Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. call to order the August 27th meeting of the Kerry Town Council. Before we get started with regular business, I would like to take a moment to remember someone who meant a lot to this town. So many people had the privilege of knowing him and I'm talking about former council member and mayor prom Ed Yurha. He was a scholar, a public servant, a sports enthusiast, a storyteller, and a man of deep faith. He was accepted to Harvard, but instead chose to go to New York's University Metropolitan Leadership Program where he studied English and linguistics and became fluent in seven languages. His curiosity and love for learning stayed with him throughout his entire life. Ed's professional career began at IBM where he was a tax analyst. Excuse me. Anyone who knew Ed knew that he loved numbers and numbers mattered. If you got a number wrong or you spelled something wrong, you would hear it from Ed. And I could always count on Ed when I called on him in our weekly meetings to know that he crunched the numbers and [snorts] he read every word of every document and analyzed it carefully. Our weekly phone calls were always interesting because I was often challenged to see whether he had found something I didn't. In 1995, IBM located Ed and Carolyn to Carrie. Carrie became his home and he gave this community an extraordinary amount of time. 15 years of service on boards and commissions followed by a decade on the Kerry town council including Mayor Prom. He helped shape what we call the Kerry way and he cared deeply about preserving the history and character of this town. It's especially fitting that a park near his home bears his name and reflects the lasting mark he left on Carrie. Of course, Ed had plenty of passions outside public service. He was a lifelong Tar Hill fan, a devoted baseball historian and statistician. He appeared on Who Wants to be a Millionaire twice. He qualified for Jeopardy 20 times but never was selected. But above all, Ed was my friend and a friend to so many. Ed loved people, especially his wife Carolyn, his family, his friends, his neighbors, and the many people who worked alongside him here at Kerry Town Hall. Tonight, as we remember Ed, we also want to celebrate him. His intellect, his humor, his faith, his service, and his deep love of Carrie. Ed helped make Kerry the community it is today. And we are grateful for his life. We are grateful for his service. and we are grateful that we had the opportunity to call him one of our own. On behalf of the town and the town council, our heartfelt condolences go to Carolyn and his family and all those who loved Ed. May Ed's memory and the many ways he served this community continue to inspire us. Thank you for letting me listen for listening to me and dedicate this time to such a special person. You'll notice that Mayor Pro Tim Bush is not here. She's at the visitation this evening and his service is going to be tomorrow. So, at this time, I would ask you to join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty, justice for all. >> First order of business is to adopt the agenda and I would entertain a motion to do so. >> So moved. >> Second. There's a motion and a second discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to interim town manager Overton for his update. Thank you, mayor. I'll start with a quick summary of the work session we had before tonight's regular meeting. Staff gave an update on some changes coming to the Citizens Convenience Center um towards the end of the year. will continue to accept yard and food waste, but we will no longer be able to accept other items. That change is really being driven by an upcoming railroad expansion on some of their property that we've been using for quite some time. We also talked about a new policy to clarify council's rules of the quorum for meeting council meetings and we discussed creating a new council committee to work through some of the recommendations coming out of the financial and workplace review over the last eight months. For folks who wish to follow that work, there's more information on our moving forward website. Our work sessions are also livereamed and the recordings are available on the town's YouTube channel. I want to close my report tonight by talking or taking just a minute to talk about past this past weekend and the 50th Lazy Days Festival. 50 years is pretty incredible. Um Lazy Days has been part of Kerry as long as some of us can remember. It's part of the fabric of this community and I think it's one of those things that keeps us all connected to our small town roots and it's my personal favorite festival of the year. Um it's just a special part of Kerry and I appreciate everything that goes into making it happen year after year. It takes a lot of people to pull it off. Literally every department in our organization is involved at some level. But I do want to give special shout out to um the three Ps I guess parks, police and public works really carrying the lion share of the work over the weekend. So, thanks to everybody who had a hand in the 50th lazy days and made it a great one. And that concludes my remarks tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Overton. And the committee he mentioned will convene for the first time on September 8th at 6:30 and it will be streamed where anybody can watch it. Okay. We now move to public speaks out. There are three opportunities to speak at this public forum through written comments, by calling in or by attending here in person this evening. If you are here in person and would like to speak, I would ask that you take seat in in the rows to my right that are highlighted. Now, public speaks out speakers have three minutes each for their comments and may speak on any town related topic as long as it's not a public hearing. And that's to your benefit because public hearing speakers get more time. Three minute time limit will be enforced. Not to be rude, but to be fair to all of our speakers. We have a timer on the podium. When the light is green, that means you have at least 30 seconds remaining. When it's yellow, that means you only have 30 seconds remaining. And when it's red, that's the point I'm going to interrupt you. Again, not trying to be mean, trying to be fair to all of our speakers. I would ask that all the speakers be respectful and be civil in their comments and direct the comments to the entire council and not to an individual. I thank everyone in the audience for understanding and respecting that this is a business meeting. Please do not applaud, make remarks from your seats, show props, or do anything else that may may re detract from a business meeting. And I thank you for that. So, now is the time for public speaks out. And I'm going to call on our clerk to read any written comments and call on any registered speakers. >> We have received four written comments. They've been emailed to council prior to the meeting. provide to council upon arrival and attached to the online agenda. Our first we have no call-in speakers and our first in-person speaker is Kimberly Martan followed by Pamela Pinky. Good afternoon, council. Uh, my name is Dr. Kimberly McTarion, proud resident of Raleigh, North Carolina. Woohoo. And I'm here. >> Merarian, could I ask you not to hold the mic? They can't adjust it when you're holding. >> Okay. I do apologize. >> Thank you. You're good. >> Thank you. Well, first of all, let me say thank you, Mayor Harold, and I don't want to mess up your last name, but I want to say thank you because we remember your name being signed on the 70 mayors that stood against the police brutality for George Floyd. But let me say this, George [snorts] Floyd was born and raised right here in North Carolina. His family members live in Raleigh now and they live on the Morai plantation, Raleigh Housing Authority, of which I've heard you, many of you speak about. His value with the knee on the neck didn't come from just the knee. It came from the value where people placed us. And we thank you that while you placed us high that day, we need to continue that high level of sensitivity for humanity. I am also the proud descendant of Nathaniel Jones, one of the fathers of Kerry. My ancestors Albert and Lucy Jones uh till the 10,000 acres of land here on Kerry. And so when I hear not only did they teal for Nathaniel Jones, but their his children Alfred and Wesley, their son is Buck Jones of Buck Jones Road. And so we have deep ties right back here to Car's roots. And that is why I have to remind you that UNCC Chapel Hills is where Buck Jones went to attend school of which my ancestors backs paid for him to go. I have nothing left to say. But while Mr. Steagle decides who he pays for to go to college, I brought my legacy along with me. Albert, Lucy Jones. Their names are Kai and Elena. And they want nothing more than to have that same opportunity. That's right. Because our ancestors bent our backs for others to go. So words like affordable housing shouldn't apply to us because we made this country rich, not affordable. And so we're asking for a meeting with Carrie so that we can continue the legacy of fairness and inequity and remove the labels that declassify us to the point we're dead with a knee. We thank you for listening and we hope to hear from you soon. You will receive a link with all of our information. We're also the um proud descendants of Lincolnville Freedman's Village which is located on North Carolina State um University's Carter Finley Stadium and Lenovo Center. The cemetery is in the heart of the parking lot. And it was a free it was a Freman's village before the state made us sell the church for $1 and build what you now call North Carolina Museum of Art. They first built a prison called Poke Youth Center and then they moved on to whitewash it to North Carolina Museum of Art. That is our legacy, but it doesn't have to be our end. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Pamela Pinkney followed by Barbara Okaine. Good evening everyone. I'm Pamela Pinkney and I'm fairly new to Carrie as I told you before. In May I got my honorary doctorate degree in divinity for what I do in in multiple communities. I'm a presidential candidate for the United States of America for 2028 and I am a ninth cousin to George Washington which started the first inaugurated president of the United States of America who got this government process even going and I just came to say thank you. Um I love being here. It gave me a breath of fresh air. Um I've started many entities. I taught you about my uh victims and violence fund truth speaks uh because victims of violence don't have adequate funding. The prosecutor represents the law which is very flawed for victims and the abuser or the devastating situation uh provides attorneys for people who go against the victims. I have mother's lives matter. I have many things. I came this evening because I have been requesting a meeting with the mayor with you mayor uh Weinrect and uh the chief of police because I'm interested in a hopeful heavenly America. What I love about your city, it's clean, it's safe, it has morals and principles that are so amazing. I haven't seen a pothole since I've been here, which is amazing. I came here to change my life from a life of violence, being a victim of violence, which I have been all of my life, and I have been homeless and displaced for over 24 years as a result of reporting abuse. But I don't stand in the in the way of a victim. I stand in the in the voice of an overcomer. And I would like to work with this council and for this council to work with me because I am very interested in being the president of the United States of America to make a hopeful heavenly America. We have many concerns. We could talk about what we do and don't do, but George Washington freed the first slave in this country. Um, I'm also related to Charles Coatsworth Pinkney who signed the United States Constitution who was a contradiction because he had slaves. People are not property. I would love if we could come on one page and have a a conversation. And I would like to bridge the gap between church, court, and community so that we will have equal opportunities for people um from all walks of life. I would like I was very troubled when I left here at the last council meeting when I heard a man attacking Mexicans. I believe our country needs to more be more immigrant friendly. Um, people come here for their lives to be safe because they're fleeing bad environments. And America is a place that's meant to be a safe place, a whole place. I'm sorry. >> And I thank you for taking the time to hear what I have to say. And I hope I get to meet you, mayor. I did put in a request in writing to you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Barbara O'Ne. [clears throat] >> Good evening, mayor and council and all my neighbors. Nice to have nice to see you all here. Uh my name is Barbara Okaine. I've been a resident of the Kerry area since 1998. Uh I am a lawyer. I'm also a professional licensed mediator and I um recently wrote you all a letter to offer some suggestions about hopefully getting us out of this uh public relations disaster that has been created for for all of us um by what's gone on in this culture of extravagant spending as the state auditor so calls it. Um, while it's um it's been a huge and embarrassing hole for us to um created for all of us, there are a few easy ways to begin to to get us all out of it. And I' I'd like to start with one of those tonight, and that is the $82 uh a month vehicle stipen that you all have, you know, voted for yourselves. Um, I have spoken with a number of you because I sent out a letter to all of you and I've spoken a number of you responded and I I truly appreciate that. Um, intelligent responses may not agree with them, but um, nonetheless, you you um I know at least two of you are very uncomfortable with this stipen and um, saying it's unnecessary and excessive and and at least one of you opted out. Gutsy, gutsy move for you. So, here's some suggestions that I've got. And there's kind of a four piece um um suggestion overall, I guess. And one is that you place this uh vehicle stipen on a future agenda in the next couple of months. And next, um I I think you ought to request a com a comparison with municipalities, comparable municipalities. I think you've already got that going with your staff. I've looked at it, a bunch of us have looked at it, and it does not does not shape up well for for Carrie. Um, and then review whether a mileage reimbursement system would better serve taxpayers and then discuss the issue in a public work session. Public work session. One note of caution for you is that um a couple of you have suggested that you think it might be a good idea to fold the stipen and the other benefits that you voted in for yourselves. Fold them into just one sort of lump sum into the into your salaries. Um that completely defeats the effect of any kind of transparency and I don't think that's the way that that you want to go. It does indeed, as you suggested, make it simpler. Um, but we understand what you're doing and it's it's we're not stupid. We uh understand that it if you just roll it up into one lump sum, you lose our ability to to look at it and um and would cover up any transparency and it's simply just a shell game. >> Your time is all right. Well, what I'm what I'm going to say is that our residents deserve an open discussion. >> Your time is expired on our fixed to be fair to all of our speakers. Thank you very on our fixed vehicle. >> You have additional comments. Please leave them with the clerk. >> Remains the best remains the best for taxpayer fun. >> Our next um speaker is Herbert Hickey followed by Gary Madden. >> Herbert would be our next speaker, followed by Gary Madden. >> Say those names again. Um Herbert Hickey Mr. Hickey. Next name. >> Um, Gary Madden. >> Gary Madden. Next name. >> Okay. Donna Lubis. Followed by Mark Stolman. My name is Donna Lubis. My family and I have called Kerry home for 34 years. For most of those years, I served families of Wake County and Kerry as a public school teacher. When we moved to Kerry, it was a wonderful, safe, familyfriendly town. It's not like that anymore. It's changed dramatically and not it's changed dramatically. It's not for the better. Um, the mayor, who I now consider a king, and I say that because he has been in Kerry government since 1998 and often runs unopposed. The king and his band of Mary council members have abused their position, mismanaged our hard-earned tax money, and seem more concern was concerned with serving the desires of people who do not yet live in Kerry than they are about protecting the quality of life for people who have lived here for decades. The past few years, the Kerry Town Council has blatantly ignored their constituents and the most recent revelation of the more than 24 million dollars of fraud perpetrated on the property owners of Kerry. We demand an accounting. Every one of you presently on the board and those who most recently were voted off should be ashamed of yourselves. How dare you steal from your neighbors to attend expensive dinners, create ridiculous mu music videos and documentaries that were never intended for public viewing. How dare you feain shock and dismay and try to blame all of your selfish greed and juvenile antics on the town manager. Every single one of you was complicit in stealing from the residents of Kerry, and you all should resign. You were elected to serve the citizens of Kerry, not yourselves. We demand an accounting of the $24 million you wasted on yourselves. We demand an end to the Waverly apartment project that you shove down our throats after listening to hundreds of citizens tell you we don't want it. How much money are you going to pocket from that crooked deal? We, the citizens of Kerry, demand to see the records and expenditures from the $69 million park in downtown Kerry that we were told would cost $18 million, but somehow CO increased that price. What about the bad deals the town manager signed off on that were three times the value of where where did our money go? The most recent audit done by our state auditor was just the tip of the iceberg. Rumor has it that the depth of corruption has caught the attention of the federal department of justice. Good. Maybe they'll get to the bottom of these decades of fraud. Every single one of you owes the property owners of Kerry an apology and you all should resign effective immediately. Our next speaker is Mark Stolman, followed by Renee Miller. Uh, good evening, Mr. Mayor, and uh, Kerry Town Council. Uh, good to see everybody. Uh, I put this in letter form over last weekend, but I wanted to read it publicly. Um, recently the town was audited by the North Carolina State Auditor's Office and the report highlighted several areas that need to be addressed to help restore the taxpayers's confidence that the town is spending their money appropriately and effectively. I wanted to offer a suggestion to help in this effort. I believe this would be an additional step uh to go along with the ones that you are now considering. I think it would also do a great deal to repair the town's damage reputation and would not cost the town anything to implement. I'd like to offer and start to manage a citizensbased oversight committee to independently review 100% of all PECAR purchases and expense reporting. This committee would be made up of three or four or more volunteer citizens that have the expertise in auditing and managing expense reporting and PECARD programs. This would be an addition and separate from any ongoing programs that you are currently considering. The results of these monthly audits would be made available to the town council, the town internal auditor, and also the finance director for their review and any further action if necessary. This program would be no cost to the taxpayers. It could be implemented immediately and would start with a 90-day pilot program to gauge effectiveness. I have over 30 years of experience as a North Carolina CPA and would be honored to manage such a program as I have managed many PECARD programs and expense reporting um programs in both profit and notfor-profit corporations. I appreciate your consideration and hope you'll take me up on this offer. I do appreciate the response from council member Brittany Richards who reached out to me after I wrote this letter. I'm looking forward to hearing from the rest of the town council. It seems like you're maybe on the way to doing something similar to this request. So, I look forward to hearing from everyone. Uh many of the policy changes that you are implementing or going to review don't take effect until February of 27. That's six months since this audit report was written. And I think that's entirely too long. I think you can implement many of these programs immediately or at least in the near future. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Our next speaker is Renee Miller followed by Hannah Williams. Good evening, mayor and council. In this afternoon's work session, you all approved the creation of policy 191, the rules of decorum and public participation for public meetings. When I first read this policy, I found the legal ease at the front end to be a slap in the face to those of us who practice decorum in this chamber on a regular basis. slapping us in the front with the leg with the the legal threats of of a class two misdemeanor potentially resulting in 60 days in jail, $1,000 fine, or and then that being on your record indefinitely was a very uncomfortable reading for me. Emotions have run high in this chamber several times in the last 18 months. the Waverly decision last week right after the town manager was let go and that's been a problem but this is a heavyhanded way to encourage decorum. Voters have put their trust in you to do a job and they have a right to be upset if you don't do it. If you are in the hot seat, you must be prepared to take it from time to time. To put these penalties for misconduct at the front end of this policy seems to show an adverse relationship with our citizens. I would suggest that as you amend this policy as discussed in today's work session, you consider moving these penalties to the end rather than the beginning. I have found that in working with people, it is much better to encourage proper decorum in this case at the front end. Encourage the behavior that you want to have happen. You get what you reward. Thank you. Our next speaker is Hannah Williams followed by um Casey Midk. Good evening, mayor, town council, madame clerk. Uh, I came in here earlier and I would have had something different uh than when I read this what took place. Uh, Mrs. Miller just spoke about. You continue to put veneer on uh things that need to be addressed. I have mentioned it last time. I stood before you. I advised you. I predicted that what was going to happen happened, but you continued to ignore it. Nevertheless, first I do want to publicly uh thank our chief of police for his communication with me, his professionalism, uh continue efforts to ensure the safety of our community. Thank you, Chief Salt, uh for that uh communication. However, tonight I also come with an acute sense of the communal uh concerns. I am profoundly perplexed that some of the members of this council have abruptly stopped corresponding with me despite my transparency and your verbal promises of accountability. Perhaps that perp perplexity is somewhat comforted because all indications suggest that the sanity of political hourglass is rapidly running out. But this is bigger than personalities. This is about accountability. And I want to go through some dates to remind you. 16 days ago, August of 11th, state auditor, the honorable David Bulock confirmed that his investigation into Carrie remains open. And this is not over. I talked about this in January with you all in emails that at that time was being responded to. I do want to mention that 65 days from now is Halloween. And based on the carefully worded press releases, the monster, ghost, and goblin were apparently former town manager Sha Steagle. But if Shawn is truly a monster, a grim reaper who operated independently in the shadows of these chambers, why is that book still on Amazon? But here's the last date for you. 85 days from now is the anniversary. November 20th, the day that Sean Steagle was permitted to silently resign and set to receive over $190,000 and a severance pay. We are now more than nine months removed from this. So what tangible actions have taken place? You're dealing with people with that have a high level of intellectual acuity, finance people, people in law, people in data research. You're dealing with religious leaders. these press conferences that are uh these press releases that are carefully worded and then this document that was just mentioned uh before me is that it's an insult to us >> and uh I just want everyone everyone to have accountability. >> I'm sorry your time is expired. If you have additional comments, please leave. Thank you. Cler >> Casey um Midkiff if is next followed by Azine Norma Hoden. >> Good evening. I'm Casey Midkiff and I thank you for this opportunity to speak about an issue that might affect my neighborhood. Uh, thank you. The mayor recently posted on his blog about the potential sale of property at 600 and 64 Kildair Air Farm Road. This property is a large swath of wooded land between Kerry Elementary and Shirley Drive. It is my understanding that this property was purchased by Seansteagle without permission of town council for a little over $1 million. While I absolutely agree that transparency and good stewardship of taxpayer dollars is extremely important, I would like to ask that the council consider some of the other priorities of citizens in this matter. From the wording on the blog, it's clear that selling this land would be primarily a face-saving measure after the devastating audit. But I believe this could be an opportunity to show the public that you hear their concerns about overdevelopment and that you prioritize natural and historic preservation. This land is one of the last natural areas in downtown Kerry. It is pristine. The pine trees create an inc an incredible canopy providing shade and habitat for innumera innumerable wild critters. Um my home on Shirley Drive is adjacent. And I realize now you'd probably be bored if I listed all of the critters that I have seen. So I'll just tell you the coolest ones. Um, we have box turtles, we have coyotes, we have redtailed hawks, and we even have barred owls. Um, [clears throat] uh, speaking of the greenway, my neighbors and I are puzzled over why the town would build a beautiful greenway and then almost immediately allow it to be ungreened by development. It doesn't make sense. It's like giving us a gift and then taking it away. As Kerry continues to grow and change, many of us are reaching back to the town's colorful history and making sure its roots are understood and preserved. The land in question is the original site of Car's first African-American church, founded in 1883. The remnants of this church can be found along the Greenway corridor. We ask that you do more to commemorate this site rather than allow it to be destroyed by development. In the blog post, the mayor admits that the sale could potentially be a loss at a loss to the town. It seems evident that trying to offload it would indeed be tricky and almost in and almost definitely not lucrative. The forest hides very rough terrain and a steep gully that collects storm water. This land would be incredibly difficult and expensive to improve enough for development, likely requiring a reduced price to make it attractive to developers. And of course, we would lose drainage around our properties, something that so many of our neighbors struggle with after clear cutting for the greenway. Um, so I only have 12 seconds left, so I wanted to suggest that um that we that the town keep this land and preserve it. Um, maybe even make it into something that commemorates the history and um and preserves the wildlife there. >> So, >> thank you. Our next speaker is Azim. I'm saying that right. Um >> [clears throat] >> Good evening everyone. My name is Ze. Uh I am a resident near West Kerry and I've been working on a project regarding smart growth and I wanted to talk about it for the implications. Today, Kerry is leading the Wake County region by constantly adopting policies regarding affordable housing. The 2027 fiscal year funding commitment is up to 5.3 million, which delivers 122 new affordable housing units along with successful developments like the Canopy and Laurel Street community. But with regard But with regard to smart growth, affordable housing requires good support systems for public transit. Under the imagine Carry plan, the town of Kerry has mapped out six new uh bus rapid transit stations along the western corridor near to uh Raleigh. Along with the new downtown transit facility, we want to add affordable housing incentives to these uh transportation systems like allowing developers to build slightly taller buildings or adding a density bonus into the destination center and mixeduse zoning tools for parcels within a half mile of bus rapid transit stations. Building these affordable town homes and apartments next to transit stops makes it so that residents who rely on buses can actually afford to live near them. Uh thank you for your time. I'll >> Good evening everyone. My name is Vivic. Um and can I'm continuing on Azim's uh topic because we're both in doing the project. But um our goal is to say that you know if teachers, healthcare workers, and first responders can live near these transit facilities, we're able to reduce traffic and make things incredibly convenient for people who are crucial to our community and also clear off roads such as Chhattam Street and Kerry Parkway that often get frequently that often get crowded. Currently, the town is planning for the Western Bus Rapid Transition Corridor and updating these zoning rules is crucial to prevent land speculation from pricing out affordable housing. Currently, bus routes like Go Carries, Apex Carry Express, and Go Triangle Route 305 connect carry directly to Apex and Raleigh. But they lack short shared coordination among transit and related housing infrastructure. And we need proactive joint planning across these municipal borders so transit and housing can grow together. Our ask for the council is to direct staff to include affordable housing incentives in the specific areas alongside the station area planning studies. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. No additional registered speakers. >> How much time is remaining in public speaks out? >> Um, we started at 6:42. So, um, >> still have a few minutes. If you're here and like to speak at public speaks out and did not sign up, now is your opportunity. And I would invite you forward. That's either one. >> Is this good? Y pardon my informality. um not really used to this type of thing, but my name is Evan Glass and I have lived over uh by Symphony Lake for all 25 years of my life uh here in Kerry, North Carolina. And ever since I turned 18 and got my license, I have been warned about the drivers and speed that people travel on Ederly Drive. Yesterday, uh, a [clears throat] resident of the, uh, independent senior living facility, uh, Moda Kerry passed tragically in an accident, crossing one of the, uh, designated crosswalks about halfway up the hill between Symphony Lake and Black and Beach business area. Um, I have always noticed that on this road people speed and I feel that this crosswalk, as nice as it is to have it directly across from a residential area, is not safe in its current position. I think that as we should be expecting to drive uh drivers to slow down and prepare to stop, the combination of the hill and people trying to beat the red light at the bottom of the hill, I just don't feel like that's a safe position. Um, I would recommend revisiting the positioning of crosswalks in the area and adding a alternative uh for people in the uh trying to use the greenway or access the greenway from the residential area uh at the top of the hill where those businesses are. I think that would be a great position either putting a light or putting a crosswalk there. a raised crosswalk I think would be great. Uh an opportunity to slow down before going down the hill instead of building up speed on top of the speed that people are already traveling. Um and you know I felt like I was going to bring this up like two weeks ago at a town hall meeting just because you know I've been living here for so long I've always worried about that. I've stopped for res uh people using the crosswalk and seen the person in the left lane shoot right past me even though someone is walking their bike across or even someone with a stroller. Um, and it's always scared me. So, with this incident that happened yesterday, I feel like I had to come here today and bring up the matter and hopefully uh a solution is reached. >> Thank you. Anyone else to speak at public speaks out? Seeing no one, we'll close public speaks out. I just want to clarify something. We don't usually do this, but Miss Glover, in our work session, I want to make sure we clarify what we did was pull information, existing information out of one policy and put it in another 143 to 191. We did not add or change anything. >> We rearranged and put things all in one place, but the intent was not to change current procedure. >> So, sadly, some of the media seems to make up stories. So, I want to make sure we're very clear on that. We did not change anything. Okay. So, now we move to the agenda portion of tonight's meeting. For the benefit of people watching our meeting on TV, I'm going to take a moment to review all the items and comments on the on the consent agenda. One vote approves all of these items. On the consent agenda, we have annual report of utility oversized reimbursement for fiscal year 2026. Act 37, imagine carry community plan engage and move chapter updates. And act 38, land development ordinance, LDO amendments, contract for preliminary engineering services for Western Wake Regional Water Reclamation Facility Liquids Treatment Expansion. Contract renewal for wastewater flow monitoring and data analysis. Bid award for the Kerry Tennis post-tension court renovation. Contract for Kerry Tennis Park Court lighting improvements. Contract for utilities, residential and bioolids management. Bid award for sodium hydroxide for water treatment equipment purchase for Aquaar meter and radio replacement. 2025 Justice Assistant Grant, JAG, technology equipment for critical incident responses, agreements with professional pickle ball association PPA and major events funds, approval of fiscal year 2027 insurance premium payments and minutes. Would council members like any of these items pulled from the consent agenda? If not, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion to approve. >> Is there a motion and a second in discussion? Before before the vote, I want to point out several items included in the consent agenda are new or would not have previously appeared on a consent agenda. This is the result of new guidelines requiring council to look at contracts exceeding $750,000 to come in a public meeting before the governing body for consideration. That is why you're seeing all these things on the consent agenda. Also want to highlight a couple of other things. The Kerry tennis park court tension and lighting. These projects are primarily funded through hotel occupancy prepared food and beverage taxes, not carry taxpayer dollars. Wake County, the city of Raleigh, and the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau work together to allocate portions of these revenues to project to projects and initiatives that attract visitors and generate economic activity throughout the triangle. And that's exactly what's going on at the Kerry Tennis Park. In addition, there is an agreement for the professional pickle ball association and major events fund. References through staff reports were updated to clarify that these grant fundings came from the state of North Carolina. And almost all, I think 95,000 out of a 100,000 came from funds, not from carry taxpayer dollars. Also generating economic benefit. And it's estimated that that one event generates millions of dollars of economic benefit. Having said all that, is there any other items or discussion that council would like to add? If not, I would enter >> I just want to thank you because those were my primary questions when I we got this package of consent items. And what really was was helpful for me is I see the large bucket, right? we we see that we're getting this hotel and beverage tax monies, but we don't often see exactly how they're spent. So, thank you to um you know, the PRC, our staff and others who were able to really kind of explain this. Um and it's it's been um interesting to see how the sausage is made when it comes to these intergovernmental tax dollars. So, thank you. And you said it far better than I would have just stumbled through it. So, >> I had to write it down. So, >> well done. Well done. >> Uh so we have a motion and a second and discussion. All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. >> We now move to public hearings. Same rules apply for public hearings that apply for public speaks out with one exception. Speakers now get five minutes each for their comments. Our first public hearing is for the ordinance establishing a temporary 18month moratorum on the acceptance processing and approval of develop development application for data centers director of planning and communication development. Heather Wheeleran will in introduce and present this item and council may take action. Miss Wheelahan. >> Good evening Mayor and council. Tonight is a public hearing to consider a temporary moratorum on the acceptance and processing of data center development applications. After the public hearing, council may adopt the proposed ordinance or ask that the item be brought back to a subsequent meeting. Why now? Data center demand has grown nationally and across North Carolina. This is driven predominantly by cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the streaming services that support the many activities in our daily lives at home and work. The Triangle region is attractive to developers and site selectors because of available land, transmission and substation or power capacity, fiber optic infrastructure, and proximity to research institutions and a skilled workforce. And of course in May 2026, council directed staff to bring forward a moratorum in response to this growing demand. The purpose of the hearing tonight, the purpose, the public hearing is on the ordinance that would establish an 18-month moratorum on the acceptance, processing, and approval of data center data center development applications in K's corporate boundary. The moratorum period would allow staff to study land use and infrastructure impacts, engage the community, and coordinate with regional partners before drafting and bringing forward a recommended regulatory framework for council consideration. Data centers are not currently defined or permitted uses in the Kerry land development ordinance, nor are they explicitly contemplated in the imagine Kerry community plan. Without this vision or regulatory framework, staff and the development community lack clear guidance for where data centers should be allowed and what standards should apply. The this moratorium reflects K's desire to establish an intentional tailored approach in advance of considering or reacting to a specific development proposal. The moratorium is authorized under North Carolina General Statutes 160D 107 which allows a temporary pause on development applications to give municipalities time to study and adopt new or amended regulations. The statute requires a public hearing findings identifying the conditions necessitating the moratorum along with limits to the period reasonably necessary to address those conditions and the actions and schedule staff will pursue. In accordance with this statute, the proposed ordinance states our findings that the existing regulatory gap is potentially harmful to the environmental the environment and quality of life for Kerry residents. The proposed moratorum covers all development approval for data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations, and associated processing facilities with an exemption for incidental subordinate on-site server rooms supporting only principal use operations drawing less than one megawatt demand. Staff has determined 18 months is reasonably necessary. And at the time of our staff report preparation, we have no pending applications that would be affected by this moratorum. Staff anticipates completing the technical study, community engagement, and regional coordination work between now and next spring, followed by our ordinance drafting and review next summer. Staff would bring forward a recommend recommended ordinance amendment to council for a public hearing in October, followed by planning and zoning board review in December and ultimately council decision in February 2028. All prior to the moratorium's expiration. Staff anticipates providing council with interim progress updates throughout this period. There are c these are the categories of impact we plan to study during the moratorum period. Power demand and grid capacity, water consumption for cooling systems, noise and vibration from equipment and generators, site design and buffering given the typically large building footprints, and broader environmental considerations such as storm water, groundwater, tree canopy, and air quality. Staff recommends that council hold the public hearing and consider adoption of the ordinance establishing the 18-month moratorum. If adopted, the moratorum takes effect immediately and remains in effect for 18 months unless council adopts the resulting regulatory amendments sooner. Staff will again provide periodic updates and return with the recommended regulatory amendments prior to the mortorium's expiration. Alternatively, council may ask that the ordinance be revised and brought back at a subsequent meeting. This concludes my presentation and after the public hearing, I'm available for any questions you may have. >> Thank you, Miss Wheeleran. I'll now open the public hearing and call on the clerk for any written comments or call-in speakers or registered speakers. >> We received four written comments. They have been emailed to council prior to the meeting provided council upon arrival and also attached to the online agenda. We have no call-in speakers and one inperson speaker and that is Ann Stevens. >> [sighs] >> Good evening, Mayor Weinre and City Council. My name is Anne Schrader Stevens and I moved to Kerry last fall. I've been a lifelong environmentalist. >> Let go of the mic. the guys upstairs who very much >> I've been a lifelong environmentalist and I have an extensive background in sustainability and I moved to Kerry primarily because of our sustainability and climate action planning and I'm here this evening to speak against the development of data centers in our communities and therefore offer a resounding yes on this moratorum. I imagine you understand the gravity of the many critical crossroads we are collectively facing. Ecological, climate, economic, geopolitical, societal crises all simultaneously and the choices we make or fail to make today are creating the future of this planet. One critical and fundamental choice is how we use and conserve our water. Like many cities experiencing increasing drought, growing populations, development, and declining water resources, Raleigh and Durham were forced to implement water restrictions this summer. And when our water runs out, life as we know it is not sustainable. It is that simple. We also know that data centers use a lot of water, millions and millions of gallons of water for cooling and power generation. Not only depleting precious water resources, but also contaminating fragile soil and waterways with chemical runoff. As a sustainable city, we could stop right here. And the decision to implement a permanent ban moratorum or ban on data centers and Bitcoin mining is simple. With widespread drought and water restrictions on the rise, the question of whether to conserve water for human versus AI consumption should be self-evident. And if it is not, we can consider the high cost of the fossil fuel use and energy demands of these centers running and humming 24 hours a day. There is no price worth the ecological and climate destruction caused by these data centers and the financial cost that is inevitably passed down to the communities forced to live with them. We recently fought and we prevented an 18% energy rate hike proposed by Duke Energy to pay for the rising energy demand from data centers in North Carolina during one of the hottest summers on record and when critical costly and life-saving air conditioning and electricity are already at a premium. In closing, I think a more crucial question that we should also be asking ourselves right now, and that is how can we effectively come together as a community and sustainably prepare for the increasing challenges to our natural resources, the challenges to our infrastructure, the challenges to our well-being, and the challenges to our daily lives. and I'm happy to help and be a part of this discussion and thank you for your time this evening. >> Thank you. >> No additional registered speakers. >> If you're in the audience and like would like to speak at this public hearing, now is your opportunity. Good evening once again. I'm Pamela Pinkney and I am in support of your ordinance, your your law, your legislation that you have in place. I just pray that there be a peaceful resolve between this council and and the public. I support this uh law and I do hope that it does pass. We're getting more people and we're getting more uh situations that Chief Salt and many other people have to address and we need some type of um happy medium for the communities and a moratorum would be an excellent idea. Uh my dad was a council president for a city uh in Ohio and my mom ran a congressional office for a federal congresswoman. And you all risk and sacrifice your lives all day every day. Don't go home and you have to sacrifice to come up with these ideas um to help try to build our community to make it a better and a safer place. And I do support this. It's not detrimental to anybody or anything. It's not harmful to animals. It's not It's actually more beneficial. I The one request that I would have, I would when you do your amendments or whatever it is that you do, I would ask that the data be available for the public and the private sector. And I would ask that you would address the terrible challenge of literacy, literacy financially, literally. literacy in all components of this process. Chief Salt wouldn't have as many difficulties sacrificing his life and putting officers out on the street if people were more literate of what's going on and make information more available. Uh because a lot of people still don't even have computers. We're still dealing with old money in this country and in this city. I do support this law and I am willing to sit with you and express to you how it impacts the religious community, the youth, people who are disabled, uh, many different people because I've crossed many paths. I do support it and I thank you for taking the time that you took to sit at the table and sit in discussions and miss time from your families to come up with this this legislation. Uh my as I stated I am seeking a presidential seat. My candidate identification number is P20005203. And if you need to reach me I am at 984397480. I'm available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. What I do for the community and you all is a sacrifice I don't mind making and I don't mind being available to help meet the needs that you all are helping meet as well. Thank you. >> Next speaker, please. Hi, good evening. I'm my name is Michael Morris. Been a resident of Kerry for about 20 years. I'm kind of ironic tonight that I came to hear the open session about the spending and the corruption that went on in Carrie and but I saw this topic stay and I felt I had to stay and talk about it. So I work in the IT industry. I've built data centers and stuff uh run them today. I just want to say this is silly. Straight up silly. Carrie has been about growth and development for the 20 years I've been here and this sends the wrong message. Now, I'm not saying you should go build a data center next to Publix around the corner. No, no one's saying that. We have plenty of land, though. This is opportunity. And it sends the wrong message about what Kerry is about, about growth and opportunity. And I know you're all Democrats, probably fashion yourself as progressives. This is not progressive. This is regressive and reactionary to the public who is scared about data centers. But this is not an environmental issue. Despite what people might say and might cry about it, it's not an environmental issue. I run data centers. They use less water than golf courses. I'm a big golfer. I don't think you're going to ban golf courses in the area. This is an opportunity. I think we all know our taxes have gone up a lot in the last few years. You can charge these companies for the cost of running these data centers in our community. You can lower our taxes. You can build more greenways or paddle pickle ball arenas, whatever you're talking about earlier. Take this as an opportunity. I'm not saying greenlight every data center. No no restrictions or no rules around it and stuff like that, but don't ban them. And I just want to end with that. You all have computers at your desk right now. Seven of you have been typing on your iPhones. You're streaming this on YouTube, I think, right now. Where do you think all that comes from? Those are data centers out there making all that technology available for all of you to do your work for all of us to enjoy the modern society we have. That's what those data centers do. They make our modern life available. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else for this public hearing? Anyone at all? Hi. Uh, my name is Rick Troder. Been a res for a while. Um, I guess in feel like I'm responding to the previous speaker uh and as well as u the staff member who started this off. Um moratorium is not a ban. Mor mor mor moratorum is a waiting period. It gives us the time to discuss um what the concerns are and what the regulations should be to address those concerns. We're talking about uh companies that have a lot of money. They have the money to do it right. We ought to require that they do it right. In order to do that, we need time to put those rules in place. That's it. >> Anyone else to speak at this public hearing? Uh, hello council. Uh, council, uh, I wasn't actually prepared to, uh, speak at this hearing today. >> Could you give us your name, please? >> Oh, sorry. Uh, Laurel Bass. >> Thank you. >> Uh, I'm a software engineer and I've lived here for about four years. Um and uh I was looking at the meeting notes and I saw this and I was very happy to see that you guys were considering this wartorium on uh getting data centers and I felt compelled to come and speak uh without much preparation because I want to make it clear that uh data centers are in fact just especially the types of data centers that are being bought by the large um LLM companies do in fact cause damage. And while there are some misconceptions that um you can look into, it definitely is worth having this moratorum and just because the building will hire a few people that normally come in from the outside and not inside the the county and you only need like a few people to run a data center. it won't actually provide any economic benefit to the city. Um because I haven't prepared I can't bring the sources but I would be happy to look them up and speak to it later but I think that the I just want to say I support the moratorum and we you should go ahead and do the full analysis yourself. Thank you. >> Anyone else for the public hearing? Seeing no one close public hearing, Mayor Pro Tim Bush made this uh request and I seconded it. So I have a whole bunch of things I want to talk about. So I'm going to let you go first. >> Well, I have some questions. Go for it. >> First before Okay. Um one of So first off, I would like to thank the staff. That was a really thorough staff report. Um you know how much I love diving into the technical side of things. Um, and it took absolutely real effort. So, thank you for that. Um, there's one gap or question I' I'd love to see addressed in the work. Um, and it's because I'm a water nerd, which everyone knows. Um, the report list water consumption as a concern, but unlike some of the power partners that are called out like Duke Energy Progress and Apex Electric Utilities, there's no named water stakeholders within the staff report. I don't think that's means you have to change the ordinance. I just would love it if you could take a I don't you may have already looked at that, but if you could take a look at like the Jordan Lake Regional Partnership and some of the others that exist, that would that would be great. Um I don't know if you've already done that or or if that was just >> we haven't we haven't even gotten that far really. This is just embarking on the the setting of the mortorium and then creating a framework for the study and the and the stakeholders. So, thank you for that. Yeah, >> great. I know that we are actually at the Jordan Lake One Water. We're getting ready to have a if anybody wants to attend, you can attend our uh data center day where we'll be having uh I don't know data or data >> uh data data center folks from um across the I know is it data potato [laughter] um come in and talk to us about the various impacts of data centers. Um, the other suggestion is that you also, as you expand it, because I'm a water nerd, also look at water quality and discharge. I'm sure that Jamie Revel is just sitting there so impressed that I actually listen to him. Um, but not just consumption. So, storm water, groundwater, cooling systems, that that would be great. And I guess the last thing before I do any sort of comments is I just wanted to make sure that the staff report or the ordinance or as we move forward that we think of it as one water rather than all different types of water. So whether it's water consumption, water runoff, um storm water, you know, condensation, you know, I would love it if if you all as you move forward, should should we move forward that you all um update the staff report to do that >> the language? Yeah. >> Thanks. >> Go ahead. >> Comments? >> Oh, I have lots of comments, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any questions. >> Okay, I'll I'll do my comments. Um, first off, this was better than I expected. Um, so thank you so much. I when we saw multiple jurisdictions looking at this and we've also seen the impact stories are are are showing up all over about people impacted whether it's noise pollution, light pollution, water consumption. Um look at Gary, Indiana, which has been many parts of it have been without power for a very long time. Um the implications of a of a data center are really really important. Um also we have four separate municipalities that essentially drink from one pipe, Jordan Lake. So before we ask that pipe to cool data um to cool a data center, we owe it to all of them to know what the cost is. And as um Miss Stevens said, it the environmental impact um should be apparent to us. We we should have that information. Also, I think the great thing about this and about as the gentleman said, a moratorum is a temporary pause. It's a break. Carrie didn't happen by accident. People long before us protected our water, protected our trees, um did planning and the moratorum is not saying no to growth. It's just saying that we use the same discipline that we've used over time with this new evolution of a technology. So we don't trade resources that made this community so very special. um where we haven't even defined an ordinance for a data center yet. So um I think 18 funds to get this right is a small price to pay for protecting what took decades to build. So thank you. So, I would like to start off by saying I support the moratorum, too, obviously. Uh, but I traveled overseas along with Michelle Craig and a sister city's visit. Now, I want to make this very clear. No taxpayer dollars were used in this trip. It was not funded by Carrie taxpayer dollars. Now that I've said that, let me tell you about the trip. We went to Ireland. Ireland reacted a little slow. Onethird of their energy is used for data centers. So as a result of that, they decided to create a policy of bring your own power. So we visited a meta data center which was quite fascinating and here are some of the things uh that I thought were interesting about that. They draw their power from the national electric grid. However, they're required to match the power they draw. So, they have offsite uh solar farms with sheep maintaining the grass under the solar panels, and they touted that as one of their benefits. The site was also on dozens of acres, I'm guessing like 50, where they burn the entire site where you wouldn't see it or hear it. Uh, which I also thought was interesting. Ireland doesn't need to worry about water. It rains all the time there. However, they take the water and recycle it multiple times. Um, so it's not like one and done. It goes out. Uh, but I'm very interested what the quality of that water is when it comes out the other end. Internally, they also took care of the environment. 92% of what they did inside that plant was diverted from the landfill. So, they were very environmentally friendly. Um they created a community grant fund for local scientists, community programs, technology, and they have given 4.8 million euros to that fund since 2019. And what I thought was fascinating, they said they would never go to a community where they were not welcome. I'm like, "Wow, these are guidelines we should start looking into that Meta has done overseas uh and start talking about to see if they would help us create our guidelines." But into a response of one of the gentlemen that spoke, this particular data center is estimated to generate 2.2 2 billion euros in economic impact annually along with hundreds of jobs and we saw hundreds of people there. Michelle, I don't know if you have anything to add, but you were there. >> You want me to go next? >> Yeah. But but I I support the moratorum. Uh I think there's a lot of work that needs to be done and we have things we can look at which is what you like to do research. So, that is a great place to research how they did it and uh saying they would not go into a community where they're not welcome. It's pretty big. >> It's great. >> You saved me from saying some of my comments. Thank you. But I I think what was helpful about that visit that we took was prior to that visit a couple of weeks ago largely what I was hearing about data centers was was negative focused on environmental issues, water energy usage and of course there is a lot of water and energy used but it was helpful in being able to think about the questions that need to be asked. past and as I wrote to someone in an email today, I'm not in favor of saying no to data centers, but I am in favor of taking a short time to prepare so we can say yes when and if a right opportunity arises and about the trip to Ireland, they said when they had the public meeting that there had been so much emphasis put on how this particular data center was giving back to the community that there were virtually no concerns afterwards and a big emphasis on being water positive. So, restoring more water than it consumes um through watershed projects and paying for new and existing grid infrastructure needed to serve the data centers. I I recognize that all data centers are not the same. There's larger scale, smaller scale. what a larger company could do may be different than a smaller company, but it definitely helped me to understand that taking a pause to do something the right way and write it into our land development ordinances rather than reacting in the moment was was the right thing to do. >> Other comments, thoughts? >> I have a um I I obviously have opinions here. I work in disaster recovery and data protection. I just spent the last nine months opening a data center in Sydney, Australia. I think my entire council colleagues here can attest that I did nothing but complain about the hours, but um it was part of my job. It's what we do and it is what makes every one of these blinky things work. Um I was pleased to see a very simple definition of what is not included. you use less than 25 megawws in a year. Okay. However, we do probably still need to make sure our ordinance reflects what we expect of um even those, you know, CPUbased data centers. Exam and the thing that comes to my head, you know, I like to speak in completely in anecdotes if I have the opportunity. We had people come here talking about pools next door making a lot of noise, right? And that's one of the things I think we don't think about that much. We think of the water and the environmental impacts, but the noise pollution from an AI data center can be really significant. But a large scale regular data center, I'll call it for a lack of a better word, um the noise pollution can be challenging. So I think our ordinance should um if we're going to allow certain types of data centers to be built, we should be very very clear what can be built and where it can be built. Um, and I do believe this I'm a little uncomfortable with just a blanket moratorium on all data centers because um, we don't want to say out of one side of our mouth we're a smart city and we embrace technology and then out of the other side of our mouth say for but for 18 months it all needs to come from to a screeching halt inside of our our boundaries. And as Lori Bushoy says, and not but um there is really important environmental discussions that we do need to have when it comes to AI data centers. An AI data center, you know, when we're talking about power and water, there's a very big difference between turning the air conditioning up a lot and needing huge amounts of water to cool what are you know, you know, the GPUs, they run really, really hot. They produce heat, they produce noise, all those things. So, what I really would like to see out of the work that comes out of staff, and I'm super confident that y'all were planning to do this anyways, but what I'd really like to see come out of here is really firm definitions. Um, and then options so that we can allow important technical infrastructure that supports business and allows us to be that technologically savvy city that we know we are, town. Um, I'd like to see those definitions be rock solid and absolutely clear to anybody. What I don't want to end up doing is having a murky mealy ordinance and then staff is forced to individually make exceptions and and all of that kind of stuff. And I and I've read what a lot of other people are doing and that's exactly the scenario I believe they've created oftentimes on purpose because when it's difficult, it's often not done. And I don't think we want to swing in that direction, right? So, I would say there's also probably scats of people in Kerry that can advise us and help. I'd also ask that staff talk to people locally. Um, there are, of course, experts, far-flung experts, but I'm I'm really very interested to hear what our homegrown talent here in Kerry thinks. Um, so I would just ask those things. I also was impressed by how this was done because I read this with ready to say, "Oh, no, no." And instead, I read something and said, "Okay, that's really clear. It was well defined." So, thank you. I'm not sure exactly who kind of brought it together so that it's very clear what we're saying. No, not right now. Um, but those are those are my primary thoughts. I think that was pretty much everything there. But, you know, to Lor's point, too, she's the she's not just a water nerd, she's a nerd nerd, >> right? But there's several nerd nerds on this council. So there's a lot of people here. I think that's one of the luxuries we sort of have. We have a lot of technical people on council. We have a lot of technical people on staff. So I really have a lot of confidence we're going to be able to this will be a temporary moratorum as a moratorium is defined and then we'll come out of it with a really good comprehensive ordinance that will make it easy to do business in Kerry. >> We hope so. Oh, and I'm going to just offer a little comment since you spoke to to a point that we um spent some time thinking about ourselves um the clarity of the definition and even for the point of the period of the moratorum providing a you know a scale um there are places in our ordinance that we talk about uses as subordinate and incidental and there is some discretion there. So we we did want to choose a scale qualifier for this moratorum that was more clear. Um some municipalities have chosen building square footage which doesn't fully capture what the impact could be. Um and so the intention really is yes to have the mortorium apply to medium and largecale standalone data centers that are not serving an other you know what otherwise existing principal use. And so the exemption is really intended to apply to those um smallcale colloccated enterprise server rooms like at hospitals and uh software companies and municipal governments. And so, um, the ordinance that you'll see, um, we shifted the language. Exactly. To your point, there's a lot of ways to talk about how to measure energy and we'll, you know, spend the next 18 months really understanding what what measurements we want to use around this. But even the ordinance that we're we're putting before you tonight, um, Sarah Caliendo, our energy manager, um, helped us refine that language to really be in good alignment with industry standards and capture the kind of scale of use cases. So, the ordinance um doesn't speak to annual amount of megawatts. It's one megawatt demand. And so, um I don't want to get us too far in the weeds. She is here tonight and I know she would love to talk more about that, but enough to just say that to your point, there's there are a lot of very technical aspects of this, the energy, the water, and we we also, you know, really want to have an ordinance that's clear and administrable, you know, administratively as easy as possible. and um even just preparing the moratorum um you know helped us understand some of the nuances that we'll have to really study carefully but we think we we hit the threshold right and um articulated it with the correct words for the purposes of the moratorum >> I also want to say something thank you so much Heather um I want to address the gentleman who spoke about the growth and the the uh or lack of lack thereof um I also am part of cyber security world. Um in interestingly my first assignment was to support the data center move. My team kind of helped the data center move. So I know how critical it is for an organization and job creation and economy and whatnot. But um I'm also a big believer that growth does not should not come at the expense of residents. a small pause to think, plan and execute is a good strategy especially in today's day and time. Um Charlotte has also come up with a similar um plan uh for their their city and um it does not mean that we're against growth. just means that we're being very careful about the growth and um um I feel like Kerry is a place for everyone and we have to be very thoughtful in our approach. I I uh totally agree and especially with the gentleman said that the moratorum is the pause for us to do more research and I'm also a nerd and I am interested in new technologies and also AI. So last last week the news if you have heard the madna just came out a new um cancer vaccines which will help so many people. So uh from the technology point of view I feel that is less important than saving people's uh lives. So AI will support that because the biotech in RTP area they really need a lot of technology or AI to fasten shorten that um uh like the research or all kinds of uh uh the scientist job. Uh so I think we need AI, we need more data center but this mortartorium is not saying no to AI. We just need more information to make sure that our decision uh will benefit the the future of Kerry. >> I'll keep my comments brief so I'm not too redundant. Um I I agree. I I support the moratorum because it is not a knee-jerk outright ban. It allows for a thoughtful pause and I think that really exemplifies Car's way of doing business. It's proactive instead of reactive. Um, it allows us to think about this really critical new land use that doesn't exist now anywhere in our policy. And I think in a way this is progrowth, pro-development. A lot of our work is working with the development community. And what any one of them will tell you is ambiguity makes their job so much harder. I think the development community will actually appreciate having very clear guidelines so they know what Kerry is looking for even when we get an application for a data center. >> Well said. Anything else or are we ready for >> I just want to there are there are two sitting at our chair uh two ordinances. One that's updated from 25 megawws to one megawatt. Right. So the current >> we have a red line version and a clean version at your seat. So just be clear when you make the motion that you're moving to adopt the amended ordinances. That's your >> That's exactly what I was gonna >> Oh, okay. >> So I just wanted everyone to catch that. >> Will you reiterate that for us? The distinction between these >> The distinction is that the moratorum does not apply to enterprise or smallcale data processing equipment that draw less than one megawatt of electric power. So it's you'll see a a red line. It was originally 25 megawws annually. So, it's just a clarification on that. >> Could we get a little explaining on that one? >> Want a little Sarah? >> Um, yeah. I I'm letting you off the hook by looking directly at what you just said is the schooling on it. And I would love to give it a shot, but she's here. And >> yeah, maybe dumb that down into watts per square foot for me or something so I can >> size of buildingish. There we go. >> Good evening, council, mayor. Um, so this slide exemplifies um what one megawatt is. Essentially, one megawatt is one kilowatt. And um what that equates to is a megawatt is a momentary um draw on power. And uh that can power approximately a thousand homes at a given moment. Um up to a thousand. Again, that depends on the size and um whether it's town homes, small, large. Um and then to give this some more context what this looks like in terms of what we can what we have in our community here in Kerry a regional hospital looks at approximately 2 to three megawatt of demand software headquarters approximately 10 megawatt demand and the entire operation of uh this municipality um our water treatment from street lighting to all of our built facilities ilities is approximately again 10 megawws. Um so >> per demand so that's your demand >> in any given moment >> at peak >> at peak. Okay. Thank you. >> Other question. >> Does it say in the the amended um at peak in a moment or does it just say one? It's inferred by one megawatt demand or less >> that that would be part of the exemption. >> I trust you. You know more about that than I do. um a on-site co-gen uh a co-located server rooms and small-cale data centers um that we see in areas within Kerry um are between uh are usually less than one megawatt. So this would allow for that continued use case in the exemption. >> We have a couple of data centers within the town limits. They would be allowed under this exception exemption >> if they were to build new. >> If they were to build new today, including the out like on Corning and >> they would be allowed today. >> Yes. Within that within this exception. >> Exactly what I was trying to understand. Thank you. >> Okay. Good. Great. >> Other questions? >> I think we're ready for a motion. >> Um, okay. Do it. Is there Oh, all right. So, I'll make a motion to move to adopt an ordinance. Thank you. Establishing the 18-month moratorum on the acceptance, processing, and approval of the data center development and applications and carries planning jurisdiction using the amended ordinance language at our seats. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Miss Wheeler. We now move to our second public hearing, 259 Jacobs Creek. Principal Planner Rachel Smith will introduce the hearing. Council will not take action. Miss Smith. >> Good evening, council. The applicant has petitioned to annex a vacant parcel of approximately 8.99 acres addressed 4312 Jacobs Creek Lane. Access to the property is provided by Yatestore Road and there is no intervening rightway associated with this request. The property is not within car's extr territorial jurisdiction but it is contiguous to the corporate boundary shown here in yellow. Annexation is necessary to allow a concurrent resoning request 25REZ16, which would apply initial town of Kerry zoning of residential 12 conditional use along with the Jordan Lake wershed protection overlay district to permit development of up to 16 detached dwellings. At last month's meeting, the planning and zoning board unanimously found the resoning consistent with the imaginary community plan. This evening, council has asked to hold the public hearing on the annexation and defer final action to a future meeting, likely September 10th, so that the reasonzoning and annexation decisions can be made concurrently. This concludes my presentation, and I'm happy to answer questions following the public hearing. >> Thank you. >> The applicant's representative, uh, Worth Mills, does not plan to speak, but he's also in attendance if you have any questions for him. >> Thank you. Sorry to interrupt you. So now's the time for the public hearing and I call on the clerk to read any written comments. Call on any registered speakers. >> No written comments and no registered speakers. >> If you're here in the audience and would like to speak at this public hearing, now is your opportunity. Anyone to speak at 259 Jacobs Creek. Seeing no one, I'll close the public hearing, open it up to council members for questions, comments. This will come back to us at another time. So thank you, M. Thank you. >> We now move to our first discussion item, proposed amendments to traffic schedule regarding parking. Chief Salt will present the item and council may take action. >> Mayor and Council, thank you for the opportunity to uh address you tonight. We're going to be talking about parking in the downtown area. That has been a favorite subject over the last couple of years, ever since we opened the very successful downtown park. Uh we've been trying to make adjustments and monitoring and making a little corrections here and there throughout the downtown since the park is open. And uh and that includes two parking decks that have recently opened. And so, uh, we have, I can very successfully report that we have worked with the neighborhoods around the park and in the downtown area during special events, uh, and gotten very positive feedback in our temporary closures of some roads, particularly on one side of the road, so Chief Co Cooper's fire trucks can get down the street without having to push your car out of the way. And, um, right now we're focused on uh, Cedar Street. Now, what we're proposing tonight is make permanent some of the temporary uh parking restrictions that have been in place since the construction of the the parking deck there began. And uh we're seeing the downtown become very very successful. We're seeing new businesses moved in. Uh you know, we've got Lloyds that just opened up which is a great restaurant and it's got a great vibe right there on the corner. Uh but we do need to make permanent the parking that we have experienced down there because we need to have some adaptability when it comes to uh being able to move traffic particularly if there's an unexpected delay or block there at Academy uh and Chattam Street. We need to be able to move either one direction or the other direction without having uh one lane of the street blocked. So, as you look at um all the considerations there, we're really not changing anything from what you would see today if you drove down there. We're just talking about removing the temporary signages and making it permanent. But to do that, we need to change uh or amend uh the traffic schedule number eight. And what that entails is basically uh no on street parking at all between Academy and Walker Street. and we'll remove the uh tripod stands, if you will, the little uh stands that have temporary parking signs, and then some of the paper parking signs that you see up there. And then we will continue no on street parking from Ward Street coming down to Walker Street on the right hand side of the road, but it'll still remain restricted going the other direction exactly as it is today. And so what we're recommending is that you adopt the uh amended uh tra uh traffic schedule 8 uh to prohibited targeting parking particularly between Walker and uh Academy Street. >> Thank you, Chief. Seems pretty straightforward to me. I have no questions or comments. I would open it up to my colleagues. >> I have a burning question. Is any of Cedar Street in the railroad right of way? >> Yes. >> The actual road is, isn't it? >> Yes. where it sort of curves towards the river track >> almost directly up to the facade of the parking deck parking structure. How does that work with them expanding the railroad and just how far away is the the >> they could kick us out >> right away they need right >> that's CSX and they don't use it but twice a day or something like that >> Amtrak uses that site as well but >> um for now we have their permission to remain there >> until they decide not to answer >> any any work we do um requires an encroachment by the railroad. >> Ah okay. So putting the signs up is going to require an encroachment. >> We'll do what we need to do to put signs up. >> Okay. Just checking. And u that just uh leads off to the question a while ago we've had a lot of residents ask about a sidewalk. There's no sidewalk on Cedar Street, right? So, removing the cars certainly makes it easier and better for you to see people who are walking in the street or there's like a two foot in some cases or just the curb. Um, so, uh, a long time ago, I think it might have been in March, I I had an email back and forth with Cassie about the possibility of putting, um, a sidewalk, and that was when I learned that the road itself was in the rightway. So, I need the answer to that question. And yeah, I I hope that we can fix that at some point. Maybe the maybe the railroad will have a nice day now that Shel's there. >> And I believe we added the uh I'll look at Cassie to nod, but we added the sidewalk request to the sidewalk party list. So, it could come back to you um with the funding source at some point in the future. >> But we would need permission from the railway. >> We would need permission again. Okay. My dog can tell you the best smelling path back there behind all of the restaurants. So, just let me know and I'll show you the route. >> The sniffs are getting a lot better, too. >> Yeah, >> smells are getting a little >> Okay, we ready for a motion? >> Uh, I'll make a motion to amend traffic schedule 8. >> The attached amendment. Oh, is there a Is that good enough? >> That's good. >> Okay, >> there's a motion and a second. Discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Chief. We now need to go in close session. I would entertain a motion to do so. >> Pursuant to GS143 318 111A13 and6, I move that we hold a close session to consult with attorneys employed by and or retained by the town in order to preserve the attorney client privilege between the attorneys and the town to prevent disclosure of information that is made privileged or confidential pursuant to the laws of the state not considered a public record within the meaning of chapter 132 of the general statute. and to consider the qualifications, competence, performance, character, fitness, conditions of appointment, or conditions of initial employment of one or more individuals, public officers, or employees. >> There's a motion. >> Second, >> and a second. Discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously and council will now go into close session. >> Where We'll reconvene our council meeting. We have concluded all our business this evening. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Second. Discussion. All in favor, please say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carries unanimously and we are adjourned. Heat. Heat.