The Carrboro Town Council approved multiple appointments and reappointments to various Town boards and commissions, heard an update on the Orange County Crisis Diversion Facility and joined a memorandum of agreement for the Co-Gen Rail Line Project during its Tuesday night meeting.
What's new?
- The meeting opened with several resolutions.
- Mayor Barbara Foushee introduced a resolution detailing Carrboro’s observance of Earth Hour on March 23, from 8:30-9:30 p.m.
- Council member Eliazar Posada introduced a resolution about the Town’s support of immigrant communities in Carrboro.
- Mayor Pro Tem Danny Nowell introduced a resolution celebrating the life of Dexter Romweber and declaring March 22 Dexter Romweber Day in Carrboro.
- Mayor Foushee also brought three proclamations to the council.
- The first deemed the week of April 1–7 of this year to be observed as Carrboro Farmers' Market Week, the second designated the month of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Carrboro and the third declared March 19 Fleet Feet Day to honor the business that provides custom shoe fitting services for Carrboro residents.
- Before beginning the consent agenda, Mayor Foushee recognized interim Town Clerk Wendy Welsh, as this meeting was her last acting as town clerk.
- The council had a lengthy consent agenda, with a total of 10 items to be addressed, including approving appointments or reappointments to various boards and commissions for the Town.
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Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Director Caitlin Fenhagen and Tony Marimpietri, the leader of the Orange County Crisis Diversion Facility Subcommittee, gave a presentation providing updates on the plan to establish a crisis diversion facility for the county.
- Fenhagen said the facility would fill a gap in the types of mental health services available to Orange County residents.
- “This is a no-wrong-door place," Fenhagen said. "Anybody who walks up, whether they are coming from law enforcement, emergency services, or just choose to walk in the door, will be able to get served here."
- Fenhagen said the facility would fill a gap in the types of mental health services available to Orange County residents.
- N.C. Sen. Graig Meyer (D-Caswell, Orange, Person), Michael Piehler, the director of the UNC Institute for the Environment, and Alana Keegan, the local government services director for the Central Pines Regional Council, led a presentation about the Co-Gen Rail Transformation Project.
- Before beginning his presentation, Meyer joked with the council about being happy to bring good news with his presentation, as his interactions with the council usually bring bad news from Raleigh.
- The Co-Gen Rail Transformation Project aims to do a full community study investigating what the community would like to see along rail line properties that will be open for new types of development.
- The rail line in question is currently used to transport coal for energy production for the University at its cogeneration plant. As the University transitions away from coal, the rail line and land surrounding it will be open for new development.
- "That is a really important thing to make clear in our communications with the public, there is an order of operations here," Meyer said. "You can't shut down the rail line until they've made the energy transition, and you can't do the rail line development until you've shut down the rail line — so we have to go through the steps."
- Meyer listed many possibilities of different types of development and changes the community could see as a result of the rail line properties being converted for broader use.
- “Downtown Carrboro has the capability to have a different type of economic development opportunity along those rail line properties,” Meyer said.
- Meyer asked the council to join a memorandum of agreement to begin planning the work that would need to be done to get the project started.
- Carrboro was the first group to sign on to the memorandum. Other organizations mentioned by Meyer as a part of the memorandum eventually included the Town of Chapel Hill, Orange County, UNC and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
What decisions were made?
- The consent agenda, including appointments and reappointments to board and commissions, was approved unanimously.
- Mayor Foushee was excused for voting on consent agenda item number three, as it pertained to the reappointment of her husband, Braxton Foushee, to the planning board.
- Council member Catherine Fray moved to accept the memorandum of agreement on the Co-Gen Rail Transformation Project discussed by Meyer.
- The motion was seconded by Posada and passed unanimously.
What’s next?
The council will take a short break from its normal weekly meeting schedule but will reconvene again on Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m.
