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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-05-16 Agenda Review NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 34 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MAY 16, 2019 PAGE 284 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. in the Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina. Members present: Chairman Jonathan Barfield, Jr.; Commissioner Woody White; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Vice-Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman and Commissioner Patricia Kusek were absent. Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; County Attorney Wanda Copley; and Clerk to the Board Kymberleigh G. Crowell. Chairman Barfield called the Agenda Review meeting to order and announced that the purpose of the meeting is to review and discuss the agenda items for the May 20, 2019 Regular Meeting with discussions as noted: Consent Item 2. Approval of Offer to Purchase Surplus County Property. In response to Board questions, Assistant County Manager Tim Burgess stated the location of the property for sale abuts the purchaser’s property th behind South 6 Street. The address will be provided for the exact location. Consent Item 5. Adoption of Budget Amendments. In response to Board questions on budget amendment 19-061, Chief Deputy Kenneth Sarvis stated the Sheriff’s Office would own and provide maintenance for the patrol vehicles at Cape Fear Community College (CFCC). When the Sheriff’s Office took over campus safety, three vehicles were inherited from CFCC. In the contract, the intention of CFCC over the next three years is to purchase two vehicles per year as there are nine officers serving CFCC. CFCC pays the County for the vehicles and the Sheriff’s Office uses and maintains them. Regular Item 10. Consideration of Bylaws Establishing the New Hanover County Commission on African American History, Heritage and Culture. In response to Board questions, Community Affairs Coordinator Tufanna Bradley-Thomas stated the Cape Fear Museum (CFM) staff would be providing communication regarding the new commission to the CFM Advisory Board. Commissioner White asked if the role of the museum board could be expanded and tasked with this since they already have exhibits, knowledge, and an established brand in the community. Ms. Bradley-Thomas responded it is possible, however, after her conversations with CFM staff, this commission would be focused on historic areas in the County, while the CFM focuses on items in the City of Wilmington. Commissioner White stated the County funds the CFM, not the City. History of all shapes, places, and sizes of all times is equally important. As the CFM has a clearly stated purpose and long standing brand in the community to do that, it would be worthwhile to engage CFM staff to potentially serve in this role. There is value in expanding the membership with the CFM Advisory Board and that would be the right place to vet the history. If tasks are assigned to a brand new commission with citizens that aren’t equipped, they may not have the ability to reach the standard as the CFM or the library could. Chairman Barfield stated he believes the people are out there that could serve and this commission mimics what the City has been doing for years. He has thought about this commission for a long time and was pleased when this was brought forward to him. In regards to equity, this brings forth the opportunity for others to share in the conversation, much more than what CFM staff could do. It could build the relationship with the community and county government. The City has done many things to help bridge the gaps as well as help foster many conversations community wide. Commissioner White stated if that is a deficiency, and that is a matter of opinion that he respects, whether or not that is an actual reflection of what is happening. The mission statement is squarely within the parameters of a museum, and maybe a library to a certain extent. There may be events planned that the commission could handle, but it could also be housed with the museum. CFM has the accreditation and procedures, and is recognized nationally for identifying things of heritage and cultural value. There is value to having an organization who could do that. Commissioner Zapple stated he had the same initial reaction as Commissioner White and from his time on the CFM Advisory Board, he became aware of the programs held in the County for African American culture. However, even though they have tried to bring focus to the African American community, there is still a gap. Commissioner White stated there are all kinds of cultures in this County, but there is not enough physical space to have exhibits for it all. In a conceptual way, if there is a gap, then the CFM is not addressing history in the County and it should be filled. If that’s a full-time employee, designated department or funds needed, then it should be discussed and deliberated. When the stated purpose is history and culture, this should be with the CFM Advisory Board. County Manager Coudriet stated what became clear to him and Ms. Bradley-Thomas while working on this was the need for an entity or group of people appointed by the Board who are focusing on the African American history in our community on a perpetual basis and not just a month out of the year or as it falls into the continuum of things that the museum or the library would do. Both directors would serve as ex-officio members to help create access to the manpower resources. It’s the community through the appointments who would have the best information about what is out there and can point the staff in the direction to uncover information. It’s intended to be a collaboration of the staff from both entities led by the directors working closely with the Board and staff. NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 34 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MAY 16, 2019 PAGE 285 Commissioner White stated the library and museum boards are advisory boards. If a group or part of the community in the County has something that needs to be perpetually honored and discussed in the forefront, it should be under the auspice of the museum. If it’s an issue of representation of segments of the community or people that have been disenfranchised in the community, that is something that can be fixed with an advisory committee or subcommittee. They are both trying to get to the same place, but creating a commission will probably have funding requests and action items. He would feel more comfortable having that vetted through an existing county department that is already equipped to do that. Commissioner Zapple stated that he doesn’t see this commission as looking at the past, but looking forward with what is happening in the community. A large part of the community is the African American community. He looks to the commission to help with issues, both positive and negative. Chairman Barfield stated the commission would help build relationships, and although the City does not have a museum, they do a good job with the programs they offer and he has been pleased with what he has seen. It’s not just about looking backwards, but looking forward and it’s a bridge that unfortunately, the County has never crossed. Regular Item 12. Committee Appointments. Regarding Board questions about the term for the New Hanover County/City of Wilmington Community Relations Advisory Committee, Clerk to the Board Crowell stated the vacancy is for an unexpired term, expiring on September 30, 2019. Prior to the expiration in September, the member will have the option to be considered for reappointment. Staff Update – Workforce Housing Committee Update: Assistant County Manager Tim Burgess stated that the City decided to take the lead on drafting the interlocal agreement (ILA) for the Joint City/County Housing Advisory Committee. The County sent the latest revisions this week to the City and once the ILA is complete, the City will also prepare bylaws for the committee. It will hopefully be considered at one of the Board meetings in June. Once th approved, the Clerk’s office will advertise the vacancies with the plan to make appointments at the August 12 meeting. It will be a 13-member committee, with six members appointed by the City and six by the County. The chair of the County/City Community Relations Advisory Committee would be appointed for a total of 13 members. There are specific categories for each member which includes two members representing the North Carolina Realtors Association, two from the business/education community, two members from the development community, two members from the non-profit housing community, two members from the financial community, two at-large members, and the chair from the County/City Community Relations Advisory Committee. A full-time county employee will staff the committee. The purpose of the committee is to focus on the workforce housing issues, but specifically a comprehensive housing study, a housing opinion survey, and to create a public awareness campaign. This will be part of the local agreement. The comprehensive housing study and housing opinion survey will have costs, so there is a provision in the agreement that the City and County share those costs. County Manager Coudriet stated there is $45,000 in the recommended budget that addresses the cost share based on the estimates that staff calculated and the City has also budgeted $45,000. In response to Board questions, Workforce Housing Planner Julia Santure stated the comprehensive housing study would take about six months to complete. Including the housing opinion survey, it would take a total of about six to nine months. Chairman Barfield stated the project on Gordon Road near the Lewis Farms property is really the only affordable housing product being built starting around $190,000. There is considerable construction occurring in Brunswick County at various price points. The challenge is how does the County and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) find ways to reduce costs to incentivize developers to build more affordable products. Even at $190,000, that would be a stretch for the base County employee to afford, and for a teacher getting paid $35,000 who is single, that is going to be a stretch. Regarding the directive to research the Wrightsboro property as a public and private partnership, Planning and Land Use Director Wayne Clark stated staff has been reviewing the feasibility of the site. Out of the 16-acre land, the front two acres are zoned B-1 which is a neighborhood commercial district and the back is R-20 which is a low density residential district. A variety of options were reviewed from a planning standpoint of what would fit on the land. What can be built on a piece of land is driven by storm water requirements, environmental constraints, and parking requirements. There is a creek that runs through the western half of the property and at some points it is over approximately 100 feet wide. It is not practically financially feasible to build a bridge that would get vehicles across the creek to the back part of the property. There would also be impacts to the wetlands of a flood zone in that area. There are about eight acres of the site that might be buildable. Conceptual meetings were held with the CFPUA and there is water at Castle Hayne Road and sewer is about a quarter of a mile away at Old Mill Road. More details are needed to determine the costs, but a ballpark estimate is a couple hundred thousand dollars to run sewer that far. There could be other land to put it in that could be cheaper and adjacent property owners would have to be contacted directly to see if that is an option. That site cannot be built with any kind of density without sewer. Staff drafted two options for the land which are multifamily and townhouse products. It’s not an official policy request at this point, but in general, staff is trying to provide the choice of a rental product and a homeownership product. Small, single family homes aren’t as prevalent yet, which is why the townhouse product may be a good option. The product for 120 unit multifamily rentals with a three story type apartment is not something most people are excited about and 120 units at about seven and a half units per acre is probably the max NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 34 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, MAY 16, 2019 PAGE 286 that would fit. For the townhouse product, it would probably be two stories with two bedrooms and 65 units would fit a little over four units per acre. The conceptual plans were drawn for engineers to review to ensure it would be practical. The private developers were eager about the apartment complex, but the townhouses did not receive the same level of excitement because this is not in the final recommendation phase. The rental option might be less of a partnership and the sale of a townhouse would be more of a partnership. Conditional Use District R-10 High Density Special Use Permit would be needed to get to that level of density. Phase 1 of the UDO includes eight new zoning districts to be considered by the Board in July. In those districts, there are a variety of residential products that would allow this more of a by-right. There is an R-5 that gets to the eight units an acre, there’s a multifamily low density that would get 10 units an acre and those are probably the better approach than to get the Conditional Use District R-10 High Density Special Use Permit. In a preliminary stage and not having preliminary numbers from the CFPUA, staff is still researching and will come forward with a formal request based on rezoning and the partnership. In response to Board questions, Mr. Clark stated there are many assumptions for what is an affordable unit. Staff looked at 60% of the average median income in the area, a two-person home, and what would be affordable is a general range of about $800 for a two-bedroom rental product, not including utilities, and less than $100,000 for a purchase product. A typical house in this region of R-15 starts at about $315,000 and they are going up over $350,000 as a starting point. Trying to get something for a purchase price of $100,000 would most likely have to be a townhouse. Chairman Barfield said he thinks anything under $150,000 would be a good place to start. He would prefer something that people could build wealth in and there would need to be a combination of both two and three bedrooms. When the units at Sunset South, which were part of HUD, were sold the land was basically included in the purchase of the home which made it more affordable. It’s a concept he has in terms of land values being included where it can be more affordable for the developer to build and it’s a commitment for them to stay a certain number of years. Mr. Clark stated that was the challenge that arose, along with the cost of running a sewer line. Regarding Board questions about a partnership with CFPUA, Mr. Clark stated the conversation is more along the lines of rate payers not being able to subsidize and they have been helpful in providing information. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chairman Barfield adjourned the meeting at 4:38 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Kymberleigh G. Crowell Clerk to the Board Please note that the above minutes are not a verbatim of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners meeting.