General Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Today is August 11th. It's approximately five o'clock and this is the general committee to the city of Hendersonville.

So, I'd like to know, we should, I should be ready for a call before. Yeah. Okay. So we are going to go around the room and do a roll call. So. We've just got a little bit more full, so I will start, we'll do the table and then we'll do the outside. Does that sound good? My name is Bob Garza. I'm the chair of general committee and I'm also the word 3 all the Rachel's links for 5 all the men.

Okay, Karen, make some work for all.

Jason Gallo, Administrative Services Director. Greg Story, Building and Co. Director.

Mayor Jamie Cleary. Keith Frey, Planning Director.

Zach Coleman, Senior Planner. Let's go, let's start with you and then make it all the way around.

I'm J.D. Tatum.

I'm Terry Tatum.

Barbara Rayburn.

Bill Charles.

Emily Knapp.

Mark Evans. Alderman Ford.

I'm six. I'm Charles.

Chair and Director of Restoration.

Yes, the operations. Mark burgdorf alderman work 1. Get rid of back economic development city. Lee, Peterson proud resident of the city by the lake.

John, the other progress.

Tom Williams, I guess I'm proud also. See you tomorrow. That's right.

All those in favor say aye.

Now, for the minutes, we need approval of the minutes from May 12th.

Accept the minutes as written. Second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Now we're up for citizens comments. We have three. I'm going to change them so you can relax a little bit more. Emily, we're going to let you go first. And by the way, there's a small rule I have to read. Speakers must identify themselves by name and address. Public comments shall be limited to five minutes per individual. which time is not transferable to other speakers. All comments are to be directed to the presiding officer. That's me, not to Alderman, city staff, or other members of the public. Comments must address issues, not individuals or personalities. Personal attacks shall not be tolerated. Comments may support or oppose particular issues or measures, but the motives of those with differing views shall not be questioned or attacked. Malicious comments will not be allowed. Speeches for or against any particular candidate running for public office shall not be allowed also. So you can stand and take the floor for five minutes.

Can you stand where I'm at?

Where are you at is fine.

My name is Emily Nath. I live at 1760 Avant Lane. I actually live right on Avant Lane. So pretty much directly impacted by the subdivision. Just wanted to come tonight in favor of this development. I was pretty strongly opposed to the previous development that was put forth last year. The only thing that I really wanted to come tonight to convey is just the traffic, or not traffic, so much traffic, the speeding issue on Avant Lane. I know Bill has proposed a speed table, which I think is a great idea. I do have some concerns about the placement of it, it being kind of right directly in the intersection, not in the intersection, but directly by the intersection. I think it may be kind of an awkward placement just with cars turning on onto Avant and off of Kinsley. So I actually did a little bit of research, not my forte, but some speed cushions I think would be a good alternative. Honestly, I think that they should be placed kind of along a Vaught Lane since it is a cut through Um, and people is straight away and people tend to speed down that this, um, that road quite a bit. Um, so, but even if they can't go all the way down the road, I think even just strategically placed, um, to where it slows people down as they approach that intersection where the, the new developments, um, entrance will be and Kinsley lane. So.

Are you Ward 6? Yes. Yes. So I'm sure you've had this conversation with her already. Yes. That way I don't have to remember. You can. Yes.

Yes. But I just also wanted to reiterate, I'm very appreciative to Bill. Bill's the developer of this project. He has gone out of his way to listen to all the concerns of the citizen or the community and the neighbors that are impacted by this. So I definitely trust that he'll come up with a good solution.

Thank you, Emily. Next, we have J.D. Tatum.

Hello, so my name is Jamie Tatum, and my husband Terry and I have been developing a proposal for the community.

What's your address?

Oh, I'm sorry. My address is 1011 Merritt Road, Hendersonville, Tennessee. But we've been working on a proposal for a music venue and food truck park here in Hendersonville, Tennessee. And we recently learned that there was a letter of intent presented for the same property that we're interested in, which is at the Bradford Berry House property. We have dedicated countless hours to researching successful venues, studying why some work and why some fail. We visited similar facilities. We've met with big truck owners. We've consulted industry professionals, analyzed operating models, and completed extensive market and financial research. And based on That work, we've developed a comprehensive business plan and detailed concept drawing specifically designed to create a financially sustainable, family-friendly destination for Hendersonville. We are calling it right now the Hendersonville Social, and we believe that it would support local food truck owners and musicians, create jobs and economic activity, and provide families, residents, and visitors with a unique community gathering place. Because of the extensive research, planning, and investment that have gone into this proposal, we believe it deserves the opportunity to be heard and evaluated. I am not asking the board to approve our proposal tonight. I am respectfully asking that no decision be made and that no letter of intent or other agreement be accepted, authorized, or executed for this property until we have been given the reasonable opportunity to formally present our proposal. We are prepared to present our complete proposal promptly and would welcome the opportunity to meet with your appropriate city representatives. We are simply requesting a fair and transparent process in which both proposals can be reviewed before any decision is made. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, J.D. And last on the list tonight, but not probably the most prominent, would be Tom. Take your time. Good?

There's a booby. I hear you. Okay. I'm just going to replay it. Okay. My name is Tom Williams. I live at 209 Pine Bay Drive in Hendersonville. And once again, I'm here to talk on behalf of Bradford Berry Property. Mr. Chairman, thank you for this time. Last month in a BOMA meeting, I recall a unanimous approval by the board to allow the city to enter into a partnership with the society for the purpose of allowing the society to proceed with explorations and plans to find ways to save Bradford Berry House and eventually turn it back to the city as a potential historical, cultural, or educational venue. I would like to ask the question, what has happened to the spirit of that meeting? november 28 2023 boma approved conveyance of bradford berry at all the property from mayfair developer bradford berry house and the cemetery combined with 1.63 acres and were proposed for donation to the city in addition a 100 000 donation and a construction of a rod fence around the cemetery were proposed for the gifting to the city boma approved the amendments and donations the developer then proposed an amended plan that would have included all 13.24 acres and no monetary gift and i i'm not sure but i believe the deed to the property does include the 13.24 acres resolution is defined as a firm decision or intent to act or not act in a particular way it's an act of uh it's the act of finding a solution to a problem dispute or challenging situation over the years there have been many resolutions made concerning the bradford berry house On February 24th, 2005, Resolution 2005-1 designated the Bradford Berry House Family Cemetery and property be a historical landmark, and that, I believe, was signed into the city records. Ordinance is defined as a law, rule, decree, or command usually made by a city or regional government. As far as I can tell, there's only been one ordinance concerning the property. That was Ordinance 2005-12, designating the Bradford Barrier property to be historic. That was approved on May 24, 2005, and upon second reading, passed on June 14, 2005. Now we learn of a new resolution, 26-28, proposing the city would be allowed to lease Bradford Berry property to Landing Spot Properties LLC for two years and then convey title to Landing Spot after two years. Landing Spot would have to do some restoration work according to that, but to what extent? I think it says the outside, but to what extent? And at the end of the two years, I want to understand what I've read, they will become owners. So what assurances do we have that they will retain the historical nature of the property? Under their control, will Bradford Berry House and grounds ever be accessible to the citizens of Hendersonville and visitors? What are their commercial aspirations? an internet search i found three entities under the landing spot properties llc title one in indiana one in kansas one in washington the washington location has been voluntarily dissolved and all of them seem to be relatively young companies so i have to ask also what is the status of the total acreage can a property designation as designated as historic be developed commercially What do we know about landing spot properties? Who are they? What is their track record? What is their financial status? And ultimately, I have to put on my dad hat for when my daughter was dating and ask, what are your intentions?

Well, thank you, Tom. I think you'll hear some answers tonight. So that's complete. Now we're going to an ordinance.

Chair, sorry. There were a couple of other people that wanted to speak.

They just didn't get to the paper. Somebody else had the paper. Is it the last paper? Okay.

I have the paper now. It was handed to me. I'm sorry. I'm going to break rules a little bit now. I just wanted to ask if they could, but if not, that's okay. Does anybody else want to speak? Welcome to you. You get five minutes. You can talk about whatever you want.

This way.

Right here. Oh, okay. Yes, please. Name and address. Sure.

I'm Barbara Rayburn. I live at 138 Ashington Circle, which is in Durham Farms. So the property that's going next to us at the Advent Farm has been a big concern of ours. I'm in support of Bill's project. The reason being the project that was proposed before had many more homes, which is going to cause more traffic. So this is very exciting for us to have homes of this magnitude that are beautiful, gated. It will make property values go up around them, but also add less traffic for us because something is going to be built there. So I just wanted to come in support of it.

Well, thank you. Thank you very much. Yes, please.

Mr. Chairman, John Kenmet 115, Edinburgh. Sorry, I didn't get signed in quick enough. It's okay. We've spent a lot of time with this development and that property. This is a good proposal compared to what it was last year. The only thing I would just make sure that we take care of the, and I think they are anyway, the water and the flooding and all that stuff i just want you to be aware of that because it isn't a flood zone we talked a lot about this as long as the board is aware of it we can make sure there but it's a it's a good property and so i think it's good for the town okay thank you thank you no it's good thank you okay so uh now we'll start with the uh ordinance and the resolutions uh the first one is a resolution 2026 that 26. these next three resolutions are all dealing with the advent property

A resident to hold a public hearing on post plan services for property proposed for annotation located at 1765 and that Lane Hendersonville South of old Greek group for the Evelyn substitute development. We currently already had a. Correct me public hearing on this. No, we did not.

Not on this. Oh, not on this one.

These are different. Okay. The state sort of changed the rules on this. It used to hold a public hearing regardless, but now we actually have to pass a resolution to hold a public hearing.

Oh, we've got to give ourselves permission to have one.

I mean, this is a little different. It's not do we like it, do we not like it.

It's do we want to have a public hearing. Yes, we want to have a public hearing.

Right. So, I move to send it with a positive recommendation.

Is that a motion?

Yes.

Oh, please.

So there's already a sign in property that says there's a public hearing on a 11 6 PM. Here we are 5, but that's what the sign says. It's 6. It says it's 6. Well, our meeting is normally at 6.

That's probably where we did it. That's probably where we did it. This isn't necessarily. Yeah, this isn't.

The sign says there's a public hearing tonight at 6. It does.

Yeah, that actually should be the next BOMA meeting.

Okay.

That date and time should be. I'll just order.

Don't make that. Let's get it. Yeah, we'll get that. That's what the sign says.

But this isn't a public hearing. We had some confusion. We did have a public hearing at the planning commission already. That's the one that we had to change the sign. And that's probably not the one.

Okay.

But I was second.

All right. All those in favor. Soonest of them with a positive recommendation. Please say, aye. That passes. Thank you very much. Uh, number 2 is the reading the ordinance 2026 dash 27 very similar. The resolution to annex certain territory upon written consent of the owners and to incorporate said property in 1765, that bill. That will break free for the Abilene subdivision development.

I moved to send this with a positive recommendation. I feel like this meets the needs. It's going to happen in city or county and I. I feel like the way that the city interprets stormwater drainage is something I feel more secure about than the way that the county interprets that. And so that's a major reason that I just, when this came up last time, I said by not accepting the annexation, we also were not accepting responsibility for any issues that would happen. And because we wouldn't have control of, so we can't be held responsible. But with this. Project meeting the needs of the homeowners there. I'm comfortable doing both of those things and I. Our public works directions here right now. So. I will, when it comes to the BOMA meeting, I will be learning about the difference between speed tables and speed cushions and their proper placement. And we have a traffic engineer that can help us with that. So we will be fully educated at that time and be able to make good decisions on that issue. Yeah, that's all I got. I was going to mention, let's speak before we vote on that.

Oh, yes. So, can we suspend the rules and have the developer answer a few questions?

Absolutely. If you're okay with that.

I did look through everything. The spirit of annexation, which is what this entire ordinance is about, and not resolving it, but this is about annexation. And I would like to know that if BOMA does not approve this, is your plan to still move forward with the development as you've laid it out tonight?

Through the county.

Through the county. So there will be, my question is, would you go back and change? What is your plan if we say no?

I know this is not a time to tease, but I'm going to tease a little bit. I just assume we're going to get a group.

Okay, don't assume that. You know what I say, I'm an assumption.

No, um... Can I answer that a little differently?

Sure, go right ahead. It's a bigger question.

A lot of thought has gone into this, by the way. I've been developing for 30 years in Nashville. I love Hendersonville. I did Durham Farms. I had a partner on that. Didn't always see eye to eye with him, but I had a partner on the deal. My feeling about the property is a couple of things. i have if you take a take aside all the politics just forget about that for a second forget about the fees that the city charges the impact fees forget about uh all the different constraints and the differences between the city and the county because they're wildly different and you know we all know that and we also know the county is um is it's in the county and it could be approved through the county probably Aside from that, what's the right thing to do? Which is where I started in this process. It's costing about a half a million dollars more, plus or minus, to go through the city, which is kind of counterintuitive. But if you look at the right thing to do, you want the police protection, you want the fire protection, you want all the things that the city services have. The project is also going to be... impacting the city even if it's in the county it still will have impacts on the city it's going to be used people there will be using the parks it's in the urban growth boundary of the city so if i took aside all the noise and i said what's the right thing to do despite the cost difference and everything else My opinion is it's the right thing to do is to go through the city. That's why we're here. And we're going to do everything we can to meet with the community, which we've done a lot of, to try to figure out any concerns they have so that we can be good partners. So if you ask me what my desire is, my desire is to ask you guys if you would allow for us to do a development within your city. If you guys say no and say we prefer you not to come here, Then, because we have sunk a lot of money into this project, what we don't typically do on the front end of a development is we don't spend the kind of money we have. One of the things that came up earlier was talking about stormwater. I have hired a hydrologist who is a specialist. He's a civil engineer, but he's a specialist to deal with floodplain and hydrology. He's already done a tremendous amount of modeling before I even brought it to you guys. In fact, he's standing right there behind you. His name is Lance. So if you guys say no, I don't want to come to the table tonight because I've seen this happen before where a developer will say, well, if you don't approve me, I'm going to take it to the county. I am not here to do that. I want to be in the city. I want to be in the city because I've been here for 13 years working with you guys. At one point, I was here at City Hall so many times dealing with planning and engineering. I thought I was going to get my own office here. Yes. so i love you people i love the community i love the people living during farms i know a lot of them i just it's the right thing to do so if you say no and i have to bring this to the county i would be bringing it to the county and would it look the same i don't know that because i haven't even honestly i just don't want to go there i just haven't gone there okay but if you guys say no i'm not here to say hey i'm taking it to the county because you guys said no to me that's not what i'm here to do i want to be part of the city

You've also had a lot of people speak in favor of of this development.

They don't have any civilians, so it's a real advantage to that standpoint. I appreciate you saying that, but I'll be honest with you. Our heart is if we sat down with a lot of different people. Over time, including this John over there who I absolutely adore. You talk about a sense of humor. He's from New York, by the way, which we won't hold that against you. I try not to be, but the reality is, I got about 12 different things. Homeowners kind of resounded back to me as concerns that they had. I'm working to try to figure out if we can help solve as much of those 12 things as we can. I feel like we've made a lot of headway with working with planning and engineering on that process. So I'm not asking residents to say, hey, let me know your concerns. And I just go off into the sunset. If they have a valid concern all the way up to the end, we're very much interested in trying to figure out if there's things that we can do to solve. That's our goal.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, I can't I second that all those in favor of moving the risk that try it again. Resolution 2026 dash 27. please say aye aye. Okay, let's go down the favor. We want you to get them. Thank you. The number 3, the reading of ordinance 2026 09 in order to 3 zoning approximately 32.8 0 acres of property located at 70 to 65 Abbott lane, Hendersonville, South Pole, Drake's Creek at the Apple and subdivision development.

To send it to the recommendation.

I need to 2nd that. I 2nd, all those in favor of moving this development, please say, aye. Thank you that's it on that development.

Oh, I'm sorry if I can explain just real quick what the process moving forward because it is a little, it is a little complex. We've already had all the, we had meeting tonight. We already had the planning commission with the plan of services and all the stuff that you all just looked at this evening. The next meeting will be next the next moment meeting and at that at that meeting from the annexation standpoint, there'll be adopting the plan of services. And then also at that meeting, there'll be the first reading of the rezoning plan development. Then at the next meeting of BOMA, then there'll be the ordinance or the resolution to annex. And then the second and final reading on the rezoning plan development. So that's the process moving forward. Then after that's done, if that's all approved, then the next steps would be really just through the planning commission. where that they would have to do their subdivision plants and go through all of that process prior to, you know, eventually, which would still be a ways away getting building permits and that kind of thing.

The two resolutions in the one ordinance went 9-0 at the Planning Commission.

That's right.

So, you know, tells you a lot right there.

One question. When will the public hearing be? There'll be a public hearing at the first BOMA meeting and then we'll change that sign and put that out there for the plan of services at the very next BOMA meeting. And then the final BOMA, the second BOMA meeting, there'll be a public hearing on that as well. There'll be a lot of there's already been a lot of opportunity, but they'll continue to be a lot of opportunity for folks to take on that.

Well, thank you. Thank you. Number 4 is the reading of ordinance 2026 dash 10 and ordinance adopting revisions to the zoning ordinance of the city of Nashville. Jason, you take a little bit on that 1. So, that is key again. Okay.

Yes, what we've got here is we've got several different changes that we're proposing in the zoning ordinance. We went through the Planning Commission. We've actually had two public hearings and two meetings at the Planning Commission discussing things. A lot of these are accumulation of things that have been initiatives of the Planning Commission. Some of those things that we heard from Alderman or from the Mayor, and then also things as the planning staff that we've realized this isn't quite working or you know this this needs to be tweaked or changed and so all of these different changes there's quite a few not as not as significant changes as we did a couple of years ago but these changes will then tidy up and clean up our zoning ordinance where that it's really really pretty tight and then some of these things are getting rid of little loopholes that we're aware of.

There's some housekeeping and loopholes going on.

And there's some state laws that have passed that we've got to update our zoning ordinance to reflect those. But there's a good mix of things in here. And I can answer any questions, as many as I can, if anybody had any questions regarding it.

Isn't this the one you had questions on?

No, it has long. Okay. Just to explain what I needed, how it came about.

And it is, you know, the zoning ordinance, we talked about this at the Planning Commission, but this zoning ordinance document, it's very complex and there's a lot of things going on, but it really is, it really truly represents the vision of our community. There's so many things in here that impact what's going to be built in the future and where it's going to be built and how. uh you know this document really uh is is a very important document and changes to it are you know are important as well but up to this point of where we're at right now this has been very thoroughly vetted uh these these proposed changes thank you any motions i can make a motion with a positive word second okay all those in favor of ordinance 2026 stats 10 moving to obama uh is that the revision please say aye

All right, that passes. Thank you. Number 5, and this is, um, well, we both over here. Reading the board in 2026 dash 11, and we're in so many of the hands on this will code title 1 general administration chapter 7 special committees regarding data recording of nonprofit contributions committee meetings. Thank you. So, on this 1.

Yes, did you want to speak about Whisper?

You're on it too. Ladies first if you choose.

I think that because this is the only committee where votes are placed, it consists completely of aldermen. It's not a citizen-led committee. And it's also not a workshop where we don't vote on things, that it should be transparent and accessible to the public.

That's exactly, I couldn't have said better, but with maybe a deeper voice. I'll try hard. No, I agree with that. with uh oliver collins there it's something that's been um needed i think the transparency and in government is something that's very important to us all and we have to win trust with our knowledge our cohorts but we have to win trust with the citizens that uh we're we're charged with working um and so videotaping although at times it can be And sometimes it's not necessarily appropriate, depending on the subject matter, of course. But for the most part, I think most metropolitan agencies and communities in the area and the county agencies, governments videotaped nearly all of the meetings. I don't know of one that they don't. Does anybody have any idea? But most of them, all of them, videotaped. I think it's something we need to do, and we need to champion that going forward.

you'll add a little bit to that too i am i'm going to ask to be a sponsor on this when we get to bowman so more than married but i will say this now uh it's made up of people from different committees it's a non-profit committee and our job is to read all the non-profit requests and and we do and it's big it's massive but only one person showed up from the non-profits this year this year this year yeah but in the past we have had over I've been here with the room polls, too. I'm just saying, you know, as the city continues to grow and we cut some areas of the city, one of the areas we have cut is nonprofit. You know, there may come a time in the future there may not be a nonprofit.

This may be an opportunity for everyone to see what the nonprofit really does and how we feed these dollar values and how we come up with them. so but at that point i want to encourage anybody who's listening or watching to come to those anybody who's got an application have come and make your pitch um because it can make a difference right okay i'd like to be added as a sponsor as well since i was the chair of the program you know what we can't do it here i'll do it in there thank you okay so um

As far as mayor, we didn't even have our committee meetings recorded. Certainly certainly weren't shown. I like this. Let's just keep in mind that we're talking about staff creep here. We're taking a little bit more time from staff to do something that really isn't in our core service area. What I don't want to happen is for sometime next year or two or five years for somebody to come up with another reason for staff to spend time outside their core area. And this is a justification for that. Well, they're now recording the nonprofit committee, so why can't they do this? So just keep that in mind. I think it's definitely worthwhile, but it's taken our staff away since some of the core things that we've agreed. Fortunately, it's once or twice a year. That's exactly it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Typical to Mark's chairman. Yeah. It used to be four or five, so he's got it down to a science.

I want to ask Jason, would this be taxing?

The fact that it's only twice a year is not. Yeah, okay.

But there's a comment in the executive writer or the staff report that says, or a third-party vendor says, And I wondered where that came from because I don't know of a time when.

Jesse requested that in case there should be a need for flexibility. Because at one point, we only had one person who could do our AV. And he had to schedule his vacations around it. So we just wanted to have that in there in case we had a situation where.

Controversy.

Well, we're the two people now who can do AV where if they give each other the flu back in that little room and they can't come, we may need to have another person and we don't want to be locked into a test to be stats or something. Okay.

But we're not really prepared to do that today. Somebody got sick today. We have no third party that really does hurt. Yeah. It's just a, okay. Jesse, read my statement.

So, so when this was first set up and until five, six years ago, we had a third party doing it. What happened was that third party then got appointed Alderman. I'm no kidding. So we had a third party doing it. Mr. Frisbee. So before that, we had previous third parties that were employees. As the IT expectations increased, it made more sense to have somebody that was in-house. And now we have a lot more expectations of that person. And we have a lot more results from that.

But we can envision a time when we might go to a third party.

That's not ideal. But Two people catch the flu, it might be good to have something.

Technological advancements are just astronomical.

Sure. We can always have everything. I'd do it.

Absolutely.

We have had people ask to have meetings in our meeting room, and they would bring in a person to fund that equipment. We are very hesitant to do that.

They might break in.

Yeah.

Okay. So, obviously, I made a sort of positive recommendation.

You kind of do, don't you? All those in favor sitting, uh, ordinance 2026, 11 to Obama please say, aye. That passes. Thank you very much. Um, uh, number 6 is the reading of ordinance 2026 dash 12 and ordinance of many municipal code title 12 chapter 2 subdivision 12. Dash 202 relative to amendments to the revised. Edition of the international resident, because that sound more complicated. So, man, this is yours.

It is, but I will sound more intelligent if Greg speaks for me.

Okay, so this is to, uh. Update or revise, so some areas that. We're in the ordinance that was adopted last year. It's just 2, uh, climate and geographic design criteria. need to fix is the ground snow load that was incorrect and the wind speed design was incorrect and what we're hoping to do tonight is correct so okay starting to make any major changes no this is mainly to help out the folks that want to come develop or build here to give them the correct information okay so i move that we send it to bevel with a positive recommendation again

All those in favor of sending ordinance point 26 dash 12 diploma. We say, I thank you very much. Thank you. All right this next thing won't have much conversation. Yeah, the reading of resolution 2026 dash 28, a resolution approving a letter of intent. Between the city of Hendersonville and landing properties, L. O. C. regarding the proposed lease of the Bradford Barry house property. We've got a few people speak tonight of, um. About some of the issues here, so. This is, um, I have to say something to begin with. I think it's too quick to fast and. I'm going to go by obviously, but is there a way we could divert this to another time?

I know we have people in the room, but yeah, so I've talked to a couple of folks about this is that, um, I feel an obligation to bring something to you when we, when we have a possibility of. Which in our community, and it needs board approval. This is again just a letter of intent. I hope I've said that enough. It just gives us a framework to move forward. I have asked away the 2 week rule so that the board could give these folks and I, um, an opportunity to start creating a contract with the city. That's the intent and that would come back to the board. A letter of intent, we can hold multiple letters of intent with multiple organizations on the same piece of property. We can do that. Letter of intent, it's just a framework. That's all it is. I hope that the board will allow it to be on the agenda tonight, but I think I've told a couple people that I'm fine putting it off for a month. That's part of the problem is we don't have a meeting for another month. I know that's that's part of the reason I wanted to get it here and then get it to the board tonight. I would like to give an explanation at the board meeting, but won't take much more time. Again, it's just a framework. We could hold multiple letters of intent with multiple people on the same piece of property. It helps us get an idea of what the board expects, what the board's concerns are. And so then the folks that are back there that are willing to put the investment in here. notes or what their parameters are. So conversation right here is good. You do have a couple of other items on the agenda that I need to speak about. But and I'm happy to answer questions. But again, it's just a letter of intent. Well, my phone has been blowing up.

And so and and I know it's just a resolution.

And unfortunately, I think a lot of people have poor information.

Oh, I'm not disagreeing with that either, because I've been able to help some people with that because I know this was nothing but a letter of intent. And you're right. You can have many letters of intent on a property. one question i keep getting asked and again it may not be all perfect information is so are they going to remodel the outside are they going to just make it waterproof and do this see there's there's a lot of gray areas here and i don't think the city in my opinion which we need to work on this that said if you're going to be part of this project and it's something that we can improve we need to know exactly what's going to happen to that to that beautiful blackberry house no matter what it is i mean in my opinion again that's just my opinion in general i want to bring it back to its original home front, back, inside, and outside.

And that's helpful to know that. You know, and I couldn't vote for anything less than that. And that's helpful for me and the landing spot folks to know that, because when we come back with a contract, that needs to be in there. But letter of intent, it's... And that's my intention as well. But letter of intent is just a framework.

Well, let me say this then. And obviously, I just don't want to sit here. I wouldn't have a problem if I went to BOMA for discussion. Because I think I think there's too many moving parts to this to not discuss it more. And I'd like to have the whole board having their opinion on it. So if anybody wants to make a motion on that.

I would like to speak.

Oh, absolutely. Please.

So, Mayor, there's a piece in the ordinance that says... least purchase and I think that a lot of people are upset over that how did that get placed in the ordinance and was that just standard language or you know because I certainly it is not my intent to ever vote to sell it so

So that's helpful to know when I brought this up for about 18 months ago, 1 of the things that I let the board know is that if we can find somebody to restore it. That needs to recoup their money. We've got to find a way for them to recover the money. I have failed to find somebody to restore it. For free, I failed at that and I think we all have, we haven't found anybody to do that. Um, we've had some promises, but those haven't those have more than any fruit. Um, and the folks that I've talked to that have. That are interested in putting money into it. They want some equity in it. Okay, but I appreciate your comment that. I mean, if if that's if that's solid, if that's if that's in concrete. then the city's got to be willing to put up.

This might be very harsh for me to say, but of course that's my MO. I think it would be irresponsible of the city to let an outside vendor have a contract with someone to restore something that we should have control over. And I certainly think allowing... a food truck venue on those three acres, that is concerning to me and everyone who has called me. It really shouldn't be right up on a revolutionary, not Civil War, but revolutionary historic home. That's my concern. If it was in the back ten, I'd probably vote for it. I would rather see the city use the back 10 for administrative purposes, for a new police department, something. But I can't support it. I don't think I'll be able to support it. But I do welcome discussion. I want to hear more discussion from others.

That's helpful.

Thank you. I agree with you. I think that if We've had the Bradford Berry House privately owned and passed, and it didn't go well. And we finally have wrestled control over that property, and I'm going to maintain that. And as was mentioned earlier, it was just two weeks ago that we partnered with Bradford Berry Preservation Society, giving them the opportunity to collect funds and buy the grants, which they could not do. until two weeks ago. So while we haven't found anybody who will do it for free, and I applaud you asking, I think that's maybe not an ask I would have made. It takes some gumption. But we do have now a nonprofit who's working on that. So we've only given them two weeks. But I've also had people express concern about food trucks around it and that it just doesn't seem to like the vibe is wrong and since we now have two people who are interested in doing something with the house potentially or helping us or partnering with us I think it's appropriate to issue an RFP again Tessie told me we did that in 21 or 22 I can't remember and we didn't have a lot of but I think that The up-front and transparent way is to issue an RFP, and I would like to see that come. I would like to see an RFP occur, and I would like to see the content of the RFP submitted for review, not a vote, but just review and publication to the general committee. so that we can know what's being offered and what's not being offered and what the, just to know. And have that be really transparent process. I do appreciate that we can have multiple letters of intent on property, but I think that the more straightforward way to go about it is to reissue an RFP and request that. And I'm not interested in, It becoming private at this time, if we are several years into this and have not made any progress on the restoration, come back to me about that. I might be like, well, something's better than nothing. But right now, I don't feel we've given it an earnest trial.

Oh, that hurts.

We, you, but not we. We.

That's not making me better.

I respect your creativity in this. I do. But again, I feel like we have a good board that has come together and they're fresh and new. And I really thought a few years ago that the intent of the board was to help raise money. So let's do that and keep control. That's how I feel right now. Just right now.

Pardon me? Did we have a motion? No. And the only motion we could have, good or bad, as indifferent, is approving letters of intent. We're here to rebuild Bradford Berry House tonight.

I move to move this to BOMA with a negative recommendation, which does not be taken as a comment on whether or not I am comfortable actually hearing it at BOMA tonight. Just... Negative recommendation on this whenever it's heard. I'll suffer that.

Could you include the motion that you would like it to be considered tonight?

It's on the agenda currently. Yeah, but I need you to be helpful.

I don't really have, I understand that if you want to discuss it, but I also feel like, um. I've had a lot of people reaching out to me, and I'd rather give it until the next meeting to even be discussed so that we can hear from our constituents more fully. I'm not really comfortable hearing it tonight.

If we have it on the agenda tonight, it would give more ultimate chance to give their input.

Well, I want to have it on the agenda, but not tonight. I want it to come to the agenda next time. I'm not asking that you withdraw it completely.

You didn't make a motion in that light, right?

No, we don't do that here. But Jamie's asking for my input, I believe, because I think you're thinking you might remove it from the agenda tonight.

I need seven votes to get it on the agenda tonight.

He won't have mine.

I'm just, I would like to hear a little bit about what the other aldermen are thinking about it.

Can you just punch me in the face? Would that be easier?

Yeah, it would be convenient for me, yes.

Sorry. So, in theory, we're saying it goes to BOMA with a negative, and you're saying that we can't discuss it at BOMA?

No. I'm hoping that your motion, even if it's saying that you put a negative recommendation on it, that you would like it to be on the agenda. I actually would.

I would, too.

So can we add that to the motion, then you can vote no?

No.

No.

I don't think it's... I don't think it's appropriate. This is a yes or no. I'm no on this. You're no on this. Okay.

We do have some folks here that represent...

I'm a negative.

you want to hear you mean the preservation society no no the folks for the language oh okay yeah i mean you know what we'll break that and they don't have no obligation to talk you don't answer any questions i'm ron marcu i'm at 601 bay 25 in gallatin i lived in hendersonville for a long time found a bedroom a house with a master bedroom on the first floor and said it's time to move um i want to thank everybody for allowing us to come up here and talk I really feel sincerely, I know you people have spent a lot of time, I wish we had known each other prior to because what you're planning is what our group's looking at. Very similar to Rock Castle, making it a, when you drive down Main Street, you don't see Chick-fil-A, you see the Bradford building. My concern is there's 31 trees, about six trees, and if they fell tomorrow, you don't have a building. And we've spent over $100 with contractors, engineers, mold removal, lead paint. I really think, and I don't have any doubt in saying this, if you give us the opportunity, whether it's tonight or a month from now, The more answers and more questions you can throw at us, we have done our homework. We think we can make everybody at this table in the community feel comfortable with the project. I've gotten phone calls, people endorsing us, other people had questions. What are you going to do? Yeah, there's been a lot of rumors out there that no one has contacted us, and that's fine, but you now know who we are. And we welcome you to pick the phone up and call us, and we certainly share our telephone numbers. We have looked at the building. Our intentions, 100%, is to first secure the exterior of the building, roof, windows, type pointing, getting any landscaping that's going to violate the building if something fell down. So it's 100% secured. No wind, no rain. We're going to get rid of all of the interior as far as mold and the old sheetrock that's all. Every time it rains, I come down and say, thank God nothing's happened. But I can tell you, we've spent enough time. And I would welcome to sit down with you guys because maybe there's some energy here that collectively we can all get the thing done. But we've come up with a dollar amount. a couple of dollar amounts on the expense of the exterior. And it's significant. And if you walk in and understand the construction of that building, every time it rains, it's going down through a whole series of bricks. In some areas, the walls are 32 inches thick. And every time it rains, it just collects and collects and collects. But again, I really feel with what we've done here and Financially, I can assure you the money is there to restore it. It'd be in a couple of phases. First phase is get the exterior done, secure it, get the landscaping cleared out so that that's... And our intentions on family food court is very similar to what... We did just kind of a quick rendering just to give you an idea that it's a family type thing. But you're not going to have food trucks 10 feet from the building. We're going to relocate, and we'll sit down with the city engineers. We sit down with the fire department and figure out what is the best location for a food court. And if you go to Lebanon, Tennessee, they've got a food court there. They've got a huge one in Dallas, Texas. They've got one in Hawaii. And it's all family-oriented, and a music venue is exactly what we're looking at. donating the land for the the venue to churches and organizations if they've got a fundraiser they need a place to sell watermelons or whatever to raise money that's our intentions and i'm speaking too much because you don't get marty sitting there but our intentions is to clean it up and save the building and restore it okay thank you yeah thank you very much did you want anything

No, I don't think so. Marty Cook, Hunter Bluegrass Commons. I'm the attorney for the group. And I think, as Jamie said, I think what's important to keep in mind is the letter of intent is to start the process, both parties saying we want to pursue these discussions. And what you'll note in the letter of intent, it says, all it's saying is the city and our group Are going to work together to come up with an approved plan and so. Nothing is set in stone at all at this point. All it's doing is. Each party are kind of saying, hey, we're, we're kind of interested in dating each other. We're not getting married yet. But we kind of like to talk and so that's. But that's what we're looking for is just a commitment to move move down the road with further discussions to see what. Some kind of final agreement would look like. Okay. And you all would have input throughout the entire process. Thank you.

Let me go there with intent.

We absolutely will. We are obviously still asking that that not get approved tonight and give us the opportunity to present to you guys. I think just based on everything that you guys have said, I think you'd be very, very pleased with what we have to offer. And just, you know, you saying you want the property to be built and it not become private property and it still remain with the city. That is something we intend to do. So we would love that opportunity to present that to you.

Thank you. So the motion right now is to send this to BOMA with two at negative and one at no. Does that sound right? Well, the motion is with a negative.

With a negative. I know that. Send it to BOMA with a negative recommendation.

Period.

Okay.

All right. So all those in favor of sending it to BOMA with a negative recommendation, please say aye.

Aye. All right.

Thank you for that. eight reading of resolution 2026-31 a resolution declaring certain city real property a surplus property and improving a lease agreement with the pope john paul ii high school This is under you. I think you should probably just give up at this point.

Dr. Eric Cheadle, he is the president. He's the previous title of his headmaster. He's the guy who runs Pope John Paul II High School. He contacted us probably about a year and a half ago or so, asking about the property on Linden Drive. we acquired that property with five percent interest uh with the federal government's flood buyout program they covered 95 of it and we became owners with some restrictions on that property and they can't go build a house there uh you can't you can't add structures there um and any future use that property has to be approved by the court of engineers um i'm not sure if they do that Uh, so Dr, so he asked if they could use that, uh, property mostly for practice fields, probably some for parking, uh, possibly some for competition fields. Um, and so we reminded him that whatever. The city would give him permission to do it. He would have to get permission from, you know, the almighty Corp engineers. Um, and so, uh, we've been working through, uh, some, some agreements on this. And what we want is we want to use their gym space. That is a big need that we have when it comes to basketball. And they have actually allowed us at least 1 winner to do that. And I was going to look at Andy. It might be there. It might be 2 winners that we've already done that. They've got nothing in return from us. For using their gym space with the exception of exposure of their school to people who are who are participating in our basketball programs, which there's value in that. We had hoped that we could come to an agreement before we got to use their gym space, but we're happy our gym space without that agreement. Some of the delays have been us most of them Corp of engineers slash FEMA. Some of them have been there. They're more just coming to an agreement. And so felt like we're at the point right now to come to the general committee and say, this is where we are. It's whatever the city agrees to, whatever agreement we work out with the Pope John Paul, it's still going to come down to what FEMA and the Corps say is allowed. So at the end of the day, even though the city has 5% into it, after the 95 was paid, it's just dead property for us, correct? It's worse than that. It's property we have to maintain.

Okay.

That was a key word you just answered. I move to send this to Bumble with a positive recommendation.

All those in favor of Resolution 2026-31, move to Bumble with a positive recommendation. Please say aye.

Aye.

Thank you all. That passes.

See you, Jeremy.

That's it for the number 9 reading of resolution 2026 dash 29, a resolution of any of the city employee innovation program and employee recognition program. Now, I think I might let Jason speak on this, please.

All right, so back in 2024, the board had approved an innovation program and an employee of the month program. And so it was a chance for employees to think creatively, think outside the box on how we get things done more efficiently here and be able to incentivize them for that. But it was also a chance for us to recognize employees for some substantial contributions that they've made within the department for the city. So we've kind of hit the spot where we're winding down a little bit on the innovation. Some things people just did them, and that's not a bad thing. It's just they move forward before we could go through the process. So we've hit this spot where it almost makes more sense to shift that money to recognizing more employees. So this would take it from either a $250 award or four hours of vacation to $500 or eight hours of vacation.

And we would just tell us the innovation. Okay, and when a person gets recognized, they could make a change to save us tens of thousands of dollars. You know, so it's really an advantage to them to be in a big, well, in this case, it's centralized. And our employees are still doing that.

I don't want you to think that they've stopped doing that. We have some great people in a number of departments. We recognize a couple of them at the last Willamette meeting. So they're doing great work. And then sometimes it's just the bureaucratic process of government going through this.

Well, in theory, the city doesn't really pay bonuses. Correct. I mean, at the end of the day, we need longevity, but that's it. Yeah, but that's a little different. So, in a weird way, it's a way of offering a bonus, perhaps, for an incentive work. That's correct. Any questions?

I'll make a motion. I'm sorry. No, go ahead. I'll make a motion to move this to Obama with a positive work in motion. Second.

All right. All those in favor of Resolution 2026-29, move into Obama with a positive work. Please say aye. Thank you all. Number 10. How are we doing on time? 6 o'clock.

We're good.

The reading of Resolution 2026-30 is a resolution authorizing the placement of the Bronze Legends Memorial Plaza at Memorial Park. And I know you and the Arts Council are very tight. So we see that Renee's here too. So you or Renee can jump in.

Renee Shepard is the Chairman of the Arts Council. And Bill Clifford is also here. And he has taken on responsibility for doing a lot of the research for this project. So if you... We do have time. If you guys don't mind, would you like to...

speak and we'll we'll do the same spiel at the boma meeting right now you may have to move over to the right i can't see jason i'm sorry jason's right here you can put up a sign just really short jason um well as rich said bill um has done a lot of the research we're in the very preliminary stages of this but pretty excited about it it's a it's a project that we think will add a lot and um really pay tribute to our musical heritage here at Hendersonville, where we have a rich music heritage. Can you talk a little bit about what it should look like?

Sure. So what we want is to honor some of Hendersonville's greatest musical legends, but in accordance and fitting in with the already established look of Memorial Park. So we're hoping to get four life-size bronze sculptures of Johnny Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, Conway Twitty, and Roy Orbison. We've reached out to about four or five different sculptors so far from around the country with good reputations and experience doing these kind of sculptures and gotten a range of different informal things. If we were to move forward, we'd go get better quotes, you know, more formal. What we'd like to do is have a base for the statue that feels like the fountain that we have there in the front where we put up the Christmas tree each year. And we'd like all the photos to sort of, or all the sculptures to function sort of like photo ops for people. The hope would be that they'd be arranged in such a way that people could go and take pictures with their favorite artists, but also could be seen collectively. We'd like to put up like a microphone so people can take a photo, you know, kind of like the angel wings that you see downtown. Really, that's the basic aim of it. And we'd like it to be in Memorial Park around where the Central Loop is right there by Kids Kingdom.

Okay. I just wanted to add something. So when you do your presentation again and again, you say Hendersonville, you need to say American legend music. Yes, absolutely. It is a lot bigger than Hendersonville, but it had to be Hendersonville people.

And the world. People come from around the world here. Absolutely. That's one of the things we talked about when we met Andy and others around the community. It's going to attract people from all around the world who want to see this. So many people already come to see where Johnny's old house was or where Roy lived. So it gives sort of a more solid place right there centrally located in Memorial Park where people can come up easily from Nashville. And it'd be nice for the kids too because they get to see some of the history.

Well, I'm not from Hendersonville. I've been here since the 80s, but Every boat I've ever done in the city, whether it was Connelly 20 City or these other boats, I've always been an advocate of, let's keep our heritage here.

Yes.

I mean, Hendersonville made the movie, you know, Walk the Line, but... It's just, it's so important because it's so easy to lose that because we've grown way beyond, you know, what started at. Yeah, but I still remember the buses used to come to town. Some of them still do. Yeah. Right. And it's pretty interesting. So I'm also a patron of the arts council. So patron, so I'm, I'm, I'm in favor of this just so, you know, I know it's not gonna be easy to raise the money.

Yeah. Well, that's 1 of the things we're looking into both private and. skewed private and fundraising in different ways.

I feel the Orbison's and the Cash's wasn't mine at all.

Yeah, I'm sure. Well, we imagine that the will be in favor of it. But some of the sculptors that we've contacted have connections in the music industry and have mentioned ideas for fundraising in that way. We've already had some other folks recently speak up and say that they love the idea and they want to bring that to Hendersonville as well. There's already some informal good talk about this, and we think, I mean, who wouldn't want to be on board with honoring some of these folks? They take us to the rest of the world.

I will just say that if you're having trouble visualizing it, of course it's art, and so it will end up being... realistic version of what they look like. But Jesse has an AI rendering in his office. We did not publish that because we don't have permission from the families to publish anything and it is just an AI rendering. But if you would like to have a better visual of the concept, Jesse does have that available for you to look at in his office.

Yes, please.

And Rachel, that's a great point. We would want it not to be an interpretation. We would want it to look like.

Probably when they were thinner though, right? At their best. At their best. At their best.

So three and a half years ago on our

had just started um there was an artist that had 15 to 20 of them there's 110 i think real life size that he had picked hendersonville he but we didn't have a funding mechanism so i didn't move forward with it but it's been um like people that make these and it may be one of the guys you've talked to but if not um i have a contact this is the first i've heard of it but it's been something that's um I didn't have legs before, but it's great. Great. Great. Questions?

I obviously move that we send this with positive recommendations. I will second that.

All right. All those in favor of Resolution 2026-30, authorizing the placement of the Bronze Legend Plaza Memorial Park, please say aye. Aye. Aye.

I move to adjourn. Second.

All those in favor of adjourning, please say aye. Aye. Thank you all very much.