Remarks by Jim Hefferan
114 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 4 of 5
- Play at 29:38
“Just out of curiosity, correct me if I'm wrong, I think there's a small area plan in that area, the Waterfront Village small area plan. Is this property encompassed within that small area plan?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 31:04
“I don't think that's the, yeah, I think we'd be able to adhere to that. I'm just, it's interesting because, you know, again, correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, based on what was actually issued to Duke by FERC, B. R. C. Can't do what they were contemplating to do on the property when this original agreement was entered into between B. R. C. In the city. Is that correct?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 31:31
“Okay. And so I would assume in the months to come, then we would be I'm revisiting this. I still think it was amended in 2020, but there was a meeting and a bunch of people came. It was one of the first meetings we had.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 31:53
“Yes. But I thought as part of that that they're Their leader at the time agreed to make some changes to some of the conditions. It was one of the first meetings that was allowed live in the summer of 2020. It was in the basement at TechWorks. There was a lot going on at the time.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 33:28
“Would you say to combine adds up to the .365?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 33:34
“And that's the only portion that's, yeah.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 34:34
“Just something to keep in mind for when that happens. I would probably when renegotiating and thinking about termination, I would make sure that there is a mutual termination clause as it's written. It's only the agreement can only be terminated at least before the park opens at the election or discretion of the BRC. As I read it there, if for some reason we wanted to extricate ourselves from it. we have no ability to do that as I read the 2017 agreement. So I probably would include a mutual termination clause.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 36:00
“For the immediate purposes of tonight, it makes the most sense. It's been such a long time, and you can appreciate this as an attorney yourself. A lot of times, when you think something makes sense in the moment when it's written, it's going to be an issue and interpreted by people who come along many years later who aren't going to have been privy to those original discussions. don't understand what everyone was doing and somehow have to try and piece everything together.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 36:59
“I think, wouldn't it just be back to Kevin's no harm, no foul? That's what I'm hoping.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 38:34
“I think it makes sense what we're being asked to do. There's no commitment or obligation. It's just trying to understand what we have to do going forward.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 38:59
“By the way, did Duke get back to you on the edits?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 39:13
“I don't think there was anything substantive. I mean, I had a few questions, but I don't think there's anything substantive in there that would preclude us approving it.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 40:15
“There's one that's just, I mean, more informational, like we should be aware that basically they can flood the property with everything they want.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 42:35
“You don't have to get into the edits yet, but if you could. I see two things, the two provisions I had questions about were removed. I took them out. Yes. Okay.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 42:44
“So there were, I will explain. Yeah. There was a 75.03 H and a 75.05 E. And both of those provisions I went back and forth with Corky about because let's just take 75.03 H because 75.05 deals with micromobility. So let's deal with the e-bikes. If you look at the definition of e-bike in the definition section, or electronic assisted bicycle, I think is what it is, part of the definition, one of the standards says that to be an e-bike, to be an electric assisted bicycle, it has to be incapable of being driven more than 20 miles per hour. If it's capable of being driven more than 20 miles per…”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 46:51
“Is that like... Mechanically, like that's how they're set up? Correct. Okay. Physically, it's not like we just say, we're just saying they can't. It's like they literally cannot go.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 47:03
“That's how they're manufactured. Yes. Okay.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 50:26
“Right, but what I think Mark was saying is there's only a 5-mile-an-hour difference, and most of the regulations are the same, so why?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 58:44
“Riddle me this. Obviously, you all didn't just come up with this out of the clear blue sky. You provided the list of other municipalities that actually have these ordinances. Presumably, someone somewhere has defined and regulated micromobility devices and motorized scooters. Is that correct?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:05:44
“Well, you'd be in the downtown dismount zone, too.”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:39:51
“Well, isn't that the goal is that it was presented for information tonight that it'll be presented as an actual ordinance for voting on at the August regular meeting. Is that correct?”
City Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 26:59
“That's impressive. Good job. That's not what people come to us for. That's right. We do not get that.”
City Council · Jul 16, 2026
- Play at 28:40
“But part of that is by design, because it's always been that the Planning and Zoning Board is the more technical expertise. Frequently there have been architects and engineers and attorneys and whatnot on the board. So you can really look at some of the nuts and bolts based on you all's particular background and experience, where I do think council's perspective is more of a general policy, broader strokes, what's the, you know, the benefit and harm to the the community as a whole, and we're not probably going to get into the, you know, we can we have sometimes get into the technical weeds as…”
City Council · Jul 16, 2026
- Play at 33:24
“And if I might add one more dimension to that, there is also the aspect of flexibility. how much should be left say to the discretion of staff without ever coming to the planning board or council and that might be handled administratively versus what might council and planning board want to see and be able to weigh in on. And what are the impacts of each approach for the overall code and structure.”
City Council · Jul 16, 2026
- Play at 36:16
“Like side setbacks, rear setbacks, like especially along Wilkinson Boulevard, which is 30 feet, I believe, but many of the lots there are... more narrow and so that frequently comes up in order to locate a business on these lots and again that leads to our our policies at cross purposes where on the one hand we say we want to encourage development on the wilkinson corridor, but on the other hand, we have these provisions that offer a lot of red tape and seem to be detrimental to the development that we say we want to foster and encourage.”
City Council · Jul 16, 2026