Wendell News Outlet

Board of Commissioners Friday Update

Friday, July 17, 2009

ITEM 1. NO PLANNING BOARD MEETING ON MONDAY

There will not be a Planning Board meeting on Monday, July 20^th.

ITEM 2. SECONDARY AND CUMULATIVE IMPACTS

As you are aware the City of Raleigh, working in partnership with the Towns of Garner, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon, Wake County and with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR), has developed a Secondary and Cumulative Impacts Management Plan that will be used to address the growth-related environmental impacts from water and wastewater projects constructed in the seven municipalities served by the City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department. On April 14, 2008, the Wendell Board of Commissioners adopted a “Resolution of Support and Commitment to Mitigative Measures to Address Secondary and Cumulative Impacts Associated with Water and Sewer Utility Projects”. (A copy of the resolution is attached.)

The plan was developed in response to a Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Raleigh and NC DENR that allows for utilization of the plan to characterize SCI conditions, allows for the review and updating of the plan every two years and is considered a “living document” in recognition of changing environmental conditions and further efforts by all communities to improve the SCI Management strategies.

Utilization of the SCI Management Plan will reduce City construction project costs by eliminating expensive duplication in future environmental documents and will allow all interested parties easy one-stop access to regional environmental mitigation efforts.

Examples of secondary impacts include impervious surface increases and/or home density increases in a watershed caused by development that was enabled by the presence of municipal water and sewer. Those increases in impervious surface could lead to water quality degradation from increased storm water discharges without programs to mitigate those impacts. Cumulative impacts describe the effect of many years of successive development within a watershed, even if that development was designed to mitigate environmental impact.

The culmination of that effort is the draft Secondary and Cumulative Impacts (SCI) Management Plan, released recently for public comment. The draft SCI Management Plan is now available on the City of Raleigh’s website under the Public Utilities webpage; publications section (SCI Management Plan Link). The draft plan will encompass all service areas but will exclude certain sub-watersheds that drain to threaten & endangered species habitats.

Public comment is welcome and can be provided via e-mail to Ruth Swanek at ruth.swanek@ch2m.com or Kenneth Waldroup at kenneth.waldroup@ci.raleigh.nc.us or via U.S. Mail to the same C/O the City of Raleigh, Public Utilities Department, P.O. Box 590 Raleigh, North Carolina 27602.

A public meeting regarding the SCI Management Plan will be held at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant Training Facility located at 8500 Battlebridge Road in Raleigh on August 17, 2009. CORPUD staff will be available to answer public questions at 6:00 pm and will provide a brief presentation and roundtable discussion opportunity at 7:00 pm. Oral and written comments will also be accepted at the public meeting. The public comment period is open until August 21, 2009. A formal press release with this information will be issued shortly.

ITEM 3. UDO CONSIDERATION

Two special called meetings are tentatively planned for the evaluation and consideration of a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) for the Town of Wendell. Both of these meetings are scheduled to be joint meetings between the Board of Commissioners and the Planning Board. The meetings are planned as follows:

31-Aug-09		Joint Meeting Plan/Town Bd. w/Lawrence Group			Community Center		6-9 pm
5-Oct-09		Close Public Comment Period/joint Public Hearing w/ Lawrence Group			Community Center		7-9 pm

A vote by the Planning Board is tentatively scheduled to take place at the regularly-scheduled October 19^th Planning Board meeting. A vote by the Board of Commissioners is tentatively scheduled to take place at the regularly-scheduled October 26^th Board of Commissioners meeting.

ITEM 4. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – ANNEXATION

On Tuesday, July 21, at 8:30 a.m., the Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider HB 524 – Annexation – Omnibus Changes. The NC League of Municipalities made significant compromises in this bill and, while the NCLM still have specific concerns, the NCLM still hopes to have a reasonable bill that will pass this session.

Unfortunately, the referendum amendment added in the House Finance Committee would lead to the effective elimination of annexation as a tool to manage growth and to provide services in an orderly and logical manner in urban areas. Annexation opponents are requesting a number of changes to HB 524, including a vote just of the people being annexed and giving county boards of commissioners control over city-initiated annexations.

ITEM 5. PAVING PROGRESS

No paving was performed this week. The resurfacing work will continue next week.

ITEM 6. RECREATION NEWS

1. Wendell Parks and Recreation is very proud to announce that three Wendell teams will be representing District 6 in State Tournaments. Advancing for Wendell are the Boys 7-8 (Coach Pitch) team, the Boys 13-14 (Juniors) team and the Girls 11-12 (Fast Pitch Softball) team.

The Boys 7-8 team and the Girls 11-12 team will advance to Wilkes County. Their tournament s will be July 16-19. The Boys 13-14 team will advance to Erwin/Coats. Their tournament will be July 23-26.

2. The annual Wendell Movie Night will be on Friday, September 18. It will be held it in the same place as last year (at the bottom of the new side of the park). The rain site will be the Community Center.

ITEM 7. DROUGHT UPDATE

The number of counties in the “Abnormally Dry” category jumped from 51 to 63 this week, including Wake and Durham Counties (which is a big part of the Falls Lake Watershed). The latest Drought Advisory Map is available at http://www.ncdrought.org/.

ITEM 8. OTHER

1. The air conditioner for the Planning Department / part of the Police Department (which was included the 2009-10 Budget) was replaced this week.

2. The Wendell Police Department will be involved in a Charity Softball Tournament on July 25, 2009 at Zebulon Community Park. All money donated and raised will be given to the 200 Club of Wake County, an organization dedicated to providing immediate financial help for the spouse and children of police officers, sheriff deputies, firemen, EMS squad members and NCSHP serving in Wake County who lose their life in the line of duty. The event was originally scheduled for March but was rescheduled.

3. Rep. Darren Jackson has scheduled a town hall meeting in the Wendell Courtroom on Tuesday, July 28^th at 7:00 p.m. Rep. Jackson held a similar event in Knightdale in June. At that meeting, he asked for public input about the State budget and other legislative issues.

4. The Marketing Focus Group will meet with Holland Consulting Planners at the Wendell Community Center on Thursday, July 30^th from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m.

5. The Wendell Police Department (in partnership with the Wendell Fire Department and Eastern Wake Emergency Medical Services) will hold its inaugural Public Safety Day on Saturday, August 22^nd from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. in the rear parking lot of Hephzibah Baptist Church.

6. The NC League of Municipalities will hold its annual conference in Greenville October 25-27.

ITEM 9. UPCOMING EVENTS:

DATE TIME EVENT LOCATION

07/20 7:00 p.m. Planning Board Meeting Town Hall

07/27 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting @ Town Hall

07/28 7:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting with Rep. Darren Jackson @ Town Hall

08/03 6:00 p.m. UDO Meeting @ Town Hall

08/10 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting @ Town Hall

08/17 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. UDO Meeting @ Town Hall

08/17 7:00 p.m. Planning Board Meeting @ Town Hall

08/17 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Public Meeting – SCI Management Plan w/CORPUD staff available for questions @ Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant, 8500 Battlebridge Rd., Raleigh

08/22 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Wendell’s “Public Safety Day 2009” @ Hephzibah Baptist Church parking lot

08/24 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting @ Town Hall

08/31 6:00 p.m. Joint Town Board / Planning Board Meeting about the draft UDO @ Wendell Community Center

09/07 Town facilities closed for Labor Day holiday

09/14 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting @ Town Hall

09/21 7:00 p.m. Planning Board Meeting Town Hall

09/28 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting Town Hall

10/05 7:00 p.m. Joint Town Board / Planning Board Meeting about the draft UDO @ Wendell Community Center

10/12 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting Town Hall

10/19 7:00 p.m. Planning Board Meeting Town Hall

10/25 – 10/27 NC League of Municipalities Annual Conference @ Greenville Convention Center

10/26 7:00 p.m. Board of Commissioners Meeting @ Town Hall