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09-08-1980 Regular MeetingSeptember 8, 1980 The regular meeting of Mayor and Council was held pursuant to the Charter on September 8, 1980, at City Hall. The meeting was called to order by presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson. All Council members were present. Also present was City Attorney Charles Camp, City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Finance Director Gunter Newsom, Police Chief R. E. Little, Fire Chief Don Atkinson, Public Works Director Jim David, Parks and Recreation Director Bill Johnston, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley, Building Inspector Dan Steely and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Jack Shinall, followed by the pledge to the flag. Citizens Reports: A representative of the Jonquil City Kiwanis Club was present to announce the winner of a tricycle race which was held at a barbecue hosted by their club several weeks ago. A $25.00 gift certificate was presented to John Steely as winner of the race. Jack Shinall was the loser of the race and was presented with the tricycle they said he wrecked. Mayor Johnson commended the club for holding the race and the good work they do. Show Cause Hearing: James Milton Fite, owner of Cumberland Amoco at 2535 Cobb Park- way, Police Officers David Farmer, Stacy Fuller and Doug Carlson were sworn by Attorney Charles Camp. W. C. Brackett, an employee of the store was found guilty in Recorder's Court of selling alcoholic beverages to a minor, a violation of Section 3-63 of the Code, and fined $150 in Recorder's Court. Mr. Fite stated Mr. Brackett was a part- time employee and had been employed with him for 2 or 3 months. He was fired immedia- tely following this incident. Mr. Fite stated he had warned his other employees about carding customers and had placed signs in his store as a warning to minors. Mr. Fite said he was not present on that particular evening; Mr. Brackett was the only employee in the store. Mr. Fite stated he had been in business at his present location for 12 years, and held an alcoholic beverage license for 3-years and had never had any problems of this kind. He holds a license at a business at Delk and Franklin Road and has 3 business in Cobb County. Mr. Fite said there was no question of his under- standing the age limitations of selling alcoholic beverages and if he had ever . suspected any of his employees of selling to minors they would have been fired. Officer Carlson stated the juvenile in question was arrested on traffic charges. He was 16 years old and they found what was left of two six-packs and one opened bottle of beer in the car. He admitted buying the beer at Cumberland Amoco and he and his parents agreed to help the police department in this matter. The juveinile gave a complete description of the person who had sold him the beer. They went to the Amoco Station and Mr. Brackett was read his rights, but denied selling beer to any minor, after being identified by the juvenile with his parents present. He did not ask the minor for any identification when he'bought the beer and on that same evening Mr. Brackett was issued a citationto appear in court. The juvenile, when arrested, also had a 14 year old boy in the car with him and he had also been drinking. Officer Carlson said he personally had never.had any problems of this type with Cumberland Amoco. Following further discussion, Jim Tolleson said that previous to this case, Smyrna Market had been charged with the same violation and their license was suspended for 30 days and placed on probation for one year, because in this case the owner of the store had sold the beer. Due to the fact that Mr. Fite had immediately fired this employee, Jim made a motion that.his license be placed on probation for one year, effective tonight. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance Request: (1) Mr. Staggs,.a real estate salesman representing owner Ron Gates of Wallpapers to Go, requested a side yard variance for their new construction on Cobb Parkway. An attorney representing Stephen Mastrangelo, owner of Sons of Italy and 'one of the adjacent property owners, stated they had not been made aware of the variance and at this time were against it. It would place this building right on their property line and he also needed to check into some easements that had been recorded for Rhodes Furniture; owner of the property on .the other side of this pro- posed construction. Jim Tolleson made a motion this request be tabled until the next council meeting. Jack Shinall seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (2) Multi -Family Construction (Cumberland Bridge Apartments) requested a variance on distance required between buildings and also a,variance on one building which would exceed the 250 maximum length of a building by 21 feet. The distance required between buildings if 30'. Between',buildings-3 & 4 they are requesting a 23' variance, between buildings 8 & 9, a 20' variance, -between buildings 16,&.17 a 27'. variance. The buildings will be staggered and would present no•problems with the Fire Department. Jack Shinall made a motion that the request for variances be granted, as noted per plat. The motion was seconded by John Steely and carried by a 7-0 vote. (3) Thomas N..Baker, 952 McLinden' Avenue requested a variance to 5' on the side property line and 5' from the rear property line for the construction of a garage. (Continuation of September 8, 1980 Meeting) A letter was read from Kathryn L. Babb, daughter of Mrs. Kathryn C. Crane, owner of the adjacent property stating they had no objections. A letter was also read from Vic Broyles stating he had inspected the property owned by Mr. Baker and could see no reason why a variance should not be granted. Jim Hawkins made a motion the variance be approved. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (4) Maltese Signs requested a variance of the height and copy area of a permanent sign to be erected on property at Lake Cumberland Apartments (previously Norseman Apartments). The height requested would be 56 feet from ground level to the top of the sign, and the copy area would vary from 120 square feet to 384 square feet. Max McDonald, a salesman for Maltese Signs, represented the company. He said they had mistakenly gone to Cobb County for their permit and after receiving their approval had ordered material for the sign. The height of the sign is necessary due to the fact that it will be placed in a very low spot on Cobb Parkway and would not other- wise be visible. After receiving approval from Cobb County, they found it would be necessary to obtain the permit from the City, and therefore were requesting the variance. After further discussion, Jim Tolleson made a motion to deny the request due to the fact that the sign would be three times the size of what is presently allowed in the City. John Steely seconded the motion to deny. Peter Maltese, owner of the company, stated that a sign this size would not look that large on a highway the size of Cobb Parkway and anything smaller would not be readable. Vote on the motion to deny the variance carried by a 7-0 vote. (5) Maltese Signs requested a variance for a sign at Belmont Village. Allen Halpern, owner of Belmont Hills Shopping Center spoke and requested a variance on the height of their existing marquee -type sign on Cherokee Road. One of the greatest com- plaints his customers have is that it is hidden back and has poor exposure from the street. The name of Belmont Village on the top is now a 4 x 24 sign and they are asking for a 8 x 24 for the name of the village on the top only. Jerry Mills made a motion the variance be approved. Elbert Coalson seconded the motion. After discussion, vote on the motion to approve the variance carried by a 7-0 vote. There were no commercial building permits to bring before council. Validation of Signatures - Annexation Request - Seaboard Coastline Railroad The request for annexation by Seaboard Coastline Railroad, was read as follows: "We the undersigned, who constitute sixty percent of the owners of the land area by acreage of the area described below, which is unincorporated and contiguous to the City of Smyrna, hereby apply to have said area annexed into the City of Smyrna under the provisions of the Code of Georgia Annotated, Sections 69-904 through69-912 (Georgia Laws, Acts 1966, pages 409, 410, 411, 412, 413; 1971, page 399; 1976, pages 1011, 1012; said property being annexed described in Exhibit "A" and located all or in part in Land Lots 244, 261, 316, 333, 388, 405, 404, 461, 476 and 533. Said Exhibit "A" to be advertised according to Section 69-906, Code of Georgia Annotated, in the Smyrna Neighbor, the local paper for publication of all legal notices. This request signed by A. C. Jones, Jr., Vice President of Seaboard Coastline Railroad. Jerry Mills made a motion the signatures on the annexation request be validated and the date of public hearing set for September 24, 1980. John Steely seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (Copy of legal being made a part of these minutes.) Committee Reports: (Parks) Bill Johnston stated Fall registration began today and King Springs Pool will open for Fall season next Saturday. Elbert Coalson said he had read in the Marietta paper today that there will be a meeting Thursday night at Griffin Middle School about the upcoming annexation. Elbert said again that he was getting tired of reading things in the paper that had not even been discussed by Council at their Friday morning meetings. He said he wanted to hear it from someone in the City first, because it was not fair to him or the other councilmen to learn of things concerning city council through the press. Jack Shinall also stated he had not been invited to any meeting on Thursday night; in fact he had a prior commitment for that night. (Inspections) Jim Hawkins said that during the second meeting in June, council adopted a more stringent sign ordinance for temporary signs. At that time a group of concerned merchants approached council and stated they felt their ability to do business would be injured by this ordinance. At that time the committee agreed to meet with them to see if some common ground could be worked out which would be beneficial to all. The enforcement of the ordinance passed in June was deferred until September 15th. After meeting with the merchants I recommend the last two sentences of Section 6-95 be amended to read as follows: (Continuation of September 8, 1980 Meeting) "Permits shall be limited to a ninety (90) day period from date of permit, and shall be renewable only after the lapse of seven (7) calendar days from the last day of the ninety (90) day.permit period, provided no other sign permit is pending or granted within two -hundred (200) feet of the subject permit location, and after payment of all fees and application requirements required hereunder as for a new temporary permit." A copy of the recommendation is being given all council members for their consider- ation and vote at the next meeting. (Streets) Jerry Mills stated at the last meeting, Mrs. Lane on Flagler Circle had come to Council requesting some pipe be installed to alleviate some serious drainage problems she has been having. The estimated cost for this work was $7500. The adjusted cost to install this pipe will be approximately $1900, and after looking at the problem she had, I went ahead and authorized the street department to do the work. Since then I have learned there have been some disagreements and I am bringing it before Council tonight to ask for approval. The pipe and rock is already avail- able and the work needed to be done is on a city easement. Jerry made a motion the installation of this pipe be approved. Jack Shinall seconded the motion for further discussion. Jack said at the time Mrs. Lane came to Council the estimates were given at $7500 and he voted in the negative. After discussion with Mr. Broyles and review of the actual creek and possible city liability in that area, he felt it was now going to be necessary. Several of the Council members stated they could not vote for approval of installation of this pipe, since it had already been denied at the' previous meeting. Following further discussion, vote on the motion failed by a 2-5 vote. Voting for the motion was Jerry Mills and Jack Shinall. Voting against was Jim Tolleson, Jim Hawkins, John Steely, Elbert Coalson and Max Bacon. (Sanitation) Jim Tolleson said we were having trash problems and could not catch up. The committee is. considering placing containers in several places around the City that would.give the Saturday afternoon garage cleaner -upper a chance to take the trash and dump it himself rather than placing it on the street. We are also getting some prices on location of a new site to dump trash.. He hopes to have a recommendation by next Monday night. John Steely stated the county is charging us to dump trash, and we are already paying county taxes. He felt this was double taxation. Mayor Johnson asked Gunter Newsom to check the newspaper article which appeared in the Marietta Journal and see exactly what it was about, then to notify each council member. Announcements: CMA meeting tomorrow night at 6:00. Next council meeting will be September 15th which will be the regular scheduled second meeting of the month. Mayor Johnson stated that we have two, sometimes three council members that have difficulty attending the 6:00 a.m. Friday morning agenda meetings due to their jobs so he requested these meetings be changed to Thursday afternoons at 5:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m September 15, 1980 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held September 15, 1980, at the City.Hall, Smyrna, Georgia. The meeting was called to order by presiding officer Mayor Frank B. Johnson at 7:30 o'clock p.m. All Council members were present. Also present was City Attorney Charles.Camp, City Clerk Willouise Spivey,.Finance Director Gunter Newsom, Police Chief R. E. Little, Fire Chief Don Atkinson, Public Works Director Jim David, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley, Assistant Parks and Recreation Y Director Sherry Reavis and representatives of the press.. _ Invocation was given by Elbert Coalson, followed by the pledge to the flag. Presentation: First "Young Woman of the Year" Award. Susan Davis, President of the Smyrna Jaycettes explained this was -the first time the Jaycettes had offered this award, and the winner was selected for her involvement and contribution to the better- ment of civic and governmental activities. She announced Sharon Carson was the first winner of the Young Woman of the Year Award. Sharon is married to Cobb .County Commissioner Wit Carson and they have one daughter, Claire. Mayor Frank Johnson presented the award to Mrs. Carson and commended Sharon and the Jaycettes for this project. Sharon thanked Mayor Johnson and the Jaycettes.