good evening happy Monday everybody I'd like to call the Durham city council meeting to order for this the 21st day of August 2023 at 7 pm here in the city of Durham we are happy to see so many faces who have joined us tonight in person in Chambers and we certainly welcome those who have joined us remotely as well let us have a moment of silent meditation before we take up the people's business for this evening thank you all so much we'll now recognize councilwoman Freeman to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you it's our practice to stand and salute the flag if you're able
all right Madam clerk if you will call the road mayor O'Neill I am president mayor Pro tem Middleton councilmember Caballero councilmember Freeman president councilmember Halsey Hyman President councilmember Johnson here councilmember Williams president thank you thank you so much I'll look to my left for any announcements by colleagues councilwoman Jose Harmon good evening it's really good to see all our residents in the audience to my colleagues we've had a busy week I know I have so I have I'm going to try to make it as fast as possible but I will say that I had the honor to go out with preserve real Durham to the South East Durham area and to really see the impact of all this building and I want to also say that it does not just affect people saying well they just don't want people of color to move out there or they just don't want certain people to move out there because I met with older African-American people I met with older white people I met with young
people and just the level of damage that they showed me to their property was just outstanding and then the other thing I want to talk about is the fact that they have more than one person told me that they have tried to file a claim on their insurance to have this issues that happen with their blasting and that the companies have told them that if they continue to move in the the sense of filing it that they would lose their insurance and so um I just know that the the the voting that we do here does make consequences to people how it affects them and I saw it firsthand and I just wanted to say to those people who are dealing with this in terms of their property being damaged in terms of their property can't even use their backyard because they're putting buffers up that are so high that they can't even put their their animals to run to the yard or their their children it was just a strong funding to me so I just want to also say that our voting has consequences and it is affecting people at all economic and all backgrounds so thank you for inviting me out there to see that I also wanted to talk about
project 300 Sherrod Johnson who had a wonderful event where he had so many sneakers for young kids coming out with their families they had food they had games we had people from the city there some of our other colleagues were there and so he does this every year and what and honestly I want to also do a shout out because that was my student he was my student as an undergrad at Shaw University and just to see the blessings of what he's doing and giving back to the community makes my heart fawning good I also want to talk about Progressive Holiness Church that I was out there this weekend with elder Christopher Lewis and Katrina Lewis who basically were giving out backpacks and computers to to kids so they were really doing their thing and also a couple of us here too were also able to go to the homecoming of Destiny Seaberry who was the 15 year old young lady who was the babysitter of our little girl Chloe that was was shot and they had a homecoming and the mayor also gave like a statement to her and it was just so so to see all
the family wrap around her she is a student at Jordan 15 and when we and when they asked her would she do it again she said yes that she would throw herself in front of a bullet for her family and we need to take a lesson from that because it's not just about us but it's what we're doing to give back to the community and give back to one another thank you very much thank you any other announcements councilman thank you madam mayor I just wanted to um publicly appreciate all of the city employee city workers who are out doing storm recovery work for us over the last over the last week lots of folks in our community you know experienced down trees you know trees on houses blocked roads and our staff were working non-stop for those first few days making sure that our streets were clear and that our infrastructure was getting back where people needed it to be so just want to thank our all of our city workers who are part of that effort getting getting everything back online
for our residents thank you Councilmember Williams thank you I saw many of you my colleagues and community members throughout the community at several events so I'm sure all of those events are going to be mentioned uh however I wanted to really reiterate what councilmember Johnson just stated uh you know we have a lot of city workers that go unseen and this was detrimental uh what happened with the storm and just wanted to uplift them and let them know that we appreciate them we see them and uh they they kept us functioning as a community this this uh over the past break uh with with the storm breaking electricity so I thank you also uh considering the climate in which we've been functioning in this year I want to really shout out Hillside High School Band program in southern Durham High School Band program I served as assistant director of bands
at Hillside 2006 to 2010 and director of bands at Southern High School 2010 to 2014 and you know we are Arch Rivals those two high schools in a fun way but to see those kids come together this weekend not only did Hillside bring over 300 alumni back to that Stadium to support those kids and it was a beautiful sight the next day at the DPS Fest they played together and to see Arch Rivals join together and represent Unity I think that we have a lot of lessons that we can take from that as well so kudos to our youth for leading by example and uh and I think it's something it's a lesson that our entire community our entire Community can learn from thank you thank you colleagues looking to my right see if there are any announcements on my right hand side
um thank you I would just add um a thanks to my colleagues for noting the storm recovery for our staff and also just noting I I was actually at the JFK towers and when the lights went out and I think that we've definitely got to do um a deeper dive around what it looks like to address more than that one building because I know there were others and it kind of resonated with me in a different way trying to figure out how they would get upstairs and just being there it was different I I did want to also say that it was a a blessing to be in the space um for Destiny's return and that her cousin shared a wonderful poem and how the Arts has impact just the healing impact for our community and so I did share that on my Facebook page if you want to read it it is available and I also wanted to thank project 300 for the
great RNs Sports for the great news for those students who are returning back to school not only the backpacks and the Sneakers but just the haircuts the braids like all of that matters to kids who are going back who might not have had that so yes thank you that's all thank you good evening everyone I just want to also extend gratitude to city workers last week um and thinking about all the residents who lost power um and also uh Duke Energy workers who I know were working around the clock to get everyone's power back on I also want to shout out our school teachers and Educators because DPS not the year-round they started a little while ago we'll begin next Monday and we do not have Council meetings next Monday so good luck to all of our Educators and DPS staff and kids I wish you well and I hope you all have an excellent year all right I have a couple of announcements um good evening again to everybody I do
want to start out with giving a shout out to the heart team I was able to go by and two of the community safety department which is actually located right around the corner from this Chambers and have a great time with them spend a couple of hours with them during the storm right after the storm the next day after the storm we had planned for the two and so it was really good for me to get out and kind of see what they were doing up close and personal and believe me they have personal work that they're out there on the streets doing so a shout out to Allison and Jessica who took me out and there's some pictures on my Facebook page I believe I also wanted to um remind everybody on August the 31st we will have in this Chambers a joint meeting for the comprehensive plan at 7 pm we'll have all 15 of us I think up here on the diets along with our city managers we had a prep meeting today and just to let um my colleagues know we are asking and
you'll get a letter A A an email from um Miss Young Who will basically kind of outline how that meeting is going to flow it will be a public hearing so we're expecting to have a lot of people come we're going to try to address all of that we have some some plans to be able to have a discussion amongst ourselves but because there's so many of us if you have any questions that you can think of in advance I think Vice chair commissioner Jacobs has already given a group of questions if you could provide those two our planning department you'll get a date by when in that memo from Miss Young to kind of get them some heads up so they can prepare for that meeting and then if we don't finish at night they will also check in to see if you all have another date to try to coordinate all of our various schedules to be in place on that night so to our public please come be prepared to speak to us to both the the County
Commissioners and your city council as well I also want to ask for a thumbs up for an appointment to the gold triangle board we had a resignation from Stephanie Williams who it is a joint appointment between the chair of the County Commissioners and the uh the mayor the county and recommended through Brenda and I'm recommending to you to y'all Patrick Hannah to fill that seat uh I think Patrick has had some turning Hannah let me put it that way he was a part of our transportation department I believe here in the city for a number of years so commissioner Harrington and I discussed that name she brought it forth to her colleagues they approved it at their last meeting we're asking I'm asking if I can get a thumbs up for it to be placed on our agenda for Thursday so
that we can get that approved and attorney Hannah can take that seat so all right Madam clerk we have a thumbs up for that all right with that being said we'll move on to our next first order business which is our priority items and I will recognize our city manager as such good evening Madam mayor Mr Mayor Pro tem the members of the Durham city council I have two items to um bring to you this this evening first agenda item number 15 is a Construction contract with eagle solar and light LLC for design and installation of photovoltaic electrical generation systems at Water Management Miss Lake facility the memo the alternative section of that agenda memo which was uh attachment number one was slightly revised to provide specificity on the impact of not approving the contract and finally
agenda item number 24 which is proposed updates to connection Lift Station review and flow monitoring fees this item is being referred back to the Water Management Department that is all I have for you this evening thank you city manager Paige I now turn to attorney Rayburn thank you mayor Neal good evening members of the city council the city attorney's office has no priority items tonight thank you attorney Robert I turn now to our city clerk for a priority items thank you madam mayor the city clerk's office also has no priority items tonight all righty okay we will move to the next order of business which is the consent agenda the consent agenda consists of items that the council has previously considered in a work session all items on the consent agenda may be approved by a single vote of the council items may be removed from the consent agenda by a council member or a member of the public and those items will be considered
separately at the end of the meeting tonight we're going to kind of go out of order a little bit but I'll explain after the reading of the consent agenda the first item is approval of city council minutes item number two participatory budgeting steering committee appointments item three the Durham historic preservation commission mayoral appointment item four is the Durham city council County Environmental Affairs board appointment and I do see Miss Faith Calhoun Who was appointed to the Durham historic preservation Commission in the audience thank you for your service ma'am this is her second appointment to that board so thank you for that uh the next item will be item five which is the citizens advisory committee appointment item six the mayor's Council for women appointment number seven during bicycle and pedestrian advising advisory commission appointment
S Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration airport Improvement program Grant offer 3-37-0056-062-2023 Grant 62. number 13. S Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration airport Improvement program Grant offer
3-37-0056-063-2023 Grant 63. item 14 is the interlocal agreement with Durham County for joint funding of the low income homeowners relief program lihrp item 15 is a Construction contract with eagle solar and light LLC for design and installation of photovoltiac electrical generation systems at Water Management Miss Lake facility item 16 is a condemnation action to obtain to the easements at 4000 Fayetteville Street we have one speaker for that item so it will be pooled and we will actually hear from Mr McLean out of order in order to accommodate him before our scad discussion item 17 Construction Services contract with Riggs Harold builders Inc for the Edison Johnson Recreation Center renovation project item 18 athletic booking agent contract
item 19 amendment number two to Professional Services contract with Remy Kemp Associates for Woodcroft Parkway extension tip number u-5823 item 21 is amendment number four for Falcon the engineering contract number 16451 for the construction material testing and special inspections of the Miss Lake facility expansion item 21 the interlocal agreement for the Western intake partnership real estate 22 amendment number one to the Professional Services contract with Hazen and Sawyer PC for the Williams Water Treatment Plant Basin improvements project item 23 Professional Services contract with ravtelis financial consultants Inc for the Western intake partnership Governor's amendment number one item 24 proposed updates to connection Lift Station review and flow monitoring
fees and that has been referred back to Water Management under our general business agenda as a public hearing we have item 26 which is the unified development ordinance text Amendment simplifying codes for affordable development I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of item number 16. a move second or it's been moved by councilman Williams seconded by councilwoman Freeman a metal Collective you will open the vote if you will close the vote and Report out the motion passes 7-0 thank you as I indicated we normally would have the pooled item or pool to items they are scheduled to be heard according to our a regular agenda at the end of all of the other items on our
agenda however we only have one pulled item with one speaker so if you would allow me to move Mr Jerry McLean up at this time and ask him if he would come and have his saved before the council Mr McLean you have three minutes to speak sir how's everybody doing this evening I talked to you guys about a couple of weeks ago and my attitude was a little bit shaky I apologize for that but I don't apologize for what I was talking about I live at 4 000 Fayetteville Street and before you vote on that imminent domain you should talk to me no one has talked to me Ali John has taken the city's word for salary workers the city made a mistake an honest mistake the city has tried to cover that mistake up the city has built on property that does not belong to them they know it they knew it when they did
it all I expect out of this is to be made whole I have expenses occurred fightiness I want my expenses back I want to be able to build a wall or a fence around my property to stop the erosion and the Damage that cars are doing I've had 10 cars on that property six in four years the last one was in June I have no front porch I cannot get a permit to rebuild why not 141 dollars spent turned out four times Aluminum Company of North Carolina was turned down for a permit they saw no reason for a storage permit uh storage shed to be built on the property how did the front porch get to be a storage shed send one of your representatives to talk to me somebody you trust let them see the property and if you want to vote for an imminent domain go ahead I'll see you in court thank you for your
time thank you for coming tonight Miss America all right we will now turn to our General business agenda and we have one item on the agenda for tonight for public hearing and that's item number 26 the unified development ordinance text Amendment simplifying codes for affordable development and we will hear from our staff good evening mayor mayor Pro tem council members I'm bodabrinsky assistant director with the city County Planning Department I'd like to certify for the record that all notification requirements for this item have been met uh this text Amendment case tc22001 simplifying codes for affordable development is a privately initiated text amendment that proposes to amend various provisions of the unified development ordinance in order to allow additional flexibility in citing and
design predominantly for infill housing and small-scale Commercial developments the applicant team is here to present specifics of these amendments here tonight the Planning Commission recommended Denial on December 13th 2022 by a vote of six six this item was first scheduled for you all's consideration March 20th it was continued to May 1st but was then referred back to staff to be rescheduled for consideration after the July break over the course of those interviewing summer months plan staff hosted a series of meetings between the applicant team and representatives from the inner neighborhood Council Inc the purpose of these meetings was for the applicants to hear and better understand the specific concerns from Inc and for the Inc representatives to hear and better understand the intent of the applicants as a result of these meetings the applicant team made six changes to their proposal which are detailed in your staff report in addition to your to your staff report your agenda materials contain an updated
staff analysis attachment a that is organic organized with related ordinance Provisions groups by Topic in order to facilitate consideration of the proposed amendments this item has not yet been scheduled for consideration by the Board of County Commissioners pending the outcome tonight staff will schedule the appropriate next available date for the public hearing on these amendments a modification of the effective date may be required if depending on the outcome of tonight two motions are required for this item one to approve an ordinance to amend the Udo and the second is to approve the corresponding consistency statement both staff and the applicant are here and available to answer questions thank you so much you have heard the report from staff and I will now declare this public hearing to be open and we will first entertain any questions or comments from Council just to let everybody know I have about 23 cards up
here so far if you're in Chambers and you would like to speak please go ahead and sign up we will take those first and then we will go to our participants who are joining us via the Internet so turn to my left Council I have a question for um I don't know if this is a proper time to to ask this question so my colleagues will tell me but I have a question for attorney Raymond regarding the scad um proposal and so um since April there's been like emails back and forth about a particular council member may need to recruse themselves because of some I guess connection to that particular's husband and being on the planning stages of The scad Proposal this was back in April I just got another email about that also residents are asking for recrusal um based on your response it was that you have not been charged by anybody on this Council to actually do an investigation to see if that recrusal
should be done and so I'm just concerned we have I have a fiduciary responsibility to find out what is going on um I just also feel that there are just certain rules and regulations that kind of are geared to some people and not geared to others in terms of how we deal with these things and so I just need to know again I'm getting these emails I just don't know you know what the procedure should be and is there a policy procedure around this person being able to recruse itself from the vote tonight based on these emails that we're getting and based on what you said in the email thank you for your question councilmember so recusal of an elected official is governed by North Carolina General statute it's not necessarily governed by email inquiry or or even my response and I have reiterated a number of times including in the email that I sent in April which was largely reproduced a few days ago to the same Inquirer that the governing statute 160d 109
which is a land use statute sets the basis for recusal for an elected official when they are challenged now an elected official has a duty to recuse if they lawfully meet certain criteria they recuse themselves from votes where they have a clear conflict of interest they are the applicant on a project of someone that they're related to is the applicant on a project they have a duty to recuse another criteria is if there is a reasonable likelihood that the council's vote on an application will result in a direct substantial material Financial benefit to that elected official um as you indicated I am not I was asked by a member of the community whether my office had investigated anything um as we have discussed in other contexts my office does not investigate
allegations of behavior or interest conflicts on the part of the council that is not in the council procedures that is not in my job description we don't have any sort of infrastructure to make that happen at the city attorney's office but what I have done consistently in every instance is communicated with the entire Council about the issue so I've copied the entire Council on my communications and that has remained consistent there has not been a difference in how I've handled different situations in that respect and so with respect to the inquiry that came in the other day I was again asked which I have taken to understand to be an objection to a council member participating in this item what the statute provides that 160d 109 that I previously mentioned in subsection e is that if there is an objection to the council member's participation then the council member
needs to address it State whether they do have some sort of financial benefit that is likely to remit to them from a vote on the item and they are going to recuse or if that is not true if that's not true if that's not a true statement there's going to be a financial benefit to the council member and the council member has a duty to exercise their public official duties and vote so have I answered your question you have it's just that I again there's just been a couple of emails so I just wanted Clarity but also there has been documentation of that particular person's husband in those emails and so you have documentation saying that they were part of the I guess beginning I think I'm not sure beginning discussions with it so it's just really confusing to me how certain things they handle with one particular city council member and other things I handled with another city council member include myself so I just wanted to put it on a record that these emails have been back and forth there is documentation with this person's husband
in the planning I think because I don't know these are emails that were sent to us and again no one on this Council has even discussed it no one has brought it up and so I just wanted to put that on the record thank you Councilmember Caballero thank you madam mayor since my colleague has mentioned the emails and it's a public record she is discussing me um my understanding is that unless um there is a it is a very narrow definition of the statute and I do not have a conflict of interest I do not I will not benefit directly as defined by the state statute and actually the folks who have been emailing are incorrect my husband has not participated in anything scad related um and my understanding is from speaking with the city attorney that I have no requirement to recuse
myself all right any other comments before we turn to our public speakers I will call five at a time you will get your three months three minutes tonight we will not shorten that as this is a very important issue to a lot of people and so we want to pay full attention to what each of you have to say we'll start off with Stephen Neal followed by Miss Benita green Rafiq zyde is a z Society I always pronounce her name wrongly I'm Sorry Miss Jackie wag staff and Mr Steve Tola that will be our first five speakers for tonight Mr Neal you have three minutes sir ready thank you um uh Stephen nil Durham resident three quick comments uh for tonight I'll leave the discussion about the specific sections and the massive 40 55 page text amendment to those that understand the
best I've spent hours on this thing and can't believe that anyone in the council credibly understands it well enough to vote it all in at once um since we were the people that started the emails with councilman from cavaliero I'll make a comment there um thank you for uh for answering and offering to recruse yourself on one comment that if it passes and uh Mr Brown's involvement leads to a direct substantial and readily identified viable Financial impact for the counselor I believe the public should expect an Ethics inquiry will be conducted but we'll put up into that for the future um in addition there looks to be a pattern of questionable practices here in regard to development and now even a member of the planning department seems to be getting in on it I expect more informational surface even at a higher clip during the election and Beyond on that um and then lastly I'd like to thank council person Williams for his comments to the people of Durham at the pac-2 meeting last week and also again on
Twitter where he said in a quote we need time to debate this there's no up or down down to scab let's break this thing apart let's take what works for us and deny the rest this is a sea change from his position on March 20th where he was among three counselors demanding an up and down vote that day right be taken right then I'm hoping he follows through with his thought tonight consistency and credibility are two important qualities the public looks for when making their Mark next to a candidate's name for public office especially one as high as mayor so thank you for that thank you sir Miss Greene good evening mayor O'Neill and members of the diocese my name is Bonita green and I am the President of the inner neighborhood Council of Durham um as you all know we were able to meet with the proponents to discuss some of our concerns around
scad and as Mr um I'm going to scoop your last name both I'm just going to say Bo as Bo said you know they there were six things that they conceded on but what was not mentioned is that we had a list of 22 items that were the most egregious things that we wanted to be addressed and the six easiest things were addressed one of the big concerns for me certainly is the path program this program is marketed that it's going to be a vehicle to provide affordable housing in Durham and it really intentionally is not it does not follow the federal guidelines for what affordable housing is and looks like you know someone could purchase a home and then turn around and sell it for market value you know or you're five months in a rental that is not what affordable housing was like in Durham and I'd like to say because we think of affordable housing in one narrow scope
affordable housing needs to address all of the income levels for the people who work in Durham not just people who are coming to Durham but all of the income levels for everyone who currently lives here now they need consideration as well so the inner neighborhoods Council of Durham still stands in its original position of um asking you not to vote to pass this thing through because while it may be good for developers it's not good for the city of Durham thank you Mr Lee yes sir it's all about mystery [Applause] Tammy started yet I can't see the clock
thank you yes sir good evening Madam mayor a distinguished city council body my name is Rafiq zaidi I'm the president of the black concerned citizens and the president of men and women with boots on the ground Durham North Carolina I reside in 807 South Duke Street I'm here tonight in opposition to The scad Proposal since the accuser process that just came up and it's in question I would like for the City attorney to know that the intent in demote in a motive behind a person's engagement with the developers is enough for investigation legally scan there are members of the black community in the brown Community who believe that the author of scam proposal would have a further future impact
on the city's housing landscape worsening gentrification of already disenfranchised community further we believe that the Developers and the supporters such as Jim Anthony lubach Bob Chapman and others the author of semper flying codes for more affordable housing housing is hypocritical and is made by those who are trying to deceive the Durham citizens and residents into believing that all of a sudden the gentle files are our friends furthermore we believe that such deception after attempting to falsify using habitat for human for Humanity as a co-sponsor is intended to Hoodwink Durham city council County Commissioners in the Durham planning department lastly we are demanding that every neighborhood upon request should have a
meeting in this matter according to the planning Department's procedure and engagement in that application which we haven't had there have been meetings that the black community never even heard about it and still don't hear about but we understand how this thing is going if residents of color and those struggling with lower incomes don't really benefit from scared proposal it's fair to ask the question who does who does scam proposal we call it scam in the community the actual facts the obvious and most well-documented answer is Big developers and Real Estate Investors such proposals and scad will create Opportunities For Real Estate developers and high property values may encourage real estate and gentrifice to invest in projects located in areas that they have not historically consider all across the nation such
proposals are going up in the air so we ask and we demand that you deny the Motions that you deny the proposal election time is coming thank you [Applause] now we'll hear from Mr Wagstaff but before you come Mr Toller Mr marsali and Mr Anthony we have about 25 or 30 cars so I want to make sure that we give you equal time so I'm gonna pause after Miss wag staff that'll be 15 minutes you all can decide how you want to use that first 15 minutes then we'll continue on with buy more and then you can address right after that so you can we can keep track of the balance of time Miss Wagstaff so Mr Toler you'll be up next and you'll have 15 minutes looks like people have been fine with yielding my time to Mr Tola I'd like to see what
kind of mess he gonna bring up here tonight but uh good afternoon Madam mayor and council members um I'm here in the opposition of scad and I know that there's been a lot said including this long rant from our illustrious Leonardo Williams today on his Twitter he said a lot of things in this rant and one that was most concerning to me is the one that he tries to place a narrative on the people that have been organizing for months to educate the community about scad and how it's going to affect us he wrote you need to go on his Twitter and you need to look at this stuff because he put this in earlier today so that he could make all these people look like fools and he's the one with all of the Common Sense so you know I'm concerned about that because you seem to have a lot to say about things about this community and about who comes down here and who speaks now
for you Pastor we don't have 300 000 people that can fit in this room or their Fire Marshal is going to put us out and you always do these sermons about these people don't speak for the 300 000 in Durham well I think there are members of this community in here today that do speak for the 300 000 people in Durham and they're saying they don't want this scad they're telling you to vote it down but we know that and I'll say what I said publicly and I've said it on all of my social media that I I miss Wagstaff alone believe that all four of y'all are on the take that's just my belief now you can take that however you want but that's what I believe and it's not a court in Durham that would side with you if you tried to sue me because I believe that I believe the sun is out right now that's my belief but I think that we have elected officials here that promise certain
things when they were running and now these same people are ignoring the people that help them get there Leo you said something to pack two last week there was a total lie because we have it on film you said that you and the mayor voted to Halt this process some months ago that was not true you Javiera Caballero were the ones that was beating the drums to go ahead and vote on this it was the pastor that helped us out this time to Halt this thing and then you have one of the scared people that said he has four votes and I believe it I believe he has four votes but if you vote like this tonight this city has thousands of votes that's going to take you out so remember that okay Mr Mr Toller you would have trying to keep this time about 15 minutes if you'd like to I just know but
we want to make sure that everybody gets the amount of time that they need so yes ma'am if you just state your name we're going to try to do our best to keep up with it I just need two minutes okay the public process my name is Steve Toler I'm a citizen I've been a citizen since 1977. the public process this amendment has been through has been significant past the jccpc unanimously seven to nothing in April 22. throughout the 20 223 day engagement window hundreds of citizens sincerely participated through dozens of Civic groups 100 plus meetings probably more than any text amendment in Durham history and the bond referendums that I've done county-wide pales in comparison to what the community outreach has been here 28 citizens wrote portions of this amendment applicants have been ready willing and able to be heard since December 14 2020. um
the concern that I had as a citizen is that neither the planning department nor the proponents heard any specific comments on this until May of 2023 the second point I want to make is the tenor of public comments it's been very disappointing to me as a citizen attempts at character assassination claims of Nefarious intent the list goes on and on and the sad part of all this is you all have experienced this personally and this bad behavior yourselves often from some of the same people and one more point I'd like to to say is a business person is that as business people who depend on honesty and trust we can't have a Cavalier attitude about telling the truth because we get one chance to do so our
actions have consequences that we are very aware of and impact our livelihoods thank you for supporting the text Amendment and for your service to Durham in spite of some of the challenges thank you Mr John w-a-r-a I always mispronounced um followed by Mr Anthony and you would have that time remaining in order and you'll be able to come back because this the proponents um I don't need a whole lot of time I'm good okay thank you because much time first of all I appreciate all your service and sticking with this I'm John morrisella I'm an architect in downtown Durham I've been an early investor and developer in the neighborhood around Rigsby and East Chapel Hill probably
starting 20 years ago and it was frankly pretty much an abandoned city at that point I worked as the architect for the Golden Belt revitalization which was a probably three or four year project which I think has really come off quite well and most recently I've been involved in revitalizing the buildings that uh South Driver Street the old Garland Millworks site and we started with that because those were classic historic buildings they to me were the culture and the Nugget in that neighborhood we've come to have tenants in those buildings who are black owned businesses of that neighborhood very entrepreneurial folks we've worked very closely with them to bring them online Mike D's barbecue opened about a month ago home run selling out every night Congress has
opened uh proximity Brewing will be in the same neighborhood claymakers is there nccu is renting a warehouse there so you can see that neighborhood coming back and and the reason I bring that up is I frankly did not follow this text Amendment very closely but as I looked into it I could see what it could do in that neighborhood what it enables uh someone to do in that neighborhood is Mix commercial buildings with residential and candidly the residential buildings that will get built in that neighborhood are not going to be like the downtown five-story apartments that you're seeing because they just don't work that way right that neighborhood is going to be very much about surface parking two and three story kind of buildings if we can do it and a very much mixed-youth neighborhood that is on Transit lines all walkable and I think for being built from the ground up with
people from that neighborhood it's been one of the most rewarding things I've been involved in in Durham for 20 years and I think the text Amendment at least the aspects of it that would work for us in that neighborhood can transform it otherwise we get stuck with a series of empty lots in that neighborhood that I I really don't know what the future of those will be I don't know how you put those back together but using some of the tools and text amendment I can see where we can do something profoundly different that can transform that into a very much you know mixed-use Urban neighborhood walkable near Transit lines and and a very vibrant Place built as I said from the ground up with people from that neighborhood so I'm a proponent of that element of it I would love to see that work and if you can help us do that that's terrific that's all thank you thank you so much for coming this
evening Mr Jim Anthony I'd like to invite Bob Chapman to come join me my name is Jim Anthony and I am the applicant for this text Amendment and uh it breaks my heart to see how divisive this has become in the community Durham deserves better Bob and I have been working in Durham in my case 30 years Bob's 50. and we've never done anything but help this community I don't think there's anyone in this room who's ever looked at any of our projects who would say that was a mistake or that damaged anybody in this community so it hurts us to hear the kind of
conversation that's going on around this text Amendment Durham deserves a better conversation I was grateful when the group was convened in the planning offices to discuss exactly what was contained in this document and we had some great dialogue and I want to thank the team who came and sat with us subsequently we've had more conversation with the planning department staff about what they can support and what they're not ready to support some of those things are exactly what you have and would hear from this community gathered here tonight so I would like to formally request a continuance of this hearing because there are things that we now want to change about this document and allow for continued engagement with the community for those who feel like
they have been left out of the process or do not understand the document we want to talk about it we also want to make clear what those things are no one knows what they are yet but I can just tell you as a very recent conversations that have evolved that things like the elimination of parking requirements that's controversial you'll hear about that from folks here and Durham's not ready for that Raleigh was but Durham's not we've had discussions about the measuring of the height of buildings we need to eliminate the confusion around that Bonita mentioned the fact that she's not a she's not a fan of the path section of the amendment which is designed to accommodate and facilitate affordable housing Construction but it doesn't have the right terms in
it it needs to be addressed so I'd like to formally request a 90-day continuance of this public hearing end vote until we've had an opportunity to further engage with those who are interested in doing so thank you very much any questions before I sit down confirm with our attorney to see thank you so we may discuss that as the council um I would offer my take on that thank you Miss Anthony for coming today this has generated I know a an enormous amount of public interest which we are glad of we Durham has a very involved sinistry when it comes to matters like this as you can
see by the folks who are here and who are on the internet but we also have a wealth of knowledge that I do not believe that we have tapped into um for something that's significant as this as you all know we're going to consider the comprehensive plan on August 31st um so that will be will we will be moving towards the Udo also though I do I would offer to my colleagues um the formation of a task force a different kind of task force though because I do think that we have um institutions around that can offer some objective kind of take on this process for instance you have the Institute of government who is over at Chapel Hill you also have North Carolina Central University and Duke University both have undergrad degree programs and graduate level programs that could
probably help us to formulate some objectivity I think that's part of the missing discourse of the conversation is that there is not an objective voice um you either have the community that's filling one side or the other and you have the applicants so where's that objective voice that we both could listen to so we have formed task force before that take as long as a year I don't know why we will Rush something so important to so many people and especially not utilize the resources that we have at hand in our local universities so my suggestion would be that we consider the formation of a task force with those objective voices and also with the applicants and community members have them to sit at the table together and take it apart the one thing that I've
learned over the years is not everybody's going to read that document and not everybody can with understanding it's one thing to read it it's another thing to read it with understanding and it behooves us to make sure that our standing in the courtroom was that you have to be able to speak in a language that a third grader could understand right I don't know if we'll be able to get there with this type of a document but at least we could put it where it's in a context where your average citizen who's not a planner not a lawyer not a developer can understand it and be able to articulate it back so that would be my suggestion is not just look at the shorter window I don't know what 90 days will get you um in in right now but I do think that we need to put an objective voice in that space councilwoman Freeman and everybody else thank you madam mayor I think that's a great idea I would just like to just note
there's an equity aspect to this and just understanding it's not just that the community may not understand I think often professionals don't understand what community is experiencing and so I would like to add to that that there needs to be a way in which the experts in the community are also highlighted just acknowledging that many folks who've experienced multiple generations of displacement should have a centralized voice in this and that's not by race that's that's mainly by socioeconomics but I do want to make sure that if that is a hindrance that there's some way to fund them being involved in the process and making sure that there's funding tied to whatever moves forward because I think the task force is a great way to at least get the dialogue going and to nail down what what if scenarios around some of the changes that maybe proposed out of the scad
out of those amendments and then also what would actually make housing affordable here in Durham so thank you that's all councilwoman Johnson thank you madam mayor um I'm happy to support the applicant's recommendation for a 90-day delay if that's what folks think they need to continue to do the kind of community engagement and work that will make this proposal stronger um I you know I I can I can support that happening I want to highlight the work of our planning department however as a neutral and experienced body that has done a large amount of work on evaluating the scad proposals and has gone through every single proposal given us a detailed analysis of each proposal and then their recommendation as to whether that proposal should be passed or not I think it would be valuable for us for council members and for residents
to look at that analysis because what you will see is that a lot of the provisions that are being proposed to move forward by the planning department actually correct error and problems that they have previously identified in the Udo and create additional opportunities that people have been asking for in the city that don't currently exist in the Udo and a number of them are simple corrections to make things easier to understand for example we are not adding extra feet of height to a building we are changing where we measure the top of the building from the midpoint of the roof to the top which is something that's more intuitive for people to understand and so a lot of the things that have been proposed have been misinterpreted through through I would say both good faith and bad faith actors and that misinformation has been spread throughout the community in ways that do not actually reflect like the words on the page when you look at the proposals there are some
proposals in here that the planning staff do not recommend that we move forward that they recommend that we hold until the Udo rewrite and i would support following their guidance on that as well I also have concerns about the affordable housing path program I think that the affordability periods are far too short for any meaningful affordable housing to be created by that program and would rather also delay I would like to delay that period that piece of the um puzzle for longer if necessary so that we can figure out that affordability piece but in my opinion the majority of the staff recommended changes in The scad Proposal I feel comfortable doing a 90-day delay and allowing the developer to come back but I do not think that we need an entire task force to evaluate those Provisions a task force might be useful for the path Provisions for the affordability pieces or other pieces around affordability that are harder to figure out but for the technical changes that are being
proposed in the Udo I think that it would be completely reasonable to move those forward after the 90-day recommended delay thank you and then we're going to ask our planning director if she would speak to this after you see we're just we're back we're back at Council discussion for a second on their continuous so and then we'll come back if you don't mind let us finish on the dice and then the city staff and then we'll hear from you all this to but you all are thinking about the proposals just trying to keep a little oh on the side keep it straight in my head okay that's all I'm not trying to overlook anybody on the diocese then to the staff then back to the public all right so thank you I'll be very short so I mean my recommendation I do agree with your recommendation for task force but I also agree with the recommendation that a lot of our residents have asked for which is for this to be postponed after
our review of the comprehensive plan um and and then with the review of the comprehensive plan there's going to be some changes to the udl so I would prefer for us to table this even to after the comprehension plan is adopted and then the new changes will come into effect with the Udo so the 90-day situation I I'm like kind of totally against that but I would prefer again if we have to move forward I'm good with the task force but if not I would like us to go on what a lot of the residents have asked for which is for us to wait to up the comprehensive plan to even address this and also people have asked for to wait for new Council to be able to vote on this so that's what I would like to see thank you Young good evening mayor mayor pretending council members thank you for the opportunity to address you on this staff can certainly accommodate a 90-day continuance I do want to share a little bit more information about the timeline
for a full Udo rewrite If This Were to go much further than that time frame it would start to run into an overlap and likely compete with the work that we're trying to do to overhaul the whole ordinance we have both a technical consultant that is beginning work right now on it and we are in the process of hiring an engagement consultant um to specifically bring in our entire community and do engagement on the full rewrite in a way that I hope to make this city and county proud that will be very different but similar to how we've engaged on the comprehensive plan so I would say that in terms of a task force dealing with some of these more significant issues those issues and that will be happening in a broad scale for the whole rewrite through that engagement effort for that so just wanted to let you all know a bit of my concern about pulling this out too
long and competing with the Udo rewrite I think that would be a little bit messy to my right inning in the company thank you thank you madam mayor good evening everyone thank you for the staff I want to thank my comments of my colleagues for their excellent comments on this matter um I have no problem with the 90 days um as well and Madam mayor if if you think that a task force would be a good thing I certainly don't oppose that that either I do um I do want to say that that for me this this text amendment is not as exotic as some people have made it to be um I also want to say this is this is the third time to uh tonight this is the third time a particular resident has openly questioned the intelligence and comprehension of this largely black Council and I've heard this resident in other
contexts speaking of audiences not do that this is the third time many of us up here have voted on text amendments for years we read these documents we do our homework and we come and cast votes um so we have read the document multiple times we have at our access the planning department that is the Envy of their profession uh that is constantly lauded and looked to around the state and around the country don't take my word for it Google it our our planning staff is among the best in the business they are not undertake they work passionately they work every day for the good of the city so I want to to add my kudos to them as well in the way that they've redacted this document uh in the work that they've done and how they've put it in bite-sized pieces but as I said last time if folk feel they need more time I'm always going to err on the side of giving folk more time but I also want to
say something that needs to be said as well I've spoken a hundreds literally maybe thousands of people about this over the years that scat has been in our Public Square it is clear to me that there are a lot of people who haven't read this document it's obvious what we have read are some pre-packaged talking points from interest on both sides of this matter there are folk who don't want changes to their neighborhoods nimbiest who have managed to to enlist some prominent voices in our city to do their work their developers on the other side as well uh who who need to be questioned but I will say that that I my vote will not be based I can't govern based upon caricatures of entire professions um all developers are bad all lawyers are bad all people who want alternative to policing are bad that we can't govern based upon caricatures and there have been a lot of caricatures and personal
attacks thrown around about people so I'm looking forward to debate that a debate that's actually substantive um that has more light uh rather than Heat so 90 days is fine for me but but this has been going on for a couple of years now um this isn't new I also want to strongly push back against tying a land use decision or a text amendment to an election why you're getting to very very touchy business with that um well when when when President Obama wanted to nominate Merrick Garland with plenty of time left on his uh uh Administration you had folks saying well we need to have an election first so we've got about five or six months left on this council is there anything else we shouldn't be doing until the next Council we have a job to do and we were elected by people to do our job and I
would just remind us that tying land use decisions and Zoning decision decisions to elect our imaginations is problematic it's problematic um we we have a job to do so and for those it what's interesting to me is that if you don't for those who say they don't understand it then how do you know a new Council would be better for you either you understand it or you don't understand it now if you want a new Council for something that you don't understand the implication is that you really do understand it and you want a council shop to get Perhaps Perhaps a better outcome maybe this is a council that will give you the outcome you want once you understand it so I don't I don't understand how not understanding it is tied to a particular Council um so 90 days for me is fine Madame mayor um I'm not against the task force as well but I do want to call out that there are forces at work in the city that have enlisted folk that have
pre-packaged talking points that in many cases don't closely resemble what's in this document not even close some of them do some of them do not um so I look forward to 90 days in the debate and I look forward Madame mayor to the work of the task force if we go that way um those are my comments thank you thank you mayor Pro Tim I think councilwoman cabio or you have some comments yeah thank you I I'm fine with the 90-day delay as well I really appreciate staff very detailed analysis um I found the document to be pretty easy to read and the outcome with the guidance some things were you know this may be a good idea the Udo rewrite will give us an opportunity to really um measure in a way whether it's a success or it's something we shouldn't do and I think it's basically we had a window for for piloting some of these things and a real clear uh kind of fire stop if they
were things that folks or or weren't Landing the way that maybe they were anticipated to land but I'm fine with the 90 days I think I appreciate director Young saying very clearly that a task force or a deeper um analysis of this is going to run into the community engagement we are already planning to do with the Udo rewrite I think that all of this is a is a clear example of how desperately we need a Udo rewrite and I think also it's really important that um Community understands that at the end of the day everyone in this room operates when we think about housing in the market I think that there are lots of things that we could do that we don't have the authority to do that would limit the profiteering of housing including you know I think that there would be some pretty interesting
reaction if we were if we had the power which we don't to limit how much how much profit you could make when you sold your home because that's something that we uh we don't control it all folks sell land they've sell their homes they make money off of it and that continuously increases the cost of housing in Durham and that is not a space we plan at all we don't have the authority but I have I have a feeling that many people in this room would have a different outcome and a different sentiment if we were really stepping in to how much profit you could make as an individual with the purchase of your land or your home um so I find that to be interesting um but I I'm fine with a 90-day delay I look forward to continuing this conversation again I look um I really want to thank staff because I know it's been a lot for you all um this has been something that I folks have had an opportunity to talk
about I think there was lots of community meetings I'm pretty sure Inc had meetings Last Summer around these amendments so I think that there actually has been a lot of opportunity for folks to comment I think they just don't like it and that's fine it's fine not to like something I think it's not okay to mischaracterize to exaggerate um and to spread false information because you don't like something just say you don't like it it's fine to do that we all do that but I think we need to be more truthful about what we're actually talking about and what uh what folks are really asking for thank you I just wanted to know if we were going to get back to the public comment that was all I'm sorry it's if we were going to get back to public comment we have emotion on the floor well
councilman Councilmember Williams thank you I um I just share a few comments uh what first I had a question for staff just a quick question there were about 120 something line items for this document something like that how many of those were uh okay with your department I don't have a specific number of top might not have to look at it but the the vast majority remember that a lot of those are very small changes just for consistency they're not necessarily new and different content which accounts for a lot of the reason why you see in the analysis document you know staff recommends staff recommends because it's all kind of related for the same concept thank you
I will join my colleagues in saying that I will be okay with the 90-day delay um but there are there are a lot of things that are wrong with this process and we haven't even gotten to the substance and I I want to be really really really clear about this because it's really easy to be characterized as being disrespectful or or lacking compassion and I know that this stuff is really complex it's really it can be really scary um but at what point you know do do we try and rebuild this public Trust and I think that is the role that engagement public engagement Community engagement has to has to play uh
they're also you know I mean everybody has the right to say and do whatever they want this is America you have your first amendment rights um but it can't be considered rude and disrespectful or misleading when you actually call out misleading information or or someone who's intentionally trying to mislead folks um I have no problem at all personally and professionally I have no problem with folks disagreeing but there has to be a basis of fact and I am still looking for the the why on why we are supportive or the why we are not for it um and as I stated earlier there are there's been some great organizing around why we should be against it as you know some community members and that's perfectly fine that's okay
but at the same time you know from some of the folks that have been really against this I've yet to receive a call or or or a direct correspondence and I want to talk to you because I did what I was supposed to do and that was read and analyze and go deep into this document so that we can have an honest conversation but we have not had a lot of honest conversations community-wide and that that is what we we have to get to that we really do this document was delayed early on it was delayed at the Planning Commission and it failed in a tie it passed jccpc it was delayed when it got to council and it almost feel as though we're trying to deny by delaying
I have no issue with the substance of this document because we had that's what I was looking forward to discussing tonight the substance but we have yet to get to that because the process has been obstructed and that is what I take issue with and we have to be honest with ourselves we have to be able to dialogue even on difficult situations but if the process is always going to be what's attacked we're not going to be able to govern we're not going to be over the government so if you're standing in this room tonight and you're for this or against it that is perfectly fine that's what I thought we were here to do tonight but it's been a long time getting here and we're about to delay it again so to the applicant if this is your prerogative if you're prerogative it sits a little uncomfortable with me because I'm ready to get to the substance
if we're going to have a task force I hope that we'll focus on the areas that the planning our objective or professionals have actually uh said they they needs more work I hope that we can focus on that but I hope that everyone in this room goes and read this document in depth and when you have questions you'll reach out and we can talk about it because I'm almost certain some of the things that you found to be really frustrating you realize that it actually addresses it and some of the things you'll realize some of the folks that got some of you hyped up about it you're like wait a minute that's what you upset about very small changes so I hope that we'll be able to get back to honest dialogue I hope that we can rebuild public Trust and I hope that we can stop mischaracterizing people
we were elected to do a job and I hope that we can get back to trusting that and if you feel like you can do it better that's why we have this Democratic process for you to step in and do it as well and that is as simple as it gets so I'm I'm not going to get down into the mud of the back and forth and mischaracterizing people but I do invite you to have an honest conversation directly even with me if it's if you want to talk to me I am open to have that conversation and I mean every word of that but please do not void conversation with any source and then go and characterize it way thank you thank you all colleagues um where it's a procedural question as to whether we uh move uh to allow the continuance or
not um for the 90 days I am still of the opinion that one of the ways we build public trust a lot of trust has been broken I think in this process and sometimes that's what democracy looks like it it can it can be really messy and I'm I'm glad that so many people are interested enough in how our city is growing that they show up here tonight some of them show up every every night and some folk on the internet so that's a good thing that's a great thing I think for them but the one way I think that we have to rebuild public trust is to make sure that there's some objectivity built into this process which I think is what people have lost a little bit they've lost listening to our some of the comments they've lost um they've lost some faith in our planning department they've lost some faith and you know in in in some of us up here all of us up here at some point in time they've lost some support
um some confidence in the you know the application process itself you know with our non-profits it's just been a lot going on so I think that we need to have some guidance as to what happens in that 90-day period because that's why we continue the last time was to have public dialogue and you see where we are now so Mr Anthony what does that 90-day what will that do what can you tell this community about the involvement going forth because people want answers they want to be able to feel like that they are part of the process you got a whole room full of people here and on the internet as well who are concerned and they want to be involved so 90 days just for 90 days or 9 days with with some guidance around there and my suggestion is attachments doesn't have to be formal but the more objective professional voices that you have in that space I think will help to build some of that Community Support back up and and begin
to mend some of the bridges that have come about as a result of that so can you give us an idea what you're thinking about for that 90-day continuance how that will work yes thank you mayor O'Neill I will go back to uh comment by Jillian earlier which was that a task force would be a very useful tool it's I think pretty comparable to what our planning director was suggesting with public engagement and and it being facilitated by a neutral third party around the particularly controversial aspects of this document and and that is why I asked for this so that we could have that dialogue around those items but the vast majority of it and it is an incredibly boring read as those of you who have attempted it know because it is doing tiny little technical Corrections
that's what I'd like to see us pass in 90 days that which the planning department can endorse and you as council members can endorse and the public can support so that's my goal so 90 days is the November 20th day could I ask um if I could get at least five volunteers from the public who would agree to sit with you to kind of develop what happens over these 90 days so that they come back you all come back with um some type of plan for us at the next meeting so we'll have some idea of what you're going to do over the next 90 days the first five people in the audience to stand let's see raise a hand stand up for me I need five volunteers from the audience or that are bonus
yes just one question Miss Chase [Music] that that's a that's a city manager I'll get her to answer that if she'll have her staff available I see about six or seven so we yeah over there okay those people if you that are willing to do this and I see we have more than that if you would give your information to our clerk now and then we will pass that over to Mr Anthony and if you all could come back and have an outline of what these 90 days would entail for me those people who have stood to say that they will be willing to sit on at the table I know Mr Chavis you're going to want to sit as well so please give your information to our Clerk and we'll pass that on
um Madame mayor I would actually like to know if folks came in as proponents or opponents because we were actually not setting up this process to be successful I think they're going to bring a lot of different they have about 10 people so I know that they have a bunch of folk that they can bring me and I just want to give them a definite number of how many they have on that side so we can get Tim opponents so do you have an even number right mayor O'Neill I wonder if it would be possible for the folks who are signing up to share what neighborhood they live in so that we could get some diversity of the neighborhoods represented that will be good if you all include that information ma'am if you will go over there and then you'll you will know how many I'm a taking that everybody that's signing up are uh opponents so then you will be able to put your right I'm not trying to
uh did you put your neighborhood what I'm what I'm proposing is to get the volunteers because I can't ask people to volunteer because you're on one side of another I would ask that you indicate what you do what side you're on Mr Anthony I think that would be those who is a proponent at this time for the most part so I'm sure he can balance that and I will look forward for him balancing that so we would just ask that you make sure that it's balanced city manager you had a question about whether your staff could be available I'll let you answer that thank you madam mayor you know the city County Planning department and their resources have been you know involved in analysis throughout the whole time making recommendations um you know we we serve the community so
whenever we are asked to bring professional expertise into a setting we make every effort to do that we have asked that uh you know the time and the topic and the agenda topics be made available so that we can be efficient but we you know we are not going to say we're not going to participate in community community meetings that involve the work that we do so I'm going to ask um Council if we can just give a thumbs up I think we have pretty much an agreement that we'll do 90 days to the November 20th do we need to formally vote on that all right so Mr Anthony if you would make sure that you know that it's evenly balanced and if there's a way that we can help from the council level in terms of getting some of our universities involved in that process to give you some objective voices and some
students that might want to learn a little bit we're certainly able to do that we would ask that you come back um two weeks from today and just give us an overview of what the next 90 days will look like what we can look forward to on November 20th so that date two weeks from today is what for all of those who are going to be participating we want you to come to it's our work session easier to come or our city council meeting what's the easier one probably the council meeting I think to maximize public participation it's probably a council meeting okay two weeks from tonight is 8 21 September 18th um I will not be here mayor wait a minute two weeks okay September September 8th so if you could come back
with a plan for us on on what community engagement looks like I think we can I think we can come together and and have a great product at the end of all of this for us to vote on okay foreign I'm not sure that I'm hearing you but the the process is I understand it from the attorney is that we have a motion from the applicant on the floor that we have to consider before we move forth so that is what we have taken a and you've heard them all of us are in agreement that a 90-day continuance would be fine with the council in the interim what we would ask you to do I've only asked folk to sign up but you're more than welcome to enjoy and join these conversations I just wanted to make sure that we leave out of here tonight with a group of people who can come back and give us a plan for what
happens on the 90 days now how you participate in that I'll leave it up to you adults to figure that out but I want to leave out of here knowing that I can talk to a group of people who can tell me what the plan is for the next 90 days in two weeks just as simple you still have your opportunity to come back and speak um that motion is granted by a thumbs up vote let everybody see it again to November 20th we will come back and they will give us outline of that plan on September the 8th with that being said are there any other matters that will claim our attention for tonight we do have one one matter that we need to vote on that was our poor item item number 16. I'm ready to entertain a motion at the hearing ma'am ma'am hold I can't I can't really
hear you with your mask on and I would need for you to come to this um to the podium so that the people in the audience to hear you so if you could let me deal with this piece of business though before we forget it now I was about to entertain a motion I want to go ahead and entertain that motion before we forget that a motion for item John I believe that's item 16. yes ma'am I'll offer the motion to adopt the uh resolution authorizing condemnations of portions of four thousand Fayetteville Street for the st264 Fayetteville Street Road Improvement project moved by mayor Pro Tem second Madam alert if you open the boat if you will close the vote and Report out foreign passes six to one with council member Freeman voting now all right yes ma'am
if you will state your name and then I can hear your question and so what can everybody else my name is Mimi Kessler and I live in Durham my address is on record a lot of us came here tonight to have our two or three minutes to say to you all what we feel from our hearts rather than be mischaracterized by others and I don't hear in your voice and your plan that we're going to be able to talk to you tonight oh yeah yes you will okay um yes you will but not tonight what not tonight not tonight you know you know some people really have to make a giant effort to get here and you had 90 days before and we came here to talk to you all right [Applause] the motion has been passed and it passed unanimously
it has planned no no the hearing is still continued the hearing is continued so you will have the opportunity to speak now he acts for the Motions I think the last time that it was continued was for Council motion it was not continued for an applicant motion I believe this is the first time the applicant has asked for a motion to continue is that correct in this matter is in this matter yes this matter most applicants if you would tell me Madam mayor I do have a question the 8th of September is a Friday Kim gave me that date can you check and see Miss uh young has the applicant ask for continuance in this matter before
nine five I don't I don't believe the applicant has specifically asked for a continuance I would have to go back and check the record I I have to admit my memory from that many months ago I don't remember exactly okay so this will be the first time that the applicant has asked for a motion to continue I think that will require due process that we allow that that they have one continuance you'll be able to hit her be heard on the 20th I am sorry that that is an inconvenience but they would have the right to ask the council for one continuance that is not out of the ordinary for an applicant to ask for a continuance of a matter and it would be granted so we're not going to treat them any differently
who wish to still speak to have two or three minutes Madam mayor point of order I want to fully associate myself with your decision this is a public hearing it's on television we posted it as such the council has just now made the decision to hold over that public hearing and I don't want us to stray as an institution into the theater that it's not and entertain these folk have clearly come for a public hearing we have now with the force full force and imprimada of our city and Council made a decision legally binding and I fully support your decision uh to abide but I'm even troubled by some of this back and forth you've been straying into the area of still having a de facto public hearing on this matter so I want to fully associate myself with your decision your honor it's the right decision thank you I'm not going to treat them differently than anyone else who comes before this Council and ask for one continuance I'm not going to do that they have been granted that continuance
you as a matter of course I've we've seen it done plenty of times we have out we have even gone so far as to outline a process for them to come back to report to us which I know is unusual to ask an applicant to come back with a process as to what will happen during the phase of that continuance if you cannot come back I understand that it is a sacrifice but there also has to be a balancing too and we have to make sure that we're doing things that we do in a normal course of business if you cannot come back you are free to write us and we will read those I know I read almost all of my emails as much as I can including today so but I we have agreed to allow this applicant to have one continuance to November 20th are there any other matters that will come before this Council this evening if not
thank you all for coming we will stand adjourned and we will come back excuse me we will stay in the germ at 8 38. on August the 21st 2023 I just asked for that other matters she's been doing it forever you've been running forever in Reverend Middleton what's going on