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HomeMy Public PortalAbout06-22-2009 Workshop MeetingMINUTES Board of Commissioners Monthly Workshop Monday, June 22, 2009 7:00 p.m. Town Barn PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens, Commissioners Evelyn Lloyd, Frances Dancy, Brian Lowen, L. Eric Hallman, and Mike Gering. HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT: Ken Trivette, Zack Vernon, Jessica Dockery, Holly Snyder, David McCullough, and Mark Bell. HISTORIC DISTRICT COMMISSION MEMBERS ABSENT: Mark Rhoades. STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Peterson, Assistant Town Manager/Public Works Director Nicole Ard, Town Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna Armbrister, Planning Director Margaret Hauth, Planner Stephanie Trueblood, Planning Intern Aspen Price, Police Chief Clarence Birkhead, Finance Director Greg Siler, and Town Attorney Bob Hornik. 1. Open the Workshop Mayor Stevens called the workshop to order at 7:01 p.m. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 1 of 32 2. Agenda Changes Agenda Approval 7:01:50 PM Town Manager Eric Peterson added a Closed Session item to seek advice from the Town Attorney regarding contract issues with Gold Park. Commissioner Hallman and Commissioner Lowen added a discussion of the Cornelius Street Plan before the discussion with the Historic District Commission. 7:03:18 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the Board moved to approve the Agenda as amended by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. 3. Committee Updates and Reports 7:03:37 PM Commissioner Hallman said that regarding the TAC, they had survived another test and they remained a containment area. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 2 of 32 Commissioner Lowen said he was serving on the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust Board, and he had spoken to Robert Dowling about his new job which required evening work and that he would no longer be able to serve on that Board. He said Mr. Dowling had asked if someone from the Town Board would be willing to take over his position on the Land Trust Board. Commissioner Lowen added that the Land Trust Board met on the third Wednesdays of the month at 6 p.m. Commissioner Hallman said he could possibly serve on that Board, and asked when Commissioner Lowen would be stepping down. Commissioner Lowen responded unfortunately, it would be immediately because of his job. Commissioner Hallman said he believed he was the alternate to that Board. Commissioner Lowen agreed that he was. Mayor Stevens said then for the rest of the current term Commissioner Hallman could fill that spot, and then when regular yearly appointments were considered they could look at it again. Mr. Peterson asked if the appointee had to be a Commissioner. Commissioner Lowen said he would check on that. Mayor Stevens asked Commissioner Hallman to let Mr. Peterson know if he would be unable to attend a meeting so that someone could sit in for him. Mr. Peterson said he believed they had appointed a citizen at one time, but she had stepped down. Commissioner Lloyd stated the Fire Department Board had held its annual meeting and now had two new members. She said there had been a turnover in the Board, with a new president who was very capable and was a Durham firefighter, as well as other new officers. 7:07:54 PM Mr. Peterson said that Town Attorney Bob Hornik's son, Kevin, had been named a High School All American in Lacrosse this week. The Board offered Mr. Hornik congratulations on his son's achievement. 4. Public Hearing and Resolution Authorizing the Filing of an Application with the Local Government Commission for Financing the Purchase of Property to be used as a Fleet Maintenance Facility 7:08:38 PM Mayor Stevens opened the public hearing, and asked if anyone wished to speak on the issue, but determined that there was no one present who wished to speak. 7:09:25 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Gering, the Board moved to close the public hearing. Mayor Stevens said for the record, the public hearing was for the purpose of considering the purchase of real property to be used as a Fleet Maintenance facility, and the Town now had the opportunity to purchase a property that would serve as well as a new facility and at less expense. He said the Town had had that item on its agenda to accomplish for some time, and they could now do so at much less cost to taxpayers. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 3 of 32 7:09:59 PM Mr. Siler said they had estimated that the savings by purchasing this property compared to construction of a new facility would save the Town at least $425,000, and realistically that figure was even higher. He pointed out that he had contacted a bank to determine what the current rates were, and the quote was 5.1 and he hoped that estimate was on the high side since just a few weeks ago they had been able to refinance the reservoir at 3.69 Mr. Siler said hopefully when they put the bid out they would receive a more attractive rate, even though the rates appeared to be moving up and down at will. The vote to close the public hearing was 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. 7:11:29 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Gering, seconded by Commissioner Dancy, the Board moved to approve the resolution authorizing the filing of an application with the LGC for financing the purchase of property to be used as a Fleet Maintenance Facility by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. 5. Consider Approving End of the Year (FY 09) Budget Amendments and Encumbrances for FY 10 7:11:59 PM Mr. Siler said that the year end amendments and encumbrances had been provided to the Board, as well as the year end purchase order encumbrances. He noted that separate action would be needed on each of the three items, and provided a brief explanation of each. Mr. Siler stated that some of the expenditures would be closed out in the next few months, and an updated list would be provided in October which should be significantly less, particularly for the purchase orders. Mayor Stevens said the list looked straightforward, and asked was there anything in the lists that would materially alter the new budget as approved in any substantial fashion. Mr. Siler stated he would not provide a yes or no to that, but would point out one item in each fund. He said #3 in the General Fund was a list of items that were required to balance the budget in a couple of the departments, and the majority of the dollars came from other departments or different divisions within the same department. Mr. Siler said in the Water Fund, item #11, there were funds transferred from Water Fund Contingency to balance that department's budget. 7:15:46 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Gering, the Board moved to adopt the End of Year Budget Amendments by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Hallman, the Board moved to adopt the Encumbrances by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Hallman, the Board moved to approve the Request to Encumber Purchase Orders by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 4 of 32 Added Item: Cornelius Street Mt. Zion AME Church Project, Reverend Norman Handy 7:17:15 PM Reverend Normal Handy stated Mt. Zion AME Church had a created a five -year plan and were in the process of implementing that plan. He said they had a large contingency of members who lived in the Fairview area, and their plan included developing an incubator. Reverend Handy said some of the ideas and concepts would allow people to become entrepreneurs and become assets to the community rather than liabilities. He said their desire was to perhaps form a partnership between the Town and the Church to move forward in that process. Reverend Handy said as a part of that process, they wanted to create a resource /self -help center. He said at the present time they were bringing in approximately 400 meals a month to the Town to help feed homeless and destitute persons, and they wanted to develop within that incubator process a resource center where they could provide clothing, a partnership with perhaps the Community College to provide GED classes, to provide computers so that persons could be trained on their use, and a number of other things. Reverend Handy said the concept was to put together a center that would provide a self -help process and allow persons to share good ideas about business, to share space, to share staff and utilities, and other things. He said while they had set aside some seed money to do some of those things, naturally they did not have all of the resources needed. Reverend Handy said they wanted to look at ways to partner with the Town to identify any funds that might be available to assist in the process, and to identify a facility that might be available in the area for a center. He stated they were not coming forward with only their hands out, but wanted to get people to become assets to the community and to be contributing taxpayers by developing small businesses. 7:21:17 PM Mayor Stevens stated on one level it was terrible timing because of the tight budget, but on the other hand there were a number of projects underway that might be of help, and asked Commissioner Lowen to comment. Commissioner Lowen stated they had recently met with representatives of UNC about a study that would be conducted by Master's degree students regarding the Cornelius Street corridor. He said he and Commissioner Gering had already provided information to Reverend Handy about that, and they had also formed some visions for that corridor. Commissioner Lowen said he and Commissioner Gering were supportive of the plans outlined by Reverend Handy, but they would need to have further discussions on how they might move forward. He said that he, Commissioner Gering and Commissioner Hallman had served on the Cornelius Street Corridor Task Force, and they had wanted to afford the opportunity for Reverend Handy to speak to the Board and outline their vision, and hoped that the Board would be supportive. He said the Town may not have the funds to contribute to such a project, but they would work with staff to see what other resources might be available. 7:22:50 PM Mayor Stevens stated he believed a part of that project would also involve working with the County, and the County was working on getting funding for an incubator June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 5 of 32 through Congressman Price. He said the Town could be a catalyst to bring in funding, and a part of the process would be how to get the community and other stakeholders involved. Commissioner Hallman stated that at the last Cornelius Street Corridor Task Force meeting Commissioner Gering had pointed out that part of that Task Force's recommendation was a community development corporation that could be the vehicle to make an incubator happen. He said Chairman Foushee of the Orange County Board of Commissioners had said that the incubator project was one of the priorities she had taken to Congressman Price. 7:23:46 PM Mr. Hornik stated that in the last year or so the Town of Carrboro had helped to provide funding through a revolving loan program for a similar kind of project, where there was space rented out and utilities shared in order to grow small businesses. He suggested that they talk with James Harris in Community Development in Carrboro about that program, noting he could possibly provide some useful information or the program could even be used as a model. Mr. Hornik said the EDC had also recently released its first loan in their Micro -loan program. Ms. Hauth said that based on what Reverend Handy had said, what sort of use category Mr. Hornik would see something like that program falling in. She said there had been discussion about whether the resource center would be a community center with a combination of uses or whether or not sheltering got into the mix, and would it require that the Town look into its definition of a homeless shelter which required sheltering. Ms. Hauth said since they were very close to the deadline for a public hearing on text amendments, if there was something that needed to be done quickly then the Board could authorize that tonight to be added to the public hearing. Mr. Hornik stated he did not believe sheltering would be a part of the incubator, noting that aspect would be the most troublesome aspect from a zoning and land use standpoint. He said in terms of an incubator that included different uses, he believed they could fit that into the existing Zoning Ordinance. Ms. Hauth agreed, noting it could be classified as office or retail, and since training and assistance would be provided it could also be classified as office /personal services or a community center. 7:26:56 PM Commissioner Hallman said as an action item he would suggest recalling the Cornelius Street Corridor Task Force back together and put that idea before them in order to begin moving ahead. Commissioner Lowen said he would like to see that happen. Commissioner Gering said he would as well, if they included the entire effort that they were coordinating with the County, noting that had been a joint task force with the County also. He said the only caveat would be that as in their discussion with Barry Jacobs that the study they had envisioned was broader than necessarily just an incubator or just the northern Fairview community. 7:27:33 PM Commissioner Lowen agreed, noting they should involve the County as much as possible in order to take advantage of County resources, which would be beneficial to them all. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 6 of 32 Mayor Stevens asked if a motion was necessary to reconvene the Task Force. Commissioner Gering suggested putting that on the Town Board's July agenda as a Consent Agenda item. There was no objection from the Board. Commissioner Lloyd suggested in the meantime talking further with County Commissioner Jacobs to see if he had any additional ideas. Mayor Stevens agreed that was a good idea. 6. Joint Meeting with the Historic District Commission 7:28:37 PM Mayor Stevens thanked the members of the HDC for attending and invited them to sit at the table with the Town Board members to facilitate easier discussion. Members of the HDC were introduced to the Town Board as follows: Ken Trivette, Zack Vernon, Jessica Dockery, Holly Snyder, David McCullough, and Mark Bell. The Town Board also introduced themselves to the HDC members. Mayor Stevens stated the Town Board had had the opportunity to look over the materials provided for tonight's discussion, and invited HDC Chair Jessica Dockery to begin the discussion. Commissioner Gering said there had been a couple of times in the past where they had had discussions regarding applications and other general issues that involved the HDC and the difficulties it faced. He said it was a unique board irrespective of how it evaluated applications and its quasi-judicial powers. Commissioner Gering said the HDC had been asked to provide guidance to the Town Board concerning issues that were very difficult for them, such as massing and scale and density, as well as to provide information on how the Town Board could improve their tool set to make their jobs easier. He said the HDC had done that, and apologized that the Town Board had not yet provided any feedback. Commissioner Gering said they were together now, and thanked the HDC for the good work they had done and continued to do. 7:32:07 PM Ms. Dockery stated the major issues the HDC had faced over the last several years were very large projects that their Design Guidelines were never designed to address, because there were no examples of such large projects in the historic district. She said they had in their Design Guidelines the capability of addressing commercial development, but only traditional commercial buildings. Ms. Dockery said when something was brought in that was very different from early twentieth century buildings they had to use the tools available and try to adjust them to fit a more modern use, and the density and zoning involved with that was something the HDC could not fit their Design Guidelines to deal with, making it difficult for business owners to understanding where the HDC was coming from. She said they had run into serious issues in the past trying to get across what the HDC thought would be compatible in the district based on those Design Guidelines. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 7 of 32 Ms. Dockery said she believed what would be needed in the near future was not a rewrite of the Design Guidelines but a way to deal with modern types of development by including something in the Zoning Ordinance that alerted prospective business owners what would and would not be allowed in the historic district. 7:34:22 PM Mayor Stevens asked would it be fair to say that such projects may involve more than one building. Ms. Dockery responded yes, but there were few areas in the historic district where you might fit more than one building although there were some. Mayor Stevens stated it had appeared to him that you could say one building might fit but put next to another building it would not, and the HDC had been put in the position of trying to do that. Ms. Dockery stated the development off of King Street was a good example, in that one of those properties would have been fine and some of the designs did get closer to what the Design Guidelines would accept, but it would have had to be one building on that very large lot which would not have been financially acceptable to the developer. She said so, they needed some tool so that those projects never came to the HDC because the Zoning Ordinance made them unacceptable, or a tool had to be put in place so that the HDC could evaluate them appropriately when they came before it. Commissioner Gering said one of the suggestions was that multi family dwellings be restricted from R -20 zoning districts, and asked how much of the problem would be solved if just that was dealt with. Ms. Dockery stated right now with the Design Guidelines it would be very difficult to do multi family buildings, although one building would be manageable. She noted that there was only one 3 -story building in the historic district, which was the Gateway Center, but because of that how would you now exclude 3 -story buildings in the district. 7:37:02 PM Commissioner Gering said if they found a solution with R -20, how many other problems remained outside that R -20 district that had to do with the historic district. Ms. Trueblood said they had never had a Design Guideline for a commercial storefront, so it helped to guide the HDC with existing commercial area. She said the Guidelines indicated that they should protect those storefronts that were historic and already in place and new development should be compatible with the existing buildings downtown. Ms. Trueblood said the tool was there for additional infill downtown, but once you expanded outside of that massing and scale and therefore density it was much harder to determine because the historic district was so big and so varied. She said what they did not have was very many multi family buildings on lots in the district, noting that most of the district was single family homes on various sized lots. Ms. Trueblood said when applications came to the HDC for something other than single- family homes it became harder to apply the Guidelines in regards to massing and scale. Commissioner Gering asked about the multi family in R -20. Ms. Trueblood said at present that would have to accompany a rezoning request, because multi family was not allowed in R -20. She said if that R -20 rezoning was not available to future developers in R -20, then the HDC would never see an application for multi family in the historic district. Ms. Trueblood said as long as that rezoning remained a possibility then developers looking for higher infill projects would continue to come forward. 7:39:48 PM Ms. Hauth agreed, noting that there was nothing in the ordinance that prohibited or allowed staff to not accept an application for a rezoning request, in that property owners had June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 8 of 32 the right to file the request and there was not even a good policy statement that discouraged a property owner from requesting a rezoning in the historic district. So, she said, if an application was filed it had to go through the process, and if it was filed concurrently with a request before the HDC, or if it got approved and the HDC had to deal with trying to find something appropriate to go on that piece of property, it was a very real challenge. Ms. Trueblood said from a staff prospective, she had thought that there were not that many lots that would cause that issue, but now they were beginning to see pressure on their small houses, such as their 1950's and 1970's ranch houses. She said there were developers who had figured out that if they bought two or more of those properties together, they could tear down, combine the lots, and rebuild. Ms. Trueblood said she believed they would see more and more of those kinds of pressure as Hillsborough became more inviting. 7:41:50 PM Commissioner Gering noted that Elizabeth Read, Executive Director for the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, was in the audience and asked her to join the discussion. He said he believed Ms. Read, who was also the Town's staff person to the Tourism Board, had particular professional experience in historic preservation and similar issues. Commissioner Gering said he believed Ms. Read would be a valuable resource in the discussion. Mr. Bell observed that it was always awkward for the HDC to hear an application for something that had not yet been rezoned, and believed the HDC was sometimes pressured to approve something because it may be construed it would provide leverage to get the rezoning approved. He said although that had never happened to his knowledge, it would be helpful if rezonings were heard before applications came before the HDC. Mayor Stevens said that could work in reverse as well, in that if something was rezoned before going to the HDC it may be construed as being acceptable to the Town Board and the HDC may feel pressure to approve the application for development. He agreed the process appeared to be awkward for the HDC. 7:43:40 PM Commissioner Hallman said he appreciated the efforts to get some consistency. He said they had the downtown commercial district, County buildings and other contributing buildings, and it was challenging to consistently apply standards that made sense across a large part of the Town. He said in order to build the reputation of the HDC as a Board that had a consistent message and a consistent process, was there a possibility of redrafting those boundaries so that the HDC would be addressing the specific boundaries that needed to be protected. Ms. Dockery responded that the National Register nomination for the Town's historic district was not based on contributing boundaries, so there was no real way to but educe the boundary. boundary of the downtown historic Ms. Trueblood stated the boundary had been set in 1973, and at that time the line had been drawn around the original street grid and had nothing to do with contributing or noncontributing houses. Commissioner Hallman said his point was it seemed to undercut the power of the HDC when people in different parts of Town kndid Hallman a said yes, but they knew people stated but they did have to bother. Commissioner June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 9 of 32 always do so, but asked for forgiveness rather than permission. Ms. Dockery stated that happened in the contributing areas just as much as in the noncontributing areas and did not believe that was a valid point. Commissioner Hallman said in order to give the HDC the tools to make that happen consistently it appeared there was a conflict in enforcement. Ms. Dockery stated she believed you would have to hire several people to make daily trips around Town because there were people who could quietly go about their projects and would not come to the HDC unless the Town forced the issue. She said she could not think of any way other than regular enforcement and fines to make that work. 7:46:34 PM Ms. Read said one problem of reducing the boundaries of the local historic district would be if you started losing things on the edges then the National Park Service could choose to take away the significance of the National Register district. She said if that was taken away then you lost the protection that Section 106 provided, which mean cell towers could go in, or DOT could expand into the historic areas. Ms. Read said having that designation in place buffered you from many of those kinds of things that would normally be outside of your control. Ms. Trueblood said if you looked at a map of the contributing versus noncontributing houses, there was definitely a heavy concentration moving from the southwest corner of the Bellevue Mill area, through the downtown district, and up into the northeast corner. But, she said, there were only two street blocks in the entire historic district that did not have a contributing house, one on Cameron and one on Nash just before Latimer Street. So, she said, every other street in Town had contributing houses, but the concentration was not as high as in the main corridor just mentioned. Ms. Dockery said if you began playing with the boundaries in particular areas she believed you would have to re- evaluate the entire district. 7:48:07 PM Commissioner Hallman stated his point was more about consistency of application. Ms. Dockery said they tried very hard to be consistent in how the Guidelines were applied across the entire district, including the noncontributing areas that most people would not consider historic, and so the problem was that people did not them to be consistent but wanted their 1960's house to be treated very differently. She said she did not believe there was any way to get rid of those intrusions without affecting the entire district. Ms. Trueblood said they did have a Code Enforcement Officer now, and that she worked with him to try to catch work that was happening without the appropriate permits. She said having a full -time staff member focused on that had helped a great deal to identify that type of non permitted work 7:49:16 PM Mayor Stevens said it appeared clear that the boundaries were where they should be and was not something that should be considered for change. But, he said, he had a sense that there was a distinction between the commercial and the residential, and that was a key distinction. Ms. Dockery said in the downtown district, the commercial district was actually the stronger of the two districts, and that would be the one they would never want anything bad to June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 10 of 32 happen to because it would loose its character. Mayor Stevens said part of its joy was its eclecticism. Ms. Dockery agreed. Commissioner Hallman said then did they have the same massing and scaling issues with the commercial. Ms. Dockery said because most of the downtown buildings were 2 -story it did not have as much effect. But, she said, what they focused on in the commercial district was the storefront, the first floor, and the detailing of cornices. Commissioner Hallman said then hypothetically, if economic conditions sent a developer to the HDC to ask for a second story, would that be a massing and scaling issue that the HDC would consider. Ms. Dockery stated that would not be something she would want to have to deal with. Ms. Trueblood said generally, the 2 -story buildings were built to the lot lines so you could not get any more massing than that, which was the case with almost every existing contributing building. So, she said, the case of infill in the downtown would be able to follow the Guidelines for a commercial storefront and find a way to be compatible. Ms. Dockery said but, building a second story would make the building noncontributing, and the Secretary of Interior Standards would frown on that and no tax credits would be available to the applicant. She said most people today would want those tax credits. 7:51:46 PM Commissioner Dancy said she appreciated the work the HDC had done, and by reading the materials the two issues would be zoning and the R -20, which would be the most helpful tool for the HDC. She said how to get to that point to make the HDC's job easier to be consistent would be the question. Ms. Dockery said the easiest thing to do would be to say that R -20 would be one house, one lot, with no multi family, but that would make a lot of people unhappy. Commissioner Lloyd said she agreed that saying one house, one lot, would address the primary issue. She said she believed the HDC did good work and she appreciated what they did, and did not envy their job. Commissioner Lloyd stated the HDC had to make hard decisions, and she did not believe she could remain as calm as the HDC members appeared to be. 7:54:19 PM Mayor Stevens said it appeared that the R -20 zoning was really a huge key. Ms. Dockery agreed, noting she was sure they would see even more problems as time went on. Mayor Stevens asked if that was something that would be addressed during the rewrite of the Zoning Ordinance. Ms. Hauth responded yes, although her question for Mr. Hornik would be exactly how to set that up. Mr. Hornik said as far as setting up the district, the Town could not legislate away its authority to legislate the district. He said they could say that things were a matter of policy, but they were not in a position at this point to entertain a zone change in the historic district. Commissioner Gering asked could the Board craft a set of zoning criteria that would have the same effect. Mr. Hornik said that was up to the Town Board, noting that regardless of what the Zoning Ordinance said the Board had a right to say they were going to amend the Zoning June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 11 of 32 Ordinance to allow or not allow particular things. He said they could set up criteria and make it very difficult for someone to present that case without having to change the ordinance. Ms. Read said she believed they were going to see in future the tearing down of multiple houses for one large project, or even one house for a much larger project to go in its place. She said one thing other communities in the State had been doing was extending their demolition delay period. Ms. Read said Hillsborough's delay period was one year, and other communities were extending that out to as much as four years. 7:56:45 PM Commissioner Gering said then the 365 -period in Hillsborough's ordinance was not something that should stay. Mr. Hornik said he believed it was required. Ms. Hauth said that State law required no less than a 365 -day notice, but an amendment had been made to the enabling legislation that allowed a longer period. Ms. Dockery stated what other communities were doing was that if someone did a tear -down then a plan had to be in place and there was a delay of four years. Commissioner Gering asked had special enabling legislation been required for that. Ms. Dockery responded yes, that others had such legislation written just for them, noting that Chapel Hill was considering an even long delay. Commissioner Hallman said instead of R -20 zoning, perhaps there was another solution such as through form -based design. Ms. Dockery said that was where they had run into the problem that because the district was so different, there was no set standard that they could use, so things would have to be reviewed on a case -by -case basis which put them right back to where they were now. She said she did not believe the Design Guidelines could be written to be more specific, and that they could say that something had to look like one thing in order to fit the Design Guidelines and then say that would work everywhere in Town. Ms. Dockery said even along Churton Street there was a lot of variation. Ms. Trueblood said essentially the Design Guidelines were design -based now, because the HDC did not deal at all with land use. She said if someone proposed a project that looked like a single family house, for example with one front door and one driveway, as opposed to multi- family where those elements were repeated, then it would likely be possible in terms of compatibility. Ms. Trueblood said she did not believe the HDC had a concern, architecturally, of having more than one family living in a house as long as the design looked like a single family home. But, she said, what the HDC had seen was multiple applications for multi family buildings that were much bigger with more roof massing and multiple front doors, so all of a sudden they were breaking that pattern of design. She said it could be that the Design Guidelines could speak to those kinds of elements to hinder certain types of multi family development in the historic district. 8:00:16 PM Mayor Stevens said if they assumed that in the residential areas where they would generally like to see single family homes, the perhaps a policy statement from the Town Board to that effect would be sufficient to hinder other types of development. Ms. Hauth said there was June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 12 of 32 an example where the Town Board had wanted to allow an increase in density in another part of Town to be more efficient, but that had gotten transferred to the historic district and they realized they did not want it there. Mayor Stevens suggested they could add to their Conditional Use process language that said a project had to meet the Design Guidelines of the historic district. Ms. Hauth said they could even made some of those tools available in the historic district, and then use the Land Use Plan to talk more specifically about what development in the historic district looked like and since rezonings now had to be consistent with that Plan it would become more challenging for developers. Ms. Hauth said they could not take way their right to legislate, but they could provide more definition in the Plan what the historic district looked like and what development pattern was reasonable, making it more challenging to achieve a rezoning. 8:02:18 PM Ms. Dockery said if there were ways to adjust the Design Guidelines to somehow control that use and size, such as having multi- family look like single family, then that would be sufficient, but she was not sure how to write them to make them as strong as possible so that they would hold up in court. She said she believed they would have to be written to be very specific. Mr. Bell asked how often they updated the Design Guidelines. Ms. Trueblood said they had just been updated last year. She said the last time a new Guideline was written was in 2001. Ms. Trueblood said it would not be too difficult to do that especially if it were coupled with the Zoning Ordinance rewrite so make sure there was consistency throughout. 8:03:48 PM Commissioner Gering said he had been intrigued by the suggestion that they could get enabling legislation to increase the delay for demolition, and he would be in favor of pursuing that. Commissioner Lloyd stated she would be in favor of that as well. Commissioner Hallman asked if that would apply across Town, such as in West Hillsborough. Ms. Trueblood replied no, it would apply only in the recognized local historic district, noting there was a possibility of future historic districts in the Town. Ms. Hauth stated they could also look at conservation districts, which was what she believed the Town Board had in mind for West Hillsborough. She said when they got to that point that was certainly one of the aspects they would want to consider, because tear down was exactly what they were worried about in West Hillsborough. 8:04:53 PM Mr. McCullough said one of the things he had been impressed with during his time on the HDC was that the rules were followed closely. He said houses that were thought to be very much on the fringe of the district or on the fringe of being considered historical had their applications considered exactly the same of those homes that were very much inside the district and were truly an historical building. Mr. McCullough said he believed there was a solid interest in using the Design Guidelines as their tool without making exceptions. Ms. Trueblood said the HDC had talked in the past about when they came up against situations where it was quite obvious that people had done work to get around the HDC's standards, that there should be some kind of fine put in place. She said now people were asked to file for a June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 13 of 32 Certificate of Appropriateness after the fact, but if that was not done or the case was not appealed to the Board of Adjustment, then if it were to come to the Town Board then perhaps the $100 a day fine could be used in such cases. Ms. Trueblood said an option could be a fine placed on work that was performed without a permit. 8:07:05 PM Ms. Hauth said actually in July the fee schedule would change by making the review fee greater if the Town discovered work performed without a permit. She said some of the review fees were negligible, but they were trying to structure it so that the fees were somewhat more hurtful for those who did not make the effort to get a permit. Ms. Hauth said she believed many of the people moving into the historic district do so because they want to live in such a district, and had a better understanding of what was required. She said but the adding of higher penalties would help reinforce the idea that the standards had to be complied with. Mr. Hornik said what Ms. Hauth was saying was that the forgiveness fee should be higher than the permission fee. Ms. Trueblood asked if that new fee schedule would apply to COA permits. Ms. Hauth said she believed it was captured to apply to everything, noting the threshold would go from $10 to $100, rather than $10 to $20 as once considered. Mayor Stevens said then the fee was $10 if you applied, but if you did not and had to come back after the fact the fee would be $100, but that was different than the $100 a day fine which was likely unenforceable. Ms. Hauth agreed, but noted that the fees had to be at the punitive stage to get people's attention. Mayor Stevens agreed. 8:10:27 PM Mayor Stevens said it appeared they had some action items and a relatively clear idea of where they wanted to go from here. Commissioner Gering said they needed more specific guidance of what needed to go for the zoning rewrite, they needed some concrete proposal for policy that the Town Board could consider for adoption to supplement what ever zoning changes they ended up making, and they needed to consider the process for legislation to extend the demolition delay period. Ms. Hauth said they need to make sure hat as they were going through the rewrite that they were only allowing the processes in the historic distriet that they intended to. She said they could say that certain processes were not available in the historic district overlay zone. 8:11:37 PM Mr. Hornik said right now their Section 2.3 or 2.5 in the Zoning Ordinance was about one paragraph, which was the creation of the historic district. He said he would envision in the rewrite that they would have much more detail in those sections that outlined the limitations of uses and the massing of structures next to each other and other sorts of things. Mr. Hornik said that would help to eliminate some of the vagueness and some of the problems they were seeing now. Ms. Trueblood added most of the time applicants wanted to know what would or would not pass, because they did not want to waste their time asking for rezoning if it would not be acceptable. So, she said, that kind of guidance would be a real service for the HDC as well as for people considering developing property in Hillsborough. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 14 of 32 8:13:36 PM Commissioner Gering said he would imagine that Hillsborough was recognized as a model community for historic preservation. Ms. Read said she would say that both the 1973 National Register nomination as well as the fact that there were State Historic Preservation Office employees who had chosen to live in Hillsborough because of its preservation standards would support that idea. She said another indication of that was that several years ago representatives from another community who was considering establishing an historic district had visited Hillsborough to see how they did it. Ms. Trueblood said she received requests every couple of months from other communities asking for copies of the HDC's Design Guidelines, which was recognized as a top notch document. She said she believed their Standards of Evaluation needed to be discarded and rewritten during the Zoning Ordinance rewrite. 8:15:22 PM Mayor Stevens asked if there were other concerns that had not yet been addressed. Commissioner Hallman said he believed there was a challenge on the horizon that he believed they would be faced with. He said in order to preserve something they would perhaps have to compromise some of their principals, and the question would be how to accomplish that compromise. Ms. Trueblood stated one huge issue on the horizon was public art in the historic district, noting that at present there was no policy in place. Ms. Dockery agreed, noting they were unsure how to respond to requests such as that because public art was not a building. Ms. Trueblood said that public art was a structure so at present the Zoning Ordinance required that it come before the HDC. She said the HDC would soon be seeing its first application for a large -scale public art piece in August. 8:17:51 PM Mayor Stevens said that may be something they may need to have a wider discussion about, particularly whether or not they would even want to consider something like that in the historic district. Ms. Hauth said that would be a fairly simple thing to exempt out. Mayor Stevens said he had been impressed to hear Mayor Riley in Charleston talking about his town and how important corners and intersections were, particularly key corners, and perhaps that was something that should be addressed in the Design Guidelines. He said that was certainly something that should be considered since corners were incredibly sensitive. Mayor Stevens thanked the HDC for its work and for the good things they were doing for the community in terms of preservation. Commissioner Gering said the few times recently that he had attended HDC meetings he had been thoroughly and totally impressed with its professionalism. He said he had served on the HDC years ago, and it had been a very different process. Commissioner Gering said he admired the work they were doing. 8:20:58 PM Mayor Stevens stated that the HDC was appreciated and each one of its members was appreciated. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 15 of 32 Mayor Stevens closed the Joint Meeting. 7. Discussion of acquisition of easements and road maintenance /drainage along Maplewood Drive 8:21:17 PM Commissioner Lloyd suggested separating the discussion of the cemetery out as a separate issue from the Maplewood Drive discussion. She said she believed there was enough difference in the issues to warrant a separate discussion. Mayor Stevens said that was a good suggestion. Commissioner Lowen agreed, noting those issues should be separate. Maplewood Easements and Road Maintenance 8:22:11 PM Ms. Ard provided a brief overview of the issue, noting that the Price family owned property on Maplewood adjoining the cemetery. She said the Town had been maintaining Maplewood for its entire length between Corbin and Cedar, and at some point that maintenance had stopped. Ms. Ard said that Ms. Price had appeared before the Town Board and said that a previous Town Board had agreed to maintain that road. She said tonight she was asking direction from the Board as to what maintenance should be provided. Ms. Ard said after some research, they had discovered that the entrance to Maplewood to Corbin was actually not public right -of -way but private property, so they had ceased accessing the property from that area and the maintenance, and had alerted the family that actually owned that property of that. Ms. Ard said they had repaired what Ms. Price had referred to as ruts in the front of Ms. Price's property, and had talked with her in terms of acquiring an easement from her. But, she said, that was before they had found out last week that the other family was not necessarily interested in providing an easement because there might be some future activity on that property and they believed the easement might interfere with that. Ms. Ard said at present, Ms. Price had the same access she had always had, but if the other family did limit the access from Corbin Ms. Price would still be able to access her property from Cedar. But, she said, because the Town had talked with Ms. Price about a potential easement and providing her with potential trash pick -up directly in front of her property, they had felt it best to bring the matter to the Town Board for direction to see if that was something of interest. Ms. Ard said at present they no longer needed that easement, noting they were simply pulling the cans from the street to the end of Ms. Price's property line to assist her because she had limited mobility. Ms. Ard said the other issue was that since they now knew that the property they had thought was public was private, that in order to be a good steward and address some of Ms. Price's concerns the Town could continue to maintain that area. She said at some point they could do an additional one -time maintenance to the ditch area next to the cemetery on that property in order to leave it in as good a condition as possible one the Town's maintenance ceased. Ms. Ard said that would also repair the damage that Ms. Price contends was done to the road because of Town activities. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 16 of 32 8:26:08 PM Mayor Stevens said to take the issues one at a time, he said they had identified a road that they were not going to use and had no future use for a public purpose, and they had been going beyond what was required in order to perform a public service. He said he believed if they left the property in good order then they could be done with it and then have very clear boundaries going forward. Mayor Stevens said they had thought it was public property but it was not, so now they would make it clear that it was not public property but they would leave it in good repair and provide no further maintenance. Commissioner Dancy agreed, and asked about the sign that was posted. Ms. Ard said she was not quite sure how the sign got there but would work with the families to get that addressed, adding they would also work with DOT to make sure that they had Maplewood Lane listed as entirely private. 8:27:23 PM Commissioner Lowen said prior to learning that the property was private, Ms. Price did not have a desire to have an easement, correct? Ms. Ard responded that Ms. Price was okay with that, but the other family was not interested. Commissioner Lowen said then she was aware of the current circumstances in terms of the property being private and the Town was in no position to continue maintenance. Ms. Ard said she understood that the two families would be discussing that among themselves and handle that matter privately. Commissioner Lowen said if she was okay with the trash cans being pulled from her property line to the street, then he did not know if the Town needed to do anything other than doing some one -time repairs as the Mayor had described. Commissioner Lowen said since the agreement was now that they would continue to collect the garbage, he asked did that need to be put in writing. He said as time went on and staff and Board members changed, it might be necessary to have something in writing. Ms. Ard said having it in the written record, the minutes of this meeting, would be sufficient to indicate the Board's agreement. Mr. Peterson said the Town was picking up her trash because of her limited mobility, but if Ms. Price were to no longer live there and an able- bodied person were to come in, they would need to take there trash to Cedar for pickup. 8:30:30 PM Mayor Stevens said then the minutes of this meeting should show that and they should also write a letter to Ms. Price noting the Town's agreement to continue the service because of her mobility limitations; however, it was a special consideration for her alone. Cemetery/Tree 8:30:59 PM Ms. Ard said again this issue had apparently come before a previous Town Board but they had no record of it. She said the primary issue was the tree that had been dead for some time, of which many believed was a danger to Ms. Price's home. Ms. Ard said at present the Town had been mowing and weeding the cemetery, but no other kind of upkeep. She said the question was whose cemetery was it, and who was responsible for maintaining trees and did the June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 17 of 32 Town had the authorization to actually remove the tree. Ms. Ard said she had recently spoken to former Commissioner Smith who remembered some discussion about that same tree. Commissioner Lloyd said she had been on the Board for some time and did not remember the issue every being discussed, but that the people buried there was among the founders of the Dickerson Chapel. She said there were also members of many long- standing families of the Town buried there. Commissioner Lloyd said most of those being buried there now were members of that chapel, and because they were dying out she did not believe the chapel had the funds to maintain the cemetery. 8:35:17 PM Mayor Stevens said then per Commissioner Lloyd's research it had been considered a Town cemetery. Commissioner Lloyd said at least it was the place where members of Dickerson Chapel had been buried, and noted some of the families buried there. Mayor Stevens said it was obvious there was a lot of heritage in that particular spot. Commissioner Lowen thanked Commissioner Lloyd for the research she had provided to the Board, noting that while reading it his eyes had been opened to many things he had not considered before. He said when the issue came up before it had not been resolved, and by looking at the list of those buried in that cemetery he had realized that there were direct descendents of his family buried there. Commissioner Lowen said he likely more than 95% of those buried in that cemetery were of African- American descent because for many years they were not allowed to be buried in the Town cemetery. He said he knew it was certainly more than 12 or 13 years ago that the Town had been taking care of that small piece of property, and it was a small piece of land. Commissioner Lowen said he did not believe the Town should discontinue maintaining the cemetery. He asked had anyone ever confronted the Town about burial on that property or the Town's ownership of it, or how someone would go about being buried there. Town Clerk Donna Armbrister said about maintenance or ownership the answer was no, but for burials the answer was yes. She said such inquiries had been referred to Jack Payne because he kept the records. 8:40:16 PM Commissioner Lowen said he did not believe anyone had been buried there for a very long time except for one or two exceptions. But, he said, the Town had been maintaining it for some time and believed they should continue to do so. Commissioner Lowen said a significant amount of money had been spent to do research on the old slave cemetery, and it was his opinion that the Town should take ownership for Maplewood Cemetery, even if it was done through Eminent Domain, so that they could continue to maintain it including removing the dead tree now in question. He said if the Town did not do that, it could end up looking like the cemetery on the corner across from the Citgo which sometimes had grass four feet high. Commissioner Lowen said he was not suggesting that the Town take ownership of that one, but it was an eyesore. Commissioner Lowen said the Maplewood cemetery had been maintained by the Town, and to even consider giving up maintenance of it would create a huge problem and would send a very bad message to a lot of people. He said if the Town was going to maintain it, then they should take ownership of it. Commissioner Lowen said when funds allowed they should put a fence June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 18 of 32 around it, they establish rules and guidelines, and they should not allow anyone else to be buried in it since there was no space. He said the records were very inaccurate and he was not suggested that money be spent on researching those records, but it was certainly something to be thought about for the future. Commissioner Lowen said the tree in question had been dead for a very long time, and was right on the line that appeared to be the property line of the cemetery, and the tree could very well fall on Ms. Price's home under the right conditions. He said the Town should remove the tree. Commissioner Lowen asked how much time did it take Town staff to weed and mow that cemetery. Ms. Ard said it was done by a contractor and the price was about $1,600 a year for once -a -week maintenance. Commissioner Lowen said he did not believe that would break the bank, but did not know what taking ownership of the property would cost. 8:42:44 PM Mayor Stevens said he was concerned about setting a precedent by taking ownership, but agreed wholeheartedly that the cemetery was a part of the Town's heritage. Ms. Ard said she just needed some direction, noting they had installed steps at the other cemetery and many had not agreed with that. But, she said, the way the tree was located they would have to disturb some property to remove it and that needed to be clear. Commissioner Gering said he would like to understand if the Town set a precedent how many other cemeteries they would possibly have to make the same decision about in the future. 8:43:48 PM Commissioner Lowen said before that question was answered, he wanted to mention that some of the other cemeteries, such as the Whitted cemetery, actually abutted his property. He said he had a little of 3 acres, and that property used to be a part of that whole section that used to be owned by the Whitted's at one time. Commissioner Lowen said it was his understanding that at that time the Whiffed ancestors were not allowed to be buried in the Town cemetery so the family had taken a section of land and began to bury their relatives there. But, he said, it was no longer used for burials so it was overgrown. Commissioner Lowen said he did not see how taking ownership of Maplewood Cemetery would set a precedent that would address that small cemetery he had just described. He said it was a cemetery but it was not one the Town had ever provided maintenance for, and if they did not begin doing that then there would be 110 precedent set. Commissioner Lowen said the Price family had three people buried on their private property directly across from Ms. Price's driveway, but the Town had never maintained it and had no responsibility of it, so again there had never been any precedent set. 8:45:25 PM Mayor Stevens said he shared Commissioner Gering's concern, and did not know if there was some evidence that the Maplewood Cemetery belonged to the Town. Mr. Hornik said that the last reported deed for that property was recorded on May 18, 1905, and listed multiple trustees which included a Whitted, a Fairbault, and a Daye, and there was no conveyance out of those trustees. He said perhaps individual plots in the cemetery were conveyed out, but the deed for the cemetery property proper had been recorded 104 years ago. Mr. Hornik said there was a statutory provision that allowed towns to basically assume control of abandoned cemeteries if they so choose, but by reading the statute the circumstances must be that Commissioner Lowen said he understood the point. Commissioner Lowen said at some point the Town question to the Attorney would be that if the Town someone were to appear who had inherited a deed from that their deed was no longer valid. Mr. Hornik stated did not know who was buried where, and there could deed of burial sites. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 19 of 32 the property was not under the control or in the possession of any church or religious organization, that it had been set aside or used for cemetery purposes, and the trustees or owners named in the deed or deeds for the property had died or were unknown, or the deeds of conveyance have been lost or misplaced and no record of title thereto has been found, and the property had been occupied and used for burial purposes, then the city could take control. Mr. Hornik said they would have to do a survey and provided notices, but the process would allow Hillsborough to take possession of that cemetery. He reiterated that the last conveyance of that land on records was 104 years ago, and noting had come from those trustees since that time and it was fair to say that none of those trustees were still living. 8:48:02 PM Commissioner Gering said he question remained how many cemeteries were there in the Town that had similar circumstances, and that might be considered in the future to be taken over by the Town. He said taking ownership of Maplewood Cemetery would be setting a precedent. Ms. Armbrister said that the Town was also mowing another small cemetery. Commissioner Lloyd agreed, noting it was the one on East Tryon Street, noting that those head stones were not marked. Ms. Armbrister agreed, but added the Town did not know who owned that cemetery, either. Ms. Hauth said she could think of five that she had come across. Ms. Ard agreed, noting there were other cemeteries around, such as the one on Nash and the one at Cornwallis Hills. Commissioner Gering said then it appeared that there were cemeteries that the Town was not maintaining that they should be maintaining. Commissioner Gering said Maplewood was not just one problem that they should be considering, they should be considering all of those. 8:49:15 PM Commissioner Hallman said that certainly did not have to be decided tonight. Commissioner Lowen agreed, but said he would certainly want some discussion about it. He said when you talked about abandoned cemeteries, who was to say that someone might not decided to go and bury someone in the Maplewood Cemetery or one of the others without anyone's knowledge. Commissioner Lowen said about six years ago someone had cut a path to the Whitted cemetery to bury someone, and it had come as a surprise to those who knew about it that someone would even consider doing that. should be able to control that, and his took over the Maplewood Cemetery, if someone, could the Town tell that person the practical problem was that the Town potentially be people who were holding June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 20 of 32 8:50:54 PM Commissioner Dancy said what was needed to be decided tonight was what to do about the tree. Ms. Ard agreed. Commissioner Dancy said she believed the Town should take responsibility for removing the tree, and the other issues could be addressed later on. Mayor Stevens agreed with that, and would have an interest in having a discussion about the possibility of taking ownership of the cemetery. He said they needed to consider all the positive and negative aspects of doing that. Ms. Ard said when removing the tree they would be careful to disturb the least amount of area possible, including what was under the tree. Commissioner Lloyd said if they did not take possession of the cemetery she believed they would all regret it because they would not be preserving their heritage, and it should be seriously considered. 8:53:47 PM Commissioner Lowen said since the tree was very close to the property line and Ms. Price was afraid of it falling on her house, the Town should remove it. He said he was also concerned that because they did not know where all the burial sites were that taking heavy equipment onto the cemetery grounds could potential disturb burial sites. Commissioner Lowen said since the road and Ms. Price's driveway were graveled, perhaps she would allow a truck, if necessary, to enter the property in that manner in order to cut down the tree to a stump as close as possible to ground level so that they did not have to did it up and disturb the ground. Mayor Stevens agreed that not disturbing any of the burial sites was certainly an issue, possibly just as important as saving the house from damage. Ms. Ard said she could certainly ask Ms. Price about that. Mr. Peterson said just to clarify, they were not proposing stopping the maintenance that they had been doing for a long time, but obviously the issues warranted bringing it to the Board's attention in order to get some direction on it. 8. Discussion Regarding Noise and Parking Issues Generated from Motorcycles in Downtown (Commissioner Hallman will share concerns from citizens on this matter) 8:55:51 PM Commissioner Hallman said he believed all would agree that part of the vibrancy of the downtown was outdoor dining, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to dine outdoors and enjoy the experience because on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights the downtown had become a very attractive place for motorcyclists to visit. He said he did not want to discourage those motorcycle tourists, but when you had 15 all backed into parking places with their exhausts facing the diners, and every few minutes someone was cranking up a bike and you could not hear yourself talk and you got hit with a blast of exhaust, then he believed they needed to try address that before they lost that outdoor dining. Commissioner Hallman said in thinking that, he thought perhaps the simplest solution was to have car only parking on the west side of Churton Street in front of the outdoor dining, with June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 21 of 32 motorcycles free to park anywhere else. He said that would prevent diners from being assaulted by noise and exhaust and would still encourage their biker friends to come into town and spend money. Commissioner Gering asked if anyone knew what the business owners wanted to do. Commissioner Hallman said they wanted to have customers there. Commissioner Gering asked had anyone asked them. Mayor Stevens said he had, and they wanted to value the motorcycle community so they would like to see a way to preserve the customers' enjoyment. He said he believed there was a concern about outdoor dining, not only about the motorcycles but also about the traffic and vehicles and pedestrians. Mayor Stevens said one business owner had wondered what would happen if they were to remove the parking for those three or four spots, particularly at that intersection at South King, and have no parking such as after five p.m., and that would allow the opportunity to widen the passage area and expand the outdoor tthe businesse s as that automafically address the the issue of the motorcycles and would b enefi Board look at that particular area as an area that could benefit from some streetscape design. Mayor Stevens said they had discussed in a previous meeting about doing a parking study and looking at how parking should be shuffled around, so if they could rearrange the parking in the area where they had the outdoor dining that might solve a lot of issues. Mayor Stevens said at least one business owner had indicated he would be willing to contribute financially to make that change possible. He said partnerships with business owners were something they could approach, but no parking for motorcycles in that area was something that could be addressed immediately. 9:00:07 PM Commissioner Gering said he would like to determine what other business owners thought about the current situation and the Mayor's other comments. He said it seemed to him that the situation needed to have a creative solution. Commissioner Hallman said perhaps they should ask the Tourism Board to weigh in with their thoughts, as well. Commissioner Gering agreed. 9:00:42 PM Commissioner Lowen said as he had mentioned earlier, he had a part-time job in Raleigh which involved parking control and worked with a person who drove a motorcycle to work. He said when that person had driven in to the parking garage he had mentioned how loud his bike was. Commissioner Lowen said as they had talked he learned that the person had considered buying a house in Hillsborough, and that his motorcycle club which could easily number 2,000 people would begin meeting next month at Occoneechee Steakhouse. He said he had immediately considered calling the Police Chief, but had asked the person where they considering bringing a large number of bikes into Town. Commissioner Lowen said there was not even enough parking for 2,000 bikes on Occoneechee's property, so he had gotten the person's contact information so they could follow up with that. He said the person had asked him to consider how much business his club would bring to Town, and he was not disputing that but believed that if they were thinking of bringing that many motorcycles into Town once a month then others needed to be aware of that, including the Chief and the Town Manager. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 22 of 32 Commissioner Lowen said Myrtle Beach had faced similar problems and had changed its ordinances to address that. He said he wanted the Town to explore what the possible implications might be of having that club meeting in Town, if the owners at Occoneechee Steakhouse understood the possible number of motorcycles it would need to provide parking for, and any other issues that might need to be addressed. 9:03:53 PM Commissioner Hallman said he understood that bikers said the reason their bikes were so loud was for safety reasons, but there was no evidence to support that. He said the two major bike entities, the American Motorcycle Association and one other whose name escaped him, had put out to their membership guidelines that said they had to be respectful of towns because they did not want to see legislative action that restricted them. Commissioner Lowen said he believed it was certainly something that needed to be on their radar so they could be prepared should problems arise. He said they did not want to say they did not want them and don't come, but how did you handle a large number of bikes coming into the Town, noting the meets were on Sunday for brunch. Commissioner Lowen said the person had said to him that during the summer months, attendance could well attract over 1,000 bikers coming from all other the area. 9:05:38 PM Chief Birkhead said since March they had had at least three groups of motorcyclists coming into Town with one event held at the Big Barn, and from a safety standpoint there had been no issues. He said he had reached out to four jurisdictions of similar size to Hillsborough, and none of them prohibited motorcycle parking on the street, and those jurisdictions said they would have up to a dozen bikers traveling together, and had suggested it was better if you could get two or three bikes in the same parking space. Chief Birkhead said regarding the noise, there was a provision in Chapter 20 that addressed vehicles in general, not specifically motorcycles, and there was a question about baffled pipes as opposed to unbaffled pipes. He said that Chapter 20 did not specifically address that, but did address exhaust emissions and noise. Chief Birkhead said there was likely more teeth in the Noise Ordinance than there was in Chapter 20. Chief Birkhead said if they went after loud pipes on motorcycles, then they would have to go after loud pipes on cars, which they did not currently do. He said they did have regular motorcycle events in Town, usually on the south side or the north side, and the downtown likely saw a number around 8 to 10 on a weekend night. Chief Birkhead said he was a biker, and bikers wanted to go to a place and have a spirit or two with other bikers and talk about each others' bikes parked out front, so moving the bikes might in effect drive that business away from the downtown. Chief Birkhead said that business may not be significant to some, but he agreed with Commissioner Gering that they should survey the downtown businesses to get their thoughts, then go from there. 9:09:23 PM Mayor Stevens asked was there anything mentioned by the other jurisdictions regarding the proximity to outdoor diners. Chief Birkhead said yes, that they did have outdoor June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 23 of 32 dining and occasionally there were issues. He said he had talked with Carrboro, Clayton, Mooresville and Zebulon, and bikers did pull up on front of restaurants and do basically what they were doing here in close proximity to the outdoor diners. Chief Birkhead asked for clarification regarding the suggestion to prohibit parking in a certain area after 5 p.m., and how that would be addressed. Commissioner Hallman said he was simply making a suggestion in reaction to the issue, adding he did not believe they had enough teeth in their Noise Ordinance because the low rumble emitted from a bike would likely not attain the sound pressure levels that were written into the ordinance. Chief Birkhead said that also would not be a violation of Chapter 20, and the reason he had said they had more teeth in the Noise Ordinance was because measuring was not addressed in Chapter 20 but it was addressed in the Noise Ordinance. Commissioner Hallman said he did not believe there would be enough power in that low rumble for the meter to register, even though it may sound deafening to some. 9:11:19 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed they were all in agreement that they would want to solicit comments from the merchants. Commissioner Gering agreed, noting there might be a solution that improved the environment for everyone. Commissioner Hallman said it was not just the merchants but their customers as well. Commissioner Gering said he believed their interests would be similar. Mayor Stevens asked did the Board want to solicit comments from the Tourism Board. Commissioner Hallman said he was dissatisfied that the Board would not take any action tonight, noting he believed there was enough evidence that there could be a potential disturbance and people were complaining. He said he would like to explore that rather than just waiting until the problem became more critical. Commissioner Gering said he could bring it up to the Tourism Board, and did not know what their reaction might be. He said they did not have a lot of opportunity outside the grant cycle to do a lot of other kinds of work, and they were currently dealing with Wayfinding signage, the Website subcommittees, the mission rewrite, and a number of other work items still in process. 9:13:34 PM Mayor Stevens said he would at least alert them to what was going on, and he would be happy to work with Commissioner Gering to relay any necessary information to them. Commissioner Dancy suggested asking the Chamber of Commerce to contact the merchants and asked for their comments, complaints or suggestions. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 24 of 32 Mayor Stevens said he believed the outdoor diners were the primary complainants and it was the merchants who would suffer should those diners go away, so they should have a say in what was done to address it. He said they certainly should raise the question. Commissioner Hallman said they served not only the merchants in Town but the citizens as well, and there were citizens complaining. He said in that sense the citizens had just as much at stake in that as the merchants did. 9:14:37 PM Commissioner Gering said to that point he would say they would just be driving the motorcycles to go someplace else and bother the citizens in that place. Commissioner Hallman said he was only saying that a few were not an issue, but a lot of them were, and he did not believe the diners rights over road the bikers right to go outside and look at the bikes. Commissioner Gering said he did not understand Commissioner Hallman's argument, noting that the people who would be impacted would be the outside diners, and that the people inside the restaurants would not be impacted. He said they needed to agree on the scope of the problem and then a solution. Commissioner Gering said it was the merchants who had the most vested interests in finding an acceptable solution, not everyone in Hillsborough. Commissioner Hallman said it was his experience that those operating downtown businesses were that they were so strapped and running so fast that they did not hear half of what the Town Board heard. He asked was Commissioner Gering opposed to having a broader discussion. Commissioner Gering said no, that was just what he wanted. But, he did not agree that the broader impact was on the citizens. Mr. Peterson said an incremental approach might be to say that they would have a dialogue with the businesses owners in that small area that were being impacted, and let them decide if the problem was ultimately great enough that it would affect and was affecting their business. He said he believed getting that feedback and then bringing that perspective to the Town Board would be a good way to determine what the next step might be. 9:17:56 PM Mayor Stevens stated since the issue had been brought to the Town Board's attention, then they could bring it to the merchants' attention so that they could help the Town craft a solution. Mr. Peterson said they could survey the entire block, and if they agreed that the noise was, for example, chasing people away from the book store, then they would be being negatively affected as well as the restaurants. He said it would be easy enough to put together a survey and surveying those merchants in that block on that side of Churton Street. Commissioner Gering said there may be an issue with King Street, with Cup a Joe and others. Commissioner Lloyd commented it was not an issue at her pharmacy, because the bikers who parked there parked like vehicles would park and did not back in. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 25 of 32 9:18:52 PM Mayor Stevens said he would be happy to talk with the four restaurant owners to begin with, just to raise awareness that it was an issue that the Town wanted to find a solution to. He said he wanted the merchants to know that the Town was sensitive to the complaints from their customers. Commissioner Gering said that Mr. Peterson might want to come to the next Tourism Board meeting to talk with them since this was a Town Board issue. He said their next meeting was a 5:30 on July 6 Mr. Peterson said one complaint that he received was from a citizen who had said they were being disturbed at home and didn't like it, and had mentioned that the bikers were at the Wooden Nickel and were right next to the Police Station but the Police were not enforcing the law. He said he and the Chief had talked about it, and understood the complaints about trying to eat and having exhaust pointed at you, but that was a different context than saying bikes were loud and they didn't like it and it was bothering them at their house. 9:21:11 PM Mayor Stevens said then they would start with the merchants and go from there. Chief Birkhead asked was he hearing that there was no action to be taken by staff. Mayor Stevens said not at this point. Added Item: Closed Session A. Closed Session as authorized by North Carolina General Statute 143 regarding Attorney /Client Privilege to discuss contracts issues surrounding Gold Park. 9:21:45 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the Board moved to go into Closed Session to seek advice from the Town Attorney regarding contract issues with Gold Park by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed. 9. Adjourn Upon returning to Open Session and upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Lloyd, the Board moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 PM. The motion was declared passed. Respectfully submitted, Donna F. Ms. Armbrister, MMC Town Clerk TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH RESOLUTION OPPOSING HB 524 WITH REFERENDUM PROVISION WHEREAS, the House Judiciary II Committee recommended a committee substitute for HB 524, a compromise that was developed to address the legitimate concerns of citizens while maintaining authority for annexation to manage rapid growth and pay for essential services; and WHEREAS, the committee substitute version of 524 includes a significant number of annexation reforms and as a result, property owners will receive more protections, there will be substantially more stringent annexation standards, procedures and water and sewer extension requirements; and W HEREAS, municipal officials are committed to reasonable reform of annexation laws to address legi nnate concerns; and WHEREAS, statewide business groups such as the NC. Homebuilders Association and the North Carolina Chamber both are on record in support of reasonable and fair annexation authority and opposed to a referendum requirement ad other drastic changes; and WHEREAS, a referendum will become a vote on municipal taxes and will turn into allowing veto, thereby ignoring the broader good; and health of the entire community and nearby residents to avoid municipal taxes forever, even though they benefit from city services NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners supports reasonable and fair annexation authority reform, but strongly will oppose House Bill 524 so long as any referendum provision remains a part of the bill. Adopted this the 13 day of July, 2009. kE504w/to'm o7 3— 3. Tom Stevens, Mayor Town of Hillsborough June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 26 of 32 TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH RESOLUTION OPPOSING ABOLITION OF THE PRIVILEGE LICENSE TAX WHEREAS, there is continuing disagreement between the House and Senate over how to raise approximately $1 billion in new revenue; and WHEREAS, published reports indicate that the conferees do not expect to reach an agreement on the state budget before the continuing resolution now funding state government expires in mid. July; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners has significant concern regarding the apparent agreement to eliminate the Privilege License Tax, which raises approximately $50 million for municipalities statewide, unless a substitute revenue source is provided. .Adopted this the 13 day of July, 2009. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 27 of 32 C4 to) 074 7 /3 3.8 Tom Stevens, Mayor Town of Hillsborough June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 28 of 32 ORDINANCE 20090713 -7.0 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 4 OF 'THE TOWN CODE OF THE TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF THE TOWN OF Bur d SBOROUGH ORDAINS: Section 1. Chapter 4— Personnel, of the Hillsborough Code ishereby amended as folio Section 4.22 Annual Leave (a) Annual leave may be used for rest and relaxation, for medical and legal appointments when sink leave is exhausted, and for absences due to adverse weather conditions. (b) Annual leave shall be earned by fulltime employees in accordance with the table in this subsection: Regular, part time employees shall earn annual leave in prorated amount according to the table in this subsection: Years of Aggregate Service Less than 2 yrs 2 yrs but less Bum 5 yrs 5 yrs but less than 10 yrs 10 yrs but less tban 15 yrs yrs but less 1 20 yrs or more Hours Earned Bi- Weekly 3.70 hrs. 4. 5.46 Ins. 6.39 hrs 731 hrs. 8.23 hrs. Hours Earned in a Year 96.20 hr 118.04 hrs. 14L.96 hrs. 166.14 hrs. 190.06 hrs. 213 (c) In addition to the leave earned in accordance with the foregoing table, exempt employees with ten years or more of service to the town shall accrue an additional two hours of vacation time per month in lieu ofoverttme compensation. (d) Annual leave may accumulate to a maximum of 240 hours. On December 31, any leave in excess of 240 hours, up to 96 hours, shall be converted to sick leave. (e) Annual leave may be taken as earned by the employee or in any amount as desired y the employee, subject to the approval of the supervisor, with the exception that all departm t h s and other employes so designated by the Board must take at least five workdays o accrued annual leave per calendar year. (f) The town manager may, with the approval of the Board, advance annual leave in an amount not to exceed the amount an employee can earn during the succeeding 12-month period. (g) Annual leave credit accumulated by each employee as ofthe effective date of the ors from which this chapter is derived will be retained. (h) Upon submission of his resignation, an employee shall be paid for annual l accumulated to the date of separation, not to exceed the maximum of 30 days. An employee who is involuntarily separated for nondisciplittary reasons shall be paid for annual leave accumulated to the date of separation. Employees involuntarily separated for disciplinary reasons will ordinarily be paid except in cases of extreme provocation the town manager may, in his discretion, decide to withhold payment. At the time of an employee's separation, any annual leave owed the town will be deducted from the employee's final compensation. (i) The estate of employee who dies while working for the town shall be entitled to payment for all of accumulated leave credited to the employee's account, not to exceed 240 hours. Section 2. All provisions of any Town Ordinance in conflict with this Ordinance Repealed. Section 3, This ordinance srpll become effective upon adoption. The foregoing ordinance having been submitted to a vote, received the following vote and was duly adopted this 13" day of,July, 20112. Ayes: 5 Noes :0 Absent or Excused: 0 June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 29 of 32 Donna E. Armbrister, Town Clerk ORDINANCE 20090713 -7.0 ORDINANCE #20090713 -8.G AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 6, MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC APPENDIX A, SECTIONS 6A-6 and 6-Al2 OF THE HILLSBOROUGH TOWN CODE The Board of Commissioners of the Town of Hillsborough opining SECTION 1. All section references below refer to the Town of Hillsborough Code, Chap Appendix A. Section 6A -14. SECTION 2. Section 6A-6 Four Wav Storrs Three Wav Stows In accordance with Section 6-A6, three way stop signs shall be erected at the intersection blow: Boundary Street and Terrell Road (North and Southbound) Alma Avenue and Terrell Road (North and Southbound) SECTION 3. Section 6A-12 Sneed Limits. In accordance with Subsection 6 -20(b) the following speed limits are establish streets indicated: Speed Limit (MPH) On Street From 20 Alma Avenue Nash Street 20 Boundary Street Terrell Road 20 East Drive Boundary Street. 20 Freeland Drive Terrell Road 20 Daphne Drive Alma Avenue 20 Daphne Court Daphne Drive 20 Forest Street Lakeshore Drive 20 Sherwood Lane Forest Street 20 Central Avenue Cornelius Street 20 Terrell Road Cornelius Street, June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 30 of 32 East Drive End Forest Street End Terrell Road End End End Freeland Drive Dapbne Dtiv The foregoing ordinance having been submitted to a vote, receiving was duly adopted this 13 day of July 2009. Ayes: 5 Noes: Q Absent or Excused: Q June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 31 of 32 following vote SECTION 4. All Provisions of any To Ordinance in conflict with this Ordinance are SECTION 6. This ordinance shall become effective upon adoption. Donna F. Atmbrister Town Clerk SUPPORTING A MUNICIPAL AGREEMENT WITH 1HE NCDOT FOR THE NASH STREET SIDWALK PROJECT WHEREAS, The Town of Hillsborough values high quality of life, community safety, neighborhood connectivity, and transportation alternatives; and WHEREAS, the Nash Street Sidewalk Project will provide safe pass»ge, and students of several neighborhoods; and, WHEREAS, the NCDOT and DCHC MPO have allocated STPDA and ARRA funding to the Town for the Nash Street Sidewalk Project; and, WHEREAS, the:FY10 Budget and FY2009 -10 to FY2015 -16 Capital Improvement Program includes this project and reflects these funding sources, as well as a Town Match; and, WHEREAS, the Town is working to meet the requirements of the State and Federal governments including meeting deadlines for the NCDOT and related State and Federal agencies; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Hillsborough Board of Commissioners does hereby approve the Town Manager, on behalf of the Town Board, entering into an agreement with the NCDOT to accept S`1'1'DA and ARRA funding in a manner consistent with State-and Federal regulations, based on the draft Munieipal Agreement presented. This the 13 day of July 2009. June 22, 2009 Monthly Workshop Approved: September 14, 2009 Page 32 of 32 or residents RESOLUTION RESOLUTION #20090713 -8.H TOWN OF HILLSBOROUGH BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Tom Town o