City Council - Regular Meeting

in the City of Durham, with more on the way. These systems help families save hundreds of dollars per year, delivering long-term savings and environmental benefits. Together with our partners, we're expanding access to clean energy in ways that are equitable, strategic, and built to last. Learn more about how we're lighting the way toward a sustainable Durham at greenerdurham.net.

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Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Durham City. Oh, it's quiet in here. Welcome to Durham City Hall. Welcome back. It's been a good little break of three weeks, and I was glad to have everyone back in here. At this time, I'll ask that we have a moment of silence. Thank you. I'll pass it over to Council Member Rist for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. If it is your practice, I invite you to rise with me to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, and justice for all.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Good evening, Mayor Williams.

I'm here.

Mayor Pro Temp Gallardo. Here. Council Member Baker.

Here.

Council Member Burris. Here. Council Member Cook. Here. Council Member Kopach. Here. And Council Member Rist.

Here. Thank you. We'll go ahead and start with our ceremonial items. First up, Haitians of the Triangle will be read by Council Member Burris. As she's going, I had to spend some time in New York, and I went to a Haitian restaurant, Rebel. It's really good. I did go to get some Haitian doughnuts. They did not have them on the menu, so I hope that someone can bring me Haitian doughnuts. Yeah, please, they're really good. All right, if you will join her at the podium.

Up here. Thank you, Mayor Williams, for the opportunity to read this proclamation. Whereas the city of Durham is strengthened by the many cultures, traditions, and communities that contribute to its vibrant civic life, and whereas Durham's historic Hayti community stands as a powerful reminder of the enduring connection between African American history and Haiti's legacy as the world's first free black republic, and the city continues to embrace the diversity, cultures, and immigrant communities that enrich Durham today, And, whereas Haitians of the Triangle, founded on February 26, 2018, and headquartered in Durham, has spent eight years fostering connection, preserving Haitian heritage, promoting civic engagement, and creating spaces where Haitian families can thrive through culture, service, education, and community, and whereas at a time when many Haitian families face uncertainty, celebrating culture and community affirms resilience, inspires hope, and strengthens the social fabric of Durham, and whereas HOT proudly returns for its second year as a Haitian delegation in the Caribbean Carnival on Saturday, August 15th, 2026, representing both Haiti's rich cultural heritage and Durham's commitment to embracing the diversity that enriches our city. Now, therefore, I, Leonardo Williams, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim August, 2026, Haitians of the Triangle Recognition Day in Durham and encourage all residents to celebrate the history and contributions of Durham's Haitian community and join their cultural heritage celebrations in August. Witness my hand in the corporate seal of the City of Durham, North Carolina, this third day of August, 2026.

Good evening, Mayor Williams, members of City Council, distinguished guests, and members of my Durham community. In Haitian culture, we begin with respect. Before anything else, we honor one another. So tonight, I begin by thanking the city for this proclamation, recognizing and celebrating our Haitian community. On behalf of Haitians of the Triangle, thank you. Receiving this recognition ahead of our second participation in the Caribbean Mass Caribbean Carnival is deeply meaningful. On August 15, you will see colorful Karabila dresses, which are some of our traditional dresses, music, and flags. But behind every costume is a family. Behind every smile is a story of immigration and migration. perseverance, sacrifice, hope, and resilience. While Hart's name is on this proclamation, this moment truly belongs to every volunteer, supporter, donor, partner, friend, and family members who have poured their time, talents, treasures, and love into building our community for the past eight years. I'd especially like to recognize some of my Haitian elders, this is how I call them. If you are here this evening, would you please stand or give us a wave? Yes, my Haitian elders. So these are the men and women who, long before there was a formal organization called HOT, found one another, built friendships, shared meals, welcomed newcomers, celebrated our culture, and created a sense of home away from home. Many of us, including myself, are here today because they created community long before HOT existed. Thank you for laying the foundation that we continue to build upon. HUD's mission has always been simple, to build an intentional and authentic community. Today, more than 11,000 Haitians call North Carolina home, with over 1,500 living here in Durham. We are proud to contribute to the strength and vibrancy of this city. Personally, I never imagined that a little girl from, this is my street name, , so I was born in Port-au-Prince, would stand here today. I'm grateful for my village, my family, and everyone who believed in me, and to the city of Durham for believing in the power of community. as we proudly carry the Haitian flag with us today, and through downtown Raleigh on August 15th at Currie Mass, we will also carry the recognition of a city that celebrates its Haitian residents. Thank you, and remember, which means unity makes strength. Thank you.

Just a little excitement, I believe one of the first HOT meetings happened as Willie and I's restaurant. The very first meeting we hosted you guys and yeah, that's when I fell in love with Haitian doughnuts. So thank you guys for all that you do in making our community just that much more beautiful. All right, well, every city in America has a mayor, but tonight Durham has two. The other was sworn in this morning, and I have a proclamation to read, but I would like to invite the other mayor of the day to join me. If Mayor Mia Periccini will please join me. Let's give her a hand. So in a fundraiser to support our local theater, the Carolina Theater, there was a fundraiser where you could become a mayor of the day, you know, based on your support for the Carolina Theater, which is a jewel in our community. And her family, well, there was some competition, but she was over the age, Jennings Brody, but you beat her out. Yeah, so Mia has been here with me all day today. And normally, it would be just kind of fun and games. But it was actually real work today. Today is our first day back in the office. And so she came on a day where the agenda was pretty dense. And so I think that she may be potentially changing her major to political science. Fingers crossed. So she's standing with me tonight as we recognize I'm good friends, actually. I had a little bias in reading this one. I am a politician that has to make payroll. So I'm a small business owner like you all are. And so I'd like to invite my friends of Give It To The People up to join me. His proclamation reads, whereas North Carolina is the number one state for business three years in a row, and black-owned businesses are a driving force behind that achievement, vital to Durham's economy, driving job creation, innovation, and generational wealth, and whereas, give it to the people, has served as a dedicated economic development advocate for small businesses in Durham since 2015, partnering with the North Carolina Small Business Center Network, Durham Tech Small Business Center, North Carolina Central University, Black Wall Street Forward, NC Works, the City of Durham, the City of Durham and Durham County to bridge entrepreneurship education, workforce development, and community investment, ensuring owners have the tools and support to build sustainable enterprises. And since 2022, anchoring that work through the annual Black Biz Summit, a trusted platform for Black entrepreneurs, community leaders, and ecosystem partners. And whereas Black Biz Month 2026, Whereas Black Biz Month 2026 includes Give it to the People, networking, and a series of weekly educational webinars that connect entrepreneurs, business support organizations, and community leaders while providing practical artificial intelligence, AI, education for businesses seeking government, corporate and nonprofit contracting opportunities, strengthening North Carolina's entrepreneurial ecosystem. And whereas, as a state-level support for historically underutilized businesses faces uncertainty, community-led initiatives like Black Biz Month are essential, ensuring black entrepreneurs have access to education, resources, relationships, and policy advocacy to sustain and scale. Now, therefore, I, Leonardo Williams, and Mia Periccini, Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina, do hereby proclaim August 2026. Give it to the people Black Biz Month in Durham and encourage all residents to support the black business community, especially those operating small businesses. Witness my hand in the corporate seal of the City of Durham, North Carolina, this third day of August 2026.

Thank you so much. My name is Chisa Penix-Brown, and this is my husband, Montro Brown. We started this company through COVID. And if you know about COVID, you know what happened in COVID. It gave us an opportunity to be able to work together to build some of the things that we didn't see previously. As business owners, as an instructor working with the Small Business Center Network for over the last 15 years, when you're actually doing business, it's different than just talking about doing business. We always took the effort of looking at the things that weren't necessarily being done to make sure that other people had other opportunities. As we go forward this year, we also want to focus on some of our things with procurement, certification, because as Mayor Williams stated, the hub office has been closed. And so now we have to look at other opportunities for people to have things that are merit-based, for them also to still have certifications, but to also take AI seriously and being able to make sure that people understand how to do things, make it easy for them, and for them to be able to engage so that their businesses are sustainable. are some of our goals that we're working with. And so continuing to work with the city, we wanna thank everybody that is on the council, definitely the mayor, he has been a large supporter of our business, and everybody that supports us in our membership, which we started last year, that has almost 300 members in the last year. I think that it's really important for us to make sure that even if something is taken away, that we still preserve the effort that people have put forth in order to make sure that our businesses stay in business and even if they decide that they don't want to stay in business they can still have another path to be able to support their families and so this is an important thing for us to give it to the people and we greatly appreciate your time and your effort and this proclamation

All right, and thank you for that. I'll start to my left tonight, to my right, sorry, I started left earlier, for a brief council remarks.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We got three minutes, right? Got you, thank you so much. Good evening, colleagues, staff, residents here and online. It's good to see everyone. It's good to be back after a month away. It seems like the first day of school, kind of getting back into speed on things, so it's good to be here. I got just a couple comments. First thing is, I hope you all checked out the Carolina Blaze professional softball team here in Durham this summer, our new professional softball team. I got to go to their final home game last month against Oklahoma City. They scored eight runs in their first inning, got rained out in the second inning, but the game continued the next day and they won 11 to one. The Blaze didn't make the playoffs this year, but it was a successful first season. So congrats to Marcus Manning and the Sports Commission for bringing the Blaze to Durham and for supporting them. And I look forward to the Blaze being a big part of our Durham sports landscape for years to come. So go out and support the Blaze next summer. It's a lot of fun. The second thing, oh yeah, Mr. Mayor's got his like, yes, the tumbler from the Blaze. Yeah, a lot of fun. The second thing is two more serious things. So there's, you know, a lot of things happened policy-wise, but we were gone. The first thing, you know, at the federal level, the drumbeat continues to be pretty ominous in terms of federal legislation things happening. Things like continued war in Iran, concern about the SAVE Act and what it's going to mean for voter registration in elections. But there is one silver lining coming out of Washington, if you saw that last month, and that was a passage that came out without the President's signature but it's a bipartisan piece of legislation called the Road to Housing Act. First bipartisan legislation in like 20 years coming out of Washington. And for the first time actually ties federal resources for housing to housing production at the local level. So in some ways there's this emerging bipartisan consensus that we've got to address housing supply in this country, across the country, big and small towns. And so for the first time, federal housing policy and funding will be tied to housing production in some ways at the federal level. There's a thing called the Build Now provisions, which will tie money to local housing production. There's also an innovation fund that will provide grants from a quarter of a million to $10 million for cities that are actively boosting their housing inventory. That's for cities that are already doing this as well as new cities that are acting to increase supply. I've asked for a presentation from our housing director soon to the council so we understand better what this means for Durham. But I think this means potentially more housing dollars for Durham, which we need because housing is a critical issue in this community. So look forward to working with all of you and then looking more into what this means for Durham in terms of housing. The last thing to say is that the state level, same thing's happening. A lot of ominous signals coming out of Raleigh. The state did pass a budget. We've got a property tax levy limit coming up this fall. We've got election law changes to deal with. No relief on down zoning. And as we just heard in that proclamation, we've ended the hub office in Raleigh and the so-called equal business opportunity program in Durham. This is really a tough blow for the city of Durham, and we talked about this today at our work session. but there's one piece of legislation that came out that's really exciting and that is that durham is now the only city in the state that has been allowed by the state to set our own speed limits locally the statewide default speed limit in cities is 35 miles an hour we now have the right the only city in north carolina to set our own speed limit so we'll work with the transportation department to roll that out but it's a new opportunity to really increase the safety on our roads and meet our vision zero goals so thank you all i look forward to tonight's meeting thank you so much councilmember cook

Good evening, everyone, and welcome back, colleagues. I also was gonna start my announcements with the Carolina Blaze. Yes, I know, I've already ordered my jersey, I have my hat. It's so fun. If y'all haven't gone, I did get an opportunity to go to Little League night, and there were just thousands of little girls out there watching, women's softball, and it was so, so cool. Unfortunately, we did not win that game, but still very fun and excited to see where it goes from there, and congratulations. I think it was Tulsa that ended up winning the national championship, but the Blaze is in there for next year. Also, I wanted to just give a thanks. I did a ride-along with the Durham Police Department It has been my attempt to do a ride along or at least go along with every department that is a major department in the city of Durham. I've got a couple left to do, but I wanted to thank Officer King who took me out. We answered a call. It was actually an amazing culmination of resources wherein we had an individual that needed more support who was not in an altered state, I think is the terminology, and we had heart responders out there. We ended up with EMS. The heart responders and the officer that was with me, Caroline King, talked about a resource that everyone didn't know about even before then, and so then she was going to take it back to her team at Durham Police Department. And it was just so cool to see everybody sort of having this conversation. The individual was somebody who appeared in a different body, I think, than the pronouns that they preferred to use. And it was really cool to see that everybody respected that individual's pronouns and had just like really great conversations about resources. So I just want to send my appreciation out. for that experience. And then finally, one thing that I do want to bring up that we haven't discussed that happened on the state level which was the, I don't even know how to say it, the grab of IOLTA funding. You might have heard this term getting thrown around. I just want to give a brief sort of two-second information about what it is. So if you are a lawyer in this state and anywhere in this country, you can't keep client money in your own account. You have to have a separate account for it. And the interest that is garnered from that account, we call it the IOLTA tax or the IOLTA interest, that in every other state and in North Carolina was used to fund civil legal services. So it went to nonprofits across the state that were doing indigent civil services. And the state has just seized that money, which I don't know that they really have a right to do, and taken it away from almost all of the nonprofits that were getting that funding. So we have seen some places like Goldsboro who have had a bipartisan come together to support their legal services. I'm really proud to say that Durham in our last budget was still giving money. We've partnered with Legal Aid to do housing and eviction defense work. But you're gonna see those civil indigent defense programs being cut across the state because of this money grab. So just wanted to point that out as one of the really problematic things that we've seen coming out of Raleigh. Thank you. I know I went over my time, but I appreciate you letting me finish there. All right.

Thank you, Council Member Cook. Mr. Kobach, Council Member Kobach.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, everyone. So great to have you all with us to kick off this new fiscal year together. A lot of important work to do together, but I know Durham is up for the challenge. I would like to start by thanking Mr. Cal Bradshaw and the Environmental Services team for hosting me on a solid waste ride along last week. And it was great to see up close and personal the high standard of customer service that our frontline workers provide residents every day. And so it's no surprise that Durham scores really well compared to the state and national averages, well above in terms of resident satisfaction for the services they receive. I also want to thank Durham Parks and Rec and El Centro Hispano for hosting Durham Fiesta Latina this weekend, and for all the partners who came together to share resources and support not only our Latino neighbors, but also broader immigrant communities as well. I want to encourage folks to look for applications on the city's website and social channels for arts funding, for cultural events, and also for home repairs. So please check out those applications are open. So these are great resources for our residents to take advantage of. I JUST WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS EVENING THE FACT THAT WE'RE GOING TO VOTE ON THE ENDING OF THE EQUAL BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM, WHICH IS A REAL BLOW TO THE CITY, TO THE DYNAMISM, HEALTH AND EQUITY OF OUR LOCAL ECONOMY, WHICH GOES ALONG WITH THE ENDING OF THE HUB PROGRAM STATEWIDE. BUT I KNOW THAT WE AS A COUNCIL AND STAFF WILL LOOK FOR ALL THE WAYS THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO WORK to support our local businesses, diverse local businesses in all the ways that we are permitted to with the authority given, getting creative as we can to help continue to support this community. And finally, I would like to wish happy birthday to my son, Evan, who turns 14 today. um just want to tell him how much i love him um and thanks for making uh mom and me parents and also want to thank him for being flexible and allowing us to celebrate his birthday yesterday so that i could be here doing the people's business this evening so thank you all look forward to a great meeting happy birthday buddy all right councilmember baker

Good evening to everyone here in the Council Chambers and watching at home. It's good to see you all. I did see a few folks come in after we celebrated the Haitians of the Triangle Proclamation and just want to say thank you for coming and celebrate that with you. I know you all came in right after we finished that proclamation, so thanks for coming. A little over a month ago, We're in the chambers here adopting the fiscal year 26-27 budget. That means, colleagues, that we only have 11 more months to adopt the next one. And as we go into the fiscal year 26-27 budget, I want to celebrate our fiscal budget new year. Every generation faces its challenges. It just so happens to feel like we're kind of on the precipice here with major challenges. I'm gonna steal a term that council member Rist used, which is silver lining. But we are, I mean, we have to face some really tough realities right now. We're down tens of millions of dollars thanks to some successful property tax challenges that were honored last year that impacted our last budget, but will impact all of our budgets moving forward until the next property tax revaluation. Our largest landowner in our city does not pay any property tax. We're facing a cost of living crisis, a cost of housing crisis. We have record levels of housing vacancies right now. The federal and state governments just kind of feel like smash and grabs for rich people. They are dismantling public housing, defunding programs, ignoring science, reason, law, ethics. It really feels like we're in a rapid spiral to fascism. And this country is seeing record levels of unhoused populations, the fastest growing segment of unhoused populations being children and families with children. And Durham is no exception to that. We are seeing growing levels of unhoused populations. And yet, With all of this happening, I do feel hopeful going into this next fiscal cycle. A lot of folks are waking up to the very conditions that made all of this possible where we are today. We've kept to Durham's minimum livable wage for all of our workers, which has reached $25 an hour. We're one of the largest cities in the country that has fare free transit. 74% of our riders are low income. We are turning a corner as an organization on our philosophy around walkability. I do believe that we're moving toward turning a corner and becoming more walkable in the future. We have a new direction on and new investments in homelessness services. And we have new strategic plans coming this year in affordable housing and economic development. So a lot of important work ahead of us, a lot of challenges that we faced, but I do feel optimistic. We have to succeed, we have to do good work, but I know that we can do it. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Burris.

Good evening. Thank you all who are joining us in council chambers and also those who are watching at home. I won't bore you with all the details of my summer. I did quite a lot of traveling, learning more about how to be effective local leader. And I find that times when you're in space with people from across the country, learning from your colleagues who are in different municipalities, it does help to learn. We're all addressing some of the same issues when it comes to unhoused population being printed by your state government. So it's really helpful to go out across the United States and hear from others about how they're addressing those issues. So that's the bulk of my summer. I want to do some brief congratulations to the coordinators from PAC-1 and PAC-5. They hosted a Learn Spanish in Six Suites course with the help of our community engagement. They changed the name, so I don't really know where we're at with that one. But it was an awesome class to see a lot of older folks, seasoned people, who came out to learn Spanish within six weeks. And so I started this first session, but summer kind of took me away from that. I also want to give a special shout out to the Durham Business Professional chain, as they yesterday hosted their pre-apprenticeship graduation ceremony, where they graduated 55 people of all different ages and backgrounds. And they came away with degree, they did a 16-week apprenticeship program. I'm in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical. So while we have taken some hits from the state in terms of like our hub office, if you are out building in this world, you now know where to go to find people who have that training in electrical work, carpentry. So let's just think about ways that actually engage folks who have taken the time to learn new skill set and ensuring that we are empowering them moving forward. Also, I want to draw attention to this North Carolina House Bill 958, the election omnibus bill. Our state has been very, very, very busy between things that were tucked into the budget. But also, this bill is really important. I think it goes back to the House for a final vote before it goes to the governor's office. This will essentially, as it currently stands, it's going to cut early vote in the primary from 17 to 10 days. If you know in North Carolina, our elections are normally decided by our primary. So it's really important to pay attention to that. They're going to make some changes also to transparency around campaign finances, as well as allowing people to challenge more eligible voters and then more changes to make our elections more partisan. As you know, a lot of powers were taken away from our governor and now holds elections in the power to state auditor, which is something new for all of us. So I want to make sure that we are guarding our democracy and thinking about who has access to the ballot and making sure we're advocating at all levels of government. So thank you all for being here and look forward to an efficient meeting tonight.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, good evening everyone. Thank you to all my colleagues for their good comments. The nice part about going second to last is I don't have very much to say. This fall we will be, Council Member Baker addressed some of it, but I do wanna thank both the Mayor and Chair Dr. Lee for hosting earlier this summer the Violence Reduction Summit. Our violence reduction plan or strategy coming out later this fall. It's really critical work that both the county, the city, and the schools, and many, many other stakeholders are working on. You will also see an updated housing plan and updated Office of Economic and Workforce Development plan, and we are still rolling out our strategic plan. So we are very, very busy. And plans mean that actions have to follow. And I will say, I know that some residents have been a little bit frustrated, but I have been very pleased to see the amount of road improvements, bike ped improvements. I've seen some flashing lights around your bond dollars at work. And that's all really important because it lets residents know how their tax dollars are being used, and what their bond dollars are going to. The projects that we said we were gonna deliver, we are delivering on. And so I think that that's really important and I really wanna thank city staff for A, delivering those projects and then also letting residents know maybe why that lane is shut down or why their road in their neighborhood is shut down. It's to improve quality of life for residents in this city. My colleagues have spoken to some of the issues that we are seeing at both the state and federal level. I do want to remind folks that within the budget that we just passed, the General Assembly finally delivered, there is a large component around flock cameras, AI-powered cameras. Every state road across North Carolina will now be able to have that technology. We've been receiving some emails from residents. That is not a city decision. That is not a funding decision that we had anything to do with. And I know sometimes it can be confusing as to who's doing what, where, and how. That is your General Assembly members who have decided to do mass surveillance of residents across the state. Finally, I know that this Saturday there's a rally in Raleigh around immigration. Siembra is hosting it. It's called State Day of Action and Prayer. I think last week we saw one of the larger raids in North Carolina with 13 residents detained in the Wilson Creek wilderness area and at that point. For service members also participated in that raid, which is a first, so we are seeing more and more encroachment more and more dangerous tactics and if anyone believes it's just going to stop with immigrants and I believe you're quite naive. I have a saying, I might not be the first person in the camp, but I know I'm going to end up in the camp. So I know who I align myself with and who I have solidarity with. And I think that the more folks that can have that lens towards their neighbors and residents, I think the clearer we're going to get, clear eye we're going to get on who stands with us and who doesn't. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, one thing about going last is you hardly have anything to say because your colleagues have said it all. But I just want to just... high level top it off that if you just pay a little attention to the state budget, you'll see that it is I don't want to get Durham in trouble. So I'm just going to just say pay attention, make sure you register to vote and take your bus to the polls and make sure you vote. And I know we talk about federal issues a lot, but You're not gonna get anything to change at the federal level if we don't change the state. That's what really causes it. So to my fellow colleagues and peers and friends across the state, please, and if you're in a deep, well, just make sure you register and go vote. I know I recognized her earlier, but Mia Periccini is a, she's our mayor for today. She got sworn in earlier this morning. And she's been with me all day. She is a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill, majoring in environmental science. And I'm desperately trying to get her to change her major to political science. I think one day, I think she may have gotten the bug today. So we'll see. Also, I just want to give kudos to my office staff. Kamala Smith and Emmanuel Ago, Special Assistant to the Mayor and Executive Assistant to the Mayor. They know what my vision is for this office and trying to bring as many resources here as possible is what they really put their heads down and work toward. Emmanuel has bought nearly just, you know, he's always bringing things to me and I'm like, let's do it. Let's go after it. And we sit down and apply for these grants and we're up nearly about $300,000 just out of the mayor's office to the community. And what we do is we apply for grants and we partner with nonprofits in the Durham community and help them implement this work. And we're going to keep doing that. Not too much because it does take a lot of management. And one of the programs that Kamala applied for was a Bloomberg Harvard. I'm always talking about Bloomberg Harvard. She applied for a fellowship to help us have a liaison with the community safety department and carry out some of the work that's happening there around the violent crime reduction work. And so I'd like to recognize Hannah San Sebastian, please stand. We are so grateful to have her, a graduate of Harvard University, and will be staying in the Durham community for the next two years, working out of the mayor's office and community safety. And she had some folks to say, wait a minute, you're living in Durham? Are you okay? Actually, I'm so glad I'm in Durham. She's enjoying herself. And so looking forward to working with you throughout the next two years. Thank you, Hannah. All right, so like I said, much of the things I was going to talk about has been stated. Thank you, colleagues, for really bringing all of that stuff up. And let's go Carolina Blaze. We have a professional women's softball team here. And if you haven't been to a game, the next time there is an opportunity, please do. They are filling up the stadium, and that's a really good sign. So Durham is paving the way. And yeah. I did travel to quite a few conferences this summer, and I gotta say, please, please, please make sure you're paying attention to what's happening across the country, because Durham is kicking butt. We have our issues, we have our challenges, but we won't be defined by those challenges. Look at what's happening and see that we're actually doing it very well. All right, outside of my announcements, before we get started, there were some important things I wanted to address that was talked about earlier this morning in the work session. As many of you all have seen, there are a few encampments around the city. But also, you know that we just put $4.5 million toward this work. Government does not move at the pace of a social media post. It does not move at the pace of someone coming in to speak. We feel that urgency and that pressure is necessary, and it doesn't discount that, but it's very important that we do it the best way we can. Now, the city government is going to do the best that they can. We've allocated the funding for us to address the unhoused population. But at the same time, I will say, I personally am not okay with someone sleeping on the ground. I'm not okay with someone sleeping on a bench. or in a tent in elements that are just unsafe for them. So when someone comes and say, leave them alone, let them be, no. We should provide dignities to them. So there was an encampment at the Oakwood Park. It has been removed, and we provided dignified housing for everyone there. There were comments that stated that, yeah, you guys just put them in a hotel just to kick them out. That is not true. the families that have followed the rules of the hotel, which is a partner of the city, those families are still there and every child is still there. But if you're going to break the rules, if you're going to commit infractions that are against the law, we cannot force a partner to allow you to continue to stay there. And so we're gonna do what we can, but we cannot, I mean, we can't just let it be a free for all. And so, no, we're not kicking folks out. We're actually finding temporary housing for everyone that we possibly can. There was a comment made this morning for a public comment about the encampment on Fairville Street. Listen, I agree totally. And I hope that we can address the Fairville Street encampment like ASAP, as well as all the rest of them. But we do have funds that are in place and staff is working as fast as they can to hire people and help do case management. If you want to join me on Fridays, I am taking an unhoused individual out to lunch on Fridays. I walk my dog right downtown and we all talk. They all know who Mayor Williams is, Mayor Leo. And each Friday, I'll take one out just to learn their story. How did you get here? How did you get here? You know, how can I help you and help them understand the actual resources that are here that are available for them in Durham? So we're going to do what we can. Please don't think that this council does not care. And lastly, there were some comments made about the city just giving corporate developers money away and we catching the short end of the stick. For the record, our taxes are managed by the county. And yes, there were some applications and appeals at the very last minute. And yes, we had to give rebates back. That was what we had to do legally. So I want to just make sure that we aren't utilizing, I mean, everyone has the right to come in and say what's your policy. Because when those comments are made, we do get emails and I do get the messages, how dare you let this happen? And we obviously can't run a government responding and reacting all the time, but do know that you can look across this country and you'll see easily that this council and the city government cares more than most. So I appreciate everyone who's paying attention and I'll be reading out some statistics a little later and I look forward to welcoming everyone to continue to help make the city better. That's all I can ask. All right. At this time, I'll pass it over to Madam Deputy City Manager who's sitting in for Mr. Bo Ferguson to lead us through the priority items.

Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of city council. I have one priority item, agenda item number eight, resolution authorizing street closures for the 2026 movable city open streets in 2026 Durham Holiday Parade. The additional information requested during the August 3rd, 2026 work session regarding the collaboration with downtown Durham Inc. for the tree lighting event has been attached under agenda item number eight. That's all I have for you tonight.

Thank you, Madam Manager. Okay. All right, I'll read that. Madam Attorney.

Good evening, Mayor Williams, Madam Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, and members of the Council. It's good to see you. There are no priority items from the Attorney's Office.

Thank you. Madam Clerk.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Madam Mayor Pro Tem, and members of City Council. The City Clerk's Office has no priority items tonight.

Thank you so much. All right. At this time, I'll read the consent agenda. Item number one, Durham City County Environmental Affairs Board Appointment. Number two, Racial Equity Commission Appointment. Number three, Contract SD-202602, Acadia and Hammond Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements. Number four, Contract SD-202604, Stormwater Infrastructure Improvements. Number five, Correction to Ordinance Amendment. Number 16638, Amending Ordinance 16621. Number six, 2026 Appropriations Act Session Law 2026-41, an Equal Business Opportunity Program Ordinance Repeal. Number seven, Fourth Amendment to Service Agreement for Project Management Consulting Services, Turner and Townsend and Hirey, LLC. NUMBER EIGHT, RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING STREET CLOSURES FOR 2026 MOVABLE CITY OPEN STREETS AND 2026 HOLIDAY PARADE. I'M GOING TO PULL THAT JUST BECAUSE I HADN'T HAD A CHANCE TO READ THAT MEMO. I DO WANT TO LOOK IT OVER REAL QUICK. NUMBER NINE, AGENDA ITEMS SETTING PUBLIC HEARING FOR CONFIRMATION OF ASSESSMENT ROLES. NUMBER TEN, Amendment of Annual Support Agreement and License Agreement for Munich Software. Number 11, Construction Contract for Bike Lane Vertical Protection and Neighborhood Bike Routes 2 Projects. So glad that work is moving forward. Number 12, Maintenance Agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the North Carolina 98 Mineral Springs Project. Number 13, professional services contract award to Hazen and Sawyer PC for the maintenance of finished water storage tanks, engineering and inspections. Number 14, amendment three to professional engineering services contract with High Field Infrastructure Engineering PC for the fiscal 21 lift station improvements project. Contract number 18079. Number 15, professional engineering services contract with CDM Smith INCORPORATED FOR THE ELLIBY CREEK OUTFALL PROJECT. NUMBER 16, PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES CONTRACT WITH MCKIM AND CREED INCORPORATED FOR THE ELLIBY CREEK OUTFALL PROJECT. NUMBER 17, WE HAVE OUR PUBLIC HEARINGS TONIGHT, CONSOLIDATED ANNEXATION ANDREWS CHAPEL ROAD TOWNHOUSES. NUMBER 18, CONSOLIDATED ANNEXATION LEADSVILLE STORAGE 2. AND NUMBER 19, CONSOLIDATED ANNEXATION 2106. THAT IS OUR CONSENT AGENDA. the exception of item number eight.

I'll make a motion with the exception of number eight to adopt the consent agenda.

It's been moved and properly seconded. And of course, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much. I only pulled number eight because I was the one that talked about that this morning, one of the people, and I did not get a chance to see the memos. I just wanted to take a look at it really quick. I could take a moment to read it. You can just kind of give me a quick update. Okay, go ahead. No, go ahead. Give me a quick update.

So in regards to Mr. Mayor Williams, Madam Mayor Rotem-Caballero and Council, Kirk Archer, Special Event Manager for the Parks and Recreation Department. So in regards to the update to the memo we received, it explains a little bit more in regards to the event. So it is an event hosted by DDI. We work in collaboration with them. We provide resources, and we have in the past. Last year, we were a little more involved and provided some more resources and provided some decorations and help to bring some more light to the event and some more holiday spirit, as you can say, as well. So that is what we did this past year in regards to the event. And we plan on being more involved as well.

Okay, thank you so much. Thanks for that update. I was reading it here. I will say that this is a pretty important part of the festivities with the city. I hope that we can find a way to still make this happen. I don't want to mitigate that. I litigate that right now, but I'll be just sending a follow-up. We need to find the money to still make it happen.

Mr. Mayor, if you did see, so there is a reference to the, there was a request for $40,000 from the department that did not get funded. And so I think Mr. Archer can sort of add to this, but it sounds like the department will continue being involved at the level you were last year, but without the additional funds, you can't do the additional stuff you had planned with that 40,000, correct? That's correct. That's correct.

So it stays as it was rather than the additional things.

That's correct. Okay. We'll do what we can.

I was trying to read through it fast, but gotcha. Okay. All right. Well, still take a look into it, but thank you. Thank you. All right. Colleagues, I'll entertain a motion to adopt a resolution approving the closure of streets for the 2026 movable city, open streets in 2026 Durham Holiday Parade.

So moved.

Second. Been moved and probably seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. All right. We are moving at a pace that Councilmember Burr is disliking, so... All right, number 17, Consolidated Annexation, Andrews Chapel Road Town Houses. Rachel, staff report.

Thank you, Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Calviero, honorable council members. Good evening, I'm Andy Lester with the Planning and Development Department. It's good to be with y'all. Before I begin, staff elect to state for the record that all Planning Department hearing items have been advertised and noticed in accordance with state and local law and affidavits, so all notices are on file in the Planning Department. A request for utility extension agreement, voluntary annexation, and initial zoning map change has been received from Courtney McQueen with CUNITY for one parcel of land totaling 4.602 acres and located at 323 Andrews Chapel Road. The annexation petition is for contiguous expansion of the primary corporate limits. As part of this application, the applicant is seeking to change the zoning district from residential rural to planned development residential 6.085 to allow up to 28 townhouses. The property is currently designated mixed residential neighborhood in the place type map. The proposed PDR 6.085 zoning is generally consistent with that place type. Thank you, staff and the applicant are available for any questions.

Thank you. You've heard the staff report. Are there any technical questions or comments? Council Member Cook.

Thank you. Just one real quick question. Can you talk about the tree coverage now due to the fact that there's been a commitment of no mass grading? Can you just talk about how those two things interact?

Sure. So in the UDO, there are tree preservation standards in the environmental section, Article 8 of the UDO. And if a certain development is either under four acres or under four acres, there's no tree preservation or tree coverage required. If a project elects to not masquerade a site, the UDO allows them not to require any tree coverage for the site.

Okay, so it's a size or no mask rating, which exempts you from the correct the tree cover. Okay, thank you.

Yeah. It's a good question. Thank you. All right. At this time, you've heard the staff report. We have questions asked. Ready to hear from the applicant. How much time do you think you need?

May I have 10 minutes, please?

How much? 10, 12, please. Thank you.

Good evening. My name is Courtney McQueen, and I'm a landscape architect with CUNY. here with Tim Sivers tonight representing our applicant who's here tonight. The site is located at 323 Andrews Chapel Road. It is 4.6 acre parcel currently containing a single family home and farm pond. An existing access easement runs along the western property line and allows driveway connections from adjacent properties to Andrews Chapel Road. Tonight, we are requesting a tax-free zoning and annexation into the city of Durham for development of 28 townhomes. The existing zoning is rural residential. We are requesting a zoning to plan development residential at a density of 6.085 units per acre. This creates a natural extension of the surrounding neighborhood and is consistent with nearby residential densities which range from approximately 3.2 to eight units per acre. The future place type map identifies the site as mixed residential neighborhood, which encourages a mix of housing within connected walkable neighborhoods. This proposal is consistent with that vision by meeting 22 out of the 24 applicable comprehensive plan policies. The following slides highlights how the project's commitments support that policy consistency. The comprehensive plan encourages connected neighborhood expanding housing choices and compatible growth. Policy 33 discourages neighborhoods that make up only one housing type. This proposal supports that policy by introducing townhomes into an existing predominantly single family neighborhood. The site also is connected directly to Andrews Chapel Highland Subdivision through the future Shady Top Lane extension, creating a natural continuation of the existing street network. The map on the screen shows the surrounding neighborhoods within a one mile radius. Yellow represents the single family neighborhoods, green represents the apartment communities, and the proposed townhomes are shown in magenta. As you can see, the townhomes are integrated within the existing neighborhood rather than concentrated along the edges of the community, supporting a more balanced mix of housing. The proposal also commits to providing at least 10 homes with first floor bedrooms and full bathrooms, supporting aging in place, multi-generational households, and residents with varying mobile needs. Finally, while there are no affordable housing units proposed, the development includes a contribution to the Durham Affordable Housing Fund. Although there are no public parks within a 10 mile walk, the project provides onsite recreational open space in accordance with the UDL. The transportation policies focus on creating a safer, more connected, more accessible neighborhood through walkable design and coordinated transportation improvements. This proposal supports those goals with sidewalks, pedestrian connections, and a 10-foot shared use path consistent with the mixed residential neighborhood vision. As shown on the screen, the project provides pedestrian connections to Andrews Chapel Road and Shady Top Lane, extending the existing sidewalk network and improving connections between the surrounding neighborhoods and future destinations. The project also provides a senior vehicular connection from the future Shady Top Lane extension, helping limiting cut-through traffic and keeping Meadow Pond Drive and Shady Top Lane primarily for local neighborhood traffic. The environmental and public space policies focus on protecting natural resources and reducing environmental impacts. The proposal includes the required landscape buffer along Andrews Chapel Road and voluntarily commits to native tree replacement equal to 3% of the site's developable area. Those replacement trees will be concentrated along the eastern and southern property boundaries to enhance screening from the adjacent neighborhood. The existing farm pond has been confirmed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NCDEQ as non-jurisdictional and is not subject to stream buffers. The property owner is currently pursuing the process to drain the pond independent of this rezoning request. Finally, although there's no watershed overlay or impervious surface limits, the proposal voluntarily caps the impervious surface at 60%, prohibiting masquerading and limiting land disturbance to four acres.

Good evening, Tim Sivers with CUNY. We did hold two neighborhood meetings. The primary concerns from those meetings focused on traffic, site access, street safety, privacy, as well as neighborhood character. In response, we met with NCDOT to evaluate the possibility of direct vehicular connection access to Andrews Chapel Road. As shown in correspondence provided to staff, DOT determined that limiting additional access points creates safer roadway by reducing vehicular connection points and pedestrian crossings. Based on that feedback from NCDOT and the community, we added a few commitments. First, a temporary construction entrance on Andrews Chapel Road will keep construction out of Meadow Pond Drive and Shady Top Lane, the existing community. And secondly, we increased the native tree replacement to 3% when none was required. A conceptual site plan has been provided here for illustrative purpose only to help visualize the text commitments associated with our request. This illustration reflects the enhanced tree planting and screening commitments discussed this evening. In addition to the site commitments, the proposal includes contributions to Durham Public Schools and affordable housing, as Courtney mentioned earlier. Overall, this proposal represents the type of thoughtful, small-scale infill development envisioned by the comprehensive plan. It expands housing choices within an existing residential area, supports neighborhood connectivity, and incorporates environmental commitments beyond the minimum standards and provides compatible growth within the urban growth boundary. The Planning Commission carefully considered this proposal and voted seven to two to recommend approval. We respectfully ask that you follow the Planning Commission's recommendation and approve this request. Courtney and I are available for any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you so much. All right, I'm going to... Madam Clerk, are these all the speakers? Okay, got it. I'm going to start with, I think I did, just in case. The public hearing is officially open. I do think I called it open. All right. I'll start with Pablo Friedman. Followed by, oh, that's a recent applicant, applicant, oh, Chris Farris singing after that.

All right, three minutes. I feel like I won the lottery tonight.

Welcome, you have three minutes.

All right, good evening, Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, members of council, deputy city manager, the millions of folks who care about democracy in person and online. So I want to talk tonight about a couple things. So the public relies on the zoning map change reports to get a lot of critical data to evaluate these requests and to understand if the developers are making proffers consistent with the values of Durham. So unlike other zoning map change reports, this one, when you look at the impacts to the schools, looks at the current existing zoning code that it has, not the proposed one, right? So that's not what you're facing tonight. What you're facing tonight is a request to change that zoning, as you see up on the, application, they're gonna build 28 townhomes. The zoning map change reports calculates the impacts to your local schools as if they were gonna only build six units and that's incorrect, right? So the net impact to the schools according to the report is two. So if you look at a one third kind of metric or calculation, you would look I mean, I don't work in planning, I'm not a developer, but if a third net students come, you should be looking about 10 kids with our consistent expectation around proffers for education. I actually think the public is losing about $5,000 in terms of the proffer to the public schools, so I really think Again, the public relies on good reports built by the city to evaluate these requests. When that report is incorrectly produced, the public suffers. So I actually think the proffer for public schools should be doubled. And I'm also really concerned because we've seen a pattern over months where the planning department sort of misses the mark on some critical things and council doesn't hold the city manager accountable to that right we had the lease farm returning requests where they should have done a traffic study uh councilmember cook you called that an illegal moment right and there was no follow-through i think there needs to be accountability we have serious problems with over development in durham we have a serious issue right now of paramedics and the quality of provision We're adding more density to rural Durham, nothing wrong with that, I believe in density, but we have a serious problem right now where you can call an ambulance and you don't get service. I'm glad the county has funded more paramedic services, but in these reports we see nothing about the uh what the developer or the city is doing to mitigate some of that and so the issues continue to intensify and somebody's got to hold the hammer of accountability now i'm not elect official the 70 up on the dias are and i'd encourage you to leverage that microphone Hold your city manager, your employee accountable. Make sure the city attorney isn't playing it loose and fast with the planning director around these traffic studies. The public has a right to good data and to excellent decision making. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next, Chris Pearson.

Good evening, city council members. I do want to take a brief moment to back up the mayor on the whole changing, the mayor for the day, I don't know if she's still here, the degree to poli sci. My wife is a poli sci major, so she'd probably want me to back you up on that. I think this is an interesting rezoning case and ties into some of the things that you all spoke about at the beginning. There was the federal, There's also Council Member Baker's talk about our fare-free transit, as well as Council Member Burris' talk about job opportunities for folks who got into carpentry and all these other things. Building homes is a great way to provide those jobs. In this particular development, I'm not going to tell you that this is like peak urbanism. This isn't. That's not what this is. But at the same time, this development would be 6.1 units per acre. And if only one person lives in each one of these units, that's already an improvement on our very low density. We're a very sprawled out city. We actually have a lower density than Morrisville or Cary. So do you think of us as more of a real city than Cary? Or do you think of us as more of a suburb? We know that density means less clear cutting. We know it means less runoff. It's more environmentally friendly. We know it's more sustainable. And so this represents an improvement from the status quo. The big thing that I want to focus on is that this is actually less than a 10 minute bike ride from a Harris Teeter and a Walmart, right? This is going right near Briar Creek. So yeah, it's zoned rural today, and I don't know enough about why it's that, but this is right behind Briar Creek. So I think this is a place that really does make a lot of sense. It's actually only a three-minute bike ride to the number two bus, which is on our fare-free bus system. So those folks can, in 30 to 40 minutes, get to downtown Durham without spending a dime. They don't have to park and pay for parking. They don't even need a car if they can use that option. And so we're putting housing somewhere where we decided to invest in our fare-free bus system. There are bike lanes in this area that lead almost right up to where this property is on Andrews Chapel Road. There are continuous sidewalks that connect to Briar Creek. So is this a dream come true? This isn't where I would choose to live. I would want something that was a little less car dependent, but this is an improvement over our default of sprawl. So I would ask you to support this project. I would ask the applicant to really make sure that you focus on doing good connections to that sidewalk infrastructure and those bike lanes and make sure that people do have that as a viable option. But I would ask City Council to go beyond just supporting uh this project or approving this project but support all the things that we need to do to connect these networks together to make this a viable option to make sure those bus stops are comfortable when you only have 30 minute service on the number two that you can sit in the shade protected from the weather on a bench at that bus stop so this isn't just about approving housing near walkability bike ability and transit it's also about making sure that we do the things we need to do to support that and help reduce car dependence thank you thank you very much all right those are all of these speakers i have signed up to the applicant do you have a response or need to respond to anything okay

So those are the speakers I have. So therefore, I'll declare the public hearing closed and back before the council. Go ahead, Council Member Burris.

Good evening. I have a question for the applicant. Greetings. Nice to see you.

You as well.

Just a couple questions just in case I missed something. So I just want to understand a little bit more about the pond on the site. So I know that you all said the owner is currently draining the pond. So is their intention to build on top of where the existing pond is right now?

Yes, that is correct.

Yes. So how do you plan to stabilize that soil? just to prevent anything happening in the future. I just wanna make sure that we're setting everyone up for success in this. So just can you walk me through the process of what stabilization looks like when you drain a pond and then you intend to put housing on top of that?

Yeah, great question. That happens across our city a lot. I am not a soil scientist, so I don't know the details behind it, but I do know all the projects require compaction and working with soil scientists and geotech engineers that will provide the requirement to follow The core and DQ also have certain requirements of the draining and how that is done, but then essentially that soil is removed because it's topsoil or mud at the bottom of it, if you will, and structural soil is placed back in certain amount of lifts, usually 6 to 12 inches at a time and compacted, and then another 6 to 12 inches compacted, another 6 to 12 inches compacted. So not being a soil scientist, I don't fully understand the actual details of that and don't want to speak to those as I'm not licensed in that, but that is the general consensus of how that is layered and compaction is provided.

Thank you. And so I noticed on the presentation, it was the disclaimer about these are just drawings or renderings. They may potentially change. So do you imagine if you get to the point where you engage the soil scientists and worked it out that this could possibly change the existing layout of the project? Or just thinking about in the event that you find something, an issue with building on top of the soil, how would you mitigate that?

Yeah, they are illustrative. We haven't done illustrative without that pond or with the pond remaining. It's something that we had tackled at that time.

Okay, and then so question, and I do see there's no, they're not gonna be any affordable units offered. Can you help me understand a little bit more around how you arrived at the $28,000?

Sure, it's $1,000 per unit is what we came upon.

Okay, and then on your commitment to Durham Public Schools, I just have a general curiosity question. I know you come before council before. So when you guys offer that profit, like how do you resolve that? Do you write a check DPS or what does that process look like? Because I'm having a hard time tracking the money.

Yes, so typically at the when the homes are constructed the home builder whether that's the developer or not Will provide a check to DPS and then they provide that verification to the planning department To ensure that that text commitment has been held up And I'm pretty sure that's the route But you if you want to check with staff to confirm that please and I asked some of the school board members and I don't know So I don't want to ask you in person, but no, thank you so much for your time.

Those are my questions.

Thank you Thanks for that question. That's why I wanted to entertain the idea of going to the foundation, but that's going to take both boards to discuss. Council Member Cook.

Thank you. You can come on back up.

Thanks.

Hey, good evening. Are these units, are we thinking that they're going to be for sale or for rent?

They anticipate being for sale, but that doesn't necessarily limit someone from purchasing it and renting them, but the anticipation is that they will be for sale.

What do you think would be a ballpark cost?

It's still way early to, as you know, right, to guess. I would anticipate these being in the roughly 400 range. Okay.

I'm curious about this because, though I understand that the thousand dollars per unit was the method of sort of determining that that contribution. there's going to be a massive loss in what would be one unit of affordable housing provided, and so I was wondering if there would be any interest in rethinking that number and perhaps doubling that contribution. To subsidize an average median income for this area would, for a home, even if it's only two people, would be way more significant than $28,000. Yeah.

I did have that conversation with the client earlier today, and we discussed through that and anticipated a question surrounding that. And the client has agreed to increasing it to a total of 35 so we can't double It does have impact on the total financial cost So we want to do our part that we feel and that represents if I do the math in my head about 1250 a unit So we would be willing to increase that donation tonight to 35,000

Okay, thank you. I also, I heard your comments in response to this question at Planning Commission, but I'm going to pose it again. I understand that all native plantings might not be available at the time that you're looking for them. If they are not available at that time, it's a seasonal issue. Can we not delay? Can y'all not do an all native planting instead of all native just trees?

Yes, so I had this question from councilmember Copac earlier today So I reached out to my team actually on the phone on the drive here and talked to them and talked through that a little bit with One of my landscape architects that's more into the nursery scene and she said that doesn't seem to be the concern anymore So we will be committing and happy to commit to all plantings being all required plantings being native. Not just the trees.

Yes We love to see our native plants Yes. And then this question was also asked during Planning Commission. I wanted to follow up on that, which is the specimen tree protection. I know that we haven't done the tree survey yet, and that'll be done at Site Plan. Can you commit to protecting those if they are found in the tree survey at Site Plan?

That's something we'll have to look at during site plan with not having that analysis completed yet. I wouldn't want to commit to that. And then there'd be a specimen tree right in the middle of the proposed road connection. For that reason, I don't feel comfortable committing to that. But again, Courtney and I are both landscape architects and we'll do our best to save what we can, yes.

Okay, thank you. And then I have one question for staff. Thank you. Hi. I've asked this a lot of times, and I'm going to ask it again. 28 townhouses, and we think that there's only going to be one middle school student and one high school student living there? Is that really an accurate estimate, school impact?

Based on what Durham Public Schools has provided us in terms of their student generation model, that is what that model reflects. DPS has essentially created for each school region or school zone, each like Southwest, East, Southwest, they each have their own distinct model based on their expected student generation based on each housing type. So, but yeah, it is based on what DPS has provided us.

So this is based not only on townhouses, but also on the region in which the townhouses are located.

Yeah, the models are region specific. So each region has its own formula provided by DPS.

Director, did you want, I see you sneaking up there. Do you want to add something to that?

Good evening, Sarah Young with Planning and Development. I thought it might be helpful to share the ratios for specifically the townhouse type in this sub-region, just to give you all, and you know, this is straight up coming out of the spreadsheet, not making it up, right? So for a townhouse in the southeast region, K through five, the generation rate is 0.046 students per unit. For six to eight, grades six to eight, it's 0.018 students per unit. And then nine through 12 is 0.027 students per unit.

So we rounded up two of those, but we didn't round up the third. How come? I don't think we're having 0.06 students.

I'm not sure about that. So the spreadsheet, you literally plug in the number and it generates. I don't know what DPS has done in terms of automatic rounding. We can certainly follow up with them on that.

I mean, I'm interested. And if we're looking at what we're looking at today, which is $2,500 per student, that's a massive amount of money, particularly if it grows as a small project. I would be interested to know. It doesn't sound like any of those were greater than a half of a student. And so I'm interested why we only rounded up on two out of three.

I don't know the answer to that.

Okay. Do you all use the model that they give you and run the numbers, or do they run the numbers and then you just get the numbers and put them into our informational packets?

My understanding, looking for verification, is we run the numbers ourselves. They have given us this information, and once a year, they will update the regions and the rates for us, and then we just auto-populate it every time. So with every case, we pop in the numbers, but the spreadsheet and the ratios come from DPS, and they update it once a year. OK.

Thank you. Those are my questions.

Wait for staff, planning staff. I have a follow-up question for you all. It's okay. Hypothetically though, if someone, because my concern right now is thinking about draining upon and what happens once that soil settles. And so thinking about like, just is there any instance of where that has occurred or if that does happen to a home, this is like my own personal curiosity, that does happen to a homeowner, like how would we rectify that? Or is there any city department they would reach out to or?

That's a great question. I may have to. defer to senior staff. I have not seen a situation like that. But I think when you get a building permit, there is compact testing done. If my memory serves correct. But I don't know of any incidents in Durham regarding that.

And the only reason I ask that question, just for my colleagues, is just thinking about purchasing a home is a major investment. And so we want to make sure that we're setting our residents up for success as we see what's happening around some people across the country where they're unable to actually get homeowners insurance or they're becoming upside down in their loans because they, for some whatever reason, defects. I just wanted to ask that question and learn more about what that looks like and help us think ahead.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Kopach, did you have your hand up as well? I think you may have been in the queue before me. I appreciate that.

My questions were addressed by other council members.

Okay, great. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just have a few comments. So I think, I appreciate the comments from my, and the questions from my colleagues. Appreciate the comments from the audience. Appreciate the applicants coming forward. It's good to bump into you on the way into the city hall tonight. So I think you all have done your homework here. As one of the commenters said, not everyone wants to live in every development in Durham. I think for a small project, I think you've checked all the boxes here. I think you've done your homework. You've given us some dollars for the Dedicated Housing Fund, a contribution to DPS. You've exceeded the UDO in terms of the impervious surface. You've exceeded the UPO in terms of tree replacement. Yeah, you're consistent with 22 of 24 policies. No development is perfect. I think you've crossed the threshold here, so I'll be glad to support this project. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Anyone, Council Member Baker?

Sure, no questions. This is a small project. First of all, I really appreciate you kind of showing us the conceptual. I think that's important. I would like for more applicants to come forward, even if it's not a commitment, showing us the thinking behind what you're intending to do, even if it's not what you end up doing, what you're thinking about doing. I think that that's very, very helpful. We've annexed half the area of Manhattan since 2017 and dropped in the parks rankings of the top 100. cities in the country from 74th to 97th last year, 99th this year. And meanwhile, I think we've annexed that half the area of Manhattan for sprawl, auto-centric development. And this is a small a small parcel four acres um it is in the middle of uh complex uh contexts that is already very car centric i mean what what could you do um and that that being said i believe this is going to pass i'm going to be voting no because i always vote no or almost always vote no on these kinds of cases um And I think that we need a paradigm shift. And so that's where I stand on this. But thank you for some of the work that you've put forward here.

Yeah, also no questions at this time, but I'll just echo, I appreciate the work done by the applicant to align to a large degree with the comprehensive plan. I think it was helpful as always to have input from our bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission and appreciate your reflections on that to make sure that that's aligned with the expectations of our code. And I do agree with the speaker that this is an improvement, you know, on what would rather be largely car dependence and less density and does give us some more opportunities for some connectivity in this area by walking, by biking, which I think is really important. Thank you for the native planting commitment. And I want to concur with my colleague, Councilmember Baker, about the conceptual representation of the textual development plan. We hear that requested by residents. I'll be curious to talk with staff another time just about how to think about that for future projects, because we know that it's not, you need to make sure it's not viewed as a commitment, that that's where things will be. But it also can help to give a sense, based on the commitments you have made, like the alignment of the trees to the east and the south, and also just some of the expectations in the code. We're all visual people. And so while we don't want to burden all projects with the cost of having to have the graphic development plan, just having the picture was also helpful. So thank you for that. And I think it's a good project.

I'll be supporting this project. I agree with a lot of what has been said. And just briefly, you know, this is exactly where the comp plan was getting us towards. Increased density, improving, more connectivity, more transit. And we don't have the tools to do mass planning, especially when we have private property. personally believe it would be really really hard there are vested property rights that are protected in the state of North Carolina and I believe in that and so while except you know I hear what folks were saying it's you know sprawl whatnot it is a much tighter building envelope than what we have seen historically and it is moving us in the right direction And it's why the comp plan was important. It's why the comp plan was approved by council, not unanimously. It was a split vote. It was unanimously approved by county commission at the time. And it was approved by planning commission. There was a ton of engagement done in that plan. And this is an example of what that plan envisioned. 22 out of 24 comp plan policies. I think that was 91% if you do the math on that. I'm not turning down a project that gets an A. And if I wanted that, then I shouldn't have voted for the comp plan. But I did vote for the comp plan because I believe in it. I believe the work of staff and the community at that time. I look forward to supporting the LDC when we're able to do that. And, you know, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Is it exactly what I want? No. But I'm an adult, and I understand I don't always get what I want. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. I just have a few questions. I want to sort of follow up with what Council Member Burris was talking about. We do have some neighborhoods that are built on ponds in the city, and some of the older neighborhoods are dealing with some type of settling issues with their houses. They're having to get ramjacks and others. Can you all get, I mean, can you, and I don't know if this is a planning question technically or for you all, is there a way you can affirm that it'll be a... maybe commit to studying some of the potential damages that have been done with other neighborhoods. I can give you those neighborhoods, but making sure that you just sort of firm up to ensure the issues that they're dealing with now, 60, 70 years later, aren't gonna be dealt with there. I know you're not a soil scientist, so we don't have to get too deep into it, but I just wanna highlight that there are some neighborhoods that were built on water, small ponds, and they are, you know, they're, 50 60 years old now those neighborhoods they are uh in heavy rain you know they're having to deal with ponding of water um you know houses that are losing their foundation and stability so i think that this is a good project but on the front end you you have an opportunity to really look at do some homework and look at what's happened in the past and make sure that you firm up or double up whatever the stability method would be to ensure that that doesn't happen here

Yeah, again, not a soil scientist, so I don't feel comfortable making a commitment as a tax commitment, but I definitely will make sure and note on our plans that the soil scientists, the geotechs are paying close attention to this during the plan because of the concern with council.

Yeah. And I just ask, not tonight, but to staff, that's something I'll probably kind of follow up with as we're just moving forward, just looking at what things we need to put in place to. It's almost like the 100-year storm. You know, those policies may change based on the environment. Maybe looking at, you know, the same thing for households or neighborhoods that are built on water. Not asking for a commitment, just something I want to let you know that I want to follow up on.

We can follow up on that. Okay. Mayor Proctor.

So just because I want to, partly because this is a public hearing, I want the public to understand that I'm assuming A, that soil scientist has been improved and updated over the last 50 to 60 years, much like many other things within the building science terrain. And I would assume you would have to get a professional, like an engineer stamp on your project. once the calculations are done.

Yes.

Okay. And you can't move forward at site plan or anything else unless you have that engineer stamped drawing.

That's correct.

And then that engineer has a license that can get taken.

That is correct.

They can also get sued if they didn't do it correctly.

That is correct.

Okay. I just want folks to understand that that's the process. That goes for any kind of engineering, any kind of architecture, any kind of urban planner. Everyone has a license, a professional license and a stamp. And you are... regulated by the state of North Carolina and your license is in jeopardy if you do not do your job correctly. Same as a doctor or attorney, and so I just want folks to understand that that is that is the building science profession in many ways, and so that there are lots of checks and balances in the system that planning is also keeping track of. So I hear the concern from colleagues, but I would say that there have been a tremendous amount of improvements, just like we see with floodplain and impervious service and stormwater that has changed dramatically in the last 50 years.

No, and I appreciate that. And the only reason I'm saying this is the loop was designed by professionals at their time. It's a lot better now, you know, but we as professionals have oversight sometimes. So I'm just putting it on the record that it's something that I'd like to look into that, you know, you never could be too sure.

But you're right. Yes. And the client here actually has already started the process with GTA, already working on soil borings. She just handed it to me. So it's already started. We realized that. Thank you so much. Thank you.

All right. Those are all the speakers I have. And colleagues, there are no more comments. Yeah, close to it. Yeah. We are at the motion. So entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing Andrews Chapel Road townhouses into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with Narada G. Palahanda. So moved.

Second.

It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes 5-2 with council members Burris and Baker voting no.

Thank you so much. And I'll also entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of residential rule, county jurisdiction, and establishing the same as plan development residential 6.085 city jurisdiction.

So moved.

Second. Moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote.

And the motion passes, oh, I'm sorry.

Close the vote.

I'm going too fast. And the motion passes five to two with council members Baker and Burris voting no.

Thank you, and I'll also entertain a motion to adopt the consistency statement as required by North Carolina General Statute Section 160D-600. So moved. Second. Okay, you guys, you don't want to drop the gun tonight, I see. All right, please open the vote, please. One more vote, there we go, please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you so much. All right. Next up, consolidated annexation of Leesville Storage 2. Ready for the staff report? Thank you.

Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, and honorable council members, good evening. I'm Javar Jones with the Planning and Development Department, and I'm happy to be here with you.

So you competed with Aaron on the radio voice, I see.

He told me that when I joined the team, so I expected that, but I'm trying to keep it a little low key.

Sarah, is this on the application process already? Golden voice? Gosh.

Happy to be here with y'all tonight. A request for a utility extension agreement, voluntary annexation, and initial zoning map change has been received from Andy Porter of TMTLA Associates for three parcels of land totaling 29.48 acres and located at 2935 US 70 Highway East, 4615 and 4627 Leesville Road. This annexation petition is for a contiguous expansion of the primary corporate limits. The current zoning is commercial general and commercial general with a textual development plan, county jurisdiction. The applicant proposes to keep the current designation of commercial general and commercial general with a textual development plan, which the city must establish within its jurisdiction through a direct translation. The application proposes this annexation in order to connect to city water and sewer. The properties are currently designated highway commercial on the place type map. The proposed CG and CGD zoning is generally consistent with the designated place type. If the proposed zoning is approved, there will be no change to the place type designation of highway commercial. Thank you. Staff and the applicant are available for any questions.

Thank you so much. You've heard the staff report. Are there any technical questions or comments from colleagues? All right, thank you. At this time, I'll declare the public hearing open. And how much time do you think you need? I could get five minutes, please. Welcome.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, members of council, Pam Porter with TMTLA Associates. We're a landscape architecture and land planning firm here in Durham. And tonight with me is Warren Mitchell with Leesville Storage Partners, LLC, who is the property owner. And we're both available for questions. Thank you, Javar, for the overview. Just a couple things to recap. The property consists of three parcels and is approximately 25 acres in total. The adopted place type map is highway commercial area. Two of the parcels are zoned commercial general D and the other parcel is zoned commercial general. Zoning for all three parcels will remain unchanged as part of this annexation request. All three parcels are in the FJB watershed protection overlay and the annexation will not change the watershed overlay that will remain if it is approved tonight. The annexation would facilitate the development of self-storage in connection to City of Durham public water and sewer. The proposed development is fully consistent with current zoning as well as the previously approved development plan. Planning Commission recommended unanimously to approve this at their May 12th meeting and we hope that you will also approve it tonight and we are here for questions and thank you for your consideration.

Thank you so much. I do not have any, wait, applicant. I don't have any speakers for this case, so therefore I'll declare the public hearing closed and back before the council. Colleagues, any questions, comments? All right, thank you. At this time, I'll entertain a motion. Council Member Cook.

Thank you, sorry. I saw that it was already up, but it was really speedy. Ms. Porter, if I could get you the mic. I'm just curious about, sort of the long term plans for this site and wondering about water connection needs. It doesn't seem like the what is put in front of us right now is really necessitates water connection. I'm just curious about what the plan is long term for the site.

So it'll be self storage, but there will likely be an office that will need to have a bathroom with a flushable toilet. I see. Okay. So and also potentially fire protection for the buildings as well. Okay. I couldn't get the words out. Yes. It's been a long day.

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Thanks.

Awesome. Of course, Councilmember Baker.

Yes, thank you. This is 30 acres. 30 acres.

This is a very, very large parcel.

And we're talking about annexing 30 acres into the city for self storage. How much do we care about walkability? How much do we care about sustainability? How much do we care about creating true neighborhoods? I'm kind of confused how we got here actually. I'm kind of confused about the planning commission's decision on this case. This on his face, I really don't see any justification whatsoever. I can see justification for voting yes on the last one, even though I voted no. I really can't see the justification for voting for this one. I'm confused about why we are even seeing this and how this is moving forward. It's one thing to say, we need to move away from, we're contiguous with city limits. We need a certain parcel to move away from, to move and have access to city water and city sewer for sanitation purposes on something like a quarter of an acre or half an acre or an acre or even two acres. This is 30 acres. There's a lot that can happen here. And so I just want to I want to raise that for my colleagues, so that we don't just move this right, this is 38 is a huge parcel. As it sits right now I really don't see any reason to vote for it. And unless I get some a wild amount of new information i'm definitely going to vote no on this and encourage others to do the same.

All right. Yeah, I'd appreciate a response to that, because I was going to ask the same thing.

I would love to respond. Okay. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem, and council members. Thank you. And I do have some more information to provide that Council Member Baker had asked for. So let me explain the reason why we're in need of the utilities. So when we came here, We came forward to the county. There's a domestic meter serving the existing home that's there on the property. And that was going to be enough for our office. There was no public sewer available, so we were going to have a septic tank for the office. And that's the only needs we had there. During the site plan process, we found out that we'd have to have fire sprinklers, and it was kind of unique to the situation. The engineering department required a utility extension for the fire sprinklers. So that was what necessitated the utility extension. Also during that time, the subdivision behind us is extending sewer. And so that was the other reason why we would ask for the annexation for the utilities. Regarding the size of the property, a lot of it is very steep topography. and it's not able to be used for any purpose. There's also a 200 foot wide Duke power transmission main running through the property, which is probably six or eight acres. So really all we're gonna be developing is less than 24% impervious, which is considered a benefit since it's in the Neuse River. It's also in the Lick Creek watershed. Some of the subdivisions up there have had some issues with sedimentation and runoff, so we're keeping the density low. We also added eight acres, which is the most northerly property in order to get a driveway that was acceptable to DOT because there is so much development up there it has is causing sort of a traffic jam at the intersection of Leesville and 70 there are some plans currently to have a Durham freeway that some of those residential projects and even the industrial project across Leesville is going to be helping to extend that and getting another major artery down to 70 to help alleviate some of this traffic onto Leesville Road, but that's one of the reasons why we had to add that additional property, which was eight acres or nine acres, to get our driveway further away from 70, to give us a better access. And so I know without seeing the large picture and the aerial and the, like if you went to Google Maps, I think a lot of it would make sense.

Yeah, and thank you for that. And I appreciate all that. It does help clarify some reasoning here. And we definitely wanna be flexible and responsive to our small business community, of course, but we also have to make good policy and consistent policy and fair policy across the entire city. And for me, I am still not persuaded to vote for something like that. I mean, I haven't heard anything from my colleagues yet. So I need to get a temperature check, but I'm happy to extend and receive more information from the planning department on what is developable and some of the things that you talked about. But I mean, again, this is very large. I see no reason to vote for this right now.

Thank You councilmember Baker I think that's a fair question like what's possible and would there be interest in it I thanks for the extra information it is it's a tight spot with a lot of complexities with it from the topography to the easement and all the other things and yes that is a pretty interesting roadway there but it is a lot of land and I immediately thought maybe I could go hiking on it, but is there anything else that's possible that you'd be interested in? Not trying to compel, but as we're saying, this is a lot of land and this is our only point of leverage. So I think it's a fair question to ask in this moment. And I don't know if that's a question for staff or for you all, what's possible on there and what would be, if there's any interest.

Well, the site plan has been working its way through the city. As I stated, it's not a lot of suitable land on there, as large of a parcel as it looks. And the transmission, the Duke power transmission line, it's one of those large towers it's not a small power line easement going through there. So that kind of goes right through the middle, or close to the middle of it.

Right, and I'm not even saying build a housing development there, but in my mind I'm seeing, you know, the same situation in Chapel Hill where there's an easement and there's also a park under it. There's in Raleigh by the North Carolina Museum of Art, a similar situation. But it fits enough, it checks enough boxes for me to support it, but I was just really interested in the size of it just on paper when I first looked at it. just hearing storage unit. So that's why I asked those questions.

Well, some of the storage facilities you notice will have elevators, and that's kind of not desirable. This will be more of the one story. So you can get tighter, like on a smaller property if you have this multi-story. But this will be more in keeping with, I think, what's out there currently. You know, it's still a little bit rural. It's changing a lot, but I hope that answers your question.

Thank you. Have you ever get, you know, any more creative and want to come back and talk to us? You have some land here we'd love to talk. You might not wanna go far though. Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you. This is a question for staff. Thank you. For the place type map, it says highway commercial area. What is that? It's not just commercial general, right?

I KNOW IN THE POLICY PERSONAL STORAGE IS LISTED AS ONE OF THE PRIMARY USES FOR HIGHWAY COMMERCIAL, SOME AUTO-ORIENTED USES. SO BASED UPON WHAT THE PROPOSED USE IS, IT IS WHY IT BEST FIT WITH HIGHWAY COMMERCIAL.

I'M ASSUMING THAT'S BASED ON THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT PATTERNS OF WHAT YOU'RE SEEING ON HIGHWAY 70 AROUND THERE?

CORRECT.

yeah i'll just say you know and i say this because i said on the tpo and we are going round and round and round with uh ncdot on on highway 70 and what folks want to see and what they don't want to see and i can see why if you were thinking of a highway i mean sorry it's like a freeway project something like this would maybe be suitable right i don't love it but like i get the land use purpose of it but if you're thinking about how you might want to boulevard it which is what we're really pushing for then having self-storage is not the most high efficiency use of that land, because you want people to interact with that part of the road in a different way. You don't necessarily want the, you know, not that we don't need transmission shops or things like that, but that's not necessarily what you are desiring in the future. And so that's why I was trying to understand like, like I get why it's there based on what is there now currently, especially, but the hope is that we would be transforming that corridor into something that is better than what there is right now um which is you know quite frankly just kind of a hodgepodge of like stuff got put on a side of a road because it was convenient um so i'll just say that you know i don't love putting you know and i voted for at least two self-storage so like i get people need to have a place to put their stuff like that makes sense to me it's not even about that it's just about that that is a corner lot on leesville which is prime commercial real estate and do we really want to be using that corner for self-storage, or do we want to imagine that we could maybe use that commercial corner for something that's much more about urban connectivity, especially if we do manage to get the boulevarding of Highway 70? To be perfectly frank, they can't afford to put a freeway there. I mean, NCDOT is strapped for cash, so it's going to be an interesting journey with them over the next few years. But that's kind of where my brain is.

While you're up here, what would this be in the new disallowed LDR? LDC. See?

Delayed, not disallowed. Delayed.

What is the letter? The land development code. Land development code. LDC. There we go. In the LDC. What would this transfer to?

We may just need a moment. I don't know off the top of my head just to confirm that. I will say that with the development plan and the zoning currently for the parcels was, if I'm not incorrect, was approved by the county. And within that plan was limited just to the self-storage use. The applicant, I guess, at this stage should just want the... direct translation for it um we're not requesting to change it so given what the limitations were is why we got to this point but i would probably need just a minute to tell you what the incoming ldc zone this is going to be good go ahead aaron commercial heavy sorry do it again commercial heavy uh the zoning and the new ldc would be commercial heavy

Okay, I mean, the reason that I was asking the question about the long term use is because we often we often see self storage as a method of preserving land and then further development. So I was curious about that. But I also am sharing some concerns that I'm hearing on on this council. So I will leave it at that. Thank you.

Would she Let me follow up on hers real quick, then I'll pass it.

There is a large warehouse project that council approved maybe a year ago across Leesville. And it's tall, large warehouses. And so I think the context is appropriate when viewed in terms of the warehouse project. OK. Go ahead.

That's what I was trying to remember. Because right now, if you go on Google Maps, drive it or whatever, it's all wooded. But I was like, there's something going across the street. And I couldn't remember if it was one of the industrial parks that we've, but I couldn't remember which case that was.

I believe the, Aaron came with the planning department. I believe the case that the gentleman is referring to is Durham Gateway at Briar Creek. You approved about a year ago or so. um that is a it was a large project with about a million square feet of light industrial yep and then um 1850 residential units as well kind of the mixed use yeah it's not right across the street it's just down the street but it's in that general area it's just okay thank you but it's not across the street i don't think so i think it's a little bit further down a little bit further down here right

isn't it like whatever that road is it's kind of between the leesville interchange and the harris teachers in in that general area okay thank you and and that's the pro like i think about that project and it did have residential i know that that was a split vote on council it did have resident it did have a residential component like it was thinking about the land use in a way that was more integrated so i'll just leave it at that

All right, so you have what's here now. There is potential opportunity in the future. I guess I'll just, I'll wait for the vote, but Councilmember Cook stated something that really rung with me, and yeah, people do have these sometimes in place to preserve land. There is a lot of potential opportunity that's coming over there. I would hope you'd be interested in possibly what's there, but I can't dictate what you do with your business. I'M GOING TO JUST, IF THERE ARE NO MORE, GO AHEAD, COUNCILMEMBER KOVAC.

NEW SPEAKER THANKS, MR. MAYOR. JUST LISTEN TO THE APPLICANT AND MY COLLEAGUES AND JUST SORT OF PROCESSING THIS AGAINST, YOU KNOW, THE HOMEWORK I'VE DONE IN ADVANCE OF THE MEETING. I MEAN, I THINK THE COMMENTARY AROUND FUTURE VISION OF 70 IS INTERESTING. I DO WONDER, if there's a different kind of commercial we want to be there for one parcel, what that process would be like to direct that, right? And what the control really is there. So I can imagine something better in terms of, MAKING CONSISTENT AND FAIR POLICIES, I'M ALSO SEEING THAT THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH THE COMP PLAN, THE UDO IN ALLIANCE WITH THE PLACE TYPE MAP AND THE USES THAT ARE PROVISIONED FOR IN, YOU KNOW, THE COMMUNITY ALIGNED PLAN. AND SO THAT FEELS PRETTY CONSISTENT AND FAIR. I'M UNDERSTANDING ABOUT HOW A LOT OF THE LAND WON'T BE USED AND DEVELOP BECAUSE OF THE TYPOGRAPHY AND THE TRANSMISSION LINES. You know, but I am just sort of processing this question around, you know, future of 70 that may not be captured in our prior planning process that some of my colleagues have visibility into that I do not. So that's where I'm at right now.

Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate the conversation with colleagues here. I wonder if staff could come up. I have one other question about the self-storage use. And I wonder, because I think we're, Mayor Patem is correct, we've been talking on the TV about this ultimate boulevarding concept for 70. You know, DOT still says this is like a freeway. We've been pushing back against that. There are plans eventually, or one of the plans is to have this be a BRT corridor, correct? It's not one of the first corridors that we envision, but it's sort of like it's on, we envision that at some point, right? I'm just curious if there's any kind of, you know, I'm relying on the air to help me out here. In terms of the life cycle of a self-storage facility, is that a 20-year cycle, 50-year cycle? Because I can imagine as things are changing, we're not going to have BRT there in the next five years, right? But I can imagine at some point 10, 15 years down the road as we extend BRT there, if we can succeed at the boulevarding concept, right?

Mm-hmm.

I could see that becoming it's sort of changing gradually and maybe a self storage facility that's been there for 1015 years becomes now a new commercial venture right so any any wisdom on sort of like what the you know sort of likely or sort of potential lifecycle could be of this kind of. because I also understand that right now in 70, as my colleagues have said, there's a lot of hodgepodge of stuff there. It's on 70, I'm guessing that's why the place type map shows it as highway, what's the designation, highway? Commercial, yeah. So it's a very specific kind of commercial. But like, you know, 10, 15 years down the road, help me out here.

That's tough and I don't think you could simply say it's this type of use so it lasts about this long. It's going to, I think, more depend on the building construction. You can see there are self-storage facilities that are one story, very simple. They would have a shorter lifetime than, say, a multi-story air-conditioned climate-controlled facility that is going to be much more expensive to build and therefore is going to have a longer lifetime for the building. So I feel uncomfortable saying, oh, a self-storage facility lasts X number of years. I think there's a lot of variance there. And I couldn't tell you what the applicant is proposing.

No, the applicant's got it right. They may have an opinion on this as well. But I'm also wondering, as Durham is growing, are we seeing in some of the new developments that are happening, replacing a self-storage facility with, like, housing or something. I don't know if we've seen that, but I just wonder if that's, I imagine that could be, this happens for other uses, right? As things change in a city, those uses get replaced with others. So, yeah.

It could be possible. I think the proliferation of self-storage that we've seen the last decade or so just hasn't given us enough time to actually see if That's something that could happen. Most of the multi-story self-storage buildings that you're seeing, you're going to notice they don't have a lot of windows. So there would need to be significant upgrades made to the building in order to convert it to, say, residential. They will tend to have higher ceilings. There's a whole lot of factors that go on that might make that difficult, if not impossible. But I think the best thing to say would be we haven't had these newer self-storage buildings around for long enough to know how they might convert.

I appreciate that, yeah. I think it's a question about sort of like what, like the now and the future, right? And so it seems like, as I think one of my colleagues, Council Member Kopach said, it does match the place type map, right? We do have the place type map to envision what this community will look like in the future. And maybe in another conference plan after this one, it may envision some changes in 70. But I think at least for now, it does seem to match the place type map. I know 70 is a tricky, very busy corridor. So yeah, I appreciate the comments.

Yeah, I'll come to you in just a second. I think the other thing that I'm wrestling with is we're speaking conceptually about what's possible. But at the end of the day, it's your land. And I would rather be a partner in you with these conversations rather than a sort of dictating what. So I do want to say publicly I'm taking that into consideration as well.

Thank you, I just wanted to reiterate because I don't think this was clear in my presentation, so all three parcels are zoned commercial general to have a development plan. They were all rezone back in 2022 2023, so this is not like it's been zoned for 30 years and all of a sudden that somebody wants to develop it, it was it was approved by Council just a handful of years ago for this to be commercial general and. As Warren mentioned, the whole reason that the annexation request is before you is because he was thick in site plan and needed a utility extension. So I just wanted to make that clear that this is not like something that's been simmering for years and years. The council did approve zonings on all three of these parcels within the last handful of years. Thank you. The county. I apologize, the county.

No, we didn't do that. The county commissioners approved this. Okay, thank you. Just for the public clarification, the city council. No, it's fine. I'm saying that out loud so that residents know that this was in front of county commissioners in 2023, not in front of city council. Thank you.

And just to clarify, so the county commissioners, they, Ms. Porter, so the county commissioners approved a change or what exactly did they approve a couple years ago?

Good evening. They approved the self-storage with a development plan. At the time, we did not believe we needed a water extension. We were going to go with the existing meter serving the house. And then we found out we needed for fire sprinklers since the county approval.

Yeah, I appreciate the conversation from my colleagues. And I will, I guess, again, just say I can't even believe we're having this conversation. I do think it would be one thing if this were covering the footprint essentially of a self-storage, existing self-storage unit in its entirety and by itself. I'm not even that concerned. The self-storage unit is already there. I believe you should be able to add sprinklers. What concerns me is that this goes well beyond the footprint of the existing self-storage unit and covers much, much more land, which, I mean, an annexation is essentially, in some ways, a rezoning. You open up for a lot more kinds of development and as, And the mayor pointed out earlier, this is a rare point of leverage. I mean, a lot of communities don't get this kind of opportunity the way Durham has with all of our growth recently. And so I, again, I'll just say, like, I think we need to be very thoughtful and careful about these kinds of decisions. This is... How many acres? 30. 30 acres. This is a large amount of land. We've got to be good stewards of forested land, farmland, and make good decisions for our constituents, for the public. And I don't think that, as proposed, it currently does that.

Could you restate why you're asking for this annexation?

Fire, sprint.

Thank you. Colleagues, I get it. I think it's okay that I bring us back to the initial purpose because we've talked about a lot on a big plot of land that has a very simple request. That's why I'm asking us to go back to that. Thank you for answering my question with all my colleagues yelling at me. They're calling for motions before me tonight. They're doing everything. And Council Member Cook has her hand up again. So, you know.

We're just getting back from the break.

We just got to get our rhythm back.

Could you come up one more second? Could you tell me your name one more second? I know that Ms. Porter said it.

It's Warren Mitchell.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Sorry. Why did you ask for the whole three parcels?

Well, so, excuse me. It started with the middle parcel, and that's the one that has the The transmission line, and it really wasn't very big. That one is 15 acres, but with the topo and the creek and the intermittent stream buffer, it was a smaller parcel. But then this would have been, we bought it in 2017. And and then we realized that we couldn't get access to leesville road in that location uh because of all the uh growth and the backing the stacking from you know people coming from the uh from the north down to 70 so we had to get our access further so we bought the property next door um going past leesville And then the parcel on 70, which was not part of the development plan, is not part of the storage project. It was already zoned general commercial. And we bought it because a woman inherited it and didn't have any use for it. And I wanted to sell it. It's out there on 70. That one's the one on 70. It's not part of the storage project. It's just sitting there zoned commercial. So we bought it without any plans for it. So the actual piece being used for storage is probably 8 or 10 acres. And the rest is either not buildable or it's the piece out on 70 that we purchased it. It's on the other side of the power lines. And actually, the power lines go through half of it and cut out a good chunk of it. So that's sort of the process by how we got to where we are. I probably would do something different. I certainly would have more plans for the land if it was usable. Duke Power won't let us do anything under the power lines, absolutely nothing. They are firmly against They say that if a fire were to break out, we wanted to park RVs and boats there, and they said if a fire were to break out and burn those power lines, it would be millions of dollars in liquidated damages. So they said they do not allow use under the power lines.

Okay, so you can't cross the power lines, but one of the parcels of the three is on the other side of the power lines, and you've asked for all three of them in this annexation. How come?

That's a great question. We did not need that one annexed. It's not part of our project. I think we were just told to go ahead and do it because you have city property to the down 70. We're surrounded by city property. We thought we were just told to go ahead and get it in because the city, we assumed, would want it as part of it. um city limits if it was just kind of sitting out there by itself surrounded by city property um i used to think years ago that the cities would just annex property and then i someone told me that they can't just annex anymore it has to be volunteer or asked for now but that little piece on 70 was just sitting by itself we really didn't need to annex it it wasn't it wasn't necessary we didn't It's not a large piece, it's what, four acres maybe.

Okay, yeah, thank you. I mean, trying to balance what is kind of fair to you, but also like what is good use. I'm wondering if I could, is there staff, could I have a staff person? I'm wondering what an amendment to this request looks like, and if there is a method of, Reducing the size, just out of curiosity.

Sure, I believe you could simply amend the motion to annex whichever parcels you agree to annex. It's your call, and I'll defer to the city attorney on this, but it's your call as to if there are three parcels and you don't want to annex one of them, you could just state that in your motion to only do that. If you wanted to annex not along parcel lines, That would be a lot more difficult to do. We would need to get meets and bounds and surveys done and so forth to exactly where that would be. That would cause a delay in the decision of the case. But if you're willing to only annex two of the three parcels, just state that in your motion. That shouldn't be a problem.

Okay, interesting. Thank you. Yeah, I'm feeling, and I know that it's not technically, since it is direct translational zoning, it's not technically a zoning change, but like my colleague stated, an annexation is a massive boon. And we are trying to make smart decisions about up here about what we grant and what also we get in return. And we have pretty high standards, I think, for folks that come in front of us. Yes.

I just want to add one more thing to that, which is if you choose to not annex the parcel along US 70, we would also not be able to annex the right of way along US 70. We'd also have to have that removed. So just something to consider.

And that would create a hole too, right? Or like a, because it's all around, it would be city then, right? It would be a little hole if we didn't annex that one parcel along 70, correct?

I believe, I'd have to check the map on that.

Yeah, it would not create a whole there's actually a fair amount of land up and down us 70 that is still in the county. So the whole exists already this would have filled in some of it, but it won't create its own whole does that make sense.

I never thought this case would get this much attention, but Councilor McColl back. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And so for staff, I guess perhaps it's a question for the applicant, I think. So the right of way, if that third parcel wasn't annexed, is that a right of way that's needed for the project?

No, sir. It's not part of the development plan. The tract on 70, we have, no plans at all for it and do not have to annex it. I think we thought it was simpler to annex it, but we are happy to delete the property and there's 70 right away from the application.

And then could you just restate then how much of this site across the three parcels would actually be developed versus would be undeveloped based on your assessment of your need and the topography and the Duke transmission lines? Like what's the breakdown of what you're gonna be using?

So it's less than 24% impervious. I know that for a fact. And it's... So if you take out this, the two larger parcels are probably 20, I wanna say they're 24 acres or 25 acres. And of that, it's probably, if you include the set up of the big stormwater pond, it's probably half or 12 acres. But if you looked at, now we're, oh, by the way, we're 24% pervious of just the two. uh properties not including the 70 that which would be the 30 acres if you include 70 but if if we're 25 or 26 acres that's the 24 impervious and let's say it's between 10 or 12 acres of development but that includes a really large pond it's probably acre and a half of the pond and um

Yeah, so you're probably talking around six acres, if I'm doing the math right, of the 24% times the two parcels.

Of impervious, correct.

All right, that's helpful. And I'm also just reflecting on the recommendations of our partners, which, while I don't always follow, I try to take seriously. Our county is notoriously protective of the uses of its land, and our Planning Commission has reviewed and voted unanimously on this, so it's also something that I'm taking into account. consideration as I try and work through this and weigh all the details. But thanks for the answers to the questions.

One more relevant piece. The Parcel K, which is now called Borden Woods, the development behind us, and then the Gateway project that was mentioned, they both have to add a turn lane on Leesville to get more lefts out. So much traffic coming down and going left on 70. So we've agreed to dedicate right away on our property. Wasn't required for our project because self-storage just doesn't have traffic. It doesn't coincide with the peak hours or anything. It just, it's like it doesn't exist, but traffic-wise, but we're dedicating right away and they're building that turn lane and putting in our sidewalk for us. It's required for our project.

Thank you. Council Member Kopach, you're asking about the disturbance based on the site plan that the applicant has submitted. It looks like they have a limited disturbance of 14 acres in total, and the impervious is about 21%.

All right, colleagues, are we all good? All right. I'll go ahead and I call for the question. I'll entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing leaves Leesville storage to into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter to enter into a utility extension agreement with Leesville storage partners LLC. So move second, move the probably second, Madam Clerk, please open the votes. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes four to three with Mayor Pretempo-Caballero, Councilmember Baker, and Councilmember Ris voting no.

Thank you. My vote was misrecorded. I know that this is like an issue, but I voted no.

Wait, sorry, what?

You voted yes. Oh, okay. I think it was maybe just read into the record incorrectly or maybe it's just swapped Council Member Riss and my vote.

Do you want to redo it? I have it listed here on my screen as Council Member Baker, no, Council Member Riss, no.

Can you?

Oh, I have Council Member Riss card in my machine. So that is why. So yes, I assume we need to retake the vote. Yeah.

Let's just call the motion. Yeah. I'm going to call the vote again.

All right. All right.

This was a, I'm gonna call for the vote again to adopt the ordinance annexing Leavesville Storage 2 into the city of Durham and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with Leavesville Storage Partners, LLC.

So moved.

Second. It's been moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote.

And the motion passes four to three with Mayor Pro Tem Caballero, Council Member Baker, and Council Member Cook voting no.

Thank you. I'll also entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of Commercial General and Commercial General with a textual development plan, Falls Jordan District B Watershed Protection Overlay County Jurisdiction and establishing the same as commercial general and commercial general with the textual development plan, Falls Jordan District B Watershed Protection Overlay City Jurisdiction.

So moved.

Second. So moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open to vote. Please close to vote.

And the motion passes four to three with Mayor Pro Tem Caballero and Council Members Baker and Cook voting no.

Thank you. And lastly, I'll entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by the North Carolina General Statute, Sections 160D-605. So moved. Second. Moved and probably seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. That was a lot for what appeared on paper to be a simple case, but we don't often get 29 acres, 30 acres for one little spot. And last one for this evening, consolidated annexation 2106 Hensley. Ready for the staff report.

Mayor Williams, Mayor Pro Tem Cavallaro, honorable council members, still Javar Jones, still happy to be with you, planning development. A request for a utility extension agreement, voluntary annexation and initial zoning map change has been received from Jeffrey De La Rosa, an individual landowner for one parcel of land totaling .46 acres and located at 2106 Hindsley Drive. This annexation petition is for a contiguous expansion of the primary corporate limits. The current zoning is residential suburban 20 county jurisdiction. The applicant proposes to keep the current zoning designation of residential suburban 20, which the city must establish within its jurisdiction through a direct translation. The application proposes this annexation in order to connect to city water and sewer. The property is currently designated mixed residential neighborhood on the place type map. The proposed RS-20 zoning is generally consistent with the designated place type. If the proposed zoning is approved, there will be no change to the place type designation of mixed residential neighborhood. Thank you. Staff and the applicant are available for any questions.

Thank you. You've heard the staff report. Are there any questions? Comments? All right. Thank you. At this time, I declare the public hearing open. Is Mr. Garcia here? How much time do you think you need? All right. One minute. I'll take two, three minutes. Yeah.

Welcome. Good evening. So honestly, this is just for me to build a house for my family. Not really much to it. All right. Thank you. Not as complicated as the other one, I believe, so.

Well, don't speak too fast. This is Durham City Council. We can make something complicated, so don't speak too fast. All right, thank you for your comment. These are all the speakers I had. Do you want to respond to yourself? You good? All right. At this time, I declare the public hearing closed and back before the council. Council, any questions? All right, I'll entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance annexing 2106 Hensley into the City of Durham and to authorize the City Manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with Jeffrey De La Rosa-Garcia.

So moved. Second.

Moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the votes. Please close to vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, and I'll entertain a motion to adopt an ordinance amending the Unified Development Ordinance by taking property out of the residential Suburban 20 county jurisdiction and establishing the same as residential Suburban 20 city jurisdiction.

So moved.

Second. Moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, and I'll entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by North Carolina General Statute Section 160D-605. So moved. Second. Moved and properly seconded. Madam Clerk, please open the vote, please. Please close the vote.

And the motion passes unanimously.

Thank you so much. Colleagues, thank you for a great meeting and being in true form to fashion, Durham City Council. We are adjourned at 9.17.