City Council - Regular Meeting

He just saw it in the window.

And there it comes. See how good he was getting for you here? He was sharp, too.

Thank you. All right, let's see if we can get everybody to get a shot.

You guys don't make it easy, but you are.

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to our meeting today, May the 19th, 2026 to the city council meeting. And I ask that you please silence all electronic devices. And I just checked mine so I didn't have to do what I said. So at this time, we call the meeting to order, and I recognize Councilmember Ian Baltudis for our invitation.

Thank you. Tonight, give us the courage to fulfill our duty as public servants. Give us the wisdom to plan for the long-term prosperity and benefit of future generations, and give us the guidance to always seek to understand and care for our neighbors in times of plenty and in times of scarcity. Let us take a moment to reflect upon these words and settle into the tasks before us tonight. Thank you.

At this time, I recognize Executive Director of Planning and Development Services, Jamie Lawson, and Brian Pennington from the Historic Preservation Commission.

Good evening, Mayor and members of Council. I am here first as an honor to present the Miniature Pine Awards. This is an annual award. And just as... Just as a reminder, this award was established in the early 1990s, and it is to recognize property owners for their efforts to preserve historic character and the timeliness of the city of Burlington. It was named for Mindrew Pine, who was a Burlington resident, and he is known as one of the modern preservationists. These awards occur pretty much every year in May in conjunction with National Historic Preservation Month. So we had two properties that were nominated by the Historic Preservation Commission, which were discussed at their meeting also in May. The first property was 2451 Glencoe Street, And here's a couple of pictures of documents that were provided as part of the National Historic District Nomination Award. A little mouthful, sorry. And I just wanted to provide some excerpts. All of the properties that were in Glencoe, which I'm kind of circling here, the Glencoe Historic District, they were all surveyed, and the documents provide a summary of their structural characteristics, their architectural features, and this was one of the three different styles of buildings within the area. The building itself, I believe, was built in 1880, and We received pictures from Mr. and Mrs. Cowan, who are the owners of the property, and they had applied for a major COA to the Historic Preservation Commission for a rear building addition. those of you who don't know the glencoe historic district also falls under the purviews of preservation berlin preservation north carolina so whenever there is a project that goes on within the district they review the applications as well and their standards are much more stringent even more stringent than than our local historic districts. So we are always happy when somebody provides that letter of support from Preservation North Carolina. It means that they've gone through the proper protocol and now they're going to come to the HPC for their review. So just a couple of before and after pictures. These are the before pictures of the backyard. Here's the property from I guess from the air but facing the street and the rear addition is back here. Another aerial picture and these are pictures that are under construction. This is in the interior. This looked like this before next to the fireplace and the wall was opened up creating the space for the addition and the connection. Here's a picture of what it looks like after the construction from the outside and some pictures within the interior. So I just wanted to recognize Mr. and Mrs. Cowan for their dedication to historic preservation over the years and for the wonderful project that they completed. The next... The next project was 341 South Main Street, Suite 100. So this is the home currently of Circe. These are some before pictures of what the building looked like, and I'm sure many of you have seen it earlier and earlier than even at this time. Pictures from the interior. These were provided by the property owner and then obviously some afters. The property owner, I'm not sure if he's in the audience. There he is. He worked, he probably can speak to it more than me, but I believe he worked with the business operators to come up with a plan that really envisioned what their vision was. And I believe, again, they can speak to it, but I believe everything that you're seeing from the floors to the back walls where there are built-in cabinets. There you are. And more are are original and everything in the shop has also been thrifted or reused. And that's Mr. Braxton in the audience, who he and his wife operate Searcy. If you haven't been in there, it's a beautiful, beautiful restoration of this building. So these are both two wonderful examples of historic preservation, and I'd like to call out Brian Bennington, who is the chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, to say a few words and then present the awards to the recipients.

Preservation of our architectural history is critically important for maintaining a sense of our heritage and our inheritance as a community. Our historic neighborhoods and structures provide an ongoing reminder of where we have come from and who we are. The histories that we preserve through our maintenance and renovations of buildings, neighborhoods, mills, and their villages are neither simple nor uncontested, but they are reminders of the struggles that forged Burlington and the labor that built our city and established our communities. These sites provide a living reminder of people, events, and places that are worthy of our remembrance and our ongoing reassessment. Our historic neighborhoods and buildings give us literal spaces where we can come to terms with who we are, who we were, consider who we are, and think together about who we want to be. They are a reminder to honor the work of those who brought us to this place. Our architectural heritage is also an economic asset whose preservation is critically important to our flourishing as a vibrant community in a rapidly changing North Carolina. The Historic Preservation Commission is pleased this year to honor citizens and business people of Burlington who have made important investments in maintaining our built heritage and whose preservation work is especially worthy of recognition.

Thank you. At this time, we would like to call up Lynn and Tom Cowan. And Brian is going to present you the placard that will hopefully properly be displayed on the building. Do you mind if I just ask to see if they want to say anything about the restoration?

I think that's fine.

I will mention that...

The folks at home want to hear, too.

I just want to mention that Jeff Wilkins is here who did plans for us and did a wonderful job with that. And just thank everybody. We appreciate it.

Okay, next I'd like to call up Jeff Wilkins and also Mr. Braxton. And Brian will present you with the award as well.

If I may take a minute of your time, Mayor and members of the council, I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your commitment to the small grants program for downtown Burlington. That has been the difference maker in a lot of projects down there I've seen firsthand, including my own. um it can mean that it can mean the difference between a go and no go on those projects as hard as they are those buildings as you know were were built before building codes were even really thought of and it poses a real challenge not only to life safety issues but also And I think the council is fully aware of downtown budgets and those increases that are currently happening with the Paramount. By the way, thank you for that investment also. But I have encouraged the BDC and will continue to do that to continue to ask for those funds because they really are paramount in allowing those projects to get done. So thank you for that. I wanted to thank Chuck Braxton too and his wife Stephanie for their commitment to bringing their business to downtown. It really is a wonderful addition. And Lynn and Tom Cowan, those are really generous words. I really just drew what they told me to draw. There's two people in Alamance County that are apt and qualified to do historic preservation and that's the few of them right there. So thank you all, appreciate it.

Mayor, if I could, just huge thank you to everyone who's involved in historic preservation in Burlington and Alamance County, especially Preservation Alamance. So as a member resident of the Historic District on West Davis Street, I have sweated and bled working on my house. and regularly talk to folks all around the country in historic districts, and they moan and complain about the complexity that bureaucracy adds to it, and I think we have one of the most level-headed, engaged, and focused groups that really works to make sure that we preserve our heritage at the same time we create new spaces like Searcy in these historic places. So really appreciate y'all's work. It's not easy. You thread a needle very finely, and we appreciate everything you do every day in Alamance County.

Thank you. Thank you. And at this time, I'm going to read a proclamation recognizing Preservation Month. And after I have read that, I'll recognize Woody Pelton and Lynn Cowan to come forward to receive the proclamation. The City of Burlington, North Carolina Proclamation recognizing Preservation Month, May 2026. Whereas Preservation Alamance is a nonprofit organization created in October 2016 from a concern about the demolition of a local historic property, through preservation, education, and involvement, Preservation Alamance seeks to protect and celebrate the architectural and historical heritage of Burlington and the surrounding area. By fostering within the community an appreciation of our historic properties, we aim to promote interest in and good stewardship of our local historical treasures. And whereas our historic properties are a part of the fabric of Burlington's unique local culture and create a sense of place, And whereas historic preservation protects city resources and infrastructure, promotes economic development, supports local jobs in the areas of heritage tourism, construction, building materials, landscaping, and architecture, and enhances local property values. And whereas the city of Burlington is home to five local historic landmarks, two local historic districts, six residential historic districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places, including Beverly Hills District, East Davis Street District, Glencoe Mill Village District, Lakeside Mill District, South Broad Fifth Street District, and West Davis West Front Fountain Place District, and the Downtown Burlington National Register Historic District. And whereas historic preservation incentives have fostered millions in private investment to preserve and restore Burlington's National Register listed historic properties since 1976, And whereas Preservation Alamance's Historic Property Grant Program has supported over $145,000 in local private investment to preserve and restore Burlington's local historic properties since 2021. And whereas the City of Burlington recognizes Preservation Month 2026 celebrating those individuals and organizations that devote their time, energy, and resources to preserving and protecting Burlington's treasured historical properties. Now therefore, I, Mayor Beth Kennett, and the Burlington City Council do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as Preservation Month in the City of Burlington, this the 19th day of May 2026. Thank you all. At this time, I recognize City Clerk Beverly Smith for our Code of Ethics.

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 item.

None. Next we have the approval of minutes from April the 20th work session, April 21st city council meeting, May 4th work session, and May 5th city council meeting. I need a motion and a second to approve the minutes.

Motion to approve. Second.

All in favor? Aye.

And we need to adopt our agenda. We need a motion and second to adopt or deny the agenda. So moved. Second.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. And our consent agenda. These are items that are typically non-controversial and have been approved to be on the consent agenda. Item A. To approve the reclassification of the Paramount Theater Director from pay grade 209 to pay grade 210 in community engagement effective upon the next pay cycle. Item B, to establish Thursday, May 21, 2026 as the date for advertisement of delinquent real property tax liens for 2025 pursuant to NCGS 105-369. Item C, to adopt a resolution to ratify the execution of opioid settlements with six remnant defendants and associated combined subdivision participation and release form. Item D, to approve budget amendment 2026-37 for the police department to allocate funds received from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program and to reimburse Alamance County for approved grant expenditures. Item E, to approve budget amendment 2026-38 in the amount of $368,700 to extend the Withers-Ravenel contract for construction administration and construction observation for the downtown utilities project from 365 days to 612 days. At this time, I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve or deny the foregoing consent agenda. All in favor? And now we come to our time of public hearings. Item one is a public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider the adoption of a revised flood damage prevention ordinance and associated maps to align with the state and FEMA requirements with an effective date of June 10th, 2026. And at this time I recognize city engineer, Amy Ratlin.

I'm here to request that we hold a public hearing to adopt the revised Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance. This is a requirement of the state as part of the National Flood Insurance Program, which enables communities and property owners to purchase insurance against flooding damage In order to comply with this, we need to adopt this by June 10th. However, we just received a letter today that said the state did not give us our 90-day warning and that we actually have to have it enacted by August 21st, but I would recommend we move forward with it since we have it on the agenda. We are going to adopt this as a revised standalone ordinance and take it out of the UDO where it's currently residing. And we will make the updates to the UDO and remove all references to the flood damage prevention ordinance at our next UDO update. And at this time, I would request that we have a public hearing and then adopt this at the June 2nd meeting.

Okay. Do we have a public hearing on this item now?

Okay.

Okay. So just needed to clarify that before I moved forward. So at this time, if you would like to speak to this in the public hearing, then please approach the microphone and you will have five minutes and state your name and address. Is there anyone who'd like to speak to this? If there is no one, then I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. And entertain a motion to approve the flood damage prevention ordinance as presented as well.

I'll motion to approve the ordinance as presented.

Second.

Second.

All in favor? Aye. And we need a motion pursuant to NCGS 160A-75,

A motion to approve that.

Okay. I'm not going to read all the rest of that, but this is to put it on June 2nd for the public hearing at that time. There's no public hearing. No, to vote on it at that time. To adopt that evening. Okay. Just got a little confused.

And to put it in the revised match.

Okay, and include the revised maps as a part of that. Thank you. Thank you. So June 2nd will be the City Council meeting for a second reading and vote to adopt this ordinance with the revised maps. I need a motion and a second.

So moved. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you.

item two a public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider rezoning 18 properties from the heavy industrial zoning district to the conditional industrial zoning district addressed as 220 almira street and identified as alamance county tax id numbers one two six two six one dash one two six two six seven 126269, 126270, 126276, 126300, 126302 to 126305 and 126322-126324. At this time, I recognize Executive Director of Planning and Development Services, Jamie Lawson. Good evening again.

So the first public hearing on the rezonings include the properties that are highlighted on the slide in teal. They are 19 total properties. The track itself is about 8.5 acres. It includes property that is bounded by Elmira, North Park Avenue, Hamilton Street, and Durham Street. and then across the street there are two additional parcels the map shows the properties that are they're currently in purple shade which is the heavy industrial zoning district and the request is to amend the zoning to go to conditional industrial future land use designation of the area is split between traditional residential and business park light industrial The applicant has requested the conditional industrial for the following reason. They're seeking to have one of the permitted uses be a recycling center, and that is only allowed through a conditional industrial rezoning process. The rest of the uses that are shown here in yellow are also being requested. So it's like a limited use rezoning request, but all of these uses are currently allowed under the existing zoning. So by right, right now, all of those uses could occupy in the current building. The TRC or the Technical Review Committee reviews development applications or site plans that are associated with a conditional rezoning. And there are 12 conditions that were included as part of that review. I will just kind of summarize them because I think it's important to get them on the record. The subject property, as I mentioned, contains multiple lots, but the rezoning is treating them all as one parcel. So essentially it's one lot that would be subject to these conditions. The non-conforming building existing on the property will remain in place and they will not expand the existing footprint. So there's no change to the building whatsoever. there'll be no new buildings constructed on the property. Essentially, the subject property is gonna be maintained in its existing conditions. And that includes outdoor lighting, parking, ingress, egress, and fencing. So there may be some improvements that get upgraded, but essentially the site as you see it today with the buildings and the building footprints will change. Like I said, the property is gonna be operating as one single parcel with shared parking and access and other site features. Any screening of outdoor storage areas will have to comply with the UDO requirements. There was a map that was included as part of the rezoning application and that is meant to be illustrative Any changes or projects involving the site that include a building permit would need to go back through the Technical Review Committee for their review and approval. Same thing with if there's any modifications to any of the uses that are being proposed. The building on the subject property shall comply with North Carolina Fire Code in regards to fire protection systems, egress and storage arrangement. The building and the property has to adhere to all federal, state and local requirements and regulations and any potential contaminants on the site. The property would be subject to the city's general code, including noise and nuisance ordinances, And prior to, like I said, if there's gonna be any deviations to the conditions or the uses set forth, there may need to be a rezoning request, but that would be established through a pre-application conference. So there would be a procedure and mechanism in place. The last condition is that the property owner would combine all of the properties into one single tax parcel within two years of the adoption of the ordinance. And failure to do so would invalidate the rezoning approval. This is a site plan that shows the existing conditions and really the conditions that aren't going to change. And this was approved by the Technical Review Committee in March. So staff recommends the rezoning request, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended it unanimously. The staff report includes staff's recommendations with respect to our recommendation, including an option two provided in your consistency statement sheet. I'm happy to answer any questions that I can, and I know the applicant and their representatives are here in the audience as well.

Questions got a few. Combining into 1 parcel is the fact that there's a public street with there. Does that impact parcel numbers or will they all be able to be 1 person?

I would. guesstimate that it will be one track on the west side and another parcel ID on the east side.

And then, so I understand this is a brownfield site. Can you talk about some of the contaminant issues that are from previous uses? If any activities are done on this, are there plans or what processes would ensure that no dust or other contaminants will leave the site?

I would probably best direct that to the applicant to address. And I'm not sure if you have other questions for me before they come up.

Sure, yeah, I'll just, a couple items that were also on my mind were, as far as my understanding, this is going to be for a recycling facility for plastics. And I was just curious if this will involve any type of melting or other type of activities that would create fumes or something.

Just thinking that this is so close to residential properties and is very unique in policy or a lot of times in some cases.

TRYING TO THINK THROUGH WHAT KIND OF NOXIOUS ACTIVITIES MIGHT WE NEED TO CONSIDER IN ZONING. SO FUMES OR DUST FROM ANY TYPE OF PROCESSING.

AND THEN YOU MENTIONED FIRE SAFETY, BUT WE'D JUST LIKE TO CONFIRM THAT THE EXTERIOR STORAGE WOULD ALSO HAVE THOSE FIRE STABILITIES AND SAFETY PROPORTIONS.

AND THEN WITH THE ADDED TRAFFIC AROUND THIS FACILITY. You could just have a better understanding of kind of truck traffic. Would there be specific hours respecting residents and their piece? So no truck idling or specific hours there. And then you listed all the uses there. Just want to make sure we don't have any surprises down the road with the change of use.

But I think you touched on that.

Any change of use would have to come back even if it was on that list. Correct. Okay. So that one's answered. So the other one's all at the applicant.

Yeah, and I would say the applicant should probably best explain the nature of what they're seeking to do and the overall operation as well.

Can we hear from the applicant?

Good evening, Mayor Kennett, members of council. My name is Ryan Moffitt. I'm a lawyer at the Vernon Law Firm. We're right across the street at 522 South Lexington Avenue. Brian Norris, a colleague at the Vernon firm, and I have been working with Topia Real Estate and the operating entity Topia Recycling for the better part of three or four months on this project. And I have to say it's been a real privilege to work with this team of folks and the city. in that time. I won't rehash everything that Jamie has shared, but to say that this has been one of the most unique projects that I've had the opportunity to work on here in the city of Burlington, and it's really an exciting one because of the property we're dealing with, and I think it's awfully fitting that we chose the evening that we recognize our historic preservation partners in the city to look at this, to examine this request. This is a former Burlington Industries die and finishing facility. This facility was built in 1913, I believe. It's 217,000 square feet. And up until, Last August, when Topia Real Estate purchased and closed and invested in this facility, this property and the collection, the assemblage of parcels was in dire condition. I'm sure that the police scanners heard a thing or two from activities in this facility. It's been the subject of looting, vandalism, you name it. There was no copper left, there was no brass left when Alex Long and his team arrived to take a chance on this property. Topia is a post-industrial recycling business there. It's a collection of industry professionals that have gotten together and formed this entity in the last couple of years and are endeavoring to make this an employee trust-owned company that's in high demand and is eager to invest in the city and get underway in their operations. As a true entrepreneurial endeavor since last fall, it has not been without the roller coaster ride that goes with risks and going into new business. zoning request is but one of a number of tracks that this investment has followed with the city. Particularly in the last 90 days, Brian Norris and I and Alexander and his team have been working very closely and very appreciatively with the city's inspections department, the fire department. I was at the building this morning with Alexander and the team for two and a half hours with Chief Harris as we looked at fire pumps and tested sprinkler risers, and I learned a lot this morning. It was fun. But to see where this project is today after 90 really fast days of work and what it looked like on a 34 degree morning on February the 12th of this year is nothing short of miraculous and that's not hyperbole. You can ask several of the folks in this room. But as Jamie noted, this request is to rezone from its existing zoning designation of heavy industrial to conditional industrial as a as a purely administrative matter that request is to make sure that we get this property conforming to the existing zoning ordinance because right now it's zoned heavy industrial under the city's previous zoning ordinance which As Jeff said, in 1913, there wasn't much for a building code or life safety considerations when these things came out of the ground more than 100 years ago, and now there are. We need to do things like this to make sure that we have an applicable code and that the structure is sound and safe. one of the things we have to do is to rezone it in addition to enforce the code. And so that is the administrative reason for the request. Practically though, I mean, really, we need to get the building operational. We need to make a productive use of this building and this property for its owner, for the city, and for the surrounding community. Right now, there's not much of anything you could legally do. on this property. As Councilmember Valtutis mentioned, it is in the Brownfields program. That's a whole other track of approval that this property is pursuing aside from the number of permits that we're currently seeking at the city. Topia's got separate environmental council who's engaged with North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA. The Brownfields program is a very strict program. It's not, as I understand it, it's not a just you check the box and you get to go forward. It is discretionary, it's negotiated, it's site-specific, it's based on the conditions at the particular site. And one of the things you have to hold true to is that you're code compliant, that it's legally operational, and that you're not in breach of any other legal obligations that you have at the site, including local ordinances. So all of these efforts work hand in hand to make this property operational. and the zoning question and the practical use is very, very important to that. Just to touch on, I won't go, Jamie did a great job going through the details of the request, but I do want to just make it clear that the objective here and the use here is a recycling center. It is not a consumer recycling center. It is not a drop-off center. It is for post-industrial materials. We're talking about manufacturing overruns, extras. It's, for the most part, clean material. It's not trash that you would find in a dumpster or in a trash can. That is their business. The other uses are there because property owners need flexibility with their land. However, nothing will change on this property structurally or from a use standpoint without anyone coming back to city staff to scrutinize, to review, to make sure you know, to understand the extent of any adjustments or changes, and then to determine whether it warrants, you know, an administrative approval, you know, review from technical review committee, P&Z, or just simply a rezoning or an amendment to the existing zoning. So any change of use or change to the structure or new build on the property is going to require review and approval. We're talking about, for all intents and purposes, one use tonight. The most exciting reason, for me at least, that this is important for the city is because this is the best kind of economic development, Adam. We're taking a building that, frankly, I cannot think of who else could come in here and use it. They bought it in August. They didn't do all the due diligence that lawyers like me and Brian say, oh my gosh, run the other way. They did their due diligence and they knew what was there and they still made the investment. And it was blighted. It was a risk, not only a business risk, a human health risk. And they took the plunge anyway and started their business in Burlington at this site. They didn't ask for incentives. When they were told they needed to fix some things or straighten out or go in a different direction, they did just that and they hopped on it in 60 to 90 days. I mean, that is a corporate citizen if I've ever seen, and it's a startup, you know, so they're not particularly well established, but they're here for it. So when I say it's been a privilege to work on this, I love to see that. And this zoning request, is necessary to make their operation a reality. They've done just about all the work. There's a few little nits to check, but we're just about there. I know it's been a lot of work. I'm not going to put words in Alexander or anyone else's mouth that say it's fun, but it's been really rewarding to see how far they've come. it it's certainly a reasonable request i i can't see personally a reason to deny it um if this doesn't get approved you know i suppose it's possible but i i just don't know where this property goes he's got The company has employees lined up from the city. This is basically ready to push play within weeks, I believe. It meets all of the good land use requirements. tenants that the city works hard to uphold. It's still partially consistent with the future land use plan in spite of all of its conditions. Economic considerations and just the limited applications that this land has really make this an exciting project. I can't wait to see what's ahead for it, but really grateful for the opportunity to work on this and really grateful for the time and the effort and the responsiveness of Everyone at the city. I mean, it's really been done the way you want it to be done great communication every step of the way and a lot of learning and We're this close to a successful project here in the city of Burlington and and just really appreciate your all's consideration of this. So I probably talked too much. I hope I gave you too many reasons to approve it. I probably could have just said that Mr. Pennington and Mr. Wilkins' comments say all that needed to be said for this project. But again, just thank you and happy to answer any questions. I know Ian, your question needs to be answered. I'm gonna let Alex discuss the dust and the air situation.

Welcome. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for having us here. I just want to point out our team who's done so much for this site as well on both sides. So thank you, everyone at the city and on our side. So your questions, I believe, as I recall, because I wasn't taking notes, just being excited. Is the dust, do we remelt anything, truck traffic, and then any kind of like noise or other considerations like that?

Yeah, and then obviously you've been navigating the brownfield site process too, and if you can just help us understand if you get to progress through that, kind of what precautions may be taken. Understood.

Okay, so to start with that one, basically, the folks at Vernon have been helping us a lot in just understanding how to get through this process because, again, we're not experienced in this in any way, so having their guidance has been really wonderful. But prior to them, we had TerraCon, which is a leading environmental firm, and Brooks Pierce, which is our environmental attorneys. They have been guiding us through the environmental aspects of this property. So how that started is we bought a site with a known phase one and phase two issue that was in IHSB, which is inactive hazardous sites branch. And it was kind of lingering there, not making any progress, no plan for remediation, no solutions, and had been just stalled for six, six years being a blight on the community when we stepped into that what we were able to do with the help of brooks pierce and terracon is move it out of ihsb and into brownsfield and within brownsfield like there is actually a track forward so the brownsfield agreement is that in exchange for certain changes that which have not been established yet on our side and whatever remediation they might require whatever it is we get indemnity from previous hazards that have been introduced to the site in exchange for doing certain things going forward like it is a program that acknowledges that you did not cause the contamination and therefore the site gets to be reused productively but we are not at risk for something that happened 50 years ago the idea behind that is like the reason brownsfield was established is because all of these sites were being abandoned like no one wants to take on a site with an unlimited liability in exchange for being able to bring it back to life. That being said, none of this is a guarantee. It is 100% a risk on us to take ownership of a site with known contamination and try to work it through this process, which will take two or three years. That is the timeframe that we've been given. And we are well on our way. So we have done initial air testing at our expense. to just make sure that it is safe for people to occupy the building, and it is. We passed the initial air testing that Terracon did in the building with not only North Carolina industrial standards, but California residential standards. So we, the strictest residential standards, we passed in terms of air quality. And that does not mean that we're like off the hook for air quality, but there is substantial amount of testing that has to happen before we can get there. What we can say is that we are taking every precaution to protect the people that are inside the building, and the issue is primarily a indoor air quality issue. There are no wells within a long distance of this site, so the ground's contamination is not at risk of moving into using potable water systems or anything like that. This is an incredibly complicated issue that is gonna take a while to play out, but I can assure you that part of what we have to do is do everything that is required by the city, the EPA, NCDEQ, all of that in order to make this happen. So it is safe to be inside the building, it's safe to be outside the building. We're gonna continue to do that air testing and that monitoring for a long time forward just to make sure nothing were to come up, but that's where we're at with Brownsfield.

And so any further actions or activities would be supervised by all those agencies you listed and meet their criteria?

Correct, yes. To the extent that like we are, what Brownfield is, is it's a commitment to indemnity for anything that has happened previously. Like if we decided to be a nuclear waste dump facility, which we're not trying to do, then you're still responsible for that. It's just like if someone used chlorinated solvents 50 years ago, that site is not forever condemned. That's the idea behind this program, as I understand it. In terms of the non, like this is not a Brownsfield thing at this point, but the dust and fume standards in the building, right now the current equipment that we have is not a remelt equipment. We expect to add remelt equipment at some point in the future, but we are very much, we understand that is part of what we need to communicate with the city and that is part of you know air testing all of those things that have to happen to be able to establish that sort of system and there's also as it says in here we need to follow all the ordinances so i can't say because none of that has been designed yet exactly what it is on remelting but that will be something that we come back to you with in the future for right now what we do is basically make big stuff small And we have had a group, Air Systems Engineering, come out and do what's called a DHA, dust hazard analysis. They have looked at the sizes of our blowers, collection systems, all those things. And what we're really trying to do is make sure that all of our equipment is designed to be internal. like we are not a recycling center as you would think where there's outdoor equipment there's no excavators losing loading roll-offs there's no you know trump like uh trucks dumping in pits none of that we are an enclosed facility doing stuff on the inside and we have been able to do our air systems engineering to maintain the dust and the air inside, and all in collected systems. So there's no concern from that, from the outside or the inside. In terms of the truck traffic, I just want to put it out there that there is a tremendous amount of truck traffic in this area already. So if you drive by and you see a bunch of trucks going up and down the street, they're there. They're always there already. We do intend to be a 24-7 operation. But again, we are inside. We have to adhere to the noise ordinance standards, which we understand, look for feedback, and we will continue to adjust as necessary based on feedback from the community and from yourselves. But we have our standard shipping times during normal business hours. That's kind of when trucks want to come. I can't say that a truck won't show up late or arrive early or whatever. Even if we told them not to, it would be a real challenge for us to tell every truck driver exactly what to do. But what I can say is that this site is designed for trucks. Before we were there, Rapid Transit was there. That is a dispatch and logistics company that was managing a lot of drop trailers, a lot of trucks, and it was all done, confined on the property. So there are multiple entrances, there's multiple staging holding areas where trucks can be to be out of the public's way. And we will do everything that we can in terms of our logistics to minimize any intrusion on the community. So that means like us trying to schedule dock times and those sorts of things during the day, during the weekdays to make that happen.

Other questions, I think that and then. Fire safety has been touched on by Jamie, but if you want to.

Yeah. Okay. So, um, fire safety, we, we actually, as of today, chief Harris came back twice to the facility and we have, um, the, he has signed off on the sprinkler system and the fire pump. So the building is fully sprinklered and we will continue to do studies with Magnum on it to figure out exactly what adjustments can be made for particular storage systems or whatnot. But at this point, Chief Harris has signed off on the building in terms of fire safety. Thank you. Thank you.

Other questions or concerns? Then at this time I'll open the floor for public comments on this item only and ask you to please state your name and address for the record and each speaker is asked to limit comments to five minutes. Are there members of the audience who'd like to speak to this? I will acknowledge that council members received an email from a member of the community expressing concern. Is Ms. Pass in the room? So we received that, but she's not here to speak to it. I'm curious, I mean you referenced that there are several people in the room. If you are here from the community or in support of this project, if you just raise your hand just to let us know. Okay, thank you. And is anybody here not in support of it? Okay, thank you. Well, if there is no one to speak to this in public comments, then I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

So moved.

All in favor? Aye. And at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve or deny the rezoning request from Council.

For a motion, is there any staff member here who might be able to talk a little more about some of the truck noise and idling? So I think the comments about normal delivery hours, I mean, I handle those in my day job. It's unlikely to have a lot of truck traffic, but I was just wondering where our current UDO ordinance, noise ordinance around truck idling is. Just thinking about, there's a facility, there's just a few dozen feet between loading docks and residences where folks may be trying to sleep, but.

The noise ordinance,

Okay, yeah, as you know, we got a lot of good businesses in the city. We have a long history of working together with businesses around. It's encouraging to me for a project like this that the. It's a facility that's designed for trucking from the start. We would also recognize that it sits immediately beside the railroad track, which already has significant industrial noise associated with that process already. We get really very few complaints about trucks. Sometimes it's driving down the road. That's a low-speed area with two congested intersections, so we take that out. The other one is refrigerators running overnight. This is not refrigerated material, so we really have no concern about that either. Idling time is another component of that, but. It's expensive, especially with gas prices what they are today. So we kind of take that out. Police department's very adept at working through these issues. So, I think that. Certainly, if anybody from the community had had concerns. Great.

Thank you.

Other questions or concerns? I have a question. How many jobs will be created? You know, right off.

Yes, sir. So about three months ago, we had 30 people employed at the facility. For the past three months, there have been roughly 50 people working there, including our staff, which we've had to reduce substantially just for this time, and contractors. And we're looking at our process in terms of equipment in phases. Initially, we expect to have 30 jobs, but we hope this facility to have up to 100.

jobs and we we see within like a year or two that being able to happen yeah one one quick question here is it you know I don't understand a lot about the brownfields but that appears to be an ongoing thing you continue to work on it and work on it did you ever get released or you get to some point that you

You don't necessarily get released, but you get to a point where there's an understanding of what's there. So we hope to get to the place where they acknowledge, first off, acknowledge the fact that the contamination that has been there for a very long time was not caused by us. That is actually the major step. And at that point, there's a negotiation about what sorts of things they will want us to do for indoor air quality. And I'm not sure how this will play out because it will either be some sort of vapor remediation system in the building, or it will be long enough testing for a long enough period of time that the EPA is confident that there is no longer a problem, right? So we don't know which one comes first like us. installing a vapor mitigation system or the EPA saying, okay, you've tested this for 10 years, it's fine.

One last question. I'm assuming that under the Brownfield program, if it was not deemed safe, but what you were planning to do would make it safe,

you couldn't be you couldn't use it could you correct and the they have deemed it safe based on all the um all the information that they have so the epa and ncdeq are aware of us occupying this site while we move through the brownsfield process and are fine with that okay one again i apologize but virtually everything you have there is self-contained it's enclosed right yes sir okay that's all the questions

Thank you. Thank you. If there are no other questions, did we move to close the public hearing? We did. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Lost track. Then at this time, I'll entertain a motion to approve or deny the rezoning request.

Mayor, I'll make a motion. I make a motion to approve the request to rezone 18 properties from the heavy industrial zoning district to the conditional industrial zoning district. The tract is 8.5 acres in size and is bounded by Durham Street, Hamilton Street, Elmira Street, Park Avenue, Robertson Street, and Adams Street. and consists of elementary tax identification numbers 126261, 126267, 126269, 126270, 126276, one two six three hundred one two six three zero two one two six three zero five one two six three two two one two six three two four while the request is inconsistent with the future land use map in section four land use of the comprehensive plan in that it calls for this area to be traditional residential and business park light industrial. A portion of the property is compatible with the land use plan. The property will be maintained and will operate as a single parcel with shared parking access and overall site features. The rezoning supports a variety of uses and offers economic development opportunities and revitalization efforts to the area. It transforms an obsolescent manufacturing space into adaptive reuse. It promotes development to occur subject to the conditions set forth in the ordinance. However, it must be context sensitive to the established residential neighborhood. This action is reasonable and in the public interest and that the comprehensive plan calls for the industrial uses in the area. Any future development will be required to comply with the city's unified development ordinance and other local, state, and federal requirements.

Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. The rezoning request passes. Item three, a public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider rezoning one parcel of land from the medium density residential zoning district to the office and institutional limited use zoning district. I'm just gonna pause. Thank you all for coming. Thank you. Okay, I'm gonna go back and do that again. Okay, item three. A public hearing has been scheduled for city council to consider rezoning one parcel of land from the medium density residential zoning district to the office and institutional limited use zoning district addressed as 104 Shannon Drive and identified as Alamance County tax ID number 120731. At this time, I recognize Executive Director of Planning and Development Services, Jamie Lawson.

Good evening again. So the last public hearing of the night includes a limited use rezoning request. The property is located highlighted in teal off of Shannon Drive. It is adjacent to the low family funeral and crematorium. It is owned by them as well. The current zoning of the property is medium density residential and the request by the applicant is to change the zoning to office and institutional with a limited use. These are the four uses that the applicant has requested basically to rezone the property to be consistent with the existing operation. As I understand it, there is no change to the building or expansion proposed, but the building is no longer used for residential purposes and they would like to use it for business operations. This is consistent with the future land use designation for the area, which calls to be neighborhood business. Planning and Zoning Commission recommended this unanimously, and staff also recommends it. The O&I Zoning District, just as a point, is often referred to as a A buffer between general business zoning districts and residential districts. So if you look at the zoning map there, that is part of the reason of the request. The same property owner owns properties across the street as well, where it is. Oh, and I. And also, so I believe the applicant is in the room in case you have. Questions for them, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have for me.

Questions from council property owner owns the next lot down the street. Correct? The. medium density residential yes no i don't no i don't believe so okay all right just want to clarify okay you do own it i'm one of the staff okay that's what i thought other questions and would the owner like to address that

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I appreciate your time tonight. My name is David Beal, and I'm with Lau Funeral Home and Crematory, 2205 South Church Street in Burlington. Lau Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc. has acquired the Lau family home at 104 Shannon Drive. adjacent to and directly behind our operations, and we would like to use this space for selection rooms and for arrangement offices. The property is currently medium density residential. We're requesting it to be office institutional limited use. As Director Lawson has mentioned, O&I has traditionally, as long as I can remember, been used as a buffer between residential and commercial zones. and the limited use designation of this would be significantly less of an impact than a full O&I zoning. The types of uses we have requested, the live work dwelling, the single family detached dwelling, funeral related services, and office professional, we wanted to limit those, and of those proposed uses, the only one that we're really needing right now is funeral related services. The other three that we have proposed are just forward thinking options that we can use in the future as our needs may change. We're not planning to add any new commercial structures to the property. We're not planning to do building modifications other than ADA compliance measures, such as an accessible ramp, which we plan to put at the rear of the house. There's no anticipated increase in traffic in this change. Visitors to the property will be existing customers of Lau Funeral Home and Crematory. Parking will be in existing Lau spaces, Lau lots. We don't see a need to increase the existing house driveway to commercial standards, nor do we see a need to remove the driveway. Our goal is to maintain the residential character of the house from the street view. The property does currently border medium density residential to the north, office institutional to the east, general business to the south, general business to the west. As it is currently zoned MDR, it is inconsistent with the future land use plan. um it does call for neighborhood business in this area approving this rezoning request will bring the property into conformance with the comprehensive plan we've spoken with several property owners along shannon drive we're not aware of any opposition lao funeral home crematory has been part of this neighborhood along shannon drive since 1955 and we respectfully request your approval of this rezoning request so we can continue to be that good neighbor And we thank you for your consideration. Our President Eric Rudd and I are here to answer any questions you or anyone else may have about this request.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions from Council? Thank you. So this time I'll open the floor for public comments on this item and ask you to please state your name and address for the record. Each speaker is limited to five minutes.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, Council. My name's Andy Shue. I live at 110 Shannon Drive with my wife. We have lived there nine years. 13 years, we lived at 104 Shannon Drive. 10 years, I lived upstairs at Lyle Funeral Home. I had my residence there. I have been an employee of Lyle Funeral Home since 1979. 98, I went full time. 2023, I went part-time again. My wife and I have no reason to have any complaints what they're doing. I've talked to the neighbor beside of me. I've talked to the neighbor in front of me. They have no issues and they're great neighbors and I don't have a problem, my wife and I either one. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Any other public comments? If there are no other comments, at this time I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing.

Motion approved.

And second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. And at this time we'll entertain a motion to approve or deny the resending request.

Mayoral motion to approve is consistent with the land use plan. I make a motion to approve the request to rezone the property from the medium density residential MDR zoning district to the office and institutional limited use OILU zoning district. The property is 0.27 acres in size and is located on the west side of Shannon Drive, just north of the intersection of South Church Street and Shannon Drive. It is addressed as 104 Shannon Drive and consists of Alamance County Tax Identification Number 120731. The motion is based upon the consistency of the proposed rezoning with the Comprehensive Plan in that the Future Land Use Map and Section 4 Land Use of the Comprehensive Plan calls for this area to be neighborhood commercial. The Office and Institutional Zoning District provides a buffer between the adjacent residential uses and the General Business Zoning District The proposed use serves to complement the existing funeral related service use. This action is reasonable and in the public interest in that the comprehensive plan calls for commercial uses in this area and future land uses and development must be context sensitive to the adjoining residential development.

Thank you for that motion. Do we have a second?

Second.

All in favor? Aye. The motion for resuming passes. Thank you. And that is the end of our public hearings for this evening. At this time we would typically have public comments but no one has signed up for public comments so we will just continue to City Council comments. City Council, do you have any comments that you would like to make to our community this evening? I will say that yesterday, I think that was yesterday, yes, yesterday I had the privilege of visiting Burlington Animal Services and was very impressed with what I saw and there were lots of very cute puppies and dogs and cats and kittens. So if anyone needs a pet they should make a trip over to Burlington Animal Services but also a need for for vet techs so if you know somebody who's looking for a vet tech job that would be a good place for them to go and have a conversation so I'm just very impressed with what I saw and I did leave without taking home another dog and so my family appreciated that I'm certain Also, a few other things to share with you. Our Fourth Fridays kicks off this coming Friday, May 22nd at 5.30 in downtown Burlington. And on Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day, so city offices will be closed. Our next Burlington City Works session will be held on Monday, June 1st at 5 p.m. And the next council meeting will be on June 2nd at 7 p.m. Also, the city is excited to announce that our Fire Chief Matt Lawrence has been selected by the North Carolina Fire Chiefs Association as Career Fire Chief of the Year for 2026. Chief Lawrence was presented with this award last Friday evening at the North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs Annual Awards Banquet in Concord. So congratulations to Chief Lawrence. Absolutely. Thank you for all that you do. I'm very proud to be mayor of Burlington at this time. So thank you. Thank you all for the service and the work that you do in the city. I have no other announcements.

Mayor, I guess, go ahead, G. I was going to say motion to adjourn. I was going to just say briefly, just for the record, last week I was nominated by the Democratic Party to serve as the candidate for House District 63. So I will appear on the ballot for House District 63 in this November's election. by our rules i will continue to serve as a council member on this council unless i become elected that point at which point i would have to resign my position with our council so just wanted to share that information thank you thank you for sharing that um and good luck i don't know if i need to say anything else but good luck um and at this time i will move to new jersey thank you second all in favor aye