Remarks by James Harrison
160 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 7
- Play at 3:57:04
“I think I share a lot of the same concerns. I don't think it's ready under this current development agreement, just because it was a first stab. I think there were some improvements, but there are, like Rachel mentioned, some permitted uses that I'm still concerned about. And so I think we could work on removing some of those. some of the Yeah, the I want to get some clarity on the landscape buffer So I think under the development agreement since our the last time we were meeting and talking about this agenda item The good news is under this one. There's no tournament access so Basically…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 3:58:23
“And the sidewalk, and I think it would widen the road probably three or four feet, which that's very narrow. I try to avoid driving down that road just because it's very, very narrow. So I think safety-wise and traffic-wise, I think that's a pretty big improvement. I'd like to see maybe some additional language in there to show that there's no in a commercial building that there would be no windows facing the residents so they could face State Street they could face to the north and to the other commercial property but not toward residents and I do like at least based on the concept from the…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:11:07
“So I guess the question would be, I think we're moving toward tabling, but do we table for a lower commercial zoning or table without a rezone? So essentially a development agreement on rezone. perpetual residential zoning.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:11:38
“There is some language on the current item that references the heavy commercial, so we'll have to address that on this item as well. So I think I'm generally leaning toward no rezone, so deny the commercial item. heavy commercial rezone and move toward just a development agreement on the current zoning. And I think that provides an extra layer of protection down the road for additional uses that could come up, you know, 15, 20 years from now.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:16:00
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:21:47
“Yeah, we're happy to do that. Yeah, and I think the concept, I mean, it still has to go pre-construction, right? It still has to go through the full process. So there might be changes, but as long as we're requiring in the development agreement the basic standards, like if they... you know, add an extra garage or whatever. That's not as big of a deal, but we have to have the baseline concrete. This is what it must include. And then there's also the curveball of UDOT. I mean, there has to be approvals by the developer for some UDOT permissions on State Street, which I don't think it would be…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:22:31
“you know, if it's still, even in the concept phase, let's say we approve the development agreement with all of our standards, it goes through everything and things change significantly to where it doesn't meet the spirit or the letter of what we're going to put in this motion, then it can still be denied, right, at a future date. So I think we can hold a pretty high standard there.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:24:44
“Yeah, and we can, of course, discuss this between meetings as well, unless he wants to talk about it now.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:25:56
“I think there's a light and there's a regular.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:28:05
“And the landscaping requirements with trees in that buffer zone, whether they're old trees that are in a position where they can stay or they're newly planted trees, that's going to add to the sound buffer.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:40:00
“Also, remove any language around the rezoning to heavy commercial since we're not going to do that. And then also, I would remove language around a fence because they already have a masonry or concrete wall in the agreement. You mean the barrel?”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:49:46
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 4:57:01
“Mr. Mayor, I move to approve Resolution 2026-54, Adopting the Lehigh City Data Privacy Program Policy.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:02:09
“Matt, I appreciate all your work on this. This is a long process and a lot of language in here. I appreciate up to 30%. I think just one tiny addition would be to say the council will allocate funds toward cultural grants, but not to exceed or up to 30%, just so that we're, I think... There's concerns like oh we could just do 0% right and so I just want to ensure in the language I think Michelle made this suggestion as well that we're there's there's something to say there there will be funds allocated for cultural grants, but up to 30% I think easy change on that one and And I think, my…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:10:53
“There you go. Something like that. Some funds must be used”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:12:22
“I would just add, just with the committee, non-committee aspect, I think the committees work hard, and we have a very proactive council, which is always a good thing. But you can see this year, we coordinate and talk as a council quite a bit. We never really interacted much with the... park committee um and so it would be very difficult for committees as we've seen to try to understand our priorities and where we're moving and so they're working hard to put something together not knowing that hey we have these other priorities we're considering general fund and what goes toward Park Capital…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:16:55
“Yeah, well, I think, and maybe this might help at least my reasoning, Council Member Lockhart, so so every year this percentage i mean 30 five years ago was much lower than 30 this year which will be you know lower than it will be in five years so because the tax the total dollar amount is always increasing because our sales tax is always increasing the dollar amount actually should be fairly stable um and and again it'll take a majority of the council to not do something or to do something, right? So I think the vision of the council or the majority of the council at any point in time for as…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:23:12
“Yeah, I guess I just want to avoid the situation where, OK, now you have $800,000 for grants because that's 30%. And then we go through it, and we get to like $600,000. And like, oh, we have $200,000. Let's look for more ways to grant it out.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:23:27
“Whereas, like, I mean, I think this makes it more competitive for the grant applicants each year to say like, yeah, it could be 20% or 30%. We don't know. So we have to have a really good case. I think we're going to get more public input through this, especially without a committee. We're going to push for other broader community input. And it gives us the opportunity to And this is something we didn't really do this year, but to balance out the needs of the park capital projects that benefit a huge number of people in the city who live here versus the needs of the grant applicants. I just…”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:28:12
“Yeah, not more than 30% for cultural grants. I think, I mean, if you want to have a floor at 1%, that's fine. I just don't want people to think like, oh, well, they're going to revise it to like at 1%. I think that's not the intent, right? So I think... you know, a minimum of 70% toward part capital projects and no more than 30% toward cultural grants, which I think that only adds to 70%.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:29:03
“I think we can say funds will be allocated toward cultural grants up to 30% or not to exceed 30%.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:38:17
“Can I ask a random question, Ryan? And maybe this isn't for you, maybe this is for someone else, but speaking of telecom, if there's gaps in cell service throughout the city, and not that I don't have a massive gap right over my house, or my calls always drop, but to improve that infrastructure, How do we do – like, do we go after those companies to see if they're willing to put towers in? Do we lease land for that? Yeah.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:40:30
“Yeah. There's two spots in my house I have to sit when I'm on a phone call. And if I'm not sitting there, the call will drop.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:51:53
“Can I ask just a follow-up question? Yeah. Remind me your name. Paxton. Paxton, okay. So you mentioned you need rooftops to support the commercial development that you have on the west side, which my understanding is a hotel.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026
- Play at 5:52:12
“Right. Yeah. So I understand that logic for retail, 100%. You can't just put a Smith's out in the middle of the field somewhere a mile from anybody. But if the goal, and I like the concept of a hotel, I haven't heard that justification before. So I just wanted to get clarity on that.”
City Council · Sep 8, 2026