Calendar Details:
Monday, May 11, 2009
2:30pm - Transportation Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Sharon & I-485 Transit Station Area Plan; Committee of 21 Recommendations
4:00 pm - Budget Presentation, Council Chamber
5:00 pm - Council Business Meeting
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
2:00pm - Housing & Neighborhood Development Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Boulevard Homes Hope VI Application Funding Recommendation; FY2010 Annual Action Plan; Draft Non-Residential Building Code Ordinance
3:30pm - Economic Development and Planning Committee, Room 280. AGENDA: Business District Organization Program; First Ward Development Agreement; Carolina Theatre
Saturday, May 16, 2009
7:45am - Neighborhood Symposium, Charlotte Convention Center
Agenda Notes:
Agenda Item #7A – 100 Black Men Essay Contest Winners
Resource:
Dennis Marstall, Mayor's Office, 704-336-3980, dmarstall@ci.charlotte.nc.us
A fourth item has been added to the Awards and Recognition portion of the City Council Business Agenda for May 11. The Mayor will recognize the 100 Black Men's "Civics in my Future" Essay Contest. The Director of 100 Black Men, Jacquelin Peters, and the three essay winners will be in attendance at the Council meeting.
Agenda Item #12 - Mayoral Veto of Application of Afro American Cultural Center Sales Proceeds
Resource:
Ron Kimble, Deputy City Manager, 704-336-4169, rkimble@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The agenda for Council's workshop last week included an action to consider overriding the Mayor's veto of the Council's vote to direct the sales proceeds from the Afro American Cultural Center to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture endowment. Shortly before the workshop, staff learned that there may be legal restrictions on the use of the proceeds from the sale of the Afro American Cultural Center. Council deferred the matter to allow staff to further research this issue.
Staff's research has yielded the following:
- In 1979, the City purchased the Afro American Cultural Center property using Federal Urban Renewal funds;
- Federal law requires the proceeds of any subsequent sale of property purchased with Urban Renewal funds to be directed to eligible Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) activities;
- The endowment for the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture is not an eligible CDBG activity;
- As a result, the sales proceeds may not be directed to the endowment.
Despite the foregoing, should Council still wish to provide funding to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture Endowment Campaign, the following actions would effectively achieve the same result:
- Appropriate the Afro American Cultural Center sales proceeds to the City's Community Development Block Grant program for the Innovative Housing Program, which is a City of Charlotte program over which City Council has full discretion;
- Release an equivalent amount of unrestricted funds from the Innovative Housing Program;
- Direct such funds to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture Cultural Endowment Campaign.
The following actions would accomplish this option:
A. Adopt a budget ordinance appropriating the $590,000 to the City's Community Development Block Grant program for the Innovative Housing Program
B. Release and direct $590,000 of Innovative Housing Funds to the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture Cultural Endowment Campaign
C. Authorize the City Manager to execute a contract with the Arts and Science Council for the use of these funds.
Mayor McCrory asked for additional information concerning car rental tax status and previous Council meeting minutes concerning the Cultural Facilities. The following documents are attached below:
1.) Budget Ordinance related to new option
2.) Cultural Facilities and Rental Car Tax
3.) November 28, 2005 Council Business Meeting minutes
4.) September 11, 2006 Council Business Meeting minutes
The Arts and Science Council did not request to apply these sales proceeds to the Gantt Center Endowment.
Information Items:
May 5, 2009 Rain Event
Resource:
Jennifer Smith, Storm Water Services, 704-336-7924, jgsmith@ci.charlotte.nc.us
On Tuesday evening, May 5, the Charlotte area received rainfall amounts that ranged from 0.1 inches to almost 4.5 inches. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the heaviest rainfall amounts exceeded those expected for a 100-year storm event – see the attached map. In contrast, storm drainage systems are generally designed to accommodate no more than 10- or 25-year storm events.
Storm Water Services has received over 120 calls reporting problems with the storm drainage system since the rain event on Tuesday evening. Staff is investigating these areas to determine if they qualify for City of Charlotte storm water assistance. Only five of the requests reported flooding in areas where we have previously completed a project. We will be investigating these situations to determine if they occurred because the event exceeded our design standards, a maintenance issue, or something else. Twenty of the requests are in active or pending storm water project areas. The remaining requests that qualify for assistance will be prioritized and addressed though the Storm Water Service Maintenance Program.
In addition, Mecklenburg County reports that Tuesday's flooding caused problems for an additional 85 buildings because of water in crawl spaces or flood damage to air conditioning units. The flooding was concentrated in the FEMA-regulated floodplains of Briar, Little Sugar, and McMullen Creeks. These streams are maintained by Mecklenburg County.
May 10-16 – Police Week Activities
Resource:
Captain Brian Cunningham, CMPD, 704-336-4098, bcunningham@cmdp.org
The week of May 10 – 16 is National Police Week, and Friday, May 15 is National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Several events have been planned to honor the 33 Mecklenburg law enforcement officers who have been killed in the line of duty. A few are highlighted here; additional information is in the attached flyer.
On Friday, May 8, at 8:15 pm, the Fraternal Order of Police Auxiliary will hold a Candlelight Memorial Service at the Police Pictorial Monument in Sharon Memorial Park at Monroe and N. Sharon Amity Roads. Mecklenburg County law enforcement agencies will hold the Peace Officers Memorial Service on Tuesday, May 12, starting at noon with the Remembrance Ceremony at the Police Memorial on Trade Street in front of headquarters. This is followed by a procession to First Baptist Church, 301 S. Davidson St. CMPD and the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office are sponsoring a luncheon for those attending the service in the Fellowship Hall immediately following the service.
CMPD will honor over 200 police officers and citizens at the Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 13, 5:30 – 7 pm at the Police & Fire Training Academy, 1770 Shopton Rd. In addition to the Meritorious Award for citizens, Chief Monroe will award the new Citizen Service Award to 12 community leaders. City Council members are welcome to attend all events. The Candlelight Service and the Peace Officers Memorial Service are open to the community.
Stimulus Information:
Community Development Block Grant – Recovery
Resource:
Richard Woodcock, Neighborhood & Business Services, 704-336-8572, rwoodcock@ci.charlotte.nc.us
The City of Charlotte has been allocated $1,292,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for 2009. The regulations governing these funds were issued on May 4, 2009 and require that an application in the form of an amendment to the City's annual Action Plan be submitted to HUD by June 5, 2009. The amendment to the Action Plan will be presented for approval at the May 26, City Council meeting. Citizens must be given no less than seven days to comment on the City's application before submission to HUD.
State of North Carolina Energy Office Stimulus Program Update
Resource:
Rob Phocas, City Attorney's Office, 704-336-7558, rphocas@ci.charlotte.nc.us
At Monday night's dinner briefing presentation on stimulus funding, staff informed Council that we had not received guidance on stimulus money awarded to the NC State Energy Office. On Wednesday, we received a draft proposal on the use of these funds. Public comment on this proposal ends at noon on Monday, May 11. The State proposes spending $75.5 million in six focus areas:
(1) support small businesses and industry through energy savings;
(2) grow North Carolina's green workforce;
(3) develop an Energy Investment Revolving Load Fund;
(4) improve government energy efficiency;
(5) promote residential energy efficiency and renewable energy;
(6) and foster renewable energy technology and resource innovation.
These funds will be distributed through a competitive process. Attached is a detail of their draft proposal. We are looking at local opportunities for this funding.
