Good evening everybody all right welcome to City Hall call the meeting order at 7 p.m and I will pass it over to reverb science we'll pause for a moment silence and Tech can.
Also thank you I'll pass it over to.
Mayor proen for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you Mr Mayor it's our practice in chamber to stand and salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for. All Adam clerk you please call thank you Mr Mayor. Not now. There we go okay mayor Williams here mayor proam Middleton I'm here council member Baker here council member cavayero here council member cook here council member Freeman requested an excused absence and then council member rist here thank you thank you so much all right colleagues any announcements council member cook good evening everyone thank you so much for being here I'm so sorry I didn't think I was my time but I was going to take it so go back I I looked at that and I was like all right announcements no ceremonial.
Items Flo it's just's on the top right here okay first have first.
I'm going to get it together all right and if I could have Mr Gerard stat got join me at the mic. Please Derek could you join me at the mic.
Please Mr ston we're gonna go next.
All right good evening everyone will Sharon Williams please join me hey Miss Williams couple more people okay great I think there's maybe a couple more folks from the Mar's committee for persons with disabilities yes oh hi everyone Miss Marge Miss H okay great.
One two and you're good thank you hold all right good evening everyone my name is Chelsea cook and I am going to be reading the proclamation for National disability employment awareness month and I've got some great folks here from the mayor's committee on persons with disab abilities and I'm very honored to be a Le liaison to that committee as well all right whereas this year marks the 79th anniversary of the national disability employment Awareness Month the theme for this month is access to good jobs for all emphasizing the importance of ensuring that disabled workers have access to good jobs and equal opportunities and that employers value hiring persons with disabilities and whereas work workplaces welcoming the talents of persons with disabilities are a critical part of our efforts to build an inclusive community and a strong economy and whereas recognition of the contributions of persons with disabilities supports full participation in all aspects of community life and whereas the city of Durham is committed to ensuring that City programs and Employment Practices effectively serve.
And benefit persons of all abilities to support individual dignity self-reliance and productive lives and whereas Durham is is proud to affirm its commitment to fostering equal access equity and the full inclusion of persons with disabilities now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim October 2024 as National disability employment awareness month end Durham and encourage all residents to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of persons with disabilities throughout our community witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 21st day of October 2024.
Good evening mayor mayor potim council members Madam manager these are members of the mayor's committee for persons with disabilities I am pleased to introduce Miss Hillary hanik ener and Miss Marge Clemens and one of the people that we are honoring and that we want to talk about briefly today so we're recognizing four businesses and one of those business businesses is with us today and that's sh Dan company if a representative from ALR is here or Durham exchange Industries or candle science please stand and join us all right and Sh dance company will be accepting the proclamation so thank you very much if you'd like to say anything you're welcome to and I'm going to talk about your business briefly hello I'm a dancer and so we usually use our bodies instead of words I will say that probably one of the ways that at sh Dance Works we work to create Equity access and inclusion within our culture as well as our field is to actually hire collaborators with disabilities to help us design.
Inclusive experiences for the stage because how else could we the cited we the hearing we the people with you know non-wheelchair users understand those worlds unless we're given the chance to step into it and that's the nature of the work that we create so thank you for acknowledging this important work so thank you in addition to sh Dan's company we want to recognize three other Durham based businesses that support the employment efforts of persons with disabilities the first one is ALR ALR is an accessibility and inclusion organization with a mission to remove barriers for persons with disabilities by creating Pathways to employment Chang ing mindsets and eliminating the digital divide ALR was founded in 2020 by John Samuel who is visually impaired Al ALR offers a Workforce Development program to help people with disabilities find meaningful employment AB Works equips future high school students and recent graduates who are blind or have low vision with transferable skills achieving a remarkable 60% employment rate within 60 days ALR also offers.
Training and coaching to help people and organizations change their mindsets and become more inclusive abbl lr's team which also includes visually impaired analysts embodies the saying nothing about us without us the mayor's committee for persons with disabilities is proud to recognize ALR for the role they are playing in creating a more inclusive Durham next is candle science candle science is one of the largest candle distribution centers on the Eastern Seaboard candle science was founded in 2004 in Durham by Michael and Dan swims candle science provides vocational training experiences for all Durham public schools and Chapel Hill carboro City Schools in addition to providing vocational training opportunities for students with disabilities candle science also consistently hires students and adults with disabilities leadership of the organization are also consistently looking for ways to become more inclusive they view view inclusivity as a Continuum that is always Progressive and never ending candle science is on The Cutting Edge of of inclusivity for persons with disabilities the mayor's committee for persons with disabilities.
Is proud to recognize candle science for providing vocational training that is creating a more inclusive Durham and last but not least is Duram Exchange Club Industries deci has been providing job Readiness training and placement services for individuals with disabilities since 1966 deci also trains and employs persons with disabilities in their warehouse cafeteria and administrative areas job development and placement assistance is also provided by deci for residents with disabilities that work at prominent eateries retail stores and educational institutions deci believes that through meaningful satisfying work and training programs that teach life skills they can maximize each person's potential and enable them to live more independently successfully and productively deci is teaching adults with developmental disabilities that will maximize each person's potential by providing marketable job skills appropriate work habits communication skills and social competencies the mayor's committee for persons with disabilities is proud to recog Rec iiz Durham Exchange Club Industries deci for the role they are playing by providing job development and placement services that are creating a more inclusive Durham would you please.
Applaud our four nominees that are all Durham based. Companies happy to she kind talked about the things that I I think you should read it because it tells a little I'm I'm happy to one of the businesses I y that's the one that's present but I was reminded to please read it so give me just a minute Jal Dance Works is a nonprofit Durham based inclusive dance theater company that was founded by the lady that has joined us on stage shal Comerford in 2005 the company is dedicated to the transformative power of dance as a vehicle to eradicate the stigma of those marginalized by disability performances by shal Dance Works are designed with art access in mind to include audience members who are deaf and blind so they too can experience a dance theater work made by them and for them shal dance works also hires persons with disabilities as paid collaborators which is building competencies and expanding job opportunities for those with low vision blindness and hearing loss sh Dan.
Work sees the otherness of disabilities as an overlooked GIF that can break down barriers the mayor's committee for persons with disabilities is proud to recognize shal dance works for the role they are playing in Creative a more inclusive Durham where all can experience the Arts again thank you very much.
So miss Mars you're gonna leave without giving me a hug. Let me tell y'all something if Miss Mar call you if you don't call her back she will get you so I make sure I return her calls and also miss Marsh thank you for your service y'all may not know she's a retired marine and oh it's the Air Force it's Marine yeah yep and thank you all to the Comm really appreciate your service and to Chala Dance Company you know I can bust a move all right may have to come in there all right may have to come in there and show you a few moves but the way my knees are set up I can't communicate with my body like I used to so all right well you did say you're inclusive right all right all right jro it's good to see you want to join me sorry for to mix up folks I rushed home to get my glasses and then I left my glasses.
Upstairs so that's why I came in a bit flustered and and I couldn't see anything so now I'm ready for the council meeting and tonight yeah considering my background and it's an honor to read this so here's a proclamation U whereas the arts arts and Humanities help diverse communities across the United States explore and share their history and culture the Arts and Humanities embody much of the accumulated wisdom intellect and Imagination of. Humankind and whereas the Arts in Humanities enhance and and enrich the lives of everyone the Arts and Humanities play a unique role in the lives of our families our communities in our country and whereas despite significant losses due to the coron virus pandemic the creative Industries remain among the most vital sectors of the American economy I'm going to repeat that line despite significant losses due to Corona virus pandemic the creative Industries remain among the most vital sectors of the American economy providing new opportunities within their own industry and across sectors because we're creators right that's right and.
Whereas the nation's arts and culture sector nonprofit commercial education is a 151 billion doll industry that supports 2.6 million jobs so we encourage all community members to celebrate and promote the arts and culture in our nation now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the great city of Durham North Carolina do hereby Proclaim October 2024 as National Arts and Humanities month in Durham and recommend its observance to all citizens witness my hand in the corporate seill of the city of Durham North Carolina this seventh day of October 2024 so we're a little behind on recognizing this due to the scheduling but we're close thank you jro thank you want to share some words.
Thank you mayor Williams mayor pro tem Middleton city council members good evening I'm D ston I'm the CEO of Lumiere strategies I'm a small business and Leadership coach I'm an artist a an oil painter a writer an actor and for tonight I am also the vice president of the Durham Arts Council Board of Trustees it's an honor to accept this Proclamation on behalf of the Arts and Humanities Community we have celebrated October as Arts and Humanities month for many years and this year our appreciation of and our belief in the profound value of Arts and Humanities is stronger than ever we have emerged from the pandemic and are working hard rebuilding our sector and welcoming community members young and old to amazing art and cultural experiences I have someone who who agrees throughout Durham we thank and celebrate Durham's talented artists writers and Arts and Cultural organizations creative businesses filmmakers libraries historic preservation agencies all for their work to provide inspiring programs of music dance theater History Literature and the.
Visual arts the Durham Arts Council is proud to have led 91 local organizations in the Durham portion of the national artarts and economic Prosperity study six which reveals economic and social impact of over $233 million from the nonprofit arts and culture sector in Durham this groundbreaking study centers equity in economic research and highlights the vital role of arts and culture in building more livable communities the study also shows that Durham's nonprofit Arts and Cultural industry supports 3,000 246 jobs and generates 27.1 million annually in local state and government Revenue the study demonstrates locally as well as nationally that arts and culture are a critical economic driver of virant communities helping us to attract and retain a talented Workforce supporting jobs generating revenue for local businesses our sector provides authentic IC cultural experiences that strengthen tourism and build pride in our community as we share cultural heritage and artistic traditions and because art is about expression it also becomes a powerful way for people to share experiences emotions and opinions across our.
Community arts and culture are vital to strengthen Community engagement our well-being our shared humanity and joy and fiscal year 24 Durham council is proud to have provided Arts experiences to. 627,000 256 in cash grants and facility grants to 136 Arts and Cultural organizations and artists thank you mayor Williams and city council members for your support of the Arts and Humanities and thank you for this Proclamation.
More reasons why I like saying Derma dop that's so cool good evening everyone it's my pleasure to read the proclamation for mayor's Hispanic Latino or excuse me for Hispanic Heritage Month on behalf of the mayor's Hispanic Lino committee and those who are in the audience I Maris I Mario I Shayla if you all could come up and if I missed anyone.
Whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated annually from SE September 15th through October 15th to celebrate the histories cultures contributions of Americans with ancestry from Spain Mexico the Caribbean and Central and South America and whereas the 2024 National Hispanic Heritage Month theme is pioneers of change shaping the future together seeks to recognize the Trailblazers who have paved the way for all who have followed the city of Durham Embraces all our neighbors of Hispanic Latino and Latin Heritage and recognizes their profound and positive influence in the city of Durham and whereas the city of Durham recognizes the challenges the Hispanic Latino latinx Community continues to face in our city and the resilience in creating solutions for future Generations therefore the city of Durham continues to recognize the efforts led by Community leaders organizations and allies to support the the Hispanic Latino Latin communities and whereas the city of Durham celebrates and encourages the growing number of Hispanic Latino and latinx Resident leaders who are adding their voices to our city and county boards commissions Community.
Organizations and the City of Durham is committed to improvising excuse me improving existing opportunities and opening new doors for Hispanic Latino and LX residents of all backgrounds to excel in our community now therefore I Leonardo Williams mayor of the city of d North Carolina do you hereby Proclaim September 15th through October 15th 2024 as Hispanic Latino Heritage Month in Durham and hereby urge all residents to honor the distinct traditions of the Hispanic Latino and latinx Community unity and their contributions to our city state and Nation by participating in relevant ceremonies activities and programs witness my hand in the corporate seal of the city of Durham North Carolina this 24th day of October 2024 and I want to invite the folks behind me Mario is our wonderful liaison to the mayor's Hispanic Latino committee he does wonders for us maalis was the longstanding chair she is now rolled off but had the privilege of being our our first chair after there was lots of reorganization and did an incredible amount of work for both the committee.
And across the community and Shayla Aras is a longtime Latina organizer a fierce advocate for the Latino community and does a tremendous amount of work especially going to Raleigh where often there are not friendly faces in the general assembly for the needs of leino community so I just want to thank them and let them have any opport or have opportunity to say anything thank you councilwoman javiera mayor Williams and rest of the City Council I just want to give my thanks for this esteemed honor I started out as a member of the Hispanic Latino committee and then at some point became the chairperson and then had an incredible opportunity I couldn't pass up to become employed by the city of Durham so I had to resign from my post with the mayor's Hispanic Latino committee I am the liaison for the committee and I had to initiate the proclamation process and being so new to it I was not able to do it by the deadline to meet the last.
Meeting when most of the members of the committee would have been here so I apologize to my committee members who may be watching this on TV that I we would have rather had all of you here but this is an incredible opportunity and I would like to thank everyone and I'll like to pass the mic on thank you he's too tall thank you so much Dam I sincerely appreciate it it just means a lot and I was reflecting earlier and when I arrived to this country to the city at the age of 12 I've been here for more than 20 years let's just leave it at that but it's amazing to see the growth as a diverse City a welcoming City and I feel very privileged to work aside many organizations and many groups and with many families in both sides it just brings hope very excited about the disability group I have a child with special needs so I I can honestly relate to that as well but I just want.
To say thank you for the opportunity for coming United and being one to try to me fam's needs where they are you know having an open space for us and inclusion is the key and I I just continue to see it hopefully by the time I have grandkids we can be more and more inclusive in a way wide world thank you good evening mayor Williams Council today we celebrate the culmination of a month's worth of our history our losses our challenges our triumphs and our Joys while we make up 177% of Durham population we give much more than that in our work in our businesses and our dedication to this community hope our hope is that the city of Durham will see their brothers and sisters and siblings in the Latina Hispanic community and Beyond see them Beyond documentation status Beyond language barriers economic status Beyond disabilities and see the heart of a people who work hard and love hard and are proud to be a part of the Bull.
City for the last five years I have proudly served as both chair Vice chair and Technical liaison to the city of Durham mayor's Hispanic Latino committee side note never be late to a meeting because make you chair the committee came right back came back right before the pandemic took us from connecting in person to completely virtual even with the challenges presented we were committed to serve our community and advocate for Hispanic Latinos and Durham we rallied to gain access to language even translating documents until the program got started we provided opportunities virtually for the community to address issues such as mental health and access for our youth intimate partner violence DPS programming and so much more my heart is full knowing that we did our best and that I leave the committee in good hands and I'm excited for what's to come thank.
You thank you so much for your service and. Leadership all right those are all of our ceremony items now we'll get to announcements council member cook great again welcome everyone happy to have you those of you in person everyone watching online now or later I'm going to be really brief just another plug early voting has started in North Carolina that is the safest time for you to cast your ballot I see some folks in the audience with their stickers on yes good job okay folks have been early voting today I'd love to see that again a very very long ballot so if you want to make sure that your voice is heard on everything has been recommended to me and I think it's a great idea flip your ballot over start from the bottom work all the way up to the top let the federal races be the last thing that you do and that way you know that you will hit all of the races we have some really important things on a Statewide.
Level obviously on a national level and including a local level we have two Bonds on the refer two Bond referenda on the ballot for you and you can learn more about that on the city website but we are hoping that you'll vote Yes for streets and sidewalks and our parks in Rec Bond my second thing is that I had the opportunity to hang out at the free store at Open Table Ministries last week I just wanted to put a little plug these folks are out there every Tuesday Morning and I want to give yall the address it's at the Trinity United Methodist Church it's at 2:15 North Church Street every Tuesday from 9:30 to 11:30 there's a free store there are showers folks are coming in and getting their necessities and I also heard that they always have need for volunteers and I'm going to try and make it out there a couple times a month and I hope you'll join me as well so these are for unsheltered folks in our community who.
Need anything from Basic clothing items to necessary hygiene they can find that at the free store they can come get whatever they need in their sizes things are always stocked and they can come take a shower and they can come get other resources so it's a great it is a great program that is run by A really lovely nonprofit and Durham I hope to watch them grow but for now if anybody wants to join me on Tuesday Mornings 9:30 to 11:30 every week and those are my announcements thank you Mr Mayor thank you council member Baker I will I I think you're probably going to hear this from a lot of folks but I will also add my voice to council member cook to remind you to go out and vote vote vote vote it's very important I also encourage early voting you can early vote through November 2nd I think 3M and there are a lot of different sites that you can early vote at I like the idea of starting on the backside.
At the bottom and working your way in that direction it's not how I did it but definitely encourage encourage voting I would also add to remember to bring your your photo ID if you're using a driver's license actually can be expired for one year so remember to to bring your photo ID that's one thing I remember a lot of people end up end up forgetting so if you if you early vote that's another benefit you can go back home and get it or you can you can vote vote another day or vote election day so just remember to do that thanks thank you good evening everyone definitely go vote I also just want to highlight the work that kids voting is doing in our community kids voting is an organization that goes and helps instill civic duty in in in our children so they run kids voting so if your kid wants to go with you to vote or you have another young person encourage them to go with you they have a ballot.
It's really fun I was able to read with kids on Saturday and there was a really cute book called I read it in Spanish and English and I it was adorable because it really broke down the idea of of voting in the simplest ways for kids and so I just want to highlight the work that they're doing they are a long-standing organization I know my kids did codes voting and I also just want to shout out all the folks whose kids might be voting for the first time so my oldest will be casting her first general election ballot and we will be going here soon and I know that many in her generation are extremely eager to vote and so so I hope that they come out in the numbers that we need often our our our younger voters don't turn out in the numbers that we need so I'm really hoping that Jen Z shows up thanks member rist thank you good evening Mr Mayor Mr Mayor proam Madam.
City manager colleagues members of the public here in the in the audience and also online so I just got a couple announcements first of all I want to say a week ago Sunday I had the opportunity to take part in the movable City celebration organized by bike Durham thank you John Tage and your staff well done and there was so part of the celebration was This brilliant idea to do a 10mile bike ride through Durham to visit some of the parts of town and neighborhoods that plan to benefit from this upcoming bond issue that my colleagues have mentioned so thank you for organizing a like a wonderful day wonderful bike ride but a great way to learn about what this means for our city so I'll use that again as a Shameless plug to say please vote for the bonds 200 million in bonds for Street sidewalks and Parks vote Yes on both bonds the second thing is last Tuesday I got an invitation from the boys and girls of cubs Scout back.
424 to come speak to them about citizenship and voting we had an amazing discussion with the with the with the Cubs and so one thing they asked me was they said like what are the qualities that are required for you to run for city council and so I asked the Cubs I said so what are the qualities required to be in a good a good Cub Scout and we found out that some of the qualities like honesty and diligence and compassion are qualities that are same to both to to same to both the Cubs and our elected City Council Members so we had a great conversation the other thing they were fascinated about was here's a question was like can you vote for yourself and I said yes and so for the Cubs SC May if you're listening online Cubs SCM pack 424 hope you run for office someday and when you do you can vote for yourself the last thing is last Thursday and this is I didn't realize.
We're part of now National Arts and Humanities month I was honored to be present in moresville for the annual celebration of the induction ceremony for the north county music hall of fame you all know we have Music Hall of Fame in Canapolis they have an annual induction ceremony and last Thursday Durham based merge records which is absolutely phenomenal one-of a one of the most respected independent labels in the country right here in Durham actually just around the corner from City Hall they were inducted in the north county music hall of fame quite an honor for merge records so I want to give a big shout out to co to merge co-founders Laura balance and MC mccon literally started merge records in the basement of I think it was Ma's house huge success story so congrats to Mac and Tora and all the folks that merge records a great success story and we hope to we wish them many many more more years of success in the record industry so thank you Mr.
Mayor sounds good mayor P thank you so much your honor glad you got your glasses good evening colleagues everyone in the room and whatever platform you may be watching on this evening thank you so much for being with us firstly friends I I want to send condolences out to a a family who was absolutely torn apart by tragedy a young woman was murdered in our city last night killed in our city last night in her 30s a former mayor used to say that anytime gunfire goes off in our city it rips a hole not only in that family but in the whole in the family of our city a whole in the family of our city as well I want to thank the Duran Police Department as well an arrest was made there's always a presumption of innocence that does not mean the case is over but I do want to thank the men and women of the police department who who acted diligently and and are still investigating this.
This terrible terrible tragedy but I do want that family to know that they are not alone tonight and that there are thousands and thousands of people praying for you and sending you light and love as once again gunfire is sounded in our city may God bless them and comfort them on a lighter note I want to thank my colleagues and associate myself with them about early voting Mr Mayor while you were in a plane on your way back to town I had an opportunity to officially welcome a former US president and one of the vice presidential candidates of one of our major political parties who are running for vice president to the city to kick off early voting this past week here in Durham with all due respect to our friends in Georgia they had a record-breaking day but we're expecting North Carolina to even top the energy that Georgia broke broke I did want to say I I I saw an article recently saying that that African-American turnout is lower than.
It has been during early voting you know anecdotally the lines at Central look pretty long to me but but but just in case I just want to encourage all of us to take advantage of early voting I know there's some like my parents were old school folk who who like to vote on Election Day they don't trust that other stuff they want to vote on Election Day but I assure you your votes will be counted if you take advantage of early voting so please ma'am please sir take advantage of of early voting and please also remember to bring your ID so thank you colleagues for leaning in on that finally I want to send a shout out happy anniversary to sister cities of Duram many of you are aware and some of you may not be aware we have sister city relationships with cities around the world China Romania Costa Rica England Africa and tan Tanzanian Africa and I had a wonderful opportunity to to be at their celebration last week handed out some.
Great Awards on behalf of the mayor and the council and read a proclamation but colleagues I have a request of you and an invitation and a bit of a challenge to each of you there seems to be a notion that the Americans don't go see our sister cities that they always send delegations to us and we're not very good about going to see them so I was asked to ask each of you to pick a city and I know we're extremely very busy but let's make an effort to visit official one of our sister cities though dart at a map and maybe choose one or maybe we can divide up I know we're extremely busy but I've been asked to ask members of the City Council to remember our rich and deep relationships with our sister cities around the world and to make a concerted effort to each of us visit at least one sister city while we occupy these seats so there you have it happy anniversary to.
Our sister cities thank you all so much thank you Mr Mayor yield to you thank you so much and challenge accepted that is already in my plans this year we are working on which country we're going to go I'm just working on finding some sponsorship to be able to take some youth from our community with us so I look forward to that keep close contact with many of our sister City's Mayors really talking about a lot of climate initiatives with the mayor of arusa in Tanzania and we will be rolling out the red carpet for qu Chong chy November 14th and 15th really excited about that so this mayor is taking that extremely serious and so the mayor of Quin Shang will be coming here I am unfortunately mayor protm I will be delaying my trip to the NLC to welcome them and look forward to just like I said rolling out the red carpet we will make a mass call to welcome the mayor and their delegation to the to the Bull City and.
I'm really excited about that and we will we have a lot of participants across the state that will be playing a role in that as well so yes sister cities happy anniversary I speaking of sister cities it's not one of ours but an international relationship I had the chance to spend last week I am a Bloomberg fellow mayor fellow and spent last week in Mexico City and it was quite the experience just being with you know 100 specially selected Mayors around the world and just being able to just have a day of innovation idea sharing and you know not only just sharing those ideas but also getting access to financial sponsorship potentially and I quickly with our staff member assistant budget director Andrew Holland when Michael blomberg got on the mic and said so for you all that are still here because many people left early here's the mayor's challenge put your idea forward and if you win I'll give you a million dollars to carry it out.
And we have some really cool cool ideas that we're going to put forth here in Dura hopefully we win we're pretty competitive and we do a good job at winning so we shall see was able to and just quickly one scenario that really stood out to me just the to give you the brevity of this experience I'm sitting at the table Michael Bloomberg is to my right I can't remember his name but it's probably best not to say it but the the brother of the mayor of cave Ukraine is sitting across from me across from me also is the shando which is who's the mayor of laka Zambia and then Florence who's the mayor of a new city in Uganda masaka masaka City but to my left is a young man which I will also choose not to say his name Russia took out the communication satellites in Ukraine and they were not able to communicate for a period of time this young man created innovatively a technology that allows them to utilize.
Two-way communication via their mobile devices and that is how the Ukrainian citizens are communicating and outsmarting the Russians who are invading their country and Michael Bloomberg flew them from Ukraine out of the war zone to share their communication technology and air Innovation with the rest of us Mayors and that is the type of caliber and experiences that we're getting when we go to these events and we're able to bring those ideas back home and we're able to compete for Grants to to actually Implement them and that is the type of experience the experiences we get when you are selected as a fellow and it just gave me the great honor of being able to represent Durham there and you know it's also cool that they pay for the entire thing so what an experience so thank you to Bloomberg philanthropies and it was a great chance it was a great opportunity to meet Mayors from around the world that are doing really cool things but I will say.
Durham is probably the most if not one of the most advant advantageous or however you want to said we've received the most benefits from Bloomberg and we have for years from BL from Bill Bell being elected along the same time that Michael Bloomberg was to Steve shw bringing so many campaigns here through the Bloomberg fanthropy to mayor O'Neal and now myself Duram from the asphalt art to the back on the bull campaign to the deer program The Innovation lab all of those are Bloomberg Affiliated so I just really appreciate that investment and I look forward to continuing it as we're doing with the African-American mirors Association today we have some more guests from the Duke emerge am I saying this right emerge or immerse ERS the du immers program and I was able to surprise them and have dinner with them at Luna rotisserie tonight and we talked about just a little bit of everything really excited because my new Communications intern ARF is amongst them and a few students from the.
Student Senate and professors Dr Buckley and I'm G to try this Miss Su I always call you miss W all right Dr Washer and Dr Buckley thank you all for always bringing the students here and just you know just immersing yourself in this experience with this this what democracy looks like you know so thank you also I was put in the hot seat today and had about maybe about 50 questions well 50 little individuals thring questions at me very similar council member WR what you experienced of third graders from Forest View Elementary and there are questions from what is it like to be mayor every day to you know where do you go and get quiet time you know to what is your favorite milkshake and to also how tall are you and the response to that when I give it 65 they always say wow and it also didn't help that I was standing up and they were sitting applesauce crisscross on the ground so what a stark difference and just to what my.
Colleagues have said you need to vote folks we got to make sure we're voting and yes North Carolina just broke a voter turnout record but still the numbers are not representative of what it could be and you choose to vote for who you want but we do need more people people taking advantage of this process because this is this is this is how we make sure our voices are heard you have to be amongst the process so that you're not amongst the the the folks that are coming in later who didn't vote and have a problem with everything you know and I have my bias you can see me afterward and I'll tell you that but in this public seat I cannot tell you who to vote for but just look online because I I had the honor of going over to nccu and just you know galvanizing some of the students with the chancellor and Doctor William Barber and we marched to the poe literally March I got up there.
With the drum agers that that video is now has been I believe viewed more than seven million times it's officially gone viral in nccu college students are leading nation of HBCU college students and college students in general that are voting and that's coming out of Durham so I want the city to take the same role and lead the nation and let's show people how to show up and show out let's show up at the polls and make sure that we're doing our part and I know November 1st is democracy day at Duke I would be there with you just like I was within C Central so we're going to make sure that Durham is an example of of what you know how to take advantage of our Civic obligation on Wednesday night there is an Instagram account called the black man and can I will be live on at 700 p.m. or 8:00 P.M actually the audience Bas is about 1.5 million and I look forward to talking about the.
Importance of you know voting and you know let's just make sure that's all the all the narratives and everything that folks are saying just get out and vote all right that's just get out and vote all right with that being said we're going to get to get to the business oh yeah shout out to the block burners and the local motorcycle club many of you don't know I ride motorcycles and I put on a suit and tie the other day because I had to meet the vice president at Air Force 2 but I did put on my suit time get on the motorcycle and I went and talked to hundreds of bikers about the importance of voting as well and then I rode to the airport so just having a little fun safely of course all right with that being said now let's get to the business because council member Javier said I need to get home because I'm tired tonight.
So I would now pass it over to the manager for any priority items thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mayor pro tem members of the Durham City Council I do have one priority item for you it's agenda item number 22 purchase contract for Brasco International Inc for 60 bus shelters the additional information requested during the October 10th 2024 city council work session has been attached thank you thank you so much Madam attorney good evening mayor Williams mayor Pon Middleton and members of the council it's good to be with you the city attorney's office has no priority items tonight thank you Madam Clerk thank you Mr Mayor Mr Mayor protm City Council Members the city clerk's office does have one priority item it's item number 31 the resolution to adopt the nacto Urban Street design guide and urban Bikeway design guide as official city of Durham Bikeway and Street design guides the attachment has been updated thank you so much and at this time I will read the consent agenda council member krier watch this.
We're going to get through it quick and. Yeah I won't make promises I can't keep so I won't promise but watch this it's going to go quick night tonight number one Durham Convention and visitors bureau discover Durham appointment number two racial Equity commission appointment number four Durham Planning Commission appointment number five human relations commission appointment number six mayor's Hispanic gual committee appointments number seven fiscal 2025 2025 Grant agreement for an immigration legal defense project number 8 2024 Durham City County Emergency Operations plan number 11 Capital Improvement plan Tom division multiple access tdma upgrade project number 12 purchase of parat equipment for new fire department rescue apparatus number 13 Forest Hills spray ground and playground design contract with there we go again contract with with architecture PA it's not a typo number 14 service contract with computerized maintenance management system from brightly software incorporated number 15 supas Grant project ordinance 16190 to United States Marshall Ser Marshalls service 2023 fugitive apprehension task force agreement project ordinance number 16 supersedes Grant project ordinance number 16357 the.
United States Department of Justice United States Marshall's office fiscal year 20 fiscal year 2023 2024 Federal asset forfeiture funds Grant project ordinance number 17 Street and infrastructure acceptances number 18 utility extension agreement with Meritage Homes of the Carolina's Inc to serve Arvin subdivision phases 1 through four number 19 contract for foray digital evidence management system number 20 contract with TT faster LLC to upgrade Fleet man management information system 21 contract with Mainline Information Systems LLC to upgrade the city's fir wall and VPN solution number 22 purchase contract with Brasco International Incorporated for 60 bus shelters 23 Transit Grant project ordinance amendments number 24 updates to the low-income monthly parking discounted voucher program for evening parking rate don't want to pull it but I'm really glad we are getting to that tonight H number 25 governing agreements for on call Professional Services Water waste water and utility management General business agenda number three Durham affordable housing implementation committee appointment number 10 Watershed interpretation Patterson Place 31 resolution to adopt a nacto urban street design guide and.
Urban Bikeway design guide as official city of Duram Bikeway and Street design guides number 27 Consolidated annexation Mineral Springs Mineral Springs tow houses number 28 zoning map change 301 maren Road 302 Moren Road number 29 Consolidated Ed station Oxford Ridge number 30 U permanent closing of 165 linear feet linear feet of Hamlin Street and items that are okay rules presentations. Yeah public hears have presentations all right motion to motion to adopt the.
Consent agenda yes I'll entertain a motion so moved second right we moov and properly second to accept the consent agenda Madam cler will you please open the. Vote please close the vote. The motion passes 6 to zero thank you so much all right we will get to our presentations no I'm so sorry General business items item number three D affordable housing implementation committee who was there to pull this was it so I think we had I think they were a we needed we didn't have a we were split vote right so is that right yeah so I think we discussed this afterwards I'm happy to switch my vote to Gonzalo Arata for that okay thank you very much we need to do that's all you have to do all right I'll entertain a motion to accept the Durham affordable housing implementation committee appointment who Moved right it's been moved properly second mam clerk please open to vote please close the vote thank you all right number motion passes 6 Z thank you so much all.
Right we have the Watershed interpretation patteron place number 10 Mr Mayor I had pulled that one just to do a little bit more research but having gotten some input from the community I'm good to go on that one so I would make unless there's any other discussion I'd be happy to make a motion for item number 10 all right I'll assertain a motion to receive to to authorize to authorize the submitt to the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission of a request to move remove the parcels identified in the application and attachment C from The Falls Jordan Watershed protection overlay protection area so moved okay it's been moved and properly seconded Madam Clerk please open the vote please close the vote.
The motion passes 6-0 all right thank you and number 31 has been updated council member Baker did you want to address that or you want to just go forward I'm happy to just go for it this is a resolution to take a step that gives us Innovative tools to be able to move toward streets that are safer and more comfortable for pedestrians and bicyclists and I'm happy to answer any questions all right that1 I didn't got to have any SS for I think oh I did actually in support yeah.
Here we go so one two three all right I I have some speakers signed up for this one they're all proponents the first I have is I'll just call everyone up to the mic Mary Rose Fontana John John talich and Chris pery.
Welcome you have three minutes great good evening mayor mayor PRM and council members and thank you for this opportunity to provide comments as member of bike Durham The Pedestrian advisory bicycle pedestrian advisory commission and the vision zero Coalition I believe these design guidelines will progress Durham towards council's commitment to Vision zero and increase walking biking and trans Transit use throughout the city as part of bpac we review and provide comments on development opportunities for rezoning cases which often includes requests for sidewalks multi-use paths and other specific bike ped Transit infrastructure however we do not have sorry we do not often have the opportunity to comment on non- resoning cases which lead significant gaps throughout the city currently private developers are not required to build sidewalks nor are they required to build walking or biking infrastructure under a specific standard this has caused in inconsistencies between what the city wants and NC Do's minimum requirements which leads to continued inconsistencies throughout the city and ultimately the city not getting what it's requesting incorporating these.
Guidelines into the Udo construction standards and the city's internal Street designs will reduce these inconsistencies between developments encourage more walking biking and Transit use throughout the city and bring the city closer to reaching its Vision Vision zero goals I encourage the council to adopt these guidelines so that City staff have a statement of policy to make decisions that will improve the way our streets are designed I urge the council to ask for updates on how these guidelines are being incorporated into the Udo and construction standards as part of the regular Udo briefing over the next year thank you thank you you can speak anytime since you you know you know how to get there before three minutes I like that now thanks for coming mayor Rose Mr toich good evening Mr Mayor Council we urge you to adopt this resolution this is another step in the leadership that this Council has shown in its commitment to Vision zero and creating a city where it is safe and comfortable for everyone to walk bike.
And get around with Transit we're particularly supportive of the development of the construction standards as a way to implement the vision of these guidelines and to give clear expectations to private Developers for what the city expects when the streets are being built and then ultimately adopt or taken into the the city's Network we're also very encouraged by the conversation that the staff has initiated with Mr Tom could you pause it hold on one second could you test the mic again I think you went out okay yeah just speak right into it we're also encouraged by the conversation that staff has begun to have around how to incorporate some of these guidelines into a street design manual that would connect these guidelines into specific standards for different street types and to the city's regulatory process a street design manual such as has already been adopted by the cities of Charlotte and Raleigh is a valuable tool for a complex organization like this Durham's local government it allows different departments divisions staff during.
Turnover to be able to look at a common set of not just values but standards that should be applied when they're working on very complex projects in our streets and the that are publicly managed and public projects as well as the private streets it's time for Durham to join Charlotte and Raleigh in developing and adopting a street design manual so let's adopt these guidelines tonight get started on the construction standards revisions and take the next steps by working on a street design manual thank you very much thank you so much lastly we have Reckless Roxboro no Chris Paris I'm just going to have to change my name to that I guess Mr Mayor city council members surprise surprise I'm coming here to advocate for adopting the nacto guidelines and one of the things I want to talk about U I'm also a member of bpac and you know I I share a lot of the other speakers viewpoints about having a tool available to us to to provide standards a lot.
Of times we we have some confusion when we we talk to developers about you know what's in our Transportation plans versus what's in our standards versus what's in ncdot standards and setting some sort of clear defined expectations gives us something to lean on that lets us ask for consistent transportation infrastructure that will benefit all kinds of communities one of the things I think about where I live is I'm right on the edge of downtown and if I go west into downtown the streetscaping on Main Street and Chapel Hill Street is absolutely fantastic there's B outs clearly marked crosswalks U there's even one pedestrianized street on Orange Street which I absolutely love a lot of cool things going on recently on rby there was some new Flex posts that went in to provide daylighting to prevent conflicts with a bus R frequently cars would park there despite the no parking sign and now that there's actually a physical obstruction in the form of flexxip poost you don't see that.
It also provided a space for parking of scooters off the sidewalk not obstructing it and that's also absolutely Fant fantastic and it's a really cool thing if you go through nacto you'll see a lot of these same elements talked about in nacto but what you don't see is when I go east from my house into East Aram all of a sudden the sidewalks disappear and there's gaps and there's not clearly marked crosswalks if there's even Mark crosswalks at all there's not bump outs and all those things contribute to a very different feel as pedestrian and when you think about bus users a lot of them are going to be pedestrian users the beginning or pedestrians at the beginning and end of their trips and often times in some of these areas that have the worst infrastructure and so I think this is an important way to get some level of Baseline in all our neighborhoods not just the the the nice areas that are the new fancy places getting nice new.
Development but in all of our communities I'd also like you to think about the the aspects of vision zero we've got 20 years to get to our zero deaths and serious injuries goal we've been working on the rail trail since it's been in the master plan for 20 years to give some context about time frame of what we've been doing so I think it's really important to start taking these first steps and you know in terms of vision zero you got Vision zero that's great I'm I'm really glad we did that and I I really like our new vision zero coordinator I think she's doing great work but at the same time the Vision Without action is just daydreaming and we got to start taking some steps and I think this is a good first step towards laying the groundwork that's going to get us there thank you thank you those all the speakers I have colleagues are there any is there any discussion yeah go ahead thank you Mr.
Mar thank you so much to the speakers Who come out tonight I have a question for staff staff you look like you don't work here you made a face like I look forward to supporting this resolution I want to thank publicly council member Baker for shepherding and quarterbacking this for us I I do want to for for the sake of lay people watching this discussion tonight I I want to ask kind of a nuts and bolts question as to what this will do practically in so far as these guidelines represent I hope not overstating the case in so far as these guidelines represent best practices in the industry Would we not have done this anyway or why haven't we or Would we not have adopted this and in adopting this how will this change how we do our business dayto day what is the impact this is going to have yes so Bill judge Transportation we are utilizing these guidelines in all of our projects that are really City initiated Capital.
Improvement projects now so this would would formalize that existing yeah best practice as you described the real I guess larger context to this is it would then take it a step further in that we would work to revise the reference guide for development that is used for new streets that are constructed by private developers those standards we do have standards so but they are going on 20 years old at this point so they I would not call those necessarily the best practices in terms of particularly bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure so this this would basically carry forward those standards and incorporate those into those documents the other main advantage to this resolution if it is passed is there is a under the bipartisan infrastructure law there is a provision that that if we were to receive federal grants through Federal Highway those are typically passed through the north state of North Carolina ncdot this would basically allow us to design those projects using the nacto standards which we are already but there is I.
Guess some State dos some potential where the yeah the the state do since they are passing it through could require a different standard but if we have these officially adopted we would be allowed to utilize those it would be preempted from requiring a different standard that's good to know so foreca final question forecasting a little bit by us codifying it and placing the emperata of this Council in the city on it could there possibly be times when for whatever either Financial or or preemption by the state we could not use these guidelines and and members of the staff would have to explain to us why the guidelines aren't enforcable in that particular sit because because we're codifying now yes so these would still only apply to City projects on city streets so so there are a number of NCD roadways that that are often subject to many of our projects and concerns of our community Mangum rockboro two-way conversion things of that nature so as long as those streets are M continue to be maintained.
By ncdot we would have to continue to to meet their standards and requirements thank you very much those are all my questions I look forward to supporting this important step thank you Mr Mayor thank you and just for also for the public this is how the de the Democratic process works you know we want to make sure we sharpen it up make sure it's reflective of everyone's you know desires we all want Safe Streets so it's a matter of you know principle and practice and implementation and all of those things so thank you council member Baker for going through the gruesome process of getting this here and look forward to supporting you Mr Mayor yes sir I move we approve the resolution thank you second is there a second all right thank you so I the motion is to adopt the resol to adopt by resolution the Nao Urban Street design guide and urban Bikeway design guide as the official city of dur Bikeway and Street design guides Madam.
Clerk will you please open the vote you please close the vote motion passes unanimously all right thank.
You out of order here all right and now to our public hearings all thanks students thanks for coming.
Number 27 it's funny they said will there be fireworks I said no just come and enjoy it's G to be boring good stuff aome mayor Williams mayor per Middleton and honorable council members good evening I'm Andy Lester it's good to be with you tonight before begin staff elect a state for the record that all planning department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with the state and local law and Affidavit of all notices are on file in the planning department a request for utility extension agreement voluntary annexation and initial zoning map change has been received from Dev P besta of Yeti Hospitality Group LLC for two Parcels of land totaling 10.84 acres and located at 1402 and 1410 South Mineral Springs Road this anex annexation petition is for contigous expansion of the primary corporate limits the current zoning is residential Suburban 20 the applicant proposes to change this designation to plan development residential 5349 through a textual development plan to allow up to 58 townhouse units the properties are currently designated.
Mixed use neighborhood and the place type map the proposed PDR 5349 zoning is consistent with the designated Place type if the proposed zoning is approved there will be no change to the place type designation of mixed use neighborhood this place type extends West from south Mineral Springs Road to Interstate 885 and contains continuous undeveloped Parcels as those areas continue to develop future development should continue to diversify housing and promote a mix of uses to fulfill the intent of the mixed use neighborhood neighborhood Place type thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you you've heard the staff report colleagues are there any questions for staff I question thank you for the presentation I noted in the package that there was a a request from staff to to create for the developer to create a 10- foot wide shared to use path on three partials to the South which I guess are offsite correct correct seems to be these mic AR seems to be a little.
Bit unusual we usually don't make those kind of requests I'm just kind of curious this sort of the what was behind the staff's request I know the developer didn't respond to that so would love to a little more information about that request sure I'll defer to Bill on that one thank you yeah so that was a request basically for an additional profer to pick up the three adjacent small U residential Parcels that are remaining to try to extend and complete the sidewalk Network otherwise the yeah there'll be a gap in the sidewalk there and yeah I don't know if the applicant would have to respond as to what considerations they gave it thank you all right if there are no other questions for staff I'll now declare this hearing this public hearing open we'll now hear from the.
Applicant how much time do you think you need 10 minutes.
Thank you and good evening it's good to be with you here tonight mayor Williams mayor pro tem Middleton members of the City Council I am Neil go with the Morning Star Law Group at 700 West Main Street in Durham and thank you Mr Lester for your presentation I'm representing the applicant for this resoning and annexation I believe Dan paps also is with me the Project's civil engineer he's in Chambers tonight at about 10 acres this is a relatively small infill development site the property basically is surrounded by the micro Ridge Development which will consist of town homes and single family homes most of the existing housing stock in this area consists of single family detached homes this project was consist of a maximum of 58 Town Home units on about 10 acres three sides of this assemblage are already surrounded by the city of Durham so the annexation will close a portion of an existing doughnut hole in the city's jur jurisdiction which I think generally is desirable we believe that residential.
Development here is appropriate the place type map shows this property within a larger mix use neighborhood designation which spans east west from Mineral Springs Road to Highway 70 and it includes some vacant property which fronts Highway 70 while we recognize that mixed use is desired overall in the designated area residential seems to make sense on this small 10 Acre infill Site which is surrounded by residential uses and which only has Frontage on the smaller Road Mineral Springs Road meanwhile there are properties within the designation which are much more ideally situated for non-residential uses in fact we have had some conversations with staff about access for this project one of the entrances for the adjacent micro Ridge project is proposed just north of this assemblage I think ncdot the city and frankly us too we all agree that if possible it would be best to access this property from the micro Ridge Entrance Road rather than to create another driveway cut along Mineral Springs of course at this stage.
We don't know if that can be achieved so we do have a commitment in the zoning related to improvements out on Mineral Springs Road if we are to access the site from Mineral Springs instead of the new Ro that micro Ridge will Implement it's been touched on a little bit already but this resoning has several Tex commitments that help bring this project into better compliance with the new comprehensive plan we have a minimum of five income restricted Town Homes to be sold to those making 80% of the area median income for a period of 30 years which is a little over 8% of the total number of units at full buildup we have increased the tree canopy coverage from 20% to 25% % and we have a commitment that this coverage will come completely from preserved trees I know it's a little unclear but these trees primarily are within environmentally sensitive areas on the property that's something that came up at Planning Commission hearing so I just want to clear that up tonight we also.
Have decreased the allowed impervious surface maximum from 70% to 50% we've committed to using native plant species we have a commitment to break up the open space areas into at least three distinct areas to create a more interesting Lake layout and we also have a commitment to Duram Public Schools I did want to touch on a couple things that came up at the Planning Commission hearing we don't know whether blasting will be required here generally speaking that is not the type of thing that folks would know at this stage blasting is a last resort thing for developers it's something that they want to avoid but unfortunately we can't really make a commitment relative to the amount of blasting that might occur we just don't know I know there were some questions about some fulfill request from bpac and transportation related to pedestrian infrastructure specifically Transportation requested some offside sidewalk to the south of this project our team did look into this we were unable to verify that adequate RightWay exists to accommodate.
Sidewalk moreover the properties to the South are not within the city's jurisdiction so it's unclear how or whether the city would maintain those sidewalks if they were built because they would not be in the city's jurisdiction also because the properties are not within the city the road section has ditch and swell sections instead of curb and gutter to accommodate storm water and drainage so the sidewalk would have to be beyond the ditch and swell sections on the properties in question we observe Planters off fence and a power pole in the area behind the ditch and soil section so we didn't make this commitment to provide this offside sidewalk as it would impact what appears to be private improvements and utility infrastructure and before I move on from this point I also just want to point out out that based on the city's fee and Lop for sidewalk I mean we're talking about 432 ft roughly of sidewalk here that would be about $400,000 of sidewalk infrastructure for the 5 foot.
Which is quite a bit bpac had a few requests as well I believe one of them was fulfilled with the commitment to provide a 10- foot multi-use path along the front of the site and I know we've talked about this before but BAC had another request to provide a balled separated onroad bike lane ncdot does not favor this approach so we didn't make this commitment but the profer 10-ft multi-use path would provide the bicycle connectivity in a similar fashion finally they also requested a pedestrian actuated midblock diagonal Crossing across Mineral Springs Road this is just dangerous so typically you want crosswalks to be perpendicular to the road and at an intersection this is neither we didn't make this commitment because we were concerned about safety and finally I to touch on the storm water commitment this came up a few times at the Planning Commission we've had some time to study that some more and so now now we know what's possible and I'm happy to report that we are able to commit to.
Detaining the 100-year storm event this project was recommended for approval by the Planning Commission it was a narrow vote but we've tried to address the items they brought up as best we can we're happy to be able to commit to Stronger storm water standard this is an ideal infill type of development with a good percentage of affordable for sale ownership units committed and I think it's worth noting that my client on this project is not like a national home builder it's a group of local guys local meaning out of Morrisville but they're they're trying to do infill type projects to fill to fill in some gaps and add incrementally more to the housing stock so we hope to have your support tonight and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have thank you for your time thank you so much.
All right I had a few speakers signed up just to make sure see what the applicant Dan okay are you with the applicant okay hammad aari okay I believe hamad's on I'm sorry that's that's another one sorry all right. Cool all right I have I do have speakers online Donna sandbach Pamela Andrews and Wanda Allen and Pam Williams and Katie Ross all right so I'll start with Miss stanback can you hear me Miss stanback hello yes I can all right welcome you have three minutes okay my name is Donna stainback I live at 4825 Jimmy Rogers Road in Duram North Carolina I do not accept or like this proposal because again it's another car Centric proposal and there are no stores retail or healthc care in the vicinity and the Mineral Springs is already so congested and I understand why they were talking about the outlet for Michael Ridge but and it is a curving Road that is very difficult to drive on and access to it and access to 70 will.
Be an issue there are several accesses in that area the schools right now are Max out at the elementary and middle school now some of this can be offset by busing but you know I guess who's going to ask the new residents or new buyers that or is it okay for their children to be bused because a lot of them would like that area because of the good schools so this next item this is another fire station 8 project you know concern over many new developments in that area we continue to have infrastructure issues with fire roads EMS schools will this be massg graded if so then the 6 opacity buffering is required and I I heard Neil's comments about the blasting and that would be a very bad place for there to be blasting that's I'd like to thank y'all for hearing my comments thank you.
Thank you so much the next person I have is Miss Pamela Andrews M Andrews can you hear. Me can you hear me now I sure can welcome you have three minutes all right thank you so much my name is Pamela Andrews I live at 6108 wait Force Highway good evening mayor Williams as well as council members I want to speak a couple of issues tonight there are several issues that continue to plague Southeast Durham blasting continues to be an issue just this week neighbors felt Blast for miles away after a blasting sight on Baptist Road causing neighbors to call fire station eight the Sheriff's Office and some residents to go to the site the blast was so intense people knew something was seriously wrong Citizens need an independent third party to monitor the seismograph results when a seismograph is placed in your yard no numbers appear if you are the recipient of a seismograph you cannot read any of the numbers last Friday chief zodos issued a stop workor order while the.
Investigation is underway again almost all these sites in this area have had blasting so we anticipate blasting on this one tomato soup continues to flow off S sites and this one will flow as well it will make its way down holder Road into little lit Creek this will cause more Flooding at him Ellis's home into the Grove Park Community Lake which was dredged a few years ago at the hoa's expense the lake looks really bad again according to Residents in addition to dredging the grow Park Lake the HOA had to pay $100,000 of the 1.5 billion cost of the grow Park restoration project in eastern Durham County quote Upstream development along with past straightening of the channels and timbering have greatly degraded ated the tributaries of little lit Creek flowing into the lake causing rapid sedimentation little lit Creek and Falls Lake are impaired due to nutrient and sediment pollution and are listed on the state's 303d list of impaired Waters per Durham County lastly the runoff on the people's property from Retention.
Ponds has become a really big concern for a number of residents lately councilman rist visited with me a homeowner off Sharon Road suffering from runoff during tour in August when the developer did not resolve the issue the property owner has now turned to an attorney to find resolution this is happening on a number of sites in the area when the runoff from these ponds flows citizens in southeast dorm continue to suffer secondary impact from development we ask you to say no until resolutions are found to blastings continuous stream damage to tomato soup and retention Pond runoff on neighbor's property thank you for your time I appreciate have a good evening thank you next I have Wanda Allen Miss Allen can you hear me I can thank you this you have three minutes thank you thank you everyone for allowing me to speak tonight the middle Springs Town Home Project will have an impact as Pam just said on the residents that are already experiencing flooding in their yard from ongoing construction as the.
Developer mentioned tonight there are several developments that are going on on around holder Road and Grove Park as Pam also mentioned that the Grove Park restoration project will also be impacted let's look at this we have $1.5 million for 6,000 ft 6,000 ft which includes $1,000 from the homeowners and the Little lck Creek is according to your website is a water quality ofd I'll say that again according to your website is a word quality of D an additional little l Creek is suppot is listed as impaired so you're supposed to be taking extra steps to find and reduce the source of pollution in the creek and city council is very much aware of the devastation that is happening to our Creeks because your budget reflects millions of dollars to restore the creeks and dur so my question question number one is to the City Council why do we continue to slam these areas where the citizens are now experiencing flooding and the citizens are paying for the cleanup Devastation my second.
Question is how does the developer propose a profer tonight to help plan to pay and offer the citizens of what they've already done their part as taxpayers we have done our part to pay for the restoration so I would ask the developer what he is planning to profer for us tonight to help us and the families on holder Road and grow Park thank you thank you Miss Allen next I have Pam Williams Miss Williams can you hear me Mr Mayor Miss Williams is not in the queue okay thank you next I have Katie Ross Miss Ross Can You Hear Me Miss is not there either all right thank you so much right those are all the speakers I have signed up Mr go do you care to okay all right I have no other speakers so at this time I'll declare the public hearing closed and back before the council colleagues are there any comments or.
Questions yeah go ahead thank you this is a question for staff again back to the ask around the sidewalk and whether it's in or out of City. Limits so the the offsite sidewalk to the South that we request it for the additional profer the RightWay is within the city limits and has been annexed so if they were to con if they were able to construct it within the existing RightWay then the city would be able to Main maintain it but the the three properties themselves are not in the city.
Limits thank you and then I have a question to the. Applicant you shared that you didn't you weren't sure if there was enough SP could can you repeat what you said thank you yeah so we could not verifi that there is adequate RightWay to provide sidewalk beyond the ditch and well section based on what we had seen there does not appear to be enough R ofo and as I understand it the sidewalk would have to go so you'd have the road ditch and sell section and side we have to go beyond that.
So is there a way to and this is up ultimately up to youall but is there a way to structure a profer based on that information so if then then oh as in if there is adequate right of way then we would build the sidewalk I I suppose I think in the past that type of condition had not been accepted so I I would ask staff the same. Question sorry just confirming confirming with the planning department but there have been then particularly as it relates to off-site RightWay proffers for U voluntary proffers an allowance that it's if RightWay is available so there could be a profer that would be conditional upon it being adequate right away existing right away okay that that has not been allowed when it's been like a required Improvement in terms of like a TIA or other roadway a voluntary it is but but something voluntary above and beyond thank you that's it I that just curious I know you all may have need time to talk about.
It but that that is a curiosity I have if if it is allowed to be structured in such a way as a voluntary proper and that that's my only question right now thank. You yeah follow up let me just go sorry I Bill I'm going to get you back up here again I just as a quick followup listening to that so this was a staff initiated request I don't I guess I don't understand how we don't already have the information about whether or not the right of way is enough for a sidewalk yeah well in order to determine you would need a survey of those properties and the roadway to locate exactly where the edge of pavement is and and the RightWay property lines the ditch so yeah we just don't have that level of information is it normal for us to make a request before we have that level of information is the Assumption then that the because it's not the land that was having to do with this zoning so was the.
Assumption the applicant would get that information correct since the applicant is typically out there doing survey work on the parcel that they're looking to develop they can usually determine that information as part of their project okay thank you and then Mr go did y'all y'all knew that this was a request that was coming and so you said you were not able to ascertain can you just right so we can't go survey someone else's property but what we did observe is that so in the area directly behind the ditch there are Planters on one property there is a fence on another property and then on the third property when I say fence there's a a wooden what I would call horse fence and and then on the third property there's no noticeable private improvements there is a power pole on that like directly on the backs side of the ditch and soale So based on that we can't go survey their property based on that I mean the assumption is that the fence is not.
Within ride of way it is within private property so there does not appear to be sufficient right away to accommodate sidewalk in that location.
There's a lot of looking but no one said anything sure what's going on everyone's squinching at each. Other all counc I I have a separate is want to come back to that one I just want to first of all thank you I know there were a lot of comments from bpack I appreciate you're being very thoughtful about those including this this question about the additional shared use path on the on the parcels to the South there was another bpack comment about requesting raised crosswalks across any car access point oh yeah sorry I did not mention that that is something that we could commit to would be subject to approval by either city of Durham or NCD at time and sight plan providing rais crosswalks across the entrances I'll just point out we don't we're not at a design stage where we know where the entrance is going to be our hope is that we can establish one to the new road coming in from mic Ridge that's a more low traffic Road and micro and.
The micro Ridge one is you know directly north of this site we think that would be a safer and better option than if we were required to have or can only establish an access point on Mineral Springs but we can make the commitment regardless we just don't know where it would be I appreciate that thanks. Just want to follow up on council member Cabo's question were you willing to make that commitment oh I didn't understand that to to be the question I will say I hadn't talked to my client about that P I mean I feel like they probably would be in faor you know be able to make that commitment but I can't say that because I have not talked to them can May sorry Council will you finish councilman are you able are you able to get on the phone and and talk to them perhaps I would need a I would need some time yeah okay thank you do I know it's an imperfect science what are the.
Anticipated price points of the town homes so they don't know specifically I think our comps I'm sorry comps in the area roughly so there likely be less in the comps and the reason the comps in the are because that micro Ridge project is going going is being developed around it that micro Ridge project is going to bring some of the infrastructure and and yeah well infrastructure near this site so those comps like say for micro Ridge for example are likely going to have baked into them some of that infrastructure cost this is a much smaller project that is is hopefully going to be able to take advantage of that infrastructure because it's an infield development so it'll likely be less than what new product is coming online in the area if that makes sense I'm going to ask you all to use full terms though rather than Shand what I say comms compar comparable properties sorry yeah all right so I read I read the as I always do the planning commission's.
Comments with great interest I'm inclined to support this development couple things one it's infill develop it's it's contiguous and it's infill and given our our really fervent desire to keep Faith with our Urban growth boundary infi just takes on a new meaning for me a new importance for me so I'm I'm I'm inclined to to to support it I think the Planning Commission got it right I I do also take very seriously the comments from members of the public and concerns for members of the public my challenge is that I you know my vote is is contextualized to the case that's before me and what I've heard are arguments against development not necessarily this particular case but development in general which gets us back to you know a moratorium if if if everything that was said is true of this development then it's it's going to be true of all of them coming in that area and I understand the the concerns and sensitivities to that area I've asked.
From this podium do we have the power to do away with blasting we do not you know we we we we can't declare a moratorium in an area at least out loud you can vote how you want so so I think in in so far it's it's infill it's contiguous I think the it doesn't do any violence to the place type map either to growing area out there it it it's going to be developed I'm I'm inclined to support this project I am curious as to if you know what your client say about the profer if and when you get them on the phone but I'll be supporting this project thank you Mr.
Mayor any other comments yep are we still waiting on that phone call yes Dan's out in the hallway more question will there be blasting just we just don't know the answer to that question I mean we we don't have mature enough sub subsurface evaluation to say that there will or won't be for what it's worth and I also don't know the answer to this I think the best answer other than once you get into development the best answer would be to observe what happens on micro Ridge and where because this project is kind of you know that that project is kind of horseshoe shaped and this is in the middle of that horseshoe so if they have blasting for micro Ridge kind of up along where this project is then that would suggest that there's outcropping of rock there we don't we don't we just don't.
Know just out of curiosity with the blasting question what is the other mechanism well so I think I said earlier that blasting is generally developers Last Resort once they hit rock they have to evaluate whether it's rippable so they could use something like a excavator to rip it out if not they can use a jackhammer to chip chip away at it that if that doesn't work then I I mean as far as I know blasting is essentially the next option I would assume that all of that also produces sound and disruption to the neighbors around oh so so the Jackhammer is by far much noisier than blasting or ripping because it's constant you have to get yeah so that's much noisier slower process than blasting slower for sure yeah so potentially louder and for longer yes okay thank you.
Council member arist did you want wait.
Okay so I got an answer yeah they would be willing to make a commitment to investigate and build that 10-ft side path to the South if there is sufficient rideway current available for. That all right can I ask one point of clarification for staff just on that we it was a 10- foot request right not a not a 5 foot sidewalk I'm pretty sure it was 10 foot multiuse yeah so you have you have profer 10 foot on your parcel as well I believe Michael Ridge has so yeah ideally it would be a 10 foot to fill in the gap between the two projects but I think yeah we' be willing to take whatever yep we' make that commitment so basically if there's space it would be a 10- foot shared path and if there's not sufficient space we would see if there's a s a sidewalk is is if there's space for that and then we we understand that it's only if there's space u based on y'all's.
Analysis is that yes so if there's sufficient right away which is not a subjective thing we if I got you that's why I was like is that is it can we ask for it this way yeah so so then they would construct let me I guess I say up to a 10 foot wide multi-use pass perfect thank you can I yeah so this is a you know we're in the middle of a bond these sidewalk gaps are expensive so I appreciate that profer and this overall this is a a really good project I know there's always challenges right and so within that we're just trying to find at least the way I make decisions is the the best path that I can with multitude of things to think about the fact that it's going to be less expensive than the housing that's being built around it it has a good affordability commitment there was some other the the fact that y'all were able to provide the 100-year storm water.
And get to that point and some of the commitments that were to be packed and this additional profer so I will be in support of this thanks for the time thank you thanks Mr Mayor yeah I I was going to say much the same thing so yeah we talk about this a lot there's no perfect case and I think staff had said clearly this is autod dependent right now I think our challenge in the city of Durham is to build our infrastructure out to meet these new communities that we're building so I think the other items that my my colleague coun member cabier referred to are all I think think show a lot of willingness to work with the city of Durham so I will be supporting this case thank you all right I just had a couple of questions for staff again so how do you when you are when you're breaking soil how do you completely stop the the runoff how do you stop like if it if.
You're breaking the soil and it rains how do you stop all of that from running down stream into a creek.
Good evening Sarah Young with the planning department so erosion control measures are in place or supposed to be in place for construction the ones we did like last year I cannot say that for certain that catches every ounce of everything that comes off that site particularly when there is a rain event but the intent of those measures is to minimize soil erosion and I was gonna ask the question around I'm gonna ask just a few questions like an alternative to blasting but Council M ja cavier happened to look at my notes and she asked that question the other is do you know any information about the door Public Schools grow together policy that means there're sort of like moving kids around the district balancing it out a little bit is that is that accurate you know yes I know a little bit from our work with them but I cannot speak for them all right sometimes ask a question I know the answer too so that sort of helps with balancing the schools out however.
Let's say dorham County just became so overpopulated no let me just put it this way let's say we are under capacity would it make sense to build a new school yet oh let's say you know a school has x amount of kids in it and and the reason why I'm asking this question I know it sounds like really simple stupid but I'm asking because I want the public to understand how things work so maybe I won't use schools let's use Transportation does it make sense to widen a road that doesn't have a lot of traffic on it so speically with any type of infrastructure for instance we look at the capacity and when something is nearing or over exceeding its capacity that is when the relevant departments look at what do we need to do to put in place to make sure that we can adequately serve that area but you don't build additional infrastructure for luxury or just because right we typically do not have a build it and.
They will eventually come regime we wait to see and make sure that the improvements are needed and warranted is there any government in this area that functions that way I am not aware okay and I'm not being condescending I just want to make sure that I ask these questions in the most simplest terms because I don't want certain things to be put out there and it's like oh the council is just building stuff whatever there's something that's going to be built on these sites whether we vote yay or nay tonight we're trying to find as it was stated earlier find the best way forward to get what can to provide you know the infrastructure and capacity we need for folks that live in Durham and the folks that are coming to Duram and ultimately trying to put a roof over anyone's head that lives in this in this area so I'll be supporting this tonight as well and at and with that being said I will entertain a motion to adopt an.
Ordinance annexing Mineral Mineral Springs town houses into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with Yeti Hospitality Group LLC moved is red second it's been moved and properly seconded Adam clerk will you please open the vote please close the. Vote the motion passes 60 all right right thank you so much and I'll also entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of residential Suburban 20 false Jordan Watershed overlay District B County jurisdiction and establishing the same as planned development residential 5349 FS Jordan Watershed overlay District B City jurisdiction move is red second it's been moved and probably second Madam Clerk please open the vote please close the vote motion passes unanimously and lastly I'll entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by the North Carolina General statute section 160d d605 move to adopt consistency second and move in properly seconded Madam Clerk please open to vote please.
Close motion passes 60 all right so at this time colleagues we will take a break and resume back at 900.
P.m. e.
So Tasha $60 million sounds like a lot to build 12 miles of sidewalks can you tell tell us what all is involved in actually constructing a sidewalk yes these are not simply sidewalk projects but some of them are actually road construction projects there is a lot involved and what is represented here is the full cost of project delivery there will be design cost consultant costs associated with the acquisition of rideways the relocation of utilities as well as project management oversight and inspection that is in addition to the actual construction cost associated with each project additionally some of these projects require significant lane widening even some cover extensions so these are not simply sidewalk projects but some of them are actually road construction projects when we talk about East stand and long metal Parks we typically think there are two parks right but it's one project so why is this project and these Parks so important for Durham yeah it was really interesting we've learned a lot in this journey exploring these.
Two parks historically and we've learned that both of these Parks when they first began these were segregated Parks So Long Meadow Park was typically the White Park and East End was typically the black Park obviously those Parks have evolved since then now we're looking at an opportunity as we we we see these Parks how close in proximity they really are and we also know we have a project on the horizon called the AR Kelly Bryant Bridge Trail and this Trail runs in between them so this is an opportunity to invest in these two parks and unite them.
E e.
Friends in chamber if you can come to order please the mayor will be back in just a moment so we can be ready when he gets back there he is.
Thank you Miss March it's good seeing you all right.
And thank you director Williams Sharon thank you all right back to it item number 28 zoning map change 302 morine. Road been receed from on yeah okay there we go squared away a request for a zoning map change has been received from hammed aari an individual property owner for one parcel of land to totaling 0.51 acres and located at 302 Morin Road the current zoning is residential Suburban 20 and residential Suburban multif family the applicant proposes to change this designation to residential Suburban multi multi family for the entire parcel which would allow up to four dwelling units or six UTI Iz ing the small lot option this is a general resoning where there's no text or graphic development plan associated with this resoning proposal so no commitments above what the udio requires can be made and any future development May proceed according to what the zoning would allow the properties are currently designated established residential on the place type map the proposed residential Suburban multif family zoning is generally consistent with the designated.
Place type thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you you've heard the staff report there any questions for staff all right I'll now declare this public hearing open and I only have one sign up that is the applicant would you like to share remarks about it how much time do you think you need I don't know maybe like two three minutes right welcome you have three minutes good night Mr Mayor and the city council member so my name is hammed afari I'm living in the 118 Meadow Brook Drive in Chapel Hill I got this lot and my plan is to the this lot is vacant lot is sitting across morine Road and Wheatfield Street my plan is to putting like a student housing this lot is like a few mile away from the Duke University and I'm like Pro education so when I got this lot my plan was to putting like a affordable like rental property for mostly student at Duke University which is nearby and also I was.
Informed that City also has a plan to have a like bike lane across the Marine road which is very like helpful for this velopment project that we are planning to do here so and yeah and if you have any question yeah I will be happy to take that so thank you thank you those all the speakers that I have colleagues any questions for applicant all right your professional at this already I'll now de declare this public hearing closed and back before the council there are no questions so therefore I will entertain a motion to adopt in order if I can just say one thing so I think the Planning Commission got this one right I think this exciting project this is on a bus line and I should say also that Moren Road this is where if I'm not mistaken staff can correct me but this is Marine road is scheduled with the bond passing to have sidewalks extended out to that to that part of moreing road so that's.
Definitely what we're doing with the bonds Bill if you'd confirm that or Mr judge I appreciate that yes this portion of Moren Road where this site is is part of the one of the bond packages to construct sidewalk as well as there are widening for bicycle Lanes on both sides of Morin thank you I'll be supporting this makes so much sense it's a highly highly highly populated area with foot traffic with all the students and also just very residential so thank you at this time I'll entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of residential Suburban 20 and residential Suburban multif family and establishing the same as residential Suburban multif family so mooved so move and properly second it Madam Clerk please open the vote please close the.
Vote motion passes 60 all right and the next motion that lastly to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carina General statute section 160d d605 so moved now you now you you you back all right it's been moved in probably second Madam Clerk please open the vote so all members of council can vote please close the vote motion passes unanimously thank you you good sir thank. You all right all right number 29 all right next up we have Consolidated annexation Oxford Ridge thank you again a request for utility extension agreement voluntary annexation an initial zoning map change has been received from Tim cyers of community for three Parcels of land totaling 58.7 acres and located at 875 East Carver Street along with 955 and 107 old Oxford Road this indexation petition is for a continuous expansion of the primary corporate limits the current zoning is commercial center with a development plan commercial neighborhood with the development plan and industrial Light the applicant applicant proposes to change this designation to plan development residential.
5174 with a textual development plan to allow up to 300 residential units limited to single family two family multif family and co- living uses the properties are currently designated mixed use neighborhood and Recreation in open space on the place type map the proposed plan development residential 5.74 zoning is inconsistent with the designation with the designated use shown on the place type map if the proposed zoning is approved staff recommends a change of the mix use neighborhood Place type to mixed residential neighborhood the area is currently designated Recreation open space would would remain so thank you and staff the applicant are available for any questions thank you you've heard the staff reporter any questions for sta yes Mr Mayor I want to State there there's no legally prescribed a conflict of interest for me in this case but I do as is my practice want to divulge that the not not for-profit that I lead is a significant land owner in this area actually write near this p part.
Par portion a parcel of land we are also within the reporting area for the notification area but there are there's no absolutely zero financial interest or impact to to me or my organization I do want to divulge that thank you any other questions or comments all right well at this time I'll declare this public hearing open and I have several signups here I apologize I got my cards out of order tonight so who's the applicant is it okay all right Mr ghost how much time do you think you e we've got a couple speakers I'm GNA say 10 minutes I don't know if it'll take that long you call this a couple this quite a few oh well I we' we've got a few I will say I will say this every speaker I have is a proponent if we want to have a you know I guess good job first of all from all of these residents here coming to speak in support since everyone is a proponent don't feel compelled to speak.
Unless you really want to 910 p.m. It's but it's up to you all but Mr ghost how much time do you they me I individually will need less than three minutes I'll just not take much time at all just say I'm nil GH Morning Star Law Group been assisting with this project I'm actually just going to turn it over to Ted hbr Elena Craig who've been working on this project and yeah Ted take it away thank you no mayor mayor P time members of council I will also be brief we have been working on this project now for a number of years it started with our work adjacent to this site as a part of the Carver assemblage the refrain that we have heard from bragtown residents and we have met with many there there's a variety of desires to see the neighborhood is developed but a general clear consensus for affordable for sale housing if you look up and down old Oxford Road which this site is.
Sort of the Terminus of that as you get to the edge of the city and the start of the county we'll be under construction on 198 units of affordable housing in February the St Kofa Landing project is another 50 units Oxford Manor is obviously there there's been thanks to the city's investment in affordable housing with the forever Durham for forever home funds there's a significant amount of affordable rental housing that is coming to this neighborhood this project will provide 27 affordable for sale units it represents a little over 10% of the project it will be the largest most substantial affordable for sale development in the history of the bragtown neighborhood we are partnering on this project with helina Craig who is a local neighbor a a residential developer local community advocate we're super excited about that partnership I'd say the last important pertinent piece of information when the Legacy use next to the catsburg store which was a gas station was removed there was an issue that led to the release of.
Gasoline into the water table there are benzing deposits that are out there we've been in communication with ncdeq for the last 18 months to further investigate that and come up with a remediation plan that that will eliminate this issue for the neighborhood it's the right thing to do and it needs to happen and it's going to happen in conjunction with our project thank you for your consideration and I'll see the day as for the rest of the folks who are going to speak thank you.
I'm I'm going to call the names to speak or stand and however you want to do it I have Miss Donna Frederick Helena Craig Claire Charney Alex Adrien Amber Bergen brothers and Sylvia Williams good evening Donna Frederick from bragtown of course proponent of this great project we've worked many years together with bragtown and our neighbors we are here in behalf of bragt to say thank you for all the support that has been lend to US during all of this meetings we've been meeting for a long time about this and the great thing he said is Affordable for purchase it builds stability in families to purchase you know affordability in rental is great but for purchase is really a keyn note in family structure and we really need that in btown and we thank the developers so much for working with us good evening good evening thank you all I really you see that I went to my go-to which is really the perspective of a Community member but really am coming.
Forward as a collaborative partner to build out the affordable for sale as well as some unique co-living for our seniors there's not very many opportunities for a nonprofit to be able to bring forward such amazing options and also in parallel to remediate some very severe Benzene contamination in the ground so I really would just hope that you all would support this project as a very unique opportunity that we have thank. You good evening my name is Sylvia Williams and I live at One Z 1017 old Oxford Road I'm in full support of this project as a neighbor in the Oxford Hamlin Community affordable housing is well needed in Durham and with this project it's directly in the path towards better housing for seniors the project will also provide a resolution to the cleanup of the contamination on the old cats Bor site which has contaminated many surrounding households including my own supply of water a vote Yes for this important project will Aid in housing and a cleaner environment thank you all for.
Your time and thank you for all you do for the community. Hi good evening my name is Claire Charney I'm a neighbor I live at 224 Riley Drive I support this project I've been here before in opposition to projects close to us in the past and so I thought it was important to come out for something that I think is a really like my neighbors have said is a really unique opportunity for our community affordable housing and this this cleanup at this site is you know at no cost to neighbors is a pretty big deal just senior providing housing for senior lgbtq plus residents you know partnering with the local nonprofit widening old Oxford Road which is has been needed for a long time with a bike lane and sidewalks this would all affect the community in a positive manner and I urge you to support this project thank you.
Happy homecoming good evening happy homecoming amberber and brothers here from Elijah's Farm I just want to say briefly that I as a neighbor who is also a part of the community as a business owner this project not only provides us with a community of people to serve for a lifetime as a farmer but it also protects our farm from environmental conditions and so for that we're very grateful and we hope that you will join us in that fight. Hi I'm Alex Adrian I'm not a neighbor yet I would hope this is built and I could be a neighbor I did submit my comments earlier so I'll let you go ahead and read them but I am really excited about the intentional intergenerational community that can be built here thank.
You thank you those are all of the just double check those are all the speakers that I have for this so therefore at this moment I declare this public hearing closed and back before the council and colleagues I don't actually have any questions I just want to say that I'm really impressed with this project and I think many of the community members have spoken to it but the clean up at new cost to the neighbors is is such a a valuable thing it's frustrating that happened and it's frustrating that it's there and it's been leaking into and contaminating the air and the Soul around this area and and I wish that it had never happened and also it has and so this as a project to incorporate the cleanup I think is really important and and I'm just glad to see that the neighborhood has really come together Community really come together and voiced what they were looking for and what was needed in this community I know that it doesn't.
Quite fit our place type map but I think that all of those aspects are really important when we're looking at u a project that comes in front of us we have to balance a lot of things so I'll be in support of this project tonight I want to appreciate all the work that's gone into it I know there have been many Community meetings over many years and I'm excited to see what we can do here thank you very much I grew up playing baseball at the catsburg field played many years there as a little kid so I'm excited to see the kind of support that's been generated to have the community turn out the way that it has writing in folks who aren't here tonight who have written us folks who have been organizing for a very long time in the bragtown Comm Community and who have opposed previous development proposals that have come up here mean some sometimes you you have to say no a few times to get to a really good yes.
And I think that this this shows that I did have one just one question if if you have already thought about the design of the homes I'm just curious if if you're considering front porches for those homes yes our chosen architect and build team would be the Gail crab tree Building Group so really our goal is to build a quality house that is no different than any house you would find in Trinity Park so they would absolutely have a front porch all right thank you all right now earlier today I was like oh when are we going to get to do the happy project so so this is a a really good project in a in a quarter where we've done some really impressive of work between neighbors developers and the city and I think right now what what I know is coming is we're going to have to do some deep infrastructure around this Corridor so that we can do the connectivity that folks deserve we're going to have a.
New light industrial park with Venture park that's going to offer high-paying jobs there's home homeownership opportunities there's affordable rental opportunities there's already a bus line further up this road that one day we're going to have to extend including sidewalk you know extend the sidewalk extend the bike infrastructure and that's going to be on the city and residents and so I look forward to that future and to that connectivity that we started I think with Carver Carver Street assemblage was I think the first project and I think it's an example of I think the initial Carver Street assemblage the developer had plans and then got some pretty you know strong feedback from Neighbors and responded to that feedback and since then each project has just gotten better and I think is a good template of what can happen when Community works really closely with the development Team instead of being adversaries you all have been collaborators and so thank you and I'm glad that the neighbors who have had not safe drinking water are.
Going to get Safe Drinking Water I promise you have my notes well you keep saying my exact comments get out of my head thanks Mr Mayor yeah agree with my colleague C member C here happy happy resoning project we often say we did on the early case are often complicated this is a this is a great project I love the cleanup piece the Enga the Deep engagement you've done in the community the affordability both the specific affordability at 80% Ami but also as I understand the affordability in terms of the price point of the for sale units right as Miss Frederick said having folks give be have folks that have the opportunity to buy homes is a critical piece of building community so the ability to allow folks to become homeowners in that neighborhood is a really exciting piece of this and I think the price point will allow that as my colleague also said the connectivity is great down Carver right there's like there's a bike path there there's.
Sidewalks and so right now the buses don't come out there but one could easily walk or bike along that sidewalk or bike path too I think it's at like Carver and and what's the bus stop there at the nearest danu right is a Dan yeah yeah yeah correct yeah yeah so yeah thank you a great element yeah I just had I did have one question since we ask I ask all these since I'm on bpac there were a couple requests from bpac that you said you'd address at the site plan something of a couple a couple things we pull these up here if you remember those one if you could just comment on what that what the thinking is there one was about right these bicycle pedestrian connections will be provided between o oxer and East Carver Street at access points long East Carver that one and then there's also one about paint high visibility crosswalks in between sidewalks within the development and ensure all ramps are ADA Compliant so.
Just I know I know that's a site plan piece but just if you could say more about that so and and Tim feel free to fill in the gaps here but the some of the requests from bpac on this particular project were I guess I would say confusing they weren't very specific and what they're trying to accomplish so let me just put it out there that this project is going going to include sidewalks and bicycle connectivity with within the project to the extent that there may be some gaps I mean we're we're filling in the gaps that at least we're filling in the gaps that I believe bpac was referring to because just to be clear that's required by the UDF so I don't know that there was much more for us to respond to for some of these because we have made the commitment to provide the 10ft share path I think with respect to painting a high visibility crosswalk I don't know that we got we I don't know that we have a.
Specific response on on that whether it can be done or will be done but it is something that can be looked at at time as I plan yeah thank you may pro thank you Mr Mayor and thank you members of the community who came out tonight as a council member I could not be more excited to vote for this project and as a neighbor I could not be more excited about the light that's going to emanate from this project I don't want to put our business out there but I don't know how long ago we had a conversation about about the possibilities of that area and it was all a dream and and now to see it come to this point is just just a you know when I'm out of the seat and I look back this will be one of the times I look back on and say that was one of the high moments so I hope it passes I'm I'm going to vote for.
It so thank you so much thank you Mr Mayor thank you I I say often the last two years were really tough because we were trying to get our Rhythm you know as as a as a you know went from a the the major argument of Public Safety to the major argument of housing you know and I remember some of you all I remember some of you all coming in here and you would be in the long lines for colleagues that are new the lines used to be all the way around back there all opposition and it's just housing was just much more of a very adversarial topic and but I'm seeing some of the same faces and some of the same developers and representatives legal representatives in here checking the proponent side of the card and that is that's building Community that's that's coming together and you know and I hope was okay I'm going to share my comments that I Shar with you all today council member rist and I we were.
Together this morning leaving Northern High School we sh we spent some time with the culinary program out there to celebrate the kickoff of their vegan veganism program and when we left in the parking lot like you know we should go by and check out that site while we're over here so I I don't know if you ever got by there but I went by later in the day okay so I went by that day and I went to the wrong site and well sorry about that but I did go there and I you know what I felt when I drove out there was wow so we just approve welcome Venture Park which is going to provide some pretty significant jobs out there where you can live and work and play all in the same community and get there safely and I remember when I got that call to sit down with community members and developers alike together over dinner and said look this is what we want to do.
We want to let you know what we're working on and I was like wow well this this is awesome and I started seeing the work happened I started seeing you guys bring developers to task and I started seeing developers you know say look this is what we can do this is what we can't do and working together and now we are like just seamlessly developing an entire Community out there where people can they can rent they can buy they can find affordable they can find something that's not affordable just market rate if they want to they can work they can get a job that actually pays well and we now have actual demand to put a bus line out there because we're going to have the residential demand you know and and that's how it works that's how it worked that's and this is this is how we all get on the same page and I didn't hear a bunch of you know other stuff that it.
Can be in a sense impractical so this is really good and I just want to highlight the work that you all have done together and I know folks on camera can't see who I'm pointing at but I'm F talking about the folks who was speaking tonight so thank you all for for working together and not bringing it to the council where we have to be the referee of communication but actually figuring it out and working together so thank you all for just making Durham So Dope thank you and I look forward to supporting this tonight and let's see I was gonna say one more thing but no that'll be it all right so there are no other comments D we should have made that one the last one of the night I think the last one should be okay there no other comments I will entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing Oxford oh yeah that was it annexing Oxford Ridge into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter.
Into a utility extension agreement with Kelly development company LLC moved his r so second it's been moved and properly seconded Madam Clerk please open to vote please close to. Vote motion passes unanimously all right and the second and last the second motion to adopt an ordinance amending the UniFi development ordinance by taking property out of commercial center with a development plan commercial neighborhood with the development with the development plan plan industrial Light Falls Jordan Watershed overlay District B County jurisdiction and establishing the same as plan development residential 5174 Falls Jordan Watershed overlay District B City jurisdiction moveed is red second moving probably second it Madam Clerk please open the vote please close the vote motion passes 60 all right and lastly to adopt motion three to adopt a consisten statement as required by North Carolina General statute section 160d d605 move to adopt consistency second it's been moov and properly second it Madam cler please open the vote please close the vote motion passes 60 thank you good job guys.
Did you say you were building an amusement park out there next I mean y'all seem to can get anything done you. Know all right and and lastly item number 30 permanent closing of 165 linear feet of Hamlin Street.
Good evening mayor Williams and council members my name is Leah larkens senior planner in the planning department the street closing request SC 24002 is for the permanent closure of 165 linear feet of Hamlin Street to allow recombination of the RightWay and adjacent Parcels into a 0.29 acre and 0.32 acre parcel north of Lee Street identified with reads that's at real estate ID numbers 1728 and 1 0699 the recombination is shown on the associated Street closing and recombination plat in attachment C in your staff report the applicant wishes to close the street because it is an unimproved rideway that culminates in a rail Raad railroad rideway with no provision for a future connection to the unimproved RightWay to the north of the railroad North Carolina General statute section 160 A- 299 requires that the governing body make two findings prior to closing any Street or alley these are number one closing the street or alley is not contrary to the public interest and number two no individual owning property in the vicinity of the street.
Or alley or in the subdivision in which it is located would be deprived of reasonable means of Ingress or egress to that property section 13.5.1 access of the Udo requires that every buildable lot have access to a public or private street that is designed constructed and maintained to the appropriate standards section section 3.24.18 requires that the applicant provide responses to five factors these are number one does the this cause a parcel to lack Frontage along a public right of way number two how the parcels are accessed other than from closed right of way number three how the closing of right of way impacts current or potential connectivity within a development or neighborhood number four what are the circumstances that warrant the closing if connectivity is negatively impacted and number five what is the public interest in closing the right of way this request was submitted to service agencies for review and comment all substantive comments were addressed during the review of the case staff finds no adverse impact or connectivity.
Or access with this partial Street closing the Str excuse me this section of Hamlin Street has not been improved and does not provide access to any other public rights of way or Parcels of land this section of the Hamlin Street right of way is not maintained by the city it does not provide any connectivity between public streets since the street section is unimproved and culminates in a railroad right way the Lots adjacent to this street section will maintain the same access but will have more Street Frontage on Lee Street after recombination staff finds that closing this section of RightWay will not adversely affect the general public or connectivity in the neighborhood and is available for questions thank you you've heard the staff report are there any questions for staff all right at this time I'll declare the public hearing open I have one card that is the applicant much time do you think you need a minute all right let's put a minute on there good evening I'm Neil go with the.
Morning Star Law Group at 700 West Main Street what she said there you go thank you I don't have any other comments so cards so at this time I'll declare the public hearing closed and back before the council colleagues any questions all right at this time I'll now entertain a motion to permanently close 165 linear feet of hamling Street moved is red second been moved and probably second mam please open the vote please close the vote motion passes 6 hero I think we just broke the record of the fastest public hearing on record all right colleagues those are all of the matters that we have tonight and I know we have some media outlets in the room and I know they're going to report on these cases tonight how well they went know highlighting the community and their work with that being said I'll gosh what all right we have no more business thank you all so much happy homecoming inccu and I will see you guys marching.
With the drum ages in the parade on Saturday thank you colleagues please look out for invites throughout the weekend throughout the week for events that I just can't make it's homecoming we're Jordan at 9:36 good.
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