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All right, Welcome, everybody to the July Watkinsville City Council meeting. We do have a quorum here tonight. It is a narrow 00:00:07
quorum, but we do have a quorum. Grateful to all of you for being here. We're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance, and I 00:00:12
would love it if Connor Jackson could lead us in the pledge. 00:00:18
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:27
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:33
Thank you, Connor rising junior at Oconee County High School and on our football team and soccer team and looking forward to a 00:00:45
great year. I hope so. Glad you're here with your family tonight. But the more important person in the family tonight is La Clare, 00:00:52
younger sister at our well house on Hardin Hill Rd. I got an e-mail. Gosh, it's probably been close to a year ago, eight or nine 00:00:59
months ago from Laura, Claire or a letter maybe. 00:01:06
Asking if she could tackle improving the look of that building. And as we have with our other young citizens, when they reach out, 00:01:13
if their idea makes sense, we really try to bring that to life. And La Claire took it upon herself to figure out what goes on that 00:01:20
building, did mock ups and suggestions for how it would look, worked with our city staff to get that approved and make that 00:01:27
happen. And La Clair, we're grateful for you having the courage as a young leader to bring that idea to the table for us. And 00:01:35
then? 00:01:42
Even more importantly, not just having the idea, but the follow through to make it happen. So we're grateful. Grateful to you for 00:01:49
doing that and thankful as well. So let's give Laura Claire Jackson a round of applause. 00:01:55
And if you want to come around here, we'll stand up and take a picture together. Mom and Dad and Connor, you're welcome to join. 00:02:06
And then we're going to have, we are going to have the family. 00:02:20
All right, y'all come on up here in the middle. 00:02:33
All right, there we go. There we go. All right. Awesome. All right. 00:02:37
Any. 00:02:42
Thank you so much. 00:02:55
We'll have a little break. 00:02:59
All right. 00:03:02
Three people who placed in the term. Watkinsville Red, White and Blue contest, 3rd place. I'm not sure Susan Hensley is Missus 00:03:37
Hensley here tonight. 00:03:42
She will send her a gift certificate to Wing House. 00:03:48
2nd place is Christine Mills and family $35 to traveling hobo. Christine come on up here. 00:03:53
All right, we'll step up here a little picture. 00:04:01
And Christine, maybe just write here real quick. Tell everybody what you did at your house. 00:04:13
I didn't know. Well, we bought new bunting this year, so we draped our front porch with bending all the way across and then 00:04:21
decorated the inside so every table was decorated inside as well. All right. Beautiful look. Great. Thank you. 00:04:28
All right. In first place, I think she's placed in this before is. 00:04:36
Carol. Ivy, Carol. 00:04:42
I don't think my own wife or mommy saying this she's I call her the first lady of Watkinsville. Mayor Ivy who taught me a lot 00:04:47
about leadership and being the mayor. The late Mayor Ivy is is Miss Carroll's husband and we're thrilled every you participate in 00:04:54
everything not shy about telling us what you think in your home was absolutely beautiful. So thank you for what you did. 00:05:01
I. 00:05:20
What I'm doing? 00:05:34
For Christmas and Thanksgiving and different. 00:05:36
Seasons because I just enjoy. 00:05:41
Having it, a lot of people won't buy my house because I'm on Jackson Street and a lady was. 00:05:43
From some other state way off and she was here doing nursing or something and I was out one night several years ago and she said, 00:05:49
oh your yard is just so pretty. I had just. 00:05:54
Haven't had the lights but a year or two, so I just enjoy doing. Gives me something to do. And also watch this family paint the 00:05:59
Whale House in. So proud of that, too. Love, love Watkinsville. Paying it forward, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Thank you. 00:06:05
Thank you. 00:06:11
These are just a few of the things that make Watkinsville special. As I was reflecting, reflecting on here, we have a lot of 00:06:33
conversations about big things and frustrations and traffic and growth and different things like that, but it's really what makes 00:06:37
the community so special is. 00:06:42
Don't feel like you need to stick around. It is a brief meeting and it'll probably be an interesting meeting. But if you need to 00:07:18
go, don't hesitate to slide out of here. You won't hurt our feelings. 00:07:22
I'll make a motion that we approve the agenda. 00:08:38
We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right, let's see. I didn't do agenda. I think I was on minutes. So I need a 00:08:41
motion. Let's back that up. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from the June 19th, 2024? So moved. 00:08:47
We have a second second, any discussion of the minutes and they reflect the edits submitted, correct? OK. 00:08:54
That's all right. That's all right. So with the motion, we have a second all in favor say aye. All right, All right, we'll move 00:09:02
ahead. 00:09:05
Approval of the agenda. I don't have any changes to the agenda unless anyone else does, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the 00:09:08
agenda. 00:09:12
Make a motion to approve the agenda. 00:09:17
Second. All right, we have a second. All in favor say aye, aye. 00:09:20
We're getting a little bit of a reverb sharing. 00:09:24
OK. 00:09:28
That OK. 00:09:31
All right. Jeff, can you say testing, testing, testing, testing. Yeah, that's better. OK, great. OK. 00:09:33
We'll move on into administration Manager Dickerson. I'll let you walk us through the. 00:09:40
Financial situation to the city, please. Everybody should have received the balance sheet, the revenues and expenditures. We are 00:09:44
pretty close to having everything reconciled. There's still some bills that will. 00:09:50
They're coming in. That will be applied to the fiscal year 24. But right now we're it's looking really well. We've received more 00:09:57
than 100% of the revenue, more than 100% of the revenues that were budgeted and we spent less than the expenses that we 00:10:03
anticipated. So that's always a good thing as far as our SPLOST, our SPLOST 3. 00:10:09
Program we've We're about halfway through the referendum and the projects so far our funds have been used on Police Department and 00:10:17
public works equipment, entryway signage, rocket field, hair Shoals Park. 00:10:22
Improvements and resurfacing some roads. We have current and future projects that involve Hair Shoals Park, Thomas Farm Park, 00:10:27
resurfacing additional roads and some more police and public works equipment. 00:10:34
Right now we are averaging I think around eighty $82,000 a month on revenues over the last 32 months and we have a just a little 00:10:41
less than $1,000,000 in the in the bank. 00:10:47
That millions just for the splash three that's just lost 3 Yep. 00:10:55
And then on T's losses, our transportation SPLOST, we're only about a year in so far. Funds have been spent on some Rd. 00:10:58
resurfacing and sidewalks on new high Shoals and industrial Blvd. We have current future projects which include. 00:11:05
The South main sidewalk, a small connection on that South on the South side of Main Street. 00:11:12
And also the Suntan Bridge Rd. Mulberry connector project that we just received the loan and grant from the state on. 00:11:17
On this one, we are averaging about 71,000, a little bit less than 72,000 and we have a little bit more than 630,000 in the bank 00:11:25
for that. 00:11:29
Project. 00:11:34
And then on American Rescue Plan, at last month's meeting, the Council appropriated the remaining monies, including any future 00:11:36
interest that we receive. So that number that says appropriated remaining balance as of 6/19 says 96,728 eleven. That will change 00:11:43
next month because as long as that money's in there, it'll continue to accrue interest so that that number will change. And then 00:11:51
we have a little bit of money left on our retention initiative. We have one opportunity for a new officer to come in and. 00:11:59
Obtained that three-year $10,000 retention initiative through appropriations that y'all made back a couple years ago. 00:12:07
Any questions on any of these reports? 00:12:14
OK. 00:12:17
Move into economic development. 00:12:20
So we don't have any reports believe it or not for June, kind of unusual for no business licenses and no alcohol licenses that 00:12:23
were asked requested, but excise taxes were. We're right on, we're right on budget maybe a little bit, a little bit over maybe. 00:12:30
Hotel, motel and alcohol. And remember that the monies come in at the end of the month. So at the end of this month, we'll get the 00:12:38
monies for June. So that's why you do not see the number for June in that listing. 00:12:43
And then on economic development, on the building permits, we're knocking them out right now, 24 permits for 18 projects. The two 00:12:50
biggest projects are Wire Park, the flats and the townhomes and then new High Shoals roads. Those residential homes have pulled 00:12:56
permits as well. 00:13:01
Any questions on any of those? 00:13:07
OK. And I believe I am also doing the downtown development report for Councilwoman Tucker. 00:13:10
So BBQ Bake Off is coming up August 3rd. It's from 6 to 9 at rocket field. They it will benefit Bethel Haven home which does a lot 00:13:22
of mental health support services, provides those to the community. I believe they are already and will probably be posting if we 00:13:30
haven't already posted a link. They're pre selling the wristbands. It's $15.00 for per adult and $8 for kids 12 and under And that 00:13:38
basically gets you in the door in the fence area and you can try all the BBQ you want and and the baked goods. 00:13:46
I think there's going to be some kids activities. 00:13:55
And I don't know if we'll have music. I imagine there'll be some music of some sort. Councilman Campbell may be able to. There's a 00:13:58
better. That's right. I'm sorry. There's a band. I'll catch up, but this is not normally my thing to do. So. Yeah. So there's a 00:14:03
band that will be there. So it should be a lot of fun. Rain or shine. Hopefully it will be shining and it won't be too hot at 6:00 00:14:09
at night. So we hope everybody will join us. 00:14:15
We do have opening for the Downtown Development Authority Director. To date, we've received 5 applications. 00:14:21
Some good ones in there. We're extending the the search until August the second. We'll see how many more we get in by then and 00:14:28
then regroup. 00:14:33
Any questions on that? 00:14:39
OK. 00:14:42
Good evening, Mayor and Council. 00:14:46
So the Police Department has been extremely busy with training and community activities. So that's the way I like it. We're 00:14:49
involved, deeply involved and continuing our education, which I told you would be our priority, in addition to our safety 00:14:54
measures. 00:15:00
With that being said, we hosted the Governor's officer office of Hwy. Safety Rd. Check and it was very successful. We brought in 00:15:06
some of our neighboring agencies and did education and enforcement activities. But a majority if you'll look at some of the 00:15:14
numbers our our warnings are more than our citations issued and that you know our intent is to teach our drivers and let them know 00:15:21
that we're out there work. 00:15:29
You know, giving them the benefit of the doubt the first time around by issuing warnings. 00:15:37
And we are also very active with our property checks. So we're day and night by, you know, finding some businesses open at night 00:15:43
and just being very proactive, as proactive as we can be. So with that being said, we are, we have a couple vacancies. So we're, 00:15:50
we're looking for some qualified applicants if they would love to serve our wonderful community, I would love to get their 00:15:58
application in. And I guess I'm, I'm talking on the camera and everybody. 00:16:05
So please join us so and then as you can see some of the pictures with the activities that we've done, did some educational 00:16:13
classes for, I say classes basically introduction to what policing is for some of the camps in our community. Very active with ESP 00:16:21
our neighbors next door for their camp, you know, just participating and really getting, getting out there and letting our 00:16:28
community know us and that that's another priority I have so. 00:16:36
That's what we've been up to. If you can see some of the numbers from the road, check. 00:16:44
Any questions? 00:16:50
All right. 00:16:54
Thank you. 00:16:56
Thank you, Chief. 00:16:58
All right, we will move on to the consent agenda. Since nobody has to take anything off, I'll just entertain a motion to approve 00:17:01
the consent agenda. 00:17:04
I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:17:10
Second, any discussion? 00:17:12
All in favor say aye aye. 00:17:15
Motion carries 3. 00:17:18
We'll move on to our public hearing. We have one of those tonight. It's regarding. 00:17:20
A part of wire parks residential project. A variance. So just a reminder on zoning procedures. Law comments will need to relate to 00:17:25
the agenda items. You'll speak from the podium 4 minutes per person. Refrain from debate, argument, personal attacks or irrelevant 00:17:31
discussion. Address only the merits of the pending matter and address remarks directly to Council. Council won't speak to 00:17:37
potential litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:17:43
You'll need to say your name and address when you step to the podium. So we will open the public hearing at this point on Electric 00:17:50
Ave. tax parcel CO4Q001H and that's the zone detached residential. 00:17:57
That's requesting a variance to allow for side and rear setting setbacks on those lots to be 0. So I'm counting on Engineer 00:18:04
Campbell to explain the rationale for this. And then we'll have the applicant come forward after that. And at that point we'll 00:18:10
open up a public hearing where the public can come forward and speak if they want. 00:18:15
Thank you. 00:18:21
So again, this is a variance request by the applicant and so Wire Park is part of an overall development agreement that was 00:18:22
rezoned back originally in 2020, has several zones within it, some of that has mixed-use. 00:18:29
Office zoning, but a portion of that is strictly detached residential for detached residential homes that that's really more on 00:18:37
what I would consider the eastern portion of the property. So if you know where the library is, hopefully you know where the 00:18:44
library is in Water Park. If you go east from kind of that traffic circle there and then up north until Norton Road, that is the 00:18:52
approximately 9 3/4 acres that is subject to this request. So again, hopefully that highlighted portion there from. 00:18:59
The Oconee County tax assessors helps you understand which portion of the project at Wire Park that is the focus of this request 00:19:07
from the applicant. So and this is now rotated back at 90° that they kind of shows you where it what the single family layout 00:19:13
would look like from from Smith Planning Group. I believe they're here today to talk about this application as well. So again, 00:19:20
going to the next slide. 00:19:26
This is the a little bit of the history just the original rezoning was in April of 2020. I think we all kind of have to 00:19:35
recollection of that and remember some of the existing S wire building that was under construction first. 00:19:41
As an initial phase, then there were subsequent phases that you can see under construction now in the what is known as the third 00:19:47
phase would be this detached residential portion. There was a rezoning approximately a year ago at the July 2023 where it was a 00:19:53
zoning amendment because it was a change in the number of detached residential units and attached residential units. So again, 00:20:00
condos, townhomes that you see under construction now as well as the the detached, there was some changes you can see there. 00:20:06
Originally in 2020 there were 40. 00:20:13
29 In 2023, this council, this body approved that number going up to 52 detached residential units. So it's really two requests, 00:20:19
but they're for setbacks both at side and rear the applicant. 00:20:27
Has requested that the. 00:20:36
10 foot side yard set back. You can see that article and code section there be reduced from 10 foot to 0. 00:20:38
The applicant has also requested that the 15 foot rear yard set back a variance be allowed from 15 feet to 0. 00:20:46
The applicant has finally provided clarification there. I want you to note that on there, I'm sure the applicant thought this as 00:20:58
well, that even though the request is to go to zero, it's not so that the house is going to touch, so fire code still would 00:21:04
require spacing to be up to 10 feet. 00:21:09
However, the applicant hasn't requested a reduction from 10 feet to five feet or from 15 feet to five feet. I believe they want 00:21:16
the flexibility to be able to maybe maneuver within that as long as that 10 foot is still maintained. And the final slide here 00:21:23
would be this is, again, as the city engineer, I can't tell you how something does or does not meet code when the application is 00:21:31
specifically for a request of a variance to that code. So in part of the development agreement, this was not addressed. 00:21:39
So this would still fall under the standard code for detached residential, just like you've seen for a lot of other detached 00:21:47
residential within the city. Those 10 foot, 15 foot currently applies to these lots within Wire Park. So that's why we're here 00:21:54
tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Again, this is the variance criteria that I'm sure the attorney is well 00:22:01
aware of also within your code. And this is your charge to to determine whether it meets the criteria for these variants. 00:22:08
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. At this point, we'll invite the applicant or their representative to provide additional information. 00:22:17
Good evening. My name is Joseph Bates with SPG Planners Engineers. 00:22:26
And I live at 180 Homestead Dr. in Athens. 00:22:31
A little bit of a back story and then an explanation for why the Zero set back. So back story when we originally submitted these 00:22:34
plans back in 2020. 00:22:39
This was always phase three, which is currently under construction. This was 40 foot lots. 00:22:44
And in our in our development agreement, we had a 5 foot front yard set back and all intentions to have zero side set back and a 00:22:51
rear set back. 00:22:56
It didn't make it into the development agreement and we just didn't realize that we've been proceeding on the assumption that that 00:23:02
was there when Duke was going to sell to a builder. Once phase three was, I mean of other phases were under construction, one of 00:23:08
the builders brought it to our attention that after reading the development agreement that the side setbacks were at 10 and 15 00:23:14
following the underlying zoning. At that point I reached out to Sharon, realized we needed to go forward with this variance that 00:23:19
so. 00:23:25
That is why we were here, the reason for a zero side set back. 00:23:32
Let's just talk about the 10, the 10 foot set back with the 10 foot set back on 40 foot lots, which we've proposed from the 00:23:38
beginning. You'd be left with a 20 foot house, which is basically a shotgun house and not what what is marketable here and not 00:23:44
what is the aesthetic of the look that we're trying to propose here. Some of the representative architecture images of the the 00:23:49
single family don't show a 20 foot wide house, it shows a 30 foot wide house. 00:23:55
The reason for a zero side set back is that allows flexibility on these narrow 40 foot wide lots to get a side patio where you can 00:24:02
actually use that space, put a grill out there and it becomes functional. And so everybody can have 10 foot functional space, A 00:24:09
side yard with a 0 foot set back. If you go with a reduced set back of five feet on the sides, then you've got, you know, 5 feet 00:24:16
of unusable space essentially. 00:24:23
And so that's that's the intention. Another benefit of the zero set back is on the corner lots. When those are further set back 00:24:31
from the corners, you're allowed to get wrap around porches. 00:24:36
Makes a bit more inviting for those roads you don't want to see just an all siding kind of side of the house on on a public Rd. in 00:24:42
a corner. So there's another advantage just aesthetically for that. 00:24:46
I think that that covers kind of the the intention here and what we're going after. 00:24:53
Let me know if you have any questions. 00:24:57
So it'd still be. 00:25:00
It'd still be 10 feet apart on the side, but one house could be right on the property line and then the next house would be 10 00:25:02
feet into their properties. That minor? 00:25:07
Typically, all of them will laugh upon one property. All the houses will line up on one property line. Yeah, And then they'll be 00:25:12
10 feet kind of on the other, the set back on the other side. And technically it is 10 feet from soffit to soffit, so it will be 00:25:18
12. The houses will be 12 feet apart from Waldorf. OK. 00:25:24
All right. 00:25:31
All right. Thank you, Mr. Bates. Just stand by in case we get any questions. This point I'm going to open it up for. 00:25:33
Public hearing if anybody wants to step forward and. 00:25:39
Make any comments. 00:25:43
Of course. 00:25:49
Kathleen Mcquiston, 13 S Barnett Shoals Rd. So as I understand it, your development agreement wasn't really pretty clear. So 00:25:51
you're asking the city to let them build more houses? 00:25:58
With the same amount of space by zeroing out the property lines instead of building fewer houses and getting the same 10 foot 00:26:05
setbacks, is that right? No, the house number, the number of homes is the same. They're just giving more flexibility to move the 00:26:13
the the house outline on the lot. And how does that rear set back work then? I don't, I don't understand. Does anybody want to 00:26:20
comment on the rear set back Joseph or Mark? 00:26:27
Just feel need to come up and you can stand with Kathleen. The property goes right up to the edge of the house. 00:26:36
To yes, you could. You could. 00:26:43
Y'all gonna share the microphone? You're gonna have to be friends. OK, Kathleen, let Joseph speak on my phone. Yeah. No, let him 00:26:46
explain. 00:26:52
Anyways, go ahead. Yeah, So on a lot of this size which is these are 4000 square foot lots, they are 40 foot wide by 100 feet 00:27:00
deep. Some of that is alley there. There really isn't going to be a backyard. 00:27:06
And so the, you know, if if let's say for example, we weren't putting the garage all the way to the property line, there would be 00:27:13
a driveway, you know, 15 foot driveway going to that garage, but still be unusable space. 00:27:21
So. 00:27:29
The garages are all the way back to the property line. There's no backyard whether there was a 50 foot set back or a. 00:27:31
Zero, OK. 00:27:39
So why not make them 5000 square foot lots? 00:27:41
We we, you know, we designed this for this product here, which is a 4000 square. Yeah. So they're not changing. They're not 00:27:46
changing the original design or the size of the lots or anything like that. So it'll still look the same, just the property lines 00:27:51
will. 00:27:56
Will be different. The lines aren't changing, just the placement of the homes within the boundaries of the lots are slightly 00:28:02
changing to allow patios and other elements in there. 00:28:06
And reading through the old, the original agreement, it was actually in the verbiage down there. It just never made it into the. 00:28:13
I mean, so I've got highlighted, I think you highlighted as well. Didn't you share it in the, in the narrative? I'm pretty sure. I 00:28:22
think the narrative was updated for this purpose. So that I mean, it was the conceptually it was agreed to. Remember, this was 00:28:27
April of 2020, our very first meeting after COVID hit and we were doing this online. It was there was a whole bunch of stuff that 00:28:32
the intent was. 00:28:38
The conceptual intent was, you know, for that. It just didn't make it in the narrative. 00:28:43
In the actual, let's see what this is. 00:28:49
Sorry. 00:28:54
I guess this is a narrative. Yeah, it's an it's an updated narrative. 00:28:57
So any other comments from the public before I close it, bring it back behind the rail? 00:29:02
Other projects that have been done that way or Trove and Wisteria Ridge and so that's done to protect the city so that we don't 00:30:09
all have a developer not as had an agree to something and then go sell it to somebody else and they do something totally 00:30:14
different. So just context. I know we've got some new faces here. I want you to understand what that development agreement does 00:30:19
for us Council. Do you have any other questions for Mr. Bates or Mr. Campbell? 00:30:24
About this request. 00:30:30
Just this is a little bit weeds, but how does it work if you want to work on the side of your house and you have to stand in your 00:30:32
neighbors yard? 00:30:35
Is that like any HOA or something saying that you can? 00:30:40
Does that make sense? 00:30:45
Yeah, so. 00:30:48
Yeah. So, so the inside setbacks are are common in single family, single family detached development now. But yes, there is, there 00:30:59
is that technicality and agreement that is usually baked into the HLA to allow for maintenance kind of access. So technically 00:31:06
you're still going to be 6 feet from the property line regardless, you'll be 6 feet from the property line. 00:31:12
Well, the house, right? You got the eve that. 00:31:20
And they got to be 1212 feet apart. The houses. The houses have to be 12 feet. That means you got 6 foot on either side. 00:31:24
You will be 6 feet from the midpoint between the properties, but these will be right on the property line. So yes, you will be in 00:31:33
your neighbors yard if you are painting. And that's why he referenced language in the homeowner association covenants to provide 00:31:39
for such. I would certainly encourage you all to make sure that happens. 00:31:45
OK. 00:31:56
Any further questions for the applicant? 00:31:58
All right. With that, I'll close the public hearing. 00:32:01
We'll move to the vote and that's the way we have to do these. We have a public hearing to discuss it, see if there's any input. 00:32:04
And the next thing we do is we actually vote on that item. So we're moving to item 12, the vote on that item. Is there any 00:32:08
reporting that needs to be done prior to the vote? 00:32:12
Mr. Campbell, anything from the applicant? 00:32:17
Joseph, shake your head. Nothing else from you. All right, Council, I'll entertain a motion on the request for the variance. 00:32:21
I make a motion to approve the variance request at Electric Ave. 00:32:29
All right, do we have a second? 00:32:33
I'll second we have a motion and a second any further discussion. 00:32:36
All in favor say aye aye. Any opposed motion carries 30. 00:32:40
Appearances we have none. Christian Church lease agreement under old business. 00:32:45
Sharon, you may have to back me up. I'm going to summarize this the Christian Church parking area, which is located between 00:32:52
Watkinsville First Christian Church and Dan Elders Loft building on Main Street. 00:32:57
Is has been utilized by the City of Watkinsville for. 00:33:04
Parking for, gosh, probably. How long? 15 years, Sharon, It's been a while. 00:33:09
The reason that the church agreed to that in the 1st place was we paved that lot for them. That's the former site, believe it or 00:33:15
not, of Watkinsville Service Center. For those who've been around for a few years. That's where Darcy used to be before he moved 00:33:20
out and sold his business. So, so anyway, the church bought that years ago, but it was a little dirt lot. We paved it for them. We 00:33:24
helped with the maintenance of that. When we started looking at that agreement, they realized it was just rolling over year over 00:33:29
year. 00:33:33
And they, they requested that we take a fresh look at that agreement, which I think is totally fair. We do leases with several 00:33:38
other people in the city and they wanted to work with us on, on that request. So I've met with him twice. 00:33:46
And worked out the terms of the agreement. Does the next slide show anything about the terms, Sharon? OK. I think the what we 00:33:55
would need to discuss, there's a payment involved sharing. Do you remember what we've offered and what their request is? Yeah, we 00:34:02
budgeted 2280 and they've asked for 4560. So we budgeted 2280 to rent those spots. I think that comes out to roughly. 00:34:10
And if that's about maybe $9 per space per month, they've requested more than that. 00:34:18
I'd love to meet in the middle with y'all's approval and go back to them with that and see if we can do that. This parking is 00:34:25
really important for our merchants downtown. It's easy to kind of take it for granted, but you know, we don't have a lot of extra 00:34:31
parking. This would give us the ability to continue to work with them, but but they would like to be compensated for the use of 00:34:37
that lot and I think that's totally appropriate. There are some specific carve outs in there as it relates to notification for 00:34:43
when they can use that lot. 00:34:48
They also would obviously control that during the parade and the fall festival. So there was some work that we had to do to assure 00:34:54
them that the lot would be theirs and theirs to use as they saw fit during a few key events during the year. And of course, if 00:35:00
they have church events, then it defaults back to them. So that's a summary manager Dickerson or Attorney Reitman, if there's 00:35:06
anything you want to add. 00:35:12
I'm all ears on that. You reference meet in the middle. I just added the 2280 set forth here in and the 4560 I think you all 00:35:19
stayed was requested divide those by Pardon me, was it 40? I thought it was 49456. It gives you 6840 split that in the middle 00:35:27
leaves you 342034203535. There you go. 00:35:35
Yeah, I'd be OK with taking taking them back 35 see what they accept that. 00:35:45
OK. All right. Any other questions about the contract? I'm just going to make a point. We also maintain there's like three islands 00:35:52
of vegetation in there that we maintain. And so that's additional. I believe they backed off of the signage, although there is 00:35:58
some signage in there. We'll certainly work with the church if there's specific wording they'd like to have to provide signage 00:36:04
that that is being that that parking lot is being leased so. 00:36:10
Yeah. So originally before we were, you know, before they requested payment, we were going to do some additional signage and other 00:36:18
things like that. But they came, they came back to us and requested a pretty more basic lease arrangement with a with, with the 00:36:22
payment and. 00:36:26
But it's a, you know, we'll work with the lawyers to paper that up the right way. 00:36:32
Do we need to make a motion? I'd like a motion to approve. Yeah, to approve the mayor to, you know, mayor manager, to go back to 00:36:37
the Christian Church with that amount. 00:36:41
So make that motion. Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve up to 3500 for the mayor and and manager to make these negotiations. 00:36:47
Second, all right, any further discussion? 00:36:58
All in favor. 00:37:01
OK. Any opposed? 00:37:04
All right, next item up under old business award and contract related to. 00:37:06
Thomas Farm Preserve This is our. 00:37:13
Might be a good time to give a quick update. We approved at our last meeting work to begin on some of our other trails and 00:37:18
activities at Thomas Farm and that's well underway. I walked the paths on Saturday. We've got the rough ends for most of our pass 00:37:25
through the woods. That started. A lot of the work on the dams has begun. The bathroom has been renovated. 00:37:32
So they are blowing and going out there. New water line is being installed today. So the work is really moving forward out there. 00:37:40
These would be related to, I guess, Manager Dickerson. You're going to give us a report on that. So how about I don't try to 00:37:47
summarize what you know and you give us the report on this and we'll go from. 00:37:51
Tonight, what we're asking is for you to award the contract for approximately 1.16 miles of aggregate pedestrian trails at Thomas 00:37:58
Farm Park to Mark Thomas Enterprises, and we'll walk through what that looks like. We're asking for an estimated not to exceed 00:38:04
90,000. I'll talk about that a little bit. Also approve the contract agreement. 00:38:10
For those and for the Mayor and city clerk to sign those documents, these are the two aggregate trails on Thomas Farm Preserve 00:38:18
that we are that we requested pricing on. One is a 10 foot almost three quarter mile. The other is an aggregate shoulder that goes 00:38:26
around a paved path that we'll talk about in the next item on the agenda and that's a little bit less than half a mile. So trail B 00:38:33
is on the right, but the aggregate shoulder of trail B is on the right and on the left is the larger. 00:38:41
Wider trail, as the mayor mentioned back in early February or earlier this year, there was reprogramming of splice funds to 00:38:49
establish a budget for Thomas Farm, which was purchased back in the fall of last year. The council approved in June, just last 00:38:57
month to award Mark Thomas and Enterprises, who was the only bidder on their proposal on that project, for him to do 1.14 miles of 00:39:04
aggregate, which will see some pictures in the mayor's report of some of that work. It's already underway. 00:39:12
And then last month the council also approved to reprogram some monies in FLOSS 3 by moving those to T spots for Rd. resurfacing 00:39:20
so we could free up some money for these projects. On June 27th we released a request for proposal for this project. On July 15th 00:39:27
we received two proposals, Mark Thomas Enterprises and Smith and Co Smith and Co is actually the one doing the work on the 00:39:34
bathroom innovation at the park. I just wanted to make a note that when. 00:39:41
City Engineer Mark Campbell and I reviewed the proposals. There were some differences among the proposals. We made sure that they 00:39:49
lined up with unit pricing and whatnot as a result. 00:39:54
We had to increase Mark Thomas's price to handle additional metal edging that's going to be on the aggregate, on the, sorry, on 00:40:00
the shoulder of the aggregate trail. And then we had to increase Smith and Codes for some additional soap fencing. When we did 00:40:07
that, we came up with this pricing that you see at the bottom. Even though Mark Thomas proposed 74,700, if we're going to make 00:40:14
them equal, we end up with 87745 and 88687, which is a very short slight difference. 00:40:22
Eight different companies. I think there's 845677 companies on this one. 00:41:05
And but we only had two that submitted. So again work that our request is in front of you. Any questions? 00:41:11
And just so you all know, the next item we're going to discuss is for the paved paths that Thomas Farm Park. So we've got two that 00:41:22
we're considering Thomas Farm preserve that we're considering tonight. And and the contract is written not to oops, I'm sorry, 00:41:28
backed up not to exceed 90,000. He his bid was for 74 seven, so. 00:41:34
It will not exceed 90 and they just gives a little flexibility. So if we decide not to put all the, if we don't need edging all 00:41:42
the way around on some of this area, we won't use it, won't ask him to use it. It just gives a little flexibility in the contract 00:41:45
so. 00:41:49
Council, any questions? 00:41:54
All right, with that, we'll entertain. Ask for a. 00:42:00
Motion. 00:42:03
Councilman Thomas will probably recuse SO. 00:42:07
Make a motion to approve the contract with Mark Thomas Enterprises. 00:42:10
Do we have a second? A second? 00:42:14
All right, all in favor say aye aye, and any opposed motion carries 2 out of 3. 00:42:17
Next, we need to move on to the paved path. And again, it was just a little bit of context. No, Sharon will offer this up, but we 00:42:25
also have in addition to the aggregate paths at Thomas Farm Preserve, we're going to have one mile of paved 88 accessible pass. 00:42:29
It'll primarily go around the pond and go from our parking lot areas to our restrooms. And so that's what we're talking about 00:42:33
here. 00:42:38
And so you. 00:42:43
And that's why we're asking for some metal edging to keep the aggregate from flowing into the into the lake when it may rain 00:43:22
heavy. 00:43:26
The again, I'm not going to repeat this because we just went through all those same things that we talked about a minute ago. We 00:43:31
did release again on the 27th, same day as the aggregate path, this proposal request. We received 3 pricing proposals, Mayweather 00:43:36
Concrete in SCW and Smith and Co. 00:43:42
Again, website, it was on our website. It was also advertised for two weeks in the Open County Enterprise. So again we are asking 00:44:23
for this request. 00:44:27
All right, I'll entertain a motion. 00:44:34
Make a motion to award an SEW the contract for the construction of the one mile of paved. 00:44:37
That path. 00:44:45
Do we have a second? 00:44:47
All right, we have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion all in favor say aye, aye. All right. 00:44:50
All right, that motion carries 3. 00:44:56
I'll just say, and I know I'll give an update probably in my comments, but. 00:45:01
Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Broderick and the rest of the council members who are here. 00:46:44
My name is Victoria Cruz. I live at 1151 Lake Walbrook Dr. I'm in Athens but Oconee County, so I am not in the Watkinsville city 00:46:49
limits. However, I do have occasion to drive through Watkinsville and drive into Watkinsville and I have to admit that I don't 00:46:55
think that's on. So I'm. 00:47:01
It may be on. It's on. Yes, ma'am. OK. 00:47:09
And I was shocked to drive in and see the apartment buildings that are going up in front of Wire Park. I remember looking at the 00:47:13
concept plan for water Park and seeing an open area where people were gathering, where families were gathering in the green space. 00:47:20
And then the library came in and I thought, that's great. And we have the library there. And then these buildings started to go up 00:47:27
one. 00:47:34
Then two. 00:47:43
Now 4 I believe. 00:47:44
They are so close to the road, they are one of the first things that people see driving into Watkinsville from the South. 00:47:47
From. 00:47:57
Georgia yes, well, from Athens, from Athens. And it was just shocking. They, they do not fit the character of Watkinsville. I 00:47:58
don't think they fit the character of Oconee County. I'm not even sure that there's anything quite that ugly in Athens. Clark 00:48:08
County, unless you go to UGA, which are dormitories where people are moving temporarily. I I think that somewhere along the line. 00:48:17
Somebody did not. 00:48:28
See this all the way through is to come its completion and realize how out of character it is. And I know you want to have that 00:48:30
all connected with with sidewalks and and I think all of that is wonderful. I think your ideas about the green space, the Thomas 00:48:38
Farms property is wonderful. I like the paved area because as you know, over 70 now, I'm not someone who can handle. We tried to 00:48:46
walk into a City Park, the one that went all down in the woods and everything. 00:48:53
That's difficult, so I'm glad you're doing those kinds of things. I like how you decorate the city during holidays, like for July 00:49:01
4th and Memorial Day. It was wonderful. These are things I value about Watkinsville, and I am close enough to Watkinsville to 00:49:07
consider it. 00:49:13
Part of where I live, even though I don't live in the city and I just worry now. Now we're talking about 0. 00:49:19
Lines between homes, those single so-called single family detached homes which are basically joined at the hip, all of them again, 00:49:28
I just. 00:49:34
I see other. 00:49:40
Small towns that maintain the small town character and I think that Watkinsville is deviating quite a bit from that. And I just 00:49:42
hope in the future you would consider about consider what the final product is going to look like, not just. 00:49:50
Now let's get that land developed. Let's put something in there just. 00:49:59
Pay attention to that. And a video was posted online and a lot of people weighed in and felt the same way as I did. And that's why 00:50:05
I'm here to talk about it. Well, thank you. Thank you. 00:50:10
Anyone else? 00:50:17
I just wanted to give a public shout out to Connie Massey. 00:50:25
Connie wanders around. Well, she walks, not wanders around our neighborhood. 00:50:29
Which and she looks, she watches things, she looks at things she sees. She keeps an eye on the empty houses, on the houses where 00:50:35
people are gone for extended times, like Mr. Tom. She looks after the cats. She, she's just kind of a good, a good person to have 00:50:43
around in our neighborhood. She's she's our watchdog. And I just want to say thank you. 00:50:51
Glad to do it. 00:51:00
Thank you, Kathleen. It's always great when somebody stands up and. 00:51:03
Gives a compliment. Anyone else? 00:51:07
All right, great. We'll move on to the mayor's report. 00:51:11
Before I get into this, I do want to touch on just. 00:51:17
That project has been shelved. That won't be back in August. It won't be coming forward in this timeframe. I don't know what will 00:52:23
happen with that. So I know several of you had concerns about that. I know several members of council had concerns about that. I 00:52:28
think the owner realized that was unlikely to be approved and he is not going to be back with that in August. And I know that 00:52:34
concerned some of you and it concerned frankly a lot of people behind the rail in terms of what was happening there so. 00:52:40
Have our eyes wide open on a lot of other things too, and that's one reason that the some of the other projects I just mentioned 00:53:47
aren't necessarily coming back before you. 00:53:51
I don't know if there's other photos. This is the interior of the restroom. We're a lot further along than this now. There's the 00:54:26
sheetrock is up, the toilets in the sinks in. That work I'd say is probably 90% done at Thomas Farm. 00:54:32
Hair shows park boardwalk update. We got bids on this. 00:54:39
I laugh at some of the information that's floating around about this right now. I want to remind everybody why we're having to do 00:54:45
this work. It's because somebody decided to go back in the woods and push down the guardrails at this. We've had some people say, 00:54:51
oh, the city didn't do it. The city was supposed to do. This is a direct result of vandalism in the city. And as a result of that 00:54:58
vandalism, we got to bid the other day of 300 eighty, $50,000 to fix that bridge. 00:55:04
Because somebody decided they were going to go and damage that city asset. We do not have $350,000 to redo that bridge. So we're 00:55:12
going to take a hard look at some other ways we can get that done. 00:55:17
The work that we have to do there and that is a direct result, sadly, of somebody deciding they wanted to. 00:55:58
Damaged some city property and it's really unfortunate that we have a massive repair job we have to do because of that. So that's 00:56:04
where we are. We're going to hopefully be back to you guys next month with a much lower number and potentially some different 00:56:10
solutions for how we can get that job done. So knock on wood and say a little prayer. And if anybody has any ideas or is it is a 00:56:16
creative construction person, we'd love to talk to you. So, but we know it's important to get that fixed. 00:56:22
OK. All right. 00:56:29
Miss Hammel, did you have a question about that? 00:56:31
Step up here if you don't mind. Yep. 00:56:35
So, but that's what we anticipate for the hours right now. Yes, ma'am. 00:57:08
OK. 00:57:13
Not sure what's next. 00:57:15
OK, All right. I think that's it for me. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I need to update on a. 00:57:17
I don't think there is, so with that we'll move on to council, reports Councilwoman Massey. 00:57:24
Councilman Thomas, I just want to echo the mayors. 00:57:31
Words so you know the. 00:57:36
I, I've been here all my life and growing up here, it's been a small town and I love, I love this town. I think one of the best 00:57:40
things, best decisions we ever did was the Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:57:46
I, I actually lived in what is now going to be our bathroom for, for a couple years while while we moved into a different house in 00:57:54
Windy Creek. But it's that this place has always been a wonderful, wonderful town to me and I, I love that. 00:58:02
You know what we're trying to do here. And I think I've, there's no, I'm not hiding that. I don't want to be a bigger town. I 00:58:10
don't want to be a Gwinnett. I don't want to be a Marietta. I don't want to be in Athens. I try to stay away from those towns, 00:58:17
truthfully. But the, the wire park thing was, was a unique opportunity for us to expand. I actually ate lunch today in Marietta 00:58:24
Square and it reminded me of a wire Park and it was, it was nice to see. 00:58:32
Where? 00:58:40
Where, where we, what we have done to, to to improve the city. I'm I'm not for big development. 00:58:42
At all. And I've had multiple conversations with other developers about expansion in the city and you, you can mark it down. I 00:58:49
don't, I'm not for any, any large expansion, but we, we have to continue to be smart about the city and, and provide adequate 00:58:55
growth for our citizens as they come in. And you know, we have the best number one school systems in the state that people are 00:59:02
going to move here. When, when you, you're up there when the governor's bragging, I mean the, the, the school board's bragging. 00:59:09
We're the number one city to live in. 00:59:16
In the United in Georgia and that that's awesome that's going to bring people. And so we got to be smart about our growth. And I 00:59:23
think that's what our council here tries to do is just be smart about the growth that's coming. And you got a plan for the growth. 00:59:29
I mean, if you're not planning 1020 years in advance, you're, you're getting behind because it's coming and there's no stopping 00:59:35
the growth from coming. We, we just do what we can to manage what we have so. 00:59:41
Thank you, Councilman Thomas, Councilman Campbell. 00:59:49
Nothing to report. 00:59:52
OK. With that, we do have an executive session tonight to discuss personnel matters and potential litigation. It'll be brief, but 00:59:56
we'll do a quick adjournment. We'll take 5 minutes. And if anybody has? 01:00:02
We do have a lot of people here, so if there's anything you want to discuss offline council be available for 5 minutes, then we'll 01:00:10
come back in here and have our executive session. At that point, I will make a last for a formal, formal motion to go into 01:00:15
executive session, and we'll do that. You're welcome to stay until I make that motion. But at that point, we would ask you to 01:00:19
leave, but we'll do a brief recess and in 5 minutes, we'll start our executive session. 01:00:24
Thank you all for coming. 01:00:40
You feel better about the lifetime thing. We're just pretty fired up about that. 01:00:46
All right, I'll enter. Are we back on? 01:03:27
OK. I'll entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss personnel and pending litigation. 01:03:29
I'll make a motion to go into executive session. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor say aye, Aye. OK. 01:03:37
And. 01:03:45
You turn on your microphone and you make the motion to adjourn. 01:03:50
If you want to adjourn. 01:03:53
Yeah, yeah. 01:03:55
I make a motion to adjourn. We have a second. 01:03:58
Second, all in favor say aye. 01:04:03
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All right, Welcome, everybody to the July Watkinsville City Council meeting. We do have a quorum here tonight. It is a narrow 00:00:07
quorum, but we do have a quorum. Grateful to all of you for being here. We're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance, and I 00:00:12
would love it if Connor Jackson could lead us in the pledge. 00:00:18
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:27
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:33
Thank you, Connor rising junior at Oconee County High School and on our football team and soccer team and looking forward to a 00:00:45
great year. I hope so. Glad you're here with your family tonight. But the more important person in the family tonight is La Clare, 00:00:52
younger sister at our well house on Hardin Hill Rd. I got an e-mail. Gosh, it's probably been close to a year ago, eight or nine 00:00:59
months ago from Laura, Claire or a letter maybe. 00:01:06
Asking if she could tackle improving the look of that building. And as we have with our other young citizens, when they reach out, 00:01:13
if their idea makes sense, we really try to bring that to life. And La Claire took it upon herself to figure out what goes on that 00:01:20
building, did mock ups and suggestions for how it would look, worked with our city staff to get that approved and make that 00:01:27
happen. And La Clair, we're grateful for you having the courage as a young leader to bring that idea to the table for us. And 00:01:35
then? 00:01:42
Even more importantly, not just having the idea, but the follow through to make it happen. So we're grateful. Grateful to you for 00:01:49
doing that and thankful as well. So let's give Laura Claire Jackson a round of applause. 00:01:55
And if you want to come around here, we'll stand up and take a picture together. Mom and Dad and Connor, you're welcome to join. 00:02:06
And then we're going to have, we are going to have the family. 00:02:20
All right, y'all come on up here in the middle. 00:02:33
All right, there we go. There we go. All right. Awesome. All right. 00:02:37
Any. 00:02:42
Thank you so much. 00:02:55
We'll have a little break. 00:02:59
All right. 00:03:02
Three people who placed in the term. Watkinsville Red, White and Blue contest, 3rd place. I'm not sure Susan Hensley is Missus 00:03:37
Hensley here tonight. 00:03:42
She will send her a gift certificate to Wing House. 00:03:48
2nd place is Christine Mills and family $35 to traveling hobo. Christine come on up here. 00:03:53
All right, we'll step up here a little picture. 00:04:01
And Christine, maybe just write here real quick. Tell everybody what you did at your house. 00:04:13
I didn't know. Well, we bought new bunting this year, so we draped our front porch with bending all the way across and then 00:04:21
decorated the inside so every table was decorated inside as well. All right. Beautiful look. Great. Thank you. 00:04:28
All right. In first place, I think she's placed in this before is. 00:04:36
Carol. Ivy, Carol. 00:04:42
I don't think my own wife or mommy saying this she's I call her the first lady of Watkinsville. Mayor Ivy who taught me a lot 00:04:47
about leadership and being the mayor. The late Mayor Ivy is is Miss Carroll's husband and we're thrilled every you participate in 00:04:54
everything not shy about telling us what you think in your home was absolutely beautiful. So thank you for what you did. 00:05:01
I. 00:05:20
What I'm doing? 00:05:34
For Christmas and Thanksgiving and different. 00:05:36
Seasons because I just enjoy. 00:05:41
Having it, a lot of people won't buy my house because I'm on Jackson Street and a lady was. 00:05:43
From some other state way off and she was here doing nursing or something and I was out one night several years ago and she said, 00:05:49
oh your yard is just so pretty. I had just. 00:05:54
Haven't had the lights but a year or two, so I just enjoy doing. Gives me something to do. And also watch this family paint the 00:05:59
Whale House in. So proud of that, too. Love, love Watkinsville. Paying it forward, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Thank you. 00:06:05
Thank you. 00:06:11
These are just a few of the things that make Watkinsville special. As I was reflecting, reflecting on here, we have a lot of 00:06:33
conversations about big things and frustrations and traffic and growth and different things like that, but it's really what makes 00:06:37
the community so special is. 00:06:42
Don't feel like you need to stick around. It is a brief meeting and it'll probably be an interesting meeting. But if you need to 00:07:18
go, don't hesitate to slide out of here. You won't hurt our feelings. 00:07:22
I'll make a motion that we approve the agenda. 00:08:38
We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. All right, let's see. I didn't do agenda. I think I was on minutes. So I need a 00:08:41
motion. Let's back that up. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes from the June 19th, 2024? So moved. 00:08:47
We have a second second, any discussion of the minutes and they reflect the edits submitted, correct? OK. 00:08:54
That's all right. That's all right. So with the motion, we have a second all in favor say aye. All right, All right, we'll move 00:09:02
ahead. 00:09:05
Approval of the agenda. I don't have any changes to the agenda unless anyone else does, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the 00:09:08
agenda. 00:09:12
Make a motion to approve the agenda. 00:09:17
Second. All right, we have a second. All in favor say aye, aye. 00:09:20
We're getting a little bit of a reverb sharing. 00:09:24
OK. 00:09:28
That OK. 00:09:31
All right. Jeff, can you say testing, testing, testing, testing. Yeah, that's better. OK, great. OK. 00:09:33
We'll move on into administration Manager Dickerson. I'll let you walk us through the. 00:09:40
Financial situation to the city, please. Everybody should have received the balance sheet, the revenues and expenditures. We are 00:09:44
pretty close to having everything reconciled. There's still some bills that will. 00:09:50
They're coming in. That will be applied to the fiscal year 24. But right now we're it's looking really well. We've received more 00:09:57
than 100% of the revenue, more than 100% of the revenues that were budgeted and we spent less than the expenses that we 00:10:03
anticipated. So that's always a good thing as far as our SPLOST, our SPLOST 3. 00:10:09
Program we've We're about halfway through the referendum and the projects so far our funds have been used on Police Department and 00:10:17
public works equipment, entryway signage, rocket field, hair Shoals Park. 00:10:22
Improvements and resurfacing some roads. We have current and future projects that involve Hair Shoals Park, Thomas Farm Park, 00:10:27
resurfacing additional roads and some more police and public works equipment. 00:10:34
Right now we are averaging I think around eighty $82,000 a month on revenues over the last 32 months and we have a just a little 00:10:41
less than $1,000,000 in the in the bank. 00:10:47
That millions just for the splash three that's just lost 3 Yep. 00:10:55
And then on T's losses, our transportation SPLOST, we're only about a year in so far. Funds have been spent on some Rd. 00:10:58
resurfacing and sidewalks on new high Shoals and industrial Blvd. We have current future projects which include. 00:11:05
The South main sidewalk, a small connection on that South on the South side of Main Street. 00:11:12
And also the Suntan Bridge Rd. Mulberry connector project that we just received the loan and grant from the state on. 00:11:17
On this one, we are averaging about 71,000, a little bit less than 72,000 and we have a little bit more than 630,000 in the bank 00:11:25
for that. 00:11:29
Project. 00:11:34
And then on American Rescue Plan, at last month's meeting, the Council appropriated the remaining monies, including any future 00:11:36
interest that we receive. So that number that says appropriated remaining balance as of 6/19 says 96,728 eleven. That will change 00:11:43
next month because as long as that money's in there, it'll continue to accrue interest so that that number will change. And then 00:11:51
we have a little bit of money left on our retention initiative. We have one opportunity for a new officer to come in and. 00:11:59
Obtained that three-year $10,000 retention initiative through appropriations that y'all made back a couple years ago. 00:12:07
Any questions on any of these reports? 00:12:14
OK. 00:12:17
Move into economic development. 00:12:20
So we don't have any reports believe it or not for June, kind of unusual for no business licenses and no alcohol licenses that 00:12:23
were asked requested, but excise taxes were. We're right on, we're right on budget maybe a little bit, a little bit over maybe. 00:12:30
Hotel, motel and alcohol. And remember that the monies come in at the end of the month. So at the end of this month, we'll get the 00:12:38
monies for June. So that's why you do not see the number for June in that listing. 00:12:43
And then on economic development, on the building permits, we're knocking them out right now, 24 permits for 18 projects. The two 00:12:50
biggest projects are Wire Park, the flats and the townhomes and then new High Shoals roads. Those residential homes have pulled 00:12:56
permits as well. 00:13:01
Any questions on any of those? 00:13:07
OK. And I believe I am also doing the downtown development report for Councilwoman Tucker. 00:13:10
So BBQ Bake Off is coming up August 3rd. It's from 6 to 9 at rocket field. They it will benefit Bethel Haven home which does a lot 00:13:22
of mental health support services, provides those to the community. I believe they are already and will probably be posting if we 00:13:30
haven't already posted a link. They're pre selling the wristbands. It's $15.00 for per adult and $8 for kids 12 and under And that 00:13:38
basically gets you in the door in the fence area and you can try all the BBQ you want and and the baked goods. 00:13:46
I think there's going to be some kids activities. 00:13:55
And I don't know if we'll have music. I imagine there'll be some music of some sort. Councilman Campbell may be able to. There's a 00:13:58
better. That's right. I'm sorry. There's a band. I'll catch up, but this is not normally my thing to do. So. Yeah. So there's a 00:14:03
band that will be there. So it should be a lot of fun. Rain or shine. Hopefully it will be shining and it won't be too hot at 6:00 00:14:09
at night. So we hope everybody will join us. 00:14:15
We do have opening for the Downtown Development Authority Director. To date, we've received 5 applications. 00:14:21
Some good ones in there. We're extending the the search until August the second. We'll see how many more we get in by then and 00:14:28
then regroup. 00:14:33
Any questions on that? 00:14:39
OK. 00:14:42
Good evening, Mayor and Council. 00:14:46
So the Police Department has been extremely busy with training and community activities. So that's the way I like it. We're 00:14:49
involved, deeply involved and continuing our education, which I told you would be our priority, in addition to our safety 00:14:54
measures. 00:15:00
With that being said, we hosted the Governor's officer office of Hwy. Safety Rd. Check and it was very successful. We brought in 00:15:06
some of our neighboring agencies and did education and enforcement activities. But a majority if you'll look at some of the 00:15:14
numbers our our warnings are more than our citations issued and that you know our intent is to teach our drivers and let them know 00:15:21
that we're out there work. 00:15:29
You know, giving them the benefit of the doubt the first time around by issuing warnings. 00:15:37
And we are also very active with our property checks. So we're day and night by, you know, finding some businesses open at night 00:15:43
and just being very proactive, as proactive as we can be. So with that being said, we are, we have a couple vacancies. So we're, 00:15:50
we're looking for some qualified applicants if they would love to serve our wonderful community, I would love to get their 00:15:58
application in. And I guess I'm, I'm talking on the camera and everybody. 00:16:05
So please join us so and then as you can see some of the pictures with the activities that we've done, did some educational 00:16:13
classes for, I say classes basically introduction to what policing is for some of the camps in our community. Very active with ESP 00:16:21
our neighbors next door for their camp, you know, just participating and really getting, getting out there and letting our 00:16:28
community know us and that that's another priority I have so. 00:16:36
That's what we've been up to. If you can see some of the numbers from the road, check. 00:16:44
Any questions? 00:16:50
All right. 00:16:54
Thank you. 00:16:56
Thank you, Chief. 00:16:58
All right, we will move on to the consent agenda. Since nobody has to take anything off, I'll just entertain a motion to approve 00:17:01
the consent agenda. 00:17:04
I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:17:10
Second, any discussion? 00:17:12
All in favor say aye aye. 00:17:15
Motion carries 3. 00:17:18
We'll move on to our public hearing. We have one of those tonight. It's regarding. 00:17:20
A part of wire parks residential project. A variance. So just a reminder on zoning procedures. Law comments will need to relate to 00:17:25
the agenda items. You'll speak from the podium 4 minutes per person. Refrain from debate, argument, personal attacks or irrelevant 00:17:31
discussion. Address only the merits of the pending matter and address remarks directly to Council. Council won't speak to 00:17:37
potential litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:17:43
You'll need to say your name and address when you step to the podium. So we will open the public hearing at this point on Electric 00:17:50
Ave. tax parcel CO4Q001H and that's the zone detached residential. 00:17:57
That's requesting a variance to allow for side and rear setting setbacks on those lots to be 0. So I'm counting on Engineer 00:18:04
Campbell to explain the rationale for this. And then we'll have the applicant come forward after that. And at that point we'll 00:18:10
open up a public hearing where the public can come forward and speak if they want. 00:18:15
Thank you. 00:18:21
So again, this is a variance request by the applicant and so Wire Park is part of an overall development agreement that was 00:18:22
rezoned back originally in 2020, has several zones within it, some of that has mixed-use. 00:18:29
Office zoning, but a portion of that is strictly detached residential for detached residential homes that that's really more on 00:18:37
what I would consider the eastern portion of the property. So if you know where the library is, hopefully you know where the 00:18:44
library is in Water Park. If you go east from kind of that traffic circle there and then up north until Norton Road, that is the 00:18:52
approximately 9 3/4 acres that is subject to this request. So again, hopefully that highlighted portion there from. 00:18:59
The Oconee County tax assessors helps you understand which portion of the project at Wire Park that is the focus of this request 00:19:07
from the applicant. So and this is now rotated back at 90° that they kind of shows you where it what the single family layout 00:19:13
would look like from from Smith Planning Group. I believe they're here today to talk about this application as well. So again, 00:19:20
going to the next slide. 00:19:26
This is the a little bit of the history just the original rezoning was in April of 2020. I think we all kind of have to 00:19:35
recollection of that and remember some of the existing S wire building that was under construction first. 00:19:41
As an initial phase, then there were subsequent phases that you can see under construction now in the what is known as the third 00:19:47
phase would be this detached residential portion. There was a rezoning approximately a year ago at the July 2023 where it was a 00:19:53
zoning amendment because it was a change in the number of detached residential units and attached residential units. So again, 00:20:00
condos, townhomes that you see under construction now as well as the the detached, there was some changes you can see there. 00:20:06
Originally in 2020 there were 40. 00:20:13
29 In 2023, this council, this body approved that number going up to 52 detached residential units. So it's really two requests, 00:20:19
but they're for setbacks both at side and rear the applicant. 00:20:27
Has requested that the. 00:20:36
10 foot side yard set back. You can see that article and code section there be reduced from 10 foot to 0. 00:20:38
The applicant has also requested that the 15 foot rear yard set back a variance be allowed from 15 feet to 0. 00:20:46
The applicant has finally provided clarification there. I want you to note that on there, I'm sure the applicant thought this as 00:20:58
well, that even though the request is to go to zero, it's not so that the house is going to touch, so fire code still would 00:21:04
require spacing to be up to 10 feet. 00:21:09
However, the applicant hasn't requested a reduction from 10 feet to five feet or from 15 feet to five feet. I believe they want 00:21:16
the flexibility to be able to maybe maneuver within that as long as that 10 foot is still maintained. And the final slide here 00:21:23
would be this is, again, as the city engineer, I can't tell you how something does or does not meet code when the application is 00:21:31
specifically for a request of a variance to that code. So in part of the development agreement, this was not addressed. 00:21:39
So this would still fall under the standard code for detached residential, just like you've seen for a lot of other detached 00:21:47
residential within the city. Those 10 foot, 15 foot currently applies to these lots within Wire Park. So that's why we're here 00:21:54
tonight. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. Again, this is the variance criteria that I'm sure the attorney is well 00:22:01
aware of also within your code. And this is your charge to to determine whether it meets the criteria for these variants. 00:22:08
Thank you, Mr. Campbell. At this point, we'll invite the applicant or their representative to provide additional information. 00:22:17
Good evening. My name is Joseph Bates with SPG Planners Engineers. 00:22:26
And I live at 180 Homestead Dr. in Athens. 00:22:31
A little bit of a back story and then an explanation for why the Zero set back. So back story when we originally submitted these 00:22:34
plans back in 2020. 00:22:39
This was always phase three, which is currently under construction. This was 40 foot lots. 00:22:44
And in our in our development agreement, we had a 5 foot front yard set back and all intentions to have zero side set back and a 00:22:51
rear set back. 00:22:56
It didn't make it into the development agreement and we just didn't realize that we've been proceeding on the assumption that that 00:23:02
was there when Duke was going to sell to a builder. Once phase three was, I mean of other phases were under construction, one of 00:23:08
the builders brought it to our attention that after reading the development agreement that the side setbacks were at 10 and 15 00:23:14
following the underlying zoning. At that point I reached out to Sharon, realized we needed to go forward with this variance that 00:23:19
so. 00:23:25
That is why we were here, the reason for a zero side set back. 00:23:32
Let's just talk about the 10, the 10 foot set back with the 10 foot set back on 40 foot lots, which we've proposed from the 00:23:38
beginning. You'd be left with a 20 foot house, which is basically a shotgun house and not what what is marketable here and not 00:23:44
what is the aesthetic of the look that we're trying to propose here. Some of the representative architecture images of the the 00:23:49
single family don't show a 20 foot wide house, it shows a 30 foot wide house. 00:23:55
The reason for a zero side set back is that allows flexibility on these narrow 40 foot wide lots to get a side patio where you can 00:24:02
actually use that space, put a grill out there and it becomes functional. And so everybody can have 10 foot functional space, A 00:24:09
side yard with a 0 foot set back. If you go with a reduced set back of five feet on the sides, then you've got, you know, 5 feet 00:24:16
of unusable space essentially. 00:24:23
And so that's that's the intention. Another benefit of the zero set back is on the corner lots. When those are further set back 00:24:31
from the corners, you're allowed to get wrap around porches. 00:24:36
Makes a bit more inviting for those roads you don't want to see just an all siding kind of side of the house on on a public Rd. in 00:24:42
a corner. So there's another advantage just aesthetically for that. 00:24:46
I think that that covers kind of the the intention here and what we're going after. 00:24:53
Let me know if you have any questions. 00:24:57
So it'd still be. 00:25:00
It'd still be 10 feet apart on the side, but one house could be right on the property line and then the next house would be 10 00:25:02
feet into their properties. That minor? 00:25:07
Typically, all of them will laugh upon one property. All the houses will line up on one property line. Yeah, And then they'll be 00:25:12
10 feet kind of on the other, the set back on the other side. And technically it is 10 feet from soffit to soffit, so it will be 00:25:18
12. The houses will be 12 feet apart from Waldorf. OK. 00:25:24
All right. 00:25:31
All right. Thank you, Mr. Bates. Just stand by in case we get any questions. This point I'm going to open it up for. 00:25:33
Public hearing if anybody wants to step forward and. 00:25:39
Make any comments. 00:25:43
Of course. 00:25:49
Kathleen Mcquiston, 13 S Barnett Shoals Rd. So as I understand it, your development agreement wasn't really pretty clear. So 00:25:51
you're asking the city to let them build more houses? 00:25:58
With the same amount of space by zeroing out the property lines instead of building fewer houses and getting the same 10 foot 00:26:05
setbacks, is that right? No, the house number, the number of homes is the same. They're just giving more flexibility to move the 00:26:13
the the house outline on the lot. And how does that rear set back work then? I don't, I don't understand. Does anybody want to 00:26:20
comment on the rear set back Joseph or Mark? 00:26:27
Just feel need to come up and you can stand with Kathleen. The property goes right up to the edge of the house. 00:26:36
To yes, you could. You could. 00:26:43
Y'all gonna share the microphone? You're gonna have to be friends. OK, Kathleen, let Joseph speak on my phone. Yeah. No, let him 00:26:46
explain. 00:26:52
Anyways, go ahead. Yeah, So on a lot of this size which is these are 4000 square foot lots, they are 40 foot wide by 100 feet 00:27:00
deep. Some of that is alley there. There really isn't going to be a backyard. 00:27:06
And so the, you know, if if let's say for example, we weren't putting the garage all the way to the property line, there would be 00:27:13
a driveway, you know, 15 foot driveway going to that garage, but still be unusable space. 00:27:21
So. 00:27:29
The garages are all the way back to the property line. There's no backyard whether there was a 50 foot set back or a. 00:27:31
Zero, OK. 00:27:39
So why not make them 5000 square foot lots? 00:27:41
We we, you know, we designed this for this product here, which is a 4000 square. Yeah. So they're not changing. They're not 00:27:46
changing the original design or the size of the lots or anything like that. So it'll still look the same, just the property lines 00:27:51
will. 00:27:56
Will be different. The lines aren't changing, just the placement of the homes within the boundaries of the lots are slightly 00:28:02
changing to allow patios and other elements in there. 00:28:06
And reading through the old, the original agreement, it was actually in the verbiage down there. It just never made it into the. 00:28:13
I mean, so I've got highlighted, I think you highlighted as well. Didn't you share it in the, in the narrative? I'm pretty sure. I 00:28:22
think the narrative was updated for this purpose. So that I mean, it was the conceptually it was agreed to. Remember, this was 00:28:27
April of 2020, our very first meeting after COVID hit and we were doing this online. It was there was a whole bunch of stuff that 00:28:32
the intent was. 00:28:38
The conceptual intent was, you know, for that. It just didn't make it in the narrative. 00:28:43
In the actual, let's see what this is. 00:28:49
Sorry. 00:28:54
I guess this is a narrative. Yeah, it's an it's an updated narrative. 00:28:57
So any other comments from the public before I close it, bring it back behind the rail? 00:29:02
Other projects that have been done that way or Trove and Wisteria Ridge and so that's done to protect the city so that we don't 00:30:09
all have a developer not as had an agree to something and then go sell it to somebody else and they do something totally 00:30:14
different. So just context. I know we've got some new faces here. I want you to understand what that development agreement does 00:30:19
for us Council. Do you have any other questions for Mr. Bates or Mr. Campbell? 00:30:24
About this request. 00:30:30
Just this is a little bit weeds, but how does it work if you want to work on the side of your house and you have to stand in your 00:30:32
neighbors yard? 00:30:35
Is that like any HOA or something saying that you can? 00:30:40
Does that make sense? 00:30:45
Yeah, so. 00:30:48
Yeah. So, so the inside setbacks are are common in single family, single family detached development now. But yes, there is, there 00:30:59
is that technicality and agreement that is usually baked into the HLA to allow for maintenance kind of access. So technically 00:31:06
you're still going to be 6 feet from the property line regardless, you'll be 6 feet from the property line. 00:31:12
Well, the house, right? You got the eve that. 00:31:20
And they got to be 1212 feet apart. The houses. The houses have to be 12 feet. That means you got 6 foot on either side. 00:31:24
You will be 6 feet from the midpoint between the properties, but these will be right on the property line. So yes, you will be in 00:31:33
your neighbors yard if you are painting. And that's why he referenced language in the homeowner association covenants to provide 00:31:39
for such. I would certainly encourage you all to make sure that happens. 00:31:45
OK. 00:31:56
Any further questions for the applicant? 00:31:58
All right. With that, I'll close the public hearing. 00:32:01
We'll move to the vote and that's the way we have to do these. We have a public hearing to discuss it, see if there's any input. 00:32:04
And the next thing we do is we actually vote on that item. So we're moving to item 12, the vote on that item. Is there any 00:32:08
reporting that needs to be done prior to the vote? 00:32:12
Mr. Campbell, anything from the applicant? 00:32:17
Joseph, shake your head. Nothing else from you. All right, Council, I'll entertain a motion on the request for the variance. 00:32:21
I make a motion to approve the variance request at Electric Ave. 00:32:29
All right, do we have a second? 00:32:33
I'll second we have a motion and a second any further discussion. 00:32:36
All in favor say aye aye. Any opposed motion carries 30. 00:32:40
Appearances we have none. Christian Church lease agreement under old business. 00:32:45
Sharon, you may have to back me up. I'm going to summarize this the Christian Church parking area, which is located between 00:32:52
Watkinsville First Christian Church and Dan Elders Loft building on Main Street. 00:32:57
Is has been utilized by the City of Watkinsville for. 00:33:04
Parking for, gosh, probably. How long? 15 years, Sharon, It's been a while. 00:33:09
The reason that the church agreed to that in the 1st place was we paved that lot for them. That's the former site, believe it or 00:33:15
not, of Watkinsville Service Center. For those who've been around for a few years. That's where Darcy used to be before he moved 00:33:20
out and sold his business. So, so anyway, the church bought that years ago, but it was a little dirt lot. We paved it for them. We 00:33:24
helped with the maintenance of that. When we started looking at that agreement, they realized it was just rolling over year over 00:33:29
year. 00:33:33
And they, they requested that we take a fresh look at that agreement, which I think is totally fair. We do leases with several 00:33:38
other people in the city and they wanted to work with us on, on that request. So I've met with him twice. 00:33:46
And worked out the terms of the agreement. Does the next slide show anything about the terms, Sharon? OK. I think the what we 00:33:55
would need to discuss, there's a payment involved sharing. Do you remember what we've offered and what their request is? Yeah, we 00:34:02
budgeted 2280 and they've asked for 4560. So we budgeted 2280 to rent those spots. I think that comes out to roughly. 00:34:10
And if that's about maybe $9 per space per month, they've requested more than that. 00:34:18
I'd love to meet in the middle with y'all's approval and go back to them with that and see if we can do that. This parking is 00:34:25
really important for our merchants downtown. It's easy to kind of take it for granted, but you know, we don't have a lot of extra 00:34:31
parking. This would give us the ability to continue to work with them, but but they would like to be compensated for the use of 00:34:37
that lot and I think that's totally appropriate. There are some specific carve outs in there as it relates to notification for 00:34:43
when they can use that lot. 00:34:48
They also would obviously control that during the parade and the fall festival. So there was some work that we had to do to assure 00:34:54
them that the lot would be theirs and theirs to use as they saw fit during a few key events during the year. And of course, if 00:35:00
they have church events, then it defaults back to them. So that's a summary manager Dickerson or Attorney Reitman, if there's 00:35:06
anything you want to add. 00:35:12
I'm all ears on that. You reference meet in the middle. I just added the 2280 set forth here in and the 4560 I think you all 00:35:19
stayed was requested divide those by Pardon me, was it 40? I thought it was 49456. It gives you 6840 split that in the middle 00:35:27
leaves you 342034203535. There you go. 00:35:35
Yeah, I'd be OK with taking taking them back 35 see what they accept that. 00:35:45
OK. All right. Any other questions about the contract? I'm just going to make a point. We also maintain there's like three islands 00:35:52
of vegetation in there that we maintain. And so that's additional. I believe they backed off of the signage, although there is 00:35:58
some signage in there. We'll certainly work with the church if there's specific wording they'd like to have to provide signage 00:36:04
that that is being that that parking lot is being leased so. 00:36:10
Yeah. So originally before we were, you know, before they requested payment, we were going to do some additional signage and other 00:36:18
things like that. But they came, they came back to us and requested a pretty more basic lease arrangement with a with, with the 00:36:22
payment and. 00:36:26
But it's a, you know, we'll work with the lawyers to paper that up the right way. 00:36:32
Do we need to make a motion? I'd like a motion to approve. Yeah, to approve the mayor to, you know, mayor manager, to go back to 00:36:37
the Christian Church with that amount. 00:36:41
So make that motion. Yeah, I'll make a motion to approve up to 3500 for the mayor and and manager to make these negotiations. 00:36:47
Second, all right, any further discussion? 00:36:58
All in favor. 00:37:01
OK. Any opposed? 00:37:04
All right, next item up under old business award and contract related to. 00:37:06
Thomas Farm Preserve This is our. 00:37:13
Might be a good time to give a quick update. We approved at our last meeting work to begin on some of our other trails and 00:37:18
activities at Thomas Farm and that's well underway. I walked the paths on Saturday. We've got the rough ends for most of our pass 00:37:25
through the woods. That started. A lot of the work on the dams has begun. The bathroom has been renovated. 00:37:32
So they are blowing and going out there. New water line is being installed today. So the work is really moving forward out there. 00:37:40
These would be related to, I guess, Manager Dickerson. You're going to give us a report on that. So how about I don't try to 00:37:47
summarize what you know and you give us the report on this and we'll go from. 00:37:51
Tonight, what we're asking is for you to award the contract for approximately 1.16 miles of aggregate pedestrian trails at Thomas 00:37:58
Farm Park to Mark Thomas Enterprises, and we'll walk through what that looks like. We're asking for an estimated not to exceed 00:38:04
90,000. I'll talk about that a little bit. Also approve the contract agreement. 00:38:10
For those and for the Mayor and city clerk to sign those documents, these are the two aggregate trails on Thomas Farm Preserve 00:38:18
that we are that we requested pricing on. One is a 10 foot almost three quarter mile. The other is an aggregate shoulder that goes 00:38:26
around a paved path that we'll talk about in the next item on the agenda and that's a little bit less than half a mile. So trail B 00:38:33
is on the right, but the aggregate shoulder of trail B is on the right and on the left is the larger. 00:38:41
Wider trail, as the mayor mentioned back in early February or earlier this year, there was reprogramming of splice funds to 00:38:49
establish a budget for Thomas Farm, which was purchased back in the fall of last year. The council approved in June, just last 00:38:57
month to award Mark Thomas and Enterprises, who was the only bidder on their proposal on that project, for him to do 1.14 miles of 00:39:04
aggregate, which will see some pictures in the mayor's report of some of that work. It's already underway. 00:39:12
And then last month the council also approved to reprogram some monies in FLOSS 3 by moving those to T spots for Rd. resurfacing 00:39:20
so we could free up some money for these projects. On June 27th we released a request for proposal for this project. On July 15th 00:39:27
we received two proposals, Mark Thomas Enterprises and Smith and Co Smith and Co is actually the one doing the work on the 00:39:34
bathroom innovation at the park. I just wanted to make a note that when. 00:39:41
City Engineer Mark Campbell and I reviewed the proposals. There were some differences among the proposals. We made sure that they 00:39:49
lined up with unit pricing and whatnot as a result. 00:39:54
We had to increase Mark Thomas's price to handle additional metal edging that's going to be on the aggregate, on the, sorry, on 00:40:00
the shoulder of the aggregate trail. And then we had to increase Smith and Codes for some additional soap fencing. When we did 00:40:07
that, we came up with this pricing that you see at the bottom. Even though Mark Thomas proposed 74,700, if we're going to make 00:40:14
them equal, we end up with 87745 and 88687, which is a very short slight difference. 00:40:22
Eight different companies. I think there's 845677 companies on this one. 00:41:05
And but we only had two that submitted. So again work that our request is in front of you. Any questions? 00:41:11
And just so you all know, the next item we're going to discuss is for the paved paths that Thomas Farm Park. So we've got two that 00:41:22
we're considering Thomas Farm preserve that we're considering tonight. And and the contract is written not to oops, I'm sorry, 00:41:28
backed up not to exceed 90,000. He his bid was for 74 seven, so. 00:41:34
It will not exceed 90 and they just gives a little flexibility. So if we decide not to put all the, if we don't need edging all 00:41:42
the way around on some of this area, we won't use it, won't ask him to use it. It just gives a little flexibility in the contract 00:41:45
so. 00:41:49
Council, any questions? 00:41:54
All right, with that, we'll entertain. Ask for a. 00:42:00
Motion. 00:42:03
Councilman Thomas will probably recuse SO. 00:42:07
Make a motion to approve the contract with Mark Thomas Enterprises. 00:42:10
Do we have a second? A second? 00:42:14
All right, all in favor say aye aye, and any opposed motion carries 2 out of 3. 00:42:17
Next, we need to move on to the paved path. And again, it was just a little bit of context. No, Sharon will offer this up, but we 00:42:25
also have in addition to the aggregate paths at Thomas Farm Preserve, we're going to have one mile of paved 88 accessible pass. 00:42:29
It'll primarily go around the pond and go from our parking lot areas to our restrooms. And so that's what we're talking about 00:42:33
here. 00:42:38
And so you. 00:42:43
And that's why we're asking for some metal edging to keep the aggregate from flowing into the into the lake when it may rain 00:43:22
heavy. 00:43:26
The again, I'm not going to repeat this because we just went through all those same things that we talked about a minute ago. We 00:43:31
did release again on the 27th, same day as the aggregate path, this proposal request. We received 3 pricing proposals, Mayweather 00:43:36
Concrete in SCW and Smith and Co. 00:43:42
Again, website, it was on our website. It was also advertised for two weeks in the Open County Enterprise. So again we are asking 00:44:23
for this request. 00:44:27
All right, I'll entertain a motion. 00:44:34
Make a motion to award an SEW the contract for the construction of the one mile of paved. 00:44:37
That path. 00:44:45
Do we have a second? 00:44:47
All right, we have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion all in favor say aye, aye. All right. 00:44:50
All right, that motion carries 3. 00:44:56
I'll just say, and I know I'll give an update probably in my comments, but. 00:45:01
Good evening, Mayor, Mayor Broderick and the rest of the council members who are here. 00:46:44
My name is Victoria Cruz. I live at 1151 Lake Walbrook Dr. I'm in Athens but Oconee County, so I am not in the Watkinsville city 00:46:49
limits. However, I do have occasion to drive through Watkinsville and drive into Watkinsville and I have to admit that I don't 00:46:55
think that's on. So I'm. 00:47:01
It may be on. It's on. Yes, ma'am. OK. 00:47:09
And I was shocked to drive in and see the apartment buildings that are going up in front of Wire Park. I remember looking at the 00:47:13
concept plan for water Park and seeing an open area where people were gathering, where families were gathering in the green space. 00:47:20
And then the library came in and I thought, that's great. And we have the library there. And then these buildings started to go up 00:47:27
one. 00:47:34
Then two. 00:47:43
Now 4 I believe. 00:47:44
They are so close to the road, they are one of the first things that people see driving into Watkinsville from the South. 00:47:47
From. 00:47:57
Georgia yes, well, from Athens, from Athens. And it was just shocking. They, they do not fit the character of Watkinsville. I 00:47:58
don't think they fit the character of Oconee County. I'm not even sure that there's anything quite that ugly in Athens. Clark 00:48:08
County, unless you go to UGA, which are dormitories where people are moving temporarily. I I think that somewhere along the line. 00:48:17
Somebody did not. 00:48:28
See this all the way through is to come its completion and realize how out of character it is. And I know you want to have that 00:48:30
all connected with with sidewalks and and I think all of that is wonderful. I think your ideas about the green space, the Thomas 00:48:38
Farms property is wonderful. I like the paved area because as you know, over 70 now, I'm not someone who can handle. We tried to 00:48:46
walk into a City Park, the one that went all down in the woods and everything. 00:48:53
That's difficult, so I'm glad you're doing those kinds of things. I like how you decorate the city during holidays, like for July 00:49:01
4th and Memorial Day. It was wonderful. These are things I value about Watkinsville, and I am close enough to Watkinsville to 00:49:07
consider it. 00:49:13
Part of where I live, even though I don't live in the city and I just worry now. Now we're talking about 0. 00:49:19
Lines between homes, those single so-called single family detached homes which are basically joined at the hip, all of them again, 00:49:28
I just. 00:49:34
I see other. 00:49:40
Small towns that maintain the small town character and I think that Watkinsville is deviating quite a bit from that. And I just 00:49:42
hope in the future you would consider about consider what the final product is going to look like, not just. 00:49:50
Now let's get that land developed. Let's put something in there just. 00:49:59
Pay attention to that. And a video was posted online and a lot of people weighed in and felt the same way as I did. And that's why 00:50:05
I'm here to talk about it. Well, thank you. Thank you. 00:50:10
Anyone else? 00:50:17
I just wanted to give a public shout out to Connie Massey. 00:50:25
Connie wanders around. Well, she walks, not wanders around our neighborhood. 00:50:29
Which and she looks, she watches things, she looks at things she sees. She keeps an eye on the empty houses, on the houses where 00:50:35
people are gone for extended times, like Mr. Tom. She looks after the cats. She, she's just kind of a good, a good person to have 00:50:43
around in our neighborhood. She's she's our watchdog. And I just want to say thank you. 00:50:51
Glad to do it. 00:51:00
Thank you, Kathleen. It's always great when somebody stands up and. 00:51:03
Gives a compliment. Anyone else? 00:51:07
All right, great. We'll move on to the mayor's report. 00:51:11
Before I get into this, I do want to touch on just. 00:51:17
That project has been shelved. That won't be back in August. It won't be coming forward in this timeframe. I don't know what will 00:52:23
happen with that. So I know several of you had concerns about that. I know several members of council had concerns about that. I 00:52:28
think the owner realized that was unlikely to be approved and he is not going to be back with that in August. And I know that 00:52:34
concerned some of you and it concerned frankly a lot of people behind the rail in terms of what was happening there so. 00:52:40
Have our eyes wide open on a lot of other things too, and that's one reason that the some of the other projects I just mentioned 00:53:47
aren't necessarily coming back before you. 00:53:51
I don't know if there's other photos. This is the interior of the restroom. We're a lot further along than this now. There's the 00:54:26
sheetrock is up, the toilets in the sinks in. That work I'd say is probably 90% done at Thomas Farm. 00:54:32
Hair shows park boardwalk update. We got bids on this. 00:54:39
I laugh at some of the information that's floating around about this right now. I want to remind everybody why we're having to do 00:54:45
this work. It's because somebody decided to go back in the woods and push down the guardrails at this. We've had some people say, 00:54:51
oh, the city didn't do it. The city was supposed to do. This is a direct result of vandalism in the city. And as a result of that 00:54:58
vandalism, we got to bid the other day of 300 eighty, $50,000 to fix that bridge. 00:55:04
Because somebody decided they were going to go and damage that city asset. We do not have $350,000 to redo that bridge. So we're 00:55:12
going to take a hard look at some other ways we can get that done. 00:55:17
The work that we have to do there and that is a direct result, sadly, of somebody deciding they wanted to. 00:55:58
Damaged some city property and it's really unfortunate that we have a massive repair job we have to do because of that. So that's 00:56:04
where we are. We're going to hopefully be back to you guys next month with a much lower number and potentially some different 00:56:10
solutions for how we can get that job done. So knock on wood and say a little prayer. And if anybody has any ideas or is it is a 00:56:16
creative construction person, we'd love to talk to you. So, but we know it's important to get that fixed. 00:56:22
OK. All right. 00:56:29
Miss Hammel, did you have a question about that? 00:56:31
Step up here if you don't mind. Yep. 00:56:35
So, but that's what we anticipate for the hours right now. Yes, ma'am. 00:57:08
OK. 00:57:13
Not sure what's next. 00:57:15
OK, All right. I think that's it for me. I'm trying to think if there's anything else I need to update on a. 00:57:17
I don't think there is, so with that we'll move on to council, reports Councilwoman Massey. 00:57:24
Councilman Thomas, I just want to echo the mayors. 00:57:31
Words so you know the. 00:57:36
I, I've been here all my life and growing up here, it's been a small town and I love, I love this town. I think one of the best 00:57:40
things, best decisions we ever did was the Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:57:46
I, I actually lived in what is now going to be our bathroom for, for a couple years while while we moved into a different house in 00:57:54
Windy Creek. But it's that this place has always been a wonderful, wonderful town to me and I, I love that. 00:58:02
You know what we're trying to do here. And I think I've, there's no, I'm not hiding that. I don't want to be a bigger town. I 00:58:10
don't want to be a Gwinnett. I don't want to be a Marietta. I don't want to be in Athens. I try to stay away from those towns, 00:58:17
truthfully. But the, the wire park thing was, was a unique opportunity for us to expand. I actually ate lunch today in Marietta 00:58:24
Square and it reminded me of a wire Park and it was, it was nice to see. 00:58:32
Where? 00:58:40
Where, where we, what we have done to, to to improve the city. I'm I'm not for big development. 00:58:42
At all. And I've had multiple conversations with other developers about expansion in the city and you, you can mark it down. I 00:58:49
don't, I'm not for any, any large expansion, but we, we have to continue to be smart about the city and, and provide adequate 00:58:55
growth for our citizens as they come in. And you know, we have the best number one school systems in the state that people are 00:59:02
going to move here. When, when you, you're up there when the governor's bragging, I mean the, the, the school board's bragging. 00:59:09
We're the number one city to live in. 00:59:16
In the United in Georgia and that that's awesome that's going to bring people. And so we got to be smart about our growth. And I 00:59:23
think that's what our council here tries to do is just be smart about the growth that's coming. And you got a plan for the growth. 00:59:29
I mean, if you're not planning 1020 years in advance, you're, you're getting behind because it's coming and there's no stopping 00:59:35
the growth from coming. We, we just do what we can to manage what we have so. 00:59:41
Thank you, Councilman Thomas, Councilman Campbell. 00:59:49
Nothing to report. 00:59:52
OK. With that, we do have an executive session tonight to discuss personnel matters and potential litigation. It'll be brief, but 00:59:56
we'll do a quick adjournment. We'll take 5 minutes. And if anybody has? 01:00:02
We do have a lot of people here, so if there's anything you want to discuss offline council be available for 5 minutes, then we'll 01:00:10
come back in here and have our executive session. At that point, I will make a last for a formal, formal motion to go into 01:00:15
executive session, and we'll do that. You're welcome to stay until I make that motion. But at that point, we would ask you to 01:00:19
leave, but we'll do a brief recess and in 5 minutes, we'll start our executive session. 01:00:24
Thank you all for coming. 01:00:40
You feel better about the lifetime thing. We're just pretty fired up about that. 01:00:46
All right, I'll enter. Are we back on? 01:03:27
OK. I'll entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss personnel and pending litigation. 01:03:29
I'll make a motion to go into executive session. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor say aye, Aye. OK. 01:03:37
And. 01:03:45
You turn on your microphone and you make the motion to adjourn. 01:03:50
If you want to adjourn. 01:03:53
Yeah, yeah. 01:03:55
I make a motion to adjourn. We have a second. 01:03:58
Second, all in favor say aye. 01:04:03
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