Retreat Committee Minutes
February 5, 2007
4:30 p.m.
Room 10035
316 N. Academy St., Cary
Present: Mayor Ernie McAlister and Council Members Jennifer Robinson and Nels Roseland
Mayor McAlister began the meeting at 4:35 p.m. The committee approved the following agenda:
Town of Cary
2007 Council/Staff Retreat:
“Turning Plans Into Action”
Hilton Wilmington Riverside
301 N. Water Street
Wilmington, NC
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Day 1: Friday, March 16
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9 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. |
Travel to Hilton Wilmington Riverside
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12:00 – 1:00 p.m. |
Lunch followed by welcome from Mayor McAlister |
Bellamy Room
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1:00 – 1:15 p.m. |
Opening Comments Review Agenda |
Bill Coleman
Salon B
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1:15 – 2:45 p.m. |
Cary Town Council and Wake County School Board session
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Town Council and School Board Members
Salon B |
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2:45 – 3:00 p.m. |
Break |
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3:00 – 4:30 p.m. |
Cary Town Council and Wake County Commissioner session
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Town Council and County Commissioners
Salon B
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4:30 – 4:45 p.m. |
Break |
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4:45 p.m.- 5:45 p.m. |
Budget/Finance - Overview FY2006 results, impacts to FY2007, projections for FY2008 - Review of major revenue and cost drivers - Capital funding update including revenues, debt load, and related timing
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Scott Fogleman and Karen Mills
Salon B
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5:45 – 6:30 p.m. |
Check-in |
Hilton |
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6:30 – 7:15 p.m. |
Social Hour
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Hospitality Room 331
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7:30 p.m. |
Dinner
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Location TBD |
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Day 2: Saturday, March 17
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7:30 – 8:30 a.m. |
Breakfast
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Location TBD |
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8:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
Economic Development - Presentation of First Year Priorities - Inventory and availability of O&I land
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Sandy Jordan
Azalea Room |
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9:30 – 9:45 a.m. |
Break |
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9:45a.m.– 11:15 p.m. |
Transportation and Thoroughfare Plan - Overview of plan goals and purpose of plan (relationship with capital budget, citizen identification of traffic concerns, relationship with economic development, etc.) - Policy decisions needed to meet established goals - Long-term statewide policy perspective
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Tim Bailey and Kimley-Horne representatives
Azalea Room |
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11:15 – 11:30 a.m. |
Break
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11:30 – 12:30 p.m. |
Downtown (session will continue after lunch) - Background and History - Overview of vision and accomplishments to-date; the purpose of each; how it all ties together - Long-term benefit of downtown redevelopment - Develop sequencing plan and target dates (timing, property acquisition, aggressive options, public/private partnerships, etc.) - Financing options
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Jeff Ulma and Mary Henderson
Azalea Room
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12:30 – 1:30 p.m. |
Lunch |
Bellamy Room |
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1:30 – 2:30 p.m. |
Downtown (continued)
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Jeff Ulma and Mary Henderson
Azalea Room
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2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. |
Land Use (major policy issues): - Review Town-wide Land Use Plan and its composite Area Plans for current policy direction - Identify main themes/objectives of each plan, and the rationale for such recommendations - Review any detailed policy direction that has caused/is causing difficulty - Identify and discuss highest-priority concerns needing in-depth review and discussion - Confirm/support direction or identify needed policy change(s)
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Jeff Ulma and Ricky Barker
Azalea Room |
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3:30 – 3:45 p.m. |
Break
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3:45 – 4:45 p.m. |
Land Use (continued)
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Jeff Ulma and Ricky Barker
Azalea Room
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4:45 – 5:45 p.m. |
Open Space- Overview and relationship to master plan - Outline of properties purchased to-date and strategies used, including what’s been most successful (include discussion of what’s preserved through development) - Future council goals for the open space plan and future spending to implement the plan (include discussion of open space provisions in LDO, etc.)
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Mary Henderson
Azalea Room |
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6:15 – 7:15 p.m. |
Social Hour
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Hospitality Room 331 |
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7:30 p.m. |
Dinner
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Location TBD |
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Day 3: Sunday, March 18
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7:30 – 8:30 a.m. |
Breakfast
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Location TBD |
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8:30 – 9:30 a.m. |
Complete any outstanding issues
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Bill Coleman
Azalea Room
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9:30 – 10:30 a.m. |
Review decisions made/wrap up (includes update of quality of life initiative and how staff is incorporating this initiative in the budget process)
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Bill Coleman
Azalea Room
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10:30 – 11:30 a.m. |
Council comments |
Town Council
Azalea Room
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The committee concurred with having a brief aquatic discussion during the capital funding update portion of the budget/finance presentation. Staff will provide the council with an implementation plan and schedule, which will note certain decision points for moving ahead with design. Mrs. Robinson stated specific design plan decisions are scheduled to come to council in June 2007. She stated the council should be prepared at that time to (1) move forward with the design as planned, which includes receipt of private funding; or (2) if the private funding is not provided, move forward with a community facility. The committee agreed to seek council concurrence with these two options at the retreat session.
The committee recognized that the operations committee recently recommended the following:
Traffic Signal Aesthetic Issues
Committee unanimously recommended replacing 70 electrical meter bases and disconnects with the newer, more modular types integrated in self-contained metal units and located at a consistent height and alongside the corresponding signal cabinet at an estimated cost of $49,000, funding these improvements from ST1143 (FY06 Traffic Signalization) construction account. Committee members further recommended that staff develop a Town Policy to come back to the Operations Committee. Council direction to guide the policy include: 1) Pole standards that would apply to areas of Town such as TCAP (Town Center Area Plan), SWAP (Southwest Area Plan), and key corridors or intersections; 2) Landscape screening instead of painting control cabinets; 3) Consolidation of visual clutter, one example was including street lights with traffic poles instead of having two separate poles; 4) Do not include painting of poles; 5) When development signage features exist, placement of poles and cabinets behind or beside those signs instead of in front; 5) Consider and report back on the level of authority to regulate private utilities for size, frequency and location of above ground structures; and, 6) Consider adding an agenda item to the retreat to consider capital project to enhance appearance of key intersections.
The retreat committee concurred with the manager handling item 6) above through the committee process.
The committee agreed on the following topics for the session with the school board, in addition to any other topics the school board would like to discuss:
The committee agreed on the following topics for the session with the county commissioners, in addition to any other topics the commissioners would like to address:
The committee decided that Town Manager Coleman will facilitate the retreat.
The committee asked staff to invite the economic development commission to the Saturday session on economic development.
During the future goals of the open space discussion, Mrs. Robinson plans to bring up buying land on major corridors, and Mr. Roseland plans to bring up whether to continue with staff being responsible for open space acquisition vs. a private contractor.
The committee instructed staff to e-mail the council the retreat agenda.
Mayor McAlister stated he will handle the follow-up with the school board and county commissioners.
The meeting ended at 5:25 p.m.