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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-03-2022 1 May 3, 2022 IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS PRE-AGENDA SESSION May 3, 2022 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in pre-agenda session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 5:00 PM, in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room located in the Iredell County Government Center 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman James Mallory Vice Chairman Melissa Neader Scottie Brown Gene Hope Board Members Participating Remotely Marvin Norman Staff present: County Manager Beth Mull, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson, Finance Director Deb Cheek, and Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson. CALL TO ORDER: Chairman James Mallory called the meeting to order. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA: County Manager Beth Mull went over the following adjustments: Add: Request from the Sheriff's Office for approval of a resolution designating officials to make recommendations to the NC ABC Control Commission permit applications. Remove: Economic Development Closed Session PUBLIC HEARINGS Public hearing to consider a request from Planning & Development in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code – Watershed Density Averaging: Planning Director Matthew Todd said staff is proposing an amendment to the Iredell County Land Development Code regarding Watershed Density Averaging. The County watershed regulations control built upon areas based on the designated protected watersheds. The different watersheds within the County have different percent impervious limitations and/or minimum lot sizes. Density averaging is a process the State requires we allow to transfer impervious allotments from one property to another. The Planning Board voted 9-0 on April 6, 2022 to recommend approval of the proposed text amendments. ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS Request from Animal Services for approval of Budget Amendment #42 in the amount of $30,000 to implement a contracted intake coordinator, and expand the trap, neuter and return program: Animal Services Director Kristian Hernandez said Animal Services would like to continue offering more low cost trap neuter and return services to the public. Hernandez requested approval of Budget Amendment #42 to accept the Petco Grant awarded in the amount 2 May 3, 2022 of $30,000. Funds will be spent on professional medical services, printed materials, diversion intake, and contracted services This item was placed on consent. Request from the Department of Social Services for approval of Budget Amendment #44 to appropriate additional federal funds for Pandemic and regular Low -Income Home Energy Assistance (LIEAP) payments: Social Services Director Yvette Smith requested approval of Budget Amendment #44. Additional funds totaling $111,635.00 have been allocated to Iredell County by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for regular and Pandemic LIEAP payments to previously qualified households. These are supplemental automated payments that will be fully reimbursed using federal ARPA funds. This item was placed on consent. Request from the Health Department for approval of the Fee Policy and Proposed Fee Schedules for FY 2022-2023: Health Director Jane Hinson requested approval of the Fee Policy and Proposed Fee Schedules to the Board of Health and Board of County Commissioners for approval. The fee schedules for Clinical Services, Dental, and Environmental Health, as well as the Fee Policy with revisions noted are attached. Hinson requested approval of these proposed fees to be effective July 1, 2022. The revisions to the fee policy will be effective immediately. The Board of Health approved the proposed fee policy as well as the fee schedules for Clinical Services, Dental and Environmental Health on April 14, 2022. This item was placed on consent. Request from the Health Department for approval of Budget Amendment #43 for Communicable Disease Pandemic Recovery Funds in the amount of $246,219: Health Director Jane Hinson requested approval of Budget Amendment #43 Communicable Disease Pandemic Recovery Funds in the amount of $246,219. The department received notification from the Division of Public Health, Epidemiology/ Communicable Disease Branch that we will be receiving $246,219 to be used through June 2023 to expand communicable disease control and prevention activities. Funding will be used for temporary staffing and the purchase of supplies. The Iredell County Board of Health has advocated for additional Communicable Disease funding by sending letters to state elected officials as recent as June of 2021. This item was approved by the Board of Health during their regular meeting on April 14, 2022. This item was placed on consent. Request from Administration for approval of a License Agreement between Iredell County and Kiwanis Club of Statesville, Inc. for the 2022 Agricultural Fair: Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson requested approval of an agreement between the County and the Kiwanis Club of Statesville, Inc. for the 2022 Agricultural Fair. The License Agreement with the Kiwanis Club of Statesville, Inc. is for the period August 15, 2022 through September 20, 2022 to provide time to prepare for, conduct, and clean up after the annual Agricultural Fair. Kiwanis Club of Statesville, Inc. (Operator) is responsible for all utilities, trash removal, sanitation and supplies, maintenance and repairs necessitated by its use, and mowing during the term of the 3 May 3, 2022 agreement. Kiwanis Club will provide a Certificate of Insurance naming Iredell County additional insured, and will require each vendor and/or contractor operating during the term to provide general liability insurance coverage evidenced by a Certificate of Insurance naming the Operator and Iredell County additional insured. Operator will reimburse all costs incurred to operate the Fair except for the tent rental resulting from the 2019 demolition of a primary exhibit hall. Subsequent to the 2021 Fair, Kiwanis Club reimbursed costs for mowing, utilities and stone totaling $6,509.59. They also contributed $8,000 towards the overall upkeep of the Fairgrounds, and $10,000 to Cooperative Extension sponsored programs. This item is placed on consent. Request from the Clerk to the Board for approval of the minutes from the meeting on April 19, 2022: There were no corrections or additions. This item was placed on consent. County Construction Projects Update: The monthly update was provided in the agenda packet. There were no questions or discussion. This item was placed on consent. Request from the Sheriff's Office for approval of a resolution designating officials to make recommendations to the NC ABC Control Commission permit applications: County Manager Beth Mull said Pursuant to NC Gen. Stat. § 18B-904(f), the governing body of a county may designate an official by name or by position, to make recommendations concerning the suitability of a person or of a location for an ABC permit. Prior to this resolution the Iredell County Sheriff or the Chief Deputy over the Enforcement Division conducted a background check to ensure suitability for recommending an ABC Permit. Recently we became aware of an error in Raleigh that cause a designee to be removed. These resolutions will allow the Sheriff and the Chief Deputy over the Enforcement Division to continue making suitability decisions. By making this Resolution apply to the position title only, we will not have to do a new resolution for every change in position. This item was placed on consent. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES OCCURING ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) NEW BUSINESS The Board moved into Closed Session at 5:33pm. 4 May 3, 2022 IREDELL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS REGULAR MINUTES May 3, 2022 The Iredell County Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 at 7:00 PM, in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room of the Iredell County Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. Board Members Present Chairman James Mallory Vice Chairman Melissa Neader Scottie Brown Gene Houpe Board Members Participating Remotely Marvin Norman Staff present: County Manager Beth Mull, County Attorney Lisa Valdez, Deputy County Manager Susan Robertson, Clerk to the Board Amy Anderson, and Administrative Assistant Cindy Nicholson. CALL TO ORDER by Chairman Mallory. INVOCATION: Chairman Mallory asked everyone to bow their heads for a moment of silence or reflection. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Chairman Mallory. ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA County Manager Beth Mull went over the following adjustments: Add: Request from the Sheriff's Office for approval of a resolution designating officials to make recommendations to the NC ABC Control Commission permit applications. APPOINTMENTS BEFORE THE BOARD (None) PUBLIC HEARINGS Public hearing to consider a request from Planning & Development in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code – Watershed Density Averaging: Planning Director Matthew Todd said staff is proposing an amendment to the Iredell County Land Development Code regarding Watershed Density Averaging. The County watershed regulations control built upon areas based on the designated protected watersheds. The different watersheds within the County have different percent impervious limitations and/or minimum lot sizes. Density averaging is a process the State requires we allow to transfer impervious allotments 5 May 3, 2022 from one property to another. The Planning Board voted 9-0 on April 6, 2022 to recommend approval of the proposed text amendments. Todd said currently the county regulates the development and the protected watersheds. All Iredell county is in a watershed but there are certain watersheds that have guidelines within the Land development Code and those are related to residential and commercial development. Residential development is regulated on the lot size so in certain watersheds you might have a 25 or 30,000 square foot minimum. In some watersheds there is an acre minimum lot size. Commercial development and industrial development is regulated on impervious area coverage. So some of the watersheds vary. There is a whole section in the LDC dedicated to the this overlay of the protected watersheds. Todd proposed an amendment and an addition of what's called density averaging. Density averaging actually was added at the state level in 2012. All local jurisdictions at that point were supposed to put it into their codes. A lot of jurisdictions didn't because there was some confusion with it. Adjacent counties are now looking into it. This text amendment is based on the State statute and the model ordinance. Density averaging looks at the watershed and the existing regulations as far as the percent impervious and it lets you take a property in that same watershed and use the credit that it would have and apply it to another parcel. You can have a parcel that goes over that percent impervious but when you take the two parcels together that average meets that underlying regulation the donor property that's given the development or the built upon area it has to remain vegetated. There are recording requirements with the Register of Deeds. If it's in another county it has to be recorded with that office's Register of Deeds and there has to be a survey of meets and bounds describing the area being dedicated and what the specific surrounding that property would be. There's also guidance on how it is preserved if it's in some type of conservation easement. There are stipulations within the text amendment. The process to apply for it based on the text amendment will be through the Board of Adjustment. That board will have to make written findings that the requirements are met within the watershed and the LDC. The trade-off with the density averaging is if you're developing under the low density in the watershed, there's minimum to no regulations for that storm water. The only regulation is the percent built upon with the density averaging. There's specific guidance that you should have measures in place to address the storm water, so there's going to have to be some type of stormwater management plan that would go through the Board of Adjustment for review and give any feedback or make any recommendations on the improvement process would go through. This is when the plat would also be reviewed; to look at the area and confirm it is in the same watershed. Then Board of Adjustment is going to confirm that all those requirements are met. Chairman Mallory opened the public hearing. Former Commissioner Ken Robertson spoke as a private citizen. Robertson said, “The re- licensing for all the dams that are on the Catawba River they had to go through a re-licensing process. One of the first things I did when I first joined the board is I was the county representative in that relicensing process. I have some experience and also have maintained that level of interest. That's why I'm here to speak to you tonight, specifically about the watershed density averaging text amendment. I know that it's required so I’m not here advocating that you don't sign it. I just want to make you aware of some of the some of the issues that can arise and so that you can take some action. Don't take your eyes off the prize. The process ended with what was called a comprehensive re-licensing agreement that needed to be in place by 2008 . We signed in 2006. Different entities that you see here were involved in that process in our region. There were a lot 6 May 3, 2022 everywhere that Duke Power had a dam they were involved in it but just know that there were there were a lot of players. There were a lot of meetings, documents to read and, it was a very, very serious process because the Catawba River was dammed up so that Duke Power could generate electricity during peak periods. It was not built for us to have a lake, fishing, skiing and all that kind of stuff. That was a fringe benefit. We eventually signed that agreement. I challenge you to find that agreement and read it. I want to first tell you why I'm here. A lot of times if you say that you're talking about water quality or clean water and, advocating for it. There's this image that people have that you're wearing a tie-dye t-shirt and chaining yourself to a tree. I'm here for some different reasons. When I was on the board, I remember going to a presentation during the depths of the great recession and they said in the not too distant future a labor shortage is going to be an issue and industry in economic development is not going to be driven by the financial incentives that you give to companies, it is going to be driven by two things: where do people want to live and work and clean water. If you dive down a little bit deeper into that as baby boomers retire and they exit the workforce, what's going to drive economic development aren't going to be those financial incentives but are going to be access to an educated and skilled workforce. The access to clean water for the actual industry to use and also clean water for residential and the commercial development goes with it. The communities that don't have access to water are not going to have access to economic development as we go forward in the next few decades. This is a map and a graphic uh illustration of the different dams and the different water um bodies of water that are on the Catawba. You can see in the map. I’m focusing a lot of my comments on the Catawba Basin simply because that's where most of my experience is. As Matthew said we have different watersheds in Iredell County that are important but we're just going to talk about one of them. Right now we know that about 2 million people in our basin get their drinking water from the Catawba River and it's really important that that drinking water in the water system remains clean.” Chairman Mallory closed the public hearing. MOTION by Commissioner Houpe to recommend approval of the zoning text amendments and to make a finding that the approval is consistent with the adopted 2030 Horizon Plan. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 Public hearing to consider an economic development incentive for Project NC Park 40-77: Jenn Bosser presented an economic incentive for North Point Development Group. North Point is a real estate development company based in Riverside, MO. They are a real estate owner and developer of industrial logistics. North Point plans to develop NC Park 40-77, an industrial park representing the potential of 3.2 million square feet of new industrial product for the County. The site is over 400 acres and located in the northeast quadrant of I77 and I40. The project has completed a traffic impact preliminary analysis which will require $4.8 million of off-site, $1.5 million of potential costs for curb and gutter, and $3.2 million for enhanced road infrastructure improvements that would improve access along Crawford Road to Wilson Park Road. The improvements would greatly improve the existing industrial corridor. The developer would like to make all public infrastructure improvements upfront and complete the improvement within four years of approval. North Point plans to break ground in May 2022 with full build out of the industrial park by December 31, 2029. If the developer attracts a company to lease or purchase the 7 May 3, 2022 site the incentive may be transferred upon the request and approval of the Board. The City of Statesville approved the project with an economic development incentive for up to $4.7 million. . Bosser requested an economic development incentive grant to North Point Development Group for up to $675,000 based on a capital investment total of up to $56 million, and a minimum of $50 million in real property investment with the certification of a shell building or certificate of occupancy within four years of the approval the developer will make a $9.5 million investment in public infrastructure that will include required and enhanced improvements. Chairman Mallory opened the public hearing. No one wished to speak. Chairman Mallory closed the public hearing. MOTION by Vice Chair Neader to approve an economic incentive up to $675,000 over a three-year period based on the minimum investment of $50 million and up to $56 million, and contingent upon a contract being executed within 180 days. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS County Manager Beth Mull summarized the following Administrative Matters during the Pre-Agenda meeting held at 5pm:  Request from the Fire Tax Oversight Committee for approval of Budget Amendment #40 and allocate $206,670 from the Countywide Fire Service District Fund Balance to Cool Springs VFD for exterior repairs to Station 2 due to long-term water damage.  Request from Planning & Development to consider calling for a public hearing on May 3, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. in regard to a text amendment to the Land Development Code.  Request from ECOM for approval to award RFQ to Mission Critical Partners for Radio Communications Consulting and Engineering Services.  Request from the Finance Department for consideration of Offer to Purchase and Contract for surplus real property located on Harmony Highway and to begin the upset bid process.  Request from the Finance Department for approval and adoption of an assessment tool and criteria for prequalification of contractors on the Government Center Window and Brick Restoration Project.  Request from the Finance Department for approval of Budget Amendment #41 to appropriate additional Department of Juvenile Justice funds to Children's Hope Alliance in the amount of $10,000 and to transfer $7,000 from administration to Children's Hope Alliance.  Request from Tax Administration for approval of March 2022 Refunds and Releases.  Request from Clerk to the Board for approval of the minutes from the meeting on April 5, 2022.  Request from the Sheriff's Office for approval of a resolution designating officials to make recommendations to the NC ABC Control Commission permit applications. 8 May 3, 2022 MOTION by Commissioner Brown to approve the consent agenda. VOTING: Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 ANNOUNCEMENTS OF VACANCIES ON BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) APPOINTMENTS TO BOARDS & COMMISSIONS (None) UNFINISHED BUSINESS (None) PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD NEW BUSINESS (None) COUNTY MANANGERS REPORT County Manager Beth Mull provided an update on the following items:  One Stop (Early voting) will be begin on Thursday, April 28 and continue through May 14th. The sites include: Iredell County Board of Elections 203 Stockton Street Statesville; War Memorial Building 220 N. Maple Street Mooresville; Lake Norman Fire Dept. 1518 Brawley School Rd. Mooresville; Troutman Town Library 215 W. Church Street Troutman; Harmony American Legion Bldg 3085 Harmony Hwy, Harmony. CLOSED SESSION Chairman Mallory said a Closed Session was held immediately following pre-agenda for Attorney Client. There are no action items to report. ADJOURNMENT MOTION by Commissioner Brown to adjourn at 8:20PM. The Board will meet for a regular meeting Tuesday, May 17, 2022 at 7pm in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room, Government Center, 200 South Center Street, Statesville, NC. VOTING Ayes – 5; Nays – 0 __________________________________ ___________________________________ Date Approved Amy B. Anderson, Clerk