Loading...
02-02-1987 Regular Meetings� February 2, 1987 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held pursuant to the Charter on February 2, 1987 at Smyrna City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor A. Max Bacon. All council members were present. Also present was City Attorney Charles E. Camp, City Administrator John Patterson, City Clerk Melinda Dameron and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Bill Askea, followed by the pledge to the flag. Randall Young and Bill Askea from the Smyrna Business Association presented a check for $10,000 from the SBA towards the funding of the lighting of South Cobb Drive. Mayor Bacon said that tomorrow is Fireman's Recognition Day and stated that we have one of the finest fire departments in the State thanks to the great leadership. CITIZENS INPUT: Nothing to report. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Reports were given from Parks and Recreation, Library and the Clean City Committee. PUBLIC HEARINGS: (A) Rezoning request - property at Magbee Drive and South Cobb Drive from-R- 15 to Office/Institutional. John Patterson said that Mr. John Witt had requested this zoning March 17, 1986 and it was approved with the stipulation that if a building permit was not issued within 6 months time the property would revert back to its original zoning. The building permit was not issued and he is here again tonight seeking approval of the same zoning. Mr. Gene Hoaster will be the developer of the property. The Planning and Zoning Board recommended approval of the rezoning with several stipulations. There was one person in the audience in opposition who was sworn in with Mr. Witt and Mr. Hoaster. Mr. Witt said he was in the process of selling his property for development and his business, Acme Fence Company, would be relocated to Alexander Street. Four lots on the corner of Magbee and South Cobb will be merged to form a lot containing approximately 48,000 square feet. Construction will be in two phases with construction of the first building starting immediately. Mr. Hoaster said the buildings would be masonry brick Williamsburg style. They hope to begin Phase II this year. The total square footage of both buildings will contain less than what they originally proposed in one building, from 18,000 to 13,000. Both buildings will be two-story and joined with a covered walkway. The configuration of the exit onto Magbee would be designed to prevent cars from exiting through Magbee and the residential neighborhood. Mr. Herring said his questions had been answered about the development and was not really in opposition. With no further discussion, Jim Hawkins made a motion the zoning be approved from R-15 and General Commercial to Office/Institutional with the stipulations that no curb cut on Magbee be closer than 170 feet to the rear property line and that proper buffer requirements be met. Bob Davis seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (B) Variance request - reduction in side yard setback requirements at 1381 Quarles Avenue. John Patterson said that Mr. Yagadics came before council at the last meeting requesting a side yard setback variance for a carport attached to his home. The variance requested was from 10 feet to 0 feet and there was some concern that the carport would dump water onto adjacent property and that a corner of the carport might have actually encroached upon the adjacent property. There was no opposition from the audience. Mr. Yagadics said his parents had met with Mr. Williams and it was decided that the back post of the carport was the problem area and they have agreed to move the back post away from the property line approximately 1 1/2 feet. Gutters will also be installed on the side of the carport to direct the water flow away from the property line and towards the center of their driveway. Mr. Williams did have the survey completed and the carport is very close and the overhang may be over the line. Joel Harrell made a motion the variance at 1381 Quarles Avenue be approved to reduce the side yard setback from 10 feet to 0 feet with the stipulations that February 2. 1987 - continued a building permit be obtained, that the carport structure be attached to the house and that the carport have gutters installed with downspouts to direct water away from the adjoining property. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion. Following a question from Hugh Ragan, Chuck Camp said council was not granting Mr. Yagadics the right to overhang or do anything else to the next door neighbor's property; the motion will give him the right to a zero setback on the structure and the air directly above. Vote on the motion to approve the variance carried 7-0. (C) Variance request - reduction in front and rear yard setback requirments at 706 Cherokee Road. John Patterson said that Earl Styes of Northwest Insurance Agency was asking for two variances; one for a front yard reduction from 50 feet to 35 feet and a rear yard reduction from 50 feet to 37 feet for an addition to the building. The front face of the addition will be in line with the front face of the existing building. There was no opposition from the audience. Mr. Styes said they were adding about 1,000 additional square feet of office space to the side of the building. The front setback does not meet existing requirements due to the widening of Cherokee Road. Mr. Styes said he had talked to the affected property owner to the rear last week and they indicated they would have no objection to the addition. Hugh Ragan asked about the requirement for a variance on the front yard. Mr. Camp said since the existing building is in nonconformance with our ordinance, the variance will be required since this is a new addition and all existing ordinances must be complied with in cases such as this. Following discussion, Kathy Brooks made a motion the variances be approved with the stipulations that 8 parking spaces be provided and that a 6 foot opaque fence be placed along the rear property line. Hugh Ragan seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (D) Variance request - reduction in rear yard setback requirements at 1680 Spring Road. John Patterson said that Mr. Fred Shope of Auto Cool, Inc. had requested a variance on rear yard setback requirements from 50 feet to 10 feet for an addition to the building. There was no opposition. Mr. Shope said they needed additional room and were proposing a 2,000 square foot building addition to facilitate growth in the business. Mr. Shope said he owned half interest in the affected property and had a contract to purchase the other one-half interest. Mr. Shope said they were also planning to re -face the front of the existing building to make it more attractive. Bob Davis made a motion the variance be approved subject to compliance with all buffer zone requirements. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (E) Beer and wine package license request - Quicktrip, 3875 South Cobb Drive. John Patterson said that Sandra Durham Taylor had submitted an application as agent for the new Quicktrip store at 3875 South Cobb Drive for packaged beer and wine sales. The background investigation was favorable and the location meets all distance requirements. There was no opposition. Ms. Taylor said she would not be working in the store; she will work in the office on Roswell Road. Ms. Taylor said she had read the ordinances and knew she would be resposible for the license. Joel Harrell said at the time the property was zoned there were certain stipulations placed on it; this is a very prominent corner and he hoped Quicktrip would be sensitive to the concern of council to see that the developments there would be an asset. Hugh Ragan said one of the stipulations was that the property be developed as a shopping center and asked Mr. Camp how Quicktrip would be classified. Mr. Camp said that by use, they could be classified as part of a shopping center but did not think that one store standing alone that is not as large as a department store could be classified as a shopping center. Hugh Ragan told Ms.Taylor this was not something she had created; it is just that there were stipulations placed on the zoning because there were some concerns about the use of the property because it is very prominent and obviously the intended use is not being met. Joel Harrell said at the time Quicktrip came to the City about a building permit, there was a shopping center plan to go behind their store. After further discussion Joel Harrell made a motion the package license be granted. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried 7-0. February 2. 1987 - continued (F) Beer and wine package license (management change) - Tenneco, 2610 Cobb Parkway. The applicant for the license was not present and Jim Hawkins made a motion the application be tabled to the next meeting. Hugh Ragan seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (G) Beer and wine package licene (management change) - Tenneco, 1166 Concord Road. The applicant for the license was not present and Joel Harrell made a motion the application be tabled to the next meeting. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (H) Beer and wine package license (management change) - Tenneco, 902 Cherokee Road. The applicant for the license was not present and Jack Shinall made a motion the application be tabled to the next meeting. Bob Davis seconded the motion which carried 7-0. FORMAL BUSINESS: (A) Change Ward 3 polling place. John Patterson said that since the establishment of Hawthorne Elementary School as the polling place for Ward 3, use of those facilities have changed, creating a disruption in polling activities. It has been suggested that the newly renovated annex building across the street be used as the Ward 3 polling place. Jerry Mills said the County is also in total agreement that this polling place needs to be moved. Jerry Mills read a Resolution to change the polling place as follows: WHEREAS; Several years ago, the City of Smyrna Ward 3 polling place was at the Smyrna POlice Station on Bank Street; and WHEREAS; Overcrowded conditions at the Police Station necessitated the move to Hawthorne Elementary School which at that time was the only other public building available within the election district; and WHEREAS; Hawthorne. Elementary School now is a school for disturbed children and during the City's 1985 election many complaints were received from voters and poll workers about the facilities, lack of adequate parking spaces and the disruptive atmosphere created by the children there; and WHEREAS; The newly renovated city courtroom on Bank Street will provide more parking, better handicapped facilities and an atmosphere more conducive to a smooth and orderly election; now THEREFORE; Be it resolved that the City of Smyrna Ward 3 polling place be relocated from the Hawthorne Elementary School to the City Courtroom located at 1301 Bank Street. Jerry Mills made a motion the resolution be adopted. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (B) Sewer rate increase. John Patterson said on November 11, 1986, the county commission approved a sewer rate increase to be effective January 1, 1987. There has been considerable discussion among council and the Cobb Municipal Association regarding the rate increase. We have asked for a delay in the increase to allow us time to notify our customers. So far, no answer has been received from the county and it appears as though they are not going to respond. In order to collect the billing that is necessary to pass this increase on to our customers, the debt resolution requires that the City recover all costs and unfortunately this increase must be passed on. Joel Harrell said this is a situation that we don't have too much control over. The rate that the county is passing on to us is a lesser rate than is charged to other commercial users, but it is still a substantial increase. We also thought there was an agreement between the county and the city to put any increases on a 6 month notice to give us the opportunity to help budget for February 2. 1987 - continued this. The City cannot absorb the increase, which will amount to approximately $20,000 a month. The present rate is $1.06 per thousand and the proposed increase is $1.65 per thousand. Joel said he thought we should try to meet with the county to see if we can be allowed to have a 6 month moratorium. Jerry Mills said he was not in support of any increase but also realized they had to be passed on. Jerry said that Earl Smith had led the City to believe that the proposed sewer impact fees would substitute for any sewer increase. The impact fee plan has been placed on hold for 90 days and now they are asking for a sewer increase, so it appears they are trying to get both. Jack Shinall asked how the rate increase was communicated to the City. John Patterson said there was a meeting on October 18th where Arthur Young & Company presented their inter -governmental rate analysis and at that time it was still just under discussion. The fee that was to be passed on to the county's retail customers was in excess of $2.00 per thousand and the rates for the cities were as they have been. On November llth, a letter was mailed to the cities from Fred Hawkins, Engineer in the Water Department explaining that the commission had adopted an increase in their rates. John Patterson said if cost went up, that cost should be shared equally by all customers; the cities should not receive a 19% increase and the county retail customers.pay 16.5% increase. Hugh Ragan said he did not think the county was doing what we were led to believe they would do, which is to give us a 6 month notice. They will start billing us effective January 1st, and we have already accumulated about $20,000 worth of additional expenses. We need to address the problem and do it quickly. If we can prove that we had an agreement with the county then we obviously have not gotten the proper notice. We did find a letter that talked about 6 months notice, but it was interpreted by Mr. Camp that it could have meant a one-time agreement and not an on -going agreement. Mayor Bacon said he would try to get a meeting with Earl Smith tomorrow and suggested the increase be tabled until after that. Kathy Brooks made a motion the increase be tabled until we can have a chance to talk with the county commissioners and get some answers to these questions. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried 7-0. After further discussion, Hugh Ragan suggested that we bill our customers at the current rate, not the increased rate and continue to pursue this issue with the county. It was agreed by other members of council that the increase would not be passed on to our customers at this time. RTn AWARTIG (A) Pest control service. John Patterson said that we are consolidating our pest control contracts with one company to hopefully save money. Bids requesting service on the 12 main city buildings were recently mailed out, with 6 companies responding. Based upon the recommendation of John Patterson, Hugh Ragan made a motion the contract be awarded to Northwest Exterminating Company for $1,200 per year. Mr. Ragan said the actual low bid was from Tindol but they did not meet the intent of our specifications and there was less than $100 in these two bids. Joel Harrell seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (B) Water meters. John Patterson said bids were recently requested for water meters with several bids being received. Based upon the recommendation of John Patterson, Joel Harrell made a motion the low bid from Southern Meter be accepted through June 30, 1987. Bob Davis seconded the motion which carried 7-0. COMMERCIAL BUILDING PERMITS: (A) Dan Williams Construction requested a building permit for the addition of a 2,400 square foot metal building for Miller Communications on Spring Street. Jerry Mills said the existing house on the property would remain for 90 days after completion of the new building to give them time to transfer equipment and the Certificate of Occupancy will not be ussued until that building is torn down. Jerry Mills made a motion the building permit be approved. Hugh Ragan seconded the motion which carried 7-0. _Y February 2, 1987 - continued (B) Advent Commercial Construction rquested a building permit for new construction at the corner of Roswell Street and Mathews Street at a total estimated cost of $920,000. Jerry Mills made a motion the permit be approved. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (C) Tolar Construction requested a building permit for new construction at 6000 Highlands Parkway at a total estimated cost of $513,000. Hugh Ragan made a motion the permit be approved subject to approval of the site plan by the Soil Conservation Service. Kathy Brooks seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (D) Tolar Construction requested a building permit for new construction at 6000 Highlands Parkway at a total estimated cost of $1,170,000. Hugh Ragan made a motion the permit be approved subject to approval of the site plan by the Soil Conservation Service. Joel Harrell seconded the motion which carried 7-0. (E) Gene Hoaster requested a building permit for new construction on South Cobb Drive at Magbee Drive at a total estimated cost of $340,000. Jim Hawkins made a motion the permit be approved subject to approval of the the Building Inspector, Fire Marshal and City Engineer. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried 7-0. CONSENT AGENDA: (A) Approval of January minutes (B) Cooling system for communications rooms (C) Wig -wag light on Concord Road at Deerwood Parkway Jim Hawkins made a motion the rules be suspended to add another item to the consent agenda. Joel Harrell seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Jim Hawkins said a situation came up today that needs to be handled by issuing a business license at 3565 South Cobb Drive in a commercially zoned area for a beauty shop. The business license was not granted today because there is no paved parking in front of the location. The owner has given us a letter on file that he will have the paving done within a 6 month period of time. Jim said he would like to approve the business license tonight under those conditions and if the paving is not done within 6 months, the business license will be terminated. Jim Hawkins made a motion this item be placed on the consent agenda. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried 7-0. Hugh Ragan made a motion the consent agenda be approved. Joel Harrell seconded the motion which carried 7-0. COUNCIL INPUT: Jack Shinall said that several months ago he had asked for a study on traffic at Bank and Frasier Streets. This weekend a resident was hit at that intersection and is still hospitalized. Jack asked John Patterson to review that intersection again for a possible 3-way stop sign and would like to have it on the agenda for a 90 day trial period. Jack Shinall said the Community Development Committee would recommend that the City start a crackdown on all the wrecked cars parked on city streets. The ordinance needs to be strengthened to have these cars removed. Jack Shinall said the residents of Flagler Circle are having a serious drainage problem that has really created hazardous conditions in the area. Jim Hawkins thanked the Smyrna Business Association for their fine efforts in the street lighting project. It is very commendable when people in the community give of their time freely and have this type of community interest. Joel Harrell said John Swift was trying to get everything finalized on the drainage study and he hoped to have a report back on February 9th. The weather has delayed some of the field work that must be completed. Joel Harrell reported on the sewer rehabilitation work which is probably now 60 or 70% complete. Cherokee Road Extension utility work is progressing nicely and most of that work is completed. The Sherwood Road sewer work is also underway. Joel Harrell said the proposed sewer rate increase is a very critical issue to members of council. One of the items discussed during the recent weekend retreat was how to open lines of communication with the county commissioners and try to work with them. Jim Belk reported on the sewer rehabilitation project. Several streets are scheduled for resurfacing, including Walker Street, Foster Street and Spring Street. Following that, work will begin in the Morris Circle, Balmoral Road area. JZP February 2, 1987 - continued Mayor Bacon said the Hugs Not Drugs campaign kicked off Saturday at Brawners Hospital and they had a good turnout. Mayor Bacon congratulated Mrs. Nancy Williams on recently being named Mrs. Smyrna for 1987, Bill Atkins for being named Mr. Smyrna and C. V. Reeves for being named Mr. Cobb County. With no further business, meeting adjourned at 9:07 p.m. February 16, 1987 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held February 16, 1987 at Smyrna City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor A. Max Bacon. All council members were present except for Bob Davis who was sick, and Jack Shinall who was out of town on business. Invocation was given by Grady Love, Pastor of Smyrna Presbyterian Church, followed by the pledge to the flag. Mayor Bacon recognized Senator Jim Tolleson in the audience and thanked him for the good job he is doing. CITIZENS INPUT: Jack Collins represented the Smyrna Shrine Club in their request for road blocks at various intersections throughout the City. John Patterson to approve the locations with the Police Department. DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Reports were presented from Police, Fire, Emergency Management, Community Development departments, with John Patterson giving the report from the Finance Department. PUBLIC HEARINGS: (A) Annexation of .68 acres on Lake Drive John Patterson stated that Donald P. Lummuss as owner had requested the annexation of a parcel on Lake Drive, adjacent to Mann's Wrecker Service. There was no opposition from the auience. Lee Alexander stated they were purchasing the property, which is already zoned General Commercial and his wife will operate a garden shop there. They were annexing the property to avail themselves of the city's services. Improvements have already been made to the property and Mr. Alexander said he would do whatever was necessary to bring the business up to code. Jim Hawkins made a motion the property be annexed, to become a part of Ward 4, the legal description having been read and made a part of the January 19th meeting. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried 5-0. (B), (C), (D) Beer and wine package license (management changes) - Tenneco John Patterson said that Luci Hammock Wilson had applied as agent for Tenneco Retail Service Company to hold the beer and wine package licenses for 2610 Cobb Parkway, 1166 Concord Road and 902 Cherokee Road. These applications were tabled at the last meeting since Ms. Wilson was not present. There was no opposition. Ms. Wilson said she was the marketing and training supervisor for Tenneco. She realized she would be responsible for the licenses and would train her employees in the proper way to check ID. Ms. Wilson said she had held a license in Clayton County previously and had no problems there. Jim Hawkins said the police investigation and internal departmental investigation was favorable and made a motion the licenses for 2610 Cobb Parkway, 1166 Concord Road and 902 Cherokee Road be approved. Kathy Brooks seconded the motion which carried 5-0. FORMAL BUSINESS: Mayor Bacon said that item 5(A) on the agenda, the validation of signatures to annex 7 acres on Camp Highland Road had been removed from the agenda.