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Calendar:
Monday, September 25
3:00 pm - Transportation Committee Meeting, Room 280. AGENDA: State and Local Funding Strategies
5:00 pm - Council Manager Dinner Briefing, Room 267
6:30 pm - Citizens' Forum, Meeting Chamber
7:00 pm - Council Business Meeting, Meeting Chamber
Tuesday, September 26
12:00 pm - Housing and Neighborhood Development Committee Meeting, Room CH-14. AGENDA: Update on the Affordable Housing Forum; Update on Boarded Up Structures; Housing Trust Fund Reallocation; Charlotte Neighborhood Fund Options
Wednesday, September 27
5:30 pm - Metropolitan Transit Commission Meeting, Room 267
Thursday, September 28
11:30 am - Community Safety Committee Meeting, Room 280. AGENDA: Pawn Shop Ordinance; Homicide Task Force Report
Agenda Items:
Agenda Item #2: Baseball, Second Ward Village and Third Ward Park
Staff Resource: Curt Walton, 704-336-5019 - cwalton@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On your dinner agenda for Monday night is an update on the baseball, Second Ward and Third Ward Park projects. Attached is a briefing book providing additional information for the discussion.
Agenda Item #8: Kroc Center
Staff Resource: Tom Flynn, 704-432-1396 - tflynn@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On Wednesday September 20, The Charlotte Housing Authority, Grubb Properties and Salvation Army presented a new proposal to the City. Since they will not be able to acquire the Seigle Avenue Presbyterian Church site in a timely manner, if at all, this proposal places the replacement housing on 6.7 acres of the City's central yard at the corner of Ott Street and Seigle Avenue. (See attached site plan). This proposal would provide an additional $800,000 of value to the City, but is short of the $3 million required to keep the City whole. Also, this proposal does not leave sufficient land at the Central Yard for the ready room, administration, and employee parking required by Sanitation. Staff will be prepared to visually demonstrate this later point to the Council at Monday's meeting.
In terms of the agenda item and City Council's options:
- CHA and Salvation Army have not been able to find the resources to keep the City whole at the Belmont location. Therefore, we have been unable to negotiate an agreement envisioned by Option 1.
- Since the Seigle Avenue Church land cannot be acquired and the new proposal leaves insufficient land for the City's Sanitation operation, it may not be possible to locate the Kroc Center in the Belmont/Hope VI location. Therefore, Option 2 may no longer be viable.
- In summary, the Belmont/HopeVI location for the Kroc Center may no longer be feasible.
Staff will be meeting with CHA, Salvation Army and Grubb Properties again on Monday to see if there are any other options available for Council's consideration.
New Agenda Item #10: Cultural Facilities Plan
Staff Resource: Ron Kimble, 704-336-4169 - rkimble@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On September 19, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners adopted a 5% rental car tax increase effective December 1, 2006. As part of their action, they requested reconsideration of the City/County Interlocal Agreement regarding their obligation to pay 30% of the building maintenance expenses on the cultural facilities located in the Wachovia Tower project area. In exchange, the City of Charlotte would have the 5th penny of rental car tax equivalent available for general government purposes (approximately $1.37M annually).
The attached Agenda Item revises the City/County Interlocal Agreement to accommodate the change requested by the County. The County will be considering this revised interlocal agreement as well as the City/County/Mecklenburg Towns Interlocal Agreement and the City/County Wachovia Development Agreement at its meeting on October 3, 2006.
New Agenda Item #11: NASCAR Office Tower Option Extension
Staff Resource: Ron Kimble, 704-336-4169 - rkimble@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Attached is a Request for Council Action and letter from NASCAR indicating their desire to extend by another 30 days (until November 6, 2006) the original 180-day option for leasing about an acre of land on the NASCAR site for an office tower. This second extension will allow NASCAR and the City to finalize the agreements necessary to move this item forward. NASCAR continues to express its desire to build the office tower, all signals are on "go", but the City, NASCAR, and its developer need more time to finalize the initial design and cost estimates for this component of the project. City staff recommends this extension to City Council.
Information Items:
CATS Service Adjustment Effective October 2, 2006
Staff Resource: Jim Zingale, 704-432-3324 - jzingale@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On Monday, October 2, 2006, the Charlotte Area Transit System plans to adjust service on a number of bus routes. The loop for several express routes in the Uptown area will be reduced in order to improve travel time and equipment utilization. The new routing retains service to the major employers and bus stops in the Uptown area, and also results in a more direct alignment that delivers customers to their destination quicker.
To accommodate increasing ridership, route 54X URP Express will be improved to operate every fifteen minutes, and route 88X Lincoln County Express will be improved from two morning and afternoon trips to four morning and afternoon trips. A CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) grant is being used to fund the improved route 88X service.
Route 29 UNCC/Southpark will be adjusted to provide better connections to the CPCC Cato Campus, and peak trips will be extended to Hewitt & Associates in the University Research Park area.
As a result of low ridership, the Gold Rush Blue Line will be discontinued. The Blue Line is currently the lowest performing bus route in the CATS system. The popular Gold Rush Red Line and Orange Line services will continue to operate. The Red Line is the fourth highest volume route in the CATS system.
Neighborhood Notification of Floodplain Regulations Revisions
Staff Resource: Tim Richards, 704-336-4555 - trichards@ci.charlotte.nc.us
Staff has been working on proposed Floodplain Regulations revisions with the City's Environment Committee since September 5, 2006. Prior to City Council referring the proposed revisions to the Committee, staff worked with several stakeholder groups and mailed as many as 10,000 mailers to individual property owners with properties in our regulated floodplains. As part of its review, the Environment Committee has asked staff to notify neighborhood leaders to ensure the proposed revisions were highlighted at a neighborhood level. There will be about 750 neighborhood leaders notified through this process. The attached notification will be mailed today.
As part of the notification process, we are particularly interested in feedback from the neighborhoods. We will document all feedback and attend neighborhood meetings as necessary to include all interested parties in the process. Please feel free to forward calls or requests for information to Bill Tingle, Floodplain Administrator, who is listed as the point of contact. His email address is Bill.Tingle@mecklenburgcountync.gov. The deadline for receiving comments is Tuesday, October 10, 2006.
Lead Hazard Control Program Grant
Staff Resource: Stan Wilson, 704-336-3337 - swilson@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On September 18, 2006, Neighborhood Development received notification from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that the City was awarded a $2,999,944 grant to continue the Lead Hazard Control Program. Under the new grant, the City will reduce lead paint hazards in 350 low-income housing units. The City funds will be used to provide community awareness and education, contractor training, the continuation of the Lead Safe Charlotte HOTLINE, and the screening of enrolled children under the age of six for the presence of elevated blood lead levels.
Since 1995, the City of Charlotte has received over $14 million in funding from HUD to reduce lead hazards in homes and to provide community outreach. The following are key program highlights:
- Lead hazards have been reduced in 1,246 housing units.
- Over 1,700 housing units have been inspected and tested for lead hazards.
- The City has maintained a "Green" status on HUD's Quarterly Reporting System. Green means that the City meets and/or exceeds all program goals. Green status represents the highest level of performance.
- More than 10,000 families have received education regarding the hazards of lead based paint.
- More than 120,000 pieces of education literature has been distributed throughout the City.
- Some of the City's partners for the program are shown below:
