Knightdale Town Council Meeting

Excuse me. Good evening. Good evening everyone. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us for our December town council meeting. Uh we are going to go ahead and get started. Uh we are going to start off our evening with the invocation and I'm going to ask that everyone um I'll be leading the invocation in just a moment but asking everyone to pray silently according to your beliefs as um I say a prayer as we get started. Dear Lord, we pray for a productive meeting. We pray for the spirit of unity even though we have different opinions. for wisdom to make the best possible informed decisions and to effectively be able to carry them out to be pure in our thoughts and in our motives and innovative as we brain brainstorm through solutions. Amen. Amen.

Next is our pledge of allegiance and tonight we are pleased to welcome Jake Stewart, a member of Troop 365 who is going to lead us in our pledge of allegiance. We are going to learn a little bit more about Jake in just a moment um and talk and hear about his contributions to Nightdale. But at this time I invite him up to the podium to

lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. with the mayor.

Okay,

thank you so much. And now we're going to jump into the adoption of the agenda. Any changes to tonight's agenda? Any um comments or motion to adopt?

Motion to adopt.

Second.

All in favor?

I.

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. So, having that being said, we will jump into our presentations, recognitions, and awards. And now our Eagle Scout uh project recognition, Mr. Lef Fever,

Mayor Council, thanks for having us tonight. I'm really excited to talk about Jake, which I mean, we already did a great job with the pledge. Fantastic work. Thanks for doing that. Um Jake came to me in August looking for a Eagle Scale opportunity within somewhere within the town, whether it's parks and wreck, a project at the environmental park, whatever it might be. He also mentioned to me how he loved playing baseball in our programs from ages I think 11 to 15 give or take. Um and we thought, hm, we have Nightdale Community Park, have a little bit, you know, some beautifification we could do over there. And that's what we went with. So I'll go through here real quick. Couple pictures. Um Jake was able to accomplish the largest Eagle Scout project we had at Nightdale Community Park since 2009. Um he had three different projects that he really focused on. He renovated Field One's visitor bullpen. He put a new roof and bench at our ticket booth as you walk in where the high school has their

games. And he also repaired a back stop on Field One in our home bullpen. Um you can see some before and after pictures. You can definitely tell we needed a little like TLC there. and him and his team did a phenomenal job. Got another couple picture, oh my gosh, pictures here. Um, Troop 365 with Jake's leadership really did a nice job with our facilities and we look forward to having this project there for a long time. So, really appreciate it, man.

Awesome. [applause] [applause] Have you stand right there in the middle? Don't be scared. squeeze this way. Excellent.

Thank you.

[applause]

Thank you again so much for your contributions to the town of Nightdale. Thank you for your willingness for saying I want to do something but not just saying it but putting it into action. We greatly greatly appreciate it and thank you for being here this evening. So awesome. Next is the extra mile award presentation. Here in Nightdale, we acknowledge that a special vibrancy exists within our community when our citizens come together to support one another and to give of themselves wholeheartedly. Last month, I joined mayors across the nation in issuing a proclamation deeming November 1st as Extra Mile Day. Extra mile day is an opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge people doing exceptional work in their homes, their workplaces, and communities. On November 1st, Nightdale joined over 550 cities in America to celebrate Extra Mile Day, shining a light on those who have gone the extra mile and encouraged others to do the same. Tonight, the council and I are honored to recognize a special member of our community who has gone above and beyond this year, exemplifying the true spirit of service, dedication, and leadership. Sandy Drowski is a longstanding member of the two green thumb uh two green thumbs garden club here in Nightdale and someone who has truly gone the extra mile in her timeless work. Sandy manages

10 community gardens right now here in Nightdale. Through this work, she mentors countless novice gardeners, sharing her knowledge with patience and enthusiasm. Through her guidance, many have gained confidence and a passion for community service. Sandy serves as a liaison between the garden club and town officials for numerous events and oversees the club's fundraisers and awards committee. I could give more examples of the work that Sandy has done in the community, but instead I'd like to share a few comments her peers provided that speak to what her service means to our community. What sets Sandy apart is her remarkable ability to lead by example. Whether she's digging in the soil alongside firsttime gardeners, coordinating large events with precision, or simply offering words of encouragement, she does so with such humility, strength, and grace. She's more than a leader. Sandy is a mentor and a role model. She doesn't seek recognition, but her impact is everywhere. for all the seeds she's swn, the lives that she's touched, and the extra miles she's walked every day. I can't think of anyone more deserving for this award. Sandy doesn't just fulfill her roles, she goes the extra mile in every aspect. Her vision, her work ethic, and heart have not only nurtured beautiful gardens, but have also cultivated a stronger, more connected, and inspired community. So, at this time, I would like I would ask that everyone give a round of applause for Miss Sandy Drowski, Nightdale's 2025 Extra Mile Award recipients. [applause] [cheering]

[applause]

And if I could ask you to come up for just a moment, I'd like to to present the award and then I'll give you a moment if you'd like to share a couple of words.

So we do have a certificate and we als 2025 presented to Sandy for your volunteerism and outstanding service. [applause] Well, I only wanted and we got it. We got it.

[applause]

You got to get the whole

All right, everybody. Look this way. Count those good Megan. Go down. She's hiding back. I think I got one more. Thank you. [applause] See outside.

These are always great moments to be able to recognize someone who is already doing great work and already doing things in Nightdale. So, I'm very happy to be able to do that. Thank you to the staff and everyone for the support to be able and the council um for making the decision as well um to give this award away this year and look forward to continuing. Next is the recognition of Nightdale Mayor's Academy graduates. So tonight I am thrilled to share updates from our 2025 Nightdale Mayor's Academy and recognize some of the graduates who have joined us this evening. The Nightdale Mayor's Academy was created in 2022 to offer residents a unique opportunity to learn about local government, interact with elected officials and town staff, and gain firhand knowledge of town services. This year's academy began back in July, and they completed their final session in November. Last week, we celebrated their accomp accomplishments with a graduation banquet. Over the course of nine sessions, participants in the mayor's academy received an overview from town departments, including administration, public works, fire, police, parks, and recreation, development services, human resources, finance, and community relations. This year's participants were able to meet with and ask questions of local representatives, school board members, county commissioners, and judges. They visited the fire station and they learned how to operate a fire hose and the jaws of life. They had hands-on experiences and role-played real life scenarios with the police department. They were also tasked with the challenge of building a community, making tough budget cuts, conducting job interviews, and reading from a teleprompter for a promo video. I'm so grateful this for

this amazing group of residents who committed to the mayor's academy this year. I hope each of you have gained a better understanding of your town, of the services that are provided, and the many dedicated staff members who work here. Your engagement in this community makes us so proud. So, at this time, I'd like to invite the 2025 Mayor's Academy participants who are here this evening and who are joining us up. Um, if you could stand for applause. [applause] Uh, now if I could ask you to come up front. Um, we're going to take a quick photo if we can. All right. This All right. Thanks, Mom. Thank you again for your engagement and for your commitment to this learning experience. We appreciate you being a

part of this cohort. Please continue to share the message because we will do this again next year. And I've already heard that many of them have signed up for some of our othermies. So glad to have you back and looking for other opportunities to be engaged in the town. So we appreciate you. Next we move to the FY25 audit. Miss Rim. Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm standing here this evening to present the results of the fiscal year 2025 audit. We have Shelton Inennis who is a partner with Joyce and Company which is our external audit firm um that was engaged for this fiscal year. So tonight you'll just be receiving the results of the audit. There's no action necessary. So for tonight's agenda, we'll have the auditor communications and the audit process and results um given by Shelton. And then I'll come back to talk through our financial performance, go through some of summary of other items, and then we'll have question and discussion if you guys um see fit. So I'm going to pass things over. Sh. Good evening, mayor and members of the council. It's good to be with you this evening to present the results of the financial statement audit for the year ended June 30th, 2025. Uh I'll go over a few of the uh audit requirements uh that are uh involved uh in the the process as well as uh some of the required communications. Um, the North Carolina general general statute requires all municipalities and counties in the state to uh to obtain an audit of their financial statements each fiscal year. The fiscal year runs from July 1st to

June 30th. Um, and this fiscal year that was audited was June and year ended June 30th, 2025. Uh the audit is a multi-month process uh that involves uh coordination and communication among with finance staff uh and and preparation and in large part their preparation for the audit to make sure accounts balances tie out to subleddgers bank accounts are reconciled uh as well as year-end adjusting closing entries to true up balances uh are are done before the actual audit fieldwork begins. Um there are there are um many shareholders uh stakeholders that uh rely on the financial statements including creditors uh as well as citizens as well as the council and management of course uh to be able to plan and uh and operate uh the town uh in a fiscally responsible manner. Uh the state of North Carolina is also a shareholder. Uh the local government commission uh is um uh is part of the state treasurer's office and oversees all of the uh counties and municipalities uh fiscal health uh around the in in the state and uh the audit is submitted each year to the local government commission uh for their review and uh for their determination if the unit is in good health. Uh [cough] [clears throat] the main report uh that is in the financial statements which I believe you have a copy of uh is the independent auditor's report. Uh the town received an unmodified opinion which is a clean opinion. Uh this means that the financial statements are free of material misstatement uh presented

fairly in all material respects uh for uh the year ended 20 June 30th 2025. Uh there is another letter I believe you have in your packet uh that is referred to as the governance letter. This is required communication uh to the governing body describing the scope of the audit procedures performed. Any significant findings that are not communicated within the actual body of the annual comprehensive uh financial report uh and any disagreements with management regarding uh any accounting treatments or uh presentations and disclosures. Uh I'll go over a few of these items in the governance letter uh to bring to your attention. Uh there was a new accounting pronouncement effective for fiscal year 2025 uh known as GA Gazsby 101 compensated absences. Uh as you may be aware uh vacation that is uh to be paid out upon uh employment termination is recorded as a liability in the financial statements and and has been for some time. This new pronouncement also requires expected sick leave time that will be used to be acred as a liability. This resulted in a uh prior period adjustment to the town's net position, a a decrease in the net position of about $1.7 million, which is a little more than 1% of the entire net position of the town. There were no difficulties encountered during the audit uh engaging with management in performing and completing uh our procedures. Uh we noted that uh that there were no um uh second opinions sought by management for uh for purposes

of seeing how to treat uh uh an accounting item u uh based on how we uh audited the information. Um and uh there was also a there was also no disagreements with management in uh financial accounting reporting uh or auditing matters uh during the audit that uh I'm pleased to to say as well. Um so uh with that uh I want to also mention um uh the local government commission uh has a um a data input that is prepared after the audit's completed that summarizes a lot of the financial information to determine the fiscal health uh and will generate benchmarks that are known as financial performance indicators of concern. Um the I'm pleased to to say that there were no financial performance indicators of concern for the fiscal year ended 2025. Uh there was a financial performance indicator of concern in the prior fiscal year uh where there were bank reconciliations that were not timely performed uh as well as uh uh reconciliation of subleddgers to the financial statements and timely review that was all corrected in the current fiscal year. So there are no items to report that would be of concern uh uh that uh the local government commission uh would raise a red flag. Uh and uh I believe uh Jessica will go over a few of the audit uh the financial statement highlights the numbers. Um, I'd like to thank uh Jessica and Antoine and Alice and the entire finance team for all of their help and responsiveness during the course of the audit uh and gathering and information preparing for the audit uh as well as assisting in drafting the financial statements. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. And

with that, I'll turn it back over to Jessica. Thanks, Shelton. Um, so now we'll talk financial performance highlights. On page 108 of the financial statements is where you'll find our property tax analysis. So, our assessed valuation for fiscal year 2025 was $4.3 billion. Um that's compared to 2.7 billion from the prior year and that's a 57% increase year-over-year. Um our tax collections came in at 18.9 million for FY25. Um and that is an increase of 6.5 million from the previous year. Um Ninthale is continuing to grow and that's a that's being reflected um in our property tax revenues. Now we do have a 99.62 62 um levy collection rate which is very strong and that is consistent with our collection rate that we had in the previous year as well. It is right on um on par with the statewide average which is 99.66%. Okay. So, this shows the five-year trend of the change in fund balance um for the general fund, the storm water fund, and then the general capital reserve. And I will make a note that um during fiscal year 2025, the town opened a debt service fund. And for financial reporting purposes, this has been consolidated with the general fund. So, that you can see that our fund balance increased in both the general fund and the general capital reserve. The storm water fund did have expenditures that exceeded revenues by um a little over 216,000. This however was planned use of fund balance. When we adopted the fiscal year 2025 budget, we had planned to use um 1.5 million in storm water fund balance.

However, with revenues coming in over budget and expenditures coming in under budget, we were able to only dip into our fund balance by a little over 200,000, which is a great thing. Um so in the general fund the increase from fiscal year 2024 is contributed to our property tax revenue and we saw on the previous slide how much um our property taxes have increased. Um for the general capital reserve the main um reason for that increase is a transfer from the general fund for a little over a million dollars. Um, our capital reserve policy states that two cents of the tax rate each year should be transferred from the general fund to the general capital reserve for future um, capital needs. And that was the purpose of this transfer. So, diving into the general fund, um the town has an unassigned fund balance policy indicating that unassigned fund balance as a percentage of general fund expenditures should be at least 25%. Which would be 8.8 million in unassigned fund balance. Now, our actual results exceeds the policy because we have a 30.75% unassigned fund balance percentage h um coming in at 10.8 million. Um [clears throat] so we have outperformed our policy threshold by about $1.9 million. Now, of our unassigned fund balance, we have used about 18,000 so far in fiscal year 2026. Um and obviously this number does not include the 3 million that we're planning to use um for the lofts purchase debt position. Now we had one debt issuance during fiscal year 2025. We issued limited obligation bonds for $13.6 million for the law enforcement center at 5% interest rate. Part of the process when we issue bonds is obtaining a rating from one of our rating agencies. Um this is think of it

like a credit score. So we received our rating from Moody's um and we received a double A2 rating which is one of the highest ratings they provide. And the stronger our credit rating um the better interest rate we can obtain when we go out into the debt market. Now the town's overall debt is just $28.7 million. And we can't really talk about debt without talking about debt compliance. um we have to comply with both state statute and with the town's internal policy. Now, per the state statute, the town's percent of debt to assess valuation cannot exceed 8%. Um and at the end of fiscal year 2025, the town came in at 0.67% um a debt to valuation ratio, which is well below that 8%. Now, translating this from percents to dollars, it pretty much means that the town's total outstanding debt can exceed $343 million for fiscal year 2025. And as you can see, we only had 28.7, so we're nowhere near hitting that debt ceiling. The town's debt service ratio policy stipulates that debt service as a percentage of total budgeted expend expenditures should not exceed 15%. Now, the town's debt service ratio for fiscal year 2025 is under that threshold coming in at 8%. Um, so overall, the town has stayed in compliance with both state statute and our town policies. Now, subsequent to the fiscal year, but prior to the release of our audited financial statements, the town entered into um the town issued another um uh went into another debt issuance for 950,000 with PNC Bank. Now, this is a 4-year installment financing agreement for um vehicles and equipment for the community community relations department, police, and fire. This loan has an interest rate of 3.66%.

So again, we're benefiting from having that strong credit rating. Now, our plan debt issuances for FY26, in addition to the debt that I just me mentioned, the um the town plans to enter um to issue more debt for the projects listed here. The timelines for these issuances have not been fully developed as of yet, but we anticipate that both of these will happen prior to the end of the fiscal year. Um, and we'll be working with our financial advisor to kind of um true up those timelines um in the upcoming months. So, overall, our key takeaways is we have a very strong property tax collection rate. We have the benefit of being in Wake County and they do a great job collecting property taxes on the town's behalf. Um, we also have strong sales tax revenue. That's another benefit of being in Wake County, a county that has seen significant growth over the years. Our financial reserves are strong. Um, our credit rating that we received in 2025, as I mentioned before, is one of the highest rece that they um give out. Um, and our unrestricted cash, we have solid unrestricted cash with 15.3 million for the general funds and 3.3 million for the general capital reserve. So, I do want to mention a change that came from the state treasurer's office um that went into effect this year. Um, state statute requires that all local governments um receive an external audit annually. Um, this was due four months after year end or October 31st. The treasur's office issued a memo last December 2024 indicating that governments will now have six months um after the fiscal year end or December 31st to have their audited financial statements submitted. This is great news as many local governments um are struggling with staffing um staffing shortages um are uh the legislative

bodies that give out the accounting standards. they're con we're having more and more standards being issued which has caused the um the audits to just be a little bit more complex. So the local government commission heard from the local governments and they decided to give us six months after year end um for night. We have already submitted our financial statement. So we are above we are ahead of that December 31st submission. But I do want to make sure that you guys are aware that since they did give this um they have changed the due date, the expectation from the LGC is that audits are turned in on time. Um and so now they um have implemented a rule that if your audit is not submitted by March 31st, you may have your sales tax um withheld. Um again, we're not at risk of that. Ours has been submitted, but I did want to make sure you guys were aware of that change. So, I'll close by letting you know that the town received two awards from the government finance officers association. For our 2024 annual comprehensive report, we received the certificate of achievement of excellence in financial reporting. And then for our citizens report for 24, we received the award for outstanding achievement in popular financial reporting. Now, the citizens the citizens report is a condensed version of our financial statements. um it's very um user friend or reader friendly so that the average reader can understand the financials of the town and doesn't have to go through our larger ACT firm. So um I we do plan to submit our applications so that we can hopefully receive both of these awards again for our 2025 documents. Um and we'll be doing that in the next couple of weeks. Um, I want to give a thank you to all the town staff and much appreciation goes to the finance department for their commitment to Nightdale and their hard work um, they have put in over the past year so that we have the results that we have um, that I've shown you tonight. Um, I also want to thank our newest

assistant town manager, Antoine Morrison, for assisting finance staff with the audit and helping coordinate it. um prior to my arrival in September, they had already spent months working on the audit and I definitely appreciate the help that he provided with that. And so with that, um I will turn it back over um if you guys have any questions or would like to discuss anything,

comments?

Thank you for all the work that you all have done in putting this together. We're always so excited to see our audit u findings come out and be clean. Um but I do have a question regarding the um item the note 7. I know that was due to the the GASB was due to a statute change we've made. I'm assuming that adjustment in our 2526 budget to where we don't have to have a deduction from general fund or from our fund balance. Correct.

I'm sorry. Could you repeat the question? So the item that was um noted in note six on the financial statement about the statute change um concerning the GSB statement.

Yes.

Okay. So is that that was for 2425 budget that we end up having to take a dip out of fund balance. Is that correct?

So what you're alluding to what Shelton mentioned about the um uh the we had to restate net position. So that is happening at our full approval financial statement. So, what we budget for is um the the modified approval or um we don't have to put in as many of these accounting adjustments. So, that did not affect our unassigned fund balance or the um the general funds fund balance at all. It's a government it's in exhibit one. That's where you'll see that. Um and that is for the government as a whole.

Okay.

So, we didn't that's not something that we had to budget for.

Perfect. Thank you. Anything else?

Any Thank you.

All right. Thank you so much.

All right. And I just want to give um a special thank you. Thank you, Miss Rim, and thank you to um our assistant town manager, Mr. Morrison, for um all of the hard work for this this year. Um we're so glad to have you in the town of Nightdale. We appreciate uh you jumping right in in this busy time. um and accepting this and in doing an exceptional job. So, uh just want to give you a special thank you. Next is our public comment period. Uh is there anyone here tonight who wishes to speak to the council on an item that is not currently on the agenda? If so, you may come forward at this time. Right. If not, at this time, I'll turn it over to our town clerk, Miss Smith, to share some written comments that have been shared.

Thank you. Good evening, mayor, and members of the council. We received one written comment for tonight's public comment period. And since you've all received this comment via email, I will just briefly summarize. Judy Bennett, 3224th Avenue, expressed concerns that the construction near her property will cause flooding and damage to her septic tank. The full comment will be included in the official record of the meeting. Thank you for your time.

All right. Thank you so much, Miss Smith. Next, we'll bring it to reports on citizens inquiries. Any reports on citizens inquiries from council? Uh, Mayor Day, I did have uh I did receive a uh concern from a property owner uh that I would like to share. Uh the property owner expressed frustration over the increase of their utility bill and cost and after discussing uh the matter with Bill. Uh the property owner

is on a private utility system uh located in our uh ETJ and and it's not in our city limits. Uh, Bill had advised uh with the staff that they will always be available to help and and speak with them. Um, but they wanted to make sure that they had a clear understanding of the provisions and the issues. And the staff also uh assisted uh the customers by putting them in touch with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to help uh with their specific questions and concerns. Um, and so uh what we were looking at is is twofold. one, I do want to thank the staff to to jump in and and give uh some quality information uh in regards to uh her situation, but I also think that there was uh really good discussion about understanding the ETJ and um how that actually affects folks that do actually live in the ETJ versus the people that live in town. So I just wanted to bring that to um to fruition and and you know just kind of open up the discussion maybe uh have more give more opportunity or more information for people to understand um ETJ and what all the pros and and cons that go along with it.

All right, thank you for sharing those comments. Uh any additional comments? I've ju just had one from a citizen um talking about trash pickup along Hodgej Road u that was forwarded to uh town staff and I understand that um there's been concerns in the past but we've we've gone on a contract and and there's a a regular cycle of of trash pickup out there. So appreciative of staff getting back on that. So there's if that um problem should be resolved very soon is what I heard. All right, thank you for that as well. Any additional comments?

All right. Well, thank you for sharing. Uh, next we'll move to the consent agenda. Any questions, comments, or motion to adopt the consent agenda? Motion to adopt.

Second.

All in favor?

I I.

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. We'll move to our public hearings for the evening. We will start with an-7-25 Clifton Road Conservation Subdivision, Mr. Lewis.

Great. Good evening and thank you, Mayor and Council, uh, for this opportunity to present the annexation for Clifton Road. U, this is a voluntary annexation petition. It is contiguous to the Nightdale's uh, main jurisdiction. The site is off Clifton Road. It's about um 32 acres in size. It's currently uh undeveloped and mainly used per or previously used for a agricultural purposes. Uh the proposed use is a 95 lot residential subdivision which was approved by council earlier this year and that case number was ZMA uh 8-25 4 8-24. Here's a look at that master plan again. Um it is a subdivision that features 68 cottage units. Um and then um about 27 single family front-loaded units with uh recreational open space throughout. The annexation plat was also included in the staff report. Again, it's a voluntary petition. Uh the town clerk has certified uh that the petition meets state statutes. Um and previously a uh resolution was adopted by council to set the public hearing for this evening. Um and uh the that resolution was adopted last month. All statutory requirements for holding the public meeting have been met. We provided a full cost benefit analysis

in the uh staff report. Uh but just to highlight um some of the projected revenues and expenses here. Um uh on a yearly basis, staff estimates that the total revenue for a site like this is $220,000. Uh the total expenditures for all town services would be just over n $19,000. Um which would result in a projected net revenue of $111,000 every year. Uh some other considerations beyond just the costbenefit analysis that this development is providing. There is a public greenway connection offsite that would connect this development to Popular Creek Village and the public greenway that runs through that neighborhood. Um it does introduce a new housing type, a cottage court unit. Again, about 68 of those are provided on the site. And it uh there's a large amount of natural habitat that is being um preserved on the site. about just over a third of the site is remaining undisturbed. So, I'm happy to answer any questions about the resoning petition if there are any. There's a member of the development team here tonight if you have any questions for them. Um, but uh after receiving any public comment, our recommendation would be to close public hearing and adopt ordinance 25-12-17-1 to annex the parcel.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Uh, council, any questions or comments? All right, hearing none. Thank you. This is a public hearing item. So, at this time, I will open the floor for public comment. Is there anyone here tonight that wishes to speak on this item? If so, you may come forward at this time. All right. Hearing none, I will bring it back to the council for any last uh

questions, comments, or if you're ready to make a motion.

I'll make the motion to close the public hearing, adopt ordinance 251217001, effectively annexing the area. Second.

All in favor? I

I

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. Uh next is Clifton Road Conservation Development Agreement. Mr. Lewis,

thank you again. Um so, as we typically do, we have a development agreement running concurrently with the resone or with the annexation petition. Um and we'll dive into that a little bit more. Uh but again, the site is just off Clifton Road, north of um Pool Road and south of I 87. Um the applicant is Smith Anderson and the developer is Dr. Horton. Um again a 95 residential unit subdivision. Um it was reszoned to GR3 with planned unit development. Um and the surrounding uses are largely residential agricultural uh or open spaces. Again look at the master plan. Um so looking at the timeline just annexed in the pub was approved in July of this year. Construction drawings have been submitted and are under review now. Um, and the developer is looking at a timeline in the next year of breaking ground on the site. Uh, so the agreement overview in general, it includes uh provisions for public utilities and water allocation, the phasing and term uh zoning conditions and transportation improvements. Um so first looking at the water allocation policy this was what the developer proposed with the master plan and it's still being met with the current construction drawings and uh as part of the development agreement um they are meeting the minimum standards for the water allocation policy. Um the developer is proposing to uh develop this in a single phase and the term of

the agreement is extended from the 2-year uh minimum that is allowed in the state statutes up to 10 years. um through 2035. All of the zoning conditions that were approved as part of the resoning earlier this year carry forward into the development agreement that includes site development allowances, architectural standards, site design and transportation improvements. None of these zoning conditions are changing. Uh one thing again to highlight, we've talked about the transportation improvements slightly, but again they are proposing an off-site greenway connection to Popular Creek Village. Um this would run through NC DOT owned land. Um the uh for the future final leg of I540. Um we are currently working with NC DOT and the developer on acquiring uh the developer acquiring the right of way necessary to make that connection happen. Um and so we're making some progress there. So I'm happy to answer any questions. Again, there is a develop uh representative from the development team here if you have any questions. for them. But our recommendation would be to close the public hearing and approve the development agreement and adopt ordinance 25-12-17-2.

All right. Thank you again and bringing it to the council. Any questions or comments?

Just a quick question. I reached out to Kevin earlier today to discuss um when we originally approved this development, we had talked about uh possibly assigned parking spots for the cottage courts and Kevin and I exchanged a little bit about that today and I just since it was part of the public discussion during the hearing, I was just going to see if you could recap kind of some of the trade-offs of that.

Sure. So, um, as you all will remember during the public hearing, we talked a lot about, as councelor McDonald mentioned, um, public parking or parking for future residents out there for the cottage court units in particular. Um,

the developer is proposing about two units or two spaces per cottage court unit of parking. That is a mix of on street and off- streetet parking. Um there are about uh 45 on street parking spaces provided on the site and the remainder are off streetet and spread across four parking lots. They also include EV charging stations and handicap handicap parking spaces. Um about a third of the spaces are on street within the public rideway. So those would be maintained by the town in perpetuity. as long as the town is maintaining those streets, the town is maintaining those parking spaces. Um, I know we've talked a lot about uh making sure that all the residents of the cottage court units have close access to parking spaces from their units. Um, with parking lots and the on street parking that is provided. Um, but those parking spaces currently as in the construction drawings are not assigned. Um the developer has indicated that they would be willing to work with us on assigning at least one parking space per unit um in the private parking lots. Uh but um we would not be able to reserve any of the on street parking spaces. Again, those are public parking spaces um maintained by the town and we could not enforce any parking restrictions on those spaces. Um the developer still has to submit HOA covenants to us to review before the final plat is approved. Um and that is a good vehicle for ma making sure the parking is adequately assigned on the site. Um and again the developer is comfortable with us uh working with us on that. So we'll continue to work with them um to make sure that those future residents have close adequate parking provided.

Thank you. Thank you for the question. Sorry, this has nothing to do with the actual the EV chargers. You brought that up and I just want to maybe encourage

the developer in those covenants that they create for you to uh review to maybe put a time limit on the EV chargers so the residents don't get into a fist of cuffs out there about the EV chargers.

That's a great point. Well, since we're going around the um I know it was a part of the points allocation, but if somebody was sort of looking at that pickle ball courts, it looked like there were somebody might say, are there five? How many how many pickle ball courts are there?

Um that is a great question. I do not know for sure. Um but uh those are located on the northern side of the site. Um but there are at least two two to four.

Yeah, that's great. It it just want people to know that that was points not necessarily five. So that was really all but it's great that they're coming out there because they are very popular.

They are the clarity. Yeah.

Any additional

All right. I got one. I couldn't stop. All right. So Kevin, let's talk about the greenway. So we're waiting on NC DOT for that connect that greenway connection approval. Correct.

Correct. We we did get the sign off because I know there was a point of contention on that Popular Creek section from DOT because it was a part of that 540 layown yard or something like that that did get approved. So there would be a seamless connection or is that correct?

That's correct. That's what we're working through with NC DOT now. U okay when we had previously talked about this site a couple of years ago, NC DOT was really hesitant on working with us on a greenway easement through their site. Um that was before they accelerated the construction of I540 to be completed uh by 2028. Now that that has been accelerated and plans have been approved for that full um highway extension um they have a lot more clarity on what that the impacts to that site are going

to be. Um therefore they're comfortable with us working together to get that um easement uh granted there.

Strong. Yes.

Thank you. In addition. All right. Thank you so much. Once again, this is a public hearing item. So, I will now open the floor uh for public comment. If there's anyone here tonight who wishes to speak on this item, you may come forward at this time. All right. If not, then I will bring it back to council. Any last questions, comments, or is there a motion?

I'll make a motion to close the public hearing, approve the development agreement, adopt ordinance 251217002.

I'll second.

All in favor? I.

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. Uh we'll move to our last public hearing item of the evening, Brio Village Development Agreement. Mr. Lewis,

great. Thank you again. Um so this development agreement is for another project on the north side of our jurisdiction. Um this is for the Brio Village development is the age restricted uh section of Brio between Buffalo Road and Lucas Road. Um just as a reminder, the case number was ZMA9-21. It was reszoned to neighborhood mixeduse plan unit development. Um the applicant is McAdams and the developer is uh Tri Trigate Sunrest Brio LLC. Overall the site is about 185 acres in size. Um again undeveloped agricultural uses and the approved land use was for about two 612 age restricted residential lots. Uh again zoned NMX uh planned unit

development. Most of the surrounding zoning is res rural transition. Um to the north is Raleigh's jurisdiction. Um and again most mostly residential uses out there. This was the master plan that was approved um for the entire Brio development, both the age restricted section and the non-agger restricted section off of uh Old Cruz Road. Here's a look specifically at Brio Village, the age restricted section. Um, and this is highlighting phase one, but this shows all phases of Brio Village out there. Uh, construction drawings have been submitted. Uh, they're nearing approval for phase one of that site, the furthest uh, portion north. But again, going back, this was approved initially in July of 2022. Um, and, uh, the annexation petition will be submitted for this by the end of this month or early next month. So, we'll be coming back for another public hearing uh for that an annexation early 2026. Uh so, diving back into the specifics of the development agreement, uh this development is uh exceeding the requirements of the water allocation policy through various on-site improvements. Um this is proposed to be built in three phases um total uh with a future phase uh for the commercial and multif family section which is the furthest north on uh northwest east on the site in blue there. Uh but the phases are uh 315 lots in phase one uh highlighted in red, 96 lots in phase two in blue through the center of the site and 97 lots in green on the southeast side of the site. Again, this is extended to a 10-year term for the development agreement. All of the uh zoning conditions again that were approved with ZMA9-21

are carrying forward um with this development agreement with some updates uh that we'll go over. Um and those updates are specific to the architectural standards. We brought this to you in a work session not long ago. So Stanley Martin Homes and Garmin Homes are the builders who will be building new homes in this site. Um they are proposing some changes to some of the garages and foundation requirements on the site. Um uh specifically allowing for onecar garages so that a uh primary bedroom can be on the ground floor. Um and then a slab ongrade foundation so a little bit easier entry and exit into the site uh for the age restricted residents out there. Um overall the rest of the architectural standards remain the same. Um and we've reviewed these and reviewed some of the uh uh real life conditions that these um architectural standards put out there and other similar age restricted developments uh in the region. Um we feel comfortable with these uh proposed updates from a staffing level. Um looking at the transportation improvements uh and you will recall with the resoning there were a number of offsite improvements required by this development by the old old mil Bernie development. Um and then all of the developments that are happening in Raleigh's jurisdiction on the north side of Buffalo Road. Um, so this portion of Brio is just responsible for their frontage improvements on Buffalo Road and Lucas Road. Other improvements that are happening are a signalized intersection at Old Cruz Road, which is right now at four-way stop. Some uh capacity improvements at Old Milie Road and then a whole slew of improvements um on Buffalo Road at the I540 interchanges. Um that is those are improvements required by this developer and a number of other developers where they have already actually come together for an agreement uh a cost share agreement to make those developments

happen. Um so you've seen some of those out there if you travel this corridor now. There are a lot more coming um for those off-ramps and on-ramps um and the uh Buffalo Road uh road itself. So, happy to answer any questions about that, about any of the other uh terms of the agreement. Um, there is a representative of the developer here tonight if you have any questions for them. But our recommendation would be to close the public hearing and approve the development agreement and adopt ordinance 25-12-17-3.

All right. Thank you again, Mr. Lewis. Uh, bringing it to council. Any questions, comments? One one question, Kevin, on the age restricted section, are the And I refresh my memory. Are those multi-level units,

the town homes?

Yes.

Okay. So, the the plan is to eliminate one of the garage bays for a downstairs master and then

correct

any others upstairs. Okay.

Yes. And more living space in the second stories. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I was just going to say um for somebody that is aging, I I I like that idea, especially if um you know to incorporate sort if it it if it aligns with aging in place um you know with with other elements throughout it um you know that that would be great. I think it really serves our citizens well to to have that um here in our town. So glad glad to see that change actually. And this doesn't change any of those architectural conditions for the market rate portion of Brio just for uh the age restricted portion. So foundations and garages remain the same uh in the other section.

Any additional?

All right. Thank you. All right. And just like uh the others,

this is a public hearing item. So, at this time, I will open the floor for public uh comment. Is there anyone here tonight who wishes to speak on this item? You may come forward at this time. Uh please be sure to have signed the speaker sheet located at the entry table. Comments are limited to 3 minutes. We do have the timer that will indicate that the time has expired. And please be sure to state your name and address for the record, please. Okay.

Uh good evening. My name is Rick Hoffshshire. I live at 1332 Romac Trail uh here in Nightdale. Uh I have a small farm uh located just south of the what used to be the age restricted section uh of uh Buffalo Road and Lucas the redraw. I can't tell. All the colors on the map, the key are so close. I'm a little color challenged. I can't tell. I hope that that hasn't moved and that it still backs up to my property. Uh my property lies directly south of that. Uh it uh it's divided by uh Beaver Dam Creek. uh uh during the previous hearings in 2022, I made no objections uh to the plan uh made no comments, but as a result of the redraw and the almost doubling of the units that's there, I am now very concerned for the safety of my animals and my property as a result of the path, the greenway path, mere feet from my property. Does the builder have any uh obligation to uh try to protect my property from uh these people that I know, you know, could potentially be coming across my property? Now, the one thing I guess that I would ask the council uh to respectfully to do is to ensure that the builder doesn't disturb the uh uh the

greenway, the repairarian buffer or uh uh uh anything in the in the watershed there because that creek does provide a small bit of uh uh security. nobody that's going to want to come across onto my property, they're going to be able to do it. But at least there is a large ditch there. And I would hope that the uh uh builders uh have no intention of uh like putting in uh a uh uh a pipe or something like that, covering up and and doing whatever for any of the flood weight that that's right there. Uh so re regardless of anything that the uh builder may or may not be obligated to do regarding uh the safety of my property and my animals, it's going to cost some significant amount for me to make my property safe and secure for my family and that I think is unfortunate. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. I know your comments have been noted and if there's something that we can do from staff perspective, if we can connect you with staff, I know you had some questions. Um, please reach out. I know we have your information. Um, but to answer some of those questions, anyone else here tonight who wishes to speak on this item? If so, you may come forward at this time.

Good evening. Um, my name is Matt Morabido. Uh, I'm at 8529 Buffalo Road. I'm on the north side of Buffalo Road, so I guess that's out of the jurisdiction. I I'm not really sure what's You know, it's a gray area up there. Um, [sighs] I guess my I'm kind of curious on the traffic patterns um between Lucas Road. I'm kind of between Lucas Road and Old Cruise. Um, even now, nothing's even, you know, they haven't really started anything yet. I'm kind of

concerned about traffic patterns because there's a lot of stuff coming from I guess that would be the east side um by Mark's Creek and out that way. There's already a lot of traffic and just getting out of my driveway is right now is already difficult. Um it's two lanes, you know, even coming from Lucas turning onto Buffalo across Buffalo. There's no stop sign on Buffalo at all. So, it's I I guess are there any plans on improving that? It's two lanes right now and it's already moving and I see a lot of accidents. You know, I could be standing on my front porch and you see I've seen people run off the road. I mean, it's it's fast and it's tight right there. So, I'm just I'm wondering I saw the traffic patterns that you guys had and I'm just kind of I couldn't really see it. I'm kind of curious on the you know that one. I guess is Lucas Road the the one on the far right. Yeah, it looks like those are just turn lanes. There's not going to be any light or anything there or

and we we'd have additional information, detailed information that we could provide you and we can find time for staff to be able to share that information with you. I just want to make sure that we're answering the questions. Usually, this is an opportunity for us to hear those concerns. So, we've heard um your concerns and appreciate you sharing them. Um but if you want more detailed answers, we'd love to take that time to be able to get that for you.

Yeah. My my other question was also about the I guess what what age restriction is going to be going in that area. I didn't that's first I've heard of that, you know, but this is the first hearing I've been to in a while. So,

thank you for coming out. We appreciate you being here. And if we can once again, same thing, get your contact information if you can get connected with our staff and then we can um follow up and get you some of that those answers for you.

Works. Thank you.

Awesome. Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thank you both for your comments. Um, anyone else here tonight who wishes to speak on this item? If so, you may come

forward at this time. All right. If not, um, those comments have been acknowledged and now bringing it back to Oh, before we bring it back to council, at this time, I'll turn it over to our town clerk, Mrs. Smith, to share some written comments that have been received. Thank you, Mayor Day. Um, we did receive one written comment for tonight's public hearing. Again, since you all have received the comment via email, I'm just going to briefly summarize. Vanden Gandhi, 8616 Buffalo Road, expressed concerns regarding access to public utilities for the development of his property, which is adjacent and upstream to this development. As with the previous comment, I just want to indicate that it will be included in the official record of this meeting. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for sharing that, Miss Smith. And now we'll bring it back to our council for any questions, additional comments.

All right. Hearing none.

If there are none, I'll make a motion to close the public hearing, approve the development agreement, and adopt ordinance 251217003.

Second. All in favor?

I.

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. Uh, next we'll move to our advisory board uh committee reports. This is an opportunity for council members to share any updates from recent advisory board meetings. Um, does anyone have any updates that they would like to share this evening? All right. If not, um, then at this time, may I have a motion to adjurnn?

So moved. Second.

All in favor?

Any opposed? Majority approves. Motion carries. We stand adjourn at this time. Thank you all for joining us this

evening. We appreciate you being here and this being our last meeting for the year. Just wanting to wish you all a wonderful happy holidays, a happy new year, and we will see you again as we start up next year. Have a good evening.