CCW Minutes

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE The Council Committee of the Whole met on March 13, 2023, at 6:00 p.m. with Councilman Hare presiding. Members of Council present were Mr. Anderson, Ms. Arndt, Mr. Boggerty, Mr. Neil, Dr. Pillsbury, and Mr. Rocha. Mr. Sudler was absent. Mayor Christiansen was also present. Civilian members present for their Committee meetings were Mr. Shelton (Utility), Mr. Contant (via WebEx), Mr. Shevock (via WebEx) (Legislative, Finance, and Administration), and Mr. Tholstrup and Mr. Lewis (Parks, Recreation, and Community Enhancement). Mr. McCutcheon (Utility) was absent. UTILITY COMMITTEE The Utility Committee met with Chairman Rocha presiding. Adoption of Agenda Mr. Neil moved for adoption of the agenda, seconded by Mr. Boggerty and unanimously carried. Evaluation of Bids – West Street East Alley Water Main Replacement (Jason Lyon, Water/Wastewater Director) Mr. Jason Lyon, Director of Water and Wastewater reviewed the background and the analysis of the evaluation of bids for the West Street East Alley Water Main Replacement. Staff recommended awarding the contract to Teal Construction for the water main replacement of West Street East Alley, ITB #23-0010WW, for $415,800. Responding to Mr. Boggerty, Mr. Lyon stated that they utilized the State of Delaware’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise portal. Mr. Lyon stated they have a very large database of contractors that they send these out to. The contractors must be utility contractors and they are not required to attend the pre-bid meeting. So if they do not come to the pre-bid meeting, it does not exclude them from submitting their bid. Mr. Neil moved to recommend awarding the contract to Teal Construction for the water main replacement of West Street East Alley, ITB#23-0010WW, for $415,800.00 as recommended by staff. The motion was seconded by Mr. Anderson and unanimously carried. The Energy Authority 2023 Dover Integrated Resource Plan (David Hugg, City Manager) Mr. David Hugg, City Manager reviewed the background and analysis of the Energy Authority 2023 Dover Integrated Resource Plan along with Arline Newton, Client Service Manager, and Greg Labbe, Director of Corporate Analytics, The Energy Authority. Staff recommended accepting the 2023 Dover Integrated Resource Plan as prepared by The Energy Authority and following the recommendations contained therein. Responding to Mr. Neil, Ms. Newton stated that an RFP would have to tell us where you should focus the renewable energy.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 2 Responding to Mr. Neil, Mr. Labbe stated that in the study it is assumed that the city hits all of the State of Delaware mandates set by the Renewable Portfolio Standard. Forty percent of demand will be served through renewable energy by 2035. Ten percent of the total demand has to be through solar. This can be done one of two ways; the city can own the generation through a PPA, or Calpine develops the solar farm, and the city buys into a portion of it. Mr. Labbe stated that most of the utilities in the United States are adding solar but that five years ago, it was wind. The pandemic, Ukraine, and the embargo on Chinese-made solar panels right now, are all things that are holding up solar development in the United States. Hopefully with the IRA, and the Inflation Reduction Act, some of the development moves domestically. Mr. Labbe stated the next technology will likely be long-duration storage. Right now, they use a four-hour lithium battery, and you can stagger them to make a twelve-hour battery. Mr. Labbe stated that currently, they are working on some IRPs out on the west coast that will start to look at small modular reactors. Modularized nuclear reactors are similar to what are in submarines. It is just not cost-effective without some kind of subsidy, but that is where solar was five years ago. Responding to Mr. Neil, Ms. Newton stated that the project Mr. Neil is speaking of is also running into the same supply chain issues as mentioned earlier. Responding to Mr. Neil, Mr. Labbe stated that the developers signed a deal three years ago, with the thought that they are going to be able to buy solar panels three years from when they signed the deal, at what the costs were then. Now costs are 150 percent of what they thought, and they are locked into this rate. They are willing to walk away from the PPA and pay liquidated damage costs because it is cheaper than doing the twenty-year deal. Therefore, they are talking short-term deals, getting through the short-term capacity needs, and hoping that by 2025 or 2026 everything is back to normal. Responding to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Labbe stated that everyone points to California however, California is only nine percent solar out of their total generation. They are over sixty percent gas, so the PJM market is not much different. The City of Dover does not have to supply all, they just have to supply its piece as a part of the market. The market is transitioning from coal to natural gas which emits about half as much CO2 as a coal plant. The Vansant plant is the local reliability generator. PJM has provided enough transmission to get generation into the peninsula, so the city does not have to have something local for reliability anymore. It is the responsibility of the transmission organization to take care of that. Responding to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Labbe stated that you do have to overbuild when it comes to solar. The capacity factors the metric used to measure how much generation it makes versus how much it could make. During the peak hours of the day, solar produces close to seventy percent and zero percent at night. What will hopefully supplement it is if you move toward the offshore wind. The wind profile at night is significantly stronger than it is during the day. The idea is if you add offshore wind at some point then that will be the off-peak type of generation. If you need fifty megawatts, then you need to build seventy to eighty megawatts of solar to meet the requirement. Gas does not help with meeting the RPS standard and the city would have to go out and buy credits from someone else. Mr. Labbe stated that they ran a scenario where instead of adding storage and solar, they added the exact amount of nameplate capacity needed to have a gas plan. Over the twenty-year study, it was roughly $25 million more to operate the gas plan rather than to add solar and storage.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 3 Responding to Mr. Anderson, Ms. Newton stated that the short answer is that they are overwhelmed with solar capacity projects. There is a low cost of entry to submit projects so vendors are taking a risk and submitting the projects in hopes of finding someone to sell them to. There is a map of interconnection requests that have been received and right now they are three to four years behind. Mr. Labbe added that COVID has had a huge impact on the markets also. It is not just PJM, the queue has everything that has been proposed to be built. If you are a solar developer or a gas developer, you must submit the project to the market. The market has to do transmission studies to see what impact it will have on the market, then say yay or nay, and then you decided if you want to keep moving forward. PJM and some other markets are now working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reorganize their queue. Responding to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Paul Waddell, Electric Director, stated that the last major upgrade to Vansant was in 2017, which was enough of an upgrade on that unit with its cycles and hours that it should last up until 2042. Mr. Waddell stated that the city collects a good amount of capacity payments from PGM just from having that unit. One of the last times it ran, they were able to get $1,100 of megawatt hour. Forty-two times $1,100, times six hours that it ran. That was a good chunk of money that was made at no additional cost to the city except for the gas. Responding to Mr. Anderson, Ms. Newton stated that there has to be a balance between programmatic and taking advantage of opportunities. The Energy Authority has meetings every month with the RMC to discuss those kinds of questions. When do we stick to our program and have a sense of being open to whatever the opportunities are? If you do not have the programmatic, you would fall into trying to catch the market, and that is not what they want. Mr. Neil moved to recommend accepting the 2023 Dover Integrated Resource Plan as prepared by The Energy Authority and following the recommendation contained therein, as recommended by staff. The motion was seconded by Mr. Anderson and unanimously carried. Mr. Rocha moved for adjournment of the Utility Committee meeting, hearing no objection the meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m. PARKS, RECREATION, AND COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT COMMITTEE The Parks, Recreation, and Community Enhancement Committee met with Chairwoman Arndt presiding. Adoption of Agenda Mr. Boggerty moved for adoption of the agenda, seconded by Mr. Neil and unanimously carried. Mayor and Council Reports Council President Council President Sudler was absent. First District Dr. Pillsbury reported she received a call from a citizen regarding a community recreation area and a water retention pond. The citizen wanted to know why some developments are maintained by the

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 4 city and some developments are responsible for the maintenance, she is looking into that. Dr. Pillsbury reported she participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade, attended the Police Academy graduation, and the Dover Transformational Leadership training and found them all helpful and interesting. Mr. Rocha reported that he would add to what Dr. Pillsbury stated and add that she helped him coordinate along with Mr. Boggerty, at the West Dover Town Hall Meeting on March 2, 2023. At that meeting, there were presentations on the Mosaic Downtown Master Plan, presented by the Downtown Dover Partnership. A DelDOT engineer also talked about the Kenton Road update and a presentation from Code Enforcement. The next meeting will be on July 6, 2023. Mr. Rocha stated they will continue to engage DelDOT about Kenton Road for updates on the construction. Additionally, Mr. Rocha attended the Transformational Leadership training as well. Mr. Rocha reported that he attended the McKee Road/Saulsbury Road public workshop. He also was invited to attend the Green Homeowners Association meeting and participated in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Mr. Rocha also attended Colonel Hampton Green’s funeral and provided him a tribute on behalf of the city. Second District Mr. Hare reported that he participated in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and was attacked by a dog. Mr. Hare has received several calls about someone on the Public Works truck that picks up leaves. It has been said that they are doing a wonderful job and when they come, they are picking up everything and not leaving behind one twig. Mr. Hare stated that he always hears the bad stuff, but he received two positive calls. Third District Mr. Neil reported that he attended the Police Academy graduation along with Ms. Arndt and Dr. Pillsbury. He attended the St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the Mayor. At the McKee/Saulsbury DelDOT workshop, there is a mile-and-a-half road that they showed at that juncture. Hopefully, there is a six-way stop that will be at Governor’s, Ross, and Bradbury, coming up very soon. Mr. Neil reported that he attended two Special Council sessions, he missed the Transformational Leadership Training due to COVID and testified on behalf of a Kings Cliffe resident in JP Court. Mr. Neil responded to three constituent complaints, sharing those emails and the actions that were taken by staff along with his Third District colleague Ms. Arndt. Ms. Arndt reported that Mr. Neil covered everything she was going to report on. Fourth District Mr. Anderson reported that he would like to thank the staff for the resolution of past concerns. Mr. Anderson was talking to someone about a familiar complaint of not having trash cans on the west part of Loockerman Street. While he was talking, he looked over and there were new trash cans. Mr. Anderson reported that constituents over at Woodcrest are requesting at Buttner and Woodcrest Drive, that yellow paint be applied to the curb where it is supposed to be fifteen feet because cars park there. Mr. Anderson stated that it is a safety hazard because it blocks your view of where the houses are. They have also requested a look into the idea of extending the sidewalk when the new school comes, so that Pay Lynn Drive, Schoolhouse Lane, and the sidewalk area are connected. Mr. Anderson stated that there is a gap between them and it may have to do with the right of way, or the wetlands, however, they would like it to be explored because the kids end up walking on the street.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 5 Finally, Mr. Anderson reported people are still anxious about the streetlights south of Division Street running to full capacity. At- Large Mr. Boggerty reported that he attended the Capital School District’s strategic planning session alongside the Mayor. He also attended and sat on the panel at Delaware State University’s University Pathway to Success Program. The program had to turn away one hundred students, so they are going to plan it again. Mr. Boggerty reported that he coordinated a meeting with the Chief of Police and DSU personnel to establish an internship program for the cadets. The meeting went well, and he looks forward to hearing how the cadet program can be turned into an internship to increase interest. Mr. Boggerty reported that he addressed a constituent concern regarding traffic on Reed Street and he would like to thank Mr. Nowak for responding. Mr. Boggerty attended the Black History Program at the Modern Maturity Center with Councilwoman Dr. Pillsbury, and they were able to address them on behalf of the Mayor and Council. They were able to welcome them and tell them that they hear their concerns with the electric rates. Mr. Boggerty also appeared on a podcast that had over 1,700 views with a lot of positive responses. Mr. Boggerty attended the Faith and Trauma Mental Health Symposium at Delaware State University. He was able to talk to Wilmington’s Chief of Police and get some ideas on how they managed the Rodney Square issue with their unhoused population. Mr. Boggerty also congratulated the Dover High School cheerleaders for winning the National Cheerleading Championship held in Virginia. Mr. Boggerty participated in the St. Patrick’s Day parade and also called a constituent regarding an electric company concern that was quickly resolved. Mayor Christiansen Mayor Christiansen stated he will submit his report electronically at a later date. Review of Cash-in-lieu Amount for Active Recreation Plan – Dover Apartments at Leipsic Road (Mary Ellen Gray, Planning and Community Development Director) Ms. Mary Ellen Gray, Planning and Community Development Director reviewed the background and analysis regarding the Review of the Cash-in-lieu Amount for Active Recreation Plan – Dover Apartments at Leipsic Road. Mr. Neil stated that there has been a discussion of DelDOT doing a traffic study before. He has no objection to the 216 apartments, perhaps as many as 500 people or more are going to be in those apartments. However, this is a very crucial part of the city at Route 13 and as you go east coming down Leipsic, you can see the Speedway where it is located. At certain times of the year the Speedway, Firefly, and the Gifts of Lights, all will impact traffic tremendously and there is no escape. Once you hit the area, when these people move into the apartments and traffic is blocked off crossing the bridge to go down Leipsic into Persimmon Tree, it is going to be a disaster. Mr. Neil stated that DelDOT is going to have to take a look at that area for whatever enlargement is going to be called for as these things are going to be built because there is no escape. There is a small one, in which you can cut out and wind up back at Route 13 again by the old E-Z Pass building. There is Home Depot, and a Citizens Bank where the old Pizza Hut was, and it is going to be a problem. Mr. Neil recommended that staff recommends getting ahead of the traffic before the apartments are built. Responding to Mr. Rocha, Ms. Gray stated that it is a math problem. 216 units were proposed and the total required active recreation area was 59,400 square feet. 53,463 square feet was proposed, so

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 6 there was a deficit of 5,937 square feet. The appraisal value was $130,000 per acre and the calculation was $2.98 per square foot. So that gives you $17,718.31. Responding to Mr. Rocha, Ms. Dawn Melson-Williams, Principal Planner stated that the calculation for the active recreation area, the requirement for the plan is 275 square feet per dwelling unit. There is a minimum of a half-acre. Responding to Mayor Christiansen, Ms. Melson-Williams stated that this was for the apartment complex itself and that Bank of America was not on the parcel. There was a connectivity to the other parcel that is fronting 13 but that is on a separate calculation. Responding to Ms. Arndt, Ms. Melson-Williams stated that anytime there is a cash-in-lieu payment made that payment goes into a parks and recreation reserve fund. It is specifically earmarked for park improvements citywide; it is not delegated to a particular area of the city. In the past, they have drawn from that to help fund some of the smaller improvements in some of the smaller parks. Mr. Neil moved to recommend the acceptance of the staff recommendation of the Cash-in-lieu Amount for Active Recreation Plan – Dover Apartments at Leipsic Road. The motion was seconded by Mr. Anderson and unanimously carried. Review of Active Recreation Plan – College Road Apartments at Railroad Avenue/Grove Street (Mary Ellen Gray, Planning and Community Development Director) Ms. Mary Ellen Gray, Planning and Community Development Director reviewed the background and analysis regarding the Review of the Active Recreation Plan – College Road Apartments at Railroad Avenue/Grove Street. Responding to Mr. Hare, Ms. Gray stated that she only knows the plan as presented, she was not present if it was proposed as another plan of 150 units. Responding to Mr. Rocha, Ms. Gray stated that part of the process is that the committee reviews the recreation plan and makes a recommendation to the Planning Commission. The recommendation is then reported to the Planning Commission so that they can make their review and include that in their recommendation or their review of the plan. This plan does meet the criteria for the square footage of the property. Responding to Mr. Rocha, Ms. Gray stated that there is a request for a waiver for parking, which is in the Planning Commission’s purview, so they will be reviewing that. Mr. Anderson stated that there are different areas of responsibility and as Ms. Arndt stated council looks at the recreation plan. If the Planning Commission looks at the recreation plan and says, “it looks good but taking into account everything, it will need to be adjusted because we are not going to approve the parking waiver,” and then the recreation plan has to be reworked. The new plan would then come back to council with the recommendations from Planning Commission. The Planning Commission needs to know that the recreation plan that is being submitted, is an acceptable alternative because if not, they would have wasted their time. If the Planning Commission sent council the recreation plan, instead of it going to council, the recreation plan would still have to be approved by council. It just happened to be chosen that it is easier for the Planning Commission to be the one with the final input that has the recreation plan, the staff site plan, and the full picture.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 7 Responding to Mr. Hare, Mr. Rocha stated that the number required for 385 units is 867 parking spaces, and the waiver is allowing 683 parking spaces. Responding to Mr. Tholstrup, Ms. Gray stated that there is no playground, but there was a multi- sport court, a volleyball court, a paved walking trail, fitness stations, and a yoga studio inside. Responding to Mr. Boggerty, Ms. Gray stated that the walking paths have to be accessible and each floor has to be ADA accessible. Responding to Mr. Boggerty, Mr. Greg Rishel, Pennoni Associates, stated that he is the applicant’s engineer and that the walking trail will be paved ADA compliant, and will be accessible. There are fitness rooms, yoga rooms, and activity rooms in each building. The other facilities, such as the sports court and the picnic pavilion, would have paved walkways to them. Picnic tables could be made to be ADA-compliant so that someone who is disabled or in a wheelchair could pull up to them. As for the fitness stations, multiple manufacturers make equipment specifically geared toward someone with physical disabilities. Responding to Mr. Anderson, Mr. Rishel stated that they are predominantly one-bedroom studio apartments and that the target audience is college students, given the close proximity to DSU. Potentially also with the air base, military personnel. The apartments are geared toward starter apartments with a mix of two bedrooms mixed in. Responding to Mr. Hare, Ms. Melson-Williams stated that this is the first appearance of a residential development for this tract of land. There was an associated site plan that dealt with street improvements in the general area, but the number of units had various designs that have been worked on over the recent years, but not presented to the Planning Commission or the prior committee. Responding to Mr. Hare, Ms. Melson-Williams stated that the city’s zoning ordinance does not make that a requirement. The State Department of Transportation, DelDOT, has its own technical regulations that would regulate where a TIS is warranted There are also other options in DelDOT’s Development Coordination Manual. They will be the ones deferred to for those traffic improvement approvals and necessary studies or analyses. Responding to Mr. Hare, Ms. Melson-Williams stated that as part of the site development application process, Dover’s Development Advisory Committee is made up of the city departments and state agencies that are made aware of the application filings. Additionally, a number of those agencies have regulatory requirements and their own review process to, for example with DelDOT, take access from a state-maintained roadway. There is a review process with them, just like the sediment and stormwater management plan for the site will be reviewed with Kent Conservation District, which has its own technical review guidelines. All of that goes into the consideration of the site development plan and its approval process. Responding to Mr. Neil, Ms. Gray stated that the process is that the site development plans are reviewed, the final review and approvals are done at Planning Commission, and this application will not come back to council.

COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MARCH 14, 2023 PAGE 8 Mr. Anderson moved to recommend the acceptance of the staff recommendation of the Active Recreation Plan – College Road Apartments at Railroad Avenue/Grove Street. The motion was seconded by Mr. Boggerty and carried with Mr. Rocha and Mr. Hare voting no. Ms. Arndt moved for adjournment of the Parks, Recreation, and Community Enhancement Committee meeting, hearing no objection the meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m. LEGISLATIVE, FINANCE, AND ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE The Legislative, Finance, and Administration Committee met with Chairman Anderson presiding. Adoption of Agenda Mr. Neil moved for adoption of the agenda, seconded by Ms. Arndt and unanimously carried. Proposed Resolution No. 2023-02 Authorizing the City of Dover to Participate in New National Opioid Settlements Staff recommended the adoption of the proposed resolution No. 2023-02. Mayor Christiansen stated that he has had the honor of being appointed to the Opioid Distribution Funds by the Governor and the Attorney General, so this will enhance the city’s position on that committee. The downside of it is that at this point, it looks like there is $27 million which will be distributed over the next ten years. Mr. Hare moved to recommend the acceptance of the staff recommendation of the proposed resolution No. 2023-02. The motion was seconded by Mr. Boggerty and unanimously carried. Mr. Anderson moved for adjournment of the Legislative, Finance, and Administration Committee meeting, hearing no objection the meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Mr. Hare moved for adjournment of the Council Committee of the Whole meeting, hearing no objection the meeting adjourned at 7:46 p.m. Roy Sudler, Jr. Council President Attachments Attachment #1 - Attachment #2 - Attachment #3 -