City Council · Regular Meeting · December 4, 2023

everybody good evening good evening good evening I know you don't like to use it might to I don't normally use a gamble but I will tonight just want to let you all know we're going to start about two minutes and there are seats uh outside in the lobby area and the cameras will cover this live as well if you don't want to be in this crowd okay so we're going to start exactly at 7 cuz we are anxious for Leo to be sworn in and Elaine to go [Laughter] home got two minutes so about two minutes and I don't have to stay St M I think there's a seat up here in front for you [Music]

[Music] he [Music] he good evening everybody Welcome to durm City Hall here on this great occasion it is Monday December 4th 20123 and it is now the 7:00 hour and I'd like to call the city council organization meeting to order at this time and we will now to turn to our clerk for our roll call thank you Madame mayor mayor O'Neal I am present mayor

proen Middleton I'm here council member Caballero here council member Freeman present council member Hy Hyman present council member Johnson here and council member Williams I'm here thank you thank you we will now turn our attention to attorney Don baxton who's the chairperson of the Durham County Board of Elections along with Mr Derek L Bowens who is the director of the Durham County uh Board of Elections as well for our certification of the November 7 23 elections thank you mayor O'Neal I so bad want to say your honor cuz I'm used to saying that good evening council members as chair of the Board of Elections I am delighted to be here with you this evening to present ceremonial certificates of election to newly elected members of council I directed Derek boes is here to assist me this evening evening the dur Durham County Board of Elections and staff administered honest fair and accurate Municipal elections for the 2023 cycle

97% voter participation rate while turnout was not as high as desired we appreciate the resilience of dur voters during this election cycle the Camas results for November 7th 2023 election

confirm Leonard Williams as mayor Nate Baker As council member at large javiera cavalera as council member at large and Carl RIS as council member at large the mayor has been elected to a two-year term and other council members to four-year terms we are always appreciative of the diverse field of candidates that participate which speaks to the vibrancy and inclusivity of our wonderful community so thanks all of those that participated as these results have been official officially certified by the Board of Elections and upon authorization of the clerk pursuant to the agenda we will now present ceremonial certificates of election for the 2023 Municipal general election for city of Durham Mr Bo please distribute certificates as I call each member's name for the mayoral contest Leonardo Williams with 24366 votes

[Applause] for the council at large contest Nate Baker with 24,0 and4 votes for councel at large contest javiera cabala with 23,38 votes and for councel at large contest Carl riss with 21,999 votes thank you for your time this evening and congratulations to the new members of council thank you attorney baxton and congratulations mayor protim if you would join me please I think those are the plaques actually right there yes ma'am

good evening durm good evening Bull City happy Monday it is our pleasure to recognize two of our council members who will be leaving tonight with me and so I would ask um our senior uh council person Jillian Johnson if she would come forth at this time thank you your honor in the mayor's voice it's my pleasure to read this recognition for The Honorable Jillian Johnson for her service if she'll join me oh she's here it reads as follows city of Durham recognition of service honoring a public servant of the city of Durham

presented to Jillian Johnson served as city council member at large December 2015 to December 2023 served as mayor protim December 2017 to December 2021 would you please join me in honoring this servant Dr Monique Josie Heyman if you will come forth it is my high honor and the mayor's voice to read this recognition for this servant city of Durham

recognition of service honoring a youth focused public servant of the city of Durham presented to Dr Mo'Nique Hy Heyman served as city council member at large May 2022 to December 2023 would you please join me in honoring this servant it is my distinct honor to present this plaque to my mayor for outstanding service honoring the city of of durm as the first female African-American

mayor this award is presented to Elaine M O'Neal Who served as mayor from December 2021 to December 2023 thank you thank [Applause] you thank you all I will thanks I will turn it over now to our senior council member Jillian Johnson for any remarks she may have followed by council member Jos Hamman and then I'll finish up and we will retire thank you Madame mayor um I'm not going to speak for too long I um just want to send out some appreciations to all of the um folks who participated in this election um both the candidates and

all of our um residents who voted you know as our um as was mentioned earlier turnout wasn't as high as we would like we want to just appreciate everybody who comes out to vote in these Municipal elections they really are so important um and we appreciate y'all all being involved in the Civic like of Life of our city um I want to thank all of my colleagues that I um have had the honor of serving with both um currently and um some of my former colleagues who I see here in the audience today our um representative rette Austin our former mayor Steve SCH um for their support and um and just being incredible colleagues for uh for for me for so long for my eight years on this Council um I want to thank our staff we set the agenda up here but our staff are the people who really who really get the work done um and we are lucky to have an incredible staff here in the city of Durham from our city manager all the way down so I just want to appreciate every single one of them for the incredible work that they do for um for our residents and of

course want to extend my congratulations to our newly elected mayor um mayor Williams as well as um our new council members um Carl rist and Nate Baker and of course returning council member Javier cabier I know that you're all going to do an amazing job um it's not easy but we're we're up to the task and Durham is an incredible place um I want to thank my family for their support over the last um eight years as well um I've you know watched my kids grow up as I've been here my youngest was 18 months when I first ran her office he's now almost 10 so it's it's been a while it's been a long time um but it's it's been an honor to to be here to be in service of this community and I look forward to um seeing you all again in my uh capacity as a private citizen in the future thank you all so

much thank you good evening bur Bull City um um I do have a little notes that I took um so first of all I want to say thank God who is the head of my life who has carried me on this city council for the last 19 months I want to thank my parents who are presently in the hospital both of them who are 88 and 89 who are watching from their bedside who raised me in the South Bron of New York in humble beginnings to have integrity to have ethics and values I thank them I want to thank my outstanding husband for 29 years retired officer Craig Heyman I want to thank my two daughters Morgan Heyman who just got her first acceptions to one law school she's got 10 she applied to but she got that first one to fam you okay and my dou day and my other daughter who's getting her Masters at UNCG and also my sority sisters I want to thank mayor

Elaine O'Neal it was a privilege and an honor to serve with the first African-American female mayor who always had my support and I learned a lot from her I want to thank the community and the almost 12,000 people who voted for me I thank you with all of my heart I thank the community that embraced me when I took over the position from Charlie Reese I thank all the people that I've learned to get along with learned to serve with it has been an honor and a privilege I want to also thank North Carolina Central University where I am a professor my provos is in the office they allowed me to also be assistant professor in social work and also hold this office I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart my Chancellor who's had my support my provos my chair and my students I want to thank them I want to say congratulations to our newly elected

leam Williams I want to say congratulations to Nate Baker who when I first got appointed came in my Chambers and said we going to work together for and we're gonna still work together I want to thank Caris who also called me the other day and said thank you for your service I want to thank my colleagues that I served on the council with that took time for me to learn from um I also want to thank Alpha Kappa Alpha sari Incorporated I want to thank I've been a member for over 36 years but I want to thank my initiation chapter zyro chapter in New York who has given me Love From Afar I want to thank my chapter here in Duram Alpha Zeta Omega um I want to say this last thing it has not been easy but I came in to serve with a just an heart and I love this plaque that says honoring a youth focused public servant because that's where my heart is I also I'm sorry want to thank the Derm committee Affairs of black people who also also uh endorse me but I also want to say that I hope that the Legacy that I leave we know there was a lot but the

Legacy that I leave I hope was that I was able to put the residents over politics and I would do it again in a heartbeat I thank you and God bless you I don't I don't have a long speech a prepared speech as a matter of fact I was telling one want to pass me your pen I need to write something down I just wanted to come from my heart tonight you know I thank God for what he has done in my life I figured all of my jobs by the time I was about 50 some that you know I've been on assignments um and I hope that I have fulfilled those assignments that he has given me to the best of my ability I've just tried to get up every morning and put one foot in in front of the other and do the best that I could and so I I honor him a and help me to do that I

also thank God for my parents um Ruben and ply nikota Ruben and P O'Neal who raised five kids in a very small house on the west end and some of my siblings are here uh tonight with me um our parents are deceased now uh have transitioned to the to the great heavens above but my family has been my all and so my nieces my nephews my kids um they are all around and then the love of My Life um Mr Mike bonds who I hope to weigh so I thank God for my church family my Minister here as well and they have been so supportive of me uh and I thank God for for the council my colleagues here tonight um we've we we've had our times but I know one thing the people that you see sitting in front of you they love this city uh and so I thank them for the lessons that they've taught me uh both um now going forth and I also know that they're going to do an

absolute great job those who will remain to the presentent council uh you will do fine you're well prepared Leo you're well prepared you'll do fine and I know the Durham is in good hands I thank God for the three men that you see sitting in front of us who have been past mayors they have and along with Bill Bale they still are working hard in the city of Durham and I just hope that I can keep that going they're public they are true public servants um and they are still in the fight helping to make durm better to nccu double legal they've always had my back to Delta Sigma Theta sorority they've always had my back to the city employees though you are the ones who are the backbones who make it happen every single day so I thank you and finally to the resent of durm uh I appreciate being

from a HomeTown that'll take a little girl from the West End of North West End of Durham North Carolina and rais her up to be a mayor we are always W City strong have a good night mhm

ladies and gentlemen as our colleagues have retired from the day they go with the thanks and gratefulness of an entire city let's thank them again please her honor the mayor has left the deis Madam clerk please be advised that I'm assuming the gavel for purposes of calling a 10-minute recess that the name plates may be switched we're in recess

Kim I got

got [Music] 729 if the chamber would come to order please if the chamber would be in order [Music] hey it's we supposed to see [Applause] is

friends thank you so much thank you so much we come now to a simple and sacred moment moment in our democracy and that is the peaceful and orderly transition of power not at the end of a rifle but at the end of a promise pursuant to the results of a duly certified election it is my high honor and privilege now to preside over the swearing in and qualifying of our new city council members and our mayor we will first start with the honorable Nate Baker council member elect and they going to ask if he would stand oh there you are sir are you ready to take the oath of office with that I'm going to invite city clerk Diana shriber to come up and administer the oath of office to council member elect Nate Baker and we will invite any friends or guests or family that he'd like to stand with them in

this moment here okay Mr Baker please raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Nate Baker have read understand and subscribe have read understand and subscribe to the code of ethics to the code of ethics of the city of Durham of the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly affirm and who and and do hereby and do hereby solemnly affirm solemnly affirm that I will support that I will support a and maintain and maintain the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith and

that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge the duties of my office discharge the duties of my office as city council member of the city of Durham as city council member of the city of Durham congratulations we'll invite you up in a minute you over here

you need this stuff thank you council member Nate Baker and we will be and I look forward on behalf of the people of Derm to inviting you to your seat shortly next pursuant to the results of a duly certified election uh it is my honor to ask council member reelect javiera cabero to please stand and come forward council member cabier are you ready to take the oath of office it's in my high honor and privilege to invite her honor judge Kendra Montgomery blend to come up and issue the oath of office family oh yeah absolutely family and friends come on Mark anybody you

want I have my point of privilege to say that I have known you since this child was a kindergartner and you've always been working so hard for our school back then and now our city it's a pleasure to be here place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right and you can repeat it after me you want thank you do you want this one no you want trade no we're good thank you all right I Javiera Caballero I Javier Caballero have read understand and subscribe have read understand and subscribe to the code of ethics of the city of Durham to the code of ethics of the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly swear and do hereby solemnly swear that I will support and maintain the Constitution I will support and maintain the Constitution and the laws of of the United States and the laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina and the laws and constitutions of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my position and

that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my position impartially discharge the duties of my position as city council member of the city of Durham as city council member of the city of Durham so help me God so help me God [Applause] thank you thank you three of them okay

congratulations council member Javier Javiera pursuant to the results of a duly certified election it is my honor now to ask Carl ree to please stand and come [Applause] forward sir are you ready to take the oath of office yes sir then it's my pleasure to welcome Pastor Mindy Douglas up who will administer the oath of office and we invite any family friends or guests that you would like to stand with you at this moment thanks for

coming repeat after me Carl yes ma'am I state your name I Carl rist have read understand and subscribed to have read understand and subscribed to the code of ethics the code of ethics of the city of Durham of the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly swear and do hereby solemnly swear that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and the laws of the United States the Constitution and the laws of the United States and the Constitution and the laws of North Carolina and the Constitution and the laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and impartially discharge the duties of my position the duties of my position as city council member of the city of Durham as city council member of the city of Durham so help me God so help me

God all three your record tomorrow

congratulations council member Carl ree okay let's see what else uh oh one more friends it is my high honor and distinct privilege pursuant to the result of a certified election to ask council member Leonardo Williams to please step forward [Applause] sir are you ready to take the oath of office I am and it is my pleasure and honor to invite up North Carolina Supreme Court associate Justice The Honorable Anita ears to administer the oath of office for mayor of the city of Durham and I invite any family members friends and guests you're already coming to come and stand whoever his honor

designates right if you would well first let me thank you for the honor of being able to S you in would you please place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand repeat after me sorry like the mayor to come up sure uh he you mayor we have a lot of mayors that came and support so come on are you ready I think I'm ready if you're ready if you would raise your right hand please and repeat after me I Leonardo Williams I Leonardo Williams have read understand and subscribe have read understood and subscribed to the code of ethics of the city of Durham to

the code of ethics for the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly swear and do hereby solemnly swear that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of North Carolina of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith and that I will faithfully and impartially and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my position discharge duties of my position as mayor of the city of Durham as mayor of the city of Durham so help me God so help me God [Applause] congratulations [Applause] [Music]

[Applause] wo m

you thank you congratulations mayor Williams ladies and gentlemen at this time it is my responsibility and high honor to invite to the deis and to their seats The Honorable Nate Baker and The Honorable Carl Ree [Applause] ladies and gentlemen it my H high honor and distinct privilege to invite to his

seat and to relinquish the gavel to the honorable Leonardo Williams the mayor of the city of durm do I talk now yes yes sir you the man you all can just give me a moment to organize all of these scripts and papers

this is one right here where are we well well good evening it is a new day and I am honored to take this seat on behalf of the city as we are getting started I would like to provide opportunity for my new colleagues to share remarks and I'll start with council member Baker thank you all thank you all for showing up and being here um and all of us being together this is a new day for Durham we do have the opportunity to

provide a new direction we Face challenges that also means we have opportunities uh many of us ran for different reasons but we're sitting up here together and we have this chance to work together and work together for the people of Durham because that's what you all elected us to do and I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to be uh participating in our first meeting our first meeting of many thank you again thank you all for being [Applause] here council member rist thank you looks like green light on right that's we green light is hot um yeah it's well wow um I apologize I had to prepare some my REM marks this is such a there's so much going on here such an overwhelming moment I've got a few prepared marks just to share with folks um so Mr Mayor um Mr Mayor pram council members City staff folks in the audience both here in person online

and of course our three former mayors here thank you so much for being here um it is indeed an an immense immense honor and privilege to have been chosen by the citizens of Durham to serve in the city council I mean more times than I can count I've been here with you all in the chambers at meetings seeing you conduct the people's business um and I know it's an awesome responsibility that I'm honored to take on um so first and foremost I want to thank the citizens of Durham the more than 20,000 people who showed their confidence in me and cast their votes for me um that's an honor for which I'm deeply grateful and I don't take for granted um and in return I pledge to devote myself mind body and spirit to the work of leading the city along with the mayor and my city council colleagues in doing this work I pledge to listen deeply to be accessible to my colleagues to City staff and all the citizens of Durham and to bring energy my time and solid judgment to all the issues before us in Durham second I want to thank a number of special guests who are here with me

without whom I wouldn't be here at this moment um and that starts with my mother Carol can you raise your hand mom I'm going to embarrass you so she was my original role model for public service um and still stands as an amazing model mom is the one that taught me door knocking organizing issue advocacy and even political campaign work she's my first role model um she was a DieHard volunteer with the League of Women Voters back home in Fort Lauderdale and Mom I can't thank you enough for the being a role model then and now and I hope that in some small way um that my being here overcomes that close election you lost in Fort laale back in the 70s so hope hope we've overcome that um I've also got many many friends here with Me From First Presbyterian Church including Reverend Minnie Douglas you saw up here administering the oath but also pastor merus Joe Harvard and his wife Carlile um First Press has been my moral compass here in Durham ever since Lisa and I joined back in 1989 when we moved to Durham um I have grown so much as a member of First Press and was challenged to play a leadership role Joe you know

this been challenged to play leadership roles in ways I never thought possible so thanks for your confidence in me and thanks for wrapping around me this amazing Community that's been there for for us in every moment of Our Lives oops um I've also got two of my closest colleagues um and friends from the people's line Sarah Terry and Julie Edmonds Sarah yall Rave your hands um PA has been my political home for as long as I've been in Durham and it's where I cut my teeth on Progressive politics of course now I'm representing all of Durham not just the PA members um but the progressive values of fairness equality open government and the value of a rich healthy public sector are now values I will that will deeply guide my work on the council so thank you for your partnership in your friendship and all the members of PA finally I want to thank my wife of 38 years Lisa who's here in the audience Thank you Lisa and my two awesome sons jery and Jared somewhere out there in California watching on TV um boys even though I'm

proud of all that I've done as a professional and here now in politics um you will always be my crowning achievement um I love you I'm proud of you out there wherever you are wish you were here um and uh can't wait to see you soon and Lisa you're simply the best um you've supported me all along and made it possible for me to carry out this crazy crazy campaign I don't know how I ever talked you into this can you yeah um but you you've been a model of support of patience of Love of understanding and of course always humor right um so I thank you from the bottom of my heart I have so much more I could say but I know the meeting is long in in the tonight is short so I will end my remarks here but thank you so much Council I look forward to working together I look forward to working with the citizens of Durham thank you so much for your confidence in me thank you council member rist council member

cabier thank you mayor uh Williams um first of all just thank you everyone who's in the audience and for coming out this is a packed house the people's house is always a wonderful place to be so I hope you all come back to watch your business get done um first of all this is my that was my third swearing in um I was originally appointed to former uh mayor Steve sh's Council seat in 2018 and then elected in 2019 and reelected in 2023 thank you to the voters who voted me and everyone who supported me my lovely children and my husband who are here year when I was originally appointed in 2018 my uh youngest was nine my middle was 10 and my oldest had just turned 12 I turned 40 the day after I was appointed to the Durham city council it was a momentous birthday obviously I will turn 46 this coming January so I

have been serving the community and serving the city for six years and I signed up to do another four years and I did it because I Believe in Us and I will always Believe in Us I've lived in many cities in this country I've lived in another country I'm a naturalized citizen from Chile and I will always bet on Durham and the reason I bet on Durham is because people show up it's because people care and it's because we get to work to help solve our problems together and that spirit is not what you find in many communities so will continue to bet on us and I will continue to serve you all and I want to thank the Glorious staff that we have because we are truly blessed in this city to have some of the best workers we could ever uh find we owe them a great debt and finally I also want to thank my family

who's watching in 2019 when I was sworn in it was pre- pandemic there were no hybrid meetings and so uh my mom and my dad are watching my sisters are watching my brother-in-laws are watching my nephew is watching so I'm I'm really happy that's the one you know the one beauty of the pandemic is it did Force us to do these things in many different ways and so they were able to participate in a way that they weren't able to in 2019 I look so forward to working together again and I look so forward to working with these colleagues and I look very forward to work under the leadership of our new mayor [Applause] thank you well friends family I will give a few remarks here um what a night what a night I am uh I'm I'm extremely grateful this road to where we are

tonight was not easy at all it was physically tax ing it was psychologically taxing it was emotionally taxing but yet here we are and we're here because when Durham shows up everybody gives just a little bit to help the next person and sometimes I was selfish thinking about myself and wanting to take the easy Road out but then I would just close my eyes and remember that I am representing the the strength of over 300 100,000 people and that is what defines the Bull City I want to bring us back home to this flag but before I get there I I want to thank my family from who who's come from all over uh mom dad in Zimbabwe and

m. m. to watch this tonight and my family who've come from all over the state my mother who thought she's like I'm just going to call you now because I know I won't be able to get to you tonight like you're my mother okay you're the mother of the mayor you're going to be fine uh you know my just my Uncle Auntie who's come all the way from Elizabeth City just everybody thank you all so much my father and my f my uncles who surprised me from Philadelphia um thank you all that it means the world to me really CU you all remember Nat from running around barefooted in the country um I want to

thank our past mayors and all of the encouraging words that never grow tired thank you for the nudge thank you for the encouragement thank you for just having your line open every single time I want to call you and just question am I making the right decision here thank you to my brothers Mayors from across the state who are joining me here tonight as we know this this this race it represented Regional ISM thank you to our robust legal apparatus all of the judges in the house thank you I see you judge Mitchell our da Reinhardt Billings and and thank you Supreme Court Justice Anita ears thank you for your friendship thank you for your advisement thank you my sister Nanda cook representing the governor the commission tonight on education thank you to representative

Austin former ward 3 council member thank you to my close friend and yeah we fought it out but listen this is my guy former ward 3 council member and now Senator Mike Woodard there he is a lot of y' all didn't know when we were in the race we talked a lot I was like look we're going to be civil and we're going to have a really good time and we're going to get down into the policy so it was a weird sensation watching us walk to parade together and talk policy have a good time together folks aren't y'all ready against each other like this is during politics this is how we do it uh thank you uh former council member uh Joe Harvard and his beautiful wife thank you to my illustrious no wait a minute before I get to you all uh I I was not expecting to see this special person here tonight cuz she's so busy

but thank you congresswoman Valerie fushi thank you s for always being present as well uh and I have gone into the the the rabbit hole of sarting to name people uh so I know I'm going to miss someone but I do have to also congratulate and welcome to the chambers not only our County colleagues commissioners but the new chair of the County Commissioners Nea Alam is in the house I uh did not get here alone I had a very very very tight team who just always LIF me up I built my campaign team not around professional politicians or politicals but more so people who just simply care about this

community that was the qualification to be on my campaign team people who simply Lov Durham people who were talented and really good at what they did they did not do politics but they loved hard in their own right so I want to thank you my campaign team led by Cho I love y'all so much I want to thank all of the organizations who helped bring this community together um we have folks from the PA to DM for all to um I mean it's so many uh uh the Asian Community the Hispanic Community just all across um one is really special to me um all of them are but one that's embraced me from the very beginning the Durham committee on the Affairs of black

people I appreciate you and I appreciate the People's Alliance these are organizations that get a lot of criticism because they have the word pack or the the letters pack but these are folks that are volunteering for the good of this people work and I appreciate that sacrifice so as I uh get ready to bring this thing to a close uh today is December 4th today today is the founders day the 117th Founders Day of alpha fi Alpha Fraternity [Applause] Incorporated how timely how timely to share this day with my brothers from the steps walked by Dr Martin Luther

King to the mayor's seat of Durham North Carolina the first Alpha as we say together first of all Servants of all we shall Trend all thank you for being here my son is not here tonight because he's doing homework but I know he's watching Isaiah I love you and he felt really bad that he couldn't be here tonight and that brings me to the strength the

heartbeat my purpose my support the person that makes my household a family my everything zie I love you put your phone on vibrate cuz I know it's yours thank you I'm here because of you you were the first to grant me this honor and I love you and I appreciate

you so I uh I'm going to get this meeting Moving on but I I just wanted to bring us back home I did have to take a moment to show gratitude uh and I just you know I know I miss people I love you all it's nothing you can do about it um but as I bring to bring this to a close I'm excited to work with my colleagues um you know and Javier is a bully she bullied me into this and I'm grateful but here we are I've enjoyed working with my colleagues thank you all so much and I want to close us out with this charge let us remember what this flag stands for we don't talk about it often but I want to talk about it just briefly this flag this is the official flag of Durham

and it's been the the official flag since 1989 the design was created by Al Nichols Artist as a part of a contest held by the city of Durham and what makes it so remarkable is the meaning behind each of its four colors and Seven Stars to represent the new spirit of Durham royal blue was chosen to signify courage red for action and progress gold for high quality and all growth and white to indicate high ideals furthermore the Seven Stars stand for the Arts Commerce and Industry education medicine human relations sports and recreation and Durham's Rich Heritage these Seven stars come from Durham's birthday April 26 that aligns with the Taurus Zodiac sign so to my colleagues I say the road to success is often bumpy filled with barriers roadblocks potholes detours and more

however we are the individuals equipped with the necessary tools resources vision and action to lead the city into writing her new story a story that represents the new spirit of Durham exemplifies our courage in actionable and Progressive City growing with quality in mind first then quantity Where We Appreciate and acknowledge the Arts as public policy where we are rich with shared Prosperity where education is our moral compass where medicine is viewed in it in its most Innovative state where we uplift humanity and where our heritage is an honor to bestow I pledge this charge to you my colleagues and I ask that we charge we accept this charge together to the city of Durham and and our people we have work to do

but I say to Durham we won't do it alone we are officially writing her new story together because we are greater together and I say that to say let's get to [Applause] work all right I am going to that's that's probably important uh before we actually call the meeting to order uh colleagues um this is a moment in time where I select our new mayor protim uh this is a pivotal moment for us and to how we will do business here in the council uh I view this position as a Project based position this position will really focus

on the initiatives that we've gotten through the previous budget and those to come this position will focus on those big ideals that we'd like to accomplish but then there's another priority our policy and I have colleagues that are very strong and experienced and this was probably the hardest position the hardest decision that I've had to make and I've had to ponder a lot however when I when I look at our City's most pressing issues and I think about what's personal to me and I think about what I think about how we're going to get this done how are we going to address what you see when you turn on the news and I think about the needs of this Council as well

there will be lots of committees commissions and boards that have to be filled but some of them will shape the way we function as a council and I'm looking forward to uh my colleagues uh taking on those responsibilities at this time at the choice of the mayor I will maintain the selection of Mayor protim Middleton as my May [Applause] protim what is what is important to me is having two I can't choose two according to the Charter but there are two folks that I will be heavily relying on to carry out the uh ambition of this Council while mayor protim will be um if accepted by my colleagues as my

mayor protim my other right hand will be carrying on lots of policy responsibilities uh and that will be uh my colleague Javier kavier I keep messing your name up so uh with that I would I call the motion yeah all right I will now uh entertain a motion to accept uh Mark Anthony Middleton to uh be our mayor protim I am asking for a motion so turn that on moved I have a motion would there be a second second thank you it's been moved and properly seconded and we will acknowledge by hand vote all

in favor all opposed thank you all so much thank you the motion passes 61 51 for the record uh Madam clerk the record the uh pass is 51 mayor proin will you please address the clerk to sign your document h i state your name I Mark Anthony Middleton have read understand understand and subscribe have read understand and subscribe to the code of

ethics to the code of ethics of the city of Durham of the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly swear and do hereby solemnly swear that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewi not inconsistent there with and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and impartially and impartially discharge the duties of my position discharge the duties of my position as mayor prot tempor as mayor prot tempor of the city council and the City of Durham of the city council and the City of Durham so help me God so help me God thank you so [Applause] much

all right and at this time thank you colleagues at this time we will officially call this meeting to order uh do not foresee it been a long meeting tonight but we will go ahead and call the meeting to order and we start out with a um and we uh it is our prce to start with the moment of silence thank you at this time I'd like to recognize council member Freeman to lead us in the uh Pledge of Allegiance it's our practice to stand and salute the flag and state the prayer United States of America the IT

stand Nation God indivisible thank you council member Freeman uh ladies and gentlemen as you are leaving the uh chamers if you would just do me a favor keep it down and just migrate out uh quietly we'll keep the meeting going thank you so much all right Madame clerk if you will please call the RO mayor Williams I'm here mayor protm Middleton I'm here council member Baker here council member Caballero here council member Freeman present council member rist here thank you and we'll we'll just pause for just a moment thank you madam

Clerk all right we'll go ahead and continue on in just a moment [Music] all right thank you so much uh we'll we'll go ahead and continue the meeting uh are there any announcements further by any colleagues and are there any announcements by any of my colleagues council member Freeman thank you I just

wanted to take a moment and thank uh the staff that put together the senior holiday party this weekend and to just say that it was a great chance to see and and watch uh folks moving and getting grooving uh to the beat thank you I did see you cutting the move council member Freeman and uh we had a great time and I that was that was pretty cool any other comments council member cabier yes just a reminder that the holiday parade is this coming Saturday and so I look forward uh to seeing folks out in downtown Durham it's always a good time um that's all you thank you are there any other comments all right well at this time um and just thank you all for being here thanks for being a part of this experience and uh looking forward to uh

working with all my colleagues here we have our work cut out for us but we are the team to do it and I'll see you all at the holiday parade Marsh um I will now uh call on our manager for any priority items city manager mat uh W Wanda page good evening Mr Mayor Mr Mayor protim and members of the Durham city council I do not have any uh business priority items for you this evening but if I might have just one moment of personal privilege to congratulate the newly uh sworn in members of the Durham city council uh council member Nate Baker as well as council member car re and the reelection of council member javiera cabalero to another term uh I would also like to congratulate you uh Mr Mayor Leo Williams and I look forward to being a part of

Durham story for such a time as this thank you so much I will turn to our City attorney for any priority items good evening mayor Williams mayor Pon Middleton it is nice to meet you council member Baker council member rist and of course it's wonderful to see you again councilwoman ciero councilwoman Freeman um I won't reiterate the May manager's comments but please um accept the City attorney is a ditto on all of that I'm very much looking forward to working with this Council thank you it's good to be here no priority items thank you so much Madame attorney Madame clerk thank you Mr Mayor and I will ditto the dito congratulations and welcome to our new members and welcome back to um Council member Caballero I do have a priority item item number one the

participatory budgeting steering committee item appointment has been referred back to the city clerk's office and is no longer on the agenda thank you thank you very much um Mr Mayor I just wanted to make sure was it going to be read vertis it's yes it'll be re advertised got to get used to this this [Applause] order all right and at this time our second order of business is our consent agenda uh the um 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 me by a council member or a member of the public and those items will be considered separately at the end of the meeting tonight at this time I will read all of these items on the consent agenda number one participatory budgetting steering committee appointment which be referred back to St will actually be read advertised and number two municipal election results October 10th 2023 primary and November 7th 2023 number three October 2023 bid report number four sidewalk placement and repairs performance audit October 2023 number five contract agreement with ET Services LLC to provide services for the community conversations project number seven utility system Revenue Bond anticipation note series 2023 number eight condemnation action to obtain two easements at 1708 Arrowhead Drive Number Nine Construction

contract with Central builders Inc of meban for former will skating center upfit project number 10 US Department of Housing and Urban Development fair housing Cooperative agreement Grant award fiscal year 2024 number 11 US Department of Housing and Urban Development partnership Grant award fiscal uh fiscal year 24 number 12 US Department of Housing and Urban Development Special enforcement effort funds number 13 contract Amendment one to the purchasing contract with Bliss products and services Inc for the playground and servicing replacement project at WD Hill Recreation Center number 14 contract amendment number one for the durm Workforce Development board Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act youth program eer youth alternative Inc number 15 2023 community policing development micro grant grant project ordinance 16 2023 third quarter crime report number

17 amendment number two to carpet Fletcher Road improvements preliminary engineering agreement csxt do number 8458 69s number 18 utility professional engineer agreement P 576 Ellis Road the 19 utility extension agreement ment with Shan El Brookshire to serve 208 Fountain Street Number 20 supplemental agreement number three with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for hillindale road bicycle and pedestrian improvements t uh tip number u- 4726 hn number 21 First Amendment to contract for Durham freeway Community engagement services for idolism LLC and under our general business uh uh agenda for public hearings number 24 consolidation annexation 5802 South Miami Boulevard multi

family and that has been referred back I believe uh no never mind um number 25 zoning map change 618 Morehead Avenue number 26 zoning map change Oaks at gray those are all of the items on our consent agenda right and at this time I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda with the exception of items number that was pulled but no items were actually pulled no number one was referred back to staff uh to be re advertised so moved there's a motion on the floor there a second second all right it's been moved and properly seconded uh Madam clerk you can open the vote Madam clerk we can close the vote the motion passes unanimously

60 all right thank you so much uh thank you madam clerk the eyes have it and the consent agenda is appr approved unanimously excuse me all right number 24 all right okay here we go good deal it's not that one it's the next one okay gotcha all right the next item before us is item number 24 uh consolidated annexation 5802 South Miami Boulevard multif family this item is a public hearing this public hearing is a zoning uh zoning

case and at this time we'll receive the staff report hello mayor Williams mayor protm Middleton and honorable council members good evening I'm Brook rooper with the planning department and I'm happy to be here with you tonight before I begin staff would like to State for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and affidavits of all notices are on file in the planning department a request for utility extension agreement voluntary annexation and initial zoning map change has been received from Jamie schadler of Parker Poe for three Parcels of land totaling approximately 11 acres and located at 5780 5802 and 5904 South Miami Boulevard this annexation petition is for a contiguous expansion of the primary corporate limits the applicant intends to Annex into the city of Durham

4 70 zoning is consistent with the designated future Place type this request received a recommendation of approval from Planning Commission on September 12th 2023 by a vote of six to three thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you so much you've heard the uh report from staff and I'm now going to declare this public hearing open first are there any questions for staff from members of the

council council member Freeman thank you I just had a quick question regarding the information you gather for the reports um and one section I can't I was trying to pull it back up but essentially the block groups that you're talking about is it possible to capture the actual demographics of it so whether by age or race yes the block group data does have demographic information tied to it so staff can look into uh daylighting that in the reports and and the reason I pointed out just noting that this this area and specifically with this number of units in that area just making sure that if it's going to shift I would like to just have that up front so thank you thank you council member Freeman are there any other questions for staff all

right be here okay sounds good uh do we have comments from the applicant you don't have any uh any any cards for she's not she's okay all right so we don't have any uh any cards or anyone online um so but you're the applicant rep I am here on behalf of the applicant Jamie Scher I'm in her office my name is Marie farmer with Parker po 301 fville street in Raleigh uh good evening mayor Williams mayor Pro Middleton members of council uh since the passage oh thank you so much make let's make sure we get a c for you um um after your after your comments and how much time do you think you need two minutes two minutes all right let's put three minutes thank you since the passage of

the text amendment that revised the standards for phasing grading and tree coverage within the Udo our team team has been working diligently to confirm that this project will comply with the new standards without impacting our development plan as it was presented to the Planning Commission and ultimately recommended for approval this has included re-evaluation of our text commitments as well as some of our graphic elements that we have shown on our development plan this includes the size and location of our building and parking envelope and some of the proposed storm water control measures and so for these reasons we are requesting a continuance of this case to January 2 as we continue to work with staff and evaluate any potential changes so thank you we are available to answer any questions regarding the project or this request all right colleagues there's been a request to continue um by the applicant all right is everyone in con

with that okay so we will approve that continuance to January 2nd all staff is that solid all right we have a thumbs up from the staff and we will uh keep the public hearing open at this time until we uh see you before us again all right all right the next item next public hearing we have is number 25 this is a public hearing zoning qu uh zoning case and at this time we will receive the staff report and this is for number 25 on our agenda uh zoning map change 618 Morehead avue thank you mayor Williams mayor protm and honorable council members brick roer with the planning department a request for a zoning map change has been received from Jan juel of Thomas

and Hutton for one parcel of land totaling approximately 3 acres and located at 618 Morehead Avenue the current zoning is office and institutional with a development plan the applicant proposes to change this designation to commercial General with a graphic development plan the applicant is proposing to rezone the properties to allow a range of uses that include household living auditoriums clubs and lodges museums daycare Med medical facilities excluding hospitals Park and open space areas excluding cemeteries Mo mums in colaria and Memorial Gardens indoor Recreation ex excluding electronic gaming and Indoor Firing Range Conference Center Retreat House event venue Banquet Hall overnight accommodations restaurants excluding drive-through facilities retail sales

and service excl including convenience stores with gasoline sales driving through drive-through facilities and payday lenders Veterinary Clinic excluding outdoor kennels and all office uses excluding drive-through facilities their properties are currently designated neighborhood service on the place type map the proposed cgd zoning is consistent with the designated Place type this request received a recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission on October 10th 2022 three by a vote of 9 to0 thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you thank you so much colleagues we've heard the staff report are there any questions for staff at this time all right well we will um so we declare this public hearing open at this time I do have uh

cars which are actually all all proponents but if there's anyone in the uh in the audience or online that would like to speak to this matter um please go see the clerk to fill out a card or raise your hand online all right applicant you may address the podium how much time do you think you need thank you mayor probably 3 to four minutes would be my guess so could you please six minutes on the uh well thank you again mayor members of council my name is Dan juwel I'm a landscape architect and the director of the Durham office of Thomas and Hutton with with me this evening is Bob Mills uh with hem Inspire uh they're the owners of this building this wonderful building and hopefully with your approval we'll be the redevelopers of this property we're here this evening requesting resoning his property largely because a zoning that was done in

1999 was very very restrictive and it basically allowed for a bed and breakfast use and not much else it severely limited other uses of the property the bed and breakfast survived for8 and 10 years which is good many of you maybe had events there but when it closed no other feasible use was available due to the very restrictive nature of the D zoning in place it went largely unmaintained and empty for many years and crumbling uh until him and Spire actually did buy it a few years ago because the house sat empty water infiltrated through the roof because it hadn't been repaired and extensive repair efforts were needed by him Inspire just to stabilize it you can go in there today and see where parts of the ceiling and the walls had been coming apart because of the water infiltration hem Inspire though has come up with a path forward that will preserve and commit to keeping the historic house which I think is important to everybody in the community

with a package of potential uses which uh miss roer rer explained to you minute ago and some new construction that will allow the financial stability which the bed and breakfast unfortunately did not after more than two years and many many meetings with Neighbors near and far and particularly many with the Morehead Hills neighborhood association uh we've come up with a rest restrictive package of potentially permitted and committed uses that we now hope are largely acceptable to neighbors and hopefully to you as well those uses include some multif family residential public and Civic uses including clubs lodges museums daycare medical offices and Clinics places of worship and parks office uses and very restrictive commercial uses including a conference center Retreat House uh vent venue Banquet Hall maybe some overnight accommodations and some limited retail

uses but only those related to Galleries and Studios uh and uh and potentially a Veterinary Clinic but not with a kennel especially outdoor stuff um again uh hem Inspire is committed to saving the historic house that is actually a committed element um if a restaurant takes place in that house it will be inside there will be no new construction assoc associated with the restaurant they're committed to saving what is probably one of the last few remaining houses from when Morehead Hills was a grand neighborhood a 100 years ago at the turn of the century uh we believe that this very limited use of allowed uses will give the flexibility to keep the business of the building financially viable for now and the future and not have to come back to the council again for many many many years and will also ensure the long-term care and protection and the house needs to survive for this reason we would respectfully ask that

you follow the unanimous recommendation of the Planning Commission a few months ago um uh and Grant an approval of our zoning request we of course will be happy to answer any questions uh at the appropriate time uh this does compl conclude the applicant's presentation and uh with your permission he may be on the line virtually if if if not uh but the the most immediate neighbor who lives at the corner of Vickers and Parker Street adjoining this property is the one who was the most interested in what goes on on this property we spent many many times meeting with him uh but we have a letter of support that I would like to hand out with the attorney and the clerk's permission if I could approach and give it to you so thank you you could uh just provide that to the clerk thank you so much Mr juwel go

next right right and while we're receiving this uh the next card I have is Robert Mills do you prefer to speak I don't need toily all right sounds good neighbors a lot ofs thank you for acknowledging that uh the next person I have is Bruce Mitchell you can uh state your name and address oh you can just state your name yes thank you Mr Mayor my name is Bruce Mitchell I live at 1013 South Duke Street in Morehead Hill um it's Morhead Hill singular Dan one Hills enough for enough enough for us um I just I'll keep this brief um I just want to support this and the reason I support this is

HEM Inspire and Dan and um Bob in particular have been very thorough and very conscientious in meeting with the neighbors and working with us and listening to us um to say that the people who live in the historic district of Mor hit Hill care about Greystone would be an understatement and we can be an orary bun as as you've learned um so I want to recommend to anybody who wants to do um a zoning change especially on a historic building talk to Bob talk to Dan um they can show you how it's done they did it right and I recommend this to the the council thank you for your time thank you for sharing those remarks DAV do I have any more in person all right and Madam clerk is David Ball available Mr ball if you can hear me uh please uh you have three

minutes thank you I assume you can hear me can you yes thank you I don't think I'll need three minutes uh these folks came in and solved a major problem we have been worried about fretting about for a long time in this neighborhood and that's the keeping that man in place it's a it's a landmark and it symbolizes it's important nobody needs to argue that they solved it and the way they solved it was really magnificent they listened to us they solicited our opinions it was not just lip service listening if there's such a thing they paid very careful attention to the concerns both of people like me whose bedroom windows are 12 feet from where their property begins and people throughout the neighborhood um the the uh contents of the conditions of this uh zoning would would maintain the Mansion there for as long as this

zoning remains in place so that in itself makes it worth it plus having people who work this well with their neighbors being the ones who develop this thing in our midst is much more than we ever realistically could have hoped for with a building this large and unwieldy by today's standard so uh I am not alone I speaking uh I believe for a number of people um when I say we are enthusiastically at favor of what what these folks would like to do with this zoning proposal so we would love to see the zoning proposal pass unanimously because I think that would be a wonderful statement from this brand new Council Mr ball thank you so much for your remarks do I uh Madam clerk are there any other uh participants online that wish to speak right uh are there any other participants in the audience that

would like to speak to this matter all right at this time I'll bring the matter back before the council for any comments and at this time I will actually close the public hearing and bring the matter back before the council colleagues are there any comments Madam um Madam Freeman council member Freeman thank you I I just want to appreciate as well the engagement with the community just acknowledging that and preserving that Mansion is probably very expensive but I think it's uh it's a it's something that that means something to our community and I appreciate that you're doing this work so that's all thank you all right and thank thank you all for you know just exemplifying communal collaboration on this project uh this is uh this is if it you know it feels really good to hear community members coming in advocating um for the engagement um which is not always the

case so thank you all I'm at this time where's that okay uh at this time we will have to entertain two motions for this item and motion one so I put these reading glasses on um motion one to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of office and institutional with the development plan Morhead local historic district and establishing the same as commercial General with a graphic development plan morill head Hill local historic district and so moved all right it's been moved and properly seconded it's been moved in properly

second that we uh accept motion one madame clerk please open the vote Madam cler please close to vote the motion passes 60 thank you very much and motion two to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carolina General statute 160 D- 605 so moved second and moved and properly seconded Madam clerk if you can open a vote and if you can close the vote and the motion passes 6-0 thank you so much Mr Mayor if I could just have a brief comment I would like to just just note that um my mother who was here tonight at this uh at this at my swearing in celebrated her 50th anniversary with my father in Greystone um about 14 years ago so it's a it's a

435 acres and located at 321 323 and 325 gray Avenue the current zoning is residential Urban multifam the applicant proposes to change this designation to residential Urban multifam with a textual development plan to will allow

up to eight townhouse units their properties are currently designated established residential on the place type map the proposed zoning is not consistent with the designated Place type due to the commitment for town houses on the site which currently includes two single family residences should the zoning map change be approved staff recommends changing the place type designation to apartment and townhouse neighborhood this request received a recommendation of approval from Planning Commission on August 8th 2023 by a vote of 8 to4 thank you staff and the applicant are available for questions thank you for for that report and uh once again after you finish your comments if you could just have a card um created for this item as well staff should have a card okay good all right and at this time I will declare the public hearing

open and uh you are the applicant I assume correct yes representing Park pole all right you have how much time do you need uh 5 minutes all right let's put seven minutes on the clock thank you good evening again mayor Williams mayor protm Middleton members of council my name is Marie farmer with Parker Poe 301 faille Street Raleigh here on behalf of the owners and developers of this small site local residents Sam and gazal zamani and fed Sani land acquisition and development are not what Sam gazal or fed do full-time but they do have some experience and they are excited for this to be their very first project here in the triangle and they excited to be here tonight this request is to rezone three Parcels totaling less than half an acre located on the corner of gray Avenue and Gurley Street to allow for the development of eight townhouse units instead of the five units that could be built by right these Parcels are located in the Cleveland hallway neighborhood

less than a mile from downtown as you can see two of the parcels contain single family homes and the other parcel is vacant these homes themselves are vacant and uninhabitable due to multiple city code violations including large cracks in the foundation and rotting ceilings sidewalk exists along the Eastern portion of the site adjacent to Gurley Street and RightWay would be dedicated atsite plan for a sidewalk on Gray Avenue we are requesting to add a development plan to the existing zoning designation of rum to allow for the development of no more than eight townhouse units the Planning Commission recommended approval of this request by a vote of 8 to four in the planning commission's written comments which are attachment F of the staff report Vice chair cheris notes that this is a good location for info commissioner cut rght notes this is a positive change as it increases density and commissioner CE notes that this is the type of incremental development which helps strong neighborhoods evolve over time the staff report recommends that if this

zoning map change is approved the place type map designation should be apartment and townhouse neighborhood we would like to point out that a variety of housing types do already exist in this neighborhood including apartments and the current established residential designation specifically contemplates a variety of housing types including tow houses smaller infill sites that are difficult to develop and require design flexibility and that change incrementally over time by adding a mix of other residential options thus we believe that this request would be consistent with the established residential designation this is a map uh showing the place type designations in the area as you can see this site is located where the green star is we are within one mile of downtown there is apartment and townhouse neighborhood designation just down the street and then there are several other designations in the immediate vicinity including Neighborhood Services and Community institution adding a development plan to the existing zoning designation of rum

will not change the housing types or height allowed on this property the only thing that changes is the permitted density with the existing zoning five townhouse units can be built on the property by right this request is simply to allow for three more units this request is substantially consistent with the comprehensive plan by providing a new housing type being located less than half a mile from public Parkland and meeting the Udo standards for setbacks sidewalks open space tree coverage Ada accessibility landscaping and storm water and finally this request is compatible with the Pres zoning by adding a development plan to the existing designation and proposing an already permitted use at a slightly higher density to meet demand here in Durham thank you for your time and we look forward to answering any questions you may have thank you so much okay he online Okay um this this

public hearing is open and thank you for your report thank you for your uh presentation uh do we have any members of the audience that would like to speak speak to this matter Adam clerk I believe we have one person signed up online Ben Greener yes Mr Greener can you hear us Mr Greener can you hear me can you hear me I can hear you now yes you have three minutes please state your name and you can go ahead thank you to the council for the opportunity to speak on the resoning of 321 323 and 325 gray Avenue my name is Ben Greener and I'm a resident and homeowner very close to the proposed rezoning and I do oppose this change for context gray Avenue currently consists of mostly duplexes and single family homes while generally quiet we have already had issues with parking at times due to nearby institutions

including churches and a school the proposal to increase the density of units allowed on these Lots will result in additional substantial burden to the residents for both parking and traffic safety on the street and nearby intersections during a previous meeting between the developer and residents most residents Express this concern and no concrete plan that I'm aware of has been presented at this time to address this during the previous Planning Commission meeting it was also stated that the added density of units is not intended to provide affordable health housing and benefit those in need the unit suggested were large units approximately 2,000 square ft and I struggle to understand how the plots will have adequate space without providing a burden to those currently living there particularly immediate neighbors if these eight units are permitted through rezoning while I am a strong proponent of building units on these Lots consistent with the current zoning without adequate and justifiable plans the proposed resoning will simply serve to maximize developer profits and add unnecessary density at the expense of current residents it will

also negatively influence the character of our beloved neighborhood where some individuals have lived their entire lives further communication regarding these plans and the intent towards selling versus renting these tow houses has been vague even in answers to the Planning Commission note that we already have a considerable number of airbnbs and rentals in the area which make occupancy in the neighborhood spotty and have led to problems including property damage caused by renters some similar although less dense complexes on neighboring streets have also raised resulted in substantial litter noise and other issues in the area increasing density of units without understanding the developer intent only serves to increase this risk further without measurable benefit to our wonderful local community there are currently two other large town home or apartment buildings being constructed or that have recently finished on North Roxboro nearby and the additional three units that this rezoning would allow will not provide substantial occupancy benefit to the community beyond what is already being built elsewhere I and other residents would prefer that the area remain as currently zoned if not denied

we as residents are the ones that will have to live with consequences of the decisions of the developers again there is no need for additional units on the street beyond what is already permitted my household and other neighbors have expressed again similar concerns and these concerns were downplayed by the developers representation at the previous Planning Commission meeting prior to the vote and their recommendation this does not sit well with myself and other residents that I've spoken with I urge you to deny this request at least until resident cons concerns can be fully addressed with a clearly defined and acceptable plan that will not harm our community thank you again for your time today thank you Mr Greener for your remarks and specifically on time at three minutes are there uh this is a public hearing are there any other uh comments that like to be shared all right well at this time I will uh close the public hearing and bring it back before oh I'm sorry uh would you like to

respond to those comments yes mayor thank you uh there were a few issues that were brought up that we would just like to quickly address the first issue uh we heard was parking that is something that we heard from many neighbors at the neighborhood meeting that we held and we took that feedback and we understand that parking particularly street parking is something that these neighbors are very concerned about and so the goal with these Town Homes is for each unit to have a garage in which a car can be parked additionally with driveway parking as well as uh a small parking lot in the north uh West corner of the site so parking is something that the developer fully intends on incorporating on the site to alleviate any concerns of on street parking because again we understand that that was a concern of the neighborhood uh in terms of affordability the and we heard uh what the potential intent is with this the intent is is to create a smaller unit that will ultimately be more attainable

as I explained five units can already be built on the site by right five townhouse units will be much larger and therefore more expensive the goal of the developer is to slightly increase the density from 5 to 8 to create a smaller unit that will ultimately be more attainable so that is the ultimate goal here and uh if around 2,000 ft was what was stated during the Planning Commission that was was a misstatement based on the site constraints the setbacks the right of way that is going to be dedicated for the sidewalk potential project boundary buffers the site is uh fairly limited and so with eight town homes they would be closer to 1,600 to 18800 Square ft so I apologize if there was any communication at the Planning Commission meeting regarding that and again we'd be happy to answer any further questions about any of those points thank you thank you thank you for your comments um at this time uh there are no other uh comments to be shared from the

public I will uh declare this public hearing closed and bring it back before the council colleagues are there any comments um no longer commissioner uh council member Baker yes I have a quick question for um staff um I was just curious about your determination that uh the existing Place type that is on the site is not consistent with the the proposed uh rezoning um why is it and um yeah why is that yeah so there was a lot of discussion between staff on for this case in particular um it's truly due to um I believe the existing surrounding neighborhood being predominantly you know single family in this particular area um so the addition of townhouse units um kind of triggered the apartment and townhouse Neighborhood Place typ thank you I've got one quick question for the applicant um you mentioned off

street parking these are going to be small units so when we walk down the street would we expect that we instead of seeing front porches we'd be seeing garages no so the idea is for the town the town homes the front of the Town Homes to face the street and for all of the parking to be internal and so all of the driveways there will be a driveway on Gray Avenue there will be no driveway on Gurley Street that will lead into the site and the uh all of the parking will be internal these are all preliminary plans but that is uh the general idea so there's no commitment to that there is no commitment because this is the a text commitment and that is not something uh that we can fully commit to at this time again with the setbacks and project boundary buffers there's still a lot that is uh in the preliminary stages but that is a full intention okay thank you I think this um I think this proposal presents some interesting policy discussions for us to to think about as a council um you know whether it's this site in particular or whether it's this

site as a uh window into broader land use and planning policy and housing policy in in Durham um so we've got two housing units not in good shape um by right five housing units can be on these three sites um and a request for being able to build up to eight housing units um I I think that this is an interesting question because we talk a lot about the density bonus and the need to to have a density bonus that is used by the development Community however when the development Community comes and requests more units they tend to receive it and um if if they are receiving more units um that they can build by right on their site uh through resoning cases um then what is the incentive for them to seek out a density bonus they're they're they're giv a sort of a gift ID dentity gift um and so I think I think that's an important question is we have lots and

lots of sites like this throughout the city of Durham this is a gentrifying neighborhood with a lot of displacement that's happening um and so we are a growing city we are adding units we need infill um I think it's good that we would have eight units on the site rather than two units or rather than five units I think that's a good thing um but the question is um what is the neighborhood getting in return what is the community getting in return and is it an equitable and just practice that we are that we are enacting as a city council and as a city so um that's just something that I wanted to bring up we don't we don't get a lot of spaces where we all sit together and get to deliberate about policy here here uh as a council um we get to do it here uh in in front of the people and I think that that's that's an important question so I just wanted to bring it up and pose it to you and and see what your all thoughts were and see how that applies specifically to this case thank you thank you council member

Baker council member Freeman thank you I did have a question for the applicant specifically around the site I noticed those large trees that were Street side would those be removed so uh the city has stated that a sidewalk is required along gray Avenue and so we are still evaluating whether or not the trees can remain with the right of way that is required and with the sidewalk that is required the intention is to keep the trees but we are still working out whether or not the RightWay acquisition and the sidewalk May conflict with the trees thank you and I would just add to um council member Baker's comment that preserving um naturally occurring affordable housing versus the kind of replacement with the eight units kind of brings my concerns up but um this neighborhood has

2 million is outrageous and so I'm kind of concerned and if you could alleviate that concern that would be helpful yes the intention is not million dooll town homes by any means again these would be 1, 1600 to 18800 Square ft uh they will be market rate most likely for sale and they are looking at the mid 500s low 600s uh but again uh By

the time this if this rezoning request is approved by the time the applicant makes its way through site plan which can take up to a year and by the time construction everything it will be three years out and so we do not know what the market will look like at that time but that is the intention is for the lower end of that market rate based on the square footage thank you that will be all council member to make a motion whenever anyone's ready um if there yeah let me just address all the comments and I'll get back to you so I appreciate the applicant U giving a sense of the price point I appreciate councilwoman Freeman's question about the price point Nate's comment about I'm sorry U councilman Baker's comments about this kind of policy challenge we face here um the generification is a real concern in Durham um as you said Council Freeman this has been an issue in that neighborhood um so I take that seriously at the same time I appreciate the

comments from the the Planning Commission that noted that you know land values are going up in Durham that that's the truth right um and so you know this one proposal can't bear can't bear bear the burden of the complete issue of affordability and gentrification so I think we got to be kind of weigh those two right but I think You' raised an important policy issue right uh mayor pro thank you Mr Mayor and thank you colleagues for really great questions and observations um a quick question for the um applicant please we um there there are a couple of thresholds we've crossed um as a city by virtue of value statements we've made in our comprehensive plan one we've adopted an urban growth boundary in principle um which means that uh infi development and denter development is going to be the watch word for us so there there's almost uh a a Prejudice if I might towards those type of projects when they come before us not a guarantee but a Prejudice for it if we're truly going to honor what it means to have an urban growth boundary uh infield development we can either go up or out

or closer um so I I I do want to ask about the [Music] um very qualified language you use the goal the the the intent is to forgive me if I'm I'm misp paraphrasing and you know you guys are developers I mean the the we know it's a it's a small lot what is it that's uh preventing you or your your client from tonight uh speaking with certainty as to things like a garage and and things I mean we know what the square footage is going to be um so could you just speak a little more to a little harder to design elements Aesthetics materials the the parking issue just if you can yes absolutely and to be clear uh this is not a developer this is something Sam and fared they are local residents this is something that they are taking on they've decided to invest in this property they saw the dilapidated homes on the site they decided to take a risk and invest in this property and try and make something of it uh Sam is a

software design engineer and F does not do this full-time this is a project that that they decided to take on because they wanted to do something in Durham and so to be clear they are not developers and so that is in part why we are not speaking with definitive terms this is not a Regional or national home builder that's coming in with a specific product and plan this is something that really takes time and for a very small newly started developer with their very first project in Durham it takes a lot of time and money to put full site plans together before you know the exact density that you're going to be able to build and so while we have some preliminary site designs before they invest in doing the full design site workup they wanted to ensure they knew what density they were working with and so that's why we do not have the very specifics here in this case and that's why this is slightly unique compared to some of the other cases that this Council might see where you have developers who have done this in multiple places multiple times this is going to be their very first project have you worked the numbers in this in

the event that we don't reone and we know it's five have you worked those numbers yes they've looked at the preliminary designs and again that is the reason why they wanted this resoning request is because those would be much larger town homes that would be much more expensive and they want to be able to provide a more attainable town home so they want to be able to build smaller units that are more attainable and so that is why they sought this resoning as it stands now W with those five would they definitely have garages as it stands now as Zone most likely yes I believe so most okay yes yes they should all right um thank you for that I do I want to thank council member um Baker for for bringing up the um the policy concern um I think the cor alary to that it it's really a legal concern um in many in many instances because the the the most evident policy remedy is to just start asking Developers for stuff oh when we

say what are you going to do for the community we could we could approach quit proquo we could say we want a park we want this we want that of course that gets us into a um an area where there are all kinds of of red flags there all kinds of barriers there all kinds of of um guard rails if there's a cheat code for us to get around it I'm I'm anxious to hear it um but but beyond policy there's also a legal issue Beyond it I I don't think there's any council member who doesn't want to extract more public good uh from the things we do uh from developers to a person on this de um so I think part of the part of a robust question about policy is is is legal um compatibility as well I'm prepared to start asking for Developers for much more um but I you know we have to have a conversation as to how we do that um so thank you Mr Mayor I'm prepared to uh support this project thank you Mr Mayor I'll y back council member Freeman thank you Mr Mayor I I just had a question for staff

regarding that RightWay and the sidewalk yes sorry Bill judge assistant Transportation director thank you I just wanted to know what the I guess the the like ask the norm for how you would make a decision regarding whether to preserve the tree versus get rid or to chop the tree down so yeah there are um methods through uh the city's public works department and the general Services urban forestry to protect and save the tree um methods for root protection other types of things depending on the condition age of the tree I don't particularly know the specifics of this location but um it might require um the sidewalk be located further into the site which could then be additional property less developable area for the developer so um it would

not be an automatic requirement by the city that the trees be removed there would be options to preserve them if the developer were to choose Thank you and so I just have a question for the the applicant on whether that would be a hindrance for your project if you did need to move that sidewalk behind the tree if I may have one moment to ask my client a question apologies I just wanted to make sure I understood the constraints of the site

could you please repeat your question I'm so sorry so essentially um based on staff's comment there may be a situation where the sidewalk could be moved behind the tree would that be a hindrance for the site um the building envelope so to speak I think that the sidewalk would exist in the project boundary buffer such that there is potential for the trees to be preserved but again it's something that the site needs to be fully worked up in order to determine but I think that would be possible and then just um just reaching a little bit into the I guess part of where you're going with the building envelope is this any in any way shape or form and is it going to take the shape of rather than just townhouse is going straight up is it any way that these These are more apartment style cottage style it's just all just just straight up and down town houses the idea is for there to be uh between 3 to four on uh facing gray Avenue and then around three or four depending on how everything fits facing girlyy Street all

of them facing again external to the street with the driveway and the garage and everything located internal to the site so it would be a road row of ideally four and then a row of ideally four and so the full again design of the facade and everything like that hasn't been done but that's the general idea and then parking would be located in the northwest corner all right thank you and I have a question for staff and it's specific to the facade and um along these policy lines figuring out how how we would go about to normalize more of a single family like look with it being multif family internally um for something that is eight units I think that would be more meable to a community where single family homes are predominant and if it's not allowed I want to know what we need to do to shift that um so there can certainly be a text Amendment or excuse me a text commitment

from the applicant uh regarding any design of the town houses um but that we don't currently have that on the textual development plan thank you thank you council member Freeman council member Russ just one more question for staff and I I apologize as being the Newbie up here so um in the other packages we had a development plan this one does not have a development plan with text commitment so am I missing something or what is what's the difference here no so um this is a textual development plan um for the other cases we often see graphic development plans but textual development plans are also allowed um there's three types graphic textual in general um which do not have any commitments thank you thank you any other comments from our colleagues from the

council all right well at this time this um this C this zoning map change Oaks at gray requires two motions and uh motion one is to adopt an ordinance amending the amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of residential Urban multif Family and establishing the same as residential Urban multif Family with the textual development plan so moved second all right it's been mov and seconded Madam clerk will you open the open the the vote will you please close the vote motion passes 4 to2 with council members Freeman and Baker voting no thank you and motion two is to adopt a consistency statement as required by

North Colina General statute 160d d605 so moved sorry I'll second that it's been moved by council member ciero seconded by council member rist Madam clerk were you open to vote please and will you close to vote the motion passes 5 to one with council member Baker voting no thank you very much and that concludes our uh public hearings for the even me Mr Mayor coun believe one more

minute just all right so that brings us to the end of our agenda um thank you for your patience as I seek clarification um it's a little different sitting in the seat after going two years of having the luxury of just watching May O'Neil have to shuffle through the papers and I'm sitting over there like yep not me um but now here we are we have come to the end of our agenda I do want to to

uh acknowledge one um card I have here miss Lisha Austin uh you signed up to speak on a general matter this is uh this we usually accept General maners at the actual uh work session so what I'd like to do is offer you the opportunity to just reach out to the manager's office or if you you could just see me after the meeting and I can instruct on how to do it uh to ensure that we can um create space for you to to share your remarks um you at these meetings it's uh your comments are usually ATT uh attached to an agenda item this would be uh this matter would be more General we do that at work sessions on Thursday and but just wait for me as the meeting I'll make sure you understand the instructions all right uh and one other order of business I need to officially resign not from the seat of Mayor

uh from my seat as the W 3 council member so I'm stating now on the public record that I officially resigned from the W 3 Council seat this officially marks the starting point for us as a council um to begin the process of replacement that process will be led by council member ciero uh as I will soon announce the Committees and commissions and board assignments um but I will say that she will be leading the procedures committee and she'll be leading Us in that process which will be on the uh Thursday agenda um and and we'll start there would you like to share some comments on that thank you mayor um yeah we will be talking it about it on Thursday I do have one request I have to leave by 3M and so my request is that we take it up earlier in the agenda often we do those things towards the end and I will unfortunately I have to drive to Newburn so we that might be fine but I have to leave the meeting early thank you I I

too have to leave early that day so I think we can do that um so may do we need a motion to accept your resignation or are we good Kim uh Madam attorney counc would like to make that council member R would you like to entertain a motion to fire me as War I Council yes I'm I so moved it's been moved is there a second second all right there's been a motion to uh accept my resignation and fire me as the War 3 council member uh seat uh all in favor I and we can do a hand vote all right I believe it's unanimous okay council member Freeman doesn't want me to leave so it's unanimously uh accepted thank you all so much uh and that brings us to the end of our agenda and I wanted to close this out by just a special thank you to Mayor O'Neil um this once you sit in this seat it is a a special um family that you

become a part of and I've spent the last few weeks with her I just transitioning and I I'm just beyond grateful I know what you see throughout the last two years on the meetings or whatever but what happens behind the scenes is uh is family and and I love her and I am so grateful for her mentorship and her um offering to stay close to me so um thank you all so much and I believe that brings us to the close and we can end this meeting officially at 9:23 and as mayor reil would say Bull City wait Bull City strong thank you that's a lot

I picture the s both them email [Music] right thank you I saw all of your children with their curling ha I know you're like like this makes sense yeah that's the one thing I passed on

right I was get it