Graham council hears clean audit but delays Mayfield rezoning as neighbors press traffic, lot-size concerns

The City of Graham received a clean financial audit for the year ending June 30, 2023, and then pushed a major rezoning and annexation request back to January as residents and council members pressed developers for changes to buffers, lot sizes and traffic controls.

Patricia Rhodes of auditing firm Stout, Stuart, McGowen & King reported an unmodified opinion on the City’s audited financial statements, the firm’s highest-level opinion. Rhodes told council the general fund’s available balance stood at about 66 percent of one year’s general fund expenditure, well above the state average and minimum, and that the City remained within its budget despite year-over-year growth in both revenues and expenditures. Water and sewer operations produced higher revenues and expenses compared with the prior year but finished ahead of expenses before transfers, Rhodes said.

The audit presentation highlighted a nearly $1.8 million surplus in the general fund before transfers, a tax collection rate near 98 percent, and strengthened sales- and property-tax receipts. Rhodes said auditors found no material weaknesses in internal control that must be reported to the council.

After the audit presentation the council turned to land use. Shugart Homes and engineering consultant Bowman presented a revised plan for phase four of the Mayfield Drive development, a conditional rezoning and annexation for roughly 53.9 acres. The developers showed modified lot layouts and an expanded open-space area that the applicant has said would include a playground and a dog park. But several residents who live in the adjacent neighborhoods told the council the changes do not address their core concerns.

Neighbors who live along Little Creek and Meadowview described narrow residential streets that already feel busy and said removing one of the previously planned access points could push more traffic onto the narrow, curving local roads. “We asked the developer to meet Council in the middle on lot sizes and traffic mitigation,” Mayor Jennifer Talley said. “Tonight the developer asked for another continuance so staff can verify new lot-width options and traffic plans.”

Council members were divided over the applicant’s revised plan. Several members said the project needed to come back with more concessions—either larger minimum lot widths, clearer commitments about preserved tree buffers, or additional traffic mitigation—before a final approval. The applicant asked for a continuance to rework the proposal and Council agreed to continue the rezoning and related annexation to the Jan. 9, 2024 meeting.

On routine matters the Council approved appointments, modest budget reallocations and a calendar of 2024 council meeting dates. City staff also walked council through early-year budget priorities, with members flagging a short list of near-term work for the FY2024-25 budget: 1) adding in-house grant-writing and on-call engineering capacity; 2) advancing water-system upgrades and exploring reservoir options; 3) protecting the character of downtown through design upgrades; 4) creating more recreation and green-space amenities; and 5) strengthening pay and retention efforts for city employees.

What’s next: The Mayfield rezoning and annexation will return to the council’s Jan. 9 agenda after the applicant and staff update plans on lot widths, buffers, road alignments and traffic controls. The fiscal overview and the clean audit provide finance staff and council with a stable starting point for upcoming budget decisions.