[Music] oh [Music] right thank you all for attending uh the city council meeting uh thank you um thank you for attending the city council we'll call the meeting to order and start off with the Pledge of Allegiance and um counselor Branch would you lead us Al to the FL flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all right next we have the consent agenda and there was one item uh pulled and that was D4 which was the Carolina Pines Avenue street improvements project um do we have a motion for the remaining items move for approval second okay all in favor of the motion say I I all oppose nay all right and then for D4 uh I know we're going to have some additional commentary like next week okay so we just holding it y I mean you tell how to proceed I mean I have a couple things on D4 and yeah maybe just clarify you're talking about the work session next Tuesday that there's going to be discussion on the Carolina Pines Improvement project um yeah I know there's just concerns that are coming from my residents about the delays here and wondering whether the bids that are being considered to be rejected maybe are still in the ballpark perhaps you know of costs that might be appropriate at this time I know costs have gone up a lot in the kind of inflationary environment we're in but yeah could you just clarify how we're going to approach this it sounds like next Tuesday we're going to have a conversation sure uh good afternoon everyone Byron Sanders Engineering Services um so we're going to have two things we will be coming before you all next week with a plan that not only talks about Carolina Pines but a number of projects where we're working right now to uh bring things in budget identify funding opportunities that sort of thing uh specifically for Carolina Pines uh this rejection of the bid is really more of a step back to take steps forward uh we did receive three bids with this recent read vertisements bids were all in the same ballpark so we've got a lot of confidence that the pricing is fair um however that pricing is still uh in excess of our Engineers estimate by about I think it's 24% somewhere around in there um so our plan is to uh reimagine the scope of the project uh and put it out advertise it with a bid and two bid alternates um the base bid would be uh would carry the project from Lake Willer road to about henow with some uh bid alternates that address one would address uh some storm drainage and other work on henslow and carry the project henslow to approximately the railroad tracks and the other bid Al would take it from the railroad tracks on to South sa street so really the plan is to and understanding the frustration uh really the plan is to try to build as much as we can with what we have and also have an idea of what those other pieces are going to cost we may be able depending on the base bids how they come back to be able to look at some of those other pieces and those bid alts uh the other thing that I think is is important to mention is that we do have a 100% design completed so we will have essentially a shovel ready project for the rest of it at the time that we can identify uh that funding yeah I guess what I just want to say is if we're potentially going to shorten you know the amount of street that can be improved um because of our current budget then I don't want to lose sight of what has been promised um to the taxpayer this was through you know Transportation Bond funding is it 2017 yes yes so I just have residents here that feel very um concerned that they've kind of gotten into last place maybe in these projects and are now losing out on some sections to be improved there um so I just want to kind of bring that to light for our conversation next Tuesday and clarify that we're not making a decision today about these bids is that true we're going to wait until the work session or the the action today is to just reject the bid that the lowest responsible bid that we've received and that will allow us to read advertise advertise if we don't re can I add something I would like to just hold this we're going to have the work session next next Tuesday I don't want to reject bids right now until we have that work session um a couple things I'm concerned about is when we start talking about scaling you know we were we received a lot of communication from residents about this project and one really stuck out to me and she pointed out that this was supposed to be our first roadway redesign that included a multi-use path and it seems like anytime we have these projects that include multimodal infrastructure they get Scaled or they're being they're last to be built and our general roadway projects aren't and I think that that's sending not a great message to the community that wants to be able to bike and walk places and this is probably one of the fastest growing areas of the city this particular Corridor is still not I think reflective of the growth that's happening in the area um we had three bids come in around the same price which tends to signal that that may be the fair market price of the project and so I would be interested in exploring ways that we can accomplish what was promise to the community in the 2017 Park spawn if we have to get creative that's fine but I I would like to hold this today have the work session next Tuesday I know we don't typically vote at work sessions but we could vote on this next Tuesday at the work session or it could come back as a special item at the following meeting but that would be my I guess motion I have a question um the engineer to estimated bid and the bids that came in that difference like from the bond I guess the bond was only set for 16 roughly 16 million somewhere around in there I believe okay all right so we're really we're talking about all the money that was originally set aside all that money is still there still exists it's just that due to cost of everything and no telling what there'll be tomorrow with these new taxations that's coming up onard that this is kind of where we we are with these numbers that's correct okay okay so is um we've had a motion but I'm second okay yeah okay so we have a motion and a second all in favor say I I all oppose nay okay so we will talk about it next week thank you all right thanks thank you uh next we have the report and recommendation of the Planning Commission good afternoon Madam mayor members of the council my name is bham Walter Raleigh Planning and Development I bring regrets today from the chair and vice chair of the Planning Commission who are out of town and um feeling poorly so they are both sorry they cannot be here as usual we have a list of upcoming holidays I do not believe any of these actually con conflict with any of your scheduled meeting dates but we do keep them in front of you for awareness we have some upcoming public hearings that are already scheduled so uh March 18 in the afternoon meeting we have three items that'll be in front of you the rezoning on n Road uh text change to zoning conditions on lsbury road and then also that street plan on South Hall Road there's nothing on the April 1 agenda at this time in the afternoon or evening so we have uh four items coming out of Planning Commission with a recommendations for you today they are all suggested for public hearing on April 1st at the evening meeting meeting the first item is 1400 Edwards Mill Road more commonly known as the Lenovo Center so this is a request to Res Zone from commercial mixed use with a 12 story height limit to a plan development a plan development is a custom District essentially the applicant defines the regulations there have opportunity to make some adjustments to the unified development ordinance regulations to make them a little less to make them less restrictive uh this request is consistent with the comprehensive plan of Lan map and Planning Commission did recommend approval unanimously the second item is on lford road this is less than an acre and it's going from R4 to R six with conditions it also is consistent with the future land use map and the 2030 comprehensive plan Planning Commission recommends approval I believe the anticipated use here is townhouse development and then the last two items are both on Pearl Road this first piece is just under 4 Acres this is already 10 with conditions just the conditions are changing that's all that's changing here but it's part of a larger r10 with conditions District so it is a it will be a map change it'll create a new r10 with conditions District again consistent with the future Lan use map on the comprehensive plan and the Planning Commission recommends approval and then the second item on Pearl Road this is just under five acres going from R4 to r10 with conditions again consistent with the future lanus map and the comprehensive plan Planning Commission recommends approval can I answer any questions for you before you make decisions about scheduling public hearing [Music] questions councelor Patton hi um C 46 yes um I think I read in the staff report that this eliminates conditions for some amenity areas and I just wanted to make sure those are that they're being reproduce somewhere else and like are they now covered in the code or something that's my understanding so I believe the condition you're referencing requires a Tot Lot which from an enforceability perspective is kind of interesting uh it specifies a 5,000 foot Tot Lot how many swings would make it a Tot Lot I'm looking at my former don't that's not that's a RoR want me to answer that question yeah that's a rhetorical question um but what the code would require be an um an amenity area with the uh townhouse use here um so and that would be a percentage of the square footage of the Development Area um so assuming it's a full-blown tier you know full Redevelopment they would be they would have to meet the open space requirements which at 10% I think works out to about three times the five ,000 foot requirement okay thank you yep yeah I just wanted to um uh put out there I'm prepared to move forward for the April 1st um date for Z 3824 um that's the Lenovo Center rezoning 1400 Edward Mill Road um I did want to note that I met with um uh about 25 fourth graders today at the Raleigh school they're close by and they gave me this Leaf um just to remind us that they've got a lot of woods and a Richland Creek that they're thinking about and so they want to make sure that uh that particular development considers their needs so um we might see them at the public hearing I don't know um but I also wanted to request a transportation and Transit committee meeting on March 27th to talk about broader Transportation issues in this area so not specifically about this resoning case but rather status of current projects so like Blue Ridge Road all the changes that are coming um just any issues that are kind of uh already being tackled in that area I know we're going to see the Tia with 1400 Edwards millroad and I find it helpful to better understand just the lay of the land so just a general kind of digest of what we see in this area um I know there's others like Blue Ridge Corridor Alliance that would like to you know provide some information about traffic issues that they have been uh navigating or identifying and so I just want to have a broader conversation before we have the public hearing if you all are amenable um so that we have kind of a just again a sense of the the context my my daughter went to the Raleigh school it's very cute and lovely there um I am I'm happy to receive that into Transportation committee we have no items pending so our next meeting and before the public hearing would open uh would be March 27th from 3: to 5 in council chambers the only thing just as a caution staff met this morning and it is highly unlikely that if you meet on the 27th that we'll have the Tia studies for the two areas that are under review right now so you'll be meeting but there will probably be another need for a meeting so just don't want people to have a bunch of questions that we're not going to be in a position to answer by the 27th and Ralph Richie can answer Kenneth Richie I'm sorry Ken Kenneth Richie can answer any of those questions about the um return date on those TI and is that specifically about the resoning case or a TI for something else it's the adjoining the adjacent and adjoining property in that vicinity Kenneth are you in here yeah good afternoon k kth Richie was Transportation so yes that the Tia would be specific to the Lenovo resoning obviously council member Harrison understanding you're kind of looking at a broader picture of what's going on in Blue Ridge maybe not so much Lenovo yeah correct and if if we're not ready to talk about the Tia on March 27th that's just fine uh yeah that can wait till the public hearing all right okay great uh any other questions or do we have motions I move for the public hearings to be in the evening session of April 1st okay any other discussion not all favor the motion I I all opposed nay okay pass all right next we have special items and we have Council contingency um we had two items on the um requests uh Mayor proon Fort and council member Jones do you all want to um talk about these issues or make a motion well I guess my question under the new process has all the due diligence been achieved for my item yes good afternoon Council and mayor yes or both items all due diligence has been done um they would not show up on the agenda if it had not so you all feel free to vote and I'll just jump in really quick just to say the NC Vibes is 5500 for women's day um event that's happening this weekend I'm really excited to participate and to during women's History Month be able to um amplify their voice okay and and I will say for the um 8th Annual evolve uh mentoring summit evolve is a group here locally in Raleigh that does mentoring for um middle school and high school kids and they're doing a um annual Summit and luncheon that they um have every year and I think one of their funding sources um dried up so we're able to step in and fill in the Gap at their request so happy to support that in our youth you want to make a motion sure do I have to do should I do both or just mine both okay I make a motion that uh the council approve the um funding uh Council contingency allocations for uh evolved mentoring and NC Vibes second okay any other discussion if not all in favor of the motion I I I'll oppose nay right that passes uh report and recommendation of the city manager good afternoon mayor and Council this is probably the longest list this year and then we have one add on at the end as always um the first item is site Improvement funding um for East College Park Town Homes we have Jess Brandis with housing and neighborhoods here and this is a continue continuation of our support and funding for East College Park good afternoon Jess Brandis with housing and neighborhoods today I'm recommending funding for site improvements for the East College Park town home site 4 I do I there we go I'll cover the background the funding need and a recommendation in 2016 the city issued an RFP to select a builder to develop town homes on five city-owned sites in the College Park neighborhood as part of the city's East College Park revitalization initiative the goal of that RFP was to facilitate the construction of attractive affordable sustainable and energy efficient Town Homes to be made available for firsttime home home ownership opportunities in alignment with the mission of the East College Park initiative the city sought to promote mixed income development through the process such that at least 60% of the units created would be reserved for purchase by lower moderate income buyers earning no more than 80% of the area median income the remaining 40% of units would be made available to purchase by non-income restricted or market rate buyers all buyers regardless of income must be first-time home buyers additional background then in 2019 city council approved the selection of Evergreen construction company to serve as the Builder and purchaser of the town home sites this is commemorated through a purchase and sale agreement uh that was drafted in 2020 and approved the agreement did not include funding to directly support the development of the town homes in the time since the agreement was executed significant construction cost increases stemming from the covid-19 pandemic substantially delayed the project and ultimately rendered the project infeasible as initially contemplated in late 2023 City staff identified Federal Community Development block grant or cdbg funds that could be made available to support site improvements in order to move the project forward in 2024 due diligence including a HUD environmental review was completed to allow the cdbg funds to be used for this purpose and today staff is requesting Council to enter into a grant agreement with Evergreen construction company to provide up to $448,000 to fund site improvements this contribution is necessary to fill the financing gap on the project so that the six town homes can be built here is the summary of the funding need the sources of funds are the sale of those town homes and this request for Gap financing the uses are below that and include purchasing the site site work construction professional fees financing and sales costs the recommendation is to approve the conditional commitment of $448,000 in Community Development block grant funds to pay for site work on the East College Park town home site 4 to support the development of six town home units to benefit first-time home buyers including four low and moderate income buyers and to authorize appropriate City officials to execute necessary documents related to the funding okay thank you question questions couple so thank you for the presentation I know when we did the first phase of this project we've run into some issues um as far as some homes that were built out of scale and things of that nature um will we have the proper oversight and everything needed so that we don't have any repeats of past um erors you may not have been here when that happened that predat yes the answer is yes okay we yes okay we had several staff changes since that time okay thank you my other question is as far as the cell I see the um 80% Ami is that our new limits based on HUD yes those are based on the HUD limits okay okay any other questions or is there a motion move to approve the conditional commitment and authorize appropriate City officials to execute the necessary documents second okay any other discussion if not all in favor I I all oppos nay thank you all right next next item we have bring in Neighbors Home pilot program update we have emila Sutton with housing and neighborhoods to present this item good afternoon mayor councel Emil Sutton housing and neighborhoods we're here to talk to you today about an update on the bringing Neighbors Home pilot as a reminder Raleigh taxpayers pend somewhere between 38 and $98,000 per day on homelessness that's akin to paying for two to 5 years of rent and rally every single day and that's just to manage the problem not to actually resolve it today we will discuss the different way that the city is investing in sustainable and efficient solutions to homelessness the bringing neighbors home model is not only cheaper than the status quo it's also a way to actually end homelessness at its route we'll start with background information on root causes and just how expensive homelessness really is we'll dive into the bringing neighbors home model the current status of the pilot program and early findings from implementation and we'll discuss the holistic CommunityWide planning initiative the city is leading to address unsheltered homelessness at scale the bringing Neighbors Home framework consists of a pilot program designed to give a proof of concept for an Innovative approach to ending homelessness that provides a rapid response to people with Urgent health and safety needs living outside as well as a solution to homelessness as well as a broader Community planning initiative that weaves together expertise and resources from a network of public and private Partners to include people with lived experience and expertise people attribute homelessness to mental illness drug use welfare weather and a host of other factors but research shows that while those while mental illness and drug use are triggering issues and risk factors that the only credible link is housing market conditions places with high rents and few available housing units have higher rates of homelessness than places where rents are cheaper and vacancies are more abundant places with some of the highest rates of homelessness excuse me places with some of the highest rates of substance use and mental illness like West Virginia and Tennesse have very low rates of homelessness because their housing markets are lower cost because homelessness is about affordability therefore it can be ended by lowering costs Andor increasing incomes so that people can afford their rent ignoring or just managing homelessness is expensive and costs more than offering a sustainable solution the city's parks department and the State Department of Transportation reported spending more than $200,000 each on Camp cleanup within a year's time last November Dallas released a report that showed taxpayers pay a total of nearly 1994 million every year on homelessness between Medical Treatments hospitalizations emergency Sheltering Mental Health Services incarceration and emergency room visits on the other hand paying for someone to rent their own apartment and Professional Case Management included is about $24,000 per year per person the bringing Neighbors Home pilot is informed by successful models in Dallas Houston New Orleans and Oklahoma City and a growing number of other cities our pilot combines proven models to quickly respond to Urgent health and safety needs for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and avoid expensive Camp clearing it includes rapid re rapid rehousing model which is a research-backed intervention that moves people experiencing homelessness back into housing and provides case management support to ensure they St stay stably housed a housing focused Camp decommissioning framework that is built on the work done in cities like Houston and Dallas that were able to drastically reduce homelessness camps in a matter of years by connecting Camp residents directly with housing and Supportive Services as well as direct housing assistance this is a tool that has been highlighted by Hud as a way to overcome administrative barriers within voucher programs that can prevent people from using their vouchers direct housing assistance provides a rapid response and allows for the fastest way to move folks from vulnerable dangerous and at risk of closure outdoor spaces into housing this work began last May when city council approved funding for the pilot a concept that was originally introduced at the council Retreat last January requests for proposals or rfps were issued over the summer to identify partners and in September the pilot team was fully assembled the pilot team includes s strategies which is a consulting firm that access the project management entity healing Transitions and Oak City cares provide Outreach and case management Ascent populi is a financial Administration and Data Systems partner and the University of Pennsylvania's Housing Initiative is our evaluation partner the camp across from healing transitions on dicks Park property was selected as the focus of the pilot due to elevated health and safety conditions at that site an engagement with Camp residents began in October pilot enrollment began in November and in early December assistance and intensive case management began finally in January the camp was successfully decommissioned after all residents had been enrolled in the pilot all 45 households enrolled in the pilot have moved into housing or have an active housing plan in place with their case manager everyone is also engaged in case management provided by healing Transitions and Oak City cares with additional support being offered by acorns and Alliance Health beyond the improvements in health and well-being benefits we've seen for pilot participants which we'll describe shortly the pilot has allowed two people to reunite with their children no one wants their kids to live outside or in a place unfit for human habitation and providing the resources to get people housed means that they can have a home they can offer their children and live together as a family again here's a quick video recap of the pilot and the work we've done so far everyone needs a place to call home that's where the city of R's Innovative bringing Neighbors Home pilot program comes in it was put into play recently with the homeless camp at Dicks Park our team is helping 45 households find permanent housing we have one individual it's him and his wife and they've struggled they just got in in a rough spot and they ended up living in the woods we were able to bring them on the pilot they were so ecstatic to understand the benefits they'd be getting they've been able to reconnect with their family they were able to um get a car he was able to go to work and get a job bringing neighbors home also teams up with Community Partners to provide access to crucial services like healthcare job training and mental health support walking someone through this experience made me feel like I had won the lottery it gave me great joy to see the tears you know of Joy it's great to have an experience and see individuals that's in an encampment that really wanted some type of Supportive Housing this program doesn't just change lives it also saves money studies show that stable housing can save tax SPS up to $70,000 per person each year by reducing emergency services and health care costs Raleigh is taking a proactive approach using resources to end homelessness rather than just manage it bring a neighbors's home project means so much to me this is a project that we never seen before and I never seen before it gives an opportunity not only for our encampments but also a step towards conquering housing homelessness we are able to be a part of bringing somebody into a place where they can say I want to go home or I'm home now bringing Neighbors Home is revolutionary because it's different it's giving people autonomy to make decisions it's giving them support and it's providing them a way out when people found out they were on the pilot they were ecstatic crying smiling it was really an incredible thing to be a part of the bringing Neighbors Home pilot program proves what's POS possible when the city invests in its people it's more than just housing it's hope stability and a fresh [Music] start everyone needs a place to call thank you now we'll walk through some of the preliminary findings we're seeing already we're seeing an impact of this housing focused approach people's well-being is improving and more people are successfully transitioning into housing that we have seen when no financial assistance or case management support is offered the tools being deployed in the pilot rapid re housing strategic camp decommissioning and direct housing assistance are backed by the research and proven in other communities if scaled the approach demonstrated through the pilot would get Raleigh to what we call functional zero for unsheltered homelessness which means that it homelessness is rare brief and non-recurring instead of just dis placing people we are providing real solutions housing first and foremost with the right supports in place as we move forward we must continue to build a system that meets people where they are and offering a range of solutions tailored to individuals needs and the work we're doing now is laying the groundwork for a long-term sustainable response to homelessness in our community I want to highlight how this work is a true team effort every step of the way we've had incredible partners with us who are deeply committed to the division vision of making a meaningful impact and homelessness in our community these are just some of our partners um on our pilot launch day it was very exciting day um our motto is it's go time for this group so as a part of this work we held three popup resource events to engage with Camp residents and enroll them in the pilot as well as connect people with other resources between the times of November and January these invol these involved a dozen Partners who brought food health care and other resources directly to the camp these Partners quickly raised their hands to help and have been essential to the Pilot's success so far we were blown away by how quickly our partners jumped at the opportunity to participate in these events and collaborate with us in this pilot the level of collaboration and dedication we've witnessed through the course of this pilot has been truly incredible we've seen this pilot truly Galvanize this community around this issue and allow for deeper collaboration between agencies serving our most vulnerable neighbors no one embodies this better than our partners at healing Transitions and Oak City cares who are on the ground every day working with pilot participants to get them into housing and to con connect them to the supports they need in order to remain stable in housing housing is so much more than a roof overhead it's freedom and its safety these are just a couple of quotes from our partners on that it's a source of joy and hope an opportunity to bring family and loved ones together and a powerful medicine to heal both physical and emotional ailments we already have incredible stories of people reuniting with their families to include their children and their grandchildren stories of um health issues getting better immediate almost immediately and continuing to improve people um also getting full-time jobs Transportation it's incredibly difficult to build a life without a safe place to call home holding a job addressing physical and mental health and achieving stability is extremely challenging without access to basic sanitation a place to prepare food and somewhere to rest safely as demonstrated here in these quotes so our next steps for the pilot now that we have launched the first phase of the pilot and decommission the good Street Camp we're setting our sights on next steps last summer city council approved funds to serve an additional five households living downtown we're working closely with the downtown Raleigh Alliance as well as Raleigh Police Department officers and acorns who were engaged with people experiencing homelessness downtown to establish and begin this this next [Music] phase in parallel with the Hands-On work being done through the pilot the city has been leading a CommunityWide planning initiative to address unsheltered homelessness weaving together expertise and resources from a network of public and private Partners as well as people with lived experience and expertise the bringing Neighbors Home planning initiative is a comprehensive effort driven by a 48 member steering committee representing a diverse array of Partners from state and local government health and service providers nonprofits foundations businesses and people with lived experience and expertise the work of the Searing committee kicked off this fall and in just a few short months the group has met a half dozen times both virtually and in person for Thought partnership and sharing of expertise to address the issue of unsheltered homelessness the team has overseen the development of a thorough needs and gaps assessment of the current homeless response system shared protocols and tools for resolving camps by bringing housing and services um re services to bear and a final plan to implement these strategies and tools and all of these tools have been thoughtfully reviewed by the steering committee to include feedback and guidance from people with uh lived expertise and experience so our next steps the February meeting is centered around guiding the future role of the steering committee and determining next steps for implementing the final plan a key component of these next steps will be integrating the work of bringing neighbors home into the Raleigh Wake County Continuum of Care the Continuum of Care is the official body task with addressing homelessness in our community another key component is resource allocation fully realizing the strategy laid out and the bringing neighbors home plan is not possible without additional housing resources and funding to support this work our system does not currently have what's needed to achieve functional zero for unsheltered homelessness but with the right investment this plan will lay out a pathway for us to get there and we will be coming back to you to present information about this plan that is still in draft form um as well as talk with you all about the resource gaps identified in the plan I just want one last thing to note is that I was invited to um present at the National Alliance and homelessness conference last week on the bringing Neighbors Home pilot so it is getting a national Spotlight um the executive director of the National Alliance and in fact called out the City of Raleigh as a bright spot in the country for doing Innovative work around unsheltered homelessness and the opening plenary so it as a real honor to be a part of that um and with that um I will take questions that you may have thank you so much for that presentation uh questions not really a question I just want to say just thank you thank you for being Innovative and reaching out but also bringing partners and having a plan for this can continue this this was a pilot that means there's more work to be done more resources we we may need to put in but also resources from others nonprofits other organizations to put in this scalable um as long as we bring in the proper resources thank you councelor Patton hello hi um as as I said as I said at the retreat but not everyone watches the retreat this is like really excellent work here um council member Jones and I were at the good Street Camp dur during the the last of the the cards being handed out and the the trust felt from the community that has like reasonable reasons to be distrustful of programs um was was really clear like there was just a lot of Elegance in the uh ease and and hearing people talk about like yeah I got my card and then I just went on my phone and searched up an apartment and then I got it I mean that's what that's what we want um so just really hats off to you um between this work and the opening of Kings Ridge uh really good things happening for our UNH house residents here um did I just want to confirm I heard the right quote at the beginning of the presentation you said s homelessness is costing the taxpayers $116,000 a day is that what you said I believe that was the math um yes it's like right so it's it's um somewhere between $ 38 and $98,000 per day and so so that's akin to paying 2 to 5 years of rent every single day pleas okay thanks um I just want to make sure i' heard that right and then um I wanted to make I wanted to ask if if if I'm not putting on the spot too much have you asked for this to be included in the upcoming budget so we are in I think you know we're really in still the refining and discovering and refining uh and learning stages of the pilot um we really want to make sure that these 45 residents have what they need in order to remain stable and ongoing stability and housing um we will be coming back to you like I said with the resource Gap that the bringing Neighbors Home Plan has um defined um and so that will sort of give an idea of where we are and what the resources are needed in order to address it did that answer got it okay okay I will um we would we would love to see a continuation of this program baked into the budget well I speak for myself I would love to see that um and then this program is getting attention every time I post about it my DMs fill up on social media with folks saying hey I could benefit from this program hey I am unhoused can you get me one of these cards and obviously it's not that clear but what um I don't know what Guidance Do you have or for those of us who are getting tapped by people who would like to benefit from this program like where should we be sending them what should we be what words of comfort can we offer them Etc yeah we receive those as well as you can imagine um and we point them to the existing available resources because unfortunately the funding that we have for the pilot will only allow us to serve so many folks and so we are pointing folks into coordinated access and those sort of traditional um resources that are available in our Community um you know the county provides uh the uh bridg toome program through a lot of nonprofits in the area so we point to that that provides some flexible funding for folks to be rehoused um but basically just the you know what we have the traditional sort of Continuum of Care options yes for coordinated access councelor Jones again thank you so much for your work and congratulations on speaking I'm super excited to hear about that um your work is just evident it's it's fantastic um but I really do appreciate in your presentation my brain was sitting here going is this a smaller version of continum care like I feel like we're starting that and then you connected that so like I didn't even have to oh my God thank goodness she she read my mind um so I really appreciate the work on how are we partners with the county because I wish Raleigh could solve it but Raleigh can't do it on its Z and so that bigger cooc um will will hopefully have more answers and more resources that uh that we can't solely provide so thank you for including that and thank you for your work thank you a question you talked about the planning initiative and this report that you referenced uh to councelor Patton when will we see that plan and the gap of resources and services I'm not sure when that is scheduled I think uh we're looking at work sessions and the future to make sure that we're able to come back to you with that as well as the draft affordable housing plan which are linked to each other um so we will have a session I believe a work session where we're coming back to you and presenting both of those Draft plans to get your feedback thank you anyone else all right well thank you again um I just want to shout out staff City of Raleigh Housing and neighborhood staff that have made this all happen too it's not just me it's a true um teamwork so thank you thank you very much right next we have Carrie painer to present the next item which is the um Convention Center Expansion Project phase one um sear good afternoon mayor and Council Carrie painter Raleigh convention and Performing Arts Complex um I'm going to just flash back for a minute or two to level set where we are we have some new faces at the table so I thought I'd review a few dates before we move forward with our request today in August 2023 we received our funding from the interlocal fund that's the hotel and prepared food tax just uh I know there's a short form there um in January 20124 the council approved our architect team choice and in April we moved forward with our construction manager at risk concept and we chose the semar just a reflection we had a spectacular season uh you you caught us a little bit midseason but now we finished it up and I thought it would just be fun to reflect we had 50 plus shows and as always we managed to punch well above our weight with uh artists like Laney Wilson and um Chapel roone who left us and moved on to Greater festivals and Madison Square Gardens and so we were very lucky we had 33 million in total economic impact from the efforts at The Amp and over 192,000 people the rink which is a quirky little thing that we get to do at the holiday season really does make a difference downtown and so these are some of the odd statistics we were able to rent I thought you might find humor in 400 242 Igloo rentals um so people are still getting a chance to get feed on the street in the winter and so we also do a lot of charitable work that we've talked about in the past and aside from the regular standard work we do every day which is you know people operating concessions and Veteran ticket programs and the great righ cleanup Etc we've always hosted band together for uh years and so this was the 14th which we're super proud of but we also got to do a concert music for the mountains which was for the relief efforts and Carolina days get out the vote which we'd not have before so that was wonderful to be able to to make a difference in our community so I thought it might be fun to see where we are at this point in design with the caveat that things are still being value engineered and will change a little but it might be fun to take a virtual walk together so this is the view The View coming into the new Entertainment District we're pretty excited about as we come down the street um it gives you the idea of how all the buildings connect and now we're on the street together so this is at the very beginning on McDow headed up towards the parking structure on your right and the convention center thereafter this is the first gate to and the box office will be down at this end gives you an idea of the look on the street we have taken effort to change change the texture of the sidewalks your entrances just to give a little bit of uh feeling when you are needing that texture to find it and also um attractiveness the trees have were an interesting discussion at our DRC conversation they are fullsome trees um and the reason is because they actually provide some acoustic help so the parking deck right across the street has lots of concrete and stairwells and the sounds will bounce around and so we need to find ways to keep that sound within the amp itself and so not only are the trees beautiful but they provide a acoustic treatment we head up to the corner with bike racks and benches um and we are nearing where you can see will be the new convention center with the walk over the street and then this is looking at it from the convention center that exists right now um with the new LED that we're working on and the view from the corner we turn up Lenor the um fence is loued and just as a fun little statistic it's loued at 7 degrees because it too provides acoustic needs and so uh some of the little things you can't see become purposeful as well as uh security and safety we get up to the corner and we're at gate one this is across from the new Convention Center on Lenor and then this is the gate that takes the loading trucks in backstage from Lenor we always have to see what the artist so this is standing on stage as an artist uh the lights are starting to dim because our Architects are very clever and here we are at night because of course it's an amp and you need a night view so we're happy to share the progress the um outside perimeters the Landscaping the the seating areas are pretty close to being set the building is still a little bit under engineering as we said but we are um excited to say that we are making progress so with that we have completed the design review commission took us two months to get through and we're excited to be completed that we moved to the board of adjustments we now have a special use permit to actually build an amp which is um a great important detail and we're headed towards the closing of South Street you've seen um some of the communication already going out we're working with the Communications Department on a very robust plan it has been posted on social and already in the news and um on in the newspapers it's on all our websites but we will continue to be sure with postings and signage and digital signage to make sure that people are well aware in advance that it is going to close um it works out really well because it's also right before the beginning of the season so people can adjust to timing and different ways to get there and the connector Lane which we discussed much about in the summertime is still in discussion with ncdot I want to remind everybody it's on all of our websites as well as the city's web weite just so we can keep people up to date who might have some thoughts or questions or want to look at at facts and so with that I bring you to today which we're really excited about which the first GMP number one to get us actually starting to move on this project Beyond paper so we're asking to authorize a city manager to execute the construction services Amendment with Clancy and pH scansa and da Everett a joint venture construction manager at risk with guaranteed maximum price of 3125741806 so they've gone in they've come back now they're in at 65% then they'll get comments bring them back and then go in at 90 fantastic and then if that is hopefully going to go approved do we have a timeline of when we would know um I'm going to call a friend from Transportation Kenneth probably Kenneth Richie got it right the first time this time right so as those discussions are continuing forward we anticipate that it's going to follow a very similar schedule to the permitting schedule they have for the amphitheater uh given the timing we are looking at trying to align those schedules completely so we don't know exactly we're just trying to we don't know exactly but typically is that as we see these with regular development projects this 65% stage gives do the ability to give some initial comments that we will continue to refine as we go through the the overall kind of site plan review process and will you you guys will come and update us as we hear back from that to make sure we're on the same page certainly we can provide the council an update thank you so much councelor Patton hello um so I know this is about red hat but the convention center expansion is obviously intertwined with this and I think the last time we discussed this as Council body there was a public survey out for the three designs uh my my husband is anxiously awaiting to see if his vote is the one that won the the hearts of rites um will you be providing us a Convention Center update soon or in the future uh soon might be the pivot word there but I will be providing one we are still designing um I can tell you that a whole lot of people liked kirvy if you liked edgy no one liked this forward spaceship looking one um but uh we you would see a lot of curvy worked into it if that happened to be his favorite um but the the comments were great and uh it's interesting CU I was just rereading them a couple days ago thinking how have we done with uh addressing some of the people's thoughts so it was really wonderful to get those um we are working on it we are definitely value engineering and still budgeting and drawing but uh as soon as there's anything that we feel like we can sort of stand behind we'll get back to Sweet aesome we got um Mayor protim Fort and then councelor Sil and this is a little bit of a a side nugget but it's good to know that um one of the companies in the joint venture is actually a minority owned company so that helps us with some of our diversity and inclusion um goals as it relates to uh projects so appreciate um that being a portion of it thank you I understand the actions before us today the previous council did approve for this project to move forward personally professionally I'm still struggling with the closure of South Street uh I recognize I cannot abstain uh so to stay consistent with my beliefs and values uh I feel I cannot vote Yes uh but I understand this project is moving forward again I went back and forth I think we had some previous conversations I'm struggling with that closure but I fully recognize this Project's going to move forward I just want to explain my no vote before we officially go on a record yeah councilor Lambert Melton I'm just ready to make a motion okay um I'm just going to say I move to authorize the recommended action in the agenda material second any other discussion not all in favor of the motion I I all opposed oppos all right thank you thank you City attorney was that that was good okay and next we have the annual report for the neighborhood traffic Management program will Shoemaker from transportation is here to present this item hello mayor and Council will Shoemaker with the transportation department again as as the city manager said uh going to be discussing the ntmp or the neighborhood traffic managements uh our annual report in this presentation we're going to split it up into three sections with the first two being policy driven where it's going to be information it's going to be some action setting and approving work plans uh and the last part that we're going to discuss today is going to be uh some potential policy updates uh we're a group that talks to uh literally thousands of Raleigh residents and and with that comes a lot of feedback uh and so with that feedback we're always trying to be responsive to the needs make sure that what we're putting out there is is uh being understood effective and efficient so so this is our opportunity to come to you to to share some of those opportunities to improve expand you know make sure that this program is is what the community uh says that they want that they need uh so to to lead it off it's really what is traffic calling kind of set the stage the US Department of Transportation has a very technical uh definition but really what it is it's it's just putting in signs markings uh features to make sure that people are going to speed limit and behaving appropriately as they're they're driving um Raleigh's response to uh that traffic caling need was to establish the neighborhood traffic Management program in 2009 and it set up three buckets uh the first being multi-way stop conversions that is to improve intersection safety the second being speed limit reductions where it is setting appropriate speeds uh and setting that expectation uh along local streets and the last and most impactful is to to uh have a traffic calming project bucket uh that allows us to go in and physically change the geometry of the street whenever uh regulatory signage and marking is not working you stay again which year that was adopted 2009 and so the vision of of the ntmp is is we want to improve safety improve compliance speed compliance and really enhance the quality of life along all of R's residential streets and in every neighborhood um this first part is is informational only as you can see uh the the number of requests we've had by quarter uh we were down year-over-year about 38% uh the main driver of that reduction is the speed limit reductions that that number that request volume has significantly dropped off a little foreshadowing here we're going to be touching on that in the policy updates to see if that's something that that you want to tweak so that we can get that number those numbers back up to continue our our efforts um and since the last time that I was up here on January 2nd 2024 2024 we've had uh got my numbers mixed up 15 projects actively under construction right now and then we've been working with our partners in roadway design and construction uh where we have 17 more projects that are stamped and sealed and are going to bid April 1st so here in about a month um another informational only slide we have about three of these where we completed um I think it was 19 projects uh and then we were able to do the after study data um in all instances we saw positive shifts uh of uh vehicles and drivers slowing down to approximately that speed limit um and in most cases we saw uh a reduction in volumes as well uh but traffic calming is all about reducing speeds and reducing uh crashes it is not about a volume reduction if people want to drive there they can they just need to uh obey the speed limit um I do want to call out uh council member Paton last time uh we were talking about a couple of these streets Harps Mill Road saw a pretty significant drop of I'm going to round because I'm going to do some math here uh about 3,000 Vehicles a day um and the worry that we're going to be pushing those 3,000 vehicle trips to surrounding streets um we did see that about a thousand of those went to parallel streets 640 7030 that split um but we really were encouraged to see that 2,000 of those trips through the neighborhood evaporated we really encourage people to stay on the thoroughfares instead of cutting through uh the neighborhoods to to to speed and abuse to get where they going so we're we're encouraging people to go where they need to go um or use the streets that are designed to carry higher volumes higher speeds as opposed to uh our lower intended lower volume lower speed streets um and to add even more interest to that thorpshire is to the north uh it has an approved project that was constructed and completed in February so just last month and then Hunting Ridge Road to the South is part of that April 1 bid package so it's going to be really interesting to see um if if more of those trips go down or if they were just moreor neighborhood people choosing slightly different routes and and see how that really settles in um the next part is going to be some recommended action from you uh we're going to look at the ballots so the the 20 streets that we worked with throughout 2024 um so that you can better visualize when I say on Street versus neighborhood the blue going in is the on Street uh folks so if your property touches the street you're considered on street and then the greater neighborhood is approximate two blocks surrounding uh the street receiving a project or if your only your main access is off that street so it's really trying to get the area and the main user groups uh to participate and and vote in that of the 20 13 streets met all policy thresholds so we're going to be uh requesting or recommending that Council approve these 13 streets to move forward to construction activities uh we'll spend the rest of this year uh doing survey work construction document generation with an expectation that it goes to bid in 2026 um of those 27 did not meet uh the policy recommendations uh you can see them here with the traffic Comming group uh with with the thresholds that exist and why it's set up there's some administrative approvals that we can just go through ultimately you have to approve that but that's just administratively but part of this and the reason why we come to you is so that you can discuss these streets that fail if you you feel like you want to to look into it dig any deeper um these are all streets that have quantifiable issues and just because the the neighborhoods voted no does not mean that these uh speeding or or crash issues go away um and to run down the list to kind of set that expectation uh Fair viiew Road uh this is the second time that that we've offered a project they voted it down twice very similar percentages last instance was in 2018 uh North Cliff this is our first instance of of an offering um Arnold prommer Drive that neighborhood uh has been offered projects three times uh this is the second time this section of the street has been failed in all instances they voted no uh Brockton this is the first time we've been there Falls River Avenue this is the first time that we've been to that specific section but because it's a very long multi-mile Street it had to be split up we've offered uh three other sections uh of Falls Raven projects in the past they've all voted it down uh Bent Creek uh Drive uh one up on Falls River I meant to mention uh it was extremely close to passing it was actually only two neighborhood yes votes short of reaching that 60% minimum so it was very very close if you want to take this into further consideration uh Bent Creek Drive is a street that we're going to specifically call out and staff's going to recommend that you move forward um and that's how it was developed so this is a mainly condos and apartments where the people are there but then all the land is just open space or HOA land so the people voted at an 82% rate to to move this forward but the land did not participate um we we tried to reach out to the property management groups again that's not there's no success with that uh I've since talked to at least one of the HOA managers and he's all for this project so this is a well received by the people there and we don't want to be punitive because of Bure bureaucratic um technicality for that uh and then Ramblewood Drive this the first time we've offered them a project but but also it's extremely close where looking at two different scenarios if we would have gotten one additional on Street person just participating they could have gone yes or no it would have met policy thresholds to to move forward um or if two more neighborhood people would have voted yes so it's it's really those three were were very razor thin uh from uh going from the fail column to the P column uh we have uh now moving on uh to set the 2025 work plan uh for for those that are new to council this is not a longevity program this is a worst first program where streets uh anyone can make a request again we received um on average 100 new requests each year uh we evaluate and if it meets the criteria we put them on the uh on our future project list using a worst first method um as it exists today these are the 20 worst streets that we are aware of that that we're going to be requesting uh Council authorized staff to begin engagement design work uh one uh unique thing about this list is that Quail Hollow Drive uh is currently in the top 20 uh we're going to be recommending that Council remove that from the traffic calling list and that is for uh some very specific reasons that's not because they don't deserve a project but because uh it is part of the Big Branch Greenway connection where the park spawn is getting uh The Greenway up to uh the bottom of the street they're doing a feasibility feasibility study North to get up to Shelly um so so we are going to be recommending and moving this forward through a different group uh we will look at including traffic cing but this is going to be a lot more than just a traffic homing project instead of leaving up to a vote and with a very specific traffic homing Focus we want to move that to an active transportation that can look at bike Lanes closing sidewalk gaps traffic homing and other safety measures could you just describe what like what get you points um I'll just use Laurel Hills Road since I used to live on that road uh so what what would make it get to 14 yeah so so for a street to qualify for a project offering it needs to meet uh either speak compliance issue uh as of right now it it is defined as uh 5 m hour greater than the posted speed limit or two speed related crashes in the previous three years if it hits those two metrics we then take a deep dive we look at are there sidewalks are there schools um are there bike Lanes bus routes Community generators bodegas you know anything that get the people out and so we' have assigned a point value to that that correlates to how bad the speed and the crashes are um it's really a sliding scale so the worse a street is um well the higher the point the worse a street is um it's a way that we can differentiate between let's say two streets have identical speed and crash problems but one has a sidewalk and one doesn't we feel that um the one without sidewalk should be prioritized because people are going to have to co-mingle into the street uh and so it really does try to take a holistic look assign a point value and then spit out a a total ranking that we can then relatively easily compare Street to street that are very different in nature and use patterns thank you abolutely and so to wrap up the the first kind of two parts of of my my presentation here um staff is uh requesting Council to authorize construction for the 13 projects that met all policy thresholds as part of the 2024 project offering group uh with the addition of the Bent Creek Drive project so it'll be a total of 14 streets uh we're going to be request we are requesting that you approve the 20 projects from the 2025 project list so we can begin engagement and design work and then lastly we were requesting that that Council remove Quail Hollow from the 2025 traffic calming project list so that it can be administered uh at a very similar timeline same engagement schedule uh through a different group and I have more if you want to make the action now or we can do this all at the very end um I can do the action one and action three now and that might be easier to clear the decks I do have some questions about the list of 20 for the year ahead so that might be impact might be impacted by your next set of slides so I don't know what the will of coun is just go through the whole thing I mean we can go through the whole thing but I mean if we can go ahead and knock these two out I say knock them out so if that's your motion I second it yeah so move to authorize the 14 construction projects that met all the PO 13 that met all the policy threshold and also Bent Creek and move to remove Quail Hollow Drive from the traffic calming project list second okay and then before we vote I just want to say I'll just do a disclosure that I do own property on Laurel Hills Road so I don't think that is a conflict I'll vote on the motion but did want to just disclose that um and that we're not voting on that at this second but um for uh the motion in second all in favor of those say I I all oppose nay okay so those passed sounds good all right so now we're going to roll into the the the betterment of of the ntmp uh so the first thing that we want to look at is is uh we've kind of crested and gone beyond the the resident requests but if we want to continue on with uh uh getting the consistent speed on our local streets uh that that brings us consistent with strategic plan initiative 3.2 and other other previous Council um desires that we're trying to pursue here uh it would be to um allow staff to proactively start going into communities uh to lowering the speed limit uh we have a lot of data from the Thousand or so streets that we've worked with this is a very popular initiative with an average 96 uh plus% approval rating um and we've only had two streets so like 0 28% fail and both of those were very short streets where they communicated they didn't like the look of signs they wanted the speed limit but they didn't look the signs and by Statute we have to put a signs to have be able to have the lower speed limit so with that they decided that they would prefer no signs uh so so um we're still working with our partners and operations on exactly uh how we can do this but but where we would start is we would want to look uh to to spread this out through all the district starting a probably go a through e just around and grab chunks uh exactly how many we can get we're still again working that out but we're really hoping that instead of as it exists today kind of a sporadic sprinkling throughout the whole of the city we can get some economies to scale by going in and focusing on one area and instead of one crew picking up putting up five signs and driving 20 minutes doing a couple more signs we can just focus on one area and get a lot more and be a lot more efficient at knocking this out um again exactly how many of that is we need to figure out what that looks like um and I do want to say that we're not eliminating the ability for folks to reach out to us that would still be part of that that is just this is just enabling us to go out and start proactively uh working through the rest of the city uh the second update that that we want to to bring forward is to broaden the multiway stop request uh section where right now uh it is purely uh by the manual for uniform traffic control devices an intersection tool but it really is a catch-all for communities they just say you know how slow do we want people to go stop is the slowest that it can be um I'm going to ask for a bunch of stop signs and unfortunately the regulations and how The Guiding body The Guiding documents uh don't allow us to do that and the thing is stop signs don't really work at actually slowing down drivers there's a lot of data out there that people feel unjustly stopped it can create compliance issues it can make intersection is less safe when we um improperly use them so it's it's all about using the right tool for the right need and right now uh we're we're seeing a a bunch of people ask for them and we're identifying that yeah there's some improvements that could be made but the only tool we have is a stop sign a stop sign is not the right tool so so we're asking uh Council to allow staff to to broaden the multiway stop section of the ntmp policy to be in intersection safety so that that way we can evaluate it see if if there is a better tool to improve the intersection um like curve bump outs neighborh traffic circle meeting Islands in addition to stop signs so that we can continue to make our intersection safety and make sure that we're using the right tool for the the the problems that we are identifying um uh this one is really about uh right sizing the program thresholds and setting better expectations uh from staff the resources that we have and and into the community uh so right now the the policy threshold is is if you qualify for a future project that means that uh you have a speed compliance of uh issue of 5 miles an hour greater than the posted speed limit we're not touching the crashes so if you have crashes that's still going to be a qualifier but this is just raising that from that five or greater to seven um looking at at uh why we set that to begin with is pre 2021 we we seeing an average of 8 to 12 new streets for whatever reason something broke Lo loose and we're seeing 40 plus now streets so instead of uh chipping away at that list and previous councils had told us that they wanted to see uh a list maintained at about a 2-year weight period um we are not achieving that goal with with this 5 mph threshold uh so looking at the streets that we have um and then looking at the 7 mph threshold uh this would bring us down to about that 30 to 5050 streets on the list again I'm not going to say we're going to remove any streets it's just all new evaluations will be under the new guidance and the new speeding threshold but looking at the streets that we have as we evaluate and re-evaluate uh this will help us bring that list down again I I don't want to sit here and say that those streets that have that 5 to S don't have a problem but it is setting expectations cuz right now the list is over 120 streets we can do 20 streets a year we're getting 40 plus new streets so so that it goes from a you know a desired 2year max weight to a seven to a 10 to a 15 so it's really we don't want to sit here and tell people that hey your street has a problem it's going to be 20 years before we get to you so so really this is just the dial to to increase or decrease that that threshold and and I have to be here or or My predecessor not postor I don't know whoever comes after me whatever that is successor that's the word successor um uh has to be here annually so this will be your opportunity to adjust that dial at an annual basis to make sure that we're hitting that metric uh and so again there's nothing wrong with with that uh current 5 mph or greater Mark but it is setting an expectation that is an Ever growing ever lengthening list that we're trying to you know set a better message of the community and better communicate the resources that we have uh currently and then lastly it it it's less of a change uh because we're not really decreasing the touch points but it's really clarifying that instead of having uh a preliminary meeting where we are facilitating a conversation but not really actively making changes um where it as it works today is is we facilitate conversation then we meet as a group for a month or two update the plans then come back have another meeting where we facilitate and then we ballot uh we're we're seeing that uh it's it's creating some some engagement fatigue where between the preliminary and the final meeting we're seeing uh 125% decrease in the number of views on our our uh uh materials that we're putting out and we're seeing a over 12% decrease in participation where a lot of people continue to tell us like we saw it the first time we want this why do you keep coming back to us that's kind of a broad bro Broad brush summary of of the the sentiment that we're hearing so instead of again breaking it up over multiple months uh we're we're just changing the language to really clarify that there going to be those same three touch points but just a continuous effort so it's going to take a little bit more effort on staff to be active participants update the plans as we're going we feel very confident that we can do that based on the uh level of complexity of these projects but it's going to be you know couple weeks uh of Engagement where we get feedback we're updating the plans and we send it another mail and say hey we heard you come back let's look at the same thing again and then hit it with a ballot so it's really going to be compressing that um engagement is going to be longer than what we're doing now that's broken up but it's really just going to be compressed into one continuous effort and and really the hope is that we can sustain or increase that participation uh throughout the whole process and hopefully not disenfranchise people or feel that I already told you yes I can tune out now it's going to you know we're trying to increase the participation with this and so the requested action from these are to approve the recommended changes to the ntmp policy to be effective immediately and to to go into effect for the 20 streets uh with the 2025 list that that uh uh we're recommending as well and to to quickly summarize those it's authorized staff to have the ability to proactively initiate speed limit reductions broaden the multi-way stop evaluation uh uh portion to be an intersection evaluation portion raise the traffic caling project qualifying speed threshold to greater than 7 mph and and that will be effective on the 2026 project package uh and combine the traffic cing project offering engagement into one continuous effort and if you have any questions I'm happy to to answer thank you lots of good information there uh counselor Patton yeah for sure um so of in this section of what you need direction from us on the options one 2 and four uh seem seem I'm amenable to them um the raising the speed threshold feels um a little antithetical to Vision zero goals knowing that the faster a car is going the more likely it is to be fatal if there's a pedestrian crash um but I understand that you're trying like I understand the intention of what you're trying to do is is reduce the timeline so that if people if we've told people there's a problem on their street we're not also saying we we can help you in 10 years I might I just need to like talk through it a little bit more so people who are already on the list because they've they've already been evaluated and they qualified at the 5 m hour mark they would well we're not going to remove anyone that that qualified under the old metric it will just be uh if it's adopted all future evaluations will be viewed through the lens of the the updated speed uh guidance and they could but they could still and they could still be put higher on the list than other absolutely people AB okay and then and so I guess when you say that like we're taking in these 40 40 new streets per year but and how many do you anticipate would qualify if we adopt this policy update it it will get us back down closer to that that historical 8 to 12 average is that that would what we would hope to see again we we did this math a couple years ago and then patterns changed so so again this is is something that we can discuss annually if we're seeing too few streets come on board or too many this is your opportunity to to increase or decrease that that dial um with with regularity and as you see fit okay so like out of the 40 new streets you're thinking like 30 of them is are qualifying at that five it it would be the 10 it' be the other way it would probably be 10 of the 40 streets would would qualify for a future would continue to qualify and 30 are are at that five M hour mark but they would not qualify under the new standards okay I'm still a little itchy about but counselor Jones hi thank you um I'm just wondering if kind of bouncing off of what counselor Patton is saying if we don't have the seems like the bandwidth to to attack all of those projects would the request not be for increase in fundings for your area so that we can is that another option because as we grow we're seeing all of these streets and I feel that we we want to enable the Departments to be able to do that but it feels like we're going backwards instead of saying hey we see all of these these problems and we need more resources in order to accommodate these this increase yeah and and that that's absolutely another another way is just to put more resources it would take a a funding increase to pay for additional projects um and as it exists today um I'm a working manager so I am very involved in that but we really only have one full-time uh resource that that manages uh the vast majority of the day-to-day for the traffic calming so so it would uh be a corresponding increase in funding to pay for the projects um and we we would need uh additional full-time employees to to help us manage the engagement design and all that stuff do you know a ballpark how many if we were to maintain the 40 streets that you are currently seeing how many more staff you would need so we're each managing around 10 so one one additional person could could bump us up to to 30 streets uh offered a year that would still have us a plus 10 deficit so I mean you know if if we really want to uh knock it out it it' probably be two plus additional employees uh dedicated just to to the traffic Management program to really start seeing a um not just a a status quo but a decrease in in the list length thank you so much for that I I just want to note that as we see these increase and as you've mentioned it's going up clearly these are problems that we need to address that the public is coming to us for so for me I agree councelor Patton uh number three sounds like going in the wrong direction and I feel like we need to find resources to address the problem if if I could at some questions you mentioned that would be two more in your staff to do the evaluation and put it on a list but then there's that there's still the construction piece and the implementation of the project how much additional staff and and I'm sure we put this out for bid and we use contract but how much additional funding would also be needed on that part because it's there's I want to look holistically at costs right and so so on the back end um uh we we partner with with roadway design and construction do the project management side so I don't know if that would mean uh they would need an additional uh project manager I don't know what that threshold is for them uh but but from a funding perspective we can get about 20 streets for about a million a half dollars uh so if we want to you know double that that'd be an annual uh $3 million uh cost to do 40 streets uh through the through the traffic arm program yep councelor Lambert Melton I apologize I may have missed this one I had to step out briefly um is there um some I guess science or math behind the 7 mile per hour threshold uh it it really is we look at Best Practices uh well in perer municipalities um let's see Apex has 7 mes hour Carry has a 9 mph Garner has eight Burlington has seven so it seems like 5 seven and 10 is pretty much the national standards for for the thresholds for traffic calming we we went with the lowest one originally and we're just again trying to write size based on the resources that we have now that's very helpful I appreciate that and just as a lay person I I don't want telling myself but I feel like most people tend to go around 10 over the speed limit and I was just wondering if if RP if maybe I was just curious if RPD had had weighed in on that but knowing that um I'm comfortable with seven U and would support it uh it sounds like it's based on benchmarking and um like I said I think anything under 10 is what I personally experienced yeah councelor silver I'm also comfortable with the seven particularly as you look at keeping Pace with all the request over time so I think what you're looking for is how to manage those expectations so you're not telling someone you know this is how long it may take and we do have to balance resources just another question cuz I know always looked at you know traffic caling pedestrian bicycle safety they're kind of one side of the same coin and I know you have a program it was adopted 2009 but is there an understanding about some of the other tools for example a lot of residents say we don't want people to park on the street well that slows traffic down as people are going by where you plant trees uh having those pedestrian crosswalks hopefully having bike lane slows people down the land use is on both sides so I don't know well let's outside of your toolbox uh just want to understand how you prioritize traffic comings about the car but what about pedestrian safety and looking at you know I had a comment and I thank the city manager for responding about just having better lit crosswalks that are painted and not faded out I understand we just approved in the uh consent agena a program to start replenishing those so you just want to understand how you balance traffic caling with bicycle pedestrian safety because to me the two just work hand inand but I'm willing to support uh the changes to the policy going forward yeah absolutely and that's a great question CU cuz yeah they they have to go hand in hand all through that so you know traffic calming and the way that we can do so many uh projects and and have a relatively quick turnaround is is because we are retrofitting the street and we're we're staying within the curb lines we try very hard not to uh impact storm water flows have to dig down and and impact catch basins add impervious go behind the curb and that that allows us to do so many for for relatively um cheap project in the scheme of Transportation projects so that is kind of our main focus that we stay hyperfocused uh with with traffic calming and just retrofitting the street that being said there's a lot of opportunities within that um uh uh we as a City built very wide neighborhood streets for uh quite a long time um and for the capacity and the volumes and the use patterns a lot of those are are overbuilt um so we have the opportunity to go back in and you know right size those streets um a great example this was done through resurfacing uh but Donald Ross Drive was an overly wide Street where we kept parking on one side two lanes of travel and then put a cycle track on on the other uh we have have learned from that and we have copied that model so uh Grove Barton Road that's part of the April 1 bid package is going to do that as as well uh pal Drive is another one where we are are reallocating the existing uh Street width to to be um usable active Transportation space um we are having discussions on on if that usable space can be made to be ADA Compliant so we can have actual pedestrian uh space within the street and we'll have to go in and put vertical delineation but with the cross slopes and the landing requirements that get very tricky very fast um but at a minimum like on on pal like on Donald Ross we were trying to pair sidewalks on one side of the street with a cycle track on the opposite and then you know in the middle have that street narrowing with traffic calming to really you know provide for a safer um and complete Street Just One Last okay yeah not to believe a point um I definitely would support the seven miles hour to try to move this forward um and try to get some of the projects that are on the list um addressed one of my questions is and this may be on the other side of Transportation new subdivisions and new development that are being built are we working with those developers to build and traffic calming into the original project so we don't have to go back later and do some of the retrofitting absolutely so so the vision for my group is that we don't want any new Street to come online uh that has a speed compliance issue I I want my job to have a have an end life meaning that we've treated all the existing streets um and so with that we are partnering very closely in 2021 uh Council approved the removal of the prohibition that only the ntmp had the authority to do traffic cming that enabled us to start working with uh the bike group with vision zero with private development to start baking in traffic coming from the beginning uh this transportation department is also well and I guess the ntmp policy is an internal guiding policy so there's no real teeth to to the development um through a future Street design manual update uh or or Udo change you know that would put some regulatory teeth that would require it um and that would be discussed at that time but but we were certainly setting the table to have those discussions and we're already actively working with a lot of private developers to try to get them to offer up and include traffic calling from the beginning thank you okay all right so if unless there's more questions you need motions from us here and then we have to go back to the other section and final finish that up um so I'm going to make a motion for the for the policy updates one two and four and then if we can take option number three separately because I think there's more there's more different opinions on that one so uh move to authorized staff to uh do one two and four I'm not going to read them all out second okay any other discussion on that all in favor of the motion I I all oppose nay all right you want to make a motion on the move to approve three okay second any other discussion on that all in favor of the motion I I all oppose nay so two NOS okay all right and now we're going to go back to the previous y so I have I have a couple questions um so my River 3 is one of the ones that youve flagged as narrowly missing the mark and then I noticed that in the the approval is for the upcoming year we've got Falls River five seven and two uh so it has me wondering if falls River Avenue needs a different approach like clearly there's identified issues throughout the street there's interest but not Universal it sounds like one of a different section has come and failed in the past so talk to me about a more holistic view of Falls River Avenue I I I guess there the ntmp policy is not necessarily set up to to do it in that way again this is is a resident Choice uh opportunity um through the different iterations we have offered them uh humps we've offered them circles we've offered them curb bump outs so we we've tried different approaches learning on what was voted down in the past and it seems to continually just get voted down um so as long as we maintain with a a strategy of of Resident approval um if pass indicator is uh pass performance is an indicator of future success um the the multiple sections of Falls River you know your your guess is as good as mine if if this additional attempt is going to have a different outcome okay and we have you mentioned other examples where um things that have a traffic calming impact like adding parking or bike Lanes have been integrated into Street resurfacing projects uh is there any chance F of renue is in line for Street resurfacing we can do that with with traffic cing as well we we do do that I I don't know if if we know we can get that information for you if if uh resurfacing or when when that's schedule is up for Falls River Avenue um you know to to Riff on that it's it's there's consistent on street parking out there that is a form of n natural traffic calming and if you remove it it's just uh painted bike Lanes then you're probably going to have the opposite effect just because it's not anything vertical that really keeps you in the roadway so I mean we can continue to look at at as many alternative options uh as as we can with that to see what sticks and what this neighborhood desires yeah yeah I I think um I know you need an answer from us on this list so happy to approve it at the end of this conversation but I do think i' would like to send to committee like just some further and further discussion on this road uh history of past ballots and what was offered to them that failed and then the uh the one that's that narrowly missed the mark for now and then these ones I think I just like to take a little bit of a zoomed out view of the whole the whole street so um so that's one thing and then I also um thinking about the Falls River Avenue that narrowly missed the Mark had me wondering um I read in the policy that uh when there's apartments present the ballot goes to the property owner so the landlord but I didn't find if there single family what would happen if the single family home is rent or occupied so who gets the ballot so so we send it to the physical properties and then with with the apartments it depends on the makeup of that if they're individually owned units or individual units we send it to each one of those so so we try to Target those um actually living there as opposed to if you're an absentee landlord or if you don't live there because these projects can go in and be very quickly we want to impact those that that actually live there and use the street as opposed to um you know mailing somebody that lives in California asking if they want traffic calling for the rental property and Raleigh okay yeah great that's what I was what I hoping you would say um so anyway I would like to send Falls River Avenue 3 and um along with a broader discussion of the rest of the road to Transportation committee um along with that I'd like to send like a a discussion of pros and cons of lowering the approval thresholds uh the 60% on street and the 70% broader neighborhood U pros and cons of and implic of lowering that just knowing that like civic participation is hard for everyone I mean we see low voter turnout even in presidential elections so um just consideration of that and then at the appropriate time happy to make a motion to approve the 25 traffic coming project priority list okay and then we had um councelor branch and Jones uh Branch maybe I saw first so since we're um probably going to have this in that part in committee I want ask if we can also look at um a weit period for fail roads and projects and the reason behind that is because if we have a road that keeps failing and we're still trying to keep figure out you know if it's going to meet thresholds or not you're losing time you're losing hours on roads and streets that have been approved um our roads that haven't even been looked at because we're going back in repeat so if we can have that conversation in committee as well of do we want to set a policy that aode if it fails maybe twice then it has to wait a certain time frame before it can be in the policy existing but we could certainly assess I just want to review it right yeah review that policy and then um I had another note it was around the C civic participation um the thresholds if you can bring the history we went through all of that before so when we have the meeting if they can bring the history from their previous conversation when we talked about Civic engagement because we've made an adjustment one time before to address those very concerns Jones um can you go back to Ramblewood ramble so that one um had an 85% Street approval and this is the one that you said missed by like one or two on the um neighborhood approval side um if we move Bent Creek because at an 82% on the other side is there room to what can you explain to me what the difference is why we wouldn't send ramble Ramblewood down that same path so so B Creek was moved forward because uh there was no on Street participation and it was based on how the land was developed so it it all of the units are self-contained within the buildings and then the land is HOA or Property Management uh controlled and so we reached out to all those property management companies but got no responses so the land didn't participate but the people did and they voted at that 82% uh approval threshold whereas Ramblewood it met the on Street approval threshold minimum um but it's a two-tier system where only 56.52% of the greater neighborhood approved and for that to be an administrative approval that needs to be a minimum of a 60% approval okay understood yeah thank you right coun can we go back to the previous slides so I understand council member Patton that this list you want to go to committee to discuss further cuz I'm trying to understand are we going to see a different list uh will other project I just want to understand the purpose for diving deeper I understand further conversation about the seven per greater than S miles per hour but just want to understand if this goes to committee what will be discussed and what could we expect to see as a committee recommendation or comments based on this list so I think seven miles an hour just passed we just voted I know that you mentioned okay um I think where the seven that you're pinging on is at Falls River Avenue 7 is that's when I okay at the end of this discussion we'll approve this list as it stands and then the whole of Falls River you can see that falls river is on there four times correct it's on or it's on three three times on this list and it's once on the other list and it's been on the list before so there's clearly like something going on on this road but rather than treating this as three segmented traffic calming projects I'm asking myself the question does it need a holistic approach covers the length of the road so that's the conversation okay that's clear so I guess theoretically after that maybe this list Wiggles a little bit but that I don't we don't know that yet and so history is kind of repeating itself a little bit here where in the past this similar conversation with FS River has had been had where the council member that time made a motion to remove or hold uh the sections of Falls River to to talk about them approve the remaining remainder of the list um to to rehash that history that was discussed we went to the community and they voted it down so again just providing that brief history that that a similar conversation has been had with Falls River along these same lines and and again just to to reiterate this would just be this list is just authorizing staff to go start the conversation with the community so we're going to be trying to hear what they want but but honestly not honestly uh if if you want this to go in to talk to committee um a route forward to not hold up the rest of the list would be to hold uh what number 49 and 13 to go into committee and and approve uh the remaining 17 streets and just one last thing for me on that regard I see that about almost half of the lists are in District e um and so as we move forward I don't know if this can be for um Jonathan uh Edwards for me if we can have a conversation so that I am fully aware that's a lot happening in just one district and they're not even near each other they're all over the place so I would really love to have that conversation to better understand uh how to explain it to Residents as we move forward yeah absolutely and so um it is just a coincidence that they're all really clustered in your District we we've done a lot of those metrics in the past and all districts pretty consistently have about a 16 to 25% share of of historical projects offered uh and then also if the manager update on Friday we just went live with an interactive map that you can go out there and see the historical projects those in design and future projects that are eligible but absolutely we can work with your policy analyst to make sure um you get the information that you need definitely thank you so and councelor patton do you want to pull Falls River or do you want to approve the ones that are on this list um I think we can I think we'll just approve the list as is and if anything Illuminating comes from the committee conversation we might like come back okay so is that a motion yeah so moved second all right so uh that is for this 2025 traffic calming um all in favor of the motion I I all opposed thank you thank Youk you and last but definitely not least I have the absolute joy and pleasure of presenting to some and introducing to others um the newest member of the city of Raleigh's management team Chief Rico boy [Applause] after um a national search we did not have to look very far before we found the best person for the job in this moment Chief boys has risen up the ranks of RPD and a little known fact about Rico Rico is an avid cheer dad so if any of you all know about cheer you've gotten a little bit of taste of that from me but he takes it to a whole another level so I think that is his stress reliever his getaway I don't know how because it is intense um but we are really happy to have our new Chief um Rico Boyce yes madame mayor council Madam city manager Rico boys chief of police excited I'm extremely happy and excited to be the 31st Chief here in the City of Raleigh for the Raleigh Police Department uh it's a great time to be in the Department it's great time to be here in the city a lot of great things going on uh I look forward to working with you all and continuing to keep our city safe and vibrant uh so I have a lot of energy I got a lot of ideas so I'm just ready to get to work it's been 4 days I probably haven't slept in 4 days uh but I'm super excited I'm just extremely grateful for the manager selecting me as the chief of police so excited to be here thank you thank you congratulations thank you and that concludes my report today awesome all right so next we have matters scheduled for public hearing and we have left the one item open uh 617 South Blunt good afternoon Madame mayor city council Bryce abery with the housing and neighborhoods code enforcement um this is a continuation from the February 18th council meeting where I brought 617 South Blunt Street um just a quick recap there was a fire at the property in um in August of 23 the owner was required to pull all the permits that he needed to uh make make those repairs um that didn't happen um we started our minimum housing case on the property and uh up until last week there had been the permits had not been applied for I think councelor Fort had uh wanted an opportunity to reach out to some Community organizations um only update that I really have is I did speak with the ownership last last week for an extensive amount of time and they've since pulled a plumbing permit in addition to the building that they had already started so they have building and plumbing that they've applied for um I talked to them again this morning and they have hired an electrical contractor and they should be applying for the electrical permit here pretty soon so there is some some movement happening slow movement well um I did have an opportunity to talk to some folks and they did make some efforts to contact the owner but um the owner didn't return any of the telephone calls so I leave it up to the council I don't know that pulling pluming in electric a couple days before sufficient for most folks so yeah and Madam Mar I reached out as well it happens that um Council Fort and I kind of reached out to the same people to talk about this project and again there was no movement so I think at the close of the hearing um one of us be ready to move forward okay all right thank you for the followup and uh there's no further I will can't even see where my oh it's over here I will close the hearing right so is there a motion I make the motion to move forward with uh demolition second all right any other discussion if not all in favor of the motion I I I'll oppose nay and that passes thank you thank you all right then we have the uh report and recommendation of various committees and uh the only um item was on Transportation yes so I uh was not in attendance but transportation committee hosted two topics the high crash intersection as well as pedestrian improvements around East Waker Mill and Atlantic um there was a robust discussion and public comment was provided and the committee moved to recommend the topics out of commit moved to recommend the topics out with a recommendation that staff provide a budget note to fund the associated cost of uh there there were a handful of uh suggested remediations for a few intersections that and the committee asked for a budget note um council member Lambert Melton presided the meeting so you can fill in anything I've left out yeah there were two I think two unfunded uh intersections from the first item and then the second item is that intersection at Eastward Gill Road and elen Avenue committee recommended that we referred out and asked for Budget notes for these two items so so moved second all right any other discussion if not all in favor of the motion I I all oppose nay so that passes okay I guess uh I also I guess will announce that we the transportation committee has new items so we now have um a West Raleigh Blue Ridge Transportation update that will be heard in committee on March 27th from 3: to 5 at count in council chambers and then the um neighborhood traffic calming program topic do I'm looking at uh assistant city manager more do you think we can hear both in committee or should I put the traffic Management in April or do we need to know right now do them both great both of those topics will be heard at the end of March right thank you all right next we have the report from mayor and counsel and I will start uh with the mayor protm Fort no report this way yep I just had one item um this was in my general questions that they gave us but there were several months ago we had um requests for demolition of a burned out house on Newburn Avenue uh council members who were on the council the time may recall that the owner came here he was a gentleman who had a death in the family had requested additional time was looking to sell the property we gave him that time um I've had Neighbors in the area reaching out again because the house is still there in the burned out condition I think the fire was like 2 three years ago I'm informed that there's a pending sale for the property and they've pulled demolition permits for the address so I would just ask that we can monitor this cuz I what I don't want to have happen is that if there's a new owner and they still don't demo that the that it's a safety issue so if we could just get that if the planning department could just monitor this and then um maybe get an update in the manager's reporter so I just want to stay on top of it but hopefully the new owners will close and build a new house there and everything will be fine and that's all I have um all right so highlighting good stuff from consent the consent agenda we approved a contract for Street resurfacing for 7 Street segments in uh that will also get bik lanes and sidewalks so including Calvary Drive Falls the Falls of the news bridge and Hard grve Road in my district um I'm hosting office hours Thursday the 13th um location T TBD uh so watch social media for that um 6 hours 6 to 8 p.m. um I also wanted to ask if the growth of Natural Resources committee could take up a topic um in the manager update we were given um information about the Udo requirement related to forestation requirements in certain parts of the city and how that can be onerous or prohibitive um there's a resident in my district who's had a difficult time rebuilding her same exact house on the same footprint UND du to these and so it could be worth considering an update to the Udo um but I think warrant's a little bit further understanding to make sure we have or to make sure we have a shared understanding so um Madam chair yeah I'm happy to take that into growth and natural resources committee are you looking for in March I think that would be the 25th at 3:00 p.m. uh I'm sorry at 4 works for works for me if it works for staff I don't I don't have a timeline or I don't have a hard deadline okay okay that's your regular schedule time yes that'd be great thank you cool awesome thanks um and then my last thing is I just wanted to thank the council um for affording me the opportunity to attend a conference on combating polarization and violent extremis um I was able to go to Manchester in the UK last week and there were Mayors at this conference from all across the United States but also across Europe and the conversations were really compelling and in particular so in short order I'll be sending you all um some notes with thought like programs that I thought were interesting and that we might want to Noodle on um but one thing that I thought was really compelling is that there were um Mayors from occupied cities in Ukraine and it was uh they were describing their experience trying to be Mayors and City Council Members delivering the same services that we deliver here so keeping their Parks clean keeping their sidewalks paved keeping the water flowing and how difficult that was in an occupied Russian occupied territory and um then in sub subsequent world events happened on Friday and I I just was reminded that the experiences we think belong to others are always a little closer to us than we realize so thanks to the council for for that opportunity I have two items one I see Miss Octavia Rainey in the room I want to thank her for the Black History Month event a couple of Saturdays ago uh Octavia gave me some homework to do uh since it was focused on District C uh I have been discussing it with council member branch and so all I can say is that your requests uh is is now being considered for both uh streets and Memorial sites so that's all I can say at this point not making any promises this is the administration City we have to work with but I heard you and so we'll be and we are already council member Ranch and N conversation uh so we'll get back to you uh regarding that I do have one this is for both the city manager and uh fire chief I went to an event this weekend I was approached by an individual very concerned about wildfires and while I know is very extreme out west uh this individual and again I apologize cuz I did not know this was an issue here in North Carolina we're about 33 Acres burned and also an issue in South Carolina I didn't believe there was an eminent threat uh but I don't know whether there's anything uh either you or the fire chief can share to show that we have this under control I'm sure with something of that nature it's not just the City of Raleigh but we rely on other partners uh but again I just wanted to make sure I heard this individual uh and I'm very confident that we have Public Safety team that is monitoring any situation I think the one that happened in North Carolina was from a cookout that spread and burnt 3,300 Acres but this person was very concerned either from what's happening on the West Coast or what's happening closer to home that there is no imminent threat uh to the City of Raleigh okay um last night a few of us went to a Ramadan uh celebration uh breakfast and so Ramadan Barak and then also tomorrow lent starts and of course we have Passover in April so I just wanted to take the moment to say uh just very grateful for all the communities of Faith here in Raleigh who not only Shepherd their own congregations but also do a lot of work for the community um I was at Edenton Street Methodist who's working with our un house this week I was at hay Barton uh Baptist on Sunday and they're doing uh meal packaging um after school program so just uh incredible amount of work by citizens across Raleigh showing care for their neighbors and just wanted to say that in this uh maybe a little more holy season than um some of the others so thank you thank you I just have two uh this afternoon um one the next District e community meeting will be March 12 from 6:00 to 8: at La cusina Italian restaurant off of Glenwood Avenue so join us and have a delicious meal and then the next meeting of our book club our decoding democracy book club will be Saturday March 15th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Oberlin Regional Library thank you definitely thank you mayor um there's a couple four quick items um two of them are tied to miss rainey's event that um we had at tarbor Road One is um I spoke with the family the white family I'm going to get with them about the process for that street in particular two is I had a a conversation briefly with our staff um I will ask if we could authorize our staff to look into an honorary naming process for streets and what this means is the base street name wouldn't necessarily change but the street would can still recognize someone based upon the criteria IA that we have I think Charlotte has this has this in place already some other cities I got the idea actually from looking at New York um I saw a picture where there was a street named um it was Michel met Boulevard but it was still 35th Street um so that's something we want to look at because we have some streets that to change the name it it's it's a major cost um impact to individual and businesses along those corridors but this is still a way to recognize people so if we can just uh if council's okay ask staff to look at a process and just bring it back to council for us to figure out if we want to move forward with it or not um the other part is there's been a lot of conversation and emails about Brookside Drive um I will ask if staff can bring the updated proposal for Brookside Drive um to council at our March 18th meeting as a special item so that um Council can be updated and we can um possibly move forward um this Brookside Drive if you remember it's a safety issue um we discussed this in our committee um we're looking at bicycle Lanes parking and the conflict between the two based on feedback from the community but I think staff hopefully has come with a I would say a proposal that hits the spot um so if we can have that at March 18th that allows us time to move forward and lastly um this coming Monday March 10th at 12:14 East Lenor street I'm set up have my own District c meeting I'm actually going to be part of a Community Voices conversation with our um School Board representative for my district um Mr Shea rice our County Commissioners Tera Waters and miss Monica um Hoster Johnson um House of Representatives and other speakers will we talking about mental health but there will be a town hall conversation on March 10th this coming Monday at 6:30 p.m. at 12:14 East Len North Street people may know this is the same location where I previously have had District C meetings um so it will take place this coming Monday and that is all I have all right I just want to say first thank you to the folks who are protesting today on North Carolina's capital lawn uh council member Jones and I um had the chance to hear folks singing their hearts out with their raging Grand and I appreciated the upside down American flags my goal though is that we can turn the flags right side up as soon as possible I could go on about any number of items at the national level but I'm just going to focus on one topic today and that is Raleigh's science economy we are a hub for life science and biotechnology jobs and the new federal Administration puts that economic Foundation at risk the Biotech Industry has long driven the triangle's growth making Research Triangle Park a name brand across the country from scientists with Advanced degrees you know Community College graduates these are high paying jobs that helps Raley Thrive these are also the people who develop vaccines and discover new life-saving medical advances this is the head of an infectious disease laboratory at the National Institute of Health and RTP who was fired without cause by the Trump Administration this is the RTI contractor who lost all of their USA ID funding this is the Wake County science teacher who no longer receives US Department of Education grants to supplement their pay and I just want us to think about the economic impacts of these jobs if not these individuals over 40,000 people work in the life science Industry in the triangle and these are our neighbors they pay our taxes they're the ones who make our Parks possible our schools the police these are our friends who will not be able to pay their mortgages or their rent if they're laid off these are the customers at our restaurants and our shops and this is also for me very much about the Next Generation when I'm not at Raleigh city council I work at NC State University as a faculty member and I manage millions of federal dollars in Environmental Research grants I know how students enter the science fields and get Hands-On exper experience we are preparing the Next Generation Workforce for careers in science technology engineering and Medicine fields that improve our lives if you find any of these National Developments concerning I invite you to join the March for science that is going to be on Friday at noon downtown Raleigh we're meeting at Halifax mall you can also call your US senators and Congressional Representatives these National policies have Ripple effects on Raleigh thank you thank you next uh we have appointments and I will turn it to the clerk's office here we go um first we have bicycle and pedestrian advisory commission two regular vacancies Britney Bryan received five votes sha Fernandez three James Thrasher five so Britney Bryan and James Thrasher would be appointed there um next is Board of adjustment one alternate vacancies no nominees there so this will appear on your next ballot for consideration next it's is design review commission one alternate vacancy Adon kisada received eight votes so would be appointed environmental Advisory Board one regular vacancy Tina Scott received eight votes so would be appointed Planning Commission one regular vacancy Jason Crest received one vote tulip maay received seven so miss amay would be appointed um we'll note here that Mr Neptune's nomination was withdrawn by council members Jones and Harrison um and then with the new resignation to be announced shortly um I will carry over Mr crest's nomination to the next ballot with that vacancy um cassid I have a question sure um we had one person resign which will be announced in the next section and then um Mr Man is just limited and so he would continue to serve until replaced but the resignation I'm assuming is immediate so is there any way to declare the vacancy for um Mr man's seat so that the person we so tulipe could take the resignated so I just don't want there to be a gap right yeah we can place her in whichever way makes it so that there's more immediate um we had someone resign and then someone who can the other person is just termin Lo they can continue to serve until replaced so I'm just asking if tul Lae who was just appointed could take the resignation seat and that way Mr Man can stay and and on until we have a replacement y yep and Cassidy I'd like to um nominate again Nick Neptune for the next opportunity me as well all right um that will be coming back um lastly under appointments Riley Transit Authority one alternate vacancy William mckenny received eight votes so would be appointed under nominations art commissions these are new announcements uh term of Jessica Todd Maron is expiring she would like to be considered for reappointment per council's request information was contained in the agenda materials regarding her attendance y I just have a question for my colleagues because I looked at the notes and this individual missed close to 50% of the meetings I I read through the the rationale do we know if this is a commission at struggling to meet a quorum it seems as that her experience is trending in the right direction uh but wasn't clear whether that pattern would continue so I just didn't know whether the I don't know if Sarah's here but whether this group is a meeting Quorum I haven't heard of any issues and normally the chairs will let us know if they are okay yeah we can also hold it if you just want to get that information I mean I can say I I know her well she's been very active and you know first night um she been active at the park so I know she does some travel um internationally so but I would be supportive of moving forward if she wants to continue to serve given yeah I would just encourage I I understand that you know she does a lot of world traveling but just want to make sure that um yep to make sure that you know whether online or in person I don't know what the standard is for the commission but that there is just you know a desire to participate more uh but if it's not a quorum issue and sounds like uh Bas what counselor member branch is saying wasn't brought to our attention I'll I'll support moving forward as well move to reappoint Second all in favor I I all oppose Nay n okay all right next bicycle and pedestrian advisory Commission um term of James rotenberry is expiring and he does not wish to be considered for reappointment so per city code he will Contin continue to serve until replace and that'll be added on to your next ballot along with the previously announced vacancy next is design review commission one regular vacancy um the term of regular member Adam Walters is expiring he's not eligible for reappointment due to length of service past practice has been to elevate the longest serving alternate and declare an alternate uh to a regular slot and declare alternate vacancy in this case we have two alternates that started at the same time um cat Schmidt and Dave Toms um their application and attendance information was included in the agenda materials I'm doing some quick math I'm sorry going back to bpack can I renominate Shan Fernandez sure thanks um on this one cat has attended a higher percentage of meetings so I moved to elevate cat to um to the regular uh to the regular vacancy doing it by eyeball but I was waiting for I had my calculator second okay um all in favor of the motion I I all opposed okay so that um newly created alternate vacancy will be coming back environmental Advisory Board one regular vacancy resignation has been received from Thomas Ridley so this will appear on your next ballot parks recreation and green way Advisory Board two regular vacancies the term of Beverly Clark is expiring she's not eligible for reappointment due to length of service additionally we have a resignation from shangin luu um I will note that in addition to the above announcements the board still has one outstanding vacancy for a member whose term expired last summer um the member has continued to serve until replace and the board's ad hoc nominate nominating committee continues to deliberate on a replacement so once we hear back from them on that um and these and these two new vacancies which brings a total up to three we will share the information with the council I'm going to go ahead and nominate Jack Hilton I still think the council has the authority to make nominations there's three pending and their ad hoc committee is not sent us anyone so I nominate Jack Hilton and I'll make sure his application's in that's fine and Cy could you please um tell the parks uh Parks Board that um it we need there there any we need their recommendations by our next meeting Mar March 18th uh otherwise we'll proceed with the old procedures and to be clear I I nominate one there's three vacancies so I would suggest that they send us two names um because I intend to proceed with mine if the council will approve okay um next is Planning Commission one regular vacancy um we already discussed this earlier resignation has been received from Jennifer Lampman um so that additional vacancy will be reflected on your next ballot and lastly storm water management advisory commission to regular vacancies terms of two members are expiring um first is Josh Dalton he would like to be considered for reappointment and then second is Reverend um jaman Taylor who is not eligible for reappointment due to length of service um as a reminder the commission operates under an adopted Matrix that uh defines um desired skill sets U Reverend Taylor fills a slot of a representative of an environmental nonprofit group knowledgeable in the area of storm water water resources or water quality however we do have an existing member that meets that criteria as well so um two different items here to consider move to reappoint Mr Dalton second okay and I don't have anybody yet but I am uh will be attending the storm waterer management meeting this week so hopefully I will get some insight at that point if there are anybody that they are thinking of okay so uh all in favor of the motion I I all oppos nay so that and Madam mayor if we can I know we addressed the Planning Commission but one thing I want to say is that at their last presentation they were very specific about skill sets that they were looking for um and so I know that we've put forward nominations but I'm not necessarily sure that we're honoring the requests that they've made of us in terms of specific skill sets with folks that are being nominated and voted on to serve and so I do want to make sure that we're being cognizant of what they asked us for um as we're making these nominations going forward I'll just add I I served with Jennifer Lampman on the board of Passage home she works in the affordable housing financing industry I think her loss in the Planning Commission is pretty impactful and so I just want to be mindful that and we did ask the chair for skill sets and we have very qualified new people who've been appointed but I don't think any of them fulfill any of the skill sets that the chair actually told us about so we should probably be very prescriptive with this last vacancy we have right now yep okay that concludes uh yes um is there a way to put that into the code are we saying that the request that the planning commissioner chair came and gave us is now codified because I don't if the request is to make these roles a specific thing then is that what we're planning to do no but when we ask someone in a meeting what they need and they tell us and then we don't nominate those people then and I just think it's yeah why ask well and and and I will say since I raised the the topic I mean one of the things is that they're giving us advice on you know these cases that are coming before them and the folks that they've enumerated I mean we don't have anybody who's got a real estate background serving on the commission that was one of the things that they specifically asked for I mean there are certain technical things that they they're looking for in terms of advising on these resoning cases and so again not necessarily making it um a part of our code but if they're advising us on zoning cases and there's certain perspectives that they would like to see um communicated to us as a council I think you know we have to put those people in place to give us that information so they we we asked them what they needed they told us and we're not nominating people who fall in those categories I just want to follow up I think if there's anyone who's got folks in mind that fit those please nominate them and if there's anyone out there that's listening please come to us because we I haven't even started yeah nominating but um I was waiting um but yeah so I think we've got a number of very qual I mean we we've got some really great people we've already approved we've got some really great people willing to serve so we're fortunate to have a lot of um people that I think will meet some of the technical qualifications and and I will say this I was texting somebody in the meeting and he's agreed to serve so I'm nominating Brian Bernett to serve on the Planning Commission yeah okay I second that just what is the deadline for nominations for the next ballot so today anything you you say today would um would appear in the next ballot you know it's up to the council if you want to hold the item okay you know it's it's up to you um well Mark shelburn is a Housing Finance expert who had expressed interest and so because he's got a profile very much like Jennifer Lampman I'll go ahead and nominate him and then it may be helpful Cassie um and I know you gave us that printed stack sometimes it's really hard to sift through that if you could send us an email with just upcoming um vacancies I think we're going to have a couple more this term or maybe even this year for folks who are not eligible for reappointment that may also help us all sort of uh you know space out because sounds like we got a lot of qualified people who want to serve and um we can kind of space it out um yes Lou city clerk had um actually brought that to my attention we provide usually every six months a report of upcoming vacancies we did that close to the end of last year but given there's a couple new people on board um every half a year or so um the clerk's office produces a document forecasting upcoming vacancies and expirations you know are people eligible for uh reappointment are they not of course it doesn't necessarily speak to any unplan things like resignations or if they don't want to be reappointed but we are working on another report to distribute um and to be clear is that the normal you're wanting the normal report that you normally get or do you want additional applications or data with that I think normal report is great but I think uh we have an acute issue here and so if we could just get a quick forecast just for this boarding commission I think that would be super helpful got it okay we'll do all right uh next we have the uh report of the City attorney mayor and members of council I'm pleased to announce that Carolyn beo ble I'm sorry um of my office has uh been named as a deputy attorney Carolyn will lead our L use group uh that uh David York previously LED Carolyn has been with our office for 13 years and during that time has primarily worked with Raley water this tongue twister um but but also has handled uh matters involving land use as a result of that um when Carolyn told me that she was interested I said are you sure and so she uh actually started working with David before he left and so we're excited that um she was willing to take on this Challenge and know that she will be a valuable addition to our leadership team congratulations and that's all I have great thank you and then we have the report of the city clerk good afternoon mayor and Council you received four sets of minutes in your agenda materials including your last regular session two work sessions and the January Retreat right do we have a motion move for approval of the minutes second okay all in favor of the motion I I all oppose nay right thank you thank you okay so we have a closed session and I have uh language here that a motion um to enter close session pursuant to General statute 143 3181 A3 to consult with the city attorney in order to preserve the attorney client privilege second I'll in favor of that motion I I you're going into Clos session that here that's all of [Music] them oh oh oh oh [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] d n [Music] oh oh [Music] n [Music] [Laughter] [Music] St [Music] o n [Music] o oh [Music] oh oh [Music] oh oh oh oh [Music] [Music] 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