Town of Fletcher Agenda Review Meeting Minutes September 5, 2023 "Tuesday"  Call the meeting to order at: 06:00 pm Those who were in attendance are as follows:  Mayor Preston Blakley Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy Councilman Trevor Lance Councilwoman Sheila Franklin Planning & Zoning Director Eric Rufa Town Manager Mark Biberdorf  Councilman Keith Reed did not attend this meeting.  Moment of Silence: Pledge of Allegiance: ***Public Comments***  George Benge of 305 Mountain Alder Lane Fletcher He commented on the Resolution on the agenda restricting small cell wireless facilities. He thanked council for their support on this and stated that signs will be going up in Windsor Forest neighborhood opposing the cell towers.  Discussion Followed:  Graham Neiman of 229 Windsor Forest Circle Fletcher Commented on other options for placing the cell tower facilities instead of putting them in neighborhoods.  Discussion Followed: (8/7,8/14)  Approval of minutes-corrections, additions or deletions. No comments were made on the minutes at this time.  1    Council Updates  Mayor Preston Blakley stated that the courts look great and that he was out there shooting some hoops this past weekend. He said that the pickle ball courts were definitely being used.  He also thanked staff and council for supporting this.  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy asked about scheduling for use of the pickle ball courts. Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that it starts this week on Rec desk.  Discussion Followed:  Councilwoman Sheila Franklin stated that she had a resident contact her about the light at Rutledge road. Yes, the red light is a great thing but the issue that people have on Old Case Road is that people turn right on red without even stopping/slowing down. She said that there was almost al bad accident that involved her (resident) daughter. She asked if we could contact She commented on the courts and that someone asked her would there be sign up: sheets andI said no it was first come first serve. Its sounds to me that if it stays busy like this that we might have done twice as much at few years sooner. However, lam glad that we have done what we  DOT about putting a sign up for no right turns on red.  did in the first place and looking forward to adding toi iti if necessary.  Discussion Followed: Consent Agenda None at this time. Manager.  Resolution restricting the location of small cell wireless facilities- Mark Biberdorf, Town  Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that this is largely in follow up to a discussion that you had at the last meeting. A resolution was suggested and I took a stab at drafting something here. The first issue here was the location of these facilities in our subdivisions with underground utilities. The second issue is to try the best we can to steer them away from residential structures with the concerns of safety issues of the proximately of a cell tower to a home. Eric and Ihave been trying to get up with our contact at Crown Castle and she called me this past week as Ihad a question as to who is the customer on this. She wasn'tablet to  disclose that at this point.  2    So, the two things in the resolution is thei first is to trying to steer it away from our subdivisions where utilities are buried underground. The second isj just a general comment and as a policy statement from council that bears weight. However, it can't compel Crown Castle and other companies to outright prohibit them from putting up cell facilities that would currently be allowed by law. Ithink they do seem interested in trying to make the most minimum impact as far as where they go and I kind of get the impression that don't want tol be somewhere where  they are not wanted or desired. Discussion Followed:  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy asked about why are we: singling out subdivisions where utilities are buried underground. Why don't we just say that we don't want them in residential  neighborhoods.  Councilwoman Sheila Franklin stated that she was about to say the same thing because we Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that they try to co-locate on electrical facilities that are already there. So, if there is already a pole there they try to collocate on that ifiti is available.  don't know about the health implications.  Discussion Followed:  Councilwoman Sheila Franklin stated that she would change the following:  WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Town to steer the potential location of small cell wireless facilities toward areas where other utilities are above ground and/or they can be collocated on  existing utilities.  To  WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Town to steer the potential location of small cell wireless facilities toward areas where other utilities are above ground and be collocated on existing  utilities.  She also stated that she would also change:  That the Fletcher Town Council requests that companies that install small cell wireless facilities locate these facilities outside of residential neighborhoods where utilities are buried underground and make their best effort to instead identify other areas.  To  3    That the Fletcher Town Council requests that companies that install small cell wireless facilities locate these facilities outside of residential neighborhoods and make their best effort to instead  identify commercial areas.  Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that he had commercial ini there but after some feed Councilwoman Sheila Franklin stated that she agrees with Bob and for it to not sound like itis  back was asked to not make it that specific. an option for any residential area. Discussion Followed:  Discussion and possible approval of request for release of performance bond for Phase 3of Planning & Zoning Director Eric Rufa stated that this is for the Phase III Bond release for completion of the work mentioned in your packets. This is for sidewalks, street trees and the auxiliary parking area. This is not tied to improvements that would be required ift they happen to come in and request street takeover down the road. Jabbo and I continue to work on that and. Jabbo is going tol be looking into at few other things as to matters of his opinion of takeover  Sycamore Cottages - Eric Rufa, Planning & Zoning Director.  or not. Iwill be back next week to answer questions on this.  Discussion Followed:  Update from the police department on traffic enforcement efforts- Dan Terry, Police Chief. Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that Chief Terry will be here next week and there is an outline in your packet. This is partly in response to a complaint that we received froma a The police have been doing traffic enforcement there and beyond what the inquiry stated. Rather than just respond to that one issue or request we have to look at this from the bigger picture. We have to look at traffic enforcement as a whole as we are not at the level where we can have multiple officers just assigned to traffic enforcement. lwanted to have him come to a  resident of Windsor Forest about speeding on Fanning Bridge Road.  meeting and discuss how we are currently handing traffic enforcement.  Discussion Followed:  4    Comments from the Town Manager Mark Biberdorf.  On the town center project, we are continuing to have dialogue with different parties. Asl mentioned Windsor Built Commercial and I did not get a chance to reach out to them today to seei ift they had any updated to what they have been analyzing for our property. Ericreceived a call from Tennoca Construction whoreached out about interest in meeting with us to talk about suggestions and we did that last week. He is going to come back to us and give some additional thoughts on how this could lead to a partnership or agreement. We are getting emails with specific requests from brokers about the property. Pulliam Properties reached out to us and Beverly Hanks has reached out to us with specific questions about the traffic  restrictions from the Traffic Impact Analysis study.  On the DOT review/issue of the intersection turning left into Ingles asltalked to you last month about concerns/issues of safety. There has been a lot of accidents there. Ithink DOTI is definitely acknowledging that and our police dept sent al bunch of accident data to them pre and post when they made the last improvements there. So, they are going to restrict the flashing yellow by turning it off between noon and 7:00 pm because this was one of the highest incidents of accidents occurring there. Two other things that they are going to do is tapering in the left turn lanes going from Hwy 25 onto Old Airport Road. Also, the stop bar for the thru and left turning traffic on Old Airport road willl be moved back from the intersection to help  with sight distance for right turning traffic.  Tax bills have been going out and we have been getting some comments and complaints. Council agreed to lower the rate (Fletcher) within 3/10 of a cent to revenue neutral and the county lowered their rate to revenue neutral. However, people still had increases ini their As you respond to these inquires, counties are required by law to do a revaluation at least every 8 years and Henderson county does it every 4 years and some counties do these every 2 years. When they do this, they are required to bring it close to market value as possible. Our tax office tries to respond to this by letting people make payments and of course it has to be paid in full by. January 5th. There ist the homestead exemption and if your income is below a certain level you can apply/qualify for that. There is also an elderly/veteran exemption that if you fall below a certain income level then you can apply/qualify for that as well. Thank you for making the effort to fund the courts project and tol help geti it done and Ithink  taxes.  that the community is appreciating it.  5    On the sound walls on the 126 project the ballots for that are supposed to go out this week. We are going to follow-up as Susan is drafting an email to send out to the residents to make sure they respond on the ballot and ifs she does not have an email she is going to call them. We are getting some complaints about the condition of the property at Woodhill & Highway 25. Eric has reached out to the property owner as it was supposed to be a Dodges store and the developer has since withdrawn from the project because DOT is making them put a stop light at the intersection of Woodhill & 25. The complaints were about the look of the property and the  owner wants to level the property which will make it look al little better.  Discussion Followed:  Public Works is going to have a free mulch pickup on Saturday September 9 from 8:00 to 12:00 Mayor Blakely stated that he read about this Energy Community Tax Credit Bonus which is within the Inflation Reduction Act. There is a key provision in there called direct pay or elective pay in which entities such as ourselves qualify fori the full value of the tax credit and receive it as a direct payment. We might be interested to see ift there are any projects surrounding that or anything that we are already doing that we can get that benefit. To qualify fori it you have tol be an energy reliant community that relies on non-renewable sources of energy and part of Fletcher falls int there. So, if there is an opportunity to get a project done or pay for something we are already doing it might be worth it to look into this.  pm and they will load it for you.  Discussion Followed:  Mayor Blakey asked for a motion to adjourn.  Councilman Trevor Lance stated I'll make a motion and it was seconded by Councilwoman  Sheila Franklin.  Motion carries all in favor. Adjourned: 07:10 pm  Approved:  No9a3 Date  Mayor  RB44  6    Town of Fletcher Town Council Meeting Minutes September 11, 2023  Call the meeting to order at: 6:00 pm Those who were in attendance are as follows:  Mayor Preston Blakley Councilman Keith Reed Councilman Trevor Lance Councilwoman Sheila Franklin Town Manager Mark Biberdorf Planning & Zoning Director Eric Rufa  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy was not here at this time.  Moment of Silence: Mayor Blakley ask for a moment of silence in honor of those who lost their  lives during 9/11  Pledge of Allegiance: Mayor Blakley led the group in the pledge of allegiance.  ***Public Comments***  Note: Document(s) will be attached toi the sign in sheet for public comment ini the minute book Larry Cutrone of 230 Windsor Forest Circle Fletcher presented some pictures on the small cell towers on poles and what they look like. He asked that they be made a part of the record. George Benge of 305 Mountain Alder Lane Fletcher brought in a sample of the signs that the neighborhood had made to appose the cell towers in the Windsor Forest neighborhood. He  that were requested to be made a part of the record.  thanked his fellow neighbors for all the work they did on them. Approval of minutes-corrections, additions or deletions.  (8/7,8/14)  Mayor Blakley asked for any corrections, additions or deletions to the minutes as provided if  none do we have a motion to approve the minutes as presented.  1    Councilman Trevor Lance stated that he would make that motion and it was seconded by  Councilman Keith Reed. Motion carries all ini favor.  Council Updates None at this time. Consent Agenda None at this time Manager.  Resolution restricting the location of small cell wireless facilities- Mark Biberdorf, Town Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that last week he presented a draft Resolution to articulate a position on small cell wireless facilities going up in Fletcher. We took a good look at this to specifically mention and steer any facility away from residential structures. The Resolution goes on to articulate the esthetic and health concerns if they are placed in close proximity to residential structures. Then your desire to steer them to non-residential areas. Eric and I have been continuing to stayi in communication with Crown Castle which is the company that has been working on trying to analyze and identify areas. They have not made any final plans. We had a conference call with several officials and they talked about an in- person meeting. If you adopt this Resolution we will send it to them and we will send it to our state legislative delegation as we have been keeping them aware of this. The authority do this  came from al bill that was adopted back in 2017.  Discussion Followed:  Mayor Blakely asked for a motion to approve Resolution R-23-06.  Councilman Trevor Lance stated that he would make that motion and it was seconded by  Councilman Keith Reed. Motion carries all in favor.  Discussion and possible approval of request for release of performance bond for Phase 3 of  Sycamore Cottages - Eric Rufa, Planning & Zoning Director.  2    Planning & Zoning Director Eric Rufa stated that we spoke about this item last week at the agenda review meeting. This is in regards to the Phase III of Sycamore Cottages performance bond in the amount of $114,498.00. This bond covered the sidewalks, street trees and an auxiliary parking area. The work in Phase IIli is complete and as we have done with other phases we are asking council to release the bond. We have representatives fori the developer here tonight if council has any questions. There are some other items that will need to be completed for future takeover of the streets that we are working with the developer, engineer and public works on. I'II be happy to answer any questions that council may have. Councilwoman Sheila Franklin do you foresee any issues with the takeover of the streets and  have you had an opportunity to speak to anyone from the HOA.  Planning & Zoning Director Eric Rufa stated that we have been out to the site the other day and have seen where Tennoca has begun to doi the corrective work with some of the issues with the cracks in sidewalk and curbing. There maybe some issues with some ramps that might  need correction.  Mayor Blakely asked for a motion to approve the release of Phase III oft the performance bond Councilman Keith Reed stated he would make that motion and it was seconded by Councilman  for Sycamore Cottages? Trevor Lance.  Motion carries all in favor.  Update from the police department on traffic enforcement efforts - Dan Terry, Police Chief. Police Chief Dan Terry went over some recent statistics/nformation that hel has collected SO far in 2023 for the town. He also gave an overview of a future performance plan for the department stating that the department is still short staffed and they are working on filling  those vacancies as well.  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy came in at 6:27 pm  Discussion Followed:  3    Comments from the Town Manager Mark Biberdorf.  On the bill that was passed this summer that moved elections from odd numbered years to even numbered years in which the director (Summer Heatherly) talked to you about at last months meeting. With these changes the filing period would be in December with a primary in March. Ithink you had some concerns about that and the City of Hendersonville did as well. There is such a long time between the filing period all the way to the general election even with a primary in between. (1 year) The city of Hendersonville has been trying to stream line this process and do away with the need for a primary. Anyone that wants to run still has that same opportunity to do that with this going to the general election. The City of Hendersonville wants to go to a non-partisan plurality method which is just a fancy term for the top voter getter(s) out of everyone that files would win that seat. You have a copy from the SOG that explains theses three methods (will be attached to final minutes). We are currently the 3rd method (listed) and so is Hendersonville and they want to switch to the non-partisan plurality method and with this the filing period would be in. July (without a primary) for the general election in November. They did al Resolution of Intent last week and are going to hold a public hearing in October and then consider an ordinance in November. Ifthat goes through then they would be under this non-partisan plurality election method. This would stream line the If you want to do this we have to move on it quickly and we would need to do al Resolution of Intent by the end of this month and we would need a special call meeting for this. Iwas suggesting Friday September 29 in the morning at 10 or 11 since we have the ribbon cutting on  process.  the courts at noon. Discussion Followed:  Council agrees to set a special call meeting on Friday September 29, 2023 at 2:00 pm. The intersection afetyimprovements that DOT is doing (Ingles turning left) has gone into effect from noon to seven. (No yellow turning light) They will be working on some other  improvements not sure when those will take effect as of yet.  The courts project is done and they are getting used. The ribbon cutting is Friday September 29 On the 126 sound walls project (Wildwood) seems to be moving forward and letters have gone out to the impacted property owners. We have been doing some extra communication with  at noon.  this to make sure residents respond to this.  4    The elected officials update luncheon, you have a copy of an email from Brittney Brady to seei if you have any preference on the topics of discussion for this. This is usually done in. January and  ifyou have any ideaslneed to know by September 25th.  The Mayor and Councilman Lance worked on some suggested revisions to the fire contract with Fletcher Fire & Rescue. Ishared the suggested list with the Fire Chief and Deputy Fire Chief and asked them to share it with their board. lalso suggested they could create a committee to On the mulch give a way they did 22 loads this past Saturday but they still have al lot left SO if  review these suggestions as well.  you know anybody who wants mulch please let them know.  Mayor Blakely asked for a motion to adjourn.  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy stated he would make that motion and it was seconded by  Councilman Keith Reed. Motion carries all in favor. Adjourned: 7:08 pm Approved:  lolg23 Date  Baste Mayor  LB  5    Town of Fletcher Special Call Meeting September 28, 2023  Call the meeting to order at: 1:57 pm Those who were in attendance are as follows  Mayor Preston Blakley Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy Councilman Trevor Lance Councilwoman Sheila Franklin Councilman Keith Reed Town Manager Mark Biberdorf  Discussion and Approval of Resolution R-23-07 al Resolution of Intent for the Town of Fletcher Town Manager Mark Biberdorf stated that this has come about with the adoption of Senate Bill 265 that has moved our elections from odd to even years. As a result of that we have had to change our primary and the interest is to hold our primary closer to the general election. The only way practically to do that would bet to change from our primary method to a non-partisan plurality method. What this does it allows the election to happen with the highest vote getter and eliminate the need for a primary. Hendersonville got this going with the suggestion ofa non-partisan plurality method by drafting a Resolution that they shared with us. We researched it and found that it would work for us as well. If you all pass this Resolution it just sets the public hearing for our October meeting. After the public hearing we would bring an ordinance to amend our charter back in November. All it would change in our charter is where its says we are a primary election method to a nonpartisan plurality method. Then the primary Senator Moffitt is willing to submit legislation to change our charter from the primary method tot the non-partisan plurality method and we thought about pulling this but just in case something happened and he can't get this done we decided to move forward. Ift this happens and we know that it has been filed and approved then we may not need to put the ordinance  to use the Plurality Method of Elections.  would be instead of being in December would bei in July.  on the November meeting. This is my understanding at this point.  Discussion Followed:  1    Mayor Blakely asked for a motion to approve Resolution R-23-07.  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy stated SO moved and it was seconded by Councilman Trevor Lance.  Motion carries all ini favor.  Mayor Blakely asked for a motion to adjourn  Mayor Pro-Tem Bob Davy stated SO moved and it was seconded by Councilwoman Sheila  Franklin.  Motion carries all ini favor Adjourned: 2:04 pm  Approved lolaas Date  Tnata  Bly Mayor Preston Blikely  2