City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Uh, welcome tonight for our meeting here on March the 9th at Canapapolis City Council. Uh, as has been our policy, we're going to have a moment of silent here and then Miss Barry's going to lead us in the pledge. Okay. Thank you. Please stand. Amen. Please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. Council, we have a agenda in front of us. What's your pleasure? Move for approval. Got a second, Miss Dixon. All in favor, if you'll raise your hands, please. All right, Miss Gags.

Good evening. I hope everyone can hear me. We are going to start the speakers from the floor. In order to speak to council, I'd need for you to fill out a card. They are located outside those doors on a table. I currently have two cards. And the first speaker, mayor, is Daryl Hinnett.

Good evening. Thank you very much. Daryl Hennet, 116 Sunset Drive, Canapapolis, North Carolina. It's good to be with you this morning or this evening and have a chance to chat. I'm concerned about East Side Park. My understanding is that you plan to cancel it and that you're going to return the $500,000 grant that you've received from the state. Wait until you hear the or wait till you have the required public hearing that you must have in order to return the money. You will te hear from the citizens that you will be required to tell the citizens that you're cancelling the park and returning the free money. Also, be aware that once you return that grant, chances are you'll never get money from that agency again. There are more than 10,000 citizens who live within one mile of that park location. Within 2 and a half miles of that location, there is 25,000 citizens who live near the park. Remember that council promised that park to the surrounding neighborhoods. Also remember that a big sidewalk is a part of the plan to get kids safely back and forth to that park. Also remember that many segments of our community believe that surrounding neighborhoods have been slighted all along because of the investments that have been made downtown. There is an easy solution to the east side park strategy. Under item B of your consent agenda, if you will pull that item and put it under the business agenda, you can have a start to a serious discussion by the citizens and with the citizens of a welcome center and a history museum. You plan to spend almost $2 million to renovate the Wells Fargo building to become the welcome center and a history museum. A vote tonight on the consent agenda will start

that without any citizen input. A welcome center could be located within the building next to the gym theater at very little cost and if it grows in participation, it could be moved to another location. I'm an advocate of the history museum. In fact, I put money in the budget and suggested solutions in the past. I'm not against a history museum. The first step of the history museum was to create a historic preservation commission. That commission would tackle the task that must be completed to design, build, and operate the museum. What does the history museum look like? Who will it serve? Will kids be a significant part of the audience? Will you have a connection to the Dale statue? Will the history of baseball play a significant role? How would the Cannonballers and Tamarit Baseball be involved in all of this? Who will market the museum? Who will operate the museum? Currently, KHA and KAC have very little money to operate the museum and their staffs are sparse and older. Also, will it become a parks and wreck department? If it is going to become a part of parks and wreck, has a discussion of cost operating uh cost of operating been estimated for the inclusion to future budgets? Will you charge admission like other museums do? Have you been to the Billy Graham Library recently? You will find out if you have that there is sound and video in almost every section of that library tour that you take. If you simply move the memorabilia from AO Brown to the Wells Fargo building, it will languish and will be hardly visited or maybe visited only once at the time. How will you convince kids or their parents to make repeated visits to the museum unless you have a plan? But you

can do both. You can take the $2 million that we have in this agenda item and dedicate it to the east side park. You can create a historic commission with locals and with experts. You can set an aggressive schedule, have the commission provide support for council and staff of what a museum looks like and how do you operate it? Do you select a location that will supre will support and house segments for KHA for KMAC for the Canon family or for maybe even a welcome s excuse me currently the Wells Fargo B building is not big enough for all of those to be in one location. I'm sorry, your four minutes.

I'm sorry. I was looking at that and didn't see it. I apologize. Thank you. Thank you, sir. The next speaker card I have is Debbie Vavra.

Good evening, council, and thank you for letting me speak to you tonight. My name is Debbie Vavra. I'm at 1560 Oakwood Avenue and I'm also here to speak about the East Side Park. My husband and I moved to Canapapolis almost three years ago and since then we've enjoyed exploring the area. We really like walking our dog in parks and wooded areas and have been to all of the parks in Canapapolis and some in nearby cities. That's why I was very excited to hear about the planned park on the east side of the city. I read the 2019 East Side Park master plan. There was a huge amount of support for the park and the recreational opportunities it would provide, including paddle boats, a dog park, picnic shelters, excuse me, a restroom, walking trails, a playground, and more. And now I'm hearing that the city I'm hearing rumors that the city might stop this project and turn back down grant funding. That would be a huge mistake and very disappointing. There is currently no city park on the east side of town and there are sever several subdivisions within walking distance of the planned park. Parks give people the chance to get outside, improve their physical and mental health. They are an essential service and part of a vibrant family oriented community. This park is already overdue. Please continue with the plan to build East Side Park and live up to Canapapolis's slogan of discover a healthy life. Thank you.

Thank you,

Mayor and Council. I do not have any additional cards at this time. Okay. Thank you. All right, council. We have a consent agenda in front of us here. Um, mayor, I would like to request that the consent agenda item A for the lease agreement would be removed to the business item section. That would be now taking it to item F, I believe. Yes. All right. Council, then we need to uh approve what's left of an revise the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor, I would Yeah, go ahead. I would like to ask that uh item number B You want to remove it? Yes. to the

Okay. So, that's going to be J. Okay. All right. So, we have no consent agenda. All right. Business agenda, Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mayor, members of council. We do have an item before you tonight regarding the private use zones. Uh, if council recalls, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Mr. Smith. Mayor, um, even though there are no additional items on consent agenda, Yeah. Council still has to take action on the amended agenda. Amended council agenda. Okay. So, we need to make a motion. I move to What was your motion, sir? I move to uh accept the new approve it as is. Yeah. Okay. Second. Second.

Let's vote for that. All in favor. Thank you, Miss K. Go ahead.

So, we do have a amendment to the private use zones and the maps and the fee schedule for that. We did receive a request from local patriot roasting company to establish a private use zone near their business for outdoor dining purposes. Uh presently this is a platform area and the request that we received was not only from local patriot but also from eat cake. Uh they had asked for this area as well as uh some parking areas. Uh the parking areas I won't cover. Mr. Wright will cover that on the next agenda item. uh but it's not an area that's actually presently identified as a private use zone. So standard is we come back before council with the request of the business owner uh for the amendment to the map and the fee schedule. So um and you can go to the next slide. All right. So that area that's circled there in the black will actually identify the area that's of being identified as presently a platform would be set aside for local patriot. So, with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have, but we need a motion to approve, if you see fit, uh, this amendment to the private use map and the um, fee schedule as well.

Do we have any questions for Mr. Smith on this one? No questions. Okay. Is there a motion? So moved.

Mr. Payne, second, Miss Barry. Okay. All in favor? All right. Thank you, Mr. Rattler. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council, and uh let's see. Yeah. Um are you able to move it? Can you go one more? Okay. Right there is the map for the parking spaces that were just discussed uh in yellow. Uh there's the is near the area of the business owner that's requesting it. Uh it's directly in front of their business. Uh we do have other areas like that uh in the blue which are already there. Uh this will be the seventh area that's got a 30 minute parking uh condition on it. And this is two spaces and it's right along the West Avenue uh there in the uh in the center of town. Uh we do need an ordinance uh a motion to a motion to approve an ordinance amending this uh item. This is section C on the traffic schedule uh for the city of Canapapolis. uh that makes it able to be uh to be enforced.

Uh if there are no are there any questions on that? Any questions on this one? Okay. Is there a motion? Mr. Jackson. Second, Miss Hatchel. All in favor? Thank you.

Thank Mr. Smith. Next item on your agenda, mayor, is extr territorial jurisdiction, the ETJ area. Not to be confused with a alien or anything like that. So, just want to make sure that's clear. Uh this area is uh the area as you see on the map there, the uh reddish pink line is the county lines. Uh the area to the north is Royan County. Uh the area in the gray area, if you will, is the existing city limits. The blue area is the actual existing ETJ area. We only have an ETJ area in the Royan County uh portion of our jurisdiction, if you will, or outlying area of that. Uh we are allowed by statute to go up to one mile from our existing city limits. We actually could go further than that based on our population, but when we adopted our ETJ several years ago, we only went up to a mile, but that entire area is not in all areas a mile out. There is some variation in that. When this was created, it was created as perimeter zoning back in the 1940s and 50s. it was established as future growth area when uh proactive annexations if you will um actually occurred. Uh since that has changed uh the request we have before you tonight is maybe look at that closer and see if that's actually valid to keep that intact. Uh this map kind of gives you a closer in view of the area of DTJ and then the next slide I'll actually give you a better picture of what we've got and the number of parcels involved and such too. So if you look at the square miles, 3.3 square miles acreage, over 2,000 acres, uh it affects approximately by our estimates 1,28 folks uh in that particular area. Um and probably the best layman terms to put this is we actually affect the zoning of those parcels, but that's the only say we have on the property, but they don't have a say in our elections or anything like that. So that's kind of one of the reasons uh jurisdictions across the state are actually re-evaluating that.

So um on the next slide it's what what the purpose of the ETJ area is when it was established it's basically for future growth areas the things that we can influence an area and we do uh in Canapapolis right now in this Roy County portion we influence the zoning code enforcement subdivision guidelines building code minimum housing floodway regulation development agreements and historic guidelines. Now, our situation is unique because the Cabaris the Royan County portion of the incorporated areas of the city Cabaris County still does our building inspections on, but Royan County does the ETJ portion of that. So, that gets a little confusing within and of itself. Uh, I should add those are the powers that we exercise. You do not have to exercise all of those powers in the ETJ. We do. You just can never exercise more power in the ETJ than you do in the city limits, if that makes sense. So and then on the next slide reasoning why we would maybe consider removing the ETJ area. One is there's no authority uh at this time period and hasn't been for over probably 15 years now for involuntary annexation. So there's limited benefit whereas previously when DTJs existed that actually gave you a um some say over what occurred in your sphere of influence your future growth area. As you know we only accept annexations by voluntary annexation now. So that that's part of the one of the reasons there. Another is uh the property is regulated without the um of voting power for the residents in the area. Uh it does have a strain on resources. We get a lot of calls and such. Now I put in the staff report there the numbers that we deal with as far as permits which that's a fairly low number as well as code enforcement. Most of what we get from the ETJ area is related to phone calls. So what why are we even answering the Canapapolis? What what are we doing there? Because we're not in the city. Uh that's typically the comments we get on that. So uh so why remove it? Lastly would be to focus solely on properties that are within the existing city limit. So that's that's a reason for that. So um what exactly would be affected as shown on the next slide there. So properties in the ETJ would be affected

by this change if you were to decide to remove that area. Rowan County would be affected because they'll now have to apply their zoning to this particular area uh of Rowan County. Um how exactly does this occur? So that basically the development would be regulated in Royan County and all those things I said that we apply right now to the ETJ that has Canapapolis influence on it would then revert back to Royan County. Uh on the next slide I'll explain to you what the process is and I will caveat this with there is no by statute mandatory way of removing uh the ETJ area from the city. We could literally adopt a map next week and take ourselves out of that ETJ area. That has happened in Royan County. The town of Granite Quiry did that. Just basically gave the county a new zoning map and said, "Here you go. We're taking our ourselves out of ETJ." Uh staff would recommend you go about this process after our discussion with uh the city attorney and with the school of government uh is that we would adopt an ordinance to amend the boundary to remove ourselves from that ETJ. Uh that you would repeal that previously approved ordinance. uh then we would actually have to approve a new zoning map because our zoning map does include that ETJ area right now. So we need to adopt a new map that we no longer show that area as our area of influence. That would go before the planning commission just as a courtesy review. Final say is city council say on that. Uh and then of course the ETJ would be maintained by the city clerk as uh the current one is with the registered deeds the removal as well. Next slide we kind of explain the uh transition there. So basically uh this would stay in effect the ETJ until you decide that we do want to remove it. Once we do that, we would give notice to Rowan County. Uh we have had discussions with their staff saying there's the possibility that this would occur. So we've already given them a courtesy notice on that. Um I would recommend that we notify all property owners. So that's about a thousand property owners out in that ETJ area so they would kind of know what was happening there. And then I would recommend we give it a

60-day period so that we could put it into effect then allow Roying County to do their catchup as far as applying their zoning to that particular area as well. So last slide will be common questions that we run into. So do you have to have a hearing on it? You do not. It's not required by statute. You may want to do it again as part of a meeting saying you're updating the zoning map as a result of that. The zoning map amendment does require hearing, but you can do those conjunctively. So that that's kind of it's something you can do hand inand there. Would the property owners be notified? They do not have to, but yes, I would recommend we do that. It's a good practice. We would do that by way of mailings to all of the addresses out in that area, the the county, as well as doing a half-page newspaper ad, which is very common for zoning changes. Uh would Rowan County have to be notified? They're only notified by the updated zoning map, but again, we've already had the courtesy conversation with them that this could happen, and they uh are prepared for whatever direction council decides to go on that. Vested rights would remain in effect. What I mean by that is any project that was approved under our planning guidelines would stay in effect. Royan County has to honor that. So, they're grandfathered in, if you will. Uh, and what about the planning and zoning commission board of adjustment? As you may know, you appoint a member per each board that lives in the ETJ area. If this goes in effect, once it takes effect, those members would have to change those members in the ETJ would have to come off and you'd have to appoint an existing someone that lives in the existing city limits. So, a resident of the city limits out there. So with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have or further facilitate any discussion you want to have on this item. Sir,

who have any questions? Miss Hel, you look like you might have a question, too. Just just wanted to confirm um we don't anticipate any notable development in that area.

No, ma'am. We we took a pretty heavy swath up near um Canapapolis Lake and the golf course a couple years ago or three years ago, I should say. uh when we expected that development to take off. So that was one of the bigger tracks of land that we had. Probably the only big tremendous track of land we have remaining is the quarry that's over near Moose Road. We're probably not going to annex that in anytime in the near future. So So any future annexations if we remove this would just basically be voluntary annexations, but we don't anticipate any big developments and and there's no larger tracks really out there. So I appreciate that. Thank you. You answered most of my other questions before. So thank you,

Mr. Dixon. Thank you. So, uh I know that we've had this discussion uh pretty recently, but just for clarification, the city limits do not change. That's correct. That's correct. Yes, ma'am. And there only the zoning for that area would be would apply. Is that correct?

Right. If we relinquish that area, then it goes back to Royan County. If Royan County, uh, I'll give the example. If you remember, probably two years ago, that West Sea Street area was allzone general commercial. We decided that was probably not a good fit because we have no water sewer in that area. So, we reszone it to mixeduse neighborhood so that those residents would no longer be non-conforming. Uh, when we did that, this question came up. Should we keep that area as far as ETJ goes? If Royan County does not have a zoning district that matches ours, they will adopt a new zoning district that does match ours. Sir, and and this does cover the entire area of Royan County that is outside the city limit. That's correct. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Have anything else, Miss Dixon?

Is that Is that it? Anyone else, Mr. Jackson? Um, so [clears throat] basically this opens the door for voluntary annexation. Is that the motivation? The major motiv? Well, we basically only annexation authority we have is voluntary annexation. So it basically lines the ETJ up, but we really don't need it because any annexation that's going to occur would be voluntary annexation. So yes, anyone else, Mr. Dav. So I know it says this is just for discussion, so we don't need a motion or anything like that. You just need consensus to to go forward.

So no, not tonight. I think what we wanted to do is have a discussion with council to make sure uh we answered and addressed all your questions and then Richard will come back with the schedule that we provided and uh have this as an action item before you. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Smith, we going to do a round two.

Round three, I guess, but be a quick one. So, um so local historic preservation uh was one of the items that we actually have had discussion on. that came up at your retreat discussion. Uh, one of the items you had on your agenda tonight that is now on the business agenda, the museum as well. But historic uh, preservation was one of the things. So, historic landmarks is one category that historic preservation occurs under. Uh, if you'll recall a few years ago, we did uh, this designation for the gym theater. So, it is a commonly used uh, tool if you will for local governments. Uh, it the next item is historic districts. Uh it's on the next slide. Okay. So basically historic districts this is more at the state level. Okay. So the national is what it is. It can stand alone by itself. This is historic districts at the local level. Uh these consist of areas that are basically deemed to be a special significance in terms of history pre prehistory itself architecture or culture itself. Uh if you want to try to maintain integrity of design, setting, materials, feeling and those kind of things too. Um there is uh on the next line you see that it's national registration and local designation and then following that on the next slide it'll kind of give you a quick process. I'm not going to spend too much time on the national registration on the next slide. Um that just gives you an idea of nominations submitted for that. This is pretty much the process we did when we did the gym theater. Uh and we'll skip on down the next two slides. One more. Okay. For local designations. So this this has been the question that we've received the most regarding the possibilities for the downtown area and the existing mill district area if you will uh I'm sorry mill home district if you will. So historic preservation commission is what would have to occur. You would have to establish that horse historic preservation commission. Then we would have to establish some type of ordinance. Lastly we would designate historic preservation itself. Uh and basically we register with the state. the state historic preservation commission itself would have

coordination with us for that particular category there. So um next slide tells you pretty much what a historic preservation commission does. We have that authority under the areas of statutes of 160D. Uh you as the governing board would determine who would be on that historic preservation commission. It can be your planning commission or it can be some other entity that you so see fit. It has to be at least three members. uh and the majority of that board would have to have folks that had subject matter expertise on it which is what that last bullet indicates there. So you need to have someone with uh architecture experience, history experience, archaeology or something related to that. So you know even in the realms of like real estate or construction could fall in that as well. So on the next slide we kind of give you an idea of the powers there. Uh we basically would do inventories of properties historical prehistorical all those that I've given earlier. I'll jump down to the last two bullets on that. Uh, you can apply to non-residential and residential structures because that's a common question I get. Can we apply it to downtown? Yes, you can. Can we apply it to the older meal homes? Yes, you can. Uh, the goal in this uh type of preservation is congruity. Basically, that congruity is that you want to keep things looking the same in that particular area or at least preserve the historical aspect of that. Um, on the next slide, it basically kind of gives you an idea of the ordinance and what goes with that. It basically has to clearly state what the purpose of the ordinance is, set the criteria for that, and set specific time frames for review. So, you can't take an extensive amount of time uh for review on that. Although, if you do a demolition in that district, the state does allow up to a year for demolitions to occur so that you can mitigate that possibility and possibly keep a structure in place that may otherwise get removed from property there. So, um, next slide kind of gives you an idea of what we're looking at as far as potential financial implications. And the only major two we came up with was, uh, you would want to get a consultant to kind of help design that

ordinance, if you would. Uh, we have some capabilities on our staff. I actually worked with the city of Concord when I was a consultant to help with their district. It keeps you very busy, but to establish the ordinance in the district, it's better to have someone with outside expertise in that particular area to do that. Uh, and then of course the ongoing staff time. Example of that was uh with Concord. They have one staff member devoted totally to just historic preservation if you will. So it kind of gives you an idea of what could be involved there as well. Uh next slide kind of gives you an idea of the community resources involved. So you basically would looking at uh additions, new construction, demolition, moving of homes uh or again it could be non-residential entities as well. uh exteriors that are influenced or the features are the masonry walls, fences, light fixtures, steps, pavements, other pertinent features, above ground utility structures and outdoor advertising as well. Again, if it if you feel like it's got significance historically, then you would want to show that. Next slide, I kind of just give you a picture of two of the jurisdictions we talked to. City of Concord, of course, and Southport. Uh Concord has had one for quite some time. So they're and it relates mostly to their larger older homes that are in the downtown area there on Union Street in that particular area right around that area. So but they have had it for some time. So Southport is the most recent jurisdiction that has attempted to adopt historic preservation, but I will tell you they've been trying for three years and has yet to pass because there's ongoing political debate on what restrictions and who the restrictions would apply to. That is the nature of these historic preservation districts. I will tell you in my 25 plus years of experience, they're very imposing. So, you have to be prepared to be ready to tell folks what color their shutters can be, what color their porch can be, their house, all those things, too. So, it gets really detailed, especially on the residential aspect. Commercial, you already had that authority to some degree anyway. So, it kind of helps that aspect of it. U next slide will kind of tell you again there. So, um the

regulation can be separated from zoning and zoning overlay district. The problem with that is it limits your reach if you will. Uh the flip side of that is challenging right now and this is kind of why another reason why Southboard is tied up is the state legislature changed the u legislative authority as far as zoning goes and two years ago said we can't down zone properties. Well, historic districts could be seen as downzoning property if you make a structure non-conforming or lead them in in in that direction there. So you can't that third bullet there you can't decrease the uses you can't decrease densities and you can't create non-conformity. So but yes there are other tools to do that but again it's kind of one of those areas it'd be tricky to do that. So the next slide this kind of gets more specific to us uh because the question that came up to me from multiple folks has been okay what about the meal homes in those areas. So that kind of gives you an idea where those homes are probably not all inclusive. This is just based on the homework we did. Uh past uh documents, legal documents that Castle and Cook had related to those uh structures. I would say there's probably some on Ridge Avenue that were considered meal homes, but they were supervisors homes that aren't included on this as well. Just one one note I would point out there. Uh the next slide, and I'm getting ready to incorporate this in kind of you'll see where I'm coming from here. So, uh if you'll recall about a year ago, uh I discussed with council the CCRs for the downtown area. That's the covenants conditions and restrictions for downtown. Uh you see the area that that applies to that basically takes things the next level if you will or an additional layer of restrictions in addition to zoning. So we have those in those particular area. But the next slide shows you that area only applies to the downtown area. Does not apply to any of the residential structure, any of the meal homes. Okay. So that's kind of one thing to look at there. And then the next slide will kind of give you an idea just for inventory purposes. Again, um this is probably me being a nerdy planner that I am. Uh the lighter colors on this map indicate the older the

structures are. The darker colors are newer structures, if you will. The blue green area is all Cabaris County. The red pinkish area to the north is all Royan County. So, anything you see on there that's lighter colors would be around the 1930s period or 40s with the mill homes and such too. So, those structures are that. So you could, you know, branch out if you will if you want to designate a residential area there. But I guess share that forformational purposes if nothing else. Uh next slide again, it's just the meal homes just to kind of give you a quick refresher on that. And then on this next slide, um I'll point just to that bottom row because we're not hitting to the register uh of historic places or the landmarks. We've already done that. But if we were to do the local designation, the pros of that would be basically the control on preservation, the controls on the appearance of proposed buildings. Uh there's really no effect on property taxes, if you will, unless you put a special district in effect. Uh the cons of that basically is the owners have to pretty much come to the city for any changes they make to their structure. That's where it gets really tricky. Okay. So that's where it's challenging. Do you want to go there? I'm not sure we would. We traditionally have been more giving on development and such there. So, I don't know that we would want to go to that extent regulatory, but we may. Uh unclear what regulations are downzoning. That's one of the challenges because of where the legislation is right now. Uh but again, no effect on the uh local property tax there. So, uh with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions you have. I guess the last thing I would end up with uh is since I mentioned the CCRs and we've had this discussion about historic districts, you can achieve more by just adding to the historic I'm sorry the CCRs where Andrew and I could actually get together talk through further uh implications of what you would change on these restrictive covenants and that have similar effect but not have to go through the same process of the historic districts if you will. So with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions anyone has.

Any questions? Mr. Dixon. Thank you, Richard, for this. Has a lot of information in it. Yes. Would if you don't mind if you'll go back to the colorcoded um slide. That one. This one. Yes. Okay. So, and and say again what the colors repres.

So, the lightest colors on that map are the oldest uh structures in the city. So, the darker are the newest buildings. So, of course, you're going to have to the buildings on the campus and such. Those are new. So, they look the darker color there. The lightest colors on the map are the oldest building structures that we found in tax records and such. Uh and blue and green is the Cabaris County side. The red and the pink is the rowing county side. But it's it means the same thing. The lighter color in Royan County because we do have some like Walnut and that area up there that's older mill homes there as well. Sorry. And of the 503 mill homes, do you have any idea as to how many are property owned or how many are rentals?

I don't have an idea. Privately owned. I would say more than half are, if I were going to take a guess, are privately owned, individually owned, not rented out. So,

yes, ma'am. Miss Hatchel. Mr. Smith, you mentioned that if we do have that the uh the committee that they had to have most of them had to have some sort of experience like is it is it more defined like if someone has a history degree would that qualify them as someone? Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, it's just kind of different things like that whether they're architect history degree. That's right. Yeah. It it gives at least the one bullet point of or related experience. So, you as the appoint the elected board would determine if they feel like they have related experience there. Okay. And then sounds like to me like in order to like have these areas set apart locally, we would determine where that is. And you you would not want to do just like one house here and one house there. That's right. That's right.

You want to do an area um or even do like downtown or something like that. That's correct. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Mr. Dout,

uh Richard, [clears throat] I'm glad you brought up that CCR thing because I think that is what um from my understanding, I know Mr. campaign had brought this up. Um, and you know, it was a concern of downtown folks that were wanting to pres make sure the the historic buildings were preserved downtown. And I remember way way way back, it might have been in 2011. In fact, former mayor probably remembers this because this was probably 2011, 2012 before we bought downtown. um was we involved the North Carolina Main Street folks in this kind of process of figuring out what we could do or not do down there. And the because it was still owned by Mr. Murdoch at the time, there was no commitment to preserve really any of it because they didn't know what was going to happen

and or what they were going to do and we didn't know what they were going to do with it either. So the the Main Street folks just kind of backed away and said, "Well, you know, they're all about preserving history. We didn't know what we were going to be about." So, um, we kind of [clears throat] walked away from that. And I I kind of like the using that CCR as a as a basis of the conversation going forward instead of an allout historic district that involves all the mill homes and all this stuff, at least initially. Um, and maybe inviting the main street people to be in that conversation again to say, "Look, you know, we're we have an interest. There's people here that are in downtown that actually are interested in this. Can you come in and talk to us and see if there's any way that we can work something out or figure out what we should do?" Um, just a suggestion. I mean, that they're a great resource from what I remember and um, you know, why not why not ask? And I think the lady that runs it was from Canapapolis and I don't know if she's still there, but so she was really interested in in our stuff, whatever that ended up being. So,

Mr. Jackson, and I would think from a from a residential standpoint of view and one of the older meal homes that that would be would be a reason to depress probably some of the sales because of all the regulations that they would have to go through to be able to renovate. Look like to me that would would kind of it could it could have negative implications, a negative effect in that category. Yes, sir. Anyone else? I don't think we have any action required here. No, sir. Okay. Just for discussion there, sir. All right. Well, thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Melton.

Yes, sir. Mayor, next item on the agenda is a resolution amending the council uh meeting schedule. At one of your past meetings, uh there was a discussion that was had uh relative to um the meeting name because obviously we met uh if if council might remember, we have a 4:30 work session meeting and we had our business meeting. Uh the 4:30 meeting started um uh certainly earlier, but the 6:00 meeting was always our business meeting. The intent for the 4:30 meeting was to have non-actionable items that were in place, those presentations and things of that nature. and it in some of those conversations we're seeing action items uh at each meeting. So we wanted to make sure that we were representative of that. So this action tonight would amend that meeting schedule to allow and change it from work session and business meeting to simply council meeting and both meetings would start at 6:00. Happy to answer any questions relative to that.

Any questions? Okay. Is there a motion one way or the other here? Mr. Bane second, Mr. Dixon. All right, everybody in favor? We're back to six o'clock across the board. Okay, thank you, sir. Okay, now we're going to go to the items that we moved uh from consent agenda. So, Miss Hatchel, you want to talk about 471 North Boulevard?

Yes. Thank you so much. Um, I just want to say that I did review the lease. It looks well structured, but I did have a few questions just for context for the council and the public so we can just better understand it. I see Irene's there, so thank you. [laughter] Um, I didn't know who it was going to be Irene, so thank you for being there. Uh, could you kind of walk us through what the process was that led to this, uh, lease agreement and how the tenant was identified for the space?

Um, yes. So, we have, um, this is for 471 North Canon Boulevard, the space at College Station. Um for the last several years we've had um a commercial real estate broker who has marketed the property for us and basically fielded uh inquiries from other interested parties andor brokers who are bringing their clients um to look for commercial space in that shopping center. So, uh, one of them was this client or this tenant, um, on the agenda tonight. Um, and it was brought by another broker essentially.

Okay. Uh, how long was that space marketed before? Uh gosh, [sighs] that space uh was previously the um candy c like a Latino candy store and um piñata store and it's probably been vacant for at least a year and a half, maybe longer. Okay, thanks. Uh, and just could you kind of explain to us like how the lease rate was determined and how it compares to current market rates for similar spaces in Canapapolis? Um, so the lease rate is determined through negotiation with um

with the prospective tenant. Basically, they put forth an LOI that which is sorry, letter of intent which outlines the deal proposed deal terms um and we respond to that um with a advisement uh of our broker. The current um lease rates within that shopping center range from 12 per square foot up to um 20. I would say for, you know, for a um a better commercial space that has visibility um andor a grocery anchor tenant, those rates these days probably vary from the um $18 a square foot up to 20, you know, 20 mid 20s, let's say. Um however, this particular shopping center is not a class A shopping center. It doesn't have street frontage. It doesn't have um a grocery anchor tenant. Uh so it has been challenging to lease and we um we've struggled to fill some of the uh spaces in this in this property.

Okay. Yeah. Uh I did notice there's a few more there. So I know you guys are probably working on those too. Um it does make sense about the lease rate especially since it is a little bit off the highway, you know, highway 29 Canon Boulevard and those have been open for a little while. All right. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you for answering those. I just wanted to make sure we had more context. I don't know if others have questions. Anyone else have a question? Yes, ma'am. Could you tell me give us an update on the chiropractor that was coming to College Station? Is that still happening?

Um, I'll be honest. I don't know. They have signed a lease. They um pay their rent every month this and yet there's no work going on. They have not submitted construction plans to upfit the space. Um, so it's a very odd situation. Um, that's been over a year, right? No, it's been uh since I believe November 1st was when they first paid started paying rent. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? I believe we need a motion to go forward here.

I guess I'll I'll read it. Uh, mayor make the motion to authorize the city manager to execute lease for 471 North Cannon Boulevard and make minor changes as needed. I have a second, Miss Barry. Okay. All in favor? We got that one. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Miss Dixon. Welcome, Senator.

Yes. Um during our uh retreat we we talked pretty extensively about the welcome center. Oh, thank you so much. The welcome center and the and the history museum. Our uh resident brought some issues regarding the feasibility of this building as opposed to the building next to the gym theater. And I think if if we could have additional information uh before we go to I think our request is just to have just to proceed with a qualified firm to initiate the conceptual design to have more information prior to moving on this particular issue.

Mr. Melton, you want to address that?

Sure, I'm happy to do that. So, uh, following that, uh, retreat discussion, we we looked at, uh, a number of available spaces and identified this as the best location. The building's actually in good shape. It was previously used, uh, by the team. There's, uh, certainly ample space that could house uh, what would be a history u museum as well as a welcome center in our downtown area. uh the space that was uh by the gym theater I think is much smaller than this space and I think would be difficult to house uh the material whether it be from KMAC as well as from the history associates and anything else that city council might want. One of the things that we did take a look at when looking at this space was to make sure that you do have audio that's in uh in this uh in this space. But this is just to get us started with the conceptual process. And we'll be bringing back to city council the information necessary for you to make determinations on how this space is going to be utilized. Is it going to have conference room space in it? But that there is sufficient space that's in that building that could be used for the purposes that we intend. and it's in a great location. It's got parking that's already available to this location. So, we feel like this is the best option if we want to proceed forward with a downtown visitor center as well as a uh history museum. Now, all that said, this is not starting construction tomorrow. This is simply to start the process. You may want to have a steering committee that's in place that allows you to hear what some of those concepts and ideas and thoughts are that you want this space to be. you may want somebody from the school that's involved in it just to hear, you know, what things might the children want to hear about the rich history that Canapolis offers. Uh some of the business owners that are downtown and you obviously as council members may want to be a part of that.

Okay. Anyone else, Mr. Jackson? and and I think as we move forward um there's a lot of information that we need to discover uh the day-to-day operations the contributions from the other tenants that I mean the historical and and KAC uh what their participation is going to be and get an idea of a budget of what the reoccurring expenses is going to be um moving forward and uh and I think we're just starting the process to discover exactly what the potential and exactly what it's going to be involved in in getting there. So, um I really feel like it's probably the best location for it.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else? Without that first step, uh Councilman Jackson, what I would also share, if we don't take that first step, then you don't know. We won't know what we have that's available to us. you won't know and we certainly can't begin to go talk to other potential funding partners uh without a project. So, this is that first step in the right direction that allow us the opportunity to be able to have some of those conversations with others relative to funding partnerships, what this space wants to be, how we can help really promote downtown Canapapolis and our rich history. Mr. Dav.

Um yeah, thank you, Mayor. I I agree with Mr. Jackson. And I mean, we it's a great location. It's a you know, the building's in great shape. Um I mean, I don't think we could do it much better so that we could help everybody really uh from visitors to to the people here uh that who have wanted a history museum and and you know, welcome center for for a long time. So, um I'll just go ahead and make the motion authorizing the city manager to proceed with the welcome center and history museum conceptual design. Mr. Payne with a second. Okay. All in favor, please raise your hand. Okay. Thank you. I believe we're going to move forward with that.

Mr. Melton, are you up? I have no report. No report. Okay. I have no report this evening, mayor. All right. We have any councilman comments? And Mr. Dixon is with us again. [laughter] Thank you so very much.

Yes, ma'am. So, um I I actually um made a an inquiry regarding uh funds that may be available to transfer to for critical home repairs to enable our city to support more residents. And so I'm just requesting that um our staff take some action to see if there are funds available. I believe last year there were somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 for critical home repairs and for firsttime home buyers. And so if there are other funds that could help our residents, I would just like for those funds to be identified, please. Okay. And second, I'm sorry.

You're on a roll. [laughter] You got it going here. Go ahead. So, at our February 9th meeting, um we had a presentation made by CCM to determine the feasibility of using um the area at College Station for uh distribution of of food. And I think I mentioned um a warming and cooling center because I think you and um Miss Barry and I have have been a part of a a group that's been meeting for probably the past year and a half

to identifying a location. So, I'm I'm just asking that if we could have um periodic updates as to the meeting with CCM and also to include Roy Cabaris Community College in those discussions since they are basically an anchor at College Station. Yes, true. They are. I done. Okay, Mr. Near.

Um to that point, Mr. Jackson and I had lunch with Ed Hosac. I think it was Thursday. And he said that um he since that since our meeting two weeks ago, he had spoken with a group that does a warming center in Concord and that they're anxious willing to uh discuss partnering with with us on something there as well. So, um, so I think the door is open and if I'm saying something incorrect, you chime in. But right on, um, so it looks very positive that he could help us kind of with two birds with one stone right there. Good.

Anyone else? Miss Ael.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I have to read my notes or I'll forget something, but um, just wanted to let everyone know that we did have the opportunity. I was able to attend the Cabaris Chamber legislative breakfast which was great because to connect with business leaders but also our legislative legislatures um at that event also too uh Wednesday night Miss Dixon, Mr. Melton and I uh we attended the league's uh dinner and again we were at the table with Dr. Campbell our representative which just so everyone knows is very important in North Carolina because we are an enabling state with cities meaning if the state didn't give us the authority to do it we can't do it. So, it's always good to have those relationships with them and I just really appreciate I wanted to say thank you to our mayor because you always encourage us to do that and I really really appreciate that because as we work with the team it just makes it so much better for the citizens of Canapapolis and we're multiplying like that power by seven. So, thank you for that and again those relationships do matter because we are out there just really talking about what is needed for the citizens with those different uh leaders in the community. So, just thank you for that and just wanted to make sure everybody knew about it. Yes, sir. Mr. Pay.

Yeah. So, um I saw a couple questions on Facebook from residents. So, I just wanted to take this time to uh bring this up to help with transparency and communication with [clears throat] our residents. On the city, uh on the city of Canapapolis website under the city council page, you can find the contact information for each council member, including our email addresses and our phone numbers. While many of us try to stay active on social media, the reality is due to the algorithms and the number of pages and posts we see each day, we cannot guarantee that we will see each question or concern shared there. We truly want to hear from you. If you ever have a question, concern, or something you would like to discuss with us, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly using the contact information listed on the city website. We value your input and all are always happy to hear from our residents. Anyone else? I'm going to take this liberty before we move on to uh remind everybody in our retreat that Mr. Jackson uh graciously offered to help with trying to better market the swaning. And I think we need to try to tap into his expertise, Mr. Melton. So when as we plan to try to figure out a way to make it a more viable place economically, I would encourage you to talk to Mr. Jackson and I wouldn't be opposed to sitting down with you as well. So, let's let's use his talents.

Yes, sir. Uh, anyone else? Mr. Dav, I think it's time for you, sir. All right. May I make a motion to close this session pursuant to NCGs 143-318.11a three to consult with an attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege. Is there a second? Second. M Miss Bar second. All in favor, please raise your hand. We're now in close session. Thank you for coming tonight.