Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon or early evening. Uh it's six o'clock. I'll call our meeting to order for the boardsful planning board and uh welcome you here. Thank you for being here and happy new year to everyone. If uh you don't mind, we would like to open up in prayer, please. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to be in your presence. We thank you for all that you bring to our town and the way that you've blessed us year over year. We pray that you'll be with us in what we do today, serving others. And we pray that we'll do that well. We pray that you'll be with us in our decisions, that you'll give us guidance, give us discernment, and we ask these things in the precious name of Christ. Amen. If you would stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Well, again, thank you for being here at this evening's planning board meeting. I've got a couple of things to read items regarding public comment in general and also public comment as part of a public hearing. First, uh public comment uh as general comment. At the first meeting of each month, we set aside some time to allow public comment from our citizens or anyone wanting to address the board. Each speaker is given three minutes in which to comment. Speakers are expected to be civil and respectful to the board in their language and presentation. It is the board's practice not to respond or engage in conversations with anyone who speaks in order to give the speaker the full amount of time to voice their concerns. If you raise a matter you would like addressed either by the board or by the town staff, please leave your name and contact information with the board's administrative assistant Smith and someone will contact you. Please understand that state law prohibits us from discussing employee personnel matters with you. Public comment as part of a public hearing. Unlike public comment regarding general matters held at the beginning of our first meeting of the month, public comment as part of a public hearing is meant to specifically address a particular agenda item being considered by the board. Those wishing to speak must sign up prior to the meeting online or by calling the town clerk. A public hearing entails a staff presentation of 15 minutes, an applicant presentation of 15 minutes with both the staff and the having additional time to address any questions from the board. At the end of these presentations, I will call on the citizens who have signed up prior to the meeting. Each speaker from the public will have three minutes to speak and may not bank or lend time to another unless four or more people supporting the same position. Designate a single speaker to represent them. In such case, the designated speaker will be given six minutes to speak to the board. The total time for public comment

will be limited to 30 minutes or the first 10 speakers, whichever occurs first. Once public comment ends, the applicant will have five minutes for the vote. I believe we had two that were signed up for public comment, general comment, and I have Dixie Stevenson as the first individual. If you'd like to come forward to the podium and just please state your name and address and you have three minutes to present.

Okay. Well, you you take your time. If if we could get you to come to the podium where you've got a microphone, that would help everybody to hear. I usually have to shout because half of Morsville is deaf. Excuse I mean hard of hearing.

I'm Dixie Stevenson. I'm 81. I'm a retired teacher of 30 years, Virginia, North Carolina, middle school and high school and eight years of summer school. And I was a single mom. I raised two children alone and they grew up to be wonderful adults. And I'm here tonight. I thought I was here to talk with the school board, but that was last Tuesday because I don't want I don't go computer. So anyway, I found out tonight I'm in the right place. Lordsville base city. Now what am I supposed to address? Potholes. You are here to address. Those are good. Whatever you would like. Fast cars.

We got those.

Speeding, motorcycles, need of mufflers. You can't be deaf on my street. You don't sleep. I wake up. because I go to bed early and wake up early like Dicky Fleming across the street. Dick is a retired policeman and Alice is a retired nurse and I'm the retired teacher. I was actually here for teacher raises. Governor Stein was in East Meckllinburgg High today, but he came for the cell phones, not salaries. Our teachers haven't had a raise in five years. I haven't had one since 1999. I was 54. But anyway, you got to love kids to teach. And it takes a village to teach children. We all have to work together. And we're losing our young children. They are our future. And they will be caring for you. They'll be your caregivers. But anyway, I'm supposed to talk about something off the topic. What would you like to talk about? Do you have a problem? Do you think Morsville has a problem? Morrisville's on the rise. Charlotte's been on the rise. Rise of crime. Every night I get up every night. I look in the news and it's it's blood and fire. And the Bible says we will destroy ourselves by blood and fire. So somebody setting fires of NASCAR airplanes. They put the bomb underneath. My husband was a electronic technician in the Air Force. He showed me where they put the bombs. Those crashes don't happen by circumstance. Somebody plants it there

cuz they're angry. Now potholes. In 2014 when I moved here 11 years ago in some months there was a big pothole in North Magnolia. My my tires were out of line. My hips went out of line. I've had two hip replacements. So I went I came down here as little B peep and Mayor Miles stood at the top of the stairs. He said I'm through. Sit down, Miss Stevenson. Am I through it? We'd have to ask you to wrap up this time.

So I said, "I'm not Miss Stevenson today." He said, "Who are you?" I said, "I'm little boat peep and I've lost my sheep and I think she's in a pothole on North Magnolia Street." So it was fixed in a week by Chris somebody. Thank you, sir. Sir, thank you. Thank you.

I was going to run for school board, but that's next year. Our next general speaker is Jack Bion. Mr. Bion. My name is Jack Benign. I live at 263 Beaten Path Road in Morsville down Broly. And I almost didn't think I was going to make it tonight. My wife said at 5:15, "You know, it's time for you to leave." And I walked in as you were telling everyone what to do with the three minutes. Um, I have a couple of things in the Morsville development projects in the town of Morsville map. Um, it gives you all the information of how many town homes, single family homes, multif family, non-residential, and total. Uh, there is at the end of my street and Raleigh School Road some apartments that are going up Cypress Point that is not on that map. When you go over to the current development map, there's a little highlighted area for that area that they're working on. It says that there are nine streets there when there's only one. Um, it gives information on contacting David Cole, who's not been with the town of Morsville for quite some time. Um, it just seems that I know I've spoken

with the board earlier, but there's an awful lot of things out there that are supposed to be useful to us that are not current. And I don't blame this table because I personally know that a lot of that goes back two or three sessions of other people that have filled that table. Um, and I know that they're probably as short staffed as the people that were there before. Um, it it just seems that the growth is just phenomenal. The information that we have available to us is not current. Um, just things need to get caught up. I don't know how you can't get caught up and continue to have sessions like tonight with another 218 town homes or apartments and just keep building, building, building. And I thank you.

Thank you. That's u and that's a good point. I'm sure we're making note of this just so we can ask the proper folks who may update those maps. Appreciate that. With that, I'll ask for any adjustments to the agenda. Being none, then I have a vote by the board to adopt the agenda as presented. Have a motion. Second. Second. Second from Mr. Katz. All in favor?

And now we would look for uh approval of the minutes. from our November meeting. So move a motion for Mr. Cole. Have a second for Mr. Poor. All in favor? I

Any old business? Being none, then we'll move to new business, which is item 9A. Consider conditional zoning request CC2025-10 for a 50.28 28 acre site located along Meckllinburgg Highway. The applicant is requesting town of Morsville conditional corridor mixed use. And with that, we're open for presentation.

Well, actually,

as we before you get started on that, Mr. I would like to disclose to the board and to the audience um I've been in the Mount Mor area since 1965 at the end of Lang Tree Road. So I'm I've known the Knox family for years and I have gone to the Cove Church for the last 15 or 18 years. So uh so all of the folks involved in this are folks that I am familiar with. Uh, I have no financial interest or any vested interest in anything going on, but I would like to disclose that and I would ask the board if you all are comfortable with me staying in the position here as we go through this case or not. And no bad feelings either way, if it's something you feel different.

No problem. Okay. Well, I felt like I should disclose that. So, thank you very much. Mr. Coley, we'll actually turn it over to attorney Austin.

So, at this time, we usually talk about our authority as a municipality. Um, municipalities have no power in and of themselves. We get our power and authority from the state legislature. Uh, usually, uh, states are either home rule states or Dylan states and we are a hybrid. So, we only have those powers specifically granted to us. You can go to the next slide. Um, authority is granted through state statutes, local bills adopted by the state legislature. Our town charter, the state legislature controls whether the state or the county has authority over certain government functions. Uh that's why the school board has uh is in the county and has the the county schools under their purview as well as the department of social services whereas the town has things like water, sewer and police, fire, that sort of thing. So we are given those functions by our state. Um and we can't think do things like charge impact fees or additional taxes and things outside of our authority. Uh we'll also just go over quickly uh land development overview. So by writer base district development uh this is all land is eligible to develop under local zoning regulations which establish permanent uses, densities and other associated development standards. Development complying with existing zoning is approved administratively by staff. And we have ride our base

affidavit signed by the property owners. Uh, this is CZ 2025-10 Gabriel Farms. My name is James. Oh, sorry. U Mr. Chairman, I'll ask the remaining board if there are any conflicts of interest. Please proceed. Great.

Thank you. CZ 2510 for Gabriel Farms. This fits our strategic priority area of individual and community economic vitality as well as the strategic plan goal to support development of housing, employment, educational choices to support economic sustainability. This request is to reszone from corridor mixeduse and residential low inensity to conditional corridor mixed use. The request is to allow for 218 single family attached dwellings. As an overview, the owner is Gabriel Family Properties LLC and the applicant is Macintosh Law Firm. The location is 1680 Meckllinburgg Highway. This is a 50.28 acre tract and would be in voting ward 1 if annexed. This is a current site photo and a little bit of the site history. So, currently this is zoned as quarter mixeduse and residential low intensity. That request is to become conditional corridor mixed use. The site lies within the WS4 critical area wershed and the WS4 protected area wershed which restrict impervious coverage to 50 and 70% respectively. A portion of the site is also located outside of the wershed protection area and the majority of the site is located within the village center node. Project highlights. This is 218 single family attached dwellings, 4.34 dwellings per acre with 3.7 acres of active open space and zero acres of commercial space. Their mitigation measures identified in their traffic impact study include improving Cove Church driveway to town standards uh for collector street that's approximately 700730 ft and two acres are to be conveyed to the town. Their concept plan was approved on May 7th, 2025.

They held a neighborhood meeting on December 25th in person at the Charlesm Citizen Center where 13 uh community members did attend and feedback was favorable to the project. Staff has found that the site is consistent with being a priority utility connection area within tier one of the growth map. It is compatible with existing land use created a creating a logical transition and orderly development pattern. However, the site is inconsistent with the future character land use map being designated as an employment center. The site is within the fivem fire response coverage area. However, it is outside of the preferred four-minute response time to station five. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have at this time. However, the applicant is here with a presentation of their own. So, if you'd like to hear that first, we can do questions at the end or we can ask questions now.

Well, thank you, Mr. Coley. Are there any specific questions that the board would like to ask? Now, I have a question on the traffic impact analysis. Yes. My understanding is 115 can improved due to the whole roads that were added on 77. Would it take into account if work needed to be if it work was recommended on 115 or just so they're not accessing off of 115? It's my understanding that the train tracks going across would be the problem with getting a new encroachment permit coming across there.

Yeah. The two acres that are being uh dedicated to the town. Can you explain that? What what are those two acres? So those sorry let me go back and if you look at the uh plan southeast the very bottom corner that little square is two acres to be dedicated to the town. Uh that was negotiated as part of a potential redline stop in the future or uh in their conditions as governmental use essentially build property. I do not know. Okay. I I have another question. We had a lot of talk over time about another fire fire station down in that part of town. Yes.

That's still somewhere out. It is still in the future and this would be served by fire station 7 once that's open and operational. So it's no different. Correct. Yes sir. Any additional questions for staff? If none then would the applicant like to speak.

Good evening. My name is Bob McIntosh. I'm with the Macintosh Law Firm in Davidson. We're here to represent the uh Stanley Martin and Prestige group that is proposing this Gabriel Farms on behalf of the Knox family. See, there we go. And the the property, as you can see, is on 115 just southwest of the intersection with Lang Tree Road, right across the street from Pine Lake Prep. Uh, and just immediately north of the recently approved Papus development um that has significant density and fits with the town's lands use plan. This is a street view of the property. Uh you ask about connection on 115. As you can see, the railroad track runs the full length of this property and any connection to 115 would have to be approved through that and no clue no clue how that might go, but I'm thinking it probably ain't going to go well. Um this is a uh a picture of the project. As you can see on the north side of it, you've got the transcontinental gas pipeline that runs across in the project itself. Then as you get to the south portion of it, you've got the two acres has been allotted to the town. Uh also you have your water uh runoff buffers and uh the development itself. You can see the roads that are in the development will connect to Cove Church Road. Uh that is part of the TIA that it will be improved. Uh there is no connection on to 115. All of the traffic will have to go to Langree Road or come off of I77 or come through the uh the new development

just to the south of it to access the property. There be 218 town homes, active recreation area, two acres again that's going to the town and that is an unrestricted use from the developer perspective. TIA was made the traffic impact analysis. There were some suggestions and all of those suggestions have been incorporated into the plan as proposed. Everything that they suggested is is being done. If you have questions about that, Mr. Bennett's here. I'm sure he can respond to that if there are any questions. I think we may have some appropriate. All

righty. Um, the green circle is a sewer pump station that will be added as part of this or sewer collector station and pump station that will be added as part of this development. The the south side is of course the low side. The blue circle is a proposed water connection that will supply water down to the down to the development. And so there is water and sewer that will be available that are coming as part of this project. Again, I believe the project is in a critical watershed. So the history of the project located just south of intersection Langree highdensity development use annexation is also proposed at this point. Uh the original proposed uh was a much denser use but uh the the developer has worked with the town and has reduced that to a lower density and this resoning is to come to the carter mixed use. Um the site plan is tied to the site so the town knows exactly what will be developed and development will ensure low density community focused development. The development will eliminate any by right uses and restrict the use of the property to single family attach and accessory uses. The traffic movements that were requested have been completed or will have been completed by the time of the development and only remaining improvement is a multi-use path and three access point improvements. Also, I wanted to go back. I missed something here. I'm sorry about that. You see there's a lot of trees that have been protected in this. Those around the pipeline and then there are trees around the perimeter of this uh proposed area as well to to buffer uh buffer site coming in and also to provide a nice uh

curtain for the people that'll be living there. Okay. So, u traffic improvements, okay, they've already been done. Uh, no more traffic on 115 that will be accessing this site. Again, all of that will go up to Langree or come in from the the southside development that's been approved. Um, and all the agress from the everything will come in through the coach cove Church Road. Uh, that will be improved as part of this project. Okay. Yeah. Developer is donating a portion to the town which has already been discussed. Unique part of development is it's no need for original connections to existing roads. Um so everything that's there is going to be there. It's utilizing what is already in existence with Cove Church. And it is my understanding that the Cove is likely here. Yes, they are here. and they are fully supported with the project as well. I'm suspicious they think there's going to be some unsaved souls in these 218 units. So, and with that I think questions and I will readily admit I am not the expert in the room but I'll try to find one if you have a question.

Thank you Mr. Macintosh. Are there questions from the board? Yes, Mr. call. The first one here it says, did you say there's a pool in the clubhouse somewhere? Uh, I do not believe there is. No, sir. No, sir. There's a possibility it could be added. I think that's likely related to maybe the town acres. Okay. So, the only amenities is the active area.

I'm gonna let Mr. Bennett and Sarah respond to that. free lookout circle in Waxaw. There will be a pool made that decision here recently. Make sure there's going to be a pool and clubhouse included in the neighborhood. Sarah Shirley's with me as well. Um, we're here to help happy to answer any technical questions you might have. Sarah Shirley with Kimley Horn Engineering Firm for the project. We've been doing this a long time together. So, okay. 30 some years. So, well, very good. Are there thy questions from any of the board members? Yes, I've got some traffic questions. So, you guys are coming out where the entrance of the cove is onto Langree. Is there going to be a light there? I mean, that is

I believe there is a light on the actual traffic improvement plan for Langree. Okay. Um because the traffic improvements were pretty minimal because of all the extensive work that were being done on Langree. Um it was mainly just improve Cove Church entrance because Could I ask you to speak into the microphone? We're live streaming and so we just need to make sure there was enough there was already all these extensive traffic improvements done on Langree Road. So the only improvements we got from the traffic study was basically improve Cove Church to you know the uh town standards. That's what we're doing. And my question regarding 115, I understand you guys don't have direct access on 115. I I understand that. Yeah.

But what I'm saying is don't tell me that this subdivision with this many houses that there's not going to be increased use on 115. I mean, people are going to go up to Langree and to 115. Does the traffic impact analysis take into account does it just it knows that the traffic engineer knows that 115 cannot be improved and so it just ignores that or is there suggested improvements on 115?

Uh, so there are no suggested improvements on to 115, but the traffic impact analysis is crafted not just with the transportation team, but also with the town and within CD dot. So there are a series of intersections that are put together to study offsite and it was deemed uh based on those studies and the criteria that there were no improvements that were required for 115 as part of this project. Yeah, I'm looking at the traffic impact analysis and it looks like a Ling Tree Road and Cove Church Road. Um, under required mitigation, which I think it's being done anyway. There's construct right turn lane on Link Tree Road. Um, but I don't see anything about a traffic light. That would be a concern of mine if all that traffic's coming out on Cove Church Road and there's no light there at Langree. a lot of units coming out to access Lingree Road potentially. I realize some of them are going to go down to East West Connectors. It's not like all of them are going to go to Lingree, but I think you still will have some, especially if they're going to go north.

I thought there was a light there. If there's not, we can look into that for sure. There's a light that would come in play with the east west connector adjacent on the other side of Pope Church, but nothing at the We can certainly look is what I'm talking about. In fact, does not have a light. And what I'm reading here, it doesn't look like it's gonna get Yeah. As long as DOT is okay with it, we'll check with DOT and suggest it and we have no problem putting it in if that's it's okay with them.

I have one other question just on on connections. So, if I'm understanding correctly, there's basically two connections. One's Cove Church Road, which is a private road. I know Coke Church is here and they're um know supportive of this. And then the other connection um to the south would be going into the the new development. Is this development going to be built after that? Do we know is that connection already going to be done in time?

Yeah. Well, that's a great question. We're actually putting that road in for them ahead of time. We have an agreement with them that we're working through right now to put that in ahead of time. Even though they won't be in construction on certain things, the road will be in place so we can use that as a secondary entrance or primary entrance as well off the east west connector. So that infrastructure will be in place before people are moving into these units. That's correct. Okay. And is that going to be maintained by the town? Who's taking over maintenance for that road? These would all be public roads, including Cove Church. So Cove Church is going to be taken over, too. It it will be improved to town standards to meet the town's requirements. Then the intention is at that point it would get turned over. Yeah. And it wouldn't be maintained as a private road.

No. And um James and Beth can correct me if I'm Okay, they're nodding. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't misspeaking. Got it. All right. Thank you. And one one thing that wasn't mentioned, something we tal I talked to um folks about before we were working on this plan was an affordable component of this subdivision community. I believe we talked about a 5% affordable component um because I know that's a need for the area for town of Morrisville and um speaking to folks in in the town. So, that's something we're committed to do as well and we can certainly add to the plan because we originally had it on there. For some reason, it wasn't added, but we're willing to do that as well.

Okay. Well, that was a question I jotted down. I noticed the comment in the literature, but I didn't see percentage of what that value might be. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. I I can help clarify that there's an option to provide the commercial or non-residential use or the affordable housing component. And because we had the dedicated. Um, we understood that fulfilled the non-residential use requirement, but I will not speak for Bob. If we want to provide affordable housing, I'm all supportive. Yeah, it's one of those things. I've been doing this long enough and we want to be supportive of the town and what they need and that's certainly something we can do.

How about would you mind explaining how the traffic mitigation will work when the cove is in operation? that that's something that being a part of the cove and and being up and down that road and knowing that certain services you'll have you could have 1,200 plus in a service and multiple services a day uh holiday services such as Christmas and Easter you can have quite a bit more than that that are coming through and that

without changing the way that that road pattern worked with just the medians for say tree buffers, etc. I'm I'm very curious how that can work in a safe fashion, you know, as you get this many people involved. That's a great question. I think with the other entrance going out toward the east west connector, that'll certainly mitigate that that that congestion, if you will, on holidays and just church services. And we have a great relationship with the Cove Church. We've been speaking to them for probably over a year and a half now since going under contract. And that's something we need to have further discussions on as well to make sure we're not in conflict with the church or hurt anything they're doing over at the church at all.

Well, I I've had the opportunity to serve on the parking team. So, I'm understand what it's like in front of all those people. So I'm the only question I had in my mind was how do you how do you make the distinction of people that are there for service versus people who are just in and out in their units or home and uh and direct that appropriately and and handle that traffic so that everyone stays safe in that process. Sure. No, that's a great question. It's something we need to definitely consider more for sure. Well, I'll I'll trust Mr. Johnson from the code that there's a a good plan in place for as you all work to do. So, it's a great question.

But why is it impossible to meet the statutory requirements for the commercial? I'm not sure. Why is it impossible? Yes. My my understanding is as his plan is now, it does not comply with his town statutes. Um I think there's a distinction between commercial versus non-residential uses. And when we were having the initial conversations with staff, we understood that we were meeting that requirement with the non-residential use with the twoacre dedication. Um, so we were operating under that understanding throughout the process. We've been in it for about a year and a half or so. Yeah. And also if there's a commercial component that you're looking for, we can certainly consider that as well.

Well, it's it it seems that if we're not, we need to know whether we're compliant or not compliant with the statute. specifically if we're not then what can be done I wonder don't have the drawings for the uh the property south here but with a connection there it may all be connected to a portion of that property that's already commercial and so that being the case you wonder why we wouldn't try to work in to meet the statute it puts it seems to put us in a bad position to approve a development that doesn't comply with the statute.

Sure. I think the idea that we had we were talking through was take two acres and take one acre of the two acres and make that commercial component for sure. And we can certainly change that on our plans. Would that help answer? I'm sorry I messed up your focus. I'm thinking about I'm not sure we're willing to I'm not I'm not an attorney. As you guys can see, you know, we're pretty adaptable. We want to certainly help the town. We're not up here to be intentious. My my position is not helping the town. It's as a board member here.

Sure. You know, for me to say, "Yeah, let's this is a great project. Let's do it." And it's non-compliant with the town statute. I don't I don't know that I'm comfortable making going yay on that one. Sure. That that's where I'm at. As soon as I read that, I thought, well, this is strange, you know. And uh is that is that the new statute that went in last year, James? Do you know the the 5% commercial with this type of zoning? That's what I was going to suggest that maybe Mr. Coley come up and speak to us about this portion. So, we just pulled the standard for the commercial uh and mixeduse development requirement. I'll just kind of read it to you if that's okay.

Yes, sir. So, uh, in the CM and CC districts, all residential dwelling units in new development and redevelopment must be located in projects that contain non-residential uses that make up at least 5% of the total heated square footage in one of the following configurations. So, it is 5% non-residential and then I'm going to give you those pieces next. So, the first vertically mixed buildings that have only non-residential uses on the ground floor. The second a horizontal uh horizontally mixeduse development site containing residential and non-residential uses that are integrated using common open space and a common pedestrian circulation system. And the final is a combination of vertically and horizontally mixed used as described in this section and that goes into the TD district. So uh those are the three options right there. Um this I I assume that staff previously determined that this did meet that requirement. Um can't speak to how they came to that conclusion.

So this was staffed maybe before. So this was given Yes. The concept plan was approved in May of 25. Okay. Yeah. I've just uh my curiosity was that uh that's been a hard stop pretty much with our town board, you know, regarding apartments. So, I don't know if they look at the town homes differently, but I know that's been a a push back on any of our decisions in the past as far as I'm from having those move forward without having some type of commercial component with it. But if a if you're donating two acres to the town, government's going to use it, isn't that a non-residential use? If you

So, it would again be a non-residential use. It would not be a commercial use. that would be an institutional use or a governmental use. Uh when we talk about the red line, that's institutional. Um any kind of uh governmental use would be separate as well. But um whether or not you make that distinction and if it were, let's just say it became non-necessary for the railroad use, it could be incorporated maybe a fire protection or police note or something of that. Yes, sir. For that use as well. Okay. Yes, sir. Any additional questions from the board?

Thank you very much. Were there any other pieces of your presentation? Do you want to add anything? Um, I was going through the list just to make sure all the questions got answered, but I think if you cleared everything up, we're happy. But we're happy to answer anything else if anything else comes up. I think one quick question that Miss Austin was just reminding me of. Does the built upon area is that all for the watershed component? Is that all inclusive so that there wouldn't be an issue later on with the dedicated 28?

That is a very good question. Um we are actually well below the more the more restrictive watershed requirement of 50%. Um we are not even at the 50%. So we have room to uh supply a commercial use should that be required. Okay, great. Good to know. Thank you, Mr. Macintosh. Yes, sir. Uh yes, sir. I think the family wanted to speak and someone from the code wanted to speak as well. So, good evening. My name's Jean Manley. I'm here with my family, my husband Paul, my son. I'm sorry. Yes.

Um it's if you if you're part of the presentation, you all can go ahead and and give that part of the presentation if you're part of it. You're an applicant, right? This is the family of the It is. Yes. and and if you would just state your name and address as well for your public record, please.

My name is Jean Manley. I live at 838 Langree Road. Um I'm here with my family. My husband Paul, my son Knox Peak, my brother Ralph Knox, his wife Sheila, and our cousin's last agent Charles Knox. And we're Gabriel Family Properties. Our grandparents bought this property about a hundred years ago. They farmed it. They raised soy beans, wheat, corn. Uh, our father passed away when Ralph was nine and I was five. So, our afternoons were spent after school at the farm.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Sure. They're not able to hear you. I'm one. And then number two, I see the green light on. if she making sure that this is part of the presentation and not public comment, right? So, this is part of the 15 minutes, not a separate three minutes. Just making sure we're following the rules. Okay. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Yes. Yes.

Okay. So, I was saying my my brother and I lost our dad when we were five and nine. So, our summers and our afterchool times were spent at the farm. We didn't know how lucky we were to shuck corn and shell peas, but we also got to go to the creek and catch crayfish, climb trees, build forts, and occasionally run up to the railroad track and put a penny on the track to see if the train would smash it. Um, in ' 06, the town came to my mom with Roy Good and Steve Mloud with their vision of an east west connector that would open up the southern end of Ardell County for development and mom needed to at that point the road was going to come through our property. So, they needed my mother to either donate the land and be a part of it. and she decided that because she grew up in Morsville and our uncle was very big in Morsville that she would do that. Then we had a recession, we had funding issues, and we had co I just So here we are 20 years later. The town's vision and the road is under construction and its growth. We got Charles involved, our cousin, because we were having so much inquiry and offers on the property about two years ago. It started. So, we chose Stanley Martin and they haven't disappointed us. They have an excellent relationship with Cove Church and with Papus and our neighbors across the street. Philip Cash and they're here tonight. They like our plan that Stanley Martin's got, their land plan. They are offering homes, not apartments, not condos.

They are offered a park site, a police station for the two acres that can be a police station, a light rail station. They're open they're offering a lot of open space. So, we're here and it it is growth, but it's low density, it's smart, and it's planned growth. and we hope you'll let us continue our journey with the East West Connector and Stanley Martin. So, thank you for letting us be here tonight. We're grateful. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mr. Macintosh. Is this the end of presentation?

Yes, sir. I believe it is. Unless the code I don't know public comment. Yes, sir, it is. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Macintosh. At this time, I'll open up the public hearing portion and call for the first individual for public comment. General public comment, excuse me, for case comment. And that would be Mr. Bob Bennett. All good to go. Okay. Charles Knox.

Again, Mr. Knox, if you'll just give your full name and address, please. Uh, my name is Charles Knox. I live at 1 19725. Um, excuse me, I just gave my office address. I'm sorry. 21415 Bethl Church Road in Cornelius. So, I used to give my office address out. I apologize.

Um, I, as mentioned, I'm the cousin. Um, this is my 40th year in commercial real estate. Um, not quite as long or a little bit longer than Uncle Joe was mayor. Um, so I just want to say a couple things. I have been involved in this project for quite a long and she mentioned two years. I actually got involved in this project over 10 years ago when we first looked at when is the right time to do something and we knew that we needed to wait until the right time till the road was funded, till the infrastructure could handle additional development. And then to my cousin's credit, they decided that they wanted to go through a process and select a developer that was not necessarily going to pay the top dollar, but one that would do something that they would be proud of. Um, it's family land and it's important. Um, one of the keys here, I think, from a land use plan, and I don't think it really got emphasized enough, is that this is a transition site. We have the church on one side. We have a historically um low density neighborhood to the south or to the north that we're buffering with a lot of green space. There's the gas line, but then there's some additional land north of the of the gas line that provides a good buffer for that neighborhood. And then we have a school across 115. So to um we looked at doing all commercial when it was first looked at, but this is we felt like a good transitional use for the site. And that's the only other comments I wanted to add. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Knox. Eric Johnson. Good evening. I'm uh Eric Johnson. Uh oh, you need my address. I live actually at 162 DJ Drive, Statesville. Um that's fine.

I've worked at the Cove for uh 20 years. So, I've driven to Morrisville almost every day for 20 years uh to Langtree Road. Uh the cove is located uh we saw it on the map, but it's 197 Langree Road. Uh and as Steve pointed out, we host over 2,200 people uh every Sunday, and we got to get them in and out. Uh we also have campuses in Statesville, in Denver, uh in Salsbury and most recently in South Africa. Um so the Langree location is our launching point. It's our it's our headquarters. Uh we've been an active participant uh in the Langree neighborhood since uh 2004. Not as long as Steve uh has lived down there, but it's been a long time. I had a lot more hair then, too, because that's when I started for the Cove. And I don't think that's because I work for the Cove. I think that's just genetics. Uh, we have a 22-year history of working with our neighbors in the town of Morsville to improve the area. Uh, as growth has happened to all of us around Morsville. Uh, I agree with the first man that spoke. I was shocked how long it took me to get from uh, Langree to this meeting tonight. I didn't plan enough time. Um, the Cove Church worked in partnership with the East Wester East West Connector Consortium. Uh, Jean spoke about that. The town of Moresville and other neighbors to help secure the federal grant that is helping to make the East West Connector road system possible. Um, we donated 9 acres of land. The Cove Church donated nine acres of land and countless manh hours to help the East West Connector road system start and we hope it'll finish this year. I would give more examples of our tangible support for the town of

Moresville in the Langree neighborhood, but I believe you understand we have skin in this game in this neighborhood we call Langree. In this spirit, we believe the Gabriel Farms project is a great fit for planned development near the East West Connector. As a congregation, we are excited about how the Stanley Martin Prestige team has collaborated with us, planned the project, and is moving it forward. What Bob said here earlier, you can take that to heart. We've worked with him for a year and a half, and he said, "Well, you want to make that change? If you need that, we want to help." That's what we felt all along. The Stanley Martin Prestigious team is not only working with us, but the town and other property owners to provide a development where people want to live, work, and play, and I would say also worship. Most importantly, we also believe the planned roads of the Gabriel Farms project will help fully use the east west infrastructure that we've already put in place. That's really the most important thing of this. This will improve traffic and transportation. in the Langree area. This will be good for all of us who drive into Morsville every day and I thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. I believe the last speaker is Abby Cornelius.

Hi, I'm Abby Cornelius. My address is 3338 Black Hill Street in Davidson.

Thank you. I have been a resident of Moresville and Davidson for over 20 years, but I'm also here today as a representative for Stanley Martin Homes, the builder who will actually be building and selling these homes. I want to stress to you that this is going to be a for sale product, providing the opportunity of home ownership, not a build for rent product. So, we really want to give that opportunity to people within the town of Moresville. And a project like this does something very unique in our market. I'm sure everybody in this home is in this building is very aware of the affordability crisis that we have um in our country and town homes like this in a in a market like Moresville and Davidson that can be very expensive is going to provide the opportunity of home ownership to more people. So I'm really excited for this project not only as as a builder but also as a local resident within this community. So I am in support of this project.

Well, thank you very much. Thanks for that addition. We certainly have worked hard in many committees in Morrisville to try to find and include affordable housing because it is something that our community faces the difficulty of every day with what they're dealing with in our escalated pricing. So that those are all of the speakers that are signed up. I'll close the public hearing and comment portion. Uh, I'll ask if there are any rebuttals from either the presenter or the town staff. And if there are none, any general comment from the board or discussion,

I I just Mr. Cole,

I just uh it looks like a really good project and it looks like you guys work well together. I'd like to I'd like to be one of the ones that votes to ask town commission to make a decision on it. And I think the 5% for affordable housing units included in your buildings here with 218 units would be a huge positive. So, I would encourage you to agree to put that on the list of conditions and uh hopefully between now and the time you would meet the with the commission, this issue of the uh statutory requirement for this type of zoning could be ironed out with the legal staff so that that question is clear if the town uh board gets the opportunity to hear this presentation from you. Good comment, Mr. Cole. Any additional discussion or comments? If not, then Miss Austin would like Mr. Macintosh to come up. Would you be the one agreeing to the conditions? We have everything out

um inclusive of the last statement.

Not quite, but we'll get there. Um I do have a question before we go through the conditions and it was with regard to the builtup pond area. Um can you point out where that is located on the concept plan or the site or anywhere that we have that calculation for the builtupon area so that we know for sure what that is. We're not

Am I allowed to pass this around to the board? Sure.

See? Okay. Circle it first. I think certainly I think most importantly this Yeah, if you don't mind and give this um to the administrative assistance once you're done, but yeah, if you'll explain to them what area is being built upon and what is Not. So what that leaves and you're saying that what has been calculated is the the town homes though. So

it's um so impervious is everything that is grass. Yeah. Right. So roads, town homes, but that would be everything you all are building and it would not include anything that would be built on that two acres. Uh correct. Correct. So I just want everybody to be on the same page. Understood. Yes. because we're not showing any structures on that two acres, it can't be incorporated into the calculation.

Um, but I will tell you what we have shown now max for the 50% allowance which is the more restrictive um allows for 25.12 acres. We are currently showing 19. So we have about six acres to play with to add impervious. Okay. if that helps. Well, certainly that's a lot of buffer room because you're not on that two acres. You're certainly not going to exceed that or even if you did have something recommended by the town board, there's still some buffer. Correct. Okay.

Um and that is the more restrictive because we're in the two. We can take the average so we can actually go above that. But just wanted to emphasize how much wiggle room we've got. Um, and then before we go through the conditions, I always jot down things that I hear. Um, I heard conversation about a pool in a clubhouse. Is that something that the board is wanting to ask be required? Sometimes we have seen that in the past where certain things are required to be You actually don't have to. You don't even have to ask. It's definitely going to be there. Is it in the concept plan that has

I believe it is. It should be I didn't we didn't see it on the drawings. Okay. It says amenity area, but we can certainly add it to the conditions as well. I'm sorry. Okay. Has that been added to the We have it in all our plans at the office. It's just not labeled on the site plan as a pool and clubhouse. Is that in the impervious calculations? That would not be but that is uh easily added to the flexibility that we've got.

Yeah. Take the 70. Is there any spec specifics that I'm I'm asking this because I've seen it in the past. So, um on the clubhouse, is there a desire for a specific square footage or any other specifics that are wanted there or is it just that we need to have a clubhouse in a pool? I don't the clubhouse in the pool. Okay. Yeah. I would take

I've just seen it in the past, so I asked the question. I'm not I'm not suggesting it. I'm just asking. We understand. Um, also, uh, we had talk about a light at the Cove Church and Langree. Um, and I seem to understand that you were willing to do that if NC do Yes, that's correct. So, that can be added as a condition. Yes, ma'am.

Okay. And then the 5% affordability component, you seem to be amenable to that. Um, I I'm going to suggest that that's something that you talk with, uh, planning staff about and flesh out a little further and get a copy of our standard affordability agreement. Um, but at this point at least, could we put in there what and then would be anywhere between seven and 10 years. So like HUD sort of affordability is usually around the 80 and 100%. Uh our UDO allows us up to 120 I believe. Um maybe it does.

And then um 10 years is kind of a common I mean you can see up to 20 years you can see as low as seven but our UDO I think is it's in that it's in that seven or 10. So is there a suggestion or an ask here as to affordability and as to time period because those things would be very important in drafting agreement. We'll get your guidance on that. James, what would you put in there?

The 120% is what we've seen for just about everything. Anywhere between seven and 10 years is completely acceptable to us. Um we would and we'll talk I guess a little bit but uh commiserate with construction. So, you know, you don't save all the entire 5% to the end of the project as you build out. So, if you're going to phase it, do 5% in each phase. Uh, and then that they would be spread out so that they are a mixed income community as opposed to saying this building on the back end is all of our affordable. We're very familiar with this. We do a lot of this up in Northern Virginia and other areas of the other areas of the country as well. So, would you be a minimal to the 10 years and 120%. That's fine. Yes. Okay. it

and to phase it with the rest of the project as well. We'll flush that out. Well, yeah. So, could you actually let me have like just a few minutes to draft a couple of Most certainly. If you want to give people a bathroom break during that, that would be great. If we could just have recess for five minutes. We'll do that. Let's take a fivem minute recess so council can put that document together and and then re-engage here. But let's just say at 10

order here. We've got Miss Austin, I think, has her notes uh ready and and we appreciate how she works on the fly for us. So, okay. and I will have full faith that you and the planning department will work together prior to the board of commissioner meeting so that these conditions will sound even better. Um, but you have the or the draft ordinance in front of you or you've reviewed it. It has um it had originally nine requirements on it. Do you have that in front of you? Yes.

Okay. So you've reviewed that and then we would propose to add under seven an additional subsection F that developer shall seek NC do approval to install a traffic signal at the intersection of Langree Road and the current Cove Driveway and in shall and shall install the same by 50% development. Um, we would propose that we add a number 10, developers shall include within the amenity area a pool and clubhouse. And number 11, developer shall set aside 5% of its units as affordable for renters or purchasers with incomes at or below 120% of the area median income AMI and priced at or below the 120% AMI to be restricted for a period of 10 years. said units will be constructed in each phase, not concentrated in one area, and be indistinguishable from market rate units. Developers shall enter into an affordable housing agreement and record restrictions for the affordable units as approved by the planning director and in accordance with the UDO.

Yes. Thank you. Can I can I clarify one thing real quick? Just I'm sorry. Certainly. When you say we're going to ask DOT if we can put a light If they deny that, is that acceptable to the planning board? You don't have a choice. You don't have a choice in the matter at that point. Okay. Thank you. I just want to clarify that. Correct. And we can we can work on these a little more. But yes, was there was there something I forgot? I had one question about just delineation between affordable and attainable and whether we're doing attainable housing at 120% or if we're doing affordable housing. Well, I think we need to be doing attainable for our ordinances.

We need to be doing attainable. We kind of use the terms interchangeably though they're not but the UDO doesn't really that's fine. Yeah, we can say attainable. Would you like to have that say attainable? Okay, we will change that to attainable. So, with the changing of my wording to attainable, where I said affordable previously, um, and if you would like me to add a sentence to the subsection about the intersection that if it's not approved that would you like me to do that? Yes, please. I don't think it's necessary, but we we can do that.

Okay. Thank you. So after 50% development should approval be denied the developer shall not be required to install said light or said traffic signal. Okay. With those changes, do you agree to all of the conditions? Yes. Thank you. Well, thank you, Miss Austin, for that together and Mr. Bennett, thanks for the flexibility. We appreciate that. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

With that, if there's no further discussion from the board, then we would be open. I think you have two options in front of you. Mr. I make a motion to recommend that the town board approve CZ-20225-10 as the proposal is consistent with the town's one Morsville comprehensive plan specifically resoning 1860 Meckllinburgg Highway to conditional corridor mixed use is compatible with the UDO standards for single family subdivisions and is consistent with the adjacent developments. The proposed use is consistent with the secondary uses permitted within the village center node and is a logical transition from the proposed mixeduse development located to the north. Proposal is reasonable and in the public interest because it provides a logical and orderly extension of existing single family neighborhoods making this request consistent with development in the area.

So we have a motion on option one to approve from Mr. Cole. Do I have a second? We have a second from Mr. four. All in favor? Any opposed? So, the motion carries in full and we would uh request that the town board or we would pass that on to them that uh we're happy with the project and we hope they will be too.

Thank you. Thank you all very much and congratulations. Thanks for your flexibility and what you're doing to help in these assist in these areas. Our next item on the agenda, item 9B, is to consider a request from the planning and community development department to adopt an ordinance approving text amendment TA2025-8, amendment to the unified development ordinance to remove references to erosion and sediment control from the UDO as the town has adopted a separate erosion and sediment control ordinance and revised section 2.5.26 performance guarantee match best practices. Mr. Coley,

thank you. Uh TA2508 for erosion control, sedimentation and performance guarantees. Uh the first portion of this is erosion control and sedimentation. The applicant is the town of Moresville. The topic is erosion and sedimentation control. The purpose is to amend the UDO to remove references to erosion control and sedimentation as the town has adopted a standalone erosion and sedimentation control ordinance. This does support the strategic priority area of operational excellence and the strategic plan goal to commit to continuous innovation and provide quality customer experience. Uh the town of Moresville will begin processing, issuing and performing inspections on erosion sedimentation control permits in 2026. All aspects of erosion control are covered in the standalone ordinance and the new ordinance is based on NCTEQ's model ordinance and sets specific requirements and standards. Um, just as a reference for you guys, these are some of the issues that the or some of the uh requirements the town has set and how some of these already go above and beyond what the state minimums were. So, uh, erosion sedimentation control plans are required for any disturbance over half an acre. Uh performance guarantees are required uh prior to plan approval. All high quality water areas and watershed protection overlay are included in this enhanced design standards. The uh limited limit on uncovered areas is 20 acres for all sites. The design basis uh for uh storm design is a 25-year storm. Outlet protections are designed to a 25-year storm. And then max peep runoff is actually designed for a 50-year storm inside the high quality water areas and the water protection overlay. Finally, sedimentation basins and sediment basin volumes are both increased above what the state minimums would be. Um the second area is the performance guarantee coverage. So the town of Moresville is the applicant and this is

to amend the UDO to better align the process and pra best practices associated with performance guarantee coverage. This uh covers the strategic priority of financial stability through purposeful government and the strategic plan goal to implement best practices in all aspects of financial management. So as a little bit of a definition uh performance guarantees are only required when developer wants to proceed with a vertical construction prior to the completion of all infrastructure. These instruments ensure that work is completed and shows a financial backing for the project's obligations. Uh generally speaking, performance guarantees come in uh only a couple of forms. Charity bonds are the most common. Uh but also we would accept a letter of credit or a check or even cash. Uh North Carolina General Statute 160D 8041 speaks to the who, what, where, when, and how performance guarantees can be used. Uh key areas. So this updates our coverage uh creates a new approval workflow and helps to will help us to maintain accurate performance guarantee amounts. This will require the establishment of a performance guarantee agreement that will detail the scope of work required in greater detail. It will also um only go by phases of the project and not by map. So some map amendment standards we've had 14 guarantees for a single development. This will hopefully limit that to only one or two, maybe three. Uh this will also improve our monitoring. So uh these performance guarantees will automatically expire after 12 months with uh language in there so they can be renewed. However, a new engineer's estimate will be required but prior to reapproving them and ensure that the amounts reflect the actual construction cost and uh inflation. Finally, our finance department will be instituting a new tracking system to ensure the guarantees remain in place until all that work is completed. Uh you've got the actual text and your backup

material. So happy to answer any questions uh about any specifics. Thank you, Mr. Coley. Questions from the board, Mr. Coley? Just a small Yeah, absolutely. NIT probably in section four here, D4. Okay. Uh the extension is It seems very specific throughout the whole document who's going to be able to approve an extension. Here it says town. Is town a defined? Is town a defined word? Uh I think we put in place that it was the finance department planning engineering.

Not in this one. It's everywhere else. But when you go to D4, it says performance care may be extended for additional period if the town determines the develop. Just says the town. Okay. And I just if if that isn't a defined word what that means because you're so clear on everything else whether it's the whole committee or whether it's you I think if if that's not a defined term it ought to be clear sure I think we should fix that

page it's on it's on D4 go to D there you go and go to four right there first part of That's the only That's the only question I have. Looks great. Thank you. That's correct. Well, I just noticed that the department director got demoted in a few cases where he's not going to be able to make those decisions and we got a group making them. Yes. Which is sounds really good with all the right people involved. It helps safeguard the town.

And when you have something that just says the town, I wondered, well, is that defined or is that mean Anybody can tell them it's okay. Go ahead and it's extended. So take a look at any additional questions or comments from if not then do we have a motion? Um can we talk with Miss Carrie just for brief moment? Would that be better for the committee to approve?

I don't have it in front of me to look at. I apologize. Well, it could go either way to be honest. I mean, the committee can make it, but it says the devel has the developer demonstrated reasonable good faith progress toward completion of the improvements secured by the guarantee. That seems to be something probably either engineering or planning. It would be I mean that wouldn't be legal or finance, correct? So I would suggest either putting engineering or planning department or that both of you. Let's put both. Okay. Would that be accessible? So we can put planning director and

what is what is Kevin?

Engineering uh public services director or you can put the engineering manager or their designate. Okay. So, we'll just put um so the motion would be to al to approve with the change that before the word town would be replaced by planning director and public services director. And we would also take off the S off of determines to make since it's the planning director and public service director determine the developer has demonstrated blah blah blah. So we'll make those two changes and you say we can noted changes motion if you would like to make it.

Thank you. Very good. Thank you all. Uh do we have a motion at this time? We we don't take questions at this point. Mr. Mack, I make a motion to recommend approval of TA 2025. The amendments consist practices.

Thank you. So, we have a motion from Mr. Mack. Do I have a second? Mr. Pretz, all in favor? Any opposed? That motion carries in for Mr. Administrative items. Number 10, Mr. Coley. I have none for you tonight. Thank you. We'll announce that Miss Colleen Shector had her baby, Ezra. Ezra William 8 ounces. So, just let you know that she won't be joining us again until April. She'll be on maternity leave.

Well, that's that's great. So, good news. That's a nice way to end. If there are no other comments, then how about a motion to adjurnn? All right. All in favor then we are ajourned.