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2021-04-29 Agenda Review NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, APRIL 29, 2021 PAGE 82 ASSEMBLY The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners met for Agenda Review on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at 4:00 p.m. via in-person and remote in the Harrell Conference Room at the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Drive, Wilmington, North Carolina. Members present: Chair Julia Olson-Boseman; Vice-Chair Deb Hays; Commissioner Jonathan Barfield, Jr. (remote); Commissioner Bill Rivenbark; and Commissioner Rob Zapple. Staff present: County Manager Chris Coudriet; County Attorney Wanda Copley; and Clerk to the Board Kymberleigh G. Crowell. Chair Olson-Boseman 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 3, 2021 Regular Meeting with discussions as noted: Consent Item 9. Approval of Representation for New Hanover Regional Medical Center Retirement Plans. In response to Board questions, Chief Financial Officer Lisa Wurtzbacher stated that there are three plans that the County is becoming the sponsor of as a part of the sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center. The plans were fully funded by the sale. As the sponsor, the County is being listed as the representative to formally make any decisions on them. First Citizens Bank is the trustee that handles the cash, and the County will be directing them in terms of decisions that need to be made. This will not cost the County anything as it has already been prepaid. Consent Item 11. Approval of Board of Education Budget Amendment #3. In response to Board questions, New Hanover County Schools Chief Financial Officer Mary Hazel Small stated that the transfers related to Riverlights, Mary C. Williams and Pine Valley were the ones that were discussed at the March 10, 2021 joint meeting. It is her understanding that Riverlights will be an elementary school. The students from Mary C. Williams will be moved to Riverlights and the Mary C. Williams facility will be used in a different capacity. Regarding the Brogden Hall gym floor replacement, she believes there was more extensive work but explained did not believe that was part of this transfer. Ms. Small offered to provide an update on the Brogden Hall gym floor at a later date. Regular Item 13. Rezoning Request (Z21-04) – Request by RSC Engineering, PLLC, on Behalf of the Property Owner, Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity, Inc., to Rezone Approximately 4.9 Acres of Land Located in the 3200 Block of Reminisce Road from R-20, Residential-20 District, to (CZD) R-10, Conditional Residential-10 District, in Order to Develop an 11-Lot Subdivision. In response to Board questions, Current Planner Ron Meredith stated that a sidewalk is required in the R-10 district, but the applicant will ask for an exemption during the technical review process (TRC), and the County will be favorable to grant the exemption as it is standard. As to the issue of road maintenance, Mr. Meredith stated that this is a Cape Fear Habitat (Habitat) subdivision and there will be money put into the homeowners’ association (HOA) fund for any kind of maintenance on a roadway. Regarding sidewalks, the applicant is proposing a roadside swale to capture water runoff. A lot of times there is difficulty putting a sidewalk in the right of way because of the roadside swale distance and the grade. Sonya Edens with RSC Engineering explained that the reason for proposing private roadways is because the formal state road requirements cannot be met. The state stormwater requirements are not an issue. Roadside swales are being used as part of the stormwater plan. North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will not allow the developer to utilize roadside swales with its roadside ditches. Ms. Edens added that she has been working with NCDOT to put together a roadside maintenance agreement. Regarding water retention and where the swales will flow to, Ms. Edens stated that the swales will hold the water and there will be ditch blocks at the end of Reminisce Road. When the water gets high enough in the ditch there will be a weir that will release water to go down Reminisce Road. Habitat would very much like to continue to develop down to Rock Hill Road, but that has not been solidified. If it were to happen, density numbers would have to be run again and there may be a need to put in a retention pond at that time. When neighbors were surveyed about a retention pond, they were concerned for the safety of the children in the neighborhood should a pond be installed. Regular Item 15. Text Amendment Request (TA21-01) - Request by New Hanover County to Amend Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the Unified Development Ordinance for Compliance with Recent State Law and to Perform Ongoing Maintenance to Refine and Clarify Assorted Ordinance Provisions. Discussion was held about the changes required for North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) 160D and how the text amendment, although required by the state, will take away one of the best tools the County has for special use permits (SUPs). It also removes the ability of a planning board to hold quasi-judicial hearings on SUPs and make recommendations to boards of commissioners on those requests. County Attorney Copley explained that approval of the text amendment is the County’s administrative responsibility in response to the state passing NCGS 160D and it is required to take place before July 1, 2021. In response to Board questions, Planning and Land Use Director Rebekah Roth explained that the uses were separated out for elementary, middle, and secondary schools. Regarding permit choice and vested rights, to some extent the statute does provide the County with some opportunity as to the time and what substantial progress means. As to the timeline, efforts will be made to try to tailor the language to work with people while they are working to get other permits in place and keep them vested. The goal is to not create a situation where someone went through the County process, got approved, got their permits, and then because they were going through the NEW HANOVER COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BOOK 35 AGENDA REVIEW MEETING, APRIL 29, 2021 PAGE 83 state or federal review process, the County declines it because not everything was completed by the County’s deadline. A brief discussion was held about giving the Planning and Land Use Director the discretion to approve that substantial progress is still being made on a project. County Manager Coudriet stated that he tends to follow the law as it is given, and although these are good conversations, they are best had with the Board and not with staff. If there are changes to make, they should be done through Board discourse. County Attorney Copley stated that the Board may pull the item and look further at the amendment. She noted that when looking at what is substantial, the Planning and Land Use Director would need to have some objective criteria to be able to make the determinations and those criteria would need to be defined. Discussion continued regarding making changes to the proposed text amendment. County Manager Coudriet reiterated County Attorney Copley’s comments that there is a statutory deadline in which these revisions need to be made and the window of opportunity is closing. Ms. Roth stated that staff can provide more information during the presentation at the regular meeting next week about adjusting some of the text amendment language. If the Board decides that there are some adjustments to the language that they would recommend, that could be added into the motion. If the Board suggests major changes to the amendment, it might need to go back through the vetting process. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, Chair Olson-Boseman adjourned the meeting at 4:31 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.