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Good evening, and welcome to the community development and urban planning meeting. We thank all of you who have joined us here today, and I am going to call for the role, for the council members that are either here in chambers or virtually. We'll start with Councilman White.

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Councilman Spidola, President Congo,

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Councilmember Darby,

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Councilmember Fields, Brigitte

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Fields, Councilman

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Nathan Field,

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Councilmember Field,

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Councilmember McCoy, Mayor, thank

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you. I am Maria Cabrera, Councilwoman at large and I am the chair of the community development

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and Urban Planning Committee meeting, and it is my pleasure to welcome you here this evening.

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This will be the last meeting of the year, as we will not have a meeting in December,

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and we will resume on the second Thursday of January.

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So today we do have a short agenda.

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We'll start with the ordinances, and then we have a presentation that we have members

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here from the community as well as our city departments.

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So, let's start with ordinance 23-038, an ordinance to approve the Riverside Phase III

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major subdivision plan and to authorize the city to accept the dedication of new segments

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of East 25th Street, East 26th Street, Edgemore Avenue, and Rosemond Avenue as a public

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right-of-way and add them to the official city map.

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The sponsor of this legislation is Council Member Oliver.

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She present to speak to this.

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If not, that's okay.

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We have Mr. John Kirk who can speak to this from the city.

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Thank you.

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Good evening Madam Chair and members of the City Council, colleagues and members of the public.

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My name is John Kirk and I'm a senior planner with the Department of Land Use and Planning.

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I'm here this afternoon to present ordinance 23-038.

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First slide, please.

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Or next slide, I'm sorry.

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Thank you.

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This map illustrates the area of interest

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with the parcels outlined in red.

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In June 2023, the Department of Land Use and Planning

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received a major subdivision application

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from Vanden Mark and Lynch Incorporated.

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On behalf of the Wilmington Housing Authority

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and Kingswood Community Center Incorporated,

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entitled Riverside Phase III,

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which proposes to subdivide five parcels of land into seven new parcels and to dedicate one new segment of East 25th Street, three new segments of East 26th Street,

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one new segment of Rosemond Avenue and one new segment of Edgemore Avenue to the city of Wilmington as public rights of way.

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At the bottom right, the two odd shaped parcels constitute one non-contiguous parcel that

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supports the creation of an extended edge more avenue which in turn is crucial to the

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development of the New Kingswood Community Center.

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The plan will allow for the circulation of vehicular and pedestrian traffic and for the

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redevelopment of the Wilmington Housing Authority's 12.9 acre Riverside Public Housing Development

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site.

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The balance of the 17.631 acre site consists of the 4.684 acre Kingswood Community Center's

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baseball fields, which are to be redeveloped as the new Kingswood Community Center in its

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accessory parking lot.

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All parcels are situated within the R5A or low density apartment houses zoning district.

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Next slide, please.

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This subdivision and street dedication actions will support the next phase of the $700 million

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$8 phase of Riverside housing, redevelopment project in North East Wilmington.

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Due to the large area of territory to be subdivided and to receive newly dedicated

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street segments, curbs and sidewalks built to city standards for legibility, there are

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two major subdivision sheets.

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This slide illustrates the western territory of the subdivision bounded by North Claimon

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Street, East 24th Street, Rosemond Avenue, and East 27th Street.

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The yellow shaded segments of East 25th Street and East 26th Street are proposed to create

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a traditional neighborhood street grid and eliminate the existing 1950s era elongated

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block design that currently exists.

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The new segment of East 25th Street shown here is 350 feet long by 50 feet wide.

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The two new segments of East 26th Street shown here are 660 feet long by 70 feet wide.

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Next slide please.

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This slide illustrates the eastern territory bounded by Rosemont Avenue, the northern parcel of Kingswood Community Center property, the Amtrak Railway viaduct and East 27th Street.

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The elevated segments of East 26th Street, Rosemont Avenue and Edgemore Avenue, shown here, are proposed to create a more traditional neighborhood street grid, and more importantly will allow vehicular access to the new Kingswood Community Center's parking lot.

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The one new segment of East 26th Street shown here is 436 feet long by 80 feet wide.

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Overall, the three new segments of East 26th Street proposed to be built between North

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Claymont and the Amtrak railway viaduct right of where 1,086 feet in length.

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The proposed curving segment of Edgemore Avenue is approximately 168 feet long by 50 feet wide.

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The proposed segment of Rosemond Avenue to top left is 58 feet long by 50 feet wide.

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Next slide please.

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This slide focuses on two important street segments in the roundabout traffic feature proposed at the intersection of East 26th Street and Rosemont Avenue atop right.

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At the lower right is the terminus of the proposed East 26th Street and the proposed curving segment of Edgemore Avenue that will connect.

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Edgemore Avenue to the northern ingress egress of the proposed parking lot to serve the New Kingswood Community Center.

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At upper left is the small segment of Rosemond Avenue that will connect that street to the southern

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ingress and the ingress of the proposed parking lot to serve the new Kingswood Community Center.

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And the footprint of the new Kingswood Community Center and that of its supporting parking lot

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are illustrated here. The variances required to construct the building is illustrated

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were granted by the zoning board of adjustment to the Kingswood Community Center Inc.

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I think, or incorporated, I should say, on July 25th, 2023, in case 7.7.23.

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In conclusion, these plan sheets were circulated to city departments in August of 2023.

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The Department of Public Works is in support of the plan and the new city street segments.

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The Fire Marshal's office had no comment, and the city planning commission reviewed

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the plans and adopted Resolution 423, which recommends the approval of the applicant's request.

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Thank you, Mr. Kirk. That was very thorough. So from looking at the map here, I guess my first question is, there's going to be a circle, because I see circles are always so much safer than traffic roundabout.

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Okay, the roundabout there.

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I mean, it looks very clear to me and progress is definitely being made over there and very excited about that new developed area of the city.

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Any, are there any questions that the members of the committee have in reference to the presentation by Mr. Kirk?

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Madam Chair, I have a question.

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Yes, proceed. Councilman White.

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Mr. Kirk, the roundabout, is that below Governor Prince at 26?

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Well, east of, yes.

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East of.

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That's what you mean by that?

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Yes.

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Yes.

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My directions are as good as yours, I apologize.

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That's so that'll be the roundabout will be the right off of Governor Prince on the van van der Verk,

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or is it further up?

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Well, it's at 26th Street, so it would be further north.

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Further north?

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Yeah, it would be 26th and I don't have the map of that.

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Yeah, right past the Dollar Tree, Dollar General Area.

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Okay.

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Who's your response for the improvements?

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The developer.

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and but the city will maintain them.

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I believe so, yes.

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So are we in terms of maintaining in terms of like plowing and correct?

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Yes.

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Thank you.

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Is that for all streets?

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Is that all streets in this phase three?

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Thank you.

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So I guess they're all considered public right of ways, these streets.

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But they're built at the developer's cost.

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Okay.

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To the city's specs.

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to the city's standards, including sidewalks and curbing.

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One last question, was any community groups involved in the conversation?

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Oh, the Reach Riverside group, which I believe there's somebody on this call, they have been very active.

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This is the third phase, there's eight total phases.

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So phase one and two have already been built from 30th Street heading south.

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So now we're getting to 27th through closer to 25th, and it'll keep filling out in terms of all of the housing.

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This 1950s era kind of barracks style housing is certainly out of date.

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It's been vacant and abandoned for several years, mostly demolished.

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And the new housing that's going up is 21st century state of the art.

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Thank you, thank you, Matt Chair.

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Thank you, Councilman White.

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Are there any other council members online

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from the committee that have any questions?

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And I would like to acknowledge

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that Councilmember Darby is with us.

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Not seeing any questions from my colleagues.

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Are there any council members that are not

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on the committee that might have any questions?

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Right, no hands up.

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At this time, anyone from the public

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that would like to speak or ask any questions

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may come up and do so.

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And we'll start with the people present here

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and then if there's anybody online.

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Any one that has a question that would like to come up?

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Is there anyone online that might have a question about this development?

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You did such a thorough job, John.

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Nobody has any questions.

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Thank you.

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Councilman White.

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Thank you.

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So at this time, just a reminder to that only the committee members can make a motion and vote.

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And can I get a motion to move this ordinance out of committee, ordinance 23-038?

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So motion.

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Second.

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Thank you.

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It has been properly moved.

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And second, the ordinance will be voted out of committee.

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All those in favor signify by saying aye.

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Aye.

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Any opposed?

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Motion carried.

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The next ordinance we have is ordinance 23-042 in ordinance to approve the Liberty Street

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Properties Major Subdivision Plan and authorize the city to remove a portion of Liberty Street,

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a portion of Nancy Street, and two unnamed alleys from the official city map and accept the

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dedication of the new segments of Liberty Street, Lower Elm Street, and Lower Linda Street

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as public rights of way and then move them to the official city map.

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The sponsor is Councilmember Harley.

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Councilmember Harley, here to speak to this.

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Hi, Madame Chair, I welcome the Councilmember Harley.

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If someone is on the line from the administration, I would like to defer to them first and then

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I will share my remarks.

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Is there anyone here from the city from public works that would speak to this ordinance dash 23-042 John

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Okay, Mr. Kirk will speak to this as well. Thank you

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So I go ahead. Yes, I may proceed. Good evening. My name is John Kirk and I'm a senior planner with the Department of Land use and planning

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I'm here this afternoon to present ordinance 23-042. Next slide, please

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This aerial image illustrates the area of interest

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In September 2023, the Department of Landies and Planning received a major subdivision

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application from four site associates on behalf of owners, Rae Bowl Venture Group

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14 entitled Liberty Street Properties.

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The plans proposed to subdivide 14 parcels into six new parcels to remove two unnamed

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alleys, to remove one block of Nancy Street, and to remove one block of Liberty Street, and

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to dedicate segments of Liberty, Lower Elm, and Lower Lyndon Street to the city as public

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rights of way. Note the Wilmington skate park situated in the lower left corner of the slide as

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well as the mostly vacant conditions of the site. Next slide please.

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This subdivision

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involves one mostly vacant 2.7 acre site, founded by Lower Elm Street, the Amtrak Railway

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Viaduct, Lower Linden Street as well as the northbound exit ramp of Interstate 95 and Maryland Avenue,

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and currently consists of two separate city blocks.

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The site was re-zoned from M1 or late manufacturing

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to C2 or secondary business centers

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zoning district in December, 2022

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and city planning commission Resolution 9-22.

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City Council passed ordinance 22-

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Next slide please.

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The plan proposes to subdivide the site into parcels 1 through 6, illustrated here in red outlines and blue numbering. Note that only one existing building on the site is contained, I'm sorry, note that the only existing building on the site is contained in parcel 1, a vacant four-story industrial building at 200 Maryland Avenue that will be renovated into 19 apartments as part

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of this project. Next slide please.

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This slide illustrates the developer's plan to build

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four segments of 24 foot wide, two-way private streets, as well as curbs and sidewalks constructed

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to city standards, to serve the renovated apartment building, a two-story, 80-space parking

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garage and a four-story 111 unit hotel. These private streets will connect the existing and

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proposed buildings to each other,

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to Maryland Avenue,

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and to Lower Elm and Lower Linden Street.

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Therefore facilitating improved circulation patterns

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for this development,

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as well as the adjacent Wilmington State Park.

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Next slide please.

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This slide illustrates the streets

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to be removed, shaded and blue.

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The 10 foot wide by 315 foot long segment

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of Nancy Street is also referred to as an alley,

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and no longer physically exists,

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except for its northern curb cut along Lower Elm Street.

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Street. The streetbed is grown over with grass and curving is not evident. The pair of

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unnamed three foot wide alleys shown in blue running perpendicular to

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Liberty Street

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and to Nancy Street also do not physically exist. The 40 foot wide by 315 foot long segment

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of Liberty Street to be removed from the official city map exists in poor condition with dilapidated

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portions of sidewalk existing only on the east side of the streets and curbs do not exist.

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Next slide, please.

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Oh, I'm sorry.

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I'm sorry.

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Say on that slide.

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My fault.

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Thank you.

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The new segments of streets to be dedicated are shaded and red.

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Basically, a new U-shaped segment of Liberty Street proposed that 50 feet wide and 314.6 feet long

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situated directly adjacent to the Amtrak railway right away.

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and when include an approximately 2,562 square foot extension of lower Elm Street and an approximately 433 square foot extension of lower Linden Street facilitate vehicular turning and traffic flow.

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A new segment of lower Elm Street totaling approximately 415 square feet is proposed to be dedicated near the northern end of the accident or existing Liberty Street which will be removed.

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moved, and that will facilitate the crosswalk of one of the private two way streets.

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Through relocated Liberty Street, the portion of Lower Lyndon Street and two portions of Lower Elm Street

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described above, will be dedicated to the city of Wellington as public rights of way.

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These segments, as well as the 24 foot wide private streets that's shown on the preliminary plan,

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will be built to city standards and will connect the hotel, park and garage, and

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and renovated apartment building with lower Elm Street,

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lower Lyndon Street, and Maryland Avenue.

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Also noteworthy in this plan are the 63 total

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head and parking spaces created.

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39 of those parking spaces are proposed to be constructed

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within the owner's private streets

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and will be private parking spaces

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to serve the apartment building in hotel.

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24 new public parking spaces situated along

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the relocated Liberty Street and lower Lyndon Street

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We can greatly benefit the users of Wellington Skate Park in the surrounding area.

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In conclusion, this plan was circulated to City Departments in October 2023.

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The Department of Public Works is in support of the plan.

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In the new City Street segments, the Fire Marshalls Office had no comment in the City Plan Commission,

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reviewed the plans and adopted Resolution 723, which recommends the approval of the applicants request.

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Thank you.

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Thank you very much, Mr. Kirk.

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At this time, is there anyone from the Committee on City Council that has any questions of Mr. Kirk?

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I wanted to have remarks, but I wanted him to speak for me.

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I'm sorry, is that okay, Charlie?

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Go ahead, Madam.

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I mean, go ahead, Councilwoman Harley, you go first and then we'll entertain questions.

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Thank you.

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Okay, thank you.

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I want to thank John for that thorough explanation in terms of the purpose of why this legislation is being

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presented. I really am excited about this area and how the hotel and the

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apartments is definitely going to enhance and add not only a better aesthetically

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making that area look better for those that are not quite sure where it is.

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is pretty much like a long-mirling avenue near the I-95 underpass and there has been

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a lot of businesses that have been not operating in a long time and to bring these projects

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to that area is definitely going to be not only an uplift to the community but more importantly

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and what I'm excited about are the jobs that it's going to bring, especially for the hotel and,

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of course, new players in the game as it relates to just, you know, hotels and just new options.

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So I'm very excited about it. And to my understanding, so are some of the residents in that area.

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And I say some because I haven't heard from everyone, of course, but I have not heard any opposition from any of the residents in that area, so I just wanted to share again after the committee heard the four outline and explanation of what this legislation is all about. Thank you.

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Thank you, Councilmember Harley.

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Yeah, I would say that I too am very excited, there's been a lot of changes in that area

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from a lot of the abandoned factories and homes and just dilapidated areas and to see how

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everything is connecting to the neighborhoods and certainly, as Councilmember Harley mentioned,

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the economic development and employment opportunities, walking distance where people can actually walk

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to work for a neighborhood on the west side that could really use that influx in the economy.

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So it's good to see that we are continuing to grow and we're developing in different areas

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and extending into the community in a positive way. Any other questions from our councilmembers?

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Councilmember White? No, ma'am sure. Okay. Councilmember McCoy.

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Councilmember McCulley. Thank you.

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So I did see that I've been contacted about previous information when it came to how

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we were zoning that space. I did see that we're doing something with the street, but my

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only issue is the fact that there is not very many residents over in that area. That area

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is actually fairly making I would like to say but there's just one small street

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that has had lots of issues and especially with people who are out there

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over in that area and I just wanted to make certain that I got a chance to make

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them aware as well and what was going on. I don't know whether or not anyone has

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been reached out to that is actually they are my constituents all of this is happening

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and across the street from them, which is actually

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counsel my Harley's district,

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but it would affect the six districts' revenues.

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There's no other, I don't believe there's actually anyone

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from the fourth district living over in the area.

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You were both correct.

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There isn't really anything within that space.

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I think they knocked down,

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we used to be like a old nightclub or something

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like many, many years ago.

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But I just wanted to make certain

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and I got a chance to, that we were able to bring that information to that one row of homes

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that are like fairly nestled underneath the 95 overpass across from the skate park.

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So I just wanted to make sure that I put that information out there because even though

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I've had conversations about the zoning, the zoning change, I had this conversation at all.

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Thank you, Councilmember McCoy, and now that you brought up that street, I have a friend

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who lives on that street and owns several properties, and there was some challenges that they

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had during the construction of 95, the renovation of 95, where environmentally they kept saying

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that they had it secure, they had it secure, and it wasn't. There was dust and dirt falling

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all over the place. People are breathing that in, so the one thing that we have to keep

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Keep in mind is that these contractors and the people doing the work that they are following

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all the environmental guidelines when they're doing this construction, even if there isn't

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a lot of residential homes, there are, and as it is, folks are already breathing in the admissions

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from 95, they don't need any more environmental hazards added to their neighborhood.

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Even if it's just a small neighborhood, every life matters, every breath matters.

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Councilmember Field, you may proceed with your questions.

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Councilmember Field is present. Does anyone else from City Council have any questions or comments?

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Okay, not hearing any. Can I get a motion to move this ordinance out of committee?

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Can I have the last remarks before you go? Yes, Councilmember Harley.

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Yes, so I also wanted to add that the owner of Raebold, I think that's the name.

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If he and I also had a great conversation in terms of the community and how he could

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give back and how you know the company can give back to the community.

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And I wanted to say that he definitely have made an effort to partner with one of our

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great organizations over in Councilmember McCoy's district in terms of wanting to give

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back to the community so he is already supported in that particular district and he also shared with me

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that if there were some community initiatives that we are working on within the fourth district

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to please let him know and I did make contact with him about some suggestions as some of my communities

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and the fourth district that came out with and he has been very open so I really wanted it to be

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on record but they're not just coming in asking for support but they're coming in asking and being

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willing to be a partner within the community as well and to council member McCoy if we need to

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have any kind of community meetings together jointly going forward to make sure if you get any kind of

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So, any kind of complaints or any reasons for us to meet, to bring the residents together

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and to make sure that their complaints or issues or interests as well are heard.

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I will be willing to do that with you as well.

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Thank you.

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Thank you, Councilmember Hardley.

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At this point is there a motion to move this ordinance 23-042 out of committee?

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Okay. Can I get a second again. All right. It has been properly moved and second. The

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ordinance is voted out of committee. All of those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any

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opposed? Okay. So this will be held before for City Council. John, do you know that's

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the. You're welcome. Thank you for coming. Will that be heard at the next meeting in December?

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December. December just a reminder that our council meetings will be the first and

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the second Thursday in December so this will be on there in the agenda at that time.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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Have a good time.

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Okay.

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So that concludes the legislative part of this meeting and now we have members of the community

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that are part of the, I guess, the Rodney Reservoir working group and neighbors from the

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Cool Springs area, Tilton Park, and that neighborhood that would like to make a presentation

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on what they foresee that they would like to see happen with the Rodney Reservoir.

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So at this point, at the time, I would like to bring up Jamila David Davie and anyone else

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that would like to join her, you're more than welcome to come up and sit where the microphones

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The phones are that where there's any questions or if you'd like to add to the presentation and then we will have I think the city is also going to come and give us some information as well on some of the plans and what's been done to date.

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Okay, thank you so much.

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Thank you.

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Are we ready with the presentation?

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Great, looks like we are.

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Ms. Davie, you may go proceed.

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Thank you for coming for being here today.

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It was late notice, but I know that the group

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has been working very hard on this,

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and you wanted an opportunity to reach

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other council members, and the general public,

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just to see what's going on.

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So I'm glad the opportunity was open

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for you to come and join us this evening.

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Thank you so much, Council Member Cabrera,

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for inviting us, and thank you

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to all the members of Council for having us today,

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and for your engagement on this issue,

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and thank you to community members that are here,

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and members of the city that work for the city as well.

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I'm Jimi LeDabie, I'm a resident of the west side.

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I live in the little Italy neighborhood,

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a couple of blocks from the Rodney Reservoir.

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I'm a gardener at the site,

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and I'm here to represent green for the greater good.

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Could we have the next slide, please?

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And green for the greater good is a group of neighbors

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and other stakeholders who live around the Rodney Reservoir

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who are committed to keeping the site public safe and green,

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and we've been working together to create

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A future scenario where all residents can enjoy its use can go to the next slide.

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All right, please.

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And so we can start by getting acquainted with the site here. It is a 3.7 acre site in the middle of one of the densest places in Delaware. It's zoned open space. It's at the meeting point of two watersheds. It is the highest point on the west side. Maybe the highest point in Wilmington until Rockford was incorporated. And it's the meeting point of little Italy hilltop and the cool spring neighborhoods.

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And let's see the next slide, please.

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Here you go.

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You can see we're looking kind of north, west, west,

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and north, you can see that Anthony's up there

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is oriented north.

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We have the reservoir with the community gardens

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on the right side.

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We are looking toward Clayton Street.

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You can see St. Francis Hospital, St. Anthony's.

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You can see the Antonian.

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You can see that the dense urban neighborhood.

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And just get a sense of where we are.

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Let's look to the next slide, please.

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And what's underneath it?

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So what is the site?

400
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It is a 7.5 million gallon tank, the concrete tank,

401
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reinforced with rebar.

402
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And at this huge piece of public infrastructure

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that was buried at the site in 1916.

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And we can go to the next slide, please.

405
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And from the beginning, this site wasn't just infrastructure.

406
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It was always infrastructure and green space and a public park.

407
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It is some of Wilmington's earliest park land, and it's never been privately developed.

408
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Before the tank went in, there were open basins, and there was a famous baseball diamond

409
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there for a while.

410
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When they went ahead and put in the tank in 1916, they had the foresight to build a roller

411
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slash ice skating rink on top.

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You can see that there in 1919, this observation tower was put in, and you could see for four

413
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States, you know, and it had the, there's all kinds of events that took place up there

414
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by the 20s.

415
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It was a football place, and so the professional football leagues were playing up there,

416
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including like the Lillington Chestbrook's.

417
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And this is an article right here, notice that it says 6,000 persons up here for this throng,

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this throng at this band concert at the top of the Rodney Reservoir.

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And there were all these dances, things and concerts.

420
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It was really popular, and you can just see how central this site was to the community.

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And that tower would be part of this Cold War era, Housewives Observer Corps as well.

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There's all this wonderful history at the site.

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Could we go to the next slide, please?

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And when you talk to neighbors, you know, they have all kinds of memories of the place.

425
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We hear we heard some again last night at the working group meeting, people sledding, having

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having PE up there.

427
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A lot of people,

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hierarchies here, play football,

429
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or other organized sports who lived in the neighborhood.

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And, you know, we all hear from neighbors

431
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:57,380
who used to scale that tower as well for fun.

432
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In the 80s, there were football,

433
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I mean, sorry, basketball courts up there,

434
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and a gazebo.

435
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But then it was fun stuff in 2003, 2004

436
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for safety concerns.

437
00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,940
And we hear about like a lot of parks in Wilmington,

438
00:33:09,940 --> 00:33:11,940
and maybe had some safety challenges at that time.

439
00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:14,440
The city announced that they would improve the site

440
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and reopen it for public events,

441
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but that never happened.

442
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:17,680
It was kind of dismantled,

443
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:18,940
and things were taken elsewhere.

444
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You can go to the next slide, please.

445
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And so it wasn't until 2010

446
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that the community started to get access to the site again.

447
00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:29,780
So a group of neighbors and folks

448
00:33:29,780 --> 00:33:32,220
at Western Neighborhood House and other partners

449
00:33:33,100 --> 00:33:34,820
got permission to begin to guard

450
00:33:34,820 --> 00:33:36,440
and on just a small portion of the site.

451
00:33:37,820 --> 00:33:49,000
And they hauled all the soil in to create this raised bed garden that became one of the largest community garden in the city.

452
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You can see there at the top left, that's the Bucket Brigade, that's how the soil comes in each year.

453
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And down below are volunteers that founded the garden there, built all those beds.

454
00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:10,760
And it also became the birthplace of Westside grows together, which we know now is a long phrase,

455
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:18,560
but comprehensive community strategy vehicle that was really about residents driven projects.

456
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And there's been a lot of that that's been successful on the Westside with the parks in particular.

457
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And green for the greater good is kind of wanting to continue that tradition.

458
00:34:29,820 --> 00:34:31,180
and can we go to the next slide, please.

459
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So in the years, the garden has become, you know,

460
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:35,880
a hub of like neighborhood activity.

461
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:38,420
There's been, you know, a variety of events up there.

462
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:40,960
And in the last year, something we're really proud of

463
00:34:40,960 --> 00:34:43,060
was making the connection with Lewis Dooling,

464
00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:44,740
which elementary and healthy foods for healthy kids

465
00:34:45,300 --> 00:34:48,220
to implement a school gardening program there.

466
00:34:48,380 --> 00:34:51,920
So that K through five kids would garden,

467
00:34:52,260 --> 00:34:54,020
and you can see them harvesting their radishes

468
00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,300
and their lettuce here last season.

469
00:34:56,300 --> 00:35:01,020
several I think Councilmember Spidola and Councilmember Fields were there

470
00:35:01,020 --> 00:35:06,500
with us at the ribbon cutting to celebrate with them. They're learning about

471
00:35:06,500 --> 00:35:09,580
science and where food comes from and I was just at the Healthy Foods for Healthy

472
00:35:09,580 --> 00:35:14,980
Kids at 15-year anniversary gala and it's a really exciting program there and a

473
00:35:14,980 --> 00:35:18,080
lot of schools are trying to get into all of them. And we're excited about this type

474
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:23,300
of program at the Rodney Reservoir. Expanding this opportunity for

475
00:35:23,300 --> 00:35:25,160
and the outdoor classroom opportunities.

476
00:35:25,540 --> 00:35:27,340
And we have started talking to people like

477
00:35:27,340 --> 00:35:28,680
Wilmington Head Start, which are nearby

478
00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:31,640
and enrichment programs with senior authorities.

479
00:35:32,040 --> 00:35:33,580
And there's a lot of potential for that.

480
00:35:34,180 --> 00:35:36,220
Another program that we started this last summer

481
00:35:36,220 --> 00:35:37,900
that Councilmember Berger-Berock came to

482
00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:41,280
was our free farm stand, where we have been like

483
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,000
reaching out into our community to invite folks

484
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:45,840
into this space to experience it,

485
00:35:45,980 --> 00:35:47,200
know that it belongs to the community

486
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,640
and that there's an opportunity to shape the future there.

487
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:52,140
And to give away vegetables and allow people to explore

488
00:35:52,140 --> 00:35:54,400
or allow them to explore the place

489
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:57,660
and experience its kind of its specialness.

490
00:36:00,340 --> 00:36:02,960
And that's another thing that we really like to expand.

491
00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:04,020
We go to the next slide.

492
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:07,220
So again, we can take a look at the place,

493
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:08,500
look at the space there,

494
00:36:08,580 --> 00:36:11,200
and the center is the asphalt top,

495
00:36:11,500 --> 00:36:15,620
where that roller rink slash ice skating rink was,

496
00:36:15,940 --> 00:36:17,220
and right underneath there is the tank.

497
00:36:18,660 --> 00:36:20,360
At the right of the screen,

498
00:36:20,360 --> 00:36:25,240
that little square is where there used to be like a ban shell and on the left of the screen is

499
00:36:25,240 --> 00:36:28,880
the community garden. Again, now we're looking toward downtown. You can see that it's a dense

500
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:37,860
neighborhood. You can see how many houses are circling it there. And if we go to the next slide,

501
00:36:38,160 --> 00:36:42,900
we're kind of looking out over the garden a little bit from up the hill. You can see there's all

502
00:36:42,900 --> 00:36:49,740
these vistas and you have this experience up there of being outside of the city. You could take

503
00:36:49,740 --> 00:36:54,440
in these amazing views it's become even though it's like grown wild up there it's unplanned

504
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:59,140
there are there it is become a wildlife habitat we have hawks and foxes and all kinds of birds

505
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:06,640
and you you hear them up there and it is kind of a magical place that we all enjoy it's next slide please

506
00:37:08,100 --> 00:37:15,720
so last May we got news that the city of Bloomington had asked for 1.7 million dollars from the

507
00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:17,560
a bond bill committee to demolish the infrastructure

508
00:37:17,560 --> 00:37:20,180
at the Rodney Reservoir site with a vision of development

509
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:25,160
and they did not consult the community about this

510
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:28,160
and this is the language in the bond bill

511
00:37:29,380 --> 00:37:31,640
that requires, that says that

512
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:35,700
companies of planning, community engagement must occur

513
00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:37,820
prior to any projects beginning at the site.

514
00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:39,140
When the next slide please.

515
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,160
And once our community heard about this,

516
00:37:41,320 --> 00:37:42,760
we started organizing immediately.

517
00:37:43,300 --> 00:37:49,960
This picture is taken from Memorial Day last year in 2022, you know, 50 or more neighbors

518
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:54,500
showed up and talked about their attachment to the space, their desire to keep it public

519
00:37:54,500 --> 00:37:54,940
and green.

520
00:37:56,260 --> 00:37:58,040
That started a big conversation.

521
00:37:58,040 --> 00:38:03,620
We started talking about our opportunities to reopen it to the public and this real commitment

522
00:38:03,620 --> 00:38:08,820
to having a resident driven vision for this site and green for the greater good emerged from

523
00:38:08,820 --> 00:38:12,500
this, you know, these first few meetings we've been meeting every Saturday since, with

524
00:38:12,500 --> 00:38:16,280
just a couple of exceptions and trying to carry that forward.

525
00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:17,260
Can we go to the next slide, please?

526
00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,240
And since then, we have been engaged in a lot of advocacy.

527
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,980
We work to get that language in the bond bill.

528
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:27,440
We advocated for environmental testing.

529
00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:29,980
We advocated for the working group that's just got started.

530
00:38:30,140 --> 00:38:33,900
We started reaching out to partners for support and expertise

531
00:38:33,900 --> 00:38:36,760
and to ask them to imagine how they could use the site,

532
00:38:36,900 --> 00:38:39,100
to deliver it to the community, to make sure

533
00:38:39,100 --> 00:38:41,260
the people who need access to the green space the most

534
00:38:41,260 --> 00:38:44,480
We'd be getting up there, whether it's through outdoor classrooms or youth development,

535
00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:50,640
for urban ag, and we wrote a grant to get funding for a community design process from

536
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:55,760
DENRAC, and we were successful with that, and we started learning a lot.

537
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:59,900
Some of us, some of us already do some of this stuff, but a lot of us, me, I was learning

538
00:38:59,900 --> 00:39:05,340
a lot about the importance of access to nature for like child development, about the benefits

539
00:39:05,340 --> 00:39:10,620
of urban greening for communities, and about environmental justice issues, and along the

540
00:39:10,620 --> 00:39:18,060
way we met, we got connected with Professor Anna Wick and Dr. Nina David in the living lab research

541
00:39:18,060 --> 00:39:23,400
group at the Biden School Administration, and they wrote a grant to the Women's and Partnership

542
00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:28,920
to help us conduct a community design charat with members of the community and partners so that

543
00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:35,420
we could begin to think through and imagine what this future green space at the Rodney Reservoir

544
00:39:35,420 --> 00:39:43,140
could look like. We've been advocating for many months and we wanted a visual and this

545
00:39:43,140 --> 00:39:50,620
was so much more than that. So we came together with for this multi-day, multi-session event.

546
00:39:51,060 --> 00:39:55,520
Could we go to the next slide please? Here are some highlights. At the first session we

547
00:39:55,520 --> 00:40:01,760
looked at, you know, we engaged with aerial photos of the site and learned about the site

548
00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:06,380
conditions and concepts and you know gave feedback at the next session young

549
00:40:06,380 --> 00:40:11,700
sophomores from University of Delaware created designs for the community to get

550
00:40:11,700 --> 00:40:15,180
further feedback on based on the input from the last session could we go the

551
00:40:15,180 --> 00:40:19,740
next slide please. And then at the end of it we had a couple of concept designs that

552
00:40:19,740 --> 00:40:24,780
represent the community's vision at that incubation stage just kind of put

553
00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:27,580
together without really living under the constraints of real life of what the

554
00:40:27,580 --> 00:40:32,860
technical issues of the site are what things cost, that kind of thing, and these concepts

555
00:40:32,860 --> 00:40:38,060
had in common, this desire for sculpted and forms to have like an immersive experience

556
00:40:38,060 --> 00:40:43,020
of a place, an experience of being in there and retained elements of elevation, particularly

557
00:40:43,020 --> 00:40:47,700
around the pump house, or the gate house, and this is a list of some of the features that

558
00:40:47,700 --> 00:40:48,460
people dreamed up.

559
00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:52,900
First of all, we started with universal access, everyone should be able to access all the

560
00:40:52,900 --> 00:40:55,240
points of the site, more community gardening.

561
00:40:55,240 --> 00:40:59,940
There was a validation of this idea that we need access to nature and urban kids, urban

562
00:40:59,940 --> 00:41:06,380
families, residents need access to nature, the opportunities to combine a bunch of

563
00:41:06,380 --> 00:41:11,860
features from public art to recreation, native habitat, green infrastructure, and demonstrating

564
00:41:11,860 --> 00:41:12,580
that kind of thing.

565
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:13,400
Next slide, please.

566
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:20,660
And so out of it, we had this vision for a nature and community-focused park that had this

567
00:41:20,660 --> 00:41:26,460
opportunity to deliver on goals that are in the comprehensive plan for 2028 for Wilmington

568
00:41:26,460 --> 00:41:27,880
and in the resilient Wilmington report.

569
00:41:28,420 --> 00:41:32,540
And right now we have this opportunity with the working group that's gotten going

570
00:41:32,540 --> 00:41:37,620
to use a robust community planning process to work with professional landscape architects

571
00:41:37,620 --> 00:41:43,780
to create this amazing park that can meet our communities need to access nature and improve

572
00:41:43,780 --> 00:41:50,440
our environment, addressing like heat, like heat island effect, and address stormwater runoff,

573
00:41:50,500 --> 00:41:55,140
those kinds of things. Next slide, please. And so we have the Rodney Reservoir working group

574
00:41:55,140 --> 00:41:59,200
that got started. We have been advocating for it for over a year. We're so excited when it got

575
00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:08,180
going in July. We faced some constraints of time and budget, and also this lack of commitment,

576
00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,320
formal commitment on the part of the city to make a good faith effort to build the park that we

577
00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:18,780
design. We hear that and a lack of funding in place for it but nonetheless you know we

578
00:42:18,780 --> 00:42:24,520
with city workers and community members we have come together around a commitment to like

579
00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:29,780
create a design for a park that's following out of that vision of the of the charrette and we had

580
00:42:29,780 --> 00:42:34,400
a really positive RFP process. We put together an RFP. We had an amazing site visit with over a

581
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:41,000
dozen landscape architects coming out and then through the meeting with landscape architects we heard

582
00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:53,380
You know, they were amazed at this site, saw this amazing opportunity for place making at the site and an opportunity to build on the history of the site and they were amazed at our community engagement. Next slide, please.

583
00:42:54,200 --> 00:43:07,640
Our problem is is that the city is moving forward with this plan to demolish without completing the design process and with the plan to create this flattened lot that doesn't have any of the features we are looking for in it. Next slide, please.

584
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,980
We did hear the other day, we might get to keep the pump house, that was something we heard

585
00:43:11,980 --> 00:43:16,560
as soon as last night, and this is the city's plan, four months of demolition with concrete

586
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,580
munchers, bury the rubble on site and grade the site, and this is kind of some of the dust

587
00:43:20,580 --> 00:43:22,300
and debris we'll see next slide, please.

588
00:43:24,340 --> 00:43:30,500
And we're concerned that the city didn't initially have any plans to do environmental testing,

589
00:43:30,500 --> 00:43:37,980
But we as a community, you know, advocated for it and here are some of the most recent

590
00:43:38,580 --> 00:43:43,800
results have found unacceptable cancer risk under a resident's scenario and non-cancer

591
00:43:43,800 --> 00:43:45,720
risk to children in a resident's scenario.

592
00:43:45,880 --> 00:43:51,420
We're concerned that the city hasn't yet done any modeling to test for the actual demolition

593
00:43:51,420 --> 00:43:53,860
scenario when hazardous substances would be released.

594
00:43:54,020 --> 00:44:00,480
We've been seeing a release of hazardous substances through the disturbance of soil in the

595
00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:06,560
So, are we asking City Council to help out and to prioritize our health?

596
00:44:06,900 --> 00:44:08,480
There are a couple of opportunities right here.

597
00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:12,980
We can have a site-specific contaminating materials plan that would allow us to identify

598
00:44:12,980 --> 00:44:15,940
the materials and have a plan for that.

599
00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:21,780
We can use these as planning tools and Denmark strongly recommended that the City follow the

600
00:44:21,780 --> 00:44:28,140
HISCA guideline process, and we're asking City Council to go ahead and support that and

601
00:44:28,140 --> 00:44:29,980
and to go ahead and move that forward.

602
00:44:31,140 --> 00:44:34,000
And what this means is that we, in our mind,

603
00:44:34,220 --> 00:44:37,280
this fits into the comprehensive planning framework

604
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:38,960
that the bond bill committee had for us.

605
00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:41,280
And this is approaching site work strategically

606
00:44:41,690 --> 00:44:42,700
from the next slide here.

607
00:44:42,860 --> 00:44:43,620
We have an opportunity.

608
00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:48,100
We learned about this from the firms and our presentations

609
00:44:48,750 --> 00:44:52,020
that there are ways to do site work strategically.

610
00:44:52,740 --> 00:44:55,280
And so we want to build on that.

611
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,520
So we are looking for a comprehensive plan

612
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:59,980
to complete the design for the...

613
00:45:02,060 --> 00:45:26,780
We want to move forward on the vision out of the charette and build this nature and community focus park and we want to build. So if we do design and integrate it with construction, we can build on historic features of the site, including the elevation and grade change that people love so much. We can save money by integrating these steps. We can reduce the carbon footprint of the project and even tell the story of sustainable development.

614
00:45:26,780 --> 00:45:33,640
And we can minimize our community's risk of being exposed to hazardous substances.

615
00:45:33,980 --> 00:45:38,440
So we want to finish this design process, identify funding.

616
00:45:39,460 --> 00:45:41,960
Also, we need the design to attract the funding.

617
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:47,620
And another thing, the last thing I'll say is that our issue with the city's current plan is that it leads the site in limbo.

618
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:51,300
We know that we're hearing that the mayor has said we're not developing for now.

619
00:45:51,740 --> 00:45:55,920
But if you have a flat in site that's ready for development, that's what we know is going to happen.

620
00:45:55,920 --> 00:46:01,940
We know that there are plans out there that already exists to develop this site in a way that isn't green space

621
00:46:01,940 --> 00:46:09,000
And our community wants an awesome park and it deserves it and I really appreciate the opportunity to

622
00:46:09,560 --> 00:46:13,200
present. Thank you so much. Thank you so much Miss Davies

623
00:46:13,900 --> 00:46:17,800
If you like you could sit there because I know that there might be some questions

624
00:46:18,580 --> 00:46:25,820
I'm going to start with my council members if you have any questions and reference to the presentation very very

625
00:46:25,820 --> 00:46:32,440
nicely done. I love the enthusiasm and as someone who loves green spaces, it's a beautiful

626
00:46:32,440 --> 00:46:37,320
vision. So let's see how we can work together to make that happen. Of course, I want

627
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:43,380
to hear, you know, also from the city on what the plans are moving forward so that the community

628
00:46:43,380 --> 00:46:47,980
feels that the communication is there. As we know that the working group was put together

629
00:46:47,980 --> 00:46:52,540
with different members of the community, including the city, and I believe council member

630
00:46:52,540 --> 00:46:56,560
or feels maybe on that? No? Okay, so are there any council members on that?

631
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:58,860
No, elected officials on the May. Okay, all right.

632
00:46:59,180 --> 00:47:01,220
Well, either way, you will keep us abreast of this.

633
00:47:01,440 --> 00:47:04,140
Are there any questions right now that my councilmembers would like to?

634
00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:05,520
Not at this time, I'm sure.

635
00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:08,660
Councilmember Harley?

636
00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:11,640
Yes, thank you, Madam Chair.

637
00:47:12,880 --> 00:47:17,180
I also want to say that that presentation was very thorough,

638
00:47:17,800 --> 00:47:22,260
and it definitely gave those that didn't know

639
00:47:22,260 --> 00:47:29,580
So what this is all about, what it's about and the only thing that I would say is that

640
00:47:29,580 --> 00:47:36,240
I am interested in hearing what the plans are going forward since we know that our current

641
00:47:36,240 --> 00:47:42,040
mayor has announced that he will not be running this time next year, you know, he will not

642
00:47:42,040 --> 00:47:42,680
be the mayor.

643
00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:48,200
So I think it is important that the community knows exactly what is going on.

644
00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:52,480
and again thank you to the presenter and that's all I have Madam Chair.

645
00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:55,820
Thank you. Councilmember Darby?

646
00:47:59,180 --> 00:48:02,280
Yes. My question, great presentation, very

647
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:08,200
thorough community involvement of it. My question is how can we support you?

648
00:48:08,360 --> 00:48:16,340
Like what needs to, like what are you looking for from us in regards to the plan

649
00:48:16,340 --> 00:48:18,020
and that you have, what do you want to see

650
00:48:18,020 --> 00:48:19,340
from a council people?

651
00:48:20,600 --> 00:48:22,060
Thank you, Council member Darby.

652
00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:23,440
A great question.

653
00:48:23,580 --> 00:48:24,760
We would love to see a resolution.

654
00:48:25,220 --> 00:48:27,060
First of all, we think it would be a great step,

655
00:48:27,180 --> 00:48:29,840
a resolution that would call for the environmental testing

656
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,680
that we asked for and the, sorry, the environmental protocols,

657
00:48:32,900 --> 00:48:35,000
the framework, you know, the HISCA guidelines.

658
00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:38,680
We have the strong recommendation from Denmark already,

659
00:48:39,300 --> 00:48:41,600
you know, in their memo to us on the site,

660
00:48:41,980 --> 00:48:43,640
on the, you can see it on the city's website.

661
00:48:44,220 --> 00:48:45,220
So we'd like to see that.

662
00:48:45,220 --> 00:48:50,360
We'd like to have that site-specific contamination management plan.

663
00:48:51,280 --> 00:48:56,660
And then we'd like to see a resolution about the commitment to build this park

664
00:48:56,660 --> 00:48:59,560
that the community design process is going to roll out.

665
00:49:00,180 --> 00:49:01,140
That's the next thing.

666
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:06,020
And then finally, what we've been asking for all along is we are looking for

667
00:49:06,020 --> 00:49:11,660
a commitment to complete this as an comprehensively planned way.

668
00:49:11,660 --> 00:49:34,480
So we start from design that all site work be guided by design and that we allow the design process to play out so that we have specs that the contractors can bid for so that they are actually bidding all our RFP asked our landscape architects to think about addressing the safety of the tank through design.

669
00:49:34,740 --> 00:49:37,180
So how can we minimize our carbon footprint?

670
00:49:37,180 --> 00:49:52,460
How can we get this great park that we want, how can we do it sustainably, and how can we minimize the community's exposure to risk factors from, you know, the munching of silica holding concrete.

671
00:49:53,060 --> 00:49:54,640
So those are the three things.

672
00:49:54,840 --> 00:50:00,080
We want to have a, you know, this environmental management plan.

673
00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:02,340
We want to have a commitment to build a park that we design.

674
00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:04,520
And then I'm kind of going in reverse order.

675
00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:08,120
But we want to have the design drive the site work.

676
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:11,440
And we think that we could accomplish that in a resolution.

677
00:50:14,150 --> 00:50:14,970
Okay, thank you.

678
00:50:15,350 --> 00:50:15,750
Thank you.

679
00:50:16,110 --> 00:50:16,730
Thank you.

680
00:50:16,970 --> 00:50:17,790
Any other council members?

681
00:50:20,740 --> 00:50:21,040
Okay.

682
00:50:21,820 --> 00:50:23,900
So at this time, I'm sorry.

683
00:50:23,900 --> 00:50:25,580
Yes, Council Member Dr. Colleen.

684
00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:26,300
You may proceed.

685
00:50:26,420 --> 00:50:27,320
Down for a second.

686
00:50:27,820 --> 00:50:31,500
Because most of the questions that I had, I wanted to ask,

687
00:50:31,560 --> 00:50:34,900
Council Member Darby did, I just wanted to make,

688
00:50:35,300 --> 00:50:37,180
and I just, I'm sorry, this is Council Member Colleen.

689
00:50:37,300 --> 00:50:41,300
I just wanted to be certain about when the concept,

690
00:50:41,340 --> 00:50:45,040
I think the design plans, I heard it was plural.

691
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:49,200
Had anyone actually come up with truly what they wanted

692
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:53,100
to see, like anything specific, that they wanted to,

693
00:50:53,100 --> 00:50:57,380
to be able to partner up, I guess, with the City to make certain that this is what,

694
00:50:57,760 --> 00:51:02,560
this is the way we like to, like for you to focus, or is it still more like you wanted

695
00:51:02,560 --> 00:51:07,940
to have more conversations that kind of like, you know, figure out what would be the best

696
00:51:07,940 --> 00:51:08,600
way to go for it?

697
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:11,720
I just wanted to get that last portion clarified.

698
00:51:13,000 --> 00:51:13,780
Thank you, Mayor Perci.

699
00:51:14,020 --> 00:51:15,160
Thank you, Council Member McCoy.

700
00:51:15,440 --> 00:51:22,160
So are you asking about the design process itself, or about the process for designing the site

701
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:27,520
Or about the comprehensive planning of how the city is going to go about doing the work at the site?

702
00:51:28,480 --> 00:51:34,780
No actually it wasn't me to the design of the site because I do realize that how important it is in order to find out

703
00:51:34,780 --> 00:51:37,680
What's going on with that tank underneath the hill?

704
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:42,360
Make sure that it isn't any issues that we call from to the community

705
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:46,460
Then of course how they were going to take it apart. I know those things are actually

706
00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:50,100
There was a project you're definitely working on.

707
00:51:50,260 --> 00:51:51,340
It was the last portion.

708
00:51:51,820 --> 00:51:54,620
How can the city be more, you know, are you,

709
00:51:55,020 --> 00:51:56,780
are you going to be presenting something to the city?

710
00:51:56,860 --> 00:51:57,660
Like this is what we want.

711
00:51:57,980 --> 00:51:59,460
Are you going to be trying to work with the city?

712
00:51:59,600 --> 00:52:00,640
Why don't you get to that portion?

713
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:01,620
Work with the city.

714
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,000
Like this is what we think should happen

715
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:06,280
and have it give and take on what would be

716
00:52:06,280 --> 00:52:07,660
the best for that area.

717
00:52:07,940 --> 00:52:08,620
Okay, wonderful.

718
00:52:08,940 --> 00:52:10,660
Thank you, Council Member McCoy.

719
00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:14,120
So like we said, we had a charade last summer

720
00:52:14,120 --> 00:52:19,720
the creative division, and then this summer, sorry, earlier in June, and then July, we got

721
00:52:19,720 --> 00:52:25,700
going with this Rodney Roosevelt working group. So I probably did omit saying that at the end

722
00:52:25,700 --> 00:52:31,320
of that request for proposal process, we, you know, the city did hire a landscape architect,

723
00:52:31,740 --> 00:52:36,560
and we had our first meeting with them last night. There's going to be additional community design

724
00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:41,700
events that will allow, you know, more to, you know, try to get more members of the community involved,

725
00:52:41,700 --> 00:52:45,840
more partner organizations involved to design that future.

726
00:52:46,360 --> 00:52:51,780
A frustration that we've had through the working group is that we have presented these ideas

727
00:52:52,200 --> 00:52:56,820
about the importance from the very beginning that we've been asking this for over a year

728
00:52:56,820 --> 00:53:01,240
in our advocacy that we begin with design and begin construction afterwards.

729
00:53:01,800 --> 00:53:09,560
And we have been told just plain no that it's not negotiable, that the place is being demolished

730
00:53:09,560 --> 00:53:10,280
in January.

731
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:12,180
We did get the caveat.

732
00:53:13,020 --> 00:53:17,620
We can move the dirt around, if you get the design done, maybe we can move the dirt around.

733
00:53:17,740 --> 00:53:21,480
Last night we heard for the first time that you might be able to keep the pump house.

734
00:53:21,900 --> 00:53:26,000
Mayor Przicki said, you know, if there's something really inspiring, maybe I'll be moved.

735
00:53:27,120 --> 00:53:35,080
And we are frustrated by that because we think that the city should be responsive to the community's interests.

736
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,080
And that should be, we've been asking for a resident driven process.

737
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:46,460
the whole time. And that's been a frustration for us. So we had been asking, we had some

738
00:53:46,460 --> 00:53:51,200
landscape architects that told us, you know, spoke, started speaking about how they

739
00:53:51,200 --> 00:53:57,380
could, you know, approach, not demolition, but deconstruction. That's what you do in 2023.

740
00:53:57,900 --> 00:54:02,100
Like that's, you know, to save on carbon, to save the community's exposure. We just heard

741
00:54:02,100 --> 00:54:05,660
in that last presentation how important it is to follow all the environmental protocols and

742
00:54:05,660 --> 00:54:13,060
keep the communities like exposure to dust and contaminants, you know, the priority, we're

743
00:54:13,060 --> 00:54:17,420
wondering why that's not a priority at our site. The city wasn't going to do any environmental

744
00:54:17,420 --> 00:54:20,640
testing, like we're the ones, are these neighbors right here that?

745
00:54:21,000 --> 00:54:22,300
Yes, you can. Yes.

746
00:54:23,300 --> 00:54:24,240
Thank you. Hi.

747
00:54:24,400 --> 00:54:24,560
Hi.

748
00:54:24,680 --> 00:54:25,960
This is Christian Willar from the community.

749
00:54:26,040 --> 00:54:27,020
Yeah, my name's Christian Willar.

750
00:54:27,340 --> 00:54:31,680
I'm really closely with green for the great, I mean, volunteer with green for the greater

751
00:54:31,680 --> 00:54:35,640
good. And councilwoman McCoy, the answer to your question is, is that the community

752
00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:41,780
community, and the city currently are working on a collaborative community design process

753
00:54:41,780 --> 00:54:47,740
for this park, the future Rodney reservoir park, and the city, Mayor Bersiggy, set up

754
00:54:47,740 --> 00:54:51,840
a working group. There's city members on it. There's community members on it. We went

755
00:54:51,840 --> 00:54:58,560
through an RFP process. We hired a landscape architect, and that landscape architect kicked

756
00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:04,600
off their community design process last night. And so what the community, what green for

757
00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:10,820
the greater good is asking is for that community design process to finish and to get tons of

758
00:55:10,820 --> 00:55:16,260
people involved, create an awesome design with tons of resident engagement that's based

759
00:55:16,260 --> 00:55:22,620
on an understanding of the conditions of the site, and that we use that plan to drive

760
00:55:22,620 --> 00:55:27,840
any site work that's needed, that we don't do demolition until that design is done, and

761
00:55:27,840 --> 00:55:32,620
that we identify funding to build the park before we demolish the Rodney Reservoir.

762
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:52,440
I would like to bring the members from the city if you could come and speak to this because we're having the dialogue but we haven't heard from what the city is doing and I'm glad to hear that last night that meeting the engagement was there it sounds like we have a path forward.

763
00:55:53,460 --> 00:55:59,100
So, Vince, are you speaking or Commissioner Starky, whomever would like to come up?

764
00:55:59,120 --> 00:56:04,600
We got three seats, microphones and you know, because I want us to have a thoughtful discussion

765
00:56:04,600 --> 00:56:05,220
while we're here.

766
00:56:05,520 --> 00:56:06,760
I don't have any other presentations.

767
00:56:06,760 --> 00:56:11,340
I don't want to drag the meeting out, but these are questions and concerns that the community

768
00:56:11,340 --> 00:56:11,900
has.

769
00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:17,500
We want them answered and we also want the city to, you know, represent your plans and what

770
00:56:17,500 --> 00:56:18,820
you're doing as well.

771
00:56:18,940 --> 00:56:19,340
We don't want it.

772
00:56:19,380 --> 00:56:20,340
The city is going under the bus.

773
00:56:20,340 --> 00:56:24,040
All right. Vince Grove, Jim, the Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Public Works.

774
00:56:24,620 --> 00:56:25,400
With me, I have-

775
00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:26,020
Lynn Claus.

776
00:56:26,440 --> 00:56:32,200
I also work in Public Works and I'm also a co-chair for the Advisory Committee for the

777
00:56:32,200 --> 00:56:32,820
Ronnie Reservoir.

778
00:56:33,280 --> 00:56:33,720
Thank you.

779
00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:34,160
Thank you.

780
00:56:35,200 --> 00:56:36,940
I'll just start out with a general overview.

781
00:56:37,220 --> 00:56:43,920
So, the 1-7 is a proposal that I had put together when we put in for the FYI-22 state

782
00:56:43,920 --> 00:56:44,460
bond bill.

783
00:56:44,460 --> 00:56:51,840
So, we presented that, the administration to state and got the funding for demo of the site.

784
00:56:52,660 --> 00:56:56,380
I've been with public works, as most of you know, for quite a while.

785
00:56:56,780 --> 00:57:02,980
We had to fence that site off because the roof of the structure is unsafe to allow anyone to work on.

786
00:57:03,020 --> 00:57:11,620
We have a report and little provide the information on our website page that we set off of the main city website that has all of the reports,

787
00:57:11,620 --> 00:57:17,140
reports, the geotech reports, consult and reports, soil testering reports, and so on.

788
00:57:17,780 --> 00:57:23,080
As it relates to the site itself, the mayor and the administration have committed to

789
00:57:23,080 --> 00:57:31,260
keeping, to making this an open green space, so any talk of future development and so on and so forth is unfounded.

790
00:57:31,600 --> 00:57:41,600
The mayor is committed to the members of the Greenford Greater Good Group and to the Rodney Reservoir Advisory Committee to keep this.

791
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:45,400
as a green open space to be enjoyed by the public.

792
00:57:46,060 --> 00:57:48,100
So let's, I'm going to clear that up right here.

793
00:57:48,280 --> 00:57:48,580
Thank you.

794
00:57:48,940 --> 00:57:54,700
As far as testing, we do have engaged with DENREC to do our due diligence.

795
00:57:54,980 --> 00:57:57,420
This is not the first construction project we've worked on.

796
00:57:58,120 --> 00:58:05,460
We had extensive soil testing more so than probably any other project that I've worked on.

797
00:58:05,680 --> 00:58:07,980
Well, we're demoing entire sites.

798
00:58:07,980 --> 00:58:16,440
31 separate samples were taken and analyzed the page, the reports are available on the city's website.

799
00:58:16,740 --> 00:58:21,720
Thousands of pages of analytical documents we brought in a consultant, Verandis,

800
00:58:21,900 --> 00:58:28,060
who is an expert with environmental issues and had them manage all the tests that we've done.

801
00:58:28,320 --> 00:58:34,880
It's a spestus testing on the gate house and the walls of the tank where the gate house is located.

802
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:37,960
needed, no asbestos as found was found on the sites.

803
00:58:38,700 --> 00:58:44,560
We ran the soil testing mod all through a risk assessment tool that Denrek has.

804
00:58:45,020 --> 00:58:50,200
The only thing that we found that was of concern was a naturally occurring cobalt.

805
00:58:50,260 --> 00:58:57,120
In order for that to be an issue, and we ran this with Denrek twice because after the initial

806
00:58:57,120 --> 00:59:04,820
run was provided, they changed the parameters and wanted us to run it with additional exposure

807
00:59:04,820 --> 00:59:09,720
time for the various groups. So, we actually used a very conservative methodology.

808
00:59:10,320 --> 00:59:15,860
The only thing that came out above the DENREC levels is for the naturally occurring

809
00:59:15,860 --> 00:59:20,980
cold bolt would be in a residential scenario. So, that would be if we were building

810
00:59:20,980 --> 00:59:27,840
homes there, someone would have to be on site 350 days a year for 26 years in order to

811
00:59:27,840 --> 00:59:33,000
have an exposure to the cold bolt that is above the current DENREC levels.

812
00:59:33,000 --> 00:59:40,620
Again, all that information and reports that we have provided, and we have worked closely with

813
00:59:40,620 --> 00:59:42,560
dinner at home, had several calls with them.

814
00:59:42,680 --> 00:59:49,220
We've submitted a report they have come back to us and approved our contaminant materials

815
00:59:49,220 --> 00:59:55,240
management plan for the site, have cleared us to start on demo for the site.

816
00:59:55,560 --> 00:59:59,800
We've been cleared with a dust control plan that was also submitted out of an abundance

817
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:29,460
So there will be wet down water on site during the process. So the way we envision the, and our consultants and engineers have drawn the plans up for this project, we will be making entrance off of H street. Once we uncover the walls of the tank, since we cannot go on top of it, because it is unsafe, we will be taking additional samples of concrete and testing that for a spestus out of an abundance of caution. We don't feel we're going to find anything there, but we agreed with DENREC that we would

818
01:00:29,460 --> 01:00:35,460
to do that, then once that would be cleared, we would be making entrance into the tank off

819
01:00:35,460 --> 01:00:41,480
of eight street, the walls, the berms around the other three sides of the tank would be

820
01:00:41,480 --> 01:00:46,300
remaining for noise attenuation. And again, as I said, we would be having a wet-down

821
01:00:46,300 --> 01:00:51,400
wood in there, we'd be essentially going through, working our way through the site and collapsing

822
01:00:51,400 --> 01:00:57,120
all the concrete, removing any rebar, removing any lead pipe that's on the site, which most

823
01:00:57,120 --> 01:01:01,080
to the piping is going to be at the other end where it runs into the gate house and that's

824
01:01:01,080 --> 01:01:05,180
not in the area of the tank. We were going to be disturbing. However, we will remediate

825
01:01:05,180 --> 01:01:11,380
all that and remove all those materials and recycle or dispose of them properly.

826
01:01:13,460 --> 01:01:20,340
Once the tank in the munching of the concrete is completed, that essentially is fill in the void.

827
01:01:20,680 --> 01:01:25,600
That is the 7.5 million gallon water tank. Then the plan then calls for

828
01:01:25,600 --> 01:01:33,440
So utilizing the soils around the berms on each side of the three sides of the reservoir and pushing that over for site cover.

829
01:01:33,580 --> 01:01:36,880
Additionally, there may end up being additional soils that we have to bring in.

830
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:43,980
But the overall look of the site, once the demolition would be completed and construction completed with it,

831
01:01:44,400 --> 01:01:49,240
essentially, you would be able to walk on to the site straight onto it from 8th Street.

832
01:01:49,240 --> 01:01:56,380
So that would be prevent or prohibit, you know, would aid an ADA compliant access to the future site.

833
01:01:56,540 --> 01:02:02,280
If you're any of you're familiar with it now, there's a high slopes that you saw in the presentations.

834
01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:08,380
So there is no way to access the site without going up series of steps to get into the property.

835
01:02:09,040 --> 01:02:12,280
The grade would be a 1% grade towards Knight Street.

836
01:02:12,280 --> 01:02:20,040
So, again, you'd be able to walk on or roll a wheelchair on from the 8th Street side of the property.

837
01:02:20,640 --> 01:02:27,880
We envision fencing and the existing brick pillars around the site all remaining and

838
01:02:27,880 --> 01:02:35,460
the areas to the north of the gate house where that sidewalk goes through now, the garden areas.

839
01:02:35,460 --> 01:02:40,660
because we don't envision touching any of that area that would remain as a state.

840
01:02:43,840 --> 01:02:50,320
We did say we would work with the landscape architect and if they were able to provide us with a site map,

841
01:02:50,880 --> 01:02:58,180
we would be able to leave the soil as they have a plan.

842
01:02:59,220 --> 01:03:02,920
Deposit as needed so we will work with that.

843
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:07,540
As Lynn has mentioned, we've engaged the services of a landscape architect

844
01:03:07,540 --> 01:03:12,780
through an RFP process that was administered by the advisory committee.

845
01:03:13,080 --> 01:03:17,100
While they're in process of being put under contract and they've been given instructions

846
01:03:17,100 --> 01:03:21,340
to come up with preliminary designs for what the future of the site would look like.

847
01:03:21,420 --> 01:03:25,540
From the Water Department standpoint, which is why we put in for the money to demolish

848
01:03:25,540 --> 01:03:30,860
us because it is no longer safe and no longer feasible to put it in service, as a finished

849
01:03:30,860 --> 01:03:34,120
water storage reservoir, we're looking to make the site safe.

850
01:03:34,520 --> 01:03:38,220
At that point, the water department will have no physical nexus to the site,

851
01:03:38,340 --> 01:03:41,780
and we would be turning the site over to the Department of Parks and Recreation.

852
01:03:42,500 --> 01:03:44,220
Thank you for that thorough explanation.

853
01:03:45,140 --> 01:03:49,340
Really quick, because I know one of the things I heard from the community is height.

854
01:03:50,060 --> 01:03:53,960
I know the ADA accessibility is something that I brought up, so that was taken into concern.

855
01:03:54,480 --> 01:03:58,920
But would they still have some of that height that kind of lends to the uniqueness of that site?

856
01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:01,940
On the, they're so neat with the landscape type.

857
01:04:02,120 --> 01:04:06,960
We selected one of the architects is like an expert in grading.

858
01:04:07,480 --> 01:04:10,000
And so, you know, they're very excited about the elevation

859
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:13,400
and keeping the elevation but also being ADA accessible

860
01:04:13,400 --> 01:04:14,100
at the same time.

861
01:04:14,320 --> 01:04:16,060
So that would be part of our design process.

862
01:04:16,580 --> 01:04:18,920
So since last night was the first meeting

863
01:04:18,920 --> 01:04:21,060
that you had with the work and group and the architect.

864
01:04:21,300 --> 01:04:22,280
Is this the same work as well?

865
01:04:22,460 --> 01:04:23,660
I should step back.

866
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:26,040
The working group has been working for months.

867
01:04:26,040 --> 01:04:33,780
The mayor and certain representatives have appointed folks to the committee, and they

868
01:04:33,780 --> 01:04:35,540
have had multiple.

869
01:04:36,040 --> 01:04:36,780
But like the architect.

870
01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:38,580
The market was the first.

871
01:04:38,700 --> 01:04:39,880
That was the first time.

872
01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:40,140
That's what I mean.

873
01:04:40,280 --> 01:04:41,080
That's what I mean.

874
01:04:41,240 --> 01:04:41,340
Yeah.

875
01:04:41,440 --> 01:04:41,880
I know you guys.

876
01:04:41,940 --> 01:04:41,980
Yes.

877
01:04:42,580 --> 01:04:44,000
I remember when this first started.

878
01:04:44,100 --> 01:04:44,180
Yeah.

879
01:04:44,360 --> 01:04:47,360
The friend Kevin Malloy was the one who brought it to the attention of the community that this was

880
01:04:47,360 --> 01:04:47,700
happening.

881
01:04:49,020 --> 01:04:52,420
So last night was basically the first meeting really talking to the architect.

882
01:04:52,420 --> 01:04:56,020
And this is the architect that the work was working with.

883
01:04:56,600 --> 01:05:02,940
So then it sounds to me like a lot of the fears that the community has had and brought forward into the attention

884
01:05:02,940 --> 01:05:06,160
that you're working together to address them.

885
01:05:06,720 --> 01:05:09,940
You have an architect, you have a plan moving forward.

886
01:05:10,320 --> 01:05:14,160
Some of the concerns that I've heard is also before the demolition starts,

887
01:05:14,420 --> 01:05:19,660
can we agree on a design or is that continue to be a work in progress?

888
01:05:19,880 --> 01:05:21,560
What's the flexibility to do that?

889
01:05:21,560 --> 01:05:27,920
We've been, originally the mayor had asked us to have a design concept in mid-November.

890
01:05:28,940 --> 01:05:34,560
We've been pushing it back and the city has been willing to allow us to push back that

891
01:05:35,080 --> 01:05:39,180
due date for a landscape design just because, you know, with people's schedules, it's been

892
01:05:39,180 --> 01:05:44,120
hard to get everybody to meet and to select the landscape architect and that whole process.

893
01:05:44,700 --> 01:05:50,160
So I think right now we're looking to have a landscape design in place by sometime like

894
01:05:50,160 --> 01:05:53,780
mid beginning of February. That's what was on the schedule.

895
01:05:54,580 --> 01:05:57,520
However, what is the timeline? Is the demolition starting right on the

896
01:05:57,520 --> 01:06:01,780
dot in January? Or we say that we're going to be going out to bid here within

897
01:06:01,780 --> 01:06:06,800
probably the next week or two. Then that starts an entire process as you know

898
01:06:06,800 --> 01:06:10,300
with some of these construction contracts. That's, you know, there's a lot of

899
01:06:10,300 --> 01:06:12,940
a lot of hoops that have to be jumped through to.

900
01:06:13,220 --> 01:06:17,540
But conceivably, same time we probably won't even be starting to do any of the

901
01:06:17,540 --> 01:06:24,060
work until the spring, which gives you more time to really adopt a concept, a design that

902
01:06:24,060 --> 01:06:28,140
between, you know, the community and everyone can kind of feel comfortable with. I mean,

903
01:06:28,260 --> 01:06:33,920
that sounds good to me and I know that the community is going to have some questions and that,

904
01:06:34,020 --> 01:06:37,860
you know, we compromise and we work together. That's a good thing. Let me see if I have any

905
01:06:37,860 --> 01:06:43,300
questions from Councilmembers. I do want to open it up to the public. Councilmember McCoy and

906
01:06:43,300 --> 01:06:44,600
And then we'll, let me start loud on here.

907
01:06:44,860 --> 01:06:46,100
That's when we're going to go with Councilor.

908
01:06:46,340 --> 01:06:46,620
Thank you.

909
01:06:46,740 --> 01:06:47,140
Okay.

910
01:06:48,160 --> 01:06:51,040
So I had like two questions, basically.

911
01:06:51,960 --> 01:06:54,620
So you actually gave a lot of information.

912
01:06:54,700 --> 01:06:57,900
I'm just trying to make sure that I had, I got as much as I could.

913
01:06:58,600 --> 01:07:03,060
I just wanted to know, it seems though you talked about a lot of, some tests they had

914
01:07:03,060 --> 01:07:03,680
already been done.

915
01:07:03,780 --> 01:07:05,320
And there was like minimal contamination.

916
01:07:06,120 --> 01:07:10,140
I just wanted to know whether or not I had those reports to be shared with, with the group.

917
01:07:10,140 --> 01:07:15,060
Can you, if you want, we can bring up the City Wilmington's website.

918
01:07:15,240 --> 01:07:21,600
We have a page directly for the Rodney Reservoir, and it contains all of the testing information.

919
01:07:22,540 --> 01:07:32,040
And it also has, we've had our contractors, the testing engineer and our construction

920
01:07:32,040 --> 01:07:34,040
air put together.

921
01:07:34,620 --> 01:07:38,480
There's been a lot of questions, environmental questions, just questions about the demolition.

922
01:07:38,480 --> 01:07:45,880
And we've had them answer as many questions that have been brought to us, also they put

923
01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:54,040
together a memo on what the actual soil testing is and put it in layman's term on how to

924
01:07:54,040 --> 01:08:01,300
how would they determine like what the soils being used for is it being used for people

925
01:08:01,300 --> 01:08:06,640
who live there 365 days a year is it somebody who's gardening is it just people who are using

926
01:08:06,640 --> 01:08:12,840
it for recreational purposes. So, Denmark has different requirements based on what the

927
01:08:12,840 --> 01:08:20,400
soil is going to be used for. That is on the environmental section. It's under the

928
01:08:20,400 --> 01:08:23,920
environmental. I mean, you can look through it. There's a lot of information and there's

929
01:08:23,920 --> 01:08:27,440
a lot of history on there. Does that answer your question, Council Member McCoy?

930
01:08:28,420 --> 01:08:33,600
Yes, so I was stating. I said I had a second question. Am I? Yeah, the first

931
01:08:35,680 --> 01:08:36,840
PDF is the

932
01:08:37,800 --> 01:08:40,620
layman's term for the soil testing and how they determine

933
01:08:41,840 --> 01:08:43,780
what's required based on the use.

934
01:08:50,480 --> 01:08:53,470
Sherwin and Kerber, are you able to hear me? Yes, I can hear you.

935
01:08:54,140 --> 01:08:57,540
All day, I'm such that I had to follow and never got any information back.

936
01:08:57,900 --> 01:08:59,440
So the second question I had was

937
01:08:59,440 --> 01:09:06,060
So I've actually already known that there was, you know, of course the reservoir was being

938
01:09:06,060 --> 01:09:09,980
been safer quite some time. I don't know whether or not you're aware, but I've actually

939
01:09:09,980 --> 01:09:14,740
participated in quite a few of those dirt days, working for West Side Groves, so lugging

940
01:09:14,740 --> 01:09:20,960
that stuff down the hill. But I would like to know what was the significant change in the reservoirs

941
01:09:20,960 --> 01:09:25,280
from then till now that we decided that we needed to take care of this at this very moment?

942
01:09:25,280 --> 01:09:26,060
The

943
01:09:28,550 --> 01:09:33,450
problem, Council Member McCoy, is with the roof, the concrete between the support

944
01:09:33,450 --> 01:09:36,370
beams is not structurally sound.

945
01:09:36,530 --> 01:09:41,530
We had a structural engineer go in and take a look at that and take boardings of it

946
01:09:41,530 --> 01:09:43,890
back in 2006 and prepare a report.

947
01:09:44,250 --> 01:09:48,730
That is why we had to fence the area off and cannot allow anybody to walk on it because if

948
01:09:48,730 --> 01:09:52,550
you were walking between the beams, you could fall right through into the reservoir.

949
01:09:53,350 --> 01:09:56,430
It's no longer, concrete is no longer consolidated.

950
01:09:57,230 --> 01:09:57,670
Okay.

951
01:09:57,750 --> 01:09:58,430
All right.

952
01:09:59,070 --> 01:10:00,010
Thank you for answering those questions.

953
01:10:00,170 --> 01:10:02,270
Val, one of my biggest concerns.

954
01:10:02,750 --> 01:10:03,790
Thank you, Councilor McCoy.

955
01:10:03,990 --> 01:10:04,510
Councilman White.

956
01:10:05,190 --> 01:10:05,950
Yes, Madam Chair.

957
01:10:06,150 --> 01:10:07,190
I've got a series of questions.

958
01:10:07,250 --> 01:10:10,710
First of all, I know Vince, but what's your role with the department?

959
01:10:11,550 --> 01:10:16,610
I do a lot of things with them, but of course, I do a project management.

960
01:10:16,870 --> 01:10:18,390
I help manage the paving.

961
01:10:19,050 --> 01:10:20,390
And your name again, please?

962
01:10:20,630 --> 01:10:20,790
Lin.

963
01:10:22,050 --> 01:10:22,490
Klaus.

964
01:10:22,710 --> 01:10:23,730
K-L-O-U-S.

965
01:10:25,190 --> 01:10:27,690
What's the current height of the property?

966
01:10:28,170 --> 01:10:28,510
The height.

967
01:10:28,810 --> 01:10:31,670
I think it's about 245 feet above sea level.

968
01:10:32,510 --> 01:10:35,270
What's the proposed height after demolition?

969
01:10:35,570 --> 01:10:36,570
I think that's going to be the top.

970
01:10:36,570 --> 01:10:40,590
The proposed plan is on that section of the website.

971
01:10:41,290 --> 01:10:41,410
Thank you.

972
01:10:41,650 --> 01:10:42,910
The WITN had up there.

973
01:10:43,050 --> 01:10:49,630
We had a perspective in drawing in there, but essentially the grade would be street level

974
01:10:49,630 --> 01:10:50,810
on the age street side.

975
01:10:50,810 --> 01:10:57,270
And then that would take for up at a one-degree slope towards 9th Street, the grade

976
01:10:57,270 --> 01:11:02,150
around the sidewalk where the sidewalk cuts through the northern end of the property

977
01:11:02,150 --> 01:11:03,290
would remain unchanged.

978
01:11:03,810 --> 01:11:08,290
So there would still be steps and so forth on the 9th Street entrances into the park.

979
01:11:08,570 --> 01:11:11,370
Would that increase runoff or decrease runoff?

980
01:11:11,850 --> 01:11:13,770
There's going to be a 1 percent slope.

981
01:11:14,070 --> 01:11:16,790
So it's 1 percent, it's going to be a very minimal slope.

982
01:11:16,790 --> 01:11:22,230
So, the water, the stormwater falling on the site would remain on the, on the pervious

983
01:11:22,230 --> 01:11:22,770
surfaces.

984
01:11:23,510 --> 01:11:26,850
Just to mention, though, the landscape architect, that's not the plan.

985
01:11:27,410 --> 01:11:29,150
I don't think anybody in the community wants.

986
01:11:29,470 --> 01:11:34,150
So, we're going to be working with the landscape architect who will most likely change

987
01:11:34,150 --> 01:11:34,330
that.

988
01:11:34,810 --> 01:11:35,130
Thank you.

989
01:11:35,250 --> 01:11:39,250
What's the property currently because of the, it's, it's, it's open space.

990
01:11:39,690 --> 01:11:40,150
Open space.

991
01:11:44,300 --> 01:11:50,580
And let me ask you a question, back to Chair's comments, what, what do you think

992
01:11:50,580 --> 01:11:56,300
What's the disconnect between what you're saying and what the community is saying, why is what's the disconnect?

993
01:11:56,680 --> 01:12:04,760
Can I also just thanks on the co-chair of the committee, and I want to represent everybody on the committee, and not everybody on the committee has the same concerns.

994
01:12:05,560 --> 01:12:14,880
So there are some who are concerned about the environment, are concerned about what's actually going to take place at this site, but there's also those who don't have the same concerns, so.

995
01:12:15,280 --> 01:12:16,500
What are the concerns that they have?

996
01:12:16,500 --> 01:12:22,680
I don't, I mean, just from what their concerns are, I think that's, I don't understand.

997
01:12:23,140 --> 01:12:23,720
You said something about that.

998
01:12:23,720 --> 01:12:27,020
I was going to say not everybody has the same concerns that were presented tonight.

999
01:12:27,380 --> 01:12:33,220
There's a lot of people in the community that are, don't share the same environmental concerns.

1000
01:12:34,740 --> 01:12:38,280
Don't have the same desires, what the park is going to be.

1001
01:12:38,840 --> 01:12:44,840
So, you're saying that there's some people on this working group that does not have concerns regarding environmental risk?

1002
01:12:44,840 --> 01:12:45,300
That's correct.

1003
01:12:47,730 --> 01:12:48,430
But they're not.

1004
01:12:48,430 --> 01:12:53,310
I think what would lead to that to say, they don't think that additional testing and

1005
01:12:53,310 --> 01:13:00,410
additional work as it relates to, to site-specific, you know, contaminated material

1006
01:13:00,410 --> 01:13:03,490
management plans are necessary because we've met with them.

1007
01:13:03,590 --> 01:13:07,910
We've, we've shown them the same reports that are posted on the website and they understand

1008
01:13:07,910 --> 01:13:12,470
that the regulating authority, in this case, Denreck, is saying it's, it's safe to move

1009
01:13:12,470 --> 01:13:16,990
before with what we wanted to do. That was the whole point of testing and submitting to

1010
01:13:16,990 --> 01:13:17,490
DENRAC.

1011
01:13:17,810 --> 01:13:21,510
And that plan has been, was shared with the community.

1012
01:13:22,110 --> 01:13:24,870
It's all in the documentation that's posted on our website, yes.

1013
01:13:27,110 --> 01:13:33,230
So I guess was the plan shared with the community, only via the website or was there any meetings?

1014
01:13:34,010 --> 01:13:40,650
There's, there's a public committee meeting, so we've had, well, Linza, the co-chair of

1015
01:13:40,650 --> 01:13:42,130
the committee, I don't have the total number of meetings.

1016
01:13:42,130 --> 01:13:44,290
I'm not on the committee, but they have had many more.

1017
01:13:44,290 --> 01:13:45,150
This is the working group.

1018
01:13:45,350 --> 01:13:46,370
It's the working group, yes.

1019
01:13:46,810 --> 01:13:51,470
Thank you from there.

1020
01:13:51,630 --> 01:13:55,570
So there's meetings, minutes of these public meetings, right?

1021
01:13:56,270 --> 01:13:57,130
They are open to the public.

1022
01:13:57,650 --> 01:13:57,950
They're open to the public.

1023
01:13:58,230 --> 01:13:59,050
Are there minutes?

1024
01:13:59,730 --> 01:13:59,990
Yes.

1025
01:14:00,930 --> 01:14:03,510
So can you, oh, excuse me.

1026
01:14:03,650 --> 01:14:05,130
The public, you really can't speak out.

1027
01:14:05,270 --> 01:14:07,450
You've got to be called and you'll have a moment to speak.

1028
01:14:07,610 --> 01:14:11,330
So are there minutes or they're not minutes?

1029
01:14:11,330 --> 01:14:17,650
There have been minutes and we also taped so can you can you provide counsel with a copy of this minutes?

1030
01:14:18,710 --> 01:14:19,750
Thank you

1031
01:14:23,510 --> 01:14:25,510
Normally wow, I can't say normally

1032
01:14:26,990 --> 01:14:27,510
What

1033
01:14:29,250 --> 01:14:29,770
Steps

1034
01:14:32,620 --> 01:14:33,920
and it seems to come up a lot

1035
01:14:34,760 --> 01:14:38,020
Will the city take or has taken the minimize damage to

1036
01:14:38,780 --> 01:14:39,300
other

1037
01:14:39,820 --> 01:14:43,300
Properties adjacent properties i.e. basements and that kind of thing

1038
01:14:43,300 --> 01:14:48,680
I mean, we'll typically do like precond surveys, videotape, and so forth, and document the

1039
01:14:48,680 --> 01:14:52,900
existing condition. There's not, I mean, there's going to be munchers on the property.

1040
01:14:54,580 --> 01:14:58,840
There's not going to be a lot of, you know, there'll be some, you know, breaking of concrete

1041
01:14:58,840 --> 01:14:59,980
within there and munching...

1042
01:15:00,000 --> 01:15:29,060
We're doing it in the concrete, but not in the street itself. It's good. But vibrations, normally people really do vibrations, right? So, we'll typically on a lot of our street projects, whether they be for, whether we're digging for water sewer mains, would have you, we'll do pre-con instruction. That's, that becomes part of the scope of the contractor. He's responsible. He would go through and take pre-construction surveys, videotape of the foundations of the property and so forth, prior to, and then we have a claim list to come up that that would be their responsibility to manage.

1043
01:15:29,960 --> 01:15:38,180
And just working through this, what light pollution measures will be incorporated

1044
01:15:38,180 --> 01:15:41,000
in this site, if any, will the site be lit?

1045
01:15:41,260 --> 01:15:46,480
The site is lit currently, and there's plans to maintain some level of lighting

1046
01:15:46,480 --> 01:15:52,160
up there in the future that would be cognizant upon what the final design plans look

1047
01:15:52,160 --> 01:15:53,920
like, but there are lights up there now.

1048
01:15:54,440 --> 01:15:57,940
And so do you feel as though what the community's requesting is unrealistic?

1049
01:15:59,240 --> 01:16:01,600
I've not seen a formal plan at this point.

1050
01:16:01,600 --> 01:16:02,820
There's a lot of ideas.

1051
01:16:03,440 --> 01:16:07,740
We, you know, the mayor and the administration have agreed to work with, towards a goal

1052
01:16:07,740 --> 01:16:10,820
with the community to develop, you know, to develop the site.

1053
01:16:12,100 --> 01:16:16,460
My goal is to make sure it's safe before we move off it.

1054
01:16:16,560 --> 01:16:17,200
We built the tank.

1055
01:16:17,340 --> 01:16:22,860
We ran the tank since 1917 until we shut it down in the late 90s.

1056
01:16:22,860 --> 01:16:28,000
And we're just trying to make sure the site's left in an appropriate condition to turn over to parks.

1057
01:16:28,600 --> 01:16:30,220
Thank you, ma'am, Chair and a more question.

1058
01:16:30,620 --> 01:16:30,960
Thank you.

1059
01:16:31,380 --> 01:16:36,680
Are there any other council members online that have any questions before I open it up to the public?

1060
01:16:39,500 --> 01:16:44,760
At this point, anyone from the public that would have any questions or comments that you'd like to come up?

1061
01:16:46,160 --> 01:16:46,560
Anyone?

1062
01:16:47,440 --> 01:16:50,380
If you could please speak into the mic and state your name.

1063
01:16:51,400 --> 01:16:59,360
I'm Anita Delago. I live at 1,500 West A Street directly across from the reservoir and listening to everything tonight.

1064
01:17:00,540 --> 01:17:11,220
My comments are really brief. I just want to know for myself and I do know for the community and all of my neighbors, not just all my street but the surrounding community.

1065
01:17:11,220 --> 01:17:20,040
I do believe it's important to have, once the demo's date is determined, that the community

1066
01:17:20,040 --> 01:17:21,960
knows what's coming next.

1067
01:17:22,180 --> 01:17:28,040
There's an agreed upon plan in writing that states, this is what's coming next.

1068
01:17:28,440 --> 01:17:33,880
I can put up with a lot, but if I know something good is coming after that.

1069
01:17:34,220 --> 01:17:37,120
And right now, I don't feel like we have that.

1070
01:17:37,120 --> 01:17:47,740
We don't have anything saying what comes next that's going to be a part and I know we have a, you know, landscape designers, you know, we have all of that in place.

1071
01:17:48,100 --> 01:17:58,980
We need to get more down on paper and in writing to ensure that the community knows what comes next because just this week we've had street work done that's made a mess.

1072
01:17:59,340 --> 01:18:05,580
Okay, I can deal with that but when you go up there for four months, people want to know what's coming afterwards.

1073
01:18:05,580 --> 01:18:12,080
words. What's coming after that demo? Because then at least they can rest assured there's

1074
01:18:12,080 --> 01:18:16,440
something good coming out of it. And that's really what I have to say. Thank you so much.

1075
01:18:16,640 --> 01:18:20,420
Thank you for coming. Thank you for speaking. I mean, it sounds to me from what I'm hearing.

1076
01:18:20,720 --> 01:18:26,620
This is a work in progress. This is not, there is no final footprint. The whole point of

1077
01:18:26,620 --> 01:18:31,480
getting that working group together was when the community said, this is what we want,

1078
01:18:31,480 --> 01:18:37,800
when they heard the demolition was coming, the city halted, the plans to demolish weren't

1079
01:18:37,800 --> 01:18:40,880
immediate, and the working group was formed.

1080
01:18:41,620 --> 01:18:46,160
Last night is the first meeting with the land scape architect, of course, there's other

1081
01:18:46,160 --> 01:18:51,380
moving pieces with this, so it sounds to me that before we even start the demolition, there's

1082
01:18:51,380 --> 01:18:55,540
going to be more time and more meetings for the working group, which is representative

1083
01:18:55,540 --> 01:18:59,540
of many different members of the community, not just the people that are here.

1084
01:18:59,540 --> 01:19:07,580
I appreciate the presentation that was made and the vision, because I think overall, the community wants to see green space.

1085
01:19:07,800 --> 01:19:10,680
And what I've heard is that this is going to be kept as green space.

1086
01:19:11,160 --> 01:19:16,260
So now we're going to talk about the particulars, because I was very excited about the things that I saw on paper.

1087
01:19:16,380 --> 01:19:19,240
And I do hope that many of those things do get incorporated.

1088
01:19:19,920 --> 01:19:24,460
But to me, it sounds like in good faith, the city is working with the community, there is a working group.

1089
01:19:25,360 --> 01:19:28,540
and there aren't any definitive plans right now.

1090
01:19:28,580 --> 01:19:30,280
We don't even have a date of demolition.

1091
01:19:30,660 --> 01:19:32,260
We know that the bids have to go out.

1092
01:19:32,560 --> 01:19:35,640
There's a plan in place for the environmental issues

1093
01:19:35,640 --> 01:19:38,480
that could come up, so I'm glad to hear that.

1094
01:19:39,140 --> 01:19:41,120
At this point, if there's any other comments

1095
01:19:41,120 --> 01:19:42,760
or questions from the community,

1096
01:19:43,160 --> 01:19:44,120
would you like to come up, please?

1097
01:19:48,440 --> 01:19:49,240
Good evening.

1098
01:19:49,680 --> 01:19:51,920
I wanted to thank you, Councilwoman Cabrera,

1099
01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:54,700
for inviting Green for the greater good to present tonight.

1100
01:19:55,320 --> 01:19:56,360
I'm April Collins.

1101
01:19:56,360 --> 01:20:08,360
I live at 1512 West 8th Street, I'm a gardener there, I'm a member of the green for the greater good, I'm a member of the working group, the Rani Reservoir Working Group.

1102
01:20:08,900 --> 01:20:20,020
My ask this evening is for City Council support to allow for the comprehensive planning and the community engagement and the design to come before any demolition starts.

1103
01:20:20,020 --> 01:20:28,340
I just think it should be one cohesive design for the space to make it safe, keep it green and open it to the public.

1104
01:20:28,800 --> 01:20:33,900
This should be done in a way that will preserve the historical and cultural significance of the site.

1105
01:20:34,940 --> 01:20:42,880
Rushing forward to demolish the reservoir without knowing the final design will cost more money and resources for the city in the end.

1106
01:20:42,880 --> 01:20:50,100
And so we should combine the design and the deconstruction to save money and build on the historical impact of the site.

1107
01:20:52,100 --> 01:20:56,300
So as we said, the city and the working group did hire a landscape architect.

1108
01:20:56,400 --> 01:21:05,300
We met with them last night and they are going to do community engagement and come up with this great design for the future of the park and we're so excited to start that.

1109
01:21:05,680 --> 01:21:11,860
We just, we are concerned they're not anticipating getting their final design until the end of February.

1110
01:21:12,400 --> 01:21:14,760
and demolition is scheduled to start in January.

1111
01:21:15,180 --> 01:21:21,340
So we are hoping that maybe the city that we can work together to combine those states into one.

1112
01:21:21,980 --> 01:21:22,800
So thank you.

1113
01:21:23,080 --> 01:21:23,980
Thank you for your comments.

1114
01:21:24,420 --> 01:21:26,420
And thank you for being one of our wonderful nurses.

1115
01:21:28,180 --> 01:21:31,400
I mean, Council Member Cabral, I'd like to just one thing.

1116
01:21:31,580 --> 01:21:37,040
One of the things that we heard loud and clear from the mayor was we did not want to be doing demolition in the summer.

1117
01:21:37,500 --> 01:21:40,880
When a lot of people were outside, we were trying to do this in such a way where we would

1118
01:21:40,880 --> 01:21:49,440
We have this complete, we're talking about four months of the demo to try to do it in a, you know, through the winter months when there's not a lot of outside activity going on.

1119
01:21:49,700 --> 01:21:58,780
I mean, I know it's disruptive. Any time we're working, whether it be water main work, sewer main work, it becomes disruptive to the neighborhood so to speak to the one resident's concern.

1120
01:21:58,940 --> 01:22:03,560
When we get done, you're going to have a freshly paved street and new water mains and hydrants out there.

1121
01:22:05,000 --> 01:22:06,820
Great. Thank you. Thank you for this comment.

1122
01:22:07,640 --> 01:22:09,160
I need to state your name, please.

1123
01:22:09,360 --> 01:22:10,860
Oh, hi, my name's Christian Willauer.

1124
01:22:11,200 --> 01:22:15,880
You know, I really thank again Councilwoman Cabrera and all the Council members who are

1125
01:22:15,880 --> 01:22:16,340
here tonight.

1126
01:22:16,500 --> 01:22:18,720
I know that you have been, had a super busy week.

1127
01:22:18,720 --> 01:22:23,300
I have nothing but respect for Council members for every, all the serious decisions you make.

1128
01:22:24,200 --> 01:22:28,480
So this is going to be just following up on what's been said.

1129
01:22:28,760 --> 01:22:32,920
I just want to clarify that there has been, and this is a concern of mine.

1130
01:22:33,180 --> 01:22:33,820
I'm a resident.

1131
01:22:33,820 --> 01:22:36,100
And then I live about a block and a half from this site.

1132
01:22:37,500 --> 01:22:38,880
It's a huge place.

1133
01:22:39,300 --> 01:22:41,440
I mean, make no mistake.

1134
01:22:41,640 --> 01:22:43,320
This is a four acre site.

1135
01:22:43,460 --> 01:22:45,320
This is like a solid block.

1136
01:22:45,580 --> 01:22:49,300
And it's built of reinforced concrete with rebar.

1137
01:22:49,680 --> 01:22:54,300
And it is going to be a giant, giant project, four months.

1138
01:22:54,620 --> 01:22:56,300
Like, most demolition doesn't take four months.

1139
01:22:56,460 --> 01:22:58,340
So we're talking about a very large demolition,

1140
01:22:58,680 --> 01:23:00,000
talking about a very large site.

1141
01:23:00,240 --> 01:23:02,160
And we're talking about a very dense urban neighborhood.

1142
01:23:02,160 --> 01:23:07,000
So I just wanted to say people have said that there's there's very little contamination.

1143
01:23:07,440 --> 01:23:09,440
Actually, there's quite a bit of contamination.

1144
01:23:09,980 --> 01:23:13,080
And the reason there's a lot of contamination is because it was built in 1916

1145
01:23:13,560 --> 01:23:15,860
before there was a lot of environmental concerns.

1146
01:23:16,300 --> 01:23:20,280
And there's a lot of random things up there that were put into that site that

1147
01:23:20,280 --> 01:23:22,020
I don't think we even really know everything.

1148
01:23:22,560 --> 01:23:26,260
So when Denrick did do testing, they found a bunch of things

1149
01:23:26,260 --> 01:23:28,220
and I gave everybody, you can look at your packet.

1150
01:23:28,220 --> 01:23:31,240
that in the packet there's a couple of maps

1151
01:23:31,240 --> 01:23:33,140
that just show some of the testing.

1152
01:23:34,020 --> 01:23:36,040
And like a lot of the contamination is because

1153
01:23:36,040 --> 01:23:38,080
they used a lot of coal ash cinders

1154
01:23:38,080 --> 01:23:40,360
and other things as part of the fill.

1155
01:23:40,660 --> 01:23:42,980
In those days, they used a lot of random fill.

1156
01:23:43,380 --> 01:23:45,900
So what they found, you know,

1157
01:23:46,220 --> 01:23:50,120
what Bernatis found was they did testing,

1158
01:23:50,420 --> 01:23:53,340
they found contamination, they ran risk scenarios.

1159
01:23:53,640 --> 01:23:54,400
And this is what they found.

1160
01:23:54,980 --> 01:23:57,060
Regulated substances in shallow soil

1161
01:23:57,060 --> 01:24:01,400
are President at an unacceptable cancer risk under the resident scenario.

1162
01:24:02,080 --> 01:24:07,660
And then they also found regulated substances in shallow and combined, shallow and

1163
01:24:07,660 --> 01:24:11,560
combined shallow and deep-soil are President at an unacceptable non-cancer

1164
01:24:11,560 --> 01:24:14,440
risk under the resident child H.I.

1165
01:24:14,560 --> 01:24:14,980
Scenario.

1166
01:24:15,620 --> 01:24:21,580
And I don't really know what that means, but when I read this, I read unacceptable

1167
01:24:21,580 --> 01:24:24,740
cancer risk to me, that means unacceptable cancer risk.

1168
01:24:24,740 --> 01:24:30,520
And when I read unacceptable non-cancer risk, to me that means unacceptable non-cancer

1169
01:24:30,520 --> 01:24:36,840
risk, I do have children, I am a resident, I think the soil on this site because of the scale

1170
01:24:36,840 --> 01:24:40,680
of the demolition is going to end up in the neighborhood, and I think that we need

1171
01:24:40,680 --> 01:24:47,120
to have like a lot of oversight of this demolition in order to keep it safe.

1172
01:24:47,700 --> 01:24:51,620
So that's why I'm concerned about what is happening.

1173
01:24:51,620 --> 01:24:58,800
Another page of your packet has, what Denrek has required.

1174
01:24:59,420 --> 01:25:03,220
And in my view, we need to ask Denrek to have more oversight.

1175
01:25:03,800 --> 01:25:06,220
They sent, they gave the city a pass.

1176
01:25:06,500 --> 01:25:13,140
They said you can do a generic hazardous management plan.

1177
01:25:13,400 --> 01:25:14,380
I don't think that's enough.

1178
01:25:14,900 --> 01:25:19,860
If you look at the end of your packet, there's two pages at the very end.

1179
01:25:19,860 --> 01:25:26,620
That's the generic management, like hazardous material management plan that the city has to follow.

1180
01:25:27,080 --> 01:25:28,100
It's like nothing.

1181
01:25:28,420 --> 01:25:38,620
I mean, I do community development, and we often have contaminated management plans to deal with hazardous materials on site.

1182
01:25:38,740 --> 01:25:40,420
And it's always thicker than this.

1183
01:25:40,740 --> 01:25:43,340
I mean, this is like very minimal.

1184
01:25:43,340 --> 01:25:52,320
So I don't think that, I think what we're asking is for City Council to take more oversight of this project.

1185
01:25:53,420 --> 01:25:57,120
City Council, you know, this is a water utility-owned site.

1186
01:25:57,300 --> 01:25:59,260
City Council is the board of the water utility.

1187
01:25:59,720 --> 01:26:12,500
And we are going to be presenting you with a resolution that we hope you'll consider and ask, you know,

1188
01:26:12,500 --> 01:26:18,800
have a more serious approach to addressing the contamination and ultimately we

1189
01:26:18,800 --> 01:26:24,540
think that you can create a really great park here with a great design that

1190
01:26:24,540 --> 01:26:29,240
can minimize the exposure of the community like we don't have to create this

1191
01:26:29,240 --> 01:26:36,120
problem like the site you know the site that talks about the roof being in a bad

1192
01:26:36,120 --> 01:26:41,440
condition it was from 2006 like there is no emergency to demolish this site like

1193
01:26:41,440 --> 01:26:54,960
And we can take the time to do this correctly and to keep people safe and to create a great park and we're hoping that Council will bring your, you know, your oversight to this project.

1194
01:26:55,340 --> 01:26:55,960
Thank you very much.

1195
01:26:56,500 --> 01:26:57,060
Thank you.

1196
01:26:57,680 --> 01:26:58,620
I'm looking at the packet.

1197
01:26:58,620 --> 01:27:08,300
I do see here where it says, you know, just the last page of the letter that all those soils at the site do not pose an unacceptable risk under non-residential scenarios.

1198
01:27:08,300 --> 01:27:15,460
as a conservative measure, where Dante's recommends that the following actions be implemented during the following demolition activities of the site,

1199
01:27:16,060 --> 01:27:24,440
soil-disturbing activities of the site should be in accordance with den-rexionary contaminated materials management plan, air monitoring plan.

1200
01:27:25,000 --> 01:27:34,600
Following and regrading and stabilization activities, I mean it looks to me like there was engagement with den-rex, and at this point I will ask you to speak to the

1201
01:27:34,600 --> 01:27:40,940
concerns that were brought up because I understand that I just don't feel that doing nothing is an option.

1202
01:27:41,320 --> 01:27:43,280
To me, it sounds like the due diligence is being done.

1203
01:27:43,460 --> 01:27:44,240
Dunnbreak is involved.

1204
01:27:44,860 --> 01:27:48,660
The community is involved, there's a working group, there's a landscape, people are being heard.

1205
01:27:49,080 --> 01:27:52,500
The city could have just said, we're going to develop homes, we're going to flatten it out.

1206
01:27:52,600 --> 01:27:53,500
We don't care what you say.

1207
01:27:54,020 --> 01:27:54,680
They didn't do that.

1208
01:27:55,100 --> 01:27:58,420
Council members can certainly put our two cents into this.

1209
01:27:58,720 --> 01:28:01,520
Resolutions, things, try to encourage.

1210
01:28:01,520 --> 01:28:05,920
I always remind people, we are the legislative branch and there's the administrative branch.

1211
01:28:06,800 --> 01:28:12,200
To some extent, we can try to get things done through the administration, through legislation,

1212
01:28:12,560 --> 01:28:16,460
through the budget, put a little pressure on there, but we're not the mayor.

1213
01:28:16,720 --> 01:28:18,640
We don't tell the administration what to do.

1214
01:28:18,760 --> 01:28:19,820
This is something they went for.

1215
01:28:19,960 --> 01:28:20,620
They got the money.

1216
01:28:20,980 --> 01:28:21,860
It needs to be done.

1217
01:28:21,920 --> 01:28:26,880
There's a safety concern and the fact that it hasn't been addressed in 2006, I think it's

1218
01:28:26,880 --> 01:28:27,580
actually shameful.

1219
01:28:27,920 --> 01:28:29,560
Should have been addressed way before that.

1220
01:28:29,560 --> 01:28:32,020
Okay, but if you could answer to the concerns that were brought, please.

1221
01:28:32,500 --> 01:28:40,460
Sure, Madam Chair, so there is a meeting that DENREC is scheduling that was requested by the Green for the Greater Good Group.

1222
01:28:40,600 --> 01:28:44,480
We have met with DENREC multiple times and they are willing to meet with them.

1223
01:28:44,480 --> 01:28:50,180
They are willing to meet with the entire committee and explain the test results through their risk model.

1224
01:28:51,160 --> 01:28:52,000
Okay, thank you.

1225
01:28:52,340 --> 01:28:56,980
We also have a Marissa McClinton on the line who would like to make public comment, Mr. Marissa.

1226
01:28:57,280 --> 01:28:58,960
If you're still with us, you may proceed.

1227
01:28:58,960 --> 01:28:59,960
You have three minutes.

1228
01:29:00,640 --> 01:29:01,340
Thank you.

1229
01:29:01,540 --> 01:29:02,340
Hello, everybody.

1230
01:29:02,540 --> 01:29:03,000
Good evening.

1231
01:29:03,240 --> 01:29:04,380
My name is Marissa McClendon.

1232
01:29:05,200 --> 01:29:09,160
I am an environmental justice organizer with the Sierra Club Delaware chapter.

1233
01:29:09,940 --> 01:29:16,000
And I became informed of Green for the Greater Grants efforts during the social change summit where I met Jamila.

1234
01:29:16,300 --> 01:29:18,080
And so I just want to speak to a couple things.

1235
01:29:19,360 --> 01:29:25,040
When we look at climate change as a whole, we see the extreme heat is going to be the most dangerous impact.

1236
01:29:25,040 --> 01:29:30,580
And that's why I really love that the collaboration that's been had around the Ronnie Reservoir

1237
01:29:30,580 --> 01:29:31,700
to keep a green space.

1238
01:29:31,700 --> 01:29:37,060
If there's any way we can get that in writing and get that as something that is permanent

1239
01:29:37,060 --> 01:29:41,240
and cannot be changed whenever there is a new mayor in the next cycle, that would be great.

1240
01:29:41,440 --> 01:29:43,060
That's just one thing to kind of keep in mind.

1241
01:29:43,640 --> 01:29:47,520
And as much as we can get these commitments to have a green space, commitment to delay

1242
01:29:47,520 --> 01:29:51,080
construction, commitment to have a comprehensive planning before the deconstruction.

1243
01:29:51,080 --> 01:29:59,840
on paper and solidified. That is one of the best ways to ensure that community members can feel safe.

1244
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:28,300
In the fact that their concerns are heard and are not going to be at the whim of whoever is in charge of the project. So just want to say that I love the collaboration. It's been really great to see all the folks from different aspects of the city and of the state come together on this issue. And so I do love that. Just the other point that I want to make is that this has been going on for so long and we have an opportunity to build a green space in the eyes of what residents want.

1245
01:30:28,300 --> 01:30:30,920
And as far as environmental justice goes, that's very rare.

1246
01:30:31,320 --> 01:30:34,780
And so we have an opportunity right now to really envision

1247
01:30:35,260 --> 01:30:38,480
communities that people are empowered to take place in building.

1248
01:30:39,200 --> 01:30:43,140
And that's why I really love all the work that's been done on the,

1249
01:30:43,320 --> 01:30:46,000
on behalf of the Green for the Great of Good and other partners

1250
01:30:46,000 --> 01:30:48,620
to really have this be a community collaboration

1251
01:30:48,620 --> 01:30:50,360
to create the vision for this space.

1252
01:30:50,980 --> 01:30:54,660
Not often do we get to kind of come into our green space

1253
01:30:54,660 --> 01:30:59,720
of the creativity and planning and so I just want to really point out that that is an incredibly

1254
01:30:59,720 --> 01:31:04,260
inspirational thing that I think community is in Delaware just beyond the writing reservoir

1255
01:31:04,260 --> 01:31:09,260
will be able to see as an example moving forward a good community collaboration both with the city

1256
01:31:09,260 --> 01:31:14,540
the state and community and stakeholder so I really love what Greenford the greater good is doing.

1257
01:31:14,740 --> 01:31:20,220
I love the collaboration we love to get everything on paper and thank you all for kind of being here

1258
01:31:20,220 --> 01:31:22,640
and really fighting for green space, it's super important.

1259
01:31:22,940 --> 01:31:24,200
So thank you, have a good evening.

1260
01:31:24,900 --> 01:31:25,880
Thank you, Ms. Marissa.

1261
01:31:26,140 --> 01:31:29,140
I think that that was a, it is exciting to be able

1262
01:31:29,140 --> 01:31:31,460
to be part of designing something

1263
01:31:31,460 --> 01:31:33,580
which we don't always get those opportunities for that

1264
01:31:33,580 --> 01:31:35,320
is you hit the nail on the head with that one.

1265
01:31:35,720 --> 01:31:36,320
Councilman White, please have a question.

1266
01:31:36,320 --> 01:31:38,020
Yeah, just, yeah, just a clarity.

1267
01:31:38,600 --> 01:31:46,850
So then is the, is the, is the conflict you believe?

1268
01:31:47,510 --> 01:31:50,350
Well, first of all, Denmark is allowing you

1269
01:31:50,350 --> 01:31:53,550
to do the remediation. Remediation. That's the site, right?

1270
01:31:53,750 --> 01:31:55,690
Yeah. Well, there's nothing to be remediated at this point.

1271
01:31:55,770 --> 01:32:00,250
They're allowing us to do demo and to test them to do the air quality monitoring while

1272
01:32:00,250 --> 01:32:05,270
we're working. Okay. So there's at this point, there is nothing to be remediated. Okay.

1273
01:32:05,550 --> 01:32:10,490
So what they have had agreed to do is once the final regrade on the site is done, they

1274
01:32:10,490 --> 01:32:15,950
would do surface swills samples to two feet deep and determine if there was any hazard

1275
01:32:15,950 --> 01:32:19,330
remaining at that point. So they're not requiring any soil replacement?

1276
01:32:20,610 --> 01:32:23,870
Not at this point, we would not until the test thing would be done at the end.

1277
01:32:24,530 --> 01:32:24,670
So-

1278
01:32:24,670 --> 01:32:28,270
But even though this report says shallow contamination-

1279
01:32:28,270 --> 01:32:32,570
They're not requiring us to remediate hall-off site and replace soil.

1280
01:32:32,910 --> 01:32:40,810
All right, so the conflict is between what you feel as though that records give me

1281
01:32:40,810 --> 01:32:45,070
information to do in what the community, the working group, or some members of the working group,

1282
01:32:45,270 --> 01:32:46,430
feels like you should do more.

1283
01:32:46,950 --> 01:32:47,790
Is that- That's correct.

1284
01:32:48,070 --> 01:32:48,630
Okay, that's correct.

1285
01:32:48,630 --> 01:32:49,550
Thank you.

1286
01:32:50,750 --> 01:32:51,610
No other questions?

1287
01:32:52,310 --> 01:32:56,070
Are there any other closing comments or questions from my council colleagues?

1288
01:32:59,260 --> 01:32:59,520
Okay.

1289
01:32:59,700 --> 01:33:00,600
Not seeing any.

1290
01:33:00,740 --> 01:33:02,660
I want to thank everyone that engaged.

1291
01:33:03,060 --> 01:33:06,640
I didn't think our meeting would go this long, but I'm glad that we had the dialogue and

1292
01:33:06,640 --> 01:33:10,960
the conversation as we as council members are hearing from different members of the community.

1293
01:33:11,380 --> 01:33:16,380
I think it's important to have the discussion, to hear from all sides, and I'm still,

1294
01:33:18,840 --> 01:33:18,840
you

1295
01:33:18,840 --> 01:33:23,000
together, and that we did hear the voices of the community and that the working group

1296
01:33:23,000 --> 01:33:31,080
was formed, and that their input in the planning is vital, so I think all of you are city

1297
01:33:31,080 --> 01:33:36,620
workers for being here answering these questions. At this time, this concludes the community

1298
01:33:36,620 --> 01:33:41,200
development and urban planning committee meeting. Again, we're reminding you that the next

1299
01:33:41,200 --> 01:33:47,160
committee meeting will take place on the second Thursday in January. And at this time,

1300
01:33:47,160 --> 01:33:53,460
your council member at large Maria Cabrera, I am asking for a motion to close this meeting out.

1301
01:33:53,580 --> 01:33:54,460
Motion, ma'am chair.

1302
01:33:55,200 --> 01:33:56,040
Can I get a second?

1303
01:33:58,880 --> 01:34:00,000
Are there any council members left?

1304
01:34:00,160 --> 01:34:00,640
I need a second.

1305
01:34:01,160 --> 01:34:01,440
Second.

1306
01:34:02,340 --> 01:34:04,160
Thank you. It has been properly moved in a second.

1307
01:34:04,360 --> 01:34:07,020
This concludes the meeting of the community development urban planning.

1308
01:34:07,220 --> 01:34:11,520
Everyone have a wonderful holiday and we will meet again in January.

1309
01:34:11,840 --> 01:34:12,120
Thank you.