[Music] oh oh [Music] m [Music] oh a [Music] [Laughter] [Music] a n [Music] o [Music] o oh [Music] oh oh [Music] oh [Music] oh oh oh oh oh [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] he [Music] bring it all to order welcome everybody for the work session I know the parks department is in the house so uh shaen Baker Kelly Ham and Byron Sanders mayor good afternoon I'm shaen Baker and this afternoon we have our engineering colleagues with me presenting an update on the 2022 Parks bond this Bond consists of 23 uh parks and green weight projects with the total amount being $275 million I also forgot to say that counselor branch has an excused absence so excuse me that's fine thank you while this update is um part of our uh is part of our ongoing effort to keep the council informed of the bond process and some of the information presented today will be similar to the presentation we provided to the previous Council last fall and we're going to kick off uh with a brief recap of the collaboration engagement to date and then look at the brief summary of the bond budget rollout and the Engineering Services staff will provide the bond status the bond project status and then we'll finish up by looking at the reporting dashboard and Next Step actions the implementation sorry this is a little low the implementation of the spa process is truly a an interde departmental collaborative effort and uh most of the projects are managed co-managed by Raleigh parks and Engineering Services and involve a wide range of expertise from many City departments externally we have worked with community members very closely and since the beginning of the bond process about year and a half ago we have conducted over 120 engagement events and most of which were accompanied by online opportunities to maximize public input and we have also worked very frequently with parks recreation and green Advisory Board and other boards and commissions on progress reviews before we bring projects to the council table for Milestone approvals this page is from the um FY not FY no acronyms uh fiscal year 2024 adopted budget book showing the four-year Bond roll out and we're currently in year two as some of you may recall back in Spring 2022 before the bond was officially put on the election ballot in the in uh November the uh the draft bond proposal presented to council was um just shy of $300 million and after P Council deliberation the final amount ended up being $275 million uh which left just over $20 million in funding Gap so since the the passing of the bond staff has been working very diligently looking for alternative F funding sources to date we have secured over $10 million including 8.6 million uh from uh Department of interior for Smoky Hollow park and the 1.5 million Hut grant for the South Park Heritage Trail plus we have um over $400,000 partnership um agreement already developed for the neighborhood connections on Crabtree Creek Trail and um I also want to point out that the 1.5 million Hut gr for the Heritage Trail was part of a $3 million Grant secured through um congresswoman Deborah Ross's office from HUD and that the other half was intended for the Chavis dicks straway project and we have not stopped there and we're still um constantly looking for and going after grants and the Partnerships partnership opportunities and we currently already have a couple in the pipeline waiting to hear back and at this point I would like to invite my Engineering Services colleague to um provide the project update thank shash good afternoon we're going to talk a little bit about project status um just to orient you to this slide as you go down the slide you'll see the um Park Bond projects and as you go across the top you'll see various um ages of project development starting with RFQ planning engagement schematic design construction documents then permitting bidding construction and finally completion and as shashin mentioned we uh gave city council an update last September and we wanted to show um the progress at that time in uh green and then the progress since then in this dark blue color so you can just kind of visually quickly see there's a lot of uh progress happening on these projects and I'll mention that even for the projects where you don't see an entire phase advancing in blue there's still a lot of progress occurring on those projects we're going to talk a little bit more in detail on the projects um this is for fiscal year 24 funded projects we have one project that's under construction that's the dorothia dick giips and play Plaza project and we're on schedule for a spring 2025 completion we have a couple projects in the bid award phase that's Lake Wheeler Road and Strickland Road and leeville Road we have four projects in permit including builtmore Hills tennis expansion greenroad Park improvements Lakeland Trail West Loop and partnership for Community Connection at Crabtree Creek um I'm not going to mention all the um projects that we have in design but I did want to mention several of these projects um including John Chavis Historic Park John P top green method Community Center and Walnut Creek Greenway improvements um were all had their schematic designs approved by city council and have advaned to um design development or further stages of design since our last update so that was a big milestone um we have just a couple projects uh in contract negotiation including noose River Park and neighborhood and Community connections and I want to mention that um since our last update the Noose River master plan was approved and we've been working with the um designer and hope to be able to bring forward a contract soon for um design through construction yeah we have um councelor Sil has a question can you verify yes if you go back to the slide absolutely what is the neighborhood and Community connections sure that is um a project to look at uh several different um Community connections to Greenway so places where you might be close to the greenway with the neighborh hood but it's not connected yet so just clarify I'm assuming these are like Trail heads are these what is the intent just so I understand it's close but what does that mean it's a project to actually acquire to take it from a trail to a paved path I just don't understand when you say absolutely absolutely so um you know it would be a new Greenway a connection to connect those neighborhoods to that so it would um basically be the full project from uh feasibility to um acquisition to uh construction of that segment to to be able to connect that segment of Greenway is it what does do City Own It or it's an easement just I want understand I mean I like the program I'm just trying to understand okay now it's in contract negotiation so it says to design it to actually acquire the property to establish those connections it's a great program I just try to understand how this works okay um J do you want to okay thank you Kelly um the this program is really intended to bring short little connections to the trails and and the parks and we have a goal of bring residents to parks and Greenways within 10minute walk anybody within the city and some of the trails as you know the segments are rather long with no accesses and so that's one of the goals for this program to bring little short little connections to The Greenway so that you don't have to go all the way around to another Trail Head and some of these projects we have about I believe we brought this one to council last year we have if I remember correctly four or five connections here I remember one of them we do need to negot neate easements and the other ones we do already have either easements or property rights all right thank you okay thanks shosen um let see so um for fiscal year 25 uh funded projects we have a couple in design which is aens Brook Park and CA Arts Center and uh one in contract negotiation which is the dicks park creek and Grove project um when we uh gave the update to city council uh last time mentioned that there was a park Bond uh dashboard in the works and we're pleased to announce that a version one of that um internal dashboard has been released as of last December and um the goal is to get more uh feedback internally um to um inform uh being able to expand that release it externally and potentially use it for other uh CIP and bond projects um it's been a team effort across the city um including the city manager's office uh finance budget Parks engineering service it and uh Communications and the um Bond dashboard is not only able to track schedule budget and cash flow for individual projects but it also um can uh track the bond overall and there's just a um a few screenshots here and um some of the aims of the dashboard was to simplify um Park uh visual of status of the park bomb projects as well as to increase um transparency and accuracy of tracking and accountability for um staff delivering projects um so our next steps are we're going to continue to gather feedback and finalize it internally and then collaborate to expand that dashboard um to be able to launch it externally as well as to apply it to other types of projects and um it has been leading the effort to uh continue with Trimble Unity construct it was formerly called e-builder but now it's been rebranded and to continue to expand that tool and to make it integrate with people soft so it'll be sort of a One-Stop shop for project information and of course finally we want to continue the successful delivery of Park projects um that concludes our presentation and staff's available for questions go ahead um Council hi I have a handful um one the $10 million that are secured in federal funding what level of uh certainty are there on those do we we have the money in the bank yet uh the uh there there two projects if you remember smok hallers one that was from a department of interior and we have been awarded uh the contract for both projects the contracts have not the grant contracts have not been executed and we're currently in the Q&A stage and as we speak today and I just received a um a notification today that um our local gatekeeper who was the um NC Parks um agency and they have approved our response it's a Q&A stage response back to Department of Interiors so we're going to get that turn around to them really quick they've been very encouraging and the same with the HUD Grant and our uh contact has been very encouraging again I I think I know where why you're asking because of the recent news uh uh release and we've been really just in the Q&A stage and and we've we have recently gone through a similar uh process for another Grant from Department of interior and that was executed U Back In just last month at just final Q&A stage and once they're happy with all our answers and we'll bring the contracts to the council table for execution so sounds like we have some optimism that those will finish their life cycle it's a 10 million question literally um and then just wanted to confirm that you said the dashboard's not externally facing yet but that's the intention that it will be and did you and did you say and I missed when that is likely to happen um so that's a great question and we don't have an answer today we um are trying to get more feedback and then um hopefully we can come back with that information okay do you think like three months six months a year I don't want to put you on the spot just like a loose ballpark yeah we'll have to um defer to it probably I would think several months probably we'll defer to it okay yeah got it back mayor Peron yes sure if you got one yeah if you got one hey good afternoon best stagner with it um so we do have the internal that's functioning and as Kelly said we've got staff looking at it because it's a lot of different data from different sources that's got to get married up and so we want to be very certain that it's saying the right things and it's and we are doing our due diligence of tracking it the way we should on the public side one of the things we have to do is streamline that because it's very busy and even if you know like we could give it to you and we'd have to tell you what it all is so we want to work with Community engagement and Communications to say what what makes sense for the public to not leave them with more questions than answers so we're looking at how quickly we can kind of slim that down and streamline it to get it out so I'm hoping sometime this summer y yeah um my question is around Bitmore Hills I know that um and Steven's kind of peeking around the corner there been a number of folks in the community that had some questions about the tennis court Pro projects and some other things I see it's in permitting have y'all been able to meet with residents and kind of address the issues and concerns that they've raised good afternoon step Bentley with Raley Parks I'm not aware of any outstanding questions the last uh questions we got were around budget and we gave Mr Smith kind of the schedule of values and that was as recent as this weekend at the community meeting yeah I had a question um y'all are obviously working hard on many many projects uh for Parks I just how do you feel about the pace and is there anything the council can do right to just facilitate executing all these ambitious projects I'll only speak for Parks um we started the bomb process in 2019 paus because of covid and that gave us a chance to spend two years of putting all of this in place so every project had a charter had a schedule we did cost estimation and escalation prior bomb projects that I was associated with when the bond was adopted then we started so I feel very good about where we're at actually I think at your next council meeting you'll award the bid for um leeville Road and So within 18 months we already have a project that's going to go under construction which is really good okay thank you I can't other projects I'll allow Byron to talk about yep councelor Jones hey um thank you for this um I just wanted to really commend you guys for the Outreach that you've done I was at ecac meeting last month with counselor branch and you guys were talking about top green I think um and giving the community the update on where you stand I've just I'm really proud of of how you're implementing this and how you're making sure the community is involved so I just wanted to give my hats off and that's all thank you thank you silver uh I had a question about the design process and public engagement uh I know we have a Parks Board but are there stages along the design process that you I know there schematic and then there's an advanced one uh so how does that work for the Parks Board and the public and then for city council at what point do we get to see a design cuz I know I was very excited when we saw a smoky Hollow but at that point it was kind of at the end of the stream and didn't want to interfere at all so can you explain the kind of schematic design process public parks board and then how does council get a chance to look that it's not at the end when we know that timing is critical to move the project forward good good question um typically it is at schematic design where we seek your official endorsement to move forward with design documents and construction documents for major initiatives I'll use uh John Chavis uh we'll give you an update like this uh every six months um the the designs really will not change much besides detailing so you see renderings floor plans crosssections at the schematic level if the council would like to see more detailed presentations it would be a request through the city manager to say can you bring me it at uh design devel or 60% design thank you okay any other questions right I'm you do I was waiting to mine's a little a little off topic a little of field so I was waiting until everyone was done with their real ones um I know it's not a bond project but can you speak to forceville Road Park progress sure and I'll see you Friday for a a Tour event um so we have a uh thanks to our uh team in planning the UPG negotiated a development agreement so we have funds through Master planning and early concept design at that point it would be the council's request for staff to put that in a budget um we our current funding really only allows for Capital maintenance through our penny so we would have to uh work with budget and Finance on what are the possibilities for a construction budget is that helpful and you the you put out a notice for the CAG yes you have a thought like when the Parks Board will return on Thursday yes yeah we we're going to uh present the situation assessment including the CAG membership to park sport this month and uh I believe you're not the leaz and morea you're more than welcome to join us and and we already work with the the park committee and for most of these B bont projects we don't just take Milestone reviews to the board we also work with their subcommittees and money and KN to review progress as well and the same with the first will project right any other questions for the parks team right appreciate the work thank you and next we have the transportation Bond update and we have Kenneth Richie and Byron Sanders good afternoon mayor and Council Kenneth Richie with Transportation here with Byron Sanders from our partners in Engineering Services to provide an update on the transportation Bond whoop my apologies so so from an agenda standpoint I'll kind of walk through project Origins I'll kind of talk through some overview on Bond and capital funding we'll transition the buyer and to kind of provide an update on where we are with delivery of the 2017 Bond and then we'll kind of talk through some next steps that we've got upcoming so when we look at how projects originate they come from our comprehensive plan they come from a number of area and Corridor plans and we also get a number of Resident counsel requests that we really try and look at from a basis of safety congestion Transit bike ped demand Economic Development and certainly now we've got a more emphasis on that safety element and then Equity has become another big factor that we look at when we look at prioritization and when we look at how those projects move forward in the funding uh those allocations are reviewed annually through the CIP and the budget process so we've got those and we'll go through a little bit of the history on the bonds but we've we've had bonds at at different frequencies and different cadences but in between we're able to review those on an annual basis with the council through that CIP process so when we look at Capital Project funding a significant portion about 60% of the fing of the funding comes from bonds and then the other 40% is about 25% of pgo or cash and then our kind of Grants to our federal Partners or other agency partners that help us to kind of stretch those tax dollars a little bit further when we look at the transportation Bond history going back to 2005 we had about a $60 million Bond uh 2 6 years later 2011 was4 million 2013 75 and then in 2017 we had 26.7 and that's really the focus of what we continue to deliver on today so as we get into the context and updates on the projects really want to kind of set a baseline in terms of what are some of those factors that are that drive projects and really when we're looking at that schedule and cost become two of the big things that are impacts to our project S as I kind of drop into that I will reference an article that was in the nno last week from Richard stradling talking about this article was focused on dot projects and the impacts they're seeing but there were some critical pieces there and as you see here one of the big things which we've all seen but this really kind of put contextualizes it in the last three years we've seen a 67% increase in the construction cost index for from the National Highway Department of Transportation compared to 22% over the previous 14 years so we really have seen some unprecedented economic changes that have impacted not only what we're experiencing but certainly what our partners at ncdot are experiencing and this will be referenced later in the presentation but the US1 freeway Expansion Project three years ago was it about $750 million it is now in the step for about $1.34 billion so what we're seeing from a cost increase standpoint is really on par with what we're seeing across the landscape of roadway Construction both nationally and within the state so when we look at Cost drivers the real estate market is certainly a big one that we have seen over the course of the last few years as the real as the real estate has astronomically changed on us in the midst of delivering the 2017 Bond uh another Factor the materials Market it's always been one that's been challenging to try and Target uh with roadway construction especially the Reliance on asphalt is always fluctuated based off the oil prices and so trying to track that but certainly as we've seen increases in steel and other materials that challenges some of those estimates that we've got and then the labor market and certainly I think we're going to continue to see a challenge with the labor market uh one data point I heard at a recent Symposium there are about 250 plus contractors right now in the western part of North Carolina assisting with the recovery efforts and I think for the next few years we're to continue to see that type of commitment of resources out in Western North Carolina as they recover from the impacts of Helen and then when we look at schedule drivers you will see that some of these are very similar to those cost drivers time obviously does equal money when it comes to to our to trying to mitigate those fluctuations project scoping is an area the as we get further down the life cycle of a project if we're looking to change that scope it's going to impact that schedule so anytime we look at schedule changes throughout the life cycle of a project it can impact that time timeline on of delivery uh public engagement and feedback looking to make sure that as we're we move through that the further we get into the process again going back to that project scoping if that feedback is leading to changes to scope that's also going to create some challenges in terms of trying to maintain our schedules uh external coordination and permitting with a lot of our projects we've got a lot of projects that are on dot facilities we've got responsibilities and uh requirements coming through ncdeq environmental permitting and others that can impact our schedules we try to proactively get with those agencies ahead of time but certainly once we get into the fine-tune details that does create a an area that we have to be mindful of from a schedule standpoint uh property acquisition just like it impacts cost it can impact timing certainly a goal is to try and settle as many of these Acquisitions as possible but certainly the longer that drags out it can impact the co the construction cost of our projects but certainly when we look at condemnation there can also be an additional cost that comes as part of that so it's really a balancing act from that standpoint and then staff resource not only internal resources but as I alluded to the resources that we've got within our construction and Consulting market and certainly I think we're going to see that as a strain um and we I think we've seen that recently with the response we've gotten from some of our construction projects where five years ago we were seeing six seven bids come for our construction projects just trying to get to three at times can be a challenge now so with that Baseline I will now transition over to Byron who will talk through an update on delivery with our 2017 Bond good afternoon mayor and Council Byron Sanders Engineering Services uh Kenneth has teed this up so I will uh now kind of walk us through the status of our various Bond projects so on this slide and the the next we will will be covering the programs that are receiving bond funds those programs constitute about 30% of the uh overall Bond uh We've listed those programs and examples from each program but I would like to highlight a few of these examples uh we've got Lake Boon Trail safety improvements that is a project that is a road diet with bike and pit improvements and Signal modifications uh near 440 at Lake Boone uh it is substantially complete uh there was some seasonal work some uh some weather dependent work some striping and that sort of thing that needed to take place but that project should be completing very soon uh we've got the intersection improvements associated with New Burn brt uh that is a project that's currently in design it's at the Eastern end of the brt corridor uh it's been uh kind of detailed to you all as area three uh if you remember our breakdown of the areas from previous presentations uh this installs additional Improvement that are outside the scope of the brt proper uh and supports uh transit in that area next I'll highlight the neighborhood traffic Management program this Pro this program delivers 15 to 20 projects annually uh and you may recall you received your annual update on this program at the uh council meeting last week and then also we've got the Pines at Peach Road Road finwick Road connector this is a project that is adjacent to the southern brt Corridor uh and supports a street connection with a with an affordable housing uh development these next group of projects are projects uh where the projects that were either cancelled or had their construction deferred by previous Council actions so leeville Road B that was cancelled in 2020 uh trewick Mar trewick West Marsh Creek Road and West Street Extension South those are all projects where the construction funding was deferred but the design funding uh was retained those projects are in design and will be up for construction consideration in a future Bond so now we get to the good stuff these are projects that are either complete under construction or we are on the cusp of com of starting construction on those projects so Tron Road C Pool Road Rock Quarry Road a those projects have been completed uh Atlantic Avenue is under construction with an anticipated construction completion of spring 2026 this is a project if you'll recall where we had to uh terminate the contract uh so we're on the other side of that we've got a new contractor on board they're completing the project anticipate completion in Spring of 26 uh We've also got Blue Ridge South that project is also anticipated to complete Construction in Spring of 26 the next three projects are at the construction bid stage we are just uh ready to start construction on those projects uh and these are projects that I want to spend a little bit of time on we've uh as Kenneth mentioned earlier with some of the challenges with inflation and cost increases we've had to be a bit creative uh to address those challenges and to continue to deliver these projects uh that has uh that means we have worked with storm water Raleigh water the manager's office Finance uh to to work our way through these projects as well as working with our contractors on value engineering Solutions uh to bring these projects into budget ultimately we are working to uh get the biggest bang for our available books uh so I'll start with barwell Road South for this project uh wearing the options we will need to revise the length of this project to ensure that we have adequate funding to constructed uh this project the original scope uh was from Rock Quarry Road to Berkeley Lake Road uh with the realignment of Pearl Road at rock quarry uh the new scope of this project takes it from Rock Quarry to Tomahawk Trail uh and still retains the realignment of pearl Road at rock quarry uh so while the total length of this project is uh is reduced the new scope still provides those improvements across the frontage of the school and the park and the fire station uh and importantly we are retaining the realignment of Pearl Road uh to create a uh a safer inter a safer four-leg intersection with Pearl Road barwell and rock quarry that bid award should be coming to you uh as an agenda item in the uh in the coming weeks uh the next uh the next project is Carolina Pines we were just here last week with a bid with a bid rejection for Carolina Pines um at the time we felt the uh best way to get this project where it needed to be was to read vertise it uh with a uh reimagined scope that captured uh a base bid that captured the uh critical portions of the project with bid Alternatives that would allow us to uh bring the project into budget uh council's decision to table that uh that item allowed us to go back and revisit that item so uh I am happy to report that through work with our internal partners with the city uh we have secured the funding to deliver that project as originally scoped uh so uh in instead of a bid rejection uh we anticipate coming forward with a bid award for uh that project uh and we it will still take it from Lake wheer Road to South Saunders so the last the last project that I have here is Lake Willer Road you will see it has an asterisk it has an asterisk because it's not a 2017 uh Transportation Bond project it is in fact a 2022 Parks Bond project project uh however because uh Transportation has been intimately involved in this project our roadway design and construction division is managing the project and there's uh a lot of interest in this project we wanted to kind of highlight here what what we're doing with it uh this is a project that in order to deliver it within the available funds we are adjusting the scope of the project but I think it is important to mention that we are not substantially changing the footprint of this project across the frontage of dicks so the original project scope went from Maywood All the Way East to South Street uh we have now clipped uh a portion of the project on the East uh that will start the project now just on the Dick side of the railroad and we'll still take that project on to South Street um removing this portion uh removing this railroad portion West uh is going to do a couple of things aside from uh allowing us to bring Lake Willer Road uh into budget uh it's going to allow us to consolidate our railroad coordination so railroad coordination is a significant part of uh this project uh our plan is to combine this piece with an intersection Improvement project at Maywood and that is going to allow us to better time not just consolidate our ra our railroad uh activities but to also help us in timing the signals between the railroad crossing and the future uh the future the future signal at Maywood Avenue um so again the the part of the project that we have uh that we've removed from this uh we actually pick up uh we pick up this project uh west of the peanut so everything that was there before across the frontage of uh across the frontage to dicks will remain so these next projects are uh in the final permitting stage they are uh almost at the point that we are ready to advertise for bids but not quite uh Blue Ridge North we are anticipating a bid advertisement uh this summer uh summer 2025 and old Wake Forest Road and Dixie Forest Road those projects were combined in those projects we anticipate to advertise this fall fall of 2025 uh Six Forks Road is currently in the real estate acquisition uh phase we're going to talk a little bit more about six forks in a minute uh and blunt person and Wake Forest roundabout those projects are in the design phase so we can't talk about the status of projects and not talk about uh some of the cost inflation the the significant cost inflation and cost increases that we've seen uh on our Highway projects uh as Kenneth mentioned earlier uh this is not unique to us uh ncdot is experiencing uh a lot of the same issues as well as uh other agencies that are delivering Transportation projects um as K as Kenneth mentioned earlier uh what you see on the screen is the example uh from NCD Capital Boulevard project this is a project that in 2018 had an estimated cost of 465 Million by 2023 that estimated cost was 750 million that estimated cost now stands at 1.34 billion for 10 miles of construction on Capitol Boulevard um what I think is important here is not just that the cost of the project tripled over a seven-year period I think it's noteworthy that it nearly doubled in the last two years and I think that that is reflective of some of the challenges that we're seeing uh across our projects but uh most notably on Six Forks Road so we came before Council in February of 2024 uh and received direction to build an uh a six Lane section with a six foot with a six Lane section with an 8ft multi-use path from Rowan to milbrook at the time the estimated cost for that project was 56.1 Million our latest estimate for that project is 93.5 million uh so that aligns uh unfortunately that or fortunately that align with what we're seeing uh what we're seeing in the ncdot projects and some of the other projects that we're seeing um we still however are committed to deliver a project uh in this area and so we are exhausting all scope and funding options to move this project forward uh I think it's important to note that we are continuing to acquire real estate along this Corridor in key areas uh understanding that increases in property value I think this was something Kenneth mentioned earlier as well increased in property values are one of the major contributors but not the sole contributor to the significant increases that we're seeing in the cost of projects uh so we are moving forward with real estate that being said uh our plan is to come back to Council in May to have a more detailed discussion about Six Forks Road with a plan to move things forward so next steps uh what you see here are the stat or some upcoming uh actions for several of the projects that we mentioned earlier Lake Wheeler barwell Carolina Pines those uh bid Awards should be coming to you uh in the coming weeks uh as I just mentioned uh we are we plan to come back in May uh to have an in-depth discussion about Six Forks Road and then looking a little further down the road uh we are anticipating bid advertisements for Blue Ridge North and old wake for Forest Dixie Forest uh this summer and this fall respectively and that concludes the presentation staff is available for questions y councelor Lambert M uh thanks I think it's a little bit more of an observation obviously I'm very frustrated with the Six Forks Road Project I'm sure you all are too um I recall it was a very difficult conversation for us over in the last term is the project going to advance what trade-offs do we have to make there was a ton of public comment and feedback we ultimately settled on removing the bike Lanes narrowing the multi-use path but still making sure that it's up to the minimum industry standards we cut off segments of six porks Road you know for me something I heard that was really impactful is there are folks in the community that are like I live along this Corridor I know my house is along the line of property that will need to be acquired I don't know if I have a PL I'm in limbo like I I can't sell but the city hasn't acquired my property yet and it was just creating so much headache and so I know we're going to have a more detailed um conversation in May but I think it's really important that we signal to folks what the plan is I'm happy to hear that we're still acquiring property because I can think of at least one gentleman who he was just in limbo for a long period of time and we can't have that happen I will say though and um just level setting I don't see a lot of room to to reduce this project anymore we already cut off segments we've we're doing the bare minimum on mult on the multimodal infrastructure and so I don't know what the answer is I'm just shocked that after we did all that work to get it within budget it's doubled in the past year and I don't know how we can plan for this in the future or scope the projects in the future but this has got to be some sort of learning opportunity for for all of us mayor well you you kind of took a lot of the what I was going to say because again counting on it being around $55 million and now looking at a price tag of 93 I know you're going to bring something back in May but I just don't know that we going to have the ability to absorb that much of an an increase or impact in um the the the cost and so I'm curious to see what you're going to bring back to us but I think that's going to be a challenge for us here at the um at the table when that conversation happens in May everybody I'm just down I just want to back up a bit I have a few questions so I may stop to let my colleagues ask some questions this one's for the city manager um I noticed how the amount of the bond escalated dramatically in 2017 it went to roughly 206 I don't know how long it takes to actually spend that all uh but it seems with prices going up um seeing what that trend is is is there an expectation or I guess that's our decision of when the next Bond will go out for Transportation knowing that there are also other bonds and other needs when does that conversation happen because the concern here is that you know 26 million is not buying what it did today so just want to understand in terms strategically how do we start having a conversation about the next Transportation Bond then I have some questions about cost savings great question and two it's a two-part answer one in the um late in the spring we're going to have a work session that's going to look at all of our bond categories is affordable housing transportation and parks to kind of level set and kind of figure out what is our strategy moving forward to figure out when obviously we stay in Communications with the county as well to make sure that we're off cycle when there's a school bond or a weight Tech Bond or um a bond for Wake County so we'll do that in the spring and then secondly I think what helps us moving forward is we implemented about a year a year and a half ago a different project delivery schedule when we took on this bond in 2017 it was way too big and the problem with big bonds is that you can't deliver the projects fast enough because you're in the mode of trying to design strategize the steady state mode that we're going into for financing as well as the new project delivery schedule that we're currently working under now better positions us to Steven's Point earlier we have already done as much of the design and and planning at the point that the bond is approved we're ready to go rather than then starting that planning process that through engagement can take six to 18 months just depending upon the project so we're better positioned from a planning strategy as well as we'll decide this spring when is the appropriate time to figure out the next cycle of bonds that we um so you anticipated my next question that's refreshing to hear again I don't want to talk about my past practice but did manage a $1.2 billion annual Capital program we looked at design procurement construction and found ways that we would rationalize it pride investigation to avoid finding things so if you're all open now again it was Parks rows are very different The Pride investigation allowed us to do testing to avoid surprises in the field which saved Millions but also we embrac public participation but we had to rationalize it and we gave the public specific time so they don't have this cycle because time equals money the public doesn't always realize I want another B at the Apple but that could be another half a million million dollars and so just want to make sure as we look at you say you rationalize the schedule that's refreshing to hear but I think it's important you have to balance public engagement with cost escalation and I'm shocked and I'm sure for Six Forks a lot of it has to do with the real estate acquisition not just the Le escalating prices so uh I had other Fallout questions but I'll let my colleagues go but so long as it sounds like on the right track of finding the ways of reducing the schedule Construction Construction but the design phase can be truncated and it sounds like you're trying to do that in advance because time is everything when it comes to construction and these numbers are shocking across the board so thank you councelor Jones thank you so much I just have a few questions I wanted to start off in uh you you're talking about the bond projects and can you help us us understand leeville safe routes to school improvements um so that I can best explain that to my residents so that was an improvement project that we did get grant funding for that was really looking at there were a lot of gaps in connectivity leading up to leeville Road not only on leeville but really the perimeter and so that project closed a lot of those gaps to really enhance The Pedestrian experience and be able to give kids the ability because I know a lot of them lived in that neighborhood across the street to be able to walk safely to school and that was completed in I believe 202 fantastic thank you so much and then two overall questions for me uh and I think councelor um silver was just discussing it so I want to say how can we as Council best explain do you have words to to help us best explain the cost increases you know how um and and I guess when we go over six forks in in May we'll be able to explain it then but ongoing and not this moment if you can help us better ex be your um body guards and be your your expl explanations to the public so that we can level set with them before you there's just uh confusion and and frustration and we appreciate that and I think certainly that's a conversation we can have to try and help keep that be able to explain and keep that transparency with the community great so that nothing to be answered right now but just if we can keep that on the mindset and the last thing is as we've seen you're showing us the last two years you know the Last 5 Years and how dramatically do you have a forecast of what it's going going to be in in project for the next two years the next four years like we all know what's going on I think I think some of those Lessons Learned I think the challenge we've got really you look back the last five years where we thought we'd be five years ago I none of us could have forecasted where that we'd be right where we're at and I think that's some of the concern as to even trying to forecast a year out is we just don't know with the numbers that we're seeing which we're I mean being in this it's still staggering to see 67 % increase over three years it is and not knowing what that's going to look like with some other decisions that are being considered at different levels of government I think we just don't know at this point right because it makes it kind of challenging as we talk about future projects future road projects knowing the cliff that's in front of us and how expensive it's going to be how do we level set that expectation of the residents feeling that there needs to be more projects we need to do more and yet we know that that's just going to be crazy costs in the future well and I think we're looking at some different some different ways to do that I think some that is taking some of these longer corridors and and looking at them in smaller pieces that allow us to be able to turn over that design and that construction faster so we can mitigate some of that risk that you've got with these projects that take a long time to develop and deliver because you do open yourself up to that to that market fluctuation thank you so much for your work last but not least yeah I just wanted to thank you all so much for working on the Carolina Pines Improvement project and finding a way forward I had gotten some good news from uh Michael just before this meeting so I I knew what was coming and I just appreciate you guys looking into this and I do believe there was some support partnership with uh Raleigh stormw water and water department so I just want to say thank you and um for everyone just being a little bit more creative on this and luckily I guess the cost overrun is not as much as some others so there was an ability to figure this out and I know folks on Carolina Pines Avenue and in that neighborhood are so excited to see these changes I had one resident reminding me he's like oh you know I remember just seeing a mom the other day she's got her stroller she's got you know a baby then she's got two kids like little ducklings going behind her and there's no sidewalks here and it's a curvy Road and people are running around so fast and so the safety improvements here I think are just wonderful and it's going to connect this neighbor Hood that's truly close to downtown and a lot of what's going on in Raleigh all of a sudden in a way that I I think is going to be phenomenal so thank you guys all right we'll start back at that end of the table and come down another time well the only thing I wanted to say is that I know that um the city manager indicated that you know we'll be having some very um thoughtful conversations about the schedule for bonds and things along those lines but I do want to remind folks that the financial uncertainty for for our residents has really changed since how things looked last fall and I don't necessarily know what the appetite's going to be for and I'm sure we'll get a ton of feedback about it when those presentations come but I just don't know that people are going to necessarily have the appetite to entertain a variety of bonds just based on you know things that passed last fall with the county and anticipation so I think as we're having conversations with folks we have to also make sure that people who can afford it understand that we do have to look out for folks who can afford it and so that really is going to be impactful in terms of our conversations at the table about what we're going to be able to entertain and what we're going to be able to schedule councelor Pat yeah and kind of building off that I mean this might be just a repetition of some other things we've heard I mean I just think about public trust a lot when I hear a lot of this like we the voters voted on a bond package and um my residents living on on and off of Marsh Creek or saying that that's not even it they was part of the package when they voted on it and it's not happening and so if we call another Bond and we say like no for real we're going to do it this time I'm not sure we've given them a lot of incentive to believe us um Six Forks Road is it's agonizing to see that that's back being a conundrum has obviously uh been painful for for you all as well um but you know we had a lot we had a lot of public engagement last time and it was inconclusive really we saw the community really just saying to us like we don't even really care just get it done you know you and um that kind of continues to be you know I was at St Timothy's not too long ago and that was the conversation that was still occurring even today um and so I think it could be difficult to propose a new Transportation bond to Residents when we haven't finished the the projects or haven't finished them in totality um so I'll just be Reckoning with that um one actual question I do have um I have two one is related specifically to the Marsh Creek project I know it's designed but the construction funding is not available until some future time um can you talk to me about the when you were making the the difficult decision on which projects to prioritize and not like what were the conditions under which March Creek was the one that got booted so I you know I'm trying to recall I believe that was 22 that we were having that conversation and we had back in 2020 when leeville was identified we had started to identify a growing Gap but then it really kind of escalated as we got towards that 22 time frame and there were a number of different projects that that and options that were kind of put before the council for consideration at that point and and ultimately it I wouldn't say that staff prioritized one over the other I think it was just a nature of where they were in the process and some of the growing feedback that had come from projects and different things um but I wouldn't say that it one thing ranked it over the other I think there were just a number of different conversations that were had at the table when we presented those options to the council got it okay um and then my other question and I don't know if you'll be able to answer it right off the bat or it might be something for reflection but I'm wondering if there are self-inflicted barriers that we could reduce as a city organization to make these projects easier I know we have to collaborate with the state and I mean several State departments but um I'm just wondering if there's any like code changes or other like other policy changes we could make to allow these projects to progress more swiftly that's that's a tough one to answer um I think when you look back over the history I think really what while we're standing here having this conversation is really the unprecedented situation that we've seen not only with the construction Market but the real estate market which is really I mean thinking about six forks that original budget was roughly $31 million and we're estimating over $40 million just for acquisition now so I think just looking at those two factors alone have really been the biggest things that have challenged challenged that because I think we started to identify as these projects even got early into project development the market was starting to change on us and obviously as part of that covid hit and so that just kind of it all kind of changed underneath of us and I think it's really hard to pinpoint anything more than really those there I have a question then a comment um when you do the cost estimating for the bonds do you escalate it out five to six years knowing that inflation and other unvaried Factor so if you're saying okay the bonds 2017 the $ 2019 you know you'll escalate it by inflation but in fact it could take five or six years just trying to understand although it's still going to be unpredictable I'm just trying to understand some of the estimating that you do how many years out so it's closer to what you expect versus what we're seeing of prices just escalating out of control out of your control I'll just say and I can't speak specifically to the 2017 Bond but I do know that we do try and Factor escalation into into those equations and certainly I think we've learned a lot over the course of the last seven years in terms of how we kind of refocus that and kind of reorient that as we move forward uh my C oh I'm sorry again so so I'm just going to just jump up here and and give you just a little bit Insight so Paul C the trans station director so I think one big lesson learn just to touch on a couple of the council members so when we came out of 2017 we basically started design on every project looking back that's probably not what we need to be doing we need to have some things teed up have that design done then we can look at some initial estimating to get a better approximation of what we think these projects are going to be so my personal opinion just coming out of the gate with say eight or 10 projects on design that would not be my recommendation going forward you need to have some things teed up for design so when the council looks at supporting or or the the community looks at supporting another Bond we'd have things in the process ready to go to RightWay acquisition and construction so that would just be a big lesson learn I just want to kind of point out to everybody on that yeah my comment and please allow me my colleagues a little bit of therapy here uh in my previous job managed you know 850 capital projects and now being on this side of the table I agree with what council member Jones is saying we do have to communicate to the public exactly what the process is uh there are things that are out of our control as you probably know there's there's cost I mean right now I'm hearing in certain places workers are walking off the job for fear of ice agents coming in and so you're seeing project delays uh as projects get delayed whether Subs can't go the job time starts to escalate cost and even though I was able to reduce the timeline from 5 to 6 years to 3 to four years people kept saying it still takes too long and it's costing so much so I think it's important there's a design process the procurement process and the construction process I think it's a great idea that we will figure out a better way of explaining to the public what is happening all you want to deliver these projects and assets as quickly as possible but there are things that are just out of our control and that's not like the P private sector you have to follow certain procurement rules you have to go out put out a bid get the lowest responsible bidder there are certain steps that you're required to do and I think it may be helpful to explain to the public public but doing it as quickly as possible and I agree with you having design up front is a great approach so I appreciate that you're thinking about it because the end of the day it delays projects which you don't want to do uh your shortfalls which you don't want to go back to the public as uh council member Patton said and so I think this is a great opportunity and a moment to figure out with the next bond package how to try different approach because these are critical important projects counc I know we have another topic so ad very briefly thank you very much for Carolina Pines I'm sorry I started with the Doom and Gloom with 64 I should have started with the thank you I know that's going to be very impactful for the community then the second point I just want to reiterate I do think it would be great if we could come up with some mechanism for speeding up these projects I know that's easier said than done um but I think having almost like pre- template designs where we know we're going to go in like with Six Forks Road we knew that was going to be a multimodal project and a a road widening project something that's like pre-slotted that the public can see and like this is what we're going to put here you know I do hear a common complaint complt from some folks that in Raleigh we talk about things for so long and then it take they don't get built um and you know I think sometimes there's something too much Community engagement which I realize that's a sound bite that's going to be taken out of context and used against me but but I know but I think that there's a time to talk and then a time to act we have to know the difference and if we can get these critical infrastructure projects sped up maybe with just like like I said pre-templated designs of here's what's going to happen in these areas that could really help so that may be something we may want to consider moving towards let me just Echo what council member um Lambert Melton just said uh there was a process that had six public engagement meetings we narrowed it down to one that saved six to seven months with I cannot begin to tell you the huge savings if it is predictable upfront so I concur that you don't want to Short Change public engagement but I think you have to have it ready where you have that one input and then proed because we want to make sure we stand to the public that that extra six or seven months has a dollar value and in some cases it can push a project basically out of the point where you have to cover that shortfall so I think we're here to help uh as council member Jones stated to you whatever we can to do but I think we have to communicate to the public when it comes to construction time is of the essence because there is so many unvaried that will drive up cost all right yep yeah just one more quick comment um more broadly about just our current economic situation I wonder marshelle how we will think about this for the budget you know moving forward in this next year the level of uncertainty potential prices rising across our you know all of our programs um how do we consider that in our in our budget conversations so each of our departmental budget meetings we are taking a conservative approach to the draft that we bring you understanding that there are some gnomes right we know that interest rates probably are not going to shift in a way that's going to be favorable for any of the work that we do we also know that the cost of doing business like keeping the lights on and things like that probably aren't going down in the next couple of years too so those are already built into just the day-to-day operational cost the request that the Departments have brought forward in addition to just their base budget but their supplementals we are prioritizing those through very ious lens as to what probably can happen what we probably won't be able to do in the next one to three years and what we may need to punt for longer and then going back and assessing what is the potential Fallout and negative impact of not doing it the unintended consequences of kicking the ball the parks Bond of I mean the transportation Bond of 2017 it was almost a statement right it was uh we're going to go big or we're going to go home anybody that's been doing this for a moment understands that you you do Bond work typically in a bite-sized chew something that you can deliver upon because you're asking the voters for their confidence in you and the process to deliver on what they said yes raise my taxes for and so when you can't deliver it fast enough your ability to keep going back time and time again diminishes um and and part of that too was getting some agreement around the table to advance Six Forks we we were in a better position as staff ready to Advance the project we couldn't get five votes to get to agreement as to what should be how the project is Advanced and I wish council member Branch was here because he could tell you the whole story but the reality is everything that we do every day we're kind of focusing on what would be probably the potential impact if we're not able to do it and then what are the creative ways if we have to do it how can we do it so this budget is going to look different um because again as you as I mentioned we we won't bring a G forward without talking to our partners at the county the worst thing that can happen to a municipality is to put a bond out there and it fails um and so we want to make sure that there is that level of trust but that we're good being good stewards of the Public's money not just their trust to to make the ask and to be able to deliver the project that they can see in a timely manner um and that's what I think you're probably going to be our our Cadence and our stance moving forward in the in the short term anyway just because there is so much unpredictability with the tariffs and before it became a tariff issue with this current Administration it was steel it was whether or not we could get all this stuff from overseas as a result of covid then it became not having enough workers to actually do the work now it's the combination of both and then you put tariffs on top of it while we're pretty good at predicting and we always add a contingency to every project that we do it again is a best guest guest it's the best guest based on the market based on CPI based on the regional market and all those things considered so this budget is going to look different we are sharpening pencils erasing this time that we haven't had to do in a long time but um being really true to not putting out there some expectations that we know we cannot deliver on councelor Silver I know we had a conversation at The Retreat about steady state when will those conversations I think escalate knowing that there's a potential for a transportation Bond I know that we're exploring steady state when is that all going to be brought to us so we know strategically what is the next direction as we try to rationalize and kind of predict AA forward for our bonds Ryan Bergman Esquire if you [Laughter] can we have another I never going to live that down am I um before I answer that I do want to say that uh being in Charlotte the last few years you guys are having these same discussions that we've had for years every big city is experiencing these same pressures uh some of the things that they've talked about um maybe to get into a little bit more detail would be Advanced planning uh which means that we would set aside funds on the front end to do design to a certain point so maybe when you go out for the actual Bond you might be at 50% design so that it would be a little bit uh a little bit further along so that uh you you can have a little bit more certainty it's never going to have all of the certainty of course um but as as for the question FY 26 not being a bond year uh because there wouldn't be a November election either way gives us a little bit of time um so that really your first reasonable option would be FY 27 and so that doesn't mean there's not a lot of conversations we need to have um because to the point about Advanced planning there may be projects that you want to kind of get off of the ground whether it be in uh well Transportation presumably would be the area you'd want to look at because Housing Works a little bit different so I think uh finance and budget are working on uh a lot of the steady state uh financial planning the budget team is doing a fantastic job this year working with departments trying to make sure that uh we take care of FY 26 first of course but everything they do is in a multi-year lens and so when we present steady state options there will be how far down the road would you want to have um some kind of a property tax increase to support the bonds how frequently would you want to have bonds I will tell you that we're on this seven-year cycle here one of the advantages to a little bit shorter cycle whether it be four years or two years is that when you have these unexpected situations these historical inflationary pressures you do have more options you might be able to say well the first 25 million of the next Bond which is only two years later or four years later is going to be enough to fill in the gap on this previous project rather than having to wait s years from the next Bond so I mean you talk about Lessons Learned uh I was in involved in uh in Charlotte and uh the manager does make me put a quarter in a jar every time I say that word so um $2 already right that today yeah I ow it so I'm done um but I was involved on the front end where we tried to create this Advanced planning take a different look at these projects uh she mentioned bite size which is really uh what we're looking into the uh the budget and finance infrastructure you have here is fantastic so I think uh I think the transition will work it's really just a matter of those conversations that have to take place uh which are not FY 26 budget conversations they are the next 10 budget conversations and uh presumably we'll be doing that uh over the little bit in the in the spring and then uh summer fall uh as we move forward councelor silver has another this is the last one I know there's another item I know every A&E firm is going to write letters to me um in terms of design uh is that an in-house function or is all of that outsourced so to get to that 50% is their capacity in-house to do that or all this work has to be outsourced which requires I'm assuming professional contract so I'm not I'm not I'm GNA let him answer don't worry uh I was just going to say from the advanced planning program standpoint it could be either one so we are uh we are contract in out uh our design uh we do do some we have historically done some in-house design smaller projects sidewalks that sort of thing uh but in the last I would say uh year and a half or so we've started to kind of focus uh kind of get away with that get away from that uh and try to focus those resources on project management of Consultants as we are Outsourcing that design so my final words I just congratulations to transportation for making yesterday's compensation look like a light [Laughter] lift and now we have the comprehensive Plan update we want those folks to keep it light and fun don't tell us anything difficult or challenging I will try um hello I'm Sarah shanesy with Raleigh Planning and Development um Pat young and Bam Walter are also here if you have questions for them um I am the project manager for Raleigh's next comprehensive plan I'm here today to share some information on the project goals the timeline uh what we've done and who we've heard from so far um so I'll provide a little bit of background and context for the plan review our goals and provide an update on where we are in our timeline and what we've done so far I will also share some information about who we've heard from and our plans for ongoing communication and coordination moving forward comprehensive plans typically have a 20-year time Horizon and lay out a long-term vision for the built environment state law requires municipalities to adopt a comprehensive plan or a future land use map in order to enforce local zoning code and development regulations most municipalities North Carolina including Raleigh have both um so Raleigh's comprehensive plan satisfies This legal requirement and guides land use development in coordination with Transportation environmental resource protection population growth and housing needs and infrastructure and service provision our current comprehensive plan the 2030 comprehensive plan was adopted in 2009 and amended most recently in 2019 uh planning staff referenced the plan most often to evaluate resoning requests in the consistency analyses that we bring to you all the plan includes six Vision themes and various policy maps that illustrate the city's growth framework desired Urban form future land uses and future Street connectivity the plan also includes a bread of content on Transportation Environmental Protection Economic Development parks and open space Public Utilities Community facilities Services all told the document is 18 sections long with over a thousand unique policies and a thousand different actions I think BM compared it to war in peace the last time she spoke to you all so reflecting Raleigh is the process for developing the city's next comprehensive plan which will guide growth and development through the year 2050 for our next comprehensive plan we envisioned a more concise document that functions primarily as a land use guide while addressing the connectivity between land use and transportation housing natural resources Economic Development and urban form we also Envision a plan that provides a framework for sustainable infrastructure and service provision as Raleigh grows um a document that is aligned with adopted plans policies and the capital Improvement program or CIP we envision a Clear Vision a plan with a Clear Vision um with smart measurable achievable realistic and time bound or smart incremental goals and finally we envision a document um that is informed by robust engagement strategy that prioritizes reaching residents and neighborhoods that are typically underrepresented in planning processes so we anticipate a 2 and 1 half year timeline for developing the next plan divided into five phases phase one is focused on public engagement internal coordination and an assessment of existing conditions and expected growth phase two will focus on developing the content of the plan with a citizen assembly and Technical teams of technical experts phase three will involve drafting the plan in phase four we'll get input from the public on the completed draft of the plan and then in Phase five we'll bring the plan forward for adoption our specific goals and activities for phase one with respect to engagement are to provide some general information to the public and City staff so we've been doing internal and external engagement in this phase uh about the public or sorry about the project generally to collect input on community priorities that can be used to inform the plan's vision and policies and again to prioritize people in neighborhoods that are typically underrepresented in City Pro projects um and seek to do that through a number of activities including six thematic Community conversations engagement with boards and commissions engagement with community and neighborhood organizations including cac's youth engagement individualized communication with Community leaders a series of community events as well as online surveys I want to highlight the community conversation specifically since those are our largest public city sponsored events in this phase so the themes were selected based on topic ICS that we hear from the community about the most in the in the context of growth and development they are affordable housing transportation and traffic storm water management trees and more broadly Urban ecosystems sustainable infrastructure and services and neighborhood change and we seek to approach each of these topics through the lens of equity and sustainability planning staff collaborated with housing and neighborhoods to host a daylong affordable housing Summit back in August at your request we knew in planning that we wanted to host a community conver ation for the comprehensive plan on that topic so rather than duplicating and having another event we joined forces with housing and neighborhoods and co-hosted that event kick off ask you real quick so Public Safety is not on this list at all so folks Public Safety we include as part of the services package of um infrastructure and services so police and fire and Community facilities will be included in that thanks yeah um so the affordable housing Summit kicked off our community conversation series uh each of the remaining topics has included or will include keynote and expert speakers uh World Cafe tabletop conversations ask a planner events where members of the public can come and speak with staff one-on-one as well as online surveys and in-person polling opportunities we are very grateful for the leadership and collaboration from our partner departments in hosting each of these Community conversations as I mentioned we worked closely with housing in neighborhoods um to host the affordable housing Summit with storm water to host a community conversation back in December um we just wrapped up a community conversation series on transportation and traffic in February um tonight we'll kick off the first of two events focused on trees um and then we have um rounding us off a conversational neighborhood change in April and then infrastructure and services in May and early June can I also just clarify when you say neighborhood change how are you defining that we are defining that as sort of both demographic change and changes to building structure sort of looking at neighborhood Evolution as a whole how neighborhoods have came to be and then how they've changed over the last couple of centuries and maybe forecasting what change people can expect in the future um so in addition to all of this qualitative public engagement work that we're doing we're also doing some quantitative research and Analysis um in the on the back end so um evaluating existing policy and researching best practices our goal is to use this information alongside public input to inform the development of the plan in phase two specific activities in this portion of the phase include a community inventory so an analysis of existing conditions a market analysis an audit of our currently adopted plan the 2030 plan some re Research into stabilization planning um as well as a capital needs assessment so we are a little more than halfway through the first phase of our process um and to date um we have drafted an engagement plan we've worked with the Department Department of Community engagement staff and developed this plan based on um an engagement preferences survey that we put out to the community as well as some best practices and adopted guidance that the city has for public engagement we hosted the affordable housing Summit as I mentioned we hosted two Community conversation series on transportation and storm water uh pictured here is Charles Brown who was our keynote speaker at the transportation event back in February we've hosted a series of esap planner events presented to 13 of the city's boards and commissions eight of the city's cac's um uh spoken to eight different Community organizations tabled at a range of events uh we send monthly emails to everyone who subscribes to our gov delivery newsletter um and we have four online surveys three of them are topic based and they'll be open through June if people want to provide feedback um so here's a summary of sort of what we've done and who we've reached so far uh I know we have more work to do but we are heighten heartened that we've seen over 2,000 people partic participate in some way in this process so far so um that's what we've done here's some information about who we've heard from um through our online engagement specifically so looking at survey respondents so these are specifically people who responded to our online survey and opted to participate in the demographic questions um the majority of respondents are between the ages of 25 and 35 most who have provided their demographic information identify as male most um who participate again this online survey data um are non-hispanic and white most are middle to high middle income and homeowners and most are fairly well educated with a bachelor's or graduate or professional degree s can I just ask so down at the bottom that footnote n is the total number of respondents and the 181 number is the number of people who participate in that particular question yes that's correct yep yeah so it's across the board we've seen between 25 and 30% of people who answer the survey questions generally choose to answer the demographic questions um so as you can see certain Raleigh residents are over represented um relative to Raleigh's population overall we know that this is a trend Citywide across projects and has to do with who prefers to engage online and also who feels comfortable providing their information to the city um we also know that we are reaching a broader cross-section of residents through other engagement methods where we do not ask for demographic information and that information is not volunteered so this is a map of our engagement locations on top of self-reported zip codes so in part of our online surveys um we ask residents to offer their zip code where they're where they live and where they're responding from uh and because of who we know we're able to reach online so again those demographics that I just showed you we're prioritizing ing attending and sharing information at community events that are happening in neighborhoods that look different than the demographic profile of people who respond to our online surveys we have selected locations for our community conversations across the city and we try to choose venues that are accessible by a range of Transportation options where our goal is to hear from everyone so we know we're reaching a certain section of the population online and so we're trying to supplement those efforts by reaching everyone else in the city um so for all of our inperson engagement events we seek to remove known barriers to participation by meeting people where they are offering language translation food child care and honoring requests for ada8 accommodations um and we know based on the requests that we receive and who we see at these events that we're reaching a broader segment of Raleigh's population that our survey results might suggest so that's who we've heard from um a little bit about what we've heard so far we've SE received input in three main areas engagement preferences affordable housing and storm water management we'll be publishing a report of Engagement to date next week and I know we're a little tight on time so I won't go through these in detail but um in the coming days or weeks you'll be able to review all of this information um in more detail um this is some of what we've heard with respect to affordable housing so we asked residents to notify or um Identify some of their main concerns um some suggested solutions to address those concerns and then similar for the topic of storm water we asked residents to share with us some of their major concerns with respect to storm water in the context of a growing city where they'd like to see policy to address those concerns and then similarly where they'd like to see the city invest in programs to address those concerns um so as I noted um a summary report of our engagement to date will be available soon we also have um a full engagement plan available on our website now to look at some of this data in the context of Raleigh's demographics as a whole we'll be publishing a full report of all of our engagement activities at the end of phase one so at the end of the summer um our online surveys again as I noted will remain open through June we're still encouraging residents to participate and we're exploring uh additional ways to boost uh participation and diversity of those results um and because we understand that not everyone wants to take an online survey uh we're continuing to meet people where they are and provide um ways to reduce barriers to participation so the goal is for all of this input um to shape the vision goals and policies in phase two of the project so phase two again our goals here are to develop the plan and we seek to do that with a series of technical working groups subject matter experts um along with so each of these will include staff local practitioners subject matter experts along with representatives from the city's boards and commissions we will also convene a citizen assembly which will consist of 50 or so Raleigh residents whose demographic and social characteristics mirror righ's demographic and social characteristics overall we are in the process of soliciting a consultant through the RFP process to help support that effort um phase three will be plan drafting where we take a break um and actually write the plan so that we have something to come back to the public and get back on although we will continue to have check-ins with the citiz assembly the technical working groups keep the public updated we'll come back to you with an update and then phase four we will have a completed version of the plan we'll take that back out to verify program and policy priorities come back to the community and tell them this is what you told us we've developed a plan what do you think um and we seek to do that through public workshops ask a planner events uh tabling in different pop-up events again seeking to meet the community where they are building on events that are already happening and then we are also working with Raleigh Arts to host an artists and residents to help us think more creatively about how we engage the public and incorporate that feedback finally phase five at the end of 2027 will bring the final plan forward for adoption um so throughout the process just have a couple more slides here um we have been and will be coordinating with other City staff whose work overlaps with the comprehensive plan so again we're very grateful for all of the other department staff who who who have helped us with the community conversations um we're continuing to have policy discussions based on what we hear from the public and the implications for new policy in the comprehensive plan we've been coordinating with the office of strategy and Innovation to talk about how the Strategic plan aligns with the comprehensive plan and how we communicate that to the public um and then we are also tracking a number of related plans and engagement uh engagement efforts so we're making sure that we're building on those and not duplicating um and finally we're uh continuing communication with the public so we have a project website continue to post updates and information and links to surveys there um we have information on engage Raleigh which is our public input Hub site our Communications team has been doing this reflecting Raleigh portrait project where they go and they talk to kind of intercept interview style talk to Raleigh residents where they are ask them if they can take a photo and ask them to share something about what they like about Raleigh um what they Envision for the future so this is Molly a young mother who they um they photograph for that project and then again the monthly newsletter excuse me um so that concludes my presentation I look forward to taking your questions councilor silver has a question I'll Lim it to a couple and then I'll let my colleagues answer well first thank you so much uh for the presentation uh just had a couple of questions I know Patrick and I had a previous conversation just want to be assured uh public engagement is essential to any comprehensive planing process but also the emerging issues Trends so the public understands what problems they're solving I am hoping we'll see that um again as you all know I was involved in the 2009 and I expect the 2030 plan that there will be a new plan but to understand we're running out of land we're running out of water we're running out of natural resources that that also has to be put for the public they'll talk about what they want to see issues today will not be issues 20 years from now so just want to make sure as we have this conversation that part of the analysis will talk about the fact that it running out of land which means there'll be tension in neighborhoods with transitions with density with different housing types just want to make sure that is part of the conversation versus this what I'd like to see is very hard to deliver on that but that that the aspiration for where the city is going is balanced with the emerging and critical issues we need to solve that's something that I like to see so that we know as we go forward these are the tough choices and the Public's also educated on some of the challenges they need to face versus what they would like to see so I'm just hoping um that certainly will be a part of it um so I don't know whether that's part of it I saw the research I wasn't sure if that was part of it so can you explain to me will there kind of be that section of the community inventory or a list of the emerging issues so we know what we'll be facing over the next 20 years because running out of land and accommodating the growth there'll be some tough choices which we're experiencing right now through zonings through Transitions and people purchasing you know missing middle we just want to have a better conversation with the public of what to expect so don't have a Rosy picture that if we raise these issues you know everything will be addressed to their satisfaction yeah absolutely that's a great Point um so you are correct we are doing a number of sort of research investigation tasks including the community inventory Capital needs assessment so we understand what our needs might be as a city as R's population grows um and we are packaging all of that information to bring um to the technical teams to develop the policy to bring to the citizen assembly and to share with the public um as part of phase two we are also as part of the community inventory developing a data dashboard so we'll have a a standalone report but then also an interactive dashboard we're hoping that will be available at the end of the summer so that people can explore the data data themselves and understand some of the constraints and tradeoffs yeah and then the last one I'll let my colleague speak also looking for a tool or a map um not saying it should be the growth framework map but a map to show where change is expected and where change is not expected I think it was very comforting to a lot of community members when they saw if they were in a certain area they didn't expect any major change but if they're in an area that expected to grow whether it's on a Transit Corridor or a growth Center they know on those edges is where change is expected or vulnerable areas uh if you know if for example there's a community that could experience displacement if that is highlighted so there are some policies that focus on potential protections or conservation so they won't feel as if they'll get pushed out I think having that I don't want to call it a vulnerability map but having the map of both where change is expected where places could be threatened uh I think would be very helpful for the community and I think for Council as we start to come up with some of these land use policies and land use map hi um so I have a handful um one and this might be sort of a reframing of the same question but when you came to us before you initiated the process there was a discussion about like an effort to quantify the trade-offs as as citizens were going through this so saying yes we can protect all the trees and never cut down another tree again and the consequences would be this other thing and do you want that other thing or do you want something in the middle and so can you and I've been to some of the events but I think I've been to the ones where there's a keynote and more oriented toward learning than I haven't been hearing the resonant discussion but can you talk about how you've built that into the community engagement you've done so far absolutely yeah so each Community conversation features a keynote speaker somebody who can speak to sort of the state of the practice at a national level or provide an example from a peer city um to provide some context to what Raleigh is experiencing and then the second evening we have a state of the city presentation from a city staff member to sort of bring some of those topics to the Raleigh context and then we have a community conversation we use the World Cafe facilitation method and the questions that we ask as part of that are sort of centered around trade-offs sort of getting people to explore without explicitly asking them well do you want this or do you want this sort of explore what are what are some of the trade-offs you know if you know um you develop further a field that might mean um that you have a longer Transportation commute and that means that you're in the car more um looking at that trade-off versus developing more densely um so we've included that in the community conversation questions the World Cafe questions and then we also have an online survey that we um publish in conjunction with each Community conversation and we try to frame our questions around those trade-offs as well as part of that survey okay sweet and then another one that I have is around citizens citizen assemblies I'm excited to see that tool used it's when I've been interested in um and I think it it really does a lot to um reduce polarization like you have high degree of efficacy before you P something out of from the group and so I think that's a really great tool um 50 residents feels like a lot is that like all 50 of those residents are going to be around a conference table or is it segmented into smaller yeah I think we are seeking the help of a consultant to help us think through the best facilitation style and strategy I think the 50 number gives us um a good statistically significant sample of the Raleigh population without I think one of the worries is you don't want to token you don't want to have like one person representing one particular demographic category so they feel like they have to represent all residents who look like them you want to have at least two so that's where that number comes from but I imagine it will involve some small group discussion as part of that so not everyone is yeah you're not trying to manage a conversation among 50 people awesome thank you so much for your work um as we were having these difficult conversations prior to this and we're talking about how expensive things are um I was looking at your chart and in February you did the conversation about transportation and Transit um was that folded into the conversation about how expensive things are getting and level setting at the early ages or is that something that's going to be folded into our uh communication moving forward that was not explicitly addressed as part of the the community conversation state of the city presentation but certainly an issue that that we understand we're facing as a city that residents are facing and we'll move it into the communication moving forward fantastic yeah I just think that if there are other ways instead of creating new opportunities all over and people having to have another conversation about that if we can fold it into this already overarching discussion we're having about growth in the city these um might be beneficial to be part of that conversation so thank you all right I do not see any other questions I just want to commend staff uh as you know I'm very passionate about planning and very excited to see that there's another generation of planning going forward uh both the city manager I'm sure Patrick will keep me on this side of the the table uh this is stuff that I love doing and so uh I will only be answer when called but this is an exciting opportunity it what is refreshing and and I see you doing it uh comprehens and planning is also an opportunity to educate the public about how this City Works uh from a land use point of view but all the everything attached with transportation and Parks Community facilities so just want to commend you for the work that you're doing and I'm very excited to see the road ahead thank you for the timeline 2027 so I have some decisions to make to see this to the very end but again I commend you for your work and look forward to how this unfolds you sorry one more um one question I get from residents somewhat regularly is just this kind of question of like did we do the last plan like are we doing the plan um will your community in is the community inventory the moment when we'll say we we got a B+ on doing the plan yeah so I think some of the content in the last plan lays out very clear like performance metrics for saying okay we set out this goal this is how we know we're achieving that goal some of the content does not have those metrics so we can't we don't have a good way to evaluate so an example is we you know we've outlined in our growth framework map where we want to grow in terms of a um Transit corridors and in growth centers and we can quantify that with building activity with population looking sort of at census track level um I think for this next plan we are going to be really intentional about setting performance metrics so setting goals and then sort of understanding how we might communicate to the public whether or not we're achieving them and and then but like do will we get an assessment of the current plan the 2030 plan yes to to the best of our ability yeah yeah I just have to chim yeah uh under council member Silver's excellent Guidance the former plan included policy that required us to publish annual progress reports which we have done pretty Faithfully over the last oh no I can't do the math 10 plus years uh and so I can point I can share those with you we have I I don't know if you remember one of the stats Sarah called out was like a thousand plus actions we've completed I think more than 75% of those in the in the intervening years so we have done a lot of the we have done a lot of the plan yes and we will do this plan too yeah if you allow me the Liberty it it did feature an implementation Matrix which which was really the first of its time and that required that we go to uh the city council annually for a report which also included other Trends Council needed to look out for and if you look at that Matrix it actually will say completed so there's a pretty good track record even after I left that staff continued to look at that implementation Matrix and it was copied by many other uh jurisdictions so that was useful and also the annual report I don't know if you did that b them if you want to stand up that also included policies the council was reluctant to implement or City Department struggled with so we said then take it out uh if there was a reluctance to follow this policy guidance or for some reason a department uh now had second thoughts rather than keeping in the plan and having false expectations of the public it's better just to take it out and so that annual report was very useful to kind of do a checkin to see how the plan was performing the public understood what was implemented but more importantly What policies need to be taken out cuz they just weren't working so that was a good look back and again I'm not saying I'm retiring the ball is now in your court uh but there were certain I think innovations that were very uh effective and to answer council member Patton said it performed overtime quite well and so I can only imagine it's going to get better for this next round whether it's a 2050 plan 2050 plan no pressure well that was I think happier and less expensive so we are uh that concludes uh this uh work session and we are adjourned [Music] he