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12-19-1977 Regular Meeting(Continuation of December 5, 1977 Meeting) for the triangle at Atlanta Road and Memorial Drive. Also, the bus shelter at Belmont Hills will be painted and shingled like the one on Atlanta Road at Spring Street. Bill Darby asked for discussion on purchasing turkeys for the employees for Christmas. He said there were 211 employees and the cost would be between $1500 and $1800. After discussion Bill Darby made a motion that Gunter Newsom be instructed to go ahead with the purchase of turkeys for all full-time employees. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Elbert Coalson reported the Smyrna Community Theatre made a profit on their last production and urged everyone to support them. C. 0. Canada reminded everyone of the Lighting of the Christmas Tree on Tuesday night. Mayor Bacon said he thought the City of Smyrna's Mayor and Council were underpaid and that he was going to ask that the salaries be raised for the•next administra- tion, effective with the beginning of the fiscal year, July 1, 1978. On motion by Jim Hawkins, seconded by Jim Tolleson, the minutes of November 7, 1977 were approved as submitted, by unanimous vote. On motion by Jerry Mills, seconded by C. 0. Canada, the minutes of the bid opening on November 10, 1977 were approved as submitted, by unanimous vote. Jim Hawkins made a motion the minutes of the special meeting on November 16, 1977 be approved as submitted. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Jim Tolleson made a motion the minutes of November 21, 1977 be approved as sub- mitted. Bill Darby seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Jerry Mills made a motion the minutes of the special meeting on November 21, 1977 be approved as submitted. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Bacon asked council to meet after the meeting to discuss the zoning with Attorney Camp. Meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m. December 19, 1977 The regular scheduled meeting of Mayor and Council was held at City Hall, Smyrna, Georgia on December 19, 1977. The meeting was called to order by presiding officer Mayor Arthur T. Bacon at 7:30 p.m. All Councilmen were present. Also present was Attorney Chuck Camp, Attorney Al Cochran, City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Director of Finance & Administration Gunter Newsom, Building Inspector David Granade, Fire Chief Don Atkinson, Director of Public Works Jim David and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Elbert Coalson, followed by the pledge to the flag. Presentation of the award to Frank Gardner was cancelled, since he could not attend the meeting. Mayor Bacon stated he thought it was time to take action on the Ruff case. He, Attorneys Al Cochran and Charles Camp met with Mr. Ruff and Attorney Dupree last week and discussed curb cuts and the cut-off of the point of the two streets. The decision was the curb cuts would be the state's responsibility. Mayor Bacon stated the City Attorney had advised Council to rezone the property. Rem Bennett said he was against the rezoning, that the first request to rezone was made before he came on council, he did not agree with the judges decisions, had learned you could not beat the system, thinks we have a capable planning and zoning board, that the county had denied this zoning three times, the city twice, that the property needs to be residential and he was voting against rezoning. Elbert Coalson asked what the requested rezoning was and made a motion the Ruff property be rezoned as re- quested, tracts A and C rezoned from R-12 to 0 & I, tract B rezoned from R-12 to a; (Continuation of December 19, 1977 Meeting) NS. Bill Darby seconded the motion. Jim Hawkins stated that he was going to vote to rezone the property because, as he saw it, the city has two options., The first option is to rezone as requested, the second is to do nothing. If we do nothing the courts will very likely declare the property free from any zoning and there will be no restrictions at all. He said he personally detested having to go along with the judgement but thought the city would come nearer protecting the people by complying with the court order. Jerry Mills stated he would vote for the rezoning for the same reasons, to protect the people. If he thought it would do any good he would go into contempt of court tonight, but if the majority did that, Mr. Ruff could do anything with the property and he would vote for the rezoning, but his vote would be under protest. Bill Darby asked the City Attorney if there was any way we could expedite getting the increased value of this property on the Cobb County tax digest, since he understood it usually takes in excess of a year to get the assessments changed, and we need the tax dollars. Attorney Camp answered that there had been testimony in court that the value of this property, if rezoned, would be $760,000, and he thought the only thing necessary would be a call to the county tax assessor. He did not think the current court order would effect an individual parcel assessment. Jim Tolleson said we had been backed into a corner and he would vote for the rezoning but did not want to. Vote on the motion to rezone the Ruff property was six for and one against. Rem Bennett voted not to rezone. Jerry Mills made a motion a copy of the Court Order of the Superior'Court of Georgia, R. L. Ruff, Sr. vs. City of Smyrna, be made a part of these minutes. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Bacon asked Attorney Al Cochran what he thought our chances were on the Lindwall property rezoning. Attorney Cochran said a suit had been filed by Lindwall and was now in court. His personal opinion was this suit is even stronger than the one we had just litigated on the Ruff property. The reasons being that the Lindwall property is situated on busy Spring Road, is adjacent to property already zoned 0 & I and it fits the Hamby and Ruff decisions. He feels that if council does not rezone the property as requested, i.t will end up in the same kind of litigation as the Ruff case and the ultimate results will be the same. Jim Hawkins, referring to the minutes of the August 15th meeting, stated several residents of Carolyn Drive said the rezoning of this property would depreciate the value of their property and asked Attorney Cochran if this would have any bearing on this case. Mr. Cochran said the court rulings were.that if the zoning would benefit the owner and not harm the community as a whole, it must be rezoned. Mr. Hawkins asked Mr. Cochran if we have a case on any of the following four reasons given when the rezoning was denied, (1) property does not meet the Zoning Ordinance required set back (2) the required lot size (3) it does not comply with the Future Land Use Map and (4) it will further congest an area that is already a problem. Mr. Cochran said that if you have a Zoning Ordinance, or any ordinance, that has a provision that effectively condemns the land, for any reason, it is inverse condemnation and the courts will strike it down. The Hamby and Ruff decisions are "landmark" decisions and are the ones he must draw on for his opinions. Even though he may not agree with these decisions, he does respect them because they have been spoken from the highest court in the state. Elbert Coalson made a motion the Lindwall property at the corner of Spring Road and Carolyn Drive be rezoned from R-15 to 0 & I. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion. Rem Bennett said he thought we should fight this zoning and try to preserve the zoning ordinances everywhere. Vote on the motion to rezone was five to two. Jim Tolleson and Rem Bennett voted against the motion. Commercial building permits were presented by David Granade and upon his recommen- dation the following action is recorded: (1) A request from Western Electric Company, 1369 Spring Street, to construct a temporary loading platform at the front door of the building. Mayor Bacon instructed David Granade to go to this site, check out the plans, and action would be taken on the request at the meeting on December 29th. Elbert Coalson made a motion to hear the appeal of the decision of Recorder's Court, made by Daryl H. Ray, on December 29th. Jerry Mills seconded the motion and the vote was six to one. Jim Tolleson voted against the motion. Mayor Bacon called a special meeting for December 29, 1977 at 7:30 p.m., and asked each councilman to try to think of anything that needs to be cleared up by this administration. (Continuation of December 19, 1977 Meeting) Under committee reports, Jerry Mills read a letter from the Public Works Depart- ment requesting the following streets be curbed due to drainage problems: 880 Powder Springs Street and 895 Powder Springs Street, a total of 288 feet at a cost of $864.00, also at 340 and 351 Smyrna Powder Springs Street, a total of 380 feet, at a cost of $1140.00, the work to be scheduled after the first of the year. Jerry Mills made a motion these two items be approved. C. 0. Canada seconded the motion and the vote was six to one. Jim Tolleson voted against the motion. This will be paid from State Grants Funds. Jim Hawkins asked the Civil Defense Committee to meet with him immediately after this meeting. Rem Bennett thanked Attorneys Al Cochran and Chuck Camp for their efforts on the Ruff case, even though_ the decision was disappointing, they certainly tried. Elbert Coalson stated our Judges were also bound by laws and they had to go by them. Meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m. December 29, 1977 The Special called meeting of Mayor and Council was held at City Hall, Smyrna, Georgia on December 29, 1977. The meeting was called to order by presiding officer Mayor Arthur T. Bacon at 7:30 o'clock p.m. All Councilmen were present. Also present was City Attorney Charles Camp, City Clerk Willouise Spivey, Parks & Recreation Director Lee Silver, Building Inspector David Granade, Director of Finance & Administration Gunter Newsom, Police Chief Everett Little, Fire Chief Don Atkinson, Assistant Public Works Director Vic Broyles and representatives of the press. Invocation was given by Jim Hawkins, followed by the pledge to the flag. Hearing appeal of decision of Recorder's Court, Daryl H. Ray: Daryl H. Ray and Police Officer S. J. Bailey were sworn in by City Attorney Charles Camp. Mr. Ray stated that on November 26, 1977 he was driving a milk truck out of Cartersville and had one stop to make in Smyrna. When he turned off Austell Road onto South Cobb Drive enroute to the Waffle House for his delivery, he was traveling about 44 to 46 miles per hour, and did not increase his speed. Officer Bailey was in the Cobb Center Parking lot and pulled in behind him, catching him after he had stopped and gotten out of the truck behind the Waffle House. In his opinion the officer could not possibly have clocked him in that distance. Officer Bailey stated he clocked Mr. Ray just past Benson Poole Road at 65 miles per hour. After further discussion, Jim Hawkins made a motion the decision of Recorder's Court be upheld. Jim Tolleson seconded the motion. Vote on the motion was five to /two. Jerry Mills and C. 0. Canada voted against the motion. lCommercial building permits were presented by David Granade. The only request was from Western Electric Company to constru_ct.aJoading platform at the front \door of the building at 1369 Spring Street. David reported he had inspected the site and secured a drawing of the platform, which showed it would extend over the sidewalk. This is a temporary platform and will be in use approximately three'months, after which it`will"be removed. He asked Council to make the recommendation to issue or refuse this permit. Jim Tolleson made a motion the permit be granted. Jim Hawkins seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous. John Kidd gave a report on the feasibility of the Industrial Park Study. Mayor Bacon said he would like this administration to make a final decision on this study. After a lengthy discussion, the decision was deferred to the next meeting. Jerry Mills asked if Council was ready to act on the zoning ordinance amendments. 1/J If so, referring to minutes of the October 12, 1977 Public Hearing on the amend- ments, which set up a new Zoning Board of Appeals, he recommended the stated five (5) member board be changed to a seven (7) member board, one member from each of the seven wards. Jerry Mills made a motion the amendments to the Zoning Ordinance be approved, and New Section 1402, Establishment of Zoning Board of Appeals, be changed and approved to read as follows: "A Board of Zoning Appeals is hereby established. Said Board shall consist of seven (7) members, two (2) of whom shall be appointed for a term of three years, two (2) appointed for a term of two years, and