City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello, everybody. It's good to see everyone here today attending this meeting for the business of our town. You're certainly quite welcome. I am Mayor William Harris, and as we always, I'm calling the meeting to order. And would you please stand for the invocation? Thank you. Heavenly Father, we are grateful for this day. We are dependent on your grace and mercy as we welcome this opportunity to conduct the business of the town of Fuquay-Varina. Grant each of us wisdom and insight as we seek to respond to the needs of our community and citizens. Help us to maintain encouragement, always abiding in your promises, that through humility and obedience, your will can be expressed through us. Let us each be teachable as we learn how to be better elected officials for the citizens of our community. We humbly pray, amen. Amen. Now we will have the Pledge of Allegiance by Commissioner Charlie Adcock.

I pledge allegiance

Thank you. You may be seated. At this time, I will ask town manager Adam Mitchell to review the meeting protocol for public participation as it relates to this meeting.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening. Good evening. It's good to be with the board this evening. Tonight's town board meeting will be held both in person and live streamed on the town's YouTube channel and Facebook page. Tonight's meeting includes a public comment period and six scheduled public hearings. The public is invited to comment in person. When it is the appropriate time, Mayor Harris will call on those wishing to address the town board. All attendees who have appeared in person to address the town board during the public comment period should provide their name and address on the green registration sheet by the podium before the public comment period begins. All attendees who appear in person to address the town board during a scheduled public hearing should provide their name and address on the white registration sheet by the podium. We ask all those wishing to address the town board either during the public comment period or a scheduled public hearing to begin their comments by clearly stating their name and address for the public record. The public is asked to keep all comments to three minutes so that all who wish to speak may be heard in a timely manner. To be respectful of those who may have different views on matters addressed by the town board, we ask that all in attendance respect the decorum of the meeting by refraining from clapping, making loud noises, and generally showing support or displeasure for comments made during the public comment period or public hearings. Police Chief Smith will be asked to escort from the boardroom anyone not respecting the process, and it is the discretion of the mayor as presiding officer whether to continue the public comment and or public hearing periods if the meeting protocol is not followed. And this concludes the protocol for tonight's meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Thank you. Item 3A. Approval of the minutes of the August 3rd meeting town board of commissioner regular our regular scheduled meeting. To her motion to approve those minutes are in are there any corrections.

This may make a motion to prove the minutes of the August 3rd. 2026 town board commissioner regular scheduled meeting is presented second.

Any discussion. If not, all in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you so much. With the next item, item 4A, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the Mayor's Health and Wellness Council. One of the things that is so exciting about this agenda item for me is that for several years I worked with the Division of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and Intellectual Developmental Disabilities. And one of the things that I learned in that capacity is the number of people, citizens, residents who have needs oftentimes that are ignored or either they have difficulty coming forth because of the stigma often associated with the vulnerabilities that result from mental health challenges or other challenges, as well as those physical health challenges that impact a lot of communities. So I broke it down as a elected official who's committed to providing a sense of leadership and direction to talk about the issue of health in our community. It breaks down very simple. If you have a healthy individual, there's a good possibility you'll have a healthy family. And if you have a healthy family, you'll have a healthy community. So out of that desire, I was fortunate enough to be sort of introduced or led to people who had the same mindset, who had a vision of what this could be in regards to a mayor's initiative. to keep to the forefront of the public the importance of mental health, the importance of physical health, and the importance of primary care for a community. Because we as elected officials, we can promulgate legislation, we can do those kinds of things, but the direct impact on the quality of life in a community is associated with the health of a community. And as mayor, I wanted to convey that message to the community at large through a Mayor's Health Council and we have some members of that council who are here today who i would love to introduce if they would come forth and i want you to meet a couple of members of the council we have five members we have two present today and i want them to introduce themselves briefly so you can talk about what the Health Council has been doing over the last six months. We've done a lot in the area of prevention, intervention, advocacy, as well as bringing forth a lot of conversation about the importance of community health or either a healthy community. So I'd like to introduce Dr. Don Johannes and Dr. Priyanka Pathula. to the community, and if you all want to say something briefly about yourselves to the community, I would appreciate it. A couple of minutes, and you can use the mic there. Is that okay, Scott? Yeah, good. Scott, happy.

Good evening everyone, good evening Mayor Harris, good evening town board members, and good evening Fuquay-Varina community. It is a pleasure and a sheer delight for us to be here. I am a retired high school educator, I am a wellness coach, I am a breast cancer survivor, and I am a Fuquay-Varinian. And I just want to talk about basically the council was established in February of this year, and we are still a work in progress. But there's one thing that we as our council members, we hold on to is one simple belief. And that belief that we hold on to is that When Fuquayverena is healthy, Fuquayverena is stronger. How many of us want a stronger Fuquayverena? A healthier Fuquayverena, right? A Fuquayverena that offers a quality of life. So I'm going to decrease, but to let you know, we are working diligently. We are working consistently. We have attended several Fuquayverena events. We are planning some dynamic events. We have a dynamic, diverse council of professional, experienced, knowledgeable individuals who are concerned about the health of Fuquay-Verinians. Thank you so much for this opportunity, and now I shall defer it to my colleague. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Dr. Priyanka Pantala. I'm a dentist and an owner at United Smiles Family Dental right here in Pucre. As a healthcare provider, I see that the health, everyday health does begin at our homes. Not in healthcare facilities. It begins it at our homes and our daily choices and in senior centers So this is what the council is all about. It's about reaching to people before the illness does I'm really honored to work along with Mayor Harris and the team to help build a healthier Fuquayverena For every family and every child and every senior who calls this town home. Thank you so much I'm really looking forward to work with you. Thank you Thank you so much. Have a good one.

Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it so much. We have one more person who is absent, Andy Curtis, who works with the Wake Mental Health. She is not here. She is a community liaison who has volunteered, and one other person, Chai, is not here as well, but we have... currently four outstanding volunteers who are helping to ignite this initiative that i think is going to be and i really believe from the bottom of my heart beneficial to all the citizens here in fuquay arena so thank you thank you very much thank you all so much for your time thank you And now I'm going to move to item 4B, presentations. A resolution, fire department, fire helmet retirement presentation, battalion chief William Garland Johnston and fire captain number two, Sam Golightly. More information about this agenda item will be presented by fire chief Jones.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Managers. Thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. Tonight, we recognize two extraordinary leaders who, after more than 50 years of combined service to our community, have decided to hang up their boots, give their bodies some rest, and spend some more quality time with their families. Battalion Chief Garland Johnston and Captain Sam Golightly. On July 29th, family, friends, and staff gathered at Fire Station 4 to celebrate the service of Battalion Chief Garland Johnston. And just a short eight days later, on August the 6th, family, friends, and staff gathered again at Fire Station 4 to celebrate the service of Captain Sam Golightly. Since both requested the same menu and the same program... Quite a few cheeseburgers, baked beans, and chips were prepared and eaten at Station 4 over a very short eight day period. But I want to thank each one of you who were able to attend and show your support for these two class acts. It truly meant a lot to both of them. And while those lunches gave us time to reminisce, laugh, and share some stories, tonight is an opportunity to formally honor their service to the town. For more than 30 years, with 25 of them being right here in Fuqua Ave Arena, Battalion Chief Johnston has faithfully protected our community while helping to lead our department through years of incredible growth. Over the years, Chief Johnston has earned multiple department awards and citations, was named our Employee of the Year in 2005, and promoted to Battalion Chief in 2010. Garland has educated countless firefighters on the importance of being prepared, and training the next generation to ensure everyone goes home safely at the end of their shift. And for more than 26 years of dedicated service as both a career and a volunteer firefighter, Captain Golightly has faithfully answered the call when needed, while serving with true professionalism since day one. Throughout his career, Captain Golightly has also earned numerous department awards and citations, was named our employee of the year in 2015, and promoted to captain in 2010. Sam has trained and mentored numerous firefighters over the years and has never lost the true excitement and the twinkle in his eye when responding to someone in need. They both have definitely left their mark on our town and our department. And although the years of service are milestones, the real impact of these two professionals is how they treated people. They have helped shape the culture in our stations, cared for and protected our community, and mentored just about everyone that served with them. And for me personally, they have been two good friends that I will miss dearly. Mayor, before I move to the resolution, I would like to give each one of our retirees a moment to share a few remarks, starting with Chief Johnston, then Captain Golightly.

Go on. Mayor, managers, citizens, guys, look, what a privilege and an honor it has been to work for this town for the last 25 years. So many dedicated, educated professionals have worked alongside with you all to make it so I could have the career that I've had. So it's been an honor and a privilege to work with you all. You all take care of us. And all these people here, directors from, or to the lowly bottom person that just got hired at Parks and Rec to do ball games. Everybody makes this town run. And we just, we have a great group of people here and I just, I'm so tickled to death that I have been able to make a career and that every person here has really played a hand in it. So, thank you.

Thank you for, thank you.

Thank you to everyone. See, I'm not as good as you, Garland. I have to do this. As I retire from the town of Fuquayverina after 26 years of service, including serving as a captain, I want to take a moment to thank each of you for your support of our department. When I began my career with the town as a firefighter, everyone at the fire department was very welcoming and supportive. It was a very short time after that I realized that they weren't just my friends, they had become my family. And I'm forever grateful for that. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve this community alongside them. Your continued support has helped us provide the highest level of service to the citizens of Fuqua Verena. Thank you all for your partnership, your trust, and your commitment to our department. Thank you, and God bless everybody.

Thank you so much.

Gentlemen, thank you both. Okay. Recognition of their dedication and service and in accordance with North Carolina General Statute 160 a 294.1, both men have met all stipulated requirements and have formally requested to keep their assigned structural fire helmets for retirement. There are separate official resolutions for each of these retirees, but I will combine the two into one reading. A resolution adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Fuqua Verena, North Carolina, authorizing the award of a structural fire helmet in recognition of retirement from the Fuqua Verena Fire Department. Whereas William Garland Johnston began his fire and emergency services career with the Town of Fuquay-Varina Fire Department on August 5, 2001, and Samuel Irwin Golightly III began his fire and emergency services career with the Town of Fuquay-Varina Fire Department on August 7, 2000, And whereas, after distinguished service to the town of Fuquay-Varina and the fire department, both have submitted their intentions to retire effective September 1st, 2026, And whereas North Carolina General Statute 160A-294.1 provides that the governing body of a municipal fire department may, in its discretion, award a retiring member upon his or her retirement their assigned structural fire helmet, Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, that William Garland Johnston and Samuel Irwin Golightly III are hereby awarded their structural fire helmets for one dollar in recognition of their honorable and dedicated service to the citizens of Fuquay-Varina. These resolutions of the Town of Fuquay-Varina Board of Commissioners are hereby adopted this 18th day of August in the year of 2026 in Fuquay, Verena, North Carolina. And should these resolutions be adopted tonight, they will be signed by Mayor Harris for the town of Fuquay, Verena. So, Mayor, tonight there is a recommended motion, and the motion is to adopt the resolutions authorizing the award of the structural fire helmets to Battalion Chief William Garland Johnston and Fire Captain 2 Samuel Golightly in recognition of their retirement from the town of Fuqua-Varina Fire Department as presented and recommended.

What is your pleasure this may make a motion to adopt the resolutions out authorizing the award of the structural fire helmets to battalion chief William Garland Johnson and fire chief to Samuel go lightly in recognition of their retirement from the town of people have arena fire department as presented a recommended second.

It's been moved and second. Any discussion on the motion. All those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying aye aye any opposed. Let me say one thing first. It's so powerful what you all have done for this community. If you look around the wall and you see these young firemen whose lives you have impacted, you have impacted an entire generation. That's how powerful your tenacity and staying with this community is and will be for so long. So we honor you tonight for your service. Thank you very much. And now we'll move on to Item five, public comment, period. At this time, the town clerk will call on individuals who are in attendance and have registered to address the town board prior to the meeting. The public comment period is a time for the public to address the town on any matter, not the subject of a scheduled public hearing. The public comment period is not a time for the town board to respond or engage in back and forth conversation with the public. Only those who have signed in in advance of the public comment period will be permitted to address the town board. Those speaking are asked to begin by clearly stating their name and address for the public record. Please limit your comments to three minutes so that all who wish to speak may be heard in a timely manner. Town Clerk Wilder, do we have anyone signed up for public comments?

We have one person, Annie Feeney. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, commissioners, managers. So I actually meant to sign up on the white sheet. I signed up on the green sheet by accident. Should I come back or should I be heard now?

If it's a public hearing, you would need to come back.

I will come back to win the white sheet.

Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Thank you and I apologize.

Okay, we only have one person? Yes, she was it. Oh, she may as well stay. All right, now we move, if there are no more comments, we'll move to public hearings. The public hearings are a time for the petitioner to present their request for the public to provide input and express their support or opposition public hearings on not a time for the town board to respond to public input are engaged in back and forth conversation. I thought we had that that item.

That's right, but it is a public hearing, so the mayor is reading the protocol for the public hearing. It's public comment. You are correct, Mayor. I was misled. Oh, sorry. You are correct to finish reading the protocol, Mayor.

That's okay. All right. That's all right. Let me start over again. Public hearings. Public hearings are a time for the petitioner to present their request and for the public to provide input and express their support or opposition. Public hearings are not a time for the town board to respond to public input or engage in back and forth conversation with the public. If you wish to speak and are physically in attendance, please step forward to the podium one at a time. Provide your name and address on the registration log at the podium and clearly state your name and address for the public record. We ask that all who address the town board limit their comments to three minutes so that all who wish to speak may be heard in a timely manner. Now we are in the public hearing portion of the meeting. We have items, table from previous meetings Voluntary Annexation Petition for Colin H. Grimes, Jennifer P. Grimes, David Charles Davis, David Davis Scott, Revocable Trust, and Rebecca Sheldon Davis, 5441053015255, Wade Nash Road, ANX 2023-13. More information about this agenda item will be presented by Planning Director Davison.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

I'm submitting the agenda abstract and supporting documents into the official record of the town. The combined 76.246 acre property is non-contiguous to the town's corporate limits. Town water and sewer are currently available to serve the subject properties. However, both will be extended with development of the Elmsley subdivision currently under review. A fire flow test resulted in adequate fire flow. Town sanitation and recycling services are available to serve the property. At the March 24th, 2026 meeting, the Town Clerk certified that the petition was sufficient and met the requirements prescribed by the North Carolina General Statutes and the Town Board adopted a resolution setting a public hearing for the April 7th, 2026 meeting. Prior to the April 7th meeting, the petitioner submitted a request and the Board approved the request to table the item to the June 16th, 2026 meeting. Prior to the June 16th, 2020 meeting, 2026 meeting, the petitioner submitted an additional request which the board approved to table the item to tonight's meeting. Prior to tonight's meeting, the petitioner submitted another request to table the public hearing to the November 2nd, 2026 regular meeting. The present total value of the properties being annexed is $5,013,032. The suggested motion tonight is to table consideration of ANX 2023-13, an annexation ordinance to extend the corporate limits of the town of Fuqua Iverina to include property owned by Colin H. Grimes, Jennifer P. Grimes, David Charles Davis, David Davis, Scott Revocable Trust, and Rebecca Shelton Davis. Annex 2023-13 and the associated declaration of annexation to the November 2nd, 2026 regular town board meeting per the request of the petitioner. I'm available if you have any questions.

Thank you very much, appreciate it. So the hearing is now open. At the request of the petitioner, management and staff are recommending that the item be tabled and the public hearing be continued to the November 2nd, 2026 town board meeting. What is the pleasure of the board?

Mr. Mayor, so moved.

Second. All those in favor of the continuation of the public hearing, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you very much. We appreciate that. The next item is item 7A, voluntary annexation petition. Calis Properties, LLC, and Calis Family Limited Partnership, 2201-225, and a portion of 2221 Piney Grove-Wilburn Road, ANX 202604. More information about this agenda item will be presented by Planning Director Davidson.

Thank you. I'm submitting the agenda abstract and supporting documents into the official record of the town. The 5.24 acre combined parcels are non-contiguous to the town's corporate limits. Town water is available to serve the subject properties. Excuse me. However, sewer is unavailable and has been exempted for the annexation agreement. A fire flow test nearby resulted in adequate fire flow. Town sanitation and recycling services are not applicable since it will be developed as a commercial property. At the August 3rd, 2026 meeting, Town Clerk certified that the petition was sufficient and met the requirements prescribed by the North Carolina General Statutes. And the Town Board adopted a resolution setting a public hearing for tonight's Town Board meeting. The present total value of the properties being annexed is $573,000. $706. The suggested motion tonight is to adopt the annexation ordinance to extend the corporate limits of the town of Fuquay-Varina to include property owned by Callis Properties LLC and the Callis Family Limited Partnership Annex 2604 and to approve the declaration of annexation agreement as presented and recommended.

Thank you. The hearing is now open. Does anyone wish to speak in favor of the voluntary annexation petition?

Mayor, good evening. John Adcock, the Adcock Law Firm at 202 East Academy Street. I am here on behalf of the owner and the applicant. Good evening. And they're in favor of this petition. I'm able to answer any questions that the board has.

OK. Thank you.

Thank you.

Does anyone else wish to speak in favor of the voluntary annexation petition? Does anyone wish to speak in opposition to the voluntary annexation petition? If none, the hearing is now closed. Any discussion by the board?

Mr. Mayor, so moved. Second.

All right, we had a motion and a second. All those in favor of the motion let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you very much. We're still in the public hearings. Item 7B, zoning map amendment. Wayne Mauldin, Mauldin, Watkins, surveying PA, 210 Southwest Street, REZ 202610. more information about this agenda item will be presented by planning director davidson thank you i'm assuming the agenda abstract and supporting documents into the official record of the town

requested zoning map amendment is cons sorry i'll go back the purpose of this agenda item is to consider a requested zoning map amendment for a total of 0.321 acres located at 210 southwest street from the residential medium density zoning district to the town center residential zoning district the requested zoning map amendment is consistent with the 2040 community vision land use plan and supports several of the land use plans policies that and the proposed conditions will serve to ensure the proposed triplex matches the scale and character of the surrounding neighborhood. On July 20th, 2026, the planning board unanimously recommended approval. The suggested motion tonight is to approve REZ 202610, a zoning map amendment for 210 Southwest Street from the residential medium density zoning district to the town center residential zoning district as it is reasonable and in the best interest of the public for the reasons identified by management and staff. I'm available if you have any questions.

The hearing is now open. Does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, Mayor, Board of Representatives. I'm Wayne Malden with Malden Walking Survey and 139 North Main Street here in Fuqua. And we put this rezoning petition together for the owner that you got before you here tonight. Basically what we're looking at on that side of town is a very old house that's in there in need of some repair. What they wish to do is not financially feasible to try to repair it. It's cheaper to tear it down and start all over. So that's what we're asking for here tonight is the rezoning To the TCR so that we can go in and put in a new structure as you see on the plot plan before you tonight If you have any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer Are they any questions of The petitioner any questions, thank you Does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment I

Does anyone wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

I will, Mr. Mayor. Hello. Again, thank you for allowing me to speak at this time. Mr. Mayor, commissioners, and managers, thank you for this opportunity. My name is Amy Feeney. I live at 608 Parker Street here in Fuquay. And the reason I'm speaking out tonight is we don't want more townhomes in residential neighborhoods. I posted a thing on Nextdoor about all the rampant building that is going on in Fuqua at this time. And I think I should call it to your attention as far as what people are saying about this. When I mentioned that we should attend town council meetings and make our concerns known, the main response was, did that. They don't care. In many cases, planning staff work with the developers. Another answer from Bob M was greed. Jeff C, developers do not care. Audrey G, greed. It's all about the town from Sue A. It's all about the town getting as much money as possible. Emily B., it isn't just Fuquay, but so many municipalities are growing at this time. However, Joe S., greedy politicians. Lois O., it's about the money, and on top of it, pushing creatures out of their natural habitat. Stephanie W., because they are greedy and do not care. I thought it was important that you understand what it is that the Fuqua residents want at this time. We do not want more town homes going up where residential neighborhoods are. Right now, it is a sight eyesore. We do not want it. We previously have voted out people who did not listen to the constituents. And at this time, I urge you to please listen to the constituents, because we voted you in. We don't want it. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate your consideration.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Do you have any questions that I could answer?

Not at this time, no.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? The hearing is now closed. Any discussion by the board?

Mr. Mayor, I'll make some comments. All right, thank you. When I look at this, I see, and when we talk about downtown, this is downtown. It is where we have really been successful with the three-story units there on the corner of Spring Avenue, Advanced Street. I think those are an asset. In downtown Fuquay, and really in our downtowns, but I think especially in downtown Fuquay, we need to have more people living there, and we need to have density, because that's what's gonna keep it alive. Otherwise, the businesses are gonna go out on some of the major main roads and they will avoid downtown Fuquay and you'll see downtown Fuquay, I think, go backwards. When I look at this, I also think about the need for housing in our community and I think one of the worst things we can do is be put an undue burden on folks that are trying to add housing in a market that is becoming more and more unaffordable And this to me looks like what the buzzword we hear, missing middle. And I think this is exactly what that is. I think that's what we have talked about. And I think it's something that we are trying to promote. This seems like an excellent spot to it. We're not subdividing the lot down any more than it already is. We're fitting one unit on it, but it will have three homes in it. I think it makes a lot of sense where it is, and I'm willing to make a motion to support it if you'd like.

We're ready for a motion. It was a pleasure. The board, any other comments from the board?

would just say that i agree with charlie adcock 100 there on sorry commissioner adcock um it's two blocks from down from south main street right so i think the way our town is going to be growing in the future that it makes perfect sense

Thank you. I'll make a motion to approve RAZ 2026-10, a zoning map amendment for 210 Southwest Street from the residential medium density zoning district to the town center residential zoning district as it is reasonable and in the best interest of the public for the reasons identified by management and staff.

Second. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. All in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries, ayes have it, thank you. Now we move on to item 7c, public hearing, zoning map amendment, Wayne Malden, Malden Watkins surveying, PA 417 and 419 Raleigh Street, REZ 202611. More information about this agenda item will be presented by Planning Director Davidson.

Thank you.

Okay, Pam.

I'm submitting the agenda abstract and supporting documents into the official records of the town. We've received several inquiries and significant feedback on this rezoning request, so I thought before we get into the heart of it, it might be helpful to review the goals of the Town Center Residential Zoning District. The Town Center Residential Zoning District is uniquely situated just outside the downtown areas and provides an eclectic mix of housing types and lot sizes that have developed over decades. With a density cap of 10 dwelling units per acre, the lot sizes range from a handful of one acre lots to a few that are less than a tenth of an acre, with the majority falling somewhere in between. Most are single family detached homes, but there are also a sprinkling of duplexes and a few town homes. Most of the area classified as town center residential in the land use plan is currently zoned either residential low density, like the lots we're talking about tonight, or residential medium density. Being that the current zoning was applied after many of the homes were built, often the current properties do not meet either the minimum lot size, minimum lot frontage, or setback requirements. residential low density requires a 14 500 square foot lot that is at least 80 foot wide 417 and 419 raleigh street are both less than 9 000 square feet and neither are close to 80 foot wide lots made non-conforming by the adoption of development standards are considered lots of record and permitted to develop one single family home Since the lot is substandard, applying the required setbacks might be difficult, so the ordinance also provides an opportunity for reduced side and rear setbacks for non-conforming lots of record. Instead of developing, as a lot of record, property owners may seek to rezone the property to town center residential. The town center residential district encourages a mix of housing types, as you can see on the chart, and allows for smaller setbacks since the area is slightly more urban. Since you are not permitted to expand nonconformity, rezoning to town center residential also gives existing homeowners more flexibility to expand an existing property to fit their growing needs. Here's some examples of development resulting from the 30 TCR rezonings the town has approved since 2016 when we put this in place. Before we get into the details of today's zoning request, I do also want to speak to affordability. The town does not have any standards or requirements regarding the affordability of new development or even have a tool to regulate or measure what expansions or renovations of existing homes do to property values and assess taxes. whether properties are maintained renovated rented sold or even demolished for something new is market driven the town center residential standards strive to guide development towards a variety of housing options that can be adapted to fit the scale and context of the existing neighborhood while connecting to the fabric of the existing infrastructure The purpose of tonight's agenda is to consider a requested zoning map amendment for a total of .414 acres located at 417 and 419 Raleigh Street from the residential low density zoning district to the town center residential zoning district. Although traffic impact is now required at rezoning, the engineering director waived the requirement due to the limited scale of the development and resulting in negligible traffic impacts. The two required parking spaces per home are being provided in a rear alley loaded garage and additional overflow parking will likely be accommodated in the private alley. The total 0.4 acre development will not trigger storm water requirements because the difference in increased impervious area is so small that the state doesn't recognize it for permitting. The requested zoning map amendment is consistent with the 2040 Community Vision Land Use Plan and supports the following land use plan policies. 2.1, which encourages infill development and redevelopment inside town limits, is a way to reinvest in the existing downtowns and neighborhoods. And policy 4.1, which seeks to manage future growth and development in priority investment areas. In addition, the plot plan and elevations Provided demonstrate that the proposed development generally meets the town center residential standards and the facade conditions offered Confirm that the appearance of the proposed homes will contribute to the character of the neighborhood at the July 20th 2026 planning board the planning board unanimously recommended approval just a couple other notes now we have the plot plans and elevations in front of us there has been some concern about the front setback and it is true that the majority of homes in this vicinity are set back about 30 feet from the front property line with this There's gonna be a five foot dedication and the edge of pavement, in addition to that five foot dedication, we'll put about 18 feet from the edge of pavement to the front property line. As you can see, the closest house, the front porch will be 12 and a half feet from that front property line and that results in about 30 feet from the edge of the pavement of the road, there's no sidewalks, to that front porch. Row homes provide front porches where residents can interact with neighbors walking by and maintain the charming scale of the street for pedestrians. One of the requests had been, can they abandon the rear alley and instead have driveways on the front? uh... majority of houses in this neighborhood were developed long before we had garages and the car was quite the priority it is today so if we did shift these houses back they would have garages on the front likely two car garages that would be sixteen to eighteen feet wide taking up a pretty good portion of that 26 foot frontage. So the row home concept just to fit that character of the neighborhood would be to have front porches where people sitting on the front porch could interact with people walking by on the street, walking their dog, right? This is kind of a pedestrian street versus having a pretty harsh wall of a garage that would really cut that house off from the neighborhood. I think that's kind of a character. Also, lot size. 515 Raleigh Street and 114 Blanchard Street, kind of around the corner, are also just over 5,000 square feet, like proposed lots 1 and 2. 114 and 116 Woodrow Street are both just 6,500 square feet, like lot 3. And they are adjacent to 311 Raleigh Street and 406 Academy Street, which are both closer to an acre. The eclectic pattern of lot sizes, house styles, and materials definitely contribute to the character of the area. The last thing I'll mention is density. The increase from two lots to three lots on this parcel specifically does increase the density from five dwelling units to seven dwelling units on this property. but it only increases the density on the block from 2.5 to 2.7. Looking at some other blocks around here, the density on the surrounding blocks varies from about 3.2 to 5 dwelling units per acre. So that really fits in kind of with the fabric that we're talking about. So again, I would argue that these three lots fit into that fabric of the overall community and contribute new housing opportunities. The suggested motion tonight is to approve REZ 202611, a zoning map amendment for 417 and 419 Raleigh Street from the residential low density zoning district to the town center residential zoning district as it is reasonable and in the best interest of the public for the reasons identified by management and staff. I'm available if you have any additional questions about TCR or this rezoning specifically.

Thank you, thank you. Any questions from Director Davison? All right, thank you. The hearing is now open. Does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, Mayor. Board members, again, I'm Wayne Malden with Maldo. I can survey in at 139 North Main Street here in Fuqua. And we put the rezoning we're looking at tonight together for the owner, which is also here. I want to thank Pam. She explained that stuff better than I could. Seems like the ordinance changes every day. Basically what we're doing here is at the present time there is a condo or duplex unit on two lots. There's two existing lots. I think one of those units has already been declared unfit to be lived in. So there's only one side of it being occupied at this time. Under the current zoning with the two lots, if we tore the building down, we could, I think, put four units back up there. We could have duplexes on both lots. We decided to go to the rezoning, to the TCR. We pick up one lot, but instead of getting four units, we're getting three residential single-family homes. We think that'll fit in a lot better with the neighborhood in that area than duplexes, which we've heard some tonight say they didn't need no more multifamily. So we're trying to put three nice single-family homes. So if any of you have any questions, I'll be glad to try to answer. DAVID BURRAGE.

Any questions? No? Thank you. Thank you, Wayne. Appreciate it. You're welcome. Does anyone? else wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment?

Good evening Mr. Mayor, members of the board. I'm Preston Perry, 1994 NC42. I'm here to speak in favor of this rezoning petition. I don't have a lot specifically to add. We do, for the points that have already been brought up, believe this is a prudent fit for what TCR stands for and is the appropriate housing product to provide an obtainable housing solution in close proximity to our two downtown areas. If we're going to be a walkable community and we're gonna hang our hats on having thriving downtown areas, then people need to be able to visit those. And we feel, I hate that we can't all agree on things, and I understand there is concern, but we have taken feedback and feel that we have provided conditions, both in the rezoning petition as well as in the design considerations we're presenting, to try to fit into the neighborhood and offer an amicable, reasonable solution that looks appropriate for that side of town. The first house I bought when my wife and I moved to Fuqua was on this block. I know this area. We walked the dog around the neighborhood, took the kids to Falcon Park, done the whole thing. But when the second kid came along, there's not a lot of opportunities in that area. And we feel that we should be able to provide that for people that want to utilize the walkability and sense of community that this part of town creates. Again, as far as the technical side, I think Pam and Wayne did a great job presenting those facts. And if there's any questions I can answer, more than happy to do so.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Does anyone else wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment? Does anyone wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Hello, Mayor Harris and commissioners. My name is Tiffany Wagner and I live at the Blanchard House at 644 Aiken Parkway in downtown Pequay Verena. I am here with the supporters of the historic fringe. Tonight we are submitting a petition against the rezoning petition for 417 and 419 Raleigh Street. The language of this petition contains the following. We the residents and homeowners of downtown Fuquay-Varina petition the town to preserve the character of the neighborhood and promote responsible growth and development. Therefore, number one, the undersigned object to the request for the rezoning and site map for 417 and 419 Raleigh Street, Fuqua Verena, from RMD to TCR as it is currently proposed by Pine State Construction Group. Should the size of the houses be significantly reduced and the lot lines increase, we are less opposed to this rezoning. Number two, the undersigned believe adjustments should be made to the TCR district development standards. We petition for the formulation of a stakeholder advisory committee to make recommendations to the Fuqua-Varina Planning Department for the aforementioned standards. As I said before, I'm here with the supporters of the historic fringe. This name may be new to you, but after hearing from some of our supporters tonight, you'll get to know us a little better. Our goal tonight is to ask that you deny the 417-419 Raleigh Street rezone request. In support of this denial, I'm here to present our petition, which includes the signatures of 377 residents and homeowners in downtown Fuqua Verena who oppose this rezone request. would also like to point your attention to our map which shows a large number of residents who support our opposition and i just want to point to you this red square is the last in question and all of these three squares are homes of the residents that signed our petition As you can see, this is a very large and significant portion of the residence in the downtown district. It also shows our neighborhood's proximity to the historic residential neighborhood, which is what creates the character of this town that we all love. And I thank you all for listening.

Thank you very much, we appreciate it so much. Thank you for your comments. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, Mayor Harris, town board and staff. I'm a supporter of the historic fringe neighborhood also. My name is Eric Christopherson. My wife and I live at 504 East Academy Street, formerly known as the Baptist Parsonage. We also own and operate the restored Fuquay Springs Teacherage at 602 East Academy Street. These are both within a block of the subject property. We're here to oppose the zoning map amendment request and plot plan submitted by Pine State Corp to rezone the lots at 417 and 419 Raleigh Street to Town Center Residential. The map that Tiffany shared with you shows overwhelming opposition in our neighborhood to this type of development. 377 signatures. Everyone that signed the petition cares what gets built at this corner. The charts that I have show a, I think I can see them here, show Pine State's plot plan of three row houses outlined in red and overlaid onto the lots at 417 and 419 Raleigh Streets. The other chart shows a height comparison of the row houses compared to neighboring houses. Those are the first two pages in your handout. Did you handout, Teresa? We know that neighborhood opposition alone is not enough for you to deny this rezoning request because the plans that Pine State submitted are legal according to the town's land development ordinance. But as you can see, these row houses and the dimensions and standards behind them are radically out of character for the neighborhood. They were approved by the planning board despite major deviations from the town's own 2040 community vision land use plan for TCR zoning. Here are some statements from that plan that you'll find at the back of the handout. Ms. Davidson did not point to these statements, but I will. They're on pages 54 through 57. On page 54, preserving the character of existing homes is a high priority in this area. Also page 54, the type, size, orientation, and character of new homes built in existing neighborhoods should be compatible with adjacent properties. Also on page 54, officials should be careful of unintended consequences of infill development, such as increased stormwater flooding, increased traffic on narrow streets, or rising home values that drive existing residents out of the area. On page 56, front and side yard setbacks should be generally consistent along block faces to provide streetscape continuity.

I'm gonna ask you to, in your comments.

Please use the guidance in our land use plan to deny this zoning map amendment request. Thank you very much. Thank you. Appreciate it so much.

Thank you for your feedback. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, commissioners, Mayor Harris, management. Good evening. My name is Emily Holloway. I live at 312 Andrew Road in a 1,400 square foot home built in 1940. My husband and I reared two boys, who are now adults, in this three bedroom, one bath house. It was originally owned by John and Mildred Askew. He was a Fuquay-Varina high school math teacher and a tobacco bookman. she was a graduate of the juilliard school of music and the local piano teacher i am a proud supporter of the historic fringe eric was just talking about statements in the town's own land use plan that we believe give you reason to deny the zoning map amendment request without fear of reprisal while not regulatory these statements regarding tcr zoning and the land use plan make very clear the importance and intent of preserving the character density, size, compatibility with adjacent properties, front and side setbacks, consistency along block faces and a sense of place of the existing neighborhoods. They especially matter in this unique one of a kind historic fringe neighborhood on the edge of downtown. It is an area full of history, local landmarks, spacious front yards, narrow streets, mature trees, walkability and proximity to parks and downtown areas. It is comprised of a mix of low to moderately sized and priced homes. This is what gives our neighborhood its sense of place and it is worth preserving. This plot plan at 417 and 419 Raleigh Street is a complete departure from these standards and statements. We are asking you to deny the zoning map amendment request. This would give the developer another opportunity to meet with neighborhood stakeholders and arrive at a reasonable plan that better fits the character of the neighborhood. Pine State was not present at the neighborhood meeting on June 8th, 2026, and stakeholders have not had an opportunity to speak with them about this project. They have not responded to stakeholders' phone calls or text messages for more information since the Planning Board's approval on July 20, 2026. If the rezoning and existing plot plan is approved, a precedent will be set that allows developers to build more of the same types of anomalies, housing, clearly something that the majority of the neighbors do not want. The Town Planning Department's website states that the land use plan is a living document meant to be revisited and amended as necessary as the community moves forward in growth. This is an opportunity to amend the land use plan to better serve the downtown historic fringe neighborhood and the neighbors who live there. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much for your feedback. We appreciate it. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, Mayor, commissioners, managers.

Good evening.

My name is Shonda Dupal. I live at 413 Raleigh Street, and I am also a supporter of the historic French. I'm speaking here tonight in opposition to the zoning map amendment request for 417 and 419 Raleigh Street, specifically in regards to the front and side yard setbacks outlined on the project plot maps in accordance with the TCR zoning. I live right next door to these lots. The front setback is 10 feet from the property line and the setback along the side property line, my property line, is only five and a half feet. As you can see from the height graphic, The sheer size and height of the proposed building will completely overwhelm my house. The 80 foot long facade of the side building and the two and a half story height running along the property will cast a literal and figurative shadow over my home. I will lose all morning light. The structure will block most, if not all, visibility from that side of my house. That's the side of my house my porch is on. That's the side of my house where my garden grows. Conversely, the encroaching wall will also eliminate any sense of privacy I currently have up to and including the 20-year-old crape myrtles that bloom every summer that run down the property line. Any windows built into that side of the building will look directly into my home. I am only one person, one homeowner in such close proximity to this out of scale project. However, these setbacks and out of character buildings affect all of the adjacent homeowners as well. Their sense of space, their views, their privacy will also be negatively impacted. As all of us who call this neighborhood this community home, I chose Fuquay for its small town charm, the unique architecture in the houses, and the proximity to our quaint downtown. I chose it because it reminds me of the town I grew up in, in Virginia. i do fear that the proposed project put forward by pine state will irrevocably alter the spirit of this neighborhood and in its current plan is not in keeping with the character and scale of the existing homes therefore i'm asking we're asking respectfully that you vote to deny the zoning map amendment request i thank you for your time and your attention thank you so much appreciate you thank you appreciate your comments

Yes.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Paul Hodge, and I live at 505 Raleigh Street, Fuqua Berena. I'm speaking this evening as a supporter of the historic fringe. We are speaking in opposition of the development at the corner of Raleigh and Ennis Streets. And specifically, I'll be highlighting some stormwater concerns that I have. It's my understanding that if a residential development area is less than one acre on a project, a stormwater study is not required. The obvious flaw in such a regulation is that there are simply not many one acre lots left in downtown Fuquay-Varina. Our hope is that the town does track total development in a way that adds acreage of various developments and projects, but currently we're not aware of such a strategy. Pivoting to this specific proposed development, one glance at the existing GIS versus the plan view of this project quickly reveals an increase in impervious footprint. As a degreed engineer, I was able to run a few unofficial calculations that painted an alarming picture for drainage adjacent to this property, with one section of masonry pipe appearing to be undersized by nearly 50%. A brief personal story. Admittedly, it is easy to overlook stormwater runoff on an individual project basis. I found myself guilty of this oversight during the recent sewer water line replacement on Clifton Street to the east of my property. After the work was complete, the town contractor quickly covered the exposed piping and demobilized. While walking my dog one evening, I recall seeing that they did not regrade the stormwater culvert after filling the trench with dirt. I suppose whoever blessed the project closure either missed the issue or was simply used to seeing partially blocked stormwater drains across downtown. I made the mistake of thinking not my property, not my problem. A year or so later, a water line ruptured further up Clifton Street and was flowing into the now blocked culvert. My neighbor's yard became saturated until water began to migrate to my property, eventually filling my crawl space with over a foot of water. before the rupture was repaired. We were able to mitigate the damage at my property, but my neighbor's situation was a lot worse. A tropical storm also caused similar flooding issue on both properties due to the blockage. So a reoccurring theme. The point of this story is not to blame myself or the town for negligence, but to highlight that a minor issue in one culvert can quickly cause significant damage elsewhere. As it turns out, stormwater runoff is all of our problem. Please consider the impact this development can have on adjacent properties and common flood control systems. And with the rest of the group here, I petition that rezoning is denied. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Appreciate your comments. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Yes.

Hello, my name is Louise Johnston. I live at 629 East Vance Street and am a supporter of the historic fringe. I moved to Fuqua-Varina in 1995. I lived on Wade Street for 13 years before moving around the corner to Vance Street. We love the charm of the neighborhood and the distance between the houses. I'm sure my neighbors like this distance too, especially when my husband placed the bagpipes. I would not normally speak at a town board meeting or any meeting, but I firmly believe the construction of these large row houses at the corner of Raleigh and Ennis Street would be detrimental to our community. This is a hilly area and our home sits at the bottom of two downhill streets. There's a creek that runs in front of us that drains from Raleigh Street and another creek on the side of our property. We also have a large hill behind us that was created when the townhomes were built. After their construction, increased water runoff from that hill caused flooding in our yard. During meetings with the townhome builders, we were assured that their construction would not create stormwater runoff for our property. Because of our experience, we are no longer willing to accept assurances when the actual circumstances do not support it. Changing zoning and covering lots with as much house and concrete allowed will decrease available land to absorb rainwater. Each time a house is built that causes an increase in water runoff will have a cumulative effect on surrounding homes. Words may not convey the effect overbuilding can have in this area. So I brought a picture, it's not as big as their picture, showing how water runoff from current construction already affected our property. And I have plenty more pictures like this. I'm also concerned about the safety risk of parking on Raleigh Street because it's such a narrow street. Because of the limited parking provided with these house plans, visitors in a car or the third car of a family with a driving teenager or delivery truck will most likely have to park on the street. We parked a car on Raleigh Street in front of this lot. And within minutes, we saw a car try to turn onto Raleigh Street while another car was coming in the opposite direction on Raleigh Street. And we saw firsthand the hazard this situation created. Because of these and other concerns, I respectfully ask the commissioners to vote against this zoning map amendment request. I thank you all for your service to our town. And I thank you for considering the concerns of the residents in this area.

Thank you very much. Appreciate your feedback. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition? Thank you.

good evening my name is victoria hodge and i live at 505 raleigh street i'm speaking this evening as a supporter of the historic fringe we are speaking in opposition to the rezoning of the 417 and 419 lots of raleigh street given the current proposal of development we are against the rezoning due to the road safety impacts that the proposed development will create from overflow parking the developer suggests that their plan will provide plenty of parking for residents While a two-car garage for each home looks wonderful on paper, the reality is very different. According to a study by the US Department of Energy, 25% of Americans with a two-car garage do not park a single vehicle inside. An additional 33% only park one car inside. Data local to Raleigh Street is even more extreme. The developer recently built four homes on the block adjacent to the proposed development, each with a two-car garage. 0% of the residents park a single vehicle inside of their garages. Given this data, it is reasonable to assert that the two garages and the five-foot parking paths will not provide sufficient parking for the residents of the proposed development. The rear entry alleyway does not provide space for overflow parking like a traditional driveway. Consequently, this will lead to on-street parking. Overflow on street parking is guaranteed if families have a third or fourth vehicle. We understand that on-street parking is common on some of our downtown streets. However, Raleigh Street is not equipped for such a practice. The average width of the road in front of the property is approximately 20 to 21 feet. When I drive to work on Friday mornings, I have to yield to oncoming traffic when the garbage cans are out. If garbage cans create a one-way street, imagine the impact of multiple vehicles parked in front of the residents. This raises many safety concerns. When speaking with the Fuquay-Varina fire marshal earlier today, he advised that new guidance requires a minimum road width of 20 feet for an emergency vehicle to pass. That is the exact width of Raleigh Street. If any cars park on the street, emergency vehicles will be unable to pass. We are extremely blessed to live in close proximity to the fire station, but proximity is no longer beneficial when roads are blocked to emergency vehicles. Additionally, on-street parking creates unsafe conditions for pedestrians and drivers given the current road conditions. Pedestrians will be forced onto the grass to avoid oncoming traffic. Visibility at the intersection of Raleigh and Ennis will be drastically reduced for drivers, potentially leading to vehicle collisions and pedestrian injuries, and it is not a four-way stop. The speed limit of Raleigh Street is 35 miles per hour, which is not conducive to driving around parked vehicles while safely avoiding pedestrians and oncoming traffic. We are disappointed that the developer's plan does not include sufficient parking on the property, whether by way of a traditional driveway, like their adjacent properties, or parking spots offset for the road. We care about the safety and well-being of our neighbors, and the proposed rezoning endangers everyone who walks, drives, or bikes on Raleigh Street. It is that reason we reject the rezoning. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you for your observation. Thank you.

Good evening, all.

Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Ann Marie Amico. I have lived in the Wade Dale House at 508 East Academy Street for 39 years. I'm here with the supporters of the historic fringe. We respectfully ask that you deny the rezoning request for 417419 Raleigh Street. My objection to this rezone and tear down is based on opportunity cost. By tearing down small entry level homes and replacing them with homes that cost $600,000 and more, we are removing opportunity for many people to buy homes. We have heard proponents of this project and others like it say that the TCR designation is designed to help create missing middle housing. The missing housing in Fuqua Verena is single-family homes priced $350,000 and below. I spoke to many realtors, brokers, and a builder. They consistently stated that we have plenty of homes $600,000 and above. People that can afford those homes have not been deterred by current market conditions. The realtors cannot find homes below $350,000. Every realtor I spoke to said military families, firefighters and EMTs, police officers, town of Fuquayverena employees, teachers, young families, and retirees looking to decrease expense cannot find homes to buy in Fuquayverena. Part of the solution to this problem is sitting right in front of us. The affordable 20th century homes located west and east of downtown are often between 250 and 350,000. The alarming problem is that developers are making offers on homes that are not listed for sale, buying to tear down, and building houses that do not fit the neighborhoods in scale, in character, and in price. The process creates a very negative impact for current and future homeowners in the neighborhoods. Property values are significantly and artificially inflated. Property taxes are escalated to a cost that can drive homeowners out of long cherished homes. And modest homes that so many people might afford end up in a landfill without those families ever having a chance to make an offer. Benefits of home ownership are well known. Connection and commitment to community. The proud accomplishment of shelter for a family. A chance to build personal wealth. An asset that can be leveraged for children's education. A chance to change your circumstance. Our exponential growth will require more and more essential service workers. They do the jobs that we don't have the ability to do and sometimes we don't want to do. They should be part of the fabric of this community, not day laborers who drive in and out for miles because they cannot find a place that they can afford to buy and feed right. We can do better. Towns around us are developing programs from which we can learn. It's a tremendous opportunity to bring people together. mayor harris and commissioners i implore you to make workforce housing a top priority in our town our community can work together to address this problem we have an asset in these homes that can be part of the solution i appreciate this process for public input when there are important issues to resolve the issue we address tonight deserves longer more thoughtful conversation than public comments allow we request you commit to addressing this pro problem we would like to work with you

Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate your comments, thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? Thank you.

So sorry. Hello, I'm Corey Ware. I live at 405 East Spring Street in the wonderful downtown Fuqua. Thank you for your time, Mayor and Commissioners. I am here with my fellow neighbors to speak in opposition of the 417 and 419 Raleigh Street project, as I'm a supporter of the historic fringe. my husband and our two sons now ages three and five moved into the neighborhood in 2023 we previously lived in a new construction home off fleming loop with a nice low interest rate we sold it for our now much smaller much older home you're probably thinking as many people did why on earth would you do that we moved because the charm of our 1955 home the mature trees and walkability are things you cannot find in a new community Every weekend, we walk to get coffee, the parks, downtown events, and our friends' houses in the neighborhood. What is there not to love? I remember in one previous meeting, in this meeting, the representative from Pine State commented that they outgrew their home in downtown Fuquay. People thought we were crazy from downsizing from 2,200 to 1,300 square feet with young kids, but we love living in a smaller home. I clean it quickly, we spend lots of family time together, and it functioned and flows much better than the two new construction homes we owned previously. our cozy little home is truly my favorite my family's favorite place to be and we plan to live there for the rest of our lives i am so excited for the future of our downtown i am supportive of growth and improvements and i always try to sell my friends on how wonderful living in downtown fuquay is there are many homes that have been renovated and still have the charm of their original bones I also understand some of the houses are in bad shape and are too far gone to be saved. However, putting three row homes on that corner lot does not fit the character of the neighborhood. These houses will tower over neighbors, be scarily close to each other and stick out like a sore thumb on that corner. My family walks and my kids ride their bikes in that area frequently. The parking nightmare, as many people have stated, is terrifying for a parent. Once we all know that garages are not used for a car, they're used for storage. Most homes have two drivers in two cars. And once teenagers can drive more, I am worried about the safety of that corner as the plans call for the shared alleyway for these homes. I am a daughter of a small business owner and employee of that business, so I totally understand Pine State's approach. I am not here to attack them. I know they love our town. They have built many beautiful homes and are successful in what they do. I also think it's important that they respect the look of the neighborhoods and input of the neighbors. As someone with very expensive taste and a lover of nice things, I believe they can still do this to their quality level without being intrusive to the neighborhood. I don't know if my comments will make a difference in the outcome tonight, but I would lose sleep at night if I didn't take the time to share them. I am passionate about our downtown and feel the need to try to protect the homes and the charm while advocating for growth in the right way. I'd love to see more people live down here, more small businesses able to survive, and improvements to some issues like sidewalks and connecting the two downtowns. I hope you all will take the time to drive by the current lot in question, visualize what is in the plans, and understand why there is a petition in so many signatures. Again, I do not oppose a building on this lot, but I do oppose disregarding the input of neighbors and milking a lot for every inch. Thank you for your comments. We appreciate you. Thank you.

Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment?

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. My name is Jim Hunsberger. I live at 5080 East Academy Street. I'm a former commissioner for the town of Fuquay Verena, as many of you know. Tonight, I am here with the supporters of the historic fringe. In 1996, I was fortunate to be part of a group of neighbors who worked to establish the first nationally registered historic district in town, known as the Fuquay Springs Historic District. Today I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood we refer to as the Historic Fringe. Historic because our neighborhood contains significant numbers of historic homes from the same era as the properties in our nationally registered historic district. Fringe because we border the historic district. Fuquay Springs Historic District contains 37 properties. Our Historic Fringe neighborhood includes nearly 40 homes identified by the museums of Fuquay Verena as historic properties. properties that have been part of landmark home and garden tours over the decades. The average age of homes in our neighborhood is 75, over 75 years, a fact that highlights the historic significance not only to us as residents, but to our town as well. The history of 20th century architecture and our town is well represented by the diversity of our homes. Included are fine examples of colonial revival, craftsmen, bungalow, Cape Cod, mid-century modern, and the ever practical ranch. This architectural variety is remarkable and worthy of preservation. It is important to mention that ours is not the only pocket of 20th century homes in Fuquay Verena. Others are located west and east of downtown. A sense of place was created in our neighborhood with traditional design, use of scale, consistent setbacks, building heights, complementary facades and fenestration elements, with strong entryways and visually pleasing side elevations. These venerable 20th century architectural elements fit together to contribute to the authentic look and feel that is very evident throughout our neighborhood. There is harmony in the rhythm created by the relationship of home to neighboring home, of home to lot, and of lot to streetscape. This neighborhood authenticity took the better part of a century to establish in our neighborhood. As proposed, this rezone request will redefine not only the look and feel of the neighborhood, but also the sense of place. The pleasing, authentically historic rhythm will be lost. But this does not need to happen. We can be the town that chooses to save this part of our heritage. We can look to examples of other towns in North Carolina that have created character-preserving overlays to work with land development ordinances and land use plans to create protections and encourage enhancing infill development. As such, we ask that you deny this rezoning map amendment request. And I thank you for your time.

Thank you for your service as well. Thank you so much. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? Thank you.

Aye, all. I'm very nervous, so I'm just gonna read. Take your time. My name is Audrey Weiss. My husband, Will, and I purchased 416 Raleigh Street in October 2024. When we walked into our soon-to-be home, we knew immediately it was what we wanted. After seeing the home, we drove slightly up the road to find lunch, which we did at Vicious Fishes. We discussed the charm of the house and the neighborhood, how we could walk to downtown for a meal, or beverage or to shop. We put in an offer and closed in a month. We named her Zelda after F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife. She was, after all, a well-known woman of the time period that our home was built in, a gal who, like me, loved to entertain. Our home is the ideal home for entertaining. Ask my neighbors. After we moved in, I joined the Fuquay-Varina Women's Club and was put on two committees, one being civics engagement, the other was fundraising. I have hosted the fundraising committee several times in our enormous kitchen. Our home was one of the homes featured in the 2025 Fuquay-Varina Women's Club Holiday Home Tour. And at that time, I was given the history of our home for the tour and am so proud to know that it holds a little piece of town history. Beatty Wright and her husband inherited the land from her father, Stephen Fuqua, and they built their home in 1920. I believe that makes our home the oldest on the block. Our 106-year-old home with the charming yard and front porch that hosts weekly Friday evening social hour, weather permitting, the front porch where I call the neighbors walking down the street to come and sit a spell. The front porch where I sit with our dog and read when there's a nice breeze. The front porch that I won't be sitting on if the builders allowed to build these very tall, very deep homes with very little room between them and incredibly shallow front yards right across the street from Zelda and the cottages on either side of us. I moved to North Carolina from New York for the military and fell in love with the small towns, the small town feel. These row homes that the builder would like to build belong in a city like Queens, New York, not on the fringe of the historic downtown of a quaint town like Fuqua Arena. We ask that you vote against rezoning.

Did you state your name again for- Audrey Weiss. Audrey Weiss, thank you. Weiss. Appreciate it, thank you. Next. Oh, thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and commissioners and town management. My name is Laurie Chamberlain. I live at 404 Wade Street, and I am a supporter of the historic French. Mayor Harris and commissioners, you guys have heard a lot tonight. You've heard about neighborhood character, historic preservation, affordability, pedestrian safety, traffic and parking, storm water, flooding, and what can happen when redevelopment occurs one property at a time without considering the cumulative effect. Those all sound like separate issues, but they're really not. They're all part of a larger question that we have tonight. How does Fuquay-Varina grow without losing what makes Fuquay-Varina, Fuquay-Varina? we know that our town's future has a lot of change and growth coming and we believe that this gives us a great opportunity an opportunity for residents and elected leaders to work side by side welcoming that growth while preserving the character and sense of place that make our town so very special Our town community vision plan gives us a roadmap. It prioritizes preserving the character of stable neighborhoods. It says new homes should be compatible with adjacent properties that scale and setback matter and that we should be mindful of unintended consequences with inappropriate infill. Those ideas were not accidentally put into the land use plan and they aren't anti-growth. They are our shared vision of how we're supposed to grow going forward. With that in mind, we have two asks. Our first ask is to respectfully ask you to vote no on the rezoning of 417 and 419 Raleigh Street. We ask that redevelopment better reflect the scale, character, and intent the community vision plan described for our neighborhood. This decision is bigger than just these two projects. or these two lots, it's gonna help shape the redevelopment in the historic fringe going forward. Our second ask goes beyond this project. We ask that the town establish a stakeholders advisory committee to work with residents and planning staff and elected officials to create a clearer framework for redevelopment in the historic fringe, one that addresses the current TCR standards and develops an overlay protection necessary to preserve the character and sense of place of our neighborhood. Without this framework, we're just gonna end up right back here in a week or a month when the next project comes up and we're gonna express the same concerns. We know that growth is coming and will continue to come and we welcome thoughtful change and we welcome new neighbors. We just wanna make sure that whatever the new development is, that it makes sense and it belongs in the neighborhood that it's gonna be built in. We truly believe that residents and this board can accomplish that together. Growth.

Thank you very much. We appreciate your comments. Thank you, gonna have to give you a hand. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? If not, the hearing is now closed. Any discussion by the board?

of the first. So I think you know we we heard a lot of good comments tonight. And I think a lot of it touches on the dilemma we're facing here in Pequoy, Verena, as summed up by the last speaker, Lori. We are a very fast-growing town. And I think, you know, the PCR zoning was meant to try and address that. I was looking at the numbers, talking about the numbers last night. You know, we're about 40,000 people now here in Pequoy, Verena. I believe in the next 10 years, that's expected to increase by about 50%. So somehow, we do have to address this, and we do have to think about how we grow, and we do have to think about the location of this neighborhood. And so, I'll be honest, coming in tonight, I had no idea how I was gonna vote on this, and I really still have no idea how I was gonna vote on this. know personally i have a little bit more to learn and would like to take some time to study this issue and maybe see how other towns in the area are approaching these issues you know we're going to grow um you can see on the on the maps that have been presented that this this is and i believe pam mentioned some numbers in terms of density sorry director davidson So I think I would like to see how other towns, before we maybe approve this, approach this. Because the neighborhood's going to grow. We're going to change. But how do we tackle this scale and the timing, I think, is what I'm trying to consider. I would probably be in favor of tabling the motion so I can get a chance to think about it some more.

So we're coming well, which is Smith, I don't think commissioner or I'd let them go first.

I was just wondering if he had made a motion about it. Okay.

All right.

Commissioner Hayes, did you have a comment or question?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Just I guess a few few few comments. Yeah, I've thought about this issue a lot. I've met with a lot of people. I've heard that we don't meet with people in different things, but I've met with a lot of people on this item, and people who I hold dearly as friends and everything. And I share with them very transparent thoughts of me from my heart a lot of time, and I explain stuff. And a few things I had to understand was, if this doesn't pass, what could Pine State build? they could come back in and build two duplexes if i'm correct it's no there's one duplex or two duplex can you help me out director davidson said that the size of the lot would not support two duplexes the density would be too high so what they could build is they could go into the lot of record and they could build two homes one on each lot

under the lot of record reduced setbacks. So that would give them potentially, they'd still have to meet the 30 foot front setback, but five feet on the sides, 10 feet on the rear with front loaded garages.

All right, thank you so much. I just, well, I wanted to get that out so we know where we're at. And, you know, I shared with a lot of people, the things that have happened with TCR. And if you go back in record, I made a comment probably a year and a half, two years ago that we would be dealing with this issue all over town at Fuqua Ave Arena. I won't shy from this and it's on record anyway. The community I grew up in, the Lincoln Heights community has dealt with TCR more than anybody. And I won't back down from that. And this is a little bit different because we're going from two lots to three lots that has been said. But also, you have to understand that the character of the Lincoln Heights community was totally different before TCR happened and other things happened. We were a community of brick ranch style homes for years. There was a few, actually my grandfather had the first townhome complex in the Lincoln Heights community. So I know what it was when he tried to get that built. But also you have to understand that now we have houses that are towering over multiple residents beside these houses uh we just dealt with one that we've been dealing with for about a year that was going to tower over a neighbor's uh property too so you know i tell people i have to be fair in this situation too i don't know which way i'm gonna vote and i'll be honest with you i don't but i also have to understand that i have to be fair As I state all the time, I represent every citizen of the town of Fuqua-Varena. Doesn't matter what community you stay in, what community you don't stay in, and I have to be honest about that. So I was kind of torn with this one because I've seen the effects of different houses being built. I mean, I'm not saying that Pine State is building a home on the street behind me now. and that is a two-story home, and we've had homes that are being built kind of like this that have been built on Washington Street, on the corner of Washington Street, where they are rear-loading row houses that are two-story that were not historically built on those properties. So, you know, I'm in favor with the table. I do want to see what other municipalities around us are, how they're dealing. And I'm not saying that I'm not taking away the historic fringe part of it either. But you also have to understand that historically in Lincoln Heights community, there's a history too. And I won't back down from that as well. so i'm taking all this in when i'm listening to each and every one of you so i'm in favor of the table as well but i want to say that so you understand my heart in this situation as well um and that doesn't change without our vote or anything else like that uh but you know i understand you what you're saying and i understand the effects of have happened throughout the years and also i have to understand i have to be fair to all citizens of fuquay varino those are my comments mr mayor

Thank you for your comments. Commissioner Smith, you had a comment?

Yes, sir. I won't belabor it long. I think Commissioner Haynes covered a lot of the things I wanted to say. Trying to look at this, I too have been to the community and met with several of the folks who live in the community. I've been out on my own just riding, stopping, looking multiple times, even stopped, some poor fella was cutting his grass the other day, walked up in his yard so he'd cut off his lawnmower and chatted with him about it, just trying to get a little bit more information of how the community feels. But like Commissioner Haynes said, I do have to look at what we've done in other communities, what we have built and allowed to be built, have to look at what the land use plan actually says, what it states we would do and what we would support. And I too, that's why when you mentioned table, I asked you if it was a motion, like you and like Commissioner Haynes, I support a time limited time for us to table it, not indefinitely, that we can get a little bit more information, maybe direct our staff to go and discuss with some of our similar towns in our region how they are dealing with this same issue. Get a little bit of history of what they're doing to help us make the right decisions here. Obviously, we're getting good information. I think the homes that this builder builds are nice. Personally, I like the plan. I've seen some nice row houses in this general area. But at the same time, we're hearing from folks who live right around this one who are opposed to it. And I think it's important that we listen. So I would like to also join in with the chorus of saying let's put this off, I would say, no more than a month. Second month and second meeting in September, something like that. But I'll defer to what Mayor Pro Tem or Commissioner Hancock have to say as well.

Any other comments?

I'll make a few comments. First of all, to the folks that have spoken in opposition, I just want to tell y'all thank you, because I think y'all have done a great job. I've had people call me. and very respectful uh want to uh make sure i understood the position of the neighborhood and um you know looked at uh the board i think as a partner to try to come up with the best solution for the neighborhood so i appreciate that um They also appreciate Pine State because they have done some really good, built some really nice assets in the town of Fuquay-Varina. So I appreciate what they do. But we can't sometimes, that's what makes our job tough. We get kind of in between two sides and hope we can come up with the best solution. The TCR, we have done some really, we have approved some TCRs that I think has resulted in some really nice stuff around town, stuff that I personally am proud of that I think has made the town a better place. But it is a unique zoning. And a lot of the things that I like about it is it allows builders a lot of times to have more, they can build a different, it gives them more leeway, more product because they can alter the setbacks in some cases and it gives them some more leeway. But when they've come in, they've always been able to say, give us a presentation that made me feel like the final product was going to be better than if they just used the existing zoning that was currently in place. The Lincoln Heights neighborhood is one that we have struggled a lot with, and a lot of the lots in that neighborhood, when they were originally platted, were platted 25 foot wide. And so somebody that, you know, back then it was like select a size. People would buy three lots and build their house on it. Well, a developer buys that house and tears it down and they've legally got three lots and can build three little houses. And so we've used the TCR to try to get a better product in that situation. And there are other examples of that. In this neighborhood, In general, the lots are not planted at 25 foot wide. I think probably the smallest is about 50 foot wide. And this proposal is pushing it down under 50 feet for most of these lots. So I'm trying to see that the proposal is gonna be something that will be beneficial. and frankly with this crowd here and with what you all have done or had with with uh opposing it it makes me say you know um it gives me a great pause in wanting to approve it because you know what i hope is i hope that the community and the builder could get together and say look under the current zoning I can do this, but try to come up with a compromise everybody can feel good about. If that can't happen, then so be it, but that would be my hope. I don't think we need to throw TCR out with the bathwater, maybe out with the bathwater, but I do think we need to spend a lot of time just TCR as a whole on how we deal with it because these neighborhoods around town are different and if we put the same TCR on every one it puts us in a difficult position trying to maneuver all the ins and outs and you know the other thing is there's no sidewalk in front of this some neighborhoods have sidewalks in front of the house it makes a difference when you talk about walkability this one has a sidewalk beside it just all kinds of things like that so I am very conflicted on it, and I am not in a position to vote in favor of it tonight, so tabling it sounds like a very reasonable option.

Mr. Mayor, I also heard a few things that I think we should take into consideration as a board. One thing is we're still working on trying to find that missing middle housing that we have here in town that's still needed, and we all understand that, you know it's property tax to keep going up it's pricing a lot of senior citizens different people out of homes and now for our new residents who are coming in who are just starting to buy their first home it's very hard for them to purchase homes and get mortgages so that is something we still need to address at some point in time as a board and i think it needs to be start to start to kind of focus on that which is which is easier said than done because if you talk to municipalities all around us it's it's a hard thing to really try to figure out you know and it's not something that we really got to work on that but i think we do um also you know there's some things i've heard about the historic district which i feel like uh you know long term we need to kind of look at some more of the historic district stuff on to where we can uh work to uh preserve some of that historic district of downtown fuquay that was originally there uh and i think we need to make sure that it is national i think it is nationally recognized or through the state i got to find out which if it's been state and and nationally recognized as a historic district uh our down our historic part of uh downtown springs well well isn't um almost falcon park and everything in the it's not so it's just fuquay springs

kind of near the spring, the few blocks near the spring. I think that's why they're calling it Historic Fringe because it's close. Thank you.

You always got to look to the senior person who's been living a little bit longer than me. Thank you.

Any other comments?

I'm not going to criticize you for your youth and inexperience.

i have some experience in these in a lot of different areas with this area too i mean with this part of town too

I actually was, with my listing partner, we sold the property that, now some of you are going to know where this was, Donald Cotton's old house on Ennis Street, and that house had some serious interest you know, we called it, my partner and I called it the little house that kept on taking because we just kept finding problems that had to be addressed and it needed to be torn down too. And I understand that the person, the, the, the, Builder that bought that lot was hoping to make a to have three houses on that lot and the town approved to and I mean, it wasn't as offensive to me as I thought it would be. I also lived in the Fuqua Springs Historic Residential District for 12 and a half years until family circumstances, a couple of deaths in my family, including my late husband. I had to move to a smaller house because everybody was leaving me in this old, wonderful house, and I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave because I love exactly the things you all were describing, and I lived that life for 12 and a half years. So I understand a lot of what I'm hearing, but I heard lots of new things that I had not even considered, and I had been going through these, you know, the things in our land development, paperwork here and making notes and you all thought you did such a beautiful job and you were so respectful expressing your opinions and we thank you for this presentation you did tonight you served your community well I am not ready to make a decision tonight. In fact, I'd already called and left the mayor a message earlier today that I thought if I didn't hear anything, I wanted to hear what was said and presented tonight, but that I was really feeling conflicted and thinking we needed more time to consider this because it does represent more than just this project. I do understand that. And I agree with everything these, my other commissioners here, my fellow commissioners have said. And I think we need to take some time to think about this traditional, historic, one of our oldest residential neighborhoods. The thing that we're always hearing other people say about this town when they come is something about the charm. And I know that this area adds to that impression of charm that people have when they come to this town. And you expressed it beautifully tonight. But I think we do need to just find out what some other communities have how they've handled these issues because north carolina is growing fast all over and we we're not alone in some of the issues we're facing thank you all for being here and for um expressing your concerns and thank you pine state for the beautiful work that you have um done throughout our town you you have you have built some quality products and we appreciate that so I would like to make a motion, Mayor. I move that we table consideration of the REZ-2026-11 zoning map amendment to the second meeting in September. Is that adequate to say it that way, James, attorney?

Second meeting in September.

September 22nd September 22nd.

Yes, Sir, okay, that would be the second yes, I'll second that motion. All right, we have a motion on the floor that we Table are easy 2026 11.

To be heard again September 22nd 2026 of the town manager you have a comment does that motion include any direction for management staff to do anything between that time and I mean that and add that to it.

The request of management staff research similar sized towns in our region as to residential redevelopment of residential infield development. And areas located near the downtown areas of those communities. Would that suffice, Mr. Manager? Second.

Okay, well we just heard an amendment to the motion. You second the amendment?

Second amendment, yes.

All right, all those in favor of the amendment to the original motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it, the original motion dies. Thank you, thank you so much. So you have clear direction?

Mister mayor I think we need to approve the amended motion.

We voted to approve the amended motion.

I just added an amendment to her motion.

I think you voted for the amendment.

The amended motion, we have further clarified directions for the staff, correct?

So now we need to vote on the motion now that it's been amended.

We go back to the main motion.

Now the motion is amended, so we just get a second and a vote.

commissioner Warren you didn't second that amendment.

I thought so and then that we approve the motion and I think we now have to approve the amendment as a man.

Now do I. Most to approve the amended vote.

I did the other motion. No not somebody else.

So moved.

I so move or all those in favor of let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Did we have to second that? Yes. All right. Are we clear? No. I am.

I am clear. Yes. Mr. Mayor I guess before a lot of the citizens in that area leave you know you know just thinking as we're sitting here thinking you know we still want to hear your comments on how you know you want to shape you know your area of the community I think that's also another thing that we can can be raised is oftentimes we struggle with trying to link our our two downtowns together and you know if you use two of those roads in that community you can link Fuqua to Verena on a more safer route at times. So, you know, there's a lot of opportunities we can look at long term or where we can kind of link those roads and we can take from the Fuqua downtown in a different route compared to going straight down Main Street at a safer walking have a sake for walking paths and different things would take us to the Farina side, right up a industry. So, you know, those are some things, you know, just throwing out there for the citizens to give us some feedback on long-term and where we can kind of work on some different things. Thank y'all for being here.

Any other comments? Okay. All right. Thank you all. We're going to move now on to item seven D continuing with public hearings. The zoning map amendment and land use plan amendment Sampson Bladen or company. 2 to a 1 to 2, 0, 5 and a portion of 2 to 2, 1 time to grow Wilburn Road are easy 2026 12. Thank you all so much for coming. We appreciate it so much. Planning director Davis.

Thank you. I'm submitting the agenda abstract and supporting documents and the official records of the town. The purpose of this agenda item is to consider a requested zoning map amendment for a total of 4.591 acres located at 2201, 2205 and a portion of 2221 Piney Grove-Wilbon Road from the neighborhood commercial and residential agricultural zoning districts to the general commercial conditional zoning district and corresponding land use plan amendment from the neighborhood commercial classification to the suburban commercial classification. The property currently contains an existing convenience store and is the proposed location of Handy Hugo's gas station, which is currently under site plan review. Recent amendments to the land development ordinance redefined convenience stores with gas pumps to gas stations, which are now only allowed in the corridor commercial and general commercial zoning districts. This rezoning request and proposed land use plan amendment will serve to better align the current and future use of the property with the land development ordinance. Although the requested zoning amendment is not consistent with the 2040 community vision land use plan, the petitioner has also submitted a request to amend the land use designation to suburban commercial, which supports the land use plans policies 2.6 to encourage commercial development. and 4.1 to manage future growth and development in accordance with priority investment areas map. This rezoning was subject to the town's new traffic impact standards and the development will be designed in accordance with the NCDOT TIA review recommendations, including internal protected stem lanes, storage lanes, and lane improvements. On July 20th, 2026, the Planning Board unanimously recommended approval. The suggested motion tonight is to approve REZ 2026-12, a zoning map amendment for 2201-2205 and a portion of 2221 Piney Grove-Wilbon Road from the neighborhood commercial and residential agricultural zoning districts to the general commercial conditional zoning district and corresponding land use amendment from the neighborhood commercial classification to the suburban commercial classification as it is reasonable and in the best interest of the public for the reasons identified by management and staff i'm available if you have any questions thank you the hearing is now open does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment and land use plan amendment

Mayor, good evening again. John Adcock, Adcock Law Firm at 202 East Academy Street. I'm here on behalf of the owner and the applicant. The purpose of this zoning map amendment is to redevelop what's an existing convenience store that's been there since the 1950s, one that I grew up going to and still do. It's very limited in what type of services it can provide. This will be a modern convenience store that also has retail gasoline sales. There was a question brought to the planning board about the size of the property. Part of the reason the property is the size that it is, because this project will be serviced by a private septic system. So in order to do that, there will need to be an area for the septic system and a repair field. So when you look at the acreage on this project, it's not indicative of how big of a project this is gonna be. A lot of it's associated with the septic field. Also, I'll speak briefly to the transportation improvements. As you know, that's my neighborhood out there. That intersection needs a lot of help, and this project's gonna bring that together with what was just passed in the state's budget, money dedicated to adding turn lanes to that intersection. So that intersection's gonna see significant improvements in the near future, partly because of this project and partly because of the state budget. So we ask that it be approved, and I'm here to answer any questions if you have any.

Thank you, thank you so much, we appreciate it. Any further interest in speaking in favor of the zoning map amendment and land use plan amendment? All right, does anyone wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment and land use plan amendment? Okay, the hearing is now closed. Any discussion by the board? What is the pleasure of the board?

Mr. Mayor, I mean, honestly, I'm excited to hear that there's gonna be some gas pumps put out there. There's been plenty of times I went to church right down the street and I was running low on gas and had to pray all the way back to Sheetz or somewhere else to get back. So to be able to run right there, and that was when, as a little kid, we used to always go to that corner store and get our candy at the church. So it's just exciting to see. we're gonna we're gonna get some gas pumps out there so they get a little gas so i'm excited about it so uh mr mayor if there's no other comments i'll make a motion say so move a second although i'm excited to have downtown wilbur incorporated into this thank you i just want

I just want to thank John Adcock real quick for sitting sitting here and presenting. You know, I had kind of meant to suggest that we shift the order of these public hearings so that he could so he maybe could have gotten out here a little sooner. But so thank you for being here.

Any other comment? All right. The motion has been made and properly seconded. All those in favor of the motion, let me know by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you so much. Item 7E, zoning map amendment. m.i homes of raleigh llc 06921 and a portion of 6823 sunset lake road rez 202518 more information about this agenda item will be presented by planning director davidson it's my last one tonight so i'm submitting the agenda abstract and supporting documents into the official record of the town

The purpose of this agenda item is to consider a requested zoning map amendment for a total of 27.63 acres located at 06921 in a portion of 6823 Sunset Lake Road from the residential medium density conditional zoning district to the planned unit development zoning district. There is a pond on the property that is scheduled for drainage. This pond is classified as a high hazard dam and has received a violation notice from the North Carolina State Dam Safety Program. It's actually located approximately 15 feet above the adjacent Ballantyne Dairy Road. It's overgrown with large trees, so it's been determined to be problematic. The properties are currently zoned Residential Medium Density Conditional Zoning District as part of REZ 1207 from 2007. The properties were rezoned with the condition that they develop as an open space subdivision. Since the property was not developed and open space subdivision is no longer development option, the petitioner has opted to rezone to planned unit development, the town's current equivalent of an open space center development. The requested zoning is consistent with the 2040 Comprehensive Land Use Plan. The master plan and narrative included with the request ensure that the future uses fit into the development context and demonstrate compliance with the zoning conditions. And they offered many of those zoning conditions additionally meet the goals of the 2040 Land Use Plan. On July 20th, 2026, the Planning Board unanimously recommended approval. The suggested motion tonight is to approve REZ 2025-18, a zoning map amendment for 06921 and a portion of 6823 Sunset Lake Road from the residential medium density conditional zoning district to the planned unit development zoning district as it is reasonable and in the best interest of the public for the reasons identified by management and staff.

Thank you so much. Mr. Mayor, just a point of order. I think we might still have an open motion on the floor from the last item. We seconded it, but do we vote on it?

I have Commissioner Haynes and Commissioner Smith.

Okay. Yeah, there was a motion and a second, but I don't recall saying aye.

Did we vote?

we did okay my apologies yeah he said all in favor you know we're going to take a break in about five minutes after we get through this thank you fam does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment can i ask some questions oh you have a question i'm sorry sure sure commissioner

um can you tell me about the historic district and how this yes plays into that it doesn't really historic districts are voluntary valentine farms is also in the historic district and it's a subdivision so um

unfortunately or fortunately they're voluntary and so they really don't have a lot of weight or or bearing there's no standards or restrictions applied so when the town was planning on the

Basically the bypass road that's going to go from five points and then fly over 401 and cross sunset lake and then you 5751 it was yes now The original plan was to it was going to take out some houses because you had to move it just enough to avoid the historic district.

And CDOT put a higher priority on that historic district than I think may have been warranted due to the fact that it is voluntary in nature.

So I guess my heartburn is with it is, you know, they've put a, it's on a national register of historic places. which ties the town's hands apparently when we're trying to improve the community with roads, but when it's time for them to sell it, we have no authority to do anything that we might not do on any other property.

My understanding is historic designation is voluntary.

So even if they're contributing buildings on the property for the National Historic District, we don't ask Historic Commission or any kind of, we wouldn't ask for feedback on something like this?

So we can definitely ask that. So to my knowledge, there are no historic buildings that have been determined on this. For example, a village of Lake Wheeler had a historic house that SHPO did get involved in. And in the end, they did end up renovating that house and creating its own separate lot and such. So if there are historic buildings designated, we will definitely work with Capital Area Preservation and the State Historic Office of preservation to identify that and preserve it we do that first to my knowledge the the property developer is here and he can probably speak better to any existing structures but to my knowledge there are no existing structures on this portion of the property being that this is the southern side of the horse farm so the majority of existing structures are in the northern portion that is not included in this development at this time

Well, Carolyn Elliott lived in a house that I think was an old Ballantyne home. L.Y. Ballantyne was the commissioner of agriculture for a long time in the state, and it was his dairy And the milking house was where this subdivision is being planned.

Is that what they call the creamery? Because they've offered the creamery to the museums.

I don't know. I don't know. I know I went there when I was a kid and watched them milk cows and I dug worms out of the manure and fished in the pond. So I'm fairly familiar with it. I just get a little heartburn when people make their property National Register Historic Places and then one day it's like they want to forget they did that. So I just would like to make sure that the historic preservation folks at least look at it and give some feedback to us.

Mary we can definitely ask those questions I just pulled up the preliminary subdivision plans have already been staff reviewed and so there are a couple of existing brick and concrete foundations that are noticed to be removed and there are a couple existing buildings to be demolished and removed so again the developer may be able to speak to their context and we can definitely check with Cavalier Preservation and just make sure that there's nothing on their radar

Any other questions of Director Davidson? All right. The hearing is now open. Does anyone wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment? Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Harris and Mayor Pretend-Gardner. Thank you for hearing us today. Thank you to Pam and all of the staff that did a great job helping us coordinating this project. It took not more than other municipalities, which is great, but coordinating with them has been a pleasure and I just wanna give a quick shout out to them. I do want to touch on some of the historic questions that you had, Commissioner Adcock. Just prior to get to that, I just want to give a quick background on MI. MI is no stranger to Fuqua Wave Arena. We have presence in town with another project called Coley Preserve that's underway right now. that's a 61 acre 153 lot subdivision that's nearing its completion but what's in front of you today takes a far less dense approach after taking a lot of careful consideration with the surrounding areas and the historical nature of this region and in addition to staff's input the proposed lots vary from eight thousand ten thousand square feet with quality homes designed to provide more of a traditional farmhouse feel. The neighborhood itself will be crafted to reflect a horse farm theme, reflecting the existing horse barn and its longstanding use. We'll be incorporating a covered pavilion and will overlook the proposed SCM with additional program for family activities. We did hold a neighborhood meeting with our neighbors to discuss the project, and we're grateful for their participation and cooperation. We have had no objection to this project from existing residents. We hosted additional meetings to particularly discuss the draining of the existing pond, which the neighbors understood that it is necessary. I personally investigated the pond and spent a lot of time and resources trying to find and figure out how we could keep this pond, because it really is, it's a beautiful pond when you go out there. However, the elevation of the dam, no matter what we do to rehabilitate that dam, stands so high above Ballantyne Dairy Road that It is posing danger to existing residents and future residents. It is important to note that we will not be picking up additional lots as a result of draining this pond. We are not draining this pond for profit or for getting lots. We're doing it for the safety of our proposed and existing residents. We're also making additional commitments to best screen our neighbors and to make sure that we're welcoming And we're coming in with the right mentality and the right attitude to be good neighbors to everybody and to conclude Commissioner Adcock we did submit a formal report to SHPO on those existing structures Shippo came back and reported that uh, it's the historical, the national historical preservation. I forget the actual terminology for it. I wish I could reference that. But it we, whatever we do to our due diligence of a of a project, we always submit. We do our phase one studies. We do everything to make sure that everything that we're proposing and we may be tearing apart on site is in accordance to every national regulation. SHPO has reported back that they have no interest in any historical features on this site. We have understood that there is, I'm sorry, I'm just answering Mr. Adcox.

Feel free to answer the question, yes.

We would like to still coordinate with the towns, whatever historic organization in town, and allow them to come and visit. I cannot, we will not be able to keep the actual full structure, but what we would love to do is donate any historical pieces that may be found in that barn for any kind of preservation that the town would like to keep. And to sum that up, you know, we've been fortunate to work with a brilliant team of town staff and to mold this project in the best case of, that we believe is the best case use for this land and, you know, thank you for your time and ask you for your approval.

Thank you. Has the town received that response from?

Yeah, well, I'm not sure that that's a formal, but I'd be happy to provide that to Pam and all of our staff.

Yeah, absolutely. This is me. Well, I kind of gave you some background. I'm sitting here thinking, you know, we were going to take out people's houses. to save a sliver of a field on the south end of this historic district, which blew my mind. But here, it's like, well, there's nothing there and it doesn't matter. It's like whatever suits for the day. To me, one of the north side of, or the north side of Terrible Creek, what made that unique was that it was a dairy, not that it was a horse farm. The horse farm really became what it was, in my mind, after the dairy disappeared in the 80s. But the dairy is really what made it, I think, historic, that northern part, north of Terrible Creek. And where this was, In my memory, that's where the cows were milked. People around here talk about one of the unique things in Fuqua Verena in, you know, prior to the mid 80s was when you went down Sunset Lake Road twice a day, the cows crossed the street and they, the Ballantyne subdivision, was the big field where the cows kind of spent most of their time, but they would walk them across the street and go here and milk them twice a day. And so you'd have to sit there and wait for the cows to cross the street. Which anybody driving up and down Sunset Lake Road today, that's kinda hard to believe, but that's the way it was. and the person that started that that dairy was in North Carolina history a pretty pretty significant person I think because he was the agriculture commissioner for many years before Jim Graham became agriculture commissioner so to me if there's really nothing there to preserve I mean, this is just my opinion. I would like to see some nod to the dairy, but that's just me, as far as the development goes. You know, something to make note of that, but I would love for you to meet with some of the museum's folks just to make sure there's nothing that we're missing here.

And, Commissioner, we certainly planned on doing that. Like I said before, we want to be good residents of Fuqua Wave Arena. We have every intention of trying to preserve any historical features that may be on this site. From my understanding, the more historical features are on the northern parcel on Ms. Caroline Elliott's property. And she has more of the longstanding farmhouse and she has some more, she's actually invested in that. i'm not too familiar with her house is not on this on this what we're looking at no she she is a part seller of this property she's selling us essentially the top left corner of what you see here but it's not uh her property what she's selling us is just barren land Whatever historical features that you would see on here would be on the bottom right part of the property here. And like I said, my team internally, we've been investigating to see how we can coordinate with historical organizations to see.

I appreciate what you do. I don't have any problem with residential development. I like it. But... especially when you've got a spot that's in a national historic register i just want to make sure we're not overlooking something that we would regret the other thing is um that dairy story is a good story it's a good thing it's a good thing for people talk about fuquay varina as being unique. And there's a lot of things that make Fuqua Verena unique. But in my mind, one of the things that makes it unique is the history of that dairy. And so I would like to have some nod to it one way or the other.

Well, you can take it from me that we're happy. It's my pleasure to meet with any historical preservation group in Fuquay that would be willing to come out. I'll meet them on site as well, and we can talk through whatever. Like I said, I can't keep the actual farmhouse, but I'm happy to donate it all if they want to take some of that to a museum. We'd love to dedicate maybe a plaque or some kind of historical feature along the property to do that, and it would be my pleasure.

What is the proposed name of the subdivision?

Right now, we've called it a couple things. Galloway Crossing, Sunset Lake. My marketing team is eventually going to have the final say.

Do you think y'all would be open to something that nods to the dairy?

Yeah, sure. So just just so you know, the current use or the historical use of this particular piece of property was a horse farm. And so we have actually made a commitment. If you look through the commitments, we are going to be making a milking barn was not on this property. i i personally am not totally sure it's every historical research that we've gathered is that this was a horse barn in a horse pasture and so we have in our commitments we are dedicating um if you look through i'm sorry i can pull it up the last one just to be clear i'm reading this right Monumentation at the entrance will emphasize a horse theme, accent, fencing at the entry, and common areas will include split rail fencing and brick columns. So even our entry monuments will.

Do you know why this property was put on the national, because I'm not sure I know why this little piece here. not little, but this triangle here. Why was it on the National Register of Historic Place?

That's a great question. This property has a long, long, long history. It could have been anybody. My understanding is it's likely because of the historic the barn that was there. If you do visit it there, there is an asphalt and you can see the barn, you can see where where that used to be, and that could possibly be it. But as of right now, that barn is pretty much in ruins.

Okay. It's probably been 40 years since any dairy activity happened out there.

But I'm happy to answer any further questions. I'll be around.

Thank you very much. We appreciate you taking time to answer the questions. Does anyone else wish to speak in favor of the zoning map amendment? Does anyone wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? Good evening, commissioners.

I'm Wendy Douglas. I was here a couple of weeks ago to talk to you about my concern about housing for the missing middle. And this particular rezoning does include a language that says there's no vinyl siding permitted and there are other types of wording that would preclude building for that missing middle. And so while I'm not opposed to the development of this property, I am opposed to that language that would make it unavailable to the missing middle. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak in opposition to the zoning map amendment? If not, the hearing is now closed. Any further discussion or questions by the board?

Mr. Mayor, I'd be in favor of tabling this, not because I have any issue with the plot, as presented to us, but I would just like to make sure we are covering all our bases and I would like for the museums and the historic folks to make sure that we're not missing anything here. We may not be and I'm fine to move forward with it. I just don't want to make a mistake.

I appreciate that because I mean with these historic things sometimes we only can we only get one chance and it's gone so I think that would be good too because I this that some of this discussion has been covered at our museum board meetings so I think I think with our relationship with the museum that would it would be a good thing for us to just be sure great idea what is your pleasure

make a motion to table the zoning map amendment, REZ 2025-18 MI Homes of Raleigh 06921 and a portion of 6823 Sunset Lake Road in the pens as stated. I suggest that we table this until our second meeting in September.

OK.

and the purpose of this is to have the Fuqua-Varina Museums give feedback on this project.

You've heard the motion, is there a second? Second. All those in, if there's any other discussion, but if Mr. Tom.

Second meeting in September.

All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries, thank you. The next item is item eight, the consent agenda. What is the board's pleasure on the items on the consent agenda?

Mayor, I move to approve the consent agenda.

Item, yeah. It's been moved and second that we approve the items on the consent agenda. Did you intend to all the items?

I was going to itemize them, but I don't think that's necessary.

All right. Restate your motion, if you don't mind.

Sure. Mayor, I move to approve item 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D on the consent agenda.

Okay, all right, then we have a second.

Yes, sir.

All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? My ayes have it. We have, okay, we're moving right along here. Hopefully, I was gonna, okay. so we knock this out. Item 10A, Public Service Center Phase II Guaranteed Maximum Price Amendment, $20,145,809, edifice general contractors, project ordinance amendment POA 2703, and budget amendment BA 2702. More information about this agenda item will be presented by Public Works Director Stevenson. Hello, how you doing?

Good evening. Thank you mayor and commissioners. We are submitting this agenda item into the record of the town As you all are well aware we've been planning for Phase two improvements to the public service center. So we have We're bringing to you tonight an agenda item that amends the guaranteed maximum price agreement that we did with edifice general contractors back last year As you know, the public service center is a critical operational center. It houses our public works, public utilities, and parks and rec maintenance folks. Pretty much any activity that happens out in the community that's involving roads, sidewalks, and recreation comes out of that building. um you guys have proactively planned for this expansion and so this is just a moving on of that process uh we did contract with withers ravinelle and teeple architects to do our space needs study and our um and our design uh with that we moved on to edifice general contractors for our guaranteed maximum price construction or cmar contract as we refer to those. Edifice selected bid or solicited bids on May 5th and May 19th of this year. The guaranteed maximum price that resulted from those bids was $20,483,848. This was significantly higher than our previous estimates. So we did a good bit of follow-up work and groundwork with Edifice. Basically cost escalation in the construction market had slowed for a period and has picked back up. We worked very diligently with Edifice after the bid openings to try to look for opportunities. Should we re-bid the project? Are there places where we could save money on the project? The basic result of that was our analysis with the bidders was that a rebid was likely going to at best leave us even and maybe even would even leave us with a higher bids the second time around the Most of the cost increases are general inflation. You know, we had a conflict with in a foreign country pop up about the time we're bidding these projects. Just a lot of of the continued inflationary pressures that we've been seeing on the construction market. So we did work with Edifice on numerous value engineering options and we were able to at least lower the cost by $338,000 with some choices that did not impact our function. There were choices that we could have done to get back into more into our budget line, but any of those were going to come with major programmatic issues. You were going to remove building that was a major function of the site and it was going to lead to us being back in five years needing to expand yet again and so just at our determination is that you know the cost and the recency of that would just be too high for us to to recommend that so with that three hundred thirty eight thousand dollars in value engineering that brings the the GMP amendment to twenty million one hundred forty five thousand eight hundred nine dollars. We also have additional soft calls on the town side that include our financing some contingency of furniture are actually up there some of those things that we we rather than contract that out we kind of manage on on our side of the House. We had originally, as our fiscal note, had originally budgeted $18.5 million in this budget to cover this construction. So a part of this action is a budget amendment of $1,645,809 to help cover the GMP cost. and then also to cover the $1,371,366 in the soft cost that I explained. Our plan from the beginning was to split this cost between the general fund and the utility enterprise fund by 2 3rd to 1 3rd split. which we have done and will continue to do also with that the total funding to support this project that we're talking about tonight is twenty one million five hundred seventeen thousand one hundred seventy five dollars. I can assure you that we have worked diligently to bring this product in as low cost as we can. We are bringing you a project that meets the 10-year need that we intended to, and has the elements that are necessary to keep our operations running, and there's nothing on this site that's gonna go wasted or unused. One of the hard parts, I've mentioned a couple times, is when you're trying to value engineer a facility that is really designed for function, there's really not a lot of places to go pull things out without impacting the critical function. So with that, town staff recommends this GMP amendment and subsequent budget amendment to the project ordinance to support this project. Here's a overall schematic that you can see where we're adding addition to our current admin building. We're adding a second building with office spaces, locker spaces, and all that, and then also lots of covered storage, parking being one of the major constraints at this time that we've been out of parking for essentially a year. So the recommended motion for you tonight is the management staff recommendation to approve the guaranteed maximum price amendment of $20,145,809 with Edifice General Contractors, approve a project ordinance amendment, budget amendment, and authorize the town manager to execute GMP documents for the construction of the public service center phase two project subject to town attorney review as to form. And with that, I'd be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you. Thank you. Please forgive me. I misread that figure as $20,000. I'm sorry. I wish it was $20,000. I think we all do.

All right. Tracy, I'm just curious. Do you all get many complaints from the neighborhood next door from noise or anything like that?

There was a lot of that discussion when the facility was originally built. I don't recall any recent issues that have been brought to my attention.

Seems like they were concerned about lights and lighting.

Originally, there were a lot of concerns. I don't know that I've heard anything.

I'm wondering about since it opened.

No, I don't recall any recently. I haven't had anybody complain to me directly.

Well, you know, it's right here close to Holland's Crossroads, and this was Holland land because it was bought from Mr. David Holland, Donald's uncle. I just remember it was one of these instances where we had kicked a hornet's nest because the neighborhood next door I think thought that we were going to, I don't know what they thought we were going to be doing next door, putting a dump next door to them. But I haven't heard anything negative since it opened. And so I'm proud of that, and I think the town has done a good job with it, and I've just heard from a neighbor that y'all are good neighbors, so I appreciate that. We do our best.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, I just want to say, you know, thank you, Director Stevenson, for, you know, I think with every project we have now, what we don't want to do is, even though, you know, funding is limited at times, is put it to where we're going to have to go back fixing something in five years. I think that's, with every big project that we have coming up down the pipeline, there's no point of, you know, I would rather put money towards that than five years instead of 10 years down the road, we having to go back and fix stuff. That's what, you know, the new fire station, new police department, all this stuff, I think that's one of the things. So thank you for, and finance and management and everybody for thinking about that when we're looking at all these projects that we don't want to do something and then, had to go back, because as we all know, if we go back five years in a row, we've spent more money than we would have spent in the first place. So thank you for thinking about it. And we hope that, you know, even though you had to do some changes around and nothing is, you know, lack, because people know that, you know, one of the backbones of our town are the are the employees that come out of that building every day and and and they're you know we need them they're 24 hour on call and everything else and up before we are a lot of them are asleep right now we up before we get up so you know we we definitely want to make sure that you know we're we're putting our best foot forward as a board to make sure that uh all the employees there have everything they need and definitely i've seen it on those days where everybody's parked on the grass and everything else trying to find parking spots so it'll be good to have a parking lot

Any other comments? Do I hear a motion?

So moved, Mr. Mayor, as presented and recommended. Second.

All those in favor of the motion as presented, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it. Thank you. Other business and how we doing we need to buy me to break might be not the South 15 minutes.

Other business managers report, I'll try to be as brief as I can may never get along in the tooth. Do want to just recognize that Cody Simonson in our engineering department has been promoted to the assistant engineering director positions we want to congratulate Cody. on his career advancement. He holds a bachelor degree in environmental engineering, a dual master's degree in business administration and construction management, and he's a licensed professional engineer, and he's been a valuable asset to our organization and to the engineering department since having been on board for many years now, and so we want to congratulate Cody this well-deserved promotion. Staff in the Utilities Department attended the North Carolina Rules and Regulations update for drinking water and wastewater and brought back some good information along those lines to ensure that we are upholding our standards to the highest standards that the state expects in terms of rules and regulations. I want to recognize a couple of professional development related matters in the planning department. Our planning director, Pam Davidson, successfully completed the UNC School of Government's Public Executive Leadership Academy, so we want to congratulate Pam on her completion of that important course. She's the first department director to have gone through that course with the School of Government. Planners Slater Knox and Alyssa Holman attended the annual Fall Certified Zoning Officials Conference in Beaufort this past week and were able to network with other planners in their profession as well as bring back some good information to our planning department. our planning department staff sincerely appreciates the board prioritizing continuing education and providing opportunities for staff to be lifelong learners and advance their professional development goals. I also want to mention out of the planning department that the Citizens Planning Academy is open for registration online through August 28th for the next cohort of that Academy. The first cohort was extremely successful and we look forward to hosting the next group of learners in our community this October so anyone who's interested is encouraged to register online by or before August 28th and we're limited and available spots so it's first come first serve we encourage encourage that registration Downtown development Samantha Darlington has been hired and selected as the 10 towns next downtown development manager joining us from the North Carolina main street program so we're excited to have someone who is familiar with the North Carolina main street program and the state program and national program come and join and be a part of our downtown team and a partner with the FDA so we're very excited about her start date which is September 21st. The Streets Department took delivery of a new leaf vacuum truck that was budgeted in the fiscal year 27 budget and is preparing it for the upcoming fall leaf season. And Tim Honebly was promoted from Sanitation Collector 2 to Equipment Operator in the Sanitation Department. filling one of the new crew positions added in the fiscal year 27 budget. His former position and the remainder of the new sanitation crew have been filled and they will start on August 24th allowing the new sanitation route to go into service in the near future. A national night out against crime is planned to be held on Friday, August 21st, this Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the parking lot next to Target and the Gold Leaf Shopping Center. Backpacks and school supplies will be distributed while supplies last, and I do want to just note that we are monitoring weather to determine if alternative plans are necessary. There are some inclement weather projected in the forecast, and so we're paying close attention to that. Back-to-school traffic safety, as it pertains to back-to-school traffic safety, the traditional school calendar year officially begins this coming Monday, August 24th, so we do encourage drivers and parents to exercise caution when traveling through school zones and expect traffic delays during morning drop-off and afternoon pickup times, at least initially, when the school season starts. our police department officers will be monitoring school zones and conducting traffic enforcement including targeted enforcement of the new no parking zones established near willow spring high school in the north lake subdivision faith brown has recently joined the parks recreation and cultural resources team as our newest athletic program specialist we want to welcome faith to our team As it pertains to fire department, Scott Naylor completed all career ladder requirements and has been promoted from firefighter two to senior firefighter. So we want to congratulate Scott on his career development. And fire engineers Matthew Lee and Robbie Johnson have been promoted to fire captain to fill the vacancies by recent retirements. And their badge pinning will take place at the September 22nd town board meeting. So we look forward to welcoming them and their families for that badge pinning ceremony. Nine officers and firefighters attended the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo at the Raleigh Convention Center this past weekend for technical training classes, keynote sessions, and leadership development alongside thousands of firefighters from across the southeastern region of the United States. And so it was a good learning opportunity for those nine officers and firefighters. I want to thank them for attending. And then applications close this Thursday for the three non-certified firefighter positions included in the fiscal year budget with more than 100 applications received to date. The new recruits will attend the Wake County Fire Academy starting in October and are scheduled to graduate in late May. So everyone wants to come work at the Fuqua-Varina Fire Department. It's a good place to be. Alice Delgatano has been hired as our assistant finance director and will start on September 8th. So we're looking forward to Alice coming on board and being a part of our finance team. This past weekend featured a successful summer showcase for dancers enrolled in summer classes at the Arts Center. Auditions for the annual Community Nutcracker production are now open and interested participants can sign up for the audition time on the Arts Center website. And Rental and Special Events Coordinator Katie Krush and Program Coordinator Jennifer Rankin Returned from the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Seminar sponsored by the Kennedy Center, staff look forward to implementing their new ideas to increase and improve program accessibility. And registration for fall classes and fall theater offerings is available online and in person for the Arts Center. With that, Mayor and Board, I will just again draw your attention to National Night Out Against Crime this Friday, 5 to 8 p.m. at the Gold Leaf Target parking lot. Thursday, September 10th, we will have our first concert of the fall series. Follow me to Fuqua concert. The Band of Oz will be here in town performing a local favorite at 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Centennial Park. The 9-11 National Day of Remembrance will be held on Friday, September 11th at 8.30 a.m. at the Fuqua Arena Arts Center. The International Festival will be at the Fuqua Arena Arts Center on September 12th from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Food Truck Rodeo will be on Sunday, September 13th from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Durham Street parking lot, 801 Durham Street. There are some first readings in your agenda materials. A zoning map amendment submitted by Josh Swindell of Envision Homes, 7151 Sunset Lake Road. And with that, Mr. Mayor and Board, that concludes my remarks for this evening. I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. The next item, town board member comments. Commissioner Haynes.

Yes sir, I'll keep. Be brief? Yes sir, very brief. It was exciting. I was downtown Raleigh on Friday and I was, first I was like, why am I seeing Fuqua-Varina fire department trucks down here? Then I turned the corner, I see fire trucks from everywhere in the state of North Carolina. And it took me forever to find a parking lot. It was good to see that we had some people representing the town of Fuqua there. um i just want to uh uh send blessings to all of our students who have started back school or starting back school all the teachers bus drivers and everybody and all our college kids who are off to college already probably have just started about to start their first few days of college who are residents of Fuqua Ave Arena. So excited about their year and see their success. Last thing is I just wanna, I'm honored to be on the list of part of the Legislative Policy Committee for the North Carolina League of Municipalities along with our town manager. We are made up of 70 elected officials, management, and I think attorneys across the state of North Carolina who will be working on legislative policies for the upcoming sessions for our North Carolina legislators. So it's exciting to be a part of that. We will start our sessions and working to figure out for the over 500 municipalities in the state of North Carolina what legislative policies we need to work towards to make sure we have everything we need in our legislature.

and this palace is all overstate so i'm sorry about that congratulations thank you yeah great both to you and the town manager congratulations commissioner adcock no comments tonight all right commissioner smith really no comments tonight mr mayor just been busy with a lot of ribbon cuttings and ground breakings but that's a great thing to see so yes it is yes it is commissioner warren no comments mayor pro tem gardner

No comments, except it was really nice to, for the publicity we got with the launch for the new DMV in Fuqua Arena, it was nice to see some good positive coverage from the media, and it was an exciting day. It's gonna be a great facility, going from 14 driver's license stations to four to 14.

Great point, that's good, I'm glad you mentioned that. Thank you. Any other comment? That's it. I have no comment tonight. I know that we have a closed session. And do I hear a motion to go into closed session?

So move.

Second.

All those in favor vote. We need to identify why. It is under general statute, the closed open meetings law, general statute A3, attorney client privilege.

OK.

So move.

Okay. Second. All those in favor of the motion, let it be known by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, we can take a break.