City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the city council meeting of the city of Lenoir for Monday, May the 4th, 2026. A little bit different than we usually meet, but uh there's some things going on that we out of town for tomorrow. So, we're going to meet today. Glad that you could join us tonight. Uh it is a uh special day. Of course, it's uh Star Wars Day. May the 4th be with us all. Anyway, uh as we normally do, we'll just start in a few minutes with our moment of silence and our pledge of allegiance. As we go to that time, I would like to make a couple of announcements that some families that I'd like for you to keep in your thoughts and prayers. Please remember our Lenoir's former city manager and council member, Mr. Lewis Price, who was with us for a long, long time. He was 91. Lewis passed away uh late this week. Uh born in Gastonia, he began his career in government at the age of 18 while he was in college. After he graduated from college, he joined the Army serving for 10 years. He married his loving wife, Carol, who also has passed away uh in 1957. And she was a daughter of the Gastonia city manager, and that's how Lewis I think got started in all this. Uh Lewis has served his career in the city of Gastonia. He was also uh a minute administrative intern in the town of Valdese. He became a Mount Holly city manager first. In '64, he came to the city of Lenoir as our city manager and served here for us for over 20 years. Then served the city as city manager of High Point for 17 years before he retired and returned to Lenoir to live. He was elected to serve on the city council in 1999 and was stepped aside when uh our manager uh Jim Hipp left and we hired Blaine Bailey and served as our interim manager until that hiring was done in 2004. And he served uh council until still 2013. So, Lewis spent over 60 years involved in local government, and we certainly do appreciate all that Lewis uh meant to this community in so

many ways. And also, we would remember uh former fire chief and the at the uh in Gamewell and and a police a fireman for the city of Lenoir for so many years, Chief uh Keith Owens, uh who was 70. He passed away uh April 24th, 2026. Uh Keith uh as we said was a firefighter for many, many years in including 55 years of service with the Gamewell Fire Department, where he served as their chief for 31 years. His passing extended throughout North Carolina with 20 years at the Lenoir Fire Department and 13 years with the North Carolina Forest Service. Chief Owens also proudly served on the uh WNCAF board from uh for 3 years uh at that time. He uh was operational leadership. Keep Chief Owens was a devoted educator, and his vision for youth mentorship became a reality with the founding of a Junior Firefighter Academy, which was named for Chief Keith Owens uh in 2023. So, we remember uh Chief Owens and Lewis Price and their families as uh as we uh mourn their passing uh with us. And we thank them for what they do. Also today, this is a special day. It's International Firefighters' Day uh all for May the 4th, and we uh remember to honor the past, to recognize the present, and to inspire the future. And we thank our firemen and our firefighters of all types in and every of of every field for what they do. Put their lives on the line. They do everything to protect us. And we certainly do appreciate that. Chief Chief, thank you and our department for and all the departments of this county for what they for what they do. So, thank you for that. Now, if you will, please uh Oh, one more announcement I'll make real quick. Uh John Hogan, do you have a speed limit sign is like for a 55? Well, we might want to give it to Councilman John Beal. He turns 55 years old today. Happy birthday.

[applause]

Double nickels, balls. Double nickels, yes, that's right. Happy birthday, John. We want to celebrate. Now, please rise for our moment of silence and our pledge. Thank you. Please salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. We have several special recognitions tonight. None of them any more important than this very first one that we're doing tonight. This is one of those again I call bitter bitter sweet. That uh we have a gentleman who has been with us over 30 some years.

[laughter] And he is retiring. He has led us in our this community and this city for many years. Lester, come up here and join me. The honorable Lester Whittington. [applause] [applause]

Congratulations. This is Lester is retiring after 30 three years with the city of Lenoir. He has led our recreation program in in many ways at the Martin Luther King Center. Uh his he he's come up with all kind of programs, and we're so proud I'm going to read those in this resolution in just a second, but we appreciate Lester and what you have meant to this community. Your friendship for all of us and especially me has been been great. I'm proud to call you my friend. I'm proud to have served with you in many ways. We're like brothers. We're a lot of different things, and it's a great thing, and and I'm proud of that for sure. But let me read the resolutions and make a special presentation. Resolution honoring Lester E. Whittington. Whereas Lester Whittington began serving at the Martin Luther King Center working part-time in the summer of 1993 and moved to full-time in June of 1994. And Whittington was promoted to Martin Luther King Jr. Center manager in 1997, where he managed facilities and the daily operations. And whereas Whittington graduated from North Carolina A&T and then served 10 years in the United States Army. Whittington did two overseas tours of duty, one in Germany and one in South Korea. And whereas during his 30 plus years at the center, Whittington ran the Aram Arts Festival, the longest running festival in Lenoir and Caldwell County. He helped create the ATC basketball camp, founded the Jump Street Drive Music Festival in 2015, and helped found the Caldwell County Black Sports Hall of Fame in 2023. And whereas Whittington also uh organized many community and holiday events, including Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations, uh Black History Month events, Halloween

trunk or treats, and Christmas toy giveaway, which is really a lot of fun. And whereas Whittington was recognized by the Lenoir Rotary Club with a vocational service award for ethical standards, commitment to their pro- to their professions, and dedications to serving the community. And whereas in 2025, Whittington was honored with a Lester E. Whittington naming of the lobby and entrance hall at the Martin Luther King Center. And we're proud of that. We'll have that there to remember you for a long, long time. And whereas Lester Whittington was announced has announced his retirement effective June 1st, 2026 with more than 30 years of public service. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I as mayor and on behalf [clears throat] of the city of Lenoir City Council and all citizens do hereby congratulate Lester on his retirement and commend him for the example he has set as a dedicated public servant. And be it further resolved that the council and I extend our sincere appreciation and deep gratitude for his faithful and outstanding service and many contributions to the betterment of our city.

[applause] [applause] [applause]

We have one more to present to you. Lester, highest thing that we can give to anyone is the key to our city. It says that you have been a wonderful part and you have made this city a very special place to live, work, and play. And you have really done that. Thank you. And we do appreciate it in so many ways. So, this key to the city is presented to Lester E. Whittington for the Martin Luther King Jr. Center manager in recognition of 30 plus years of dedicated and outstanding service to the city of Lenoir by the Lenoir City Council, Joseph L. Gibbons, mayor, May the 4th, 2026. [applause]

Speech. Speech. Well, just let me give you the Wells Fargo No. [laughter] That that and the key. I just want to thank everybody. I want to thank the city managers, the mayor, uh Ike Christian, and everybody for always supporting me when I needed to talk to them and being there for me. I want to thank all my friends that came out today. Can't thank you enough. My pastor's here today. So, I just want to thank everybody. It's bittersweet, believe me. It's going to be hard, but I'm still a phone call away. So, just want to thank everybody. Keep me in your prayers. [applause]

Uh you want the council to come down with that meeting? Yeah, come on down. I'll stand down here. George I'm just the interim. How are you doing? Always good to see you. Does anybody else want to get pictures? All right, right here. All right, everybody look at me. Put your hands down. 1 2 3 cheese. 1 2 3 1 2 3 cheese. There you go. Thank you. Thank you again. What's that? George Mitchell Do we need to do something special about that?

Lester, thank you very much. We'll see you see you all soon, I'm sure. Thank everybody that came out tonight to support Lester. All right, we have several other recognitions to do tonight. I'm going to read them from here. Lester had to stand there all that time to read these. So, and then we'll come down and uh present them to each person and then do a picture. We're going to do them all and then we'll do a picture of each one after we finish each one of these. So, try to move it on. Next is a special recognition on behalf of the city council to present a proclamation to Emily Hippensteel. Am I Did I get that right? Miss Carolina Foothills Teen of 2026

[clears throat]

as proclaiming the week of May 10th through the 16th 2026 as Food Allergy Awareness Week throughout the city of Lenoir. Thank you, Emily, for do that. Thank you for being here. Uh this is uh whereas Food Allergy Awareness Week was established as a national week of encouraging food allergy awareness and supporting those who are impacted by food allergies and anaphylaxis anaphylaxis How do you pronounce that? And whereas uh food allergies affect approximately 32 million Americans including 6 million children and whereas the prevalence of food allergies appears to be increasing among children under the age of 18 which is two students in every classroom and whereas according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 1997 and 2011 the prevalence of food allergies rose 50% and whereas nine foods account for 90% of all food allergy reactions peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs wheat, soy, fish, shellfish and sesame and whereas there is no cure for food allergies strict avoidance is the only way to prevent an allergic reaction and whereas this whatever I read a minute ago is a serious allergic reaction that comes on quickly and has the potential to become life threatening and whereas managing a food allergy on a daily basis involves constant vigilance and trace amounts of an allergen can trigger an allergic reaction in some individuals and whereas food allergy and the anaphylaxis Thank you. Anaphylaxis Connection Team, thank you for that. is a national nonprofit organization committed to their mission

to educate, advocate and raise awareness for all individuals and families affected by food allergies and life threatening anaphylaxis allergy anaphylaxis And now therefore Too many times using that. Now there therefore I as mayor of the city of Lenoir do hereby proclaim the week of May 10th through the 16th 2026 as Food Allergy Awareness Week in the city of Lenoir, North Carolina and encourage all residents to encourage their un- understanding and awareness of this potentially life threatening medical condition improving the quality of life of the 32 million Americans affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis [laughter]

whatever In witness whereof I have added to set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Lenoir to be affixed this the 4th day of May 2026. So, I will ask Emily if you will meet me at the podium. Well, I'll present this to you and let you speak a minute and then we'll do pictures when we do after the others. It helps having a wife as a nurse. I said we got to break it down. I heard it before Oh, okay. Whatever you like to say to I'm Emily Hippensteel and I'm your Miss Carolina Foothills Teen. As Mayor Gibbons said a second ago over 33 million Americans live with food allergies every day including me. I have five food allergies myself. So, that is why I make it my goal to make sure we make our spaces and communities as allergy safe as possible and I do this by partnering up with research centers, doctors and I do workshops with elementary schools and Girl Scouts. And by doing this we create spaces for our older generations and younger generations more aware of the seriousness of allergies. And so, I want to thank Mayor Gibbons and the entire Lenoir community for making this possible. Thank you.

[applause]

We'll get you back up after the pictures. Thank you. Okay, next is our special recognition for the city council to uh for a proclamation to public works Excuse me, public services public utilities director Jeff Church proclaiming the week of May 3rd through May 9th as Celebrate Drinking Water Week throughout the city of Lenoir. All right, proclamation in celebration of Drinking Water Week. Whereas the water is our most valuable natural resource and whereas only tap water delivers public health protection, fire protection and support for our economy and the quality of life we enjoy and whereas any measure of a successful society low morality rates, economic growth and diversity, productivity and public safety are in some way related to access safe water and whereas we are all stewards of the water infrastructure upon which future generations depend and whereas each citizen of the city of Lenoir is called upon to help protect our source waters from pollution to practice water conservation and to get involved in local water issues by getting to know their water. Now therefore be it resolved that I by virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Lenoir, North Carolina and on behalf of the Lenoir City Council I do hereby proclaim the week of May 3rd through 9th 2026 as Celebrate Drinking Water Week throughout the city of Lenoir in witness whereof I have set my hand and seal of the city of Lenoir this the 4th day of May 2026. Dr. Church

[snorts]

Picture of the All right. We got [clears throat] the crowd here. Come on, guys. And then we'll do another one with the council, I think. Go ahead, Mike. All right, 1 2 3 All right, all right. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor, council members Mr. Hillbrand, this is one of our My personally, this is my favorite council meeting of the of the year because we get to brag on the men and women that work behind the scenes to ensure that our community has safe water. And one of the things that we've started about 3 years ago is to introduce just uh the individuals who have received certifications over the years or over the year between this meeting and the last meeting. And so, with us tonight we have a couple superintendents with us. Kevin Matheson with the water plants with us and Derek Goble with our distributions and collections system is with us and also Brandon Goble, assistant superintendent, with our distribution and collection system is with us. So, we also have more individuals here, so I'd like to to read kind of go over announce them and introduce them with their certifications this year because each certification that that our professionals receive is that much more quality that we have as a as a community and much more confidence [clears throat] we have in our water system. And so, I'm extremely proud of these professionals standing behind me. First from our drinking water treatment plant, Michael Tomlin. He received his plant operator C certification. We're very proud of him. Kelby Graybeal, he received his water treatment plant operator B

certification, Kelby, and we're proud of him as well. Uh distribution and collections, we have we've got Derek back here. He's leading by example. He was up here last year with his collections three certification and he's up here this year with his collections four certification. So, proud of Derek and what he does and his leadership there. Uh Daniel Deal, labor supervisor, he's with us and he received his grade two collection certification. Randy Oliver's not here, but the winner of tonight is Pres Preston Triplett and we affectionately call him Pee Wee, but he received his grade one and grade two collection certification plus his C distribution certification. So, he has busted it this year. He's served three He's gained three certifications, so we're very very proud of him. So, I'm going to turn it over to our superintendent to say anything have anything to say? Yeah, I need to say one more thing. Well, thank you. First of all, I want to thank the city council. You make it possible by by funding the projects to keep our our water plant up-to-date and in compliance and supply our citizens with safe drinking water. We treat It's hard to fathom this, but we treated in 2025 two and a quarter billion gallons of water. That's six and about 6.2 million gallons of water a day that we treat. And uh it's manned 24/7/365 to supply our citizens and we appreciate your the recognition. We appreciate your funding and your backing of us every single day. So, thank you very much and my staff as well. It's It's only a staff of nine to do that 365 days a year uh

24 hours a day to supply drinking water. So, when you're when you're sitting down sometime and at a holiday, think about us. Somebody's down there manning the plant to supply your water. So, we appreciate it very much. And typically, when you sit down to open that first Christmas present, think of Derek and his crew because a water line just broke. And so, they just left their Christmas and they're fixing a water line. Uh the city of Lenoir council knows this, but I'm sharing this with the individuals in the audience and anybody watching at home. Uh the city of Lenoir is a member of a water management group called the Catawba Waterway and the purpose of that water group water management group is to manage the Catawba River where we draw our water. There's 21 public utilities in part in that group along with Duke Energy. Well, we all know that we need rain we need rain bad. Uh we were in a call with Duke Energy meteorologist and from October till the spring is the driest it's been since Duke's been keeping the records. And so, which goes back to 1971. So, on Monday, we declared a stage two drought and that means we have mandatory reductions and I really ask the community to please take heed of that and please take that serious. It's nothing to panic about because we have we have a system in place to take care of it, but we need to take it serious. The restrictions that apply are irrigation is limited to a half inch per week between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Outdoor use of drinking water for washing impervious surfaces is prohibited. Can't wash your car at home. Can't pressure wash your sidewalk. Can't do all that at home with with drinking water. And then all testing and training purposes requiring drinking water, for

example, fire protection, will be limited. So, uh please help us with that because we need to be good stewards so that we don't know when it's going to rain and we want to make sure we've got plenty of drinking water and not only us, but everybody downstream from us. So, thank you. And again, thank you guys for what you do. These This is a great group of professionals behind us. So, thank you. Thank you. [applause]

YEAH. HEY, JEFF REMINDED WE'LL HAVE A PICTURE IN A FEW minutes after we finish this. Yes, sir. Thank you. With everybody. Thank you. We're always glad to have clean drinking water for sure. And every other thing. Thank you. All right. Next on our agenda is a special recognition. This is on behalf of city council for a proclamation to our police chief, Andy Wilson, proclaiming the week of May 10th through the 16th, 2026, as Peace Officers Memorial Week throughout the city of Lenoir. I'll have Chief Wilson He's coming up. There he is. This proclamation recognition of Peace Officers Memorial Week. Whereas the Congress and the President of the United States have designated May the 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which that May 15th falls as National Police Week. And whereas

[clears throat]

the members of the law enforcement agency of the Lenoir Police Department played an essential role in safeguarding the rights and freedoms of those inside the city of Lenoir. And whereas it is important that all citizens know and understand the duties and responsibilities, hazards, and sacrifices of law enforcement. And that our law enforcement agency recognize their duty to serve the people by safeguarding life and property, protecting them against violence and disorder, and protecting the innocent against the deception and the weak against oppression. And whereas the men and women of the law enforcement agency of the city of Lenoir Police Department unceasingly provide a vital public service. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, as mayor of the city of Lenoir, and on behalf of Lenoir City Council, do hereby proclaim and call upon all citizens of Lenoir and upon all patriotic, civic, and educational organizations to observe the week of May 10th through May 16th as Police Week with appropriate ceremonies and observances in which all may join in commemorating law enforcement officers past and present who, by their faithful and loyal devotion to their responsibilities, have rendered a dedicated service to their communities and in so doing established themselves an inevitable and enduring reputation for preserving the rights and security of all citizens. Furthermore, I proclaim and call upon all citizens of the city of Lenoir to recognize May the 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day in honor of those law enforcement officers who, through their courageous deeds, have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community or have become disabled in the performance of duty. Let us recognize and pay respect to the survivors of our fallen heroes. Witness my hand and seal this the fourth day of

May, 2026. Chief. I think I'll dance.

[clears throat]

Mr. Mayor Council, thank you for recognition of National Police Week and Police Officers Memorial Day, May 15th. First thing I want to say is about tonight. Tonight's a lot of different proclamations and really as I sit back here in the back of the room, I started thinking, man, what an overall picture of the city of Lenoir and what it does for our community, not only with the police department, with parks and rec, with our water treatment operators, with our public works that's coming up next. This is a lot of things going on in the city and we're thankful we have great partnerships with those with those departments day in day out and just what a what a great feeling it is to have so many good qualified people here with city of Lenoir. But National Police Week is recognized Sunday, May 10th through Saturday, May the 16th and it continues to remind us of the courage, service, and sacrifices law enforcement officers endure each and every day. Uh law enforcement Law enforcement can be one of the most rewarding careers there are, but it comes with hardships. It comes with high stress, uh both physical stress and emotional stress. Um that that takes a toll uh on our officers. But um it also comes with many rewards. Uh the men and women of the Lenoir Police Department put on their boots every day and they come to work and they're here to protect the ones that can't protect themselves. And they're here to serve our community and they do a fantastic job at it. Um today's law enforcement officer exemplifies what it means to serve in a selfless uh career. Cuz it is selfless. We're here to serve others. Peace [clears throat] Officers Memorial Day is Friday, May the 15th. And it was established by the US Congress in 1962.

Uh May 15th or Peace Officers Memorial Day is dedicated to honor the men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty. Just some quick statistics. Uh to date more than 23,000 uh police officers have lost their lives uh across the United States in the line of duty. Thus far in 2026, we've lost 36 uh already this year. In North Carolina, more than 600 police officers have lost their lives uh in the line of duty. Thus far in North Carolina this year, we've lost three. [clears throat]

The City of Lenoir has lost three uh officers in the line of duty since since its inception or since we can record back. One in 1969, one in or 1955, and one in 1954. And we honor those at the police department in our um with a plaque in our in our lobby. So again, uh [clears throat] thank you for the recognition uh of this of the importance of National Police Week as well as the uh Peace Officers Memorial Day. [clears throat]

And also thank you for your continued support. Uh we couldn't do it without you. Uh this council and this mayor has always been extremely supportive of Lenoir Police Department and it shows and and thus in turn we can be extremely uh supportive to our community. So, thank you. Thank you. [applause] [applause]

Thank you. And our last recognition tonight is a recognition that will be presented to our Public Works Director, Mr. John Hogan. This is proclaiming the week of May 17th through May 23rd as National Public Works Week throughout the City of Lenoir. May is a busy month for proclaiming it as Chief uh Wilson just said a minute ago. All right. Proclamation in honor of National Public Works Week, advancing quality of life for all. Whereas public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health. High quality of life and well-being of the people of the City of Lenoir. And whereas these infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals who are are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation's transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for all our citizens. And whereas it is in the public interest for all citizens, civic leaders, and the children in the City of Lenoir to gain knowledge of and to maintain a progressive interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. And now therefore, I as mayor and on behalf of Lenoir City Council do hereby designate the week of May 17th through May 23rd as National Public Works Week and urge all citizens to join with representatives of governmental agencies and the American Public Works Association in activities and ceremonies designed to pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, and

administrators, and to recognize the substantial contributions they have made to our national health and welfare. In witness whereof I have have caused my hand and seal to be placed and affixed this the 4th day of May 2026. Mr. Hogan. [clears throat]

As I've always said, the Public Works Department is the glue of the city. We uh every day if we didn't have you guys, I don't know what what else we'd get done. Come on up. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Mayor. All right. I'll be quick, but thank you, Mayor. Um thank you, Council, Manager. Um for for acknowledging Public Works. I'll just be brief though. Um this year's theme, American Public Works Association's theme is a rooted in service, powered by community. Um and it it acknowledges the roots of service that run deep in public works. Um a lot of the work we do like building roads or or maintaining streets and collecting solid waste, it's highly visible while other public works contributions like maintaining our facilities and our fleet are sometimes hidden from view. But together these efforts form the foundation of thriving communities reminding us that every project seen or unseen powers the connection between service and the people it supports our community. Um recently we got to participate in our in Joshua's awesome uh civics leadership program. And of course we got to introduce public works and speak to people about the work we do and the importance of the work we do and then who we are really. And and I think and we wrapped this whole program up with, you know, we went through the logistics and all the the important stuff, but at the end of the day um public works professionals are folks who have chosen to do what they do because they care about the future of of our community. Um all of us are just regular people. We're your neighbors um trying to make a difference. And and that's truly what public works is. Um I'll brag on this staff. Um and I and I say it a lot, it takes each and every division, each and every person to keep the ball rolling. Um and

to do to introduce a couple of them, we've got Tracy Huffman, our Streets Superintendent, who was also nominated last year as APWA's um Street Manager of the Year. And right now he is in the running for the national street manager. Um so we're looking forward to hearing about that. [applause]

Crystal McCurry, she is the front line. She is our administrative assistant. She takes all the phone calls for public services, which is not only public works, but also public utilities. She gets the good, the bad, the ugly, and then she delivers it to the rest of us. Um but she does an amazing job. Um she's always got a smile on her face and she's uh you can hear her laughing throughout the building. So, she kind of she definitely lightens the mood, especially on Mondays. Um and we got Jeff Hollingsworth, who you've seen a lot here recently. He's our uh Parks and Public Properties Superintendent. So, they manage all of our parks and our public properties, our downtown area. And then Beth McMahan, who you don't see a lot because again, this is some of that important work that is unseen. She is our our Vehicle Services Superintendent. So, she is constantly her and her staff of four are maintaining our 500 pieces of rolling stock, which are police cars, fire trucks, backhoes, tractors, and all that equipment that we need to do our work. So again, these are representatives of our Public Works Department and thank you for recognizing us and them. Thank you.

[applause]

Why don't you guys stay up, John? You stay up. We'll shoot the picture first with y'all. Are we going down or John, Jonathan, what do you think? Stay here or go down? Probably council up there. Okay. We have some big groups. Come back this way. Mayor, you Okay. Snug it up. Snug it up? Yep. Ready to cut? We got Jeff up. Tracy, you making friends? All right. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Thank you. All right, Chief Wilson, say hi. Stand up. Two or three more. Big smile. Should I get up here, sir? Keep it up.

[laughter]

You might you be lifting weights. All right. 1 2 3 Don't put your hands by your sides. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Thank y'all. Yeah, that's the plane. I'm going to sweep the best looking for last. Mhm. Go on, Tracy.

All right. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Thank you. Thank you, dolls. Do you want to come down or this way? Okay. Since there's no planning. I can't resist your charm. Oh my god. Yeah. You won't have to get up. Okay. Now I think I can do it this one at a time. Okay. I love it. Every new person that sits there has no idea how to open that stupid door. You're welcome to basically what you want. That's it. Thank you. You're welcome, dude. Can you hear me back here? No. All right. You're all looking good. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. No, God. Okay. D I B or C Okay. You'll learn to Thank you. Next we have a very special presentation from our executive director of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Brian Moore. Brian, welcome. Great to have you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, distinguished and honorable council members, Mr. Moore. Uh it's great to be here with all of you. Uh we want to from the Chamber of Commerce thank you all for your continued partnership with the Chamber and the work that we're doing. We're not

the same Chamber of Commerce we have been, uh but our legacy is to honor the Chamber of Commerce that we were when we first started uh 106 years ago. So, your Chamber of Commerce has been serving the community for a very long period of time. And I find it apropos and very fitting that the mission of the city of Lenoir is to serve the citizens of the community by providing clean, safe, healthy, and attractive living and business environment through efficient delivery of essential services, city services, and fiscal responsibility. We saw that in action tonight, and thank you all for the work that you do, and thank you for all the departments that were recognized this evening. Your vision also says that we will aspire to be a city of choice in western North Carolina for current and future generations, providing a beautiful and clean and safe environment. Uh we achieve these through a healthy economy and strong businesses. So, that's what the Chamber of Commerce is here to honor and serve. Uh I'm going to have Richard Hedrick, who's one of our ambassadors here with us today, hand out a little book for you guys. So, rather than us doing a big giant long presentation for you tonight, I thought it would be appropriate for you to see our Vision 2026 overview of what the Caldwell Chamber is about. Couple of the key talking points that are within this book are related to um how our partnership in business works. And our partnership in business starts with you. It starts with us having a collaboration between us and each of our municipalities within the county, um and trying to find a way that that bridge of excellence can happen more effectively and more efficiently. When you know of businesses that are coming into the community, is the Chamber of Commerce top of your mind to be able to partner with you in the work that the city does for those efforts. We also believe that tourism is very critical to part of what we are doing, and uh there's a partnership between the Chamber, uh the Lenoir Tourism Development Authority,

and the county efforts for tourism. We have seen, and gratefully so, the new wayfinding signs have shown us just in the month of April a 30% increase in traffic in the visitor center, and we're grateful for the signs that do direct people to the Chamber of Commerce and the visitor center that has been put in place. It's wonderful and beautiful. Uh we do want to establish a pro-business mindset. What does that mean? That we want to from time to time come here in support of business activities and initiatives that help us grow our community the right way and be respectful for all the needs of our community. And lastly, um honoring legacy, uh at the L A. Dicer Awards is a very critical and important event that we have going on, and for the last uh 64 63 years, uh that event has been in conjunction with the Chamber's annual meeting. And that this year will be its own special event uh that will be held on June 23rd at Cedar Rock Country Club, and honoring new newly to be appointed and designated L A. Dicer winners for 2026. Mayor Gibbons, thank you for your service on that committee that helps make that move forward, and our past L A. Dicer Award members that are here in the room, thank you so much. Um lastly that I have for you all is uh a certificate, not to make you stand up again, but um we're going to make you stand up again. So, uh Richard's going to hand these out to everybody. So, this is just basically our um offering of a token of appreciation for building a bridge to strengthen local business. The Caldwell Chamber is honored to celebrate your leadership in the city of Lenoir and our community. Thank you for collaborating with us as we support local business. We are encouraged by helping advance the local workforce with a proactive mindset and continuing to move our community forward through great partnerships with our local municipalities, much like we have

with Lenoir. This certificate certificate proudly recognizes each and every one of you individually, and we'll provide these to you. And I'm not going to ask you to come down here. We'll just have uh Josh. Josh, take a great picture of all of us. Mr. Mayor, there you go. Thank you very much. Thank you, Brian. Thank you, sir. [clears throat and cough]

That's up to you. Yeah, we can do that if you want to. Thank you, sir. All right. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thanks, Brian. Come down. Thank everybody. No, we should. I may be at least at least mayor. Okay. Can I hold my mic here? It'll be interesting. Chris. Okay. All right. 1 2 3 1 2 3 All right. Thank you.

[applause]

Thank you very much. We're very proud of our partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and what they are doing in our community. There's a lot of a lot of great programs that you're doing. Uh Council Member Dellinger just remembered uh was part of the uh Leadership Caldwell team this year. Thank you. Congratulations on that for what you did with that and being a part of this council. For sure. Okay. We'll [clears throat] move on into matters scheduled for public hearing this evening. Tonight we have a public hearing. This is to be held for an R 2-26 conditional zoning ordinance number 13, which which is CZ 13, located at 710 Blowing Rock Boulevard between Crestline Place and Ellison [clears throat] Place. The applicant, which is Foresight Group, is requesting to rezone the subject property to a conditional zoning district CZ 13 from B6 traditional transitional business and R15 single family housing to allow for a drive-through establishment with a residential buffer. The Lenoir Planning Board recommends approval of the CZ 13 uh conditional zoning ordinance, and that vote was by 6 to 4 as submitted on that. So, I will open the public hearing, and I will recognize our planning director, uh Hannah Williams, for her uh introduction and comments to get us started. Thank you. Certainly, thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Council. Um as you said, the conditional rezoning application was submitted by Foresight Group LLC and Track West Developers, uh who are in the audience tonight if you have any questions for them. The property is owned by uh Steven Strange, and the primary address is 710 Blowing Rock Boulevard. The site has four structures on it today. Two are rental houses. Um to my knowledge, they are occupied. Uh and those face Crestline Place. One is a

house-to-office conversion, which faces 321, and it's currently unoccupied. And one is a deteriorated house towards the rear, um which is accessed by Allison Place. It's largely zoned B6 um with a strip of R-15 towards the rear. And it's proposed to be rezoned to a conditional zoning district, CZ-13. The conditional zoning district would allow for a drive-thru. It would add drive-thru as a permitted use uh on the whole site. And it would require a 45-ft building setback uh from residential zones uh and a 30-ft buffer yard with four rows of shrubs and trees. So, I'm going to see if that's pulled up. Here's the site plan for our reference. I think I can make this full screen. There you go. Um the site would be required to conform to the design standards of uh section 714 in the zoning ordinance, which you've seen up and down the 321 corridor. There um are our basic design standards. Um and uh there would be no other change to other permitted uses um that are allowed in the B6 zoning district. So, this only adds drive-thru as a permitted use. Um and just as a reminder, um the B6 zoning district permitted uses are um there are few residential uses. Also, restaurants are already permitted here. It's just the drive-thru that's not permitted here. Uh business and personal service is permitted here. Office, medical, dental is permitted here. And studio and specialty schools and veterinarians. Um like I said, on the screen is what's been proposed. Um the the developer would add a drive-thru coffee business to this site. Um and then they would have prepare a second commercial site for another user

that has not been determined at this time. Um the drive-thru would be permitted drive-thrus would be permitted across the entire uh subject parcel. And the general zoning ordinance uh requires cross access through new developments. So, there would be cross access required in some place so that um both developments could use Allison Place on this side and Crestline Place on the south side. Um Planning Board recommended approval as presented and the adopted the consistency statement provided, which I will read for the record. The proposed conditional zoning ordinance is consistent with the 2045 comprehensive plan because it is identified as neighborhood mixed use on the future land use map, where restaurants and light retail are appropriate land uses and largely permissible in B6 zoning. The proposed development is a drive-thru that addresses neighboring residential concerns with a wide natural buffer and proper traffic circulation into and out of the site. It also addresses a pressing desire by Lenoir residents to attract new busi- businesses to the area and intentionally support new commercial opportunities. Staff finds the proposed conditional zoning ordinance to be reasonable and in the public interest because at as it provides practical development standards tailored to a complex site and fulfills goals set out by the 2045 comp plan. And that concludes my prepared statements. [clears throat] Uh and I'm available for any questions, as are the applicants. Thank you. Any questions of Hannah at this point in the proceeding? And for those in the audience, this this property is located across from the Dollar General. Dollar Tree.

Dollar Tree. Yes, ma'am.

Dollar Tree in that little area of What What's the rental place there? Um Aaron's. Aaron's. So, it's across from there. Just for can't really Yes. Any other questions or comments before we move on? Okay. Thank you. You too. All right. I'll entertain uh I think that with the developer would Anybody like to speak? Is that Okay. We'll do that now so we can kind of hear what the proposals are. If you will, please give us your name and address so we can have them for the records. Okay. Um I'm Molly Hillpatrick. I'm with Foresight Group. The address is 51 12th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama. Um tonight, like Hannah said, uh we're here representing Track West Development and uh um presenting this proposed Dutch Bros Coffee with the drive-thru. Um a couple of things that I would like to point out on the site plan. Um we did hear some uh comments from the Planning Commission meetings, and we wanted to kind of address those with the updated site plan. So, on the 30-ft planted buffer that's along the rear, one thing that we are um doing that may not be shown as clearly on this one, there's actually a lot of really great existing trees out there. Um and it's a pretty dense cover along that rear of the site. So, we're proposing to keep as many of those as we can. Um so, that we'll actually have like about four rows of trees, and they'll all be various heights so that uh we'll really provide a screening buffer along the rear of that site. Um so, that's one of the biggest things that we have added. And then additionally on the turn on uh Crestline Place to the south, we actually have a Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, thank you. Okay, so this is the updated landscape plan that we have. Um so, as you can see in the back, it kind of looks like uh there's some gaps there, but those are the areas where we've identified that those are really good trees that we want to keep uh that are already out there. So, we'll be adding the plantings back there, but keeping some of that existing screening trees.

Um the other thing that I wanted to point out on the traffic, the driveway, we've actually [clears throat] added a right turn lane and then a left turn lane. Um and we did that to alleviate some of the um stacking that uh could potentially happen at that turn out right there. Um so, that way especially people who uh live in the homes along Crestline Place, they still have two lanes that they can get out of. Um So, that is our plan to keep traffic flowing out of the side. Any questions for me so far? Questions, Council? Anyone? As far as the size of this coffee [clears throat] shop, do you have plans on how many people would fill the coffee shop, the maximum amount of people? Yes, so it's about a 1,000-sq-ft building. Um and it's drive-thru only, so they actually don't have guests come inside.

Okay. Um as far as the employees though, it's about six per seven per shift, sometimes nine if it's like a really peak hour. So, that peak hour in the mornings, they may have up to um up to nine. Um and so, it is drive-thru only. Uh they do have um mobile order parking as well, so they have some runners coming in and out of the building.

Okay. Is it just coffee or is there other food items? I believe it's just coffee. I think they sell like pre-packaged pastries, but um primarily just coffee, yes. The drive- The driveway in the front of the building, that does that That's there to serve the undeveloped site. Sorry, this one or this one? That one. Yes, so um that would be to have cross access between um this future site and this site. Um so, that cars could potentially turn into here and then come all the way through. And then same thing here, cars could turn off of 321 into here and then take this access drive if they were getting to this site over here.

road. Yes, yes. It will be a It will be a private access drive, but yes, a service road. So, do you anticipate a left and right turn exit on the other On on this one? Yeah. Our the proposal that we have right now is just to leave this as it is. Um I believe in some of just the high-level plans that we've looked at, we do not have a confirmed tenant for this one. Um this full access or I'm sorry, this private access drive would kind of connect back here and kind of come back towards the front and meet right there. Um so, this uh this entrance off of 321 would be left as existing. So, no modifications proposed to that one. And then on this one, the only modifications are just adding in the left and turn lane so that there's two separate lanes for people to get out on that one. And you gave up part of your parcel to do that. That is correct, yes. That Um so, it's a little bit hard to see on this one right here. I believe that's correct. Um So, the the existing curve is like I'm sorry, this is a little bit far away for me. Um but basically, we would be proposing to demolish the existing curve and kind of bumping this back out this way to get in that extra lane. So, that uh that buffer uh that will be planted all the way across the two lots. Yes.

this this now. Yes, so right now we have it shown on um this one. So, or I'm sorry, this this parcel. Um since we haven't confirmed a tenant here, we weren't exactly sure like where um their buildings would be and uh what types of trees they wanted to do and stuff like that. So, this one we actually have the species identified. But on this one we So, I think and I am not an expert in landscaping, but the yellow are the shorter ones. So, these are going to kind of kind of provide like the closer to the building. The red ones are a medium-sized tree and then the green ones are the very tall trees so that we have a larger screening area that is closer to the residential side on the back. Does that make sense? Did that answer your question? Well, no. Okay. The buffer the entire buffer Yes, sir. It will the buffer will continue up here. We just haven't specified the species and number of trees.

it'll be there now, not when that lot is developed. Yes, so we do still have the 30-ft planted buffer as a condition on this parcel. A question for Hannah. Who Who polices that buffer to make sure it's maintained? City? I mean, or I No, if if the residents have a complaint, they come to the city.

Yes, that would be since this is a zoning requirement, it's a zoning buffer, that would be purview of the planning department and our zoning enforcement. I I think what Mr. Presswood may be asking, too, is on the map here, you don't show the buffer being extended, but there's already a thick growth of trees right there. So, Yes, so

there, so we still have the 30-ft planted buffer listed as a condition on this plan. We just did not list out the species and colorize it like we did here. But there will still have to be a 30-ft planted buffer on this parcel um according to this. So, If If I may, um at this time, since no development is proposed on the second site, the buffer is not um required along with the first with this initial development. It would be required when something gets proposed. However, this is conditional zoning. If you wanted to see that, you could motion to add that as a condition that the entire buffer across the entire site would need to be. That is an option, but the developer would need to consent to that. Would any of that proposed buffer go through in spot any of the current It's a bunch of old growth buildings that are on that lot. Yes, um So, that'd be very difficult to go ahead That's it's true. On the second site is where that deteriorated house is. Um You know, but um that could that could be that would need to be demoed for a future tenant anyway. Okay. Any other questions at this point? I I would like to say I I appreciate the [clears throat] service access road you're talking about in the middle cuz that keeps from having to create another entrance in the middle. Yes, yes.

the point of that so that the two streets that are currently there would be utilized and you wouldn't be adding something right in the middle that would really make it a choke point. So, that's a good plan. Thank Okay. Yes, and one more thing that I will add on that, we have met with the State Department of Transportation and they have conditionally approved this plan assuming that you know, the city is fine with everything, but we got their input on the proposed driveway changes in the bottom corner. So, we have been coordinating with them and we'll continue coordinating with them as we keep on moving forward with the project. [clears throat]

Okay. Anything else? Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. We are in the public hearing, so that would at this point in time we will entertain anyone who would like to come address the council. Please ask you if you will limit your comments to about 3 minutes for each of us of whatever you want to say. If it runs over a little bit, I'm not have a problem with that, but we try to please keep your comments to certain cuz we do have other things to do tonight on our council meeting. So, but we want to give you adequate time to speak. So, anyone who would like to address the council, this is the time to do so. Please come forward, give us your name and address and we will entertain that. So, I am Matt Fulmer, 717 Seahorn Street. Okay. This is kind of in my backyard, so you can imagine. Dutch Bros According to their internet site, they are open 17 and 18 hours a day on weekends. You got 20 cars stacked sitting there in my backyard practically. Emissions coming over. Uh stereos booming. You got drink drink runners with iPads running back and forth. It's a high energy type thing. Um I'm opposed to it. The traffic that's a whole 'nother thing that uh I know you know about the traffic, but uh that that's what I've got to say. It We need to zone it to protect us. I've I've been there over 60 years. You know, if if this we change the zoning on this, um 10 or 15 years from now, maybe my house will be rezoned to the one across the street and

then you're in a whole someone else's backyard. It just keeps growing. So, please look after us and uh take care of the neighborhood. Thank you for your comments. Thank you, sir. [clears throat]

Okay. This is just [clears throat] the two of us. I do need just a little bit more time if that's okay. I Yeah. I wanted to have a present presentation and some pictures and everything and uh I was told that I wasn't allowed to bring and show it. So, uh luckily I got at least five little pictures of what it's like pulling out of my driveway. I'm going to pass these out. Oh, by the way, Give Give us your name and address. Thank you, sir. Fad Mollish, 119 Ellison. I'm on the street that y'all are talking about doing all these changes to. I don't have any pictures of the properties. I wasn't planning on doing that. That was in the presentation. Okay. These are sort in order from the way I would look at the street. This is not showing heavy traffic, by the way. This is just trying to show you know, you can look left, you look right, you look left. Uh and then you have to figure out where all these cars coming from. And so since I don't have anything

[clears throat] Do they Can they put that Well, it won't matter. Uh [sighs]

So, I'm going to try to describe this instead of being able to point. That's why I need a little extra time. Um first I want to say I don't want to be here. I'm tired of coming here. I like you folks, but you know, I've been battling rezoning things for the past 30-some years. It's getting old. Person should be able to relax and live in peace and quiet. Now, I didn't live here the whole time. I'm living in the home I grew up in. It's on Ellison. I moved away. I've come back only to find one rezoning issue after another. First they have it all residential, then they want to do a variance. We approved variance for Virginia. We approved variance for Steve Strange. Then they didn't do them. Then they came up with B6 zoning. A couple years later, they uh plot they zoned that whole strip that I live on as B6. Sat there for another 25 years. Nobody wanted to buy it for residential because they didn't want a business being built next to them. And the businesses wouldn't buy the properties cuz the lots were just too narrow. It didn't make sense and the price was a little high. Now, I turn just 2 years ago, I turn around and now they uh they wanted to rezone Ellison, my side, to put 11 houses on four lots. Two-story homes. Three of those houses would have sat where my house sits today. They only had one entrance going in and out of Highway 321. They weren't going to put an extra entrance like to connect to Seahorn or another exit to the highway and they weren't going to put a stop light and I'm like, and you're going to have 26 cars on the street trying to pull in and out of Highway 321. It's a nightmare. Now, luckily that fell through. I thought, okay, we're okay for now. We have a little bit of a reprieve. Now I find out between Ellison and Crestline, they want to put this uh um

this uh coffee talk shop with a two-lane drive-thru. And this is where I want I had to jot some notes down at the last minute so I could figure remember how I wanted to say this. But I remember when I grew up here, it was such a beautiful town. And it's such a beautiful drive coming into Lenoir. And I'm going to complain and it's not all your fault y'all's fault. Y'all are newer. But it was such a beautiful town. And reminded me of Mayberry RFD. And I try I had the good fortune of traveling around a lot. I got to travel most of the US and several countries and and I always thought how nice Lenoir was. Then I come back. We got a five-lane multi highway with mom-and-pop restaurants and fast food up and down and coffee shops. It looks terrible. But meanwhile downtown, don't have to tell y'all, you know, third of those buildings are are empty. It's really sad. And I wish they would plan someone to rebuild this town and and plan ahead like what they're doing on Highway 321. Now that that's my personal complaint and I want to talk about what I have a concern with. Um

[clears throat]

what I really have a problem with is and I'm going to pretend I am the truck at the edge of Allison. And I'm trying to pull out on the highway. You focus on the highway. Y'all are on the back side of highway. Y'all are across the street, okay? So, I'm trying to pull out left turn. You've got a 1/2 mile stretch. That's all. 1/2 mile stretch of with 14 entrance exit points onto a five-lane multi-highway. Uh now a couple years ago when we talked about the when they talked about trying to rezone to build all those homes, um looked up they had 208 months, 296 accidents in that 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile stretch. That's a lot. That was more than anywhere else on Highway 321. So, [clears throat] what I'm looking at now and I had on this there's nine entrance to exits on my side just on my side of the highway. Nine from Allison back to Cook Out. Again, that's less than a half a mile. You got the Cook Out, you got two at Dos Amigos, you've got uh Valencia Street, then you've got two for the pawn shop, then you got uh Crestline, then you've got um Steve Strange's old house and then right after that you got Allison. By the way, just to change things since we had Miss Teen Foothills, North Carolina, I just want to mention Steve Strange's that little house that sits on the highway. That used to be Miss Teen US Miss Teen North Carolina's where she lived 55 years ago. She's not a teenager anymore, but thought I'd throw that in just for just to lighten things. All right, but anyway, uh [clears throat] you got nine exits. Meanwhile, you got four across the street. And the way it works, you got Dunham's Sports.

It's directly across the street from directly across from uh our kitchen window. Then right you have an entrance. Then right next to that you have one building with another entrance. I think that's the AT&T and um uh AT&T and um the urgent care. Then you have another drive. Then you have um the tobacco shop or the where used to be Krispy Kreme. You got another entrance. And then right next to that you got Dollar Tree entrance and the Catholic Church. And then right next to that you got one to Mavis Tire. Now the problem is this is a five-lane multi-highway used highway. And you try to make a left turn, it is extremely difficult and dangerous. And I and even [clears throat] if I didn't live here, I'd be complaining about this. And I'm sorry I'm a little slow and dragging, but I don't have my presentation, so please forgive me. Um so [clears throat] anyway, what I wanted to say on that, for me, I've been driving 50 years. I have a pretty safe driving record. I'm a very defensive and responsible driver. I drive a big old truck, so that does give me a little bit of intimidation factor towards some of the small new new cars and newer cars, but turning left out of Allison is a nightmare. Jim Green, who used to be on the council just 10 years ago, he always had to make a right turn to drive all the way around to Seahorn Street, go all the way around the neighborhood to hospital, come back down to Cook Out just to make his left turn. Cuz it's peak hours, it's really bad. Now, so what I want to describe is me trying to pull out on 321 as it is right now. Uh as I'm pulling out, I I look to the left. You got two lanes of cars coming with coming all the way from and nine entrance points up up until that point to enter to the highway. You got nine of

them coming. I'm looking left to verify when they're coming. Once I figure out I might have a slot, I look back to the right. So, that's where the highway's coming uh that would be Highway 321 South coming like from Wal-Mart Wal-Mart. And there's very seldom I just want to make sure there's no one in the turning lane cuz I'm going to turn into that middle lane. And when I turn into that middle lane, I stop. I have to reassess. Uh so I'm looking two lanes of cars coming this way, two lanes of cars coming this way, and a middle turning lane, and seven entrances right around that one spot that you have to watch out for. And what's happened in fact 3 weeks ago, I almost had I've almost had three accidents in 2 months. And both both all three times I was the one who avoided the accident cuz the other people were pulling out, they were in a rush, they weren't looking. So, when I make that left turn, I look to the left, look to the right. Well, well here you got someone directly across from Allison is the Krispy Kreme exit. Someone's trying to pull out of there. Then coming from that way, they coming from this side, they pull into the middle lane so they can turn at the Krispy Kreme or at the or at the AT&T or at the Durham. So, they're in that middle lane the whole time and half the time they speed up. Same thing for uh then you got people coming from Dollar Tree and the Catholic Church. If they're trying to make a left turn, they're having the same problem I am. We're coming different ways, okay? And we're running into each other. And and they speed up. So, if they make a left turn, uh they're looking back behind them now to make sure they can speed up and pull in that fast lane. They're totally oblivious to the fact there's another car sitting in that same turning lane trying to go the other way. It's a problem. And and they're coming from all directions. And then when I came to the land planning meeting about three or four weeks ago, when I pulled out, I looked to the right. There was only two cars on the highway coming from the

Wal-Mart area. One pulled out at Dunham's Sports, one was on the highway. [snorts]

Uh clear. So, I pulled to get in the left lane. A car pulled into the middle turn lane that was coming right from Cook Out. A car tried to turn into that same turning lane from uh Dollar Tree Catholic Church entrance. And a car the car that pulled out of Dunham's Sports pulled into the middle lane, pulled right in front of me, stopped in front of Allison just so they can make a left turn to turn around. Mr. Moss, if you will, we need wife wife and kids. So So anyway, they turn around and that was going on, so I'm pulling out. I had to stop in the middle of highway. Thank goodness there was no cars behind me. I had to back back up. But that is a problem. It's a serious problem. I was an EMT. I've seen a lot of car accidents. It bothers me when you see what happens to people. And all I want to say is I want to really explain try to explain again, it took a lot longer to explain than it would have if I could have showed the presentation. I do want to mention this really quick. Um you put a two-lane coffee shop there. That Crestline only has five homes. That's all. Now you're going to put a coffee shop and they said the traffic's going to be 60 uh it's only going to increase traffic on the highway 321 by um by 60 traffic at by 60 cars at at high at peak hours. But then you also talk about it the regular people that use Highway 321 all trying to go through this drive-thru coming in and out of Crestline. It's going to be a nightmare. And all I want So, all I want [clears throat] I just want people to be aware and I wish I could have showed you the pictures, but I do want to mention three quick things. My wife, she tried to pull out of Dollar Tree to come into Allison. She checked, she pulled into the middle lane, she's trying to make a right to get into our driveway. The two cars that were coming went by. As she turned, a car came off of Crestline, was speeding up, was not

paying attention, ran right into her. Uh right the day before I got my the day after I got my EMT's complete my EMT training, I was in a car. Uh we passed a we went through a a stop light. There was a small grocery store. After that, it's just a highway. We're doing 45 miles an hour. No, there are no distractions. A car a lady pulled over. But that's what We All right. All right. You're going about 12 12 minutes and that's four times what Just two. Two more minutes, I'll be done. Let me finish this sum up. Okay. Sum it up, please. So, we came through and this car pulled right in front of us and stopped right in front of us. So, we hit him at 45 miles an hour. I pulled my legs up, feet in position. I'm like, this is going to hurt. I was the only person not hurt. The girl was in the car we hit her head on. Young lady uh paralyzed from waist down. Another lady didn't know she'd been in an accident and we found [snorts] another person wandering around didn't even know where they were. It's concerning. It's very concerning. So, now what I say here is when we have this two-lane highway, it's going to I mean this drive-thru, it's going to be a huge problem. And I just want to ask every one of you and I'm going to be very serious cuz it's not a matter of when there's going to be an accident. It's going to be a or when there's going to be a serious accident with fatality. It's going to be a matter of when and how many. And I just want you to think. You're going to have a young mother driving either pulling with her kids in the back seat strapped in trying to pull out of the Dollar Tree to turn left or goes to get a cup of coffee. She's trying to turn left to get back on 321 go toward hospital. Now her kids are yelling. She's trying to fight all this traffic. Pulls out, she gets hit. The mother gets seriously injured, the kids get seriously or a fatality. And I don't think anyone wants that on their conscience. And I'm serious. I'm dead serious about this. I don't care if I lived in Cary, North

Carolina, I'd still be here saying, "This is a concern. Fix the problem before you add to the problem." And I will make a suggestion that's not part of the city, you have to work with the state. Uh they they should put a stoplight across from where Dunham Sports is. And no, I don't want it there because it'd shine right in my bed kitchen window. But put a stoplight and work with the state, get it changed to 35 mph from Smith Crossroads to Walmart. It will only slow traffic by 60 seconds and it will probably reduce the accidents by 50 about 50%. So, I appreciate you giving me the extra time.

We appreciate you. And uh please Yes. I'm really concerned, not so much about my house or living there, but the it's a danger. It really is. Thank you. your comments. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else that would like to address the council? Okay. I'm Reva Pennell. And I own the property at the corner of Crestline Place. Mhm. it is a real it is um an insurance office. As for myself, I retired at the end of December. Yay! And I'm no [laughter] I'm no longer selling real estate.

And give her your living address if you don't mind, just for the records. Do what? Give her your where you live, but Oh, I'm so sorry. Uh you Yes. I live at 220 Eastwood Park Drive Southeast, Lenoir. Thank you. Okay, but I will be brief. I remember reading something years ago and it made sense to me. Uh a lady asked her husband, "Will you help me learn to drive?" And he said, "Well, yeah, I'll help you learn to drive, but there's one condition." She said, "Well, what's that?" He said, "No left turns." And I have remembered that for years because I recently just had my first knock little accident and I was making a left turn right there in the vicinity. But um I will agree with everything that that uh was just told to you by Mr. Mullis because it is terrible. And we it if you're going to zone the property, I think it would be better not to be drive-thru. Because let's face it, why do we use drive-thrus? Because we're in a hurry. And that is not a place that anyone should be in hurry because it is it is horrible. As exactly like he said, when we pull out of Crestline, we've got to watch to the left to see if people are barreling up the road. We've got a middle lane. We've got to watch across there to the uh brake place or tire place. We've got to watch all these coming at us.

And that business would be better solved better served. I'm sure that it's going to be commercial and I understand that. But I don't think it should be for somebody in a hurry. And I don't think you know, entrances coming from everywhere. It's a nightmare. So, that's my statement, too. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else who would like to address? Yes, sir. Name's John Mock, uh 1793 uh Dyson Drive, Decatur, Georgia. I'm with Track West, the development firm doing the proposed Dutch Bros here. Um something I just wanted to point out, I know it was said earlier, but uh I think, you know, currently and if if I'm wrong, someone please correct me that the current zoning is business. Uh the current setback is only 10 ft. You know, we worked pretty closely with the planning department to make sure we had as little impact on the neighbor as neighbor as possible by increasing it to 40 ft and doing our landscaping more extensively than we do other places just to keep, you know, keep the neighbors in mind. Uh the other part is, you know, as it sits currently, uh if a the full sit-down restaurant could be put there without just a typical 10-ft setback, which would be even you know, more intrusive on uh on the surrounding properties. Um also, if it was just a a simple sit-down restaurant, you know, full service, uh that the uh the uh DOT improvements will not be happening either. Um so, we you know, worked pretty closely to come up with the plan that we think, you know, solves a lot of the uh uh issues that that people may have with it and I just want to make sure that was pointed out that we're not asking for something to go from residential to uh commercial. This is something that's, you know, already commercial and has, you know, pretty uh a setback that's far less than what we're proposing. Thank you. We appreciate it. Okay, anyone else who would like to address the council? If not, I will close the public hearing and I'll turn it over to council for discussion, motions, whatever whatever you're ready to do when you're ready, please.

Any discussion? Well, just a couple of comments. Uh these are these decisions are not easy. Um we continue to be faced with some realities that Lenoir is growing and 321 does not look like what it looked like years ago. The the and was noted from the planning board and the developer and I do hear the concerns of the community is a it's it's already zoned for commercial property and the if so, even if it wasn't brought before the council uh with this addition for the drive-thru, it could happen and it would even come before us. Um and it's a it's a busy area, but if you drive across the state, if you drive anywhere, we have these even in neighborhoods where we have to work the drive carefully and and I mean, left turn is is is is what it is. 321 is busy. Um so, I do understand those concerns. So, I just wanted to put out put point out um and I'll give other council members to make comments before we uh do our vote, but change is hard. Um and it's a it's a commercial busy corridor. We don't have a lot of commercial spaces and it cer- certainly 321 is is is that for for Lenoir. And again, um things are changing. Uh we're growing and um so, I just wanted to make that comment uh as we give the council members chance to make a comment or uh motion. I'd like to address that and to Mr. Mullis, I heard you, I hear you and I appreciate your concern and your lengthy presentation was acceptable. I think that as well as Ms. Pennell, I hear you. However, with any change is inevitable that there's going to create some problems and some things that

in change that we must adjust to. And with Lenoir and 321, I think that we have to adjust to what's happening. If everything remained the same, then where will we be? So, I would just like to say, guys, I hear you, I appreciate it, but the change is is just going to happen here in Lenoir, especially 321. So, thank you for for your concern and we hear you. Well, I do. And if I may um to the developer, one thing that I really appreciate is that you put in that right hand exit going out. That helps expand that uh uh street path and so, that helps a lot. And also the service road that you have allocated, that will actually take away an entrance exit because currently there are nine. This will actually take one away because that middle one will not be needed in the future because of the connection road. So, that that's a very good thing. Um and I I agree with my fellow council members, change is hard and it is hard for council to make any of these changes. That's why we have a lot of information and we have the board and our staff that really put everything together for us and I appreciate that. And Mr. Fulmer, I hear you as well. My son lives right next to you. Okay. Um and it is inevitable that residential and commercial in a city that is growing, it it's going to come together. And that line has to be somewhere. Currently, by right, the way it's currently zoned, you could have a much larger sit-down restaurant that would take that entire

footprint, which inevitably could be more traffic. And uh it could be lots of things, I think this is as well thought out as as it could be to to use the space and the the expanded buffer. That's a real plus. So I I will be in in support of the project. I have to say, you know, this is as we've said 321. Years ago I was on the planning board when we put the B6 in. Created it and we protected that area as best we could for all these years. But that that it it's really in the most It's really B2 property. Has been forever. But it's been in the B6 [clears throat] because we would I tried to do the best we could as the neighborhood continued to transition around it and behind it and all that. So then I think they tried to make a good plan for this and what what is being done. And it like I say, it could be a lot of different things that are there. A restaurant being one of them as we've already said. But I think we're trying to do the best we can in a very where 321 is our most uh our biggest uh business property that we have or commercial property to be used. So we we try to do the best we can and protect everything. But it is along 321. I think we need to always remember the locations of that. So And do you have something to add? Um The right hand turn lane on Crestline was added late in this process and it's currently not a condition proposed in the ordinance. Um and if you want It was a proposal by the developer. If this project passes zoning, but the developer for whatever reason doesn't do

that, that's not codified in the ordina- in the proposed ordinance. So if you would like to that to go forward with whatever development comes to this site in the future, um I think a condition should be added um to include um a second turn lane on Crestline. Okay. It's a right turn lane. Yes, ma'am. Yeah. And we can just add that as part of the motion. Is that correct? You can. Good. Do we need to add it as a condition? Yes, sir. Add it as a condition within the motion. Yes. Thank you and I'm sorry for that. No, that's fine. Thank you for Thank you. clarifying that for us. Mayor, I have a concern here. I I've already closed the public hearing. I'm sorry. I kept it open to uh people wanted to speak, but we have to follow those those rules. So thank you and I'm sorry about that. That's okay. Don't worry about it. I'll pull you to the side and talk to you.

That'd be fine. That'd be fine. I get plenty of that. [clears throat and laughter] You know, what what should have happened in Lenoir 40 years ago is there should have been service roads you know, all up and down that corridor so we wouldn't have as many of the entrances and exits. Yeah. Egress and ingress if you will. Right. We But you know, that was a decision to be made 40 years ago.

Before we knew we were going to grow. Right. Unfortunately now I think my fellow councilman here mentioned to me just a few minutes ago before the meeting started the uh the correction of that by DOT would probably be a solid median down the entire corridor of 321. Where if you came out on one side of the road, you could only turn left and if you came out on the other, you could only turn right. Who knows what's going to happen. Right now I think if you you heard the comments, I think I think we all have the same feelings here. Um but you know, we have to make some hard decisions for the growth of Lenoir and DOT has to make the decisions regarding the highway. We We don't control it. If you've never dealt with the DOT trying to get a stoplight good luck. Um cuz we we have worked tirelessly on other areas to try to get those. But we have not been successful in doing that. Thank you, sir. Any other comments? Okay, council I'm going to turn it over to you for a motion or your decision on this, please. Mr. Mayor, uh concerning and in with consideration of the new condition that was added I'd like to make a motion that the CZ 13 conditional zoning ordinance be approved as presented. Specify that condition. Yes, make sure. Yeah. You want to specify that there be an additional right turn lane added to the Crestline. Yeah, just make it say With approval that the condition of right lane will be approved and inserted into this motion. Okay. Off of Crestline. Off of Crestline. And clerk, you have that? Have that. Okay. Thank you.

Okay, you heard the motion from Mayor Pro Tem Perkins to approve this conditional zoning ordinance as presented tonight. Uh Number 13 CZ 13 located at 410 Blowing Rock Boulevard as presented with the addition to the motion that was added for the turn lane off of Crestline. Any other discussion on it? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed. Thank you. That stands unanimous. Thank you very much everyone that came out for that tonight. All right, we will move on then to consent agenda items on our agenda tonight. This consisting of minutes of the city council meeting of Tuesday, April 21st. Item B is the minutes of the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, April 28th as presented as submitted. Item C is the approval of the ARC flash assessment. This is a uh received statements of qualifications from firms interested in an ARC flash assessment of the city's public utilities facilities. Proposals were received by 25 firms. After staff review of the submissions, the highest ranking firm was McGill Associates. The project cost proposal from McGill Associates was $97,500. And the recommendation of the staff is to approve the firm of McGill Associates to conduct ARC flash assessments at the city's public utilities facilities as submitted. That's item C. Item D is the approval of the service line material field inspections to support the lead lead and copper rule improvements service line inventory development. The city received 100% principal forgiveness

funding in the amount of $1 million through the division of water infrastructure for the LCRI service line inventory project. Staff received three formal proposers proposals. After staff review and a recommendation letter from Freeze and Nichols firm, McKim and Creed received the highest ranking. The recommendation is for council approve the firm of McKim and Creed to perform the service line material field inspections project as submitted. Item B is the acceptance of the Lenoir Valdese interconnect project. City of Lenoir received and has accepted a direct uh a portion of 70 what? Appro- excuse me, appropriation of $17 million less loan fees through the North Carolina General Assembly to fund the undertaking of a project to interconnect the Lenoir and Valdese water systems. The city has applied for additional funding in the amount of $3 million from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Infrastructure. The State Water Infrastructure Authority has approved this additional funding amount less the loan fees, of course, and staff recommends council approval of the acceptance resolution for the additional funding amount of $3 million for the Lenoir Water Valdese Water interconnect project as submitted. Item F is the resolution to Mr. Lester Whittington in honor of his retirement. Item G is the proclamation for the Food Allergy Awareness Week. Item F the proclamation for the celebrate Drinking Water Week. Item I is the proclamation for people officers memorial week and item J the proclamation for National Public Works Week. That's your consent agenda items A

through J. I'll entertain any questions and or motions when you're ready. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion that we accept the consent agenda items A through J. Thank you. We have a motion from council member Rogers that we approve the consent agenda items A from A through J as presented. No other discussion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed. Thank you very much. All right, we'll move on then to requests and petitions of any citizens. If there's anyone who would like to address the council at this time. I think most everybody's left. Unless you ladies if you'd like to address us anytime. It is now open for that. Any comments? And seeing no one I thank you. Seeing no one, we will move on then. We do not have reports of the boards and commissions this evening. Now we'll go to the reports and recommendations of our city manager, Mr. Hildebran. Mayor, council, couple of items for information this evening. Um on Thursday we'll have the National Day of Prayer, uh, which is May 7th in downtown Lenoir. That'll be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. Uh, the Lenoir Dog Day will be held on Saturday, May 9th in downtown Lenoir, and that's going to be 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Uh, the City Council Service Committee will meet on Monday, May 11th at noon. That's at the J. Broyhill Civic Center. Uh, [snorts] the Planning Board will meet on Monday, May 11th at 5:30, uh, in the Council Chambers here. Uh, the Economic Development Advisory, um, Committee will meet on Tuesday, May 12th at 8:45 a.m., and that's going to be held at the J. Broyhill Civic Center. Uh, the ABC Board will meet on Thursday, May 14th at 2:00, and lastly, the Lenoir Business Advisory Board will meet on Thursday, May 14th at 6:00 p.m., third floor, City Hall. And that's all I have unless you have questions, and we do have a closed session proposed. Okay. Any questions [clears throat] of the manager concerning anything [snorts] that is coming up?

A lot of a lot of good events, and we do have our, uh, sometime later on, and not May, but I think it's early June, we'll have our concerts and things starting downtown. Uh, we want to make sure people do know about that. City Vision Lenoir. If you read it on Facebook today, they were jumping all over us about something, so anyway, good time. Make sure that we let people know what we're doing, and we have things out there, and we appreciate all the planning of that what's going on, so on that. All right, any report from our City Attorney other than closed session coming up? No, sir. Thank you. And I do not have any more reports, uh, coming up from the mayor's office at this time, so I'll move on. Any report from there, any of our City Council members that we haven't talked about tonight? If not, we have do have a closed session. This will enter into closed session under North Carolina General Statutes 143-318.11 subsection A, subsection 5 to establish or to instruct the public body's staff or negotiating [snorts] agents concerning the position to be taken by or on behalf of the public body in negotiating the price and other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property by purchase, option, exchange, or lease. Do we expect anything? We do expect something to come out of this, and we will come back to Council to, uh, probably have a vote on. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to go into closed session. Motion from Councilmember Stevens to go into closed session. All in favor, please say, "Aye." Aye. All opposed. Thank you. Thank you all for being with us. You're welcome to stay, but if not, we appreciate you being here tonight. All right. You want to handle that right? Okay, this will come back. Thank you. This will come back. It'll come back. The one we did The one we had the one we didn't do. Yes. That was That was a lot of fun reading.

You can't you just Man, what's going on today? What's Anaphylaxis is not your friend. He [laughter]

is a he's a handsome man. Hey, I'm not sure what he did. I mean, you Don't give me words like Anaphylaxis. Besides. What is it? Anaphylaxis besides. Anaphylactic. I can thank my RN wife Oh. for teaching me Anaphylaxis. Yeah, anaphylaxis. You had it down.

147. All right.

Lala e I'm making a motion. Huh? What do we get here? Yeah. Two. Nobody coming. I don't remember the address. All right, I'll entertain a motion to come out of closed session, please. Make a motion. So moved. Uh Councilmember Thomas makes a motion to come out of closed session. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed. Thank you. Now, I'll entertain a motion concerning the property acquisition 1380 at 1380 Baton School Baton School Road. I'd like to make a motion to acquire the property at 1380 Baton School Road for $150,000. Okay. That's all we need in the motion, I would think. Yep. Okay. Have a motion from Councilmember Stevens to uh for the uh to purchase the property at uh Baton School Road for $150,000 as presented. No other discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. All opposed.

[snorts] Thank you. We're done. This meeting is adjourned. Still meeting at the mayor's house? Do you know if he's there? 10:00.