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Council Manager Memo #31 - May 6, 2005

Calendar:

Economic Development Announcement at the Chamber
Staff Resource: Brad Richardson, 704-336-3857
The Charlotte Chamber has invited the Mayor and City Council to attend and hear a significant economic development announcement at 2:30 pm, Monday, May 9, in the Belk Action Center. Governor Easley is expected to attend.

Agenda Notes:
-  Council Dinner Briefing Agenda Changes
-  Blue Star Awards Ceremony Monday, May 9
-  Agenda Item #8: North Carolina Transportation Plan
-  Agenda Item #19: Police and Fire Training Academy Generator
-  Agenda Item #25F: City View Heights/ Phase 2 Neighborhood Improvement Project
-  First Ward Redevelopment

Information Items:
- City Awarded For Excellence in Performance Reporting
-  Property Tax Impact On Average Homeowner
-  Gay Pride Festival
-  FY2005 Housing Trust Fund-RFP Recommendations for Assisted Multi-Family Rental Housing

Attachments:
-  May and June Calendars
-  NC Transportation Plan
-  Property Tax Impact
-  City Council Follow Up Report 5-6-05
-  City Council Policy Calendar May - July 2005
-  Community Safety Committee Summary 3-23-05

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Calendar:
Monday, May 9, 2005
     12:00 pm -
CANCELLED: Agenda Briefing, Room 280
       5:00 pm - Council Dinner Meeting, Room 267
       7:00 pm - Council Business Meeting and Public Hearing On Recommended Budget, Meeting Chamber

Wednesday, May 11, 2005
      Town Hall Day, Raleigh, NC

Thursday, May 12, 2005
       6:00 pm - District 4 Neighborhood Meeting, Holiday Inn Executive Park - 8520 University Executive Park Drive

 

Agenda Notes:
Council Dinner Briefing Agenda Changes
Staff Resource: Julie Burch, 704-336-3187

Two items are being added to the Dinner Agenda Monday evening.

Staff will brief Council on the actions of the Technical Coordinating Committee this past week related to the State Transportation Improvement Program. Council will be asked on the policy agenda to direct the vote of the City's representative on the Mecklenburg Union Metropolitan Planning Organization, Council member Pat Mumford, on this matter. Additional information and the revised agenda item are in today's Council-Manager memo and packet.

The Mayor's International Cabinet and Sister Cities will also present their annual reports to Council on Monday evening. Their presentations were originally planned to be held under Awards and Recognitions. However, due to the special Blue Star ceremony honoring employee veterans during Awards and Recognitions, we have asked that the annual reports be presented during the dinner session.

The revised dinner agenda for Monday night is as follows:
   -  Hot Jobs/ Cool Cities
   -  Police False Alarm Ordinance Amendments
   -  TCC Action on the State TIP
   -  Mayor's International Cabinet and Sister Cities Annual Reports


Blue Star Awards Ceremony Monday, May 9
Staff Resource: Julie Hill, 704-336-4098

During Awards and Recognitions Monday, May 9, we will honor 31 City employees from four different key businesses who have returned from active military duty by presenting them with their Blue Star we were able to remove from our service flag when they returned. This is the third ceremony we have had since the war in Iraq began. We are delighted to be able to recognize the service of these employees and we look forward to honoring the 26 employees still deployed upon their safe return. Family members of the Blue Star recipients were invited to attend.

As we have done in the past, the Mayor and Council will have the opportunity to introduce individual Blue Star recipients. We will go over the logistics at the dinner meeting.


Agenda Item #8: North Carolina Transportation Plan
Staff Resource: Jim Humphrey, 704-336-3883

Item 8 on Monday's City Council meeting agenda asks that you direct Council member Mumford's vote relative to the Draft FY 2006-2012 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) which is on the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MUMPO) agenda for action May 18. Attached is a revised Request for Council Action that reflects the Mecklenburg-Union Technical Coordinating Committee's (TCC) discussion and vote May 5.

Staff recommends that you direct Council member Mumford's vote to approve all recommendations of the TCC with the exception of allocation of $17 million in un-programmed funds shown in FY 2011 and 2012. City staff recommends those funds be directed to the Independence Boulevard Project (Idlewild Road to Krefeld), rather than to the five smaller projects approved by the TCC.

Discussion of the TIP has also been added to your dinner briefing Monday night, so the Mayor and Council will have additional time to discuss the TCC's recommendations, the rationale behind those recommendations, and the points of disagreement between City staff and other staff representatives on the TCC.


Agenda Item #19: Police and Fire Training Academy Generator
Staff Resource: Luther Fincher, 704-336-2791

On Monday's agenda, Council is asked to approve the replacement of the generator at the Police and Fire Training Academy.

Currently the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is located at the Medic Facility on Statesville Avenue. The current location has been utilized for the last ten years, consisting of a small classroom that is transformed into the EOC when activated. The growth of Charlotte-Mecklenburg has placed a dramatic burden on the EOC needs of the community. The current facility at Medic is undersized, lacking in technology capabilities, lacking in facility support and has no room for expansion.

The Charlotte Fire Department, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Emergency Management Office, have agreed to move the EOC to the Charlotte Fire and Police Academy located at 1770 Shopton Road. This facility built in 2002 is state of the art in technology and support. The Academy has a large classroom that we can utilize as an EOC when needed. In addition, the Academy provides a secure City-owned facility that has additional classrooms that can be utilized during EOC activation. The EOC support needs such as showers, offices, cafeteria and Media Briefing area are already in place. The Academy also allows for the construction of a permanent EOC attached to the building some time in the future.

The Academy was built with emergency generator power to only run critical components. The requirements for an EOC that is Federally recognized include generator power for 100% of the building for 72 hours. This project would install two 650 KW Diesel Generators and all supporting components to make the entire building fully functional during a power loss. This project will allow the move of the EOC to proceed as recommended by the Department of Homeland Security in an After Action Report received last year after the "Summer Breeze" exercise. In that report the number one recommendation of the evaluators was a larger, more secure and more technologically advanced EOC.


Agenda Item #25F: City View Heights / Phase 2 Neighborhood Improvement Project
Staff Resource: Mike Knox, 704-336-3479

Council will vote on eminent domain action for five parcels in the City View Heights/Phase 2 Neighborhood Improvement Project on May 9, 2005. These easement areas are required for the project which is ready to proceed. This project includes over 150 parcels and City agents have been negotiating to acquire the easements for almost two years. Neighborhood concern was encountered and several areas were deleted. The easement areas on these five parcels are small and the appraised values are $225 or less, but the owners are unwilling to negotiate or unavailable. Staff recommends proceeding with condemnation.


First Ward Park Redevelopment
Staff Resource: Tom Flynn, 704-432-1396

We were planning on briefing City Council on the First Ward Park redevelopment on Monday, May 9. However, it is taking longer than expected to work through the options for City Council's consideration. Therefore, we have delayed this briefing until May 23 or June 6. Information Items:


 


Information Items:
The City Awarded For Exceptional Performance Reporting
Staff Resource:  Kim Eagle, 704-336-5016

The Association of government Accountants (AGA) has awarded the City of Charlotte its first ever "Certificate of Excellence in Service Efforts and Accomplishments"  for the FY2004 Corporate Performance Report and the 2004 State of thee City Report to Citizens.   A panel of experts conducted in-depth evaluation of performance reports submitted by more than 20 governments and government agencies across the United States. 

The award will be presented at a ceremony in Portland, Oregon in November, 2005.  The honor is part of the AGA SEA Program, which encourages regular, high quality service efforts and accomplishments (SEA) reports, and helps state and local governments effectively communicate their performance to the public.


Property Tax Impact on Average Homeowner
Staff Resource: Ruffin Hall, 704-336-3403

Attached is information related to the impact of the proposed property tax increase to the average homeowner. Council member Mitchell has requested the information.


Gay Pride Festival
Staff Resource: Keith Parker, 704-336-3855

The Gay Pride Festival is scheduled to begin around 11:00 am, Saturday May 7, in Marshall Park. Last year's event drew more than 2,000 participants with the potential for a larger crowd this year. Several hundred protestors are also expected to be in or around Marshall Park. CMPD has prepared for the event and assigned an appropriate level of officers.


FY2005 Housing Trust Fund-RPF Recommendations for Assisted Multi-Family Rental Housing
Staff Resource: Stan Wilson, 704-336-3337

On May 23, 2005, staff will brief City Council on the Housing Trust Fund's recommendations for assisted multi-family housing developments - new construction and rehabilitation. The City's Assisted Multi-Family Housing Locational Policy calls for City Council to receive an analysis and evaluation of the proposed projects at least two weeks prior to their review. Staff's evaluation, ranking and scoring for each project, based on the Housing Trust Fund's Loan/Grant Guidelines and Evaluation Criteria, are highlighted in the attached matrix. Additionally, the Project Summary Reports for the proposed developments are attached.

Background: On November 8, 2004, City Council approved a Housing Trust Fund allocation in the amount of $6,000,000 for the development of new multi-family rental housing; and $4,000,000 for multi-family rental rehabilitation. Neighborhood Development issued Request for Proposals to developers and seven proposals were received. Staff's evaluation of each project considered City policies, the number of affordable units, financial strength of the development, City funds requested, leverage ratio, the experience of the development team and the property management proposal.

Next Steps: City Council briefing is scheduled for May 23. Staff will share information on the following recommendations: 
   -  The Housing Trust Fund (HTF) funding recommendations and letters of support for four new construction and two rehabilitation projects;
   -  Letters of support for four multi-family projects (503 units) seeking Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) from the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency;
   -  Reallocation of funding ($1,000,000) from the Rehabilitation funding category to the New Construction funding category; and
   -  Requests for a waiver of the Housing Locational Policy for two projects. (Staff will send notification letters to adjacent property owners.)

City Council will be asked to take action on these recommendations at its meeting on June 13, 2005.

 

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