[2:19] [snorts]
[2:26] Yeah.
[2:43] I can
curious.
[3:51] I'm glad.
[4:11] Good evening everyone. Good evening.
Welcome to this board of commissioners
[4:15] meeting this August 11th for the town of
Waxaw. Uh let's take a moment, catch our
[4:21] breath. Uh we'll go ahead and
start our evening with an invocation. We
[4:28] have Joe Lapos who's Joe Leos is going
to give us an invocation to kick off our
[4:33] evening's activities. Thank you.
[4:37] » Let's please bow our heads for the first
invocation since 2019.
[4:43] Heavenly Father and Lord of the
universe, we honor and worship you for
[4:46] amaz for your amazing love and grace
that has been bestowed upon us.
[4:50] » Thank you, Jesus.
>> On behalf of many in Waxaw, we're sorry
[4:53] for removing your presence from these
proceedings. Thank you for being patient
[4:56] and please accept our repentance and
forgive us. Please honor and bless this
[5:01] board and town staff for granting you
permission to be present with us again
[5:06] starting today. This is the hard part.
Lord, help us to do as you taught and
[5:10] forgive those who trespassed against us
and forge ahead to make this a better
[5:14] place to live for all. Thank you,
>> God. We know elected officials swear
[5:18] upon the Bible where it says in the
beginning in Genesis that you mandated a
[5:22] call to carefully steward all that you
created. Help us all to do so. Remind us
[5:28] that at the end of the Bible, it says in
Revelation 11 that you would one day
[5:32] return to judge both those who feared
you and those who raged against you. For
[5:37] some reason, of all things people do
wrong, it stated that you would destroy
[5:40] the destroyers of the earth and land.
You knew long ago that greed would tempt
[5:45] all men, especially those in power. So
help us, dear God, to heed the warnings
[5:50] to care for all the people and your
land, too. So dear God, on this first
[5:54] invocation in seven years, help these
strong leaders to seek your wisdom and
[5:59] your will in every decision that they
make. And Lord, give Jim Black a fist
[6:04] bump from all of us, too. I pray this in
the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.
[6:08] » Amen.
>> Amen.
[6:10] Thank you very much, Joe.
Congratulations on being the first
[6:14] in some time. All righty. So, we will
start our official opening ceremonies as
[6:20] well with a pledge of allegiance. Please
rise.
[6:27] I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[6:33] republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[6:40] justice for all.
[6:45] » Thank you one and all.
Are there any adjustments or amendments
[6:49] to tonight's agenda?
hearing none. Then can I get a motion to
[6:54] approve tonight's agenda?
>> So moved.
[6:56] » All in favor?
>> I
[6:58] » I motion carries.
Next up we have general public comments.
[7:03] Uh we had some confusions with the
signup sheets. So we have the public
[7:07] comments a little mixed with the data
center comments. So we will focus I will
[7:11] call out those that signed up for the
general public comments. Uh to kick us
[7:16] off uh first on that list would be again
Mr. Joe Leapos.
[7:26] Hopefully you're not all tired of me
yet. So, hey, first I want to thank
[7:30] Mayor Murray and all five members of
this board for being people who keep
[7:34] your word. Shortly after the first
election two and a half years ago, some
[7:38] of us felt the need to challenge the
moment of silence. I first recited Ben
[7:43] Franklin's famous speech that resulted
in Congress calling upon God before
[7:47] every meeting. Why not ours? We asked.
All three of you on the split board
[7:52] attempted to bring it back. But
shockingly, the former members who
[7:55] touted their religion and quoted Bible
verses were against it. It is no wonder
[8:00] after the rejection of God that
polarization reigned in these halls. It
[8:04] is a perfect example of why it is
important. We stood against the
[8:08] destruction of land by developers who
adopted a leave no trees behind
[8:12] philosophy and how it all gentrified
senior citizens and lower income
[8:17] families. Some have argued saying the
purpose of invocation is to promote a
[8:21] specific religion or even procilitize.
No, it is to create a purposeful
[8:27] reminder of the vows sworn upon a Bible
which holds the highest standard of
[8:32] ethics and fairness. Over 7 billion
copies of the Bible have been sold and
[8:38] in this digital age, billions read it
online. It is not a minority view to
[8:43] include God in all things. Some ask what
is the angst about developments
[8:49] as if they are evil. In the first
chapters of scripture, it says humans
[8:53] were put here to steward the beautiful
world God created. Building is not evil.
[8:59] It is normal but need but it not need
not be in a total destructive pattern
[9:04] that takes no account for wildlife,
trees and how it affects residents. I
[9:09] mentioned Revelation 11 in the
invocation. I don't know how that came
[9:13] up, but God gave me some things to say
and so I'm going to go with what he told
[9:17] me to do. In Revelation 11, it because
it's an important prophetic dialogue
[9:23] that lays out how we will be graded for
our mandate. The full text in Revelation
[9:28] 11 says, "The seventh angel blew his
trumpet, and there were loud voices in
[9:32] heaven, saying, the kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of the Lord and
[9:37] of his Christ. He shall reign forever
and ever." and the 24 elders who sit on
[9:43] their thrones before God fell on their
faces and worshiped him. Next, it tells
[9:48] of the final grade. The nations raged,
but your wrath came with the time for
[9:53] the dead to be judged. First for
rewarding your servants and those who
[9:57] fear your name, both small and great,
and finally for destroying the
[10:01] destroyers of the earth.
We all have moments of rage for both
[10:06] good and bad reasons. Without God's
forgiveness and grace, we're all nothing
[10:10] at all. But judgment is not ours. It is
only God's. But why did he pinpoint
[10:17] destroyers of the earth? What a sobering
cry to the ultimate consequences of
[10:22] humanity's downfall and the importance
of stewardship. Oh, what a mandate this
[10:29] board and the town engineers have on
your shoulders. It is a big task, but
[10:35] you all have writed our future by
putting God in first place at these
[10:39] proceedings to ensure his words and his
guidance are followed. Now, may God and
[10:45] his wisdom be with you all. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Joe.
[10:52] Next up, we have Father Benjamin
Roberts.
[11:04] I do hope those timers don't appear
while I'm preaching.
[11:08] I'm Father Benjamin Roberts. I'm a
priest of the Dasis of Charlotte. I was
[11:12] for the last 14 years the pastor of Our
Lady of Lords in Monroe and on July 1st
[11:16] assumed my new responsibility as the
priest in charge of the Catholic
[11:20] community of Waxaw. Uh I have been
appointed to oversee the transition of
[11:25] St. Matthew South Campus into its own
parish over the next over the coming
[11:30] probably year until we're officially
declared a parish by the bishop of
[11:34] Charlotte. And then I'm tasked with
being the founding pastor. So uniting in
[11:39] one way the already 3500
Catholic families that live in Waxaw
[11:46] Weddington, Marvin and um Wesley Chapel
along with some people who come over
[11:51] from South Carolina. Uh so our intention
of course will be to build a church and
[11:56] many other things and since we are your
neighbor literally right there I wanted
[12:01] to come and introduce myself. Um I am a
I was born in Charlotte. I grew up 20
[12:08] minutes from here in Lancaster where my
parents still live. I watched Waxaw grow
[12:12] up. I fulfilled a childhood dream on
July 4th. any kid in Lancaster wants to
[12:19] uh as a part of their life goal to be
part of the Fourth of July parade in
[12:24] Waxaw. So I had the great privilege to
do that. Again, I'm very happy to be
[12:29] here. I look forward to working with you
uh for us to be a presence of of
[12:34] goodness, of hope, and of unity in this
community.
[12:38] » Thank you very much.
[12:47] Uh let's see here. General, it says data
in. Okay, the rest are data center
[12:52] comments. Uh we will go ahead and leave
those for our public hearing. Uh seeing
[12:57] no other signups for general public
comments, this concludes our general
[13:00] public comments. Um any other commission
response regarding public comments at
[13:05] this point?
[13:09] » All right, hearing none, I will add
mine. Um,
[13:13] one thing people don't generally
remember is our pledge of allegiance.
[13:19] Our pledge of allegiance states one
nation under God. And the under God
[13:24] wasn't there in the original draft of
the pledge of allegiance. It was added
[13:28] at an interesting time in our history.
For those [snorts] that aren't aware, it
[13:32] was added during the Cold War when
Soviet communist when the communist
[13:38] Soviet Union was basically growing and
expanding both in power and in region.
[13:45] And it was one of those things that the
country at that time felt it was
[13:49] necessary to add to our pledge to help
distinguish the United States from our
[13:55] communist adversaries.
Under communism, i.e. socialism. God
[14:01] must be removed from the psyche of man
because without God that leaves man
[14:09] searching to fill the void and man will
then quickly latch on to a system or an
[14:17] individual other than God.
There's a very specific reason our
[14:22] Declaration of Independence says endowed
by our creator,
[14:27] we have inalienable rights.
Our creator was put there to remind us
[14:33] that our rights for liberty and life and
happiness come from God. They don't come
[14:38] from an individual. They don't come from
a system. They don't come from a from a
[14:43] king. They don't come from an emperor.
They don't come from a ruling party and
[14:49] its party members. They come from God.
And that's why I'm happy today to have
[14:54] this invocation as part of our starting
ceremony. I think it's a good addition
[14:58] to remind us all that it is our creator
that gave us life, gives us liberty, and
[15:04] gives us our right to pursue happiness.
And that's where those rights come from.
[15:09] And we need to remember that they're not
coming from people. They came from God.
[15:13] and we get to exercise those here in
this country. So, thank you. Well said.
[15:26] All righty.
Next up, we have the consent agenda. Can
[15:29] I get a motion to approve tonight's
consent agenda?
[15:32] » So moved.
>> All in favor?
[15:35] » I.
>> Motion carries. Uh we have one
[15:39] particular item within the consent
agenda that we will be reading this
[15:42] evening. Our mayor promed will be
reading our honor to the legacy of Mr.
[15:47] Jim Black.
[15:51] » I'd like to welcome his family tonight.
Whereas the town of Waxon, North
[15:55] Carolina pauses to look back and
remember the remarkable life, vibrant
[15:59] spirit, and lasting impact of longtime
resident and community icon Jim Black.
[16:06] And whereas Jim Black was a constant
welcoming presence at every town
[16:11] gathering and celebration, showing an
unmatched dedication to his neighbors
[16:16] and a deep love for Waxaw's community.
And whereas with the rise of social
[16:21] media, Jim stepped forward generously
using his time and talent to capture the
[16:27] smiles of M and milestones shared
history of our citizens. And whereas his
[16:33] photographs and posts did more than just
document events. They connected
[16:38] neighbors. They preserved memories,
boosted local pride, and built a digital
[16:44] scrapbook of our own town's growth.
Whereas Jim was instantly recognizable
[16:51] and beloved for his trademark optimism,
warm personality pres and his signature
[16:58] thumbs up pose that brought joy and
reassurance to everyone he met. And
[17:04] whereas while Jim Black has passed away,
his legacy, cheerful spirit, and love
[17:09] for Waxel will live on in the hearts of
our community and the memories he left
[17:13] behind. Now there therefore be it
resolved that I, mayor of the town of
[17:18] Waxaw, along with the town board of
commissioners, and on behalf of all our
[17:23] citizens, do hereby honor the life and
legacy of Jim Black and express our
[17:28] deepest gratitude for his years of
service as Waxaw storyteller,
[17:33] photographer, and friend. We call upon
all residents to carry forward his
[17:38] spirit of positivity and community
pride.
[17:42] In witness whereof, I hear I have here
unto set my hand and cause the seal of
[17:48] the town of Waxaw to be affixed this
11th day of August, 2026.
[17:55] » Thank you very much to the black family.
We mourn your loss. Thank you.
[18:03] All righty. Next up, we have
recognitions. Uh we have Miss Dena Parks
[18:08] and Recck. We have a couple
recognitions.
[18:19] Good evening.
I'm here tonight to recognize Miss
[18:24] Robin. Um, Miss Robin started her
journey here with the town in July 21 in
[18:29] the finance department as the um,
accounting technician. she quickly um
[18:36] earned more responsibilities
um and did a great job there but we kind
[18:40] of stole her. So in August of 22 she
became a part of the park and recck
[18:46] department as the administrative
assistant and then again did a great
[18:50] role and now is the deputy
administration. Over the last couple
[18:54] years, Miss Robin has done a key role in
our department um helping us with many
[19:00] grants such as the Great Trail State
grant, the Carolina Thread Trail grant,
[19:06] and um and then also helped us with
securing funds for the small trailer as
[19:12] well. Um she's been a co-leader on that
one. She's also been at the creation of
[19:18] the Friends of Waxaw Parks and Trails
from the beginning to now its nonprofit
[19:23] status. So, she's all around helped in
so many different ways in that form.
[19:29] Also, Miss Robin helps out with our
financial because that's always a
[19:34] challenge with budget. Uh she's helps
with our um year end um also with other
[19:40] projects with the downtown project uh
park project, the learning center
[19:44] project, the rec pro uh rec farm project
and the PCR um PSPR
[19:51] building. So all these things
logistically getting those finances
[19:55] together which is totally appreciative.
She handles our accounting um on
[20:02] payables um receivables,
the keeping up with the grants also with
[20:08] purchasing. She coordinates with special
event rentals which is a challenge at
[20:14] sometimes and also does a percentage of
rentals with the parks and facilities.
[20:20] Also sponsor space. So, if you would
like to sponsor one of our lovely spaces
[20:24] in the parks or trails, she's um your
person. And scout projects, you'll we
[20:30] have presentation for two scouts coming
up in just a few minutes. Again, a
[20:35] wonderful um person to help us prolong
our finances and also help us um to move
[20:41] that that next spot. her dedication,
organization, professionalism,
[20:47] commitment um to ensuring the parks and
wreck continues to serve our community
[20:52] to its highest level. I want to say
thank you, Miss Robin, um for serving
[20:57] the last five years with the town of
Waxaw. And please help me congratulate
[21:02] her on this wonderful milestone.
[21:06] [applause]
[21:08] Here
[21:13] you go. You want to say anything?
>> I guess I could. Um, no. I just want to
[21:19] thank my team, the town staff, my
family. Honestly, like I love Waxaw, so
[21:24] I want to give everything I can to it,
but my team is what makes me smile and
[21:27] happy every day. So, I really appreciate
them, too. So, thank you very much.
[21:46] You have one more, Miss Dina. Oh,
Andrew's doing this one. Gotcha. Mr.
[21:50] Andrew, how are you?
[21:57] » Thank you for having us. Uh, we're here
today to celebrate a major milestone for
[22:02] our department and for our town. Chris
Blanchard is officially making five
[22:06] years with the town of Waxaw. Over the
past five years, Chris has been an
[22:10] absolute pillar for our team. Watching
his growth has been incredible, stepping
[22:14] up to become our park lead and taking on
a full scope as the crew lead
[22:19] responsibilities without missing a beat.
Three years ago, Chris made history by
[22:24] becoming the first recipient of the
Sunny Splan Employee of the Year Award.
[22:28] That award honors someone who uh who
leads with integrity, exceeds
[22:33] expectations, and brings a true attitude
of gratitude to work. Qualities Chris
[22:38] continues to model every single day.
Beyond keeping our parks in top shape,
[22:44] what really sets Chris apart is how he
connects with people. He currently
[22:48] mentors several of our team members,
passing on his knowledge, work ethic,
[22:52] and standards every single day. but his
warmth exceeds well beyond our immediate
[22:57] crew. Chris is easily one of the most
welcoming people you'll ever meet.
[23:02] Whether he's out in the parks or around
town, he's always waving, smiling, and
[23:06] saying hello to everyone, even people
he's never met before. He makes our
[23:10] entire department approachable and sets
a fantastic standard for community
[23:14] interaction.
On a personal note, I couldn't ask for a
[23:18] better partner in managing this team.
Having Chris by my side to handle the
[23:22] day-to-day operations, lead the crew,
and keep everything running smoothly
[23:27] makes a world of difference. He leads by
example, earns the respect of everyone
[23:32] around him, and truly makes Waxall a
better, friendlier place. Chris, thank
[23:37] you for five years of hard work,
leadership, and dedication. We're
[23:41] incredibly lucky to have you on the
team, and I'm looking forward to many
[23:44] more years of working with you together.
Please join me in giving Chris a round
[23:48] of applause.
[23:58] Thank you guys.
>> Thank you Chris.
[24:18] All righty. Next up, we have Mr. Orion
with our engineering department.
[24:30] » Good evening. I have uh Linda, our
administrative assistant. Let me see
[24:32] what she had prepared for me today.
Oh, very good. Um Linda and our
[24:39] engineering administrative assistant.
Congratulations um for being with the
[24:42] town for five years. Uh Linda is much
more than administrative assistant. Um
[24:47] she's the true heartbeat of our
engineering team. Uh she kept keeps us
[24:50] organized with her friendly spirit and
she keeps things running smoothly.
[24:54] Linda, we are lucky to have you on our
team and celebrate with us today.
[24:58] » Thank you.
[25:07] » Good evening. [clears throat] Tonight
we're here to recognize Sergeant Wall-E.
[25:11] Uh he began his career in New York. Um
retired from there, started his second
[25:16] career here in Waxaw in 2019. Over the
while the time he's been here, he's got
[25:22] a thousand hours of law enforcement
training. And we're recognizing him
[25:25] tonight for earning his um North
Carolina law enforcement advance
[25:29] certificate.
Wall-E. [clears throat]
[25:34] » Yep. That's it. That's yours.
Congratulations.
[25:51] All right,
[25:55] we have another one this evening. Um,
Detective Howard, he began his law
[25:58] enforcement career in 2012. Um over the
years he's completed a thousand hours
[26:02] over a thousand hours of training and
North Carolina has recognized him with
[26:06] his law enforcement advanced certificate
also. Cory, thank you for your time
[26:10] here. Thank you for your training.
[26:21] » Thank you.
>> Thank you, Lieutenant. Always good to
[26:24] recognize the high standards of the
Waxaw Police Department. Thanks again.
[26:28] Uh, next up we have a couple very
special presentations uh this evening or
[26:33] recognitions this evening. Uh, Miss
Robin, we have a couple Eagle Scouts in
[26:37] the house.
[26:43] Hello again. I'll introduce myself again
even though I'm Robin Ver, deputy of
[26:47] admin for parks and wreck and I'm here
with Jeremy and Max and Laura. Um they
[26:53] um Max has actually done our Eagle Scout
project for the Town Creek Park
[26:57] Pollinator Garden. So I always mess this
up.
[27:01] Next one.
Or did I turn it off?
[27:07] I always mess this up.
Which one?
[27:13] » Right button. All right. See, I told you
I messed this up. That's fine. Um
[27:17] anyway, so Max was actually a big part
of wanting to do our revitalization of
[27:22] the Town Creek Park Pollinator Garden,
which actually was an Eagle Scout
[27:25] project a couple years ago. Um you'll
see top left, that's where we basically
[27:31] started. So he pretty much started from
scratch. He basically did the soil,
[27:37] added some compost, did some new plants,
and did a whole new walkway. You'll also
[27:42] see that he added a bee habitat. He
added a bench. That bench was actually
[27:48] made from wood salvaged from the Serross
cabin that unfortunately burned down at
[27:54] our museum of the Waxaw. So that
commemorative plaque is there. You'll
[27:57] see that. It's a beautiful bench. You
definitely should go check it out. And
[28:00] he actually, you can see his group. They
actually did a give a rock, take a rock
[28:05] garden as well, um, and added the little
library back. So that might actually be
[28:09] a future Eagle Scout project soon, too.
So he did a great job. his group did an
[28:14] awesome job and we really appreciate all
his hard work. Do you guys want to say
[28:18] do you want to say anything? Okay. But
thank you guys so much for all the hard
[28:22] work. [applause]
[28:30] » It's great to see a piece of that cabin
live on for many many years as a bench.
[28:49] » [applause]
[28:53] » Miss Amy, we have another one.
>> Good evening. I'm Amy Merrill, the
[28:58] downtown park manager, and I've been
working closely with Ben. Come on up.
[29:04] And his mom, Sarah, and his dad, Todd.
[29:09] Robin is the Boy Scout uh Eagle Scout
project, but she let me take the reigns
[29:15] with this after it was just a little bit
of a process. So, that's why I'm taking
[29:19] this on. I've worked with Ben actually.
He did some cleanup at the park for us.
[29:25] Um Oh, I guess I got this
[29:32] about three years ago. he um contacted
us and was interested in doing some
[29:36] clean up around the park. So, I got to
meet Ma Ben and his mom and he did a
[29:41] great job then and we talked about his
project which is the wind phone.
[29:46] Um there's a QR code up there if you're
interested in learning about the wind
[29:51] phone, but we now have one at the
downtown park. I mentioned it to Ben at
[29:55] the time of the cleanup of the park and
he ran with it. Three years later, here
[30:00] we are. We now have the wind phone in
the downtown park. It's basically a
[30:06] place where you can send a message to a
loved one or just talk to anybody who
[30:12] will listen and then the wind will carry
your message away.
[30:17] Ben and his team did a great job. They
worked great together. Um he was always
[30:22] a go-getter and his parents and other
Eagle Scouts were amazing. Here's some
[30:28] more pictures.
And actually tonight he put on the final
[30:32] touches. Uh we don't have those
pictures, but um I'm proud of Ben and he
[30:38] did a great job and congratulations,
Ben.
[30:45] [applause]
[30:47] I'd like to thank the town of Waxoff for
allowing me to build the windphone in
[30:52] their new or downtown park. I'd
especially like to thank the Department
[30:56] of Parks and Recreation with Mrs. Amy,
Mrs. Robin and Mr. Jim for helping me to
[31:01] see the process through and eventually
complete the project. It wouldn't have
[31:05] been possible without them. So, thank
you.
[31:10] [applause]
[31:27] » [applause]
[31:30] » And we have one more recognition this
evening, Miss Brandy.
[31:39] » Yes. Uh we just wanted to take a moment
to recognize Michael who has spent the
[31:43] past year serving as an intern for the
town of Waxaw. Michael has been a
[31:47] tremendous asset to our team, not just
in the business development department.
[31:51] He has jumped in wherever he is. he was
needed, worked hard, learned a lot, and
[31:56] became a valued part of our town family.
It has been a pleasure working with him
[32:01] and watching him grow over the past
year. We are incredibly proud of him as
[32:05] he takes this next step and heads off to
college. Michael, we are going to miss
[32:10] you having you around, but we are
excited to see where life takes you.
[32:15] Thank you for everything you have
contributed to the town of Waxaw, and
[32:19] please know that we will always consider
you part of the family. Congratulations,
[32:23] Michael, and best of luck in college.
[32:33] [applause]
[32:44] And for those of you who don't know
Michael, uh,
[32:48] which it's probably very few people, I
almost forgot he wasn't an intern. and I
[32:52] thought he worked here. He's been here
so long, but uh we wish you the best of
[32:56] luck and uh he's doing great things with
his nonprofit, Action for Good. Look it
[33:01] up. Um he's really giving back to the
community along with the Eagle St. I
[33:06] wanted to thank them as well. It's a
great use of uh contributing to the town
[33:10] park and that's really what community
all is all about and when people think
[33:14] of Waxaw, that's what they think of. So,
thank you all.
[33:23] » [applause]
[33:26] » I've always been impressed with how
Michael just seemed to pop up
[33:29] everywhere. I don't know how many events
I saw him, not just town events, but
[33:33] just all around the county. So, he's
been a real fixture. And I I just can't
[33:38] imagine how much he's learned. And to
know that he's taken that with him is is
[33:41] going to be really cool. So, keep in
touch, Mike.
[33:45] All righty. Uh next up we would like to
kick off our public hearing about the
[33:50] imposing of a proposed moratorum on the
construction and development of data
[33:54] centers. Can I get a motion to open this
public hearing?
[33:59] » So moved.
>> All in favor?
[34:01] » I.
>> This public hearing is now open. I'll
[34:04] just kick it off by making one thing as
clear as I could possibly make it. There
[34:09] is not and has not been any discussions
of or intentions to build a data center
[34:19] within Waxaw or as far as I know on this
side of the county. Um this is something
[34:25] we're doing preemptively. uh you're
seeing it in Charlotte at the state
[34:30] level and many many other municipalities
have discussed and taken on this topic
[34:35] of imposing some kind of restrictions
around data centers and a lot of those
[34:42] restrictions have sort of started with a
moratorum. The purpose of this moratorum
[34:47] is to give us time to develop the law,
time to write the LDC the way it needs
[34:53] to be written to ensure our community is
protected in the future. So this is not
[34:58] something that's happening tomorrow. We
don't have a a file filled with
[35:04] applications looking for people
desperate to build data centers. That's
[35:08] not what has happened. This is us being
proactive and preemptive with our
[35:13] activities. So, anything else to add,
Kevin, before we kick this off? All
[35:18] righty. So, there's no formal
presentation. Again, this is just a
[35:22] moratorum to put a halt on things. So,
we don't really have anything to present
[35:26] in terms of what we think the law would
be, what we think the law should look
[35:30] like. And a part of this public hearing
is going to be us getting the opinions
[35:34] of the people. We're going to listen to
y'all tonight, hear what you have to
[35:38] say, and it will be part of our
consideration as we draft and rewrite
[35:43] some of the laws within the LDC, our
land development code. So, we're going
[35:48] to optimize the code a little bit and
we're going to take to heart some of the
[35:51] stuff you have to say. So, we'll get
started by just calling off some of the
[35:55] folks that have signed up for our public
comments uh in this public hearing
[35:59] regarding data centers. Not sure which
one to start with. I'll start with this
[36:03] one.
Go ahead.
[36:07] » Yes.
>> Do do the
[36:10] do the public comments after the summary
of um what
[36:15] » do you have a summary?
>> Yes, we do.
[36:16] » Yeah, we do. There is one.
>> Who has the summary?
[36:24] » Mr. Kevin, you have the summary.
[36:28] » It was just There you go.
>> I think you summarized it pretty well.
[36:33] Mayor, there's not a whole lot else to
it. Um, so this is for public hearing
[36:38] for ordinance 202614,
data centers and similar land uses. Um,
[36:45] this is intended to address large data
center related complexes that are
[36:48] rapidly growing in North Carolina. Um,
there are uh they do require large
[36:53] amounts of land and there are
significant concerns with their impacts.
[36:56] Um, be it noise, heat, light, uh,
lighting, utilities, etc.
[37:01] Um the town's current LDC definitions
for server farms are not really up to
[37:06] date. They're not really designed um to
locate these and mitigate their
[37:11] potential impacts.
The state is looking right now uh at a
[37:16] couple different bills, few different
bills to uh to find a good way to
[37:20] address these, but we don't know what
the outcome of that's going to be. And
[37:24] really Waxaw is just kind of following
along with about 30 other different
[37:28] local jurisdictions in the state that is
growing on a monthly basis um that have
[37:32] passed either text amendments or local
zoning uh local moratoriums uh to give
[37:37] time to do that.
And that kind of shows where we're at.
[37:42] These are moratoriums. You can see the
vast majority of them are for a 365day
[37:46] moratorium. So that is the most common
type that's done.
[37:51] This will not ban data centers. What
this would do would pause approvals of
[37:55] new data centers, data processing
facilities, cryptocurrency mining, and
[37:59] other similar primary uses on properties
within Waxaw's incorporated town limits
[38:04] for 12 months. And as you mentioned,
this will allow staff um and uh the
[38:09] board uh to comply with any changes in
state law that arise, to research actual
[38:14] impacts of these land uses, to propose
some changes, um and then to provide
[38:19] time for public feedback and for the
elected officials for y'all to hear
[38:23] proposed changes and decide on the best
course of action to take. Um so if
[38:28] adopted tonight following this public
hearing uh the moratorum would be in
[38:32] effect until August 10th of next year or
until the adoption of an amended land
[38:37] use ordinance to address these uses or
until further action ending or
[38:42] continuing the moratorium by the board.
Whichever one of those comes first.
[38:48] » Any questions or comments from the board
at this time? Please,
[38:56] » mayor, members of the board, and
residents, I want to offer a perspective
[38:59] on this issue that begins with some
personal responsibility. Before serving
[39:04] on this board, I spent several years as
a citizen volunteer on the Waxaw
[39:08] Planning Board. In 2020, we undertook an
extensive review that led to the Waxaw
[39:13] Land L land development code as we know
it today.
[39:17] At that time, we understood server farms
was a very different than what we are
[39:23] discussing the campus-like data centers
that are being built today. I did not
[39:29] anticipate how rapidly the industry
would change in 2021 when we reviewed
[39:34] it. The scale at which data centers have
amassed are completely different.
[39:41] I own that responsible government.
Government isn't about pretending old
[39:46] decisions, anticipate every change that
would follow. It is about recognizing
[39:51] when circumstances have changed
and beginning and being willing to
[39:57] respond. Today's large-scale data
centers can bring significant demands on
[40:01] electricity, cooling, and other utility
resources along with real questions
[40:06] about infrastructure, noise, land use,
and the compatibility with the
[40:11] surrounding developments that we know
and love as Waxaw today.
[40:16] I also recognize that many of our
residents are concerned. You've seen
[40:19] what happens in other communities
and are wondering what that would mean
[40:24] for Waxaw as we consider this moratorum
today.
[40:28] Whether I was still serving on the
planning board, sitting in the audience
[40:33] as a resident or sitting here as a
commissioner, my recommendation would be
[40:38] the same. Place the temporary moratorum
on this issue. The mortorium is a
[40:44] commitment to do the work before we make
a decision with any lasting consequences
[40:49] for this community to clearly understand
the infrastructure utility environmental
[40:54] noise and land use implementations
considered
[41:00] and how it matches with our Waxaw
long-term vision and determining what
[41:05] standards and limitations fit our
community.
[41:09] There are also larger principles at
stake here I want to be direct about
[41:15] because I think it's important for the
people in this room that haven't
[41:19] followed as of lately what has been
taking place with our greater state
[41:26] government because local control
matters. Last year, the state
[41:31] legislator,
our state legislation and
[41:35] representatives passed Senate Bill 382.
Buried inside it was a change that
[41:40] stripped municipalities, including this
very town like Waxaw, of its ability to
[41:46] downzone property without its owner's
consent. In plain terms, if a piece of
[41:52] land is zoned for a use like a data
center, which currently none are at this
[41:59] time, and there are no applications
before us, as the mayor has said, but
[42:05] our residents deserve clear
understanding to think about what it
[42:09] means
and what implementations would take
[42:14] place.
I encourage everyone in this room to
[42:18] look up how your own representatives
voted. And that's why I also support the
[42:23] current legislation, House Bill 24, to
restore that authority and downzoning
[42:28] ability with your local municipal
services. I believe we need to keep
[42:33] pushing our state legislators to give
that authority back. This is not being
[42:38] anti-development or disregarding
property owner rights. It's about a
[42:43] balance. It's about making sure that
people who live in the community and the
[42:47] representatives they elect keep real
voices in shaping the community's
[42:53] future. When circumstances change, good
government should have the humility to
[42:58] acknowledge it, the responsibility to
understand it and the courage to act
[43:03] upon it. That is why this moratorum
is reasonable and gives us the
[43:09] opportunity to do just that work. And
that's why I also encourage each of one
[43:13] of you to go and understand the
implementations that have taken place
[43:17] with our state legislators and how we
have been handcuffed by making actual
[43:22] decisions that impact us to date. Thank
you.
[43:33] » Thank you, Commissioner Harris. Anyone
else?
[43:37] » Yeah, I just wanted to mention another
bill that passed recently. um HB 162 um
[43:43] it's unfortunately more top- down
governance from our state government. It
[43:50] handcuffs again local governments from
uh regulating parking spaces for new
[43:58] developments. So now statewide
we can't regulate parking spaces
[44:04] whatsoever on any new projects that come
in. So the market will decide, but
[44:11] potentially inadequate parking could be
supplied and the burden to fall on
[44:18] surrounding streets. So I certainly
support your sentiments there,
[44:23] Commissioner Ferris.
[44:28] » I'm just going to say one last thing and
very quickly because we want to get this
[44:32] going. There's a lot of people here that
want to talk, but um I would like to say
[44:37] there is hope. So to thank
Representative David Willis and Danarp.
[44:42] They have proposed a bill uh H House
Bill 170 that would bring that back. So
[44:49] uh let's give credit where credit is due
and we thank uh Deanarp and David Willis
[44:54] for that and uh hopefully we get it
done. So call on that. Ask him that ask
[45:00] him that you want that passed. It's it's
there. It's up there, but just got to
[45:04] get it through. So, there is hope out
there.
[45:08] » Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? All
righty. Well, let's go ahead and kick
[45:12] off the public comments portion of this
uh meeting. We'll start with EB withraw.
[45:23] » Yes.
>> No worries.
[45:28] » Okay. Uh Ben Levenson.
Levenson.
[45:38] Do I have a time limit? Three minutes.
Honorable members of the board, my name
[45:43] is Benjamin Levenson and I'm speaking on
behalf of Levvenia, a charitable group
[45:47] across the Carolas and the United States
focusing on environmental causes,
[45:52] humanitarian actions, and striving to
protect the people of the areas that we
[45:56] are in. The time of action is now
because when a data center comes, it
[46:00] will already be too late. Today, you
decide what kind of Waxaw you want. On
[46:06] one hand, you can give us a Waxaw where
you can go outside and breathe in the
[46:11] fresh air, lay down on the well-watered
grass, and look up at the stars with
[46:15] your family and friends as wildlife roam
through the trees and forests that tower
[46:19] overhead. On the other, you have a waxaw
filled with smog, where you cough every
[46:25] time you step outside, where the stars
are no longer visible at night, and
[46:29] where water shortages run rampant as the
trees are plowed and birds no longer
[46:33] chirp. For one data center, Harvard
School of Health estimates anywhere from
[46:38] 53 million to 93 million in health
damages to the local population and 3.4
[46:45] to 6.5 additional premature deaths every
year. Currently, Waxaw has around 20,000
[46:52] citizens. One data center can take up as
much water as 50,000 citizens. Training
[46:59] a single AI model can emit more than
626,000
[47:03] lbs of carbon dioxide, equivalent to
nearly five times the lifetime emissions
[47:09] of the average American car, which
includes the manufacturer of the car
[47:13] itself. In 2024, the electricity
generation for global data centers
[47:18] produced approximately 182 million tons
of CO2 emissions and was responsible for
[47:25] 560 billion lers of water consumption.
In the wise words of act of Cass
[47:33] Chufoon, British youth activist, when
the last tree is cut down, the last fish
[47:38] eaten, and the last stream poisoned, you
will realize that you cannot eat money.
[47:44] I'm not only thinking about the waxaw of
today, but I am thinking about the waxaw
[47:48] of tomorrow and waxaw in 20 years. If
you want to protect these people, serve
[47:54] these people as you are supposed to as
public servants, then you will pass this
[47:58] moratorum and you will not allow
companies to destroy what our ancestors
[48:02] have spent the last h 100red years
building. The people say no to data
[48:07] centers. Thank you.
[48:16] Next up, Courtney Moneymaker.
[48:22] Okay, good evening everybody. And I'm
really nervous to be here. I I'm here
[48:29] because I have a three-year-old and
11-year-old and it's important to me
[48:34] that they have clean air to breathe and
clean water to drink. I'm here also as a
[48:40] care provider of adults with
developmental and physical disabilities
[48:45] for the last 15 years. more currently.
Um, now I just work with scheduling care
[48:50] providers and them. I'll bring that up
because I just had to defend my job
[48:55] against a proposal of an AI bot coming
in and and doing the work for me. So
[49:01] glad my company is sticking strong with
us and was like, "No, we're not going to
[49:04] do that." Thank you, Abound Health. Um,
all right, back to why I'm here. Uh,
[49:10] data centers are no good. I excuse the
poor posters. They're made really fast.
[49:16] But you can see people, clean air, and
water are greater than data centers.
[49:22] Just say no to data centers. We all
remember that
[49:27] uh slogan, just say no. It's all we have
to do. We know that um
[49:32] data centers take up our electricity.
They are going to put a strain on our
[49:38] grid. I don't know about most of you,
um, but me [clears throat] and my
[49:43] husband, we also are business owners
here in town of Waxaw. We have a little
[49:46] vintage store downtown going on almost
five years. Um, but I just want to see
[49:52] the future of Waxaw be greater.
And I'm losing my train of thought.
[49:57] Sorry, I'm not prepared. But, um, yes,
back to the resources. We know that data
[50:01] centers consume up to two million
gallons of water per day. And um that's
[50:09] too much. And it's because it
evaporates. We're not It's not a return
[50:13] cycle. It's nothing they're reusing.
This is gone. This is gone. And um I
[50:19] just drove back today from Chimney Rock,
North Carolina. I don't know if any of
[50:23] you have had a chance to go there since
Helen back in 2024. This was my first
[50:28] time. And to see the devastation and
destruction
[50:32] that water can cause
was eye opening. Um, and I just don't
[50:38] want to see the devastation and
destruction that the lack of water is
[50:43] going to cause. Um, so again, thank you
for your time. Thank you all for your
[50:48] consideration and voting for the band.
Um, I say band 12 months would be great.
[50:55] I ask of you to push for a band entirely
forever. We [clears throat] never need
[51:01] data centers. People are greater than
data centers. Thank you so much for your
[51:07] time and have a good night. [applause]
[51:14] Thank you, Courtney. Uh Mr. Alan
Previtt,
[51:22] thank you for the opportunity to speak.
I worked with Duke Energy, retired
[51:28] engineer for 45 years. Had the
opportunity to do a lot of the advanced
[51:32] work and stuff that goes on that has
gone on and it was a very good job.
[51:36] That's why I stayed for 45 years.
There are 97 data centers already in
[51:43] North Carolina.
You have to realize that's a lot of data
[51:48] centers. Now, these are not necessarily
what you would call massive data centers
[51:52] like some of the ones that's being
proposed. These are corporate data
[51:55] centers more than anything else. Having
to work with Duke, we had our own data
[52:00] center. We had a redundant data center
at Lake Norman up in Meuire and we al
[52:06] saw had a separate another data center
that was remote that was in Houston.
[52:12] When you're running a utility, you have
a franchise to serve and you have to get
[52:16] system back up very quick. So you have
an outage, it's very important that you
[52:21] have the data to do it. Also, I have
children that are physicians and also
[52:26] have done research on various things and
I will say this is that data centers
[52:31] with a lot of data at the universities
at various corporations, they provide a
[52:36] lot of wealth of information to be able
to do diagnostic techniques that are
[52:41] there. So there's good things with data
centers and there's bad things. You'll
[52:46] see a lot of them on TV and in
advertisements and stuff much more than
[52:50] you're going to see in realistic
everyday business. Now is Waxaw a good
[52:56] fit for a data center? No, I don't think
so.
[53:01] First thing is we're talking about
energy and electricity. I worked in the
[53:05] high voltage section and the thing is is
that you'll notice that most of the big
[53:09] data centers are along transmission
lines are very close to them. The data
[53:14] center that's going up above Morris
Chapel Road or right off Morris Chapel
[53:19] Road, they're paying for the distrib the
the system substation to be able to tap
[53:25] a 230 line. We only have one delivery
off of 230 line. They're basically what
[53:30] we call transmission network. So all the
distribution around here, none of that's
[53:36] going to carry a uh data center of any
size, especially the ones you read
[53:42] about. The ones that are going in
various other places, they are along
[53:48] transmission lines. The one that was in
Matthews, it's along a transmission
[53:52] facility. What you see is a situation
that those data centers are consuming a
[53:58] trend a tremendous amount of power. And
the thing is is that most people don't
[54:03] realize what those numbers mean. But
just to give you an idea, the data
[54:08] center over at Matthews that was
proposed was 600 megawws. That's half of
[54:14] the output of one of the units at Meuire
or Kataba. That's a lot of power. Okay.
[54:21] the new ones that are being proposed and
there's a energy tariff that Microsoft
[54:26] has proposed to the not only the Duke
but the North Carolina to be able to
[54:32] increase the charge for energy. So that
way there's a lot of proactive stuff
[54:39] there and lot of companies more than
willing to pay for the infrastructure to
[54:43] be able to supply the energy for these
things. The other problem is lack of
[54:48] water
right now. Everybody that's in here
[54:52] probably gets your water might not know
it from Lancaster County.
[54:57] » Western part of Union County has very
little surface water and very little
[55:01] water to be able to use for water
distribution systems.
[55:05] » Thank you.
>> It now comes from Lancaster County right
[55:07] off of Rebound Road right off of Highway
5.
[55:10] » Thank you. We're going to try to get
everybody tonight. And they're currently
[55:13] under a drought mandate,
>> at least they were earlier in the week
[55:17] or last week,
>> which restricted use of water.
[55:21] » Not enough of water that's going to be
able to cool these things.
[55:24] » Yep. We're going to try to hold
everybody to three minutes so we can
[55:27] give everybody a chance to see.
>> So, thank you for
[55:28] » those are two big things. You're not
going to be able to supply it because we
[55:32] don't have the infrastructure here to do
it.
[55:34] » Thank you.
[55:41] » [applause]
>> Uh, all righty. Next up, we have Sophia
[55:45] Wang.
[55:57] » Greetings to Mayor Robert Murray the
third and the council members of the
[56:00] Waxaw Town Hall. My name is Sophia Wong.
I am a high school student and I have
[56:04] lived in the Waxaw area for most of my
life. To me, the case at hand today
[56:08] isn't regarding the potential benefits
of artificial intelligence. While the
[56:11] argument of uh about the place of AI in
our society is a useful one, it is not
[56:15] relevant to the discussion at hand.
Individuals living in Waxaw can use AI
[56:19] regardless of the presence of a data
center in our town. Instead, today's
[56:23] town hall should spoke focus
specifically on the effects of data
[56:26] centers and the consequences of building
one in the town of Waxaw. You might ask,
[56:30] how might data centers affect me? Well,
let's put it this way. The average Waxaw
[56:34] household pays about $250 per month in
electricity and water bills. And yet,
[56:40] data centers affect all of us through
the devastation they wreck on our power
[56:43] grids and water supplies. By examining a
report from the US Energy Information
[56:48] Administration, we see that residential
energy prices rose by 11.5%
[56:52] in 2025 when compared to past years with
the report noting data centers
[56:56] specifically as a major contributor to
this increase. Looking to the future,
[57:01] researchers predict that they will
skyrocket even further, increasing by up
[57:04] to 40% by 2030. This means that what
could have been a $250 monthly bill in
[57:09] 2025 might become a $350 bill in 2030,
if not more, as a direct result of data
[57:16] centers. Another Environmental
Protection Agency estimate finds that a
[57:20] data center could use up to 5 million
gallons of water daily, the equivalent
[57:23] of up to 16,000 American households.
Now, while we might not have the exact
[57:27] equivalent to the increase in bills this
number may signal, we ask you council
[57:31] members to think about the droughts
we've had in the Carolinas. Earlier this
[57:35] year, Union County Water enacted stage 2
water restrictions, requiring residents
[57:39] reduce spray irrigation systems to twice
a week and requested residents reduce
[57:43] and reuse water for daily household
tasks. In fact, data from this spring
[57:48] breaks some records in North Carolinian
history. According to meteorologist Amy
[57:52] Wilmoff, 2026 is the dest year on record
so far for the Raleigh Durham area. But
[57:57] that's not all. Reports from Mansfield,
Georgia site water literally turning
[58:00] brown from data center sediment. Council
members, this moratorium protects
[58:05] residents of the town of Waxaw from
encountering further unnecessary
[58:08] droughts. It protects us from having to
continue to ration our water. It
[58:11] protects us from future environmental
devastation in our own town. Council
[58:16] members, you may hear arguments during
this hearing claiming that a data center
[58:20] will create new jobs in the Waxaw area.
This argument is entirely untrue. Let me
[58:25] repeat this claim now. While the
construction of a data center might
[58:27] require some temporary staffing, once
built, this number decreases
[58:31] dramatically. According to the official
data cent's mapping website, an
[58:34] averagesiz data center employs just
about 15 to 35 people. Simply put, there
[58:39] is no benefit a data center may provide
to the town of Waxaw. As I close my
[58:44] speech, I urge you, the elected
officials of Waxaw, to instate this
[58:47] moratorium on data centers. I am a
student. I care about the issues around
[58:51] me, and it scares me most when forces
beyond my control threaten my
[58:54] livelihood. I do not want to live in a
world where rationing water becomes the
[58:58] norm. I do not want to live in a world
where my parents are overwhelmed by
[59:01] utility bills. I do not want to raise my
children in a world where all water is
[59:05] tinted with sediments. I do not want my
friends, family, neighbors, and
[59:09] strangers who live in a world that was
brought upon them against their wills.
[59:11] Council members, you can protect us, our
parents, and those who will come after
[59:15] us by preventing this ecological
calamity. I thank everyone here for your
[59:19] time.
[59:27] [applause]
[59:30] » Thank you, Sophia. Well stated. Uh, we
have Alinda Bowen.
[59:40] » Hello. I don't have as much detailed
notes as the others, but I thank you
[59:46] that you all do. I just want to bring
out Well, first I want to thank you that
[59:52] you're taking advanced work to keep a
data center from here. Want to remind
[59:58] everybody we love little Waxaw, the
clean air, the quiet,
[1:00:05] the adequate water. But may I remind
you, we've been in a drought now for
[1:00:10] years. As a utility customer, my water
bill keeps going up and up and up. Data
[1:00:20] centers take massive amounts of water.
But I think something that's been only
[1:00:25] me, it has been mentioned, but not quite
as often is the noise.
[1:00:30] in these other small communities where
they've moved in. They say it's
[1:00:35] destroyed the community, the noise. Now,
I don't want to live in Charlotte
[1:00:42] because it's a noisy city. I live in
Wagshaw, as someone mentioned. I can
[1:00:47] hear the birds and, you know, it's it's
pleasant, but the noise level, I don't
[1:00:53] know how far out it goes from the data
center, but everything I hear is it's
[1:00:58] pretty bad. So, thank you for taking
advance work and for doing the diligence
[1:01:04] that we'll need to keep these sorts of
things from our little community. Thank
[1:01:10] you each.
[1:01:15] [applause]
[1:01:17] Thank you, Linda. Next up, James Withro.
[1:01:24] » Hi, everyone. My name is James Wro. I'm
here representing my parents Bruce and
[1:01:28] Libby Wiro. I'm a cyber security expert.
Yes, I said expert for the past four
[1:01:33] years. I have audited data centers,
Google, Oracle, Amazon, you name it.
[1:01:39] Insight global. And there are two things
that we really need to focus on. I do
[1:01:43] agree with a moratorum. I would propose
an entire ban and that's because there
[1:01:48] are two types of data centers uh closed
loop and open loop. Our friend here was
[1:01:52] referring to closed loop. What that is
is on premises data centers that do not
[1:01:57] use the resources of a public community.
Open open loop is what takes away from
[1:02:02] our community resources and with no no
financial restitution or uh really any
[1:02:09] opposition when it comes down to it. It
bleeds the community dry and then to
[1:02:14] simply file bankruptcy and leave with
destruction in the wake. And that's
[1:02:18] really part of the problem here. the and
we've gone from a society of uh people
[1:02:24] over profit to profit over people. And I
encourage a complete ban. I know that's
[1:02:28] probably not realistic. Um but a lot of
people here with the the data and and
[1:02:33] the statistics, they've really taken uh
taken the the wind out of my sales
[1:02:37] without with my complete argument, but I
would encourage the community to um
[1:02:41] preserve the historical nature of this
community. Uh and by having a data
[1:02:46] center in in the area, it's not going to
do that. You know, um it'll destroy the
[1:02:51] community, it would completely um
deplete the natural resources and uh the
[1:02:55] the water seepage is also a big issue.
My parents live on a farm pond. The
[1:02:59] water table will have, you know,
materials in it that have never been
[1:03:02] seen before. And in addition to that,
they're talking about new bacteria from
[1:03:06] uh open openloop um data centers that
have not been seen before that are
[1:03:11] affecting communities uh far and wide.
So, uh, you know, the problem that I see
[1:03:17] in the whole profit over people is that
these corporations that come in, uh,
[1:03:22] they have the moral backbone of a
jellyfish. Um, so they do not care. They
[1:03:26] may come in and say that they want to
propose a closed loop system. That is
[1:03:30] not true. All of these Fortune 500
companies that I've gone and audited and
[1:03:34] assessed for their cyber security
programs, they have on premises data
[1:03:38] centers because they don't deplete the
natural resources around them. They are
[1:03:41] closed loop. when you have open loop and
it's colllocated in not an area around
[1:03:45] their headquarter, they do not care
about the land around it. They do not
[1:03:49] care about the people around it as we
have seen a lot of people uh bring those
[1:03:54] statistics to the to the floor. Um so
all I all I'm here to encourage is you
[1:03:59] know a moratorum if not a complete ban
uh preserving the you know preserving
[1:04:04] the uh historical nature of this
community and in addition um let's let's
[1:04:09] swing the pendulum back to people over
profit. I mean
[1:04:13] why can't we get back to that? That's
why we're in this situation in the first
[1:04:16] place. Thank you.
[1:04:21] » [applause]
[1:04:25] » Thank you, James. Miss Carol Bulam.
[1:04:31] » Good evening. I just want to preface
this by saying the following points
[1:04:35] touched upon are based on research
pulled from scholarly studies and
[1:04:38] government and public data sources. No
AI was utilized. One of my primary
[1:04:43] concerns involves the carrying out of
proper sound studies. Will these
[1:04:47] developers conduct a low frequency and
infrasound assessment, not just a
[1:04:51] standard A-weighted decibel reading? We
don't want just the standard decibel
[1:04:55] study that developers usually submit.
Regular sound meters aren't built to
[1:04:59] capture infrasound, the frequencies
below 20 hertz, which are below the
[1:05:03] normal limit of human hearing. I want to
stress that high intensity and prolonged
[1:05:08] exposure to these low frequencies can
cause increased cortisol levels,
[1:05:12] vertigo, nausea, ear pain, hypertension,
and insomnia among other things.
[1:05:18] Infrasound exposure influences multiple
physiological systems including
[1:05:22] cardiovascular, vestibular, and neural
pathways. And when we have neighbors
[1:05:26] with chronic pain, inflammation, and
autoimmune diseases, this becomes a
[1:05:30] public health concern. I also worry
about the health of our community's
[1:05:33] children and how prolonged exposure to
this and the cent's pollutants would
[1:05:37] affect their development. Another point
for us to look into is what setback
[1:05:41] distance from residential property would
proposals require. Would they be based
[1:05:44] on any acoustic modeling? Additionally,
although studies on this are still in
[1:05:49] their infancy, data centers are being
found to raise the temperature in
[1:05:52] surrounding areas by a few degrees. Data
centers reject massive amounts of heat
[1:05:57] associated with the energy they consume.
A single relatively modest 36 megawatt
[1:06:01] data center rejects heat equivalent to
the electricity consumption of roughly
[1:06:05] 40,000 homes. Heat pollution from data
centers can boost air temperatures in
[1:06:10] downwind neighborhoods by as much as 4
degrees Fahrenheit. We can't deny that
[1:06:14] there's an environmental impact here. As
we have been experiencing longer heat
[1:06:18] and dry spells if we allow these centers
to infiltrate our areas, expect the
[1:06:22] possibility of even hotter summers and
higher Duke energy bills. And a side
[1:06:26] note, most jobs created around data
centers are rooted in the construction
[1:06:30] of them, not their ongoing operations.
So, no, the creation of these facilities
[1:06:34] will not create any long-term local job
booms. I strongly oppose the addition of
[1:06:39] these data centers in our community. The
negative environmental impacts far
[1:06:43] outweigh any slight positives, if any,
such facilities would bring. Thank you.
[1:06:51] » [applause]
[1:06:55] » Thank you, Carolyn. Uh, next up, I think
this is Silip Wright.
[1:07:05] Anyone? Mr. Miss Wright.
>> Mr. Wright.
[1:07:09] » Yes. Right. Sorry.
[1:07:14] » I was going to politely back out
tonight. Three or four of my major
[1:07:20] concerns have already been addressed.
That's fine. Some of you might recognize
[1:07:25] me, some of you may not. Most of you
probably don't. I used to work with town
[1:07:28] of Waxaw quite a bit. Um, we still have
a lot of projects that have never been
[1:07:33] finished. We don't need anymore. Uh, or
we're going to save the town we have
[1:07:39] while we can. So, uh,
data, no.
[1:07:45] getting wax all finished, keeping the
town going. Yes. Thank you very much.
[1:07:51] » Thank you.
[1:07:57] » Lastly, we have Patricia Jones.
[1:08:06] » Everybody said most of um the same
thoughts that I've had. copious amounts
[1:08:11] of water, copious amounts of power, and
they usually want some type of
[1:08:16] subsidies,
electrical bill hikes. Taxpayers pay for
[1:08:21] that. So, it's basically corporate
welfare is what it is. So, anyone
[1:08:26] opposed to data centers, I would suggest
you divest yourself from the people
[1:08:32] behind this. That's Microsoft.
That's Facebook. That's this small group
[1:08:39] that's pushing
AI powered economy. And that's all I
[1:08:44] have to say.
[applause]
[1:08:51] Thank you very much. I appreciate the
voice of the public and all of this is
[1:08:54] definitely something we will be
considering as we move forward in the
[1:08:57] next year. Um figuring out what to put
in our LDC regarding data centers. Um,
[1:09:03] as far as looking for an allout ban,
that's what we will be looking at as
[1:09:07] well. I I guarantee you that.
[1:09:17] » Madam Prom, what do you have?
>> I I was just going to say I know a lot
[1:09:20] of you mentioned a ban and um that would
mean removing it from our LDC and right
[1:09:28] now the state is not allowing us to do
that. But like I said, HB1 170 and HB24
[1:09:35] would reverse that at least for Union
County. And we do have representatives
[1:09:39] trying to push that through. So if
that's what you want, it's we have to
[1:09:44] leave it up to you. We can't we we're
working with them. They're listening.
[1:09:49] So you need to help us out there. If
that's what you truly want, that's the
[1:09:56] only thing we can ask you to do.
Uh 170, HB 170. I just wrote them down.
[1:10:03] I'm sorry. Um HP 170 and HB24.
>> Can you guys make a social media post?
[1:10:08] » Yeah, I'll post about it. Yeah,
>> that sounds good.
[1:10:12] » Mayor.
>> All righty. Any other comments?
[1:10:14] » Mayor, there is one comment that came in
late. She would like to make it.
[1:10:19] » Sure.
[1:10:23] I was going to pass too because
everybody's addressed it, but I first
[1:10:26] want to just thank you all so much for
taking the step forward to consider um
[1:10:32] the potential of a ban and at least
putting in place a moratorum. Like
[1:10:37] everyone else has said here, as a
resident of Waxaw,
[1:10:41] I don't think it's hyperbole to say I'm
terrified of what it may do to our
[1:10:46] environment here, our quality of life of
our neighbors. um whether it's in my
[1:10:51] backyard or across town,
the health impacts that we're starting
[1:10:58] to see in other communities and of
course the water. Union County has had
[1:11:02] historically for a very long time with
growth a difficulty with enough water,
[1:11:08] right? We've been in bands forever. So,
thank you so much for considering it and
[1:11:12] I am one of the voices of I hope you can
find a way to complete the
[1:11:15] [clears throat] ban. Thank you,
>> ma'am.
[1:11:22] Hi, I just want to say one thing. Um, I
asked back there if I could like also
[1:11:26] say something. Um, so and they said you
would ask if there are any other
[1:11:30] speakers, but no one asked that yet. So,
I thought I'd just come up here. Can I
[1:11:33] No,
>> that's fine.
[1:11:33] » Can I say something? Okay. So, this is
again like related to the the moratorum.
[1:11:39] Um, I just wanted to voice what I
thought about this. So,
[1:11:44] » excuse me, ma'am. Would you state your
name for the record, please, so we can
[1:11:47] get it on record? Yes. Thanks.
>> I'm Edva Ayah. I'm a student here in at
[1:11:53] Marvin Ridge High School in Waxaw, North
Carolina. And I'm speaking on the
[1:11:58] moratorium because in the 16 17 years
I've lived in Waxaw, I've like ever
[1:12:05] since I was younger, I've seen this town
change. Um
[1:12:09] my father's actually a real estate
agent, so he's been to a few of these.
[1:12:12] I've been to a few of these and I've
always like liked seeing how um the
[1:12:16] board works and how people represent
their opinions. So, I thought when I saw
[1:12:20] this come up that I had to speak on it.
Um with the rise of data centers, I
[1:12:25] think this is an important topic. So, I
wanted to say that Waxaw is a
[1:12:28] historically nuanced city. The roots of
our values of keeping from dramatic
[1:12:32] change is deeply engraved in our
community. Waxaw is known for our
[1:12:36] sprawling neighborhoods, our growing
number of businesses, and our focusing
[1:12:39] on cultivating the spirit of a small
town.
[1:12:42] » [snorts]
>> Um, for this I believe no height limit
[1:12:45] on buildings or distance from
residential property will capture
[1:12:48] Waxaw's need for distance from the
rising number of data centers. However,
[1:12:52] in the 800 data centers constructed in
the last year, over 60% were constructed
[1:12:57] in smaller towns. Even as a town um even
as a town passing this moratorum, we
[1:13:03] cannot escape from the growing number of
data centers.
[1:13:07] will likely face data centers being
constructed in nearby towns or nearby
[1:13:11] cities. Charlotte recently passed a
moratorum at the at the beginning of the
[1:13:16] summer and as it approaches its end they
have instructed a about 15 member
[1:13:22] council to advise on decision-m for
after the mortar's over and I really
[1:13:27] hope that Waxo seeks to do the same. I
believe that even if we keep data
[1:13:32] centers from our homes from our
businesses there will be data centers
[1:13:36] surrounding us. So for the people for
the businesses in here we try to make we
[1:13:43] try to place these limits on here so
even if it's around us we close to us we
[1:13:48] do not see the effects as much. So thank
you. Um I'm glad that this moratorum is
[1:13:55] brought up. I'm glad to hear that there
are people speaking on it. Thank you.
[1:14:01] Thank you.
[1:14:05] All righty. Uh, anything else from the
board at this time?
[1:14:09] » Please.
>> Yeah, like the earlier speaker, I've
[1:14:12] worked in IT for many years and one
thing that has been consistent is that
[1:14:18] uh, computers keep getting smaller and
smaller. And so I think these large
[1:14:24] footprint data centers are going to be
obsolete one day. and we're going to be
[1:14:28] left with a bunch of junk uh and a bunch
of uh unusable land perhaps.
[1:14:36] And I think part of the support that
people some people have for these data
[1:14:42] centers is the awe that they have for
what AI can do. But
[1:14:48] compute power is just a tool and that
should always be subordinate to human
[1:14:53] welfare and it needs to proceed in a way
that is in balance with human welfare.
[1:14:59] So thank you everybody who spoke up
[1:15:08] Mr. Mayor please. Um simply put this is
your town. It's also your home and I
[1:15:15] really appreciate seeing everybody
coming out here and using the process to
[1:15:19] let your voice be heard. So, thank you
very much. [applause]
[1:15:27] All righty.
Everybody's looking at me to speak. I
[1:15:32] haven't spoken to
>> No, you don't have to if you don't want
[1:15:33] to.
I I want to echo the sentiments of uh
[1:15:38] Commissioner Don Dio that having
everyone show up for occasions like
[1:15:44] this. Uh I wish we could get together on
more auspicious occasions, but for
[1:15:49] something like this, it's really
important that y'all show up and have
[1:15:53] your voices heard. It's not cliche. Uh
the just exactly what Dh Commissioner
[1:16:00] Dulio said. It's uh really great to hear
everybody um use the process, speak
[1:16:06] their mind. Uh all of that is well said.
Everybody was very articulate and very
[1:16:12] uh well-versed in data center
um
[1:16:19] what what the pros and cons are and
mostly the cons. Um,
[1:16:25] we we take all your comments to heart
and um I I think that if we do this with
[1:16:35] a lot of thought and some help from
uh the general general assembly,
[1:16:43] we'll be able to protect what we have in
Waxaw, what we all uh cherish. So, um,
[1:16:50] thanks again for coming out and and
really, uh, admire everybody's ability
[1:16:56] to speak articulate on the subject
matter.
[1:17:05] » Well, thank you, commissioners. I
appreciate the words uh to the people
[1:17:09] and to each other. Uh, it's good
collaboration. It's good input. Um,
[1:17:14] one thing I'll add, I I hit a I I
stumbled on a factoid several years ago
[1:17:20] and as it relates to data centers, one
of the things that we all need to be
[1:17:25] mindful of is our own behavior and how
they may or may not be contributing to
[1:17:28] data centers. Uh, the factoid I picked
up several years ago was that global
[1:17:33] cloud services,
oh, my music's on the cloud, my
[1:17:38] picture's on the cloud.
global cloud services consume as much
[1:17:43] electricity as the nation of Japan.
So just having these things
[1:17:49] in our pockets at ready demand, it
creates the demand for this type of
[1:17:54] stuff. So think about how your behavior,
your consumer choices impact some of
[1:18:00] this stuff because it it does have an
impact. I'll just throw that out there.
[1:18:04] Um anyway um go ahead.
Thank you. So without further ado, can I
[1:18:13] get a motion to close this public
hearing?
[1:18:16] » So moved.
>> All in favor?
[1:18:18] » I
>> I this public hearing is now closed.
[1:18:21] Thank you again for all your input.
Invaluable. Thank you.
[1:18:26] All righty.
Next up, we will go ahead and make a
[1:18:30] decision regarding the adoption of
ordinance 202614
[1:18:35] imposing a proposed moratorium for data
centers. Did we need to speak on this
[1:18:39] from Kevin or are we ready to vote on
this? You're good.
[1:18:43] » You're good to go ahead. And
>> the one question I had was uh since
[1:18:49] we're doing the vote on the same night
as the public hearing, do we need to
[1:18:55] have any kind of action to suspend our
rules?
[1:18:58] » That was done in the work session.
>> Yeah, we voted on that work session.
[1:19:02] » Right. Okay.
>> Yeah. And the main reason for doing it
[1:19:05] is because
we want to make sure we don't get caught
[1:19:09] unprepared. So implementing this
immediately I think is a key aspect of
[1:19:14] making sure we don't get unprepared,
>> right?
[1:19:16] » We're not caught unprepared. So
>> all righty. Can I get a motion to adopt
[1:19:21] ordinance 202614
imposing a proposed moratorium on data
[1:19:25] centers?
>> So moved.
[1:19:27] » All in favor?
>> I.
[1:19:29] » Any opposed?
>> Hearing none. This motion carries.
[1:19:37] » [applause]
>> So stay tuned. There'll be some new
[1:19:41] rules in the LDC. Um or a continuation.
We'll we'll see what we can do. We'll be
[1:19:47] work session this. We have a whole year
to work on it. We'll be working with our
[1:19:50] legal team. We'll be working with our
state partners as well trying to come up
[1:19:54] with something that really does protect
the town and charm of Waxaw. Thank you.
[1:19:59] All righty. Next up, you're very
welcome. Uh, next up we have the CARPO
[1:20:05] 2026 fall project applications. Mr.
James Kelly, come on down.
[1:20:15] » Good evening. James Kelly, assistant
town engineer with the town of Waxaw.
[1:20:19] Um, tonight we are bringing this item
back to the board for further
[1:20:23] discussion. The ask this evening is to
provide staff with direction on how the
[1:20:28] board would like to proceed or not
proceed uh with uh available funding uh
[1:20:32] options and grant applications for the
CRTPO.
[1:20:36] So for those that are that may be
unaware or may have missed the last uh
[1:20:40] board workshop meeting, the CRTPO stands
for the Charlotte Regional
[1:20:44] Transportation Planning Organization and
Waxall is a member of that organization.
[1:20:50] The CRTPO receives direct attributable
or DA funds to be allocated to member
[1:20:55] jurisdictions uh projects based on a
competitive basis and that annual fall
[1:21:01] call is happening right around the
corner here actually next week. So the
[1:21:05] annual fall call consists of three
primary items either new discretionary
[1:21:09] transportation capital projects or
supplemental fund requests for existing
[1:21:14] CRTPO projects and new planning study
projects such as feasibility studies.
[1:21:19] Um, this fall call supports projects
that improve the community's
[1:21:23] transportation system across different
project categories. Those including
[1:21:27] highway, bicycle, and pedestrian,
transit, air quality improvements, and
[1:21:31] transportation planning.
Um, we talked about this last time
[1:21:36] during the board work session. Projects
must meet these eligibility criterion.
[1:21:41] uh those being federal aid eligibility
being on the federal aid system map or
[1:21:46] communicating or being deemed by NC DOT
and the federal highway administration
[1:21:50] that the project can be added to the
federal aid system map. Furthermore, the
[1:21:56] you must have an adopted plan uh that
shows whatever improvements you want to
[1:22:00] make. And of course, the eligible
activities as a part of these grants are
[1:22:06] uh projects such as planning projects
which include feasibility studies,
[1:22:09] corridor study projects, design
projects, uh anything involving rideway
[1:22:14] acquisition and construction. And
furthermore, which is likely the easiest
[1:22:19] one to meet is a it must have a simple
problem and solution. projects must
[1:22:22] address an identified need and provide a
highly effective solution to the
[1:22:27] transportation problem. Um, also
municipalities and member jurisdictions
[1:22:33] uh must have a minimum match committed
to projects. That minimum match being
[1:22:36] 20%. Um, and as we'll go throughout this
presentation, the board will learn that
[1:22:41] that match is becoming more competitive
and an increased local match is really
[1:22:45] required to be competitive at the CRTPO
level because you're competing with
[1:22:51] other member jurisdictions including
Charlotte, uh, Meckllinmberg counties
[1:22:54] and Union County and Ayardell counties.
So, as far as timeline, the reason why
[1:23:00] we're asking this is because next week
on August 17th, the fall call the fall
[1:23:04] call opens for new projects and
shortfalls on existing projects. So,
[1:23:08] we're seeking your direction this
evening on what path uh you would like
[1:23:12] to take. And then our goal to staff is
to bring this back to you uh by the end
[1:23:18] of October before those applications are
due for a final resolution um and
[1:23:22] support for the projects that you submit
or or or don't submit. Um, moving
[1:23:27] forward from there, the process goes to
the TCC, which stands for technical U
[1:23:33] committee, the technical committee of
CRTPO, which includes your CRTPO staff.
[1:23:38] Um, and basically the staff helps to
score these projects based upon the
[1:23:43] adopted CRTPO discretionary grants
program policy guide. The TCC then works
[1:23:49] to develop a recommended project list
based upon this criterion scoring
[1:23:53] metrics and present that to the board at
January u meeting for information and
[1:24:00] then ultimately to request action come
February of next year. Assuming that you
[1:24:05] are awarded a grant application, we then
must go through a STIP amendment process
[1:24:10] or the state transportation improvement
program amendment process in February
[1:24:14] that is sent to DOT uh to complete in
March and April. So that's the general
[1:24:19] timing of the overall program. So as far
as total active projects, uh the CRTPO
[1:24:26] has over 121 active projects, three of
those being with uh within Waxall. As
[1:24:32] far as the CRTPO projects, those
including the Kensington Drive
[1:24:34] improvements, which is in the
construction phase right now, um the
[1:24:39] Broom Street improvements and Helms Road
extension, which are both in design as
[1:24:44] of right now.
So, as far as funding availability for
[1:24:48] this fiscal year, there's approximately
52 million in funds available spread
[1:24:53] over various fiscal years. Um majority
of those funds being of course in FY31.
[1:24:58] So the further you get out from now, the
more funding there is available.
[1:25:03] There is a catch and um you have to
abide by these award caps for the
[1:25:08] various funding categories. So for
planning projects um the maximum really
[1:25:14] award is 500,000. Uh for highway
projects is 25% of the available funds
[1:25:20] of that 80% total. So 10.37 million and
for non-highway projects 2.59 million
[1:25:27] are those award caps per project funding
category.
[1:25:31] As I said before the local the typical
20% match is really no longer cutting it
[1:25:36] when it comes to being competitive um
except for planning projects. So
[1:25:40] planning projects are are capped at that
20% so you get the most bang for your
[1:25:44] buck with those planning projects. On
highway projects, we're finding over the
[1:25:49] past uh few years that those are ranging
to over a 40% local match is required to
[1:25:55] be competitive. Um and non-highway
projects are averaging over 30% local
[1:26:00] match to be competitive.
[1:26:04] So the board discussed two primary
projects during this workshop. So, we're
[1:26:09] providing some more details and also
incorporating the board's feedback and
[1:26:12] really just doing a gut check to make
sure that we're capturing uh what you
[1:26:16] all are seeking or not seeking. Um for
so, for example, in this category, the
[1:26:22] planning category, it would be a
corridor study for the Waxall Parkway
[1:26:25] East. The estimated total cost of that
study would be about 300,000. With that
[1:26:31] said, um the match breakdown is an 8020
split. So, the town would only really be
[1:26:35] responsible for 60,000. And I'll just
note that's really funded over two
[1:26:39] years. So about 30,000 per year. The
remaining share, the remaining 240,000
[1:26:44] will be funded by the state and federal
folks.
[1:26:48] Rationale for conducting an additional
corridor study. You know, we have a we
[1:26:51] have several critics out there. It's
like why do we why do we study this
[1:26:54] again? What's what's causing the the
change? Well, there was a significant
[1:26:57] change. Um there was a significant
federal change um considering the
[1:27:01] adjusted urban area boundary. So
evaluating this project, considering
[1:27:05] that updated boundary, uh it now allows
for a new design speed instead of the
[1:27:10] previously uh required 50 m per hour
design speed. What this means is it
[1:27:15] provides an opportunity to optimize the
roadways horizontal and vertical
[1:27:19] alignments with the potential to reduce
or eliminate impacts to existing homes.
[1:27:24] So this basically means that some of the
alternatives that we could not consider
[1:27:28] before due to restrictions, we could now
consider because they're mathematically
[1:27:32] possible.
Um in addition, it would uh examine
[1:27:38] multiple alignment alternatives while
incorporating additional public and
[1:27:42] stakeholder input to identify the most
optimized corridor. So this includes
[1:27:46] stakeholders uh regionally, locally,
state level, and the federal level as
[1:27:51] well. And from your discussion on the
July 28th workshop, um some notable
[1:27:57] points are that what we heard is that
you're looking for about three to five
[1:28:02] key corridor alternatives and you want
to prioritize alignments that remain
[1:28:07] solely within the town of Waxall's
jurisdictional limits. Uh furthermore,
[1:28:11] you want to minimize impacts to existing
and established neighborhoods and avoid
[1:28:16] alternatives that adversely affect
historical downtown buildings as these
[1:28:20] are non-starter uh options. In addition,
uh the board noted to emphasize the
[1:28:26] segment solely between uh Providence
Road or NC16 and Waxall Indian Trail
[1:28:31] Road uh while considering this as a
future standalone project to improve
[1:28:36] future funding uh competitiveness. Did
we capture that accurately?
[1:28:41] » Uh yes.
>> Yeah. And just to for clarification too
[1:28:47] that we want to ensure that that um
Providence to Wax on Indian Trail isn't
[1:28:53] really a part of this study. We kind of
know that exists. We know where some of
[1:28:57] the hiccups are. Um so we want something
a little different.
[1:29:02] » Great. Thank you.
The other uh project that was brought
[1:29:07] forth just because it is likely to score
very well is the Kensington Drive
[1:29:11] multi-use path project. Um there is a
larger price tag on this one. The total
[1:29:17] estimated project cost is estimated to
be approximately $4.2 million. Um and
[1:29:22] that's projected over the course of the
project. So that is including
[1:29:26] contingencies, that's including
inflation factors, escalation factors,
[1:29:30] that sort of thing. So it is an
all-inclusive number. Um the downside is
[1:29:36] the town of Waxaw local match would have
to be $1.7 million. Um because we would
[1:29:43] have to be at that 40% because the the
state and federal cap on this is $2.59
[1:29:48] million. So to make the numbers work
there from a financial perspective, you
[1:29:52] would you would have to be at that 40%
local match. Um, I will note though that
[1:29:57] if you choose to go forward with this
project, majority of that funding,
[1:30:00] approximately 1.3 million of the 1.7 is
really not scheduled to be uh performed
[1:30:06] until the construction phase which is
estimated in fiscal year 2031. So this
[1:30:12] I'll note that that 1.7 million will be
funded over five years with the majority
[1:30:16] of that being funded at the very end uh
as a part of construction. So that's
[1:30:21] something to consider.
Overall project benefits. This extends
[1:30:25] the already programmed Kensington Drive
improvements or EB5950 that uh are
[1:30:31] currently underway from Connells Point
Avenue to Waxaw Marvin Road completing a
[1:30:36] continuous uh pedestrian connection. In
addition, this connects the Millbridge,
[1:30:40] Quellin, Kuritan, and surrounding areas
with a safer and more accessible
[1:30:45] multi-use path and pedestrian bridge.
Furthermore, it reconstructs the roadway
[1:30:50] to address existing super elevation
deficiencies while improving multimodal
[1:30:55] connectivity. So what I mean by there is
we get the question a lot of times is
[1:30:59] why is that road segment posted 35 miles
per hour or posted 25 excuse me and not
[1:31:05] of 35 miles hour. Um it's because the
when the roadway was built several years
[1:31:10] ago um it has an inverse super elevation
from what it should be or a bank in the
[1:31:15] roadway. Uh so this project would
address that ultimately allowing the
[1:31:19] road to be adjusted to a posted 35 miles
per hour condition. Furthermore, it
[1:31:25] builds on a previous CRTPO application
that scored competitively but fell just
[1:31:30] below the funding threshold. And this
next bit of information is just
[1:31:34] information on what caused um that
funding just below the threshold. So,
[1:31:40] uh, we did submit, staff did submit, um,
I think it was the 2023 fall call year,
[1:31:46] a previous application for this project
which fell just five points, uh, below
[1:31:51] the funding threshold requirement. Um,
the project did not have support
[1:31:56] unfortunately, from the uh, former
Quellen HOA leadership regarding
[1:32:01] potential right-of-way needs uh,
resulting in a loss of uh, about 10
[1:32:06] application points from the project. So,
we fel we fell just under the funding
[1:32:10] threshold on that. I from what I'm
hearing, it sounds like there may be a
[1:32:14] change. Uh there there may be a desire
for this project. Um from what I'm
[1:32:18] hearing, which is for your discussion.
So, with those points, the project would
[1:32:23] have actually been competitive for
funding during that cycle and it would
[1:32:28] have been awarded uh during that cycle.
Since the previous application,
[1:32:32] obviously project costs have increased,
underscoring the importance of strong
[1:32:36] stakeholder support in order to have a
competitive application.
[1:32:41] And then of course, uh just some notes
from the board discussion from July
[1:32:44] 28th, 2026. Um there were concerns
regarding the overall project cost and
[1:32:50] the required 40% uh local match, that
$1.7 million. And um the board also
[1:32:56] talked about considering the town's
existing commitments that we already
[1:32:59] have to several active capital projects
and the potential award of an additional
[1:33:05] safe streets and roads for all grant
that's a potential later this year
[1:33:09] November December timeline. Uh making
funding capacity a key consideration.
[1:33:14] The board also noted a need to weigh the
project's transportation and
[1:33:18] connectivity benefits against the town's
current and anticipated financial
[1:33:23] commitments. So, did we did we capture
that information correctly?
[1:33:29] Okay.
So, that really leads to board
[1:33:33] discussion on this. Staff is seeking
feedback because we need to get moving
[1:33:36] forward on an application or perhaps not
an application. Um, but we've outlined a
[1:33:40] few options for the board to discuss
this evening. Option A being to proceed
[1:33:45] with the Waxel port or Parkway East
corridor study only. Option B proceeding
[1:33:50] with the Kennington multi-use path only,
C proceeding with both applications. D
[1:33:55] proceeding with no applications or E
proceeding with another eligible or
[1:33:59] combination of eligible project
applications. And um again, I'll just
[1:34:03] note like I've noted before, a future
resolution will come back to the board
[1:34:07] at your October 13, 2026 BOC meeting if
the board does decide to proceed with a
[1:34:13] grant submission. So with that, happy to
take any questions and turn it back over
[1:34:17] to you all.
>> And those resolutions, those would be
[1:34:20] two individual resolutions, correct?
Assuming we approve the pursuit of both
[1:34:23] of these.
>> Correct.
[1:34:25] » Understood. So each project has its own
resolution.
[1:34:28] » Any questions or comments from the
board? Sir,
[1:34:32] » Mr. Ferris,
>> James, uh, can you help me? Um, you said
[1:34:37] the timing would be 2031
>> and how does that sequence with our
[1:34:43] Helms Road extension west connecting
into uh down over into Waxel Marvin?
[1:34:48] What's the timing look like?
>> That's a that's a great question. So,
[1:34:52] um, it would the 2031 element would only
really apply to the Kensington project
[1:34:56] because the other project would only
take about two years. Um, as to answer
[1:35:00] your question though, um, the 20 the
project for Helms Road extension is
[1:35:05] programmed to be completed FY 2030. So
it' be the year prior to when
[1:35:10] construction funds for this project
would be due.
[1:35:13] » Got it. So if we were to consider this,
the the Helms Road Extension West tie-in
[1:35:19] uh, would be a relief valve [snorts]
and function as a throughput while we
[1:35:25] worked on the Kensington Road. it and I
know that the sequencing of possible
[1:35:31] closures or limitations of how that road
would be reconstructed,
[1:35:36] but we would have an ability to manage
through that closure because of our
[1:35:41] Helms Road extension west.
>> Correct.
[1:35:46] » For me, I think we need to work on
Parkway East. It's been a discussion for
[1:35:51] what I hear is like 30 or 40 years, a
long time. And uh with the Helms Road
[1:35:57] extension,
uh my dream would to be to make that a
[1:36:01] truck route if we could. I mean, it's
being built for fire trucks and that
[1:36:06] sort, so heavy or trucks if if they're
diverted to 75 that way. It's not
[1:36:12] eliminating all the traffic down 16, but
it would help. And then if we can get um
[1:36:18] Parkway East or not Parkway East, I
would say 16 extension east. [laughter]
[1:36:27] » I think that would make some sense and
it would relieve in the short term some
[1:36:32] of that traffic to get to Wesley Chapel
and that sort of thing. So, um I think
[1:36:37] I've been kind of saying this since I've
been on the board. I'm sure you're tired
[1:36:41] of hearing it, James. [laughter]
>> No, you're you're absolutely correct.
[1:36:44] One of the main things that we hear,
especially from folks downtown, is the
[1:36:47] the trucks, the noise from the trucks
that come through and pass through,
[1:36:50] which is why with the Helms Road
extension, we are designing to
[1:36:53] accommodate those truck movements.
>> And so I guess um so you know, my vote
[1:36:59] would be for the the Parkway East. Um
it's less money. It's something that we
[1:37:05] need and with all the SS4A
mitigations, I think other traffic will
[1:37:13] be alleviated with those improvements
and we're we are going to be spending
[1:37:19] money. Our match there is 20%.
>> Correct. So, you're right. Assuming the
[1:37:25] uh SS4A grant is awarded to the town,
which knock on wood, let's hope it is,
[1:37:30] um your match would only be 20%, which
is a huge cost savings and projects that
[1:37:35] would be more cost effective with that
funding model versus versus something
[1:37:39] like this,
>> right? And and so I feel like Kensington
[1:37:42] is getting addressed in in part. Uh we
do hear complaints about the eastern
[1:37:49] side and traffic diverting traffic that
way. I think it just makes more sense to
[1:37:54] do that and
>> correct and
[1:37:56] » try to put this to bed if we can.
>> Yes. And I will note that also um
[1:38:00] especially when you get further east
like towards Cuthson or further west
[1:38:03] towards the uh elementary school there
along Kensington, the board always has
[1:38:08] the option to explore uh options to uh
adjust the speed limit for those
[1:38:13] segments of Kensington Road because
there is no uh super elevation effects
[1:38:17] there. There are no super elevation
effects there.
[1:38:22] Is there a Kensington Drive alternative
that doesn't include any road
[1:38:27] improvements or alterations?
>> There could be. So you could you could
[1:38:32] limit the scope of the project. So you
could
[1:38:34] » and would that be just as eligible from
a carpo standpoint or does that kind of
[1:38:38] move it into a different category?
Because I know SS4A we we focused a lot
[1:38:42] on pedestrian and whatnot. What we found
in the last application is that a
[1:38:47] combination of both pedestrian and
roadway to provide for that multimodal
[1:38:52] element proved to be the most um the
best option as far as scoring.
[1:38:59] » You can limit the scope which will
affect other elements which will improve
[1:39:03] your cost effectiveness score for
example, but it may hinder your
[1:39:06] multimodal overall. Yeah,
>> understood. Thank you,
[1:39:12] » Commissioner Ferris.
[1:39:16] I agree with your sentiment on where our
prioritization needs to be. SS4A is very
[1:39:22] important. It brings vital connectivity
um and keeping that project prioritized.
[1:39:28] But I disagree with any form of
abandonment of the Kensington Drive. And
[1:39:33] this is my reasoning. When NC16 widening
may or may not come, it will force large
[1:39:40] portions of the population to then seek
alternative navigation which will then
[1:39:45] push them either up towards Wax on
Marvin and or further out towards 521
[1:39:52] and to give our citizens the best
logistical operations and and flow to
[1:39:59] get to work from here, a suburb of South
Charlotte, to get to work likely into
[1:40:06] Charlotte or navigate to 485. We need to
continue to find ways to openly discuss
[1:40:13] that. Um I think that I understand the
timing uh is not optimal uh at this
[1:40:19] grant at this moment. It doesn't mean it
might not be next year. Um but at the
[1:40:23] same time, there are reasonablenesses to
continue looking at how we can improve
[1:40:28] Kensington for traffic flow and internal
circulation within Waxaw. And I'm not
[1:40:33] ready to give up on that.
Yeah. Um I don't think that that right
[1:40:38] it would stay on the list. Correct.
>> Correct. So it is
[1:40:42] » of our thing to things to do list.
>> Right. It's always on your adopted
[1:40:46] transportation plan. So that's that's
always on your plan to submit and
[1:40:50] something that the board may consider is
um you know when it comes to scoring
[1:40:55] maybe you only want to submit for design
only or maybe you want to only submit
[1:41:00] for right away and construction or
construction only. That also improves
[1:41:03] your score if you're able to progress
the project to a point readiness for
[1:41:07] construction. Um, in fact, it increases
your score quite substantially if you
[1:41:12] already have design and rightway
complete before you approach CRTPO.
[1:41:17] » Would would that be
um an optionality before the end of this
[1:41:22] deadline for submittal to rescope to
maybe just say design and rightway?
[1:41:28] » We could ask CRTPO that question. Uh, I
don't know the question off the top of
[1:41:33] my head, but I I think we that's
something that we could ask if the board
[1:41:37] wants to consider that option.
>> I think it's reasonable to consider it
[1:41:40] at a minimum.
[1:41:45] » And the primary concern, it sounds like
that we have a convergence of a lot of
[1:41:49] project coming up in the next three to
five years. Helms Road being obviously
[1:41:53] the most substantial with over $4
million that will be owed. Um, is that
[1:42:00] it sounds like that's the primary
hesitation with jumping into the
[1:42:03] Kensington Drive multi-use path and and
redesign?
[1:42:07] » Yeah, I just think that we are are right
now for me, I feel like we're focused
[1:42:12] like this, right? And I think that we
have two options here. Kensington is
[1:42:17] being addressed, so it's not really
being ignored. And I think that next
[1:42:21] year maybe we could look at it, see
where we are financially, see if we get
[1:42:25] the SS4A grant and move slowly rather
than hesitating on a vote tonight to get
[1:42:34] an answer because then we have to wait
and and that prevents you guys from
[1:42:37] starting the process of writing the
grant and doing what you need to do.
[1:42:42] [snorts]
>> I mean, that's just my feeling. I feel
[1:42:44] like Kensington is getting addressed.
It's not happening till 2031 anyway.
[1:42:50] » The easy part's getting addressed, the
straightaway,
[1:42:52] » right?
>> Just to Commissioner Ferris's point,
[1:42:58] » you you drive Kensington Road
uh west of Providence. And you notice
[1:43:06] that it's almost it's almost necessary
to fix that road because the banking is
[1:43:13] inverted. It's kind of a joke. It's an
embarrassment to the town that we
[1:43:18] actually have to drive on a road that
has inverted banking. It's crazy.
[1:43:24] And it's 25. People are, you know,
scratching and clawing at their face to
[1:43:30] just drive faster down that road. We all
get it.
[1:43:33] » Just want to get home.
>> But it it's almost necessary to fix that
[1:43:37] road. But how necessary? I And to
Commissioner Wedger's point, there's a
[1:43:42] lot of stuff going on. There's a lot of
stuff that's more necessary. I I do know
[1:43:47] that to James point, we are going to
incur a large
[1:43:54] cost increase if we decide to do that
project later. However, you know, but
[1:44:01] back to the whole we've got a lot of
projects going on right now and we have
[1:44:04] to somehow fund these things. We can
still drive on Kensington Road. We all
[1:44:11] got to be safe about it. it that road
will hold up if we keep the uh speed
[1:44:17] limit low. Um my my [clears throat]
we keep this on the list.
[1:44:25] Let's do the Waxaw Parkway East corridor
study and then I think sometime in the
[1:44:32] very near future we give more thought to
actually and it gives people in the
[1:44:37] community some some time to think about
it, give their input. How badly do we
[1:44:43] want that road fix? To me, I'd love to
have it fixed because, of course, I
[1:44:49] drive it a lot and it's kind of
embarrassing to be driving on a road
[1:44:53] where you're like, who built this thing?
It is just not right. So, um, anyway, I
[1:45:01] I I agree with Commissioner Wedra's
final assessment on on our priorities.
[1:45:08] um really do agree with the commissioner
Ferris's assessment as well as that it's
[1:45:15] a necessary project, but um in in the
in the interest of being fiscally
[1:45:23] responsible, we probably should hold off
on that Kensington uh road multi-use
[1:45:29] path. Would it make sense then to
request that we go ahead and proceed
[1:45:34] with the corridor study in the
application
[1:45:38] and then maybe we rescope item B the
Kensington Drive multi-use rescope that
[1:45:43] to be just a design grant
>> I think not so much the full boore
[1:45:50] » could try to keep as many things on the
boil as possible you know as you said
[1:45:53] you know don't bring a complete halt to
it but you know just keep the ball
[1:45:57] rolling Yes, definitely keep it keep it
percolating to use the mayor's word. If
[1:46:03] if it can be evaluated to be more
bite-size essentially at this moment um
[1:46:09] to where it is design and right away I
think it's reasonable to consider
[1:46:13] » um even and I I'll go back to this. I do
agree that there is a lot on our plate.
[1:46:18] We are we are essentially using the
pepro bosmol uh and to evaluate how we
[1:46:24] can best deploy our resources in a
meaningful way.
[1:46:27] » Yeah. Um and it and but yet at the same
time too I I would hate to um incur unne
[1:46:36] unnecessary costs by maybe a two-year
delay if the if the or even a a one-year
[1:46:42] delay as we've seen uh inflation can
creep and all of a sudden that project
[1:46:47] now may be uh 10% more than necessary
because we've delayed it a year. Um, so
[1:46:53] that's why I wanted to bring up not, let
me correct my words. I don't think
[1:46:58] anybody here is abandoning that project.
It's more of just how are we sequencing
[1:47:01] it to use my earlier word. And if it
could be evaluated to be rescoped, uh, I
[1:47:08] think it's worth it.
>> Yeah. When I moved here, nobody used
[1:47:11] that road. Not often.
>> And now it's getting used.
[1:47:16] » Yeah. It gets used and it gets used by
pedestrians as well. I mean, always
[1:47:20] seeing people walk there. So,
>> Right. which isn't safe in that area.
[1:47:23] » I think for a large bite project like
this, we need a little more time cuz our
[1:47:29] town manager is being very helpful with
helping us to wrap our heads around
[1:47:34] long-term financial picture. And so
maybe we need just a little more time
[1:47:39] before we
>> take this huge bite of the apple, you
[1:47:42] know,
>> another huge bite.
[1:47:46] Um, so it it sounds like the board's
then in agreement that we would proceed
[1:47:50] with A as discussed at our work session.
And then for item B, we will rescope
[1:47:56] that to be a design only and not a full
construction.
[1:48:03] » Correct. We will we will ask that
question. And I'll note that from a time
[1:48:06] perspective, if you were to still if we
still were able to grant the award from
[1:48:11] CRTBO for design costs only, in this
case, you don't lose any time.
[1:48:16] » So, um that that's one thing to note.
And it further gets you to the ultimate
[1:48:20] goal, which is construction. So, the
following year, um not only would you
[1:48:24] not lose any time, but it also may give
you a year to gut check everyone to make
[1:48:28] sure that they do support the project
and we don't have a repeat of the past
[1:48:33] here. Um and then ultimately apply for
uh really those construction dollars
[1:48:38] because your rideway dollars, majority
of the land Waxaw already owns.
[1:48:41] » Yeah.
>> Um so that's something else to consider
[1:48:44] is really maybe you only want to apply
for construction dollars the following
[1:48:48] year which increases your scoring metric
which can ultimately reduce your may
[1:48:53] maybe your local match required as well.
>> That sounds like a great approach.
[1:48:59] » Thank you for the support on that James.
I think that definitely breaks it down
[1:49:02] into something bite-size that we're we
can see progress continue but yet
[1:49:07] » Exactly. Keep it moving
>> and I'm glad we found a way to keep it
[1:49:11] moving. I think that's most important
and the fact that we've got kind of a a
[1:49:15] smaller piece to chew makes it a lot
easier to swallow as well. So
[1:49:19] » great.
>> Thank you.
[1:49:21] » Thank you, Mr. Kelly. All righty. Next
up, we have Allara. a consider the
[1:49:26] approval for the interlocal agreement
between the town of Waxaw and the Union
[1:49:31] County.
>> That's James.
[1:49:32] » Actually, we got one,
but anyway. Um, so yeah, this is for the
[1:49:37] road replacement um to repair the roads
as a result of all the water mane work.
[1:49:45] » Take it away.
>> Exciting news on this one. Folks may
[1:49:49] have seen our message boards start going
up uh this afternoon. Um but this this
[1:49:55] is the proposed intersection
improvements project at Waxaw Marvin
[1:49:59] Road and uh Pine Oak Road and this is
the final step before we start uh
[1:50:05] construction. The action requested this
evening from the board is to approve a
[1:50:11] uh contract with the recommended
contractor for this project and
[1:50:16] authorize uh the town manager to execute
said contract so that way we can we can
[1:50:20] begin construction. So, for folks uh
that don't know, here's some background
[1:50:25] information. So, on July 22nd of this
year, a formal bid opening was held for
[1:50:30] the Waxaw Marvin and Pine Oak Road
intersection improvements contract. The
[1:50:34] town received a total of three bids with
Widewaters Construction being identified
[1:50:38] as the lowest responsible bidder from a
total bid amount as well as from a lead
[1:50:43] time on the traffic signal polls. And
I'll get into that here momentarily. Um
[1:50:48] the other two submitters were Litman
Excavating and Construction and True
[1:50:52] Rock Construction LLC with those bid
amounts broken out there and lead times
[1:50:56] for the metal poles there provided as
well.
[1:51:00] So project overview. Uh the project will
realign this intersection to a 90°
[1:51:06] angle. It will signalize the
intersection at a traffic light there
[1:51:10] which is important because of the
existing sight distance issues that are
[1:51:14] there today. Um, so that traffic signal
will bring folks to a stop condition
[1:51:20] where folks can then exit from Pine Oak
Road, turn left, turn right without
[1:51:25] having to worry about being t-boned at
that intersection. Um, which we have
[1:51:30] seen those types of crash histories
along with a recorded fatality
[1:51:33] unfortunately at this intersection as
well. Um, in addition, DOT has required
[1:51:39] us to add turn lanes at the
intersection. This is just standard
[1:51:42] procedure to uh help uh in th in those
types of cases. Um so the existing site
[1:51:48] distance issues will be or are to be
addressed with a no turnon red condition
[1:51:52] and the projected schedule of this
project is assuming BOC approval this
[1:51:57] evening uh will begin next Monday and
then the project will take approximately
[1:52:02] six to seven months from there uh for
construction. I'll note that three to
[1:52:07] four of those months, so really to up to
December, uh, majority of the project
[1:52:11] will be complete. The only remaining
thing that we will be waiting on are
[1:52:15] those lead time on the metal poles. And
the reasoning for those metal poles is
[1:52:20] rideway constraints at the intersection.
So, we had to go with metal poles
[1:52:24] because of rideway constraints. Um, I'll
also note that those metal poles are
[1:52:29] manufactured specifically and fabricated
specifically for the design. So they are
[1:52:34] that's why it takes so long to receive
them is because they're manufactured
[1:52:37] specifically for the design approved by
DOT.
[1:52:42] Folks may a big question for folks may
be well what does the traffic control
[1:52:45] plans look like? Uh I'll note that as a
part of the planning process with this
[1:52:50] staff worked to design a minimized
impact to local traffic. So what does
[1:52:56] that mean? We're going to first start by
building a parallel roadway to the
[1:53:02] existing roadway. So there will be
construction barriers in place. The
[1:53:05] roadway will operate normally and we'll
build that parallel roadway. The second
[1:53:10] phase of the traffic uh plan is to
basically flip that and open up the new
[1:53:16] roadway for folks to use while we
correct the existing roadway and then
[1:53:21] utilize lane closure. So there are no
detours in this particular case, uh
[1:53:25] which is good for folks. Um, with that
said, drivers can still expect lane
[1:53:30] closures during various times throughout
the project, predominantly during
[1:53:34] daytime hours. Um, I'll note that
changeable message boards like you see
[1:53:38] there to the right will be used to
provide advanced warning ahead of the
[1:53:42] worked zone. Um, and notices have
already been provided to adjacent land
[1:53:46] owners. Uh, we were required to provide
them a 10-day advanced notice. So, that
[1:53:51] has those notices have been sent out in
anticipation uh for this evening. And
[1:53:56] I'll just note this project serves as a
vital infrastructure improvement ahead
[1:54:00] of the upcoming Waxel Marvin bridge
replacement project. So that bridge
[1:54:05] replacement project is not a project
done by the town. That is a project
[1:54:09] that's currently scheduled for November
of 2027 with the NC DOT. And that
[1:54:15] project ent uh involves closing the
Waxel Marvin Bridge. And in the interim,
[1:54:20] if we don't have any solutions to where
folks are going to go, uh they may have
[1:54:25] some dangerous conditions uh if we don't
mitigate ahead of time of that project.
[1:54:29] So this really this project serves as a
primary mitigation and infrastructure
[1:54:33] improvement ahead of that upcoming
project.
[1:54:38] Here's what that final condition will
look like. So as you can see, um you'll
[1:54:43] have those turn lanes involved. You'll
have that signalization. you'll have
[1:54:46] that realignment uh of the intersection
and we're working with DOT to finalize a
[1:54:52] few things when it comes down to the
traffic signal timing, the emphasis on
[1:54:56] the no right turn there on red um as
well to make sure that we're accounting
[1:55:01] for that existing site distance issue
that's that's there today.
[1:55:05] So with that, I'll take any questions
and then ask for uh direction for this
[1:55:10] evening.
>> Any questions from the board
[1:55:14] hearing? None. Then could I get a motion
to award the contract to Widewaters
[1:55:18] Construction Incorporated for the Waxaw
Marvin Road and Pine Oak Road
[1:55:23] Intersection Improvements in the amount
of $1,613,000
[1:55:28] $511.64
and authorize the town manager to
[1:55:32] execute said contract.
>> So moved.
[1:55:34] » All in favor?
>> I.
[1:55:36] » Any opposed? Hearing none, this motion
carries. All right. Thank you.
[1:55:40] » All righty.
Now we have Miss Allora. Sorry,
[1:55:46] I got that out of order.
[1:55:59] All right. Good evening. Laura Balt
Miscus, downtown and business
[1:56:03] development director. Um, tonight I'm
bringing forward the interlocal
[1:56:07] agreement between the town of Waxaw and
Union County related to the final
[1:56:10] payment restoration associated with the
downtown Castiron water main replacement
[1:56:15] project. Uh, so I'll just give you a
quick uh overview of why the agreement
[1:56:19] is needed, how responsibilities and
funding will work, and then the action
[1:56:22] we're requesting from the board tonight.
As you know, uh, Uni County has been
[1:56:28] completing the cast iron water main
replacement project throughout downtown.
[1:56:32] Uh once that utility work is complete,
the affected roadways will need final
[1:56:36] milling and resurfacing. Uh through our
coordination on the project, the town
[1:56:41] and county determined that the town is
best positioned to administer the final
[1:56:44] paving work rather than having it
included with the county's current
[1:56:48] construction contract. So this agreement
formalizes that arrangement. Uh the town
[1:56:52] will manage the pavement restoration so
that the work is completed to town
[1:56:56] standards and while Union County will
fund the eligible costs. It also gives
[1:57:00] both organizations a clear framework for
coordination as we move from utility
[1:57:04] construction into final roadway res
restoration.
[1:57:09] Under the agreement, the town will
competitively bid, award, and administer
[1:57:13] the paving contract. Union County will
reimburse the town for eligible paving
[1:57:17] costs up to the not to exceed amount of
$47,400.
[1:57:21] The completed work will be inspected and
approved by both the town and county.
[1:57:26] The town will oversee construction and
retain ownership of the completed
[1:57:29] payment improvements, including
administration of any applicable
[1:57:32] warranties. The agreement also includes
a contingency if bids come in above the
[1:57:36] reimbursement reimbursement, excuse me,
limit. In that case, the county may
[1:57:40] terminate the agreement and complete the
paving as part of its few future s uh
[1:57:43] sewer project.
Uh from a financial standpoint,
[1:57:49] engineering's current estimated
construction cost is approximately 300
[1:57:52] and $300,000. The agreement establishes
a not to exceed count county
[1:57:57] reimbursement amount of $47,400.
The important distinction is that the
[1:58:02] town will administer the contract and
payment process, but the el eligible
[1:58:05] paving cost will be reimbured by Union
County. The contractor will invoice the
[1:58:10] town. The town will then submit
reimbursement requests to the county and
[1:58:13] that payment is tied to work that has
been inspected and approved by both
[1:58:16] agencies.
With that, staff recommends approval of
[1:58:20] the interlocal agreement between the
town of Waxon Union County for
[1:58:23] administration of the pavement
restoration associated with the downtown
[1:58:26] water main replacement project and
authorization for the town manager to
[1:58:30] execute the agreement and happy to
answer any questions that you may have.
[1:58:35] » Any questions from the board?
>> All righty. Yes, Mr. Ferris.
[1:58:42] » I do have a question and concern.
Or Scott, maybe you might be able to
[1:58:46] assist.
Is there any reservation with the amount
[1:58:51] of time that the uh trenching was open
with the substrate? Um because I know
[1:58:58] that the road was open for an extended
period and it was heavily traversed on a
[1:59:03] on a regular basis on where they were
doing a large portion of their work.
[1:59:08] » Yes.
>> And has that been
[1:59:11] um evaluated?
>> Yes. And was the impetus for this
[1:59:16] interlocal agreement? so that the town
can administer the restoration of the
[1:59:20] roadway to our standards and repair as
those trenches and the open cuts unless
[1:59:25] engineering has anything additional they
would like to add. But
[1:59:28] » so so basically we've recognized that
there is the potential that damage has
[1:59:31] occurred.
>> Yes.
[1:59:32] » And that the engineering team will be on
site making sure that correct anything
[1:59:37] gets repaired.
>> Yes.
[1:59:38] » Okay.
>> Yeah. And in addition, uh, we did work
[1:59:42] with the county to try to mitigate a lot
of the issues. So, leading up to this
[1:59:46] and the agreement really came out,
>> why don't you guys manage making sure
[1:59:50] that the final product meets your
standards here in the town. So, I think
[1:59:54] the staff has done a good job working
with the the county staff who's been at
[1:59:58] the table with us. So, we appreciate
that.
[2:00:01] » Thank you. Thank you both.
>> Yeah, at the end of the day, I think
[2:00:03] it's helpful that the county is just
kind of letting us drive this so we know
[2:00:07] the roads will be done to our standards.
We trust our engineering team and our
[2:00:12] inspectors and we know it'll be a good
road when it's done.
[2:00:16] All righty then, without further ado,
let's go ahead and get a motion to
[2:00:20] approve the interlocal agreement between
the town of Waxaw and Union County for
[2:00:23] administering the pavement restoration
of the downtown cast iron waterm
[2:00:27] replacement project and authorize the
town manager to execute said agreement.
[2:00:33] » So moved.
>> All in favor?
[2:00:35] » I.
>> Any opposed? hearing. None. This motion
[2:00:39] carries.
>> Thank you.
[2:00:39] » Thank you, Aar.
>> All righty. That concludes the
[2:00:43] action-packed sequence of our meeting
this evening. Uh, next up is leadership
[2:00:48] reports. We'll go ahead and kick it off
to our town manager, Scott Datson. What
[2:00:52] do you got for us tonight?
[2:00:57] » He snuck out on you.
[2:01:02] [laughter]
>> Qing the crew.
[2:01:10] Mike,
>> Commissioner Dio,
[2:01:14] » he's gonna torture him.
>> Commissioner Mike, I'm I'm holding the
[2:01:18] ball out.
>> Just look away there.
[2:01:22] » Sorry about that delay. Um I need
someone to be at my seat up there to uh
[2:01:27] help with notes. Michael, if you please
go up there.
[2:01:35] back by popular. Can
>> you handle the notes? Take some notes on
[2:01:39] this, please. Thank you. [laughter]
>> Just when you thought Just when you
[2:01:44] thought you were out, they pull you back
in.
[2:01:46] » M Mike Michael's really uh to his credit
done a really good job for us here. Um
[2:01:51] he's had a level of enthusiasm that's
been unmatched. He's been willing to do
[2:01:56] whatever except to get his hands dirty.
So, uh, when he comes back next summer,
[2:02:02] he'll be working with public services in
the ditches and cutting grass. So, um, I
[2:02:08] told him if he's going to be in this
business, he needs to know what every
[2:02:11] single part does.
So, next year, hands dirty. Got it. All
[2:02:17] right. Take notes. Thank you. So, let's
see. Um, this is the July closing
[2:02:23] update. Um, number two, we'll have a
third one when we officially close the
[2:02:29] books books out. The purpose of the
financial reports for the public to
[2:02:33] understand is that these are unawited.
These are management's view of the
[2:02:38] inflows and outflows of dollars for the
organization.
[2:02:42] um year end for us though while it ended
on June 30th we have uh remittances and
[2:02:49] incumbrances that go on beyond that and
then count back against books uh for
[2:02:55] last fiscal year. So um as I promised
the board uh we want to make sure that
[2:03:00] we're keeping you up to date about where
we are um in the closing of the books
[2:03:04] and then everything gets turned over to
the auditors once the staff uh takes the
[2:03:08] final book closing.
So, um again, this is the fiscal uh year
[2:03:15] 26, the last fiscal year. Um I've just
gone through uh that we'll do this is
[2:03:22] the second of three and we'll do another
third one at at your September meeting
[2:03:27] actually. Um
[2:03:33] the financial dashboard update um the
total operating revenues as of this time
[2:03:39] are at about 97.4%
of the total u adopted budget for that
[2:03:45] year as amended. Um the revenues have
come in at 97.4. The expenditures are at
[2:03:53] 93.7. So we get to the end of the year
and it starts to tighten up. Uh total
[2:03:59] cash and investments on hand is about 35
36 million.
[2:04:05] Um most of our local revenues collection
that's our property taxes have come in
[2:04:10] from Union County and the state colle uh
state collected revenues such as sales
[2:04:16] tax, motor vehicle franchise, POW bill
uh continue they're at about 89.1%
[2:04:23] but they continue to lag. We still
haven't received uh uh June yet on those
[2:04:29] numbers.
So uh on the next slide uh this just
[2:04:34] gives you a bar graph version of where
general revenues are. Um advalorum
[2:04:40] exceeded our expectations. Sales tax
continues to lag and we can uh we re we
[2:04:46] believe that it will uh be below our
expectations uh at the close of the year
[2:04:51] as will franchise. Uh motor vehicle came
in slightly ahead. Uh the other note is
[2:04:57] building inspection has been down. Uh we
talk about those when we talk about the
[2:05:00] buildings report
[2:05:06] on the general fund expenditures. Um our
department heads have done a uh a very
[2:05:11] good job of uh keeping those expenses at
or below um those expenses. Um we're
[2:05:18] going to note uh some of the monies that
we moved on the next page. But one thing
[2:05:22] I wanted to note, sanitation is above
that note. And one of the reasons it is
[2:05:28] um again it's a remittance uh issue when
we get those invoices those kinds of
[2:05:32] things but they adjust their contract in
March. That's just the way our contract
[2:05:38] works. So it doesn't coincide with our
fiscal year. It's midyear
[2:05:43] when those happen. So I think the board
um when it adopted the current fiscal
[2:05:48] year did a good job of getting ahead of
that. So hopefully we won't hit that
[2:05:52] lag.
cash and investments. Um as we said we
[2:05:57] have around uh um 37.6 million. Uh these
are by fund balances. So general fund
[2:06:07] has the largest amount. Um that is uh
and 120 that is your undesated fund
[2:06:14] balance. The rest are designated
balances that are for those projects
[2:06:18] andor categories only. The board uh
actually did some work on that this past
[2:06:23] year. But your general fund, that's your
fund uh that uh stores your retained
[2:06:28] earnings. Uh for those of you in use
that term in business life, that's our
[2:06:34] undesated fund bounds andor retained
earnings.
[2:06:40] So um we're still betting um that at the
end of the year we'll be in positive u
[2:06:46] numbers. Uh but it will be tight. So uh
the board needs to understand that. We
[2:06:51] did, I wanted to note on this, we did in
this round of financials that uh is
[2:06:58] actually part of your packet. Um we did
start to make larger money moves over to
[2:07:03] the CIP funds. Um but we waited to the
end of the year to do that to make sure
[2:07:08] operating and other obligations that we
might have uh were met first. So um the
[2:07:14] board actually directed 1.5 million out
of retained earnings into reserve
[2:07:19] positions and then uh in this current
fiscal year um staff will have moved
[2:07:24] about 2.5 million into those reserve
positions as well.
[2:07:30] There you can see the 1.5 it it says
resolved because uh uh my computer and I
[2:07:35] are having an argument about when I
resolve it and when I don't resolve it
[2:07:39] and the computer seems to win in the
language department. Um but our cash
[2:07:44] reporting format um uh we do have uh
dollars in the bank. We are still
[2:07:50] resolving issues. Now one of the things
I think it's important for the board to
[2:07:54] see as we go through our financials is
that as we close out a year we have to
[2:08:00] reconcile through journal entries and
through other movements around the
[2:08:04] financials to satisfy where the dollars
need to be. That's management's
[2:08:08] representation. The auditor then audits
management's representation of those
[2:08:13] numbers. So we'll continue to make
journal entries even when the auditor
[2:08:17] comes in. Then we work it out with the
auditor where we could have moved it
[2:08:20] here or done that or or moved it uh from
one fund to another or from one account
[2:08:25] to another. So we continue to reconcile
that. We're giving you a a clearer
[2:08:30] picture though uh how we make the
sausage uh going through the end of the
[2:08:34] fiscal year. So um what happens next is
we'll do final adjustments on closing
[2:08:40] entries and we'll say all incumbrances
all remittances to the best of our
[2:08:44] knowledge have been completed. Uh those
financials will then be finally prepared
[2:08:48] and turned over to the auditor and then
we go through that process. Any
[2:08:52] questions?
>> Any questions from the board?
[2:08:58] » I'm just so glad so many people stuck
around to listen to the financials. This
[2:09:02] is the exciting part of it.
Um best part
[2:09:06] » we do put so the public knows we do put
our financials online. You can go to our
[2:09:11] p web pages in administration and
finance and we do put these reports on
[2:09:16] in their full detail. So if you want
more detail and you're a math geek and
[2:09:20] you like it have at it
have some fun with that. So there you
[2:09:25] go. Um let's see. I think we have to go
to the next one now.
[2:09:43] Okay. So, this is the first actual uh
official fiscal report for the new
[2:09:48] fiscal year. So, that's the 2627 year.
Um, and we'll go through that uh rather
[2:09:54] quickly because not a a lot of exciting
things have happened so far this year.
[2:09:59] Um, there are two things to note. Number
one, in the first part of our fiscal
[2:10:04] year from an operations perspective,
it's very little spending.
[2:10:10] However, also at the beginning of the
year, and you all may face this, the
[2:10:14] larger bills come in. So, the one-time
bills like uh paying debt or uh mortgage
[2:10:20] for for the building. Um your insurance,
we pay it all up front. Th those kinds
[2:10:25] of things. So, we get a lot of that
stuff up front. So cash flow starts to
[2:10:29] become more important and for the next
six months you'll hear me talk a lot
[2:10:33] about cash flow dips where we are as a
uh basic understanding the town does not
[2:10:40] really receive its uh cash flow for the
year until around December. We'll get
[2:10:46] quarteries from the state on state uh
dollars and some other things but we
[2:10:52] don't have a real cash flow. That's why
we keep more cash on hand than you might
[2:10:56] normally keep.
So, the other thing that I want you to
[2:11:01] note in these reports um is that we're
going to emphasize capital spending and
[2:11:07] cash flow because those are big things
in front of us. Um we'll have at least
[2:11:13] three million going out the door in
addition to what you would normally have
[2:11:17] in capital in the first six months. So
that's a larger number than we're
[2:11:21] normally used to for cash flow. So we're
going to talk a lot about that. Uh and
[2:11:26] it's all on capital spending side. The
second thing we've tried to do with your
[2:11:30] financials is tie them to the board's uh
goals and senior leadership has been
[2:11:36] working on a strategy and tactics to
achieve those goals. And so you're going
[2:11:41] to see the drafts of those into the
financials that we're trying to work
[2:11:44] towards working towards your goals uh
that you set back in February. Um this
[2:11:50] is not a process you do once a year. Now
we're going to make it every month and
[2:11:54] we're going to try to tie back to those
goals so the board has a better
[2:11:57] performance idea about where we're at.
Are we making the right decisions as we
[2:12:02] move along? So these financials will
start to reflect that. Again, they're
[2:12:06] unodudited. So several goals that we
have here I want to note. I want to be
[2:12:11] very clear about this first one when it
talks about the fiscal years of 27 to 31
[2:12:17] CIP and it says a geo bond
recommendation. It is staff's position
[2:12:22] that we are recommending that the board
consider a series of financing options.
[2:12:28] We talked about it at our last meeting.
We'll continue to talk about it. There's
[2:12:32] not a decision in front of you yet on
these things yet as the board works
[2:12:36] through that. However, when it comes out
here, what it's telling you is that $14
[2:12:41] million over five years uh has a uh an
effect on your cash position. That's
[2:12:47] your savings account. That's how much
you have um in your bank accounts. And
[2:12:51] then it also has an effect on tax rates.
It has an effect on operation cost and
[2:12:56] your cash position. So, we want to keep
that in front of you. But that is about
[2:13:00] infrastructure. The majority of those
costs are for infrastructure um for the
[2:13:06] town. So uh for the public's uh
edification, one of your first goals was
[2:13:10] to make sure that we had sound
infrastructure.
[2:13:13] So that's why that sits there. Capital
spending and cash flow focus. That's
[2:13:17] part of your economic sustainability,
making sure we have keep our financial
[2:13:22] house in order. Costtoserve analysis. If
you'll recall, we did a cost to serve
[2:13:27] analysis that was internal. The board
then directed to do more. So, two things
[2:13:32] to report out on that. The county in my
discussions with the county manager is
[2:13:37] going to work towards a countywide uh
cost to service. It's been part of a
[2:13:43] request by several board members to
include that kind of information in it.
[2:13:47] It really requires the county to do
that. They've actually been discussing
[2:13:51] that and want to work that into theirs.
That will be helpful. That means we
[2:13:55] don't study it. They study it. then we
can plug numbers and play. So, uh, but
[2:14:00] we're continuing to do cost to serve
analysis on things like um the the
[2:14:06] future five years. We talked to you a
lot about what the last five years were
[2:14:09] like. Now, we want to start talking
about the next five years and keep that
[2:14:12] as a rolling conversation and making
sure we understand how much it cost us
[2:14:17] to serve in the operating lines. And
then, uh, one of the things that you
[2:14:21] folks worked on last time is moving
forward with the police fleet financing.
[2:14:25] I just want to report out that we told
you 4.9, we got 4.65.
[2:14:30] So, we're we're excited about that um
that rate. That's uh saves you money.
[2:14:35] So, we're we're looking forward to that.
Um so, in our spending to cash flow,
[2:14:41] this is just helping folks understand
that the board for the next six months
[2:14:46] or so, then you get right into budget,
your goals, and then to budget again.
[2:14:50] See, it never goes away, Daniel. It's
it's just it's just part of that ongoing
[2:14:54] conversation. I see the look on your
face. You're excited about this. That's
[2:14:57] great. But it's it's part of that. So,
we are going to constantly talk about
[2:15:03] where your financials are and that's
always going to be in front of you. So,
[2:15:07] I'm using uh I have two issues that
we've tried to highlight in this report.
[2:15:12] One is short-term. We're in a lull. So
starting around August till about
[2:15:18] December is our lowest cash point. We
burn the most cash. We use the most
[2:15:24] cash. We have ongoing outflows of of
monies that happen on a monthly basis
[2:15:29] just to maintain and keep the lights on
and pay people and make sure policemen
[2:15:33] are there to uh patrol and cars work and
folks are out there cutting grass and
[2:15:39] fixing sidewalks, all the things that we
do, providing services throughout the
[2:15:42] town. Uh but this is our lull. This is
our low point. We collect the majority
[2:15:48] of our taxes and the majority of our
finances in December, January, and
[2:15:52] February of any fiscal year. So we have
a cash timing issue that we're paying
[2:15:58] very close attention to right now. We're
working with uh engineering and public
[2:16:02] services on some outflow issues of that
nature uh as they're coming to to you
[2:16:07] now. And then we need and want to talk
about more of that long-term uh uh CIP
[2:16:14] financing um that the board will deal
with. Remember the board has a plan.
[2:16:18] We're going against the plan. We know
actuals because you've adopted contracts
[2:16:24] mostly on transportation issues. So um
we'll talk about that more and talk
[2:16:29] about what that means on your cash
position. So that is in your report as
[2:16:33] well. uh general fund revenues as you
can see you know we've earned about
[2:16:39] 143,000
144,000 uh so far that's that's the lull
[2:16:46] the outflow is 2.2 2 million. Now,
that's a little higher than usual. We
[2:16:52] did move money uh into CIP positions uh
for um um certain things this year. So,
[2:17:00] that reflects is reflected in that norm.
Our normal outflow of cash is about 1.5
[2:17:05] million a month, give or take.
[2:17:10] So, your cash and investments again are
still solid. Um, and we've earned about
[2:17:15] $100,000 in income uh in in investment
income. Now, that's going to become a
[2:17:21] very important thing as you guys
consider cash flow moving forward. The
[2:17:24] money that you have in the bank creates
around 1.2 million a year in incoming
[2:17:31] income,
which is about two cents on your tax
[2:17:34] rate. So, the money you have, the money
you have in the bank actually offsets
[2:17:38] your cost structure.
So, again, it's unuded. We're moving
[2:17:44] forward with this. Uh the council at uh
the board of commissioners, I'm sorry,
[2:17:48] I've worked for councils, boards,
several things over my career. Sorry to
[2:17:52] call you a council member. I'll call you
a commissioner from now on out. Um but
[2:17:57] we'll continue the conversation at your
work session and we it's going to carry
[2:18:02] on for a while uh while the board digest
it. And again, I'm always available a
[2:18:07] phone call away or a visit away. I'm
always happy to go through any of this
[2:18:11] information with you oneon one if you if
you need any additional uh have any
[2:18:16] additional questions.
So, those are the financial reports. Can
[2:18:20] I answer any questions?
>> Any questions from the board?
[2:18:25] » Yeah, I certainly applaud the county
board for doing a cost to serve study
[2:18:31] countywide. That's excellent.
As far as how our existing Waxaw cost to
[2:18:40] serve study plugs in,
uh, do we necessarily have to wait for
[2:18:47] them to complete their study or can we
just plug into some numbers for the
[2:18:53] major costs at the county level such as
per student and, you know, wastewater
[2:19:00] costs, things like that. We can put some
of those bigger headline numbers in and
[2:19:04] that's about all we could do, but we'll
be happy to do that. You'll hear a
[2:19:08] development report from uh Kevin
tonight. We've been honing in on a cost
[2:19:13] to serve uh five-year scenario model uh
that we'll be able to educate the board
[2:19:18] with hopefully by September. So, uh
we've been doing that analysis. We can
[2:19:23] do headline numbers right now. We know
the cost per student, for example,
[2:19:27] that's published. uh we know what those
water and sewer costs are uh headline
[2:19:33] but uh until they finish finish we won't
be able to plug anything from them other
[2:19:38] than the headline numbers
>> but we'll continue to do that you can do
[2:19:41] that multiplied by a household that kind
of thing
[2:19:45] » u but we'll do the best we can with what
we have um uh that we do know about
[2:19:49] right now
>> right yeah obviously it would be
[2:19:53] perfected once the county is finished
yeah
[2:19:56] » but Um,
in the meantime, if we could at least
[2:20:01] have some kind of a um formula that,
you know, and you could even uh look at
[2:20:09] some previously approved developments
and see how they shake out, you know,
[2:20:13] but for the future if a development
request comes up that staff would have a
[2:20:19] formula to just plug everything into and
get a, you know, pretty good idea of
[2:20:26] what that cost to serve would be.
>> Yeah, we've actually been playing with a
[2:20:30] model inhouse uh to figure out the best
model we can use and how it might work.
[2:20:35] So, uh that's still in production right
now, but we can certainly consider that
[2:20:40] and and how that might affect something.
So,
[2:20:42] » sounds good. Thanks.
>> Any other questions
[2:20:47] as well?
>> Oh, yeah. Thank you. Um always good to
[2:20:51] have a tap on the shoulder when you're
up here. I thought it was the chief
[2:20:55] coming after me for something, but it's
nice to know I haven't done anything
[2:20:58] wrong yet. Um, Kevin uh brought up a
good point. Central, we had asked
[2:21:04] Central Council of Governments if uh
they would consider uh some cost to uh
[2:21:11] service and data modeling from a more
regional perspective that might be of a
[2:21:16] help to all of us. and we were one of
four towns that got selected across the
[2:21:20] region to be part of that study. They
also know how far we are with some of
[2:21:25] our modeling and things like that. So,
we're really looking forward to
[2:21:28] participating in that uh with them and
that'll be probably about a year-long
[2:21:32] process.
>> Yeah, it's about a year-long process to
[2:21:35] get that together. Um the COG used to be
a data center. Everybody then all of a
[2:21:39] sudden thought they were a data center.
Not the same kind of data center.
[2:21:44] um but uh a centralized hub for data on
the regional basis. Uh traffic movement
[2:21:52] uh cost cost to serve, cost of roads,
cost of schools, cost of water and
[2:21:57] sewer, all those things that uh really
have a regional uh regional
[2:22:01] interconnection to them and they uh
picked us to be part of that. So we're
[2:22:06] excited to be part of that, too. So I
think the board's going to start getting
[2:22:09] a lot more uh robust information uh as
we move through the year. Uh, but that
[2:22:14] doesn't excuse you from reading
everything I give you, all 500 pages,
[2:22:18] Richard. So, um, and we're g we'll get
those to you, but it's a process going
[2:22:23] through this and I think, um, you all
need to be part of that and and get that
[2:22:28] language and how it moves together.
You're part of a larger region and uh,
[2:22:32] you play a role in that. So, and it
affects you and you affect it. So, we'll
[2:22:36] try to keep that together.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
[2:22:41] » Thank you.
Next up, Miss Dina Sinszki,
[2:22:45] parks and wreck.
>> Sinsky.
[2:22:51] » Good evening again. I'm your park and
rec director, Miss Dina. I have Oopsie.
[2:23:00] » I didn't do anything.
Um, here tonight just give you an update
[2:23:04] of all things park and wreck. One, look
at these smiles. Isn't that awesome?
[2:23:10] We've got some new public art at
Kensington and um at Nesbet Park. If you
[2:23:15] haven't seen it, please come by and um
and look, drive, walk, all that good
[2:23:21] jazz. But I want to give a special thank
you to Miss Emily um the Kensington uh
[2:23:27] principal Bernardo and his family came
out and took some pictures with us and
[2:23:31] Miss Melissa um and team. Uh we were out
there really early in the morning um
[2:23:39] painting this. Uh it was kind of spooky,
but it was fun too. Got to do something
[2:23:43] creative. So I just want to give a shout
out to the team and more public art to
[2:23:49] come. Give you an update on the action
plan for the skate park. So we had a
[2:23:54] great turnout. I wanted to um give you
some updates on those numbers. Uh 17
[2:24:00] participants online. um 214 on Flash
Vote. So, if you haven't signed up for
[2:24:06] Flash Vote, sign up so you can
participate in these surveys because
[2:24:10] they're awesome. Um also, we had over 50
participants in person at the many
[2:24:16] feedback areas that we had in person to
go to. Um, the consultant has all this
[2:24:22] data now and they're swishing it up and
going to bring it back to us in about a
[2:24:27] month and then give us some renderings
and the data that was collected for us
[2:24:32] to get some eyes on some renderings and
then after we give some more f public
[2:24:38] feedback and then they'll come back um
for us to finish out the plan.
[2:24:44] Okay.
I got a request to give you all a heads
[2:24:47] up on what our partnerships um with
Girls on the Run. So, if you're not
[2:24:52] aware, we've been partnering with Girls
on the Run for over 10 years. Um they
[2:24:58] basically do a takeover of downtown. Um
but the key components is the U Ginger
[2:25:05] Snap Race. They go over all the um
registration,
[2:25:11] the participant management, the
volunteers, um and then like the race
[2:25:16] company and all that good jazz. The town
does an incon sponsorship where we take
[2:25:21] care of all the event setup, break up um
breakdown, traffic control, signage,
[2:25:28] detours, electrical signs, cones,
barricades, and the public safety part
[2:25:33] of it. Um the main uh departments
involved is uh park and wreck, police,
[2:25:40] fire, EMS, and the emergency management
team. The heavy hitters um is mainly
[2:25:47] park and wreck and police just because
it's very hands-on to make sure that we
[2:25:52] keep the citizens safe um during this
time during the race. I just want to
[2:25:57] give you all a heads up on what our
participations is. And then it is event
[2:26:03] season. We're in it. We're in it to win
it. So, we got coming up um Bugs Life
[2:26:10] that is August the 21st. And then we
roll into Skate um night on September
[2:26:17] the 4th. And then 911 Patriots Day is
the 11th. And then the 18th is Jamat
[2:26:25] Tracks. another one. We just had one
last weekend. It was a great success.
[2:26:29] Thanks for everybody coming out. But
again, this is almost every weekend
[2:26:34] until the end of December. So, we are in
it. Mark your calendars. If you don't
[2:26:39] have one of those handy dandy cards, we
have them at town hall and all of our uh
[2:26:43] parks and recck facilities. Please come
and join us and be a part of the
[2:26:47] community.
Any questions?
[2:26:52] » Questions from the board?
>> No.
[2:26:54] » Thank you. Thank you, Miss Dena.
Another fun event season this year. It's
[2:26:59] going to be good,
Mr. Kevin. What do you got?
[2:27:09] Okay. Um, I'm gonna keep this one pretty
short. Um, this is the, uh, executive
[2:27:15] summary. I believe you guys should have,
um, the full version in your, you should
[2:27:20] have received that as well. Um, goes
into a little bit more detail. Um, as
[2:27:25] Scott mentioned, not a lot going on
right now. Um, however, we are trying to
[2:27:29] kind of play around with this data and
and and get something that's going to be
[2:27:32] useful for us moving forward in several
different ways. Um, I'll run through
[2:27:38] this real quick. Um, we had 11 uh
residential units that were permitted.
[2:27:42] We're going to start putting that data
in here for you as well. And for the
[2:27:45] public, anybody watching, um, a unit can
be permitted and can take several months
[2:27:50] to a year more or sometimes never before
it gets built. So, um, we try to
[2:27:54] differentiate between that. We had 11
units that were permitted so far in 2026
[2:27:59] through the first two quarters, the
first six months. We had 29 total that
[2:28:03] were built um that residential CO's
units built. Um, so some of those are
[2:28:08] going to have permits from the year
before that are just now being
[2:28:11] completed. Uh, we also had two
non-residential structures completed.
[2:28:16] Those are the first two that were COed.
Um, new construction um for this year.
[2:28:21] Um, 17.8 8 million. We're up to up to
that so far in 26 and uh 1466
[2:28:28] residential units that are in the
pipeline and projected not yet permitted
[2:28:33] or built.
Most of that you'll see here is
[2:28:37] relatively the same. Um our our pace
right now on the residential side is
[2:28:42] below the uh our 10-year quarterly
average. Um significantly below that. Um
[2:28:47] so we are in a a slump uh in terms of
residential construction even though we
[2:28:53] have a record number of units that have
been approved. Um on the commercial side
[2:28:58] uh we also have a vested pipeline that's
several times this year's built total.
[2:29:02] Um overall our our valuations of upfits
and repairs which are all other permits
[2:29:06] that we have that are not new
construction. Um we're we're still um
[2:29:10] kind of holding steady on that.
Uh the one thing I wanted to do on here
[2:29:16] for you um as we kind of continue to
drill down on this a little bit um it's
[2:29:22] it's one thing to look at uh what we've
got that's been built. It's another
[2:29:27] thing to kind of try to project out
where we're going in the future. Um the
[2:29:31] gray that you see on that chart right
now, that's those are developer
[2:29:35] projections from us talking with the
developers, asking them what they expect
[2:29:38] their built up their buildouts are going
to be for the various projects. Um
[2:29:42] there's a more detailed graph uh in your
um in the the total packet uh the the
[2:29:48] full document that you got. Um we took
that we pulled it into this. Um it's a
[2:29:54] little bit scary to look at. U but keep
in mind things rarely ever built out
[2:29:58] exactly like the um developers tell you
they're going to or like people afraid
[2:30:03] they're going to. Um we did a regression
analysis
[2:30:07] um for absorption rates of development.
um going back really to the our some of
[2:30:12] our earliest subdivisions in the 60s and
70s. So the line that you see there kind
[2:30:16] of refle reflects that rate which is
based on size which is based on um um
[2:30:23] how long the average time on the
different size um developments it took
[2:30:27] to get to build out. And so we think
it's probably a little bit more
[2:30:30] reasonable that you would see around 289
to 300 um units um over kind of a max of
[2:30:37] those over the next uh 3 to four years.
Um we do have some other developments
[2:30:43] that have been approved that will be
coming into this that are not uh shown
[2:30:46] here. So that could go up or down up or
down a little bit, but we don't think
[2:30:50] it's going to be that peak of 600 700
units there at the top.
[2:30:56] Um
[2:31:00] that's kind of reiterated here. The
developer pipeline projects projects a
[2:31:04] sharp rebound peaking around 684 units
in 2028. That's nearly 100 units higher
[2:31:10] than what we've ever hit. Um which was
in 2018. Um but when the historically
[2:31:14] calibrated model um we see that being uh
substantially lower. Um the three
[2:31:21] largest projects that we have right now,
Emerson Park, Yarborough Farms, and
[2:31:24] Adelina are size such a comparable
developments historically took 12 to 17
[2:31:27] years to build out. Uh I believe
Milbridge
[2:31:32] uh it's roughly 2100 units and I think
it took around 19 years in total to
[2:31:37] build out. Um more likely uh to be
finishing in the late uh 2030s than by
[2:31:43] 2032. Um, smaller projects tend to have
a little faster turnaround on those. Uh,
[2:31:50] non-residentidential and upits and
repairs. The, uh, vested pipeline, we've
[2:31:54] got 991u, uh, square th,000 square feet.
Um, so a substantial amount of, uh, new,
[2:32:00] uh, non-residential construction that's
in the pipeline.
[2:32:04] Um, if it delivers similar pace to 2025,
we would expect commercial and retail
[2:32:09] and service are going to keep leading
um, on construction. industrial uh is
[2:32:14] still really underperforming. Um we
haven't really had any of that built to
[2:32:17] date um in the last uh eight or nine
years there. Upfits and repairs, we
[2:32:24] think those are going to stay steady at
around 8.3 million a year uh in terms of
[2:32:27] project valuations.
And then again, we try to provide the
[2:32:32] map with these as well, just to kind of
see where some of the activity is. Um
[2:32:35] your red are your two commercial
buildings that were uh completed
[2:32:39] totaling around 34,000 square feet. Um,
your orange your town homes and your
[2:32:44] yellow are single family detached. There
was only six of those in total for this
[2:32:48] quarter. We do expect that will be a
little bit higher next quarter.
[2:32:55] » All righty. Any questions from the
board?
[2:33:01] » Mr. Ferris, what do you have?
>> Uh, a polite request. Um, with the map
[2:33:06] that we're displayed here, the grade
share areas, that is our our Waxaw town
[2:33:10] limits. Yes,
>> there are donut holes.
[2:33:13] » There are donut holes. Yes. Yeah.
>> And within those donut holes, uh,
[2:33:17] residential and commercial development
has occurred.
[2:33:22] » Uh, yeah, I would believe so. Yeah. In
some of them, yeah. Is there a
[2:33:26] possibility that we could also look at
the
[2:33:30] that data uh possibly plugged in where
available and how we look at also the
[2:33:36] absorption rate
>> u when thinking about that because that
[2:33:40] will have a cost of serve an impact
>> as commissioner Dant has point pointed
[2:33:45] out those will have uh an impact on us
as we travel and work on our roads
[2:33:50] » and so just would love to be able to
maybe as a supplemental possibly have
[2:33:55] that included.
>> Yeah. So, I I Yeah, I see what you're
[2:33:59] saying there. Um I think um in terms of
the um the development reports simply
[2:34:03] because they're going to the county um
and a lot of that data is going to the
[2:34:06] county um we may not be able to get the
same uh the same exact data that we
[2:34:11] produce in some of these. I think long
term and and looking at the impacts and
[2:34:16] everything, especially when it comes to
cost of service, uh we could do more of
[2:34:20] a
uh depending on what data we need for
[2:34:24] that, we could do more of a u a service
area, not a ETJ, but a kind of a little
[2:34:28] bit larger area around that would
include some areas outside as well, like
[2:34:32] a you know, with something within a
quarter mile and then all of those uh
[2:34:36] doughnut holes as well, because those
are going to have they're going to
[2:34:39] impact the town. Um, so we could try to
pull data from that as well. Sure.
[2:34:43] » Would appreciate it. I know focusing
focusing within our core and our limits,
[2:34:47] but then a supplemental so we can
understand how how those
[2:34:51] » not ETJs that and those neighboring uh
essentially donut holes or or impacts
[2:34:59] and how we can we need to possibly
evaluate adjustments.
[2:35:04] » Yeah. Yeah. Kind of a like a sphere of
influence kind of thing.
[2:35:07] » Yes, sir.
>> Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. We can do
[2:35:09] that.
>> Thank you.
[2:35:11] » Cool. Thank you very much, Kevin. Uh
coming up um on Octo August 25th uh at
[2:35:19] 6:30 p.m. in the town chambers, we will
have our next work session. Not sure
[2:35:24] what's on that agenda at this point, but
it should be interesting nonetheless.
[2:35:28] And then with that, can I get a motion
to adjurnn?
[2:35:32] » Can can
comments?
[2:35:35] » Oh, yeah. I just want to say one thing
about the folks that showed up tonight.
[2:35:39] Uh I want to thank everybody that showed
up like we did before, but also um if
[2:35:44] anybody was here or noticed the crowd,
there was a lot of young people in the
[2:35:48] crowd and I just want to uh pass along
my thanks. I'm sure the rest of the
[2:35:53] board is uh thankful for the community
involvement, especially from our young
[2:35:58] people. and uh some of them spoke very
eloquently this evening and stuck around
[2:36:05] for a really long time and it was really
encouraging to see. And along with that
[2:36:11] just want to give a special thanks to
Michael
[2:36:15] uh Kenna that he uh good luck to you on
your endeavors at UNC Charlotte. Um I
[2:36:23] know uh they're they're getting a great
student and a great leader there. So,
[2:36:29] um, uh, you've already raised the GPA
there at that, uh, at that school. So,
[2:36:35] um, and thank you for everything you did
for the city. Uh, I'm not sure uh
[2:36:43] how much uh, you know, being an intern,
you don't get paid much or maybe not at
[2:36:48] all. you were at everything and uh you
know it was just you're
[2:36:55] a great inspiration for the young people
here and for even us old folks that you
[2:37:01] know we think we do a lot but we can
always do more. Um and good luck with
[2:37:06] your uh your 501c3 your nonprofit that
you manage. So
[2:37:14] » I feel bad for your uh municipal
government professor. That's all I'm
[2:37:17] going to say.
>> [laughter]
[2:37:18] » to be a fly on that wall.
[2:37:23] » Any other comments from the board?
>> Yeah, for those who follow the board of
[2:37:29] education, um,
Commissioner Jim and Yani and I attended
[2:37:33] a meeting last week because of concern
and trying to understand why traffic
[2:37:40] directors were removed from the Waxaw
Elementary School. And uh at the board
[2:37:47] meeting we saw that they turned down
$3.8 million uh from the county and they
[2:37:56] are saying that they need to save
$200,000
[2:38:00] by getting rid of these traffic
directors. Um I just want to say for
[2:38:05] everyone who's concerned about this that
I'm hopeful that they might reverse that
[2:38:11] decision for that particular school at
least. Thank you.
[2:38:16] Yeah, just to add to that,
[clears throat] we did have a chance to
[2:38:19] meet with them earlier this week, all
parties involved, and they took the time
[2:38:24] to listen. The school board took the
time to listen uh to both the town
[2:38:28] leadership, uh Mayor Promwedra and I
were there along with our chief of
[2:38:33] police as well as some of our traffic
engineers as well as DOT. They were
[2:38:37] there to basically
recommend we reinstate these traffic um
[2:38:43] traffic managers.
um traffic directors. So hopefully
[2:38:48] they'll change their mind. Um but at
this point, all we can do is hope. We'll
[2:38:51] see what decision they make in the
future.
[2:38:56] Any other comments?
All righty then. Let's go ahead and get
[2:39:00] a motion to adjurnn.
>> Motion to adjourn.
[2:39:02] » All in favor?
>> I.
[2:39:04] » We are now adjourned. Thank you
everybody. Have a good night.