[Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] consent and action review meeting to order you want to start start yeah we will start you getting like Le no the meeting is in order thank you very much we will start uh with introductions and we will start to my right uh with the deputy city clerk Deputy city clerk Billy T good evening everyone James Mitchell city council at large good evening everyone Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening Lana slight Mayfield council member at Large braon Winston May appr Pro 10 Marcus Jones city manager Malcolm Graham District 2 T CCT district 7 edri district 7 Patrick Baker City attorney thank you congratulations you baby got married congratulations to Father the bride who just entered right on time um we'll uh next go to our consent agenda items number TW items number 25 uh through 39 and and these may all be considered in one motion except for those items removed by a council member um Miss Harris do we have any uh items that have been pulled from Council Members no sir Miss Mayfield did that answer your question I would like for number 33 to be P aside by comment thank you Miss Harris do any other council members have an item they want to pull for comment or separate vote hear none I'll I'll make a motion uh to huh I'm I'll make a motion to approve consent agenda items 25 through 39 second um we'll have discussion um Miss Mayfield I recognize you for item number 33 was it yes 33 thank you mayor protim so item number 33 is the Blanchard development training and I reached out to get just a little bit more detail and I am happy to say that this training because what we have on here is to approve a not to exceed contract by $820,000 but this is specifically for the training of our staff we have around 5,500 participants over a five over the 5-year contract term this is the situational leadership style competency that's being developed to meet people where they are and provide them what they need and some of the courses are situational leadership coaching Essentials conversational capacity building trust and self- Leadership and it cost around $150 per person to attend the trainings but I want to say that I am happy that this is a training program that is offered to leadership to make sure that we are to the best of our ability working towards creating true equity and the conversations so so with that mayor Pim I would like to move to approve items a b and c approve the purchase approve not to exceed and authorize the city manager they're included our thank thank you very much do we have any further comments got thing I need a second um well we have we have a motion uh that that's that that item is part of so you further comments questions uh yes Miss Johnson thank you um so this this is pretty much this is supervisory development materials Mr Jones will we have any benchmarks will there be any surveys before and after um or any Assessments in this training so that we can see uh the effectiveness of the training I'd like to call up Sheila Simpson uh who could address the uh any types of benchmarks that you have with the training thank you members of council I'm Sheila Simpson thank you manager Jones um this session has been held the first set of sessions been held across the city with our leadership teams and we do have several testimonials about the session um but I think your question was do we survey was your question a survey what was your do we have any quantitative measurements um for the effectiveness of this training such as maybe preassessments and then post assessments we did not conduct preassessments so we do have uh feedback from participants and it is not in a quantifiable way it is in a testimonial format so Mr manager I would just say with 8 for $820,000 it's it's it's a lot of money so if if there is any type of tools that that we can use to demonstrate the the benefit um and the effectiveness of the leadership training perhaps a 360 evaluation or surveys from the employees or something to justify and quantify the spending we can do a we can Implement a pre a pre- trining um questionnaire and a post-training Effectiveness questionnaire and for that amount of dollars uh the cost is about a little bit less than $150 per person okay and I don't know maybe if we're looking at turnover rates in different departments and see if that decreases or just to to measure the effectiveness of the super of the management training thank you thank you very much thank you any further questions or comments from the council hearing none all in favor of the motion to approve consent agenda items 25-39 please raise your hand any opposed please raise your hand hearing none I seeing none that is unanimous well now um I will turn uh the this section of the meeting over to the city manager for our action review agenda thank you mayor Port Tim and members of council so we have uh two items on the agenda for tonight and uh it's the Eastland uh Redevelopment update that we had committed to you to come back to you within a 45 day period I think we're at maybe day 42 43 42 42 as well as an update on social districts there is a public comment not not a public hearing but a public comment period tonight we just wanted to make sure that U while we had given you some written documents um this had got bumped before so we have the social districts and mayor pend we also have during the manager report an update on the digital inclusion however if there's time permitting here we would be able to provide that report too Mr Jones is very ambitious so let's get started great thank you Mr Jones and Council good evening um I am not going to bury the headline in this and I'm just going to let you know that it has been a fantastic 42 days um as the manager said we promised we would come back within 45 days and what we've really done is really both teams have done an excellent job in collaborating and we can see a path forward of how these two uh proposals can come forward as One Vision so before I go into the presentation I do want to thank both of the teams as well as Todd dong who have worked on this day in and day out of the 42 days um as well as years going going into this Miss Ivory Edge Sports Robert Bolton um CSA Southern entertainment everybody's been fantastic and really come together in such a collaborative way I will be honest um 41 days ago I was not so sure about this if we could really make this work and so it's really exciting to see where we are so going into tonight um we want to remind you of some of the recent Council actions and what you asked of us back on August 28th we want to demonstrate the progress that we've made in the 42 days and then we also want to ask it's a little bit unusual but we want to ask for your support to continue this momentum going forward Beyond tonight so two important things happened over the summer first you set aside in a resolution $30 million 20 of which was from tourism 10 from CIP for the Redevelopment of the 29 Acres now this is on top of other Investments that we had already committed to on the remaining 80 acres of the site in working with crosland second on August 28th you asked us to investigate merging these two proposals together and I quote collaborate on a vision um that would include indoor outdoor sports food and Retail and community and that's what we're doing tonight we're bringing forward the vision we're not 100% there yet but we see a path forward before we jump into what this Vision looks like though I want to remind you of a couple of things what Eastland was and what Eastland is intended to be it was a Gathering Place that was an economic engine for the east side and it will undoubtedly become a Gathering Place for East Side Community but also a catalyst to attract others and celebrate what makes this part of our city so special its diversity so Community uh Eastland yards excuse me is a community we are creating a community and one thing that we realized after August 28th is we haven't spent a lot of time talking we've so focused on the 29 Acres there is a community that is being created out there today the work that crosland is doing on the 80 acres and putting the infrastructure in but this will bring single family housing senior affordable housing multi family with ground floor retail as well as a county park all in Phase One there will be room for future phases that can accommodate more than 100,000 square ft of commercial uses so of the 80 acres the community the creation of this community has already started the 29 Acres was really intended to be a recreation anchor and that's what we'll talk about a little bit more tonight so for a lack of a better name we're calling it The Complex um and we'll shift to this specific 29 Acres it has been reimagined and rethought as we merge the two proposals together this new vision does fulfill the vision as a recreation anchor it's connected to Eastland yards as well as the east side and its divers it will be diverse in how it will bring people to the site it will be active with all these diversity of uses and bringing and giving people a lot of different reasons to visit Eastland yards so I'm going to jump in really quickly to the components I'm going to give you what's in and what's out what's in Indoor Sports Still Remains with a facility large enough to host tournaments with several courts um it is planned to include ice as well in its first phase it'll have community space for Learning and after school Esports Workforce Development and training it will also have the Community Access Outdoor Sports we will still have soccer fields and the ability to host tournaments of to six soccer fields will be included again this comes with Community access for Play and Gatherings arts and entertainment Community Gathering and events are still a part of this and they should be arts and entertainment should not be lost in this the ability to host festivals and bring people to the east side however what we do want to do is reposition this and get you to think about it a little bit differently we're not just talking about large scale events we're talking about events of many different sizes think about a jazz festival or the Ola Charlotte Festival that was just held in uptown this past weekend celebrating the Latin culture why couldn't that be here look at what South Park has with Symphony Park and their concerts large events don't happen often they should be intentional and they should be special but I do want to point out one thing that is not in here in this new rethought con um concept is an 18,000 person Amphitheater for these large 18,000 again it was brought up multiple times in the last go around of an Amphitheater to hold that many people next restaurants and Retail having food and beverage as a component of the 29 acres is very important it will tie to the retail underneath the multif family as well as the retail that's proposed adjacent to the county park all of this locates on three corners that are arriv Ral Point onto the site and it creates a sense of place that is inviting for people to come and stay what's not included on this side of the 29 acres is a hotel that doesn't mean that a hotel can't happen on the site if you remember a little bit earlier I talked about having future phases that can accommodate more commercial so just because you don't see it on the 29 Acres doesn't mean that it can't happen here on this site and lastly there's multiple ways for the community to engage in the indoor outdo door facilities with the recreation The Learning Center I mentioned access for things like after school programs stem education access to digital literacy this fabric of creating a Gathering Place for residents and visitors is very much in the Forefront and having access throughout will be one of the elements that we continue to work with as we push forward so quickly I'm going to ask Todd to come up and take over but it's been 42 days we've made a lot of progress there's been a lot of collaboration on the vision and there's still work to do in this progress we're excited about the capacity and the expertise these Partners bring and increased the opportunity of uses and what this might become as we move forward so with that I'm going to allow Todd to give us some more details thank you Tracy I have the distinct pleasure of providing you with more details of what is in the complex um so the complex it's a product of a collaborative development approach combining to the two teams to offer key elements from each team's proposal to create an improved asset for the community It's a combination of indoor and outdoor facilities creating a year-round athletic Hub to benefit the Eide and the greater Charlotte Community before I get into a little bit more the details of what's actually in the complex I want to take another minute to reiterate some of the Gratitude and appreciation that Tracy shared a bit earlier we asked a lot of the team and the players who are shown here on the screen over the last uh 42 days ago 41 days ago um it's really impressive the way they came together the way they worked together almost seamlessly they barely knew each other to come together compromise in areas that needed to compromise lean in on the areas that needed to lean in to create a special place in East Charlotte and in this site it's really impressive the way they did it and really appreciate and have a sense of gratitude for each person and each organization that show on this list um really look forward to working with them together over the next several months as we continue to make progress and implementing what's been proposed so in a little bit more detail in the indoor sports facility looking at 120,000 ft facility multi-purpose courts which can be converted to 10 basketball courts 16 volleyball courts 30 pickleball courts Turf and other special purpose uh uh materials you know for like cheerleading and other other other special events uh a more robust food and beverage offering within the facility with concessions bar restaurants a fitness center that would be available for participants of the tournaments and leagues as well as for the community uh an ice rank that would also be available for uh tournaments leagues and the community a leasable space for complimentary uses uh for medical Physical Therapy things like that and then stem education Esports Center and a Community Learning Center Outdoors we have uh six multiport artificial turf fields which would focus on um sports like soccer flag football lacrosse and field hockey and then we also have a food and beverage pad which is about 6 to 12,000 square feet the final sizing and the concept really to be contingent upon the economics and really focusing on how do we start to cultivate local entrepreneurship local businesses to really participate in this space and really create a special and unique place for for East Charlotte also have 800 parking spaces uh Associated and to support uh the the tournament activi and programming with respect to community use the Community Learning Center which serves as a hub offering Community event space uh Workforce Development academic programming and social support a stem education center which would include among other things after school programming involving Tech education and gaming senior oriented programming uh neighborhood access to facilities to nonevent days overall about 5,500 hours of community programming throughout the year again be multiple food and beverage options and cultural and Arts events as Tracy alluded to a little bit earlier the complex as proposed would generate significant economic impact from the tour from the tournaments and programming in total of about 169 million in total economic impact per year to generate 126,000 room nights per year and would support 500 plus jobs uh through the development and the programming there through the different components that would be within the facilities Al also offer Workforce Development programming and job training opportuni for local residents um the estimated project cost is between 900 and sorry 90 and $100 million the allocation between private and public is still uh to be determined we are working with a a certain amount of information that's somewhat limited to the site plan we've received in the last 42 days uh we are focusing on the the amount that was previously committed by Council through the resolution from June that really uh entailed $30 million in public investment via hospitality and CIP f funds if additional funding is going to be necessary to to finish this uh we would certainly come back for Council review and approval again we are working with sort of limited information that we've done over the last 42 days and we need to continue working with the team to really get a little bit more clarity and certainty around the numbers that have been presented so far with respect to the infrastructure improvements what the scale and scope of those improvements are as well as the programming within the indoor space and the construction of the indoor and outdoor components again we ask these two teams to collaborate and provide a reimagine proposal within 45 days 45 days is a short amount of time to do a lot of work and to really get to where we need to be and where we are today after 42 days we're working really well together their proposal achieves We Believe achieves the following objectives uh indoor and outdoor facilities that spur tourism activity and creates a new attraction for a diverse group of visitors a diverse mix of food and beverage options with potential for Community Based tenants and operators Community impact through Community Learning Center and stem education lab and health and wellness programming and acts as art arts and entertainment hub for East Charlotte Tracy mentioned it is a bit unusual to request uh approval or actions in the night we actually present during these sessions in order to keep us moving in a more positive direction and continue moving forward uh to uh with a with a good schedule and a quick brisk Pace we are seeking uh approval for the following two actions which is lucky number 13 in your agenda tonight uh the the first is to endorse the revised proposal and authorized staff to move forward with the new team the second is to approve up to $30 million for reimbursement of expenses associated with public infrastructure improvements and the indoor and outdoor amateur sports facilities that was outlined in the resolution that was adopted by Council on June 12th and we still have a lot of work to do with the team and we're really looking forward to continuing working with them the last 42 days has been really successful in our mind and we're looking forward to the next 42 and the next 42 after that and the next 42 after that to contining making the progress on the site and getting us to a point we're actually getting shovels in the ground and going vertical on all sides of the site and not just on one side of the site uh so with that I will will end my remarks and open it up for any questions and comments thank you very much um uh again as as Mr Delong said we will um take an act be asked to take an action uh on the second part of our meeting in the business agenda side so we can discuss uh that item during during that time so I know some folks on the council do have questions or comments about this presentation and I will recognize Miss Mayfield go to go first thank you mayor potim Mr Delong I believe either Miss Dawson or you stated the amphitheater has been removed from this correct correct so there is no a no more Amphitheater cuz I know Park and W was building an Amphitheater also so when over these 42 days was there opportunity for the community to stay engaged in these conversations as we were looking at merging cuz I'm looking at this breakdown of development team I guess these are the larger businesses that are on the slide where we have the logos and we have other project Partners included I want to make sure that um one did Community have a chance to stay engaged with these new conversations so I I can't say for certain which community members were engaged throughout the process we had 42 days and I will say we used every minute of these 42 days leading up to today's presentation to get there to get to where we are now it's my understanding that both of the teams have met with Charlotte East or members of Charlotte East and other individuals to kind of keep them engaged in a prized throughout the process and just for Aesthetics I'm looking at at this development team and project Partners we had two separate entities that were interested in being the development leaders how does one how does some of the groups get reduced down to a project partner when this was what I thought was coming back to us in 45 days was a true partnership collaboration not a I'm going to lead this and you're just going to be a project partner help me understand how that conversation changed a little so the makeup is largely the same as it was prior to this the new team that we have today the project partners of the development team that I mentioned here on the left the Edge Sports the Charlotte Soccer Academy and Southern IND they are the main drivers of the development activity and the programming that will be occurring on the site the other project Partners have been really integral to getting us to where we are today and we continue to being integral to the programming and other pieces and they'll be partners with EDG Sports Global Sager Academy and Southern entertainment as we continue to move forward so this is really from the makeup perspective it hasn't really changed a whole lot from who is kind of leading and driving the development activity on either of the teams so we know words matter and we know language matters especially when it comes time to having contracts and again for my understanding when I supported the idea of adding an additional 45 days to the conversations is that what would come back to us is a showing of true partnership just initially cuz I know not going to necessarily identify the specific agency but one we can do a Google search on and financially they're in a very different position which was one of the challenges that we had on one of the initial proposals is that we did didn't think that they had the financial wherewithal and backing to move forward well that is the case for one of the other partners so I just want to make sure that we're being as transparent as possible when we're looking at government dollars to make sure that that language is created in space not for as a partner you don't really have a true voice in the design and the makeup when you started out competing to lead a project and then encourage to be more of a sideline partner what I don't what I want to ensure to the best of our ability is that we haven't taken a group that for some of us presented a strong proposal and they are moved to A diversity box for the lack of a better word right now so I want to make sure that we're keeping as much transparency as far as the true viability Mr manager I also would like to make sure that we are very clear in our language of that 30 million period because in here in this presentation is a public private allocations to be determined our allocations it should be very clear is a full stop period at that up to $30 million so thank you Miss Mayfield so um as you heard in the presentation earlier tonight that's exactly what we understand if it's more than that we come back to you to have a further discussion before we would do anything that is what I heard that was shared that if it is more there will be a coming back to council I would like for us to consider a full period at that up to 30 million because we've been having these discussions so to even give the impression that there is the possibility for additional negotiations because one or two other groups might not be able to move forward we are having this conversation multiple times we are having this conversation now because you have said we are the ones that can make this happen because we didn't have the support on either side to move forward if you are the group that can financially make this happen there should not be an additional conversation later of any additional funds when we have said Council has approved 30 million because we have a lot of other projects in needs in our city thank you thank you Miss Mayfield Miss ashra thank you Mr Winston um great job Miss doson and your team for bringing the Best of Both Worlds uh I think the biggest challenge the community had was Amphitheater and that was addressed um clearly Community had quality of life concerns around noise especially the neighborhood of willora Park that just um within few blocks of this site so I'm sure that V Park neighborhood and the east side is very appreciative of the work that you both have done to address those concerns um I'm really excited to see that we are going to have indoor sports as well as the soccer facility and multiple food and beverage options um so that we don't have to drive all the way to other districts to get uh food and beverage so really um excited to see see this a couple of questions at the soccer facility I know that uh some members on the east side had asked me this question about would that be artificial turf or the natural at the current time that is planned for artificial turf uh just to allow for it's uh for multi-purpose events and more events and without the reduction of of challenges with weather and maintenance and other things yeah so I understand that Miss dson Miss dson mentioned um Symphony Park in South Park area and that has um natural uh natural atmosphere that really attracts a lot of diverse concerts and festivals I think that's a great facility if we can explore that option for the east side because it's also good for uh we are talking about our youth we want to make sure that they are safe as they play any sports and I'm I'm not an athlete by any means but if you ask any athlete they would prefer natural um versus artificial turf so if we can just take a look at that and see how we can help with that um you provide a 38 months timeline that just seems a little bit long it's we're talking about 3 years I may not even be here in 3 years but uh is there a way to figure out a little bit more condensed timeline I know that east side has been waiting those waiting for this for the Catalyst for far too long I would like to see if we can figure out maybe a little bit sooner time frame I know that when we were presented with both proposals couple of months ago uh we had more condensed timeline than 38 months so I would be interested in seeing that um more uh just more aggressive timeline uh and um I know a lot of this public and private public and private allocation is still being worked on um but this $30 million of City's funds some 20 is from the tourism dollars and 10 is from the CIP uh that's a reimbursement right that's not our first money in cor is that right correct okay uh do we have or you may not have gotten to this level yet but I would be interested in seeing the debt and equity ratio uh yeah just being mindful of the environment that we live in right now with financing rate being so high I'd like to see um debt to equity ratio just being more reasonable and other than that I mean majority of my questions have been addressed um I really appreciate the work that's being done and I look forward to supporting this and um I can't wait so thank you thank you m thank you mrme um Mr Graham thank you mayor proam I I do wanted to just lend my voice of excitement and enthusiasm for where we are today versus where we were some 42 days ago I I think the collaboration um made sense 42 days ago uh it makes more sense today as I kind of see what we have done in terms of taking the Best of Both Worlds to combine them for one for one um project um for Eastland so I'm very excited about it I'm also excited about the work that Tim is doing I I I never want to forget that that crosson Southeast has been out there doing the work uh since last August and so I don't want to for I don't want that point to to be Miss uh in all of the talks about Eastland is that work has been um commencing out there for well over a year now uh on the other section of the site um which in some cases may even be more important because it's housing it's jobs it's it's senior housing Etc it's it's the um the four to 5 acre Park that meinberg county is going to do that will join this 29 Acres uh once it's completed and so I want to thank Tim Ando in the audience uh for his continued support and his patience um and the work that he's done I think this this is It's a a marvelous um collaboration and uh I look forward to um voting tonight in the affirmative which is basically a vote of confidence um and confidence in the work of the staff confidence in the work of the collaboration between the two parties um um uh I personally stayed away from it for the last 4 42 days getting periodical updates uh and um and and um from both sides and I'm just glad that we're at this point uh and and look forward to further comments tonight around the dice but I think this is exactly what we said we wanted it to happen 42 days ago now as we move forward the devil's always in the details and you're getting ready to do a whole lot of details in terms of the financing the debt Equity those type of things um rather not we should go above or the 30 million those things are will be um explored as you kind of dig deeper moving forward uh so certainly uh when you guys come back to us um I think that's the conversation we should have then versus having that conversation now because again um I said it um right from the very beginning that if we went down this route uh we own it right I I was very clear about that right there's there's not a whole lot of ter turning back from this point um so we got to make sure that we dot eyes and cross tees uh that we take the public um expenditure into consideration for sure in terms of anything that we do whether it's this project other projects uh that there is from my perspective um based on what I'm hearing today which I think is we're moving in the right direction um I'm not sure there's a whole lot of turning back from here thank you thank you Mr Graham Mr Mitchell thank you mayor Tim um Todd can you bring up the program overview slide thank you what was the decision to move Esports Center indoors to the sports facility I thought it was a standalone on one of proposals so what was the decision to move it indoor so in one of the proposals the Esports was part of the Hub which was the 20 25,000 ft building facility um really comes down the size and it actually fit well within the the indoor facility in terms of their square footage and placement so it seemed like a natural fit to have it inside of that which also saved room to to accommodate for the six fields and adequate parking for both facilities both indoor and outdoor facilities so the original 25,000 fot wasn't needed um for Esports Center it wasn't the original proposal cuz he didn't have a larger Indoor Sports facility in that other proposal that was the only building that was in the previous proposal so how much square footage does Esports Center need now that's what we're working through over the next age they're still working through what the the finite programmatic details are with how to divvy up the square footage for the different elements that fit into there and and my last point I would make the uh I think it'd be great Community Buy in if we could have a naming contest so the community would continue feel this they are part of this complex um I like to placeholder now the complex but I've heard names out there called the yard so to get community buing I think it' be a great uh way of making sure District 5 say we we own this and we're supporting it so I hope that's something we can engage the citizens in District 5 thank you mayor proam thank you Mr Mitchell Mr DRS thank you mayor proam so uh I'm really excited to get this news I have to admit I was a little skeptical that maybe the two proposals might turn out to be mutually exclusive and the fact that we have been able to come up with something that captures uh the best of both of them and is responsive uh to East Charlotte is is a big win as far as I'm concerned so I am prepared to support uh our proceeding tonight um what I will say though is picking up on a comments of Miss Mayfield and Mr Graham uh there's a lot of information that we we don't have I mean I'm seeing this tonight for the first time I'm trying to assimilate it quickly I have questions so uh uh I'm wondering what the kind of timeline looks like and um what kind of check-in do you expect with us or or what kind of updates will we get so that as the other information is available and I note in particular there is one line in there that says additional Public Funding may be necessary and uh I think thinking about what Miss Mayfield said we need some clarity about that uh so how do you imagine going forward I mean we vote tonight and the council says yes uh appreciate what you've done and like where you're going and then what so from here we we go into the next phase what uh council member ashme talked about you know getting it and council member Graham talked about getting into the details of the financial structure understanding the scope and the scale of the infrastructure improvements is it was more complicated makes it more complex is you know Carlon Southeast is out there on the site today and so there needs to be a nice smooth handoff between what cron Southeast is doing and what the team will be doing when it comes to side improvements with infrastructure roadways um Greenways things like that so we need to start mapping through what that schedule looks like what the cost of that might be um the interior or I'm sorry the the vertical improvements we need to better understand what specifically that is we also need to understand how the components fit within the indoor sports facility with respect to the square footage allocation to council member Mitchell's point so I think there's a number of details we have to work through and the cost is part of that but there's also some of these programmatic elements that we have to work through with them as well um you know this is 42 days worth of work which is really exciting to where we are today and I think the next 42 days we hope to make some additional incremental progress uh getting to the where we need to be and have a little bit more certainty around where we are and then the next 42 after that so I I think we're going to continue to make incremental progress and we can huddle internally to talk about when that looks like in terms of uh updates to council uh you know if if we need additional funds or if that if that's what the numbers are telling us then we certainly need to come back in an environment like this or something else to to actually update Council on what the needs may be and to see if there's support for that going forward so uh again when when would you actually check in with us or uh I mean are you assuming that if we vote tonight then uh then you're done as far as the council is concerned no we can provide updates uh as we go along whether it's through committee or through the through an environment like this so I think we can look at the council schedule you know getting into the end of the year and what looks like for the timing I think we would need to talk through with the development team to understand what looks good for them as well and because we don't want to come back to the council if we don't have sufficient updates for that and we don't want to put the put the cart before the horse and provide updates before we're really ready with a development team either so I I think Before Christmas could be a good time before the holiday season we could be a good time to come back to council maybe for an update I think we got to continue what this looks like before we can actually set this is we're going to come back in next number of days so my personal message to you would be go ahead yes love what you're doing um but I I really want to know when some of these issues get resolved how they came out and uh so there's a presumption that we are in support but uh you know if you could just fill us in as you go along I think that would be valuable thank you thank you m Johnson thank you mayor protim I'm curious about the business structure kind of piggybacking off of what councilwoman Mayfield said I know it's 42 days they've gone well we're in the honeymoon stage but we essentially required a partnership where there was not one so is there any type of joint and several liability in this agreement are we how are we requiring the partnership that the partnership stays together um that's something else we'll need to work with them on uh presumably there'll be uh an LLC that gets set up uh with a sort of a partnership of different organizations that will create that LLC and they'll have their own roles and responsibilities amongst themselves and we want to make sure that they stay together and we'll have a separate agreement with with that LLC and that group of individuals that group of organizations so those are some things in the details we've got to continue working through that we just haven't had enough time at this point to really fully vet and actually work through and solidify so we're approving tonight for you to move forward can we is it possible that that agreement come before Council so that we know who we are in contract with and and how that's going to look um she Miss Mayfield talked about the Partnerships and the equity and how that looks I think that's important the council is aware on what that that joint structure looks like so the The Joint structure trying to think of how long it could take a little bit of time for them to work through again they just met each other 42 days ago so I think they need some time to figure out where they actually fit and how they fit and what their their own attorneys and where they all sit in together so it's hard to say at this stage and at this time what we can definitely have in order to continue moving forward at a pretty expedited Pace to make sure we're delivering uh the asset and the and the amenity for the community so let's say that it it didn't work out then Count Council would contract with just one party I mean that I know we're still we're still working that out but I think that that's something that should come before Council um maybe a final approval after that partnership is set up to ensure that um that everything's transparent and that everything excuse me that has been listed and promised is delivered it's so I have to double check on this but I think the way the action is actually presented in the the council action it is is the merging of the two proposals and the two teams so if one team were to not be included any further we would need to come back to council for additional approval if we were to move forward with if one or fewer than the two teams that are listed okay and you're you're certain of that based on my understanding of I'm not an attorney but based on my understanding we have an attorney at the table okay um Mr Baker can you give us some guidance or comment or so you so I'm just going to say it this way if you want Clarity to make sure that you know exactly what the deal looks like you can ask the staff to bring it back to you there are a couple of things in here and obviously if if for instance the $30 million piece or what have you if it starts to bleed over $30 million that's not something that the authority that you're talking about here would allow the staff to go forward with um but but given some of the the questions that have been raised if you want that level of certainty you can just ask the staff to bring it back to you for for an update or this is this is where we are to to answer those questions but yes if there's a material change in uh in the structure that's in front of you that would not allow the staff to go forward based on what's what's here but again there's a deal that needs to be constructed and our office will be with the staff every step of the way to put that together but we don't have that deal in front of you right now that's to be determined not to be determined but to be constructed um and if um if the council wants that level of of assurance that it is consistent with um what uh you you're authorizing tonight um there there are ways to bring this back to you so you can see it and we can I mean I that's something that that I would think that we would want to see before we approve the $30 million to be spent I I just and I I think that that's important but it's up to council as a whole well just thank you Mr Jones and so uh thank you Mr Baker and so however you would like to sh up the language tonight um that's definitely the will of the council what what we were trying to do tonight and uh thank you Tracy Todd and the entire team is to make sure we uh didn't get to a place where it's no go so if we start to think about it in the framework of this is go there's a lot more that you have to do there's parameters don't spend a dime over 30 million without coming back to us and you may even put more parameters around it tonight what I will say is that we have um a lot of people tonight said many people tonight said I'm not sure that this thing was going to work so it's good that 42 days in everybody's talking everybody's at the table and we would just ask you to let us stay at the table let us stay talking and uh we don't want to frustrate you and so if you ask us to come back next week I'm convinced we won't have much more than we have tonight right so it's I like what Todd said you know coming back you know before the holiday season around the season to make sure we're giving you an update but I will commit to you the first time that it seems like all of a sudden we went from go to no go we're going to also come back and talk to you then too thank you I don't want to slow the deal down but I just I just think that's important when we're talking about a partnership that wasn't there before that we sort of required um I think it would be appropriate to to at least ensure that that all parties are at the table before the money is spent thank you thank you thank you m Johnson um Miss watlington uh thank you mayor portam I concur with some of the comments around the table overall I'm very very pleased with what I've seen here thank you to everyone who's worked on this um I look forward to seeing what it what it ends up looking like I I had the same com um questions about what exactly is it that we're looking at so I would be supportive of some kind of absolutely a head nod tonight but when it comes to the specifics of the um contract and whatnot would like to see that come before counsel again before final execution um I did have a question one of the things that stuck out to me um in the previous conversation was the idea around Community ownership in the way of a board in which because of the amount of uh public investment there was still some public governance um with the with the project so I'm curious as to have has that been discussed yet what that governance will look like cuz I saw there would be a mix of some outright sales but then also some ground lease so I wanted to know whether or not that component um of a previous proposal was still retained so the idea Community governance will be part of the next round of conversations with them so we have not forgotten about the comments you had over the last almost a year now so we want to make sure that those are integrated into the next phase of conversations we have with them and make sure it still stays at top priority of what we're we're looking that with them awesome thank you so much this looks very very promising so I look forward to seeing where it goes thank you Miss Anderson thank you mayor proam I am very excited to see what's in front of us this evening and uh just 42 days after we had the concept of having a collaboration of these two entities this will clearly bring vibrancy and um an activity to the Eastland Mall site in a way that has been missed for years so I'm very very excited about that it does sound like um effectively that we have a good um outline of what the project will entail but there's details there's chunks of details that we need to uh create and sus through over the next couple of months and so it makes sense that we would have we the council would have an update before the holiday break um on how those details are materializing so we can help shape and form um the the go forward plan so um I do support that as well I did notice on page 18 that in terms of next steps the direct ask uh on the agenda of course item 13 is for the endorsement of the approval and authorize St staff to move forward with the new team which I clearly will support um what I have a question around is uh Item B underneath that aspect so if we have if we're not quite sure how much the overall project will cost we have I see we have a T-shirt size which is great um but if there is an additional ask over 30 million and our 30 million is specifically earmarked for reimbursement purposes just help me understand why we need to approve that aspect of the agreement this evening if you're going to come back to council uh during the holiday season with an update so I I'm assuming that there won't be an excessive amount of dollars spent between now and before the holidays where you come with an update so why why would do we need to include B in our motion this evening to I'll help okay okay so I I think without B it's almost as if you're just saying go for it so we started to say let's make sure that at a minimum we have the parameters that we started with the last time you told us to move forward so it's it was more or less putting parameters around us than just having a said it perfectly okay if we if we don't put the $30 million on there then we could be saying 50 million so I I understand that but putting the $30 million towards the project which I'm in complete support of I want to be unequivocally clear on that but that doesn't preclude then um an additional ask on top of the 30 million um that could materialize by the end of the year you're correct and then we would come back to you but I 100% understand your your thinking which is if we had to come back anyway why put the 30 to begin with so again we just wanted to make sure that Council didn't think that we were making some assumptions that could do anything outside of what you've already given us the authority to do sure okay I thank you for that explanation I just want us in our and I and I completely understand 42 days is uh not a long time and so what we have in front of us is there's been a lot of heavy lifting within 42 days to have this new proposal um but I just want to ensure when we come back in um before the holidays that we there's a con certed effort to have a clear understanding of the financial stack that will support this program on a go forward basis understanding that the market changes you know why I get that but we need to at least understand the elements of our financial stack that we have right now thank you thank you Miss Mayfield thank you mayor potim uh followup Mr dong based on on response to Miss Johnson's question 42 days in we're creating a new structure we don't know what that structure looks like the action items bullet as well as continue to work through for me it will make sense for this Council to look at that last line of nodding our head to continue to work through the agreements necessary I've already shared my conc concerns on the fact that we've already allocated 30 million and what I just heard the manager respond to is that can be interpreted to give the impression that we are open as a blank checkbook for them to come back for additional since the 30 million is for reimbursement we need to see exactly how these funds are going to be allocated because if one or two of the new entity does not have the financial capability we need to be able to clearly see that on the front end one of the concerns of many that I have with my initial question is we have approved a lot of contracts in this city we have approved a lot of contracts with a prime minister we have seen plenty of times especially when it has come to blackowned minority own Subs those contract their contractual amount has not always been fulfilled when the contract moves forward we say well that's a separate conversation whatever reasons if what we have in front of us is language of the possibility of a creation of something new it will be helpful to know exactly as council member Johnson mentioned what is that new that we're committing to because what I would not like to happen is for this Council or a future Council since there will be a minimum of one change potentially two changes or more in November for a new Council coming in in December and it is a completely different proposal that's presented to them because this conversation fell apart it's great to say in these 42 days before we approve a allocation other than continue to work through agreements necessary to implement the proposed development we need to make sure that we are truly doing our due diligence as the representatives that are allocating $30 million plus for a project that's added to the 100 million plus that we've already allocated to this area also if we go back to the economic impact and transaction structure slide slide 17 we have on there the significant impact from the tournaments and programming second bullet a 126,000 room nights per year have we identified since we we stated that in this new proposal the hotel has been removed we already know when we have our current sporting events how quickly locations in uptown for apartments and other things are filling up it will be helpful when you bring back the information where we anticipate in these room going when we don't necessarily have the transportation system to get you from Uptown over to the east side for these events are we looking at shuttles are we looking at an additional cost in order to help offset that since we no longer have the hotel as a component of this because in that proposal that would have been a automatic connection for me I'm not going to speak for my colleagues well we have these events these events are going to generate so many Bo nights we have a local right here it will be helpful to know what that looks like so that again the next conversation is now that we move forward with this we need to identify where the people are going to stay when they come visit or we're going to need additional funding to help with a shuttle or to help with some type of special Transportation or we looking at a PGA type of thing where they park at South Park they figure it out those if we're going to put in there how many potential room nights are in there and we removed a component that would have housed a couple of hundred people it will be helpful to really have an understanding but Mr manager I hope you're hearing the piece of yes I support the idea of Staff continuing to work through the agreements but right now we don't have an agreement we have some individuals that have been having conversation we have a spreadsheet that end of that identifies a couple of leads and a couple of Partners when that is not what we were told when we approved the idea of an additional 45 days what was supposed to come back to us I was think it was going to be more collaborative than what we're seeing I don't we know the 30 million is out there but the idea of endorse the revised proposal and authorize staff to move forward with the new team we don't have a new team we have an idea in here Mr delom just mentioned well we don't have a name we don't have a LLC they're still working on it we need to be careful with the language because the City attorney has already shared that when Council approves certain language and that language is kind of vague when it's time for it to come back to his office and it's time to negotiate some very specific request not saying that that is the case this time but he has his office has received push back from developers saying well that's not what council approved I.E that's not what council mandated we need to be very careful in this language as we move forward with this partnership to make sure your local body that's approving this have a clear understanding of who we are getting into a contract with thank you thank you um I I just would point out that um about 42 days ago staff came back to us with a recommendation of moving forward with QC East um my understanding of what we're going to be asked to vote on today is that they are changing that recommendation to move forward with uh a combination of of the two um uh what was presented tonight is quite similar I think to what was presented 42 days ago when the recommendation was to move forward with QC East um these details have to continue to be be worked out um and and again this is staff's recommendation so um I don't see any others Miss Molina now you know you couldn't leave without me saying something about this thank you Mr protim um my apologies to my um colleagues for coming in a little bit later but I I guess I'd be remiss without saying um hats off to you um Mr manager and your team I've realized that when we began this process it would not be easy we have two completely Divergent ideas that under circumstances that they wouldn't have even know I I don't even know if I've ever heard of two people who were competing for the same slot saying now I want to work together so that we can have the best outcome for the people of East Charlotte so I know we have a few of them in the room um and I'm happy they they're sitting together do you do you see what I'm saying I mean I think that for this Council we have to honor the fact that we got two people who were competing for the same exact spot to say they want to work together and they're in the room with us sitting together um so I I'm I'm I am above the Moon um and I know that we have a lot to still answer here um I am 100% on board with continuing to have two people sitting beside each other who have the people that I represent in mind and coming up with the best opportunity for them I I think um I I I feel honored I feel blessed to have a council that was even willing to support me to do it um and I'm even more blessed to have people who are willing to do it so um I think some very important points have been brought up um and I'm I'm sure the team will be you know working to answer some of those questions I'm looking forward to you know the followups but I think we have something we have the we have the ingredients for a great recipe um that I encourage anybody who wants to do business with the city of Charlotte to model the behavior of the two entities that we have because I mean the optimal outcome is the outcome that considers the people in the city and that's what we have here so um again Mr manager Tracy Todd you know option A and B um Mr Cinema you know um I I really appreciate you guys um I it means means a lot to me um and I'm I know it means a lot to the people of East Charlotte that you're deciding to do this so thank you um thank you to the team and I I look forward to the update thank you very much I think everybody has spoken um Mr Jones is on you so mayor pretend you were right I was a little ambitious but we'll still get the first we'll get What was decided for agenda action review done so next we have Debbie Smith and team will come up and talk a little bit about social districts as I mentioned earli tonight there's a public comment period uh when we get into the chamber but just wanted to let you know where we are with social districts all right good evening mayor protim council so great to see you this evening um Mr Jones gave 90% of my opening remarks here so no um so Debbie Smith I serve as your transportation director and with me tonight is Casey Mashburn and he serves as your Deputy division manager within our development services group and so he oversees the group that uh involves special events so many of you have interacted with Casey on special events he also oversees our rideway section and so with that uh Casey's presentation um that I'm here to support at the end really is about the highlights of what it means to be a social district and what's unique about the Charlotte area but then we're really going to dive into the details on the Plaza Midwood Merchants Association their applications and all the details related to their application and so without further Ado I'm going to turn it over to Casey so thank you thank you Debbie good evening mayor proin members of council city manager my name is Casey Mashburn with the Charlotte Department of Transportation and I'm here to give you an update on social districts in Charlotte so as a refresher social districts are areas where people can walk around with open tog go containers of alcoholic beverages those bever must be purchased from within the district in a special to go container and they must also be consumed within the district boundaries in August of 2022 Council adopted an ordinance enabling the creation of social districts in Charlotte our ordinance established the legal framework by which we could consider Community proposals and it authorized the creation of the standards and Provisions document to guide the process since that time sedot has published the final standards and Provisions and we have been receiving pre-applications and applications in North Carolina there are approximately 32 social districts operating currently and what all those districts have in common is that they're within one centralized core geography in their city or town they were also established by their city or town that they were in so how is Charlotte different well early on we heard from our residents how important it was to consider multiple areas of Charlotte Charlotte is full of vibrant and unique communities such as South End Plaza Midwood Nota and many others and this is really unique from other jurisdictions and that's the reason for the ordinance framework the Charlotte approach empowers and enables community-driven proposals it lets the community tell us where their priorities are so to guide the applicant and staff the ordinance also enabled the creation of the standards and Provisions document and we've heard some talk about our Milestones within the document but it's really meant to serve as a basic guide it covers things such as an application management maintenance plan and the need for Community engagement in public [Music] comment next I'd like to talk a little bit about the social District approval process and the first Milestone within the process is a pre-application and a meeting with City staff and I think of this is the exploratory phase of the process where both the applicant staff get to sit down and learn about the proposal and they may or may not choose to move forward but if they do so they would begin developing their application to meet the city and state requirements once they've done that they would then submit to City staff for review and we would ensure that it does indeed meet those requirements and at that point we would look to move the proposal forward to Council in the form of a public comment period where you would hear a little bit more about the proposal and receive comments from the public at a subsequent business meeting you would then have the opportunity to vote on an ordinance amendment to approve the district if you choose to do so so I know I've talked a lot about an application so I just want to cover what's in an application it's really three basic components first is a boundary map so where is the district located next is the management maintenance plan so how is the district going to be operated and maintained and lastly is documentation of community engagement I want to touch on community engagement a little bit more because this is something that we heard loud and clear from our residents they want to have a say in what happens in their neighborhood and so we built this end of the process by requiring that the applicant demonstrate clear support by way of a simple majority petition for the district we also require that they hold a community meeting and provide at least two letters of support from neighboring HOAs or other business organizations so who's interested well as you can see on the screen we've received several pre-applications to date and these groups repres pres various parts of our community but I do want to emphasize these are pre-applications they're not obligated to move forward at this time but they may choose to do so in the future and to that point we have received one application to date from the plaza Midwood mergence Association so with that I'd like to transition to tell you a little bit more about the plaza Midwood proposal first I'd like to orient you to the map provided by the plaza Midwood Merchants Association and the this area is just east of Uptown along Central Avenue in the plaza Midwood area within Council District distri one council member Anderson's district and the green lines on the map denote the district boundaries and the blue dots represent the signage that is required by state law the district is generally located from west to east along Central Avenue from tenth and Louise to morning Side Drive and also from south to North along pan Avenue from Chesterfield to hamton place in total length the district is approximately 1.3 mil long and is a rough size of 44 Acres so a few details about The Proposal first the operating hours are proposed to be Monday through Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. in accordance with our ordinance and the management maintenance plan specifies that the district will provide all of the funding for initial and ongoing uh proposals they will establish a committee for oversight of the district they will provide all of the uh boundary and business signage that's required and they plan to utilize reusable stainless Ste cups to meet our sustainability goals for Community engagement they did provide a petition ition SE clear uh support from the community by way of simple majority they held their virtual meeting on June 1st of 2023 with approximately 75 attendees and the Commonwealth morning side and chantilli neighborhood associations both provided letters of support and in summary this application has met the minimum city and state requirements so as part of the process this application did undergo a multi- departmental review to ensure we gained a broad perspective from potentially impacted City departments and so the office of sustainability had no objections to the proposal and supported those sustainability goals within the application the attorney's office planning SE Dot and solid waste had no objections pending minor revisions to the management maintenance plan these really circled around clarifications related to citing applicable General statutes and city code also clarifications related to trash and recycling responsibilities as well as the removal of some language related to the permitting of vendors and special events cmpd also had no objections to the proposal but would like to continue the conversation with the applicant on the opportunity to enhance Public Safety and specifically they want to discuss the addition of intentional SED for excluded or opted out locations continue conversations on the district boundaries and potential impacts to surrounding areas and lastly clarifications related to providing the community liaison to work with cmpd so lastly I want to talk next steps later on tonight you will receive comments from the public and the applicant will also be on hand to answer any questions that you may have about the proposal your October 23rd business meeting would then be your first opportunity to vote on an ordinance amendment that would approve the district if you choose to do so and assuming a successful vote the applicant staff would then work on the final details to implement the district and with that debb I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have thank you very much Miss Mayfield thank you mayor poam thank you than you for the presentation I have a couple of clarifying questions in committee we just received a update on our review of our city code of ordinances one of the things that was in that review specifically our ordinances of potential relevance to policy referral beer and wine consumption possession of open container disposal of containers masturbation in public urination and defecation on certain property prohibited I am trying to understand how we have that conversation and part of the challenge in the presentation from cmpd is we changeed some language where we're not tracking certain challenges currently we already all of us have received a couple of emails some more than others regarding us instituting our open container a decent exposure and public urination current ordinances with the idea of trying to move forward with social districts how are our current ordinances going to be solidified and enforced when we are already having challenges for events that are happening around our city where we're seeing these challenges without having a specific social District so it helped me H understand how a conversation just last week in regards to cmpd's interaction for these concerns and social districts which is a direct determinant of some of these same issues help me understand how they correlate yeah so I I think first off great question and they are definitely correlated in some ways I mean naturally it's the same topic of conversation and I will say our ordinance right now was amended in August of 2022 when we adopted the social districts ordinance to have a provision to specify that while open containers may be an ordinance violation they are approved in certain uh situations such as the social District now our conversations with cmpd and the applicant have really uh circled around that we are going to continue to enforce the rules as we can open containers are only approved in the special tog go containers within the district so you can't purchase some other type of Beverage or another uh means or methods to receive an alcoholic beverage and walk around with the community has to be in that specific to go container and this is something that cmpd will have obviously work on uh to enforce in their means and mechanisms so as we're having this conversation again we just received a presentation stating how honestly cmpd is not tracking a lot of these incidences the way they once were because we're having them a lot more more often and we need our law enforcement to be focusing on other things is anywhere in this language the expectation for the businesses to contribute with their own paid for security to ensure cuz again if we're already having a challenge in chapter 153 of beer and wine consumption possession of open container and Disposal so we're saying we're going to create a social District you can have that container in that District where is going to be the increase of trash cans whether it's big belly or whatever it is we have gone through Uptown you can go through Uptown on the weekend and see trash overflowing see trash on the ground we don't need that in our Waters and streams masturbation in public 15- 82 15- 83 Ur urination and defecation on certain property that's prohibited what are we saying that we're putting in place to protect the residents so we look at Plaza medwood mhm you have a lot of residents that are there so you're in the social District you are a person that unfortunately does not know how to hold your alcohol you have your container but then you cause property damage whether that property damage is through one of the three that I've called out or another way what protections are we putting in place for those homeowners that are now going to have the regular occurrence of drunkenness and the impact of that on their property and in their community so I want to there's a couple of points in there I'd like to speak to and first i' would like to touch on kind of the the litter and recycling aspect that you mentioned and we have addressed this within the proposal and a real key to that is the applicant has agreed and as part of the process they will be responsible for any Trash directly related to the social District so specifically the reusable cups and they also plan to utilize the reusable CBS not only for our sustainability goals but it also helps to minimize the potential for litter and other items such as that on some of the other items such as uh drunkenness and public and things of that nature this does not change any of the existing laws out there and so public intoxication is a a state law at this point and so that would still be enforceable by cmpd I will say the applicant and the application does not have any Provisions that the district would provide any additional policing or anything things of that nature manager it will be helpful to before moving forward even though we're going to have a public hearing it will be helpful to have our law enforcement to be a part of this conversation as I mentioned if we have our current open container incent exposure and public urination ordinance if we we were to reinforce that how would that impact this conversation and what would be the financial impact on taxpayers with the increased law enforcement that is going to be called into these areas thank you thank you Miss Anderson thank you mayor proam thank you to both for the presentation this is actually a Salient moment it's milestone in our social District process um uh Casey and Debbie went through this pretty easily but there has been months and months of meetings interfacing um answering a lot of questions with the plaza Midwood Merchants Association myself the two of them as well as cmpd um the legal department solid was Services C do everybody has been a part of this process so I wanted to Miss Mayfield just walked out but I want to ensure her as well as everyone else that cmpd has been at the table and they've and they've put their thumb print on on this as well and you're going to hear in the in the Forum later on tonight from a couple of the um a couple of the individuals that are part of this development process what I do want to say about Plaza Midwood Merchant Association is they really and truly do have a process they have developed a process uh for the roll out of the social District so not only the reusable cup but they have a process by which um there will be dating and tagging of that cup from where that drink came from there'll be clear signage as we mentioned earlier um around the boundaries and in addition to that they're going to have ambassadors um once the social district is open they there's they're establishing an ambassador program so once the district is open there will be members from the merchant Association out on the streets just socializing what this means to be a social district and the behaviors that are um expected and should be um and should be um active in this area so there will be an educational piece uh for the community as well but they see it and I see it as well as opportunity for uh increased walkability for a neighborhood U this is a neighborhood where there are lots of residents that live on the outskirts of of the nucleus of Plaza Midwood and they would potentially have to drive or take other other transportation services to get to the actual social Center uh but with this unlocking this opportunity uh community members can walk from their their houses from their friends houses to establishments and do it legally and enjoy their community so it will be increased walkability and increasing the opportunity to um have a a greater night life in Plaza Midwood from a safe perspective so I am very very happy that we're at this point I know the merchant Association is as well we've answered we've had some questions from community members as it relates to safety and other things and we've done a the staff has done a great job of connecting the dots with the ABC Board and other entities who have gone through this process we're not the First Community to stand up a social District in North Carolina and we're not the first community stand up a social District within mecklinburg County so there is some precedence for this and those social districts are doing well so of course there'll be some unknowns uh but we'll we'll as we roll it out we'll address those as we do but I just want to say thank you for all the work that you guys have done to spearhead this process and looking forward to hopefully voting for the first social District in the city of Charlotte uh in up in an upcoming meeting thank you mayor pro thank you I have oh Mr Graham just one question just one question thank you and thank you for all the work council member Anderson that you have put into this but is there any backs I mean things go s where we want to come back go backwards are they any clawbacks yeah absolutely so I mean as council member Anderson mentioned I mean this is going to be an iterative process this is our first one we're learning on the go and we're going to continue to learn um The Comebacks would be you know if we see any opportunities that we can address at a staff level with the applicant we would naturally do so and ultimately the hope is never to have to come back uh in front of this body to address an issue like that but it is an option there's no requirements that once we establish the district that we can't revoke the district at some point in the future hopefully we don't but there is that opportunity there if needed okay thank you m Johnson just one question do well a couple questions do we have any data if social districts increase alcohol consumption fantastic question so I will say there's a lot of anecdotal um information around social districts so I don't have a particular answer to that unique question I can certainly look to follow up in a report but my assumption is I've done a lot of research on this topic is that I doubt there is an answer to that exact question specifically because these are still relatively new within the state as it not did okay so la thank you so last week the ABC Board was here and they talked about training merchants on um recognizing excessive alcohol consumption if there's any resources to help keep residents safe and Patron safe so I'd like to see the merchants in the social District to ensure that they have the training and also if there's any tools for um ideas to reduce drinking and driving if there's any any resources out there let's make sure that we're equipping the merchants and also the patrons with tools to be safe while they're having a good time yes ma'am thank you so I will add just one point on that so uh the ABC commission every establishment that will sell alcohol within the district is an ABC registered body so they're receiving that training from the the commission as well and we will continue to kind of amplify that message for you okay and then if there's anything the cmpd offers I mean just any any ideas to reduce the drinking and driving if there's coupons I don't know what it is but let's make sure that we are are considering that we have the same goal there thank you hearing seeing no more com comments or questions we will move downstairs for the business meeting of our part of our [Music] [Music] meeting [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] e [Music] all to order oh yeah you in favor okay good this first business meeting of October uh we will start uh with introductions uh since we started to my right upstairs we'll start to my left downstairs good evening Patrick Baker City attorney good evening Victoria watlington District 3 sharp card is six and DS district 7 m gr District Two braxon Winston May appr Pro them Marcus Jones city manager good evening Lana slight Mayfield member at large good evening Renee Johnson and I'm honored to represent District 4 good evening everyone James Mitchell at large good evening marjerie Molina District 5 happy Monday dimple Lura and welcome I'm an I'm serving you as an at large member Billy th Deputy city clerk good evening Dante Anderson district one thank you all very much uh we will begin our meeting with an invocation our invocation are expressions and in uh and inspiration followed by the Pledge of Allegiance the invocation by the council member is intended to salize our proceedings we celebrate the religious diversity of our Comm Community including those without a religious Faith tonight council member Graham will give our invocation thank you mayam brown will me bow our heads dear father We Gather here today as representatives of our community entrusted with the responsibility of guiding and shaping the future of Charlotte we approach this meeting with humility seeking wisdom understanding and unity grant us the vision to recognize and prioritize the needs and aspirations of all those we serve may we approach our deliberations with Open Hearts and Minds valuing diverse perspectives and pursuing solutions that promotes Justice Harmony and progress in your name we pray amen amen amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all we'll move on to our Awards and recognitions part of our agenda um I will recognize uh Miss Anderson who will read a proclamation for indigenous people's day thank you mayor protim and welcome to everyone who's in the chamber and watching us um very happy to celebrate indigenous people's day today um and I'm going to read a proclamation that the mayor has put forth to help us celebrate the culture and the enrichment and the diversity that this community has helped provide the city of Charlotte and the state of North Carolina whereas throughout the centuries American Indians have shared their knowledge of land and resources while continuing to play a part of the development of the city of Charlotte the state of North Carolina and the nation and whereas North Carolina is the home to more than 24,000 American Indians and have eight historic trib tries legally recognized by the state of North Carolina the co kohari Eastern band of Cherokee the uh saponi Lumby maherin and Oka okaichi band of saponi sapon saponi and wacal suin and whereas the city of Charlotte enjoys a positive relationship with the native the American Indians citizens recognizes and encourag the acknowledgment of the historic contribution and sacrifices of indigenous peoples and respects the cultural and economic contribution that American Indians continue to make and whereas the city of Charlotte promotes the closing of the equity gap for indigenous peoples through policies and practices that reflect the experiences of indigenous people ensure greater access and opportunity and honor the nation's indigenous Roots history and contributions and whereas indigenous people's day was proposed in 19 77 by a delegation of native Nationals to the United Nations sponsored International Conference on discrimination against indigenous people populations in America now therefore by Alexander lyes the mayor of Charlotte does hereby Proclaim October 9th 2023 as IND ous people's day in Charlotte and commends its observance to all citizens and it signed by mayor LS thank you very much um and now uh Miss Mayfield will read a proclamation recognizing October as Charlotte's Charlotte Women's small business Mar thank you mayor protim in in attendance tonight we do have our National Association of women business owners and I would like to recognize some of our members Christina Jared Carol Knight Peg Rochelle Stewart Trina Sherman Maurice Kumar Emy kersner Brenda Harris and Melinda mcadon hopefully I got that correct whereas women on small businesses are an economic engine and own 42% of all us businesses employing 8% of the private sector Workforce 66% of American female business owners are the sole owners of their companies and whereas the Charlotte Metro Area ranks number one for women owned firms for growth and number and economic cloud and whereas approximately 92,5 500 women-owned small businesses in the Charlotte Metro area are generating 13.3 billion in sales employing 70,000 people and whereas the city of Charlotte values local women own small businesses and celebrates the diversity of ownership in goods and services they provide as well as the contributions they make to our community and whereas October has been designated as National Women's small business month to celebrate the achievements of women business owners and is also designated as Charlotte Women's small business month to celebrate the achievements of women and business owners the achievements of women business owners in the Charlotte region now therefore by Alexander LA mayor of Charlotte do hereby Proclaim October 2023 as Charlotte women Women's small business month in Charlotte and commend its observance to all citizens and urge all citizens businesses and Community organizations in Charlotte to join this salute to women business owners by encouraging and promoting the celebration of the achievements of all women business owners as they contribute daily to our economic Civic and cultural goals and livelihood Witness my hand and the official seal of the city mayor by Alexander [Applause] La thank you very much Mayfield we will move on to item number eight which is our public hearing um uh section of our agenda and it will be a public comment on the proposed creation of the plaza Midwood social District so we are going to open those public comments and we do have speakers this time we have four speakers who will have three minutes each um for uh Jason Michelle I asked her she good evening honorable mayor 10 city council I'm Jason Michael uh president uh executive director of Plaza Midwood Merchants Association uh Clifton is the president sweet guy if you've met him um we are a small business organization it represents 70 plus businesses in the plaza Midwood area um that represents Decades of experience in retail and uh service industry sectors um including the of many uh on premise primes that have responsibly managed serving alcohol to the public for decades um we are very excited to finally be here um in this uh in this in this process it has been a a challenge um and it but that challenge has only made our plan stronger and better um and we look forward to uh stewarding the social District if uh you grant us that privilege um we uh the main goals that we have come upon um that we're excited to uh see come to life and enhance in plasma Midwood like is like what's happening in other districts around the state that have been in existence for almost 2 years now is to activate The Pedestrian Network support our local businesses facilitate community and improve Public Safety um a lot of these uh districts are are definitely helped these uh business sectors and communities Thrive especially during coid uh Plaza Midwood is obviously growing and and facing a lot of challenges um a lot of businesses have been impacted but we we take a lot of pride in being a a widely diverse Community with uh people from all across the spectrum of humanity and uh this kind of activity we see as just a way to really facilitate Community have people being able to move up move about have uh Community celebrations um with ease um so yeah that's that's it I hope uh I hope we get to be the first well thank you thank you very much Russell Ferguson you have three minutes Kim you want to be last got to go in the order that it was received thank you honorable mayor protim uh Council pleasure to be here as a human not a lawyer uh I'm a board member of the FL Midwood Merchant Association hey those that know no um so uh I'm here in the capacity as a board member uh I'm a Community member I'm my wife and I are also business owners of one of the old establishments in Dish and in a second generation um the process hasn't been easy we've gotten stronger for it you've heard of that you guys are familiar it's been a little bit like the resoning process except it was being built as we work with City staff uh you know and and thank you to City staff um you know it's not been easy for them either uh it's been new to the city um and and thank you to Council particularly our our district rep U Council Anderson you made us really warm and fuzzy inside when we heard you on TV um so uh from the boundaries to reusable cups um the components of management we have a plan for this it involves our residences we're unique in that we're emergence Association that is run by people that own businesses and live in the neighborhood it makes us a good candidate to test run this and try it out uh the biggest issue that's come up is a question about the boundaries and we really that is something that we needed to do to be inclusive of our membership and of our neighborhood and to speak to the properties that aren't as fancy or as well known as the properties that are much more expensive and and higher rents uh and we really appreciate the grace to be able to move forward with that and biggest thing here is if it doesn't work we'll be the first to know and we'll be the first to reduce or eliminate it if we get to that point we don't believe it there's over 30 districts that have done this without horror stories two years in Canapolis this will be the third in the county um so I guess as a as a greater thing to this and something that speaks to a lot of other issues about the council is we kind of believe in trying to plan for something that the best of us and the most you know citizens of law abiding intentions can enjoy uh we don't think that quality of life issues has to be defensive all the time we think we can plan to do something as a community to make it good and we think we can manage it and we're going to try but we're going to keep evaluating we're going to work with law enforcement with City to make sure we do it right uh we'd appreciate that you guys support us on this and and vote for it when it comes up in a few weeks uh and end with the you know the most frequently Asked question is when I we got to do this I'm getting stopped on the street I've done too many news things and everybody when are you going to do this you're the you're supposed to do this you said you're going to do this and I we're working on it so please please please vote for this thank you and and I'm here if you have questions I'll come back thank you very much Bernie petite you have three minutes thank you um honorable mayor protim and um council members I will not be as eloquent as Russell was unfortunately but thank you for granting me the time tonight uh my name is Bernie petite and I have been a plaza Midwood resident for 18 years um in addition to being here as a longtime resident I am also here as a board member for the plaza Midwood neighborhood association r p& PM's mission is to Foster an attitude of neighborhood spirit and involvement on the part of the residents of Plaza Midwood through the development of recreational social cultural and educational programs and facilities in the plaza mwood area as such PM's board is in support of the plaza Midwood Merchant association's efforts to create a social District it will we believe this effort will support our our small businesses and help maintain an environment that encourages A diversity of Music art dining and entertainment in our neighborhoods business district the merchant Association has provided regular updates to both the board and residents throughout this process and they have worked to address both board and Resident um concerns throughout the process their willingness to listen to to neighbors to find outcomes that illustrate a respect for what they've heard should be commended moreover the members the merchants have been incredible supporters of both pmana and the neighborhood and many of them live and work in the neighborhood which is why we have trust that they will not do anything that brings negative attention or light to our neighborhood for PM anda's board um this is this social District is about more than walking around with beer it's about creating an environment where residents and visitors are encouraged to visit and support our local businesses I appreciate your time and hope you will join us in supporting P plate wood businesses thank [Music] you thank you very much um next we will have yazan hum humade you will have 3 minutes three three hello everyone my name is yazan H I'm uh the owner at subsid market and Bottle Shop uh we're a small retail shop with um really good food Met trining Food um a large variety of beers wines uh kombuchas non-alcoholic Beverages and um a lot of different varieties of items um as well as snacks and uh desserts and we've got a lot of or like I've been in the area in Plaza Midwood for 5 months now I'm actually moving with my wife to live in Plaza Midwood October 28th um being there for 5 months I've gotten to see what the neighborhood um is like as a community everyone truly goes out together as a as a community gets to know each other like a lot of the new customers that come to my store it will be a husband and his wife and kids and you'll see some other people walk in with their wives and kids and they're like oh that's my neighbor and that's my neighbor everybody's a community there um so with that being said like everyone walks and supports each small business there are several businesses that offer the same Services as I do the same environment and Vibes as we do but what Plaza mid would likes to do is they support the small businesses equally so in order for them to do so they would have to like I did that actually yesterday I got off work went with my wife we walked from my store to um the Thirsty Beaver Bar which is right down the street we had a drink there we went from that shop to the next shop had an a beverage this is over like a 5 hour of course period of time but we went from business to business um to hang out but one thing we kept seeing is like when we're ready to go we don't want to stay at a place for too long 30 minutes an hour we're having to finish our drink chug the whole thing and then walk to the next business so it's actually forcing us more to drink more before we go to the next place so um but truly if we were able to have our beverage with us going from this bar to to a boutique shop like uh wi's Boutique we're able to go from this place H shop around with some clothes with a beverage go to the next shop it creates a cool Community Vibe and that's what already plasa Midwood already is so that's my speech so hopefully yall are able to help us support this thank you um any discussion of that motion hearing none all in favor please raise your hand any oppos seeing none that's unanimous and before we move on um my apologies I was just made aware that we do have members of our American Indian um population that would here to receive the uh Proclamation that uh Miss Anderson um um recited earlier so thank you mayor protim I'm going to invite our members of Metrolina Native American Association to come down and receive the proclamation they represent several tribes in our [Applause] community thank you very much um so items 9 and 10 both public hearings on our uh Historic Landmark designations um have been removed from tonight's agenda oh yeah and so we will move on to item number 11 number 11 under our policy uh section of our agenda the city manager's report and I will turn it over to Mr Jones for his report so uh thank you mayor proam and members of council I have in front of you uh the 30-day memo that uh we give to you uh each time that we have a business meeting I would like to use the time that I have tonight to give you an update on the smart Charlotte digital inclusion plan as you will recall uh back in uh January you uplifted the concept of Bridging the digital divide as a council priority so we're trying to make sure that we keep you updated with that and so I assure you that these aren't superheroes that are coming down but they really have cool names like Mark Kell story and Rachel Stark and they'll talk with with you a little bit about what's happening around the council priority around um smart Charlotte the digital inclusion Plan update thank you thank you thank you mayor po Tim city manager Council my name is Mark St I'm the chief technology officer and IT director for the city uh today the team will give an update on the smart city and smart Charlotte digital inclusion update so at this time I'll turn it over to Rachel STS to provide that update good evening uh mayor protm council and city manager it's great to be with you all Rachel do me a favor just um put the mic I'm not as tall as I wish I was uh thank you for having me here tonight I'm Rachel Stark the smart cities program manager with Innovation and technology department um and on the heels of digital inclusion week I really wanted to say a heartfelt thank you to you all for your commitment to closing the digital divide here in Charlotte it's such important work and you guys have been really supportive and great and in these efforts um tonight I'm just going to provide a really brief update on our digital inclusion work um since our last update was in at the end of February with that could I get the next slide so tonight we really have um three main updates that we're going to be giving tonight um and then with these um I want to remind you and ground you in the fact that this is really about uh our digital inclusion work is not just about internet access and making sure people have access to computers and internet but really making sure people are benefiting from the internet access that we're providing them and really benefiting from these digital tools that we're putting out there for people next slide this slide probably looks familiar to you it's the same format that we've used before uh with this um as a reminder back in December of last year we closed out our first pilot around internet access and we launched um a new update um in to this program access Charlotte in June of this year uh we also have uh made progress on the digital literacy work continuing to support the center for digital equity and our digital Navigator program through that and we have also been testing out computer enabled devices through a pilot Learn to Earn program that we just uh ran this summer and lastly um the universal service platform down towards the bottom we are doing some work with google.org and an open-source software called Civ form to really streamline people's access to the services and resources we offer next slide so this also probably looks familiar we um these are most updated numbers for 2022 so it's updated from what you saw last these came in just a few weeks ago um we have made really great strides to closing the digital divide around uh Dev uh internet um but we still have a ways to go around computer access um but those numbers are looking really good a 25% drop down to 50, 164 households that do not have internet at home or may only have dialup or cell phone use only cell phone data plans and then with homes without computers that's looking at people with no computer access or cell phone device only thank you next slide please so again thanks to the work of council the investment of council and our arpa funding uh we are now at 3600 households connected to the access Charlotte program um and then additionally we have 15 Community spaces with internet provided and this launched on June 20th of this year so we expect those numbers to continue to rise over the next few months with the adoption work that we're doing on the ground um also with this work it's important to note you may have heard um Dana Fenton's update earli this year with a committee saying that uh the affordable connectivity program uh Federal funding is set to run out probably in early of 2024 and therefore we should uh be considering what we need to be doing as we move forward and thankfully we've been doing that through this access Charlotte work and we're working with our partners to figure out a sustainability plan for this work so moving on to digal navigation on the other side of the slide um We are continuing to work with the the CDE team and so far 130 residents have been supported through this program not only around access Charlotte and uh the ACP program but really thinking about the the work that's needed to get people devices affordable computers up skill around their digital skills and then getting that technical support for things that they may need to be be doing around the computer continuing this work we're working with uh Jamar Davis as our access Charlotte coordinator is on the ground in the community working with our digital navigation team as well as with Spectrum to help make sure people have what they need next slide please so as we move forward it's we know it's not just about internet we really need to be looking at all the other things people need um including um devices getting computers that they need making sure that they also have um do the digital literacy skills so that they have the confidence to really go about their work on the computers that um and and internet that we're having that we get out in the community so with this work um we're trying to make sure that we're promoting upward Mobility with this technology improving our own tools so that it's easy for people to use the tools that we set out there and building Pathways for innovation technology that is inclusive and Equitable next slide so digital inclusion is definitely about upward Mobility um because you really H in this day and age we all use the internet we all use computers um and we want to make sure that we're getting that first step that people need to get familiar with that those tools with that internet access how to navigate safely and really making sure that um by having internet by having those devices and those digital schools skills that we're unlocking a world full of opportunities next slide with our learn to- earn concept as we worked on this we realized that uh there are many different efforts related to this going on in the community and uh rather than create something completely new we found that there are some opportunities to really Galvanize some of the work that's already been done on the ground and really work with our partners uh so for example the library has it serves as a fundamental training space and people are comfortable going to the libraries and getting training we also wanted to make sure that we're thinking about a plan that is getting people quality computers something that's functional can serve all their different needs and can be used for a wide variety of end goals that that each of them may have um and and part of this for example is thinking about a higher Charlotte we've talked about that a lot in Council this is a baseline to get them to hire Charlotte as one of many different things that someone could go in their pathway towards upward Mobility next slide so to before we went full scale on the amount of funding that's set aside for this we wanted to make sure that we piloted and tested out what would be a really good solution for this effort and we worked with the West Boulevard Library they have the Mech Tech connect program that they were running and we said okay we know that people are getting internet in this area let's also provide them with some devices and digital literacy upscaling opportunities so we did some direct Outreach to over 750 residents and additional Outreach through flyers and uh next door app and word of mouth and we reached a lot of different people and in the end we had 100 spaces available 69 people applied to the program and 13 people successfully completed this program and this gave us the opportunity to really learn what it is that draws people to this kind of learning environment M what it is that motivates them to participate what are they trying to achieve beyond what we think that they're trying to achieve so that we can really shift our curriculum courses and credentials to really meet the needs and goals of the people who are trying to serve and really benefit them and what we want to do is make sure through this program and the learnings and we're actively commit getting feedback from people who participated in the program either fully completing and graduating or moving on um to work continue to work with the community to get to the additional uh people additional 43 people I believe it is who did not quite complete the program work with them to figure out what it is that they need to really be successful and get that computer in the end next slide so the recommendations we have are that we continued to work with our partners um everyone had a lot of different things there were instances where some people became really sick and they weren't able to continue on the program they had other priorities they found other devices um that they could get for in an easier way and so this comp this program was really tailored and meant to be something that everyone could shift and choose for example like what computers they would like to to use and what they would need as they move forward um and a lot of people do want to have that opportunity to shape what what it is that they're trying to learn and not just be focused into a pigeon hole of oh you need to learn about resume writing when they may be really skilled at resume writing but there's some other uh Workforce Development skill that they may really need next slide so to end on uh this update we are continuing to work on the smart charet program to make sure we're building that pathway for Innovative technology knowing that uh we need to work with the residents we're working uh that to serve next slide please as we move forward uh we want to make sure uh we really understand how we can deliver tools holistically that serve um their residents needs around digital inclusion and we also want to make sure that we are um making better including residents in shaping the technologies that we select as a city that are intended to benefit them or may positively impact their experience throughout the city um with that I am thankful for the time to be here and I will take any questions or feedback thank you very much Miss Mayfield thank you mayor P thank you for this detailed report and congratulations on the work that you all are doing I have a couple of questions the main one is we are experiencing both a lot of young people as well as a population of Elders that is increasing unfortunately we also know that for some as we get a little older there are some challenges whether that challenges be beginning stages of dementia other things sometimes energy or excitement may arise what are we putting in place at our libraries to ensure specifically our elders have access I don't know if my colleagues I would assume they also received an email I received an email from my Elder in the community I can only ascertain from Reading between the lines even though I'm not psychic nor do I play one on television that there was probably a heated conversation but they've been banned from the library and that's their main source of communication that's also their safe space so I would like to know if you've had any thoughts or any conversations on the what if because if it is beginning stages of Dementia or Alzheimer's unfortunately reality is we've done studies that aggressiveness and anger issues are part of that that transition not for all but for some so when we think about resources what resources are we putting in place for specifically our elders where and for our residents that may be on a level of the spectrum where if they're running into the computer running into challenges and get a little frustrated to help them maneuver or navigate or have you possibly even considered the what Els on that definitely I mean seniors and people with disabilities are both on the list of people most impacted by the digital divide and so with those what we find so far in our work with the pilot and with continuing conversations with people in the community is that we need to work with those trusted Community Partners that work with them and so there are these specialized group that work with different groups whether it's seniors specifically or people with different uh abilities and trying to make sure that their needs are covered and met we also have the digital navigation program that anyone can reach by calling 311 it's also there's also a web version online that people can use for just one-on-one connection with somebody um so we're we're trying to basically build out a lot of different Pathways for people to get that service and support that they need I will also add if you can consider adding that as a part of our CLT Plus app for individuals that are a little bit more comfortable with the computer versus calling 311 but this is amazing work thank you for all that you have done and thank you for already taking in consideration the impact of our elders and those who may need a little more assistance thank you may thank you very much Miss Ash thank you um great job Rachel with this presentation appreciate the work that you're doing with the pilot um and I like to have you identified Focus areas uh because every part of our uh city has unique needs um where you have youth seniors uh immigrant low-income English language speakers um as you I know there are organizations that work with seniors have limited English proficiency um have those groups been identified and I know some of them also need a device um what are the plans to I I know this just the pilot but I was wondering if if there is a plan in place to address that because there is a uh there is a digital divide that we do need to address because a lot of the community services that we access is through internet um and when you don't have an access to a device or do not know how to use it uh it's a big it's a huge barrier from accessing uh Community Services definitely and I would um so on that note uh there are some organizations that we know of but what we're trying to do too right now is to make sure we reach out to the people who either got the word previously or participated in part but did not fully complete the program and even online we have a new button on the smart Charlotte web page where we're asking people to give feedback to find out who it is that they work with what are the community groups that they work with so that we can start to identify who it else we can we can reach out to obviously the library had a great Advantage because they already have devices and internet in their locations and with the access Charlotte service we have 15 community space sites set up and um these are facilities mostly for seniors and I think one is for um people with disabilities and those two those 15 locations we can obviously provide um digital literacy training their own site with internet access the center for digital Equity also has um tablets that people can use to to get their initial learning complete um once people have finished that learning then they earn a brand new computer that they can take home and continue to advance their learning or use it for other needs and I think one of the other learnings for this is some people may not need a full on computer there might may be some people who are okay with the tablet but because so many tablets have been put out there and so many smartphone devices there's a really big gap out there for people who need a full functioning low maintenance computer but connect with you offline um where an organization had reached out um that had a need so I'll connect you with them offline that sounds perfect thank you that would be amazing and if anyone else obviously has some connections we're welcome uh welcoming all that input and feedback very much Miss Johnson thank you mayor protim thank you for the presentation I just have a question about I've worked I have a nonprofit organization where I assist individuals in the community and I worked with Bruce Clark yes Queens College so they have a program for devices through the city is that is that correct so they are providing our digital navigation service so they're the ones under contract for that digital navigation support so they're supporting not only the 311 Outreach that people can get connected to and also uh Miss Mayfield I forgot to mention we do have the the um digital navigation on the CLT app currently um but you can so people can uh use that program which is offered through CDE um and Queens University so that is the same person that we're working with okay so a individual would call 311 then be connected to the digital navigator to help them get a device corre right or internet access or whatever their needs are is that correct any any digital needs so we've had people who call and they want to figure out how to get a job in technology and um some people call because they're trying to set up their internet at home or connect their devices that they just got from maybe their child just brought over a new smartphone or smart computer and they want to figure out how to connect and so it's a wide range of of services that they offer but there is a big focus on how do we get those basic Connections in there including digital literacy devices and internet thank you so I know your programs are for the end users but I there are areas in the city Mr where we know are dead zones for internet and I've talked to Renee ask you she's been wonderful um I've called her from 77 on my way headed to the university area there's this wall I promise you and you can't get internet from 77 till you're off Statesville so we've talked about that what projects are there because we're the what the 14th or 15th largest city now um and we want when people travel through our city to be able to use the you know the internet or have access to the Wi-Fi so what are we doing as a city to improve internet access in those large areas um WT Harris right near the research Park I mean there are large Pockets where you won't have phone service so what are we doing that's why you hanging up on me yeah that's why yes yes that was it wasn't what you said you you definitely um selected the least qualified person in the room to answer that question all those folks are there but but I will tell you and I believe I'm right with this we um did set aside some funds early on for those future Technologies as it comes to great as it comes to um Bridging the digital um divide so as those Technologies come on board we didn't want to spend everything just on devices and connectivity because we were also anticipating that there would be some more breakthroughs and so we stand ready for as as those breakthroughs come through and there's a bunch of folks well he left there's a bunch of folks to my left and right that I am really think have a big opinion of that and and I will say this and I hope that you see this what you did at the last annual strategy meeting I hope you see it's all starting to come together that a lot of things that we are doing is more horizontal than vertical and I think that we have the right priorities we'll try those again um when we get back into January but you know it's interesting to see Renee and I'll leave you alone Renee on the edge of her seat because she seems like she want to jump back into this um but there's a lot of Um passion around trying to do this and she did mention that she was identifying areas right and providers that where their gaps are so I don't know if there's an update okay so what you're referring to his gaps from the from a taod perspective so we would have to work directly with those Taos to identify those scaps and see if they're going to rectify those in the future thank you thanks thank you thank you very much M Anderson thank you mayor protim uh thank you both for this presentation you know I'm very passionate about the digital divide and digital literacy but it's clear from what you've presented tonight that we live in an age where digital literacy is a prerequisite for work Readiness right with 91% of the jobs requiring some baseline digital skills and we also live in an age where highspeed internet is effectively a basic infrastructure need just as we need water gas and electricity um our residents need high-speed access to high-speed internet and you've made tremendous progress by um bridging that Gap by 25% from 2019 to today so I want to thank you for that um I I also just want to say this concept you have the Learn to Earn is a fantastic concept and I I know you you pilot it in West Boulevard in my in my colleagues uh District but if you're ready to do a second pilot always ready or if you're ready for like a phase one roll out have a couple couple ideas a couple neighborhoods or corridors that Sugar Creek Corridor the Brierwood Hampshire Hill area and the Central Avenue Corridor are three great corridors in district one that hit those populations that you're looking for and would be very happy to work with you uh to do an additional um to do an additional pilot or a phase one roll out so thank you for the work and continue with the good job thank you mayor Pon thank you Miss Anderson Mr Mitch thank you mayor Pro Rachel great presentation just two quick questions one do we have any data that shows are those who have lack of access uh and I just take the pilot area we looking at the West Boulevard do we have any data we do have that data and it's available online in a couple of different locations to see a map of the digital divide and where it's highest um and that breaks it down by both devices and also internet subscription and just a followup you know we we get to ask the question all the time how does the city partner with CMS and I think this is one role we can play um um you know to solve some of the challenges so do we have any idea how many CMS families are in need of connectivity uh or access to the internet we know that 71,000 households 71,000 households qualify okay uh through some of the services that are offered some of them have been taken up over the last few months um of the 71,000 people uh students they are applying and getting the service um for the ACP um but there are that's how we start it's just looking at what are the qualifications some of them are through the lunch programs and some of them are just through the school themselves thank you great my my last comment uh city manager let's continue let Rachel do the great job but I think collaborating with CMS could be a win for all of us so thank you thank you said thank thank you very much um if I don't have any other questions or comments Mr Jones do you have anything else in managers report that's good Miss man Miss Mayfield thank you mayor protim manager Jones as they step away thank you for the report but I wanted to follow up with you on some previous requests so I wanted to give you a chance because I think you were shaking your head that you didn't have an additional update for tonight or you do I sure well you I know there's a couple of questions that you had with the um breakdown thank you of um home ownership versus rental and looking at that tax base we were going I think down a path that we shouldn't have and that was uh the assessor and we're now working with the planning department and I think we're going to be able to uh give you a preliminary number as earliest next week thank you I wanted to also ask and this might be really a question for planning but I'm going ask for ask you as part of your report what is what do we currently have in place and if not what could consideration look like look like and also for my colleagues to take into consideration when we're looking at De approving developments to my understanding we don't have a setback for when you're building near near a cemetery so we're doing a lot of infield building and we're have and we have a number of cemeteries in our area well we're starting I was driving around out and about throughout the city and notice that a new development is going up and it's rather close and I don't know if there is a setback in our language regarding how far like with some developments 50 ft 100 ft 150 ft from the closest development do we have any language when we're looking at cemeteries cuz a a good number of them are also connected to our religious institutions so as we're building and as we're having conversations making sure just to get get an idea of what we have in place if anything and of not consideration so that when I'm asked I'll be able and my colleagues will be able to respond also just want to get an update off of tonight's conversation so earlier in on the second floor I mentioned that we received a report a report out last week and it somewhat feels like we're giving conflicting information regarding that report out when we look at our review of our city code and ordinance ordinances does that conflict or complement this conversation that we're having a week later regarding social district and what is the impact of that cuz like even in Greenville Greenville North Carolina approve social districts but their times are 5:00 p.m. to 10: p.m. not 10:00 a.m. to 10: but we have some clear Poss some clear identified challenges that were presented to committee last week I want to make sure that our language is creating the best possible outcome and that we're not contradicting in that language with a presentation one week and a different conversation the immediate we week after how do they how is there a possibility to complement versus conflict no that that's a great uh question council member Mayfield uh as council member Anderson indicated earlier there were a number of discussions among staff as it relates to the social district from cmpd um being part of that but I think what's clear to me tonight is you would also like to hear cmpd Come and Talk about their thoughts around um not just only the social District but some of the um issues around um decriminalizing certain ordinances of ordinance yes thank you U Mr manager thank you may P thank you Miss Johnson oh yeah I I had one last question for Rachel and this may not be for Rachel I remember during the height of Co there were hot spots that were given to homeless families I I believe they were hotpots or were given to CMS so we talk about the CMS students how are we serving those I think 3 to 5,000 CMS students I believe it that's the number that are homeless um is is there any type of mobile device that families are given or is that a county role or um is there thought to that I do not have the most recent update on CMS hotspots but I'm sure we can find that information um as for the internet right now um we are really working on um working with our hous providers to get that internet through access Charlotte and that's not that's not on on to On The Go On Demand but it is providing people internet in their homes so we may want to work with the homeless shelters or or to get that information to find out if there's a gap there that we need to bridge or that um if there are families that we can consider giving access to the internet you know definitely so thank you thank you all very much um thank you for the presentation uh we will move on to the business portion of our agenda um we will start with item number 12 a home for all support um the property provider Recruitment and Retention pilot um for item 12 uh is there a motion to approve uh the use of $500,000 from the Corona virus state and local fiscal Rec Recovery Fund to fund a property provider Recruitment and Retention pilot administered by the the United Way of Greater Charlotte and authorize the city manager or his designate to execute amend and renew contracts as needed to complete this transaction so I'll move a motion that's been properly made and seconded any questions or comments from the council hearing none all in favor please raise your hand any opposed please raise your hand that is unanimous we'll move on to item number 13 Eastland Redevelopment um uh Sports and Redevelopment for item 13 is there a motion to authorize the city manager to move forward with the revised proposal the complex that is a rethought and reimagine reimagine concept which is the result of the requested collaboration of the two previous proposals of QC East at Eastland yards and Eastland yards Indoor Sports Complex for the Eastern 29 Acres of the former Eastland Mall site and authorize the city manager or his designate to negotiate and execute agreements for the reimbursement of costs for expenses associated with indoor and outdoor amateur sports facilities public infrastructure and other public improvements in an amount not to exceed $30 million which will be reimbursed from a combination of capital investment plan and Convention centered tax fund future certificates of participation as outlined in the resolution adopted by City Council on June June 12th 2023 second been a motion that's been made in properly second do we have any questions or comments Miss Molina um thank you mayor protim um I know that uh some people may be just joining the meeting um in an earlier portion of the discussion my colleagues had um some very pointed questions about um the followup with regards to um Eastland um I'm I just want to iterate how excited I am to see um everything that has come together as a result of this um exercise uh both parties are you know they have representation here tonight um and I want to iterate the thank you to them to the staff members to you know our Council uh for you know their willingness to um support the East Charlotte Community um in this endeavor um and I just want to lift that up for anybody um and encourage them to go back and make sure that they um follow along for any updates that we'll have in the future with regards to E yards thank you Miss ashme thank you well uh in addition to what my colleague council member Molina said um I just want to recognize all the work that the Charlotte East had done uh Greg asuto thank you for your leadership uh throughout this process and Carolyn Millan and others who had joined us previously we certainly appreciate your advocacy uh for the east side as a fellow side resident I'm very appreciative of that um along with council member Molina Al obviously I'm very grateful for the uh development team uh Mr derkin uh Mr Bolton appreciate your collaboration here and obviously Mama Ivory and papa KY uh thank you for all the late night calls and messages certainly appreciate all the community engagement that's been done uh I'm just really pumped uh I'm really excited um um I've been on city council for almost 7 years and this has been something that's just been that's has um been a topic that we haven't been able to address in past 10 years and this is the closest we have been to bringing a catalyst for the east side that deserves a catalyst and that's going to bring jobs and opportunities uh so I'm just super excited that finally we'll be able to deliver and um it might be a tall order um Miss doson for you but if we can do anything about it where we don't have to wait 36 months um and you know that that would be great because I think our East Side residents have residents have waited far too long so thank you thank you watlington thank you may protim I just wanted to in light of our discussion upstairs I know that it sounds like believe that there was tremendous support around the diets to definitely give the head nod to staff but I also heard the um the concern if you will about locking in the 30 million or what might be more than 30 million later and it just sounded like we'd like some language that would reflect agreement to move forward with also the intent to come back to council for an action uh to actually execute negotiations so I wanted to understand from the attorney how or what that language could potentially look like and then if it would be um pleasing to the council would offer up a friendly Amendment to the motion if that is um appropriate so what you have in front of you is is I wouldn't call these deal points but basically a general concept as to what we're trying to accomplish uh if you were interested and I think I understand your question uh we can bring something if the manager uh uh is an agreement we can bring something back to you that will show that we have done what we said we're going going to do on this sheet so the issue is not to use that as an opportunity not suggesting that you would but but as we're negotiating with with the partners out there to not bring something back to you and then have something new show up that night that isn't on this particular sheet what we'd like to do uh and I say we I should only speak for for myself the the manager can speak as well but if you're talking about that then uh I think you can add a a friendly Amendment to the to the motion uh that the um the administration City attorney city manager however you want to do that uh will bring uh the um the agreement back to council to show that it is consistent with what was approved tonight um just consistency I all right hold hold on one second do you have a specific ask of uh yep I was wondering if the motion maker would accept the friendly amendment to add that component to the time who do we have as the motion maker in a second yeah motion was made byina and I had it seconded by asir I have a question so what's the amendment I'm not following it's to just add this can you can you read the language could you pass that around it's it's in my head um uh the the the gist of this and I can I can put something out for you but the gist of this is that in addition to A and B um you're also asking the administration to bring the uh completed agreement back to council uh to show that it's consistent with what you have uh passed tonight that's inherent in what we do um um it's just a question to the motion you can or you cannot it's either either if you'd like to or if you don't like to I accept whatever the will of the motion maker hold on I I have a question Mr Jones C could you cuz I thought that was already the intent of this motion that's Hearing in front of us I'm I'm just so I perplexed the last time uh you guys I voted it was unanimous it' be nice to get unanimous again so um it's the intend and maybe intent is not strong enough of a word so clearly if we go outside of this 30 million we'd come back we're coming back even even if we're within the 30 we're just not going to all of a sudden do a deal without having a conversation with the council with something that's so important is this got it so in that case I I don't see an amendment because it's going to come in front of us anyways cuz that's how I interpret it is that is that right it's the regular order of business yeah so I mean I I don't see a need for an amendment then it's going to come back to us anyways if that's what I'm if that's what I'm hearing that is absolutely coming back then is that are you okay M okay Mr Mitchell I thought next line oh thank you mayor protim I thought it was some conversation so I'm just going to do a lot of thank yous uh uh this evening and and one I got to tell a small Story how this all started in 2016 at a Ed meeting when a young lady uh who was representing District 2 at the time said that we ought to get into amateur sports and that young lady over the years has just had tremendous passion about getting getting amateur sports in our community so fast forward uh she's no longer as young but she's still young and uh I see she's young at heart and young at Spirit and and young with passion and so I want to publicly thank uh Miss KY for sticking with your vision since 2016 to make this reality for our community this this has been a tough LIF for us so I got to thank Dr Victoria watlington and how you pulled us together in the late hour to make sure we can get something that this Council can be supportive thank you for your leadership I knew it was tough but you was committed to make sure that there would be consensus uh thank you for council member Carter arery and Newton three years you all have said we need something on the east side and tonight we have that so thank you for your continued support and passion over the years um Charlotte e uh your patient your advocacy and believing that this Council will do the right thing to give you something that's transformative as we continue to say uh there's one change I would like for staff to do and I mention it at in room 267 so I want to make a public uh announcement about it right now the placeholder for this uh development is called the complex I think this would be a good time to engage the citizens in District 5 what name do you think is appropriate for this new development and I think it's a name that has to reflect your desire your energy uh your commitment to make sure there's something special in those 29 Acres so heads off to the new team I see Bob up there I see Raymond I see Miss KY and I see uh Mr Bolton thank you all for collaborating and not only doing what's best for your vision but more importantly doing what's best for District 5 so heads up to you and uh let's get it done thank you thank you man [Applause] Pro Grant thank you mayor proam I too am extremely excited that we got in the year and uh the the road of a th000 miles start with one step and we've taken several steps since uh we got an unsolicited proposal in December of last year uh to get us where we are today um doing in in mind that one uh to fulfill the obligation that we have made for East Charlotte um I continue to remind the public that uh the 29 acres is not this the um the start of this it's the end of it um last year we had a tremendous groundbreaking in East Charlotte where we broke ground on affordable housing senior housing 18,000 Square ft of of retail uh 4 to 5 acre County Park uh Etc uh and this concludes it this 29 Acres concludes it uh it's the best of both worlds uh in terms of taking with works from QC East as well as the um the Synergy proposal and blending them together for one it makes good business sense um to do that um the the complex represents um the identity of East Charlotte um I.E uh the six soccer fields is a a wink and a nod to the changing demographics over there that plays that sport the amateur sports complex gives a wink and a nod to uh Charlotte as a destination location for amateur sports whether it's aaou basketball cheerleading wrestling uh volleyball uh whatever uh it can uh it it creates a Synergy for a place there for um arts and entertainment uh and and the city has made the appropriate investment of $30 million and we did that two months ago three months ago now uh knowing that um we wanted to be a part of the investment that there and I think the total investment once this is all said and done is going to be upwards to about 80 to1 million um for eot which is not a small change it's a good bit of money um I I will say however that uh the devil's in the details uh there's more work to be done uh I had the opportunity to talk to both of the um petitioners at the dinner meeting after we voted and I'm excited about their their commitment to work together I'm excited about their commitment to make it work uh their commitment to Value engineering right and I think we all know what that what I'm talking about right to ensure that um when it does come back and it should council member Wallington um to dot eyes cross te's to make sure that we protect the public investment um short-term a long term um that um that we can kind of stay within the Box uh if we can um um but as I said at the dinner meeting um uh this Council uh owns it and there there's no way for us to get around that um we cannot afford uh to not make this work uh and work within the box right uh and but I'm excited about it um I'm excited about um I told my daughter who's a college basketball coach about what was on the agenda tonight and she played aaou basketball played college basketball and she said where was it when I was growing up right and so obviously there's a um there's this this place uh and and basically what we're doing is Place making right um uh and it and it's not just for East Charlotte although it's located there I mean we want both of these this facility to be a regional destination uh for Citizens throughout mburo County to come to to East Charlotte to participate at the facility but while they're there to shop and dine uh and invest in E Charlotte Etc so I'm excited about it uh I'm cautiously optimistic because it's not done until it's done right but I I like the commitment of the team um blending together uh when Victoria and I talked that Sunday night we both could this actually work and um we said yeah because uh let's take out what works uh and put to the side where didn't work and um even council member barari when I called him that Monday morning gave me the side eye like you are you serious uh and um he has come full circle um so I think we can do this um and so I'm excited I'm excited to see that we've been able to and this is a political saying that I say all the time um it's really quiet here tonight right we've been able to block out the noise and focus on the work and when you focus on the work uh and you take politics away from it right where we can kind of see that what div vision is uh small people small groups coming together as one for a singular vision for our community so um miss doson a lot more work to be done um but I'm committed to making sure this gets across the financial line thank you very much thank you Mr drigs uh are we done talking about any modifications oh yeah yeah yeah all right okay well good uh having watched this for years and years uh I am so pleased that we have come as far as we have uh and crosland Southeast has done a lot to help us get there uh we now have this last thing that we needed to deal with after the Tepper withdrawal from the site and uh so I look forward to supporting this uh I I just we all need to understand that there we have to provide something of a mandate to the staff right and that's why if we started putting in all kinds of conditions and stuff then their ability to negotiate so uh I trust that it will get done as described and that if there's any discrepancy from the description that uh we will you know have an opportunity to be told about that but meanwhile let's let's go for it let's get it done thank you thank thank you Miss Johnson I no comment I'm fine all right U Miss Molina thank you Mr Mayor ptim I just want to Circle back um again I I want to iterate I guess the lift uh because I think council member uh Mitchell has continued to speak to it but the Inception of of what you see today actually started with a conversation with council member watlington and I where we peeled the entire opportunity apart and we agreed to work together with what allies we have on the council she split some of that responsibility with me we called council member Graham we had a three-way call and we talked about how we could execute this possibility um as I've said once and I'll continue to say again what it means uh to do something like this and how important it is for the lift it it's very important to have a collective lift um and divisiveness is absolutely not the way um especially for something as important as this um I love John alry he is my political Mentor um and I have been with him since day one I have lived in Charlotte for 19 years so I've seen Eastland ma be there and I've seen Eastland Maul no longer be there um so it means just as much much to me as a homeowner as someone who actually lives in East Charlotte bicycle distance from the opportunity to see this be realized and for not only myself and my family but the people who I know I love and I serve in East Charlotte and I think that's the most important thing here um this was very hard I I've never seen anything for as long as I've orbited Politics as hard as this has been as seemingly divisive as this initially started out and to see where it is landed I think that's the most important thing here and I'm you know I think I share the sentiments of my colleague the chair of the economic development committee and saying that you know I am cautiously optimistic I absolutely look forward to there being um a wonderful outcome for all parties um but you know I I look forward to it being as as stated um originally and um and the followup and um any any necessary adjustments that we made but I think what we I I Ask of everybody involved that we keep what's the most important in front of us and that is always to resolve this extremely long-standing issue um as a body I am absolutely grateful for all of us coming together for the wisdom that exists already on the council and as a newer member coming as a resident to represent the people that I live amongst for your willingness to um be malleable and and be open to something as dynamic as what we were able to achieve because what we done was unprecedent it and we done it together and I think that's what's important we done it together as a team and I am grateful to each and every one of you so um I look again forward to the updates um I I have no doubt that the team is going to continue to work hard for East Charlotte um and um I look forward to going ahead and resolving those remaining 29 Acres so thank you all thank you we've had a motion that's been made in properly second all in favor please please raise your hand any opposed please raise your hand that is unanimous for thank you very [Applause] much we will move on to the nominations portion of our agenda tonight city council will also consider nominations to various boards and commissions council members submitted their nominations earlier to the clerk in on paper and via email names of the nominees will not be read at the dis tomorrow the clerk will email city council the name names of applicants that receive at least two nominations these candidates will be considered for appointments at the next business meeting any applicant receiving six or more nominations can be considered for appointment tonight upon a motion second and majority vote of councel the names of all nominees will be recorded in the official minutes of the meeting the C clerk will now proceed with announcing the results of the nominations mayor Pam can I read through all of them before you thank you for the bicycle advisory committee Tammy Brock received nine nominations Matt wesler received eight nominations the business advisory committee Curtis Hayes received 11 nominations oh Curtis for the Charlotte tree advisory committee incumbent Sarah Hart received 11 nominations and Charlie Welch incumbent received 11 nominations the community relations committee Joselyn Bailey received 10 nominations and Charles balford received 11 nominations and Mary and or received 11 nominations for the for the domestic violence Advisory Board Herbert Diaz received 11 nominations for the housing appeals board incumbent cemental Grace Grayson Round Tree received 10 nominations for the enion of Commissioners incumbent Antoine dinard received 11 nominations for the historic district Commission we had no applications we'll have to bring that one back for keep Charlotte beautiful Doris Shivers received 11 nominations and for both the passenger uh vehicle for hire and the transit service advisory committee we'll have to bring those back Mo to approve all those who got six or more we have a motion that's been made to properly second any discussion of the motion hear none all in favor please raise your hand any opposed please raise your hand seeing none that is unanimous um unless anybody opposed meeting the J that's right [Music] 8:00