City Council - Regular Meeting

city council meeting and I just ask that you silence your cell phones and any gadgets that that you brought with you. Um, tonight, Council Member Jeffrey Smite informed us that he will be absent due to a work conflict and he is excused from the meeting. All other members are present and we have a quorum to hold this meeting. At this time, I'd like to recognize Mayor Pro Tim Bob Ward for the invocation.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, let us pray. As we begin our work for the new year, we [clears throat] ask for the wisdom to meet the needs of our citizens. We now ask that we will be able to build on what we have learned from past experiences to avail ourselves of the present opportunities and to embrace the challenges of the future. We recognize and are grateful for our city staff for their steadfast commitment and dedication in serving our city. We ask that our deliberations be with an open mind and that our decisions will be fair and reasonable. We ask all these things in your name. Amen. Amen.

And this evening, we'd like to extend a special welcome to Scout Troop 39 from Macedonia Lutheran Church. And they are working on their citizenship in the community merit badge. And I'm going to invite you to stand so everybody can see you. [applause] Thanks you all for attending. Uh, as a fellow Eagle Scout and lifetime scouter, I appreciate you all getting involved and coming to join us for one of the meetings. So, I scouting to a big part of my commitment to community service and civic engagement. So, we hope to see you and our elected leadership someday.

Thank you all for being here. Um, at this time, we have a special recognition. Uh, and I would like to recognize um public information specialist Jennifer Strange. Hello again. Hello.

All right. So, tonight we are pleased to recognize several Burlington Recreation and Parks programs and facilities that were selected by our community as 2025 Times News Readers Choice Award recipients. Uh these awards reflect the voices of our residents who took the time to vote for these places, programs, and experiences that mean the most to them. And the Burlington Recreation and Parks were honored in multiple categories. So, I would like to recognize Burlington City Park for receiving best family amusement and best outdoor venue. In add uh Burlington City Park continues to be a cornerstone for our community, offering generations of families a place to gather, celebrate, and make lasting memories. I'd also like to recognize the Valley Golf Course. Um they received best golf course. The Valley Golf Course is, as you know, a regional asset um that combines quality recreation, natural beauty, and exceptional customer service. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to recognize the Carousel Festival for being awarded the best festival. Um the Carousel Festival showcases the spirit of Burlington by bringing people together through tradition, creativity, and community pride. So, on behalf of the city of Burlington, thank you to the dedicated staff who make these experiences possible and to our community for their continued support. The Burlington Recreation and Parks Department is honored um to present each of these awards tonight uh awardees tonight with a plaque in recognition of this achievement. So, I'll have all of them come up to receive their award. [applause] [applause]

Could we get a picture? Okay, you go ahead. Congratulations.

I'd like to recognize our staff by name. Is that on? Um, yeah. Sorry. Um, these are the people that really um earn these awards and and make our facilities. so inviting for our citizens to use and uh I'm very proud of you and I'm very proud of what what we u do here at the recreation department and the facilities we have and so let me start off with Val Cather she's fairly new with us but she's our amusement park manager and uh the that amusement park is one of our treasures in Burlington and this area uh it's got a very historic carousel that we just love and now is featured uh as a focus focal point with the new building and the lights that light it up at night. So, uh, and Val does a great job with the amusement park and we have a lot of people enjoying that that facility. Uh, next is Shawn Eta. Shawn is our special events director. uh besides the carousel festival, he he and his assistant Caitlyn Brown do uh wonderful work at a lot lot of different uh uh activities, special events around holidays and other things in in the city. And so, uh, we're very proud of the work that they do and and, uh, they draw some very big crowds and the Christmas celebrations. We had, three of them, uh, the parade, um, the holiday magic downtown, and the Christmas in the park, and they were all very well attended and great events this year. So, thank you very much, Sean. And the next two, um, uh, I like pretty much all sports, but I love golf. And these two right here make me very proud because, uh, the what we call the Valley Golf Course now that started off as Indian Valley, uh, when we bought it back in the, uh, early 70s, uh, it is the, uh, uh,

I'm biased. I'll tell you that right off hand, but it is the best golf course we have in Alamance County. And uh uh I'm very proud of what uh Mike Long, our Mike is uh young man here in in the middle. He's our pro and manager there and his very capable assistant. Fred Ireland has been with us for a good while and uh Fred is loved by everybody. Uh never heard a complaint about Fred. He treats everybody just like uh they're one of his family and uh we appreciate that. But but they've turned the valley around from what it used to be. Um, and uh uh the uh course I get a lot of compliments every uh week about the golf course, the shape it's in and the staff that we have there and I can tell you having been here ever since we acquired this golf course. Uh it's in the best shape it's ever been in and we have the best staff we ever had. So I'm very proud of all four of y'all. And u Jennifer um she is uh she actually works for Morgan and special uh um community engagement, but hey, she she works out of our office, so she's one of us. So she does a great job, too. So, thank you very much, y'all. [applause]

Some of our wonderful resources here in Burlington. Um and don't don't get comfortable, Tony. We we have more for you. [laughter]

So now I would like to recognize um recreation parks director Tony Laws um to share with us about the Hall River Trail and then we have a proclamation for that.

Thank you very much, Madame Mayor and all the members of the council. It's a very good pleasure to be here both for what we just did and also to recognize the Hall River Trail. This is the 20th anniversary year of the Hall River Trail. And um I'm not going to say anything bragging about me, but I'm going to brag on the city of Burlington because we were a very very big part of the Hall River Trail, the establishment of it, and u uh I know I'm I'm biased and prejudice towards our city, but we don't get recognized for what we did to uh create this trail. Uh, and um, uh, that was 20 years ago. And I'm give you a little bit of history. I'm not going to take a long time, but u, three of us uh, in this community uh, helped uh, get this uh, park started about our trail. Janet, Dr. Janet McFall, she was a um, she's retired now. She was a professor in the science department at Elon University and she took a lot of her students out to the the river and um for science and nature and so forth and uh so she was a big part of getting this trail established. Melody Wiggins who's retired recreation director in Graham uh was the second person on that and um I was a third person. So uh somebody's got to bring up the rear and that was me. So anyway, uh I'm very proud of what we uh uh and and especially on the city's behalf, what what we've created with this trail. Um if if you don't know a whole lot about the Hall River u back when I came to this community um it was u where all the uh textile mills uh or not all of them but a lot of them emptied their waste and the and the u river changed colors by whatever dye was being used in the uh particular mills at the time. So I mean red, blue, green,

yellow, all kinds of colors of the water and uh the one thing that I remember distinctly uh it was a over your head uh bubbles all over the top of the river from all the pollution. Now that was the river 50ome years ago. Today the river is wonderful. Uh it is very clean. uh we don't have all all that waste going in the river anymore and and people are using the river both as a paddle trail, a blueway and also as a hiking trail which which is was the object of of us establishing a trail. We wanted to be both a a land trail where people could walk along the river and we wanted to be a paddle trail so people could canoe or kayak or whatever they wanted to do up and down the river. And the river is it's Alamance County's only natural resource. And it is beautiful. It has different uh if you've never been on the river. Uh I strongly suggest you do that because it has a lot of different um uh atmospheres. Uh as you go down uh the northern part of the river has a lot of rock rocky uh um bed and so forth. Uh uh some of the lower parts have more uh u uh rapid water uh or white water what they call uh not huge uh waves or anything that you can't paddle it but you know some that take a little more effort than uh just the flat water. Uh the city of Burlington, you wouldn't believe this, but I I learned a lot. We own a lot of land adjacent to Hall River. uh starts at uh in the northern part of of the county uh the Valley Golf Course. Uh that that river flows by both the front and and back nine of of the course. Six holes along the river. So uh

that's quite a a benefit for the for the golf course and also uh it's it provides a walking trail along the river banks. And so uh uh and then as you come down of course Burlington when you get into the city limits uh it goes by the eastern part of our town. Uh so uh uh Town and Country Nature Park is a big part of that. Uh that's a another park that we have that borders of the river and um uh it's it's so and we have paddle accesses at both of these the golf course and and the town and country. And then there's other areas down um south. Uh we even own uh property along the river at the South Burlington waste treatment plant at Sweptenville. Um former mayor there uh when we created a Sweptsonville park there, he made sure that Burlington got credit on on one end of that park as as it's a Sweptenville Burlington park uh along the river, too. So we're proud of that. and and and all along the river, you could name some other places that are publicly owned and uh so that really helped us get the get the trail started. But um in 2006, Dr. McFall, Melody, and myself, we we got together and we started talking about what we could do to establish this trail as a um recreation uh uh facility for the people of this area and other people, the visitors here. And um Dr. McFall uh uh wrote a grant uh to the Z Smith Reynolds Foundation uh for us to hire a what we called a coordinator of the trail and she was successful in getting that grant and it paid the first two years of the salary of the of the first river trail coordinator and that was Brian Baker and Brian Baker is now the uh assistant county manager for

Alamance County. He's come through the recreation department as a part of the part of their staff and then became recreation director and now assistant county manager. So, we're very proud of Brian. Um he was a lawyer when we hired him. Uh didn't like practicing law, Bob, but hey, it's not for everybody, but anyway, he was an outdoors person. So, so he's done a great job and uh and when when he was our first coordinator and we've had uh several other coordinators since Gil Johnson when Brian moved up in the rec department, Gil Johnson took over his part as a coordinator and now we have Nolan Carter and that position after the funding ran out after two years for the uh grant that we have from Z Smith Reynolds. um the city of Burlington, Graham, city of Graham and the Alamance County, we decided to um employ uh Brian Baker. He was still with us then. Uh and so uh both the cities contribute money to his salary. Alamance County agreed to uh put him on their staff and and u [clears throat] give him office and so forth. So uh so it's worked great and uh I can't be prouder what we have at the trail now. Not sure if all of you know it's 35 miles of the Hall River through through Alamance County. It goes on a northwest to a southeast diagonal bisecting the county. Uh so it covers just about every part of the county. Um and um one thing that's that we're really really proud of happened last year to 2024 uh 2024, not 2025, but it happened in 2024. the Hall River Trail was uh uh adopted as a state trail by uh the state of North Carolina. So, not many places get that honor. And so, we're very happy to to uh be honored as as a state trail now. And uh I can't tell you how much good that this trail has has brought to our county

and for our local citizens and also for visitors here that uh can paddle, walk or fish in the in the river without any uh hesitation now because of the quality of the of the water and and the uh area around it. So, didn't mean to talk too long, but I just wanted you to know that cuz I'm very proud of what city of Burlington, not myself, the city of Burlington has done for the Hall River Trail. And we thank you for your part in that. So, thank you. And we have a proclamation. I I you don't you don't have to stand there if you don't want to. If you want,

but um the proclamation I'll share um for for the city. Um this is the city of Burlington, North Carolina proclamation in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Hall River Trail. Whereas the Hall River State Trail is one of North Carolina's most treasured natural resources following 80 miles from the Hall River State Park on the Rockingham County Guilford County line to Jordan Lake Recreation Area in Chattam County. Supporting diverse wildlife, rich cultural history, and recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. And whereas the city of Burlington is uniquely connected to the Hall River through multiple trail segments, greenway greenways, river access points, and parks that provide opportunities for hiking, paddling, fishing, nature observation, and environmental education for the Burlington community. And whereas the creation of the Hall River Trail was closely linked with the development of the Mountains to Sea Trail, establishing the Hall River Trail as an official segment of North Carolina's statewide trail flagship and strengthening its role in connecting Burlington's parks and greenways to communities and public public lands across the state. And whereas the development of the Hall River trail segments and access points in and around Burlington has contributed to economic vitality by supporting tourism, encouraging outdoor recreation, and enhancing the overall quality of life for Burlington residents. And whereas the success of the Hall River Trail in Burlington and across the region has been made possible through dedication of countless volunteers, partner agencies, conservation advocates, and community members who have invested time, resources, and passion into protecting and activating this natural corridor. And whereas the year 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the Hall River Trail

Partnership, celebrating two decades of progress, collaboration, and shared commitment to conservation, recreation, and community connection in Burlington and throughout North Carolina. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennet, and the Burlington City Council, do hereby proclaim 2026 as the 20th anniversary of the Hall River Trail in the city of Burlington, North Carolina, and encourage all residents to explore, enjoy, and support the continued stewardship of this extraordinary natural, historical, and recreational resource this the 20th day of January, 2026, with my signature on and Tony, I'd like to present this to you. [applause]

Thank you so much for your work.

Thank you very much, mayor. Really appreciate that. And u as she was reading, there's 13 local governments that that are part of the Hall River Trail. Uh that's from Greensburg, Guilford County, Rockn County, Alamance County, and Chadam County. And we're very proud of what what uh we have now. And uh that's hard to get 13 local. And the state is part of this, too. I didn't mention the state. Daryl McBain who was director of trails at the time for the state. He lives in Liberty, so he took a special interest in in the Hall River Trail because he's so close to where he lives. and we had his guidance in in helping to create this trail too. So the state had a big part in it as well then and now by making it a state trail.

Thank you very much.

I don't follow [applause] When it's a little warmer, we might need to get our hiking shoes out and go for a hike. Definitely. That's right. We do. Thank you. Thank you so much. At this time, I recognize city clerk Beverly Smith. Members of council, it is my responsibility to remind you of your duty to avoid conflicts of interest. I ask if there are any potential conflicts concerning tonight's agenda items.

Thank you. Thank you. Um now we need to adopt the agenda for the evening. I need a motion and a second to adopt or deny the agenda. Motion approved. Second. All in favor? I.

Thank you. And we have the consent agenda. These items are typically non-controversial. If anyone has any questions about the following items, please let us know. So the first um consent agenda A is to approve the appointment of Daria Via to fill a vacancy on the Alamance County Municipal Tourism Development Authority for a term beginning February 1, 2026 and expiring on June 30th, 2027. Uh consent agenda B to approve the temporary parking lot closure of a portion of city lot number one located on the corner of Front Street and Spring Street on January 30th, 2026 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. to allow for the public to safely participate in a topping out event for the Paramount Theater construction project. And item C, to approve budget amendment 2026-9 for animal services to accept and allocate funds from multiple donations made to animal services to support medical care of animals at Burlington Animal Services, the community pet help support program marketing and training. And I'll entertain a motion in a second to approve the foregoing consent agenda.

So move. Second. All in favor? I.

Okay. Thank you. Um, next are our public hearings. Um, we have two public hearings this evening. And item one is a public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider unified development ordinance text amendment um, UDOTA2-25. And at this time, I recognize executive director of planning and development services Jamie Lawson. Good evening, Mayor and members of council. I will turn this over to Chad Meadows, who you remember was at our work session earlier this month.

Thank you, Jenny. Sure. Thank you. Good evening, council members. I'm Chad Meadows with CDRight. Pleasure to be before you guys tonight.

Um, let's see here. This is UDOTA 225. This is our 16th round of amendments since we've adopted the ordinance back in 2019. We have four areas of revision for you guys tonight. And I'm going to talk about them very very briefly. I know you guys have a lot of stuff going on. The first among those uh are some adjustments to uh some temporary housing provisions. Um today's weather is a great example why we need these kinds of standards in place. Uh so our changes to the temporary housing provisions are in section 46D of our UDO and basically what we're doing is recognizing three different types of temporary housing arrangements. Uh we're adding some clarity, some definition and some review criteria as well as some duration. Um so that's basically uh the adjustments there. I'll talk with quickly about the three different kinds of temporary housing uses we're suggesting be added to the UDO. The first is the emergency shelter provision. uh 46D6 subb. Um essentially an emergency shelter is one that is an accessory or temporary part of a religious, governmental or governmental uh nonprofit principal use. It's got to be staffed. Um it's exempt from temporary use provisions uh but must meet all applicable building codes and is operated only during emergencies. So this is an opportunity for people to seek shelter during an emergency. Um the second kind of temporary use is actually a temporary construction dwelling. We have provisions for this use today. Um this is a use type that somebody would use to build a house uh or to have staff on site while they were uh doing construction. It's current use carried forward. We've added some additional clarity about the duration um that it can be in place during construction. The third use type uh is the temporary residential use. this is an accessory or temporary use that's part of another institutional use. Um there's some

specific standards about how much floor area per resident. Um that it's got to be staffed. Um this is exempt from the temporary use permit but must also meet all applicable building codes. Uh and there are no limits on the duration of a temporary housing uh facility. So this is a uh a temporary use that that uh is temporary in terms of its uh occupants or uh residents, not necessarily its duration. Okay, those are the three temporary residential uh use provisions we've added. We've got three minor changes to other use provisions in the ordinance. Specifically, clarifications about where we measure setbacks for bulky item sales, um things like storage sheds and swimming pools. uh clarifying that manufacturing uses are subject to the city's noise ordinance. Uh and some additional clarification about how we determine what is an accessory use. Uh that's a secondary use that happens on the same site as a different principal use and how the city staff would go about making that determination. [snorts] Infrastructure uh three minor adjustments here. Uh clarification in section in chapter six that uh when development takes place uh the developers responsible for dedication and construction of all streets. across the site's frontage. Um, in accordance with the city, DOT, any TIA standards, this is applied as part of subdivision site plan. Um, this is a clarification. Um, also some additional clarification about easements. In fact, uh, permanent structures uh, in an easement require the prior consent of the easement holder uh, and that the easement holder is not responsible for replacement uh, uh, or repair of features that are located within the easement without that easement owner's consent. first. Okay, so pretty basic stuff there. Four sets of standards. Move through these very very quickly. Um the first two relate to uh clarifications on our parking standards. Um specifically our commercial design and our multi our

mixeduse design standards have provisions that limit the location of off- streetet parking. Half of it needs to be to the side or the rear of the structure. There were some questions about what does that mean exactly at the front. Uh and so we've supplemented the standards with this invisible or uh clarified that the primary facade line extends across the front of the property. That's considered to be the front and that um you know no more than half of the allowable parking could be forward of that line. Last two adjustments. Um some further clarification on our grading uh slopes, fills and burm standards in chapter 7. uh maximum slope cannot exceed two and a half feet of horizontal space for every foot of vertical space um you know of fill for that for that burm. Finally um a quick adjustment to our sustainability incentives. These are things that we uh we use to encourage developers to incorporate sustainable provisions um into their developments uh through uh a variety of different incentives. One of which is the ability to reduce the amount of required open space in return for a variety of other sustainable development features, whatever those might be. Uh they're set down in the schedule uh in chapter 7. So these are our uh package of amendments for UDOTA 225. We considered this with the planning and zoning board on the 15th of December. There was unanimous recommendation for approval. You may recall at the work session, we decided to continue to think through the transitional housing as a principal use standard. Uh staff and the consulting team are meeting tomorrow to go over research and additional information. Uh and we look to be back before you with those adjustments in the near future. Um and with that, I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions? I did it one um in regards to the chapter 4 temporary housing. Uh we have a line item there regarding staffing and I was curious is there other uh housing models that have a resident or a peer who's in charge of the household if how that's considered? Is that part of the definition or how does it apply in these cases? In in these instances, we've identified staff as a as an someone who is not an active resident or participants, a receiver of services. um at the temporary housing facility, but rather they would be somebody who is employed by or associated with the principal use that was conducting that activity, not necessarily a resident.

Does that restrict certain groups or organizations that may be attempting to do these? I don't believe so. I mean, since it's a principal use, there's, you know, it it stands to reason that you would want somebody from the principal use there on site to to kind of help out and only institutional. Correct. That is correct. Thank you. Other questions? Other questions? Okay, at this point it' be appropriate to conduct a public hearing and I'll be standing by if you have any questions.

Okay. Thank you so much. So, at this time, um we do open the floor for public comments on this item. And so, if you have uh questions, concerns, comments you want to make on this, we just ask that you state your name and address for the record. Any comments, public comments? Okay. Well, um, not having any, then I entertain a motion to close the public hearing. Sec. All in favor? I. Okay. Then, um, I entertain a motion to approve or deny the text amendment using your blue sheet.

Mayor, I'll entertain a motion to approve as consistent with the landing plan. Make a motion to approve the request to amend the city to unify development ordinance to the proposed text amendment. The motion is based upon the consistency of the proposed text amendment with the comprehensive plan. Section four land use goal one recommendation five. The comprehensive plan calls for an update of the unified development ordinance. And section four land use goal one recommendation of the comprehensive plan calls for ensuring sound land planning decisions that are consistent with. This action is reasonable and public interest in the section 4 land use goal two recommendation four of the comprehensive plan addresses confusion conflicts and obsolescence in the zoning code through a new unified development ordinance. The section 4 land use goal four recommendation goal two recommendation four of the comprehensive plan new will be modern graphically intensive userfriendly both publicition and administrative perspective.

Thank you for that motion. Do we have a second? All in favor? I

the um that is approved. That change is approved. Okay. So for item two, a public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider a request to reszone property from medium density residential zoning district to the highdensity residential zoning district. The parcel addressed as 0 South Church Street is located on the south side of South Church Street, east of the intersection [snorts] with Capricorn Way and west of the intersection with University Drive and consists of Alamance County tax identification number 106648. Again, we recognize Jamie Lawson.

Good evening again. Let me start from the beginning here. Um, so this item was presented at a former work session as well. Um, you will see on the slide here, the property is located on the south side of South Church Street, um, just west of the intersection with University Drive. The applicant is in the room in case um, you have any questions for him. This request is um a zoning amendment uh for a conventional or general zoning. Um the applicant is seeking to change the zoning designation of the site which is currently medium density residential that's highlighted in the yellow to the high density residential zoning district. Um this slide represents the existing um future land use designation for the area. So that is depicted in the yellow shade which is suburban residential. Um included in the staff report is a discussion with compliance with the land use designation. Um as well as a recommendation u from staff. Um, I'll ask if the applicant has anything that they would like to add to supplement anything that I've provided or or anything that they'd like to add at all.

No, I'm just curious in case anyone has any questions that I may be able. Okay. [clears throat] So, um, included also the planning and zoning commission recommended this item unanimously at their October 27th meeting. And uh again, it was um presented back in November of last year during work session and has been properly advertised tonight for a public hearing. We'll be happy to answer any questions that you might have as well. Okay. Any questions from council members? Okay.

Then at this time, we'll um open the floor for public comments on this item. Are there any comments? Seeing that there are no comments, I um will accept a motion to close public comments. Motion approved. A second. Second. All in favor? I.

Thank you. And so we also need a motion to approve or deny the reszoning request using the pink sheet. I make a motion to approve the request to reszone one parcel of land totaling 1.5 acres from the medium density residential MDR zoning district to the high density residential HDR zoning district. The property is located on the south side of South Church Street, east of the intersection with Kappa Queen, hope I got it correct, Capa Queen Capaqueen Way and west of the intersection with University Drive. It is addressed as 0 South Church Street and consists of Alamance County tax identification number 106648. The motion is based upon the consistency of the proposed resoning with the comprehensive plan and that the proposed zoning of the property is consistent with the future land use map which calls for the area to be suburban residential. The requested um resoning has the opportunity to provide infield residential housing at a higher density than what exists under the current zoning. This action is reasonable and in the public interest and that existing infrastructure exists and the fact that the property is located close to employment opportunities and other amenities. A higher distance is appropriate for the area. The proposed amendment supports infield residential development. any future development will be required to comply with the city's unified development ordinance.

Thank you for that motion. Do we have a second? Second. And all in favor? I. Thank you. So, that motion passes. That resoning passes. Okay. At this time, we come to our time of public comments and we had no one to sign up this evening. Um, I'll just extend the invitation. Would anyone if you if you want to make a public comment, raise your hand. Okay, we do have one in the back. So, let me just ask council, are you we're just going to do this by consensus. Are you okay with um with public comments?

Yes, I am. Okay, then we invite you to come forward and share at the microphone. My name is except they can't hear you where it's streaming. I don't even know what I want to comment on is relevant uh to this meeting. This is the first time I've ever been here. That's okay. And uh I I need to know who I need to talk to. Uh okay. Remember to identify yourself, your name. I'm sorry. My name is Delila Papadakis. Um, I've been in Burlington for nine months.

Okay. Um, I did work with uh uh for the bus company, Link Transit. I don't know if this is the right meeting I need to be in to voice concerns regarding Link Transit or not. I This is my first time visiting here. So, welcome to city council meeting. It is fine for you to make public comments here. I will just say to you if it's a personnel issue or anything of in that regard then I think we probably need to um yield to our uh attorney the city attorney. Okay. Okay. But um yes.

Okay. Okay. So rather than than um airing that in a in a public session, uh thank you for coming and sharing with us, but and I'll be back. I'll let you speak to our attorney. Um we're close to the end of the meeting. Yes, ma'am. I understand. We can do that. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Can you approach the microphone? Um your name and um and address. Um, I'm not sure if this is the right. Okay. Wait for meeting with you.

Okay. So, my name is Lisa Mevin. I know Ann. So, two things. We were talking about City Park at North Park issues over there. Lighting, traffic. Now, squirrel was put down maybe about a week ago. Um, I did talk with an officer, but there's another commission that I need to speak with. Not exactly sure who that is. Okay.

But when I say it's terrible, [clears throat] it's terrible. So, from what I remember from the conversation I had with him, the officer, he said the highest rate of speed was 61. Well, it's 35 miles per hour. There has been a lot of unreported incidents like mailboxes being knocked down, trees having to be cut because they have been people have ran up in their yards. Again, probably I don't I don't know. I don't have the figures for that, but a lot of it is unreported crime, well, incidents. Um, and that's a huge thing. I need to know who I need to talk to about that. Um, because initially [clears throat] I addressed this issue about three years ago.

So, as a result of that, there were signs put up [clears throat] 35 mile flashing lights, which does not does absolutely nothing. So speed is I would say we would refer to traffic commission and also probably to the police department and I think and we can pass that along.

Yeah. I I have Yeah. Okay. Cuz my first request and I understand now why I got the answer I did. I asked for speed bumps. Let me tell you why. Because it's a park. There is a park where children play. There is a park that elderly people more elderly than I am that attend whatever was was going on over there activities people come down there. 61 was the highest during that time that was recorded. 61 where you have children playing and you have a park. It's dark at night. There are no lights over there. Not compared to the other city. I'm just saying I don't know where funds are being allocated, how they're allocated, but it needs a lot of attention

and and this again, this is not my first time trying to address this issue. Now, it was said to me because I don't live there. I don't live there, but I have family over there that I frequent. Miss Lisa, excuse me. Are you speaking in regards to Sharp Road? I am. where your mother's property or your family's property is at, which is across from

Draw Street to that section right at the tip. Like if you're coming from Apple Street and you go down, as soon as you hit the top of that hill, there's a flashing light 35 miles per hour. But it's like an autobomb, especially once they resurfaced it about a year ago. You know, it's it is scary. my brother was making a lefthand turn into his parking in his driveway and somebody passed him on the left

and again I'm just you know um so so we appreciate your you coming and sharing your concern and for those of you who did speak I'm going to get you to fill out the information so that our minutes and our staff can make contact with you. So if you just do that before you leave but you we can we'll do that after the meeting. Um, again, thank you for sharing your concerns. I I do think it you named several commissions that al also could have some input and so our city staff will make sure that your concerns are passed on to those appropriate commissions and committees.

I appreciate that. And again, I can't stress how serious it really is at this point. It's not getting any better. It's like an otabon out there. [cough] Our family goes to the park. We frequently go over to North Park with our children, so I can attest just trying to get out the vehicle. Exactly. To, you know, from the street side and to be able to go over, I see the the constant speeding. So, I know that what you're saying is credible. So, thank you for bringing that also to, you know, to everyone else's attention. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Are are there other public comments that you'd like to share? Okay. Then um again, I'm I'm going to ask you all after the meeting if we can just get your contact information so that we can pass that on to the right people. Um there are some upcoming events that we have um that you may be interested in attending. Uh, one is the topping out ceremony. I love that. The topping out ceremony. Um, which is the celebration on Friday, January the 30th at 3:30 p.m. downtown. And this will be at the corner of Front Street and Spring Street, Paramount Theater Corner, um with an opportunity to sign a 17 ft steel beam that will then be raised for a ceremonial beam raising that will mark the completion of the Paramount structural framework um in the renovation project. So hope that you will come and join us that like this says celebration. It is a time of celebration and an opportunity for you to leave your imprint on that steel beam. So, you get to be a part of the paramounts. Um, also our next work session will be held on February the 2nd. That's a Monday at 5:00 PM and city council will then be on February the 3. February 14th is coming Valentine's Day and that is on a Saturday this year. And so we are working on some plans for a fun Saturday afternoon in downtown Burlington and hope that you will plan to join us and look for more information because more information is coming. Um but uh we are still working on this plan. So we hope that you will plan to join us on February 14th downtown Burlington. Um council members, are there other items that you would like to speak to? Any comments that you'd like to make?

I think you covered them. I've got a couple, but I'll add the February 14th is to celebrate our city's anniversary as well as Okay. So, I'm looking forward to that. We appreciate staff's effort to bring some incredible things together. So, seeing folks out there, hopefully the weather will cooperate. So, um to Miss Mein's uh concerns, um I also have heard a number of things from residents, not to say about Sharp Road recently, um but about the crossing at Front Street in Willowbrook Park. Uh we have flashing crosswalk there, but due to the topography of that road, res.

Also, I know there's we've had a lot of resurfacing going on throughout the community and there are quite a few crosswalks that have still not been repainted. Um, Web Avenue and Meban, uh, as well as we've had additional resurfacing done. We'd love to get an update on kind of what the status of that is include sharp road.

Um, additionally, we've got a lot of work going on in downtown Burlington. As a fellow small business owner and downtown advocate, I've heard from lots of our downtown businesses that things are hard and they're concerned about the construction schedule, especially going into the spring. Um, and I'll just add to that, our downtown area is is a wonderful space. Um, there it's you you can go downtown and meet up with friends and enjoy a good meal and um and just visit in comfortable spaces. And so that our downtown merchants are experiencing some challenges with the construction downtown. So any ch any chance you get um to be frequent downtown businesses, I'm certain that they would appreciate that. Um and that is a way to contribute back to our community. Um yeah,

other if there are no other comments, I'll take I'll entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting. Motion approved. Second. All in favor? Thank you all for being here.