City Council Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting

for joining us for the Charlotte City Council zoning meeting as of May the 18th, 2026. And I am just delighted to be able to join you guys. It's been a while. You know, somebody in the newspaper said, she's not done this in years. And I was thinking, and thank God I didn't. I just want to say how much I want to say thank you all. You know, you Being in the city is a wonderful, wonderful experience. I mean, almost every one of you, I think I could call out your names or at least one place that you've been with me. And I want you to know I'm just grateful for it. What has happened through my life and my livelihood has been because of all of you. So thank you very much. So now we're going to actually do some real work and I want to start, we will begin our meeting with an invocation at the, I'm sorry, I have to memorize everybody at the dais. So why don't we start with our clerk?

Billy Fonz, deputy city clerk.

Teri Hagler-Gray, senior assistant city attorney.

Good evening. Dimple Archmire at large. Good evening. I'm Victoria Watlington and I have the pleasure of serving you as a member at large. Joy Mayo representing district three.

Allison Craig, Deputy City Manager. And I'm Vi Lousa, Short-Term Mayor.

Good evening and happy bike month. Dante Anderson, District 1. Oh, I didn't know you did bikes.

I'm Kimberly Owens. I represent District 6.

Malcolm Graham, District 2. Luana Mayfield, Council Member-at-Large. Good evening. J.D. Masueta-Adias, proudly representing the East Side, District 5.

Good evening. I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4. All right.

We will begin our meeting with an invocation, expressions, and inspiration, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation is made by a council member, and it is intended to solemnize what we do as our work as we celebrate religious diversity in our community, including those without a religious faith. Tonight, I believe that we're going to have Council Member Joy Mayo provide us our prayer. to begin our meeting. So if you'll all stand, if you have a choice for this.

She's going to pray first.

Yeah, okay.

Thank you.

Tonight as we gather to do the work of the people, I invite us into a moment of reflection. May is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month, a reminder that while many see titles, positions, and responsibilities, behind each seat in this chamber and through our city are human beings carrying hopes, challenges, responsibilities, and unforeseen burdens. Let us remember that leadership is not only measured by the decisions we make, but by the compassion we extend, the dignity we show one another, and the courage to listen, even when we disagree. We give thanks for the residents of Charlotte, for the families raising children, the teachers shaping minds, the first responders protecting our neighborhoods, and small business owners creating opportunity, and the countless neighbors who quietly serve others every day. Grant us wisdom in our deliberations, humility in our leadership, patience in moments of tension, and vision to make decisions that strengthen not only our city today, but generations to come. May we lead with purpose, serve with integrity, and never lose sight that public service is, at its core, about people.

Amen.

Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone, for that. All right, so let's begin with the rezoning process begins with applications submitted to the planning staff for review. There are two types of cases on the agenda, decisions and hearings. Decisions are cases for which a public hearing was previously held and there will be no further comment. For public hearings, anyone wishing to speak is asked to see the clerk before the start of the hearing. Staff will provide a presentation and the petitioner will have three minutes to two minutes. I believe today there's three minutes today for him buying to present the case unless there are opponents sign up to speak or staff is in opposition. If there are opponents signed up to speak or staff is in opposition, the petitioner will have 10 minutes to present followed by the opposition speakers who will have 10 minutes combined to present and the petitioner will have a two minute rebuttal. If no one is signed up to speak, staff will provide a short presentation and the public hearing will then be closed. Following the public hearings, petitions go to the zoning committee of the planning commission and I would like to take the time to address the committee members. If I can say this, I'll count committee members. Mr. Welton, Doug, I'm sorry, Doug Welton. Thank you so much. If you'll go ahead and introduce all of your colleagues.

Thank you very much, Madam Mayor. My name is Douglas A. Welton, and I am the Chairman of the Zoning Committee of the Planning Commission. Allow me to introduce my fellow committee members, and they include Melissa Gaston, Aaron Shaw, Teresa McDonald, Robin Stewart, Carolyn Millen, and Michael Caprioli. The Zoning Committee will meet on Tuesday, June 2nd at 5.30. At that meeting, the Zoning Committee will discuss and make recommendations on the petitions that have a public hearing here tonight. The public is welcome at that meeting, but please note it is not a continuation of the public hearing that is being held here tonight. Prior to that meeting, you are welcome to contact us and provide any input you would like. You can find contact information and information about each petition at the city's website at charlotteplanning.org. And that is all from the Zoning Committee. Back to you, Madam Mayor.

All right. Thank you very much. I am going to address... If there are any other deferrals or withdrawals on the agenda, and then I'd like to tell you how much I enjoy working with you and to say thank you so much for the things that you've done and made it possible for us to always be successful in this effort. And so we're going to turn this over to Holly right now. Holly, again, thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. So in terms of our deferrals and withdrawals, we have item number eight, petition 2025-086 by Pence Road Development requesting deferral of their decision to June 15th. Item number nine, petition 2025-127 by 4749 West Boulevard. They're requesting a withdrawal of this petition. And then in terms of our deferrals of public hearings, we have item number 11, petition 2024-143 by Panorama Development, requesting deferral of public hearing to June 15th. Item number 12, petition 2025-120 by American Tower Asset, requesting deferral of public hearing to June 15th. Item number 13, petition 2026-008 by Collab Dev 6 LLC, requesting deferral of public hearing to June 15th. And finally, item number 14, petition 2026-027 by C4 Investments LLC, requesting a deferral of their public hearing to June 15th.

Is there a motion for the deferrals and withdrawals?

So moved.

Second. And a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you very much. And so now we'll go to rezoning petition items number three through seven, and the consent agenda may be considered in one motion except for those items pulled by a council member. Please note that these petitions meet the following criteria. Had no public opposition to the petition at a hearing. The staff recommends approval. The zoning committee recommends approval. And there were no changes after the zoning committee's recommendation. Are there any consent items for council would like to pull for a question or comment?

All right. We have a few.

Your Honor, I'd like to pull seven. Item seven. That's petition 2026-003, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay, here we go. And Ms. Johnson, we'll come around.

Thank you.

I'd like to pull item number four, please. Item number four, petition 2025 by Larry Cooper. All right, so our next one is Ms. Mayfield.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Item number six, 2026-002.

Item six, so... We only have three and five now.

Oh, three and five. Three and five are not...

Okay, so that means that... We have a motion to approve the following petitions. Item number 3, 4, 5, 6. Do I have 7 as well? No, just the 3 and 5. Just the 3 and 5, and so that's it. So do we have a motion? So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all in favor? Anyone opposed? All right, so Ms. Johnson, did you get...

Now we'll move to item four.

Discuss it.

That's what you're asking for.

All right. Let's go to number four, 2025, 136, and address that one as well. So may I have a motion to approve the following item of petition 2025-136? So moved. Okay. We have a motion and a second.

Is there a second? Is there a second?

Madam Mayor, and just like to make sure it includes the consistency statement. Adopt and approve.

Yes. I move that we approve and adopt the Zoning Committee Statement of Consistency in my motion. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Anyone want to have a spoke? All right, Ms. Johnson, please.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. This is a consent item of... a conventional petition in District 4. And I just wanted to know, is there anything that's excluded on this lot, any type?

of development. So because this is a conventional petition, they're requesting all uses allowed by right and under prescribed conditions and the neighborhood one C zoning districts there, there, there are not specific conditions prohibiting certain types of uses. They would just be limited to what is allowed under neighborhood one C by the ordinance.

And I just, I want to share my concern again with conventional petitions. and not having the site plan, I don't think we're doing our residents any favor when we can't answer what's being built right next to them. Thank you.

All right, thank you very much. We have a motion on the floor. And a second. And a second. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Very none. Oh, we have some opposition down here. Excuse me. All right, so we'll start off.

You had Mayfield. Masueta, Arias, and Johnson.

Any opposition over here? Any opposition down here?

Watlington.

Watlington as well. All right. So it failed. It fails. It fails. Right. So thank you very much for that.

Wow.

Did you?

I'm sorry.

Could you make sure? The clerk is uncertain. Could we have a show of hands for who was in favor again, please? All right.

So all in favor of the petition, please raise your hands. That's one, two, three, four, five, six, five, five. Okay. Now all opposed, please raise your hand. One, two, three, four. All right.

So the motion, no, that means no action was taken there. You can now entertain a motion either to defer or to deny motion to defer.

Second. A motion to defer. Second. All in favor, please raise your hand for the deferral. Thank you very much. That passes. Is anyone opposing the referral? That's unanimous. That's unanimous. Okay. Number 2026 by Zing Zhang. And so let's go ahead. Do we have a motion on 2026? So moved.

We have a motion.

Second. And a second. Is there any discussion? Hearing no discussion. What number are we on?

Item number six.

Item number six.

Thank you, Mayor. Yes. So, yes, I have questions for staff because I am trying to understand why this... lot is identified for that as a TOD when it is literally surrounded by manufacturing. So why would we put why would we allow a TOD zoning in the middle TOD is on the outside and around but this whole area is manufacturing why are we why is there a consideration of TOD in the middle of manufacturing.

So TOD, just in terms of the applicability, can be applied to the TODNCs, any district in particular, within a mile of a transit station. So this is less than three quarters of a mile to two transit stations, the Woodlawn Station as well as the Scalybark Station. And this is also within an identified community activity center. So that says our policy is looking at a shift from manufacturing logistics to the mixed uses that you would see in an activity center. This is also directly adjacent to neighborhood two type uses just to its east. though it's in the to DTR zoning and it has them out to zoning to its north, but we anticipate this area to continue to shift over to community activity center compatible zoning.

So I would ask my colleagues to consider that we are losing a lot of manufacturing and logistics space around the city as we are also working to try to lower new business opportunities into the area. We have to do around this area there needs to be some consideration of what potentially because remember to be is a pretty big umbrella. It could be housing it could be retail, but let's say it is housing and it is a multifamily complex that's dropped in the middle of this manufacturing the potential environmental sound quality of life impacts. I will not be supporting this, but I hope that we will take into consideration the amount of manufacturing identified and zoned land that has been rezoned for other items and other projects and the impact that that's going to have long term.

I do just want to note real quick that this site is quite small, so we don't anticipate a huge amount of uses in terms of scale could be developed on it because it's less than a quarter of an acre. It's about 0.16

The anticipation, and I appreciate that, is not what I'm concerned about. What I'm concerned about is the rezoning to TOD and what is securely manufacturing and logistics and the impact that that can have on the surrounding land that's around it. And the fact that we do not have as much manufacturing and logistics identified land in the city as we once had. Let's look at preserving So when we have the opportunity, we can grow in certain areas versus finding residential land and then trying to rezone it for manufacturing and logistics.

All right. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I agree with Council Member Mayfield understanding the need for manufacturing, and we see a lot of that in District 3. But I think this site is very unique. It's very up and coming. We see a lot of apartments. Even looking at page four out of eight, I don't know if y'all can post that, but I mean, on both sides of this building are apartments. And I think that putting this as a local coffee shop where people can go and have, you know, Coffee, a drink, a tea is appropriate when we're thinking about transit-oriented development. We're talking about 10-minute cities. This is a great opportunity for existing residents now that live in that area can easily walk and enjoy some of the amenities that this will provide. So I will be supporting this, as I hope my colleagues will as well. The petitioner was here and chatted about that. He's a local businessman. He lives next door to this property. I think it's a good opportunity. I think as we have been talking about manufacturing near neighborhoods, I think this is appropriate. for there not to be manufacturing near this, particularly as on the picture that staff provided it on both sides, there is housing.

Yeah.

All right. Ms. Watlington.

Thank you, Madam mayor. Yep. I agree. I think that this is a unique opportunity to just leverage the built environment the way it is. And honestly, I wonder given where it is and how the building is set back on the, on the lot, if this is an opportunity to partner and do some placemaking there, um, there definitely seems to be a need and a desire and an interest from the community in those kinds of pop-up spaces. To the extent that the petitioner is interested in partnering, I'd love for us to explore something there because I think that could be a unique value add partnership with the city. Then just quickly, the other question that I have given the size of this lot, When I think about manufacturing and logistics and the things that we're trying to attract in terms of advanced manufacturing and those kinds of things, it would seem that we would need a much larger footprint for that. Um, so given that, I'm curious if there are other sites around the, um, around the city. that we need to match and map and make sure that the acreage makes sense for manufacturing and logistics. So if we could just take that one back, I'd appreciate it. Thank you. All right.

Ms. Ajmera? Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. I agree with my colleagues, Councilmember Mayo, as well as Councilmember Watlington. This site is very small, 0.16 acre. So to have manufacturing in 0.16 acre, we're not going to see that proposal come to us. Plus, it also invests in amenity that the neighborhoods need. We did hear from the petitioner last month where we heard the passion and we heard how this entrepreneur is trying to invest in their own neighborhood. And I think that's great where we are providing amenity that the neighbors need as well as supporting entrepreneurs with... with a land use so i'd be supporting it and i'll be supporting the district council member mayor that's all i have thank you all right thank you very much and there any other speakers madam mayor yes miss thank you so for clarity what this proposed zoning does

TOD-NC, this district is intended for areas surrounding existing or planned transit stations and streetcar stops. Its primary purpose is to act as a transition zone, stepping down intensity from the higher density TOD zoning and development to adjacent established neighborhoods, the district may be desired when a lower intensity is more suitable, such as next to a neighborhood one place type or when adopted policy limits maximum building height. There is nothing in that language that says, hey, it's going to be a coffee house. pay is going to be a full stop. It is anything that is available under TOD. The challenge again that I have is our policy language is what is moving forward and pushing transition in certain areas. So it's great to say well it would be great if we had this amenity here in too many neighborhoods there is nothing in our policy language that says this is what it is going to be yet what we do have. On the map for those who not looking at it online all of that purple. that is surrounded that has manufacturing and then all the green that's on the outside of it where we have to deal D TOD does not have specific requirements which was something that I had a concern about years ago you don't is not very different from a conventional rezoning when you have no site plan you have no specific information or commitment. What we do have is a manufacturing area that very well We can open the door to push the transition of the manufacturing that's over there by moving this forward. Luckily, it takes 6 votes. I'm just sharing and I want us to be very clear that there's nothing in TOD language that says it's going to be a coffee shop, it's going to be a grocery store, it's going to be a mini-mart. There's nothing that says that. It can be anything that falls under TOD NC. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Any other comments? All right. All in favor of the item, please raise your hand. Anyone opposed? Thank you, Ms. Mayfield.

Ms. Mayfield was opposed.

All right. And so we're going to Item 7 now.

Madam Mayor, did you get my opposition? No, I did not get your opposition. You were in opposition? Okay.

Sorry, I could not see that. Okay, so our next item is 20-26-03 and it's Ms. Owens.

We need a motion and I will make the motion to approve 20-26-003 and adopt the zoning committee statement. consistency.

Second.

All right. We have a second and a motion.

Any comments? Thank you, Madam Mayor. I pulled this one, colleagues, because there's really a lot of excitement around reimagining some of our historical spaces in Charlotte. We've seen it with the Carolina Theater. We're seeing it with the Excelsior Club. And I'm really excited to have District 6 have a component of add-in to that historical lens. The Manor Theater has... Been in existence for 73 or so years. It was one of the victims of the pandemic. It was the first and last place to see art house films in Charlotte. And I have the great pride of saying that a couple of my children experienced their first non-superhero movies with me at the Manor Theater. And so it will always hold a really, really tight spot in my heart. It's going to be a mixed-use project with this rezoning of a very small place towards the back that's going to enable a much better design. I'm excited to see that that was an option that we were able to put forward. Has a great deal of support from surrounding neighbors, which is no small feat when you're dealing with... some of the folks who have some real historical roots in Charlotte and have a real vision of what they want Myers Park and Eastover to look like. I've heard it referred to as a plan to honor the manor. I'm really hopeful that that continues through in execution, that a number of the design elements are going to be carried through, and that it really is going to provide a walkable and connected pedestrian-friendly area along Providence Road. So I will be supporting this, and I'm really excited to have worked so successfully with the developers on this.

All right, we have Ms. Anderson.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Being a native Charlottean and also a film buff with multiple degrees in film, the Manor Theater has a really, really special place in my heart, one of the first places that I was able to experience true art films and different than the Marvel, although I love the Marvel movies as well. No question about that. You know, the real art, art house films. And it was a leading place. The Manor Theater, along with the Dilworth Theater that no longer exists, but was right there on South Boulevard, were two escapes for me. And when I returned back to the city of Charlotte... In 2011, one of the very first places I went was the Manor Theater to take in film. So I appreciate the family that has retained that theater for so many years. And I look forward to the nod to honor a place that was a real place of origin for arts within the Queen City. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thank you. Is there anyone? All right. I'm sorry, Ms. Arias. Mr. Arias.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Yeah, I want to reiterate what my colleague said, particularly Council Member Owens, to bring two communities together, particularly when they have opposing views of the path forward is no easy feat. I will also add that as a Queens University of Charlotte alum, the Manor Theater is just down the street from us, and so it was... a great opportunity to delve into independent movie making. A lot of great films I saw there. And so I'm just super excited for this project. I'm super excited for just this calling back to this institution, as well as what's to come with the revitalization of this area. Thank you.

We probably all need to get a chair out of the theater and bring, take it home. I think you should start trying on that. So thank you very much. Everyone has its personality and that certainly is one of those. So thank you guys so very much. All right. We still have to vote on it though. So all in favor, please raise your hands. Anyone opposed? Anyone opposed? No opposition? All right. Thank you very much. That's unusual sometimes. Thank you. So thank you. Thanks for doing that, too. That was really nice, Kimberly. All right. So now we're going to petition item number 10, petition 2025-135 by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Hospital Authority has changes to the zoning committee made their recommendation. Is that correct?

Yes.

All right. Here we are. All right. Council is required to send the petition back to the zoning committee for further review. Unless council by a three force vote of all members present determines that the nature of the modification is such that further review is not necessary. Holly, will you address that for us?

Yes. So this petition is for the redevelopment and expansion of an existing healthcare institution. And they're asking for exception provisions onto the site. And they have made one change since zoning committee's recommendation. So they had to add an additional EX provision to allow surface parking, driveways, and circulation between the buildings and the frontage. And that's something that is allowed for a use such as a health care institution and is necessary for its general functionality. We believe that that change is minor and does not warrant additional review by the zoning committee.

Motion to not send back to zoning committee. Second.

We have a motion and a second. We'll not return it to the zoning committee. Is there any other recommendation or anyone?

Okay.

So everyone, that means that we can, we have to vote. So is there a motion to approve the petition? No, let's not send it back to the zoning committee.

All in favor to not send back to committee.

Okay. Any opposed? Any opposed? It's unanimous. So we're good.

So now we have to vote on it.

All right. Now, do you want to vote on this item? Please raise your hand. Motion to approve. Motion.

Motion to approve and adopt the zoning committee's standard of consistency. Thank you. Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor?

I'd like to say something.

All right. Ms. Johnson? Thank you. I just, I look forward to supporting this petition.

We're all supporting it. It's unanimous. Sorry.

Sorry, she was asking me a question.

Oh, okay. No, this is for the atrium system, the university, and most of you all know I just got back from, you know, some health issues with my husband, and this hospital did a fabulous job. So I look forward. It started at the atrium university ER department. So I look forward to supporting it. Whatever it is they need.

All in favor? Ms. Ajmer, did you want to make a statement? We already voted.

So we're ready to vote, Madam Mayor. All right. So we'll now proceed with public hearings. We got to vote. I thought we had already voted. We just voted. We did.

We did. It was unanimous.

We just have to vote to approve this motion, which I made the motion and there was a second.

And we voted, but we voted before we had discussion. That's right. I already voted on it. Okay, so we've already voted.

The clerk just wants to make sure she has it correct. Was it unanimous? Yes, it was unanimous. It was unanimous.

Thank you. Okay, so this is what I've decided is that I'm going home to let these experts do this right. And there is no harm in doing that because I understand that sometimes you just have to do what you got to do.

Sorry, to clarify, you voted to not send it back to zoning committee, but did we catch the unanimous vote? We did.

Unanimously supported.

We did both. We did vote highly, right? That's right. All right, then we're going to do that. Did the clerk capture the vote?

Just to make sure for the record.

Madam Mayor, since there seems to be some confusion, if it'll be better since all of this happened, if Dante remade the motion and re-seconded and we just re-vote. Just for clarity, if that will be at your pleasure.

Yes, yes. Thank you, Ms. Mayfield. I will restate my motion to approve and adopt the Zoning Committee Statement of Consistency.

Second. And a second.

All right. Everybody's got it?

All in favor? All in favor? Thank you very much. And have a great evening, guys.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Bye, Madam Mayor. Okay, so we are now moving on to the adherence portion of the agenda and we will proceed with agenda item 15. Agenda item 15 petition number 2025-027 by Mission City Church and Freedom Communities. The location is approximately 5.38 acres located east of Valleydale Road, north of Somerville Road, and south of Goodman Road. district to Mr. Graham's district. The current zoning is N1B and CG. Proposed zoning is N2A. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to transportation, site, and building design. We, after staff's presentation, we have Bridget Harvey. Are you present, Bridget Harvey? Okay. We have Bridget Harvey who's in opposition. So after staff's presentation, we'll have a 10-minute presentation, 10-minute presentation, and then a two-minute rebuttal. Thank you.

Yes, good evening. This site may look familiar. It first went to public hearing in August of last year. But since then, the petitioners added some acreage, they've added some units, and they've relocated the site access. So I'll go ahead and explain the development again and what's new. Petition 2025027 is a 5.38-acre site located east of Valleydale Road, accessed from Somerville Road. The plan proposes the development of up to 49 multifamily townhomes. It's on a site that's primarily wooded but contains a single family house and small commercial building. The site is currently zoned N1B, neighborhood one. The proposed zoning is N2ACD, neighborhood two conditional. The plan is not in alignment with the 2040 policy map recommendation for the commercial place type. The rezoning proposal calls for up to 49 townhome units. Buildings are limited to a maximum of four units each. All dwellings will be House Charlotte eligible. and the dwellings will be deed restricted for a minimum of seven years to maintain affordability. Access to the site is proposed from Somerville Road. This is a change from the previous form the petition was in when it went to public hearing last year where site access was gained from Goodman Road. 20-foot setback or a 25-foot class B landscape yard will be provided along all property boundaries that are abutting the neighborhood one place type. Buildings shall not exceed three stories or 35 feet in height and porches and stoops will be provided. While the plan is not in alignment with the policy map, it is consistent with the goals and policies of the West Middle Community Area Plan. The plan meets minor map amendment criteria to update the policy map from commercial to neighborhood two place type for several reasons, but the but some of them are exceeding the minimum required acreage. It has preferred adjacencies, so it's abutting neighborhood one and commercial place types. And the site has access to transit, and it's also located in the housing gap, as identified by the comprehensive plan. This plan could also facilitate Community Area Plan Priority Goal 2, neighborhood diversity and inclusion by providing a broader range of housing types such as duplex, triplex, and quadruplex units. And Priority Goal 3, housing access for all by providing conditions on the plan that all units will be House Charlotte eligible. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to transportation and site and building design. They propose N2A zoning district. is compatible with the surrounding residential and commercial uses. As the plan limits the building form to quadriflexes, the site may serve as a transition between commercial uses along Valleydale Road and more residential uses to the east. All dwellings will be House Charlotte eligible to ensure affordability, and the plan dedicates the Greenway easement to Mecklenburg County Park and Rec. I'm happy to take any questions following the petitioner's presentation.

Thank you. Now we have Mr. Morris, Daly, Talbert, and Dillard. You all have 10 minutes in aggregate, and can you please state your name for the clerk prior to speaking? Yes, ma'am.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Anderson. Council members, zoning committee and staff, my name is Eddie Moore with McAdams. Slides are going to pop up here in a minute. Tonight with me is Kyle Dillard of Mission City Church. We have Mark Talbot of Freedom Communities and Ron Staley with the True Homes Foundation. who will be also assisting with this rezoning petition. And at this point, I'm going to let these gentlemen just give a little bit of information about their groups and how they're associated with this rezoning.

Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to come back. We're excited to get this process on the way and continued. I was introduced to Mission City Church four or five years ago. As you know, Freedom Communities works in the Freedom Drive corridor. We've been involved with a lot of city projects, and we're always looking for opportunities to build affordable product, particularly for sale affordables. Much like Dukes Ridge, if you all are familiar with Dukes Ridge, that's been a great project. I think everybody in the city is excited about. Our partnership with True Homes there has been a wonderful one. Mission City Church had this extra land and said, what can we do with this? It was a perfect opportunity after the Faith and Housing Initiative came around from you, and we said, what if we could put together another Dukes Ridge? So that's exactly what we're doing. You're going to hear from Kyle so much about how they serve this community. One of the really few churches that's located in a neighborhood serving those around them and doing a wonderful job of it. So thank you for listening. Thank you for your support. Thank you. Sir, could you state your name just for the record?

Mark Talbot. All right. Thank you, Mr. Talbot. Thank you.

Hey, yeah, and thanks for letting me be here, too. My name is Kyle Dillard. I'm the pastor at Mission City Church. I've been there for a while now, and we're very excited about this project, too, as Mark said. We are in the neighborhood to make the neighborhood better, safer, and serve everyone that's there. We... Evidence of that started about six years ago during COVID when we started our food pantry, where at the time we were serving about 150 families a week. We continue to do that. No, not as many now, thank goodness. Six years later, we're still doing that. And this property, Mark came and approached me about True Homes being able to do this project. It was very exciting for us to be able to have our property. be used for something other than the unintended purposes that it's having just in the neighborhood and some bad stuff happening over there. So we want to clean that up and be better in the neighborhood. We've tried to clean up all of our property to look better, to serve the community much, much more. Very excited about this, being able to serve families like Mark had been telling me about you guys and the faith and housing. I love that. I love the city joining together with churches and faith communities to do more to help people that's my whole purpose that's the church's purpose is to serve people that's what we want to do we want to make it right we want to serve the neighborhood and so i feel like these guys have worked really hard at some of the challenges that have come we've talked some of the neighbors and those challenges have been legitimate and we've talked about those and said yeah let's talk about that how can we change that that's a great feedback um and we've talked about that and made a lot of changes over that and i feel like um These are the right changes to make to be able to serve even better and get to a great place that we're at with it. So I'm just very excited about our church being what we want to be as a place for people to see us as a refuge and a place to help people. They can always come to us, and we'll be there to help them and share the Lord with them. So this housing initiative is very exciting to be able to see families who couldn't afford to have houses be able to have homes and get a great start. So we're all behind that.

Good evening, council members. Ron Staley, operation partner for True Homes Foundation. This project is part of our Doorway to Prosperity program where we're selling 10% of our volume at cost towards home ownership. In fact, we had our first hearing here on August 18th where we had some issues with one of the residents where the home was actually going right beside her home. We since worked and actually acquired another parcel. And now you'll see Eddie's going to explain later where it's going to be going through a different section as well. So it's no longer going to be going by our house. Unfortunately, she was unable to be here tonight. But this is, again, it's part of our doorway to prosperity initiative. We partnered with CMS, Novant, to provide opportunities for homeownership, really work for his house. And I'll let Eddie go now and talk a little bit more about the project.

Thank you, gentlemen. The site, it's a little challenging to see the screen. I don't know if the lights can be turned down a little bit, but the site is northeast of Valleydale Road. You can kind of see in the purple it's 5.38. Some of the land uses that are around the site, the Mission City Church, they own the properties that you see here, and they own a majority of this site as well. Some other non-residential uses, we have Family Dollar that's contiguous to the site, First Stop, Express Mark. There's also a multi-tenant commercial building, and also there is the CATS Route 1 bus stop that is very, very close to the site. Kind of going over the zoning. The request is not consistent with the commercial place type, but we do feel that changing that to a neighborhood two place type provides a transition of the commercial uses that are along Valleydale, then to a neighborhood two place type, and then behind that will be the neighborhood one place type. as ron mentioned we were back before you last august this is the uh the plan that we did have we did go before the zoning committee and received a recommendation of approval but we we held up on the decision and the big item at the top of the page that you see here was the access off of goodman road to the site itself there it was The road was right away very narrow and very close to Beth Goodman's house that is kind of outlined. It's a little bit darker there. So Ron and his team, they were able to bring the property that's to the south along Somerville Road that you see with the red star. how it looks now. So the new plan is to the left, the former plan to the right. We are not making the connection to Goodman Road at all. So we have now the opportunity to change the site a little bit where The entrance is along Somerville, and it creates a little better front door presence for this development of actually having some road frontage. And then you can kind of see as you go into the site, there's a There's a green area that's here in the middle of a centralized green spot. A lot of the layout is relatively the same, but this creates more of a front door. And also for those residents that do want to walk to the commercial along Valleydale, this sets up much easier from a sidewalk perspective for these folks to be able to walk instead of going down Goodman Road and coming down Valleydale. At the end of bringing this piece in, we were able to do away with the entrance along Goodman and provide a better front door for the overall development. You have two minutes left. Yes, ma'am. From a traffic generation standpoint, if you look at the top, the site can generate 1,236 trips, daily trips, as it's zoned. And with the 49 townhomes, it's 323 daily trips, so that's quite a reduction of It's 913 daily trips or reduction of 73%. Now, during our last meeting with the community, there was some concerns of having one access point onto Valleydale, but actually there's a secondary access point if you're heading westbound on Fred D. Alexander. You can turn down Oak Street. and actually access the neighborhood that way. In addition, there's along Valleydale itself, there's about 1,000 feet of left turn lane from the intersection to kind of the front of the express mark. So some of the commitments that we have, up to 49 single-family detached townhome dwellings, we eliminated the access to Goodman Road. This is an affordable housing initiative at 100%. All dwellings will be House Charlotte eligible. The townhomes will be for sale and focusing on homeownership. And during our last committee meeting, there was concern of rentals within the development, so the petitioner agreed that all the dwellings will be deed restricted where there will be no rentals. And again, we're focusing on the homeownership. So we do appreciate your time, and we're here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you. Ms. Harvey, can you come down? Be careful as you make your way, and when you reach the microphone, you will have 10 minutes.

I can't see anybody else.

Good evening and I appreciate you taking the time to listen to our concerns with these changes that they're recommending. My name is Bridget Harvey and I live on Oak Street, which would be very much greatly affected by what they're wanting to do. Yes, it's not coming out on Oak Street, but I access Fred D. Alexander via Oak Street and I also access Valleydale via Valleydale by Somerville Road. The infrastructure of those two roads alone is not very good. Summerville Road has a blind curve and people park because they don't have much room to park. So they're parking on the side of the road. So when you're coming down that road, it becomes a single lane. In fact, two, three weeks ago, there was a house that had, I guess, a big family get together. There were at least 15, 20 cars parked on each side of the road, which means it was a single lane all the way through there. Can you imagine 49 homes Approximately two plus four cars a home coming through there on top of that. Let's add Oak Street that they're wanting to access off of Fred D. Alexander Boulevard. That is also a very narrow road. I can take pictures if y'all want and send them to you. It is extremely narrow. Two cars passing, you have to be careful. It's maybe slightly wider than the Oak Street that I live on, which is the end of it. Then on top of that, to get out onto Fred D. Alexander Boulevard, you can only make a right, you cannot make a left. So again, you're gonna exponentially increase traffic up to that light where people are gonna have to make a U-turn or make a right to get up to Brookshire Boulevard. The access point off of Summerville Road is just within a few hundred feet of Valleydale, which means you're going to cause a massive traffic jam right there because you've got a gas station right there where people are coming in and out off of Summerville into there, along with trying to add in 49 units with exponential amount of cars coming through there, trying to come through there at the same time. I can see traffic jams and wrecks happening very quickly because that is also a blind curve uh... or almost a blind curve on valley dale coming up towards summerville road again infrastructure is not the greatest in our little small community to add in this high volume i highly strongly recommend that they look at the easement that they have with family dollar from last i understood there's an easement there why aren't they utilizing it thank you for your time thank you miss harvey

You gentlemen have two minutes for a rebuttal if you would like to use it.

Thank you, and I'll be real quick. I did want to show that traffic generation slide as to the reduction in the daily trips of what we're proposing with 49 townhomes compared to the N1B and CG zoning. I mean, a reduction of 913 trips on what's rezoned today. That's pretty significant change. And then I added that extra slide of it's just not one way in, one way out along Valleydale. There is another way that you could access the neighborhood. But we're glad to take any questions that you may have. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We'll start with Ms. Mayo.

Yes. Um, just regarding her comment about blind curve, kind of on some of those roads, are y'all recommending any kind of improvements, um, that can kind of happen in order to mitigate, um, any kind of traffic fatalities or issues that could occur as a result of this?

Well, I mean, you can kind of look at the map. There's really not a whole lot of bend in Somerville road to the site or Valley Dale. as it actually connects with fred d alexander boulevard that intersection was fixed freddy alexander and valley dale to a more 90 degree connection there so we're not proposing any any additional street changes is somerville uh a state road it's a city road it's a city street

Have you talked to CDOT about potentially not allowing people to park on one side of the street? I've had them do that in my neighborhood because it was very narrow and emergency vehicles could not get through there. And that has helped with our neighborhood tremendously. We had the support of CMPD and the fire department, and we were able to get CDOT to put up signs, and CMPD was enforcing tickets for people. So I'm just wondering, is there any type of way for some wiggle room or some conversations to be thoughtful of the concerns that neighbors are having?

Sure. We can definitely have those discussions with CDOT. We're fine doing that. Within all the dwellings, we'll have at least two parking spaces. And along the entryway, we do have some on-street parking spaces internal to the development since we just have such a short frontage. So we feel that we'll have ample parking, but we will coordinate with CDOT about some potential signs.

Can you talk a little bit about the easement agreement as well that she was talking about with Dollar General?

There is, but there is an access easement, but it comes up to the back of their dumpster. So when that agreement was put into place, it doesn't really create a... an environment where you have to go through the family dollar property to get to the neighborhood. I think that was set in case if this was going to be some type of non-residential land use where there is cross-access, but we would have to work with family dollar. That was the whole thing of getting that secondary piece along Somerville Road was to provide a front door and a different... different connection points. So all the traffic would have to go through the family dollar parking lot.

Okay. No, I understand. I mean, I'd be curious to learn more about what you all can coordinate with CDOT. Um, I mean, I know that has been a great help for my neighborhood. Um, who, if you go in the back where our single families are, cause we have townhomes and single family, it's very tight. Um, and you know, that's dangerous if there's an emergency situation. So I do, I do think there's, um, you know, cause for concern based on some of the conversations and wanting to see how we can be more proactive to the concerns of residents.

Yes, ma'am. Are you all set, Ms. Mayo? Yes. All right. Thank you. I have Ms. Ashmir.

Thank you. So on this map, can you, do you have a pointer with you?

Do you have a pointer with you? Yes, I sure do.

Okay. So can you walk me through where the egress and ingress is and the alternative that Ms. Harvey had suggested?

If there's any way we could get our slides up where we have the rendering, that would be great. And I can go to that slide and it will show it much better. Okay, so currently the proposed access point, and Mark's team had to get this piece of property under contract. So it's here. So this will be the main entry point, the front door to the neighborhood. The access easement, it's along the back here, and it's off to the side of the building. And also here, there's the loading dock in addition to the to the dumpster location, there's a loading dock. So at some point, I mean, it could be a little challenging to have that as your primary point of ingress and egress into a neighborhood if you happen to have a delivery truck here and then your dumpster location at this point.

How about on the other side?

Well, that's where we had our other entrance was here. And that's what we did away with was having an entrance onto Goodman road.

And, uh, I just want to make sure. So there were no, there are no infrastructure improvements with this development.

No, they're not. It's don't, it'll only generate 323 daily trips.

Uh, do we have CDOT staff here?

Yes.

So not as part of this rezoning petition, but are there any additional infrastructure improvements in this neighborhood?

Currently, there are no land improvements on the seat I have in this neighborhood.

All right. Well, that's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you. I have Mr. Masuara Zarias.

Thank you, Council Member Anderson. I'd like to touch a little bit on the affordability. I see that there's a minimum seven-year affordability period there. That brings of concern just because, you know, as a standard, we like to push for more than 20 years. Can you go over... the thought process of the affordability, and if there's any appetite for extending that. Yeah.

The reason why we do seven-year is we want to try to promote generational wealth. Say, for example, you have a teacher that's purchasing the home, say, at 53 or so, which we actually do. She may be retiring at 60. So we want her to make sure that she's able to unlock that full generational wealth or that full amount of equity when she is able to retire at that point. So we are willing to do a longer fee restriction if that's something that the council thinks that will go better. But we, as a purpose, as True Foundation, think about generational wealth in seven years.

Thank you, thank you so much. I also had a question. Someone mentioned faith and housing. Have you all already spoken to city staff about that or to council members about faith and housing?

Yeah, we actually have spoken to the city staff. Faith Desk is who we've been speaking with around faith and housing.

Got it. And I wanted to, maybe this is from city staff, what is it currently zoned as? It is currently zoned in 1A.

In 1A? Yes.

Okay.

So... Sorry, excuse me, in 1B, partially CG. So the front, we don't have the zoning map up right now. Can you speak into the mic a little bit more? Sorry, yep. So I believe we may be pulling up the zoning map, but a portion of the site is zoned CG, general commercial, near the... Near the, yeah. So this front portion of the site is in CG, general commercial, right behind the dollar store and the gas station. And the back portion of the site is in 1B, neighborhood 1B. So it's split zoned. Got it.

And you mentioned earlier that currently that area is being used for unintended purposes and doing some cleanup. Can you go into details?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we've had a few years ago, we were on the news because someone parked there and then robbed the family dollar. We've had some issues with the police of the homeless. Actually, he built a really nice house back there. once uh but we've had some homeless stuff back there there's a lot of trash that gets dumped especially like you said right behind the family dollar where that dumpster area is they just jump the curb and go over there and then you just dump all kind of stuff out um so that's the kind of stuff that i was talking about unintended purposes being just the homeless um people living there dumping trash on it um and you know stuff like that so that's what i meant

Thank you. And my last question is, you mentioned feedback from the community, and we just heard from a community member who is opposing this. What other feedback have you gotten, and what changes have already been made to this? And to kind of echo what my other colleagues have spoken about, is there appetite for further changes, particularly when it comes to infrastructure?

The biggest change, the biggest hurdle that we've had since we came before back in August was the access point of not connecting to the north to Goodman Road. That has been eliminated altogether. An additional piece of property had to be brought in as part of the rezoning for that to happen. We knew that the Rezoni was not going to move forward with that access point at that location. So we hit pause for several months so that we were able to have a different access point for this property. As for other improvements, that's something that we can look into and get back to you as to what can be done. The Yes, there are neighborhood streets. It's something we can work with CDOT about signage to see if that's something that can happen. But we feel that the vehicles of those that live in the neighborhood will be on the site itself. We are providing additional on-street parking within the development. So we've made some significant changes compared to the first time that we came through. And be able to continue those as we move forward.

Thank you. As one of the new council members, I would love to see those changes so I can get caught up to speed on that. And I might have missed it in my packet, but it would be nice to see a breakdown of those. Last question. How many community meetings did you hold, and what was the attendance, if you can recall?

We've had two community meetings. I think at the first one, there were 15 people, and at the second, there were nine.

Thank you. No further questions. Council Member Henderson.

Thank you. I have Ms. Johnson followed by Ms. Mayfield. Hold tight. Ms. Johnson.

Thank you, Council Member Anderson. I have a, not really a question, but more of a statement. First of all, thank you to the resident that spoke. I didn't see her name on my list. I have an outdated list, so I'm sorry I don't have your name. But I want to thank you for coming out. Thank you for your diligence. I feel like the response is... Well, the traffic for this petition is less than it would be if something else was built. But you, I want you all to understand the cumulative impact of the development and the growth on the current residents. So while your piece of the puzzle might only, you know, might have limited traffic, residents surrounding the petitions are living with increased traffic from their neighborhood that's been growing for years. So I'm one of the council members that believes that we need to be looking at things more cumulatively so that more improvements are required by the developer because you develop your property and then the residents are left with the traffic. So I would like to see if there's an opportunity for an easement, family dollar, I'd like to see some research or attempt for more improvements to accommodate the residents that are there and to be a good neighbor.

That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Miss Mayfield followed by Mr Graham.

Thank you. So my colleague just asked how many meetings were held. There is one meeting that is uploaded in our system. That meeting that had 16 people signed up was April 28th of 2025. So there's a bit of a concern there. What was noted in that particular meeting was a lot of conversation around Goodman, so I appreciate that the realignment happened. I actually travel Fred D. Alexander to Valleydale quite often. I am aware of the potential traffic concerns. It is noted in your petition and in during this conversation that there is going to be a HOA. Do you know yet at this HO, if this potential HOA will be a monthly fee or annual fee?

It'll be a monthly fee.

So one of the things that I want council to take into consideration when we're talking about townhomes, if anybody has taken the time to look at next door, or any of the community sites lately. We have seen a lot of layoffs that have happened in our community and a number of individuals in our community that have been unemployed or underemployed is transition. A year or more that are now facing challenges with these a show a piece. even when we think about annual, but when you think about a monthly HOA fee, as we continue to grow, we're also seeing corporate impact. That is something that is concerning when we're talking about potential housing affordability. I also want us to not get lost when someone says, well, this is in Faith in Housing. Faith in Housing is an initiative. Faith and housing is an opportunity that started before we created the initiative working with our religious institution. Every project is in the project that has a stamp on it to say this is the right project for this particular area as we continue to work to diversify around the city. I would have concerns where of which I already have shared multiple times my particular challenges with this particular developer based on personal experience and just looking at my constant neighborhood Facebook page and things that come up that are concerned. I want us to make sure that when we are approving housing developments, those developments have access to amenities, access to service, access to sustainability and quality of life. When we say we want aging in place, we want neighborhood continuity. Having this many units in this particular location would be a burden on not only homes but also the small businesses because right there you also have a gas station you have a little corner store you have a lot of individuals that are walking on the side of the road that are accessing whatever they need to access it would be very concerning to have this particular type of development. But what I would like to know is since the actual neighborhood meeting was in April of 2025, is their willingness to go back and have another meeting with the community since we are now going into June of 2026 to make sure that we have as much transparency in this conversation as possible, mainly because the biggest comments in 2025 was regarding Goodman. What we heard tonight was some other concerns. Those concerns are not addressed in this neighborhood meeting because the only meeting that is updated online is dated April 28th of 2025. Yes, we had

It's part of adding the additional property we had to have a new community meeting. So we did have a follow-up community meeting that's already occurred.

Staff, where is that information online? Because what I am looking at, so there's either a disconnect in what they said they have and staff actually providing, making sure the information is available for all to see. Where's this additional meeting information?

They did provide the, they did hold a meeting in February of this year and provided that community meeting report. I don't know if it's online or not. We'll get it updated if it's not.

so that will be something that will be helpful moving forward so that when we have petitioners come before us for a hearing all the information is available because that may have answered some of the questions that community had or given us the opportunity to know if there were additional questions that were held. I do appreciate that there are that one concession was made but there is a very clear concern regarding accessibility. Traffic impact as well as safety in this particular area. Thank you.

Thank you. I have Mister Graham followed by miss Mayo.

Thank you, Councilwoman Anderson. So this has been with us for a while. I've been to this. This is in District 2. I've been to this site several, several, several times. And so it's still with us. So I want to thank you guys for your patience. And I also want to thank you for coming down and speaking on it. I won't be very long. I think Councilmember Mayfield kind of summed up all the questions. that I had in reference to where we are. One thing that she said that I wholeheartedly agree with is that faith and housing is an initiative. It's more important to me the location. And part of some of the concerns that I have is a lot of these churches are embedded in communities. And that's the rub, right? They're embedded in communities and communities then are overwhelmed with a very good cause on their front doorsteps. And so I think knowing that being out there several times, I understand the dilemma that you guys are facing. but I also do understand the concerns, right? Because you, we plug it one way on Gitman road and it pops out somewhere else, right? In terms of how do you get into the property and how do you get out of the property? So I am willing to come yet again, uh, to walk the property, uh, with both petitioner and the community to ensure that, um, we are now responding to new information. And I, too, looked online for the community report just because I knew it was almost a year old and saying, wow, these guys didn't have a community meeting almost a year. And so that would help because I look forward to the day. Uh, and I didn't see it. And so very appropriate questions may feel ax. Um, and so I'm willing to come out, um, and work with the residents. Uh, we try to resolve and we resolve for Kidman. Uh, and it's like whack-a-mole based on this site, because the site is really compact, right? It is really compact. And it goes back to another petition that we voted on weeks ago, Ron. with the same type of element, right? It's a great mission, great congregation embedded in a community. And that's something I think we're going to have to kind of wrestle with because, especially with the smaller congregations, right? And you're trying to put up 50 homes. It's an impact. Uh, for a community that's been sitting lazy for four years. And so I want to kind of, uh, retrace steps, uh, come back out again and try to mitigate and resolve the issues, uh, to the best of my abilities. And then I'll make a recommendation to the, uh, for the counseling. You heard the questions and the concerns. Thank you.

Thank you. We're going to circle back to Ms Mayo and then Ms Johnson will bring us home.

Thank you. Sorry, can we go back to the site map that the petitioner shared with us, please? Yeah, I'm just wondering, one thing I found very helpful sometimes is when they put parallel parking on the side. I know that you said, you know, everyone's going to have space, but as Luana has talked about in previous experiences, you know, if you have gatherings and such, it can get really tight. I don't know if y'all were up for it, but I would be very much in support potentially adding some additional parking off the street. So maybe having people be able to like parallel park. I mean, I think, That could be an option if you could maybe make the streets a little wider. Are those going to be private streets or public streets?

The street here is a private neighborhood wide section. It's set up that way so if this property here ever redevelops, they can connect to it. It'll be another point of connectivity for the development. We have talked to CDOT about the opportunity for one street parking and It was actually too close in between the alleyways to have one-street parking, and plus we had to reorient the buildings so that they do face this street. We have some other areas where we can incorporate some additional one-street parking. Where we have it now was along here. There are a couple other spots that we can add some additional parking.

Okay, just wondering. I know that can be... a challenge, particularly in townhome communities. I have another quick question kind of when we talk about HOAs. I know some people are not fans of HOAs, but that's kind of where I got my start in. And I know that was one thing that I've been able to create a pathway to affordable home ownership by enforcing our covenants and CCRs and bylaws and such. So making sure that we had 20% or less of renters kind of in the community so that we're not having a huge influx of corporate buyers kind of gobbling up our neighborhood. So as a result, we've been able to have homes and townhomes for less than $230,000. I'm just wondering, I know we've talked about that seven-year deed restriction, but after that, do you all have an idea of thoughts about... are there going to be regulations regarding how many renters you want in general in this community?

Yes, that's one of the conditions that did come up at the last community meeting, and the petitioner is willing to have no rentals. That's deed restricted to each unit. Okay, Ms. Johnson will finish us up.

Thank you. I just want to piggyback off the whole HOA conversation. I know Ms. Hagler-Gray is over there, so I'll be careful. In reference to this petition, District 4, there was a home in District 4 that was foreclosed by the HOA. And I couldn't believe it because, you know, I'm from Ohio, and I sell real estate. That was just foreign to me, right? And then there was another one. They filed the foreclosure for a $100 parking fee. Oh, my gosh. And they had to fight. And we get a lot of emails about HOAs, and North Carolina doesn't have any oversight over HOAs. No, no, simple. Thank you. So you bring up some really great points as far as that. And then I talk about cumulative impact as our city's growing and as we're seeing the same, as we're seeing developers. And I've asked you this before, Allison, if we're tracking, if we as council have a way, and I know this is a land use decision, but if we have information on previous developments by the petitioner. For instance, I've said this before, if we have a list like of landlords, right, the good actors versus bad actors, we've talked about that. And I know if we hear, if there's any documentation such as from CRC or if we just have history about the petitioners that are coming before us, if we can start to track that information. That will be helpful for us.

That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Is there a motion to close public hearing?

Second.

All right. All in favor raise hands. Any opposed? That is unanimous. Yes, indeed. We will move on to agenda item number 16, petition number 2025-058 by Studio 19 Architecture, PLLC. The location is approximately 1.61 acres, located west of Sugar Creek Road, south of Honduras Drive, and north of Glory Street in District 1, my district. The current zoning is N1B. Proposed zoning is N2ACB. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to transportation, environment, and site and building design, as well as a requested technical provision. After staff's presentation, Alex Sittong, are you present? Okay, you can make your way over to this microphone here. After staff's presentation, you'll have three minutes. Thank you.

All right, thank you. Petition 2025-058 is a 1.61-acre parcel located on Honduras Drive, just west of Sugar Creek Road. The plan proposes the development up to 20 multifamily attached townhomes on a site that's developed with a single-family house. It's currently zoned N1B, Neighborhood 1. The zoning is N2ACD, Neighborhood 2 Conditional. The plan is not in alignment with the 2040 policy map recommendation for the Neighborhood 1 place type. The rezoning proposal calls for up to 20 units and a maximum of three buildings. Structures are limited to two stories. The plan will also construct a public street extension of Anna Garrison Road to connect to Honduras Drive. A 20-foot Class C landscape yard will be provided along the site's boundaries with neighborhood one place types. Publicly accessible open space will be provided and include elements such as planting, special pavings, seating, and interactive elements like a fountain. And a minimum of 20% of the facades along network-required streets will be composed of masonry materials. Restucco and vinyl siding and unfinished masonry units, CMU, are prohibited. While the plan is not in alignment with the policy map, it is consistent with the goals and policies of the North Intercommunity Area Plan. Plan meets minor map amendment criteria as it meets the minimum acreage, has preferred place type adjacencies such as neighborhood one, neighborhood two, and the site has access to transit. It's within a quarter mile walk of a neighborhood center place type and it's located in a housing gap. The proposed plan could facilitate community area plan priority goal two, neighborhood diversity and inclusion by increasing the availability of missing middle areas. housing options in the area. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues. The proposed neighborhood 2A zoning is compatible with the surrounding residential uses. The site proposes a low-rise multifamily dwelling that's consistent with the scale of the nearby two-story multifamily and single-family homes. It is within a quarter-mile walk of a designated neighborhood center, and the site is also served by transit. I'm happy to take any questions following the petitioner's presentation. Thank you. You have three minutes, sir.

Okay. Hi. Alex Saitong, Studio 19 Architecture. Quite simply, it's just a development for my client who is just trying to make use of this property, and he wants to emulate what's across the street, essentially another set of apartment buildings. So that's pretty much it. We have two questions. three apartment buildings, and two stories, again, we're trying to match what's there and be good within the architecture of the surroundings. We will comply with all the site and zoning requirements, setbacks, height restrictions, and all that's necessary for zoning. That's pretty much it for our design. Quite simple there.

Thank you. Any comments? Is there a motion to close public hearing? Motion to close public hearing. Do I have a second? Second. All right. I have a motion and a second. All in favor, raise hands. Any oppose? That is unanimous. Thank you, sir. We will move on to agenda item number 17, petition number 2025131 by Queen City Land LLC. The location is approximately 6.16 acres located north of Rocky River Road, east of Get Along Road, and west of Seven Oaks Drive in District 4, Ms. Johnson's District. The current zoning is N1A. Proposed zoning is N2A. And staff recommends the approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to transportation and site design and requested technical revisions. After staff's presentation, Cole Hunt, are you present? You'll make your way down. You'll have three minutes after staff's presentation. Thank you.

Thank you. This site is just over six acres along the north side of Rocky River Road, west of Seven Oaks Drive, in an area where you have single family, but there's been quite a few shifts in entitlements recently to neighborhood two developments to allow for similar products that we will go over here in a moment. proposed zoning is neighborhood 2A conditional. It is currently zoned neighborhood 1A. And this would not be in alignment with the neighborhood 1 place type that is recommended for the site. The proposal itself is for up to 56 multifamily attached quadruplex, triplex, or duplex dwelling units. buildings could contain up to six units but no more no more than three of those six unit buildings could occur across the site and there would be limitations of 140 feet in length for those buildings. In terms of transportation improvements we have a 12 foot wide multi-use path which is actually extending along the entirety of the parcel which is more than just the rezoning boundary that you see here so In this image, I'll show you, this is the larger parcel that it's sitting on, and the 12-foot multi-use path is extending along this entire frontage here. There would also be an 8-foot wide planting strip. Access to the site is via Seven Oaks Drive, and they provide preferred architectural and design standards, as well as open space standards across the site. The petition is considered consistent with the goals and policies of the northeast middle and outer community area plan. It's not in alignment with the policy map recommendation for the neighborhood one place type. In terms of our priority area plan goals it is considered to be facilitating potentially priority goal one for ten minute neighborhoods by providing housing diversity along area that has close proximity to activity centers along East WT Harris and also priority goal 2 could be facilitated by providing a mix of housing types in an area where a lot of the housing stock is dominated by single-family subdivisions that is transitioning to allow for more diverse options. We reviewed this petition using the minor map amendment criteria assessment because it is considered out of alignment with the current policy map designation for neighborhood one. And we determined it meets the minor map amendment criteria for a place type change to neighborhood two based off of its minimum acreage of six acres exceeding that of two to four acres, which is preferred. It also has preferred police type adjacencies of Neighborhood 1 and Parks and Preserves. It is also within a walkshed of Katz Bus Route 29, as well as within a half mile of a Neighborhood Activity Center, within an access to housing gap and frontage along a major arterial. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues. It's adding multifamily products consistent with what we're seeing in the area, meets minor map criteria, and it's also furthering priority goals for this area plan. Happy to take any questions following petitioner comments.

Thank you.

Mr. Hunt, you have three minutes. Thank you, Council Member Anderson. My name is Cole Hunt. I am a partner at Queen City Land, and as staff just mentioned, Discussed we will be asking for rezoning of in one a to into a property located just north of rocky river road north of really Creek Park inside for 85 is roughly. 6.16 acres of a larger track owned by United Westland church roughly 15 and a half acres. The property is currently zone in one a. There are a few into a conditional rezoning that have been approved nearby this map represents that. There's a site plan and again it's a conditional rezoning into a with a maximum of 56 units, a maximum building height of 48 feet, 15% of the net site area, and a 10-foot landscape buffer shown along multiple boundaries, 8-foot planning strip along the streets. Appreciate your consideration and happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Any comment? Hearing none, is there a motion to close public hearing?

So moved.

Is there a second? Second. Okay. Thank you. All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? That is unanimous. Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

We will move on to agenda item number 18, petition number 2025-133 by Carolinas Properties. triple I LLC. The location is approximately 11.29 acres located south of they'll view lane north of trailer drive and west of Dale crest drive in district one. My district, the current zoning is in one B and in two B proposed zoning is in one ECD staff. Staff does not recommend approval of this particular petition. After staff's presentation, Mr. Pro Tem, welcome back. You will have an opportunity to speak. Thank you.

Yes, Petition 2025-133 is an 11.29-acre site located at the end of Pine Meadow Drive, south of Niven Road. The plan proposed is approximately... Proposes the development of 27 single-family detached homes on a site that is currently vacant. Site zone N1B and N2B, neighborhood two, so it's split-zoned. Proposed zoning is N1ECD, neighborhood one conditional. 2040 policy map recommends the neighborhood one place type for a portion of the site and the neighborhood two place type for a portion of the site. The plan is not in alignment with the neighborhood two place type, but it is in alignment with the neighborhood one place type. The resigning proposal calls for up to 27 single-family detached homes, along with the extension of Pine Meadows Drive, coming in here from the existing subdivision north. and the construction of a new public street on the site. Proposed dwellings will include masonry facade materials, garage doors will receive architectural treatments, and units will be included, will include porches and stoops. While the plan is partially in alignment with the policy map, the plan is inconsistent with the goals and policies of the North, Middle, and Outer Community Area Plan, as the proposed plan does not meet the place type five, PT5 criteria in the Community Area Plan. pt5 criteria are utilized to ensure that new development within the neighborhood one place type fits existing neighborhood patterns focusing on lot size street frontage parcel location within the block proposed rezoning does not fully meet pt5 expectations because the lot width and dimensions are significantly smaller than those in the surrounding neighborhood and the plan would not facilitate any of the community area plan priority goals staff does not recommend approval of this petition in its current form the proposed plan does not meet pt5 criteria in regards to lot dimensions with relation to the adjacent single-family subdivision to the north the plan does not forward any priority goals of the community area plan the plan should utilize design open space and landscaping to buffer new single-family homes from the nearby manufacturing logistics areas and consider using more of the available land to create larger lots to match the surrounding neighborhood's lot dimensions. I'm happy to take any questions following Mr. Barnes' presentation.

Thank you. Mr. Barnes, I don't know if it's fortuitous that you're here in this building at this moment, given where we're at, but you know something about what's going on on the day. So welcome back, and you have 10 minutes.

Thank you, Council Member Anderson. Good evening, Council Members, Zoning Committee, and staff. I am Michael Barnes. I'm here on behalf of Carolinas Properties LLC regarding this petition 225-133. one bit of potentially good news is its single-family homes not townhomes. And to some of the points that Mr. Oliver made, the The left half, there are two parcels. One is this long parcel and the second parcel is what I call the box parcel. And there would be two proposed homes at the top left corner of the box parcel and the remaining homes would be along the long parcel. And by the way, there would be 24 homes. We'll correct that in the notes. The engineer drew it as 24 based upon site limitations. And there would be about 1.185 acres of tree save on the top end of the long parcel, and almost all of the box parcel will be undisturbed, so it'll be tree save as well. But in order to get the lot sizes appropriate in the zoning classification we're seeking, we are proposing to rezone the left half of that box parcel and leave the The lower half is in two. So there'd be a total of 24 homes along the extension of Pine Meadow Drive. And again, approximately two of those homes would be on the box parcel. It would provide consistency with respect to providing single-family homes, which are consistent with what's behind the site. I think I did that. I did not mean to. Hold on, guys. Sorry. Did I do that, Max?

It was either you or the booth.

Luckily, I was close to being done with the pointing part, but I don't know what happened. Anyway, as I indicated, the homes would be oriented along the long parcel and approximately two of the homes would be at the top left corner of the box parcel. I'm happy to take any questions and

Potentially get back the video here Okay any comment Hearing none. Is there a motion to close public hearing so moved I have a second all in favor raise hands Any oppose? That's unanimous.

Thank you, sir. Be in touch. Thank you so much.

We will move on to agenda item number 19, petition number 2025-141 by Darla Dalmita. The location approximately 0.97 acres located west of Statesville Road, north of Cochran Drive, and south of Misty Creek Drive and District 2, Mr. Graham's district. The current zoning is N1B, proposed zoning N1C. Staff recommends approval of this petition. And after staff's presentation, Darway Dalmina, are you present? Okay, you can make your way down here. After staff's presentation, you shall have three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. This site is just under an acre, located west of Statesville Road, along the north side of Cochran Drive. It's in an area where we have predominantly single-family uses, so there is a multi-family attached development that is just south of the site, as well as some commercial pockets around the site, generally. Currently zoned Neighborhood 1B, they're proposing to go to Neighborhood 1C, which is in alignment with the adopted place type of Neighborhood 1 for this site and the surrounding area. The project is within the West Middle Community Area Plan. It is considered to potentially facilitate the goal to neighborhood diversity and inclusion by potentially adding the ability to develop more infill housing near the commercial areas and points of interest that we have along Statesville Road. When we look at this petition, we also assess it using the police type five criteria, which Max just reviewed with you under the previous petition, which we look at for any neighborhood one rezoning going from one classification to a more intense neighborhood one classification and we consider this petition as meeting the place type five criteria within the creating complete community section when it comes to the fact that there is no real existing established lot pattern in this area that this rezoning would potentially be disrupting. The block to the south has more uniformity, but it's developed as multifamily. In terms of our average lot dimensions, this project does have larger lot areas than most of the comparable residential parcels that are along the north side of Cochrane Drive. And the lot width of the subject parcels within this rezoning also exceed adjacent and nearby residential lots within its same block. And it's located near a major arterial for Statesville Road, though it's not located directly along a major arterial. It's also within a block that is predominantly residential uses. We consider this meeting the place type five criteria that we assess this petition against. Staff recommends approval of this petition is consistent with the goals and policies of the West Middle Community Area Plan. It facilitates priority goal two, and I'll be happy to take any questions following petitioner comments.

Okay, thank you. You have three minutes, sir.

Thank you, guys. So this particular parcel has... like two lots, and based on this survey that was done, there's another property five feet away that have similar development, and we wanted to keep the property like the one that's next door. So we're trying to build single-family homes there and keep it in line with current housing stocks in the community. So we're not making no changes. The only changes that we are making is the entry into the back lot. And that's what indicate the N1A to B, I believe it is. That's what someone there told me. We're not making no extra changes. The same exact houses there is what we're building. Okay. That's it.

Thank you. Any comment? Hearing none, is there a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. All right. Thank you. All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? That's unanimous. Thank you, sir.

I appreciate you guys.

Absolutely. We will move on to agenda item number 20, petition number 2026004 by Chuta Demal. The location is approximately 1.94 acres located south of Oak Street, east of Oakdale Road, and north of Shady Circle and District 2, Mr. Graham's district. You're busy tonight, Mr. Graham. Current zoning is OFC. Proposed zoning is CGCD. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to transportation. And after staff's presentation, Chuta Damal, are you present? Okay, if you will come down to the microphone, you will have three minutes after staff's presentation. Thank you.

All right. Petition 2026004 is a 1.94-acre site located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Oakdale Road and Oak Drive. The plan proposes the adaptive reuse of an existing vacant commercial building for office, medical office, or retail uses. The site is currently zoned OFC, Office Flex Campus. The proposed zoning is CGCD, General Commercial Conditional. The plan is in alignment with the 2040 policy map recommendation for commercial place type. Resuming proposal calls for the adaptive reuse of an existing commercial structure that once housed a bank branch but is now vacant. Prohibits the expansion of the existing structure or parking and maneuvering areas. Permitted uses are limited to only retail office and medical office. A 25-foot Class B landscape yard will be installed along the property's boundaries with residential uses. The plan is in alignment with the policy map and is consistent with the goals and policies of the West Middle Community Area Plan. As the proposed petition could facilitate, Community Area Plan Goal 1, 10-Minute Neighborhoods, by developing office, medical office, or retail uses, therefore providing access to goods and services to the surrounding residential communities. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues, as the proposed plan is consistent with the goals and policies of the Community Area Plan. It's in alignment with the policy map, and it utilizes an existing vacant structure for neighborhood serving uses. I'm happy to take any questions following the petitioner's presentation.

Thank you. You have three minutes, sir. Hello, this is . I'm here to rejoin for this property for general commercial use. Right now, currently, it is offices is used to be a bank. We tried to use it as an office, but we could not use it as an office, so we tried to use it as a general commercial, and we did a committee meeting, and everybody liked what we were planning to do over there. So hopefully we can use that property for a general commercial, like a retail store, restaurant, or other type of medical use as well. That's all I have. Thank you.

Any comment? Hearing none, is there a motion to close public hearing? So moved.

Second.

All right. All in favor, raise hands. Any oppose? That is unanimous. Thank you, sir, for coming out. Thank you so much. Thank you. Absolutely. We will move on to agenda item number 21, petition number 2026005 by Thurman Brooks. The location is approximately 1.58 acres located west of Statesville Road, north of W. WT Harris Boulevard and south of Smith Corners Boulevard in District 4, Ms. Johnson's District. The current zoning is ML1 proposed zoning, CGCD. Staff recommends approval of this petition. And after staff's presentation, Mr. Thurman-Brooks, you will have three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll just wait for the PowerPoint to come back up. This site is just over one and a half acres along the north side of West WT Harris, just east of I-77, and along the west side of Statesville Road. It's in an area where we have predominantly commercial uses. It is currently zoned Manufacturing Logistics 1. They are proposing to go to General Commercial, which is in alignment with the policy mount's recommendation for the commercial place type at this site, as well as surrounding properties. That's outlined in red here. The project is within the West Middle Community Area Plan. It does not directly facilitate any priority goals. That's just by virtue of us not knowing yet what could occur on this site, though it could potentially once we know what might be happening here. Staff recommends approval of this petition. It is consistent with the goals and policies of the West Middle Community Area Plan. Again, it is in alignment with the Paul Smith's recommendation for commercial. So it brings that away from the industrial uses that are currently entitled for that site and shifts it over to potentially retail-centric and commercial uses, which is in alignment with what we're seeing happening along that corridor, especially along the west side of Statesville Road there. And I'll be happy to take any questions following petitioner comments.

Thank you. Mr. Brooks, welcome. You have three minutes.

Thank you. Yes, I'm representing the owner of the property. Currently, there's a sit-down restaurant on the corner. The current zoning, as said, is manufacturing and logistics. We are looking to do a conventional rezoning petition to General Commercial CG because we think it's more compatible with Exist at that hard traffic signal at WT Harris and Statesville Road. And its proximity to the interstate and the uses around it is adjacent to a shopping center, adjacent to a hotel. As staff said, it also aligns with the adopted 2040 policy map for a commercial place use, which is more aligned than industrial manufacturing use for that particular property. CG is defined as commercial use along intersections and arterial streets, which this checks both those boxes. The owner is, you know, for future planning and maintaining the value of the property, simply would like to have the flexibility for more broader uses there under the CG rezoning and that it would align with the policy map in 2040. So thank you. Do you have any questions?

Thank you. Any comment? Miss Johnson.

Thank you. So this is in District 4, and it's the old Bob Evans, correct? Is that right?

Yes, ma'am. It still exists. There's still a tenant operating.

So where are we supposed to get roast beef? I don't know.

Exactly. All these? Well, we hope they will be there a while, I hope.

Well, Bob Evans is from Ohio. We used to go to the farm as kids. So, thank you. That's all the questions I have. Thank you. Okay, I have a motion. Oh, I'm sorry. I do have a question regarding the zoning. Are there any excluded uses such as data centers or do we have any excluded uses for this site?

There are no prohibited uses because this is a conventional petition. And I'll have to check the UDO, but I don't believe that telecommution data centers. Well, this is a conventional petition, so there's no excluded uses. But if you wish to have a conversation about prohibiting uses, we can talk offline. Thank you.

We'll just close. Thank you. Thank you. I have a motion to close. Is there a second?

Second.

All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? All right, that's unanimous. Thank you, sir. We will move on to agenda item number 22, petition number 2026-006 by Good Properties. The location is approximately 5.01 acres located south of Robert Helms Road, east of Benfield Road. and north of Prosperity Crossing Drive in District 4, Ms. Johnson's district. She's busy tonight as well. Current zoning is CC. Proposed zoning is CAC1. Staff recommends approval of this petition. And after staff's presentation, Mr. Brown, you are up for three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. This site is just around five acres, located along the south side of Robert Helms Road, as well as the east side of Benfield Road, just south of I-45 there. It's located in an area where you have some office uses, as well as residential uses, a mix of single-family residential further away from the site to the west, and multi-family residential uses, as well as commercial uses in the area. Currently, Zone Commercial Center, and there's a small strip of land along the north side that is also unzoned as part of it being previously right-of-way, and is proposing to go to Community Activity Center 1, which is in alignment with the policy map's recommendation for the Community Activity Center place type for the site, as well as the adjacent parcels. The project is within the north, middle, and outer community area plan. In terms of our priority goals for this community area plan, it may facilitate 10-minute neighborhoods because it's proposing as any district that allows for uses that would provide for potential additional amenities, goods and services, or residential units within an existing community activity center. So that's helping create a more complete community activity center in this area. And on a parcel that's really currently underutilized, as you could probably see better in this image as parking lot of the parking lot Staff recommends approval of this petition. It is consistent with the goals and policies of the North, Middle, and Outer Community Area Plan. It would bring the site in alignment with its policy map designation and may provide potential amenities, goods, and services to the area by way of the Community Activity Center zoning designation. It's served by local transportation through Katz Bus Route 59, and it's also within the micro transit zone. And I'd be happy to take any questions following petitioner comments.

Thank you. Mr. Brown, three minutes. Good evening. Council members, Zoning Committee members, Colin Brown on behalf of the petitioner at Good Properties. Roy Good is here with me tonight. You all know I like interesting rezoning petitions, and this is interesting. I don't know if you heard Holly mention, but we have unzoned land. There's land that has no zoning on it. You could literally build anything. And as Holly mentioned, it's because it's a remnant from 45. So Goode Properties developed and manages these existing office buildings here, which they intend to keep and operate. Generally, we've talked with the community. This is a very heavily used path. It's a very nice setting. and the community is constantly asking us you know could this be a place where we can get some retail get some activity and so instead of just building it unzoned we thought we would bring this in to zoning under the UDO so we are seeking to rezone it to a CAC and yes that is conventional but this is a really unique site because it's currently unzoned This brings it all into UDO, and most of this site, these existing buildings, will remain. We've had multiple community meetings about this, including with the District 4 Coalition, and we've received very positive feedback about some more activation along Robert Helms Drive. Happy to take any questions. Thank you. Any comment?

Ms. Johnson.

Thank you, Colin. Yes, you do bring us interesting petitions, don't you? I have a question about the trips per day. So current entitlements, is that 3,405 trips per day?

2,405 trips per day based off the medical and dental offices present on the site. And sorry, that's existing use and existing entitlements based off of the retail that we see there. it' s 3405. the entitlements could allow for potentially more. is there a traffic study required? not at this time this is a They are not specifying the uses that could occur at the site. If they provide more information, or they would provide more information at the time of permitting, and then at that time if a traffic impact study is needed, it would be done at the time of permitting based off the trip generation assessed when they provide more information on the uses.

So if there are over 2,500 or 1,500 now? 2,500, 1,500, 1,500 would be required at the time of permitting. Correct. We're seeing a lot of conventional petitions. I know that's the goal for planning staff, but as a council member, I just want to share my concerns with the lack of information. Um, and I know that we don't have any school impact because I assume we, we must assume there's not going to be retail here, but that's an assumption that we have to make. Right. So, you know, I always talk about the cumulative impact and impact on schools. So I have a report. I have proof, guys. Here you go. You can pass that to zoning also, if you will. Okay. And it's a report, and it shows the information we're given about school impact and CMS school utilization. And you'll see that in 2020, you'll see how we're looking at numbers. So I would just, I think... For my colleagues, we need to request more information regarding these petitions. If you look in 2024, we approved a petition, and we were given the information that it would impact the school by 113%. But then a year later, we show a petition in that same school, Mallard Creek High, at 110%. When are we... calculating the petitions that we've approved. And I know that we were told that the school formula is really complicated and we wait and it has to be 20% over. But if you look at the information we're given, we are not given enough information to make educated decisions on the impact of this growth. So these conventional petitions were being given even less. So I just want, this is just district four. I had this report created because I've been saying this for five years now, but you can see in looking at the number, we're not looking at the impact of this growth on our schools. And so we'll look back in 20 years and potentially have overcrowded schools because we're looking at a piece of a puzzle, not comprehensively. So I'm concerned about the lack of information with conventional petitions. We don't know what we're getting. We know now that we approved something a while ago and are learning the impacts of it. So I just would prefer, and staff knows this, that we have more conditional petitions, especially in District 4. I don't know what the trend is that we're getting so many conventional petitions right now, but I just do have a concern about that.

That's all. Thank you. And I'll just add that we're going to have more information about current utilization for the schools for this petition in the next staff analysis. We're waiting on an updated memo from CMS.

And I'm happy to give you this report that we created. I mean, it was manually created. I think we need this type of information. I've been saying this for a long time, but here is proof. We have a petition from 2024, and the CMS school utilization is higher than one in 2025. It just doesn't, the math is not mathing. Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Mayo.

Yeah, I think this is an interesting study that Council Member Johnson provided to us. I know at the BPC meeting yesterday, Rocky McGregor talked briefly about, I mean, and they've also been talking about that in general, the fact that CMS is actually losing students. So just wondering how this relates to the fact that CMS is having a hard time actually attracting students there and how that affects teachers. I mean, now they're having to move teachers around. So these are very interesting things to chat about and how rezonings and growth in different places may impact students, but also staff. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Mayo. And it might be an opportunity for us to have CMS rejoin us. They've joined us over the last several years multiple times to talk about their calculus and how they determine how they build out additional schools based on population growth. So it may be an opportunity to have CMS come back and join us to give us an update on that particular calculus. Any additional comment?

Move to close. Second.

All right. All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? That is unanimous. Mr. Brown, stay with us. You're still up. As we move on to agenda item number 23, petition number 2026-010 by HAD Holdings, LLC. The location is approximately 4.0 acres located west of Twin Lake Parkway, east of Statesville Road, and south of I-485 in the ETJ in the County Commissioner's District 1, Miss Powell, closest to City Council District 4, Ms. Johnson's district. The current zoning is OFC proposed zoning ML1. Staff recommends approval of this petition and after staff's presentation, Mr. Brown will have three minutes again. Thank you.

Thank you. This site is right at four acres located west of Statesville Road and just south of I-485. It is vacant, wooded, surrounded mostly by industrial and commercial uses. Currently zoned OFC with a proposed zoning of ML1CD. The 2040 policy map recommends the manufacturing and logistics place type. This is a tier one conditional with just one condition that prohibits telecommunications and data storage facility as a principal use. The petition is consistent with the goals and policies of the North, Middle, and Outer Community Area Plan. Staff recommends approval of this petition as it would align zoning with the recommended place type. The site is adjacent to I-485. There are no residential uses in proximity and would align the zoning also with the neighboring parcels. And I'll turn it over to the petitioner.

Thank you.

Thank you. Council members, we've done a lot of rezonings in this area. This is an area where, under a previous ordinance, when these zonings translated to the UDO, they called it an OFC zoning, which does really not accommodate a lot of the uses in this area. Council Member Johnson, you are our only attendee at the community meeting. Based on your feedback, we did convert this from a conventional zoning to... A wonderful meeting.

I'm sorry.

We converted this from a conventional zoning to a conditional to include that prohibition on data centers because I thought that made sense there.

Thank you.

Happy to take any questions.

Thank you. Any comment? Hearing none, is there a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. All right. All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? That is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Brown. We will move on to agenda item number 24, petition number 2026013 by Avatar Holdings LLC. The location is approximately 3.9 acres. located north of Style Lane, east of Dixie River Road, south of Shopton Road, and west of Outlets Boulevard in District 3, Ms. Mayo's District. The current zoning is MUD-O. Proposed zoning is MUD-OSPA. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of outstanding issues related to site and building design. And after staff's presentation, Mr. Bryan Smith, you will have three minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. This site is just under four acres, located south of Shopton Road and east of Dixie River Road, just to the west of the Charlotte Premium Outlet Mall. The site includes a hotel just to the north. The subject parcel that we're talking about where the smaller area is currently vacant. Current zoning is MUD-O with a proposed zoning of MUD-O SPA or site plan amendments. 2040 policy map recommends the community activity center placed height. The proposal would maintain all commitments and development standards of the previously approved plan while allowing for an additional 7,000 square feet of retail and or restaurant uses in development area B. The position is consistent with the goals and policies of the Southwest Outer Community Area Plan and may facilitate a priority goal of the area plan in 10-minute neighborhoods by increasing the presence of goods and service options in providing 7,000 square feet of retail and or restaurant uses within a half mile of a single-family neighborhood and apartment community. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of an outstanding issue related to site and building design. The proposed retail and restaurant uses are supportive of this community activity center, which includes the Charlotte premium outlets surrounded by neighborhood two and neighborhood one place types. I'll turn it over to the petitioner team.

Thank you, Mr. Smith. You have three minutes and welcome. Good evening. And I'm here just to answer any questions. Okay. Any comment? Hearing none, is there a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. All in favor, raise hands. Any opposed? That is unanimous. Thank you, Mr. Smith. That brings us to our final agenda item for the evening, agenda item number 25, petition number 2026-022 by Orange Barrel Media for the Charlotte Hornets. The location is approximately 7.96 acres. located east of East Trade Street, north of North Caldwell, and west of East 5th Street and District 1, my district. The current zoning is UMUD OSPA. Proposed zoning is UMUD OSPA. Staff recommends approval of this petition upon resolution of a requested technical revision. And after staff's presentation, Mr. Brown and Mr. Balo can join us. Thank you.

Yes. Petition 2026022 is a 7.96-acre site located on East Trade Street uptown. The plan proposes to modify signage regulations permitted by the optional provisions of the existing UMUD-O rezoning petition 2008-129. And the site is the Spectrum Center. Sites currently zone UMUD OSPA, Uptown Mixed Use District Optional Site Plan Amendment, and the proposed zoning will remain UMUD OSPA. The site is in alignment with the 2040 Policy Map recommendation for the Regional Activity Center place type. The site plan amendment calls for the installation of a new 2,200 square foot electronic changeable copy sign to be mounted on the East Trade Street facade of the arena and the relocation of the existing 324 square foot electronic changeable copy sign from its current location on East Trade Street to one of the three following potential locations, either on the East 5th Street facade, the southeast facade of the building near the intersection of 5th and Caldwell, the south side of the building on North Caldwell Street. Staff recommends approval this petition as the proposed site plan amendment modifies an existing conditional plan. The proposal could promote a more vibrant pedestrian environment and help establish Uptown as a distinctive destination consistent with the 2040 comprehensive plan's recommendation for the regional activity center place type and Charlotte Center City 2040 vision plan by enhancing visual interests along the street. Similar signage requests have been approved through Uptown through the same optional provision rezoning process. I'm happy to take any questions following Mr. Brown's presentation.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem and other members of council. Being in the wrap-up position, I'll forego a presentation, except simply to say I'm pleased to be assisting John Palo of Orange Merrill Media, who's assisting the Charlotte Hornets. David Howard is also working on the project and former Council Member Howard. And again, we're just here to answer any questions. It's pretty straightforward. Opportunity to update and modernize the signage. And I'm glad to be here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Brown. I've had an opportunity to speak with Mr. Howard a couple of times on this particular petition. Any comment? All in favor of closing public hearing, raise hands. Any opposed? Thank you all for coming out. Mr. Powell, Mr. Brown, is there a motion to adjourn? So moved.

Second.

All in favor, please go home. Thank you.

Good job, Council Member Andrews.

Thank you. 🎵 🎵 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

17-year-old me would not think that I would be a Charlotte firefighter.

But life had different plans for James Pearson.

When we have this, this is like our life alert.

When he's not out saving lives, Pearson can be found at Fire Station 4.

Did you hear that?

giving tours and sharing his passion for what he does with others, something that wouldn't be possible without the Mayor's Youth Employment Program.

I honestly hold dear to my heart Mayor Youth Employment because without them I would not be in this position.

In 2013, Pearson was a high school senior interested in engineering when he first found out about the City of Charlotte's MIUP initiative.

About 60 to 70 pounds.

After being accepted into the program, Pearson spent his summer working with the Charlotte Fire Department.

My second or third week, I'm like, this is it. This is my calling. I caught the fire bug, as they call it.

And just like that, what started as an opportunity became a career.

I went in wanting to learn, wanting growth, and I did just that.

I was 16 and wanted a summer job.

It was 2016 when Mayon Eves first heard about the MyF opportunity at her high school. As a two-time participant, she spent her first summer working for Elevation Church and then came back the following summer to work for Charmec 311.

It was so cool for me to not only learn about it, but how it was able to kind of service and intake all these different requests.

Now, a decade later, she's putting the skills she's gained to use in her new role as a public relations specialist for the City of Charlotte's Communications and Marketing Department.

It really is something that I think I was always set for, but I didn't know that that opportunity existed without MIOP.

While some students move on to new careers, others like Eves and Pearson end up returning to the employers who gave them their start.

For employers, I think it's so important to understand the impact you can make by just creating an opportunity.

Neither Eves or Pearson thought they would be working for the city of Charlotte decades later. But all it takes is one opportunity to create a path to a bright future.

It's a dream. It really is. And I thank Khmer Youth Employment every time, all the time for this opportunity and changing my life.

Hey, I'm Aaron Tauber. I am the Sustainable Infrastructure Strategy Manager in the City of Charlotte's Office of Sustainability and Resilience. here to talk to you about our wonderful all-electric Firehouse 30. So we'll start here on the outside. We have a electric vehicle charger, one of our fire inspector's vehicles currently charging. So we have two ports here. There's another charger on the inside of the gate for our fleet vehicles. And it's also set up to be expanded to add an additional about 10 chargers behind the gate for our fleet vehicles. Another thing I'll point out to you too is looking down here, our surfaces are concrete. This is what we call a smart surface. So if you notice, it's light colored, meaning that it'll reflect sunlight. It reduces heat gain. and reduces the heat island effect that occurs in developed properties. So that reduces the amount of energy our beautiful firehouse needs to use to cool the building in the summer, as well as the surrounding community helps keep that area cooler as well. So come on, let's take a look inside. One more thing I'll show you out here is we do have some bicycle parking. So for folks who want to come to the firehouse using people power, they'll have somewhere secured to park their bicycles.

So as we head inside.

If we look up, we've got all LED lighting, helping reduce the energy use to light the building, also reducing the energy needed to cool the building as they produce very little heat. All of our offices and hallways do also have occupancy sensors so they can turn off when nobody is utilizing those facilities. So as we move in, we've got our break area. We want to make sure our firefighters are nice and comfortable and ready to respond to any emergencies. Then we've got our kitchen area. Lots of delicious meals being prepared here. One of the big things to point out here is, again, all electric. So we have electric ranges. So we don't have any fuels being combusted. Bring it upstairs. So another sustainable feature that you'll look at in this building is the surfaces. So the stairs, the floors, these are all durable surfaces, polished concrete, heavy duty tiles. This reduces volatile organic compounds upon installation to help increase air quality for the firefighters and all who come into the buildings. And here we have our locker room. So this is where the firefighters go to do what they do, to clean off. Key features in here, again, LED lighting. All of the shower heads are low flow, high efficiency shower heads, helping reduce not only water use, but also the need to heat hot water. And then here we have our laundry room. Front load washer dryers, these are Energy Star compliant units using lower than average energy use. So to encourage the use of reusable water bottles, we have bottle filling stations. along with dispensers on the refrigerators, which are downstairs in the kitchen as well. As we move on, remember the occupancy sensor controls. There is a lot of daylighting in this facility. So oftentimes the firefighters will keep the lights off even when they're occupied to avoid having to utilize that energy. So we'll step out here and talk to you. about something that everybody thinks of when they think of a firehouse, and that is the fire pole. But if you notice something, we had to step outside to go to the fire pole. And what that does is that ensures that the fire pole can go directly into the bay without having to have a mix of conditioned and unconditioned space. So that feature is important because when you have to go from conditioned space to unconditioned space, that requires some sort of mechanism in order to keep that space separated so that you're not losing heat or cold air through that connection. And by having a doorway that is a much more secure, more reliable separation than a mechanism or a boot that has to go over the pole that will often not work properly. So then you'll have to be conditioning space air that's coming in that wouldn't otherwise need to be conditioned. So kind of similar, right? So we have for cooling, we have a fan, very energy efficient window. Additionally, for comfort, very well So you can see how dark it gets for the officers and that helps bring out the light but also helps for comfort during the day. And you'll notice as we move into our bunk area that all of the windows will have similar shades as well as fans to keep our firefighters comfortable. So nice, comfortable, roomy space. Again, LED lighting with the heavy duty blackout shades on each of the windows in here. So here we have, first thing most people notice is our all electric fire engine. Runs on a battery electric propulsion. And here we have our high-speed charger. So when the vehicle is used, needs to be charged, it can pull right into the bay, hangs from the ceiling to avoid any issues with mechanical equipment around the bay. And the firefighters can quickly recharge their vehicle. after use. So one of the benefits of using an electric fire truck besides the lack of emissions and efficiencies gained by it is it's quiet. So when the firefighters, when they go to a scene, they are used to having their diesel engines running. So it took them a little bit of time when they bring this truck to the scene to get used to there not being any noise, right? So recognizing that there's not a problem, that it's functioning the way it's supposed to function and enables them to be able to better communicate at the scene of the emergency and helps with better response. So one of the features that you won't notice, unlike the fire truck, is all throughout the floors here is radiant, in-slab radiant heating. So this helps keep this unconditioned space comfortable when it's cold outside. And then we have these very large fans. So during the warmer months, these fans will circulate air and help the firefighters stay comfortable while also being efficient. So as we step in here, we've got our geothermal equipment. So this building is heated and cooled with geothermal energy. So this equipment is used to pump the hot and cool water through the building to help make it a comfortable building while being super efficient. This over here is our equipment for the firefighters to be able to wash and dry their turndown gear, so their firefighting equipment to ensure that any contaminants that may get on their equipment from the scenes that they visit Do not go into the building or make it home with them. So one of the other sustainable features that folks will not often notice are these horizontal opening doors. Most people are used to vertically opening doors. They take longer. to to open so these horizontal doors open and close much faster so that helps improve response time so the doors can open the truck can leave and they can quickly close behind it from a sustainability standpoint that gives you a benefit of the bay being open for a shorter period of time meaning that the radiant floor heating does not need to run as long or as hard helping save energy in that space. All right, so now we'll take you up to the piece de resistance. Let you take a look at the solar array that we have on the roof of the building. So one other feature that I wanna mention are these shades. These shades are on the southern facing side of the building, and that helps ensure that daylight can still get into the building without having direct sunlight, which helps reduce the amount of energy that's needed to heat and cool. So it reduces the heat gain, but still allows daylighting so that you can reduce the energy needed for lighting as well. And then here we have our solar array. This solar array will offset about 29% of the energy use at this facility, drastically reducing this building's carbon footprint.

Well, thank you for taking a look at and touring our first all-electric firehouse, firehouse number 30.

I encourage you to think about sustainability and energy efficiency in your everyday life. And if you'd like to learn more about the city's sustainability goals and other programs that we have in place, please visit the city website.

Hi, I'm Haley Gentry, CEO at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. The Terminal Lobby Expansion Project is the most ambitious, most transformative project in CLT's history. Being here today and seeing this project as complete is almost unreal because its creation has been in our DNA for nearly two decades. It takes hundreds of companies and thousands of people involved in the planning, design, construction, and management of an effort this monumental. And that doesn't even include the millions of passengers who experience this arduous process with us. Your patience, flexibility, and understanding have carried us through every door closing, every temporary wall, and every rerouted path. Thank you Charlotte. Telling the full TLE story is a challenge, but this film is our heartfelt attempt. It serves as a tribute to the project itself and to all the partners and individuals who made it possible. Please enjoy our story of a lasting legacy, building an airport fit for the Queen.

The terminal lobby expansion, the thinking about that started back in 2008, 2009, as we recognized our local customer base was building. The lobby was the same lobby that we had in 1982 when we opened up the building. And that year they served 2.8 million passengers. In 2019, when we actually started construction, we helped 12.7 million passengers through that same building. We needed more space. We need to think about, well, how do we expand that footprint and give ourselves more space to work with in the lobby pre-security?

The TLA Terminal Lobby expansion and expansion and renovation of the terminal, which is the front door. It's the first and last impression of any city, and it's important to have a good first and last impression of Charlotte. About 175,000 square feet of expansion, about 190,000 square feet of renovations, totals about 300,000 square feet to just improve the total experience at the terminal.

The challenge with that was we had development right up to the front door of what was the face of the terminal. We started that thinking early on because that informed a number of the different things that happened prior to building the lobby expansion, which included the hourly rental car parking deck, the terminal car front roadway. All those things had to be built, and when we built those, we moved them further away from the terminal so that we could create the space for the additional circulation and the reconstruction of the ticket counters and the bag claim devices and everything that we needed the space for.

The executive staff of the airport made it very clear, this is an airport first and a construction site second.

Take your typical concourse. We build those concourses outside of the security parameters of the building, so we don't have to worry about operations of how to get around planes and vehicles outside of the area, customers moving within your facility. The TLE project is open 24-7. We have to manage our project teams, our contractors, all those people while we're operating around our customers. You need a little bit of experience and a lot of patience.

If we could have just shut the building down and just came in and built this, we could have probably done it in about two, two and a half years. We had a six-phase project that took five and a half years to do. The first phase, which was some enabling work for utilities and things like that, the real work started in phase two and phase three. Phase two and three are these new parts of the building that you see. Phases four, five, and six were all the renovation phases for the project on both the ticketing level and bag claim. Took a lot of smart people. We have a really great team on staff and with our consultant partners.

We were able to keep this project open and moving by how we close the facility and what parts we keep open, recognize how the customers need to move, what areas they need to use in order to check in. The bigger challenges that we had was trying to take down areas that people actually had to use, ticket counters, baggage claim belts, and then keep them at the same capacity. The checkpoint closures were a moving target for us. We had them open and closed. We had construction walls around the front entrances. And so to the customer, it was always, where do I check in? We got our messaging to our customers through a lot of social media, our airport website. We did some operational studies on how many people can flow through the checkpoint at a certain time. We made sure that we kept that type of capacity open for our customers.

When we sat down, we started to think about what we needed to provide for our customers, enhancing the customer experience, how people move through the building. We were thinking about how they move through the checkpoints and trying to make that as easy of a process for the customer as we possibly could. We engaged Gresham Smith to help us with a signage plan that we could use throughout the whole terminal facility, setting up the hierarchy of messaging so it was easier for the customer to be able to navigate through the facility.

We all talked about the different key drivers for what's important to Charlotte. And then we took those ideas and we implemented that visioning into the actual architecture and the interior design of the project itself. We strategically selected key points of the experience as passengers walk through the facility and where to implement art there. We have these fantastic, very vibrant and different, I think that's what's key is there's such a diversity within Charlotte. The textile industries, you'll notice gingham patterns, sports, the different colors of the sports teams, gold accents, tipping the hat back to the gold mines and the banking industry that's here in Charlotte. Aerodynamic cues that create intuitive wayfinding, that's a nod to the auto racing industry. The airport thought it'd be really fun to engage a specialty manufacturer that creates these very Airport and airline influenced pieces of furniture. They actually used parts of old aircraft to make an info booth. The most prominent is the queen herself. She is the focal point. We said we need to build an airport fit for a queen. I didn't realize they literally meant we are going to build the building around the queen.

That really was one of the first things that we thought about when we thought about what we wanted the lobby to look like, what we wanted it to feel like. Queen Charlotte was always the center of it.

The mantra and the mentality really became a culture. It was God saving the Queen.

Queen Charlotte absolutely was a labor of love for me and for others, but for sure for me. Queen Charlotte was given to us in 1990. She resided in between the two hourly parking decks until we needed to tear those down and build the new hourly rental car parking deck. She went to a couple of temporary locations for a little while, but the goal always was to make her the center point of the Terminal Lobby expansion project.

She went off and had a facelift done. She got all cleaned up and pretty. Then we moved her into the facility.

We built half of the terminal, created an opening in the roof, and we lowered the queen down into her pedestal and then built essentially a protective case around her. All of the design inspiration is all centered around the queen. The swoop of the ceiling and the swoop of the canopy, there's a couple Carolina inspirations to that. Some of it is based off of the terrain and the Piedmont region and the mountainous areas around. It also is very much a nod to that's an extension of the queen's cape. When you are an arriving passenger, you come out of the bag claim, there are multiple visual points and even an opening in the floor that was designed specifically. First thing you see when you arrive in Charlotte is the Queen. The oculus is multiple elements. It's a way to illuminate the Queen. It's an extension of her crown. All signs, all avenues lead back towards the Queen.

The canopy was not one of the six phases of the building. That was its own thing. Covering eight lanes of roadway with a steel and glass canopy, we had to work really, really hard with some really tight parameters on how we put the steel structure up,

We just couldn't haul a truss from the fabrication site to the airport in one piece. We have to keep the airport operating, so we are flying these trusses in two pieces in a very limited window at night. Functionally, it keeps passengers out of the rain, but it also provided us an opportunity to provide the sky bridges that allow passengers to get from the hourly deck to the terminal without interacting with cars.

There were a large number of airports that were built in the 60s, 70s, 80s that are getting to a point where they need to do major renovations. Other airports have watched what we've done and have come to us and said, hey, can you talk with us about how you did what you did, why you did what you did, and what would you do differently? You can plan the perfect project, but it's never going to execute quite the same way that you put it on paper. And so being able to adapt to that, we got better at that in this project as we went.

CLT is now having an impact on aviation throughout the whole world. That's the culture at CLT, always ever pushing forward.

When I look at the lobby expansion project, this was a very complex, very challenging project. It is a testament to the people that dedicated their working lives to bring this to fruition. For the customers that are coming to visit Charlotte, what we have is a much better experience for our customers, a much better impression of our city, and something that I hope that our local community is proud of and happy with because it's for them.

What is MedConnect?

MedConnect is safety. It's improved roads, sidewalks, crosswalks, more streetlights.

Walkable neighborhoods.

Expanded rail.

More bus stops, more frequency, better service.

MedConnect is where all these plans will come together. Learn more at MedConnect.com.

¿Qué es MedConnect? Son calles mejoradas con vecindarios más caminables. Es servicio de tren expandido. Es autobuses mejorados con mayor frecuencia y más paradas. MedConnect es donde lo conectamos todo. Infórmate en MedConnect.com.

Hello everyone, I'm Zainab Sawani. I'm a sophomore at Davidson College and I'm double majoring in Psychology and Economics.

My name is Christy and I am a sophomore at Davidson College currently intending to double major in Psychology and Sociology.

I remember the first time the micro car pulled up. At first we were like, how will we know what's the car? And then it said micro on it. And then the driver was so friendly, we got to talk to her, learn about our experience. they were all very new and excited and i remember it was like so brand new and all this all like it was all glamorous and like it felt great yeah you get this kind of fomo for not like going around as much and kind of being stuck at campus and micro gives you that freedom especially as an international student to go explore beyond and like places i never knew existed nearby personally i love cafes and coffee culture and like trying something new so like if you tell me if you're telling me there's a cafe nearby within micro distance i'm there

available and more affordable because when we first got to the U.S., I personally was pretty shocked at the taxi slash Uber prices. So I'm really glad to have Micro as a more affordable opportunity for me to explore this area of North Carolina.

Oh, it's super, super easy to book a CATS Micro, right? You can do it just here on your phone.

Yeah, it's essentially just go to the CATS app, you plan your trip, buy the tickets, and then confirm your ride.

Yeah, and the thing I like is it's like a live map, so you can track your driver when he's coming, and throughout the trip, you can track how far it is and how you're going. So every time I sit in the car, I'm like, oh, like 15 minutes away, and I can see, because I'm not that good with directions, but the map knows. Another thing I like about RightShare is that you meet people you never would have met. We use it for a lot of stuff. We use Cast Micro to go get boba with friends, to go watch the movies, to go somewhere off campus because sometimes you're kind of stuck in this very rigorous academic environment and you need a break. So it's a good way to go somewhere new and lock in in a new cafe or something.

Yeah, sometimes we also go thrifting. It's a very nice activity with friends.

We recently went to get a birthday cake for a friend's birthday. We got her flowers, cakes, and balloons. It was a good surprise. And with the micro, it saved us so much time to get there.

Yeah, definitely. The 100% use micro.

If you're not, what are you doing? That's the coolest resource here.

There's a plane.

That's actually not very loud.

I know. I think they're doing that on purpose. I'm Sophie Runyon, and I am a... Oh, my gosh. My name is Sophie Runyon, and I am a... Oh, my gosh. Why, without saying hi, I'm tripping up? Okay, you're going to have to delete all that. I'm sorry. Okay. My name is Sophie Runyon, and I'm a Safety Management System Operations Coordinator here at CLT. As a Safety Management System Operations Coordinator, I'm helping build the framework to the safety management system that encompasses the airfield. The FAA in 2023 enacted in Part 139 Subpart E the need for airports to develop a safety management system. That's where my team comes in. Managing safety on the airfield is extremely important due to the life and safety factor, the high volume of traffic, and the necessity of air travel. My beginning at CLT started when I got hired as an airside operations intern right after I graduated college. My experience with the internship was amazing. I got to see the different sides of the airport, whether it was terminal operations, security operations, airside, gate management. I really got to pick which niche I liked the best and I ended up going with Airside mainly because I spent the most time there and it was the most hands-on. I think I have two favorite things about my job. I work with amazing people and I've made lifelong friends. The other part is I do feel like I'm leaving a meaningful impact on aviation safety not only for our airport but for commercial aviation in general. My name is Sophie Runyon and this is my CLT.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. So we've got a number of our electeds that are here with us today. I'd love to recognize them. If you're an elected official in the state of North Carolina or city or county, could you please stand to be recognized? Thank you. Well, it's my honor to welcome you for this celebratory announcement today. Michael Smith, I'm the CEO of Charlotte Center City Partners. We are an economic and community development agency here in Charlotte and a proud contributor to this economic development ecosystem that makes our city strong. It is a great day in Uptown Charlotte. So proud to be a part of it. Today is possible because of collaboration and partnership. This is how Charlotte and the state of North Carolina gets it done. Here today, we have the city of Charlotte, we have Mecklenburg County, we have the state of North Carolina, we have EDPNC, we have the Alliance, we have the CELC, and our team at Center City Partners. That's our team. To our guests... We are really excited to welcome you. This is an exciting time to be joining Charlotte. We are at a noticeable inflection point. We are witnessing this rare convergence of abundant talent migration, transformational public investment, bold private capital, all positioning Charlotte and our center city as one of the most compelling destinations in America. While other cities are debating, we are building. While others face constraints, we are creating capacity. And that changes the competitive landscape and positions us for opportunities like today. At the center of all of this is talent. We are a talent magnet. Every day, there's 157 people that are choosing the Charlotte region. They are choosing opportunity. They are choosing quality of life. They are choosing this place. And it is, we're excited by that. And it's my pleasure to introduce the Secretary of Commerce of North Carolina. Under his leadership, North Carolina reported job announcements and investments totals in 2025 that continue the state's reputation as the top destination for business. Please welcome Secretary Lee Lilly.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you very much, Michael, for the kind introduction. North Carolina is on a hot streak. We're like the Charlotte Hornets these days. We've got a great team. We're the hottest name in all of the industry. Last year was record-breaking, the most new jobs in economic development ever announced in the state of North Carolina, 35,000 new jobs, $24 billion in new investment. But not only that, it was superlative. We were named the best state in the country for workforce development, for economic development, and for the third time in four years for business. And we're incredibly proud of that. Mike talked about what makes that possible. I like to talk about our three Ps. Our great people, that talented workforce that we so depend upon to attract and grow great companies like the one we're going to talk about today. Great places like the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and the surrounding region, which do so much to make this not only a hub for business, but a wonderful place to live, to work, and to play. and most importantly, partnerships. So when you hear about new investments and what that means to make this community stronger and more vibrant, you also hear about a project that brings new innovation and opportunity for the entire region. Something I find particularly meaningful today is that it demonstrates that power of working together. And let me tell you, the crowd right here knows how to get things done together. For CEOs already doing business in our state, our style of collaboration needs no explanation. And we depend upon those same CEOs to tell new companies what it's like to work with Team North Carolina. It's a North Carolina way that's made us special. And with today's decision, another world-class company was taken notice of the way we do things and said, we're in. The company we celebrate today could have gone anywhere in the world, but they chose Charlotte, North Carolina. Our welcoming and collaborative reputation is well known in the business world. And this approach develops a dependable workforce that the company relies upon. Leadership that you see represented here today and out in the crowd, that leadership cares deeply about the people of North Carolina, about bolstering our economic resiliency, prioritizing workforce readiness, and bringing great paying jobs to this state every single day. We are committed to ensuring that North Carolinians have every opportunity to live healthy, happy, and prosperous lives. And that's our state's economy, and it's one that works for all people. I'm grateful for the leadership of our governor and for his vision for leading all of us towards a better, more inclusive economic future. And so now, let's hear the announcement that we've all been waiting for. It's my pleasure to welcome to the podium the 76th Governor of North Carolina, Governor Josh Stein.

Thank you, Secretary Lilly, for that nice introduction. Thank you for your strong leadership of the Department of Commerce. It is great to be in Charlotte, North Carolina, with all these good people. Mayor Lyles, thank you for having us. Lee Altman with the Board of Commissioners, Vice Chair, thank you for having us. All these city and county officials, our legislators, it is a great day. We are celebrating an investment in Charlotte, an investment in North Carolina, an investment in the people who make this such a great place to live, work, and play. I am proud to announce that SMBC, could you guess? SMBC is coming to Charlotte to establish its second U.S. headquarters. SMBC is bringing 2,000 good paying jobs and making a $50 million investment. And just in case the folks didn't hear that in the back, that's 2,000 good paying jobs, $50 million investment. These 2,000 jobs will pay an average salary nearly twice the Mecklenburg County average. That's 2,000 new opportunities for North Carolinians. And SMBC's impact on the state economy will be meaningful. Over the next decade, it is expected to generate more than $13 billion of economic activity. I had the privilege of meeting with the SMBC leadership team in Tokyo when I was in Japan this past October, and I was proud to be able to make the case for North Carolina for this next major investment. Japan is the number one source of foreign direct investment in North Carolina, both for capital and job creation. Every morning, more than 36,000 North Carolinians wake up and go to work at a Japanese-owned company. These talented workers are helping their companies to lead into the future, a future of new ideas and innovation. And SMBC's 2,000 employees are now going to join that legacy. North Carolina was proud to support this investment with a job development investment grant, or JDIG. In addition to the teams at the Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Economic Development Partnership, EDPNC, our nonprofit partner, I want to thank the North Carolina General Assembly. And I see some legislators. Can you all stand up again? I want to make sure everybody sees you to thank you. the North Carolina Community College System, including Central Piedmont Community College, UNC Charlotte, the Commerce Department's Division of Workforce Solutions, Mecklenburg County, and the City of Charlotte. Economic development is a team sport, and Team North Carolina is the best in the business. The way I see it, North Carolina was the perfect choice for SMBC to call home. First, as we all know, Charlotte is the nation's second largest banking center. It is abounding in talent. SMBC's investment is additional confirmation of the strength of this sector in this city. Second, here in North Carolina, we've been fortunate to experience some real successes in recent years. This past year, we were ranked the number one state for business, third time in the last four years. Ranked the number one state for economic development. Ranked the number one state for economic development. We were the number one state for job growth in the country in the fourth quarter last year. We're the number one state where people from other states are moving to. This success is driven by our top tier research universities and community colleges, our business climate, and our unmatched quality of life. But foremost, it is because of our people. Our highly skilled workforce makes businesses want to establish themselves and grow here, and that in turn makes other people want to move and settle here. To the team at SMBC, thank you for choosing North Carolina, and we look forward to all the good work that you will do here as you enjoy all the benefits that North Carolina has to offer. At this time, it's my pleasure to invite forward Hiro Otsuka, the CEO of the Americas Division of SMBC, and I will be honored to present to him a gift on behalf of the state. This is a pot by a renowned potter, Ben Owens, who's from Seagrove, not far from here. And on it is our state seal, including the phrase, which is to be rather than to seem. And by your decision to invest here and grow your future here, you are proving that you are being and not seeming. And we are honored to have you as partners. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Well, good afternoon and thank you, Governor Stein and Secretary Lilly and Mayor Lyles, and to many leaders and community members joining us today. It is an honor to be here in Charlotte to mark this important milestone for SMBC. Today, as the Governor mentioned, we are announcing an investment of $50.5 million. and the creation of 2,000 jobs over the next six years as we establish a second U.S. headquarters here in Charlotte to support our U.S. operations. This is a significant long-term commitment, one that reflects our confidence in this region and our plan to build lasting roots here. For those less familiar with our firm, SMBC Group has served businesses and communities for more than 400 years. We are one of Japan's leading global financial institutions, supporting clients across nearly 40 countries worldwide. In the United States, we have operated for more than 100 years. And here in Charlotte, we currently have about 180 colleagues with more growth ahead of us. Historically, SMBC Americas focused on commercial lending and supporting Japanese companies operating in the U.S. In recent years, though, we have expanded significantly in serving local US businesses, enhancing our corporate and investment banking capabilities, and building a strong global markets franchise. At our core, we support economic growth by helping companies invest, expand, and operate across borders. Establishing a second U.S. headquarters in Charlotte is a natural next step in advancing that mission, and our commitment to Charlotte extends beyond business. Since establishing our presence here, community investment has been a priority as well. Our employees have volunteered for and supported nearly 50 charitable organizations, including the Ronald McDonald House of Charlotte, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, and the American Red Cross. Through SMBC's Building Resilient Futures initiative, we have also expanded access to summer camp opportunities for low-income youth across North Carolina. As we grow here, our community engagement will grow as well. Charlotte is already one of the nation's leading financial centers, supported by a strong business climate, exceptional universities, and a deep pipeline of talent. Equally important, North Carolina's collaborative approach across government, education, and industry aligns closely with SMBC's values. So, Governor, we also appreciated your visit to Japan, meeting with our leadership, and your visit reinforced our strong partnership between North Carolina and Japan. That partnership is part of a broader relationship, I would say. Japan, as the governor mentioned earlier, is the largest foreign investor in the United States, and we are pleased to be among the more than 220 Japanese companies that have chosen North Carolina as a place to invest and create jobs. We are proud to contribute to that legacy here in Charlotte. Our second U.S. headquarters will support multiple business units, strengthening collaboration and enhancing operational excellence while enabling sustainable growth and continued high-quality service to our clients worldwide. We are proud of the jobs this project will create, but our goal is broader. Our goal is to be a trusted, engaged member of this community and a long-term partner in its success. On behalf of SMBC, I thank Governor Stein once again, the Department of Commerce, local leaders, and everyone who has helped us make today possible. We are very excited to put down roots here in Charlotte and grow together. Thank you very much.

Good afternoon. I'm Vi Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, and today is truly a special day for our city. As we gather in this historic uptown theater, now reimagined, we are reminded that Charlotte honors its legacy while boldly embracing the future. It is only fitting that we make this announcement in a place that reflects both where we've been and where we're going. Charlotte's story is being written and today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter. This moment represents not only a milestone for our city, but also an important expansion in the opportunities that we have to make. I want to thank Mr. Osaka and the entire leadership team that he has for recognizing the strength and potential for our great city. Your decision to grow your presence here speaks volumes about our community. With the creation of over 2,000 jobs over the next seven years, your investment will have a lasting impact. opening doors of opportunity, strengthening our economy, and helping more people build their futures right here. I also want to thank Governor Stein for his leadership and continued commitment for what we're able to do in our city. I want everyone to recognize that Mecklenburg County, Charlotte Center City Partners and the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance and UNC Charlotte for their dedication and teamwork for this transformational project. I want to also recommend, ask our members of our city council to stand and be recognized. We have such a great team to help us do all of this good work. This investment further reinforces our reputation as a destination for forward-thinking organizations and world-class talent. Thank you again for choosing Charlotte, investing in the Queen City. And now it is my pleasure to introduce the Vice Chair of Mecklenburg Board's County Commission, Lee Altman.

Good afternoon and thank you, Mayor Lyles. It's so wonderful to be with all of you. As it has been shared today, today is truly a great and historic day for our community, especially as it pertains to our workforce