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01-10-1980 Special Called Meeting(Continuation of January 7, 1980 Meeting) Fire Jim Tolleson, Chairman Jack Shinall & John Steely Police & Civil Defense Elbert Coalson, Chairman Jim Hawkins & Jerry Mills Public Works, Garage Jack Shinall, Chairman Max Bacon & and Construction Elbert Coalson Employees Benefits Max Bacon, Chairman Elbert Coalson & and Insurance Jack Shinall Library Jim Hawkins, Chairman Jim Tolleson & Jack Shinall Sanitation Max Bacon, Chairman John Steely & Jim Tolleson Announcements: Neighborhood Watch Program, January 9th at 8:00 p.m., City Hall; the Jonquil Breakfast at Fair's Restaurant on the 16th; the GMA Mayor's Day on January 20th and 21st and the next Council meeting on January 21st. Jim Farley asked permission to request bids for an air pack for the Civil Defense department, which has already been budgeted. Elbert Coalson made a motion that bids be requested for the air pack, seconded by Jack Shinall. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m. January 10, 1980 A special called meeting of Mayor and Council was held January 10, 1980 at City Hall. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 o'clock p.m. by presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson. All Councilmen were present. Also present was City Clerk Willouise Spivey. The purpose of the meeting was for the residents and owners of Foxmoor Apartments and surrounding property owners to discuss with Mayor and Council the recent closing of Love Street Extension and to ask their reconsideration of this action. Mr. John P. MacNaughton was the attorney representing Foxmoor Apartments and read a letter from C. J. Sanford, Fire Marshal, addressed to the Mayor and Council as follows: "With regard to the item on the agenda of the meeting of the City Council regarding the closing of the Love Street entrance to the Foxmoor Apart- ments, I strongly recommend that the street entrance be left open. These apart- ments were built before the adoption of any fire codes; therefore, there are no firewalls or fire stops. There are only a few fire hydrants within the complex; indeed there is only one fire hydrant at the Love Street entrance to the complex which is necessary for fire line supply to the back buildings. The fire codes, as written, do not grant this office to require the complex owners to install additional hydrants, firewalls, or fire stops. Therefore, in the interest of safety I strongly recommend that the Love Street entrance at Foxmoor Apartments -be left open." Mr. MacNaughton stated he was not here tonight to really discuss the legality of the closing of the street, but the practicality of the closing in regards to safety, fire control and easy access. They are sensitive to any problems they may be causing any neighbors and want to talk about ways of correcting these problems. Jerry Mills explained that in accordance with the City Charter, the City has the right to open or close any street it desires. The main reason for the closing of the street was, it is too narrow. -A petition was presented to Council from the surrounding property owners requesting the street be closed. A considerable amount of money is involved in widening the street and he felt that what they were really saying in the petition was to close the street, not spend the money to widen it. (Continuation of January 10, 1980 Meeting) Mr. MacNaughton stated the owners of Foxmoor might be willing to bear the expense of widening the road, but he felt it would be inappropriate to make such an offer prior to the outcome of the meeting tonight. Jim Hawkins stated he was the person responsible for sponsoring this action and that he was aware of the problem before he was elected to office, by talking to people in the area. They asked him then to look into it, and he was contacted later by several residents in the area asking for help again. They had several serious problems with the street. Jim stated in his opinion, the street is nothing more than an.extended driveway. From information received, when the apartments were built they simply asphalted up to the street and joined onto it, and it was never a legally opened street. It is impossible for a fire truck to get into the complex with cars parked as they are. As a compromise to all con- cerned, a padlocked gate was erected with a key given to the Fire Department. The gate was installed, but was completely torn down before the next morning. On two other occasions, the padlock on the gate was cut off. It seems the residents are not really concerned with the fire safety, but the convenience of having the street open. Jerry Mills stated residents on Love Street had also complained about people walking from the apartments coming onto their property and littering streets and yards. Mr. MacNaughton replied he felt that should be a police problem, and not a problem that would involve closing the street. Jerry Mills requested the following sections from the Georgia Code Annotated be recorded and made a part of these minutes: Authority as to Streets; Sections 95A-5, 95A-6, 95A-831, 95A-844, 95A-901, 95A-1017, 95A-1210. Tena Griffeth, resident manager of Foxmoor, in response to a question from Mr. Coalson stated there were two other entrances to the apartments, on Medlin Street. During discussion, Mr. MacNaughton stated that the cars being parked at the street was the apartment owner's problem, and they would rather deal with that problem and do whatever had to be done to accommodate their tenants, than have the road closed. Mr. Holloman represented the homeowners in the area and said basically, all the facts have been mentioned tonight. Even if the apartment owners did away with parking completely around this area, there is an area 10 or 12 feet wide that has a culvert that would be a problem if the road'was.widened. Also, many times there have been people moving in or out of the apartments between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. disturbing homeowners on Love Street. The main thing is the safety factor involved, and this has been their concern, along with the nuisance problems. Further, if the City had an adequately equipped width street all the way through and the City constitutes it as a street, they would not have the right to come here and ask that it be closed. The removal of the parking area would not serve the purpose for safety factors as we have mentioned before. Jim Hawkins stated he would not be in favor of the City expanding the road since the road serves only one purpose, the citizens of Foxmoor Apartments. Jerry Mills also said he would not be willing for the City to spend the money to widen the street, which in his estimation would cost between $10,000 and $15,000. Mayor Johnson stated it appeared to all concerned that it would be agreeable to widen the street, if the apartment owners would bear the expense and asked Mr. Hawkins to work with Mr. MacNaughton and the apartment owners and report back to Council. Mayor Johnson also suggested that the Foxmoor Apartment owners present a proposal to the City outlining everything they would be willing to do that would prevent the closing of the street. Jerry Mills requested that Section 47 of the City Charter concerning the opening and closing of streets be made a part of the minutes. Jim Hawkins stated he would obtain an estimate for the widening, curbing and installation of drain pipes and leave it with the resident manager, but he felt there would be two property owners involved and asked Mr. MacNaughton to check into that. Further, he felt the gate is a fair compromise from a safety standpoint. He recommended the gate be padlocked again, and if the lock is;cut that it be barricaded permanently. After further discussion, it was agreed that Jim Hawkins would work with Mr. MacNaughton in an attempt to reach some agreement within the next 30 days. The City will also move the gate back approximately five feet so that it will not hinder cars parked there, and will be kept locked. Meeting adjourned at 8:37 p.m.