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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-04-2017 regular meeting City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes May 4, 2017 7:00 p.m. The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, May 4, 2017. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Others attending: Terry Ernst, Mike King, Kim Learnard, and Phil Prebor. Announcements, Awards, Special Recognition Recognize Graduates of Citizens Police Academy Recognize Graduates of Community Emergency Relief Team (CERT)Training Police Lt. Brad Williams recognize the graduates of the spring session of the Citizens Police Academy. Assistant Chief Stan Pye recognized the graduates of the 23rd grading class from the CERT program. Public Comment Jack Finn addressed Council, saying the neighbors at Lake Forest Cove had learned about the plans for a recreation area on Snake Island, as well building a bridge to the island, with Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds. Mainly senior citizens lived in their subdivision, and the subdivision backed up to the island. It was one of the busiest areas in the City. The planned enhancements would create more traffic through their subdivision, and the cart path in the subdivision led directly to the island. Other recreation areas could be expanded with more picnic areas. When the trees were taken down, the lumber trucks would use their neighborhood to get out to the highway. He asked why a picnic area was not built on the island in Lake Kedron,saying a bridge could be built to that island from Smokerise or Stoneybrook. Carolyn Browning said she had many questions about the plans for the island in Lake Peachtree, asking how the public would access the park and whether the bridge would be for golf carts. Their neighborhood would be inundated with parked cars so people could walk over to the island. She asked if police would be on duty on the island, adding that it would become a haven for teenagers. She noted that there were issues with teens at Battery Way, and now the City was considering building them a refuge on the island. She asked if Lake Forest Cove would be used as the access for construction, pointing out the sewer line had just been replaced and the cart path was still torn up. Browning asked when that would be repaired. Her concern was who would be on the island, asking if there would be a lifeguard. Other questions included where the snakes would go,where would cars park, and who would police the island. This was a terrible idea. Minutes April 20, 2017, Regular Meeting Minutes King moved to approve the April 20, 2017, regular meeting minutes. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Consent Agenda 1. Consider New Alcohol License- Board & Brush, 277 N. Hwy 74, Ste. 204 2. Consider New Qualifying Location Permit-MOBA Soccer, 1000 Moba Drive 3. Consider Approval of Contract Assignment to United Pool Management of America, LLC 4. Consider Request to Allow Alcohol to be Served on Drake Field - Peachtree City Convention & Visitors Bureau (PTCCVB) 5. Consider FY 2017 Budget Amendment- Protective Inspections Fleisch recused herself from voting on Consent Agenda item 1,saying she had referred the owners of the business to a commercial real estate agent and had received a fee for doing so. She asked City Council Minutes May 4,2017 Page 2 that the item be removed so she could abstain. Learnard moved to pull item 1 from the Consent Agenda. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Learnard moved to approve Consent Agenda items 2,3,4,and 5. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Learnard moved to approve Consent Agenda item 1. Ernst seconded. Motion carried 4-0-1 (Fleisch). Old Agenda Items 04-17-04 Consider Variance Request for Front Building Setback(Carport), 100 Doe Run The applicants requested this agenda item be continued to May 18. Learnard moved to continue agenda item 04-17-04 to May 18. Prebor seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Council/Staff Topics Proposed Modifications to Fee Schedule for Planning & Zoning and Engineering Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore said that, per the budget policy, the City had to review all its fees no less than once every three years. Staff was going through the process. Building, Engineering, and Planning and Zoning fees would be addressed at this meeting, and other fees would be address throughout the budget process. City Engineer Dave Borkowski said staff had compared the fees to other municipalities to ensure they were not out-of-line. He discussed some of the changes, which included the addition of a $250 fee for Special Use Permits. Currently, there was no fee for the permit, and Borkowski said they required a significant amount of work by staff in getting prepared for the public hearing. Under Subdivision Fees, Borkowski pointed out the proposed changes that clarified the fees were for road construction plans. He continued that categories for the different types of plans had been created because there were different levels of effort required for the different types of plans. Currently, staff was reviewing a large number of road construction plans and resubmittals, and the quality of plans that were submitted was not good. The people turning the plans in to the City were basically doing their plans by review. With the time spent on the reviews by staff and the consultant, the City was paying to review the plans. The recommended fee amount was based on the time staff and the consultant spent on the reviews. For the second review and beyond, the consultant's invoice would be forwarded to the company/person submitting the plans. Borkowski noted they were currently working on the fourth review on one set of road construction plans. City Manager Jon Rorie said more plans were submitted for review when there was an increase in the economy. The City ordinance required that plans be turned around in 28 days. Internal policy for review of plans was 14 days. Checklists were created for the people developing the plans so they would know what was required in the plans. The City would inherit the roads, so they needed to be constructed correctly. When a plan was submitted, staff checked for those items on the list, and the plans were sent back for correction. The plans were re-submitted, and they would still be missing items. The stack of plans got taller and taller,and staff was unable to review them all. Staff should not be doing the job of the engineers who should be designing the plans based on the regulatory requirements. The City was doing the work of the design engineers through the review process,which was not right and caused other plans to sit on someone's desk. Prebor asked if the fee was $400 per hour or a flat $400 fee. Borkowski said the fee was $400, adding that no one had gotten a plan right the first time since Borkowski had been with the City. He continued that the consultants worked in numerous jurisdictions, and they all had different City Council Minutes May 4,2017 Page 3 requirements, so it was not unusual for a plan to require resubmittal. However, there should not be a second resubmittal or beyond. Final Site Plan Submittals had been added to the Fee Schedule. Borkowski clarified these resubmittals dealt more with commercial projects. The recommended fee amount was$400. Site Lighting Plan reviews would be added to the schedule as well,with a recommended fee amount of $100, plus $10 per acre or fraction thereof. The City had not been charging for either of these items. Resubmittals for Erosion Control Plans would be added. The first review was included in the Land Disturbance Permit fee, with a recommended fee of $300. For the second resubmittal and beyond, the fee would be invoiced on an hourly basis from the consultant if the cost was over $300. The proposed change of "or fraction thereof" would be added to the Land Disturbance Permit fee of $200 plus $100 per acre. Borkowski said if only a quarter of an acre was disturbed, then the "$100 per acre" would be reduced by the appropriate amount. A Site Inspection fee of $50 was proposed to cover the inspection of the erosion control measures prior to issuing the Land Disturbance Permit. City Attorney Ted Meeker suggested that the Erosion Control Plan Review fee be broken down further by stating the fee was $300 for the first resubmittal, and the second resubmittal would be a minimum of $300 or the amount invoiced by the consultant. It would eliminate any argument on the fee. A $50 fee for each resubmittal for a sign permit was proposed. The fees for sign permits would be removed from the Building Department fee schedule. Borkowski pointed out that SAFEbuilt did not deal with sign permits. A$100 resubmittal fee was proposed for resubmittal of all plans. Borkowski continued that SAFEbuilt also recommended increasing the fees for inspections outside of normal business hours from $75 to $100 per hour, with an increase in the minimum charge from $150 to $200. Minor Plan Revision Reviews, reviews on changes to plans after approval, would increase from $75 to $100 per hour,with an increase in the minimum from $150 to$200. Rorie said the changes to the City's fee schedule would continue, with a briefing under Council/Staff Topics. The fee schedule was part of the budget process,and unless there were any changes, the recommendations for these fee increases would be under the Consent Agenda on May 18. Learnard asked if the recommended fees and increases were in line with other jurisdictions. Rorie said they were, and that was where the process started. The question was whether the cost of the items in the fee schedule should be covered by the fees or from the General Fund. He was comfortable with a department that had a 10% subsidy from the General Fund, but he did not want to pay for an inspection on someone else's property. The fee should cover the cost, not be shared by the taxpayers. Prebor asked if SAFEbuilt would receive the increase in the fees. Rorie said the same split between SAFEbuilt and the City would apply to the Building Department fees. Erosion control and land disturbance permits were under the Engineering Department. Ernst said it was difficult to understand why a checklist was not followed when plans were submitted, and he hoped the proposed increase in the fees would get their attention. City Council Minutes May 4,2017 Page 4 Rorie said staff wanted to provide value-added customer service, but the City was a partner and should not be the review team and the design engineer at the same time. Rorie reiterated the proposed revisions, including the changes recommended by Meeker, would be on the May 18 agenda. Fleisch reminded everyone the Spring Clean-up would be May 6 and 7 at Meade Field and the Recycling Center off Rockaway Road. Executive Session Meeker said there were no items for Executive Session. There being no further business, King moved to adjourn. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m. e‘ • Pamela Dufresne, puty City Clerk Vanessa Fleisch, Mayor