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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-21-2019 regular meetingj City Council of Peachtree City Meeting Minutes Thursday, March 21, 2019 6:30 p.m. The City Council of Peachtree City met in regular session on Thursday, March 21, 2019. Mayor Vanessa Fleisch called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Others attending: Terry Ernst, Mike King, Kevin Madden, and Phil Prebor. Announcements. Awards. Special Recognition Fleisch read a letter from State Sen. Marty Harbin congratulating Peachtree City on its 60th anniversary. The Mayor thanked everyone who worked on the 60th anniversary celebration. She also issued a proclamation declaring March as Safe Digging Month, Police Chief Janet Moon presented Lifesaving Awards to Officers Anna Lieff and Brandon Akins, who successfully intervened in a suicide attempt. Public Comment Civil Air Patrol Lt. Col. Joel Seidband and Capt. Hannah Neal gave a brief presentation on the Civil Air Patrol and its work in the community. The group had outgrown its current meeting.place and was looking for another site that could accommodate its needs. Minutes King moved to approve the March 5, 2019, retreat workshop minutes as written. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Consent Agenda 1. Consider Agreement for Clinical Training Hours 2. Consider Intergovernmental Agreement with Fayette County - Municipal Election 2019 3. Consider Qualifying Location Permit - Shakerag Knoll, BMX BBQ Event, May 31-June 1 4. Consider FY 2019 Budget Amendment - Public Works Street Supplies, Public Works Building Repairs & Maintenance, Recreation Building Repairs & Maintenance 5. Consider FY 2018 Housekeeping Budget Amendment - D.A.R.E. Fund Ernst moved to approve Consent Agenda items 1,23A, and 5. Prebor seconded. Motion carried unanimously. New Agenda Items 03-19-01 Public Hearing -Consider Rezoning, GI to LUI, 301 Keliy Drive Planning and Development Director Robin Cailloux explained that this property was at the intersection of Kelly Drive and Dividend Drive. There were four buildings, and the property was zoned General Industrial (GI). She showed the locations of three one-story buildings along the edge of the property, and a smaller one-story building in the front. The property was mostly developed in 1987 under the GI ordinance. At that time, the GI ordinance was pyramidal, which was typical for the time. That meant that with a more intense zoning use, the less intense uses also were permitted. In this case, all the uses permitted in Light Industrial (LI) were allowed. In addition, the ordinance had some language that said any retail uses that were supportive of the industrial uses would be conditionally permitted. In 2008, the City eliminated the pyramidal structure from its zoning ordinance. The GI zoning was geared towards heavy industrial and manufacturing uses. This property was grandfathered in under the GI zoning as a legally non -conforming use. The applicant requested rezoning this property to Limited Use Industrial (LUI) to allow the development to have the rights it had when originally developed. They were not proposing to City Council Minutes March 21, 2019 Page 2 make any structural changes to the property. Staff had reviewed the request using the six criteria that were required and determined the request met those criteria. Fleisch opened the public hearing. Applicant Rick Lindsey, representing property owners Richard Bearden and Robert Vanecek, noted that this site was where Mimi's restaurant (Mimi's Good Food) was located, along with Dance Contempra and some other businesses. They were not requesting any change to the usage of the property, but were asking that the zoning reflect what had been happening on the ground for the past 30 years. He remarked that if this property were to be developed today, it would house a large manufacturing building with a lot of employees, but it was developed with smaller, retail buildings, some with industrial -type uses such as a carpet/flooring business and a printer. Lindsey said they could come before Council for a special use permit every time a new tenant wanted to open, but that would be inefficient. They were asking for the uses permitted in LI and GI, plus the small restaurant and limited retail. No one else wished to speak in favor or in opposition to this request. Fleisch closed the public hearing. King said he saw this as a way to clean up the zoning. Prebor and Ernst concurred. King moved to approve the rezoning from GI to LUI for 301 Kelly Drive. Madden seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 03-19-02 Consider Request from GVI-Peachtree City, LLC and Crescent Communities to Lift Multi -Family Moratorium; Calistoa, Lake McIntosh Cailloux said she and her staff had incorrectly believed a public hearing would be required for this item. However, since it was not a zoning action, City Attorney Ted Meeker had informed her that it did not require a public hearing because Council would not be making the actual land use decision at this meeting. To have comments and a presentation at this time would be disingenuous. This action was only to lift the moratorium on multi -family zoning. Staff was not permitted to make any recommendations; they could only present the request to Council and give them the land use information. The property was on the south side of the City, Cailloux related, showing it on a map. It was currently undeveloped, and the only access was through a private street and a private access easement across Clubhouse Drive, The NAECO Way extension could provide some future right-of- way. The property was zoned GI and surrounded by open space in the Planterra Ridge Golf Course and other GI properties. City Manager Jon Rorie asked to make some comments. This week, he saw a posting on a social media site that said Council would be voting to allow apartments in Peachtree City. It was not his practice to respond to social media comments, but, in this case, he felt that someone was misinforming the public about what was happening, so he broke his rule and responded. He said he wanted his comments read into the minutes. Social media was not a public forum where zoning hearings were held. . Rorie's reply: "For the sake of clarity, there is not, nor has there ever been a moratorium on Multi - Family to ihclude townhomes, apartments, condos,. etc. In fact, multi -family dwellings are permitted uses in all GR zoning throughout the city. However, Section 1401-1404 establishes a moratorium on "re -zonings," so in order to request "rezoning" such as GI to GR, LUR, LUC, etc., the applicant must first ask for the moratorium to be lifted. Article XIV-Multi-Family-Rezoning Moratorium has been in effect since 1999, and the Council is required procedurally to review and renew on an annual basis. City Council Minutes March 21, 2019 Page 3 In regards to lifting the moratorium for Calistoa, the applicant must first appeal and request that I the moratorium be lifted so they can submit a rezoning application. Lifting the moratorium is site specific (it doesn't apply citywide), and as an administrative act that the Council is compelled to do, no way implies that the property will ultimately be rezoned. In fact, the process was not even a public hearing. Therefore, I could have put the request as a Consent item on the agenda, and the item could have been voted on and approved. But for the purpose of ensuring that we are transparent, this is a procedural due process afforded to the applicant. That was why Council was compelled to act on it." Rorie said they could not deprive the applicant of due process and asked Meeker to help him clarify. Meeker noted that he could not remember the last time a request to lift the multi -family moratorium was denied. He pointed to an area on the map, south of this property, where last year Council lifted the moratorium to allow a developer to request a rezoning, which was subsequently denied. After the moratorium was lifted, the applicant could file for a rezoning, and it would proceed as any other rezoning would. City Clerk Betsy Tyler said she, too, could not recall that Council had ever refused to lift the moratorium when asked. Prebor said he was satisfied with the explanation, and this was part of the process. Ernst moved to approve lifting the multi -family moratorium, item 03-19-02, for Calistoa, Lake McIntosh. King seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 03-19.03 Consider Resolution -Regional Planning Grant Application Cailloux said she was requesting a resolution of support that was required for a grant application, and wanted to brief Council about changes in the grant program. The grant was formerly known as the Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) and Peachtree City was one of the first recipients in 1996. Last year, the LCI program was revamped and refocused on transit station areas, planned transit areas, and town centers. One advantage Peachtree City had was that they were a previous LCI study area. This year, the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) was doing a joint call for grants, and joining the LCI was a Community Development Assistance Program (CDAP) grant. There were four categories that could be requested. Last year, grants ranging from $20,000 to $100,000, and most were concentrated in a couple of counties. Cailloux pointed out that all the ARC's counties contributed to the funding. They could look at this application as asking for some of their money back. Cailloux clarified for the Mayor that it cost nothing to apply. They were asking for $160,000 total. If it was fully awarded, the most it would cost the City ih 20% matching funds would be $32,000. If it was not fully funded, the cost would be less than that. In order to get any money, the City must have that money included in the budget, and they did. They needed to show that the project met not only community goals, but regional goals. Those ARC goals were broad and included world -class infrastructure, acompetitive economy, and healthy, livable communities. The CDAP program had eight other goals, and Cailloux commented on the ones most relevant to the City's application. She mentioned that access to grocery stores was not a problem in Peachtree City as it was in some areas. "Creative placemaking" was a loose term that referred to under-utilized land and redevelopment efforts. Cailloux said she would go into this in more detail later. Green infrastructure was another goal. Stormwater management was Ia growing issue. The infrastructure put in place 40 years ago could not handle the quantities of ��ull water it was getting. Historic preservation was not applicable to Peachtree City. Housing affordability was an issue, however. Housing touched every aspect of our lives, Cailloux remarked. The community had already discussed the need to address this. Another goal, lifelong City Council Minutes March 21, 2019 Page 4 communities, was the trademark of Peachtree City, with its extensive path network enabling many young people and seniors to be mobile. The City would certainly win points for this. The next goal was on the list was smart communities, and Cailloux said that would require an agreement with Georgia Tech. Workforce development was the final goal. The Comprehensive Plan put a priority on maintaining small businesses as well as meeting education and training needs. A chart showed that many of the regional goals had been identified at a local level. Cailloux used information from the ONE Peachtree City community outreach effort in 2013 as well as citizen input from the 2017 Comprehensive Plan process. "Wordles," which put the most commonly - commented words into graphic form, showed that the desire for more activities, maintenance, communication, and future plans for a centralized center were important to respondents in 2013. In 2017, citizens put the desire for a central city center and gathering place at the top of their wish lists. They listed limited housing -type options as a concern, as well as the need to redevelop retail space. Fleisch noted that a citizen advisory group spent at least a year working on the Comprehensive Plan, and Cailloux said there were also public open houses to get citizen input. Cailloux presented a map that showed the study area covered by the grant application, an oval along SR 54 in Aberdeen Village. They included the SR 74/54 intersection because the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) was entering the engineering phase of the displaced left turn project. They knew there was a project going on there that would have some type of impact. The area included some under-utilized property around the churches and City Hall. She said it was slightly larger than the redevelopment vision presented to Council in October. That would help I address some of the larger potential impact that redevelopment could have on an area. About a third of the $160,000 grant amount would go towards facilitating a public participation plan. They needed public input, and the public needed to see that their concerns were being addressed. Another third would be used for the actual "City Centre" plan itself, including land use, parking, and multi -modal. The City had already conducted a transportation corridor study for SR 54 East. It was in draft format now. The final third was broken into a market study, green infrastructure design and maintenance guidelines, and architectural guidelines. Cailloux concluded by noting that the actual resolution brought together those concerns and showed how they were reflected in the regional concerns. They included redevelopment of aging retail, lack of central gathering space, stormwater, lack of housing options, and the need for regional solutions for the traffic impacts on Peachtree City. It also included the commitment the City had already made to this plan, such as the redevelopment vision that was revealed in October, the SR 54 corridor traffic study, the budgeted funds, and the money budgeted for the ordinance revisions they had recently discussed. The Mayor asked how many applications for these grants were typically submitted, and Cailloux said there were well over 100, with fewer than a dozen being awarded. There were probably just three winners who got $70,000 or $80,000. Prebor inquired what the market study involved. They could plan to put in a lot of retail, Cailloux told him, but if the economy and the market would not support it, it did them no good. The market study took a look at the demographics in the area, the traffic, and the people who drove through the area to determine what kind of retail, housing, office and so on they could support. It was a real -world look at the market. When she started doing this, back in the 2000s, Cailloux remarked, people would plan for the moon, but if they could not actually implement it, it did not help the community. That was why she felt the market study was a really important element. City Council Minutes March 21, 2019 Page 5 Rorie linked this back to discussion at the March 5 retreat workshop about retail vacancy rates. They needed the facts they could get through a market -based study to see how much retail space they had and how it was being utilized. Ernst moved to approve item 03-19-030 resolution for the regional planning grant application. Madden seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 03-19-04 Consider Resolution - TDK Boulevard Rorie referred to the retreat workshop minutes from March 5, 2019, citing the discussion on redevelopment, traffic, and planning. TDK Boulevard was one of the topics discussion. TDK Boulevard and its extension had been a discussion point for many years, but he knew specifically that it had been a hot issue for him for the past three or four years as it related to the SR 74/54 intersection. He mentioned 2014's 54 West corridor study and the evaluation of the 54 East corridor. He said they had discussed the connection between access and mobility; if one was increased, then the other would decrease. The 54 East corridor study was related to intersection improvements, such as R-cuts and J-cuts. That all went back to one simple fact: there were 36,000 vehicles per day passing through the SR 74/54 intersection. It was the belief of many that the TDK Boulevard Extension would move the problem to another area. At the Retreat session, Council requested that staff prepare a resolution objecting to the TDK Boulevard Extension project in the Countywide Transportation Plan. He said it could be broken down into two items. There was a belief that Coweta County had a vested interest and a shared responsibility in providing for the adequate access of Coweta County residents commuting to Atlanta and Fayetteville. The Mayor and Council of Peachtree City officially opposed the extension of TDK Boulevard into Coweta County and did hereby request that the Fayette County Board of Commissioners remove the TDK Boulevard Extension from the identified projects in the Fayette County Comprehensive Transportation Plan. Rorie said he had had a follow-up conversation with members of the Transportation Committee and with County Administrator Steve Rapson. The resolution went on to say: "Be if further resolved that our goal is for Peachtree City and Fayette County, as part of the Atlanta Regional Commission, and Coweta County, as part of the Three Rivers Planning Commission, to meet jointly for the purposes of identifying and agreeing upon additional and alternate east -west connections between the two counties." At the end of the day, Rorie summarized, Peachtree City was a border town, and, although Fayette County and Coweta County were part of two different regional commissions, they were part of the some non-profit organization. Bringing these two parties together to look at transportation projects was an important aspect moving forward. Peachtree City could not do it alone. King moved to approve New Agenda item 03-19-04, resolution against the TDK Boulevard extension. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Council/Staff Tonics Rorie noted that Staff had met with GDOT and the desigri engineer for the continuous flow intersection/displaced left turn at the SR 74/54 intersection. They were asked for input on the design component regarding anything they would like to emphasize or pull back from going forward. The timeline showed rollout of construction around November 2021. King moved to convene in executive session for sale, acquisition, and disposal of real estate at 7:25 p.m. Prebor seconded. Motion carried unanimously. City Council Minutes March 21, 2019 Page b King moved to reconvene in regular session at 8:10 p.m. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. There being no further business to discuss, King moved to adjourn the meeting. Ernst seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourn d at 8:11 p.m. rtha Barksdale, Recording Secre ary Vanessa Fleisch, Mayor