Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the June 17th meeting of the Chapel Hilltown Council. We are very glad to have you join us. As a note to the clerk, Councilmember Miller-Foushee will not be joining us tonight. Councilmembers, before I continue, we have a suggestion or a question to consider regarding tonight's meeting agenda, which currently includes three discussion items and a closed session. Last night, the Planning Commission discussed the LUMO item, which includes 50 slides. And it took them between three and four hours. So based on a conversation with the manager, We'd like you to consider a couple of options for managing our agenda. The first option would be to go into closed session immediately following the complete community item, which would allow the related staff for closed session and consultants who are on hand for that meeting to go home at a reasonable hour. We can then come back into council chamber to start the LUMO topic and potentially complete it on Monday. The second option would be to go into closed session immediately following the complete community item and then hold off on the entire LUMO discussion and start fresh on Monday. Thoughts? Council member Ryan. So Taz is a superman.

It was an amazing meeting last night. If you guys have a chance to look at the video, it was super informative. It took a really, really, really long time. And it's very complicated and interrelated. So my preference would be to just put it on Monday.

Mayor Patel.

Thank you. I received the request after the time that I go dark in preparation for this meeting. So when I saw it, please understand, I, that's irregardless, so didn't have to say that. I would like for us, we have our staff who are prepared to present to us this evening. and I would like for us to start that. If we need to stop at a certain point, so be it, but I would like to hear from our staff what they have prepared for us. Now, I'm open to hearing others, but I would like to open the discussion.

Council Member Rivers, you look like maybe you have a thought.

Yeah, I would, like, if we did it on Monday, we would meet normal time, six o'clock, and Or have we worked out the details on that?

That's up to us and the staff.

You would notice a special meeting and choose the time?

Yeah.

Unless we continue to a date and time certain. Thank you, manager.

Oh, uh-huh.

My preference would be to move it to Monday.

Okay.

Council member Sharpe is there a world in which we can see how we get through the rest of the stuff and then Or do we have to decide this right now?

We certainly can it means that then that staff is sure sitting here and then sure maybe doesn't need to be here, but That is not it's something that certainly has happened before I I think I would maybe frame the question a little bit that I don't think we're going to get through all of it tonight. So the question is, I think, would you like to divide it in two, or would you like to tackle it all at one time? I don't necessarily see a world in which we're getting through the number of agenda items that we have. And then even if we divide it in half of what the Planning Commission did, you're still going, I think, a little bit unreasonably long. Mayor Pertan?

Mayor, how long did the meeting go last night? Four hours? OK. Given that, once again, I would like for us to start tonight, because we are then considering going as long as, if we'd like to be as thorough as the Planning Commission, four hours. So could we consider getting started and then picking up? Also, I did see a message from Council Member Foushee. Is she able to join on Monday? Did she say that?

I haven't heard from her.

OK. Sorry sorry That would be my recommendation for us to at least get started we can agree on a time for cutoff But why set us up ourselves up for? that length of a meeting And replicate what happened with the Planning Commission I

Council Member McMahon?

Yeah, I anticipated a Wednesday potentially being on the calendar, but not a Monday. So I had a Father's Day trip planned, and I really would not like to cancel that for Monday. So if you all want to meet on Monday, that's fine by me. But I am not going to be able to make it.

Taz, how's Wednesday for you?

Yeah, any time next week is fine for me. I don't technically serve at the pleasure, but whatever you guys need.

Let's not be unreasonable. So that would be the 24th. Mr. Voorhees, any input on the Wednesday versus Monday?

My general preference for the whole thing is to, you know, try to get started and just see kind of where we land. And then if you want to continue to an agreed upon time to the best of your ability, that would be great. Wednesday is not particularly good for me. Monday and Tuesday would be preferable.

Council Member Sharp? I just realized I am not able to attend on Wednesday, but... Given that, I'm thinking we should probably at least start tonight and see, since next week it sounds like there are various nights when various people can't.

Well, as predicted, yes.

Although, I echo, if you all want to do it on Wednesday, that's okay.

You would not be devastated. When is the puppy available? She said she can't do Wednesday.

I just want to say I'd prefer to get started tonight I if we're lucky and we're efficient, then we don't ramble too much. Maybe we'll make more progress than we hope than we think

I would certainly encourage us to be as succinct as possible. I think I'm hearing a preference to start tonight. And can you all be thinking about, in case of needing, because I would also like us to decide on a time that we're going to cut it. So would you all like to cut off at 9.30 or 10?

9.30.

Going once, going twice.

Council Member McMahon. I participated in the Planning Commission meeting for four hours last night. I can do four hours again, so I'm willing to stay until 10.

I think. Okay. So are you okay with 10? Sure. Okay. Let's go ahead and say we're going to cut it off at 10. Please.

I don't know if I'm trying to do it. We're not going to move it to next week. We're going to split it in half. I don't think discussion benefits splitting it in half because I think it's going to make the discussion worse. No. I would have preferred for us just to do it all next week. I also don't think we're going to get... better deliberation the later we go. I think people just hit a wall physically around 9 o'clock.

I'd also point out, we're not really deliberating it tonight. It's really an informational presentation. We're going to deliberate it in the fall. So I think that lends itself to the possibility that we could actually move it a pretty fair clip. People can rewatch the planning commission hearing. But I think it's really more of a sort of informational presentation that we don't think we're going to get trapped where we have to make a decision tonight and we get stuck until 1130.

I would prefer we stop at 9.30. I don't want to be a masochist about trying to get as much done as possible.

I'm in favor of 10. Council member Ryan?

Yeah, I just, so I, like Wes was in the meeting last night, and it's just, it's a lot. It's a fire hose of information. I was, by about 9 o'clock, I was wiped out and just sitting at my Zoom in my house. And by 10 o'clock, it was, it's a lot. It's a lot of information. It's all interrelated in very complicated ways. And I would say the Planning Commission didn't spend a lot of time getting back and forth. Most of it was the informational presentation with some questions and follow-up, but they kept up a pretty decent, brisk schedule, I thought, but it just was a lot.

Mayor Pro Temp?

We have all prepared for tonight's meeting. We have spent 10 minutes, not full 10 minutes on this because we got started late. I think we can proceed and get started. I think we can manage 10 o'clock to close. So I would be in favor of getting it done because we all agreed that this was on our agenda and that we would address it. I think we should honor that.

All right, I am hearing that the majority would like to discuss it tonight. I am going to suggest that we cut it off at 930, since we have many other agenda items. And I think there's no reason to burn ourselves out on one item. But I'm going to urge us all to also be brief as we can, while also, of course, giving it the attention and seriousness that it deserves. Having worked all that out, I have one other thing to note for our audience, which is that we will also be making appointments to three of our boards. And I will read those names at the end of the meeting. And I will also submit my ballot shortly, as usual. Mayor, I have a clarifying question. So are we still moving up the closed session? I believe so, unless I hear otherwise. I think that's a good idea to let folks who want to go home go home. Does anybody have any concerns about breaking for a closed session after the complete community item?

Great.

OK.

So just remind me, because I will forget, that we are going to take a break after the complete community item. OK. Moving on. To get us started this evening, we have one proclamation for Parks and Recreation Month. Council Member Sharpe is on board to make that announcement. And we'd like to invite Director Atuya Cornwell and members of the Parks and Recreation staff up front for that announcement.

Good evening, everyone. In the town of Chapel Hill, we value our parks and natural recreation areas, which provide space for children and adults to enjoy the environment and live an active lifestyle. We know that our parks and recreation programs, camps, classes, and events bring our community together. For this and many other reasons, we are excited to proclaim the month of July, as Park and Recreation Month and to highlight the national theme, the power of park and recreation. We encourage our residents to visit parks and recreation facilities in Chapel Hill and participate in recreation programs this summer and throughout the year. And we thank our parks and recreation staff for their dedicated service and wish them an enjoyable Park and Recreation Professionals Day, which takes place on July 17th.

Do you want the full council? Thank you all again. And Atuya, please extend all of our thanks to the entire team and all the amazing things you do for kids and adults and everybody across Chapel Hill. We really appreciate you all. And you do an amazing job. Thank you. OK. That brings us to announcements. I have a couple of quick things from the town calendar to share. Tomorrow, is that possible? No. Is it Friday? Yeah, I'm like, it's not Thursday. On Friday, Chapel Hill will be celebrating Juneteenth. All members of the community are invited to join in the festivities at the Hargrave Center from 4 to 8 PM. There'll be live performances, an art market, food, music, dancing, and more, also to allow our staff to celebrate and honor the day juneteenth is a town holiday which will affect many town operations and facilities so please check the town website for more on that looking a couple of weeks out the town will be celebrating the fourth of july in a different way this year with a drone show over chapel hill high school for more details on Some people are excited, or I don't know, just excited. For more details on those events and other town events and meetings, please make sure you're signed up for Our Town, our weekly e-newsletter, or visit the calendar page on the town website. Council members, does anyone else have something to share? OK. Next step, we invite members of the public to comment on items not listed on the printed agenda. Take it away.

This is on the agenda, is it not? No?

Nope. That's on consent, so that's where it needs to be.

I believe so. Great. OK. Our first speaker, and only speaker for this portion, Joe Patterson. Thank you.

Thank you. I trust you can hear this. I'm Joe Patterson. I'm representing the interests of the... It says green. Better? Give me a restart. I'm Joe Patterson. I'm speaking on behalf of the interests of the people, the residents of Cobb Terrace and North Street. I'm speaking concerning item 11 on your agenda, the exit from the deck onto North Street. I trust all of you received the information we sent you and hope you had a chance to receive it. And if you did, you know what I'm here to talk about. And so I'll just cut to the chase and go right to the heart of the matter. We made an agreement with the town four and a half years ago in which we agreed to withdraw our objections to that exit in return for the town designing an exit which prevented traffic going through our neighborhood. It prevented traffic turning right out of that exit into our neighborhood or turning left from our neighborhood into that deck. And this basically inoculated us from any traffic. And so we were happy to allow that exit to proceed. That agreement was written down. It was copied to the mayor. It was copied to the town manager. It was subsequently reaffirmed in writing by Chris Blue. And we have since, and since that original date, seen nothing. We have never gotten any action from the town staff on the design of the exit that we agreed would be constructed. We have asked repeatedly for a plan. We have asked for construction. We've gotten nothing. In the last year, we contacted Mr. Voorhees, who was not around when any of this was taking place, of course, and asked him to address the issue. In the absence of a plan, we drew up our own, which is consistent with all the other bollard installations around town. It's very inexpensive, requires seven bollards, and can be done without any impact on anyone else, except the only person benefiting is us, and no one is being harmed at all. What we can't understand is why is there ongoing resistance to this. What we want this town council to do, please, is to instruct staff to honor the agreement that we signed, or that we agreed, the terms of the agreement that we made. If we as residents cannot count on a good faith agreement made with the town, and the town actually keeping up its end of the bargain, we're all in real trouble. And that's basically pretty much everything I have to say. I hope you will take the steps that are necessary to make that happen. And I'd be happy to discuss this with anybody at any other time when I realize you've got other things to get along with. But thank you for your time. Any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Patterson. While we no longer have a formal petition process, sharing your concerns and ideas with your local government is a valued First Amendment right and something we continue to welcome and support. Council does not take immediate action on these requests, but they are carefully reviewed by the town manager and staff, who will review the matter and respond to us and to you. Thank you. OK, council, that brings us to our consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve consent?

So moved. Second.

Moved by Council Member Ryan, seconded by Council Member McCullough. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. Motion is unanimous, 8-0. Next up is item number 14 on campaign contribution limitations. And our town clerk, Brittany Hunt, is here to walk us through it.

Now I'm the town clerk. Good evening, mayor and council. I'm your town clerk, Brittany Hunt, and tonight I will discuss the campaign contribution limits. Staff is asking council to provide direction on how the campaign contribution limit should be calculated in future even number years. Options include keeping the current formula, consumer price index, and number of registered voters, using CPI only, or exploring a different option the council may want to consider. We're not seeking adoption tonight, just directions so we can prepare the ordinance amendment accordingly for a fall consent agenda item. This ensures the updated limit is in place before the next election. Some background and context is that every even number year, the clerk's office gathers the data needed to calculate the campaign contribution limit as required by ordinance. The item was pulled from the April 15th consent agenda to discuss whether the formula should rely solely on consumer price index rather than a combined CPI and voter count calculation. Tonight's discussion will help staff determine how to proceed for the 2027 election cycle and going forward. Some legislative context is that Chapel Hill received special legislative authority in 1999 to set its own campaign contribution limits and adopt stricter caps than the state. The intent was to create a more level playing field and reduce the influence of large donors. The limits were intended to maintain fairness, transparency, and be responsive to changing economic and population conditions. In 2010, the Town Council adopted an ordinance requiring limits to be updated every even-numbered year using two factors, CPI beginning in 2009 and growth or decline in registered voters. In 2016, staff realized that the CPI had been added to the formula every year since 2009, which resulted in higher-than-intended adjustments. In 2017, council clarified that CPI must be calculated on a two-year basis, measuring inflation since the previous even-numbered year, not since 2009. The voter base adjustment and rounding rules remain unchanged. This slide shows the statewide standard used almost everywhere else and how it is applied in recent years. Across North Carolina, the vast majority of municipalities, including those in the Triangle, use the statewide campaign contribution limit established and administered by the NC State Board of Elections. For 2026, CPI rose 6% since January 2024, but registered voters were around 35,000. The decrease in limit is driven by the voter adjustment, not by CPI. If Council directs CPI only, we take the last adopted amounts and apply the 6% CPI increase since January 2024, given $390 contribution limit and $40 disclosure limit for 2026. To recap, Council can keep the current two-factor formula, move to CPI only, or direct staff to explore a new formula entirely. Following tonight's discussion, staff will prepare the ordinance amendment that reflects council's direction. That amendment will return on September 9th as a consent agenda item unless council prefers otherwise. This timeline ensures the updated limit is in place ahead of the next election cycle. And that's all.

Thank you. Thank you for the clear presentation and the options. Council, any clarifying questions?

Any members of the public wishing to speak don't have any okay council comments I Love that we have contribution limits I would love to continue doing that and I think going to the CPI only makes sense I was really surprised when all of a sudden we could spend less money than two years earlier, which didn't seem to make sense to me Council member color I'm wondering how low we can go

I would love to be able to set something like $100, no more. What's the possibilities?

We can set our own formulas, however. You have to have a formula?

We have special legislation that allows us to determine our own limit. We could set a firm limit, but in light of changes, prior councils chose the formula. But the legislation has wide granting authority. You can go where you want to.

I think the barrier to enter should be as low as possible. Council Member Sharp.

I also really appreciate that we have contribution limits, and I take a little pride in how different they are from the state limits, and also just given how insane campaigns have gotten nationwide at all different levels of government, particularly in the last year, I think I'm proud of us for this. But I think it makes sense to keep something that can flex, given how much things continue to cost more and more. And so I like the idea of just sticking with just the straight up CPI adjustment by annual adjustment. Council Member Nollar.

Jim, do we have authority to restrict individuals from making unlimited donations to their own campaign? Because in state law, you can give yourself an unlimited amount of money. Can we restrict that locally?

Our ordinance doesn't address that. So the interpretation has been that you can fund your own campaign. OK.

So then I would be against the $100 limit, because it would mean if I have tons of money, I can spend $20,000 on my campaign. And if I have no money, I can only collect $100 from an individual donor.

And I'd support the CPI adjustment.

Council, oh, Mayor Pro Tem.

I'd like to chime in that I also support simplifying and therefore the CPI adjustment. I share Councilmember Nollert's concern about the advantage that someone who is extremely wealthy would have running for office if we were to set that limit so low. And that was something that was addressed during my first campaign when I was asked to put even further restrictions on who I would accept donations from. So all that to say that I support the CPI. Thank you.

It's funny. I was waiting for a motion, but I'm like, we're just discussing this. So I, too, support the CPI-only option. Thank you. I'll move. Are we doing motion?

We don't need motion. I'll put it on the consent agenda. Next time.

No, it's just giving direction uniformly, and they will bring back the ordinance. So I think I also support the CPI and taking out the population, which I am hearing a pretty solid majority for. So... That's where we are.

Okay. I'll bring it back in September. Thank you. Thank you.

One down. Item number 15 is update on complete community implementation. And we all know this guy. Our manager, Ted Voorhees.

Please don't hold it against me. Good evening, Mayor and Council. We'll try to do this as quickly as possible. There are sort of three points we're trying to get at here because we've talked quite a bit about complete community over the years. We just want to talk about how we define this, how we center this in our work, and then how we report back to Council on our progress. So what do we talk about when we talk about complete community? How can we tell what we've accomplished and what we're working on? And how are we going to measure this? What do we talk about? Essentially, you've defined this. You've adopted some language. But it boils down to planning for the future strategically. One key element is expanding and delivering new green ways for everyday life. We've talked a lot about that. We've got a study ongoing, and we've got some quick wins planned to begin the summer. We want to be green. We've talked about how we have our natural areas model, and then plan for excellence in the public realm everywhere, a commitment to our public. So we're going to focus growth in these areas. Greenway-focused development will maximize walkability and minimize cars. Our transit corridors will also create density and better use of transit. And as we focus on the north-south BRT, that higher order transit will be better utilized. With large infill sites, we'll work to better use our land and remediate some past practices where we haven't instituted the proper density. And for small infill sites, we'll reduce barriers so that we can increase housing diversity and inclusivity. So ultimately, our community will be a place where people can live in a variety of housing types, easily get around without a car, enjoy parks and natural spaces, access vibrant commercial areas, and live, work, and play in thriving neighborhoods. So what have we accomplished, and what are we working on? Clearly on the agenda tonight, we have planning system improvements. We've talked about how we've reduced barriers and speeded up the process for permit approvals. Our stormwater regulations, we just had a great session with our public yesterday, but you've also adopted the 100-year design standard. multiple Lumo amendments have already been approved and we're beginning to get into the big update we have a raise grant in hand and we're working on that with our consultant to do our everywhere to everywhere study as I mentioned the natural features model is currently in use and being used by staff as they review plans that come in and then we have numerous bike ped improvements some of which are being put in place this summer and some of which are under design And there's a lot more underway. You've got the LUMO on your agenda to get done before the end of the year. I mentioned the study. Our north-south rapid construction project's underway. I just signed today the agreement with the university and the health system for acquisition to their property to build the project. We have 90% design plans in hand. We have an economic development corridor study with the US EDA that we've applied for, or we're applying for in July. Our climate action plan, you received a presentation on that within the last 30 days or so. And we're doing the update over the next few months. And then our next big planning project is our comp plan update following LUMO adoption. But we can't do it alone, so we'll continue to work with our partners, the university, the schools, the county, our neighboring town of Carrboro, our development partners, and our affordable housing partners. How are we measuring progress and reporting to council? You don't want to just hear my words. You want to know that all town departments use this framework as their playbook to achieve your strategic priorities. So we've got them working on their business plans right now. And in those business plans, we're asking for them to specifically link their work to your strategic priorities. This is how it looks on an arrow chart. And from those projects, programs, and services, we'll get indicators like miles of greenways, multimodal use projects planned, built, or improved, number of affordable housing projects planned, approved, built, and number of grants applied for. These are just a few examples, but each of the departments have been asked to give us specific performance metrics that will come out of their business plans that are useful and meaningful, and we will be reporting those back to you. Once we complete the LUMO adoption, our next major policy process will be an update to the comprehensive plan, as I mentioned. And one of the very first steps in that process will be to center the complete community framework that you've already adopted into the comp plan as council's principal visioning policy document. And then the comp plan will reflect that framework in both policy elements and in mapping on the ground. So that's my presentation to you to show you how we're linking your plans and linking complete community as a framework into all the work we do with a planned reporting framework to you. Happy to answer any questions, but we'll be seeing more of this as we move down through the rest of the year. And in the interest of time, I've tried to speed this up. Any questions?

Council Member Rivers?

Yeah, thanks for the presentation, Ted. When you develop those metrics, you'll share those with us, right, as they come online?

We will.

Okay.

Councilmember Ryan yeah, thank you for this I'm a huge supporter of complete community was here when we passed it have run on it the compute the Community really supported it. I think it's a very important thing for the town of Chapel Hill One of the things when the consultant was talking to is she said the first principle of complete community is first decide what you're protecting Can you talk a little bit about how that has happened or how it can happen in the future? I?

Well, I'm not sure I'm the person to speak to this in depth. The council has adopted that framework as policy. The way the protection happens is in, typically, if you're talking about new development, that comes in through the planning department applications where they're using the natural areas model to assess where we have vulnerabilities, where we have resource protection areas. And then they're reviewing plans with a mind towards making sure that those are protected to the maximum extent, practical. Then we have our 100-year storm design, which our stormwater team is using to review the stormwater regulations of the stormwater facilities and practices on those plans. I think there's also conversations being had in review with developers as to appropriateness of a plan. So if someone brings something in that's a lower density, then we might want to see on a transit corridor. That would be a time for staff to have a conversation with them. Have you thought about something different? So that type of work goes on with our staff on a regular basis. Are there other parts of protection that you'd like to have more information on?

I mean, it can be anything. I know we have, there are wetlands in town, for instance, that aren't currently protected. And I know that we can actually get money from the state for putting those into conservation. There's a lot of areas that the natural features map shows. And I know you've done a lot of work with the Triangle Connectivity Collaborative, especially in that kind of northeastern part of town. There's a lot of areas in there that are that really need protection I know Taz addressed last night some of that is a it's a question of being able to go out and actually make sure that you've got all of that data that you need but I know that we have some areas in town like that that are important There was, we did a stormwater LUMO study that identified, that suggested in our ordinance that we protect wetlands, not just RCDs, that we put buffers around wetlands. I don't know how many of those actually exist in town, but that could be another thing. And it can extend to cultural resources. It could extend to neighborhood protections for important historical neighborhoods. protection can be written broadly. It's not simply environmental protection. I don't want that to get lost. That was an important early principle of what complete community was about. And then you protect those things, and then you say, okay, in exchange for doing that, we're going to allow that other density in the other places. So instead of smearing things everywhere, we're saving some things and we're allowing more growth in other places. I think that's the balance that we're trying to achieve for that.

Thank you Councilmember and I think as we get into the comp plan making sure that those policy elements are explicitly stated in our updated comp plan would be very appropriate and we can also ask our stormwater team to provide some updated information on what extent they've explored proactive protections for any of the wetland areas. An example of another thing we've done is, just since I've been here, is we've strengthened our regulatory protections for watershed areas. That's happened since.

One more quick one so Part of what the consultant recommended was to do pilot projects to show to kind of demonstrate to the community what complete community was and I know there are fiscal constraints and all kinds of things but Is do you have any of those on the horizon? I know lot two was kind of identified as a possible way to show Kind of that walkability gathering space public space aspect of the of the complete community plan. I

Yeah, lot two is definitely on our list, and David and I will probably update you a little bit in closed session about some things that we're considering. We've had some conversations about lot two.

Great. Thank you. Council Member McMahon?

Yeah. Thanks, Ted. One of the questions I have, I wish I could go back to the matrix that we did that had goals and priorities. And then, Taz, you were very good about saying that's not something the LIMO can address. And then we've got some other tools at our disposal, like you've mentioned, the stormwater plan, the natural areas map, some of these other things that are outside the LIMO. I am wondering if there's a way to have an example of, an area, and then where each of these different plans intersect at getting the complete community goals that people want to see. I'm having a hard time explaining how some of these different plans or tools that we have intersect to put together a whole picture of how we get the outcomes we want for an area. And so I'm just wondering how I can get a better example of What are the things that are done outside the LUMO to achieve the goals? What are the tools we have right now? And how do they all work together in one piece to really get at this complete community concept? So I'm just trying to figure out how we could create an image or representation of how these different things all work together.

Thank you for that thought. We'll put our heads together and see how we might be able to do some visioning, illustrating, graphics to be able to communicate better rather than just a narrative as we think about what the comp plan looks like.

I have a couple questions. I guess one is, well, first of all, thank you for this presentation, and thank you for continuing to center Complete Community in this really important way. I guess my first question is maybe a follow-up to Councilmember Ryan. How does the natural areas map actually maybe it's a question like an example or how is it being used to actually protect the environment or make a better decision or you know because I thought something Taz that you talked about at some point was it kind of has limitations in terms of playing a real regulatory role. And so I guess, and I hear that, and that's helpful. So I'm wondering, what exactly is it doing? And also, is there something that it's missing? Or is there something that would make it better to actually serve a regulatory role? Or is it, you know, I guess I'm just still not totally clear how beyond kind of knowing more that it's helping us do what it's supposed to do.

It's not a regulatory tool. It's a piece of information that staff use to help make sure that an application is responsive to something that we know about. So if we didn't have it and people submitted a plan set, that did not indicate some of the features on the site that might be there. Otherwise, staff might fail to interrogate appropriately the proposer and might miss opportunities to direct them to better outcomes. but it also is not perfect. It's a tool, and so I think it facilitates better design conversations, and then the attempt to implement that becomes part of um you know the negotiation towards what is finally put before council if that's the case or what's put on a site plan if it goes that route so it's a it's a tool it's information and we've not come up with a way where we think it could be a regulatory

form a basis for a regulatory tool it just doesn't exist as we understand it in in development law or let me let me let me Let me I misspoke myself, which is I'm not asking if it is a regulatory tool in itself, but how is it informing? Regulation, I guess

I'm not the practitioner. I can defer to the planning director if she would like to take a stab at explaining that. Or we could provide a written update with you on that. Sure.

Later.

Or we could let you pet Niko.

Well, that is also required by ordinance, but...

I was just going to say, we definitely can get you more information on it. But to the question of how it informs regulation, it is a tool that it identifies features on the site that it really just alerts us to the sensitivities of the site. But the level of specificity that it gives as to what is actually on the site is too broad. It's not detailed enough for it to be regulatory. And it shouldn't be a hard fast if this portion of the map is a certain color, nothing should happen here, because there's too much nuance to how we do development. There's too much nuance to the size and the other restrictions that might apply to that particular site. And it's particularly in Chapel Hill, more so than other municipalities that could have a similar tool. We continue to explore how we can make it more practical and improve the data and try to find ways to make it more applicable as we do those reviews, but it is something that staff uses regularly for that first stab, is that these are the things that we need to be sensitive of. These are the regulations that might need to apply because we have this happening on that site. And for that reason, it's useful, but it's not quite where you're leading that you may want to see it, as far as a regulatory tool. That's a step further than we are right now. But we can get you more information as to what staff continues to do as it evolves.

That would be great. Thank you. And also, Nico can just stay right there and peer over the desk. That would be perfect. He did. He looked like he wanted to interject something. So I guess then, and I'll wait to hear more.

I'd mention, Mayor, that what used to happen in this realm was a similar thing with steep slopes. If we didn't have maps about steep slopes, then again, you didn't know where they were and the applicant would come in and you had to take their word for it. But when we started getting better maps of steep slopes, then people reviewing plans were alerted, saying, oh, I better be on the lookout for that. Maybe I need a survey and not just... use Xeroxing a USGS map and calling it a day. So we've refined that process.

Same thing with our PAs.

In that sense, the map is somewhat regulatory, but then it can be adjusted by survey, because at that level of granularity, you could be off just a few feet, and it might make a big difference on the site, so you really do need to be more specific with survey. But then we have processes, too, grant waivers in that area when it makes sense for the quality of the development. So it's a mix.

And so it is helping us to enforce regulations is what I'm hearing. It is. Like we have a steep slope. We have rules around steep slopes. Right. And so it is helping us to make sure that we enforce them or they don't get through the cracks. So in some ways, I mean, I'm not trying to sell it, but I mean, it does sound like it's actually helping us to... be more accurate or to make sure that we're paying attention to things that do have regulation behind them.

Correct.

OK, thank you. I guess one other thing I wanted to ask about, which we talked about it a little bit yesterday, but is this definition of how do we come to agreement on what the definition is? I think some of us, most of us not, Oh, old. Most of us at the dais did not go through the complete community process with the consultant, but I think most of us actually ran on it and have affirmed support more recently. But I guess I'm wondering, like when I look at the website, I don't see something that I guess resonates for me or there are things there that I'm not sure are totally what I would say it is or what the important pieces are. And so I feel like there are times where I'm just not even sure that we're agreeing or that we have a general idea of what the definition is.

And that's why I think this first step in our comp plan process needs to be to pull out that adopted document and reaffirm it by the board that's sitting here now and center it Right at the beginning of the policy statement portions of the complaint.

Gotcha, okay Finally when you talk about the metrics it sounds like there's these Business plan metrics which feels to me like a more internal thing that I would also love to see them But that's not something that is our job to kind of track kind of what staff is doing on a day-to-day basis. So I'm more wondering about those bigger picture metrics that I think are not a bottom up, that they're a top down interest about how do we communicate to ourselves and to the community, which is different than a departmental metric. And so I'm wondering how we're going to, I mean, is that also a comp plan activity or when does that happen? Or does that even make sense to you?

No, that does. And we've actually talked about how our business plans are too dense and long and are not used as well as we would like them to be, and so have actually been piloting some different ways to demonstrate the metrics. And we're looking more and more at the notion of instead of having them come out of departments in their sort of departmental labels to feed the most important metrics on complete community into our open data platform as a collective set of metrics around complete community progress. So then that people won't have to look, oh, well, what did we do on this? Oh, I got to go to the public works business plan. What did we do on that? I got to go to the planning business plan. What did we do on that? I got to go to... OMG or sustainability and then I got a piece of together instead we're looking at how do we consolidate all the metrics that we think are informing progress on complete community into a sort of single portal that that lines those all up even though they may be coming out of different departments they'll they'll live in our probably our open data portal as a complete community scorecard, metric, dashboard, something along those lines.

Thanks. Anyone else? Council Member Nallert?

Yeah, I wanted to come back for a second to the natural areas map and ask if part of the value created by that resource is that coming into conversations with developers, given the reputation Excuse me. Given the reputation Chapel Hill has for scrutinizing projects, if having that tool means that they learn fairly early in a project what we've identified on their site and know about, and if it sort of then increases the likelihood that they design around those things out of fear that they might get rejected if they don't, even if it's not a sort of technically or legally regulatory tool, that just awareness that that information exists for us and will be available to us as a

Deciding board sort of influences how they think about what they want to put on land that they are designing for I Think that's a reasonable assumption Because if we if we're showing it then it's hard for them to to say they don't know about it, but I wouldn't Necessarily feel comfortable Speaking from their perspective in any more detail than that Thanks Mayor Pro Temberry

Thank you. I don't think it wouldn't be in the limo. But in the comp plan, as we talk about where affordable housing will be, will we get to the point where we talk about desires for types of affordable housing? how low, or as far as area median income, or number of units, what types of housing. Because I can think of a couple of projects where there have been competing interests. Affordable housing full stop. to affordable housing for different size households. So will we be able to see that, or is that not a reasonable request and we should get that elsewhere?

I think we should have some conversation about where that lives, because we do have an affordable housing plan that sort of lives on its own. But the comprehensive plan is where all our policies and theory would come together in a way that would help communicate better what the collective community interest is. And so is there a world in which we just refer out to a separate document? I think that's a reasonable one. But another reasonable way to do it is to pull in from that plan and update some elements of it so it lives in that unified document. And I don't think we've made that decision. So I think we should work through that.

Thank you. OK. Do we have members of the public wishing to speak? OK. Council comments? Council Member McCullough?

Yes. Thank you for putting this together. I found it really helpful and encouraging. I want to say that I do agree with a council member, Ryan, that I hope that we can figure out how to use. I understand the difficulties with the data used and the granularity of the data. used in the natural areas map. So I understand why we're not using it regulatorily per se. But I do agree that I'd like to see where we can use it proactively to do protection. One example I was thinking about was might there be RCDs that need expansion or where we should say in the upper RCD it's especially good habitat. and be able to identify those kinds of places that we might want to consider need extra protection. So I'm glad to hear that we're looking at that as a place to do additional survey and evaluation, especially with response to stormwater and the green infrastructure functions that exist in the RCDs and places like wetlands. The second thing is that one of my concerns about the complete community process in general was how are we going to institutionalize it? And I feel much better about how it's being institutionalized with your report with all the places that it's being integrated into the work and the thinking. So I'm very pleased about that. One thing I wonder if you might want to or consider Sometime some kind of a cross Department team that would meet on a regular basis for example a lot of sustainability a lot of Communities will have sustainability teams that that have memberships from across different silos. They meet on a regular basis they identify possibilities for synergies or conflicts and One thing that I found is that very often really good ideas come from the bottom up, and that might provide some opportunity. So I am very pleased at how it's being institutionalized, and thank you for that. Yeah, I think that's all for right now. Thank you.

Thank you.

Council Member Ryan? Yeah, I'd like to second what Councilmember McCauley, I almost called you Congresswoman. You got a promotion. Next election. Yeah, no, I would like to second what she said about exploring cross-departmental work as kind of the complete community leadership team. I think that could have some good potential. So complete community was really a paradigm shift for this town. It was a direction we had already been going, but it took it farther. I'm really happy to see that you're institutionalizing it. I still don't think we have fully operationalized it yet. So I know I was glad to hear you talk about metrics and talk about measuring, but I think one of the One of the ways that it will become a really valuable tool is if we think about it in terms of a 15-minute city concept or a walkability score concept and actually look at different areas of the town, divide the town into areas and say, OK, we have a list of the 12 things that make an area complete, whatever that is. And then every area gets a score. And nobody is expected to be able to do everything. But we really have a goal that we Each area does 60% or 75%, whatever that is. And then you can say, OK, when we're doing long range planning or when a new big development comes in, you can say, hey, well, you want to be in area B. Area B is great, but we've been told that this is a great place for retail. And we really want to prioritize there. We know it can be economically successful. we appreciate you coming in and wanting to build just housing, but we're not sure that's going to meet our needs, right? So it just gives us a way to sort of, or to go out and say, hey, we know this area can be successful. We know David can sell, so we send him out and say, hey, you know, we have this great opportunity so we can be proactive about things. And then as we know what those metrics are and we can see over time, You know, we're making great progress here, here, and here. This area we've got to bring up. We really we're doing pretty well here. I think that Actually having that again you you don't get what you don't measure so I think if we can do that on it in a way that will allow us to use it as a an Analysis tool and a planning tool and a proactive tool. I think that would I think that would hit at the heart of complete community for me for me. It was really We know that we have to work with the market. We don't build things. We don't pay for them. We have to be open to the market, and we have to be reasonable in what we're asking of the market. But we also don't have to take just anything that the market wants to bring to us. We can know where we're going, what we want, where we want it, and try to get it. So I would really encourage you, as you're thinking about all this, to think about that kind of operationalizing in our long-range planning.

Thank you. And again, I think the comp plan is our next best regulatory framework, if you will, visioning framework place to operationalize that framework. One could imagine a county that says, you know, the north part of our county is rural, and we want to protect farmland, and the town here is a place where we want to allow housing, and maybe we'll allow a little bit outside of it. And then this area over here is an industrial park. And I've read comprehensive plans that look like that. The level of detail, the elements of completeness that we are talking about are far more detailed and would lend themselves to a much different looking comprehensive plan. And so I think that's where that, if you come from anywhere out of, if you come to any community that has any kind of planning, The idea that there's a comprehensive plan and a zoning map, and that's how we do regulation and look at plans, that's sort of a universal way across the country. So if we can take our complete community elements and nest them into the comp plan and to our zoning ordinance, that's how I think we're going to Really operationalize that so I appreciate those comments and and we'll be taking Those thoughts to heart as we figure out what that next comp plan looks like Yeah

Council Member Ryan mentioned area planning. And I think it's one of those things where, how do we define complete community? And one of, for me, is coming back to, we're talking about people. And we talk to people that can't find a place to live here. They want to walk to a coffee shop. They're worried their home's going to flood. They're worried that our natural areas aren't being protected. And they're worried about housing density that just increases traffic. So one of the things when I think about how you define something is, well, what's the opposite? And I think it's very clear that the opposite is we do these things without connecting them together. Part of my question earlier was, how do we better capture and integrate this idea of all these things working together so that people can see that all of our efforts are combining. And I think when we talk about the LUMO, people get concerned that the LUMO is going to do everything or not do everything. And finding a way to really get to this idea that the LUMO is just one piece, primarily around freeing up our housing and figuring out how we can integrate those other pieces so that it really is creating this full picture and it can allay a lot of fears about what we're doing and reinforce the great things that we are doing to create the community that people want to see and creates opportunity and allays their fears. So that whole thing of what are all the other pieces, how do we integrate them, get them together and communicate them so that people can know that those of us up here are really working hard at this and we care about it and we want to see it happen so any way that we can keep pushing this idea that all of these things work together that we're doing these things in an area so that people can see the benefits is helpful thank you mayor pro timberry

Thank you. I want to build on that. What I'm hearing, manager and staff, is that we would like to be informed to the point where we can help explain what's happening. Visualization will be very helpful. if we could have that of how these pieces go together. And just as we will have the definition restated, and I agree if we can keep that in the forefront of what the complete community is, but also help us with the definition of what is a LUMO? And it may be there on our site, but this is what the LUMO delivers. And this is, as we continue, just helping us to understand it to the point where we can express it. Because if we can't express it, that makes us very uneasy. And if we can't express it, chances are our community is not getting it. And that makes them extremely uneasy. What I'm hearing and what I would like is for us to be equipped with information that we can also share. And I do share the desire to have that visualization, to understand what each of these pieces are, what we can and what we cannot regulate. And if we cannot regulate it, how we will go about trying to accomplish preserving, protecting. I will say, though, that I do have a concern about some preservation methods have been put into place across this country. And it has had an unfortunate consequence where it has impacted the ability of certain groups of people to be able to do things with their property because of that. So I'm going to be looking closely at that to make sure that, as much as I can because I'm not that educated, but I will be curious about, as we put restrictions, what could be the unintended consequences. But I think it would be helpful for us to have that information.

Thank you.

Well again, thank you for this presentation. I guess one area that I kind of wanted to have you helped me understand is when we talk about these more public-facing or council-facing metrics, I envision that as being something that council is engaged in or that council is working with staff on creating those. But I think what I'm hearing from you is that the current philosophy is that that is kind of like a – Amalgamation or kind of coming up from the business plans and if if you're envisioning that council doesn't really have much of a role in developing those I guess I Would like to understand that better I don't and and I'm not assuming that that's maybe what you're saying But I guess I'm trying to understand better how you see that

Sure, I'm happy to respond to that directly. I think we view it as our role to provide a taking off place for this. And then we would be more than happy to seek your input to get refinements. If they're not useful to you and this is your policy goal, then it'll be a bit of a waste of our time to track them. So let's come up with goals that we can all agree on and then hold ourselves accountable collectively for achieving those goals. So while we do view it as our role to sort of create them to start with, we'll ask you to check our work and recommend refinements or something different if it doesn't meet your interest.

That's great. Thank you.

Meanwhile, we will be tracking our own work. Yes, understood. But if we're going to do community reporting, we need to do that in a way that is meaningful to the governing body as well as the community.

That's great. And I really do like the idea of us also holding ourselves accountable, that if there are decisions that we're making that impact the success of our goals, then I think that's really important for us to also think that way. So I like that framing. I went back and looked at what we approved unanimously in 2022. And it said, the complete community strategy is designed to guide how Chapel Hill grows in a way that is inclusive, sustainable, and economically competitive. A complete community has diverse types of housing, active and transit transportation with connections, pedestrian-oriented design with cycling and walking paths, and mixed-use buildings. And then it goes on with the goals that you had. And so I think that's a great place to start. And certainly, we should think about, does that still resonate for this council? Certainly. And does staff have updated ideas of how we should be thinking about that? I certainly agree with the idea of cross-departmental leadership on piecing this all together. And I also really do support the idea of having the natural features map do as much as we can to help us actually regulate or protect things while we're also being very intentional about densifying and i think um one of the things that i really like about this way of thinking this you know like council member ryan said like the 15-minute city idea is also that we do have housing goals so i think obviously we need to know more than just affordable even though that's critically important to us we also need to know how much middle housing you know where are the gaps and how are we filling them strategically but i i think you know it's really been about a more proactive, holistic approach. And I am not sure that we've totally accomplished that yet, but I'm really excited about the progress that we're making so far. And I do think that tracking and not in a punitive way but really understanding where our gaps are will help us even in zoning to think about you know if if we have a lot of something it doesn't mean it's bad it just means it's not a gap and so how are we strategically aligning our regulations and what we are targeting and what we are requiring so that it fills in gaps and so i think that's really important but i think overall um I think council is still supportive of complete community, which is great. And I think you've gotten some really good feedback. And we'll look forward to the comp plan starting, which I'm sure staff can't even imagine doing anything different with their lives. And can you just remind us a general timeline you're thinking that starts once we approve the LUMO?

think that's that's right i mean to the extent that there's sort of pre thinking about it going on i i brittany's always leaning forward on things but we don't want to take our eye off the ball on lumo because that's uh that's a that's a big lift but so and then the zoning map comes after those

The zoning map would come after the adoption of the limo. That would be the next step. But we would start preparation for the comp plan to follow shortly after.

I see. But if we don't know what the gaps are or where the strategic areas are for certain uses, then how do we do the zoning map first?

Well, it can evolve, too. I mean, you've got to put the existing zoning on the ground once you adopt the new districts or else you'll be sort of in a gap between what we have. But clearly, if there are, I'll give an example. If you have, and I'm not going to use Chapel Hill's zoning classifications, but for this example, if you have along MLK some area that's zoned residential, and you switch in the LUMO to call it mixed use two or something. But then when you get into the comp plan, you say, you know what, that really needs to be Transit oriented development, let's I'm just making this up so we need to change the mixed-use to districts on that corridor to TOD one Then I'll be there'll be a rezoning You know a remapping so it's there. It's an iterative process and it you know it's a cart cart and horse question and if we weren't doing the Lumo and then we would be doing the comp plan uh work to get us to a future land use map that that makes those adjustments but since we are doing the lumo and we've got to translate between current zoning district classifications and new ones we we think we need to settle that first so did i capture that reasonably well all right

and so that would be if a zoning district just no longer exists is that right or they're i mean are renamed r1 will be different right you know let's say in january of 27 which is like way too late obviously but like let's say january 27 of 2027 r1 is now different but it still exists does that mean we have to update the map

Yes.

Yes. OK, got it. And sorry if these are clueless questions, but I have no idea how this works. And then we wouldn't necessarily be changing to something totally different until we did the comp plan, which would then help decide if it just wasn't right. And so it's replaced with the most similar thing until you do your comp plan. And then you can say, that's just not right.

I think that's a fair statement.

I think it's also just important to remember the cycle of these types of items in the planning process and how drawn out that cycle has become in Chapel Hill. We have the current comp plan that was adopted in 2012. The LUMO rewrite was technically authorized in 2017. It took a major detour to adopt the future land use map, which is a good and meaningful roadmap for what Again, some significant changes to the zoning map could include. I think there's a little bit of discussion about the alignment between the flume and complete community principles. But that's a discussion that could be had independent of a full on comp plan update. I would just be cautious of repeating the sins of the not so distant past of doing more analysis and then having the the analysis that's already been done just kind of wither on the vine.

Okay. Thank you. Council Member Nollert.

Taz, can you just reiterate the typical cycle and how long typically takes place or on average between each component of the cycle?

I mean it varies from who you're talking to. I think a lot of folks will talk about it in a 20-year cycle with five-year kind of active periods. So to do a comp plan update, you immediately roll into an update of the future land use map. And then you do your zoning, your ordinance update and your zoning map. That's kind of a condensed period of Activity and then you just kind of let it kind of percolate for a while But within five years or so you're taking you're taking a look right at that comp plan You're kind of restarting the cycle thinking about How fresh is that comp plan? Is it worth? Have existing conditions or have conditions out in the world changed so much that even that five-year-old document needs to be re-interrogated? Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it is still good for another five years. But you're constantly kind of in that cycle with a very clear vision for the next five years ahead, goals for the 15 to 20 year horizon. And it's always kind of marching forward. And I think it's that constant march forward that, since the adoption of the Chapel 2020 plan in 2012, it's that constant march forward that has kind of gotten out of sync

That's helpful. Thank you.

Thank you. Looking forward to it.

Council, I did not forget, we are taking not a break, but a detour. And I believe we're recessing the public hearing.

Moving for closed session first? Yes. Yes.

OK.

I move that we go into closed session under North Carolina General Statutes 143-318-1185 and 143-318-1186.

Motion by Mayor Pro Tem Berry, seconded by Council Member Nollert. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. Motion is unanimous, 8-0. We will recess to the conference room. We are back in session. And we're on item number something. We're on item number 16A. Go ahead.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is David Putnam. I'm your Economic Development Director. And I have for you a simple item for you all to consider today. I want to provide a quick update for Wallace Tech. And basically, it is just one slide with a recommended action. I'm asking you all to allow the town manager to execute an option extension agreement at a cost of $10 for the town's interest in Wallace Tech.

I move to approve.

Second. Move by Mayor Pro Temberry, seconded by Council Member Sharp. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, please say nay. Motion is unanimous, 8-0. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Council, we are at 9.04. I do not believe we have a lot of time for our LUMO discussion, but I would like to understand from you when you would like to do it.

Could we do a poll tomorrow where Council Member Foushee can also participate? Because it sounded like there were some dates, including the manager of next week, that may not work for folks.

I would just also add that, from my perspective, I did participate in the entire Planning Commission So I heard the presentation that will be delivered in the next meeting. Me missing it is not as a big of an issue. Did you talk during that meeting?

Did you contribute thoughts during that meeting?

No. I'm saying that you're correct in saying that I would have things to comment in response to the thing, which I did not have a chance to do in that meeting. But again, if it's a matter of scheduling, then someone who hadn't even heard it yet, I would rather the meeting meets their schedule than mine.

Thank you for that.

Council members, just very briefly, if we're going to continue this meeting and recess it, we need to continue it to a time, date, and location certain.

Yeah. Ted, you said not Wednesday. Is that right?

Well, that would be my preference. But I'll be able to make that adjustment if that's where you land. I'm committed to supporting you.

Or is there, I can't do Tuesday evening, but if people are open.

Can we extend also the same question to our staff if they have conflict? We already asked.

Yeah, I think Taz mentioned that Tuesday is the only conflict he would have next week, but he's available otherwise.

Would that include daytime?

Yeah, I mean, daytime would just be canceling meetings. And you guys obviously take precedent over any other meetings.

And I'm not assuming people can do during the day. I'm just trying to give options that might be not at our usual time, since that's not working.

So Thursday evening? We haven't tried Thursday evening yet.

Can I make a motion to do it on Monday? Second.

Motion for Monday. Are you saying it's 6 p.m.? Monday, 6 p.m. In council chambers? In council chambers. Moved by Council Member Sharp, seconded by Mayor Pro Tem Berry. All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay. Motion is unanimous, 8-0. Okay. So... Thank you for coming. See you on Monday. Please bring Nico on Monday as well. And meeting is adjourned. See you all soon. Oh, shoot.

Actually, the motion would be.

Meeting is continued It was an error we're fine please continue with the meeting I am Closing which is that we have Appointments and so Thank you to everyone who applied we always encourage folks to to be engaged. And if you were not appointed this time, we hope you will apply in the future. The council has reappointed David Nam, Thomas Wartman, and Randy Herman to the Board of Adjustment, Sandra Sider to the Historic District Commission, and Jeffrey Green to the Planning Commission. So. Not a second person?

Nope.

Okay. So with that, now meeting.

There's no second Planning Commission member? It was split. Oh. That happens.

Okay. So we're past announcements, I'm sorry to say, Camille.

Jeff Green. Jeff Green. And I'd like to congratulate the UNC Diamond Heels on their win today. And they play again on Saturday. Thank you.

Go Heels. We are recessing the meeting to Monday at 6 PM.