City Council · Regular Meeting · February 17, 2025

Public comment on Thursdays at 1: p.m. But these folks are at school so I wanted to make an exception tonight but I do want to start seeing y'all at more Council meetings so you can see how this stuff works because one of you all need to be sitting in this seat in a few years you understand do you understand yes sir all right all. Right so at this time. CNN.

Yes at this time I will read the consent agenda priority I'm sorry priority items Mr manager I'm going to pass it over to you thank you honorable mayor mayor Proft members of council the city manager's office has two priority items this evening first regarding agenda item number 12 amendment number one for the contract number 81 18421 with United minority contractors of North Carolina Inc for mwbe Workforce Section 3 and Davis bacon Consulting Services additional information requested during the February 6 2025 work session has been attached a second item agenda item number 35 overview of housing opportunities for persons with AIDS haa the additional information requested during the February 6 2025 work session has been added under the priority items by the city manager City attorney and city clerk section thank you those are my priority items okay thank you madam attorney thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mayor ptim members of the council it's good to see you the city attorney's office does not have any priority items but if I may take a point.

Of personal privilege I would like to introduce the city attorney's office extern Darius Baker if Darius is here Darius is a third year at UNCC law school he's been with us since January he will be with us through April we've been very grateful to have him he's got a demonstrated interest in public interest law and litigation so this was the one council meeting the whole semester that he could swing so we really appreciate Darius being with us this semester so so law school is easy for you now you've gone through the hard part the one L right he's a three yeah he's gone through the hard I hear the first year is the hardest yeah yeah yeah I tell you know Chelsea M council member cook I let her know all the time like she and I the only lawyers on on Council she went to Stanford I went to YouTube still works you know so congratulations welcome all right Madam Clerk you have any priority items good evening again city clerk's office has no.

Priority items great 11 thank you so much.

All right. 25 at this time I will read the consent. Agenda all right item number one Recreation advisory commission mayoral appointment item number three Durham Performing Arts Center oversight committee appointments number four inter a local agreement for the distribution of sales tax between the city of Durham and Durham County item number five Durham Planning Commission annual report number six 2024 Durham historic preservation commission annual report number seven 2024 dorm open space and trails commission annual report number eight 20 24 doram City County appearance commission annual report number nine 2024 doram Board of adjustment annual report number 10 2024 citizens advisory committee annual report number seven I I'm sorry number 11 homeless Services advisory committee annual report has been.

Pulled number 12 amendment number one for contract number 18421 with the United minority contractors of North Carolina Incorporated for mwbe Workforce Section 3 and Davis bacon Consulting Services you pull that one number 12 has been pulled number 13 duror Convention Center Authority board 2024 anual report number 14 Durham cultural Advisory Board 2024 anual report number 15 Durham environmental Durham environmental Affairs board 2024 annual report number 16 third amendment to lease with Duke University and Duke University Health Systems Incorporated for the emergency communications 911 backup center number 17 solid waste management transfer station building number one renovation project design contract with DWT Architects and planners limited number 18 First Amendment to service agreement for project management consulting services with Turner and towns in hiri LLC number 19 ratification of 5 202 five fiscal year 25 festivals and events contract number 20 Second Amendment to the Professional Services contract with aw ADW Architects PA for the Durham city fire and Durham County EMS station 19 project number 21 Second Amendment to the workforce.

Innovation and Opportunity Act adult and dislocated worker program delivery contract with e youth Alternatives Incorporated DBA eert connects contract number 19714 number 22 Ben Bay Festival headlining booking agent contract 23 2024 Recreation advisory commission annual report 24 sales and storage agreement for sodium chloride salt number 25 contract amendment number one for storm water infrastructure repairs number 25 has been pulled no wait set a res resource it was a res yeah it's a resource I retract I retract that it's not been pulled 26 utility Rec relocation agreement urra for storm water drainage system repair and sanitary sewer main relocation project with lrc dgb LLC and lrc Cordova LLC number 27 First Amendment to service contract with e+ technology incorporated number 28 contract with e+ Incorporated for implementation of the metropolitan area network number 29 number 29 2024 bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission annual report number 30 Municipal agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for North Roxboro Street and Horton Road and denfield Street project tip number w575 AI number 31 purchase of seven.

Replacement light Transit vehicles for goam access number 32 purchase order for Premier water LLC for Iration Bas and pumps at the North Durham Water Reclamation. Facility right General business agenda we have the Durham homeless Services advisor committee appointment which okay number 33 consolidated annexation palanco residence number 34 zoning map change Hoover Road in assemblage you remind me 11 and 12 I'll now entertain a motion.

To approve the consent agenda with the exceptions number 11 and 12 20 11 and 12 so moved second right it's been moved in probably second it Madam Clerk will you please open the vote please to vote and the motion passes unanimously thank you so much all right we'll go back up to number. 11 so number 11 was pulled by Sarah de okay y.

Good evening my name is Sarah deato as many of you know I'm the Project Director for legal aids eviction diversion program I wanted to speak tonight to offer our support for the funding proposal that was in the hsac report and their funding request you'll note that their goals include the prevention and ending of veterans homelessness and also they aim to prevent and homelessness for families Youth and children and their services through housing for New Hope and families moving forward and Alliance those coalitions and those that cooperation those agencies help provide services for people who are imminently homeless or chronically homeless and I wanted to tonight suggest as well as our program is also seeking funding down the road that the council consider that any funding for the homeless service providers or in our community that legal aid we see people right before they become homeless in many situations and in many situations also as a tenant comes to us and they're facing eviction we often make referrals to families moving forward we make.

Referrals to housing for New Hope We Make referrals to Alliance we are able to give tenants who are facing eviction the opportunity to often give more time from their landlord to negotiate with that and to also connect again with those agencies in our communities as we know right now every time we open the news there somebody somebody else is losing their job right now with the federal government and also with Federal funding and so there's we're going to see an increase and how that's going to affect evictions here in in Durham and so in addition to the funding that the city of Durham often gives to the homeless service providers in the community such as housing for New Hope Alliance and families moving forward I would just ask that you keep that in mind as you go into your budget discussions as it relates to funding our program so that we can continue to work together in the community with those agencies that provide those Services thank you thank.

You move to receive the report of the homeless service advisory committee second can I get a second all right thank you there been mov than properly second Madam Clark please open the vote please close the vote and the motion passes unanimously thank you I didn't see number 12C oh yeah that's right council member W yeah thanks Mr Mayor yeah manager referred to in his in his priority member referred to the additional information that was provided following our conversation at the work session about the the goals for minority and women own business participation in the forever home Investments major Investments City's making in so the the the the compelling interest our city has in making sure that's a way that we can support and expand our small business community that additional information was fairly brief and I was I was we were asking for a little more data on how we'd reach that goal of 11% minority on firms and 7% W firms we got a small little slide and a slide deck.

But I was expecting like a larger report or something so it wasn't quite the information I was hoping to receive there so I don't know whether whether deut Chadwell U manager chavell can come up I'm also I believe comme development director Reginal Johnson is available via Zoom if you have a specific question could see if he has the information for you otherwise we can follow up with additional information if requested Keith I'm not sure if if you have comments additionally or if you want to let Reginal address a concern good evening Mr Mayor Mr Mayor protim members of council I was just made aware that Mr Johnson was available when I thought otherwise was the case it may be appropriate that he be allowed to respond otherwise Mr riss will be happy to have that returned and U apologize for the mishap that this was not as responsive as as expected and we could most expeditiously respond to it as you wish I appreciate that and just to be clear so then we got like.

Total numbers but I think having some back up about like how many firms are benefiting right what's the size of their contracts a little more detail on that kind of information would be extremely helpful to the council as we think about it renewing and then expanding the contract for the for the contractor to continue the work again sorry for the misfire I think that the staff was expecting that a statistical response based on how they understood the question was would would be appropriate understand what you're saying we're happy to try and and have that provided for the very very next time that the council's together appreciate that thank you we just refer this refer back to that okay all right so colleagues we're just going to refer this back to staff so a motion is not needed at this time Point a question yeah to the staff this this isn't going to affect any timeline in terms of work or anything will it no Reginal Johnson director Community Development Department it will not okay.

Mr Johnson do you want to respond to my colleagues inquiry because I'm I'm I want to get a sense of exactly what we're what we're being asked for and did did you want to give a a response well thank you mayor proam it sounds like the council member wants a detailed report on the the firms that compose us exceeding the goals from and women on participation such as the name of the firm and amount of contracts we actually have that and we'll be glad to provide that council membera is that since they have that information is it okay we go forth with this or do you prefer to still refer back or what if you get when you get the information is there something different you're looking forward or what what what is the outcome you mean that's it thanks Mr Johnson I'm glad you're there yeah I just would love to see that just as again as we're making decisions on large contracts if that's information that's available and that can be be sent.

To that's fine then I just want to be able to see that make sure we have that kind of that that backup yeah I remember we had this conversation with when Mr Jackson first came on board I believe I think that was something we talked about as well but I I know it's present so we can make sure we get that to you as well yeah in so far as this is an an amendment to an existing contract I don't I for me I don't think we've crossed the threshold where we need to refer it back I I take the staff members at his word that he has the information but given that I I don't I don't really see a need to hold up passing this contract tonight with that I'll offer the motion for item number.

12 okay there's a motion on the floor is there a second. Okay oh go ahead since staff said that they would refer it back that would be my. Thank you I was I was deferring to director Johnson's opinion that he stated when he asked if if the delay would be a concern the answer is no that the delay would not be a concern that is not to say that we aren't prepared to move forward if Council adopts it this evening if the if the council's wish is that the additional information will help them decide whether or not to approve the contract I rest on Regal's recommendation that the time delay isn't a concern if Council does not think that information is is pivotal to approving the contract we're prepared to move forward this evening thank you for that clarification thank you Mr May I'm simply saying that my my re there's nothing there's no controversy here as as far as my resistance just request for information but I you know there.

There's nothing well yeah I'm I'm prepared to move forward the staff that they'll give us the we do this all the time staff gives us information per request all the time I don't see anything particularly unique about this particular contract it's more of it's an amendment to an existing contract that we've already we're already in so thank you Mr Mayor all right if there's a motion if there's no second then I'll just go ahead and refer it back if there's a second that I'll entertain it all right we'll just refer back to staff all right what was that other one that was it right now we're going do we need to address number.

Two and Duram homeless Services advisory committee appointment we we addressed this at the work session but we were tied and just decided to move it to move it to the general business agenda Madam Clerk can you give us a report out where we are yes I I followed up with council member Calo this evening and we have a majority vote for Tasha de Melvin to be nominated and appointed to the seat all right thank you I believe that was the recommendation as well for that that's good all right can I get a motion to all right it's been moved is there a second all right it's been moved in probably second U to appoint a resident to fill one vacancy on the dorm homeless Services advisory committee representing nonprofit organization with the term to expire on June 30 2026 and that name is Tasha D Melvin all right Madam CLK please open new you.

Vote one second okay we're if you all if you can oh there we go all right open the vote is open colleagues all right M clerk please close to vote and the motion passes unanimously thank you all right we're moving along all right I now we'll go into our public hearings and I'll now receive the staff report for item number 33 Consolidated annexation palanco resident thank you Mr Mayor mayor Proft Middleton honorable members of council I'm Aaron Kane with the planning department I'm happy to be here with you this evening 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 Affidavit of all notices are on file in the planning department a request for a utility extension agreement voluntary annexation and initial zoning map change has been received from Bryan Sawyer for for one parcel of land totaling 0.529 acres and located at 4873 Stanley Road this annexation petition is for a.

Non-contiguous expansion of the corporate limits though a though contiguous to a satellite of the corporate limits as part of this annexation petition the applicant is not seeking a change in the underlying zoning District a direct translational zoning is one in which the existing County zoning is translated to The Identical City Zoning District upon the annexation into the property of the property into the city limits the property is currently designated established residential on the place type map the proposed residential 20 Suburban 20 zoning is generally consistent with the designated use shown on the place type map if the proposed zoning is approved there will be no change to the place type designation of established residential thank you and staff and the applicants are here to answer any.

Questions thank you you've heard you've heard the staff report colleagues are there any questions for staff council member cook hi good evening Aon good evening I just had a quick question actually which is that can you explain to me how the costs are borne of extending the water and sewer lines because I this is a pretty significant extension and I imagine the applicant pays for that and I'm just curious if there are any offsets if there are any subsidies anything like that that helps people get connected no it would be the applicant or the property owners responsibility to Bear those costs and I'm not aware of any City subsidies for that especially in this case no I'm not aware of anything and is it ever the case that folks go in with neighbors do you I'm just curious because it seems like it would be an expensive cost and I'm just curious how it's yeah I can't speak to the costs specifically especially in the case I I don't know the particular cost here.

Sometimes that may be it has not been in my tenure here that there's been a situation where say there's a say a group of neighbors that are looking to extend I've not seen that but it certainly would not be out of the realm of possibility to do. So thank you are there any other questions yes U council member Freeman thank I just had a general question and just using the opportunity to ask if is there any system in place to figure out property owners in or coming in from out of state I just wanted wanted to know if there's a system that the planning department uses to identify property owners really so we used the rer of record on the from the reg County Register of Deeds office a and what we what you can do is you can look at the property owner and then the address the property owner should be a have an address in it you can compare that address to the address.

Of the actual parcel to see if it is say an O owner occupied parcel or if the ownership is local sometimes they are llc's and the LLC will have a particular address that have a particular address and that is the address on file and if the LLC is out of state in like Delaware where they don't identify who the people are is there anything that you ping around that I haven't really come across that for the most part any time I've personally had to deal with an LLC ownership of a parcel it's it's been local or if it hasn't been local it's at least been registered with the state Secretary of State's office so we've been able to determine for example who is who is an authorized signatory for acknowledgement of a zoning action or for an approval of an annexation something like that it it has not been an issue thank you I'll have some followup but I just want to get that on the record thank you are there any other com.

Questions all right you've heard the staff report I now declare this hearing this public hearing open how much time do you think you need maybe a minute and a half all right let's go ahead and put five minutes on is your name mayor this is a public speaker on the not the applicant oh okay y I was just looking at this like wait are you is it the are you the applicant I'm I I I'm not technically the applicant is the owner I think but I'm with the applicant I'm the land surveyor what's your name applicant Mary Elizabeth my name Gunn surveying so I'm represent the applicant is actually out of the country right the second so okay so I have you and Mr Baker and Brian sawer U Mr Baker for the next case I believe yep sure right you sure yep you're right so I have you two for this one yes okay gotcha so all right we'll take it three minutes go okay hi thank you mayor mayor.

Protemp and members of council for your time thank you Aaron also for your presentation I'm Mary Elizabeth a land surveyor with Sullivan surveying and as stated by Aaron the goal is to have this property off of Stanley Road annexed to have access for utilities and I hope this would be something that would be viewed as amiable by Council and hopefully can help to be beneficial for our property owners as well so thank you guys for your time and consideration gosh such a complex presentation all right thank you actually those are.

Mr Brian are you resource or would you need to share okay gotcha all right so those are all the speakers I have so at this time I'll declare the public hearing closed and I'm back before the council questions colle come back to council member Cook's question so are you going to be running water down Stanley Road so I you will come to the Podium here get on camera get. Famous thank you for considering absolutely just say your name my name is Brian Sawyer I'm the general contractor there's no water on that street available for City Water our main purpose is to tie into the sewer and when there's already sewer on that that straet I'm sorry you're just tapping into the that's it all right any other questions questions or comments colleagues yep mayor pres thank you you're you're not the owner no I'm a general contractor this just for a personal residence no yes private resident I think he plans on living there himself yes okay is he a is he a.

Head of a multinational multi-million dollar development company anything like that no he owns a a dump truck he's a trucker trucker how long has you been the DM I think 20 years thank you that's it all right any other comments colleagues questions all right so at this time I'll entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing palano residents into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with ruio palanco and yenis Carolina Morales moved is red second been mov them properly second Madam Clerk please open to vote please close the.

Vote and the motion passes unanimously council member C is your clicker working or you just you didn't vote it's unanimous okay it's unanimous but all right thank you and the last item number 34 much oh I'm sorry go move it too quick here the next motion the next motion to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential Suburban 20 Falls Jordan District B County jurisdiction and establishing the same as residential Suburban 20 false Jordan District B City jurisdiction we'll just read second we moved and properly second Madam Clerk please open the votee please close the vote and Report.

Out and the motion passes unanimously thank you and lastly I'll entertain a motion to adopt the consistency statement as required by North Carolina General statute section 160d d605 who to adop consistency second move the property second Madam Clerk please open to vote please close the vote and the motion passes unanimously all right last item number 34 zoning map change who wrote assemblage now receive the staff report a request for a zoning map change has been received from oh yes from Dan juel of Thomas and Hutton for 63 Parcels of land totaling 23204 acres and located in East Durham generally west of Miami Boulevard in Hoover Road north of Ash Street and south of Harvard Avenue the current zoning is residential Urban 5 residential Urban 52 and Commercial neighborhood the applicant proposes to change this designation through a graphic development plan to plan development residential 17325 the applicant is proposing to rezone the properties to allow up to 402 residential dwelling units at least 25% of which would be tow houses the properties are currently designated.

Mixed res residential neighborhood established residential and Neighborhood Services on the place type map the proposed 17.32 zoning is generally consistent with the designated types of mixed residential neighborhood and established residential but is not consistent with the neighborhood services Place type if the proposed zoning is approved staff recommends a change to the place type map to designate the parcels currently designated as Neighborhood Services to mixed residential neighborhood staff also recommends changing the parcels currently designated as established residential to mix residential neighborhood for consistency and to acknowledge the change in housing type thank you staff and the applicants are available for any questions thank you council member cook hello again could you just quickly tell us what the neighborhood services Place type designation is so it's intended for neighborhood commercial and Civic uses so think your smallscale retail retail Care Centers the kinds of things that you would the kinds of non-residential activities you might want near residential areas and there is still a significant amount of Neighborhood Services up there on on.

On that road this would just be eliminating for a few Parcels okay thank you any other questions for yes council member Mr can also along those lines so of the 23 plus acres in this in this case can you say what cuz I you there's different different place types in there right so what percent is the neighborhood services Place type which is right there right fronting on Miami right it's just those four partiel that from a percentage of the land were maybe 10% I I couldn't give you an exact amount right now but it it's small thank you all right so what this time I'll declare the public hearing open and Mr Baker you're the only speaker I have how much time do you need on this Mr Mayor I think four minutes would be sufficient thank you you have five minutes good evening mayor Williams mayor protim Middleton members of the city council I'm Patrick Baker I live at 2614 Stewart Drive I'm an attorney with Morning Star Law Group I'm here.

Representing the local ownership team of this assemblage along Hoover Road for this agenda item I'm joined tonight by some of our ownership team who are sitting right over there this is a rather unique situation since we are representing a group of local owners who have assembled one of the strongest infill developments that I can recall this local ownership group includes Durham Habitat for Humanity and our team has been working on this assemblage since 2019 the team has put together 23 Acres but only slightly more than 12 acres are developable for new housing the construction of seder and Creasy streets with sidewalks on both sides will create a grid network with Ash Street and Hoover Road when you add in the required stream buffers and the storm water control measures those factors all reduce the Acres that can be developed to just over 12 it is important to note that there is no housing at all on any of these Lots today I have to say I've worked in.

Durham for about 30 years and I did not realize this infill opportunity existed until we started working on this resoning since the Hoover Road assemblage owners are the applicant here and not a developer it precluded some of the options related to to compliance with our comprehensive plan however the owners have made a strong commitment to affordability along with the new streets and sidewalks that affordability commitment drives this infield development in order to locate new housing approximately 2 miles east of downtown as shown in our development plan there's a commitment to apartments and Tow houses within this assemblage in order to diversify the housing stock in this corner of Durham since it was the desire of this ownership group ownership group to diversify the housing types in this area we knew we had to be a good neighbor and focus on community engagement accordingly in addition to our two virtual neighborhood meetings for which approximately 600 folks were notified we also had two lengthy meetings with Partners against Crime.

District 1 the first was on Saturday J July 20 of 2024 and the second was on Saturday November 16 of 2024 as a result of those meetings thead leadership of Partners against Crime district one provideed us with this letter of support we hope you can take this opportunity to review this letter now provide a copy of the letter from the pack one leadership to the clerk to be included in the record of this meeting while we have this letter on the screen I do want to profer on the record a contribution to Durham Public Schools in the amount of $133,000 based on $500 per additional student prior to site plan approval if we are fortunate to receive your approval we'll send an updated development plan to Mr C to that effect to wrap up I do have to point out if you look at this slide on the left side about twoth thirds of the way down that John warilla is one of our ownership team leaders and he was recognized last year by preservation.

Durham for over 30 years of visionary leadership in our city we are blessed to have such dedicated and experienced folks working on this assemblage unfortunately however this assemblage has been used as an illegal Dumping Ground for many years the local owners have had to spend over $60,000 of their own money to clean up the illegal dumping you can see on these two slides regrettably this type of activity continues today and the ownership team regularly spends its hard earn money to get it cleaned up for all those reasons along with the unanimous recommendation for approval from the Planning Commission we respectfully asked for your approval tonight so that this project can move forward our team will be happy to answer any questions thank thank you very much for your time this evening thank you all right thank you at this time I don't have any other speakers so at this time I'll declare the public hearing closed back before the council colleagues Council M cook I will be brief since you actually touched on one.

Of the two things that I was going to ask about which was the school propers the other thing that was brought up at the Planning Commission was were excuse me policies 101 and 108 around native trees and plants there was a a note that this is in the priority for green infrastructure so is there and I I know what you said at the Planning Commission I know that these are local owners but you are profer other things so I was wondering if there were any propers you could make around that no no council member cook the only profer that we wish to put on the record tonight is the contribution enduring Public Schools those we reviewed attachment F very carefully prior of this meeting and certainly had a very good give and take with the Planning Commission back in December but in terms of the different infrastructure considerations that's very difficult for us to commit to since you know different developers different home builders have different parameters for their types of development so as an.

Ownership team we're just not able to commit to those. Any other questions council member Baker so I'm I'm definitely I'm happy to see the Sader Street connection I think that's going to be very important and we're closing the Felix Street connection but I'm I'm curious if that was ever even feasible to connect because of the utility easement that is on the property and also on the adjacent property was that even ever something that could have connected to the north no because the the is a one of those big high tension wire easements and they don't allow public streets within that type of a an easement council member okay so it sounds like makes sense to to close that street anyway yes sir MH the there is the the neighborhood services I usually think that's a very important future lineage Place type I think in this case when we look to the east of this property and what is directly to the east is what we see things that are very much.

Heavy commercial in nature there's cement propane cremation the water world is right there metal fabricators plumbing and HVAC and then there's 885 so so to kind of put like a neighborhood oriented Community non-residential there you know I even though that's what's being called for in the place type map I'm actually comfortable with us being able to change that I don't see staff pushing back very hard in the staff report on that on that feature Place type map change either so I'm comfortable with that change as well I do think the affordable housing for 20 years I know that you said that you already came to the table with one profit that you wanted to make but a lot of Planning Commission or Planning Commission commented that 20 years it would be better if it was 30 years is that something you'd be interested in in profer no sir we're we're the financing unfortunately hasn't gotten any better over the last year year and a half we were all optimistic that interest rates would start to.

Decline and our our feedback in terms of I want to emphasize the 20-year Horizon only applies to the Apartments multifam and that's because the financing Market has not improved if anything's gotten worse and so it's very difficult to obtain financing for that we did commit to 30 years for the town houses because we know we can obtain financing to build those okay that's it for me for now thank you thank you council member Freeman R thank you Mr Mayor thanks for the presentation so yeah love the local ownership group love the engagement You' shared love the infill of this project appreciate the proper to DPS and also appreciate the the vote from planning Comm when we talked we we talked about the commercial and I wanted want to talk about a little more I mean counc Baker mentioned that briefly so admittedly it's it's a it's an odd Corridor I remember years ago driving out to the DMV there water world work or water world was out there but it is a.

Commercial Corridor and it's only a mile from Well's Village right I think it's only half a mile from Well's Village actually I mean maybe a little more so it's it's it's close to a lot of stuff it's definitely as we talked about it's that kind of dut hole that's filling in dur which I think is appropriate very much appropriate part of our job in the council is not only to sort of approve things for what what it is now but looking forward to what that what that's going to be 10 15 years from now right and we talk a lot about building a 15-minute city and what I'm concerned about is that we like right now I get that the traffic counts are down because we built East End connector but that's still a commercial Corridor and what I'm concerned about is that we take away the neighborhood Service as piece and then 10 years down the road I mean Brick Works is just around the corner right and that's like what that's.

1,00 res or units there with also with commercial what I'm concerned about is that we if we take away the neighborhood services now are we going to say 10 years from now shoot we've got now we've got a we've got housing up to the street there we'd really appreciate having some Neighborhood Services right there on that on the on the Frontage so we looked at it really hard a council member wrist as a team and we have people who are much more capable than I am evaluating that and yeah what's what's remarkable about Miami Boulevard is the traffic count actually dropped by 50% after East in connector opened and the folks on the team we met with real estate brokers we just could not identify a non-residential use that would work for that little Frontage along on the north side of this assemblage what I think is more important actually is the point I made about diversifi diversification of the housing type that if you drive through the neighborhood there you'll see that.

It's it's really predominantly single family detached housing and so when we looked at and as Mr Kan mentioned and I agree with I think it's actually under 10% of the assemblage is Neighborhood Services we thought it was a better use of that property to bring further diversification of housing types to the to that part of Durham as opposed to put in a commercial that to be honest with you sir would just sit vacant I mean so like so how long is it going to take to complete this development we're talking like five plus years I think less than that sir hopefully less I mean certainly our our objective is to move more exped expeditiously than that again I'm thinking about like what this is going to be five years down the road well keep keep in mind brick brick works will be adding 50,000 square feet of of non-residential space that folks in this neighborhood could I think would be able to walk to and and you got an easy conect fairly easy connection to.

Wellin Village as well straight shot of Miami Boulevard so I think there's plenty of non-residential opportunities right in the vicinity there is just this this 5 to 10% of the assemblage on the north side of it simply doesn't make any sense to us to make that non-residential so what so what do you envision then coming what's going to be facing the street then facing Miami that when this is completed it would either be U some tow houses or some apartments that would be oriented you know to the street mhm okay thank you thank you thank you Mr May thank you colleagues and thank you to this local ownership group this is infield development which I I am in in my quest to keep Fidelity with what I voted for in our comp plan in terms of deran growth boundary I I I place a high premium on good infield development not perfect but good really strong infield devel vment I think the Planning Commission got this one right and and the fact that what's.

Interesting is that it was a unanimous vote but they still had caveats they still had Commons which I think is illustrative of good not making perfect the enemy of the good and I think their comments were useful the the challenge is when you have we want developers who have local values but with the Ledger of a multinational developer or multi-billion dollar developer and so s when it's it's it's local folk they can't do all the things that the big big boys or big girls big people can do that we'd like them to I believe they they would if they could so I understand some of the limitations a lot of time this was a Dumping Ground this this area a lot of times was was dumped on we need some development there and we need we some good housing there I'm I'm I'm pleased with the mix between its ownership and Rental what's the breakdown of that again it would probably be ballpark 2/3 multif Family Apartments one/ third tow houses.

That's that's our best guess at this point in time yeah ball park yeah I I think this is a a a good a good example of infill development again I think the Planning Commission got this one right you know in an urban living in a city it is not uncommon to to walk down the street of a city and two blocks is residential and then the next block boom you're in some different type of of of use or that's what a city is often times in as our urban center gets more dense and and certainly we need to keep vigilance with with trees and and and and other things but I I think that this is actually a good project when it comes to infield development I'm excited about the local development group that's behind it I like the mixture of housing I I Echo council member Baker's concern query what have you about the 30-year threshold for affordability as opposed to 20 I do like the extended.

Affordability on on the town homes but I do also understand the limits of of a local group who may not have the the the revenue of a bigger player but I think has the appropriate values for our city in mind so I'm going to support this project look forward to and I thank the Planning Commission for their recommendation all right thank you it's a great project I'm excited to have it I gave a t talk this weekend at Duke University and one of the things I talked about was you know the community in action and if a community community was an action word part of that means you know running into your neighbor you know and meeting folks in the grocery store and being able to create a space an environment where you know you can share pain but also share your promise it feels good to see folks that I see on a daily basis in the coffee shops or just in the grocery store normal folks.

That I not looking at some big company public company that's shared on the stock market in the Housing Industry but folks that live right in Durham also making an investment in Durham an investment that reflects the that that responds to the needs that we have in Durham as well so I am grateful for this project and look forward to supporting you it's a good project all right with that being before you I I just wanted to ask a question to the applicant I I just wanted to know was this presented at the pack meeting or just yeah yeah yeah we had two meetings back in July and then back in November I would say both meetings lasted about an hour we had big easel up and good well attended I just wanted to thank you for doing that I appreciate it very many folks think take advantage of the community engagement that's already happening and so I do want to just note that yeah on behalf of our team we all really enjoyed those.

Meetings they were very constructive thank you it's quite impressive you have a letter of support from Mr Chavis at that too so he's and Vivian McCoy yeah and and yeah Miss Vivian it's a high bar so good good work and with that being said I now entertain a motion to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility yeah authorize motion one is to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with Hoover Dam Investment LLC mov is R okay it's been moved and properly second it M cour please open the vote please close the vote please pardon the curse word on the docket here can the motion passes unanimously all right I motion to to adopt an ordinance amending I entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the UniFi de UniFi development ordinance by taking property out of residential Urban 5 residential Urban 52 Commercial neighborhood and Falls Jordan Watershed protection overlay protection area partial and establishing the same as plan development residential 7 325 and Falls joining Lake Watershed.

Protection overlay protected area partial move is Right second second been moved and properly seconded mam clerk please open the vote please close the vote and the motion passes unanimously thank you and lastly I will hand a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carolina General statute section 160d d603 605 move to adop consistency second been moved and proberly seconded please open the vote please close to vote and the motion passes unanimously thank you so much thank you that was our last agenda item I do have something to address briefly but I'll go to council member Freeman first thank you I just wanted to just check in with City staff I noticed with the comments that were made this evening with the students there was a there was a number of folks who who made mention of timely I'm sorry this it timely compensation and I was just trying to figure out is there something where we're involved with compensation with this organization that's not timely I am.

Unaware of us having any support of the organization or any formal relationship with them if if anyone has any information that conflicts with that please let me know but off the top of my head I'm not aware that we have any relationship with them so I'm just trying to I was just trying to figure out and and I didn't know Mr Mayor if you were trying to propose some type of support in place for this organization it wasn't just that organization that was they the youth wanted to they wanted to be heard they are working privately to raise funds this is one of the organizations that inspired me to start the Bull City future fund they have applied so this wasn't a this wasn't break folks in and ask the counsel for money tonight this was recognizing that there are great things happening with our youth in this community and it needs some attention so I use my platform tonight to speak to the Durham Community to just ensure that this is a.

Priority for for everyone I I and I I neither am asking for a specific contribution to one organization this is more of a you know we just don't get kids to speak at City Hall much I so what I heard you say I just want to make sure I understood is that the bull City's Futures fund is an organization that people can support if they would like to support organizations like poof and the purpose learning lab and we we we are nearly at a half million dollars right now at the million dollar goal but applications are open and they have actually applied thank you yes just really briefly I will also say that poof is looking to purchase a new building because they did have to move and there is a fund are online if folks are interested all right so we have some weather coming up and we don't know what it's going to bring colleagues I'll ask for you of flexibility as we just prepare for whatever is to come we.

Will send out some correspondents on how we'll address the meeting on Thursday if the weather gets really really really bad on Wednesday I am going to have to request an excused absence for Thursday's meeting and I don't I'm going to ask for the absence I don't know if I actually would need it or not but I'm going to ask for it tonight so yeah so move second could you facilitate that sure we have Madam cler would you please open the vote.

It's okay all in favor I those oppos all right Mr Mayor you're excused thank you as stated we are expecting a significant amount of snow the staff as great as they are already are at it and working to prepare for that and yeah just just be on the lookout from manager Ferguson and myself to present options for our meeting on Thursday question yes is a virtual option one of those options I just want to make sure cuz I need to clean up some space we don't know yet we just look for correspondence from from manager Ferguson the reason why I don't want to De I don't want to declare anything yet is because we need to look at some legal stuff with the attorney and see what our options are but we did talk about it today there are options to to move forward forward on Thursday and facilitate it at another meeting but I'll send those options out once we get a better understanding of what the weather is going to look.

Like all right and shout out to Duke Ted x thanks for inviting me to be a speaker it was a really cool experience and congrats to all the.

Speakers we are adjourned at 8:41 p.m. thank you all for a great meeting for.