Town of Mineral Springs s3

Town of Mineral Springs Town Hall 3506 S. Potter Road Town Council Special Meeting Joint Meeting with the Union County Board of Commissioners February 11, 2010 ~ 6:30 PM

Minutes The Town Council of the Town of Mineral Springs, North Carolina, met in a Special Session at the Mineral Springs Town Hall, Mineral Springs, North Carolina, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2010.

Present: Mayor Frederick Becker III, Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Countryman (arrived at 7:18 p.m.), Councilwoman Valerie Coffey, Councilwoman Janet Critz, Councilwoman Lundeen Cureton, Councilwoman Melody LaMonica, Councilwoman Peggy Neill, and Town Clerk/Zoning Administrator Vicky Brooks.

Absent: None.

Visitors: Chairman Kim Rogers, Commissioner Laney Openshaw, Manager Al Greene, Vice-Chairman Tracy Kuehler, Public Works Director Ed Goscicki, Clerk Lynn West.

1. Opening of Meeting  With a quorum present Mayor Becker called the Mineral Springs Town Council Special Meeting of February 11, 2010 to order at 6:42 p.m. Chairwoman Kim Rogers called the Union County Board of Commissioners Special Meeting to order at 6:42 p.m.

2. Presentation of the Town’s Goals and Short-Term Plans  Mayor Becker began by explaining that the top priority for Mineral Springs in the long and short term is downtown redevelopment; our biggest single goal he thought. Anyone who doesn’t come through Mineral Springs everyday and just comes to visit sees our downtown as “rundown”, certainly underdeveloped. There are lots of reasons for that; obviously the economy hasn’t helped. Downtown Mineral Springs has never been successful, because of its lack of sewer capacity. The soil in Mineral Springs is worse than most of the “bad soil” in Union County, so they really can’t do any kind of food service downtown; they are very limited to what they can do. Historically, Mineral Spring has always been just able to squeak by with a little bit of retail and not much else. The town would like to see that change; it is a very important aspect of the long and medium term goals.  Mayor Becker pointed out that there were a few copies of the Mineral Springs Land Use Plan available for the commissioners. The Land Use Plan was adopted in

Minutes Book 11 92 February 11, 2010 2006, which was the result of an almost year long project between UNCC (College of Architecture/Geography/Planning) and Mineral Springs. The town wanted to focus on developing a mixed use core centered on our cross roads including live/work units, pedestrian scale bungalow housing, detached, and townhome style. The residential land outside of the immediate downtown vicinity was rezoned to one house per two acres in an effort to scale back residential development and to develop the “old fashioned way”. Mineral Springs would like be self sufficient and to have facilities downtown that serve the people of Mineral Springs as well as a reasonable area around us; “we’re not looking for a regional draw”. The county may grow heavily to the south of Mineral Springs and there is no retail available in the Cane Creek and JAARS area; Mineral Springs would like to capture that market.  The commissioners were given three handouts; o The first one was a site plan that had been provided by Raley-Miller Properties [the development partner of the Harris Teeter property]. This is a conceptual plan, which is not a shopping center; it has true streets with on-street parking, sidewalks, street lights, intersections with stop signs, and a lot of connectivity to Highway 75 and Potter Road. The conceptual plan also has a residential component and is a true mixed use rather than a residential subdivision with a few stores thrown in to call it “mixed use”. o The next handout was put together by Raley-Miller’s engineers showing what sewer/water capacity might be needed for the development: 9,040 gallons for 84,000 square feet of retail; 1,750 gallons for 13,000 square feet of office [government/private sector]; 29,400 gallons for 90 residential units; and 10,800 gallons for 10,000 square feet on adjacent properties [churches, retail, fire department]. The total flow to serve downtown Mineral Springs would be 51,990 gallon per day. Mayor Becker commented that he believed the engineers were unusually conservative in their figures erring on the high side, but this gives an idea of what is driving Mineral Springs future land use. Councilwoman Critz added, as far as residential, that homes in town squares are not appealing to families that have children that want yards, but they seem to be appealing to singles, especially aging singles. While this isn’t a “retirement community”, Councilwoman Critz thought it was realistic to expect a fair number of senior citizens, which we are rapidly becoming. Councilwoman Neill commented that it wasn’t only the aging, but it was also the other end of the spectrum; young people out of college that would love to live in a real affordable house in an area like this. Councilwoman Critz noted that the big appeal for seniors would be that they can get to grocery/drug stores without traveling. Mayor Becker explained that the economy is not right for a lot of new construction; we’ve seen residential plummet and retail is following that trend on a six to twelve month lag. Raley-Miller and Harris Teeter are probably not “gung-ho” to break ground on a project in six months; therefore they won’t be hitting the county up with water/sewer demands, school needs, etc. in a one year build-out. Mayor Becker believes this new construction would certainly be a “phased project”; this may be good and it may be bad, because in allocating water/sewer capacity, the county may say “use it in two years or we have to go on to the next person”, which could be a problem for a project like this being done in phases over several years. Phased development helps the county with

Minutes Book 11 93 February 11, 2010 schools, fire departments, sheriffs, infrastructure and service needs if they are absorbing it more slowly and on a steady basis. Mayor Becker commented that he thought this is the kind of thing that might work; where the county is going to have to start looking in terms of the way it’s going to develop in the future. o The next handout is a reference showing the current sewer problems in downtown Mineral Springs. The green areas are existing commercial properties with borderline septic and the yellow areas are existing commercial properties with bad septic, which includes the fire department, the Methodist Church, the Petro Express, the shopping center, and a number of other facilities. Commissioner Laney Openshaw commented that Mayor Becker had mentioned the other day that there were some houses with septic problems. Mayor Becker responded that there were a couple of houses along Eubanks Street that would probably qualify in the green category [borderline septic].  Mayor Becker informed the county commissioners that that was an overview of the downtown dilemma and the town’s plans/needs and how they relate to the county. Sewer would be number one on the town’s list; Mineral Springs would love to work with the commissioners and these commercial property owners to come up with a way of funding and allocating some of these utility needs. Councilwoman Critz commented that she thought it only prudent on our part, if we get sewer to the downtown area, that we take into consideration the few residents: “the needs of your residents that have been here a longer time and have paid in more taxes to the county, their needs aren’t necessarily being met or even represented”.

3. How the County can Better Serve the Town of Mineral Springs (top three items)  Mayor Becker stated that sewer is always number one on all of our lists; “it’s a very important thing to us”. Mineral Springs has a reputation of “bucking the trend” of “rah rah” big development and big growth, but that is not to say that we don’t want to develop in a sensible way in keeping with our vision and style. Mineral Springs is committed to industry. Mayor Becker directed the commissioners to the map in the Land Use Plan and pointed out that the pale green is the dominant zoning type in Mineral Springs [residential/one unit per two acres] and the brown color is industrial. We want to be a host to good industry as we already are on the far eastern end with Parkdale, where they are utilizing about half of their acreage for their current facility; we would like to see them expand if they ever wanted to. Mineral Springs is concerned about keeping Parkdale happy, keeping them here, and making sure that they understand that we are industry friendly. On the other end of town is the John Shannon farm [estate], which is zoned industrial. It has the longest rail frontage of most any one parcel site in the county: about 2,500 linear feet. The town embraces the idea of industrial development. Mayor Becker stated that Mineral Springs wants to be part of the solution and not the problem. A lot of houses, in many ways, are part of the problem with the county providing services/schools. A factory that employs people who already live here and is bringing people from out of the county to work isn’t causing the need for any schools. Councilwoman Critz noted that several members of this board have worked with the Chamber of Commerce to make everyone aware of this land with great access to the highway/rail.  Councilwoman Neill mentioned that the previous county Land Use Plan shows the Mineral Springs downtown as commercial development. Mayor Becker responded

Minutes Book 11 94 February 11, 2010 that that was important, because we were not a town when that Land Use Plan was developed in the county, which means the county foresaw this crossroads as being in the 100,000-square-foot range of retail/commercial development.  Commissioner Openshaw suggested that Mayor Becker talk to the manager/public works director about the last time the head of public works contacted the town about their interest in sewer. Mayor Becker explained that he and Councilwoman Neill met with John Dyer (then director) along with the Catawba Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby in 2001 when the Little Twelve Mile Creek line was being laid. The ostensible reason was to serve Parkdale, which was on a lagoon onsite; Parkdale wanted out of that and the county had promised them. Mayor Becker and Councilwoman Neill went because they were concerned with that gravity line going five miles through lots of cornfields, which meant that you would also get a lot of housing developments along the way. We asked for the county to explore a way to provide sewer service to that plant and downtown Mineral Springs, possibly with a force main or by selling it to Monroe and pumping it that way. By 2003, the line was in and we didn’t like that it went in the way it did, but we still didn’t have sewer capacity to our town (Parkdale did at least) and John Dyer sent out a letter to Mineral Springs asking for an update on our Land Use Plan and utility needs. Mineral Springs sent back some priorities, which included sewer service to downtown Mineral Springs and increased/enhanced service either by gravity or force main for Western Union School. There is now a force main serving Western Union. Mayor Becker commented that the town wants the commissioners to understand how important this is to us. The reason the map/Land Use Plan is there isn’t because of the Raley-Miller project; it isn’t a developer applying for a flow permit, it’s a municipality trying to facilitate an entire downtown development plan with multiple landowners involved.  Mayor Becker pointed out that water throughout the town would be nice, specifically for fire prevention. Councilwoman Neill added that there are some areas of our town that have no water at all, some areas have county water; however, specifically Valley Farms has no fire hydrants. Councilwoman Neill pointed out that with the exception of Fairview and Unionville, Mineral Springs is the only municipality without sewer capacity.  Mayor Becker commented to meet the changing need of different types of development taking place now we hope to get more “true” mixed use. People have waved the mixed use banner a lot and when you see it on the ground, they’ve got 500 residential units and a convenience store and they call that mixed use. Mayor Becker thought that some people have snookered some sewer capacity that way in years past. In our case, we’d be saying “hey folks at the county, we’d like for you to look - over time - at facilitating some of this residential development, as long as the non-residential is being built”. Mayor Becker asked is there a ratio, what would constitute mixed use, how can we quantify that: do we say “well for every thousand square feet of retail in a product you qualify for a residential unit” or something like that? Can the county come up with a situation where they can start allocation proportionately based on whether or not they’re getting that residential and retail simultaneously; for example 10 residences requires 10,000 square feet of retail. Councilwoman Critz asked if the county had a quantified definition for allocating mixed use. Mr. Green responded that he would ask the planning director and

Minutes Book 11 95 February 11, 2010 communicate the answer back to Chairman Rogers. Commissioner Openshaw offered that the planning board is looking at that now.  Mayor Becker explained that Mineral Springs adopted a resolution supporting the enhancement of the Waxhaw Library in substantially the same location and then the library’s plans changed and money got even tighter, which resulted in the library’s plans being put on hold. Mineral Springs certainly wants to remain open to keep our town’s communication open with the county on a Waxhaw Library, which is considered to be a big asset to our town in its current location or near it. Mayor Becker stated that Mineral Springs doesn’t have a lot of room [financially] to partner, but we can be part of it; we would like to be and would certainly try to find some funding.  Mayor Becker stated that the urban forester position has been discussed at length and is very near and dear to our heart. If the county needs to split the funding allocation for that position they should make sure to give municipalities plenty of time to know, so that they can budget for it; this is a very valuable position to municipalities as well as to the county at large.  Councilwoman Coffey commented that she simply looks forward to the sewer coming in for Mineral Springs and that it is a priority for us; “it always has been and as you look around you see the need yourselves”. Councilwomen Neill and Cureton concurred that sewer was number one on their list as well.  Commissioner Tracy Kuehler clarified that Mineral Springs started back in 2001 with John Dyer on the sewer and providing information and we’re now in 2010. Mayor Becker responded that in 2001 they asked the county to look at an alternative to the Little Twelve Mile Creek gravity line. Commissioner Kuehler pointed out that several members of the Mineral Springs Town Council went to a county commission meeting requesting some kind of hookup and a cost was mentioned that possibly Raley-Miller and some others may have some opportunities for partnering with getting the lines run. Mayor Becker responded that was correct although he could not speak for them; however, when the property was purchased the county policy was a “user pay”, so they’re not opposed to paying for it most likely. With capacity being so up in the air they may be more scared to pay for it; they pay to put the line in now to serve the fire department and then they might not get capacity for ten years, which would give some private entities cold feet. Commissioner Kuehler asked Mr. Al Greene about the fire department, who were working on something other than pump and haul. Mr. Greene responded that he spoke with Environmental Health today and he doesn’t think that an on-site solution is going to work out. Commissioner Kuehler stated that it sounded to her from everything that she has heard that we need a plan of action, it’s not going to happen tonight, but they’ve got more information than something that they’ve been working on. Mr. Ed Goscicki responded that they have shared some preliminary engineering, as the public works staff, on could we get sewer primarily by the fire department, but also how that could continue into downtown; it’s not an inexpensive proposition. Mr. Goscicki stated that he believed the magnitude of costs that they were coming up with to do this with the size they wanted to serve something other than just the fire department would be in the order of $300,000. This would be for an eight inch gravity sewer, which is much more than what the fire department alone would need. The first issue they’re trying to address is was there a feasible engineering solution for the fire department that is

Minutes Book 11 96 February 11, 2010 cost effective; they have looked at putting in a pump station and a small force main and at running a gravity line [They are both almost as equally expensive]. They have also looked at what it would take to get sewer into the downtown area as part of that program. Chairman Rogers asked if there would be any kind of commitment from Raley-Miller to reprioritize getting sewer down here where it is a benefit for commercial taxes. Mr. Greene responded that with a developer like Raley-Miller that is interested, it may be that the hardest part isn’t getting the infrastructure here; it’s finding the capacity to allocate to the project. The Board of Commissioners has made it clear that commercial projects and those that are ready to go are a priority for any sewer that is available. Mr. Greene explained that Mr. Goscicki and his staff are going through the current sewer demands in relation to the sewer allocation policy to update those numbers to see where we stand. Also, at the staff level, they are talking hypothetically about programs that they could float that would free up some of the residential sewer that’s been allocated to projects that aren’t being built. They have not come up with any programs yet, but they are working on those types of issues, so for a company like Raley-Miller to say “yeah we want to come and we’ll extend the lines”, but not to have any capacity is a little bit of chicken before the egg. Mayor Becker responded that was a tough one and their cash flow probably isn’t as good as it normally is and they would have to lay out money for the line and they still can’t build because the economy isn’t allowing them to develop residents to retail. The county is not rolling in money either, but we have seen scenarios where the county would put the line in as far as the fire department, because they have a pressing need and it’s a public safety entity; then, since the line is that much closer to them, Raley-Miller, who owns the property, would certainly be willing to pay the county back when there is capacity. Chairman Rogers asked if this project was on the list. Mr. Goscicki responded no. Commissioner Openshaw explained that he spoke at the CIP workshop yesterday and asked for the manager to consider three projects, one of which was to run this line here. While that sounds good, Commissioner Openshaw stated that he believes that they will need developer agreements with Spiro Kaltsounis, Raley- Miller, and whoever else will potentially tie in, as well as a specific number (gallons per day) for the area that is going to be served with sewer in order to size the pipe accordingly. Mayor Becker pointed out that there are physical limitations because the land is dropping off as you get to the other side of Potter Road; therefore you’re limited to how many acres, it’s not really a basin, you’re almost serving a knoll, so it is limited. Commissioner Openshaw explained that one of the things he wanted to discuss at the mayors/commissioners meeting, which was postponed, was the potential for allocating the percentage of sewer/water to municipalities; this would be a very small number, but it would have to be paid for and the capacity would be locked up. This was just a concept; the county allows developers to hold onto this stuff forever, why shouldn’t the municipalities, then they can determine where it’s going to be allocated, though the county could put a caveat in there that there is some condition that says that the majority has to be commercial. Councilwoman Coffey stated that this is a serious public safety issue before us [fire department] and she hears the broad picture being painted out there, which sounds to her like a real long time line, and asked “what are we going to do about this fire department; we have people’s lives that are at stake”. In addition, there is the church across the street, Councilwoman Coffey asked the commissioners if they could imagine a

Minutes Book 11 97 February 11, 2010 disaster if we are not able to respond appropriately and we’re talking about $300,000, “please help us, we need you”. Commissioner Rogers commented that they had heard a lot about the sewer needs and asked what the water needs were. Mayor Becker responded that they were the same in terms of capacity. The good news is that there is a 12-inch main running along Highway 75 and then one going up Potter Road, so the infrastructure for water is there, but there is not capacity. Currently, the fire department, the church, the Spiro Kaltsounis property, and the Petro have water. Commissioner Rogers clarified that the fire department has what it needs as far as a catastrophic event as far as water, but it is the sewer they are lacking. Mayor Becker responded yes it was the sewer, which would keep their staff and building running.  Commissioner Openshaw pointed out that the water/sewer funds are not in the general fund (not in your tax rate); when you are a water/sewer user it goes into a separate water/sewer fund. Therefore, it is not in the county budget, nor is it reflected in your taxes, it is reflected in your water/sewer rates and there are literally one hundred and thirty something million dollars worth of projects on the CIP right now with another one hundred percent more five years out. “Your water rates are going up”. Commissioner Openshaw just wanted to make sure that it was understood that the $300,000 comes from that fund, not from your taxes.  Councilwoman Critz explained that she had attended a seminar about six years ago at the Monroe Country Club; a panel of experts from all over was called in and there was a professor from Georgia who had done an economic analysis of our county and counties like ours. Basically, the professor talked about how economically unhealthy we are as a county, because of the disproportionate tax base where your residents are basically, from an economic standpoint, parasites and then you have retail and agricultural/industry being the things that you really want to court. Councilwoman Critz stated that this is a great opportunity for all of us in this county, with the economic situation that we have that has dramatically slowed down the residential development, to sit back and really take a good look at what Union County is and what you want to maintain as sacred to this county. We’ve been chasing the generic for several decades now and you drive into parts of Union County and you could be driving into anywhere; we’re losing the identity that this county has. “This is a great opportunity to halt that and do an about face, so I see this as a great opportunity to prioritize, not only the needs for Mineral Springs for this type of development, but throughout this county to do what you suggested where residential had their hands on this capacity and now they’re not using it and they don’t need, and they don’t know when they are going to need it, well let’s take it away from them and let’s put it somewhere where we can not only serve the interest of what the needs are, but we can also in a healthy way build a financial basis of this county in a better way”, Councilwoman Critz said.  Mayor Becker asked if there were any closing comments. Councilwoman LaMonica asked what the commissioners need from Mineral Springs to move this forward. Commissioner Openshaw responded that he believed we would need developer agreements, so that the cost isn’t carried by the users of the system. Additionally the depth of the line is an issue, but that has been a concern in the past. The rest of it, he thought, was that their priorities were misguided and “it is time to serve the people that lived here first, before we just go out and give away our precious resources”. There are allocations for 16,000 houses that are sitting

Minutes Book 11 98 February 11, 2010 there un-built. Commissioner Openshaw clarified that he wasn’t advocating taking away from residential developers, but he did notice after some quick calculations at 285 gallons per house (the figure the county uses now) versus what is on the Raley-Miller estimate, assuming there is no difference between a one, two, or three bedroom, there is an average 4,000 gallons less than what you were asking for right there. Mayor Becker clarified that it was roughly 25,000 on the residential side and 25,000 on the non-residential side.

4. Suggestions for Enhancing Economic Development with the Town of Mineral Springs

 All discussion took place under agenda items #2 and #3.

5. Adjournment  Commissioner Rogers made a motion to adjourn their special meeting.  Councilwoman Critz made a motion to adjourn and Councilwoman Cureton seconded. The motion passed unanimously as follows:

Ayes: Coffey, Countryman, Critz, Cureton, LaMonica, and Neill Nays: None

 The meeting was adjourned at 7:43 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by:

Vicky A. Brooks, CMC, Town Clerk Frederick Becker III, Mayor

Minutes Book 11 99 February 11, 2010