into the nitty gritty of what you want to propose to us. That's correct. Thank you Thank you. Councillor jane. Councillor polina Well, I want to thank you for coming and really For submitting these drawings that I I know that they're just drawings. They're very preliminary, but I think they say a lot I think that you've spent a lot of time doing some due diligence I met with you guys back in I think it was may And we were talking about the different components to what could make a project profitable I speak on behalf of myself It would be my goal to make you guys the biggest taxpayer in vermont And we want you to be successful. So I welcome substantial changes. I appreciate You know the hotel One of my more nitty gritty questions actually Was one how big is the hotel in terms of do you have an idea in terms of rooms? Right now we have approximately 175 rooms And my second also question that I thought Uh Is On that drawing the mid block drawing. There's a shaded area Over the parking. Does that mean that this uh project has a potential to expand in the future? On if you go down to the last slide Make sure you're using microphones, please microphones What you're looking at is the the residential building is a u-shaped building and you're looking at a piece of it in the background I I see what you mean. So it's like an L shaped. So that would be It's in the in the back. Yeah, but all right and uh I think councillor jane talked talked about the fact that you know, we're no longer talking about 14 stories 10 stories Is the mid block and that includes the hotel as well. That's correct Um, sorry, I appreciate that because there are a lot of people who really support this project But we're concerned about you know the facade of burlington terms of height and obstruction views of the lake from uvm and so forth and so on um Lastly, I think I'd like to end with a positive note that is as much hardship as you've had You know in working out the kinks of this project with your partner Um, you still included the community space on top of the hotel And I think that if that comes through that would be very very positive for the for all of burlington. So thank you All right, thank you councillor polino councillor mason. Thank you president right. Um, thank you for being here tonight um It's encouraging to hear the deadlines or at least your soft commitment to the deadlines you've put out but to sort of avoid The over enthusiasm. I think some of us have magnified Like what are the potentials? You know for delay as you're looking I appreciate you're saying here But construction projects have delays so rather than be lucy, you know who sort of gets snuckered by charlie browner again like what are What are the potential delays that would you know not permit a construction on the time frame that you're looking at so They're regulatory Any regulatory delays going through the the public approval process The any legal challenges Would also be a delay and any Kind of delays to our our leasing velocity trying to kind of lease the Lease the space. Okay. Those are our big hurdles. Okay. Thank you Thank you councillor mason councillor hanson councillor roof. I'm going to come back to you when other councillors have their first shot councillor hanson Thanks, so we talked a bit about the parking. I think There's two ways to deal with parking issues and parking constraints. I hear a lot of folks that are stuck in this ideology of Simply adding supply and more supply In the electricity sector in vermont, we took a different approach which was to actually reduce demand As a more economical environmentally sustainable way to deal with the issue Um, we focused on efficiency and bringing down that demand rather than just continually building more infrastructure to meet A growing supply. Um, I think it's really critical that we take the same approach In transportation and actually focus on demand management Um, so getting people out of cars that we don't actually need to provide that provide this high level of parking Um, so especially being right in the heart of downtown Um, and as we're having a lot of conversations around parking around sustainable transportation And around getting the city off of fossil fuels. Um I'm curious to hear about any transportation demand management plans that you have. Um In order to support folks, um traveling to and from this development Without a car. So for example Not, you know, not having Folks who who maybe live in the building and don't own a car not having them subsidized parking for other residents So decoupling the price of parking from the price of Housing as one example charging the right amount for parking so that the users are paying rather than Everyone else subsidizing it. Um, and anything you're doing with, you know, transit incentives or information surrounding transit to to really help Folks who are using this space who are living in this space To be able to travel sustainably. So that's my first question is any plans around transportation demand management We had not Contemplated anything yet specifically on that topic. Um, I mean, they're all Great ideas and a noble effort and we'll we'll work with the city in any way That you'd like us to to work with you on on those initiatives Great. Yeah, I'd love to follow up on that and a lot of times It's it's about the tenant it's about and those workers In the building and their individual needs, unfortunately We're kind of the As the developer, you know, we're yeah, we're the vessel for these people to kind of get their their jobs done and It's important for especially Office, you know office owners and and office operators and retail operators to be able to get their employees to these to attract employees to these downtown businesses and Parking ends up being one of them. So, um We're happy to work with with the city and with our tenants to to try to find a solution Great. Yeah, I think that's that's a critical point. And yeah, we absolutely need to work with perspective tenants to to make that system work Um, look forward to working on that. And my other question is around District heating and and utilizing that to for heating of the building and wanted to Ask where your commitment lays there. This is something that's obviously been Baked in from the beginning and and just want to hear you speak to your commitment around district heating Uh, I mean, it's it's an ongoing issue. And as we get into the like, you know, nuts and bolts of the the design We will address it at that point Okay, and and are you still committed though to to using a district heating system? I I can't I I can't commit to to that today. Um, if if there is an existing agreement in place We will honor it But it's it's something we will get into as we Start designing the project Okay, I All right, I for one find that a little bit concerning, but um, we'll continue to push on that front and I really hope that you will follow through on that. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Hanson. Councillor paul Uh, thank you president right. Um, so I'll echo what everyone else has already said. Thank you very much for being here this evening and thank you for sharing Um, sharing information with us and with the community We've all been waiting for this Certainly everyone in this community has been waiting for this So, thank you. Um, I for I I always like to feel that the glass is half full as opposed to has half empty I I don't I don't think that we need to go backwards. I think we need to move forwards And I think that you have to a large degree listened to the community um, if there is one thing that We have heard time and time again and you've heard it time and time again for me as well as for many at this table The built the project needed to be more In line with the skyline of burlington and I think that you have done that so thank you I think that's extremely important and will be Very important to many people in this community. So thank you. Um I also think that we need housing um, I'd like if if you could to talk about Uh, if you if you know at this point if you have any Um, any plans in terms of how you're going to be working the residential side of that? Um, and as you I'm sure know our our inclusionary zoning What you what your plans are with that if there's any plans to do? um, anything More than that And then the other is retail you had said that you know, I look at this and you can see that there's less parking Or where the parking was in the first iteration That's where the some of the height came from on the other parts of the of the structure With that gone the um uh, the retail Does seem to be Less retail Than before although there's now retail at what isn't what was the macy's building Which in the first iteration that we had a couple of years ago They didn't have the macy's building. So there was no retail there So i'm not really sure if it's a gain or loss on retail and maybe you could speak to just those two items Please um, so as far as I I think your residential question was going to unit mix like Like Well affordability we're going to meet the originally approved requirement, which was 20 percent We're committed to that. Yes. Um, and the retail being retail developers we We're kind of focusing on The most important Frontages of of the of the project, which is cherry street and bank street And and it's it's kind of a simple urban planning exercise as well where your kind of your main streets or your main You know pedestrian connections back and forth to the lake back and forth to the hotels Um, and then the side streets become more um service oriented Where we can kind of enter parking garages and and just take some of that you know Kind of some of the car traffic and things like that and kind of put them on the side streets So we're we're kind of concentrating our our retail efforts on the on the most valuable places Because just vacant retail doesn't do anything for anybody. So um, what we're doing is we're just concentrating on the most important spaces Okay, um, and then the last comment I had is that uh, I think it would be um I think a few people that maybe someone has mentioned this as well Is that the community space being at the top of the hotel? I hope that there will be an effort to Not only to engage the public on the project itself But also to truly engage the the the community on the community space A lot of people are really going to value that space and uh While you can't make everyone happy. I think it would be great to have some sort of ability Um either through a meeting but also through some sort of uh, web presence To be able to hear from the uh, the public as you move forward Okay Thank you very much Thank you councillor paul councillor shannon Thank you Thank you for this presentation and I want to say that I think this is very exciting on many fronts I think that um, I mean first of all to to actually hear progress Is you know relieving a lot of our fears even though there's still long ways to go and a lot of hurdles That still need to be overcome This This certainly makes me more optimistic um I was never fond of 14 story buildings I said it many times in the approval process That I was willing to support that because the site really needed to be redeveloped And I can see here that um The opportunity that came up when the macy's building was acquired Really had not been taken advantage of until you Took a step back and redesigned this and that also provides the opportunity for reducing the height um, and still including the whole program that was what we talked about and um And getting the office space built for the hospital, which is a high priority for us I I also um Want to kind of echo counselor Hanson's comments that That the parking I think that the parking for the hospital is probably gonna You know, they're gonna demand what they demand and you have to provide it And I know even ve ic left downtown because of a lack of parking which Is concerning So you're probably not gonna have you probably gonna have to do what you have to do to accommodate them But on the residential sign Side, I think that that this community really values You know trying to live without a car and it's really hard to do here And anything that you can do within your program to help people Live without a car it is a community value and it is an amenity to your tenants And it's a lifestyle that we aspire to and you may have a real opportunity here to help us Reach You know what what we're hoping for and I also think that district heat is a really important part of that as well And I would Strongly encourage you to do whatever you can. I realize it's not easy and timing is a piece of it We've had a long delay. So I would think the timing piece is getting a lot better for you But I really would It's it's just such a great opportunity and we don't want to miss that And I hope that you will work really hard to make that work in this project because I think it means a lot to the community It's an amenity to every resident in there And uh, I also want to say on the hotel that uh, yep, that's something new but It's a great thing In terms of Of all the things that bring taxes to the city hotels do bring more taxes than probably most other things you could put in there So thank you very much for that Thank you councillor shannon councillor roof Hotels bring taxes and not by berlingtonians, which we really like Yeah, um, my my question is about the public improvements the streetscape But I just want to I'm going to pile on with the strategic as well I supposed I do believe that in the existing development agreement There's language that that kind of dictates that the city needs to perform as well So to a degree it's it's on us and and sorry while I understand that you're not given that and maybe some other Reason is not able to commit tonight. I do hope that if the city does does our part You're willing to step up and into yours as well with with all the circumstances Already being recognized With regard to the public improvements in the in the street level improvements. I just like to Just give you an opportunity to just to talk for a minute about your commitment to making sure that those improvements Do do come to fruition and if you can talk about how they fit into the phasing like I asked about before Uh, you mean the the public improvements of The reconnection of line in st. Paul, but then the associate improvements as well Yeah, I mean it's it's uh, it's been an integral part of the project from kind of the beginning since we got involved and we Will reiterate our commitment to reconnecting those streets It goes to Our are also our existing tiff agreement We have in the very near term. We've got a a meeting with your Assistant attorney to start Talking through our documentation that we need to be submitting to the state kind of very shortly as well So we are committed and we'll continue to be Thank you for rewriting that that commitment. Appreciate it. Thank you council roof Um, okay, I think I'm going to ask a couple of questions um so My feeling always was what people are asking me about this was that the slowdown started last fall and that there was a difference between You and your partner don synix about how to proceed move forward And while mr.  That is correct And he need he did retain rights Of having to sign off on the proposal that would come before the council. Is that correct? That is correct And he has now signed off and is agree in a full agreement on this proposal. That is correct. Thank you um, will the proposal now that's being put forth before us service the 21.8 million dollar tiff debt That is something we're we're working on as we speak, uh, and we are confident that it will okay and the Apartments has the has the price structure changed from what the original proposal was as the price structure changed for those apartments um, I I believe we have Become aligned on our Our revenue projections. Um, so that's you know, but that was part of the The the delay Was where those rents need to be In order to sustain the project and I we've become aligned on that If you said this I missed it. So I apologize the first proposal the if you will the don synix proposal Which was the 14 stories and everything else was I think projected to be about 225 million dollars. Can you tell us what the total cost of this project is? I can't Not tonight Okay, it's something we're we will talk about but we we can't talk about that tonight Okay, can you give us some idea? Is it drastically different? Is it I mean don't give me an exact number but Chelsea Maybe I guess something out of her She's a fault she'll never get anything out of Not not going to the price but also going to your previous question when you were talking about The price structure and everything like that One of the reasons why we also lowered the height of the building was because we also changed the construction type Our previous construction type is more expensive than what you see here today. So it's not necessarily that we had to Build fewer units or more units to make this project work But because we were able to change the construction type We were able to make it more economically feasible for us to build Thank you. And my last question and comment is this so So now we have a proposal before us and thank you for that This is something that we've been very anxious to see in terms of um an actual proposal Um how we're going to move forward I would like to hear how you're going to meet the upcoming deadlines if possible Maybe you can't say that tonight, but those are obviously we have some Deadlines that are coming up very soon But what I want to ask you now is I I think there's now a burden does to me does shift somewhat to us we've complained And rightfully so that there's been a hole here where it's frustrated the administration has been frustrated the public has been frustrated Now there is a proposal What can we do? To assist to make sure that this proposal moves forward as quickly as possible Um Like I said, it's uh, it's regulatory The the approval process as we as we get into into the into the actual process Um And we we thank you for your your commitment and to the to the team here As well as um finding parking solutions, and I think that's kind of a A city-wide Initiative you guys have started to do your part. We're doing our part some of our um our fellow developers are Are understanding the the need and Um, so so parking is kind of another kind of big issue that we're going to you know to tackle Um, can you think of anything else? Okay All right, thank you Counselor jane did you have a hand back up? Yes. Um, thank you president and I think From what personally what I heard today there is still a hole in the ground That's is clear And I we don't know the cost of your proposal We still don't know if there will be a new agreement development agreement. We don't know a lot of things We still can feel that this is maybe still we hope That this is not another dream That we hope But what I want to ask is what is next from here Today what is next what should we expect from you next and when should we expect it? Thank you president so Like we said earlier, we're committed to a Kind of an open and public process. So before we get into Real architecture. We'd like to get some community feedback Our our architects are sitting behind us and they're you know, they're ready to start drawing but I'm meeting tomorrow. Yeah, and um, but we we would like the you know, public input on aesthetics and and programming needs and things like that as we develop the plans So that that is kind of the next step. We're gonna start drawing and um come and talk to you guys about it Later this year Listen, there's what there's only about nine more weeks of the year so Thank you councillor jang Any other councillor councillor polina How many parking spaces did you say that already are you are in design we didn't say it's It's still we're still kind of working on the exact number. Okay, and it goes to tenant need Needs of our our future residents. It's kind of a it's an elaborate calculation I just think that You know, it's an interesting issue that following up on what councillor right said We're here now and it's put potential that the burden's on us Now that you've presented a proposal and You know our our next step is how serious are we about transportation? You know on the one hand, we come to public forums talking about eliminating parking requirements um And now we're going to have a hole in the ground for one more month two more months three more months six more months because of parking So we really need to find A way out of this and it'd be hard for me to imagine that A couple hundred parking space can keep project like this from going forward Thank you councillor polina councillor busher Yes, um, I I just want to share my perspective. I don't feel the burdens on burlington I feel like the burlin that the issue is that we had a project that Didn't work and we're back here and we've got a proposal that looks Hopeful I think it's your responsibility to deliver and it's our responsibility to work with you to make sure you can deliver it But I don't feel that the ball's in our court I feel like you still have the ball and I just want to be really clear about that Thank you. Thank you councillor busher councillor tracy councillor paul Thank you. Um, just wanted to follow up on what you had said. Chelsea so that there so that we all understand We don't live necessarily in the construction world when you had said That you feel that you're able to Change the dimension of the build of the of the of the structure because it's a different building type Could you explain what that means? Uh, yes, um, it's The original proposal was a kind of Admittedly a high rise construction technique steel and concrete Like you would see in any kind of major city It's expensive, especially in a market like this that doesn't do it every day There aren't the subcontractors and and just the the people that actually perform that work would have to be imported So In going to a kind of a a steel stud Construction technique. It's it's much more readily available that the labor is here The materials are here. It's um, it's just It's more of a kind of a local market function That's kind of easily executed Well, I am so glad to know That all of us who wanted these buildings to be shorter are saving you money Thank you, mr. Mayor Thanks, president right Think thank you to brookfield for being here tonight and presenting tonight. Um, I I do think tonight represented a step in the right direction. I'm appreciative that um, this comes after brookfield has met the other steps laid out in my september 27th letter and I think was important that that You've started to turn the direction of the project around I agree with councillor busher and others who express the sentiment though. I think there's a lot more work to do In in the couple months ahead to get this project back on track Certainly the administration will be continuing to do everything we can to assist you in the effort that effort Um, I do think what you've laid out tonight represents the potential of achieving All the major goals that the the city laid out as we set down this process years ago Hundreds of new homes hundreds of jobs in the downtown millions of dollars of additional public revenues to the city and the state the restoration of The streets that were lost during During urban renewal I Do you think that Uh This represents again a step in the right direction towards fixing a part of the downtown that has long been problematic But uh, we certainly a long way to go after tonight. Thank you Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you And i'm going to just close this out by clarifying my remark Of course the burden is on you as a developer. That's not removed whatsoever We understand but I do think that we now that there is a proposal out there that we've now heard There's more details still to be plugged in and I will say I'm surprised that we can't say that That this proposal will service the 21.8 million dollar Tiff debt. I'm a little surprised. We can't say that now because that it needs to be able to do that for sure Um Can you say anything more on that before we close out? I thought I thought we did I thought we work We are confident that okay, I thought you said we were I thought you said we're working on that No, we are working on it, but we are confident that the okay the revenue will cover. Okay, because that's very important But I do think that We are all happy today to see to see some progress To see that there is now a plan that we can look at there's more details to go and deadlines that are coming up But we appreciate now seeing some forward progress I think now that it is it is though On us also to assist in this process and see it move forward. So thank you very much Um, we appreciate very much you being here tonight and giving us a full real presentation time Thank you very much for for seeing us and we will be back and with that. I actually will 7.07 is a public hearing regarding Burlington comprehensive development ordinance ZAA-19-06 article 7 signs Should I go to no just open the public hearing? We'll open the public hearing on that Anyone that would like to speak on this ordinance Please come forward Mr. Monkey I don't know if you folks need a moment to clear the palette so to speak but um Thanks for the opportunity to speak a heart Monica Live in ward one 60 Grove Street And I will completely Resist a temptation to talk about them all That not being appropriate, but I will um say it was really gratifying Just briefly if you'll allow me It was really gratifying to hear from the Burlington Wildways project earlier and thanks for the recognition councilman busher That project actually started 30 years ago when I work with green mountain power to Get what is known as the salmon whole park dedicated to winoski valley park district that used to simply be leased and That's when we started that project. Um, really it's had a long trajectory And it's very gratifying to see where it's at now Including the river walk and I'd be remiss in not mentioning the debt that we all owe to uh, herb bloom and fall who Herb and I worked together for many years to get the river walk funded and and going so on the public hearing though I'm here to basically say I Hope that you pass what you see before you on the inclusionary zoning. It's been a long process it's been a thoughtful process by so many different players and Not to go into the details. There's so many good things to say about What went into it and the changes that have been made and uh, all I'll say given the time Is I hope you, uh, I urge you to pass it as as presented to you Thank you, mr. Monkey. Thank you any other member of the public that would like to speak on this Come on up and then kelly divine My name is betsy. Um, I am speaking about this because I spent I graduated from uvm in may and I spent the entire year doing my senior thesis on inclusionary zoning in burlington And so I spent a long time in the weeds of it And I specifically looking at the spread of inclusionary zoning construction among Census tracks and in the way those those areas were zoned And so I also first want to start by saying that inclusionary zoning is an incredibly limited tool It's almost frustrating how much time we spend talking about inclusionary zoning when we could be talking about like livable wages or rent control Which would be doing a lot more for affordable housing in burlington So I specifically want to speak about the decreasing the payment in lieu kind of across the board, but specifically Making it easier to build affordable units off-site so like outside of the building in low-income neighborhoods and So it's decreasing the payment in lieu. Oh and and make it easier to build off-site And so a part of the intent of inclusionary zoning is to be building economically integrated buildings and creating economically integrated neighborhoods And I think this is kind of sacrificing Well, I feel like the intent of these changes was to make it make more affordable units being built in areas that are higher income neighborhoods And I think that's a good goal I think this is kind of the wrong way to go about it because by making it easier Like what these two things are doing is making it easier for developers to buy their way out of building inclusionary zone In zone inclusionary zoned units in in low-income neighborhoods And making it easier for them to not create economic diversity in buildings So we're going to see more all market rate housing being built specifically in low-income census tracts And You know, I just think that that will feed into the gentrification of burlington that we're already seeing And that's you know where people get pushed out of their housing and and out of their neighborhoods And so by building exclusively market rate housing in low-income neighborhoods The naturally affordable housing that may have been there is being like is now being taken over by market rate housing and is not being adequately replaced and then It also creates the the land around it more valuable, you know If you're buying a home you look at or how how much the home down the street went for so by having more market rate Units in low-income neighborhoods the rest of the housing there is also going to see an increase in price And so again, I think that These changes have been made to increase the amount of housing Um low-income or affordable housing in wealthy neighborhoods, but I do think this is the wrong way to go about it Um specifically the zoning Requirements are so low in high-income neighborhoods Like we have single family neighborhoods in burlington where you can't build more than five like five units in a building Which would start to trigger inclusionary zoning in those neighborhoods those single family neighborhoods Are the ones that have the most wealth anyways where we would want to be seeing more economic diversity being built in um And so again, I think if you want To do that you would have to increase the zoning of high-income neighborhoods and single family neighborhoods rather than like messing with inclusionary zoning And making it easier to build all market rate housing in in low-income neighborhoods So I I know that it's like super wonky and again I think this is frustrating that to be spending this much time on inclusionary zoning when it's so limited in the first place um But I just hope that you are critical of those pieces. I can't remember exactly what lines they are in the law, but they're kind of I just think it's going to increase the gentrification that we're already seeing in burlington Thanks. Thank you Kelly divine It's late. I'll try to keep it brief. Um, thank you President council president right first. I want to start by thanking all the folks who spent I think it was almost two years on this process of revising our inclusionary zoning laws And I'm going to ask the council urge them to vote this forward tonight Following the housing policy in burlington closely is an important part of what I do to represent our members because we all Know that housing and the cost of housing affects every part of our community So I'm really excited for all the work that the council and specific committees and the administration are doing to address this problem And we know that from data that under the prior inclusionary zoning law very little Of any type of housing was getting built both market rate and inclusionary So I do think that this comes along goes a long way. I also want to thank Former councilors dean and no del for their work on this and I think it'll really help to move forward The city in being able to develop a wide range of housing types including housing that is affordable If we advance this tonight. Thank you Thank you, mr. Vine anyone else mr. Monty Long time no see It's more fun watching you on tv frankly It's a good evening to be here. Michael Monty. I'm chief operating and financial officer of Champlain housing trust and I want to come and support the ordinance about 30 years or so ago I think the ordinance was passed. It took a few years for that ordinance to pass and at the time city of brilinton was at the cutting edge of doing inclusionary zoning It took about two or three years. I think they get these modifications done and And now about 900 communities around the united states do i z as a regular basis and more are happening in And multifamily home builders are embracing i z as a way to do development So let me just say for those of folks who think i z may be controversial In fact, it's being seen as a tool to in fact ensure that communities are inclusive And I would say that the changes that were made were done with folks who I think have been paying attention to the issue For a long time and working through the details of these Discussions. It was an open process. People were invited. I participated at least in one of those groups And it was brought forward. I think to the committees as well as to the city council It's been a really pretty good process. I think the the couple of changes that were made I just want to address them real quickly here the notion that in fact Inclusionary zoning was only being built in lower-income neighborhoods principally and not in high-income neighborhoods is an issue You should be taking up and I think you are moving towards that National home builder types talk about exclusionary zoning And in fact, you sort of have that still in the city of burlington where you don't allow that at density to occur The changes that are being made here will allow for more income to come into neighborhoods where in fact you can build Some affordable units and or at least support affordable housing of different kinds and different types We do affordable housing. We do rental. We do home ownership There's a range of things that in fact can be done This provides some flexibility to the small developers who might take A house and build three or four units and now can add a little bit of cash into a housing trust fund That could support a larger development Especially in some of those neighborhoods, which I think need to have their zoning reviewed So I would ask you to support this. I think it's a it's a good step forward. It's a good step forward Maybe another 30 years will come back. We'll take a look at it and make some of the other adjustments But for now, this has been through a fairly rigged process. I do want to say one thing This is not the only tool you should be looking at right? This is one And in fact it's it is somewhat limited, but it does it is a good one But there's more to be done in lots of other ways and so you should be paying attention to that as well Thank you. Mr. Monti anyone else who would like to speak in the public hearing on this Hearing none.  Chairman Chairman of the ordinance community councilor mason Thank you, president right. I'd like to make a motion to waive the second reading about the ordinance Ask for the floor back after a second second by councilor busher Councilor mason Thank you president right. Um, I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite maybe david white to come up to the who's been Shepherding this process. Um before us tonight is a proposed amendment To our ordinance as recommended by the planning commission after its public hearing on november 27th regarding article 7 signs The this proposed amendment is a comprehensive revision and modernization of the city's sign regulations Like many communities across the country This review was undertaken in response to a supreme court decision and read versus gilbert That uh necessitated movement to content neutral regulation These amendments purport to accomplish that objective by creating more prescriptive and objective series of sign types That will be used to regulate the dimensions size location lighting and general design of each type Finally the amendment retains most of the current limitations and restrictions Such as the overall sign of permitted signage and lighting for example And if there Content or specific questions, I would direct them to david the expert. Thank you Thank you councilor mason before we go to the council Did you have anything you wanted to say mr. White? No, I'm all set councilor mason summarized it perfectly Okay, council busher So I want to just acknowledge david white's role in this ordinance it is I think Not only is it a good ordinance for people to utilize that work in this arena But it's also user friendly for someone who wants to figure out What they need to do if they want to get a sign and sometimes our ordinances I think are not as user friendly So I think this reflects a lot of work and a lot of effort on David whites part And others he can reference, but I really found it Well done I know that you will be coming back with one minor amendment because late in the game I asked what about banners over a street and that wasn't Nailed down clearly so that will be coming back later, but this is really a very nice product And I hope anybody in this council who wants a sign will find it as user friendly as I do. Thank you Thank you. Councilor busher anyone else Are we ready to vote? okay, all those in favor of Waving the second reading and adopting the ordinance. Please say aye Any opposed that passes unanimously Item 7.09 is another ordinance councillor mason. Thank you president right I'd like to make a motion to waive the second reading adopt the ordinance as drafted and asked for the floor back after a second Seconded by councillor jane councillor mason I don't envision this will be as seamless as the sign ordinance So I want to sort of start for the public's benefit To sort of go back a little history to sort of explain how we got here This is for the public's benefit. This is the inclusionary zoning proposal amendments So way back in 2015 the housing action plan identified the need to review the inclusionary zoning standards In no. Oh, did I just miss? Oh, we're on zoning amendments. So this will be as hopefully as non-controversal. Forget what I just said Same motion I'll take that up after the proposed amendment simply brings our ordinance in compliance with our charter Which was approved by the voters in march by a majority So with that I have nothing else to say Councillor busher Yes, this is straightforward and and trying to be true to my original position and vote on this I did not support splitting up planning and zoning And this is the final step in that process. So I will not be supporting this. Thank you It's already happened. I understand but I still need to reflect that this is not a direction I thought was the right direction. Thank you Councillor jang I apologize. I just need to know since that was a different motion. Are you still seconding that? Yes. Okay. Thank you All right, any further discussion on this one Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye Any opposed That passes. Well, there's what's right. There's one just one Councillor busher votes. No. So passes by 11 to 1 margin 7.10 Councillor mason Now I'm right So I would like to make a motion to waive the second reading adopt the ordinance as presented and ask for the floor back after a second Second by councillor pine councillor mason. Thank you. Now. I'll give the speech. I started Um So for the benefit of newer councillors and the public The 2015 housing action plan Started this process it identified the need or suggested a review of our inclusionary zoning standards That necessitated the hiring of an expert or a consultant in 2017 Who provided a report evaluating the inclusionary zoning standards and offering some initial recommendations Following that there was an inclusionary zoning working group Consisting of members of the council planning commission Affordable and non-profit housing developers some of whom were here tonight housing advocates who Analyzed the consultant's report and made further recommendations to the full council Regarding which of the proposals should advance That group also recommended a greater focus on inclusionary development by enabling fee and lieu and off-site compliance options Based on the demographic characteristics of census tracks throughout the city The recommendations were forward to the full council in 2018 who felt there still needed to be more process So that that the council then tasked a joint committee Of the ordinance and cdnr committee to review and make further recommendations on each of the working groups recommendations That group met held in a series of meetings Or walk through each of those recommendations That was then presented back, you know, the summary was then presented back to this full council This council adopted the final report of the joint committee in december of 2018 and we tasked this was a neat little trick We did we tasked the planning commission With doing you know coming up with a relevant language That language then came back And is attached to this memo That or the proposed language addressed each of the joint committee recommendations The planning commission made some further edits and recommendations to address technical amendments Based on the housing trust managers administration To create and they tackled something that we had been struggling with and the consultant really had to move forward Which is how do you deal with off-campus institutional housing projects? Also to deal with development bonuses associated with proving isa units and to enable voluntary participation The ordinance committee then took the recommendations of the planning commission And work through those over a series of hearings A couple things to call out So I am not intending in my speech now to sort of walk through the policy some of the policy objectives We as a full council adopted the report and test. I appreciate not everyone may be there But i'm not going to walk back through all of those policy determinations And I respect that there are differences, you know, some of us received a communication from one constituent I know there was some people here tonight I respect those positions, but these were policy determinations that I would say were worked through over a course of You know multiple years and countless hearings We ultimately reached that point unfortunately sometimes where we have to move forward and I think we're there So I want to talk about just two things briefly. The first is sort of the parking requirements for iz Units which became a bit of a flash point during our hearings Um To be clear the recommendation The initial recommendation from the working group was to eliminate any parking requirement That felt to the joint commission like a little abridged too far And so the planning commission came back with a different proposal Which was to reduce the parking requirements by the percentage of required inclusionary zoning So the example that's given in the ordinance itself Is if it's a project that has a 15 izy requirement The parking requirements are reduced by a commensurate 15 percent and you guys can correct me if I'm saying anything incorrectly um Finally just to highlight what what went on in terms of off off campus institutional housing The framework that's presented in here creates a parallel standard for applying izy requirements to off campus institutional housing That accounts for differences in how student housing is rented Student housing is beds not units How income and subsidy are assessed Obviously, there's no household income for students Um, and the limitations that we were facing in terms of disclosure of financial information Um, the attached ordinance does require that the izy requirements applied off campus housing That is exclusively used by the students In those cases 15 percent of the project beds must be offered at 80 percent of the institution's estimated off campus housing costs Um and to be eligible to lease those beds students must have received a need-based financial aid award On top of that the ordinance committee worked with sort of ensuring that there was compliance So we did in in this ordinance that's proposed We built in a you know an annual reporting requirement as well as audit rights Um in faith, you know through the housing trust manager The last issue just to briefly touch on uh, it laid in the process There was I think it was sort of punted multiple times because it was too complicated quite honestly to deal with is the concept of smoothing Um, there had been concerns that you know our AMI had you know, there are some anomalies in AMI And what became apparent is that really was in part attributable to the the size of the sampling and you know Who you happen to talk to um on that given day So that our committee, uh with former counselor no del's help tried to come up with some concept to work smoothing into the process we did um Reach out through the planning the planning staff to the developers and others that were involved in the izi working group Um, and in summary, I think that the the conclusion we ultimately came on was you know Maintaining the current system that adopting a smoothing mechanism was was quite complicated Potentially created reporting uh requirements for you know various nonprofit developers And also made it uh unnecessarily complicated and the other piece. I think that that came through pretty clear was If adopted it potentially would impact the borrowing capacity of these projects Which would further limit the number of units that were available So the ordinance committee did not adopt a smoothing. Um any smoothing policy has presented So with that I know we have a very uh large group that has been um of great assistance throughout this entire process And I would defer to them if there are questions from the council. Thank you Before I turn over to the council any remarks anyone wants to make to set it up or go to the questions I I think councillor mason summarized The process and the ordinance very well As I think is very clear It has been a long and a very detailed process. Um, it's a very complex ordinance. It has a lot of moving parts we've got staff from City planning cito and permitting inspections here to to try to answer questions as well as Councillor pine has been involved in this conversation for Quite some time and I think michael monti hasn't left the house yet. So He's a wealth of information Thank you, meg and you seem to be Pulling the microphone forward. Did you have anything to add? No, I was just going to say that as usual councillor mason did an excellent job summarizing We can all agree with that Okay, councillor busher and then councillor pine and then councillor hanson so First of all, I want to thank the people that i'm looking at because and the people in the audience because they were and Obviously other councillors who took part in this process because they were invaluable You know, I got involved as part of the joint committee and then followed it Through the planning commission and learned a lot and I think that the planning commission really did a wonderful job with with trying to address the off-campus housing and trying to link not only the fact that we put an inclusionary zoning component But we had that but it wasn't linked to the right population of people It was just linked there just hung there And so I want to really commend all of you for getting the institutions to come Work with you and to come forward with a with a proposal that I think is is good And so I I really wanted to speak to that The other thing I wanted to say was that This is chock full of information And I had to look to the experts. It's not this is not i'm not an expert others On the council maybe but i'm not And I think that what I've learned though and what I knew from the get-go was inclusionary zoning Is not It is a way to make to just as it states. It's a way to integrate Mixed income People in one housing project. It's not it's not a Catalyst to create affordable housing it accomplishes that and it integrates it But there there have to be other ways to really get affordable housing built So I think that for those people who look at this and say they feel let down by this process It's because the process has a a primary purpose and that primary purpose is not to Fill our affordable housing need it is one part of that process, but it's not the only part of that process So I respect the comments made tonight During the public forum part of this But I really feel that this is an improvement on what we had Councillor Mason came up with a part of it, which was we were having people not build Affordable units because they couldn't afford to deal with the Fees that are being proposed in Where is this? This is such a lengthy ordinance, but payment and lieu option Some of these were deterrents and so now we He came up with this tiered recommendation And now we believe that this will allow Some of these smaller projects to move forward. So I think that there are lots of things in here That are good the other piece. I just wanted to speak to was the fact that You know We talked about inclusionary zoning You can have off site options if indeed the Area is 51 percent or greater or lower moderate income And I think that the fear is that this will then create an area that has higher income Well, if that's the case then it won't they you won't have the off site option So I think that there are checks and balances With this ordinance and I'm hope I'm hoping that that will come to be realized. So thank you Thank you councillor busher councillor pine Thank you the Yeah, the history of this ordinance goes back quite a ways And it was a compromise to get the ordinance that we have Not just the one you have before you tonight, but the ordinance from 1990 which took five years to pass So if it took a while to amend it it took a lot longer to come to agreement on that I think the key thing that councillor busher just mentioned, which I just want to reiterate is that Don't look at inclusionary zoning as a production tool And if you do you're looking at the wrong tool So if you keep it in your mind that it's an inclusion tool and if it's inclusive It if it achieves its objectives We have neighborhoods and we have developments that are more economically inclusive If we have small developments that don't ever happen because the ordinances has a chilling effect on smaller developments You're getting zero so 15 or 20 or 25 percent of zero in my math still equals zero So it's really important to remember that small projects that are not feasible with today's Requirements become more feasible and they generate revenue that goes into the housing trust fund So I think it's really critical that we think about that and we'd be realistic about what's feasible and what isn't feasible We heard From the for-profit developers what was and wasn't feasible But we had non-profit developers and John Davis was with us who's one of the nation's foremost advocates on this issue Looking at their numbers to determine if what they said was actually legit Or if it just was a type of belly aching that you might hear from certain segments of the economy But so I just want to say that the the changes that are proposed tonight Really do acknowledge that smaller developments had a very difficult time Taking those costs that are real costs It's a drag on the on the cash flow of a project if your rents are that much below What you could normally charge that if you amortize that over time you've got a significant deterrent to doing smaller developments So that was really important the current payment in lieu is over $150,000 for each inclusionary unit you would have to pay who you'd have to create That is ultimate. That's a de facto prohibition against a payment in lieu So that's our current policy that's on the books before we adopt this change That just means we have a Theoretical provision that allows for payment in lieu, but it's actually in reality No one can actually afford to do that that would drive the prices of all the other units through the roof It would make things incredibly economically not feasible. So We arrived at these tiered amounts through a pretty diligent process that involved looking at data crunching numbers Looking at performance having Champlain housing trust and housing Vermont Tell us if the numbers we were getting from the private developers made sense And basically the committee was in a process of continual education and really trying to understand what this meant in reality. So Many of us might have felt better saying let's keep the dollar amount really high. Let's keep the percentages really high You know, let's really make sure we get everything we want But if you're getting everything you want and you get nothing you're still getting zero So I think just keep in mind we've got to try and move the needle here. And that's what we tried to do Thank you councillor pine. I think that crystallized that point very well councillor hanson Thanks so much and yeah, thanks to all who who worked so hard on this process And and got us to where we are I do have a specific question and concern and want to discuss further. Um, it's uh Around the waiver of fees. So I'm looking at lines 26 through 29 um And specifically that the 25 percent waiver of fees Um for qualifying units in a project that initially sells for a price that is affordable For households below 90 percent of am i or that initially rents for three period Or for a three-year period for a price that is affordable for households below 75 percent of am i That's the language. Um And i'm wondering is there anything in In place that would prevent um these units from You know after the three-year period The the rents being jacked up substantially or for the units that are selling being resold at a substantially higher price A year to three years um down the line So I can speak to part of that and perhaps others at the table as well the section that you're referring to Is a waiver of the impact fee So the the amount of the impact fee that's assessed on on affordable housing units Most of the units that are covered under the inclusionary zoning Have a affordability Long-term affordability requirement is 99 years Anything you want to add to that? As the CETO staff person who's responsible for making a recommendation about impact fee waivers It's extremely rare for me to see projects that take advantage of this typically all the inclusionary units that we That we write waivers for fall into the 50 percent or 100 percent Category And that being said, so what is the Can I just hear more about the rationale behind that 25 percent? um inclusion So I would just point out that these three provisions items one two and three the 25 50 and 100 percent Pull the microphone a little closer. Sorry Is that close enough? There you go. Um, so these pertain to Um affordable units above and beyond Meeting the minimum requirement. So your typical project has 15 20 25 required inclusionary And beyond that if you have an additional number of dwelling units That would qualify for 25 waiver a fee they could do it Todd said it's Pretty rare. I I can't think of a single case where someone has done that above and beyond the minimum Is possible. Um, is there anything that precludes the prices going up after that three-year period? No and the to address the rationale perspective, um, it's really Concerned that the iz working group and the subsequent bodies that have reviewed this have considered in terms of creating balance between What's required of the ordinance and what the offsets are that a developer receives from that ordinance? The issue specifically with looking at fees is just to help balance some of the costs involved with actually Executing an inclusionary zoning project and to provide a minimal amount of relief from those costs Thank you. Um, so yeah, all of that being said I The fact that it's it's not regularly or practically never used but also The concern about you know, the prices then being increased. I don't In my mind, this isn't necessary and I don't think it serves a strong purpose to give this fee waiver. So I would just like to Um propose to simply strike lines 26 through 29 from the resolution Councillor Hanson is proposing to strike lines to amend by striking lines 26 through 29. Is there a second to that? Second by Councillor Freeman I will put out an email in the future asking councillors to try to do amendments before we're on the floor again But nonetheless it is on the floor count city attorney blackwood Yeah, this is a an ordinance and it's a zoning ordinance and so the When you want to make an amendment to a zoning ordinance What it will mean if you want to make this amendment is that you have to re-warn the public hearing And and come back and vote on the ordinance another evening because uh, It's our belief that this is a substantive change to the ordinance Okay, so the so the amendment can be acted on but it what it's it means we have to restart the You have to go back and warn a new public hearing. Yes Councillor pine let me just ask for clarification on that point. Would it also require going back to the planning commission? City attorney blackwood the way that the the state statute reads is that You warn you have to warn the public hearing You have to have at least 14 days notice and at least 10 days Before the hearing you have to send it back to the planning commission But that you don't have to necessarily wait for any action by them It's just a notice more than anything an opportunity for them to come to the public hearing and Yeah, I can try Mr. President if I could the 25 waver just to be clear is Simply there in the event and this happened I did this for 18 years. I think it might have happened once or twice Where a private developer comes in and their market rate units meet this requirement and then their inclusionary units fall below that So this is extremely rare. This was I can remember it was dentists rule on Manhattan driving me. It was that specific who got this waiver and it is Really recognition that the initial rents or sale prices being this affordable is extremely hard for market developers to do So it's just intended to be A little reward for that. That's all this is here for Thank you councillor pine for that clarification. Appreciate that any discussion on the amendment Yeah, am I Councillor Puglino, do you have your hand raised to be recognized? Yes, councillor Puglino Uh, I think you mentioned Ms. Tuttle that this is never well, it was I think it was you that said that, um, sorry Could I get your name again scott? That it's never been taken advantage of or that it's extremely rare to actually go beyond The minimum requirement I wouldn't say going beyond the minimum requirement. Generally, I'd say specifically this provision Agreeing with what councillor pine has just said Right, but I think I guess my point was since councillor pines left there still hasn't been some like huge uptick No, no, it hasn't been used at all since he left Thank you councillor Puglino Any other further discussion? All right, let's vote on the amendment all those in favor of the amendment. Please Raise your hands those opposed that amendment is defeated by a vote of 11 to 3 the three No votes Three no votes are councillors Three yes votes. You're right. Excuse me. Three yes votes are councillor Freeman, councillor Hanson and councillor Tracy Got that clerk's office. Okay. We're back to the ordinance any further discussion on the ordinance Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye any opposed One more time all those in favor, please say aye Aye Any opposed Passes unanimously just wanted to make sure it was very very low Item 7.11 councillor mason Thank you president right and I can make a motion to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance and ask for the floor back Very briefly for a second Moved and seconded by councillor busher councillor mason as the floor back. Thank you president right. So this is the Sister to the one we just adopted adopted this relates to illuminated signs And I would also note that mr. White is here to answer any questions Director white anything to say before we go to the Council for discussion or questions simply that this this is not zoning, but this is part of the other portion of the city code of ordinances that Is being eliminated because it's redundant to what is Required by the zoning ordinance as well as by the building code and that particularly Matters related to electrical service and construction. Thank you director white now open it up to the council Any questions from the council Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye any opposed Apparently passes unanimously That brings us after concluding all those items. Thanks to the good work of the ordinance committee councillor mason and the other members of the ordinance committee 7.12 resolution by councillor busher councillor busher Yes, I've moved to waive the reading and adopt the resolution and after a second I'd like the floor back briefly seconded by councillor hanson councillor busher. You have the floor back Thank you So chris burns is here tonight and um To in case there are questions, um for BED but um as the resolution states After we had the um resolution on climate crisis You know, I I tried to figure out what to do what what we could do collectively and um I met with um a developer I met with eric ferrell and talked about new construction I also talked to darren springer about new construction and significant rehabilitation and um Realized I got educated um as I always do that that significant rehabilitation of Units or structures is a whole different ball game so um I focused then on um electrification of heat and air conditioning in new construction only as the first step Um, I think the resolution speaks for itself um Most of the details were hammered out by BED and um Our permitting and inspection services department To put in what was possible and to set a timeline for us to have proposed changes to our permitting and building code ordinances by the beginning of 2020 So, um, that's where I'll stop. Thank you. Thank you councillor busher Discussion by the council Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye I any opposed Passes unanimously councillor busher. Thank you And we will now move on to item number eight committee reports any committee chair who would like to speak on committee activity Councillor tracy So we had a transportation energy utilities committee meeting This past thursday and we discussed a number of topics The first of which was the narrow streets Policy folks don't remember we had discussed in previous years Streets that are very narrow and become even more so during the winter time Which hinders emergency vehicle access? So they started last year with some of the most narrow streets specifically germane street And trying to address some of the the concerns that fire had raised around that They're continuing that conversation with both with Charles and russell streets and they're going to be actually having a meeting on wednesday. I believe at six or 6 30 To continue that conversation around Those particular streets it becomes really an issue of As I said before access and figuring out how we do that at least on a seasonal basis So they're having that conversation with neighbors on that. We did also discuss Green mount we did also have green mountain transit come to us And share some information about How the new system next gen has rolled out. Unfortunately, we're seeing Decline in ridership with ridership down about four percent right now, which is certainly troubling They said that the colors system has been sort of challenging to follow So in order to address some of that there's some there's a definite intention to Add back some of the numbers in addition to the colors so that folks have that point of reference that they may have been used to So giving that as a as a piece There's also blue line scheduling was it was an issue that they're trying to address And then they feel like they need to they've rolled out the app that gives you real time tracking They're working on that as well as the they've changed the contractor at the downtown transit center with regards to the displays You might have noticed that it's time displays. It doesn't tell you where the bus actually is they're working on fixing that too So ridership is down, but there are other issues that are at play there They did also talk a little bit about they also did address the fair free aspect of it and they said that That they're open to considering additional fair free routes It's just a matter of the communities having to pay for those routes and for instance, they said that You know a city loop might be an option In the $200,000 range So it's it's a significant cost and something that we would have to think of but That there is a willingness at least if communities are willing to shoulder that that additional cost to consider thinking about that and looking at that So that's something that I think that there is you know, at least on my part continued interest in exploring um, we also heard from um, the about the street seats and uh, and parklets program update, which If you don't remember was in front of the In front of different areas in this in in the city and we heard from will clavell about that It got pretty pretty strong Feedback and in favor of that project and continuing it In future years from those who did respond to the survey The question is you know, how do we what does that look like in future years and any feedback? I know that will would be certainly welcoming of any feedback that counselors have so be sure to to share that with him We heard briefly about the the amtrak's storage and servicing though the the the council's the the the question around amtrak was really with regards to A continued desire there's a lot of complex issues to hear about that at a future council meeting and Director Spencer did state that he would like to to see us address that at future council meetings so And then finally the last thing I would like to address is the water resources rate study update We had a big conversation about that um at at the council level And I just want to draw folks attention to the fact that there'll be a meeting here on the rate study Issue um, that's going to be coming up Tomorrow night at six I believe so if folks are interested in water rates, please come join us Join us for that conversation. So sorry for the long update We had a lot of important topics that um, I know the council has been deeply involved in thank you councillor tracy councillor pine Real quick, um the community development neighborhood revitalization committee We have a tentative meeting that we just set up sitting here tonight just so you know So there's some multitasking But the purpose is to discuss with the brookfield folks How to include the community in community engagement going forward the issues that we discussed Tonight in response to the resolution that councillor freeman put forward back in I think august So we'll be getting to that and we'll report back to the council and that's it Thank you councillor pine. I'm going to recognize councillor mason for a motion Just like to make a motion to suspend the rules to complete our agenda councillor mason has moved we suspend the rules to complete the agenda that motion seconded by councillor hanson Any discussion hearing none of I just want to note that our shirts expire at 10 30 the shirts by the way Yes, don't before I forget to say everybody give me your shirts back, please what You just want the shirts off our back.  That's not asking for that much. So yes, uh, everybody I am bringing them back where they belong We leave here So all those in favor of the motion to suspend rules, please say aye Any opposed rules are suspended. We'll complete the agenda councillor shannon Thank you the PAC committee met and uh, we There are three main things we discussed One is the mural which has had the plaque replaced now in both french and english Um as well as it has been repaired and remounted and some of you may have seen that um The memorial auditorium At our last our last meeting was the day that the rfp went out for memorial auditorium Those vids are due back on december 2nd And we're going to meet again to take a look at how productive that was we were told that there were no national bidders um in that uh, there was a requirement that Any any bidders actually go on October 17th to for a tour of the building um, I think there were I think there were only two two bidders that that took advantage of that though There might be somebody else that um can make a special appointment to do it And as a reminder to the council The plan for that is that If we have a successful proposal we would go to the voters for approval of a 15 million dollar geo bond and We still have a lot of other Money that we would need to provide to move this forward to Save memorial auditorium. So there's a lot of ifs with that and the vote would be in november of 2020 um also we We supported and a new awfully stog ordinance that I expect to be coming to the council I'm not sure if it'll make it onto our next agenda, but if not Um, it would be the one following that which would be sent to our ordinance ordinance committee for further review. Thank you Thank you. Councilor shannon any other chair to update us on committee activity Just checking to see if anyone else first. Okay, we're all set. Well, we'll go to you after council. Sorry Councilor mason. You are also chair of charter change Councilor tracy. Councilor tracy. That's what I said. Thank you Thank you So I just want to let you know that we had a couple of charter change potential charter changes referred to us That we are going to be taking up those being The we had the the the non-citizen voting rights and then the housing trust fund issue Put forward to us as a committee and we'll be starting to meet on those issues on tuesday On november 5th at 5 p.m. We are still figuring out a meeting location But just want to let the council know about that now remind you again next week. All right. Thank you. Councilor mason councilor tracy councilor tracy Councilor jang I don't know. Thank you president. Um, so the hr committee will be meeting on tuesday The fifth and it will be a 5 30 at 200 Chair street and we will be reviewing some policies related to hr in general about the city And also get some update about the diversity equity and inclusion director position. How many people have applied and things along those lines Thank you Thank you. Councilor jang Was that we will conclude that item and item number Nine is city councillors on general city affairs any councillor on general city affairs councillor hanson Thanks, uh, two things briefly one is this coming sunday There's going to be a tenant summit from 12 30 to 4 30 at fletcher free Library i'm excited to attend and hope to see others there as well The other is i just wanted to report back that councillors shannon councillor tracy and myself and many other city staff had the amazing opportunity to um go to montreal on friday and Get the opportunity to see their their bicycle infrastructure Much of which has been implemented over the past, you know, five to ten years They have moved very boldly and aggressively forward on adding protected bicycle lanes And you know removing parking removing travel lanes and really In improving active transportation infrastructure and it's it's made a huge impact And I hope that we can uh learn learn some lessons from from what montreal has done and and move forward here in the same way Thank you councillor hanson councillor who was the next councillor Councillor tracy so I Just want to echo councillor hanson's words about the the trip up to montreal It was absolutely phenomenal to get to get a chance to go around with a city councillor to hear directly from their public works And to understand not specifically how they're managing such a system in winter That's oftentimes a concern that's that people bring forward And it was amazing to not only be there with other councillors but also a variety of different members of city staff from People who drive the plow trucks to run our snow fighting operations so that they could actually interact with the same folks Or counterparts on the montreal side of things Which is particularly helpful and one of the big takeaways is that if you build it and plow it And are willing to adjust over time you don't get it perfect right away But if you're willing to adjust over time you can really see some increase some dramatic increases in ridership I think they said they saw an over 150 percent increase in winter ridership over a three-year period in montreal so Pretty substantial and exciting things and I think that this is all geared towards safety I heard just from a constituent today. He was really concerned about people Blowing through stop signs and a concern about that So we continue to hear this on people's minds and I think that when we start to embrace these solutions We're able to to create a traffic calming effect. Um, that really helps to make people feel safe on the streets Thank you councillor tracy councillor paul Thank you. Um, so one of the items that's in our budget one of the many line items in our budget is a, uh a It's in the regional programs for the vermont international film festival Um, it is definitely money well spent um I uh, I went on sunday to see one of the one of the films it was called that uh the report on uh sarah and salim and um There were maybe two or three empty seats in the theater Other than that it was completely filled And um, I spoke with one person who said they have been to they had been to 15 films Over the nine days of the film festival But that was quite a few until I spoke with a couple who had been to 25 So they have a tremendously loyal following and whether you've been to 25 or 15 or you've been to one It is definitely money well spent and uh I'll be looking forward to next year's if you haven't gone Try to keep that in mind for next next fall. Thanks. Thank you counselor paul counselor roof Very quickly. I did get a call from our good friend, uh, jared wood Today and and actually a call last week from him as well And he did ask me to bring up that he someone who walks a lot of pedestrian Mostly in ward one, but he gets outside of ward one once in a while He is continued to see he's continuing to see people rolling through stop signs and still concerned about pedestrian safety And so I just wanted to highlight that to the council on with his request And say that I think we do need to be pursuing a mix of kind of built infrastructure solutions as well as enforcement To make sure that we're keeping our pedestrian safe. Thanks Thank you counselor roof counselor pine just uh Dovetailing with what counselor roof just said the um concept that I asked the chief about and I'd like to Get counsel sense at some point is is basically Stoplight mounted cameras that that shoot cars that shoot through red lights. That's just an idea that other cities have used I know it's controversial, but it's extremely effective without putting a huge burden on our police force. So Think about it. Let's talk about it another time. Thank you counselor pine counselor jeng Yeah, um, this is just an announcement especially for people who live in the new north end You probably don't know that every third Wednesday at our npa. We start with a great wonderful dinner It's a free dinner and every single person is welcome The past two dinners that we have over 75 people attended 75 people so there are people great people like there such as carina keenan christianson Carmen george and so many people building communities out there. So counselors if you have the time next one day Please show up Thank you. Thank you counselor jang anyone else hearing none I'm going to pass. There is no city council president update mr. Mayor Take us home Thanks prisoner rate It's uh, you know has been three weeks since the last time we met so a number of things happened that I did just want to note briefly First of all st. Paul street is fully open for anyone who hasn't taken That walk recently the uh, and and i'm happy to say the complaints concerns about the design have largely Have basically stopped Positive reactions have been flowing in in recent weeks. There will be a celebration of sorts To kind of mark the opening of these streets and the first great streets effort It probably is not going to happen until the spring when the final final piece Which is a public art installation will also be done But in the meantime, I do particularly encourage people to check it out when it's raining down there the It's worth going and seeing how the the storm guidance That are the real innovation with those streets actually work in the rain It's it's it's interesting to see in action and it's satisfying Um, I want to congratulate our our colleague council roof on a successful innovation week within his new role as a head of btv ignite and Heard lots of positive feedback about the week this year The at the last time we did meet the council um supported the Lengthy housing resolution coming out of the housing summit work and did want to let the council know for those who not on the committee The committee has already met two times Since that passage another meeting happening this week There's a lot of work to be done coming out of that resolution but the the joint committee between the ordinance committee and the planning commission has uh Jumped right in and is working on the details So that that work continues related to that work Um, I Council should look for the memo. I've mentioned before the cedo team has been exploring Um, also coming out of the housing summits, uh, the question whether burlington should be doing more with respect to tenant protections And you should have that memo Shortly as was committed previously that it would be out by the end of the month um Finally, I did just want to give people a heads up the council's heads up that President right and I have talked and we are anticipating a executive session on Before next week's meeting on the rail issues, which obviously you're hearing in public forum Are coming towards us some decisions are coming towards us. Uh, we should be ready to talk about the possible negotiations With the council Next week and we're looking forward to that So uh details about that to come with that personal rate. That's all I got tonight Thank you, mr. Mayor Motion to adjourn Moved by council roof seconded by councillor hanson. All those in favor, please say aye And opposed we are adjourned


Washington closer to sending longer-range missiles to Ukraine. A decision by the U.S. President Joe Biden to send long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine could be coming soon, a senior government official has told the Financial Times. Other reports suggest that the decision has already been made. We're not taking anything off the table. Deputy National Security Advisor John Finer told reporters, We don't have a decision to announce on new capabilities, but our position all along has been we will get Ukraine the capabilities that will enable it to succeed on the battlefield. While Finer's statement alone does not represent a shift in White House policy, officials speaking anonymously say that the president has edged closer to signing off on ATACMS deliveries. The Financial Times reported a decision could be coming soon, a senior official told the newspaper. Two days earlier, another anonymous official told ABC News that the missiles are coming. The delivery of every major weapons platform to Ukraine, such as infantry fighting vehicles, tanks and fighter jets, has followed a similar pattern. First, American officials deny Kiev's requests, arguing that supplying the weapons in question would be to escalate a step. Anonymous officials then tell U.S. media outlets that the Biden administration is reconsidering its position. Finally, a glut of news articles suggest that Biden is ready to sign off on providing the weapons before the president makes a formal announcement several days or weeks later. Ukraine has requested ATACMS missiles since last year.