good afternoon everyone um as you can see we do not have a quorum yet present here in the council so we will be just waiting for a couple more of our colleagues to arrive there are three of our colleagues who have excused absences today so we're only going to have four of us when when folks get here but we've got to wait for those four so apologies for the delay we'll be with you as soon as possible so we currently have the votes to send everybody on a field trip we can take all the youth in Durham right now and send them on a magical School Bus field trip we have the votes to do a lot right now foreign
in the house yes ma'am can you speak to the staff I mean sure if they'd like to speak to you absolutely I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome our former mayor Pro tem coracole McFadden back to city council it's great to see you again
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good Ness so we think anybody's coming I am not getting a definitive from either the Freeman or the hunting Hyman gang neither of them had exposed apps
m uh this is the Thursday April 20th 2023 uh Durham city council work session Madam clerk would you please call the roll certainly um mayor O'Neill mayor Proto Middleton and javiera Caballero I have all requested excused absences for today and so I will conduct the roll call for the present members presiding chair Johnson Okay so sorry I'm not used to being first here councilmember Freeman president councilmember Halsey Hyman president Leonardo Williams I'm here thank you thank you madam clerk are there any announcements by members of the council all right no announcements um oh council member just real briefly uh we uh this
weekend no this week hosted the uh I cringe when I said this way the Raleigh Durham techstars startup week that was hosted in Durham so the Durham Tech Stars uh would Raleigh accompanying uh startup week it was quite the experience techies from all over we're all over downtown utilizing our facilities and folks from all over the world we're here served as a guest speaker on policing and Advanced Technologies with Barry Friedman from the New York University policing project it was a really balanced conversation and just really excited how Durham has modeled and shape Progressive Public Safety and uh it was just it was an experience and uh welcome to all of those folks that are now just leaving it was great to have them here thank you council member um I'll make a quick announcement as well you reminded me that last night a number of us were
fortunate to attend a documentary screening about the city's heart crisis response program the documentary was developed by rti in partnership with the folks at our community safety department they filmed during the first few months of the Department's work last year so it was a really incredible look at the start like the initiation and the initial work of that of that program and of course now that we have almost an entire year looking back we can see that the success that they saw in those first three months has continued and we also were able to hear a panel of speakers including our police chief the department director Ryan Smith a number of the heart staff and the director of the film Dulce Davis and that film will soon we hope fingers crossed be available on YouTube so encourage everybody to check it out as soon as it's available to the public um and we will now move on to Priority items Madam manager do you have any
priority items good afternoon and thank you Council council person Johnson presiding chair I do have a few priority items for this afternoon agenda item number seven which is the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association dedicated Nature Preserve proposal alternative it is a 15-minute presentation that has been included today agenda item number 12 United development ordinance text Amendment simplifying codes for affordable development this item is being referred back to the city County Planning Department agenda item number 15 resolution and adoption policy for the naming rights of publicly owned properties and Facilities is a supplemental item that has been added agenda item number 16 mckissick square development loan commitment is also a
supplemental item that has been added to the agenda for today and finally agenda item number 17 benefits consultant and broker Services selection and contract is a supplemental item that has been added that is all I have for this afternoon manager can I have a motion to approve the manager's priority items so moved moved by Leonardo Williams seconded by council member Freeman all in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed passes unanimously thank you everyone um we'll go to our City attorney for any priority items great learning thank you good afternoon presiding officer and other council members and manager Paige the city attorney's office does have a priority item today we are requesting that the city council hold a closed session at the conclusion of regular business after this work session the City attorney
11a 3 for attorney-client consultation in order for the city council to consider and give instructions concerning the settlement of claims in the following legal actions one Department of Transportation V Raleigh Durham Airport Authority at all case number 18 CVS 1932 filed in Wake County the second case is Department of Transportation V Raleigh Durham Airport Authority at all 18 CVS 3817 also filed thank you thank you madam attorney is there a motion to approve the attorney's request for a closed session so moved is there a second moved by council member Williams seconded by council member Hyman all in favor please say aye aye any opposed
passes unanimously thank you madam attorney and we'll go to the clerk for any priority items good afternoon chair Johnson and council members I do have a priority item there have been revisions to a resolution it is for the day of remembrance and some edits have been made and they will be distributed before the next council meeting for approval okay thank you madam clerk um so should we um we should keep this item on the agenda we don't need to refer it we do not need okay for it yes okay so I don't think that we need to vote on your priority item okay thank you um moving right along with our administrative consent items and I will just read the agenda um and if folks have items to pull we'll pull them out this time our administrative consent items from the city clerk's office item one approval of city council minutes item two bicycle and pedestrian advisory
commission appointment item three marched I'm sorry under finance department item three March 2023 bid report from our public works department item four Street and infrastructure acceptances under departmental items from our audit Services Department item five wire transfer process performance audit March 2023 from Community Development item six second amendment to amended and restated construction to permanent loan agreement with Casa for 2702 North Duke Street Bryan Place Apartments from General Services Department item seven Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association dedicated Nature Preserve proposal Alternatives and we'll pull that item for presentation from Solid Waste Department Solid Waste Management Department item eight amendment number two to the contract with Waste Industries LLC for Transfer Station construction operation transport and Disposal Services from our transportation department item nine Municipal construction agreement with mcdot for Colin Wallace Road and
ncrr greed separation tip number p-5717 under Waste Management Department item 10 resolution to re-adopt water shortage response plan um and our public hearings from our Community Development Department item 11 fiscal year 2023-24 draft annual action plan needs public hearing annual action plan adoption and Grant project ordinances under City County Planning Department item 12 unified development ordinance text Amendment simplifying codes for affordable development that item has already been referred back to staff under public comment to be heard at 1 pm we have 13 core Cole McFadden we also have several cards supplemental items under city council's office item 14 resolution in support of the day of remembrance under City manager's office item 15 resolution and adoption policy for the naming rights of publicly owned properties and Facilities and there have been some changes to that
resolution I'd like to pull that actually for discussion and under Community Development Department item 16 mckissick square development loan commitment American Rescue plan act arpa affordable housing funds and there is no actually never mind sorry I thought there's one sign up to speak on that but there is not under human resources department item 17 benefits Consulting and broker Services selection and contract um so I have items seven and um 15. that's great and we will um move on to our public comment and our first speaker is Mayor Pro tem Caballero that's what I said [Laughter] good afternoon everyone good afternoon um just you know for for um performances steak please state your
name and you have three minutes my name is Cora Cole McFadden a lifelong resident of the Durham city and I've been an Old Farm for over 50 years we are here and I have with me stand up oil Farm can I do that I just did it that's right okay and these are my this is my my team of of uh residents in Old Farm this past year or so it's been a very trying and challenging time for us uh before I left city council I worked on the Durham Master agent plan and so I know what the ingredients are so we're here to let you know that when you read the plan you will see that the city nor the county no other school
system is in compliance with this document because it's supposed to ensure social inclusion and you were on it to our council member Monique you are one of the Committees that drafted this I saw your name a couple of cases but communication lack of Civic involvement lack of respect for us as black seniors in Old Farm and I am going to have our speakers to share with you the kind of treatment we have received now taxation without representation of course is not fair and so as a senior citizen let me just share this I don't mind you not answering the phone for me as a senior citizen what I would like to do then is for you to take me off the tax rolls and you don't even have to
worry about any Sinners take all the singers off the tax roll that way you don't even have to be concerned with us we'll be on our own in that right senior [Applause] and then I didn't even Old Farm he agrees with that but I want my residents my neighbors to come and share what the violations have been and Gwen is the chair of our Public Relations Committee so she would come and share for three minutes and then three other people are sharing for three minutes that's that's okay yes ma'am you just tell me what order you want them in and that that's fine okay thank you for Gwen Tanya Carolyn truly and I'll do the benediction if there's time thank you mayor Pro tem Caballero
our next speaker is Gwen pennix welcome um please state your name and you have three minutes my name is Gwen penix I am a resident of Old Farm for the last 48 years along with my husband sitting over there I am reading to you a letter written by Mary Vickers she can't be here because she has had surgery and the author of this letter has a BS in biology she is a registered nurse from UNC this would be her second degree a graduate of Duke University she's registered medical technologist and also her areas of specialization are oncology radiation therapy and chemotherapy so she is indeed an expert in her field on January 2nd Mary Vickers received a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers that letter contained a map of the location of the proposed new Northern High School and it showed a
portion of the Old Farm neighborhood that would be impacted upon close examination of this map it showed that the south end of Old Well street was going to be open to provide entry into the school for buses pedestrians and bicycle traffic on January 7 2021 homeowners also received a letter from the Durham County Board of adjustment about a hearing on January 26 2021 this hearing was being held during because of Durham public schools and they requested a minor special use permit which would allow a school to be located in a neighborhood our neighborhood neighborhoods received this notification just 17 days before they would be able to speak under safety the streets and Old Farm do not have any sidewalks or bicycle Lanes rounding traffic through our
neighborhood would have a detrimental impact on the safety of neighbors who use our streets daily for physical activities as well as the JFK Towers which houses the elderly and disabled bus is powered by diesel fuel release fine particles of carbon toxic chemicals and gases Benzene a compound of diesel exhaust is classified as a known human carcinogen by their International Agency for research on cancer there are studies show that Benzene causes several forms of Leukemia and increased lung cancer with a minor permit use it is not required that neighborhoods have to be informed by the group requesting the permit this is not this is not required because a school
does not have to do rezoning the board of adjustment made us an Old Farm field dismissed as paying tax tax paying citizens and the vice chair Mark Meadows turned the meeting over to DPS um do I get to finish my sentence or I'm done you can finish your sentence okay thank you uh turn the meeting over to DPS attorney Lindsey Smith acting as chairperson just as this quietly happened to Old Farm as a neighborhood it could happen to your neighborhood and this is for us to go to the polls and vote to choose our elected members carefully and passed legislation to protect homeowners and neighborhoods from this type of discrimination here our next speaker is Tanya Exum Coston welcome please state your name and you
have three minutes thank you I'm Tanya exome conston I am the treasurer of the Old Farm neighborhood association I am speaking on behalf of our president Trey Gilmore and the Executive Board of our neighborhood association Trey and I both were raised in Old Farm and we have returned and currently lived there as adults so we have been in Old Farm for over 50 years both of us and our families so we thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns today Old Farm is a neighborhood of nearly 500 homes established in the late 1960s and it's made up of multiple generations of predominantly black and brown people many of the initial residents still live in our neighborhood making it also an aging population as Miss Caballero has stated the Northern High School project and the proximate neighborhood access raises several serious health safety and
peaceful living concerns for over the over one thousand Durham residents who occupy Old Farm allowing any access for thoroughfares into our neighborhood and not providing any physical or impenetrable barriers between the school and our homes is problematic for several reasons so the first reason is the gun violence incidents involving um and resulting in injuries and deaths of DPS high school students as I'm sure you're all aware of the three High the Hillside High School students who were involved the incident involving the Riverside and Lake View students and then on the same day that the Riverside shooter appeared in court there were two additional incidents involving a 14 and a 15 year old shooter so this is problematic as a March 24th of this year 15 people under the age of
18 have been shot in Durham the next reason is the steady rise of school shootings in the entire United States and the steady increase of gun violence in Durham a study was done in 2020 that showed that there were 66 percent more shootings victims in Durham than the previous year uh juvenile offenses overall increase nearly 24 percent of in violent crimes and um the fourth reason we have listed here is the recent uh Tick Tock car thefts these um young people called the Kia boys and during the past week in Old Farm we've had at least two vehicles stolen as a result of this so social media crimes and poor choices committed by primarily by high school age juveniles um so this is uh these are reasons that
we feel this is not a good move to have a school and have it open to our neighborhood so in Prior decades it may have been good to have a school in walking distance for students however in this day and age it is not given the gun violence and illegal activities especially those perpetuated by high school age students it's downright Reckless to build a school that provides thoroughfare directly into the residential neighborhoods ma'am your time is up thank you all right [Applause] our next speaker is Carolyn Young welcome please state your name and you have three minutes as well thank you my name is Carolyn young I stand before you wearing many hats I've lived an Old Farm for 47 years I'm a member of the Old Farm neighborhood association was one of the five speakers to address the
board of adjustments concerning the bringing of buses down Seven Oaks Road and was one of the three female appellants Seeking Justice for this Injustice during that meeting with the boa my testimony was not moved to be stricken from the record by the DPS attorney I was upset that three of our five testimonies were it hardly seems fair the DPS had at least a couple of years to amass its information we only had about 17 days and only had that because one neighbor happened to see the bus information on a Corps of Engineers letter that all concerned neighbors didn't even receive excuse me you have that BOA meeting in January of 2021 I've been on a mission I became an appellant we went to court because we felt the minor special use permit put o farm at a disadvantage the community supported us as we hired an attorney and went all the way to the court of appeals we lost and we feel wrong there was no
respect for the safety nor the sanctity of our neighborhood no one has put themselves in our shoes would you want these buses coming into your neighborhood would you like to have to worry about the risk of cancer from the bus emissions would you like to have one of only two main egresses into your neighborhood packed with buses so you can't get in or out of your own neighborhood how can you just turn a blind eye to such Injustice we are prepared to call local state and federal attention to this issue we hope that you will work with us to keep your voters safe after all isn't that what you as elected officials are supposed to do and I thank you thank you our next speaker is Trudy Harris adeo welcome please state your name and you also have three minutes to speak good afternoon everyone again my name is Trudy Harris adeo and I'm a resident of
over 40 years in Old Farms where I raised my daughter who attended Northern High School initially I was raised in Bragg town and I remember when I was my parents were politically involved and when we were trying to get organized to take action to deal with racism in Durham I remember going to pre-six meetings where they had already had the meeting before the meeting and they also uh went on about doing what they wanted to do anyway down to this the times have changed but the playbooks Remains the Same and so if you want to have Community engagement diversity respect seniors then you're going to have to do more than talk you got to put the action into that whole Arena because we're dealing with we are dealing with safety issues we're dealing with health issues we're dealing with property devaluement because of uh all
of these factors is going on however you come to us and you ask us what your vote for us to vote for you and we do but we don't get represented who is advocating for us who is speaking for the issues of not just black and brown people but historically it's been black people and don't tell me this would have happened in Forest Hills it would not have happened we want you to help us we want you to speak for us and do what you can to turn the situation into a win-win situation for Old Farms Community as well as Northern High School it can be done there's solution so in order for that to occur we need to have true active Community engagement which we've never had so with this I bid you you're uh your
desire and your willingness I hope to see that we don't have Old Farms turned into a thoroughfare for school buses to come through and devalue the property that we have and the safety of our community thank you thank you our next speaker is James Chavis welcome please state your name and you also have three minutes um you each get three minutes okay okay I'm sorry to hear that
thank you I'm sorry we can only do three minutes per per speaker okay hello I'm Natalie Balcom I am a homeowner well property owner in in Old Farms and I also um uh I pay taxes and in all Farms as well and uh she wants me to say there was a white board meeting oh there's a lack of diversity on the board of adjustment and we would like for that to change anything else all right thank you thank you um ma'am ma'am please um go over to the
clerks to the clerk over here and fill out a yellow card just for the record thank you our next speaker will be Mr Chavis welcome um please state your name and you'll have three minutes my name is James Davis I believe at 2813 Ash Street Apartment B I am coming to make sure that this Scag that we had our meeting last Saturday which it did not go right I sent a copy to each one of you all email okay and I also gave the clerk one to give you because that meeting didn't go like it was supposed to so this is meeting number two and I know Sarah said she could not be there and I know Chadwell said he could not but we need a representative from the planning department to answer the questions like we wanted we want a q a like the mayor said answer to the question of the changes that have
been put forth to them on the document whether you for or against this meeting is open up to everyone the meeting will be still at Halton at 10 o'clock am on the second floor in the auditorium we know now that we got until August and I'm so glad you all are here and what y'all are talking about we've been talking about so I hope you all will get involved those that can come this Saturday and find out what's scared if these these changed how more infected it's going to be on your community because they are pulling a wool on us and as we say some of our I see him going on record City Council Members counting Commissioners some of us on the bus okay because guess what they can't do it unless somebody else is behind it thank
you thank you Mr Chadwell we have one speaker online Miss Jacqueline Wagstaff can you hear me yes ma'am you have three minutes thank you good afternoon council members um and good afternoon Caballero mayor Pro Tim former uh and the Old Farms neighborhood just want to let you know that I stand in unity with you on this matter it's not the first time I've heard this and it probably won't be the last but I'm gonna go back to something that uh former Council uh former may approach him McFadden said taxation without representations part of our problem is that we continue to support people that come to your neighborhood and come to your community and beg for your vote and then get in office and forget that they were put
there by the people unfortunately we have a council now with very few people on the council that actually want to represent the people of Durham and that's the unfortunate part and it has been said in many meetings when groups like yours come down here to these meetings and try to advocate for things that affect them in their community that you know you shouldn't be coming down here there were quotes made about the people down here that are speaking against things they have a roof over their head so I guess that's a prerequisite for not being able to come down to council and speak if you live in a house and you have a roof over your head there were things said like one or two people don't represent the whole Community which I believe to not be true because you have people like Mr Chambers who represents pack one so when he comes down there he doesn't have to bring all hundred thousand people down there he can come down there and speak on behalf of the pac-1 community but just to let you know that I'm hoping that exactly what Mr Chavis said that some of the
people from Old Farms that they can come out Saturday participate in this scab because I know that y'all are dealing with the Northern High School building of the school but also this scad is going to have a Major Impact if the gang of four decides to vote on it it's going to have a major impact on the life and your livelihood and how you live and how things are built around you so it will only get worse so I'm hoping that you will come down and at this time I'm hoping that number 12 is not on the agenda I came to speak on scad but I think Monday y'all decided that you weren't gonna be making a decision on it until way into May so I'm just gonna leave it at that for now thank you thank you and that concludes our public comment and we will move on to our pulled items our first pulled item is number seven Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association dedicated Nature Preserve proposal Alternatives and I will
um turn the meeting over to Mr Fleischer thank you helpful thank you good afternoon all I'm David Fleischer from the general Services Department thank you for having me we are presenting to you this afternoon regarding a request from the state of North Carolina to designate and dedicate a portion of a city-owned prop property as a dedicated Nature Preserve this
property was identified and nominated by our local group The Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association common lead referred to as equa and representatives from both the state and from Aqua are here with us today in Chambers as well as our departmental partners from the planning department from the transportation department and from the Water Management Department as a as a brief background in January of last year representatives from the state's natural heritage program along with representatives from equa appeared before city council to present a proposal that the city dedicate 284 Acres of city-owned property to become a dedicated Nature Preserve or dnp the proposed area for dedication is located adjacent to the city's Solid Waste landfill excuse me cities closed Solid Waste landfill off of East Club Boulevard at Camden Avenue and I'll show you where that is on the next Slide the stated purpose of creating the dnp is
threefold first to protect the nearby water bird or Heron Rookery and nesting area secondly to protect the area around Ellerbe Creek generally and thirdly to protect the existing slope Forest on that property this map shows where the property we're talking about is as proposed for dedication is located it is next to or west of the former city landfill site it is also just north of the north Durham Water Reclamation facility or the Durham North Durham water plant just for context the solid waste Transfer Station and recycling center are on the lower right of this picture they are underneath the label the green label that says North Durham Water Reclamation facility in exploring uh concerns that the city would have and responding to the dnp request staff began by scheduling site visits that were conducted with team members from both the state and equa our
staff also contacted other municipalities as to their experiences with the dnp process while we also conducted over 25 meetings with our partner departments at the city to determine and identify concerns that they might have those meetings included Personnel from the city attorney's office from the general Services Department from neighborhood Improvement services from the Department of Parks and Recreation from the city County Planning Department from the city's public works department from the Solid Waste Department from our transportation department from the Department of Water Management and from the Metropolitan planning organization referred to as the mpo staff worked alongside the Water Management Department after some of those meetings to map out the existing infrastructure in the area in question and that existing infrastructure is shown on this slide it's a little difficult to see as yellow and green lines that represent the water or sewer lines in that area staff also worked with our transportation department to identify any roads that could be foreseeable to
be built in this area and finally for this slide I'll go into it a little bit go into it a little further on subsequent slides we obtained estimates as to what would the cost to the city be of participating in the state's DMP program we conducted due diligence and the aim of that due diligence effort by the city staff was twice identify and explore impacts to both existing and future city operations and infrastructure as well as to determine what obligations and restrictions would be imposed upon the city's property and also to begin as I mentioned to estimate the cost to the city of particip participation in the state's program during our due diligence several issues arose that needed to be addressed we identified that the originally proposed boundary of the area to be protected needed to be pushed back from both the closed landfill site as well as from the north Durham Water Reclamation facility border or area concerns arose that we
needed to make certain that water management could have access to maintain existing infrastructure and to upgrade that infrastructure as needed in the future I've listed out the types of infrastructure just a representative example that are existing currently on the city's property there's existing and proposed upgrades to two Force Mains or pressurized sewer lines there's multiple gravity sanity sanitary sewer lines on the property there are some gas probes that were used for monitoring of the landfill site and also there's some water sampling Wells on the property that are used for that same purpose of monitoring the landfill and as it settles and ages uh per the state program the state program contains both Prime what are called primary and buffer areas that allow different types of uses on the property in short the primary primary areas would severely restrict any City infrastructure to be built or
changed or upgraded on the in those areas also management of the preserved area would need to be captured in a management plan which would impose State Standards on the city's property for management and maintenance also the proposal May entail dedication of some portion of what could become developable land this part of the property is adjacent to the Rookery kind of in the upper right of the map you're looking at and an eventual negotiations with the state and representatives from equa and our other partners the city may elect to exclude a portion of that 35-acre area from protection while still remaining a buffer small still maintaining above around the birds nesting sites or The Rookery what we refer to as the Rookery area lastly we acknowledge that the protection of the land will assist the city in several manners uh our goals like increasing tree tree canopy metrics of getting credits towards compliance
with the Falls Lake rules and I'd like to mention that protection of the property can afford the city to receive grants or Grant matches related to that protection those funds could be used for the due diligence necessary to enact uh protection of the property or it could be used in in payment of what will be future stewardess stewardship costs for the property also in conducting our due diligence and additional issue beyond the items I've already mentioned was identified in the internal city departmental meetings the northern Durham Parkway is listed on the comprehensive Transit plan as a future Parkway or road across this area of Durham the planned Northern Durham Parkway bisects the city's property in the midst of the area proposed for protection we've received a recommendation from the city's transportation department that the existing reservation for the northern Durham Parkway be maintained consistent with the mpo plans on the
comprehensive Transportation plan and finally like other many other roads that are on these types of plans I should mention that the parkway is not currently funded one more thing to mention is that the northern Durham Parkway is shown on the map you're looking at is a red line I kind of Drew that red line in Darker that's bisecting the subject area on this picture it's difficult to see but the route of the northern Durham Parkway can be seen going down to the lower right and up to the upper left of the of that red line as kind of a peach colored line on that map it's important to note that after the future Northern Durham Parkway was identified as being in this area we approached the state and the state in equa indicated that that road and the area for protection could co-exist so that the their proposal was revised so that there would be an 800 foot carve out for the future road to exist and that will provide the city with the
flexibility needed for unknowns and planning to build that road and opening it we'll see that revised area on another slide in just a moment as far as costs are concerned costs to the city we've estimated an approximate hundred thousand dollar placeholder for entry into the state's program as the city's property would need to be surveyed that would be the Lion's Share of the cost about a good fifty thousand dollars to survey 12 large Parcels of city-owned property there would be additional typical costs for real estate deals like this including a real estate appraisal attorney's title work for additional Consulting fees to bring the project across the goal line and perhaps even cost for signage and markings on the city property denoting where the protection begins one important note to include as far as costs are concerned is that in our conversations with representatives from the state and equa they've indicated that there could well be monies or
grants available that could pay for some of the costs delineated on this slide with the acknowledgment that that funding is not in hand at present but could be available in the future I'd also like to mention that once we complete the due diligences that are made mentioned on this slide it will take about 9 or 12 months to go through the state's process to get into one of their programs uh as a result of the meetings that were convey convened here at the city as well as the due diligence we performed feedback was provided to the representatives from the state and to the representatives from equa and they responded positively to the city's various requests by providing a significantly revised change in the size of the area proposed for dedication they reduced the scope of what's being asked of the city from 284 Acres shown on the left to 215 Acres note that their proposal that the proposal I just want
to reiterate is actually not from equa but rather from the state of North Carolina's Department of Natural and cultural resources natural heritage program that's a mouthful uh these Maps serve to reflect the difference from the originally proposed 284 on the on the Acres on the left to the 215 Acres on the right the original map on the left shows the entire area being sought for protection and that actually included some call outs for specific forested areas to be slated for restoration however the map on the right is a much more simplified proposal it shows not only the significant reduction of acreage but also it shows the primary areas what are considered by the state's program to be primary areas for protection and then buffer areas for protection the buffer areas obviously allow more use by the city of its property I'll elaborate and explain just a bit more about the differences in the
areas proposed for protection in a moment but just just as a side note the picture on the right depicts that carve out that I mentioned previously for the northern Durham Parkway it's a blank area between the top kind of cap area and the rest of the property and again that is an 800 foot carve out that we could utilize for a future uh for the future Northern Durham Parkway additionally in the right hand picture the darker hatchings are what are called primary areas for protection which are more restrictive as they're meant to protect the more critical portions of our property the areas of light are hatching are those buffer areas I mentioned any needs that the city may have in the in the future for water management infrastructure or for Trails use would be allowable in the buffer or second or buffer or secondary areas provided that that use isn't within a hundred feet of the border of a primary area in practice if the city chooses to participate in
the state dnp program for protecting this property those primary areas would be strictly severely restricted from any use by the city in the future and the method for either amending a portion of the primary area or removing a portion of the primary area would require an action approval action by the governor and the Council of state and to date we have not been made aware of that having occurred in other municipalities uh the second air secondary area or the buffer area I refer to is more lightly hatched in that picture on the right it gives the city the rights to perform the actions we can foresee at that time the state would require as part of our management agreement or management plan for those areas to be those uses in those areas to be captured so that we can include it in the management plan and notate it for the future some examples of local properties that have been included in the state's dnp
program for dedication include the Jordan Lake game lands the Eno River State Park here in Durham and the Eno conservation preserve which is a property incidentally that's owned by the Eno River Association and it's located right on the Eno River at where it crosses the Guess Road in staff's recommendation which we'll get to in a moment we'll talk about a different approach to protecting the property through registration of the property as a state registered Heritage area examples of properties locally that have been registered include the Bennett Place Forest the Duke forest and other properties listed including Penny's band these examples are illustrative of the types of properties that could be or are included in the two different programs comparing some advantages of the two different programs that being the dedicated Nature Preserve or dnp and the state's registered Heritage area program reveal substantial similarities going
S Geological Survey maps that provides utilities and other adjacent or nearby developers with notice that this is a protected property both of the approaches I'm moving to the third bullet both of the approaches fulfill the open space needs called for in the uh in the draft future comprehensive plan which is which has identified the majority of this property involved to be either Recreation to be Recreation and open space already uh again the DMP program moving to the next bullet provides for permanent or Perpetual protection while the registration uh option could be removed in the future however the final bullet on the right also indicates that the city and not the
state would retain control of city property for unforeseen future needs if we move towards registering the property in the Heritage area program I'll be a little briefer on this slide in comparing some of the concerns we had in each approach the dnp's restrictions on these primary areas would be perpetual if the city had any unforeseen uses for the prop for our property those restrictions could only be removed from protection as I mentioned by action of the governor in the Council of State the dnp would have some costs involved which the registration would not have but as I mentioned previously some of those costs could be able to be covered through grants also in the dnp program the city would have a responsibility to enter into a management plan in which the state would require the city's compliance there would be ongoing maintenance and management expenses and also of course the city would lack flexibility and use of its property
uh by comparison in the registered Heritage program as I've mentioned the protection could be undone by Future governing bodies or future city councils and the city could be more easily pressured by nearby developers to remove some restrictions on the property so that nearby development can occur after all of the considerations that I presented were taken into account our team ultimately identified three recommendations that are before you today Council our recommendation seeks to achieve the goals of the state the city and equa of protecting the property staff's recommendation is for city council to direct us not to participate in the state's DMP program but rather to work with the state in a two-step process to designate the property as a registered Heritage area and also to an in accordance with that to amend the city's code of ordinances so that protections are in place doing so would provide the flexibility
for future use of the property by the city as is needed while also accomplishing the aims or goals of all parties involved to protect the property furthermore the city would retain control of its property and our recommendation in which uh which is the main reason that the registered Heritage area program is being recommended the second part of our recommendation is to utilize a self-directed action to protect the property by making changes to the code of ordinances this is similar to what has been done in the past to protect uh or excuse me to provide protections of the city's reservoirs at Little River and at Lake Mickey this could be accomplished with the assistance of Partners like the state and like equa in that we could Garner input from them and use that to draft the section of the ordinance of the city code of ordinances that I'm referring to the third recommendation is simply made to provide flexibility to achieve these outcomes pending all this further
discussion negotiation and specific identification of the property involved and lastly note that negotiations between the once negotiations are between the parties are completed we would come back before city council to bring this for to bring forward a final recommendation with specific details as to the project protections that we finalized in our negotiations we've also identified a few Alternatives that are not being recommended by staff one option of course is to do nothing and maintain status quo that is simply not being recommended by staff the second alternative would be for Council to direct staff to further explore a full dedication of the property into the state's DMP or dedicated Nature Preserve program that is also not being recommended at this time because as that alternative is is has would excuse me that alternative would give the city extremely limited use of its property and that we're concerned about
unforeseen uses or potentialities for the property especially related to the landfill site that may require additional gas probes Wells or other infrastructure to monitor any changes to the plume of the landfill as it settles in ages and lastly any needed removal or change in the use of property as I've mentioned from the primary areas of anything preserved in the state's DMP program would be onerous and would require the actions by the governor as I've mentioned uh City staff is here from the various departments as well as representatives from both the state and equa to respond to any questions you may have thank you for your time thank you so much any questions or comments from council members council member Freeman thank you I did want to hear from equa specifically and to hear about their thoughts on that
plan we have Ricky White from Aqua here to speak thank you and welcome hey y'all uh um thank you so much council members for letting me speak um we first of all really appreciate working with Gina and David on this and especially over the last few months like they said we brought this to Council in January of 2000 over a year in three months ago so we're excited to finally get to this point where we can talk about it um we feel like we we were very responsive to City staff's concerned around the landfill and other things and that's why the boundary of the entire dedicated Nature Preserve proposed did get reduced so I think I feel we've addressed a lot of the concerns I think the one big concern that uh staff and and aqua have a difference of opinion on is the permanent conservation part so we have um a goal in the uh current and the new
con the new comprehensive plan to conserve 30 percent permanently conserve 30 percent of the land in Durham for for constipation purposes uh we're not even close to that and we don't have really anyone within the city or or even the county that's like pushing that the city owns around 800 acres along that section of Ellerbe Creek we're asking for a little more than 200 acres to be conserved permanently although we appreciate the step of a registry approach which the staff is considering and proposing to you all uh the whole point of permanent conservation is for it to be permanent we want to prevent future folks from coming in and developing this section of the property which is 80 percent Wetland by the way there's not a whole lot that you can do with this and if you did do something with it you'd be be pretty irresponsible in terms of the if it's
affordable housing or housing the residents are going to suffer from being in a in a flood plain or if it's filled water quality Downstream is going to suffer and it's going to be detrimental Falls Lake uh Downstream so anyway my point is that we would really love to have this as a dedicated State nature preserve we don't think it's onerous for the city because this is an area that is very isolated and a lot of you have been out there here in Rookery you know how may using a place it is it is truly a gem for Durham and we're excited about the idea of protecting it permanently and eventually opening it to the public so that everybody can enjoy this this part of Durham nature okay and I'm happy to answer questions thank you and I just wanted to kind of get feedback from staff regarding moving forward with the way your recommendation was with the permanent preservation in place with the state what would be the difference
so just that I just uh because it's essentially the second alternative um we feel that our our suggested a recommended solution can provide good protection for the uh area if we amend the code of city or city code of ordinances to have a section that specifically protects this property it would be uh uh a rare occurrence for a future city council to want to undo that uh I don't think as Ricky mentioned I don't think that future city council would say we want to develop this as affordable housing or housing because as he mentioned it's it's essentially flood plain property my biggest concern uh after our of staff's biggest concern was needs that could be unforeseen for water management for a water pipe or a sewer line or something like that or uh even
some sort of Trail or some sort of access something like that is more what we're trying to avoid uh by suggesting not not participating in the states program it's retaining local control essentially but providing the same protections I appreciate that thank you thank you thank you council member other questions or comments from members of the council um Madam city manager did you want to see something hearing no other comments as as you know this was a presentation item but it remains on the agenda because it is actually asking Council to provide direction to staff uh you know staff has provided its recommendation and so we would be looking for no specific guidance on whether or not the council is directing staff uh to proceed with this recommendation or one
or one of the alternatives even though we know it is not a final decision but a lot of work goes in when we leave these spaces in order to pursue next steps I understand so this this will be on our Monday agenda um so my recommendation would be to put it on GBA and have a discussion then when more of our colleagues are available thank you very much thank you um any other questions or comments thank you Mr Fleischer appreciate it um our next pulled item is item number 15 the resolution and adoption policy for the naming rights of publicly on properties and Facilities I pulled this item and just had one question how good afternoon city council Bertha Johnson Deputy city manager thank you so much um is there a particular case that is the impetus for bringing this policy forward at this time or are we just
trying to get ahead of it we have had some inquiries about a name and rights policy that came to us in Durham County and that's when we realize we do not have a policy Durham County has a policy and they're reviewing it it was adopted in 2016. we also checked with Raleigh I think Aaron miles who worked on this from the city attorney's office also benchmarked some other cities like Asheville and we do not have a policy and so we thought it would be important for us to have a policy for future use great thank you have those inquiries been about anything specific that folks were interested in renaming or just general can like general question about whether it could be done both both yes the one question was about how do we name a facility or how do we honor a former elected official or a significant person in the community so it wasn't about a specific facility or space it was just about what is our process and we know we have a process for Parks and
Recreation for you know their facilities but we did not have a general policy for City facilities gotcha thank you I look forward to some interesting proposals from our residents about renaming some of our facilities yes absolutely thank you all right that is one more question Deputy city manager Johnson sorry would this include uh street names or is that something different that is something different okay thank you thank you um that is our final pulled item we do have a board one board nomination from our Clerk afternoon Madam presiding chair and council members the Durham bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission appointment for the category of at large resident is Jeffrey M baklichuk and
that's the end of my report thank you madam Clerk and we'll go to our city manager to settle the agenda thank you thank you very much I do have for your agenda for consent items one through six and items ten eight through ten and items 14 through 17. for General business agenda I have item number seven and for GBA public hearings hearing this time item number 11. thank you madam manager um is there a motion to approve the agenda is there a second thank you I moved by councilmember Williams seconded by council member Hyman all in favor please say aye aye aye any opposed proved unanimously thank you colleagues
do we have any other matters this afternoon councilmember Freeman just a note about the gun violence resolution I just want to appreciate Council colleagues for accepting it on this agenda so we can get it done by May 1st and be ready and that's all thank you councilmember yeah real quick um I just wanted to say that and this is sort of like a uh a moment of personal privilege for those who are watching um again I've said it before this role is really tough and it is a very thankless role and as we try to focus heavily on the people's business you know we we do take a lot of personal attacks and that is what it is for the general public if we're not necessarily responding to accusations or any of those things it doesn't mean that we aren't listening it just means we're trying to just stay the course lately there's been a lot of personal
attacks on Council colleagues including myself we have had pictures taken of us doing moments of Silence to say we're sleep there have been you know all types of accusations and allegations and nothing has been proven and this is for everybody I just would ask the general public to just have Grace uh as we try to do what we were elected to do I don't recall a single person on this Council stating a four or against on the scad document uh or usually any document before it comes before us yet that narrative has been put out there so there are folks that intentionally try to sow discourse and there are almost 300 000 people within the city limits here and it's amazing how few people can cause such discourse um so I just want to say to the general
public that we are trying to do at the best of our ability to people's work we feel your gut punches and we intentionally usually ignore you if you're trying to sow negative discourse uh so me speaking personally I hear you I see you and if we're not trying to fight for the better good here uh you won't be at the top of my priority list but I will continue to be committed to the community at Large thank you thank you council member anyway any other matters um thank you everyone I will declare this meeting adjourned at 2 17 PM we have a closed session we need to oh right sorry it's not adjourned is there a motion to go into close second moved by council member Freeman seconded by council member Williams all in favor I think that was everyone
um motion approved unanimously we are now in closed session let me go upstairs but now oh having