2026-11-09 - City Council

12:36Well. Good evening everyone. We'd like to call our Monday, November 9th meeting to order. Welcome those who are joining us in the audience, those who are also joining us remotely

12:45welcome you as well. Uh, at this time, as with every meeting, we will ask that the pastor of Cedar Falls Baptist Church to come forth and give us our invocation. If we could all

12:54please stand immediately following, if we could repeat the Pledge of Allegiance together. Pastor. Thank you. Mr.. Father, we thank you tonight for your grace and your

13:05blessing. And father, we pray for these council members who are here. That Lord, you would give them wisdom. Give them grace as they lead the cities business of the people. Lord,

13:17we thank you for their wisdom and what they do. We ask now your grace and blessing be over this great city, and we pray that you'd be honored and glorified in heaven. In Jesus

13:26name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with

13:40liberty and justice for all. Pastor, thank you for your prayer. If you want to take a few minutes and tell us about yourself and your ministry. Yes, sir. Um, my name is Dave

13:50I moved to Fayetteville in February. Uh, came from Kansas to pastor Cedar Falls Baptist Church. You're welcome. And, um, yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you so

14:00much. And, uh, yeah, we've, uh, we're over. I've asked on the north side at 295 in Ramsey. We appreciate that. And I appreciate you guys being able to to have people of faith come

14:13because there's many councils that don't have faith in that. So we do appreciate that. So thank you very much. And uh, you know, we're just doing what we need to do up north and, uh,

14:22we appreciate you guys so much. Yeah. So thank you. Let's give pastor a round of applause. Thank you. We appreciate you coming this evening to render our prayer. Uh, Council, at this time, we

14:34will move to the announcements. Haven't seen anything pending, but I know we cover a vast majority of those. During the first meeting. Councilman, have you had your light on? Oh, no,

14:45sir. Okay. All right. All right. So, uh, council will move to 5.0. City manager's report. Hewitt. Uh, good evening. Mayor. Members of council. Um. Uh, three quick announcements. Put

15:00my glasses here. Um, Fayetteville Police Department is inviting residents to participate in a survey about the agency's performance and community perception. As part

15:09of its ongoing accreditation process through the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, also known as CALEA. From now through Sunday, November 15th, residents are invited to

15:21complete the survey and the survey can be found online on the city's website at WW Fayetteville, NC backslash residents survey. Our Office of Community Safety will also be

15:31having a quarterly update meeting on Thursday, November 12th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fayetteville Cares Building or Day Resource Center, which is at 128 South King Street.

15:42Topics will provide will provide updates on all of the pillars, as well as informing the community on new initiatives from the Office of Community Safety. The city will

15:50also host a public meeting on Thursday, November 12th, same day from 530 to 7:30 p.m. at the Fast Transit Center, which is located at 505 Franklin Street, to discuss the Russell

16:02and Person Street Flood Mitigation Project. Community members can meet with city staff and the design team to learn about the project and discuss the planned improvements and ask questions.

16:12All of those items are also available on the city's website. And then the last one is just a reminder for council. It's not my birthday, which again is January 28th, but

16:21council members, I did want to make sure that we recognized two of our very own doctors, Jones and doctors here, who I think have birthdays as well. Again. A happy birthday to both

16:31you, sir. That's all, Mister Mayor. All right, Council, as we approach now, 6.0, uh, go to council member Green. Thank you, Mister Mayor. Um, I'll move for the approval of

16:49the agenda with the addition of, um, item 7.08, appointment of Jody Phelps as the interim city manager. Um, effective November 24th, I think we originally discussed the 23rd,

17:08but that would be the 24th. Would be after the November 23rd meeting. So I make that in the form of a motion to add that and to approve the rest of the agenda. Now second, second.

17:18All right. All right. It's a motion by Council Member Green. I heard a couple of seconds, but I think it was council member Thompson. Mayor Pro Tem Thompson, I see you on the

17:29light. All right. Council, any discussion on the motion of the approval of the agenda? All right. I look to you for your vote. Whoo hoo! We miss you, sir. Thank you.

17:47I hit this thing. All right. Thank you. Uh, um. It's unanimous. Thank you. And congratulations. Uh, uh, Miss Phelps for, um, your service to the to the city and anticipating. And thank you,

18:01Doctor Hewitt. Which, uh, did you announce? You know, I know you a celebratory guy, and you're talking about your birthday, but did you announce the November the, uh, your other.

18:11Announced last day with the city is December 31st, but, um, I will be available for city business from November 23rd through December 31st. That is my last day of service.

18:22Right? All right. Thank you. All right. Council moving to, uh, items of consent. I'll look to you for action on that. All right. Thank you. Mayor, I move, we approve the consent agenda.

18:38Uh, as motion by Mayor Pro tem, second by Councilmember Jones. All right. Any discussion on consented items? All right. Council look to you for your vote. Uh. All right. That is unanimous.

18:57Carries. Uh. All right. Item 8.01. Uh, the FY 27, first quarter strategic report. I see, uh, Mr. Braidwood, Mr. Lowery. Good stuff. Yes, sir. All right, Gemma, turn it over

19:15to you. Thank you. Sir. Good evening. Mayor. Mayor Pro tem, city council. I'm Chris Lowery, the support manager. Present with me tonight is Mr. Andy Bradbury, our senior

19:31analyst. Tonight we are pleased to present the FY 27 first quarter strategic Priorities Performance Update, covering July through September of 2026. This is the first quarterly

19:42update under your council's FY 27 strategic plan. Uh, which was accepted in August. Tonight provides an opportunity to highlight the progress already made. The work underway across

19:53the organization, and how departments are advancing Council's priorities in alignment with the adopted budget. Before we get started getting to the individual priorities, I want to provide

20:05some context for how we should be looking at the FY 27 first quarter performance. Council has established its priorities, and departments are actively moving forward with the

20:15programs, projects and initiatives designed to achieve those priorities. Working with the resources established through the adopted budget, while some measures already

20:23reflect measurable success, several others represent new initiatives that are still being developed or implemented. A measure identified as TBD does not mean that work is not

20:33taking place. In many cases, staff has already advanced contracts, development programs, coordinating partnerships, and establishing the groundwork necessary to begin reporting measures in

20:47just three months into the fiscal year. We are already seeing meaningful progress across council's priorities. So tonight is more about reviewing performance measures. It's

20:56about demonstrating how council's strategic direction is being being translated into action, how departments are moving that work forward, and the progress already been made

21:05for our community. As a reminder, Council established four strategic priorities for FY 27 a comprehensive approach to community safety, economic growth, housing and

21:19development, and housing and neighborhood revitalization. Transportation, transit, and overall connectivity. These priorities provide a framework and for departments to align

21:28their projects, programs, resources, and performance measures with Council's direction. Throughout the year, we will continue monitoring progress through quarterly reporting, with particular

21:39attention to both measurable outcomes and implementation of new initiatives. What I want Council to recognize as we move forward with these results is that the organization is

21:48actively advancing all four of these priorities. Some initiatives are already producing measurable results, while others are progressing through implementation stages

21:57necessary to deliver results in the future quarters. Together, these efforts demonstrate that council's strategic plan is not simply a document guiding our direction. It is an active work

22:08plan that has been carried forward across the organization. Good evening. Council. Mayor. Mayor Pro tem. So before we go. Priority by priority, I just wanted to show this. This is a

22:23new strategy, a new look that we're trying out for this fiscal year. And it just shows at a glance. Um, your four priorities and how they're aligned. So as we go throughout

22:33there, we're tracking 78 measures this year across the four priorities. Um, so for quarter one today, 50 of those 78 have been reported, which is about two thirds of the total

22:46amount. And so for your first quarter, under a new plan, um, with with multiple new initiatives, um, this is a solid start for a Q1 update for those reported values. So we're

22:58at a really good start there. As you can see, for community, uh, comprehensive approach to community safety. Uh, this is our largest priority. And we have 27 KPIs that we're

23:08tracking. 15 of those have been reported. Economic growth has 1812 been reported. Housing and neighborhood revitalization. Uh, this is the most complete for quarter one. Those have 18,

23:21with 14 reported. And then transit and overall connectivity has 15 KPIs, with nine of those been reported for Q1. Now, two things to keep in mind as we move throughout the

23:34slides and look at the performance. Uh, you'll see again, as Chris mentioned, a couple metrics that have TBD. And again, these have these measures have been defined.

23:46Departments are just working through the the implementation phase and how to report back on those measures in an efficient way. Excuse me. And then some. In some places you will see in

23:58a and this simply means there are measures being reported on an annual basis. So you wouldn't see it in your quarterly quarterly performance report. And then the next part

24:10of that is you won't see a target column for FY 20 one quarter one. And this is because a lot of departments, again we have new implementation programs that we're trying to come online.

24:22And so as we move into the midyear Q2, you'll see those targets come online. Once the programs have, uh, kicked into their implementation phase. So again, our first priority is a

24:39comprehensive approach to community safety. And this priority is council has in which council has set a direction to continue its comprehensive approach, starting with prevention in the

24:52first quarter of the fire, fire Department installed 365 smoke alarms and ran 109 outreach events and campaigns. So what we call this is the front end strategy, um, in which we're

25:06being proactively in reaching our residents and our businesses before a fire happens. Fire also reported an 8% increase in fire incidents, but against a 26% decrease in

25:22the number of injuries and fatalities related to those fire incidents. So good measure. There for response. Fire is response benchmark on 95% of calls, with an average

25:35response time of five minutes and 17 seconds. The 90th percentile response time, which means that nine out of ten times we're responding to the calls, um, was seven minutes

25:50and 31 seconds. And this is a metric that we'll watch going into Q2 to make sure there's no drastic changes in that number. The response time. So for police, priority one, the

26:02average response time was 400. And 60s. Uh, so right at about seven minutes, 7.5 minutes, uh, and this is essentially the same level that department finished at for FY 26. So still

26:14on par measuring really good. As you recall, council restored eight frozen police officer positions for this budget. And so this is one measure where we did expect to see that show up

26:24over the year. And those response times you would notice seven TPD at the bottom of this table. These metrics, um, are for the uh, for instance, the D offers that are just coming

26:38online for this budget year. And so as that program begins to start up, we'll look to track those measures as the year goes throughout. So for in a lot of ways, FY 27 will be

26:50the baseline year for a lot of measures. Now the second half of party one, this is the community side of the priority. The Office of Community Safety, Office of Community Safety OCS

27:04had a busy first quarter. And if um, Director Jones if he's here, if he'd like to come in and comment on some of these, he's welcome to come up. But OCS engaged 727 young people

27:19through youth programs and also handled 191 homeless response calls through the OCS program. Also also 47 individuals were connected through OCS to mental health services through

27:35referrals, and together these metrics are setting the first full quarter of data under a growing and expanding OCS department. That would give us a baseline for the crisis

27:46response model that council moved to implement this year, and I'll pause right there and give Director Jones a few moments to comment. Now, we did have his report

27:54pretty in detail, but Director Jones, just a few minutes on. Yeah, absolutely. I'll be brief. Good evening. Mayor, mayor pro tem council, city manager, city clerk and city

28:02attorney and community behind me. Um, to highlight. Some of the numbers you see in front of you. We had 727 young people that we engage with through our Safe space activations, as well as our

28:13employment opportunity that we funded through Mid Carolina Regional Council. So we're very excited to report those numbers, as well as the responses that we've been able to provide. Um,

28:22through staff with the unhoused community. And as we look to advance in the next quarter or excuse me, in quarter three in January to March, uh, you will see numbers

28:32within the OCS only in OCS and FPD as that links to our alternative response model that we have in clinicians, which we're currently interviewing and will have interviews done

28:43by end this week. You will see numbers in that, um, in the near future. Thank you. Thank you. So again, to Doctor Jones, point, the two measures that you see here for the number of

28:55calls responded by OCS only. And then with FPD, that's a direct, clear part of that new crisis response model and the type of split that you would like to see for that type of

29:06operation. And then finally, to round out priority one, uh, with communications, Mark, community safety content reached over 32,000 views. Shares and impressions. While

29:22they're impact stories and their survey based trust measures will follow more into the year as they work out that new metric that they're looking at. So great report there for Markham.

29:37Moved into priority two, which is our economic growth. The first quarter reflects progress in business support, workforce development and the city's development review process

29:46through OECD, the city supported 15 businesses and deployed $19,500, a little over $19,500 in funding during the first quarter. Development services also reported strong

29:59performance in its review process, with an average of development review time of 4.2 days, so a little bit less than five business days, and 100% of reviews that were completed on

30:09time. This is particularly important because timely and predictable development reviews help support businesses and development activity throughout Fayetteville. Continue with

30:21economic development. The airport also reported significant activity and regional partnerships and airline incentive funding. During the first quarter, the airport reported approximately

30:32one little over $1 million in regional partnership funding for airline incentives, along with two airline partnerships. The airport also generated approximately $188,000 in

30:45passenger facility charge revenue, which supports eligible airport improvements and development. These partnerships are important because expanding and maintaining air service

30:54requires collaborative, uh, regional collaboration and a shared commitment to strengthening connectivity and economic opportunities from a communication standpoint. The city also launched two

31:06campaigns highlighting economic development opportunities during this quarter. Several additional measures, including corridor safety initiatives and related enforcement and

31:16intervention activities, remain under development and will be incorporated into future performance reporting and implementation moves forward. Taken together, these efforts

31:28demonstrate the Council's economic growth. Priority extends beyond local business assistance to include efficient city services, regional partnerships and the infrastructure needed to

31:38support long term economic growth. Priority three, which is our housing and neighborhood Revitalization Council's focus, continues to be on expanding attainable housing opportunities while

31:52strengthening and reinvesting effect was established. Neighborhoods. One important initiative underway is the city's review of the city's Unified Development Ordinance,

32:01or the Ido. ECD has contracted with Boeing National Research to conduct a housing study, in which it also includes the review of the Udo. That work is expected to include a council

32:13work session in February or March, with the final report anticipated in April 2027. Another significant first quarter action was the allocation of $300,000 for the

32:25emergency Home Repair Program, which assists low income homeowners with urgent repairs affecting the health or the safety of their home. Although no completed Homeowner

32:35Assistance Program projects were reported during quarter one, staff indicated that multiple projects are progressing through final review, either bidding and repair of those assisted with

32:45critical and emergency repairs. Once assistance is recorded, will be. Assistance is only recorded when there's a service that's actually completed. Continue with priority three.

33:01We also saw early activity in housing development, homeownership and assistance, and neighborhood improvements. During the first quarter, we had 88 multifamily housing

33:11units associated with Aspen Pointe. Phase two, and the city also assisted with four households with Homebuyer Assistance program helping residents move towards homeownership in neighborhood

33:22revitalization. One deteriorated structure was demolished during this quarter and leading into that development, services reported approximately $130,600 in general fund demolition

33:34expenditures, representing almost 82% of the reported allocation. This is an area that we will continue to monitor as the fiscal year progresses. Parks and rec also

33:44reported 3.28 acres of new or improved recreational spaces. This is reflecting improvements at the North Street Park and resurfacing of the tennis courts at Tokay Park.

33:55Additionally, approximately 94% of the city's land area is within 1.5 miles of a park or green space. Based on the city's geographic analysis, which also includes excludes

34:07Fort Bragg, the first quarter reflects the breadth of council's housing and neighborhood revitalization priorities. Priority from producing housing and expanding

34:17homeownership, opportunities to address and deteriorated properties, and improving neighborhood spaces. While several performance measures are still developing, working

34:26this quarter on housing policy, homeowner assistance, and neighborhood revitalization laid the groundwork for progress in the future. Quarters. So now, the council's final

34:39priority is a transportation, transit, and overall connectivity. And with this, the airport secured an impactful $12.6 million in funding for Q1. The passenger count for Q1 was also almost

34:5586,000 passengers, and with this, no new routes for Q1 have been added on streets and sidewalks. Public services constructed over a period a little over 2000 linear feet of

35:08sidewalk and for Q1, no bike, no new bike lane, miles or greenway miles were added. And then we can look at transit fast on time. Performance for the quarter was 87%. And just

35:24for context, the department closed last year at 76% against a 75% target. So there are about 11 points of improvement just in one quarter. And as you recall, there was 24 over

35:36higher operating positions that council authorized for this budget and which plays a big part in this improvement. Um, because reliability always starts when we have bus drivers

35:48for every route. And with that, the ridership measure that you see here, um, is reported once per year, which is where the Na is showing. And then also under transit, the regional transit

36:02feasibility assessment has been complete. And two regional partnerships or agreements are currently in place through transit. And so then finally, the remaining TBD that you see

36:13here are City Manager's office or it, um, new initiatives. The state federal funding and the legislative actions will be reported once the current grant and legislative actions are

36:25legislative cycles close and then the community Wi-Fi area coverage and the adoption measures, these are new tracking measures that it is looking at as part of our connectivity. Um, and those

36:37will be finalized and reported on towards, uh, Q2, Q3. So as we move into the second quarter, departments will continue advancing council's FY 27 priority action plans,

36:52building on the progress that's already been made in the first three quarters. First three months, our focus remains on ensuring that the work being carried out across the

37:00organization stays aligned to council's strategic direction and the resources that were established through the adopted budget. Our office will continue working with the

37:08departments to validate performance measures, establish baseline for our new initiatives and monitor progress as additional results become available, we will return to council in February

37:19with the FY 27 second quarter performance update, providing another opportunity to evaluate our progress and identify areas where adjustments may be needed. At the same time, work

37:30is underway for FY 28 strategic planning cycle, allowing us to build on our current priorities while preparing the city's next planning and budget development process. Council's continued

37:41feedback will remain an important part of ensuring that our strategic priorities, department efforts and organizational resources remain aligned. Mayor and Council, as we close tonight's

37:52presentation, I want to emphasize that we are only three months into the fiscal year, and there is already meaningful progress that is taking place across the organization. We are seeing

38:01early accomplishments in several areas while departments continue moving forward with the planning, partnerships, contracts and implementation work necessary to advance your

38:11your newer initiatives. Council should be encouraged by the progress being made this early in the process. Ultimately, our goal remains the same to take the priorities established by

38:21Council, align our organizational efforts and resources behind them, and produce measurable results that benefit the residents of Fayetteville. Thank you Council, and we'll be happy to

38:31answer any questions. Thank you sir. Councilman Haire gentlemen. Every time you all come forward with. Our report card, it's always a good job. So again, thank you for being able to take our

38:47priorities and put them, help put them into motion. Let's go back to make sure what page it is. But the FY 27. Well, that's the one that has, um, item three on it. You have the four

39:05on item three about expanding housing and neighborhood revitalization. And only bring this up because I received support from council in changing, um, not so much the

39:23direction, but maybe the name. I would like to see there. Um, when I brought up about putting the emphasis on older existing neighborhoods, and here I do say emphasis on mature

39:42neighborhoods. I think from my perspective, I would like to see older existing neighborhoods emphasis, uh, because that was a part that I had brought to the table just

39:54to make sure that the older neighborhoods, even though they're going to be paid attention to that, there's an emphasis on the older neighborhoods, just as all the neighborhoods, period.

40:08Yes, sir. And, um. Oh. I'm sorry. Yeah. Councilman, councilman here that, you know, I remember that item had, uh, kind of extensive discussion, uh, and terminology saying and

40:21describing the same thing. So I don't want to open that up because that, you know, they just went with the latest direction, but I guess certainly that's the point that

40:28can be raised. Uh, you know, when we get back to the appropriate timing of, um, policy or council members request to review that, but I didn't want to open that discussion back up because

40:39there were a number of adjectives used to describe this. But I think that the premise is the same, that if you have an existing neighborhood, uh, in the in, in the city, that there are some

40:49additional programs that they could be capable of. So I don't know if that was on those guys. And I do appreciate your, your wording, what you just stated. Mayor, I'm not 100% with you on

40:58that one just due to the fact that when residents may go to our priorities and they're looking through and they said, oh, there's some help there for older existing neighborhoods,

41:12and it means it's it's exactly stating what it does for possibility of them getting some support. So that was my was some, some assistance. So that was my reason for, uh,

41:24just emphasizing that where it says it exactly more than emphasizing mature neighborhoods. I mean, whichever direction that we go with that our have to, uh, just stand with it, but it won't be

41:40fully with my acceptance. But yeah, I don't I don't know that we were trying to agree or disagree tonight. I'm just saying that the essence of their report tonight doesn't,

41:48doesn't include that part of it. So I think we can we can get to that. Um, uh, Councilman Jones. Thank you so much. Just quickly. Thank you all. You said two thirds are already

41:58completed, correct? In quarter one. Yes, sir. I just want to repeat that. That's remarkable. That to me, it speaks to, uh, the council's intentionality. And when we put these things in

42:08place and that they are not only measurable, but they're attainable. And so I appreciate you sharing that. Then lastly, uh, the fast times for the buses, 87%, you said that's up

42:23about 20% from where it was, something like that, 67, 68, 11%. That's huge. Because if we want them to ride that bus, gotta be on time. So I, I appreciate that. But if there

42:36aren't any other areas I'll circle around. I'm going to make a motion. I'll come back. I'll come back to you. Councilman Jones, Councilman McMillan. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

42:44Good evening, gentlemen, and appreciate this, uh, return of the Jedi. So I'm calling this, but I always appreciate y'all bringing the information that you do, the strategy that you

42:53do. Um, I love that you're highlighting the progress on a comprehensive approach to community safety. And already see a glimpse of what it's going to look like when we when we start to take a

43:06comprehensive approach across the board to how we resource response to things like mental health crisis. So that's exciting to see. Um, I would um, I'm looking forward to what

43:17happens at the end of this month. Uh, so for, for the public, um, we are we will be back in strategic planning on something that's going to be mid-cycle for us on the 30th of

43:30November and the 1st of December. And, uh, we'd love to think about what annual targets look like. I know some departments have them. I know, at least for, uh, for the

43:41police chief, there are some some stand for the fire chief. There are some standards that they brief that are their targets, and appreciate seeing where we were last quarter last

43:50year. But we'd love to see targets incorporated, you know, especially as we're looking to the year ahead and and making additional plans. Um, have ideas about some, uh, about

44:03strategic planning. I'm wondering if you can give any preview as to to what that could look like or what that's going to look like later this month, and then what the public

44:12inputs are going to be. Will the public have a have any chance to inform our strategic direction prior to the 30th of November? Um, so right now the plan is to have the, um, one on ones with

44:27council members to find out their direction, what they see, um, as priorities going forward. So that's the first step. Um, and then once we actually have the the actual

44:37strategic planning, again, that is open, um, but we will have that, uh, meeting in person to discuss progress that's been made. Um, and then from there, we'll have an actual full blown

44:48retreat. Um, but within that, you're talking about the finance and the multiple different layers that blend in with strategic planning. So we will have that at the November

44:59uh, meeting, um, that we would have November and December 1st. So, um, but going forward, uh, we would have there's also areas, um, like we're always taking if you have an email

45:09question or concern for, for residents, they could always email us with any of that. Um, and then we could actually relay that to council. We have had meetings with the dug in

45:18the districts, things of that nature where we took some of that information in, um, and then that would be reported back out of council. Yeah, I appreciate that. And

45:26that was my thinking. You know, we did take make some space for a public to, to get involved, to have input prior to the budgeting cycle. I think we could probably get some some

45:35great ideas. Uh, do some, some, some collective dreaming, uh, envisioning with the, with the community as well. Uh, the last thing for me, I would I don't think it's this is the place

45:47for this type of information, but we'd love to see some of the targets, some of the numbers that you are are used to reporting to us, broken down by district. Um, so we can kind

45:58of see the allocation of resources. Uh, if there's a perception that we're not getting what we should in the West, uh, that the numbers are something that I can pull up.

46:07Uh, heat map is something that I could show my folks and, uh, let them know how we're how we're tackling all of this in our district. Yes, sir. But always appreciate y'all.

46:17Thank you. We're looking to that for you. Yes, sir. Thank you, Councilmember, uh, Mayor pro Tem. Thank you. Mayor. Uh, Mister. Mister Lowry, great presentation. Always. Uh, I was

46:28more interested in the 2100 linear feet of sidewalks that was done the last quarter. You know, sidewalks is one of my pet peeves, I don't know. Well, I need you to tell me, did that

46:38come from the 2018 pedestrian study or did come from the 2022 supplement Pedestrian Study around schools? That is a very good question, and I do not see anyone from

46:52public services here, but we can definitely follow back up on that and send that out to council as soon as we get definitive answers. I know we're close to finishing

47:002018 pedestrian study. I'm more interested in when are we going to start putting sidewalks around schools? Uh, across the entire city? Yes, sir. We're all of our kids are unsafe

47:09walking the streets. But thank you for that report. And we'll report that back out to you. Thank you. Mayor. Thank you. All right. All right. We'll go to Councilmember Jones.

47:17Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that the City Council accepts the fiscal year 27, first quarter strategic performance report as presented. All right. There's a motion by

47:26Councilmember Jones, seconded by hair. Oh, okay. Was your light on? Yes, sir. It was. On. I'm sorry about that. Other councilman. He's been giving me the business about his second.

47:41So. All right, any we've had discussion. We look to, uh, to your votes to receive this report. Good job Jim. Thank you sir. I appreciate it. All right, Madam Clerk. Item

47:54carries. All right. Moving to 9.01. Uh, Project Vermilion. And I think we had, uh, Mr. Patton. Good evening, sir. Yes, sir. Good evening. See if we can. Bam! There we go. How about

48:12that? I used to be an IT crusher in a previous life, so I'm glad this is working. So far. Let's go to full screen. How about that? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, Rob

48:24Patton with FC EDC. Uh, honored to bring to you tonight Project Vermilion. So a little bit about the project. It is a brushless motor manufacturing company looking to establish a

48:37production facility here in Fayetteville. Um, they would invest approximately $5.1 million in real and personal property, generate over $157,000 in tax revenue. Uh, within the first ten years,

48:52within the first three years, they'll create 104 new jobs with an average salary right at 65,000, and add approximately 9.7 million in annual payroll to our community. This is where

49:04they're looking to go. This is 20, 57 weeks. It's right off of Dunn Road by the Amazon last mile delivery facility. Uh, and it is currently zoned appropriate for this project.

49:18Additional details. We are competing against Georgia for this project. The state is considering discretionary grants for workforce development for this project. It does require a local match

49:31for that grant. Uh, we are requesting the city provide $525 per job for the incentive, which totals 54,600 in total. A similar request is being asked if Cumberland County. Uh, if

49:45the city and county both approve the total grant coming from the community would equal $109,200. And subject to any questions we would ask for a public hearing to approve this,

49:59uh, incentive, please. All right. So tonight, your ask is for to set the public hearing. To to have a public hearing. Yes, sir. All right. So, uh, Miss Jennifer, you had something tonight.

50:10Is the public hearing, sir? Okay. That's right. All right, so, um, so what we'll do, uh, on that, Mr. Patton, we will, um, we'll open that up. Then we will circle back to you if there are any

50:24questions and counsel as we open up the public hearing, we, uh, would ask that we would, um, uh, refrain any questions until after after the public hearing. But Mr. Patton is

50:34close by. Yeah. All right. All right. So. With that, at this time, we are preparing to hold a public hearing where the City council formally seeks your input. Individual desiring to

50:48speak at the hearing must have signed up to speak with the city clerk by name and address before the start of tonight's meeting. We'll begin with the staff presentation. Then we

50:56will move into the formal hearing. 15 minutes will be allowed for those in favor and those that opposed the items, uh, being discussed. Individual speakers are limited to three

51:04minutes each, unless by previous arrangement. A single spokesperson is designated, in which case that person may take the entire 15 minutes. When the city clerk calls your name,

51:13please come to the podium. Please clearly state your name and address for the record. You may then begin to address the council when the light changes from green to amber. That means

51:21you have 30s remaining at the end of your allotted time. The timer will ring and the light will turn red. And so that Mr. Patton has given, um, the presentation. And with that, we

51:32will open the public hearing. Madam clerk. Mayor, we have no speakers. All right. Mr. Patton. All right. So with that, we'll close the public hearing and council. I'll look to you. Um,

51:42for action. All right. Councilman Hondros. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll move that. We approve the requested incentive grant to be paid on a pro-rata basis in three installments.

51:53All right. It's a motion by Councilmember Hondros. Second by green. All right. Discussion on the motion. All right. Council. All right. Council member McMillan. Discussion.

52:02Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Rob, I appreciate this. Um, our our announcements were truncated, but do want to slip in the the operation and Patriot pantry on the 19th for

52:13the public good. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, sir, I appreciate that. Um, also, uh, also wanted to ask for probably the city manager or Jeff. Uh, and when it comes to something like this

52:25and the the funds are going to be allocated in future years. Um, is the funding source identified at this time or is that something that we figure out the prior to or during that

52:36budgeting cycle? So with these economic development grants, what. We're looking for is the growth and value in the community. So typically what you're committing to is paying a

52:53portion of that growth for the grant. So what we would anticipate is over time the revenue would go up and you would annually budget part of that growth to cover this

53:03grant. So it would be an annual appropriation. Okay. When when would we expect to see this? Is this, um, during the FY 28 2028 planning cycle? I would anticipate probably

53:15during the 20 the 2028 budget cycle. Okay. And we will give you a schedule because this is not unique. We have several of these grants out there. So we'll provide a schedule of

53:24that for your budget discussions. Thank you. Congratulations, Rob. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh, Council, we've had discussion on the motion. Look to you for your votes. All

53:41right. Madam clerk is unanimous. All right, Rob. Go get him. Yes, sir. Good luck, sir. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. All right. Council moving to, uh, item 10.01. Um, this is the

53:57approval of the interlocal agreement grant and long term use of city owned property. Uh, to Public Works Commission for, uh, solar energy development. Uh, so who's presenting this

54:09item? Is it you, Dot Hewlett or Lamont? Come on up. Good evening sir. Good evening. Mayor Council. Uh, no real presentation. Just here to re-emphasize that we are. Well, I'm here on behalf

54:31of the utility to address any issues there may be with the interlocal agreement for the solar facility, use of the municipal property. Uh, there's about 50 acres we're looking to

54:43use to move forward with the solar farm out on Fields Road. This is going to potentially generate just under five megawatts of solar energy. Uh, this facility is part of PwC's

54:56ongoing initiative to scale up to 25MW of localized solar energy so we can meet North Carolina's 10% renewable energy mandate. Also hopefully offset some of the wholesale market

55:12purchases. And to help manage long term electric rates. Uh, to my understanding, there's already been some negotiation that's been taking place. So I'm here to, uh, field any any

55:25issues, any questions, and try to move forward. All right. Thank you. Sir. Uh. Clear that, uh, Councilman. Davis. Thank you, Mister mayor. I have a quick question. Um. Do you.

55:39Guys send out notices, or anything to the residents in the area? Um, will it this happen after you guys maybe get this agreement, or did you guys do that beforehand? So the

55:50residents are understanding what's going to be happening at that location? There's there's already been some notification sent out if we are allowed to move forward, we will continue with the

55:58communication to let them know where we are in the process, let them know how long the timeline would be and if if there will be any effect or impact to the residents.

56:07Do you have a current timeline that this will take? Uh, I don't want to speak this on record, but I believe the project should be completed before 2031. Uh, I may be a

56:19little far out in that. Usually takes about 18 to 24 months to do this. Did you get any responses from any residents when you guys sent out notices? No, not that I'm aware of. No, sir.

56:28Okay. Thank you sir. All right. Mayor Pro. Tem. Thank you. I'm ready to make a motion if there's no other questions, Mr. mayor, I move that we approve the interlocal

56:36agreement and authorize the execution. Subject to the final review by the city attorney and the completion of the required governing boards. Resolutions. Um. And, uh, council members were

56:48those questions are. Second. Second. All right. There's a motion on Florida, seconded by Councilmember Ferguson. Councilmember McMillan with a second, no. Question discussion.

56:57All right. So, gotcha. All right. Discussion. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, is there a is there a willingness from PwC, uh, to to make some amendments to the contract that we're seeing

57:12tonight? I was supposed so. Uh. Yes, sir, I, I'm not absolutely sure. I'm not sure what would be the amendment or requested to be made, but if there's still negotiation needed, we're

57:28willing to come to the table. Okay. Thank you. A couple of things. Uh, a couple of things of concern. Uh, one is what fair value is for the land. And if you all would be willing to to

57:42appraise or make an appraisal, uh, so that we understand the value, understand the stated payment is 500,000. But would like to start from somewhere on behalf of the city. Would like

57:54to start with what's fair with the value is. Other concern is, uh, the land being used later for something other than what we're designating it for tonight. Uh, can you speak to

58:06whether that there's been a discussion about that or about amending what is written, uh, so that there's a there's adherence to, uh, the, the desired and stated use for the

58:19land. And this doesn't turn into something that is changed later to something that the council has not approved. So, to my understanding that. Yeah. Hold on one second. Um,

58:30so, Councilman McMillan, as you know, uh, the conversation at dinner was to if this is approved, to ask the attorney and the manager's office to, uh, deal with those concerns in

58:45addition to the other ones mentioned in the negotiation of the contract, which was a clawback provision as well as, uh, the the valuation conversation that was taking

58:55place. So, uh, the attorney and, uh, and the manager's office would, would handle that as they, as they mentioned, all of us upstairs in dinner meeting. But, uh, so I don't, I

59:04don't know if, if, uh, Mr. Hansen is in a position for that, but the, the, the motion or the direction that, uh, council uh, had instructed if this passes, was to have them

59:16put those provisions in there. And Mr.. As we discussed, just a note, all those things are on the record now, and we'd love to see an amended copy of this per those concerns. Right.

59:26All right. Uh, Mayor Pro Tem, you had. I was going to comment, Mr. Mayor, but a lot of the information that was just asked is already in our cap on what would be done if you did not

59:36use it, for what purpose was intended for. So sometimes, uh, well, I'll just leave it at that. Mr. mayor, I'm calling for the vote. All right, so council will look to you for your vote. All

59:55right. Motion carries. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. All right. And, uh, item 10.0, uh, Madam Attorney, you had, uh, uh, some, some guidance for us.

1:00:12Yes, sir. Mayor Colvin, just to introduce this item, um, at the October 26th meeting, council directed staff to hold the public hearing for, um, a future moratorium. And so this

1:00:29item is before you today so that we can, um, get your direction on when you would like to have that public hearing. Um, the ordinance that is attached to the item is, um,

1:00:41really a conversation starter. We're open to more, um, feedback from the council. Um, but for tonight, we just need council's direction as to when you would like to hold the public hearing.

1:00:53All right. So with that, we will turn it over to you guys. And then council will address any questions after presentation. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Good evening. Mayor. Council

1:01:04members. Um, Andrew manso, Andy Braidwood, city manager's office. And tonight is a presentation and a review of the draft ordinance establishing a temporary moratorium on data center

1:01:14developments. At your direction, staff made the necessary preparations for that public hearing. Uh, moratorium within state law requiring that the draft ordinance be ready

1:01:25prior to the hearing and advertised. And that draft is what you have all in your packet tonight. Purpose of this presentation is to walk you through what that ordinance

1:01:34says. Explain the process and the choices in front of you. Nothing is adopted tonight. This is not the public hearing. So first, where tonight fits in this process. This is the first

1:01:47presentation of the draft to you and to the public. It's your chance to review the language, direct any changes. And if you choose, call the public hearing and set a date.

1:01:56You can also hold the draft for more work and call the hearing in a later meeting. There is no vote on the moratorium itself tonight. On the right side of the slide, you'll see where the

1:02:05process requires. Uh, moratorium does not have to go through the Planning Commission the way a zoning amendment does. But the law does require two things. The written draft

1:02:14ordinance, which is what you have, and a publicly advertised hearing prior to the vote. The hearing runs two weeks in a row, and and at that hearing, the public speaks first and

1:02:26then council may vote that same night. If you choose practically, that means if you call for the hearing tonight, it can be held as early as December 7th, and the ordinance

1:02:36could be effective that night. If you would like more time, the calendar is entirely up to you. So there's Two numbers that explain the draft and a whole sense. The

1:02:49first is number one. 80. That's the number of days that we have currently drafted in the ordinance. Again, that is completely up to you all to modify. It's a placeholder

1:02:59number. But that's where we are. That's the amount of time that we've placed on what it would take to accomplish what the ordinance says to do. It. And if it needs to be renewed,

1:03:10that would take a new public hearing with fresh findings and the same process that we're doing right now. It covers new or expanded data centers only, and the text amendment you

1:03:19adopted last month stays in full effect. The number on the right is six. Those are the subjects that would be continued to look at during the ordinance time. Uh, decommissioning, financial

1:03:31assurance, water and cooling standards, building design, coordinating our noise standards with chapter 17 electric infrastructure cost allocation and consistency where possible with the

1:03:44county's ordinance. There are four findings required by state law to be stated in your ordinance, and a draft. Missing any one of them is legally vulnerable. They are the

1:03:56problem being addressed and why the alternatives fall short. Exactly which approvals are paused in the end date, and why that length of time is necessary, and a plan of action

1:04:06with the schedule. Section two of the draft states all four, and they're the legal backbone of the ordinance. Good to see you again, Council. Long time no see. Yeah. So, as Doctor Manziel

1:04:27mentioned, this is a draft. These are just options. And when we say here what the Paul's aims to accomplish that's we say that softly because this can be reshaped.

1:04:38It can scope down. It can scope up. It's to your discretion. And so what we have laid out here is a glide path. It's just an it's an option. It's options for you to to consider. And we

1:04:50can reshape this however you see fit. It's just a draft okay. So what we have here on the first item and I'll just go through this. These are six items that we would look to

1:05:03research and come back with um, a report based on on our moratorium ordinance. Okay. So the first one is this is basically the order of events. This is the whole point. Okay.

1:05:15So under the general statute 160, an application is processed under the rules. In effect the day it is filed. So in essence, if no ordinance is codified, um, if you don't have

1:05:31a moratorium, if you pass laws and just, just say, for instance, March of 2027, they don't apply to your project from December 2026. That's a that's the permit of choice.

1:05:44Okay. So the whole idea is that the pause is it's not here to, um, stop a project per se. Uh, it's just to make sure if and we're applicable, that the rules and the research that the

1:06:02moratorium aims to accomplish, that those are put in place before the next application comes into existence. And in essence, that that is the main goal of what you look to

1:06:13accomplish. So that is rules for everyone. And it ties into the next session, which is um, what would actually look to accomplish within that process. And some, some protections only

1:06:28work if they're in place at approval. So for instance, as Doctor Menzel mentioned, this is where we would look at decommissioning the financial assurance and any other items

1:06:39that you would want to have in place before a project was to be approved through council or through an application process. So how far the city can go on these is a legal question that

1:06:51not just it's not just in front of Fayetteville, but it's in front of all of North Carolina. Um, so there's a lot of, um, lack thereof, case law for certain items, supplemental

1:07:02items that we just don't have a defined legal, legal precedent for. So if we approve projects before we have that, in essence, a concrete answer, you council could lose that ability

1:07:19or that authority for projects that are approved without it. And so next we have, uh, this is where we're looking at the legal ceiling. So define the the lawful maximum. Um, that is

1:07:34allowed under the general statute. And then right to that. So the draft says the objective, um, within the ordinance, the most protective standards in North Carolina

1:07:46that allows the law is what we would write to. Nobody can definitively say today exactly where that line is on certain items. So that's in essence, what a moratorium would look to

1:07:58accomplish. The written analysis would be due, for instance, and we we have 180 days. But again, it's a placeholder in a sense. It's just as a guide. It's to get your mind shaped around what

1:08:11they would look like. So within the first 30 days, for instance, is when you would, um, work with counsel or outside counsel to us to establish what that maximum law

1:08:26allowed is. And then you would write your ordinance to what that maximum is. And so the fourth measure here is, um, what the community has said and what is on record. And so the

1:08:43September 30th community engagements that we have produced more than 200 comment cards and the priority boards of what community, uh, said they were interested in the

1:08:52questions that they were interested in. If it was counsel's discretion and a task force was created within this process, uh, the task force would work, um, from those

1:09:05community cards, that community engagement that was that's already on record that we have the full report for. Plus the August experts presentations that was presented at council

1:09:17and the site visits materials and bring those recommendations back to council within the 120 days residents. Uh, utilities public for water acoustic experts, the Planning

1:09:32Commission could all be on the same team. Um riding in one accord. And so then next, the four outside processes that would settle a lot of questions is something that we would

1:09:46track along the way. Senate Bill 730 cleared the House in June and still sits in the Senate, along with a few other state and federal bills. The Utilities Commission has a

1:09:58large low tariff settlement in front of it. Um, which would we would expect a decision to be coming pretty soon? Uh, you have North Carolina State's River Basin Water Study, which

1:10:07was presented by the resident expert doctor. Um, Roger Rauch. Resnick. Resnick, um, which he came and briefed that to council. So that would be coming online within this time

1:10:22period. Uh, and then also, you know, the county advancing their ordinance to see what they've established in theirs. So a pause would allow within that moratorium ordinance, us

1:10:35to write, um, effectively to those outcomes in view with those outcomes in view. And then lastly, we do have to 26 draft ordinance on the table. So we're in a stable position

1:10:49and we're just working through the remainder of the process at council's discretion, of which way you would go from there. So next to look at a time frame again, this would be based

1:11:05hypothetically, if we did a one 180 day moratorium. Um, again, it would be to council discretion. What that looks like more or less, uh, this is just a roadmap of what could be

1:11:20accomplished within each time frame within that, uh, moratorium period. So the first month, the first 30 days, this would be about putting the people in seats and getting the

1:11:32legal answer back to council counsel. What a what a point. If it is a task force, it's if it's name something else. If it's just, um, a staff appointment per se. Um, council

1:11:45would appoint that or commission that task force and they would meet once within that 30 days. The legal written analysis on decommissioning, site restoration, financial

1:11:57assurance that would all come in, um, possibly with the help of outside counsel as well, reviewing all of North Carolina. Uh, statute. And then staff would be in working

1:12:09sessions, of course, with PwC on water utilities. Um, and setting those standards and see what makes sense from both sides, the water side and the power side. You would then move

1:12:22then within the 120 days, the task force on reports and the staff drafts their report alongside it. So they run this in collaboration. The task force would meet in public at

1:12:35least three times, and it would deliver its written report. And staff doesn't wait for that report to be done, but it starts in collaboration with the task force so that they are

1:12:47working on the same page at the same time, or by the same time. The North Carolina NC state findings should be coming back, um, on the water basins and also, uh, a decision or

1:13:02advancement should be made at that time of what the county's ordinance looks like. And then throughout this whole process, the task force and the staff would be monitoring various

1:13:14state and federal bills that are, um, being considered and staff tracks all three of these the whole way throughout moratorium process so that when we come back to council with a

1:13:30recommendation, we're writing to what the state or federal guidelines have already told us, and we don't have to go back and rewrite it. And then finally, inside the 180 days,

1:13:45the moratorium would end itself upon its accomplishments, the Planning Commission would perform its thorough review. A new public hearing would be advertised if there's

1:13:56significant changes, the council would deliberate on the actions of the supplemental amendments of what have been studied throughout that process, and make a determination and the day they

1:14:09take effect of effect, the moratorium would end. It would end itself. In that sense, and extending the moratorium would not be by formally, formally, uh, formality, uh, the state

1:14:23law requires another hearing. So we would go back through this process again if the moratorium was to be extended, um, we would do the moratorium. Um, we would show within our

1:14:34ordinance that every action has had a deliberate action, um, to be accomplished. And then we would show new facts as to justify more time in what's necessary. So the the task force, which is

1:14:53section three of the ordinance, as Mr. Berry boy said, we're calling it the task force, but it absolutely call it whatever you like. Uh, it could be who we said, uh, the positions in

1:15:04here, or it can be staff, completely adjustable by a council, but it's established by the ordinance and appointed by you. It includes potentially residents. Um, individual

1:15:15residents from the neighborhood in the listening sessions that we hosted, subject matter experts, we need a utility designee, a member of the Planning Commission, and a

1:15:24county planning liaison. These are positions, um, and you can certainly add or take away. We don't have a number of them either. So you can modify that as well. How many in each you

1:15:38would like? Um, but they were charged to continue studying the community and environmental impacts of this use. Review the full record. Track the NC State research and recommend those

1:15:51standards back to you all. It would organize within 30 days. Meet in public and reports within 120 days. So the path tonight is three steps. You review the draft and when

1:16:05you're ready, you call the hearing. As early as this says November 23rd, but it's actually December 7th or at a later meeting of your choosing. The clerk published notice. And

1:16:16at that hearing, the public speaks first, after which you may vote the same night with or without changes. If adopted, the moratorium takes effect immediately. If not adopted,

1:16:25the text amendment continues to govern on its own. So the options tonight call the public hearing with the draft ordinance as presented. Direct changes staff revises the draft

1:16:38and the hearings noticed whenever you like. Hold the draft for more work and call the hearing in a later meeting or take no action. All right. Thank you. Doctor Manziel did have a couple of

1:16:50lights on here. Let's see. It looks like Councilman here green Davis and McMillan. Thank you mayor gentleman thank you for your hard work. Planning department. Thank all

1:17:04of you all for attorney's office and all as we have. In the past. And you gentlemen, correct me if I'm out of order any time that we have ordinances, policies that have

1:17:24been set, there are still many, many opportunities for those particular policies and ordinances to receive updates and amendments, am I correct? Yes, sir. Because when we look

1:17:41at this particular item as any and with AI and technology, it's going to always be an ongoing change. And within that change for cities throughout the United States to keep up,

1:17:58they're going to have to be up updates and amendments, am I correct? Yes, sir. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. All right. Council Member Green. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank

1:18:10you, Doctor Mizell. Thank you, mister Bray boy. Great presentation as always. Very informative. Can you just clarify something for me because I think it's going to

1:18:19come up from the public and if it doesn't then it doesn't. But at least we've clarified it. If it does on the first slide, under the process required by law, you stay in there that a

1:18:30moratorium does not go through. The Planning commission. But then further on, and we continue to discuss that where it goes and why. And it goes to the Planning Commission for

1:18:41review. So can you just clarify that? They seem contradictory, but I think I know the answer. But if you'll just clarify for everybody. Yes, ma'am. Uh, the the process

1:18:52in the beginning for the moratorium doesn't have to go to the Planning Commission in the ordinance where it talks about going to the Planning Commission as after any

1:18:59recommendation by that task force, that process has to go to the Planning Commission before it comes back to council. Thank you.. That that's what I wanted to hear you say, because I figured

1:19:10somebody may pick this up and just be confused by the topic it fell under. So thank you. Yes, ma'am. All right. Councilman Davis. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just

1:19:21wanted to clarify with the city attorney that in the camera says November 23rd, but you gave us a different date to, you know, for the December 7th. Am I correct? Yes, sir.

1:19:32Okay. Mr. Mayor, uh, whenever, whenever the council is prepared, I was prepared to make a motion to set the public hearing for December 7th. All right. I'll circle back to

1:19:41you. All right. Sir? Council member McMillan. And then Jones. Yeah. Thank you. Gentlemen. Uh, great work. Um, there are quite a few things that the public has said for a long time that

1:19:54were incorporated in this plan. Um, and I'm proud to see that that we're in alignment with, uh, many of the people, even, that are, that are in the audience that for months and

1:20:05months have been saying what our input should be as a city to address the potential harms of data centers. So I want to thank you all for your patience as we work through the

1:20:14political process, and really got down to the nitty gritty of addressing the people's concerns. Uh, and this is this is the the fruits actually is is seeing what our staff does.

1:20:24Uh, if given some clear direction and space. But really appreciate y'all. I had a question for the attorney, and I'm used to seeing Mister Van Jones here on nights like this

1:20:38to give, give updates. But when Mr. Boyd talked about the next application, uh, application and pre applications for data centers, I realized that it's been a long time since we had

1:20:50an update on what's on the table. So what may may have been applied for in the months that we've been going back and forth on uh, moratorium UDL amendments. Um, my question to

1:21:03you is, is it possible to, as part of this process, lay out in official form what the applications are that are already in and what the pre applications are prior to,

1:21:13prior to even moving forward into the moratorium. Um, with all due respect, sir, that would be a question for the city manager's office. I don't have any involvement in the applications.

1:21:31I don't have that at the moment. I don't know if Doctor Newton and his team came prepared for that, but we definitely will have, uh, we can provide all that information, um, as soon as

1:21:41possible to council following tonight's meeting. And definitely I can, um, share that with council. Okay, I appreciate that. And I bring that up and I'll ask the

1:21:51city attorney because it could become a legal, legal issue if there are some applications or applications. And they say later on that this whatever is decided upon in the moratorium

1:22:03process doesn't apply to them. Be good to start off with, uh, with in-depth knowledge of all that's been applied for, uh, from the start, uh, I wanted to ask if there's been any

1:22:15consideration of, uh, of capacity as one of the things that goes into a and I appreciate the way that this is written. I don't want a perfect to be the enemy of good or or

1:22:27great in this case, uh, but the the residents have been talking about the lack of capacity or perceived lack of lack of capacity for the Cape Fear River, for our water resources.

1:22:40They've been talking about the lack of capacity for our power grid. Uh, and, uh, research that other cities have laid that out as part of part of two A and not moved on until they

1:22:51properly addressed that concern. I wonder if there was any, any conversation of the staff level in terms of adding that language of capacity. And, uh, so that's one of the things

1:23:01we really dig into during the moratorium process. Yes, sir. That's a great point, and thank you for bringing that up in the supplemental subjects section. Here we have several

1:23:11things Keely identified, but we also leave the last part open for anything else that the task force looks wants to look into. Uh, so it can certainly fit there. Or we can modify it

1:23:22specifically and add it as a KPI. Okay, absolutely. Appreciate it. We'd appreciate, uh, looking into that, adding that language. And then, um, last thing for me is, uh, some

1:23:33things have happened even at the statewide legislature that could shape, uh, the future of this, uh, future of how we're moving on, addressing data centers. Um, noting in the

1:23:47research that there are some, uh, bipartisan efforts that have been in committee for a while, the state legislature to even address down zoning and how that could impact, the

1:23:58future months with a brand new General Assembly. Um, understand everything you were saying about how fast this is shifting, also noting that I think only only two out of 50

1:24:11uh, municipalities have actually moved on out of their moratorium in North Carolina. So it's hard to hard to know what this is going to look like at the in the future, but would

1:24:20appreciate any, any updates on how the legislative landscape is changing the decisions we make and if, if some of the ways that we moved, uh, with the law as it was written in

1:24:31this past year are changing and giving us more latitude to have have more restrictive, uh, measures in place. All right. But appreciate you, sir. Thank you. All right, Councilman Jones.

1:24:40Thank you, Mister mayor. Uh, very quickly, Madam attorney, just to provide some clarity, I know there are opportunities where you can make some changes to text amendments. If my

1:24:52memory serves me correctly, this would be a little different because it could potentially trigger a, um, down zoning aspect from what I was gathering. If we put something

1:25:06in place, a particular ordinance, and let's say through the moratorium process, something is a little more restrictive, it could potentially trigger, uh, a down zoning, uh, issue. And so I

1:25:20thought I heard from the last time that, yes, normally you could go back and do a lot of change. And what I thought this was a little different from that. Yes, sir. So the, um, the

1:25:35ordinance before council tonight is on a moratorium. And so the down zoning is not impacted by the moratorium ordinance, but the text amendments would be impacted potentially.

1:25:47Right. And that's what I was saying. So you really don't have a lot of you can't do a lot of I know if this was wasn't what it is right now, you could potentially have

1:25:59times to go back and do a lot of changing with that particular caveat that to me, it it curtails that tremendously because you could potentially again trigger that.

1:26:12That was my understanding from, from the last time. So aside from this, just that text amendment part where it said you keep you can keep on going back, keep on going back. If

1:26:22it's more restrictive. My understanding what you could not could not do that. I mean, you could, but you could. Yeah. The city would be, um, limited by the down zoning

1:26:34statute, but that would not prohibit any amendments. Right. But it would, it would trigger. So to keep, keep doing it, you could, but it just wouldn't be wise. All right.

1:26:45Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That's all. All right. And, um, yeah, to that, to that point, um, it was brought up today. So I was in a, in a meeting today in Greensboro, and there was some

1:26:53state legislators that said that I think there probably will be some changes on the down zoning to give some relief to the municipalities. Um, if things work out favorably. But

1:27:04there was it was representation from both sides there that, um, that that did come up. So hopefully that that will, uh, do that. But I guess if you recall back when the, um, the

1:27:15lawyer was, was here that that broke down, um, the ordinance for us and, and the downs on it, there were a number of things that they said could be considered and challenged in

1:27:27that, in that, uh, Councilman Jones. And so there was also some flexibility that, that we asked that if, um, you know, maybe parking was, uh, the requirements for, for some of

1:27:38the, the parking was adjusted that you could then get more separation between things. And so there were there was some options, but hopefully the legislative give some guidance

1:27:47to that, which is, um, you know, kind of federal and state are both talking about it. So that would that would help clarify a lot of these issues. So um, but with that, I'll go,

1:27:57uh, Councilmember McNair, I see you like. I'm ready. Oh, okay. All right. Uh, Councilmember Davis, back. To you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that we set the public

1:28:07hearing for December 7th, 2026. A second for me. Was the second over. Okay. All right. This motion by Councilmember Davis, second by McNair. Uh, discussion on setting the public hearing for

1:28:19127. All right. Look to you for your votes. All right, Madam Clerk. All right. Motion to adjourn. All right. Good meeting.