m. welcome everyone welcome welcome welcome to City Hall if you all will give me just a moment all right if we can um if we will let's just uh start off with the moment of of silence and let us gather ourselves and let some peace center us we will thank you very much Madame clerk I'm sorry um council member Freeman would you
please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance thank you it's our practice to stand to salute the flag and say pledge flag United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you madam clerk you please call the role mayor Williams I'm here mayor po Middleton has requested an excused absence council member Baker here council member cabayo here council member cook here council member Freeman present council member rist here thank you right and uh because mayor Pro Tem Middleton requested an excus absence via email I think we need a formally uh excuse him so I'll entertain a motion to uh approve the absence of Mayor Pro Tem so move second second it's been mov than
properly second all in favor I I I thank you all so much all right at this time I would like to uh entertain any um any any announcements or comments by council members council member cook uh thank you mayor um I would like to make a motion to have a resolution and a statement to be added to the agenda for our work session for this coming Thursday Thursday you won't need a motion we got you excuse me i' just like for it to be added to the agenda thank you thumbs up thank you so much so uh Madame clerk let it be uh Let It Be designated let it be known that we will have that item added to the agenda for Thursday
colleagues any other comments announcements council member bacon yeah I've got a again I'm so sorry I don't know council member Baker um a few announcements um first I just wanted to say happy Black History Month um I was able to attend the North Carolina MLK Black History Month parade on Saturday um along fiful Street and it was very beautiful um there was a lot of music and and dancing and and I enjoyed it um I also want to acknowledge the incredibly challenging position that dur Public Schools is in right right now um both for I mean for for parents uh teachers for the workers um and uh this situation clearly requires some very uh creative and bold um and collaborative leadership right now so I want to add my voice um to those who are in support of our DPS workers and our classified workers uh through that effort um we need to acknowledge that this was an administrative error but also in the
context of a state government that is defunding our Public Schools recording in progress and the the the necessity to to continue to invest in our in our workers are public workers in order to outcompete uh charter schools and private schools um as many are aware uh unsafe levels of lad were detected in several of our Parks last year um I've asked for information and a community meeting to update our residents on the current status of uh work on that issue um and I've been uh provided with information that that we will assemble a small group of residents uh prior to Fe February 15th and uh come out with a strategy for engaging um um residents two more things um I recently raised the issue of small area planning uh in collaboration with Walltown um particularly on the Northgate Mall site here at a a city council work session um that there has been an item added to the Joint City County planning committee um
planning department n work program for the year uh regarding small area planning I hope to elevate the the importance uh and need for small airplane particularly in conjunction with uh Walltown and the Walltown Community um so uh I want to add my voice to that and I've heard support from County Commissioners um and I hope to continue to collaborate with you all and lastly um just very briefly uh I want to uh lend my support uh and in in support of a um in support of the the ceasefire resolution um that that uh that has been added to the work session agenda um we we will we will be we will be refining the language as it goes um and making sure to to be as inclusive as possible um and there will be other items uh that are part of it uh deescalation um and and other items as
well in that so uh just be brief on that but I think that the language people will find is is um is as inclusive as possible and we will continue to work on it and and make sure that residents have the opportunity to to review it um before it goes to the work session and then following the work session it we'll come back to city council for a vote a week and a half later that's all for me thank you colleagues my right all right uh I to um want to welcome everyone and I have um been quite busy out in the uh at different events and have been having a a really good time just really being immersed in the Durham Community um I I have to say I there there have been a lot of questions I know I hear you I hear you
um there have been a lot of questions around you know how you know what role would the city play and what's happening with during Public Schools um forly the city does not have any jurisdiction uh over our schools um any Financial or authorit uh jurisdiction there uh as a as a former educator um once an educator once an educator always an educator uh I know what it feels like I know when you know uh systems can you know make errors I also know that systems are run by humans and you know mistakes can be made I really hope all I can say is I really hope that it all clears up and we can get folks back to work and kids can be learning again I just think about the babies and um it's just a really complex matter uh but for those who say hey what is the city going to do uh there's there's nothing that we can formally do as a city but uh just try and just get you know hope this gets back or gets
fixed as soon as possible um it is uh Black History Month uh I'm not one that I'm not one to I'm not one that likes to isolate Black History Month into one month but um happy Black History Month for what it's worth uh to everyone and uh I hope that you know not only we celebrate you know black culture and history this month but every month like we do every C culture and every history and I just appreciate our diversity uh in this land that we make what it is um shout out to uh Mr Crutchfield he's a math math teacher at Shephard Middle School U I received a a Facebook message from Little Cameron which is uh little guy at Rin Harris who's a middle schooler now who asked if I could surprise his teacher uh so I went out there today and I just
want to shout out you know when teachers are doing a great job he was recognized as uh part of the top 25 percenti Math teachers in the United States right here in Durham at Shepard middle school and I I just want to really highlight the fact that the number one Public High School in North in America is the North Carolina School of Science and Math right here in Durham and the number one Public School in uh North Carolina it's Durham School of the Arts right here in North right here in Durham and um you know we have teachers that are killing it uh so just want to shout them out and make sure you do the same when you uh when you see them all right all right at this time I will read the consent agenda oh I'm sorry that's right Madam I I'll now uh call on Madam Madame manager for any priority items good evening Mr Mayor and members of the
Durham city council I do have one priority item for you this evening agenda item number 19 which is a zoning map change Cortez Drive Town Homes this public hearing is a supplemental item and has remained open since the January 16th 2024 city council meeting that is all I have for you this evening thank you Madame attorney good evening mayor Williams members of the city council it's good to see you the city attorney's office has no priority items tonight thank you very much Madam clerk good evening Mr Mayor and City Council Members the city clerk's office has no items this evening thank you all so much at this time I'll read the consent agenda item number one Durham city county Durham City County Environmental Affairs board appointment item number two human relations commission item number three
participatory budgeting steering committee appointment item number seven fiscal year 24 Capital Improvement plan CIP project closeout and related budget ordinance amendments item number eight contract with JP Morgan Chase Bank NA for banking services item number nine Cooperative group purchase contract service body trucks number 10 number 10 service agreement for project management consulting services with Turner and Townson Hy LLC number 11 amendment to HUD Grant project ordinances 12 2021 connect and protect law enforcement Behavioral Health response program Grant project ordinance superseding Grant project ordinance 159 05 number 13 contract with Pace Analytical Services LLC for laboratory
services for the public works storm water quality program 14 First Amendment to the contract with ratp de development USA Incorporated for the management operation and maintenance of the god Durham fixed route transit system ct1 19910 General business agenda number five resolution and support of black teens and crisis and we mentioned number 19 supplemental item zoning map change corz Drive Town Homes town houses at this time I'll entertain a motion to accept the consent agenda so moved second moved and properly seconded all in favor oh I'm sorry we have our clickers tonight all right Madame clerk will you please open the vote
can you close the vote please thank you very much just a quick moment of personal privilege I uh not personal privilege but Mr Mayor we're having some technical issues only five votes appeared and we have six folks on the Das can you reopen the uh I'll tell you what uh can we just do a hand vote if you uh all in favor all of host thank you thank you very much you got it uh just a moment uh council member cook this is our first time on the dice together and I I just I've been talking to you but I haven't acknowledged you in this form so it's great to uh have the council complete and thank you for being here all right uh so we will take our first item uh number five um resolution and supported blockes in crisis this item was
submitted by Resident Wanda Boon and uh we we talked about this before there were some acronyms that we didn't really know what they meant we were able to get that updated and if there are any there's we'll open it up for discussion yes council member cavier thank you I just had a couple of questions that are kind of like formatting questions you know after each whereas there's the parentheses um and it's different Roman numerals but it doesn't then refer to anything and so I was just curious what is it referring to and then if they're if it looks like it should be like a footnote or something but it's not footnoted to something and then um my other suggestion was um I think it's the seventh one down where it says where has having a sense of belonging and connection with the larger group who has got your back EG schools churches if we could um change the word church to faith-based yeah that's
good and I think that those were it other than that I appreciate the the acronym like I know what Ace is but other folks may not I didn't so I appreciate that and I think those are my only suggestions Mr Mayor I don't know what the process is since we're it's on to vote this evening I don't know if we can make those decisions here and it can get recorded properly or if it has to go back uh Madam clerk for uh is there a way that we can um are we allowed to pass this tonight with like friendly Amendment uh to ensure that it's documented appropriately I believe the num the numerical uh they're uh they're uh just numbering the paragraph so we can probably remove that and also change Church to faith base do you want me to introduce a friendly Amendment yes okay
um my friendly amendment is to remove um the uh Roman numerals at the end of each paragraph and to change I think it's the seventh paragraph down uh to change the word church to faith-based organization second all in favor it's been moved and properly second all in favor hand vote okay okay so what we'll do is we've just passed that with that friendly Amendment so Madam clerk let let the record reflect that we are removing the Roman emerals at the end of each paragraph and that church the word church will be changed to a faith base understood thank you faith-based organizations thank you uh colleagues for that and I will uh make sure that the organizations uh are notified Mr Mayor I just want to make sure there weren't any folks that were trying to speak on that
item I didn't have any cars for it all right and our next item is number 19 that's last item can I get the script please my staff prepar these scripts for me and I just don't even open the book all right this uh item number this is a public hearing and yeah this is a public hearing and I will now um receive the the report from staff thank you mayor Williams Alexander kahill planning department I'll keep it short and sweet um little bit of history on this this case before you it actually was scheduled for the September 5th 20123 city council meeting and the
applicant requested a 30-day deferral under the ordinance which they're able to do one time when it's still with the planning department uh that's under Section 357 in the Edo uh it was then at the October 16th city council meeting and continued at the applicants request to the January 16th meeting at which time it was requested by the applicant to be continued to the meeting this evening um so just want to lay out the context and history for that if you have any questions staff is available to answer them thank you all right you've heard the report from staff I'm now going to declare this public hearing open first are there any questions for my colleagues to staff yes council member Freeman just asking for an update on the I guess whatever the change were there any changes from the last presentation or the last conversation 30 days ago thank you council member Freeman there have been no changes uh that were communicated to
staff all right at this time as stated this is a public hearing uh this case is now open before the public and in zoning matters proponents and opponents will be given equal amount of time at this time we'll hear from the applicant quick U Mr go before you start we did receive some signups for this item that were not pertaining to this item I would not entertain uh those comments I'll only entertain comments that are pertaining to this that are gerain that is gerain to this this agenda item which uh what I have here okay and I I'll I have one comment um one uh person online is this person too that person I don't see okay
so we have one person on line we'll get there but I just wanted to acknowledge that that I did see some folks signed up up online uh which I see you here in person so all right all right how do you think you need Mr GH I would think I don't know seven minutes all right Madam clerk you can put seven minutes on the timer and uh I want to first of all thank Mr Cahill and the planning staff for the presentation um and I will say good evening to you mayor Williams I not see mayor proin Middleton uh but good evening also to members of the city council my name is Neil go I'm an attorney with the Morning Star Law Group here in Durham at 700 West Main Street and I'm representing the applicant for this project also with us I believe in Chambers today we have uh Laura Holleman with McAdams we have ryal Stevenson uh with the new Ry km I'll be honest with you I forgot the name of the company and
um and then uh we also have uh Steve George with the CSC group who is the who is with the applicant group uh we find ourselves here tonight uh with once again another council member short um and just to give a little history of this uh item um this case was heard uh originally voted on a rezoning November 2020 um where the item was denied some of you on this Council were on that Council as well and um I will tell you my client is quite uncomfortable coming back to council for a vote yet again without a full Council it was it was voted on without a full Council back then um that having been said uh I know this item has been continued a couple times already and so I would say if folks are interested in contins we would entertain that but barring that um as I said a number of you were on Council when uh resoning on the same property was turned down at that time the eastn connector had not been opened and um there was a fair amount of uncertainty
associated with the great separated rail Crossing at Glover Road and just to be clear uh grade separated rail crossing crossing is essentially putting the railroad over the road Network rather than on the road Network at grade which is where it is today um in regard to both of those we know we now know a lot more obviously the eastn connector is open and um the great separate rail Crossing at Glover is funded both of these things ultimately will have a positive impact on traffic in the area aside from that a couple of other things have changed about the project given where we are today in the city with the need for housing the project increased the total number of units slightly and got rid of all the single family detached housing this project was uh previously it was a mix of town homes and single family it is now 100% for sale town homes uh the commitments lend themselves to various sizes and types of town homes the units will range from small surface Park Town Homes to garage Park Town Homes um I believe we have a commitment that at least 20% of the units will be smaller than 1,600 square
ft uh we also have a commitment that 3% of the final unit count unit count will be affordable at the 80% Ami level for a period of 30 years now the idea here is to keep the stock of housing in this area relatively affordable this area has a lot of what I would call naturally occurring affordable housing or Noah uh so the intent here is to provide entry-level units that will vary in price range our hope is to be able to deliver the surface Park units somewhere in the mid tws and the uh larger garage units going somewhere maybe as uh up in the high 3es of course hitting anything these days in the twos for new construction is very difficult but that is uh an important price point to get to and uh that's our intent here we also know that many in the area previously were concerned about traffic first thing I will say is that the project incorporates every recommended Road improvement from the Tia um we are doing our part to address the traffic issue the traffic issue actually has gotten
slightly better since the last time since about three years ago and that is because of the opening of the East End connector which took some of the existing traffic off Ander uh thereby improving congestion for what it's worth the traffic expected to be produced by this project is less than the traffic that was projected to be taken off of aner uh with the opening of the eastn connector regardless this project commits to monitoring the aner and pleasant intersection for a traffic signal and we'll install one there if it is uh if the warrants are met this is actually an additional commitment over our project from three years ago we also found that with the installation of a signal at this intersection we would more than mitigate the impacts from this project and actually will improve movement at this intersection the uh grade separated rail crossings down by Glover and ren are a funded ncdot project which will Elevate the rail network over the road Network so train movements will not interfere with car movements basically it's a railroad
overpass over uh Ren Road and over Glover Road this project is slated to be completed I believe in 2027 once complete trains in the area no longer will block the regular flow of vehicular traffic which will greatly improve the traffic situation in this area north of Glover Road the tracks run alongside anre Avenue and do not prevent the flow of traffic on anre near Pleasant historically it's the delays the train causes at Glover uh and and potentially also at Ren that cause congestion issues because that's coming into the train depot and the trains slowed down and they can literally be blocking the road for 10 minutes uh depending on whatever is in front of them at the train depot there uh so with those sections being grade separated the train traffic will no longer be an issue near this project one of the other commitments I wanted to point out is that we have agreed to build a bus pullout on Andre to accommodate a new God Durham bus stop currently this Corridor is serviced by route two with service between between downtown and
Brier Creek which are two major destinations obviously we've had several conversations with go Durham about this stop they would be pleased to have a stop here but there are some other challenges they need to consider before determining uh if it makes sense to have this Stop So at their Direction um we have put this commitment in there and said that it will be determined at time of site plan we are hopeful to be able to add meaningfully to the transit infrastructure in addition to the road infrastructure finally from an environmental standpoint the project is going to be subject to the mass grading and phase development text amendments so those protections already are in place here um when this project is built the project does provide for tree preservation rather than simply replanting for tree cover and there is no new stream Crossing proposed with this development the Cortez rideway already crosses a stream and that is the only stream Crossing shown on the plan in short this project targets entry-level Town Homes along a corridor that has Transit service of downtown and
to Brier Creek this area is calling out for housing as mentioned in the staff report the current zoning would allow for about 94 single family detached homes on the property I think the proposed project with signalization at Pleasant the bus pull out the denser product type will be much better than what otherwise could get built here and we're already in the city so you know there wouldn't be an annexation necessary for the 94 town uh 94 single family homes thank you thank you very much yeah dude all right so I have a few uh cards here but we're going to start with online it's Donna standbag can you hear me
Madam clerk do you see Miss stand back online all right I just got to unmute there you go I'm Donna stainback and I'm a lifelong Duram resident on good evening mayor and council members I am an opponent to this plan this site plan was sent prior to the October 1st 2023 deadline but the new erosion and tree Udo are important to this site due to the impaired streams slopes forests and wetlands the plan deliverables are from the environmental summary of The Zone Map Change Report cortz Drive envir environmental metrics are minimum the impervious surface is 70% and that is min minimum compliance um this will cause significant runoff with the streams and slope changes especially with the tree
04 opacity is minimum and we're still having significant red runoff at these type of sites so new Udo calls for 606 opacity and a 30 foot boundary
98 Acres that would be 30 5% we do um also the streams we really need a 100-year storm water plant and larger Basin for construction blasting is not mentioned but should be in future submissions as that is being done in this area due to Triassic soil and slopes most slope greatest sites in southeast Durham have been using this it has been hard to get reimbursement for blasting damage to neighbors and their Wells um and a key question is how will the wildlife be moved and stream life survive um this is
uh these issues were raised about the environment at the um planning commissioner meeting and a part of the minutes thank you thank you so much Mr stanach all right and I have uh speakers here in person I have Andrew Hefner Paul jofan you may all come up to the uh to the podium and uh when you come up state your name and address and um whether you're a proponent or opponent all right Andrew this is Andrew yes okay good deal you uh thank you for joining us you have three minutes all right well thank you um thank you for hearing me Council mayor uh City staff I am in opposition to this rezoning um for a number of reasons but
I'm going to comment today on which I what I think is the most important which is the safety of the community um the developer made some statements about traffic and the minimal impact this is going to have I worked for almost 20 years in transportation um Fleet Management Fleet Safety uh analyzing risk and reducing risk in traffic and I can tell you from my experience that is not what's going to happen if this uh development is built as is it's going to cause an unacceptable a risk to the traveling public that uses Andre Avenue on a daily basis and those that just go through it occasionally and the reason for that is you can't take what is already an overcrowded
overworked road that is not designed to do what it's doing right now right now it is unsafe for pedestrians it is unsafe for cyclists um if this development and other developments are planned in the same area go forward it will be a suicide for pedestrians and cyclist and just playing dangerous for motorists um I studied during my time as a fleet manager and router what causes Road sections to become dangerous and all of those things are present on Andre Avenue um there's just no safety margins on that road and it's already Beyond it its capacity to handle traffic safely if you put in on top of that people that are taking 40 minutes to get out of their neighborhood just to get on to
aner because there's only one exit for this thing only one and you're going to have maybe a thousand vehicles coming down that one exit and trying to get out at the same time people are going to do stupid things take stupid chances and there are going to be consequences so I'm sure the developer doesn't intend this but this is all about unintended consequences and I think that it incumbent on everybody that is going to be deciding on this issue to take that into consideration because the dangers to life in health are not just at the end of a gun barrel they exist on the streets as well well and there's no reason to make things more dangerous than they have to be thank you so much thank you thank you welcome thank you for joining us certainly uh Mr Mayor before we begin it's my understanding that my wife
Patricia Sykes is in on the zoom and wishes to speak I don't know if there's anything that she has missed to do or if you have indication of that name in a queue anywhere I do see it unfortunately she didn't sign up in in time well Dad bur it we're going to have to let you speak to her speak for her uh Mr K Hills has several slides before my time touch screen and then I named it Paul thank you uh Mr mayor council members good evening my name is Paul Joe uh live at 705 Pleasant Drive Durham uh for the last 23 years with my wife Patricia Sykes and I've been in Durham for 49 years total I'm opposed to this for several reasons which I'll get to but
briefly I want to respond to the developers uh reporting about atg grade crossing to go over the tracks it's my understanding that he said the proposed completion date is 2027 while that May well be what is in print and I I I don't doubt that information we all know what happens to dot projects this has been delayed multiple times and I could be wrong but it's my also understanding that the ren Road at grade crossing will divert traffic not to and your Avenue but over to Glover at least by a previous proposal um the first concern is that this does not conform to the Future Place type identified in the Durham comprehensive um development plan no doubt staff spent hundreds of hours along with citizen volunteers putting this plan together and I think it honors their work to adhere to the proposals of the plan second um there are no published price points I've heard yet for this development we live in a very diverse
natural occuring naturally occurring affordable housing neighborhood and I first used that term three four years ago so it was interesting to hear that come back as an acronym Noah I appreciate that um where the general price points for development such as this are double the tax value of the 400 plus residences that are there most of them anyway so this would Place Market driven displacement pressure on renters on owners uh in a naturally occurring affordable housing neighborhood traffic this project would add I'm trying to see how I advaned the slide there we go okay um this is a screenshot of traffic uh the red diagonal line on the right is Highway 70 the red diagonal line on the left is 885 this is not an uncommon daily picture in the afternoon
rush hour in the Middle where that red circle is is the proposed development and it's circling over Andre Avenue which I will show you here which with a traffic signal at Glover Drive um uh itself gets backed up this is the rest of Durham Southeast Durham has been disproportionately touched by development projects that exceed the ability of infrastructure to manage the burden this project will put 2100 vehicle trips per day onto aner Avenue and as Mr Hefner referred to there's only one exit point for the residents the several thousand residents in the area there is no Outlet to anywhere except by Highway 70 or Andre Avenue and everyone is landlocked thank you so much thank you so much excuse me can we make sure that those slides are available um I'm not sure where you pulled them from I know the staff had it Mr Kill do you have a
copy all right great could you make sure the council get us gets those uh you emailed as well yeah those were emailed to us as not just for Council for the public public as well thank you very much all right uh the next speaker I have is Leela NM and after would be Quay Weston thank you mayor city council City staff my name is Leela Needum I live at 7-Eleven Pleasant Drive in Durham city direct directly north of the proposed Cortez Drive town homes I lived there for over 20 years now so the Cortez Drive town home zoning change proposal addresses few of the concerns raised by the community about a very similar development proposal presented over three years ago it is of similar or slightly higher density and offers a simplified plan of only a
single use neighborhood consisting of up to 282 285 town home units there's no integration of neighborhood commercial and employment uses at all meaning realistically there is absolutely nowhere residents would be able to walk to resulting in a car dependent development previously raised concerns about the only means of access to the proposed development being from Andre Avenue and increase es in traffic on Andre Avenue and Pleasant Drive have not been adequately addressed and were're not addressed at all in the one community meeting recently um so I emailed Laura Holleman so I think she's present earlier today um asking about a
question about the graphic note on the site access so apparently there was a graphic note in possibly indicating a stub out to Pleasant Drive which was um site access number eight proposed public Street see General note number three the sheet General note number three reads three applicant May seek to omit the stub out at time of site plan approval pursuant to Udo section 1231 F2 so one of the previous concerns about this development was that the only means to access to the proposed development was Ander Avenue is the proposed site access number eight meant to indicate a step out from Pleasant
Drive can add that uh drawing shows it going through the middle of my backyard than thank [Laughter] you so what are what are the plans for proposed site access number eight if anyone developer could address that thank you so much thank you and the last speaker I have is Quay Weston just think your proponent or opponent opponent Quay Weston opponent to this so again my name is Quay uh dur resident and new father of a one-month old living in 27713 first of all black happy Black History Month have to say that uh so on this item there are a few reasons why it feels uh important to oppose it one is that on nearly 50 acres of land in East
durm which is predominantly people of color these developers have offered 3% income restricted units which makes sense or sounds good but that is only nine of the 282 units two they offered a one-time donation of $336,000 to DPS which doesn't put a dent in what DPS actually needs to be sustainable clearly last week today one error cost DPS over $4 million 12 schools closed last week seven schools closed today DPS workers have protested having their pay reduced and years of experience taken from them so I'm sure these developers have the resources and can do better there are so many misalignments in this project with Durham's comprehensive plan and overlooking them to build more unaffordable housing should make us question if we are willing to stand by our values for more Equitable housing options in Durham third reconsidering this development right now goes to show that we are not only in a housing crisis but also in a
crisis when it comes to our priorities as we witness increased housing insecurity and displacement of durm residents it must be connected to the displacement of Palestinian people through genocidal actions that are being funded by our tax dollars and we reject it so as a matter of priority on behalf of several formations in Durham we demand that the Durham city council passes a resolution this month sir include must be gerain to it must be gerain to the topic your hand alians I'll wrap it up right now it must be your to the subject the time is ticking to stop the genocide the time is ticking that'll be it stop genocide the time is ticking stop the genocide you're out of order thank you
all right and that will bring us to the end of the [Music] agenda all right you are out of order you are out of order you are out of order together we together you are out of [Music] order together [Music] together ladies and gentlemen [Music]
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so I agree I would confer with the applicants Mr uh go can you please come to the podium Mr go uh close Mr go I uh you will uh give me just a moment well before I confir my colleagues before I confer with my
colleagues would you be open to allowing us to continue this case that's yours okay would you allow would you be okay with us continuing this case so we can handle it at a later time director young director young staff did you give us a Time March 18th March 18th colleagues would you all be amable to us allowing us to would you all would you all be amenable to us continuing this to March 18th so that we can continue the case in an appropriate manner um personally having this in the middle of an actual case I don't think it's appropriate but I'll bring that to the pleasure of the council
no no and I yes counc no and two three so at this time it's 33 so the ability to continue fails okay um unfortunately Mr go um we don't have uh we entit so we have to continue on with the case so unfortunately um and I I apologize that that's happening in the middle of the case it's not a part of it um so would you like to rebuttal to the commentary that you heard uh sure um I just also just comment I am both shaken and moved by what's just occurs a in credible display of our healthy democracy and hopefully that can um continue so just to uh sorry just trying
to gather my thoughts just to respond to a few things you can uh take a moment if you need it uh I appreciate that um all right just to respond to a few things there was a speaker who um was concerned that this development plan was submitted prior to the changes in the udl related to tree cover storm water erosion control I think um the development plan was in fact submitted before that but that is not what carries the weight of the Udo with it those those elements of the Udo apply at time of site plan no site plan has been submitted at this time this project will be subject to those uh Provisions in the Udo so that I don't think that concern is um is I think that concern is already addressed um that same speaker uh spoke about the various buffers that are required and provided
so as I understand it under the Udo is it's probably likely that there will be no buffer required on this uh project no project boundary buffer required except for potentially a mass grading buffer if Mass grading is used that's still the case we actually therefore are committing to Greater buffer than is required under the Udo and um I and it is possible that we will have to provide an even greater buffer than we have committed to if Mass grading is used so again those concerns are addressed um uh there was a speaker that U who was focused on the traffic concerns related with this project so um I think I mentioned earlier this project is projected to put fewer Road fewer cars on aner than are projected to be taken off of aner Simply with the opening of and connector so the net difference here is still positive the the traffic impact
analysis that was done for this project has been reviewed by both the city of Durham Transportation Department and ndot I do not believe that it is faulty contrary to uh the previous speaker and I uh and as I said we have committed to every uh recommended Road improvement from that from from that study um we have a address the traffic concerns and if at time of site plan or when the warrant analysis is done the signal is warranted at Pleasant and anier um that signal will actually uh improve upon the current um traffic congestion there so we are more than mitigating our uh our expected um impacts on the on the road Network um and as far as affordability um I will say that that even 3 years ago this project when it was uh going through three years ago had introduced a a very aggressive price
point and hope to hit that and that's in recognition of what's going on in the area new construction in the twos is simply unheard of that's been unheard of for more than five years um this project is aggressive and and is trying to provide a attainable housing product um and the 3% affordable housing commitment on top of that I I think is uh to be lotted and not necessarily I mean this isn't a luxury Community with only 3% of the houses these are retainable houses across the board and then 3% of them will also be um income restricted at the 80% Ami level for a period of 30 years consistent with the udo's policies on that this developer is I think trying to provide a much needed price point and and community in Durham and then I'll just leave it at that for now now thank you thank you this is a public hearing
and um if there are any other persons I'm sorry that's right that was your rebut um so at this time I would bring the case back before the council and they I'm sorry Madame clerk Mr Mayor there is a speaker who had signed up earlier Mr um z n tun and he is in the queue at the moment would you like what's the name Mr tune okay Mr tune can you hear me okay hello hello Mr Mayor hi there uh you have three minutes yeah I can hear you Mr Mayor you
now the day all the con C in the surrounding is uh really expensive I think we really need the affordable housing endurance and as well as those kind of project come in we boost our economy so all the Resident will be benefit from the uh those housing project too and as well go for the uh the government too Government Can you know collect you know the all the tax from the uh the uh the down home buyer as well as from the business will be losing you know the uh the the town economy so I really think this project will be really useful uh Mr Mayor thank you so thank you thank you so much Mr tun thank you for joining us thank you Mr Mayor yeah I I think it's the we really need the uh sustainable and affordable housing in our community
as a Dura resident because everything was so expens uh I totally support the uh the this project to to go forward Mr Mr Mayor yeah that's all I want to say thank you thank you very much at this time there are no other speakers I have up here I'll declare this public hearing closed and back before the council colleagues thank you I I just have a couple questions um and just noting I know that uh a couple of speakers spoke about some of the stream and environmental minimum compliance I just wanted to make sure you were saying you were saying that the tree coverage like all of the stand the opacity the tree coverage all of that would be met with this project uh yeah what what I was saying I think there might be two different things there was some changes to the Udo related to like soil and erosion control
46 I wanted to know if you were committing to eight or nine uh so in the in the Udo there also is a section that deals with that what you're talking about density so in this case it would be rounded up it'll be nine okay and then that's nine of 282 units and no mixed use uh correct there is this is not a mixed use project this is a residential project okay and then you're guaranteeing in 20127 that the homes the town homes will be sold at 250,000 Max oh I don't actually know when the
project will be completed that's what we have proor of this project at that point that and that was the surface Park Town Homes would be in that that's kind of what what the proor is showing now uh the 2027 date was the date by which the that's the supposed a date of the gr separated rail Crossing project I don't actually know when this project will be delivered okay and then your there was one other and there one one entrance into the site and one entrance out well no there there's two entrances um I think both on Cortez and then which get out to anre so there're we have our traffic engineer who might be able to speak that but there are at least two entrances I mean that's required also by the Udo because um we are over 90 units I think is the number so there are two two
entrances yeah okay I'm getting a thumbs up from rhinal okay thank you that's what I have right now council member cook uh thank you Mr go for your presentation um I have a couple questions that uh might follow up a little bit what council member Freeman was getting at first um in your presentation you said that the minimum was 1,600 but I believe that that was amended to 1,700 um in June is that correct well the there's a commitment and I don't have the plan in front of me there's a commitment that at least 20% of the units I believe will be under the, 1600 foot range I think that's correct my oh it's 17 I'm sorry it is is 17 okay do you have do you um have any information about why that change was made after the um application was submitted did we submit it at 17 uh L you want to
go hi good evening uh Laura Holleman with McAdams uh we procured the development plan and that was a mistake it was Al it was always supposed to be 1700 and that was C after in June and just for clarity because I I heard under 1700 but that is actually the minimum is that correct that's 1700 is the floor and then 1700 is the maximum it's the maximum for the 20% yes okay and then do you have any information about the other do you have a um any other scale um at this time in your development thank you you're asking about the other product types um I'm asking about the size of the yes outside of that 20% what uh this is Steve George with the CSC group you want to speak to that good evening I'm Steve George with the CSC group um the the final designs and all have not been completed but generally the rest of the units will probably be in that 17 up
to probably 2300 range 2400 range somewhere in there for for the balance of of the site okay and and Mr G earlier also you talked about that 200 the mid2 200s as a starting price point in the um application it says that the median price point um is looking at about 381 can you speak to that discrepancy I'm I'm not sure which document you're referring to that says that um that's a calculated for median sales price that's included in the um report that is I was a summary of the application as my understanding oh I think that may be the the sales data that staff put in the staff report that so that that's uh real data about this area that is not related to this project specifically okay thank you for for clarity you're were you
asking about the neighborhood area or the specific project on that I was asking about the specific project yeah oh I was just saying the 381 number is not about this specific project this this specific project um I mean generally speaking we don't there's there's no price point necessarily a part of any resoning application sometimes that's considered as part of the like to figure out the tax base for an annexation this project doesn't require annexation I did say earlier that uh we would expect or let me see what did I say specifically um so so you you all don't have an average price yet in the report the surface Park units will be somewhere in the mid tws and the larger garage units may go up to the high 3es okay yeah okay colleagues um council member ciero thank you um so I have one question for you and then one question
for staff um who's the Builder again I missed the name uh this the CL my client is the CSC group they are not a builder okay we don't necessarily have a bu have a builder yeah I think three years ago um when we did this project we had a builder that Builder is not involved okay thank you and then I have a qu uh thank you and then I have a question for you Bill because it's traffic related both of y'all thank you um because this has come up a couple times with the with the place type map where it's like and it's you know in this case they're they're changing it to apartment the request is to change it to apartment townhouse and it's supposed to be mixed use um but I've also seen it where people get like not dinged but people questioning because they only have one housing type even though everything around it is single family so you're still getting that differentiation in unit because of what's around it so I'm just trying to understand how are we supposed to approach that and and is there a is there
a um conversation happening on the staff side because I guess what I don't want is folks to say oh well they're not following the place type map because they didn't put single family and town homes I don't want a lot more single family homes I think that's who were trying to get away from so um yeah do are yall thinking about that sorry yeah no these are great questions thank you council member cabier so some of them we've already been proactive on um and I believe we can share some of that information okay so we uh have actually gone through and put together some uh decoders some templates the way we'll analyze things and we're going to make that very transparent and share out with everybody including y'all so you can see how we review things so that's kind of the first part we did did that work I think we're ready to share it look the planning director had to review it first so uh second part to your question is so there are actually some policies in the comprehensive plan that was adopted around thresholds one of them is around 20 acres so if it's 20 acres less than 20 acres essentially they have to have one unit type if they
have 20 to 50 acres they have to have two unit types to be consistent and then 50 acres or more they tend to have to have three unit types um that is just one aspect the place types actually describe four different Criterion that is the land use and housing characteristics the other three criteria which we will be reviewing against and you'll see other projects that um are a little bit newer being reviewed this way around service provision utilities mobility and green space and so they'll be analyzed accordance to the place type along with those five characteristics does that fully answer your question yeah yeah I think so thank you I want to good evening Sarah Young with the planning department I also want to add that it also depends a bit on the size of the place type area so if a project that's coming in you know let's I'm just going to use a Transit opportunity area as an example right we have a big Transit opportunity area there's a you know a small component there's still the availability of the
whole vision for the that area to be accomplished with the remainder of it but if was coming in is all Place type the one thing then we would look for it to all meet in that same project does that make sense so that's why in some cases you may see where we're saying that it's you know uh not consistent but in other cases where it looks the same but there's a greater area beyond that that could all that is also the same place type but could you know have the other mix of uses we say that it's not necessarily inconsistent okay hopefully that helps and doesn't confuse and then I had a question about the ncdot um grade separation project hi hi yes uh Bill judge assistant Transportation director um is is that that project that's slated for 2027 have have you gotten any updates or you know we I know things get delayed and was just curious if we'd heard anything uh yes uh not recently but um we haven't heard anything about the
project being further delayed since uh NC's funding situation got yeah improved and projects got reallocated and moving forward so um it's been a few months since we've last talked to them but they were well under design last time we heard thank you that's it um I don't that's it thank you council member W can I um give some comments as a landowner the applicant well we've actually bought it back to the council yeah it's clarification ear so the the the um public hearing is closed at this point yeah I believe so attorney ghost is this your client
this the property owner yes okay okay thank you Mr Mayor and uh uh council members uh my name is fing Lee I would like to Echo some of the previous questions and comments um I want to mention that uh you know the land without any resoning we're able to build 94 single family houses and specifically in this case we're working with CSC group and uh Neil trying to increase the the density and trying to decrease the the cost so that make the room uh the the housing more affordable I definitely see that there's needs for that and strongly support that and also I know it's unfortunate with the continuation situation but we are I feel maybe unlucky so every time we don't have a full console so and also tonight is very emotional um I feel like you know I I fully understand the decision but I would still implore whether there's
possibility for continuation when we have a full conso but irrespective to what you think um I thank you for your consideration um and uh I'm sorry about you know all the emotion you have to go through as well thank you mayor open no sir just remember yeah so U Mr go if you'd come forward so this is a complex project um and I hear the the concerns of Neighbors that this is this road is not great for pedestrian or bike traffic yet it is on a bus line right um so there is some ability to have some Transit connection to this this property um what I'm most interested in is the affordability side of this right so for the 20% of units that would be that 1,700 square foot unit right and you're saying the price point is sort of mid2 200s could you tell me so break that down for a family of say like two or three people what does that what does that how does that sort of how how does
that um relate to AMR so so a family of what level am is that like a 100% Ami that for at that sort of like say let's say 275 or 280 price point so it's my understanding that the 80% Ami price point in Duram right now I believe is 238 I don't know if anyone it's around there 238 would be 80% so 100% would be something like in in this sort of two I I mean to be I don't know that there there are I can describe how the price how they come to those prices right but I don't I don't necessarily know what the numbers are right um I a lot of it the price point has moved up considerably um in the last year or so for um affordable housing but that's pretty much because of the uh mortgage rates which prior to this year last year they were much lower and the price point was much lower so I I mean HUD comes up with those numbers
every year they change every year and they change based off whatever is available in the market as far as like your mortgage rate tax rates um hoaps that type of thing and what the area medium income is right so I think I I think it's well I have a brother who is a DPS teacher um I I would feel like he would be able to afford a $250,000 home right off off of his salary but I can't necessarily say that's true for everyone or that's true for a family of four I you know I don't know yeah I mean my back of the envelope calculations suggested sort of that that that for two or three people that would be about 100% of Ami so this is to me this is the missing middle housing we we were looking for right and so at 20% of the of the 282 units we're talking about 56 units that would be at least in that sort of that yeah I think that's safe to say yes middle housing yeah um I know that and as you said there's no
published price point right this is what you're you're presenting um I know the cynics say well if folks come to the council they just sort of give us these numbers there's no way to hold them to it but to what I mean how do we how can we as a council how much can we right no that's a great point because so that's exactly why we have the commitment that limits the the size of the units for a certain percentage of the units that is a I would say proxy for price point but at the end of the day I'm not sure that there's any enforcement level um sure for a price point for the for the city of Durham so if if someone did come in here and commit to a specific price point I don't know that that would be a condition that would be accepted and if it was accepted I'm not really sure how it would be enforced um but some of the proxies we talk about are the kind of the size of the house right so that's that's what we're going for here I did also want to touch on The Pedestrian thing I that speaker that was talking about 100% completely agree that this is not a great Road for pedestrians it's actually what one of the that's one of
the strengths of this project it is going to add sidewalk in fact we've committed to some offside sidewalk but I am not telling you that this project is going to fix all The Pedestrian issues on Ander it's not but it is going to add sidewalk it's going to make it better for at least a section of it right I mean but ultimately this is actually why my client has been very passionate about the bus stop if you've gone out there to that Andre Road bus stop it is insane it's insane it is it is a sign that is essentially 3 Ines away from the edge of pavement and if you want to stop for if you want to wait for for the bus there you're essentially standing in the road with with a ditch there yeah yeah it's it is ridiculous so we um I mean we have had numerous conversations with go Durham about that about adding a bus stop um to be honest with you I mean they they're interested they have some I guess I would say strange policies um but working through that we did come up we did come with to a solution that they said um would work for them they would love to have a bus stop here but they can't say it right now that they'll take it thank you council member Freeman thank you I I
appreciate that comment because I do think that the bus stops are kind of ridiculous and I would say that it's it's important to make sure we don't prioritize based on new development because there are a lot of sites that have bus stops that folks have been standing in for years I did want to ask the gentleman who's mentioned something about I didn't catch what was going to be in your backyard or proposed to be in your backyard if you could come to the mic Miss Nita mentioned that she had looked at the latest rendition of there was a graphic Edition that had a Second Avenue in and out of this development which ended on Pleasant Drive and that ran right through the middle of my backyard and they haven't talked to me um I also want to clarify um you had question earlier about buffer boundaries tree
preservation things like that when when this area was first put forward for development this was how many years ago yeah so um easily three four years ago I'm sorry one one moment we we can't discuss it that way council member Freeman is the the person still reesing your question yeah so if you could just speak for if he could take the turn to explain it because one you have to be at the mic in order for folks at home to hear you okay uh the um the point I was going to make uh about the access through my backyard is that this is news to me I didn't look at that thing but my neighbor did and she said did you know they're going to put a road through your backyard and I said no I did not know that and it it goes back to how this
whole thing started because the first thing they did was they clearcut a 50t wide perimeter around the property that was the first thing they did so I don't know why we're discussing buffers because the buffers were mowed down years ago that they did it so they could put markers for the property lines that 50 foot swath they mowed down all the way around got you thank you so what quick question for clarifica we go ahead Sor I was going to ask um Mr go if that was the second access point that they were talking about because I know that there's so there is no access point to Pleasant which I think is what on the map we we do show a road stop to the north which is typical of of any development is required to provide
Road connectivity in all four cardinal directions at specific intervals so we do have a road sub to the north there is no access point to Pleasant we're not cutting a road through anyone's backyard also just to address the comment about 50 foot clearing my client doesn't know anything about that so I I can't really speak to that don't know if it happened or didn't but didn't happen that client's Direction it may have been prior to his ownership it could have been yes okay thank you I just one quick clarification So when you say through your backyard you mean there's a pathway going through your private property have well so whenever we speak from the audience there's about a thousand or so people listening online so you have to go to the mic they can't hear you out there so the the properties that border the north side of this proposed development are kind of odd they're lawon shaped uh they're either
100 ft wide or 50 ft wide and they're almost 900 ft long so they're these these long rectangles that extend up to the border with the Cortez development um so there's nothing there except Woodland so there there is no Road what I'm trying to clarify is there something that's going through your private property no there's a proposal on their development plan that shows a road and you know ites it not part of their official proposal I don't I don't think is that shows it going right through the entire length of my property right is it is it on your property though that's because I want right through the middle of it yes right so applicant uh staff I'm sorry so let me
clarify a bit about that uh there is a the ordinance does require a stub Connection in all cardinal directions that is what is depicted by an arrow um but that is not impeding on anyone else's private property it is just where they need to to show that a future connection may be made if warranted in the future um that is something that um doesn't always get built at the site plan stage as a determination made as to whether or not it's warranted so that is not a foregone conclusion that there will be a road built there but it is just indicating a potential future point of connection should there be a road there in the future this project will not be required to build a road or any other access point through that uh other property thank you I I wanted to get that clarification because I was I was getting a little confused at myself um colleagues council member Freeman
okay I just I I wanted to come back to I'm sorry there were a couple of things in what you just said that just um made me have a second thought um come back to me okay okay council member cook just for my clarification you had stated I thought earlier that there was going to be construction on a bus stop but my understanding is that there has to be it has to be under the direction like the developer will pay but and then you kind of said that there there actually hadn't been any conclusion reached could you just clarify yeah so the condition is that we will provide we will install we will build the bus pull out and shelter if at time of site plan go Durham wants it okay but at this time you do not have that from Gorham is that correct right they had some other things they need to work out so there is a existing stop north of this site and there's an existing Stop south of this site and what they're trying to figure out is is there a way to consolidate the
Riders from that to this stop and if not is there a way for them to add a new stop in between the spacing uh between the two existing stops and where we're at is below below their kind of typical spacing but they also acknowledge that a stop at a a bus pull out and shelter at this location would be a vast improvement over what's there so we have we're committed to it we just don't know if they're going wait to take it okay thank you council member Freeman and I just wanted to come back to the place type map conversation and just like can you explain to me how the commercial fits into this mixed use conversation uh thank you council member Freeman can you reframe the question for me so I can make sure I answer it accurately so essentially I know we were talking about Place type Malin having more than one more than a single type of housing uh how does the mixed use as as aspect of
this around the commercial work so that that for current um I guess developments going through the process if they don't have that how are we evaluating to make sure that it's in line with that or how are we encouraging them to get back to our place type map designations absolutely thank you for clarifying uh so if it does not have a commercial component or some sort of it could be office institutional commercial um pretty much anything other than residential in additional to Res residential that could create a mixed use kind of um requirement that you're describing so say as I was saying before if we if it's 50 Acres let's see this one's 46 so it requires two uses one should be residential one should be commercial that's how we'd meet the intent of a mixed use now uh if it is more than 50 acres maybe it's two types of residential products and one non-residential um but just some sort of mix and a commitment of those uses on
the development plan would meet that intent thank you that's helpful I think I'm a most concern that when we're looking at Miss and middle if we're not making sure to include our commercial aspects that we're going to miss opportunities on Acres Acres of of uh space especially when we're talking about 40 plus acres of land and 282 units with only 3% of affordable housing thank you council member kaboro thank you I just want to um go ahead and share some comments and see if if maybe the and I don't know where everybody else is but if the mayor's ready for a motion I'm I'm ready to go um uh I will be supporting this project I was on Council when it was uh initially introduced there the big question was around traffic um at that time um the train whatever overpass whatever you want to call it um grade at grade crossing issue was was big and it made sense I I drove that site back then uh and I drove it again whenever it was like in November where we were going to
um see it and uh that stretch of road is a bit odd it's kind of lots of different commercial um uh commercial that's you know car um mechanic shops and things like that it's it's not there's not a lot of coherence I guess is what I'm saying I don't drive that street and go oh it looks like this nothing else can be here um and so rezonings at least the way I see them are not to be we're not trying to fix systematic issues with resoning we are looking at the case and what it could be and what can be done by right and my understanding is it's 94 single family homes can be done by right it's not an annexation so um they they can move forward very easily because they're not asking for water and sewer from us they already have that sometimes you have a little bit of Power with that if they need if a developer needs an annexation in this case we don't have that so I will be supporting this because in the context of my choices 94 single family homes with not 3% affordable housing not
a commitment to a smaller unit which we know a square um you know cost per square foot is incredibly important potentially um a buzz pull out you know off-site sidewalk uh a contribution to Dr own Public Schools I don't get any that if if if it's a byright development they'll just do an administrative process through planning and so if I'm making a choice between those things which is what I'm doing with this resoning it's really clear Which choice is better so um again does that mean I don't want more affordable housing does that not mean I I don't want bike ped yes absolutely but that's not what you do with the resoning that's not what what is we do that with the comp plan we do that with the udio rewrite we do that with large things and that's not what a res zoning is intended to do so I will be supporting it thank you council member Baker yes thank you thank you um we are colleagues a growing city we're growing very rapidly um we need to develop I support development um our comprehensive
plan calls for significant amount of growth and development um and uh first of all just want to say to the applicant thank you all for for sticking around again for this one um ordinarily I would have I would have uh I would have delayed the case but we've already delayed it and we have other folks who have come um so I think it's only fair that we hear it out today um the uh Place type map uh in this area calls for basically a 15minute city um neighborhoods that include centrally located Civic institutional and Commercial uses like shops pharmacies restaurants offices schools and libraries that can be easily accessed by residents living in the surrounding homes uh non-residential should should be located with the 15minute walking distance of all residential uses this is this is a 47 Acre Site this is a very very large site there's a lot of um acreage that's undeveloped uh right next to it this is setting a precedent for what for what's going to come um uh my my my colleague councilman cabier did
point out that this is already in the city that there is already uh a zoning that is appli to the site um I support rezoning of this site I support upzoning of the site increasing the number of units that are available on the site um however I do not support a proposal this isn't a surprise we have a comprehensive plan we we convey the comprehensive plan to the real estate industry to those folks um to to um to be able to see what the what the vision of the community is um this is simply not consistent with the Vision that the community set forth I don't know why there's a surprise here of an expectation of something anything different than the vision that was put forth it was put forth over five years the community spoke this is what is applied to the site I think it's a good Vision if I'm going to if I'm going to be inconsistent with our own Vision I'm going to be inconsistent because I want it to be better and more Progressive and more walkable not less walkable why why would I vote for something that is
further inconsistent on a more unsustainable unwalkable uh policy than than what we already have in our own comprehensive plan um commissioner CE uh a planning commissioner um who who is often uh very favorable um to to uh to developers uh said quote this is exactly the type of amendment to the place type map that should not be approved and he goes on to say the proposal provides a single use on a large site with inadequate connectivity in an area of too little connectivity it is classic single use autod dependent sprawl which will only exacerbate infrastructure inadequacies for little benefit benefit there are easier and clearer options for developing based on Durham's guiding policies and Community needs he works with developers so I think he has a pretty good sense of what that means uh I will go I will say you know the solution to our development problems is not to say no it's not for cases to come up to the to the city council and for us to vote no over and over that would be
crazy uh we want these problems to be solved before they come to us we need to send a message loud and clear to developers to land owners to the real estate industry that they need to have cases that are consistent with the values uh and the vision of the comprehensive plan the Community Vision before it comes to us otherwise don't come to us you want your approval I want to give you your approval be but be consistent with the comprehensive plan that's all that's all that we're asking that is the floor uh we can go up from there but that is the floor um and I don't know why there seems to be an expectation among the real estate industry that they don't need to do that uh but we need to change that uh we are often reminded of how little power we have at the city council we don't have very much money to work with we don't have a lot of regulatory Authority there are many things that we cannot do to be able to uh Advance a a better more inclusive uh world this is where we get to do it this is where we have a significant amount of power we get to
say this is the way that we're going to shape the built-in environment that we live in the way that people get around from place to place um so for this case this is a very easy no um I would gladly entertain other types of rezonings uh being proposed and coming to us um uh but but not this one this isn't this isn't consistent with the vision and the values uh that we have set forth that the community has has set forth and I I think that it that uh that I I would not want to uh be inconsistent with with that Vision that we did put forward so that those are my comments council member Freeman thank you I appreciate the my colleagues comments and just um just for noting I think that that vision is a great way to to look at this and I I have to say that I I tended to gear in around the environment in a very different way just acknowledging I I live near this area
and I know the residents in that area area have been concerned about what connectivity does look like and what we've seen over the last 5 years have been large sprawl you know single use um housing developments where the cars just pour in and out and it's not what folks want to see and I I really am hopeful that developers will be more engaging with the community around our vision and acknowledging that it's not sustainable and so even with the stream buffers when we forego like when we're giving up that much of an environmental or making that much of an environmental impact it should be something that is of a benefit to the community and this is not I just want to say that missing middle or know I am very clear that we can do better and so I just want to make sure that I say that I'm open to having the conversation about something a little bit more um robust around uh the actual like commercial and residential ual side
of this but I don't want to continue to do what we've been doing which is set the president and which is why we continue to see these cases come forward with just housing and so I I will not be supporting this tonight thank you any other comments do do you have a comment okay got you um I uh you know I I think that we're slowly getting better um endure them slowly uh however I I to think about what happens when you all leave here tonight say screw it just going to go build some big expensive homes you know I look at the fact that you know our median housing cost is going up do you know about what the average cost is going to be I think we sort of mentioned that earlier or talked around it I'm sorry the average cost for the town home units yeah oh I mean I'm
it'll I guess we have more of the larger ones which will be in the upper three so probably be will be above 350 for average price I have several of course that are going to be below that okay so with that in consideration and the average home cost is what in Durham now staff like 4425 the 425 I think that's about right it it does fluctuate and this region though specifically is 381,000 okay so uh what's informing me is the fact that I've been spending a lot of time in this area and I know that the the neighborhood uh from residential to commercial tenants to um to small business owners they're all partitioning to they're all working together right now to parti ition the councel to rezone their area to be
commercial neighborhood uh and and have more commercial space over there so I I commend the community members for doing that work I am as I said we're slowly getting better it's not perfect but again if I have to think about what you guys can do when you leave here to tonight and say all right tomorrow we're just going to go build this that doesn't it only adds to the problem that we have so I don't want perfectly to be the enemy of good here I want to be able to still progress rively get better uh and I think that we as a council have to continue doing a better job as a city rather doing a better job at putting out there you know uh what we expect to see uh I also takeing consideration that you know this this project you guys started working on this a while ago uh we recently passed a comprehensive plan and I also look at the bigger picture here um so we have our different you know matters that inform our decision so I think about what we can do over there what what we can actually create
and that's with the community members as well as division that we're setting forth with the plan with the uh comprehensive plan that we just passed uh and this project started I guess what three years ago or however long it was so I I I I'm going to have a little Grace especially considering you know the the investment that was put into this I didn't put a dime in it you know but but you all did I appreciate you helping to you know address the housing issue we have and you know when it comes around affordable housing um I mean the average housing cost in Durham is 425 and your upper rate is three the high threes I take that as affordable so uh I'm looking at the bigger picture I will be supporting you tonight and um I appreciate my colleagues and their comments and at this time I'll call for a motion I'm sorry I need to uh one point of clarity you mentioned um commercial neighborhood for Andre near this near Glover Glover you're talking
about near Glover and which commercial like where are you talking about specifically there's the commerci so on the back side just just the in just the mass neighborhood from there's there's all there's there's driver Street and then there's all the way at the other end at 70 right this is near 70 right you're talking about a commercial being proposed for near 70 no no no I'm talking actually so we have our East STM area like Welling Village we have Andrew and Driver this is sort of encroaching from those both directions so there will be commercial over there um I I'm not going to ding this project for not being able to uh this Project's not close to that yeah I uh to be determined all right uh so with that being said I will uh read off the motion
3 false Jordan Lake District B moved a second second all right it's been moved in seconded and our clickers should be working Madame clerk will you please open the vote they are working right uh nope all right let me have a hand vote please all right all
oppose all right motions motion fails consistency yeah and motion two to adopt a consistency statement as required by ncgs 160 d-6 605 moved if it wasn't adopted why would we we still have to read a consistency statement cied vote the council is voting in accordance with its own like it's you're voting consistently with the we haven't done that in the past I just it's just different that's all I think we have done that one in the past typically what you don't do is if there's if the annexation fails then you don't vote on the subsequent motions pretty sure there there's a motion on the floor all right it's been moved and seconded all in favor all oppose all right thank you this uh this motion fails colleagues that will be the end of
our agenda okay gotcha uh and that will bring us to the close of the agenda and I look forward to seeing you all on yep on Thursday we will adjourn the meeting at [Music] 8:58 thank you all