Mayor Knight makes some comments about the virtues of promoting a political climate favorable for business.
"We’re trying to project a business image,” he says, urging his colleagues to visit "some of our corporate citizens, big or small, old or new. They do appreciate it.”
He says, “Making this a more business friendly environment is an attestation that we’re getting there.” (11:22 p.m.)
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Matheny says he has expressed disappointment to the Edwards Companies about the disruption their construction of student housing has caused to the College Hill neighborhood. The council approved a rezoning request from the developer in early 2010.
“We didn't just vote on that and drop the ball," Matheny says.
The councilman says Downtown Greensboro Inc. will be paying for a consultant to make recommendations on improving public safety downtown.
Matheny appoints Seth Coker, founder of Gate City Capital to the Property Owner Review Team for the Downtown Design Overlay. (11:19 p.m.)
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Perkins places Peter Placentino's name in the databank for future consideration to serve on the minimum housing standards board. Placentino is vice president of property management at Brown Investment Properties. (11:05 p.m.)
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Kee moves to rescind his appointment of the Rev. Clarence Shuford to the human relations commission because he said it turns out there was not a vacancy as he had previously thought. He also moves to add Jerry McClough, who is interested in serving on the sustainability council, to the databank. Both motions approved by acclamation. (11:01 p.m.)
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Rakestraw expresses concerns about the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market and relief that staff is scrutinizing the activities of a group called Friends of the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market. (Background in this week's Scuttlebutt.)
Rakestraw says of some constituents who have expressed concern to her: "They would like to go back to the old way, whatever the old way was." She asks if the city is giving money to the Friends of the Market?
Assistant City Manager Denise Turner does not answer that particular question, but it appears that, in fact, the non-profit Friends group is raising money for the market and the city is attempting to take control of the funds.
Turner reiterates information in a recent communique from City Manager Rashad Young indicating the city plans to audit the Friends group and is seeking to have the funds turned over to the city.
"This has been very difficult for many people," Rakestraw says. "I would like to see if we can bring some closure to this…. We’ve got to reach some resolution on this. We need to do that as soon as possible."
Turner says staff will be asking council members to recommend individuals to sit on a committee to vet proposals from private vendors to operate the market. (10:59 p.m.)
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A motion to pay Omnilinks Systems $160,000 for the Greensboro Police Department's Priority Offender electronic monitoring program passes unanimously. The funding comes from US Department of Justice asset forfeiture funds and NC Department of Revenue drug excise funds.
Chief Ken Miller gets no questions from council, but receives praise from Kee. Miller told me yesterday that he plans to raid the warrant squad for five officers to staff the six-member priority offender squad. More on this in this week's digital version. (10:47 p.m.)
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Item 33 is to amend the city's ordinances to reflect a Jan. 4 vote to reduce water rates by 3 percent.
Perkins knows he's going to be on the losing end, but he speaks out against the rate cut anyway.
"I think we need to hold a steady long-term course on where our rates are going,” he says, arguing that the city could get squeezed by unforeseen regulations promulgated by the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources. "I know the city of Charlotte recently raised their rates substantially, and they had to come up with
$95 million. I suspect as the regulations tighten the small metro areas are going to see the same."
Mayor Knight responds: "There’s some efforts underway, yours truly, to speak to the Jordan Lake Rules, which I’m told will have very steep financial consequences to the city of Greensboro."
Predictably, the motion passes, 7-2, with Bellamy-Small joining Perkins in dissent. (10:36 p.m.)
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Note: The meeting is over, and I'm mopping up from home.
Thompson references the territories proposed for annexation that consist of one or two properties surrounded by incorporated areas.
"Right now, the garbage trucks that come by, are they just going by these houses and Republic Services takes care of them?"
"They better be," City Manager Rashad Young responds. (10:29 p.m.)
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Back to annexation: The seven territories were approved by votes ranging from 7-2 to 5-4. The core majority that consistently supported all seven items consisted of Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan, at-large Councilman Robbie Perkins, District 1 Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small, District 2 Councilman Jim Kee and District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny. District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw and District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade voted against all seven. Mayor Bill Knight defected from the majority on Item 28 to annex 2025 and 2029 Pleasant Ridge Road, while at-large Councilman Danny Thompson broke away on Pleasant Ridge Road and Boulder Road. (10:26 p.m.)
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Thompson announces Readers Digest will present Mayor Bill Knight with a check for $1,000. Thompson proposes that the money be donated to Greensboro Urban Ministry. Matheny wants to cut the Interactive Resource Center into the deal. The motion is amended to split the funds between the two. The motion passes unanimously. (9:08 p.m.)
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District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade has a website, where she's asking residents to complete a survey ranking in order of importance services provided by the city.
Another question, of particular interest to me, is, "How do you obtain accurate and unbiased information about city issues?" The possible responses are broken down into four categories: newspapers, TV stations, meeting attendance and online. Visitors can check off four different newspapers -- the News & Record, The Rhinoceros Times, YES! Weekly, the Carolina Peacemaker -- or "other." (9:02 p.m.)
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Catching up on some votes: The seven motions to make notices of intent to annex, voted on separately, each passed, with varying amounts of support from individual members. More on that later. (8:54 p.m.)
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The meeting is winding down, with matters to be discussed by the mayor and council. Perkins proposes eliminating the council member position from the RUCO board. Perkins currently serves as liaison. He says the board tends to defer to the council member, but he thinks the board is perfectly capable of functioning without a council member. (8:44 p.m.)
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I'm having some technical problems updating, and I'm way behind. I'll have to catch up later. My apologies.
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Perkins: "If we don’t annex, then in my opinion we are not being fair to the folks that live in the city currently and are paying bills for services for people who live outside of the city limits." (8:26 p.m.)
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By far, the most geographically significant and populous portion is 717.7 acres with 567 people "east of the main body of the city of Greensboro" along Knox Road, Millstream Road, Interstate 85/40, Village Road, Rock Creek Dairy Road and Burlington Road. Galanti says this is not the area that successfully sued the city to become de-annexed.
"They're getting a whale of a surprise if they're watching this meeting, aren't they?" says District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw.
Galanti has said earlier that the residents have not been notified. After all, this is the first step of annexation: To give notice of an intention to annex. (8:18 p.m.)
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These are city-initiated annexations. Steve Galanti from the planning and community development department says that the annexations would move the city closer to being able to annex Rock Creek Center near Sedalia, which is the future home of the planned American Express data center. (8:09 p.m.)
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Staff wants the council to adopt resolutions of intent to annex territory in seven areas. They include 3216 Cheswick Drive; 3208 Cheswick Drive; 2872 and 2873 Fleming Road; 2025 and 2029 Pleasant Ridge Road; along Boulder Road; economic development areas along Interstate 40/85 at the eastern end of the city; along East Lee Street, Cedar Park Road and Interstate 40; and along Knox Road, Millstream Road, Interstate 85/40, Village Road and Burlington Road. (8:07 p.m.)
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Council is considering a proposed amendment to the Land Development Ordinance "to permit residential uses in the C-M zoning district with mixed-used elements. The text amendment is being requested by Tom Flanagan to allow him to develop a residential structure with nine units.
Flanagan is employed by NAI Piedmont Triad, a company whose president is Councilman Robbie Perkins.
The motion passes unanimously, with Perkins' vote. Perkins says Flanagan initiated the deal before he was employed by NAI Piedmont Triad and that he has no financial interest in the property. City Attorney Julia McNeil Danish says he is allowed to vote. (7:59 p.m.)
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Council votes 8-1 to accept the plan. Bellamy-Small casts the dissenting vote. As such, City Attorney Julia McNeil Danish says, the plan comprises "a strategic vision." An earlier vote substituted acceptance for adoption. (7:28 p.m.)
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District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade: "Your greatest cheerleader for downtown sits right beside me…. I don’t know anyone who is more passionate about downtown than Zack Matheny." (7:24 p.m.)
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Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan says that the council used to adopt a lot of corridor plans, and then end up voting against rezoning decisions that conformed to the plan. She believes adoption of the plan would give it the strength of an ordinance, while acceptance would signal that the plan is a set of guidelines. At-large Councilman Danny Thompson concurs with her. (7:20 p.m.)
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At-large City Councilman Robbie Perkins says, "There are no allocation of city dollars by adopting this accepting this plan…. I’m willing to fight for adopting this plan tonight." At District 1 Councilwoman's prompting a staff member says that thousands of citizens have participated in shaping this plan. (7:16 p.m.)
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District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny makes a substitute motion to "accept" rather than adopt the plan. (7:11 p.m.)
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Ralph Johnson: “If you want a vibrant city you have to have a prosperous downtown, so I encourage everyone on council to adopt this plan.” (7:04 p.m.)
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April Harris, executive director of Action Greensboro, and Ed Wolverton, president of Downtown Greensboro Inc., speak in favor of the Downtown Area Consolidated Plan (6:59 p.m.)
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The council is considering adoption of the Downtown Area Consolidated Plan. Staffer Mike Kirkman has just finished up a presentation. From council members' packet, key recommendations include: 1) "Complete Downtown Greenway, 2) "Comprehensive streetscapiing program," 3) "Incentivize quality mixed used development," 4) "Activate historic building stock," 5) "Create performing arts center" and 6) "Support knowledge community in downtown." (6:57 p.m.)
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I'm live-tweeting from Greensboro City Council tonight. I typically have my tweets forwarded to Facebook, but those social media platforms are moving slowly tonight. As a result, I'm going to take the opportunity to experiment with the old-fashioned approach of live-blogging. Here goes.... (6:53 p.m.)
1 comment:
robbie should not be voting on that matter
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