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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-16-2017 regular meeting City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes November 16, 2017 7:00 p.m. The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, November 16, 2017. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch was unable to attend, and Mayor Pro Tern Kim Learnard called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Others attending:Terry Ernst, Mike King, and Phil Prebor. Announcements, Awards, Special Recognition Council commended the coaches and members of three State Champion teams from McIntosh High School:the Varsity Volleyball Team, the Boys Cross Country Team, and the Girls Cross Country Team. Assistant Fire Chief Clint Murphy was recognized for 20 years of service, and Police Lt. Matt Myers was honored for his selection for the "40 Under 40 Award" bestowed by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Public Comment There was no public comment. Agenda Changes There were no changes to the agenda. Minutes King moved to approve the November 2, 2017, regular meeting minutes as written. Prebor seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Consent Agenda 1. Consider Ordinance Amendment- Boards/Authorities/Commissions 2. Consider Ordinance Amendment(Golf Cart Ordinance)-Authorized Path Users 4. Consider Budget Amendments- FY 2017 Ernst moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1,2, and 4. King seconded. Motion carried unanimously. New Agenda Items 11-17-03 Public Hearing-Multi-family Rezoning Moratorium Planning and Development Director Mike Warrix explained that this public hearing was to consider reaffirming the moratorium on multi-family rezoning requests,which had been in place since 1999. He said it was originally adopted to direct staff to no longer accept applications requiring rezoning to multi-family. Council must consider the moratorium for renewal each November, Warrix noted. He displayed a list of facts for Council to consider, including findings that increased multi-family development could overburden schools, police, fire and emergency services, as well as contribute to traffic congestion. Another consideration was that resources could be exhausted, leading to a reduced quality of life. King asked how many times the council had approved lifting the moratorium in the years since it was adopted and was told that it had been done twice.Warrix said his office received very few inquiries about rezoning for multi-family. Public Information Officer/City Clerk Betsy Tyler clarified that this moratorium was only for new rezonings to a multi- family category and did not apply to land already zoned multi-family. Learnard opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Learnard closed the public hearing. City Council Minutes November 16, 2017 Page 2 King moved to approve item 11-17-03, renewing the multi-family moratorium. Prebor seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 11-17-04 Public Hearing-Variance for No-Impervious Buffer, 102 North Cove Due to advertising requirements, staff requested this item be moved to the December 7 agenda. 11-17-05 Consider Budget Amendment- FY 2018(Amphitheater) Financial Services Director Paul Salvatore requested Council increase the Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater's fiscal year 2018 fund budget revenues and expenses by $295,000 to allow for expanded use of the Amphitheater during the fringe seasons before and after the main concert series shows. City Manager Jon Rorie said this was a simple budget amendment, and the actual amount could vary, depending on the cost of the additional acts. Salvatore noted that the number of shows at the amphitheater had decreased over the years, and this extra funding would allow for maximum utilization of the facility. King noted that this would also provide opportunities to the new management contracted for the amphitheater. Ernst moved to approve item 11-17-05. King seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 11-17-06 Certify Results of the November 7, 2017, General Election Tyler noted the election results as certified by the Fayette County Board of Elections were before Council. She said Council was required to certify the results of the municipal election as listed: Mayor (5,819 total votes Vanessa Fleisch 2,517 (43.25%) Eric Imker 1,799 (30.92%) Dar Thompson 1,493 (25.66%) City Council Post 3 (5,341 total votes) Harold Logsdon 1,730 (32.39%) Kevin Madden 2,144 (40.14%) Sarah Toussaint 1,442 (27.00%) Prebor moved to approve item 11-17-06, certifying the general election results. King seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Council/Staff Topics Ordinance Amendment Preview - City Council Meeting Procedures & Rules (Time of Council Meetings) Tyler said some members of Council had discussed modifying meeting times,which would require an ordinance amendment. She asked for instruction from Council in how to proceed. Prebor confirmed that 6:30 was the time under consideration. Rorie said it was a balancing act because too early a start time made it difficult for citizens who worked in Atlanta to attend, but too late could limit families with children who had to be put to bed. Rorie noted that the meetings were available over the Internet and archived for viewing at a later date. He mentioned that too late a start time could contribute to hurried proceedings. Tyler and Learnard both requested public input on the matter. City Council Minutes November 16, 2017 Page 3 Wireless Communications Ordinance Text Amendments Warrix reviewed the need to revise the wireless communications ordinance to address changes in wireless technology. He said the planning, engineering, legal departments and the City's telecommunications consultant had been examining the ordinance and recommended changes to Article XV, Sections 18-376 through 18-385, to bring the ordinance into compliance with State and Federal rules and regulations, manage and protect facilities in rights-of-way, and maintain public safety standards. Warrix reported that the main reason for the changes would be to accommodate Advanced Wireless Architectures, such as Distributed Antennae Systems (DAS), small cell technology, and microcell technology, in order to increase and improve broadband capabilities. He said the ordinance changes would give the City a basis for review when applications were submitted. He showed photos of existing towers in the City and explained how small cell technology could be incorporated into antennae on street light poles. Warrix displayed photos of these poles in other cities. He said the facilities could be sited unobtrusively if the jurisdiction had good regulations in place. Warrix told Council he would be bringing the revisions in the ordinance back to them for approval. Rorie noted that communications companies were trying to condense their facilities into smaller sites and existing structures, rather than building new towers. He said the City wanted feedback from communications companies and the public, and he had been contacted already by AT&T and promised to send them a copy of the proposed changes for their input. Rorie remarked it was a complex topic and probably would be presented as staff recommendations to Council in January. City Attorney Ted Meeker said there would be no changes to the right-of-way ordinance or to the procedure for approving cell phone towers. He confirmed that these changes would deal with microcell facilities. One example he cited was that the City would not want to grant companies the right to place poles in areas where there were underground utilities. SPLOST Projects Update Rorie informed Council that, as a lead-in to the December 7 fiscal year end analysis, this would be an update on the status of Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) projects, Facilities Bond projects, and the "other projects" list. He said updates would be presented to Council at appropriate times. He displayed a pie chart that showed 65% of the SPLOST funding was designated for road projects, 2% going towards parks and recreation, 7% for public safety, 4% for the Lake Peachtree dam and spillway project, and 21% for the multi-use path system. He explained that some projects would be over budget, but others would be under budget.The 2017 SPLOST was anticipated to net $45.4 million over a six-year period, but Rorie noted that was dependent on consumer spending. To date, from August to November, the SPLOST had raised nearly$2.7 million, while about $270,000 had already been spent on SPLOST projects. Spillway project manager Dan Davis with Integrated Science and Engineering reported on the progress of the biggest single SPLOST project, the Lake Peachtree spillway and dam. He said the work had been underway at the site for about two months. The contractor was currently working on the foundation and was on schedule. He said the lake would be raised about two feet over the next week. Davis went over the contractor's schedule, explaining that he was making great progress thanks to the good weather. He detailed progress on the coffer dam. Rorie went back to highlight which areas of the lake were still dry and said they would be dry for up to five more months. City Council Minutes November 16, 2017 Page 4 Ernst said it was amazing to watch the construction and urged Citizens to drive by the site to get a better feeling for the scope of the project. King remarked that it was good that the City was controlling the project, which had not been the case in the dredging project two years ago. Road Engineer Jonathan Miller reported the City completed 3.41 miles of roadway resurfacing in FY2017 year from the General Fund.This year, the goal was 10 to 12 miles,with eight paid for from the SPLOST budget, and the original three miles remaining in the General Fund. Rorie remarked that SPLOST was not replacing the General Fund, but enhancing it, providing resources for more road work. City Engineer David Borkowski first updated the SR54/Planterra Way intersection project, saying the left turn lanes on the highway, funded by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), were completed. He said trees from the median had been moved to other parts of the City, and the light pole would be removed within three weeks. In January, he noted, workers would return to finish the project with nighttime work on the dual turn lanes from Wal-Mart. He said bids had gone out for the SR54/MacDuff Parkway project, and Council would probably be voting on awarding the contract at its December 7 meeting. Trees were being removed from the site, Borkowski remarked, and a temporary construction easement had to be obtained. The Kedron Drive turn lane extension, he reported,was almost completed,with only some paving and striping work remaining. Rorie noted this was a project that came in substantially under budget, mainly by taking advantage of scheduling and having much of the work done by internal staff. Borkowski reported on the right turn lanes planned for the Crosstown Road/Peachtree Parkway intersection. He said they were talking with the County transportation committee about a roundabout at this location, and GDOT had offered advice on this. The roundabout had been included on the project list for a previous SPLOST, but not constructed. Rorie said they took concept drawings and submitted them to the GDOT office in Thomaston for review. GDOT's verdict, Rorie reported,was that a single-lane roundabout would be adequate for 12 years if there was a dedicated right turn lane,while a multi-lane roundabout would function for at least 17 years. He said GDOT recommended that if a single-lane roundabout was constructed, it be designed so it could be converted to multi-lane in the future. What this meant, Rorie said, was that this project should not be underbuilt. This was a SPLOST-restricted project, he noted, explaining that 2017 SPLOST dollars couldn't be used for the roundabout, only for the right-turn lanes. He commented there was no perfect solution to the traffic problems at that intersection, but it was obvious something must be done. He said he would meet with the county transportation committee December 5 and discuss whether money from the previous SPLOST could be allocated for the roundabout. The MacDuff/SR54 bridge project was underway, Borkowski said. Rorie noted that it was a massive project,and Borkowski said quite a bit of design work was needed before construction could start. The pedestrian bridge from the All Children's Playground to Drake Field, the new bridge on SR54 over Lake Peachtree, and the Spillway bridge project were all underway. City workers would be constructing the earthen pedestrian bridge to the island in Lake Peachtree, Rorie said, with 50- plus workers doing some clearing in the area November 29 and 30, and December 1. Borkowski reported that maintenance and repair work on 17 of the City's 29 tunnels was included on the SPLOST list, and four had been completed. He said 11 of the City's 29 bridges were also on the SPLOST project list, and one bridge project had been completed. Learnard inquired what type City Council Minutes November 16, 2017 Page 5 of work was done on the tunnels, and Borkowski replied that it involved filling cracks where water was leaking in, and Rorie said some paths had been realigned with the tunnel entrances. Rorie said the goal was to resurface three miles of paths each year with SPLOST funding in addition to the nine miles in the General Fund.The City planned to hire additional personnel and purchase equipment to complete this work and build new paths, including the Whitfield Farms path, which was currently under construction. He said the Crosstown path project from Wendy's to Flash Foods was complete. Rorie noted that they were considering adding speed tables to Crosstown in that area to reduce speeds. Ernst clarified that speed limits would not be lowered on Crosstown, just controlled by the speed table. Rorie shared a list of projects City crews had been instructed to work on during the winter and said they were connected to SPLOST and Facilities Bond projects for scheduling, but not paid for with those funds. Some were landscaping, while some were park projects, he noted, and they were prioritized in order of importance. Facilities Bond Project Updates Rorie said significant progress had been made on these projects. The tennis center lighting might need additional funding, he noted, and added that playground equipment replacement was designated for future funding. The roof at the police department headquarters was almost complete and substantially under budget, Rorie pointed out. He said the funding that was allocated but not used rolled over to a contingency fund.The Kedron Aquatics Center restoration was also under budget, he reported. Rorie said 'in progress' projects included the Kedron rink improvements and the skate park. Currently, he stated,the contingency line was at$479,000, and that money could be reallocated to other projects. Rorie said staff always began projects with the goal of coming in 10% under budget. The contingency money could then be used for additional projects such as the resurfacing of the parking lot at the police department. There being no further business, Ernst moved to adjourn. Prebor seconded. The motion carried unanimously, and the meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m. OACts` -- ----.. Martha Barksdale, ecording ecretary Vanessa Fleisch,Mayor