City Council · Regular Meeting · April 15, 2024

uh Pledge of Allegiance thank you it's our practice to stand to salute the flag say the flag FL States of America and to the for stands Nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you all right uh Madam clerk if you will please call to roll thank you Mr Mayor mayor Williams here po Middleton I'm herec member Baker here member Cierra Herec member cook here member Freeman was council member W here thank you all right and we have a few ceremon your items tonight and we'll start with uh our Parks and Rec director wall cut thought I saw

earlier oh there it is all right I have the honor of uh reading our Durham Parks and Recreation centennial celebration today we Proclaim whereas on April 28th 1924 a Durham city council resolution recognized public Recreation stating playgrounds are essential to proper growth and citizenship for a century Durham Parks and Recreation has been integral uh to the city of Durham

connecting the whole Community to Wellness the outdoors and lifelong learning and whereas 2024 marks the 100y year anniversary of public Recreation and Durham celebrating durm and durm Parks and Recreations history while creating a vision of the future that prioritizes accessibility inclusiveness and Innovation for all and whereas DPR advocates for health and wellness providing opportunities for physical activity mental Rejuvenation and overall well-being and whereas DPR is a steward of Natural Resources promoting Environmental Conservation exploration and appreciation of the beauty of nature and whereas DPR has demonstrated commitment to social Equity ensuring all individ individuals regardless of circumstance or ability have Equitable access to Recreation and park resources now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor

of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim April 28th 2024 as Durham Parks and Recreations centennial celebration in Durham and let us honor Durham Parks and Rec for a century of service to our community recognize its history Embrace its future in reaffirmed commitment to nurturing a Vibrant Community for generations to come so witness my hand in the corporate s of the city of Durham North Carolina this 15th day of April 2024 yes share remarks thank you mayor Williams mayor proen members of council and man your page uh on behalf of my current team that's here and all of DPR and of course all the past DPR team members we stand on their shoulders and their legacy and we're grateful for all their years of Public Service I would just say history is a great teacher and

even though 100 years is a lot of years we recognize that we have a lot of room to grow still and we recognize that this centennial celebration is not a Finish Line but we're just getting started so appreciate it thank you [Applause] they're being moded so let's give them a [Applause] hand I'm still up here this was no said I tried to pass it out sorry guys all right uh the next one is our national public safety telecommunications week there she is welcome welcome

Entourage P do you mind holding that so she all right also proclaiming whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police fire Emergency Medical Services or Durham Community safety heart when an emergency occurs The Prompt response of police officers paramedics firefighters and heart is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property and whereas since the safety of our police officers paramedics firefighters and heart is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from residents and visitors who telephone to durm emergency communications center and whereas Public Safety Communications officers and call takers are the first First Responders and most critical contact uh our residents and visitors have with emergency services and whereas Public Safety communication Communications officers and call takers

are the single vital link for our police officers firefighters paramedics and Hart by monitoring their activities By Radio providing them information and ensuring their safety and whereas Public Safety Communications officers and call takers of the dorm emergency communications depart uh Center have contributed sustain substantially to the apprehension of criminals suppression of fires treatment of patients mental health prevention and intervention and whereas each Public Safety Communications officer and call taker has exhibited compassion understanding and professionalism during the performance of their job in the past year now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim April 14th through April 20th 24 as National Public Safety telecommunications week in Durham and hereby urge all residents and visitors to take special note of this obser observance in honor of the men and women whose diligence and

professionalism keep our city safe witness my hand in the corporate sale of the city of Durham North Carolina this 15th day of April 2024 and before I pass over to Mike I uh I know I mean you all's records quite a bit because I see quite a bit and I don't mind calling on our 911 Center uh for support uh there was a a situation recently and you uh I was losing my mind on the phone I don't know who I was talking to but thank you for keeping me calm thank you I just in the in the in the craziest of situations it's amazing how professional they are and uh I even said at one point because I didn't disclose who I was but at one point I was like I'm the mayor and I'm asking you to get somebody here quick sir it's okay just keep calm and they're on the way so thank you all it takes a lot of training I'm sure better than me I couldn't do it thank you m re thank

you yes on behalf of their emergency communications Department we just want to say thank you uh for this special acknowledgement I personally entered into this profession with helping others in mind from a non-emergency situation to an emergency situation um knowing that I've done my best with assisting someone um and getting them the help they need gives me the assurance and the confidence that um being a telecommunicator is a is the job for me so we as telecommunicators we strive daily as the first First Responders uh to service the residents and visitors of durm with respect compassion and professionalism thank you [Applause]

that 911 call taker was probably like sure you're the mayor my thanks to his honor for this great priv privilege to read this next Proclamation it's a night for Heroes here tonight and I want to thank uh my mayor for doing me this solid uh because he knows what a fan of firefighters I am particularly of fire trucks uh anyone who comes into any one of my offices you'll see a fire truck sitting on my shelf uh in my offices I I um when I ran for city council I thought that as a council member you could just go in and get to drive a firetruck if you wanted um they have these things about rules and people getting hurt and training so you can't do it so I said what am I going to do with the rest of the three years and 11 months I have left uh on C IL but I am so pleased to present this proclamation to our firefighters for 2024 firefighters day I'm going to ask Chief zalos and his uh comrades to come forward uh members of The Command Staff firefighters that are with him tonight Step Up

gentlemen growing up we called the police the finest and we called our firefighters the bravest so it's my honor uh Mr Mayor and council members to read this Proclamation for our bravest whereas the firefighters of the durm fire department are essential to providing a safe community in which to live work and play in where as in 2023 our firefighters responded to 32,7 se1 calls for service which required 74,2 180 individual apparatus responses and whereas bull City's bravest our Durham firefighters protect our City and respond to fires emergency medical service calls technical rescue incidents hazardous materials emergencies whereas May the 4th is considered around the world as International firefighters day and

whereas the national Fallen firefighters Foundation created light the night for fallen firefighters to recognize the national Fallen Firefighters Memorial weekend which this year occurs May 4th and 5th and whereas all durm fire stations will be participating in the light of night for fallen firefighters by displaying red lights throughout May 4th and 5th now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of durm North Carolina do hereby Proclaim May 4th 2024 as firefighters day in durm and hereby urge all residents businesses and organizations to take note of and participate in this observance of by displaying red lights in honor of our fallen firefighters on the evenings of May 4th and 5th 2024 witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 15th day of April 2024 signed Leonardo Williams mayor city of Durham [Applause]

Chief good evening Mr Mayor Mr Mayor protm and members of the council my name is Bob zson I have the privilege of serving as your fire chief with me tonight I have two members who have great significance to the Durham Fire Department in the city of Durham I have our most senior and our most Junior member of the department with me tonight our dep Bar's most most senior member to my right fire driver gray Hollman gray graduated on July 10 1986 from Academy number two and are is our longest serving member he was designated as a department senior member in 2020 and represents us well today uh in that role fire driver Hollman is assigned to ladder company number three which is quartered at 822 North Miami Boulevard now on my left and I'm sure frightened to be here tonight is firefighter Gustavo Lopez Gustavo graduated on April 12 last Friday from our Academy Academy 37 F Lopez graduated with 25 other new firefighters this past Friday and while they're all if You' say equally Junior I asked Gustavo

specifically uh to represent our newest members because he was picked by his peers for the fully involved awarded which meant that he had the most all-in attitude and allout effort and would represent them the best fer Lopez is assign the engine company number two which is quartered at 101 uh 9th Street thank you very much for recognizing the great work of your firefighters tonight the officers and members of the Durham fire department protect the lives property and environment of our city 247 365 your fire department does that by responding to fires medical emergencies auto accidents hazardous materials events technical rescue entrapments and all manners of incidents that require life- saving and caring skills we are called to help as as it was just mentioned over 32,000 times this past year alone and we answer that call every single time your fire department additionally works very hard to prevent the 91 911 call from ever happening in the first place through strong public education efforts and solid code enforcement lastly thank you for asking all of all residents businesses and organizations to display red lights May four and 5 uh that those

nights I'm sorry each year approximately 100 firefighters die in the line of duty across the United States and they are memorialized in the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in emmittsburg Maryland this year that ceremony will take place on May 4 and one of one of bull City's bravest one of our own will be will be enshrined there on that day on behalf of the 447 men and women of the fire department thank you all very much for this kind and thoughtful recognition of their strong work thank you [Applause] good evening I am presenting the black maternal Health Week proclamation to miss Joyce Spencer executive director of equity before

birth and before I start I would like to appreciate our firefighters as well and I want to make sure that I State very clearly it's going to be important to make sure that they get paid [Applause] um whereas the maternal mortality rate in North Carolina doubled between 2019 and 2021 exacerbated by the global pandemic and one and four babies born in durm are birthed to black women and whereas black women Nationwide regardless of income or education level or are three to four times more likely to die and preventable from preventable pregnancy related complications and whereas research demonstrates that the services of diverse birth Workers Health Advocates Community organizations and health care providers are a critical component of eliminating disparities enhancing black maternal health safety and improving

improving birth and health outcomes and whereas we recognize and uplift community- based responses to addressing this crisis and we promote initiatives that reduce black maternal morbidity and mortality such as duel Services mid rery Services peer support Mutual Aid and mental and mental Wellness supports and whereas black women deserve to have beautiful safe pregnancies and birth experiences with access to care of their choice through being empowered in resources to make informed decisions based on their needs and whereas black maternal Health week was founded by the M black mama matter Alliance to increase awareness around the state of black maternal health and promote activism and investment and solutions attention and action are needed to improve black maternal Health outcomes in durm and across the North Carolina and now the therefore I

Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of durm North Carolina do hereby Proclaim April 78 April 11th through April 17th 20124 black maternal Health week and durm North Carolina and hereby urge all residents and visitors to take special note of this observance in support of reducing black maternal morbidity and increasing awareness and healthy outcomes witness my hand and corporate seal of the city of durm North Carolina this is the 15th day of April 2024 um before I turn it over I I would like to say that I I really have um I've never met my grandmother because she died in child birth when my mom was 12 and I really hold this this Proclamation and these words um deep in my heart and understanding that our black women in this community need the support of you all this week is just one week but it it's throughout the year in coming years as they go through their birthing processes people don't understand how early in the pregnancy is

1% of these deaths are preventable which means this is an experience that we don't have to endure at all and it can be fixed and so I'm really

appreciative for this Proclamation because it reminds us to do what we can to fix it um I spent the weekend uh in wonderful celebration Equity before birth had a dance party my may had their inaugural black maternal Health walk run and stroll I saw many um of our community members come out grandparents teen parents babies couples caregivers and so I really appreciate that and I ask us to keep it going we're not the first to do this work we won't be the last so I appreciate everyone who came before us and open the door I'm looking forward to all the doors that we will um open for the generations that come behind us um a lot of people ask you know well what can I do uh be kind care for people check on the folks that you know that may be pregnant or have an infant ask them if they've showered make a meal for them make space for them offer to babysit Um send a kind note remind them that

they are enough that they are being wonderful parents um and caregivers um there is a role that we can all play um I really appreciate council member driana Freeman she has had unwavering support from day one so thank you too for showing up in community all the time always lending an opening ear we've had uh numerous conversations about her personal connection to this work um but there is something that we can all do and we know that when we LIF disparities um from the bottom up it kind of gives the whole entire system a facelift and outcomes will improve for everyone so thank you all so so much for this Proclamation and let's continue to work Dr Wanda Boon wants to join up here

2 million people a ages 12 to 20 reported binge drinking whereas according to the Durham County Youth Behavior risk survey

there has been a decrease in alcohol use among middle school and high school students from 20 uh 2007 to 2021 uh Middle School 2007 20% 2015 30% 2021 16% High School 2007 29% 2015 35% 2021 15 % whereas according to the NC injury and violence prevention Branch the 60% overdose emergency room visits among black residents in Durham was due to the combination of alcohol and O opioids and whereas individuals and families have experienced increased stress due to the prolonged trauma of of the pandemic leading to increased use of alcohol with some individuals engaged in alcohol misuse and some subsequently developing AUD and there should be no shame or blame placed on individuals and families struggling with an AUD therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do

hereby Proclaim April 2024 as alcohol awareness month in Durham and hereby urge all residents and visitors to take special note of this observance in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our city safe witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of durm North Carolina this 15th day of April 2024 thank you everyone I'm not a stranger to this work um I'm proud to say that the data regarding young people is going down in terms of alcohol use in terms of tobacco marijuana we're still working on but I'm so proud of the young people people College age students that are working with us they're really at the Forefront of this work they're the ones

that make the difference over the weekend I was on TV I don't know how many times maybe four times reaching over five million people joined with the talk it out Campaign which is a North Carolina campaign but the influence that we have had in Durham due to our Coalition and collaborative work to me is something to be very proud of there are individuals and organizations around the state around the nation and including some International individuals and organizations that are asking us to help them to find solution solutions to the problems associated with substance use I'm proud of that not just for my organization but for Durham itself and

so there are people who are watching I don't know if there's anyone here with our organization but my husband Earl is there and then we have two other Representatives thank you so much for everything you do you in the city mayor mayor protim and city council for all that you were doing lastly we've been mentoring young people since 2010 we don't let them go we stay with them as long as they want to stay with us and we are seeing a generational Improvement in what's happening in durm so again thank you so much for the proclamation [Applause] I remember when you all started in 2010

and I was the band director at uh Southern Durham High School and you all came out and we did a commercial on stage and so thank you for your your your work since then all right at this time I will uh move to announcements by Council normally we don't have that many celebratory events in the beginning but it's always good it's always good so um council member cook all right good evening everyone um so a week from tonight starts pesak which is Passover my very favorite holiday for so many reasons but most importantly because I value how it requires us Jews to sit and really reflect on our own history as folks who were enslaved whose movement was restricted who were displaced it also allows us time to really critically think about people who are suffering today from oppression and

other forms of slavery and what we can do to alleviate that suffering you must be friend The Stranger we are told for you were once a stranger in mitzraim the narrow place today marks 191 days of genocide in Palestine over 3 to 3,000 people have died including more than 13,800 children that's over 40% of that death toll today also marks a global protest for Gaza and major cities all across the world Industries have ground to a halt we are having this meeting tonight of course I think that it is our duty to have this meeting but I think it's also important to recognize um that that protest is ongoing here in Durham just in the last few days five people were shot in at least three different locations including one 16-year-old boy who was killed we're witnessing so much suffering and we're having to mourn both worldwide and in our

backyards two months ago this body passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza I'm really proud of that work I'm proud that we joined over a hundred other municipalities in this country recognizing the right of Palestinians to exist to have remembered histories to have the possibility of future but I'm also pained because despite a majority of people in this country calling for a ceasefire we have seen the US enablement of this genocide to the point where Israel's unchecked and intentional escalation has led to Regional instability and continues to endanger us all as we move into this period of recalling the liberation of the Jews from MIM and on this day of mass protest and in increasing fear and mourning I I want to reiterate again the interconnectedness of all people on this Earth and my dedication to a Durham and a broader world where every person has the right and ability to live with dignity autonomy and respect free from systematic violence that is perpetrated with guns with fist with bombs with

starvation with lack of affordable housing we have a lot of work to do on this Council overall but also this week um I hope to continue seeing Community engagement in this space as we talk through everything from employee pay to Waterworks all of those things coming up on Thursday please stay tuned um stay through the meeting come on Thursday join us for our work session watch online but most importantly keep looking out for each other thank you so much CH Sam for those celebrating thank you thank you council member Baker yeah I wasn't going to say anything but I just wanted to speak up in in support and and thank my my fellow council member for for speaking out on the the issues that you raised um uh about the the genocide in Gaza as well as making that connection with with the local um because um we are not detached from what happens globally we're not detached from what happens at the federal level um we suffer from poor gun

policies at the federal level right here in Durham we see the impacts of that every single day and you referenced the shootings that took place last week including the one that um tragically killed um 16-year-old and um and we have to deal with those consequences every single day and do the very best that we can while continuing to to push for better policies at higher levels of government um as we saw there was a lot to celebrate there also sometimes we we want to talk about some of the challenges that we face so those are some and I also wanted to to acknowledge the um the bomb threat um that was placed uh at the main library the Durham County Main Library um last week um targeting an lgbtq plus event um I stand um in solidarity with the lgbtq plus Community as well as all of our residents and I know for a fact without having checked with uh Folks up here we all stand with um with the lgbtq plus community and and everyone who's who's

um who's being intimidated um and and we won't allow people to be intimidated we're going to stand um with with our res with residents and with our constituents um and we won't allow voices to be to be silenced so um that's it for me mayor thank you council member haveo thank you Mr Mayor I just want to say thank you to my colleagues for their uh remarks um and it had last week towards the end of the week was a very hard week uh for Durham I do um I'm going to shift a little bit I do want to thank um Durham parks and wck today was the opening of the senior games uh council member rist did a great job as the recreational advisory uh commission Pote or liaison as council member opening them up and um I I wanted to shout out I think I'm pronouncing her name correctly feta hatch she was the presenter of the torch um she was uh is a hundred years young and it was pretty incredible to see somebody with so much joy and energy and I think is a testament to uh how we

should all uh how how we should all live um uh additionally I just wanted to say thank you to the the mayor uh the state of the city last week was excellent I think uh really highlighted some of the things we're we're working on uh as a council and some of his initiatives and I have to say I was a little bit of a oh why do we have to do it somewhere else and I was uh very uh happily surprised at how much fun I had so thank you thank you council member Freeman thank you I want to Echo my colleague's support and just acknowledging all the hard ships that folks are facing right now and encouraging everyone to be kinder and slower with one another I um did want to just share that I had the opportunity to visit or to be a part of a grand opening for the north durm Farmers Market which is at Soul Sanctuary at 10 1016 old Oxford Road and I do want to

say that it's kind of a moment of acknowledging just how far bragtown has um traveled or come and in this work and just acknowledging the the way in which Community can rise up and do what needs to be done when you allow them to without you know developing over top of them I will also add that I had the opportunity to to be a part of the grand opening for the East Derm Farmers on East Market on driver Street and just knowing that this food swamp um which lacked a lot of fresh fruits and vegetable now have the access to fresh fruits and vegetables on for the neighborhood and I'm excited about what comes next and so thank you that's all thank you council member rist thank you Mr Mayor um colleagues mayor protm city manager staff residents here um I want to thank my colleagues first of all for for lifting up both the the celebrations we've experienced here today but also recognizing that it's been a rough several days since late

last week in the Bull City um so I share your concerns I as well was devastated by the the five people shot in the course of a couple hours um horrific um and again it reminds us that violence is too prevalent in our in our lives the tragic gun violence is too much a part of the Bull City and elsewhere and we need to keep working to address that um I do want to uh appreciate the uh police chief Andrews who gave a press conference at 11 o'clock Friday I was able to participate along with the mayor her comments of that were right on expressing both her great her Devastation um at the at the events that happened also representing reflecting that her her officers were also tired and worn out from a from a from a awful day at the same time the chief lifted up the fact that their commitment to this work and providing safety and Duram has is unwavering and I really appreciate that ongoing commitment on the part of the chief and her staff um as somewh of a coincidence I did a Ride Along on Friday evening um that was planned several weeks in advance so I want to thank um Sheriff um I'm sorry uh Chief Andrew again and our colleagues for

arranging for that um uh Deputy city manager Bo Ferguson as well for arranging that and I I want to thank especially officer green who was incredibly kind and patient to take me along from 11: to 12 on Friday evening answer all my my basic questions about the work of police the work they do um he was both informative polite kind to me but also incredibly um as a Young Man a young officer incredibly passionate about his work Inc incredibly well trained in what he's doing and Incredibly passionate about his the role of Public Service I just want to lift up all the officers in our department the work that the the chief and others have done to provide that kind of support for our community from officers who really believe deeply in their work and are passionate and are well skilled of what they're doing so want to thank the chief and her colleagues for that um on a somewhat lighter note I also had the chance of participating on Sunday in the tri tennis training at Northgate Park um I think my colleagues have all been seeing the emails from the tennis community about the state um and the condition of

public tennis courts in Durham I'm a member of the tennis community so I was glad to go out on Sunday and to see the programming that our parks and W provides for for people who are just starting out with tennis um it also did give me a chance to look at those courts and get a sense of what's the quality of our tennis courts and how we can work together as a council as a city to continue improving those courts along with everything else we do at parks and W um I also want to thank the north count of tennis Association which provides support for the tri tennis program along with the United States tennis Association I also want to thank Susan graph who's the coordinator of of the tried tennis program and Javier Pabon who's the who's the tennis coach of Tri tennis great coach um and so in closing I just want to say to the folks who are part of that class that I participated in remember to like watch your feet right remember your stance and remember your strike point of the ball so keep up the good work and uh continue your uh tennis careers thank you Mr Mayor mayor pro thank you your honor good evening again to you and to my colleagues everyone in the chamber everyone watching on whatever platform you may be watching Mr Mayor I want to

um associate myself with congratulations to you for wonderful state of the city address I think it was a transformative a paradigm shifting state of the city address and I thought it was well received well organized I also want to congratulate the staff who uh who does a great job in making us look good uh when we look bad it's our fault when we look good as the staff's uh of fault who did a great job in pulling off that wonderful uh event great energy um and I think a great message for what we need to be focused on as a city so congratulations to you on that I want to um and I know uh Mary you already have extend uh my deepest condolences uh to the family of the young baby that was killed um in our city last week and the families who were affected by gunfire um I I also want to to give voice uh to the many people I've heard from who actually live in the areas affected by gunfire who sometimes feel uh that we're

a bit condescending in um that we speak as if we're in their place when we aren't um those of us who are in a position not only in some instances to pass resolutions but in other instances to pass policy to actually do something as a government um do things that comport with our values uh do things that no not not only cheer for our police but give them the tools to be more effective in dealing with this stuff over and over and over again um we've been talking about this for a long time um Washington's gonna be Washington that that's baked in Raleigh's going to be Raleigh that's baked in the question is what will we do with as people with power as people that can actually affect dollars moving levers being pulled and buttons being pushed at the local level

so to those residents who tonight will hear gunfire some of it will be reported some of it won't to those residents the heart of this city continues to beat with you uh it beats for our children for our babies and they are babies which means that any um indictment any critique doesn't go to them it goes to us the big folk the Grown Folk the people who are parents the people who have powers the people who are mentors it's an torial on us and as long as we keep hearing these reports as long as there's gunfire each night less than two miles from our city center there will have to be an asterisk on all of the great things that are going on in durm and there are great things going on in durm it's no doubt we've drunk the Kool-Aid Derm is dope it is um but our celebrations will continue to be muted they will continue to have an asterisk next to it as long as less than two miles from our city center baby are jumping in bathtubs when it's not bath

time because of gunfire in our city um so we'll continue to send our condolences and our best wishes is best wishes but um I'm going to continue to to push um I know with others uh that we also do everything we can everything we can that comports with our values policy-wise uh to address this Scourge um that's affecting our city this cancer that is affecting our city may God bless their families may God bless their memor that baby may God bless Durham thank you Mr Mayor thank you uh and thank you colleagues uh as many of you all have stated already um we we this this was a tough week and for me personally it was super high and super low um state of the city was a huge success uh even went viral everyone's talking about it even in other States so exciting and we you know I I really

wanted to highlight you know what's so exciting about our community yeah we have our challenges but we can't overcome those challenges unless we you know know that we have the ability to generate the resources and the camaraderie and Community to overcome those challenges so I wanted to really highlight that and you know just the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that came I want to shout out the youth entrepreneurs from Echo I want to shout out the youth Civic leaders from Hillside I want to shout out the dur the Durham Divas the senior citizen cheerleader Squad and I'm going to start posting the pictures from the evening um but they Rock age is nothing but a number I think they're all liars talking about 80 years old 83 years old 75 no no way I want to thank the John Brown Jazz quintet I want to thank the Durham

Symphony and Orchestra quintet I want to thank um where I was drum major had drum major of the nccu sound machine uh for taking part I want to thank our Port Laurette I want to thank abc1 and Joel Brown for um for being the MC and everyone everyone everyone who came out what an amazing evening however two days later I was in Rocky Mount at a leadership forum for Duke University the North Carolina leadership Forum uh sponsored by Duke and as um I was sitting in the audience uh in the room we were having dinner and I I was listening to a panelist and this panelist had a particular bias I'll just say and they were talking about these large cities that are full of thugs and criminals and Crips and Thugs and and and bloods and that's why you know they don't have that mess in rural North Carolina

um I raised my hand to speak but then I got a phone call and I had to lower my hand and I stepped out it was the city manager and she said mayor you haven't responded so thought I'd give you a call I didn't have my other phone and uh she explained to me what happened and all I could say was Jesus Christ I can't really explain the feeling that I had at that moment because I went into that dinner on a high feeling so good and then I I adopted this anger based on what this person on the panel was saying and then I get this phone call and there was a mixture of is he right no he's not right we know what we need to

do and we know what we need to do for our youth we know the paths in which they need to be on the answer is right before us we got off the phone I go back inside and I did raise my hand and I said hey just for the record I'm the mayor of Durham he had the audacity to say well you know what I'm talking about I said actually you know considering we're in Rocky Mount and you are of a particular position in this area let me tell you where I'm from and it's a shame that where I'm from we say oh you made it out let's not get it twisted there are challenges everywhere and when we pit these things against each other it does not help us but when we hold hands as a community that is when we're stronger

and I told him I said I'm willing to hold your hand if you were open your mind because it'll make both of us better I ended that form early and I came back to Durham to stand next to our chief and support the work that they are doing still a mixed bag of feelings because I know that we have the capability of all places in this entire world where we have the ability to do something tangible is right here in Durham and this is where my energy will be there are challenges everywhere and the love that we generate for one another right here can work here it can work Nationwide it can work abroad but we must do it we can a we can disagree but we must try

period that 16-year-old boy that died it was his twin brother who was shot the week before and unfortunately this is a very common thing in some of our communities across our city and I just just want every community in our city to actually care and I know people care but we have to care through action so there are folks that are saying yeah so so so after these shootings is durm really dope yes they are yes we are and I'll tell you why soon you're going to see me wearing a t-shirt that says durm is dope and I'm going to provide you the opportunity to buy that t-shirt and 100% of those proceeds are going to go right into a fund where you will get to actually have mental re organizations will be able to pull from that fund and

you as individuals will be able to invest whether it's 15 20 100 a thousand whatever right back into your own Community it doesn't take a vote it doesn't take a resolution it doesn't take anything it just takes you to give a d and that's just the first we're about to get really creative and we're going to stop watching kids die and said oh this is really unfortunate and move on so I'm not taking excuses I'm not taking workarounds and I'm not taking any nice language we have work to do and the way we respond to this which I know will be successful is why durm is so freaking dope and with that I want to shout out someone who's dope her name is Tammy

Moore Chef Tam I was driving on Fairville Street today past WD I just wanted to personally connect to the areas where these shootings happen in this location right by WD Hill as I'm driving by there is someone that is is wild enough to set up a table and they do this every weekend they set up a table and just started cooking breakfast for the entire community no judgment people that are hooked on drugs people that are coming from church everybody and they were all there together she was wild enough to love hard I pulled my car over and I went over they didn't know who I was I just said I hey God hey I just want to come and say thank you because this is what community looks like and I think someone said hey I saw that dude on

TV and I said yeah I'm mayor Williams oh it's mayor Williams and we actually I was headed somewhere but I actually just took a moment to just hang out I stayed out there for like 45 minutes we took pictures we ate the food was the bomb and we had a great time and then a police officer came up and he pulled his truck over and he came over and said oh y'all y'all good you're good I just came to get something to eat and he stayed for a while and we just enjoyed one another and we did it right where the shooting happened that's why durm is dope if you ever question it so with that being said let's get the evening going thank you colleagues um for highlighting all of the tragedies that we have experience and I know we're going to work together to overcome them any Punk that wants to put any

threat on our libraries we're going to smack you upside the head with a lot of love that's how we stand together all right I will uh calm down and read the con agenda priority priority items I'm sorry madam manager this this guys this stuff is personal to us it really is we're not just some politicals sitting up here it is personal all right Madam manager you have any priority items good evening Mr Mayor Williams Mr Mayor protim Middleton and members of the Durham city council I have one priority item for you this evening it is agenda item number 26 Durham Chapel Hill carborough Metropolitan planning organization fiscal year 2022 2023 annual report the additional information requested during

the April 4th 2024 city council work session can be found under priority items by the city manager City attorney and city clerk that is all I have for you this evening thank you Madam attorney good evening mayor Williams mayor pron Middleton and members of the council the city attorney's office does not have any priority items tonight thank you madam attorney for not having any priority priority items Madame clerk thank you Mr Mayor good evening um Mr Mayor proam and council members the city clerk's office has no priority items either thank you whenever you have one and the manager have one it's okay the attorney not okay all right all right I will now move to the uh consent agenda we'll we'll get going it's going to be a long night item number

one here they're not here can uh Madame clerk as I'm going to get started number one was pulled virtually do we see the uh speaker that okay thank you item number one Durham bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission number two approval of city council minutes number three external auditor contract and number four Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation bcpi Grant number five Third Amendment to the contract with housing for New Hope to serve as the unsheltered coordinating agency thank you number six First Amendment to the interlocal agreement with the dur Public School Board of Education to ad ad minister to promoting academic learning program pal number seven American Rescue plan act ARA funds rein reinvestment Partners development funding commitment 312 East Umstead East Amstead Street project number eight taxable General

obligation housing bond series 2024 number nine utility system revenue bonds series 2024 number 10 climate core uh Fellowship agreement with strategic energy Innovations number 11 West Point on the Eno Park and river parks playgrounds project design contract with surface 678 PA number 12 fiscal year 2025 2027 employee benefits number 13 contract with FMLA Source Incorporated for Family Medical Leave Act Americans with American Americans with Disabilities Act Administration and Information Services number 14 First Amendment to contract number 19791 American Rescue plan act arpa Sub sub award agreement with Wall Street Jr incorporated number 15 contract with Durham city skating LLC a subsidiary limited liability corporation

that was okay under United States of America Incorporated to operate the wills roller skate skating ring that was pull number 16 Governor's crime commit Mission 2023 criminal justice Improvement program Grant project ordinance number 17 contract SW 74c right of way acquisition services for various sidewalk projects number number 18 contract sw995 sidewalk preservation 2024 number 19 contract s w93 egi sidewalk repairs 2024 number 20 contract w93 egi inspections for sidewalk repairs we're spending a lot of money in sidewalks guys just want you to hear that number 202 uh number 21 software and maintenance contract with environmental systems Research Institute Incorporated DBA esri Systems Incorporated number 22 contract for Last Mile Services with gns Communications

and Technical Services Incorporated number 23 contract for Last Mile Services with lexair electronics Sales Corporation 24 supplemental agreement number two to the reimbursement agreement between North Carolina Department of Transportation and the City of Durham for the lease of the Durham Amtrak station number 25 First Amendment to construction of a traffic signal traffic signal at hillindale Road and Horton Road number 31 resolution and support of immigrant communities in Durham Mr Mayor I'd like to pull that 31 thank you number 32 2024 short session legislative agenda and then we have our general business number 27 Consolidated annexation wake Olive Apartments number 28 zoning map change trellis Durham RTP 29 F fiscal year 2024 2025 draft annual action plan budget

hearing annual action plan adoption and Grant project ordinances and number 30 public hearing and approval of proposed substantial amendments to the fiscal year 2027 2017 2017 2018 2018 2019 2019 2020 2020 2021 2021 2022 2022 2023 annual action plans aaps all right all right those are our items what's that the first one yeah I'll entertain a motion to accept the uh consent agenda consent agenda with the exception of pull items so move second second move and properly second Madame clerk will you please open the vote please close the

vote the motion passes unanimously thank you thank you very much all right was that first one item 15 what's that uh contract what do we have all right do I have a um Gideon bu is that Gideon bu now oh welcome thanks for being here you have three minutes um good evening everyone uh my name is Gideon bueno um I am here to talk you pronounce that again forth Gideon Bueno thank you um so I'm here to talk about the um finalized contract with United States and

DPR uh which is I think item number 15 um in their proposal United States of America recommends a reduction of the skate floor to make additional space for seating stating that many rinks were constructed with a skate floor that is quote unnecessarily large leading to a lack of seating space I would argue that the principal purpose of a skating rink is to skate and not sit reducing the skating for uh skating surface would impede organizations like Bull City roller derby for running concurrent practices for beginner and advanced skaters Alik additionally I'm concerned about about the rental rate the uh United States is slated to pay at the city of Durham per the finalized contract United States would only pay $222,000 beginning year two or approximately $1,833 per month for reference the medium monthly rent for durm residents per Zillow is $1,950 per month respectfully I'd like to ask the council why this private company is slated to pay a lower rate than durm residents um do you have a question no I

was going to just I thought you were but I was going to ask you to make sure you send those comments we it's really hard for us to hear okay um yeah of course um but yeah I I guess um I've been uh skating in this community since uh 2018 with B City rby and it's it's hard to um conceptualize or uh rationalize uh subsidizing a private company with no ties to this community uh with taxpayer dollars and to then charge them money for um you know uh access the same building that they paid for with their taxpayer money um so if if it at all possible I would um recommend or like DPR to um collaborate more with the wheels residence committee which was uh created with the purpose of um providing like oversight transparency with the Durham community and so far that really hasn't been happening at all um and it's been frankly a little disappointing as much as I'd love to skate in IND doors

later this year um but yeah that's that's all I have to share thank you so much for listening thank you um please also email your comments um yeah it was number 15 so all right colleagues I'll entertain a motion for number 15 so move for adoption is there a second second all right Madam clerk you will please open the vote please close the vote the motion passes unanimously thank you and what was the second one resol 31 31 all right council member uh Javiera

yes Mr Mayor I was going to go down to the podium and invite representative Oro welcome to the Bull City representative it's good to see you hey Pablo thank you I just want to um say thank you um these two gentlemen Pablo and Ricky are members of uh Governor Cooper's um this is a long long one advisory Council for Hispanic Latino Affairs uh and representative Walo is actually uh the chair of uh uh that um commission and I also sit on it so um I'm going to read the resolution I was just going to let them extend some time so they can say some words thank you uh a resolution just so folks know a proclamation is the mayor's perview a resolution is council's U so that is the difference it's why you don't see it on proclamations a little bit of a civics lesson for city of Durham this evening um resolution in support of immigrant communities in Durham whereas the city of Durham recognizes the vital role that immigrants have played and continue to play in the

growth diversity and prosperity of our community and whereas our city upholds the values of inclusivity equity and Justice as cornerstones of our democracy and whereas the city of Durham is a welcoming community and Prides itself on being a place for everyone and whereas the collaboration between immigrant communities and local law enforcement is essential for the safety and well-being of all residents and whereas Equitable access to Municipal Services education and opportunities for civic engagement for all residents regardless of immigration status is essential to the fabric of our City now therefore be it resolved by the Council of the city of Durham that the council commits to fostering a welcoming environment for all immigrants living in working in and contributing to our city advocates for po policies at the state and federal level that provide a clear path to citizenship for undocumented residents and protect the rights of refugees and ases supports local initiatives to provide all residents with access to M Municipal services including education and law enforcement protection regardless of immigration status empowers and encourages law enforcement officials to intentionally Foster trust and cooperation with our diverse immigrant communities and encourages the

community to engage and in dialogue and cultural exchange to bolster Mutual understanding and respect among all residents of Durham and and if representative Bell could come and share some words thank you thank you councilwoman Javiera Caballero and thank you mayor Williams and the rest of the Durham city council it's good to be in the Bull City tonight um to uh see this resolution uh passed and discussed um for context uh as chair of the governor's advisory committee for Hispanic and Latino Affairs uh we began this conversation about three months ago at our last meeting in February uh and a time when the community was coming to us across North Carolina uh with increasing concern of their well-being of their safety as we see ratcheted rhetoric around the role immigrant families play not just in our local communities but across the country uh as I think the

mayor protm said it best Washington's going to Washington right and Raleigh's going to be Raleigh uh we want to make sure that local communities understand that they also have a role to play here to ensure the safety of All Families including immigrant families um there's uh nervous anticipation of changing state law here in the next few weeks that would take the Constitutional uh rights of uh local law enforcement such as your Sheriff around how they police and we know that uh the city of Durham Prides itself in seeking Solutions building trust with communities and making sure that we're getting to the root cause of many of these issues uh and so uh this resolution is one step in making sure that the Immigrant Community here in Durham knows that um at least local officials here are thinking critically about how we continue to build trust uh and Foster safer Community for everyone so I I do want to thank you for uh and councilwoman Caballero for bringing this up and the coun for for supporting this resolution I want to give a few moments to my colleague Pablo Friedman who also is a resident of

durman serves on the on our advisor Council to say a few words good evening council member cavayero mayor Williams mayor Pro Middleton members of the council I wasn't going to speak tonight but I told uh chairo our fearless I said I want to say one thing when our Advisory Group met and passed the resolution there's one uh clause in there that talks about expanding driving permits such that everyone in North Carolina is eligible I think we can all agree that safe roads and making sure more people have um auto insurance is a good thing for our state and it's a good thing for this country and so my nudge to all of you is that there are Republicans in the state house that also support this and you all just pass your legislative agenda this evening um use your voice use your power a lot of people in this city could benefit from expanded driving permits I think it's a win also for law enforcement talk to your law enforcement experts I'm sure they're going to support this but here's my ask to you

tonight that's one of our Clauses let's make more access to driving permits for people in this great state thank you very much thank you all so much and council member Cavo thank you for um pulling that all right I'm G to pass it you want to call that motion uh I move that we pass um resolution in support of immigrant communities in Durham second all right Madam Clark please open the vote please close the vote zero thank you so

much thank you all for that work can I say I just wanted to say one thing very quickly I also wanted to shout out uh the towns of carboro and Chapel Hill uh this is a an ask from uh the governor Cooper's advisory uh commission and I just want to say this there was a commission and then because leadership changed at the state it went away and then Governor Cooper brought it back and there is a real clear understanding that this commission may also go away post November uh so uh local politics matters State politics matters Federal politics matter vote in every election it does actually mean a very very different reality for a lot of your neighbors and it's critically important so I just want to shout out both carb and Chapel Hill for also passing resolutions thank you hint hint register to vote hint hint and vote all right um um we are now at our do we have any other F items all right we

[Applause] are CA mle Pearson Pamela Andrews Robin Barefoot uh you all signed up under number 17 but the item you wish to speak to is Wake Olive apartments that is item 27 all right so I just wanted to uh also likely staff member, not a known name to replace likely staff member, not a known name to replace chamblas no that's the resource person okay so I don't know I don't know how that got Twisted but it's number uh 27 all right ready for you thank you mayor mayor Tim Middleton honorable counc members good evening my name is Andy Lester it's good to be with you tonight uh before I begin staff for i' like to State for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and Affidavit of all notices or in file with the planning department a request for

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92% time do you think you need 10 minutes 10 minutes sry could you put 12 minutes on please and uh good evening mayor Williams mayor protim Middleton and members of the city council I'm Neil go Attorney At The Morning Star Law Group I also lost my voice if that's not apparent uh so please uh bear with me through this presentation I want to start by thanking staff uh for their presentation uh I've also been in communication with staff um about additional profit that the applicant

will be making tonight before I get to those let me give a brief introduction about the project as has been mentioned the resoning and annexation request is on about 12 acres of land which fronts onto Highway 98 uh the site is adjacent to Neil Middle School uh generally in the East Duram area where there's been a lot of new development taking place unlike a lot of the development that is taking place in eum or has been approved in eum this project proposes a part apartment at a density near 18 dwelling units per acre as far as uh development in E term goes I think that's pretty efficient use of land in East arum um I know uh some of you have heard over the years that properties in this area are tough to develop for large footprint buildings like uh multif family because of the Rolling Topo and environmental features I think it's important to keep that in mind because uh this site represents one of the few areas where multif family might be possible within the Cal basin this project is envisioned as a

multi-story apartment community up to 70 ft in height at the tallest points we have tapered uh the height so that the tall portions are at the front and middle part of the property towards the rear and sides height would be limited to no more than 40 ft and you can see that there are no stream Crossings proposed and we are providing 100 foot riparium buffer or 100 foot on each side uh riparium buffer uh we have two entrances out onto Highway 98 paired with some Road improve at those entrances we also have committed to providing a 10-ft multi-use path which basically is a 10-ft wide sidewalk to accommodate bikes and pedestrians and that will go across our Highway 98 Frontage there also are some commitments related to handling storm water and uh contributing to dur public schools now at the top I mentioned a few more commitments we have run by staff and are adding to this project the first and probably most important of which is related to affordable housing the developer is providing a minimum of income restricted units at least seven of them will be affordable at the 60%

Ami level and the remaining income restricted units will be affordable at the 80% Ami level or less uh and this is for a minimum period of 30 Years also at least three of these income restricted units will be two bedroom units secondly they have committed to having at least three EV parking spaces with the charging uh capability in the development another commitment they're adding is related to Green B building and that is that the project will meet the requirements of a green building program this could be something like achieving the bronze level or higher uh for the ngbs or achieving a score of 75 or higher for energy star or perhaps some level of the lead certification program and finally they also have committed to using native plant species for any required plantings I feel that these commitments go a long way to address not only the comments from the Planning Commission but uh also the goals outlined in the comprehensive plan I know the staff report indicates that the project is consistent with 13 out of 23 applicable policies with these new

commitments I would estimate that five additional goals have been satisfied the project definitely has been strengthened uh since the planning commission based on their comments and feedback from staff as well I didn't need nearly 10 minutes or 12 sorry about that and uh I want to thank you for your time and our team is available to answer any questions you may have thank you thank you I'm sorry all right I have um are these all online okay sounds good right so Madam cler we'll start with our participants online uh the first Speaker I have is uh Tina monley

Pearson can you hear me yes welcome you have three minutes okay great uh good evening mayor Williams and members of the city council my name is Tina mle Pearson and my address is on file first let me reiterate that we are not against development but it should be done with care and that is one of the big issues in southeast durm especially with Triassic Basin soils the developers don't take into account the highly erosive quality of the soils also the topography and geology often lead to blasting especially if developers trying to maximize density um and I don't think you can see I was trying to put a picture on earlier but it didn't work which is okay um but if you looked at Martin Branch Creek flowing into Lick Creek uh there's like an obvious delineation where the sediment is coming from Upstream so Samantha Crop the New River Keeper hosted a group of people to see the environmental impacts the

sediment flowing from Upstream development is obvious not only is a siment detrimental to Aquatic Life but it also flows to Falls Lake taking up valuable water capacity rolling View Marina has had an additional two feet of sediment in two years and that was over a year ago I know you've been supporting denser developments but it's too much for this environmentally sensitive area and no one is accountable whether it's blasting damage or environmental damage the citizens end up paying the bill for cleaning it up and it's not fair for citizens to be subsidizing these overpriced developments the developers do not pay the true cost because if they did they would volunteer to build better a good example of this is the ruined Welles on Junction Road a year and a half later they still do not have pable water it is your job as representatives to the citizens to hold the developers

5 million gallons of water that's equivalent to 4 and a half fet of water on an acre of land wetlands are a huge resource that help reduce flood water and should be protected please vote no on this project thank you good night thank you Miss mle Pearson and good night um next I have in person so all right I'll come back uh Miss Barefoot can you hear me I can hear you mayor Williams can you hear me I I can if you can speak up just a bit and I think we're working on sounding here as well volume all right is that any better a little better thank you you have three minutes welcome all

right thank you so much my name is Robin Barefoot my address is on record I'm speaking in opposition to the project before I begin I'd like to acknowledge Mary Brooks of the city manager's office she was very helpful today getting me properly registered um over the last two years residents have come before this body with their concerns thoughtfully presented and carefully researched time and again um they are ignored um frequently they're disrespected and disparaged um and tonight we will hear the same concerns we're going to hear about the impact of overdevelopment and unrestrained density we're going to hear another proposal that is inconsistent with Udo requirements for Building height and impervious surfaces we're going to hear a proposal with minimum environmental buffers and a lack of natural landscape we're going to hear about additional traffic beyond the capacity of roadways lack of sidewalks and bike Lanes deforestation sediment runoff

degradation of our creeks and Falls Lake there are no parks there are virtually no food stores retail commercial businesses or medical facilities the schools in this area are overc capacity EMS fire police and Sheriff are lacking staff and houses aren't selling to new taxpayers and apartments are at a 9% vacancy rate yet Durham government feels no incentive to conduct a cumulative impact study there are other counties in North Carolina that have and continue to raise the bar to reign in overeager and underperforming developers Brunswick County which is home to Holden ocean is and sunset beaches requires developers to evaluate address and propose infrastructure improvements before an application for development will be approved Durham residents hold a reasonable expectation that the city and county government will acknowledge their effort to bring information from their

communities and that the government will investigate both the problems and the solutions and take action to optimize outcomes across Durham top to bottom and left to right those of us in Chambers and on this Zoom call are waiting for Durham government to do so with regard to development in the city and in the county let us know how we can help and y'all have a great night thank you you have a great night too right next I have likely staff member, not a known name to replace chamblas likely staff member, not a known name to replace can you hear me yes can you hear me yes welcome you have two uh three minutes sorry hi uh um City C my name is likely staff member, not a known name to replace chamblas I'm a UNCC student who has been reporting on Durham and Durham's environmental issues with the Durham voice a student newspaper led by Dr Carl Kenny I've had the opportunity to speak with many Durham residents negatively impacted by the Development and

Construction in the area particularly a few who have been without water on Junction Road since 2022 and I urge you to consider the people of Durham and how they have been affected by the development before making decisions on approving projects like this because I think often we focus on the taxes and the money instead of um what the people in the city are going through um high density housing has had a negative impact on the people who live there and it's only going to get worse the more that we add so I do urge you to take that into consideration thank you have a great night thank you so much you too stand back is here Katie Ross can you hear

me can you hear me yeah hello yes yep welcome all right this is Katie Ross B um I don't want to reinvent the whe so I'm going to read the first and last sentence uh of Comm planning commissioner ce's written comments and you know he is generally Pro development what he said about this project which was unanimously rejected by the planning Comm commission was of all the resoning requests to come before the commission during my time this is arguably the most dous in Environmental impacts and conveys the least considerations of infrastructure connectivity or characteristics identified in the future Place types map in the comprehensive plan dot dot dot The Proposal is isolated premature and at odds with the comprehensive plan while simply

compounding negative environmental and infrastructure impacts evidence through the current development in this part of the County uh so that's pretty succinct um mayor Williams I listened to your uh state of the city and as you undoubtedly know when the president of the United States gives a state of the union he gets a response and I am in the process of writing the Citizen's response to your state of the city part of that going to be to talk about why uh you ask for trust but trust has to be earned you asked on behalf of the entire Council so you just heard reference to those people on Junction Road and they represent they're similar to a lot of people who have been damaged by development uh it's been a year and a half and they still don't have water and I would like to know if you want trust why haven't you put pressure on all the

development community that has been granted so much from the city of Durham they got their SC had and theyve even since then had several other Pro development amendments that even taken the udl more in their favor but I spoke a year ago about what it takes for Citizens if they're going to try to do something on them for themselves they would have to hire experts at several thousand dollars minimum they would have to hire attorneys a lawsuit would cost a minimum of $50,000 and I am a retire retired attorney uh and if even if they won those attorney fees would not be reimbursed to them so they have to make the difficult decision are they going to take their life savings and try to get the developers to be responsible or are they going to have to put that life savings into repairing their Wells and their home foundations I would just like to see

this Council um constitute a so much Miss Ross okay thank you and thanks for tuning in to the state of the city and I'll make sure I let our County colleagues know about this Water Crisis again all right um and I thought I saw Donna but Donna stand back can you hear me I'm here oh you over there okay all right likely staff member, not a known name to replace green likely staff member, not a known name to replace green can you hear me I can hear you thank you thank you mayor Williams and Council for granting me this opportunity my name is likely staff member, not a known name to replace green EST stated and my address is on file I'm here as a concerned citizen a healthcare worker in our fine city um a mother of a school-aged child and I also sit on the board for uh The Grove Park HOA which represents 1100 homeowners in my community and I'm here to speak in opposition of the Wake Olive Apartments

um proposing 218 Apartments located at the intersection of uh Highway 98 and Olive Ranch Road and the operative word I would like the council to keep in mind here tonight is strain and this is strain on our resources strain on our grocery stores our schools and Emergency Services the growth along the corridor from Mineral Springs to boy smil promises to add a minimum of 5,000 lives in this area which constitutes approximately 10% increase in growth for schools in this area the schools in this area do not have the capacity to sustain this type of growth we're talking about Oak grve Elementary Southern High School and Neil middle schools Durham Public Schools already has enough challenges without placing this sort of demand and burden on these schools it's a disservice to the teachers and the leaders who are trying to meet the needs of the communities um and a disservice

to the students in the district who are already struggling for resources for funding and for manageable student teacher ratios the the rapid population in this growth um growth in this area is challenging our grocery stores many a nights midweek I can go to the grocery stores and shelves can be found bare and I think this is a precursor precursory distress signal and a foreshadowing of food deserts that can potentially emerge into this area the 10 miles between I 885 and the creedmore 50 Highway there are three major grocery stores with which residents can choose from and as I mentioned many of these shelves can be found depleted midweek as many of you remember back in January of 2024 over 7,000 residents in this area were impacted by a loss of power on the coldest day of the year um many were stranded without food and means to travel to warming stations which our

fine City provided um children could could not go to school and many went without food um because our schools were the only source of meals for some of these children my own Community tried to Rally to feed many of our residents so grocery stores were again depleted because so many people lost their Foods um as a healthcare worker in this area I understand the burden on our emergency services and the current emergency response rate time even to our Healthcare facilities we have prolonged emergency responsory times adding additional you so much thank you so much um miss stach you have your phone on you is it online I have you in two places at once no it's not only here yeah I got you online right now you're virtual and in person that's impressive

all right um that's all I have in person I mean online right all right thank you so much we'll now move into in person and I I I will say uh I I can appreciate the thoroughness but I'm also going to be thorough around folks signing up online and uh you know how many folks we can get online and and and you know with these cases I believe as many people as they want can sign up but just I've been sick and oh no no you're fine you know it just I have I have many of you all in person and online so just keep it in mind of you know just making room for folks that are uh going to sign up as well but it's a it's a public hearing so we'll we'll work through it not a biggie it's gone now okay it's gone now all right you disappeared all right first up I have Miss Wanda

Allen Madame clerk please remind me to talk about the size of the car uh after Miss Allen I have Miss SAA and then uh Miss Rebecca all right welcome you have three minutes thank you everyone I am Wanda Allen and my address is on record and as it's been noted tonight there are several issues with this development as M as marked in the dur planning staff report the development failed at the Duram Planning Commission 0 to three this area is also noted as an environmental justice Injustice and their concerns with health and environmental risk the plan the excuse me the development plan provides minimal requirements of impov surface and tree coverage in an area that has

been uh identified as disadvantage the minimum requirements calls heat Allen why do we keep pounding on an area that the Federal State and the local government has identified as disadvantage this is not consistent with the place type map the playtop map in the comprehensive plan clearly states it should be mixed residential and Commercial the site is not continuous there is no continuous sidewalks for pedestrians no continuous bike lanes and no pedestrian Crossing there is zero consider ation given to the Future residents would bike walk or roll as it stated in the comprehensive plan Neil middle school is over 11025 over capacity now that doesn't include of the

7 mile area car crashes and deaths to bicycles occur and will continue to grow with the 49 new

developments under construction we've heard tonight Fire EMS are underst staffed and under severe and excessive demands on them this area is also a car sensitive area North Carolina NC 98 and Olive Branch Road the city and the state do not have any plans to improve this area so much thank you thank you um just real quick I just thought about something my mic was on earlier when I was asking council member cabier for her trash prodicle so we don't hear it in here but online you're gonna hear something that says trash and then you're gonna hear you're welcome so that was not a hot mic and I'm definitely not calling anyone trash so just wanted to clear that up before I start getting news reports you call the person trash no I didn't go ahead okay all right uh tamy

sway my um address is on file uh thank you council members for giving me this opportunity to speak I want to point out that um environmental justice is a big uh concern and I went to to the uh epa's uh enironmental justice screening tool to look at this property and um I was also surprised to see that this property also comes up as a disadvantaged community and is under the justice 40 um White House initiative so I'd asked that has the planning uh group looked at this um uh annexation to see if it's going to meet this or or uh make it any worse so I'd ask that we would look at that um again this area is not consistent with the place tap type map if you look at the purple area you'll see that it's to be mixed use neighborhood this is just solely Apartments um I mean we realize that this area will be developed we understand that but I think what is being selected uh we need something a little different we it would be better

because of the traffic um to have uh low density um different zoning uh totally not apartments and I will add you know there are Apartments just recently approved at the Walgreens which is walkable to food line and all this area is totally um up up the road from 98 if you try to walk to to food line you're going to be putting your life at risk it does not make sense um and the comprehensive plan is not being met we know that the Planning Commission uh failed it um really 10 of the 23 do not meet the comprehensive plan I mean it's not safe with in a 15 uh minute walk to First the the only grocery store in that local area which is food line which I go and shop at um it it does not have the sidewalks or the bike lanes and I think mainly it's not within the existing uh Community character um right across we have Town Homes we have a lot

of town homes and and single family homes this is going to stand out totally um different it's not walkable to business and the transit route is over 2 miles um West it's not car car Centric so I would just ask that you would really think about this um and uh think of maybe a better development before we go forward thank you thank you so much Freeman good evening I'm Rebecca Freeman and I live in southeast durl I wanted to reiterate a little bit about what other people were talking about the amenities that are accessible only by car um first of all look at the uh Holloway Street goes into us um 98 Highway and goes down through right in the apartments that are proposed borders this highway goes further east on down

to Wake Forest this is a major coor from dorm towe forest and the only coor from dorm toight Forest because of FS Lake it's the only Bridges across across Falls Lake rule Olive Branch I'm sorry I may not be able to see this right here because rule ol Branch goes down this way down toward BR Creek it is a primary artery to US Highway 70 at BR Creek and onto the airport from this area here and then on this side of it there is Sharon Road which we've heard about the before is a rural road it's a major artery though to US Highway 70 and on to what our RTP in fact a lot of people come through it's a cut through from uh 85 onto this area too from the North Area coming through here these and all roads in this area are heavily traveled all roads in this area lack connected sidewalks there no marked crosswalks and all these little intersections here we will see that

7 mil away there's no Recreation identified in this in this um um proposal and Healthcare is off the map walk two miles from this project here to the nearest transit on uneven narrow

shoulders with um cars whizzing by let me fix that oh I'm sorry think you there you go sorry okay um and also one of the things that uh I wanted you to um talk about or say that residents that one of the planning Commissioners said that residents here would walk to new new Middle School would walk to the shopping center but they would do so in risking their lives and um another uh comment from a commissioner was that zero consideration is given to how future residents would walk bike walk or roll per the comprehensive plan language to Civic units uses and services in the surroundings thank you Miss Freeman years of work on the comprehensive thank you thank you sorry thank you next I have Gary McLean and out the Gary I have Miss Pam Williams and then Miss Pam Andrews good afternoon mayor Williams

and Durham city council staff my name is Gary McLean and my address is on the file I opposed to this high density development uh named wake Olive Apartments this development will have one entrance and one exit on the highway 98 or wait Forest Highway which will add more congestion and traffic safety concerns to an already busy two-lane rural Highway it does not have continuous sidewalks bike Lanes pedestrian Crossings or sufficient Highway shoulders for bikes or students walking to or from Neil Middle School from the Sharon Road Patterson Road intersection to baptist Road at Neil Middle School is 7/10 of a mile long and there has already been 166 accidents in the last 5 years and one experienced bicyclist fatality as on that road if this development is approved along with the other 49 dense developments still under construction it is estimated that 81,0 600 more Vehicles will be added to our

already overburdened Road roads in Southeastern Durham for the safety of bicyclist pedestrians and motorist I respectfully ask you to vote against this development thank you thank you so much next I have Pam Williams uh this uh good afternoon my name is member name unclear - possibly misheard uh my address is on file this is just a picture of two of the accidents that's happened right there in this vicin vicinity the bicyclist was killed on the upper right three uh fire stations and two Ms had to come out and they closed n c98 um as you uh have seen probably the slide a half a dozen times but uh I just want to emphasize again that over 6,227 new dwellings have been approved in this area um this equals about 37,300 people which is about the size of

Wake Forest not count any EX existing population in the area 49 subdivisions under construction in the four Creek basins now and the four Creeks are over on the left lick little lick BR and panther uh Creek this is the overview of the uh map and and it's mainly uh the area in here this is mainly just uh lit Creek and we have a few developments on here for little Lick Creek 42 dense developments in lick and little lick Creek basins are under construction now 17 more are approved and pending construction and several of them have site plans already 41% approved are town homes and 20% approved are apartments and everything I want to bring to your attention the red dots are uh what's under construction the green triangles are uh town homes are included in there and then the yellow squares are where I know that

there are apartments that have been approved under construction or are very close to being under construction the we already have density in this area in my opinion we don't need the additional density in this area because of all the reasons that likely staff member, not a known name to replace green and everybody else has state which it it's a fact um here is a area with where I want mean show you is this is Wake Olive Apartments Olive Branch right right in here this road right here that goes from uh W for Highway all the way over to Leadville Road and then most people cut there and go either to us70 or they go to 540 on lville road the see all the developments that are under construction now this picture was taken in October of 23 so some of these are Under Construction now and have been graded completely out I mean hundreds of Acres too uh we are we are over whed out over

here so I'm asking the council to please push for improvements to our highways NC 98 W Force road because this is uh already uh overc capacity it's drained and um we would like the for you to provide a solution thank you very much thank you Miss Andrews hello got to get out St okay good evening everybody good evening mayor Williams good evening Council um my name is Pamela Andrews wait for US Highway this parcel has special meaning to me this land was purchased by my former Pastor for a future Church my mom my dad my aunts labored to buy this land for their Church with many fundraisers to help pay for

5 minutes they're supposed to be there with 16 people would you bet on a professional football team with fewer predictable needed players say 34 of

your team showed up 75% I doubt it but that's not the point here's what it matters in a football game if the number of players don't show up you cancel the game in firefighting we don't have that option and what we do is not a game station 8 has one engine but no ladder truck only three FTE are at the station most days when four is the National Standard we keep keep building in southeast Durham when 65 firefighters have left in the last year alone we have 170 police officers short with no substation anywhere in the area EMS has extreme deficiencies in the recent fire academy we had 68 Cadets start and 26 graduated having three firefighters per engine when four are needed not only risk the lives of our firefighters but it also the citizens of this town we keep increasing the volume of houses that they have to cover but not the resources they are stretched to the

breaking point lastly firefighter Dixon who sustain injuries when the house is ceiling collaps on him the other week he is a hero thank goodness there were others there to pull him out of that fire at that point Dix and his co-workers were no longer fighting the fire but were fighting for their lives per WR story let's get these first responder support before we continue in ex more houses please South EAS is in a crisis and we ask you we plead with you for help thank you thank you and I have Donna stanach and lastly Mr Tom Freeman okay um I'd like to ask for us to commit to no blasting I know this may be difficult because I've seen the Rocks they pulled up on the road across when they were getting another Lane Avail

available so it's more conducive to less density if blasting occurs then over 45 homes will be at risk for school home well or septic damages with no recourse the city holds the bond on these blasting companies the fire department handles the documentation and the delivery of the permits but they do not help get reimbursement from the damages done by these uh blasting companies can um Can Durham city please help the residents that have suffered from these damages the we request that the city yeah that the city provide an independent third party to evaluate and pay restitution for damages to all these folks we presented

on various times that have been impacted the blasting continues to increase our air pollution for example um the Orange shows a actual meter for air pollution registered at4 there dot dot Nichols um at between 101 and 150 members of sensitive groups may experience health effects like if they have ASO or whatever um we uh we continue with the blasting to damage homes Wells groundwater bedrock and septic systems you heard a little bit from likely staff member, not a known name to replace sh shamas that spoke tonight but she wrote an article uh April 8th on 2024 where she you quoted on Susanna stratz as saying we've gotten used to a

nightmare and that's up there thing about the uh Durham development pollute um pollutes and damages the property another Resident Val vquez uh and her family buy water from Walmart heated on the stove and pour water on themselves from a as they sit in a medical chair a medical shower chair the family sto showering every day and now only showers twice a week or only bathes twice a week um again these people have been without water for almost a year and a half thank you thank you Mr Freeman yes good evening welcome my name is Thomas Freeman uh I'm a resident lifelong

resident Southeast Durham County had the opportunity many times to leave anywhere in the world with the United States Army but I chose to stay here and serve my local community uh slide please that's it okay that's not the first one oh yeah you're right I'd like to request uh a commitment with it's on the screen and that commitment uh and I'm reading from the from section uh from 11 of the zoning map Change Report and I'll read Street trees be provided along Wake Forest Highway uh at the time of the site plan it goes on to say there are no further commitments to limit disturbance within the environmentally sensitive area such disturbances include location of storm water devices and recreational open spacing and streams as such the proposal is not consistent with this element of the place type and I draw your attention to uh the slide on the

screen and that environmentally sensitive area is in the far back of of the property and that's a commitment we expect you to uh uh to adhere to go on to some slides you've seen before it's our famous tomato soup in the creeks what you're seeing is a settlement pond at one of our uh uh subdivisions the residential high density residential construction this in southeast Durham I draw your attention to the picture on the right uh the Durham drainage ditches these are no longer viable streams they are the drainage ditches from the high density subdivisions that the Durham city council approved 400 ft to your right is what is is lit Creek which used to be a viable biotic body of water no longer next slide please I've got only a minute but I'll

show you uh we our reconnaissance and our sources and our personal observation indicate that other uh methods are being used the Durham city uh staff has not come to preserve ear dur any public body to talk about the some of the new devices that aren't working by the way they're bladder tanks filter tanks sedimentation traps devices of of that nature slide please and what we're left with ladies and gentlemen is the consequences to the lower parted screen you'll see the polluted heavily Laden Waters of lit Creek flowing into Falls Lake and I would add that what you have created is extremely compromised situation of one of the congressionally authorized purposes of

Falls Lake thank you thank you right those are all of the carts that I have um you like to respond sure thank you and I just make a wow a few points um so the uh there was there was a a couple comments made about bicycle and pedestrian um infrastructure in this area so this project commits to providing that on its Frontage long 98 that doesn't negate the fact that there might not be or there's inadequate sidewalk going down Highway 98 so I I I recognize the point but uh this project uh does commit to providing a 10-ft shared use path uh along Highway 98 for the frontage of it which ultimately is bicycle safe bicycle and pedestrian

connectivity we also have been in contact with um the uh Sheriff's Department if you're not aware there is a sheriff's Outpost at Neil Middle School like right adjacent to it actually it's on uh Durham public school's property so so we've had some conversations with the sheriff's department about potentially providing a foot path between this project and the school uh initial reaction from the sheriff's department was that that would be probably okay they uh they you know before they approve anything they would want to see a design so that's something that would be handled site plan um and of course we would need to um coordinate also with dur Public Schools uh to see if that kind of connection foot path connection to the school would be you know desirable from that perspective but this you know I would say developer has has and is is open-minded um about uh pedestrian and bicycle connectivity uh there also was mentioned a couple times at the vacancy rate that has been published by uh the triangle Department Association um of 9% and I

don't dispute the number however um you know as I understand the metrics a lot of that vacancy is coming from the higher end stuff in particular in downtown when you talk about housing that's kind of outside of the Urban TI I'm sorry the downtown tier uh those vacancy rates get much lower and you know this project is going to be it's it includes the 60% 80% Ami units and is you know in it's directly adjacent to Neil Middle School I think you're familiar with the area the idea is for this to ultimately be kind of Workforce attainable type of housing um and there also was a couple references made to the fact that this property is within the uh EPA A's environmental screening tool environmental justice screening tool which I thought was interesting because you know a pro a project which provides housing that utilizes green building techniques and provides affordable housing is very much consistent with the goals that the EPA would be reaching towards with respect to environmental justice so I don't know that the fact

that this property is in in within the screening tool you know is a negative here especially given that the project actually does commit to doing a number of things that um that the EPA would recognize as being congruent with their goals the I think the last speaker mentioned a commitment or wanting a commitment related to not uh impacting the environmentally sensitive areas as far as I know that commitment exists on the development plan there is no stream Crossing shown on the development plan I think he mentioned that the Wetland area is kind of in the North east corner of the property we're not touching it's outside the building parking envelope um so it's you know and I my understanding is this development will not be touching that area that is north of the stream which includes that environmentally sensitive feature so I mean I think I think there are a lot of things that have been said about this project that don't necessarily in my opinion highlight kind

of why this project meets those concerns now I will just go back and say I totally recognize that this project was recommended for denial by the Planning Commission and there were some key commitments that were made tonight that were not part of the purview of what Planning Commission considered and you know it's a good thing that the Planning Commission has has put those uh you know has has an opportunity to State their opinion and and put them in writing to us because we had the ability to work on them and were able to include a number of those commitments in this project ultimately making it a stronger project and I think addressing a lot of this the environmental concerns here I think are fully addressed given that there is no stream Crossing we providing 100 foot riparium buffer um and as far as the housing portion of this project goes I mean they've committed to doing Green Building uh techniques whether that's the uh ngbs or or lead or energy star that's something they've committed to as part of the zoning and they've committed to providing affordable housing and the density and unit type is something that

this area lacks uh kind of wholesale I think there's only two other projects that have multif family in the suros basin so I mean I think it's a pretty important project for this area thank you for your time thank you and this is a public hearing yeah this is a a public hearing is there anyone else that would like to speak you will just state your name and uh whether you're proponent or opponent thanks for being here hi my name is Natalia Rosales um I'm a part of Tri together for resent youth peer based uh here in durm uh you just uh gave us a proclamation earlier today um but mainly I wanted to State

and um talk about Tri um involvement with uh the gun violence that oh is happening yeah gotta so this is currently a per public hearing so the comments have to be gerine to that um for General comments we do those on Thursdays on Thursdays okay I apologize oh no worries no worries yeah of course um yeah thanks for being here yeah of course all right and um at this time I going to declare this public hearing closed and back before the council however before we get into uh council member click's questions and our questions I am going to uh recess us for 10 minutes um and we'll be back at 9:15 thank

you for recording stopped

m. on your collection day two your cart should be at least 3 ft from all other objects such as mailboxes telephone poles fire hydrants trees and other carts three your carts should be no more than 3 ft from the curb four no vehicles should be blocking your carts the mechanical arms on our trucks need direct access to your carts and cannot reach around vehicles to find more information about garbage and recycling pickups go to this web [Music] address owning a home provides a sense of financial stability family community and Pride but housing prices are now

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all right we're going to get back to it okay um thank you all so much for that um your patience on that we have um Clos captioning that's happening where you don't see them and uh going for two hours straight just making it happen behind the scenes all of the technical support going to give them a break all right so back to it and I have uh closed the public hearing so the matter is now back before the council colleagues council member cook all right good evening again everyone um Mr gush got a couple questions for you no you don't have a voice [Music]

um Okay C can we just talk about this sidewalk situation sure you've said multiple times that it's a multi-use path it's 10 ft long 10 ft wide 10 ft wide and is it going to go across the entire boundary that touches Highway 98 for this property's Frontage that's correct okay thank you and this is it's going to be 218 Apartments is Max yeah we think that it's going to be doable in one one building maybe two one or two buildings yeah and certainly in one phase if that if that matters is there the ability to have more than 100 foot buffer to those wetlands and that stream in the back given that it's only one building and I understand that there's parking I I

don't I I can't answer that question right now I mean it's we're providing the 100 foot buffer on both sides of that stream and the uh the Wetland in particular is on the north side of that stream so we're already more than 100t away from that Wetland right I'm just I'm I'm listening we're hearing you know con consistent reports and and I'm going to say again as everyone knows but I I went and walked in l Creek and I've I've seen the area and um I'm just trying to figure out if there's a way to make things a little bit more sustainable right like any any things that we can can talk about and if there's only one building and a parking lot I'm just wondering if it's possible to move that in such a way as to be more environmentally sensitive I mean I I would say unfor it's not something I could commit to tonight I don't know that it would be possible ultimately but but you know the we're providing more than 100 ft of untouched area for the W width of that stream because that the first 100 feet is on the south

side of that stream and then the next 100 feet I think goes beyond our Northern property line so the north side of this property is just not being touched okay I don't have any other questions for right now Mr Mayor I will potentially speak later thank you right council member Baker right councilor M yeah I have a couple of questions and it's actually not for the applicant is for staff and it might be for Sarah and Bill sorry and I I tried we tried to get it solved during the break I found it you did okay thank you you're amazing thank you so and this was a question I asked the applicant when we met earlier so there were several text amendments committed did at the intersection of batist and 98 on a zoning case and and this is why thank

you staff because I was like it was pre-pandemic because we hadn't gone to zoom yet that's how my brain works I can remember when it was on Zoom or off Zoom um so I think staff found the case and I just wanted to hear what some of those text Amendment text amendments were to that case and if you could just name the case and when it was because my understanding is that there were supposed to be a a light at Baptista 98 that was one of the commitments and several other at the time what we called like offsite it wasn't relevant to their case because their case was down Baptist and down Neil Road and so when this CA case came forward I was kind of like wait what happened with those other improvements because it does actually between this case and that would improve that whole area so just thank you that's all sure good evening Sarah Young with the planning department uh the case is Falls Village North and uh they had a number of can you repeat that repeat that it's Falls Village North had a number of commitments let me locate this

a little better uh including at NC 98 and Baptist Road installing a new traffic signal um restriping Baptist Road and I'm just kind of paraphrasing some of these uh construction exclusive southbound right turn lane on Baptist at 98 and ex uh extending the eastbound left turn lane same location um extending the westbound turn lane same location and then at 98 in Kemp Road installing a new traffic signal there as well um constructing Northbound Kemp road to have an exclusive left turn lane and an exclusive eastbound right turn lane at 98 in kep Road as well and then there were some additional things at their driveways and a long Baptist road but I think those are the things that pack 98 thank you and then can and this might be a question for a bill obviously those and some of them may have happened but certainly not the

light at Baptista 98 which is what kind of prompted my question can you explain you know these folks profer this thing it's tied to traffic can you just share like what's the process to like what tips what off so that we get the actual Improvement I guess is my question yes so uh Bill judge Transportation so um when a traffic impact analysis is required um the study area is typically based on the size of the development so we we determine the number of intersections based on where they're contributing 10% or more uh additional traffic to any leg of the intersection where the development traffic is going to contribute so larger developments have larger study areas than than smaller developments um but so then once any development triggers um or is has any required improvements at an offsite intersection typically on the plan um there is a note that says the

improvements may be phased at time of sight plan so then at time of sight plan they'll come in with an updated analysis to look to see okay is this Improvement needed now to accommodate this development to provide an adequate level of service in the case of a traffic signal they would be looking to see whether or not it meets the traffic signal warrants and whether or not NC doot and the city would approve a traffic signal at that time so but if you're the developer who put the put the profer in like you're the one who's going to even if the thing happens two years after your profer you're still going to be stuck making that commitment because now there's enough volume essentially to trigger that that that what was profited at at time correct um so I mean the the sooner they come in with site plan um the more likely they may be able to phase things without other background growth rate but the the longer it takes from time of zoning to the time they bring in the more just background growth or other

developments come in that that don't maybe don't require a TIA so makes it more likely that it's going to be required with the first certificate of occupancy rather than maybe the 100th or the 200th certificate and then I guess I have a question for staff where where where where are we with that project funny you should ask I was just pulling up the Aerials so the only thing we have is a phasing site plan which is not a site plan for the development but lets them get started um on some phasing and and site work that plan by the most recent aerial we have uh which is October of 2023 it appears that no site work has begun as of October 2023 so it's just has not been built okay thank you those are my only questions for now all right council member Freeman

you I'm sorry I was trying to um just backtrack through Falls Village North a little bit to just see I know it's something I wouldn't have supported um just acknowledging that I I feel like the conversation around the crisis in this area has been well documented and it's essentially up to the council whether we continue down this path and um it's very concerning I will say that I was I was trying to figure out if the justice 40 piece is something that's been factored in in the planning department because it feels like you're if you pit Green Building against environmental sensitivity on the

ground that doesn't feel like we're actually winning in it and so it would be great to hear how our staff is planning to address that thank you councilman I believe that only addresses Federal projects so staff wouldn't have anything regarding that nothing regarding an evaluation of 98 or Falls Lake so I'm sorry I was um chatting with Mr judge about this can you repeat the question for me maybe I can help so essentially if the justice 40 is focused on I hearing with the federal projects how are our federal projects tied to Highway 98 or to Falls Lake because what I feel like is that the infrastructure issues are what we're going to continue to see as a problem ex just exacerbated because of the erosion in the area and

the Triassic soil is not going away so if we're not putting anything in place what does it look like um moving forward for staff to do evaluations based on Green Building and one hand and then kind of like the environmental sensitivity in the other so we we currently as part of our comprehensive plan analysis there are policies about both of those things and we do evaluate those we are not directly involved with any um Federal funding grants those kind of things so it's difficult for us I don't have any information to share on on that aspect but we do in broader terms evaluate um the policies related to envir various environmental things um in in our reports then is there a priority ranking around which policies are okay no that's all I have so far all right C member wrist thanks Mr Mayor

um yeah so I I I appreciate the propers um as as Mr go has described tonight and I think in in many ways um I know the Planning Commission voted is down but I think the propers respond to a lot of the comments they raised at the Planning Commission um so thank you for that um and I appreciate the comments from The Advocates although I'm not sure I totally agree with all the issues you've raised in particular I've heard you say you support development here but just not at High density and so what I'm focused on here is that this is this property is designated as mixed Ed neighborhood um on the place type map and that envisions a mix of housing types that should be at a high density so so to me this is the way the place type map is designed this should be at higher density um but I'll leave that there I I am I'm I'm most concerned about the place type map and the fact there is not a mix of uses here and so I know that we in other in other cases we've sort of flexed we've said well there's a there's other uses nearby that sort of takes sort of takes care of that in this case and I I recognize this is a

this is a relatively narrow Frontage on the property right um and there is other commercial just down the street what's maybe like4 miles away that may be competitive or May in some ways that commercial May create more opportunities for commercial right and so I'm just concerned that we're kind of giving up not giving up but we're we've we've worked hard on these plans um that Envision this as a mixed Ed neighborhood and now we're sort of just going against these plans I'm just I I I feel like we need something better at this location that would have a mix of uses that's my that's my sense appr thank you Mr May and thank you colleagues and thank you um all the members of the community that came out just a a couple of things on this case and I do have some questions um that I'll put to the developer uh in a moment but I did want to uh again thank um our friends from preserve Earl Durham who have come out tonight and just say a couple things about um the nature of our decision and

I think that and it's not it's not anybody's fault I think I think sometimes that uh we may not do a good enough job as a council member as council members I'll speak for myself me um in in articulating what the nature and actual decision we have to make before us tonight um and that's before us a lot of the arguments ments I've heard tonight and I'm not saying I'm against the arguments but a lot of the arguments U and concerns are Universal concerns that speak to the area whereas I'm being called on tonight to make a decision about wake Olive apartments and I there's a line that we have to walk um there's a fairness issue there's a truth and advertising issue we take money from developers to put an application in um that suggests that we're doing it in good faith knowing that that project has uh a chance of being passed a chance of

being failed so in good conscience if I know that I'm dealing with a universal comprehensive problem in that area I cannot burden one particular application with the responsibility of the entire area I just want to explain the nature of the decision that's before us so the fix for a lot of the things that you're concerned about have to happen much earlier in the process Because by the time it gets here to this point in the decision Mak Matrix uh it's an issue of fairness Money's been taken representations have been made uh and I'm not saying that some of the things don't need to be addressed but those fixes are are Universal fixes so the arguments I have to take into account are have to be specific and Germain to wake Olive apartments and I do have questions about this particular development you know I I be it far from me to give advice moving forward on Strate strategy or tactics but but if it's true if if infrastructure and First

Response issues are true for this project then it's true for every project in that area which brings us to the concept of moratorium and and if that is the case then this is too late in the process for that because I've got to make a decision on Wake Olive Apartments it's not that we're discounting the arguments or discounting your concerns but there there there are issues that that con strain um when you sit in this seat your decision making um so I just want to say that because I think that sometimes the perception is that we're just not listening when in reality there are some legal responsibilities we have there's some fairness issues I wouldn't want to apply somewhere U where they had no intention of accepting me they didn't tell me at the beginning and take my money and make me go through the process and then when I get to the end then they let me know well we're working on a universal problem and area so I invite this Council I invite the community if if if you want us to take up um policy

decisions that are Universal and that are fixing that entire area then we need to have that conversation to do those policies before we get to this part of the process for individual um development projects I also want to say you know we talked about the term mixed use neighborhoods um mixed use neighborhoods speak to the entire ire neighborhood mixed use neighborhoods don't mean that every development has to have Town Homes apartments and single family homes it's interesting one of the one of the observations I heard tonight was that this particular development would stick out from the town homes and single family homes near it which is an interesting observation because mixed use neighborhoods means the presence of all of them so on the one hand there's a sailing it for not being mixed use but then pointing out that what's around it is all of one of the other things components that make mixed use so what's missing in that particular area right there are Apartments um in that area so

so I I want to just just respectfully put that out there um durm is an urban center durm is a city it is the 74th largest city in the United States it's the fourth largest city uh in North Carolina um Urban centers are characterized by density and a lot of people and and my job I'm elected as a council person of a city of an urban center that is growing um that doesn't mean I'm at war with preserving anything else but I'm very aware of what's happening in Durham um and and oftentimes what we're called to do is manage outcomes I wish I was as powerful as people think we are um often times what our job is to do is to manage outcomes so I I just want to respectfully uh put that out there so to this particular case Mr go um I did have um a couple of questions when did the 60% to 80% Ami uh profit when when did those get

made uh I had those discussions with staff I sent those prompers to staff last week last week yeah so it was subsequent to the but planning commissions oh yeah yeah definitely um I want to give you a chance to to speak to something because in in the memo from the staff um there's some language and the language almost presents as if it's causal and I want to I want to give you an opportunity to and it may or may not be but I want to give you an opportunity to respond to something it says subsequent to the planning commission's hearing on August 8th 2023 the applicant increased the maximum proposed height to 70 feet and removed the text commitment that limited Mass grading to not exceed 50% of the gross land area at one time so my question was was that in any way attached to the results of the Planning Commission it read almost as if it's causal and why why were these why were these steps taken yeah so these steps were taken for in all right a couple

reasons so that it wasn't necessarily in response to what the Planning Commission said this case I think it was mentioned earlier was filed some time ago uh prior to for example um the mass grading and phase development TX amendments there are also a number of other uh UD items that were not present at the time we we uh we filed this case so the when we originally filed there was no Mass grading phase development Udo text Amendment on the books right so once that was passed the commitment really didn't make any sense uh after that because it it's already regulated in the Udo now how much you can grade at once before additional tree save is required we're going to be in that first here no matter what so that commitment didn't make any sense on the height frankly we that was just left out from the uh original um uh application I think it was made clear at the time at the Planning Commission that the buildings

would be taller but the the application itself did not state what that height would be so the I believe the default height under the Udo at the time was 35 ft it's now 40t um so you know the when when we made state that the buildings would be taller you know it was indicated from staff later that we need to revise the development plan to show that it would be taller so that's that's where the height would come in it wasn't in response to concerns or anything from the Planning Commission but it did happen after Planning Commission as a result of just kind of the timing of it um I also wanted to correct the record from earlier the site could be developed with more than one or two buildings I mean it could be a couple buildings a handful of buildings but you asked about not having buildings kind of closer to that uh stream and that's something that I think we are able to commit to because in order to take advantage of the natural Topography of the property uh

9% and how many 60% how many 80% of that whatever roughly in half so out of 13 units seven would be at 60% Ami and six would be at 80% Ami okay uh for how long a period of 30 years minimum y all right um I think that's all I have for now your honor thank you right council member

cook I don't have any questions I'm just going to speak um I first of all I want to say thank you to all of the folks who have been showing up to talk on behalf of the rivers it makes me think of the lurxx because the trees have no tongues um and I think that that's an important piece of any great City and any good Community is having healthy waterways um and we know that the birds and uh all of the Little Critters that live in the rivers can't come speak on their own behalf so I just want to say that I appreciate you folks coming out every day I think it's super important um here's the thing that bothers me and has bothered me since I've been on this Council for a few months now which is that we have these projects that come before us vastly changed from when they went in

front of our Planning Commission and I understand that we are meant to be the policy deciders here but we have literally appointed people who have expertise in these areas to help us make educated decisions and I think that this is a critique that I myself have and I hear a lot of people have of our courts and our higher office legislatures that they have access to information but they will decide that they are the experts in those things and make decisions based on their feelings about them um and I don't want us to be guilty of that um I do think that I have expertise in a lot of areas around housing um but it is my expertise is is not in development clearly um and I think that that goes for almost everyone on this Council my uh seatmate here excluded um and I'm just not sure what the issue is particularly with this it

came in front of the Commission in August we just heard of that's eight months we had 8 months and we got proffers last week and and I don't think that the proffers I don't think it's unexpected that those are proffers that would be attractive to this Council and I'm concerned that we're seeing over and over again different projects coming in front of our Planning Commission than come in front of us and once they change we sort of vote Yes because we're excited to see these offers that have been made um we don't get an opportunity to hear our our appointed experts opinions on these actual projects it's a concern to me um I've brought it up before I'm going to bring it up again again I think that for this particular project there were eight months in which we could have had uh changes and I still think that there are concerns about the mixed use property um

about the walkability here about any sort of Transportation um so it is going to be my motion tonight to send this back before the planning committee with the proffers that have been added uh so I would like to make that motion at this time we are um one moment um councilor member cook would you be open to just I yeah I which I believe she is you are

making a motion right right yes that was my okay so I I'd like to hear everyone's comments first that's fine okay Mr mayor council member uh one moment um Baker you you had your hand raised okay um so yeah I just I wanted to speak on this because there were a few things that I wanted to mention before uh we made any sort of uh motion uh or took a vote um because I think that there are a few issues that uh that I just that I want to raise here um first of all out of context this is very similar to the aura 751 case that we saw um uh a couple weeks ago uh it's multif family in an area that doesn't have a lot of multif family we have a number of residents that have come uh and spoken out um very similar proffers uh and the planning

commission uh voted against it so I think that it's important that we compare this parallel case and we ended up voting unanimously in favor of of Aura 751 out of context there are similarities there so I think that um that's where it's important to look at the context of this case and how it is different um and that's where I come to some of the Planning Commission comments um some of which have slightly been addressed um but many of which uh maybe most of which have not been um and I think it comes down to a site specific issue as well as some related policy uh issues so um commissioner trap uh said there are too many questions on the long-term impacts on the environment in this area in Durham commissioner Valentine long-term environmental impact development is causing in this area should alarm every citizen public official in Durham we an opportunity to be more intent in how we approach

development in this area moving forward um and then there was actually a Community member that that read um commissioner ce's comments although didn't read all all the way through um some of the comments I thought were very important um so commissioner CE who wrote of all the resoning requests to come before commission during our time this one is arguably the most deleterious environmental impacts conveys the the least consideration infrastructure connectivity or characteristics identified in the future Place types map in the comprehensive plan but then he says it would essentially create a 1,000 foot deep barrier along the border of Neil middle school and even more problematically 1,000 foot burial on the western perimeter of the of the project completely precluding this larger area from developing in a manner consistent with the future Place types map as a mixed use neighborhood very related to uh council member um uh council member RIS comments about how this is designated as m mixed use neighborhood um it is a contiguous

large contiguous mixed use area designated on the place type map and yet if we only look at the site and don't look at the context we lose the broader picture of what our actual policies in the comprehensive plan are calling for the parcels are not speaking to one another so this is where we have a site specific issue and it's where we have a policy issue um we don't have that connectivity so whether we have mixed use on this site or not um we don't have a way of actually connecting in any meaningful way between this site and other adjacent adjacent sites that are or are not developed at this point um particularly when we think about U multimodal uh safety or safety of all of all users um this is next to a school this is a a really really really important site it's a huge opportunity and we have to get it right and this is not it this is not proposing something that would that would get it right um it

has on one side um the school on the other side large contiguous area that is designated as the uh mixed use uh Place type that is very different from the context of Ora 751 which was trapped between all of these different spaces um and didn't have a lot that connect to it um so really what we need is is more coherence across Parcels within this area we need that connectivity that count that um planning commissioner um CE uh alluded to um and I I believe if we were to approve this uh we'd be missing a really major opportunity to ensure that this area is is developed carefully and intentionally we recognize the huge environmental impacts that have been taking place in this area um this is a a proposal that is on the table here before us today and so we just need to make sure that we are getting it right and the proposal that's on the table today is not getting it

right M thank you um so I think council member Baker so the there's been two apartment complexes in the last whatever month right the one at Sharon Road and on the one or 751 which is a completely different side of town um both of those cases the the place type map You could argue Any Which Way quite frankly uh I think until we get better parameters which I've mentioned several times now uh to staff it's going to be difficult and uh not straightforward as council members to really figure out what's what and I think everyone is quite frankly fumbling along here with with our new comp plan um but I think the difference there is that both of those apartment complexes were already adjacent to commercial um so it didn't bother me that there was only one place type in

there because the surrounding area already had some of the town homes and single families and whatnot this is an area if you if you look at it and interestingly there are two cases I looked it up um we were actually on Zoom there was two cases in 21 one was uh I was calling at steeple chase but it's not it's Triple Crown I mean come on um and then this Falls whatever River North or I can't even remember all these lovely Suburban names um and I voted one I voted no on the triple CR I can't remember if it actually passed or not but I remember voting no on that one and I remember voting yes even though I don't actually like age restricted communities I think is discriminatory um and I think that might be the only age um um 55 plus Community I've voted on I voted yes on that one specifically because of the commitments that they made around the traffic light and the other improvements which we know especially in that Corridor um will make driving that road

especially as we wait for ncdot uh to do whatever they're going to do uh on 98 um I thought that those were really important I'm just sharing this as why did I say yes to something and no to something else even though they were in the same night same part of town and it is around those propers so there are some really great propers on this project tonight um and and if it was a project that was closer in and less farflung I could be convinced to vote Yes I think the big part for me is that it is it is this isolated piece that is distant from other commercial and then can set a trend so it's not that it's Apartments I think apartments are fine I think the affordable housing is excellent It's not that it's that what is going to be the pattern of development down 98 uh and that is actually what I'm in worried about what's what's the pattern going to be how do we really think through it it was I think one of the reasons that I didn't vote for the whatever Triple Crown case was because I didn't like what the pattern of development around 98 was looking like

um and so I will be uh voting no this evening because we do need to get it right so coming down this Corridor is really really important what we say yes to is really really important I think what was before the comp plan was a different it was a different era and really ensuring that our that there's you know clear patterns that really promote what we really want at a certain point you can't ignore what the comp plan says you kind of have to do you know you can make a case for well the broader area or it's adjacent to other commercial in this case it doesn't have any of that so what this project does will influence whatever else happens around it and it's not the density I think it's great that it's Apartments but do wonder about how is it going to connect back up to Sharon Road and what is that going to look like and I don't think that this would do Us justice um so I will be voting no thank

you pro thank you Mr Mayor and thank you colleagues uh for your great comments um I I I do think context matters uh in this area um and and again the the when we have a when we apply apply the designation of mixed use neighborhood the test is not for one particular development to have mixed use in every development the context is and somebody one of our me uh community members actually pointed it out there are Town Homes over there just Town Homes there are single family homes over there just single family homes the neighborhood is the sum total of all of those pieces so if you've got single family homes here and town homes there no apartments in the area and we put Apartments there but we say to the apartment complex hey where are the single family homes and town homes on that one parcel when you cross the street you've got solely town homes or single family homes I think the context is what how you get to neighborhood so I

I totally agree that uh context uh matters uh particularly when you're applying some of these designations with the word neighborhood um in it so so I I want to fully associate myself with that I do also want to say um I read everything that the Planning Commission sends us and I I have high regard um for the planning commission's uh comments um they inform my decisions um we've gotten unanimous votes from the Planning Commission to approve something and we didn't approve it there have been times when they said don't approve something we've approved it there have been times when the Planning Commission has been split so on on their decisions they're a deliberative body uh and I respect their process I do want to say that all of our boards and commissions are volunteers and when we put them on they're not all necessarily experts uh all of our people on the public safety Community safety commission they were not all experts on Public Safety our

boards and commissions can allow you to become an expert I mean you can get on the Planning Commission and if you apply yourself and really read all the stuff and get into it over time you become an expert often times these planning commissions and Boards allow people who just want to volunteer to get expertise and experience in areas that they may have none in and we don't we don't ask for certifications of expertise and planning to get put on the Planning Commission some of them are experts some of them are not some of them are just citizens and residents who have an Earnest interest and passion about the area and they are invited through years months of Engagement of reading the Udo of of getting experience with projects they are invited to become an expert but they are certainly not 100% all experts um when they go on the commission at the end of their term some of them will be some of them won't some of us on the council will become experts in certain areas some of us will not some of us read all of our materials before we come

to meetings some of us don't but we still cast votes um and and the Planning Commission is AD they're not a jury they're advisors and I take their advice um very seriously but I do want to I don't I I want to be clear that when our residents and citizens volunteer volunteer for these boards and commissions we don't require that they are experts on on in the area that they're volunteering in on these boards and commissions they certainly can become them um I I'm I'm split I really do have some some some questions and and split on this project so I was really listening seriously to the to the concerns raised by um my colleague I I do want to say in terms of what's going on around these projects if and I say this with all seriousness if if moving forward developers need should be looking at how does my project fit with others around it how does it universally

forward the comprehensive plan for our city then we need to put that disclaimer in the application we we need to tell them UPF front that one of the test you're going to have to meet is is when you get to this council is is looking at how does this forward the entirety of our comprehensive plan how is this reconcilable with our values as a city it's only fair because if we're going to talk about that we have the right to talk about it but they need to know when they apply that that's going to be one of the tests and standards um applied to them when they get to this point I have no problem with that test if that's what we want to do but we need to we need to advertise that we need to make sure that they know that when they get before this governing body that these Universal questions of how your project fits into our overall view as a city for an area um how this particular project forwards that I think I think we should tell them that thank you Mr Mayor thank you

um well actually I'll go here first and then come back yeah council member cook um it sounds like there's not support in to not elongate the process I'm going to withdraw my motion um I do want to add that the as I think there was some comment before but the issue of the apartment building and density is not the problem for me here um I I want to make it known that I work in housing there's a there is a shortage of certain types of housing um I am interested in this type of housing being developed it is not that I think my council members have St it very well it's a contextual issue for me on this project and this piece of land um but I want to withdraw my motion at this time because I think it's just going to elongate the process Council ciero yeah I just wanted to say um so we all know that the comp plan is just a plan but those policies are clear they're in there people can choose not to follow them and that's up to them but to to

tell um I think it's really clear what the standard is as a city and I think it's fine to make a you know essentially a rezoning is an exemption too right the thing is already zoned what you're asking for as a developer is a an exemption to what it's already been zoned often it's single family homes which is why I often go for the resoning because I'm getting density where I need it in this case this is a great project as far as density it's not that to council member Cook's point the no isn't on density the no is not because I don't like the project itself the no is where it is on 98 if it was closer in it would make a lot more sense to me it's farflung things haven't kind of come down the highway and there's not that many opportunities in Durham to ensure what is coming down is really really good it it it really is thinking through a lot of the policies that we're pushing in the comp plan so I think as far as as my perspective is we've made it pretty Crystal Clear What

policies we want uh I really appreciate that the devel ER tried um and uh so this is not you know I think you saw two other apartment complexes that were very similar uh and unfortunately their location made them in my view exactly what needed to tip them over to a yes because um because you could walk to a grocery store there was something right there in this case it's it's very far-flung and uh we do need to push on our ncdot around 98 I do want to remind everyone on that 93% of all dollars that ncdot has goes to Road expansion and Road creation that is not our formula that is a Formula the general assembly under Republican leadership passed I think in 2014 so I just keep doing that because that's also part of our job is to remind people how decisions are actually made and where they're made thank you council member Freeman all right um and I I

actually I thought I was going to be the harsh one on this one um after listening to my colleagues a lot of my concerns have been stated uh I wanted to address a few things um staff uh as far as the blasting us concern and damages to homes like do we have any update with that like do we have any reports that are showing that developments that we've approved are are calls in as um okay Bo Ferguson Deputy City Manager for Public Safety and also any followup that's been happening I don't have any additional information from uh previous council meeting where we uh address concerns I'll be happy to check in with the fire marshal tomorrow and and see if there are any additional information but I'm not I'm not aware of any that

doesn't mean there hasn't been okay got you thank you and I I asked that because I I I can't make a policy decision based on a news story I've I've been the victim several times of a news story getting it wrong or twisting the facts or when I call policies crazy you know they think I'm calling people crazy the way it's word it um so I I I can't go on that but I am concerned about about that uh and I I'll follow up on that myself uh the Water Crisis that's going out that was spoken on this evening as well uh that is a that is a county issue what's going on and I I want to be careful about that being spoken in here as if the city is responsible for it we have no jurisdiction over what's actually happening other than just applying social pressure to our colleagues and say hey you all have County residents that are having a Water Crisis we invite folks to get on the city water we do it well um we we we have our water stuff together

uh so I just that that that is something that we want to uh just make sure we clear up um And in regards to the Planning Commission um I just and council member cook I I hear your comment as well I just philosophically for me I at the end of the day the Planning Commission is legislatively required um to be on there you can be a resident of any skill set uh but I I get what you're saying as well as far as you know just making sure we really um take what they're saying I that's the first thing I do I read their comments here because I want to make sure that I'm making an informed decision with as much data as possible and then the decision that I come to is what I philosophically um you know stand with in and how I got to my decision that you know their comments play a role but don't I don't believe in abdicating my responsibility to them I just utilize

the Planning Commission as well as other groups or organizations to help inform the ultimate decision that I'm legally required because once I make this decision that is the legal record and um so I I I I it I I actually talked about this before the Planning Commission make their comments and if it gets voted down then theel would you know make whatever adjustments and then they come to us I was actually concerned with the weight the perception of it because folks are like you guys are being bought you know by the developers we're not being bought it's just the case is progressively getting better and when it gets to us that's that's their last opportunity to put everything out there and if they don't then you know it it it'll fail or it'll pass you know whatever the verdict may be um the concern I had about about this was I I just sort of wanted more and I've I've listened to both sides of the uh of the perspective on this I you know

I look at this is right next to a school and I think about Jordan High School and how everything is built up around Jordan high school and it's residential it's commercial uh and it's a thriving Community there and I I there listen there will be more development down 98 it just will um but I I looked at this as anything that's close to the school is an opportunity to really build like a village concept there and and I I I wanted more out of this project um so there's an interpretation of mixed use could be the the area there's an interpretation of mixed use could be the actual uh property itself uh so if I'm looking at it objectively what I have to work with you know uh I don't want to send a a a bad message and the vote goes whatever way it goes I don't want to send a message that uh you know you're incompliant and that doesn't have value so I appreciate you all being in

compliance you know you are in compliance with what you know the comp plan is stating here staff has giv you all the AOK uh preferably I wanted more out of it is that enough for me to say no um I I have to I have to look at this objectively and make my decision but also I I look at what's going on out there and I hear you know it's not walkable it's not you know it's uh I keep hearing walkable listen I grew up in rural North Carolina we didn't really walk a lot along the highway but when they built sidewalks in town we use those sidewalks so I don't want to pretend that this is going to be an urban center or urban area without it being that we have to be realistic we can't deny something because it doesn't have what we ultimately will you know have or need it'll be great to have but uh I don't know many municipalities that build infrastructure or resources like this without it being there yet unless you're like you know carry or something

where you have the tax Bas just build it and they'll come uh so as of right now um you know I think the density is the only thing that's going to be our leverage to get the things we ultimately would need so that being said I will um let the uh let the the dice fall with role all right uh I will get my glasses on all right are there any other comments colleagues Mr yeah I just thank you Mr Man I I really do appreciate the the the depth of this conversation with my colleagues I I will want to say one of the things that I want to thank the Planning Commission for it they they've actually almost created a good cop bad cop dynamic I mean some of these projects have gotten better I think precisely because of the voice of the Planning Commission I don't think that's a bad thing that when they if if listen if they look back and see that the

Planning Commission um said something I think the fact that developers aren't ignoring the Planning Commission comments are precisely because they see the sensitivity of this Council to the Planning Commission so I mean if they thought that we were ignoring them they wouldn't be responsive to Planning Commission comments so I I I've seen things get better and I think that's I don't think that's a bad thing uh that the Planning Commission has created this Dynamic where they're being taken seriously because they know when they get before this Council we're going to Echo a lot of the same values that they've echoed so I mean I hate for them to be bad cop good cop but I'm but I'm I'm grateful for the dynamic thank you Mr Mayor ready to vote I um think you're welcome I do have a question for the developer real quick um and I I could be just being selfish here uh but council member R sort of really resonated with me with this comments I mean is this something is there more I'm not writing

I'm not pinning your project is there more is there anything else you can consider as far as yeah so I mean to be honest with you hearing the discussion I'm scratching my head a little bit throughout this uh uh evaluation from staff I mean keep in mind that this was filed before the comprehensive plan was adopted before these policies were in place and so no we acknowledge that you know those things were adopted since then and we've tried to address them but this the indication from staff has been that this project is consistent with the place type map and I think you know the lack of affordable housing played a key role at Planning Commission as far as uh their recommendation there were other recommendations walkability as one of them we've uh I mean tried to address that as well and I would say a minority of them but some of them had mentioned that it should have a mix of uses which is not necessarily the feedback that we got from staff that is to say it's not like staff said you don't need more uses but you know I think we can acknowledge

that it would be more consistent with the comprehensive plan with the mix of uses but it wasn't something that we've been working on I I think we would be interested in having a continuous to explore that option I mean I can't tell you that there would be a mix of use tonight that's just not something we've looked at but if I mean the the commentary has been interesting the project itself is good what is being asked of is maybe more than what has been committed to well we can't really add more without evaluating that and we would need some time to do that I I really don't know what to tell you as far as what the client would think which way that could go but I can't add it tonight I can tell you there's there's no amount of anything I could do to add that tonight we'd have to start the process over anyway um if if the project isn't approved on your vote tonight that automatically puts a a one-year cooling off period where nothing could be filed on this which I think you know if the goal here is to kind of have the project that's been proposed plus some more uses we're going to need some time to evaluate that and obviously if we had those uses we'd have to go back through Planning Commission which I mean sure

but I I don't have a way to address this concern tonight um but I client is happy to look into this if we have the time to do so are you requesting more time if if the council will grant it absolutely I mean I want to be clear the concern here that I'm hearing from Council is that there isn't enough going on here and that is in terms of uses and I can say wholeheartedly that is not something that we had evaluated um through this project primarily because it has been indicated and it's in the staff report I mean the project is consistent with the place type map so I I mean they know what they were trying to build it was consistent with the place type map I'm not disputing that it would be more consistent with more uses but I'm telling you we never evaluated it that way and we're happy to if we can get more time are you asking for a continuent so

absolutely point of clarification I I Mr Mayor and and if I just want to say for me for the record I want to be clear I'm in no way making any representation that my vote will any way be connected or Tethered to specific changes in its development plan I that is not my job I'm not dictating to you anything like that so I want you to know that my vote will be based upon what is before me at the moment I am not in any way conditioning my vote or representing to you as a developer that if you do this this and that my vote will be yes I just want the record to reflect that thank you Mr Mayor H thank you um it's it's your preference what you'd like to do um I I've made it pretty clear I'm I'm taking an objective approach here um I selfishly would want to see more but the more that I want to see doesn't really have anything to do with you indivi you all individually it's more so what comes around but I don't think you can really control that yourself or but I think

that's on us as a as a as a city as well with how we look at that area um but it's on it's on you uh I mean I guess I would ask a clarifying question for staff you know if if we were so the zoning that we've requested as I understand it really only allows for the residential use if the if the applicant wanted to add a different use we'd have to amend our resoning application and then I would think we'd have to go back through Planning Commission that correct correct that' be a substantial change which would revert it back to Planning Commission and you would have to update all the documentation and a new FIA new UEA would be done with that so and and I think that's something that we would need the time to explore I I guess I could put it this way if we can't really find another use then um then at that point I mean I think you've heard what you've heard we'd have to come back with for a vote without any revisions to it I don't as far as like asking for a continuance I'm not really sure the amount of time to ask for because we'd

have to go through a whole other process okay we we can just take a vote um yeah well I mean yeah I guess or okay or refer the item back to staff I'm not really sure what to do in this scenario but I think the applicant is willing to take a look at the feedback we've heard as far as getting another use in there but I can't tell you we could do that and be through the process within three months I think the appropriate step would be to refer it back to staff so those things could happen that would be my request are you requesting to refer refer back to staff yes okay

colleagues are you up or down down okay down all right all right we are going to actually have to take a vote okay all right all right so I would now entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing uh wake Olive Apartments into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with redeeming Development Group LLC move second and moved and properly seconded May Madam clerk can you please open the vote please close the vote the motion fails with um council member mayor Williams and mayor proam Middleton voting in support of the item all right thank you so much we'll now move to uh number 28

zoning map change Trish trth Duram RTP awesome thank you mayor and the El planning department a request for a zoning map change has been received from Toby Coleman of Smith Anderson Law Group and on behalf of the clients uh trellis for one partiel of land totaling 23103 acres and located at 2011 residence in Boulevard the current zoning is office and institutional with the graphic development plan the applicant proposes to change this designation to office and institutional with the textual development plan the applicant is proposing to reone the properties to allow for the conversion of an existing extended stay hotel into 122 multif family residential units the properties are currently designated Transit opportunity area and Recreation and open space on the place type map uh the proposed zoning is generally consistent with the designated Place type of Transit opportunity area and Recreation open space thank you staff the applicat are here for any questions thank you colleagues are there

any uh questions for staff all right I will now declare this public hearing open we have our applicant how much time do you think you need uh about three minutes all right could you put five minutes on the clock on the timer thank you welcome good evening uh mayor Williams mayor uh protm Middleton and members of council my name is Toby Coleman I'm with the Smith Anderson Law Firm here on behalf of uh the owner of the property uh blue ocean who would also be the developer um in in brief see this is a uh request to convert a an existing 122 unit uh extended stay hotel uh located uh at 54 and 55 uh behind the Chick-fil-A there uh that's how I know it at least um and uh and convert it to for apartments um

the I'm going to go I'm going to fly through this so I'm I may show some slides but um just out of an abundance of uh I know that you guys spent a lot of time on the prior case so I'm going to try to keep this relatively quick if you have questions feel free to stop me um this property is currently zoned oi with a development plan um as you may know uh oi actually allows uh res multif family residential uses by right um the only issue is was uh when blue ocean went to start looking at this property in 2023 was whether the development plan which is 1988 development plan whether that plan allowed uh multif family residential um back in 1988 the plan was to build hotels so there was uh some references to hotel sites but it wasn't like the development plans you see today where it's specific about the kinds of uses that are allowed or not allowed um there is uh and so ultimately we're here

today because ultimately staff determined that we needed to do a rezoning um the reason that you don't see some of the typical uh commitments that you might see otherwise for instance for affordable housing is is that the way we got here was a little bit convoluted um long story short uh blue ocean approached the city in 2023 um through the sketch plan uh uh review uh process and basically asked the question of do we need to reone the this property and we got the response and writing uh from staff no you don't you can do this without without rezoning um blue ocean then proceeded to purchase the property they took out uh you know spent millions of dollars raised millions of dollars uh to do this took out a loan uh all in Reliance on that uh they went to go P pull the permits from the city and at that point they were informed actually you need to rezone um staff's been great in and in that um they really helped facilitate a

relatively quick process uh we submitted this in January and we're here before you today on April 15th which may set a land speed record at least for rezonings here in Durham um we have a couple of we do have a couple of commitments again um we're providing that it will be used for multif family uses uh it will uh we limit uh the number of units to 122 which allows for the conversion of the existing um Extended Stay hotel rooms all of which have a kitchen uh there's a mix of Studios one bedrooms and two bedrooms and um we provide that there'll be a dedication of some right away Along 54 um otherwise we're available for questions uh but did want to keep it relatively quick thank you so much and just for the record Extended Stay means an extended uh staying of time not the brand right that's right it's it was a residence in uh Hotel prior to Blue Ocean purchas

I wanted to make that clarification of folks watching online um I believe you all all resource folks know uh Toby Coleman that's me okay all right and then Evan Gallant is is with blue ocean he's here for questions questions only okay all right um well this is the public hearing is there anyone that would like to uh one other note just just a note I know it's in packet but um we did get a uh 10 to zero recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission so did want to note that on this one are you just want to drop that over just drop it over to Mike yeah just let you guys know Mike drop okay okay well there are no additional comments then I will declare as public hearing closed and back before the council colleagues council member Freeman thank you I would just um just start by saying I know it's late and so I'll just push us along in this and just acknowledge

and I did have a conversation with um Toby Coleman and just noting the difference and the zoning no zoning and the finance situation is the only reason I'm like not hesitant on the affordable housing piece and the commitment but I'm good with the the way that it's Set uh to move forward so it's all thank you I mean this might be a question for staff but I I am a little concerned about how we got to this point and I'm wondering if y'all can speak a little bit more I mean I I heard what Mr Coleman said about the plans being unclear um but it it worries me that uh we kind of had to get to this situation which I and and I'm not saying it's a bad project but I I do feel like our hands are tied a little bit and and I just want to make sure that that's not happening in the future and and kind of just get a little Clarity on that sure so this uh as Mr Coleman said there was a pre- submittal meeting I believe with staff um those are not

meeting those are meetings with line level staff not management staff and uh this particular staff member read the development plan just took it at face value um and didn't dig in deeper um so when I found out about this I look I always look at 352a in the ordinance which stipulates um what deviations that require a zoning map change are so the planning department does not have administrative leeway we have to follow the ordinance and in there um it says a change to the use category if limitations on the number range or types of uses were proposed with the development plan and the governing body limited its consideration of uses to those so that means that my homework assignment when I get one of these is to go back I pull the staff report I pull the minutes um and go through and see did the council at the time think that the only thing on the table was a hotel and after I did

that research the answer was yes and so based on that I have no leeway to allow them to do something that today's ordinance might allow but back then it was not does that help sort of I know yes I mean yes it does it's still I I'm still like yeah concerned about it but I understand how it happens but right and and you know that's um as with lots of things uh it's a learning moment for staff it's a coaching moment for staff um and it's one of those things that we when we discover things like this we do our best to get people through the process to make it as painless as possible and really work with them okay um and and Mr Coleman I just a couple questions for you I know that you talked about that there weren't any commitments due to timing um there was some discussion and I I read through the material sort of about this idea of a naturally occurring affordability um I

understand the concept of this um but I what I also and first of all sorry I'm like bouncing all over the place but what I would like to say is that I love a reuse that is something that I totally can get behind um there is such a it's it is such a boon to us to not have to use extra resources to build we've got something in place um a an Extended Stay type situation already has the fundamental things needed for an apartment it doesn't sound to me like the transition is going to be super super difficult so I'm wondering if there is space for commitments to be made in terms of affordability since you have talked about it being sort of naturally occurring are youall willing to profer any actual income restrictions on those units um the at this point the the challenge is just simply that there is a an existing mortgage on the property and um a a profer that would limit um the uh

the rental rates would would be could be considered a material default of of the of the loan and so that's the concern that my client has again on on the screen is are the projected rents which uh show that um the projected rents are at or at are below the 80% Ami for the area and I don't I don't have anything I'm happy to pull it up but I don't have anything on my screen just okay sorry for your information all right I don't know what's oh there we go all right um so these are the projected rents for the project um which are at or below 80% Ami and the reason that that blue ocean and blue Ocean's done about six of these seven uh across the country and you can see on the screen um again uh this has been the consistent experience across the country is is that the rents are at

or below about 80% Ami the reason is is because these are basically classb apartments right you're not building new apartments and so they're small they're slightly smaller uh and they've got sort of a a ceiling in terms of what they can rent them for and as a result what they end up is is sort of a uh a missing middle sort of product they call it an attainable housing but it ends up being a a form of affordable housing at about 80% But to answer your question specifically again um you know we did take a look at that and the issue is is frankly just that because there is an existing you know typically when we go through a when you go through rezoning you're talking to uh developers who have not yet purchased the property there's not currently there's not financing in place where you know a material change or your obligations would somehow impact the loan because of the unique circumstances here there's already a loan in place and not because blue ocean was trying to get out ahead of anything but because uh just because of you know

some the way things happen here that's interesting about the loan um I'm also wondering though there we we hear commitments in other Realms as well and I noticed that there's there's no um School impact profer is that something that yall would be willing to consider at this time I mean at this point I think the reason that what we've discussed is is the reason that we haven't offered the profer in this case is because um while the while the staff estimate is is there'd be an increase in the number of students um the reality is is that two things number one the the res the current residents can currently send their kids to school the area schools so to the extent that they kids living there now now there there's probably not much of an impact the other part is is that in blue Ocean's experience um a lot of what this product is really attractive to are people coming out of college younger folks and

so they don't have as many uh when they've looked at their rent roles they really don't have very many kids that live at these facilities So based on that uh we have not made that profer on the first thing you said are I thought that the res in was no longer being utilized but there are people there that you potentially will be renting to I'll let I'll let Evan Gall speak sorry just to clarify Evan Gallant I'm with blue ocean the developer um so it's still operating as an extended state which is a category as opposed to the brand Extended State America Extended Stay just being kitchens typically living rooms built for elongated stays um it is Def flagged so Marriott did not own the property it was privately owned they just had their brand on the door that was removed when we bought the property in the uh the purpose being that we were going to be pulling permits and moving forward it currently has a trellis brand on the property but it's still operating as an extended stay for folks like traveling nurses we had some graduating parents that were coming in town over the last

few months staying for the weekend um but to uh Toby's Point federal law allows for children that are living at Extended Stays to be able to place in the local schools so I personally spoke to Pearson toown Elementary spoke to their administrative offices if a child was living there today as long as the parent could prove or Guardian could prove residency with a contract their child could go to that school so there's an impact naturally and to Toby's point also we have close to a thousand units in this trellis platform two children total it's just the units are so small it doesn't really typically function well for a parent I have two little children I would never live in this kind of 500 400 foot space just a practical reality I don't have any further questions thank you thank you Council vavo yeah thank you um spoke with the developer I don't know when I spoke with them maybe a week and a half ago um I'm just saying you know I I understand the

financing kind of piece of it I I hope that this is actually an opportunity you know we talked about this during our meeting that there are opportunities um across durum and so um as we move forward even you know other communities other governments have helped buy hotels have helped buy these types of purchases or types of properties for um uh transitional housing uh and so I hope that y'all will think to partner with us um because you have a successful track record of of basically um turning these over from their original use um so I will be supporting this but also hoping that there's other opportunities um because we know that extended there's plenty of similarly aged extended days across uh Durham anyone else may thank you Mr Mayor I think the Planning Commission got this one right I look forward to supporting this project I think it's an appropriate and organic use of an already existing structure

thank you Mr Mayor C quick I just want to say one more thing which is that um for those of you who aren't familiar with my work I do eviction defense and so I work with people who are housing insecure all day every day I have an active case of 90 people that's 90 households right so loads more human beings than that um and I have um had repeat clients my non- repeat number is close to 300 people that I've worked with over the past few years um I do want to make note that places Extended Stays particularly are a place that unsheltered people do go um I know that it and I'm supporting this project I want to be clear um I know that that is it is a great reuse um but I just want to also note that we have a lot a lot of Durham residents that make use of hotels and Extended Stays as their primary residences with children many many families of six or more

children in single 500 foot places this is this is a reality of the city where we live um and so I just want to I just want to point that out that this is not a great solution because people who end up in hotels have a really difficult time getting out because the costs are so high um they are unable to save up money in order to rent in any other place um but at this point with our current system it is a really really vital part of our Eco system that keeps people off the street so I just wanted to to make that note C member Freeman to that point I just want to make sure that you do I just want to put in front of you that um maybe some conversations with housing for New Hope from maybe a couple of units I know we're not talking about commitments but I would like to hear you say that you know who housing New Hope is and what they do in our community thank

you all right well thank you I um it's nothing like a permanent pillow and I I appreciate that that security uh that we'll be providing I um I also want to be sensitive to council member Cooks Point um I've had employees that lived in hotels um I've had students and their families who lived in hotels um and I I we have a lot of issues and I just appreciate anyone who's working on both sides that that trying to help us get to that point um this this will be u a good conversion I mean we I think the first one was the Duke Tower condominiums in downtown Durham was the first conversion of an Extended Stay type hotel to now permanent residency um but yeah I I was I was eight years old when this was built so

now it's going to be permanent housing so for someone all right thank you uh colleagues are there any more comments all right I will entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of office and institutional with the graphic development plan Falls Jordan District B major transportation Corridor I40 and establishing the same as office and institutional with the with the textual development plan Falls Jordan District B major transportation Corridor I40 so moved moved and properly seconded um I feel like I'm having glitches in The Matrix that's late uh Madam clerk please open the vote the vote thank you please close the

vote the motion passes 70 all right and uh motion two to adopt a consider statement as required by North Carina General statute section 160d 605 some move second move and properly second M clerk please open the vote please close and the motion passes 70 thank you all all right um item 29 good evening mayor I'm mayor protim and City Council Members Reginal Johnson director of the Community Development Department I'm joined by Maggie Carnegie

who serves as our planning and performance manager and also uh Miss Kim and miss Monica are uh sign language interpreters the purpose of this public hearing is to receive citizen comments on the draft FY 202 2425 annual action plan the annual action plan specifies how the city of Durham will address Housing and Community Development needs through the use of Community Development block grant cdbg a home investment partnership program Consortium funds emergency Solutions grants ES G and housing opportunities for persons with AIDS hop with funds the draft 2024 25 annual action plan was made available for public review from March 13 2024 through April 15 2024 notice of this meeting was properly advertised in the haral Sun and kosa newspapers distributed via the Department's General list sered as well

as posted on the Community Development Department's web page and the City of Durham's website as recipient of cdbg Home ESG and hoo funds the city is required to hold at least two public hearings prior to the submission of the annual action plan the first public needs hearing was held on December 18th 2023 the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD has not yet notified the city of the final entitlement amounts for fy22 2425 for planning purposes the city expects to receive re approximately $2,300 in cdbg 1,300,000 in home Consortium funds 180,000 in ESG and 1, 160,000 in HOA funds in closing a summary of the comments of this public hearing and written comments will receive from citizens during the development of the annual action plan will be incorporated into the final

draft before a submission to hood uh thank you thank you very much director Johnson this is a public hearing I'm sorry colleagues are there any questions for director Johnson all right at this point I would declare the public hearing open and I do have uh two signups here Haley Cunningham and after Hal I have lenia you can come on uh right after her welcome you have three minutes thank you my name is Dr Haley Cunningham I'm an infectious diseases fellow dedicating my career to improving HIV prevention and treatment and Duram in the surrounding counties I've cared for many people living and thriving with HIV with one daily pill or an injection every two months people can live long healthy normal lives with HIV and yet

many people are still becoming sick or dying of AIDS I'm here today because I have seen too many young people people my age or younger die of AIDS this is not acceptable when we have effective affordable treatment options for my professor my personal experience caring for patients with HIV the greatest obstacles preventing people from accessing treatment are stigma housing and security and lack of reliable transportation stigma is what keeps people from getting HIV testing because they don't want to know stigma prevents people from seeking treatment because the diagnosis is too difficult to accept and it isolates people living with HIV who are often shunned by friends and family stigma will take years if not decades to stamp out but we have the opportunity to make tangible change right now by expanding access to housing and transportation many of my patients living with HIV want to come to Clinic

appointments but are not able to because they do not have reliable transportation others do not have the energy to think about getting to clinic visits because they're worried about where they'll sleep tonight or they're working two to three jobs to pay for rent and don't have time to take off to come to Clinic medical appointments and labs are an important part of HIV care just like with any other medication we can't prescribe HIV medications indefinitely without monitoring for side effects or to make sure that it's being being taken as prescribed as a member of the coalition to end the HIV epidemic and Durham I stand with many dedicated individuals and organizations who have been supporting people living with HIV for much longer than I have been supporting myself I stand with care transitional H housing organizations the Durham County Department of Public Health Lincoln Community Health Center and others committed to ending the HIV epidemic our Coalition aims to form a comprehensive

collaborative system to offer greater support for housing transportation and other basic Services I strongly believe that by helping people um that by us helping our community members living with HIV it will Empower them to take care of their health I humbly ask the city of Durham to make housing and supportive services for people living with HIV a priority in the annual action plan Consolidated plan and affordable housing plan I ask that um the coalition to end HIV epidemic and Durham receives a million dollars to utilize to create this coordinative system to foster a healthier Community thank you so much welcome you have three minutes let me just say I've enjoyed you all sitting right there in the middle of the room in the smiles and energy that you all have provided us tonight and I also thought you all were high school students and then you said Doctor there enough people around here that know I'm not a high school student

anymore welcome you have three three minute thank you my name is lanaa Foster it's nice to be back in front of the city council again uh greetings Council and staff um I'm here on behalf of the coalition to end HIV epidemic in Durham and we want to invite you to join us in creating a comprehensive system of care to end hi V in 2022 Durham County ranked number four among all North Carolina counties for the number of people living with HIV 100 1,96 people to be exact and a number of people living with AIDS 812 racial and ethnic disparities um and my for minorities bear a disproportionate burden with rates of HIV positivity per 100,000 people reaching 127 to among black African-Americans and 640 Hispanic

latinx community members compared with 21 among white residents while there is no cure no cure for HIV if diagnosed and treated early people can live long and healthy normal lives with HIV by taking just one pill a day treatment is so effective that most people's HIV will become undetectable and therefore cannot be transmitted to to others so long as they continue the medication despite this many Derm residents living with HIV are not giv appropriate treatment due to numerous barriers obstructing engagement in HIV care and medication adherence including discrimination stigma lack of transportation and affordable housing being homeless at the time of HIV diagnosis is associated with a 27-fold higher odds of death compared to those with stable housing the odds of being virally

suppressed decreased by 11% for every 10 nights spent on the street during the prior 6 months established organizations and committed individuals have been working in silos to provide services for people living in HIV with HIV and durm but are limited by the lack of dedicated funding and means to effectively communicate and collaborate in response we have formed the coalition to end HIV and Durham with support from the following healing with care um Acra the Lincoln Community Health Center the Durham County Health social services health department and the Duke HIV Clinic we ask that the council and the coalition to end um to fund the coalition to end HIV epidemic and durm we propose an Innovative coordinated permanent Supportive Housing and Integrated Health Service and data surveillance our goals include expanding housing access to S successfully

transition 80% of participants to permanent Supportive Housing thank you thank you so much just want to acknowledge all the people that are here with us thank you yes say their names say your names Morel Turner thank you all for being here all right this is a public hearing are there any other comments all right at this time I will declare this public hearing closed and back before the council colleagues thank you all so much I and just this is such important work and any way that I as your mayor can be supportive on behalf of the council please reach out right all right I now entertain a motion to I'm sorry one second I read all of

these all of these are different motions oh okay and do I have to do them one by one or can I do yeah I think last year okay I'll do that all right I'll entertain a motion to conduct a public hearing we're doing that now all right all this stff to adopt the draft fiscal year 2024 2025 action annual action plan upon closure of this public hearing so move second and move and properly seconded Madame clerk please open the vote please close motion passes unanimously thank you I'll also entertain a motion to adopt the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD Community Development

4 million and authorization to execute Grant agreement so move second mov and

properly second it Madam clerk please open the vote please close motion passes 70 thank you I'll also entertain a motion to adopt the US Department of Housing and Urban Development H emergency Solutions grant program ESG fiscal year 2024 2025 Grant project ordinance in the amount of 180,000 and authorization to execute Grant agreement so move second the move the properly seconded Madam clerk please open the vote please close motion passes 70 thank you and lastly I'll adopt I'm sorry I'll entertain a motion to adopt the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD housing opportunities for persons with AIDS program hwa fiscal

year 2024 2025 Grant project ordinance in the amount of [Music] $160,000 and authorization to execute Grant agreement so move second the move and properly second Madam clerk please open the vote please close motion passes 70 thank you so much all right and last item on the agenda tonight number 30 thank you mayor mayor protim One Moment One Moment outside ready to go all right thank you thank you mayor mayor protim and members of city council gang Reginal Johnson director the Community Development Department for the city of Durham the purpose of this public hearing is to receive citizen comments on the proposed substantial amendments to the fy2 2017 2018 FY 2018 2019 FY

2019 2020 fy2020 2021 FY 2021 and 2022 and FY 2022 2023 annual action plans these proposed substantial amendments are available able for public review from March 22nd 2024 to April 21st 2024 the citizen participation plan contained in the adopted 2020 2025 Consolidated plan requires that a public hearing be conducted for formal amendments that add delete or substantially change the Consolidated plan or annual action plan the proposed amendments make changes to the Community Development block grant cdbg funded projects that were completed or closed and have remaining available funding as well as allocates available cdbg entitlement funding that was not accounted for in previous annual action plans to eligible projects also the

proposed amendments add Granville County to the Durham eligible Metropolitan statistical area emsa for the 2021 2022 HW program year notice of this meeting was properly advertised in the Harold sun and K Pasa newspapers distributed via the Department's General Reserve as well as posted in the community on the Community Development Department's web page and the City of Durham website in closing a summary of comments from this public hearing and written comments received from citizens concerning the proposed amendments will be incorporated into the final document thank you I have a quick question I have a quick question yes thank you U Mr Reginal good evening um good to see you just just an educational question to add Granville County uh I've been voting on a lot of these each year I don't ever recall seeing something what does that mean it and it's for 2020 what

does that mean so what that means is we are entitlement jurisdiction as I just just shared and receive all four Federal programs one of the programs hwa by federal statute goes beyond the city limits of Durham in our instance and so we have three or two other counties uh we have Orange County and Person County that are that are that we have to service normally we don't go outside the city limits but for this Federal program it requires us to go outside the city limits to to other counties to serve what we have to do is when there are changes in the EMS emsa is re recognize those and in this instance Granville was assigned to us and so our funding also includes going to Granville County residents that need to be served with hopper funds in that county as well that's I remember orange in the other one I just I never remembered Gran but that's a good thing no this is a change this is a change and we will assign

Granville County got you got you thank you that's it Mr Mayor thank you all right at this time I'll declare this public hearing open I do not have any any one signed up to speak uh however it is a public hearing if there is anyone that would like to share comment all right thank you at this time I will declare this public hearing closed and back before the council again colleagues are there any comments All right yes want to thank Mr Johnson for his incredible work leading this department so thanks for this for for organizing the hearing and just being our our leader on these housing issues so thank you Mr John a thank you council member yeah thank you this is a great use of this um these funds federal funds all right I now entertain motions uh the first to conduct a public hearing on April 15th 2024 to receive citizen no we just did that all right

I'm still going to sound like an Auctioneer here to approve the I'll entertain a motion to approve the draft proposed substantial amendments to the fiscal year 2017 2018 fiscal year 2018 2019 fiscal year 2019 2020 fiscal year 2020 2021 fiscal year 20121 2022 fiscal year 2022 2023 annual action plans aaps for submission to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD so move second mooved and properly seconded Madam clerk please open the poll please close motion passes 70 awesome one two all right I'll entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to execute all administrative requirements and contractual documents for the implementation of the amendment amended fiscal year 2017 2018 fiscal year 2018 2019 fiscal year 2019 2020 fiscal year 2020 2021 fiscal year 2021

2022 fisc year 2022 2023 actual annual action plans aaps to reallocate funding to accurately reflect how the city of Durham utilizes Federal cdbg award allegations and cdbg program income for projects activities that have been completed currently in progress and are planned using the applicable funding applicable funding year allocations so move second Community Development block grant Community Development block grant cdbg Community Development block grant yes right Madam clerk please open the poll vote please close motion passes unanimously and to our sign language interpreters I will not do that again I'm so sorry I'm so sorry about that oh man uh last one uh I'll entertain a

motion to add Granville County to the Durham eligible Metropolitan statistical area emsa for the fiscal year 2021 2022 Hawa award for eligible persons to receive services and funding from the housing opportunities with for persons with AIDS hwa program so move and moved and properly seconded Madame CLI please open the vote please close the vote the item passes unanimously thank you so much and to our interpreter do I need to repeat that second one for interpretation or am I okay okay thank you all right uh other matters colleagues all right thank you Chelsea

no [Laughter] all right uh we will adjourn at 11 o'clock on the dot thank you