Town Council - Regular Meeting

to even put their names and go back. Well, that knocks out his report. So, we can Well, he's he's got some report.

So, do you what?

Who's the guy that brought the big truck up with the flag?

Well, the other them to know the process. Okay, that's he knew me. Okay, he's helping. What's happened to Eric? Eric didn't run for a long way. Yeah, that's a long way. Good evening. Tonight is January 12th. We're at 39 the circle. We're here for a public hearing for downtown development district renewal application. I think our planning uh commissioner is going to take care of us. Brian.

All right. Thank you. Good evening, council and all in attendance. Um so the purpose of this public hearing is uh pursuant to um the regulations and the guidance from the state of Delaware uh regarding our um proposed renewal of our downtown development district designation. Um you'll hear later in the agenda tonight um a little bit about the actual application that's required to uh to renew the district. But um the purpose of this hearing in particular is to um hear from property owners uh or anyone else interested um who uh will be affected by the change in the downtown development district boundaries. Um and again this is a requirement of the renewal process that the state has. Um uh as a part of the renewal and the redesignation process we um and doing the draft plan. We look to see how to uh revise the district boundaries in order to encourage further redevelopment in town. Um as well as to basically utilize the acreage that we have. uh in the in the district to best advantage. Um we have a maximum of 105 acres that we're able to um use as a development district in town. Uh as of today, it's around 90 acres. Uh and again, the max is 105. Uh so we looked to see uh about taking out certain properties that were not qualified to receive um downtown development district incentives. Um the most lucrative of which are the state rebates, small and the large rebates. Um so we were proposing to take out seven properties. Um all of them uh are in some ways not very well suited to be in

a downtown development district. Two of them are actually owned by the town of Georgetown, this building and the building next door. Um three of them are owned by the state. Um the family court building. um a uh parking lot on Strawberry Alley um adjacent to the railroad over here um and then the um parking lot that's just behind the court of chancery over here. Um the two other properties that were proposed taking out uh of the district are um owned by uh first state community action agency um along Kimmy Street and that was uh in the analysis of during the plan making process we found that um it would there was a very low feasibility that they would be able to produce um a project that qualified for rebates um particularly because of the nature of their work um particularly in the public service aspect of the work. Certain projects um developed for a public service nature are not qualified for the state rebates. They have qualified for town rebates in the past or I'm sorry, town incentives regarding building permit um discounts and other types of incentives. Um but taking them and the other properties out of the district allows us to reallocate that acreage elsewhere um in town, particularly to the east uh of the current boundaries. Um and so it's larger uh larger portions of Kimmy Town um as well as um parts of North Bedford Street that were not previously in the district um mix of commercial and residential properties on North Bedford Street. Um and so so we believe that um this would be the best uh tact going forward in making sure that we max out the amount of acreage that we're able to use for a downtown development district. The proposed district is now about 104.5

um acres, which is again near the max. Um since we are going to be uh applying to renew for only five years, we tried to um get the most out of it that we could. Um and we can't apply for a renewal greater than five years at this point since we've already had it for 10 years and it's worked very well for the town so far. Um we wanted to sort of push it to the limit as it were. Um so as as a condition of uh the guidance that we received we sent certified letters to um all the property owners including ourselves and uh we made them aware of the hearing tonight and they have a right to um say their piece um at this particular hearing. Uh and of course council is free to um request any other um input they desire. Um but that's all I have.

Thank you Brian. Uh the receipts are the ones that you sent certified mail to and none of them is any of them here tonight, do you know? I don't I don't believe so. No. Okay. Did you get any opposition to uh to this? Did you get any uh requests that this was what people wanted? Um so we we got no uh response, negative or positive, um from those that we sent it to. Again, we were only required to send it to um the affected property owners. Yes, sir. Um, this was posted in in the newspaper um for the required amount of time as well. Um, and also posted um online and in the town. Thank you. Council members, any questions

to the public? Anything negative or positive that you would like to stand up and talk about on this subject? Well, this is a public hearing, so to stay open for uh uh what, two weeks? Well, actually, you're going to uh approve the resolution on further in the yeah tonight down further. So so we don't need to um apply actually send in the application until February 1st. That's the deadline. Um but um but we can if if if you desire hold back on sending it in until two weeks. Okay. Well, thank you very much for your time.

So uh that's the end of the public hearing and the time is 6:37. That was pretty quick. So, now we're going to move right into the regular uh council meeting. If everybody will rise for the uh pledge of allegiance. Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God, indivisibley and justice for all. Pastor Neil,

eternal God, we thank you God for your love, your conscious mercy. We thank you God for bringing us in this brand new year Lord look upon us this year God give her wisdom and knowledge God to help Tim Bendis look upon us give us strength and courage of hearts through your word no matter what happen father God be with us in Jesus name we pray amen amen you can be seated well evening council happy new year happy new year hopefully you've had a chance to look at the agenda if there's no deletions or additions and entertain a motion to accept so moved Thank you, Penn. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Tony. All in favor signify saying I. I.

Opposed. So carried. Moving on. Approval of December 8th town council minutes. Hopefully council members, you've had a chance to review them in your packet. If there's no deletions, additions, or comments, I'd entertain a motion to accept them. Thank you, Christine. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Eric. All in favor signify saying I. I. Opposed? So carried. Council member comments. We're going to start right at the top tonight. Ward one.

Happy new year everyone. It's been a wonderful uh holiday for some and a little sad for others. Um nevertheless, we had the traditional uh festival and all the choirs and the fanfare that we love in town. Thank you everyone who participated. Thank you Christine. Tony just want to say happy new year and it's a blessing to see everybody here tonight and um it's um new year, new season and we just looking for God just bless us even more this year. Thank you Tony Eric.

I just welcome everybody and and I'm sorry for the Philadelphia and Baltimore teams but say that anyhow u you put up a good fight but the fight's over with now. So, but uh welcome everybody and uh hope you had a great holiday season. Thank you, Eric. It's good seeing everyone this evening. That's all I got. Thank you. I want to say uh uh thank to the town for uh helping uh Brian and I put together the visual in the circle for the the fallen trooper. Uh about 500 people were here. Uh council members showed up. Thank you very much for showing up. I think you were out of town,

but uh thank the rest of you for being there. It was uh something nice. Uh uh we just never know dayto day if your time's run out. So you know you work at motor vehicle sitting behind a desk. You that's an easy easy paycheck. I've done it. Sat there you greet people coming in tell them this way for license or this way for registration. Very easy job. Man walks up behind you and shoots you in the back of the head. It's not right people. It's not right. We've got people with mental illness that are just ruining this country. So, I I just want to thank people for being there. 500 people uh great event. And uh if you have a chance, go on YouTube and and do the state police and look at the the service they had up in Wilmington. You're talking about a strong woman. His wife got up there and talked and oh my goodness, strong woman. had some words to say about uh uh not letting his uh legacy die and it it was unbelievable. So, it was it was a great day. So, thank everybody for being there and being part of that. Thank the town for helping Nick get that organized. So, moving on. Number six is board of adjustments appointment. Uh we've got one letter of interest, so we need to move forward with that. So, with that, with that, I'd entertain a motion.

Motion to accept. Thank you, Christine. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Pend. Thank you. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Roll call. Ward one. I. W two. I. W three. I. W four. I.

And I'm an I. Thank you very much. Moving forward. Uh proposal for design and permit town circle uh protection 26,000. I you've got a copy of it in your your uh listing here. and uh the engineer put together what it's going to take to make the design to make the circle safer so nobody can run through it. We're going to cement the ballards to a certain point that nobody can run into them. We're going to put the two monuments back in the circle at a different location so they can't be gotten to. And I think the total price is 26,000. Am I correct, people?

That's just for that's for DBF's design and um I guess administering the construction. I don't think it includes the products. Great. So the design permitting is 26,000. So with that, any questions? I'll try to answer them. If not, we'll just have to refer them till we get with Jean tomorrow. But I think it's a I think he's got a superdesigned Yes, Christine. You get any input from the committee? Uh yeah, I think it all was the committee's input. It was all your design and all, wasn't it? Yes. Yes. And you know the cost?

Yes. Thank you. Okay, that's great from the committee. Thank you. Do we do we have an idea how much the whole project's going to cost? I don't No, I don't think we have that yet. I think that's got probably got to be put together and go out and bid to see who comes in at the cheapest and all. So, but I think it's great design when when you cement like 10 of them ballards together, they're not going anywhere. You hit one, you're stopping. And that's what we got to have to keep from going in. Yes. Are they going to encircle the entire sections from light pole to light pole? Wasn't it?

Yes. Yes.

Exactly. The difference is way down. And it just break.

Yeah. They're all rebarred together. So you hit one, you're going to hit them all. So very

Aren't they similar to something else? I I I think they're just like the ones right out front here. Yeah. Angie, I'm not sure. I'll I'll try to get a picture and get it out to everybody. Okay. Yeah. This is just for the not ordering the ballards yet. Yes. So the design from DBF was 26,000. Without it I'd enter entertain a motion. So moved. Thank you, Eric. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Christine. All in favor signify saying I. I. Oppose. Roll call. W one. I. W two. I. W three. I. W four. I.

And I'm an eye. 50. Thank you very much. Delta rightaway agreement crosswalk art. If you look in your packet, we've got the America 250 coming up. And what we've asked Delot to do is to let us put Let's see if I can pull it up so I can show uh the people out in the audience from my computer. The four crossovers around the circle. We're looking to do blue and gold stars for America 250. And with that, we had to get Dell Dot's approval being these four main streets or Dell Dots.

Mhm. And they have approved it and they've sent us an agreement to sign so we can move forward with putting these uh on on the ground. So uh that's what we'd like to do. So any any questions about that? The Delaware colors, correct? Yeah. I think they're going to do the blue and the gold is what they're going to do. And I I think the black black uh background is what it's going to be. So with that, [snorts] if there's no questions by council, I'd entertain a motion to uh to sign the rightaway. So move. Thank you, Po. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Eric. Tony. Roll call. Wi I. W two. I. W three. I. W four. I.

And I'm an I 50. Thank you very much. Moving along. Resolution 20261 uh resolution of support of the application for 5-year extension on DDD. Brian, here we go again.

Okay. Yes. Um so this is yes the the official sort of go-ahhead um that council can give us to officially apply for the renewal um process. Um we u can recommend that we can also um present f more fully what the plan um entails um at a at a future meeting not too far away if if if you all desire. Um but we do have the executive summary as a part of your packet there. Um again we we have seen significant investment in town um since the original DDD was established. um over uh over 11 million of private investment have come into town and we think that is primarily um it was primarily incentivized by the the conditions in the DDD um and several uh several dozen uh new businesses have been established. We saw that over um over 150 new employees um in within the um uh within the boundaries of the DD have have come to town are um primarily caused by new business those new businesses and new development as well. um particularly with the um the office building right right around here, the um the JB Waggamon building and um so so again we we we do believe that uh Georgetown is well on its way in terms of uh uh really benefiting from the DD although of course we do acknowledge that there is more work to be done which is why we have um gone about um applying for this renewal process um and and we have added a few new um recommendations to the existing ing plan that was in place since 2016. We did revise and um and analyze those um those recommendations to um to sort of again cross off the things that we've already accomplished um which are great, but also to sort of try to um tackle the things that um could be improved primarily with the administration of the

DDD program. Um, we do recommend a few uh tweaks to the incentives um to to actually um additionally uh build more businesses and um make Georgetown a more attractive place to um invest. What's uh can maybe you can answer. What's the the biggest project we've had with the most amount of money from uh the DDD? Is it the laundromat? Um it's between the laundromat and the and the office building that we talked about. Yes. Yep. Excellent.

Yeah. Excellent. And actually we we we have already two um reservations for two other large projects um in the DoD. One of them is on North Ray Street and the other is um Georgetown Apartments 2 um on um Ingramtown Road. And um and we do actually think that there's going to be some projects coming down the road that will um um qualify for the large investments from uh the state. Thank you. Councilman, any questions or comments? I have a a question. Yes.

Slashcommon. Um so these large projects um typically they would have people who know how to process these um uh the the funding for these projects. How many or better question is will your department have an opportunity to help some of the smaller businesses take advantage of the DDD? What I'm hearing is that it's cumbersome, that is too much paperwork, it's too much um to deal with, especially if you are is an honorous process if you're a small business.

Yes, it is. It can be an ownorous process and that is something actually we are we did um mention in the plan and are uh very interested in doing is is exploring ways to sort of smooth out um the experience for business owners and and smaller developers who um might be interested in taking part in these incentives. Actually, there we did find through the surveys and the interviews that we that we did that um there was some uh there were some perceptions that actually that um that they weren't getting the incentives that that were available. And actually we we told them that well the the the state incentives are the one thing that they have to apply for, but the town incentives they get automatically. um the the building permit uh discounts, the water and sewer impact fee reductions and um business license waiverss for the first five years. Um and and so so some of the people that we talked to were we're were heartened by that. And so but of course that that does mean that we need to sort of step up our game in terms of um promoting and marketing the um the program. you know, one of the first things we identified was to make sure we translate all of the DDD uh marketing materials to Spanish um because um you know, of course, the language barrier is still something that we need to be aware of. Um and so so that is definitely u one of the lower hanging fruits that we thought that we could

we could do and also to ensure that we we try to partner with other organizations that may already be doing this work. Um as well um you know our our department can only do so much. We are looking to expand some capacities with in that type of in that type of work as well. So, thank you. Anything else, council? If not, I'd entertain a motion uh for resolution 20261. So moved. Thank you, Christine. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Penal. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed? Roll call. W I. W two. I. W three. Yep. I or four I

and I'm an I50. Thank you very much. Uh I forgot and I want to do it right now. Town manager is not here tonight because uh he has become fire chief at Milton. It's his swearing in tonight over there. So he's got to be there. And I want to congratulate Pennual on being our new fire chief uh here in Georgetown. So [applause] the third time

So I made up for the mistake I missed. Haven't So, moving on to uh first reading ordinance uh 20250. This is the signed ordinance that Jean read two weeks or le read in December about political signs and all and it was just a quick fix with some wording of it. Do you remember, Eric? It's just um it's removing a time period. They there was a set time period when they could go up and come down and that removed that. Yeah. For political science. I'm glad you're here to answer that. [snorts] So, with that, it's just the first reading. Any questions, council?

Okay. Any uh qu any comments or questions pro pro or against uh in the audience? No. Okay. Is that a request or did was just a particular thing we decided we needed to do? What's that? The It's just cleaning up some language is what it was doing. Okay. Okay. So, this will stay open for two weeks till the next hearing. So, we can move forward then at that time. Uh, moving on, we've got the uh B, which is ordinate 202601. This is a comprehensive plan future land use map. Uh, Brian, were you going to talk about this or No, this wasn't your do job, was it? This is just the first reading of the

This is the first reading of uh changing uh the highway commercial to the residential on East Market Street 501 and 503. Uh council, any comments at this time that we can follow up with Jean? If not, we'll entertain anybody in the audience. And Adam, I think you felt to talk about that. If you want to get up there, please. Adam Machkowski 200 South Bedford Street. Um I think we're missing an opportunity here where uh we could you know everyone talks about affordable homes um by having smaller homes that you know theoretically like a smaller cars less expensive than a larger one. Um we have the opportunity by allowing these smaller homes um to open up first-time home buyers. Um, there is not much out there in Sussex County. Uh, very fortunate to have bought my house when I did. Um, the money I bought that for in 2017, I don't even think could get me a trailer almost anywhere in Sussex County these days. So, um, to see something, you know, a house that if we could get houses, you know, a $200,000 house, I mean, I think that would help a lot of people. Um, it's being run by a nonprofit, which I'm a little confused on because I have a couple friends, um, who are in the real estate game and the, uh, and I will tell you, I think they profit pretty well. Um, so I'm a little confused how nonprofits renting houses, uh, because it does seem like a rather lucrative, uh, expedition. Um, I don't hate the size of the houses. I mean, obviously, that's great for people starting out. I mean, even myself, I could probably wouldn't be that that hateful in a in a home that size. Um, and I just I would love to see the opportunity for people to buy homes. Um, I'm the youngest regular attendee of

the council meeting, so I'm probably the closest to, you know, first-time home ownership, so this is kind of why it pulls my heartstrings a little. Um, because I would love to see people getting that opportunity to get in there. And um I mean if I was renting I wouldn't be down here. I wouldn't be coming to council meetings. I wouldn't care about the town business the way that I do. Um and I'd just love to see an opportunity for people to uh to get in on that and not just well you didn't buy a house before CO so you missed the boat and uh that's that. Um so I' just I'd really like to see something in the change of the way that these are being delivered. Um, I know their their proposed rents have already gone up once and we don't even have shovels in the ground. Um, so I imagine by the time they're done, their rents will probably be comparable to other apartments in the area. Um, and I don't think that's really solving much of a problem at all. So, just my two cents on it. Thank you guys for your time.

I want to thank you, Adam. I want to thank you, uh, Linda. And I would thank Dennis, but he's not here tonight. He's over in uh Seaffort to the hospital with a friend of his. So, he's he's not here tonight. But I want to thank you for serving on the committee and uh and looking into these things. That's what it takes. It it takes a village to make things happen. Not just us five up here. It takes a village. So, thank you very much. Uh anybody else at this time? We I I want to introduce a young lady sitting out here. She didn't fill out a form because that was my fault. I didn't tell her, but she's a nurse in Lewis. She's living with her kids at this time because she couldn't find any place to live and she's hooked up with George and uh she's very interested in uh and maybe getting one of these to to move her career on to where she can save some money and eventually get her a bigger place. But it's that that pyramid. It's that starting section that we're missing in our housing. So, thank you very much for coming tonight. Thank you. Uh, anybody else at this time on the the ordinance 202601, the comprehensive plan? If none, this will stay open for two weeks, come back up, uh, in two weeks for the second reading. So, uh, that'll be on the agenda at that time. So, thank you very much. Uh, moving on. Second reading and adoption of ordinance 202513, comprehensive plan use map. Uh this is to change Parson's Lane number three and number seven which is commercial. No is residential and we're changing it to commercial because we got a gentleman that wants to build two businesses there and uh this is a second reading. Is there any questions from the council at this time?

No, I'm excited that uh something's coming out there. We're still worry about uh what goes on in the ball field. I've been hanging around there. The lighting is horrendous. I see where you could probably have a colony of people living there and you wouldn't know about it. Yeah. I see the ball fields put up some outside lighting there on one of the dugouts. So that's good. So is it the concession stand that's being hit now because that's what it's facing is a concession stand. Well, yeah. They're trying to keep people from from congregating in that area. Okay.

Sleeping there, etc. Yes. Uh that So I know the piece of land you're talking about. Um, I know that there's other things coming there. So, that corridor there could change a little bit, but we do need to find a way to talk to the commercial folks and get some more lighting in the back. They have practically zero lighting in that parking lot. And there's a lot that goes on in that parking lot during the day and at night. I've seen it. Where the bakery is, is that where you where the bakery is? And then the the gas station there, that little corner there, there's a lot of activity going on. Okay. In plain sight in day daytime and night time.

Okay. All right. So, with that, anybody in the audience got anything to say about uh changing uh this from uh com property from residential to commercial? I'll get it straight after a while here. Got two business want to go there. Yes. If none, I'd entertain a motion to move forward with the ordinance 202513. So moved. Thank you, Panal. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Christine. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed. Roll call. Ward one. I. Or two. I. Or three. I four. And I'm an I. 5. Thank you very much. Moving forward. Town manager report.

Council members, if you open up his report. I think there's just a few things there. uh public works salt barn final payment pending actively in use. If you hadn't had a chance to ride out there and look at the new salt barn salt barn, you need to do it. It's a nice building and it's going to last us uh quite a few years. Pump station rehab big park. Uh they're just about to complete it. They're waiting for windows and doors. Uh and that'll make our pump stations a lot better than what they were. I was always surprised and waiting for that phone call 3:00 in the morning that one of the pump stations had gone down and uh we were in bad shape. So uh with with these being rebuilt now that takes care of that problem. So thank the guys very much for doing that. Neighborhood access uh 41,000 grant eight rail crossings community engagement initial feasibility study project concepts and alternatives. Uh, light enlighten me there, Stephanie. What's

I don't know. I haven't seen this before. Okay. It looks like a grant that the town is either getting or putting in for. Yeah. I think we're trying to clean up the rail crossing because they're they're tearing down some of the fences to so they don't want to walk all the way around and like they should be. So, they're cutting holes in the fence and crossing on Leighton Park. So, I think we're going to try to improve some uh design there so they can't tear the fence down and cut through there like that. So, I think that might be what some of this stuff is.

Legislative AP date 133 general assembly second session starts January 13th. Uh we're tracking any introduction of legislation. We're still concerned about the homeless bill. I I've talked to her to see what kind of writing she's going to put in it because I don't want them in the park and I don't want them on every street in Georgetown. Uh no, Phillips. Uh

so Sophie Phillips who Yeah. So working with her to try to make sure things like that don't happen in that bill. So upcoming events, town office closed Monday, January 19th for Martin Luther King Day. Planning Commission meeting Wednesday, January 21st at 6 o'clock in Delaware League of Local Governments, Thursday, October 23rd at 5:30. That's a little off. October what? Yeah, that's a little that's it says October, but it was supposed to be January. I was just reading was on there.

So, that's the end of his report. So, we got nothing to decide there. So, uh moving on to the night a public comment. Uh now is a time we'd like to hear from our public. We welcome your comments which are very important to us. Note that all comments are limited to three minutes. As a reminder, please go to the podium to comment. Please give your name, address, and address your remarks to the chair. Note that you will be not will not be entering the dialogue at this time. The purpose of this agenda item is for you, the public, to inform us, the councils, about your views. So, at this time, uh uh the mic is open for anybody that wants to step up. Good evening. Uh, Linda Dennis. I live in the village of Cinderbury. Since you mentioned the committee, I just want to bring you a little bit. I'll give you a status report. As of our last meeting, which was just last week, we're going through the process now of inviting certain agencies in the town to come before us and tell us exactly what they do regarding the vulnerable people that live here, whether they're housed or unhoused. So, we have had we had um First State Community Action, Love, Inc. in Seafford and the recovery hub here in Georgetown come before the committee and they gave really comprehensive presentations and I was personally surprised by the recovery hub um people that came in um didn't really have a preconceived notion was I was more curious about it what it was but I would say to anybody feel free to go over there and and uh talk to the people because they're doing um as all three agencies are doing an

incredible job of trying to reach out to people. The interesting thing about these presentations is that all three organizations are doing pretty much the same thing. Um and uh they reach the same populations. They do communicate with each other. Uh which is is always good to hear. Um, the other thing that I wanted to mention is that you know that uh our representative Valerie Gilner and um Brian Pedigan, our senator, they're convening a group uh to deal with homeless issues. Now, we've tried to get an update from them to come before the committee or share some information. and we haven't heard back from them, but I think it's really important for us to know because we're kind of tripping over each other right now. They have a very significant role in all of this because of the money issues that are involved and advocating for more money for these services to the homeless. So, we're hoping to sit down with them at some point and discuss what we hear in our meetings and what we feel are the needs and where we feel that services are just underfunded. So, um, if you have any discussions with the good representatives, you might tell them you you'd like to hear from them as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Linda. And you're right, I've not heard anything either. When we had our meeting at the the library put on by uh the stakeholders, you know, we had the prison there, we had uh uh state agencies there, and the problem with what we saw is nobody was communicating. You know, when when you got us five that six or seven here that have businesses and my wife comes into each one of us and she's getting the same services from each one of us and nobody knows about it, that's a problem. You know, if she's getting money from from all of us and she's laughing at us because we're not talking to let the other agencies know that she's getting money from all of us. So, that's a big problem. So, we're trying to correct that. The other big thing we were working on was vouchers. You know, when the state gives you a voucher for 30, 60, or 90 days and puts you up in a hotel, there's no followup. There's no followup at all. You don't know who how many people are in that room 10 days later. You don't know how many people's in that room 40 days later. We asked them to put something into play where somebody can go and check on these people to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to do and that they don't have extra people in the room. This will correct a lot of our problem because what they're doing is they're opening their room up to six or seven other relatives and them six or seven relatives are the ones that are walking up town causing our problems. I know it. I've seen it firsthand. You walk across the street, you get a bottle, you go back and drink it, then you're coming up town and thinking of breaking into something. So, No longer.

That is correct. The problem is the availability. Yes. Yeah. But they're not allowed to to Yeah. So with Valerie and Brian, yeah, we're working together. I'm hoping to hear something before they come out in public with everything. So we got a good understanding that we've got all bases covered and I think this is a great been be about time this happens. Be about time this happens. So I'm sorry, Sunny. Move on.

No rush. What I got to say is probably will take a little bit of time. Anyway, uh I've been talking about the affordable housing and now looks like that everybody for workforce housing and homelessness there seems like there's a money available. I would like to ask Brian or the city to look into some of the parcels which could be suitable for these housing. It's very easy to say I don't want it here. Let's try to come up with the areas where you can have these things. So with the that's was my request in the past and I'm sure they have gone through this process but if we can advertise it that these are the areas which are good for uh workforce housing or intermediate housing for the in homeless people and all that stuff which is not going to be that nimi is not going to be there to be saying no you can't do it here might as well come up with the areas where everybody's there's acceptable so the developers or somebody else who wants to do something it's easy path to move forward because if we miss this opportunity when the money is there it's not going to come back for a while. Thank you.

Thank you sir.

Good evening. Evening sir

uh my name is John Peterson. I reside at 304 North Bedford Street. Hunger exists in a continuum. Every point on that continuum introduces measurable instability into the town's environment. The stabilizing variable is predictable access to food. When caloric intake drops, the body enters hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia impairs executive function. Attention, decisionmaking, impulse control, planning, emotional regulation, and behavioral modulation are all components of executive function. When that regulatory system degrades, behavior becomes less predictable. These are neurocognitive impairments driven by sustained deficit of metabolic fuel. Hunger affects behavior in classrooms, workplaces, sidewalks, and public spaces. It shapes patterns across the community. Providing food is a basic civic function. Fundamental fundamental nutrition stabilizes the environment we all share. It reduces avoidable volatility. It supports order, safety, and cohesion. The shepherd's office delivers daily nutritional intervention. It interrupts the physiological slide before people reach their crisis threshold. In doing so, it reinforces the town's interest in stability, predictability, and public order. Hunger is a high impact variable. When hunger rises, stress rises across municipal systems. When hunger is reduced, the entire

environment becomes more stable. I respectfully ask the council to maintain and strengthen the town's partnership with the shepherd's office. Their daily nutritional inter intervention is a core stabilizing function of municipal order. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Rick Thomas, two 229 South Bedford. Um, mine is just sort of a simple thing. I don't know how many people see the water tower off of South Bedford. It's really dirty. [laughter] And I always think when I see really when I see clean water towers in towns, I always think that that's a reflection of the town. And so when I look back and of course I have a a really good view, I always think I'd like to wash that. Um, so just as a thought, maybe this could think about

cleaning up the white. I think we just had it done last year. Really? Doesn't look It doesn't look good. The what? Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was just I think they were all done last year, Rick. But I'll find out. I'll find out. Anybody else at this time?

Angie Towns in 2029 and Road. Since we've on the subject of the tiny homes and the first reading of the ordinance, I've been doing a lot of research online. There's communities all over the United States for tiny homes. They're very affordable. They start about $100,000. These tiny homes are known as park models. And Bill, you're familiar with those. Anybody that's ever camped in a campground know about park models. They're a beautiful tiny home. They have fullsize kitchens, washers, and dryers. They have a closets. A lot of them have two bedrooms. They have a loft. Beautiful living room. very very attractive from the inside and the outside. If Georgetown wants to go that way, which I agree we need affordable housing, why don't we look at other options beside what has been presented with those? We keep saying that is not the spot to put them. The areas where these are, some of the some of the areas are like 50 acres. Everybody has their own little garden. They have a community center. They have a community pool, but it's a community built with tiny homes that are very, [snorts] very attractive. So, I'm just asking, fine, this is what you want. We need affordable housing. Why can't we make it attractive for the people that are going to live there and rent there? A lot of these areas, there's one near my son when he lives near Asheville, North Carolina. There's one, and they pay $750 a month. and all the grass is cut for them. They have a community garden. They do have a community center. They have a community pool, but everything is done for them and they love it. And you can also rent there as a vacation rental if you're in the area you want to rent. So, I think there's a lot of options out there and just ask and why can't we look at these

different options besides settling for what we have now. Thank you.

Thank you, Andy. I agree with Andy. Angie, I'm Sue Barlo. 703 East Laurel Street Extended in Georgetown. As you know, I think this is the most the largest mistake the town has ever made. It's It's a mess. It's going to be a mess. sticking 32 or 34 houses on two acres of land is is is it's just not sustainable. You cannot do that. The ha what I heard was the houses are going to be 10 ft apart. Uh there's no storage areas, there's no recreation areas. These people won't be living. They will be existing in 400 square feet. Ed's idea of a small community where there was space in between where there's where there's open space sounds good, but this does not sound good. It sounds like it's a disaster waiting to happen. I I think it's the worst mistake you guys have ever done. The other thing I want to just make one comment about downtown development. Does that grant cover any kind of uh improvement for storefronts that are that are existing storefronts? Um uh North Railroad Avenue is uh it it needs improvement. Uh there's a lot of store fronts crowded in there that

they're across from the laundromat from Boost Laundry Mat. Yeah. Okay. They they if do we still have the facade? You we still got it. Yeah, we got something. We can take care of that. We need we it just the town right now. I have to say it looks so shabby. I'm sorry. It looks awful. The streets are dirty and I know we don't have a a street sweeper. We got a brand new one that's on the streets now. Well, I haven't seen it. Good job. Yes. But the sha the town really really looks shabby. It um now that the Christmas decorations are down it's it's dreary. But thank you.

Thank you Sue. Anybody else at this time? If not and entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Thank you. Penuel second. Second. Thank you Tony. All in favor signify saying I. I. Opposed. So carried. Have a good night. Yeah. I have dinner and vegetable games.