[10:43] oh thank you
[11:24] very much
[11:33] thank you
[11:47] foreign
[12:35] one nation under God indivisible with
[12:39] liberty and justice for all you remain
[12:42] standing for a moment of silence
[12:44] remember those are four souls who've
[12:46] lost in Texas
[12:58] thank you emergency
[13:01] foreign
[13:18] job well done
[13:20] it was excellent thank you
[13:25] um ethic statements in accordance with
[13:27] the code of ethics adopted by the
[13:29] council all council members have a duty
[13:31] to conduct the Affairs of the governing
[13:33] body and an open and public matter free
[13:35] of conflicts of interest
[13:37] is there any item on the agenda the
[13:40] outcome of which we'll have a direct
[13:42] substantial readily identifiable
[13:44] Financial impact for any member kids or
[13:47] her family or close business
[13:49] associations
[13:51] there is for me whenever we discuss
[13:54] um the town property off of E Street
[14:00] does Indiana member have a financial
[14:01] interest in any public contract coming
[14:03] before the contract Council day
[14:06] not here again there being none all
[14:09] board members of a duty and obligation
[14:11] to vote
[14:14] it will now help see this in the
[14:16] comments
[14:17] first up Lynn Swann
[14:24] yes right here remember we have three
[14:27] minutes yes sir
[14:31] [Applause]
[14:33] I'm here to address the recreation in
[14:35] Parks budget
[14:36] the recent notice on Facebook by Nathan
[14:39] West caught my attention because the
[14:42] items scheduled for attention in the
[14:44] wreck and park budget plan being
[14:46] presented do not address much needed
[14:50] maintenance and Improvement issues that
[14:52] need current attention at Lake Tomahawk
[14:56] the drain pipe that was used to connect
[14:59] drainage for the new ecosystem water
[15:03] retention pond
[15:04] is stopped up
[15:07] not the town nor the crew installing the
[15:10] retention Pond took the time or effort
[15:13] to unstop that pipe
[15:17] while I'm on the subject of rainwater
[15:19] runoff
[15:20] the rain drains down from the upper
[15:22] level of the parking lot at the pool
[15:24] house and Crosses that drain that I just
[15:27] mentioned but it goes straight down the
[15:29] middle of the paved access and then it
[15:32] runs into the lake there or it comes out
[15:36] onto the walking path and pools there on
[15:39] the walking trail
[15:41] another issue regarding money allocation
[15:44] for wrecks and Parks as it also relates
[15:47] to storm water issues
[15:49] the concrete landing at the bottom of
[15:51] the pool stairs in front of the pool
[15:53] house
[15:55] needs a drain
[15:56] when it rains the water stands at the
[15:58] bottom of those steps at about two
[16:00] inches deep and that makes it
[16:01] inaccessible for people to get to the
[16:04] handicapped ramp or climb the stairs
[16:08] um just a couple other matters of
[16:10] attention one of the pillars in front of
[16:13] the clubhouse those beautiful brick
[16:15] pillars has some brick pieces missing
[16:18] and the clubhouse needs to be painted
[16:20] and maintained
[16:21] and it would really benefit it as a
[16:25] profit center for the clubhouse to have
[16:27] new windows with blinds built in that
[16:31] can be safely opened and closed upstairs
[16:33] in the clubhouse that would make it more
[16:35] comfortable and attractive venue for the
[16:37] renters as well as for the folks who
[16:41] attend there daily especially the senior
[16:45] center citizens thank you very much
[16:50] uh Ruth Peter
[16:54] foreign
[17:03] on solar power on the use of current
[17:06] money for solar power providers
[17:11] 208 Central Avenue good thank you
[17:15] um in 2015 I built a 600 square foot
[17:19] house on Central Avenue on a tiny lot
[17:22] with a storm water easement and I chose
[17:25] to complete that dedication to
[17:27] environmental action by using the five
[17:31] solar incentives that were available to
[17:34] me uh before the year 2016.
[17:38] uh I've been dedicated to solar power
[17:41] and Sustainable Building since my grade
[17:45] school years and that's a while so I
[17:50] stretched financially to incorporate
[17:53] solar in my plan because of the
[17:55] incentives and the timing
[17:57] thanks to that stretch and choice I pay
[18:01] no electric bill and then all electric
[18:04] house except the Duke power grid use fee
[18:08] which was eight dollars then has doubled
[18:11] in the eight years since and will double
[18:13] yet again in 2025 with net metering
[18:18] added as a result of the current
[18:20] Utilities Commission ruling so my
[18:23] electricity is not free even though I
[18:27] have I don't pay for it
[18:30] um
[18:31] still using the money existing money
[18:35] that was available to you to me was a
[18:38] very smart choice
[18:40] because it has done nothing but go up
[18:43] since I put it in
[18:45] electricity will be more and more
[18:48] expensive the time to incorporate solar
[18:51] is now
[18:52] and the choice is the right choice
[18:56] whose time it has come also with more
[19:00] and more Citizen and governmental
[19:02] support and use of solar power the
[19:05] voices for electric non-polluting power
[19:09] linked to Social Power
[19:12] uh become more effective also the town
[19:15] has a chance to lead by example and to
[19:18] do the smart thing even though it's
[19:21] expensive at the right time
[19:24] thank you I appreciate it thank you very
[19:27] much for what you do on Wednesday
[19:28] afternoon to Town Square
[19:33] Karen Austin
[19:41] good evening
[19:44] my name is Karen Austin I'm a long time
[19:47] member of
[19:49] excuse me your dress oh I actually live
[19:53] in Nebo but I've been a member of Black
[19:55] Mountain Presbyterian church since 1962.
[19:58] very good I grew up in Black Mountain
[20:00] and lived there until about five years
[20:03] ago
[20:04] still active in the church and as such I
[20:07] am the leader of the church's Earth care
[20:10] team
[20:11] I'm speaking tonight on behalf of that
[20:14] team as well as just from my own heart
[20:17] this spring our team held a study of
[20:22] this book right here
[20:25] IT addresses having difficult
[20:27] conversations about a very difficult
[20:30] issue and that is climate change
[20:33] there were over 60 people who attended
[20:37] weekly meetings over the course of five
[20:40] weeks each once a week for five weeks we
[20:42] had 60 people who showed up to read this
[20:46] book and discuss the idea of having
[20:49] those conversations about climate change
[20:53] we'd like to share this resource with
[20:55] you because we think you might benefit
[20:57] from that and we have copies for each of
[21:01] you that we'll give to you later on
[21:04] tonight I would like to urge you to
[21:07] consider fast tracking solar
[21:09] installations because it's the right
[21:11] thing to do and it's the smart thing to
[21:15] do if you're spending other people's
[21:16] money
[21:18] we recently read in the Black Mountain
[21:20] news about budgeting plans that include
[21:23] renovations to several Parks and Rec
[21:25] properties
[21:26] those Renovations are necessary and they
[21:30] will benefit a lot of Black Mountain
[21:32] residents
[21:33] but moving to solar power is a pressing
[21:36] issue it will benefit every citizen in
[21:39] Black Mountain regardless of their age
[21:41] or their gender or their social class we
[21:44] feel this must be a priority
[21:46] to the group that's behind me if you're
[21:49] here to support black Mountain's move to
[21:52] solar power please stand up
[21:58] thank you
[22:01] next Gene Franklin
[22:11] good evening I'm Gene Franklin I live at
[22:14] 108 Connolly Street in walking distance
[22:17] of here
[22:18] and I want to refer to two newspaper
[22:21] articles and I'm here to support more
[22:23] solar panels going up quickly first an
[22:27] article in the Asheville citizen times
[22:28] on March 3rd said humans around the
[22:31] world emitted more CO2 in 2022 than in
[22:36] any other year on record a result of air
[22:39] travel rebounding from the pandemic and
[22:41] more countries turning to low-cost coal
[22:45] however embedded in that article there's
[22:47] good news increased deployment of
[22:50] renewable energy electric vehicles and
[22:52] heat pumps helped prevent an additional
[22:55] 550 megatons of CO2 emissions without
[22:59] clean energy
[23:01] the growth in CO2 emissions would have
[23:03] been nearly three times as high
[23:06] now that is actually encouraging we
[23:09] humans are helping we are finally
[23:11] getting up enough solar panels and heat
[23:14] pumps and EVS that that we're making an
[23:17] impact but we need to do more faster we
[23:20] need to see a headline next year that
[23:22] says humans emitted less CO2
[23:26] another article in the Black Mountain
[23:28] news that I think Karen just referenced
[23:30] said our town has 100 1 million 119 200
[23:36] remaining from American Rescue plan act
[23:39] funds
[23:41] it says that the Town Council met on
[23:43] April 19th and gave a cons as I
[23:46] understand it a consensus of what 11
[23:49] items to budget for good things like
[23:52] parking restrooms replacing the Gazebo
[23:54] creating a sidewalk
[23:57] um and so on all Necessary Things
[24:01] then it said Council will look at
[24:02] installing solar panels at a later date
[24:06] panels on one town owned building will
[24:08] cost two hundred thousand dollars that's
[24:10] still the article that I'm referring to
[24:13] and we would like to suggest that the
[24:16] building that uses the most electricity
[24:18] would get the panels
[24:20] then at the end of the article it said
[24:22] these decisions are not final
[24:25] citizens will have an opportunity to
[24:27] weigh in on any of this as we go through
[24:29] the budget process
[24:31] so here's what I would like to well
[24:33] first of all with great appreciation for
[24:35] you and the job you do and the things
[24:37] you've already done I believe the town
[24:39] is responsible for the panels on the
[24:41] Carver Center and the EV Chargers around
[24:44] town and things I don't even know
[24:47] but my request is please move solar
[24:50] panels to the to a top urgent position
[24:52] on the list the faster we attack this
[24:56] climate problem the better
[24:59] please make sure that the public knows
[25:01] when these panels will be discussed
[25:03] through the Black Mountain news and
[25:05] Valley echo or whatever uh
[25:08] things on Facebook or whatever because
[25:11] I'm one of these people that wakes up
[25:13] and finds out I missed the meeting and
[25:15] didn't know I have to interrupt you
[25:17] there in three minutes there please okay
[25:20] I'm actually finished okay well thank
[25:22] you thank you for your time and service
[25:30] Elizabeth Swann
[25:41] foreign
[25:42] thank you for allowing me to speak this
[25:45] evening and my subject is parking at the
[25:49] Lakeview Center I have a co-lated the
[25:52] package before you and it says the um
[25:57] copies attached
[25:59] the one with the parking shows Cragmont
[26:02] Park allocated 45
[26:05] 000 for additional parking that's below
[26:07] the dam there uh the center which is for
[26:12] the seniors has limited parking space
[26:15] and with the summer visitors coming into
[26:19] our beautiful Lake and that is a great
[26:22] thing however Memorial Day weekend is
[26:25] coming up and the pool will be opening
[26:29] to the public at that time parking for
[26:32] seniors are very very limited uh the lot
[26:35] at the Pavilion and the tennis courts
[26:37] are usually full and the distance is not
[26:40] at all favorable for seniors
[26:43] our seniors some have fiscal
[26:45] disabilities they use canes Walkers and
[26:49] sometimes wheelchairs will not have a
[26:51] convenient parking space so I am
[26:54] recommending that the parking there at
[26:56] the pool side be allocated for seniors
[27:00] only and a lot down next to the tennis
[27:03] court and the Pavilion be allocated for
[27:06] the pool parking
[27:08] so or build us a new parking lot
[27:13] so thank you very much
[27:15] and the attached shows
[27:19] the activities that goes on at the
[27:21] center we're open from nine till late in
[27:23] the afternoon so the senior center is
[27:26] very active
[27:27] and you're all welcome to come and join
[27:29] us for lunch someday thank you very much
[27:37] Sean Sloan
[27:44] um Sean Sloan 115 Third Street Black
[27:48] Mountain
[27:49] here representing the community garden
[27:54] um to um thank you for your considered
[27:57] support for building a new structure and
[28:00] having a proposal to fund some of it
[28:03] perfectly understandable that that was
[28:06] not going to
[28:07] um
[28:08] take care of any business
[28:11] with finale finality
[28:13] um
[28:14] I need to start my timer
[28:17] shoot never mind
[28:19] um anyway
[28:20] um I wanted to clear up a misconception
[28:22] which is that I think the Town Council
[28:26] thinks that the supporters of a new
[28:29] structure at the
[28:30] community garden the expect the town to
[28:34] pay for the structure and that is just
[28:36] not the case we first and foremost need
[28:39] permission to seek to explore the
[28:43] possibility of building a structure and
[28:46] we can't do that without an affirmative
[28:49] something from the Town Council to say
[28:51] yes we approve of the concept
[28:54] you may spend money or raise money to
[28:57] propose an uh a structure that we can
[29:00] consider and how you're going to fund it
[29:02] but without some of affirmation from the
[29:06] council we can't do anything
[29:09] um and so I just wanted to make that
[29:11] point
[29:12] um and the other thing is in terms of if
[29:16] you are in support of the structure then
[29:18] how is it going to get built right I
[29:21] mean there is the arpa funds but before
[29:23] anything happens
[29:25] you'll have to have a master plan done
[29:27] because that is where we can go to
[29:31] funders to
[29:32] corporate sponsors and people that we
[29:36] can name you know facilities after to uh
[29:40] to fund privately the structure and so
[29:44] before anything really materially can
[29:47] happen that site plan has to be done the
[29:51] master site plan for the building and
[29:54] the quote from the mcgillin company was
[29:57] fifty thousand dollars and that's a lot
[29:59] of money and I'm told it can be done for
[30:01] a lot less but wouldn't it be lovely to
[30:04] have an idea of a new structure in town
[30:08] that would enhance the give something
[30:10] new to come out of the arpa fund
[30:13] something that people can look forward
[30:14] to and so I'm asking for you to consider
[30:18] funding for the master site plan in
[30:21] which case then we can start seeking
[30:24] funding for it from corporations from
[30:27] Grants and so on I think it's a sensible
[30:29] proposal and barring that
[30:33] um I'd welcome any other path that you
[30:36] see to getting the thing out of the
[30:38] ground we're not asking for hundreds of
[30:41] thousands of dollars we're simply asking
[30:43] for a clear path forward and hopefully
[30:46] to use some of the arpa funds to get it
[30:49] started thank you
[30:53] next Robin Style
[30:57] okay
[31:16] I'm Robin Stiles I live at 206 Central
[31:19] Avenue in Black Mountain and I'm also a
[31:22] member of the earth care team at Black
[31:23] Mountain Presbyterian Church
[31:25] I encourage you to put the solar panels
[31:28] up sooner rather than later
[31:31] and I'd want to I want to tell you about
[31:33] our experience with panels in 2016 we
[31:37] put solar panels on the roof of our
[31:39] newly built house primarily because we
[31:42] care deeply about the Earth
[31:45] instead of using coal and fracked gas we
[31:48] wanted to use the free and harmless
[31:49] energy of the sun to generate our
[31:51] household power
[31:53] since installing the panels we have paid
[31:55] only the 16 fee it probably was eight
[31:59] dollars as Ruth said when we started to
[32:02] be connected to the grid our electric usage bill
[32:07] since December of 16 has been zero
[32:13] we have solved we have saved the
[32:15] approximately one hundred dollars a
[32:17] month
[32:18] which is the average for a house our
[32:21] size and that figure comes from a survey
[32:23] of our neighbors whose houses are about
[32:25] the same size as ours which a
[32:28] representative at Duke agrees is the
[32:30] best way to calculate the monthly
[32:32] consumption she couldn't do it unless
[32:34] she had an address
[32:36] so she said that was a good way that
[32:39] means that within 10 years we will have
[32:41] paid off the cost of our panels
[32:45] and paid nothing
[32:47] and electricity charges I urge you to
[32:51] put the solar panel purchase among your
[32:53] top priority items for the same reasons
[32:55] that we did
[32:57] you care about the Earth
[32:59] you'll be using clean energy and you'll
[33:01] save the town's money in the long run
[33:04] plus it's a giant step toward becoming
[33:07] the greenest little town in North
[33:09] Carolina
[33:11] thank you very good thank you and thank
[33:13] you for the books you're welcome
[33:18] Barbara Gaul
[33:24] foreign
[33:28] Fairway Drive here in Black Mountain
[33:31] and I have just joined the Black
[33:33] Mountain Presbyterian Church earthcare
[33:35] team the climate book is a book written
[33:39] by Greta thurnberg
[33:41] a world-renowned activist from
[33:43] Switzerland at age 20 she has addressed
[33:47] climate rallies across the globe
[33:50] she states in her book and I quote
[33:53] despite dire warnings in the 1980s and
[33:57] in the 1990s we have emitted more CO2
[34:01] carbon dioxide since 1991 than in the
[34:06] rest of human history
[34:08] I repeat despite dire warnings in the
[34:12] 1980s and 1990s we have emitted more CO2
[34:18] carbon dioxide since 1991 than in the
[34:22] rest of human history
[34:24] if we do our part we can help prevent a
[34:27] severe catastrophe from happening in the
[34:30] year 2030. please put solar panels on
[34:34] another town building we thank you for
[34:37] your service and your concern in this
[34:40] urgent matter
[34:42] thank you thank you
[34:48] next Rick early
[34:57] I'm Rick early I live at 107 Oakland
[35:00] Drive in Black Mountain
[35:03] 5.4 million dollars congratulations
[35:08] Council
[35:09] and staff anybody know what I'm talking
[35:12] about
[35:13] stormwater Grant a storm water grant for
[35:16] 5.4 million hats off
[35:19] thank you very much great job you know
[35:21] there's a butt coming I can feel it last
[35:25] year's budget for
[35:26] utility fees is 355 thousand dollars
[35:31] that's 15 years 5.4 million is 15 years
[35:34] of storm water utility fee collections
[35:38] the budget the last two years is 800 and
[35:41] some thousand and there's about 500 000
[35:44] that's not spent so you kind of got 5.4
[35:47] plus half a million almost got six
[35:50] hundred thousand dollars in the bank
[35:52] I would ask the council to seriously
[35:55] consider helping out
[35:57] the property owners in Black Mountain
[35:59] give them some Financial relief and
[36:03] suspend the collection of the storm
[36:06] water utility fee at least until four or
[36:09] five million of that has been spent
[36:11] thank you very much
[36:13] thank you Rick
[36:17] Jim Snyder
[36:19] okay
[36:23] uh last Ruth scherberg
[36:27] Shepherd
[36:31] Ruth Shivers I live at 140 North Fork
[36:34] Road in Black Mountain
[36:35] good evening and thank you for giving me
[36:37] time to express my concerns about a new
[36:40] multi-housing development on the border
[36:42] of our property at 140 North Fork Road
[36:45] because growth doesn't pay for itself to
[36:47] what degree are we willing to sacrifice
[36:49] for it my husband and I have several
[36:52] concerns regarding this rezone
[36:53] multi-housing development our concerns
[36:56] include runoff onto our property
[36:58] increased traffic on North Fork Road
[37:01] disturbing the ecosystem of the nearby
[37:03] woods and the continual building of
[37:05] expensive housing that is unaffordable
[37:08] to many of those from our community
[37:10] on our property we have invested
[37:12] thousands of dollars for water
[37:14] mitigation
[37:16] upsetting the natural lay of the land
[37:18] from new construction may cause more
[37:20] runoff problems for us and more expense
[37:22] traffic on North Fork Road has increased
[37:25] significantly over the past few years
[37:27] and this two-lane road is not set up for
[37:29] the increased traffic and speed that
[37:32] drivers use on the final stretch near
[37:34] Montreat Road
[37:35] while land ownership is a privilege and
[37:37] capitalistic Venture it also comes with
[37:39] responsibility some known factors of
[37:42] being responsible landowners in our area
[37:44] include preserving nature maintaining
[37:47] the Integrity of the community
[37:49] I'd like to add a third idea providing
[37:51] housing that is Affordable to families
[37:53] in our in order not to create a divided
[37:56] class system
[37:57] many families cannot afford to live in
[37:59] Black Mountain and with the prices of
[38:01] houses in our town this development will
[38:04] be yet another example of expensive
[38:06] housing for select buyers while some may
[38:09] Define a prosperous town to be
[38:10] additional citizens and businesses that
[38:13] bring in more revenue and property taxes
[38:15] to benefit the town war is not always
[38:17] better
[38:18] the working class residents of Black
[38:20] Mountain are the ones who feel the
[38:21] impact of this ongoing development many
[38:24] working-class individuals are directly
[38:26] affected by not being able to afford
[38:28] housing to live in this town yet they
[38:30] are contributing to the success of Black
[38:32] Mountain
[38:33] the new surge in Housing Development
[38:35] over the past few years has meant
[38:37] significantly more traffic
[38:39] congested local restaurants with limited
[38:41] serving staff and also a decline in our
[38:44] local school enrollment I say this
[38:47] because I'm currently a teacher at Black
[38:48] Mountain Elementary have been a teacher
[38:51] in Owen district for 17 of my 22 years
[38:53] and I've witnessed a decline in
[38:56] enrollment and teaching positions and I
[38:58] have some data and I'll be glad to share
[39:00] with you Black Mountain Elementary we
[39:03] currently have 147 students
[39:06] in 2018 we had 224.
[39:10] our schools are suffering and it's the
[39:13] effect of the High Cost of Living
[39:16] The increased housing prices I just do
[39:21] not feel that this
[39:23] development at chinkapin is where it's
[39:27] located the rezoning of it into another
[39:30] Housing Development it's not necessary
[39:33] we're not growing Our Town we're not
[39:37] supporting our schools appreciate it
[39:39] okay
[39:42] all right let's includes the first
[39:44] citizen comment of course there's
[39:46] another section so there's a comment
[39:47] later on in the NVM meeting
[39:51] uh so Josh I will leave this please
[39:55] sure so Mr Mayor we have communications
[39:57] from staff Council commissions and
[39:59] agencies and first up would be our
[40:01] communication committee annual report
[40:03] s
[40:13] thank you for the opportunity to share
[40:15] with you tonight I'm Tucky Folkers the
[40:17] co-chair of the beautification committee
[40:19] and I'm here to tell you a bit about
[40:21] some of last year's accomplishments and
[40:24] our hopes and goals for next year
[40:30] 23 years ago Willie Headley LED an
[40:33] initiative that became the
[40:34] beautification committee our mission is
[40:37] to honor the natural beauty around us by
[40:40] maintaining our 53 containers Town
[40:43] Square 27 Garden sites and by sponsoring
[40:47] community events
[40:49] we have an executive board of four
[40:51] committees subcommittees people who
[40:55] assume responsibility for all the garden
[40:57] sites and containers and a swarm of
[41:00] worker bees
[41:04] in 2016 the committee adopted a goal to
[41:09] provide a consistent look for honoring
[41:11] nature in the historic downtown by
[41:14] installing wooden containers with
[41:16] hand-crafted metal details now several
[41:20] of those seven-year-old containers need
[41:21] repair Winter delayed completion of the
[41:25] project but the 53 will soon be
[41:28] refurbished and replanted
[41:31] Bob Headley generously donated partial
[41:34] funds for adding Stone steps to Town
[41:37] Square and Public Works installed them
[41:39] maintenance and planting continue in the
[41:42] square with monthly weeding and seasonal
[41:45] pruning workdays and arborist has
[41:48] volunteered his services for the
[41:50] majority of tree trimming
[41:52] that needs to be done but for the larger
[41:55] job of trimming the three big oak trees
[41:57] we'll be paying for the service he will
[42:00] also root prune a bald cypress that
[42:02] threatens to break up the cement
[42:05] sidewalk
[42:07] under the capable and untiring
[42:09] Leadership of Pat and Carl rickenbach
[42:11] this has been a big year for revamping
[42:14] maintaining and enhancing the 27 Garden
[42:18] sites this year we completed one of our
[42:21] largest sites the welcome site by Oli
[42:24] guacamole's is 60 feet long
[42:28] Harwood Funeral Home donated a granite
[42:31] bench to the site and we're currently
[42:33] working with the town to incorporate a
[42:36] sidewalk which will bifurcate the site
[42:40] we've also worked to solve some sight
[42:42] problems this year we removed junipers
[42:46] and invasive weeds and installed new
[42:48] plantings and landscape timbers in the
[42:52] love parking lot
[42:54] Hawaiian walk which was formerly a
[42:57] one-way gravel road down from Cherry
[42:58] Street also had site problems the garden
[43:02] next to The Veranda is now nicely
[43:05] planted to implement that complement the
[43:07] narrow area the garden site next to
[43:10] Europa is temporarily bare in order to
[43:14] handle future building maintenance
[43:19] this
[43:21] beautiful new stone path below the
[43:24] museum and arts center was installed by
[43:27] Public Works who then installed stones
[43:30] on the lower slope of the hill to help
[43:33] control erosion and to create a native
[43:36] plant area
[43:39] now this Garden you may recall because
[43:41] it had leaning rotten Timbers that were
[43:44] oozing down onto the sidewalk well now
[43:47] it's been totally redone
[43:49] Pat and Carr removed trellises and
[43:52] plants and stored them for reuse then
[43:55] Public Works replaced the Timbers with
[43:58] pressure treated wood
[44:00] after Hansen's completes its wall
[44:02] repairs and its painting the trellises
[44:05] and plants will be reinstalled
[44:08] Publix works next installed a raised bed
[44:12] garden which you see on the slide to the
[44:14] left to give an open view to the store
[44:16] and to complement the wall Garden
[44:21] the chamber Garden is a very large site
[44:24] which we've divided into six separate
[44:26] sites because of its immensity it was
[44:28] overgrown and it obscured the
[44:31] informational signage that was there
[44:34] the chamber sidewalk Garden was
[44:36] re-landscaped with help from Public
[44:38] Works the view of the visitors center
[44:41] from the front sidewalk has opened up
[44:43] and we think it's beautiful
[44:47] Thorny Rose bushes used to be a thorn
[44:52] for people who like to sit on that wall
[44:55] and take a hike they were removed and
[44:58] plantings suitable for the site were
[45:00] planted making the view of the garden
[45:02] pleasing from both the street and the
[45:06] parking lot
[45:09] a major renovation of town hall Gardens
[45:12] was one of our goals for 2022 and was
[45:14] completed in September Yale bromer led
[45:18] the effort with support from Public
[45:19] Works members dug in 32 shrubs and trees
[45:24] along with countless perennials as
[45:27] you've been hearing Public Works is
[45:29] great support for all of our projects
[45:31] and we truly appreciate them
[45:35] in Fall we decorate with hay bales corn
[45:39] stalks thank you mayor
[45:41] pumpkins a large spider
[45:43] scarecrows this year we added an
[45:46] illuminated ghost
[45:48] the primary school kids and teachers
[45:51] made 17 flying ghosts
[45:55] kid quests and after school program at
[45:58] the United Methodist Church made for fun
[46:00] crows a less scary term for scarecrows
[46:05] the day before Holly Jolly we decked the
[46:09] four welcome signs in town square with
[46:11] Greenery and Bows to bring the spirit of
[46:14] the holidays into the community
[46:18] our biggest fundraiser of the year is
[46:20] the Black Mountain Garden sale held in
[46:22] the lower parking lot of town square
[46:24] this year on May 19 and 20. Ronan Jones
[46:28] chairs this event and says this year
[46:31] it'll be bigger and better than ever
[46:33] we've enlarged the space to accommodate
[46:36] 24 vendors bringing flowers Specialty
[46:40] Plants and Decor we'll have a member's
[46:42] market highlighting talented members who
[46:45] donate their items and wonderful baked
[46:49] goods for a bake sale
[46:52] we had a successful fundraising but also
[46:55] fundraising event at sourwood Festival
[46:58] recruiting new members and showcasing
[47:01] our good works for the benefits of the
[47:03] town
[47:05] Lori pasano obtained a truckload of
[47:08] reefs and Gardens for sale to local
[47:11] customers and for decorating the town
[47:14] and the tailgate Market
[47:19] there we go whoa
[47:22] what happened to the tailgate Market
[47:31] well anyway
[47:32] the tailgate Market offered a space last
[47:35] fall to sell plants from our Gardens
[47:37] plants were donated by painters
[47:40] Greenhouse also and Specialty azaleas
[47:43] from local grower Andy Whipple we sold
[47:46] them all at bargain prices that was the
[47:49] slide showing a bargain price for a
[47:51] wonderful plant
[47:53] with these fundraising opportunities the
[47:57] garden sale The Greenery sale the pop-up
[47:59] sale in sourwood
[48:01] we provide support for two Community
[48:04] award programs
[48:07] the community Improvement award is a new
[48:09] program launched last year and developed
[48:12] by Rhonda Reedy the award identifies
[48:16] business and Residential Properties that
[48:19] are well maintained pretty and have
[48:22] recently made Landscaping improvements
[48:24] we've given fifty dollar Awards to four
[48:28] businesses and two residents
[48:32] the seed money award helps local
[48:35] businesses churches and neighborhoods
[48:37] kick off their own beautification
[48:40] projects this year's winners are Black
[48:43] Mountain neuro Treatment Center Black
[48:47] Mountain Primary School the open oven
[48:50] Cafe and the Swannanoa Valley Christian
[48:53] Ministry Hope For Tomorrow programs I
[48:56] had to write that down
[48:59] deck the trees is another example of our
[49:01] involvement in the community thanks to
[49:04] all who voted for trees this year as
[49:07] that raises funds for the svcm heating
[49:10] fund
[49:12] the April spring litter sweep was well
[49:14] attended 70 people 10 organizations
[49:18] collected 30 bags of trash we'll do the
[49:22] sweep again in the fall
[49:23] at the sweep we also had an educational
[49:26] Earth Day recycling awareness table
[49:31] each year we establish goals to either
[49:34] complement existing programs or
[49:37] strengthen the committee in general the
[49:39] goals from 2023 are the following to
[49:43] work with Public Works to maintain the
[49:45] trees on Cherry and Broadway to instill
[49:48] plant tags to identify species in Town
[49:51] Square and to work with Merchants to
[49:54] clean up debris in order to have a
[49:58] cleaner prettier town
[50:02] these projects of course cannot be done
[50:05] without your financial support and your
[50:07] partnership we applied to the town
[50:10] through the funding application for the
[50:12] fiscal year 2024 for fourteen thousand
[50:15] dollars the requested funds will be used
[50:18] for the things listed the garden sites
[50:21] the Town Square
[50:22] the plant containers and special
[50:25] projects goals and garden Renovations
[50:27] such as the renovation at Town Hall
[50:32] the beautification committee supports
[50:34] and advances the town's comprehensive
[50:38] plan in many ways for example six of our
[50:42] projects goals or hopes
[50:46] address the towns livable and walkable
[50:49] goals
[50:51] maintaining gateways and historical
[50:53] sites consistent plant containers
[50:55] Community Awards
[51:00] the use of Art in the garden sites such
[51:03] as the murals on the Cherry Street
[51:05] restroom such as the well next to the
[51:09] well house that Joyce blackwoods
[51:13] beautifully Drew
[51:16] four of them support the green and
[51:18] resilient goals we're trying to repair
[51:21] and maintain the rain Garden behind the
[51:23] museum trying to promote the use of
[51:26] native plants limiter and and eliminate
[51:29] invasive plant species in our garden
[51:32] sites and educate about the use of
[51:34] recyclable products during litter sweeps
[51:39] we're all feeling that we're a part of
[51:42] Black Mountain and we enjoy working with
[51:45] you the town departments and the
[51:48] community with the goal of making our
[51:51] town one of the best small towns in
[51:53] America
[51:54] thank you for your support over the
[51:56] years we look forward to working with
[51:59] you for many years to come
[52:03] you do a wonderful job
[52:09] thank you thank you very much
[52:13] once you've got Josh Anderson with the
[52:16] Parks and Recreation annual report
[52:24] all right good evening
[52:26] um so our 2022 annual report give you
[52:30] some data here
[52:33] um just kind of go over our mission a
[52:34] little bit hopefully at the end of this
[52:36] presentation you'll be able to see how
[52:37] we're meeting that but what we do is to
[52:40] provide community-based Recreation
[52:41] programs Wellness facilities and
[52:43] services to the citizens of Black
[52:45] Mountain
[52:47] so I want to talk a little bit about our
[52:49] reach oftentimes people will ask well
[52:51] how you know how are you getting your
[52:52] word out or we haven't seen things
[52:54] posted or you know how are you getting
[52:55] information distributed so I want to
[52:57] kind of go over that a little bit
[52:59] obviously we have a pretty heavy uh
[53:02] internet and social media presence you
[53:04] can see some of the the data there from
[53:06] Facebook Instagram and also our website
[53:08] I know we we rolled out a new town
[53:10] website
[53:11] a few years ago and where we've got a
[53:13] group together now that's working on
[53:14] making some edits to that but you can
[53:17] see there the people who are visiting
[53:19] the pages on our website and the
[53:21] subscribers to the website and then down
[53:23] at the bottom it just kind of talks
[53:25] about some of the local news outlets
[53:27] that we utilize to promote a lot of the
[53:30] programs and things that we're doing
[53:33] uh moving to events uh these are the
[53:35] events that we did in 2022 and just kind
[53:37] of give you an idea of who showed up to
[53:40] those as far as numbers are concerned
[53:42] the one thing that kind of stands out
[53:44] um 2022 was the second year that we did
[53:46] our pumpkin post which is a
[53:48] collaboration between the community
[53:50] garden and our department which was
[53:53] traditionally a Halloween event and we felt like we just wanted to get away
[53:58] from handing out candy to kids because
[54:00] everybody else is doing that and um we
[54:02] had a we had a low turnout this year
[54:04] because it poured down rain but you can
[54:06] see the numbers there from some of the
[54:07] other events that we had
[54:09] our youth sports program
[54:12] um
[54:12] the biggest thing here is our outdoor
[54:14] soccer season this was a program that we
[54:16] developed in 2021 as a result of covid
[54:19] which became heavily popular to which we
[54:22] developed two seasons so you can see the
[54:24] numbers there with the participants for
[54:26] those programs indoor soccer and youth
[54:29] swim league being two of the largest
[54:31] along with outdoor soccer
[54:35] our outdoor programs is a really
[54:37] successful program that we have this was
[54:39] also a covid project that we started in
[54:42] 2021
[54:44] um so this was our our 2022 was our
[54:46] second season of doing outdoor programs
[54:48] uh all these programs are capped at 15
[54:51] people because most of them are hikes
[54:53] and small group activities and you can
[54:54] see uh the numbers there they continue
[54:57] to grow we're doing a lot of new things
[54:59] some of the new things that we're
[55:01] starting is some trail building we're
[55:02] going to be doing some foraging hikes
[55:04] we've partnered with some organizations
[55:05] to teach about native plants mushrooms
[55:08] things of that nature so that'll be
[55:09] coming up this year
[55:12] and then moving on to the pool these are
[55:15] the pool numbers from last year again uh
[55:18] pool is always very popular
[55:20] um
[55:21] 2022 in 2021 we had large numbers at the
[55:25] pool because the Buncombe Buncombe
[55:27] County Pool and Owen was closed so this
[55:29] year it did drop off a little bit
[55:31] because with that pool being open some people chose to go there instead of
[55:35] Black Mountain
[55:38] summer camps we do two summer camps we
[55:40] have our Black Mountain summer camp
[55:43] which we held last year
[55:45] um just to kind of give you an idea
[55:47] there a lot of what they do is off-site
[55:49] we do a lot of things on site but they
[55:51] are out and about and they are getting
[55:52] after it uh in the community field trips
[55:55] arts and crafts they do some community
[55:57] service they go to a lot of other parks
[55:59] in a lot of the neighboring communities
[56:01] we also hold a tennis camp which is
[56:04] hosted by the Black Mountain Association
[56:06] and it takes place at the high school
[56:08] and you can see the numbers from that
[56:12] our active aging adults uh 2022 was
[56:15] probably the biggest year for them
[56:17] coming out of covet in 2021 we really
[56:20] kind of got back to our our regularly
[56:22] scheduled programming there some of the
[56:24] things that we introduced we're bringing
[56:26] back a lot of the group exercise classes
[56:27] which I think are wildly popular along
[56:30] with an art class and chair volleyball
[56:32] if you haven't played Cherry volleyball
[56:34] you should pop in over there and check
[56:36] it out it's pretty fun
[56:37] um
[56:38] they do a lot there and they're very
[56:40] involved you heard from from some of
[56:42] those people tonight
[56:45] and then our community garden
[56:47] um 2022 we hired a new community garden
[56:50] manager this was also the year I believe
[56:52] that we first really started tracking
[56:54] compost you can see that we we did a lot
[56:56] of composting uh in 2022 there is a
[57:00] slight drop off in the amount of food
[57:01] that we produce in 2022 but I attribute
[57:04] that to the turnover and our our former
[57:06] Garden manager leaving and a new Garden
[57:08] manager coming in but you can see we are pretty much maxed out for space
[57:13] at the community garden we have a
[57:15] waiting list I think there's maybe 20
[57:16] people trying to get on a waiting list
[57:19] there for plots
[57:21] um so we are it is a very popular thing
[57:24] and we are in need of space
[57:27] we also have a pollinator Garden
[57:29] coordinator in our department that that
[57:31] manages several pollinator Gardens
[57:33] throughout town a total one acre of
[57:36] property and you can see the four
[57:37] locations there and some of what she's
[57:40] doing
[57:43] our facility rentals facility rentals
[57:47] remain steady
[57:49] um you can see that the numbers and the
[57:51] revenues from those obviously the
[57:53] Lakeview Center is the most utilized
[57:56] facility that we have and I can tell you
[57:58] just looking at the calendar right now
[58:00] once once the warm season hits our
[58:03] Pavilions are pretty much booked out for
[58:05] the summer at this point
[58:07] um so if we're looking at projects to do
[58:09] in the future putting more picnic
[58:11] shelters and Pavilions around town would
[58:12] definitely be of a benefit for that
[58:17] some of the things that we accomplished
[58:18] in 2022 that aren't listed in the
[58:20] previous slides one of the big things
[58:22] that we did kind of coming back from
[58:23] covet especially with outdoor
[58:25] programming was partnering with
[58:27] organizations in our community
[58:29] um obviously the town doesn't have a ton
[58:31] of trails and Trail systems and hiking
[58:33] and additional things like disc golf and
[58:37] so we partnered with a lot of the camps
[58:38] and Conference Centers around to utilize
[58:40] the things that they had that we did not
[58:42] have we do we play a lot of disc golf at
[58:45] Blue Ridge assembly Ridgecrest the Black
[58:48] Mountain Children's Home Owen High
[58:50] School those are the sites for our youth
[58:52] Disc Golf League we've also been doing
[58:54] indoor climbing archery
[58:57] at some of the Conference Centers and
[59:00] then we also partnered with the new
[59:01] organization called G5 Trail Collective
[59:03] which is I believe based out of Old Fort
[59:05] they train some of our staff on building
[59:07] trails and now our staff is able to go
[59:09] out and teach community members how to
[59:11] build Trails
[59:13] partnered with Warren Wilson they they
[59:15] reached out to us to do a cleanup we all
[59:17] so partner with them with the Lakeview
[59:18] Center and their preschool reading
[59:20] program we donate a lot of our
[59:23] um garden vegetables Bounty and soul
[59:25] some of the things that you guys funded
[59:27] last year that we were able to do was we
[59:28] replaced the pool cover we updated the
[59:31] pool house lighting and electrical that
[59:32] had been there I think since the
[59:34] Inception of that pool house we also
[59:36] added a new fence and a shade structure
[59:38] at the dog park and we completed the
[59:41] restrooms with the part of Grant at
[59:43] Veterans Park and begin our master plan
[59:48] and that's all I got if you guys have
[59:49] any questions
[59:52] one thing I would just suggest is that
[59:54] you know on The Pavilions over the years
[59:57] I've noticed you know you get people
[59:59] that rent The Pavilion for for a lunch
[1:00:01] activities
[1:00:02] for for suppers
[1:00:05] but very soon we have the same group
[1:00:07] there and it's trying to go ahead and
[1:00:10] make that a dual purposes so that you
[1:00:13] could rent it I know you got to get
[1:00:14] somebody over there to clean it in
[1:00:17] between but instead of thinking about
[1:00:19] having to build new structures this is a
[1:00:21] way to go ahead and take advantage of
[1:00:22] existing structures and help increase
[1:00:24] the revenue stream we currently do two
[1:00:27] time frames so we do a nine to three and
[1:00:28] three thirty nine thirty
[1:00:31] glad you did
[1:00:34] yeah thank you for your presentation
[1:00:36] um and it's exciting to see so much
[1:00:38] activity around town uh are we still on
[1:00:41] track to bring back basketball yes and
[1:00:43] when will that begin it'll be this
[1:00:45] spring where this this winter spring so
[1:00:47] usually starts in February
[1:00:49] and then
[1:00:51] um just
[1:00:52] you may not have an answer for a
[1:00:54] broadcast question like this but um
[1:00:56] after getting the master plan and
[1:00:59] approving the master plan has that
[1:01:02] reshaped how your you know approaching
[1:01:05] some of uh some of the activities and
[1:01:08] some of the priorities of the department
[1:01:09] at all
[1:01:11] I would say that it sheds light on
[1:01:13] what's needed in the community in terms
[1:01:15] of what people are interested in and
[1:01:16] what we can offer
[1:01:18] um and so we'll we'll definitely take
[1:01:19] the recommendations from that plan and
[1:01:21] work that into our programming and
[1:01:23] events
[1:01:24] great thank you
[1:01:29] okay thanks thanks Josh
[1:01:32] and then lastly for communications from
[1:01:34] staff with the our Public Services
[1:01:37] director Jenny Matthews with the annual
[1:01:39] Water Report
[1:01:42] good evening mayor board
[1:01:44] uh capitalizing what Josh said this is
[1:01:47] our uh
[1:01:48] 2022 calendar year annual Water Report
[1:01:52] um
[1:01:53] so get started we I listed a couple of
[1:01:55] uh projects and maintenance that we've
[1:01:58] done I'll try to explain you know why we
[1:02:00] chose these these two uh to do in last
[1:02:04] year's budget uh we installed a new six
[1:02:06] inch ductile iron pipe water line on the
[1:02:09] old toll road
[1:02:10] this was to replace an old AC line
[1:02:13] that's probably just guessing between 70
[1:02:17] to 100 years old that they don't even
[1:02:19] use in production anymore
[1:02:22] so one of our goals is to try to replace
[1:02:24] these lines as we move forward and try
[1:02:26] to update our system we replace 400 foot
[1:02:29] of that this past year
[1:02:31] we got another 800 foot that if our
[1:02:33] budget passes we'll do this year and
[1:02:36] then there's 2 000 foot total so it'll
[1:02:38] probably be a three year process to get
[1:02:39] that done
[1:02:42] one misprint I'd like to mention it says
[1:02:45] installed four ultrasonic flow meters we
[1:02:47] actually installed five two of those was
[1:02:50] at Timber Park we got one on toll road
[1:02:52] Watershed two and Timber Park one to
[1:02:55] Asheville Asheville booster what that
[1:02:58] ultrasonic flow meter does is looking
[1:03:00] forward into the future and trying to
[1:03:01] get water loss down
[1:03:03] is when you put these meters on these
[1:03:05] Pump Station as they pump water out into
[1:03:07] the system it takes a little math but
[1:03:10] you let this run for several months and
[1:03:12] then you come back compare it to the
[1:03:14] billing here at Town Hall and it'll show
[1:03:16] you which areas in town have the most
[1:03:18] water loss
[1:03:19] so we just got them installed last year
[1:03:22] we've not done the numbers yet but I'm
[1:03:23] curious to see because it'll give us an
[1:03:25] idea uh even further of things we need
[1:03:28] to replace moving forward in what areas
[1:03:31] we need to focus on it's our loss now
[1:03:34] uh it varies depending but it's actually
[1:03:37] come down a whole bunch uh I think the
[1:03:40] last one correct me Josh I was maybe
[1:03:44] what 18 to 23 something like that I
[1:03:48] think I can get you the actual number
[1:03:51] um we replace well number five it's at
[1:03:53] the end of Vance Avenue we've replaced
[1:03:55] the pumps we try to do that periodically
[1:03:57] what that does is keep the production
[1:04:00] rate up on these whales over the years
[1:04:02] as these pumps are used they use they
[1:04:04] lose production so we try to keep that
[1:04:07] up keep it Peak so we replaced well five
[1:04:09] this year and one of my favorite place
[1:04:11] we replaced pump wire the pipe the whole
[1:04:13] nine yards just like it was new again
[1:04:16] uh we rebuilt altitude valve at the
[1:04:19] South tank which is over off of Highway
[1:04:20] nine tell you a little bit about what
[1:04:23] altitude valve is is when the South tank
[1:04:26] was built uh years ago it was built 10
[1:04:29] foot higher in elevation should have
[1:04:30] been 10 foot lower I don't know why I
[1:04:33] don't know what the miscalculation was
[1:04:34] but because of that it is connected to
[1:04:38] our biggest tank which is Hemphill tank
[1:04:40] so it was designed to wear a Hemphill
[1:04:42] tank was supposed to push water to the
[1:04:44] South tank and then the altitude valve
[1:04:47] wouldn't let it come back
[1:04:48] so when we when we realized years ago
[1:04:51] that that ain't what the way it was and
[1:04:53] we had to put a pump in that Hempfield
[1:04:55] tank that actually pushes pressure and
[1:04:57] then once it fills the South tank the
[1:04:59] altitude valve holds the water and keeps
[1:05:01] it from sending back
[1:05:02] so we had to rebuild that that was a
[1:05:04] general maintenance you do every so many
[1:05:06] years
[1:05:07] uh automated remitter installs we've
[1:05:11] replaced or installed I'm sorry 450 new
[1:05:14] automated meters we've done that for the
[1:05:16] past couple years we're probably halfway
[1:05:19] done and uh and when we get to our water
[1:05:23] budget you'll see there's more funds
[1:05:24] budgeted you know to keep going in that
[1:05:27] process to install this to to complete
[1:05:29] our whole system to automation
[1:05:32] uh as for water transfer update we are
[1:05:35] in the phase two we have done our part
[1:05:38] we are actually waiting on the state uh
[1:05:41] water supply section
[1:05:43] which uh which is the hold up now as far
[1:05:46] as the permit process and you know after
[1:05:48] talking with them and collecting
[1:05:50] information stuff I think they have
[1:05:51] suffered labor shortages just like
[1:05:54] everybody across the state has and
[1:05:56] what used to take two or three months to
[1:05:59] get engineering plans pushed through to
[1:06:01] replace lines or whatever is in some
[1:06:03] cases taken approximately two years
[1:06:05] so it's probably been right out a year
[1:06:08] or so that we've been waiting and we
[1:06:11] keep constant you know contact with the
[1:06:14] engineers and the state and that's
[1:06:16] basically what our holdup is and
[1:06:18] as soon as we can get that then we can
[1:06:20] move forward but like I say we got our
[1:06:22] part complete you know as far as the
[1:06:24] pump house and stuff we're just waiting
[1:06:25] on the permit process
[1:06:28] so I like showing these totals this is a
[1:06:30] total work orders for 2022 I give a
[1:06:33] three year
[1:06:34] these pretty stay pretty consistent but
[1:06:37] they fluctuate a little bit that could
[1:06:38] be for
[1:06:39] multiple reasons it could be because of
[1:06:42] Labor shortages it could be for the type
[1:06:43] of job or whatever but we stay
[1:06:45] consistent in the 3000 mid 3000s per
[1:06:48] year
[1:06:50] uh this is a breakdown of those of that
[1:06:54] work order system so line locates which
[1:06:57] I always I look at that as far as
[1:07:00] building and stuff that goes on within
[1:07:01] town because out of that 1730
[1:07:04] when I say line locates that's other
[1:07:07] Utility Services Power phone
[1:07:11] um anything that's underground you know
[1:07:13] we do our own water
[1:07:15] um
[1:07:16] but it could be fiber optic it could be
[1:07:18] anything so when they're calling in it
[1:07:20] could be MSD so when they're called in
[1:07:21] it could be maintenance or it could be
[1:07:23] for Building purposes but we ourselves
[1:07:26] have 1730 water locates a year uh on in
[1:07:31] 2022.
[1:07:33] water cut on 612 that could be from uh
[1:07:37] new customers coming in cutting water on
[1:07:39] or it can be from going back and cutting
[1:07:42] uh water on from water cutoffs which was
[1:07:45] 556 last year
[1:07:47] at 65 leaks 56 leak checks
[1:07:50] uh 331 meter maintenance and then
[1:07:54] rechecks for meter reading you know
[1:07:56] sometimes you'll get rechecks because
[1:07:58] the customer has a question whatever we
[1:08:00] run back out and rechecks we had
[1:08:01] approximately 200 of those
[1:08:04] and then Watershed maintenance well well
[1:08:06] house maintenance and then miscellaneous
[1:08:08] water could be anything from a burnt
[1:08:10] washer and a meter right on down to just
[1:08:12] checking for a leak hydrant maintenance
[1:08:16] um I know during the year we usually
[1:08:18] have it seems like here lately one or
[1:08:20] two hydrants that these trucks making
[1:08:22] these tight turns around town usually
[1:08:24] run over one and we have to replace it
[1:08:25] or we take one of the older hydrants and
[1:08:28] we have to get a rebuild kit and just
[1:08:30] rebuild it
[1:08:32] so this is a very interesting one right
[1:08:34] here that that uh
[1:08:36] that you'll be interested in so
[1:08:39] this is how much water we pump versus
[1:08:42] how many gallons of water we purchased
[1:08:44] from Asheville so if you see on the
[1:08:46] bottom
[1:08:46] in 2020
[1:08:48] we actually pumped 179 million you know
[1:08:52] 179.5 million
[1:08:54] and then 2022 we only pumped 138 million
[1:08:59] if you look at Asheville in 2020 we
[1:09:02] purchased 70 million thereabouts 71
[1:09:05] close to
[1:09:07] in 2022 the first 187 and a half million
[1:09:11] so the reason that number is that way is
[1:09:13] for for a few reasons
[1:09:15] um
[1:09:16] whale number one which is one on the
[1:09:18] golf course we took offline for many
[1:09:21] reasons the whale's having a lot of
[1:09:23] trouble it's having a lot it was failing
[1:09:24] a lot of our samples that we have to
[1:09:26] send to the state so it was best to shut
[1:09:29] it down and it was one of our less
[1:09:30] producers so it's offline so now we're
[1:09:33] down to 11 Wells
[1:09:35] well number 17 which is one of our
[1:09:37] biggest producers by looking at the the
[1:09:40] records uh when it was installed
[1:09:43] produced 200 gallons a minute that's a
[1:09:45] lot for a weld
[1:09:47] but over the years the school would call
[1:09:51] or a lot of places would call and they
[1:09:54] would say the water was milky well
[1:09:55] anytime you got milky water you got iron
[1:09:57] the system so it led us to do more
[1:10:00] research and got to thinking that maybe
[1:10:02] you know it has to be coming from one of
[1:10:04] the whales
[1:10:06] well I know when we had some water
[1:10:07] shortages in the past the state requires
[1:10:10] you to pump water 12 hours on 12 hours
[1:10:13] off
[1:10:14] but during emergencies if you get
[1:10:16] approval from the state you can pump 24
[1:10:18] hours around the clock which we've done
[1:10:20] a couple times in the past and that's
[1:10:22] when we would notice the Milky water
[1:10:24] so we budgeted last year to do a
[1:10:26] drawdown on one of our top producing
[1:10:28] whales which was whale 17 that's in the
[1:10:30] Watershed
[1:10:31] well after doing the the draw down which
[1:10:35] to explain you know to people don't know
[1:10:37] in the public a drawdown is where you
[1:10:39] put one of those flow meters on that
[1:10:41] well which measures the water coming out
[1:10:44] and then you put what they call a depth
[1:10:46] gauge on the head of the well which
[1:10:47] shoots a ping down to the top of the
[1:10:49] water sends the signal back and tells
[1:10:51] you the depth of the well
[1:10:53] you pump the water to the whale yields
[1:10:55] as much water as it can yield and it
[1:10:57] can't yield no more and that'll tell you
[1:10:59] how many gallons per minute you get
[1:11:01] so after that draw down and the record
[1:11:03] showing is getting 200 gallons a minute
[1:11:05] it bounced back and forth between 75 and
[1:11:09] 90 gallons a minute
[1:11:10] so that well is not producing anything
[1:11:12] like it did when it was put in years ago
[1:11:14] and the reasons for that is and I've
[1:11:16] stated this before
[1:11:18] of course you don't see it with a naked
[1:11:19] eye but the ground does shift and
[1:11:21] aquifer is underground you know they
[1:11:24] shift also and over time Wells can
[1:11:28] they can't almost say go dry but they
[1:11:31] can relocate to where you don't have
[1:11:32] that water no more so that could be one
[1:11:36] of the reasons too and then the other
[1:11:38] reason is is after we took over all the
[1:11:41] Asheville customers you know it's a
[1:11:43] bigger Demand on the system so
[1:11:46] that's your three main reasons for that
[1:11:48] number being so high you get more water
[1:11:51] usage for the customers you take over
[1:11:53] and then we're not pumping as much water
[1:11:55] as we used to because we're well short
[1:11:58] and we're not pumping as many gallons
[1:11:59] per minute as we as we did
[1:12:03] um
[1:12:03] you know we we can keep replacing well
[1:12:06] pumps going through the years to try to
[1:12:08] keep them efficient pumping as many
[1:12:10] gallons as we can and uh and keep an eye
[1:12:13] on it and we can also keep doing
[1:12:15] drawdowns on our wells to see you know
[1:12:18] what they're pumping but with without
[1:12:19] that
[1:12:21] that's why we're buying the amount of
[1:12:23] water that we are
[1:12:25] do you have a senses that I'll help you
[1:12:27] the other Wells are as far as what the
[1:12:29] producing we've got our whale head
[1:12:31] protection plant or plan that's got all
[1:12:33] that information in it that's got the
[1:12:35] all the information on the whales from
[1:12:38] when they was put in the you know the
[1:12:40] documentation that that we inherited
[1:12:42] that we got and that's sort of what I'm
[1:12:44] going by and then double checking to see
[1:12:46] how these changes are are changing
[1:12:48] through the years but uh but yes that
[1:12:50] information is in there
[1:12:52] and when was the last time we drilled a
[1:12:54] new well
[1:12:56] I don't remember the year the mayor may
[1:12:58] remember better than me the last ones
[1:13:00] we've done was in Rocky Branch if I'm
[1:13:02] correct about that and I think they was
[1:13:04] three or four
[1:13:06] and because of uh
[1:13:09] bacteria issues and the sampling and
[1:13:12] stuff or maybe too much of one thing in
[1:13:14] it they were the state required them to
[1:13:16] be shut down
[1:13:17] some of the places that we that we could
[1:13:19] possibly look at because we pretty much
[1:13:21] exhausted amongst others would be Blue
[1:13:24] Ridge
[1:13:25] yes but it was the same like Blue Ridge
[1:13:27] is Blue Blue Ridge or something yeah
[1:13:29] correct yeah so that would be we're
[1:13:31] going to look at trying to do some
[1:13:33] wealth I think that's that's where we
[1:13:34] ought to look that went up and spoke
[1:13:36] with Roger Hibbert years ago about the
[1:13:39] board was receptive to it you know
[1:13:41] we'd have to pay them something but I
[1:13:43] just and then they just kind of went
[1:13:45] dormant so and I think that's a lot of
[1:13:48] the problems having the you know the
[1:13:50] land to do it
[1:13:51] um has been part of the issue for the
[1:13:53] town in the past just like the Rocky
[1:13:55] Branch uh we do own that land but we
[1:13:58] can't drill a well there we've drilled
[1:13:59] three or four and none of them's
[1:14:01] produced so I think they run a short
[1:14:03] period of time and then we had to shut
[1:14:04] them down so it was just uh I don't want
[1:14:07] to say wasted money because it's just a
[1:14:09] chance you take but you know it cost a
[1:14:12] lot more during Wales now than it did
[1:14:13] back then so
[1:14:16] but all in all we've got a great system
[1:14:19] um you know as far as technology and
[1:14:22] stuff and being up and current it's just
[1:14:25] uh whales are a logistical thing and you
[1:14:28] know they change you know you just don't
[1:14:30] know how often or how long but they they
[1:14:32] will change so
[1:14:36] um
[1:14:36] but that's the reason that number's so
[1:14:39] high and then getting questions or
[1:14:41] comments or anything I'll be more than
[1:14:43] glad to answer them if I could
[1:14:48] okay thank you thank you yes sir
[1:14:54] all right next item please we can send
[1:14:57] agenda consists of four items this
[1:14:59] evening uh first one being adoption of
[1:15:01] minutes April 6 April 10th April 19th
[1:15:05] and April 26th next you have a budget
[1:15:08] amendment for the nclm RMS safety Grant
[1:15:11] 5c is a budget amendment for the 2023
[1:15:14] Valentine Greenway Challenge and lastly
[1:15:18] is a special Revenue fund excuse me
[1:15:20] special Revenue Grant fund ordinance for
[1:15:23] the Governor's crime commission grant
[1:15:24] for the police department that'll be
[1:15:26] your consent agenda
[1:15:28] I was noticing in there in the minutes
[1:15:30] for the citizen comments we were missing
[1:15:33] one comment and that was from Rick early
[1:15:38] I spoke
[1:15:42] you're on April to April 10th okay yeah
[1:15:44] okay
[1:15:47] yeah that was not in there that was
[1:15:49] about how the Planning Commission had
[1:15:50] made a mistake
[1:15:53] with the zoning request
[1:15:56] thank you
[1:15:59] and
[1:16:01] I'm missing the April 26 minutes I have
[1:16:04] March 29th
[1:16:09] so I would I would recommend that we
[1:16:11] pull that so that we can look at those
[1:16:14] next month how about the April 6th and
[1:16:16] the April 19th
[1:16:18] okay
[1:16:21] that's all that good
[1:16:29] oh good by me
[1:16:35] any other comments on the bed I mean
[1:16:37] I'll be cassette agenda if not do I hear
[1:16:39] a motion
[1:16:43] sumo
[1:16:44] okay any more discussion on it
[1:16:47] not all in favor all right passes
[1:16:57] now we're on unfinished business Josh we
[1:16:59] have a citizen comment section uh
[1:17:04] anybody work to speak to the remaining
[1:17:07] items of each other
[1:17:19] yeah give your name and address please
[1:17:22] if you got three minutes Elizabeth Swann
[1:17:24] 207 gatchel Street uh Josh with
[1:17:27] Recreation and Parks is talking about
[1:17:29] the increased use of the Pavilion and
[1:17:32] the pool and that just reinforces my
[1:17:36] statement about parking because from
[1:17:39] nine to say one o'clock in the afternoon
[1:17:42] seniors are coming in to do their
[1:17:44] activities and to have their lunch and
[1:17:48] parking spaces is very limited when the
[1:17:51] pool is open and some of these
[1:17:54] I won't say elderly older folks or you
[1:17:57] know has some disabilities walking using
[1:18:00] the canes and Walkers so we do need
[1:18:02] additional parking for that area and I
[1:18:06] don't know where it's going to come from
[1:18:07] unless the builders
[1:18:09] up and down so put that on the agenda to
[1:18:14] consider I appreciate it thank you very
[1:18:17] much
[1:18:19] and nobody else has a wish
[1:18:22] as this uh
[1:18:26] yes yes
[1:18:35] Sean Sloan 115 3rd Street Black Mountain
[1:18:40] um I want to comment on the offer that
[1:18:43] the town is considering to sell some
[1:18:45] land
[1:18:46] um
[1:18:47] I've given a lot of thought to
[1:18:50] what's being proposed and I'm basing it
[1:18:53] on what is written in the letter that
[1:18:56] was sent to you outlining the terms
[1:19:00] um
[1:19:01] why are you even entertaining this offer
[1:19:03] it is a half acre of land with front a
[1:19:07] road Frontage on E Street
[1:19:09] with Frontage on the creek it's flat
[1:19:13] and it yes it floods and that's where
[1:19:16] you put parks
[1:19:17] and it's in an underserved neighborhood
[1:19:21] Mr Hayes said lamented last meeting oh
[1:19:25] we'd like to be able to use it for a
[1:19:27] pocket park in the future what's the big
[1:19:30] deal except not having imagination
[1:19:34] wouldn't the community garden serve to
[1:19:37] occupy that space wouldn't the
[1:19:39] neighborhood like to have a pitch of
[1:19:42] grass that the kids can play on and put
[1:19:44] a picnic table next to the creek and
[1:19:46] chain it down so it doesn't get flooded
[1:19:48] I just don't understand it's a public
[1:19:50] good and you're thinking of letting it go for
[1:19:55] nothing
[1:19:56] there's a Greenway proposed to run
[1:20:00] through that Park
[1:20:02] to that property and um
[1:20:05] have you considered the fact that we
[1:20:07] might need parking for the greenway so
[1:20:09] people can get on the greenway
[1:20:12] that people are in the future you know
[1:20:14] if we sell that property and they're
[1:20:17] walking down the greenway and there's a
[1:20:19] fence there or no trespassing signs that
[1:20:22] they're going to look back and they're
[1:20:23] going to say what were they thinking
[1:20:25] this is something that is not a big ask
[1:20:28] to develop into a park it's a public
[1:20:31] good and it's not that big a deal to
[1:20:34] make to give some love to the thing and
[1:20:36] post a sign you know come and play here
[1:20:38] so I think you're way off base in terms
[1:20:41] of even thinking about it to say nothing
[1:20:44] of the fact that the offer for thirty
[1:20:46] five thousand dollars
[1:20:48] is a is and the tax value the market
[1:20:51] value is 86.9 so that's an insult of an
[1:20:54] offer the the Mr Sneed in the past has
[1:20:58] referred to the tax value as a bona fide
[1:21:01] value for the property and so why are we
[1:21:04] entertaining an offer that's
[1:21:06] fraction of what the land is worth I
[1:21:09] don't think you've gotten uh an
[1:21:11] appraisal of it and so we're giving it
[1:21:13] away and we're taking it away for from
[1:21:16] future generations of Park and sure it
[1:21:20] doesn't look good now but clean it up
[1:21:22] you know put grass on there we'll put a
[1:21:25] garden on there or put a blueberry patch
[1:21:27] like the gentleman next door wants to do
[1:21:29] and then it'll be ours and everybody can
[1:21:31] enjoy it instead of putting it in the
[1:21:33] private hands I think this is a
[1:21:36] no-brainer as far as I'm concerned thank
[1:21:39] you
[1:21:42] foreign
[1:22:03] concerns in our last meeting different
[1:22:05] questions came up I know looking at
[1:22:08] research these two specific pieces of
[1:22:09] properties were not female FEMA buyout
[1:22:11] properties these were those were other
[1:22:14] properties actually in that general area
[1:22:17] that were FEMA bio properties not these
[1:22:19] two properties
[1:22:20] it also did include for you on at least
[1:22:22] on the screen so this is a map from the
[1:22:24] flood risk information system from FEMA
[1:22:27] and North Carolina emergency management
[1:22:28] which shows you the flood plain in the
[1:22:31] area the floodway
[1:22:32] so this whole whole area is encumbent
[1:22:35] obviously about flood water when we do
[1:22:38] have extensive rainfall amounts can you
[1:22:40] with your cursor show where
[1:22:43] oh
[1:22:45] whereabout that would be
[1:22:49] the property a veteran in this area
[1:22:53] it's right in the corner if that's the
[1:22:55] road right there it says right in that
[1:22:57] corner yeah right here
[1:23:01] this is the house on the other side of
[1:23:02] the river on Factory
[1:23:05] and can you talk a little bit about the
[1:23:07] difference between a floodway and a
[1:23:08] flood zone and what that means for um it
[1:23:11] typically means you cannot build
[1:23:12] anything in it you cannot have a rise in
[1:23:14] any kind of flood waters um
[1:23:17] It's just tough to build anything in the
[1:23:19] floodway
[1:23:20] the source of floating that is in the
[1:23:22] blue that's your aeson which is your 100
[1:23:24] Year foot plane you have to build to a
[1:23:27] certain base flood elevation over what
[1:23:30] that would be it would require a survey
[1:23:31] to shoot that AMC but if it's not two
[1:23:34] feet what's that I said we have an
[1:23:36] ordinance whether it's two features
[1:23:38] that's correct BFE so if it was 900
[1:23:41] figured out the building at 92.
[1:23:43] at the base of the house
[1:23:45] it's buildable but it's just
[1:23:49] it's not as straightforward
[1:23:54] and maybe even mistaken so maybe you can
[1:23:56] correct me I believe that all of the
[1:23:58] property in question is within the flood
[1:24:00] way not not to flood zone
[1:24:04] um I don't know that I could correct you
[1:24:07] or confirm that council member hay does
[1:24:10] a stream run up the middle of the heart
[1:24:12] like the diagonal line typically okay
[1:24:14] then it's in the flood boy
[1:24:34] Josh tell us about the process I'm sorry
[1:24:36] the allergies are getting together
[1:24:39] process you're talking about if you
[1:24:42] decide if we were to decide to move
[1:24:45] forward and that offer is not the amount
[1:24:47] it's not a final offer there will be
[1:24:49] opportunities for upset hits things of
[1:24:52] that nature will just follow what the
[1:24:53] general statute tells us such a couple
[1:24:55] of different options the one coming to
[1:24:57] my mind is upset bid so if you decide to
[1:25:00] take that offer then we'd post that
[1:25:02] someone has a chance to upset that bed
[1:25:05] together I think you give a week
[1:25:07] at a time how that works
[1:25:10] 10 days 10 days
[1:25:14] foreign
[1:25:21] Josh uh
[1:25:24] I think I know the answer to this based
[1:25:27] on a conversation you and I had we
[1:25:30] haven't the town
[1:25:33] hasn't had this property uh
[1:25:38] hadn't had an appraisal done correct yes
[1:25:41] sir or
[1:25:42] a broker opinion on value that's our
[1:25:46] keys it was that's right
[1:25:51] Mr slope said the tax value for both
[1:25:53] pieces together is around 80. 161 and I
[1:25:57] think once just short of I guess just
[1:25:59] over 20 but
[1:26:05] well by I mean from going and looking at
[1:26:08] it
[1:26:10] um
[1:26:14] it's a pretty rough piece of property uh
[1:26:17] I think it floods a lot constantly and
[1:26:21] you know
[1:26:22] if you
[1:26:24] put a playground in there I think you'd
[1:26:26] be replacing a playground pretty
[1:26:28] constantly I mean I don't know but I
[1:26:31] would be
[1:26:33] interested and I would feel more
[1:26:36] I'm not opposed to the idea but I'd feel
[1:26:39] more comfortable
[1:26:40] having some
[1:26:42] better idea from a third party value
[1:26:46] as to whether or not I mean this could
[1:26:49] be the top price I don't know I have no
[1:26:52] idea
[1:26:53] that's building
[1:26:56] discomfort that I happened
[1:27:00] you putting forth an idea that maybe we
[1:27:02] need to go ahead and get it to raise
[1:27:04] them before we continue on well I mean I
[1:27:08] think our choices are an appraisal which
[1:27:10] would probably cost you about a thousand
[1:27:13] bucks maybe or you're also going to get
[1:27:16] a broker opinion on value which might be
[1:27:19] two or three hundred bucks and that's
[1:27:20] not as fancy
[1:27:23] um
[1:27:26] but
[1:27:29] for my mind I mean I'd be happy with the
[1:27:31] broker opinion on value experience
[1:27:35] real estate broker and say here's what I
[1:27:37] think it's worth and they use a pretty
[1:27:39] good idea
[1:27:45] I'll just tell you the concern I have
[1:27:47] but maybe you all can address
[1:27:51] is its wooded piece of property right
[1:27:54] now so for any of these alternate uses
[1:27:56] and I am a big fan of pocket Parks don't
[1:27:58] get me wrong I would have loved to do it
[1:28:00] but
[1:28:01] you're going to have to cut down some
[1:28:03] trees and then then the flooding
[1:28:06] problems are even worse
[1:28:08] and since we keep preparing Veterans
[1:28:10] Park and Flat Creek I'm just concerned
[1:28:15] about creating another liability that
[1:28:17] we're going to have to keep repairing
[1:28:19] going forward
[1:28:21] um
[1:28:23] I was able to research a little bit and
[1:28:25] find some video previous floods down
[1:28:28] there
[1:28:29] and oh my goodness we're not talking
[1:28:30] about a few inches of water we're
[1:28:33] talking about raging torrents that went
[1:28:36] it's very very deep and very very wide
[1:28:39] so um
[1:28:42] I'll just you know I'm just putting out
[1:28:44] my concerns and if maybe you all are
[1:28:46] free thought all that through and have
[1:28:48] answers about that I'd be glad to hear
[1:28:50] it
[1:28:55] I think I spent a lot of time thinking
[1:28:56] about this and uh
[1:28:58] was able to walk to Parker or not the
[1:29:01] property over the weekend
[1:29:03] um and I mean as other people have said
[1:29:05] it's uh it is in quite disrepair at the
[1:29:08] moment uh and it's hard to even imagine
[1:29:10] with the amount of flood damage uh
[1:29:13] that's in the existing park right now or
[1:29:16] existing property right now that a park
[1:29:19] would even be feasible
[1:29:21] um
[1:29:22] I still have a
[1:29:25] strong concern over just the idea of
[1:29:29] even selling a piece of land that the
[1:29:31] town owns um
[1:29:32] you know regardless whether we're using
[1:29:34] it at the park I think the comprehensive
[1:29:36] plan outlined a need for additional
[1:29:38] Green Space and trees and you know
[1:29:41] thinking about preserving some of that land feels uh feels important to me
[1:29:47] um
[1:29:48] as you said Pam right now it's trees and
[1:29:51] that acts as a buffer if we were to sell
[1:29:53] it then we wouldn't have any control
[1:29:54] over what the next person could do with
[1:29:57] it I know that Mr um
[1:30:00] Alexander Alexander
[1:30:02] um you know his vision for it sounds
[1:30:04] great and and sounds like a much better
[1:30:07] use for the property than than it is
[1:30:09] right now
[1:30:10] um my fear is though that you know what
[1:30:12] happens next and and um and so even if
[1:30:15] we did nothing with it even if we didn't
[1:30:16] turn it into a pocket park I wonder if
[1:30:19] that's better than 10 years from now
[1:30:20] seeing it seeing it uh clear-cut and and
[1:30:24] you know use for something else
[1:30:30] there is the uh the kind of question
[1:30:32] mark around the greenway that Mr
[1:30:34] Alexander has the easement for the
[1:30:37] greenway
[1:30:37] um through uh I guess it would come up
[1:30:40] through
[1:30:41] Vice mayor's property if we were to
[1:30:44] follow the current plan I would come up
[1:30:46] with the investigative property and then
[1:30:47] from Australia's English property and
[1:30:49] then into this property that we already
[1:30:50] own and so we don't need an easement for
[1:30:52] property we already own but whether or
[1:30:54] not he would be um
[1:30:56] willing to still give us an easement for his current property uh it's I guess
[1:31:02] a question
[1:31:03] that I don't have an answer to you know
[1:31:05] so it's nice to think that we could have
[1:31:07] that he's been on the way all the way up
[1:31:08] although if it floods as much as as
[1:31:10] we've all kind of seen and done research
[1:31:12] on I wonder how reasonable it is to
[1:31:15] think that we could have a Greenway there that it doesn't get
[1:31:18] washed out every couple of years anyway
[1:31:23] and would it be worth looking at that
[1:31:24] feasibility
[1:31:26] as we consider this property I mean
[1:31:29] would would that Greenway
[1:31:32] I mean would that even be an option or
[1:31:34] if calculating into a decision because I
[1:31:36] think that's kind of my top priority
[1:31:38] with this property is is the way that
[1:31:40] this could Extend A Flat Creek Greenway
[1:31:42] and
[1:31:43] um
[1:31:46] so
[1:31:49] I don't know that we have that answer
[1:31:51] without without doing more research on
[1:31:53] it
[1:31:54] I think I think the concerns are well
[1:31:56] stated
[1:31:57] tonight
[1:32:00] so we've worked Bill about his concerns
[1:32:02] on the value of it and of course then
[1:32:04] Doug just what he just gave um
[1:32:06] and that we could you know ask the
[1:32:09] gentleman
[1:32:11] people right away across his existing
[1:32:13] property
[1:32:14] as possible
[1:32:15] it's part of the contingency by this I
[1:32:19] believe he he shared a letter I think I
[1:32:22] saw somewhere that uh that said that if he were to purchase the property then
[1:32:26] he would yeah I get right away right across this
[1:32:30] is
[1:32:35] in the letter that's the only reason I'm
[1:32:37] saying
[1:32:40] so so absolutely so we've got a chance
[1:32:43] for that so that's not a so as far as
[1:32:45] the greenway guys The Greenway looks to
[1:32:47] be taken care of it well I mean he's
[1:32:51] offering this if we sell the property I
[1:32:53] think this is ability right I mean
[1:32:56] I can't speak to the velocity of the
[1:32:59] water coming through when it floods I
[1:33:01] mean there's a big difference between
[1:33:02] you know a gentle soaking of water a
[1:33:05] versus rushing
[1:33:08] but I I guess if he
[1:33:11] is willing to give and he's I mean he
[1:33:15] spent whether we ever use it or not if
[1:33:17] he gets it
[1:33:18] it's secured
[1:33:21] um whether you actually want it or it's
[1:33:23] been usable right it is
[1:33:27] so what I'm hearing good is that the
[1:33:30] right away seems to be taken care of as
[1:33:32] far as just actually having to be right
[1:33:34] away the value of the property seems to
[1:33:37] be in question if you're interested
[1:33:38] astronaut
[1:33:42] I'm happy to do either
[1:33:44] y'all would like to do
[1:33:48] it sounds like really important ready to
[1:33:51] act is that pretty much correct is that
[1:33:53] if we follow that and get the Brokers is
[1:33:55] there anything else we need to look into
[1:33:57] before the next meeting then
[1:34:01] I would be curious
[1:34:03] um
[1:34:04] before we were to get a praise if
[1:34:07] there's consensus or interest in
[1:34:10] actually if say the value came back at
[1:34:13] 50 000 or whatever we were interested in
[1:34:15] selling it at that point there
[1:34:17] yeah
[1:34:18] to me it's the value the money we get
[1:34:21] out of it's not the determining Factor
[1:34:23] as much whether it's 35 or 15. I mean
[1:34:26] it's money I get it but um
[1:34:30] I think your argument was persuasive
[1:34:32] about even if we never do anything to it
[1:34:34] we still own it
[1:34:38] I found that um to be
[1:34:41] really persuasive to me
[1:34:47] well is zero motion
[1:34:50] should put this to bed one way or the
[1:34:52] other
[1:34:54] I would move to uh
[1:34:56] do not
[1:34:58] entertain the selling of this property
[1:35:00] and thank Mr Alexander for the offer and again it's nothing against his idea
[1:35:06] and proposal I think it's great but I
[1:35:08] think
[1:35:09] okay so that's a form of emotion yes
[1:35:11] okay
[1:35:12] any more discussion
[1:35:15] all right all in favor of selling the
[1:35:18] property
[1:35:20] you know just all in all along
[1:35:26] getting corn fused
[1:35:29] so all those that they were not selling
[1:35:31] the property
[1:35:33] well should we do the motion of selling
[1:35:36] it and then I can vote no is that what
[1:35:38] we should do
[1:35:39] no motion to reject the other motion
[1:35:44] you make that much I'd make that that
[1:35:47] motion all in favor of that motion all
[1:35:49] right opposed
[1:35:54] all right next is the storm water
[1:36:01] management utility Enterprise fund you
[1:36:04] know call up our finance director Tammy
[1:36:05] Holland to lead us through this
[1:36:09] things
[1:36:17] mayor board we are
[1:36:20] um presenting
[1:36:21] amendments to the school and water
[1:36:23] ordinance
[1:36:25] um there is a lot of
[1:36:28] red striking I'm sure that you saw from
[1:36:31] the attorneys previous ordinance where
[1:36:34] we made changes
[1:36:36] a lot of those changes were just in the
[1:36:39] flow of of the ordinance in itself
[1:36:41] that's why there was so many
[1:36:44] um the major part of the ordinance
[1:36:48] um that I wanted to make sure that you
[1:36:50] were aware of was the changing of the
[1:36:53] collection and the billing of the
[1:36:55] stormwater fees
[1:36:57] with the ordinance the storm water
[1:37:00] utility fees would be assessed monthly
[1:37:02] instead of yearly
[1:37:04] the billing and collection of the
[1:37:05] charges and fees related to storm water
[1:37:08] would be administered by myself the
[1:37:10] finance director
[1:37:12] the stormwater charges will be billed to
[1:37:15] the customer receiving the service
[1:37:17] currently they are all billed to the
[1:37:20] property owner
[1:37:22] um with this change they would be to
[1:37:25] whoever is regarding at that property if
[1:37:28] the person that is um if there is not a
[1:37:33] utility service there if they don't have
[1:37:35] water and sewer to us then it would be
[1:37:37] billed to the property owner and that
[1:37:40] would be able to be billed at a monthly
[1:37:42] service rate also through the Utility
[1:37:44] Billing System
[1:37:47] um
[1:37:49] the uh when the charges if someone pays
[1:37:54] um less than the payment is due on our
[1:37:56] utility bill the payments would be
[1:37:58] applied first to the delinquent
[1:38:00] stormwater fees then to the delinquents
[1:38:03] Water and Sewer fees then the current
[1:38:06] stormwater fees then the current water
[1:38:09] and sewer charges
[1:38:11] the disconnection of utility service
[1:38:13] resulting from unpaid fees and charges
[1:38:15] will be handled
[1:38:17] um according to our current Utility
[1:38:19] Billing policy and procedures
[1:38:22] stormwater charges are the subject to
[1:38:25] the phase penalties and collection
[1:38:26] methods outlined in our utility billing
[1:38:29] process
[1:38:30] that we currently use
[1:38:32] that is the major changes I believe in
[1:38:36] the ordinance and ranking
[1:38:39] yeah it's it looks like a lot of change
[1:38:41] but the real change is the small part of
[1:38:44] the building collection
[1:38:48] is there any
[1:38:50] questions comments so it would be build
[1:38:53] monthly yes
[1:38:56] it's done monthly
[1:38:59] um if if the customer does not have a
[1:39:02] utility bill they're welcome to pay the
[1:39:04] whole amount and we just use that credit
[1:39:07] right and to offset that charge each
[1:39:09] month
[1:39:11] um it will like if they have a 72 dollar
[1:39:14] storm water bill then it's gonna be six
[1:39:16] dollars a month on their water bill
[1:39:19] so hopefully it would help
[1:39:22] some of the financial burden that people
[1:39:24] have and they will also be subject to if
[1:39:26] they need financial assistance they're
[1:39:29] able to uh to reach out to sources for
[1:39:32] that which they currently cannot do with
[1:39:34] the stormwater charged separately
[1:39:37] explain that a little bit more details
[1:39:39] so
[1:39:40] um there is non-profit organizations
[1:39:43] that help customers with their utility
[1:39:45] bill if they have a financial hardship
[1:39:47] with the storm water bill is built on
[1:39:51] the utility bill then those agencies
[1:39:54] would also help pay that stormwater Bill
[1:39:55] if the customers reached out
[1:39:59] this original order was passed what that
[1:40:02] thing here May 11 2020. sounds right so
[1:40:08] that's been about two years three years
[1:40:11] yeah 21. okay and when we started when
[1:40:14] we started building the stormwater fees
[1:40:18] um
[1:40:19] we did not have a way to add the
[1:40:22] stormwater fees to our utility
[1:40:24] program at the time because we've
[1:40:27] changed softwares now we have that
[1:40:28] ability
[1:40:30] and I will tell you that researching it
[1:40:32] the school of government did
[1:40:36] a study and 60 percent of the
[1:40:39] municipalities charged stormwater fees
[1:40:42] on the utility bills
[1:40:44] um 20 20 odd percent did it on property
[1:40:49] tax bills
[1:40:50] and then you had about 10 percent that
[1:40:53] was standalone
[1:40:54] and those 10 that were Standalone they
[1:40:57] were mostly municipalities that did not
[1:41:00] have a were not able to Bill utilities
[1:41:04] or their taxes they were done by
[1:41:06] probably the county so they did not have
[1:41:09] a way to attach those bills to those the
[1:41:12] stormwater bills to those existing bills
[1:41:17] I just just reading through this because
[1:41:20] this was passed before I was on the
[1:41:21] board here
[1:41:23] it says all developed land in the town
[1:41:25] where the public proprietor should be
[1:41:26] subject I mean subjected to a storm
[1:41:28] water service charge set up a Town
[1:41:30] Council and then we look over here and
[1:41:33] we see tier four and tier four says each
[1:41:36] partial own but the title black mountain
[1:41:38] state of North Carolina or the United
[1:41:39] States of America
[1:41:41] oh
[1:41:42] why would it even be in there
[1:41:44] because the legislature said so
[1:41:48] yeah we can't we can't we can't charge
[1:41:52] this we can't charge the state we can't
[1:41:54] charge the feds and to charge ourselves
[1:41:57] if we take that out of our right hand
[1:41:58] pocket put it or left yeah but the state
[1:42:00] and feds are Exempted whether we like it
[1:42:02] or not and so we're calling this this is this is a thing
[1:42:06] it's a utility team so it's a utility
[1:42:09] piece so all the different private uh
[1:42:12] non-profit organizations well patients
[1:42:15] also have to have to pay that's correct okay uh how much isn't
[1:42:20] the fun now
[1:42:24] so you know
[1:42:27] the first year we got 350 000 okay now
[1:42:30] that's not in the fund that pays for
[1:42:32] salaries it pays for
[1:42:33] Insurance it pays for materials so that
[1:42:36] whole budget information we have one
[1:42:38] full-time employee however there are
[1:42:41] many other employees that get their
[1:42:43] salaries allocated to that department
[1:42:45] because they do storm water work like
[1:42:46] Jamie's crew cleaning out storm drains
[1:42:49] picking up leads we have to record all
[1:42:51] that information and send it to the
[1:42:52] state every bit of it so could you give
[1:42:55] me a copy of that how that's broken down
[1:43:00] I'm sorry to interrupt um so in 22 we
[1:43:04] had approximately 10 percent
[1:43:06] um of the stormwater bills that were
[1:43:08] unpaid that was about forty thousand so
[1:43:10] far this year we have about 30 percent
[1:43:12] that's unpaid about 108 000. so we have
[1:43:16] a total of 148 000 unpaid stormwater
[1:43:19] fees and we have no way to really
[1:43:24] um collect those because there's no recourse if people do not pay
[1:43:29] currently
[1:43:31] um
[1:43:34] well yeah we can eventually but
[1:43:38] um
[1:43:39] it's sort of we can't say well we're
[1:43:40] going to cut off your storm water we
[1:43:42] can't stop it from raining so
[1:43:46] um there's if we send it to collections
[1:43:48] I mean
[1:43:51] a lot of them also we can't send it to
[1:43:53] collections unless the Bill's over fifty
[1:43:55] dollars
[1:43:56] so
[1:43:57] um you also have the fees associated
[1:43:59] with that on top you know
[1:44:02] the staff's time of having to do all
[1:44:06] that could you explain then that D part
[1:44:09] the combined utility bill built because
[1:44:12] it sounds like from what what I read it
[1:44:14] that the first amount of money that
[1:44:16] anyone pay would go towards their
[1:44:18] delinquent fee so and so that would mean
[1:44:21] then that if they did want to pay their six dollars they would still it
[1:44:26] would probably be six dollars short on
[1:44:28] their water bills
[1:44:31] is that that way that's the way it reads
[1:44:35] that's correct
[1:44:35] [Applause]
[1:44:38] so that's sort of giving us the um the
[1:44:41] utility service because we can
[1:44:43] disconnect the water we can't disconnect
[1:44:45] storm water but
[1:44:47] um but now that that's going to be built
[1:44:49] on all the same bill we can disconnect
[1:44:51] for that yes that's what I would hope
[1:44:54] that sometimes we would look at this fee
[1:44:56] especially considering how much money
[1:44:58] that we got
[1:44:59] especially professionally coming here
[1:45:00] that's for one project Mr
[1:45:03] system but that 5.4 million dollars is
[1:45:06] one project
[1:45:07] it was it's big money but it came with
[1:45:10] strings
[1:45:11] we're not just sitting there sitting on
[1:45:15] that money one um one other thing is
[1:45:18] that it's got here that uh
[1:45:20] the plane director should prepare a
[1:45:23] storm water credit incentive manual
[1:45:24] setting forward the appropriate credit
[1:45:26] applications process though to build a
[1:45:27] criteria extended upon which such
[1:45:29] credits are given after we do we have
[1:45:31] that we do not have that ready yet we
[1:45:33] are working on that
[1:45:35] just put forward it's not immediate with
[1:45:38] the rest of it
[1:45:39] understanding we need to collect a
[1:45:42] couple years of data before there was a
[1:45:44] means of coming up with a formula of how
[1:45:46] to credit somebody if they put in say
[1:45:48] devices that control storm water just
[1:45:51] didn't have the information to create
[1:45:52] that formula yet
[1:45:54] so so at some point in the future that
[1:45:56] we're going to be debating that and we
[1:45:58] could be debating some other stuff too
[1:45:59] like folks that put in a rain Garden are
[1:46:02] still being charged seven to two dollars
[1:46:04] yet yet they've got to pay each year or
[1:46:08] every other every third year to have it
[1:46:11] that's correct tense manual that's
[1:46:12] correct which is by law that's not
[1:46:14] something we created
[1:46:20] so as proposed we have the room to
[1:46:22] explore that Nuance down the road once staff has enough information to
[1:46:28] start presenting you with a formula and
[1:46:30] you can look at those difference
[1:46:33] control devices and see what effect
[1:46:35] they're having yeah how much benefits
[1:46:37] your system that's stormwater utility
[1:46:39] doesn't just pay for keeping the water
[1:46:41] clean push the devices do uh it's a it's
[1:46:45] a matter of everything in our storm
[1:46:47] water completely drainage conveyances
[1:46:49] and everything
[1:46:50] did this go in front of the planner
[1:46:52] board for them to talk about no sir no
[1:46:55] sir
[1:46:58] it's not required to so we did not say
[1:47:00] anything
[1:47:03] I mean they're they're recommending
[1:47:05] board to this to this Council they are I
[1:47:08] think for them to this is
[1:47:13] this was not done when there were many meetings and a huge amount of
[1:47:17] discussion and many reports and studies
[1:47:20] it was not well
[1:47:24] this particular issue here I I think it
[1:47:27] makes a lot of sense it makes it a lot
[1:47:29] easier and
[1:47:31] will streamline it if I'm not mistaken
[1:47:34] we we
[1:47:37] constructed like several months ago to
[1:47:40] make this shift from
[1:47:43] to monthly so this is just implementing
[1:47:45] what we discussed it has to be approved
[1:47:47] by the board please
[1:47:51] as long as we're here can I ask a
[1:47:53] question I'm not sure if it's you
[1:47:55] but in the tier system
[1:47:59] does the same does a little business say
[1:48:02] downtown pay the same rate as say a
[1:48:05] giant structures they angles
[1:48:09] so which
[1:48:10] where do they evolve
[1:48:16] your large places like Ingles or a big
[1:48:18] strip mall development falls into that
[1:48:20] um to that higher category which is more
[1:48:23] than your your bank or your dentist
[1:48:25] office
[1:48:32] yeah Industrial
[1:48:34] heavy industrial including
[1:48:36] asphalt lining warehousing and
[1:48:39] processing facilities that includes
[1:48:40] angles grocery store no I'm not talking
[1:48:43] about the Distribution Center the
[1:48:44] grocery store
[1:48:46] it used to say
[1:48:49] um it would have the like strip malls
[1:48:52] style large
[1:48:54] retail large retail development
[1:48:58] they have a bit distorted didn't assess
[1:49:01] that higher rate
[1:49:03] I guess I just didn't see retail in here
[1:49:05] it was all about asphalt and lining
[1:49:10] is retail established
[1:49:13] right tier two would be more like a
[1:49:15] little downtown places right yes
[1:49:24] you can make that text move around like
[1:49:26] the Ingalls has been assessed the larger
[1:49:28] rate instead had all those larger strip
[1:49:29] malls there are five or seven of them I
[1:49:32] can think of all time that have been
[1:49:34] assessed and made that higher rate well
[1:49:36] I just wondered because I've been asked
[1:49:38] and um I want to make sure we weren't
[1:49:40] charging we'll see if you store downtown
[1:49:41] the same as yeah
[1:49:47] it's a little Charming sports that's
[1:49:49] what I know
[1:49:52] they are
[1:50:00] we we will clear up the language in that
[1:50:03] um in the motion for this if you want
[1:50:06] that it's an easy thing to do I also
[1:50:08] wanted to check about a date effective
[1:50:11] for this
[1:50:13] May 11th 2020 was the just acknowledging
[1:50:16] that we needed to have a stormwater
[1:50:18] program
[1:50:21] well isn't it January 1 2024 the new
[1:50:26] you know that question about um
[1:50:29] starting monthly that we would have an
[1:50:31] interim period
[1:50:33] between now and when this becomes
[1:50:35] affected where we send out another round
[1:50:38] of final final for really like amnesty
[1:50:42] period uh anything that is over fifty
[1:50:45] dollars
[1:50:46] um to or actually for everybody I'm
[1:50:48] sorry hundreds of dollars for everybody
[1:50:50] to try to see people who can catch up
[1:50:52] before the this all becomes effective
[1:50:56] we have been gearing up for that so we
[1:50:59] were hoping for it I think we're going
[1:51:00] to discussed a date effective
[1:51:02] um sometime between now and August 20 60
[1:51:06] days
[1:51:08] um for people to get called up for this
[1:51:11] prospective
[1:51:14] so if we add something to the motion
[1:51:17] like retail over a certain square
[1:51:20] footage is that appropriate I would do
[1:51:23] we do descriptors of like strip mall
[1:51:25] development
[1:51:27] um big box there's this or more helpful
[1:51:30] okay to tierify
[1:51:40] so if if someone is behind on their
[1:51:43] payments now when this goes into effect
[1:51:46] if that whatever their they owe will be
[1:51:49] on that next utility bill so if they
[1:51:51] haven't paid the 70. 72 and that will be
[1:51:54] added to their first utility bills we
[1:51:56] make an add it but we wouldn't be able
[1:51:58] to disconnect the water services because
[1:52:00] of it because this is happening after
[1:52:03] okay so none of the
[1:52:06] okay they could go to collection they
[1:52:08] can still go to collections but we
[1:52:10] wouldn't be able to follow
[1:52:12] their their payment coming in being
[1:52:14] applied to that first rule on those so
[1:52:17] what two months three months
[1:52:20] something like that before that one kick
[1:52:22] in
[1:52:24] yes and so it's it's gonna look me now
[1:52:27] so into July versus August the date
[1:52:30] affected would be and what are the the
[1:52:33] five uh charges for tier one three five
[1:52:37] tier one sorry the costs yeah the tier
[1:52:42] one is 72 dollars tier two is 240 and
[1:52:45] you have
[1:52:47] um undeveloped which is nothing and you
[1:52:49] have certain categories that represent
[1:52:50] those places that we cannot compel
[1:52:52] payment and then you have the the more
[1:52:55] intense reason that's
[1:52:57] well what is it
[1:53:00] it's 1200 a year
[1:53:05] and that's part of our budget right
[1:53:09] so that that's in the fee schedule and
[1:53:11] it's been the same since it was starting
[1:53:14] but so this next billing cycle for the
[1:53:17] utility bill will it starts when August that's what we've been sending
[1:53:23] them out okay the new ones have been
[1:53:25] going out in August okay
[1:53:29] yeah
[1:53:30] so if we pass it today you're asking for
[1:53:33] the grace period you're gonna pass it
[1:53:34] today next month's bill wouldn't have
[1:53:36] the six dollars that's right okay
[1:53:39] thank you we originally tried to follow
[1:53:41] like the tax schedule because we were
[1:53:43] running on a calendar year and now we
[1:53:45] will be able to run to August and then
[1:53:47] that won't matter anymore
[1:53:54] questions
[1:53:56] your emotion I just died
[1:54:05] I move we approve and it's presented
[1:54:12] or any more discussion
[1:54:14] we could add the language around a large
[1:54:17] hotel as amended
[1:54:21] and are we putting in this 60-day
[1:54:23] amnesty period to
[1:54:24] does that become part of this document
[1:54:26] as well maybe become effective
[1:54:28] it's
[1:54:32] the I don't think this bill is just a
[1:54:35] drastic amending it the 60-day grace
[1:54:37] period is basically what staff have had
[1:54:40] apparently we've been sit on the board
[1:54:41] is going to get people so we can get
[1:54:43] those past dudes caught up that I
[1:54:46] haven't got a collection
[1:54:47] [Music]
[1:55:03] so that's what's
[1:55:05] on the motion also
[1:55:08] any more discussion
[1:55:10] I'm David
[1:55:14] all right next
[1:55:24] item will be the bill of Honor Parade
[1:55:26] Kiwanis Club of Black Mountain just want
[1:55:28] to know uh and I have
[1:55:30] a few folks here that want to talk to
[1:55:32] Mandy please come up
[1:55:35] and address mayor and Council
[1:55:49] I'm Lynn deese uh 127 Fairway Drive and
[1:55:53] current president of Black Mountain
[1:55:54] Swannanoa Kiwanis Club we are sponsoring
[1:55:58] a field of Honor in September first time
[1:56:02] we've tried this community project and
[1:56:05] it's been very successful in other
[1:56:07] places we are working with a non-profit
[1:56:10] Colonial Flag Foundation to get
[1:56:15] 103 by five foot flags on eight foot
[1:56:19] poles flagstaffs and they'll be up in
[1:56:21] the lot between the Methodist Church and
[1:56:24] harwood's home funerals
[1:56:26] so it'll be right in the center of town
[1:56:29] we would like to have a parade for the
[1:56:32] kickoff uh opening session of it which
[1:56:36] will be September 11th and this um
[1:56:39] Colonial Flag Foundation was founded
[1:56:41] because they wanted to honor the uh
[1:56:44] victims of September 11. when the
[1:56:47] terrorist bombed the brought down the
[1:56:49] towers in New York so this has been
[1:56:51] going on for about 20 years and we want
[1:56:53] to bring this here it will be uh we'll
[1:56:56] be honoring all of our veterans living
[1:56:59] or dead active duty military First
[1:57:02] Responders including police and fire and
[1:57:05] EMS
[1:57:06] uh with with Flack anybody who wants to
[1:57:09] get a flag for someone that they'd like
[1:57:11] to honor and we need permission to have
[1:57:14] a parade from
[1:57:17] um Tractor Supply down to the lot there
[1:57:21] at Harwood home for funerals
[1:57:25] I think you have a letter
[1:57:27] from from us
[1:57:30] you just remind the board real quick if the board decides they want to go
[1:57:34] through this we staff will put together
[1:57:36] essentially an ordinance that we need to
[1:57:39] send to dot for them to bless they have
[1:57:40] to look over it and make sure they're
[1:57:42] okay with it and then it would and that
[1:57:44] would be I think you have to give 60
[1:57:46] days to them to do that so that would
[1:57:48] give us enough time for them to comment
[1:57:51] but we really we don't know what they're
[1:57:53] going to say until we submit it to them
[1:57:54] so
[1:57:55] I moved it we go ahead and approve this
[1:57:57] request
[1:57:59] very good any discussion
[1:58:03] thank you thank you my only suggestion
[1:58:05] is
[1:58:06] perhaps before traffic's really bad oh
[1:58:09] we are we're looking at one o'clock
[1:58:11] because we will get some of our uh
[1:58:13] student uh service leadership programs
[1:58:15] at Kawana sponsors and schools involved
[1:58:17] with Owen High and elements Elementary
[1:58:20] School and yeah
[1:58:26] I'm not seeing any other discussion all
[1:58:29] in favor all right opposed very good
[1:58:32] thank you good project thank you
[1:58:40] next item is our public hearing a public
[1:58:43] hearing for voluntary annexation for a
[1:58:45] portion of property owned by events and
[1:58:46] maybe Snelling for this
[1:58:49] that's 23 opening
[1:59:00] we got some Republican okay so um we're
[1:59:03] gonna be talking about two things back
[1:59:05] to back I don't want to confuse them and
[1:59:07] there's a lot of potential for legal
[1:59:09] jargon to happen I'm going to try to
[1:59:10] steer clear of it
[1:59:12] um
[1:59:13] so the annexation is the area that is in
[1:59:16] blue it is about 1.36 acres and the
[1:59:21] parent parcel is 8.41 Acres it's a North
[1:59:25] Fork Road and you see in Holly Avenue
[1:59:26] right there
[1:59:28] um and so the rest of it is out in the
[1:59:30] county and the applicant wishes for this
[1:59:32] lower section
[1:59:34] um to be holy within the town limits
[1:59:37] just like the little triangle funny part
[1:59:39] at the top is in town limits how the
[1:59:41] town limit line came to be at this angle
[1:59:44] I don't know the answer to that
[1:59:46] um but that that diagonal line does
[1:59:49] create some an odd little configuration
[1:59:52] there that they're seeking to rectify
[1:59:55] um you will see that there are three
[1:59:57] lots proposed there
[1:59:59] um don't let that that's not up for
[2:00:02] approval that's not something that can
[2:00:04] be considered in your vote for
[2:00:07] annexation or zoning decision
[2:00:10] um
[2:00:11] so the applicant
[2:00:14] um like Josh said events and Libby
[2:00:16] Snelling um they made these they've
[2:00:18] submitted this application went to
[2:00:19] planning board planning board does not
[2:00:20] make a vote on annexation they just make
[2:00:22] comment and they felt that this was a
[2:00:24] reasonable thing um for you all to
[2:00:26] consider I did once yeah
[2:00:29] I was confused because the resigning
[2:00:31] worksheets blank from the zone
[2:00:34] that's it's the where we're doing
[2:00:36] annexation it's okay but
[2:00:41] all right step one annexation
[2:00:45] same questions
[2:00:49] yeah it's y'all that's y'all's to fill
[2:00:50] out
[2:00:52] so I just want to point out that elevate
[2:00:54] Black Mountain our comprehensive plan
[2:00:55] does provide guidance for criteria when
[2:00:57] you're talking about other service
[2:00:59] extensions or um annexation criteria
[2:01:02] um I think there are nine of those there
[2:01:03] are three that are most relevant to this
[2:01:05] particular application and that is that
[2:01:08] it aligns with the comprehensive plan
[2:01:09] and the future land use map of the
[2:01:11] mountain residential area which is
[2:01:12] primarily residential in nature the
[2:01:16] proposed area makes for more contiguous
[2:01:18] and reasonable Town limits which I would
[2:01:20] argue that currently or not either of
[2:01:22] those things
[2:01:23] um and the Newtown boundary is um more
[2:01:25] logical
[2:01:27] um and that it is also contiguous
[2:01:29] obviously to the existing this is not a
[2:01:31] satellite annexation
[2:01:32] so those three criteria fully met
[2:01:35] um with within this request
[2:01:40] that's it the lots that are on the left
[2:01:43] side of the road those I would assumed
[2:01:46] were in the county
[2:01:48] at some previous point
[2:01:50] the federal examiners have probably now
[2:01:53] it was brought into the town like
[2:01:55] they're asking here probably at some
[2:01:57] previous point don't know where
[2:02:08] I didn't make any more questions
[2:02:12] just give me some quickly speak to the
[2:02:14] benefits of connecting property
[2:02:17] well when you again zoning control of
[2:02:20] that property that you are making it
[2:02:22] more consistent with the town limits
[2:02:24] that it is surrounded by I don't want to
[2:02:28] go into those those lists of things on
[2:02:31] how they're different quite yet
[2:02:33] um but you do gain control of that that
[2:02:35] regulatory sense whereas you do not have
[2:02:36] control of that now
[2:02:39] um and certainly any sort of minor tax
[2:02:41] base that would you know come from a
[2:02:43] couple of houses that had potential to
[2:02:44] be built there
[2:02:50] primarily those dogs can't build on that
[2:02:52] honestly it's 81.
[2:02:54] they might be able to reduce and get two
[2:02:56] lots of it we all shared will but
[2:03:00] otherwise they couldn't tap on to Black
[2:03:03] Mountain Water
[2:03:05] not necessarily so anyways
[2:03:10] if you walk down water and you're
[2:03:12] outside of town you have to ask to be
[2:03:14] annexed the town can still decide not
[2:03:17] the annex can still provide count water
[2:03:19] I think there's also an exception for
[2:03:20] single family houses
[2:03:22] for requested and frantics you could
[2:03:24] have out of town service and not be in
[2:03:26] town limits if you're a single family
[2:03:28] residence on the Water Service
[2:03:31] let me just charge out down right that's
[2:03:33] right
[2:03:35] so they could tap on there is water and
[2:03:37] Public Utilities in this area
[2:03:42] so you're gaining 1.36 acres for the
[2:03:44] town of the black mountains jurisdiction
[2:03:47] is there any implication then that
[2:03:51] the rest of that property looks like
[2:03:54] it's surrounded by the town but then
[2:03:56] they come back and say hey we want to be
[2:03:58] in there too because we're in there so
[2:04:00] there are not parcel lines on that the
[2:04:02] parent portal is irregularly shaped it
[2:04:05] is not a nice tidy piece right above it
[2:04:09] um
[2:04:10] there is no cooling off period required
[2:04:12] for annexation petitions
[2:04:16] this is
[2:04:28] could you address a little bit
[2:04:31] the concerns that this
[2:04:33] I'm sorry was it Mrs Shivers
[2:04:36] um that's about runoff and so on on her
[2:04:38] property no I've not issued the town has
[2:04:41] not issued a multi-family permit
[2:04:43] um so I'm guessing it it's an adjacent
[2:04:46] parcel in the county
[2:04:49] um so
[2:04:51] we have not issued I mean she mentioned
[2:04:53] a multi-family development which is not
[2:04:55] from us
[2:04:57] um
[2:04:58] that's actually sure where it is but
[2:05:00] it's not in towns jurisdiction
[2:05:07] so it wouldn't be under our regulations
[2:05:22] all right question about the public
[2:05:24] hearing process since it's been a little
[2:05:26] while um there is a time for public
[2:05:28] comment during the public hearing
[2:05:30] um
[2:05:31] you present it and open it up and then there's public comments that's
[2:05:36] correct
[2:05:37] so so before we take action we would uh
[2:05:40] allow
[2:05:42] the public comments
[2:05:52] you want to avoid them we need to get a
[2:05:53] motion to open it
[2:05:55] public hearing oh we haven't done that
[2:05:57] no no
[2:05:59] I moved to open the public hearing okay
[2:06:02] any discussion not all in favor all
[2:06:04] right okay
[2:06:06] we have a we have a public hearing
[2:06:12] do we have anyone wishing to speak
[2:06:15] at the public here
[2:06:17] please come forward this is on
[2:06:19] annexation
[2:06:24] give your name and address
[2:06:28] Kathy Phillips 26 Highview Drive in
[2:06:31] Black Mountain as you know I'm on the
[2:06:33] planning board
[2:06:35] um we did discuss this
[2:06:37] um annexation and it is a weird shape it
[2:06:43] may sense only if we put it in context
[2:06:46] of it was very difficult to
[2:06:50] um divide annexation and rezoning we did
[2:06:53] not support annexation if the Sony was
[2:06:56] in the Ura
[2:06:58] but we would support annexation of his
[2:07:01] sr2 and the property owner agreed to
[2:07:04] that so it's kind of hard without
[2:07:07] having the whole picture to try to
[2:07:09] decide this without before you hear the
[2:07:12] rest of the story
[2:07:13] that is ours
[2:07:16] um we did not want to have a high
[2:07:17] another
[2:07:19] high density
[2:07:23] um what is it development going up the
[2:07:27] steep slope like we have in other areas
[2:07:29] of town
[2:07:30] so that was our
[2:07:33] that was the reason for our decision
[2:07:36] to support annexation
[2:07:39] only with the lower density
[2:07:42] presenting
[2:07:44] which you can't discuss until the next
[2:07:48] that I'll remind you thank you okay
[2:07:52] anybody else wish to speak
[2:07:55] please
[2:07:59] uh Tim Shivers 140 North Fork
[2:08:02] these lots are laid out here in this
[2:08:05] diagram
[2:08:06] is these or is this the lots that are
[2:08:09] going to be proposed for the development
[2:08:12] of this eight Acres or do we not know
[2:08:15] because I haven't seen any
[2:08:17] yeah Maps I think as it is now it has to
[2:08:21] be voted on that is to bring the land in
[2:08:24] okay I understand I understand 1.36
[2:08:27] Acres the rest of it is not being
[2:08:29] annexed okay well I'm this is an Annex
[2:08:32] question this is more of the development
[2:08:33] and maybe it might need to wait till
[2:08:35] later
[2:08:36] but as far as uh we live right next to
[2:08:39] it and we really have no idea of the
[2:08:42] layout of how the land is going to be
[2:08:44] broken down into
[2:08:46] different laws so is what I'm asking
[2:08:48] here is that diagram pretty much close
[2:08:50] to the way they want to you know the way
[2:08:53] the seller wants to break that down yes
[2:08:59] this is a minor subdivision it is not
[2:09:01] subject to the planning board it is it
[2:09:03] is used by right
[2:09:04] okay it's an administrative process I
[2:09:07] just want to know if it was similar it's
[2:09:09] a little I perf I couldn't could not
[2:09:13] erase those that cannot make your
[2:09:15] decision for annexation or reasoning
[2:09:17] based on the potential you have to
[2:09:20] consider all the potential things and
[2:09:22] we'll talk more about that in the zoning
[2:09:24] part okay thank you appreciate it it
[2:09:27] will be clearer Kathy's not wrong it
[2:09:29] does make more sense we talk about it
[2:09:30] together but they are legally separate
[2:09:33] things and I don't want to muddy the
[2:09:35] waters too much anybody else yeah sure
[2:09:38] oh sorry
[2:09:45] my name is Sharon Tabor I live at 141
[2:09:49] North Fork Road which is across the
[2:09:51] street from Ruth
[2:09:54] um my concern is about
[2:09:58] the additional traffic
[2:10:01] there is right at Holly Avenue between
[2:10:04] chenkopin and Holly there is a hill
[2:10:08] and every morning I have to look three
[2:10:10] times before I pulled out of my driveway
[2:10:12] because you never know when the cars are
[2:10:14] coming over there and I can't pull out
[2:10:16] of the upper drive because it's blocked
[2:10:19] you can't see over that Hill
[2:10:21] and my in my concern is that
[2:10:26] how do you control the extra traffic the
[2:10:29] people coming out of chinkapin
[2:10:32] um the extra traffic and being hit
[2:10:34] because it's their site visibility issue
[2:10:37] thank you
[2:10:40] anybody else wish to speak
[2:10:48] my name is Dan Hall
[2:10:51] I I live on pinhill uh 21
[2:10:54] chinkapin Hill
[2:10:56] and currently that is a private Drive
[2:11:01] my question is
[2:11:04] how are these New Lots going to be
[2:11:07] accessed
[2:11:09] and
[2:11:11] it's my understanding that
[2:11:14] on a private road you can only have
[2:11:16] three houses
[2:11:20] I don't know if that's on a 15-foot line private
[2:11:25] driveway and I think chinkapins about 50
[2:11:27] feet wide
[2:11:29] okay
[2:11:33] [Applause]
[2:11:34] um my other question is
[2:11:36] if the town is going to Annex this area
[2:11:41] are they going to be responsible for
[2:11:43] maintenance of that road
[2:11:47] currently I'm the only one
[2:11:49] who is taking care of the road
[2:11:53] yeah the answer that's not we would not
[2:11:56] be responsible for that right because
[2:11:57] the request is not the pan exchange
[2:12:00] again
[2:12:02] if I may jump in at this point
[2:12:06] I've got an ordinance floating around
[2:12:07] that's not in your packet that describes
[2:12:10] the property being annexed
[2:12:12] and because what we have is this
[2:12:14] referenced the the Acres were not
[2:12:17] annexing or personal proposed to be
[2:12:18] annexed and I've prepared a legal
[2:12:21] description that does include the
[2:12:22] footprint of chinkapin and these three
[2:12:24] lots
[2:12:25] it makes no sense for us to Annex on
[2:12:28] both sides of the private road and leave
[2:12:30] that strip of land outside the town
[2:12:34] what's the chicken pan is already in the
[2:12:36] town a private road can be brought up to
[2:12:39] town standards and offered that's
[2:12:42] it's always an option but it's their
[2:12:44] existence as an Intel on this does not
[2:12:46] make it by definition of Public Road
[2:12:51] you see that blue stripe that cuts
[2:12:53] across lots and then diagonally across
[2:12:55] chinkapin yeah that puts almost
[2:12:58] well better than a third of chinkapins
[2:13:00] already in the city limits
[2:13:05] the lower part is the town doesn't have
[2:13:08] any responsibilities
[2:13:13] Fair policy toward taking over the
[2:13:14] maintenance of roads that are private
[2:13:16] and developments and subdivisions is if
[2:13:20] somebody wants to be taken in they have
[2:13:21] to build it to town standards and then
[2:13:23] offer it and if they do offer under
[2:13:25] those conditions we're not obligated to
[2:13:27] take it yeah
[2:13:30] Ron can you
[2:13:31] I'm confused but it's blue line up here
[2:13:36] that is the town limits uh how that
[2:13:40] happened in the past I don't have a clue
[2:13:42] it's just so so all a lot more and
[2:13:45] two-thirds of lot two or inventory or in
[2:13:48] town currently in a tiny bit of line
[2:13:51] three
[2:13:52] I'm sorry
[2:13:55] so it's extra confusing at the County
[2:13:57] website because the county line is in
[2:13:59] three different places oh my but this
[2:14:02] came over
[2:14:03] the green line jogs down and it catches
[2:14:06] the top of three from the top of two
[2:14:08] that's correct the bottom the bottom all
[2:14:12] of lot one and two-thirds of lot two are
[2:14:14] in the county currently we're gonna
[2:14:16] count oh I see so this is
[2:14:18] the town yes so with the blue what you
[2:14:21] can't see is that there's a green line
[2:14:23] that yeah I was trying to make it
[2:14:26] clearer apparently no no no no
[2:14:30] it's the north part of the lighter
[2:14:33] blocks are in the town that's right
[2:14:37] so this would not address that other lot
[2:14:40] on the other side of chinkapin that's
[2:14:42] Orange
[2:14:47] thank you
[2:14:52] talk thanks
[2:15:02] Scott Russell 15 Theresa way and I'm the
[2:15:05] realtor for the the uh applicant
[2:15:09] um
[2:15:11] so the gray area is
[2:15:15] Buncombe County
[2:15:18] and for some reason on GIS that green
[2:15:21] line is a zigzag that comes across the
[2:15:24] north side
[2:15:25] of light three
[2:15:28] and zigzags back left
[2:15:31] to North Fork
[2:15:33] and it goes back right
[2:15:35] we don't know why there was confusion
[2:15:37] between the county and the and the town
[2:15:40] of
[2:15:41] who has
[2:15:43] um
[2:15:45] you're good I'm good yeah so
[2:15:50] the three lots were surveyed out
[2:15:54] and propose to uh the reason we chose
[2:15:57] that
[2:15:59] North uh line across the top of lot
[2:16:03] three is because that evens up that line
[2:16:06] with the red properties to the left of
[2:16:08] jenkopin all the way to the line coming down Genesis it kind of felt like it should be in the
[2:16:15] town anyway and now it'll be nice and
[2:16:18] even
[2:16:19] and then that's how we came up with
[2:16:22] we wanted a minor subdivision
[2:16:25] um
[2:16:27] not a major so that's how we came up
[2:16:28] with three lots and then because of the
[2:16:31] 0.7 acre size sr2 was fine we actually
[2:16:35] applied for your only because all the
[2:16:38] red stuff you see
[2:16:40] is Ura
[2:16:43] so that little trying green triangle
[2:16:46] that's currently in the red in the Ura
[2:16:48] there on the left side
[2:16:50] is that county is that
[2:16:53] or is that just yeah so on the gis it's
[2:16:56] blue and green over the overlaid
[2:17:00] uh it's I can show you the this weird I so that bottom triangle is in the
[2:17:05] count
[2:17:06] on that red parcel yes
[2:17:10] if you look at it on GIS it looks like
[2:17:13] it's both
[2:17:15] you can see two colors on that triangle
[2:17:20] I I can't explain it it's just I I
[2:17:23] thought it was a GIS glitch
[2:17:25] but the county said we we don't know
[2:17:31] but the rest of the property going up
[2:17:34] the mountain is is counting
[2:17:37] in the grass and the cinquapin road that
[2:17:41] is currently the like bottom third
[2:17:44] that's in the county
[2:17:46] the bottom third next to lot one would
[2:17:49] be in this town
[2:17:55] according to GIS currently it is
[2:17:58] everything
[2:18:01] really basically basically so this is
[2:18:04] oriented North up
[2:18:07] everything below the Blue Line the top
[2:18:10] blue line
[2:18:12] is in the town
[2:18:17] I'm sorry I'm sorry you're right sorry
[2:18:19] see even I'm confused I've been doing
[2:18:21] this for six months so you're right that
[2:18:23] that's a zigzag I've done um so it's
[2:18:26] late Bill I'm tired man
[2:18:30] yeah the the zigzag part had me messed
[2:18:33] up so it's like a little sliver of town
[2:18:37] between two slivers of
[2:18:39] County
[2:18:41] this map on our pack is almost easier to
[2:18:43] understand than that one I guess the
[2:18:46] blue line is the blue light is the area
[2:18:48] you would get that's that's what we
[2:18:50] brought
[2:18:51] in house that's the subject that's the
[2:18:53] 1.36 Acres yeah okay
[2:18:57] [Laughter]
[2:18:59] okay
[2:19:04] um it will comments or do we have
[2:19:05] anybody else's feet
[2:19:08] and to I was going to address Dan Hall's
[2:19:11] question about the road
[2:19:14] uh missing out Miss snelling's property
[2:19:16] is already it has the data access from
[2:19:19] shinkman and she will
[2:19:23] bring those three lots into road
[2:19:25] maintenance on that road
[2:19:27] so when she sells them which is the plan
[2:19:30] eventually
[2:19:32] they'll be subject to road maintenance
[2:19:34] up to the top of lot three
[2:19:37] there is no further plan for the acreage
[2:19:39] above that
[2:19:41] yeah I mean they're they're my dollars
[2:19:45] there there's not there is not
[2:19:47] okay
[2:19:50] any more comments tell everybody else
[2:19:53] wish to speak if not here
[2:19:57] silver
[2:19:58] all in favor
[2:20:00] okay passes now
[2:20:04] do we have a motion to adopt the
[2:20:06] ordinance as presented I was if you
[2:20:09] don't mind Mr Mayor I'd rather adopt
[2:20:12] this ordinance as written
[2:20:14] it hasn't made some balance description
[2:20:18] it properly identifies the orange uh the
[2:20:22] snailings that put that property into a
[2:20:23] trust the ordinance wreath that is owned
[2:20:26] by the trust and the description the
[2:20:29] beats and Bounds that I put together
[2:20:30] from their survey now it's overlapping
[2:20:33] some area that's already in town but it
[2:20:35] gives you a legal description that's
[2:20:37] mappable uh and somebody can find on the
[2:20:39] ground next year
[2:20:41] maybe we'll send it to Martin County
[2:20:52] but yeah
[2:21:20] foreign
[2:21:46] but there's nothing stopping someone
[2:21:48] from building on the slots now right
[2:21:51] that's correct
[2:22:00] the next twisters
[2:22:08] it just says 2304
[2:22:13] yeah okay
[2:22:17] gotcha thanks
[2:22:29] foreign
[2:23:05] um
[2:23:07] we've got we've got a big development
[2:23:09] over here at the golf course that
[2:23:12] originally came into the town and was
[2:23:14] I'm going to be part of that affordable
[2:23:17] housing project
[2:23:19] unfortunately the recession 2008 took
[2:23:23] out the owner of it on the chocolate box
[2:23:27] out by somebody else
[2:23:29] and so um
[2:23:31] again
[2:23:36] said we'll just follow what they did
[2:23:40] what happens
[2:23:43] we don't have any teeth remarkable
[2:23:45] abortions in that that development there
[2:23:47] has no important
[2:23:49] there's more would come down in the
[2:23:51] future
[2:23:52] um look at look at ways to go ahead and
[2:23:55] putting species into something
[2:23:57] more affordable housing
[2:24:23] so
[2:24:24] what are we okay
[2:24:35] understand what we're doing
[2:24:40] let's see amended one that has the
[2:24:42] correct legal description is that
[2:24:44] correct it is the description drafted
[2:24:46] from the survey that the applicant
[2:24:49] provided uh which and does pick up the
[2:24:52] piece of chinkapin on this little short
[2:24:54] strip that's in the county because in
[2:24:57] fact uh they own it they own the dirt on
[2:25:00] dry
[2:25:29] [Applause]
[2:25:37] we're done
[2:25:39] Mr Mayor I moved the adoption of the
[2:25:42] ordinance has amended by our attorney
[2:25:45] any discussion if not all in favor
[2:25:52] all right let's move on to the B public
[2:25:56] hearing I'll pass somebody down the
[2:25:57] zoning ordinance before something orders
[2:25:59] suspended also
[2:26:01] yes
[2:26:05] yeah and the only change to that is to
[2:26:09] insert correct name of the applicant and
[2:26:12] the legal description okay sure
[2:26:15] so here's the zoning part that
[2:26:17] everybody's more accustomed to talking
[2:26:19] about
[2:26:20] um I am not going to read you word for
[2:26:22] word the staff report you have that in
[2:26:24] your agenda packet um but most notably
[2:26:27] the area to be rezone we said 1.36 Acres
[2:26:31] um the average slope is 18.3 for the
[2:26:34] total parent parcel that is how the
[2:26:37] steep slope calculator works we cannot
[2:26:39] parse it out for a little subsection
[2:26:40] it's an it's undeveloped mostly wooded
[2:26:43] area it's not subject to any sort of
[2:26:45] zoning overlay or anything of that
[2:26:46] nature and it is serviceable by public
[2:26:48] utilities the initial application was
[2:26:51] for ur8 just because that's what they
[2:26:52] were surrounded by
[2:26:54] um but when planning Board review this
[2:26:56] application they discussed creating a
[2:27:01] split zone so the part of this that's
[2:27:03] coming in would actually be sr2 this did
[2:27:06] not require any kind of change to be
[2:27:07] made by the applicant
[2:27:09] um with their concept
[2:27:10] um like no application for subdivision
[2:27:12] you know has been made but conceptually
[2:27:14] they exceed the requirements for sr2 as
[2:27:16] it is sr2 was preferable um to planning
[2:27:21] board because of the steep slope in the
[2:27:23] area and this would
[2:27:25] um
[2:27:25] allow these lots to stay in
[2:27:28] make it harder to subdivide them and
[2:27:30] reduce the density in the area
[2:27:33] it does create a spot Zone by doing this
[2:27:36] because we're surrounded by Orange and
[2:27:38] now we're talking about something else
[2:27:39] that is not prohibited in North Carolina
[2:27:41] it just means it it has to be subject to
[2:27:44] additional scrutiny it has to rise to
[2:27:46] the occasion
[2:27:47] um Mr Snead felt that the environmental
[2:27:49] concerns and steep slope that were
[2:27:51] expressed by the planning board Rose to
[2:27:52] that occasion it was comfortable moving
[2:27:54] forward with that recommendation and the
[2:27:57] planning board voted unanimously to
[2:27:59] recommend that sr2 designation with the
[2:28:02] blessing of the owner
[2:28:04] so I want to point out when we talk
[2:28:06] about the advantages of having it
[2:28:08] brought in to the town the sr2
[2:28:10] designation is significantly more
[2:28:12] limited in the types of uses
[2:28:15] um compared to those in the county we
[2:28:16] have only a handful of very
[2:28:19] um low intensity uses primarily being
[2:28:21] residential
[2:28:22] um now the minimum lot size in sr2 is
[2:28:26] half an acre as opposed to the one acre
[2:28:28] in its current County zoning but there
[2:28:33] is that the number of uses is much much
[2:28:36] smaller so not only do I bring you into
[2:28:40] the town are you actually reducing the
[2:28:43] number of variety of uses that could be
[2:28:46] developed right in a pocket of what is
[2:28:47] otherwise surrounded by the town you're
[2:28:50] also making it subject to our stormwater
[2:28:52] ordinances our stream buffer ordinances
[2:28:53] and things of that nature that um that
[2:28:56] we have locally that the county does not
[2:28:58] necessarily have so you are gaining some
[2:29:00] environmental controls in that way
[2:29:03] um
[2:29:04] and that's it for the zoning if you have
[2:29:07] any questions
[2:29:09] can you do I have any motion to open up
[2:29:11] the public hearing reset
[2:29:17] all right
[2:29:20] Betty wishes to speak to rezoning
[2:29:23] of this property
[2:29:25] yes
[2:29:32] my name is Charlene Hall I live at 21
[2:29:35] chinkapin Hill
[2:29:37] and my concern is the runoff from three
[2:29:45] additional homes on chincopen as well as
[2:29:49] the potential for any that might be in
[2:29:52] the future
[2:29:53] above those three homes
[2:29:57] the runoff is an issue right now when we
[2:30:00] have a heavy rain it washes out what
[2:30:05] essentially is is chinkapin Hill is
[2:30:08] essentially a driveway it is
[2:30:10] um you know mostly some gravel because
[2:30:14] we have done that and bonded Etc but um
[2:30:18] it a lot of the dirt washes out and when
[2:30:21] we have we have we have built ditches on
[2:30:25] both sides to and and uh
[2:30:30] um to try to alleviate that problem
[2:30:36] um what what concerns me most is having
[2:30:40] additional people on that
[2:30:44] driveway
[2:30:46] um if someone is coming down that
[2:30:48] driveway and I am pulling in to go up
[2:30:52] the driveway there's no place there's no
[2:30:55] way for two cars to pass on chinkapin
[2:30:58] Hill
[2:30:59] so that would mean I've got to back out
[2:31:02] into North Fork Road in the dip and in
[2:31:06] the curb
[2:31:07] um so that somebody else can come down
[2:31:10] the driveway so these are just some of
[2:31:13] the concerns that I have the
[2:31:15] environmental concerns when they start
[2:31:17] building and taking down trees
[2:31:21] Etc then there will be even more issues
[2:31:24] with the seriousness of the runoff
[2:31:29] actually causes you know that washboard
[2:31:32] effect and then we have somebody come in
[2:31:35] and grade the driveway and put down the
[2:31:39] bonding
[2:31:40] Etc too but we have to do that about
[2:31:43] three times a year now that we are
[2:31:46] paying for by ourselves so that is a
[2:31:50] concern and especially since I'm now
[2:31:53] told
[2:31:54] the town will not be helping assisting
[2:31:58] with
[2:32:00] um any kind of of
[2:32:02] uh
[2:32:03] helping with with that driveway so
[2:32:06] that's my concern thank you thank you
[2:32:11] anybody else have any comments before we
[2:32:15] close the public hearing
[2:32:18] oh just please
[2:32:27] um so I made this Point earlier about I
[2:32:30] would just say that by having three more
[2:32:32] neighbors you you would have three more
[2:32:35] people contributing to road maintenance
[2:32:38] and
[2:32:39] if in the future
[2:32:42] those neighbors wanted to get together
[2:32:44] to
[2:32:45] redo this road to town specifications
[2:32:49] that could do so and it would be a much cheaper per neighbor project
[2:32:57] or they could keep it gravel and let it
[2:33:00] be maintained by
[2:33:01] three more people than it is now it
[2:33:04] sounds like now it's just one
[2:33:07] anyway that's all okay thank you
[2:33:11] anybody else
[2:33:15] not seeing anybody rushing up here do I
[2:33:18] hear them
[2:33:22] some moved
[2:33:24] discussion all in favor all right all
[2:33:27] right he passes we're closed now
[2:33:30] to adopt the zoning ordinance that Sneed
[2:33:34] and sent out here this is a revised one
[2:33:36] too correct
[2:33:38] it's it's amended to have a prescription
[2:33:40] correct the names of the petition
[2:33:45] Jessica would you mind as a refresher
[2:33:47] for us and also for the community
[2:33:49] um
[2:33:51] talking about the differences between
[2:33:52] sr2 and Ura going on a broad level I
[2:33:56] know there's many well the greatest
[2:33:57] being the density you know you are eight
[2:33:59] you're going to have a eight units up to
[2:34:02] eight units or acre as opposed to two
[2:34:04] and
[2:34:06] um to some of the concerns were being
[2:34:08] discussed this property can already be
[2:34:10] developed in a number of ways in the
[2:34:11] county
[2:34:13] um by annexing it and Zoning it you are
[2:34:15] not making it buildable or useful it's
[2:34:17] just subject to our rules as opposed to
[2:34:19] the counties
[2:34:21] um we have we have storm water
[2:34:23] regulations available to us locally that
[2:34:25] the county does not have
[2:34:28] um and certainly if there's things built
[2:34:30] outside of the Town limits we can't
[2:34:32] influence how that works
[2:34:35] um
[2:34:36] and so we actually have less impact and
[2:34:40] greater controls under our regulations
[2:34:42] than the counties and with our zoning
[2:34:45] so just to keep it clear
[2:34:50] if we don't
[2:34:52] and exit
[2:34:54] I'm sorry I'm sorry we've already did
[2:34:57] that so
[2:34:58] if we don't rezone it I'm sorry that's
[2:35:01] what I meant to say if we don't result
[2:35:04] um
[2:35:05] then it's still going to stay under Ura
[2:35:08] is that what it is right now so right
[2:35:10] now it's no right now it is zoned in the
[2:35:12] county there's pieces that are in the
[2:35:14] county it's rld
[2:35:17] believe anything
[2:35:21] if we if you're meeting right now it is you all right no no you have to it has not been zoned that's what you're
[2:35:30] doing now okay so if we fail when your
[2:35:33] attorney can answer that question yeah
[2:35:36] you've got as far as the owning
[2:35:38] regulations go right at the moment you
[2:35:40] have no man's way exactly but we do need
[2:35:42] to donate itself yeah yes
[2:35:48] no one has ever done that to me
[2:35:51] [Laughter]
[2:35:55] rld and sr2 are similar districts um but
[2:35:59] we have fewer
[2:36:01] um
[2:36:02] we have fewer allowable uses and more
[2:36:05] stringent roles so it's in great it's in
[2:36:07] Greater control under our rules than the
[2:36:10] counties that's what I wanted to know
[2:36:11] thank you you're welcome
[2:36:17] any motion
[2:36:20] to Zone this
[2:36:22] piece of property
[2:36:24] I'll just make a comment
[2:36:26] um two comments I guess and one is is to
[2:36:29] the neighbors
[2:36:31] that um I can completely understand uh
[2:36:35] your your concerns around
[2:36:38] um you know what it's essentially I
[2:36:40] believe just wooded area now and the
[2:36:41] thought of having homes built in there
[2:36:44] than being a lot loted out
[2:36:46] um is I mean I would need to be
[2:36:48] concerned as well
[2:36:49] you know uh it kind of changes the feel
[2:36:51] of the neighborhood
[2:36:52] um
[2:36:53] uh and so I I just want to acknowledge
[2:36:56] that and then and say that I think that
[2:36:58] uh that the planning board uh I
[2:37:01] appreciate their recommendation to go
[2:37:02] from the ra to the sr2 I think that's a
[2:37:04] more reasonable uh zone for for this land and um
[2:37:10] and you know I can do that so that's
[2:37:12] probably the or that's how I will be
[2:37:14] voting
[2:37:17] any other comments I just wanted to say
[2:37:19] thank you to the planning board as well
[2:37:21] I know they spent a lot of time
[2:37:23] reviewing this whole plan and project
[2:37:25] and um
[2:37:28] yeah I haven't done all that research
[2:37:30] and all those discussions makes our job
[2:37:32] a little bit easier and I appreciate it
[2:37:35] okay
[2:37:37] before entertaining emotional or after
[2:37:40] entertaining emotion and going through
[2:37:42] discussion I think you need to at least
[2:37:44] take a look at the resorting worksheet
[2:37:46] uh for a couple reasons there's statutes
[2:37:50] require now that you find that it's
[2:37:52] reasonable uh it is a spot zone so it's
[2:37:56] got to reach a little bit higher level
[2:37:57] or reasonableness and the information
[2:38:00] you have before your course is it's the
[2:38:03] steeper slope and the environmental
[2:38:04] impact a lesser impact by larger Lots
[2:38:07] but I think the council needs to look at
[2:38:10] that resulting worksheet if you don't
[2:38:12] take a look at those they make those at
[2:38:14] least discussion before the vote you
[2:38:17] have a challengeable ordinance
[2:38:34] thank you okay
[2:38:45] yeah no no no there's no motion yeah well I'd suggest we review the
[2:38:55] rezoning worksheet before we have a
[2:38:57] motion okay okay
[2:39:03] that's the problem of opening it out
[2:39:07] uh so it looks like to me is that there
[2:39:10] are several factors there the overall
[2:39:13] size of the track to the land proposed
[2:39:15] for rezoning is or is not reasonable
[2:39:19] compared to the size of the zoning
[2:39:21] District in which the property is
[2:39:23] located
[2:39:26] well the interesting thing there is not
[2:39:28] locating any zoning District right now
[2:39:33] right but you make no man's land that's
[2:39:35] this it is surrounded by Ura okay
[2:39:40] so you've got to verbalize why you're
[2:39:43] actually more restrictive zoning on this
[2:39:45] little pocket of property and right and
[2:39:48] the biggest points you've heard are they
[2:39:49] right so with it with me the steep slope
[2:39:52] uh and
[2:39:55] um
[2:39:57] and the greater
[2:40:00] ability uh for the rules to um
[2:40:06] to come into play on
[2:40:08] um environmental things
[2:40:12] seems to me to be good reasons too uh
[2:40:16] to to do this different zoning rather
[2:40:19] than you are eight
[2:40:24] I agree
[2:40:26] sorry oh sorry it occurs to me we're
[2:40:30] talking about I mean lots that are
[2:40:33] diagonally cut I mean when we talk about
[2:40:36] rezoning
[2:40:38] how how does that work with a partial
[2:40:42] tract
[2:40:43] part of it's in town already part of
[2:40:45] it's being annexed and you're rezoning
[2:40:48] results at all even though yeah okay thank you
[2:40:57] one of the things about maps in North
[2:40:59] Carolina they're all flat
[2:41:02] but the lamb is not and it can vary a
[2:41:07] lot from one little place to another
[2:41:10] yeah and I think this particular
[2:41:12] property refers
[2:41:14] uh several times already is a very steep
[2:41:18] slope so for me it makes it appropriate
[2:41:21] for sr2 I agree right
[2:41:24] because it would impact the neighboring
[2:41:27] properties
[2:41:29] greater if it was
[2:41:31] a pra yeah
[2:41:37] which is an item number three checklist
[2:41:40] that's right that is correct well done
[2:41:46] so can you talk about is it a consistent
[2:41:49] or inconsistent with a comprehensive
[2:41:52] plan
[2:41:53] I think that zoning this sr2 is
[2:41:56] consistent with the comprehensive plan
[2:41:58] and the future land use map particularly
[2:42:00] in the mountain residential that is
[2:42:02] primarily a low density residential area
[2:42:06] um
[2:42:07] and you know along with all the
[2:42:09] environmental qualities that you just
[2:42:11] mentioned Environmental Protection and
[2:42:12] preservation
[2:42:14] um with those natural spaces
[2:42:16] okay
[2:42:20] well I did think that it was a split
[2:42:23] zone is it is it not
[2:42:25] well not when we get done
[2:42:27] okay because right I've flipped the
[2:42:31] zombie way up I gotta feel an air piece
[2:42:33] of the triangle if zoned it all is you
[2:42:35] are a
[2:42:36] great and part of it is unzoned at the
[2:42:39] moment right but with the description
[2:42:42] you have in there it will make all of
[2:42:44] this area I've described continues okay
[2:42:47] srts
[2:42:51] that's right
[2:42:53] zoning No Man's Land too correct to
[2:42:58] reflect them as a cohesive tract
[2:43:01] even better
[2:43:04] it just leaves number four I think the
[2:43:07] allowed uses with the proposing District
[2:43:09] are are not similar comparable to the
[2:43:11] permitted uses as currently zoned
[2:43:15] they are very comparable we have we are
[2:43:17] more restrictive but the ones that are
[2:43:19] existing are on both sides
[2:43:22] it's still all resonates
[2:43:26] foreign
[2:43:34] Mr Mayor I'd make a motion that we
[2:43:39] adopt the revised
[2:43:43] uh ordinance
[2:43:45] and Zone this sr2 to reflect the uh Mr
[2:43:49] Sneed
[2:43:50] the
[2:43:51] owner's name and then the legal
[2:43:53] description
[2:43:55] taking all the property as he's
[2:43:57] described okay any more discussion not
[2:44:00] all in favor
[2:44:02] okay
[2:44:04] all right thank you Jessica
[2:44:08] communication is that
[2:44:14] do you want your legislative updated
[2:44:16] you'd rather not know
[2:44:20] there's actually some good news
[2:44:23] well I will give you the good news and
[2:44:25] then I'll give you the grain of salt
[2:44:28] um
[2:44:29] the bill Senate Bill 299 which was the
[2:44:33] to uh
[2:44:35] basically uh imposed on towns a huge
[2:44:39] penalty if you don't file your audit on
[2:44:41] time uh is that house bill stalled and
[2:44:47] so we're safe on that point the senate
[2:44:50] had a more modest version that
[2:44:54] is still as brutal unfortunately
[2:44:58] I mean I'm sorry Senate Bill didn't move
[2:45:00] and the and the
[2:45:03] house bill has moved has gone to the
[2:45:05] Senate there's a chance you'll still end
[2:45:07] up with that that penalty for being late
[2:45:09] you're on it it's not a big deal for
[2:45:11] Black Mountain uh you guys have always
[2:45:13] been timely I always had an auditor
[2:45:15] online there is a bill pay companion
[2:45:18] bill to sort of
[2:45:21] get more Auditors online very few firms
[2:45:25] are qualified to audit towns and that's
[2:45:27] pretty good I've been a problem they're
[2:45:28] trying to help that uh
[2:45:31] there was a Senate Bill 254 I mentioned
[2:45:34] last time which is exposes more of your
[2:45:37] public your Public Employee records as
[2:45:39] public records uh that is stolen the
[2:45:41] senate committee so that's not moving so
[2:45:44] far
[2:45:45] the house bill 140 uh and Senate Bill
[2:45:49] 251 uh the house bills passed that's the
[2:45:53] one that allows the towns that they want
[2:45:55] to use private crash investigators I
[2:45:58] haven't heard a whole lot of towns that
[2:45:59] are interested in it but some are uh on
[2:46:03] the affordable housing front there was
[2:46:06] one that was supposed to
[2:46:08] create a credit or give you the ability
[2:46:11] to get some money for infrastructure we
[2:46:13] didn't qualify anyway we don't have
[2:46:14] enough zoning districts but it's never
[2:46:16] made out of the house the reason I'm
[2:46:18] talking about that point May 4th of the
[2:46:20] crossover day if a bill didn't pass in
[2:46:22] one branch by May 4th and make it over
[2:46:25] the other it's theoretically done the
[2:46:27] water for this term
[2:46:29] uh the workforce housing that's the one
[2:46:33] that the lead was up in arms about
[2:46:35] that's the one says if I go out there
[2:46:37] and I start a development of 10 acres or
[2:46:39] more and I call it Workforce housing a
[2:46:42] town cannot Zone this state will tell
[2:46:44] you what the zoning is fortunately
[2:46:45] that's still stuck in the Zenith in the
[2:46:48] Senate
[2:46:49] and did and didn't make it make the
[2:46:51] cross every day
[2:46:53] uh House Bill 409 uh the one that would
[2:46:57] require everybody to allow secondary
[2:47:00] dwellings on all their residential lots
[2:47:02] not a real concern to us we do that
[2:47:04] anyway there are some restrictions on
[2:47:07] the use sorry the inability to restrict
[2:47:10] that second residence which we don't
[2:47:11] particularly do anyway so that's not an
[2:47:13] issue
[2:47:14] um
[2:47:16] the bill and the house to basically
[2:47:21] speed up approvals for developments
[2:47:23] which puts on burden on staff the
[2:47:25] planning board that passed the house and
[2:47:27] to go the Senate so that could end up
[2:47:29] being law
[2:47:32] the short-term rentals
[2:47:34] uh has not made it out of the Senate
[2:47:36] that the Senate bill
[2:47:38] uh that's the one that literally removed
[2:47:42] your ability to Outlaw short-term rounds
[2:47:44] they give you some modest abilities to
[2:47:46] control it uh that that it made out of
[2:47:49] the house
[2:47:51] um
[2:47:54] did not make it out did not make it out
[2:47:56] of the house that means it's dead for
[2:47:58] this session that's where the that's the
[2:48:01] theory yeah unless they decide that the
[2:48:04] reality yeah the reality is there's a
[2:48:06] couple ways they're going to get you and
[2:48:08] this is a big year to put play don't you
[2:48:10] because those bills could come alive
[2:48:12] again and it is an amendment to another
[2:48:15] bill our legislature has even gone to
[2:48:19] the point of taking the topic about
[2:48:20] don't meet your horse take everything
[2:48:22] about the horse out of that and stick in
[2:48:24] a housing ordinance statute and running
[2:48:27] on through anyway
[2:48:28] the big worry this term is we have
[2:48:31] Medicaid expansion which has been tied
[2:48:33] to the adoption of a budget you folks
[2:48:35] remember we went a couple years without
[2:48:36] a budget
[2:48:38] if we don't adopt a budget then we don't
[2:48:40] the Medicaid doesn't expand uh what a
[2:48:44] golden opportunity to tag on stuff that
[2:48:47] one party doesn't like because the
[2:48:49] governor cannot be seen to veto a
[2:48:52] Medicaid expansion bill so there there's some big risks you'll see some
[2:48:57] of these come back before it's over okay
[2:49:00] and that's the fun this week
[2:49:02] thank you
[2:49:05] all right
[2:49:07] um do we have any comments from the
[2:49:10] councils that they'd like to make
[2:49:13] I just wanted to note that it's national
[2:49:15] teacher and staff Appreciation Week Mrs
[2:49:19] Shivers way to go and we have lots of
[2:49:22] teachers in our community and School
[2:49:24] staff
[2:49:25] if you know one please let us know how
[2:49:27] much you appreciate
[2:49:29] one anybody else
[2:49:32] not doing her emotions go into closed
[2:49:34] sessions
[2:49:36] so
[2:49:39] all in favor all right