Planning Commission - Special Meeting

Okay, we'll call the U October 14th, 2025 planning board special meeting to order. Um, first order of business is to um see we have absent uh Trina and Jody, we have Jennifer as our alternate. So, thank you for doing that.

Um, next is the approval of the minutes from the previous. We don't have those, do we? Okay. Um, moving right along. Public comments. So, um, I'll call each of your name. If you can step up to the podium and if you could give your name for the, uh, for the record, we'd appreciate it. And you do have three minutes. Do we have a timer? Got it. Okay. First is, uh, Brandon Nelson. Brandon.

Again, if you give your name and you do have three minutes. Thank you. Okay. My name is Brandon Nelson and I've received uh numerous things in the mail over the years about sidewalks down Central Avenue in Pottstown and there's still no sidewalks. Right across the street here, the town of Huntersville paid $2.3 million to purchase cashins in September of last year and there's already beautiful sidewalks there. So, um, just wondering what the holdup is. Thank you. Oh, and I was here at the last meeting about there's some industrial guard rails along David Street, and it's the only place in Huntersville that I've seen highway guard rails in a residential community. So, I think those should be taken down, and we need to beautify Pottstown. Thank you.

Thank you. Next, Shannan Mayfield.

You ready? I'm ready. If you could give your name and for the

Good evening. I'm Shawn Mayfield. After hearing the preservation plan at the last town meeting, I went and wanted to research some more. I read your plan from the last page to the front page. I did it backwards. Yes. Seems like there's a lot of smoke and mirrors. I'm not going to lie. The plan seems to be more of an urban upgrade plan than a pre preservation plan. A few buildings will be saved, but not the whole town. We don't want parts of Pottstown saved. We want the whole town saved. If we stay with your narrative, Pottstown will become a whole new development and the park and gym will become the country club for it. The average income, and I say average loosely, it's a very loose statement because you're blessed if you have this income, is $31,000 a year in Pottstown. That is $88,000 less than the cost of living in Huntersville right now. What's really happening from what I see in Pottstown is a noose of legal loopholes being used to slowly choke out the voices of the people fighting for Pottstown. Smoking mirrors, friends. I do have a recommendation for the planning board, though. Show that you really want to save Pottstown. You can reach out to Little John Law or Atkins Law, very strong civil rights law firms. They're willing to talk to you. They're willing to look at your preservation plan to see if it falls under the civil rights. Again, Washington DC civil rights. Um, the Justice Department has reached out and I will be filing a complaint. Um, I'm just saying you can either preserve Pottstown the right way and be truthful about it or are you saying this stuff just to make yourselves feel better for what's really happening to Pottstown?

Thank you. Next is uh Rachel Zip. Hello, my name is Rachel Swift. Um the the the comment that I'm want to make today about the plan is that after doing almost a year of um engagement with neighboring concepts, I didn't think out the buy in from the town. At this point, the town needs to reserve money to actually buy some of the historic homes that may be going up for sale in the near future as a way to actually stop the developers and save those properties because if the developers come in, the homes, they're just going to tear them down. So my ask is that the town set aside funds to actually buy then partner with different organizations to actually preserve those and bring those back to life so that if when let me say when we get the Pottstown Park completed with the county that there is walkability to see these um these historic sites cuz there's really nowhere in the town that has the numbers that we do as far as the historic landmarks that can be preserved and the town I believe can find the money to do so.

Thank you.

Next is uh Chris Woolak. [Music] My name is Chris Wak. I live in Vermillion. Pottstown is living history and what's happening to it right now is shameful. Developers are buying up that land and putting in houses that do not fit the character of that neighborhood. This preservation plan seems wonderful in certain aspects, but why is it taking so long? I just found that there was a plan that was started in like the report was in 2017. That's eight years ago. Why is it taking so long to do something? There's these houses that have already been built. There's nothing you can do about those. But you can do something now about the properties that people are getting calls about all the time. And you know, they're just going to knock the house down and put another one of those things up there. We need to preserve our history. And Pottstown is that history. Thank you.

Thank you. have Verona Win. I'm Ver Ra Win. Uh I'm here to ask that the uh planning board ask the town board to table their vote on this plan. It needs more work. Number one, it needs to define the boundaries of Pottstown. Uh it needs a stated resolution and commitment to uh the community of Pottstown that they really want to save it. uh we need to define and be very specific about what types of legal protection are possible really in this day and time for part town like what is our overlay district? Uh are there historic districts that can be defined for our protection? uh what uh uh is legal based on uh national laws now for uh neglected communities like Pottstown. Everything in Pottstown should be protected. the people, every piece of dirt, every building because you have planned Christine said uh since uh uh 2017. I know better than that. I'm old enough to know and been around my parents long enough to know. It's at least been since you uh cotified um some of Pottstown or more of

Pottstown within the town limits since 1987 at least probably before then. I know my parents were working on uh trying to get such a plan. Where did it fall short? Got to make up for the bad things that have happened to Pottstown. That's your duty. That's your moral duty. And so we ask you like Rachel to put your money where your mouth is. Put some money in Posh Town. All right. And there is one good thing about the plan. They ask us to in the community to have leaders form a coalition that tries to work together. Thank you.

Thank you. Last is um Janelle Harris. Janelle board. Thank y'all for this special meeting. Pots town. We are um the thing that I feel like is being missed a bit on the plan is the fact that half of us feel disenfranchised in our own community. We are Huntersville residents. We can't vote for our own mayor. can't depend on the people who are going to take over these plans to continue to advocate for us and we can't even say that, you know, we're who we want them to be. So, we did try to ask neighboring contemps to um to help y'all figure out how we can deal with the way that I don't know if there's any other community in Huntersville that's broken down like Pottstown is cuz on the acreage that my and my family trust. Last year, I could vote because our our our mailbox was here, but this year I can't even vote because our mailbox moved to another part of, you know, the land that I own. So, that's a big problem for me. Secondly, I do think that the plan falls short a little bit by not making things immediate in the um the harm that we're feeling like we're facing. It's just not fast enough to be able to um to stop everything that's happening right now. It's just um like you said, the time is taking a lot of time. And then we do need to see some ways that money can circulate within our community. We have so many places and you know we need to be able to let this be a tourism part like is what has been talked about in Meckllinmberg County. Um there's just so many opportunities for us to be able to have dollar comm community um circulating within our community that we just don't seem to be able to get to because everything's being bought up by um people that want pots down to look like the Huntersville that I can't even vote for. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Next item is um item 4 a consider a recommendation on the town community preservation plan. Mr. Pete.

Good evening planning board. Um I am here tonight to give for those of you who may have watched last week's public hearing. Uh this presentation will look extremely similar. Um, we just want to make sure that you are as up to speed as the town board is on what um, how the plan um, lays out. And I am here with Eric Rosco from Neighboring Concepts. Uh, he was one of the team leads on the the process and he'll dive deeper into some of the elements of how everything was created. But I just want to start the presentation by setting the stage. And um I know that you have had a more than a week to to take a look at the draft. And um want to preface this by saying that back in uh June of 24, the town board um prioritized creating a small area plan for the Pottstown community. And they directed staff to uh go about a request for qualifications for consultants to assist with this process. And so we did that and got numerous uh submitts for the plan. We chose a couple of finalists and then we decided to go an extra step and we asked the finalist to speak with representatives of the community. There are several current standing groups um made up in the community that have been organizing and working toward improvements and and different resources for the community. And so we asked representatives of those groups or anybody else who was of mine too to come and and let them sort of interview if you will and make a recommendation and they um they chose neighboring concepts as well as towns review process sort of unrelated reviews but came to the same conclusion. So that process began in earnest uh with public engagement in January of this year. Uh moved through and Eric will elaborate

more, but um it went through July and um a solid six months of um public meetings, public engagements both on Wednesday nights or Thursday nights or most of them were on Saturdays uh including doortodoor as well. Um want to give you a quick orientation to the area that we're speaking about and this is generally southeast of downtown Huntersville. Uh it is the area in the solid yellow line and it is generally bordered on the north by Delwood Street. uh on the south it does go it borders up against the commerce park industrial park that you would know where Southwire it's it's named something else now but um that would be along Delwood excuse me not Dellwoodbrooks um and you're familiar with the Hullbrook Center the whole Brook Park and then eventually it would move back to the greenway waste facility and the county's a park now both of those two items I just mentioned are not included in the study area but they are adjacent So, a couple of other things besides the um public facilities. There's also the recently renamed Del renovated and renamed Delwood Center, which is now the Torrance Lidle Community Center. And then there are another type of anchor for the community would be uh the three churches that are represented on the map as well um that represent u large I won't say large but significant landholders. Um and then there are a couple of cemeteries in the community as well. So those are sort of the highlights. The other important line to to make note of uh on this map and it was touched on by one of the residents who just spoke and that was the um that represents the town boundary. So um it's important to keep in mind that there is a percentage of the study area that is within the town limits and then there is a percentage that is outside of the town limits. Now that does not impact zoning.

you know that our ETJ goes well beyond our corporate limits but it does very much affect how public tax dollars can be utilized um how services are delivered and that type of thing. So there is a there is a difference um to the properties that are inside and outside. But that does not mean that grants and programs and working with our affiliated and allied uh agencies such as Meckleberg County, NC DOT um any of those that that sort of cross those boundaries, we can engage them to to pursue some of these programs. So um it is a big element of the plan and of the reality of the community. Um but there are some plans some scenarios in here that can work um across that. Um the only other thing that I will uh orient you to as the planning board is always very keen about is you can see that the zoning districts you see them in the yellow letters. The uh neighborhood residential is a lot of it. Uh there is some general residential uh up along Delwood to the north border. And um essentially the NR runs both in and out of the town limit part. And then there's a little bit of corporate business on the bottom. You can see located there. And then you can see the surrounding zoning as well. So that is just a quick snapshot of the area that we're discussing. If you have any more detailed questions on that, please feel free to ask us as we go or at the end, however you'd like. But to dive into the elements and how the plan is organized, I'm going to turn it over to uh Eric. Good evening. I am Eric Rusco. I'm an urban designer, urban planner with the firm of Neighboring Concepts. Um, so, you know, we're very active in this region, especially with uh historically disadvantaged communities. Um, preservation planning is is not just an

aspect of our uh neighboring council's work. I actually work on uh a lot of these community initiatives myself. I'm a board member. historic um western partners and I helped establish the community land trust in in in Charlotte. So I do have a certain perspective what it kind of efforts it takes uh and those are mainly community organizing. uh this community is really has a strong leadership base but I as I emphasized in my previous meeting I think there they do need capacity building just to create that coalition body. Um and uh so they yes there there are resources to think about the town supporting this. Uh we started back in January you can see here we had uh five uh distinct phases. Each phase was a workshop with the community but also that that really we kept meeting individ you know one-on-one meetings with the community members. So all throughout the process we were also having uh one-on-one meetings with them and also uh we even worked with community members to organize their own meetings and we attended those. So uh you know I'm proud to say that uh a lot of the engagement was led by the leadership itself. So they uh they helped us go doortodoor uh and a lot of other uh great great things. So the the definitely the capacity is there. Uh it just needs to be organized uh a little bit more. Um uh you know this is an example of the kinds of meetings that we had. We had community forums with uh community uh advocates from other communities that we we also work with. Um and uh you know and we were uh always uh keyed in uh as well just meeting separately uh with individual members of

the community. Uh so you know the stakeholders uh you see the leadership of of these groups already in in the audience. Um as I mentioned the community coaches so let me just quickly mention who they are. Shai Haynes who is a QC family tree executive director but she she works a lot on these kinds of initiatives in Nenderly Park in Charlotte. Ricky Hall from the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition came also came provide uh advice uh and Tiffany Capers who's now the executive director of the Renaissance West Community Initiative and we hope that the community continues you know talking to them. uh they certainly have a lot of deep experience on on what it actually means to preserve you know uh you know the not not just preserve the buildings but preserve the people of the community. Um there's my team and as well our town partners we had uh the the historic landmarks commission the cats and other partners come also this you know be be a part of this. Um so there were five focus areas uh that we identified through our community engagement process. Uh we definitely you know this is a this led us to create um you know not your typical small area plan which is focused on land use and transportation decisions but really the the focus of this plan as a result of our engagement really began uh to key in on how we actually preserve the community and though and what that means is that the focus areas really uh focus on two things uh community organizing on the side of the the community and on the side of the town that would be preserving the assets the community the homes as well as the institutions of the community. Um so uh thankfully the town um does uh own and manage one of those

the the you know uh the the Torren Lidle Community Center also known as the Del Center. um we didn't focus a lot on physical in the end we we really didn't find a lot of a lot of things to address which is respect apart from preservation uh you know there there is a major uh investment effort definitely there uh in the Torrance Lidle High School restoration but but that's not really led by the town the town can support that uh there's also the uh 31 acres being planned with the county uh But the plan does make recommendations with respect to improving the site amenities uh the parking areas and the access to uh the torren lidal community center. So that that is one aspect the physical aspect that that we do address in the plan. We can definitely consider adding some more like the guardrails and things like that. Um the the framework of the plan is goals. Uh so we have five goals and the way to reach those goals is with the the toolkits. So there are four toolkits uh which are sets of actions uh and they all have their individual tools. So just to quickly uh describe that. So the the goals are strengthen community assets and that includes like I said the the homes and institutions preserve commu neighborhood character and that also includes the uh activities in the in the culture of the community celebrate African-American heritage advance human dignity and justice and foster community and belonging. So we have four different uh sets of tools to achieve that. it will require all four of them working together uh and and really these are

coordinative fronts of how do you directly meet those goals. So uh unlike uh other small area plans this is really about strategies and uh and actions and we we dove deep on what could be done in each with each tool. Um so every tool is gauged in terms of effort uh you know time as well as cost. Uh these these numbers what the dollar figures that you see here aren't physic you know aren't actual numbers. They're they're like either this is $1 means it can be you know funded with volunteer labor. uh $2 means we you know probably this toolkit this tool will need uh some short-term funding sources and then $3 means that the tool will demand ongoing levels of fundraising and so forth. So what this does is categorizing all our tools and their actions this way helps us identify the lowhanging fruit and and not to say that you know there there's some things that can be funded to be implemented quicker. Uh definitely there's a lot of things that that that can be done right away within the next six months. So and we hope that the overlay district is one of those. So that's something to think about. Um so just to quickly go over the toolkits. Um you know the toolkit A is about process and improving process and representation uh in uh and in in actually empowering the community to actually shape their community directly uh and and to have a more say on on on how you know uh how to how to preserve the Pottstown. So those are uh each each of these for example uh are are treated

in terms of uh you know what's an effective process. Uh in this case this this is a spread from the actual plan. It's uh actually uh community organized discussions with developers uh and that is an effective process in other communities. So we made made sure that we profiled uh you know where the other places that are really doing this well including in Charlotte but but also just you know the the most ideal practices uh that actually do enable communities to to uh stabilize their their communities. Um then tool toolkit B is in in your purview which is the regulatory tools. And so here we're going to making a recommendation to consider an overlay district for preservation and housing stability. Uh you know some municipalities in the state have uh uh neighborhood conservation overlays. Uh but there are also several flavors of that. Um another key aspect of this that that could be involved is actually historically designating the homes. So creating a historic district. Um and then that does involve a level of research and uh you know and hopefully some funding to enable that work to proceed. Um but as well the town can advance its green development policies with concerns to Pottstown. Uh Pottstown has a really large tree canopy and that's a that's a great asset to have in that downtown area. Uh so that is one one thing to think about is how to how to protect that tree canopy and then what you know what green development policies could could you introduce to to address that. Uh and then the last thing here is uh uh you know how actually

working with the historic designation process to protect and conserve the historic uh homes. um there, you know, there are historic landmarks in in the community. Uh but there are a lot of homes that that could also, you know, be historically designated. So, I think that's something to think about. But also, how do you improve the um you know, the the protections that that go in? Like, for example, what do you do uh to delay a demolition permit? You know, those kinds of things need need to be think about uh as well. Um so that those are the examples uh for housing stability. These these tools are community-led initiatives and uh one key one that we're we're talking about is the community land trust. Uh but but also we had Shmaya Haynes from Enderly Park uh you know come speak to us because they are doing um you know grassroots initiated affordable housing development in Enderly Park. So that is certainly something to think about here. Uh certainly one of the community based organizations here can probably take on that kind of work but they will need uh funding for that. Um and the other thing that they could also do is just organize also strategically with uh you know um for example the the Ada Jenkins Center but also the the the corridor communities you know also Smithville and West Davidson they they are organizing themselves as well and I think creating a strategic coalition with those communities can help share the knowledge maybe even identify nonprofit resources that can be activated. So that's an example of the kinds of you know these uh the community le initiatives will

take some work and some time and some capacity building but uh communities in Mechleberg County are are demonstrating that you can do these kinds of things. Uh and they are you know this community is is fixing homes. So they definitely have the the capacity to do do these kinds of initiatives. Now, the final toolkit is to target funds from public and nonprofit sources. And we identified seven areas that that you could target uh funding for, you know, grant finding grants and support from the state. Uh and we delved into those in the last section, the last toolkit. Um so we we did a lot of concerted research. Um, of course, what's in the purview for the town to fund is the infrastructure upgrades. And, uh, I'll turn it back to you, David, just

you want to say something.

So, I all I really want to do on this part is just kind of underscore because this particular toolkit deals with the things that you would probably be the most familiar with, which are those brickandmortar infrastructure type of improvements that we do all throughout town. and it would be encouraging and continuing and expanding those efforts particularly focused in the Pottstown area. And I'll give you sort of three layers of of examples. The first is things that are right now happening. Um an example would be I think you're all familiar. There were there was a traffic calming analysis for Delwood and the board um decided that a couple of speed humps would be appropriate to put into place and then there would be some monitoring to see how effective it is. should there be more um humps on that street or should there be less whatever the case may be. Um, another one that is, um, last night there was a meeting about something called advisory shoulders. Um, and I don't know if we've got a yes, that this is a slide here and I don't want to dive too far into it, but what this is is a opportunity to create safer identified pedestrian or bicyclist areas within an existing street rightway without having to go out and acquire additional rightway. it it would probably be envisioned as maybe a temporary or a stop gap measure for some time before you know additional enhancements to a street could be gathered if that is the desire of the community. So there'd be a lot of communication back and forth on how it's going, what would be the next step if any and that type of thing. Um so that would be as I said is current. The next level that I would say is stuff that is already in the works or being studied. And two really great examples of that um there are have already been some improvements. The bottom right corner of the slide you um there are some enhancements that have already been put

into place at the Whmer Park, but there are more that are coming. The town is working with Meckllinburgg County to complete this particular project and they're looking at some facilities um enhancing some of the parking. Uh you can see some pickle ball courts, etc. um that is something that again is not done or you know hap finishing tomorrow but is very much on the horizon. And then a second uh good example of what this toolkit embodies is the storm water project that is going on. And I'm not sure if the planning board is completely versed yet, but we've hired an outside consultant to analyze the downtown area, including Pottstown, to see what are the current facilities regarding storm water. Where are the problematic uh issues? Where is is the opportunities for enhancement? And then once they sort of conclude then you're going to have those decisions to be made probably at the capital improvement program level of where where do we need to build a regional facility so that each lot doesn't have to bear the burden that type of thing. So again um the analysis portion of that study my understanding is is complete and excuse me the the data gathering is complete. the analysis is happening now and then that will be coming to um should be coming to you and the town board um relatively soon. The last little bucket, if you will, in this particular toolkit would be what's on the horizon. And I I'm not going to define horizon, but Eric showed you that it could be zero to two years, you know, five to six, six to 10, somewhere in that mix would be things that the plan identifies that might involve a lot more financial commitment, might involve a lot more time and resources. Um, but that would be a priority that the town would need to set and those could be things like creating a complete sidewalk network throughout the Pottstown community or u putting you know again

this is this is sort of a it seems like a light I mean a simple thing but um you know putting a a a sign topper that signifies the streets that are in the historic community or something like that. Um there's there the plan speaks to I think you're you're probably familiar with what we call the sculpture um project that goes down the greenway downtown. There's public art that is placed and we change it out on a period. Maybe it's a year or two years. And so as greenways are and the network is enhanced then there would be opportunity to expand the sculpt tour parallel to the Pottstown community. And there's infinite variations of how you could do that with maybe localized artists or or maybe with a theme, however that would take shape. But again, this toolkit is very wide ranging. You know, it's it's that tangible element that you can prioritize and put into practice. Um has already been referenced this evening. It's it's that commitment from the town board that will dictate sort of how far and how much um takes place under the the goals of the plan. So I think that is all that we wanted to share with you. There is in the back of the plan um sheets that look like this and they break down every goal and every toolkit and they'll put the actionable statements in there, the tools rather. And then you'll see that there's a cost at a time. So, it's sort of a quick reference um that you can use to uh debate your priorities and and work through um where the town's going to go from year to year as they work on their budget. So, with that, uh Eric and I are to answer any questions you may have and um we will go from there.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, start off with questions to either staff or the consultant. So, so great good question. Um, I would say I I don't know that the town has very recently undertaken a sort of holistic um meeting to see if the all of the property owners are interested in doing that. Um, as you may or may not be aware, you know, state law is always sort of getting tweaked a little bit when it comes to annexation. And involuntary annexation, which is the term for a town saying, "We're going to take an area regardless of how they feel, is not as broad or you're not enabled to do that. Communities are not able to do that like they used to be many several decades ago. So what you're looking at is the term voluntary annexation and that you would be most familiar with uh a developer of 200 lot subdivision who's out on the periphery of town. One of the things that they will often do as they're being reviewed is offer the entire property up for annexation. And so because you have the full consent of the ownership, it's really not an issue. It's just a process. Um what we here at the town are are very willing to do and can do um is provide an analysis for every resident in Pottstown who is not in the corporate limits to see how their tax bill would look inside of town and outside of town because as you're probably aware those

who are out do not pay the town's tax but they do pay a fire and a police tax. So is that a wash? I'm not going to say that it's a wash, but it's probably not as far off as maybe some might assume. Um, but no question adding a town tax is an additional tax. There's there's really no other way to say that, but it does allow you to be uh in the the conversation uh and enjoy, you know, infrastructure enhancements and whatnot from the general tax dollar. Uh but when it comes to grants or other things that may be at our disposal from the state level, the federal level, what have you, they don't usually have those types of restrictions or distinctions. They're more broad-based. So, you know, it might be a matter of chasing those dollars as opposed to funding it in a different way. Um but I'm I'm trying to remember if I caught all parts of your conversation.

Yeah, I wonder about Right.

ETGA members, they do not vote in municipal elections. They do vote for the county. Um but yes, for town board who would be not all but many of these projects would fall within the town's um purview. uh the residents in the ETJ would not have a a direct vote. They could certainly be part of a conversation, speak to you know form a the coalition that's referenced in the beginning of the plan. They could be part of that discussion. Uh but but yes, that is a that is a element that will certainly present some challenges. Scott,

Mr. Pete, do we know what the county's plans are for the 31 acres? Yes, sir.

So, the county they acquired the land and I think they began just a tiny bit of initial planning. Um, my understanding, and I don't know if Brian knows anymore, but I think they have paused it slightly. Um I don't know if it's sort of an internal discussion they're having uh or if they are waiting to have this process complete. They they have not stated as much. So don't you know but they're aware of this this plans process. Um we have and and Eric can attest the community is certainly very concerned about what that 31 acres will look like and we are as well. And so the plan very much wants to have a relationship with that property and interrelate. Um but no, we do not to answer your question, we do not specifically know, but I will tell you in a broad sense because the land was purchased through the park and wreck um department at the county. Um it will have a park role to play for the community. They can't just do anything they want with it. Um there are some environmentally sensitive portions of the property that will have to pretty much be respected and set aside. Um but I don't think that precludes some other things. And I'll just, you know, don't hold me to this, but if there were to be some type of, you know, road extension or connection made or something like that, that may be something that could be entertained. But the town has not been involved in specific pen and paper discussions with the county yet. But we expect that they will really begin in earnest fairly soon. And and I might add too, just so no one has a false impression, the planning for the property is not the funding of the property. You follow me? So in other words, if they are ready to to get going

and spend four, five, six months on the plant, then funding whatever it's to be is a is a separate discussion. So it could be quick or not on the county.

Thank you, Mr. Pete. Um, while you got the map up here, how did we decide the boundaries of Pot Pottstown?

So, back in uh Brian, help me out. There was a plan called the East Huntersville Revitalization Plan and it defined the study area that you see to large degree, but there was a little bit of the area north of Delwood that that plan for some reason sort of left out, but as the community itself that represents itself, um, as well as the way that the town has always sort of seen the community had that area as part of it as well. So it was just a very natural extension to add just those air just a it's a handful of properties that North Dell would to include into the area. So um it is not and and it was also somewhat tailored by the the input historically from the residents as well.

Okay. They have Okay. Because yeah I know as you as you trickle down whole Brooks you get to a a section down here in the grade that are all new build homes right? Yes. That seems like they're more Vermilian than they are Pottstown. That's correct. Well, what you see is is should not be any part of Vermilion. Yeah, it's not. It's not. But the houses have the resemblance. to get beyond what we're what we're saying as the study area, then you're looking at a phase of Vermilion or the Greenway Waste Facility or the county's aerrol park and they have obviously very unique connotations and are are you know much different than the makeup of the

Yeah. And that's I mean New Haven Drive itself those houses are probably from the 60s or so. So they're I don't know if they're part of the Mr. Pot's original property, but seems like I just it just seems okay. I was just trying to have a get my brain around who is and who it in Pottstown. That's it's interesting. It is. Um my only other question here, I guess, is is probably for Brian is is what are we what what are we doing as a planning board here? We're not we're not looking at a an overlay. We're not looking at a small area plan. We're looking at a concept that we do you endorse the board to recommend. That's what you're tasked with tonight. Okay. Okay. Plain and simple. Yeah. Recommend or don't recommend.

Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. We're not We're not testing small area plans or whether it applies or anything like that. Easy peasy. Go ahead, Scott. Mr. Pete, somewhat related to this historic designation that is a individual choice, right, that a property owner would have to say, I want my property historically designated. It's not typically something that we or anybody have the ability to say, we're going to designate this street.

So, I want to be careful with that answer and and Eric may have something to add to this, but there are and our and our attorney would certainly need to weigh in. um a historic an overlay of any kind generally is just like any other facet of a zoning ordinance and so it can be put into place by the town board without full consent of a resident if you will. Um but there is a a ratcheting up because basically you have the underlying zoning and let's assume that it does not change if it stays neighborhood residential for example. An overlay takes all of those rules or rights, if you will, and it adds an additional layer. And that additional layer might actually change, modify, or or I would dare say reduce maybe some of those opportunities for an area, a very specific area that is very specifically defined, its purpose, its role, and what those changes would be. Can that be applied, we'll say, against a property owner's wishes? uh that would be where the attorney would need to weigh in. Generally, you have a wellspring of support for a community or a property uh owners group or what have you to want to be a part of an overlay to say we want to be a special neighborhood designation or we want to be a historic designation. um they arise in different ways and again as the years have gone on the state laws ability to do one or or whatever certainly has changed and been modified. So the you're familiar with the 160D state law that is not very old. That law went a long way toward saying you really can't take away the rights of the zones that are already in place. So an overlay might enhance or or spell differently some of the things that you

expect, but it might not be able to sort of, you know, pull back some of those follow. So the the classic example that you would certainly appreciate is say a historic district that says, you know, these are the the materials that are historically present in a community. These are the the the way the homes look. you know, you have to use a certain shingle and you have to have a certain shutter and all of that so that it matches or there's a variation on a theme to something that has already been established and is has historic significance. Um, you wouldn't put an adobe style home right in the middle of a Charleston, you know, row of houses. Um, if you had that designation, without that type of designation, well, then every property owner sort of gets to do what they'd like to do or whatever the zoning ordinance will allow them. So, um, I, you know, I I don't want it to be a mystery that an overlay or specifically a historic overlay, that's kind of the one I want to touch on. Yes, it can afford protection, but it can also raise the level of expense and expectation on doing something simple like maybe you want to add gutters to the house. Well, did gutters exist 50, 60 years ago? you know, you have to have these rational conversations of, well, you know, I don't want the rain falling down at the base of the house and degrading the livability, but the truth of the matter is maybe gutters weren't indicative of that particular era. So, it takes a lot of discussion. It takes a lot of research to find out exactly what you're looking to do and how it would do. So again, um just make no mistake, specifically speaking to a historic designation, um there are advantages and protections, there are also limitations. And just just a quick followup on that, and this may be the next step, not part

of this plan, but I've heard preservation quite a bit. Um would would this hypothetical overlay for example, could it um act as a as a protection for like for example somebody wanting to buy eight homes and tear them down, rebuild something new. That's the kind of scenario I'm thinking about out loud is is would that overlay or is it possible to have some sort of mechanism in the future to that that it's a review if you remove a house or or I'm just trying to go back to this preservation word that I've heard quite a bit and and I'm not sure how to ask the question, but that'sed

I I would say and and I'd love Eric to to pitch in too. There is a a you know preservation means a lot of things and there is a wealth of of work and research that would need to go into how far constrained you can be. Um again I referenced the 160D legislation. There's the general statutes that our attorney would would need to weigh in on. Um preservation efforts are happening all throughout our state. Um, sometimes when you look at larger cities, they have special legislation that allows them to do things that a town the size of Huntersville doesn't have the same rights to. Um, but getting to the 160D specifically and sort of I think your question, it is not we just want to make sure that you know everything is developed in the way that that is best for the community or what have you and sort of completely erode those those and I don't like to call them developer rights. I'm I would say categorize them more as the land owner. You know, everybody who owns the land has a different idea of what they'd like to do. And so the conversation to say collectively, we want to protect X, Y, and Z is what is going to drive that overlay's possibilities. Uh if there's, you know, 19 different voices, then it's going to be very challenging. the town board will will ultimately have to see how far they're willing to to create a different set of rules for that. So, you got a couple of examples locally.

Sure.

Well, I think the the primary thing to think about is just the uh the process. So, uh say you get a homeowner wants to tear down their historic home. uh what what do you have in place uh to allow the community to you know consider options of saving the home? So you know in the city of Charlotte uh you know the historic landmark uh commission can delay that demolition for a year. Um that's you know and I don't know what your agreements are already in place with historic landmarks commission here. uh but you can look at just procedural ways to actually work on that. Now good thing about that is that um we have actually saved some historic homes. So in first ward uh we had uh some um shot you know those uh shotgun homes we we saved those and the homes were moved to a property owned by the the land trust. Um, so that's an example of what you could can do with with that kind of uh enforcement mechanism in place. Um, so the land, you know, the the Westside Community Land Trust has actually received a lot of homes that way. Um, so that is an example of something practical that that can result just by having that that extra layer of uh protection delaying the demolition for a year. So um now the historic designations also empower the town to actually act on that so to create uh structures. Um and I I you know they don't necessarily have to

be linked to the overlay. Um but but it does definitely uh make it a legitimate you know a legitim legitimate tool to actually address the fact that we want to preserve the homes. Um and that you know the state enables you to do that. Um so I do think that the community does have uh the option of actually working with the homeowners to designate their homes. that's something that they could they could initiate um working with state resources. Um and as well there there is also some work to be thought about to improve the cemeteries as well. So those can be des you know they need 50 years before you can designate them but I think the all the cemeteries here are old enough to be designated. So they can also work on that as well uh with the churches. same topic, Michael.

So, stay up here for a second. So, how about rather than individual homes and and individual historic designation, how about designating an historic district in here? Right. I mean, that would put the ultimate protection on the whole neighborhood. Exactly. And much better than an overlay could because that's kind of like getting past 160D with down zoning. It's almost the clamp on, right?

Sorry. That's okay. I mean, Lee actually made one of the statements I was going to make that is the concept of 160D suggest that you're going to have a historic council in place to make a determination as whether the district really should even exist and if it does then what are the conditions of which will exist. Uh so it kind of compels the town to really do more work in establishing that entity to then put in place the over yeah I shouldn't use the word overlay but the wrapping around trying to ensure that the community is deemed to be truly historic. I'm just going to back up a little bit but lee stole that piece of my thunder I think on the same page on that. But but I think the other thing is I'm I'm I'm a little bit befuddled so to speak because I hear and I heard this last week as well uh a number of key uh and important aspects of the plan to the community, things such as attainable housing uh to continue to exist. U things such as uh continue to uh protect the historic uh historic aspect of it. But I'm having a hard time trying to connect this plan because honestly, if I look at the plan, I think it's more of a community plan as opposed to a preservation plan because what I'm hearing very little of is how to actually say, I hear the words about, well, find the right organizations and you guys will be able to save things. But in terms of the board taking action, I'm just trying to figure out what exactly are we saying we want? Because what I'm hearing the community say uh is that we want to be able to afford to live here, want to see improvements made, want to make sure and keep the identity, which it has for years to have. Uh but the plan doesn't necessarily reflect as much of that as the community has highly emphasized. So, help me with binding those two together because if we're taking an action

tonight, saying we're agreeing that this plan is a good preservation plan, then I'm a little bit disconnected from that.

Let me start responding and I'll two parts. The first thing you said, I just want to make sure that the planning board understands the Meckllinburgg County Landmarks Commission is our current de facto historic um committee. So, the town does not have its own. we rely on a process for us, but that does not mean that we can't have our own. So, as we are, you know, getting bigger and evolved, we can certainly look to do that and and the plan touches on that. So, I just want to make sure everybody knew that we had someone in that role. Um, obviously, if they're serving the entire county, you know, they give us the lion share of the attention. Um, but to begin to sort of touch on your second question, which is a great point. Um I think that you if you read the plan with sort of in two um two views. The plan does not strongly if I can put words into your your comment commit the town to doing various parts of the plan. But there is nothing in the plan that prohibits the town. In other words, what you'll see through the tools is the town will work with, the town will connect, the town will help uh explore resources, etc. But anywhere in here based upon the priorities of the town board, the town could say we are going to do X and Y and Z in, you know, in concert with Meckllinburg County or whoever the partner that would be appropriate would be. So the plan definitely in my opinion does not preclude a more aggressive or a wider ranging stance by the town in any of the aspects but it is um I think it's trying to say we're we're not standing still is not the right word but we're walking slowly right now but for us to really start to speed up and achieve a lot of things we just need to tackle as much as we can and it is based on the the the

wants of the town board. But to the planning board's role tonight, there is in your recommendation, you can certainly speak to that. If you would like to see the plan commit more on certain levels, you certainly have that prerogative. Um, this is it all lies at the feet of the town board. They're the ones who are going to adopt it or not. And if they do adopt it, what does it say and how strongly does it say it? So, um, again, the planning board certainly has an ability to express, emphasize, and share your emphasis or your concern or your, you know, if if it's not this, then then I do have trouble supporting it. Whatever the case may be, I hope that got to some of the question you

it did, but I'm I'm again a little bit concerned again after hearing this hearing being in two hearings now, the one last week and this week. Uh, one of the big overarching concerns I've gotten, I'm just trying to figure out how best the board can attempt to reconcile them is yes, this is good plan, but in the meantime, uh, the community itself is living in fear that somebody's going to gobble up the house next door, gobble up the next house. Uh, the plan really doesn't do anything with respect to addressing the most significant uh, hurdle that the community right now has in front of it. How does it pro how is it protected from some developer saying in two months from now, hey, I got a lot of money flash around. Let me go in. Let me just buy all this stuff up before those folks downtown decide to go do something crazy.

And that is a specific challenge of of all of this as I don't want to sound like a broken record, but the inherent zoning and the rights property owners have cannot be pulled away overnight. You have to work through a process. Not if the town board has all the will to do some things like that. You have to come to a a technique or approach that's legal and consistent to general statutes that will allow the board to be we'll say very aggressive on sort of protecting or or making sure that that scenario doesn't happen. Um it's not going to happen overnight. um to get to your point and that is one of the the frustrating elements is it is tough to take away in a in a you know I don't think it out of school that the state of North Carolina very much leans developer and to protect um as much as you'd like to can be challenging. So that is just a reality that that you know we all face communities across the state face but it doesn't the fact that you're you're striving, you're working, and the emphasis of this board to the town board can be made loud and clear that you would like not a suggestion, but a but a statement. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, but I'm just echoing the sentiment that I heard.

Prince, you have a question. Yeah, it's it's just a followup, you know, because many of the concerns from the community, you know, people in the town is about how do we fit in this entire plan and our concerns based on your research, your engagement with the community, you know, you have historic, you have different issues or teams that you came up with. What would you say would be like uh the overarching theme that you could preserve you know in the community like a recommendation to maybe the bowl what what was that you know major concern of all members you engaged with what can you say?

Well what they expressed this this evening uh to preserve the homes uh that was the the primary concern uh that we heard repeatedly. Um I will say that the plan is organized so that you can the town knows what directly it can support what it can act on. So every tool has a town role uh you know clearly defined uh and the way it is organized the toolkit for regulatory control is is is one toolkit so that the town can immediately start focusing on that. Um, so I think it it's organized in a in a way that actually gives everybody uh a space to work in community and the town, but also uh engaging others. So uh and that that you'll find that in every toolkit. We even, you know, broke it down by steps and those those actions are defined in the back of the document with with the specific items that you need to address for each toolkit. So it's I think it's a yes preservation is not easy. Um there's a reason why uh uh you know I got together with 10 citizens to try to create a community land trust because uh we we were frustrated with all the inability for the you know you just have to do the work. But I will say that you know uh we started in 2016 and now we have you know 60 homes. So it's doable and I and I and the the time frames that we put uh are actually labeled in and you know to to reach those goals. So whether it's in two years or 5 years or 10 years all those steps are outlined and yes there are hundreds of steps and I acknowledge that that's one of the weaknesses of the plan that seems to not have focus but it's actually broken down so that the

community that can prioritize that with the town decide which steps to advance and every year they can update the plan so it's a living document. Uh yes, it we wrote it as a menu uh which may not be as effective for a small area plan in terms of but it's actually written that way because it's realistic and we are um we took the the the considerations of what the community their organizational capacity. We we had that in mind with every step. Um and more than that we actually sat and learned from communities that have done it well. and and we took a lot of the recommendations that you see a lot of the tools were were taken also from from those experts those community advocate experts that we invited. So uh so yeah that did expand the the the plan a little bit. Uh but what you see is everything that we heard um everything that that all the strategies that were outlined uh that that we captured in in community comments. Um and I, you know, uh uh I will I'll say that it's very difficult. Preservation requires every you know all hands on deck. So everybody does have to play a part.

Yeah, Jennifer.

Yes. Uh thank you. um in the discussion I it sounds like that there's already a current committee that's involved with developing this and my suggestion may be if it's not already attached to the plan can we recommend that the town has a committee in conjunction with your committee get the community to engage and participate throughout the five years or however long this plan is going to go so that there's continual town, Meckllinburgg County, members of the community, all collaborating together through the course of the of the plan.

So, well, to answer that question there, there is nothing that would prohibit that. You could certainly do that. What the what the plan very specifically says is there needs to be a unified voice, but it doesn't go any further than that because there's a lot of ways to do that. And as we referenced at the very top of the presentation, there are already several standing groups who have their own little, you know, boards or or leaders or what have you. And so they could form the first version of that coalition, their representation, and there you go. And now as as they vote, then it's take it to the town and it's their priorities are set. But you could kind of start from scratch if you wanted and ask every resident would you like to serve. You could, you know, sprinkle in some county representations in town. There is no limitation to how you want to do that. The the importance is that it is the representative voice from the community so that when they say

our number one priority is this, the town knows that as we move resources toward it, it is not a voice in the woods. It is it is really the way the residents would like to see it. And we know nothing will be 100% because you can't go to the Northstone HOA and ask them a question and get 100%. Um, not picking on Northstone, but you get the point is is you're looking for the representative body. And because the Pottstown community is it's not like a subdivision that's only 10 years old that has a very strict structure in terms of how things are voted on. We are sort of creating that that uh structure after the fact.

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Yeah. I mean, as I look at the proposal and I've gone through it, or at least the final report, I've looked at a few um management style uh proposals. And to me, I always look for two sections very specifically anytime I would see one. One is the executive summary, which is always up front. This doesn't have an executive summary. doesn't really talk about what the real understanding was between the client and with the consultant. Just doesn't it just give you this gives lots of content. No doubt about it. And typically at the end um the consultant would usually know what is the most significant aspects of the proposal to the client and hence have a very targeted uh plan for those areas that are deemed to be most significant and most important. Neither of those two really exist in this and I think for what we're trying to do now those two sections would prove to be highly valuable because it gives us a clear understanding of the expectations on both sides but it also gives a very targeted approach to what is deemed to by the community and perhaps by the board members themselves to be the most significant issues to be addressed. Uh it's in you're right it's in here but it's in here in such a way that it's very difficult to try to get your arms around it. So

thank you. I mean there an executive summary on page. Yeah.

Yeah. Executive summary but also implementation. I got another one I guess. So I think time is of the urgency here. It's it's it's the focus of the Pottstown folks is preservation. Um which means somehow restricting development and even a historic district would take a couple years to establish. Right. The quickest thing I can think to do is for each individual to go in here and down zone, especially those in NR and go to GR. that would restrict it somewhat and that would give you something because if this if this sales tax increase passes in November and they start getting real about the red line, time is going to be of the essence. So at least if everybody was GR, you could tamp down what you could and couldn't couldn't do if somebody were to go in and sweep up five or six lots. My suggestion So, one one more thought. I'm assuming the recommendation would be I'm looking at this more like a analysis rather than a plan. Analysis of of what's there and then analysis of where to go, but not a directive plan. Is that the intent? Like I see it as this is the area. Here's all these different components, you know, the historic areas, the churches, the parks, the homes, and you've got the community um and the community voices, and

we're making awareness of the potound community. This is this brings awareness, but to get to the next step is is where I'm struggling a little bit. And it's it I know this is not the plan to get there. I know this is this is this is this is an analysis to say if you want to get there, here's steps and here are the tools to get there. Is is that somewhat accurate? Yes. Okay. uh what we did say is uh we prioritize creating the community coalition. So that is the first step and and that is the step to start prioritizing uh what elements to advance.

We don't want to necessarily do it for them. They have to do it you know it has to come from the community.

Other questions, thoughts? Um just the uh the traffic calming. I wanted to talk about that. I mean is that been used other places and been you know vetted? I I mean I saw that and I guess in an ideal world it looks okay. But I feel like if you had two people walking riding bikes on either side of the street and cars coming, it could be very confusing. I mean we put lines on the road so people stay in the road and less decisions the better. Now you're telling people to stay in the middle of the road unless there's another car coming and then cross a dotted line with maybe a pedestrian there that might be in a blind spot. I I just I mean I just have a little worry about that.

Well, and again that might not be something that the planning board would see as as one of the highest priorities. Um community there was a meeting last night within the community to discuss that particular approach. Um there are examples around the state and I am not the expert on that but um our long range transportation planner our department is is very attuned to it but what the plan or excuse me what the meeting last night um was basically centered around was this is the way it could look and so we need to test it and give it a shot and it it is sort of a it's a low investment if you will. So you if it if you put it into play and it it's it's confusing or not doing exactly what you'd like, then it doesn't have to continue.

Um so again, it's just an example of one that was already in the hopper and is moving forward. The plan is embraced it and supported it as as among, you know, all kinds of traffic calming elements. Um, you know, uh, the town has has historically approached the community about what you might say is the typical cross-section of a street to say, "Here's your roads, here's your planning strips, here's your sidewalk, and maybe there'd be some infrastructure improvements within." Um, the difficulty, of course, is the streets in in Pottstown go in and out of town. That's that's something. And then you have the individual property owners who perhaps see things differently. And so if you don't have the rightway or you don't have the easements you need, then then you're limited. So again, this is just sort of tackling a safety issue within the constraints that you can. And it's by no means the final answer, per se. Maybe it works great and that's all you need, but maybe it's just a way to get the awareness and the ch and the change to turn the corner before something else um a little more significant can be put into place. Um, again it gets back to communicating to the from the residents to the planning board to any other stakeholder, communicating to the town board, where do we rank all of these tools? Where do we want to see everything, you know, going in a direction? Um, Eric alluded to the fact that this plan and any other small area plan that the town has ever adopted, they don't sit on a shelf. I mean, they're referenced every time there's something happening in or near those communities. And you shouldn't let them sit around for 10 years and then come back. You you you check it out. And I mean, this is going to be a plan very specifically that if he came back in a two-year time period, there's going to be a lot of check marks on things that are already in process. So, is it everything? No. and you know and and we certainly don't have plans that probably achieve all of the goals, but you want

to have it all out there to be discussed, to be debated. Um and and hopefully the lift is for everybody for the betterment of the community and the town as well. Thank you. Um did you have a follow-up question?

Just another question for Eric that I've been thinking about. So, you know, obviously it's a good plan, a lot of tools, uh, a lot of directions we could go. Have you ever done any plans that are a lot more like pointed and said, "Hey, this is what you need to do in the next 12 months to start this process or they're always kind of open-ended like this." You know, more highlevel what some might perceive as smoking mirrors, but I mean, the toolkit's there and you you're kind of pointing us in the right direction, but you're not setting deadlines. Has there ever been one that set deadlines?

Well, yeah, we do frame it in terms of uh you know by milestones to be reached. Um I I I think we did take a stab at that in in this plan. So, uh, not to say that it can't be rethought in a lot of respects, but, uh, the high highest priority were saving the homes. And so, therefore, we definitely put that and the the overlay district as one of the lowhanging fruit things that you can act on. Um, you know, I will say that it is a very special plan. uh because yes, we could we could have u identified a lot of projects in the community, but but that's not the input that we received. I'll emphasize again and that's not why you hired us. It was a preservation plan.

Thank you. Anybody else? Just just one last question. U because our neighbor up the street, Cornelius, has a very similar kind of environment in the way of Smithfield. uh help me to understand or help us to appreciate the delta between Smithfield and Posh Town.

I I would say that the delta there is that they had uh an expert developer on on their pocket. Um not not that that that developer expert who had done a lot of these kinds of plans before. Uh not that he didn't have a friction with the community. There was definitely um a lot of um organizational challenges there in that community but I think they they did leverage a lot of resources just because they had a development uh approach. Uh now unfortunately Willie Jones passed away and and with that also passed away a lot of the knowhow uh but the community is still um you know galvanized I think around the plan now. um they they were able to get county funding for that. So that that's maybe u a venue to you know talk with with your partners. Um and uh and they also were just very um uh very loud advocates for uh protecting Smithville. So I guess guess the real question is how does what we have in the way of this proposal you know similar or different or the same as what they what they used as a tool to get them started.

So I I'll say that the the what's very different is that you have community organizations here that are doing some some of that kind of work but they just the delta is you know they because they they aren't actually directly uh building affordable housing. So that's that's one thing that is is what one of the recommendations is that they create their uh you know a CDC or a community land trust as well that can act as a development um partner. So I think that's that's the key thing to have and the Smithville was getting that get getting that started.

Okay, anybody else or do we have motion? Um and some of this is not to um we can continue the discussion but I think we're beyond the question. So um in considering the planning board in considering the potound community preservation planing board recommends approval of the plan as presented. Do I need a consistency statement?

That would be good. And the the 2040 plan certainly speaks to the creation of small area plans, the creation of um the betterment of housing options, stabilizing communities that exist already. Um you can sort of touch on on some of those goals. What you said, um let's see, housing options existing. The plan is uh consistent with the Huntersville 2040 community plan. Specifically, uh housing options. Yeah. Providing housing options, preserving existing communities

and preserving existing communities. You could mention, you know, expanding infrastructure appropriately and expanding infrastructure appropriately. Period. Thank you. Second.

I'll second just to get discussion going. Yes.

Um, a lot of good points up here. This is by far perfect, but again, listening to the community, nothing's really, there's been a lot of discussion, but not as a lot has been done about bringing attention to Pottstown. And I think this does that. Their plan even talks about, you know, going out and seeking funding from maybe it's the county, maybe it's the state, maybe it's the federal. I think having something like this that's formal that's adopted by the town gives the community, gives the town, everybody something that can go out and say, "Yes, this is organized. This is an area that we want to be focused on." So, um, and like Michael said, it would be nice if there was some concrete like this is what we're going to do in the next 6 months, 12 months. But again, this at least gets us off of start. Like we're at least moving forward now. And then it's up to the board. It's up to community, everyone else to follow through and make sure we hold this board and the next board and every other board going forward. Like, hey, you guys adopted this plan. We talked about these tools. Now come and let's put these tools to to work. So again, it's not perfect, but I think it's at least it's moving us forward. So I'm in support of Pottstown. I would love to be a preserved. And one last thing, you know, at the end of the day, it is Pottstown is owned by a lot of individuals that have private property rights and not everybody is always in agreement. Your neighbor may want to tear their own house down and build up a McMansion, you may not. So, there is always going to be that struggle and that's unfortunate. So,

thank you, Jennifer. Um, yes, thank you. In in thinking about the motion though and to help the the homeowners maybe feel a little bit more comfortable that we're taking action, I'd like to put a deadline on a formation of a committee and what that committee may look like and how we establish it to go to the town board. Um, and if there's any other ads that we need to put into the plan to send to the town board that we think might be doable. So, do do we need to amend the motion? Is that what you're I mean yeah I would like yeah I would like to amend the motion to include a

Are you are you looking to set a deadline or strongly encourage strongly encourage that a committee be formed in so many days. I don't know what that looks like or how quickly we can get it established, but to know that we're moving forward with the timeline. And is is this the citizens committee or is this the the neighborhood committee establish the the the committee? Um, and I know Meckllinmberg County is currently involved in addition to

business owners, but I would like the the the neighborhood to be involved and invited to encourage to sit on the committee as well as staff if you staff has time. Of course, your motion. Do you There's a lot in there. Yeah, maybe we cleaned up a little bit, which is fine. My No, no. And I'm not being critical because mine was not clean by any means. Um, does the plan, again, excuse me, I guess on the plan, is the plan reference a committee like we talk about a committee. Are we just saying there's going to be a committee or is there something we can reference in the plan that talks about this?

Well, you made the coalition and the term coalition is referring mainly to the representatives of the community. Um, if the town needs to create some type of committee that interacts with them on a regular basis or whatever, and that can all go hand in hand. Um, you could certainly pass that along as just sort of a point of emphasis, but when I if the board prioritizes all of that, then they'll certainly flesh all of that out. The community itself may want to say, "Let's let's get the county representative. Let's get a town representative, what have you, to sort of enhance what they are." So, Jennifer, I think what I'm hearing you saying is that you want a formal standing committee that may include community.

Yes. staff, town board members, planning board members not required to. Right. I'd like to establish uh in the motion that we're forming a committee and put a deadline on it so that the plan itself has quickly some momentum to move forward with the plan. And however you all decide we want to word it or what the committee needs to look like, maybe leave it open-ended to the town board. I'm good with that. I I just want to make sure we put an emphasis in the motion that that we're forming a committee to move forward.

That is toolkit A5, by the way, advisory board. So, it's it's in here. So, it's an advisory board. Again, I'm trying to name this. Okay, it is. We're not Before we amend it, let's have a little discussion still. What do And I'm not opposed to it. What do we think is a realistic recommendation for the town board that this advisory committee Lee? Is that what it's called? Yeah, it's called uh Yeah, advisory board actually. Advisory board. A5 is the advisory board. Yeah. Just I think just just put emphasis on the urgency of developing a a board, you know, just just emphasize it really is all we need to do. Yeah. And I would be I agree with that. I agree with that too. So that's a motion 113.

Do we have that clear trace? Okay, great. And yes,

perfect. A second. Second. Okay. Motion in a second. discussion

and another U amend uh in light of the discussions that previously had in the prior uh community meeting and this community meeting uh to have a a a small addendum added to the plan which specifically talks to the two or three most significant issues as communicated in those two meetings such that the commissioners will have an opportunity to have more information with respect to what is considered to be significant and a priority. It's all in there. All I'm simply saying is I like those things that people have talked about as being most significant. So the commissioners will have that as a separate carve out.

So not revising the plan just as part of the presentation to the board. Right. Oh, amend it. Yep. Amen. amend the preservation such that you're adding add an addendum to it that shows that these were two things that were discovered as part of the community sessions and hence the consultant has opined on those and have made the following observations and recommendations.

Yes, that'll show up when everything else shows up. That's that's the preservation goals I believe. No, it should be more than the goals because the goals does nothing more than say here's the direction moving in. What this is specifically pointing to is based on the feedback that's been received from the community as well as from the board. Here is their view about a more pointed approach to the next steps. All it's doing is just is focusing. It's not saying, "Hey, here's what we like to do based on what we heard. Here's what we would recommend that you now consider in addition to what we've already written. Okay. He's not along with it. He gets it.

He He gets it. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion? I'll though that I I just I think it's a great plan. It's not a concept of a plan or whatever you want to call it, but it outlines everything wonderfully. I think the toolkits are great rather than fumbling around for what I should do next. I mean, it lays out all your options here for you. So, I think it's a a very useful u piece of information and I think it's I think it'll be well received by the town board.

I agree it is a great the tools will you know guide the next decisions and bringing the awareness is is a great uh great momentum as a starting point and a launching point. Anything else? One final thing. I appreciate the community coming out and I hope you think we've heard it and hopefully we'll relay it to the town and government is slow. I get it. And I I hate it for you because again, I know you wanted to be done tomorrow and there's things you're like, "Hey, why don't you go do this?" And it is slow moving, but at least I do think at least maybe there is some momentum now. This will be something that we can all reference. So, thank you guys for your involvement.

Okay, we have a motion and a second. We're ready for a vote. Um all of those in favor of the motion and those opposed. Okay, unanimous. That concludes that. If I could just final comment is a reminder that next week uh is at the town board meeting a week from tonight. Uh this will be in front of the town board for possible final action. It'll be their discretion at that point.

Okay. Thank you. Um next is other business. Um, I'll just do a quick reminder. On the 28th, our quasi judicial hearing, 6 p.m. across the street, third floor on the in the rotunda, third floor diagonally across. Um, that's it. A motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. We're good. Thank you all. Thank you to