City Council Zoning Meeting - Regular Meeting
The Charlotte City Council approved various consent items, voted to extend a temporary data center moratorium, and discussed e-bike regulations and the city's business inclusion policy.
About this meeting
- Government Body
- City Council Zoning Meeting
- Meeting Type
- City Council Zoning Meeting
- Location
- Charlotte, NC
- Meeting Date
- October 26, 2026
Published excerpts
Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.
247 sections (from 256 segments)
All right, we will now call this meeting to order. Good evening and thank you to all joining us here in person and those watching online. City Council is committed to conducting the city's business in a respectful and orderly environment. All attendees are expected to follow the rules of decorum. Disruptions that hinder the meeting may result in removal. Thank you for supporting a space where everyone may be heard and respected. Let's start with introductions going around the room, starting with Councilmember Johnson on my left.
Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.
Good afternoon, Councilmember Masueta-Adiaz, proudly representing the Eastside District 5.
Good afternoon, LaWanna Mayfield, I currently serve you as Councilmember at large, thank you. Ed Driggs, District 7.
Kimberly Owens, representing District 6.
Thank you. We'll start our meeting with consideration of consent agenda items. Before we take a vote, are there any items for comment or for separate vote? We will vote on items not pulled first and then address any items pulled for a separate vote. Okay, Councilmember Johnson.
I'd like to poll number 23, please. Okay.
Council Member Masuera-Aries. Thank you, Mayor. I would like to poll for comment, separate vote, item number 15. Council Member Mayfield.
Thank you, Mayor, for comment, separate vote, item 27.
I'd like to poll items 28, 29, 30, and 31 for comment. Okay.
Are there any other items to be pulled for separate vote or separate discussion? All right. May I have a motion to approve consent agenda items? Let's see. That would be 16 through 22, 24 through 26.
Any further discussion on those consent items? All in favor, please raise your hand. any opposed all right those items passed with the exceptions noted. And now I believe we have discussion of item 15 and I think that was councilmember johnson. Councilmember mesrera-arriz.
thank you mayor I pulled this item perhaps because of my different philosophy when it comes to Although I understand that this specific item is in selecting and confirming a vendor and it has gone through the RFP process as necessary, I do want to put it in the room that given the recent circumstances and events we've seen with certain CMPD officers, CMPD analysts manipulating DNA results, immigration enforcement presence in our community, I don't agree that we should continuing perhaps this is a separate council conversation when it comes to enforcement using unmarked vehicles. I think this i
Thank you, Council Member. Ms. Ferraris, is there any other discussion or questions for staff on item number 15? Council Member Mayfield.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. I would like for us to also consider, in light of legislative language that's on the ballot regarding the amendments, and if these amendments were to pass, one of the major impacts for us would be a... reduction on access to our property taxes of which 60% of our taxes go to public safety. Right now approving this particular contract for undercover vehicles. I have concerns that I share with my colleague, but also have concerns as we move forward. If community doesn't recognize that the answer should be no on the amendments, if it passes and we are then, put in a p
Is there anyone that can answer Council Member Mayfield's question from staff?
That was going to be my question. Was there a deadline for purchasing? So I would support a deferment as well.
Well, I mean, do I need to make a motion at this point? So at this point, I would like to do a motion to defer item 15, which is the police undercover vehicles.
Okay. Discussion of the motion to defer. Council Member Masuera-Arias.
Yeah. Point of clarification is, And perhaps this might be to city staff or to deputy city manager Heath. If we defer this item, it will still come back to us at some point. So I guess what I'm trying to articulate is deferring is one thing, but having a policy discussion on the usage of unmarked vehicles is another thing. So what work would be done between now and until it is voted on from its deferment.
And in this case. Separate and distinct from the broader policy item. Thank you, DCM Heath. And in this case, Council Member Mayfield, you're wanting to have additional information in terms of financial viability when it comes to purchasing. Okay, got it. Thank you.
Let me come to Council Member Graham and then I'll come back. Graham?
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will vote for this deferral so we can get more information, but I just caution us as a body to not commingle issues. I think that's really, really important. We all agree and understand that there's a cancer within the organization and that our police chief is working extremely hard with others to root it out, which is the text messages, racism, hatred, and discrimination. It's deplorable, right? That being said, we do have a responsibility to make sure that we give the CMPD the tools necessary to be effective and efficient in doing their jobs. And I think the question
Thank you, Council Member Graham. We are having discussion on the motion to defer. Council Member Esmir.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Harrington. Do we have anyone here from CMPD to answer questions? I know this is for deferral, which I do support to get additional information and get additional questions addressed, but it would be helpful to get information on how undercover or unmarked vehicles have helped with the investigation or addressing undercover work. If there are examples and data that can be provided, I think that would be important. Okay, we have someone here from CMPD. I think we do need to hear from you, yes.
Other questions? No, this is very helpful. Yes, ma'am. Certainly, this is very important work that you're doing, bringing justice to victims and their families. Especially this past weekend, we lost five people, and these were young people. So I understand the importance of unmarked vehicles that helps bring justice to victims and their families and holds criminals accountable. So to follow up on that, how many unmarked vehicles you currently have? And how urgent it is that we buy new vehicles?
I think that gives further insight into why this is important and why this is necessary. Because these vehicles are used to solve crime and hold people accountable. And you said 90 to 95 vehicles, these are undercover vehicles that are separate from unmarked vehicles?
I understand. So I just want to make sure by deferring this item, we're not delaying justice for our families that are counting on you.
I guess how reasonable, what would be the timeframe that would be reasonable for, because the last thing I would want to do is to defer something that brings justice to the families that are counting on this.
Yeah, that is very helpful. I appreciate your work. I appreciate your service. Thank you. That's all I have.
Thank you, Council Member Esmir. Council Member Driggs. So, first of all, you can absolutely ask us to trust you, all right, and hopefully we will. Hold your head high, okay? This is an ordinary course of business request for equipment CMPD needs to carry out the policies that we have set forth for them. It's not an occasion to revisit those policies. And in my view, deferring this, and then with the intent of talking policy, if we defer this, it has to be because we have questions about the terms of the contract. And I don't believe that's the issue here. So I think the more appropriate actio
Okay. Is there discussion? There's been a motion and second as a substitute motion to approve item number 15. Is there further discussion of that? Council Member Anderson.
Thank you, Mayor. I agree with Mr. Driggs. We have to look at what is the substantive issue or outcome with deferring this particular item 15. And I can appreciate the comments around immigration and certainly what's going on, what has occurred in the department as it relates to the text messages. I was discussed that just as the chief was, as she stated as much. However, with the types of vehicles that we're talking about here and what fish major Fischbach just shared with us, I'm thinking about, you know, the activities on sugar Creek, the raid at the motel. I'm thinking about, the operation
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Member Anderson, this is a discussion on the substitute motion to approve Councilmember Owens.
Mayor, did you remember my hand was up a while ago?
No, but her hand was up earlier. That was Ms. Johnson. Okay. Council Member Owens' hand was awesome. She had notified me that she wanted to be heard. I'm happy to do it in any order. It doesn't matter too much to me.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you for your information. That was very helpful. This is a tough place for us because we do have the responsibility to our police force. And we also have the responsibility to be responsive to the concerns, the national or international concerns regarding our police force. So I think that the Major said that 30 days was reasonable. And I think that I would support that deferral for 30 days, especially when we're still awaiting answers Regarding the text message, there's some reports that say that there were contests for pulling over black drive
I just want to make sure you could be heard.
And is suspicion of, and if this is off topic, you can stop me, but is suspicion of marijuana smell still reason for... Council Member Johnson, you have to go.
Having had the invitation from you, I do think this is off the topic of the motion.
Well, I just think we still have a lot of questions still outstanding.
But it's the substitute motion to approve the purchase of unmarked vehicles as outlined in number 15.
That's fair. That is fair. Yeah, I think there's still a lot of outstanding questions. We still have questions regarding the Juliana Umba-Nitza suicide, Curtis Massey. People are still asking for a body-worn camera. And I just think that right now we need to be, along with the text messages, we should be responsive to our citizens and just kind of listen to that and be willing to defer this purchase until we have some answers. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Council Member Eshmere and then Council Member Owens. Council Member Owens.
Okay. Thank you, Council Member Ashmer. Thank you, Mayor. On behalf of District 6, I will not be supporting a deferral. I'm deeply uncomfortable with any places where we are substituting our judgment for how the police are doing their jobs, particularly with respect to this concept of a vehicle getting burned. I never would wish to put an officer in a position where they are going into a situation less safe than they could be because this council delayed a vote to enable them to get proper equipment. This for me is a function of equipment to do the job and the way that you've described it is v
Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Ajmera. on the substitute motion to approve.
Yes. Thank you, Mayor Harrington. On the substitute motion, I do support the substitute motion because it... we need to differentiate the use from what's in front of us. And I think that's fair. I just want to make sure because immigration had come up and I know that CMPD does not enforce federal immigration law. Could you just please confirm that? So it's in our, in our record, because I know unmarked vehicle often comes up this conversation about immigration. If you could just confirm that.
Yes, we do. There's a brief answer on that because I do think we're, very close in fairness to Council Member Johnson to being off of the topic. But if there's a brief answer, please proceed.
Thank you. Council Member Graham. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, too. I will support your substantive motion. I think it makes sense in terms of moving forward, as well as the study, anything that other council members want to refer to over the next 30 days. I'm not sure what that looks like, but certainly I'm comfortable with based on my previous comments in reference to the effectiveness and efficiency of the department and being able to bifurcate issues, right, in terms of the effectiveness and the equipment needed versus some of the other issues that we're dealing with. So I think it makes sense. I
Okay. Are there any other comments on the substitute motion to approve item number 15 and the purchases outlined there? All in favor of the substitute motion to approve, please raise your hand. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, all opposed. Okay, the substitute motion passes seven to three, and the item is approved. Let me ask a question just of the city attorney for guidance. As items are pulled from consent, is there actually then a pending motion to approve them, or does there have to be a separate motion to approve? I wanted to let this discussion, because it would start that way, g
The way we handle that is the items that were pulled for comment, you have the comments, and then you vote on consent. They're polled for comment, so then you let the member who wants to comment comment on them, and then you have the consent vote, and they would be included in that vote because they weren't polled for a vote.
Okay, but this one was polled for a vote? Okay, so I think we're good. I don't want to extend that conversation. If we need further guidance, please feel free to interject. That takes us to item number 23, and that was polled by? Johnson. Council Member Johnson.
Thank you. Is there anyone from CATS here that can answer a question, or maybe you can answer a question? Okay. So this is for CATS rail maintenance cost. I wanted to know if we could just get an update on the cost, the derailment cost. There was a while ago that we had a cost for derailment, and we've not gotten an update in a while regarding that.
Will that be completed prior to the MPTA transition or will that still be CAT's responsibility to complete repairs?
Thank you, Brent. Quick question. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know I'd seen something on NPR at one point talking about how oftentimes for this level of work, it's having to be sent, the cars having to be sent away. Is that still the case?
Thank you. Yeah, I did want to note that and appreciate you being thorough. If you could provide a timeline to us and maybe even the MPTA, just thinking about how much, you know, with the PAVE Act, residents of Mecklenburg County having, you know, how much money that they're giving with the sales tax, the fact that we're not transporting this across the country to be maintained. So it's good news to hear that they're building a facility nearby, but I would like to know more details, particularly a timeline. And then thinking about some of the things we've talked about in the past. We have so m
Thank you, Council Member Mayo. Is there any other discussion on item 23? Since there was not a motion to defer anything here, I think we will roll this one over. And now we'll take up item number 27.
I'm happy to do it either way, but I think your suggestion was that typically we gather them all up and have a motion to approve the consent items.
We don't vote until after the comments. In this case, we voted on a list of consent items before the comments, so now we do have to vote on the ones we haven't voted on yet. Attorney, correct me if I'm wrong.
Right. I'm very aware that there's a way to actually, since the first one had a motion that was attached to it to defer, I think we had to take that up separately. My preference probably would have been to just do the rest of them if there is no motion to defer, if we can do that procedurally. But it's probably going to be quickest and easiest now because I don't think there is a problem with going ahead and taking a motion. We can do that individually. We won't have to have the procedural discussion anymore. So is there a motion to approve item 23? Is there a second? Is there any further disc
Mr. Mayor, just a point of information. When these items were being pulled, I heard sort of a litany of for comment and then for a separate vote. So just to be clear, I think Council Member Masueta-Arias was clear. He wanted to make a comment, not for separate vote. But I did hear for my other colleagues that pulled some, they said and separate vote. So we just got to make sure that... we're covering all the bases.
Right, no, but to be clear, when we had Council Member Masuara Arias's for comment, there was a motion to defer it, so we had to take it up. So since we're on a pattern of just taking them individually for tonight, I propose that we just take them individually so that we don't change in midstream, which takes us, thank you, Council Member Anderson, takes us to item number 27, and that was pulled by Council Member Mayfield.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I sent a staff of question, which I started still mayor. We're going to need a recommendation to housing and neighborhood services committee regarding our annexations. We have some very specific goals through housing and neighborhood services regarding access to attainable housing. As we look, to expand access of our resources, resources being water, sewer, sanitation. This particular request is just under 19 acres, and what they have proposed in here is potentially 78 multifamily attached units. My question is, will this actually address our housing shortage as far as at
So understanding the way our process is currently set up, we need to, again, get this referred to Housing and Neighborhood Service Committee sooner rather than later for us to really identify what are our goals, how does the UDL play into our goals, because you need to do a rezoning, annexation or rezoning, which one comes first. But if there's not clear written goals, not just verbal, I did verbal with the river district. There were a lot of verbal comments. None of that made its way into the contractual obligations. Ensuring the idea of just saying, well, let's just keep growing the city. We
Great. Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. And we have recorded the request for a referral, which we'll take up. Just for clarity, we're on item number 27, which is to adopt a resolution setting a public hearing for November 23, 2026, for the Harrison United Methodist Church Voluntary Annexation Petition. I believe we have Council Member Driggs' hand up.
So I was going to move to adopt a resolution setting a public hearing for November 23rd. Are you making that motion? All right, so I think we should do that. I've been involved in these discussions. Is there any trust fund ask here?
So in my conversations with them, there was no indication they were basically using the church's resources to subsidize these units in order to achieve a social purpose, which I think we should support. This also says will not have undue impact on city finances or services. So this is another case where a question comes up and we need to address the question. And if there is a committee referral that's called for, that we should do that separately. So I hope we can approve this and then study the circumstances you talked about with the referral.
OK. There's been a motion by Councilmember Drake, seconded by Councilmember Mayfield. Is there any further discussion of item number 27? All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right. Passes unanimously. Thank you, and that takes us to items 28 through 31. Was that all you, Council Member Owens?
That was all me, Mayor, and I'll be brief. I just wanted to lift these up. These are sidewalk utility easements, and normally I wouldn't really give them much due, but South Park Loop has become such an important and really vital portion of my district, and I want to invite all of you to take a loop tour and really see what, South Park is doing by way of trying to create these livable walk, bike, work neighborhoods. I really have been very impressed, and I particularly commend a tour to my fellow members who are at large, because you of course do represent District 6 as well, and I think it'd
Is there a second? Second. Is there any further discussion of items 28 through 21? 31. All right. If not, all in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? It passes unanimously. And I think, Madam Secretary Attorney, I'm going to look at you. I think we have successfully made it through the consent agenda. I just note for our reference that we're at 4.50. We're going to have to go downstairs at 5.30 for the notice meeting in chambers. But now we'll continue, and I believe that takes us to the action preview, and I turn it over to Mr. Heath.
Thank you, Deputy City Manager. First, I want to acknowledge my committee that's been working with me on this particular topic. And my committee consists of Mr. Driggs, Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Graham, as well as Ms. Ajmera. The city of Charlotte established the passenger vehicle for hire ordinance about 25 years ago. And the ordinance regulates the licensing, inspection, and operation of all passenger vehicle for hire that operate within our city limits. Our last PVH Ordinance update, just to give you a frame of reference, was about ten years ago. So this ordinance has been a while since it's been u
Thank you, attorney battle. I think our first question is from council member Mayfield.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. Thank you for the presentation. So I believe we all received council received the same email. The question in short is, well, the same app based pricing rights be available for our local companies. because that's one of the challenges and the concerns. And I believe in all of that, it was addressed a little bit, but how does that play out for our local companies versus these national companies?
So is there any consideration, since this is just an update to council, to slow down in order to do the additional research to find out how we can best connect with our local companies? So if I would rather call for a cab, but what I have on my phone is the app for Uber or Lyft, how do I identify as a consumer? How do I find my local company versus this much larger company?
Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. Council Member Owens.
Thank you, Mayor. Could you flip back one slide for me? I want to make sure that I am understanding. Can you reconcile item 7 and item 13 for me? I may have misheard you to say, so if you are a taxi and thus a metered vehicle, you have to be metered from the airport? Is that what 7 is saying?
Okay, I think I'm following then. So it doesn't cut down on their ability to compete. It just doesn't give them the advantage of being in an area restricted to taxi cabs so that they're unfairly competing against other taxi cabs, but they can fairly compete against the TNCs. So we're not saying you can't use upfront pricing from the airport. You just can't be in that particular area.
Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Masuara-Arias.
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you to the committee for bringing this forward, and thank you so much for the presentation. I'm trying to... Understand this as best possible because I see both sides right I see this as a need for Enforcing federal and state labor standards and driver pay right as well as accessibility and public equity so making sure that folks Passengers aren't being discriminated or price gouged or what-have-you as well as consumer safety and accountability The part that I'm having A harder time understanding is the corporate consolidation. And are you saying that they would have to
Does that... Does that... Does that incur a cost to local companies?
Because in New York City, when you order something, they always have the taxi there too, right? Like in New York City, when you go on the Uber app, it shows taxi. But here in Charlotte, it doesn't show taxi. It shows just regular Ubers, right? Okay. I would thank you so much for the information. Thank you again, committee, for bringing this forward. I would like to learn a little bit more about the affordability here for our local companies in terms of, like, how do we onboard them to these national apps? What's the cost that they incur? As well as understanding, you know... You know, what tra
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. So thank you, Attorney Battle, for bringing this modernizing the ordinance to in front of us. I certainly appreciate your work on this. Council Member Anderson, who is the Chair of the Safety Committee and I attended a virtual meeting we had with taxi operators locally. And the major concern we heard was leveling the playing field, right? And I appreciate that we have taken a step forward by allowing at least an app to be used. So I guess I'm still not clear why would we not have our local operators use their own app as opposed to the national app where they do hav
Council member, I just want to note for folks planning purposes, and I know you're not finished yet, we have 10 minutes before we have to go downstairs. We're going to move the other item on e-bikes to the manager's report, but we will have to move in 10 minutes.
That's fair. So I would like us to bring us an option forward where local companies can use their own app while considering there is no disparity between to address some of the concerns that the attorney's office has. Well, that's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Esmeralda. Council Member Johnson.
Thank you, Mayor. And in the future, can we maybe get a shorter staff presentation so that we do have time to ask questions?
I think the challenge that we have is we spent about half of this on consent agenda. It's just hard to plan for that. Right, right.
Okay. Thank you. Yeah, I have the same concerns. I feel like if these small independent drivers wanted to work with Lyft and Uber, they would. So I don't know what the, and I understand if we want to protect against price gouging, but maybe we, and I don't know what the reason was, we can talk about this, but maybe we could have addressed the bad apples rather than change the whole policy. So I know that we do have some local drivers that have reached out to us and asked if the large companies would have the same restrictions that they have. I'd like to see perhaps the city developing an app.
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Council Member Anderson, I think you have the final word and then we'll transition.
Okay, thank you, Mayor, and thank you. Attorney Battle for the presentation and summarizing a lot of difficult work that's been going on over the months. It sounds like, just from what I'm hearing, that really many of the questions are around number 14 and the other recommendations are pretty straightforward. Just when we talk about a technology platform and this concept of allowing individual drivers to build their own technology platform, that comes with maintenance costs, it comes with tech issues, and it also creates another opportunity for our consumers to not have the level of protection
Thank you, Council Member Anderson. Thanks to everyone for great questions, great discussion. Attorney Battle, thank you for your presentation. We are going to adjourn this meeting and go down to chambers for the 5.30 meeting. Thank you. Now call this meeting to order. Why are the lights so bright? Good evening and thank you all for joining us here in person and for those watching online. For October 26, 2026 business meeting, city council is committed to conducting the city's business in a respectful and orderly environment. All attendees are expected to follow the rules of decorum. Disruptio
Good evening. I'm Renee Johnson, and I'm honored to represent District 4.
Good evening. I'm J.D. Masueta-Arias, proudly representing the Eastside District 5.
Good evening. Luana Mayfield, serving you at large. Ed Driggs, District 7.
Kimberly Owens district 6 evening Rob Harrington mayor on heat that the city manager.
Thank you all. We begin our meeting with an invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation is intended to solemnize our proceedings. We celebrate the religious diversity of our community, including those without a religious faith. Tonight, Council Member Mayo will give our invocation.
Okay, thank you. Bow your heads, please. Thank you. I thank you for the opportunity to be here today to get to know different people's concerns and questions and for us to continue to do the business of the city for the residents of the city. Continue to guide our judgment and help us to make the best decisions we can for our residents. Amen.
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. We will now move into the awards and recognition section of our agenda. We have one proclamation for this evening, which will be read by Councilmember Ed Riggs.
Thank you, Mayor. Ms. Charles, it's with particular appreciation for your long years of service that I read this proclamation on Charlotte Water tonight. Thank you so much.
Congratulations. Congratulations. Here comes the CFO. Congratulations. Congratulations.
Congratulations. Thank you all. Tonight is public forum night. We will now open the public forum. We want to thank you all for being here tonight. The city of Charlotte is committed to promoting an environment that is safe and free from discrimination, bias, and bullying. All speakers and audience members shall conduct themselves in accordance with the council's adopted rules of decorum. and behave in a civil, respectful, and courteous manner at all times. Speakers may only address city council and must refrain from responding to audience members or addressing city staff. Likewise, audience me
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Comby. Our next speaker is Ali Ingersoll, who will be followed by Robbie White.
Thank you, Ms. Ingersoll. Our next speaker is Robbie White, who will be followed by Rodnisha Cannon. Robbie White here. Is Rodnisha Cannon here? Okay, our next two speakers are Alan Dargins, who will be followed by Patrick Mumford.
Thank you, Mr. Dargan. Thank you. Our next speaker will be Patrick... Next speaker will be Patrick Mumford, who will be followed by Original Ala. Mr. Mayor, members of council, good evening.
Thank you, Mr Mumford. Next speaker is original Allah will be followed by Spencer Bryant.
Our next speaker is Spencer Bryant. Mr. Bryant is here, will be followed by Tyrone Mitchell. Is Mr. Bryant or Mr. Mitchell here? Okay. Our next speaker is Khalif Wallace, to be followed by Chisa Brooks. Mr. Wallace or Ms. Brooks? Here, yes, Ms. Brooks.
Thank you, Ms. Brooks. And our final two speakers are Shobita Suresh and Brian Sanders.
Thank you, Mr. Resch. The final public forum speaker is Brian Sanders.
Thank you, Mr. Sanders. That brings to an end our public forum for this evening. Thanks to everyone who came out to speak tonight. And we will now move to our public hearing section. And our first public hearing item is on the Ayoka Building Historical Landmark Designation. Madam Clerk, I don't believe we have any speakers, do we? All right. Do we have a motion to close the public hearing and to adopt an ordinance with an effective date of October 26, 2026, designating the property known as the Hioka Building, also known as the Fowler Building, parcel identification number 123-041-09 as a hist
Second. Is there any discussion? Council Member Mayfield.
Thank you. We have staff here from Historic Landmark. While they're coming up, I need us to ask some very serious questions. Again, right now, on the ballot, our North Carolina General Assembly has amendments. In those amendments, there is the possibility if people keep voting yes instead of voting no to the amendments, that we will have a limitation on taxes. This particular property, what is presented to us, says based on the current value, the potential amount of deferrable taxes would be approximately $10,559.43 for the city of Charlotte and 17,756 dollars and 42 cents from Mecklenburg Cou
Is there someone to address Councilmember Mayfield's question?
I need to hear the justification. Help me out.
So we do not have anyone that's representing our historic landmark. Do we have anyone from planning? So we have this request in front of us, and we don't have anyone here to answer a question on it, just for clarification. Is there anyone here from since we don't man, just for clarification, I am going to be a no because we need to have some very real conversations about what the financial potential impact will be if this community supports these recommended amendments. So if we have someone that can answer to speak to that, it's a separate conversation for you. I would just like to understand
I would appreciate hearing it. So I think the questions are, is there anyone here from staff to address the question about finances? And then, sir, if you can address the question about why it's being designated as a landmark. The second thing that I plan to do, and I'll come around to Council Member Ajmera. But I think it would make sense to, after we do this, to close the public hearing so that's clear and continue with this discussion.
Well, it's an A and B where we're closing the hearing and there's a request to approve, which I've also shared. We should not be doing the same in the same motion.
And what I'm suggesting for tonight is that we do, after this comment, separate it so that we can have a clear vote. On the closing, is there disagreement on that? Okay. So let's continue with the answer to the extent there are answers to Council Member Mayfield's question. Then I want to get the public hearing item closed. I don't want to interrupt your questioning further. Is there anyone? Are you from staff, sir? I'm not from staff. I'm from the ownership group. From where?
I don't believe you're signed up to speak, and therefore, unfortunately, I don't believe you're able to speak. What we're doing tonight is a vote on whether to schedule a public hearing, so there will be an opportunity, if that passes, to be heard. Scheduling and a vote. But let's hear from landmarks tonight. This is a public hearing.
This is the public hearing. We are in the public hearing. Indecision tonight. But we don't have anyone signed up for it.
You don't have to sign up in order to answer my question. Unless we ask you a direct question, right?
Well, I don't think so. I'll defer to the city attorney. But if there's no one signed up, I don't believe we have an opportunity to hear from them. Asking for a comment from city attorney.
Okay. I'm happy to do that. And, Council Member Mayfield, if you'd like to ask a specific question.
So, for clarification, Attorney Leslie Fite, the specific question that I asked regarding why this was identified as a historic landmark. Would that be a question better for our historic landmarks district representative or is that a question for the petitioner since we have him here to try to identify why this was identified as a historic landmark? Is that an appropriate question for the individual that's standing or no?
That's what I thought. Unfortunately, I'm not able to ask you the question. It would have to be staff, and we don't have our city staff here. Thank you, Mayor, for that clarification.
Yes, ma'am. Right, because now we haven't, Council Member Mayfield asked two questions. The question that I think is appropriate to be answered by you is the question on why this was designated. I think the other question we don't have an answer to tonight. Thank you, but I believe Landmarks can handle this.
So, Mayor, I think it will be helpful in the future that we make sure that we have staff here because, again, we are having a discussion right now. Thank you. $28,000 in tax rolls, but what is being proposed is a hotel. So, again, help me understand. The idea of a historic designation for this site, for something where a hotel is going to be built on it, and my greatest concern is the ability of our General Assembly to create language that people think is a positive thing, and if this community supports it, and we have the limitations on our tax and authority, What that impact will be. So than
Before we, I want to come back to the city attorney. Before we get that question, I'm glad we have someone to answer it. I want to make sure, Madam City Attorney, should we close the public hearing? Have a motion? Separate motion. Is there a separate motion to close the public hearing? We'll move on with the continued discussion of the motion. Is there a motion to close? Any discussion? All in favor of closing the public hearing, please raise your hand. Thank you. It passes, and now we'll pick back up with the discussion of the motion and hear from our CFO in response to Councilmember Mayfield.
Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. Council Member Mayo.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I guess for me, I think this is a really important topic. I know earlier over the summer and the fall, we received a lot of emails about the court arcade. That's literally a couple blocks from here, East Trade. I can see it from my office from the window, and we know that is being turned into a data center. So it was completely demolished. It's right next to the jail, a historic building that is being turned into a data center. And when people raised that concern to us, we were only able to do so much because it did not have the historic designation. So I think that's why
Thank you, Council Member Mayo. And just for clarity, we are now on 8B, which is the underlying motion or the motion to adopt the ordinance to set the public hearing. Our next speaker is Council Member Eshmere.
Yes. Thank you, Mayor Harrington. And thank you, Council Member Mayo, for giving that example. Another property that comes to mind was in District 3 near the airport, and we heard from many residents nearby about what steps we did not take to preserve and approve the recommendations of the Historic Landmark Commission. I know this is something that was recommended by Historic Landmark Commission, which sits within the county. So I appreciate a bit of a history about why this is being recommended, about with its unique nature of how this site was built and the construction technique that was us
Thank you, Council Member Esmir, Council Member Drake.
Thank you. So colleagues, we have an existing policy that provides tax incentives for the preservation of our heritage and the appearance of our city. I think many of us deplore a lot of the losses that we've already sustained, and I'm not a lifetime Charlotte resident, but it's changed a lot since I got here. So I think that's a valid priority, and I think that we should adhere to our existing policies until and unless this action passes, in which case I agree with Ms. Ajmera, we're gonna have to take a very fundamental look at our projections and our plans and see when we might bump up again
Thank you, Council Member Driggs. Dr. Watlington.
Thank you. I see this as another example of an opportunity for us to step back and take a look at where we're trying to go and how each of these decisions fit into the overall policy scheme. So I would just want to offer or ask of staff that we take a look at all of the properties in the city that are potentially eligible based on the criteria for what we know right now so that we can understand what the size of the of the prize, if you will, is not only from a budget standpoint, but also so that we can think about how we're managing opportunity for increased revenue through new build and hist
Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Watlington. Council Member Johnson.
Thank you, Mayor. Dr. Watlington, I think that's a great strategic approach. We just had this conversation, I don't know if it was last month or the month before when we were talking about a historic landmark designation and it felt like what the developer was actually seeking was more of a TIG or some type of incentive deferral. I want to ask about historic landmark designation. If there's a plan to
So if that were to be done, would that come back before council or what department would have the jurisdiction to make that decision?
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you for that information. And then I would just kind of support Councilmember Mayfield. She's been saying this for at least, I don't know, four or five, six months about having the public hearing and the decision on the same night. And, you know, council members will say, well, you know, the current policy allows us to do this. Is there a referral pending or? Are we taking a look at that mayor so that we can address them?
Let me ask that question. I believe this has been referred to budget without a recommendation to change, but let me, let me ask council member Graham, if that's the case, I believe there has been a referral fairly recently of this issue to the committee for consideration. You're correct.
There was a recommendation made to keep it as is. As is, yeah.
Correct. There was a recommendation out of the budget committee Keep it as it is with the two together.
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Council Member Anderson.
I think this is a great example of as we are moving into a population of a million people and we're experiencing this growth spurt as a city that we have to have a balance here of protecting some of our historic buildings that give our city texture and charm and making sure that we are not effectively sanitizing some of our history by allowing some of these buildings to stay on the market and then get purchased and demolished and history is wiped away. These types of buildings add character and texture to our city as they have for decades. And I think we have to balance that with responsible s
Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Council Member Anderson. And finally, Council Member Masuara-Aries.
Thank you, Mayor. I want to first thank my colleagues, Council Member Mayfield, for bringing this into the room and raising this concern because it is a standard economic practice for developers to to seek a historic landmark designation to create something and be benefactors of tax credits and tax incentives. So I don't want to lose sight of that. And also, I don't want to lose sight to what Councilmember Mayo mentioned about In a state where we can't down zone, it is particularly of interest to me, and I have deep appreciation to what you said, of protecting neighborhoods, particularly this
Got it. Thank you so much. And how long does it typically take for a building to be historically designated as a historical landmark? The designation process, all total? Or like, sorry, how long, how old does a building have to be to be eligible for that?
Thank you so much. So I want to re-uplift what Council Member Mayfield said in terms of we shouldn't wait more than 50 years if these things are true about a building that can lead to it to be a historical landmark. We should review the process rather than fall into a pattern of perhaps unintentionally or unconsciously giving tax incentives to these big projects from developers. So I just want us to be conscious of like focusing, leaning more on the cultural aspect of it than waiting for a big project to come alongside for it for the developer to then request it to be a historic landmark.
Thank you, Council Member Masuara-Arias. So we have a motion and a second. And the motion that we will be voting on now is to adopt an ordinance with an effective date of October 26, 2026, designating the property known as the Hioka Building, also known as the Fowler Building, parcel identification number 123-041-09 as a historic landmark. Motion second. Discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand.
Any opposed? Motion passes, and Councilmember Anderson's vote is counted as a yes because she's here. All right, motion passes. That takes us to item number nine on the agenda, which will be a public hearing on the River Point East of Dixie Road voluntary annexation. Madam Clerk, I don't believe we have any speakers. Is there a motion to close the public hearing? Let's just do it separately. Is there a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor of closing the public hearing? Any opposed to closing the public hearing? That passes. All r
Thank you, Mayor. Still the same, the beginning of the same conversation. regarding annexation. But I also want us to be very clear. I personally have concerns because in 2017 it was with a lot of good faith that multiple discussions when I was the district representative because this project started under my representation of district three. And we had multiple conversations around the diets in committee where there were verbal agreements regarding not creating something that was not going to be accessible to the diversity of our community. We have very clear conversations regarding diverse p
Thank you, Council Member Mayfield. Are there other points of discussion for item number 9B? All right. Hearing none, we have a motion to second. We've had discussion. All in favor of the item in 9B, adopt an ordinance with an effective date of October 2026 to extend the corporate limits to include this property and assign it to the adjacent council district 3. All in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed?
I'll leave it at 2. That takes us to our city manager's report and Mr. Heath.
Yes, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Heath. Once again, I'm just very quickly acknowledge my committee on this particular topic. And my committee members are Mr. Driggs, Mr. Graham, Mr. Mitchell, and as well as Ms. Ajmera. So this particular item was a policy referral from the summer. And it has been motioned out of the safety committee last month. We've all seen the emergence of new mobility technology in recent years. including e-bikes and as well as the more powerful e-moto bikes. Many of us have received calls, letters, etc. from constituents who have concern about the use of these mobility item
Thank you, Attorney Battle. We have questions. I know Council Member Owens had her hand up. Council Member Mayfield. Council Member Masuera-Arias. Council Member Owens.
Thank you. First and foremost, I really want to extend my appreciation to the Safety Committee for taking up this issue. It's one that I have heard about consistently back when I was running for office and consistently at morning coffees, I do hear from people in District 6 who are very frustrated with the conduct of some folks and their e-bikes. I also have worked pretty closely with folks who do have these bikes and are responsible citizens who are riding them and are worried about us over-regulating these in a way that dissuades their use and dissuades some of the strides that we're trying
Okay, and then with respect to the second issue, Class 3 already has 18 and under has to have a helmet, so this would be expanding that to Classes 1 and 2, correct? Yes. Okay, so then the decision point there is first whether to extend it, but second whether it's 16 and under or 18 and under, correct? Yes, correct. And then the lamps at night, that seems like a no-brainer. On four, I want to understand this a little bit more. Where we have the authority to establish a speed limit on sidewalks, has there been exploration with the county as to whether that speed limit should be aligned so that t
Mr. Heath, I think you have a comment just about that question.
Thank you. I appreciate that input. If I can stick on this question then just for a moment. So I'm trying to understand. Do we have statistics on the enforcement on the greenway? Because I'm loathe to do things that just make us feel as though we've addressed a situation when we're not really addressing it. Do we have a sense for whether the current 20 per mile speed limit on the greenways is being enforced?
Yeah, if I could, I would be interested in understanding the enforcement, because I believe, I mean, I'm not one of the people who would do this, but if I'm just on a bike that's not an e-bike, I think you could go faster than 20. I mean, I think that's a speed limit for all types of vehicles on the greenway, correct? Correct.
And so would we be similarly doing that for sidewalks? We would be looking at a speed limit for all vehicles. Are we thinking to ban any particular? So for example, the class three, does class three have a place on a sidewalk?
OK. And then that final element that you've got there, establishment of penalties for injuries to personal and real property. One of the issues that's been informing my judgment on this is just an anecdotal point from someone who is injured, physically injured. We're not looking for any, I mean, these don't have to have insurance. I'm trying to get to the heart of what some folks are upset about as pedestrians who are injured by crashes with these and they have no recourse. We're not looking to do anything there, correct?
Well, thank you for the presentation. Thank you.
I have a clarifying question. So this proposal has 18 and under the requirement for a helmet. way back once upon a time we didn't with seatbelts we learned that we need to so versus it being an expectation for all what I'm wondering because we do have some areas where sidewalks are not a small. So if we have an individual that may be at max be on a bite and asked whether they hit a level part of the sidewalk or run into a family of there's an accident specifically if it's the South is that with that then open the city to be liable if there were a lawsuit they don't have on a helmet there 26. T
Okay. Is there any consideration of... This is looking at a looking at potential speed of a bite to require a helmet like if it goes over. 18 miles 20 whatever the number is where if there were to be an incident where the stock short something happens where it could be potential damage. Any discussions in committee regarding looking at that number to identify helmet versus age 18 and under?
So even though that's what the North Carolina General Assembly has identified, what you're saying is we do not have the ability to have more comprehensive, because it's not more restrictive, it's just more comprehensive language around your protection.
Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I first want to applaud and thank the Public Safety Committee and Chair Anderson for working on this because when I first heard about this, one of my primary concerns was was our gig workers and our gig economy, particularly in East Charlotte, who rely on e-bikes to get around and do Uber, Eats, DoorDash, et cetera. So it is a relief and a welcomed suggestion that that what we're looking at right now does not restrict the use of e-bikes, but regulates and protects our residents from the behaviors on e-bikes. And so thank you so much for that. And thank you for list
Thank you, Councilmember. Is there any other discussion, question? Councilmember Ajmera.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. Also, thanks to the Bike Advisory Committee for reaching out to the council. So, Mr. Heath, I understand that you have had several meetings with the Bike Advisory Committee. and trying to align our recommendations with their recommendations. Could you tell us, where are still the differences that still exist?
Yes, I appreciate there have been conversations. It's good to hear that we are almost there. I would like to hear from the Bike Advisory Committee as to where the difference is that still exists. I know we are almost 90% there. I would be interested in knowing where is the 10% where they do not align. Because I think I appreciate Council Member Owens passion on this issue about protecting pedestrians and ensuring that we are also looking out for our young people who are on e-bikes. But at the same time, I'm very I want us to be very thoughtful about not limiting transportation choices, especia
Madam City Attorney, I just want to make sure. I assume if this goes forward, it comes back to us for more discussion. But I just want to, for the record, is it okay?
I'm Connie Proctor, and I am currently chair of the full Bicycle Advisory Committee.
Thank you, that's very helpful. I understand that safe infrastructure is critical as we are talking about e-bikes. Because enforcement is certainly important, but first of all, we need to have safe infrastructure for For bike lane. So I know that this conversation will come up during the budget discussion. It always comes up. And I know we have Debbie Smith here. She's paying attention as she's working on overall infrastructure, not just for bike lanes, but as well as Vision Zero and eliminating traffic fatality. So I appreciate it. I do agree in terms of the education campaign. If we can work
OK, so it wouldn't include e-models because of the way it's designed. I think that brings me to, are we really addressing the underlying problem here if you're not including e-models or e-mopeds? Because I've seen those. I think we need to look into that so that we are really addressing the underlying problem. Other thing, I appreciate how Council Member Masura areas mentioned about fatality. Because I think we need to remember that there are more fatalities of people riding a bike and pedestrians from vehicles as opposed to the other way around. So I think the safe infrastructure does need to
Okay, so... I'm not clear. So are you saying that if someone does a property damage that we would be issuing some sort of citation or would we hold them accountable?
Okay, that's fair. So are we currently not doing that? Could someone not get citation for damaging a personal property?
Yes, I'm not clear on how this would be different than where it currently exists.
Got it. But currently it still exists. I mean, if there was damage done by an e-bike or e-motor or e-moped or anything, there is still consequence. Yes. So I think this is just specifically for e-bikes. I don't know if truly it addresses the problem because we already have something in the books. And in terms of the enforcement, it's truly challenging. I see there are enforcement perspectives here. But I think really we need to invest in prevention and education campaign because enforcement is really difficult for this kind of violations. And that's all I have. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Ajmera. And I'm going to come to Council Member Mayo, but I think there's one clarification that Mr. Heath wanted to make about other types of e-vehicles.
Oh, got it. So everything else is covered except e-bikes.
Okay, but everything else is covered under...
Yeah, so I just wanted to thank you all for your work, particularly with CMS. I taught middle school math for 10 years, and that's a weird age for kids. So I think it's really helpful that y'all were working with CMS and CDOT to think through how do we reach... those young people so that they can have best practices when it comes to writing those. I know I almost got, I was telling Councilmember Anderson and I almost got hit sitting at like, What was it? A bench. A bench, yeah. Literally, the kid was out of control with his little e-bike. I don't even think that was an e-bike. It was a moped.
Thank you, Attorney Battle and Mr. Heath for the discussion. As simply a preview, but the discussion of e-bike regulation. Thank you. Is there anything else on the city manager's report, Mr. Heath? That is all. Thank you.
Hi, Mayor. I had my hand raised a long time ago.
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Attorney Battle, before you leave, Council Member Johnson has a question.
I want to thank you for your presentation. Thank you. And I want to thank the members of the bicycle committee and also to our CDOT department for this and the safety committee. So thank you. Council member, my colleague over here, you mentioned a fatality in 2025 in North Carolina. They were actually 14 to 16 bicycle fatalities. And As your chair of the North Carolina Brain Injury Advisory Council, I am so pleased that we're implementing the helmet law here in Charlotte. In 2025, there were actually 1,200 to 1,500 bicyclists who suffered a brain injury. So this is just very important. I do ha
I will allow Attorney Battle to speak to it, but as you can see on slide 12, scooters falls under the personal conveyance vehicle definition. Scooters, skateboard, hoverboards, et cetera. Attorney Battle?
I would guess that we have more scooter incidents than Davidson or Cornelius, just because of the number of scooters on our streets. Are we tracking that information? Is anyone tracking that information?
Cause I've almost gotten hit by someone on the scooter on the sidewalk. So I think there's room for that. Madam chair, if, if, if you would, consider that. I just think that that's at least if we could pull those numbers, I think it's important. Or I don't know if the bicycle committee is already taking a look at that or if that's outside of your scope. But I do think that's important, especially if we're looking at speed and, and helmet requirements for individuals under 18. And again I appreciate the attention to this. Our C dot does a great job and brain injury awareness. Sierra in your dep
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. And thank you. I think that brings to an end. Thank you, Attorney Donald. Thank you. That brings to an end the manager's report. That takes us to our next policy item, which is for Charlotte business inclusion policy amendments, which are outlined in the agenda documents. For item 11, is there a motion to amend the Charlotte business inclusion policy as recommended by the Economic Development and Workforce Committee? Is there any discussion? Council Member Grant.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, I do want to thank the staff and the City Attorney's Office, City Manager Allen and others for the work they've done on this for the last year and a half, actually. It's important work, but very disappointing that we have to do this. A lot of people know me as an elected official, but That's what I do. It's not who I am and for a large part of my career I've been an advocate working in the space of supplier diversity Helping level the playing field for black-owned businesses female-owned businesses Latinos and Indian Americans, etc As a nonprofit executive director
We are changing people lives as we do this. Thank you. Thank you. Council member Graham, council member Johnson and council member Anderson.
Thank you. Council member Graham. I appreciate your experience. Is there a deadline for us to change our language?
Right, so the law was effective July 1st, is that correct?
And this was passed by our General Assembly, the current makeup, right? So if that makeup changed and this law changed, then are we limited by our local language? Is this something that we have to do, or could we wait until after the election to see what happens?
But is there a deadline to do this? I mean, is there a deadline?
Okay. We're talking about voting. Election is in, what, eight days or six days? No, eight days. So is this something that... And I don't know. Maybe nothing will change with the majority, but, I mean, you've got your shirt on and we're talking about it. There is a possibility that this could change, right?
Okay. Thank you. So that required the minimum for us to, to have certain standards or requirements for, for minority and women businesses.
Okay. I just wanted to put that out there for the public to understand. And so then we are changing our language to just align with the state language. That's exactly right. Council member Johnson. And if we don't change it, then we have to follow that law anyway, right?
All right. I would just recommend, and I don't know how council feels about it. If we could, could we defer this until after the election? That meant... Councilmember Graham, do you have any thoughts?
No, as the chair in the government relations, I think we should follow the legal advice. It is the law in North Carolina. As of July, when the attorney general... attorney indicated, we'll see what happens in the long session depending on what happens in November. And so I would take an act of the general assembly to reverse course. And so, you know, being up there for 10 years, that probably won't happen until... Yeah, something, there's a change in leadership on November 3rd. That won't happen until sometime mid year of 27. So it's a marathon.
Can I just ask a clarifying question and I want to come to Councilmember Anderson. But I want to make sure that we're understanding what the city attorney is saying. At this point, what we are doing is following the current state law based on the statute that was passed in the last session. And so what we are, not only are we proposing to amend the policy to come into line with state law, we're amending it, proposing to amend it to come into line with what we're actually doing. So that what we're doing and what the policy that we have that the public pays attention to are in line. Right now th
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And just as a member of the Economic Development and Workforce Committee, we deliberated quite a bit on this work and voted it unanimously out of committee. I do agree that, you know, right now with having our language out of alignment with state law, that can create some opportunities for confusion and misdirection. And so I believe we need to, unfortunately, it's not something I'm willingly raising my hand for with excitement, but I do believe that that our legal department as well as our CBI team has done really great work in this area, and they're putting this forth w
Are there any other questions or comments on this item 11? And I guess I want to add my voice is to thank the city attorney and the budget committee for, I mean, I think what this proposes to do is under the current, North Carolina law to be as protective and supportive of small businesses as we can be given that the prior policy was not written with that backdrop. So now we're being as supportive as we can be of small businesses and outlining that in writing. All right, with that, all in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right, it passes 9-2-1. That takes us to ite
Council Member Ashmira and then Council Member Owens and then Council Member Meshwera-Arias.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. This is a huge step forward towards responsible development. I want to thank the task force members as well as the attorney's office and the staff for working towards this. And in the next 11 months, we will have an opportunity to put guardrails in place to protect our residents, to protect our neighborhoods, and to protect water and the electricity grid. So I appreciate the work that's been done so far.
So I just want to speak very briefly to the fact that I am going to vote in favor of this, but it is not without some concerns and some serious hopes that we are able to move with all deliberate speed when we do have authority to down zone. to put some more parameters around data centers. I am not in favor of moratoria generally because I think that they create uncertainty both economically and personally for workers and for businesses and property owners. I would much rather see us adopt smart regulations and I think that we're seeing those rolled out in other states. I feel as though the onl
Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Masuraris.
Yeah, I just want to thank the task force in particular the initial former district five representative for the task force Christopher John Scalise who had to step down and our current D five resident Suzanne Gilman. Thank you so much for being here. And I agree 32 months. Yes. And also being conscious about the concerns that the labor unions have brought forward to us about the economic impact. worker rights in terms of the livelihood for them and and really want I want to uplift this although controversial technology is advancing very quickly right these data centers are are taking hold our
Thank you, Council Member. Council Member Anderson, followed by Council Member Mayfield, Council Member Johnson.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will be supporting this moratorium as well. However, I'm very happy to see that the language in here speaks to this expiring no later than a specific date. because as we spoke about previously, I believe our General Assembly is going to move faster on this particular issue because once we talk about the guardrails for our residents, which we 1,000% have to do, however, we're a little bit pigeon-held here because, again, it doesn't fall under the vast majority of these areas don't fall under our jurisdiction. It falls under the state level. So we have to collaborate and
So thank you, Mr. Mayor. Council Member Anderson, Council Member Mayfield.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. I do want to thank our attorney's office as well as Allison Craig. But I also want us to be honest. The first project came before us in 2023. At that time, when I asked questions and proposed a delay, I was the only no vote. The second project came before us in 2025. Council Member Johnson and I were the only no votes. This is, we are at the place now where we're being very reactionary. So the idea of which I respect that some look at this as an economic opportunity, that's four to six months for the actual construction of the building. That's not long-term. It is
vote against the one in university city. And that was, I believe, well, I think it was nine 18, 2023.
So, and I asked the question about health or effects on health at that time. So, and the one in university is already under construction. I believe the Morris chapel, they've already started the, I don't know about the building, but they're in fact They are 90% complete as far as some of the infrastructure. So my concern is if we find, and Council Member Anderson, you said the safety provisions. If we find that it's harmful being too close to residential, that's a concern. And I've shared that with our city attorney numerous, numerous times. And we did learn last month or a couple weeks ago th
But yeah, so I just, again, for the district four residents, I see at least one in the room, please know that your representative, I did oppose that petition. and continuing to ask the questions. We have a university city data center roundtable that feeds the task force or feeds information to that task force. We've got two members who are on the task force that attend the roundtable meeting. So I don't know if our general assembly is going to be able to change the language imminent harm or some change, but just know as a city we have two hyperscale that are close to residential areas. Is ther
We may be able to return to this, but I think our only issue for tonight is the moratorium and the language in the current moratorium, and particularly in the interest of time. Okay, that's fine. But we can return to that at an appropriate time.
That's fine. Okay, all right. If I can get that email and we have that information, that's just something that... And send it to council, not just me, because that's something that we do need to consider. If we learn... in these next 11 months that there should be a requirement of a distance between residential areas, what then do we do with the ones that are already constructed? Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Finally, Council Member Driggs.
Thank you, Mayor. I think it's interesting that we have a consensus, possibly unanimous, on the question of the moratorium, right? That's not a controversial thing. The staff recommended it. The business community is generally okay with it. There's not a big pipeline of projects that's going to be held up. So this is something we can do. As far as the legislature is concerned, we know that Senate Bill 730 and House Bill 1189 are currently in rules there, right? And they already have draft language which actually aligns substantially with the concerns that we have. So I would recommend that our
Thank you, Council Member Driggs. Are there any other comments, discussion? Hearing none, there is a motion. Second, discussion? All in favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Any opposed? We have unanimity. All right, that takes us to item number 13. In the business section of our agenda, we have one item tonight, and it's for the lead and copper rule revision grant closeout. For item 13, is there a motion to authorize the city manager to close out a grant in the amount of $400,000 with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality for American Rescue Plan Act funds for the lead and copper rule revision project, and B, accept the summary provided?
Any discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? That passes unanimously, too. That concludes our business items. For vote this evening, we will now move to council topics. In order to ensure that all council has the opportunity to speak, we will go around the dais. I'm going to start here to my left with Council Member Owens. One by one, I ask that each council member... Keep their comments or questions to three minutes, which I think is particularly important tonight given the time and the fact that we have a couple of closed session items that are eligible. Staff will resp
Okay, thank you. And I am timing myself, Mayor, so I am... So as a community, we're currently dealing with more than our share of transparency, loss of public trust, accountability. There's a lot facing us right now. As my choice of attire tonight suggests, distrust and frustration with elected leadership cannot give way to disengagement. And so this is really a comment I want to make for the broader community who watches us. Before running for office, I too would become exceedingly frustrated with leaders who would simply say they were exceedingly frustrated by an issue and then not really do
Thank you, Council Member Owens. Council Member Graham.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came out last month to my town hall meeting. Travel, tourism, sports, and entertainment. We had over 300 folks attended the event at the Bowplex. Huge success. And I just want to make a couple announcements that we got coming up This month in December, November and December, November 8th is the Ally Women's Basketball Championship with number one South Carolina versus North Carolina, North Carolina State and Kentucky in women's basketball. And then on December 11th is the third annual Charlotte Invitational Tenni
Which I've already mentioned, I'm going to reiterate at this time. I would love for us to have a referral to committee so that we can really have a real discussion around the annexation process to identify how we consider annexations, understanding whatever happens with the ballot measure, knowing that language can be created by the North Carolina general assembly that can limit what would that actual impact do to the city financially? Cause we tend to be extremely conservative with our investments. So we have, I believe we exceed what our, mandated set aside revenue is. Also, would like more
All right. Council member Michelle. Thank you. Thank you mayor. I want to begin tonight by addressing the devastating violence our city experienced this past weekend with four separate shootings, leaving five people dead. Our heartbreaks for the families grieving unimaginable losses. I also want to, acknowledged the death of a six-year-old girl in East Charlotte who was struck through a hit and run. And we should recommit our commitment to Vision Zero and have a further policy discussion about reducing our speed limits in the city of Charlotte. As one, we continue to want to become a more mobi
Thank you, Council Member Missoula Arias. Council Member Johnson.
Thank you, Mayor. I want to lift up the University City Partners. I had the honor of attending their 23rd Annual Meeting this past week. It was wonderful. There was Councilmember Anderson was there and several staff members were there, so I want to congratulate Keith Stanley and also Janelle Goodrich, who's been there. She's the Director of Operations, I think. She's been there since the beginning, so I just want to lift them up. It's a dynamic district to lead, and I'm honored to be a part of it. As far as our referral tracker, we had a conversation earlier about a referral that had been, I g
I don't know if that was actually referred the referral of the airport related procurement policy has been made. I know it's been made. In fact, I think it had been made earlier, but that has been made, and it is with my budget.
So the night that I saw, I don't think it was passed to us, but I saw a copy of it, and I shared with you at that time that I didn't think that that actually addressed the procurement policy.
So there is a referral that has been made. We can always discuss whether something else needs to be done, but that referral has been made.
But when councilmen, and we can talk about this, but when Mayor Pro Tem and I discussed it, it was because there was going to be a referral for the procurement policy. So I don't think that that met the mark, but we can certainly talk about that. Lastly, at some point we used to have an ASL interpreter at every council meeting, but I'm looking at our council meetings now and I don't see that. So I don't know what happened when that change was done. but that was progress that we had made, and so I would like to see the ASL interpreter in our council meetings. I don't know how we went backwards
Thank you, Council Member Johnson. Council Member Ejmer.
Thank you, Mayor Harrington. I have two items. First, I just want to take a moment to address the heartbreaking violence we saw across Charlotte this weekend. We saw 16-year-old and 17-year-old young lives that were lost, five lives that were lost, and five families who will never be the same. So I appreciate what Chief Patterson and CMPD is doing to keep our community safe. Certainly we made progress based on the recent report that was released by CMPD, but this weekend was a painful reminder that we have much more work to do. So I would like to ask the chief to provide counsel with an update
Thank you, Council Member Esmir. Council, Dr. Watlington.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just real quick, wanted to announce that November 18, I'll have my next town hall right here in the chamber. Oh, wow. Yep. We are almost halfway through the term, and so we have dubbed it Halftime Huddle, and we're going to turn the chamber into a sports... Studio and we're going to run down the top 10 plays of the last decade our wins our flags our learnings and then we're going to hand the ball over to our residents to talk about what the playbook should look like for the second half we're going to start at six o'clock and tailgate is outside at 5 15. So we h
Sounds exciting, can't wait to put it on my calendar. So just want to remind people of a couple of things that we have going on October 28th. We have our micro grant for City of Hobbies. I know we've talked about some of the prevalence of violent crime. And just thinking, I think our Office of Youth Opportunities is doing a great job trying to think through how do we create opportunities for young people. when we think about the city of hobbies, the fact that young people are able to share their hobbies in real life with other young people, I think is a great opportunity. And I hope that if pe
And finally, Council Member Anderson. Thank you, Mayor. I love it, CEO Mayo. Thank you. I have two topics I wanted to share with you all. One is our tree canopy. And I know that we have a goal of in 2050 to be 50% covered. but we're being outperformed by some other cities who are leaning into their canopy in a very different way. One is Chicago and Chicago has made made a commitment to, to plant over 75,000 trees by 2026 last year. And that meant that in a two year clip, they were, get this, they planted 37,500 trees in one year. So the level of, and it's a myriad of styles of trees, but the l
Thank you, Council Member Anderson. So that brings that portion of our agenda to an end. And I believe we have a question of closed session. Madam City Attorney, would you please read the motion to go into closed session?
Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All in favor, please raise your hand. Any opposed? All right. We are going into closed session. Thank you so much.
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