n more um isn't even more difficult problem to solve than our overall housing crisis and so we always appreciate when developers contribute to that as well we need to do a lot more um but this is certainly part of the solution thank you thank you councilmember councilmember hyman did were you up to councilmember freeman thank you mayor pro tem i um i pause and hesitate just to make sure that i don't create offense and my comments and just ask for grace and um noting that it's not just housing that we need but it is the sustainability and the video that was shared was very helpful and laying out just exactly the context of how i've been positioning myself and voting no on many of these cases and just acknowledging that we have to be responsible for what we leave behind and so yes i appreciate what our developer community has done and many cases to try and you know kind of attack some of the issues that we do have and be supportive of the council's kind of focus but i'm also very concerned that we are limiting ourselves to developers as our guide in how we develop our city and i continue to raise that issue i'm not sure how we answer that question juxtaposed to you know the moratorium but i do know that there is a need for us to make sure that we're not creating the harms that were done in the past in the future and so you can see what it looked like 20 years ago you can see what it looked like 40 years ago you can see what it looked like 60 years ago and if we're right now saying that this is the best that we can do i'm concerned and that's that's mainly the issue that i have because if we're blasting and we don't have a way to control or to notify seniors in their community of you know people who need to get inspections of their homes prior to like all of these are factors in this conversation that keep bringing people into this and so i try my best not to pit the rural community against the urban community acknowledging that i'm within city limits and that none of you are in my constituent group so i'm not trying to to get your votes this is really just trying to figure out how to find a solution that actually benefits the city of derm as well as the county because i'm within the county limits as well i am concerned about how folks are and i don't know because it's all it's almost like as if we're saying as a council that it's okay to cost $12,000 more for a well and and it just makes me uneasy and i haven't figured out how to how to have that conversation yet but i do know that it needs to be had i know that there's i don't think that that the answers are being discussed but i do think that we have we have way more information than what we started three months ago six months ago and so i know that we're in the process of going through this deep dive we had a retreat as a council and i and i could appreciate that there are very different stances or thoughts of you know how housing should work in our community but i think that where we are all very consistently pushing for sustainable ways for folks to afford their homes and i don't think it should be limited to just city residents and that's that's what's mainly concerning in this case i will say that i am i am mindful that this is a very small um property and it's not as many homes as we've seen in the past and so i am still wavering on uh for or against but i i i do think i'll be listening to my colleagues um just trying to figure it out because stewardship is what matters most to me in this conversation and i'm not comfortable yet thank you council member colleagues anyone else i'll go council member williams just a quick question so to the can we ask the developer a question or has we the staff have we closed the public debate we've closed the public but the developer is a petitioner so if you have a question for him you can okay question could you approach who owns this land right now i do yeah with my partner yeah we have an LLC that owns it my company owns 50 of the LLC but yeah this is not a speculative thing for us we closed on the land quite some time ago all right all right and i think that's part of the conversation that's usually mentioned in the process um this is a matter of a landowner working with their neighbors trying to figure out the best way forward and and we're required to hear these cases so i want to be very careful about when we i don't want to use the word um i don't want to dehumanize the developers i'm going to say landowner and i want to say that this is a really really really complex conversation that has to happen throughout a formal process that staff is requiring us to follow uh called a udo and and i i i don't want to dehumanize this this that's why i asked that question i don't want to dehumanize it and and that an actual individual owns this land and we have to determine whether we're going to let that landowner do what they want to do with their land or not and we also have to as council we have to leverage this process to make sure that no landowner is harming the people around them and that also the people around them are having grace to the person who owns it uh so i i think that you know as we're growing and developing the city it's a matter of folks and they're in there you know they're the things that they have they're assets you know and we can't let that we can't let harm happen to people and that's why we ask these hard questions you know uh so yeah that's that's it thank you mayor pro tem thank you council member i'm gonna be supporting this development uh tonight uh for a number of reasons firstly i i want to say i think there was a very important moment in our discussion tonight that really i think crystallized for me the tensions going on and i don't mean tensions in a bad way i mean tensions that attend growth um the the the wholesome bicolec prosaic dream of having a yard to play in for our kids um is something that a lot of us to live in an urban environment don't have and and what we are facing and there are no bad people in this discussion there there are folk who live in different parts of town who all love this city and county who are approaching this from their particular perspectives and i think we have a little humility in this conversation uh would go a long way grace if you will in this conversation there are no bad people in this conversation Durham is North Carolina's fourth largest city not a town and Durham is america's 75th largest city and it's growing um Durham is urban and i remember once upon a time urban sprawl used to mean something i i guess it'd mean something different now but anytime word urban was used it used to mean something else um but the growth of our city is being fueled not by council inviting people to move here it's being fueled by people who see our life sciences industry who see d-pack who see nccu in duke who see our weather who see our art scene who see our restaurant scene and say i want in i wish we were as powerful as people think we are but we're not um so we can't stop people from coming i've asked some very specific questions tonight to look for permission to vote against this development i've asked for specific proof of damage due to blasting i've asked uh in previous conversations about the scientific evidence surrounding turbidity and the tomato soup the tomato soup on my desk sitting up on my desk here in city hall right now is crystal clear with no intervention just from regular settlement and there are staff who uh i trust to tell me the truth tells us that that process that's going on on my desk with no intervention whatsoever can be expedited and sped up through certain uh technologies that we have um miss um page post video uh was compelling but then the developer says that she's above the runoff so facts matter so i've looked for reasons not to vote against it i'll level with you because you all have been very forthright with us i've heard uh a number of you say we're not against development we just want it done right well not a 100 percent of you against development there are some folk who want to keep their house in the woods i get it i used to have a beautiful golf course up the street from my house it's gone there and i was mad i looked at my tax bill i was mad but i also know the value of my house is going up the growth of this city is being felt by all of us for and there's no such thing as government action that does not have some type of impact even when we say no it's yes to something else one of my colleagues said supply is not the only answer and god knows it is not but it's one tool one lever that we can pull and one button that we can push if people are coming here for every 300 thousand dollar development that has affordable housing that actually does 100 year storm prevention that does everything we've asked them to do everyone we say no to and and uh you know we spare homes that are in the woods you know surrounded by lakes and creeks there's a there's there's a there's another action that goes on downtown here in Durham there are folk who aren't looking for a yard for their kid to play in they're looking for a roof for their kid to be on and those prices go up every time we put this this is 100 level economics if when we constrict supply something else happens in our city so our urban inner city folk urban inner city folk are experiencing gentrification they're up against folk who are coming into our city who are younger who are richer who if they don't if they can't get a town home for 300 grand on the outskirts of the city they're going to take their significant pocket books and look for some housing somewhere else so there's no one that's exempt from these pressures some of us want our our our country uh prosaic wholesome living i wanted my golf course and then there are other residents who just want rent that they can pay there is no decision we make as a government that does not have some impact somewhere there's no such thing as negative uh uh consequences whether we say yes or no so my my my i look at the i look at the uh the the planning commissions which is why i asked for the planning commission to be more diligent about giving their their comments they approve this uh this development uh which give if you don't think about their record but it's kind of impressive but that's not my only data point if you you know that's not my only data point if you watch these meetings what the planning commission says but i weigh all these factors um and i just don't you know i'm i'm not saying it's nimbyism wrapped in um environmentalism but some of it sounds like it some of it sounds like it no formal actions on blasting or or or i have uh foundation issues with my home right now it's not due to blasting um there are a number of things i can call this so so i want to see some some documented uh evidence of it the tomato soup i've already addressed uh derm city water is award-winning we went awards for the clarity of our water the safety of our water and the taste of our water consistently documented that's a fact um and you should see what the water looks like before we treat it and drink it but by the time we get done with it it's it's it's some of the best water in the state award-winning so the the issue before me is is this development check some boxes affordable housing check not a million dollars not start a house prices either check uh a developer who's committed uh this is the kind of development we want to see because we have limited power as a council forget what you heard we had we have limited council as a limited power as a council and what we can do we should do but the reality is is that there are people moving here every day the reality is there are people less than two miles from the city center forget a yard they don't have a key to an apartment because they can't afford it and as we uh uh cease providing more supply on another part of town that only makes that issue more worse let me say it that way worser and and that's just the reality of our decisions um you know i i wanted one of you to pull out a a document that says that you know my water coming out of my faucet i'm drinking is is poisoning me i wanted someone to bring me water that looked like tomato soup from their drinking faucet not the tub or the toilet the drinking faucet i wanted to see some scientific information that that turbidity and what's going on in our creeks is is is poisoning our not i don't want to see that but but in terms of informing my vote and none of that standard has been met none so what i'm faced with is is is a planning commission that alas has said yes to something i'm faced with a developer that's providing affordable housing uh in this part of town i'm faced with the reality that as we choke off supply in one area of the city it will increase prices in the other area of city 100 level economics so this development of and and i am i am open i am waiting for those hard facts and and and and evidence of these things um fendle farms and carolina arbors would not be there today had we applied the standard we're being asked to to apply tonight and they're thriving communities influential communities doing well so i you know i i um i've listened very carefully tonight but as much as i'm concerned about all the concerns you brought uh tonight i'm also concerned about Durham residents and citizens who who approach me literally every day and say i can't afford to live in this city i can't not a yard i can't find an apartment a bedroom an increasing supply no it's not the panacea but it is part it is a lever that we can pull it is a button that we can push um and we've been asking for developers to be more proactive and affordable housing uh and being a little more not meeting the udo minimum standards but the maximum standards and and this particular developer in this particular development is doing that and um i'll be supporting it tonight thank you any other council members i've been informed that there are folk on the internet who have raised their hands to speak we've we have closed the um public hearing so my apologies and i did not see those hands and i i did several scans as i was asking were there any more folks so as a council as the public hearing is closed i will say those folk if you can hear me uh if you would submit written comments to us we read all of them um and we will uh your comments will be caught become part of the record uh but the public hearing is closed colleagues if there's no other um questions or comments from council council member freeman thank you um main pro tem i think i'm i'm confident i have a decision and i cannot support this moving forward just acknowledging that this council still doesn't understand that well water does not go through a city process and a number of concerns um we've got to get to a point where we actually develop um in a way that's not harmful overall and pitting the urban against rural is not the answer i just want to keep saying that so that's all thank you thank you council member staff did you want to uh uh fill us in on those additional proffers that you've captured tonight sure thank you andi lester with the planning department i just wanted to confirm the four proffers that were made during the meeting two were erosion control related uh developer to utilize double row silt fencing in lieu of the single row fencing is the first additional proffer the second additional proffer would be developer to size the erosion control sediment ponds for the 100-year event um the third one was updating the maximum impervious surface to 60 percent reducing it from 70 and then the fourth one is where the 30 foot buffer with the point six opacity on the develop development plan is shown the opacity will be changed to a point eight opacity just wanted to confirm that on record thank you very much streetians is that comport with what you all right thank you very much colleagues at this time there tonight is the affordable housing commitment is was because the commitment that i heard from the developer didn't sound like what was in the staff memo yeah the um the three units dedicated to habitat for humanity derm incorporated it's already on the development plan so it's already incorporated okay so it's three whole units built very good thank you councillor for that clarification all right colleague three motions are required uh for this item at this time i'll entertain uh motion number one to adopt an ordinance annexing 1409 dock nickels road into the city of derm effective september 30th 2022 and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with edensland corp so move second i hear a motion from councilmember williams and the second from councilmember johnson madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out the motion passes five to two with mayor o'neill and councilmember freeman voting no thank you motion number two to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential rr falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb county jurisdiction and establishing the same as planned development residential 7.245 pdr 7.245 falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb city jurisdiction so move second i hear a motion from councilmember williams and the second from councilmember johnson madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out the motion passes five to two again with mayor o'neill and councilmember freeman voting no all right motion number three uh i'll entertain a motion to adopt a consistency statement as required by north carolina general statute 160 d dash 605 move second uh motion from councilmember williams and the second from councilmember johnson madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out the motion passes um six to one with mayor o'neill oh i'm sorry it's um seven to zero right thank you thank you very much and thank you all for your time and for your your uh passionate um advocacy and and for helping keeping our democracy strong and healthy thank you very much that ends the matter consideration of item number 33 we'll now consider item number 34 consolidated annexation of seven nine two six massy chapel road this is a public hearing but first we will hear a report from staff thank you mayor o'neill mayor pro tem middleton and honorable council members good evening mandelash with the planning department again a request for utility extension agreement voluntary annexation and zoning map change has has been received from jared edens of edens land core for one parcel of land totaling 5.828 acres and located at seven nine two six massy chapel road the annexation petition is for contiguous expansion of the existing non-satellite corporate limits the current zoning is residential rural the applicant proposes to change the designation to plan development residential 4.928 to allow for the construction of up to 80 or 28 townhouse units the development plan does commit to sizing bmp's to detain the 100-year storm event donation of a completed townhouse unit to habitat for humanity donations to the dedicated housing fund and during public schools the property is currently designated low density residential on the future land use map the proposed plan development residential 4.928 zoning is not consistent with the designated use shown on the flume if the pro zoning is approved staff recommends a change to the to the flume to designate the property as low medium density residential and the planning commission failed to recommend approval by a vote of seven to seven at their may 10th 2022 meeting and as a reminder three motions are required for this application the first is to adopt an ordinance annexing the property and entering into a utility extension agreement the second is to approve the zoning ordinance and the third is to approve the consistency statement thank you and staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you so much for the good work colleagues any questions for staff on this matter before we open the public hearing seeing them we're going to open the public heat public hearing and i'm going to ask mr. edens if you would approach positions how much time do you anticipate needing for your presentation five minutes max all right let's put 10 minutes on the clock it's always say five and i'll probably go over no problem yeah well discover yourself accordingly yeah um thank you member city council jared edens again with edens investments thanks android for your summary it's a similar project to what we just talked about just a different part of town this is at south point adjacent to the uh you know projects on message apple road it's adjacent to the car dealerships and a lot of the retail at south point it's about 5.8 acres uh zoned rr currently the pdr we're proposing it's only about 4.9 which is a little low for a typical town home development we actually started out on this project looking at toward you know somewhere from 35 to 40 units is what we're expecting we got into the neighborhood meeting process we started making some changes we we widened buffers and locations we made the stormwater pond bigger to match some of the other things we were doing and it led to a little bit of density loss there and just coming up with some of those compromises so we're at about 28 units now which is around five units an acre um planning commission vote was a tie seven seven i mean you'd like a better outcome but the one thing i want to point out from the planning commission that evening is i thought it really served its purpose you know when i was on planning commission i always felt that we were there to vet projects not just making recommendation but try to make them better before they came before you as city council there were several tax commitments that we added at the planning commission meeting based on neighborhood concerns which i thought were really good some of those were um we committed to some extra privacy fencing for some of the neighbors we we did the point eight opacity buffers for neighbors like i talked about before and we've put limits on the the light poles in the neighborhood they're they're noticed they're capped at 25 feet high and they're fully shielded light fixtures because we had neighbors who were concerned about spillover from the property uh we committed them to some electric charging stations uh we also committed to limiting the time of construction that was a new one that i hadn't faced in recent years but we had some concerns about construction timing so there's a condition on the plan that says no construction on weekends only between i think seven a.m. and eight p.m. during the week but that was again a response to some of the concerns we heard uh one unit for Durham Habitat for this one same as last project it's a completed unit that goes to Durham Habitat i do want to clarify what uh because the zoning condition may not be written 100 correct but it will be go to Habitat for Humanity of Durham Incorporated is where that unit goes to a couple other commitments i would like to add this evening based on some of the stuff we talked about at the same case the the two erosion control measures uh these are things we'll probably start incorporating on future zonings but the double row of silk fence the 100 year sediment pond is something we like to incorporate here uh just in summary i mean i think it's a it's a highest and best use of the property you know that the options are you know we've got the american tobacco trail is about a thousand feet west of here that crosses massey chapel road one of our tax commitments is building sidewalk from our property along massey chapel road to the tobacco trail to provide that connectivity for our residents to the trail it's about a thousand feet to the trail it's about another 2000 feet and you're in the middle of the retail at south point from this site and you can access that from the sidewalk we're constructing along massey chapel on the existing trail at the american tobacco you know the options on this site are are similar to last case you could do four or five really large homes that are a million dollar plus and those four or five lucky residents would have access to the sidewalk and the trail and the retail or we could do something in between which i think this property serves as a good transition because you've got retail immediately to the north single family to the south we're proposing a pocket of townhomes in between with some public benefit attached to it so i just think looking at it as a project as a whole i think it's the highest and best use and and i hope you find it to be a strong application i'm glad to take any questions thank you thank you mr edens we'll reserve your time uh in bank that you have not used in case you need to respond to any uh thing from the public um i have well there was a jeremy tar who wanted to speak on this issue that i saw in q earlier on our virtual platform but i do not see now uh madam clerk would you check me do you see jeremy tar mr tar is departed okay um all right then in chamber i have pat brockman brockino mr mayor pro tem yes mr tar is trying to get back into the meeting apparently he logged off and is trying to log back in we'll circle back around and make sure he has opportunity uh miss brockino good evening thank you if you would state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes good evening my name is pat brockino and my husband and i have lived at 7340 abern drive for 30 years and i'm here is in opposition to the development we expected that this piece of property was going to be developed but we did not expect it in this way and we think that it can be done in a more gentle way with respect to the people who have lived in that area three-story townhouses and a brightly lit parking lot are shoehorned and if you looked at the map it's kind of shoehorned next to our one and two-story houses and our quiet neighborhoods the developer proffered sidewalks but the transportation department here has told us that that may or may not happen depends on dot when they realign or not realign messy chapel road so and and could wind up that some neighbors are going to be losing property along messy and that would be part of the process uh we we were especially surprised to see the developers were already advertising townhouses as if it's a done deal and i don't think it's a done deal because you guys haven't voted yet but i read from their ad and they call this development the poplar and it's and i quote featuring new three-story townhomes starting in the 300 thousands messy chapel towns offers the low maintenance living near downtown dorham and downtown chapel hill the vibrant community is conveniently located et cetera to build it up we already have a vibrant community our neighborhood is diverse we have street parties we have musical festivals open to everybody we have cookie exchanges in december we have ice cream socials in the summer people living on our street are of all ages and we feel that we are as well we're vibrant as all get out we don't need this intense development there so i'm asking you to please deny the application and maybe wait for development that comes in harmony with the three existing neighborhoods that it is being put right in the middle of i've heard tonight that um we need housing and i agree i mean there there was housing going up all over unfortunately it's expensive housing that's going up all over and it's our corner of the world i can count five town home developments that have gone in in the last year and a half so we have lots of townhomes down there too but i think the biggest concern is that it is where it is it's a small lot compared to that's it bye miss varkina thank you so much for being with us tonight jeremy's been on all night so i'm hoping he comes i did see him earlier and we will be certain to accommodate him if we can get him back madam clerk do you see uh jeremy back okay well we will uh keep vigil uh for him um this is a public hearing is there anybody else in the chamber who wishes to speak on this item who is not already spoken this is a public hearing all right colleagues do you have any questions or comments for the developer councilmember hyman i'm sorry i'm sorry councilmember would you suspend for a second please if you would master mayor pro tem we do have um jeremy on the line and he can speak through the the microphone in from the phone from the cell phone all right if if it's not clear i'm gonna ask that we keep trying to work so let's see if we can hear him y'all y'all good with that all right mr targ good evening if you can hear me um would you state your name and address for the record and you'll have three minutes thank you sir my name is jeremy tar i'm at seven four nine abron drive good evening thanks uh mayor mayor pro tem and council members my wife and i and every other neighbor uh to this project strongly oppose it i'd ask that you consider the the conclusion of the planning commission to not approve the project um and it reached that conclusion after over two hour deliberation about it where the planning commission uh discussed with the developer and with the neighbors improved each of our positions um of course two hours i've really appreciated the rich discussion earlier this evening i've been on since the beginning while i think a general disposition in favor of infill it's particularly around the south point area it does make sense in general for environmental reasons to accommodate growth all the all the the reasons that it mentioned i'd ask that you're not green light projects particularly this one just because it's labeled it's infill there are other values here that i think it's it's important to consider so this is a really unique um site and unique development and i'd ask that you vote against the project the project it's fundamentally just incompatible with the site in the surrounding neighbors um i think we should be building infill housing that's transitional and has access to proper infrastructure so we're creating walkable community spaces the housing should also respect existing homeowners not just future Durham residents um this is a project it's not a project that helps transition from rural residential to denser housing and then to commercial this project would be squeezed between rural residential lots and a wooded floodplain with no access to commercial except through the residential a rural residential um but ask that you also consider the rural residential homeowners that are going to be impacted here it's going to add vehicle traffic without enabling safe walking and biking options to the tobacco trail or the south point mall um there aren't going to be sidewalks added um the developer sounded open to that planning commission meeting but staff had indicated that there's not enough room in the right-of-way on Massey Chapel for a sidewalk or a bike lane um either down to the tobacco trail or out to Fayetteville for my property i'm concerned about the light pollution it's going to add the site is higher than my property and others on abron drive the developer wrongly insisted at the planning commission meeting that it that the site was lower than my property i saw in some of the appendix the attachments that they're going to put in a six foot opaque fence but it will have 20-foot high light poles up hill of my property which Mr. Tarr thank you so much your time has expired thank you for being with us tonight this is a public hearing is there anyone else in the chamber that wishes to speak speak on this item that has not had opportunity to speak mr. Eden do you have some time in reserve if you want to respond to anything that you've heard from opponents sure appreciate that took a couple notes um now the sidewalk is definitely subject to ncdot approval the sidewalk we're proffering along Massey Chapel road off-site to extend to the trail is definitely subject to dot approval but that's standard the dot has to issue an encroachment agreement for any sidewalk constructed in the right-of-way we haven't designed it yet but typically for us in a 60-foot right-of-way which Massey Chapel is a 60-foot right-of-way with only two lanes you can typically do a shoulder and ditch and sidewalk in that road section that's been my history and i used to work at dot before i started doing this so i don't have concerns about the sidewalk that we're proffering being constructed um another submission of lighting and whatnot i don't know how much light comes off the existing massive car lot that that is already there now i don't know how our light will compare to that but you know as as we mentioned before we're we're shielding the putting shielded cutoff fixtures on the lights we're limiting the height of the light poles durham's udo has a foot candle requirement where we have to go around and measure the um the light intensity at the property line before you get certificates of occupancy later in the development that's something we'll have to do and our light spill over it's going to have to comply to the the udo which is fairly restrict don't want it allows it's like half a foot candle or something like that um yeah so i want to speak to those two things but that's it thank you thank you mr. edens one last time this is a public hearing is there is anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on this item that has not had opportunity if not i'll ask my colleagues here on the dais if they have any questions or comments for the developer or the council member hyman thank you so um i have a couple of questions so the first one is this clarity in terms of is it 28 townhomes i believe that's what the plan the plan calls for 28 i believe and the price point so this is actually it's actually the same builder that we were talking about on the last project is i have the same builder on this one and they're planning for the same kind of product so it's the same expectation yeah okay and i think when i was looking at the notes from the planning committee that there were some issues around um and just correct me if i'm wrong um flood zones in that area so can you just kind of speak to that yeah i mean flooding and storm water definitely comes up and i'm looking at the topography here on almost everything we do but what we do to try to alleviate that is that's why we do these hundred-year stormwater ponds is if there's any known flooding issues or even if there's not flooding issues i know that if i put a hundred-year stormwater pond in i'm not adding to whatever's going on out there which is why we've adopted that standard so i understand the concerns but like if you were to develop this by right as a single family development in the jordan basin which has not as strict of stormwater requirements you likely have a four or five lot single family subdivision with no pond detaining any of the water under the current code so i think what we're proposing is better stormwater wise and my other was there a traffic study done now it would take uh so Durham's requirements on a traffic study is a project has to generate 150 peak hour trips i think for a townhome development that number is typically 180-ish townhomes give or take that that hits that threshold you know we only have 28 years so i don't think it would be a big impact on traffic um i think i mentioned before the massive chapel road has a 80t of 1700 cars a day in the current capacities like over 12 000 cars a day so there's definitely a lot of capacity left in massive chapel road per the staff report so i kind of tend to disagree because that's my area where i live and um it is traffic is sometimes horrific especially on a saturday and sunday when people are frequenting the mall um i used to you know be able to kind of just come out when i develop it but now i literally it takes like five to ten minutes to just try to get out of where i live because of the mall traffic and then my other question was what was your level of involvement with the community because i think i heard a community member say that you had a and just correct me if i'm wrong that you had already been publicizing that this was coming so just give me some clarity yeah i'm not sure what i mean the builder may be doing some kind of marking i'm not aware of we don't when we don't have a zoning approved we don't publicize anything really i mean the only people that that i generally talked to about the projects before they're voted on is the neighbors themselves so we had two different neighborhood meetings talked to the issues again had a great discussion at planning commission where we talked through other issues but the advertising they're talking about i have no clue about and it's not us for sure but i i mean so you said you had two levels of involvement with we had two different neighborhood meetings during the process okay all right thank you thank you thank you councilmember colleagues anyone else on the dais questions or comments for either the opponent or the developer councilmember williams yeah what um this may be an inappropriate question but i'm going to ask what motivated you to go after the level of zoning you're going for now just 20 28 the level of density that you're going after it was really so the use is you know townhomes as a use i feel is the best use just looking at it i mean i i would love to live there and be able to walk to the retail you know and bite to the retail with with public transit sidewalk provided by the developer so i think the use as just just looking at it when i first saw it that looks like a townhome piece you've got retail beside it retail accessible the density is more of a product of of some of those meetings with the neighbors and some of the changes we made because you know if we do 20 foot perimeter buffers and if we do a pond for the 10-year storm and all the standard things that the code has then we could have gotten 35 to 40 units on the site most likely but once you start giving some things away well i didn't mention also we're extending utilities to you know our neighbors to the south who i understand have some failing septic issues but our our project had to extend public water and sewer to these projects adjacent to us to the south so i really think it just townhomes made the most sense and and the density ended up being that way just after we made the changes yeah if that answers the question yeah thank you um i based on the information i get on a daily basis i am like you know what we need a lot more density but i could appreciate you reducing that based on your engagement with the neighbors um as a as a landowner and then working with the folks that are around you um yeah i could i could appreciate it thank you thank you council member colleagues anyone else questions or comments for the developer or the opponents before we close the public hearing all right seeing none here on the day that's where i'm going to declare this public meeting closed and the matter is back before the council on it i'll entertain any questions or comments on part of colleagues all right seeing none i i'll just briefly say and i i i appreciated the the debate that the planning commission had a split vote this this case really the facts of this development aren't really dissimilar at least in my reading to the the previous one only we don't have as much uh no opposition you know based upon environmentalism or or blasting or an income of that nature i i'm going to support this development one of the things that that drives me to support it is is oftentimes what we do as a council is manage outcomes oftentimes we can't stop them but it's a matter of choosing which is which is better and i am i'm just concerned about what can go there by right if we don't put these town homes and it's going to be incredibly expensive uh single family homes which i think is counterintuitive to to what we're trying to do um when it comes to to growth so uh in terms of managing a development and i i appreciate the opponents that have spoken and what i've heard is is um you know it's going to change the character of our neighborhood i get it i get it i uh i get it um and and all of us in Durham are having the character of our neighborhoods uh uh changed uh some of us are in better position to manage it and control it and adapt and some of us aren't um every person on this dais is having the character of their neighborhood changed uh by growth in this city but i i don't want um by right uh single family homes there um i'd rather see uh townhouses with the commitments and proffers that this developer has uh made so with that i'm going to be supporting this development colleagues anyone else all right seeing none staff forgive me i might be a conflate there were no additional proffers we needed to capture or clarify was was there on this thank you andi lester plenty department um there's one clarification regarding text commitment number five which was to clarify that it's the habitat for humanity of Durham incorporated um and in addition i was hoping to see to be in line with the existing text commitments to add the clause that the lot shall be deeded in fee simple to habitat for humanity of Durham incorporated if he's willing to to agree with that um thank you the other two proffers were the erosion control ones developer to utilize double rail stilt fencing or stilt fencing and the developer to size the erosion control sediment ponds for the 100 year event those were the additional ones thank you mr eason does that comport with uh all right thank you uh so much uh colleagues this item requires excuse me uh three motions uh and i'll entertain motion number one to adopt an ordinance annexing seven nine two six massy chapel road into the city of Durham effective september 30th 2022 and to authorize the city manager to enter into a utility extension agreement with eden's land court so moved i hear a motion from council member williams and a second from council member caballero madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out the motion passes five to two with council members freeman and holsey hyman voting no its second motion uh to adopting excuse me one second my vote was a no vote my clicker is not it's coming in as a no vote but i as a not not voting but i am and i'm pressing no the first motion passed um four to three with mayor o'neill council member freeman and council member holsey hyman voting no okay all right motion number two to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential rural rr falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb county jurisdiction and establishing the same as plan development residential 4.928 pdr 4.928 falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb city jurisdiction so moved second have a motion from uh council member williams and a second from council member caballero madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out and again the motion passes four to three with mayor o'neill council members freeman and holsey hyman voting no and finally i'll adopt a motion excuse me one second my clicker is still it should be a no vote they are watching me but it's is coming up as not i announced it should be no vote she announced you as a no i think did you did you capture the mayor's no yes i said no vote okay all right motion number three to adopt a consistency statement as required by north carolina general statute one six zero d dash six zero five so moved second have a motion from council member williams and a second from council member caballero madame clerk would you please open the vote please close the vote and report out the motion passes it appears as um four to three mayor o'neill i voted no i did hear yes but it's still all the money coming up freeman we have you listed as abstaining but this is not a moment to abstain and holsey hyman we have listed as a no vote so can council member freeman confirm her vote is a no vote on the consistency to be a yes vote record did you have a vote of four to three with no votes being from mayor o'neill council member freeman and council member holsey hyman all right no no i pressed yes but it's coming up as a no voting so all of my votes have been kind of not what i'm pressing okay it's coming up as no voting but i actually voted yes on the consistency statement okay so we have um five to two with council members hyman holsey hyman and freeman voting no all right thank you all right that concludes our consideration of item number 34 consolidated annexation seven nine two six massy chapel road our thanks to our residents and citizens that stayed with us and offered comments tonight and to the staff on this item as well and we'll keep moving item number 35 is a public hearing arbor stoneway broadstone court flat stone court green mount drive and upland metals lane street closings i do not uh well we'll hear from staff sorry first okay i'm corninger i'm represent the plan department the case sc 2200 studio four references a request by steve puckett permanent closure in the entirety of greenmont drive arbor stoneway broadstone court flat stone court and upload meadow lane um that runs parallel to east ram zero street and into the north carolinal railroad right of way to the north as part of the street closure the applicant combined seeks to combine all the remaining land to create two new parcels of 18.78 acres and 13.63 acres um for future development running east of channel road thank you very much colleagues are any questions for staff on item number 35 if not i'm going to declare this public hearing open i i haven't received any cards for anyone that signed up to speak on this item um and i don't see anyone on our virtual platform who's indicating a desire to speak on this item that correct no cards on this all right it's correct this is a public hearing is there anyone in chamber tonight who wishes to speak on this item this is the public hearing if not this matter is i'm going to declare this public hearing closed this matter were you getting up brah okay all right the two words are rising if not i'm going to declare this public hearing closed and this matter is back before the council uh colleagues do you have any questions or comments all right this item requires one motion uh motion uh the motion is to permanently close in their entirety green mount drive arbor stoneway broad stone court flat stone court and upland meadow lane so move second uh suspend i'm sorry mr mayor pro tem um can we do a hand vote from here on out i'm sorry can we do hand votes from here on out thank you sure absolutely um restating um well i i heard a motion from council yes second from council member caballero uh we will all those voting i would please indicate by raising your left hand all those opposed all right by my reckoning the vote is six to one it's council member freeman voting no all right i think that is all that's required for item number 35 uh moving on to item number 36 a zoning map change dearborn drive multi-family and we'll receive report from the staff thank you mayor now mayor pro tem middleton and honorable council members and you're left with the planning department um land and cocks of ldg development proposes to change the zoning designation of three parcels of land totaling 9.41 acres and located at dearborn drive in old oxford road in the bractown community the current zoning is residential urban five the applicant proposes to change the designation to plan development residential 19.978 to facilitate the construction of up to 182 affordable multifamily units and up to 5 000 square feet of community service civic space the applicant is also working with the bractown community outside of this process to allow the bca to use the community center affordable units we on average 60 or less am i for a 30 year period the properties are currently designated medium density residential on the future land use map the proposed development residential 19.978 zoning is inconsistent with the designated flume if the proposed zoning is approved staff recommends a change to the flume to designate the property as medium high density residential which is a 8 to 20 dwelling units per acre there is no associated annexation petition with this case the assembled parcels already within Durham corporate boundary the planning commission recommended approval by a vote of 11 to 0 at their June 20 at their June 14th 2022 meeting in addition to the affordable units the proposal commits to a concrete pad bus shelter subject to go Durham go triangle additional asphalt along the east side of old oxford road for bike lane and as a reminder two motions are required for this application the first motion is to approve the zoning ordinance the second motion is to approve the consistency statement thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you so much any questions uh colleagues for staff on this item before we open the public hearing seeing none i do i want to disclose this as is my practice the not-for-profit that i'm CEO of is a significant landowner in that area i cross no statutory threshold whatsoever of any financial inducement uh at all but i do like to disclose when things are close to things that i that i uh function there uh for purpose of discussion so with that said no no financial inducements whatsoever but it is in close proximity a significant piece of land that the organization that i lead owns in that neighborhood with that i do want to open up the public hearing and mr. gauche are you representing the uh filament good evening good to see you mr. gauche how much time do you anticipate needing for your presentation five minutes five put five minutes on the clock all right well i'm nil gauche uh turn it at the morning start law group 700 west main street here in durham and i'm representing the applicant now uh linden cox out there in becker rich hand so he had a rough night of sleep so i told him i wouldn't make him speak today but i did want to introduce you to him he's been a pleasure to work with ldg has been fantastic i sincerely think that this is probably one of the best projects i've ever had the pleasure of working on in the city of durham and i think that the uh professional staff here in the city also agree you'll notice in your staff report that this project is consistent with 24 i believe out of 24 of the community goals and objectives and that is not a surprise they have taken every effort to engage with the community this is an affordable housing project um so obviously it's consistent with the city's goals in that regard as well um in addition it's so much more than just an affordable housing project which i think the city is greatly in need of but i think the story of how this project all came together um is really quite special uh the property is currently owned by the veterans of foreign wars program mr larry colman in the back um has been a strong sewer to that property for some time and has recognized that it was too large and uh too much of a maintenance issue for that organization to hold indefinitely and so he started planning for the future of this property some time ago with an eye towards affordable housing and was able to partner with ldg ldg um understanding what the importance of the uh mission that that organization carries out um has endeavored here to provide 5 000 square feet of civic space which essentially will be given to the vfw as a permanent home for their organization to carry out their mission indefinitely um it will free them of the burden of uh the vfw of the burden of any kind of maintenance issues that type of thing they will have a permanent space to carry out that mission and then through our engagement we've also um i think it's fair to say build a lot of inroads and rapport with the bracton community association and have been able to essentially i'm going to say broker a deal but i think that's too generous because frankly mr colman is quite generous himself and was very willing um to allow the bca to have some office space in that civic uh space for their organization um to have a place to function as well um because the 5 000 square feet evidently is a little bit larger than what the the vfw needs for its operations so i mean really this project has made a lot of efforts to to try to check i mean more than check boxes you know provide a lot of community benefits in one neat package and it's a really great project um we're here to answer any questions you may have we hope to have your support and uh you know i i think this is a great project for city of durham thank you very much for your time tonight mr ghost thank you very much you've got about one minute and 54 seconds in the bank if if you should need to avail yourself of it i have three uh cards for focal of sign up to speak uh mr larry colman venessa mason evans and donna frederick if you're in chamber if you would just approach over here and commander colman good to see you if you would state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes all right i will keep you to three minutes if there's any other question about the 5 000 square foot i would ask that be done afterwards as stated i'm larry colman durham resident and the vfw bragtown commander which is a large landowner currently on seven acres at 11 acres madam mayor mayor pro tem city council members and staff thank you for the time to speak i'm speaking in strong support of the rezoning request that isn't is the culmination of efforts that actually began in 2019 um from the community little correction i thought it would be great to do tiny homes and i was educated very quickly that that's not the best way to go so i pivoted and worked toward affordable housing as a member of the bragtown community since the mid 60s are over 100 members are excited for the opportunities for this rezoning will afford the veterans of durham and the citizens of bragtown our's goals to make our 5 000 square foot facility within the development a welcoming and inclusive space for the over 15 000 veterans in the durham area uh and the citizens of the bragtown community in this process the team from ldg and the bragtown community association they've been great partners in this effort in closing and then also to the 5 000 square foot we will be bringing in another 501c3 profit to run the facility day to day still in the works but this is going to be so much more than community space if the vision of some of us come to fruition with this space in closing i would like to in closing i'd like to ask the city council also to consider some additional financing options for the developer to move a number of the units from 60 percent ami to 30 percent ami all of them right now this is more the developer's lane are slotted to be 60 percent ami there's some number not my lane but some number of financial financing that would reduce some of those 30 percent thank you for your time commander thank you all right venessa mason evans good evening and good to see you if you'll state your name and address for the record you'll have three minutes good evening mayor orneal uh and city council i'd like to say that uh we have worked diligently with the lg ldg group and trying to make sure we can get affordability in bractown um they have worked with us with engagement through our bractown community association meetings the community as well as our executive board they have went beyond their measures of making sure we we had never had far as a bca or a bractown community national night out they were able to do that with us we were able to bring a lot of community members out to see what the site may look like as well as bringing out free food for the community having really the bull come out we had a wonderful night of just being able to gather as a true community i feel like they really do want to work with the community and making sure that we get affordability of course they did not get the gap funding that was one of the hopes because when we first started out in our conversations everything was at 60 percent am i we are in hopes that we can get at least 31 percent 30 percent am i 90 percent at 60 percent am i and we hope that we can get 31 percent at 80 percent am i which would hopefully knock off some of the costs from the 30 percent am i of course we are looking for funding from the city the county and any other organizations that can help to bring about the funding that we would need to get that 30 percent am i in place i feel that they have went really way beyond what a lot of developers have done even if they wasn't giving us a space within this development i would still say that i would feel they have done what they need to do to try to bring the community to have affordability within the community we know so many people are losing their homes their apartments so many people getting evicted and to have a development that is working with us to make sure that we can try to have affordability that is truly truly important for bradtown because we know that the am i in bradtown is so low because of that income so i'm hoping that with this development it will help us to bring affordability to bradtown thank you thank you miss evans always good to see you donna frederick good evening thank you for being with us if you'll state your name and address you'll have three minutes good evening donna frederick 603 east club boulevard Durham north caroline i've been a resident for over 25 years at that address we have worked diligently with this community and also with this developer coming in affordability is what we hear every day every day every day and anything that can come in and help the community to survive and you know it's very important because you could just hear the words on the page but every day when you pick up a paper somebody's being evicted so we need to have more affordable apartments more affordable homes and that's increasing you know we need residents to have a place to live but a lot of the residents here are facing being put out and that's in the numbers and that's the fact that's not a sentiment so we need to embrace these developers have worked tirelessly with the black town community they've toured the neighborhood they've been with us we've been with them they get it it's not just a building it's a community and space all the veterans that came out on our night out they were just so elated that somebody took such an interest in providing a space for them so again we are in support of this and we hope that they get the additional funding to make it more a funding thank you so much miss frederick and good to see you as well this is a public hearing is there anyone else in chamber who wishes to speak on this item that has not had opportunity this is a public hearing and i don't see anyone on our virtual platform colleagues any questions or comments for uh councilmember hyman hi um so i want to say thank you for the engagement with the community um but i know you talked about some some space that's going to still do some community work with veterans am i correct uh yeah the the 5000 square feet civic space um the prime so the way the deal works on the primary use of that will be for the vfw the veterans for more to carry out their mission uh essentially they would be using that space um how however they feel they need to and in in this case we know that they are planning on subleasing i guess is a term i would use some of that space to the bca um and you know so would it be like some wrap around services like like legal services for their veterans or mental health services oh yeah would those types of services be offered for for veterans yeah i believe those are those are some of the types of services i think mr larry colman might actually i mean he's he's the commander of that post uh might actually be a better person to answer that question but i think what you're asking if i understand is what kind of services will be offered to veterans in that space right and then my other one step before he answers that is are you going to have any because this is these are apartment units right these are apartment right so any apartment is going to be like kind of earmarked or designated for veterans i'm just curious uh not i don't think specifically i think that our program is working on veteran vouchers yeah on what our so we hope the community will be able to accept veteran vouchers so there aren't units specifically earmarked for veterans but that is uh something that this community is hoping to achieve especially with already being you know aligned with the vfw and having that space there okay larry would you want to answer that if i can't short approach katharine heim is that all right yes so the overall concept of the vision of the five thousand square foot is a shared space veteran community we've been i've been working with nonprofits the va the community for probably what's it been nine months now two years it's been a while uh we have a commitment from the va that they will have two homeless counselors full time in this space this is supported by the vision six director that was former va director he's aware of what we're doing there um in the nonprofit we're looking to partner with already has existing programs for veterans community-based type things think flex space see arts program connection to mental health counseling and it's going to segue off of what these same nonprofits we just hosted the a veteran event here in Durham saturday a gray stone and had about 300 individuals in attendance with those service providers and the concept is veterans come there the community comes there and can make connections as needed to these other individuals that have touchdown space space for presentations and other programs that they may want to run thank you because you know our veterans are they still suffer from a lot of mental health issues post-traumatic stress disorder so thank you thank you for answering that thank you councilmember councilmember freeman thank you ma'am pro tem i just wanted to appreciate this item coming forward i know it's been in the works a number of years and i remember the conversation early on trying to figure out how to work with kasa unfortunately that didn't come together and i'm glad you kept at it and sounds like it's really coming together and the piece that i'm going to try and follow up on with staff is i guess if there is a possible way to support getting the am i down to 30 percent maybe that's a conversation we can have in the coming weeks or what have you it thank you councilmember and staff will note your inquiry colleagues anyone else all right last call this is a public hearing anyone in the chamber that wishes to speak on this item that is not already spoken with that i'm going to close this public hearing the matter is back before the council colleagues questions comments councilmember cabillero thank you thank you i'm sorry thank you good evening um i just wanted to say how pleased i am with this project i really appreciate the developer and all of the stakeholders in the bractown community for this is another this in the carver street assemblage project which you all had a lot of um you also were instrumental in making sure that what came to council was better than what was originally being proposed and so i just wanted to extend my gratitude to you all to me these are examples both of these are examples of what is possible for our community and i think just this is the easiest vote i'm going to take uh super excited to say yes clicker isn't working so i'll be raising my hand but um quite frankly rather ecstatic about it thank you thank you councilmember colleague anyone else um yeah councilmember uh councilmember johnson and councilmember hyman thank you mr mayor pro tem um i'll echo everything my colleague said this is a great project really excited to see it come to life um 200 apartments for families in our community that are desperately needed so yeah absolutely 100 percent um in support of this and look forward to seeing it come to life thank you thank you councilmember councilmember hyman i'm going to say ditto ditto ditto because i'm very excited for this also this project and i wish i could clone you but that's a whole nother story uh but so thank i'm excited so i will be also supporting this thank you councilmember freeman i'm just another follow-up just in and just figuring out i guess how the 501c3 that's going to operate day to day is going to i guess function i would just love to keep getting these updates i know you've been sharing them so thank you thank you councilmember madam mayor thank you all this will be a yes vote thank you madam mayor and and i want to associate myself with everything my colleagues have said life moves in seasons and when my season on the council is over uh this will be one of the moments i look towards uh back on as one of the best votes uh most enjoyable votes i'll cast uh being on the council so looking forward to supporting this with that said this item one second yeah go ahead and make the motion on the side so moved oh no one second i do wonder where's the i make the motion there it is all right got to adopt the ordinance i'll read into record uh i'll entertain the motion it's getting late to adopt an ordinance amending the durham you know durham unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential union residential urban five r u five falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb and establishing the same as plan development residential 19.401 pdr 19.401 falls jordan lake watershed protection district b fjb so move oh i heard a motion from council member hyman thank you and second the council member williams uh with all those in favor will signify uh i by raising your left hand all those opposed by my reckoning the vote is unanimous second motion to adopt a consistent consistency statement as required by north carolina general statute 160 d dash 605 second i heard a motion from council member williams and the second council member caballero all in favor please raise your left hand all opposed by my reckoning the motion is carries unanimously madame clerk thank you so much um thank you commander thank you uh congratulations and best wishes we're looking forward for what we hope will be an anchoring project in that neighborhood and thank you uh to the residents for making this happen and for your advocacy and for being with us tonight congratulations all right colleagues our final um public hearing tonight by my reckoning is item number 37 a zoning map change for wabash parcels and we will hear from our staff thank you uh mayor nil mayor perten middleton and honorable council members i'm in delist with the planning department um williams chambers of helenech conference centers llc proposes to change the zoning designation of three parcels of land totaling 9.96 acres and located at 1500 and 1521 wabash street and 1214 truman street the current zoning is residential urban five the applicant proposes to change the this designation to plan development residential 5.170 to allow for the construction of up to 44 townhouse units the parcels already within the Durham city limits the properties are currently designated medium density residential and recreation and open space on the future land use map the proposed zoning is inconsistent with the with the designation if the proposed zoning is approved staff recommends a change to the flume to designate the properties as low medium density residential and recreation and open space the planning commission recommended approval by a vote of eight to five at their march 8 2022 meeting at the planning commission hearing on march 8 the applicant proffered an increase of the donation to durham's dedicated housing fund to 25 000 as a reminder two motions are required for this application the first motion is to approve the zoning ordinance the second motion is is to approve the consistency statement thank you staff and the applicant are available for any questions thank you very much uh long night for you i appreciate you holly's any questions for staff before we open the public hearing if not i'm going to declare this public hearing open uh attorney floyd mckissick the third will be representing the applicant good to see you how much time do you anticipate needing for your presentation uh i would say 10 minutes and i will share and split some of my time with land and lovelace of underfoot engineering so at the appropriate time i will ask him to come up after i finished my brief comments sure we'll start with 10 minutes on the clock for you okay thank you very much good evening everyone um i just wanted to share some quick comments to compliment the city's report that you have in front of you this parcel of land is approximately nine point nine six acres and it contains three continuous tracts of land um addressed as 1500 wild bash 1521 wild bash and 1214 truant the proposal is to go from r u5 to a pdr 5.170 and this proposal is consistent with the comprehensive plan and objectives goals and objectives and also received a favorable recommendation from planning um in addition recording stopped in addition the proposal is that the track of land be used for up to 44 townhomes with an maximum size of 2 000 square foot per townhome a maximum height of approximately 45 feet there also is a reserve open space for a dog park in a playfield the site will maintain a 32 percent tree coverage area where there's only a seven percent requirement and also provide 38 open space where i believe there is a 16 percent requirement they will also feature trails and connections and easements specifically a greenway easement along third fort creek at the southern end of the property that will be deeded to the city as part of this development and sidewalks will in the development will link to this area uh the developer sorry the owner of the property and the uh the applicant will has agreed for $25 000 affordable housing fund contribution which was committed during the march 2022 planning commission public hearing the idea is to have and build moderate income housing in this community which is desperately needed the townhomes will be ownership units not rental units for moderate income individuals and families one of the goals of this project is to provide housing that complements and enhances the livability in this neighborhood and offers some stability to the greater neighborhood which for all practical purposes has been neglected and overlooked for years if you're familiar with this area i believe the report from the city does identify that there's some single-family homes in this area as well as multi-unit in the area however what it does not state is that there are approximately probably 15 abandoned and dilapidated multi-unit structures in this area right now and i believe that the units are owned by development ventures which is a part of the Durham housing authority i believe at some point they do have plans to redevelop that area and in speaking with them they were not only excited and on board with this particular development but they thought that the townhome community would also complement their future plans for what they plan on doing with those dilapidated structures that are currently there the members of the community that we've spoken to whether it's been at the public hearings or via phone have all been excited on board they're excited to see someone come through who can inject some life into this area of the neighborhood they're excited to see someone come through and and potentially build some townhomes that would be affordable for most of Durham in addition they are on board with the additional improvements along the sidewalks in the street lights and and and other attributes of this community that will be offered in addition the project will not displace any current residents since it is being developed entirely on a vacant tract of land three actual vacant tracts of land other than that i think the project will serve as a catalyst for this community and for this neighborhood i will pause briefly and invite Landon Lovelace to join me and offer some additional contributions and comments and i also believe the applicant may be joining via zoom and at the appropriate time can be recognized as a proponent as well. Mr. Lovelace, good evening, welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Floyd. Madam Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Council, my name is Landon Lovelace. I'm with Underfoot Engineering. I do believe Bill Chambers, the applicant, should be online as well. He is online. So if there's questions for him he'd be happy to to jump in and answer as well. I have not got much to add to the staff report and to Floyd's comments i wanted to speak a little bit just about why you'll notice in the in the staff report that the density is dropping from what the the flume calls for The current RU-5 zoning does not allow for town homes by right. So as we were doing planning exercises with Dr. Chambers we were trying to get the density up to hit that missing middle housing and not just do we've got up to 44 town home units if we were to develop this as a use by right. With our five lots we would probably get about 20 single family homes detached so as we've had the discussion or heard the discussion multiple times tonight that that takes the price point and just pushes it up based off development costs. In addition the the site's got existing streams and wetlands and flood plain that kind of limit the developable area. Yeah outside of that I think I'll just answer any questions that may come up. Thank you for your time. Thank you Mr. Lovelace. I do want to acknowledge the president's far distinguished senator utilities commissioner Floyd McKissick Jr. Good to have you here earlier commissioner former council member Eddie Davis was in the chamber as well and did not acknowledge him so we certainly if he's watching want to acknowledge that he was in chamber as is our custom as the council. Senator commissioner you have a card filled out did you wish to speak or thank you sir. Mr. Chambers is on line. Councillor did Mr. Chambers want to speak or is he just being reserved for questions. I just pointed it out for respect since he was online at appropriate time he can probably just speak for three minutes. Okay Mr. Chambers if you can hear us if you'd make them hearable I just want to verify because they've got some time on the clock if he wanted to say anything. Mr. Chambers can you hear me. Yes can you hear me. Yes good even sir this is mayor pro tem Middleton your item is being considered now did you want to say anything or do you want to just reserve your time to answer questions. I'll reserve my time to answer questions but I just want to thank mayor mayor pro tem and all the council members for all the things you do do. I know it's a thankless job that you perform but y'all have done extremely well tonight I think in serving your community so I'll just leave it at that but I'll let senator Bacchesek speak and if there's any questions I'll be happy to answer them. Thank you Mr. Chambers that's all the cards I have this is a public hearing if there are any other residents citizens in chamber who wish to speak on this item would you please make yourself known. Senator Bacchesek will yield to you if you'll state your name and address you'll have well you have the remainder of the time that was left for the proponents. Okay my name is Floyd Bacchesek Jr. I reside at 690300 Road Durham North Carolina I have a great appreciation of what you do because I've set up there on that deos for eight years and an additional five years dealing with planning zoning matters and the planning commission and Board of Adjustments so I uniquely appreciate your contributions. I think a lot has been said about this project I think the important thing about it that I believe is really critical I own a home over at 720 South Plum Street very close proximity where this development is proposed to take place this will bring a lot of stability to this area it will provide housing options for people working over at Durham Tech people working with North Carolina Central those who cannot afford downtown Durham at the price point that it is today their target is to get it in around the $300,000 rank or so so I mean you know obviously development costs will drive the ultimate entry level but it's designed to be an affordable housing community for people who will be going in to maybe working at Central they may be working over at Durham Tech they be working at other areas where this would be a convenient location to get out RTP or to get over to downtown Durham but they can't afford to live in downtown Durham anymore so I mean I think in my mind that's a significant factor along with the fact that they talked about you're getting a quality development you're getting a place where yeah there's a taut lot here there's open space that's in excess of what's required yeah you're going to have a dog park there you're going to have playfields there I mean um environmental areas are being preserved they're not being touched they could go in by right right now put in single family homes and rather coming in in the low 300s you'd be over $600,000 easily you know depending up on the square footage of the places that they built could be significantly in excess of that so I do believe it's an excellent project and very compatible with the other single family homes in the area when I've spoken to neighbors in that area they've all been very supportive of this particular project I know when they also spoke with the Durham Housing Authority they obviously have plans for MacDougall Terrace which is in reasonably close proximity they were supportive of this project in the way that it's been proposed to be redeveloped but it's a small development it's only about 44 units so for those who I know have been single family homeowners over in this area for a while they all seem to be very excited as well as those that are renting in the area that are outside of some of the other established communities that to be about this in my comments thank you thank you very much good to see you senator I failed to say the most important thing to former council member because well thank you this is a public hearing is there anyone in the chamber who wishes to speak on this item that has not been heard seeing none colleagues are any questions or comments for the developer the team with that I'm going to declare this public hearing closed and the matter is back before the council council any questions or comments council member Freeman just a note the distinction here and just doing a development within the city limits this this is how that kind of density you know kind of building it up from inside out with a plan having this like addressing the streets the roads all of that within a vacant lot the infill side of this is really great and I hear you when you say you know it won't have impact it won't displace which we have to be realistic and understand that how property values work there will be some side effects that we have to be prepared for as a city and so just be mindful of that I fully support moving forward though thank you thank you council member colleagues anyone else with that there are two motions required with this item motion number one I'll entertain to adopt an ordinance amending the unified development ordinance by taking property out of the residential urban five r u five district and establishing the same as planned development residential 5.170 pdr 5.170 district so moved second I'll give it to I heard a motion from council member hyman I was going to give it to her anyway I'll give it and a second from council member johnson all those in favor please indicate by raising your left hand by my reckoning the vote is unanimous second motion to adopt a consistency and reasonableness statement as required by North Carolina general statute 160d-605 so moved second I hear a motion from council member Williams and a second from council members johnson and hyman um all in favor will indicate I by raising your left hand those opposed madam clerk by my reckoning that motion is unanimous as well madam mayor with your permission that's the end of our agenda bring it to closure if you if unless you have any other directive all right no other matters coming before the council madam clerk it is september 19th the gavel is down at 11 o 8 p.m god bless Durham


Stonehenge has dominated the Wiltshire landscape for 5,000 years intriguing and beguiling the millions who see it every year. This monument is dedicated for the first time to members of the public. The stones of this prehistoric monument are today illuminated with the images of unsung heritage champions. People who work tirelessly to keep the UK's heritage accessible and in particular throughout the pandemic this year with the support of some of the 30 million pounds raised each and every week for good causes by national lottery players. What an amazing sight to see me up on the stones. I'm totally gobsmacked. It's a really nice representation of people throughout the industry who have been so hard hit this year and to recognise people that have put so much into looking after amazing places and amazing charities is it's very humbling. Stonehenge itself is very very special. It needs looking after, needs caring for all 365 days of the year. There are people here to look after it so we had to do that all the way through the pandemic as well. As a nation we have a deep affinity for our treasured open spaces, historic places and our heritage. Understanding our heritage brings us closer to where we live and can offer a great deal of joy. Despite the difficulties of the pandemic whether in person or online we've spent valuable hours enjoying our culture and heritage over the past months and without the hard work of James, Jade, Luke, William, Uso, Lee, Susan and Mick as well as thousands of other people working in the heritage sector that simply wouldn't be possible and for that we thank you.


Polyhydroxyalkanotes, PHAs, are biopolymers produced by microorganisms that have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their unique physical and chemical properties. PHA production can be achieved through either pure or mixed cultures, and both approaches offer advantages and disadvantages. The main challenge for PHA production is the high cost of the feedstock, which must be carefully selected and optimized. Additionally, the downstream processing of PHAs requires further optimization to achieve economically viable products. Despite these challenges, PHA production offers great potential as a sustainable alternative to petroleum-based materials. This article was authored by Konstantina Cormensa, Jerson Placido, Nikolaos Venetsanias, and others.


Do you worry about having enough money to last throughout retirement? Give Reed Potter at Raymond James a call. Reed has 26 years experience helping folks enjoy their best life in their retirement years. The holidays are just around the corner and many will be tempted to post their presence and other memories to social media. Mountaintop spoke with Kaki Erch to learn how to post about the holiday safely on social media. The thing about social media that isn't new but is great is that it does connect us as a community and a world much more than we used to be and so it gives us a channel to if we have these holiday joys if we have these expressions of you know thankfulness or forgiveness or hope it gives us a means to express those bragging about big expensive gifts or sharing where you're going to be spending the holidays could indicate to the wrong audience that they have an opportunity to steal items or break into a house that they know is empty. During the holidays it is important to be mindful of what you post and when especially when it comes to friends family and children. A lot of things can be made more difficult if they're put on social media right so when in doubt leave it out. The holidays should be a time of joy for everyone and making sure you and your family are safe is an important step to keeping the holidays merry and bright. For mountaintop news I'm Kelsey Fidell