Town Council - Regular Meeting

Hey. Hey. Hey. I'd like to call the uh November 6th uh Oakidge Town Council meeting to order. Uh we don't have anyone to lead the invocation, but I'd like to have a maybe a minute of silence if Sand as you're able.

Now we lead ourselves in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. First item is approval of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed.

Okay. We have two minutes to uh sets of minutes to order. Uh one one piece of information about the closed sessions. Everyone but one member of council has signed off on them. Uh if you're okay, that's four people that have signed off on them. So if you want, we can approve them or if you want, we can wait until the other member has had time to sign off. That sounds reasonable. Yeah. I make a motion that we approve the minutes of the October 2nd regular meeting and close session. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Is there any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Okay. I don't believe we have any resolution proclamation or announcements. Uh the I don't think we have a formal report from the sheriff's department, but we do have the crime statistics in the back. You're welcome to pick up a copy of them.

They're here, but I don't know that they're ready for a presentation. They're here as security. Oh, I see. Yeah, I see. I mean, if they're if they would like to speak, they're welcome to, but I believe they're here as security. So, yes. Uh do we have a report from the Oakidge Fire Department? Yep. Just come up. The floor is yours.

Good evening. Hope you all are doing splendidly. Um, this month we had 80 calls. We had 25 uh other responses which include smoke scares, lockouts, animal rescues. We had 10 false alarm responses, one uh brush fire, one hazardous hazardous material response, four other hazardous hazardous responses which include uh power lines down etc. We had 38 EMS calls and one structure fire for a total of 80 calls. We had 173.5 training hours. Um this month's safety message is stay safe this season. Uh, number one, heating safety. Keep anything that can burn at least 3 feet away from space heaters, fireplaces, and wood stoves. Have your heating equipment and chimneys inspected and cleaned each year by a professional. Turn off space heaters when leaving a room or going to bed. Um, number two, cooking safety. Thanksgiving is the leading day of the year for home cooking fires. Stay in the kitchen when frying, grilling, or broiling food. Keep flammable items like oven mitts and towels away from the stove top. If a grease fire starts, slide a lid over the pan to smother the flames and turn off the burner. Never use water. U number three, smoke and CO alarms. Test smoke and carbon monoxide alarms and replace batteries if needed. Replace arm alarms that are more than 10 years old. And number four, candle and decoration safety. Consider using battery operated candles. Keep real candles at least 12 inches away from anything that can burn. And make sure that decorations are flame resistance or flame retardant. And that is all I have for you guys this evening.

And I can test the importance of cleaning the uh heating and air conditioning system for the first time. We had a false alarm last fall. Okay. Because the dust got a little warm and set off smoke harm alarm. So yes, sir. It's definitely good advice to maybe get them cleaned. That's something easy to become complacent about. So yes, sir. All right. Thank you. And you guys responded well and you took care of things. So I appreciate it. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Y'all have a good evening. Thank you. Okay. The first item we have is a public hearing. Uh, it is a text amendment. Did you want to introduce that or or anything specific on it?

I can just say a few brief words. This is this is a text amendment to allow the town to uh place legal advertisements on the Guilford County website per state statute that was passed several years ago. Um, town attorney Michael Thomas wrote the ordinance. Um, and I think if there are technical questions about the ordinance, I'd defer them to Mr. Thomas. And this will save us quite a bit of money bec well actually uh well one of the reasons to do this this will save us money because we will not have to pay to advertise in the news and record. We'll just be able to put it up on the website. So uh is there anything you'd like to add Mr. Thomas before we open the public hearing?

No, this is simply techn amending the ordinances to provide to avail itself of electronic advertising.

You use your microphone. This simply amends the ordinances. So the town is saying it will use electronic advertising uh as one of the authorized forms of legal advertising and having once you adopt this then the town can execute the contract with Guilford County to utilize its website for the town's advertising. So, it's it's a preliminary to signing the contract uh with Guilford County to do that.

Thank you. All right. This is a public hearing. A public hearing has two sections. There's people that want that can speak in favor and people to speak in opposition. People that wish to speak in favor will have 20 minutes to speak in favor of it. And then there'll be 20 minutes for people who will speak in opposition. If there are two people speak on both sides, then there'll be five minutes for rebuttals. Is there all we ask to do is come up, state your name and address, and you'll have the floor. Uh, is there anyone wish to speak in favor of this amendment? Is there anyone who speak in opposition? Yes, sir. Frank Carol 1389 for Scythe Road, Kernersville. The question that I have and the what I'm actually opposed to is if you look in A1 in the proposed ordinance says notice shall be by first class mail to the last address listed for such con owners which are within 500 ft of a proposed resoning. And then number two, the person or persons mailing such notices shall certify to the town council that proper notice has been given and such certification be will be deemed conclusive in the absence of fraud. I know of is one example that went through this council where a landowner significant landover 60 ft away from the proposed development did not receive mail. The only way we found out about it was because of the sign on the property that was placed on the property. The question that I have is is that why are you allowing the developer, the person that's proposing the change to self-certify? You have staff. Why don't you go out and actually

make sure that they've done what they said they were supposed to do? That's it. You know, just why are you allowing self-certification? Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak in opposition? Okay. Since someone did speak in opposition, there is a fivem minute period of time for anyone wish to speak in favor of this to rebut or to clarify. Anyone wish to speak in favor for the five minutes? If not, we'll close out the public hearing portion and turn it over to council for uh initial discussion or a motion. May sir. Yes. Comment.

Yes. Provisions cited by the gentleman are not part of the amendment. The only parts of the ordinance and this is the development ordinance that requires a hearing of a technical amendment. That's why we're having this hearing tonight. The only portions that represent new language that pertains to electronic advertising is the underlined language in the text amendment. The gentleman's reference is the state law provisions that the ordinance tracks. It's not the town's language. That's the statute's language from chapter 160D.

Yes. And actually later I would have recommended you to bring that case to our attention. We'll deal we'll address that separately, but like tonight, we're not dealing with that. Thank you. Uh again, council, we can have discussion or a motion. It's up to you. Uh any comments, discussion, or is there a motion? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that um we approve the text amendment um to section 3035 uh notice of town of Oakidge development ordinance uh to include electronic notices as authorized by law. Is there a second? Second. Mr. Stone, you made the motion. Any comments?

No, I I think this is just uh the outcropping of going from 1980 to 2025. Electronic notices are just uh common place. And I just think that it it doesn't forbid us from doing other forms uh on in the paper, whatever, but it just gives us another um tool in the box. M. Schneider. No. Agree. Mr. Harden. Uh I have no additional comments. It will save us some money. Uh with no further discussion is the uh motion's made in second. All those in favor say I. I. Those opposed. Motion carries.

All right. We have our first section of public comments and what we do is we allow uh community organizations to get first divs. So we have we have a report from the Triad Municipal ABC board. Uh state your name and address and you have three minutes. Hello, Jim Barbrey, 7903 Quiet Place, Oak Ridge. I'm reporting on for the Triad Municipal ABC board. Uh sales have been soft. Um as I've said before, this is a trend throughout North Carolina and the rest of the country. Um we are doing everything we can to minimize costs to try to offset the slow sales. Um, however, distributions may be down somewhat this year. Uh, just for interest, Christmas inventories are in the stores, so if you need any little decorative glasses, you can go get them now. And, um, our law enforcement group has, um, tasers now. They've been added to their repertoire. Um, they were donated. We didn't pay for them. And a policy has been put in place for the use of the tasers. Um, our quarterly distribution to our town this year for July through September is $41,750. Any questions?

No. All right. Thanks. Appreciate it. Thank you, Jim.

Now, the public comment section is now open for anyone from the public that would like to speak. Just raise your hand, uh, step up and, uh, the floor is yours. Adrian, I think your hand went up first. Good evening, Adrien Neonod, 5679 Timberace Way. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I want to take a moment and congratulate Anne Schneider and Lindseay Clark on their election to the Oakidge Town Council. I also want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all those who supported my campaign. Your encouragement, conversations, and belief in service meant so much to me. While the outcome was not what I'd hoped for, I am deeply grateful for the trust so many of you placed in me. Uh, this experience has encouraged my commitment to our town and I intend to remain actively engaged in the months and years ahead. Oakidge's future matters too much to step aside. I encourage all of us to stay engaged in the work of preserving Oakidge's character and unity. Our town is strongest when neighbors step forward with courage, humility, and hope for the future. Though elections mark endings and beginnings, the real story of Oakidge is written every day by the people who care enough to participate. I am committed to being part of that story and I look forward to continuing this journey with you and offering myself again as I can in two years. Thank you and God bless.

Anyone else wish to speak? Ty.

Ty Lindsay, 8874 Cravenwood Drive. Tonight I didn't write a speech, guys. I wanted to just come forward and speak from the heart. So, first let me say uh to the mayor and remaining council, thank you guys so much for uh giving me the opportunity and to to be a part of the election. To the winners, Ann and Lindsay, what an amazing what an amazing fight we had, but we had an ethical fight. We had a fun fight. Uh we we had the opportunity to stand with each other, talk with each other, and and I honestly believe that we broke some records somewhere. We had some voters come out and I was absolutely amazed and overwhelmed by the support that uh Oak Ridge offered me and gave me in terms of coming out to the polls to vote. Um I stand for Oak Bridge, Oak Ridge strong. I will continue to fight for Oak Bridge as well as the citizens of Oakidge. Uh as as Adrianne said, I will be back in another two years to possibly run again. And I hope I hope that I get the same support that I got November 4th. It was an absolutely amazing time, absolutely amazing night. We had the opportunity to hug people. We had the opportunity to speak with people about their their concerns, right? And and listening to the citizens is one of the major parts of why we take on the responsibility, why we put our heart and souls into what we do, why we put our names on the line. And so, just being a part of it. I I think I came in here tonight and I told someone, I'm still in campaign mode. I I still feel like I'm running uh for office even though I lost. But hey, either way, I had a great time. Thank you all so much to the council, to Oakidge, to the Oakridge citizens. I loved everything about it and you haven't seen the last of me. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you, Tom. Lindsay.

Hi, Lindseay Clark, 6816 Koala Drive. Um, yeah, I just wanted to take another opportunity to say first, thank you to my supporters who came out and voted for me on election day or early early voting. It really means a lot. One, the chance to speak with you all and kind of, you know, like Ty said, hear your concerns and the direction that you want to see Oakidge go in and I really appreciate the trust that you put in me to be the change that you want to see on Oakidge Town Council. So, I hope to make you proud and I'm ready to get to work on what we talked about and my commitments that I made. I'd also like to uh acknowledge first congratulations Anne Schneider also on winning a a seat on town council winning a re-election and to the other candidates um who did not win a seat. You know, we put in so much time and hard work on our campaigns and I really appreciate the the dedication, the commitment that you all made. I know that we all wanted to see what's best for Oakidge uh and you know work to represent that. I'm very fortunate that I got that opportunity and I'm glad to hear that you all have not backed away and that you plan on doing what you can to support a grid still in the future. Um, and lastly to people who I did not earn your vote, you know, I hope to in the future months or years earn your confidence that I am here to serve Oakidge for all of you and I hope to uh do a good job at that. So, I look forward to joining you all next month. Thank you.

Anyone else wish to speak? Okay, we'll close out that public comment section and move on to the manager report. Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, first item is uh consideration of the reappointment of Ron Simpson and Craig Rosenfeld as regular members of the planning and zoning board and the board of adjustment and also um appointment of Jeff Richtor and Moses Perry as members of the mountains to sea trail committee. We can do that as separate motions or one motion if you like.

I move that we reappoint Ron Simpson and Craig Rosenfeld as regular members of the planning and zoning board and that we appoint Jeff Richter and Moses Perry as members of the MST committee.

Is there Jim Hart second? Any discussion? If not, all those in favor say I. I opposed eyes have it. Uh the next item is uh consideration of the 2026 uh town of Oakidge meeting schedule. Um please take note uh that in the months of January, April, and July uh the standard first Thursday meeting date of town council has been moved to the second Thursday to avoid conflicts with holidays. Um, and I'd also uh point your attention to the proposed date of the capital improvement plan uh annual meeting uh which is uh typically held the second Wednesday of February. Um and that date is set on the meeting schedule as February the 11th at 10 a.m.

Uh is there a motion to approve the schedule? So move. Is there a second? Second.

Uh discussion. I'd like to make uh one passing comment. Uh I would ask the council for 2027 to take a serious look at moving the council meetings to the second Thursday of the month. The reason I make that argument is we basically 25% of our meetings are already moved. Uh we also have situations where um for example in May the typically the city vision conference is held the first week of the month and there are several sessions where staff would benefit from be able to go to that but because they're preparing for a meeting. There are also occasions where I know Sam has to kind of either not give us a report because the meetings on the first of the month uh so he doesn't have time to prepare the meetings. um doing it in the second week will not necessarily change Sam's schedule. He'll still be able to prepare the report whenever he feels like it, but it also will give council a couple extra days to review the report. Uh I understand there may be some scheduling issues for members of council. Also, the other big reason I push for it is that member uh residents will never have to look at the calendar to see when the meeting is because if it's the second Thursday of the month, there's only I haven't been able to come up with a reason why we would ever move it from the second Thursday of the month. So, people would know that the second Thursday of the month is always town council. So, I would just ask you to maybe over the next year start thinking about that and maybe when the 2027 uh calendar comes up, you consider moving it to the second Thursday because all the benefits it would give. Uh an opportunity may come up to maybe in your personal schedules allow you to have that flexibility. But I would just ask you to place that idea in your head uh for consideration in 2027. The items in motions and second, if there's no further discussion, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. The eyes have it. Um, next, uh, requesting approval of the 2026 Town of Oakidge observed holiday

schedule. Uh, as per, uh, our usual, uh, we follow the holiday schedule as adopted by the state of North Carolina. Is there a motion to approve the holiday schedule? So moved. Second.

All right. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. The opposed. The eyes have it. Um, next is a request to renew the annual storm water engineering contract with Freeze and Nichols. Um, Freeze and Nichols has served as the town's contracted storm water engineer since 2018. Uh, providing responsive and timely plan review, inspection, and enforcement services. Uh, since last year, our annual contract has been capped at $23,000 per year, uh, which is also, uh, the cap in this year's proposed contract. Uh, Frieza Nichols completes our annual Jordan Lake rules compliance report, inspects and directs remediation of storm water devices, reviews storm water plans for new residential and commercial development, inspects construction, and assists the town in responding to citizen inquiries and violations. Um, and it's town it's um staff's uh request to approve the attached annual contract renewal uh with freeze and nickels with a not to exceed amount of $23,000. Do

you recall what we've spent with them last year? Um, I do not, but we've never exceeded uh the cap to my knowledge. Okay, good. Um, is there a motion to approve? So moved. There a second. Second. Want to have any discussion? If there's no discussion, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Um, for the next item, um, assistant town manager, uh, Sandra Smith is going to present that.

Thank you, council. This is just a housekeeping item. Uh this is to um ask permission to destroy some records. Um as you know we have adopted the general records and disposition schedule that was um created by the state and we have several this is this particular part is just to get rid of um audio records and so I would ask permission that we um get rid of all the old we have boxes of old recordings by the way um CDs, cassette tapes, everything and we have some on our our server that are electronic, but to get rid of all the old town council, planning and zoning board, board of adjustment, and HPC meetings from January 2010 through October 2024. And this will be an ongoing thing. Probably about once a year, I'll bring you a request to get rid of another year's worth.

Okay. Is there a motion to approve the request? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? There's no discussion. All those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. And anything else. Um that's all. Thank you. Okay. Uh new business. We have consideration approval of appeal to a subdivision sidewalk recover requirement for River Ridge Farm. Um we would hear from the applicant. Um I think planning um Sean's gonna give a Oh, Sean, I'm sorry. Yeah, Sean, you can give the initial report.

Yeah, the initial our initial report on this. Approximately two months ago, the applicant submitted a subdivision request um along with a waiver request to for the additions of sidewalks on the for the proposed subdivision. Um the subdivision has been approved but it was approved based on the knowledge that sidewalks would have to be installed at that time. Um that being said the applicant they tabled they what they didn't tabled they continued the waiver request until the next month for September. At that meeting they heard the waiver request and denied the waiver request. The applicant has now chosen to appeal the waiver request of the the denial of the waiver by planning and zoning board to town council and that is where we are at now.

Mr. Thomas, is there anything you might want to add? I mean, based upon what you briefed us earlier today, is there any action that we need to take on this specifically or is the point is it you may turn your turn your mic on. The council has to find okay supporting facts for the waiver request. That's in the discretion of the council. Uh other than what I had in the memo is nothing else for me to add at this time. It would be with council.

All right. Appropriate, I guess, to ask the applicant to come up. Uh would the applicant please come up, identify themselves, and make your case? Mayor Kentman, my name is uh Bo Rodenbo and I am an attorney with the Brooks Law Firm in Greensboro. My address is 1720 Madison Avenue in Greensboro. Uh I appear here tonight on behalf of the applicant, Green Horse LLC, and it's uh principal, Mr. Joe Brady, is here tonight as well. Uh the proposed uh Brown Riveridge Farm subdivision would include four lots with frontage along Lynville Road where there are six historic oaks that are currently located as part of the Barrow Brown House and Riveridge Farm tract. The installation of a sidewalk on those lots would require that the existing historic oak trees be damaged or killed. and we've submitted to the to the town an arborist report to that effect. The installation of a sidewalk uh is unnecessary to meet the performance standards for walkability in in Oakidge as there's already a sidewalk directly across uh Lynville Road from the uh lots that are in question here. and th that existing sidewalk appears in the photographs that we submitted with our packet uh for the board's consideration. The town adopted its first future land use plan back in 2003. At that time, the subject property was designated as within the town core. Uh an updated future land use plan was adopted in 2016 and that update redesated the property as within the town core transition zone. Uh, town ordinance 38-862 requires sidewalks on all streets within

the town core, but references uh the 2003 future land use plan rather than the version adopted in 2016. Uh the ordinance as interpreted and applied uh by the planning and zoning board would require um Green Green Greenhorse LLC to install sidewalks on this property even though it is no longer located within the town core. So, our arguments uh for the facts that would support a waiver here are that the application of the sub sidewalk ordinance uh would not meet the the provisions of the future land use plan that locate this property now in the town core transition zone which does not require the application of sidewalks. In addition, installing these sidewalks would violate the historic preservation goals of the town of Oakidge. This property is one of the most historic in Oakidge. The the oak trees that front on on Lynville Road are some of the most historic in Oakidge and are are covered by the the town's historic preservation plan. Uh so we believe these these oaks the preservation of these oaks are required under town ordinance section 30-996 as we've recited to you in the in the packet that we submitted. The town's goals of historic preservation and walkability are best served by connecting the proposed subdivision to the existing sidewalk located on the opposite side of Lynville Road by means of a crosswalk across um Lynville Road. Uh, and there's even been some discussion with NC DOT about even lowering the speed limit in that section of Lynville Road if that's what the town was of a mind to do in order to

make a crosswalk more more usable. uh we believe that uh this this alternative would better perform under the land development ordinance for the town as well as under the uh uh provisions for maintaining historic oaks in the in the in the town of Oakidge. For all these reasons, we respectfully request that the council grant our request for a waiver of the requirements of ordinance 362 as applied to this property. Thank you. Um, Mr. Stone, comments, questions?

Um, sure. Um guess I'm not convinced that the the land use plan um the 2016 I I don't know that that's interpreted correctly. I think that our ordinances there are and what we have in place is is good. I I don't see an issue there. I do think that there are some conversations the council will have concerning um other parts of it, but I don't have any questions for uh the applicant. M

Schneider, any questions or initial comments? Um I'm not sure I understood what Mr. Stone said, but in the um memo we received today from Michael Thomas, our attorney, uh I think the argument was made that it should have said the 2016, the most recent plan, which then it is in the transition zone. So, I certainly take that part of the argument. Thank you, Mr. Harden. Just a question what I heard. Sorry, I'll mess this up. Mr. Roden B.

Yes. Um you you've said the you made a proposal of crosswalk connections across the street and certainly there's already um already sidewalks in front of this very unique piece of property that I mean certainly is clearly part of uh Oakidge history and uh the trees certainly give uh give a great uh frame for that whole piece of property. Uh I didn't hear you say who's responsible for that crosswire. Was that uh let me flip again. M uh green green uh

green horse green horse horse or who who is responsible for putting that crosswalk in? Well, that that would be we would have to make application to NC DOT because Limmerl Road is a statemaintained road. Uh and uh you know and and I think the town would have to join us in that application as well. But um but I think Mr. Harton, you're asking who would pay for it. I'm asking who would do it this who would do it.

Yeah. Can can I comment? I I would think it would be unlikely that DOT would approve something like that simply because there typically needs to be a sidewalk on the other side of the street for the crosswalk to connect to. Um that in my opinion that's probably an impractical um solution.

Okay. Um Okay. I don't have any questions for you at this time. Um if it's okay, I'll start the conversation. Um, I think everybody understands that I am a big big advocate of sidewalks. Um, even without the language that we got from our town attorney today, I was skeptical of the uh desiraability of requiring a sidewalk in that area. Uh, the reason I make part part of my reason for making the argument of maybe not having require a sidewalk on the on the other side of the trees is if we ever did sidewalks the rest of the way up Lynville, the house on the corner of Lynville and Scoggins, the about the only way we'd be able to put sidewalk there would be able would be if we put in what's called curb and gutter because the sidewalk would be so close to the street. You'd have to put a gutter a curb in to kind of protect the sidewalk. Um, so that's one of the reasons why I would be in favor of uh providing the waiver. But I believe also the direction we got from uh from our town attorney kind of tells us that I don't think we legally are required. I I don't think a developer is legally required to have a sidewalk there. If I understood your your your notes, is that true? I didn't specifically address that, but I think that's correct. Actually, there's not a Sean, correct me if I'm wrong. There's no sidewalk requirement within this subdivision

there in well within if the 2016 land use plan and the sidewalks are not required within the transition zone. Now, I was asking within this subdivision itself. Within the subdivision? No, there's no

That's right. So, but when I talked to uh I did talk to Mr. Robo earlier today and I I said in terms of a a u crosswalk, I said you'd need a sidewalk on the other side. There is a street or going in to serve these uh two of these houses. It would be possible to put a sidewalk of some length along part of that at least if you wanted something to join on that side and then apply to NC DOT as was said. Now we've got two sidewalk on each side. Let's put a crosswalk in. Uh and the folks in the upper lots would presumably cross on the back side of their lots or along the street to get to that. But you would have that would be the way you would connect up. It seems to me how you get there through the process you're involved in right now is uh possibly in the subsection of the waiver ordinance which says you can condition a waiver. So you could put a condition on a waiver. Mr. Harden asked me about securing an easement for future uses if and when the trees die or somebody takes down the historic house, which I presume would be an HPC matter if that ever got got to it. Uh my feeling about that was that you'd really have to condition that easement a lot to avoid nonpreservationist feeling to uh intervene in the future. uh people that maybe aren't as concerned as you are with preservation. So, I would not recommend a uh breadandbut garden variety easement as a condition, but you could do something by way of conditioning if you wanted to secure an application for a crosswalk. I just

suggest it, but okay, that's how you would go about that. Mr. Stone, would you like to continue the conversation? I'm ready to make a motion if Does anyone else want to make any initial comments before a motion's made? That's fine. Go ahead and make a motion. Uh I make a motion that specific findings of fact exist as such that a waiver is appropriate and should be granted. Is there a second? Second. Okay, Mr. Stone, you made the motion. Any discussion?

Yeah. So, planning and zoning did their job. They applied um the ordinance. though this is not a commentary on that. Um but under section 3831 grounds for waiver um it says that uh grounds for wavel for waiver um have to have some specific findings of fact. Uh I believe those circumstances exist. Um it says physical hardship where uh because of the size of the track being subdivided as topography or conditions of the nature adjoining areas and such. um strict compliance with the provision of this article would cause unusual necessary hardship. I believe that exists based on the fact that um those um gorgeous 100-year-old trees are right there and I don't not sure that there are too many people that would pick sidewalks over trees um if you had to choose between the two. Um, and the other one is equal or better performance. Uh, where in the opinion of a waiver will result in equal or better performance in the furtherance of the purpose of the ordinance. Um, I think that equal or better is been listed out. There's a sidewalk directly across the street. If there are some opportunities to have a crosswalk somewhere close to or adjacent to the property, I think that that's um that's appropriate. um that's a DOT thing and it's not part of this. But um I I do believe that there are um in fact um findings that are limited in scope um for this particular case and it doesn't create a general precedent. It's just for this specific case.

Okay, Mr. Harden, I have a tendency to um agree with Mr. time, but I had a question on the the sidewalk across the street. Is uh looking for mountains to the sea people here? I don't see Oh, sorry. You were being blocked. I is is that sidewalk that's being referred to across the street. Is that not part of the the mountains to the sea thoroughare that connects and then comes into the town parks through that sidewalk? Okay. So it's an it's something that will be just just for record, she shook her head. Yes.

Yeah. Okay. But the it it is it is part of the thorough affair. It's not a trail, but um and therefore it'll be wellkept and and and appropriate for pedestrian uh trans transport. Miss Schneider. Yeah, I I agree that with the findings of fact uh and certainly the trees are beautiful, the space is small, there is a a hardship. It is great that there's a sidewalk across the street and uh I'm in favor.

Yeah. And I just want to reaffirm I I think if we ever did do a sidewalk on that side of the street, we probably have to do a bit of curb and guttering anyway. And so if the if the sidewalk went in and out, in and out, in and out, it would be a little u less less efficient and less thing. Um, you know, so that's why that on that alone, I think it's it's appropriate for the and also like I said, the trees, um, you know, there's no reason those trees aren't going to be around for a while longer. So I definitely would would prefer a solution that doesn't, uh, put those trees at risk. So I also there. So, if there's no further discussion, all those in favor say I.

I oppose. You have your waiver. Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, uh can I add a piggyback from uh our council's u email. Um bas and and I'm forgive me, but I'm going to use some of your your terminology here. uh is based on the opinion and advice of our legal counsel, we should instruct staff and the planning board to proceed under the 2016 future land use plan with regards to this and other development applications on residential transition zone um or transition area um are delineated in the 2016 future land use plan and uh to initiate the procedure for technical revisions of section uh 30-862 of the development ordinance. is to delete the reference to the Oakidge future land use plan adopted May 2003 and substitute the reference to the Oakidge future land use plan adopted January 2016 is modified February 2016 I'm not asking that as a part of a motion but to

well what I would ask is is that something we can do can we do that tonight or do we need to need to do something a little more formal right so we'd have to go through a hearing process okay so I was going to say if we could we we'd just go ahead and do it tonight, but we have to go through a formal process. And just to piggyback on that where we're already working on doing a overall comprehensive update to our ordinance uh within our draft, I've already made that change. All right. Thank you.

Uh monthly finance report. Again, the most invigorating part of the night. Um, everyone should have received a copy of the finance officer's report and a copy of the financial statements. Um, for the activity, we received a wire transfer, property tax of 21,447 for September, motor vehicle taxes, uh, excuse me, that should have been October. I fat fingered that one. motor vehicle taxes of 10,8454 for a total of 3229218. This was all collections through October 31st. Um for the month we had um our normal sales and property tax collections, interest, planning and zoning fees, the ABC distribution that was already mentioned, and we had donations to HBC and the Veterans Honor Green, uh town special events revenues, and some general park revenues. um investments in the depository banks are being monitored uh with the uh Fed rate reductions. We're starting to see indications of a possible softening on some of the interest rates being paid. Uh we're addressing that by looking at uh various options with all of our depository banks, whether it's um Cedars or variants thereof or money markets or other CDs. So, we're, you know, trying to look forward um and plan. Um the other thing, uh the uh waterline capital project fund has been established with a checking account. Um everything on that's ready to go. The checks are being ordered. So, when we start getting the bills on that, we'll be ready to go. Um grant compliance, we've been supportive on that. Uh this is ARPA, the CIP process and work on the water system. Uh annual audit is still underway with

completion anticipated by Thanksgiving and presentation at the December meeting. Um overall a fairly uh quiet month. Our total assets are at 2.869 million um with liabilities of 70 basically 73,000 and fund balance of 2.796 million. So as usual strong balance sheet position behind this is all the detail um we did have quite a number of checks and everything this year this month. So um the uh expense portion and the detail of the funds is is uh a little on the thicker side uh because we did have uh more bills this month wrapping up some things with uh various projects and with just it's the time of year for some of the annual fees and such as that cycle. So overall very normal month. Uh we are monitoring um I have just gotten reports today through the fire department on motor vehicle collections. I'm still monitoring and watching on that um because of the past errors. Uh the latest I do have with Guilford County is that uh they still are feeling confident about uh rectifying any of the collection issues based on the underlying mapping as far as where a person is. They are down to motor vehicle taxes in one fire district. That's the only overlay that they're still concerned about and they're still working on. All the rest have been tested. Uh so that gives us a good rate of assurance that that what we are uh being told and what numbers we're receiving are in fact accurate and everything is um resolving. Uh because we did have some individuals that reside in the town of Oakidge that are over near the Happy Hill Road, Warner Road area and um one of them was a client of mine who did not receive his property tax on part of his property for four

years. and the county he showed me the letter the county acknowledged it was nothing town it was all on them so they did handle that and they are legally doing the collection so all those appear in our area to have been resolved so we should be moving forward fairly easily now right okay cool is there a motion to accept the finance officer's report is there a second second any discussion all those in favor say I opposed eyes have it thank you as always thank you job thank you okay thank you Mr. Harden, we didn't have all these committee reports. So, how many Howardins are we up to? Not quite up to four.

Okay. All right. All right. So, we're going to we're going to use u just so you know, Roger Howardon has the record for the shortest meeting, and we're now uh uh measuring our town meetings in Howard's. So, with with respect to Roger. Yes. Uh okay. Okay, we have committee reports. Uh, historic preservation. Okay. Meet I don't think they met this month. Planning and zoning. I think we heard.

Yeah. Board of adjustments did not meet. Mountain to see. I understand you have some very exciting news. Oh, you got a bridge. You got the final bridge.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is exciting. Um, hi Ann Steel, 8927 Grove Park Drive, Oakidge. Um, we held our monthly meeting at town hall on October 28th. The minutes from the September 23rd meeting were reviewed and approved. Um, project updates. The headarters. Well, we've got beavers. and they've been wrecking havoc over there. Um they've been very active and determined to build a den on the Lynville Road entrance side of the trail.

Um this has caused um some flooding on the trail and um Joel, myself and Bill Bruce went over and checked things out to try to get an understanding of the impact and what options we might have. Um, we've kind of lost count how many times committee members have gone over there, torn down the dams, and cleared drainage areas. Um, we will continue to monitor this situation. Bill contacted experts with the Department of Agriculture and we are consulting with them about the best course of action there. um the Pimberly Carriage Cove Trails, that's where we have our final completed bridge. Um on October 22nd, we had a fantastic workday with VF Corp. Um there was over 20 volunteers that came and helped us out there and performed a lot of maintenance on the trail and so that trail's really in good condition right now. Um, a portion of the MST committee meeting in November will be dedicated to talking about um, names, name ideas for the new trails. Um, we're going to be walking the trails and coming up with ideas and then brainstorming ideas and coming up with a list. So, if anyone has any suggestions that you'd like your name on the trail, let me know. Um once there's a list, it will be provided to the community through Facebook posts and an email blast and people will have the opportunity to vote and the names that gets the most votes will be awarded the new names on the trails. Um these will not be part of the MST trails as we have no way to get out currently. So they will just be part of the Oakidge trails system for now. Um scout update. We have a scout who is

working on as been mentioned bef before on the headarters trail um creating kind offormational educational boards over on the headarters trail and his um project was approved by the scouts eagle board of review and so he's continuing with to work with Mike Kimmel who's a member of our committee on um the best place to place the signs and also what content to include. Um, the new parking lot at Scuba Tools is complete. Wow, I talked longer. Sorry. Um, real quick. Um, the drainage will need to be monitored and next steps are adding signage and a kiosk. Do I need to stop? I'm really almost done. Um, we're excited to welcome Frank, Jeff, and Moses to the committee. We're super excited about that. And there's a work day scheduled for Wednesday, November 12th.

Excellent. I'm really excited about that about the whole trail. Thanks. I believe I talked about It's all right. All right. Conservation easement committee. I don't believe they met. Didn't meet special events. Now, Patty can have special dispensation. Do you need special extra time?

Okay. Patty Damchowski, 7320 Hidden View Drive. Veterans Honor Green. Everything's in place for the special dedication for the boardwalk at the Veterans Day ceremony. Uh the landscape architects, Anna and Mark Reeves, plus Shannon Parker from Parker Construction here in Kernersville, who actually built the boardwalk, will be in attendance. The Veterans Day ceremony again will be on Tuesday, November 11th at the Veterans Honor Green at 10:00 a.m. Our guest speaker will be retired Lieutenant Colonel Christian Castelli. The Oakidge Baptist Church band will perform and the Oakidge Methodist Choir will perform. Also, our scouts are also going to participate in the ceremony. Uh flyers have been placed all around town and we hope you will be able to join us. Light up the night. We're gearing up for our light up the night event on Saturday, December 6th. Additional lights and stars and special light up for Santa and his reindeers have been ordered. Uh we'll be looking for volunteers to help put out the 1300 luminaries on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Amy Karkov will send out a signup genius a genius to have volunteers sign up. Folks are welcome to stay for an hour or several hours and we hope to see you all there. 911 2026 2026 will be the 25th anniversary of 911. I was able to secure a donated piece of steel cut from the core beam of tower 2 of the World Trade Center from DH Griffin Wrecking Company in Greensboro. I'll be meeting with parks and wreck advisory board next week to see if I can get their approval for a small small memorial in the Oakidge Park by the flag pole with the steel piece and a small plaque detailing the events of that day. Farmhouse open house. The special events

committee will have a table at the farmhouse open house this Sunday. We'll be hand handing out information on our committee and trying to get some additional volunteers to serve on the committee. Thank you. Any questions? Thanks. Appreciate it. Good. Thank you. Tree board.

Good evening, council. My name is John Browning. I live at 8024 Lynville Road. The tree board met this morning and we planted a goodsiz white oak tree about 15 feet tall, 3-in caliber ball and burlap tree. Um the tree looks looks great and looks nice. Uh and we're proud of the fact that Oakidge has a distinction and honor being uh Tree City USA by the Arbor Day Foundation and this planting uh satisfies one of the requirements for us to maintain that that status. So again, we're proud of that and and again it's a white oak tree and it's my understanding that most of the uh historic homes in Oakidge were framed with white oak. So, we thought that was a perfect choice um to be used uh to plant more of those trees and and we we do u appreciate the fact that y'all chose a tree over the sidewalk u in the earlier matter. So, we we'll pick that too. um mentioning the historic oak ridge. Just a little plug for Sandra Smith's book that most of the uh again the houses in this um historic district use white oak trees and and again that's an excellent um uh book that Sandra um has done and we'll probably hear more about that soon. But um anyway u any questions or comments? No,

thank you as always. Appreciate it. Thanks, Parks and Rec.

Aiden Echenod, Parks and Rec co-chair. Uh the Firehouse Community Center, well, actually Parks and Rec did not meet last month. We did not have any agenda items, but we will be meeting next Thursday. Uh the Firehouse Community Center walkway issues are being addressed um over the next few weeks. However, the farmhouse is already being rented uh several times and rentals are now available and people may reserve it on my.com. Uh as Patty mentioned, there will be a tour uh event this Sunday uh November 9th from 2 to 4 p.m. Uh this is a floating event. There'll be light refreshments and copies of the historical Oakidge book will be on sale and available. And of course, our author, Sandra Smith, will be on site for book signings. Um, we also look to offer additional tours in the spring. Um, we're planning an open house to coincide with our first music on the lawn event, uh, which is currently scheduled for Sunday, May 31st, 2026.

Thank you. Uh, finance committee didn't meet, but I just want to give you a heads up. Finance committee season will be starting what? In February, typically late February. March. Okay. But it'll be here quicker, sooner than you think. The finance committee is citizen uh staffed uh and they do a line by line review of it. So I encourage you to uh attend if you want to participate in any of the finance committee activities. Water advisory committee they're going to have a I don't think anyone's here but they're going to have a drop in on November 13th uh from what 4 is it what time?

Uh from 4:30 to 6:30. Yes. Thursday, um, November 13th here at town hall to, um, ask questions, uh, for those citizens interested in the, uh, new water line. Yeah, because the water line will be coming down 150 and residents will be able to hook up voluntarily. Uh, there's except for new development, there's no requirement to hook up to the water main. Uh, the only requirement to hook up would be new development or if your well goes bad. So, okay. Uh, we have our second public comment section before you leave the water.

Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Hart. I mean, if if those that have been uh looking behind town hall, the uh the the the deliveries of the uh supplies to start the tower itself are starting to arrive. They're in a delay pattern, I think, due to trucking, not so much anything else. But this is, if you look, you'll see it's pretty big uh stuff back there. Yeah. and trucking has to be it's a special kind of trucking that's required to bring that from Nebraska uh to to Oakidge. Um, so I would you should by certainly by Christmas start seeing a a tower that's elevated. May may maybe not complete but certainly uh a a tower a water tower that will uh form the first bit of infrastructure for the um for the first water uh leg of the water system that then will be brought from the county uh county line up up Oakidge Road to Lynville and hopefully onto the commons. Uh that's it.

Yeah. Our understanding is once the steel's here, things will move fairly quickly. So, it might be something you might want to come out and watch. It's not, you know, so it goes up what? From a distance. Well, from outside. Yeah. From outside the lines, but but like I said, my understanding is these are these are crews that travel around the country. So, when they're on site, they want to move quickly. So, it might be something. We will be blasting that on Facebook because a crane will come in and within a day or two, the thing just goes up. Yeah. So, like I said, what's the best guess of when it's going to happen? Right now, they say November 22nd. Yeah, in in the next couple of weeks.

Okay. Excellent. Okay. Uh, public comments. Uh, anyone else wish to speak? Mr. Anders,

Sam Anders, 1829 Oakidge Road. Nothing dealing with finance. Just wanted to extend a notification. Uh the community has been really good at supporting Moravia Moravia with the Dewys popup store as they call them that we have had for quite a number of years. Um due to some things that the shopping center we have relocated the swim club has very graciously allowed the uh popup store to be there. Uh you will see the little portable u store building with its ramp uh to the left of the swim club. It's going to be opening on November the 15th. So for everybody that would need a good Christmas gift that is always appreciated, Moravian cookies uh are like crack cocaine to most people. Um I stand guilty of that. But um all all the goodies from Dwies, especially the Moravian cookies, but also the church ladies, uh Moravian chicken pies, uh apple butter, uh other craft goods, uh will be there. And so we welcome everybody in the community. It'll be opening on Saturday, November the 15th and running through I believe it's December the 23rd, but uh it'll be right there. Plenty of parking and you know very very gracious of the swim club to work with us on that. So we welcome everyone in the community to come by and uh have a sample.

Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak? I don't see any h other hands going up, so we'll close out the public comment section. Since we're going to have a closed session to meet with the attorney, we're going to do our council comments first. Mr. Stone,

uh, yeah, three quick things. Uh, Mike Greon's under the weather uh, tonight. Um, he's probably watching this being live streamed. So, get well, Mike. Ann's also under the weather, but she's musling through. So, I hope you get feeling better. Um and uh a public service announcement uh forecasting freezing temperatures for Saturday night. Um so check your outside faucets. Uh if you have hoses connected, disconnect those. Um but more importantly, uh shelter your pets indoors, please. Uh it's when you walk outside when it goes from 70 to 30, it feels bitterly cold. uh your pets feel that same thing. Please take care of your pets. Thank you,

Mr. Harden. Just congratulations to all the people that ran for office, especially to Ann and Lindsay uh that were successful, but uh from what we saw that our other two candidates seem to want to be uh around for for the next time around, and that's encouraging. Um, so thank you to to everyone for that. Um, I'm u I'll stop now because we're over five Howardons. Miss Miss Schneider.

Yeah, I'm I'm not feeling well tonight. I can't really hear very well. Ear infection not contagious. But since I've gotten through tonight will mark eight years on town council and I haven't missed a meeting, so I didn't feel like I could start tonight. Um, I want to thank, as everyone has done, all the candidates and mostly all the voters. We did have the highest turnout that we've ever had of 19%. That's fantastic. And I think having, uh, a real range of candidates, you know, from Jim and me as incumbents, plus three others, uh, it makes a real difference and there are strong issues out there. Um, and so, thank you to everyone. And again, great conversations at the polls. I really appreciate that. One of the things I did hear that was uh one of those little tidbits of misinformation was that water is going to bring in development. That's not true. It's not possible. Uh to have apartments, which is what this person was concerned about, you have to have sewer. uh water is to serve our fire department almost primarily because they don't have places to fill up their trucks that are easy to get to. We're going to be able to and the trucks are larger and the places to fill up in town are more difficult to get to. Uh so um they will now have a fire hydrant at the station and there will be fire hydrants along Oakidge Road. All of that is good for their rating and it's good for our home insurance rates. So, this is a great thing for Oakidge. And again, as I I think Jim said, residents don't have to hook up. But those who have trouble with their uh private wells in any way, contamination or uh hitting rock, that sort of thing, they want to connect. And certain neighborhoods, there are a lot

of people in my neighborhood, which is behind the elementary school, that are enthusiastic. And then there are places like the elementary school in the Commons that are very enthusiastic and others. So this is a great thing. It's a service for our town and our rates are actually going to be cheaper than Aqua's. So that's also great. Um, and I think uh Adrian alluded to the farmhouse being available for rent e even while some last things that the contractor, you know, made some mistakes on and has to fix. So, we're not paying more money on it. But I heard today that the farmhouse is even in this preliminary period booked solid on weekends through the end of the year. There's a lot of pentup demand for this kind of indoor facility. Uh and that's why five years ago when we did the survey over 90% of people said they want this some sort of public facility and staff has always told us that people are asking for an indoor facility. So I think this is a really exciting time and I'm really excited to be part of the book signing and tours this Sunday and I hope you'll all come out for that. Thank you. appreciate. Um, I'll have a lot more to say next month on the election and things like that, but I congratulate everyone that won. I also, uh, thanks for everybody that run that ran. I'm sorry, get my grammar correctly. Um, every election I've always felt that everyone's running truly loves this town and that that shows. And so I applaud the people that ran. I also applaud the people that that won. So, good job. Uh, as always, I will mention blood. If you're able to donate blood, please do. In December, the United Methodist uh, not United, I apologize. The Oakidge Methodist Church uh, will have their uh, even month. So, every even month, the

second Monday of every even month, the Methodist Church has a blood drive. So, you know, it's been time long enough that you can donate again. Uh, Summit Church has blood drives. Central Baptist has blood drives. So, there's many other blood drives, but especially as you get near the holidays, it's it's a it's an amazing gift you can give that can help three people. So, if you're able to donate, please do. Uh, the other thing I think you like might find interesting is the Lions Club has been building a tranquility garden in the park on the far side of Heritage Farm Park multi-purpose fields. Um, and it's a nice comp comp a place you can sit and uh uh commune. Yeah, I can't pronounce the word that word right now. So, I'm not going to I'm not going to continue to try because I'm just going to make make it worse. Um, so it's an area what we're going to have trees and things like that planted for, you know, past members of the club. It'll also be an area where if you want to uh dedicate a tree for your family members or something like that, you can. So, and we're we're also, you know, working with the tree the tree board to to do that. But we have a very interesting recent addition that you might want to take a trip over there. Danny Janis found a almost life-size lion statue that he has positioned over there. So, you may want to take a walk over there tomorrow when it's daylight out and take a look at this statue. Like I said, it is about five, four or five feet tall, I think. Uh, so it's a pretty impressive thing. He got it at an auction for for a steel. So, like I said, it's it's in a temporary location right now, but if you have a moment, I'd encourage you to take a trip over there and take a look at it. It's pretty it's pretty impressive. So, uh with that, uh that's about all I have. Again, hopefully Mike Greon, uh wish him the best. He gets better soon so we can see him again. Uh with that, we are going to go into a close session. So, is there a motion to go into close session? So,

move. Is there a second? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. Well, you shouldn't be that long.

motion. We come out of Is there a second? Second. All those in favor say I. I. No. There was no action taken. All right. Uh, is there a motion to adjurnn? So move. Is there a second? All those in favor say I. I. Post. Thanks everyone. Heat. Heat.