The meeting began with the mayor clarifying the procedural status of the Lichford Road rezoning case (Z4325). Due to a published notice error on June 2, the council had two options: reschedule the public hearing or refer the case back to planning commission. The council chose the latter, allowing residents two additional opportunities for public comment. The remainder of the meeting consisted of public comments on various topics.
Evening, everybody. Um, before we I'll go ahead and start the meeting before we start because we have had a little bit of confusion still from the public comment on uh Lichford Road that we could not hear last time. I just want to read a little comment there, so in case anybody is here um about the process going forward on that case. So counsel could not by law open the public hearing on June 2nd due to an error in the published notice by the news and observer. At that time, counsel was faced with two legal options reschedule the council public hearing to a future date, or two refer the case back to planning commission for additional review. Given that the applicant had indicated plans to revise their conditions, council chose the second option, which is to send it back to planning commission. This option provides residents with two additional opportunities to provide public comment on the rezoning request rather than one. Um so you'll go before you, you know, have the option to go before planning commission and then again at council. As a result, residents will have multiple opportunities to review and comment on any changes the applicant may propose before a final decision is made. So just wanted to clarify that because it is understandably been very confusing. Alright, so we will go through we have three minutes each. Um first speaker is Eugene Myrick. Oh, yes, and uh Jonathan Lambert Melton is uh absent and excused. Thank you. Good evening. Um I want to start by first thanking um Council Member Ford for bringing the uh transportation uh folks to the Biltmore Hills meeting. Um just like we said to them, um, they can't do anything without coming to the city council. And one of the things that the the transportation uh departments mentioned was that there were multiple accidents on uh crosslink. They said the first option is to put up stop signs that are 300. The second option is to put up uh roundabouts that's 700. And the third option is a stop light that's a hundred thousand dollars. We're talking about life and death situations. We're talking about multiple accidents, and I'm sure some of you know because many of you probably voted for the hundred thousand dollar dog park that's downtown. Um, the gate with the mulch, 100,000. So I don't think it's too much to ask for a stoplight that's going to prevent multiple accidents on uh crosslink. Um there are several issues, and it might have been five o'clock this morning that I heard gunshots in Biltmore Hills Park. I came up here several times to say asking, can we get cameras in Biltmore Hills Park? Um nothing. There was a several a case that I saw in the news of somebody saying that someone exposed themselves. I took my garbage out, I took my neighbor's garbage out. I saw a gentleman walking down with no bottom, Biltmore Hills Park. Um, they literally sent me a subpoena. They told me I was a victim. I didn't know I was a victim because I saw somebody walking around with no bottom. And the thing is, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know to call the police or call to ask for help because I was concerned. I didn't want the police to come and hurt somebody who could have been having a mental crisis. I didn't know exactly what to do. Um, but either way, it's uh not a safe situation. And for me, as somebody with a two-year-old granddaughter who loves to run around in the backyard and play around, it's just not a safe situation. So once again, I am coming to say uh the buck got passed around a couple times in regards to us needing more cameras for safety in Biltmore Hills Park. Thank you. Thank you. Keisha Monk. Today I want to address my public comment directly to you, the public, because there's something I need for you to know. A couple of years ago, the city proposed traffic calming measures in my neighborhood, which sounded really good until we learned that they wanted to install bike lanes. You see, Biltmore Hills is a little different than most neighborhoods in Raleigh. It's a historic community, it is not a transient neighborhood. It is home to seniors, families, bus riders, school children, and people who have lived here for generations. We repeatedly explained that bike lanes are not a one-size fit-all solution in every neighborhood, and every it would not, you know, solve every traffic challenge.