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Alpharetta City Council Agenda October 7, 2013

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City of Alpharetta

Public Hearing and Council Meeting for October 07, 2013

City Hall Council Chambers

7:30 PM

 

  1. I.              CALL TO ORDER
  2. II.            ROLL CALL
  3. III.           PLEDGE TO THE FLAG
  4. IV.          CONSENT AGENDA
    1. A.   Meeting Minutes
      1. Council Meeting of 09/16/2013
      2. Public Hearing of 09/23/2013
    2. B.   Alcohol License Applications:
      1. PH-13-AB-22              Firefly Restaurant Holdings, Inc.

                                                                  d/b/a Firefly Restaurant

                                                                  3070 Windward Plaza – Suite P

                                                                   Consumption on Premises

                                                                    Liquor, Beer & Wine – Sunday Sales

  1. V.            WORKSHOP
    1. A.   City Center Update
  2. VI.          PUBLIC HEARING
    1. A.   New Business
      1. Alcohol Beverage Application
        1. PH-13-AB-23        Eleven11 Concepts, LLC

d/b/a Famous Originals Pizza

3665 Old Milton Parkway – Suite 60

Consumption on Premises

Beer & Wine – Sunday Sales

  1. Community Development
    1. V-13-11 JSB Homes

Consideration of a variance to permit a flag lot and the minimum property frontage on a street in order to create two separate lots on property located at 12550 New Hopewell Road. The property is legally described as being located in Land Lot 1125, 2nd District, 2nd Section, Fulton County, Georgia.

  1. VII.         COUNCIL MEETING
    1. A.   New Business
      1. Grants Administration
        1. Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank
      2. Recreation and Parks
        1. Lightning Prediction System for City Parks: Bid 14-001
        2. Webb Bridge Tennis Courts: Repair, Resurfacing & Recoating
      3. Engineering / Public Works
        1. Rucker Road Corridor Design: RFP 14-101
        2. FY 2014 Bridge Maintenance: Bid 14-004
        3. FY 2014 Pavement Marking Services: Bid 14-011
      4. Administration
        1. An Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of Alpharetta, Georgia to Amend Chapter 2, Article II of the Code of the City of Alpharetta, Georgia Regarding the Municipal Court

(Second Reading)

  1. An Ordinance to Amend the Unified Development Code in Order to Amend Article IV Section 4.4.3 Land Disturbance Permit; Section 4.4.6 Inspections and Development Activity Completion; Section 4.4.7 Assignment of Names and Addresses; and to Repeal All Ordinances or Parts of Ordinances in Conflict Herewith.

(Second Reading)

  1. Door to Door Solicitation Ordinance

(Second Reading)

  1. VIII.        PUBLIC COMMENTS
  2. IX.          REPORTS
  3. X.            ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION

 

 

City of Alpharetta

Executive Session Agenda for October 07, 2013

City Hall Council Chambers

Immediately Following Council Meeting

 

  1. I.              PERSONNEL
  2. II.            REAL ESTATE
  3. III.           ADJOURNMENT

 

Are you kidding me?

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The past six months have been crazy. I’ve had to devote an extra 20-30 hours a week to my city council responsibilities and to do that I’ve had to overload what was already a pretty crowded calendar. It hasn’t been easy but I feel good about the job I’ve done and I’ve never lost sight of what is most important in my life… my family.

But something had to give and several things that I used to enjoy were lost in the shuffle. In the snippets of free time I had before taking office I used to read, blog and play guitar and lately those times have been nearly nonexistent.

I’m not complaining. I knew what I was getting into and I don’t regret it. But Alpharetta is an exciting place to be with a lot going on so there has been much to do. It has been great to work with our new mayor and city council setting bold new goals while looking for better ways to serve our community.

One of the biggest challenges I faced over the past few months was the decision to approve a mixed use project proposed for Alpharetta. I attended meetings with city staff, fellow council members, developers, attorneys, friends and constituents. I spent hours researching the proposal and trying to anticipate all of the possible positive and negative consequences of my vote. For weeks I agonized over numerous aspects of the issue and after all of that I cast a vote which cost me some very dear friends. That project was named Avalon.

So I was elated to discover a little free time the other night and decided to download a new book on my wife’s Kindle.

The book is titled At Any Cost by Cara Ellison and you can download it here if you are interested. Ms. Ellison is a brilliant writer who I have followed online for more than a decade. She lived in Washington, DC during the September 11th attacks and wrote incredibly powerful short stories about the days which followed and how they affected her life and her nation.

So I settled into bed with my new book. It felt great to relax.

I knew from Cara’s blogging that she was familiar with the world of the Secret Service so it seemed quite natural that the protagonist of the book was a Secret Service protectee. I quickly became engrossed in the story and after a few pages a Secret Service agent began calling the protagonist by her protectee code name…

Avalon.

God really does have a wicked sense of humor doesn’t he?

The Avalon Decision

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Two weeks ago the Alpharetta City Council decided a zoning case which may turn out to be the most important decision any of us make over the next four years. The choice was whether or not to approve a large mixed use development called Avalon for the 80+ acre eyesore currently sitting on the doorstep of our community.

Several years ago the parcel on Old Milton Parkway was zoned for a much larger project called Prospect Park but economic realities and the global economy turned that grand idea into a vacant mud pit with a rotting parking garage. Eventually the property succumbed to foreclosure and more than a year ago the property was bought by a company named North American Properties.

Last month North American Properties came before City Council to ask for approval of their new Avalon project. The new proposal would be a much smaller development with more realistic expectations. It would create less traffic than the original project and reduce the number of housing units by several hundred but key differences including the addition of an apartment component also made the new proposal problematic.

However Avalon still shared one key characteristic with the previous Prospect Park proposal for the site… Avalon has the potential to give Alpharetta an iconic retail center that could cement our position as the most desirable place to live, shop and work in the state of Georgia for decades to come.

With that in mind I started evaluating the ramifications of such a project within a few days of taking office. To review such a complex issue was challenging and over the past few months city council members have spent hundreds of hours reviewing data and working with the Community Development Department’s staff to determine the feasibility of what was being proposed.

Over that time we tried to identify and set forth reasonable conditions for the project to ensure it turns out as promised while allowing the developer the flexibility needed to ensure its economic viability. We spoke with hundreds of constituents and listened closely to their recommendations as well as those of the Planning Commission before we finally sat down to decide the issue. And after the months of research and deliberation the Alpharetta City Council voted unanimously to approve the Avalon project under 53 specific conditions.

In all of the time I spoke to people about the Avalon project I don’t recall ever hearing a single person who absolutely did not want the project to be approved under any circumstances. Scores of people supported or objected to certain aspects of the proposal but every one of them believed that the project could be good for the city under certain circumstances. I listened to every one of those people and I took each of their opinions into consideration before deciding my vote on the issue.

Back on November 10, 2011, two days after my election, I wrote this blog post thanking the people of Alpharetta for the opportunity to represent them on City Council. In that post I wrote:

I know that as an elected representative of over 50,000 people there is no way to satisfy every person every time but I give you my word that I will always do these three things:

1) I will always listen to your concerns.

2) I will always keep an open mind.

3) I will always be honest with you regarding my positions.

I wish I could say every person in Alpharetta supports the Avalon project with the conditions we approved. But I know better. All I can do is stay true to my word and keep those three promises.

Feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments section of this post.

Congratulations Mr. Lowery you did it. Now it’s time to put the deck of race cards away.

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The referendum on Georgia’s transportation tax increase won’t be on the ballot for more than a year but the Reverend Joseph Lowery is already playing his race card. In writing about the process surrounding the transportation project selection Mr. Lowery writes:

Originally, the committee was composed of all white men, mostly from the suburbs. This glaring imbalance prompted Rep. David Ralston, Speaker of the state House of Representatives, to intervene and request that Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed be added to the executive committee.

The painful truth is that Ralston, a white Republican from the north Georgia mountains, should not have been involved in such a local issue.

It’s also telling that other committee members failed to recognize that they did not reflect the region’s diverse demographics. It certainly was obvious to many average citizens in Fulton, DeKalb or the City of Atlanta, who collectively represent 40 percent of the vote within the 10-county region.

A similar misstep was brought to light by Mayor Reed last month. During a meeting of the Regional Roundtable, Reed pointed out that a team of consultants selected to manage the $5 million referendum campaign is also exclusively composed of white men.

You can read Mr. Lowery’s column here.

Of course the appearance of the race card during the transportation tax debate isn’t the only time Mr. Lowery has used it lately. Just a few months ago the news broke that the Reverend filed a lawsuit to dissolve cities in the state of Georgia because of he believes the incorporation of the cities were racist acts. You can read about that issue here.

It is sad to see a man with such a proud history stuck in the past. I have spent nearly 5 decades living in Georgia and I remember how things used to be. I am also well aware of the role that Mr. Lowery played during the civil rights movement. I respect what he did and I am grateful that my children will never be exposed to the kind of racism Mr. Lowery fought.

But with all due respect, this is 2011 and the world is not the same as it was in the 1950’s and 60’s. Children born today are 50 years removed from the segregationist policies that Mr. Lowery fought so valiantly. The vast majority of young white people think of segregation as something that might as well have happened in the stone age.

I am 46 years old and the Civil Rights Act was passed before I was born. People born today are farther removed from institutionalized racism than I was from the Great Depression and the depression seemed like ancient history when grown ups talked about it back then.

Time moves on… so do societies. Leaders need to move on as well.

I’m not saying that racism has been wiped off the face of the Earth any more than greed, lust or avarice have. But the world of 2011 is nearly a half a century removed from the racism that the Reverend Joseph Lowery is still fighting. Someone needs to help him understand that he tarnishes his place in history by continuing to fight battles that are already won. Incorporating a city and raising the taxes on every Georgian are policies we can debate but that does not make them racist acts.

Congratulations Reverend Lowery. You did it. Racism may not be extinct but it has been vanquished. It’s time to put the deck of race cards away.

Today I became a lifelong Texas Rangers fan

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From the AJC:

Paralyzed UGA OF drafted in 33rd round by Texas Rangers

Georgia junior outfielder Johnathan Taylor has been selected by the Texas Rangers in the 33rd round of the Major League Baseball draft Wednesday.

“This  was truly a classy move and a great gesture on the part of the Texas  Rangers organization,” said Georgia coach David Perno.

“J.T. is  definitely a player worthy of getting drafted. He’s been a big part of  our program, and we are all very excited for him. When I talked to him  after he got the call, he was in the middle of his rehabilitation work,  laughing and having a good time and was thrilled to be drafted.”

Currently,  the 5-8, 181-pound Taylor, is an outpatient at the Shepherd Center in  Atlanta after suffering a broken neck in a March 6th outfield  collision this year with teammate Zach Cone. The accident happened  while the Bulldogs were playing Florida State in Athens.

You can read the rest here.

We hear about a lot of screwed up people doing a lot of screwed up things every day in this world. It is refreshing to see a classy move like this from the Texas Rangers.

I think I’ll have to get a Rangers jersey with Taylor and a number 2 on it!

Vultures fighting before the taxpayers even have a sniffle

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According to the AJC:

Racial divisions came to the surface Wednesday as mayors and county commissioners met to build unity for a transportation initiative.

*************

After four white men newly hired as consultants introduced the strategy for the referendum’s communications campaign, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he was “stunned” that there was no woman or nonwhite person among them.

“The four people that presented do not represent the 10-county area at all,” Reed said. “I want to be very clear and go on the record that this is a huge problem.  And if they want to go down this road … then they’re going to lose.”

*************

“I think what you saw was an obvious problem,” said Nathaniel Smith, a founder of the Partnership for Southern Equity, which works for fairness in growth issues. “If they don’t find ways to include various aspects of our region and create a process that includes authentic engagement from the bottom up, this whole referendum is going to crash and burn, and to be frank with you, it deserves to.”

They say that politics makes strange bedfellows and Georgia’s transportation tax increase is a perfect example. The opportunity to distribute billions of dollars more for constituents and political supporters has tempted race baiters from the city of Atlanta into bed with the white, suburban businessmen who stand to make billions from land development deals. A match made in heaven! This should be an interesting pillow fight to watch.

Read the whole thing here.