I'm thinking about the two rooms.

All right.

We'll go ahead and bring the meeting to order.

Before we get going, because we had the Raleigh Convention Center fire last night, I know a number of you just uh wanting updates, and we don't have a lot of detail, but I'll give you uh a little bit of high-level uh additional um progress, and then the City of Raleigh, Carrie Painter or Evan Raleigh, others uh later this afternoon, uh, we will have um additional sort of statements uh prepared.

But for for now, um the city uh has just, you know, the city manager's office uh and assistant city manager Evan Raleigh have just informed me that the sprinklers were set off in the building, so there's has been some damage where sprinklers, you know, damage uh some of the kitchens and sort of perishable goods, that kind of thing.

They have looked at the um structural uh the shimmer wall.

In fact, I was actually in contact with Thomas Sayer, the artist of the Shimmer Wall this morning, um, and it looks like that that structural integrity is good.

Um, so that I know that's a beloved feature of that building.

Um it looks like that one is okay.

Um, but they are still looking at all the other equipment um and assessing damages there.

Um, in terms of events, I know there's been some uh you know, concern that what is this what happens to events, cybersecurity, which was supposed to have an event starting tomorrow.

They have uh decided given the circumstances that they will find alternative venues.

So if uh anyone's going to the cybersecurity conference, they uh uh you know, look for updates from that group.

And then uh other really kind of immediate events, we are working with those organizers uh to think through uh what needs to happen.

But again, I think we can have more details this afternoon at City Manager.

Anything that just high level that you want to add.

No, I think that covers it quite nicely at this point.

Hopefully, this afternoon after all the inspections are conducted, we'll have more to share.

Okay.

So just very appreciative that there were no injuries and that our um fire department responded so admirably.

So more to come in in a few moments after we get through some of this agenda.

Yes.

But I do want to thank the fire department for their continued work and service, not just on city property, but also to all of our residents in the city.

Uh uh association, and everything's open, all the lights events that were planned, um, of course, the the holiday tree in Moore Square.

So no other disruptions outside of the immediate uh convention center.

Okay.

With that, uh we have called the meeting to order and a pledge of allegiance.

Uh Councilor Patton, would you mind leading us?

Under God.

All right, and then we have some special awards.

Okay.

It's on here, but no special awards at the moment.

All right.

Yeah.

We'll keep going with the consent agenda.

We had uh a few items pulled, I believe that was C1A, although my understanding is we're good with that now.

I I'll mention it just so uh yeah, thank you so much.

Uh C1A had to deal with Raleigh Civil Service Act and an exemption position.

This came up a few years ago, and I was just clarifying or asking questions of clarity to see how many uh if we were adding to the number of people exempt from being able to go to the community or the civil service commission and received uh great notes this morning, and I just wanted to see if um um we can have it just a summary so that the public can understand uh the questions and the responses.

Thank you.

So Sharnell Jones, our HR director, will be here to speak to this item.

Mayor, do you want to approve the rest of the consent agenda before this item or take it separately?

Uh I think if as long as Sharnell's uh Ms.

Jones is right here, why don't we just go ahead with that and then we can maybe approve the rest.

Sharon Jones Human Resources, good afternoon.

Um as you all are aware, back in 2023, we went through this process of updating the exemption list and as well as the policy, and we went back a couple of times, and in that policy change, you all did revise the definition for division and division head, as well as immediate secretaries to kind of narrow the list of the individuals that will qualify for um exemption from the Civil Service Act.

And just want to be clear that the Raleigh Civil Service Act, that is law and it dictates the individuals that are exempt from the civil service, which are the elected officials, employees or officials appointed by the city council, department heads, division heads, part-time or non-permanent officers or employees, employees serving the probationary period, and any um employees that are applying for those positions that I named previously.

Um based on that, we also went through a compensation study, which required for us to be able to um to have to update our exemption list because most of the classification titles change as going through that process.

And so we also have an individual's term has expired that is on the Civil Service Commission, and they um currently we need to go through a nomination and election process.

And so that was the need of why this exemption list was updated at this time to make sure that we have the right people that could vote in that election process.

And based on that review, um the numbers did change in regards to division heads and above.

It was around it went from 133 to 137 that will be eligible that would be exempt from the civil service, as well as for immediate secretaries that change from 14 to 8 that are on the list.

So there is about a 1% change in the number, so it went down.

Awesome.

Uh thank you so much for that uh explanation.

It really helped me understand.

And um, I was a little bit confused with the secretaries, but you did a really good job explaining that.

So I really appreciate it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Do you want to go ahead and make a motion um on that one?

Because we've already pulled it.

So I'm not sure.

Sure, I moved to approve C1A in the consent agenda.

Okay, second.

Any other discussion on that?

All in favor of the motion aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Okay.

So that was the first one uh exempted.

Then we also had uh pulled C3A Nash Square public realm plan, which we can talk about in a minute, and then also just wanted some additional on just trying to see the number.

C uh the uh C1C, correct.

Okay.

I thought we had three.

Uh we were going to get additional uh information on the bonds and then uh the public realm and the civil service.

So I will say if you if so that was uh C1A, which we just voted on, C1C was pulled, and C3A.

Mayor, while we're waiting, I'll move to approve the remaining items on the consent agenda.

All right.

All in favor of the remaining, aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Okay.

So why don't we move on to the C3A Nash Square public realm?

Um just to get some information on that.

Good afternoon, Council.

Um TJ McCourt with the Raleigh Parks Department.

Happy to answer any questions you have.

Yeah, I've just got a couple.

So I noticed in the plan or what is to come forward, is there should be a comprehensive management plan on the protection and preservation of the historic tree canopy, which I appreciate that had come to us from a couple different um concerned residents wanted to make sure.

And so I can you just speak to the tree canopy that exists there and you know, just what any other ideas that are coming forward for this uh proposal to ensure that it continues.

Uh absolutely.

So the trees at Nash Square, we recognize are really the square's greatest asset.

They've been there longer than just about anything else at Nash Square, even though the square itself has been here since Raleigh was founded.

Uh so yes, those trees are going to be at the forefront of our minds from the start of the process all the way through.

Uh the first item on our to-do list is going to be a comprehensive tree health and tree risk assessment uh with Bartlett Tree Experts is uh one of the firms on the design team.

So we'll have uh a full inventory of all of the trees out at Nash Square, understand which ones are in good health, uh, prioritize for protection, um, and which ones we need to plan for the future for a succession plan.

Um so that tree succession plan is going to be part of the deliverables for this project.

Uh it's going to help us manage Nash Nash Square strategically for decades and hopefully centuries to come.

So, like I said, from the from the start of the process all the way through, uh the trees are going to be front and center.

Great.

Thank you.

Could you also talk about anticipated funding needs or funding sources to implement any plans that come out of this?

Sure.

So as we go through the process, we'll be coming back to council uh at multiple periods.

We'll we will be developing design alternatives.

Uh one of the main differentiating factors between those alternative concepts is going to be the implementation cost.

Um at that time, once we uh uh get to about the midpoint of the process when we were developing those alternatives, uh we'll start making decisions uh about what track we follow uh in terms of the cost impacts for implementation.

Um of course one of the deliverables with the concept plan is going to be a full implementation budget uh for what it would take to carry forward all of these recommendations.

Um at that time we would discuss potential funding sources.

Thank you.

Any other yes?

Um Mitchell Silver and then uh Megan Patten.

Uh TJ, associated with the tree survey, uh is it in the scope to also measure the canopy, the distance between the understory lowest branch of the tree and the ground.

Uh looking at the park itself, there's a lot of sight lines.

It's difficult to see through the park, and just some recommendation about an adequate uh distance between the lowest branch and the ground, so it does open up the site, which offers uh some safety.

So just asking, is that part of it?

Because right now it's very difficult to see into and through the park, which it does for some give a level of feeling unsafe.

Yeah, I think that's a great point, and yes, that will be part of the scope.

Um we will get a full 360-degree assessment of every tree on site, which will include, like you said, um right, that distance between ground and canopy, and also part of the design process is going to be very intentionally thinking through strategies for right crime prevention through environmental design, uh how we make sure Nash Square is a safe place to spend time and yeah, addressing a lot of the issues that are out there today in terms of visibility and lighting and other factors like that.

And the last question you mentioned part of this is a public realm strategy.

So I'm assuming the study area is not the perimeter of Nash Square, but you'll be including the context surrounding the park, such as McDowell, Dawson, Hargett, uh, and and Martin Street.

I'm just assuming that too is going to be part of the analysis of how that public realm connects to the new civic tower as well.

Yes, sir.

That's that's precisely right.

Uh we work with our partners in planning and transportation, uh stormwater and others to make sure that we weren't treating this as just a typical park master plan because Nash Square isn't just a typical park, right?

It is it is more part of a cohesive civic realm, uh public realm that includes the civic campus redevelopment.

Um so yes, we'll be looking very, very much so at the streets and sidewalks surrounding the square as well as the the park itself.

Counselor Patton.

Hi.

Um to that point, it's part of the larger civic space and we have new city hall going up.

Um my question is sort of around the decision to make this a standalone consultancy project rather than say using one of our very skilled parks planners to do it in-house or tagging it on to the design of New City Hall.

So can you tell me why we landed on this procedure?

Definitely.

Yeah.

So because of how we scoped out this project, and just like we said, right, because it's a public realm plan, it really does require a multidisciplinary approach that gets into landscape architecture and surveying and civil engineering and transportation engineering and so on.

Frankly, something that would exceed current staff capacity and capability to address in-house.

So we did have to uh put this project out through a request for qualifications process.

Along with that, there are state statutes that dictate exactly how that goes.

We wouldn't have been able to amend the civic tower contract for anything over $50,000.

Um so for this one, we did have to go through a separate RFQ process that requests for qualifications.

Um yeah, the the designers of the Civic Tower didn't respond to the RFQ.

Um, however, the the firm that worked on the master plan is on this design team in a consulting capacity.

Thank you.

So there will be some definitely definitely continuity uh with the civic tower plan.

Okay.

Any other conversation?

If not, is there a motion to motion to approve?

Okay.

So we have a motion and a second.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that is unanimous.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

McCourt.

And then I had just uh pulled the C1C because I just it's it's a very large amount and just you know some context for counsel of what's going on.

And we have Ms.

Bratcher from finance.

Thank you.

Yes, Alison Bratcher with the finance department.

Um yeah, so there's actually two items on consent, uh C1C and C1D, I believe.

Uh the first one is essentially uh to close out the construction draw program that we have in place.

Council approved that program in 2023.

And so though those funds have now been spent, and so it's time to go out and issue fixed debt.

Uh so that's the first program.

All of this ties to the capital uh improvement plan as a part of the budget.

Uh and again, these funds have been spent by Raleigh Water on their many uh initiatives that they have.

Uh this is the second draw program that the Raleigh Water has had.

They will then be entering a third draw program, which is C1D for 220 million dollars, which again ultimately ties back to their CIP plan and is a part of the financial models that support Raleigh Water.

Just out of curiosity, what is your interest rate that you get on these?

So uh gosh, I don't have the band's interest rate off the top of my head.

That's what we call the the draw program.

I could certainly share that.

Um I'm actually up a little later with the annual uh comprehensive report.

So I I would be glad to share that interest rate with you if I get staff to give that to me.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Um with that, if there's no other questions, I'll move approval.

And this was C1C, which is the one we pulled, but I do get your point that there were two items.

Um so we have a motion and a second.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that passes.

Thank you.

All right.

So then moving past consent to the report and recommendation of the planning commission.

And we have Ms.

Bynum Walters.

Good afternoon, Madam Mayor, members of the case.

And Nicole Bennett.

Bynam Walter, Raleigh Planning and Development, joined by joined by Nicole Bennett, Chair of the Planning Commission.

Before I turn to the report of the Planning Commission, I did want to share some information about TCZ 3225.

Jeffrey's Grove School Road Assemblage that is scheduled for a public hearing this evening.

This is a collection of parcels with addresses on rooftop view trail and bird's eye court on the west side of Creedmore Road, south of Jeffreys Grove School Road.

The request is scheduled for a public hearing this evening.

Post-it notice, web notice, meeting sign-up, publish advertisement.

All correctly listed the public hearing as this evening.

No one signed up to speak about the item.

Mailed notice indicated that the request would be discussed this afternoon.

For anyone here with interest in that item, it will be discussed tonight during the 7 p.m.

meeting.

Now, on to the report of the planning commission.

So upcoming holidays looking through January.

We have a lot of public hearings scheduled for today.

And looking ahead to January 6th, we are suggesting four items for that meeting.

And these are all coming out of the Planning Commission report today.

The first is C 2026-25 on Leesville Road.

This is about an acre with industrial mixed-use zoning, the sh the special highway overlay district, and the airport overlay.

The special highway overlay district and the airport overlay.

They are requesting to remove both overlays and rezone to residential mixed use with a three-story height limit.

There's an existing nonconforming residential use on the property that the owner would like to expand more than is allowed by the nonconformity regulations.

The request is consistent with the comprehensive plan and with the future land use map.

Planning commission recommends approval.

Again, all these items are suggested for your January 6th evening meeting.

The second item on the Planning Commission's report is Z 3325.

This is at 2806 Gresham Lake Road.

It's on the south side of Gresham Lake.

This is just under eight acres.

It's currently heavy industrial with that special highway overlay district, the second.

Again, this is consistent with the 2030 comprehensive plan and the future land use map planning commission recommends approval.

The third rezoning request in front of you is Z 3425.

This is the North Hills request.

This is just over 11 acres, going from a combination of districts to CX 12, CX20, CX40, SHAD on some of those areas.

This is consistent with the plan and with the future land use map planning commissioner, uh planning commission recommends approval.

Commissioner Omakkay was opposed, again recommending a public hearing on January 6th.

And then the final item is text change TC125.

This is an omnibus text change that is a readoption of portions of the 23 and 24 omnibuses that were invalidated by session law 2024-57.

Planning Commission recommends approval.

And again, that suggested public hearing date of January 6th.

What questions could Chair Bennett or I answer before you make your decisions?

Questions?

Yep.

Councillor Patton.

Yeah.

I'm gonna have a couple, but I'll start with Leisville Road.

This is a second one in short succession, removing the airport overlay district.

So I just want to make sure I am understanding that the airport authority or the airport staff still have further regulatory authority over this, irrespective of whether we leave the overlay on or not.

So if the airport decides that this person's home expansion is not compliant with their needs, they can still my understanding is that because of where they are located within the airport noise contours, that yes, they would still review.

Okay.

I have one on another case, but I also have a question about Leesville.

Um so with the removal of the SHAD II, was there any conversation, Commissioner Bennett, with the planning commission on that?

What was the request for or why to remove the SHAD?

I don't know Thank you.

Good afternoon, um Mayor and Council.

I don't recall conversation about removal of the SHAD.

Most of our discussion was about removing the airport overlay district.

Staff can assist me if you recall that.

Yep.

I suspect that given the size of the parcel and the distance from qualifying high highway road types that there would not be significant requirements from the SHAD applicable applicable to this property.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's something I might look into more when we see the case.

Appreciate it.

Okay.

And Councilor Patton, do you have additional?

Yeah, I just um Commissioner Bennett would love to hear the conversation around North Hills.

What do people find?

I mean, obviously, the majority of the commission was supportive of the case.

What did you find to be good?

What were the snags phase?

Just the conversation overall.

Thanks.

There's quite a bit of conversation on this one.

Um I'll start with the opposition.

Um Commissioner Omakaye had concerns about the height, the impact of the additional height on the adjacent neighborhoods.

Um lack of affordable housing with increasing the height.

Um she didn't believe that the um provision of open space was a significant enough community benefit to justify the increased height.

She had some concerns because the open space would be privately owned and regulated.

And I believe the the last thing was.

She felt like the applicant, one of the things we were told as the applicant made their presentation was that they were not increasing square footage or density beyond what they could do by right.

And so she felt like they should do what they could do by right rather than coming for a rezoning for additional height.

Other discussion was around the traffic, the impact of the cancellation of the Six Forks Road project and how that might impact this area.

The consistency with the comprehensive plan, the policies that we were looking at that made this consistent, and that essentially it felt like it was coming down to our decision was coming down to looking at the increased height and whether or not the benefits being offered justified that height increase because the rest of the case seemed consistent with the comprehensive plan and a majority of us felt like it was a good idea.

Yeah, I've got a question on this one too for Commissioner Bennett.

I believe in the previous rezoning case for these sites, a transit hub was a condition.

Was that part of your all's conversations about the need for that with the potential BRT for midtown?

I I did watch your all's video of the meeting, but I can't rem I can't recall on that one.

We did talk about that, and we talked about the um provision of land for the fire station.

Um but I can't remember.

You weren't there.

The applicant is here and can answer the I can't remember because we didn't stay on that one very long.

I remember talking about the um provision of of uh dollars for the fire station.

I don't remember the discussion about including or including the transit hub in this one.

I'm sorry.

That's okay.

I think I'll just note that for the public hearing.

Um that'll be a conversation I'd like to have with Transportation Department about the need for the transit hub and the location and whether that's relevant to this case.

We did have a pretty comprehensive discussion about what was different about um this case versus the previous case that we had seen and why um some things were offered in the last case that weren't offered in this one, and it essentially what it came down to from the applicant was because they weren't asking for the additional square footage that they had asked for in the previous one, then some of those um I guess benefits weren't included as part of this one.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Is there a motion or action?

Move to set the public hearings as uh recommended by staff.

Second.

Okay.

Any other discussion?

Not all in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that is unanimous.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh next we have the special items, uh, Mr.

Bryce Abernathy.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Bryce Abernathia Housing and Community Development.

Um This item is being brought back to you from the November 18th council meeting, uh, 116 Star Street.

Uh the owner came up during that meeting and suggest and requested a six-month extension.

Um I believe council was in favor of that with the um fact that the property is properly secured and vacated.

Um this morning it was uh staff went out and checked it, and it I can confirm that it was has been secured at this point.

Is it maybe so I moved to um I'm sorry?

I move to grant the property owner the six-month extension as requested at our November 18th meeting.

Any other discussion?

All in favor of the motion, aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Next, uh we have the tax increment reimbursement program, Ken Bowers.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

Ken Bowers planning and development.

So this is a follow-up to um the work session that we held on September 16th.

But I just want to say that some sort of tax increment policy has been on the city's books since the spring of 2021.

So far, we haven't had any takers, and so the revisions and modifications to the program are intended to make this uh program more broadly useful so that hopefully we can use it as a tool to enter into partnerships to deliver uh public infrastructure and benefits.

So a lot of this is a refresh, a shortened up version of what we presented back in September.

But the what we've done is we've taken the policy, we broadened the legal foundation for it to um uh all the reimbursement authorities that the city has to partner with uh private sector entities to produce public uh benefits and infrastructure.

Um that means that projects that would not have been eligible in the old policy, which was mainly for large-scale economic development, would be eligible.

So most of the development that occurs in the city is residential in nature, would not have been eligible as an economic development.

A lot of those um developments are quite valuable and do produce a significant tax increment, they would be eligible under this program.

We're leaving the reimbursement schedule somewhat flexible to something to be negotiated as part of the overall agreement.

Um we also, since the original policy was adopted, we've council has adopted a partnership policy.

We consider this to be under that umbrella, and so we would use the same process for intake, for staff analysis for vetting and for council approval, as well as the involvement of any relevant boards and commissions.

So the key features of it is it's flexible, can fund uh projects from modest scale to very large scale.

Um it's low risk because the city is not doing any borrowing.

That's one of the major ways that differs from tax increment finance.

The borrowing is actually being done by the private sector partner, they are being reimbursed by the city.

Um then because it's based on the tax increment, the reimbursement never exceeds the amount of revenue flowing into the city in any given year.

So what kind of things can we use this for?

The two major categories.

We've retained the focus on on large-scale economic development.

So this would be something that's a job-producing use, um, a major attraction, something of that nature.

The types of projects that have been floated as targets um in the past would include things like downtown south or the redevelopment of the arena district.

But smaller scale projects that could be used for smaller scale enhancements in the public realm could also be eligible.

So if a mixed use development is going up in an area of of infrastructure that really wasn't intended to accommodate good pedestrian flows, we might do pedestrian improvements.

We might put in a transit stop.

Things that we can't that are off-site that can't be required by code, but would enhance both the project and the public realm could be funded by a tool like this.

So in order to be meet the requirements of participation, it's got to align with the city plans and goals.

You have to have an agreement value that obviously can be paid for out of the tax increment.

And we also don't want to um, because there is a some overhead related to this, we want agreements of a certain threshold, we've set the threshold at 200,000 of value.

Um the infrastructure that we're can't require by code wouldn't occur without the city participation.

Um and the developer may be required to make a request for the county for participation.

Now, this is one thing that has changed since the policy was originally drafted and presented to you, is that we've provided some guidance instead of asking everyone to go to the county, uh, we've created some thresholds.

So if the agreement has a value in excess of a million dollars or is related to economic development or provides infrastructure that is regional in nature, then we would want the applicant to go talk to the county.

So uh to participate, because the county is 60 percent of the of the tax, you know, the tax bill for uh a property in the city of Raleigh.

So if the county participates, obviously there's a much more larger increment than if the city goes it alone.

So economic development projects are an example, projects in major regional centers would be an example, and then any um infrastructure that enhances connectivity between jurisdictions of Way County would be a third example of the types of things that would argue for county participation.

I did want to say the county was not able to attend, but we have been in conversations.

They are have had an opportunity to review the latest language, they are comfortable with it, they appreciate that we made edits that they recommended.

They are working on their own policy back on November 1st.

Um there was a presentation to the Commissioner's Economic Development Committee.

Staff is moving forward over the next several months to it to start drafting a county policy.

They don't anticipate it being ready for adoption until uh later next year, and at which time based on how the county shakes out, we may revise, want to revise some of these criteria to make sure that the city policy is in alignment with the county policy, but they express no hesitation with us moving in front of them on this issue.

So lastly, to sum up the financial aspects, the bulk of the risk is assumed by the developer because the payments don't start until the project is built.

We've also built in a capacity limit so not too much of the city's tax base could end up subject to a tax increment reimbursement agreement.

And then in terms of reporting, this will be part of the city's annual financial reporting.

It will be very transparent to the public and any other interested parties as to how many agreements are on the books, what the payouts were, and what their current status is.

So our staff's requested action is to adopt the policy.

Once that policy is adopted, we prepared an update to the city's webpage.

Currently it's about tax increment grants.

This will be renamed to the new name of the policy.

Um we'll put process guidelines, will be incorporate by reference the process that's in the partnership policy.

And then, of course, you know, no future agreements will be executed but for um uh the city council uh receiving a staff recommendation and taking a vote.

So ultimately the future of any agreement is in your hands, and with that I am available to answer any questions you may have.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh Councilor Silver.

Thank you for the presentation.

Um just had a question.

You said uh it's been in place since 2021.

Uh no one took advantage of this uh program.

Uh did you reach out to those uh large landowners or developers to find out what about that existing program wasn't workable?

And in terms of this new approach aside from the county, have you reached out as well to find out is this a program uh you know clearly you don't know until you know when it works, but did you reach out to say this is acceptable and something that would be considered as a funding option for a new mixed use project?

Yeah.

So again, our conversations with the county, they are amenable to considering um even advance of developing their own policy request that might come forward.

Now, in terms of conversations with development entities, we've had folks who have reached out to us and they haven't moved forward.

A lot of it was eligibility because the project was say primarily residential, therefore it did not um qualify as an economic development project, and then and therefore the old policy wasn't usable for it.

I think the the specifics on the repayment schedule that were set forth lacked a certain amount of flexibility as well.

So the longer you have to wait to get the payout, obviously with the time value of money, um the riskier it is for the development partner.

So if you are able to negotiate within the parameters of speedier payout, I think that would also be the attractive uh up the attractiveness of it.

Um there is definitely interest out there.

I think these were the major obstacles that we identified.

Uh was there a third part to your question that I missed?

Or you Okay, good.

Thanks.

Sorry.

Yep, uh Councilor Patton and the mayor for town board.

Hi.

Um just clarifying, so the person who uh person who came to us and wanted to use this tool to do some um public improvement.

If they met the certain qualifications, they would have to go to the county to request participation as well.

And but their approval for our program is not contingent on approval from the county as well.

No, it's not.

I think that what we would have to do, though, is do the financial analysis to make sure that it worked without the county participation, that the repayment schedule and the size of the investment worked for that.

Um the county saying that they don't want to participate doesn't mean an automatic denial, but it does mean that the project scale will have to be in keeping with what the city is tax incrementing again, which again in round numbers is about 40 percent of the total tax bill that a property pays.

Thank you.

Mayor Perton.

Um you said that you had some conversations with the county about their policy.

Is it going to kind of track with our policy?

Is it going to be different?

Do you know?

I don't know what the content is because they haven't started drafting it.

I know that they are aware of our policy.

We've also had some conversations with the town of Kerry, who are also considering a tax increment reimbursement program.

So we have shared our draft with them.

Um I think that the I did look at, I did watch the presentation that was given to the Commissioner's Economic Development Committee.

I believe that the content of that presentation tracked very closely with the presentation that we've been giving to City Council.

So my I would anticipate that there won't be a ton of daylight, but they may have a slightly different take on when the county would participate.

And when we get that specific guidance from the county, I think it would be advisable for us to look at the parameters in our policy and bring and bring that into alignment.

And you also said that they asked for edits and adjustments to our policy.

Did they set the threshold of uh over a million dollars?

Was that a county recommendation?

Um that threshold, we proposed it and they've reviewed it.

And then the other substantive edit was there are some types of developments, such as affordable housing or brownfields projects that will apply for a tax exclusion or reduction or property tax reduction and uh weird the policy now requires disclosure if there is going to be such a request.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Is there a motion?

I move we adopt the policy as list as shared.

Some verb.

Second.

All right.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

All right.

All opposed, nay.

Thank you very much for the next we have uh Taesha Mosley who will be presenting on the Raleigh Engagement Network, City Provided Network Benefits and Citizen Advisory Council update.

Long title.

That was a long title.

Apologies for that.

Uh good afternoon, everyone.

Taisha Mosley with the Department of Community Engagement.

Um we are going to talk about the Raleigh Engagement Network and CACs today.

Although you see me here, it's this the slides and information you'll hear are certainly not a one-woman show.

Um so I do want to thank the multiple departments who contributed to this to this item, the city manager's office, information technology, the city attorney's office, Raleigh Parks, Communications, and last but certainly not least, I do want to thank the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council for their partnership over the past nine plus months.

And with that, we'll get started.

Um this is just a reminder for council and for our viewing audience that the initial conversations about the engagement at work and citizens advisory councils begin back in January of 2023.

It continued through 24.

At different meetings and retreats, we continue the conversations in 25.

Most recently we came to you in August with an update on Citizens Advisory Councils.

And after all of those meetings, retreats and conversations, there have been several actions that have been taken by you all and others that have been considered or proposed.

For example, access to community centers.

And as of November 28th of this year, there's been 85 CAC meetings that have taken place at city facilities, thanks to the great folks in Raleigh Parks.

City owned technology.

This is a familiar slide to you all.

We conducted a technology assessment.

We purchased media kits that included an OWL laptops, et cetera.

We recently, in working with the City Attorney's Office, created an authorized user agreement that will need to be signed for engagement network users before using the hardware or their software.

Raleigh Parks has also done a significant amount of upgrades to their community centers.

You'll see all those listed on the screen.

Which in some cases means that hybrid meetings can take place without an OWL or any type of media kit involved.

We talked in August about a proposed Zoom solution where the city would purchase the licenses, assigned them to engagement network members, which is still on the table and we'll talk about later.

We've since learned and been advised that the recording, if you choose to take this route, the recordings of the meetings within that city provided Zoom, it's not recommended that they be recorded.

You've also seen information about a succession plan for CACs.

Most recently, the chair of Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council came to the Citizens Leadership Academy and shared information on what a CAC is and encouraged our participants to participate.

And as a recommendation of the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council, we have added Robert's rule of order to the curriculum for Citizens Leadership Academy.

If you're counting how many times I've said citizen, tell me later.

We in August came to you again.

You saw these items, particularly number five, which was that we work with the Raleigh Citizens Advisory Council and other CACs to join the engagement network prior to the implementation of the items above.

We're happy to say that through the continued partnership with RCAC that they did vote to join the engagement network in October of this year.

And so that brings us to the engagement network.

So this is where we are coming to you to enhance the benefits of the network to both meet the requests of the Citizens Advisory Councils while also continuing to provide fair and reasonable support to other community groups.

The majority of you joined me in the community engagement cafe back in January of 2023.

You've got that menu there.

And of the seven items on that menu, the engagement network and access to community centers were the top two orders placed.

And so we did launch the network in July of 2024 for affinity groups, small nonprofits, grassroots groups, et cetera.

And at that time, up until today, there is access to community centers.

It's a different different centers and a lower number.

The city equipment looks a little bit different.

And the capacity building, as stated today, is a bit different from what you're about to see on the next couple of slides.

So the enhanced benefits essentially are being proposed under a tiered structure.

There's general membership, tier one and tier two.

It does require matriculation of the completion of steps before going to the next tier.

At the request of citizen advisory councils, they would like to be grandfathered in at tier two.

And you'll see here in a moment what that includes.

We're recommending in the general membership ban, um, $300 per year until those funds are exhausted for specific uses.

Um the community centers uh is increased from 18 to 20.

City website presence is something that's new.

The media kits we've talked about.

We're also looking to add one-on-one consultations and targeted invitations to our community cares collaborative and the citizens leadership academy.

Another cool benefit of the enhanced network is the option to find your CAC.

So residents can click the magnifying glass up there in the top right corner, type in their address, and both their CAC, Citizens Advisory Council, and Council District will show up.

There's also a feature in the enhanced network where you can find other organizations.

You can see the list of organizations who have been approved to be in the network and the meetings that they have coming up with their specific cadence, and all of that is in the actual engagement network platform.

Tier one of the proposed platform does include our certificate program that we'd partner with the higher education partner.

Um course topics include things like mobilizing resources, strategic planning and thinking.

Tier 2 includes a higher grant amount of 1,000 with the required match, which is aligned with the Raleigh neighborhood registry and how it's set up today.

And then also in tier two is the virtual meeting software, so that Zoom license that we talked about previously.

So a little bit about the timeline and budget outlook.

Um staff is prepared to uh begin rolling out the benefits in mid-January, so including the virtual meeting software, the grant funding, the media kits, that certificate program we talked about.

We would be prepared to begin in FY27.

Um as you can imagine, there are mid-year costs about 25,000 that the department has absorbed through June of 2026, but to run this program at full in a fiscal year would cost about $62,000.

And so our proposed next step is that council consider adopting a resolution that would authorize the enhanced benefits at the tier benefit structure, the implementation timeline, and formally incorporate citizen advisory councils.

And with that, I'll take any questions.

Okay.

Thank you for that presentation.

Do we have questions or just comment?

Okay.

Um, I just want to thank the citizens that have been working on this with our city staff and thank our staff for the work that they put in.

Um we've come a long way from where we were.

There's still directions and things that can go on, but as the city grows, I'm sure the CACs will continue to grow.

And you know, my biggest thing is we can't go back to where we were.

We can't, you know, unspill the milk.

But the key, the goal is to move forward.

And I hope today is a point in a time in which we can move forward as a community.

Yep, Councilor Potton.

Hi.

Hello.

Um, just one question.

I I love all the enhanced benefits of the different tiers.

Um, and even at the general um but I was noting they seem to be resource intensive, like one-on-one coaching sessions.

Um I'm sure you've thought of this, but like are you do you have capacity, staff capacity to support these additional benefits?

So we do have um because it's mid year, everything is not being rolled out at once.

So we have the staff capacity through the end of the fiscal year, and then after that, and and in those six months, we'll evaluate the intensity.

We do have an idea.

Um, but we'll we'll do some evaluation, and then if needed, we'll come back during the budget cycle to potentially ask for additional staff.

Counselor Harrison.

Yeah, thank you so much, Taish, for all this work and to all the residents that are part of our CACs and lead our CACs.

I know there's a number of CACs that have not been, you know, have not come back since uh 2020, but there are folks ready, willing, and excited to get those going.

So I'm really looking forward to that, and I hope these resources are gonna help jumpstart that process.

I just want to note when I do Google Raleigh CAC, I come up with what I think are some older websites, older Facebook groups, um, even some resources on the city pages that feel out of date.

So I'm just putting that out there as a note, both to you know the RCAC group and to our own city staff.

If there's an opportunity to kind of go through and and just remove anything, that's a dead old link.

That would be helpful because when I do tell folks about CACs, they often Google things and find those outdated sources, which then prevents them from getting engaged.

So just being really thoughtful about next steps for that uh internet presence is gonna be really important.

And if I can be of help, I I will try to be, but I know sometimes you have to find the original owner of the website or the Facebook group, and it's not always easy.

Yeah.

Um thank you for bringing that up on the city side.

Um, my wonderful team in the audience is prepared to click go at their appropriate time.

So we will have some updated information online.

Okay, counselor Jones, who's done a lot of work on this.

Yes, super excited.

Um as we close out uh all of this, I just had some things to say as we hopefully put a bow on this and and move to the next page.

Um I didn't come to public service as an expert in government.

I came as a resident who wanted to understand it.

Years ago, I signed up for Raleigh Neighborhood College and Citizens Leadership Academy simply because I wanted to learn how my city actually worked.

That curiosity led me to join my local CAC and eventually to chair the organization.

Those meetings were where I learned the real work of democracy, listening to neighbors, wrestling with really hard questions, and discovering that progress only happens when people are willing to show up, even when it's uncomfortable.

The pain of losing that connection to our city was devastating.

It broke the trust between residents and their government.

That is what we had to work through in these meetings.

Putting our egos aside and remembering that we council are accountable to the very people we cut out of government.

That's a lot of emotion.

When I was elected, one thing was clear.

Rebuilding our CAC system had to be done with the people, not to the people.

Leadership didn't end when the vote came out.

It's our job to bring people to the table and work through that pain.

What has happened since then has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my public life.

I'm incredibly proud of the CAC members who leaned in with good faith, lots of patience, and persistence.

I'm so grateful for Robert Rice, who was my vice chair from back in the day, and who is a phenomenal leader and remained open to change while protecting the heart of the CACs.

And I want to thank Assistant City Manager Nikki Jones and community engagement director Taisha Mosley who worked through complexity with professionalism and respect.

Even when that path forward wasn't easy or obvious.

So none of this work was flashy, none of it was quick.

I understand that.

But it was honest.

It was collaborative.

And it was rooted in listening.

The commitment from everyone in that room to hear one another, to learn, to disagree without dismissing, is something I will carry with me forever.

This work is not finished in many ways.

It's just getting started.

But it started on a foundation we built together, not by one person or one group, but by the people who care deeply enough to stay at the table and do the work.

There will always be voices who critique from the sidelines.

That comes with the territory of change, but I encourage the community to also listen to the voices of those who were in the room where it happened.

The residents and staff whose fingerprints are on every piece of this process.

Progress isn't loud.

It comes from the people sitting across from each other doing hard things with care.

And that's exactly what happened here.

This is why I ran.

And we did it.

So now let's get back to work.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thank you.

And uh for all of those who brought force this resolution, do we have a motion?

I move to uh take staff's recommendation in the community engagement network and CAC update.

Second.

Okay.

Any other discussion, if not, all in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that is unanimous.

Thank you, Ms.

Mosley.

Thank you.

Have a good day.

All right.

Uh moving on to the report and recommendation of the city manager.

Thank you, Mayor.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council.

We have four items today in the manager's report.

The first of which will be presented by Lou Bonapane, City Clerk, and he will bring forward some calendar updates.

Thank you, Madam Manager.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council, Lou Bonipain City Clerk sandwiched between some media matters.

We have a rather routine thing of adopting your annual meeting schedule for the calendar year 2026.

That includes your regular sessions on first Tuesdays, second Tuesday work session and public comment sessions, and third Tuesday lunch and regular sessions.

Excuse me, Tuesday, November 3rd, which would normally be the first Tuesday meeting is election day.

So typically council meets the next day on the following Wednesday.

So that is Tuesday, March 3rd.

So we would suggest you adopt the calendar with uh one amendment in the month of March if that's what council desires to do.

Um in addition, the agenda materials outline the uh annual budget review process, including the pre-budget work sessions and the June um budget work sessions following presentation of the city manager's proposed budget in May.

Happy to answer any questions about the proposed calendar and the one adjustment that staff is rec suggesting.

Okay.

Do you have questions?

No question.

I was ready to move for approval with the amendment of the March meeting.

We moved from the third to the fourth.

Second.

Okay.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next item is a residential permit parking program, and we have Caitlin Parker in transportation presenting this item.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council.

My name is Caitlin Parker, and I work in transportation.

Today we're going to be reviewing the residential permit parking program, or also referred to as RPP.

So quick agenda, we're going to do an overview of the work shut work session that occurred on October 21st of this year.

Review our implementation plan and go over staff recommendations.

Also want to note that you do have a memo that does include a lot more details on these topics.

So this program began in 1979.

It was for single family homes.

At that point, we had one zone, and the annual permit was $10.

It was not until 2018 that we made changes to this program.

At which point we defined our zone requirements, defined the petition process.

We did add a caregiver permit, increased the annual permit to $20, included guest permits, and at that point we had 10 zones.

Then in 2023, we did expand the criteria to include duplexes and town homes.

And at that point, we have 13 zones as it stands today, and the annual permit still costs $20.

So as you can see over the past 46 years of this program, we have not made a lot of changes, but our community has certainly changed.

So these are the current eligible properties in this program.

You have a single family home, town homes, and duplexes.

That does lead a large amount of excluded properties.

So for example, here we have a four-family home.

This home was built in 1948.

Across the street, it's actually the town homes that was shown the previous slide that were built in around 2022.

Those town homes are allowed into the program, but this four-family home is not.

Also want to note that these are multifamily structures.

So for example, that garden apartment does have four units with four bedrooms in each unit.

So that is a potential of 16 parkers for one structure.

We'll speak to restrictions later on that will help some of these residents into the program, but not all of the resident residents.

So at the work session, we did make some considerations.

These considerations came from staff knowledge and research plus community feedback.

I want to remind you that we hand delivered 3,000 survey letters to all properties within the 13 zones, plus all properties within a one block perimeter of these zones.

From there, we've come with these considerations.

Currently, an annual permit costs $20.

We were proposing $30.

A guest permit costs 50 cents as it stands today.

We're proposing $2.

There's currently no limitations on the amount of permits one can purchase.

So to ensure that we do have a parking availability in these zones, we are proposing a limit of four per lot annually and a four per lot daily.

So that is four per lot and not four per unit.

That is for those such as like her hospice nurses, nannies, and others providing services to homes.

We do recognize this could be a hardship on those going through those times.

So we are proposing going from $20 to $0 for those situations.

Now, while we were viewing these considerations with the city attorney's office, we do need more time regarding the commercial properties being allowed into this program.

Also, you'll notice that we did propose excluding those residential buildings with more than 12 units.

Also, since we're only proposing moving forward with all residential properties at this time, we're going to rename the program name at this point.

If we did allow commercial properties, we would then ask to change the name.

These are defined in our city's unified development ordinance.

We are proposing a new cycle.

So currently the cycle is from January 1 to December 31st.

This new cycle would align with our fiscal budget cycle, plus it would align with the collegiate schedule.

So currently, college students usually have to per purchase two permits within a 12-month cycle because of the current cycle.

This would allow most of them to only have to purchase one.

We are proposing to move forward with increasing the fees for the annual and guest permit, but decreasing the fee for the caregiver permit.

And then moving forward with the restriction rules.

Again, this came from a lot of staff research for each zone, how many spaces are on the curb side, and so this number would allow us to have parking availability for each zone for residents, visitors, and their guests.

Phase two would be for us to return to council at a future meeting with recommendations on commercial properties.

If commercial properties are approved, we would propose a new program name, and we could present any further process considerations.

So staff recommendations are to adopt the proposed ordinance changes with the program modifications and to direct staff to come back to council at a future meeting with recommendations on commercial properties and process considerations.

Questions?

Questions for Ms.

Parker?

Yes.

I'm just prepared to make a motion.

I think we had a robust discussion during our work session on the topic, and y'all have done a fabulous job coming up with a program that will meet more needs.

And so with that, uh I motion to adopt the ordinance.

Okay.

Any other discussion?

All in favor of the motion.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

And appreciate your work on this.

All right.

Next, we have a comprehensive plan update about Sarah Shaughnessy, and she's going to talk to us a little bit about Reflect and Raleigh, the technical teams and making those appointments.

Yes, good afternoon.

Thank you, Madam Manager again, Sarah Shaughnessy with Raleigh Planning and Development.

I'm here today to give you an update on reflecting Raleigh, where we've been in phase one, what to expect in phase two, and the technical teams that will support phase two specifically.

So again, overview of the presentation.

We are asking that you approve our recommended community expert participants.

Staff have recommended five candidates per team to work alongside staff and representatives from each of the boards and commissions to support developing the next comprehensive plan.

So just as a refresher, we began this project in July 2024, kicking off our engagement phase, first phase of engagement with the Affordable Housing Summit in August.

We are at the beginning of plan development phase two, which will continue through May of next year.

Then we'll go through a plan drafting phase, bring the final plan out or the draft plan out for another round of robust community engagement, and then expect to begin the review and adopt adoption process in July of 2027.

Staff will be returning to you at many points along the way, specifically at the conclusion of each phase with sort of a recap of what we've done and forecasting what's coming up.

We will also continue to provide monthly updates in the managers weekly report.

So during the first phase of Reflecting Raleigh, we hosted or attended 91 unique events engaging with over 3,000 participants.

We attended or hosted a range of event types from ASCA planner events to larger community conversations.

And across these activities, really five themes emerged from public input.

One was a desire for an appreciation for continued community engagement and education.

Folks wanted information about how their neighborhoods are changing and how they could be involved.

A preference for smart growth specifically through what many participants termed strategic density and multimodal connectivity, strong interest and priority in housing affordability, variety and supply, an emphasis on fiscally and environmentally sustainable development and infrastructure, and then finally an interest in preserving and equitably distributing natural resources.

So in phase one, we also started a community inventory with a consulting firm.

This will include an assessment of existing conditions, some key trends since the last plan was adopted in 2009, and some forecasts of how the population is likely to grow and change.

So these two components, public input from phase one along with the community inventory, as well as an assessment of emerging issues and an inventory of related plans for the city and for the region will inform phase two.

Phase two includes a civic assembly, which we talked to you about in October, some targeted engagement with institute partner institutions and public agency peers, a cost of growth analysis, which we've also talked to you about, and then what we're here to talk about today, five teams of technical experts.

So the topics for each of these technical teams that you see here were selected based on the community conversation topics as well as input we received from the public during these engagement efforts and these um community conversations.

Each team will consist of city staff from departments across the organization, representatives from boards and commissions who have already been appointed to serve and advise on these topics, and then five seats for technical and subject matter experts from outside the organization, and these were selected through an application process.

To select community experts, staff put out an open call to apply.

The application was hosted on Engage Raleigh, the city's engagement portal website, and opened between October 20, um, October 21st and November 14th.

We received nearly 150 complete applications for a total of 25 seats, five per team.

Um coordinating committees consisting of staff from multiple departments reviewed applications and selected candidates based on technical experience and the level of interest demonstrated in their applications.

Staff also worked to ensure relatively even geographic distribution based on home council district as well as looked for expertise in uh a variety of content areas.

Um so for example, the Transportation Coordinating Committee sought to select community experts that um brought perspectives on a range of transportation modes and then also a range of different government levels.

So looking for local and state and federal expertise there.

And that was true really across teams.

So to dive into the sort of preliminary scope and membership of each of these teams.

The land use team will focus on the city's future growth framework, urban form, and place-based guidance, aligning future land uses with anticipated population growth service needs and community goals.

The team will consist of staff from multiple divisions within planning and development, the Office of Sustainability, and the Department of Transportation, along with the boards and commit representatives from the boards and commissions you see here, as well as the community practitioners and subject matter experts listed on the slide.

The transportation technical team will focus on an integrated approach to land use and transportation planning with policies that support a safe and well-connected multimodal network.

The team includes staff from multiple divisions within the Department of Transportation, along with other staff, boards and commissions, and community experts you see here.

Here is a list of the housing and neighborhoods team membership.

This team will work on policies to increase housing affordability and supply, align housing policy with anticipated demographic shifts, consider trends in economic development and employment, and also recommend policies to support the development and maintenance of complete and vibrant neighborhoods.

The natural resources technical team will focus on conserving and managing natural resources, environmental stewardship, and leveraging natural assets for public health and recreation.

The team will also work to align environmental protection with our land use and infrastructure planning goals.

And the member the proposed membership for this team is on the slide here.

And this team composition is listed here.

So again, today we are asking your approval of the community expert candidates.

We also have a more detailed list included in the agenda backup materials.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Right.

Questions, Council Harrison.

Yeah, I'm curious on the infrastructure team.

Because we have such a need to grow our police and fire station footprints.

Do you feel like we have the right expertise from the community on that?

I just wasn't sure if anyone had any knowledge on police and fire infrastructure.

We do have representatives from staff representatives from police and fire on that technical team.

The member of the police advisory board would like to serve on the housing and neighborhoods team.

So we do have representation from that board on a different technical team.

Okay.

But yes, I think we are confident that we have the right expertise.

Okay.

Thank you.

Counselor Silver.

Well, thank you for the presentation.

I certainly support creation of the community experts.

Just wanted to make sure one question is that I met with the home builders recently.

I told them that this was being worked on.

Just want to make sure as the plan is moving forward, we don't proclude other stakeholders that want to weigh in as the plan is developed.

That's just question number one.

It seems like you're nodding ahead that they'll be included.

The second one, I don't know where it fits in.

I'm looking toward the implementation of the plan.

And there are many ways you implement a plan.

I'll just focus on one, and that's policy and decision making.

We make here at the table.

I think from my perspective, there's a lot of improvement on the policies we look at for zoning cases.

I know, for example, when I talked to some in the industry, very concerned about the number of policies where I don't see a focus group because that's more governance and implementation.

So can you share with me how that will be considered?

Because I as we look at cases, I think that's where the rubber hits the road for us.

That's where this comprehensive plan is cited every time we meet because we have to look at consistency.

And so for me, that's where the rubber hits the road, and just want to know how all that comes together when we look specifically at what we as a body and staff has to look at as they determine consistency with uh rezoning applications.

Sure.

Yeah, thank you for those questions.

So to answer your first question, um, there will be opportunities for those not selected on teams to participate.

Um we will, along with um the rest of the public have a really robust engagement process on the final um or the second draft of the plan when we take it back out to the public.

So definitely other opportunities for focus groups and continued engagement to make sure that we hear from everyone.

As far as the sort of implementation piece, I know you mentioned there's concern over many uh perhaps too many policies.

It is interest of interest at the planning department and I think the Raleigh community to narrow the scope of the plan and really fine-tune um the number of policies that we have in the plan.

Um our interest is in um hearing from the technical teams, allowing them to provide recommendations based on their content expertise, and then as part of the drafting process, consider how we might implement those recommendations.

Yeah, and just clarify exactly when that's step, because that for me is one of clean interest.

We often hit a term public benefits.

That's this wide.

Can we be more specific and clear?

Because when you hear the term sometimes is delineated, other times is open-ended, and I think for everyone involved believing in transparency and clarity.

So I'm looking to get that down.

I'm just wondering when we look at evaluating rezoning cases with the comprehensive plan, where does that fit in?

Is that toward the end of the process?

Will that be discussed?

I don't know where it fits with in the technical experts if that's land use.

So that's one I think would be very helpful, not just for council, but for staff and for the public who weighs in and looks at that compensate plan as a guide uh for how we'd like our city to grow in an equitable and fair way.

Yes, I um I agree with you.

That's great feedback.

I think it fits most neatly in land use, but that will certainly be an issue that all of the technical teams consider.

Yeah, I just want to jump in on uh councilmember Silver's uh recommendation about folks who may apply, did not get you know selected, but that they stay engaged because I think we have a lot of talented and experienced individuals who put in their applications, former planning commissioners, city council members, um, people who are you know in all these realms.

So it sounds like one of the best ways they can engage, if I heard it right, was the second draft.

Um that's correct, yeah.

Okay.

And so that would be about what time frame?

Spring of 2026.

Or sorry, beginning of 2027, sorry.

27, spring of 27.

Okay.

Um and then will these groups, will they do any additional engagement, or they'll kind of be in their own groupings just working, doing the work?

They I will be focused on developing um the plan in phase two, and then of course, invited to engage and continue to provide comments across the life of the project.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

Okay.

Do we have a motion?

For approval.

Second.

Okay.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

That was actually unanimous, even though we had one verbal.

Thank you.

And the last item in my report today for those of us that are all into budgeting and finance, and it's the second best time of the year.

The first is when we adopt the budget.

Um we have our CFO, Alison Bratscher here to give us an update on our annual comprehensive financial report.

Yeah, so good afternoon, Mayor and Council again.

Alison Bradshire with the finance department.

Uh so before I get into the ACFR, um, Mayor, thank you for your question on the interest rates for the band anticipation notes for Raleigh Water.

Uh that does fluctuate, and for our last bands, it was between three and a half and four percent was our interest rate.

So really attractive.

We have really wonderful banking partners here at the city.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, I am thrilled to be with you uh today uh to present the annual comprehensive financial report or the ACFR for the year uh ended June 30th of 2025.

So let's see if I can.

There it goes.

Um so here's our agenda.

Um I'm gonna review the financial reporting process, just talk a little bit about the ACFR, then our external auditor is gonna come up and provide their executive summary.

Then I will close out with General Capital Reserves and then the staff recommendation, which is for you to accept the annual report.

But first, uh really just want to say uh a huge thank you and shout out to the team.

So not all the team members are pictured in that picture.

Many of them are in chambers today, and I do just want to say thank you.

This team works for literally months on end to produce this very technical document.

Uh all of them have a huge level of dedication, professionalism, commitment to really ensure that Raleigh's putting uh the best material out.

So I just want to say thank you to the team.

So as the city manager alluded, it really all starts with our annual balanced budget that is put forth to council for adoption.

We then produce quarterly financial updates.

So essentially the how are we doing against the budget.

We produce those at quarter two, three, and the fourth quarter or the final one was included in your agenda today.

We are now at the ACFR or the annual comprehensive financial report there with the STAR.

And we ultimately take that and boil it down into what's called a popular annual financial report.

Again, a very technical document.

We try to take that and move that into something a little bit more user-friendly.

And we produce the popular annual report, uh, which is around 10 pages.

Uh what you will see over on the right hand side of the chart is three awards.

Uh we are what's referred to by the Government Finance Officers Association or the GFOA as a triple crown winner.

Well, what does that mean?

That means that the budget book, our uh ACFR, and our PAFR, or our Popular Annual Financial Report, receive awards in excellence uh from the GFOA.

So this is something that I know we're very proud of because ensuring financial transparency is very important to the city.

So what is the ACFR?

Well, and why do we do it?

Uh well, we do it because we have to.

Um, and it does have to comply again to governmental accounting standards.

Um, but we do it for more than that reason.

It really is the financial story for the city.

I am very proud to say that we did receive a clean opinion, and I will certainly let the auditor speak to that in a minute over our financial uh statements.

Uh it really does summarize the financial uh performance of the city.

It looks at our actuals, it looks at budget variances, and it goes from the general fund all the way to enterprises.

It speaks to our debt portfolio, it speaks to um our other long-term uh liabilities like our OPEB and our LEO and pension.

So it is again a very technical document that is really used as our communication tool to both the credit rating agencies as well as our investors.

It gives them an independent way for them to look at how are the city's uh finances.

So it's used by uh a very large uh variety of folks.

And so with that, I'm gonna turn the presentation over to Albert Ong, who is our senior manager on our audit, and he's just gonna speak to you about the audit summary.

Thanks, Alison.

Um Albert Ong, Cherry Becker, uh senior manager.

Um just want to first off thank you.

Thanks, uh Alison and her finance team for you know just making the audio smooth and efficient process for us.

Um we start this back in in the early summer, so basically half the year where everyone's working on this, make sure we meet our deadlines and get get the uh get the audit completed.

So as she mentioned, we issue an unmodified opinion, so that's the highest uh it's a clean opinion, highest level of assurance we can provide on the financial statements, um, so they are clean and you know free from material misstatement.

We encounter no difficulties with management or disagreements with management throughout the audit process.

Um from procedures we performed, there were no material weaknesses and internal internal control we identified.

Um then the last bullet here is slightly outdated.

Um as of Wednesday before Thanksgiving, they did release the 2025 OMB compliance supplement.

Um without that, we could not issue our compliance report, which is our audit over the major federal and uh state single audit programs.

We will work to get that completed um here this month.

Um, but that's the only update to this slide.

All right, and uh this really is my last slide except for the recommendation uh which is our excess capital reserves.

Uh and so our policy provides uh a reserve of 17 percent of essentially the subsequent years uh budget and any excess above that uh rolls into the next budget process, which will be the FY27 uh budget process and the calculation that was done again as we closed out the year, we have an excess of a little over 3.5 million dollars.

And with that, uh I would make a staff recommendation for you to accept the FY25 annual comprehensive comprehensive financial report, and uh I'm open to any questions and certainly thank you.

Thank you.

Um questions from Ms.

Bradshire.

Appreciate you and your team's work on pulling all this together.

Thank you.

And I'm happy to make a motion to accept the report.

All right.

All in favor of the motion.

Aye.

Aye.

All opposed?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And Council, that concludes my report today.

I'd just like to say to all of our friends and family in the view and audience, happy holidays, and hopefully everyone will have a safe holiday.

Since we won't be together again formally, right?

Till January.

And that's all.

Okay.

That moves us to matters scheduled for public hearings for the afternoon session.

And we're starting with Ms.

Requell rezoning Z 2325 Gorman Street.

Yes, good afternoon, Hannah Rackow planning and development.

So this hearing is open and it was opened at your last meeting on November 18th.

It's for Z2325 at 1602 Gorman Street.

You continued the hearing to allow some conditions to be received in time for consideration at this meeting, which they have been.

So I can go through those changes.

So the previously provided two conditions one and two remain the same, and then there are two new zoning conditions that have been added.

These both pertain to uh existing residential tenants.

So in the case that there is an early uh termination of leases uh due to redevelopment, uh those residential tenants would be entitled to 90 days written notice of that termination.

And then condition four uh would apply uh should condition three be triggered.

So in the case that there is early termination of leases, the property owner would also provide relocation assistance, the amount of uh $2,500 for each dwelling unit that has a early terminated lease.

So those are the uh revised zoning conditions in front of you today.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have.

Questions?

Okay.

Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Madam Mayor and members of council, Isabel Maddox, 3700 Glenwood, Raleigh 27612 here today.

Is my presentation coming up?

Ah, yes, thank you.

Um to talk about rezoning uh at 1602 Gorman Street.

Uh I think this is pretty straightforward case.

If I can get the presentation, here we go.

Uh it's a parcel on the corner of Birch Street and Gorman Street.

Uh student housing rich area.

Uh there are currently, I think seven or eight units in these buildings.

Um it is in the special residential parking overlay district.

There, as you can see from the zoning map, we've got RX 3 in close proximity to this property.

We're seeking RX 4 here, but with a height cap of of um 50 feet, which is the three-story limit.

So, you know, you can squeeze four stories, but you've got to keep it under 50 feet.

We would maintain the special residential parking overlay district.

Uh and the the this is a small uh property owner in Raleigh.

He he owns other student housing.

He has a his company is called NC State Student Rentals LLC, and he also does do a scholarship program, which I think is interesting.

He contributes some of his profits to scholarships for NC State students.

Um he'd love to do some sort of small-scale retail in this RX development.

And he is on the corner of a property, so I think it's hard to do retail in RX, even though it's residential mixed use.

It's really hard to do it.

You have to be at an intersection.

There's a 4,000-foot limit, but I think he'd really like to squeeze in a little coffee shop or some sort of a retail establishment there.

Um basically we're limiting density to 40 units.

Um as I said, building height shall not exceed 50 feet.

We will will provide tenants 90 days' notice of any early terminations, and we've discussed this condition with Councilmember Harrison about the relocation assistance if we do terminate leases early.

Um that's just a concept.

Again, he's a ways away from doing this redevelopment.

As I said, he's a small um player in this in this whole arena, so he's gonna have to you know put a lot of pieces together to get financing, et cetera, for this property, but that's sort of a concept plan.

Um in all, we think this is consistent with the comprehensive plan.

The future land use map designates this as moderate density residential, which recommends multiple housing types, including a small apartment building.

We have other medium density zoning at the same intersection.

It will add additional housing units in close proximity to the frequent transit area, the BRT on Western Boulevard, the major transit corridors of Gorman, Trion Road, and Avant Ferry.

We'll provide additional housing for both NC State and Meredith University.

And we'll facilitate the ultimate redevelopment of fairly obsolete housing.

Um again, requesting RX 4, but limiting it to 50 feet.

That concludes my presentation, but certainly available for any questions that you all might have.

Okay, thank you.

Questions from Ms.

Maddox?

All right.

Then we will go ahead and close the hearing.

Yeah, I'm prepared to make a motion.

Um I just want to thank uh our attorney's office.

Um Jennifer, I know you worked uh with Isabel and Karen.

Thank you for helping to coordinate that um around the relocation assistance condition.

So with that, I move to adopt the proposed consistency statement dated December 2nd, 2025, contained in the agenda materials and to approve the zoning amendment with the adoption and effective dates described in the agenda item under recommended action.

Okay.

Have a motion and a second.

Any further discussion?

If not, all in favor, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

And that passes unanimously.

Thank you.

All right.

Next case is rezoning Z 2725, which is 721 and 725 Grove Avenue.

Good afternoon, Madam Mayor and Council, Madam Walter, Riley Planning and Development.

This is rezoning Z 2725.

I do before I make the staff presentation, I want to note that the applicant would like to have the public hearing held open and continue to your next meeting.

So this is two lots on Grove Avenue, uh just under three acres.

The rec the current zoning here is residential six with that special residential parking overlay district going to residential 10 with conditions, retaining the overlay.

The request is consistent with the comprehensive plan, including the future land use map.

Planning commission recommends approval.

So uh over aerial view of the site here, you can see it outlined in yellow.

You can see uh 440 there to the east, Hillsborough Street, Western Boulevard on the north part of the site.

So they have offered some conditions here, they've prohibited some uses.

They have uh offered additional written notice to uh current tenants.

They have also offered uh recompense for uh tenants that may need to relocate in the event of redevelopment.

The existing uh entitlement here, uh fair amount of residential entitlement.

Their request is increasing that to allow for more units.

The request is consistent with the low-scale residential designation on Future Lanes map, as well as uh there's no frontage applicable to residential development, so no inconsistency with the urban form map here.

Consistent with the plan overall.

A handful of consistent policies here, uh connecting to uh connectivity, access to transit, compact development, those sorts of things, uh continuing on around uh infill compatibility, housing variety.

Uh the two things here uh that there's a response time issue here that the uh area does not meet fire response times, and so that's flagging both the response time standard and the zoning and infrastructure impacts issue.

So Planning Commission recommended approval.

Uh the uh opposition here is from Commissioner Otwell, who opposed the request due to the fact that similar development could be built using the frequent transit development option without needing to rezone the property.

What questions could I answer for you before you open the public hearing?

Questions?

None?

Okay.

I will open the public hearing.

No one is signed up, and we want to leave it open, so that unless there's further discussion, that concludes that case.

And it would come back on January 6th.

Okay.

Do you like the afternoon or the evening?

Afternoon is fine.

Yeah.

Okay.

So that concludes uh public hearings.

And we move on to the report and recommendations of committees of which there are none except the transportation and transit still has one item pending.

Transportation and transit has one item pending the topic of citizen initiated street closures, and we'll take that up at our January meeting.

Let me give the date certain.

Sorry.

Okay.

We then have report and mayor of the mayor and city council.

I'll start with Councillor Harrison.

Yeah, not much here.

I just want to say happy all the holidays.

So hope you had a great uh Thanksgiving and then all the holidays to come in December.

Stay safe out there, watch out for each other, take care of each other.

And we are not going to have a district D meeting in December.

We will hold off until January, January 17th.

Same thing.

No district C meeting in December.

We'll meet again in January.

Everyone, please have a happy holidays.

Be safe and stay warm.

Just a few things.

Our December 10th community engagement meeting has been moved to partner with RPAC, so it's a Raleigh Political Accountability Committee community and their event called Coffee and Council.

So we will meet at Willow House Coffee and Community at 6 p.m.

And I think I have Councilor Harrison, Patton, and myself will be doing a recap of the last year on Council, so join us and bring your questions.

Secondly, we've got our decoding democracy book club will meet on Saturday, December 13th from 9 30 to 1130, but it will be at Panera instead of Oberlin Regional Library.

Panera bred on Glenwood Avenue.

I was not able to secure a spot at our normal place.

My apologies.

And then lastly, a big shout out to Amy Joe Edwards, who hosted an invasive species cleanup in partnership with the city and NC State students.

We had over 30 people come out to help clean up invasives at Fallon Park and look forward to scheduling more cleanup opportunities for the community.

Thank you.

Well, I will just say this is the one-year anniversary since Councilor Silver and I were both sworn in on December 2nd of last year.

So just appreciate all the support and collaboration in the first year in office and looking forward to year two and happy holidays.

Mayor, thank you for the reminder.

Didn't know.

Hopefully my LinkedIn will now update to a full year.

I don't have anything to report.

Just want to wish everyone a happy holiday in terms of a district aid committee meeting.

We'll not be meeting in December, and we will have a date for you in January, as everyone else said.

Please be safe and have a wonderful holiday season.

Not much of a report for me either.

Continued well wishes for a warm holiday season and don't give money to billionaires.

Just bake and finish your knitting projects and share in community, and that'll all be a happy holiday for all of us.

No report.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

First um we have Raleigh Commission for Persons with Disabilities.

This item is returning to Council following an update from the city attorney during the last meeting regard regarding the commission's uh various exemption requests from the city code.

Uh that included exemption from the residency requirement.

As you know, City Code requires that all advisory board members reside within Raleigh City limits.

And then the second exemption request was on turn term limitations.

Uh city code prohibits an appointee from serving on a commission for more than three two-year terms in succession.

So during the last meeting, uh as you may recall, the city attorney provided additional information on that request, including the presentation of a draft ordinance, which would permit non-residents to serve on the commission.

That ordinance was included in the agenda packet again this time for reference.

The council also requested additional information during the last meeting on the tenure and residency of existing participants.

So and along with staggered terms.

So following your last meeting, staff met and randomly drew names to assign the two and three-year terms, which is reflected in the attached roster of participants.

Um there is only one member of the group confirmed to reside outside of city limits, and technically he is not eligible to serve under current code provisions.

With all that said, Council may wish to formally uh make appointments of the members of the commission in accordance with those staggered terms as requested.

I'm gonna turn to counselor patten.

Yeah.

I might need some help getting the motions right, but um I think the the spirit of what I'd like to motion is to deny the the request for these exceptions such that the Commission for Persons with Disabilities is in line with all the other commissions on these on their bylaws while allowing this current slate of rostered commissioners to complete their terms at present.

And then when these expiration dates are reached, those those members who are either not able to verify their residency or reside outside of the city limits would roll off and be replaced with a Raleigh resident.

So that is clear enough.

I'll just say so moved.

Well, you actually don't need a motion because you're not chain you're not taking any action.

Right.

There's no change.

So the only thing you will need to do is make appointments consistent with you want to make them if it's consistent with what um the clerk's office suggested in terms of some people get in the two-year and a three year for the stagger.

If if that's what you want to do, then you will need a motion for that.

Okay.

So I'm move to adopt the two and three years stagger recommendations as provided by staff in the agenda packet.

Second.

All right.

Any other discussion?

All in favor of that motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay, and that passes.

Thank you, Councillor Patton, for keeping us straight.

All right.

Uh next is Board of Adjustment.

One alternate vacancy.

Uh Michael Alderman received seven votes.

However, Councilmember Silver nominated Anna Willis.

So it is a council's discretion on how to proceed on that one.

Um Mr.

Alderman.

All right.

Um do we need to take a formal motion?

So technically, Mr.

Alderman already already received seven votes.

So six of the nominations are just hold for future time, the other name.

And there are actually more coming up very shortly.

So well, that makes sense to bring it down there.

Uh so we'll jump back to that name.

Um, Mr.

Alderman is appointed there.

Um design review commission, one alternate vacancy.

Um Chris Touchette received eight votes, so would be appointed.

Uh fair housing advisory board, two regular vacancies.

Council members Lambert Melton and Patton nominated Andrew Dames, so that name will be coming back on your next ballot.

Lastly, under appointments, police advisory board, one regular vacancy for the attorney slot.

Um, Mr.

Antoine Marshall received eight votes, so would be appointed.

Jumping down to nominations, arts commission, two regular vacancies, the term of Cloda Lyons Bastion and Mary Silver are expiring.

Both wish to be considered for reappointment.

Move to reappoint.

Second.

Yep.

And uh I think just closing, I don't think that counselor Silver has any conflict right with his own voting for his own wife who had incredibly good attendance.

No, I had the same issue with my wife was a very good question.

Yes, that's right.

You've experienced this.

All right.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay, and that the ayes have it.

All right, Board of Adjustment.

Um more coming up here.

So terms of Suzanne Prince and Kathy Rudersill are expiring.

Ms.

Rudisill is not eligible for reappointment due to length of service.

Past practice has been to elevate the longest serving alternate.

Um, so you have potentially the reappointment of Ms.

Prince and the elevation of Mr.

Satiskiy, Keith Sitiski for consideration.

Uh reappoint Ms.

Prince and to elevate uh Mr.

Satiski.

She's not eligible.

She is.

So Kathy Rudis.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Yep, and we had a second on that motion.

Um so all in favor of that motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay, ayes have it.

And then councilmember Silver, would you like to go ahead and nominate or shift your earlier nomination for Anna Willis to here?

Okay.

So that will be coming back on your next ballot.

Um here.

Raleigh Convention and Performing Arts Centers Authority, one regular vacancy.

Term of Leon Cox is expiring.

He would like to be considered for reappointment.

Move to reappoint.

Second.

All in favor of that motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

That passes.

All right.

Raleigh Durham Airport Authority, one regular vacancy.

Term of Shelley Winters is expiring.

She would like to be considered for reappointment.

State law does indicate that appointments should be made at the council's first regular meeting in January.

So this would be coming back on your next ballot.

You're welcome to make nominations at this time as well.

Otherwise, it will be coming back.

Do we have to move to nominate her now for the January ballot?

She can automatically be on there as an existing member.

Okay.

Riley Historic Development Commission, one regular vacancy resignation has been received from West Trip.

I will note that there are additional membership attributes here to consider in filling this slot as outlined in your agenda item, which staff will remind council of on your next ballot.

I just wanted to wait one public comment.

We've had some folks reach out about the RDU Airport Authority, but for me, if we have a sitting counselor with good attendance who or commissioner who wants to be reappointed, I just wanted to state publicly that you know I will support the sitting um member as opposed to nominating new folks, but just wanted to state that publicly.

On the RHDC, when you said we'll have more information for our ballot next meeting, uh will that include it says a fourth of their membership has to reside or own a historic property.

Will that will you give us a roster and uh basically like does this vacancy now dip them under that threshold or that's the information we're gonna do?

Um the information that's on the roster already, we can find a way to better um present that visually so that you guys can understand if we're meeting that or not.

Um that will be coming back.

And then lastly, substance use advisory commission, one regular vacancy resignation has been received from Carcina Newton.

So that will be coming back.

I'd like to put a name for substance use Calvin Prince.

Calvin Prince.

And going back to RHDC, I'd like to nominate Al Reader, R IE D E R.

And if for some reason he doesn't fit the vacancy requirement, I'll withdraw.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it.

Okay, thank you.

Uh next we have the uh report of the city attorney.

Good afternoon, Mayor, members of council.

At your November the 4th City Council meeting, you asked the city attorney's office to provide information about how the city might modify its non-smoking ordinances to eliminate exceptions not required by state law and to extend non-smoking prohibitions to e-cigarettes and vaping.

Include it with your agenda materials was a memorandum responding to that inquiry.

And I'm happy to summarize that if that's the pleasure of the council.

Okay.

Yeah, I think so.

Seeing everybody.

Under state law, North Carolina cities may prohibit or restrict smoking in local government buildings, vehicles on local government grounds, and in closed places within city limits.

State law defines smoking as the use of lighted tobacco products.

It does not cover e-cigarettes or vaping devices.

While cities may adopt rules that are more restrictive than state law, we cannot prohibit smoking in places where state law expressly permits it.

Those places include private residences, vehicles, qualifying tobacco shops, sugar cigar bars, smoking guest rooms and lodgings and establishments and premises of tobacco manufacturers or growers.

Those exceptions would remain in place regardless of any changes to the city code.

Our current city ordinance regulates smoking in three different places.

It covers elevators, certain public places, vending areas, and specific areas of public facilities.

They do not prohibit, while these limitations are significant, they do not prohibit smoking in all enclosed places.

For example, you can smoke in the bowling alley, but you cannot smoke in the restroom at the bowling alley or within 20 feet of the file line.

So you can't roll up you all while smoking.

And there are some other gaps that appear other gaps that appear in other facilities.

So if council wishes, those non-state mandated exceptions can be removed.

But by doing so, obviously we require code amendments.

And we did not prepare any uh proposed code amendments waiting for direction from council.

Moving forward regarding vaping in e-cigarettes we currently do not regulate the use of vaping devices or products in city facilities or in enclosed public places.

Some jurisdictions in North Carolina do address the vaping through their general ordinance authority and council could certainly choose to do so.

What was in your packet was two proposed model ordinances there was the model ordinance from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, which is the broadest of the two ordinances it prohibits both smoking and vaping in government buildings, grounds, vehicles and other public places.

And then the second was the Wake County Ordinance, the Wake County Ordinance, which only currently applies in an unincorporated corporated areas of the county.

It structure prohibits smoking, tobacco products, vapor products in county buildings, vehicles, grounds, indoor public places and so it is up to council as to how you would like to proceed.

Thank you for that summary question.

Yeah.

This is something that asked the city attorney to bring back to us based on emails and things we were seeing in the General Assembly as well.

I would be I mean for me personally just follow along with the county and ordinance I think adding the city to that updating our policies.

Because I think about our parks and our programs, we have a lot of young people and things, I think just align vaping to be the same, it treated as same as tobacco and I think that provides the consistency and also it I think it provides consistency to our law enforcement in enforcing the laws because they could say someone could say no I'm not smoking I'm vaping and then that holds a whole another conversation but if it's all both treated the same I think it makes everything a lot cleaner.

Just question for counselor branch so what makes you want to go with Wake County versus the state?

Consistency is local I mean we can go with the state as well I mean whichever one I mean as long as we do something and just going back to the attorney so what what is the key difference between the state you said the state is broader but the proposed I'm sorry.

So the um the proposed ordinance from the um what was the group I apologize the tobacco um tobacco is is a lot broader in terms of it includes um vaping products and e-cigarettes whereas um in all enclosed places whereas the county it is just um vaping in government buildings, grounds, vehicles, those type of things okay I mean I would just say I would be more for the state the comprehensive solution as opposed to the county which is looking at areas that we controlled but Councillor Patton and Councillor Lambert Milton.

Yeah I think I mean I it sounds like there's broad support to to do more to be in alignment and to capture these other types of tobacco uses and the question is really just which of these tools is best.

We did receive an email of support from the American Heart Association in support of the DHHS model ordinance and it sounds like it would capture some more of these exceptions like the bowling alley I think would be my preference that we proceed to prepare one that's the DHHS model ordinance but certainly open to the third option.

That's the same it's the exhibit A.

Well on Councilmember Branch's point, you know I think there is a benefit to staying in alignment with our county partners to avoid confusion.

And we have had other instances since I have served on the council where we have tried to align with the county on these types of initiatives because there are no uh these are all imaginary lines you don't know if you're walking into a city building or a county building there are folks in Raleigh that live in unincorporated parts of of Raleigh they don't vote in our elections but they exist here and so if we have a different ordinance I think the enforcement piece and the public understanding may be confusing though I'm all for doing you know what we can to protect folks' health and then also if there is a county ordinance to keep that consistency in the past we have just joined in the county ordinance there is some sort of state or law or county law I don't know if that's the right word where we can just they can't pass ordinances in Raleigh but we can choose to join in.

And so instead of having to pass our own, we would opt into the county one, and then whatever changes that they would make in the future would continue to apply in Raleigh City limits.

So my I think position, and I'll not feel super strong about this, is I think we should align with the county, we should opt into theirs, and then any future changes they make will apply here too, and that keeps us consistent and perhaps the advocacy could be directed there if if theirs needs to be expanded to become more robust.

But that's my opinion on it.

So just a question for the city attorney.

Did the DHHS model ordinance, which is supported by the American Heart Association, was that developed after Wake County adopted their ordinance?

Because I mean one of my questions would be maybe this wasn't even around when Wake County adopted theirs, and perhaps we could go to the county and say we'd like to adopt the stricter ordinance that the American Heart Association is advocating for.

Would you be willing to align so that we don't have this jurisdictional confusion?

Mayor, I I don't recall um which came first.

I can try to see if I can put my hands on it fairly quickly.

Um I don't recall.

Okay.

Well, and then I mean maybe we could hold this open and then also even if I would like to hear more color from Wake County as to why if if they did not choose if it was in existence and they did not choose to go with the DHHS uh model ordinance, why was that so that we can understand their opposition to it?

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree.

I just would like more information.

You know, when do the county pass theirs?

Um are they open to looking at it again?

And I just want to review this in more detail because there's a lot here.

I have a recommendation.

I think we could send this to say vibrant healthy communities, and perhaps at an upcoming committee meeting, they could get someone from the county to come and present, and they could I think that's a healthier way to continue the discussion and then make a recommendation to the full council.

That works.

And yeah, that's fine.

And also the county passed their ordinance January, I'm sorry, December 22nd, 2015, and they revised it um November 9th of 2022.

Is that the bottom of the ordinance?

Okay.

So there are so that's when the county did theirs.

Nice research.

Reading.

And to clarify, so it sounds like the county's ordinance.

So there's like cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and vapes, and those are treated separately.

And then county captures two of those, but not all three, and also doesn't capture areas like the Bowling Alley or the uh rec room at the nursing home, like these other kind of shared spaces.

Shared spaces.

The county does not capture those.

Is that I'm understanding that?

That's what I understand.

Yes.

Okay.

So I think that is just worth clarifying.

It's Linga captured two of the three things and is not going to capture these, like shared, potentially shared living spaces.

So what would be helpful is a table that just uh you know summarizes it really quickly for us so we don't have to read too hard, and then we can have a little bit more information for whether it goes to committee or back here.

Okay.

Do not want to send it to you.

Do not want to send it to committee.

We we can send it to committee.

I think well, here's what I'll say.

If we go to committee, it is not until the end of January.

So we wouldn't pass until February.

If we want this pass in in December, I mean in January, then we need it to come back to the full body at our January meeting, and then we can pass it based on the information.

I think if giving we're not meeting again this month, um hopefully the four weeks, I take one week off, three weeks is enough time for staff to go in, pull the information and can bring this back to us at our January 6th meeting, and then we can make the recommendation to pass or not pass at our January sentence meeting.

That would be my recommendation.

Okay.

Maybe the follow-up information can be provided through a manager's memo.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

So we will keep it at the full table for now given that we are in December, and uh that would cause uh additional delay uh just because of time.

Yeah.

And the thing is at a January 6th meeting, if we still say we need to go to committee, the meeting is not until the end of the month.

We can still send it if we need to.

So we're bringing this back in January.

January sits.

Okay.

Thank you.

And I believe we'll have a number of folks commenting that are public uh uh comments tonight.

So uh recommendation of the City City Clerk.

Good afternoon again, Mayor and Council.

Uh in your agenda materials, we received draft minutes from your November 18th work session and regular session.

Move for approval.

All in favor of the motion, aye.

Aye.

All opposed, nay.

Thank you.

Right.

Motion passes.

And that concludes the regular agenda.

I'm going to make a motion to enter into closed session, uh, uh pursuant to general statute one forty-three, three eighteen.

So moved.

All in favor of the motion aye.

All opposed, nay, and we will go into closed session.

I can jump in.

I don't think it's a good one.

I'm remembering when we have the last time you do that.

I'm trying to do it.

The council met in closed session to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, and conditions of appointment of an individual public officer or employee or prospective public officer or employee.

There being no further business, the meeting is adjourned.

Right.

And then Julie, I obviously we got some folks back here that we have to make the street.

I'm your host, Danny Nielsen Lentz filling in for Taylor Shaw.

We have a lot going on in Wake County, so stay tuned.

Recycling seems simple, but it can be complicated.

Our solid waste outreach team is hosting events at local libraries.

Here's Zoe with more.

Hi Sarah.

Thanks for being here today.

I see that we have a table full of recyclables or non-recyclables.

Can you tell us a little bit about where we are and what we are doing today?

Hi, Zoe.

We're at uh Northeast Regional Library in Wake County, and we have a recycling display, and we're talking to residents about what they can put in recycling and what they cannot put in recycling.

We have a table which shows all the items that can go in mixed recycling.

And then we have a table that shows all the items that are not supposed to go in recycling, but they sometimes end up by accident.

Who exactly are we trying to reach here?

Who are these events for?

Who can attend?

These are for any residents that live in Wake County that have questions about recycling.

What can go in it, when their collections are, what needs to keep be kept out of the recycling and should go in the trash.

Anyone that lives in Wake County is welcome to come down to the branches that we're offering sessions throughout November and December.

What's the real driving factor behind them?

There is a lot of changes that can happen with recycling programs, either because um sorting technology advances and we're able to accept more items than we could a few years ago, or maybe there's changes in recycling rules, do's and don'ts, or maybe there's changes in legislation that require us to recycle new items that haven't been offered before.gov slash recycling.

I encourage folks to go to our website, Wake.gov slash recycling.

We have a whole section called Recycling 101, which really goes into the details and talks about the types of paper items, the type of cardboard items, a type of metal, plastic, and glass items that can go in recycling.

There's images and descriptions, a lot of detail that to help people.

Okay.

Well, thank you, Sarah.

This is a lot of great information, and I hope more people will attend the drop and events.

Thank you very much, Lloyd.

Early detection can save lives.

And getting your mammogram has never been easier.

Follow along with us as one of our patients gets her mammogram on UNC Rex's mobile mmography.

When you arrive, you'll need to check in with our staff.

Once staff are ready for you, you'll head to the bus.

Once you step foot on the bus, staff will go over everything with you.

You'll answer a few health questions and sign some forms.

You'll then be shown to a private room to change and get ready for your mammogram.

When you're ready, you'll head to the machine and we'll take a few quick images of your breast.

A mammogram is a low dose x-ray that can detect breast changes long before you might notice them yourself.

While there may be some discomfort in the moment, there's no lasting effects, and you can go on about your day afterwards.

It typically takes about one to two weeks to receive your results.

If you need any additional imaging or follow-up, someone will contact you to guide you through the process and the next steps.

Remember, if you're 45 or older or younger and at a higher risk, don't wait.

Talk to your doctor about when to start screening.

Early detection is key, and getting screened could save your life.

Only one in five people recycles in their bathroom.

So Wake County is making it easy to get started.

If you sign up for our bathroom recycling initiative and agree to take a survey, we'll give you a free three-gallon recycling bin for your bathroom.

While supplies last.

For more information, visit the website on your screen.

Wake County inspects construction, restaurants, and tools.

But did you know that they also inspect manufactured home parks?

We talked to an inspector in the field to learn more.

We are here at 70 East RB Manufacturers Home Park to speak with Team Warham to learn more what we are doing to keep manufacturers home parks residents safe and healthy.

Hi team, how many manufacturers home parks are in Wake County?

Presently there are approximately 70 mobile home or manufactured home parks in Wake County's jurisdiction.

What is manufacture at home parks?

Manufactured home parks basically are track of land, usually owned by a single person or maybe a group that has more than two or more spaces that serve mobile homes with well and septic that are for lease.

How many pictures do you get per year?

We conduct two inspections per year.

And what the park fund is responsible for this.

The manufactured home park program falls under uh Wake County's Department of Public Health, an inspector with on-site water protection would do the inspection.

What are you looking during these pictures?

When we come and look at a park, uh we're looking at several things.

One of the things that we're looking for is the water quality.

Uh we check the wells.

We will pull a water sample and submit it to Wake County's water quality lab for bacteriological analysis.

Uh we also look uh we're looking at the septic systems to see if we have any sewage in the yard uh um anywhere through the park.

Uh we're looking at the waste, solid waste and garbage control, making sure that the trash is picked up on a regular basis.

Um we're looking for pests and disease control.

We're looking for things such as uh uh rats and flies and so forth.

Um we're also looking for uh animals, make sure animals aren't running at large through the park.

Uh we're looking for uh operator compliance to make sure the parks are being operated as required for Wake County's ordinance uh rules and regulations.

And we do look for uh health and safety hazards as well.

That's a lot.

It is a lot.

So we initiate that.

We typically initiate our inspections there with two unannounced visits.

Similar what a uh restaurant inspection would be.

Um however, um if a park owner requests uh has a problem, they can request this to come in and we would help them with whatever issue they may be having.

And uh, why are these inspections in person?

What are we doing?

The important they're very important so to keep the the parks in compliance with the rules and regulations, and that keeps the the tenants healthy and safe.

If the residents notice a problem, what they should do.

If they notice a problem, such as either with the water quality, especially or the septic system, they should first contact the park owner.

Uh the park owner will come to see if it's a maintenance issue.

If not, then they would probably contact us for assistance.

Who is responsible for making the repairs?

Uh park owners are responsible for the for the water for the water and wells and the septic systems.

Um for most other things in the park.

Uh residents probably do have some responsibility when it comes to issues like grass and keeping the their area and premises nice.

And uh, we understand that the park owner is doing the repairs, but what the residents can do to keep the wastewater system uh in a good uh shape.

Tenants play an important role by uh limiting their water use.

Uh wise water yeast trying not to um take long showers or wash all the clothes in one day they spread the laundry out across the week.

Um definitely do not flush items like uh the the uh wipes down the the toilet, do not pour grease down the drains.

Um also if they notice a problem or smell or a backup, they can contact the park owner.

So it's a configuration between the owner and the pennant.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The very first time that I took a photo of a dog and you know helped them to hopefully get adopted.

That really blended my love of dogs and photography.

And I also really love the challenge of getting a dog to engage with the camera, and I think that's one of the things that keeps it really meaningful and really exciting.

We come in, we choose a spot for photos, generally right in front of the shelter or play yard, and I just kind of see as they come to me like how they're feeling, learn a little bit about them, letting them be themselves and do their thing while I while I capture photos.

People started finding out that I was like volunteering at the shelter and doing the rescue photography, and I had a couple friends ask me to take photos of their dogs.

That's kind of how it all started, and I take you know, private clients, pets, and people, but I also really stay true to my roots with the rescue photography.

You're not just volunteering, you're also making friends, and you're making a difference, and I think that that's like so multifaceted, it's just I I mean, yeah, it's absolutely incredible.

You know, whatever it is that sets your heart on fire, you can totally do that and help make a difference in the lives of these animals.

After more than six months, the Yates Mill wheel has finally been replaced.

Let's take a look at the whole project.

It's a very unique piece of property.

It's the only grist meal left in Wake County that's still operating.

It's an integral part, right?

So without it, it's just a building, which is a historical building, which is wonderful.

But with that being brought back in, we're now able to fully operate late 18th and early 19th century equipment here in the mill.

To be able to bring that back to the community and the people of Wake County is really important and something I'm incredibly happy about.

Historically, there was a lot of mills.

Today there's not that many mills left, and uh there's fewer and fewer uh everywhere.

So we're trying to uh kind of keep the authenticity of what we're doing unique and specific to the 8th mill.

The general scope of work for a project here at Yates Mill is the removal and replacement of the uh flume, the gates, and the water wheel.

And uh part of that process is to salvage the components, the iron components from the existing wheel.

So as we remove stuff and as we put it onto the new wheel, we want to make sure it all goes back in the same place so that we're not changing those wear patterns.

So everything where the where the pinion meshes with the segment gears, those are indexed, and then everything's numbered sequentially so that it all goes back in the same order.

It's just a lost art.

Uh and thank heavens with the partnership we have with the county and the park.

We're making the meal open more to the public.

But this is the culmination of several months of work, and uh we feel very blessed.

It feels really good to be at this point in the project where we're able to see all the mechanics and the wheel turning by water, having all the different structures we had to put in place and coffer dams and so on.

The history is kind of continuing in that there's kind of a new future for the mill with this new water wheel and should last a really really long time.

This was a community site, it was a community hub.

This is where you would bring obviously your corn and your wheat in to be ground, both in the corn mill and the flower, but it's so much more than that.

It's a community spot where you would catch up on the news.

You would see how your neighbors and family are doing.

It was an incredibly important part of the community here, and that's really something that we're trying to actually keep for the future.

Since 2009, the Happy Trails program has turned thousands of Christmas trees into mulch for many of the trails in Wake County's parks.

We encourage residents to recycle their Christmas trees by bringing them into one of the nine convenient locations around the county for chipping.

In 2024 alone, the Happy Trails Program received 3,800 trees, which were turned into 83 tons of mulch.

There's a lot of benefits to mole chain trails in general.

And then when you add Christmas tree mulch to it, it just kind of kicks it up a few notches.

It's going to revitalize that the trail bed by adding nutrients back into the soil.

You're giving us your Christmas tree, we're chipping it up, and then we're spreading it on the trails.

Takes it out of the landfill and puts it to another use.

Actually saves us a little bit of money because we don't have to buy that much.

If you would like to donate your tree to the Happy Trails program at the end of this year's holiday season, please remove all decorations and bring the tree to one of our nine locations by January 31st.

Wake County Parks Recreation and Open Space continues to grow.

Let's watch the groundbreaking at the home of the future Kellumwyatt County Park.

Welcome everyone.

We are so excited that you are here and with us today.

So in my tenure with Wake County, we have done this 11 times.

Only Lake Crabtree predates me.

And so I've been kicking around here for a long time, but this never gets old.

You know, we are breaking ground on a new park today, and that's always exciting.

Before we hear from our speakers, and we've got a couple, uh, I just want to let you know how we got here today.

So back in 2018, the City of Oaks Foundation reached out to county staff and they said, we think we have a deal for you.

Um we have some landowners.

Uh Susan Wyatt, uh, her husband, late husband Bob Kellum, uh, and their daughter to Lee Wen.

Um want to talk to you about their farm.

And so we started talking.

What are you interested in doing?

That's the way we always start because we never know what how people want to uh to work with us on their land.

And they were like, no, no, we want to donate this land to the county for a park.

And we were like, woo!

Because you know, those are the best kinds of deals.

Um so we're always appreciative of deals like that.

So that was back in 2018.

Uh really started the conversation.

Um, going a little hiccup called the pandemic happened for a little while.

We we kind of got sidetracked for a bit.

Uh, but then in 2021, the commissioners adopted the master plan for the park, and there are pictures of the master plan and some of the amenities and facilities that are going to be here.

If you haven't had a chance to walk around and look at those, um, please do.

Last month, the Board of Commissioners uh voted to use some of the 2018 uh parks, recreation, greenways, and open space bond to build this park.

And so now we are breaking ground uh on a brand new park, and again, really excited about that.

I was talking with Susan before we started, and Susan told me that when they used to entertain when they had picnics and and friends and family over, this is where they gathered right here on this particular spot.

And so we're really excited that we for towed this lead plan to be right here in this spot right now.

Um again, thank you for uh spending your morning with us uh on a very special day for us.

I would like to welcome Susan Evans, uh chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners to say a few words.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Wow, what a beautiful morning, albeit a bit chilly.

It's just I I don't know about you, but I just feel peaceful just being here.

I really just driving in and it's we've got a little few things circulating um in our environment today that aren't peaceful, so this is a nice uh respite.

I am Susan Evans, uh chair of your Wake County Board of Commissioners.

I'd like to recognize my colleagues who are also here, Vice Chair Don Mile, uh Commissioner Tara Waters, who's this is her district, and Commissioner Shanetta Thomas.

And of course, our county manager David Ellis is here, and I think you'll hear more from him in a few moments.

But you know, it's always a great day when we get celebrate progress in Wake County, and we do that quite a bit, but being able to provide these kind of spaces for our residents uh just means so much.

You know, we continue to grow.

Um the estimates now is that we still have about 66 people a day moving into Wake County, and they are coming here for job opportunities and for quality of life.

And our residents that are born here are happy to stay here because we provide a strong quality of life.

And these amenities like open space and and parks are a big part of that.

And so I just am particularly excited.

You know, we opened another park earlier this year on the southeastern side, our Beach Bluff County Park.

One of the first uh new county parks we'd opened in several years, and so we're excited to have this one coming on board, and we'll have another one at uh Lake Myra going under construction and on the Wendell side before long.

And so we're just happy that uh that we're able to provide this expanding ecosystem of places for people to recreate and to de stress and enjoy nature as they are.

Um my understanding, and I've got to get back there and look at some of the pictures, but what I remember from the schematics and so forth is that this park will have it like demo gardens, that's what it is, demo gardens, fruit trees, of course, there will be walking paths and you know, a playground that I'm anxious to bring my grandchildren to one day, and what a beautiful meadow.

We can just have a picnic.

And so um, I just think this is it's just a wonderful, wonderful space.

And I want to say thanks to our amazing park staff led by Chris Snow.

They do great work in finding these spaces and working with the community to identify the right things, and then maintaining the integrity of the land that we're able to acquire.

Um I especially want to say thank you to the Kellum Wyatt family.

I was able to ride over in the van with Susan Wyatt.

Thank you so much for your generosity.

And you know, you're helping us make a commitment to open space for generations to come, and that is really, really appreciated.

Also, I want to say thanks to our voters who have supported our parks bond most recently in 2018 and allow us to continue to enhance, expand, and improve our park system in the county.

So um it's a great day to be here, and I look forward to when we get to great breakground a little later.

So who's up next?

I'll turn it back, Chris.

Thank you, Chair Evans.

A little bit of feedback, sorry.

Now we will hear from our county manager, Mr.

David Elks.

You know, the one good thing about being bald is when you take your hat off, I don't have to worry about how my hair is looking, so it's in good shape.

So uh good at good morning, everyone.

Um it is truly a pleasure to be here today as we break around on what certainly has become one of the county's most treasured public spaces, Kellum Wyatt County Park.

This is more than just a construction milestone.

It's a celebration of vision, collaboration, and a shared commitment to preserving the natural beauty and heritage of our community for generations to come.

As Chair Evans shared, our parks and preserves are a huge part of what makes Wake County such a great place to live.

They are more than just green spaces, they're places of connection, recreation, and restoration.

And today we add a new chapter to that legacy with Kellum Wyatt County Park.

A park project like this takes vision and a tremendous amount of teamwork.

So I want to take a moment to recognize the people in groups who will see this project to fruition.

First, I want to thank the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

I couldn't ask for a better group of bosses, you know.

Evaluation coming from your commitment to preserving open space and expanding access to parks is what makes days like this possible.

Thank you for your leadership and your continued support of Wake County Parks, Recreation, and Open Space.

I'd also like to recognize the City of Oaks Foundation, holders of the Conservation Easma who helped us design a park that supports the Kellumwai family's vision while preserving the land.

Next, we'd like to recognize our landscape architect, Design Workshop.

Are they here?

All right.

Go ahead and stand up.

Let everybody say our architect, Eileen Cassilly Architects.

All right.

There's that team.

Our contractor, TCC Enterprises.

Our structural engineer, Lynch Mickens.

And our civil engineer, NV5.

And our plumbing mechanical and electrical engineer, Sigma.

They are not, they couldn't be here today, but let's give them a round of applause.

I'd also like to recognize our facilities design and construction team.

Where are you guys at?

Where's everyone at?

And big thank to General Services Admissions staff.

Where are you at GSA?

Any GSA?

Well, we're going to give them a round of applause.

And lastly, our Wake County Parks Recreation and Open Space staff.

Come on, guys, stand up.

And there's one person who didn't stand up, but he's always involved.

Mr.

Frank Cope in the back.

Thank you, Frank.

And mostly we really want to thank our new director of City of Oaks Foundation here.

Okay.

Come on and stand up.

All right, Lauren.

And again, we would not be here without the generosity of the Kellum Wyatt family.

Their donation of this land is a gift to the entire community and rooted in a deep respect for the land's agricultural and natural history.

When Bob and Susan decided to donate the land, their vision was clear to preserve this space so that future generations could experience its beauty, its history, and its potential.

Today we honor that vision, and we take the first step towards transforming it into a place where families will gather, children will play, and nature will thrive.

With that, I'd like to recognize Susan Wyatt.

Susan, please wave.

So let's go back to 2018 when the Board of Commissioners voted to accept this generous donation.

They pointed out how Susan spent a lot of time volunteering at the historic Oakview County Park, taking care of the bluebird boxes there.

And as a token of their appreciation, they announced a plan to place 10 bluebird boxes around the property in recognition of the family and their generosity.

Each is branded with a special coin created specifically specifically to commemorate this occasion.

With today's groundbreaking, we are one step closer to giving those boxes permanent homes here at Kellumwyatt County Park.

Susan, thank you and thank your family.

Thank you.

So in conclusion, there's no doubt that this park is a special place.

It's a place where families will gather, where children will discover the wonders of nature, and where all of us, as the chair mentioned, can take a deep breath and enjoy Wake County's natural beauty.

Thank you all for being here today to mark this incredible milestone.

And I'll turn it back to the one I'll turn this back over to the wonderful Chris Snow.

Thank you, David.

Um we're gonna break some ground.

We're gonna give some people some shovels and a few photo ops, but before we do that, I thought it would be really cool.

If you drove here this morning, you think about how close you are to downtown Raleigh.

Uh and you're headed towards Nightdale, so not that far away, but if you just take a second and pause, you would never know you were this close to downtown Raleigh right now.

This is a fabulous piece of property, and we are very lucky to have it, very excited to have it.

So thank you.

That's all for this episode of Wake TV.

Keep up with all the latest Wake County news by visiting us online at Wake.gov slash news.

And be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube so you can always stay in the loop.

We'll see you next time.

I'm Bill Motley, and this is what I do.

My job title is manager, IT Project Management Services here with the City of Raleigh's information technology department.

In my role, I lead a team of IT project managers, and we work with different departments throughout the city to assist them in deploying new applications and solutions that help them better do their jobs and support the citizens of Raleigh.

Some of the projects Bill and his team have recently worked on include a self-serve parking payment application, an online special event permitting solution for event organizers, and a new fuel management system for use at City of Raleigh fueling sites.

And there's one more high profile project that Bill is currently working on.

I'm excited to serve as the IT liaison to the construction team of our new city hall.

In my role, I support the partnership of teams that are necessary to deliver all IT and audiovisual solutions to the new building.

Bill and his colleagues are certified through the Project Management Institute.

And while they all bring unique skills and talents to the city, there are some traits they all possess.

The successful IT project manager here at the city is inquisitive and detail oriented.

We really enjoy working with our clients to learn what they do, how they do it, and what we need to incorporate into the project for successful delivery.

Bill is well suited for this job and applies his project management skills in other capacities.

He's actively involved with the Phi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and supports many of the organization's events and activities throughout Wake and Johnston counties.

Really enjoy working for the city of Raleigh.

After 32 years in private sector, this has now given me the opportunity to give back to take my talents and skills, working with my peers to improve the services and support that we deliver to our citizens.

Hi, I'm Lori Tanner, and this is what I do.

I've worked for the city for three years.

I'm an engineering specialist in stormwater management.

I help customers with their accounts, starting and stopping.

If a customer has a property that's being annexed into the city limits and they call in with questions, I can help answer those questions.

My background was in accounting, actually automotive accounting.

And when the opportunity came up to work for Stormwater, I was very interested because yes, there is an accounting aspect to it and a customer service aspect, but also it's very interesting being able to do research and compile information for the reports.

If you own a home in Raleigh, you're probably familiar with the stormwater utility fee on your monthly utility bill.

This fee covers the cost of major projects that manage runoff from heavy rains.

That water can be held in retention ponds or wetland areas built by the city.

Stormwater fees also cover repairs to aging pipes and reinforcement for eroding stream banks.

Lori makes sure these fees are calculated properly so that the city can weather heavy rains.

So most of the time when someone calls into the office, they may expect to get a big phone queue, but really they're gonna get probably one of four people.

This means Lori and her team handle a lot of service calls.

And while she had quite a learning curve, she's now more than ready to address the wide range of topics that come her way.

Working for the city has been amazing.

I love the diversity.

I love the energy.

I have a great team that I work with every single day.

I encourage every person I meet if they get the opportunity to come work for the city of Raleigh to please try to do that.

It's changed the life of myself and my family.

It doesn't it sometimes it could be multiple, but it could also just be one.

So that tree supports all kinds of other different plants and animals.

So think about what it takes to run a farm.

It takes people digging in and resources to support that.

So we've had thousands of people come to the farm to steward the site to make friends.

Hey listeners, Dan Bagley here, your host for the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast.

And I'm thrilled you're here today because we're talking about some unique green spaces in your city of Oaks.

And to help me with this, I have the amazing producer, Dr.

Sarah Glova.

Sarah, how are you doing today?

I'm doing so great.

How could I not be?

Look at this beautiful space that we're in.

It is awesome.

Yeah.

It's green, it's lush, uh, the sun isn't out yet, or at least not both.

There's a bit of the countdown for the sun.

Recording a podcast in North Carolina outside is always a bit risky.

But it's gonna be great.

It's gonna be great.

And you might be wondering why it's so beautiful and green and luscious and why we're shooting out here.

It's because we're at the Raleigh Greenhouse, uh, which is a beautiful nursery.

Uh and I don't know, I don't know if you knew this, but really cool fact: if you've ever been in some of the Raleigh parks, uh, if you've noticed most of that foliage, uh uh flowers, plants probably came from the greenhouse.

As a matter of fact, if I'm not mistaken, 35,000 to 40,000 species are produced every year in the Raleigh greenhouses and nurseries, which is just a crazy number.

And I I'm embarrassed to admit that as long as I've lived here, I didn't know we had a greenhouse.

But it makes so much sense.

If you've been in a park, you see how beautiful the flowers are and everything, and this is where it all comes from.

Yeah, you're you're right.

And it's it's really not even that big, but I mean, they get a big punch of greenery from this small amount of space, which must talk to sustainability, which I'm sure we'll get into in a little bit.

In this episode, we'll dive into the inspiring world of urban gardening in Raleigh, exploring how these gardens are helping to build a more sustainable future while bringing people together in new and exciting ways.

And that's a cool term, that urban garden.

And we're gonna talk about what that means.

What is an urban garden?

What's an urban green space?

So we'll we'll get into that a little bit with our guests.

Yeah, that'd be great.

And in joining us on this incredible journey, our two special guests who are passionate about urban greenery and sustainability.

Lisa Graile Berry, executive director of the Raleigh City Farm.

Lisa, welcome.

Thank you so much.

Great to be here.

And Zach Manor, urban forester for the city of Raleigh.

Zach, welcome.

Thank you.

It's great to be here.

Now, to break the ice, we'd like to do something a little fun.

We like to play a game called Two Facts and a False.

Now, the good news, you guys will be playing together.

You're on a team.

The bad news is you'll be playing against the director of Brown Thumbs Anonymous, Dr.

Sarah Glova.

Are you ready to play this game?

I'm gonna give you three facts.

Two will be true, one will be false.

You have to guess the false.

Can we confer?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

So here we go.

Starting with A.

Urban gardens can significantly reduce the urban heat island effect, helping to cool cities during hot summer months.

B, bees are one of the most important pollinators for urban gardens, with one-third of the food we eat relying on pollination by bees.

Or C urban gardening increases water consumption compared to traditional agriculture because city soils require more frequent watering.

So what is the false statement?

I'll let y'all go first.

So I know A is definitely true.

The green space does help reduce heat island effect.

Right.

And I would say to the uh B, bees and other pollinators are responsible for one of every three bites of food we eat.

So to me, that is a uh a truth.

Uh so that leaves us with the final addition by subtraction.

Absolutely.

So we'd go with C.

Yep.

Okay, well, how about our brown thumbs up?

I feel like I am on a losing team listening to them think through that conversation.

I I feel like I've heard the myth.

Maybe it's not a myth, maybe it is a myth.

I've heard this idea that my garden in my backyard takes more water than a traditional farm.

So maybe that is true.

I like what Lisa said about the pollinators.

It's not just bees.

So maybe your bee is false because you're only including bees.

So I'll pick B.

I like where you're going with that.

However, our experts are correct.

It is C urban gardening can actually reduce water consumption compared to traditional agriculture because it often employs more efficient watering techniques such as drip irrigation, rainwater harvesting, and additionally, urban gardens typically use less land and can incorporate practices like mulching to retain soil moisture.

So congratulations.

Good.

You have done it.

Well done.

What do we do?

We can keep our jobs.

That's exactly it.

Is there a prize?

The prize is this wonderful produce basket from Raleigh Broad.

Raleigh City Farm that you brought my own veg bath.

And it is beautiful.

Thank you.

Um so what we'd really like to do now is get to know you guys a little bit better and what it is that you do.

And if you don't mind, if you can explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old kid, that'd be really helpful because it's pretty much true.

So why don't we start with uh you first, Zach?

Why don't you tell us a little bit about you and what you do?

All right.

Well, if we're talking about five-year-olds, um, you could equate what I do with the Laurax, right?

So I speak for the trees.

Yeah, love it.

Uh so I'm the urban forester for the city of Raleigh.

We're in the parks uh department.

And so we oversee city trees.

So thinking about trees on streets, trees in parks, trees along greenways.

Um we are the everything, we do everything from the acorn to the stump grinder.

So we plant, we prune, we remove, we talk about them, we remove plants.

So if it's a tree and it's a city tree, it probably involves what we do.

From the acorn to the stump grinder.

It's like someone's asked him this question before.

I know.

I know.

And I gotta say, Lorax, one of my favorite movies.

Let it grow.

Lisa, how about you?

Right.

So I'm the executive director of Raleigh City Farm.

And we're a little 1.3-acre site in the middle of downtown Raleigh at the corner of Franklin and Blunt.

As the executive director, I run the nonprofit, which means I am overseeing plants, people, and profit and money to ensure that we grow the fertilizer that makes it um possible for our farm to grow.

So overseeing all operations and uh loving it.

That's great.

Plants, people, and profit.

I like that.

The the alliteration is perfect as well.

Master of the alliteration, right?

Comparison of the money to the fertilizer that keeps the Raleigh City Farm nonprofit going.

Amazing.

Just top top notch bird play, no money, no mushroom.

Big ideas Raleigh podcast this morning.

You guys are definitely too smart for me to be with you today.

So uh so if you guys don't mind, I'd like to uh shift the conversation just a little bit into the this idea of big ideas.

And could you share a little bit about what your big idea as it relates to urban gardens that maybe you're really excited about right now?

Sure.

I can take that one first.

Sure.

Um so one of our goals as city organization is having these green spaces equally distributed throughout the city.

Um the benefits that we'll talk about that it provides, it's really important that you can experience it in your own community.

So it doesn't really hopefully it doesn't matter where you live, you still have the access to these urban green spaces.

Um and so one of the things that our group is doing in urban forestry is uh trying to equ make sure our street trees are equally distributed.

So thinking about whether you're in Northeast Raleigh, Southeast Raleigh or downtown, the ability for there to be a street tree helps shade your your driveway, your street, provides wildlife habitat.

So we're really looking to um expand and enhance our urban canopy.

So that's our big idea is find a way to improve the number of street trees.

So one tree can be a garden.

That's also what I want to get out of here.

It doesn't it sometimes it could be multiple, but it could also just be one.

So that tree supports all kinds of other different plants and animals.

So one tree can be a garden is maybe one of my new favorite phrases.

Because as you mentioned, I'm a proud member of the uh brown club society.

I I would love I I'm addicted to trying with gardening, but uh I'm not great.

And so the idea that it's not uh necessarily a big garden that's making a difference.

Sometimes it is just the one tree.

And I love the idea of the equal distribution.

I'm curious what that process has looked like.

That's exactly what I was thinking too, Sarah.

So how do you equally distribute you know, trees and other urban forestry foliage throughout the city?

Wordplay, word play.

Well, so it's combination, right?

So you need some long-term and short-term vision there, right?

So as development and as we grow, you have to be sort of deliberate in preserving what's possible in those cases where preservation isn't possible, you have to plant.

So I think there's uh a saying that goes the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

Yeah, right.

The next best time is today.

So uh starting over sometimes is uh you could end up in a better situation than then leaving.

So what we do is we look to see how those trees are distributed.

Then we sort of mapped it out.

We also look at um equity, vulnerability, um, stormwater benefit, heat islands.

So we take a lot of big concepts, overlay them together on a map, and that helps us prioritize those areas.

So where we start is where we want to make be able to make the biggest difference.

The by adding one tree will make a significant difference, maybe bigger in one neighborhood versus another.

So we're looking for those empty gaps and holes, and that's how we're working on the right.

All those layers of the map.

That's really intricate.

It's nice to hear about all the intentionality that goes into where these trees go.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it's sort of not just something that we do in parks, you take information from every group in the city.

So I I I love what you're saying.

I'd love to come back at some point to uh the discussion about equity and uh that vulnerability.

But before we do that, Lisa, I gotta hear from you.

What what's your big idea that you've got going on right now?

Right.

Well, thinking about sound bites, I would say green is not just good, it's great.

And more green is better.

I love it.

So yes, green is so important.

Not just green space for beauty, but green space for food.

And so food insecurity and access is one of our core goals.

And we can talk about that and dig into it later.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh just uh as we talked about a moment ago, expanding trees is a great big idea, but expanding more urban farms is also a really important idea, and we are in the process of expansion.

So our phase one of our expansion actually happened on our site where we pulled in two adjacent parcels, so our site is bigger currently on our current site.

Uh and we're looking to start another Raleigh City farm to be Raleigh City Farms.

Really?

Yes, congratulations.

When when is that gonna when are you thinking about making that happen?

Well, as I said before, we need fertilizer to grow.

So much of this is contingent on resources and strategy.

So we're in the process of pulling that together.

I love it.

And so I have to ask, uh I I remember you saying it was 1.3 acres.

What was it originally?

So it was.

So the City of Raleigh actually was instrumental in helping start Raleigh City Farm in 2011.

Okay.

And it was a great partnership between Triangle Land Conservancy, our landlord, John Holmes of JT Hobby and Sons, we are uh leasing the land.

We do not own it.

Okay.

So we had a partner, a nonprofit partner, um, a landlord, and the city to rezone seven parcels that were formerly, hey, they were a farm at one point in time, but they were apartment buildings and they were vacant.

Okay.

And our original mission was to transform a forgotten urban space into a productive farm.

So that was how the farm was born in 2011 with the help of the city and those seven parcels.

What a cool example of partnership.

Wow.

Right.

No, that's really amazing.

And and it's just been thriving ever since.

Uh I know I've been out there before and I've helped out.

It's just a lot of fun.

As a matter of fact, I believe you were even there and uh told me what I should be doing.

And I I mean I learned a great deal on 1.3 acres of land.

Right.

And let's be clear.

You know, progress is not an upward trajectory.

We have had ebbs and flows in our history for sure.

Uh and now we're hoping to sustain our farm until 2029 when our lease finally expires.

So we have a constraint, as all green spaces do that don't own land, right?

And we're renting.

So uh the good news is we are on a really great upward trajectory with all of our our metrics and all of our outcomes.

That's great.

And we're excited to uh to leverage those and and grow and expand.

It's that short and long term that Zach was talking about earlier.

We're seeing that at play here with Raleigh City Farm too.

I wonder if there's something there with anytime we're talking about green spaces, having that eye on both tomorrow and you know, 10 years from now.

Yeah.

Sustainability.

Sustainability.

I think we're gonna talk more about that in a second.

But there is a language piece that I wanted to confirm, not a community farm.

There's a difference between a community garden and an urban garden and can you all help us with that language a little bit just so we're using the right terms?

So most people are familiar with community gardens.

And let's think about a checkerboard.

And everybody gets a piece of the checkerboard.

They all come together as a loosely organized organization, right, to steward that site.

And if you think about community gardens are often associated with churches or schools, and the community comes together and they all individually claim their turf, right?

We're an urban farm, a nonprofit urban farm, which means we are run like a nonprofit, meaning we have a board overseeing the staff, which is myself and a few other folks.

And we are basically stewarding the site with a um a very formal tried and true process and pulling in volunteers uh to to advance our education and engagement goals.

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

That's very helpful.

That's really cool.

Yeah.

So I actually I'd I'd like to steer the conversation a little bit and ask you, Lisa, if you could tell us about the impact that you feel Raleigh City Farm has had on the community around you.

Right.

We became a nonprofit in 2011 when our articles of incorporation were formed.

However, the first uh shovel went into the ground in 2012.

I believe it was with a volleyball team from NC State.

Ah, yeah.

So we've been growing since 2012.

So think about what it takes to run a farm.

It takes people digging in and resources to support that.

So we've had thousands of people come to the farm to steward the site to make friends, to learn about plants, to learn about what it looks to see a broccoli growing in real time.

So the impact of simply being, I would say a billboard for urban farming in the middle of this densely packed now, densely packed, not in 2011.

Right from urban environment is a delightful surprise for people to suddenly come upon a farm and say, whoa, this is a farm.

We thought they only existed out in the rural areas.

Yeah, that's a great point.

It is a farm and it's it's a beautiful little space of land.

I mean, it's amazing how it's it seems like every year it's transformed and upgraded and just it's amazing.

Um but I wanted to ask, so you you mentioned like for instance the volleyball team came out.

Who are some of the other folks that come out to to work the farm?

So I love to make analogies between people and plants because they're we're so closely related.

And if we have a diverse collection of plants on our site, which is so important for the health and well-being of our site, we have an immense diversity of people.

Yes, we have little people, we have old people, we have uh groups from abroad, we have you know gardening clubs, we have uh folks who need to um do community service.

I mean, there are an infinite number of sizes, shapes, colors, and uh and uh rainbow of of people who dig in.

And I suppose the farm needs the people just as much as the people need the farm.

Oh, it's an absolutely uh symbiotic relationship.

Yeah, that's brilliant.

Well, thank you for that.

Um Zach, next question's for you.

Sure.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in maintaining and expanding urban green spaces in Raleigh?

Sure.

So to start, what I would say is an urban green space could be a a lot of stuff.

Sure.

So if you're listening to this and you're thinking I live in an apartment, I can't have an urban green space, I would say that's wrong, right?

If you have a balcony, if you have a plant um in your window in your on your balcony in general, right?

So it still can provide shade, provides um makes oxygen, CO2, can provide food, fruit, whatever you need.

So don't think about an urban garden as being something you can't attain.

There are lots of opportunities, and much like with diversity, they come in all shapes and sizes.

Um I'd say one thing that we do is we think about it's important to think about these as uh living infrastructure, right?

So if you think about something a city normally does, a sidewalk, a water line, a trash pickup.

Well, parks, green spaces, urban gardens act as uh a living infrastructure.

So they filter stormwater, they provide shade, they provide food, they provide a connection to nature.

So thinking about these urban green spaces in a different context is important.

I haven't heard this term before, and it's probably more common in the work that y'all do, but living infrastructure that makes so much sense.

So infrastructure, the roads, the plumbing, but this is living infrastructure.

We used to call it green infrastructure, but that was sort of co-opted by stormwater folks, right?

So when you talk about green infrastructure now, it's typically stormwater devices and works, and they're both, right?

It it is green and living.

So we thought living was a better way to sort of approach that.

Um and resonates a bit, I think.

So challenges are there's a lot of growth.

So when I talked earlier about what we can do now and what we can do in the future, um identifying those areas ahead of time to to retain.

Sure.

Um whether that's as a park, as a wildlife sanctuary as a land conservancy as a garden, that's a place where there likely won't be pavement or a building.

And we need all of those things, but being able to preserve those areas uh in perpetuity provides that connection.

So the challenge is often to land is very expensive, right?

And we have we need affordable housing and we need lots of infrastructure.

So being able to find that balance um is always pretty difficult.

Um, but it's something we're working on and tackling and going through the process because all of these things are really important.

So it's not just pretty, it actually serves many multiple purposes.

In some cases, it isn't pretty, but still serves a great purpose, right?

So beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

So tell me about that.

Well, so everybody kind of has you you may like a different tree.

I don't know what you two have a favorite tree, right?

But um City of Oaks, come on.

Well, there you go.

That's a good one.

Um but much like teenagers, sometimes plants in their early stages end up a little awkward and gangly, right?

So sometimes those early days of a plant uh aren't representative of what it will become.

So thinking about planting something it may look like a little stick or be sort of awkward, uh giving it time to grow into its uh surroundings.

Sometimes you could end up with something beautiful.

So I think the ugly duckling to the swan kind of scenario.

So are all green thumbs as good with like metaphors and wordplay because plant patients got a good group, I guess.

I don't know.

And also I think this idea that there might be function, even if there isn't that aesthetic, even if there isn't that, oh, this is a beautiful garden.

Right.

There might be some function there.

I'm gonna change the way I think about when I look at parks and even just green spaces.

Right.

To this idea of the living infrastructure.

Maybe it's serving a purpose related to storm water or the heat island effect.

So when we're talking about how hot an area gets, if there isn't that green space, there could be some infrastructure at play there.

And considering, as you mentioned, growth and affordable housing is such a priority, having that frame of mind is that it's a living infrastructure helps us to make the argument for why this is so important, even with those other problems that we're balancing.

And with that, we need to take a quick break, and we'll be right back with the Big Ideas Raleigh podcast.

Welcome back to the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast.

I am here with Zach Manor, Urban Forester for City of Raleigh, and Lisa Graile Berry, uh the executive director of the Raleigh City Farms.

Zach, we want to start with you real quick.

Um we talked a little bit about collaborations uh with Lisa, but what are the the types of collaborations the city has?

You know, what who do you work with?

Sure.

So in a formal setting, we have lots of volunteer opportunities in the parks department and citywide, actually.

So our parks volunteer group, you could do everything from picking up litter, you can plant trees, you can mulch.

We have activities going on all the time.

So whether you're an individual or a corporate group or a neighborhood, there's lots of opportunities and options for you to do what you want to do.

So that's my first recommendation is check out uh Raleigh NC.gov parks volunteer, and they'll have a list of opportunities, ways to sign up, lots of information.

And haven't I seen that families can do that if if the kiddos are with the parents?

Absolutely.

It depends on the specific event.

There are some requirements depending on what it is exactly you're doing.

Um things around highways, things like that.

Sometimes uh there's uh an age requirement, but but overall it depends on the option, and yeah, from young to old, um, we have some kind of opportunity that you can volunteer.

And Lisa, I imagine that's the same for you.

Uh is it from young to old, can kids come out and work at the city farm as well?

Sure, as long as they're supervised and we do have uh 15 is the threshold for needing uh parental supervision beyond that uh teenagers can come out and to and engage in our uh formal uh volunteer opportunities that are uh cited on our website.

Okay, great.

Lisa, how do you see urban green spaces playing a role in the future development of Raleigh?

Right.

So uh it's it's critical, it's vital, it's urgent.

Yeah, right.

So let's think about hurricane season and the amount of rainfall that comes our way, which we need, of course, right, to fill up all of our reservoirs.

Um however, if we have more impermeable surfaces, that water is uh storm water that's gonna make a mess.

And um and it's not good for the city.

So the more green spaces we have, the more this water, this runoff will be saturating the ground and holding it and hydrating the plants.

If you look at Europe, there's a deep paving effort underway.

They're literally pulling up pavement.

You said a deep paving.

Deep.

Another new term for me.

Google it.

Yeah, they're depaving lots of parts of Europe, which of course have experienced traumatic flooding over the last several 10 years and such.

So yeah, green space, as um Zach said before, for all the reasons that we love it for beauty, for function, for um community building, for uh for food, for uh for clean air and great soil.

Uh it's it's a smart choice, and uh City of Raleigh certainly has so many initiatives around that.

So I applaud the city of Raleigh for um taking that on.

Way to go, Zach.

You're welcome.

Single-handedly.

And I do we should also applaud Lisa.

If you're watching on the video, yeah, you're getting a chance to see some of the bounty that Lisa brought, and we've had lots of wonderful insects.

We've had some bees and some flies and some even butterflies kind of coming to try and check it out.

So I just wanted to invite you to show us a little bit of what can come from a city farm here, right?

So it's it's summer season, right?

So we certainly have a bumper crop of melon.

So we got a little watermelon here, a little tigger melon, which is an heirloom melon.

Over there we have our spotted leopard melon, which is uh a type of honeydew.

It's got a light green, beautiful flesh, very refreshing.

Actually, if you eat melon, it is more hydrating than drinking a glass of water.

What?

Really?

Yes.

Why?

That is a question you need to dig into a little deeper.

It will take too much time to explain in a future episode.

Well, right.

But then nutrients in the hydrating nutrients in uh in vegetables are more hydrating than than water.

Instead of drinking water, drink, you know, like to say gator.

Come to the farm and buy some melons.

We've got beautiful squashes.

We've got beautiful tomatoes.

We've got okra, we've got um eggplant here.

Uh we've got peppers, uh, this episode.

I guess we're heading over to the city farm.

Right.

Look at that.

Zach, you can come with me.

We got fruit salad right in front of us.

That's a good point.

And a good veggies.

Uh we're gonna have some roasted veggies for dinner and then these beautiful flowers that you brought as well that are sitting at the end of the table.

So remember, every Wednesday from four to seven throughout the season, April to November is our pay what you can farm stand.

Oh, wonderful.

So we're harvesting in the morning and we're selling in the evening.

However, the most important thing we do, I believe, to uh however, beyond our farm stand, all year round, uh we operate our farm share program, which means that we basically donate all the produce to nonprofits who are addressing food insecurity and access.

So um our goal is to ensure that 95% of what we grow is made affordable and accessible to the community.

How much do you think you grow in a year?

Aaron Ross Powell, so I know that uh last year we grew 13,439 pounds of food.

Yeah.

So typically the metric is maybe you can get 10,000 off an acre.

So we've definitely exceeded that.

Now, if we grew only watermelons, of course, we'd bust the um the data.

Uh but we grow a variety of produce.

And we'll I think we'll top that this year.

We've actually expanded, as I said, into about another third of an acre.

So uh so yeah, we are growing um it's a high production farm where we're not just growing out, we're growing up, and that's really important.

Just like Zach said, you can grow food in a bag on your balcony.

Right.

You don't need an acre, you need a little tiny space.

And there's so many ways that that Raleigh Iights can grow their own food, and that's what we want to express our um.

And remind us on Wednesdays, we can come to the stand, which is located where right at Raleigh City Farms, or we're at the corner of Franklin and Blunt, opposite William Peace University, where we also harvest softballs and other uh balls because their uh playing field is uh is right.

Right across the street.

You're right, you're right.

And I just want a real quick point of clarification.

Um you say grow up, so growing out means you know it's taking over all the land, but growing up means you're you're like growing upwards.

So what what type of I mean, how do you do that?

What does that look like?

Right.

So we use trellising systems.

Right.

Right.

So we have a lot of trellising.

We have a beautiful arbor now where we're growing our squash, and squash is a sprawler, right?

Melon is a sprawler.

Um, you know, tomatoes are uh upward growing plant.

But the uh the trellising system allows certain plants which might sprawl to grow up and over.

We have a beautiful trellis for our cherry tomatoes, so those are growing up and over.

Um we are growing in bags.

That's again a you know, it's it's more of a a question of of soil health, but different growing techniques again to ensure that you don't just need to have a large piece of arable, healthy soil.

You can make your own soil and you can grow beautiful fresh food and feel like you're a producer and not a consumer.

And that's empowering.

I think that's really important that we are all empowered to uh to to do to hang out with plants more.

Because they're you know, we don't hang out with them enough, and I think the world would be a better place if more people spent more time with plants.

Yeah.

And real quick, that trellis term we're talking about, almost like a ladder, like a ladder that has fencing on it that things can grow up.

Is that right?

So trellising could be trellising could be a stake in the ground, right?

To grow a um beans, right?

It could be um a panel, and we have use these cattle panels that you get at the ag store, and you probably don't want that in your backyard, or if you have a large one, you could.

Um we use tea posts to stake.

Uh so it's really an a vertical structure where plants are trained to grow up.

Think about espalier.

You probably know the espellier is where you take a tree and you can grow a tree that wants to grow up, but you train it to grow on a flat surface.

So there's and that that may be beyond the um the average uh tree care for the city of Raleigh.

Uh well it's beyond me.

Yeah.

So again, growing up, depending on the plant and training plants that want to grow out like squash to grow up with the trellis.

Wow, is a technique that's so interesting.

I mean, again, I've said I've not exactly green thumb.

But just almost from an engineering perspective.

This idea of making use of the space and all the options we have for that.

And Zach, as you were saying earlier, even if you are in an apartment and considering the balcony, there's so much that we can do with that space.

Fascinating.

So I think there's also some um much talking about places you can grow, green roofs, green walls, things like that.

So there are a lot of sort of engineering advancements and plant management options that put green spaces in places they haven't been able to exist before.

So as we as we continue to grow upwards, outwards, having lots more opportunities to provide those.

And again, I think about it as a connection to nature.

So you don't have to climb a tree or pick a bean.

You just have to sort of be around plants and in general.

So that connection to nature is super important as we have less open space.

So do you see the city is using green spaces in new ways?

You you just talked about, you know, uh the roof systems where you have plants.

Are we are we doing any of that?

Yeah, there are multiple green roofs.

Um the convention center downtown is a great thing where there's there's uh it's a lead certified building, I believe.

Yeah.

Um so it's sustainable.

So there are all kinds of uh different growing environments down there.

They have uh almost like a dry, I wouldn't say desert, but sort of certain plants that function with just a little bit of rain that drains off the building.

So it's fed by water that comes from the top of the building.

They have a bunch of different plant communities.

They're sort of living green art, not to be confused with the astroturf pterodactyls that are currently downtown, but doing something simpler with uh with plants.

So the city is um Walnut Creek Wetlands Center is a great example of integrating stormwater plants in the design of the building.

So uh it's becoming more and more common and more popular.

I feel like this episode is opening my eyes, and I'm gonna try to keep more of an eye out for some of these green spaces.

But I think the biggest takeaway that I have is actually more on this infrastructure piece.

The idea that a garden is so much more than a beautiful thing or even something that produces food is as important as that is.

Right.

We're talking about all the infrastructure benefits, the sustainability tie-ins.

There was an equity tie-in as we were talking about looking at where we need more of these in our spaces.

And I think I'm gonna be on the lookout for some of these unique ones, whether it's a rooftop or an apartment, and I'm just excited to keep an eye out for that in Raleigh, and I'm glad to know that there are folks like Zach and Lisa who are intentionally looking out for that for us in our in our city.

Uh so Zach, you you had mentioned earlier about you know equity and green spaces.

Can you can you touch on that a little bit now uh that we have a few moments?

Sure.

So we started a pilot project a couple years ago called the Street Tree Equity Project.

So we have an inventory of our street trees.

We overlaid those on a map.

Um then we combine some of those other pieces that you were looking at.

So Wake County has a vulnerability index.

Okay.

And they rate census blocks by vulnerability.

And there's a it's made up of a bunch of different components, um, age of people, English is a first language, asthma suffer, so the heat island, so there's a combination.

And so when we overlaid our tree map with our heat island map, and then that vulnerability index, a lot of those things joined together.

So the more vulnerable they were technically there was less canopy, therefore more heat.

And so that allowed us to sort of focus and prioritize.

So what we've been doing is over a three-year period, we're planting a thousand trees in one of these areas.

So um it's been sort of a combination.

These go out in front of somebody's house.

So we'd offer up uh, hey, here's a door hanger that says uh you're eligible for a tree, you can say yes, you can say no, or you can say nothing.

If you say yes or nothing, we'll bring a tree, it's planted in the right-of-way, the city maintains it.

If you say no, we don't want to force it on you.

Um we'll be planting our third season coming up this October, and we were lucky enough to get uh a million dollar grant.

Oh wow, that's great.

Yep.

For uh to expand our forest equity project.

So this came from uh we'll be starting this fall with some pruning.

So that's a pruning, planting, and removal.

So overall forest health centered around equity.

So it needs to be done in certain federal uh identified areas, so census blocks, so similar to those that same information we found in the canopy.

So we'll be um rolling that out on a bigger scale, and our goal is to continue to put trees where there aren't trees that we can hopefully see that shift over time.

Aaron Ross Powell And I just want to repeat something that you shared.

It's not that we are overlaying this equity and diversity piece.

It's it existed.

As you looked at the data, the areas that were considered to use that word vulnerable based on those different metrics, also were areas that didn't have as much tree canopy.

So it's not that the city added that.

It's that existed, and the city is being intentional about addressing it.

Correct.

Um a lot of those pieces, the more pavement you have, typically it's gonna be hotter.

And so if you don't have trees, all those things sort of come together over time, right?

So you see lots of other pieces there.

Um one of the things parks goal is is to have a park within, I think a 10-minute walk of every citizen in Raleigh.

So looking at those sort of larger city as a whole, it helps us be more intentional and helps us prioritize.

Well, this reminds me of one other question.

I I I I remember when I went shopping for a tree not too terribly long ago, and I think we ended up getting a Japanese maple, and it was really beautiful, but I was kind of taken back at how expensive trees are.

Does the city have any type of program where you know we can purchase trees or get trees at uh uh a lower price?

Um, not as of now.

There are some community opportunities.

Um there's uh a project called Project Pando that's run by a local company, Leaf and Limb, a tree company.

Okay, and they're basically a four-free native tree nursery.

Um so that's a great opportunity.

What the city can provide is small trees planted in the right of way.

So we'll work with a neighborhood if a neighborhood says, hey, we'd like to have some more trees, we'll meet with them, go see where trees are appropriate.

This is in a lot of cases the residents will water the tree once it gets planted, so we do it as a volunteer project.

That's great.

Um, thinking about opportunities there.

So the city funds the trees in those cases, but we're limited to city right of way as far as that goes.

It's cool to think that some of those trees might start from where we are.

So again, for the folks who are listening and aren't watching on video, we're sitting right now at the city's greenhouse.

So this is where a lot of those trees could be starting.

It's kind of cool.

Well, we will be right back.

We'll take one more quick break with the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast.

Welcome back to the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast.

And it's that time we've come to our last question of the day.

And Zach, I want to start with you.

What's something we haven't asked that you'd love the people of Raleigh and Raleigh's fans to know about your work or the future of urban gardens in our city?

Sure.

So you can make a difference as an individual.

Planting a tree or plant in your backyard can make a huge difference.

Um, one thing I would stress though is figure out what kind of tree that is before you plan it and look around a bit.

Putting the right tree in the right place does a lot.

Um big trees in the wrong place cause a lot of issues.

They're expensive, they're hard to manage, they can be dangerous.

So, right tree in the right place.

Um, we've used a lot of analogies as part of this podcast, but uh uh a tree seedling is like a great Dane puppy in a studio apartment, right?

When you start off everything is great, but before you know it, you got a monster on your hand.

So um there's some great resources out there to you to find out more information about that specific tree that you want to plant.

Um, NC State has an amazing extension toolbox that gives you a lot of information on types of trees.

We have links and information on our website about trees that we use in the city of Raleigh.

So um we want you to plant a tree, but we really want you to plant the right tree.

The right tree for us, the right tree for you, the right tree for everybody.

And just real quickly, what's one of those big no-nos?

Um large trees in close proximity to buildings under power line.

So thinking about in Raleigh planting a large willow oak tree under a power line, you end up with sort of the YMCA get shaped trees.

So for our listeners who aren't watching on video, we were just gifted with Zach doing the YMCA as he share that.

Yeah, interpretive dance.

That's really appreciated.

I love it.

Best guess.

What a talented group.

Wonderful.

And same question uh for you, Lisa.

Uh, what are some of the things that we haven't asked you that you'd love to share with us?

So I would encourage your listeners to lean into green.

I've heard Sarah say she has a brown thumb.

Often people say, I'm not creative.

I think that's a fallacy.

I think we are of green, we are of the earth.

We are all biofiliacs.

We've just been disconnected from it.

So I would encourage everyone, Sarah in particular, to lean into her green.

It's in her.

She just hasn't given it a voice.

And to do that, you simply need to hang out with plants more.

You can learn about plants.

You're eating plants, you're wearing plants.

Plants do so many things.

And again, I want we want at Raleigh City Farm to strengthen the people plant connection.

Our mission is to connect and nourish our community through regenerative agriculture.

So I would also uh invite your listeners to come and visit us and engage in all the activities that we offer.

Ugh, I feel so invited, even with I'm not gonna say it anymore.

I have struggled with my garden in the past, but I'm gonna take on a growth mindset to use that term in a green context, and just say, you know, it's not something that I've learned enough about yet, but it sounds like it's something I can learn, even though I don't know about it yet.

I'd be invited to come volunteer.

It sounds like with both of you, right?

And start small.

Often people have large overly zealous plans to grow too many things.

That's a great idea.

So I invite you to go deep, not wide.

I feel seen.

Okay, go deep not wide.

So choose three plants for all the brown thumbs out there.

There is hope for you.

They are green, they just are not seeing it.

Yeah.

Somehow my wife still managed to kill all the succulents in our house.

Well, I think that it sounds like Katie and I should get together and go volunteer at Raleigh City Friends.

I think that would be a great idea.

Because frankly, I probably need it as well.

Uh with that, we want to thank you both Zach and Lisa for joining us today on the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast.

It has been an absolute pleasure.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's fun.

Yeah, thanks for having us.

It's a great time.

And uh in the the great words of John Denver, it's it seems appropriate at this one.

Do you guys know the only two things that money can't buy?

What?

That's true love and homegrown tomatoes.

So, Sarah, once again, I have to thank you for a great show.

And making uh me sound much smarter than I am.

Now you and most importantly, thank you for our listeners or to those of you whom are watching this podcast.

Give us a follow, find the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast on any podcast app or on YouTube.

We've got more great episodes coming your way as we dive deep into the heartbeat of Euroak City.

And hey, if you have any ideas for our podcast, let us know.

Visit our podcast page and learn how you can share your ideas with us.

We'd love to hear from you.

And a special shout out to the production team behind the podcast, Earfluence, a Raleigh-based podcast production company.

Learn more at Earfluence.com.

They did such a great job of getting us set up here today.

And actually, that makes me think we should do a shout out also.

Absolutely.

To Neil Weisenbaker, the City Horticulturalist, and the whole team here at the Raleigh Greenhouse.

They were so welcoming, letting us come into their space.

And it's been a little warm, but not too bad.

Can we shout out to Raleigh Weather for allowing us to close here today?

It was definitely not as bad as I thought it was.

It was not, right?

We were able to persevere, and it's been just really enjoyable sitting here, and it's exciting to think that the plants we're seeing could be in a park here soon.

Absolutely.

This podcast was brought to you by the City of Raleigh's Office of Strategy and Innovation, also known as the Office of Yes and the City of Raleigh's communication department.

I'm Dan Bagley here with producer Dr.

Sarah Glova, and we'll see you next time on the Big Ideas Raleigh Podcast.

I'm Deshay Blake, and this is what I do.

As a senior superintendent of parks maintenance, Deshe has the important job of making sure Raleigh's athletic fields, aquatic centers, and destination parks look fabulous.

From lush green grass and garden beds to tidy dog parks.

His goal is to create clean and inviting spaces.

When citizens come to our parks, we want to present to them a place where it's going to be peaceful and enjoyable for them to share with their families as they come to enjoy our parks.

A lot of DeShea's work is focused on Raleigh's destination parks, like Pullin, Chavis, the Raleigh Rose Garden, and of course, Dorothea Dix.

Dorothea Dix is about 308 acres of all park space that can be utilized in many different ways that we are responsible for from people using it as everyday run-in trails to large events such as Dreamville that we host out here.

So when we say destination parks, we mean a place that's for everybody and a place that is available for everyone.

It will include play spaces, works of art, a civic plaza, fountains, and gardens.

My favorite thing about working for the city of Raleigh is being able to be a part of a community where we actually get to provide something for every citizen that is a part of the city of Raleigh.

Through my experience of working with public education, I had the opportunity to bring play to children every single day that they stepped onto the schoolyard.

I don't get the chance to see everyone when they come out to our parks, but I know that in some way I'm doing something to help people make memories.

And as with any job, there are some challenges.

One of those is working within the limits of available resources to meet the needs of all people.

Another is keeping the parks clean.

So if you happen to be at a park and see trash, you can help by picking it up.

And if you enjoy being outdoors, you can also volunteer to work in one of our many gardens.

I love working for the city of Raleigh because I love to come to work with my crews.

They're all skilled and they are experts in their respective fields, and they do amazing work.

I learn a lot from them, and they make coming in to work easy and fun every day.

I'm Brett Compton, and this is what I do.

I am the social media manager for the City of Raleigh.

I maintain our platforms called Raleigh Gov.

Give us a like, give us a follow on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Nextdoor, Threads, and Blue Sky.

I share information about city programs, projects, and services, and how they can impact residents.

Brett loves helping people.

As social media manager, he has an opportunity every day to help people have positive interactions with government.

My favorite part about my job is that it feels like important work.

I feel like I go to work every day and I'm doing something of significance.

And I think that sharing information that affects residents and helping residents when they come to us with questions, it's a privilege and it's something I take very seriously.

I think what makes me effective at this job is I grew up into adulthood being around social media.

I've been using it for many years, and it's something that I'm very familiar with.

I have a pretty good demeanor and a thick skin, I guess you could say.

Brett's patience and calm demeanor are helpful in this role.

If he sees that someone is expressing frustration or is having a rough day, he tries his best to work through things with them, hoping to turn that interaction into a positive one.

Sometimes a challenge that comes with this job is finding and correcting this information, especially during a crisis, and then also getting people to get along with each other in the comments.

I think I think all of us we could be a little nicer to each other, and I think that would go a long way.

One of the things I love about Raleigh is I get to use and take advantage of the great services and programs that our city has to offer and the things that I tell residents about on a daily basis.

I'm a big tennis player, big fan of tennis.

I've met a ton of friends playing tennis on those courts, played in a lot of league matches and tournaments, and it's just really neat that I'm able to use the things that I'm always bragging about on behalf of the city.

I love my job because I get to work with a great team of communications professionals, and every day I get to tell people all of the amazing things that the city of Raleigh has to offer.

Hi, welcome to Wake TV.

I'm your host, Danny Nielsen Lentz filling in for Taylor Shaw.

We have a lot going on in Wake County, so stay tuned.

Recycling seems simple, but it can be complicated.

Our solid waste outreach team is hosting events at local libraries.

Here's Zoe with more.

Hi, Sarah.

Thanks for being here today.

I see that we have a table full of recyclables or non-recyclables.

Can you tell us a little bit about where we are and what we are doing today?

Hi, Zoe.

We're at uh Northeast Regional Library in Wake County, and we have a recycling display, and we're talking to residents about what they can put in recycling and what they cannot put in recycling.

We have a table which shows all the items that can go in mixed recycling.

And then we have a table that shows all the items that are not supposed to go in recycling, but they sometimes end up by accident.

Who exactly are we trying to reach here?

Who are these events for?

Who can attend?

These are for any residents that live in Wake County that have questions about recycling.

What can go in it, when their collections are, what needs to keep be kept out of the recycling and should go in the trash.

Anyone that lives in Wake County is welcome to come down to the branches.

We're offering sessions throughout November and December.

Alright, and why would you say these events are needed?

What is what's the real driving factor behind them?

There is a lot of changes that can happen with recycling programs, either because sorting technology advances and we're able to accept more items than we could a few years ago, or maybe there's changes in recycling rules, do's and don'ts, or maybe there's changes in legislation that require us to recycle new items that haven't been offered before.

So recycling is always changing.

It's an evolving practice.

And it's important that we reach out to residents that are taking part in our programs and make sure that they have the up-to-date information that they need and what can go in those programs.

So there's quite a bit of confusion sometimes, especially when it comes to plastic items.

So we'd like to speak to people about any questions that they might have, what can and cannot go in recycling, especially if it pertains to plastic.

Because we have um issues in our mixed recycling where a lot of non-recyclable plastics are going in mixed recycling.

So that is also a subject that residents ask for help on when it comes to recycling plastics.

When and where will more events like this take place?

Um, how can people keep up with when to come stop by?

We are offering drop-in sessions at several different Wake County libraries across November and December.

And you can go to our web page to find out the list of locations and dates of when these sessions will be taking place.

And how else can people learn to recycle?

Where are there any more resources for them to learn?

I encourage folks to go to our website, Wake.gov slash recycling.

We have a whole section called Recycling 101, which really goes into the details and talks about the types of paper items, the type of cardboard items, the type of metal, plastic, and glass items that can go in recycling.

There's images and descriptions, a lot of detail that to help people.

Hey.

Well, thank you, Sarah.

This was a lot of great information, and I hope more people will attend the drop and events.

Thank you very much, Levy.

Early detection can save lives, and getting your mammogram has never been easier.

Follow along with us as one of our patients gets her mammogram on UNC Rex's mobile mammography.

When you arrive, you'll need to check in with our staff.

Once staff are ready for you, you'll head to the bus.

Once you step foot on the bus, staff will go over everything with you.

You'll answer a few health questions and sign some forms.

You'll then be shown to a private room to change and get ready for your mammogram.

When you're ready, you'll head to the machine and we'll take a few quick images of your breast.

A mammogram is a low dose x-ray that can detect breast changes long before you might notice them yourself.

While there may be some discomfort in the moment, there's no lasting effects, and you can go on about your day afterwards.

It typically takes about one to two weeks to receive your results.

If you need any additional imaging or follow-up, someone will contact you to guide you through the process and the next steps.

Remember, if you're 45 or older or younger and at a higher risk, don't wait.

Talk to your doctor about when to start screening.

Early detection is key, and getting screened could save your life.

Only one in five people recycles in their bathroom.

So Wake County is making it easy to get started.

If you sign up for a bathroom recycling initiative and agree to take a survey, we'll give you a free three-gallon recycling bin for your bathroom while supplies last.

For more information, visit the website on your screen.

But did you know that they also inspect manufactured home parks?

We talk to an inspector in the field to learn more.

We are here at 17 East RB Manufacturers Home Park to speak with Team Warham to learn more what we are doing to keep manufacturers home parks residents safe and healthy.

Hi team, how many manufacturers home parks are in Wake County?

Presently there are approximately 70 mobile home or manufactured home parks in Wake County's jurisdiction.

What is manufactured home parks?

Manufactured home parks basically are tract of land, usually owned by a single person or maybe a group that has more than two or more spaces that serve mobile homes with well and septic that are for lease.

How many pictures do you get per year?

We conduct two inspections per year.

And what department is responsible for this?

The manufactured home park program falls under uh Wake County's Department of Public Health.

An inspector with on-site water protection would do the inspection.

What are you looking during these pictures?

When we come and look at a park, uh we're looking at several things.

One of the things that we're looking for is the water quality.

We check the wells.

We will pull a water sample and submit it to Wake County's water quality lab for bacteriological analysis.

Uh we also look uh we're looking at the septic systems to see if we have any sewage in the yard uh um anywhere through the park.

Uh we're looking at the waste, solid waste and garbage control, making sure that the trash is picked up on a regular basis.

Um we're looking for pests and disease control.

We're looking for things such as uh uh rats and flies and so forth.

Um we're also looking for uh animals, make sure animals aren't running at large through the park.

Uh we're looking for uh operator compliance to make sure the parks are being operated as required for Wake County's ordinance uh rules and regulations.

And we do look for uh health and safety hazards as well.

That's a lot.

It is a lot.

We'll park all nursing request uh uh inspection, so we initiate that.

We typically initiate our inspections there with two unannounced visits, similar to what a uh restaurant inspection would be.

Um however, um if a park owner requests uh has a problem, they can request it to come in and we would help them with whatever issue they may be having.

And uh why are these inspections important?

What are you doing?

The important they're very important so to keep the the parks in compliance with the rules and regulations, and that keeps the the tenants healthy and safe.

If the residence multi is a problem, what they should do.

If they notice a problem, such as either with the water quality, especially or the septic system, they should first contact the park owner.

Uh the park owner will come to see if it's a maintenance issue.

If not, then they would probably contact us for assistance.

Who is responsible for making the repairs?

Uh park owners are responsible for the for the water for the water and wells and the septic systems.

Um, and for most other things in the park.

Uh residents probably do have some responsibility when it comes to issues like grass and keeping the their area and premises nice.

And uh, we understand that the park owner is doing the repairs, but what the residents can do to keep the wastewater system uh in a good uh shape.

Tenants play an important role by uh limiting their water use.

Uh wise ward yeast, trying not to um take long showers or wash all the clothes in one day, they spread the laundry out across the week.

Um definitely do not flush items like uh the the uh wipes down the the toilet, do not pour grease down the drain.

Um also if they notice a problem or smell or a backup, they can contact the park owner.

So it's a comparation.

It's window owner and a penna.

Absolutely.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The very first time that I took a photo of a dog and you know, helped them to hopefully get adopted.

That really blended my love of dogs and photography.

And I also really love the challenge of getting a dog to engage with the camera, and I think that's one of the things that keeps it really meaningful and really exciting.

We come in, we choose a spot for photos, generally right in front of the shelter or play yard, and I just kind of see as they come to me like how they're feeling, learn a little bit about them, letting them be themselves and do their thing while I while I capture photos.

People started finding out that I was like volunteering at the shelter and doing the rescue photography, and I had a couple friends ask me to take photos of their dogs.

That's kind of how it all started, and I take you know, private clients, pets, and people, but I also really stay true to my roots with the rescue photography.

You're not just volunteering, you're also making friends, and you're making a difference, and I think that that's like so multifaceted, it's just I mean, yeah, it's absolutely incredible.

You know, whatever it is that sets your heart on fire, you can totally do that and help make a difference in the lives of these animals.

After more than six months, the Yates Mill wheel is finally been replaced.

Let's take a look at the whole project.

It's a very unique piece of property.

It's the only grist meal left in Wake County that's still operating.

It's an integral part, right?

So without it, it's just a building, which is a historical building, which is wonderful.

But with that being brought back in, we're now able to fully operate late 18th and early 19th century equipment here in the mill.

To be able to bring that back to the community and the people of Wake County is really important and something I'm incredibly happy about.

Historically, there was a lot of mills.

Today there's not that many mills left, and uh there's fewer and fewer uh everywhere, so we're trying to uh kind of keep the authenticity of what we're doing unique and specific to the eighth mill.

The general scope of work for a project here at Yates Mill is the removal and replacement of the uh flume, the gates, and the water wheel.

And uh part of that process is to salvage the components, the iron components from the existing wheel.

So as we remove stuff and as we put it onto the new wheel, we want to make sure it all goes back in the same place so that we're not changing those wear patterns.

So everything where the where the pinion meshes with the segment gears, those are indexed, and then everything's numbered sequentially so that it all goes back in the same order.

It's just a lost art.

Uh and thank heavens with the partnership we have with the county and the park.

We're making the meal open more to the public.

But this is the culmination of several months of work, and uh we feel very blessed.

It feels really good to be at this point in the project where we're able to see all the mechanics and the wheel turning by water, having all the different structures we had to put in place and coffer dams and so on.

The history is kind of continuing in that there's kind of a new future for the mill with this new water wheel and should last a really really long time.

This was a community site, it was a community hub.

Uh, this is where you would bring obviously your corn and your wheat in to be ground, both in the corn mill and the flour, but it's so much more than that.

It's a community spot where you would catch up on the news.

You would see how your neighbors and family are doing.

It was an incredibly important part of the community here, and that's really something that we're trying to actually keep for the future.

Since 2009, the Happy Trails Program has turned thousands of Christmas trees into mulch for many of the trails in Wake County's parks.

We encourage residents to recycle their Christmas trees by bringing them into one of the nine convenient locations around the county for chipping.

In 2024 alone, the Happy Trails Program received 3,800 trees, which were turned into 83 tons of mulch.

There's a lot of benefits to mall chain trails in general.

And then when you add Christmas tree mulch to it, it just kind of kicks it up a few notches.

It's going to revitalize that the trail bed by adding nutrients back into the soil.

You're giving us your Christmas tree, we're chipping it up, and then we're spreading it on the trails.

Takes it out of the landfill and puts it to another use.

Actually saves us a little bit of money because we don't have to buy that much.

If you would like to donate your tree to the Happy Trails program at the end of this year's holiday season, please remove all decorations and bring the tree to one of our nine locations by January 31st.

Wake County Parks Recreation and Open Space continues to grow.

Let's watch the groundbreaking at the home of the future Kellm Wyatt County Park.

Welcome everyone.

We are so excited that you are here and with us today.

So in my tenure with Wake County, we have done this 11 times.

Only Lake Crabtree predates me.

And so I've been kicking around here for a long time, but this never gets old.

You know, we are breaking ground on a new park today, and that's always exciting.

Before we hear from our speakers, and we've got a couple, uh, I just want to let you know how we got here today.

So back in 2018, the City of Oaks Foundation reached out to county staff and they said, we think we have a deal for you.

Um we have some landowners.

Uh Susan Wyatt, uh, her husband, late husband Bob Kellum, uh, and their daughter to Lee Wen.

Um want to talk to you about their farm.

And so we started talking.

What are you interested in doing?

That's the way we always start because we never know what how people want to uh to work with us on their land.

And they were like, no, no, we want to donate this land to the county for a park.

And we were like, woo, because you know, those are the best kinds of deals.

Um so we're always appreciative of deals like that.

So that was back in 2018.

Uh really started the conversation.

Um, going a little hiccup called the pandemic happened for a little while.

We we kind of got sidetracked for a bit.

Uh, but then in 2021, the commissioners adopted the master plan for the park, and there are pictures of the master plan and some of the amenities and facilities that are gonna be here.

If you haven't had a chance to walk around and look at those, um, please do.

Last month, the Board of Commissioners uh voted to use some of the 2018 uh parks, recreation, greenways, and open space bond to build this park, and so now we are breaking ground uh on a brand new park, and again, really excited about that.

I was talking with Susan before we started, and Susan told me that when they used to entertain when they had picnics and and friends and family over, this is where they gathered right here on this particular spot.

And so we're really excited that we fortured this lead plan to be right here in this spot right now.

Um again, thank you for uh spending your morning with us uh on a very special day for us.

I would like to welcome Susan Evans, uh chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners to say a few words.

Well, good morning, everyone.

Good morning.

Wow, what a beautiful morning, albeit a bit chilly.

It's just I I don't know about you, but I just feel peaceful just being here.

I really just driving in and it's we've got a little few things circulating um in our environment today that aren't peaceful, so this is a nice uh respite.

I am Susan Evans, uh chair of your Wake County Board of Commissioners.

I'd like to recognize my colleagues who are also here, Vice Chair Don Mile, uh Commissioner Tara Waters, who's this is her district, and Commissioner Seneca Thomas.

And of course, our county manager David Ellis is here, and I think you'll hear more from him in a few moments.

But you know, it's always a great day when we get celebrate progress in Wake County, and we do that quite a bit, but being able to provide these kind of spaces for our residents, uh, just means so much.

You know, we continue to grow.

Um the estimates now is that we still have about sixty-six people a day moving into Wake County, and they are coming here for job opportunities and for quality of life.

And our residents that are born here are happy to stay here because we provide a strong quality of life.

And these amenities like open space and and parks are a big part of that.

And so I just am particularly excited.

You know, we opened another park earlier this year on the southeastern side, our Beach Bluff County Park, one of the first uh new county parks we'd opened in several years, and so we're excited to have this one coming on board, and we'll have another one at uh Lake Myra going under construction and on the Wendell side before long.

And so we're just happy that uh that we're able to provide this expanding ecosystem of places for people to recreate and to de stress and enjoy nature as they are.

Um my understanding, and I've got to get back there and look at some of the pictures, but what I remember from the schematics and so forth is that this park will have um demo gardens, that's what it is, demo gardens, fruit trees, of course there will be walking paths and you know, a playground that I'm anxious to bring my grandchildren to one day, and what a beautiful meadow.

We can just have a picnic.

And so um, I just think this is it's just a wonderful, wonderful space.

And I want to say thanks to our amazing park staff led by Chris Snow.

They do great work in finding these spaces and working with the community to identify the right things, and then maintaining the integrity of the land that we're able to acquire.

Um I especially want to say thank you to the Kellum Wyatt family.

Was able to ride over in the van with Susan Wyatt.

Thank you so much for your generosity, and you know you're helping us make a commitment to open space for generations to come, and that is really, really appreciated.

Also want to say thanks to our voters who have supported our parks bond most recently in 2018 and allow us to continue to enhance, expand, and improve our park system in the county.

So um it's a great day to be here, and I look forward to when we get to great break ground a little later.

So who's up next?

I'll turn it back to Chris.

Thank you, Chair Evans.

A little bit of feedback, sorry.

Now we will hear from our county manager, Mr.

David Ellis.

You know, the one good thing about being bald is when you take your hat off, I don't have to worry about how my hair is looking, so it's in good shape.

So uh good at good morning, everyone.

Um it is truly a pleasure to be here today as we break around on what certainly has become one of the county's most treasured public spaces, Kellum Wyatt County Park.

This is more than just a construction mile zone.

It's a celebration of vision, collaboration, and a shared commitment to preserving the natural beauty and heritage of our community for generations to come.

As Chair Evans shared, our parks and preserves are a huge part of what makes Wake County such a great place to live.

They are more than just green spaces, they're places of connection, recreation, and restoration.

And today we add a new chapter to that legacy with Kellum Wyatt County Park.

A park project like this takes vision and a tremendous amount of teamwork.

So I want to take a moment to recognize the people in groups who will see this project to fruition.

First, I want to thank the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

I couldn't ask for a better group of bosses, you know.

Evaluation coming from your commitment to preserving open space and expanding access to parks is what makes days like this possible.

Thank you for your leadership and your continued support of Wake County Parks, recreation and open space.

I'd also like to recognize the City of Oaks Foundation, holders of the Conservation Easma, who helped us design a park that supports the Kellum Wyatt family's vision while preserving the land.

Next, we'd like to recognize our landscape architect design workshop.

Are they here?

All right.

Go ahead and stand up.

Let everybody see our architect, Eileen Cassidy Architects.

Alright.

There's that team.

Our contractor, TCC Enterprises.

Our structural engineer, Lynch Mickens.

And our civil engineer, NV5.

And our plumbing mechanical and electrical engineers, Sigma.

They are not, they couldn't be here today, but let's give them a round of applause.

I'd also like to recognize our facilities design and construction team.

Where are you guys at?

Where's everyone at?

And big thank to General Services Admissions staff.

Where are you at GSA?

Any GSA?

Well, we're going to give them a round of applause.

And lastly, our Wake County Parks Recreation and Open Space staff.

Come on, guys, stand up.

And there's one person who didn't stand up, but he's always involved, Mr.

Frank Cope in the back.

Thank you, Frank.

And mostly we really want to thank our new director of City of Oaks Foundation is here.

Okay.

Come on and stand up.

All right, Lawrence.

And again, we would not be here without the generosity of the Kellum Wyatt family.

Their donation of this land is a gift to the entire community and rooted in a deep respect for the land's agricultural and natural history.

When Bob and Susan decided to donate the land, their vision was clear to preserve this space so that future generations could experience its beauty, its history, and its potential.

Today we honor that vision, and we take the first step towards transforming it into a place where families will gather, children will play, and nature will thrive.

So let's go back to 2018 when the Board of Commissioners voted to accept this generous donation.

They pointed out how Susan spent a lot of time volunteering at the historic Oakview County Park, taking care of the bluebird boxes there.

And as a token of their appreciation, they announced a plan to place 10 bluebird boxes around the property in recognition of the family and their generosity.

Each is branded with a special coin created specifically specifically to commemorate this occasion.

With today's groundbreaking, we are one step closer to giving those boxes permanent homes here at Kellum Wyatt County Park.

Susan, thank you and thank your family.

Thank you.

So in conclusion, there's no doubt that this park is a special place.

It's a place where families will gather, will children where children will discover the wonders of nature, and where all of us, as the chair mentioned, can take a deep breath and enjoy Wake County's natural beauty.

Thank you all for being here today to mark this incredible milestone.

And I'll turn it back to the one I'll turn us back over to the wonderful Chris Snow.

Thank you, David.

We're gonna break some ground.

We're gonna give some people some shovels and a few photo ops, but before we do that, I thought it would be really cool.

If you drove here this morning, you think about how close you are to downtown Raleigh.

Uh and you're headed towards Nightdale, so not that far away, but if you just take a second and pause, you would never know you were this close to downtown Raleigh right now.

This is a fabulous piece of property, and we are very lucky to have it, very excited to have it.

So thank you.gov slash news.

And be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube, so you can always stay in the loop.

All right, everybody, thanks for coming to the session tonight.

I guess first order of business, I want to turn it over to the clerk for uh a few words.

Yes, thank you, Mayor Cowell.

Uh Mayor, members of council.

I wanted to take a moment of personal privilege and ask that you join me in recognizing assistant city clerk Ralph Puccini, sitting here to my right.

Uh as tonight's evening session represents Mr.

Puccini's final session at a Raleigh City Council meeting after 30 plus years of service to the citizens of Raleigh.

Mr.

Puccini began his service to the city in 1985 when the population of Raleigh was just about one half of what it is today.

After a break in service, Ralph rejoined the city organization as a member of the city clerk's office in 2001.

During his tenures, Mr.

Pacini has served under seven mayors, dozens of city council members, four city managers, but only one other city clerk.

His dedication, attention to detail, and overall helpful approach to the often difficult work of public service is commendable.

And in addition to the City Council and the City Clerk's office, both the Board of Adjustment and the Civil Service Commission are going to miss his presence as he heads off into retirement and the next phase of life.

We wish him well.

So thank you, Ralph, for your service to the City of Raleigh.

Good luck and best wishes and all your future endeavors, whether those be here in Raleigh or somehow involve Santa Claus and the North Pole.

Congratulations and well done.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much.

Next, before we start the public comment, I have a few uh just uh comments about the convention center fire last night and some updates to share.

Um as always, our first priority is safety, and we have essential staff and vendors who are inspecting the damage at the convention center have been working all day on that.