's here to speak on this item? Mr. Mayor, there's a lauren mattis as an attendee. I don't know which item she's here for All right, uh, miss mattis if you are here for this item you can Raise your hand figuratively digitally By going to People raise their hand vigil digitally on this thing Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry lauren's part of our team also so it um, oh, all right. Maybe okay Okay, good. Well if she needs to speak, uh, you'll you'll let us know Okay, uh, mr. Edens, please go ahead Yeah, thank you. Appreciate your time this evening. Um I'll be brief as Emily stated. We're looking for about 25 townhomes at this corner Uh, over less than four acres. So I was I like the density at about six and a half units an acre I think that makes sense for that location Uh, the project probably should have been straightforward the entire time Honestly made a mistake at the first planning commission meeting and In describing a pocket wetland area as a pond When you look at the aerial photos when you overlay streams and things on the gis It looks like there's a pond there when there actually isn't So at that meeting I mistakenly said, yeah, we will save that quote unquote pond Later realizing it was more nothing more than a pocket wetlands that is easily removed by A simple permit. So my client asked me to go back Unfortunately, uh, you know a lot of discussion centered around a pond that really isn't there So the the vote went slightly against this but I do believe if I presented it Accurately the first time through we would have probably got gotten an approval the first time There are three different consultants look at the site. Um, it's really not possible to get the 25 units If those wetlands did have to stay And we we do need the density just to justify the project. I mean the alternate here it's It's likely a gas station. That's what I see but nobody wants that. So Appreciate your time and let me clear things up and I'm glad to answer any questions you have. Thank you Thank you, mr. Edens All right We have heard from the only speaker that has signed up others are here to answer questions if there are any But let me now ask if there are any questions for Mr. Edens Or mr. Anderson from members of the council Because we're middleton Yes, mr. I have a question that's prompted by mr. Eden statement. Um, and staff May be able to respond to this. Um, I'm wondering if the staff can Confirm that mr. Eden's delineation between pond and wetlands Is accurate is is was this a mischaracterization Of a feature on the land. Can we confirm that staff? so, um, the aerials do show vegetation in that area and um Though the area in question would not be considered a A wetland that would need to be buffered by our ordinance standards. However, it is a wetland that If it were to be filled with fire permits from I believe it's the Core or ncdeq Thank you, mr. Mayor. That's all I have from now Thank you Any more questions any questions for the applicants or for staff? Council member freeman But question first that I'm sorry, um, council member middleton's question prompts I'm just noting that this the chip the shift from the wetland into a town home development Would that Wait like I'm not sure about the surrounding area Because I haven't visited the site and some I'm just trying to Go off of a staff's recommendation, but more on the the water I guess run offside of this conversation Do you know in that area if there have been complaints around whether or not there's flooding? And whether this area has been mitigating some of that Unfortunately, I don't have much contact. I'm specific in this area of if there is or is not flooding Oftentimes if there is neighbors will certainly contact us when we get a development And and voice those concerns. We haven't had that representation here. I will say that any Through the site plan process the storm water would need to be managed onsite The way that any any site would require so That will be vetted through the storm water team At that time the site plan was specific design and identifying how the storm water will be managed So I only raise it I only raise the issue because I know that That in that area there's quite a bit of older development that doesn't have the storm water standards in place And so this has been an area that's been Actually kind of collecting some of that water. I just want to make sure that we're We're we're actually focused on that that mitigation being addressed as well so Unfortunately, I don't have the details of the storm water requirements Of the site to provide a great answer there. Um, but that's something that would be reviewed with the site plan Okay, and I get that because you don't have a fight for Are there any other questions or comments at this time? All right, if not, I'm going to declare this public hearing closed Um, and the matter is back before the council um I will just make one comment, uh, which is that When I look at the aerial map, I don't see a pond um I see trees and so the any any So that that that helps give me comfort and the fact that The core would have to give a permit If this pocket wetland was to be Removed and that also gives me comfort um All right There are three. No, I'm sorry. Yes. There are three motions which will be necessary to If this is to be approved The first will be to adopt a resolution amending the future land used to low medium density residential Is there a motion to that effect? Second Move by Madam Mayor pro tem and seconded by councilmember caballero Um, madam clerk. Will you please call the roll? Mayor shul Aye Mayor pro tem johnson Aye Councilmember caballero Aye Councilmember freeman Aye Councilmember middleton What aye Councilmember race Aye Thank you Thank you, madam clerk. The motion passes six to zero We'll now move to motion two to adopt the consistency statement So moved to adopt consistency Move by Madam mayor pro tem seconded by councilmember middleton And uh, 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 will die Councilmember race Aye Thank you Thank you, madam clerk And now the third motion would you adopt an ordinance amending the udo So moved Second Moved by councilmember, but I'm sorry by mayor pro tem seconded by councilmember race. I think thirded by councilmember middleton 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 will die Councilmember race Aye Thank you Thank you, madam mayor pro tem. I'm sorry. Thank you, madam clerk. The motion passes Six to zero Colleagues that is all the business to come before us. I do want to ask you all's indulgence for just a moment That would get your opinion The city manager and I Have talked and decided that we would We and we believe this would be your Will as well to keep our meetings virtual Council meetings virtual through the end of september And we Anticipate that we would want to do so longer I do would just invite any comments that you have another manager would as well Moving forward in and He and I just during the pandemic have Made these decisions just the two of us. We've heard no pushback at all, but As we move ahead I did want to just ask you all if you do have any comments moving forward to please Make any thoughts that you have known to me about that or the manager. Okay, councilmember race You mean right now? I could be right now sure Oh, okay You probably just met like call me and talk to me about it. Sorry Um, I think that's okay. Go ahead. I think that's very reasonable. What I would say though Is and and this may be changing next month It would be great if we could add back in the the ability of Residents to pull an item from the consent agenda at our money night Um, and I think that's in the in the works for september For our september 8th meeting and then going forward. Is that correct? I believe that it is But let's make it correct Yeah, I just think um, you know, that's been that's always been an important part of how we operate I know that uh, something when that happens it can be Challenging for staff because that means they have to stay after often two or three very long rezonings public hearings But I think it's an important check on Kind of the the normal everyday operation of government. You know, we can get that added back in that would be then I'm I'm absolutely fine with it Thank you. We're also going to uh start adding back in On a public comment at our work sessions at the and september as well. Yeah, great. Thank you, mr. Ram Thanks, and if so if there are any other comments, I'm happy to take them now or I'm happy to just hear from you I was just thinking did you say september or december? I was september september Yeah All right There being no other business to come before this body. I'm going to clear this meeting adjourned at 7 30 p.m Go help your kids with their homework. Yeah, that's where I'm off to now. Mr. Mayor. Have a great night everybody. Thank you Good night. Thank you