Town Board - Regular Meeting

Everyone on the board and staff, we need to begin our meeting. Commissioner Quarrels,

Mr. Gammon.

Mr. Gammon. Thank you, sir.

All right. I'm going to call our March 17th meeting to order. Um, welcome everyone and happy St. Patrick's Day. Um, we always begin our meeting with a moment of silence. So, please now look at your phones or any device that you have with you and make sure that it is silenced so as not to disturb the flow of business. And now, if you'll join me in a moment of silence. Thank you. And now, if you're able, please stand for the pledge of

allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Smith, announcements.

Yes. Uh good evening. Just a couple of quick ones for you tonight. Please bear with me. I'm getting over a sinus infection, so if I sound a little weird, that's why. Um, but we wanted to invite everybody to join us for a fun night at the ballpark. Uh, we are doing Huntersville Town Takeover at Truis Field for the May 2nd Charlotte Knights game. Uh, they're playing the Gwinet Stripers. We, uh, are taking over the concourse. Um, there will be a couple of local businesses and schools there with us. um the town will have a table um and just kind of do it up big and take over and show our support of the Charlotte Knights and have a strong Huntersville presence. If you're interested in more information uh or want to buy tickets, uh you can go to our website, huntersville.org, and there is a link on the homepage uh that will tell you more and uh allow you to buy tickets. Um also just wanted to share a few Huntersville Police Department events that we have coming up. Uh, Coffee with a Cop this week was rescheduled due to the predicted uh, weather that happened yesterday. So, on Thursday of this week, Coffee with a Cop will be at Starbucks and Target starting at 10:45 a.m. Uh, then Friday, March 20th, there will be an American Red Cross blood drive in the HPD training room from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. And on Saturday, March 28th, they'll be doing their annual touch truck event at Lake Forest Church uh, from the 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 pm. And that is all I had. Any questions? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

We have a handful of public comments this evening. We will start with um well actually before I begin I just want to remind everyone that um if you haven't spoken to the board before that you um please address the board directly um and not an individual member of the board and that we do not respond back to your comments. So we do not answer questions from the dis. If you have questions for us, please email us at boardmesh huntersville.org and we'll respond to you there. Um, and please also um remember to adhere to our public comment policy which will be displayed um here momentarily. Um, we will begin with Alita Dunn and you have um time from Lynn Drake. If Lynn could you raise your hand, are they here?

Did they leave? Oh, they left. Okay, then we will go to Peter Newer and you have time from Jane G I'm gonna say because I can't see what your last name is and you have six minutes.

Good evening everybody. Um I'd like to uh speak to you about the uh proposed subdivision uh in uh on Glendale 14600 uh Glendale. Um, I spoke uh the last time um there was a hearing on this and there were a number of things that I wanted to speak about um that concerned me and my neighbors as well. Um I'm from California and um I've been here for quite a while. I used to live uh on the Northstone uh country club and uh when the opportunity presented itself um I purchased this lot that I have a house on now that is on Hunter Ridge Road. Um it's a one-story house. It's a very wide long ranch style house and uh it sits on about 3/4 of an acre of land. I've got about 50 trees on my property. I I planted a row of of trees on each side of my property to give it a a nice look. And um I actually designed the house myself, so whatever's wrong with it, that's kind of my fault, but I can live with it. I enjoy it. And I love the neighborhood I live in. It's It's got big wide lots, one house on each one. And a lot of the houses are singlestory. Each house is customuilt. Uh they weren't designed by an architect that uh made all the houses look basically the same and put one door on the left and one door on the right. Um the neighborhood has a very nice um look to it. It's it's kind of unique. Uh, there's only one other neighborhood I can think of that's in Huntersville that's like it, and I think it's called

the Sherwood area, which I'm sure some of you must be familiar with. Um, I know the city wants to develop the area as much as possible, but it seems to me that we ought to keep some of these areas the way they are. They're unique. They're comfortable. Um, it it allows the individual homeowner to have what they want in it. And I just don't understand why we want to take one lot and jam four houses on it on a corner where people whip around it at high speed because it's not it's not a right angle turn. It's 245s. Um I think it may be a danger. I'm not an expert at that, but it's quite possible. Uh I have to be very careful when I pull out of my driveway. I I pull out and I make sure I look up the street and when I pull out I watch people that come around the corner and sometimes uh it gets a little iffy. So, I want to get into some of the details about zoning and I'm sure you're all familiar with it, but just in case somebody's forgotten, I live in GR, general residential. In general residential, it's required that you have 20,000 square feet for one home. My house sits on 33,000 square feet. The proposed subdivision that um has been brought in in front of this group, uh the lots are only 11,000 to 12,000 square feet. They're very small. That's fine if you're going to develop a whole community and all the houses and all the lots are about the same size. That that that makes sense. And that's what's being done all over the United States. I have no problem with that. I've lived in communities that are that are like that and and I liked it. But when I bought my lot, I bought it

because I wanted a larger lot. I wanted room between myself and my neighbors. I wanted a place where I could put trees up and have a garden if I wanted it. And that's what I have. But I'm fearful that in the future if this subdivision is allowed, somebody's going to buy another house or another lot and they're going to do the same thing. And pretty soon my neighborhood's going to be like a lot of neighborhoods that are like that. I don't have a problem with those neighborhoods. They were designed and planned by experts where you put your houses, how much setback you have, and so forth. If I wanted a house like that, that's what I would have bought and so would have my neighbors. Um, so I'm got some notes. I'll try to remember what I wanted to talk about. Um, I think that's pretty much what what I'd like to say. I I really hope that this subdivision isn't approved. Uh it it's not going to help the city of Huntersville. It's going to be a detriment to our neighborhood. And I just don't understand why they can't just build two houses on this lot. If you put if you subdivided it into two lots, you'd have over you'd have about 21 or 22,000 square feet per house. And those two lots would be the smallest ones in our community. I don't think four makes sense. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Ingred Hooks, you have three minutes.

Good evening. My name is Ingred Hooks and I live in the Hunter Ridge subdivision. I'm here again to comment on the resoning request for Glendale. First, I want to thank the commissioners who responded to our emails. We value um excuse me, I know your time is valuable and it means a great deal to our residents when you take a moment to engage with us. Those of us who chose Hunter Ridge did so for a reason. We value the larger lots, the character of the homes, and the space and privacy our neighborhood provides us. That's what we invested in when we bought our homes. We were told the new subdivision would technically be considered part of the Vermillion neighborhood. However, Vermillion is located across Huntersville Concord Road. This simply doesn't make much sense. The proposed resoning also doesn't reflect the density of the surrounding properties. While it may resemble the homes across the street in Vermillion, it does not match the character or lot sizes of the homes that surround this parcel. Another detail that stood out to me was the contingency plan for some homes to share driveways. Maybe I'm a little old-fashioned, but if I'm purchasing a half million dollar home, I would expect it to come with its own driveway. This raises the question, why are we trying to fit so much onto such a small piece of land? Under the current zoning, this parcel could already be divided into two properties. that could be a strong investment opportunity while remaining consistent with the spirit and character of our neighborhood. Many of us would simply prefer to see quality over quantity. We also haven't seen accurate renderings of the homes being proposed. The image presented to us the last meeting looked like small bungalows, not the twotory 2500 square foot homes the developer plans to build. In the spirit of the 2040 plan, a meaningful improvement for this area would be adding a sidewalk along that side of the street. Right now, walkers and runners often have to step into the ditch to avoid oncoming traffic on

Glendale. I would encourage the commissioners to visit our community. See the area for yourself. We understand that Huntersville is growing, but that growth doesn't have to extend outward in a way that erodess what makes established neighborhoods special. Sometimes less really is more. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Lisa Becker, you have three minutes. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I was originally going to come to the resoning meeting, but my daughter broke her arm, so we're trying again tonight. Uh, my name is Lisa Becker. I'm a resident of the Hunters Ridge community, as well as a mother of two young children. I'm speaking tonight to respectfully urge you to reject the resoning proposal to add four additional homes to the lot connected to Hunter's Ridge development. As a resident of Hunter Ridge for over 10 years, I've witnessed firsthand the growing challenges our neighborhood faces due to increased traffic and overburdened road infrastructure. The roads in and around Hunter Ridge are already struggling to accommodate current traffic volumes, leading to frequent congestion and dangerous driving conditions, especially during the morning and afternoon rush hours. The imminent opening of the Hartwood apartment complex will intensify these issues, not only for Hunter Ridge residents, but for our neighbors in Vermillion and Centennial. The influx of the influx of new residents over the past several years has made our roads even busier with backups at key intersections and longer wait times that affect each of our daily commutes. More importantly, these congested conditions have raised serious safety concerns for all residents, especially children who walk, bike, and play near these streets. Dangerous intersections, increased traffic speeds, and the risk of delays for emergency vehicles are now a daily reality. As a parent, I am deeply concerned about the safety of my children and others in our community. The current infrastructure simply cannot support additional housing without compromising the well-being of our residents. While I recognize that growth and development can bring

positive change to our town, these benefits are only realized when the expansion is thoughtfully planned and the infrastructure improvements keep pace. Unfortunately, the current rate of housing development is surpassing what our roads can handle, making this proposal illtimed and unsustain unsustain unsustainable. I respectfully ask the board to consider the real and imminent impacts on our neighborhoods and to place safety and quality of life for Huntersville residents first. Please reject the resoning proposal to add multiple homes on one lot on Glendale at this time. And can we consider to commit to developing and prioritizing the infrastructure and improvements before further growth? Thank you for your attention to this matter and your service to our community. Thank you. And lastly, we have um Amy Curtis. We have three minutes.

Good evening. My name is Amy Curtis. I live at 922 um 0 Wedgewood Drive. I could be having deja vu with you folks over here, but I am here tonight even though the Oak Grove Hill phase three vote was removed from the agenda tonight at the developer's request. Um I understand he's asked to meet with our neighborhood in the coming weeks. While I appreciate the willingness to engage, this conversation is probably three years too late. Um we were very Westminster Park was very engaged and vocal and involved in the approval of phases one and two. While he was not required to provide notice to us, I feel like a good faith communication would have gone a long way and would have saved us all time, frustration, and probably expenses for him. Um, from the beginning, connectivity to Mount Holly Huntersville Road was central to this project's approval. That was a key expectation. It was not optional. Um, the planning board in their meeting in February acknowledged that it was a miss on their end and the board's end because boards have changed since this was first approved in 2019. They did not require the entrance to be built on Mount Holly Huntersville Road in phase one. That was not part of the requirements even though it was what was got it approved. Now we are dealing with the consequences of that missed opportunity. Another comment from the planning board that stayed with me is that there has to be a better plan. Um that really reflects how our neighborhood feels. Um the current design falls short whether it's the approved version or the revision he's requesting. Um, I'm hoping that in the next couple weeks when we meet, he's going to come back with something better because this plan is not it. Um, as it stands, we will now have two right in right out entrances on Mount High Huntersville Road. They're effectively unusable for anyone traveling northbound. The proposed revision to add a culde-sac and cut Carver makes that worse, completely conflicts with the town's stated connectivity principles, and creates a dead end. We also need to consider the precedent that this sets. Allowing developers of any sort to come

back with significant changes later on with new boards, new planning commissions sends a message that the commitments made to the town and the constituents don't matter if that project becomes inconvenient or too expensive. It really undermines the integrity of the planning process, the planning board in our town. It is also not the responsibility of the town of Huntersville or the residents of Westminster Park to make this project more profitable for the developer. The challenges that he cited, including Creek Crossings, are not new. They should have been accounted for from the beginning of this project. Revision should not be granted simply because it's more costly than he expected or would like to see. Um, this is going to have a real impact on our neighborhood. It will increase cut through traffic. Our streets are narrow. We have families that walk, children that rides bikes. Our neighborhood is very old. It was never designed to take all of the traffic from a brand new 150 home development that is going to go through our neighborhoods. Um, it also is in a protected watershed. So, what does the traffic mean for a protected watershed when we have all these extra cars? This is a very important intersection in a busy quarter and we have one opportunity to make it right. I hope you'll ask him for a better plan. Thank you.

Thank you. Right, we are on to item number seven, agenda changes, adoption of the agenda. I believe we have a motion to amend the agenda.

Uh I'm going to let's see motion or I'm going to add a item to the consent agenda. The board's still working on the sale of the old town hall and we're going to add another public hearing because of some of the proposed contract terms have been modified. So, I make a motion to add a public hearing for April 21st, 2026 at 6 p.m. at Huntersville Town Hall, Huntersville, North Carolina 28078 on selling portions of town-owned property parcel IDs 019-031-15 and 019-031-16 for economic development. So, Commissioner Walsh, just a clarification, you're adding a motion for a call for a public hearing, correct?

Call for a public hearing. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And this will be item 8G on the amended consent agenda. And so, do we have a second for the motion for an agenda change? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. And now may I have a motion to adopt the amended consent agenda? I make a motion. I make a motion we adopt the amended consent agenda. And is there a second? A second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. We do not have any public hearings this evening. So, we're on to item number 10A. Consider a decision for petition R25-12. I believe there is a motion to defer. I make a motion. Not yet. No. Correct. Yeah. No. Yeah. Both applicant and staff are in support of this uh a motion to uh defer to April 21st. Okay. All right. Now, Commissioner Cross,

I'm on a roll with an ice. That's the problem going to Vegas at the last meeting. I make a motion to defer petition R25-12, a request by Carver Bowman LLC to revise the existing approve reszone in R22-05 for the Oakrove Hill development for neighborhood residential conditional district to neighborhood residential conditional district with a revised site plan layout of phase three to April 21st, 2026 at the next at that at the town board meeting. And is there a second? A second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously.

Thank you. Thank you. Item number 10B, consider a decision on petition R25-15 to reszone 11.87 acres. Mr. James.

Thank you. Good evening. So R2515, before I get started, I'd like to please enter my staff report into the record. R2515 Old Statesville Road mixeduse. So on the screen you see the proposed plan that was last submitted to the town. Um this is the one that we saw before the planning board and the public hearing. There's been some changes since then. Um but the the overall layout of the plan is um basically the same and I'll get into some of the details of what changes occurred since the planning board meeting. So on the new plan that was shared on 310 and note the submitted deadline was 34. That's why you all in your packets do uh do not see the most updated plan or staff report. But the items that were addressed were the items that we did discuss during the planning board meeting and what ultimately u made that planning board meeting um recommend denial at 900. But since then the applicants have revised that plan um to change those conditions that we had asked for. And one of those is building D would now be converted to town homes. That's um and I'll show the site plan uh after in the next slide. Um building A, which is one of the front buildings. Uh during the planning board, there was 5,000 ft of commercial space. They've upped that that to 74.82 um with 20% max for office space. So the rest would be retail. and building B went from 3,000 to 4,08 square feet in the same condition for the maximum amount of office space. Um, with that being said, because of that density change from an apartment building to town homes that we had asked for with that mix of housing, um, there is a

request for a new modification to increase that building C, which is, uh, I'll show it on the slide next, but it's appropriate next to the larger building to the south. And that would um allow the applicants to keep the same number or close to the same number of apartment build uh units. And this is the last plan that was shared to us on 310 as you see. See if I can do that yet. I'll just explain it. in the in the west north northwest quadrant there was an apartment building before as you see in this plan and two town home buildings to the very end. Um staff had requested that that whole quadrant be town homes to get a a rich mix of of different type of housing um within that mixeduse center and so now we have that and someone drew that for me. Thank you. Um, the mystery person. I don't know who that was, but thanks. Um, and then up front, if the mystery person wants to uh circle the two front buildings along Old Statesville Road, there was 5,000 square ft of commercial and then the building B had, uh, that's good enough, had about 3,000 square feet of commercial. Um, and now it's, like I said, 7,400 roughly and roughly 4,000. So, we can get a lot more uh retail type uses up front there. So, those were the big changes. In previous plans in the public hearing, they did move um their impervious surface out of the 100 foot perennial area. Um there is still a modification to develop within the intermittent stream buffer. Um but overall um the layout of the plan is very similar. Uh building C in that

middle area um went from three stories to four to take up that uh density change from the town home buildings. So, the modifications with this plan that would need to be approved, 100% attached housing, um 60% ground floor uh requirement that that will um is proposed to be changed. Um they're saving about 8% of tree save for specimen trees. Um most of those trees are located where the um grid network for the street system is. So, they're asking to mitigate that by planting on site or into the tree bank fund. Um, and like I said, they're um disturbing that intermittent stream buffer, but they are choosing to uh get mitigation credits, which the ordinance allows with option number eight. And then the new modification, increased height for building C. They meet several initiatives of the 2040 plan. Um, basically, uh, within a mixeduse center, we want a mix of land uses, mix of commercial, mix of housing, and they have now done that. Um, and they're following the ordinance design principles as well as improving connectivity in that area. So, again, the planning board recommended denial 900 based on two low mix of housing, which they've added with the town homes in lie of uh, all apartment buildings. And then they've added the additional commercial square footage. Um the planning board uh believed the plan was inconsistent, but those initiatives you see on the screen have changed in staff's opinion based on the changes that have been revised. So, with all that being said, staff initially did not recommend approval,

but based on the changes that we seen this last week um with the uh the mix of housing and the added commercial space, uh staff does recommend approval. We believe it is consistent with those initiatives of the 2040 plan. The applicants do have a presentation, but I'm happy to answer any questions before that if you'd like. Any questions for staff?

All right, we'd like to see the presentation. There's several slides. Let me get you to yours. Sure. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, members of the board. It's a pleasure to be here tonight. Um, we've done a lot of collaboration over the past few weeks. It's definitely been an evolution and getting us to what we believe is a much better plan. I won't revisit everything. I think Jesse did a really good job. I've got some color graphics though that might make it a little easier to understand the changes that have been made. This just shows you that pathway that we went through from our no June 5th submitt through the March submitt. But most recently what we provided was this plan. You can see the the graphic that's on your upper left hand side was what we sent to the planning board and reviewed and discussed. What's on the right hand side is the current sketch plan. So you can see we've got a key underneath. Number one shows you that the prior three-story building D was replaced with town homes and which enhances the mix of housing in a more intentional density step down. You can see the four yellow light yellow buildings with the number one to the right of it showing you what that change transition to. The second thing is we focused on increasing the ground floor retail and commercial fronting the most public facing Old Statesville Road. 100% of building A frontage plus majority of building B frontage. And again you can see that with the orange buildings highlighting the areas in blue that show how much retail will be provided really in the high visibility location. And then the last thing as Jesse mentioned we increased the height in building C which has a number three on it. that was internal to the site and that's one of the ways we were able to recapture some of the units that were lost and clarify that we are maintaining the same level of affordable commitments that we offered in the previous phase. We

appreciate all of the time and dedication. It really was a group effort and a heavy lift. Jesse and the team did a great job. Tom and I are happy to answer any questions. Any questions for the applicant? No questions.

It's not a question, but it's a compliment. Um, you mentioned back in June 2025. You guys have really proven that you want to be a partner of the town of Huntersville. Um, this project, it was immense amount of work from our planning staff, our planning board, the town board, the residents. It was a lot of work put into this project. and to see where we are today from when we first met with you almost a year ago. Um you really proved that you want to be a part of Huntersville. You'd be about what maybe two minutes from downtown um Huntersville. So again, it's a great place where we're going to thrive. So again, I want to thank you for the hard work that you all put into this. Thank you.

Yeah, likewise. Thank everyone in the process for their time, too. Yeah, I'd also reiterate that. I know we had some some rough conversations and I really appreciate you guys. I you you listen to the planning board. Um you you called me right after the planning board and I we kind of discussed some ideas and uh I just appreciate you guys being you know open and I really I do do like what you have here. I mean having all this residential right on or excuse me commercial on statesville I think is be a great asset to the community. Commissioner Walsh.

Yeah. Uh I think this project is going to be a great addition to our downtown area. It creates more opportunities for folks to live, work, and thrive here in Huntersville. I'd like to thank the petitioner, neighbors, staff, and my colleagues on the board for all the hard work to get this project across the finish line. It was truly a team effort, and everyone worked together in the spirit of collaboration. And as my friend, Commissioner Coral says, we found a way to create a win-win situation. Um, I'm going to be the the instigator. Um, can you talk a little bit about the stream mitigation plan and option aid and what that will entail, what that means for the the site?

Sure. Yeah, I'm going to invite our our engineer to come up too, uh, Craig Berwick of Seaman Whiteside. Uh, I'll do my best to explain it. Um, so is this how you go back? Let me go back on this. I was going to just pull up a You should just be able to use the plan. Yeah, I guess we can go to the big plan. There you go.

Yeah. Um, so a a couple of iterations ago, um, in what was even pre, uh, pre-planning board as well, there's two classifications of streams on the property, uh, in the the furthest west portion, it's a it's classified as a perennial stream and that carries a 100 foot buffer. And a couple of uh plan iterations ago, we were there was some minimal disturbance there happening with not only disturbance but some built-upon area. And then through collaboration with with staff and uh kind of reworking the plan and and going through this process that some of the other commissioners mentioned too, we were able to move the development fully out of disturbing that area uh in its entirety. And uh I think the balance then of the the stream classifications are intermittent streams and essentially the the vast majority of that that carries a 30-foot buffer associated with it. The vast majority of that area we're also staying out of from a disturbance perspective. There's a small area I don't remember off the top of my head Craig may maybe it's about 10,000 land square feet or so. um primarily to construct the the public street B uh that's shown on the plan here kind of connecting the the road grid network. Um and we've chosen to as the ordinance allows go with the option to essentially pay mitigation fee credits and with the intention of that being routed to another cream creek restoration project or or something similar within the town keeping those funds there. Does that answer your question?

Yes. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Can you talk about the storm water technologies that you're going to employ on the site?

Sure. Yeah, happy to do that. Um, so shown on uh the southern portion. So again, kind of following that stream buffer area shown in the dark green uh kind of in the middle of the site. On the south side of that, you can see it denoted with the the F. There's two storm water detention facilities that we're planning for on the project. Uh the one on the south side is a a surface storm water retention uh pond and on the north side not shown on the plan because it'll be underground is an underground sand filter system. Uh and so the idea is and I I may let Craig chime in here too. Uh but the idea is that essentially we're we're required to control for uh I believe the two 10 and 50year uh storm event uh with the detention facilities that are are we're planning for on the property. And because of the staying out of the stream, the the intermittent stream portion and the stream buffer itself, we're putting two facilities on either side of that buffer area to be able to to meet ordinance and water quality control requirements. Does that make sense?

It does. It does. Can you tell me, are you replanting the trees on the site or are you just going to mitigate those that you have to take out? It sounds like maybe that wasn't totally clarified, right, Jesse or

so the as we all know the the there was a text amendment to require a full 50% of required. Um, so that's a modification here. But, um, this plan isn't fully vetted as far as whether there where room would be for planted trees. So, it's either planted or tree bank fund or a mix of. And we would we typically get into that um at construction plan. Um, and also sometimes we get into it at the conceptual level. However, with the plans changing so rapidly, um that just hasn't been fully vetted whether we're going to do treebank fund or on-site. And the applicants may be able to touch on that more if there's more room.

Yeah, I think I think that's basically the approach is it'll it'll be a blend of the two. And I I can't speak to what that exact mix will be right now, but as we advance the plan and into the construction document phase, we can certainly do our best to prioritize replanting as much as possible. Okay. And then the stream, the intermittent stream is is what's being mitigated. And you're mitigating part of a small wetland too or no? Um I don't Does the wetland qualify as well? The small wetland area? No, I don't think it qualifies under the same u ordinance requirement. So you're not mitigating the small wetland.

Yeah. Go ahead, Craig. Um yeah, I'm Craig Berwick, Seaman Whiteside, the engineering. Um the wetlands, the the mitigation for the stream is for the 30- foot buffer that we're disturbing. That buffer does not go around the wetlands. So there was no requirement to mitigate the wetlands. Um as they don't have a discernable channel in them, they didn't need a 30-foot buffer. Okay. But so one of the wetlands is still going to be disturbed. Yep. Is that right? Okay. Okay, got it. Thank you. Any other questions? Ward,

Mr. Smallwood. Hi. Um, I have spent a good deal of time talking to one of the neighbors, um, Miss Pel, who co-owns the I guess you call it a lake pond, um, because it's not really a lake and it's not really a pond. Um, can you talk a little bit more about that sand filtration system and what that is going to look like? Um, maybe um what's the anticipated lifespan? Um, maintenance, pre-treatment, that type of thing.

Yeah. So, the sand filter really is the best storm water device to treat water. Uh, all the first inch of rainfall that goes on this site has to go through the sand. it can't just go straight into the stream. So all that first into rainfall will be filtered in the sand. It'll remove any of the or most of the nutrients or any oils and things like that. Um so it is really really good at water quality treatment. On top of that, that's where we do the volume detention. So for our two 10 and 50 year storms, we'll require that whatever was leaving the site in a pre precondition, we can't increase the volume leaving the site in a post condition. So it's not going to get worse on those storm events. Um maintenance of sand filters, they last about would say about 20 years. There is a maintenance plan that you have to follow with it um with takes yearly inspections and everything like that. So um there is maintenance requirements for it too.

Thank you. Any other questions board? Okay. Do we have a motion for this item?

I make a motion to approve reszoning petition R25-15 Old Statesville mixed use with the following conditions. Number one, 100% attained housing is permitted. Number two, 60% groundf flooror commercial is not required within the mixeduse buildings. However, the commercial layout shown on the plan is the minimum required with no more than 20% of that square footage dedicated to office use. Number three, plan may mitigate tree with options permitted by the ordinance. Number four, the intermittent stream may be disturbed as shown on the plan using option 8 permitted by the ordinance. Number five, building C may be increased from 36 ft to 48 ft. Number six, petitioner commits to construct the improvements identified and/or recommended in the TIA and any required required to meet article 14 of the town zoning ordinance. If the proposed change in density and/or intensity of uses requires new scoping and an updated TIA per ordinance requirements, the new scoping and updated TIA shall be completed and submitted for review and approved by the town staff prior to the approval of preliminary plans, construction drawings. All town staff comments on the TIA scoping and TIA's reports must be addressed. And then number seven, any remaining staff comments must be addressed. It is reasonable in the public interest to approve this resoning with the recommended revisions as the plan is consistent with future land use per implementation policies LU2.1, LU5.1, LU6.1, LU 6.2, LU7.1, LU10, T3.1 of the Huntersville 2040

community plan. This proposal is consistent with the Huntersville 2040 community plan policies and furthermore provides a rich mix of services and housing within close proximity to our downtown. And I just wanted to clarify, Commissioner Walsh, that in your seventh condition about addressing any remaining staff comments that you are including staff comments related to plan notes that those must also be addressed. Yes. Anything in the plan notes. Yes. Thank you. Is there a second? I second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? So then, um, we have Commissioner Smallwood, Corals, Rivers, Walsh, and Cornet in favor, and Commissioner Hunt opposed. So the motion carries. Thank you. Item number 10 C, consider a deferral until April 21st, 2026 on petition R25-16.

Good evening. Again, uh both staff and the applicant recommend uh deferral of the item R216 to the April 21st meeting to address staff comments. Thank you. Is there a motion? I make a motion to defer item 10 C, petition R25-16 to April 21st, 2026 at 6 PM at town hall. And is there a second? I second. All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Item number 10D, consider awarding a preliminary services contract to Edifice LLC. Miss Loop.

Yes. Good evening board. Similar to the town hall project, the town solicited request solicited um qualifications from design builders to build fire station number five. Um this will be the first and preliminary services contract out of a set of two contracts that will be awarded to Edifice LLC to do the design work and also the construction work for fire station number five. Any questions for Miss Loop? All right. Do I have a motion for item 10D? I make a motion to approve the preliminary services contract with Edifice LLC to initiate design of fire station number five. And is there a second?

I'll second it. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Item number 10E, consider appropriating general fund balance for five station fire station number five. It says Miss McInness. Yes. What we want to do here is appropriate fund balance for $1,250,000 so we can start on the uh site plan and the design. Thank you. Any questions for Miss McInness? Do we have a motion for item 10E?

I make a motion to approve appropriate general funds balance for the fire station south number five. And is there a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? The motion carries unanimously. Item number 10 F, consider approving reimbursement resolution for fire station number five. Miss McGinness.

Yes. What this reimbursement resolution will do for fire station number five is any funds that we spend out of the general fund or any funds that we spend related to fire station number five will be reimbursed when we do a debt issuance on the fire station. So this is just reimbursing ourselves until until we get the debt issuance.

Thank you. Is there a motion for item 10F? For item 10F, I make a motion to approve the reimbursement resolution for fire station number five. And is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Item number 10G, consider adopting an ordinance determining that is in the best interest of the town of Huntersville to approve and authorize the execution and delivery of the amended and restated project power sales agreement. Mr. Williams.

Thank you, Mayor. Uh Kevin Joseph with Electric Cities is here to give you a little bit more information about this item and their role in this. And ultimately, if you decide to approve this item um or or don't approve this item, that'll dictate the next two actions on the agenda. Kevin,

thank you. Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Prom, Commissioners. It's a pleasure to be with you this evening. I'm Kevin Joseph from Electric Cities. Today, I'm going to talk about um I'm I have a brief presentation. I promised the town manager I was going to be brief. I'm going to talk about extending two of our power supply contracts. Uh but before that, I'm going to talk a little background on public power, electricities, and I've been asked to uh provide some information on retail rate comparison. So, I will do that. Yes. Perfect. Okay. So, there are three types of electric utilities. public power utilities like the town of Huntersville, rural electric cooperatives like Energy United, and of course the investorowned utilities like your Duke Energies. They all have different business models. Uh you can see the various criteria listed on the slide. I'm not going to go through each one of those, but some of the important ones are at the top. Public power utilities are not for profit, communityowned. The cooperatives are not for-p profofit, memberowned, and of course the investorowned utilities. They want their profit and they are shareholder owned. The investor owned utilities are regulated by the North Carolina Utilities Commission and they have a private board of directors. In contrast, public power utilities are elected by uh are are governed by appointed boards, mayors, commissioners, that sort of thing. The town board approves budgets which includes any kind of retail rate adjustments for uh electric service. All right, this slide shows the electric city's membership, the Carolas and Virginia. Uh public power's purpose is to deliver value to our customers, our communities and customers through collective strength, knowledge, and action while promoting a successful future. Right now, electric cities has

about 99 has 99 municipality members and in the state of North Carolina, public power serves about 1.6 million people. Um those members, the town of Huntersville being an electric cities member, uh can take advantage of a multitude. We have hundreds of services that you all do take advantage of um that we provide our membership. Now, let's take our time machine and let's go way back to the 70s and I'll talk about the creation of the two power the power agencies. So, there was an energy crisis that brought together utilities and municipalities. The utilities in North Carolina. The investor own utilities at the time were Carolina Power and Light and Duke Energy. Uh the municipalities wanted greater reliability and control over costs and these investorowned utilities needed help to finance their new power plants. So the best solution for that at the time was to grant the cities permission to own generation. So this went through the legislation uh the uh general assembly and a constitutional amendment was passed in 1977 that essentially established the power agencies. This was supported by the governor, legislators, city officials, and voters. Right now there's uh two municipal power agencies in the state of North Carolina. There used to be three uh agencies two and three were collapsed in 1981 into the top icon there which is the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency. Those that's 32 municipalities in the eastern part of the state and they bought into generation uh with Carolina Power and Light at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant in Southport, the Sharon Harris nuclear plant in Raleigh and two coal plants near the Virginia border uh in Pson County, Roxboro and Mayo. But you're probably more interested in the North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one, that bottom icon. The town of

Huntersville is one of the 19 members belonging to that power agency. And of course, you have that large share of the Kitaba nuclear plant that you're a part of. The good news about the Kataba nuclear plant and the power supply portfolio for the power agency, it's mostly coming out of that Kataba nuclear plant and it's 94% emissions free, carbon free. So if there's any type of carbon tax that comes down the line in the future, you're isolated from that because you have nuclear, it's been a strong resource for years. Um, and you know, it's licensed through 2043, which I'll talk about in a minute, but it's a it's a great resource to be part of. We do have some natural gas and a sliver of hydro and other renewables in the portfolio. Let me talk about the GABA nuclear station. GABA consists of two units and they're owned by multiple entities, right? The North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one is one of them. Piedmont Municipal Power Agency, the North Carolina co-ops, and of course Duke Energy with Duke Energy being the operator of the nuclear plant. Agency 1s has title to 75% of Kataba unit 2, but through some contractual arrangements. Agency 1 pays 37 12% of all expenses incurred at the plant. So we don't argue about hey that's a unit one pump that's a unit two motor or is that a common facility and then you have to bicker about you know what goes where

all the entities have the same contractual arrangement agency one pays 37.5% of costs out of the plant. So the output of the Kitaba of the nuclear plants uh you know produce a surplus energy for the power agency and over the years we've had a robust surplus sales program where we have some power marketers in our Raleigh office and they've sold the excess power onto the market for very favorable prices. In 2023, um the agency entered into a long-term contract, long-term purchase power agreement with Central Electric Power Cooperative for 18% of the agency share that that was effective January 2024. So that um you know, we had the surplus sales program, but we locked in surplus sales by having that deal with Central Electric Co-op at some extremely favorable rates. So, it turned out to be a great deal for the power agency. Another comment about the nuclear plant. It's been I made this comment in close session, but I'll make it here. It's been a fantastically operated plant. Production costs are always in the top quartile in out of all nuclear plants in the country. Uh they have very low force outage rates, very high capacity factors. It's a great plant to be a part of. The current operating license was extended 20 years and currently expires in 2043. I was asked to put together some uh uh retail information. So I have a couple slides on that. This shows all 50 states in the country and where oh okay so not all the not all the states printed out but that red line represents North Carolina even though it doesn't say it on the slide. The yellow line is the US average. Uh so you can see we're in great shape. North Carolina has the

16th lowest residential energy rate in the US at 14.6 cents per kilowatt hour. Now if you drill down into just the regional area, you can see North Carolina has the third lowest residential rate in the southeast. Um so compared to our peers, we are in excellent position. Every electric supplier fills out some EIA data on an annual basis. That's the Energy Information Administration. That's part of the Department of Energy on what your costs are. Just a multitude of data. And we do that as well. So, this is a comparison that strips out some of that EIA data, shows North Carolina public power, North Carolina co-ops, and the IUS. You can see on this graph from from a uh affordability standpoint, we're about 10% lower than the co-ops and about 16% lower than the IUS. Of course, one of the pillars of public power uh is that the public power business model is affordability. The note at the top of this says uh all 19 agency 1 and 31 out of the 32 eastern agency members are the lowest cost providers in their areas. Okay, some recent activities. The two power supply agreements that I'll talk about tonight are the project power sales agreement and the supplemental power sales agreement. When those were signed back in the 70s, we were only allowed to enter into 50-year agreements. So, those are expiring in 2028 and 2033, which is just around the corner in power supply planning space. So, we went to the general assembly and had them pass legislation to allow for those contracts to be extended out. And that's the reason I'm here tonight. So, currently, we want to extend those contracts out to 2043

to coincide with the expiration of the current operating license at Kataba. We're trying to we're trying to get out to all 19 members in the power agency and get those approvals done by the second quarter of this year. This is just a graphical representation of the agreements. The green bar is the uh project agreements and the yellow bar is supplemental. You can see the project agreements expire in 2033. The supplemental expires in 2028. You might ask why now? I kind of alluded to it before in the in the power supply planning space. You need to do these things well in advance in case you want to build your own power plant or look for another source of power. Uh that could take years to uh acquire and put those contracts in place. What we want to do is extend that project agreement an additional 11 years to 2043 and extend the supplemental agreement uh 15 years to 2043. And this is my last slide. So, we're requesting approval of two agreements. Like I said, this should say project power sales agreement extending the primary wholesale power supply relationship through 2043 matching up with the Kataba operating license and extending the supplemental power sales agreement through 2043 as well to provide additional resources. Our analysis shared previously in closed session suggests significant value to Huntersville and its comp and its customers by extending these agreements. And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Any questions?

I know we saw most of this in our other meeting, so it's kind of a review, but Okay. Is there a motion for item 10G? I would like to make a motion that we consider adopting an ordinance determining that it is in the best interest of the town of Huntersville to approve and authorize the execution and delivery of an amended and restated project power sales agreement with North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one and an amended and restated supplemental power sales agreement with North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one.

And is there a second? I second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Item 10H, consider approving the amended and restated project power sales agreement between North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one and the town of Huntersville. Any questions on this? Is there a motion for item 10H? I make the motion that we approve the amended and restated project power sales agreement between North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one and the town of Huntersville. And is there a second?

A second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Item 10. Hi. Consider approving the amended and receded supplemental power sales agreement between North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one and the town of Huntersville. Is there a motion? I make a motion to approve the amended and restated supplemental power sales agreement between North Carolina Municipal Power Agency number one and the town of Huntersville. Is there a second? A second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. We're on to item number 10G. Consider appointing four members to the Environmental Sustainability Committee. Thank you, mayor. So, this is for four appointments. We've got three members whose terms are expiring at the end of this month, and then there is a a single term that uh the member had resigned. So, uh you're filling a one-year spot. Okay. Let's begin with our one-year partial term. Commissioner Hunt Tim Sanborn Commissioner Corals Tim Sanborn Commissioner Smallwood Tim Sanborn Commissioner Rivers Tim Sanborn Commissioner Walsh Tim Sanborn Commissioner Corinette Tim Sanborn

All right unanimous. Is there a motion to appoint Tim Sanborn to the partial one-year term? I make a motion to appoint Tim Sanborn to a partial term on the ESC ending on 331 2027. And is there a second? I second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Sanborn, for your volunteer service. And then we have from there, three more members. So, I'll begin with you, Commissioner Hunt, Trisha Knight, Anmarie O'Neal, and Lisa Zelina. and Marie O'Neal and Lisa Zelina. Commissioner Corals, Trisha Knight and Marie O'Neal. Lisa Zelina. Commissioner Smallwood. Trisha Knight and Marie O'Neal and Lisa Zelina. Commissioner Rivers.

Trisha Knight and Marie O'Neal and Lisa Zelina. Commissioner Walsh. Trisha Knight and Marie O'Neal and Lisa Zelina. And Commissioner Corette. Lisa uh Zelina, Trisha Knight, and Ann Marie O'Neal. Okay. All right. So, I need a motion to appoint Trisha Knight, Ann Marie O'Neal, and Lisa Zelina to the Environmental Sustainability Committee. I make a motion to appoint Trisha Knight and Marie O'Neal and Lisa Zelina to the ESC for the three-year terms ending on 331 2029. And is there a second? I second.

Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. Item number 10K, considering appointing one member to the public arts commission. And uh Commissioner will start with Commissioner Coronet. Uh Christina Stout. Commissioner Walsh. Christina Stout. Commissioner Rivers. Christina Stout. Commissioner Hunt. Christina Stout. Commissioner Corals. Christina Stout. Commissioner Smallwood. Christina Stout. All right. May I have a motion to appoint Christina Stout to the Public Arts Commission?

I make a motion to nominate or to elect Christina Stout to the Public Art Commission. And is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And the motion carries unanimously. All right, we have closing comments. We'll start with you, Commissioner Smallwood. Any closing comments? Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone. And I just wanted to say that tomorrow is my dad's birthday. First birthday we won't have with him here, but um just think about my family. We will. Thank you, Commissioner Corals.

I want to thank um and salute, excuse me, the Huntersville Fire Department. Uh we sometime take public safety for granted and on last week uh my daughter had um an episode and uh as my wife and I were traveling to where she was at one of the fire trucks from off of Michael Wayne Road made a U-turn. It could have been a car just had broken down but they took it upon themselves to go to check on my daughter. So I want to salute them for checking on on uh my child. So again we don't we take it for granted sometimes. So, what I'm going to do is on Friday, if any of you guys want to join me at 6:00 p.m., I'm going to treat them for a nice dinner.

All right. Well done. All right, Commissioner Hunt. Commissioner Rivers, um, I want to give a big congratulations and kudos to the Pottstown Heritage Group. They were able to acquire and purchase land in the Pottstown community and the ribbon cutting event on um, last Thursday was phenomenal. So, congratulations to you all and um yeah, again, happy St. Patrick's Day, Commissioner Walsh. Happy St. Patrick's Day, Commissioner Corinette. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Thank you all for I know we've done a lot of work together this week, so I appreciate everybody's cooperation and help getting all these things across the board.

Thank you. All right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? Are y'all ready to adjurnn? Me neither, Nick. I would like to make a motion that we adjourn tonight's meeting. And is there a second? I will second that. Any discussion? All those in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? And we are journed.