[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:01] It's 531 and I'm Heather Washburn, the chair, and we're going to start the meeting and we'll start with roll call.
[0:13] Patrick Brennan.
[0:18] Patrick, I saw you up here. I'm here, Heather. Sorry. I'm here. Okay. Thanks.
[0:23] And
[0:27] then, John Figgs, Kelsey,
[0:36] Jim Farron,
[0:40] Reza, Annie, Kim Andrews,
[0:56] Kim, I see you but I don't see you.
[1:01] I don't know.
[1:02] There I am.
[1:03] Okay.
[1:03] Okay, I got to know, got to know.
[1:06] Okay, then again, I'm Heather Washburn and I'm here too.
[1:10] So we're gonna go through the approval of agenda.
[1:14] Did anybody have any questions on the agenda?
[1:18] Tonight it's gonna be the approval of the past minutes.
[1:22] Hopefully everybody's read those
[1:23] and then the main part of this
[1:26] is gonna be figuring out who the new chair is gonna be
[1:31] and talk through chair, co-chair, and I don't, I think that anybody has come up as to be
[1:40] rotating on thus far, so those are the two items.
[1:45] Okay.
[1:47] Any questions?
[1:49] Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?
[1:53] Motion to approve the agenda.
[1:55] Okay.
[1:56] Can I get a second?
[1:58] I'll second.
[2:05] go ahead and give it Jim Jim approved Jim second okay thanks Kim and then kind of
[2:14] call to vote and if I I'll eight eyes raise your hand or yes hi looks like it's
[2:25] unanimous submission carries are there any announcements no staff doesn't have
[2:32] any announcements or petitions. Okay, did everybody have a chance to read through all
[2:39] three months of minutes? Yes. Okay, did anybody have any questions or need to make any adjustments
[2:50] to the minutes?
[2:54] I'll take the silence as that we're good to go. So can I have a motion
[2:59] to approve the minutes? I'll make the motion, Heather. Thank you, Patrick. Can I get
[3:05] second. I'll second.
[3:11] Where's that Kim?
[3:16] Oh Fanny. Okay thank you. Sorry if I look down I can't see.
[3:22] All right so next item is oh sorry we need a vote um can let's vote for approval of the minutes.
[3:31] If you approve, please just raise your hand.
[3:34] Aye.
[3:39] It's to me like it's all.
[3:41] Aye, so the motion carries and we can go on to new business.
[3:49] So, we can have a discussion of let's do this.
[3:56] Does anybody have a nomination for chair?
[3:59] that you would like to put forward.
[4:03] I'd like to nominate Patrick Brennan as chair.
[4:09] I can't stop.
[4:13] Patrick, how do you feel about that?
[4:16] That sounds great to me. Thank you. I'm honored. Appreciate that. Thank you.
[4:22] Okay. Does anybody want to speak on behalf of Patrick and why he would make such a great chair?
[4:28] I've enjoyed having him as my co-chair.
[4:29] I would say that he had been vice chair, very good comments, and he is the longest serving
[4:39] member of the board and given the current board members, so it's a great choice.
[4:47] I agree.
[4:49] I think moving forward, it's going to be important to have somebody that has had some history
[4:55] with some of the projects that they come back through and has had some time to see kind of how
[5:01] this commission works and I think would be a very good leader.
[5:08] Can we vote? Actually,
[5:12] can we make a motion to nominate Patrick for chair? I make a motion to nominate Mr. Brennan
[5:20] for chair of the CDC. Can I get a second? John is the second.
[5:32] And are we all comfortable
[5:35] if I just ask you to raise your hand in acceptance? So if you agree, just raise your hand.
[5:48] Great.
[5:48] So that passes unanimously
[5:52] Heather, could I can I say just a couple of words? Yes, okay. I just want to thank everyone for their the trust they're showing me
[5:59] It's it's you know, we talk about community and we talk about what it means to be a citizen
[6:04] I think it's all of us showing up once a month and
[6:07] Wrestling with these hard questions and you know, we don't have to be here
[6:11] But we all choose to be here and just so grateful to be a part of a group of people who wants to collaborate
[6:16] who wants to work together, who wants to challenge each other and make our town a better place.
[6:20] And Heather, you know, we hope to make you proud. You are in your chair, so we will learn from
[6:28] your example and you will be on speed dial. I'm sure you know. So you've set a wonderful example
[6:33] for how to work collaboratively and how to build consensus. And we really appreciate your
[6:38] leadership. And if it's appropriate, I'd like to also nominate a vice chair potentially.
[6:44] I am fine with that.
[6:46] Who would you like to nominate?
[6:48] I would like to nominate Kim Andrews, as the vice chair.
[6:55] Kim, how do you feel about that?
[6:58] I think that would be great. I appreciate the nomination.
[7:02] Good, because I would second that.
[7:05] You were on my list.
[7:07] So it's a good day today because...
[7:09] It's a good day.
[7:11] Okay, so can we have...
[7:13] we've got a nomination for Patrick.
[7:15] can we get a second for for Kim? I second that. That was from Annie. Again if you agree please
[7:28] raise your hand.
[7:33] Fantastic. Unanimous motion carries and I would like the floor just for a moment.
[7:43] So it was really hard to make the decision to roll off, but I feel like this commission
[7:52] is in really good hands and I can go on doing other civic things.
[7:57] Things that I would like to leave you in thinking about is that when you're evaluating
[8:03] projects that are coming to the CDC, think of it in terms of Chapel Hill as a
[8:13] fabric. Not an absolute, that it has to look one way, it has to have one
[8:19] material, because a fabric of a community is deep and everlasting and
[8:30] And having some differences between is actually what makes a community because their personality
[8:38] comes through.
[8:40] So always kind of try to put yourself in to their shoes.
[8:46] And when I say their shoes, I'm talking about the community that's going to be in that
[8:51] space or moving around that space.
[8:57] So that's been a big thing of why I was on the CDC with what I could bring to it as far
[9:03] as the building and community building and planning part of it.
[9:10] So you guys have my email.
[9:13] If questions come up, please feel free to email me.
[9:19] Jim's emailed me.
[9:20] I try to respond in a relatively quick manner, but I'm happy to answer any questions as things
[9:27] come up because you guys are going to see projects that have come up before and sometimes it's nice
[9:33] to have somebody that has the history. Patrick's got some history, but I've also been able to reach
[9:38] out to previous CDC members when I've had questions, so I want you to feel free that
[9:43] that that door is open. Thank you. Thank you, Heather. Thank you. Big shoes to fill.
[9:51] Go ahead. I just want to say one more thing. Just we are so grateful for your service.
[9:56] And I know it keeps saying it, but you've really led it by example.
[10:01] Good. I'm Jim and I'm chair and vice chair. I view every voice on this commission equally as
[10:08] important and working to build consensus and learning from each other. And so Jim,
[10:12] Annie, John, Kim, Kelsey, you know we're gonna lean on you guys and look forward to
[10:19] sort of getting to know each other better this process as well so thank you.
[10:23] Annie, I see your hand raised but I'm not sure if that was the vote or if you
[10:27] wanted to speak. I was just hoping to say a few words as well. Yes. A bit hard
[10:31] to follow after Heather being such an important member of the Commission. But
[10:36] if nobody was here, if somebody wasn't here when I shared this a few months
[10:40] ago. I am also rolling off of the commission. When I was first appointed, it was because
[10:46] I was filling in for somebody else who left halfway through their tenure, and theirs would
[10:50] have ended during this meeting as well. I was asked if I would like to continue, and
[10:56] I'm very sad to say that I won't because after I get married in August, I am moving
[11:02] to Philadelphia.
[11:05] Congratulations.
[11:05] Thank you. Thank you. If I were staying in the area, I would have said yes in a heartbeat. So, even though I've only been able to be a part of this for about nine months or so, it's been a great honor. I've learned so much from you. I hope to join something similar in Philadelphia.
[11:22] I've lived in North Carolina my whole life and this area is very special to me. So I just wanted to say thank you for welcoming somebody very young who doesn't know anything at all and letting you from all of you.
[11:33] We hope you spread your civic duty wide. It takes a village.
[11:41] Okay. So any other business that we need to address, otherwise I'm going to adjourn.
[11:48] Just one final point. Heather mentioned about responding. She was very good at response.
[11:54] You may want to consider sharing my last email to you was just your thoughts on evaluating projects.
[12:04] And I noted it and it was very helpful. I've done a little research on evaluation of CDC types of things.
[12:13] And you came back to me with more thoughts. So definitely a great resource and hopefully you'll be open if we do have questions.
[12:22] I absolutely will be open and Jim is referring to this email in which he had
[12:30] said that I'm just going to read verbatim. I seek to be both objective and
[12:38] because this is Jim talking. With the CDC I've not been aware of any points in
[12:43] viewing evaluation. I came across some tips to help in decision-making. One
[12:48] One, does it fit the neighborhood context?
[12:50] Two, does it present enough visual interest?
[12:53] And three, is it functional and human, i.e., an accessible entrance, screen mechanicals,
[13:01] for example?
[13:02] And then four, does it use high-quality materials?
[13:06] And then he asked me what I use to project evaluation, and I agreed with the ones that
[13:14] he listed.
[13:14] I said, I also look at scale.
[13:16] Does the exterior feel overwhelming in mass, height, material changes?
[13:22] Does it feel welcoming and harmony and comfortable?
[13:26] I also look at a project's impact on the environment, its maintenance costs, and does it provide
[13:31] opportunities for community interaction?
[13:34] For developments, I always want to know how they are handling their stormwater
[13:38] runoff.
[13:39] Are they building community or are they building individual silos?
[13:43] Are they providing opportunities for mass transit or are they promoting our car culture?
[13:56] That's it.
[13:57] Those were great points.
[13:59] Yeah, thank you.
[14:03] And I'm going to leave you with, my door is open.
[14:06] Please ask questions.
[14:08] I love our community.
[14:10] So whatever I can do to help support.
[14:19] All right, I'm letting you guys go and I'm saying bye. Bye