It is 4 o'clock. So, I will call to order the second monthly meeting of the
Hendersonville City Council, August 26, 2026.
Um, you have the agenda in front of you. Is there anything you would like to uh
change on the >> Yes. Yes. Mayor vote, members of city
council, >> you're getting this nice feedback out
here on >> So, uh, like to make a couple changes to
the agenda. Would like to remove item A, farmland preservation bond referendum
update from Henderson County. That will be a month from today. And I'd like to
add a presentation by Father Andreas um, under item A. And then I would like to
add item E, discussion regarding Lenny's law following the legislative updates.
Those are my changes, please.
» Right. Council, anything you would like to have added or removed?
If not, a motion may move the city council approve the
agenda as amended. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion?
Not. Those in favor of approving the agenda as amended say I.
» I. >> Those oppos say no. Eyes have it. We
have our amended. Our agenda as amended. All right. Uh presentations.
We have a special presentation
introduction. So I think most people are you could
just come to the podium father. Thank you. Um and Chief Ward,
I think most people know that there was a fire at Immaculate Conception um
during mass on Saturday afternoon. And I have heard just like a tremendous
response from our parishioners and people in the community and our priest
about the response time and how well you guys handled everything. Everybody was
evacuated very quickly and so um we wanted to thank you but also so did
Immaculate Conception and he wanted to bring a letter of appreciation today.
» Yeah, thank you very much. Um it was just really nice to have the reassuring
uh presence uh the professionalism of the fire department and the police
department as well. Um it just brought a calm and everybody just was not alarmed.
There wasn't panic. it was they were just doing their job and so it it you
know it wasn't a huge huge incident but it was um it was an incident and so it
it we lived it through with their help um in a way that I don't know um it was
the best possible outcome that could have happened in a situation like that.
So, just wanted to present a letter of appreciation to the members of the
Hendersonville Fire Department on behalf of myself uh representing the parish and
all our um 2200 families that um participate and our members of our faith
community. So,
[applause]
No, that's that's all right.
» Oh, thank you so much >> for uh thank you for thanking our fire
department. >> It's great. It's
All right. Uh, next we have a presentation regarding
uh, improvements to city board and commission support.
» Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of council. John and I are going to talk to
you about a board and committees overhaul.
the desired outcome for today. We want some feedback on proposed changes
including marketing, training, onboarding, and the appointments and
then hear any of your concerns or anything that we may have overlooked.
» The reason we're doing this is we've had a pretty significant attrition rate on
our boards and commission. Also, I know that members of um city council have
received concerns about maybe how training, how meetings may be run. Also,
um you know, we've had meetings where um we haven't had quorum a number of times
and we want to make sure that our boards and commissions are running most
efficiently as they can and also that everybody's getting value um not only
value from city council, from the advice you get from the boards and commission,
but also from our board and commission members um who are devoting their time
to this work.
So, as John mentioned, some of the reasons why we're uh proposing some of
these changes, it was noted in your strategic plan under the focus area of
engaged and educated community. The overhaul was a big rock that uh was
captured um to increase retention of members and also to empower our staff
assist to make sure that they receive the training that uh helps make the
boards and committees more effective.
So, a little bit of background. Uh, we met with staffis and the board and
committee chairs. Uh, we actually met with the staff twice. And some themes
that came out of those meetings included a lack of understanding of role in time
obligations, a lack of board specific training, a desire to have input on
applicants, and then overall concerns with civility.
We had I mean I think we it was a good approach. I had previously interviewed
members of the ESB um who had left that board. Um got a variety of reasons why
people left the board um the resignations and things. Um so um a lot
of it came down to uh maybe personality disagreements or um issues or just time
obligations. So, and then when we sat down with the [clears throat] committee
chairs, we received this kind of feedback, but nothing glaring. Um, but
we feel like what we're presenting tonight or this afternoon will will be a
good approach going forward.
» So, moving into some suggested actions. First is to update kind of the marketing
of the boards and committees. This includes introduction videos that are
specific to each board and committee, web pages that clarify roles,
responsibilities, what some of their ongoing projects are, and what typical
tasks look like for members. One of the larger things that we're uh wanting
feedback on are the prerequisites. Uh this would require before applying
for potential applicants to either attend two board meetings or attend one
board meeting and then meet with the staff assist one on- one. This would I
think inform them more about kind of what they're getting into. Um and
hopefully since they know what they're getting into, they're more likely to
stay. And the reason we gave two options is some of our boards only meet
quarterly, but we made them attend two board meetings. You know, it's half a
year for they may lose interest. So, we gave them the option that they can go to
one board meeting and then follow up with the staff to talk about what they
saw um and what our um expectations.
Increased training is a another large topic that we heard over and over during
our meetings. Um, we would like to do one-on-one onboarding with the staff
assist, which with each of the appointed members. And then we'd like to do yearly
training for not only board members, but also the staff assist to cover things
like procedural roles, civility, conflict of interest, and attendance
requirements. and then for the council liaison for the boards and committees to
really understand the roles and responsibilities of that position. Uh
and then also the school of government does provide training and uh we think
that the city should support board and committee members to attend those
trainings. >> Um we as we were talking to the chairs
about um the council liaison role. We felt like it's a role that each of you
serve on a committee and they they would like for that role be for liaison to
bring back their goals, bring back what they're
doing to the full city council. They want to make sure there's that two good
two-way communication. So, um, we would like so if they're going off track, the
liaison can come back to council, talk about what they're doing if they are
kind of because they're advising the city council, right? That is their role.
One of their roles is to advise city council. I mean, planning board and
board of adjustment um and HPC are a little bit different because they have
statutory requirements or regulatory, but our others are are strictly advisory
for you. And so, we want to make sure um that they are providing the advice that
you want to and going in the direction. Not that you control what they're doing,
but just make sure if they have projects or initiatives that don't align with our
strategic goals and the council's vision that we can guide them through the
council leaison to um to refocus their energy to prevent frustration farther
down the road.
» Input on appointments. Uh this came up both via staffis and the chairs. Um what
we are suggesting is that we share the applications with staff assist and get
general comments not recommendations on appointments but highlights if they you
know volunteer with the HPC or they were previously on a board. Um that way it
can better inform your decision on who to appoint. And then we're also
suggesting that we change appointment months. So right now we appoint in June
and December. We're suggesting we change that to May and November. That will give
an additional month which will allow for that proper onboarding of the new member
before their term actually begins. >> I would add here um we our tradition or
my position and and the city attorney I think agrees with me. Um previously we
believe or we still believe that appointment of boards and commission
members are city council appointments. staff should not be driving that. These
these are your appointments. These are folks in in our community that will be
advising you. However, um and so historically we have just kind
of left it and staff has not been involved at all. We took the
applications, we gave you the applications and let you do what you may
with them. Um, but we've also learned that, you know, there's some things that
maybe we can put as general notes, general comments if people have been
active that may help help you make decisions, help you discern who the best
candidates are. Again, as um Jenny said, you know, somebody who if they want to
apply for the ESB and they've been for the last five years have been working at
Hindo Earthfest and other candidates haven't volunteered
their time, that may be good information for you. doesn't mean you have to
appoint that person. That may be good information. Same for historic
preservation. If somebody's or downtown, somebody took it used their own time and
their own money go to go to the main street conference. Maybe you should know
that compared to other folks that are just filled out a form. Um but it is
just want to be clear. It is it is still our belief that these appointments are
your appointments. We just want to give you the information and the data so you
can make good sound decisions.
One thing that may help guide the boards and committees uh and kind of keep them
from going off track is we're suggesting that they create yearly work plans. Um
this will identify events, policies, projects, uh have them submit formal
budget requests, identify alignment with the overall city strategic plan. uh and
we'd want to put that in front of you for adoption uh during the budget
ordinance adoption meeting as well. Um in addition to that, we would like I
think we learned quite a bit meeting with the staff assist and the chairs and
we'd like to continue that hosting semianual meetings with the staff assist
and then annual meetings with the chairs. This will help us kind of keep a
thumb on what trends we're seeing if retention isn't quite where we want it
to be and so we can take corrective action like we're doing today. And then
another thing that we are suggesting is uh offboarding to either do an exit
interview or an exit survey to understand why people are exiting the
boards. I think the thing I would add here as it
relates to the work plan is our we our vision is that happens during the spring
of the year um particularly um around February March maybe it definitely in
the early part of the winter or in the winter so that if there's any financial
resource request we can get it in the budget there's no surprises. Um, and
then also have it adopted as part of the budget so that council can see the work
that is being proposed by your boards and commissions. Again, making sure it's
in line with the vision of the city council in line with our strategic plan.
So, if we need to make adjustments of their work plan, we can do that. Um, and
then the work plan will begin July 1. It'll go for a year. So, you know, we'll
start it this January of 27, develop the plan and their first even though they
some of them even the HPC has a work plan, but it'll be a formal process. The
council is aware of what your boards and commissions and if there's things again
projects or initiatives they want to do that may not align with what we want
them to spending their energy on right now, we can give them that advice and
and redirect that energy so again so they don't become frustrated.
And that is all we have for you and we'd love to hear your thoughts and
questions.
» Question. >> I think all of this sounds great.
» Fantastic. >> Um, yeah. No, I think there's definitely
some training that needs to happen with the board members because I get
questions a lot of like, can we do that? Do we need a second for this? and you
know, whatever procedural issues that they may have and like I'm happy to
answer them to the best of my knowledge. Um, but it would be nice if they already
knew. And then I also think talking more about like time and these meetings don't
need to be more than an hour and a half unless it's something like planning
board or board adjustment or HBC, something that has some sort of other
thing they need to be doing. But um, and I like the work plans. I think that'll
help the boards also stay on track so they know like this is our plan for the
year and this is what we're going to work on and this is what we're going to
talk about and um I think I think the require the prerequisite requirements
are also because I do think a lot of people like oh this sounds fun and then
they start to do it and they're like oh this is a lot of work so it'd be nice
for them to get an idea of and who knows maybe they'll find a board that they're
interested in that they didn't know they were interested
» yeah I agree with um Councilwoman Simpson. I think this a good idea
because some board members uh have the impression that they're the
voice of the for the public and um so some clarification on that
would really help and then as a leazison then we know what we're not what we're
to do and what we're not supposed to do. I know we don't have any voting power. I
do know that we just act as a bridge between the city [music] and and the
different boards. I definitely think the training is much needed.
» Um I wonder about doing like personalized applications by board too.
I think that some of this like what a did for us for the last appointments was
super helpful and gave us sorry um I think a good comprehensive look at like
all of the related pieces like the things that John mentioned as examples.
I'm wondering if a way to streamline that might be to have specific
applications per board so that folks who do have specific
interests can identify those. Um just something that I think we the folks that
on ESB brought up because there were things that were being missed in
appointments and they were like, well, I've done this for this many years and
council didn't know about it and and staff may not know about it, too. So,
like to reduce the risk of us overlooking those things as just
people who may be wouldn't know. I mean, I think you could do I don't
know how I feel about different applications for every board just
because that sounds logistically like a nightmare for Jill, but [laughter]
I do think that we need to look at the application because I do think there are
questions on there that could be added like, have you volunteered with the city
in the past? Tell us when and for what. And like then that way we can have that
singled out. And I do think that that spreadsheet
» was extremely helpful last time because then we didn't have to go back and forth
like between all the applications like what who did that and who did this and
like you know it was just all there for us. So I do think we should look at the
application and see what else we can capture as far as information that would
be helpful for us to know but um >> that that's a good happy medium. I don't
want to make Jill have >> I think you're completely right. Also, I
think the staff comments will make a huge difference, which is what you're
already suggesting to do. >> Yeah.
» And so, >> um, you know, if I'm applying for
something, I will put my best foot forward when I'm applying for it. So,
I'm going to tell you on my application what all I have done and but should be
on there. And then if we're getting comments from staff about things that,
you know, specifically pertain to a higher level of education or
qualification for that board, then that helps us to make the better decision.
So, I think that's great. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think staff also gives
us a good insight of like it would be really nice if we had a person that had
a background in this for this board. Yeah. Yeah.
» Thank you. Perfect. Thank you very much. >> Thank you.
» Okay. Uh next the draft data center moratorum plan.
Good evening, Madame Mayor, members members of council. Um,
gonna start with uh privilege of the podium to introduce uh Nico Amy. Uh,
Nicholas Nico is our UNC School of Government fellow this year. Um, he
joins us uh from Fagatville. He's a graduate of Wake Forest and he is uh
interested in the field of law. Uh Daniel has yet to swerve him away from
it, but [laughter] uh may continue to try. Um Nico is
working with us and working with the community development department uh
helping on a number of projects associated with our strategic housing
plan and he is with us for a year. So he is with us through June 30th. I'm sure
you'll see him again. And he comes free to us although he is getting paid. uh
the school of government uh has a relationship with Americanore and he is
uh supported via that program which is wonderful. So just wanted to take the
opportunity to introduce Nico. He's been wonderful. He started with us at the
beginning of August and has hit the ground running. So um
so at the beginning of the month uh at your uh August regular meeting uh Mr.
speaker introduced the review authority for a moratorum and we spoke about uh
what was required for that and how it could be enacted uh and uh specifically
as it relates to data centers and what I am presenting this evening is a highle
review of what staff uh in an initial assessment see as what would be required
during the moratorum to put together a zoning text amendment basically that
would then allow us to regulate data centers going forward. So I'm going to
talk about um that in the context of the uh moratorum
requirements that are established via statute by the state. So, um, and I
won't go back over that statute, but if if we do need to talk about that, we
can. It's U 160D 107, and that was some of what, um,
Angie talked about last month or earlier this month. So, um, what I'll
specifically be looking at are the quote unquote required statements, including
the identification of the problem. What what is why is a mortorium necessary?
What is the problem? What's the timing suggested for the moratorum? What
actions will we take uh during that time? And what approvals are affected?
So um background first uh terms of the problem, we don't have data
centers defined in our zoning ordinance. Um, we don't have the term in the zoning
ordinance. It's not listed as a use. Uh, and there's no associated uh, CZD or
special use um, that's specifically called out or even just a permitted use
uh, for data center. So, if a data center were to come, uh, you know, that
that presents an issue right off the bat. uh and because there's no use to
find I don't have districts that where it's permitted or prohibited uh and then
furthermore there are no standards associated with data centers and looking
in of quickly across the state at what uh is happening in other communities.
There are various conversations basically around the scale uh of the
data centers themselves. So literally the square footage that they occupy and
then uh the various uh impacts to utilities, most notably power and water
uh that those differing sizes uh uh you know impact to the kinds of things that
they have. And so many communities are looking specifically at scale design
requirements and impact analyses uh and requiring those for submitt. So we've we
don't currently have any of those things and so that's the problem. Uh we don't
currently have a way of dealing with the potential impacts of a data center. Uh
and then in terms of consideration for the moratorum itself, why would you do
that? We will not be able to bring a zoning text amendment to you next month
that would tackle the complexity of that amendment. Right? So the nature of the
use is such that we may need to talk with Duke to understand what their
reality is. Certainly we'll be talking with our water sewer folks to understand
and what their concerns might be for a large use. uh and then looking uh more
specifically at the typical zoning standards and I'll talk more about um
what those are those categories on sort of the last slide when I talk about what
we look at while we did uh the study and then what is the impact of the mortorium
we would not issue zoning compliance permits for standalone data centers so
data center as a primary not be issued during theorium
Other things that we are looking or paying attention to or watching, there
are two state bills. One that appears I I'm not sure
defer to Mr. Conet in terms of whether or not either of them are moving, but uh
Senate Bill 7:30 seems the the one that has more life. That's the rateayer
protection uh act. And uh I would note that it is
tackling very large facilities. Um the definition that they have uh is a
uh facility that's a 100 megawatt facility which I was like what's 100
megawatts? Uh it's enough to power 75,000 to 100 homes. So it's basically
enough to power the city of Hendersonville probably. um including
all of our commercial uses. So uh they're at the state level looking at a
particular scale of data center and I've heard it called uh yeah that's the
hypers scale. So I so we obviously we would need to
understand what does that actually mean because that's what they're focused on.
It would suggest that they're not regulating data centers via that bill
that are drawing less power than that. So if the power draw was half the city
of Hendersonville's power requirement, the state law, this particular state law
wouldn't impact it. So we're going to keep paying attention to that. There's
another one, House Bill 1189, which was more related, it was a two-year
moratorum and related to the sales and use tax benefits that I think some of
the existing data centers that were put in place
had advantage of. uh and I I don't know again the status of that one either but
we will continue to uh follow those as the process goes
forward. So in terms of proposed plan this is what we're suggesting. Um you'll
notice that the the actual timeline that's proposed is about 10 months. Um
it is delivering the adoption to city council ahead of
the recommended moratorum time length which is 12 months. Um
call that a contingency fee. Um you know just to make sure that we do have the
time to work through it. I do think that uh the proposed timeline here is one
that will allow us to um fully review and develop a zoning text amendment that
is appropriate for the city of Hendersonville and continue to manage
the workload that we have um in the community development department as as
it currently stands. Um, and so I offer that I outline kind of
what we would propose to do during those time frames and uh am happy to answer
any questions we you have about that. in terms of what we would specifically be
looking at during that time frame. Um
these are some of the you know potential ordinance elements and again this is
reflective of a effort on my part just to
you know understand how these are being regulated in other locations here in
North Carolina and elsewhere. Uh so some of these may be uh things that we would
want to uh not consider or consider at a higher
level. Uh so obviously the use classification would be one whether or
not we differentiate uh scale of impact. You know um
currently with our commercial buildings we have a CZD standard that uh if a
building exceeds 50,000 square feet it has to go through the conditional zoning
process. if it's under 50,000, there are variety of uh different processes that
apply. Um, and so we could look at that level specifically as it relates to data
centers, looking at which districts it would be appropriate in, where would we
want to see it located, uh, if um, you know, around the city. Uh and um and
then any you know special use permits, conditional zoning, things along those
lines that we might want to add in. Um and then in terms of the site
requirements and infrastructure standards, I' I've listed a couple
there. Things that uh I think are unique to data centers that I came across while
reviewing those. Um there's a lot of discussion obviously about the
electrical requirements but then pretty notably then about the backup
electrical requirements and number of conversations or discussions around
noise requirements. You have diesel generators that are turning on if the
power goes out for these things. It's you know if you've been around the
diesel generator at the fire station when it turns on when the power goes out
it's you know it's pretty If you've got 30 of those running in a data center, I
can imagine that could be pretty loud. So things like that that are pretty
unique to the nature of the user. Um all of those would be uh the kinds of
potential requirements that we would investigate and try to determine what
the viability of those impacts would actually.
So, um
I have other examples of these that I can offer, but um what I really wanted
to highlight was kind of the overview. And so I I think at that at this point
I'm going to stop and see if there are any questions that you all have.
» Lou, I think the only thing I would ask and make make sure I'm correct for Angie
correct me. you know, we're not allowed to, and this is for the public that may
be listening, and we'll say this again next week at the public hearing. Um,
we're not allowed to do an outright ban, I think. Am I wrong about that? I
» I don't know. I I'm not going to say yes or no on that right now. That's an issue
in our >> Friday, I think. So,
» okay. So, >> anyway,
» so maybe maybe not. Um, currently, so we'll see. Um um so well I just lost my
whole train of thought there. So anyway, we're you know we're going to ask
council um you know traditionally we've not been able to do an out traditionally
been able to do an out outright ban. I mean if you can't do an outright ban to
sexually oriented businesses I don't think you could do an outright ban.
So she's going to disagree with me of more data centers. But anyway,
historically, that may be changing case law, things like that, whatever the case
may be. So, public hearing, council can make their decision next week as it
relates to that. >> Um, and one thing I just wanted to say
about why why do a moratorium? You know, that's a big question. Why? Um, and
because the statutes were amended several years ago for permit choice, but
you could undertake and do all of this study over the course of a year without
doing a moratorum. And if somebody came in and applied for one in the meantime,
they get to choose which version of our ordinance they um get to apply. And so
it could allow somebody to kind of bypass whatever you're getting ready to
put in place. And so that would be a reason to do a mortorium if you so
choose.
And sexually oriented businesses have a first amendment
protection. Ah, thank you. That's why you're an attorney and I'm a city
manager. [laughter]
» So, not asking for any action tonight. Um, requires a public hearing and so um
just want to um if you had any questions or any
direction at this point. >> I just want to thank y'all for the
amount of work that has gone into this. I know it's like a constantly changing
landscape that's taking a lot of digging. I just pulled up both of those
bills and they're both extremely dense and I don't know what's happening with
them. So, thank you all for the work that you're doing to make sense out of
it. >> I completely agree. The only thing I
would like to ask is um is there a way in an ordinance to address a evolving or
changing
um because so many things are changing with data centers and the technology is
getting it like it seems like it changes and improves within three to six months
sometimes. And so when we're drafting an ordinance um and which I am supportive
of a moratorium, but can we is there a way to add something like that to where
if the technology is changing then we can amend things as we go or
if we do this then there's no changing it.
» I mean you can always amend things as you go but it depends on how it's
crafted. So if you have some triggers in there that for instance
uh electricity usage and or water usage and the technology becomes such that
those aren't triggered any longer then you know they may not be fall under
those restrictions. And so um you would want to stay a breast of that though
because you know something on that scale and just in terms of business size you
want to have some sort of separation setback minimal things I think but um
but yes we can we can try and do consider that.
» So then is the plan to do the public hearing next week? Okay.
Awesome. >> We thought we would just give the
council and the public um the idea of what the plan may propose
» so they would have that ahead of time so they could speak to that at the public
hearing if they felt like that was that so moved them.
» Thank you.
» Okay. Um, legislative update.
» There it is. Thank you, >> Tom's team. I thought I'd take a few
minutes. Uh, we participated or I participated in the league's end of the
and mayor may have been on it last week, end of the year session wrapup. Did all
of you participate? If you did, we'll just move on. No.
» Okay. >> I did not. Okay. Did anybody else
besides the mayor and I sitting at the dis? Okay. All right. Well, then I'm
gonna keep going. So, I just thought we would give you a short wrap up kind of
let you know um what happened in Raleigh this past year um and what we have to
look forward to um probably assuming um elections um the short session or the
long session next year. Uh just using their outline. I'll skip
over the governmental affairs outline. That's typical boilerplate stuff from
the league, but also share some political landscape session wrap up and
any questions you may have for me or Angie or or anybody else in the room.
Skip this. Uh so political landscape just kind of I
thought this was interesting information regarding growth in North Carolina that
our population um is now over 11.2 2 million as the 25 estimate. Um since
2020 and last um since for five years we added over 750,000
people to our great state. That's a percent increase of 7.2 which is high
high growth rate. We're the third fastest um state fastest growing state
in the country. Um not only in number but also in percentage. And currently
we're the ninth largest state, but by 2030 we're projected to surpass uh
Georgia and Ohio to be in the top seven um as largest states in the union.
But um most of that growth is in seven of the f or in the seven of the 10
fastest growing North Carolina cities. Um um and they were in most of them,
excuse me, seven out of 10 of the fastest growing are in the triangle and
we did see and this was I thought this was an interesting point that those of
us in the west that you'll see that we due to Helen we
had a decline in population. Um we are down here in the green. So we are still
growing in Henderson County and Hendersonville in our area but anywhere
um along the French Broad and area around Asheville um there you see we saw
a decline um in population um from 24 to 25.
» What's up there to the west of Asheville? Is that Wesville?
» What did I just do? Alison. Oh, sorry. It It's It's fine.
» It's error. It's [laughter] Sorry.
» It's error. User user error. You talk right over here.
» And there's a blue dot behind the S or a green dot,
» right? That green dot. I think that's probably Wesville.
» Okay. >> Canton Canton would be the brown dot.
Wesville would be the green dot. >> But we are seeing some growth. I mean,
if you looked at some statewide um the folks down in Mon County around
Franklin, that Atlanta influence is creeping up there. So, you're seeing
some growth there. But you see majority of growth is around the big cities, the
big metros um which ultimately will um you'll see here urban and halo counties
are growing rapidly while the rural counties are losing population. We still
are showing growth, positive growth. Um ours did slow because of Helen. Um and
cities and towns continue to drive population growth across the state, but
the metro areas are getting bigger. um certain pockets of rural areas where you
may have influence um from Atlanta, like I said, in western North Carolina or
Myrtle Beach, the beach area, or Virginia Beach, Tidewater area um in
Northeast. But um that's where your growth is across the state of North
Carolina. Uh Charlotte gained um more people in
2425 than any other city and they're now the 14th largest city um in the country
with almost a million people. Um in Charlotte proper um Robbie's population
now exceeds 500,000 with of course the triangle is what is is over a million as
a region of course Charlotte is too um 70% of all
North Carolina municipalities added population
um that percentage was higher um the prior year I think you that also is um
related to Helen causing many of our North Carolina cities in 2425.
You can see some of the fastest growing cities in in North Carolina being around
the triangle, Windendell, Zebulun, Angela, Edger, Four Oaks, um,
Rollsville, um, and then you got Bolivia, which is on the coast down in
Brunswick County, and then again back to the triangle and Charlotte region there.
NASA is also down in Brunswick County.
What does that mean for us as it relates to growth? Um everybody's moving toward
from a electoral standpoint. Um this is your current breakdown of our
delegation. Um our rural congressional delegation is 10 Republicans. Um um all
in the large rural districts, four Democrats only in one only one of them
in a rural district. whereas um that show you're seeing that your Republican
um concentrations are in the more rural suburban areas. Uh urban uh general
assembly representation um 30% or of the seats are in top three counties,
Meckllinburgg, Wake and Guilford. You'll see there that they the number of
senators and reps in those three big districts. What does that mean?
Everybody's eyeing 2030 and 2031 2030 census and 2031 redistricting.
Whichever party um holds um the majority in the general assembly at that time
will be able to control that um redistricting process um and who will
decide. And of course we all know that with redistricting comes litigation
which is par for the course there. We expect an additional congressional seat
in the state. Um, we have 11 now. So, we could probably pick up a 12th. Um, and
also reallocation of representation in the general assembly and rebalancing for
those municipalities in counties that have districts in 2030, you would have
to rebalance. We are not, we're at large. Um, so we would not have to
rebalance our districts.
uh federal delegation as you see here um mentioned um two senators both are GOP
and 14 house members 10 GOP for Democrats. Um district one was redrawn
in 2025 which I think is a competitive district as well as is currently seated
by um Congressman um Don Davis um who's a Democrat there. It's a competitive
district and of course district 11 where we are has now shaping up to be a
competitive district here. So also be dealing with the impact of Louisiana
versus Callus. I won't dare try to take the city attorney's thunder about what
all that means. But it that case was related to um the voters's right the
voting right rights act and its implication in redistricting. That's as
much as I'm gonna say about that. Uh our legislature now um Republican
have a super majority in the Senate as you know 3020 close to a super majority
um in the House uh 7149 but with the two Democrats that became
unaffiliated of sometimes voting with the House that
they can have a super majority if those two folks vote with the Republicans. So
that is the current makeup. All this leads us to November. Um and will this
story stay the same or will it change? Um and the next three or four months
we'll we'll see. Um but that is um what the election is all about is the control
particularly in North Carolina of our seats in the general assembly um by
parties as well as um the congressional seats. Are they able Republicans able to
hold on to the number of congressional seats in North Carolina and maybe try to
pick up one or without losing? Political trends. Um
couple things here. Um the process for getting laws passed at the general
assembly is very much truncated. Um they are only working about two days a week.
They're only making law about two weeks. Two days a week. Previously, they would
come in on Monday nights. They would work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
leave late Thursday night. Now, they're coming in on Tuesday, doing a little bit
of business on Tuesday, doing business all day on Wednesday, and then
taking off on uh late Wednesday or early 30. So, they're really shortening it
down to about two days of work versus the three, three and a half that that
was tradition previously. Um it is we're seeing fewer laws passed in 25 and I'll
show that graph in a minute and al also some of the impacts of the one big
beautiful bill. Uh they talked about the league folks
talked about we had the first comprehensive budget since 23. Um
there's growing Medicaid pressure on the state and feds for that matter. Uh we're
still fighting for her h her lane hurricane Hela relief. Um and there's a
strong desire um in the general assembly to lower
income tax which is what they were focused on which was a lot of the budget
discussions were tied to the lower income taxes and the comprehensive
budget. That was a lot of the debate between the house and the senate the
last couple years. uh practical impacts for us. Um very
unpredictable. Um we're seeing a lot of um fewer number
of bills, a lot of ominous bills where they take a single bill, strip it out,
and throw a lot of everything but the kitchen sink into that one bill. U which
and it typically does not go through a normal committee process.
um it comes out maybe late on Tuesday night and they're sending it through to
the floor um on Wednesday morning and there's very little ability to see
what's in the in the bills and react to it. Um very hard and I talked about the
the gut and replace that we're seeing there um seeing contradictory results um
and some hostage taking. I will not leave that editorial I will don't touch
that editorial comment. But one thing we're hearing from even folks that have
been around the general assembly a lot. It's really hard to stop um bad things
from happening whichever party you're in once it gets in its rolling um without
much knowledge. And there's some examples of that as it relates to the
budget bill that I'll talk about in a minute. Um here are the historical look
at bills being introduced from 85 to the present. Um you can see there we hit a
peak um prior to 200 um around 2007208 there and you've seen a gradual decline
in the number of bills. The lowest point was in 2324
but we've seen a little bit of an uptick the last couple years but still nothing
like we were seeing prior to the great recession.
And I think one caveat I just said to that is um and this is by no means a
partisan also that is directly related to um when the Republicans took control
of the general assembly in 2011. So there's a direct I mean obviously a
direct correlation in how they want to govern and reduce um passing of bills
and laws. Uh here's what's actually passed in a
regular session. you know, all-time lows only passed. They had 20 of 2,300 bills
introduced, only 151 were passed. Now, some of those 151 took a number of the
200 of the 2,334 bills um and put them in a single bill.
Um so they, you know, put them in an ominous bill and one bill. So those
bills are made. Some of those legislative actions are included in the
151 um just to reduce the number that were actually approved. But that's what
we're seeing. Fewer bills um after they're introduced.
What happened? Um what what they do? Um so we did pass the budget. They overrode
some vetos. Still a couple vetos out there. We've added two more
constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot. There'll be three on the
ballot. Um this November they redrew the congressional map and a little bit more
um issues they talked about was property tax, infrastructure investment, budget
special provisions, downzoning, preeemption of local government
authority, land land use zoning, deanexation, local elections, and local
government oversight. Uh we all are familiar with the House Select Committee
on Property Tax Reduction Reform that met. Uh Brian and I um were were
involved in a working group of managers staying on top of that. We drove to
Raleigh a couple times to committee meetings to just stay a breast because
that is our one local revenue source um that we have that we have the only we
have control of. um our only revenue source we have control of. So uh reform
in the local property tax system does have direct impacts on our ability to
provide services to our citizens. So we stayed on top of it. There was a working
group in the Senate which got a whole lot less attention. They did not have
any public meetings. Um uh membership was only one party. Um and most of the
folks there had priority or had prior local government experience. But again,
no public meetings. Um, not a lot of action.
Nobody knows really what their method is. We assume it's it's in some of the
bills that were passed related to property tax. Um, there that working
group was put together um at the end right before the primary election
um as President Prom Burgerer was in a tough uh primary fight.
Here's what we have in November. constitutional amendment. Um, this is
what it says. Um, very ambiguous and vague and general. Um, that will be on
the ballot. The general assembly shall enact general laws limiting the amount
by which the levy of taxes on property may increase, which may include
exceptions. So, when you go to the pools polls,
you'll be asked to vote on that. Um, so there you have it. um if that um is
approved, which I don't know of, you know, we're North Carolinians and proud
and who's not going to vote for le limiting the amount of taxes we pay. So,
all anticipations is that that constitutional amendment will pass and
then they'll come back into long session um to develop legislation um
to address that constitutional mandate. Um, also in there, um, is, uh, that is
moving forward and I let my
a bill that is moving through um, and close to adoption or passing is a truth
um, and taxation bill. It is a bill rated basically related to notifying
that this city council if approved. All cities and counties will have to do
this. Um will be an additional um requirement when we adopt our budget uh
every during the reval years. You will have to um if we intend to um go above
revenue neutral, we will have to hold a separate public hearing in addition to
the typical budget ordinance public hearing. um they can occur
simultaneously um or in order I guess um but you'll
have to have two public hearings. We'll have to send out first class mailed
notices to all taxpayers letting them know that you are proposing to adopt a
budget um that will um include a tax rate that is above revenue neutral
during the rebal year. Um and there's a couple other notification processes
there, but um that is Yes, ma'am. Um just to understand the timeline. So next
year's reval, right, for Henderson County, but this
would not have the chance of actually capturing next year's reval in that
truth and taxation. Correct. >> Um let's see here if they've got an
effective date here. Um it would you are correct. It would not be it would be for
fiscal years beginning on or after July 1 of 27. They would not be um so
subsequently reval years. we would have to do that. But thank you for that
question. So, so stay tuned on property tax and um
uh the TRA truth and taxation laws.
Here is the property tax reappraisal moratorum does not impact us. So, I'll
keep on going from there. There was one positive bill that was adopted related
to affordable housing. And there was a loophole that if a private developer um
had a partner as small as a very small percentage as small as 1%
um a nonprofit was a partner of that small they could get uh some of the
property tax um exemptions that that nonprofit. So, um, this actually was a
positive that that came out of the property tax subcommittee. Um, and they
identified that early on and enacted legislation to close that loophole. Very
positive. Uh, other things as it relates to
earmarks or infrastructure investments, very few directed grants. Um, only over
just over a million in the budget. Um I think that's you're seeing um the
one-time money or extra money that what we all saw coming out of COVID um is now
been spent. So the earmarks are dropping dramatically. Um our PAL bill was
protected which was very positive for us. Charlotte was able to get a regional
transit tax. Um fully funded federal grant programs that we use a great deal
in our utility system. So that's positive. fully funded the state
revolving loan and community development block grants that help support um
business in the industry and our utility system and also contracting um the new
DEI DEI laws. Um that bill is still out there has been vetoed by the governor
waiting a veto override but they did eliminate the the hood office.
So here are the things talking about what gets added to and this this has
some implications for us. Um some some things that were dropped into the budget
that nobody was aware of until after the budget was adopted. Some positive, some
negative. Um I want to point to the SNAP error rate payment for county and
municipal sales tax. So um traditionally the federal government has covered SNAP
payments um and any errors related to that. But in the big beautiful bill,
they passed um a part of that um made the dec made the decision that any
errors assoc if if a county or state and then ultimately counties because the
county administer the SNAP program have a high error rate, they were required to
pay penalties back to the federal government um to cover that um those
errors, potential fraudulent um pe people getting the the benefit don't not
eligible things like that. So, the federal government passed it to the
state. North Carolina chose to fund that by uh reducing if your county has a
certain error rate. They will reduce your sales tax distribution before it
comes back to the local level. Um, no one's quite sure how that's going to
work yet. Um but um it does impact so if you take sales tax off the top before
it's redistributed to North obviously it reduced the big pie the big pie which
will reduce our distribution um at the city level even though we have
no involvement in the SNAP program and have no say as it relates to um the
error rate who gets so we um maybe um but we will be a be could receive
receive or receive a less amount of our sales tax. It could drop our sales tax,
which is concerning considering everything else that is going on related
to the property tax levy. Um, just reducing our flexibility to provide
services, but we are working on that. That does not go into effect until
October of 2027. U, we will continue to monitor that. I
know the league is working and the county commissioners association because
that is also impacting the counties, right? I mean, the county has had to
fund that. Um, so, um, looking for potential opportunities for that relief
at the state and federal level. So, stay tuned for that. But something we're
working on, but it could reduce your revenue. Our law enforcement officers
got a 700 $1,750 bonus. Congratulations, Chief. Um, everybody, all certified
officers get that. Um, it's being funneled through the SBI. We're still
trying to figure out the logistics of that. Um but it's it's coming directly
um it will come to our law enforcement officers. Uh new requirement to report
economic development expenditures related uh anything over 25,000 um to
the state auditor. That is what it says. There's no clear
guidance of what is an economic development expenditure. So we're trying
to work out that in technical corrections and figuring out exactly
what what do we have to report to the state audit. They did merge um a number
of u into the department of labor the three building code councils. There were
three building codes. So they merged that into one and that will impact
building inspections, fire code, those kind of things. Uh interbasin transfer
moratorium and study. um two high-profile cases. One on the Kataba
River basin related to Charlotte and the Hickory area over the water in the
Kataba basin and also a similar down on the Capefere around Fable related that
is more related to um Pifos and um things of that related to pollution
there. And then they also shifted some powers from the governor. So you see
some things that were special provisions, good, some good, some not so
good, that were in the budget that um there was no opportunity for debate.
There's no opportunity to try to talk to our legislators, which is concerning um
because there's some in some of these things, as you can see with them in this
the SNAP error rate, there's some unintended consequences that will impact
local governments.
uh downzoning uh no action as it relates to the downzoning provision that was
passed in 2024. There was some movement um in the Senate um in early um May of
2025. We didn't see any action in the short
session. In fact, Senate Bill 587 was stripped of the downzoning and now it's
related to wave surfing. So um we will have to start over as it relates to um
that also impacted Mills River. You may have read that Mills River had gotten a
special provision in 25 to adopt their UDO that was repealed um right before
the end of the session this year. But we're seeing these oneoffs. So still
need to um that will be that's problematic for us because we know we
need to update our zoning ordinance. We did our we've completed our comp plan.
It's in great shape. Lou's been challenged with uh updating our zoning
ordinance, but the law prohibiting um downzoning and non-conforming
um uses is is um is problematic and we're trying to work through how we how
we deal with the the drastic need to update our zoning.
And here's some pree uh preemptive issues that some were passed, some were
not. Some pertain to us, some do not. Most of these um I'll go through. Um
some of are caught up in the 53 page of the regulatory reform act of 2026.
Um minimum lot size does not pertain to us. Residential and commercial and light
duty does not pertain to us. ADUs do not pertain to us. Vested rights do pertain
to us. It extended the vested right from one year to three years. Angie, is that
right? Two years ago, they adjusted that. U
permit choice um became law in the budget. Um there was an attempt to put
shot clocks on development. That did not pass. We are required to put fee
schedules online which we do anyway. Um but so those were the things in the
regulatory reform but all that was as I talked about the ominous bills that was
those things are included in a 50 page 53 page bill um that was ultimately put
forth there. Um did see a change as it relates to homebased businesses.
uh we must allow we cannot control um homebased businesses as long as they
have no impact that is um prohibit or now um provided by right cannot be
regulated my understanding and then the big one
here that you'll hear about and I think everybody pay attention to parking
minimums um have been repealed um in residential and single family or
is it across the board. Is it across the board, Lou, or is it just residential?
Okay, I think so. I think I think it's across the board. So, uh we cannot
provide parking minimums. So, um I know we have lots of conversations that come
to the city council with conditional use about is a developer providing enough
parking, those kind of things. Those conversations are been taken out of our
hands. um there. So, storm water calculations or redevelopment, it's
minor amendment there that really um deals with the redevelopment. So, the
things that impact you going forward in the city council uh land use litigation.
Um Angie can talk about this as it relates to, you know, sending
administrative zoning decisions. Um instead of going to the board of
adjustment, they can go straight to the courts.
Uh the general assembly gave standing to statewide associations um or such as the
homebuilders association or um board of realtors or somebody like that may
appeal a zoning decision even if a developer or local individual chooses
not to. Right. Um here's the extended the time appeal
for zoning decisions from one to three years. Um Angie mentioned permit choice
vesting rights decisions. Um adds mandatory award of this is big when
mandatory award of cost the prevailing party in a zoning decision. So if
someone challenges a zoning decision by council and they are found to be the
agreed party and the zoning is reversed then we would be required to pay
attorney's fees and legal cost. and also prohibits withholding zoning
permits to compel employment agreements. I'm not exactly sure what that means.
So, um but so you see some things whittling away at the city council's
authority um as it relates to um manage development and growth in our community.
And then there's a homeless bill HB437 which is out there been vetoed by the
governor um waiting to be um see if that will be overridden. Um it does prohibit
um public camping. um also allows we may establish
regulated camps. It's um very similar to what you may do for
migrant type facilities is governed by the board of of by the department of
labor. But it also gives our residents and business owners the ability to sue
local governments if we do not address public camping. Um I think an important
component of that and I don't know the answer to this is what is defined as
public camping um is sleeping on a bench public camping. Um so something to stay
tuned if that bill passes and as it relates to additional um
responsibilities for our law enforcement folks and how they interact with our
unhoused particularly in our downtown areas
or across the city for that matter. Uh number deanexation bills nothing really
pertains to us here. I think the key thing here is typically to deanex
property, you have to go to the general assembly. There's no local provision to
do that, but um the league and some other folks worked on a bill uh to get
that changed. Um that bill is still pending, but that would give the
authority that you could deanex property here locally in the same way that you
annex property.
uh local elections there. Seeing more and more local elections either going
partisan or shifting the elections similar to us to um even years versus
odd years, moving those municipal elections to the even years.
Um and then there is a local government oversight committee. A number of our
peers across the state were called before the general assembly to answer
questions for a variety of things um there at the general. So that is new
um in the last couple years and the general assembly is taking it they are
using it and calling folks to Raleigh to testify before their committee.
Uh that's just showing where the HP437 is. Um and just us that is the
environment we are in. Um you know um y'all know Aaron is our director of
government affairs but kind of give you an update of where we are and what got
passed and what will be potentially impacting us going forward.
land use, um, budgets,
revenue, things like that. >> When does long sessions,
» when does the long session could start February, March they go back? Yeah, I
think. Yeah, it probably take it'll be March before they really start. I have
to go and get organized because the the Senate will have to
elect a new president pro Tim which will be a change there and get organized
particularly and don't know if there's any changes in the house obviously it'll
be dependent on the election too.
There you have it. Not to depress everybody
» and and you did it quicker than Aaron did.
» Thank you.
All right. Any questions on that? Comments on that?
We are under the thumb of the general assembly
and we just best we can do is keep up and try to lobby for the things that are
going to be best for our citizens. Okay. Lenny's law. you wants wants to
start with it. >> So I will Alison I dropped that in the
folder late. There should be a should be a resolution
from the town of Wooden there as a draft. So I'm going to turn this over to
Mayor Pro Tim Hinsley. I will say that um because she knows a lot more details.
I think we've been requested from a group um from Woodin or a coalition of
folks um Bunkham um county and Madison County maybe to um adopt a resolution
supporting this potential law. So >> yeah, I I got contacted about it uh
several weeks ago and it's um it didn't seem like something that we
should get involved in. My suggestion was since we do have a um committee
looking at at uh you know bikes and pedestrian that they could look at it
see if it would be something that would relate to
something that they are working on and
I didn't hear anything more back from the folks in Woodfin until
you they got in touch with you. >> So, this is less about the town of
Woodin. Um, the city councilman, I think, that contacted you is trying to
form a an additional bicycle safety coalition that he's wanting the city of
Hendersonville to participate in. and I um he called and asked to speak to me on
Friday and I told him that we would have that conversation at council, but I felt
like we were already doing um many bicycle safety type things here and that
it wasn't necessarily something that we would want to take on additionally. I
mentioned um council me council member Baxter that she was the other person
that represented the council that was serving on the bike plan and I didn't
know the capacity of a joining an additional coalition when I felt like we
were kind of already correlating and um but Lenny's law is a separate uh request
that was brought to the no last week and it is um so that is a resolution from
Woodin Then Lenny's law is a separate uh thing that was in that email attachment,
John. And so Lenny and Telli and Jacob Hill were the two cyclists who were
riding um alongside the French Broad River who were struck by a commercial
vehicle last summer and they were both killed. And um so Maddie Bar, who is
Lenny's fiance, is um attempting to create some more
better policies around bicyclists and safety.
And then given the incident at Milikin College with their cycling team, um and
so basically what Lenny's law is, um allowing is to make a recommendation
that there's more signs posted in frequently used bicycle zones. Um they
would like to see bicycle safety zones created in higher cycling trafficked
areas with better signage for um motorists to see that they're this is a
this is a higher density of cyclist on these roads. And we have them in
Henderson County where there are there are roads in Henderson County where we
know that there are a lot more cyclists. And so the hope is is that they would um
place more signage for motorists to be more aware and then potentially
eventually have a higher penalty for speeding in those bicycle safety zones.
Um and so that was brought to the MO last week and the MO um unanimously
adopted supporting Lenny's law in the context of creating a bicycle safety
zone signage and um and not that we would enact speed changes or um fees,
but that it would then be taken to the general assembly for them to evaluate to
see if that was something that they wanted to take up. Um but so they're
asking um if local governments would support moving Lenny's law towards the
general assembly to create these bicycle safety zones.
» That sound >> I think that's correct. And so we
and and NPO talked about it two times I think. Originally it got a luke to the
mayor's point originally you had a lukewarm reception the first time
» and then some other discussion some other events occurred
» correct >> and um it came back and it was unanous
was the second time is >> yes last Thursday it was unanimously
adopted at the NO to support Lenny's law >> and what Mattiey's trying to do right
now is just get local government support for it and nothing more
» correct no legislative changes No impact any municipalities,
» nothing now. And it's just like, hey, would you support us going to Raleigh
and requesting um these additional signs be required in areas that are higher
bicycle trafficked zones?
My opinion is I don't know that it could I don't know that it hurts um at least
having this analyzed on a higher level. Um I will say in these both of these
incidences speed was not a factor. It was um impairment um and maybe even
intent in one of the accidents. And so um
he because I think they've actually said now in the for the Milligan College that
the driver did not apply any brakes at all before he hit flew of cyclists and
um and then in Lenny's law the driver was impaired and so speed would not have
made a difference in these accidents but maybe had there been more awareness by a
motorist that this is an area where you really need to be paying attention
because there's you narrow shoulders and a lot more cyclists known to travel in
this area. Um that could potentially save cyclist life.
I am a cyclist and I've been on out on the roads many times and there are rural
roads in Henderson County that scare me to death um with how close cars have
gotten to me. I mean, I think it aligns with a lot of
the work that we're already doing without um
duplicating it in this particular instance, but I do I think that it
speaks to a pattern that we see of cyclists being
at higher risk in the past few years. I don't know if it's higher density or
what it is, but it does seem and I'm supportive of whatever we can do to
help address it as long as it um you know can move that forward without
putting us in a spot where you know there's no tough decision there for us
as a city right now.
So would uh like to
propose that uh staff bring this to council meeting for
put it on our agenda. Any any objection to
» ma'am and if it's okay I'll >> putting that on
» since you discussed it today I'll just put it on the consent agenda and then if
there's concerns if you feel or or I'm open for guidance if you want it on a
new visit is consent okay or you want it okay I'll put it on the consent and you
have questions we can we can pull it off and discuss it at that point
» thank you [clears throat] All right.
Okay. That is the end of our agenda. Unless someone has something they want
to to bring up.