 We'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order and certainly want to welcome all of you that are with us this evening We obviously have rather large attendance this evening So we're going to give some instructions as to how we get handle the rezoning matter, which I'm sure many people here for this evening But if we could just take a moment of silent meditation, please. Thank you Oh, that's Councilman Davis as you lead us in pledge Madam quick you call the roll, please Mayor Bell present Mayor pro Tim Cole McFadden Councilmember Davis councilmember Johnson Councilmember Moffitt Councilmember Reese and councilmember shul You all have a copy of the agenda. There's a supplemental item that's listed at the end. We're gonna move that up The resolution honoring the life of the honorable Ralph a hunt senior as probably most of you know We had an unfortunate Situation to occur where a person who has been well respected by I dare say all in our community Somewhat throughout the state was lost his life a couple of weeks ago and some of us had an opportunity to attend the very gracious Homecoming ceremony that was held for Ralph but this evening we'd like to present a resolution honoring the life of the honorable Ralph a hunt senior and we'd like to present this to his wife Rebecca Son Ralph and the whole family. I don't want to single anyone out, but if you care to join me, that's fine I I'm not going to read the whole resolution but it speaks about rats life and service It's coming to Durham his family service in the military all the work that he did in this community at the state level And around us, but I'll just speak to some of the items and then I have a few personal comments I'd like to make the resolution honoring the life of the honorable Ralph a hunt senior Whereas Ralph a hunt senior native Oxford, North Carolina received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Johnson Seasmith University a master's degree in mathematics education from NCCU and served in the United States Army from 1953 until 1955 He was elected by the citizens of Durham to fill the Ward 3 seat on this Durham City Council on November 6 1973 for a four-year term and was re-elected each election there after for a 10 year of 11 years He also served as the chairman of the Edgmont committee chairman of the so committed on human relations a whole host of committees that The Ralph had an opportunity to serve on for this community I resigned from the Durham City Council in December the 17th 1984 He was elected to the North Carolina State Senate on October 6, 1984 And carried the voter majority of Durham and Granthal County in that election serving five terms in the State Senate from 1985 to 1993 It speaks about all of his other civic leaders civic activities where he served One is chair of the Durham committee on affairs of black people now. I would say but not for for Ralph The Durham committee would not be in the office that it's now had has He was a member of the Kappa Alpha Psy fraternity Three-time recipient of the state's highest honor the order of the Longleaf Pine Award And it concludes by saying now therefore it be resolved by the Durham City Council The city council pauses in a moment of silence and memory of Ralph a hunt senior Thank you. And also that this city council extends sincere condolences to the family of former state senator Ralph a hunt senior And there is all Durham citizens to join in recognizing and remembering His legacy dedication and commitment to the state of North Carolina and the city of Durham Let this resolution be spread upon the official minutes of this governing body To certify a copy of this resolution be presented to his devoted wife of era Rebecca Hunt And assign ID and Ray's city clerk of the city of Durham, North Carolina To hear by certify that above resolutions a true and accurate copy Approved by the Durham City Council at its June 5th 2017 city council meeting And what's my hand corporate still the city of Durham, North Carolina. This is the 50th of June 2017 and assigned by D and Ray City clerk and myself William v. Bill Bell mayor of the city of Durham Now before I present this resolution to Rebecca beck as we call her. I just want to say that Ralph was really a true friend He was a guy that had a sort of a drive sense of humor But he had a human just about anything he talked about he could always find some humor in it and Probably many of you may or may not know you probably remember that back in 1994 The Durham Board of County Commissioners Merged the Durham city and Durham County schools into what now is known as the Durham public school system What many of you may not know Had it not been for Ralph In my opinion that never would have occurred Because at that time the only way the two schools could be merged It's either two school boards decided to do that and at that time that wasn't happening Or it could have been a referendum by the people and Referring them to pass it failed to pass before that so while we were in the process of trying to put this Merged it together and it really didn't start out as a murder in fact Steve shul was on his city count I was on the council that They named themselves emerges as task force, but really when it was started It really was a task force that the commissioners had appointed to see if somehow we could bring the two school system together To operate more efficiently me either by merging some things or whatever But it soon got into the details of it and the they were named themselves and they decided that Merged it was the best course of action for the two school systems As I said the school boards weren't weren't going to do that And so I had a conversation with Ralph Who then was the state senator and? Basically said you know can we help out? And I said what are you thinking about Ralph? He said maybe we can put together some type of general stature It gives the county commissioners the authority to merge the two school systems without a Referendum without the two school systems coming to an agreement And Ralph were quietly in the background to get that done and some of you may or may not know that the local legislature at that time One of the most powerful senators in the state was senator Ken Royal who was from Durham? George Miller was there. I'm trying to think who else Mickey was there But Ralph was somehow able to pull those group of people together and in fact put together a General stature Which gave the board of county commissioners the authority to merge the two school systems without of all of the people So very quietly put that together and it gave us a tool to more Effectively work the two school boards to try to make a merger come to come to place As it turned out we were able to affect the merge that we did that in 1994 And as a result you have the Durham Public Schools, but again had it not been for Ralph hunt in my opinion That never would have happened So Becky, I've read the resolution, but I'm going to present it to you formally And certainly if you haven't come it's still Mr. Mayor Madam Mayor pro tem Members of the city council and the citizens of Durham. I want to thank you for this recognition on behalf of my father My mother and the extended hunt family. Thank you for all your kind words and it's a very very valuable time I know that you have a lot of business to take care of and Every topic that comes before the council is important to citizens who are out here So we want to thank you all for this for this very very significant recognition. Thank you So may I move that we adopt the resolution that you just read It's been proper to move in the second all in favor of the motion and indicate by saying aye. Aye those opposed Emotion passes unanimously Recognize the mayor pro tem Start our order of business could we just have a moment of silence? for the kid that was killed yesterday Thank you. Oh, there are other announcements by the council Let me ask you other. Oh, I didn't I'm sorry console market Yeah, just two things very quickly I came just came from Brogdon Middle School They were giving out words of excellence tonight. I'm so proud My my daughter goes there and I'm just so proud of all of our children They have been working all school year their dedication to excellence that really showed in any awards there And I know that that's echoed in every every middle school every high school in Durham And I wanted to lift that up. I also want to lift up our parks and recreation department I've been and I'm sure this is probably true for all of my colleagues a lot of people have been coming up and saying How great it is that we're doing the fee free For all of our youth the fee free programs and our parks and recreation department really took that a little bit of guidance That we gave them and really ran with it and they've done a great job of really thinking about the youth programs and what they can do This morning I ran into an acquaintance who turns out to have kids who work in the aquatics program And he just raved about parks and recreation's commitment to their training To the safety safety for the lifeguards and for the the people in the pools and just for caring about Our kids and our residents in general, so I wanted to lift up parks and recreation. Thank you Let me ask the other Announcements from council If not recognize the city manager for our times. Thank you mr. Mayor. Good evening everyone. No priority items Likewise city attorney. Thank you mr. Mayor. No priority items likewise city clerk Yes, I'd just like to remind the council you have two ballots before you this evening for open space and human relations Thank you for some of you may not have attended our council meetings before the Procedures that we normally use are to go through the consent agenda and Consent agenda consists of items that May be pulled by a member of the councilor a member of the Audience and we discussed that consent agenda item later For the tonight's meeting unless there's objection by members of the council After we have read the consent agenda and Looked at the pool items. I'm going to deal with the pool items first Does two things one it allows the staff who are sitting elsewhere in the building To leave if there are no items for them to deal with and it will allow us to get quicker to the Public hearing items that we have before us So I'll just read each consent agenda item One is approval of city council minutes Two is the audit services oversight committee reappointment Item three is the Carolina Theed of Durham Board of Trustees reappointment It was four or five items that can be found on the general business agenda Item six is the Durham Sports Commission Appointment item seven is the mayor's nominee for reappointment to the housing appeals board Item eight is workforce development board reappointment Item nine is workforce development board reappointments Item 10 is setting filing fees for candidates to municipal office Item 11 is the customer building services performance audit. I'm sorry. I should have pulled item six Item 12 is the updated statewide mutual aid and assistance agreement Item 13 is audits to change monthly parking fees Item 14 is professional engineering services for the turnage Heights lift station abandonment project amendment number two Item 15 is the ordinance to change FY 17 18 ward and sewer capital facility fees And I'll have to pull that item also Item 16 is refunding of general obligation bonds series 2007 issuance of general obligation two-thirds bonds I'm 17 is an old local agreement between the city of Durham the county of Durham for collection of property taxes Item 18 is a bid report April 2017 Item 19 is a contract for the removal of city trees I'm 20 construction services contract with rigs Harrod builders ink for the sign and signal shop per project I'm 22 a supplemental agreement for the North Carolina Department of Transportation NCDOT Austin Avenue Bridge number 93 replacement WBS element 1 7 BP dot 5 dot r dot 46 Item 23 is an item that can be found on the general business agenda Items 26 to 33 Items that can be found on the general business agenda is public hearings Item 36 is development ventures incorporated grant funding repurchase a failed place and I'll pull that item We have two people want to speak on that item I would entertain a motion for the approval of the consent agenda with exception of item 6 15 and 36 It's been profit and moves and second all in favor of the motion and give us an eye Those opposed the motion passes unanimously Can we move to item 6 I Have blender Ask one that is During sports commission is that person present? You are can you come to the podium please to the right? Yeah, you have three minutes and the clock is open to the right certified health coach through a Sapa and Worked with the YMCA the city council on Durham senior citizens I Have my own business personal I'm into the fitness sports arena and I would like to see more attention To the sports commission I see on the agenda that The expiring of mr. Scott is hopefully not of death, but Susan Scott happens to be Apparently related And I would wonder whether that would impose some Problem if There was a continued atmosphere and There wasn't Commission or committee or a person it might bring a fresh breath To the sports commission. I would like to know Possibly if there was an availability of the credentials of this person and what they would plan to do or have As an agenda or an upcoming Priority for our sports program and commission here in our community We have lost certainly a lot of revenue In our sports commission through Some other government issues We do need to have someone that will pay full attention To bring this city and the sports commission into the open air and to receive all of the revenue and Capabilities that we would have certainly the streets right now Are a mess It took me 20 minutes Driving around To get here and I live in a city. I've been here for 30 years and There's not proper signage But I would like to find out I'm new to this I have background in sports as well as government Would like to see that this be looked closer into before appointing Miss Scott to this position That's it. Thank you We'd like to move to item 15, which is miss Brenda awesome. We've taken Good evening mayor I I was About to say move the item because I think her application has already been vetted and There are members of the commission who know her to be an upstanding citizen. That is my understanding You've heard the motion. It's been seconds in the further discussion recognized count on Davis I Agree with the motion and agree with the vetting that has been done from the Scott But I would like to say to the lady who just came up That there is a thorough viewing of the applications that are put forth by the council at a work session And the consideration that we make is not just for that person but for all of the candidates along the way so the Attention to the qualifications is something that we actually do so We just like to make sure that the speaker does know that we thoroughly look at those applications Thank you. I support motion. It's been proper to move the second all in favor of the motion that kept us in I I those opposed the motion passes unanimously Moved item 15 which is Orders to change FY 17 18 warden Sewal capital fees and Miss Brenda Osborne Miss Brenda Osborne present mayor The relationship to the water and sewage capital facility Brenda Osborne Thank you Address 620 Dunbar Street, Durham, North Carolina My family also resides at 503 Red Oak Avenue I'm not opposing the facility fees In regards to that location. I was wanting to direct the storm water fees and the water and sewage That's not on the agenda or is this part of it, okay? I think the fees for stormwater is Outrageous as my mother-in-law who's 96 the Lord brings a rain down and just because you have land and you have Concrete There shouldn't be no excess charge especially on our senior citizens that have to pay More than they can On a retired fee if this is in any way Relation to that issue. I will speak Against the extraordinary fees of stormwater these Water runoff That is excess upon the citizens here in Durham I'm glad that I am here Because I have to hear this from a 96 year old woman every single day Because she can't afford it Or her land will be taken for something different or She'll have to give up her inshore Which she drinks a six pack every day So what is it stormwater runoff fees or inshore? That's awesome. I'm going to ask Director warren sewer services He would care to speak on that Mr. Mayor just to clarify that the stormwater fees is a public works. It's not the water insurer department That issue probably should have been more appropriately addressed at the budget public hearing Which is a topic later on but the stormwater fees are charged Certainly by the city council to handle all of the stormwater programs that the city Operates from street sweeping to to maintaining the drainage systems, etc And it is administered by the public works department, not the water and sewer department recognize council Those programs are to in part at least in part right to address federal requirements that we have to control stormwater and and the quality of it many aspects of the the Stormwater program are in response to the Clean Water Act federal Clean Water Act state regulations So the question isn't whether we should do the program quality how we collect in order to pay for them Correct and we choose to collect based on who creates stormwater runoff Based on impervious surface. Thank you It's awesome is that there is what is impervious everything to solid Like your rope like your rooftops Driveways Paddios anything so it's based on lineage Structure not based on income no or retirement or you know And the revenue is taken in and done What with You know, I'd be glad to have our staff meet with you There are extensive programs that the city administers related to a stormwater management stormwater control water quality Probably too many to to get into this evening all the street sweeping that happens in the city comes under the Responsibility of the stormwater management program, but if you want to leave your name I can get one of the staff people to meet you would be glad to do that Thank you, you know, it would help me with my mother 96 yes, sir. Thank you Entertain a motion on item It's my proper move the second all in favor of the motion indicate by saying aye those opposed the motion passes unanimously And the last consent of the nine items item 36 I Recognize Larry Hester and Denise Hester their present item 36 is Development Ventures Incorporated Grant Funding Repurchase of Fayette Place site each have three minutes Good evening. My name is Denise Hester 3526 Abercrombie Drive. I do support affordable housing But housing that will remain affordable in perpetuity the commitment to affordable housing should be strengthened so that it's enduring Encompasses the entire development and does not allow market rate creep over time If the need for affordable housing is so great, then why isn't the entire project dedicated for affordable housing? I also question the need for more retail office uses at Fayette Place when the 1 million plus square feet at Heritage Square with the same uses has set idle since 2006 I urge the council to view affordable housing as a development tool that can benefit the Fayette Street Carter and the entire city in Several ways by reducing unemployment Providing business and job opportunities for local residents and reducing spillover crime from gentrifying areas If a family can earn sufficient income they can afford to live anywhere They choose not just confined to affordable communities the root cause then is not Affordability so much as it is the need for jobs and skills training for local residents to boost their incomes If you make enough money, you can live wherever you want Housing is a downstream issue when the upstream cause of Durham's disparities is the lack of economic opportunity For the communities wherever this housing is located To close our glaring disparities in education income and crime We must create solutions that will create an upward spiral for the local Fayetteville Street community Not just for out-of-town developers and their employees Nothing against private development, but what about the economic future of our people if the city fails to address chronic unemployment And the growing underclass it will have a chilling effect on future development downtown where billions have been spent African Americans comprise about 40% of Durham's population and out of 24,764 businesses with paid and non paid employees roughly 26% are owned by African Americans But of this 26% only 403 have paid employees And almost 40% of those with paid employees are located on the Fayetteville Street corridor a significant concentration However for businesses with paid employees only 7% are African American This gap represents a tremendous opportunity to boost our local economy through business Participation on this project so that local people can hire more local residents Lift people out of poverty and reduce unemployment in this area I recommend the following committed elements as we move forward with this process Establish and meet contracting goals for African American business participation Make streetscape improvements that have been called for by the Fayetteville Street community since 2005 All the other gateways have received and been funded for streetscape funding except for Fayetteville Street some more than once We think this is unfair and a serious omission given the concentration of black businesses on this corridor And lastly keep Fayette at place 100% residential Affordable in its entirety and in perpetuity. Thank you Good evening My name is Larry Hester and I live at 3526 Abercrombie Drive. I'm a little hoarse. So bear with me I am here tonight as chairman of the Durham business and professional chain I have worked in haytie for 30 years and I know that haytie has had a significant role in the economic development of Durham And it still does I Was a little surprised and concerned that it appears that the council had made a commitment To fund this item when they met and achieved a quorum at the can meeting April 6 In April it was six out of seven council members No public notification was provided to the public that the council Intended to vote on this item That night nor any of the standard information on redevelopment projects presented in advance of this unannounced council meeting I was also concerned that this item appeared on the consent agenda with little public discussion about the project's development plan or Zimpax the Federal Street card and these economic development in the same way that downtown was given special attention 20 years ago So that it would grow Not by blighting and code enforcement But by thoughtful and strategic application of policies and funding that would benefit local residents and Businesses that are already in the car The Federal Street card is a place that African-american businesses have settled and now we are threatened with push out and Jennifer gentrification Aftern half having endured Urban renewal 50 years ago Just over 400 own businesses owned by African-americans 7.39% of those have Employees of these four hundred forty percent are located on the Federal Street card And a mouth that can be increased through business participation in fair fair place The low percentage Suggests a structural problem in Durham's economy I'm concerned that there is no language in the specific level of duration of affordable housing for fair place Paragraph C of the amendment or the agreement only references a minimum Affordable housing will be produced. I Recommend that the entire site be used for affordable housing Language in the agreement Mentioned community input but suggests that decisions about uses and zoning have already been decided I'm not sure that that is the case, but I would like to know In your background information campus apartments agreed to utilize qualified African-american or minority businesses and employee and Pull from the employment pool in Durham residents This was taken out of the Covenants if the council are bailed with me only have one more paragraph and I did say that I was This car needs an Employment boost, but this commitment appears to be missing from the current agreement. I Requested this link at language be added back in This is a historic opportunity for this council to take a stand in favor of local American Business African-american businesses who will provide jobs and reduce them My other recommendations are add restrictions To prevent DVI from flipping the property and potentially putting pressure on these projects of Fortability and reducing the number of affordable units Identified the private developer Before this is voted on who will join venture with DVI and whether they are African-american or has there been Anyone looking to see whether African-americans were interested? Add language for reversing of the property to the city should DVI be taken out of the project in order to Prevert to preserve affordability Also, also hope that this council finally finds the money To do the streetscape for the Fairview Street corridor when over 200 residents Worked in conjunction with the Fairview Street group for almost two years and presented it a Fairview Street Masterplan to the council in 2005. This is 2017 and we don't see any action that has been taken by the council Thank you very much for allowing me to speak And Larry and Denise First of all, let me say the council has made a decision The council has not made a decision as to how that property is going to be developed The biggest decision we've made is to help provide the funding For the purchase of it. We haven't gotten into that level of detail So I think it's appropriate that if you have your thoughts that you give them to us now as we go forward But I don't want you to leave here Thinking that the council has made a definite decision as to how that property is going to be developed. That hasn't been done Let this I don't want to get into tit for tat But if you could leave your information, it will be very helpful. I know at the appropriate time when they get into public discussion You have an opportunity to share those sorts also. Well, thank you very much But I do see that the council is advancing four million dollars. It should have a say. Thank you I Recognize council mature Thank You mr. Mayor appreciate the comments the I Wasn't going to pull us from the consent agenda, but since that was pulled. I wanted to ask this question that the Received information from the housing authority which Is good news which is that campus apartments would like to move up the? the the date of the deal from August 6th, which was the latest time that the purchase could be made until June's up and up to June 16th and Was wondering since we're about to pass this If the housing authority needs that money by June 16th, I Wondered if the manager could comment on the potential availability of it assuming we passed this now Councilman shul just talking about the transfer of the Transfer of funds pardon. Yes, just regarding the transfer transfer of the funds to this You know, I'm assuming that we could I've not heard that request before this minute So I would want to talk with our finance director tomorrow just to clarify How quickly any wire transfer what the conditions of the the transfer need to be but we'll certainly do our best Thank you very much. Mr. Manager Further questions on it. It's not entertaining motion on the item It's been proper to move in second and all in favor of the motion indicate by saying aye aye those opposed the motion passes unanimously That completes all of the consent agenda items and we'll now move to the general business Agenda item 4 is a Durham open space and trails commission appointments Well, so I'm just going to run run it well have ballots up here It's open there in open space and trails commission appointments. That's item 4 item 5 is the human relations commission appointments and We'll move to item 23 so at the appropriate time the council members will turn in their ballots for for those positions item 23 is proposed Jackson pedigree street development RFQ update and I think all of you have should have it your place a memo from the city manager Concerned proposed Jackson pedigree street development RFQ update This does anyone not have a copy? Okay, let me just give a little comments before that As most of you know this this council has been I'm going to ask you to close close the door, please Keep the door close until we finish this item if you don't mind. Thank you We've been tasked with trying to find opportunities for affordable housing in downtown We all know that we have a dearth of Affordable housing throughout the city Early on we bought in a consultant. They did an assessment of the affordable housing needs for for this community Recommended a road map which we're attempting to begin to follow But the issue of affordable housing in downtown has also been at the top of the list We constantly hearing about the type of progress is made downtown the Apartments they obviously a market rate and above type apartments, but where are the affordable housing? opportunities and one of the areas that we have focused on our Properties that the city owns the land we own we all know land downtown is very expensive and One of the specific projects that we've looked at is Jackson Street, which is next to the in a modal Building downtown where the buses are We had a proposal that came forth and we thought another piece that we stress was that We wanted to see mixed income type affordable housing If we were going to do affordable house in downtown In other words don't have all the housing just for persons below the median income and towards that objective we had a Proposal presented to us early on after having gone out with RFQs and only having one group to respond Who came back with a specific proposal as to how we might be able to approach? Developing affordable housing on the Jackson Street property Now I was not at the work session when the details of this were presented But I haven't learned later some of the discussion that's going forth One of the concerns was are we really making the most efficient use of our dollars? for that particular site to have affordable housing on I Raised that one of our meetings. I can't recall which one it was that maybe we might want to step back and Have more of a vision for that particular piece of property We see things that are happening downtown What struck me is we said in article in the paper recently about the innovation district where we had some local architects Who are developing that site? And so towards that end I've had a discussion with the manager Some of the rooms on the council in particular. I guess some of the leaders that can who have been very much out front and Wanting to see affordable housing in downtown and specifically looking at the Jackson Street site and What you have before us now is a consideration that we brought in the scope of how we look at that site Keeping in mind that affordable housing still would be the priority Specifically at least able affordable housing units and we'll talk about affordable housing We're talking about affordable housing that was satisfied the needs of families who are 60% below the median income and towards that end what you have before us is a suggestion that we give the Developers an opportunity to explore a larger vision in terms of what could occur on that property to include affordable housing units and what I didn't want is them to come back with pretty pictures and Concepts but no Financials along with that. So what we'll be looking for is not only would they come back with a Proposal we also have some indication as to what type of dollars. We're talking about I Just think we would be doing the citizens of Durham a great Justice by exploring this The people we're going to have to pay for the taxpayers of Durham and just importantly the persons who will ultimately live in that development To resent as grand a plan as we could that is also affordable But also meets the goals that we have of having affordable housing units on that on that site Now what you have before us is a revised Pre-development plan for that it shows what was been proposed Initially and it shows what additional Time will be needed as well as dollars to explore a more a larger plan and The difference you can see for yourself. I think it's about 50 plus thousand dollars overall the bottom line in terms of what we Initially we're going to do versus by having this additional work being done by the proposed developers So I'm going to ask if there are questions certainly are some members of the council that are aware of the discussion We have staff persons who have also been involved in the discussion but The the essence of it is we still talk about four miles and we're still talking about at least 80 units of fossil We're still speaking about the Jackson Street strike seat Jackson Street site and we're just talking about a larger vision now. I guess one other point to be made is that This council has had a priority and develop for developing more affordable housing The challenge that we have is when we box ourselves in the sand we want it downtown It puts other constraints not only on the developers, but also on the goals that we're trying trying to accomplish So I'll stop there and ask if there are questions of anyone else says comments that you like to raise Recognize councillor Reese. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate you give me the opportunity to ask these questions I'm one of those unfortunate members who's just seeing this for the first time tonight and so I'm hoping you can help me understand what you mean by Complementary development components and maybe maybe I don't know who to ask this question to so if there's a staff member if you Can answer if I just don't know Once to speak to that I can speak to it also I guess when I went when I took when I speak about complimentary right now. We spoke of strictly on housing Is there a possibility for that to be retail commercial office space along with that? Affordable housing and I don't want to use as an example because we're certainly I'm going to try to do something like Center City one where we've got a 27-story office building But it could be some configuration of that type of a model that we're looking at not strictly housing Site but a site that also has other amenities on it Which would allow the private sector to come in anybody else that wants to have off-space retail commercial Mr. Mayor during the During your when you were speaking just a moment ago. You indicated that the project would still have at least Possibly 80 affordable units. Was possibly an accident or do you mean that what I didn't want it What I didn't want to get away from Charlie is the proposal that came to us and that proposal they had a mixed income Proposal which had 80 if I recall 80 affordable units and 20 market rate units for a total of 100 units so what I'm suggesting is that if we at least try to maintain the 80 affordable units and If the development comes back and says we need more market-rate units We need other things to make it work then we'll be open to that So it could possibly be more than 20 market-rate units Let me say one other thing. I think there was was driving this timetable that we have as you know the proposal was sort of centered on the North Carolina housing income tax credits and The deadline for applying for that is January of the coming year So we're trying to pull together a plan that would allow us to Explore these other opportunities, but also be in a position in January to apply for the income tax credits Now another thing that might come out of this is that you know, we look at it and we say well It's just can we can we afford even what they're proposing? Do we have to fall back to was a proposed initially and then we still got the question Do we want to spend that amount of money for those amount of units that only provides us the four of a house event? But that's all in the numbers and that's that's for further discussion once we get the results of what they come back with I'll I'll defer to my colleagues while I continue to think about what you said Recognize council sure thank you, Mr. Mayor so The Also wanted to just respond to Charlie a little bit The So the the as I understand this there would still be a minimum of 80 affordable units, whatever the plan would be as you understand It or that's the agreement. I would say that's not there's not a I don't think this is an agreement. It's a con it's a Is this a contract that we're approving Keith No, sir, I apologize for interrupting Steven. Mr. Mayor I just I keep hearing these phrases dropped into this that if taken literally could lessen our commitment to the number of units I Believe we should see at this property. That's why I'm being very specific and again. I just saw this I walked in the room, so I don't know what we're doing here Mr. Mayor members of council Keith Chadwell city manager's office The entirety of the business relative to this process and project that's been brought before council to date Has been in the area of providing opportunities for decision points For you to make assessments as to whether or not you want to make the kind of financial commitment to deliver a project that would deliver those number of Affordable units so even in the original iteration that's before you Which is part of the action that you would take tonight in addition to this addendum States that we have work to do to show you with some level of definitive now at this point That we have an order of magnitude about what the investment would be We want to what we've been asked to provide what it would cost To get to a point of decision-making Relative to information that's far more definitive that we have now as opposed to an order of magnitude To see if this is the kind of thing we want to do at that point this finality around the issue of 80 units 80 units is still an abiding principle Regardless of which iteration is brought forward by the original proposal and proposals that might be in addition to this Provide 80 units under some different iteration Yeah, so thank you Keith so it's again as Keith says it's my understanding And I know it's the developers understanding that We would have what they would bring to us under either of these plans would be a minimum of 80 affordable units and so One plan would be what we talked about at the work session then the mayor I think You know constructively said We have we have our we have our developers who are DHIC and self-help in a kind of straightjacket We've given them a pretty narrow purview. We've said bring us one thing and that one thing is 80 affordable units and 20 market rate units and a little bit of retail and make that work and So the mayor's idea and I think it's good is yes Give us that and then show us something else that You that might also work that would be better in some way would still have the 80 affordable units is 60% of the AMI But it might also have for example more market rate units So we might get more density there and maybe those more market rates units would provide some additional tax which would help offset the The The subsidy that we would inevitably have to give to the affordable units that kind of thing so I think This would be a way to ask the Developers DHIC and self-help to come to us come back to us with two plans and And we could and they would make a recommendation among them But then you know along with staff and then we would be able to pick and pick among those two and so I think it's good and I Think it gives them flexibility and then in order to do it They've asked for more money in order because they're gonna have to do two plans instead of one hence the extra The funding goes from 187 to 238 and it looks like our risk goes from 125 to 199 if I read this correctly, so Thank you So one of the things that just addresses that I'm glad about is that one of my concerns was if we get to October They would present Okay, we can do the 80 affordable 20 market rate It's gonna cost you More than we would choose to spend and then it would be a train wreck because there wouldn't be time to go and do any thinking on What's an alternative way to get to the 80 affordable unit? So I'm glad to see that the development team I'm assuming mr. Mayor that the development team has seen this and that they are on board with this I'll defer to the staff on this. I'm pretty sure to have that Yes, my question is is is the development team seen this proposal? I assume these numbers came from the development team. That's correct. And so there they are is there anybody from the development team here Could would you mind? Coming down the microphone My name is Greg Warren and I'm president of DHIC and with me is Bricka Eklund with self help Do you have any thoughts on this you want to share with the council? No, I think that it's a good idea to look at all options You know we've took to look at a more intensive development We're we are keen to look at do that You know, we're not sure what that looks like right now. That's what this whole process is about But we have colleagues Who do market rate? Developments Apartment developments as well as office developments and we'll bring them into the conversation our design team certainly has that expertise as well So so we're perfectly happy to pursue this option as well. Can you tell me briefly? What is your today? You know the first time I've seen this tonight in this form at all What's your understanding of your? We had a long discussion about this at the work session short discussion now What's your understanding of your modified charge if we do this? What's what's what's the direction to you well the direction to us is to get more density and more intensity on the site Above and beyond what we had proposed initially I don't know we I think it's our understanding that there's a nine 90-foot tight height limitation in the downtown district So we try to see what that meant in terms of maximum number of square footage We could add to this development proposal and we're confident that our design team as well as the expertise of self-help Who's done office work and the like that we can come up with a? Model to sort of see whether or not that adds benefit and reduces the city's tax Or liability of cost through increased tax base So in October when you make the presentation Would it be right for me to expect to see both? This is the original what you wanted and the cost attached to that for the city and its taxpayers And this is well as we develop this first model. This is what we think actually will work better Correct to get to the goals that we think that you have correct. Yeah I mean we're still intending to submit a plan that reflects the outline that you set forth in the RFQ But based on the conversations that we had last week that we would look to Have a second option that would look at expanded intensity on the site. Thank you. Sure. Thank you, mr. Mayor Councilman recognize council should and is it also true that you will be bringing us back both proposals with at least 80 units of Affordable housing at 60% of the a.m. Hour below. That's our understanding that is your directive and please Reflect that in any agreements that we have if that is your intention Well, let me say again. I what what it what I didn't want us to do is to go down one path and then have somebody saying Why didn't you do this? Why don't you consider that? This is an opportunity to say we considered it and here's what the cause is and this is why we took the action We did and at least that puts that piece to rest and I was pleased to know that the development team Felt it was in their capability to deliver on the time frame that we're talking about and I just remind We're going to make a found the decision. We're going to make in October Even if we stayed on this one plan, it was whether we accepted it or not This way we have an opportunity to say do we want this plan or do we want the other plan and then say make a decision is how we want to move forward Are if are there any other questions? I Don't have a question if nobody if everybody's satisfied and I'm prepared to make a motion Will the additional work that we're asking the developer to do maybe the developer can answer will that Put any pressure on the existing timelines in the project We were in consultation with our design team today and we feel that they have the capacity to undertake this work We'll obviously be doing additional market studies to look at alternative uses other than just residential on the site as well As we always intended to do a market study for both market rate and affordable apartments So that I think the additional component will be more along the line of office or other commercial uses for the space and Again, we do have Friends and contacts and we know that our friends itself help can really take the assist us with that as well Recognize councilman shul Mr. Mayor, mr. Mayor since we have a captive audience I Thought I would just say that we talk a lot about affordable housing and Durham and just so one of the things What we just did a minute ago is we spent about four million dollars of your tax money to buy 19 acres at the top of Fayetteville Street that was a former Durham Housing Authority property that was Knocked down it was bought by a private developer that developer didn't develop it and the Housing Authority had the right to buy it back for Well ended up being four million dollars the city through your tax dollars has provided that money to the Housing Authority to buy Back those 19 acres for eventual development as affordable housing It may also be some other things on that property, but there'll be a community process That helps figure out what goes on there, but that's a big big commitment to affordable housing It's going to take a long time to do it But that's that's one thing now. We're doing something else. They're two acres that sit right behind the The transit station that the city owns those two acres We're calling here Jackson Street or Jackson pedigree. I think we caught and that site is also a place that with the city Owns that we want to put affordable housing there So what we have done is put out a request for qualifications our developers What we have one response from an excellent team of self-help and DHIC which is a affordable Housing developer and they have come to us and they have said we would like to develop this site and according to these parameters, so We're taking two big actions tonight that are moving our affordable housing agenda ahead It all takes a long time. It's very expensive But I just wanted to say that while while you have to listen to me, so thank you Mr. Mayor before you vote if I could have a moment I'm not gonna vote no, but I just recognize. Oh gosh people don't want to speak so you want to comment before them Susan Dunlop Susan Dunlop present Come to the podium. Yeah, three minutes if I followed everything correctly, I believe what I'm gonna say is a A bit redundant, but I'm gonna say it anyway My name is Susan Dunlop Parish associate at first Presbyterian Church and a member of the strategy team of Durham can I want to thank all of you for your commitment to affordable housing It's clear and we've seen that over and over again that this council is committed to Affordable housing and in particular at the Jackson Street site, which you all have reiterated your commitment to 80 units affordable housing at that site As you all know as you mentioned the federal low-income housing tax credit is the most important resource for creating affordable housing today and to apply for that pre-development work is necessary and Looks like you're on the verge of approving 125 plus some more up to $199,000 for that pre-development work and That's that's good news We recognize that you'll have to make difficult decisions about funding for developing Affordable housing downtown it can be very costly as you said However, I want to remind you all of the financial incentives the council approved for commercial development downtown $41.8 million to capital broadcasting $5.7 million to 21 C hotel 4 million to Austin partners 1.3 million to Concord hospitality 605,000 to Gentian groups Durham hotel We hope that you will Continue your commitment to Similarly invest in developing housing for families at 60% of the area and meeting median income Downtown Durham is fabulous and it should be for everyone. That's why we want affordable housing in Downtown let's work for a downtown where many kinds of individuals and families live people with modest means All the way to the high earners This is what will keep our city interesting Alluring and vibrant for decades to come. Thank you Brenda Osburn Miss Osburn, is she still here? I guess I guess she's gone Recognize councilman Reese. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I appreciate you giving me this additional opportunity Before I start was this the so there was a two-page document that I found at my place here in the dais This evening when I came in was this made available Online or with our in our digital agenda in any way Okay, mr. Mayor. I'm while I am an attorney. I am not the city's attorney But and I've never been a stickler for a process But the way that this has come to us tonight is of deep concern to me as you know, mr. Mayor The proposal to build affordable housing in the Jackson Street pedigree pedigree Street site arose out of Members of the community who were deeply concerned about affordability in downtown much of the impetus and passion and energy around this issue has come from our community for us to decide Something relevant deeply relevant to the project in this manner with no ability for the community to Reasonably be informed of the change that you have proposed which I will support tonight Or the ramifications of that is of deep concern to me, mr. Mayor I also remember a little over a year ago. This body decided to decline an invitation to try holding our Thursday afternoon work sessions in the evening and I was told by multiple people on this dais that that that was not Necessary because they would always be an opportunity for someone to weigh in if they couldn't make an afternoon session Or if they couldn't make an evening session, they would have seen it at the afternoon work session and obviously that is not the case with this proposal and so I Understand we're all trying to get this done. I appreciate all the work You must have done over the last two and a half weeks since the work session to get this before us. I applaud that but if If I didn't know about it and I'm a member of the Durham City Council I don't know how 99% of the people in the city were going to be aware that this was on our agenda and have the opportunity to weigh in and We can't do business like this. Mr. Mayor. I it Like I said, I'm not our attorney I'll let the attorney the city attorney weigh in on on those types of things But it it really irks me for us to be in this position So now that I have vented my ire about this I will happily vote to move it along because I've been assured by people that this is Okay, so thank you. Mr. Mayor appreciate the opportunity You're quite welcome Charlie and I take your comments just as they are and I can I expect you for that recognize councilman I Wanted to just take a moment and then make a motion of people are ready And there's a little bit of conflation of issues tonight. The first one is on tax incentives. So Huge difference between what we're talking about doing with Jackson Street and the kinds of incentives are granted for commercial developments where those are actually not given to them until they have jumped through many hurdles and then Tax and tax revenue from the investments that the developers made is flowing back into city council and they are always Revenue positive for the city That's radically different when you talk about 40 million dollars or whatever the number was for American tobacco which was more about when you keep you might remember that had a chain link fence around it it was had led pain it had asbestos and it sat there empty and vacant and The 40 million dollars in future tax revenues that they received Jump-started that product that project But never did money was a negative cash flow to the city That's really different than what we're talking about tonight and tonight's What we're talking about doing with Jackson Street Where we're talking about investing tax dollars in the project that will not be recovered and Because this is important to us the second conflation I'm a little confused about the issue about the work session Because whether the work session was held at 1 30 or 7 30 or a midnight. I Believe that the work that the mayor has done since then it was after the work session Not because the work session was held at 1 30 in the afternoon So I'm a little confused about the conflation of the time of the work session and the timing of this issue My understanding with the community asked for The many people who worked on this who are committed to this project So what they want to see here if at all possible is the maximum number of Affordable units and the maximum number the way you pay for this one of the significant ways is through low-income housing tax credits from the state and And they are maximized at 80 So so really to get to the what I believe the community has asked for is 80 affordable units and I believe that what the mayor has been working on for the last two and a half weeks has been To find a way looking at the fact that these units were looking like they would cost us twice as much in Subsidy as affordable units elsewhere that we would lose 80 Affordable units you can shake your head, but you can do the math 80 units $46 million plus over $2 million in land divided by 80 units and you're up to 80 to hundred thousand dollars per unit as opposed to 40 to 50 thousand dollars, so That's 80 units somewhere else. We don't get to subsidize what the mayor my understanding is He's been working on what this proposal does is simply Give the development team The opportunity to tell us if there's a better way to get the 80 affordable units Which is what I understand the community wants to see here if the community wants to see the There will be plenty of time For the community to continue to weigh in on this because all we're doing is authorizing some additional money for sort of an Additional design development work. That's all we're not approving a project And we're adding flexibility. I think that's wise and mr. Mayor I will move the item with the exception of the the Funding amount the original motion authorized expenditure up to a hundred and twenty five thousand five hundred and I will move that we substitute the figure of one hundred ninety nine thousand five hundred dollars I believe otherwise the motion as presented is sufficient and I'll move that item Properly moving second is a further discussion Here and I'm calling question all in favor of the motion and kept us in aye aye those opposed the motion passes unanimously Appreciate that discussion And we'll see where we are in October of the cards here, okay the next item is public hearing item 26 On the proposed FY 2017-2018 budget 2018-23 capital improvement plan Good evening mayor members of council Bertha Johnson director of budget and management services This item is the public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017-18 and the capital improvement plan for fiscal years 2018-2023 as required by North Carolina general statute 159-12 Notice of the proposed budget in tonight's public hearing was published two times in the Harold Sun newspaper on May 24th and 28th I am happy to answer any questions again. This is a public hearing and I have Persons that have signed to speak I would first ask are there any comments by members of the council before that I Recognize the mayor program. We advertise in the Carolina Times as well I'm sorry. I didn't We advertise in the Carolina Times No, we do not typically we just advertise in a local newspaper which is required by general statute. It's local though Okay Because a lot of people don't need the other thing. All right. Thank you Okay, what I'm going to do is to call Each name and if you can proceed to come to the podium to the right. Let me say this I have 14 persons that have signed to speak on this item. This being the FY 2017 budget and FY 2018 to 2023 capital improvement plan I'm going to ask if we can close the door, please thank you so if you proceed to the podium at the right and Let's see if we can limit the comments to two minutes on each one of these items And if you have prepared remarks if you don't mind if you could leave them with the clerk Then they'll be made available to the council as we continue our budget deliberations The first is Arrona Ramsey If you can it's that person present Leticia Holmes What I'm what I'm going to assume is that persons may be outside the room and if they come in I'll give them a time at the appropriate time when you come in a Bishop Clarence Laney They can't hear me at all. Okay. Sorry about that. You mean outside. They can't hear me. Okay. All right. Well, let me let me go again Miss Ramsey Leticia Holmes Bishop Laney come forward, please Jareena LeBring Danelle Purifor Joe Romero Mina Izipki Nia Nessum Akin one of Montes Selena Mac Stefan guns a roast gross galop galop Selena Mac sign up again. I'm a Lisa Norton Now if someone Wants to go outside and let them know we're having a public hearing on the budget Feel free to do that and they can come come forth if you don't mind announcing it. Okay, great So if you just state your name and address and we're allocating two minutes initially for your comments My name is Leticia Holmes address is 300 North Queen Street during North Carolina two seven seven zero one Good evening everyone. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak. My name is Leticia Holmes Currently residing at families moving forward. I've lived in Durham for three years now I moved from New York to provide a better opportunity for me and my kids while living in Durham I was able to sustain housing for a short period of time But due to underemployment, I wasn't able to maintain my apartment I was forced to move into the shelter Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network which connected me to housing for new hope who helped me find a place for me and my two kids I was able to maintain that apartment for two years But during that time you have five different management companies The rent was raised two different times in two years from five hundred and fifty dollars to six hundred dollars And then from six hundred dollars to seven hundred dollars During that time I maintained full-time employment and struggled to pay rent With the increases in rent I found I finally wasn't able to sustain the apartment any longer And was forced again to seek assistance from a shelter program. I Am staying at families moving forward and again working with housing for new hope and hope to find a place that I can afford I Wish that there was affordable housing for people in my situation And I'm worried that the same thing will happen again, and I'll be homeless. I'll become homeless again I hope my story helps make a difference and that there is more affordable housing in Durham for families Good afternoon. I am Clarence Laney 900 Simmons Street during North Carolina blessed to serve the Monument of Faith Church I'm just here to say thank you for your Commitment to the Fairbush Street project and thank you for your leadership And I look forward to being a part of all of the positive outcomes that will happen in this corridor. So thank you Good evening. My name is Danielle Purifoy. I Reside on Duke University Road in the West End 27701 And today I'm here on behalf of Durham Beyond Policing. I have Some documents for the council Today, I'm here as a member of the Durham Beyond Policing campaign to address the city's continued overinvestment and policing as a Primary means of creating public safety in the city of Durham Since I moved back to Durham five years ago. I grew up in North Durham I've witnessed not only the steady displacement of black and brown and low-wealth residents living around me in the West End community Some of them who've been living there for 50 to 60 years But also the most stubborn and hostile commitment to policing as a standard means of implementing public safety in the city Durham is unfortunately no different than many cities across the world But it is my sincere hope that we might be able to assess the events of just the past few years Police killings of black and brown folks of all ages with no accountability Including the murder of Levante bigs who was having a mental health crisis multiple deaths from medical neglect in our county jail and Recent to 17 year old black girl hanged a couple of months ago in that same jail Clear evidence of rampant racial profiling and police stops the police's reaccreditation despite numerous testimonies of police misconduct and accountability Unaccountability backed up by independent studies and not to mention the new 71 million dollar New Durham police headquarters, which is being constructed on East Main Street as we speak I hope that we can reflect on these events and conclude that police do not keep us safe Even when they look like the communities they target because police do not address the root causes of property crimes Violence and other crimes of poverty created by our system and contribute greatly to our system Contribute greatly to the dismantling of communities through our system of incentivized mass incarceration The only way to keep our city safe is by Redistributing our public resources away from policing to ensure that all of our communities have safe and affordable housing Have access to health care of all kinds make living wages have access to quality public education Both inside and outside of schools have access to good food and have access to support networks for our families While I and others and the during beyond police and campaign I'm almost finished applaud efforts in this budget to address some of these root causing Causes like rehabilitation and creation of affordable housing units But again, I want you to weigh like the amount of money that we're spending We just talked about with affordable housing against 71 million dollars just for the police headquarters And also access to recreation for our young folks We demand that our council take seriously addressing these root causes as you have taken bolstering the police Year after year if this city and county and state and indeed this country Invested as much socially politically and financially in creating truly livable communities as it currently does and boosting the false narrative of community Policing we would actually live in a safe city. Thank you Let's come forward and set your name and address and I'll find a card Good evening city council. My name is Jose Romero. Good evening Durham My address is 1207 walk Street here in Durham So I come to speak to y'all tonight as a member of Durham beyond policing But also as the son of immigrants for whom sanctuary was often fleeting but necessary to keep them alive And I want to talk to you just as Danielle did about how policing does not keep our undocumented undocumented communities safe increased policing Puts undocumented community members at constant and intensified risk of deportation and death While the Durham chief of police promised an end to stationery checkpoints in an effort to distance the department from the sickening ice Rates happening across the country It is important to recognize that any time Undocumented immigrants are put in a position to encounter police They are at risk of being reported to ice and placed on a path towards deportation and probable death We demand a public safety that includes immigrants Regardless of their documentation status, which means that we cannot support an increased police presence in our communities Putting undocumented people at great risk North Carolina remains one of the top destinations for immigrants across the country and yet researched by the great Universities in our very own North Carolina have shown that increased policing undermines the emotional and economic well-being of all people of color Durham needs more sanctuary not more policing Police do not keep us safe. We keep each other safe And so let's invest in keeping our people the people of color of Durham well and Here and remaining an attractive place for the many people They want to build homes with all of you on the council all of you here and everyone that's watching today Thank you My name is Mina is you pay my address is 2400 Chapel Hill Road. I'm also a representative from Durham beyond policing Over 60% of the 97 million dollars to be allocated towards public safety in this upcoming year city budget has been promised to the Durham Police Department With this level of municipal investment solely focused around policing the Durham city count the Durham City Council sends a message that public safety Is synonymous with increased policing city budgets matter They embody the choices made by elected officials on where our collective resources go When Durham City Council continuously earmarks millions and millions of dollars towards the Durham Police Department with nearly no mechanisms of oversight or accountability It is at minimum a disservice to Durham residents who need a lot more than police to keep us safe And at worst a denial of the humanity of black around people who risk a death sentence when interfacing with the Durham Police We oppose a public safety budget that equates our safety with more cops Our safety cannot be created through more arrests and deaths of working-class black and brown people Therefore we oppose the current Durham public safety budget for multiple reasons one of which is there is no conclusive Evidence to support that more cops in our communities keep us safe There's clear evidence that shows the Durham Police Department exercises racial bias and Disproportionately harasses and arrests black residents and this harmful presence will only increase as Unaccountable police officers are allowed to drive police police cars when they are off-duty through the multi-million dollar Take a car home program to the Durham Police Department has killed at least two black people in the last six months without any Consequences rewarding a police department with a brand new seventy one million dollar headquartered headquarters and over sixty million dollars in annual funding Allocated for public safety when police have been given the authority to murder Durham residents without recourse or Consequences is a gross misuse of public money and reinforces the idea that some lives in Durham are more valuable than others three We refuse to accept that locking up poor and working-class black people which is all police do that is their only job is to arrest people Creates a safer community for all of us most people arrested in Durham are black people arrested for crimes of property There have been hundreds of reports of abuse at the Durham County jail Including deaths of community members one of whom was a teenager a black teenage girl who died in the Durham County jail Public safety must mean safety and dignity for all people living in Durham And that means an end to police practices that encourage mass incarceration and mass imprisonment Prisonment which rips families apart and violently exports exploits poor black people. Thank you Let me say this I've tried to be very lenient in terms of the amount of time that we allocated we have a whole lot of people that are here So if you're going to speak about Against policing Limited two months two minutes or I'm going to cut you off I think I've gotten the message but still limited two minutes not just to respect us to respect other people that want to come up To speak on this budget if you announce your name and address, please My name is Noah Naseem. I live at 105 East Club I'm here also as a member of Durham Beyond Policing and as an Arab Jew to speak on behalf of the new demilitarized Durham to Palestine campaign We are trying to call for an expanded vision of public safety that embraces freedom of movement and rejects police and military occupation The demilitarized Durham to Palestine campaign is led by a coalition of 18 local city and statewide organizations Concerned about the deadly exchange of training between US police departments and the Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli police Police forces across the country as well as ice and border patrol often participate in exchange trips in which police department leaders and Officers travel to Israel to be trained in what can only be called worst practices of policing and terror The entire histories of the IDF and the Israeli police are founded in violence and harm against Palestinians and Jews of color Similarly the purpose and infrastructure of US police is based on the terrorizing of black and brown communities here These exchange programs share tactics and resources between all two already hyper militarized and racist organizations practices such as extra judicial killings Executions shoot to kill policies racial profiling mass spying and surveillance deportation and detention and violent suppression of political dissent One of the values that led this coalition to take on this work is a belief in freedom of movement a belief that every person should be able to return home Freely and we know very well that this right is violently stripped of black and brown people all over the world Whether that they be a Palestinian living in the apartheid state of Israel a Palestinian refugee evicted from their home in a homeland for what is now 70 years or all the black and brown people living in police occupations in the US like we have here in Durham Everyone needs to be able to return home safely We know from history that when you respond to the demands of the people It is possible to move resources in such a way that nourishes a community and keeps it safe rather than destroying it And we urge you to reject this public safety budget Hi, my name is Steph Gans and I live at 803 de Maria Street in Durham And I also urge you to reject the public safety budget I have worked in mental health for nonprofits in Durham for five years in mental health We have something called evidence-based practices evidence-based practice means treatment that has been proven by research to work Guess what when it comes to public safety or responding to mental illness or substance use concerns Jail and policing are not evidence-based practices Rather than spending more money on something that hasn't worked and is quickly becoming the de facto response to mental health and substance use Concerns why don't we make a good investment in our community and spend it on stuff that we know works If you're like me and you've struggled with mental illness or had a loved one with a substance use concern You know what it's like not being sure how to respond or what to do or where to go You might be surprised to learn that there are some things that work that aren't more police or jails like housing first It's a model where folks with substance use concerns get housing regardless of whether they're using substances or not That is an evidence-based practice. What about wet beds wet beds or places where folks were intoxicated Can get safe shelter for the night if they don't have anywhere else to go and the Durham crime cabinet actually identified that as a Whole in Durham safety net. What about a peer run crisis? Respite a service where people who are in mental health crisis can voluntarily come and stay and which is staffed by other folks Who've been through a similar crisis and can help them get out of it There's 13 of these in the US and they've been shown to be more effective than more restrictive measures that are often taken in ERs plus they're cheaper That is why I say don't spend more money on policing the police traumatize and hurt our community And while there are lots of evidence-based treatments for trauma out there There's no replacement for prevention, which would mean not experiencing the trauma in the first place Good evening. My name is arrow squad a loopy and I'm here for to represent the people's alliance and as well as Durham can I live on 907 orient street Durham So first and foremost, I would like to thank a lot of members city council for their efforts in reaching out And paying attention to the community They have done this through large public. They've attended a lot of large public assemblies such as Durham can And also small meetings With organizations around Durham They've done a great job in listening and paying attention to the community and my in my perspective So with all the great effort I hope that has become apparent that one of the largest concerns of the community Is housing and it's affordably affordability within the city It is clear that an additional penny for the housing fund is necessary for many of the lower income citizens to stay in their homes That additional penny for housing will allow for more tax relief more home repairs and more affordable rental units and homes for those that need it the most I urge city council to not only consider and hopefully implement the additional penny for housing but to utilize it in meaningful ways That will not only make homes affordable but allow for a sustainable and empowered community in Durham This can be achieved by working with members of the community as well as great organizations such as dclt Housing for new hope a family is moving forward and many more in making these policies for the upcoming year And in the for in the future And as former mayor gabaric had said in the honoring ceremony last month We we all have a conscience So let's use it and put it to good use in this case Let's use it to keep our neighbors friends and members of the community in their homes. Thank you for your time Good evening. I'm selena mack executive director of Durham community land trustees 1208 west chapel hill street Durham, north carolina I'm here for the board residents neighbors Supporters and staff of Durham community land trustees to first. Thank you for your leadership Thank you for investing in the expertise. Durham has needed to analyze our most urgent needs for affordable housing and adopt clear priorities Thank you for tonight's proposal to invest more of our city budget to expand the need to expand the stock of Durable attractive energy efficient housing Homes that will be affordable to Durham's lowest income residents for generations to come All of us at dclt embrace your housing goals We accept them as a challenge to our organization. We are committed to achieving them As you adopt this budget, we will renew our commitment to act as the city's Reliable local community govern high performance accountable nonprofit partner dclt plans for 2017 2018 are perfectly aligned with the five-year goals you adopted last summer By targeting preservation dclt is prepared to add another generation of useful life to 62 homes in four neighborhoods Just as our goals have inspired just as your goals have inspired dclt to make major investments We hope in turn That the outcomes of our work together will inspire all of Durham to confidently Invest the challenge of meeting all the housing goals that you have set out Thank you. We don't control the clapping We appreciate your comments Who's next? I do I need to call a name? I have melissa norton Neeson Alan Montes This has to make again, this is a public hearing on budgets I want to make sure everybody has an opportunity to speak if they like to speak is anyone else that wants to speak on this the Budget proposal cip if you could state your name and address please Good evening. My name is serena sebring. I live at 204 red oak avenue It is my honor to come in speak with you a little bit tonight about Some of the recent activities Of my organization, which is southerners on new ground and what we think it says about the the budget of durham city So two weeks ago southerners on new ground along with our partners both regionally and nationally participated in a program to bail out black mothers for mother's day um And what we learned in bailing out 14 black mothers from durham county jail Was some of the landscape of the reasons that they were in jail to begin with and and some of what they faced coming out And that is what I wanted to just come and share very briefly with you about this evening So what we found Is that 70 percent of the people who are in durham county jail are there simply because they cannot afford to pay Bail and what that means on the other side is they come back out into our community Is that oftentimes they are facing the very same issues that people who live in poverty face in our community every day and some of the mothers that we Have been continuing to support after the bailout efforts have been coming into Tremendous difficulty in finding things like housing Support for addiction and recovery mental health services and general health care services And for that reason I just have had enough Experience over the last several weeks to know that our safety net here in durham is in need of our direct attention Martin Luther king jr. Has said to us that a budget is a moral document And what we know is that the ways that we invest in our community make a huge difference And we are here as part of the durham beyond policing campaign to urge our city council members our elected officials To prioritize the basic supports and safety nets that all members of our community need to be able to live full lives In the city of durham over policing, which we know Has a tremendously negative impact on those very same people. Thank you very much again, is that anyone else that wants to speak on this the public hearing on the budget Well, you can open ask invite them in because when they close it down That's it. All right. Thank you Is there anyone that's coming Well, let the record reflect and no one else asks to speak on this item I'm what I'm looking forward to what we're going to be closed The matters back before the council any comments that you might have I move that we receive the comments Uh that were given tonight and thank those for coming To share their opinions about the budget. Thank you Is there a second to that motion? Mr. Mayor? I'll second that motion Uh, I just I do want to that appreciate all the people who are here tonight Out of care and concern for the community. Thank you Any other comments not Called to motion question all in favor of the motion educate by saying aye. Aye those opposed the motion passes unanimously Thank you and we move to the next item Item 27 zoning map change I'm sorry Zoning map 28 zoning map change for Watkins at Witherspoon Good evening before we get started With this evening's public hearings. This is sarah young with the planning department I wanted to make the council aware of a change in state legislation that will affect The order of the motions for zoning cases and text amendments to the ordinance Session law 2017-10 Now requires that consistency statements be adopted Prior to taking action on a change to a text amendment of the ordinance or a zoning map change This is actually consistent with the legislation that applies to counties and has been in effect for counties The other change in legislation is in regards to the consistency statement motions themselves Previously the governing body had essentially two options To say that an action was consistent with a comprehensive plan Or that it was not consistent with a comprehensive plan, but it could potentially be reasonable and in the public interest Now there is a third option available, which says that if you deem that a Action is not consistent with the comprehensive plan You can still approve it. However, your approval will de facto Change the comprehensive plan without requiring the applicant to do so So I just wanted to make you all aware of those changes and tonight as we go through the cases The staff will pipe in and just make sure that we're doing the motions in the correct order Thank you. We appreciate that sure No, that's why the staff's going to pipe in when appropriate to make sure we all have it. Okay all right so we're now on item 28 zoning map change for Watkins at Wetherspoon Thank you. Jacob Wiggins with the planning department I'm down here as I have a slide to show you all This is a zoning map change request which has been received from lrc 7 LLC for an eight acre parcel located at 3312 Watkins road The site is currently zone residential rule with a development plan And the applicant is proposing to change this designation to mixed use with a development plan The applicant is proposing to utilize vertical integration for this project In hopes of providing a range of three Or excuse me 33 to 300 residential units and a range of 105 105,000 to 255,000 square feet of non residential floor area Some key commitments on the associated development plan Include the building and parking envelope Roadway improvements a reservation for light rail transit improvements And some compact design standards including elevated residential units from the street level Locating the street facing facades within the maximum street yard setback and some additional fenestration requirements At the planning commission hearing the applicant also proffered the following commitments The developer will make a payment to the city of Durham for the use of affordable housing in the amount of $25,000 prior to the first certificate of occupancy for the site $25,000 prior to the 101st certificate of occupancy for the site And $25,000 prior to the 201st certificate of occupancy Um the staff report that you have in front of you Individually let out some information regarding affordable housing in the area If council recalls In 2014 you all adopted a resolution stating a goal of Providing 15 affordable housing within one half mile of future light rail transit stations So the subject site is located within the Patterson Place compact neighborhood Um and this is some data that staff pulled in regards to the A current look at affordable housing units in the subject area There's approximately 1100 and a little bit over 1100 residential units in this compact neighborhood With an occupancy rate of just under 93 Which means approximately 1079 of those units are occupied In regards to owner versus a rental occupancy occupation those are Staff has found that 96 of the units in this area are occupied by renters The estimated number of available units at 60 percent AMI is 79 Which brings the affordability rate to approximately 7.3 Percent This data is inclusive just properties that are within the compact neighborhood If you go out to the half mile radius You likely pick up some additional affordable units. There are some apartment complexes To the east of the site as well as some more residential Areas to the south of the compact neighborhood The planning commission By vote of eight to three approved this request at their february 14th 2017 meeting And I would like to note that this application was submitted prior To the council adopting The comprehensive plan changes in this area In regards to the compact neighborhood tiers and design district land use designations The applicant in this case has provided design commitments. Some of which I noted earlier To meet some of those requirements Council may have recall hearing a couple cases in the past with the same situation. This is the last case That the planning department has with this particular issue Given those facts And that both the MU district and the proposed uses would be permissible in a compact design district Staff determines that this request is consistent with the comprehensive plan And other adopted ordinances and policies and I'm happy to answer any questions that you all may have Okay, again, this is the public hearing the public hearing is open. We'd ask first other questions or comments I remember the council Were you going to say let me recognize councilor reese and then councilman. Thank you, mr. Mayor Jacob. Can you talk a little bit? Excuse me. Can you talk with a little more specificity about The commitments the text commitments the developers made to attempt to ensure that this development is conducted in compliance with um The other compact neighborhood Design districts that we have in the city sure so some of the The key ones that are noted and such as the elevation of the residential units 30 inches above the street level Locating the street facing facades within the minimum street yard setbacks And the additional fenestration requirements. Those are currently standards that one would find within our DD district So by proffering to meet those With the uses and that the applicant is proposing staff found that those were in harmony and met the intent of that Those compact design standards. So the the text commitments they made Were consistent with the design requirements. Is that right? Yes, sir. That is correct. Are there other design requirements? For which the developer did not make sufficient commitment text commitments And for which they would not be in compliance. This development would not be in compliance Um, I don't believe that there are additional items of the applicant Or at least at this point the staff has found that is the application is insufficient In regards to additional commitments. Let me try again. Sure Is there anything else a developer with this property could do to be more in compliance with the uh with those requirements Um, I would say it is possible. Yeah, I mean there could be additional commitments So I don't have those requirements in front of me You were the staff person I have to help me understand that. So can you talk a little bit about those? Those other uh requirements Sure. Well, I think it goes back to the the fact that this application was submitted prior to the Compact neighborhood here. These these updates being, um, adopted by council So if this application came in today, then per the conference of plan, they would need to Go to the DD zoning district The when this application was submitted or when we were going through the process of updating the compact tiers based upon that The agreement was made that basically the Staff would be supportive of applications that made proffers to meet some of the current standards As much as possible. And I think in this case the staff has found that the application has done that Um, short of potentially trying to go to the DD district. I'm not sure what other Proffers there may be that the applicant could provide at this point Okay, let me try to get at this slightly different way. I just heard you to say That the planning department determined that it would be supportive of proposed rezoning To the extent that the develop When where the developer had made sufficient commitments to bring it in compliance to the extent possible And am I then to infer that because the planning department is supporting this proposal That it's the planning department's determination that the developer has done that to the extent possible Yes, I think that's a favorite for We'll see that's all I was trying to say. Thank you. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayer I recognize Councilman Moffitt. Thank you. My question was addressed Okay, our We have four persons that have signed up to speak on this item. We have two As proponents and we have two as opponents. I'm trying to determine how many people want to speak on this item before I set the time Okay so we have Five people that want to speak is anyone else that wants to speak? Let me call the names to make sure I don't Have dan jewel kinspawn as proponents I have jim swarrow And christine westfall as opponents Now does anyone else who wants to speak on this item? This is a public hearing matter whose name I haven't called Yes, sir. Can you come forward and just put your name on the thing? Let's let's start out with 15 minutes each And I'll recognize the proponents first Either dan jewel or kinspawn Good evening. Mr. Mayor members of the city council. My name is ken spalling. I represent the applicant in this rezoning This is eight acres within The current mixture of use is located at the paterson place development We're seeking to rezone this property as mixed use Inside this existing development of mixed uses Currently the surrounding area is composed of hotels retail office and multifamily Our proposal also provides opportunities for multifamily hotels office and retail There has been no opposition at our neighborhood meeting The applicant has met with the planning staff for over a year To assure that this application will meet the concept of the recently approved compact neighborhood tear And the proposed considered compact neighborhood tear design standards I think that mr. Reese was talking about it was our desire to see that this development development would be consistent With the envision compact design district standards which are anticipated to be approved in approximately a year We were successful in this effort in that the staff's determination As shown by the staff report Shows that we have committed to six key compact design district standards Which it is our understanding exceed the city's considered and envisioned minimum standards It is our understanding that what we will be doing now under the compact neighborhood tear Is very much in line with what we would be doing a year from now under the proposed compact design standard and guidelines And this is based on our collaboration And review with your Durham city planning staff Because we are in the light rail transit corridor We have diligently worked with go triangle staff to address their vision and physical transit issues As described in our text commitments in our development plan We also have recognized the city's commitment and the goals for affordable housing And because of our multifamily component, we have incorporated in our development plan Our proposed voluntary proffers regarding affordable housing Mr. Jewel will read those into the record After I speak I would also point out that we will be adding 64 new students Into our public school system Tonight, we will voluntarily proffer a committed element which will recognize this addition I also want to point out that the planning staff has studied and carefully reviewed our application And has found that we are consistent with the city's policies and rules And your staff has presented to you Their positive assessment as related here too The the planning commission has voted overwhelmingly in recommendation of this application for approval by you My client has worked extremely hard to not only meet the city's current standards and requirements But to be proactive for the consistent and envisioned standards as shared with us by your planning staff Tonight, we respectfully request your approval of this plan Which is consistent with the surrounding area Which is responsive to the city's affordable housing goals Which is Responsive to the increase of students And which is a constructive step Forward for an earlier fruition of a viable light rail transit system And a plan that meets the city's current and envision guidelines and design standards Thank you very much for your time and mr. Jewel will be our next speaker Thank you. Ken. Good evening. Mr. Mayor members of the council. I am dan jewel president of culture jewel temps We're at 111 west main street Our firm has been asked by the developer the howlett family to help them with the land planning And preparation of the zoning application and with me here today along with Attorney spalding to answer questions or jeremy anderson of my office and earl the wellan of kimley horn The proposal before you this evening Is for creation of a mixed use zone on this property Which will provide for a variety of residential office and or commercial uses at a density That will generate ridership numbers to help go triangles application of federal funding And is a transit supportive density It is though a fine balance between density and traffic impact And the staff findings also show That we have been able to keep those traffic numbers with some committed off-site improvements to not burden the surrounding roadway network We're well aware of the current efforts of the planning department to create a new compact Design zoning district that will coincide with the compact neighborhood tear that was adopted last year I have been actively engaged in this planning effort and publicly supported the creation of the compact neighborhood tear While the adoption of the city county led zoning is still a year or more away with many public hearings I wanted to tell you and reiterate that our proposal is very much in keeping with the tenants Of the future compact design district zoning and with the compact neighborhood tear that is in place There are only two of those districts that currently exist in durham downtown in nine street and the language that we have worked with the staff to pull out and incorporate into committed elements Come from both of those existing design districts of which our firm has done many projects in both First and foremost We have committed to meeting the udo standards for the compact neighborhoods And also have committed to the more stringent standards only found in those design districts If you're familiar with that part of the ordinance You already know that this requires and regulates things such as building placement being close to the street establishment of an architectural podium Building articulation Maximum spacing of openings and pedestrian accommodation among others We are further committed to standards including ground level fenestration of at least 50 for non-residential uses and 25 for residential Having buildings occupy at least 60 of the street frontage so that you have more building than opening And that any of the first floor residential units be at least 30 inches above the sidewalk elevation We are also committing through text commitments to a vertical integration of uses And have established a range of uses and a minimum and maximum square footage of each that will still meet the mixed use district requirements remember Even though we have built some flexibility into our uses and numbers The traffic impact analysis that's included with this application Will regulate the maximum amount of development that can be built on the site In other words, no matter what the final mix of uses we cannot exceed the maximum number of car trips By more than 3 without coming back to you again for another rezoning which we do not plan on doing We hope you can agree that this proposal Which is located within a quarter mile of the proposed pattern pattern some place light rail station Fits into the vision and mission of a transit supported development But without unduly burdening the surrounding roadway network If the light rail system is not up and running within a few years To further show the commitment to make this the very first True station area transit oriented development We have committed to assisting go triangle and making transportation improvements in supporting our school system and making a substantial contribution to the council's affordable housing goals Specifically as mr. Spaulding said, I will read into the record. We have made the following text commitment relative to go triangles requests Subject to a determination by go Durham and go triangle on the need for transit related improvements at the time of phase one site plan submittal We will commit to construct up to two bus pullouts Concrete pads and bus shelters to go Durham and go triangle specifications With within one year of the required right-of-way acquisition as outlined below In other words, some of these improvements aren't property that we either need we nor go triangle control at this time These amenities shall be located along the site frontage And shall occur on either side of McFarland drive or witherspoon But shall not encroach into the site beyond the currently identified rail transit corridor This commitment is subject to acquisition of any and all off site right of way in easements No cost of the owner necessary to accommodate these improvements by go triangle or parties other than the owner If included in the site plan locate any transit Park and ride spaces within the non residential structured parking facility To provide the shortest pedestrian path from park and ride spaces to the nearest bus stop There's additional language Putting that into a little more detail Secondly witherspoon boulevard and McFarland drive with when you one year of the required right-of-way acquisition As outlined below reconstruct the northwest corner to accommodate standard transit buses currently the radius is not large enough To accommodate buses. We have made the commitment to do that along with other improvements Uh, secondly, I'd like to go on to it's been customary for proposed developments that have a residential component Generating school children to contribute to the Durham public schools to help offset these initial impacts The staff has estimated that this proposal will generate up to 64 new school children Therefore we proffer the following commitment The developer shall provide 32 000 dollars, which is 500 dollars at 64 additional students As a donation to the Durham public school system prior to the approval of any site plan And containing new residential units with this in this development Thirdly We had a worthwhile discussion at the planning commission hearing a few months ago About contributions to furthering the city council's affordable housing goals To that end the proffered commitment that came out of that hearing and is currently shown on our plan is as follows The developer will make a payment to the city of Durham for use for affordable housing in the amount of 25 000 prior to the first certificate of occupancy Another 25 000 prior to the hundred and first certificate of occupancy And 25 000 prior to the 200 and first certificate of occupancy totaling up to 75 000 In closing we've worked closely with staff to develop that Zoning proposal that is in keeping with the expected new compact design district when it is eventually adopted And have made other strong commitments to offset potential school impacts Provide facilities and improvements requested by go triangle and also make a strong contribution toward affordable housing We hope you will agree with that. Thank you That concludes the components Presentation they have three three minutes left. Let me know Recognize those persons who wanted to speak in opposition And I want to make sure that I have all the people who signed up again. Jim Savara Becky wonders wonders christine westfall and tomas Lens now as anyone else that wants to speak In opposition to this proposal If not then each one of the proponents has Let's say three minutes in case somebody else wants to drop in Good evening. My name is Jim Savara 1114 woodburn road I am here to speak in opposition to this proposal and I want to encourage the council To at the very least delay until much more is known About what is planned or to turn it down. This is a crucial site In a light rail station area very close to the location of the station And we know virtually nothing about what they're going to do with the site. How does it contribute To making this a successful area? And so for that reason more needs to be known The uncertainty about the number of housing units is another big question that needs to be resolved It has been interesting to hear the developers talk about all of the voluntary compliance that they're providing With the compact neighborhood tier expectations the design district standards. They want to be proactive They want to envision the standards that the city will put in place And yet when it comes to the critical area of affordable housing They are offering funds spread out over time that represents the cost of less than one new unit of housing the This must remember we are Incorporating we are developing areas around a public transit project Which is intended to serve the entire population Which is intended to provide opportunities for the transportation disadvantage To be able to use this new opportunity So we must incorporate the opportunity for low-income families to live in close proximity To the light rail stations There were projections these have probably been updated but projections about the number of housing units that will be developed in Patterson Place About 18 months ago Current in 2010 there were 756 housing units In the Patterson in Patterson Place transit area with no subsidized affordable units present at that time It is projected that by 2040 there will be 2005 housing units In this station area that has to include affordable housing and we have to start including it now And so it is it is time for the developer If this project is to go forward to be more precise about how they're going to make this a viable transit area And also how they are going to be Contributing to the opportunity for low-income families to take advantage of these public services That are being supported by an enormous amounts of federal state and local funds. Thank you Good evening. My name is becky winders and I live at 1304 Seton road And in 2011 I Like the majority of Durham citizens voted for the the Improved trans public transit improvements of the light rail and and then and When I did that it was because I wanted a 21st century transportation system that would Would Have less air pollution would be more environmentally sensitive. I would reduce traffic congestion eventually hopefully But Also, I was interested in the economic development impacts of of this project too And I expected this this I was hoping that this project would bring opportunities for jobs and and housing For all of Durham citizens I was I was not expecting that we would we would have these these neighborhoods full of of Shiny new apartments that our teachers and policemen and store managers and the people who work in those communities can't live in And I started to work with the with with the coalition for affordable housing and transit And we advocated for a the goal of maintaining 15 percent affordable housing at the transit stops at in the areas around the transit stops and We we appreciate that the city and county adopted that goal and subsequently The city put that goal into the comprehensive plan Of at least a year ago. The goal was was event was adopted in 2014 We have had several zoning cases since then That that some of my colleagues in affordable housing and transit have spoken against or spoken to modify So we the we define in the udo affordable affordable housing is defined as As restricted by a covenant for for 15 years So we're talking long-term affordable housing. So what That that market rate housing doesn't really count towards meeting that 15 percent goal So and I see and I I appreciate the council's leadership And I see what you have and are investing and I see that you are investing $125,000 In a plan for 80 units, but here is the development and I as a taxpayer I want to see some private investment in affordable housing that the the government money should not do at all And I don't consider 75,000 a serious contribution to affordable housing Thank you. You're welcome Good evening. My name is christine westfall and like jim and becky I'm also a member of the coalition for affordable housing and transit And i'm here to speak in opposition to the proposed rezoning I'm actually in many ways. I'm excited about the plan that was laid out here this evening as a resident I would love to see that part of town come back with denser housing more uses I want density that's going to help us bring in light rail in the future What i'm concerned about is that this proposal does to me as an affordable housing advocate does not address The issue of affordable housing as jim pointed out and he's correct. I work as an affordable housing developer 75,000 is enough subsidy to create one Unit of affordable housing one dwelling place But the city has a policy that has is stated and written that it would like to see 15 affordable housing units in future light rail areas So this this comes nothing close to providing that and I want to say that I think it's important to this community that we provide that affordable housing in those locations not simply take payments in lube Because without that affordable housing These new areas desirable areas near light rail are going to become economically segregated They're going to be segregated and I think that's a value that is it's just not in keeping with the Durham community So I'd just like to offer those thoughts and encourage you to think about that about this proposal. Thank you Thank you Okay, that concludes the persons who Had signed up to speak in opposition, but let me ask again. Is anyone else that wants to speak on an opposition to this proposal Okay, that direct reflect no one else has to speak the developers have three minutes if you Care to use that otherwise we're going back to the council I do I would like for one of the developers and apartment Owners to speak To you on this Good evening. My name is chris howlett. I'm developer of the property We have been working on this project. Could you just stitch your address, please for the record 16122 Moorhead, Chatham county We've been working on this project for over a year We are under contract With a partner to build 300 apartment units They are wanting to get going as soon as possible and that's why we're here The problem with affordable housing is vast and varied we recognize that I would say to the folks that spoke against this that they really should be for this because Without the zoning the property is going to be zoned anyway with the overlayed district in about a year And there will be no requirements for affordable housing at all because there can't be because of the state legislature In addition, there may not be any Housing units built on the property whatsoever is my understanding There's not a requirement for uses within the overlay districts We have recognized as citizens of the county And the city that We have responsibility And we are living up to that. We have made an historic offer Of the 75 000 dollars We are going to be building 300 units. I've stated that we're under contract We have offered funds for the schools and We will do as much as we can and I think historically And um We have also there are other issues involved and part of that is the Light triangle the the light rail go triangle. We have worked with them on text commitments Um reservation of property. We've changed the property lines two or three times to accommodate their needs and um, we have worked Hand in glove with them over the past several months to make sure that we have reserved the space for the light rail and also our Development plan our envelopes of where the buildings are going to go Stay outside of that area where the light rail would go um We are willing at this point to Double the offer on the affordable housing proper I talked with the our apartment partners over the weekend And told them what we were doing and that I had offered on my own To put up 75 000 dollars and they immediately said that they would match that So our offer is 50 000 for the first unit 50 for 101 and another 50 for The 200 first and as I say we're under contract to do 300 units So our offer would be at 150 000 If there are any other questions, I'd be glad to answer Let me ask because I just Spoken to our city attorney and you you made the point But I think it needs to be clear what this council Can and can cannot do in spite of what We want to do relative affordable housing and I'm going to ask the City attorney if he will speak to that. Yes, mr. Mayor members of council that the the actual term is inclusionary zoning and the The issue specifically is whether a municipality can require as a condition of zoning the inclusion of affordable housing That's very different than some sort of negotiation or some voluntary proffer We're talking about a mandatory proffer that you would assume The developer wouldn't want to do but is forced to do by the municipality We have a pined and and I would continue to impine that we The legal authority for us to do this is a dubious at best I know that there are a couple of attorneys that that may feel otherwise But I think the case law in north carolina Certainly doesn't support the idea that we could do this as a mandatory condition of a zoning request Okay, the reason I wanted that stated for the record is that I don't know what action this council is going to take on this rezoning, but I would caution that whatever action we take Not be In a negative relative whether or not the affordable housing piece is there, but I haven't said that Given that we have a goal Of 15 percent of affordable housing within I guess a half mile or mile of the light rail station And we don't know exactly where the light rail station is going to go, but we have an indication Based on the plans for a go triangle So if we talked about 300 unit apartment, we're talking about 45 units of affordable housing And just off the cuff, could you tell us what is your exposure? If in fact you wanted to put 45 units Relative affordable house. What's the cost? Do you want it? How does that? Break out We are going to be joint venturing I think those costs have Come in at somewhere 40 to 60 thousand dollars per unit No, in fact Could you come up and search a name and address please? My name is Catherine Howlett. This is my dad, my boss as well Apologies, we are actually not apartment developers Which is why as he mentioned we'll be working with an apartment developer To partner on the development of those residential units on this project My understanding right now is the type of apartments we're planning to build on this It's a more dense product with structured parking And those can currently cost 200 to 220 thousand dollars per unit to build because of The nature of the fire codes and so forth when you're building a product. That's that dense You said 200 to 225 thousand dollars per unit per unit. Yes, sir And is that a unit? Is that a two bedroom three bedroom one bedroom? What do we talk about? It's that's an average It's probably a One bedroom something like that. It's based on an average mix of expensive in downtown It's based on a mixture of units um from studio one bedroom and two bedroom. They um the apartment metrics are They sort of take a typical apartment unit mix within a 250 or so unit apartment complex and they break down the The costs in that way just a A ballpark metric Well, let me tell you where where where my Thought is and I'm not saying this is what we do we just Talked about jackson street what we're going to have to do to try to make that come to fruition We're talking about our goals that we've got for affordable housing around light rail stations We've heard the attorneys applying that we can't require that as a part of the zoning So if this zoning doesn't get approved Needs to be clear for the record. It's not because We are saying they don't have affordable housing. So I just want to make that clear to my colleagues. I have the goals But at some point in time I think this council is going to have to seriously consider Whether or not we want to be putting money Into those units that we're trying to get around Light rail stations. I mean if the developers Are not willing to do it for whatever reason and typically it's financial We can't require them We can also turn down the zoning and see what comes after that Uh, and that's why I was trying to understand what is the cost to the developer for affordable units And it's something that the city might want to consider subsidizing to Try to meet the numbers that we we've set as a goal. So I'm just throwing that out for Conversation piece, but more or less where this council might go further down the road But having said that uh, if there are no further Uh comments I know I won't close the pub again. I'll wait until we have hear the comments from my colleagues on the council Where you going the mayor pro tem? I know we cannot force you to do affordable housing But can we plead with you to use local? Contractors in the construct of your development local and minority contract Councilwoman McFadden, I've lived here since I was 13 years old. I've got a lot of a lot of friends around here Uh, you can see the folks that I've worked with with from mr. Spaulding who I've worked with for about 30 years and early well And and that would that would be our wish also The folks that we're dealing with have ties here, but they would be leaning on us as an example They have their own architectural firm out of state, but they are working with mha works downtown Durham to be the local architect so They are leaning on us to do that and We would very much commit to doing that as much as possible. Let me just offer help from our department of equal opportunity Assurance, they will be glad to assist you. Okay, great. Thank you great I recognize councilwoman Johnson Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, so I'm concerned about this rezoning um For a couple of reasons and I think the affordable housing is one part, but I'm also concerned about The fact that this rezoning is in the light rail corridor, which I Which we have faced this issue before a couple of times With folks wanting to rezone rezone property that's in the light rail corridor That's going to be rezoned as part of this comprehensive planning process that were That is in process, but is not yet finished And so I feel like this case isn't just about this one rezoning. It's about The future of the light rail corridor, which is also which I think is in many ways crucial to the future of Durham And what we want our city to look like and how we want this light rail corridor to contribute to the development of our city Because this partial is right in the center of the Patterson Place compact neighborhood Design district and also right next to the proposed light rail station. Whatever goes here is going to Really impact what happens in in this entire in this entire neighborhood And we have set goals of making this corridor dense and affordable To support the needs of the transit system and also to make sure That Durham is going to remain a mixed income integrated city that we we want affordable housing integrated into these into these light rail zones And we're not in a position yet to tell developers exactly what we want to see on this piece of property because we haven't finished the design district We're looking at about a year Is the estimate from the planning department to finish that and we're not in a position to To offer the voluntary affordable housing incentives that we are hoping will help us get closer to that goal Of 15 affordable housing at 60 a.m I within a mile of all these light rail stations. We haven't We're not done. We're not done figuring that out and I don't think that we can continue to add projects like this With no affordable housing and maintain This idea that we're going to get to 15 percent affordability in these in these neighborhoods We would end up requiring that future we would end up having to figure out Like future projects dedicating even more than 15 percent of affordable housing, right and we're having trouble getting developers to dedicate You know one or two percent of their of their units to affordable housing So we have a very limited range of what we can work with $150,000 for the affordable housing fund is great. It's equivalent to about three units So in a 300 unit development, that's one percent of the of affordable housing in the unit And it's just an incredibly small percentage of the value of what this development is going to be I think I don't see why they're I don't see a good reason why this development can't wait for the entire corridor to be rezoned I think that jumping ahead and rezoning Individual parcels undermines our plans to create the zoning that we need to afford to support density and affordability And we're not going to get it. I mean, I think it's clear I think that we are clear and the developers are also clear that we're not going to get it without incentives I don't think we're expecting developers to just come forward and and Give us affordable units. We need to figure out what we as a city are willing to do to make that happen And we haven't figured that out yet Um, I don't think that the advantage that the city gets from rezoning this property now Are enough to override the city's interest in rezoning This compact neighborhood as part of one unified comprehensive plan That starts with a clean slate and tries to meet all of the community goals We have a plan for this corridor for a reason And we have a responsibility to ensure that these developments serve the people who most need access to transit And then it doesn't become Just another tool for creating a city where the people who work here can't afford to live here Um, and I think that the the primary advantage of approving this doesn't go to the city goes to the developer The benefit to the city, which is this hundred and fifty thousand dollars for affordable housing getting some tax revenue in earlier Is far less than I think I would need to give up on the possibility of being able to incentivize more affordable housing At this location and being able to develop this entire tier as a whole and I I'm trying I understand that it may not be possible that this 15% goal may just be beyond what we are able To do but I'm not I feel like I'm not ready to give up on this goal already I want us to try to figure out. I want our planning department to come back to us with some With some real ideas to how of how to incentivize affordable housing before we Just move forward with developments that we know Are not going to meet our goals um, and that we When we haven't had the opportunity to provide options for developers to see if we can meet these goals together. Thank you Oh, there are other questions or comments by members of the council Recognize councilman moffitt and then councilman davis in that order. I just had a question for staff I noted this is a mixed use development And could you talk a little bit about the mixed and I heard mixed use this is application for mixed use And and then I heard him say this is really the project is 300 units of housing. So can Talk a little bit about that Sure, uh, jacob liggins with the planning department So typically there's two options when someone submits a mixed use application They're they're going to do vertical integration or horizontal integration Vertical integration is kind of what it sounds like. You're going to typically have higher floors with multiple uses So the applicant in this case has made a commitment to do a range of residential uses The immute district standards require both a residential and non residential component So they're proffering a commitment to do a range of residential units as well as a range of commercial units I believe the the exact range is 105,000 square feet of commercial space Up to 255,000 square feet of commercial space So they they are required by ordinance to provide both of those in order to be considered mixed use So if they build uh I haven't looked closely at the phasing plans in a couple of weeks if they build out the 300 units of housing How long do they have to build the? Minimum I think you said was 105,000 square feet of how long do they have to build that? Before they become in violate having a zoning violation Sure So within the first phase they do have to do a combination of both the commercial and residential Pieces so they could build out the residential portion But they also still have to provide a certain amount of commercial space within that within that first phase Once that is constructed any leftover To meet the number of requirements Would have to be constructed while the site plan is still valid If the site plan validity expires Then they would be putting the entire development plan at risk as well How long you thought site plan valid Four years four years. Thank you. And um, are they committing to vertical integration? Yes, sir. That is correct. Okay. Thank you very much. Yes, sir Recognize councilman davis. Thank you, mr. Mayor. I guess I want to ask you if I can um That it appears that there are only two compact districts that we've already approved that's downtown and 9th street And the expectation is that we would not be able to The council wouldn't be able to approve any others for foreseeable time in the future So if we were to delay all proposals that come before us Between now and the approval of these compact districts There may be several projects that will be noteworthy and valuable to Durham That would not be able to go forward until the council has Done said approvals I think that as I look at what this Applicant has put forth It appears that they have had the vision to try to foresee what the compact districts look like on 9th street and downtown and have tried to conform to that Along the way. So it appears to me that they've done lots of things that would Um be noteworthy and proactive As well as the contribution to the affordable fund that we have affordable housing fund, although it certainly is not anywhere near what we would like to have in terms of affordable housing At least they have the understanding that we need affordable housing Durham And the other thing I guess that I look at is that if we're looking at transit The density that would come from this development might be admirable and something that would be Good for the light rail project. So for those reasons and the Things that this the applicants have put forth. I think that this is a project that I can vote for and I would Welcome the opportunity to Do that Thank you, mr. Mayor Thank you recognize councilman shul Thank you, mr. Mayor So, uh, let me just see which of these to take first. Let me just start with the affordable housing I Live this every day and work on it all the time and I Think we need to do everything we can to increase the amount of affordable housing in Durham But I don't think it's realistic to think that in a year from now When we have this compact design district or a little bit longer that we're going to be able to get affordable housing here By incentivizing it. We have limited money to incentivize affordable housing and hopefully we're going to have more tax dollars to do it But we have incredible Demands on those dollars right now and I can't imagine this being a priority to incentivize affordable units At a place like Patterson Place when we're trying to redevelop the Durham housing authority communities We are trying to support the Durham community land trustees who we heard about recently who are trying to renovate 62 units and keep them permanently affordable on East Durham That we want to subsidize the jack the 80 units downtown at Jackson street that the Casa has as a Got in the armory now on Carroll street and wants to do work there There's a long list of things. It's a very large list. It's very expensive and we want to do them In a year from now, I think that this isn't we're you know, I applaud Jillian's idea that We could make this happen. I just don't believe it's really practical for this place in the time that between now and when that compact design district is made and so And and you know the the points that the gym and and becky made Are very important, but I just don't I think that with even with more More money to do it I don't think this was going to be a target a priority And I do think that we are in a difficult position that Some localities are not in other states Excuse me, which is that we cannot require developers to do this So then that leaves me to think okay. What is going to happen here? In a year, what are the possibilities that this will be something that is more that has the density and transit friendly Uh Attributes that we want and I think that that possibility is very low. I think that this is I drove out there again today. You all have all been out there million times. We've all driven that road I went out there today just to drive around again and to see what's there unlike wood partners Which we approved recently Uh a year ago or something. This is not a huge parcel in the middle Of you know, that's going to set the tone for an entire Compact neighborhood district. This is going to be in the middle of it's going to be dense housing and and and I think True multi-use in the way that we want multi-use vertically integrated multi-use In an area, which is just pretty much suburban shopping center I think this will be a big improvement on that and a real step in the direction of Of transit orientation It has it you know, it's not the density. We would ideally like if we were in you know, not doesn't have the height We might ideally like In terms of that kind of density, but I think this is what the market will support now and in the next 10 or 15 years so um I totally understand the people that say We have to have the affordable housing and i'm not going to support it Until we have that I just don't see how we get it there in the foreseeable future And I think it has a lot of the attributes that we want in terms of the in terms of the um In terms of the design district. I also think that It is fair You know, I think it's a it's a I think what the what the developers did in terms of how they decided to try to make it Design district friendly to go to the two design districts that we have And use that the attributes of those design districts to make these their development conform to that is good I think that's a very very reasonable way to try to achieve that so I'm going to be voting in favor of it. I am regretful That we are not going to be able to get Affording affordable housing here appreciative of the proffer But I think this is the reality that we're living with and we're not going to solve it Uh By being unrealistic about what the future of our ability to fund these things is so Thank you, mr. Mayor Other other comments questions on on the side Recognize councilman moff Yes, excuse me. Thank you. Um I do see some similarities to the wood partners project The use of existing compact neighborhood tiers and the zoning requirements there to to shape the design elements That's very similar I guess before I want to go on with these comments, I did have a question And then this may have been addressed. Um, do we have a A projected timeline for the Patterson place on rezoning The compact neighborhood tier Good evening, uh councilman moffitt this pat young with planning department, uh approximately nine to 12 months. Okay. Thank you So, um with wood partners, uh We're we're a year closer now or to um having that final zone But unlike wood partners wood partners actually proffered affordable housing units They proffered units at 80 percent AMI and they proffered units at 60 percent AMI and that's why I supported it And that's not what's going on here Now we don't condition our votes on whether they're proffering affordable units and I'm not but the um When I look at this and I think well, we're we're we're within nine to 12 months Of the of having our our final zone and the bad news is exactly right developers. Correct. Mr. Halle Which is that if you wait if we make you wait there'll be no Reason for them to have additional proffers. They'll be able to build by right um, but On the other hand, we're not exactly sure what we want here where we're going and I thought the comments of councilmember johnson were right on target So that's that's all the things that I'm I'm mauling over here as we're moving towards our vote. Thank you Are there other comments? Questions recognize the mayor pro tem There was some concern. I think that uh, go triangle had did you clear that up? I believe I'm not I think you did I think that uh The planning commission, right? I think that we were able to we met all last week and I think those matters were cleared up Okay, uh, I would like to say That you know the proffers mr. City attorney All of them were voluntary In the frame of mind that the developer has had with this He knows it with it within a year if this overlay zoning takes place. He wouldn't have to do affordable housing he wouldn't have to do the request or the Assistance as it relates to school children, it'll be 64 school children that will be entering based on this development They wouldn't have to really do much of anything for a go triangle and that type of thing What we tried to do a year ago when we started Was to work with the city staff in every way possible To meet what their their goals were from design districts The neighborhood compact here To do all that they could to not only address that But also to look at the history of what many developers have done in regard to make it voluntary Prophers as it relates to students for the schools They wanted to do all they could as I say with the design guidelines They wanted to do all that they could to be able to assist and help go triangle at a light rail Area such as this And and and so it was one thing and then the affordable housing For the purpose of uh, you're right jillian jillian is right about that. We've had conversations about this before And she she was very fair and pointing out that developers have not I've been coming forward With this and I think the council has grappled with how can we have the incentives to be able to do this That case could have been made to this developer, but the developer still Even this weekend was in touch with his partner to find out if they could increase the affordable Not because we had to not because you forced us to But because of showing their good faith In being able to come forth with their partner who had not been a part of it to see if he was willing to contribute as well Because that money will be able to go in the fund that I think this council has established That allows for future affordable housing If not this area and other areas of the city where it's needed And so I just wanted just wanted to say to you that That uh, I understand the concerns. I understand the points But I also want you to understand what this developer has done going over and beyond What he would be required to do a year from now. He wouldn't have to do any of this He will be able to get on the on the record and and and building This uh, these apartments and building this area of mixed use development To be able to bring in tax revenues that will in fact go toward affordable housing local taxes and so He might not have and the market might not allow as mr. Davis You were talking about very well might not allow a year from now to be able to do What he's able to do with reshuffle ready if at all possible to get the site plan and move forward So in all earnestness, I just want to say to you that we really feel that That there has been a public private effort By this development to recognize his responsibility to the community his responsibility to to the ideals of affordable housing The responsibility to the students that will be going into the school and the responsibilities to himself As a local developer who is going to be part owner of what goes on out here So we very much appreciate your time and consideration I just want to thank you because I know The role that you've played in getting us this far with this project. Thank you for that Okay, um, I'm going to close the public hearing and Let direct reflect no one else asked to speak before I close the public hearing within the time limits uh, the matter of fact before the council for Direction would entertain a motion in neither direction recognized Mr. Mayor, I think this is correct. I'm going to move that the consist that this request is consistent with the comprehensive plan Is that correct? Jacob weekends are playing for me. You just need to move the consistency statements. Okay. I'll move the consistency statement It's been properly moved and second All in favor of the motion that kept me saying aye. Aye those opposed councilman Reese's opposed Uh, next motion Yeah, you have anything else you want to say With the consistency statement, we have we have taken an action on on the rezoning request Jacob Williams with playing apartment. Yeah, so the council has moved on the consistency statement We also need to make a vote on the actual rezoning case itself as well So I would entertain a motion on proving the rezoning check requests are not going to prove in the rezoning request It's been a proper move to second that we approve the rezoning Any discussions on the motion on that Here and then I'm going to call the question all in favor of the motion that can be seen. Aye. Aye those opposed Raise your hands so the clerk can see it Okay, have you got it? The motion passes four to three Okay, the next item is the item 29 consolidated item for 1201 Ellis wrote Good evening. Jacob Wiggins again with the playing department Future land use map change and zoning map change requests have been received from dan ryan builders for a 23 acre parcel Located at 1201 Ellis road the site is currently designated as low density residential on the future land use map and is currently zone residential role The applicant is proposing to change these designations to low to medium density residential And plan development residential seven point eight seven zero If approved the associated development plan will permit a maximum of 180 townhouse units at the subject site Some key commitments on the development plan include side access points A bicycle or excuse me a building and parking envelope a bicycle lane along Ellis road Some roadway improvements 70 percent maximum of previous surfaces And 60 foot or 61 feet of right-of-way dedication for the future riddle road extension along the northern portion of the subject site The planning commission recommended approval of this request By vote of eight to three at the february 14th 2017 meeting And the staff recommends that the plan amendment request be approved in the event that the plan amendment request is approved That the zoning map change Is consistent with the comprehensive plan and other applicable policies and ordinances And i'm happy to answer any questions that the council may have at this time regarding this application Okay, again, this is public hearing the public hearing is open. Let me ask other questions by members of the council or the staff report Here and then we have two persons that are signed up to speak on this item and As proponents And we have two persons that sound speak as opponents So we'll take 10 minutes each on this item recognize first the proponents Jared Edens and Patrick biker Good evening Jared Edens with Edens Land Corp. I appreciate your time this evening. I'm here representing my client dan ryan builders You may or may not know dan ryan as they built a lot of units in Durham They've been a Company that does a lot of business here for several years or sort of experts in town home development This project we're proposing tonight as summarized by staff includes a maximum of 180 Town home units located near the intersection of riddle road and ellis road We think this is a very good location for this project in this density It's very convenient. You can head west very easily down riddle road and get the south point You can go down ellis and go east and get the briar creek and riley fairly easily We are proposing only one access point to ellis road. We are offering Road improvements to both ellis road all the way through the riddle road intersection, which is slightly beyond what we're required to Install but we think it'll be better overall better functioning intersection that way Excuse me. We did receive approval from planning commission. We have support from staff I did want to make two proffers here this evening Which are similar items that have been discussed before Our project will increase the student population by 11 students I believe per the staff report. So we proffer a payment of $5,500 during public schools Prior to the first final plat for the project Our other proffer would be for affordable housing. Now I would point out that These are going to be one car garage units We're expecting that these would be starting price points in the 160s As it's fairly affordable as it is But we still are offering a $25,000 payment To the affordable housing fund also prior to the first final plat For the project. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. Thank you Mayor bell. I I believe I signed up to speak on item 30. So I'm afraid that car got misplaced on this particular item Okay. Thank you, sir Let me call on Betty Mangum And thomas lines lindes Let's make me have five minutes Good evening My name is Betty Mangum. I live at one two one two theodore lane So this um New development that they're doing is going to be right smack in my backyard um I know it's going forward. The only thing I'm here for is to ask the city council if they uh They have resumed it already or it's it's going to be resumed I just ask that they put up some type of barrier because there is a branch That runs right back through that southern terry property And it's right in the back of my property also most of the people that live in southern southern terries um And which is this this new development will be right behind southern terry's a theodore lane That they put up something because the children if they get to that branch That it could be definitely to their health also People throw uh things into that branch I know the residents are responsible and we work hard in keeping it clean so that that water can flow through But if we the more people we get over there the more we have to clean and work hard in cleaning this up And I just ask that you all um Just command that they put something up there to protect that branch um from The breeding and and Hazardous stuff being uh and the children playing near there And that's all I wanted to say. Thank you Thomas line lindy how do you pronounce that? lines, okay I'm raising my concerns about this development For three reasons one is one is uh I'm concerned about runoff. I live on theodore lane on the bottom right corner of this of this case And the stream runs through my yard and I have quite a bit of erosion happening right now and the amount of permeable Surfaces that are going to be taken away with this development will cause more runoff and so I'm I'm opposed for that reason and I'm also concerned about traffic because At the corner of ellis and riddle At times within the last year it has backed up on rush hour for maybe Probably about a quarter of a mile A line of traffic back on riddle and that's a new development that hasn't Happened until very recently and I think that the traffic load from a development such as this would just exacerbate the situation and That's my concern. I also am concerned about This the stream quality as mentioned before Thanks for considering my thoughts thank you Is there anyone else that wants to speak in opposition to this item that hasn't spoken If not developers How much time did they have If you want to use that fine if not I have some questions Yes, sir, I'll respond quickly to um We understand our neighbor's concerns about the stream in the rear of the property, but The stream is not located on our property the sand line the stream is 20 30 feet on the adjacent properties to the rear So there's no real way for us to barrier that it's not on our property There was concerns about stormwater runoff. Obviously we're going to have to install detention ponds To detain water and treat the water per city standards The city is very strict on the stormwater regulations Um regarding traffic and transportation This project wasn't near the density that would trigger a tia. So we didn't do a traffic study because it wasn't near to being warranted But again, we did extend our road widening on ellis through the riddle road intersection Which we think is a a slight improvement and something that we aren't technically required to do So anyways, that would be my responses and I'll answer any questions you have. Thank you I could could you tell us a little bit more about I heard you say it's not on your property But in terms of the branch that this Michael Michael spoke about Yeah, so there's a stream that runs parallel to theodore lane north south The buffer part of it, which is the outer 50 feet Slightly encroaches onto our property run the north south and that's hatched in on our development plan if you've got the Either dv1 or dv2 sheets in front of you But the stream itself is off of our property It's not customary to to fence off or border off streams or stream buffers We normally like to leave those natural But with the stream is not on our property I guess what I'm looking at I see Looks like three streams that on your property, right? But that I was referring to she said she lived on Theodore lane and there would be only the one stream that runs north south that I believe could be in the rear of those lots There's a second stream, but again the area that would be on And the stream is on the adjacent owners property So how are you handling the two streams that I see on your property? We're I mean, we're not touching. I mean we're proposing one crossing at the very top of that small stream And then we will have storm water devices to treat our storm water to protect the streams like we do On every other project The streams were delineated by a professional upfront field survey Confirmed by dener and I believe that city of Durham because it's in jordan We buffered them accordingly and are approaching them like we do standard practice Could I ask you to respond to some of the questions that were raised by the planning staff? Members those that were in opposition to it You mean the planning commission? Yes I said staff amendment commission I think there was a concern. I think I'm trying to recall there was a concern about density Someone wrote that they would rather see five to six units an acre rather than seven and a half I doubt you can drive through a neighborhood and really see a difference between five to six and seven and a half, but Generally on the town home deals that we work on in this part of town. This is a density that we have been developing Um I don't recall what other specific If you have specific items, I gladly address them. I remember the density comment There was issues raised about riddle road the extension. I believe a lack of buffer on the north side of the property So we are riddle road is on a transportation plan that often you see these Fat line plans that are drawn 25 years ago that don't really take into account Streams or flood planer environmental features, but they show up on maps And then we base our rezoning decisions on whether we reserve right away for these roads even when the roads Sometimes don't make a lot of sense to ever be built. So in this case Riddle road is one of those maps one of those roads Um, we didn't see that it would ever be extended if we dedicated the 50 feet of right away That would be as customary were required to then Dedicate an additional 80 foot landscape buffer project buffer Along the north and I just felt that 130 feet of property Being taken up by this landowner who's been trying to sell this property for at least five years Was excessive so our alternative was to propose a 61 foot right of way Which in reality Is not a buffer on paper But it's completely wooded and the chances of riddle road being extended are nil in my opinion So in all essence, there's a 61 foot buffer along the north side of the property for a long time Those are the two issues I remember being I'm fairly familiar with that area because I Have a granddaughter goes to nursery out and by the horizons and I have to travel that rock sometime also I guess I I know you said we didn't require a transportation Study but I I know traffic backs up on on that area quite a bit I I guess I was more interested in the comments that were made by planning commissioner brian and his vote against the Yeah, he had mentioned the density So I knew that he had he mentioned the five to six units an acre, but I couldn't I mean I can read them quickly All right, well, I know what I'm going to vote on any mention the right of way as well, so Okay, any other questions comments well, I guess I I raised questions about The development this that's gone there in terms of what's already out there concerned about the density I do have Concerned about the traffic is going to be generated on on the site Um, and while I know miss magam's Questions, uh, realistic to her Developers said that he can't do anything about it because the stream is not on his property Uh, I think her concern was that people are That would be on that property could find themselves throwing things into the branch that runs behind that property And the fact that it doesn't appear you only put up any type of buffer or fence to prevent that which you could Uh, I think that Something to be considered The one thing to keep in to consider is when when the project is constructed post construction We are going to grade it so that when it rains when all that debris is tossed out It will go to our stormwater ponds And that that's ensured by city staff. We we can't get co's they'll hold up co's at the end If I don't even prove that the water is going where it's supposed to go When that water goes there, that's where the debris goes We have to inspect and maintain these on an annual basis. They get certified annually So from this particular side, I feel confident that we will not have a debris issue Well, I I guess maybe I missed the point that she was making I thought she was talking about the safety of The property and people have an access to that branch which is not on your property The branch is right behind your property and I when she talked about buffer, I assumed she was talking about some type of Who is miss magam miss magam there? Maybe you can explain miss magam a little bit more about what your concerns were relative to this buffer issue What's the system you're talking about? People throwing debris if you if you drive down Ellis road sometime you'll see sofas sitting out there You know things that people don't carry where they're supposed to carry to just throw it out And this is what I'm talking about people throwing things in the branch when they can't get it to where they Where it needs to go or the children playing back there because children love to I've been in that area ever since 1970 my kids grew up there They used to play in the woods. They used to play around that branch But someone always was watching them when they played around that those branches and stuff back up in those woods because That thing gets full of water and it if it If you're not careful, someone can drown in that branch It's it's a large branch And like I said, we have to keep it clean because a lot of debris and stuff flows down through that tree limbs and stuff I think it runs under Glover road and I don't know where from there Glover road all the way through the back of our property. They are fear door lane all the way down And then around on the Clinton road. This is where that branch runs to And when it gets full of debris and stuff, we have to clean it out The city came out and talked to us about we were responsible for keeping it clean because it's on our property We understand that but when we get other people over there just moving in They're not going to care about what we have to do about keeping that branch clean or keeping it safe for the children You get more children over there. You're going to have more children playing near that property Coming down on the property because it's not thin stand back there anything and I'm talking about the safety Of the children if they going to build apartments, they can build some type of barrier to keep those Kids from coming down to the branch This is what I'm saying and keep people from throwing stuff down at the branch. Just just keep it safe. That's all I'm saying All right, miss. Thank you. Is that clear? It's clear to me, but I understand Any other questions comments? If not the public I'm sorry. I recognize councilor recent and then Oh, excuse me councilor recent and the mayor pro tem That's right. Mr. Eons. I just wanted to get your take on one other issue that was raised by the planning commission that the mayor did not raise That had to do with Not just the density of this project being at least twice the surrounding residential areas But also the fact that this much more intense Residential use is right up against An area that is own industrial with no apparent buffer. Can you speak to that issue a little bit? Yes, and that sort of ties to what I was talking about on the riddle road extension because Riddle road is a 61 feet a right-of-way reservation that is adjacent to the industrial property in question So in reality and it's completely wooded So in reality and unless council foresees funding a riddle road extension In a near future which currently lead would have to tear up a bunch of people's homes to ever go anywhere In reality, there's going to be a 61 foot buffer on the northern edge of that property in perpetuity And and the thing is the people who? The people who buy there they know the conditions of the property before they buy there and You know the site plan will show that there's 61 feet of distance Because it's going to be set in stone where it's at so Streets I have to say that That line of argument sort of Would allow us to absent ourselves from a lot of decisions we make on zoning. So I I didn't mean it now Did you finish all right and I recognize the mayor pro tem Mr. Edens, what what could you do? To help allay the concerns of the resident Who spoke I mean I was thinking about I've been working here 20 years Right. I've had rezoning cases here for years. Everyone has a stream on it It would be the first time I had proffered to try to build some sort of barrier along a wooded area In the event that someone might want to enter it I mean, I don't I haven't studied that stream to see if it's any different than the Thousands hundreds and thousands of other streams that are in Durham But this would be the first time that I've done it Or that it even came up and if It'd be a dangerous precedent to me honestly There are no further questions. I said the public here is closed. As a matter of fact for council Entertain the motion well first of all, let me make sure we fall in the right procedure here First most would be to adopt the resolution to change the land use designation Of the comprehensive plan from industrial to commercial If we don't have mr. Mayor, I will make that motion but with the intent to vote against it We I know that we typically make our motions in the affirmative. So I'll move that we Adopt the amendment as requested the plan amendment Is there a second to the motion Jacob are we doing the consistency statement first This one for the plan amendment the plan amendment should come first and then the consistency statement and then the zoning I was just reading what was on there All right, so We've had a motion second to adopt the resolution to change the land use designation of the future land use map of the Durham comprehensive plan from industrial to commercial All in favor of the motion indicate percent aye Those opposed indicate by saying nay, nay You want us to raise our hands those voting a range of hands A and support of the motion You got four persons and those support An opposition three All right the next next The consistency state And to adopt a consistent statement is required by general strategy 168 dash 383 All in favor of the motion indicate percent aye. Aye those opposed the motion passes unanimously Item 30 consolidated annexation for lump. Did I miss a part? Okay. All right and entertaining the motion on the rezoning Is there a motion Is the second It's been proper to move a second all in favor of the motion to get me saying aye Those opposed nay nays Raise your hand, please Those in support raise your hands, please Did you get that madam clerk it passes four to three? Okay, move to item 30 consolidated annexation for Lumley road townhouses Thank you Jacob wiggins again with the playing department The request for a utility extension agreement voluntary annexation Comprehensive plan amendment and zoning map change has been received from darlington advisors llc On this subject site comprises portions of two parcels totaling 15.6 acres And is generally located at 5 7 6 6 Lumley road If approved these items will become effective on june 30th 2017 The applicant has requested a zoning designation of residential suburban multifamily Currently under the county don't county designated zoning This site is on a residential role and commercial center If approved the project would permit a maximum density of eight joint units and acre Um as the applicant has not provided a development plan with this rezoning That would allow for approximately up to 108 residential units at the site Approximately two-thirds of an acre is designated as commercial on the future land use map Any applicant is requesting to change this portion to medium density residential Which is the adopted designation for the remainder portion of the subject site Public works and water management performed the utility impact analysis Which determined that there is adequate water and sewer service for the subject site Um, and I would note that sewer service will be provided by durham county for this project budget management services department also performed a fiscal impact Analysis which determined that the request is likely to be revenue positive immediately upon annexation Uh staff determines that these requests are consistent with the comprehensive plan and applicable policies and ordinances And recommends approval Of the request and adoption of a consistency statement And i'm happy to answer any questions that you all may have at this time Okay, the public hearing is open. Do you have questions of the staff? If not, we had one person that wants to speak in support of this, uh, patrick biker You have three minutes. Yes, sir. Good evening. Mayor bell members of council. My name is patrick biker. I live at 2614 steward drive I'm here tonight representing darlington advisors. Um, I'm with uh, dan joules our landscape architect In light of the fact that we have a unanimous recommendation for approval from the planning commission. I'll simply, uh Say we're happy to answer any questions you may have but also would like to state on the record that, um, Our developer carlton midgett who is the director of darlington advisors He has asked or he has Said we can pledge $10,000 to the Durham public schools to offset the impact of new students And we're we're honored to do that. We'll make that contribution I believe before we break ground for this project. I'll be happy to answer any questions and we appreciate your time tonight Other questions of the developer Uh, is there anyone that wants to speak in opposition to the site? Mayor bell, thank you. That's the staff. Yeah, jake oblige to the planning department since there's no development plan associated with this request There's no opportunity for the applicant to proper voluntary commitments. We're just doing it out. Oh He's a public Very publicly oriented developer. He'd like to make that contribution Specifically in honor of deputy superintendent huo steen who retired recently Oh Okay Let us close the public hearing uh matter of fact before the board We could adopt an ordinance annexing lemony road townhouse into the city of Durham effective june 30th To authorize the city manager into a warden sewer extension agreement with darlington advisors lsc into modified contract prior to execution Provided no such amount of such modifications do not increase the dollar amount Of the contract and do not significantly decrease the obligations Of the contractor We at first can we get a motion to adopt ordinance It's been propped to move the second All in favor of the motion to get by saying aye. All right, those opposed Motion passes unanimously Motion to authorize the city manager into a warden sewer extension agreement is defined as described Uh and Entertain the motion or not It's been propped to move the second all in favor of the motion and get by saying aye Those opposed the motion passes unanimously To adopt a resolution to change the land use designation on the future land use map of the Durham comprehensive plan from commercial to medium Dense and residential 6 to 12 12 units per acre Entertain the motion on that item It's been propped to move them second all in favor of the motion and kept by saying aye Aye, those opposed the motion passes unanimously To adopt an ordinance amendment the unified development ordinance by taking the stride property and zoning map recognize I'm just falling and falling the way you've written it out for me Jake Wiggins of the planning department the consistency statement should come before the zoning designation It's been propped to move the second all in favor of the motion and kept by saying aye Those opposed the motion passes unanimously frowning to adopt an ordinance amendment the unified development ordinance, et cetera, et cetera It's been propped to move the second all in favor of the motion and kept by saying aye Those opposed the motion passes unanimously. Thank you Okay, let's move item 31 unified development ordinance text amendment airport overlay Thank you very much michael stock with the planning department. Uh text amendment tc 17 003 is a privately initiated application by Mr. Thomas johnson jr. A representing communication tower group llc to mend section 4.8 airport overlay a 60 and a 65 of the unified development ordinance to add the Utilities use category as an allowable use for the a 65 sub overlay along with additional changes for technical changes for clarity There are only two properties zoned With the a 65 sub overlay and both are both maintain residential rural base zoning Both are located within the county jurisdiction and are with both are within Raleigh's annexation area The a 65 overlay allows consideration of residential and agricultural uses only The applicant will like the ability to seek approval for a freestanding wireless communication facility or a cell tower Which would normally require minor special use permit if only our zoning applied But this is something that is not permitted at all under the current a 65 overlay rules This amendment would therefore make utilities a permissible use subject to the allowances of the base zoning district So therefore if the base zoning requires a special use permit then a special use permit would still be required It's not giving any special additional approvals the additional changes are all Are proposed by staff for primarily technical purposes With the most substantial of these changes being the addition of applications subject to review body rdu airport authority And removing references to areas a and b which are redundant with the current zoning sub overlay designations Playing commission recommended approval 14 to 0. The board of commissioners have already approved this Also with a vote of 5 to 0 and again as a reminder City council required to take two actions the first and this is consistent with how you've been doing it newly And for the past cases First would be an action on the appropriate consistent statement of consistency found the attachment c The second would be an action on the ordinance amendment itself, which is attachment b Thank you and be happy to answer any questions Again, it's the public hearing public hearing. It's open are the questions about staff recognize councilman shul I'm assuming this means that people who Uh at the airport think it's safe to have a cell tower nearby They have indicated it would still have to go For the special use permit, but indications are they they have reviewed the applicants Quests and they have indicated no concerns with a cell tower Any other questions, uh, let me ask is anyone in the public wants to speak on the side of me the four against A lot director fleck and no one in the public asked to speak on the side of him I would put up here and be closed my aspect for council statement of consistency first It's been properly moving second all in favor of the motion and to get me saying I Those opposed the motion passes unanimously That's to adopted in the ordinance. It's been Properly moving second all in favor of the motion and to get me saying I I those opposed Motion passes unanimously I'm going to suggest to the staff as we move forward the you put these in the order that we should be taking action We normally do I know caught up in the state legislation. So I know but I'm just suggesting in the future. Absolutely item 32 Unified development orders text amendment temporary outdoor sales Again, thank you. Michael stock with the playing department tc 17 0004 Provides for technical correction to section 5.5 of the UDO specifically regarding temporary outdoor sales Such a temporary use permits are are issued for temporary outdoor sales and they currently are limited to 400 square feet. However There's been issues Impact in certain temporary sales vendors that require larger areas for sales products Usually these seasonal products including Christmas trees pumpkins and fireworks So the amendment does two basic things Exempts those at area limitations for those larger seasonal items and it specifies christmas tree pumpkin and firework sales And it also does remove a redundancy statement found in paragraph b within your text amendment there Removes a redundant statement that is already stated within section 5.5 point one The planning commission did recommend 14 0 on this item and the board of commissioners has approved this item already 5 0 And again, there would be two actions. The first action would be the statement of consistency found in attachment b And the second one be the action on the ordinance amendment itself, which is attachment a Thank you to support the cairns public cairns open any questions by members of the council recognize councilwoman johnson Thank you, mr. Mayor. Um, I remember when we saw this item before there were some questions specifically about the yard's big Not-profit yard tails. Could you comment on that? The oh, i'm sorry the troce Yeah, the troce sale and any other like So the so the the issue that was brought up and I was at jccpc Um was how it impacted these kind of special event kind of your uh events and yard sales And those are handled generally in two ways And troce has hand has handled them in both ways either have gotten a site plan approval, which gives gives them permanent Ability to do it or there's another section under temporary uses, which is special events which actually covers Markets for non-profits. So not only troce but any even such church or place of worship groups would be handled under that separate provision Great. Thank you. You're welcome the other Questions If not, is anyone in the public who wants to speak on this item? Uh, let the record reflect no one in the public asked to speak on this item I'll declare public and be closed as a matter of fact for the council Move the consistency state It's been proper to move in second all in favor of the motion and kept me saying I I those opposed the motion passes unanimously It's been proper to move in second all in favor of the motion and to kept me saying I I Those opposed my motion passes unanimously. Thank you Um item 33 public hearing on the proposed amendments to the fiscal 2015 2016 and 2016 2017 annual action plans Good evening. Mayor bell members of the city council Reginald johnson director of department of community development This item is a public hearing on proposed amendments to the 2015 2016 and 2016 2017 annual action plans I will Have miss will mcconnors federal programs coordinator to read all the particulars into the record Good evening. Mayor bell and members of council will mcconnors federal programs coordinator The purpose of this public hearing is to receive citizen comments on the proposed amendments to the f y 2015 2016 And the f y 2016 27 annual action plans The citizen participation plan contained in the adopted 2010 2015 consolidated plan Requires that a public hearing be conducted for formal amendments that add delete or substantially change The consolidated plan or the annual action plan Notice of this meeting was advertised in the herald sun The k-pasta and the carolina newspapers on may 5th 6 and 11th respectively And via general lists serve the proposed amendments represent a reallocation of grant funds as follows 200 10,900 and 11 dollars in community development block grant funds 120,300 Dollars in home investment partnership funds specifically community development housing organization funds And a total of four hundred thirty five thousand seven hundred and six dollars and fifty eight cents In housing opportunities for persons with AIDS These amendments are needed to ensure the timely expenditure of the subject grant funds as required by the department of housing and urban development The proposed amendments were made available for public review on may 5th From 2017 through june 5th 2017 at the front desk of the department of community development And on its website the city and county clerks offices the front desk of city hall And was also distributed via general lists serve Comments from this public hearing and a summary of written comments Received from citizens concerning the proposed amendments will be incorporated into the final amendments In closing later tonight on the agenda. We request that council With council approval on the proposed amendments to the 2015 2016 and the 2016 2017 Annual action plans for submission to hide Thank you This is a public hearing item I would ask are the questions by members of the council comments recognize councilman schul One question which is Wilmer in the chart. Can you explain the anticipated use for the chotto reservation the 36 units of preserved units? I wasn't Didn't know what that referred to In the draft 2017 2018 annual action plan We have recommended that a total of 240 thousand dollars be used for the preservation of those 36 units However, a portion of that which is 120 thousand 300 dollars comes from the 16 17 funds which were not allocated and in order to Properly allocate those funds. We are required to do a substantial amendment I'm not sure what units they are are the units that we've already done that We're doing now. Are they potential future units potential for the 17 18 year? Okay. Thank you very much. Okay Any other questions I remember the council Are are there questions Comments by members of the public on this item Let the record flood to no one and the public has to speak on this item Public hearings closed It's been properly moved in second All in favor of the motion and kept us in eye Those opposed the motion passes unanimously. Okay. Now, what are we here for? This item 27, uh, this is an item Let me move back. Okay Let let me ask our And before we before we start this process I have 19 persons who have signed up to speak Who are proponents of this item? And I have 25 persons who have signed up to speak Who are opponents and this is north river village item And what I'm going to suggest is that We allocate two minutes For the proponents two minutes for the opponents, which means we've got 50 minutes for the opponents The proponents will have 50 minutes also I'm suggesting that each person take two minutes to make your point I can assure you that we've all received the emails both for and against this item And I suspect that we have since it's what's going to be said Uh, what I would do would call your name and it's been suggested that maybe I call you in five So that you won't be standing up alongside the aisle. I might call them more than that But uh, let me first hear from the staff on this item and Consider the public hearing to be open Thank you. Jacob Wiggins with the planning departments Um, this is a request to rezone approximately 29.8 acres located at the south eastern quadrant of guest road at ladder road Um, the subject side is presently zoned residential suburban 20 And the applicant is proposing to change this zoning designation to mixed use with a development plan Uh, the future land use map of the comprehensive plan designates the subject side is loaded density residential Which uh, equates to four drawing units an acre or less As part of the development plan associated with this request the applicant is proposing to construct Um, a range of 67,000 to 90,000 square feet of commercial floor space within the area designated as commercial on the development plan And approximately 58 dwelling units on the residential portion through the mixed use ordinance the applicant is proposing to utilize a horizontal integration approach with this development The planning commission heard this item at their february 14th 2017 meeting and recommended denial by a vote of 11 to 2 Staff determines that the request does meet the minimum ordinance requirements and the applicable policies within the comprehensive plan for the mixed use district Staff has identified some concerns regarding the design of this project relative to best practices and horizontally integrated mixed use developments As noted in the report In response to these concerns, um, the applicant has indicated that they may proffer to commitments this evening Um, which staff has received and reviewed and determined that they are Um, legal and enforceable if they are propped this evening Um, finally staff determines as I noted that this request is consistent with the conference plan Um, and the minimum ordinance requirements for the mixed use district And i'm happy to answer any questions that you may have at this time Okay, are there questions by members of the council on this item Okay, let's proceed. Uh, first with the proponents and Uh, I have patrick biker herald loyallon tom van yanoke Uh, chelsea chelsea gifts Mr. Mayor patrick biker representing the applicant just for Convenience sake we'll have five of our speakers Um, uh, take the first, um Uh, section of our presentation then we'd like to reserve the balance of our time and the balance of our speakers for a bottle In that case, can you call the names of your speakers? Yes, our first five speakers will be myself tom vincent Earl loyallon charlie gibbs And then jim polk all right Mayor bell mayor pro tem members of the city council. My name is patrick biker. I live at 2614 stewart drive I'm an attorney with morning star law group in durham No, excuse me We've got our power point up I'll introduce our team while while that's going on Our team that's here tonight includes tom vincent the president of halvorson javis martin who's our property valuation expert With steward martin mccoy Earl loyallon our traffic engineer salma sarah our landscape architect and chris bostic our environmental engineer all with kimmy horn Steve toller our community outreach director And craig and justin morrison the home builders With simron homes in durham I'd like to thank the planning department for their report confirming that north river village Is consistent with the city's comprehensive plan and all other adopted policies and ordinances Having worked for over 20 years on development in durham I am fully convinced that north river village is the right development at the right time at the right place It is the right development because it complies with all the requirements of the udo and the comprehensive plan as a horizontal mixed Use project authorized under udo section 6 dot 11 dot 7 dot d Horizontal mixed use with single family homes is the right type of development for this location It is the right development because north river village will bring hundreds of jobs And new walkable housing options to north durham For too long north durham has languished while new commercial development sprang up downtown and in south durham Our numerous text commitments that go above and beyond the udo requirements will create lively venues for this part of durham In order to serve the surrounding community and to provide housing that is attractive both for empty nesters and for young families. Thank you Following up on the staff report the two additional committed elements that we have put forward to the planning department that they have approved are That such internal pedestrian pathway shall not provide pedestrian access At the rear of the commercial building where the loading of the service area is located According our pedestrian connections will bring people directly into the shopping areas Secondly, we've also proffered that no front lot line of any lot for a residential dwelling unit shall be located within 150 feet of the rear facade of any building Within the commercial area that's to give us separation between the two I now wish to emphasize that north river village is at the right place This area is simply underserved by quality retail restaurants and walkable neighborhoods North of the i-85 quarter in durham. There are almost 100 Thousand people and there has been practically no new commercial development since the 1990s in north durham Based on concerns expressed by some individuals our team looked at other commercially zoned parcels in the vicinity Due to infrastructure deficiencies site topography challenges And access constraints none of these sites already zoned commercial in durham work They are not economically feasible to develop The other existing commercial centers are not on the market Those are simply the facts North river village is also the right development at the right time because of this lack of new quality The lack of new quality retail and restaurants in north durham is a strong reason why residential property values in north durham Typically have been flat or declining As shown in the recent county revaluation This is a disturbing trend one that jarvis martin analyzed in depth Mr martin is here to answer any questions about his findings that north river village would in fact improve property values in this part of durham And now to discuss further the community benefits from north river village. I'd like to turn it over to tom vitson. Thank you Mayor bellicom a thank you jacob wiggins apartment Just two quick items one i want to affirm for the record that all of planning's Public hearing items tonight were advertised in accordance with applicable state laws and UDO requirements And secondly, i'd like to note that the applicant is showing some graphical Images that staff has not seen before and staff would consider these to be graphical commitments. The applicants could show those If that's what you're referring to jacob, that's the page from the staff I mean from the development plan, sorry Take with the play department it It does slightly differ than the version of development plan that is in the packet. Um There's minor modifications, but that's fine. Yeah, thank you. Thank you patrick Mr. Mayor and members of the council My name is tom vitson. I'm president of halvorsen development corporation We've been developing quality retail and mixed use projects throughout the southeast united states for over 29 years And we're very excited about this unique opportunity for north durham When I say unique i'm talking about a delineated trade area of over 35 000 people Without any meaningful retail support services Or true dining options That's over two and a half times the typical population That you would look for when making a site selection for this type of development What's even more dynamic about this particular location Is that almost 78 percent of that trade area Lives north of the site There's a broken line that you can see that runs through the delineated trade area Right where the site's located so in general 78 percent of this Trade area population is north of that site Which means that those people in one way or another Are driving south past that site for their shopping needs As patrick mentioned, this is truly the right time For this development We have a chance to bring the finest retail grocer in the nation To this community As you well know i'm talking about a public supermarket Every good mixed use development as you know needs a strong Committed anchor tenant to help glue the various pieces of residential retail And restaurant integration together Publix can be that anchor I can tell you from experience On over 90 projects that we've developed with public's That you won't find a better neighbor when it comes to community involvement And outreach to local organizations Publix has an incredible track record When it comes to giving back to the local community Including partnering with area schools that participate in their card purchase program In addition public supermarkets charities Donates millions of dollars annually to many charitable organizations Like habitat for humanity United way The march of dimes And food for all just to name a few That doesn't include the countless number of hours that their employees give back Through coordinated charity involvement as well And when it comes to jobs And employment opportunities This is where Publix really shines They are the largest employee owned supermarket chain in the country Over 180,000 employees with approximately 1100 stores to date A good portion of their success has been their unwavering commitment To employee advancement from within the company Each year several thousand employees Are promoted into levels that provide direct paths To various management positions These positions include store managers They also have a very impressive employee stock ownership plan That applies to both full and part-time eligible employees Another factor in their success Where employees are personally vested To make sure you have the Publix shopping experience when you visit their stores They also have a tuition reimbursement program for eligible employees That may want to continue their education towards certain degrees As well as various internship programs that they're starting to develop The bottom line is that you can truly find a satisfying Long-term career with Publix if that's what you're looking for Now as far as jobs as a whole We estimate that upon build out this entire development Including all of the potential restaurants various retailers out parcels Will provide a mix of over 500 full and part-time jobs for this community Additionally, we estimate that over the two-year build out of the site Approximately 200 full and part-time construction jobs will be made available And will be solicited to all of the local contractors ABC and builder exchanges in the greater Durham area Also, noteworthy is that we are projecting over $45 million in annual sales volume Conservatively from the retail portion of this development Which translates into an approximate $1 million in annual sales tax revenue That's in addition to the estimated $265,000 in annual property taxes Now I wanted to touch quickly also on environmental which was brought up in the past As far as environmental is concerned Simply, there are no jurisdictional wetlands. There are no streams. We're not in the critical watershed Our environmental analysts have verified through multiple departments and agencies All of which were required now were not required But all of which we typically contact to ensure that our assessment of the environment is correct Including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers NCDEQ, Division of Water Resources NCNHP for its threatened and endangered species And of course your city staff In summary, I really can't imagine a better site At a better time with the right mix of uses Then North River Village We hope you can support our petition And I appreciate all of your time and interest in this matter. Thank you very much At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Earl Llewellyn, our traffic engineer Let me make sure we've fallen this time I tried to indicate that we're going to allow 50 minutes for the proponents and 50 minutes for the opponents And Patrick, you were managing your time with the people That's fine. It's all just 50 minutes per side. We're fine Good evening, Earl Llewellyn, traffic engineer with Kimley Horne & Associates 300 West Morgan Street here in Durham We prepared the traffic impact analysis for this project Which has since been approved by City of Durham staff as well as NCDOT at multiple levels including the state traffic engineer The traffic study, of course, was conducted Consistent with City of Durham standards as well as NCDOT Guidelines for preparing traffic impact analyses The results of this study include $2.1 million in developer-funded improvements And specifically these are improvements that are not funded by either the city or NCDOT over the next 10 years As noted in the staff report, the project generates 9,876 gross daily trips But that's a total of entering and exiting vehicles And furthermore, it includes internally captured trips as well as pass-by trips that are already captured from the existing street network And instead of looking at daily trips, we look at the worst-case scenario The highest peaks, if you will And what we've shown here is the Highest peak of the project is the PMP generating 237 trips and 217 trips out But regardless of all these numbers, really what it comes down to is can the adjacent street system accommodate that traffic impact? The traffic analysis, which has been approved Indicates that with the proposed improvements Signalized intersections will operate at level service C or better Substantially better than the city's adopted level service Which of course is level service D In addition, in the staff report, you'll notice that staff confirms that both ladder road and gas road will operate Under capacity at full build out of the project with our improvements The figure here shows the proposed improvements And to orient you on the left side of the page running north south as gas road ladder road running east west Our our driveways and our roadway improvements are shown in orange indicating new pavement These improvements include left and right turn lanes at the site driveways as appropriate This this figure here simply zooms into ladder road and shows Left turn lanes proposed On ladder road into autumn drive and into green oaks drive, which aren't there currently today But in addition We're proposing a second westbound left turn lane on ladder road at the intersection with gas road Along with traffic signal modifications to accommodate that This is very important in that it not only addresses the site traffic impact But mitigates an existing traffic condition On gas road where traffic cues back up about 1300 feet in the morning And that's what this figure shows here as a comparison on top the exhibit shows the existing conditions in the morning Traffic cues along westbound ladder road backing up somewhere between 12 and 1400 feet blocking the Existing residential streets of autumn drive and green oaks drive The figure on the bottom shows that With the roadway improvements proposed And this is consistent with the traffic study that those cues will be reduced from 1300 feet To about 275 feet So you no longer block those adjacent residential streets this graphic here Simply indicates the same thing and indicates that Currently you have to wait about three cycles to get through that cue With our project and our improvements in place That all those cues all that traffic volume can be addressed in one signal cycle. So the cues essentially are Eliminated or made very short and can be accommodated within our improvements This table here simply compares The peak hour levels of service under existing conditions to build out conditions and in every case you can see We have maintained level service at the intersection of umstead From b to b At ladder road in the morning. It's from level service c to c In the afternoon it's b to b and at the intersection of lebanon circle With guest road maintaining a throughout Typically when i'm before you i'm talking about maintaining level service d which is the standard However in this case with these improvements we can maintain level service c And again, this is further supported by the staff report Which indicates that the street segments are going to operate at less than their capacity So in summary The project will maintain the level service before After the project the level service will maintain the same as before Level service will be better than the city's adopted level service Current deficiencies will be addressed along westbound ladder road And at 2.1 million dollars in improvements are proposed that are not otherwise funded at this point i'll turn it over to charlie Good evening council I'm charles gibbs. I live at 802 royal oaks drive in northern durham county, which is uh About five miles north of ladder road It's kind of ironic that i'm Following uh the traffic engineer because that's where most of my comments are are focused on And i it's kind of distracting to me Is it okay illegal or allowable? To announce that i am i'm appearing As a private citizen, but i am a member of the planning commission Can i do that? Because i feel like i'm tiptoeing around and i'm stumbling over words i just i have Some comments that i'm that that may refer Back to a vote You can say what you want. Okay Good That's right. It's my microphone, isn't it? uh My first comment is uh the reason i haven't engaged in any Backdoor or secret emails to you about my change in My position therefore A difference in my vote, which i voted against this proposal Uh the reason i did not engage in any email concerns is i wanted to make this a public announcement So that the people the constituents and the people that i have talked to We're all neighbors and we all know each other I didn't want them i didn't want to To betray their trust Uh but having said that uh I have had a change in my view of Of this particular project and it has I could argue with almost all the the points that are made but my focus Has been mainly on uh The transportation and i i saw the the transportation engineers Presentation which the one that we just looked at Was not a moving one The first time i saw it i thought i understood but i wasn't really Convinced and and if you have a chance to look at it it may take you Two or three times to look at it to see that it actually does solve Some traffic issues that and i looked at it not just at the intersection Of a gas and ladder But i wanted to see how it backed up all the way to rocksboro road and it and these are These are real numbers that this study was based on Well, that's what they tell me Existing numbers and i could see the backup with the the new addition uh It it still provided Uh A remediation that can't be argued and from that I I surmised that Uh With the commitment that they have made that the developer has made to widen the road And to do the other Uh development issues with the road That they are in fact committed to this being a successful A successful project and i i will close with And i'm going to read it Basically, I think this project could create an inclusive village type atmosphere When you consider the inclusion of surrounding of the surrounding close-knit neighborhoods I would like to encourage all residents Neighborhoods and further away residents to consider the more positive aspects and potential for Enjoying a positive beneficial growth expansion All of us stakeholders in northern Durham can share Either way will if it comes out the other way We're still neighbors, but uh, I think it would be a great benefit for northern Durham Not just this area, but the whole area Uh, and I from that I'll conclude my remarks. Thank you Mayor bell Mayor proteam cork cold mack fatten and members of the Durham city council. I am Jim poke And I reside at 512 ladder road For your geography, that's less than 1200 feet from the north eastern portion of the property that their developers talking about I've lived in Durham over 40 years and I've lived 40 years at 512 ladder road My family grew up there. They went to public school. They all graduated. They are now The employed and contributing to the well-being and economics of our city. I also am a proponent of Proposed mixed-use development Because of what I know it means not only to the immediate neighborhood But to the economic growth and development of Durham properly and all the adjacent counties around I have been in this area long enough that I talked to folk from orange county person county And all over Durham. I've also watched all of the developments from all of Durham And I appreciate all of the growth and development that we have experienced The quality of life for Durham has been enhanced for many of its citizens And we also know that there's a lot more to do And we also know that Durham is in an area where growth is going to continue We are on the peripheral or breaking into this 21st century with a bang The population growth and the things that are happening around us are only going to be for the improved sustained quality of life for all of our citizens I had a lot of comments. I wanted to make about the project, but most of them you've heard I would echo it The improvements the partnership that is with this development is also unique in his development I think that the Private public I mean governmental entity in this partnership has the potential to be a model for what we need to have happened In our communities not only in Durham, but across this nation when you talk about Partnerships and building communities so that everybody can feel a part of the community I also know that the school system that I have been Privileged to work for for over 27 years and live in this community and watch communities grow That we need the quality product and service delivery north of i-85 so that folk can have an option We do not have an option of that quality and the product that is being proposed by this development So I would endorse that I would even say out of respect to those who are opponents I too respect their voice and would like for all of us to hear what it is that they have to say Because together we can make a better community for all of us and I think their input is significant I've watched the growth I've seen the quality of life in Durham and I know that this development would have an economic impact It would improve the attractions for not only northern part of Durham, but Durham proper I also know that the proposed traffic thing will be a relief to all of this development But traffic is going to be in north Durham. We all need to be braced for that. We're going to have traffic I would like to commend All of the citizenry that have paid attention to what has taken place in Durham and for north Durham for such a long period of time We have not been able to participate in this Here is an opportunity the time is right and I believe that we need to embrace this With the notion that the future is ahead of us those of us who have the opportunity to plan and interact today Should think about all of the things that are going to come in the future our young folk I have grandkids and when they come to visit me they look and see what it is that's happening I take them around Durham and when I told them about this project they were thinking about well Can we come and stay they want to be there? I also believe that we will be able to Share this in the kind of manner that we will not regret having gone through the heartaches the difficulties that we have experienced this far So I would like to say to all of us here tonight The future is ahead of us and it is our responsibility to take care of it as we enjoy it But we owe it to those who will come after us to give them better than what we've had it is our responsibility I want to say I thank those who are opponents for voicing your concerns And I know that we're going to have a better development because of that I also would like to say to the leadership of Durham The council and everything I appreciate you. I've watched your time and your commitment And I want to say on behalf of the citizenry I commend you for what you do and I know that after you hear everything that's going to be said That you will do the right thing for the future of this community I want to thank you for all of that. We must all embrace progress Because it is inevitable what will happen whether we embrace it or not So I would like for all of the folk who is here our proponents of the park. Please stand up Please stand up All in favor just stand up. I just Want to visit the kind of support that I feel when I'm hanging out in the community When I walk around and talk to people and even the folk that didn't want to me to stand and talk I even talked to them and I told them I still have respect. You're my neighbor All right, so thank you very much and thank you all for all that you do And I look forward to living with all of it for the rest of my life Mayor bell, we'd like to reserve the balance of our 23 minutes for uh, the rest of our presentation So let let me just be clear because we've got all these people that signed up cliff tilly chris womack Does this loud Let me call their names for the record. Yes, sir Constantine Bobby Solomon Jared wells Cindy Burns mary mcdonnell Larry Brooks Steve toller Steve Mal Melton Stephen Williams And Monica Boswell. You all are relinquishing your time at this particular time Okay, uh, let's go to the opponents And as I call your name if you proceed to the podium to the right, uh each has two minutes And I have Michael Meyer Michael Meyer present Mark Simmons mark Simmons present mark Simmons Stefan wood President uh Megan gray and rock sand van Varro Okay Just state your name So I'm gonna check it off. Good evening. Uh, my name is Michael Meyer. I live at 45 13 paces ferry drive in Durham Thank you for the opportunity to speak you're going to hear from a lot more people who are a lot more knowledgeable than me I'm just a guy from the neighborhood and I'm not naive I know this particular plot of land on this particular corner is going to be developed at some point I'm simply not convinced that this particular development is the right one And I have not been convinced that it is such a good idea that it necessitates rezoning I know that I would be fine seeing the land developed under its current zoning as a low density neighborhood It seems to me to be a better choice for next to an elementary school A better choice to be so close to the eno river, whether that's legal or not A better choice for an intersection already riddled with traffic issues And as far as I could tell there were a lot more cars in the one thing than there were in the thing with the two lanes That was weird I have seen proponents of this development say and some said tonight look at south Durham. Look at downtown It's time north Durham got its due. I don't disagree But the examples of south Durham and downtown are telling here south Durham nowadays is a jam of strip malls and shopping centers and auto traffic As for downtown Isn't the story of downtown Durham's revitalization the fact that it was redeveloped repurposed American tobacco golden belt brightleaf square the diy neighborhood the Durham and 21c hotels Even across the street here at pompieri all of these highlights of Durham's renaissance point to a repurposing of spaces And north Durham is littered with spaces like this Go up guest road and rocksboro road and you will see all of the spaces that have been built over the years Just waiting for new life But take another trip up guest road and you'll see great examples of spaces that were repurposed successfully Go to alina starbucks Uh the bur in the burger king space pop eyes Whether we like it or not at least used space that was already there and where was pop eyes put where costa azul was Which has found new life where um palace uh where pizza palace was for so many years I think there's a lot to be done in north Durham Repurposing our spaces and rather than tearing down the trees and putting up a strip mall the people 20 miles 20 20 years from now Who live north of us? 20 years from now we don't want them saying look at that strip mall that was built and got abandoned and All of that it's the same thing all over again. Thank you My name is mark Simmons. I live at 418 Bertrand drive um I had some prepared notes, but my phone died because we've been here for like four hours But seriously, um, i'm a i'm opposed to the development um I don't feel like we need another grocery store when there are four Viable grocery stores within a two mile driving range um We do need some development up there, but I believe it needs to be done in the right places We have a lot of empty buildings up and down as the gentleman said guest road rocksboro road and And duke street that could use some revitalization and definitely can take advantage of the Zoning that's already in place the need to put something like this in that type of area when residents bought in To live in a residential space and not to live You know next to a commercial development It just doesn't feel right Especially when there are other places that can be used for that purpose. So for the The purposes of not repeating what many other people are going to say I just hope that the council will follow in the planning commission's decision and vote against the rezoning Thank you for your time Good evening. My name is steven wood. I resided 4602 guest road here in derm for the past 19 years as you're aware On 14th of february 2017 2017 this project went before the derm city planning commissioners And with an overwhelming vote of 11-2 they vote this project down I hope that you will follow suit of your colleagues when this comes to vote later tonight This proposal that was turned down and is before you tonight is not about publics Or any other retail stores about the changing a Quiet residential area into a strip mall mixed development adding over 103 percent more traffic on the order ready busy streets A guest road which is a divided four lane road Where you have to turn north to return south and it's going to create problems. I will tell you that now Adding more traffic will be dangerous for our children Attending easily elementary school dangerous to residents of derm and the health risks for everyone involved I agree That north derm needs to be Uh Developed if you looked at the emails. I sent you recently. There are four development sites two of them I know already zoned Further north out on rocksboroad And I need you all to look at that very seriously because it's already developed Um, one thing most people are not going to talk about because they will not live within five feet of this project Um, I live right next to it Um, is the the dangers of the garbage that's going to uh be developed from uh this It's going to create rats rats are going to not going to stay by the garbage They're going to come out onto the People's property out onto the school pray to god no child. It's going to get bit by one and I will tell you that now um There are and everybody's complaining that there are four grocery stores There are six grocery stores plus a cascos within a six mile radius of this And again, I agree with the other people That it needs to go further north And I just thank you for everything and I hope you all have a good night We have a powerpoint presentation. We're just going to try to bring up Mayor bell members of the council We have a powerpoint presentation and we have these people each going to take two minutes through the powerpoint Mayor bell members of the city council I also want to thank each of you for your time as we approach this meeting My name is megan gray and I live at two mccarthy court The group you're about to hear from are volunteers who have invested significant time and personal funding as we oppose this development We are not wealthy and today we are forced to defend our quality of life and the Durham comprehensive plan Which guided our home purchase decisions I Begin with the definition of mixed use from the Durham UDO Noteworthy are the terms innovative cohesive walkable design and decreases reliance on vehicles and improves the quality of life One example of mixed use in Durham is Sutton station on Fayetteville road It is attractive provides efficient use of land has vertical structures Offers small retail and both frontage without a large surface parking lot Sutton station is within the mixed use suitability map, which I think you each have in your packets While the application area which is indicated in your packet by the red circle is not within the suitability area for mixed use In contrast to Sutton station the current application divides 30 acres into two equal portions Which have separate entrances and one internal connection The traffic study indicates that traffic will double which is not an indicator of decreasing reliance on vehicles It is not clear how a large parking area and a strip mall demonstrate innovation Enhance attractiveness and improve our quality of life In addition policy 4.2.3a of the comprehensive plan Stipulates that Durham shall develop design standards to limit expansive parking lots in front of strip commercial development We will be the residents to experience this area daily We feel that it's not asking too much to ensure that the project is within keeping of the concert hands of plan Why develop a comprehensive plan if it is not to be followed? Merely to allow an out-of-state developer to ask the council to change the plan for their benefit Mayor bell and members of council. My name is rock san ben faro and I live at five zero three three green oak drive Which is about a quarter mile from the development My neighbors and I are concerned about the lack of detail in the developers plan Um, this concern about ambiguity is also reflected in the report that the city's planning staff committed To the planning commission. We're wondering how exactly will this proposed development take shape. There's a lot of uncertainty and We don't believe that it's worth deviating from the designate use for this property Planning staff. We're also concerned about whether the site at gas and latter is the right place for a mixed use development mixed use district And also whether develop the developers plan even qualifies as mixed use Um as megan stated a mixed use District should be innovative enhance the attractiveness of Durham Provide for the welfare of our citizens. Does this development achieve these goals? Planning staff had doubts and so do we? This slide that you see here is about connecting the dots. Um at gas and umstead at the top left You'll notice that there is an existing commercial node with two gas stations an animal hospital a pool store And an empty commercial property. That's 1.3 acres This node is only 0.18 miles from the proposed development site and the land in between the This existing commercial node and the proposed one is for sale and the price has skyrocketed in the past year Apparently the owners of this in between plot since the potential to connect the dots between these two commercial nodes But Durham's comprehensive plan discourages this kind of commercial creep As you know directing instead that these nodes that nodes commercial nodes should be at least half a mile apart Um in as you well know in february the planning commission voted Overwhelmingly against this project raising concerns about compliance with the comprehensive plan and the udo traffic volume And the emphasis on publics. So I urge you to consider cash your vote with the planning commission's concerns in line Good evening. My name is william richards. I live at 5 116 green out drive and i'm against this rezoning of the land for the benefit of Just another grocery store First off as we've mentioned numerous times. We already have Four grocery stores within two miles of that corner. These are quality grocery stores And they're more than sufficient to supply our area with our required food in a timely fashion These four grocery stores are all operating well under capacity In fact, they only serve about half the number of customers as they were designed to support You can walk into any of those grocery stores pretty much any time of day and not have to wait in any kind of line Second people keep mentioning that we need to move forward and keep up with progress And I don't see how another strip mall is the future. It's the past I'm no oracle, but the future will probably have a heavy reliance on grocery delivery According to the food marketing institute the Industry is expected to grow five-fold over the next decade and reach a hundred billion dollar per year in sales in the us These services are already available And in place in our area Third we have a plethora of empty food storefronts in our area The udo encourages retailers to Renovate and rehabilitate these areas to ensure that they do not fester and spread If publics is really and truly interested in helping north term area They would invest in one of these vacant lots One of the best places for publics to move into Would probably be the north gate mall recently maces is closed and seers unfortunately probably isn't too far behind These spaces are more than big enough for a grocery store like publics That would truly be innovative and something that would be good for our city Lastly, there have been numerous mentions of a lack of sit-down dining in the area within a 10 minute of that drive of that corner You can get excellent tacos tie food pizza barbecue fried chicken vietnamese japanese chinese world-class italian dim sum and jamaican among others And those are all in a truly sit-down atmosphere as well. I can go there and enjoy and not be rushed However, this argument is probably not needed because there aren't any clear concrete plans for sit-down restaurants included in this plan Thank you for your time and your service to our city Hello, mayor bell And members of the council. My name is dan barber. I've lived in Durham I live at 5308 memory lane and I have been here my entire life One of the arguments being made in favor of this rezoning is that the proposed development would Create much needed jobs. We've been told that publics alone Would create 200 workers, but the majority of these jobs over 98 percent Are minimum wage retail Seven of surrounding several of the surrounding grocery stores are already hiring Which tells us that it isn't easy to find people who can support themselves with these low wage jobs Combined with the already low employment rate of 3.3 percent in this area The data seems to show that we have no shortage of jobs Retail or otherwise Also in contrast to what the developer has been saying about home values Studies like this one done in duke in 2015 Show no appreciable change in home values with the construction of a grocery store This brings me to my next point the idea that north Durham is being left behind in terms of home values Over the past year home values for 27712 have increased 8.5 percent Is that slower than downtown or some other parts of Durham? Yes And thank goodness There's an area of Durham where a middle-class family like mine Can still afford a good home in a safe neighborhood with a yard for their kids to play in and that's not a problem I'm looking to fix Thank you Good evening folks. My name is ken ray and I live at 1 4 1 6 meramont drive I had no idea that it was a delineated trade area. We kind of call it a neighborhood There are many reasons for opposing more development at this particular location And I get to be the person who does the upbeat part of the speech because I gotta tell you There are Other places where this kind of development Can be made and those places are ready just two miles south of lada and guess There is property available zone commercial at guest road and Sharon right near Rosa Sharon Baptist church wmu There are also two parcels just a quarter mile further south than that at the state employees credit union adjacent and next to the bp station Now I know these guys are going to say it's the north part. It's the north part that needs to be served It's the north part where all the customers are if only there were someplace to the north There it is. There's a parcel at snow hill in rocksboro. That's 37 acres. It's already zoned commercial It's just waiting for you. Now the fellows have told us that it's just economically not feasible to do this Well, guess what either there's a big market full of people and profits up there or there's nine Oh, wait, there's another one. It's at rocksboro road in milton. There's another commercially zoned product Parcel there and I know this is a bunch of words. I'm just garbling off roads and stuff. So here we are. We're in Durham The star represents the corner of lada and guess Each one of these green buttons Represents a place that is vacant for sale and zone commercial There are a lot of people in the room tonight who are wearing green buttons. Have a look These are where your green buttons should go. They are appropriate They are approved and you will be welcome there. Okay And as as far as the topography goes you've offered no evidence for any of that stuff Have a little more confidence in building technology today. Thank you very much for letting me speak you guys City council members My name is gary libscomb. I live at 314 ladder road. I've been there for seven years I've lived at hebron road I've lived off sparger road. I've lived off guest road I can count the number of years my family has been in north Durham since the civil war So we know north Durham I'm concerned about the negative impact the traffic is going to have on my family and neighborhood I have a growing home-based business My son went to easily and carrington Um Ladder road is not a safe road For walking or bike riding and I really am afraid for my son to be out there They are often severe Accidents on ladder road. It's right at the curb right in front of my house Oops, I pushed the wrong button. Sorry There we go The development says that it's going to be go from uh That's not going to change the regular street traffic The loc is LOS is already saying it's going to go from a b to a d That's really going to change it Um, the development says it's going to double traffic from 20 To 20 000 trips per day The daily traffic jams on ladder road are pretty incredible and it has a number of pinch points school buses stop The trash and recycling truck truck stop Sometimes the traffic is so bad that it backs up the whole length of one mile on ladder road My driveway is right on ladder road And it's only a block away from the bridge which should be enlarged if there's going to be any traffic there I'm sorry. I'm going over here My home is one house away from the bridge And although it's a difficult down to get out of my driveway, it'll be even more difficult then if this if this development has had And I would not be able to get out on ladder road going east or west This development will significantly degrade The quality of life of my family and the neighborhood. I beg you counsel to vote no on this reselling. Thank you My name is Tom Berman and I live at 503 Parkview Drive with my family, which is in Lockheven Hills The property for the proposed development is next door to Easley Elementary And this development would hurt the school in multiple ways Easley like most schools in northern Durham currently has a nice border of residential areas and woods around it And it would be an unfortunate loss for the school to have a large retail center as a new neighbor Certainly this would harm the school learning environment, but it also raises safety concerns The city council should protect the supportive environment that currently surrounds Easley As much as it should support the supportive environment around any school within Durham Okay Easley's been over capacity for the last two years and this development would worsen overcrowding Which could change Easley's magnet status The 100 increase in traffic will cause safety issues for families walking to school driving their children And for school buses Right now you're seeing a video which we sped up for our limited time tonight And it shows the daily car line which every day extends into guest road Already you have near misses as cars driving north on guests have to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision And imagine this scene with twice the amount of traffic Thank you My name is Josie McNeil Owen and I live at 509 Wanderidge Drive About half a mile as the crow flies from the land in consideration here My concerns about this proposal are many I will address the impact of flooding and storm water on west point park on the eno river Durham city park The southern property line of the development being proposed is 0.4 miles from the eno river Storm water from the guest road bridge is already causing erosion that is visible from the bridge as one looks downstream or toward the east My home backs up to west point park Which has over the years been referred to by many as the crown jewel of Durham's city parks The effects of flooding and storm water runoff in recent years has seriously impacted the river Along this part of the eno river park lands that the city owns Including the rare historic mill I walked around the mill this past saturday to survey the damage of our most recent flooding and I was dismayed My husband Dave Owen Recently spoke with the park manager and she said the mill will not run again for at least as long as a year from now perhaps more Storm flooding continues to erode the earth around the mill and mill race at a faster rate than in past years Making the ground unstable The wooden footbridge at the mill will have to be replaced and repaired and reinforcement work on both Race gates must happen before the mill can function again Imagine a future july 4th festival for the eno with no events close to the river Due to further damage from allowing unplanned development in the wrong places Imagine the banks of the river within our jewel city park Being more risk management than a showcase for the thousands who visit the park all year long The finest of storm water retention ponds can't do what a forest does for the health of a river Please vote no Good evening, mayor bell and council. My name is kary kamadas and I live at 1715 mystic drive We also have concerns about noise pollution Our data indicate that there is roughly a 10 decibel difference between midday and rush hour at this corner mostly due to traffic If the traffic doubles, what kind of noise will we encounter? We enjoy a quiet peaceful environment in the evenings in this area. That's why we chose to move to north durham 17 years ago If we have so many people coming to the stores and the traffic doubling our quiet evenings are no longer possible Our environment will be changed We witness this kind of traffic at other nearby strip malls and there are not nearly as many residential areas near those Imagine standing next to your grill or playing catch with your children Or in my case floating in your backyard pool and not being able to enjoy it due to the sound of traffic or the beeping of supply trucks This is not the atmosphere we enjoy now and that we identified as desirable when purchasing Purchasing homes in this area. Please do not change our peace and quiet for the profit of a florida developer. Thank you Good evening. Thanks for hearing us talk today. My name is keith lapage I live at 524 park view drive which is in lock haven hills the neighborhood that abuts this property that we're talking about tonight I'm also the father of a current student an easily elementary despite my advanced age And I am also the father of another child even younger who I one day hope to send there Assuming that we maintain the same kind of school that we have now But today I'm here. I'm also the representative of our neighborhood to the inner neighborhood council of durham Which I'm sure many of you are aware We provide a forum For durham as a whole the neighborhoods is grass root level to try and express their desires for what they would like to see a Durham now, you know, I've heard that a lot of people that are supporting this project are from somewhat far away. Well What I did I asked I asked the council to consider this project And what we've come up with after we ran a survey in my neighborhood Where 85 percent of the people were against it I brought it back to the council and after discussion The council as a whole which represents a pretty diverse part of durham. We have Remember we have representatives from what's hill and dale golden belt and of course my own name lock haven hills So we have a pretty diverse socio economically speaking and geographically speaking of durham And we did come up with the resolution and I'm not Oh, I'm sorry And I'm not going to try and reiterate every point of it because a lot of these things have already been covered by the previous speakers But one of the things we were particularly concerned about is the fact that The this project is so close to the next one. So After consultation with the council We did come up with the recommendation that the durham durham planning that the council I'm sorry follow the planning commission's recommendations at an 11 to 2 vote to deny this For both technical points and fundamental reasons One of the biggest things is that these this project is likely to be and Excuse me against the udo with the nodes being too close together We also believe that while this is not going to be something you're going to address today This whole the the idea of what a mixed use development is Is a sort of squishy and maybe needs to be addressed and Sort of firmed up a bit and with that i'm in close. Thank you Good evening mayor bell council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak My name is jeff williams and i live at 304 heart scrabble drive Which is off st. Mary's road near gas road I've lived there for about 17 years and frankly i enjoy the calm commercial free surroundings I rise in opposition to this rezoning because it will degrade the peace and tranquility That so many of us cherish north of the eno and make no mistake. This is just the tip of the wedge We've presented we've presented a number of objective arguments against this proposal Including it's contrary to the udo. It will worsen traffic It does not revitalize existing centers And it will have a negative environmental impact And we've presented arguments for adhering to the present zoning One there is no need grocery and restaurant is well served in the area And this is quite frankly an overwhelmingly residential area And we've collected over a thousand signatures in opposition A tally of reasons given by the signers is instructive traffic Groceries nearby an existing commercial zoning are frequently cited The unified unified development ordinance is a good thing It gives us the ability to buy land while clearly understanding the limits of use on it As well as the land around it The udo deserves our respect and adherence This application does not follow the letter intent or spirit of the ordinance and therefore it should be rejected I believe the desire for the convenience And a shiny news store does not justify the negative impact of the this plan has and is disrespectful of the families that live nearby And finally if you're here tonight In opposition, would you please stand Thank you. Mayor bell council members, please vote against this application Okay, it's going to be necessary for you to state your name and address again I think that was in the median group as well My name is sherry thomas. I'm at 4707 kinlock drive. I've been there for approximately 17 years First I want to say i'm not a lawyer. So please don't hold anything against me I moved to north Durham to experience being in a country environment that being close enough to the city for easy access To stores, etc at one time that is why I thought everyone moved up here to see the wildlife Here are the owls and the woodpeckers What next the eno where the water still looks like how a water should at a river? Let us be honest. This is about convenience Yes convenience. We have become a society of convenience The stores restaurants fast foods our old businesses We want something new and different like a brand new car Do not worry what effect it will have on the wildlife schools traffic. We want convenience Even though we drive right past everything above it's not new and exciting, but it is convenient Publix would be ludicrous not to adhere to our rules and regulations regarding water runoff, etc But what about the townhomes the bank the fast food restaurant and the strip mall that will use fertilizer For the beautiful lawns the oil spots from car parking the trash, etc. That will eventually run into the eno river Don't worry about what will happen to the wildlife that is called north Durham. It's home. They can move somewhere else Don't worry about the city buses that will now go up and down gas and ladder road coming into the new stores And fast food restaurants. Don't worry about the impact on our schools. They are already above capacity now Don't worry about the eno. It's just a river. Don't worry about the trees that have taken 20 to 50 years to grow It's all about convenience not about what we destroy in our path to get there We have been given only one earth We are to protect our environment so that it will be there when our grandchildren's children are born And one last note. I think the statement that was made in regards to our elected officials on the during Durham planning committee Being disrespectful To north Durham residents was totally uncalled for The planning commission heard both sides and did not ignore those who were for the north river village And to state that the support voice cannot Go ignored by the city council as it was by the planning commission is an unfair statement also We elected these officials and they listened fairly to both sides. Thank you very much and have a good evening My name is patricia pool. I live at 51 oh two green oak drive I live approximately two tenths of a mile away from where it's going to be yet I've been at that residence for 36 years. I've been a citizen of Durham north carolina for 62 years And I moved in that area away from the city to get out into the country the country came and followed me and I really enjoyed The fact that I had trails to walk nature I could grow like a little farm. I had peach trees I've got black walnut trees in the backyard that type of thing And then all of a sudden Durham decided that they wanted to be on top of me Well, I lived in europe for four years and then that time I was in europe I lived across the street from a so-called mall that was mixed use And I had to buy filters for my windows so that I could sleep at night I had to you know, clean up constantly trash from people throwing trash I had we had increased crime in our neighborhood and right now I have increased crime in my neighborhood because they decided to open casandra up casandra when I moved there was all woods Since they opened up casandra on my street alone. There's been six In the past two years break-ins one of which my husband was able to catch the criminal But the criminal had his hand slapped and said that's okay. Just don't do it again And then he did it again in henderson But my point is when you start adding extra things like that, you know an environment area where people want nature You know, you're going to chase all of us away. I'm 62. I'm ready to retire You keep moving the city out to me. I'm going to go away from you and I do national lectures and I'm to the point now where I'm saying don't move the Durham if you have anything That you like about nature because Durham is not about nature. Durham is about cement. We're supposed to be a country that's trying to stop the carbon effect But yet we're creating a carbon effect Good evening, my name is michael spank. I reside at 4834 northbury circle Uh in north Durham. Um, thank you for your service council members and mayor and for the opportunity to offer my perspective on this issue I'm a near 10-year resident in the neighborhood off open air camp across from this primarily wooded site that's uh has this proposed Building I was here for the recent planning commission meeting as well. Although I did not make comment I actually had no intent of speaking on my way here tonight But arriving with my 12 year old daughter prompted me to sign is that I entered thinking about her in the future of our city That said there are a few pieces on this matter in which I'd like to comment My family spends close to probably a thousand dollars a month in groceries and never has seen any need to see more choices As has been stated. We've had four grocery stores within a couple miles of this proposed site and they've served us quite well Um, and they are very active in the community as well as was said about the proposed tenant We also appreciate the locally owned and operated restaurants that we happily embrace as part of our community Further the housing proposed in this project seems more a hope than anything concrete And nothing seems to ensure it will actually happen. And I think we've all seen phase two promises that never really materialized On the traffic, I've never experienced any real issue at any hour on any regular basis And I do use the road regularly, although it's not at 7 45 a.m. Precisely in the morning such as was offered in the traffic report On easy elementary school in the eno river impact They've been brought up as well And it's hard to not imagine the impact of the students environment My two daughters attended easily with my youngest on her fifth grade trip to dc as we speak I see value in others enjoying the wood setting and culture of the school where children take walks Down to the river in their science class and I think their discussions should be able to spoke speak To the health and revival of this semi urban river My greatest concern however is that other locations in the area zone for this use were spurned by the developer due to the Higher cost of development which was openly stated by developer at the planning commission hearing on this matter and reiterated tonight They were an opera opera mole I appreciate the drive to maximize investor interest, but I think the future growth of Durham is a more important Matter than the profits of a particular developer. Thank you Good evening mayor city council. My name is chris dripps. I live at 5 20 wildwood drive Very close to the proposed development site and the eno river Our community has invested more than 40 years in eno river state park And it delivers one of the cleanest Most alive and diverse rivers in the state right here into our city and where does that arrive? Right at guest road That's why this proposed rezoning located just 2 700 feet up a steep hill from the river threatens the cleanest water in our city During construction sediment and erosion control measures will mostly work Except when like at the nearby hill and ale road project today. They don't After development excess stormwater runoff will regularly exceed the minimally designed practices as would have happened today Reaching the river in just seven and a half minutes after leaving the site Once it flows to the river the sediment and pollution will begin to bury fish habitat in the stretch where my son and I have Caught more than 40 fish of different species in a three-hour period. I'm not kidding you We released them by the way Next to a thousand feet downstream of where the polluted water enters It will hit a small hole where the families and local campers take little kids swimming 150 feet downstream of that The polluted waters will hit what we call rock bass hole The only place in the city of Durham where you can easily see the row and oak bass A fish that you can only find in the eno row and oak and choan rivers Then about 3 700 feet down from there It'll hit senate's hole and the main part of west point park where hundreds of people swim on any warm saturday The city of Durham is lucky to have the eno river and we need to protect it for future generations If you're going to allow the developer this special favor Of changing our zoning ordinance. Let's ask them for guarantees in return Okay, let's require that the site meet the highest low impact development standard Which is available in our stormwater ordinance And let's meet the state's 40 microgram per liter turbidity standard, which is the law Thank you I'm ruben jones. I live at uh 1602 springview lane in Durham I'm I'm here tonight. Not because I'm an immediate Neighbor, but just because I've I care about Durham. I lived in the area for 14 years previously and I just um When I see something like this going on, I just felt like it was it was worth expressing My opinion in opposition to it though I do have someone very close to me that loves publics and would probably be fine if it went on Basically, you know the the It may be barely compatible with the comprehensive plan, but it's not part of the future land use plan So I know I heard it was revised in 2005 And it will be done revised again But until the planning department that considers all these different things like transportation tax base different services says Oh, we ought to have a commercial node at that location Then I would trust that That is not what the use needs to be at that location And I do have to recant one post I made I was mistaken that There was neighborhood commercial on that corner and when it was actually residential and that was the trade, but um So in any case my my main point is just it's you know per the um the proponents, you know graphics Yeah, there's a lot of wonderful residential density north of that line and it's always going to be Opportunistic for a commercial development to go in one intersection closer to where the residences are And you're just going to get this expanding ring of blight behind the commercial that's chasing after the residential density You know when the When harris teeter went in there You know They went in based on the fact that that was the commercial node So I just want to ask you guys to you know consider upholding what the planning department Plan Indicated thank you Good evening My name is holly north and I live at 1418 imperial drive, which is two blocks away from the site Durham is our home And we want it to be the best it can be We appreciate the time you put into researching this area to see how it will affect our lives What if the new shopping center complex? Doesn't create new tax revenue But shifts it from other grocery stores in the area of which there are many This is at the cost of the local citizens losing time and quality of life due to the influx of traffic Doubling the amount of traffic in to an additional 10,700 vehicle trips per day in our area We in brogdon heights already struggled to leave our neighborhood At heavy traffic times Adding a turn lane to lauda road will not help us to leave our neighborhood We have three neighborhoods connected to ours and they all passed out of our neighborhood at redmond The proposal by the developers does not address this issue My children go to easily elementary. I am a teacher there I value the environment and the eno river We teach this to our children daily This land is important to us our community is asking you to support reasonable and responsible development Please do not allow this rezoning. Thank you Good evening Almost good morning My name is tj. Watson and I live at 10611 Rougemont road in behemoth Which is significantly north of most of these people who have spoken this evening I'm against this this proposal And I just wanted to make sure All of my talking points have been mentioned ad nauseam So I just wanted to let you all know that it's not just those folks that are Right in the immediate vicinity who are not for this But also some of us more country folk who moved out there to be in the country. Thank you Okay, I have just three names here's Silvia drips, I guess christisville past, okay Ananda gosh Oh, he's a proponent. I'm sorry And david parker did david parker come Okay All right, that concludes the opponents. How much time did the proponents have? All right, if the proponents care to speak they have how much? All right Almost good morning So I just want to make this quick. My name is steven. Williams. I live at 1909 yellowwood lane I live in Auburn rich My son attends easily in the mentoring school So I'm kind of Perplexed right now because I have to wear two hats I have to wear a hat as a father But I also have to wear a hat because I'm the chairman or workforce development boy here in Durham We need jobs There's no if ands or buts about it Maybe the planning was not done specifically to the needs but when you say that That's a possibility of having about 700 jobs full time and part time We need it It's a hard pill. We got to swallow and it's it's decisions that have to be made Now these guys definitely I'm gonna tell you right now I'm going to hold each one of you to these 700 jobs And anybody on this council can tell you that as the chairman of workforce development boy I take that seriously So if you're going to say and you've said it on record that it's going to be 700 jobs then 99.9 of those jobs will be from Durham residents So i'm going to hold that As a father You guys need to understand the context my wife and I moved out to northern Durham To get to our little metropolis. We like the serenity We like those things So it is probably good worthwhile depending on what this council decides That you guys meet with everybody to kind of least meet halfway if they approve it So I open the door up for that that dialogue Because that's one reason why a lot of people moved out here I mean, I've been in Durham for going on over 40 years now So I can tell you this whole area. I don't guess roll all the way out was nothing but country land So at this point I would say Yes, I agree with you because I know, you know, the jobs are going to be really important to a lot of people in Durham And especially a lot of ones that don't have to go all the way south to get a job or catch a bus They can the ones right here northern Durham can come right up the street and get jobs so From that point alone, I would say yes. I'm for it But we will be watching All right Fred and I we're on the proponents now No, I said we're on the proponents Mayor bell our traffic engineer our environmental engineer in our landscape planner We'd like to address the council this time and then we'll finish off with finish up with our the rest of our community supporters. Thank you Early well in our traffic engineer Just a couple of points. I wanted to clarify There were there were several folks that mentioned the doubling of traffic in the area And I think that I was initially Concerned of where that came from I think in reading the staff report where it comes from is a misunderstanding Of something that the the staff actually does to determine what the traffic impact is So they take 103 of the traffic that is generated by the traffic study That doesn't mean traffic Increases by 103 that's simply the method that they use To assess whether or not the traffic Will be able to be accommodated by the road network system Bottom line is that what we find out is that both lat and gas road certainly will be able to Under capacity accommodate Those additional trips Another point is that someone mentioned level service e and level service d at the unsignalized intersections opposite Greenoaks drive and autumn drive Unsignalized intersections are treated very differently reported very differently In this case what is being reported is the worst approach of the intersection And in this case those worst approaches are the project site driveways We then look at what are things like queues delays to determine if anything else needs to be done In this case the queues both on our site driveways and on the opposing streets are very short In fact on the Existing residential streets. They maintain level service c throughout. So I wanted to clarify that also You're out of water ma'am Thank you One other point just to respond to is the issue that was brought about about the school queues at easily elementary We have noticed those they are Something that has a relatively short life as as far as dissipating because it's related to drop-off and pickup of the school We at kimmy horn. In fact my sister in the back of room does a lot of traffic studies for schools public and private Across the triangle and one of the things that we find out with new schools is they propose things like double stacking Of the drop-off lanes delaying or staggering of start and pickup times for the different grades Circulating these paths through the parking lots to achieve greater stacking These are relatively simple things that are required in almost every new school system to address these kind of issues Whereas the current queuing Is something that's not related to our site at all. In fact this project has only 3.6 impact To the intersection in question of uh lebanon street and guess right so just wanted to make those clarifications Good evening. I'm salami sarah a senior land planner with kimmy horn associates I now reside at uh 12 of 6 lake avenue in richmond virginia and I look forward to getting home before breakfast Real quickly to talk about mix shoes development and in this project So certainly you rely on on Your staff as your technical expertise and in their report they do note that this project the proposal complies with all of your ordinance with respect to How your ordinance defines mix shoes and it is defined in one way as as a horizontally mix shoes project That is acceptable and in fact around the country that is How most of our cities really operate in terms of mix shoes Our big cities have vertical mix shoes, but most commonly we are used to horizontally mix shoes environments Which means that you have a mix of uses obviously where you can walk and bike and ride in between services Without having to travel great distances, which In and of itself will reduce the number of vehicle trips and the distance traveled you get from one place to another This project certainly does that in the absence of a decent detailed site plan We know we have provided for residential uses adjacent to Non-residential uses and those non-residential uses are also adjacent to legacy residential that exists in the neighborhood These today are generally seen as as positive things to create walkable communities and reduce vehicle trips You know the term convenience was used tonight and there's the valid points associated with that But convenience is not a bad word in the world in the world of planning Because again the integrations of uses provides proximity, which is what mix shoes development is about proximity to services To live work play environments So we would tend to use proximity and convenience in the world of mix shoes as as really as positive positive terms There was a comment about some of the commercial sites nearby The umstead site for example is being a potential commercial node per the staff report. It was noted that that is not A commercial node or desirable commercial node as as defined in this area This project is and does meet the definition of a good and a positive productive Commercial node with the existing uses a mix of uses in that corner It does provide a nodal development on the property in this location It was noted the proximity to other nodes But when you look at we've heard the term strip development strip development is typically an analysis of how a corridor develops And in this case, we're talking about a mix use development on one particular site at an intersection So in and of itself this development really would not or could not create strip development the strip development would be A characterization of of development that would continue to develop linearly along the road And so in this case we are specifically talking about a mix use development adding node at an intersection And so for the staff report again and for your udo this certainly meets the definition of what you're trying to do in promoting nodal development And finally there was a comment about Perhaps a lack of commitment in terms of When housing comes online and could we do commercial without the housing? And please note in the development plan. There is a specific commitment in phase one to a Minimal number of housing units as part of phase one. So In the residential So we think that You will get the mix of uses ultimately in the development Thank you. Mr. Mayor can I ask this personal question? I have a question for you. You come back When you use the word node and nodal It seemed to me that you were using those words as to mean the same thing as intersection. Is that an accurate description? And if if not, how do you distinguish them the way you were just using? No, I think that's a good point. I would not describe those as the same same thing Um, but I would differentiate differentiate nodal development Which doesn't necessarily mean development that occurs on one piece of property or in parcel But you would differentiate that from strip or linear Development, which is a characterization of what happens along a corridor. So in and of itself this project or property Is a no because it's a focus of multiple uses In in a combined area in a focused area If development started to spread along the road in a linear fashion Then you could start to talk about something that would be tracked from nodal and become more strip development or linear development But in and of itself Makes use development at this particular intersection And nodes are frequently associated with intersections because those tend to be vibrant centers of activity So yeah, that way you classified as a node But I think to call it strip development on the basis of one piece of property developing this is really not an accurate statement So according to you a node is any commercial development not adjacent to another commercial development? um No, I would not say it that way So I think it has to do with with a minimum amount the number of uses mix of uses The integration of those uses. Uh, there is not a minimum or maximum size But there is a point where that those uses don't continue to grow linearly in a linear fashion Along a corridor. Does that make sense? Good evening chris bostic with kimmy horn Just wanted to add a couple of points of clarification In association with the stormwater and stormwater treatment that'll be required as part of this project Just to reiterate from earlier It was noted that there were no streams or wetlands on the property itself Many times from a a project and development standpoint You have you encounter streams You encounter wetlands on a property you can mitigate for wetlands You can build within a certain distance of the stream and in this case of this project We're not doing either of those just wanted to reiterate that In fact, the closest streams and wetlands are a good distance away from the project site One of the other things that we have going for this project is that the city of durham has One of the more stringent stormwater ordinances in the state They do a great staff does a great job of reviewing the plans Does a great job of enforcing the stormwater bmps that are built in association with the project Which have a big impact on the Quality of the water and the volume of water that are released as a result of a project like this There's certain regulations we have to meet as far as nitrogen and phosphorus reduction too that i've mentioned along with velocity dissipation And diffusion of flows from a site. So again, I just wanted to reiterate those things. Thank you Good evening. My name is doug leida. I live at sixth brightfield lane And I appreciate this time to talk to you I'm one of the many emails you got I addressed many things in an email, but I would like to drive one more point home My wife and I moved here four years ago And quite honestly apex and carry way out marketed Derm with regard to quality of life We did settle in north durham about a half a mile from where this location is Because the property values were depressed. We got more for our money But now that we're there we would like to see appreciation And quite honestly This kind of development From my perspective coming from where we were is going to enhance the value of my house Thank you very much Good evening. My name is ananda gosh I live at 1000 country lane in durham. That's uh Southwest durham. It's where I grew up. I was born in durham Um, but my family has lived in North durham for 10 years now Um moved up that way Kind of for the same reason There were depressed property values and uh, it was a good value And uh, I now work as a special education teacher At gitton's middle school. So that's why I live back that way again um And I do that to train students to Take the opportunities that they see in front of them and uh I support this development north river village to From north durham. I also have those opportunities in front of them. Um Jobs this increased property value, but especially With a commitment like the one this development has from publics and the kind of Financial independence That an employer like publics brings um For teenagers for the elderly and for those with disabilities That's what I really like to see For north north durham to experience the same prosperity As the rest of durham has been able to go through that I still see now So I just want you know durham to continue to love itself and I want all of durham to love itself Mr. Mayor members of the council. My name is Jarvis martin I was asked by the developer to look at the impact of property values in northern durham since the last evaluation in 2008 As it relates to homes that have resale subsequent to that time and I will study did show significant Decreases in value as it relates to the 2008 Of valuations that went on and people who subsequently sold in 2013 and 14 We also looked at the study of the impact of mixed use development as it relates to convenience and markability of home And found out there is greater demand for those homes that have those convenience Which in turn does have an impact on a value Therefore, this development would have a positive impact over time on northern durham as it relates to property values and demand. Thank you Mayor pro tem colvin fadden. My name is jared wells Other than 5402 falcurt drive in north durham And I just want to say that I mean there have been a lot of waves made on both sides of the argument and I want to say that I see this as a very positive step and I want to note that is absolutely essential for both of these parties to be heard on new projects such as this I mean after all, how are we going to get what our residents and neighborhoods need without understanding the needs of the many The pros and the cons and so while I speak on behalf of the pro side I want to laud everybody here today because you have made waves and you've gotten the attention of Your neighbors the developers and they have an ear now They have an ear to you and they want to listen to you. I want to just help you understand that I was able to sit down and dine at palm doras with The folks with the development team and they said very plainly We are here. We want to share our food. We want to dine with you We want to hear your concerns and you have an opportunity now If not now then later when a different developer comes What are we going to do then when they're less willing to listen? I think there have been a lot of cases made both foreign against and I think that the developers and Both foreign against sides have been very reasonable Thank you very much Well, I've missed your origin name Jared Mr. Mayor may I be the first to officially say good morning? Um, my name is bobby salman. I live at 119 burwick place here in northern Durham um Much has been said about change And moving somewhere to not have changed follow When my family when the side of town I grew up on was garratt road 15501 was two lane garratt road was a dirt road Most development took place out that way and even further South of there going toward chapel hill and many people spoke against it Because of the change that it would bring to the community It was positive change for the most part. They came to the community Uh, I would just speak to this I'm through that intersection through that area three or four times a day on average Um would continue to go through there But oftentimes when my family when we're choosing to go somewhere to eat or to go to a grocery store We go to hillsboro because it's we can get there a little quicker And convenience. Yes plays into the to the decision making I think this is a very good development much has been said about publics Uh, and being an out-of-state company. I know for a fact my son lives in pencil cold, florida I've had a lot of experience around With publics. It's a great store a great corporate citizen I would urge you to approve this and to my friends that are opponents will still be friends Whatever the decision is made. Thank you very much Uh, good evening. My name is Larry Brooks and I live at 54 15 Fair Oaks road And I might add that after five and a half hours, uh, it's bad on old man's bladder, but uh Quick story. I'm I was born 76 years ago in Durham And except for uh, stand over at chapel hill and four years in the navy. I've been right here As a young man or a teenager Many of you probably don't remember. Uh, Durham was bigger than Raleigh Okay with the death of tobacco and textiles Durham took a nosedive and is Few years back. I actually was embarrassed to tell people of us from Durham I mean it was it was that bad and Then they made a turn and they they started getting better and better And now they're progressive to the point that they're pretty well known around the country And I'm proud of that And they've grown The problem is they haven't grown in north Durham I've been there 40 years and I heard some of the The people talking about some of the fine restaurants hearties and windies and to get excited overall pop eyes is not good So I'm interested in more growth more jobs And I really would like for you to consider Approving this project because while there are hundreds of those against there are thousands for So thank you. Good morning, mr. Mayor council members city manager city attorney And my fellow north Durham residents My name is steve tolarum. I live at 8709 millhouse lane in northern Durham county I've been a resident of northern Durham Since 1977 I built my first house in brogdon heights, which is probably about two blocks away And My wife Sandra who is here was born and raised in northern Durham And our children Matt and michelle and heather And michelle and heather here they were born and raised in northern Durham and are here in support of this project I agreed to work with the developer Because I strongly believe in this project And its benefits to northern Durham We've met with hundreds of neighbors Face-to-face We've met with hundreds more on social media with homeowners associations community organizations churches retail organizations New council members We've respectfully listened and thoughtfully communicated with all parties Members of some of the members of the opposition have attended some of our meetings And I think you all would agree that attended some of our meetings that we treated you with utmost respect And we answered every question that you had Our hearts are in the right place We've met with organizations representing minority communities To help us ensure our construction teams And employment opportunities are as diverse as Durham is This is the highest quality mixed-use project i've seen in northern Durham In the 40 years i've lived here And from the positive support of many long-term North Durham residents To me it's obvious That they feel good about this Great things mr. Mayor Are happening in Durham And we'd like your all's help To continue to make great things happen In northern Durham so for the future of northern Durham Please approve this rezoning Thank you very much and and have a pleasant rest of your morning The rest of our team is available to answer any questions that the council may have and again we appreciate the staff Recommendations certifying that this complies with all of the udo Requirements policies and ordinances. Thank you You're welcome All right, I know we had several other people that signed up to speak but I assume they were part of your team so they are Includes the Comments from both the opponent side and opponent side I'm going to ask With the council members have questions before I close the public hearing Sure, let me have pro tem um, mr. Llewell, and I was eating Oh, by the way, I live in northern Durham So I don't have to deal a lot with uh, the analyses. I live it Um, it is what I call practical Okay Have you looked at, uh, the impact of traffic at rocksboro and lateral one of my Colleagues That was talking to me yesterday at the silver spoon Nicely restaurant Not elaborate but good healthy food um And he said He had concerns about the development because of the traffic impact That it would have on those of us Who live off of rocksboro? Did you look at that? We did in fact when we scope a traffic study initially We work closely with ncdot and your transportation staff and what we look to see is what? A percent impact our site traffic has at that intersection That impact was less than the required standard So it was not included in the analysis, but what I will tell you beyond that and and relatively Soon in the planning process ncdot plans to Uh joint venture project with the city Two thousand two million dollars from the city two million dollars from ncdot to improve that intersection specifically It's going to be converted into what's known as a reverse super street That has much more efficient signal spacing. So those are the two things that I can relate to you We looked at what our impact would be It was not required to be in the study area for Dot and city requirements, but there are substantial improvements proposed there very soon Practicum and Your field of work mr. Mayor you can close the public hearing then I'll see what I need to say on If again, no further comments. I'll consider the public hearing to be closed And it's back to the council for comments Well, let me go to the councilman shul then Councilman Reese and then the mayor and councilman moffitt. Well, we'll talk there about Let's get to orders Steve Reese Jillian moffitt And the mayor pro tem edit you have a comment Okay, all right Thank you, mr. Mayor Congratulations for being here and sticking it out on all sides much appreciated. This is the longest meeting we've had in quite a while And we're blaming you The first thing I want to say is that we have received Hundreds of emails. I think it of all this I've been on the council maybe five and a half years and I think This is the most or maybe the second or most of anything that I So Congratulations on on that as well And you know, I will say that You know 98 of them were very civil and you know extremely informative and I was very appreciative No matter what side of the issue that people were on that They were they were they were smart. They were respectful and and I just you know, I really want to appreciate that for everybody in the room I would do want to make one quick comment to our staff, which I appreciated the Including the in the in the tia memos I really was grateful that You included the the specific seconds of delay because you know one of the things I've I guess I would say complained about a lot is the fact It's really hard to get any meaning about the letter level of service letters are not very meaningful But I thought what you did was really good and appreciated that a lot Um, I do agree that this area can use commercial development and I do agree that public's uh I've never been to one but from my understanding. It's a great store and employer But I um am going to vote against this for these reasons First of all I do think that people can I don't think that where you live that you can expect that there won't be any change but I think having a change from Where the future land use map is low density residential to a 15 acre 90 000 square foot shopping center Is a change that you shouldn't have to expect I think that The you know the staff wrote In their staff report. It's not clear how single family residential units and commercial areas will function as a unified development here and I agree with that and I think that That despite the I do believe that that it's possible for mixed use to be horizontal But this doesn't strike me as that it strikes me as two different uses Not to not not a mixed use and I think the mixed use ordinance is my colleague don moffat is constantly saying is you know there for a reason and I don't think this this development Meets that standard and then I would say Finally that I'm going to quote Tom miller from his planning commission remarks We cannot constantly replace old commercial areas with new ones built in green fields And I agree with that and I think it's particularly out here redeveloping the shopping centers in northern Durham is important and I don't think that constantly I don't I don't think we can as he said Constantly replace old commercials with new ones built in green fields That doesn't mean that this should never be anything new built in the green fields I voted for a couple of things tonight or one anyway that I would call a green field Um, but I do think in this situation where you've got commercial opportunities But we're both existing commercial nodes and Shopping centers that are empty or can be redeveloped I do think that that is uh, those are those are genuine opportunities So For those reasons, uh, I'll be voting against the rezoning. I'm respectful and appreciative of the Neighbors that are supported and I understand why Um, but I you know, I do think that On balance that This is I would love to see a public somewhere else in northern Durham, but I don't think this is a spot. So thank you, mr. Mayor But let me just that we've Had a pretty easy night tonight. Let let the council persons finish their comments and Whole you applaud us until we made a decision if you don't mind. Thank you Recognize council Maurice. Thank you. Mr. Mayor. You stole my line. I was gonna I was gonna roll that out Not because I don't think We necessarily I mean all of us like applause, but we don't need it and I'm not sure we deserve it a lot of the time Um, I intend to vote against the rezoning tonight And I want to talk just a little bit about why But first of all, I want to say that I've when I started this meeting. I'd been a member of this council for 545 days We're about 25 minutes into my 546th day and I can definitely say that this is the issue about which I've received the most emails physical letters calls Facebook messages, however, you want to describe it. This has been the single hottest topic in my time on the council in fact Some of you may recall we there was a candidate form up north north of In north Durham during the election in which I ran And uh, just to show you how how much this case has gripped the attention of folks who live north of 85 Um, I'm I don't want to belabor the points that steve made. I agree with them Um, I just I also want to say that I have been to a public's a number of times I've spent some time in South florida and and know the public's brand pretty well and I just want to say thank you To the folks who are here from public's You run the kind of company that if we had more of them like that our country would be in a lot better shape right now And I know that public's would be a great corporate citizen in Durham and I would love to see Publix somewhere in the city But for the reasons that steve mentioned that I won't belabor it. I don't think that's the right spot But what has concerned me a lot more than just this one rezoning is The level of discord that I've sensed in the emails that I've read about this Like like all the members of the council. I've read all the emails That you folks have sent us and it strikes me that there is a significant level of disagreement among folks who want northern Durham to stay the way it is And folks who uh, like the gentleman who thought carry was so great and Durham was not so hot But moved here anyway, so thanks for that But now apparently wants northern Durham to be more like carry. So anyway, um, You know, I think there is a difference of opinion there About what we want what folks who live in this part of the city want it to look like and that And no matter what this council decides tonight on this rezoning. That's not going to change anytime soon And I don't know what role The city government can play or as individual is Individuals is elected officials or just members of the community at large But I want to try to figure out how to bridge that gap between neighbors here Because I think this is not the last one of these we're going to see in this part of the city I hope it's the last one that takes a very Creative but but legit way patrick, I don't I don't discount anything you've done and your firm has done I think you found a way to get this where it needs where you wanted it under the blood of the law But I think it's still not in the best interest of our city But I think we're going to have more of these as we go along And we're going to need to find a way To bridge that gap between the folks who like it the way it is and the folks who want it to change And I just I just want to say to everyone here that I'm going to be looking for ways to figure that out. I hope you are too Um, and so let's try to keep that conversation up one other questions. Ms. Gray Can you tell me how many of your neighbors you've got in a row to do that powerpoint? With the number of people it was 12 people Thank you It's me. Okay, great. Sorry Thanks, so I will also try not to belabor folks points. I'm also going to vote against this rezoning, but I want to Talk about a couple of issues That have come up tonight As folks have said, this is the most contentious rezoning we've had in a long time We often have residents come to oppose rezoning is what we very rarely have so many people come to support a rezoning Um, and anywhere that we develop we're going to have traffic. We're going to have noise We're going to have pollution. This is inevitable inevitable consequences of development and unless we're going to tell people to stop moving to Durham We're not Or we as a species decide that we're like no longer going to reproduce and we're just going to face this issue Anytime that we need to develop, right? Um But I also feel that this is not a good location Um, and also that the rezoning is not a referendum on a particular project. It's a land use decision I like publics. I would love to have a public Um, I really like that its employee owned and I think as charlie said if we had more companies like this We would be a lot better off But the question isn't whether or not we want a publics I think if that were the question we would all be voting for it The question is whether this particular location Should be a commercial site and I don't think the argument has been made that Successfully that this particular site should be developed commercially I think the argument has been made successfully that north Durham that people in northern Durham Feel like they have been neglected as the city has developed Downtown and south Durham that folks in the in the northern part of the city feel like Y'all haven't been paid as much attention to and I think that's something That we need to address But that rather rather than rezone this piece of property I think we should look into why there are all these commercial centers in north Durham that are underutilized or unused And how can the city help? Redevelop those areas and bring those areas back so that we're not, you know, we're not paving greenfield But we're also providing the amenities that folks in in northern Durham need and deserve And again, I'll reiterate. I think While this plan technically meets the ordinance requirements for mixed use development, I think it's a really It it doesn't meet the intent of the ordinance which is to encourage a functional mix of uses and inspire integrative Innovative integrated development. This is basically a small neighborhood next to A shopping center with a path in between and that doesn't it doesn't seem integrated It doesn't feel like an actual mix of uses. It's like two things with a little connector So again, I think a lot of issues have come up that are things that the city Should address should help Should continue to address and continue to have this conversation And I would love to see a public's here in Durham, but I just don't think that this is the right site Thank you, mr. Mayor First of all, I gotta say it's tough following These folks because just about everything it's I'm gonna be a little redundant I'm not gonna be changing my remarks on the fly But they've said it better than I could first. I want to thank everybody who's here tonight Those who spoke those who did not everyone who's written I've met with the neighbors. I've met with the developers. I've read the emails and I've responded to most of them I've read the staff report and I've thought a lot about this case I I think I understand why so many people support this application and why so many people oppose it I have a few comments about it. What will be with us? At the buildings the parking lots the landscape What's what may or may not be with us are the business practices of any potential tenant including its public generosity um I know something about grocers having spent quite a bit of my life in that business And I know something about publics and they're a very fine operator Um, so I just want to say that right up front as my colleagues have said I want to When this case first started months ago, there was a significant misrepresentation Perhaps because the developer is unfamiliar with Durham and I knew my day would come and I could correct it This is it What the developer said in a meeting was this is the first city that wouldn't allow us to show a site plan But that's not true. We do allow that But we do require that if you show it You build it And that's why no site plan is part of this application We expect people to adhere to it, but we're happy to have them provide it What we decide is land use This request is for mixed use commercial and residential what we don't decide is what types of commercial use We don't get to decide if it's going to be a grocery store. We don't get to decide if it's going to be publics Um, I'll give you an example wall mart got a zoning for commercial center Down on martin luther king and they built a store down there 10 years later. They closed it It's a deep disappointment. It's a loss of all those jobs, but it's not a zoning violation I'll give you another example the council approved a horizontal mixed use project Not unlike this smaller is on north it is on north duke street Circle k was specifically cited as being ready to build a convenience store and a fuel station Today circle k is nowhere to be seen and the site is being developed by another uh another company So what we're not deciding on is publics what we are deciding on is the land use application and um So the comprehensive plan, you know, it's been cited and most of you I'm gonna give you a tremendous amount of credit people have done a lot of research And I feel like I'm talking to our room full of people who know A lot about what's going on. That's not always the case But I'll say this Comprehensive plan the job the comprehensive plan is to lay out the future A vision for the future and when it's wrong Then we can look at it We can correct it when there's an application to do so in this case. There is no application to do so because the of the um Of the decision to use mixed use zoning, which is allowed in any Land use tier, but I look at the comprehensive plan and the comprehensive plan says Right now it says this should be low density residential I don't mind looking at that designation, but we're not doing that tonight um And and I'll just echo what my colleagues have said and what I've learned about mixed use and um Best practices and horizontal integration and some of the things I heard tonight from the From the neighbors who did a lot of research on mixed use and we have Examples, I'm not sure all of them were cited. I think that southern village In its own way does a good job of mixed use Meadowmont in some ways does a good job. They're a little larger scale and um the Citation I hadn't thought about the citation of certain Sutton village or a certain station But I thought that was a good example of of of how mixed use is intended um And as my colleague councilmember johnson said this is really to me it looks very much like a commercial shopping center backing up for a residential neighborhood um It's got a buffer yes, um but That's not what mixed use is supposed to be So for all those reasons, I cannot vote for this project and I will be voting against it tonight. Thank you, mr. Mayor Recognize councilman davis Thank you, mr. Mayor um I think we would we would miss out on a wonderful opportunity if we do not approve this proposal I think years from now We will regret the decision for northern Durham It appears that like the community and the folks we've had speaking tonight there is differences of opinion on the council And that's fine Did the hour is late? I intend to vote for it And I'll let that be it. Thank you I can ask the mayor pro tem Good morning, everyone Respond. Good morning Most of you are my neighbors And so I feel uh, you're a concern and I really appreciate your Leadership with this megan the presentation and all of you coming tonight, but especially The children who sent me letters And uh, they really make a difference in how I vote um, I visited the public's in apex and When I saw it, I immediately realized it was a great store But not in the space on On gas road It is not That is not where it should be at lauren gas road Um We talked about jobs But the population who really needs jobs the most Don't have public transportation to get to that site And so jobs for me is not uh, a consideration Just the lack of accessible uh transportation To to get at those jobs um And it's it's early in the morning and so i'm getting sort of wiped out The bottom line is I will not vote for this project because it is not the right Place for it There is a place for it in durham, but I don't believe The site chosen is the Spot for it at this time And I want to thank the kids for sending me their opinions And by the way every day, I don't know who planned this but every day I I rode into I drove into my Development there were signs It made no difference Which way I went I saw no no it was planned that way i'm sure It didn't But I I understand the traffic concerns and uh all the concerns that you have this is just not the place for publics Thank you recognize councilman Yes, thank you Madam mayor pro tem you didn't you mentioned jobs and it reminded me there was one more the comment I wanted to make which is this maybe some new jobs, but jobs Um, the grocery industry is nothing if it's not Efficient so as sales move because people already are buying groceries that live here So that when sales move to the to this location if publics opens here Then the jobs move with them. So it's not a lot of new jobs. It's a lot of jobs in a new location Thank you Any further comments if not entertaining a motion on item Let let let me suggest this If you're voting to approve the rezoning Then you could make a motion to approve the rezoning with the intention of voting against it. Is that correct? Or you could make a motion to not approve the rezoning Our recommendation just for clarity's sake is is to is for someone to make a motion in favor Of approving the motion and for those that don't want the rezoning to go forward You would vote against that motion. That's what I said You have a question Yeah, jacob liggins the playing department you need to adopt a consistency statement before you vote on the rezoning I'll move the consistency statement Yeah, I don't I don't get that either, but what do we consistent with? We're actually moving that it's can't well, let let let staff explain to me In terms of the consistency statement Yeah, so the the consistency statement if you You could vote that in the negative form if you wanted to so whether or not you find that the request is consistent with Adoptable or excuse me the adopted plans and policies So if you move to vote the consistency statement, then the vote would be negative Yes, all right So that's your motion Okay, so let's be clear So the motion is is is in the affirmative Followed is it consistency it is consistent with the comprehensive plan and I make that motion with the intention to vote against it That's what you want. All right. It's been proctin movement second all in favor of the motion indicate percent I All against nay The motion passes six fail 61 All right, now the rezoning piece Sure, it's been a property movement second that we support the rezoning request Those voting for it would approve the rezoning request those voting against it Turn it down Which is what I said first, okay Is it clear? No, no, it's a clear Okay, all in favor of the motion they come to say and I All in opposed indicate saying nay The motion fails 61 Madam clerk, madam clerk, you need to report on yours Okay Open space and trails commission there are four vacancies Camillo could could could we call it down just a minute, please Could could we hold it down just a minute? We got one other piece of business we have Go ahead clerk what Open space and trails commission there are four vacancies camilla rutini receives seven votes lakisha Chichester receives six votes alondra Collabora receives six votes and derrick busley receives six votes. That's open space and trails I move the item Proper movement second all in favor of the motion make percent I I those opposed the motion passes unanimous Human relations commission There were five vacancies Diane sternard Received seven votes risa foster received four votes And zoda says jail received seven votes And we needed two additional positions and Michael burrows received Two votes nathan nathan plumber received three votes Matthew print has received two votes and we needed a black male Delvin davis received three votes john rooks received three votes Kenneth webb received one vote Mr. Mayor Now offer a motion Sure, because I'm not sure where we are. So there were five positions I'm going to move that we appoint Risa foster diane standard and Zoda Yeah, last name is sage. Yeah. All right. Yeah, those three those received the majority of the votes So that's my that's the first motion that we appoint those three It's been a proper movement second all in favor of motion and get me saying I Those opposed the motion passes unanimously. Mr. Mayor. I'm sorry Oh I just wanted to make a motion on the black male John rooks Proper moving second all in favor of motion and get me saying I this motion's out of a word You can't just choose one candidate out of the four and have a straight up and down vote on that person I can't work That cannot work. Let me back up. I thought she said there was a position for a black male Right There was we need one black male delvin davis received three votes John rooks received three votes and Kenneth webb received one vote Only one black male. You know one one person So the motion was to appoint a black male to this position by the name of john roakes Rook whatever his name is And if we don't want to do it then we turn that turn it down. So I ruled the motions in order I appreciate the opportunity, mr. Mayor. Okay, I appreciate The the name was the john rucks rucks That's the what was made in second and that's what we're voting on second the motion Davis I thought steve is seconded steve is seconded So all in favor of motion they can indicate by saying I I'd like to comment before we vote because I reviewed this two weeks ago. I had a list I'm not familiar enough with the candidates to be able to pick one on the fly I'm sorry. I'm I that's great. I appreciate that appreciate that he's been here. It's tremendous And thank you But so I will be voting against the motion simply because I'm unfamiliar with at this point this time of night My motion was going to be that we continue this until the next work session Or we could take it up, but I will be happy to simply vote Well, let me say we we generally try to yield to the council preference to move An election until the next time But if you're comfortable with voting against it and let us move tonight Is that what I mean? You say it's certainly not personal. Okay I would also prefer to delay I feel like the the way that we have typically done this is that someone changes their vote I think that's I think that would be a better mechanism for making this decision We spent two hours on a rezoning matter. How much time we're going to spend on this? It does make an interference to me. I just like to move it If if you want to delay it until the next next meeting, that's fine because we usually Accommodate that if it's made of requests Yeah, I'd like to request that mr. Mayor First is work session. Yeah for on the other the other one though. I'm willing to change my vote to mr. Plummer Okay, so you're saying you if you change your vote mr. Plummer have four. Yes the white male. Yes Do you want to make that motion? Yeah, so I move that we appoint Nathan plumber to the human relations commission So this has been properly moved in second all in favor of the motion and can be sat down. All right. Those opposed Mr. Mayor Regarding the position for the Black male I've had a chance to get back in here and to look through mr. Rook's application And I am comfortable with changing my preference And we'll be happy to make the motion that excuse me Actually, the mayor pro tem made the motion earlier So i'm ready to vote on it Let's let's back up Wait a minute The reason we we are where we are is because one I made a request To hold us over to this meeting and generally when a member makes a request we tend to honor that Now we've had councilwoman johnson Request that we hold to thursday. Is that your request? My request that we hold it to thursday was because I wanted to give the opportunity for someone to change their vote If councilman mounted, so you don't want that question. I'll withdraw my request Let's let's go back with Mayor pro tem made the motion councilm steve second the motion are you prepared to vote All in favor of the motion and can be seen. I Those opposed the motion passes unanimously. I'm just trying to be consistent Having said that is anything else to come before the council All right. Good morning 1251. Thank you