City Council - Regular Meeting

I ask for all to rise for the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Uh Himily, please do the invocation. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, thank you so much for this day and thank you for your many blessings on our community. I pray that the mayor and council make wise decisions on behalf of the citizens of the city. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much. Would you join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, [clears throat] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.

Okay. There were no additional changes to the agenda during the pre-agenda. Is there a motion to approve um the agenda?

Second. So moved and second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. Any opposed? Carries unanimously. Thank you. Um the um obviously 2022 code of ethics and the front street uh front and center strategic plan. the as uh as always the city council strives to follow the code of ethics and the strategic plan. Um for some presentations tonight we have we have uh several presentations this meeting. I invite I invite Chief Only up. Wait. Uh, mayor and council, thank you for having us tonight. Uh, one of the things we'll start off with is earlier or I'm sorry, the end of last year, um, the we we're part of Kalia, which is an accreditation organization that's nationwide that recognizes um, best practices for law enforcement agencies. And we are part of that organization. And that is a four-yearong process where every year that we're in this program, they review basically 25% of our policies and make sure that we're adhering to those policies. So we have to submit proofs to them to show that we're following these policies and procedures. This goes on for a period of four years. And after the fourth year, we're invited down to present um our agency and to go before a board. And

this year we were we were happy to have uh the city manager, Mr. Smith, come down um along with my accreditation manager, Brad Simmerson, and Captain Samantha Lindon. and we received our accreditation again for the third time which is a very big deal for for our organization and I'm excited. I'm glad that's the hard work that these guys put in throughout the year. Um sometimes Kalia has a bad omen with it throughout the department but uh it keeps us keeps us in line and and we're glad to be a part of that organization. We will move right into the 2025 crime stats from last year. Um, last year was kind of flat compared to the year before. We had two less violent crimes. Uh, property crime was up slightly. And there's a graph just showing the years past. I think one of the things we've been successful in doing the last two years is if you see from 2023 we notoriously had spikes every summer and one of the things that we've really focused on is having our cops officers and Michaela the um junior ambassadors all actively involved with kids throughout the community and I think that's that's had a positive impact on trying to reduce that and trying to have more things during the summer for kids to do to interact with the police officers. I feel like that's probably been the biggest thing that I can relate that that drop during the summer months to and and we're going to keep working on that and keep striving for that. One of the things I just wanted to show you, I know some members of council have been here longer than others. Our violent crime numbers in 2020, we basically had 308 events that year. This past year, we had 148. So, if that kind of gives you an idea where we've come from from 2020 to now, that has been our focus. Our

focus has been reduction of violent crime, crimes involving guns and we've this the agency has been very successful and we're we continue to strive to try to look to for ways to [clears throat] reduce that. This is just a hot spot map. Uh basically what it is is it identifies areas where there's a grouped uh area of criminal activity. As you can see, both of the years, the same two years were in the South Statesville area, but not being able to show you years past, we have that that area has dropped immensely and has shrunk a lot to a small area of town that we continue to work on. This is our property crime. Uh, property crime eb and flows. It just depends on the time of year. Um, a lot of the lararsenies that we have throughout the year is is stuff that's left unlocked in cars. We still have a lot of car breakins. We still have a lot of car breakins with with guns left in cars. Um, Walmart is its own entity when it comes to lararsenes and a lot of the calls that we have out there, but we've kind of stayed where we were last year. It's a little bit higher than last year, but nothing outside of the norm. Uh, these are our crash totals. Um, these are going to go up. We've talked about it before. As we continue to grow in population, the roads don't grow as fast as the population does. We've got more cars on the road than we ever had before. And the likelihood for accidents are going to increase. We try to mitigate serious accidents. Uh, we focus anywhere where we have a lot of personal injury accidents or, god forbid, fatalities, anything like that. We try to identify those locations and try to put our traffic units in those areas to try to reduce reduce those numbers. This is our property and evidence uh from the last two years. And you can see again it's pretty consistent from 2024

to 2025 with the uh number of uh items taken in uh guns, drugs, everything is about the same as it was the prior year. This is our telecommunications. Our calls for service. Calls for service last year was up 13%. And again, a lot of that's going to be a tied to population increase. As more people come here, we're going to have more calls for service. We just try to mitigate the the types of calls for service that we have. [clears throat] These are our reports from last year. Just shows a number of reports we wrote. the case supplements, the accident reports, arrests, and parking citations. These are the cases that are assigned to our criminal investigations division. That basically shows how many cases they were assigned or they assigned out during during the calendar year. Uh how many were left open, how many are closed. Uh 66% 65 to 70% is normally our average per year with some of the cases being left inactive. basically that they're there's no more leads to follow, but the case still remains open or that's an open felony case that we we maintain until uh we try to identify a suspect. Our prime reduction team is a team we put into the initially the South Statesville area and we've been able to kind of move them throughout the town now to identify different different problem areas when we have uh issues with breaking and entering or any type of criminal activity in specific areas, specific houses, locations. That's the team we try to put into those areas to uh do enforcement. Uh, one of the things that that we strive to do is focus focused enforcement where we are specific to individuals or locations that are that are resulting in in high crime or high costs for service.

Uh, we only did half the year and I'm not going to sit here and read all these to you because April's put me on a time limit. Uh this is our community services division and these are the events that we went to, attended or hosted just in the last half of last year. Um there is a lot I think that just about any weekend from June 1st to the end of the year that our officers are at some some event or hosting some event somewhere in the city. Uh one of the things that we are are kind of our pride and joy each year is our toy drive. And last year we were able to serve 625 kids. And this has grown since 2018 from where we were doing I think 50 or 60 kids to where we are now. And uh it's been very successful, very positive impact. This was the first year that I can tell you that someone brought toys to the police department who told us the story about getting toys when he was a kid when he didn't have anything and how much he appreciated the program then and he brought brought stuff in this year. And that's the first story I have like that since we started this program. And with that, unless you have any questions.

Any questions for Chief Only? I don't have a question, but I do have a comment. I want to say thank you, Chief Only and to the police department, how you have made a significant impact with your communication, leadership, and how it's turned our community around and also the service you rense. and we appreciate that because they have a different view when they approach you all from what they've been through. Y'all build a kindred friendship and I certainly appreciate that and appreciate what you're doing throughout the city.

Thank you. My last two seconds is uh Assistant Chief Brian Johnson is retiring next week with 30 years of service for the city. He's sitting back here in his dark uniform. [applause] [applause] With that, I will turn it over to Chief Kures. Thank you, Chief. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you for the opportunity to come up tonight. Um, there'll be coming around a year in review and kind of a CPR guide that's coming around. Just want to take a few minutes and go over some of our accomplishments and things that's happened in 2025. Um, we started this last year and we've really got a lot of good feedback. We also do a monthly review, I think, that gets sent out to y'all. It's also on our website. But, um, so a little bit of information, credited. We've been accredited since 2014. We was awarded an ISO class one, which is the best entrance class you can get in 2023. Um we currently have four fire stations running four engine companies and a ladder company. Four fire districts is divided into 25 uh geo zones. And then of course we're planning and in process of opening station 5 in July. Um 2025 organizational chart um is on our slide here right now. As far as our apparatus inventory, we have four frontline engines, a frontline aerial, three reserve engines, a reserve aerial, one hazmat truck and trailer, a rescue trailer, an ARF truck, a UTV, a brush truck, our battalion vehicle, a vent trailer, and a boat. And we're grateful for what the council and the city's been able to provide us over the past few years to be able to get our apparatus inventory up and also replaced. We had some some older apparatus that need to be replaced and it's worked well to get those apparatus in place. This is just a a map that kind of shows our four fire stations currently in the geo zones in the area that they protect. Um currently right now that's a little over 31 square miles which is a fire station around 7.7 square miles. Um populations of course increasing as everyone knows. And then our budget um

we had an increase last year in in our operating but a decrease in capital. Um so this is just a chart from 21 to 25 showing you our call volume. And as you can see in the past four years it has significantly increased from 4274 in 2021 to 7,27 in 2025. And that that chart broke down the type of calls and that's also on our our yearly review that you got passed out. Also, um this is just a breakdown of our mutual aid. We receive mutual aids 65 times. Uh we received automatic aid 285 times. To give a little bit of definition of that, mutual aids when we actually are on the scene and we call for some additional help, automatic aid is when it's automatically sent. So currently if we have a structure fire, it takes all four engines in the ladder to meet our uh respective response force. If one of our trucks is tied up on another call, they automatically dispatch a volunteer department engine to try to replace that truck with that with trying to get our numbers. So um on the flip side of that, we gave mutual aid 150 time and automatic aid 432 times. Um, so with our fire response times, I know y'all hear you, some of you that's been here a while have heard it and the new ones will hear it a lot. We we try to strive for four-minute response times. We know that not every area in the city we're going to get there, but we try to build our maps off of four minutes. That way those other areas we can because it makes a difference, especially makes a difference in our fire response times with flashover now is just from a 3 to 5 minute window. That just leaves a little time for if someone is in tra entrapped in the house to get them out. It's also very important in cardiac arrest response times. Your second handout I gave you gives you a little bit of information because I didn't want to take the time tonight to stand up here and talk about it, but that's important because those saves are important for those cardiac arrest patients. And when I go over our

year and view paper here in a second, I'll show you and compare some numbers to last year. The next couple slides just gives you a breakdown of our effective response force and our benchmarks and our baselines for our response times. Um, as you can see, there's still a lot of red with station 5 coming on board. That's going to help that in the next year. Uh, anything that's in red, that means we're we're over our our benchmark, and anything that's in green means we're meeting our benchmark or doing better. And some of them, if it's a if it's a large number, like as we get into those high fire benchmarks, we have a smaller data set. So sometimes it don't give you that that 90 percentile. We don't do average. We do everything based off a 90 percentile. So it it could skew it a little bit if we have a don't have a lot of response. Same thing for emergency uh EMS calls, hazardous material calls, technical rescue, and and the slides break it down. If you look back at them, it tells you what that low, moderate, high, and maximum is in each category. aviation, rescue, firefighting calls, and then our other response class, which is a non-emergency and that type of calls. Our community risk programs reduction. This year, um, we had 133 plans reviewed, 138 permits issued, they did 124 fire investigations, 881 inspections. The numbers I really want to point out is the next one is coming up. This past year we trained over 1,69 people with fire extinguishers. Um that's a program we just recently started. We we are offering that to any, you know, plant organization. We'll go out, train them, do a slideshow, and then actually have hands-on. We have the simulators and stuff, the live fire pits that we can

burn and actually uh train folks to use fire extinguishers. Um 14,234 people were reached with other types of fire and life safety programs. Um we estimate around 32,500 we reached at community events. And then with our public our media announcements and all that we we calculate around 43,000 with that we've done 32 car safety checks and installed 192 smoke and CO detectors. Our strategic incentives for 25 through 30 are department growth with city council support, pay and benefit enhancements, communication and service delivery, our physical health, mental health and wellness enrichments of our um employees still continue to strengthen those community risk reduction and public education efforts and our technical rescue program improvements.

Thank you, Chief. Any questions for Chief Kures? One thing I would like to point out, if you look on the back of your year in review, the surv I was talking about the cardiac arrest of patients at 17.5%. That's just for three quarters. We still don't have the fourth quarter data, but last year that was 6.9%. So, I know we spend a lot of time, a lot of money on medical calls, but we're making a difference. Um there's a lot still that that we need to flush out that we don't need to be responding and we're working on that right now with the county and and other departments, but we are making a difference in those cardiac arrest calls. Thanks, Chief.

Okay, it's um it's time for our public comment. Um actually, it's not. It's time for me to do a proclamation. And that's the best part. Todd, um, Mr. Todd Scott, would you step up with me? This is a um um proclamation, mayor proclamation for Black History Month 2026. Whereas February is recognized as Black History Month, a time to honor, celebrate, and reflect upon the rich history, culture, and contributions of African-Americans. And whereas in 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a distinguished scholar and historian, established the observance of African-American history to highlight the vital contributions of African-Americans to the development and progress of the United States. And whereas African-Americans have made enduring and transformative contributions in every field of endeavor, including the arts, science, education, business, public service, and civic life. And whereas the city of Statesville recognizes both the struggles and the triumphs of the black community and reaffirms its commitment to advancing equity, inclus inclusion, and justice for all residents. And whereas this observance provides an opportunity for all citizens to deepen their understanding of African-American history, heritage, and culture, and to reflect on the continued pursuit of equality and opportunity for all people. Now, therefore, I, J. Douglas Hendricks, mayor of the city of Statesville, to hereby proclaim the month of February 2026 as Black History Month in the city of Statesville and encourage all

citizens to observe this month this month with appropriate programs, activities, and ceremonies that honor the legacy and contributions of all African-Americans. Thank you. [applause] All right. Now, we'll move into our public comment uh section. Uh so, for public comment period, each person who signed up will have three minutes to speak on any topic. When you come to the podium, please state your name and address. First name on the list is Chris Mazize. Hi, my name is Chris Maize. Um, I'm the owner of 641 Shelton Avenue. Um, I'm commenting on I think 21, the closure of Hendry Street. Yeah, it's 11. You're right.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. I'm sorry about that. Uh, I just have a couple questions for the um I talked with planning. I talked with um resides and no one owns that Pacific property. So, I just want to know how can we close down something that's already closed. Leah, would you or Erica can you either you or Erica address that?

That's something he needs to talk about when it comes up on the thing. That's what I was saying. He probably needs to wait because that's something that's on the agenda and it's open to public comment there. It's a public hearing on the for the closure, is it not? Yeah. So, he can speak during the hearing for the public hearing. Um, and that might be the more appropriate time to address those questions. I think I probably need more context to be able to answer his question personally.

Okay. Okay. Uh, next on the list is Kristen Lvid. Levig. Uh, Kristen. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Kristen Lynvig. I'm the owner of 105 White Apple Way in the Bell Farm development. And I'm making a comment regarding [snorts] agenda item 8K, the Bell Farm uh road takeover in the development by the city. Um my husband and I bought the very last house uh built in the Bell Farm development and there have been issues in the development prior to us moving there as well as since moving there and it's been one year now. I addressed some of those issues this past Friday by emailing many of you council members with some photos about some concrete issues and I did have a very good uh phone conversation with Director Bridges uh and and seems like most of those will be addressed and that has been resolved I think to our satisfaction. However, I do want to bring up one other item. Um and and this is one of many. Um, LAR has not been Lonard the developer has not been very forthcoming nor very cooperative in helping the residents uh get things repaired in and especially to damage that they caused themselves. Um, in our case, uh, their equipment damaged our curbing and it didn't get replaced by them. Um, what one of the other things that I was concerned about and that many of the other residents have been concerned about is we have a nature trail at the south end of our development and it is not being maintained. It was uh addressed at the HOA meeting on October 11th at 1 p.m. via Zoom with the community director Nancy Jenkins of CAMS who is our HOA. She is a LAR appointed. We do not have resident um representation on the board at this time because the development has not yet been turned over. That trail um is not being maintained and she claimed that it's only budgeted to be maintained quarterly and I of course told her that I don't know if anyone had discussion with the brush and vegetation that it's

only allowed to grow quarterly. Um um and then the other issue is that if you look at the I don't have it available for you, but if you go back and look at the final plan that was approved by the city on pages five and six of the site map, there are supposed to be six exercise stations along that trail. Currently, all there are is four triangles of grass. When that was brought up at the HOA meeting, uh, director, community director Jenkins stated that that is per plan, that it's just supposed to be grass, and that's for people to do calisthenics off the side of the trail. However, if you look at the legally accepted definition of an exercise station, it is a designated area, machine, or piece of equipment designed for performing specific physical exercises targeting particular muscle groups. These stations, whether indoor or outdoor, are used for strength, balance, and cardio. Outdoor stations use weatherproof equipment such as pull-up bars, balance beams, sit-up benches, and elliptical trainers often found in parks for pre fe free public use. So, we're asking if we can get any help from the city and whatever you're illegally allowed to do to help us get those items installed per plan before the development is turned over. Thank you. We'll be glad to um take a look at those plans and agreements and uh get you some help. And sorry for slaughtering your name. Um okay. Um that's the end of the public comment section. So we'll move on to the consent agenda. Uh all items below were are considered to be routine by city council and will be enacted by one motion. So, A is consider approving the uh January 29, 2026 pre-aggenda meeting minutes and the February 2nd, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Item B is consider approving

the second reading of an ordinance establishing a 25 mph speed limit speed zone, excuse me, on portion of West Front Street at the request of the North Carolina DOT. Uh item C is consider appropriating fund balance to approve budget amendment 2026-13 to pay an economic incentive to Water Techch, Inc. in the amount of $13,320. Item D is consider approving budget amendment 2026-16 to roll forward SCIF funds in fiscal year 2026 that were previously designated to support the police expansion project. Uh item E is consider approving a resolution donating a port a portable generator from the Statesville Fire Department to the Monaceello Monaceel Volunteer Fire Department. Item F is consider passing a resolution directing the city clerk to investigate a petition of annexation AX26-02 which is 552 Buffalo Scholes Road filed by Bobby Kohler on behalf of Elite Readymix for the parcel located at 552 Buffalo Scholes Road. receive city clerk's certificate of sufficiency and consider passing a resolution fixing a date of March 2nd, 2026 for a public hearing for the petition for annexation. Item G is consider passing a resolution directing directing the city clerk to investigate a uh petition of annexation AX26-03 Road har that's in Harmony Vistas subdivision filed by Mark Miserachi of Harmony Investing Inc. LLC for two parcels located at the end of Japel Road and along Beauty Street. received city clerk's certificate of sufficiency and consider passing a resolution fixing a

date of March 2nd, 2025 for a public hearing for the petition for annexation. Item H is consider approving a resolution to lead a countywide micro transit study. Item I is consider approving two work authorizations from our airport consultants uh parish and partners. Item J is consider accepting a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration for airport infrastructure projects in the amount of 3,13,000 $840, excuse me, and approve budget amendment uh $226-14. Item K is consider adding multiple streets in Martha's Ridge phase phase 2, Bell Farm, and Dogwood Grove, which is Pine Forest 2 subdivisions to the city street maintenance system. Item L is consider approving a budget amendment 2000 uh 2026-17 to accept a donation towards a future fire station. Item M is consider approving a resolution directing the city clerk to investigate a petition of annexation AX 26-05 Dover Road which is the Lark and Commerce Park filed by Richard Allen Lewis of the Keith Corporation for three parcels located along Dover Road. receive city clerk s uh certificate of sufficiency and consider passing a resolution fixing a date of March 2nd, 2025 for a public hearing for the petition for annexation. Are there any items on the consent agenda that need to be moved to the regular agenda? Hearing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move.

Do I have We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion on the motion? All in favor, please say I. I.

All oppose, say nay. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Okay, we'll move to the regular agenda. Uh, item nine is to conduct a public hearing and consider approving the first reading of ZC26-01, that's 540 Monroe Street, to reszone from B5 General Business Zoning District to R5 Highdensity Single Family Residential District. I will open the public hearing. Mr. Kirkindall.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council. So, the first reasoning request of the year is we have a property located at 540 Monroe Street. The applicant is Mr. Headley uh is [snorts] Headley Homes. It's approximately 1 acre and we're looking to go from B5, which is a general business district, to an R5, which is a highdensity residential single family district. So, this is a straight resoning, meaning no conditions can be added. They can do anything by right. looking at the site. Um, you have your two views, one from Monroe, one from Cass, aerial photo. When we look at resonings, we want to look at what is the in the area for what is the surrounding zoning districts there. So, in this region, we definitely have a lot of HI, which is heavy industrial. We also have a lot of B5, which is that general business. Um, and I want to point out that council has previously reszoned recently some properties to the east in 2024 from B5 to R5. And then these stars or smaller ones up here, those are the bond street properties that were y'all's first go whenever you took the the new council took place. And those were all by right to allow single family homes. So when I say buy, right, because it's not a conditional reasoning request, the column on the left would be what would be allowed on this one acre parcel. Nice size country club. Um, and then on the right, you have over 150 B5 in B5. So when we look at our 2045 land development plan, this area is projected as downtown neighborhood 2, which is supportive of residential uses. It's located within the tier one growth area of the map. City water and sewer are available. States of public power can serve the site. And I want to point out

this would be infield development, meaning it's already in the city. No annexation needed. In the summer of 2025, city council approved the Monroe Street and West Front Street small area plan. Um, I don't expect you to read this. That's fine. Um, I have a there is a copy on the planning website. Um the green star is this particular parcel and it it is supportive of a transition to from an industrial corridor into a more neighborhood oriented district. So because both the 2045 land development plan and the small area plan are supportive of this request to be reszoned um I started there. Sorry I mixed that up. uh our supportive of this partial being reszoned from commercial to residential as it calls for this area to be downtown neighborhood 2. The property is located within the city limits and all utilities are available. Therefore, both planning board and city staff recommend option one in your packet which is approval to reszone the property.

Thank you, Mr. Gondol. Are there any questions for staff? Can you go back to the map slide? Which one? Uh, go go go forward one slide. Another one. Do you know um what the intent is for the orientation of the lots?

Um I believe it's several facing Cass and several facing Monroe. Corey, come on up. [clears throat] Uh, depending on how the lots finalize with that'll be a minor subdivision. So, there could be two lots facing Monroe Street, but the majority of them will face Cash Street. I think we're looking at anywhere between five and seven lots.

And, uh, water and sewer, is it along Cast Street? It's uh in Cash Street down there in the bottom at the bend and it's also available in Monroe Street. I have a question going back to the map with the cleaning of the um the lots that I'm looking at on Oprah Street going down and I'm looking at this and I'm seeing a change in in the cleanup and I want to thank you for that because that's been a lot of concerns for the residents in on Monroe Street and businesses. So, will this continue on as we move forward in the cleanup?

Yeah. So, I want to point out what you're referring to is I mean the site is much cleaner now according these are recent site photos than what it looked like in the 2024 aerial photography. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kirk. Any other questions? Uh the applicant does not have a presentation but is is available to answer some questions. Oh, I did not I did not call us officially. So now we're called in. You don't have to go again. No one signed up. Um no one signed up to speak, but is there anyone that would like to speak to this zoning change? Okay. Thank you. Um hearing none, I close the public hearing. Um, so no one signed up to speak at the public hearing. Is there anyone else? Okay, did that. Uh, are there any additional questions from council?

Okay. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion to support the resoning request. The resoning amendment is approved. It's uh to R5 and is consistent with the city's 2045 comprehensive land use plan is reasonable and in the public's interest because the Monroe Street Front Street small area plan supports the continuation of residential uses in this area. Second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any more discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion C U passes unanimously. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Kirk Doll. Not going far. All right. Uh, next item is to conduct a public hearing and consider approving the first reading of reszoning request ZC26-2. That's 149 Weeping Cherry Lane to remove a portion of the partial located at 149 Weeping Cherry Lane from the uh city's extr territorial jurisdiction zoning to Irondale County's jurisdiction. So I will open the public hearing. Mr. Kirkindall.

Yes. All right. The second reasoning case of the year would be filed by Mr. David Jordan on behalf of the property owner and this we're looking at an ETJ relinquishment or a deszoning from city essentially is what's happening here. Um, we're looking at approximately 18 acres of a 41 acre track, give or take. And so the property is located off Old Wilks. And then Weeping Cherry Lane is a private road. And that's the picture on the right here is the aerial photo. And I want to point this out. So the section that for the request to remove from the ETJ is within the shaded area. The purple is the city zoning. Everything in white is all within the county zone jurisdiction. So this parcel is considered split zoned between the city and the county. And here is a surveyed site of that. The area south of the blue is approximately that 18 acres of the 41 acres total. And so the 2045 land development plan calls for this area to be rural. It's also located within the tier three growth area and no utilities are available. So the 2045 land development plan is supportive of this request as it calls for this area to be rural and no utilities are available. Therefore, both the planning board and city staff recommend option one, approval um to relinquish the 18 acres from the ETJ. Does anybody have any questions for Mr. Kirkindall? Okay, no one has signed up to speak at the public hearing. Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

I think he was on number 11, right? Yeah. Okay. Hearing none, I close uh the uh public hearing. Um do I have a motion to approve the reasoning request? So move. Okay. And would Yeah. Uh, it's on page 180.

Yeah, I see it. The zoning amendment is hereby approved to release the jurisdiction and its consistence with the city comprehensive land use plan is reasonable and in the public interest because the 2045 land development plan is supportive of the request and is called for this area to be ruled and no city of states for utilities are available. Okay, do we have a second? Second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. I.

Any opposed? Okay. The motion carries unanimously. Thank you again, Mr. Kirk Doll. Okay. Um, item 11 is to conduct a public hearing to consider permanently closing a portion of unopened Henry Street between South between South Center uh on South Stanner and uh I will open the public hearing and Mr. Kirkindall.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you again. So, the applicant is Mr. Marvin Stanley, uh, who is the property owner, is requesting to abandon a portion of Henry Street located between South Center and Shelton Avenue, as you can see by the green dot, located just a couple blocks south of where we are. So, it was originally platted in 1925 as an 18t street that was never constructed. 9 foot of it has been previously abandoned. There is a survey that was shows that the 9 foot, the southern half of the 9 foot has been absorbed by Mr. Haze property. Um, Maze property, sorry. Um, so the total acreage of the proposed acquisition is just under 002 acres. And here is the survey. The hatched area is the area that is still shown as a public rideway or some people call it a paper street, meaning it was never built to a street standard nor taken over by a municipality. This portion right here 9 ft is showing on the Idol County GIS as a part of this property to the south. So here is an aerial photo. The applicant owns this property here. This is 9 foot of the right ofway here and then the other 9 foot is shown as all a part of this parcel. So site photo here and a point of reference. This light pole is about 4 and 1/2 ft between the 9 ft that is trying to be acquired by the property owner to the north the applicant. So the 2019 mobility and development plan is something that staff looks at to see what the recommendations are. With this being a paper street that was never

built nor taken over, it does not qualify for any necessary or recommended improvements. When we look at abandoning roads, we must follow the state statute which also falls in line with section 2.13 of our code. And all four of these uh findings of fact must be met. So number one is the amendment conforms to the state law. The abandonment is consistent with the comprehensive plan, major street plan, and other adopted plans of the city. That would be that land development plan that I was telling you about. The the abandonment does not restrict access to any parcel or result in access that is unreasonable, economically prohibitive, or devalues the property. And the abandonment does not adversely impact the health, safety, or welfare of the community, nor reduce the quality of public services provided to any parcel of land. So staff reviewed the application and compared it to those four findings that shall be met. So staff believes that 2.13 is met because Henry Street was never improved to function as a city street. Rather, it currently serves as a parking lot for a former service station. Staff was able to look into aerial photography and the area has been a parking lot since at least 1956, which is the oldest aerial photography I could find. Henry Street is not shown as needing improvement in the 2019 mobility development plan, nor is neighborhood access restricted. And number three, three and four, the health and safety will not be impacted because both those properties will still have access from Shelton or from South Center Street. So [clears throat] I did speak with Statesville Public Power and the public utility department and they have confirmed there are no conflicts. So they would not need any easements and so therefore staff's recommendation is favorable to abandon the portion of the street.

Thank you. Are there any questions for Mr. Kirkindall? I have a question. So you're asking us to vote on an abandonment of something that we never owned. So just like any other paper street or abandonment we've done like we did for the fire station. We've never owned that alley that was abandoned. We when we built fire station one. We abandoned that because it was a paper street that was platted. State law says it's 14 years. If it hasn't been built, you can apply for abandonment. Okay. So, I guess my next question is when Mr. Marvin, what's his name? Marvin Stanley was the applicant.

Came and said you have him listed as the property owner of that. Did you list him as the property owner? You did. No. Okay. He was just the one who asked for it. This is considered still public right. So if you look, there's no yellow line here because this is considered a public rideway. This is a paper street that has been privately maintained since it was platted 101 years ago. Who's been maintaining? Privately maintained various property owners. I don't know. Okay. Yeah.

Well, I think that's the stuff we have to take in consideration when people come to us with stuff like this. We have to look at who's been maintaining it. I grew up in this community and I'm very familiar with this and I feel like it's it's it's it's ugly and it's going to get a lot worse, okay? Because I felt like if if you grew up in Depot Hill, you knew this was a center of the neighborhood and there was never been an issue with anything until now. So, I guess my thing is if we're going to come and make close something

Mhm. Why is it not of value to us? Like you got these two property owners who obviously are in disagreement and want this property. Mhm. So, I feel like we're just going to close it to with no benefit for us. I ain't trying to be funny, but I feel like I see a money-making opportunity. Maybe that's me being, you know, but we always talk about we don't have no money, but this is the reason why we don't have no money, cuz we sitting here closing alleyways and stuff and they obviously want it. We we cannot we cannot require money of any of the applicants in this situation.

It's not that I'm saying require money, but if it we're closing something and we say I understand what the state statute is stating, but if we're going to if we can sit here and make a decision to close it, that means we hold some type of ownership, if we can vote as a body to close something, but but we can't condition our approval or denial of that on some on any sort of Yeah, I got you. But I'm saying we probably need to revisit this cuz this is I don't want I this is the stuff that I don't like coming council because I feel like we're getting into private sectors with stuff especially with property owners.

We're limited by our statute. So we have no [clears throat] authority to to add a fee like that into it because the statute that grants us the ability to close these doesn't doesn't confer that authority to us.

So why does it give us the ability to vote on something like this? because we're the body that has to close it. We sit when it's not when it's been 14 years, the property owners have rights because the property will go to the adjacent property owners from the middle of that road. Half of it is kind of it seems like already happened through quick claim deed. The other half go that has not that that has not happened to will go to that other property owner. But we can't require a fee. um in this circumstance. So just I just want to clarify that.

Do you know when the uh first uh 9 ft was abandoned? What year? In my research, I didn't do a title research obviously. Um I found a register of deeds from 2000. It said it the legal description went said 9 ft into said street to a new pin. And I'm going to default that that's not my area of expertise. That's just what I read. I would default to would that would that abandonment have come to the city council at that time to abandon 9 ft of it? It's tough to say what the general statutes were 26 years ago.

With the abandonment, who's going to be responsible for that little upkeep of because it's maintained now and and and previously because both owners is keeping it maintained. I believe I don't know. I'm just saying if that's the case then they no longer have to keep it up if they chose not to then because it it doesn't show uh ownership. It doesn't show legally ownership. So what do what do you do in a situation like that that I'm responsible the next person's responsible and then we abandon it. So where is this circle going? Well, um, Miss Messik can answer that, but my understanding is real estate has to be owned by somebody.

Yeah. So, this so it it will be owned. So, if this is granted, then um that half of it from the center line goes to that adjacent property owner and the other half from the center line goes to that adjacent property owner. Those property owners are required to keep their properties up pursuant to the codes and standards of the city of Statesville. So if they're failing to do so, then that's a code violation that the planning department would inspect, issue a civil warning over, issue a civil citation over, and that we would then thereafter possibly file a lawsuit over to ask them to maintain it and keep their property up to city standards. So by us closing the abandonment tonight, they're automatically going it's automatically going to split it in half. Is that what you're saying?

Splits it in half. Yes, ma'am. Okay. I do have one question of concern. Um because I know the county and the city do this. They do the split. Whenever you have a closure, you split it between. My question is who was if you pull up that D the 9 ft who who gave the 9 ft? I have not done a title search that we need we need to know that but it it doesn't change the analysis. They don't get to pick up additional um feet to a new center line. So what they have is is what they would have if this abandonment was granted. So they don't pick up any extra because of it if that makes sense.

We're splitting from the center line of the originally platted Henry Street. Yeah. So the so the 9 ft to the south stays with the owner to the south. We're not doing a 4 and 1/2t split. So Mr. Maize does not get four and a half more feet additional feet. Correct. No, he would not. Not unless the property owners agree by platt to allow that to happen. There is a circumstance after we handle our business that the property owners could go on the back end and agree to something differently and file a new plat. Did and this might be a question for the two property owners. Are they in dispute of this? Is there a disagreement in this? I was

say wanted to he was signed up to speak. So Mr. is here. So, I'll default to the property owner to the south. Okay. The other guys here. You have a question for me? Anybody? Is there a dispute?

Uh, yes. Um, the reason the reason why I'm disputing it, um, I'm good with the 4 and 1/2 ft. Um, because I also have property. If you look at the um the plaque, the survey right here, I have property already in that nine feet and and since the last five years, I've been maintaining it. And before me, I think the property owner had it for at least 17 20 years. He maintained it. Plus, we've been using as a parking lot between the two buildings for years. Uh there haven't been any issues, haven't been any problems. If somebody want to park there, we let them park there. There's no problem. But um they keep saying I was granted I was given 9 ft. There's no record of that. There's no record stating when I had that 9 ft or it's no even no record when y'all closed down Henry Street. So I just want to know how can y'all close something that don't belong to anybody? We can close it because there's a North Carolina general statute 168-299 that enables a North Carolina municipality to close an unopened street that's been platted and dedicated to the city. This street, Henry Street, was platted and dedicated to the city in 1925.

Okay. Um and as a result of that, because it has remained unopened since 1925, um either adjacent property owner may make application to this board for closure. And so we are considering the factors that are set forth in 2.13 our ordinance as well as the general statute. And if the council finds that those factors are present, then they have the ability to grant the closure. When that happens, if that happens, um, and if a closure is granted, then that means that from the center line, the original center line of Henry Street as it was initially platted, half of it goes to from the center line goes to the one adjacent property owner and the other half would go to the other adjacent property owner.

Okay? and and any disputes that you guys have regarding maintenance of that. Um or if you want to work out some sort of deal otherwise as to who gets what portions, then you two can you and whoever the other property owner is, Mr. Stanley. Um you guys can work that out as individuals privately. Okay. What about adverse u possession since I've been maintaining it? I'm I'm an attorney for the city council for the city of Statesville and I'm not able to advise you of your personal rights to adverse possession. All right.

But you can consult legal counsel for that yourself and that's a private thing that you can deal with with Mr. Stanley. May I ask planning something? Pardon? Can I ask planning anything? This is We're still in the We're still in the public hearing, right? I was going to say this is an opportunity for for you to say what you want to say, but it's not necessarily an opportunity for you to ask our staff questions. If you have a question for the council, the council may instruct city planning to come up here, but I just want don't want you to think there's an automatic expectation that you get to examine and cross-examine the city planning staff at this time because that's not an option.

All right. So, Mr. Maize, what what is your question?

So, if that other 9 ft is granted to um the Jason property, what about my property that's already in that 9 ft? There's a there's a there's a power line and a uh light fixture in that in that 9 foot that runs from my power meter to um that pole. So when I talked to him, he said I that would be trespassing with some some property right there.

This is some stuff that you may have to work out privately on the back end with your neighbor. Okay. So, um, by closing it, will my neighbor automatically receive that 9 ft? Each of you will see receive 9 ft. So, if you've already taken your 9 ft or if it's four, it's not 9 ft. It's 9 ft. It's not 18 feet. It's an 18t ride ofway as it was originally platted from my understanding. So, but my my at some point in time in history, there was nine feet drawn up in a deed and given to the joint property owner. Yes.

So, there had to be something that instructed that to take place because it was originally platted as a public right away. It doesn't have to be something that happened. It could have been that the property owner buying it decided to add that into their property description of their own valition to achieve color of title for adverse possession. There was never the city was never the grand tour in

so but it was when Henry Street was initially platted it was 18 ft. So nine of that goes to one property owner nine goes to the other. If one owner has already taken the nine and into their property description, whether they did that or whether a subsequent owner did that, nothing changes for that person. They're not additionally grabbing more square footage or more area into the ride of way. They're done. They don't get any extra. It's it's from the initial center line of the initial Henry Street as it was initially platted in 1925. So both property owners will receive 9 ft correct from the original from the original road.

And if one person already has it, they get nothing more. Okay, understand. Thank you. You're welcome. Mr. May, because you already have property on that 9 ft. So you should be by what's been said, that's yours. And the other one, and if it's not 4 and 1/2 ft should be his. Yeah. No, no, no. He got 92 ft. Yeah. Both of you have nine feet. But now, what about the additional property in that 9 ft of his or the next door? I don't know what you're talking about. Okay. Can you bring up a picture for me, please? Believe you said there's a power um a a light.

I would defer to electric department regarding the power light that's in there. My understanding is that the electric department does not need an easement and that that light is privately owned. If you if you look at the survey on this, it is um annotated as a light pole where you see the star. It it is it's it's about in the center of the the 9 foot in the etched. That that would go to that property owner because that's a privately owned light pole from my understanding. But again, I'd have to defer to Cody on that

because unless I'm wrong, anything that was built in that 18t ride ofway was always built on public property. And so all we're doing now is disposing of that public property. So if there's anything on it, it goes to one of these two owners. But it the the root cause is that anything that was built in that rightway was always built in a public rightway. It was as if you would put something in the middle of Center Street. It is the city of Statesville is 18 ft. And so if it goes on one side of the line to Mr. Maize or it goes the other side of the line to Mr. Stanley, this is a pretty straightforward transaction. If you put

That's my thing is there should be some paperwork. You're saying formerly Henry Street. So like David said, where is it where is even that the city owned the property? Oh, that's the 1925 plot. We have the paperwork for that. If that was the case, how did a whole parking lot, how did a whole street, a parking lot get covered over a whole street? I guess that's where I'm kind of lost at. Who comes and who do we allow as a city to pave over a street to make a parking lot? Th this could have happened. I mean, this could have happened in 1930. It could have happened in 1935, but we get to vote on it.

Okay. If you look at alleys across the city, people got fences and outuildings and all the stuff in public rightways. So, it's not it's not right. I completely agree with you. I don't think it's right for us to have to make a decision on something that Thank you. we we Thank you, Mr. Maze.

Right to because these two people I'm like this. Are we closing it so they can go ahead and fight it out? I guess that's my question and basically that's what it sounds like to me. We're going to close the property so they can go ahead and do what they need to do. Is that essentially what we are we doing? Whether or not you guys decide to close it is going to be dependent on whether on your analysis of those factors, those four factors under our ordinance, the 2.13. So, it's it's whether or not you find those factors to be true or you find them to be false based on the evidence that you heard within your public hearing because we're the only body that can close it. Otherwise,

we are the only body that can close it. That is that is correct. They can't just plat it and deal with it privately without us taking this action. But you guys can only take this action if you find the four factors in the ordinance to be true. And if it's not true, it stays unresolved. Correct. So I mean it it it doesn't close.

Doesn't close. So nobody has anything. So it it benefits the two owners to work through the process. And if you feel like that you are not being heard, then it's up to you guys to be able to take it to a legal matter. We have no right in doing that. To get you there, it has to be closed. So, I'm in agreement to close the uh Well, let me ask you this. Now, if that comes to the point because and I'm going to tell you, I've done my research and this is what I heard. I don't want it to come and bite us once we close it and then these two owners hire attorneys and they go at it and then we stuck in the middle of a lawsuit. So, we're not in the middle. We're not in the middle of this. I mean, it it this is this

these are two separate these are two separate matters. So, we have the ability to close it if somebody appeals that determination. This is a legislative hearing. You'd have I think it's 60 days to appeal that. If somebody doesn't if somebody doesn't appeal that, we're not in the middle of a lawsuit. I'm on record by asking that question. Correct. Okay. Just I I can't and with that answer, I can't control if somebody appeals this or doesn't appeal this. You know, my crystal ball doesn't work that well. [laughter] So, are we in a motion to make a motion? Not quite yet. Not quite. Not quite yet.

Any more discussion? Anyone else that wanted to say anything in the council chambers? Uh, hearing none. I closed the public hearing. How many how many other streets do we have in the city of Statesville that are like there were several that were closed last fall, but I'm I'm saying I guess my question is I know we closed them and we didn't have any issues, but I guess seeing that we're going to close and this is my fear that we're going to have issues with property owners there. There's tons of these in older neighborhoods that where roads were not built. There's a bunch in the country club

like culde-sacs that were not put in and you have adjoining property owners. Um it a lot of times they just sit vacant with vegetation growing on them. Uh there's some in my ward and and and where I live at there is some that's there as well. So uh I'm ready to make a motion. Okay. We go to close public hearing. Okay, I'm closing the hearing now. Doris, I'll make a motion that we move forward and close. Second.

And if if you could please incorporate if we could go back to the slide, [snorts and clears throat] Matt, of the four findings. And if you could just make sure that everyone sees them and then incorporate those findings um as and the facts. Yep. Exact. Wait,

you want that one? Yes, that one. If you could incorporate those findings, please. You don't have to read them all out loud, but if you can just incorporate them into your motion. And since there was a second, the person who seconded would have to also sign off on incorporating these. Henry Street was never been proved to be a function as a city street. Henry Street is not shown as need improvement of any mobility development plans in the neighborhood. uh health and safety will not impact uh because of the property would have no will have access to both Shelton Avenue and South Center Street for this cause and what we're reading here that I find that it would uh hold no harm, no damage to our city and safety. And I'll make a motion that we move forward and close.

You good with that, Lisa? Have a second. Any more any discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. Okay. Um item 12 is consider applying for the build grant and uh Ron Smith will make a presentation.

Mr. Mayor, council. So, um, [clears throat] apologize for not having this on the agenda until today, but I wanted as as, um, as we've progressed through this application for the build grant, um, the the match terms have changed, so I wanted to bring it to your attention. I sent you all an email over the weekend and got some good feedback, but I thought, you know, let's let's just talk this through uh, at our meeting. So, by way of um uh just bringing back up the uh the original application for the for the build grant, uh I want to remind you that this is going to be um basically streetscape improvements that will run from Sharp Street, which is just down um down the block from here or down the hill from here, all the way down to Amity Hill Road, which is basically the terminus of the city limits in in the southern end.

[clears throat]

It would take the streetscape elements, not not to the degree they are downtown because the infrastructure is just different, but it'll take those elements all the way down to Amity Road on both sides of the street on South Center to the railroad tracks basically and then coming over to the western side right near where the depot sits now and then it'll take it on down um on down Shelton Avenue. Uh there will be utility improvements that go along with this uh which includes electric, water, and sewer. And then vegetation that you see downtown. That's kind of similar to what you're going to be seeing uh as you go south. Um there will be lighted pedestrian crosswalks in three different locations. One right there at the depot where I mentioned that it's going to be crossing over and the one sidewalk will terminate. Um there will be improved intersection at Garner Bagnel and Shelton Avenue which will also have better pedestrian uh facilities for crossing and then at Raleigh Avenue as you continue to go down south. And this is going to be a five foot a 5 foot wide sidewalk uh that you're going to that will basic basically be continuous the whole way down. So, uh, it it's going to be significant improvement just in the concrete work that goes along, uh, with this. It's all in the state's right of way, so there's really no right-of-way acquisition that goes along with it. The ultimate uh, the ultimate grant amount as we're looking at it today is 18.3 million. So, it's a it's it's gone up. This is the third year we have applied for the grant. uh we have been designated as I keep calling it a project of merit but we have been escalated or elevated in in the review because we are in our third year. It's not uncommon that you have multiple years of application uh on these grants.

Uh very competitive. So the overall grant amount is as I said 18.3 million. Uh the amount coming from build itself which is a US do grant is going to be 16.9. The match is one basically 1.5 million. Our consultant has been telling us and we haven't had to put this match in previously uh because of the change in the administration uh that these applications are looked at more favorably if if the city uh has skin in the game. That's where this is coming from. In in talking with her, she's recommending an 8% match and that's where we come up with this number. There's nothing to say that you couldn't go higher than that or lower than that. That's just the recommendation that we're getting today. Um that will hopefully help us to to move it forward. So again, um 1.4 million is what is being required. Timing is important on this because as you all have have heard me talk about, we have a lot of big projects that are um that are on the horizon for us. uh $1.5 million is not going to be, you know, in the couch cushions. So, timing is important, but in this case, we'll have until December of 2028 in which to obligate these funds. So, we have quite a bit of time in which to either put money aside for this purpose, look for other grants that we could potentially apply, um potentially look at other funds such as the occupancy tax or our enterprise funds. So, look at other ways in which to build build into the 1.5 million. And I think we'll be successful in doing that. Absolute worst case scenario, we would split it over two fiscal years and pull from from our fund balance. And we'll also pull from electric or public

power and water and sewer. Um they they take up alone about 21% of the overall grant money that would be coming in. So I think it's fair that we would pull some from the match as well. So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. ask if you have any concerns about it because we have our grant application is going to be due very soon and just wanted to make sure that we're on all on the same page and if we there's anything we needed to change we do so now be glad to answer any questions. Thank you Ron. Any questions for Ron? Do we got all community partners on board? I know that's been an issue in the past. We do we have to pay

I think we have just about everyone that we've asked for support to send support into us. Yes. In a timely manner. Uh yes. Well, they need some some of them need a little proddding, but I don't think the one you're talking I just need to know. So, I'll be I play nice. Now, I think we John John Hatcher. John, raise your hand. John is our grants manager. He has done the lion share of the work. I'm just the one up here asking for money. Uh, so I appreciate everything John has done. I think John had told me last week we had 15 letters of support. We had out for requests. So we're they are coming in. That's a lot of support.

Well, I say that because community partners are very important when we do this. And I know in the past we've had, you know, we just don't want to get any surprises. And I think this is a big deal. We really I think this year we really want to get it because we really need it. So I that's why I asked just being who Doris

I'd like to say that this is an opportunity a great opportunity for the development that we have been waiting for for many years for the uh beautifification of of the southern part of the city which is majority of my ward. I'm also grateful for this because uh the liability is very uh less because we we won't lose anything uh in this as far as putting what we put into it. If it doesn't work, we'll get it back. Is that correct?

That's correct. There's there's no money that'll change hands. If we don't get this grant, we are there's nothing coming out of the city's pocket for this. So, the way that I've been looking at it is this is about a $1.5 million investment to get back another 16 or close to 17. Thank you. Thank you. Any other discussion? Then we will entertain a motion. I'll make a motion that we move forward. We have a second. Thank you. Any more discussion? All in favor say I.

Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Okay. Um, you can re you can review the advisory board uh meeting minutes in your packet. Um, there's really no other business to attend to. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? So, move second. All in favor? I going to change