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10-01-1979 Regular MeetingOctober 1. 1979 The regular- scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held pursuant to the Charter at the Court Room of the Police Station building on October 1, 1979. Presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson called the meeting to order 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, Parks and Recreation Director Asa Howard, Public Works Director J. E. David, Civil Defense Director Jim Farley, Building Inspector Len Williams and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Councilman Bill Darby, followed by the pledge to the flag. There were no citizens reports. Residential business license - Barbara B. Johnson, 3011 Strathmoor Road requested a residential business license in order to operate an interior decorating business from her home. Councilman Jim Tolleson explained that Mrs. Johnson had presented a letter from 10 or 15 of her neighbors stating they had no objection to this business. Mr. Tolleson made a motion that the business license be granted, seconded by Jim Hawkins. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance request - The property owner of 3138 Wills Street requested a variance to allow him to install a chain link fence around his property. This item was brought before Council on August 6, 1979 and tabled. Bill Darby stated he had met with the property owner as well as other council members to discuss this request. It is a unique situation, as Wills Street dead ends into this property and the owner has been hindered by motorcycles coming through his property into the woods, and cars pulling into the driveway, thinking it was a turnaround. He has agreed to put a picket -type fence and gate across the front and chain link around the side and back. Bill Darby made a motion this variance request:be granted, seconded by John Steely. Attorney Chuck Camp advised the property owner to check his deed and be sure there were no restrictive covenants recorded at the time the subdivision was built. The approval of the variance request by the City would have nothing to do with any restrictive covenants in the subdivision. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance request - Mr. Martin T. Kitchens, Jr., 840 Frances Drive requested a side yard variance to build a carport onto his home. Mr. and Mrs. A. Shimshick, the adjoining property owners have submitted a letter stating they have no objections to the addition being built within 10' of,the common property line. Jack Shinall made a motion this request for variance be granted, seconded by Elbert Coalson. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. Variance request - Mr.'Herbert K. Black requested a variance from the distance re- quirement for a pouring license'(malt beverage) for property located on South Cobb Drive. Mr. Black was present and stated since the property was located near a church he had called the Business License office to determine if they would meet the require- ments for a pouring license, before presenting it to his client. He had been told the location would meet the requirements and there would be no problem. He checked on at least two other occasions and the indication he received was that if the front door of the establishment was 300' from the front door of the church, there would be no problem. It is approximately 620' from the property line to the church itself. Upon receiving this information from the City, his client -proceeded to enter into contract to purchase the property for the construction of a barbecue family -type restaurant. Following this, Mr. Black was told the information given him from the Code book was not correct, as the ordinance had been changed within the past -few months and the updated ordinance was not actually in the Code book. He was requesting a variance now to allow his client to proceed with his plans for construction. Mayor Johnson explained that although he was a considerable distance from the church, our ordinance describes the distance as not from the church per se but -all property owned and encompassed by the church.- Following a question from John Steely,.Mr..-Black stated the first time he checked with the City on the ordinance requirement was in June, and he has talked with them at least three times to reconfirm that they would meet -the distance requirement. Jim Hawkins told Mr. Black the portion of the ordinance pertaining to his request had not been changed recently, and actually became effective February 7, 1977. Mayor -Johnson stated he did not believe the Council was empowered to give a variance of this nature against- our alcoholic beverage ordinance, and moved that this was not a valid motion to be put on the floor. Attorney Camp stated that he should be called when an interpretation of the ordinance is needed, but he had not been contacted regarding this matter. Commercial building permits - (1)' Ridgeview Institute requested a building permit to finish an office addition. Len Williams recommended the permit be approved, subject to approval of the Fire Marshal. Elbert Coalson made a motion the permit be approved, seconded by Bill Darby. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. (Continuation of October 1, 1979 Meeting) (2) Belmont Hills Shopping Center, 1020A Cherokee Road requested a building permit for the construction of a warehouse. Len Williams recommended the permit be approved, subject to approval by the Fire Marshal. Jerry Mills made a motion the permit be granted, seconded by John Steely. Following a question from John Steely, Len Williams stated he has not reviewed the plans for this construction. Jack Shinall made a motion this request be tabled to October 4th to allow the Inspection Department time to review the plans. Motion died for lack of a second. Jerry Mills amended his original motion, to state the permit be approved subject to approval by the Inspection Department and the Fire Marshal. Bill Darby seconded the amendment to the motion, which carried by a 7-0 vote. Approval of ordinance - Jim Hawkins read the following proposed ordinance which would prevent cars from parking opposite to driveways in residential areas: "Section 21-7.1 - It is the intention of the governing body, and it is hereby ordained that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made a part of the Code of Ordinances, City of Smyrna, Georgia, and the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered to accomplish such intention. It shall be unlawful for any vehicle, trailer or other conveyance designed for travel on public highways to park in areas marked as "no parking zone" or in an area opposite any driveway located on a two-lane street. The aforementioned area opposite a driveway shall be defined as an area 6"- either side of a line drawn from the centerline of any driveway, to the opposite side of a line drawn from the center line of any driveway, to the opposite curb or edge of right of way. All such areas shall be so designated by a yellow painted curb. Violation of this ordinance shall be deemed a misdemeanor and punishable as outlined in Section 21, (1), (2) and (3) of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Smyrna." Jim Hawkins made a motion this ordinance be adopted. John Steely seconded the motion for discussion. Jerry Mills stated it would not be feasible, from a financial stand- point, to paint yellow curbing on every street in Smyrna and he did not believe the people of Smyrna would want yellow curbing in their residential areas. Adoption of this ordinance would override the State law which already prohibits parking in areas so designated by signs or yellow curbing. During discussion, John Steely asked if he would be in order by making a motion, that if 51% of the people on a particular street requested the yellow curbing across from their driveway, if we could then enforce it. Chuck Camp replied that would be an unlawful delegation of the govern- mental function, and could not be done. In response to a question from Elbert Coalson, Chief Little stated that in his opinion, any ordinance that was passed relative to this particular matter would be in direct conflict with State law. State law now has the right to remove any car that is blocking the flow of traffic, creating a traffic hazard. The law which pertains to cars blocking the driveway has been ruled to mean cars on the same side of the street of the driveway. After discussion, vote on the motion failed by a 3-4 vote. Voting for the motion was Jim Hawkins, Jim Tolleson and John Steely. Voting against was Jerry Mills, Elbert Coalson, Jack Shinall and Bill Darby. Jim Tolleson made a motion the minutes of September 4, 1979 be approved as submitted. Bill Darby seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. John Steely made a motion the minutes of September 17, 1979 be approved as submitted. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Committee reports - John Steely reported extensive creek damage in Ward 7 due to the heavy rains. Two bridges are out, and pipe that was recently installed in Deer - wood Subdivision has been washed out. John requested a meeting with the Street Committee to see what can be done. (Building) John Steely reported that City Hall is approximately 75% complete and it looks as though we will make the November lst deadline. (Water) Jack Shinall reported the water bills are still late and he hopes to have them out in two weeks. Jim Tolleson asked the Finance Committee if they had had the opportunity to meet regarding the money needed to construct headwalls in his ward, as discussed at the last council meeting. Jerry Mills stated the remainder of funds requested will be added to the Street Department budget for FY1980 and the budget is being put together at this time. (Continuation of October 1, 1979 Meeting) (Parks) Asa Howard reported the bids for the renovation of the Senior Citizens Center which were to be opened October 4, 1979, would now be opened on October llth at 2:00 p.m. in the Police Station Court Room and would be ready for approval at the next regular council meeting of October 15th. (Library) Jim Hawkins stated the Ordinary's Office in Cobb County had sworn two employees of the Smyrna Library to act as Registrars and our citizens could now go to the library and register to vote. Deadline for registration is October 8, 1979. (Finance) Bill Darby stated that last year the Council had voted to rotate the demand deposit bank accounts and reported that at.this_time,,the General Fund wills-be_transferred to Trust CompanyoBank, Revenue Sharin&..land State Grants'will go to Cobb. -Bank & Trust, and Water Revenue and Sinking Funds will go to Fitst Bank & Trust. Bill Darby also reported a note for $200,000 with Commercial Bank has come due and made a motion it be renewed for a period of 90 days until ad valorem taxes are re- ceived. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Bill Darby made a motion the City request bids for a copy machine to replace the one destroyed by fire, to be opened at the next regular meeting. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Bill Darby made a motion authority be granted for the City to make an additional tax anticipation loan of $200,000 for a period of 90 days. Jerry Mills seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. (Streets & Sanitation) Jerry Mills made a motion authority be given for the City to purchase 500 garbage can liners at $7.50 each, totaling $3,750. Gunter Newsom ex- plained there was one distributor in Georgia, located in Moultrie, who handled these liners. He has been in touch with the manufacturer recently, but they cannot sell directly to us because of the distributorship contract with the company in Moultrie. The last time we purchased the liners they were $7.50 each, but the price has most likely gone up since that time. Bill Darby seconded the motion to purchase 500 liners which carried by:,.a 7-0 vote. Jerry Mills reported that the Hickory Mills subdivision which was recently annexed into the City is planning to install an underground lighting system, the reason being that all the homes will utilize an underground wiring system to eliminate poles and wiring from view. The developer will pay for the installation and there will be no additional cost to the City. Jerry made a motion this lighting system be approved, seconded by Jim Tolleson. Vote on the motion carried by a 7-0 vote. Mayor Johnson reminded everyone of the special called meeting on October 4th and the open House of Marietta City Hall also on -October 4th. The CMA meeting will be hosted by Marietta on October 9th. The GMA 7th District Fall Meeting will be in Calhoun on October llth. Mayor Johnson stated he had talked to Mr. Wendell Dean, Smyrna Cablevision and also received a letter from him requesting permission to televise our City Council meetings as a public service to our citizens. Mayor Johnson stated he would be in touch with Mr. Dean and perhaps we might begin after the City Hall and council chambers are completed. Mayor Johnson reported he would like to comment ona subject that has stirred a lot of interest in the last few days, the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) project to be built on Paces Ferry Road at Atlanta Road. This is an apartment complex that is to be built and some of the apartments will be subsidized by HUD. This was one of those cases where the zoning for the apartments was already in tact, so no one had to make application for rezoning. It is being funded through the Regional office of HUD which handles the metro area of Atlanta, so they were not required by law to have any meetings to tell anyone in the neighborhood they intended to have public housing in the area. It is not in our city, and we had no advance knowledge, nor were we notified of the project. The first I knew of it was when,I began receiving phone calls asking what I could do to stop it because the residents were concerned about the additional enrollment at Campbell High School, Argyle and Griffin. Even though it is not in the City, it would affect the lifestyle of some of the people in Wards 1 and 2. I learned over the weekend that Congressman McDonald had put out a newsletter indicating that the Mayor of Smyrna had been notified of the project, through a telephone call I received at City Hall, blasting me for having had knowledge of the project and not doing anything about it. I phoned Larry McDonald and told him I had no knowledge of the project, until I began receiving telephone calls. He apologized and stated that he had spoken to some of his people and found that his newsletter was in error. He (Continuation of October 1, 1979 Meeting) stated he had been advised by HUD that they did not notify the City of Smyrna, and he would get another newsletter out to clarify that. I have spoken several times to Mr. W. A. Hartman, Regional Director of HUD in Atlanta, and he has sent me a letter which tells who was notified of the project, with the final paragraph reading as follows: "Our files reveal no direct HUD notice to your office in connection with this project." Mayor Johnson stated he just wanted to clarify our position in this matter as it was a pretty hot issue now. Mr. Hartman's letter confirms that the City was not notified, and had no reason to be notified of this project. With no further business, meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. October 4. 1979 The special called meeting of Mayor and Council was held October 4, 1979 in the Court Room of the Smyrna Police Station. The meeting was called to order by presiding officer Mayor Frank Johnson at 7:30 o'clock p.m. All Council members were present. Also present was City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Finance Director Gunter Newsom, Police Chief R. E. Little and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Jim Hawkins followed by the pledge to the flag. Bid opening - Bids for.one (1) 10 x 12" fire -service type, cold water meter were opened, read and recorded as follows: LeRan Copper & Brass Co. Neptune Water Meter Co. Southeastern Industrial Plastics, Inc. Davis Meter & Supply Southern Meter & SUDDl -No bid - No b id - No bid - $8,135.00 - 10 x 12 x 6 Hersey Model MFM-MCT Delivery time, 125 days - $8,598.00 - 10 x 12 MFM-MCT Hersey Meter Delivery time, 125 days $11,875.00 - Assembled & materials needed Jack Shinall made a motion these bids be turned over to Jim David for review and return his recommendation to the Water Committee with authority to act. Elbert Coalson seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Annexation - Rhodes, Inc. requested annexation of 2.835 acres located in Land' -Lots 848 and 879 on Cobb Parkway. This annexation request was read and validated on September 17, 1979. John Steely made a motion this property be annexed into the City and.made a part of Ward 1. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. ' Annexation - Steven D. Mastrangelo requested annexation of .945 acres located in Land Lots 848 and 879 on Cobb Parkway. This annexation request was read and validated on September 17, 1979. John Steely made a motion this property be annexed into the City and made a part of Ward 1. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion which carried by a 7-0 vote. Mayor Johnson recognized participants in the audience. Mayor Johnson reminded everyone of the CMA meeting October 9th and the GMA District Meeting on October llth in Calhoun. Attorney Charles Camp arrived late. With no further business, meeting adjourned. t