thank you very much um so now I'd like to turn it over to the city manager for the overview of our discussion for this afternoon so thank you mayor members of council tonight we have as an agenda item an update on the residential development in the Udo and we have Alison Craig that will provide that uh update as well as we have a closed session item mayor a real estate manner all right uh good evening uh mayor manager and members of council um I'm here tonight to talk to you about um an update to the Udo kind of what we've been seeing um so the way I'm going to lay out the presentation this evening is first setting the stage um where are we now um of course when we are talking about evaluating how we're doing the udio the most important thing is to point back to our comprehensive plan goals then I want to talk a little bit about what we're seeing in terms of um submittals um we're about 9 to 10 months after the Udo has gone into effect and then I want to talk a little bit about market trends of course um the market doesn't solely Drive our decisions but it is an important thing to understand when we're planning for the future and then I want to give a brief update about um an update to uh from the Transportation Planning and Development um committee referral um that was a referral from from last summer um and talk about an an upcoming text amendment that we will be filing tonight related to conservation development and then discuss some other recommendations that uh I will be making this evening that we'll discuss more um in committee so first starting with Charlotte's vision of course um the comprehensive plan is born from many years of community engagement talking about what we wanted to see in our future and as a reminder the Udo is a tool that implements the comprehensive plan and so we continue to evaluate what we're seeing to make sure that we are aligned with our comprehensive plan goals um and so and then recognizing that while we have these goals in place there are different ways in which we can Implement these goals so I want to highlight two from the comprehensive plan uh tonight first is goal number two neighborhood diversity inclusion that Charlotte will strive to have a diversity of housing options by increasing the presence of missing um middle density housing and number three is housing access for all Charlotte will ensure opportunities for residents of all income to access affordable housing so I think we can all agree that these are two very important goals to the city of charlot but I think over time and we we've been talking about the comprehensive plan and the Udo and even seeing what we've been um receiving and site plans is how exactly um do we Implement these goals and we may not always be on the same page about that so I want to stop for a moment and just highlight what we're seeing so um we are really seeing a limited number of new infill duplexes and triplexes when we talked about these goals in the comprehensive plan this was a source of many many conversations concerns that we will see um rapid change in our communities and and wanting to make sure that we are not um introducing change too fast particularly in neighborhoods that are vulnerable to displacement um so we implemented controls in the Udo that help to regulate height and sort of driveway cuts to help manage these changes and a result we haven't really seen a lot we've seen about 140 duplexes about 100 I'm sorry about 140 duplexes and about 20 triplexes since Udo went into effect um right now if you look out in the skyline um there is a ton of apartment activity there is a ton of construction going it is booming for sure right now but what I want to make sure you're aware of is that there's not a lot in the pipeline that's coming um after that it is a very challenging constru uh uh cost market so the construction costs are very high and frankly the lenders are not lending on these types of projects right now and I'm expecting that this will be the conditions for at least another year if not two years we're not seeing rezoning requests even if you go back and you look through some of your last rezoning meetings there's really very little to know Apartments being proposed what we are seeing is many many requests for Town Homes you're seeing that in the rezoning process there's tons of requests for rezonings um um in your um in your packets not really seeing anything um as it relates to single family housing it's really mostly um town homes and these are great because they are an opportunity to increase our ability for home ownership so we like Town Homes the other thing that we're seeing by W is that most of the subdivisions that are coming in since the Udo in into effect um about 90% of them that are coming in by right um are being submitted using with duplexes and triplexes using a conservation development option that is something that um is an option to deviate from the base standards in the Udo so and the reason why people are using this is because um the market is strong and attached units um they need smaller lot sizes but um we we think that we need to rightsize this tool to make sure that we're actually getting the conservation that we need um I wanted to talk through a little bit of market trends and so this is a a graph showing from 2018 to 2023 the number of new building permits that have been issued and so like I was talking about um and you've seen tons and tons of apartments that very top uh color there in green you'll see that particularly over the last three or so so years we have had a boom in apartments this isn't surprising um there's a lot of interest in living in South End a ton of Apartments going up there um we in 2020 we did an alignment rezoning for to so went ahead and city proactively rezoned um the to Corridor and so there was a lot of development by W so you're seeing a lot of activity in the apartments you're not really um we won't really see a lot of the effects of the Udo in this figure because um it didn't go into effect till halfway through 2023 so this is really just what was happening in the market beforehand a couple other things to note um you can look at the bottom color that dark blue those are the number of new building permits issued for single family detached and you can see that those have been declining over the last few years and then in turquoise those are your town homes and you can see that that the the demand and the number of building permits issued for Town Homes has increased over the last few years years I want to talk a little bit about pricing and so um just these are Charlotte average home prices for new construction from 2018 to 2023 and you can see in 2018 the numbers between um single family homes and town homes homes were fairly similar and while they've both increased over time you've seen a much stronger increase in the average cost of a new single family home than you have in uh for a town home and I'd even say the trends are going up for single family and they're going down for um town homes and while I wouldn't say that $418,000 town home is Affordable it's certainly more attainable than um than $554,000 um in terms of new construction closings and so this is the number of new construction closings for single family detached town homes and condos since 2010 and what I want you to notice on the bottom was the the darker blue again the single family that the number of new construction closings in 2023 was the lowest that it has been since 2012 and we've continued to see an increase in the number of uh constru new construction closings for town homes and in fact in 2023 it was almost equivalent to single family homes I want to um just remind you all that uh the work and the the recommendations that I'm presenting here tonight they do relate back to last year's referral to committee um we have come before the committee three different times the September update was fairly brief but we did um present some um some considerations in August and in February and some of the things we really wanted um Council to focus on is thinking about um in these subdivisions in these larger developments looking at the quantity of the units so how many units you're getting the quality of the development and then the location like where the the development actually is so this evening um after this presentation we'll be filing a text Amendment for conservation development again we discussed this in committee and so I want to just uh walk through what this is and why we're making this um uh text Amendment now and um wanting to proceed with immediate action is that again it's a development option in the Udo that allows you to deviate from the base standards in N1 zoning District um allows you to reduce your lot size by 50% in exchange for additional open space but what we're finding is we're not really getting what we intended so a conservation development is a tried andrue planning concept it's been around for decades and the idea is that you take a traditional layout of a subdivision and you cluster and allow smaller lot sizes so the open space is not in in the individual larger lot it's um protecting large larger areas of tree Save open space conservation area um while allowing some additional density instead what we are seeing um and this is uh an example project that's been submitted what we're seeing is not really getting at what we had intended and so I'll point to a couple things um you'll see in the top right you've got units that are fronting other units so um the 43 through 45 you probably can't see those numbers but those units where the first red arrow is they are actually facing the side of another building you've got uh the development is very close to existing subdivisions so there's not really a transition that's that's there that's adequate that we believe um again the the open space is it's smaller it's fragmented and then I think the most important thing to note here is that you've got while you've got a couple public streets there's a series of Alleyways that are throughout the development and with alleys you're not um there's no requirement for Street trees um they may be less expensive now because the streets are um they're not as wide there's not as much areas of public Street um but you're just deferring the cost so ultimately the responsibility of maintaining those alleys goes to the HOA so while it's less expensive right now it will come back in terms of Maintenance to be a requirement that the the homeowners and the property owners will have to then pay for and then there's some concerns about emergency service and if solid waste can access so we're proposing a text Amendment again I mentioned will be filed tonight this is really feel as closing a loophole and addressing some unintended consequences in the Udo and really focusing on increasing the quality and the quantity of conservation in open space so that would be an additional 15% of tree save uh to be a total of 40% right now in order to uh if uh project that is 2 Acres inside could uh size could use um this development option and we propose we increase that that to five so again you're creating large larger areas of quality open space and increase the minimum dimensions of open space um so you have larger areas and make sure there's clear standards of what usable open space is supposed to be We'll add a um a perimeter buffer requirement and require lots to front onto public streets or open space so again going back to that um quantity quality and location this Tex am I think really addresses um the concerns about quality but indirectly because you're requiring addition things to be set aside for public streets for open space um and for a perimeter buffer it will result in a decrease in the number of units so we've been before the udio advisory committee have U met with um u a number of different stakeholders and then we'll have two info sessions for um feedback to staff on April 2nd and the 9th we'll have information on Charlotte Udo um website we'll send out emails we'll post it on social and the schedule is again we're filing tonight it'll go to Planning Commission a public hearing is set for April 15th go to zoning committee um later that month and then requesting Council action on May the 20th so as it relates to this again um staff's been doing a lot of research in the background and I want to talk about two recommendations that I want to bring forward tonight and then we'll certainly go back to the Transportation Planning and Development Committee for further discussion the first is um prioritizing new housing Supply and key locations and so there's a reason why everyone is using this conservation tool that addition uh smaller lot sizes are needed for new development projects and so we want to create a new um type of development option called compact development this is something that other cities have have uh we had something a version of this in the prudo standards righ has something similar and so we allow smaller lot sizes and we allow um allow projects to reduce these lot sizes if they're an affordable project or if they're a development that's located near a center high frequency Transit um priority areas for housing Supply and maybe explore other priority locations again this is um new and exploratory and we're going to be working um in more detail with different stakeholders to talk about what this would look like so right now in the Udo the way the lot standards are set is they're set so that you're protecting exist neighborhoods and so they are larger um because we want to protect the lotting patterns of existing neighborhoods um but when you're creating a new subdivision you're in in a sense creating a new neighborhood um and so we want to be able to allow um flexibility in these lot uh standards um to make sure that we're getting the kind of projects that we want so this example shown here this is an affordable housing project it's in an n1a zoning District which has a 10,000 squ ft um minimum lot size and what they're really wanting here with these duplexes there four sale affordable duplexes um to reduce the lot size to 6,000 and I think that this is um a a great concept for making sure that we're allowing different types of housing particularly affordable housing in our communities the next recommendation is um talking about right sizing housing diversity so in neighborhood one we have six different zoning districts a through f with a being the least intense and F being the most intense and while our lot standards reflect a gradient of intensity from a to F we haven't really allowed for that gradient of uses um um uh in terms of the allowable uses in those different districts and so the proposal that that we have before you today is that um on infill lots and a new subdivisions that we limit triplexes to corners only and the zoning District in one a b c and d triplexes can be challenging because there's a there's a um a challenge between maintaining The Pedestrian environment but also recognizing that there's cars and driveways and driveway cuts and it's really hard to um to have both of those and so thinking that it's better to have triplexes on a corner where you could have driveways on two different street frontages to really space that out we also recognize that there is a lot of demand there's ownership opportunities for town homes so we want to allow Town Homes they're not allowed now in n1e and F and potentially even incorporate those into the compact development option because again Town Homes there's a lot of demand for them there's um and there is a lot of opportunity to provide additional home ownership through uh a town home and then lastly um you know we haven't seen a lot of duplexes as I mentioned and so um in fact I think the the latest numbers that I've seen it's a little bit less than what we've had in Prior years and so we need to look at those standards to make sure that um that duplexes are viable again these are a great product they've been around um for decades we've always allow duplexes on our corners and so making sure that we do have an opportunity to see more um more of these um so wanted to show you a map these are um uh these are all the uh all the different neighborhood one zoning districts in the city of Charlotte so again what I'm proposing um is that right now we allow single family duplexes and triplexes in all of those zoning districts and so what I'm proposing is that an an in one a through D that triplexes are only allowed on corners and that in enf we introduce Town Homes um to those zoning districts where they're not allowed today you can see from the map there's not a lot of purple and we don't have any n1f on the ground today um so this would require a rezoning um but it would be consistent with our policy uh and meet our needs and goals in the comprehensive plan we will ultimately after the community area planning process there'll be an alignment resoning where we will um go through and and align the zoning with the policy map and so at that point the city proactively will be adding more of enf um but that will be after the area planning process occurs so schedule for this for both of those recommendations again I've mentioned that we've spent the last few months doing a lot of research and Analysis we've been working in the background we've hired a consultant to do some testing and do some market analysis for us and really uh the next few months wanting to get some additional feedback from the community for the compact development option I think it's really important to engage the design Community um just to because it is very very technical um and we we are laying out sites and and doing site plans and making sure we have those individuals in the room to make sure we're we're getting that tool correctly and then of course going to our advisory committee having stakeholder meetings having inperson and virtual engagement we'll have more information on all of our social and websites send out emails and so we'll have more information to go to um the committee and Planning Commission in April and May um again the same um same groups uh file uh potential text amendments then and public hearing and Council action in June and July and so with that I am happy to answer any questions me that they'd like to have a discussion with you um we'll start with Miss asmea thank you Madame mayor uh can you go back to the slide where you had a 90% I think it was slide number four so 90% of residential subdivisions submitted are duplexes and triplexes um so this wouldn't apply to those that have already submitted their plans so this would be moving forward how many units approximately are we talking about here um there's probably 1,500 or so um there's a a good number um but again there's a lot of activity and so and I I'll say to a lot of these projects that are being submitted um they look like two and three unit Town Homes um so they're not um in the traditional form of a duplex that you might see in some of our older more established neighborhoods um but yes they're um they would all be so once you sub uh have a complete submittal in then you are held to the regulations that are in place when you submit it thank you um Miss Craig so go back to the slide where it talks about what was the intention um where you had side by side comparison um I think it was one of the first ones which tell me again I'm sorry the slide where it talks about the intent of uh having this in as part of the Udo are you talking about this slide yes right so um certainly I like that with this amendment we will be able to preserve our Rich tree canopy I know that's I've been advocating for it for a while especially our open space um as our city grows at such a fast pace open space and green space continues to be a challenge so having that as part of this amendment would certainly help but at the same time there is another part of the equation which is the housing density right how do we address our affordable housing crisis by having more housing uh density doesn't necessarily mean to your point that 44,000 unit is Affordable but it's more affordable than single family home that would cost 550,000 um I you know I I need to uh understand this more in depth um I don't um at this point I'm I'm just this is a New Concept um I I would need I would need to see more data um because I feel like we just went through this exercise a year or two ago and it's not it's been only 6 months or 8 months and we are back at it again um so I I just um there's lot that we need need to uh unpack here um before I can say hey I'm on board with this but certainly I appreciate how this would help us create more open space green space Also preserve neighborhood's character um and and for projects less than five acres this wouldn't apply right uh right now uh projects less than 5 Acres so two acres or more would be able to use these provisions and we're recommending that we go to five so that um you are getting larger expanses of open space but the compact development option that I talked about would be 2 Acres um and more so again like trying to make sure that we're we're getting that housing Supply and I just wanted to mention too um I just you know want us all to remember that you know we haven't really updated our regulations in 30 years and we're trying to tackle housing affordability and tree canopy and storm water and conservation and so many different things and regulations can be very um the words are very important and very impactful and so a very slight change in a word could mean that you're putting homes on alleys instead of on a public Street and so wanting to make sure we've got that right no that that's fair enough I think having a specific example Alison would help hey um here is an example what would be developed under current uh language that we have what will be developed under this amendment I think having that side by side comparison having an example would certainly help us uh most of us are not planners uh land use experts so I think having that would sort of help me understand what are we trying to get to right um how about infill where it's less than an acre right we often see that uh any changes to that so the infill changes that we're recommending are um in terms of the uses and so the only changes really would be um limiting triplexes to corners and introducing more Town Homes which are not allowed in our N1 zoning districts so so in terms of um allowing Town Homes limiting triplexes to Corners uh ultimately we are trying to take away density um which rightfully so in certain instances uh but you know we introduced lot of this uh regulations around storm water and uh lot of new ounces that was part of the Udo in Pro with the promise that they'll uh they'll get more density right so I think as part of this overall analysis I think having cost analysis would be also important and we did that exerise as part of the Udo uh I know Mr DRS had asked for cost benefit analysis as part of the Udo exercise I think having that would also be helpful um and having uh this is Udo and what would this be under Amendment from the cost perspective uh that's all I have uh I'll I'll touch base with you oneon-one to really um dig deeper and I just wanted to say too um you know I'm a very strong proponent of affordability and housing Supply and really what we what we've iing density where it's most important and so I think it's really more about um making some adjustments so that we are getting housing Supply in the areas that are most important and maybe recognizing that in our less intense districts that maybe that's not the place to put um the highest density so yeah no that's that's well said um thank you all all right Mr dggs thank you mayor and uh M Craig thank you so I want to be clear we're talking two things here right one of them is addressing the cluster conservation issue and the other one is the referral um so on the cluster conservation thing uh I I regard this is essentially closing a loophole like we had that provision with a certain idea in mind and the idea idea was that if you could create a contiguous open space for the benefit of people then their their individual homes could be on smaller Lots uh that's not what we're getting so we're on a faster track to try and address that uh the concern I have Miss Craig is that we uh exclude the uh plans that we think are um you know not respectful of our intent but without denying our original purpose right so if someone comes along with a plan that does align with what we intended previously is that going to have to change because of what you're suggesting or would that plan still work so I mean the plan so it depends on if it's been submitted or not and so I mean anything that's been submitted would follow uh past regulations but we would work with other individuals that may be in a preliminary stage of sketch plans or like preliminary designs to talk to them about how how to meet those the new the updated regulations but what I'm saying is if somebody comes along with a brand new plan that was fine according to what we intended is that now not going to work because of changes that you're making in order to combat what we consider to be improper I mean if they've designed the site without buffers without public streets um without adequate open space then they will they will have to make some adjustments if this amendment is passed um and it probably will result and um a reduction in units so uh that's a little more than just excluding the things we didn't want and that that's that concerns me a little bit uh the other question I had was roughly uh and and we talked about this a little bit but how much extra density are people getting because of the fact that they're doing this the way they are like or or putting it differently if we now apply the new rules to some of these plans every site's different it depends on how it shaped and what the Topography is and all those sorts of things so I've seen anything from a 15 to a 30% reduction but it really depends on the site and that's just an initial stab and I'm sure a site designer would probably have assume it was about 20% the under the old uh so um talking about the effectivess uh you said we would work with people we need to be pretty specific about who can proceed and who can't right and so given that we only have a six- week line there are going to be people who have been working on something for a while right so are we going to make clear what can still move ahead and what can't or is the intention on May 20th that that's it uh nothing else passes I mean I I think that because of the concerns that we have for things like emergency access and um maintenance of streets and things that I think are really iCal for people who may not even understand that um when they purchase a house or they rent a house in in the neighborhoods I think it's I think what we're trying to do is make sure that we are protecting those individuals so uh this will be discussed in the Udo advisory committee it it has been in March it was discussed yes okay uh so I'm just interested to hear if there's an industry response there and uh make sure that's part of our overall deliberation so as to the three recommendations are those the uh uh is is that your answer to the referral or is that just I mean it will it be more related to the referral or those really the only things that we we should expect uh at this point these are the three things that I think we should be prioritizing I think again it's right sizing um where we want housing we've heard some concerns about some large developments um with duplexes and triplexes and really intense development in the ET DJ um we've heard a lot of um a lot of concerns there but we also have heard from our housing Advocates how important housing Supply is and then we're in a market right now where town homes are they're being financed they're being built and they're providing home ownership opportunities and I I think that these three recommendations really will address the concerns while still allowing for us to um to say that we're implementing our vision and making sure we're providing housing and those would apply for two acres on up the compact two acres and more but again I mean these are early Concepts that we want to work that one in particular needs to be um worked through with the design and development of community because it is so technical um and then we can talk uh of course with more broadly about just the policy implications of of allowing these in areas in targeted areas where we want to grow I mean some of this goes right back to what we were talking about so heatedly a couple of years ago but uh I'm glad at least that we are now uh yeah tackling those things but uh uh thank you for that good presentation thanks Miss watlington thank you I've got a couple of things um firstly I think that in terms of effective date that's really up to how many of us around the DI are happy to have it go into effect so I think we can talk about those kinds of things in terms of when we'll see those changes I'm myself am fine to um to go ahead and have this new update effective upon approval but I'm open to conversations about what that Runway could look like um my question for you Allison is on slide four where it talks about the 90% residential subdivisions I'd love to see where those are sure um we can we I don't have a map in the deck um but we have mapped that and I'd be happy to provide that in a followup awesome um and then my next question uh or not so much a question more of a comment on slot five what jumps out to me even as you mentioned that the 2023 increase in multif family is not necessarily reflective of the Udo um I find it interesting that we have this activity and I wonder how do we match and map that towards what our true goals seem to be in the beginning which was about missing middle and about affordability because to your point where a lot of these are being built it really attracts a different type of customer not necessarily uh those folks who are not able to pay that market rate or that luxury uh price point so I just wanted to hear your comments on on that what do you think is driving this multif family piece is it just the the market irrespective of our policy I think it's it's an a a few different things I think there was a lot of of pinup demand um from the pandemic I think that there was a lot of interest in um living in South End I mean there's a ton of people moving to South End um I think it I mean certainly a function of us resoning the blue line um and having to by right and having that Transportation um available there I think that also drove things so I think it's it's that you have um maybe less of a I think some of our our younger generation may prefer uh to not live in a single family home um they are looking for something that's more about the experience and less about their space and so we see that with these smaller lot subdivisions as well as apartments and so there really wasn't any other option so it's either a multif family or was a single family home and that they may want something in between so but we didn't have that ability so people were going to Apartments so it's a number of different things but again I think that everything that I've heard and learned in in the market is just that there is no lending for multifam so I mean we'll probably have another spike in 2024 because you're going to have a lag you know but then it's going to come back down okay I also think it's interesting that um if you look at the numbers now it's about 38% more expensive still to purchase a home versus renting so I think that's certainly prohib which speaks to the need in my opinion for more ownership um options my next question is about slide six and I know I've asked you this before but I just want to um offer it up again um I would love to see our peer cities who maybe have not implemented some of these increased density because I want to see what impact that has on the price differential between single family detached and town homes because certainly as there are fewer and fewer single family detached of course I would expect their price to rise but I'm very curious to see um if we can understand what role that that density policy has in creating a price differential or minimizing it sure then as I go over to um slide 11 so looking at these two if I'm understanding it correctly and please correct me if I'm wrong the intent is for the same space to have the same number of units it's just that there because the lots are smaller you get more green space so there's different approaches to conservation particularly over time I mean I think in the most uh like when it was originally conceived it was that it's the same number of units but um you know a lot more open space and I think now the way conservation is leaning I think there's an allowance for more a little more density as long as there's a significant and uh meaningful amount of open space provided I don't think we care as much about is it you know is it 10 for 10 or is it 10 for 15 it's more about like what you're actually saving on the side so right and so I think this is very much a win-win and that it preserves open space it preserves permeable surfaces but also you don't necessarily see less units you see smaller lot sizes which should translate to a more affordable product um so I I'm happy to see these particular changes when it comes recommendation number one on slide 16 I just want to call out there that as you mentioned wed to make sure that we still preserve the character of existing neighborhoods I wanted to know how you all are thinking about subdivision in particular what do you mean when you say subdivision because there are places in our city where we have neighborhoods and then there are adjacent areas that may be completely different in character in terms of that development but they flow together as if they were one neighborhood so how are we thinking about delineating I understand infill um and neighborhood character but as we talk about TR transitioning from one neighborhood to another how is that how are you all thinking about that so that's one of the things that we're wanting to add in the conservation is allowing more um more transition area and so this compact development option um you know prioritizing uh development where we need it the most maybe that transition is a little bit different or smaller than it might be for conservation we This Is A New Concept for us and I think it's going to take us a little bit of time to develop but I you know we're trying to find that happy medium between researching it and analyzing it but also recognizing that um we need more housing and attached housing is an option and is important for town homes and Home Ownership so um like we need to we need to have a tool for that but um we don't need to rush it but we need to find a solution absolutely so I would just up as you all are figuring that out and I know like you said you don't have all the answers but um let's think about not only what's in neighborhoods and avoiding infield development that doesn't match but also thinking about how those neighborhoods even if their subdivisions connect to each other and their impact on each other um on slide 18 where you talk about um limiting triplexes to corners or really you can go to slide 19 where you've got the um yep here so I'm curious as to an in a through C or a through D really I see that you're making you're recommending that we make the change from triplexes allowed to triplexes on the corners only why are Town Homes not included here or are they baked in to a3d so um when we when the Udo went into effect um Town Homes outside of like I think two buildings were only allowed in neighborhood 2 and so we really went back and thought through policy and look through our goals and think that really what the policy was intending to do was to allow higher density or higher intensity residential development in our higher intensity zoning districts and so right now you can't outside of a couple buildings um unless you're you know um unless you rezone to N2 you can't do town homes and so we think it's important to introduce back so then I would I mean I'll say this that I could be more comfortable with allowing town homes and some of those lower intensity uses particularly because they provide an ownership option um versus the trioplex is on the corner so I don't know what the rest of council feels in that way but I would welcome TR Town Homes as an option in the lower intensity areas as long as they're done obviously with respect to the um character of those neighborhoods um and then just in general as I link this back to the conversations we were having earlier with the budget I think we've got to think about strategically how do we link our dollars to our development policy um and if these are the types of development that we are trying to um encourage that has to show up in how we incentivize development all the way through our budget and our bond cycle as well um one of the other things that just as we're having those conversations that I think is important to think about is beyond just new development how do we use our dollars to not only direct new development but also uh leverage existing development because we know that there are there are vacancy rates in a lot of these buildings and so we don't necessarily have to subsidize building new ones but we probably need to figure out how to um further leverage the programs that we have that are specific to letting people uh or creating attractiveness of allowing folks into these uh vacant prop vacant units and some of these existing um properties does that make sense thank so much thank you madam mayor and uh M Craig thank you very much for the presentation and thank you for for meeting with me last week so I don't have any questions really um um I have some comments I would like to make for the for the record um and to some of my colleagues um you know one of the things that we said we would do when we passed the Udo and we acknowledge is that it was not a perfect document and that there will be steps along the way where we would have to make amendments or changes um based on what we saw happening on the ground and we've done that before and I think the first text amendment that you outline uh is another example of you know saying what's happening on the ground uh and mediate making um the appropriate corrective action uh to ensure that we keep the Integrity of the Udo moving forward so I think that's really appropriate um uh number two A and B gives me a little bit of heartburn um because it's it's almost like deja vu right uh and you know part of what we said was that the 20 240 plan that we had adopted and the Udo was not for how we are living today but how we see our city and people and planning live tomorrow 2040 2050 2060 and making the tough decisions necessary today uh for a better tomorrow and so um um um part of what I think we have and I think we've done that right uh and and I'm opening for Amendment and changes um but you know part of what I think as a council that we have to do uh for the development community and our residents and our neighborhoods is as relates to the Udo and planning is provide a level of certainty that people understand what the rules of the games are and that we don't uh change the rules in the middle of the game and and have people go back and redo their work I think that's that doesn't BS well for Charlotte as a a um a friendly Community um to do business in from a development perspective and on a Bach um um Pro development plan growth plan development um good infrastructure get land use policies um good vision for the community right I think that's what makes our community grow uh and prosperous and so I'm I'm a little concerned that we got the onion out and that we're peeling it back and I'm almost certainty um starting tomorrow uh we're going to get a lot of um phone calls right um because of the uncertainty of uh what what people can do and what they can't do and with the the future holes the Udo in itself was a series of compromises uh among developers and residents and even members of this Council went back and forth in terms of trying to get a a document that wasn't perfect but a document that we all agree that we can move forward with um and and we did that so I hope that as we go back to the community that we're really intentional in terms of the community engagement um with a wide variety of audience and to ensure that we have some certainty um that that timeline we try to address um so that we can make a decision yay or nay sooner than later um so people can have an understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it and uh and they can understand what the rules of the games are so um you know um I'm a team player right so I'll go along with it but you know some of the questions that I've heard and talking to my colleagues before this meeting is I mean we're we're getting in the weeds and you know been there done that thank you yeah thank you I mean it is um we did know that by you know changing and updating our regulations like we haven't really done that um we weren't going to get everything right and I completely agree with you about certainty I mean the community wants certainty the development Community wants certainty Council wants certainty and so um I think I think we're just in a period where implementation is new and so we're learning and we're trying to make um informed and data driven decisions and I think um they'll this will not remain this way I think it's just about making sure we're getting it right and so I but I'm I I appreciate your point Johnson thank you Madame mayor um I I really appreciate appreciate the presentation I think that um some one of the things you said that one of the things that that might have been overlooked was and you can repeat it if I if I paraphrase in correctly but we didn't Focus initially on where those high density needs should be and I know that as one of the council members that was opposed to the Udo was for that reason I think some of these CH I know that some of these challenges were foreseeable and I think that that's all that we were trying to communicate um you said development where we need it the most can you define that please I mean we may all have different opinions about what that looks like but I do think that it is very important to have housing next to Transportation options um and so I think that's key which is why we um we rezoned along the blue line is making sure that we're connecting housing and transportation because that's a real cost I also think um the activity centers that are outlined in the comprehensive plan and um in the policy map are areas where we're focusing um on creating that 10-minute neighborhood and it's also you heard earlier today Ed talking about the Strategic investment areas and he mentioned centers like we're trying to connect the dots of um of infrastructure and housing and density and so by really focusing on those centers I think we're trying to complement those and so um those would be the first things that come to mind but there are there may be others as we start to talk to the community that we may need to think about so one of the things that I would add is let's take a look at the infrastructure so I think that was just an important piece and that's why we pushed for the infrastructure discussion if we can balance the the infrastructure capacity if you will or or uh funding or plan with these these high density areas I think that's what we talk about when we when we say responsible and strategic development um and looking at the map can you show a picture of the map or the slide with the map please one of the things that council member ashme said she talked about a comparison I'd also like to see that comparison um what was allowed in that neighborhood before or just more definition if we could get more definition and council member watlington mentioned it or asked that question also so single family duplexes and triplexes on Corner lots and N1 a through n1d so prior or right now quad plexes are only allowed on arterial roads is that correct so that kind of detail if you can um give us that information so the proposal is that quad plexus would be allowed on the same Lots where were duplexes and we haven't quite figured that out so quadruplexes are are um sometimes like there's there actually a a good picture of one on the bottom right here um I think a lot of a lot of in in the past they were buil is like two up two down so it's like the same footprint as a duplex um it's a great product product particularly um when like in the U we talk about it requiring an affordable unit in order to build them so we are but then they're also sometimes built and in four in a row so it's essentially a 4unit town home and so I we are still trying to figure out what we might want to change with that but um I appreciate you connecting me with um a developer that's wanting to do something like that and is struggling because it's not allowed and seems like a great product um and a great certainly she's talking about handicapped accessible and affordable and so I didn't get into that because it's kind of a Nuance part of it but we are looking looking at that and maybe expanding because right now they're only allowed in all the districts on an arterial with an affordable unit so is that and so we need to see that if this if this change is going to be that be the same or if you're considering it consider something different but we just haven't figured that out yet okay so we'll get more detail on that and then I was a little confused I heard I heard three different things um for this change I heard two acres or more five acres or more or one acre or more so what can you like explain the the changes um y that you're proposing so conservation development and that's you know where we're reducing the lot sizes that would be 5 Acres or more so that your your the the area that you're conserving for open space and tree save is higher there's a compact development option um in priority areas which you know we'll continue to talk about that would be two acres or more because I think those are probably smaller projects um adjacent to centers or adjacent to transportation and then there's the change um this last one about right sizing housing diversity and so this is would be for infill lots and for or new subdivisions those those three um those three changes and that's one acre or more no this I mean so um this would be on infill lot so like an individual lot that's in any neighborhood from in one8 and so it could be 10,000 square fet half an acre it just depends on what the lotting pattern in in that particular district is that's what I what I don't want to see or I don't think residents want to see is a quad allowed on a a small infill lot make sure we were going to stay away from that okay y um and as far as and we had this conversation on our small group meeting the housing demand for single family um I'm I'm with council member watlington when we talk about the the sales versus the demand those sales or the closing don't necessarily illustrate the demand I I I think because there's just it's kind of a limited product at this point right so how do we increase the number of single family U development in in the city is there a plan for that I mean do we that that's what I'd like to see I'd like to still if we can um take a look at single family development we heard that Goldman Sachs presentation I don't know if you've had a chance to pull that but we want we don't want to R run the risk of having too much multifam in the city and we have vacancy rates so i' still CU we hear from residents we if we' still like to um if there's a market for it if we can incentivize build Builders I don't know what that looks like but I think that single family is still there's still a market for that and then lastly if the Market's changing and we have so much multif family pending do developers have an option to I guess to come back and and give us a a new petition or is there is there a plan or an option for them to reconsider what's being built is that just the regular uh Redevelopment process or what can happen because I know there's a lot of multifam pending development in District 4 if there are any developers that you know want to take advantage or recognize the need it's it's their plan or what what would happen so any any project that had gone through the resoning process for multif family and they wanted to do something different they would have to come back before you all with a new plan and a new public hearing and a new vote and so in order to change course like that if it's a conditional plan they would have to come back are we seeing that because I I think we've talked about one multif family development in my district that because of the market needed to change or the developer was looking I guess to sell the project or are we seeing that um right now are you seeing I mean we're seeing some or I mean and there are still people that are going through and wanting to just keep their entitlements and wait and see how the market transpires and so it's hard to say because it's the financing conditions that are very challenging right now and so I think a lot of developers are kind of waiting to see how that plays out so do you have a list of petitions that are delayed or um I mean we could certainly go back and look at approved projects and reference back to those that haven't started um the develop the permitting process I mean that's probably something that we could create I'd like to see that for District 4 at least I don't know what the other U council members would like to see but I would like to see that okay thank you that's all I have thank you uh I'll just start with by saying I'm a little confused by how these recommendations came from the referral to see how duplexes and triplexes in larger projects developing by right uh are impacted in the Udo but I'll I'll put that aside I'm sure we'll talk about that later um I I just think holistically as I look at all this and I remember back to the two years of very contentious battles that we had over this topic there were a lot of things that many of us saw as fundamental problems with the Udo that made this moment and the moments we're still experiencing very anticipatable we absolutely knew there were some things that were coming and we screamed it as loud as we possibly could uh and we weren't able to be successful there but two of the biggest ones were the capping of large development density I.E Heights in certain areas that were not logical some things have been adjusted but really we were very conservative as it related to large projects in density which we knew we needed and we were uh uh very aggressive on small developments this was abolishing single family zoning I think that's the Crux of one of the greatest flaws that we had committed during that time and that's why we had a razor thin vote and I think the biggest lesson everyone learned out of this is don't make massive City changes on a razor thin vote because a lot has to happen and be figured out and if the foundation is not firm on that there's going to be a lot of problems so uh council member Graham left but funny because we were opposed to each other in that two-year period And I find myself in absolute agreement with this statement right now uh on um really you know what's what are the impacts of what we're doing I can't F I mean it hasn't been a full year that this has been the law of the land and we're circling back saying okay well it's time to make these changes now um you know the two goals of the Udo in my terms were simplify the ordinances to the to the building and the and the community at large that's predictability they need the predictability to be able to operate in these worlds and for us to continue being moving you know things around doesn't make a lot of sense and then increasing the units that are available to meet the demand that is growing in Charlotte so for me I mean I have a really big problem I still stand firm on my position from the two years going into this but for staff and for Mr manager for you guys to hear there's two things that will will be non-starters for any thing that I'll vote on I have to have these before I support anything number one is it it can't be an ordinance or a change that says these are the rules for this part of town and these are the rules for another part of town it has to be consistent which is why I I'm just curious at a glance and I'm just seeing this for the first time so I need to have time to talk to staff but you know 2.1 was the abolishment of single family zoning I don't know what's changed between now and less than a year ago that would give us this aha moment but why would we rather than make things more complex just not go back and reverse 2.1 if that's what we're going to do can't be a political reason as to why 2.1 was implemented to begin with it needs to be an actual reason why that isn't the thing we're actually doing or are we trying to soften its wording and say well this part of town it's okay to do that but not here and then number two I don't want to talk about another thing until we get serious about infrastructure we constantly hear this we heard it in the last zoning meeting where these neighbors who are now experiencing all these very anticipatable moments that the Udo has brought they're asking where are you guys at with your responsibilities of water and storm water sidewalks roads all the infrastructure necessary and the answer is we've done nothing since then of materiality compared to how much time we continue spend on the rules to dump rocket fuel on development and growth so I I I appreciate the fact that some of the things we predicted are coming to fruition I don't appreciate it but I recognize it and the wrong answer is to go and try to create here's a little you know thread the needle here there that's how we had the Frankenstein patch welt quilt that was the ordinances before and we are in danger of following down that same path that's that's how these things occur so let's fix it let's fix it correctly now that people seem to be recognizing that all right mayor proam thank you uh Madame mayor and thank you Alison for the presentation and I was able to connect with you last week to ask some specific questions on um on the recommendations here so I I don't really have a lot of questions what I would say though is that on Slide Five where you have the market Trends and we understand the ma macrodynamics that are going on from a economic perspective but you know I think what I'm hearing you say in addition to addressing the conservation portion that's being abused is also saying that we need to be uh ma malleable for diverse housing types and what we're seeing in the in the marketplace overall is you know the Baby Boomers who dominate the employment market and they are prom they dominate dominating the home ownership percentage as a whole they're going to they're exiting out of out of the workforce and downsizing that's a trend that's been occurring and will continue to occur over the next few years conversely we have uh just at a national level you know we have 70% of the Millennials saying they would like like to be homeowners but they can't afford it due to high costs and they don't make enough money and so introducing opportunities for a diversity of housing types in a way that makes um sense and respect the aesthetic and charm of established neighborhoods I think is a is a good strategic Outlook approach so I I'm looking forward to as we continue discussions on this particular um recommendation and hearing from the public as well um what we're hearing the public here in Charlotte say thank you madam mayor all right I think everyone has had an opportunity to speak to the issue thank you very much Miss Craig for bringing this forward um and making these adjustments um we are very fortunate to be in a city that's still growing very fortunate to be in a city that we can still talk about the accommodation for housing supplies we're not perfect but I will tell you Charlotte is above its weight when we talk about these kinds of issues and so I a lot of that has to do with how the staff has approached this and of course there'll be changes but I know that we're in the right direction across this country if you look at anything else any other major city like those that we often visit okay thank you guys um we have one more um closed session to go into so all of you you that are enjoying this wonderful opportunity to sit in these chairs we're going to go ahead and ask you that if you are now participant in this effort and I'm going to ask the City attorney to give us the motion to go into close session if we can if we can have a little moment of I'd like to have a motion to go into close session to instruct City staff and negotiating agents concerning the position to be taken by the city in negotiating the price or other material terms of a contract or proposed contract for the acquisition of real property pursuant to ncgs 143 318 11 A5 so we have a motion do I have a second we have a second all in favor of the motion please raise your hand all right so that's [Music] unanimous [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] w [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] a [Music] I [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] everyone thank you for your patience um sometimes we have time management issues um and so we hope that you will accept that this was one of those times for us and so I want to call to order the Charlotte City Council business meeting for March the 25th and um glad that you actually stay and um didn't leave us right all here so um let me begin um with the call to order and then we will start with introductions and we'll start with our clerk Stephanie Kelly city clerk welcome dimple ashir councilwoman at large good evening I am Marg morina represent District 5 good evening Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening everyone James Mitchell at large Marcus Jones city manager by L serving as mayor good evening and happy holy Dante Anderson mayor Pro Tim district one malcol gram District Two edrees district 7 good evening Victoria watlington at large Patrick Baker City attorney thank you um we begin our meeting with um an invocation that's actually supposed to help us solize what we're doing and make it possible for us to work together for the betterment of our city um this night today we will have the invocation from council member Graham following that if you would like to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance we will have the Pledge of Allegiance so I'm going to recognize Mr Graham thank you madam mayor can we bow our heads please Lord Our God protect us in your spirit strengthen our hearts as especially when we have often have to bear suffering that may may be steadfast in Hope May again experience a day of salvation protect us in every way protect our citizens our Frontline workers and every member of our community in your name we pray amen amen please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance if you choose I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you the next section of our agenda is um what we call our public moment of to have speakers come down and petition the council um as a result of these petitions what happens is that you're given um two minutes to speak and then um we will refer that to the appropriate staff person within the organization who will then follow up with you individually so that we can make sure whatever you petition we get it right um so this is what but we do have protocols for disruptions at our meeting and I'm just going to be um tell you what happens as if we have disruptions so if the speaker um that's down at our podiums we have two they come down the stairs please be careful as you walk down there if you are um um your allocated time to speak is over if you do not stop we will say that you tell you that you are disrupting the meeting and please stop and leave the podium if you still don't stop you're violating gs1 143-30570 um um points that they want to make but we want to ask you to please respect and con continue to address within our rules so that everyone has the opportunity to be heard so with that we are going to start with our um public forum and oh I'm sorry we have a ro and recognition Miss Johnson has is has a recognition for us tonight Miss Johnson okay thank you thank you Madame mayor I am honored for the fourth year in a row to um to a joint proclamation to recognize March as brain injury awareness month and I was kind of hesitant to read it today because I know that there are folks here that want to really come before us and talk about some important issues but one thing that I know that most of us know someone and I in our lives have suffered a concussion or stroke or an anoxic injury so brain injury affects so many in our lives and it can be lifechanging so I'm honored to to um advocate for those survivors and read this today whereas more than 2.8 Americans sustain a brain injury every year and over 5.3 Millions Americans live with a brain injury related disability and where over 880,000 people in North Carolina will sustain a brain injury this year and many survivors will be left permanently disabled and acquired brain injury includes a traumatic brain injury sustained from blunt forc trauma and non-traumatic brain injury is from Strokes aneurysms tumors infections and anoxic injury and whereas active duty in reserved military members are at an increased risk for sustaining brain injury compared to their civilian peers whereas research on Abused Women shows that 40 to 90% of the victims of domestic violence suffer physical injuries to the head and whereas research shows that up to 50% of the homeless individuals and 25 to 87% of incarcerated adults report experienced the physical injury to their head and whereas public awareness and understanding of the dangers prevention and treatment of these injuries and effects on the family are critical to help aid individuals in recovery now therefore we F Alexander ly mayor of Charlotte and George Dunlap chair of the mecklinburg board County Commissioners do hereby Proclaim March 2024 as brain injury awareness month in Charlotte and mecklinburg county county and commend its observance to all citizens thank you thank you m Johnson so now we're going to open it up for our public forum um I'm going to call two names down at each um so that you can come down and have it each on on each either side and um you will have two minutes for speaking and I'd like to um recognize Reverend James Barnett along with Tim rhs Mr rhs thank you Reverend Barnett it's good to see you good to see you mayor and council members I want to thank you for affording me the opportunity to come before you I came prepared with a 3 minute speech been a long time since I've been here so it's 2 minutes I'm going to make it short and get on out out of the way uh first of all I want to say thank you to all of the council members who have addressed this the murder rate in the city of Charlotte and around the country we the Stop The Killing Crusade believe that the only way you can solve this problem the faith community has to be involved and we are calling upon the faith community to to get involved I put in your package of of headline from the newspapers of 2001 when the Latino Community had a murder rate of 27% they came to us and now the Latino murder rate is down less than 10% what we said is that once we care we Unity we can get things done so we come to you today after 36 years out here fighting 45 years after the ever magazine publication on black on black crime so I'm coming publicly to invite you to a program we're having on April the 21st they called unity in the community we're inviting Pastor shy ceson to come we're going to have a big praise and worship service uh cing the community to come together particularly the faith community to come and take the lead and help to decrease the murder rate I want to say Mel thank you for all you've done to support us and all the other members on the council that has supported us uh we're getting back out here and we're going to win this battle nobody can save us from us but us thank you for allowing me to have my two-minute speech in my three minute time thank you very much for coming Road mayor lyes council members and city manager Jones Thank you for allowing me a couple minutes to say hello my name is Tim rhods I'm the managing partner of the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon I just wanted to take a minute tonight to say thank you for allowing us the privilege of showing off the best of Charlotte North Carolina the nant health Charlotte Marathon runs through Uptown East over Myers Park dillworth Southend Villa Heights Plaza Midwood NOA and I've probably missed a couple the economic impact of this event this past year was almost $2 million and we were able to donate $138,000 to local charities including our Flagship charity the Novant Health HMI children's hospital after 19 years the city has played a big part of our success from the Charlotte meinberg Police Department to the Department of Transportation the Charlotte Regional visitors Authority and the sanitation department just to name a few in 2023 we welcomed Runners from 43 States and the District of Columbia plus 13 countries we have experienced 30% year-over-year growth the past two years and this year our 20th year we expect over 9,000 participants we offer a full half a full Marathon a half marathon a 5K and relays so that there's something for everyone including you so I want to extend an invitation maybe not so sure about that well we just want to invite you to come on down and if you don't want to run you can cheer and be a part of the festivities November 16th and we start and finish in uptown Charlotte just again wanted to say thank you we appreciate it and we're honored to represent the city of Charlotte thank you very much our our next speakers are adash excuse me as and angr is all right so we we'll have another I'm Cindy M satel Mindy Mindy Mindy s oh my God Mindy satel in that kind of day okay Mindy all right it's gross good evening mayor lyes city manager and city councilman my name is Anne gross I am a volunteer president and founder of a nonprofit all volunteer group called friends of feral felines we have been in existence 25 years and we assist our citizens to work with these outdoor Community cats who are stray unowned or feral meaning they're afraid of people they get spay and neutered and vaccinated for rabies and distemper they get a left ear tip for identification this program is being done throughout the United States and Europe it's considered the state-of art treatment for the cats uh we since um January of this year have done 292 cats with citizens of our our um community and we'd like to thank sincerely our Charlotte Animal Care and Control um because they opened up at the end of January eight spay neuter vaccination clinics for um the community cats a week they'll do eight cats and quarterly they'll do a high volume clinic for up to 40 cats now this might not seem like an important thing to do in Charlotte but without this program these cats are proliferating and this program will protect them from disease it'll protect our community and it is a very worthwhile program um it uh finally it reduces the community cat Pro uh Community cat population because they are no longer reproducing and so it's a win-win situation we just want our s today is that we have the city funding like a line item budget for animal control thank you very much continue thank you all right thank you all right Mr ta greetings mayor l s and council members I'm Mindy satel a recently retired physician actually a neurologist and sleep doctor the head injuries um I'm here today as a volunteer with friends of feral felines we are deeply concerned about the population explosion of our City's unowned cats it's staggering that if unchecked two cats can become 2 million in a span of 8 years trap n to return is glob recognized as a Humane approach effective TNR stabilizes then reduces populations resulting in healthier remaining cats it decreases shelter Admissions and alleviates euthanizing healthy felines euthanasia is ineffective as well as emotionally and financially draining for all social inequities often impact the density of our community cats in large part due to insufficient ient affordable and accessible spay neuter Services the good news is that Logistics have recently been identified which optimize TNR Effectiveness across a diversity of municipalities Logistics include intensive targeting of areas with the greatest cat density this requires coordination and timely Affordable Veterinary Services we plead for permanent line item funding for sufficient services facilities and logistics for the best effectiveness of TNR details of municipalities with successful programs are provided in your packets dedicated funding along with committed volunteers befit our beautiful thriving City our approach to community cats reflects our ability to come together as a community for the good thank you for your consider than you thank you very much our next two speakers are Kelsey Joseph and Tanika nich Nicholson go please okay Council thank you for your time and service my name is Kelsey Joseph I'm a dedicated Community member that volunteers with several organizations uh addressing home homelessness food insecurity and Animal Welfare one of those is Friends of Charlotte meinberg Animal Services helping animal care and control as they are in constant crisis despite having an outstanding nationally recognized leadership team this is what I want to talk to you about today because it affects some of our most vulnerable populations animals who cannot help themselves and our neighbors who are struggling to meet their own basic needs in 2017 you approved a budget for a new shelter and then those funds were reallocated we've been pleading for a year now for you to make ACC a priority again I along with many others have invited you to come toward the shelter and some of you have and we greatly appreciate that for those who haven't I brought some shelter information and images to you tonight the first photo in your folder was taken on July 3rd when most City staff members were celebrating the 4th of July with their families ACC staff would was euthanizing dogs lifting them into wheelbarrows and then shoveling their bodies into the incinerator which the second photo illustrates this is a daily Occurrence at the shelter I'm sure you can empathize with the emotional toll that takes on City staff in our community the next page in that packet includes a list of progressive programs that ACC implements these are recognized in the Animal Welfare field for being creative and life-saving however their abilities are limited why why because ACC is chronically underfunded the ACC leadership team knows how to mitigate these problems what they need is your support financially and structurally to do so so I'm asking you to please make animal care and control an independent city department and increase its budget we do not have time for advanced planning and waiting another seven plus years thank you thank [Music] you Ana Nicholson yes thank you good evening honorable members of the city councils May allows um ATA Nicholson stand before you today to address a critical need within our community transitional housing for young women age 18 to 25 as we strive to as we strive for equality and diversity it is imperative that we recognize and address the unique challenges fac by this vulnerable Dem demographic for many young women transitioning into adulthood their Journey can be Frau with uncertainty and instability without adequate support systems in place they may find themselves at risk of homelessness exploitation and other forms of harm transitional housing offers a Lifeline a safe and supportive environment where these young women can rebuild their lives and pursue their dreams transitional housing provides more than just a roof over their heads it offers a wraparound Services tailored to their specific needs from life skills training educational support to mental health counseling and career guidance these programs can Empower young women to break the cycle of poty and adversity by investing in Second Chance living I planted a seat called second chance living it's for young women um we only investing we're not only invested in their Futures but also in the future of our community when these women are given the tools and resources they needed to succeed they become active contributors to society enriching our neighborhoods and driving excuse me positive change I urge the city council to prioritize the development and funding of transitional housing programs for young women aged to 18 to 25 together let us create a brighter and more Equity future for all members of our community thank you for your attention consideration thank you very much our next speakers are Patrice Coleman and Stephanie Lance and it's Janice Hayes give me your name please Stephanie loss all right um is Patrice Coleman available all right so Janice Hayes Janice Hayes okay um and so then we'll go with n sh okay Miss Coleman please yes please miss L okay yes uh good evening city council members and mayor PM my name is Stephanie loss and I represent the still bbery Acres neighborhood which is located about a half mile from the airport my community is concerned about the lack of notice to Residents regarding the resoning petition only one resident received a notice had that one resident not informed me this could have been passed last week with practically zero Community involvement which is very concerning to me while this while this one petition might not seem like a big deal it's actually a piece of a much larger puzzle around airport development and expansion future plans could include resulting of a historic Cemetery from residential to Commercial and turning old Still Creek Presbyterian Church into a logistics Center that would eventually host 6 to seven large warehouses in our community what we are asking for is more transparency and to afford our neighbors the opportunity for Community engagement I feel the next meeting should be a comprehensive meeting with developers NC doot CDA and hopefully the continued support of Count Council Members Brown Johnson and Mayfield there is a lot of great things included in the future plans in my opinion but my concern is the lack of transparency and that our community has had no involvement we need more information and simply have not been forwarded that opportunity thank you for your time and consideration thank you very much for your remarks thank you dear respected mayor and council members thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak I'm Dr nvar hematologist Medical oncologist taking care of patients with cancer and blood disorders in Charlotte I'm a Palestinian American doctor with deep roots in Palestine and I have been taking care of American patients for the last 30 years I have large family including Five Sisters still living in West Bank so this is very personal to me just last week my nephew was shot and killed by the Israeli military he was only 16 years old as a cancer doctor I frequently see patients who struggle or simply cannot pay for their cancer treatment it baffles me how this country my country continues to continue to send billions of dollars every year to kill and displace my family yet my patients in America cannot afford cancer treatment here in Charlotte I see it day by day this is our sixth month asking you to listen to us and introduce our ceasefire resolution since cities as far as Chicago and San Francisco and as close as Durham and Boon have passed ceasefire resolution you may ask why we keep coming month and after month just last week Canada affirmed it will no longer SEAL weapons of or provide military a to Israel this sliber slope has just started and will cause the same Rebel that it did when tbling upper tide South Africa just a few weeks ago as active duty Air Force serviceman by the name of Aaron bushel passed away in a courageous show of protest against this genocide his last words where I will not be complicit in this genocide will you dear mayor and council members as your constituents it is your duty to stand with us if we continue to fall on De ears please do not come asking for our votes in November in passing his fire resolution better late than ever it is morally right thing to do and probably beneficial to you all it might help you to be liberated thank you very much [Applause] next I can I can call our next our next speaker is Mitchel bog Mel bog and um Josef see you see you can you tell me your name because I want to make sure we get the next Mitch Mitch and then the next speaker is youf has Nissa no so um then would be Jenna aad thank you the letter come down those steps and Mr belag you have two minutes thank you my name is Mitch bleg as a constituent and as a Jew I stand before you with a heavy heart urging you to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza the continued attack on the entire civilian population of Gaza is a clear case case of genocide and is one of the few examples in modern history of starvation being used against an entire population as a tool of war and oppression other forms of collective punishment are routinely used and war crimes such as domicide attacks on hospitals and the entire Health Care Network destruction of all civilian structures of government and human services Mass and indiscriminate bombing of civilians are occurring every day how many Jewish children would we allow to be slowly starve to death not only in front of our eyes but funded by our tax dollars I think we all know the answer to that question in the meantime over 12,000 gazen children have had their young lives snuffed out while we debate whether or not we can take this one simple step it is really the very least we can do what is happening is a disgrace to our civilization and a stain on our Collective Humanity passing this resolution is not a political act it is a reaffirmation of our common humanity and basic decency we must act now we don't have another day to wait thank you thank you my name is Jenna aad I'm a Palestinian American and resident of mechur County I moved to North Carolina in 2022 where I've been practicing as a pediatric speech language pathologist I have dedicated my career to teaching children how to communicate and Achieve self-determination I chose this field because of my passion for justice I have and never will be the one to stay silent through Injustice whether it be in my career or through active activism for all oppressed people every single day since October 7th for the past 170 days we wake up to the most disturbing and horrific images and videos of Palestinian children being massacred and yet I proceed to get dressed go to work where I spend my days putting on a smile trying to be the best speech therapist I can be for the children that I serve all while mourning the thousands of men women and children brutally murdered in my homeland paid and backed with our tax dollars we know longer need to read you the statistics of this brutal genocide for you to know that it is a genocide we all see what is happening and your wful ignorance is not an excuse I'm disgusted and Disturbed that the bombs used to ethnically cleanse Palestinians are funded by our tax dollars I refuse to accept that not one of you can stand up and advocate for the injustices that are occurring under under your noses you claim that city council does not address political matters but somehow you have the power to amend city code ordinances that criminalize our first amendment rights and which got me wrongfully arrested and now somehow you do not have the ability to sign a paper that states we condemn the killing of innocent children every single one of you are complicit in this genocide as an ed educator of our youth as a resident of meinberg County as a citizen of this country and as a Palestinian I insist that you answer the demands of the people of Charlotte and stand with the sight of justice and Humanity by passing a ceasefire resolution free [Applause] Palestine our our next two speakers are Micah balang and PR Hagman Micah um okay and S Ernie ER Sal okay thank you uh my name is Preston Hagman I represent the ACR the air airport Community Round Table we represent a series of professionals both Pilots uh Community leaders uh to to better the noise abatement procedures at Charlotte airport we came here a few months ago and told you about the part 150 study that's going to be released this summer as like any big study that's been going on for two years that's going to be delayed I did bring some paperwork I was going to hand at the end of this for you to see the new schedules and for there's so much information that we've done over the last few months trying to increase uh the north flow South flow departures on Divergent paths to really minimize the uh impact of Noise with all the the traffic that's coming out especially with the fourth parallel Runway coming out of Charlotte that's going to increase the amount of traffic significantly that comes out of Charlotte airport so again we have all the community leaders we've uh been talking to the Tower and Tron to see how we can modify the flight paths we've already had success in raising the limits of some of the intersection by a th000 ft which actually lowers the decb in the surrounding communities and again with that fourth parallel Runway coming up the amount of traffic that's going to be uh uh just overwhelming our communities how we can mitigate those both the arrivals and departures just simple little things like if we can keep keep airplanes going up the center of the uh the lake so not to uh have an effect on the on the communities and turn higher and the same thing in an approach so we're not coming against the the communities so again the main thing for me coming here today is to notify you that the part 150 is going to be delayed a few months we not we're not sure when when but it was supposed to be at the end of May now it's probably going to be later in the summertime so uh again I put lots of information for you you to digest and we'll see you in a few months thank you let's see appreciate the work that you're doing very much um it's an important part of our our mission to do this well and to get it right thank you all right Miss arony arony hi my name is Salma and I'm a senior at in high school um I'm here to share with you guys a perspective that I believe will be useful in making your decision on the ceasefire um so first of all I've heard there's a lot of opposing opinions sharing that it's unnecessary to pass a resolution because the city council can't solve a war but that's not true um to me it's about recognizing the pain of your civilians uh in my government class in the first week or two we read lock one of the documents that spoke out to me was that he shared citizens give the government power it's not just Charlotte that would be recognizing the violence but International cities as well and as we speak other City councils have passed a resolution about a 100 um I'm here today because I know you guys have these titles because you genuinely care about your people and the City of Charlotte I know you'd want to keep them safe and validate their feelings people here and at home have either been physically affected or have lost their direct family and friends if you were to go on your phone right now and look up Palestine I'm sure you'd come across a video of innocent families losing their love ones a woman she went down to go get bread for her family she came back she saw her husband and kids buried Within the Ruins of her home she tried to call them to wake up she tried to do CBR they clearly did not wake up how would you react if that was your family I I would do the same thing I would not believe it I'm sure most of us would do the same your citizens are in pain they are watching their loved ones disappear knowing that they can't save them not just for political reasons passing a ceasefire resolution will validate the pain that your citizens feel it also joined the other 100 US cities that recognize this violence please take responsibility for your title and recognize and work and stand with your citizens that believe in you thank [Applause] you our next item is a public hearing on a resolution to close a portion of Alleyway between Scott Avenue and Fountain View speak I'd like to have Gina colas and Celia Kias um come down to the podium as well as Rich Fel and Greg Watkins can be in this vicinity here um so with that we will go to the item number eight on our agenda for everybody that's up here and this is a public hearing as I said to close a portion of an Alleyway between Scott Avenue and Fountain View Street there was a guy up there that was SZ he kep like this look people in the it was a guy oh yeah yeah I see that he just sent me a personal message on he did he did he text me message all right so who would like to um I have you listed as Gina colas I'm so you will have um I believe is this 2 minutes or 3 minutes Mr Baker I believe it's three minutes three minutes you have three minutes good evening mayor ly mayor protim Anderson and City Council Members my name is Gina colas I'm urging city council to please deny or to continue this petition to abandon the alleyway between Scott Avenue and Fountain View Street our family owns Twin Oaks Shopping Center in front of the alleyway and my late father-in-law Nick colas built Twin Oaks on land that my husband's grandparents had owned um Nick ran Dick's restaurant on Independence Boulevard and started Twin Oaks with dickes Deli then something classic came in and currently Fern flavors from the garden is the main restaurant there and they're an anchor and this this Shopping Center was designed to be anchor to be an anchor Restaurant Center um sunap is planning to put the majority of the Alleyways as they build multif family condos on top the average parking deck entrance height is 7 fet suncap told me told me that there was no way for any of our delivery trucks to access the alleyway from Scott through their parking deck um they said the alleyway would be completely blocked for 12 to 18 months at a minimum during construction so we would be deprived of meaningful reasonable and continuous Ingress and egress on the alleyway for Vital food deliveries and supply chain deliveries Twin Oaks Restaurant ferns receives four deliveries from an 18-wheeler from Cisco every week and you have a copy of the Cisco truck pulling through and Cisco tells us they can only enter through Scott Avenue they they tell us that Fern has to have the deliveries by the 18 wheelers from the type of foods that Fern serves and they said there's no way they can enter on Fountain View because it's too narrow they can't turn the 18-wheeler around and they and there's also a hill that comes in on that side the topography they said it would be too dangerous for their 18-wheeler to stop and block east Boulevard with their flashers they said that average delivery is 22 minutes so we are a commercially zoned shopping center and it's our property zoning right to have reasonable and continuous commercial access and to expect us to have deliveries um from our supply chain for our tenants and our customers Amazon trucks can't get through a parking deck UPS trucks can't get through the parking deck our dumpster trucks can't get through the parking deck and the dumpster has to come in uh perpendicular to the dumpster to to dump um we have other box trucks that won't be able to come in so um the other thing is is sunap could raise the height of their parking deck to allow delivery for our trucks or they could create a walking bridge between the condos over the alleyway thank you very thank you very much all right Celia colas thank you my name is cilia Kias I'm the granddaughter of the late Nick colas a Charlotte restaurer my grandfather graduated from Myers Park High School in 1955 and I graduated from Myers Park High School in 2015 about 35 years ago my grandfather directed the design and build of Twin Oak Shopping Center on East Boulevard between SCA Avenue and Fountain View Street Twin Oaks was built on land that belonged to my great grandparents and at the time was home to two beautiful oak trees hence the name Twin Oaks one Oak was sadly destroyed by Hurricane Hugo and the mother Oak has since been preserved as a sculpture in honor of my grandfather's memory before the council today is a resolution to close the alleyway between Scott Avenue and Fountain View Street the alleyway directly behind Twin Oak shopping center I stand before you to speak on two points regarding that resolution the points are one procedural notification and two the public interest the procedure for permanently closing streets and alleys statute 16- 299 states that a copy of the resolution must be quote sent by registered or certified mail to all owners of property adjoining the street or alley end quote prior to the public hearing please note it doesn't say portion of street or alley it says the street or alley all of the owners of property adjoining the alley did not receive a copy of the resolution by mail prior to this public hearing therefore the procedural requirements of Statute 160 a-29 99 are not met these procedural notification requirements exist to Foster respect and to encourage good neighborly Behavior they are important and they have not yet been completely fulfilled my second point is about the public interest the portion of Alleyway between Scott Avenue and Fountain View Street should not be abandoned without an easement for delivery truck Ingress and egress that Alleyway is a vital artery for small businesses in the area and the current plan for abandonment is a death Nell against those businesses and therefore against the public interest there are paths forward for development that protect the public interest and this is not one of them I respectfully requesting that you defer the vote on this Alleyway abandonment until such a time that all the parties with Council support can come to a resolution that protects the public interest as well as the commercial property rights of small businesses whose livelihoods depend on reasonable and continuous Ingress and egress of delivery trucks as part of their commercial supply chain thank you for your time thank youel thank you mayor lyes of members of the council thank you for letting me speak it has been a long time and I've really enjoyed this and most of what I do is in court and well you might be in one t night today no seeing this has just been fantastic and I'm grateful for I think you have a a lawyer if you're not already finished law school you must be getting close to getting in it right thank you so I just wanted to say thank you it's been a joy to watch and I appreciate what y'all do um we do understand or I do understand that progress is progress in this development when I was first asked to look at it I looked at the alley and the alley has been in disrepair for a long time and this development is going to clean it up and it's going to turn a 10-ft alley into a 24t permanent easement going from Scott to Fountain View and that all sounds fantastic uh but then when we were talking about this a week ago when I started to go from Fantastic to a is when I found out that the the Scott entrance is going to be covered and I asked the guys were very forthcoming about what their plans were and I asked what is what does this do can I get a truck through and they said no um so that redoubled my interest in trying to figure out exactly what happens in the alley I haven't had time to do a traffic study but I've sort of done my own traffic study and I've had some of my partners and I have been out at that alley from 6:30 in the morning some days in the middle of the day in the afternoon trying to figure out exactly what goes on back there and is it possible to actually function if we have a restaurant that needs these truck deliveries how do you make that happen I think I'm pretty creative and although I litigate for a living I try to avoid litigation but I can't see how it works I can't make it go so we've been trying to to schedule a meeting to see if there's a way to bridge this if they are if they are insistent on that cover then I don't know what the resolution is but I hope that there is one the when I was talking to them last week we talked about Fountain View as being sort of a pressure release valve for this shopping center a Fountain View uh the earliest I was out there was 6:30 um last week and Fountain View from 6:30 to 6:35 becomes a parking lot it is crazy cuz it's 6:30 they Park 6:31 Park 6:32 they Park 6:33 they Park I Tred to get through Fountain View this weekend to see what you would do to try to get into a full parking lot at the shopping center and could not get down the street so trying to live with just with just Fountain View as a relief valve Beyond just the technical difficulties of getting a truck in there it's not doable we got to have Scott but we got to have Scott for trucks we got to have Scott for larger Vehicles than just cars S I mean I can give you my what passes for my traffic study but what what I found is that there's a car that goes through that alley from Scott to Fountain View every four and a half minutes and I've got six different data points what I'm trying to protect is not like I saw 7:00 in the morning somebody reading his Bible while he was driving through our parking lot I'm not trying to protect that thank you very much for the comments all right all right we have three additional speakers Greg Watkins Patrick Fitz sterl and Gary clayon Mr Watkins yeah his communication Mr Watkins mayor council thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight um I just want to be clear I'm here tonight as a private resident of Fountain View Street and I am opposed to the abandonment um I'm also speaking here on behalf of a number of Neighbors on Fountain View at 1622 1626 1700 and 1708 Fountain View who are also opposed um honestly I'm kind of surprised to have to be here tonight uh when my wife and I saw the abandonment signs go up on our street we uh contacted the city and we told in writing that there would be no change to the connectivity in the alleys that run north south be behind our homes and the East West Connector um that you're hearing about tonight um but this was prior to the public hearing and we thought all was good uh you know we had it in writing that there was no change to the connectivity but now just last week days before the vote on this we uh we learned that the developer was planning to to eliminate access to Fountain View and we just don't understand why the city told us one thing and the developers now proposing something else we agree that the current use of the alleys could be improved behind the suncap property but we just don't see why it should uh come at the expense of private property owners I will say that you know my wife and I we've lived in uh our little Bungalow for 25 years it was built in 19 29 it's the only home we know in Charlotte it we raised our kids in it we hope to retire in it and it's been a great house in neighborhood but our neighborhood is growing fast uh from our front porch we can see four cranes uh two at Atrium and two on a development in East Boulevard and um with all this growth and change you know who is to say how those alleys could could and should be used in the future uh we should not cut off this future connectivity connectivity benefits all residents both old and new and I urge you to help us find a solution here thank you thank you all right Mr Fitzgerald that's right thank you uh good evening mayor lyes uh mayor protm Anderson and City Council Members I speak to you on behalf of the executive board and residents of 1320 Filmore condos which is directly across Scott Avenue from the planned development we are concerned that the proposed resolution will have an adverse effect on our residents together with uh 1315 East condos we represent about 400 residents plus retail and uh office uh uh buildings and office space the two buildings together are bisected by our privately maintained alleyway between Scott and Kennelworth Avenues which services our residential and Commercial traffic the increase in density from the 1401 East project adding about 300 residential units plus retail and office will generate unprecedented traffic on Scott Avenue and East Boulevard unfortunately as proposed a portion of that traffic will shortcut through our alley as people naturally take the shortest route between Scott and Kennelworth our alley has already suffered extensive damage from cut through traffic and required expensive repairs not only passenger vehicles but commercial vehicles delivering to the restaurant shops and residents in both buildings and elsewhere uh occupy take up that that Alleyway throughout the day um even though there are stop signs at the entrance and exit points of our garage uh anyone pulling out of the garage has to be extremely careful not to get hit by other vehicles who are speeding through the alleyway trying to cut across pre previously the developers of 1401 East proposed to mitigate the risky situation by relocating the alley on their property by about uh 20 ft northward encouraging traffic to go up Scott uh which is a one oneway Northbound Avenue thus any Vehicles leaving their property would have to go against traffic on Scott if they wanted to use our alley um but only a few days ago we learned that the developer has recanted and now proposes to leave the alley aligned with ours as it is now they proposed to install a traffic diverter known as a pork chop to channel traffic uh to channel existing exiting traffic north on Scott away from our alley um however we've seen repeatedly where uh where our property is concerned far too many drivers who are taking the shortest route again between two points ignoring the signage and uh creating additional likelihood of uh of automobile accidents and personal injury therefore we strongly oppose and urge you to disapprove of the current plan for 1401 East and instead require the developers to revi revise their plan as it was previously presented to our communities um so that their alley and ours are not aligned and the risk to people in property is minimized thank you thank you Mr clayon and then our next speaker is citarella all right Mr Clayson please feel three minutes good evening uh I'm Gary Classen the president of the 1315 East condo board um The Alley separating 1315 East and the Filmore condos serves more than 260 units it provides regular resident access it allows garbage removal moving vans service trucks and Commercial businesses and we have to compete with vehicles that are cutting through we are not this alley is not able to handle the potential shortcuts for the hundreds of residents planned for this ridiculously high building that is planned for across the street we agree with our Filmore neighbors that the proposed Alleyway should not directly connect with our alley we already have way too many cut throughs the proposed barrier entrance and exit is not going going deter anybody from driving right over the barrier or cutting through from the entrance area when Scott Street is clear we already have to keep calling the city unsuccessfully I might add so that no parking signs um are are followed before the alley allowing us to get onto Scott Street that's already a current problem the new barrier is going to be ignored as well we ask you to find a better solution to this issue um construction issues have been raised today um we do expect that if this new huge building is built you're going to have to find a way to effectively manage all the construction equipment and find parking somewhere for those many workers um these plans are necessary because there is no parking garage availability in the area right now the restaurant and retail stores and parking lots on East Boulevard are not an option um as a volunte here at the Dilworth soup kitchen I deliver lunches to the rest to the Charlotte Town Terrace residents um Pearl Park and Baxter Street are inundated with construction worker cars on both sides of the street for the new Medical University um and you probably don't know that narrow that narrow East Boulevard is paralyzed for long periods of time during those periods when utility work was done because drivers were sandwiched into long single Lanes Scott Street Scott Avenue was not a picnic either so unfortunately you'll be hearing about many of these things from area drivers as well in the future um because this needs to be addressed but please fix the alley issue first and realign its location on behalf of the residents in the area thank you very much thank you C mayor mil mayor lyes members of council my name is Ellen cerella and I'm speaking on behalf of the DCA land use committee tonight where I serve as chair you should have received a copy of an email I sent today to Mayor protim Anderson uh laying out the land use committee's position it is as follows we encourage all Property Owners along the affected Alleyway to agree make sure that no one is ignored we are not advocating for any party but we want everyone to work together for the betterment of the neighborhood with council's support we think that can happen we'd like to point out that contrary to the statement published in the resolution to close no letters were sent to property owners who own Parcels along this t-shaped alley in addition this alley closing as presented is contrary to the public interest as you've heard and the property owners in the vicinity of the alleyway will be deprived D of reasonable means of Ingress and egress as required for North Carolina General statute 16- 299 in closing I'd like to thank you for your consideration to this matter and for the work that all of you do on behalf of our city thank you very much our next speaker is Colin Brown Madame mayor council members Colin Brown on behalf of the petitioner uh sunap uh do do we have any visual aids is there this is impossible to follow without looking at something I don't know if there's a copy of this this is helpful so if you all can see the screen and I I handed out some visuals uh in three minute and first of all we're happy to have a hearing we're happy these issues have come about I hope you will not take action tonight I hope that you'll continue we're happy to continue conversations I think as you've heard petitioner has been speaking with Property Owners but I did want to give you a little bit of an orientation if you can see here um this is Scott Avenue this is Fon view I don't know if you the pointer can follow me on this the existing Alleyway is in red and if you go out there today and look for it you will not find it you'll see a parking lot you'll see all kinds of stuff but you would not recognize an alley unless you looked at a plat and found it uh an alley also an alley it's funny runs north uh behind the Fountain View lots and you won't find that either you'll find fences trees power poles there is a a legal alley and so what is going on if you look at this area in red this is what suncap has petitioned to abandon an old 10-ft wide alley that lines directly up with the alley that you just heard the neighbors their concern is these alleys line up so the existing alley lines up with their alley it is 10t wide it cannot accommodate the types of trucks that Miss Kias was talking about so the old alley just doesn't work uh if we decide just to leave that old alley that's fine it will not function and address any of the issues you've heard about what the petitioner proposed was to abandon that red alley and replace it with a new public easement which you see in blue which extends across that is 24 feet wide they are not proposing to abandon the portion of the alley behind the Kass shopping center additionally they've proposed a new easement that would connect to the alley behind the Fountain View Property Owners so the proposal is to aband about 4500 ft of existing alley that's 4500 would go away and this proposal includes new dedication of Public Access of 10,500 ft approximately so dedicating about 2 and a half times the amount of publicly accessible land we've got we've heard I don't know that we'll be able to address all the concerns you've heard uh certainly we need to talk U with the owners we want this shopping center to remain viable uh we think it's a great amenity to the property next door it is true that this Bru Alleyway it does go through our building at this point and so in this area here there would be only eight foot of clearance and no a semi TR could not move through that nor could a semi move through the existing 10-ft alley if we're limited to that uh so we're happy to continue conversations we feel like uh the new area that we're creating in this area will provide more maneuvering uh one of the concerns again we're we're talking about a new Alleyway here to connect up uh to provide Fountain View access to their Alleyway which is currently not used but it could be used in the future and we would have access to that thank you very much all right um that is do I have a motion to close the public hearing Miss Anders we have you might want to continue it I'm I'm sorry I'm going to recognize Miss Anderson for a motion thank you Colin May thank you uh thank you madam mayor um thank all the neighbors for coming out and expressing concern you this issue was really brought up about a month ago after a meeting where Miss colas um became aware of uh you know um the abandonment and began doing um her own studies around traffic flow Etc this is a multi-layered issue uh the first one the first piece of it I I do want to say just across the board not withstanding this particular issue but we have to to correct the whole notification process to neighbors who have not been notified of things like abandonment things like rezoning we just hear that over and over again that um people are completely unaware of it in this particular case I do understand that the coli's property was not deemed an adjoining property and therefore they were not notified but in those cases where it is true we need to address that issue what I will say is that um suncap as a developer has been at the table having multiple discussions and Colin has been present as well um with small business owners with u residents and with the DCA and we have made some progress so there is some some positive progress throughout this process however there's still a lot to be uh addressed and dealt with and we need to ensure that the residents along that Fountain View area have reasonable access to the egress and Ingress of their properties and then we also need to make sure um and staff is continuing to do this to resolve the issue as it relates to uh operation of large delivery trucks trash collections adjacent to the Kias property as as it relates to the sunap plan sunap is also performing a review of the truck size to demonstrate that certain operations will be maintained so they will be going through that exercise and uh they also have agreed to have maximum extent possible of openness to the alleyway during construction and when we get to that point so there's so many issues and challenges that the residents that small business have right now that we have not resolved what I'd like to do is I'd like to um if I could Madame mayor um put forth a substitute motion and instead of adopting Part B of uh agenda item number eight that we defer the adoption of Part B to a business meeting in April we have two one on April 8th or one on April 22nd second so that we have more time for continued collaboration as I mentioned we have made some progress but there still has to be continued conversations and I'm happy to see the conversations occurring so i' i' like to make that motion and I believe I have a second I have a motion and there's a second by Miss ASA any further discussion Miss yes thank you Madame mayor um council member Anderson um was right on point when she talked about how this needs further conversation between all the parties I learned about this issue over the weekend when Miss kayas had reached out to me uh and we have had multiple back and forth over the weekend and I uh had our um Debby Smith and her team has been working with Miss kayia uh petitioner and all the parties involved and certainly there are valid concerns that um residents of Delworth Community has raised in terms of commercial access and um reasonable and continuous access uh as a family we often visit Fern that's one of our favorite restaurants so when I learned about this I actually drove by and I see the issue here and in fact I wasn't able to comprehend that issue until I was able to drive by so when Mr Brown had done a visual presentation uh that was even more helpful um there is lot more conversation that needs to occur um Miss Anderson so I don't know if we'll be able to reach a resolution by next uh business meeting uh so I don't I do not want us to lock us in to having have a resolution by next business meeting or have this on on in our agenda I would like us to consider having uh where there is a resolution and then have this on our agenda item uh because if there is no resolution I would not be able to support this uh because there are some valid Ingress and egress issues that you heard clearly from our community members um I do hope that we have a resolution but if not I I don't think there is anything pressing for us to have this item on our agenda in April uh I I would like um I see Miss Smith here smiling um if you if if we can just have staff uh come forward and help us uh address some of the Alternatives that they were looking into and then also if you can address the notice of public hearing and how it went out and I'm not sure how some residents did not end up getting it but also if you can just tell us did you provide a list of all the neighbors to be notified to Mr Brown so good evening my name is Casey Mashburn uh with the Department of Transportation it's a pleasure to be with here but to speak to a couple of points and particularly the notification as part of the general statutes we are required to notify a joining Property Owners so those touching the abandonment um Alleyway in abandonment that's in question so our staff does that notification we have sent out all of those requirements we also additionally to notify the public we published the abandonment twice in the meinberg county time so in the public uh newspaper and also posted signs uh on the street to notify them that's all in accordance with the general statutes that that's thank you for saying that if for those of you who did not rece receive notice of public hearing if you can just touch base with them um they may not be a joining Property Owners maybe they did not receive a notice as a result of that or maybe they are so we need to figure out where is the gap here so technically and to answer your question directly what is a joining property if you can just Define that immediately adjacent to the alleyway that will be abandoned so the alleyway abandonment in this uh instance stops at their property corner so they are not technically considered an adjoining parcel at that point okay um at some point we'd like to dis discuss this definition it's up to the council to make an amendment uh and notify in future U other what that definition is and maybe expand that uh but that's for another day if you can talk to us if you can just give us an over about Alternatives that you have been reviewing with the petitioner that will address community's concerns so there are multiple Alternatives that we're working through a number of them have been mentioned uh by both mayor protim and Mr Brown and so we're working with the the petitioner and Miss K and the family to look at the Alternatives specifically to address the truck turning templates um that have been mentioned here to make sure that they do have that access to their parcel they will also maintain access on felon View and East Boulevard as was mentioned as well but that is one alternative another alternative is also discussing the time frame during construction and how that Alleyway will be impacted during that time um I think the difficult uh piece will be as Mr Brown alluded to the height and what type of vehicles that can access that Alleyway during that period of time though okay um it's thank you so much that uh concludes my questions I so wanted to recognize Miss Alan citrella for coming to speak on behalf of the DCA she's one of our she's one of my favorite neighborhood leaders um so thank you for uh also your email that was helpful but that's all I have Madame mayor thank you all right thank you Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor uh C dot if you can stay up there what I'm sorry what did you say your name was Casey Mash oh hi Casey um so there were some specific options that were named by the the um residents and I wanted to kind of go through them so they asked for so for me I'll tell you the business owner there was there were a couple reasons the business owners not being able to access the the the deliveries or have deliveries I mean that's a nonstarter for most of us I think um council member um I'm sorry Molina uh a couple weeks ago we shared concern about the the growth in the city displacing small businesses right so this is this is huge so even for a day a small business can afford to to not have deliveries so if you got a shopping center you have to be able to have their deliveries period so I don't know what kind of time for I mean there's just no for me there's no acceptable time frame that they would be closed due to construction we already see that in in residential areas where there's a challenge but this is I mean these are very very compelling um arguments um we also heard from residents um so I wanted to I wanted to know if what would happen to this development if the alley was not closed that that's my first question and I guess we can ask Colin that question but I also heard different arguments um we were told that trucks could get through um no we were told that trucks currently aren't able to get through the current alley so I don't so I'm I guess we can ask a resident you know what the the the problem is if they're not currently using that that um I I think trucks are currently driving through the parking lots back there that that they but they could not stay within the 10-ft alleyway that's the issue so I haven't seen this so there okay go ahead so they're currently using it or not let me ask can I ask a resident let me ask a resident yes thank you you have um I I don't believe we we have we had a public hearing so there's a question it's not I know but we want to make sure she comes down speaking to the um microphone so that we can get on the record we're getting for the hearing and I'm sorry but I'm hearing conflicting information so in order for us to make a decision we need to know the facts thank you thank you thank you I'm Gina colias and I believe that the 18wheeler is 8 feet wide so it does fit inside a 10 foot wide space and it comes four times a week and then they do have box trucks also from Cisco and then Amazon and UPS I have pictures of all the trucks coming through and I gave all of you a picture of the Cisco truck coming through but it has to be able to make a right turn on Scott go down the alleyway and the new development is going to have businesses on the bottom and they're going to need deliveries too okay so did you did did Mr Brown get a copy of this photo I did we we think the trucks drive through there they're driving outside the alleyway um we've and and that's the issue is is there a way um to continue access to the site that's exactly right our site will need um access we just we frankly um are not sure that it's reasonable um to require and or possible for a 10-ft Alleyway to serve semi trucks okay um so is there a way she also one of the residents also mentioned an an easement they mentioned um increasing the height and then they also mentioned realignment so initially was the proposal or the plan to have the um the alley in a different space there have been different conversations that is correct okay uh and one option as you say is to not abandon the alley uh and if the alley is not abandoned suncap can build its development but we think probably none of the people you've heard from are happy cuz we don't think the truck can access it we know it lines up directly with the neighbors who don't want it lining directly up with them um it's just it's not a great outcome so further conversation definitely warranted we won't make all the people happy including my clients but my hope is that we come up with something that checks as many boxes as we can so Sun cap can move forward without closing the hour that's correct and how will that impact the development they'll just have two different buildings on each side of a 10-ft Alleyway which you can't have two w traffic on a 10ft Alleyway which is why we're proposing 24 ft okay um thank you that's all the questions I have thank you this might be a question for um Debbie but I want to make sure that we we have said in April um that it would come back that is the motion right now on the floor so um the time to do this is considered yeah thank you madam mayor so just a couple points here and that we have been in discussion with over the last uh several weeks the petitioner has the right to build up against the legal alley but the legal alley is only 10 ft wide and so because it's open and unrestricted right now there's no real issue with that um and so that's why we want to make sure we're getting to the right resolution for the small business owners and residents um and of course the developer and and Debbie might have to come up and speak to this as well but it's my understanding that due to the process the the process for an abandonment of an alley instead of a resoning for example there is a certain time limit that is required to come back and address it before the process has to start all over again so um but can you can you address that for us please ma'am hi good evening everyone Debbie Smith Charlotte Department of Transportation and in fact um there is no immediate timeline uh as long as you want to defer it we offered some April dates that were the the quickest available but we want to help facilitate uh as much conversation between the developer and the community as possible excellent so there's no time so excellent so with that M Madam mayor if I could amend my my um substitute motion and say that we defer this issue to a business meeting in the future giving time for the residents and small business owners and developers to come to a compromise I'd also like to um keep the public hearing open we we haven't closed it officially yet so I'd like to keep it open so as this conversation continues the residents will have an opportunity to come up again and be vocal around where we've landed as it relates to the compromise I I second that motion thank you for accepting my friendly Amendment uh I think that's a good idea okay so we have a motion on the floor any further discussion regard Miss Johnson I'm sorry one one other question um they mentioned the notice goes out to the direct the adjacent owners and in the metropolitan times no this just another way I'm sorry meinburg time times so I've am I missing something I've never read the meinberg Times is there anyone that read I think one of the things that we have a problem with is that the state outlines the process not us and it says publish in a newspaper the meinberg times is where you find all the houses that are for sale or taxes and all kind it's a it's basically a lawyers if am I saying this correct a lawyer's newspaper mayor you're doing great that's why and I get that I think we had a daily recorder or something at home so if you're looking for Real Estate that's I excuse me not home but in Ohio this is home but um if you're looking for that that's fine but I think for the public we do need to take a look at maybe putting the notice in The Observer or um we we've talked about before next door something like that so we if our goal is to communicate with the public we need to be cognizant of where we're placing that I mean not we can't expect members of the public to read that um that doc that that newspaper I don't think that public can we have Miss Smith address my my amendments to the motion and this particular topic great mayor protim thank you so much for that opportunity would love to be able to uh continue and offer a suggestion that you are allowed to close the public hearing and that you would only need to defer action B which is the decision uh and that that would be an acceptable motion for you to consider so Miss Smith just as we uh consider that in the future if there's a of course movement on this particular issue would we be able to hear from the residents would they be able to come up and speak to that if we've closed the public hearing this evening right I might need to uh ask Casey on that one so I believe you would have to at that point offer folks to come back up uh to speak and ask them questions um however if we do not open and close the public hearing today then we would have to start the process of intent over again which is the two Council uh member action that you all are used to so that would be a multi multiple month delay versus a potentially one month delay all right I'm looking at Mr Baker and typically when you want because I know some of you want to continue the public hearing but typically you do that to a date certain is my understanding um so I believe that they could continue it to a date certain and if for some reason you get information back from the staff that they need more time um then you could just take it off of the agenda and put it on a a future agenda that's that's sort of the where where you're headed if you wanted to do a if you wanted to allow folks to come back and speak on the matter particularly if you don't have um you know complete resolution so Mr Baker what should that motion how would that motion be framed I lots of procedure here guys just to give us a moment and and correct me if I'm I'm I'm wrong I I would recommend that you you uh continue the item uh the public hearing until the 4th meeting in April um April 22nd April 22nd sure and um and that gives them the maximum amount of well not maximum but but gives them a month to work through this and it's on the agenda so you don't have to do anything else um absent hearing from the neighbors or the developer that they need more time so Mr Mashburn would that not would that not trigger restarting the process over again if we were to do what City attorney just recommended so Mr Baker's the attorney um I will say the the most important piece of that is that we have opened the public hearing and that is what was you adopted as an intent and then what was also published and distributed um which I do think satisfi the general statutes that we are following the process correctly so if Mr Baker is comfortable with continuing the public hearing then I am as well yeah by by doing this you're giving the public notice that the the the hearing will start up again on the 22nd all right so we have a motion on the floor to um have we can close the do we close the public hearing not going to close the public hearing closing it and we're going to have another motion on the floor to moove this item until the last meeting the last business meeting in the operative a is continue we're continuing excuse me continue okay it's continue all right we're good till the last meeting in April of the city council okay all right with you all right so now ready to vote all in favor of that motion please raise your hand that's unanimous thank you very much all right thank you all right the next item on our agenda is a public hearing for the Alberton area voluntary annexation a and adopt a an annexation ordinance with an effective date of March 25th 2024 to extend the corporate limits to include this property and sign it to the adjacent city council District 4 do I have a motion so moved we have a second do I have a second second second any discussion hearing none all in favor please raise your hand anyone opposed all right the next item is the city manager's report do you have a report no report the next item is item 11 um adopt a resolution authorizing and approving an installment financing contract for the proposed financing and calling for the execution and delivery of various documents necessary to complete the sale of cops approve second we have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor please please raise your hands anyone oppose that's unanimous item 12 sale of city-owned land for West Sugar Creek Redevelopment adopt a resolution approving the sale of 4.32 Acres of city-owned property at 5342 Reagan Drive and 5350 Reagan Drive and to Prosperity Hidden Valley LLC for $1 for the development of affordable housing authorizing the manager to negotiate and complete the sale is there any a motion we have a motion and a second is there any discussion Miss Anderson thank you uh Madame mayor if I could just um add some brief comments I'm just very excited about the progress and um the speed which this has occurred you guys will remember it was about a year ago where we had a debate around whether we should do that and uh within that amount of time we have closed selected remediated relocated and found a good partner in less than one year so um when we say city government moves slow in certain cases we can move quickly and um I I also want to say that many of the other residents who were use this Motel as home they've all been rehoused and some of them have found permanent housing that they deem is better so um Prosperity Hidden Valley is is joining us this evening they've been selected as our developer they have ties to the community they are committed to building quality product that is for sale affordable homes that is directly um AB budding historic Hidden Valley neighborhood which is a four sale um affordable uh home community so I couldn't be more pleased with the the progress that we're making and understanding that affordable housing is a fundamental right to everyone who lives in our community and everything that we can do on Council to ensure we are providing safe support support sa safe supported affordable I'm trying to say affordable affordable stable housing um then uh we should be committed to that effort so thank you all of you who voted in support of this thank you for your continued support and so happy to see uh Mr Kennedy up there and uh looking forward to the work that you'll do in the community thank you madam mayor all right we have a motion and a second on the floor um any further discussion I do I all right Miss air and then Miss Johnson yes thank you Madame mayor I share the excitement here um our corridors of opportunity program has come a long way I think earlier today during the budget we were discussing how our funds how our dollars has been matched by the uh federal government and has really helped us tackle affordable housing Public Safety uh in our community so I'm certainly very happy to have supported uh corridors of opportunity initiative specifically uh the purchase of this motel that uh aligns with our corridors of opportunity goals for this specific Corridor in fact I was talking to business owner um in sugar Corridor a couple of weeks ago and uh I met this young lady uh who is a business owner she talked about how she has seen investment come in past two to three years that she hasn't seen in decades um so this is a an investment in an underinvestment in underinvested community uh this is um this has certainly been a long overdue so um residents as well as business owners in Sugar Sugar Creek Corridor have certainly appreciated uh the effort that we are putting to help our all of our corridors safe affordable and Equitable all right Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor um so this is exciting there's a fine line um between Improvement and and gentrification and displac B we know that so so when this hotel was sold you know the the folks that live there who who couldn't afford market rate or have a criminal background or eviction on their record um they were required to move other places so it's good to hear that they're in a better situation um also this is a this is an advantage or a benefit for that area and I I'm happy that we are int about uh the affordable housing in that area and it's Mr Kimo what's I'm sorry Ken Kennedy Kennedy okay all okay Kennedy I'm sorry so I'm very happy I think that this is um again attention intentional and deliberate of um an equitable approach to Redevelopment so I'm looking forward to supporting this as well thank you all right we have a motion on the floor and um all in favor please raise your hands anyone oppose thank you everyone all right the next item is item 13 authorizing the manager to negotiate and execute an agreement between Charlotte Arena operations and city of Charlotte in an amount not to exceed 30 million for additional Spectrum Center improvements and $30 million for the city's investment and a new practice facility development adopting the budget ordinance appropriating the same the $30 million and proceeds from cops and the tourism capital projects fund for an for additional Arena improvements and repairs adopt a budget ordinance appropriating 30 million and proceeds from cops in the tourism capital projects fund for the city's contribution to the practice facility and authorizing the manager to execute the appropriate agreements do we have a motion move second we have a motion and a second um so now we'll just start with discussions Miss watlington thank you um I wanted to just circle back to the conversations we've been having ongoing in regards to Economic Development um contracts and activities and I just want to make sure that we're clear about the expectation before the contracts are actually executed that any substantial change to it any um specifics that need to be finalized do do come back to council even if it's not a formal uh vote necessarily but I'm particularly interested to make sure that our city attorney's office is involved and that we're advised accordingly um at the at the final right before the final execution of the contract so I'd like for Mr Baker to speak to uh the role that that we should expect from the attorney's office as we go forward uh thank you for that um Dr watlington um in the RCA there is reference to expected future city council engagements which include an update on the final agreement prior to execution um that has been a conversation that I've had with several of you because you don't have a contract in front of you you've got deal points um and a contract has to uh come about uh with that uh so right now you know the these deal points are going to be the the ingredients if you will of of whatever it is that we're we're actually uh baking here and if there going to be changes to those ingredients material changes and that that should certainly come to councel so that you've got an understanding as to what that is um I'll certainly work with the uh the administration as we go uh through the process of putting this contract together uh if there are some material changes that need to get to council uh there are multiple ways that we can get that information uh to you if it's a substantial enough change we can just bring it to a meeting uh and have you make you know an adopt adopt whatever uh that particular change is if it's um relatively minor what have you because you really should know this is a big chunk of this is it's a huge uh investment and a and a really transformative uh investment in uh that building and you should know what it is that we're doing uh despite the fact that you've given the uh the advantage man the authority to do that and we will certainly update you and I will certainly provide an independent uh update uh for you as we go with the the chronology and uh and the status of of the discussions as we go forward thank you so much for that and the only other thing that I will add is that I know that I've asked this on a number of occasions prior to this particular um engagement but as we look at participation mwsb I want it to come back to us I want us to understand what are we spending um because I know that we've had trouble in the past coating that information and the information that thank you that uh staff has provided is clear that there are some there are some dots missing and so while we work to get that information I want to make sure that we start out um with the end in mind on this one so definitely before the contract is executed I want to make sure that we're clear about what that's going to look like in terms of mwsp tracking thank you Mr Jones you've got that yes all right thank you all right so we have a Mr Graham thank you madam coming around any want go that uh uh I I support the transaction I've explained why in the past I'm not going to repeat that unless there's any suspense about the outcome of this vote so I think we should do it thanks all right Mr Graham uh a same here with council member Dr just wanted to note um there were two items that came out of the Committees that we wanted to make sure that we in the um the deal points one was Community usage of the of the practice facility and that was was uh noted in item number 23 in our package that we received from the deal point so more activities at the uh The Practice Facility itself um I thought the deal points that was laid out that we received over the weekend was um um good right I think it really is a a great step in the right direction so we can kind of see how these things are being laid out and certainly having the City attorney come back to us once we begin to. eyes crosses are extremely important um again the mwb participation I think council member Wallington has already referred to it but not only this project but other high-profile public projects that we're participating and should be kind of take be um separated from all the other stuff that we do like the Pearl we made a number of commitments for um mwb participation work for development activities Etc we should be receiving periodical updates and reference to that as well as any other future um agreements that we would make that requires a huge outlay of public fund should be a part of it one of the things that I did not see and hopefully this could be one of those um deal points that that are refined was uh Community usage of the Arena itself I know we talked about it at the um the economic development committee know we saying some language that was old language uh I just wanted to make sure again that there's some conversation um going from the city to the the new ownership of the um of the Hornets in reference to um Community usage of the Arena itself understanding that there's a lot of complexities with that that um hopefully there is um the City attorney is taking a look at the language um uh and reference which is old language um that re Revis and reflects what it is that we're trying to do in the future in terms of the cities trying to um identify a wide variety of Economic Development U opportunities for the city where the arena may be a major factor of saying yes or no certainly the arena goes beyond um just NBA basketball as concerts and a wide variety of other um activities uh and as we begin to grow our footprint internationally there are a lot of people are looking at coming to Charlotte and the arena is a part of the equation of coming or not thank you right thank you mayor proen thank you Madame mayor U Mr Graham hit on a lot of great points I would just extend that and say not only uh the community benefits that we've discussed at various meetings for the Spectrum Center but also the new PEC the performance enhancment center as well as an NBA branded property that would could bring great extension to the community as it relates to use so I'm I'm glad that we are at a point where we can uh revise this agreement and move forward thank you madam mayor Mr Mitchell thank you madam mayor I'm going to be very brief like council member Driggs uh the deal maker for me was the Hornet investment between 7 and $100 million and council member W and touched on it 30% participation Minar small business so thumbs up for me Miss Johnson thank you Madame mayor I just want to be clear and transparent on the total cost so Mr U Jones can can you clarify for me uh and for members of the public the total cost do I understand it's 30 million today for the practice facility um 60 million we that we've we pre previously approved 60 million for the performance um enhancement Center and then 215 million for the improvements I'm going to have Tracy come up it's uh Johnson just to answer your question the previous agreement was 215 million for the arena and 60 million for the practice facility what this agreement does is move 30 million of the 60 million from The Practice Facility to the Arena leaves 30 million in the practice facility and then the new Hornets ownership would cover the additional cost of the expanded practice facility which is estimated to be an additional 70 plus million so the total City investment is 275 still 275 so the the only difference is we're just reallocating the 30 million of the we're reallocating the 30 million but then we're also talking about now instead of 50% of the gravel lot the entire gravel the entire gravel lot too and so what we went through was the tradeoffs of what as we renegotiated the deal what the Hornets alleviated from us as responsibilities and then us allowing them to look at the other half of the gravel lot for five years okay thank you thank you Miss Molina uh thank you madam mayor protim um I'm brief um actually I'm a little distracted few of our ceasefire friends found my personal page and start sending me threats um so it's pretty unfortunate uh like constantly backtack threatening me uh don't know why they pick me but um totally outside of the scope of what we're talking about um my deal maker was um council member drinks it was his um comparative uh his mathematic mathematics and gifts and calculations in comparison to what we had uh versus what we're gaining um as far as fiduciary responsibil is concerned so I'm really excited to see this go forward um staff I thank you guys for your work on this and I look forward to supporting it thank you Miss ashme thank you um so for me it was that private sector was bringing $700 million investment that we didn't have before so that's that's a big commitment in our Center City uh in addition to that I will Echo council member Molina that it was Mr Drake's mathematics mathematical calculations because in fact I had expressed concerns about investing $30 million towards the facility that we do not own but then when you look at uh when you add up all the numbers about maintaining the facility uh when you look at uh other construction delays and we would have to pay the penalty when you add up all those number it makes sense I think Mr Driggs you should have your uh reconciliation spreadsheet in the records because I think that is that's the kind of details I think uh staff should be preparing uh for us as we make these important decisions um but then also I I have a question about um something I wanted to follow up on something something Dr watlington had raised about mwsb program uh Miss dartson if you can just share with us are there any program audits being done to ensure there is compliance with mwsb commitments that are being made for for this particular project and the arena project so far um we are trying to track that I think was we have had questions about various projects and Rene keep me on last year um but if we've had questions about various projects we we have found that some gaps in the tracking and we're working now to fix that for all projects going forward um so that we can better track everything as as needed so that that's helpful I I think moving forward we need to have a policy in place or some sort of audit being done to ensure that there is compliance with the commitment um for an example if there is a commitment being made of 30% uh we need to go back uh before the project is complete um to ensure that there is 30% commitment was fulfilled uh just like we do with other City commitments right um to ensure the Integrity of uh and for transparency as well that's all I have thank you Mr DRS uh thank you you since I've been pointed at U as the numbers guy I want to clarify uh we had a $275 million commitment in 2022 and we have one now there were other obligations that we went through item by item right that we would incur in relation to the 2022 in addition and now under the 2024 we have different ones okay and the balance on the whole is just about flat uh and I did want to take this opportunity also to just uh thank the owners of the team for their investment in Charlotte and hope they appreciate our investment in the partnership we have with you look forward to some winning seasons yeah that would be great but we'll take a good concert any day of the week so thank you very much and we very much appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this um to have this team continue to be a part of this city because those kinds of things do make a difference in a city's ability to attract and and and also engage and encourage people people so thank you very much all right Mr Jones oh miss watlington I'm sorry I you're swing um I just want while you were there um I absolutely support the idea of of a policy for tracking um I was just speaking with the attorney in regards to I'd love us to understand as we're putting together that kind of policy what is our leverage as the city I see we're participating in um selections if you will or at least interviews for uh construction manager what I don't see is a participating in design team interviews um and I I know that we've had a lot of conversations about what we can do at the city to make sure that we're filling that Pipeline and that there is capacity there I want to see us take a much more active role in that because I think it would be uh a Miss if we ended up in a situation where good faith efforts were executed but we didn't hit our goals or even get anywhere near them and we not find that out until the back end of the tracking piece so yeah and I'll just say that on large projects like this we actually I work closely with General services and that team to Advocate to have a seat at the table as early as possible as often as possible just because there's so much benefit of us collaborating and working and working together sometimes we're in there on design team sometimes we're not sometimes it's just the semar it it varies but we do Advocate to get in there as early as possible and keep a seat at the table through the whole process so we can ensure things just like this absolutely and I would even lean in beyond the advocating if we're putting public dollars towards it we demand a seat at the table because I I don't see a situation in which we're putting up 270 some odd thousand or million dollars and we don't have a seat at the table at all places so definitely want to follow up on that one and make sure that that one shows up thank you okay Mr Jones so I just want to take this opportunity mayor members of council I want to to thank the team for being able to um pull together the deal I think that's very important but also to highlight that that uh earlier uh last year Council moved up small minority women owned businesses as one of the Strategic initiatives so we as an organization Ed CBI General Services Finance have been um taking a stronger more focused look at what we're doing so when you do things like that you will find mistakes and gaps so we're going to own those mistakes and gaps as a team and close those because again you lifted this up over a year ago and we're um making progress we'd like to go faster uh but but we are doing this through a collaborative approach is that internal audit doing it who internal audit it's we're all looking at this and we're starting to see opportunities for improvement yes all right okay so we have a motion on the floor um all in favor please raise your hands anyone opposed Miss Johnson is opposed okay thank you very much all right I think our next item um goes to the nominations that we go to the city clerk for the report of the council nominations thank you mayor and counsel and I will say up front that there are several um advisory boards that um individuals received um six or more nominations so at the conclusion if Council so chooses you could there could be a motion in a second to appoint uh those individuals um so with that to begin with the business advisory committee for the uh Charlotte Regional business Alliance um Lindsay haer a the incumbent received 11 nominations for the Latin American Chamber of Commerce Christian Gallardo received 11 um nominations the Charlotte business inclusion advisory committee uh the at large positions will come back uh to you at your next uh business meeting for the at large representing a prime construction company for Charlotte business inclusion the incumbent Gary Bill received eight nominations for the um Hispanic contractors Association of the Carolinas representative Carolina schner the incumbent received 10 nominations for the Latin American Chamber of Commerce cacino manalis received 10 nominations as did uh Rebecca laclair for the metrine Native American Association for the um historic district commission Shan Sullivan received nine nominations for the en livian Board of Commissioners um Angela Ambrose received 11 nominations for the neighborhood matching grants Anthony and this is for the business representative Anthony Chadwick the incumbent received ceed 10 nominations for the neighborhood representative um the following persons received 11 nominations Phyllis Barnett Jeffrey Simpson and Jonathan UTP both of which are incumbents and Jason wager wager received um 11 nominations for the nonprofit sector representative the incumbents Ronda Dean and Philip Gusman received 11 nominations we will bring back the um passenger vehicle for hire at the next business meeting if there are any applicants and for the transit services advisory committee Juan contras Suarez received 11 nominations do we have a motion to accept the nominations for those that meet the criteria that we have second have a motion and a second any discussion hearing none all in favor of that motion please raise your hand all right we have a motion to adjourn yes we do thank you very much yes you [Music] can [Music] n e e