REVISED
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Monday, December
10, 2001
AGENDA
5:00 P.M.
Closed Session
The Board of
Commissioners is requested to adjourn to closed session pursuant to N.C.G.S. §
143-318.11(a)(6) to discuss the County Manager?s work plan. The Board will also discuss the location or expansion
of industries or other businesses, and to consider economic development
incentives pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 143-318.11(a)(4).
Regular Session
7:00 P.M.
1a. Opening of Regular Session?Pledge of Allegiance
1b. Agenda Adjustments
Commissioner Bowser asked to address a letter concerning
co-sponsoring some of the joint meetings with Orange County regarding the
Shearon Harris nuclear plant. Chairman Black set this item as #11.
Commissioner
Heron announced an I-40 HOV management study walk-through at the Herald-Sun
on Tuesday, December 11 from 5-8 p.m.
This concerns a study for possible HOV lanes on I-40.
Vice-Chairman
Reckhow asked to add an item regarding the Chapel Hill Town Council and joint
planning in the area of the two jurisdictions (Chapel Hill and Durham).
2. Minutes
October 22, 2001
Regular Session
Commissioner
Heron moved, seconded by Commissioner Bowser, to approve the October 22, 2001
Regular Session Minutes as submitted.
The
motion carried unanimously.
3.
Presentation of Platinum Level Achievement Award, the Golden Sneaker and
the JDF Sneaker Squad Awards for the 2001 Walk to Cure Diabetes Campaign
The Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) annually hosts the Walk to Cure Diabetes
Campaign for the Triangle region. Deputy County Manager Wendell M. Davis
chaired this year?s fundraising campaign. The Walk was held on September 15,
2001 at Nortel Networks. The ?Durham
County Pacesetters" represented approximately 80 of the 4,300 walkers who
participated in the event and raised almost $14,000. Durham County Government employees participated in this important
community event because:
·
120 million people are afflicted
worldwide by diabetes
·
A new case of diabetes is diagnosed
every 40 seconds
·
16 million Americans suffer from the
disease
·
5.4 million Americans remain
undiagnosed
·
Diabetes kills one American every
three minutes
As a result of the
fundraising efforts of County employees, the County for the first time received
the Platinum Level Achievement Award from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
International. Five team captains received either the Golden Sneaker Award or
the JDF Sneaker Squad Award. The award
winners are:
Golden
Sneaker Award
Ronnie Butler ?
General Services
Captain Manual
Davidson ? Durham County Sheriffs Department
JDF Sneaker
Squad Award
Deborah Craig-Ray ?
Public Information and Governmental Affairs
Kara Warren ?
Emergency Medical Services
David Skaggs - Tax
Office
County
Manager?s Recommendation: The Manager?s recommendation
is that the Board accept the award and congratulate the County staff on a job
well done.
4.
Consent Agenda
a.
Final Offer to Purchase County
Property (704 Gaston Ave.) (approve
Mr. Roberts? offer of $14,000 and prepare a non-warranty deed for the
Chairman?s signature);
b.
Sanitary Sewer Easement Across
County Property (900 Scout Drive) (authorize the conveyance of the easement
contingent upon the proper abandonment of the existing easement and instruct
the County Attorney to draft a deed restriction);
c.
Lease Agreement (County Lot
#17?Space for West Village) (authorize the execution of the Lease Agreement
between Durham County and West Village, a Limited Partnership);
d.
Change in BOCC Fixed Asset
Policy?Increase Capitalization Threshold From $1,000 to $5,000 and Change in
Procurement Card Purchase Limit?Increase from $1,000 to $5,000 (approve the
change in the Fixed Asset Policy increasing the capitalization threshold from
$1,000 to $5,000 retroactive to July 1, 2001 and the change in the procurement
card purchase limit from $1,000 to $5,000);
e.
Execution of Architectural Design
Service Contract with Brown and Jones Architects, Inc., for the Addition and
Renovation of the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Station Building?RFQ 02-001 Project
No. DC064-30 (authorize the execution of a contract with Brown and Jones
Architects, Inc., in the amount of $31,540.00 for the purpose of renovating and
expanding the Lebanon Fire station);
f.
Resolution to Release Funds to
Triangle J Council of Governments (approve the release of funds to Triangle J
Council of Governments; it requires no local appropriation and it is an annual
action);
g.
Contract for Forest Ranger?NC
Department of Environment and Natural Resources Agreement (approve the contract
so the County can continue to receive the protection from forest fires as
provided under contract);
h.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000039?Office of the Sheriff?Recognize Deferred Revenue for the Sheriff?s
Office (approve Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000039 to recognize $12,473
in deferred revenue);
i.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000037?Social Services?Recognize Deferred Revenue for the Department of
Social Services (approve Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000037 to
recognize $135,800 in deferred revenue for Social Services);
j.
Salary of Sheriff for Election
Filing Period (Set the salary during the filing period at $65,000 and assess
and set the salary of the sheriff when the new or incumbent sheriff takes
office after the election);
k.
Approval of Memorandum of
Understanding with the Durham Public Schools (approve the Memorandum of
Understanding);
l.
Resolution?Providing for Sale of Two-thirds
and Refunding Bonds (adopt the resolutions providing for the sale of the bonds
so that staff may continue with the process);
m.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000036?Board of Elections?to Recognize and Appropriate $10,000 grant from
State BOE to Purchase Laptop Computers for One Stop No Excuse Voting (approve
Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000036 to appropriate $10,000 in grant
revenue as requested by the Board of Elections);
n.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000040?Public Health to Recognize Revenue for the General Health Clinic
(approve Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000040 to recognize $10,000 from
the Department of Health and Human services for the CDC TB Elimination and
Prevention Program);
o.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000041?Mental Health?DD First-in-Families Grant (approve Budget Ordinance
Amendment No. 02BCC000041 to appropriate $60,000); and
p.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No.
02BCC000042?Mental Health?and Approval to Establish 2.5 Provisional Social
Worker II Positions - State Adult Care Home Incentive Funds (approve Budget
Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000042 to establish 2.5 FTE additional positions;
appropriation of funds will total $135,000 for F/Y 01-02).
q.
Added
item?Approval of Public Official Bonds (approve the bond of public officials,
as they meet statutory requirements)
Vice-Chairman Reckhow moved,
seconded by Commissioner Heron, to approve Consent Agenda items 4(a), (b), (c),
(e), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), and (q). Items 4(d) and 4(k) were pulled and placed
at the end of the agenda as item #10 ½.
The motion carried unanimously.
5.
Public Comment?Land Use Plan Amendment #A01-10 (Southeast Durham Plan)
Receive public
comments and follow recommended actions to deny the request to
amend the Future Land Use Map of the Southeast Durham Plan. The Southeast Durham Plan
directs nonresidential development generally along two main corridors?US 70 and
NC 98. The intersection of Sherron Road
and NC 98 is identified in the Plan as a small neighborhood commercial
node. The Plan specifically states that
the small neighborhood scale commercial area contains a grocery store and drug
store but should be limited to one quadrant of an intersection.
On April 25,
2001 the Planning Commission unanimously approved an amendment (Case A01-07) of
the Plan to slightly expand the commercial node west of Sherron Road; to
significantly expand the commercial node east of Sherron Road, and to allow
high density residential or office uses east of Sherron Road. The applicant in both cases, RDSK, LLC
proposes to further increase the size of the commercial area in the
southwestern quadrant and to reduce the density of the residential portion of
the southeastern quadrant. The intent
of the Plan is to encourage new employment areas and neighborhood-scale
commercial activities at the subject intersection. The Plan also encourages locating new high- and medium-density
residential neighborhoods near the intersection of major roads, with direct
access to thoroughfares. The Durham Planning
Commission reviewed the applicant?s proposal at its meeting on July 25, 2001
and recommended denial (6-1).
County
Manager?s Recommendation: The Manager?s recommendation is
that the Board receive public comment and, if appropriate, deny the request to amend
the Southeast Durham Plan to further expand the commercial node and to decrease
residential densities at the intersection of Sherron Road and NC 98.
Chairman Black opened the public hearing which was
properly advertised. Speakers for the
item follow.
Mr. Jeff Roach of Horvath Associates Inc.
Mr. Hugh
Schrowang, 514 N. Waters Edge Drive, advised the Grove Park Homeowners Association
was in favor of the amendment to the Southeast Durham Plan.
Mr. James
Brinkley, 5210 Wake Forest Highway, supported low-density development.
Mr. Millard
W. Page, 5222 Wake Forest Highway, supported low-density development in the
area.
Mr.
Bill Patrick,
427 Olive Branch Road, supported low-density development.
Ms.
Sue Harris,
245 Bandock Drive, encouraged low-density development.
Ms.
Anna Eakes,
5218 Wake Forest Highway, did not support anything greater than low-density
development.
Mr.
Lee Lambert,
5214 Wake Forest Highway, supported low-density development with some
commercial development.
Mr.
Ken Everhart,
5203 Wake Forest Highway, preferred to keep the area low-density.
Mr.
George W. Ray Jr.,
5122 Wake Forest Highway, spoke in favor of the proposed commercial development.
Mr. Robin
Corkins, 5220 Wake Forest Highway, spoke in favor of low-density development for
the plan.
Mr.
Stephen Hubbard,
5121 Wake Forest Highway, was in favor of some commercial development with
adjoining low-density residential designation.
Chairman
Black directed the County Manager to address Ms. Eakes? questions in a letter
and to forward a copy to the County Commissioners.
The
item was deferred to a later meeting, giving the Planning staff the opportunity
to study the item and make revisions.
6.
Public Hearing?Dale E. Schneider, Applicant (Rezoning Case P01-39)
Dale E.
Schneider will present to the Board of County Commissioners a request to rezone 5.92 acres located at 5307
Farrington Road, PIN 0709-03-30-5588 (Tax Map 485, Block 1, Lot 6A). Request: R-20 to RD (D) (F/J-B and MTC). The proposal is in general conformance with
the small area plan and 2020 Plan.
Staff recommends approval. The
Zoning Committee of the Durham Planning Commission conducted a public hearing
on October 10, 2001 and voted 7-0 to recommend approval.
The public
hearing for this request was advertised on November 23 and 30, 2001 in the
Durham Herald-Sun.
Resource
Person(s): Nazeeh Abdul-Hakeem, Acting Planning Supervisor, and Dick
Hails, Interim Planning Director
Mr. Nazeeh Abdul-Hakeem, acting Planning Supervisor,
presented the item for C/C Planning.
Chairman Black opened the public hearing which was
properly advertised.
Speakers for the item follow.
Mr. Dale E. Schneider, the applicant for the rezoning, reported on the
process he had followed in preparing for the rezoning request.
Mr. Bill Harriss, Mr. Dan Jewell, and Mr. I. Jarvis
Martin,
were present for any questions from the Commissioners.
Vice-Chairman Reckhow moved,
seconded by Commissioner Cousin, to approve the rezoning request.
The motion carried unanimously.
7.
Durham Public Schools-Purchase of Real Property
8.
Reimbursement Resolution for School Bonds
9.
Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 02BCC000038 and Capital Project Amendment
No. 02CPA000007?Survivable Ring Optical Fiber for Emergency Management and EMS
The Board is asked to authorize staff to approve the
proposal from Verizon Communications to install a SONET Fiber Ring for
highly-reliable communications between Emergency Management/Emergency
Operations Center (EOC), Emergency Medical Services main base, and Verizon?s
main switching office. This will allow
continuous communications for these departments and in the event of an
emergency, between these operations and county government offices in downtown
Durham where the Joint Information Center (JIC) will be located.
Three
possible backup alternative solutions have been explored: 1) wireless technology, 2) a diverse copper circuit, and 3) a fiber
optic ring.
Use of
wireless technology, while the least expensive, is not reliable in severe
weather that would likely be cause for emergency operations in the first place
and was not given further technical consideration.
Use of an
alternate-route copper circuit has a moderate cost (estimated at about
$35,000), limited bandwidth potential, and still involves risk in severe
weather due to aboveground cables and the need for human intervention.
A fiber optic
ring has two separate, underground routes with data flowing in opposite
directions in two fiber optic circuits that provide automatic fail over to all
points on the ring should any link be cut.
It also has redundant terminal equipment to ensure operation continues
in the event of a hardware failure.
Staff has
concluded that a fiber optic ring is by far the best solution due to the
reliability inherent in its architecture. Fiber also offers greater bandwidth
capabilities. This option is normally
very expensive to implement. However,
Verizon has made it more cost effective than an alternative copper circuit by
absorbing a great deal of the cost.
Verizon has offered
to install the fiber ring at their expense ($212,800.00) if the County agrees
to pay the one-time cost of $23,923.26 for: 1) the installation of diverse
route underground conduits on County property ($11,503.52 at EMS &
$5,068.00 at Emergency Management); and
2) for purchase and installation of termination equipment ($3,096.87 equipment plus
$579.00 installation at each location).
Under this proposal, the cost to the County for the fiber optic ring
solution is significantly lower than the less reliable copper circuit
alternative. Monthly communications costs will
increase by $506.65 for Emergency Management and $547.85 for EMS beginning at
the conclusion of the installation in spring of 2002. This is approximately the same monthly increase projected for
alternative copper circuits.
10.
Quasi-Judicial Hearing?M01-04?for a Major Special Use Permit for a heliport
Dale E. Schneider
has submitted an application for a Major Special Use Permit to allow the use of
a 5.92-acre, single-family residential property for a heliport, zoned RD (D),
F/J-B and MTC. The property is located at 5307
Farrington Road; east side of Farrington Road, north of Wendell Road, west of
I-40 (Tax References 485-1-006A; PIN 0709-03-30-5588); Governing Body
approval of the Major Special Use Permit is required for a heliport in the
Rural District.
Note: a
rezoning from R-20 to RD (D) for this site is also on the BOCC agenda. This use
permit can only be considered if the rezoning is approved.
Motion A: (Approval with or
Without Conditions) - To direct the Planning Director to prepare a decision
granting with conditions the use permit in Case M01-04. (Commissioners should identify any
conditions they wish to incorporate into their approval. Staff will prepare the decision for the
Commissioners? next meeting for action); or
Motion B: (Disapproval) - To
direct the Planning Director to prepare a decision denying the use permit in
Case M01-04. (Commissioners should
identify the findings they are unable to make so these can be incorporated into
the decision. Staff will prepare the
decision for Commissioners? next meeting for action).
Ms. Youngblood, Senior Planner, Joint City/County
Planning, presented the item and answered questions for the Board.
The Chairman opened the meeting for the
proponents. The applicant, Mr. Dale
Schneider, presented the commissioners with slides to represent the size of his
helicopter compared to conventional helicopters and testified that his
neighbors were not disturbed by his test flights. The Commissioners asked questions of
Mr. Schneider.
There being no further questions, Chairman Black asked
staff to continue.
Ms. Youngblood recommended that the Commissioners approve the request with the
conditions that there be no commercial operation and that the applicant limit
use to between the hours of 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Commissioner Bowser moved, seconded
by Vice-Chairman Reckhow, to approve the Major Special Use Permit for a
heliport with the conditions stated above.
The Planning Director will prepare a decision granting with the
conditions the use permit in Case M01-04.
The motion carried unanimously.
Item 10 ½--Items 4(d) and 4(k) were pulled and placed at the end
of the agenda as item #10 ½.
Item 4(k)?Approval
of Memorandum of Understanding with the Durham Public Schools
Commissioner Cousin presented his proposed changes to
the MOU. The Commissioners offered and
discussed other changes.
Commissioner Bowser moved, seconded by Vice-Chairman
Reckhow, to extend the meeting until
11:20 p.m.
The motion carried unanimously.
Chairman Black opened the meeting for comments by Dr.
Lavonia I. Allison, who had signed to speak on this item. Dr. Allison made her comments regarding her
opposition to purchasing land for a new school in an area close to Chapel Hill
rather than in the innercity where she feels it is more needed.
Commissioner Bowser moved, seconded by Vice-Chairman
Reckhow, to direct the County Manager to write a letter for Chairman Black?s
signature to the Durham Public Schools Board of Education Chairman Kathryn
Meyers. The letter should address the
Commissioners? concern that earnest moneys were placed on land before the
proposal to purchase land for a school was presented to the Commissioners.
The motion carried unanimously.
Item 4(d)?Change
in BOCC Fixed Asset Policy?Increase Threshold from $1000 to $5000 and Change in
Procurement Card Purchase Limit?Increase from $1000 to $5000.
The Commissioners raised concern with increasing the
procurement card threshold to $5000.
Vice-Chairman Reckhow moved, seconded by Commissioner
Heron, to approve the item with the procurement card threshold changed to $2500
with a review during the budget process.
The motion carried unanimously.
Item 11?Item
added by Commissioner Bowser
Item 12?Item
added by Vice-Chairman Reckhow
THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 11:20 P.M.
