City Council - Regular Meeting

still very hard attorney. attorney.

I know. I saw some stuff. So, I had Right behind Josh, I know where I'm supposed to lay my head down at night. anytime.

So, we'll see. Yeah, I really don't want to. That's I'd like to see if that's the case. I'd like to send it back. Give us some more information. One way or the other.

Yeah. Okay.

Good evening. Welcome to the city council meeting of the city of Lenor for Tuesday, April the 21st, 2026. We welcome you here this evening. Thank you for uh the turnout that's here tonight with us to join us for the meeting. As we normally do, in a few minutes, we'll have our moment of silence and our pledge of allegiance to our country. Uh we like wish everybody a a wonderful day. It's been a beautiful few days. A little cool. We're kind of stalling for many of our attorneys coming in the door. Always like to have him here. Welcome, sir.

So, anyway, at this moment, we'll please rise with us for our moment of silence. We'll remain standing for our pledge. Thank you. Please salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Tonight we have several special recognitions that we will uh do first in our meeting. The first one tonight is a proclamation. I'll be presenting to u our uh director of public works, Mr. John Hogan. This proclaiming April 24th 2026 as Arbor Day throughout the city of Lenor. Very special. John is quite an arborist and uh our planning our uh public works department does such a great job of planning and keeping things looking so well. So I will read this and then I'll present it to John uh in just a minute. Proclamation honor of Arbor Day 2026. Whereas in 1872, the Nebraska Board of Agriculture established a special day to be set aside for the planting of trees. And whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. And whereas

Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. And whereas trees can be a solution to combating climate change by reducing the erosion of our previous precious top soil by wind and water. Cutting heating and cooling cost. Moderating the temperature. cleaning the air, producing lifegiving oxygen, and providing habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees are a renewable resource, giving us uh paper, wood for our homes, fuel for our fires, and countless other wood products. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of business areas, and beautify our community. And whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source of joy and spiritual renewal. Now therefore, I as the mayor of the city of Lenor do hereby proclaim April 24th, 2026 as Arbor Day in the city of Lenor. And I urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and support the efforts to protect our trees and woodlands. And furthermore, I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote the well-being of this and future generations this 21st day of April, 2026. John, if you'll join me up at the podium, we'll present this, let you speak, and then we'll do a picture after we do the other. Well, thank you, Mayor, Council. I'll be really quick. Um, thank you for giving the US tree nerds a minute to nerd out about trees. Um, again, we talk a lot about infrastructure. Um, we talk about uh, you know, water, sewer, storm water,

all that is part of our environmental management infrastructure. But we often oftenimes forget about trees and their role in environmental management. Um, so obviously trees, they clean our air, they clean our water, moderate our temperatures, and and help manage storm water runoff and improve the economy and health of the people in our communities. Um, if you recall in 2023, we partnered with the North Carolina Forestry Service and Western Pemont Council of Governments to provide us with a a tree canopy assessment of the city of Lenor. And I'll be real brief just with with some of the numbers and some of the numbers from the findings. So the tree cover currently for the city of Lenor is 53% which is pretty good considering the state average is 47%. So um we're doing pretty good at managing our current tree canopy in the city of Lenor. Um the Seanor's tree canopy provides a total of 2,452,931 in environmental benefits annually. Um, as far as air quality goes, that's 193 tons of poll pollution removed annually from for an annual benefit of $518,000. Um, storm water reduction, 36 million gallons of runoff prevented annually. Carbon sequestion, u 9,455 tons of carbon sequestered annually. And Lenor, Lenor's urban forest stores a total of 260,659 tons of carbon. So those are just a few numbers based on uh studies done you know across the state of 40 other communities. Um our pos our possible plantable area is about 25% the state average is 23. Um and impervious surface lenor is about 20% and the state average is about 22. So again our reason for celebrating Arbor Day is to celebrate trees but also just to acknowledge our commitment to our our trees and our our urban spaces. Um, as much as it is our uh job to to manage the the fiscal

aspects of the city, it's also uh important for us to manage the land and our trees um and our parks and those those areas. So again, thank you um for allowing us to nerd out over trees a little bit. Appreciate certainly appreciate the job that our public works department and all your staff do. you introduce introduce those gentlemen if you will that they were. So I've got Jeff Holland who is our parks and public property superintendent and then Marky Townsen who is our horicultural specialist for the city. Um so these are the guys that are out there you know pruning, mulching, watering, fertilizing and and taking care of the trees. So appreciate them. Thank you. Thank you.

We'll do a picture in just a few minutes. Thank you. Our next special res recognition tonight is on behalf of uh of the council is for a proclamation to our uh city of Lenor Police Chief Andy Wilson. Chief Wilson will be proclaiming the month of May 2026 as motorcycle safety month throughout the city of Lenor. So this is a proclamation motorcycle safety and awareness month May of 2026. Whereas the growth in popularity of motorcycle riding and touring combined with the many uh scenic destinations in our state and the year-long riding season have led to North Carolina having one of the largest populations of motorcycle enthusiasts in the nation. And whereas more and more residents of the city of Lenor are taking up this mode of transportation to commute to and from their places of employment. And whereas many motorcyclists undergo specialized training by attending professionally taught motorcycle operator training courses with emphasis on skills, traffic laws, and proper safety equipment. And whereas it is the responsibility of all motorists to be aware of motorcyclists and extend to them the same courtesy as any other vehicles on our roadways. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, as mayor of the city of Lenor, and on behalf of the Lenor City Council, do hereby proclaim the month of May as motorcycle safety and awareness month throughout the city of Lenor. Witness my hand and seal this the 21st day of April, 2026. Chief, I'll join you at the podium. Sir.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Mayor, council, thank you so much for uh the proclamation for motorcycle safety awareness. As a past motorcycle enthusiast myself, I had the bright idea earlier. I would ride a motorcycle in and try to, you know, liven it up a little bit, but I thought the manager may not like that. So, I didn't do that. But, uh, as everyone knows, Western North Carolina is a is a draw for people for motorcyclist. Uh, they love the winding roads, the scenic environment, uh, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and so much more that this area offers. Uh so we have a uh we have a big influx of motorcyclists during the months of May, June and really August, September. And so with that, I'll give you some real quick stats to talk about why safety is so important. So for Cowell County alone, we uh have approximately 46 to 47 motorcycle crashes every year. Uh 38 to 45 of those motorcycle crashes result in injuries. So those motorcycle crashes have a very around an 85% injury rate for obvious reasons, right? They're not protected by airbags, by seat belts, uh by all those safety mechanisms. And we average over a five-year average about one fatality a year. Some years have been just a little bit higher with two or three. We have been fortunate not have have zero uh about one year, but um but we do have them. And so in North Carolina, every uh a crash happens every few hours uh during those peak times when uh the uh either the leaves are starting to change or the temperatures begin to warm up. But as a proclamation said, it's everyone's responsibility. We have to look out for the motorcycles on the roadway. The motorcycles need to be looking out for other motorists on the on the roadway. We all see the sign that say look twice, and that's very important, especially this time of year. pull up to an intersection, take a second look. Motorcycle be could be coming around a curve over a hill or

even in a straightaway. Sometimes they're just a little hard to see, but also uh the proclamation talked about it's it's the responsibility to share the roadway. And it is uh they have just as much right to the roadway as as vehicular traffic. And so, um this is a very important proclamation just to um obviously um talk about the awareness of of motorcycle safety. So, thank you. Thank you. Yep.

And our last recognition tonight, um, we'll present a proclamation to our city of Lenor Fire Chief, Norman Stains, proclaiming May 4th, 2026 as International Firefighters Day throughout the city of Lenor. May the fourth be with you. All right. This proclamation in honor of International Firefighters Day. Whereas International Firefighters Day is observed each year each year on May 4th to honor and remember past firefighters who have lost their lives while serving their communities to express gratitude to those that have served in this line of work and to show support and appreciation for those who presently serve. And whereas, regardless of the language a firefighter speaks or the country in which he or she works and resides, all firefighters fight against the same enemy, fire. And whereas firefighters follow a long line of tradition and honor that inspires them to help colleagues, neighbors, and strangers alike. And whereas the demands of firefighting are accompanied by both personal and physical tolls that all fire firefighters knowingly accept while risking their lives to protect the lives of others. Now therefore, it be it resolved that I, as mayor of the city of Lenor, North Carolina, and on behalf of the Lenor City Council, I do hereby proclaim Monday, May the 4th, 2026 as International Firefighters Day throughout the city of Lenor and encourage all citizens to show support and appreciation to our city, our county, and state firefighters who protect our lives and property so diligently throughout the year. and by remembering past firefighters who dedicated their lives to preserve our

safety. This 21st day of April, 2026. Chief stand. I don't know if I trust you.

So, first of all, thank you mayor and council for giving this opportunity to get up and usually I take this opportunity to brag on my staff or our staff and what they do to protect the citizens of Lenor. Um, sometimes it's lost staff work 248, which that means they come in, stay 24 hours, and are gone for 48, which basically means instead of a 2,80 hour full-time job, they work about 2,900 hours a year. So sometimes that's lost when we we look at what they do. So in that last year they responded to 3,253 calls for service. Um and when you look at those calls, we start looking at response time. Almost 98% of those had a less than four minute response time from the time our tones were activated we were on the scene. And that, you know, that takes into where you live. So some are shorter, some are longer, but overall 98% were right at the 4minute mark. Um, last year we documented 16,843 training hours. So, they spent a lot of time in the classroom trainer out on the training ground learning skills to keep themselves safe and protect our citizens. Um, they participate in 44 public education classes to a little over 5,500 citizens. So, again, that's where their opportunity to give back. Um, installed 59 smoke detectors free to the citizens of Lenor. Again, those were all received on the grants. So, we installed those. If anybody needs a smoke detector, feel free to reach out to the station and they can schedule to come install. Um, the fire marshall's office completed 875 fire inspections on businesses and industries inside the city. And then the point another one to be proud of is last year on the calls that we had structural or content damage, we did protect over $41 million worth of property that we saved. So, that's something again that that we're proud of. And with that, I say thank you.

Guys, you want to do the council down here? They can just come in back. Stay there.

Stay in the stairs. We got two more. Change positions right now. I thought you were coming with a fire. That's right.

All right. One, two, three. You spelled Rebecca Mark. Where's the International Firefighter Day? One, two, three.

All right. Let me see if this chair was holding up this.

Thank you guys. We appreciate all that. Great recognitions tonight. We thank all of our staff and all you guys what you do. Great great service to our community, to our city. All right, we'll move then to uh tonight we have a matter scheduled for public hearing. This is a R1-26 conditional zoning ordinance number 13 CZ13. The applicant Connley Development LLC is requesting to reszone the subject property land located on Seahorn Street between the intersection with US 321 and Robinwood Circle to a conditional zoning district. That's ZZ13 from B6 traditional business and R15 single family housing to allow for a medium density multifamily housing uh units 68 units apartments. So I will open the public hearing and I'll first will introduce our planning director Hannah Williams for her uh report.

Absolutely. Good evening mayor and uh council and to everyone here tonight. Um, many of you have been engaged with this apartment proposal over the last couple of months and uh, two planning board meetings and I appreciate the time and thought that you have put into it. Um, any change near an established neighborhood brings real questions and concerns and we have taken those seriously. The planning board and staff's role is to apply the city's adopted plans and ensure that growth happens responsibly. With conditional zoning, we're able to tailor conditions specifically to this site, an option that wasn't available when a similar apartment complex was proposed in 2012. Um, and and we are able to focus on compatibility and mitigation where it matters most. Um, for example, some of the traffic concerns expressed by the community resulted in planning board adding a condition to extend the sidewalk. I'll keep my comments brief tonight and uh walk through the key points um but I wanted to begin by acknowledging your continued involvement um and the importance of this conversation in shaping good development. So, I've got a few slides for y'all tonight. We're talking about 938 Seahhorn Street. The subject property has two parcels with a total of 7.3 acres. One parcel is currently zoned B6 and one is R15. Um Connelly Development has proposed to reszone it to conditional zoning CZ13 to allow for medium density apartment complex. Uh the CZ would allow for a 10 dwelling units per acre, 45 foot building setback abuing other single family zones and uses and a 30- foot wide planted buffer abuing single family

zones and uses. Here's a map of the surrounding area. As you can see, this is um these are the two parcels. It's right next to an Exxon gas station, right behind the Comfort Inn. Uh two ten of a mile from a signalized intersection with 321. Um a budding multif family to the north. Um an assisted living place to the uh north and um single family neighborhood, Lower Creek Drive, uh or Lower Creek neighborhood to the uh east. Here's the applicant submitted site plan. Um, building one would have 24 units, building two would have 24 units, building three would have um, eight units, and building four would have 12 units. Um, there would be a detention pond on the western side of the property. Um, there would be two playgrounds and a covered picnic area, leasing office, and clubhouse. Um, and the entire site would need to meet design standards that the zoning ordinance applies to most commercial uh, redevelopments. Here's a second site plan submitted by the developer um showing the open space that this area uh that the development will have. Um so 3.63 acres on the western side of the property would remain undeveloped. It would be open space for this site. Um so it's a 7.3 acre site. Half of it would be undeveloped under this proposal. Um Here's the conditional zoning ordinance uh conditions. Um the base zoning would remain B6 and R15. Uh this preser the the ordinance would preserve the base zoning um and that uh zoning division line right here. So um and that means that what's B6 would

retain the commercial uses allowed in B6 today. What's R15 would remain R15. this conditional zoning and these conditions apply mostly or all to the apartment um apartment plan that's been proposed. It would add medium density multif family housing uh at 10 dwelling units per acre as a condition. The setbacks I already went over 45 foot building setback from all single family zones. Um the planted buffer, there would be a planted buffer that's 30 feet wide. Um which is double uh double what um it is normally allowed. Um sorry, I lost my place y'all. Um yeah, usually when multif family abut single family, a 15 foot wide buffer of two staggered rows of trees and shrubs is required. In this case, a 30 foot wide planted buffer with four rows of trees uh would be required along the property lines that abut a single family zone. And like I discussed in the previous site plan, uh the complex would be subject to our design standards like many of the redevelopment redeveloped sites along 321 and in other commercial areas of Lenoir. Um the conditional zoning ordinance would also restrict access onto Fairlane and Robinwood Circle. So no driveways would be allowed on those roads at all. The access would only be from Seahhorn. And the planning board adopted an additional condition. The the sidewalk sidewalk is already required along this development's frontage on Seahorn Street. planning board um added a condition to extend the sidewalk all the way um to the intersection of Seahhorn and 321. So it would cross over the um the rideway that touches uh the gas station and it would connect with um a signalized uh pedestrian crosswalk to get across 321

towards Walmart and to get um south towards the hotel. Um, that's great.

Phasing all amenities would need to be built out uh before occupancy. So, sometimes apartments lease out as soon as the first residential building is complete. In this case, before that building was occupied, all of the uh amenities would need to be built. The sidewalk, the landscaping, the buffers, uh the playgrounds, uh all of those things would need to be complete before anyone lived on this site. And here's the site plan enlarged a bit uh just for our reference if if we need it later. I also want to address the uh uses that are allowed today or the residential uses that are allowed today. The B6 parcel could have 20 lowdensity apartments today by right and then with a special use permit they could have 25. Uh the R15 parcel would not allow for apartments at all, but possibly 10 to 13 houses could go on that um 4 and a half acre um parcel. I also want to compare this to some similar uses. Um recently, council approved a resoning off of 321 uh to allow for apartments on a tract adjacent to an established single family neighborhood, the Palisades of Lenor at 2115 Hickory Boulevard. This was a standard reszoning from a splitzoned parcel to B2 with no special conditions, no increased buffers or increased building setback. Here's the site plan for that development. The site plan uh proposes just over 12 units per acre with a total of 220 units. The site plan has similar distances to the R15 zoning district to the rear yards of uh Lakeside Terrace neighborhood. So this building number two, it's about 90 feet from the rear yard of um a home on Lakeside Terrace. Building three is about 80 feet from u the rear property line of a home on Lakeside Terrace. Um so to compare that to Seahhorn, the

Seahorn proposal, um they're building three right here, it's about 90 ft from the rear property line of Robinwood Circle. And then um building four over here, it's about 200 feet from a rear property line on Fairlane Drive. I know it's not a perfect comparison. The lots on Robinwood Circle are around 150 ft deep and the lots on Lakeside Terrace were around 200 feet deep, but the distance of apartments um to an R15 neighborhood are similar. Now, I'm going to discuss the traffic. I'm not a traffic engineer and I'm not a transportation planner, but this is some data that I've been able to glean from uh NC DOT and our uh transportation group at the COG. Um the average annual daily trip count from NC DOT in 2025 for Seah Horn Street was around 2,195 trips. The trip count has been in decline over the last five years. In 2021, it was around 24,444 trips. Uh 68 Seahhorn or the 68 apartment units could uh is estimated to generate 448 trips and um so that would generate approximately 20% more trips uh than the current uh daily trip count. However, this increase is not close to the capacity of Seahorn Street. Uh DOT estimates that Seahhorn's roadway capacity is around 4,300 trips per day uh without making improvements to the road or without changing the signal uh at the intersection. If the vehicles per day on Seahhorn increases by 20% uh to 2,643 trips, that's still way below the operational capacity of the street. The B6 parcel on the subject property,

it has um commercial land entitlements today. A restaurant, medical, dental office, light retail, business and personal service, studio and specialty school, and veterinarians would all be allowed to locate there today. The site is large enough that more than one of these uses could locate on the property and generate more treat trips on Seahorn Street. Um so we took a couple of those uses medical um retail store and restaurant just to see what an averagesized uh use what kind of trips those would generate on Seahor. Um medical office would generate around 170 trips per day. A retail store 420 trips per day. A restaurant um could generate around 296 trips per day. And all of those would be allowed today without any council um additional approval. Uh and the site is three acres or the B6 property is three acres and all three of those uses could locate on that site. It's it is it's feasible. Not saying that that would happen, but it is feasible. And um our comprehensive plan has goals that involve um housing. Um and like I said earlier, staff and planning board applies the city's comprehensive plan to projects to ensure that goals are being met. Um this project, this apartment uh proposal, it directly supports four of the stated goals in the comprehensive plan. To build and promote community pride through redevelopment of underutilized property, enhance livability by supporting sustainable growth and protecting existing neighborhoods. um by ensuring adequate infrastructure, expanding housing options by encouraging a variety of housing types including multif family and facilitating infill

development and improving mobility and connectivity by expanding sidewalk network and providing safe roadway crossings. Um this brings me to the end of the presentation and I appreciate council's engagement and the community's participation throughout this process. Change is never simple, but with the clear standards, strong buffers, and good design, we believe this proposal can offer needed housing while maintaining compatibility with its surroundings. Um, planning board recommends approval of the request as presented tonight based on the following consistency statement. The proposed conditional zoning ordinance is consistent with the 2045 comprehensive plan because it specifically addresses the three most significant priorities for the future of housing development in Lenor, which are affordable housing, new housing, um, sorry, new housing developments and good quality of life. While the future land use map identifies this property as mixed use and single family, the proposed development on the subject property would revitalize a vacant site and effectively provide homes for upwards of 150 residents. The development proposed also subscribes to multiple components of good design, including efficient land use in the form of medium-density development, reducing urban sprawl, transportation and connectivity with immediate access to 321 and community spaces including clubhouse, multiple playgrounds, and common areas. The site is explicitly mentioned in the 2025 Caldwell County housing plan, which encourages thoughtful and attainable development, connecting residents to local job opportunities and access to community resources. The city continues to make intentional efforts to support effective developments for the greater Lenor community.

So, um, that concludes my prepared comments and I am also available for questions if you have any of me. The developer is also here tonight and he has some prepared comments as well. Any questions Hannah concerning? So my my first question is u I think I know the answer but for the benefit of everybody the signals at the intersections u of Seah Horn to 321. There's two of them. One at Cookout, one at the Walmart entrance. Those signals are not independently controlled by the city of Lenor. Is that correct? Those are controlled by the state.

I may have to defer uh city managers nodding. Yeah. So they are controlled by the state, not by the city of Lor. Okay. I assumed so, but I wasn't. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure I was right about that. Um Okay. Thank you.

And I will say technically the cookout intersection is Hospital Avenue just for the record. That's okay. I have a question in addition to Mr. Bill's question saying that the state control the 321 part of the light but coming out of Seahhorn and coming out of there how will those be adjusted to accommodate the traffic coming out because the state is longer and that causes traffic to back up. So how are you going to control? Yeah, I will go back to this level of service. Um the state um says that the average level of service is called level of service D. And um that's how they kind of figure out what the trips per day would be. And I I didn't get all the way into it here, but Seahhorn, we would call that uh rolling terrain. And um it's a road that has low share of green, which is what this second tier is. Instead of typical share of green, a road on a rolling terrain would have 9,100 trips per day. But the um rolling terrain with low share of green has 4,300, a lot less, but it's still higher than what um Seahhorn sees today. And it's still higher than what Seahhorn would see with this increase in trips. Does that make sense? I had to read it like three times.

That's good. Okay. I think you mentioned the current zoning as it's at it as it is. There's more types of uh development that could happen that could be even more traffic or or or more concerns. Is that what I heard you talk about? Yes, that that is what I was trying to indicate. You want specifics of that or

No, I just wanted to make sure that's what I saw. It went quick and I I didn't see that there, but as it is currently, it would create I mean, if someone wanted to come in now and present something to us, um it could it could potentially be more traffic or more concerns for that particular area. Is that what you were stating? That Yeah, that that's true. Um this was the list of commercial uses that are allowed on uh half of the site today and um more than one of those by my estimate could locate on the site because it is nearly three acres

and with this proposed project then we have the buffer but this partic as this as this uh B6 is that that probably would not be um there would be a buffer that would apply on the single family side and it would be 15 foot wide but not as much as not as much as what's being proposed today.

Okay. Any other questions for Hannah? And following up on Councilwoman Thomas's question, if a if one of those businesses wanted to locate on that property, they would not have to come to us. Yeah, that would be because it would be by right. Excuse me. Thank you. Yes, sir. By right, it would be a staff administrative review. Yep. Gotcha. Okay. And and and if they meet all those requirements, we could not stop that. So, it could be more than one type of business on that parcel that we would not have any control of. Yes.

As it as it is currently, right? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Hannah. Right. I'm going to turn it over to the applicant and I think he has some slides. I'll just go ahead and All right. We'll now hear from the uh developers if that's okay. And please give us your name. We we will probably give us your name and address for our records, please. Good evening, mayor and council. Um appreciate your time tonight. My name is uh Field Goodlet with Connley Builders and Development. Um I live at 119 Tanglewood Drive in Lexington, South Carolina. Okay. And I'm Andy Rosen, 812 Berkeley Street in Durham. Thank you.

All right. So, we've got a uh 68 unit multif family apartment development at 938 Seahhorn. Um Connelly is a family-owned business been uh in existence for about 30 years out west in South Carolina. deal here is the son-in-law of the president of the company and maybe the president himself one day. Um we've developed about 5,000 apartments in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and um we're both a developer and a contractor and uh built uh one of the biggest, you know, workforce affordable housing firms in the Carolinas um with over 5,000 apartments. We've done new construction, renovation, historic. Um we've done a variety of different types of uh apartment development.

Yeah. Um appreciate that, Andy. Um yeah, so Connley Builders and Development. Um we're kind of a unique developer in the fact that we um have both the development company under one roof, but we also have the general contracting company underneath one roof. Um so we're essentially kind of a one-stop shop. Um Andy and I's job is to go out, find sites, put the budget together, and um get the development done. And then we will pass it across the hall to our construction team. Um and then we will come out and execute and build it. Um and then it kind of flips back to the development team after that, and we'll um own and operate the property for a term somewhere around 18 to 20 years. Um so we've got our hands on this thing from from start to finish um o over a long lifespan of the property. Um, and currently right now, um, uh, we own approximately somewhere around 50 apartment complexes between North and South Carolina. Um, the majority of our portfolio is in South Carolina. That's where we're based, where we're originally from. Um, but in North Carolina, we partnered with Andy on I think about nine or 10 apartment complexes throughout North Carolina.

Uh, okay. Go back. It's fine. Uh, as I mentioned, it's 68 apartments, four residential buildings. It's a clubhouse. Um, three of the buildings are threetory. One is a two-story building. Um, it's a garden style walk up building, hardy plank and brick exterior. We will meet the design guidelines that the city has imposed. We've already talked with them about a few matters which we've adjusted on our plans. Uh, lots of outdoor space for the residents. Uh, sitting areas, playgrounds, tot lots, uh, picnic areas. Um we will set aside uh 10% of the units for handicapped individuals and the entire property will be ADA compliant. Um as Hannah mentioned um the city is imposing some very restrictive restrictive landscape buffers and setbacks for this development. Um I believe the the uh much more intense than any other apartment development in the city. Um and we've agreed to uh uh to those terms. um rents from about 500 to,100 bucks a unit. Um we're serving kind of the um what I would consider maybe middle income folks, people making between maybe 30 to $60,000. That's kind of the range of of the uh uh targeting that we're doing for the residents up to 60% of the AMI. Uh so that really is healthcare, hospitality workers, maybe some initial school teachers, things like that who will be uh uh the clientele for the apartment complexes. Um it's a significant uh financial development. It's about a $20 million uh project that uh will pay, you know, property taxes annual basis, significant, you know, fees. Um, and we think it'll help the entire community in terms of from financial perspective, you know, residents will take, you know, take advantage of more restaurants, goods, and services in town. So, it's a pretty uh pretty significant investment for the city. Um, and finally, it's going to really address a lot of the critical housing needs in the area.

We've sent you, as part of your package, I believe you have the market study or part of it, which shows a pretty significant need for uh this type of housing, and we can talk a little bit more about that uh a little bit further on. Um so a little a little bit about our management um of the property. Um so like I mentioned we'll own this uh property for somewhere roughly around 20 years. Um and Intermark Management they're uh located based out of Columbia, South Carolina. Um they manage our whole portfolio. Um we are their biggest client. Um so you know they we we have a very um very good working relationship with our management company. Um we go and uh take trips to every one of our properties every year to go and um do inspections on our own. Um our investors come out and do inspections annually. Um and North Carolina Housing comes out and does inspections annually. So these properties are constantly having their eyes put on them. Um constantly having maintenance and um you know proper management done. Um so Intermark they have a a wealth of experience and they manage um roughly around 3 properties totaling somewhere around 9,000 units. Um and then so we have strict compliance and screening procedures. Um so that way we have the best residents possible on site. Um we will do uh background checks um employment history checks. They have to provide uh proof of income to live here. So these are truly um good working individuals in the city of Lenor. um and rental history verifications um and we have a zero tolerance policy on um on drugs or or any um crime on on a background check.

Um so one of the big issues was the um uh uh traffic issues which we've heard about from the neighbors. They've been very consistent about that being a concern of theirs. Um we had a uh study done as well which should be in your package. Um and it's a little bit the numbers are a little bit different than Hannah and back there it shows kind less of an impact. Um still uh 278 uh daily trips. I think Hannah said about 400. Um but again we had a third party analysis done by a group out of Winston Salem an engineering firm who came up with those figures and you should have that uh that data in your uh in your package. Um the uh we could talk about the concentration I guess maybe a little bit but uh one thing was talking about we're not developing the entire site about half of the site is going to remain vacant. We spent a lot of time over the planning board meetings talking about the buffering kind hoping to explain to the residents and the neighbors the buffering and how that's going to impact their homes because obviously we do understand it is an infill neighborhood. It does have some challenges with it. Um, and we want to do everything we can to be as good stewards as we can of the neighborhood and be sensitive to their concerns. A lot of folks have lived there for, you know, 20, 30 years. We we've understand that and we want to try and develop a parcel that's um provides good housing for the citizens of Lenor, but also recognizes that these folks have been there for a long time and to try and be sensitive in terms of buffering and setback and placement of the buildings and things like that to minimize impact as much as we can um for them. Uh there will be a detention pond uh that we've talked about handle any kind of sore runoff. So that uh should be handled. We have that on all of our properties obviously. And as Hannah said, we've talked about the buffers um uh and setbacks and we will meet those which are which are pretty extensive.

Um and circling back to the traffic for um just one second. Um when we were talking with our traffic analysis, they uh mentioned that uh to really even consider a turn lane um uh and traffic modifications to that uh to Seahhorn Street. Um the road typically needs about 4,000 vehicles per day in trip generation. Um and our development, you know, is expected to generate less than 300 vehicles a day and it was less than 3,000 vehicles total on Seahorn Street about I think it said about 2600 vehicles. Um, and another thing I wanted to mention as well is on that slide that Hannah presented about the the different businesses that are currently permitted by Wright on site. U, that was based on a square footage number. Um, so I think like one of them was 5,000 feet and one was 10,000 square feet on a three and a half acre parcel. You could have several 5,000 square foot buildings. You could uh, you know, a doctor's office typically is much larger than just 5,000 square feet. Um, typically, you know, they're somewhere 15 20,000 square feet. Um, so, you know, those um those traffic generations that you saw, I mean, those those numbers could double, triple. Um, so the the traffic could get a lot closer to reaching that capacity of Seahhorn Street with a a commercial development

and those uses, as you council member said, do not have to go before council. They're by right some of those commercial uses. So, um,

and then another thing I did want to mention about, um, storm water runoff. Um, this was one of the concerns that was, um, brought up and discussed about at the planning board meeting. Um, when we go through and and engineer a development, uh, we we pay a civil engineer a good bit of money because they are much smarter than I am. U, much better with a computer. you know, we now have 3D modeling CAD software that um when when they input the grading plan in, we can see where every drop of water that falls on that site, where it will go to. Um and so we have to address um you know, you look at the the pre-development conditions on site, post-development conditions on site, and right now on the pre-development conditions, there's no storm water infrastructure anywhere on site. So all the storm water that um all the rain and uh that falls on the site is just naturally flowing to u the natural creek beds. We will have to handle 100% of all the the storm water that falls on site and we'll have to um have better u runoff than what was presented before, but it will have to be fully engineered uh fully permitted through um the North Carolina's uh department.

Um okay. So, um, we, uh, did a little bit more digging after our planning board meeting and this is some more information that, uh, we did not present because it's it's new over the last couple of weeks. Uh, we did check with, um, public utilities and there is adequate war and sore. It's available and there's adequate capacity at the site. I believe you have a letter in your package from them uh, regarding that. In terms of school, because there will be some increase in obviously we will have some kids at the property. I don't know the number. I can't guess that but there will be some. Um overall the uh about a 16 and a half% decrease in enrollment over the last 15 years. That's really just kind of general it's pretty general overall um uh public schools are more people going to private schools and charter schools. So um it's estimated that at least in terms of the population over the last 15 years at least it's been about a 16% decrease. Um, and I think we've talked about the traffic kind of at length, so I don't think we need to kind of repeat that again.

Yeah. Um, another thing, another third party report that we have to get done is a market study. Um, and this just, uh, you know, we we do a market study um, not only for North Carolina housing, but also to analyze, you know, the need in the area. Um, are these apartments, you know, truly needed? Will we be able to lease them up? um and how long it'll take to lease it up. Um so we had a third-party market study completed by Bowman National Research um and they concluded that workforce and affordable housing units um in the city of Lenor, they all had 100% occupancy and some even had a waiting list. Um and based on the market study and the um tenants that would qualify to live in this apartment complex, there's a demand for nearly 500 uh units to meet the current um needs in the city of Lenor. Um so our development proposal at 68 units is only touching a fraction of the need that is present in the city right now. Um the market study folks, they also interviewed um the West Pedmont Council of Governments, Caldwell County Economic Development and the Granite Falls Planning Director. And um there were discussions about whether there is whether there is or is not a need for additional affordable workforce housing in in Lenor and the surrounding cities. And the consensus consensus from all of the groups was is that yes, there is a an additional need for housing in the area. Um, and Hannah touched on this and and we will get into we have a grading plan that was done by our engineer. Um, and I'll get into that in just a minute, but um, this is, you know, I think Hannah mentioned we're only developing about half of the site. Um, so you can see on the right half that we're leaving 3.6 six acres that is um going to be open space, not necessarily non-disturbed, but um that is open space, but a good majority of that property will will remain undisturbed. We'll see that here

in a few seconds on the grading plan. Um on the grading plan, let me see if this laser will work. Um so you can see these are all the natural grades of the property. Anywhere there's a blue line, this is where we're proposing um some grading just to be able to get the the the site in the rear. It's almost like a mountain. Um it it gets pretty steep in the rear. Um so we are kind of having to cut down a little bit into the mountain to get these buildings lower. Um and Andy mentioned that the whole entire site will be ADA compliant. Um that's so we can get the right slope across the parking lot, right slope on the sidewalk so we can all meet ADA requirements. Um, and you know, individuals won't have an issue getting around the site, whether it's on a wheelchair, um, or or walking. Um, but you can see, I mean, where where the blue line stops is where we are not disturbing. Um, so I mean, we do get a little close over here, but this is where that that buffer will will come in and help protect. Um, but also there is a lot of remaining trees on the site right now. There's a lot of remaining trees that buffer all the single family. Um, and when we were in discussions at the planning board meeting, um, just because we leave the additional trees that are currently there does not mean that we get around or get away from the additional plantings that still have to happen. So, not only are we going to be leaving vegetation against the the single current single family um, homes, but we're also going to be going back and adding more vegetation. So, when when it's all said and done, it's not like we're going down and cutting out the the massive trees that are along the property line. um we'll be leaving the big trees but planting more trees in front of them to uh provide further screening from the um neighbors. Um and so on on this this was my my rudimentary attempt at um kind of getting some some 3D views of the site so what we could we could see what the

property would look like once developed. Um this is a view from the um the intersection of Seahhorn and 321 is right here. Um, you know, the the site is right across the street from a hotel. Um, and Andy mentioned that our buildings are going to be threetory. Uh, three of them will be three story and one will be twotory. Um, the hotel that's next door is three stories. Um, and so as you can see, these buildings kind of mirror the same height as the hotel. Um, so just giving you a little bit of perspective of where they're going to sit and what the what the massing of the the site will look like. Um this is another angle from uh 321 in Seahhorn. Um this is a view from Fairlane Drive. You can see some single family homes back here. Um all of this vegetation will be remaining and that building you can see it's lower than the building um down there and that's because on the grading plan again we're kind of cutting down into that hill some lowering the buildings down below. Um so those buildings will will be below gradient of the homes up here. Um, and this is kind of looking from Seahor and Robinwood Circle. Again, you can see all this vegetation that is in between the proposed development and the single family. All of that vegetation will be will remain and we'll actually be planting additional plantings. And then this is just an aerial view of um of the site. Um, then I wanted to get into some uh pictures of um some examples of developments that we built and that we currently own um and operate. Um so you guys can get a little idea of of what type of product we build. Um this development now this one is a different design. This is a more urban design um but same type of product. This one is down in Columbia, South Carolina. I'm not sure if any of y'all have heard of uh the Bull Street District in Columbia, South Carolina. It's like pretty much

one of the largest redevelopment districts in the southeast. Um and um this is Midtown at Bull Street. There are 90 units total here on this is on about an acre and a half. Um this is uh 72 units in the big building and then in the rear we transitioned it to um 18 townhouse units. Um this is an example of this is more so what the development along Seahhorn what the what the buildings will look like. Um, this development is in Spartanberg, South Carolina. Um, it's called Lawson's Ridge. It's a 228 units. Um, but this is what an example of a three-story garden walk up building would look like. Um, then this one, um, this is Pintail Point. This is down in Bufort, South Carolina. This property is beautiful. The the units on the end actually have a a view of the marsh. Um, but this development, you know, this was white hardy plank siding. Um, you know, kind of a gray brick on the um downstairs. Um, and this this development turned out beautiful. Um, and this one was uh 84 units on about 4 acres. Um, then that brings us back to our site plan. Um, again, we're proposing 68 units on um, I believe a little over seven acres. Um, some of the examples I've shown you before, you can fit a whole lot more units on much smaller acreage. Um, we wanted to try and have an emphasis on here of fitting in with the the uses that are surrounding the site. Um, you know, we really think that this is a fantastic location for an apartment complex. Um, I know we've harped on traffic a lot, but with the connectivity to 321, Walmart right across the street, a gas station on the corner, a hotel, um, you know, right across the street, um, you know, commercial development and residential development, you know, they're all kind of blending together and meshing

together in this one area because it's this big intersection by um, 321. Um, but what a fantastic location for an apartment complex for residents to be able to um, you know, if some if a family only has one car. Um, you know, the mom or the husband, they could still walk over to Walmart and get their groceries for the night. Um, you they could go walk to the gas station and get a drink. Um, so

it's a busy road. It's a busy road to cross. I I would say also that um you know it it's there's not a lot of land of a decent size within amenities this close. There's just not a lot of land in Lenor that that meets that criteria. Um so that's important to to recognize. Also uh a lot of the sites are in flood planes um which makes development you know very difficult. So well basically impossible. Um, so, um, yeah, you know, granted 321 is busy and crossing to get to Walmart may be a little bit of a challenge. Um, but, you know, hopefully the sidewalk will help a little bit, the connectivity. Um, and as Field said, it it really is a terrific site and we've worked really hard with the city to come up with a plan going back and forth on things, come up with something that we hope is um, favorable, you know, to you guys. And one last thing I did want to mention is we will have an on-site manager at this property five days a week. Um, we will have an on-site maintenance personnel at this property five days a week. Um, we will also have a camera system that will run 247 uh recording video 24/7. It's not motion activated, so it's not going to potentially miss something. U, we cover every square inch of the property that is 247 video monitored and everything's recorded. Um, if there ever is an incident that ever happens on the property, um, you we will be happy to turn over footage to police department, uh, fire department, um, whatever it may be. Um, so, you know, we we're here for the the long haul. We will own this property for quite some time. Um, but we appreciate everyone's time tonight and um, if you have any questions, Andy and I are available.

All right. Thank you, council. Anyone have any questions? I have a question. I saw the buffer and I know we have residents here. The the picture you showed and there's a buff like the the tree line. Uh the the the residents homes are they beh like behind that area to or and will there be an entrance for this development that doesn't connect to where these residents live? I I'm I'm trying to get a a visual. No, ma'am. the only entrance to and from the site is is off of Seahhorn

and it is it's relatively close to the 321 intersection um but you know far enough back to give enough stacking room but the only entrance is right here and then all the um single family is is in the rear and there's no entrances or accesses um well there will have to be one off of Seahorn for the complex yes ma'am that's that's what do you see the little the residents that are currently using it come Seahhorn and then circle back I Guess the back side is where that buffer is. It they will they be able to see um will that buffer will they still be able to see these apartments from where they are?

Um if you go walk up to the top of the hill um there's there's quite a lot of vegetation at at the rear of the site and along the side of the site. Um the the top portion has um a denser, you know, lower kind of ground cover. Um, but you know, the buildings are going to be lower in grade than the adjacent homes. Um, and we're we're going to be doing everything we can to to minimize any visual impact. Can you go back to the rendering that was the view from the top of the hill? Yeah. Um, yeah. Let's see. This is that one.

That that is an unrealistic rendering. I've lived in this town my whole life and I don't think I've ever seen that many trees there even before the old house was torn down. So, um uh that particular rendering there must be 20 year projected growth of the trees because there's just not not that many trees there. So, um

the this was done on Google Earth, so this was the most current up-to-date satellite imagery of the sites. I I didn't do this was this wasn't a a you know a rendering that we had our architect do or anything. Um I actually if if you go on Google Earth you can you can import a site plan into Google Earth and then you can um set you can set objects on the ground and you can you can pull them up off the ground. Um but this no sir this is uh this is up-to-date satellite imagery. Out of the 68 units how many are twobedroom? How many are threebedroom? Do you have that information? I do. If you give me just one second.

And also, I'd like to know how many parking spaces. That's what that one is. Parking spaces. That's on the site plan. I think it's I want to say it's I want to say it's two spaces per unit, but I can tell you in one second. Okay. It's uh 137 spaces, 122 parking spaces, 15 handicap spaces. So, two spaces per unit. Okay. And we will have 12 onebedrooms, 32 twobedrooms, and 24 threebedrooms. Will there be any fencing as you come in or out? Will there be any fencing for

at this moment? There is no fencing proposed. Okay. Um it is something that we could definitely look at and entertain. Um the only fencing that we will have on site as of right now is around the retention pond, the detention pond. Um that way, you know, kids and individuals don't don't wander down into that area. But that will be fenced off. But it will have a gate so we can get in there and maintain and u mow and do any maintenance necessary. Did you say there'd be a dog park? No, ma'am. There there will be um top lot, playground, sitting areas,

cover gazebo. Um and then there'll be a the community building. It will have laundry services in it. It will have um a computer facility for residents. Um restrooms and then a common area meeting space with like a small kind of kitchenet um for any community events that that may need to happen. Um and that's where the same place that the um um property manager will work out of. Okay. Thank you. Would you the uh sorry go ahead. would you address the light the lighting for the site?

Yes sir. So um when it comes to lighting we will uh work with the um our electrical engineer and we will do a phototric plan of the site. Um so we are required uh to have um enough a certain number of foot candles all across the site. Um so that way it's safe at night. the sight's lit up. Um, you know, individuals when they come home from work, if it's in the winter time when it's night or need to go out to their car, um, the parking lot is lit up. But it's it's it's a balancing act again while we while we hire an engineer to do it and not not me. Um, but, you know, you've got to uh you also got to look at the light pollution that the lights put off as well. So, a lot of our lights, they're engineered to sh cast only down and not to have any um not have any light that casts up or to cast cast off the property. Um so, we're able again with, you know, um CAD software, we're able to, you know, drop a drop a lantern, see, you know, if it's on a 10ft, 20 foot pole, be able to see the radius of the light of where it scatters. Um and so then we we design from from there. And the the large building that's closest to the street,

is that a twostory or a threetory? Um, so these two buildings, this is threetory, this is threetory, that one is twotory, the one that's closest to the single family, and then the one in the rear is three stories as well, but that one is is going to be much a lot further below current grade right now. Okay. Okay, I think that's all my questions right now. You addressed a minute ago the uh site management there by days. One of our problems that I know some of had here are the way they they are managed.

That's I think something that needs to be really con something that you look into and make sure that is covered. weekends obviously you're saying might not what what happens there.

So on the weekends this is actually a new system that we've been rolling out across our portfolio but we have a um it's a like a AI leasing agent. Um, so if they if there's an issue that the residents have, um, they can call in and if you know, let's say, uh, a toilet messes up, um, if they call in, then it will automatically put a work ticket in the system, it gets, um, emailed to the property manager and the maintenance personnel, and then first thing when they come in Monday morning, they've got that ticket in their inbox and the man, uh, the maintenance personnel, um, that that will hop right on it. Um

you know we also in terms of management we um because this is a tax strate program it's very highly regulated so we have to stay in compliance. So like field was saying earlier there are um the agency comes out and checks the property the investor comes out and checks the property and if we're out of compliance in any way if we're not keeping the property up or if there's any issues they come after the developer financially. So there's a lot, you know, there's there's it's a financial incentive as well. And it's, you know, we can all have a a groundbreaking or a ribbon cutting and everyone smiles and it looks great, but it's 5 10 years from now what it's going to look like. And we have communities call us and say, "Hey, can you come back? You know, we've got a a piece of land or we need some housing and you know, we've had no problems with your property whatsoever." Um, and so you you're only as good as your reputation, right? So, we've been doing this for 30 years and so we think we've got, you know, good reputation. The management company has a good reputation and we've worked in, you know, numerous numerous cities throughout the Carolinas.

Um, and when those inspections come around, just to give you an idea of how um um detail oriented they are, we get written up if a blind is broken. Uh we get written up if a light bulb is missing. Um they chest test the GFCI um outlets in the kitchens in the bathrooms. Um they're they are it's not like just a poke your head in oh okay everything looks good. No they they walk um they they pick a sampling of units. They walk through all the different units. Um they typically pick you know two or three of each bedroom type. Um so about 10% of the units actually um you know the um inspectors go in um then they walk the whole exterior perimeter of the property. Um you know if a if a sidewalk settles and um you know it it creates a tripping hazard. Um that's liability that we don't want to have. Um and so you know that that problem is fixed immediately. um you know, with with us being the ones that own them for um such a a long time, um you know, we really do take pride in in our maintenance on the properties. Um and and to your comment about the the management company, that's that's why we use Intermark Management because they are so good. Um they they man again they manage our whole portfolio. They have all these strict rules and compliance rules that they have to follow. uh very you know organized documentation of paperwork. Um so that that is why we why we hire Intermark and why they have our whole portfolio.

Okay. Thank you. Yes sir. Any other questions? Thank you all. Appreciate that. Thank you for your time. Very well. Very welcome.

All right. We are in the public hearing of the uh this discussion and I'll now open if there's anyone who would like to address the council, please come forward. give us your name and address. And good evening. My name is James Bradshaw and I live on 315 Fairlane Drive. And if you looked at that slide that has the hill, I'm on the other side of that hill. Kind of give you a perspective of of where I'm at there. I do want to thank the uh planning board for their work and diligence in that. I do appreciate that the uh vote to send this proposal to the city council was not a unanimous decision uh in regard to that. So do appreciate that and do appreciate the city council and all that you're doing to uh help make uh the vision of Lenor a desirable place to live. And I want to just breathe a minute. I know that all, you know, all these folks in here want to join me in in appreciation uh Mayor Gibbons for what you did and the recognition of our uh city works, our firemen, our policemen, all these folks are vital to the safety and the well-being and the happiness that we currently have in the city of Leno. So, you to be commended on that. And uh we all in agreement in here that we want the city of Leno to be the best city in North Carolina, best around, a desirable place to live, and we've all got that in our heart. And irregardless, you're all our friends, our neighbors, and we love you. Okay, that's my two cents in that regard. I do want to say on the uh behalf of the arborist here, the uh Mr. Hog,

we got the Arbor Day. is a beautiful sign. It needs to be on a t-shirt. Say hello. Uh but we also have Earth Day coming up here tomorrow, the uh 22nd of April. You know, and I tell you this, 3,000 trees. If you plant 3,000 trees in your lifetime and Arbor Day coming up, you plant 3,000 trees in your lifetime, your carbon footprint will be reduced to zero. So trees are important. And I hate to think of a world without trees, a world without plants. It gives us peace and happiness to walk in the forest to see those things. And I'm going off script. I gave you what I had, but I just just something very passionate when when you do that. And the mention of the the trees over here. I have two acres on the top of the hill. That's an old growth forest. Some of the biggest trees anywhere in in Leno. And that is uh a very valuable part. and it's not what we necessarily want to talk about, but it also in habitat for animals in there. There's a multitude of different things that live there and we all enjoy that and it's a park if you will. So anyway, let's uh let me get back to the reason that I'm here and the the reason that we are in opposition to this uh proposal for about three fundamental reasons. One being we have a lot of apartment complexes and things in this general lo location in this general area. You know, we have Cedar Run, we have Weer Weaver Court, Meet Me Metalwood just right down the road, Willoughbrook, we have Skyline and that senior facility there on uh on Pal Road. All those are within just walking distance of where we're at. And to have a saturation of those types of buildings within a small geographical

area may not be the best thing. If you also in walking distance is a new cat's corner apartment complex off of Wilsburg Boulevard and 321. Want to compare that. Let's use that as a comparison with what we got here. That is entirely different than what we got here. That apartment complex has the singlestory houses along Lower Creek Drive. Beautiful. blends in well with the neighborhood. The three-story part of that complex is down below. You don't see or notice those, but when you drive in, they're beautiful buildings. Nice complex. Fits well with the the community. The big thing here that that I noticed in going up in there and looking around, you're going off a 45m hour road, Wilsboro Boulevard. easy in and easy out. There's no slowing down of traffic. That's entirely different than what we've got here. And it's on a straight stretch of road. So that comparison between those two units uh I want to make and we'll go with that in a moment. Most of you may know I was a principal in the county for 20ome years. Most uh my last tour duty was at Lower Creek Elementary School. was there for five six years and and during that time I became friends with the Lenor community and working with those things but the most important thing that I was charged with as a principal in the school was the safety of my students the safety of everybody there parents entrusted me in their safety of those students I took that very seriously as should any organization any leadership dealing with safety is paramount and we want to create a world, an environment, a city

which all residents feel safe to do and walk and operate in. And I know the the folks that we just mentioned, the city works, the firemen, the police, all interested in the safety of the community as well as the leadership here in the community. The leadership of the city of Lenor is interested in developing the and providing a safe environment for everyone. the U proposed area there. you know, as a wear other hats, but you know, as a a biologist and as a naturalist, I could talk to some of these other areas such as you mentioned light pollution, noise pollution, increase in temperature due to the paving, impact on water, the runoff, loss of wildlife due to habitat change. got all kinds of unique things there which are very important to the overall health and well-being of the community and overall general good feeling that you have when you walk into a a a park that would be mitigated or at least reduced in things that live at night such as the bow and those animals that require a lot of that are they're not going to tolerate that intrusion. But anyway, that's a sidebar. Getting back to the other two areas of most concern and we've talked about safety and we've mentioned darious studies and statistics and all those kind of things that show the road is uh not at capacity. Uh okay. A word has a has a way of uh the meaning of the word is defi as the way it is defined. What is capacity? I'm

gonna give you capacity in a from people and I speak to not only myself but other people that we did. We've done our surveys. We've lived there. We've wrote down what's going on. We've got that in our mind. And it deals with people, not necessarily stats and cars and movement and all those kind of things. Give you a day on Seahhorn. We've got folks that walk the road. I say walk the road because there's no sidewalk. You have to walk the road. We walk the road to get to the library. We walk the road to get to the walking park. We've got boys and girls that ride their bicycle. We got kids on skateboards. We got a gentleman that comes by on his motorized wheelchair and goes through there. We've got that going on on Seahhorn. Now Seahhorn is a 25 mph zone, not a 45. The section of road is curvy where that complex is supposed to be. The most curvous section of Seahhorn is right in there. And the entrance to Seahhorn is only a few hundred feet from the stoplight at the Walmart. So that being said, the amount of traffic that you're going to have going into or out of the complex, the stack distance, I guess is what you call it, the number of cars that I didn't measure the number of cars that could go from the entrance out there, but it's not that very that many. That's a busy road. 321, the corridor between Hickory and and Boone, is a busy road and is going to get more busy as time goes on. That's uh that's a reality on that. The other issue is talking about sidewalks. You know, you have to be in any new construction have to be sidewalks in front of the building, but

they're going to extend it all the way over to the uh Exxon station. Okay, good. And if you build a sidewalk, people are going to walk it and they'll want to walk on over to Walmart. And if you're over at Walmart and at the at the new restaurant and you're up here at uh at the bank and and Bose, you're going to be looking right over there at these buildings. People crossing that road, you'll have to have a signalized light there where they can push and stop the traffic and be able to go across. Can't cross that road safely and dodge traffic trying to run across. I see that happening all the time. We've had pedestrians hurt on this road on 321 trying to cross. We've had pedestrians death on this road uh down below. That's why we've got a a hospital avenue uh signalized pedestrian crossing on that section. So if you have two signalized pedestrian crossings within that period of that distance, one at at the hospital avenue and then up one up there at Walmart, they're not synchron, you know, they're you'll stop here and then go up there and stop there. The traffic is going to be impacted now. What you can imagine what that might look like as you go through there. But to give you an idea now how Seahhorn is used, many cars turn on to Seahhorn from the Walmart parking lot to miss the stoplight at at Cookout and to Miss Smith Crossroads. They'll turn on on Seahhorn to go to the library, to go to Walgreens, to go to Belulk and all that to use the back street. They also use Seahhorn as a corridor to get to highway uh 18 by turning on Penel. They go down and turn left on Penel Street and it's a

good got down by the Presbyterian church on up to the walking park. They can turn right and go over to Lower Creek School or turn left go to High Brighton High School and access the Wilsburg Boulevard that way. So a lot of folks take a shortcut through Seahhorn as a quarter to get to these other places and you know that's well it's what people do in in regard to that but it is a 25 mph speed zone. We mentioned the bicycles the skateboards people walking all those kind of things. But it being a 25 mile zone people can park on the road. You know got people mowing grass they park their trucks there. If you got visitors are coming over or guests or whatever, they'll park their cars on the side of the road. And of course, people going other the other way, they'll have to go around it, whatever. But it's not like a 35 or 45 mile road thoroughfare that does not allow that. So you got to look at consider that fact. And that is not has anything to do with the capacity of of the road. I deal a lot with cap capacity. the carrying capacity. You're talking about the carrying capacity of the land, the maximum number that you can have. Well, I don't think we want the maximum anything when it comes to developing uh an area. We don't want the maximum number. We want the in other word the optimum number. what number is the best to provide the the best services, the best environment, a blend of growth, a blend of numbers of people while maintaining the quality of life for everybody there. So, I think that's kind of what we are we're at there. Keep in mind that this is a 7/10enth of a mile road from the Walmart stopping light Walmart down to uh the stoplight at Walgreens. Miss William mentioned that's not technically

Seahhorn, but in reality it is because Seahhorn runs into you go into Seahhorn and right down into Hospital Avenue. Whatever you call it, Seahhorn or Hospital Avenue, it's the same road. you have to travel it whatever you want to call it rose be any other name Seahhorn so the entire section and I included that and includes hospital avenue is 7/10 of a mile from one of those intersections to the other and I I tell you this those are two of the most dangerous intersections that we have on this bypass going or the thoroughfire going from 321 to Boone those two intersections are account site of numerous accidents my wife was t-boned at the one at cookout. We all kinds of people can tell you about accidents that have happened on those sites. So to intentionally plan to add that many more vehicles into an area we're looking at, you know, I'm looking at the 68. you times two and add, you know, 136 cars potentially and we got 500 daily trips of those. To intentionally put that many more cars in that area is not a safe thing to be doing considering it is so so close the stoplight there at uh at Walmart. Now the B6 zoning and the R15 zoning would allow for apartments to have 25 units aotment which would be far less far less impact and a much better fit. The other area concern outside of safety and source and the other thing with instrument of safety. What are you going to do with with fire? You got fire, fire trucks, ambulances,

uh, police access, all of those things trying to get into a smaller area on a 25 mph road, trying to access and all that. So, there is some concern there that we have about uh the getting our our helpers, the people that make us safe and and provide all that to be able to get in there and to help when needed. The second area of concern about this is just in the nature of the buildings themselves. It's not in the type of building, you know, apartments, whatever it is. It really doesn't make any difference what type of building it is. It is in the character and scale of the proposed buildings which would be located along Seahhorn. The setback is increased to 45 ft. 45 ft. uh 12 yards maybe here to the wall. I'm guessing it's close to 45 ft from the road, the end of the road to where the first building starts. Okay, that's right beside Seahhorn Street. And the three-story building, give you an idea, is 40t tall. 37 40 around, I'll say around 40 feet tall in a structure. Three of those buildings will be 40t tall, which will be seen from Highway 321. It'll be seen from the the Wells Fargo Bank and Bose place up there. You'll see all those things providing housing for a potential 150 residents. And this is directly, and this was problem, it is directly next to well-maintained and established single family homes. um which is along Robinwood Circle.

This complex would be the first, you know, you got a neighborhood, you got the Seahhorn, you got Seahhorn Street, a Seahorn is a a neighborhood street, 25 mph street. When you turn off of 321 to go on that street, on that neighborhood street, that is the first thing that you see. That'll be your first vision of the neighborhood of Seahhorn is those threetory apartment buildings or the three, I don't care, apartment, three-story buildings that you see. That's the first thing that you would see. And uh nothing exists in there that's even remotely similar to any of those kinds of structures. It's not our concern of the types of buildings, but it is the character and scale of the structure. Now, Miss Williams mentioned something about the uh comprehensive plan and and and it falls within all that. Let me read. This comes directly from the comprehensive plan and it's taken from the neighborhood compatibility section of the comprehensive plan which was recently adopted. The project should maintain a contextsensitive design character. The new development should enhance and reflect the unique identity and character of the neighborhood. And it is essential to consider the cultural and historic context and ensure that the design resonates with the locals community sense or essence. The scale the size this is my my thing. The size and proportion of the new structure should be harmonious with the existing buildings in the area. Matching the height, width, and general massings help maintain a coherent streetscape and protect new development from overshadowing its surroundings. End of

quote. That was directly from the comprehensive plan. The proposed three-story apartment buildings, I'll say, uh, would certainly overshadow anything else that you see in the neighborhood. totally unlike any other structure. The reason that Cat's Corner works is because those buildings along the road up there are single family dwellings or singlestory dwellings. It looks wonderful. The three-story buildings are below and you can't see. These things would be right along the side of the road, 45 ft from the road. It could be seen from the road 321 across to the Walmart that and and the character and scale I'll go back to this. the character and scale of the building simply do not fit with the residential character of the homes that already exist. When we try to maximize the quality quantity of buildings, which what we're doing, we're trying to maximize the quantity of buildings, the capacity of residents, getting the most residents in these most buildings that we can make. And the scale of the building on this site will actually minimize the quality of life for everyone. Not only the current residents, but those folks that move into the neighborhood, they will be moving into an area where the quality of life is less than it is now. And if you're looking for the quality of life to find a place that your happy place that where you can enjoy the trees and the vegetation and your neighbors, you know, that's the kind of thing that we all want to have. That's a place that we want to call home. So what we're doing here is trying to preserve the nature

of the quality of our home and not only for the homes of the residents that live here but also the homes for future people that move in. It's just not this large structures that we have proposed here and I don't think it's in the overall vision of the city of Illinois to do so. and thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it. Certainly appreciate that.

Okay, we are still in the public hearing. Is there anyone else that would like to address the council? Wait, wait, I know we've had a lot of comments and if you got the same kind of things to say, kind of tell us something different if you will, please. We'd appreciate that. just for time sake, but you're welcome to say whatever. We we we want to hear everything.

Sorry, I had all this on media, but you can paper instead

and and give we know you, but give us your name and address. Thank Uh, my name is Eddie Winkler. Um, live at 921 Bington Drive, but I spent 26 years in a home I built uh with my wife at 248 Robinwood Circle. So, directly behind the old Sage Brush Steakhouse, if you will. Um, council had a couple questions that I wanted to address. Um, and then I'm not going to go through that whole presentation because Mr. Bradshaw covered about 90% of it. So that'll that'll shorten mine dramatically. Um low density housing is what we keep hearing. And there's a loophole in this whole project to get them to low density housing. Um they said they're developing half of the project. So I did a little math back there. Uh 68 units on 3.5 acres instead of seven. Comes out to about 19 units per acre. So they're using it's kind of like saying I'm going to buy a football field and I'm going to build all these apartments on one half of it. So it it is not low density. It's high density on a small space with extra land beside it. That's what they're doing. But the two things I wanted to to talk about, one, Mr. Bradshaw said he is not a traffic engineer and I think Miss Williams said she was not a traffic engineer. I'm not either, but I did spend 31 years working with the Division of Motor Vehicles. And I do understand traffic studies numbers lie and liars number as they say. So that 4,000 number that you keep being given is not accurate. This is a city street inside the city limits Lenor uh with a 25 mile per hour speed zone. Section 1151 of city ordinances says that you can park on both sides of that street. So that 4,000 number they're giving you is for a

25 mile per hour roadway with that is open. There's no parking there. So this roadway will not hold 4,000 vehicle trips per day. Everyone says cars, but there's not that many cars on it, but it's that many trips per day. probably with that parking allowed, it's it's probably at capacity or or over it. Now, uh that ordinance requires that you park 30 feet from an intersection. Um it pick a street in Lenor, drive around, police department does good job, but they can't do it all the time. Uh I had some pictures for you over in that L Creek Street area where cars are parked within 10 ft of the intersection. So, it it's almost impossible to enforce it once you allow that parking. The back side of the Cat's Corner is actually on a 35 mile per hour street which does not allow parking and they still park there. They park in the middle of Lower Creek Drive because the city had to go out and put out about $20,000 worth of stone to keep them from parking in the grass. Uh I don't know if y'all were aware of that, but that that's something that the city had to do on their own after the fact. So that handles the traffic. um avoiding high concentrations of low-income housing. Uh that second piece of paper that I gave you uh was a discussion that I had with the uh elderly lady who chaired the planning board. She wanted to tell me that they couldn't consider the fact that these were lowincome housing that actually there's a provision in that statute who that says you're allowed to um to avoid high concentrations. Uh there's some theory that says if you put a large concentration of low-income housing in one space, it it diminishes the neighborhood, it actually diminishes the people who it should serve. They don't want to live there because there's too much of it. It's not diversified, if

you will. There are two complexes there. If you look at that, um it's on the back page of that little presentation I gave you. um 11 and 12. There are 50 units at Willoughbrook, 55 units at will at Cross Creek, and now they want to propose to put another 68. That's 173 lowincome housing units on less than 20 acres in one spot in Lenor. If we go and look at the 570 units that would be available in the city limits of Lenor in low low-income housing, that would mean you put 30% of them on one square over there of of less than 20 acres. 30% of your low-income housing would be concentrated on this particular site. Uh Mr. Bradshaw covered that the distance from there to Cat's Corner, the distance from there to uh Willoughbrook Apartments. Um no, I'm sorry, that's not Willowbrook. Um anyway, the the other unit over on Lower Creek Drive. There are many cities who already have a zoning against this sort of thing. Winston Salem is one of them. That you have to be in the large metropolitan area of Winston Salem. you have to be a quarter of a mile from another lowincome housing tax credit project to to gain approval in the in the city of Winston Salem. We're a much smaller city than that. Uh when you get to a small town like Lenor, that really should probably more be more like a mile. Uh there are I think it was 500 lowincome housing units within two miles of this section. Um, so it's it's putting too much in one place. And that's the reason I want to give you that general statute there. It's something that the city's planning

board needs to look at for future development. Um, you know, you can't go on any street in Lenor and put in a um I'm trying to think something very derogatory. Um, a um adult bookstore. But you can't say you can't have one in Lenor. that's that's against the law. So, the planning department has to say, well, you can't have one within a distance of a church or you can't have one within this distance of a school. And it's the same thing with these with these projects. You need to make sure that you disperse those by saying, "Yes, we'll allow you to come in here and build this, but it has to be at least a quarter mile from another project somewhere." Um, other than that, Mr. Brettaw covered about everything else I had in that presentation. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate that. Yes, sir.

Um yeah, field goodlet again. Um I did want to respond to his comments about um concentration. um when you actually look at Senate Bill um 810, the statute it does allow consideration for concentration, but it doesn't define how that analysis is done. Um so from a planning standpoint, concentration has to be based on comparable housing types and populations. Um we also looked at the in the city of Lenor's um zoning ordinance and there's no definition of concentration. And so the Senate bill kind of um just throws this loose term out there of concentration. Doesn't define what it is. Puts it back on the cities to define. City of Lenor does not have any definition of what of how many units are considered concentration. Um but you know concentration needs to be based on comparable housing types and populations. Otherwise any mix of um any mix of housing could be labeled concentration which would not be a rational or defensible basis for any decision-makings. Um, so kind of going back to some of the apartment complexes that he mentioned, um, you know, we reviewed some several of the nearby properties and what the data shows is that there's not a concentration of similar housing, but a mix of different housing types that serve different populations. Um, Cedar Run, Willowbrook, Meadowwood, Skyane, and Cross Creek. Um yeah, Cedar, Cedar Run, Willowbrook, and Meadowwood. Those are really the the closest properties to um where we're proposing. Those are RHS and and HUD uh properties. Those properties have much deeper targeting, much deeper subsidy. Um they're financed completely different. They have a whole completely separate um set of rules and regulations that they have to follow. It is not a comparable housing type to a tax credit development. They're financed totally different. they serve totally different

incomes, totally different populations. So to say there's a concentration of one housing type is a false statement. And and um you then there is um several senior housing developments within the city. Um and most of these are you know over a mile and a half away. Um but age restricted communities, they don't compete or overlap with the same um um uh um age age of individuals that's going to live at the apartment complexes. Um you know, it's not family housing. It's a totally different segment of the population than what we're proposing. Again, not concentrating the same type of housing in the same area. Um the only the the closest um tax credit developments um you know this is by driving distance not as the crow flies but um there's only three tax credit properties within or two

okay there's two um tax credit developments within 2 miles of this property which is 1.6 six miles away driving distance and Cat's Corner, I know that one's been mentioned a lot, but by driving distance is over two miles away from this site. Um, so there's only a small number of comparable tax credit developments that exist. Um then you know um when when you separate when you actually look at the housing stock what's being mentioned and what we're being compared to when you separate out the senior housing the rural housing and HUD properties um there's very few comparable workforce housing communities that are in this area. Um this development is is uh approximately serving those folks at 60% AMI. Um it serves for working families, teachers, healthcare workers, and it fills a gap in the market rather than duplicating the type of housing that currently exists. Um you know, while there the the various forms of housing assistance in the area, they serve different populations. um you know and the relevant question here is whether or not there's an overconentration of similar housing this is not similar housing to what currently exists um and so yeah while there are HUD and USDA supported properties in the broader area they all serve different populations um and serve a different segment of the community uh from a planning perspective this is actually diversification and not concentration um so I'm happy to answer any questions? But I do disagree with the fact that um you know that this is concentration in an area. Um the Senate bill is very vague on how concentration's defined. Um there's no definition in the city. I mean, you

know, 170 units within, you know, a mile or two radius of this property. Um you know, that how do you define whether or not that's concentration? But when you when you look at the different housing types, um you know, I I don't think you can lump all of these different types of properties together. Um it's like, you know, just trying to lump for that matter. You might as well lump single family and and everything else into the category and then suddenly everywhere everywhere is concentrated. Um, so I'm here to answer any questions, but um I I do strongly disagree with um the fact that you know of what this Senate bill is, what the intent of this Senate bill is um and and how that applies to the situation.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So before you would you explain to council uh how your financing works like to the Yes, sir. Absolutely. Is that I'm sorry. Is that a consideration in this particular case? Say that again. For him to with this type of hearing and with the reasoning request, is that something that is information commonly available to us? Is that a law?

He will. I think if he will wants to share that he can. He didn't have to. Yeah, that that'd be my understanding. I mean, it's something that you you can answer if you want. Yeah, I'm per I'm perfectly fine to share it. Um,

so how it works is this a it's a very competitive process. Um, the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, they put out a rule book every year that says, you know, these are the certain counties that um, you know, this is how close you got to be to services. Um, you know, this is the certain counties that are going to score better. Um, this year there was disaster money for the the western North Carolina counties. So, um, you know, North Carolina housing got a lot of money to to infuse into the western counties of the state. Um, but there's a whole bunch of scoring criteria, but the biggest one that we look for in site selection is, hey, what county do we want to be in and the services that are nearby? Um, you know, gas stations count as a service because residents can go and get snacks, they can get drinks. Um, Walmart can um actually hits three services, a grocery store, shopping, and pharmacy. Um, so you've we've got to be within these, you know, uh, within all of these amenities, um, within close driving distance for, um, the individual. So Andy and I, we we work, we find the site selection, then we put our financing together. Um, and how it works is you um we get tax credits from the federal government from um they they flow down through Washington. North Carolina housing is based on population. They have a certain number of credits they can give out each year. Um and so the the tax credits are given to us and we sell them to a private um to a private company. Um typically our investors recently have been Soas Bank and Raymond James. Um, and so what they will do, um, is they will take the credits and they're called what's they're what's called a syndicator. They take the credit and then they, um, they sell it to a, a corporation, someone that has a lot of tax liability. And so what happens is if we get $1 of tax credits, we'll sell that tax credit to the investor for maybe 80 cents on the dollar. And then

they turn around and and for the headache of doing all the paperwork and the partnership agreements and um all everything it takes to do this transaction, they um go and they maybe sell that to a a Walmart or to a Verizon wireless for 82 83 cents on the dollar. And so what it does is for the investors, you know, they're basically prepaying their um tax liability by buying these credits against their their tax. Um but what it does for us is it infuses a lot of cash into the transaction. Um cash that is frankly quite heavily regulated. Um because you've got a Walmart or a um Verizon and these credits are claimed over they we get all the money up front to do the development because you can't build it without all the money up front but they take those credits in equal installments over 10 years. And this is getting very technical, but um so they've they're projecting that liability over 10 years that we're going to keep those buildings occupied. We're going to keep the cash flow on the property, and we're not going to break any of these rules because if we do, then the credits get yanked back from us. Um so, you know, then we have to go and sign personal guarantees that say, "Hey, we're, you know, um we're going to do what we promised and you're going to be able to claim this against your taxes." But in simple terms, we get credits, we sell them to an investor, uh, and in turn, we have a binding partnership agreement with them, and then we have a lower mortgage on the property. Um, so, you know, we're we're proposing rents somewhere between $500 and $1,100 per unit. That's well below what, you know, market rate rents would be here in town. And just like, you know, when you go shop for a home, you compare your income versus what the mortgage is going to be. Well, when you look at the income of this property, it's gonna be much lower than a market rate. And so, you can't support as much debt. And so, we get that cash infusion from the tax credits

to um so we can carry a a much lower debt on the property. Um is simpler terms, the state has this plan. Calwell County is a priority county. They are looking state right now is looking at projects that have had not a lot of activity in terms of getting tax credit awards. Cat's Corner was the last project that was funded in Lenor or in Caldwell County. That was uh six years ago.

I'm sorry that was six years ago. So that's why Caldwell is a priority county. It gets disaster relief funds as well. And so um that that's the reason why I can't I I mean if we get your approval hopefully we do you know we'll put together our full package to the state in miday they'll let us know in um August whether it's been selected or not for an award if it is we move forward. If not, we don't.

Um and and since North Carolina Housing is who issues those credits to us, um you we have to put deed restrictions on the property for the term of 30 years. Um that uh make sure that we are going to comply with the income restrictions that come with it. So like we can't just get all get this cash, do the deal with an investor and then go and jack up the rate rents. um they have, you know, we we are provided with rents every year from the state of what the rents can be and that's what the rents are. Um and but going back to the there's really three players involved here. It's us, it's you know either Sovous or Raymond James and who the ultimate investor is. They're just the middleman that does all the the paperwork and and and handles all this headache. Um but so now you got two big two or m even several other players involved here. And so the investors want to make sure the property is upkept well. Um they again they want to do these inspections. So um the investors have inspections annually to make sure we're doing what we're supposed to do. North Carolina Housing has inspections annually to make sure we're complying with all of their rules. And then, you know, we we try and go do our own inspections annually as well to make sure a that, you know, we're being good stewards of the community, but b when they come and find something that's wrong, you know, we um we have the time to fix it or we've already fixed it before they even get there. Um but it it's it's a a lot of rules, a lot of regulations and um a lot of compliance and um compliance monitoring that we have to do on ongoing operations to um make sure we comply with everything. Okay.

If I could add one thing that's another different comment. I know one of the gentlemen mentioned he said the uh quality of life is less for the people who are going to move in. I would strongly disagree with that. These people need housing and they'll be very happy living in this uh apartment development. So their quality of their life is not less. It's actually better situation for them I would think. Um so I just wanted to address that because that comment kind of uh you know struck me. So Okay. Thank you. Yes sir. Thank you. Yes.

All right. My wife just told me it was time to stand. If anybody else needs to stand up and stretch, do it. And someone left their glasses up here. Okay.

His daddy.

My name is Ray Sudr. I live at 409 Keratuck Court. Um I've been a Lenor resident for 47 years. 45 years of of those are within a half mile of this Seahorn site. Um, I am reluctantly here to speak for 27 households that once the I got the first phone call telling me about the March 9th planning board meeting, uh, it snowballed and I have had I I have talked to my neighbors about this proposed zoning change and then I've I have emailed and gotten emails and gotten phone calls from folks saying, "Make sure they know this, make sure they know that." Um, many much of what uh you you have a a document there and you have my name at the top. Um, much of what this has on it has already been presented and I will try to skip though, skip over those parts. Um, but all these folks, 27 households, uh, you you can see the the streets that are listed there. We've mentioned Seahhorn, Fairlane, uh, Keratuck Court, um, Marcel Street, Hospital Avenue, um, one from Mewood Drive and one from Ellison Place. Um and when I when I speak again often reluctantly but when I speak I usually use the whole part whole method and it's whole wh and with that uh for instructing you present a whole concept or a whole skill you break it down into its component parts and then you put it back together once you've had

some practice or some instruction on that um it's called whole, part whole. When you're teaching uh an individual skill, sometimes it's for a group activity or a team, it's called play, practice, play. Uh and for a a classroom setting or in this case a boardroom setting, I've heard it described this way. Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell them and then tell them what you told them. So that with that in mind, I'm going to tell you why my neighbors and I think the reasoning of 938 Seahhorn from its current B6 and R15 to the CZ14 or 13, did I miss it by one?

Okay. Um is a bad fit. And in the words of some of these folks that uh not only a bad fit, an unsafe fit. Um, if you'll look there, there's eight reasons that people brought to me. Uh, one of them, one of them was mine, and I'll discuss that one when I get to it. But increased noise, light, and wind levels. Since the site was clearcut a few months ago, uh, people have already noticed increases in all of those. um that it's already been discussed, but the look at the last sentence there. Uh the the HVAC systems, the sanitary trucks emptying the dumpsters that'll be required by these uh they're concerned about the noise, water and sewer. I had uh people bringing me water and sewer questions. Dr. church has kind of uh calmed some of the fears on that uh that it's not going to be affected. Um two moms in this community were concerned about possible overcrowding of Lower Creek School. Um Lower Creek's considered I know they don't take transfers because they're that full. they're and they were concerned that uh it might mean adding even more mobile units to that campus. Um I had residents that aren't cons they're not convinced that there is this need for uh for this housing and they they say we're we may be missing some of the need. Um they just like it's already been done twice. They uh

they quoted the living Lenor 2025 comprehensive plan 2045 comprehensive plan uh the 20-year plan that the planning board told me they worked so hard on. Um and it is a professionallook document. But um what they what these folks quoted to me was the the emphasis on missing middle housing that's coming straight from that document as well as housing for seniors. And uh you can see they they also referenced its language promoting traffic calming and improving safety in the community. um effects on wildlife. Uh James already mentioned that. Um my wife misses her uh her owls uh that that aren't there anymore. Um hearing those uh number six the we had several folks from Fairlane Robinwood and and one from Seahhorn that was concerned that there would be no live-in manager at these sites. um at the planning board meeting on the 23rd uh that was that question was brought up and they're they're there essentially till 5 or what during the daytime

and so they're going to be leaving when all the residents that at least all the working residents are coming back. So, uh, the the quote that one person said, uh, most of the problems won't happen from 9:00 to 5 or 8 to 5. Um, my concern was runoff and Miss Williams effectively calmed my fears on most of that. Um, the keratuck court has a history of water problems. uh wasn't originally handled correctly by the the the original developer. Um I'm concerned that now that those problems after being in existence for 20ome years, um now that they're handled, we're going to here we go again. We're going to make them worse. Um my concern would be building four. Um most of the runoff from uh from this site will go north. It's a 40ft drop. The elevations are in this document you have. Um 40 foot drop in less than 200 yards um down to Willowbrook Apartments. They're evidently either have already seen an issue from it or they're anticipating it because in the month of March, just last month, they dug a new drainage ditch, had a backhoe in, lined it with rock, um, build runoff from the sidehill of building four. And I was glad to hear you say you you're responsible for every drop because from that part of the site, it would go behind the Brookdale Assisted Living Center and between it

and the upper culde-sac of Keratuck Court and it's a and from we're less than by by the street by driving we're between five and six ten of a mile from this site. height we're talking about. But as the crow flies, direct measurement, I learned how to measure it on Google Maps. We're less than a quarter mile. Um, and number eight, look at number eight. Two residents asked me to find out how to go about requesting speed humps for Seahorn Street. Uh, I think that's a pretty good idea. big ones like the like on the greenway uses on Pendle Street or Powell Road to the two on Powell. All right. All of these are legitimate and val valid concerns of our fellow residents. But for now, I want you to just forget about those for a minute or put them on on the back burner because now I'm going to tell you about the most important thing to consider for this. Um, it's all about the access or lack of access to 938 Seahor. Of the 27 households that I that I contacted or mo or contacted me, 25 of them led with traffic concerns. And I know we've beat it to death. We the planning board didn't want to hear it anymore. they had heard so much traffic uh discussion. Um 25 of them stated their opinions that this res resoning request uh they started off by citing that concerns over traffic congestion and the

inability of of Seahorn Street to handle the increase. Um my ne these are my neighbors descriptions of Seahorn Street. Narrow lanes, sharp curves, three sightlimited intersections from side streets because they're either entering coming downhill or one going uphill. Um shortcutting tra Mr. Bradshaw mentioned uh shortcutting traffic through the area trying to get around the 321 lights and get over to either highway 6 uh 18 or 64 uh by shortcutting. Um there's no practical way to widen this street. Uh the narrowest part and the curviest part is right at the corner of this property. Um there's no way to to widen it. You can't straighten it without buying property from either the Methodist church or uh comfort in uh and since we can't improve the street now we're going to add these people and there's cars for these 68 department apartment units. They're not going to fit. Um, if there was another access to 321, if the site wasn't blocked by the Exxon station on the west, the 40 foot drop down to Willoughbrook uh apartments and Powell Road on the north, the mountain up to the to Mr. Bradshaw's

property line on the east, and then to the west it's Comfort in and Seorn Street. If there were another access, guys, I could see it.

I mean, I I can see it working. But right now, it it's all about the lack of access. Um, again, uh, I have a statement here about the 400 vehicle trips a day. A more pertinent statement would be how many trips can it handle in an hour or at certain types of day because it's not going to be evenly spread out over the day. Um, one of my neighbors is on faculty at ASU and she talks about how hard it is to get in to get home in the afternoon. um either trying to turn left at the intersection of Seahhorn and uh and 321, the the Comfort in light, or fighting the traffic at uh the the on Hospital Avenue, the cookout light, uh where the we love our fast food, the the cars spill out into the roadway regularly, slowing down traffic. Um, my neighbors and I think it's a bad fit. Not not because Conley Developers can't adequately build it. I mean, they've built 55 of the things and they uh they own still own 50 of them. And not because we're prejudiced against folks who live in apartments as was insinuated at the the last planning board meeting. Um, and not because we don't want it developed at all. I think when M. Williams showed the the types of businesses that could go in a B6. Uh those veterary offices or uh any of the small accounting offices, any of the

small offices, uh their their traffic would be mostly during the day during the 8 to5. Uh whereas with 68 apartment units, the majority of that traffic is going to be added in the morning hours or the evening hours coming and going from work and school and all the other things we places we're off to. Um one of my neighbors characterized it this way. Just because we can fit it, physically fit it into the the the lot, the site itself, doesn't make it a good fit for the neighborhood. Thank you for listening. Thank you all for your service to our city. Uh, does anyone have any questions for me before I If you'll notice, I put two questions for the council down there on the bottom. Do we have an idea of how much tax revenue this would create for our city? And uh and when would this decision be made? Will it be made tonight? Does it require a unanimous vote or just a majority? Um, those are things that I couldn't find anywhere.

A majority vote would be the majority and tax revenue. I mean, that we just have to see what that would figure. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, make this very quick.

I'm Brenda Walters. I live at 309 Career Tuck Court directly. I touched this property at the very other side of the hill. Um, one thing I just want to ask you as a council to consider is we had a very similar um, apartment project that was proposed in 2012, very similar to this. and the council that was sitting at that time voted it down. Um, and after talking to some of the people that were serving at that time, they said one of the main concerns for them was a safety issue. If, and um, James started to touch on this, fire safety, EMS coming in. There is only one entrance into that piece of property. And I clocked it in my car. It's one less than onetenth of a mile from the entrance to this proposed apartments complex to the stoplight um at Comfort Inn. Um their concern they said at the time was it's such a small entrance for a property with for that number of people. Anything could impede a fire truck, EMS, police from getting in and out. if a trash truck is blocking their way, if there's residents blocking their way, that that it was a safety concern for them at the time. And I would just like to ask you to consider that same thing because nothing's changed with this property um in this design that was also proposed in 2012.

Thank you. Thank you.

Um I would like to address comments about fire and safety on the property. um fire all the units, every single unit will have a sprinkler system in it. Um so the the idea and and the goal is is you know if that sprinkler system if there's a fire that breaks um the sprinkler system should control the fire. Um the parking lot and the entrance will be designed um to accommodate two-way traffic in and out to accommodate firet truck turnaround, EMS turnaround. Um and and like I mentioned about safety and security, we'll have someone there 5 days a week. Um you know, normal business hours and then uh you know after hours, you know, we have um you know, the manager can be reached, the AI assistant can be reached and the camera system will be recording 24/7 um and we can share any of that um camera system and data with um any u of the police department. Um, so I understand the concerns, but you know, we we have a a lot on our plate to to make sure that we mitigate those concerns as well.

Okay. So, thank you. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

I have to lower this. Hi. Um, my name is Megan Dodd. I live on 214 Robinwood Circle, which is directly behind where um that street at least is directly behind where this is being proposed. I have several concerns. Um 5 days a week, I've worked in construction for seven years now. 5 days a week is not acceptable for some issues. What if you have a flood? What if you have a water heater go out? There are some issues that you will have to have available emergency services to respond to that. Um, I have privacy concerns for the people that do live on that side of Robinwood Street that it's going to butt up against where this is being proposed. You're going to have 247 video monitoring. Is that going to impact the people that live on that street and their backyards? I'm sure there's many people that do not want that in their backyards. Um, I know it has been beat to death, but traffic, people speed on that road. I know you're saying there could be clearance for EMS, firet truck, all that, but it's already such a curvy road and it is so narrow and people already speed on it so much. Um, yeah, we do need sidewalks, but if we have more foot traffic, that is an even larger risk with the people that are already speeding around those tight curves. If we increase the population here, it is going to increase the foot traffic. It is going to increase the road traffic. That is just going to further push those issues. So several concerns that I have there. Um but that is all but thank you very much for your time.

Thank you very much. Certainly appreciate that. Anyone else that would like to address that? Yes, sir.

My name is Derek Walters. I live at 309 Keratuck Court. Uh our property touches this property up at that corner just like that. We're we're the corner toucher. Um I just want to make sure that we know what we're dealing with because I've I've seen all about when when I look at rent that's $500 to $1,100 a month and we talk about we're we're wanting to attract, you know, firefighters, teachers, that kind of thing. If I were a if I were a master's degree teacher full-time into Cowwell County schools and my wife were a paramedic, what would be what would we be able to rent on this property? If we both worked full-time,

it's it's based on the the the maximum income uh which is I believe it's around $56,000. We would not qualify for this property. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else that want to address the council? All right. Seeing no one, thank you all for your comments and being here. I will now close the public hearing and I'll turn it over to council. Discussion, recommendation, whatever you want,

Mr. Mr. Mayor, I'm going to have a couple questions for staff and then I'll make some comments. Um, so Chief Stains, Chief Wilson, and Hannah, I've just got a couple questions um just for clarity. Okay. Um, so as Miss Hannah, Miss Miss Williams, um, sorry, as currently zoned, permitted by right. There could be all types of businesses could be located on this property. Mhm.

Um what is there a restriction on the height of a building that could be built currently without any change? There is and I and it is three it's at three stories. I believe it's 35 or 40 feet. Okay. So tomorrow a developer could purchase this property and develop a building that is three stories high or maybe even four. Is that correct? Yeah. I I Yeah. Okay. So on on the B6 parcel.

Okay. So, the height of the um apartments as currently presented is the same or or potentially shorter than a building that could be built by right the way it's already zoned. And I I'll give you a second. I know that's kind of a complicated question. Give me just a minute. Yeah. And if you want to take a second, I can ask Chief Stains a question while you're looking. But you know what your building is off the top of your head? Yeah.

Depends on where you measure. Sometimes building height measured to the peak or whatever. Yeah. Depending on the type of building. Yeah. I think it's like 35 to the middle, but then like 40 or Yeah. to the peak. Depends on where. So correct. So essentially just essentially as currently zoned by right a building could be without any without coming to council. Another building could be built on that property as currently zoned that is the same height as what is being proposed with this apartment complex. So because I know height of the building proposed

has been a concern. Okay. Yes. And you could also condition add a condition um that across the whole site apartment buildings could be height restricted to 35 ft. Okay. All right. That's a possibility. I just I just I'm just making the point that right now something could be built that's the same height, right? Without coming to council for any type of conditional zoning. Yes. As it's currently zoned. Okay. Thank you. Can I add something

also? In addition, you had stated that if those businesses were to be added that a medical facility could accommodate 170 cars a day, a retail facility up to 420. Yes. And then a restaurant up to 296, which those totals are way more than that 130.

Right. A commercial site that was entirely built out with multiple commercial uses across three acres could add uh that amount of trips. Uh commercial developments do trip generation estimates by one per 10,000 square foot. So we estimated a 5,000 foot medical facility like an urgent care or a 10,000 square foot like a Dollar General and that's where those numbers came from. Can I ask you something Andy? um the 50ome,000 maximum uh income limit. Is there a stagger for the number of the family size? It is based on family size. Yeah.

Okay. So, so I think I think the 56 unit I think is for a family. I think it's up to five individuals. So, let's say a husband, wife, and you know, three kids, something like that is about 56,000 is the is the rent. That's right. Okay. Okay. Um, yeah, back to you, Mr. Yeah, Chief Wilson, just so I know to make sure I'm clear and correct. Parking on the street, is that currently allowed on Seahorn Street, parking on the side of the road?

I'd need to refer to ordinance. I don't have that in front of me. In our ordinance, it will list streets that are allowed and are not allowed. Um, and so I would need to look into that ordinance to make for sure. If you'll give me just a minute.

Yeah, I'll ask Mr. I'll ask Chief Stains a question. Um, G-stains. Um, I've ridden with your fire department and so and I've I've ridden with PD and so from my recollection it seems like the intersection of Hospital Avenue and 321 is uh an intersection that's not not our safest. Is that a fair statement? Yes.

Okay. And the intersection of where the Walmart intersection on Seahorn is is that in a similar category as the cookout. I don't think we have the instance there. I think there's more visibility and I think some of our issue hospitals you're coming off a hill and you like your visibility where Seahhorn you're pretty much level ground and flat. So, so where Seahhorn and Walmart that interest and even coming out of Cookout it's almost blind because you're below grade at 321. Yeah. Okay. So, that's that's some of the issues you have there.

Okay. Um but just in general in in general terms we we understand that the cookout intersection tends to be a little bit tougher. We run more wrecks there and we only run PD or wrecks with injuries. So, I mean, Chief Wilson can go back to where they have more accidents, but we have more accidents at the hospital avenue side. Okay. And I I'll give Thank you. Thank you, sir. And I'll give Chief a second to take a look at that. I think he and Okay. In the meantime, I need to correct myself. It was R15 that allows a 35- foot building height. So a single family house could be 35 feet tall, but a B6 is a 25 foot height and 25 feet is a two-story building.

Twotory. So I wanted to currently as zoned it could be up to a twostory building, not a three. Okay. So the other side could be 35, but it was a single family home. So I apologize for No, no, that's fine. That's fine. I I some of these questions I know get kind of uh detailed. Seahhorn's not regulated at this time. So, Seahhorn is not regulated for on street parking. No, the council has a prerogative to do that.

Okay. That would be a separate separate issue though from this one as far as being able to do anything about it. Okay. I'm just going to make a few statements and then I'll I'll hush. Um we all had should have had a bigger lunch. Um so I will say that uh the actual design of your project and the amenities and the security and uh and the the type of product that the investors are proposing. I I really like the way you have created the product and and what you do with the apartments. Okay. So, I I I really like the uh the way you have things constructed, monitored. There are some things that we probably all have some issue with at some point, but I think overall it's a very good, well-laid out and thoughtout product. Um, and we do need the housing. Um, we have been talking about housing in Lenor since I've been on council. um because we have a we have many less housing units than we have demand and that's why we have people who live in other towns to come here to work. Um and that's through the studies that we have seen um the the council understands we really need housing. Okay. Um, currently zoned, this property could have a business built that would create much more traffic than this proposed project. So, I think we need to all understand that very clearly. um having having lived in this town and I

use those streets daily. I use the intersection from at Seahhorn and Pendle daily because that's how I typically go to town from my residence a little closer to Hybrid. Um, and I as a child I lived in that neighborhood. So I realized that the the difficulty with both intersections. So I I completely hear that. Um, both of these intersections what the city can control is ours. But the biggest issue is the signalization of those two intersections. The way straight traffic or turning traffic is dealt with. That's really the problem with the intersections as much as the capacity of the road at Seahorn Street and then over on the hospital side as well. The actual capacity I think is pretty accurate. Um, but the signals at those two intersections are really your problem because that's why you get backed up. And sometimes coming out of Walmart, you get stuck in the middle of the intersection because somebody's trying to turn left into the gas station from the Seahorn entrance instead of hitting 321 and then taking a right. So, for the residents in the in the in the uh audience tonight, um I completely understand your your problems with these intersections. Um and unfortunately, the city of Lenor cannot control the signalization. We can ask and and you know, DOT, we can ask for some some changes. Takes way too long. It will never be fast enough. So, I hope you understand that. Um, I think this project is fantastic, but I

am not going to I'm I'm going to vote against this project because of the those two intersections, but this I would love for this project to be in Lenor somewhere. I'm just one vote. council, do what you need to do, but I I will vote against this, not because of the project itself, but because of the location, because of those two intersections. So, thank you. Thank you.

I'd like to have a a few comments. Um, we get really torn as a council because I've been on the council for a long time, just like Mr. Bill, and and it is part of our comprehensive plan, and we do need housing. Uh we need as referred to as don't really care for the low-income housing referral, but we need all types of housing. Uh we work really hard, our our um our staff, we spend a lot of time working through our comprehensive plan. Um and there's pros and cons to uh uh of what we're what we're dealing with. This project is very different than Cat's Corner. The location, um the uh it's a tight area. I work in the area. I see um all the different complexities of that. Um I love the product. Uh um the height is a bit of a bit of a concern. Um and it doesn't seem like there's much wiggle room in uh the design um to meet that particular area. Um we need tax credit. Uh there was a comparison to the HUD properties and and all those other pieces. Um, I do want the community to understand as uh council member Bill has stated that uh if this project doesn't happen, there could be another project coming that we have no control of and that's we want to make sure that that's public. Uh what could come there could create a lot more traffic. Um uh and again we don't control those those those the the lights in that area. Um we don't have any control of that. Um, we need market rate housing, uh, just as much as we need, um, uh, mixeduse housing and, um, as referred to as lowincome housing. Um, so I'm torn. I I like the project. I don't know if it's harmonious with the

area. Um, I'm struggling. I'm'll be honest. I'm struggling. Um, I know the community, but we have to do um we have a lot of people that go in and out that work here and leave here. Um, and we want them to live here. We want them to to be our residents. Um, and I I I really appreciate the work that the staff has done. They've addressed a lot of the concerns, but some of the things that kind of uh burden me is um is this the right location for this beautiful property? um this dispute this what we have um but it's going to happen somewhere you know so you know um and we have to really be prepared for that communities have to be prepared for that because we we need the housing um so for that reason I'm I'm I'm still sitting with it but I'm I'm really torn but my concern is um access it's it's tight in there um and I've seen it back up at at cookout you know um my own mother was in an accident right there coming into that area. But it happens. It happens everywhere. So, we're not going to be able to dodge this situation. Um because we we we we need housing. We have we have to have it. Um I remember when we didn't have anybody applying for permits. Um and we have businesses are moving in. We want people to live here. Um even people that rent for for $500 a month. And I want to really be protective of all people cuz I get a little sensitive uh when we start categorizing people. It makes it feel like, you know, are we we don't want to single anybody out in that way. So, and I don't think that that's what we're doing, but we need housing for for all people. I don't I'm not sure if this is the right fit or location for this particular project.

Okay. Thank you.

Yes, sir. I would like to address that as well. Uh for the last few years of my presence on the council, we have addressed housing and the need for housing in Lenor and we all know that we need that. With that in mind, I noticed some of the projects that you guys had completed in other states or in South Carolina. They were nice. However, I didn't see any residents or any communities around those projects that you completed as to what we have here. I know that that we need it and Miss Williams, I wanted to commend you and all the staff that worked on this project and I know that we need it. However, with that in mind, I just don't think that my mind would be satisfied or my mind would be regulated to vote for this. So, my vote would be against this housing project at this time.

Okay. Any other comments? Yes. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

I won't I won't repeat everything my fellow councilman have said. Uh I do uh I do have I have have concern about the the way it does not fit with the residential uh neighborhood. U I love the I love the project. I just don't I don't think this is the place uh the place for it. Uh I don't think also uh I recognize that uh development can occur on the uh on the under the existing uh zoning, but I really don't think we'll see a three-story medical building built on that on that lot. Uh I'll take my chances on that, but u uh my my my vote's going to be against it also. comments buddy.

All right, council. Well, I I think we've kind of said what you're going to say. It sounds like to me u you know, I think I want to remind one thing about the council and remember this and I'm not telling you what to do or how to do it. Uh we are one of our major concerns is housing and we've talked about that at every retreat, every budget meeting. It's our number one thing is we want housing. We finally are getting housing to come into the community. I'm not saying this is the right place, the wrong place, or whatever, but we want to continue to do that. And there are limited places that we can do it. these tax credit projects have to be located at certain areas and that's that's kind of the way they they are. So those things have got to be considered uh as we move forward. We hope whatever happens tonight that you will consider being in Lenor at some place. Maybe there's a different location if it sounds like the way it's going here. But we uh we certainly do. It's a great project, a great looking project

and there's a lot of good things to it uh that uh would we we could use and we are moving in the right direction for uh for continuing to move toward housing. So want the council to keep that in mind with it. So if you're through discussion, I will entertain a motion for how you see this. Okay. Um, Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we do not approve the project as presented.

Okay. We have that's I guess that's the proper terminal. We have a motion from council member Bill that we uh deny the resoning uh request as presented here. and I will ask the vote and I I think it'd be better if you uh raise your hand to on the vote. So all in favor of this motion please raise your hand and that is unanimous six. So thank you for that and we appreciate that gentlemen. Thank you for being with us. Everyone is with us tonight. Thank you for being with us. We appreciate the comments. Thank you for handling it very very civily and nice. We appreciate that as always for being there.

Say one word in regard to I think I speak for all the people in in our community. We certainly realize the need for housing and we're we want to see that happen and we want to see uh that would be a wonderful spot, but like he said, it's just not this one. But the need for housing goes on and you know that we we all support that effort and we support you and what you're doing and thank you very much. Certainly appreciate that. Thank y'all for being with us. We're going to we got a little bit more meeting to do. So we're going to move on.

All right. We'll move into our consent agenda items tonight. This consisting of minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 as submitted. Item B, the proclamation for Arbor Day 2026. Item C, the proclamation for motorcycle safety month. Item D, the proclamation for International Firefighters Day. Item E is a bid award. This is for the Veteran Plaza paper replacement project, phase two uh of the uh this is phase two of the Veterans Plaza paper replacement project. And it this includes removal of the old engraved papavers and and uh placement with a modern style New Holland PA. Uh following the review of the bid submitted, staff recommends awarding the Veterans Plaza PA replacement project. That's easy to say. Uh phase two option number one to the Southern Land Lawncapes for the total sum of $93,550. Southern Lanscapes is the lowest responsive responsible bidder is appropriately licensed and an adequately equipped to perform the work of this nature. And that are your that's your items A through E of the consent agenda. I'll entertain a a motion or comments concerning the consent agenda. Mr. Mayor,

go ahead. I make a motion that we approve consent agenda items A through E. Have a motion from council member Perkins that we approve the consent agenda items A through E as presented. All in favor, please say I.

All opposed. Thank you. That's unanimous. All right, we'll move on then to request and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone else that would like to address the council tonight, this is the time to do so on our agenda. Uh, anyone thank you. All right, we will then move on. We do not have reports of our boards and commissions, so we'll move on to the report and recommendations of the city manager, Mr. Hildebrand.

Mayor, council, a couple items for information this evening. Uh the committee of the whole will meet next Tuesday, April 28th at 8:30 a.m. Third floor city hall. The North Carolina Main Street awards ceremony and the Gibbons award ceremony will be held on Tuesday, April 28th at 5:00 and that's going to be held at the Side Street Pore House. Uh the Foothills Regional Airport Authority will meet on Wednesday, April 29th at noon at the airport. And as a reminder, next um our next meeting will be held on Monday and that is Monday, May 4th at 6 o'clock. Uh the change is due to the league meeting starting the next day in Raleigh. So typically we meet on that Tuesday the 5th, but we'll be meeting at on the 4th at 6 PM. So please make note of that. And that's all I have unless there's questions.

Any questions, Mr. Mr. Hilderbrand, the manager? All right. Any report from our city attorney's office? Nothing to report, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate that. Thank you for being here tonight, filling in for Mr. Roar. Absolutely.

Uh let's see. I'm trying to think if I had anything out of the mayor's office. I don't think so at this time. We got several projects and things are going on, but I think we just talked about all the issues that will be coming up. Uh and we'll get some reports another time when it's not 8:30 on that. Any reports from anybody on other council members? Any other comments? Hearing none. Seeing none, if nothing else to come before us, we stand a journ. Oh man, I'll be honest with you.