Transcript

Event transcript
Better start the meeting. 00:00:15
Thankfully, that's not our brand of politics. 00:00:18
We are nonpartisan and local, that's right. 00:00:22
Welcome everybody to the January Watkinsville City Council meeting. We are grateful for a full house for some special occasions 00:00:27
tonight that we're going to celebrate together shortly, but I will start off with a quorum check. We do have a quorum here 00:00:33
tonight. Unfortunately we do are missing 2 council members due to some work and family matters and look forward to having them 00:00:38
back with us in February. As always, we want to start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. I've asked Deacon Marvin Nunnally 00:00:43
to lead us in that tonight please. 00:00:48
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:56
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:01:03
Thank you Marvin, as always. 00:01:15
The service also provides closed captioning for a live meeting. The user must click the closed caption icon. It looks like a 00:01:50
little CC in the lower right of the video window. When the video from tonight's meeting is posted online, the captions will 00:01:56
automatically appear. Interesting parties can also view a transcript of the meeting under the tab titled Transcript and then of 00:02:01
course, we also always take minutes and approve those at the subsequent meeting. 00:02:07
As a reminder, a notice of the council meeting along with the current month's agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to 00:02:13
all the public sufficient time to provide comments and writing to the clerk if they're unable to attend the meeting. 00:02:18
With that, we'll move on into the approval of minutes and I will ask for a motion to approve our December 20th. 00:02:24
2023 regular. 00:02:30
Minutes. And since we're missing some members tonight, this might upset our normal motion and 2nd routine. So I'd ask for all of 00:02:33
you to be ready tonight. So, can I have a motion to approve the December 20th regular meeting minutes, please. I make a motion to 00:02:40
approve that meeting. Minutes. Do we have a second? All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:02:47
And for our agenda, we'll need to approve the agenda tonight. I don't anticipate any changes to the agenda. Is that correct, 00:02:56
Manager Dickerson? 00:03:00
Yeah you can. It is on the agenda because it we didn't receive the withdrawal until after it already been posted. But item number 00:03:06
13 was supposed to be take was table from last month's meeting that has since been withdrawn. So you could just simply remove 00:03:09
that. 00:03:13
All right, so if you want to make a motion, Councilman Tucker, I make a motion to approve the agenda with the removal of item 00:03:17
number 13. 00:03:22
We have a motion. Do we have a second? Any discussion? 00:03:27
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously. 00:03:30
All right, before we've got several oaths to do before we do. 00:03:37
I just want to reflect into that a bit. You know, it is an election. 00:03:41
It feels like every year and every year is an election year in Watkinsville, so we do this, but these oaths are important. 00:03:45
We will do oaths for the mayor, will do oaths for council members, will do an oath for a new police chief tonight. I may speak a 00:03:53
little bit more to that before that oath, but I do want to just reinforce for council and all of us as we stand up here that these 00:03:59
oaths are important, they're serious matters. And as we move into a year where we'll be making a lot of serious decisions for our 00:04:05
country, I think we all need to reflect into what we're saying. 00:04:11
Agreeing to and the importance of these oaths that we're taking around defending the Constitution and how vital that is to the 00:04:18
health of our democracy. 00:04:22
In America. And that health really starts here in our local communities. So with that, Joe, I guess I get to go first. 00:04:26
Yeah, let's do that contemporaneously with the other two council members, so. 00:04:32
I. 00:04:40
Chuck. 00:04:43
As much as I'd love to read this oath. 00:04:45
Wait, Connie, I don't think this is only for Newton. We're next. We we get this coming. 00:04:50
Christine not let you get your. 00:04:58
Make sure we had the right turn on the mic so we can have this be official. 00:05:08
One moment. Press and hold. New batteries. All right. Are we live? 00:05:14
Very good. At this point, I'd ask each of you to raise your right hand. 00:05:19
And do each of you swear and affirm as follows, and I will read it out in its entirety at the end You can say I do or I do, So 00:05:24
help me God, do each of you solemnly swear, Affirm that you will faithfully execute the office of Mayor or Council Person of the 00:05:30
City of Watkinsville, and to the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution 00:05:36
of Georgia, and the charter ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville. You are not the holder of any unaccounted for 00:05:42
public money. Do this State. 00:05:49
In the best interest of the city of Watkinsville, to the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or 00:06:29
expectation thereof. If you agree with that, you can say I do. I do, so help me God. 00:06:34
Congratulations. 00:06:41
All right, Council, our next item is the election of the mayor Pro Tem. 00:07:10
Anyone like to nominate someone? 00:07:15
For mayor pro. 00:07:18
I'd like to nominate Christine. 00:07:21
Do we have a second? 00:07:25
We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion. 00:07:27
Hearing none, assuming you're willing all in favor, say aye, aye. 00:07:31
Motion carries 3. 00:07:37
I think we even got a vote from the audience, was grateful for that. 00:07:39
Next we're going to do an oath for our new police chief and before we stand everybody up. 00:07:45
I'm just. 00:07:51
Forward to see the crowd here, but I shouldn't be because the person that we're about to swear in. 00:07:53
Is is uniquely qualified for this job, but I think we also. 00:07:59
She's inspiring. She knows our community. 00:08:04
She knows good police work. She's got such a heart, not just for Oconee County, but for anywhere that she serves and. 00:08:08
I don't know when I first met Courtney. I feel like I've known Courtney for 20 years, but we probably ran in some of the same 00:08:17
civic circles in Athens and different places and. 00:08:21
Around Oconee and I've never been anything but blown away with her, but blown away with her professionalism. 00:08:25
Her, the respect she commands from her peers and we are just delighted to have you here. 00:08:33
Leading the Watkinsville Police Department and are really excited to see what you're going to bring to the table over the next few 00:08:40
years and how you're going to continue to help our community as it evolves and grows. So welcome Chief GAIL, officially from us 00:08:44
behind. 00:08:48
The rail up here and with that we will turn you loose with Attorney Reitman to get sworn in. 00:08:53
I guess we could say Ditto. And we said before, but let's go ahead and minister the oath formally, shall we? And I see you've got 00:09:02
some support up here. Very good, Excellent. So let's get a good backdrop. 00:09:08
I'll just go where the city manager tells me and then we'll proceed. 00:09:15
On one side of him, just say we can get some while you're doing something. 00:09:18
Is everybody good? 00:09:26
Under the government of the United States, any other state, or any foreign state which you by the law is the state of Georgia, 00:10:00
will be prohibited from holding, and that you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws 00:10:06
of Georgia. And that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of 00:10:11
your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. If you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I 00:10:17
do, so help me God. 00:10:23
Congratulations. 00:10:29
What did it mean to do that afterwards? 00:10:51
OK. All right. Just we've got a couple more little items then we'll have a break. So I know some of you may not want to stay for 00:10:53
the entirety of the meeting, although it'll be brief. So but Next up it is related to our related to our Police Department I'd 00:10:59
like to invite. 00:11:04
I'd like to invite the representatives from the Daughters of the American Revolution Reverend John Andrew chapter to come forward 00:11:11
with a special recognition. 00:11:14
Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am Pamela Lore Hendricks and I am the current Regent of the Reverend John Andrew chapter, 00:11:21
National Society Daughters in the American Revolution. 00:11:26
And we are here tonight to honor your police force. And I want to turn it over. This is my Vice Regent Laurie Trail, and she's 00:11:32
done a lot of the work to get us to tonight, So I want to turn it over to her. 00:11:39
Hi, good evening. As you said, I'm Laurie Trail and I'm the Vice Regent for Reverend John Andrew. 00:11:49
We're here tonight present the DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal to the City of Watkinsville Police Department. 00:11:55
The Distinguished Citizens Medal is awarded to an individual or group that demonstrates honor, service, courage, leadership and 00:12:03
patriotism. 00:12:08
Those that have contributed to the defense, security or freedom of the community, state or nation in an exceptional manner and we 00:12:14
believe the City of Watkinsville Police Department does that. 00:12:20
So they've supported our chapter in many, many ways, including not only helping us with the flags. 00:12:27
And the flag holders out at the cemetery, but also installing those flag holders in over 100 veterans graves out there. 00:12:35
And they also come out and help for the three holidays each. 00:12:44
The 4th of July, Memorial Day and veteran's day. 00:12:48
Also for the cleanup of the cemetery, which I hope will be a biannual event. 00:12:52
Much less. 00:12:57
And as well as several of our other projects including Constitution Day. 00:13:00
For this award we had to get 2 letters of recognition not from our chapter and we have done that. I. 00:13:05
And I'll just summarize some of the aspects of those letters. Chief Brock had retired. Chief Brock had started that badges and 00:13:12
benevolence and charity and that has helped so many people in the community. 00:13:18
With various things and that has come to light and getting those letters of recommendation. He had started that project with a 00:13:26
community outreach that the Police Department does. 00:13:30
They've done so many help with so many fundraisers. They do lots of things for the children in the community, reading at the 00:13:35
library and those kinds of things. So they've done a lot with the community. 00:13:40
So we just wanted to present this award to them and say thank you for doing such a great job. 00:13:45
Keep it up and we really look forward to working with them closely on community events. 00:13:50
So it's with great honor we present these today. We have a certificate and a medal for this for the officers. All right, officers, 00:13:59
if you want to come on in and be recognized. 00:14:04
So I have their individually named. So we have Sergeant Kyle Hibbler. 00:14:25
Sergeant Lawrence Wade. 00:14:38
Officer Allen, is it? Chris, He's not here, OK? 00:14:48
Elena. 00:14:55
We'll get these to them. 00:15:00
Ryan, England. 00:15:02
Rachel Stern. 00:15:11
And Tristan Walker. 00:15:18
Oh, pictures, Sir. 00:15:29
Yeah, y'all look like you like each other. 00:15:33
All right. Ready. 00:15:37
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. 00:15:45
Two more items and then we'll have a little break first of all. 00:15:56
And anybody who knew her. 00:16:36
Her heart was just huge for anybody she met and we really miss her. 00:16:38
She made quite an impact in the city in her time and we're thankful that. 00:16:42
And what we saw here tonight, with our officers being recognized, with our history, with our work, it all starts with our citizens 00:17:18
feeling safe. 00:17:22
And then they can really feel connected. And I'm just excited that you're here to help build on what we've done. And with that, 00:17:26
I'll turn it over to you. It is quite the honor. I'm not going to be long winded, but thank you to each of you for coming, 00:17:34
supporting me all along the way. You've been here during good times and bad times. And you know what? Here we are. We're back 00:17:41
home. And so thank you. My church family is here. It is phenomenal and it's quite the honor. 00:17:48
I I just stand before you as a testimony of prayer, as a testimony of drive and and just go with where your heart is and where you 00:17:56
believe you should be. And this is where I knew I needed to be. 00:18:02
I won't disappoint you with all the good things that are going to come. This is you just met an incredible group of officers and 00:18:10
we're only going to go higher. So it is, it's very exciting. My peers are here from Athens and so we're going to work and continue 00:18:15
to work together. Jackson County is represented. 00:18:21
So you know, All in all these days, it is not just limited to our city and so having more resources and networks will only pay 00:18:27
dividends for this community. And so I'm thrilled about it. I thank you and I'm going to shut up so. 00:18:34
Well we share your excitement or excited about partnership with our friends across across county lines in every direction. So 00:18:50
welcome. We appreciate all of you coming. That said, you will not hurt our feelings if if anybody wants to, if anybody wants to 00:18:55
leave, I will preview. We're going to take the first look at our master plan for the new Thomas Park Preserve tonight, which is 00:19:00
exciting and the rest of the I anticipate the rest of the agenda being pretty short. So if you do want to stay, you're welcome to 00:19:05
do that, but we'll take. 00:19:10
Three or four minute break if anybody wants to. 00:19:16
Barton, head home. Thank you. 00:19:18
Got it. OK, perfect. 00:20:50
All right. I hope you're all staying. 00:24:24
Yeah. 00:24:27
All right, We've done all right. We've kept it pretty good, kept a pretty good crowd. 00:24:41
And we'll try to work through the rest of the matters on the agenda pretty quickly tonight and get to the, get to the. 00:24:47
Get to the meat of the agenda. So we will start off with with our financial reports. Just a light reminder, most of you have been 00:24:53
here before. I recognize most of the faces, but we. 00:24:58
The merits of the pending matter and speak directly to council. Council won't speak to pending litigation or attorney-client or 00:25:36
personnel matters. 00:25:39
So we'll kick it off with Financial Reports Manager Dickerson, if you want to walk us through those. Thank you, Mayor. Everyone 00:25:43
should have received the balance sheet as well as the revenues and expenditure sheets. No surprises. Everything's ticking along or 00:25:48
where we should be. If there are any questions, I can move to the next one. 00:25:53
All right, the fun ones are SPLOSS. This is where we're going to have a little bit of a little bit more fun, a little bit more 00:25:59
creativity. So spots to report should finish out this month. We waiting on a clear to check for the Rocket Field project. So that 00:26:04
project and the SPLOST. 00:26:08
Project itself, the overall effort will end, I hope and we'll be able to report that back to the county spots. Three we have right 00:26:14
now, We still have encumbered expenditures for Rocket Field improvement. Some remaining ones that are out there, Harris Hills Park 00:26:21
improvements, some Rd. resurfacing and subsidy signage and streetscape Whoops and I did not need to jump that. Sorry about that. 00:26:28
So we have a balance of a little bit more than $870,000 we're taking in an average of. 00:26:37
80,000 and and some change each month which is up from what we projected which was around 65,000. So that means we've got a 00:26:45
healthy extra balance to be coming. Of course that all depends on how the future years ago. We still have a few more years to go 00:26:50
on this one. This will finish up in September of 27. 00:26:55
The Tea Splost report. 00:27:01
This is our transportation special purpose local auction sales tax that is at 7.77%, which is a little bit lower than our SPLOST 00:27:03
3. So that averages about 70,000 a month. 00:27:08
These part, the projects right now that have been encumbered are for the sidewalks. We still have a leg of the sidewalk or a 00:27:14
segment of the sidewalk from. 00:27:17
New high Shoals down South Main that we're waiting to work on and then last month council approved 800,000 for the Mulberry 00:27:23
Simonton Bridge Rd. Connector and there's also some money encumbered in Rd. resurfacing for I'm Sorry that was spent for School 00:27:29
St. at Oak Ave. at Rocket Field and 2nd St. some improvements related to Rocket Field. 00:27:36
And there's a little bit of a monthly update for you. It's a little bit more than 300 fifty $50,000 in that account. 00:27:44
Our American rescue plan money. This is Money that has to be committed by the end of this year and spent, I believe, by the end of 00:27:52
26. 00:27:55
We are currently in a whole pattern, not spending any more money until at least July 1st so that we do not trigger another audit. 00:28:00
But there's about $93,000 remaining that the council can appropriate for transformative projects. That's the plan, and there's 00:28:05
some money left that has been encumbered for. 00:28:11
Retention program for our officers that the council approved. 00:28:18
Any questions on any of those? 00:28:23
OK. We'll go to economic development. So we have business licenses are coming in a steady stream. They are due March 15th. 00:28:25
And so we'll start seeing a few more those trickle in this next month may not be able to give you a specific, you can see how 00:28:34
tedious this is to read. But so those are coming in fairly well. And then our exercise both alcohol and our short term vacation 00:28:39
rental or hotel motel taxes are coming in and they are actually are short short term vacation rentals a little bit above what we 00:28:45
thought we were going to be getting at this point. So that's good news. 00:28:51
And then on the building permit side, we have 9 permits for eight projects. The one I'll highlight is the library project, which 00:28:57
is coming to close and I believe the mayoral mentioned a little bit about that later in his report. 00:29:03
Any questions? 00:29:10
All right, all right. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker, if you want to give us an update on the Downtown Development Authority. 00:29:12
OK. So we are rolling along. I think one of the most important things to just get on everybody's agenda. 00:29:21
Is we. 00:29:32
What got the rural zone designation and that is a great opportunity for businesses in the the map of the world zone, which is 00:29:33
essentially there's an outline thank you novels, I don't know how long I'm going to describe that one of it where there is 00:29:41
significant tax incentives. 00:29:48
For businesses that add new jobs, that's the main purpose, but it includes. 00:29:57
Renovations of property, purchasing property, anything that is adding at least two new jobs and so we are having on December, not 00:30:04
December, long month. 00:30:09
January 24th at 8:30 in the morning at Penny State Bank headquarters. 00:30:16
A really important meeting. So if you have a business in the downtown, if you are thinking about having a business in the 00:30:23
downtown, if you own property in the downtown, if you know if somebody please come to this and get more information, it really can 00:30:30
just contribute to the continuation of just the rejuvenation of Watkinsville. So this is really a big thing. Cannot emphasize it 00:30:37
enough. Can you go back? I know I kind of jumped ahead because I want to make sure that is the most important thing. 00:30:44
Also, you see a picture here, Kate Patterson, who is our downtown. 00:30:53
Our director and we just celebrated her one year anniversary and at our meeting today we just really gave her a lot of credit that 00:30:59
she deserves because it is always hard to come in and start the position, start the job when you have a a kind of a vague job 00:31:07
description. And we've never done this before, but let's figure this out And she has really done a tremendous job in doing that. 00:31:14
So I just want to publicly honor her. 00:31:22
Yes, I think. 00:32:04
That summarizes it, but January 24th OS anyone's phones out right now. I want to put it in your calendar 8:30. 00:32:07
So to give, well you just need to come to get all the details, but yes, it. 00:32:17
Creating jobs. 00:32:23
Get tax credits. 00:32:25
All right. Thank you, Mayor. Pro Tem, it has been amazing. How much is you guys have gotten done in your first year. It's pretty 00:32:30
awesome and having Kate on board has really accelerated that. And so let's all spread the word about the event on the 24th. I'd 00:32:35
love to have all of. 00:32:40
Downtown property owners. They are not just business owners, but the property owners. It's vital that they're there. We will move 00:32:45
on to Chief Gail's first Police Department report. 00:32:51
Chief GAIL, if you'll make sure that that light is on. On the mic, there's a button. 00:32:57
Pushed it really hard in the light and come on, push and hold, yes. 00:33:03
Does that work we on can you hear me All right excellent. So the the Police Department we've got one application in and and you 00:33:10
all have seen this but what I want to mention that is not on there because it has recently come up. 00:33:19
Sergeant Hitler and Officer Stearns has been working on a financial crime that has now blossomed. And so now they are working with 00:33:28
federal agents and other agencies in the state of Georgia. And it is solely because of their hard work and they're bringing the 00:33:34
pieces of the puzzle together. We will share more as it becomes available. However, I just want to give the recognition to the 00:33:41
hard work that they are doing. They went to a regional. 00:33:48
Intelligence meeting today. And so they're getting schooled up, they're speaking with investigators to see just how large this is 00:33:55
in our area and they're they're focusing on the city of Watkinsville and our victims here. But their diligent work has helped 00:34:00
already. 00:34:05
The FBI. 00:34:11
More to come in the future, but that's the big thing that they've been working on. We do have. It's going to get busy here rather 00:34:13
quickly with some events. The Police Department is going to be out there in the community and we look forward to it. There's just 00:34:18
a lot. 00:34:22
Of stuff we want to get and some of the stuff they have done already And so I'm excited to be a part of it. It's just exciting 00:34:28
time. We're going to be out there, we're going to be seen and I want to hear from everybody if you if you want to see us doing 00:34:32
something. 00:34:37
Whatever you'd like. So thank you. And that's that's where we're at. 00:34:44
All right. Thank you, Chief Gale. 00:34:49
Appreciate. 00:34:51
All right. Next up we have our consent agenda. There's no need for item number six, correct. Manager Dickerson, nothing's changing 00:34:53
on bank signatures, so we would be looking under consent for approval for the other items. 00:35:01
And we did not have anything pulled off when we set the agenda. So I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:35:09
And make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do we have a second? 00:35:15
Any discussion? 00:35:20
All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:35:22
Motion carries unanimously. We'll move on to our public hearing. We have two of these tonight. 00:35:25
Typically, and we will do this if it comes up of 10 minutes per side are allowed for people to address. 00:35:32
The matters on zoning procedures Comments, as before, should relate to the agenda item should be directed to council. You'll want 00:35:40
to speak from the podium and address the merits of the pending matter. 00:35:44
Directly to the council, we have two public hearings tonight. We have the zoning. Well, we have, we actually just have 1A zoning 00:35:49
text amendment related to outdoor. 00:35:54
Dining and mobile vendors. So first we'll have a public hearing on that matter and then we'll have a vote on that matter. After 00:35:59
that we'll move into old business. We'll get just so you all know what's coming, we'll have an update on historic preservation. 00:36:04
Then we'll move into new business and we'll discuss the farm winery matter that's related to South Main Brewing and also Thomas 00:36:10
Farm. 00:36:13
Preserve update at that point. So just so everybody knows what's coming, but we will start off with the zoning text amendment 00:36:17
related to mobile businesses and attorney Reitman if you could provide an overview of that amendment please Sir. 00:36:22
Glad to do so. You'll see up on your screen reference to Article 10 outdoor dining. This actually morphed into a slightly more 00:36:29
expansive ordinance addressing not only food trucks, but locally produced artisan products and produce etcetera as well, but it 00:36:37
was most conveniently located Article 10. Also Article 13 use regulation to allow such in the downtown quarter, commercial and 00:36:45
mixed-use office zones and Mr. Mayor, I think you. 00:36:53
Had encouraged us to add another zone to that, is that correct? I believe it is expanded beyond those zones. 00:37:01
I believe that is correct. 00:37:10
And the purpose of this is to address something that was not previously permitted in your zoning ordinance. As written, your 00:37:14
zoning ordinance without amending it does not expressly allow food trucks, mobile vendors, etcetera. The purpose of this is to 00:37:22
allow them with reasonable constraints so that the locations where they can set up. 00:37:30
Are clearly defined so that they will not block traffic, pedestrian, vehicular or otherwise. 00:37:39
Move forward on the public hearing. Does anyone have any questions or comments? 00:38:19
Council members. 00:38:24
Speak in favor of the. 00:39:32
Zoning text amendment or just generally? 00:39:36
You're welcome to come to the. 00:39:39
Seeing none anyone with any concerns. 00:39:43
Come. 00:39:47
Seeing none, I'm going to close the public. 00:39:50
At this point, we'll move towards the vote Council. You've heard all the background. This would be revising Article 10 outdoor 00:39:53
dining to expand such to address mobile vendors and that does include things beyond dining. So that's flower carts. A variety of 00:39:58
other mobile vendors would be covered by that. In Watkinsville if they're serving the general public, that would be in the 00:40:04
downtown quarter commercial historic main and mixed-use office zones. And I think we ice cream trucks are excluded from that and 00:40:10
can go anywhere. Is that right, Sharon? 00:40:16
That's correct. There's one other thing that Mayor just to make sure. So one of the things that you do need to that we do need in 00:40:22
the motion is the fee for the for the mobile vendor permit and we agreed, I believe we talked about it being the the lowest level 00:40:28
or zero to 1 employee on the occupational tax level. That $65 a year will add that to the fee schedule if that is, is what you 00:40:34
would like. 00:40:40
To approve. 00:40:46
OK. All right. So we're looking for a motion to approve the text amendments along with the fee schedule that will be that will 00:40:48
reflect the lowest possible business permitting cost in Watkinsville. 00:40:54
So moved will be fine. 00:41:02
Do we have a second? Any discussion behind the rail? 00:41:05
Hearing none. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:41:09
All right, that motion carries. 00:41:12
We'll move on to appearances. 00:41:16
We don't have any under appearances under old business. We have Historic Preservation Council. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker, if you could 00:41:21
give us an update on our historic preservation in a moment, just a little bit of a preamble. I do think it's important to note. 00:41:27
The historic preservation and some of the other efforts that Mayor Pro Tem Tucker discussed earlier around the rural zone do go 00:41:35
hand in hand. In some ways, the rural zone efforts are primarily focused on downtown. But contextually this council's discussed, 00:41:41
and I think we all agree how important it is that we preserve our history in Watkinsville. A lot of our decisions have been made 00:41:46
around how do we preserve and activate our downtown hold on to our homes. 00:41:52
Historic homes. Sadly, we've lost a few of those homes in the past few years, and it has taken us a while to wrap our arms around 00:41:58
how we're can best protect those in a way that doesn't limit the options of homeowners. And Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Campbell 00:42:04
have been leading the way on on that effort for a while, so if you could give us an update, that would be great. 00:42:10
Yes. So as it outlines that they're starting in October, we met with Doctor Reeve in his class and what a privilege to have one of 00:42:18
the really the experts in the state on this issue. 00:42:24
Working with us with his class. And so Jeff and I met with him this past Monday with one of his students. Actually to go over the 00:42:31
we we were really the class project. 00:42:37
And so they gave us kind of their the students revised of the state ordinance and. 00:42:45
One of the things that we've been learning through this process is, unless you were already grandfathered in, so some of the 00:42:54
larger cities, Savannah, Atlanta. 00:42:57
Have their own historic preservation ordinances, but for most municipalities, the state of Georgia has outlined what it's going to 00:43:02
look like. And so you have to fit within those parameters. And the first step really is to simply adapt pretty much the 00:43:11
administrative processes. So it is not saying what is a historic property, where is the district? Who is on the committee? 00:43:21
None of those things are the initial things, The initial, the first thing you have to do is basically say we are going to have a 00:43:31
historic preservation ordinance. 00:43:36
And this is the basic administrative outline of what it's going to look like. And most of that outline is dictated by the state. 00:43:40
There are some little tweaks that can go into that aspect of it. And so that's what his class was working on was that initial kind 00:43:47
of outline of the historic preservation ordinance and so. 00:43:55
Because it is incredibly important to us, I would say, to have community input and all of this. 00:44:03
However, having historic preservation ordinance is something we've been talking about for years and see the necessity too. So we 00:44:12
are, Jeff and I are asking that even by next council meeting that we have a vote to approve it. And again that is just saying we 00:44:20
are going to have this and here is the basic administrative outline. It is not saying and by the way your house now has all these 00:44:28
regulations or all these things. It's not that at this point. 00:44:36
But having this historic preservation ordinance allows us to have different tax incentives. It gives possibilities for grants for 00:44:44
homeowners. There's a lot of benefits that have an historic preservation ordinance can have for individuals who are in districts 00:44:50
or who do have that designation. 00:44:56
And. 00:45:03
Just to echo what Brian said, it's just incredibly important to preserve the historic structures we have. So we are hoping in 00:45:04
February if council agrees to approve the basic administrative structures and then we will really start getting the public input 00:45:10
on area structures. 00:45:16
Because you do have a city has in the next phase of kind of like how much design overview are we going to have there? There's a 00:45:24
lot more to come. So I hope. 00:45:30
I hope I haven't confused matters but it was helpful for me to know there's kind of steps on this process and I think some of what 00:45:37
has taken us a while to get to this point as I think we thought we kind of had to do everything all at once which can be 00:45:43
overwhelming because we really want to make sure that we are also very conscious of individual property owners rights. So it is 00:45:48
that balancing act. 00:45:54
Perfect. Any questions for the mayor Pro Tem? 00:46:01
Oh, and one other thing His he has another class that's going to actually be helping us with the next steps of the process as 00:46:05
well. So we are again incredibly fortunate and so thankful to Doctor Reap and his classes. 00:46:11
It's great. One of the great things about being close to the university, right we have access to some experts who are willing to 00:46:18
work or they we paying them, Are they working for free? So it's free, which is great. 00:46:23
Awesome. All right. 00:46:30
New business. 00:46:32
Under old business, we don't have anything anything else under New Business Farm Winery at South Main Brewing. 00:46:34
We will want to potentially vote to send a letter of no objection or vote to object. 00:46:40
This is a little bit esoteric, so Attorney Reitman, I'm going to let you provide an overview to council and then if the. 00:46:45
Impacted applicant chairs to speak, then they'll have the opportunity to do that as well. Thank you Mr. Mayor, and I previously 00:46:52
sent you all out. A very simple outline of the state law. In essence, the state law gives 60 days for us to object if we choose to 00:47:00
object to a farm winery. The state has apparently also offered the applicant who is represented here tonight the opportunity to 00:47:07
solicit a letter from the city so they don't have to wait the full 60 days for you to not object, but instead you can. 00:47:15
Expressly state no objection. 00:47:24
IE you consent to the farm winery. This is something under state regulation. Your ordinances do not specifically address a farm 00:47:26
winery, so they would be able to come in and operate under state law pursuant to state oversight and regulation. You'd simply be 00:47:32
expressing a no objection If for some reason you found there were grounds to object based on public health, safety, welfare. You 00:47:38
do have that option. But I think practically speaking, a letter of no objection is with the applicant seeks and is probably not an 00:47:44
unreasonable request. 00:47:51
So at this point, turn back to you, Mr. Mayor, and then the applicant can be heard as well. 00:47:57
OK. And I don't know if Mr. Porter or Mr. Tool would like to come forward and speak please. 00:48:02
I'm not. 00:48:07
Please give us your name and address for the record. 00:48:10
Good evening, Council. My name is Stanton Porter. My address is 2920. 00:48:13
Fern Hill Rd. Bogart and Rock Tool, 1070 Barnett Ridge, Athens, GA. 00:48:18
Thanks for having us here tonight and I think. 00:48:25
Attorney Reitman did a fantastic job of summarizing real briefly what what this, what the ask is, but want to give a little bit of 00:48:29
context. 00:48:33
For what South Main Brewery is looking to do here. 00:48:37
Basically, this is a common thing with some breweries in the state of Georgia. There's a code section that allows. 00:48:42
For Georgia farm wineries to operate under the state regulation, and I don't know the whole legislative history on how this this 00:48:51
came to act, but basically under state regulation you can operate at what's called a Georgia farm winery. 00:48:58
And to be a Georgia farm. 00:49:05
You've got to do several things. The most important part of that is that the the fruit juice that you're going to use, whether 00:49:08
that's some variety of grape juice or blueberry or any other kind of juice, got to be at least 40% from the state of Georgia. So 00:49:14
it's under sort of an agritourism. 00:49:20
Georgia grown purview from the state law. 00:49:27
And so for example, if you'd been up to North Georgia, that's a common, you know, activity, people would go up to these wineries. 00:49:32
All of those, at least a large majority of those are operating under this Georgia farm winery code section. And So what we've had 00:49:39
to do on the brewery side so far is actually very similar to the brewery sort of steps. And so we've actually gone through the 00:49:45
federal process of getting our federal approval from the TTB. 00:49:52
And and that's not unique to farm wineries that all wineries in any same thing with the brewery and and we've obtained that 00:49:59
approval. 00:50:04
The, the sort of second step in that unlike with the brewery, which is when I was here in front of you that we got the approval, 00:50:09
you actually go federal. 00:50:13
Local and then state, but sort of skip that local step on the Georgia Farm winery because of this unique code section. 00:50:18
And and so we're in that state process, it's State Department revenue and but I actually did one recently for a farm winery in 00:50:26
Oconee County, not in the city limits of Watkinsville. 00:50:32
And the code section does say that essentially we give notice to the city and say we're attempting to do you know the the brewery 00:50:38
would like to have to operate as of Georgia Farm Winery. We've leased this space to to have our, our juice and and a lot of the 00:50:45
equipment's very similar and so there's not a lot to add to it to produce one that we can sell. 00:50:53
And the 60 days go by, but from a sort of courtesy both to to not have to wait those full 60 days, but also just from a 00:51:02
interagency courtesy. The preference on the state regulation side is that they actually have a very simple letter from the the 00:51:08
local body saying you know, we understand that that this business is trying to act as a Georgia farm winery and our code section 00:51:14
does not. 00:51:21
And that. 00:52:00
That a farm winery can operate or in particular South Main Brewing Farm Winery could operate under this Georgia code section which 00:52:02
is 3640 that allows. 00:52:08
The the farm wineries to operate now there's a few things that the breweries that in terms of just sort of a. 00:52:15
Out of the legal part of it, you know what's this going to look like different at the? 00:52:21
And and Brock may be able to mention even more to this but a couple things is that doctor be able to produce wine at the brewery 00:52:26
itself and under Georgia law that'd be wind, you know out of grapes that you you typically would think of. Also some you know a 00:52:33
popular drink would be a hard cider based on the alcohol content you're using, a fruit juice and a hard cider versus. 00:52:40
You know, something that's essentially from a grain to make beer and so that actually under under the walls considered wine, even 00:52:48
though we don't think of drinking a hard cider. 00:52:53
As a wine itself and so be able to may not even know the difference that in that that operating as a Georgia farm winery. 00:52:59
The other small part that is also allowed under Georgia farm wineries is that Georgia farm wineries can serve wine from other 00:53:08
Georgia farm wineries. And so you'd be able to see wines, for example, from Watkinsville wine, which technically is not in 00:53:14
Watkinsville, but I'm able to serve that wine as a Georgia farm winery. Again, this is a this is under state law. It wouldn't be 00:53:20
under any regulation here in Watkinsville have to meet all those requirements that that the state says, but you'd be able to 00:53:26
essentially promote Georgia agritourism. 00:53:32
In Georgia Farm Wine, so I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have and Brock here may be able to answer any questions 00:53:38
you have about the more details of what is actually going to look like at the brewery. 00:53:43
Are you going to have hard cider? 00:53:51
And so you guys will be making your own wine there, is that right? 00:53:55
Mayor, basically what we want to do is we won't sell everyone, OK? 00:53:59
Any other questions? 00:54:14
All right. Thank you. Thank you. 00:54:18
Yep, Council. I'll entertain a motion. I make a motion to send a letter of no objection. 00:54:22
All right. Do we have a second? 00:54:29
All in favor? Say aye. Opposed. 00:54:32
Connie, did you, were you in favor or you opposed? 00:54:36
Well, I really. 00:54:39
Don't like having. 00:54:41
There are wine or anything here in Watkinsville, but we've already got a brewery. 00:54:43
OK, I just want to be sure we captured your photo the right way. 00:54:47
I always appreciate your honesty on this, OK? 00:54:52
We are. Next up we have the Thomas Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:54:55
Update. 00:55:00
And so first of all, this is an exciting night. I would love for our steering committee members to stand up those who are here. So 00:55:03
everybody who's on our steering committee for the Thomas Farm Preserve, please stand. 00:55:09
Marvin Nunnally, Lisa Duvall, Jimmy Marbet, Rob Simpson and Carrie Hammond, I just. 00:55:15
For all of you to know, we had a committee of what was it, probably 1518 trying to count Now we had a big committee that's worked 00:55:22
really hard over the past few months to help us take. 00:55:27
A beautiful blank slate and turn it into something you know that frankly just needs a little work around the edges in a little bit 00:55:33
of detail. But this committee's worked really hard at it, and we're grateful to all of you who could join us here tonight and 00:55:38
everybody who couldn't for all of your work on that. 00:55:43
So thank you all. We're grateful. 00:55:49
Lawrence and Kathleen, you've come to several of the meetings too. We're grateful for your input along the way. And then Wes Riles 00:55:56
from SPG is here. Wes and his team have done the heavy lifting on the project in terms of what this is actually going to look like 00:56:02
and how it's going to work. So this is a time frame for the meetings and what we've done. 00:56:09
So far the goal being an updated master plan that we could put in front of council that would allow council to approve that and 00:56:16
then allow staff to begin budgeting and figuring out how we can best. 00:56:22
Program that park with the schedule. 00:56:28
Sharon, if you want to move ahead and Wes, if you want to come on and step forward. 00:56:32
I don't know if we want to start with this one, but Wes, I would love for maybe you to take a few minutes and just kind of 00:56:37
articulate. 00:56:40
At a high level, what we saw, perhaps what we heard from the community and walk through the plan for our attendees tonight and 00:56:44
then I'll fill in some gaps. Maybe at the end if there's things that you don't capture that we can, we can start here with the 00:56:48
overall master plan. 00:56:53
Looks like I'm still. 00:56:58
You know, First off, it's a pleasure to be here. I mean, what we're really presenting is the fruit of 4 1/2 months of very 00:57:00
dedicated. 00:57:04
Lots of Labor, lots of work that went into this, Lots of passion. So kudos really goes to the city for just assembling A stellar 00:57:10
team. 00:57:14
Committee members, several of you are here tonight and we just appreciate the feedback that you guys have provided. 00:57:19
The professional knowledge just that is really critical for making this park. 00:57:26
A success and it's it's going to be a heavy lift. I mean it's over 100 acres, but. 00:57:32
Anyway, lots lots of good effort went into this, this park planning here so. 00:57:38
Just kind of stepping back, so this is where we landed with the overall master plan. 00:57:43
In addition to this, my team was tasked with looking into management schedules that kind of lays out quarterly what needs to be 00:57:48
done this year to see this park up and running. 00:57:53
We've also looked into site narratives that will be used to inform pricing down the road. 00:57:59
And then I just want to mention public input. So we had two public input sessions. 00:58:09
I think these were the most well attended that we've had to date. The first one was over 35 people, so lots of good feedback there 00:58:15
that we've incorporated and put back into this plan. So thank you to those who attended and provided feedback. 00:58:23
There's a number of guiding principles that really informed our design, the first being a stewardship. 00:58:33
Design interventions have been informed by a desire to steward the property by balancing recreational use and enjoyment with 00:58:40
responsible management going forward. 00:58:45
This is a beautiful property. We don't want to do any undue. 00:58:50
Connecting. We want to provide broad accessibility to a diversity of user groups, and I'll touch upon that later when I talk about 00:58:56
the trail systems. 00:59:00
Enhancing and conserving. So there are many, there are many unique opportunities. 00:59:06
That exists for restoring and enhancing the natural features of the property. 00:59:13
One partnership that we've looked. 00:59:18
Has been through a collaboration with the Southeastern Grasslands Institute. They're based out of Austin Peay University in 00:59:21
Tennessee, but they have a local Rep here housed at the Bot Garden in Athens. So we've engaged them on. 00:59:28
Some potential management aspects for this this property. 00:59:35
Their primary objective is to preserve and restore native grasslands. 00:59:40
You know, we tend to think that the grasslands are always in kind of the Midwest, but we did have Southeastern grasslands that 00:59:45
were all up and down. 00:59:49
The the Eastern Seaboard here. 00:59:53
We're looking into the possibility of restoring up to 16 acres. 00:59:57
Own the property, some of which could actually be used as a native seed source. So kind of continue continuing that agricultural 01:00:01
legacy which I think. 01:00:06
Is a nice N. 01:00:11
The Thomas. 01:00:14
In terms of the master plan? 01:00:16
Sharon, could you go to the enlargement? 01:00:19
Of the plan. 01:00:21
There should be like an enlargement if you. 01:00:23
That's it. OK, there you go. 01:00:27
That one. 01:00:30
So you'll see here. 01:00:33
The entrance to the park is it's going to follow the same the existing driveway. We're going to widen that to accommodate 2 way 01:00:36
traffic. 01:00:40
You'll also notice that parking has been relegated to the the wings of the property. 01:00:45
That's intentional. What we're trying to do is really prioritize the pedestrian experience. We're tucking parking into existing 01:00:52
tree lines I. 01:00:56
A lot of feedback from the public kind of centered around the location of parking from a previous master plan. 01:01:02
And then just just trying to be mindful of neighbors we have. 01:01:09
Pull that parking closer to the Semiton Bridge. We've oriented it such that there's a low profile, so. 01:01:14
Very shallow view from neighbors and tuck that into existing tree lines. 01:01:22
Of which we could actually supplement with additional vegetation to really screen and make those areas go away. 01:01:28
In a sense, letter A, that's kind of the anchor for the entire park, so all the existing structures will remain. 01:01:35
As we're getting kind of bad here, but I think that is letter C, let's go with that. Letter C is the the main house and so the 01:01:46
existing house will remain. 01:01:51
To the right of that. 01:01:57
Below that is an existing shed building and then kind of planned east. 01:02:00
Is what we've been called. Is the. 01:02:06
Referred to as the the former dairy building for the farm. 01:02:09
So all those structures will remain. 01:02:13
Apart from some kind of minor cosmetic upgrades making the restroom facility fully accessible. 01:02:16
Some minor tweaks to the the structures to kind of make them Fillmore Park. 01:02:24
But letter A is is what we are terming kind of the the Oval or the the grand lawn for the park. So this is kind of your arrival 01:02:30
sequence. 01:02:35
This is where everybody would kind of enter into the park and from. 01:02:40
A series of meandering trails kind of takes visitors throughout the remainder of the. 01:02:44
We have 6 classifications of trails, that's really. 01:02:50
Designed to accommodate a diversity of user. 01:02:56
Ranging from families with young children. 01:03:00
88 having 88 accessibility. 01:03:05
Backcountry hikers. Mountain bikes. 01:03:09
Cyclists, trail runners, joggers, the full gamut. So we believe just in the size of the park that we're able to accommodate. 01:03:12
For these various user groups and to separate those uses from one another as well. 01:03:21
In terms of total trail can. 01:03:27
Bump back out to the full master. 01:03:31
Go back to the master plan. Yep, Sorry. I'm bouncing back and forth the overall. So all those little white squiggly lines, Those 01:03:34
are the various trails. 01:03:39
In total we have about 5 1/2. 01:03:45
Of which upwards of a mile and a half would be fully accessible. 01:03:49
Potentially more. We haven't really gotten into the design aspects, but just analyzing the existing topography, it would enable 01:03:55
for a good many of those to be fully accessible. 01:04:01
In addition to those various classifications. 01:04:10
There will be paved trail sections and then there will be unpaved. So the the widest paved section being 10. 01:04:13
With a four foot aggregate shoulder. 01:04:21
The narrowest aggregate trail is just your standard single track, so 30 inches is basically just a Backcountry trail. 01:04:25
And that would occupy the majority of the back. 01:04:32
So there's one kind of principal loop around the the big. 01:04:36
That's your your paved trail, and then it kind of comes back. 01:04:41
Between the. 01:04:45
Back into the 0. 01:04:47
And then potentially kind of spitting off of that into. 01:04:49
What there is is letter J. 01:04:53
In terms of land use, we're looking at kind of different management zones for the park. So what you see is kind of that yellow 01:04:56
color. This would be the the Meadow conservation areas, maybe more naturalistic. 01:05:01
The areas in green would be manicured so. 01:05:10
Twice monthly or something like that, but just kind of kept manicured and kind of more. 01:05:14
Park, like the areas in the back, would still stay as pasture, and so those could be known up to three times annually. 01:05:20
And we're looking into engaging potential farmers in this area that could actually hate these these fields. 01:05:27
If you want to dip back into the. 01:05:35
Let's go back to the enlargement real quick. 01:05:38
Sorry. 01:05:42
So in addition to the trails, there's actually 2 boardwalk systems, one that kind of takes you around the smaller pond, a portion 01:05:44
of which is actually. 01:05:48
Wetland and then another boardwalk that would extend out into the pond. 01:05:53
The larger pond, and we're envisioning that this would actually be used for fishing. 01:05:59
Take a poll down there. 01:06:05
There are pavilions that are scattered throughout the park, kind of tucked into the tree lines. 01:06:07
We're kind of envisioning that as kind of a focal feature that kind of draws you from kind of the main core. So you see that with 01:06:14
letters in and. 01:06:18
J And then there are a few in the back as well. 01:06:23
The variety of experiences there. 01:06:28
I think that about covers it. So if we want to flip through to the the Google Earth images images, So I've overlaid the trails on 01:06:39
top of Google Earth Aerial so you can kind of see how things are laying out but really taking advantage of the full extent of the 01:06:44
property. 01:06:49
A lot of nice topographical relief. 01:06:55
Not overly extreme until you get into the the tree line, but just a nice rolling pastoral landscape. 01:06:59
That, I think, is really going to be a nice asset for the city of Watkinsville moving forward. 01:07:05
And that's all I've gotten, unless y'all have any questions. 01:07:12
Thank you, Wes. One of the things I love about and if we look at the the Google Earth images, just note that they don't show the 01:07:18
Backcountry trails. So the Backcountry trails and and Rob and Jimmy, I know you all put a lot of planning into that. We wound up I 01:07:23
think getting a little more than two miles of just the mountain biking and hiking trails there, which is a really nice loop around 01:07:29
kind of around the perimeter of the property. 01:07:34
Safely connected. 01:08:13
To downtown. So excited about that. Also have to mention, you know one of the challenges on a project like this, where the land is 01:08:14
just so beautiful, is to not do too much. That's one of the things I'm grateful to this team for is understanding this was. 01:08:21
This is, this is maybe putting a few brush strokes on a masterpiece because God made this land beautiful and the Thomas family 01:08:30
kept it beautiful. And So what we're really trying to do here is how do we maximize the amount of people that are able to enjoy 01:08:36
that beauty and experience that beauty in a way that's safe for them and for their families to do so. So I'm excited about that. 01:08:42
Also honoring our agreement with the state, which is to preserve the environment there and to not impact the environment and to 01:08:50
preserve the watershed, which is so important and it's one of the reasons, the reason that we were able to receive some state 01:08:55
funding, low cost loans to help us support this. 01:09:00
So Wes, to you and your team, you have our thanks and our gratitude. Christine, you and Jeff were also active members of that 01:09:06
committee and we're grateful to you for all of your help and to Jeff for his at this point council, if you have any questions for 01:09:13
Mr. Riles, let's ask. And members of the public, we'd love to hear from you guys if you have any questions or thoughts on this. 01:09:21
As well. And then after that we all ideally we make a motion to adopt this or adopt it with any modifications as you guys see fit 01:09:28
and that will allow staff to get to work on thinking through implementation. 01:09:34
Council any questions for Mr. 01:09:42
From S. 01:09:45
All right, Kathleen, why don't you step forward so we can hear you? Well, she might have to step to the side in case we need your 01:09:48
help to answer it. But Kathleen, come forward to the podium, please. 01:09:52
It would for for all of Y'all to know too. We do have copies of the full report SPG produced. How many pages was 50 pages? Maybe 01:09:58
probably A50 page report. That includes a lot of details on the timing, the different elements, details on how the trails will be 01:10:04
built and things like that. Plant life, ecology, Renderings of the what the homes will look like in the future too. Kathleen 01:10:10
Mcquiston, 13 S Barnett, Chills Rd. 01:10:15
My question is about the timeline. 01:10:22
Well, as a certain trail becomes available, will that be open to the public? Is everything going to be done before it's open? 01:10:25
What? How do you foresee the this becoming open to the public? We do not know that yet. What my hope, my hope and this is 01:10:34
ambitious and I have a city manager who will always tell me I probably wish things would be done faster than they are. I would 01:10:39
love for the public to be able to be utilizing the park in a meaningful way and be able to access, even if all the trails aren't 01:10:45
built be able to access. 01:10:50
Most of the park by the fourth quarter of next year, that's what I'm hoping. 01:10:57
This year it's 2024, isn't it? So 2024. So that's what I'm hoping. But again, until until staff really studies it and begins to 01:11:01
get bids and estimates and timing. 01:11:06
We don't know, but I'm hopeful that we won't certainly won't wait for every mile of trail to be built before people are able to 01:11:11
access the park, as long as we can do that safely. OK, my second question is, is the Steering committee also looking at the 01:11:16
programming for the house? 01:11:20
What do you think? I don't know. 01:11:27
Yeah, I think that'll be a council decision. In short term, it'll be probably governed by budgetary, some budgetary limitations. 01:11:31
We could put a lot of dollars into the house and. 01:11:39
Out of the gate, we'll probably want to make sure the house is maintained that the restrooms are. 01:11:41
But we'll probably want to invest the majority of the dollars into the public facing aspects of the park, which will be the 01:11:46
trails, the parking and. 01:11:49
The restrooms I was referring more to classes about maybe about the the new grasslands or? 01:11:52
You know, meetings for the people who might participate in the community garden. 01:12:02
That sort of thing. 01:12:07
Yeah, I'm not sure. 01:12:09
What do you think? Well, I mean, I think we're still open to ideas for the use of the house. I think we want to obviously make the 01:12:11
best use of it and. 01:12:15
And it might have multiple uses and purposes. 01:12:20
So definitely open to hear ideas. I mean it's not like we don't have it figured out right on the agenda right now, OK. But but 01:12:26
it's going to take just, but you know that that's going to be a bigger project and what we don't want to do is we don't want to 01:12:32
spend money on it in a way that then we have to undo it and do something else with it. I think we really want to know what we're 01:12:38
using it for. But there is a plan to make at least one of the restrooms. 01:12:44
Fully accessible and and accessible for the park because that will actually probably save us some money. So that will be the 01:12:51
initial but open to be hearing ideas. 01:12:56
We may need to use some of it as office space in the short term too, because we're probably going to have to. 01:13:02
We may need to have an additional parks employee and someone stationed out there and working out of that space. 01:13:07
One of the other alternates, if you look at the map item K is a potential. There could be a date for some potential public 01:13:13
workspace out there. 01:13:16
So, so, yeah. So we're still really thinking through the house uses. OK, thank you. 01:13:20
Dan, come on. Come on up. 01:13:26
Dan Matthews, 1081 Kane Lane. 01:13:35
Thank you for having me back. 01:13:38
My question is once the. 01:13:41
On that map, it's blue. On this map, it's kind of green. What is that line? 01:13:43
That's the existing. 01:13:51
OK, that's Warner. 01:13:53
Bike lane or. 01:13:56
Other question is for gentleman's name and and some of our police officers and other people suppose somebody in the way way back. 01:14:00
Brinks An arm has an accident. 01:14:10
And we need to get to. 01:14:12
Right away. 01:14:15
Is that because that's going to happen? There's going to be some emergency, some broken ankle, some something that's going to go 01:14:17
awry and we're going to need to get to them right away? 01:14:22
And I don't know. I mean great job every. 01:14:28
Not trying to. 01:14:32
Get back there and get them out as fast as they could, but on our main trails, I'll get you in a second. Or our main trails, you 01:15:04
know, they're they're generally going to be wide enough to handle UTV or vehicle. 01:15:09
Out there. 01:15:15
Sanctuary. 01:15:21
Never been there. 01:15:24
And it's just out of town. The heart agree. Heart agree. Wildlife. 01:15:25
Yep. 01:15:30
Thank you for those who couldn't hear former Councilman Matthews. He talked about his visit to the Hard Agree Wildlife Preserve. 01:15:35
That's actually where we host the Cops and Barbers event, but it's a beautiful, beautiful location. 01:15:47
And you're right, this is going to be a similar similar to. 01:16:00
Other. 01:16:05
Comments. 01:16:06
Connie. 01:16:08
Looks like letter I is additional parking. 01:16:12
And you're going to have to go through the cemetery to get there. That kind of concerns me. 01:16:17
So we were looking at potentially locating additional parking behind the existing cemetery to both serve cemetery functions as 01:16:24
well as as parks and having that kind of dual use. 01:16:29
And frankly, you know, having some more eyes on the cemetery to, from my perspective isn't a bad thing if there's a little bit 01:17:06
more traffic in and out of there than it sort of prevents bad things from happening, so. 01:17:11
That was the thought process. We're not envisioning these parking lots to be paved. They would not be lit like a typical parking 01:17:17
lot. I mean, it's just going to be very similar to Harris Shoals or? 01:17:22
You know a park like feel. 01:17:29
Yeah, we we will have to discuss lighting. It may evolve into being lighted. It depends on safety and things like that. But out of 01:17:32
the gate what we anticipate is. 01:17:35
Utilizing, you know, they may be gravel in the short term. 01:17:39
So budgets, budgets, a concern there. Well, I was hoping that at some point in the future that we could possibly donate that 01:17:43
little bit of spot back there to the cemetery for extra. 01:17:49
Burial grounds just enough for like maybe 2 rows going across the back. So yeah, I think the deed restriction from the state will 01:17:55
make that difficult for us to. 01:17:59
Extract and donate it. Sadly, the cheap money came with some conditions because I had to. We talked about the same idea and had 01:18:04
actually explored that, but I'm not sure that we're going to be able to do it with. 01:18:09
With the deed restriction. 01:18:13
Good questions. 01:18:18
Any others? 01:18:21
So the. 01:18:25
Just checking that. Gee, I know you've you've heard me and my my my thought of the view of the property the gorgeous vistas. So G 01:18:27
is not going to detract from that the pavilion across the you think it'll be there's no pavilion down there. You're referring down 01:18:33
to the lake. I'm referring yeah. On the other side of the lake. G that isn't that isn't that isn't that that's a small pavilion 01:18:40
there. But no we are not envisioning that would detract from the. 01:18:46
Of course, Secretary, but I just have to put that out there. 01:18:53
All right. Well, Council, I'd love a motion to adopt the master plan. This doesn't mean that it will never be changed or can't be 01:18:59
altered. That's obviously. 01:19:03
Up to all of us, and it'll take years. 01:19:09
Implement all of this, but it will provide the guidance that our staff and team need to begin. 01:19:11
Budgeting, prioritizing, and moving forward with this. So I'd love to have a motion. 01:19:16
I make a motion to adopt this plan. 01:19:21
We have a second. So all in favor, say aye, thank you all. Plan was adopted. Once again our thanks and congratulations to 01:19:24
everybody who helped us with this. This is. 01:19:29
You know, there's a lot of ways that I talk about this, but the one that really resonates with me the most personally is we're 01:19:35
glad we have it now. We're going to be really glad in five years and our community is going to be incredibly thankful in 50 years 01:19:41
for this, this asset. It's a it's a difference maker and I think we're leading by example for our region in terms of what we're 01:19:46
doing to preserve green spaces in Watkinsville and I hope we can do more in the future. 01:19:52
So thank you all for being a part of that, who who were part of that. With that, we'll move on to public comments. This is the 01:19:58
part where you can get up and talk about anything you want to. 01:20:02
So if anybody has anything they want to say. 01:20:08
Come on up. 01:20:10
All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to the mayor's report. 01:20:13
And we'll wrap up the meeting post haste. We will have a short executive session at the end. Just so you all know, big day coming 01:20:17
up. February 3rd is the grand opening for the new Oconee Library Watkinsville branch at Wire Park. So February 3rd, 10:00 AM, put 01:20:22
it on your calendar. 01:20:28
Along with January 24th, get your phone back out and put that on there. So we're excited about having the new library opened up in 01:20:34
at Wire Park and can't wait for that date. So hope to see you all there. We do have our annual Mayor accounts, Mayor and Council 01:20:40
retreat that's scheduled for February 5th. 01:20:45
9:00 AM we estimate we'll finish at 2:30 PM. We may we've been known to finish a little sooner, so we'll see about 9:00 AM to 2:30 01:20:52
PM that will be here and it'll also be simultaneously online. 01:20:58
And available for anybody who can't join us but wants to watch online. 01:21:04
Downtown Development Authority retreat February 9th. Will that also be? Do we know if that's going to be simulcast or if y'all are 01:21:10
going off site will not be simulcast? OK, so but there will be adda retreat February 9th, 9:00 to 11:00. 01:21:16
Has changed 11th 111 to one OK. 01:21:23
Mark your calendar for that if you're interested in things downtown. 01:21:28
And then we have a birthday. 01:21:32
Con. 01:21:35
Happy birthday in a few days. 01:21:36
As Dan Matthews would say, another joyous journey around the sun. Is that how it goes down OK? I've seen that on Facebook a few 01:21:44
times. 01:21:48
Goes fast, so enjoy your family and friends while you can. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. 01:21:52
With that will do council, reports Councilman Garrett Post. 01:22:00
OK, Councilwoman Massey, Post 2. 01:22:04
Councilman Thomas is not here. Mayor Pro Tem OK, Councilman Campbell is not here. 01:22:08
So we are done with the meeting, except for executive session. So I will just stay seated for a second. I'll entertain a motion to 01:22:16
go into executive session. I make a motion to go into executive session to discuss real estate. Do we have a second? All in favor. 01:22:21
Say aye and we'll say goodbye to you guys. We'll take a quick break, 2 minutes. Council. We can circle back if anybody needs to 01:22:27
run. 01:22:32
See you, man. Take care. 01:22:42
All right. 01:23:10
All right. No action coming out of executive session. I'm going to get a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. 01:23:21
We have a second. All in favor, say aye, meeting. 01:23:27
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Transcript

Event transcript
Better start the meeting. 00:00:15
Thankfully, that's not our brand of politics. 00:00:18
We are nonpartisan and local, that's right. 00:00:22
Welcome everybody to the January Watkinsville City Council meeting. We are grateful for a full house for some special occasions 00:00:27
tonight that we're going to celebrate together shortly, but I will start off with a quorum check. We do have a quorum here 00:00:33
tonight. Unfortunately we do are missing 2 council members due to some work and family matters and look forward to having them 00:00:38
back with us in February. As always, we want to start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance. I've asked Deacon Marvin Nunnally 00:00:43
to lead us in that tonight please. 00:00:48
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:56
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:01:03
Thank you Marvin, as always. 00:01:15
The service also provides closed captioning for a live meeting. The user must click the closed caption icon. It looks like a 00:01:50
little CC in the lower right of the video window. When the video from tonight's meeting is posted online, the captions will 00:01:56
automatically appear. Interesting parties can also view a transcript of the meeting under the tab titled Transcript and then of 00:02:01
course, we also always take minutes and approve those at the subsequent meeting. 00:02:07
As a reminder, a notice of the council meeting along with the current month's agenda is posted one full week before the meeting to 00:02:13
all the public sufficient time to provide comments and writing to the clerk if they're unable to attend the meeting. 00:02:18
With that, we'll move on into the approval of minutes and I will ask for a motion to approve our December 20th. 00:02:24
2023 regular. 00:02:30
Minutes. And since we're missing some members tonight, this might upset our normal motion and 2nd routine. So I'd ask for all of 00:02:33
you to be ready tonight. So, can I have a motion to approve the December 20th regular meeting minutes, please. I make a motion to 00:02:40
approve that meeting. Minutes. Do we have a second? All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:02:47
And for our agenda, we'll need to approve the agenda tonight. I don't anticipate any changes to the agenda. Is that correct, 00:02:56
Manager Dickerson? 00:03:00
Yeah you can. It is on the agenda because it we didn't receive the withdrawal until after it already been posted. But item number 00:03:06
13 was supposed to be take was table from last month's meeting that has since been withdrawn. So you could just simply remove 00:03:09
that. 00:03:13
All right, so if you want to make a motion, Councilman Tucker, I make a motion to approve the agenda with the removal of item 00:03:17
number 13. 00:03:22
We have a motion. Do we have a second? Any discussion? 00:03:27
Hearing none all in favor, say aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously. 00:03:30
All right, before we've got several oaths to do before we do. 00:03:37
I just want to reflect into that a bit. You know, it is an election. 00:03:41
It feels like every year and every year is an election year in Watkinsville, so we do this, but these oaths are important. 00:03:45
We will do oaths for the mayor, will do oaths for council members, will do an oath for a new police chief tonight. I may speak a 00:03:53
little bit more to that before that oath, but I do want to just reinforce for council and all of us as we stand up here that these 00:03:59
oaths are important, they're serious matters. And as we move into a year where we'll be making a lot of serious decisions for our 00:04:05
country, I think we all need to reflect into what we're saying. 00:04:11
Agreeing to and the importance of these oaths that we're taking around defending the Constitution and how vital that is to the 00:04:18
health of our democracy. 00:04:22
In America. And that health really starts here in our local communities. So with that, Joe, I guess I get to go first. 00:04:26
Yeah, let's do that contemporaneously with the other two council members, so. 00:04:32
I. 00:04:40
Chuck. 00:04:43
As much as I'd love to read this oath. 00:04:45
Wait, Connie, I don't think this is only for Newton. We're next. We we get this coming. 00:04:50
Christine not let you get your. 00:04:58
Make sure we had the right turn on the mic so we can have this be official. 00:05:08
One moment. Press and hold. New batteries. All right. Are we live? 00:05:14
Very good. At this point, I'd ask each of you to raise your right hand. 00:05:19
And do each of you swear and affirm as follows, and I will read it out in its entirety at the end You can say I do or I do, So 00:05:24
help me God, do each of you solemnly swear, Affirm that you will faithfully execute the office of Mayor or Council Person of the 00:05:30
City of Watkinsville, and to the best of your ability, support and defend the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution 00:05:36
of Georgia, and the charter ordinances and regulations of the City of Watkinsville. You are not the holder of any unaccounted for 00:05:42
public money. Do this State. 00:05:49
In the best interest of the city of Watkinsville, to the best of your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or 00:06:29
expectation thereof. If you agree with that, you can say I do. I do, so help me God. 00:06:34
Congratulations. 00:06:41
All right, Council, our next item is the election of the mayor Pro Tem. 00:07:10
Anyone like to nominate someone? 00:07:15
For mayor pro. 00:07:18
I'd like to nominate Christine. 00:07:21
Do we have a second? 00:07:25
We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion. 00:07:27
Hearing none, assuming you're willing all in favor, say aye, aye. 00:07:31
Motion carries 3. 00:07:37
I think we even got a vote from the audience, was grateful for that. 00:07:39
Next we're going to do an oath for our new police chief and before we stand everybody up. 00:07:45
I'm just. 00:07:51
Forward to see the crowd here, but I shouldn't be because the person that we're about to swear in. 00:07:53
Is is uniquely qualified for this job, but I think we also. 00:07:59
She's inspiring. She knows our community. 00:08:04
She knows good police work. She's got such a heart, not just for Oconee County, but for anywhere that she serves and. 00:08:08
I don't know when I first met Courtney. I feel like I've known Courtney for 20 years, but we probably ran in some of the same 00:08:17
civic circles in Athens and different places and. 00:08:21
Around Oconee and I've never been anything but blown away with her, but blown away with her professionalism. 00:08:25
Her, the respect she commands from her peers and we are just delighted to have you here. 00:08:33
Leading the Watkinsville Police Department and are really excited to see what you're going to bring to the table over the next few 00:08:40
years and how you're going to continue to help our community as it evolves and grows. So welcome Chief GAIL, officially from us 00:08:44
behind. 00:08:48
The rail up here and with that we will turn you loose with Attorney Reitman to get sworn in. 00:08:53
I guess we could say Ditto. And we said before, but let's go ahead and minister the oath formally, shall we? And I see you've got 00:09:02
some support up here. Very good, Excellent. So let's get a good backdrop. 00:09:08
I'll just go where the city manager tells me and then we'll proceed. 00:09:15
On one side of him, just say we can get some while you're doing something. 00:09:18
Is everybody good? 00:09:26
Under the government of the United States, any other state, or any foreign state which you by the law is the state of Georgia, 00:10:00
will be prohibited from holding, and that you are otherwise qualified to hold said office according to the Constitution and laws 00:10:06
of Georgia. And that you will perform the duties of your office in the best interest of the City of Watkinsville to the best of 00:10:11
your ability, without fear, favor, affection, reward, or expectation thereof. If you agree with that oath, you can say I do or I 00:10:17
do, so help me God. 00:10:23
Congratulations. 00:10:29
What did it mean to do that afterwards? 00:10:51
OK. All right. Just we've got a couple more little items then we'll have a break. So I know some of you may not want to stay for 00:10:53
the entirety of the meeting, although it'll be brief. So but Next up it is related to our related to our Police Department I'd 00:10:59
like to invite. 00:11:04
I'd like to invite the representatives from the Daughters of the American Revolution Reverend John Andrew chapter to come forward 00:11:11
with a special recognition. 00:11:14
Good evening, Mayor and Council. I am Pamela Lore Hendricks and I am the current Regent of the Reverend John Andrew chapter, 00:11:21
National Society Daughters in the American Revolution. 00:11:26
And we are here tonight to honor your police force. And I want to turn it over. This is my Vice Regent Laurie Trail, and she's 00:11:32
done a lot of the work to get us to tonight, So I want to turn it over to her. 00:11:39
Hi, good evening. As you said, I'm Laurie Trail and I'm the Vice Regent for Reverend John Andrew. 00:11:49
We're here tonight present the DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal to the City of Watkinsville Police Department. 00:11:55
The Distinguished Citizens Medal is awarded to an individual or group that demonstrates honor, service, courage, leadership and 00:12:03
patriotism. 00:12:08
Those that have contributed to the defense, security or freedom of the community, state or nation in an exceptional manner and we 00:12:14
believe the City of Watkinsville Police Department does that. 00:12:20
So they've supported our chapter in many, many ways, including not only helping us with the flags. 00:12:27
And the flag holders out at the cemetery, but also installing those flag holders in over 100 veterans graves out there. 00:12:35
And they also come out and help for the three holidays each. 00:12:44
The 4th of July, Memorial Day and veteran's day. 00:12:48
Also for the cleanup of the cemetery, which I hope will be a biannual event. 00:12:52
Much less. 00:12:57
And as well as several of our other projects including Constitution Day. 00:13:00
For this award we had to get 2 letters of recognition not from our chapter and we have done that. I. 00:13:05
And I'll just summarize some of the aspects of those letters. Chief Brock had retired. Chief Brock had started that badges and 00:13:12
benevolence and charity and that has helped so many people in the community. 00:13:18
With various things and that has come to light and getting those letters of recommendation. He had started that project with a 00:13:26
community outreach that the Police Department does. 00:13:30
They've done so many help with so many fundraisers. They do lots of things for the children in the community, reading at the 00:13:35
library and those kinds of things. So they've done a lot with the community. 00:13:40
So we just wanted to present this award to them and say thank you for doing such a great job. 00:13:45
Keep it up and we really look forward to working with them closely on community events. 00:13:50
So it's with great honor we present these today. We have a certificate and a medal for this for the officers. All right, officers, 00:13:59
if you want to come on in and be recognized. 00:14:04
So I have their individually named. So we have Sergeant Kyle Hibbler. 00:14:25
Sergeant Lawrence Wade. 00:14:38
Officer Allen, is it? Chris, He's not here, OK? 00:14:48
Elena. 00:14:55
We'll get these to them. 00:15:00
Ryan, England. 00:15:02
Rachel Stern. 00:15:11
And Tristan Walker. 00:15:18
Oh, pictures, Sir. 00:15:29
Yeah, y'all look like you like each other. 00:15:33
All right. Ready. 00:15:37
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. 00:15:45
Two more items and then we'll have a little break first of all. 00:15:56
And anybody who knew her. 00:16:36
Her heart was just huge for anybody she met and we really miss her. 00:16:38
She made quite an impact in the city in her time and we're thankful that. 00:16:42
And what we saw here tonight, with our officers being recognized, with our history, with our work, it all starts with our citizens 00:17:18
feeling safe. 00:17:22
And then they can really feel connected. And I'm just excited that you're here to help build on what we've done. And with that, 00:17:26
I'll turn it over to you. It is quite the honor. I'm not going to be long winded, but thank you to each of you for coming, 00:17:34
supporting me all along the way. You've been here during good times and bad times. And you know what? Here we are. We're back 00:17:41
home. And so thank you. My church family is here. It is phenomenal and it's quite the honor. 00:17:48
I I just stand before you as a testimony of prayer, as a testimony of drive and and just go with where your heart is and where you 00:17:56
believe you should be. And this is where I knew I needed to be. 00:18:02
I won't disappoint you with all the good things that are going to come. This is you just met an incredible group of officers and 00:18:10
we're only going to go higher. So it is, it's very exciting. My peers are here from Athens and so we're going to work and continue 00:18:15
to work together. Jackson County is represented. 00:18:21
So you know, All in all these days, it is not just limited to our city and so having more resources and networks will only pay 00:18:27
dividends for this community. And so I'm thrilled about it. I thank you and I'm going to shut up so. 00:18:34
Well we share your excitement or excited about partnership with our friends across across county lines in every direction. So 00:18:50
welcome. We appreciate all of you coming. That said, you will not hurt our feelings if if anybody wants to, if anybody wants to 00:18:55
leave, I will preview. We're going to take the first look at our master plan for the new Thomas Park Preserve tonight, which is 00:19:00
exciting and the rest of the I anticipate the rest of the agenda being pretty short. So if you do want to stay, you're welcome to 00:19:05
do that, but we'll take. 00:19:10
Three or four minute break if anybody wants to. 00:19:16
Barton, head home. Thank you. 00:19:18
Got it. OK, perfect. 00:20:50
All right. I hope you're all staying. 00:24:24
Yeah. 00:24:27
All right, We've done all right. We've kept it pretty good, kept a pretty good crowd. 00:24:41
And we'll try to work through the rest of the matters on the agenda pretty quickly tonight and get to the, get to the. 00:24:47
Get to the meat of the agenda. So we will start off with with our financial reports. Just a light reminder, most of you have been 00:24:53
here before. I recognize most of the faces, but we. 00:24:58
The merits of the pending matter and speak directly to council. Council won't speak to pending litigation or attorney-client or 00:25:36
personnel matters. 00:25:39
So we'll kick it off with Financial Reports Manager Dickerson, if you want to walk us through those. Thank you, Mayor. Everyone 00:25:43
should have received the balance sheet as well as the revenues and expenditure sheets. No surprises. Everything's ticking along or 00:25:48
where we should be. If there are any questions, I can move to the next one. 00:25:53
All right, the fun ones are SPLOSS. This is where we're going to have a little bit of a little bit more fun, a little bit more 00:25:59
creativity. So spots to report should finish out this month. We waiting on a clear to check for the Rocket Field project. So that 00:26:04
project and the SPLOST. 00:26:08
Project itself, the overall effort will end, I hope and we'll be able to report that back to the county spots. Three we have right 00:26:14
now, We still have encumbered expenditures for Rocket Field improvement. Some remaining ones that are out there, Harris Hills Park 00:26:21
improvements, some Rd. resurfacing and subsidy signage and streetscape Whoops and I did not need to jump that. Sorry about that. 00:26:28
So we have a balance of a little bit more than $870,000 we're taking in an average of. 00:26:37
80,000 and and some change each month which is up from what we projected which was around 65,000. So that means we've got a 00:26:45
healthy extra balance to be coming. Of course that all depends on how the future years ago. We still have a few more years to go 00:26:50
on this one. This will finish up in September of 27. 00:26:55
The Tea Splost report. 00:27:01
This is our transportation special purpose local auction sales tax that is at 7.77%, which is a little bit lower than our SPLOST 00:27:03
3. So that averages about 70,000 a month. 00:27:08
These part, the projects right now that have been encumbered are for the sidewalks. We still have a leg of the sidewalk or a 00:27:14
segment of the sidewalk from. 00:27:17
New high Shoals down South Main that we're waiting to work on and then last month council approved 800,000 for the Mulberry 00:27:23
Simonton Bridge Rd. Connector and there's also some money encumbered in Rd. resurfacing for I'm Sorry that was spent for School 00:27:29
St. at Oak Ave. at Rocket Field and 2nd St. some improvements related to Rocket Field. 00:27:36
And there's a little bit of a monthly update for you. It's a little bit more than 300 fifty $50,000 in that account. 00:27:44
Our American rescue plan money. This is Money that has to be committed by the end of this year and spent, I believe, by the end of 00:27:52
26. 00:27:55
We are currently in a whole pattern, not spending any more money until at least July 1st so that we do not trigger another audit. 00:28:00
But there's about $93,000 remaining that the council can appropriate for transformative projects. That's the plan, and there's 00:28:05
some money left that has been encumbered for. 00:28:11
Retention program for our officers that the council approved. 00:28:18
Any questions on any of those? 00:28:23
OK. We'll go to economic development. So we have business licenses are coming in a steady stream. They are due March 15th. 00:28:25
And so we'll start seeing a few more those trickle in this next month may not be able to give you a specific, you can see how 00:28:34
tedious this is to read. But so those are coming in fairly well. And then our exercise both alcohol and our short term vacation 00:28:39
rental or hotel motel taxes are coming in and they are actually are short short term vacation rentals a little bit above what we 00:28:45
thought we were going to be getting at this point. So that's good news. 00:28:51
And then on the building permit side, we have 9 permits for eight projects. The one I'll highlight is the library project, which 00:28:57
is coming to close and I believe the mayoral mentioned a little bit about that later in his report. 00:29:03
Any questions? 00:29:10
All right, all right. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker, if you want to give us an update on the Downtown Development Authority. 00:29:12
OK. So we are rolling along. I think one of the most important things to just get on everybody's agenda. 00:29:21
Is we. 00:29:32
What got the rural zone designation and that is a great opportunity for businesses in the the map of the world zone, which is 00:29:33
essentially there's an outline thank you novels, I don't know how long I'm going to describe that one of it where there is 00:29:41
significant tax incentives. 00:29:48
For businesses that add new jobs, that's the main purpose, but it includes. 00:29:57
Renovations of property, purchasing property, anything that is adding at least two new jobs and so we are having on December, not 00:30:04
December, long month. 00:30:09
January 24th at 8:30 in the morning at Penny State Bank headquarters. 00:30:16
A really important meeting. So if you have a business in the downtown, if you are thinking about having a business in the 00:30:23
downtown, if you own property in the downtown, if you know if somebody please come to this and get more information, it really can 00:30:30
just contribute to the continuation of just the rejuvenation of Watkinsville. So this is really a big thing. Cannot emphasize it 00:30:37
enough. Can you go back? I know I kind of jumped ahead because I want to make sure that is the most important thing. 00:30:44
Also, you see a picture here, Kate Patterson, who is our downtown. 00:30:53
Our director and we just celebrated her one year anniversary and at our meeting today we just really gave her a lot of credit that 00:30:59
she deserves because it is always hard to come in and start the position, start the job when you have a a kind of a vague job 00:31:07
description. And we've never done this before, but let's figure this out And she has really done a tremendous job in doing that. 00:31:14
So I just want to publicly honor her. 00:31:22
Yes, I think. 00:32:04
That summarizes it, but January 24th OS anyone's phones out right now. I want to put it in your calendar 8:30. 00:32:07
So to give, well you just need to come to get all the details, but yes, it. 00:32:17
Creating jobs. 00:32:23
Get tax credits. 00:32:25
All right. Thank you, Mayor. Pro Tem, it has been amazing. How much is you guys have gotten done in your first year. It's pretty 00:32:30
awesome and having Kate on board has really accelerated that. And so let's all spread the word about the event on the 24th. I'd 00:32:35
love to have all of. 00:32:40
Downtown property owners. They are not just business owners, but the property owners. It's vital that they're there. We will move 00:32:45
on to Chief Gail's first Police Department report. 00:32:51
Chief GAIL, if you'll make sure that that light is on. On the mic, there's a button. 00:32:57
Pushed it really hard in the light and come on, push and hold, yes. 00:33:03
Does that work we on can you hear me All right excellent. So the the Police Department we've got one application in and and you 00:33:10
all have seen this but what I want to mention that is not on there because it has recently come up. 00:33:19
Sergeant Hitler and Officer Stearns has been working on a financial crime that has now blossomed. And so now they are working with 00:33:28
federal agents and other agencies in the state of Georgia. And it is solely because of their hard work and they're bringing the 00:33:34
pieces of the puzzle together. We will share more as it becomes available. However, I just want to give the recognition to the 00:33:41
hard work that they are doing. They went to a regional. 00:33:48
Intelligence meeting today. And so they're getting schooled up, they're speaking with investigators to see just how large this is 00:33:55
in our area and they're they're focusing on the city of Watkinsville and our victims here. But their diligent work has helped 00:34:00
already. 00:34:05
The FBI. 00:34:11
More to come in the future, but that's the big thing that they've been working on. We do have. It's going to get busy here rather 00:34:13
quickly with some events. The Police Department is going to be out there in the community and we look forward to it. There's just 00:34:18
a lot. 00:34:22
Of stuff we want to get and some of the stuff they have done already And so I'm excited to be a part of it. It's just exciting 00:34:28
time. We're going to be out there, we're going to be seen and I want to hear from everybody if you if you want to see us doing 00:34:32
something. 00:34:37
Whatever you'd like. So thank you. And that's that's where we're at. 00:34:44
All right. Thank you, Chief Gale. 00:34:49
Appreciate. 00:34:51
All right. Next up we have our consent agenda. There's no need for item number six, correct. Manager Dickerson, nothing's changing 00:34:53
on bank signatures, so we would be looking under consent for approval for the other items. 00:35:01
And we did not have anything pulled off when we set the agenda. So I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:35:09
And make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do we have a second? 00:35:15
Any discussion? 00:35:20
All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:35:22
Motion carries unanimously. We'll move on to our public hearing. We have two of these tonight. 00:35:25
Typically, and we will do this if it comes up of 10 minutes per side are allowed for people to address. 00:35:32
The matters on zoning procedures Comments, as before, should relate to the agenda item should be directed to council. You'll want 00:35:40
to speak from the podium and address the merits of the pending matter. 00:35:44
Directly to the council, we have two public hearings tonight. We have the zoning. Well, we have, we actually just have 1A zoning 00:35:49
text amendment related to outdoor. 00:35:54
Dining and mobile vendors. So first we'll have a public hearing on that matter and then we'll have a vote on that matter. After 00:35:59
that we'll move into old business. We'll get just so you all know what's coming, we'll have an update on historic preservation. 00:36:04
Then we'll move into new business and we'll discuss the farm winery matter that's related to South Main Brewing and also Thomas 00:36:10
Farm. 00:36:13
Preserve update at that point. So just so everybody knows what's coming, but we will start off with the zoning text amendment 00:36:17
related to mobile businesses and attorney Reitman if you could provide an overview of that amendment please Sir. 00:36:22
Glad to do so. You'll see up on your screen reference to Article 10 outdoor dining. This actually morphed into a slightly more 00:36:29
expansive ordinance addressing not only food trucks, but locally produced artisan products and produce etcetera as well, but it 00:36:37
was most conveniently located Article 10. Also Article 13 use regulation to allow such in the downtown quarter, commercial and 00:36:45
mixed-use office zones and Mr. Mayor, I think you. 00:36:53
Had encouraged us to add another zone to that, is that correct? I believe it is expanded beyond those zones. 00:37:01
I believe that is correct. 00:37:10
And the purpose of this is to address something that was not previously permitted in your zoning ordinance. As written, your 00:37:14
zoning ordinance without amending it does not expressly allow food trucks, mobile vendors, etcetera. The purpose of this is to 00:37:22
allow them with reasonable constraints so that the locations where they can set up. 00:37:30
Are clearly defined so that they will not block traffic, pedestrian, vehicular or otherwise. 00:37:39
Move forward on the public hearing. Does anyone have any questions or comments? 00:38:19
Council members. 00:38:24
Speak in favor of the. 00:39:32
Zoning text amendment or just generally? 00:39:36
You're welcome to come to the. 00:39:39
Seeing none anyone with any concerns. 00:39:43
Come. 00:39:47
Seeing none, I'm going to close the public. 00:39:50
At this point, we'll move towards the vote Council. You've heard all the background. This would be revising Article 10 outdoor 00:39:53
dining to expand such to address mobile vendors and that does include things beyond dining. So that's flower carts. A variety of 00:39:58
other mobile vendors would be covered by that. In Watkinsville if they're serving the general public, that would be in the 00:40:04
downtown quarter commercial historic main and mixed-use office zones. And I think we ice cream trucks are excluded from that and 00:40:10
can go anywhere. Is that right, Sharon? 00:40:16
That's correct. There's one other thing that Mayor just to make sure. So one of the things that you do need to that we do need in 00:40:22
the motion is the fee for the for the mobile vendor permit and we agreed, I believe we talked about it being the the lowest level 00:40:28
or zero to 1 employee on the occupational tax level. That $65 a year will add that to the fee schedule if that is, is what you 00:40:34
would like. 00:40:40
To approve. 00:40:46
OK. All right. So we're looking for a motion to approve the text amendments along with the fee schedule that will be that will 00:40:48
reflect the lowest possible business permitting cost in Watkinsville. 00:40:54
So moved will be fine. 00:41:02
Do we have a second? Any discussion behind the rail? 00:41:05
Hearing none. All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? 00:41:09
All right, that motion carries. 00:41:12
We'll move on to appearances. 00:41:16
We don't have any under appearances under old business. We have Historic Preservation Council. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker, if you could 00:41:21
give us an update on our historic preservation in a moment, just a little bit of a preamble. I do think it's important to note. 00:41:27
The historic preservation and some of the other efforts that Mayor Pro Tem Tucker discussed earlier around the rural zone do go 00:41:35
hand in hand. In some ways, the rural zone efforts are primarily focused on downtown. But contextually this council's discussed, 00:41:41
and I think we all agree how important it is that we preserve our history in Watkinsville. A lot of our decisions have been made 00:41:46
around how do we preserve and activate our downtown hold on to our homes. 00:41:52
Historic homes. Sadly, we've lost a few of those homes in the past few years, and it has taken us a while to wrap our arms around 00:41:58
how we're can best protect those in a way that doesn't limit the options of homeowners. And Mayor Pro Tem and Councilman Campbell 00:42:04
have been leading the way on on that effort for a while, so if you could give us an update, that would be great. 00:42:10
Yes. So as it outlines that they're starting in October, we met with Doctor Reeve in his class and what a privilege to have one of 00:42:18
the really the experts in the state on this issue. 00:42:24
Working with us with his class. And so Jeff and I met with him this past Monday with one of his students. Actually to go over the 00:42:31
we we were really the class project. 00:42:37
And so they gave us kind of their the students revised of the state ordinance and. 00:42:45
One of the things that we've been learning through this process is, unless you were already grandfathered in, so some of the 00:42:54
larger cities, Savannah, Atlanta. 00:42:57
Have their own historic preservation ordinances, but for most municipalities, the state of Georgia has outlined what it's going to 00:43:02
look like. And so you have to fit within those parameters. And the first step really is to simply adapt pretty much the 00:43:11
administrative processes. So it is not saying what is a historic property, where is the district? Who is on the committee? 00:43:21
None of those things are the initial things, The initial, the first thing you have to do is basically say we are going to have a 00:43:31
historic preservation ordinance. 00:43:36
And this is the basic administrative outline of what it's going to look like. And most of that outline is dictated by the state. 00:43:40
There are some little tweaks that can go into that aspect of it. And so that's what his class was working on was that initial kind 00:43:47
of outline of the historic preservation ordinance and so. 00:43:55
Because it is incredibly important to us, I would say, to have community input and all of this. 00:44:03
However, having historic preservation ordinance is something we've been talking about for years and see the necessity too. So we 00:44:12
are, Jeff and I are asking that even by next council meeting that we have a vote to approve it. And again that is just saying we 00:44:20
are going to have this and here is the basic administrative outline. It is not saying and by the way your house now has all these 00:44:28
regulations or all these things. It's not that at this point. 00:44:36
But having this historic preservation ordinance allows us to have different tax incentives. It gives possibilities for grants for 00:44:44
homeowners. There's a lot of benefits that have an historic preservation ordinance can have for individuals who are in districts 00:44:50
or who do have that designation. 00:44:56
And. 00:45:03
Just to echo what Brian said, it's just incredibly important to preserve the historic structures we have. So we are hoping in 00:45:04
February if council agrees to approve the basic administrative structures and then we will really start getting the public input 00:45:10
on area structures. 00:45:16
Because you do have a city has in the next phase of kind of like how much design overview are we going to have there? There's a 00:45:24
lot more to come. So I hope. 00:45:30
I hope I haven't confused matters but it was helpful for me to know there's kind of steps on this process and I think some of what 00:45:37
has taken us a while to get to this point as I think we thought we kind of had to do everything all at once which can be 00:45:43
overwhelming because we really want to make sure that we are also very conscious of individual property owners rights. So it is 00:45:48
that balancing act. 00:45:54
Perfect. Any questions for the mayor Pro Tem? 00:46:01
Oh, and one other thing His he has another class that's going to actually be helping us with the next steps of the process as 00:46:05
well. So we are again incredibly fortunate and so thankful to Doctor Reap and his classes. 00:46:11
It's great. One of the great things about being close to the university, right we have access to some experts who are willing to 00:46:18
work or they we paying them, Are they working for free? So it's free, which is great. 00:46:23
Awesome. All right. 00:46:30
New business. 00:46:32
Under old business, we don't have anything anything else under New Business Farm Winery at South Main Brewing. 00:46:34
We will want to potentially vote to send a letter of no objection or vote to object. 00:46:40
This is a little bit esoteric, so Attorney Reitman, I'm going to let you provide an overview to council and then if the. 00:46:45
Impacted applicant chairs to speak, then they'll have the opportunity to do that as well. Thank you Mr. Mayor, and I previously 00:46:52
sent you all out. A very simple outline of the state law. In essence, the state law gives 60 days for us to object if we choose to 00:47:00
object to a farm winery. The state has apparently also offered the applicant who is represented here tonight the opportunity to 00:47:07
solicit a letter from the city so they don't have to wait the full 60 days for you to not object, but instead you can. 00:47:15
Expressly state no objection. 00:47:24
IE you consent to the farm winery. This is something under state regulation. Your ordinances do not specifically address a farm 00:47:26
winery, so they would be able to come in and operate under state law pursuant to state oversight and regulation. You'd simply be 00:47:32
expressing a no objection If for some reason you found there were grounds to object based on public health, safety, welfare. You 00:47:38
do have that option. But I think practically speaking, a letter of no objection is with the applicant seeks and is probably not an 00:47:44
unreasonable request. 00:47:51
So at this point, turn back to you, Mr. Mayor, and then the applicant can be heard as well. 00:47:57
OK. And I don't know if Mr. Porter or Mr. Tool would like to come forward and speak please. 00:48:02
I'm not. 00:48:07
Please give us your name and address for the record. 00:48:10
Good evening, Council. My name is Stanton Porter. My address is 2920. 00:48:13
Fern Hill Rd. Bogart and Rock Tool, 1070 Barnett Ridge, Athens, GA. 00:48:18
Thanks for having us here tonight and I think. 00:48:25
Attorney Reitman did a fantastic job of summarizing real briefly what what this, what the ask is, but want to give a little bit of 00:48:29
context. 00:48:33
For what South Main Brewery is looking to do here. 00:48:37
Basically, this is a common thing with some breweries in the state of Georgia. There's a code section that allows. 00:48:42
For Georgia farm wineries to operate under the state regulation, and I don't know the whole legislative history on how this this 00:48:51
came to act, but basically under state regulation you can operate at what's called a Georgia farm winery. 00:48:58
And to be a Georgia farm. 00:49:05
You've got to do several things. The most important part of that is that the the fruit juice that you're going to use, whether 00:49:08
that's some variety of grape juice or blueberry or any other kind of juice, got to be at least 40% from the state of Georgia. So 00:49:14
it's under sort of an agritourism. 00:49:20
Georgia grown purview from the state law. 00:49:27
And so for example, if you'd been up to North Georgia, that's a common, you know, activity, people would go up to these wineries. 00:49:32
All of those, at least a large majority of those are operating under this Georgia farm winery code section. And So what we've had 00:49:39
to do on the brewery side so far is actually very similar to the brewery sort of steps. And so we've actually gone through the 00:49:45
federal process of getting our federal approval from the TTB. 00:49:52
And and that's not unique to farm wineries that all wineries in any same thing with the brewery and and we've obtained that 00:49:59
approval. 00:50:04
The, the sort of second step in that unlike with the brewery, which is when I was here in front of you that we got the approval, 00:50:09
you actually go federal. 00:50:13
Local and then state, but sort of skip that local step on the Georgia Farm winery because of this unique code section. 00:50:18
And and so we're in that state process, it's State Department revenue and but I actually did one recently for a farm winery in 00:50:26
Oconee County, not in the city limits of Watkinsville. 00:50:32
And the code section does say that essentially we give notice to the city and say we're attempting to do you know the the brewery 00:50:38
would like to have to operate as of Georgia Farm Winery. We've leased this space to to have our, our juice and and a lot of the 00:50:45
equipment's very similar and so there's not a lot to add to it to produce one that we can sell. 00:50:53
And the 60 days go by, but from a sort of courtesy both to to not have to wait those full 60 days, but also just from a 00:51:02
interagency courtesy. The preference on the state regulation side is that they actually have a very simple letter from the the 00:51:08
local body saying you know, we understand that that this business is trying to act as a Georgia farm winery and our code section 00:51:14
does not. 00:51:21
And that. 00:52:00
That a farm winery can operate or in particular South Main Brewing Farm Winery could operate under this Georgia code section which 00:52:02
is 3640 that allows. 00:52:08
The the farm wineries to operate now there's a few things that the breweries that in terms of just sort of a. 00:52:15
Out of the legal part of it, you know what's this going to look like different at the? 00:52:21
And and Brock may be able to mention even more to this but a couple things is that doctor be able to produce wine at the brewery 00:52:26
itself and under Georgia law that'd be wind, you know out of grapes that you you typically would think of. Also some you know a 00:52:33
popular drink would be a hard cider based on the alcohol content you're using, a fruit juice and a hard cider versus. 00:52:40
You know, something that's essentially from a grain to make beer and so that actually under under the walls considered wine, even 00:52:48
though we don't think of drinking a hard cider. 00:52:53
As a wine itself and so be able to may not even know the difference that in that that operating as a Georgia farm winery. 00:52:59
The other small part that is also allowed under Georgia farm wineries is that Georgia farm wineries can serve wine from other 00:53:08
Georgia farm wineries. And so you'd be able to see wines, for example, from Watkinsville wine, which technically is not in 00:53:14
Watkinsville, but I'm able to serve that wine as a Georgia farm winery. Again, this is a this is under state law. It wouldn't be 00:53:20
under any regulation here in Watkinsville have to meet all those requirements that that the state says, but you'd be able to 00:53:26
essentially promote Georgia agritourism. 00:53:32
In Georgia Farm Wine, so I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have and Brock here may be able to answer any questions 00:53:38
you have about the more details of what is actually going to look like at the brewery. 00:53:43
Are you going to have hard cider? 00:53:51
And so you guys will be making your own wine there, is that right? 00:53:55
Mayor, basically what we want to do is we won't sell everyone, OK? 00:53:59
Any other questions? 00:54:14
All right. Thank you. Thank you. 00:54:18
Yep, Council. I'll entertain a motion. I make a motion to send a letter of no objection. 00:54:22
All right. Do we have a second? 00:54:29
All in favor? Say aye. Opposed. 00:54:32
Connie, did you, were you in favor or you opposed? 00:54:36
Well, I really. 00:54:39
Don't like having. 00:54:41
There are wine or anything here in Watkinsville, but we've already got a brewery. 00:54:43
OK, I just want to be sure we captured your photo the right way. 00:54:47
I always appreciate your honesty on this, OK? 00:54:52
We are. Next up we have the Thomas Thomas Farm Preserve. 00:54:55
Update. 00:55:00
And so first of all, this is an exciting night. I would love for our steering committee members to stand up those who are here. So 00:55:03
everybody who's on our steering committee for the Thomas Farm Preserve, please stand. 00:55:09
Marvin Nunnally, Lisa Duvall, Jimmy Marbet, Rob Simpson and Carrie Hammond, I just. 00:55:15
For all of you to know, we had a committee of what was it, probably 1518 trying to count Now we had a big committee that's worked 00:55:22
really hard over the past few months to help us take. 00:55:27
A beautiful blank slate and turn it into something you know that frankly just needs a little work around the edges in a little bit 00:55:33
of detail. But this committee's worked really hard at it, and we're grateful to all of you who could join us here tonight and 00:55:38
everybody who couldn't for all of your work on that. 00:55:43
So thank you all. We're grateful. 00:55:49
Lawrence and Kathleen, you've come to several of the meetings too. We're grateful for your input along the way. And then Wes Riles 00:55:56
from SPG is here. Wes and his team have done the heavy lifting on the project in terms of what this is actually going to look like 00:56:02
and how it's going to work. So this is a time frame for the meetings and what we've done. 00:56:09
So far the goal being an updated master plan that we could put in front of council that would allow council to approve that and 00:56:16
then allow staff to begin budgeting and figuring out how we can best. 00:56:22
Program that park with the schedule. 00:56:28
Sharon, if you want to move ahead and Wes, if you want to come on and step forward. 00:56:32
I don't know if we want to start with this one, but Wes, I would love for maybe you to take a few minutes and just kind of 00:56:37
articulate. 00:56:40
At a high level, what we saw, perhaps what we heard from the community and walk through the plan for our attendees tonight and 00:56:44
then I'll fill in some gaps. Maybe at the end if there's things that you don't capture that we can, we can start here with the 00:56:48
overall master plan. 00:56:53
Looks like I'm still. 00:56:58
You know, First off, it's a pleasure to be here. I mean, what we're really presenting is the fruit of 4 1/2 months of very 00:57:00
dedicated. 00:57:04
Lots of Labor, lots of work that went into this, Lots of passion. So kudos really goes to the city for just assembling A stellar 00:57:10
team. 00:57:14
Committee members, several of you are here tonight and we just appreciate the feedback that you guys have provided. 00:57:19
The professional knowledge just that is really critical for making this park. 00:57:26
A success and it's it's going to be a heavy lift. I mean it's over 100 acres, but. 00:57:32
Anyway, lots lots of good effort went into this, this park planning here so. 00:57:38
Just kind of stepping back, so this is where we landed with the overall master plan. 00:57:43
In addition to this, my team was tasked with looking into management schedules that kind of lays out quarterly what needs to be 00:57:48
done this year to see this park up and running. 00:57:53
We've also looked into site narratives that will be used to inform pricing down the road. 00:57:59
And then I just want to mention public input. So we had two public input sessions. 00:58:09
I think these were the most well attended that we've had to date. The first one was over 35 people, so lots of good feedback there 00:58:15
that we've incorporated and put back into this plan. So thank you to those who attended and provided feedback. 00:58:23
There's a number of guiding principles that really informed our design, the first being a stewardship. 00:58:33
Design interventions have been informed by a desire to steward the property by balancing recreational use and enjoyment with 00:58:40
responsible management going forward. 00:58:45
This is a beautiful property. We don't want to do any undue. 00:58:50
Connecting. We want to provide broad accessibility to a diversity of user groups, and I'll touch upon that later when I talk about 00:58:56
the trail systems. 00:59:00
Enhancing and conserving. So there are many, there are many unique opportunities. 00:59:06
That exists for restoring and enhancing the natural features of the property. 00:59:13
One partnership that we've looked. 00:59:18
Has been through a collaboration with the Southeastern Grasslands Institute. They're based out of Austin Peay University in 00:59:21
Tennessee, but they have a local Rep here housed at the Bot Garden in Athens. So we've engaged them on. 00:59:28
Some potential management aspects for this this property. 00:59:35
Their primary objective is to preserve and restore native grasslands. 00:59:40
You know, we tend to think that the grasslands are always in kind of the Midwest, but we did have Southeastern grasslands that 00:59:45
were all up and down. 00:59:49
The the Eastern Seaboard here. 00:59:53
We're looking into the possibility of restoring up to 16 acres. 00:59:57
Own the property, some of which could actually be used as a native seed source. So kind of continue continuing that agricultural 01:00:01
legacy which I think. 01:00:06
Is a nice N. 01:00:11
The Thomas. 01:00:14
In terms of the master plan? 01:00:16
Sharon, could you go to the enlargement? 01:00:19
Of the plan. 01:00:21
There should be like an enlargement if you. 01:00:23
That's it. OK, there you go. 01:00:27
That one. 01:00:30
So you'll see here. 01:00:33
The entrance to the park is it's going to follow the same the existing driveway. We're going to widen that to accommodate 2 way 01:00:36
traffic. 01:00:40
You'll also notice that parking has been relegated to the the wings of the property. 01:00:45
That's intentional. What we're trying to do is really prioritize the pedestrian experience. We're tucking parking into existing 01:00:52
tree lines I. 01:00:56
A lot of feedback from the public kind of centered around the location of parking from a previous master plan. 01:01:02
And then just just trying to be mindful of neighbors we have. 01:01:09
Pull that parking closer to the Semiton Bridge. We've oriented it such that there's a low profile, so. 01:01:14
Very shallow view from neighbors and tuck that into existing tree lines. 01:01:22
Of which we could actually supplement with additional vegetation to really screen and make those areas go away. 01:01:28
In a sense, letter A, that's kind of the anchor for the entire park, so all the existing structures will remain. 01:01:35
As we're getting kind of bad here, but I think that is letter C, let's go with that. Letter C is the the main house and so the 01:01:46
existing house will remain. 01:01:51
To the right of that. 01:01:57
Below that is an existing shed building and then kind of planned east. 01:02:00
Is what we've been called. Is the. 01:02:06
Referred to as the the former dairy building for the farm. 01:02:09
So all those structures will remain. 01:02:13
Apart from some kind of minor cosmetic upgrades making the restroom facility fully accessible. 01:02:16
Some minor tweaks to the the structures to kind of make them Fillmore Park. 01:02:24
But letter A is is what we are terming kind of the the Oval or the the grand lawn for the park. So this is kind of your arrival 01:02:30
sequence. 01:02:35
This is where everybody would kind of enter into the park and from. 01:02:40
A series of meandering trails kind of takes visitors throughout the remainder of the. 01:02:44
We have 6 classifications of trails, that's really. 01:02:50
Designed to accommodate a diversity of user. 01:02:56
Ranging from families with young children. 01:03:00
88 having 88 accessibility. 01:03:05
Backcountry hikers. Mountain bikes. 01:03:09
Cyclists, trail runners, joggers, the full gamut. So we believe just in the size of the park that we're able to accommodate. 01:03:12
For these various user groups and to separate those uses from one another as well. 01:03:21
In terms of total trail can. 01:03:27
Bump back out to the full master. 01:03:31
Go back to the master plan. Yep, Sorry. I'm bouncing back and forth the overall. So all those little white squiggly lines, Those 01:03:34
are the various trails. 01:03:39
In total we have about 5 1/2. 01:03:45
Of which upwards of a mile and a half would be fully accessible. 01:03:49
Potentially more. We haven't really gotten into the design aspects, but just analyzing the existing topography, it would enable 01:03:55
for a good many of those to be fully accessible. 01:04:01
In addition to those various classifications. 01:04:10
There will be paved trail sections and then there will be unpaved. So the the widest paved section being 10. 01:04:13
With a four foot aggregate shoulder. 01:04:21
The narrowest aggregate trail is just your standard single track, so 30 inches is basically just a Backcountry trail. 01:04:25
And that would occupy the majority of the back. 01:04:32
So there's one kind of principal loop around the the big. 01:04:36
That's your your paved trail, and then it kind of comes back. 01:04:41
Between the. 01:04:45
Back into the 0. 01:04:47
And then potentially kind of spitting off of that into. 01:04:49
What there is is letter J. 01:04:53
In terms of land use, we're looking at kind of different management zones for the park. So what you see is kind of that yellow 01:04:56
color. This would be the the Meadow conservation areas, maybe more naturalistic. 01:05:01
The areas in green would be manicured so. 01:05:10
Twice monthly or something like that, but just kind of kept manicured and kind of more. 01:05:14
Park, like the areas in the back, would still stay as pasture, and so those could be known up to three times annually. 01:05:20
And we're looking into engaging potential farmers in this area that could actually hate these these fields. 01:05:27
If you want to dip back into the. 01:05:35
Let's go back to the enlargement real quick. 01:05:38
Sorry. 01:05:42
So in addition to the trails, there's actually 2 boardwalk systems, one that kind of takes you around the smaller pond, a portion 01:05:44
of which is actually. 01:05:48
Wetland and then another boardwalk that would extend out into the pond. 01:05:53
The larger pond, and we're envisioning that this would actually be used for fishing. 01:05:59
Take a poll down there. 01:06:05
There are pavilions that are scattered throughout the park, kind of tucked into the tree lines. 01:06:07
We're kind of envisioning that as kind of a focal feature that kind of draws you from kind of the main core. So you see that with 01:06:14
letters in and. 01:06:18
J And then there are a few in the back as well. 01:06:23
The variety of experiences there. 01:06:28
I think that about covers it. So if we want to flip through to the the Google Earth images images, So I've overlaid the trails on 01:06:39
top of Google Earth Aerial so you can kind of see how things are laying out but really taking advantage of the full extent of the 01:06:44
property. 01:06:49
A lot of nice topographical relief. 01:06:55
Not overly extreme until you get into the the tree line, but just a nice rolling pastoral landscape. 01:06:59
That, I think, is really going to be a nice asset for the city of Watkinsville moving forward. 01:07:05
And that's all I've gotten, unless y'all have any questions. 01:07:12
Thank you, Wes. One of the things I love about and if we look at the the Google Earth images, just note that they don't show the 01:07:18
Backcountry trails. So the Backcountry trails and and Rob and Jimmy, I know you all put a lot of planning into that. We wound up I 01:07:23
think getting a little more than two miles of just the mountain biking and hiking trails there, which is a really nice loop around 01:07:29
kind of around the perimeter of the property. 01:07:34
Safely connected. 01:08:13
To downtown. So excited about that. Also have to mention, you know one of the challenges on a project like this, where the land is 01:08:14
just so beautiful, is to not do too much. That's one of the things I'm grateful to this team for is understanding this was. 01:08:21
This is, this is maybe putting a few brush strokes on a masterpiece because God made this land beautiful and the Thomas family 01:08:30
kept it beautiful. And So what we're really trying to do here is how do we maximize the amount of people that are able to enjoy 01:08:36
that beauty and experience that beauty in a way that's safe for them and for their families to do so. So I'm excited about that. 01:08:42
Also honoring our agreement with the state, which is to preserve the environment there and to not impact the environment and to 01:08:50
preserve the watershed, which is so important and it's one of the reasons, the reason that we were able to receive some state 01:08:55
funding, low cost loans to help us support this. 01:09:00
So Wes, to you and your team, you have our thanks and our gratitude. Christine, you and Jeff were also active members of that 01:09:06
committee and we're grateful to you for all of your help and to Jeff for his at this point council, if you have any questions for 01:09:13
Mr. Riles, let's ask. And members of the public, we'd love to hear from you guys if you have any questions or thoughts on this. 01:09:21
As well. And then after that we all ideally we make a motion to adopt this or adopt it with any modifications as you guys see fit 01:09:28
and that will allow staff to get to work on thinking through implementation. 01:09:34
Council any questions for Mr. 01:09:42
From S. 01:09:45
All right, Kathleen, why don't you step forward so we can hear you? Well, she might have to step to the side in case we need your 01:09:48
help to answer it. But Kathleen, come forward to the podium, please. 01:09:52
It would for for all of Y'all to know too. We do have copies of the full report SPG produced. How many pages was 50 pages? Maybe 01:09:58
probably A50 page report. That includes a lot of details on the timing, the different elements, details on how the trails will be 01:10:04
built and things like that. Plant life, ecology, Renderings of the what the homes will look like in the future too. Kathleen 01:10:10
Mcquiston, 13 S Barnett, Chills Rd. 01:10:15
My question is about the timeline. 01:10:22
Well, as a certain trail becomes available, will that be open to the public? Is everything going to be done before it's open? 01:10:25
What? How do you foresee the this becoming open to the public? We do not know that yet. What my hope, my hope and this is 01:10:34
ambitious and I have a city manager who will always tell me I probably wish things would be done faster than they are. I would 01:10:39
love for the public to be able to be utilizing the park in a meaningful way and be able to access, even if all the trails aren't 01:10:45
built be able to access. 01:10:50
Most of the park by the fourth quarter of next year, that's what I'm hoping. 01:10:57
This year it's 2024, isn't it? So 2024. So that's what I'm hoping. But again, until until staff really studies it and begins to 01:11:01
get bids and estimates and timing. 01:11:06
We don't know, but I'm hopeful that we won't certainly won't wait for every mile of trail to be built before people are able to 01:11:11
access the park, as long as we can do that safely. OK, my second question is, is the Steering committee also looking at the 01:11:16
programming for the house? 01:11:20
What do you think? I don't know. 01:11:27
Yeah, I think that'll be a council decision. In short term, it'll be probably governed by budgetary, some budgetary limitations. 01:11:31
We could put a lot of dollars into the house and. 01:11:39
Out of the gate, we'll probably want to make sure the house is maintained that the restrooms are. 01:11:41
But we'll probably want to invest the majority of the dollars into the public facing aspects of the park, which will be the 01:11:46
trails, the parking and. 01:11:49
The restrooms I was referring more to classes about maybe about the the new grasslands or? 01:11:52
You know, meetings for the people who might participate in the community garden. 01:12:02
That sort of thing. 01:12:07
Yeah, I'm not sure. 01:12:09
What do you think? Well, I mean, I think we're still open to ideas for the use of the house. I think we want to obviously make the 01:12:11
best use of it and. 01:12:15
And it might have multiple uses and purposes. 01:12:20
So definitely open to hear ideas. I mean it's not like we don't have it figured out right on the agenda right now, OK. But but 01:12:26
it's going to take just, but you know that that's going to be a bigger project and what we don't want to do is we don't want to 01:12:32
spend money on it in a way that then we have to undo it and do something else with it. I think we really want to know what we're 01:12:38
using it for. But there is a plan to make at least one of the restrooms. 01:12:44
Fully accessible and and accessible for the park because that will actually probably save us some money. So that will be the 01:12:51
initial but open to be hearing ideas. 01:12:56
We may need to use some of it as office space in the short term too, because we're probably going to have to. 01:13:02
We may need to have an additional parks employee and someone stationed out there and working out of that space. 01:13:07
One of the other alternates, if you look at the map item K is a potential. There could be a date for some potential public 01:13:13
workspace out there. 01:13:16
So, so, yeah. So we're still really thinking through the house uses. OK, thank you. 01:13:20
Dan, come on. Come on up. 01:13:26
Dan Matthews, 1081 Kane Lane. 01:13:35
Thank you for having me back. 01:13:38
My question is once the. 01:13:41
On that map, it's blue. On this map, it's kind of green. What is that line? 01:13:43
That's the existing. 01:13:51
OK, that's Warner. 01:13:53
Bike lane or. 01:13:56
Other question is for gentleman's name and and some of our police officers and other people suppose somebody in the way way back. 01:14:00
Brinks An arm has an accident. 01:14:10
And we need to get to. 01:14:12
Right away. 01:14:15
Is that because that's going to happen? There's going to be some emergency, some broken ankle, some something that's going to go 01:14:17
awry and we're going to need to get to them right away? 01:14:22
And I don't know. I mean great job every. 01:14:28
Not trying to. 01:14:32
Get back there and get them out as fast as they could, but on our main trails, I'll get you in a second. Or our main trails, you 01:15:04
know, they're they're generally going to be wide enough to handle UTV or vehicle. 01:15:09
Out there. 01:15:15
Sanctuary. 01:15:21
Never been there. 01:15:24
And it's just out of town. The heart agree. Heart agree. Wildlife. 01:15:25
Yep. 01:15:30
Thank you for those who couldn't hear former Councilman Matthews. He talked about his visit to the Hard Agree Wildlife Preserve. 01:15:35
That's actually where we host the Cops and Barbers event, but it's a beautiful, beautiful location. 01:15:47
And you're right, this is going to be a similar similar to. 01:16:00
Other. 01:16:05
Comments. 01:16:06
Connie. 01:16:08
Looks like letter I is additional parking. 01:16:12
And you're going to have to go through the cemetery to get there. That kind of concerns me. 01:16:17
So we were looking at potentially locating additional parking behind the existing cemetery to both serve cemetery functions as 01:16:24
well as as parks and having that kind of dual use. 01:16:29
And frankly, you know, having some more eyes on the cemetery to, from my perspective isn't a bad thing if there's a little bit 01:17:06
more traffic in and out of there than it sort of prevents bad things from happening, so. 01:17:11
That was the thought process. We're not envisioning these parking lots to be paved. They would not be lit like a typical parking 01:17:17
lot. I mean, it's just going to be very similar to Harris Shoals or? 01:17:22
You know a park like feel. 01:17:29
Yeah, we we will have to discuss lighting. It may evolve into being lighted. It depends on safety and things like that. But out of 01:17:32
the gate what we anticipate is. 01:17:35
Utilizing, you know, they may be gravel in the short term. 01:17:39
So budgets, budgets, a concern there. Well, I was hoping that at some point in the future that we could possibly donate that 01:17:43
little bit of spot back there to the cemetery for extra. 01:17:49
Burial grounds just enough for like maybe 2 rows going across the back. So yeah, I think the deed restriction from the state will 01:17:55
make that difficult for us to. 01:17:59
Extract and donate it. Sadly, the cheap money came with some conditions because I had to. We talked about the same idea and had 01:18:04
actually explored that, but I'm not sure that we're going to be able to do it with. 01:18:09
With the deed restriction. 01:18:13
Good questions. 01:18:18
Any others? 01:18:21
So the. 01:18:25
Just checking that. Gee, I know you've you've heard me and my my my thought of the view of the property the gorgeous vistas. So G 01:18:27
is not going to detract from that the pavilion across the you think it'll be there's no pavilion down there. You're referring down 01:18:33
to the lake. I'm referring yeah. On the other side of the lake. G that isn't that isn't that isn't that that's a small pavilion 01:18:40
there. But no we are not envisioning that would detract from the. 01:18:46
Of course, Secretary, but I just have to put that out there. 01:18:53
All right. Well, Council, I'd love a motion to adopt the master plan. This doesn't mean that it will never be changed or can't be 01:18:59
altered. That's obviously. 01:19:03
Up to all of us, and it'll take years. 01:19:09
Implement all of this, but it will provide the guidance that our staff and team need to begin. 01:19:11
Budgeting, prioritizing, and moving forward with this. So I'd love to have a motion. 01:19:16
I make a motion to adopt this plan. 01:19:21
We have a second. So all in favor, say aye, thank you all. Plan was adopted. Once again our thanks and congratulations to 01:19:24
everybody who helped us with this. This is. 01:19:29
You know, there's a lot of ways that I talk about this, but the one that really resonates with me the most personally is we're 01:19:35
glad we have it now. We're going to be really glad in five years and our community is going to be incredibly thankful in 50 years 01:19:41
for this, this asset. It's a it's a difference maker and I think we're leading by example for our region in terms of what we're 01:19:46
doing to preserve green spaces in Watkinsville and I hope we can do more in the future. 01:19:52
So thank you all for being a part of that, who who were part of that. With that, we'll move on to public comments. This is the 01:19:58
part where you can get up and talk about anything you want to. 01:20:02
So if anybody has anything they want to say. 01:20:08
Come on up. 01:20:10
All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to the mayor's report. 01:20:13
And we'll wrap up the meeting post haste. We will have a short executive session at the end. Just so you all know, big day coming 01:20:17
up. February 3rd is the grand opening for the new Oconee Library Watkinsville branch at Wire Park. So February 3rd, 10:00 AM, put 01:20:22
it on your calendar. 01:20:28
Along with January 24th, get your phone back out and put that on there. So we're excited about having the new library opened up in 01:20:34
at Wire Park and can't wait for that date. So hope to see you all there. We do have our annual Mayor accounts, Mayor and Council 01:20:40
retreat that's scheduled for February 5th. 01:20:45
9:00 AM we estimate we'll finish at 2:30 PM. We may we've been known to finish a little sooner, so we'll see about 9:00 AM to 2:30 01:20:52
PM that will be here and it'll also be simultaneously online. 01:20:58
And available for anybody who can't join us but wants to watch online. 01:21:04
Downtown Development Authority retreat February 9th. Will that also be? Do we know if that's going to be simulcast or if y'all are 01:21:10
going off site will not be simulcast? OK, so but there will be adda retreat February 9th, 9:00 to 11:00. 01:21:16
Has changed 11th 111 to one OK. 01:21:23
Mark your calendar for that if you're interested in things downtown. 01:21:28
And then we have a birthday. 01:21:32
Con. 01:21:35
Happy birthday in a few days. 01:21:36
As Dan Matthews would say, another joyous journey around the sun. Is that how it goes down OK? I've seen that on Facebook a few 01:21:44
times. 01:21:48
Goes fast, so enjoy your family and friends while you can. Amen. Amen. Thank you for that. 01:21:52
With that will do council, reports Councilman Garrett Post. 01:22:00
OK, Councilwoman Massey, Post 2. 01:22:04
Councilman Thomas is not here. Mayor Pro Tem OK, Councilman Campbell is not here. 01:22:08
So we are done with the meeting, except for executive session. So I will just stay seated for a second. I'll entertain a motion to 01:22:16
go into executive session. I make a motion to go into executive session to discuss real estate. Do we have a second? All in favor. 01:22:21
Say aye and we'll say goodbye to you guys. We'll take a quick break, 2 minutes. Council. We can circle back if anybody needs to 01:22:27
run. 01:22:32
See you, man. Take care. 01:22:42
All right. 01:23:10
All right. No action coming out of executive session. I'm going to get a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. 01:23:21
We have a second. All in favor, say aye, meeting. 01:23:27