City Council · Regular Meeting · January 16, 2024

Before we call the roll we're going to take care of the matter of swearing the council member designate cook in and then she will assume her seat I will invite her to assume her seat and then we will have a full role and the circle will be complete we will be full at 7 I want to welcome council member designate cook to the chamber and her family and thank her for being here council member design are you ready to take the oath of office I invite you to the podium along with your friends and family and supporters whoever wants to stand around you as your village and our clerk will administer the.

Oath you're going to say I and insert your name I Chelsea cook have read understand have read and understand and subscribe to the code of ethics and subscribe to the code of ethics of the city of Durham of the city of Durham and do hereby solemnly and do hereby solemnly affirm affirm that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws of the United States the Constitution and laws of the United States and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina and the Constitution and laws of North Carolina not inconsistent therewith not inconsistent therewith with and that I will faithfully and impartially and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of my office discharge the duties of my office as a member of the Durham City Council W 3 seat as a member of the Durham city council w three seat so help me so help me it will take a few moments for you to get some photo ops.

Than you one for you and I'm going to take two okay not.

Okay.

Council member cook on behalf of his honor to Mar the entire city congratulations I invite you to take your seat on the. Dance.

Madam Clerk would you now please call the role thank you Mr Mayor proam mayor Williams has requested an excused absence and it was granted mayor Pro Middleton I'm here council member Baker here council member cook here thank you council member cabayo here council member Freeman president council member rist here thank you thank you Madam Clerk and thank you colleagues again thank you everyone in the audience in the chamber and again congratulations council member cook you look like a natural sitting there at this time I'm pleased to read a proclamation this is human trafficking prevention month a very serious issue and we are committed to doing our part here in Durham to combating this great evil and the scourge on our planet so in honor of human trafficking prevention month I'm going to read a proclamation we presented to Kathy Nunes co-executive director on behalf of on behalf of Danielle Cara co-executive director the bridge International Kathy here come on.

Up.

Proclamation whereas Durham community that understands human trafficking is a crime that exploits the most vulnerable and weakens the health and well-being of individuals and families and whereas despite 20 years since passing the trafficking victims protection act human trafficking still exists and where as human trafficking can be prevented by building individual community and societal understanding of resilience reducing social social inequities and addressing conditions that contribute to exploitation and whereas the bridge International is dedicated to ensuring anyone impacted by human trafficking can receive individualized care understanding the impact of trauma incorporating cultural and lingu linguistic needs and whereas a successful response to human trafficking requires a coordinated CommunityWide effort that individual people who have experienced human trafficking with relevant expertise and will collaborate to strengthen trafficking related services and programs and whereas every individual community and organization can contribute to enhancing human trafficking awareness prevention and response by learning ways to help at the bridge International.n net that's thebridge international.net now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina to.

Hereby Proclaim January 2024 as human trafficking prevention month witness my hand in a corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 16th day of January 2024 Leonardo Williams mayor thank you thank you city of zum this is a true honor thank you this.

Is thank you so much to all of our friends at the bridge International for the great work you continue to do at this time colleagues I will yield to any announcements by members of the council I will look to my. Left colleagues I need to request an absence from this Thursday's work. Session where you going I'm kidding I'm kid any other announcements did you want to do that now yeah I got it I got it you can do you have announcements oh I was just going to congrat congratulate council member cook and just say thank you for stepping up to do this I I appreciate all the applicants all those who interviewed and all those who were involved in the process I know it's not a a quick and tidy one but I appreciate everyone's patience and getting us through to this point and then I also just wanted to thank all those who have organized and prepared a countless number of activities all throughout this weekend for Dr Martin Luther King's birthday.

Which was yesterday and then to just say that I am always reinvigorated as we start the year with that kind of Celebration and I want to say that all of the hymns got me humming this morning and I will say that this is it's very timely I I also want to add that it's it's important to just keep in mind that this one day that we celebrate as a country is not celebrated everywhere and it is because ketta Scott King brought it forward in 1986 that it is something that comes up for everyone across the country and I just want to encourage our other Municipal Partners to consider what that means across the state and that's all thank you thank you very much council member council member cook do you have any announcements you'd like to make or any words not at this time but I do appreciate everyone's time in this process and I'm very honored to be here absolutely honored to have you did you have counc please good evening thank you.

Good evening everyone I just want to welcome council member cook to the Das and I also want to we want to give a lot of gratitude for the clerk's office for shepher us through this process so thank you all it's always a lot of work extra work for you all so thank you and also just want to pigy back on what council member Freeman said around all the community organizations and all the events that started through the weekend and and are continuing through the week thank you council member colleagues thank you so much finally I let me again add my word of welcome and congratulations to council member cook and and welcome you to the deis tonight the mayor can not be here he's with pus in DC but but his thoughts are here certainly and all the well wishes of the city the entire city are with you so welcome to the day as council member let me echo my colleagues observations about the MLK celebrations on yesterday got started.

About 4:30 5 o'clock in the morning yesterday and went into the evening I just want to congratulate Durham on the incredible array and diversity and celebrations had a great time I want to particularly Shout Out book Harvest where we out at yesterday they always have a great time I actually was transformed into the marage photographer yesterday for all of the school kids who wanted to take a picture with the mayor which is a cool thing so I get it so we had a great time I want to thank the triangle MLK committee as well for the the whole host of observations for the MLK holiday on yesterday and thank all of you who showed up at those events speaking of of pus I need to inform your colleagues that on Thursday for the work session I'm not asking for an excuse absence but I will be late President Biden will be in the area and with the mayor is going to be at his house on Thursday and his host the president is going to.

Be here on Thursday so I'll be representing Durham at that event and then I'll hight tail it back to the work session so I will be late I won't be absent but I will be late in accordance with our our rules and our our well our procedures and our tradition senior member council member Freeman will assume the Gabel until I arrive on Thursday at work session so we thank her in advance for that and I thank you for your allowing me to to be a little late on Thursday to represent dur we we definitely want Durham represented whenever the president comes to the area and we send our best wishes to the mayor who will be at his house while while the president is here on Thursday that's all with respect to announcements we do need to take action on council member Baker's request for an excuse ABS absence and at this time I'll entertain a motion to excuse council member Baker so move second I heard a motion from council member Freeman and a.

Second from council member Caballero Madam Clerk would you please open the. Vote would you please close the vote and Report out.

The motion passes 70 all right thank you very much council member you are excused at this time. Sorry okay thank you excuse me it was 60 all right thank you you still excuse man you got at this time I'm going to read to the record our items on the.

Consent to agenda the consent agenda is comprised of of items that the council has already had an option an opportunity to do a deep dive on at a previous work session and can be passed with one vote however any member of the council or any member of the public can pull an item from the consent agenda got you all right can pull an item from the consent agenda can pull an item from the consent agenda for consideration later on in the meeting but before I do that I'm going to yield to our wonderful City Manager for any priority items that she may have m madame manager good evening good evening Mr Mayor protm and members of the Durham City Council I also would like to say congratulations to council person cook and I look forward to working with you as we move into the next few months weeks and days I do have one priority item for you today it is agenda item number 22 zoning map change Cortez Drive town.

Houses the applicant updated the development plan which is attachment D to include the following profit a minimum of three% of units will be income restricted to those earning 80% or or less of the area median income for at least 30 years and number two a one-time donation to the Durham Public Schools in the amount of $36,000 that is all I have for you this evening thank you madam manager your items are noted at this time I'm going to yield to our City attorney for any priority items she may have good evening counselor good evening mayor ptin Middleton and members of the city council welcome council member cook it's very nice to see you I look forward to working with you very soon the city attorney's office has no priority items thank you madam attorney at this time I'll y now to our city clerk for any priority items that may be coming out of her office good evening Madam Clerk thank you Mr Mayor proam the city clerk's office has no priority items and.

Yes I'd like to welcome our new council member as well cool thank you so remember everything I said about the consent agenda at this time I'm going to read items into the record item number one approval of cons approval of city council minutes item number two Durham City County Environmental Affairs board appointment item number four contract with Open Table Ministry Inc temporary weather related emergency shelter and Supportive Services item number five Cooperative group purchase contract rear mount ladder fire trucks item number six contract amendment number 12 for s-26 4C Professional Services related to fville Road improvements item number seven contract amendment number one to st- 327 C pavement Management Services item number eight contract st- 329 Street repairs and repaving 2024 item number nine contract st- 329 C pavement Management Services item number 10 contract s-330 pavement preservation 2024 item number 11 contract st- 331 unpaved roads Improvement 2024 item number 12 contract sw- 94 sidewalk repairs 2024 item number 13 contract sw- 94c inspection and om udman Services item.

Number 14 North Carolina the Department of Transportation schedule C and Schedule D Municipal agreements for the maintenance and operations of the Durham traffic signal system item number 15 construction of a traffic signal at South Miami Boulevard Juniper Street and North Guthrie Avenue item number 16 First Amendment to supplemental agreement number one to the master agreement for transportation engineering on call services between the city and STV Engineers Inc ct-1 19030 item number 17 FY 2023 through 2024 Transit CIP ordinance Amendment item number 18 supplement mayor protim I just wanted to I didn't want to pull the item I just wanted to appreciate that it's coming forward I want to say there's a lot of great projects in that item I just point that out that's all thank you council member item number 18 supplemental agreement number two for on call Professional Services for the fville and Holloway Transit emphasis corridors under General business agenda public hearings item number 20 text Amendment - tier Quarry TC 23003 I think I got all those zeros item.

Number 21 zoning map change tier Quarry Watershed overlay item number 22 zoning map change Cortez Drive town houses that ends the reading of our agenda Madame manager by my Reckoning there were no pulled items do you concur I concur sir thank you so much at this time I will entertain a motion to adopt the consent agenda so moves second I heard a motion from council member Rist and a second from council member Freeman Madam Clerk would you please open the.

Vote please close the vote and Report out the motion passes unanimously thank you so much congratulations was that your first vote was that the or did you take one before his excuse congratulations year in consent agend passes at this time now we will turn to our general business public hearings item number 20 text Amendment for tier Quarry and we will now yield to the staff good evening sir thank you mayor PRM members of the council new member cook welcome here my name is Aaron Kopac and I'm with the planning department and I'll be presenting this item to you tonight before I begin staff would like to State for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local laws and affidavit of all notices are on file with the planning department if you'll give me just a moment to share my screen and pull up the presentation we've got a bit longer of a presentation than you're used to seeing on these text Amendment.

And presentation items tonight this is there we.

Go I have all sorts of crazy going on here let me see if I can get this there we go that's what I'm looking for so this presentation you're going to see tonight is going to be a joint presentation between myself and my colleague Sid Miller with the Water Management Department where we'll be giving you an overview of Durham's water supply what the tier Quarry is what the intake for the tier Quarry will be from the Eno River and therefore afterwards a the changes to the Udo to in order to comply with requirements from the state on that Eno River intake for the tier Quarry so the goals for tonight's presentation are to provide information about the Watershed overlay changes and for you to eventually adopt the new ea2 critical Watershed overlay District into the Udo and with that I will turn it over to Sid.

Miller good evening mayor proen Middleton city council as Aaron said I'm Sid Miller I'm with the Department of Water Management I'm going to try to keep this brief but feel free to ask questions as I go am I anyway sorry about the echo so I'm I'm going to give you a little information about the water supply how tery fits into that and what the project is so what you're seeing are you seeing oh there sorry what you're seeing on the screen is just our existing Water Supplies which are Lake Mickey Little River Reservoir and Jordan Lake you'll see that our two Water Supplies Lake Mickey and Little River Reservoir are north of the city and Jordan Lake is just south Lake Mickey was our first Reservoir built quite some time ago almost 100 years ago and Little River Reservoir more recently Jordan Lake was built actually not long after the Little River Reservoir it's a much much larger Federal project and this just chart just shows what the available water Supply is.

From each of those sources you'll see that I've crossed off Jordan Lake because that is actually not yet available to us that's another project that we're working on so the total expected Supply from the two sources is about 28 million gallons of water a day this just shows our current water supply against our expected growth in demand and what want to point out is we're already bumping up against that expected yield from those supplies this is where tier quy comes in this is a nice picture of the Quarry it's very beautiful it lies in the northern part of the city so this is a critical source for the city and it's part of our Water Resources portfolio we've worked with the state on the rules for how we might use the Uno River and the Quarry this is an overview it shows the Quarry it shows where the future intake would be which is just well so if you look at quarry at the Quarry it's kind of like a mitten and the proposed.

Intake would be right by that thumb this picture shows why this situation is is just perfect so you'll see that blue line is an approximation of where our existing raw water lines are those are in the ground they transport water from our two reservoirs South and that goes right by the Quarry and then we've got the Eno river that runs right by the Quarry so a short pipe connecting that raw water line to the Quarry would allow us to fill the Quarry from our existing two reservoirs and then a short pipe from the Eno River to the Quarry would allow us to fill the Quarry from the Eno River this is just explaining why so there's an existing emergency intake further Downstream on the Eno River but it is not in a good location for us to use to fill the Quarry it's Downstream it's at a lower elevation so a new intake is really what we need to do in order to fill the quarry without the use of well basically just by.

Gravity a new intake on the Eno River when completed would look much like this not with the dam but where you see the concrete on the bank that's where the intake that's what the intake would look like this is just a diagram essentially showing the same so this went through a rul making process with the state in order to establish the water supply classifications for both the Quarry and the Eno River we began with a resolution of support from this Council and from Durham County and then just three years later it was approved by the Environmental Management Comm commission and then went through the ru making process with the general assembly and its rules review commission that was finally completed last.

Year thank you Sid so the tier quy text amendment is a staff initiated Amendment to the Udo required per state watershed regulations which proposes changes to Article 4 article 8 and article 12 of the Udo the purpose of this amendment is to protect a critical water supply resource for Durham as a new intake structure will be constructed to withdraw water from the Eno River into the Quarry the new intake will create a new Watershed overlay classification that will be applied to properties near the new intake this amendment to the Udo creates a new Watershed overlay District the Eno River District A2 or ea2 this overlay district will be applied to properties within a half mile of the new intake and will change the overlay from protected EB to critical ea2 while the properties in the overlay CH will change to the critical designation properties will be subject to the overlay rules at the time the lot was created the new rules would only apply if properties are redeveloped in the.

Future this map shows the existing Watershed overlay boundaries and where the new ea2 will be. Applied this table shows the regulations that apply to existing Watershed overlay districts and the new ea2 District the regulations that apply to the EA critical Watershed overlay will be the same that will apply to the ea2 while the Eno River critical District a and the new Eno River critical District ea2 both have the same regulations the difference between the two is that the mapped distance for the EA is 1 mile while the mapped distance for the ea2 is only a half mile that is the end of the presentation and staff from planning and water management are here to answer any questions you may have thank you so much for that very informative presentation at this time I'm going to declare this public hearing open and before I go to anyone who may have any commentary from the chamber on our online platform I'm going to yield to my honorable colleagues to see if they have any questions or.

Comments council member Freeman please thank you Mr Mayor proam I just had one question regarding the protected water supply needs I just realizing the that we're meeting that kind of Max number is there going to be a or does this number take into account the residents that'll be coming online and Research Triangle.

Park so the demand projection or demand forecast takes into account past demand current demand and what's expected in the future and so I know that the Park wasn't necessarily in the plan I'm assuming that that's been included to date yes okay that's all thank you thank you council member council member Baker please question I I apologize for not submitting this question earlier but so in the staff report it says that that some of the motivation behind not extending this for one mile and and only extending for half a mile is the potential creation of a number of non-conformity so I'm just curious do we know that do we know if there are going to be significant numbers of non-conformities that are created from this resoning U with at the current distance of a half mile that is proposed there will likely be a number of non-conformities considering the difference in impervious surface allotment but we don't know exactly how many of those lots would not meet at this time okay thank.

You thank you council member colleagues anyone else just a question that so if there are non-conformities what is what's the process for addressing those then once once you determine the non-conformities well so in this case what we've done is in the Udo we've said that through the creation of the ea2 any that those lots that are current and existing of record at this time will be able to follow the old protected Watershed overlay rules and not the new ones the new rules would only take place if there are if there's Redevelopment of the lots and at that time they'll be required to meet the new higher lower impervious surface allotment on those lots thank you thank you council member colleagues anyone else all right Madam Clerk I don't have any cards for this item I do see one person that was a u Wang sign a virtual but I don't see him in Q This is the public hearing is there anyone in chamber with us tonight that.

Wishes to speak on this item this is a public hearing seeing none I'm going to bring the matter back before the council and declare this public hearing closed this matter requires two motions one motion number one to adopt an ordinance taking property out of the Eno River District a and Eno River District B Watershed protection overlays and establishing the same as the Eno River District A2 Watershed protection overlay oh I'm sorry I'm sorry excuse the interruption so not at all please there are two items the first should be the text Amendment we have to adopt the I know they're back toback so it could be confusing I just wanted to point that out I read I'm just reading number 21 please forgive me thank you no please interrupt when that's happening motion number one forgive me thank you staff motion number one to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance incorporating revisal incorporating revisions to article four zoning districts article 8 environment environment protections article 12 infrastructure looking for a.

Motion it's moved mov second I heard a motion from council member m cabero and second from council member Baker Madam clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and Report. Out the motion passes unanimously thank thank you motion number two to adopt a consistency statement as required by ncgs 160 D- 605 so moved second the count motion from council member Baker and a second from council member riss Madam Clerk would you please open the. Vote please close the vote and Report out motion passes 60 thank you so much item number 20 is discharged we now move to forgive me for getting ahead of myself we now move to item number 21 Zone map change TI Quarry Watershed overlay and at this time we yield to hear from our staff thank you mayor protm Middleton eron Kane with the planning department again as a companion to the text M case you just heard this case is z23 0030 the Environmental Management commission approved a reclassification of Durham's tier Quarry to a surface.

Water supply in April 26 2023 the proposed zoning map change will apply the newly approved ea2 wersh protection overlay District 2 these areas within a half mile of the intake that are not already in a critical watershed area all Watershed protection regulations must be adopted by the city of Durham and Durham County in accordance with the requirements of the North Carolina Environmental Management commission the dur Durham County Commissioners adopted this the tier change the text amendment that you just approved on January 88th 202 4 this application of the Watership protection overlays to protect der's portable water supply as a new intake in tier Quarry is installed thank you and staff are and the applicant are available to answer any questions thank you very much I'm going now declaring this public hearing open before I go to the chamber online I'm going to yield to my honorable colleagues to see if there are any questions or comments from to days council member Freeman please thank you just a follow-up question from the.

Planning Commission around the boring and the impact on the residents I just want to make sure that that question has been answered. Answered I'm guessing you're talking about the shaft that would be bored from the Eno River to the Quarry so yes so what would happen is the contractor would install vibration monitoring well first they would do a survey of the of the homes in the area then they would inst solve vibration monitoring equipment and and follow all of it so if there's any anything of concern the contractor would have to deal with it and so essentially we'll be following the procedures that we've laid out for other contractors who are doing any Drilling in the area with the boring and I just want to make sure that the contractor would be liable in this instance I believe so the contractor has not yet been selected this project hasn't gotten to that point point and I just want to make sure that that contractor's insurance information is.

On vile because I do know that that was part of an issue for a previous situation and just want to get in front of it I'm sure that our risk management division would insist thank you that's all thank you council member colleagues anyone else all right seeing none from the deis Madam Clerk I I spoken error it's this is item number 21 and I I didn't see Mr or you Wang on in qdu all right this is a public hearing is there anyone in chamber tonight who wishes to speak on this item this is a public hearing seeing there none seeing none I'm bringing the matter back before the council declaring this public hearing closed colleagues this item requires two motions motion number one is to adopt an ordinance taking property out of the Eno River District a and Eno River District B Watershed protection overlays excuse me and establishing the same as the Eno River District A2 Watershed protection over a some moved second heard a motion from council.

Member Freeman and the second from council member Rist Madam Clerk would you please open the. Vote please close the vote and Report out the motion passes unanimously thank you motion number two is to adopt a consistency statement as required by ncgs 160d - 605 so move second I've heard a motion in a second Madam Clerk would you please open the vote. Please close the vote and Report out motion passes 60 thank you item number 21 is discharged we now move to item number 22 a zoning map change Cortez Drive tow houses this is a public hearing we're going to now yield to hear from our staff good evening again thank you me one more time mayor protet Middleton honorable members of council this case is z2200 4 zero Cortez Drive tow houses Laura Hollman of McAdams proposes to change the zoning designation of 10 Parcels of land totaling 46.98 acres and generally located to the east of anre Avenue between Cortez drive and Joan Circle the current zoning is residential.

Suburban 20 the applicant proposes to change this designation to plan development residential 6.03 to allow up to 282 townhouse units the properties are currently designated mixed use neighborhood on the place type map the proposed PDR 6.3 zoning is inconsistent with the designated Place type if the proposed zoning is approved staff recommends a change to the place type designation to apartment and town housee neighborhood the Planning Commission recommended denial of this request on June 13th 2023 by a vote of 8 to4 the case this case was previously presented to City Council on November 6 23 the public hearing was opened and the applicant requested a continuance to this meeting today since that this case was reviewed by the Planning Commission two additional propers have been made by the applicant they were brought up by the city manager during her priority items but I'll bring them to you again a minimum of 3% of units will be income restricted to those earning 80% or less of area immediate income for at least 30.

Years and a one-time donation to Durham public schools in the amount of of $336,000 staff and the applicant are available to answer any questions thank you so much I'm going to declare I'm going to declare this public hearing open but before we go to the gallery or online I'm going to yield to my honorable colleagues for any questions or comments of Staff all right seeing none I'm going to invite the applicant believe Mr go that's you representing the applicant up for your presentation sir how much time do you anticipate meting I well need more than five minutes but before I begin I did want to put seven minutes on the clock please thank you I did want to see if the council would entertain a continuance on this item specifically for one reason which is that we have not had an opportunity to meet with the new council member welcome by the way and wanted to see if we would have some opportunity to schedule some time to meet with council member cook before.

The next meeting and if I understood the work session agenda correctly it does not appear that there are any public hearing items at the February 5th council meeting so I didn't know if that would be a good landing spot for this just to give the applicate here a little bit more time hold on for a second let me first check with staff about our schedule. And good evening so it is true staff had not planned on bringing any items because there were no items ready for that meeting it is a very tight turnaround for us to get stuff back on the agenda but it is certainly it's the pleasure of the council I I appreciate the request and I'm not speaking for the council I'm speaking for myself I don't I don't know that it's precedented because we have a new council member to Grant another continuance but I I will yield and and gauge the the will of the council I'm aable to to it but I will yield a gugor will of the.

Council colleagues anyone you co with it I would just ask if if council member cook actually wanted to meet with the developer I don't know that that's it's not a mandatory thing and it's not something that you have to do it's usually customary to to ask your questions in public so yeah just making sure you're aware of that that's all I saw thumbs up on this side all right I make.

A February 6 a date certain is or can that be a date given our workload I know it's a quick I heard I heard the the comment about that but what's our what's our workload looking like for that day we can certainly get it on that if if that is what you all would like to do but my my Reckoning the council has spoken we will keep this public hearing open until February 6th and and say February 5th February 5th the 5th okay February 5th until yeah until that date that's a date certain so that's the will of the council see you then we'll see you then thank you.

Oh snap why colleagues by wow by my Reckoning that is the end of our agenda with no other items to come before the council let us again welcome council member cook congratulations and welcome to the fry with that being said it is 7:44 p.m. On January 16th I'm declaring this meeting closed God bless Duram y'all have been running some really short meetings wow that's.

Impressive seems like when he's at the G. Though.

I'm going to show you where we put these in the back room okay like all of their.