Transcript

Event transcript
Out of town Council Mayor Pro Tem Tucker will be joining us late. With that we'll stand and say the pledge. 00:00:00
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:09
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:15
All right. The meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via Suite one. That's our public portal, so people can follow 00:00:31
along from home. I'm sure we have a large audience tonight, given everything that's on the agenda. 00:00:38
I will note that we have that agenda and all those meetings are posted in advance. Citizens have the opportunity to send questions 00:00:46
in advance. 00:00:50
The other thing to note is it is fall and I am hoarse and I am not sick, but there is something going on with my voice so I'm 00:00:54
going to try not to cough into the microphone. 00:00:57
Too much. But if I do do have to cough a little bit, I apologize in advance, but welcome everybody to our meeting tonight. We're 00:01:01
glad that you're here. We'll start with the meeting minutes. Do we have any comments, changes on the minutes? If not, I'll 00:01:07
entertain a motion to approve please. 00:01:12
Make a motion to approve the minutes. 00:01:18
Right. Do we have a second? 00:01:21
We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor, say aye, Aye. Any opposed motion carries 3O. 00:01:24
We'll move on to approval of the agenda. 00:01:32
Got a couple changes we need to make there. With your approval, I would request that we table item 12 which is the G dot 00:01:36
Transportation Alternatives program grant. 00:01:41
That we add in item 13 under New Business, which is a report on public input meetings. 00:01:46
On the Thomas farm property and that we remove item 9, which is the trove. 00:01:51
Donation Deed of Acceptance and Donation Agreement from the Consent agenda. So on a table item 12, add a new item under New 00:01:57
Business and remove item 9. 00:02:01
Happy to entertain any discussion on that or entertain a. 00:02:06
At council's discretion. 00:02:10
Make a motion to approve the agenda with the changes. 00:02:14
Do we have? 00:02:18
Any discussion? Hearing? None. All in favor, say aye. 00:02:21
The agenda. 00:02:25
Every year I have an opportunity. 00:02:31
With council's input to recognize a community leader. 00:02:34
And I'm really pleased this year and that leader is typically recognized and they get to be the Grand Marshall in the Watkinsville 00:02:38
Christmas Parade. 00:02:43
And it's my pleasure tonight to share that our Grand Marshall for this year will be Marvin Nunnally, Junior. 00:02:48
Marvin is a Watkinsville native. He is the CEO of In Touch Ministries. He works at Athens Tech. He's a Deacon at Bethel Baptist 00:02:55
Church. 00:03:00
He is the 2020 UGA Presidents Fulfilling the Dream Award winner. 00:03:07
So he's got a lot of titles, but Marvin is more than. 00:03:14
Marvin is perhaps the most passionate person about Watkinsville that I know. 00:03:17
Marvin feeds the poor almost every weekend. 00:03:23
Marvin inspires the hopeless constantly. 00:03:26
Marvin energizes the Compl. 00:03:29
With a contagious amount of. 00:03:32
And he brings joy to all of us. If you're around him, His smile is contagious, his energy is contagious, and perhaps most 00:03:34
importantly, he is a tireless advocate for his hometown. 00:03:38
So I'm excited to share that Marvin Nunnally will be the Grand Marshall of the Watkinsville Christmas Parade this year. 00:03:43
And we'll look forward to celebrating Marvin on what is the date, Sharon. 00:03:50
December 3rd, OK, December 3rd, I'm going to have a sip of water. But if Marvin were here, we give him a round of applause. But 00:03:54
since he's not, we won't. But we will get plenty of collapse on December 3rd. So I'm excited. Marvin, if you're listening, we're 00:03:59
really excited and proud to have you as our Grand Marshall. 00:04:04
All right, Administration, Sharon, I think you can take this one away unless there's anything you need from me. Great. Thank you. 00:04:13
Mayor. Before I get started, I do want to introduce one of our new employees Started, I guess he started probably the week of your 00:04:18
last council meeting. So he's been here almost a month or right out of month. Casey wages Casey. Stand up and be introduced this. 00:04:23
Casey. 00:04:28
Originally from Watkinsville and moved back here. 00:04:38
Recently so happy to be on board. 00:04:41
Always had family tattoo. 00:04:45
Appreciate you having. 00:04:48
Absolutely, any question. So he's on our public works crew and they've been busy. Last week they were busy getting ready for the 00:04:50
Rocket Field grand opening, the rock and art activity and this week they're getting ready to help out with the fall festival 00:04:55
that's going on at Rocket Field on Saturday, so. 00:05:00
Definitely a baptism by fire. He came in right at the right time. So happy to have him. Thanks for coming tonight, Casey. 00:05:05
On the financial reports, you do have your balance sheet, general fund reserves and all that. Unless there's any questions, I'll 00:05:13
probably just run through that or let you know that we are on track with that. I don't have anything specific to share. Our 00:05:19
auditors have been in and we do anticipate the December meeting having them unless they happen to get the report done early, 00:05:24
probably be at the December meeting to present the. 00:05:30
Fiscal year 23 audit. 00:05:36
On the item two spots two report. This was the money that was left. You may recall it's boss one is FLOSS 2, the funds that were 00:05:38
left in those both. 00:05:43
Funds were for the sewer line, a construction project that has now the bank has now cleared that check, and so we have a little 00:05:49
under $2000.00 left. We'll figure out how to use the rest of that, along with whatever interest is accumulated so we can close out 00:05:54
both spots one and two together. 00:06:00
On Spice 3. 00:06:07
So this is Rec and Parks specifically. We have Rocket Field, all the improvements there, some of the improvements at Harris Shoals 00:06:09
Park, the renovation of restrooms, we've got some money set aside for the paving and parking at Harris Hills Park that we 00:06:15
currently have out for proposals. 00:06:20
The green space. The Thomas farm. 00:06:26
Or the Thomas Farm area. 00:06:28
We had some storm water upgrades out of this money ELMIG, that's our local maintenance improvement grant. Paving projects there 00:06:30
have been spent in this streetscape improvements including some of the lamps that you see St. lamps you saw downtown on. 00:06:36
School and 3rd and some drainage projects throughout the community as well as our wayfinding entrance signs and signs at the 00:06:43
parks. So that's what these funds have been used for. So we have encumbered, we've got 1.3 million encumbered. We have been 00:06:52
averaging about 79,000. We budgeted about 65. So we're well over right now projecting more, which is always a good thing. 00:07:02
Our balance though is only just a little under 700,000. Of course you know each month we get 80,000. So we're not spending it 00:07:12
faster than written and we just have set projects aside to start knocking out so. 00:07:18
And that's about a 12% increase over where we were last year. So that's always a good news. This is at 8.63%. That was our former 00:07:24
intergovernmental agreement with the county for that. 00:07:29
On T Spice, we actually have a different agreement and that's at 7.77%. Over time we anticipate the average will projection over 00:07:34
the length of the project will be about 78,000. Right now we're at about 69,000 a month. That's expected at the program will grow 00:07:41
as prices and everything go up. This is mostly right now this money has been spent, the money that has been spent 141,000 has gone 00:07:48
towards the new High Shoals Rd. 00:07:55
Sidewalk and the Industrial Blvd. Sidewalk. Right now those are the two projects and then the road resurfacing project is. 00:08:03
I think that money is part of what we've got set aside for Water St. 00:08:12
And then this is our T Splash report. Again, we've got a balance of about 152,000. I think we've got about 40,000 outstanding, but 00:08:18
that's still due on the Industrial Blvd. sidewalk project. But you'll see where you know we've already seen a little bit of an 00:08:24
increase just between July and August. Some of that's just cyclical. People spend more money in August than they do in July. 00:08:31
And then the AARP, this is our American Rescue Plan report. You may recall that last month we talked about how the council 00:08:38
approved 710,000 for the purchase. 00:08:43
Supporting the purchase of the Thomas family farm that is shown as an expense now and we have a balance of about 92,000 that's not 00:08:48
been appropriated. The other money that has been encumbered is for our retention program for our police officers. You may recall a 00:08:55
couple years ago the Chief brought forward a recommendation to try to retain and recruit officers to offer them $10,000 over a 00:09:01
three-year period and we are currently in our second year. So now some of our officers are getting their second payment, so it's 00:09:07
right around 3250 or 3500. 00:09:13
A year if they leave, and we did have an officer leave, if they leave during that three-year period, they do have to return the 00:09:20
money and that has occurred so. 00:09:24
Any questions on any of those? 00:09:29
On economic development, we had two business licenses actually for the same business that's CBW Unlimited that is. 00:09:34
Manner essentially whatever most people know is Ashford Manor, they have a special events facility, operator license and then they 00:09:41
have their business license and those are the two that came in. 00:09:45
In September on the excise collection report, remember most of our monies, we don't see those monies till the end of October 00:09:49
because they're brought in during September. We don't get the money until October. So you don't see a lot for September yet. You 00:09:54
see a little bit that trickled in. 00:09:58
And then? 00:10:04
The building permits, we had 12 permits for 11 projects. 00:10:06
You know, signs, decks, electrical repairs, that kind of stuff. A lot of work still over at Trove there on Silo Bend, Some housing 00:10:11
construction there. 00:10:15
Any questions on that? 00:10:21
All right. And I think just even though our mayor pretend has shown up, I've moved her slides to the end, so she's going to have 00:10:25
to wait till the end to do hers. Unless you want me to zip through. 00:10:29
So I think we'll skip if y'all are OK. I'll skip to the police report and we'll get to you at the end. How about that? We'll say 00:10:35
the best for last, right? 00:10:38
I'm going to be presenting the police report tonight and the mayor will explain a little bit later why I'm doing it and not the 00:10:43
chief. So officer activity, you'll see a lot of calls for service. 00:10:48
You. 00:10:54
You know, a lot of we do try to. I think the policy has been to try to warn, not ticket everybody, try to work on that. Try to 00:10:56
encourage people to comply instead of just slapping a ticket on them. So you'll see, But try to keep track of speeding activity as 00:11:01
well as our LPRS, our license plate readers. 00:11:06
On this. 00:11:11
You know, fair amount of we're still dealing with some fraud issues in the city that are occurring. I think this one in 00:11:13
particular. 00:11:17
It was something Oak County State Bank had happened and they they contacted us about have some DUI's. 00:11:20
Works out about four traffic stops a day. I think on the traffic stop security checks, I didn't figure that out in my head, but 00:11:26
obviously we still have a lot of calls for service, but they're not, you know, they're not traffic stop. So they may, you know, 00:11:32
welfare checks or whatever that may occur, officer training, continue to make sure our officers are trained properly and you'll 00:11:38
see we've got some DUI and some agency risk reduction training that has occurred. 00:11:44
Or did occur in September? 00:11:51
And then the rollover truck, you sort of see it at the top, there's a rollover truck. A lot kids wanted to get in it. That wasn't 00:12:29
the intention. That showed simply to show that people can come out of their vehicles if they're not strapped in safely. 00:12:34
And then an officer, Ron Angle was at the police car, letting kids, you know, getting the police car, check it out. All that and 00:12:40
Sergeant Hitler donated his time and effort to sit in the dump booth. So a lot of fun that day. The greatest news is that. 00:12:48
Georgia Home Partners made $30,000. They donated $30,000 to the first responders. They split that evenly between fire, sheriff and 00:12:56
the city Police Department. So we got a check or badges of Benevolence Law Enforcement Foundation got a check for $10,000. 00:13:02
So I thought. 00:13:10
Pretty exciting. 00:13:12
I think the balance, Councilman Garrett, I think y'all are your balance is somewhere on 50,000, I think in the law enforcement 00:13:14
foundation, so. 00:13:17
Councilman Garrett is on that on that foundation board. Couple other things to note. We do have a patent that's a Piedmont Area 00:13:22
Traffic Enforcement Network DUI safety belt checkpoint that will occur on October 27th on Greensboro Highway. So if you were 00:13:27
traveling Hwy. 15, make sure you are not drunk and you should have your seat belt on. There will be a lot of officers out and a 00:13:32
lot of activity. 00:13:38
And don't try to turn around because they will go after you if you show up and decide you don't want to go that way. So do you 00:13:44
have the trick or treat in downtown on the 31st? And there are some. There's a cemetery cleanup day prior to the veteran flag 00:13:49
placement. We have that clean up day on the 4th. Encourage everyone to come out and help us. And then the flag placement on 00:13:54
veteran's day or the day before veteran's day I think actually. And then cops and cones if you want to come out and get a scoop of 00:13:59
ice cream with the officers on the 18th. 00:14:04
And then I'm going to pass this to the mayor. Let him explain what's going on. 00:14:10
Thanks Sharon and the reason that. 00:14:14
Interim Chief Tedderton is not with us tonight. I'm pleased to announce that the Watkinsville Police Department is receiving the 00:14:18
Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety 2023 Agency of the Year Award for the Piedmont Area Region. 00:14:24
This is a big deal for our department as a lot of progress has been made over the past five years and a real credit to our 00:14:31
officers and the team. The city's been an active participant in the Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety Activities for the past three 00:14:37
years. We host the Piedmont Area Traffic Enforcement Network meetings. 00:14:43
Which bring law enforcement officers from across the region together to perform child safety, seat belt checks, DUI and other 00:14:49
things. It all supports the mission of the Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety, which is to educate the public on safe driving 00:14:55
behaviors and implement Hwy. safety campaigns and programs that reduce crashes and eliminate injuries and fatalities on Georgia 00:15:00
roadways. 00:15:05
Tristan, step in because we're going to give you a round of applause on behalf of the whole department. So Tristans here, Tristan, 00:15:41
thanks for all you've done and congratulations. 00:15:45
Anyone OK? 00:15:53
Perfect timing. So anyway, so that's exciting news. Sharon, did I miss anything there? Did I cover it? OK. 00:15:55
Pressure and all that. OK. OK. Perfect. Great. OK. Thank you, Tristan. 00:16:01
All right. Next up we have consent again noting that we removed item 9. Is there anything well with the opportunity to take 00:16:09
something off? Consent has passed at this point, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda please. 00:16:15
Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:16:24
Do I have a second? I second the motion. We have a second. Any discussion? 00:16:28
Hearing none, all in favor, say aye, aye. 00:16:32
Any opposed motion carries 40. 00:16:35
And address remarks directly to the Council. 00:17:09
Council cannot speak to potential litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:17:12
And at that point, we'll move into the actual vote, which is a separate agenda item. Attorney right. Many local anxious I probably 00:17:47
missed something. Please fill in with anything I didn't say. 00:17:51
And if I didn't miss anything, we'll turn it over to engineer Campbell. 00:17:56
Thank you. 00:17:59
So this is a rezone request of the existing zoning of the property at 1080 experiment station Road is public institutional that's 00:18:00
because the it's the existing location of the Oconee County library. If you don't know where the library is first of all I'll say 00:18:07
shame on you but so so it is approximately 2.25 acres it's it's owned by the by Oconee County currently they have an agreement to 00:18:14
to sell that that property and so they've submitted the proper paperwork on behalf of the the pending sale for the applicant who 00:18:20
is AA and B Holdings LLC. 00:18:27
The request is to move from public institutional as it changes hands from a public entity into a private entity to a downtown 00:18:34
zoning. So hopefully have an idea of what downtown zoning would be. Again, there's aerial location of the the site. I will tell 00:18:41
you that downtown zoning is the the zoning of property that's directly adjacent to the north, which is where the Oconee County 00:18:48
Board of Education instructional support Center is being constructed currently and then across the street is actually also 00:18:54
downtown zoning as well. 00:19:01
Again, to the east and West, or left and right, if you're facing it from Experiment Station Road, that would be the Oconee County 00:19:08
Health Department and the post Office. Those remain zone Public institutional. 00:19:13
So that's a view kind of from the southern corner of the property. You can see a little bit of the area of the library or this 00:19:18
parcel that a lot of people aren't aware of or don't think about, which is the. 00:19:24
Access drive to the rear of the site, which would be engaged a little bit more in this rezone request. There you see the the rear 00:19:30
of the building where some of the friends of the library, library staff and some of the other things would enter the building, but 00:19:35
it's an area back there. 00:19:39
If you go to the next. 00:19:45
So this proposed plan, you can see the existing library building there highlighted in white and then the proposed attached 00:19:47
residential units that would be shown in yellow there with associated parking to that as part of the the conceptual plan that was 00:19:53
submitted here. For the rezoning itself, it also gives you an idea from an aerial overlay of both existing and proposed 00:19:59
conditions. 00:20:05
Information there I guess is the final, the narrative indicates that it would allow for adaptive reuse of the existing structure 00:20:15
which we know as the library as well as those new attached residential units to the Northside that we talked about and kind of 00:20:20
showed through some of those pictures as well. 00:20:24
And any proposed redevelopment would have to meet Watkinsville code, right? So. 00:20:30
Whether that's urban forestry, whether that's storm water, that's not what we're specifically discussing tonight. Tonight is for 00:20:36
the purposes of the rezone. It's that first step in the process before you go to any additional steps to change the zoning from 00:20:42
public institutional to downtown. If you got any questions, certainly happy to answer those. 00:20:48
All right. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Do we have any questions for Mr. Campbell at this point? 00:20:58
Yes. 00:21:03
If there's going to be housing and a big parking lot isn't up on that hill, isn't that going to affect water washing down to the 00:21:06
post office in the Police Department when it rains hard? 00:21:12
Absolutely so. So there is existing impervious area there now and so any site development plans would have to include a grading 00:21:19
and drainage plans, there is some. 00:21:24
Existing topography back in that area, outside of where it's already paved, it's not flat. So those plans would have to be 00:21:30
reviewed to make sure that they meet the code requirements. Thank you. 00:21:35
All right. At this point I'll call on the applicant and or their representatives to come forward and share anything else they want 00:21:43
to. 00:21:46
Thank you. 00:21:54
Presentation there from the engineering side. 00:21:58
This is my first meeting at the City Council, so please welcome. 00:22:01
Share with me I think what would? 00:22:06
Sure. What would probably be helpful, Michael, would be to give an overview of what your plans are. Council's probably seeing some 00:22:09
of that in their report, but for the benefit of the public, what you intend to do with the building. 00:22:14
Your thoughts on the residents, the opportunity you see there, you know, just maybe a little bit of a narrative around that and 00:22:19
then we'll have a little QA. 00:22:22
Sounds. 00:22:29
All right, Council, you've heard from Mr. Azalyn questions. 00:26:26
Is the residential going to? 00:26:32
Condos that you sell or apartments that you rent or what do you envision? 00:26:35
At this point, we don't have a answer to that question, but I will say that we have a very. 00:26:40
You know. 00:26:48
I think I can repeat everything I just said. 00:26:51
At this point, we don't have a definitive answer to that Devin. I'll I'll defer to you as well just to get give Andys thoughts on 00:26:55
it, but but what I will say is that we have a vested interest. We have a desire for this space to be a nice space we're going to 00:26:59
have. 00:27:04
We entertain. We have hospital administrators come to our offices all the time as well as other. 00:27:09
Members of the healthcare community to have discussions about what we do and to do the work that we do. So we need the space to 00:27:16
look very nice. We need the space to complement the quality of the work that we provide and as such, we want the residential 00:27:21
spaces to accommodate. 00:27:26
That same quality of perspective so lent itself to. 00:27:32
Probably more of a lease scenario because then we can control the quality a little bit better overtime and the upkeep of it. 00:27:39
So, but I'm not going to say that's definitively what we're doing at this point. 00:27:46
Devin, do you have any comments on that? 00:27:50
No, I think. 00:27:52
And if I, if I need to repeat anything I said earlier, sorry, I don't have much to add to that. Obviously anyone who's seen the 00:27:57
real estate market. 00:28:01
Knows that things are very unpredictable and crazy at the moment, so I think that. 00:28:06
We don't even know when the timing of these buildings would be built necessarily. Our priority is first and foremost our office 00:28:10
space in the library. 00:28:14
So when these come along. 00:28:19
Kind of be determined by what the market looks like at that time, kind of how we would would approach it. But as Michael said, 00:28:22
leaning towards probably that scenario if it even works out that way. 00:28:27
And echo what data? 00:28:33
Devin just said This is really going to work in two phases, right? We're going to build out our office space. That's first and 00:28:35
foremost. We've got to get out of the crunch that we're. 00:28:39
We need that additional space. So the first thing we'll be doing is rebuilding the interior of the building to accommodate the 00:28:44
needs of our business. 00:28:46
And we will be adding the parking because we will be needing that, which means the retention wall will go. 00:28:50
But, but as opposed to being a retention wall. 00:28:54
If the circumstances are. 00:29:00
The purpose of these plans are to allow for in the permit those residential buildings to be there. 00:29:02
Tell us a little bit about. 00:29:11
The, you know, the library is kind of a unique architectural style. I don't, I don't even know what you'd call it, but it 00:29:14
certainly speaks to when it was built, which I think is, what, the 70s, early 80s? 00:29:18
It's had a couple of modifications, yeah. I think it was originally built in the 70s, but. 00:29:23
Modified again in the 80s and even something else in the 90s. So do you intend to do much to the exterior? Do you want to? Are you 00:29:27
going to retain the look and modernize or what do you see it? What do you see us looking at as we go past it with the laundry? 00:29:34
Side clinics, I think the number one, number one in the exterior of the building will not change much at all. The biggest thing 00:29:43
you'll notice, and you correct me if I'm wrong, is there'll be a few traditional entrances to it, will have to accommodate ways 00:29:48
patrons and other people can enter the building. And then in addition to that, we're going to modify the road going around the 00:29:53
back. 00:29:58
And then the road right in the front, right where the current book drop up, the drop off is, we're going to bring that road closer 00:30:04
to the building. 00:30:07
Because in the event that we put a retail pharmacy in it, it's going to be on the left side of. 00:30:11
The white part of the library. 00:30:16
Where the current flip drop off, drop off period is and you'll be able to pull a car underneath the hauling. 00:30:18
Other than that, it won't be a lot of competition to the exterior. I think we'll probably change. We'll probably pay. 00:30:29
And. 00:30:35
Changed some of the. 00:30:36
Some exterior, clean it up a little bit. We will do new landscaping around. 00:30:38
The entirety of the impression. 00:30:42
Other questions? 00:30:49
All right. 00:30:52
It's six I think is the plan since you show 6 units there. Is that correct, residential? 00:30:55
It shows things. I've seen one with four, one with six, but I think they show 6 on what came to us. 00:31:00
And I hate to ask you to do this, but since you did offer, would you just because I want to make sure we capture what you're going 00:31:08
to do inside the building, if you would just go back over that one time, I've got somebody listening for me and for whatever 00:31:12
reason, we just completely, you know, we didn't get any any of that. 00:31:16
So just to recap briefly, you know our company was founded in 2006. 00:31:24
It started out as a remote pharmacy services company. Behind it is that in rural hospitals throughout the state, throughout the 00:31:28
country, we service 11 different states currently, mostly in Georgia, pharmacists leave at 5:00 and there's nobody there to review 00:31:35
medication orders after hours. And So what our business allows us to do is dial in. 00:31:41
Clarity in order to keep patients safe and we do that across Georgia as well as several other states. In fact, I didn't mention 00:31:48
this earlier. Devon's heard it. So it's entirely hearing in a few other people here heard it I think. But in 2020, the hospital 00:31:53
here in Jordan who didn't use a service like ours, my dad was in ICU. 00:31:59
Doctor ordered the laces, which is just a chemical that pulls fluid off your body. 00:32:05
Makes you go to the restaurant. 00:32:11
With that and giving it a sort of a new, a fresh look and then of course some of the modifications you see on the. 00:33:17
Thank you. We will count on repeating against your time limit. 00:33:27
In case we have a lot of people here that want to comment on it, so at this point we'll open the public meeting members of the 00:33:33
public. If you want to address the rezoning matter, this is your time to step forward. Public comments are limited to 4 minutes 00:33:38
per person. 00:33:42
While we wait on the people to come forward, Julie, did we receive any? 00:33:50
Queries in advance? No Sir. 00:33:54
I don't see anybody coming forward, so I'm going to close the public hearing and that'll wrap up the public hearing. We'll move on 00:33:58
to the vote on the same matter. 00:34:03
Council. I don't think we need to repeat anything, Engineer Campbell. Anything we need to hear that's different. Attorney. 00:34:08
Reitman. Anything else? 00:34:12
Well, Council, this is the time for a discussion or a motion. 00:34:17
I make a motion to approve the rezone from public institutional to downtown and also amend the zoning map. 00:34:22
Council, you've heard the motion. Do we have a second? 00:34:30
We have a second from Councilman Garrett. Any discussion? 00:34:34
Hearing none all in favor, say aye, aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously before the applicant leaves I. 00:34:39
I think it's important to note this is how many employees do you have, Michael, that will be in that office. 00:34:47
In that particular building we currently have. 00:34:52
Around 15 years, eight one or two we are bringing all, there's several that work remotely currently because we just don't have the 00:34:55
space for them. They will be coming in at all so around 20, so in the in the beginning whenever we walk in so but I think it's 00:35:01
important to note that. 00:35:06
The library is still in Watkinsville, It's going to be at Wire Park. It's going to be amazing, but this is a wonderful reuse of 00:35:12
that space to have. 00:35:16
Have, you know, have a have a company invest in Watkinsville. Company of Y'all's caliber, a growing company. 00:35:20
Choosing to be in Watkinsville and choosing to be that close to downtown as a great vote of confidence and we're grateful for 00:35:26
that. So we look forward to seeing what your plans are. 00:35:30
As you come forward and. 00:35:34
Hopefully you've got good engineers and architects and it fits right in with what we're trying to do in the city, so welcome and 00:35:35
congratulations. 00:35:38
We'll move on under appearances. I don't think we have any. Is that right? 00:35:43
Item 12 We took off the agenda and moved to November. Item 13 we added the Thomas Farm property update, so I'll invite Wes Riles 00:35:49
from. 00:35:54
Smith Planning Group Excuse me again. I apologize for my cough to step up and give us the. 00:35:59
Results from our two public meetings that we've. 00:36:07
So the past two Mondays? Or was it Monday? No, it was not. 00:36:10
Past two Wednesdays, OK. I was thought it was not Monday. OK, So it all blends together. So we've had two public meetings. Sharon, 00:36:14
you want me to cover this? That's right. OK, This is our timing. 00:36:19
City Council meeting. We shared the timing in the process for planning this property. We had our Steering Committee kickoff 00:36:24
meeting on September 12th. On September 25th, the Steering Committee. 00:36:30
Visited the property, had a great visit. Reuben, I'm glad to see you here. Rubens, a member of the steering committee who's here 00:36:36
with us tonight. 00:36:40
And then on October 4th and October 11th, we hosted public input meetings here at City Hall. And tonight we're providing an 00:36:44
update. We'll have a few more steering committee meetings and in the meantime, we're going to be refining our concept design. 00:36:50
Ideally we're hoping to have that refined design back to council for review on December 21st and at that point we can begin to 00:36:56
actual schedule, budget the improvements and have an idea of when all that will begin so. 00:37:03
With that set up, Mr. Riles, I will turn it over to you. 00:37:10
In terms of forest, yeah, it's it's about 66 acres, I think, of pasture. 00:37:54
33 acres of forest and seven. 00:37:59
And hope my math is right. No, no, 33 and 66 is not 66 acres of pasture, 7 acres of water, and then the rest is the rest is woods. 00:38:03
So we submitted an initial master plan I guess about a year ago. 00:38:13
I've got somebody listening. I may be running on battery. You just make sure that light is on. 00:38:30
Do I need to step back? 00:38:39
OK. All right. 00:38:41
Everything's owned now. 00:38:44
Good. 00:38:47
These next efforts are really just to take into account public input and feedback. 00:38:51
In addition to information that we received from the the various committees they're working with, the city will refine the master 00:38:58
plan based on those efforts. 00:39:02
And should deliver those results in about a month. 00:39:09
So Sharon, if you want to. 00:39:13
In terms of the feedback that we've received, so based on the sign in sheet, I think we had 30 individuals that took part. 00:39:16
I understand that that was more that attended both the Harris Shoals and the Rocket Field public input session, so very well 00:39:24
attended. We got a variety of input from the the public this graph just kind of. 00:39:31
Speaks to the the programming opportunities that the public identified. 00:39:39
So the the framework for the public input was kind of an open floor. 00:39:44
Kind of discussion based, but. 00:39:50
We had a board with various programs that were identified that the public could go up and mark the program of their choice. 00:39:53
There were also options for writing in. 00:40:03
Programs that were not part of that, so this. 00:40:07
Move this whenever and we'll get that report right now, so try that. 00:40:29
All right. So what we're seeing first, first and foremost was a trail connectivity. 00:40:34
This is interconnectivity to the various neighborhoods that ring the. 00:40:40
A fishing do. 00:40:45
To take advantage of the wonderful positive on. 00:40:47
A myriad of different trail types. So mountain biking, hiking, walking, nature walks. 00:40:51
Also received high marks. 00:40:58
And then you know different ways to kind of use the space. 00:41:01
Native plant gardens and pollinator gardens. 00:41:06
So if you want to advance the. 00:41:10
This is feedback and notes that we received from the public. So the the ones that are highlighted are ones that we heard from more 00:41:14
than one individual. So we'll be looking into ways that we might preserve the existing barn or reuse the existing structures on 00:41:19
site. 00:41:25
We want to revisit circulation and and parking and access to the site. 00:41:31
They kind of pull away from some of the adjacent neighbors. We'll be looking into that. 00:41:38
You can advance. 00:41:43
Again providing connectivity to the various subdivisions that surround the property. 00:41:45
And then a consideration for how emergency vehicles might access the property. 00:41:51
There's also input on restrooms, and so not only clustering those at the entrance, but finding ways to spread those out across the 00:41:59
property. 00:42:04
As I mentioned it, it's rather large, so having some additional restrooms in the rear of the property would probably be well 00:42:10
received. 00:42:14
Bow hunting, Yeah, that was a that was a good one, too. That's the first time I've seen that, and I'm kind of, I'm laughing about. 00:42:21
I don't know if they mean thin the deer hurt, or if they're what they're referring to. I did not give the suggestion, but I didn't 00:42:26
hear. I was there. 00:42:31
OK. 00:42:36
It's all run around the area. 00:42:40
And so this is the master plan as it stands now. But as I mentioned, we're going to be revising this and revisiting. 00:42:45
The the use of, excuse me, the circulation of the site and how these various components are configured. 00:42:54
Is that it? I think that's it. All right. Thank you. 00:43:06
Council questions. I know some of you were at various meetings, but you have any questions for us or? 00:43:09
Any other items we want to discuss on the parks while we're on it? 00:43:15
This might be a question as much. 00:43:21
Mayor so in the timeline of. 00:43:25
The next the steering committee meeting. 00:43:29
Are y'all coming with a proposed? 00:43:32
Plan or is that more of a time where the steering committee is really going to have a lot of time to talk through things like I 00:43:38
guess I'm wondering what? 00:43:41
The You've gathered this information. 00:43:46
Do we know what? 00:43:50
And then again, this may be too specific for this Council meeting. That's what I was thinking is it might be rough, but maybe we 00:43:52
were able to come in with some looks at what are some refinements that we can make. 00:43:57
And then I think the other thing is we have the subcommittees and I need to get an e-mail out to them just saying here's clearly 00:44:02
what we need from you as subcommittees prior to November. 00:44:07
Prior to November 9th, IE the trail subcommittee needs to do some thinking and some planning, your Subcommittee on Buildings and 00:44:13
Structures probably needs to do some thinking and then the group that's working on. 00:44:18
Property maintenance and sustainability and things is going to. 00:44:24
Set some priorities out and circle back with us then, but I think in order to meet our goals, we're going to have to have some. 00:44:28
You know, we're going to have to think through what a refined plan looks like. 00:44:34
At that point, but Wes, I'm we're also at your, you know you guys are driving the bus on that. How do you feel about that? 00:44:37
No, I think some of the those aspects we can revisit now. I mean circulation access, I mean certainly we can look into you know 00:44:43
altering that. 00:44:47
And then some things we'll just we'll wait on I think feedback, trails and. 00:44:53
Circulation, and that's going to be more conducive to your your committees. 00:44:58
So for things like parking, because I know that was the I came to both of the public input and that's what you, I mean you 00:45:03
highlighted that that the the neighbors are a little concerned about the original parking spot so by the steering committee 00:45:07
meeting. 00:45:12
Is it appropriate to have like kind of mapped out looking at? Because I mean, I can have ideas, but I am not a land planner, I am 00:45:17
not an engineer. I have no idea what's actually practical for that kind of thing. 00:45:23
I think Wes and our meeting on Friday. 00:45:28
You know to kind of talk through that and kind of what what we can anticipate at the next committee meeting. So it's probably best 00:45:31
if we get aligned before we talk that through. 00:45:36
Any other questions? Updates. 00:45:43
You know one thing that I. 00:45:47
You know, bounce this around out of councils feedback and we might have to partner up with. 00:45:49
Somebody to do this, But I do think thinking through before spring, you know while it's falling reasonably warm, what we want to 00:45:55
try to do. 00:45:59
An opportunity for the public to see the facility as well you know whether we. 00:46:04
Almost did it, Hey, Rod style or, you know, whether it was a hike or something like that. 00:46:09
Under which all's reaction is to that, you know, trying to pull that together on. 00:46:14
Sunday afternoon or something like that, or Saturday afternoon. I know our Saturdays are busy with city activities, so sharing 00:46:19
closure years, we'll take care of this without you having to do anything. But I do think it might be helpful for members of the 00:46:24
public who want to see the property to be able to get out there before it's January, February. 00:46:30
So if you guys are interested in that. 00:46:36
You know, I'll work on putting something like that together and seeing if I can arrange it. If y'all think it's a good idea, well, 00:46:38
I think something like picnic at the park everyone. 00:46:42
You know, bring a meal. Personally, I believe anything that brings community together is a plus as long as it's not adding heavy 00:46:46
lifting to staff that already is doing a lot of heavy lifting if it can. 00:46:52
Yeah, pretty, yeah. Thinking this would have to be counseled, right? Because Staffs got Halloween, they've got Christmas parade, 00:46:59
they've got a million things going on right now. So I think if we do it, then we'll need to kind of. 00:47:04
Roll up our sleeves and sort of make that happen at whatever level we can, but I'll give that a little bit more thought and be in 00:47:09
touch. But I think I'd love for the public to begin to. 00:47:13
See it at this stage and understand what's going to happen and we need to think through the timing. It might make sense to do that 00:47:17
once that updated concept plan is available for us to kind of walk people through and they're there too, so. 00:47:23
OK. Thank you. Anything else on Thomas Farm? Wes, thanks for being here. We appreciate SPG and all your help on this project. 00:47:29
Please. 00:47:38
All right, public comments. This is that moment where anybody who's here can come up and say anything they want for almost as long 00:47:41
as they want 4 minutes per person. Same rules as before. So you know, don't insult each other, don't insult the council, speak to 00:47:46
the council. 00:47:51
Refrain from debate and argument if you get out of line. If Joe or I don't drag you out of here, the police officer as well. So 00:47:58
come on up 4 minutes. 00:48:02
And on cue, here they come. 00:48:09
All right. I'm not seeing anybody come forward. 00:48:12
Yes, everybody's OK You're just here. We're going to be done pretty soon. You also hang around. All right. Mayor's report, we'll 00:48:17
move pretty quickly through this, but a lot is happening in Watkinsville right now, so I have a lot to share. 00:48:22
Sunday we reopened Rocket Field and it was awesome. Y'all. 00:48:28
It was a fun day. We highlighted our history. We shared stories. We celebrated the new field. 00:48:33
And Adam Hammond was our MC. He led us through the program. We celebrated. We've got the plaques that'll go up on the concession 00:48:40
stand. We celebrated our donor, Kelly Mahoney, and his family. Mr. Mahoney has donated the majority of the funds that made that 00:48:47
level of revitalization possible. This is Kelly and his family here. And that plaque will go on the concession stand, along with 00:48:54
one that outlines the history of the project. This is the team that rolled up their sleeves to make it happen. 00:49:02
Marcus Weed Hour Sam Phillips KE. 00:49:09
And then Brock tool. 00:49:12
We made a joke that we ought to call it Rocket Field. As much time as he spent out there, But Brock Brock was a tireless advocate 00:49:14
for the city. Saved us. Saved. 00:49:19
Probably 10s of thousands of dollars with his his work with Kelly's team out there and value engineering and creating value. So 00:49:24
we're we're grateful to Brock for his leadership on that. 00:49:30
This is the first pitch. 00:49:36
So that's Kelly Mahoney, our donor, and his daughter plays for a travel team. Throw into Rebecca Verner Holcomb, who is the third 00:49:42
of five generations who have played on that field. Rebecca's I think it was. 00:49:47
And they were cute as a button. We only had one crier. Everybody else was pretty happy out there, so, but it's really great to 00:50:25
see. 00:50:28
Everybody out on the field and then we all gathered for a photo on the field, but it's just really great to see families using it 00:50:32
and frankly, you know, to see them enjoying it, to have clean restrooms. 00:50:38
And really nice facilities and also to see the public enjoying that space, which I'm sure Mayor Pro Tem will update us on what 00:50:45
happened on Saturday night during her report. 00:50:50
Banners and bleachers look great. The patent court still has some work to do. We had a great meeting with Lawrence and Laura Rose 00:50:55
out there on Monday. So that's you know, I'd say we're probably 50% there, but there's some work that we need to do around what's 00:50:59
the right. 00:51:04
What's the right? 00:51:10
Material in there that lets the baton equipment move as it should. We may have to do some tiers and some other things there. So 00:51:13
we're doing some work on that with to make sure that's right. 00:51:18
So big weekend at Rocket Field. We also had a big event on Sunday. We were talking about how busy it was. Ashford Memorial 00:51:24
Methodist Church celebrated its 40th year of ministry on Sunday. This is a picture from the event. They invited all their founding 00:51:29
members back. 00:51:33
Then had their full membership there. Ashford has Those are the people who came together to save that church 40 years ago. Y'all 00:51:39
when the Methodist Church is split in Watkinsville. Watkinsville First Methodist built its. 00:51:45
Church and they were going to sell this property and they were a group of members who said we want to remain Methodist and we want 00:51:51
to save this historic building and they did that and. 00:51:56
Did probably save the most architecturally significant building in the city of Watkinsville when they did. And so. 00:52:02
That church for 40 years has served and has been an anchor of downtown, and we're grateful to. 00:52:08
For everything they've done. So they had a wonderful gathering on Sunday, then they had two or three more nights of revival after 00:52:13
that. And I can say for the level of energy in the church, it is revived. There's a lot of good stuff happening there and we're 00:52:19
excited about what's happening there and then about a lot of our faith community in Watkinsville. 00:52:24
We were had our EPD folks come out and do their annual inspection. One of those things you've got to do for storm water needs and 00:52:31
I'm glad to say we passed check. Thank you Engineer Campbell for that and for taking care of them. 00:52:37
We built sidewalks on Industrial Blvd. to allow those folks to safely get from building to building and also access wire. 00:52:44
I think a lot of you know also when Wire Park has large events, the industrial park on the weekends can be overflow parking and so 00:52:52
this now creates a Safeway for people to get from the industrial area to Wire Park, whether it's people walking there for lunch. 00:52:58
Or walk in there for a special event or going from building to building. Speaking of water park, the Flats started framing this 00:53:04
week, so there is some horizontal vertical construction on the front of the property. 00:53:10
And that is coming along. That's good to see. And then advance voting has started, so we have. 00:53:16
That going on at the county administrative building right now until the actual election. 00:53:23
And I think we've had a grand total of 60 people vote so far in that election. 00:53:29
Fall festival is Saturday. 00:53:38
On the new Rocket Field, the Chamber has done an amazing job of managing through that change and getting ready 200 vendors. It's 00:53:42
always a blast. Come one, come all to the fall festival. And then on October 31st we'll have our downtown trick or treat. 00:53:49
Exciting for kids. A challenge for commuters, so please plan your schedule carefully if you're going to be driving through 00:53:56
Watkinsville on Halloween. Leave extra time or maybe travel around Main Street and I'm sure the Chief and his guys will have the 00:54:03
signs up. Or if you just want to watch cute kids in costumes on Main Street, come on through. Or city officials in costumes 4 to 00:54:09
6. 00:54:15
And then last you want to announce until November 10th, we're going to have a fall decorating contest for Watkinsville residents, 00:54:22
Decorate your porch. 00:54:26
And then e-mail the directions to and e-mail the pictures of the decorations to Angela and we're going to post it on the city's 00:54:30
Facebook page. And then we will vote. 00:54:34
Whoever gets the most. 00:54:39
Will get a prize and be recognized at our November meeting. So thank you again to Councilman Thomas. 00:54:41
For putting this together for us so far for Watkinsville Council, I expect robust participation. 00:54:47
From all of. 00:54:52
Christine So. 00:54:54
Council reports. Moving on. Councilman Garrett, you're up first, post one. 00:54:56
Not a whole lot to comment on other than as I've been out knocking on doors and talking to people that really excited about the 00:55:03
sidewalks. 00:55:07
And what they're seeing in town so right, Good to hear. 00:55:12
I hope all sixty of them were voted All right. Councilwoman Massey post 2. Nothing to report. 00:55:17
Councilman Thomas is not here. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:55:26
All right. So thank you for letting me go see my twins and their senior year the new. 00:55:30
New newly revived homecoming parade. So you may have said why? 00:55:37
Late, but that is why so fortunately are both at the very front. That's why it didn't take me very long. I got my picture, I got 00:55:42
my video and I said I'll see you later. 00:55:46
So yes, we have celebrated our first year as a downtown development authority, which is amazing and we are continuing to be led by 00:55:52
Kate, our Director who is doing a great job and also. 00:56:00
Are starting to see a little bit of momentum and. 00:56:10
I'm mainly and only hearing good feedback from people and seeing the changes in downtown and our goal is really to promote the 00:56:15
businesses that we have and encourage others that the community will enjoy. 00:56:22
We also we had y'all might have heard about this plenty now, but we got a grant. 00:56:31
To put on an event. 00:56:38
And that happened Saturday night at Rocket Field. 00:56:41
And we had a fantastic committee of volunteers that we have been meeting since, I think March or April to put this on. 00:56:44
We had public art that I saw many of y'all help paint. We have the splits band's and she moved the whole time. I was like wow, she 00:56:56
had a lot of energy, but here you'll see some of the art. These are five pieces that Francis Byrd was is you can see her up right 00:57:05
behind Brian up there in the upper right hand corner. 00:57:13
She created these five pieces that represent different aspects of Watkinsville. 00:57:22
And then the community painted them. She had them outlined. 00:57:31
Looks kind of like paint by numbers. The community painted them. She's going to clean up. We did have a few precious 3 year olds. 00:57:34
Some were a little more careful than others, so if she's going to, you know, just kind of clean up a little bit and then be 00:57:41
looking for these to be displayed and they're going to help activate a new little pocket park. 00:57:47
Which I feel strange saying the place across from what used to be Dobies. 00:57:55
And we also had food vendors. We had chops and hops we had. 00:58:01
Austin, who does BBQ from the farmers market and then also some amazing boiled peanuts and lemonade and then beer from our what 00:58:07
should I say? I guess I can say that we drank beer from our local brewery and it was a great crowd. I mean my overall. 00:58:15
I think they're about 150 people who came out. There were a lot of events going on this past weekend that kind of spread out 00:58:24
things, but. 00:58:28
It everybody was connecting with one another and it was great to see people that I haven't seen in five and six years and having 00:58:33
conversations. And then also it was an opportunity to meet new people. And so it really did meet our goal and our motto and 00:58:40
Watkinsville have come connect create all of that happened and we are hoping this will also compel future events. 00:58:48
And the new gathering space that we will be having that will help further connect downtown. So overall, I think great success. I 00:58:57
saw just about everybody. 00:59:02
Here there, thank you guys for coming out and and taking part and umm. 00:59:08
And you won't have to hear about the creative placemaking event every month now. So it is done. 00:59:14
At other deep. 00:59:24
All. 00:59:30
Councilman Campbell Post, 5. 00:59:31
On economic development this Saturday we have a new business opening up a Coney outpost. 00:59:34
And downtown in the former Welcome Center. So that's going to be a good retail business for the community. So please check them 00:59:39
out. That's exciting. We'll have a couple more retail style businesses opening soon. 00:59:45
Christine mentioned Dobies. They did close, but I know, I know quite a few people looking at it, so I don't think it'll stay empty 00:59:53
long at all, and couple people I know looking at it. 00:59:59
We'll be glad if either one of them moves in. And then historic preservation, we're meeting tomorrow with the class that is 01:00:05
working on that project for us. So Christine and I are going back to school at U. 01:00:11
And meeting with that class, they spent the last month kind of researching historic preservation in Georgia. Now we're meeting 01:00:19
them to kind of narrow or focus in on what we would like for the city of Watkinsville. So we'll have more to report next month on 01:00:24
that. That's it. 01:00:29
Christine, we can only hope that Jeff has some out of school, back to school level antics to repeat to report on next next week or 01:00:35
maybe old school, You know, let's see. Keep him under control down there. 01:00:41
All right. We, I think that's it for council reports. I don't think we have an executive session and I see heads shaking. Nobody 01:00:48
needs an executive session. 01:00:51
So with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. So have a second. We have a second. All in favor, 01:00:55
say aye. Aye. 01:00:58
Thanks for coming. 01:01:03
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Transcript

Event transcript
Out of town Council Mayor Pro Tem Tucker will be joining us late. With that we'll stand and say the pledge. 00:00:00
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 00:00:09
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 00:00:15
All right. The meeting is being broadcast simultaneously online via Suite one. That's our public portal, so people can follow 00:00:31
along from home. I'm sure we have a large audience tonight, given everything that's on the agenda. 00:00:38
I will note that we have that agenda and all those meetings are posted in advance. Citizens have the opportunity to send questions 00:00:46
in advance. 00:00:50
The other thing to note is it is fall and I am hoarse and I am not sick, but there is something going on with my voice so I'm 00:00:54
going to try not to cough into the microphone. 00:00:57
Too much. But if I do do have to cough a little bit, I apologize in advance, but welcome everybody to our meeting tonight. We're 00:01:01
glad that you're here. We'll start with the meeting minutes. Do we have any comments, changes on the minutes? If not, I'll 00:01:07
entertain a motion to approve please. 00:01:12
Make a motion to approve the minutes. 00:01:18
Right. Do we have a second? 00:01:21
We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor, say aye, Aye. Any opposed motion carries 3O. 00:01:24
We'll move on to approval of the agenda. 00:01:32
Got a couple changes we need to make there. With your approval, I would request that we table item 12 which is the G dot 00:01:36
Transportation Alternatives program grant. 00:01:41
That we add in item 13 under New Business, which is a report on public input meetings. 00:01:46
On the Thomas farm property and that we remove item 9, which is the trove. 00:01:51
Donation Deed of Acceptance and Donation Agreement from the Consent agenda. So on a table item 12, add a new item under New 00:01:57
Business and remove item 9. 00:02:01
Happy to entertain any discussion on that or entertain a. 00:02:06
At council's discretion. 00:02:10
Make a motion to approve the agenda with the changes. 00:02:14
Do we have? 00:02:18
Any discussion? Hearing? None. All in favor, say aye. 00:02:21
The agenda. 00:02:25
Every year I have an opportunity. 00:02:31
With council's input to recognize a community leader. 00:02:34
And I'm really pleased this year and that leader is typically recognized and they get to be the Grand Marshall in the Watkinsville 00:02:38
Christmas Parade. 00:02:43
And it's my pleasure tonight to share that our Grand Marshall for this year will be Marvin Nunnally, Junior. 00:02:48
Marvin is a Watkinsville native. He is the CEO of In Touch Ministries. He works at Athens Tech. He's a Deacon at Bethel Baptist 00:02:55
Church. 00:03:00
He is the 2020 UGA Presidents Fulfilling the Dream Award winner. 00:03:07
So he's got a lot of titles, but Marvin is more than. 00:03:14
Marvin is perhaps the most passionate person about Watkinsville that I know. 00:03:17
Marvin feeds the poor almost every weekend. 00:03:23
Marvin inspires the hopeless constantly. 00:03:26
Marvin energizes the Compl. 00:03:29
With a contagious amount of. 00:03:32
And he brings joy to all of us. If you're around him, His smile is contagious, his energy is contagious, and perhaps most 00:03:34
importantly, he is a tireless advocate for his hometown. 00:03:38
So I'm excited to share that Marvin Nunnally will be the Grand Marshall of the Watkinsville Christmas Parade this year. 00:03:43
And we'll look forward to celebrating Marvin on what is the date, Sharon. 00:03:50
December 3rd, OK, December 3rd, I'm going to have a sip of water. But if Marvin were here, we give him a round of applause. But 00:03:54
since he's not, we won't. But we will get plenty of collapse on December 3rd. So I'm excited. Marvin, if you're listening, we're 00:03:59
really excited and proud to have you as our Grand Marshall. 00:04:04
All right, Administration, Sharon, I think you can take this one away unless there's anything you need from me. Great. Thank you. 00:04:13
Mayor. Before I get started, I do want to introduce one of our new employees Started, I guess he started probably the week of your 00:04:18
last council meeting. So he's been here almost a month or right out of month. Casey wages Casey. Stand up and be introduced this. 00:04:23
Casey. 00:04:28
Originally from Watkinsville and moved back here. 00:04:38
Recently so happy to be on board. 00:04:41
Always had family tattoo. 00:04:45
Appreciate you having. 00:04:48
Absolutely, any question. So he's on our public works crew and they've been busy. Last week they were busy getting ready for the 00:04:50
Rocket Field grand opening, the rock and art activity and this week they're getting ready to help out with the fall festival 00:04:55
that's going on at Rocket Field on Saturday, so. 00:05:00
Definitely a baptism by fire. He came in right at the right time. So happy to have him. Thanks for coming tonight, Casey. 00:05:05
On the financial reports, you do have your balance sheet, general fund reserves and all that. Unless there's any questions, I'll 00:05:13
probably just run through that or let you know that we are on track with that. I don't have anything specific to share. Our 00:05:19
auditors have been in and we do anticipate the December meeting having them unless they happen to get the report done early, 00:05:24
probably be at the December meeting to present the. 00:05:30
Fiscal year 23 audit. 00:05:36
On the item two spots two report. This was the money that was left. You may recall it's boss one is FLOSS 2, the funds that were 00:05:38
left in those both. 00:05:43
Funds were for the sewer line, a construction project that has now the bank has now cleared that check, and so we have a little 00:05:49
under $2000.00 left. We'll figure out how to use the rest of that, along with whatever interest is accumulated so we can close out 00:05:54
both spots one and two together. 00:06:00
On Spice 3. 00:06:07
So this is Rec and Parks specifically. We have Rocket Field, all the improvements there, some of the improvements at Harris Shoals 00:06:09
Park, the renovation of restrooms, we've got some money set aside for the paving and parking at Harris Hills Park that we 00:06:15
currently have out for proposals. 00:06:20
The green space. The Thomas farm. 00:06:26
Or the Thomas Farm area. 00:06:28
We had some storm water upgrades out of this money ELMIG, that's our local maintenance improvement grant. Paving projects there 00:06:30
have been spent in this streetscape improvements including some of the lamps that you see St. lamps you saw downtown on. 00:06:36
School and 3rd and some drainage projects throughout the community as well as our wayfinding entrance signs and signs at the 00:06:43
parks. So that's what these funds have been used for. So we have encumbered, we've got 1.3 million encumbered. We have been 00:06:52
averaging about 79,000. We budgeted about 65. So we're well over right now projecting more, which is always a good thing. 00:07:02
Our balance though is only just a little under 700,000. Of course you know each month we get 80,000. So we're not spending it 00:07:12
faster than written and we just have set projects aside to start knocking out so. 00:07:18
And that's about a 12% increase over where we were last year. So that's always a good news. This is at 8.63%. That was our former 00:07:24
intergovernmental agreement with the county for that. 00:07:29
On T Spice, we actually have a different agreement and that's at 7.77%. Over time we anticipate the average will projection over 00:07:34
the length of the project will be about 78,000. Right now we're at about 69,000 a month. That's expected at the program will grow 00:07:41
as prices and everything go up. This is mostly right now this money has been spent, the money that has been spent 141,000 has gone 00:07:48
towards the new High Shoals Rd. 00:07:55
Sidewalk and the Industrial Blvd. Sidewalk. Right now those are the two projects and then the road resurfacing project is. 00:08:03
I think that money is part of what we've got set aside for Water St. 00:08:12
And then this is our T Splash report. Again, we've got a balance of about 152,000. I think we've got about 40,000 outstanding, but 00:08:18
that's still due on the Industrial Blvd. sidewalk project. But you'll see where you know we've already seen a little bit of an 00:08:24
increase just between July and August. Some of that's just cyclical. People spend more money in August than they do in July. 00:08:31
And then the AARP, this is our American Rescue Plan report. You may recall that last month we talked about how the council 00:08:38
approved 710,000 for the purchase. 00:08:43
Supporting the purchase of the Thomas family farm that is shown as an expense now and we have a balance of about 92,000 that's not 00:08:48
been appropriated. The other money that has been encumbered is for our retention program for our police officers. You may recall a 00:08:55
couple years ago the Chief brought forward a recommendation to try to retain and recruit officers to offer them $10,000 over a 00:09:01
three-year period and we are currently in our second year. So now some of our officers are getting their second payment, so it's 00:09:07
right around 3250 or 3500. 00:09:13
A year if they leave, and we did have an officer leave, if they leave during that three-year period, they do have to return the 00:09:20
money and that has occurred so. 00:09:24
Any questions on any of those? 00:09:29
On economic development, we had two business licenses actually for the same business that's CBW Unlimited that is. 00:09:34
Manner essentially whatever most people know is Ashford Manor, they have a special events facility, operator license and then they 00:09:41
have their business license and those are the two that came in. 00:09:45
In September on the excise collection report, remember most of our monies, we don't see those monies till the end of October 00:09:49
because they're brought in during September. We don't get the money until October. So you don't see a lot for September yet. You 00:09:54
see a little bit that trickled in. 00:09:58
And then? 00:10:04
The building permits, we had 12 permits for 11 projects. 00:10:06
You know, signs, decks, electrical repairs, that kind of stuff. A lot of work still over at Trove there on Silo Bend, Some housing 00:10:11
construction there. 00:10:15
Any questions on that? 00:10:21
All right. And I think just even though our mayor pretend has shown up, I've moved her slides to the end, so she's going to have 00:10:25
to wait till the end to do hers. Unless you want me to zip through. 00:10:29
So I think we'll skip if y'all are OK. I'll skip to the police report and we'll get to you at the end. How about that? We'll say 00:10:35
the best for last, right? 00:10:38
I'm going to be presenting the police report tonight and the mayor will explain a little bit later why I'm doing it and not the 00:10:43
chief. So officer activity, you'll see a lot of calls for service. 00:10:48
You. 00:10:54
You know, a lot of we do try to. I think the policy has been to try to warn, not ticket everybody, try to work on that. Try to 00:10:56
encourage people to comply instead of just slapping a ticket on them. So you'll see, But try to keep track of speeding activity as 00:11:01
well as our LPRS, our license plate readers. 00:11:06
On this. 00:11:11
You know, fair amount of we're still dealing with some fraud issues in the city that are occurring. I think this one in 00:11:13
particular. 00:11:17
It was something Oak County State Bank had happened and they they contacted us about have some DUI's. 00:11:20
Works out about four traffic stops a day. I think on the traffic stop security checks, I didn't figure that out in my head, but 00:11:26
obviously we still have a lot of calls for service, but they're not, you know, they're not traffic stop. So they may, you know, 00:11:32
welfare checks or whatever that may occur, officer training, continue to make sure our officers are trained properly and you'll 00:11:38
see we've got some DUI and some agency risk reduction training that has occurred. 00:11:44
Or did occur in September? 00:11:51
And then the rollover truck, you sort of see it at the top, there's a rollover truck. A lot kids wanted to get in it. That wasn't 00:12:29
the intention. That showed simply to show that people can come out of their vehicles if they're not strapped in safely. 00:12:34
And then an officer, Ron Angle was at the police car, letting kids, you know, getting the police car, check it out. All that and 00:12:40
Sergeant Hitler donated his time and effort to sit in the dump booth. So a lot of fun that day. The greatest news is that. 00:12:48
Georgia Home Partners made $30,000. They donated $30,000 to the first responders. They split that evenly between fire, sheriff and 00:12:56
the city Police Department. So we got a check or badges of Benevolence Law Enforcement Foundation got a check for $10,000. 00:13:02
So I thought. 00:13:10
Pretty exciting. 00:13:12
I think the balance, Councilman Garrett, I think y'all are your balance is somewhere on 50,000, I think in the law enforcement 00:13:14
foundation, so. 00:13:17
Councilman Garrett is on that on that foundation board. Couple other things to note. We do have a patent that's a Piedmont Area 00:13:22
Traffic Enforcement Network DUI safety belt checkpoint that will occur on October 27th on Greensboro Highway. So if you were 00:13:27
traveling Hwy. 15, make sure you are not drunk and you should have your seat belt on. There will be a lot of officers out and a 00:13:32
lot of activity. 00:13:38
And don't try to turn around because they will go after you if you show up and decide you don't want to go that way. So do you 00:13:44
have the trick or treat in downtown on the 31st? And there are some. There's a cemetery cleanup day prior to the veteran flag 00:13:49
placement. We have that clean up day on the 4th. Encourage everyone to come out and help us. And then the flag placement on 00:13:54
veteran's day or the day before veteran's day I think actually. And then cops and cones if you want to come out and get a scoop of 00:13:59
ice cream with the officers on the 18th. 00:14:04
And then I'm going to pass this to the mayor. Let him explain what's going on. 00:14:10
Thanks Sharon and the reason that. 00:14:14
Interim Chief Tedderton is not with us tonight. I'm pleased to announce that the Watkinsville Police Department is receiving the 00:14:18
Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety 2023 Agency of the Year Award for the Piedmont Area Region. 00:14:24
This is a big deal for our department as a lot of progress has been made over the past five years and a real credit to our 00:14:31
officers and the team. The city's been an active participant in the Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety Activities for the past three 00:14:37
years. We host the Piedmont Area Traffic Enforcement Network meetings. 00:14:43
Which bring law enforcement officers from across the region together to perform child safety, seat belt checks, DUI and other 00:14:49
things. It all supports the mission of the Governor's Office of Hwy. Safety, which is to educate the public on safe driving 00:14:55
behaviors and implement Hwy. safety campaigns and programs that reduce crashes and eliminate injuries and fatalities on Georgia 00:15:00
roadways. 00:15:05
Tristan, step in because we're going to give you a round of applause on behalf of the whole department. So Tristans here, Tristan, 00:15:41
thanks for all you've done and congratulations. 00:15:45
Anyone OK? 00:15:53
Perfect timing. So anyway, so that's exciting news. Sharon, did I miss anything there? Did I cover it? OK. 00:15:55
Pressure and all that. OK. OK. Perfect. Great. OK. Thank you, Tristan. 00:16:01
All right. Next up we have consent again noting that we removed item 9. Is there anything well with the opportunity to take 00:16:09
something off? Consent has passed at this point, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda please. 00:16:15
Make a motion to approve the consent agenda. 00:16:24
Do I have a second? I second the motion. We have a second. Any discussion? 00:16:28
Hearing none, all in favor, say aye, aye. 00:16:32
Any opposed motion carries 40. 00:16:35
And address remarks directly to the Council. 00:17:09
Council cannot speak to potential litigation, attorney-client or personnel matters. 00:17:12
And at that point, we'll move into the actual vote, which is a separate agenda item. Attorney right. Many local anxious I probably 00:17:47
missed something. Please fill in with anything I didn't say. 00:17:51
And if I didn't miss anything, we'll turn it over to engineer Campbell. 00:17:56
Thank you. 00:17:59
So this is a rezone request of the existing zoning of the property at 1080 experiment station Road is public institutional that's 00:18:00
because the it's the existing location of the Oconee County library. If you don't know where the library is first of all I'll say 00:18:07
shame on you but so so it is approximately 2.25 acres it's it's owned by the by Oconee County currently they have an agreement to 00:18:14
to sell that that property and so they've submitted the proper paperwork on behalf of the the pending sale for the applicant who 00:18:20
is AA and B Holdings LLC. 00:18:27
The request is to move from public institutional as it changes hands from a public entity into a private entity to a downtown 00:18:34
zoning. So hopefully have an idea of what downtown zoning would be. Again, there's aerial location of the the site. I will tell 00:18:41
you that downtown zoning is the the zoning of property that's directly adjacent to the north, which is where the Oconee County 00:18:48
Board of Education instructional support Center is being constructed currently and then across the street is actually also 00:18:54
downtown zoning as well. 00:19:01
Again, to the east and West, or left and right, if you're facing it from Experiment Station Road, that would be the Oconee County 00:19:08
Health Department and the post Office. Those remain zone Public institutional. 00:19:13
So that's a view kind of from the southern corner of the property. You can see a little bit of the area of the library or this 00:19:18
parcel that a lot of people aren't aware of or don't think about, which is the. 00:19:24
Access drive to the rear of the site, which would be engaged a little bit more in this rezone request. There you see the the rear 00:19:30
of the building where some of the friends of the library, library staff and some of the other things would enter the building, but 00:19:35
it's an area back there. 00:19:39
If you go to the next. 00:19:45
So this proposed plan, you can see the existing library building there highlighted in white and then the proposed attached 00:19:47
residential units that would be shown in yellow there with associated parking to that as part of the the conceptual plan that was 00:19:53
submitted here. For the rezoning itself, it also gives you an idea from an aerial overlay of both existing and proposed 00:19:59
conditions. 00:20:05
Information there I guess is the final, the narrative indicates that it would allow for adaptive reuse of the existing structure 00:20:15
which we know as the library as well as those new attached residential units to the Northside that we talked about and kind of 00:20:20
showed through some of those pictures as well. 00:20:24
And any proposed redevelopment would have to meet Watkinsville code, right? So. 00:20:30
Whether that's urban forestry, whether that's storm water, that's not what we're specifically discussing tonight. Tonight is for 00:20:36
the purposes of the rezone. It's that first step in the process before you go to any additional steps to change the zoning from 00:20:42
public institutional to downtown. If you got any questions, certainly happy to answer those. 00:20:48
All right. Thank you, Mr. Campbell. Do we have any questions for Mr. Campbell at this point? 00:20:58
Yes. 00:21:03
If there's going to be housing and a big parking lot isn't up on that hill, isn't that going to affect water washing down to the 00:21:06
post office in the Police Department when it rains hard? 00:21:12
Absolutely so. So there is existing impervious area there now and so any site development plans would have to include a grading 00:21:19
and drainage plans, there is some. 00:21:24
Existing topography back in that area, outside of where it's already paved, it's not flat. So those plans would have to be 00:21:30
reviewed to make sure that they meet the code requirements. Thank you. 00:21:35
All right. At this point I'll call on the applicant and or their representatives to come forward and share anything else they want 00:21:43
to. 00:21:46
Thank you. 00:21:54
Presentation there from the engineering side. 00:21:58
This is my first meeting at the City Council, so please welcome. 00:22:01
Share with me I think what would? 00:22:06
Sure. What would probably be helpful, Michael, would be to give an overview of what your plans are. Council's probably seeing some 00:22:09
of that in their report, but for the benefit of the public, what you intend to do with the building. 00:22:14
Your thoughts on the residents, the opportunity you see there, you know, just maybe a little bit of a narrative around that and 00:22:19
then we'll have a little QA. 00:22:22
Sounds. 00:22:29
All right, Council, you've heard from Mr. Azalyn questions. 00:26:26
Is the residential going to? 00:26:32
Condos that you sell or apartments that you rent or what do you envision? 00:26:35
At this point, we don't have a answer to that question, but I will say that we have a very. 00:26:40
You know. 00:26:48
I think I can repeat everything I just said. 00:26:51
At this point, we don't have a definitive answer to that Devin. I'll I'll defer to you as well just to get give Andys thoughts on 00:26:55
it, but but what I will say is that we have a vested interest. We have a desire for this space to be a nice space we're going to 00:26:59
have. 00:27:04
We entertain. We have hospital administrators come to our offices all the time as well as other. 00:27:09
Members of the healthcare community to have discussions about what we do and to do the work that we do. So we need the space to 00:27:16
look very nice. We need the space to complement the quality of the work that we provide and as such, we want the residential 00:27:21
spaces to accommodate. 00:27:26
That same quality of perspective so lent itself to. 00:27:32
Probably more of a lease scenario because then we can control the quality a little bit better overtime and the upkeep of it. 00:27:39
So, but I'm not going to say that's definitively what we're doing at this point. 00:27:46
Devin, do you have any comments on that? 00:27:50
No, I think. 00:27:52
And if I, if I need to repeat anything I said earlier, sorry, I don't have much to add to that. Obviously anyone who's seen the 00:27:57
real estate market. 00:28:01
Knows that things are very unpredictable and crazy at the moment, so I think that. 00:28:06
We don't even know when the timing of these buildings would be built necessarily. Our priority is first and foremost our office 00:28:10
space in the library. 00:28:14
So when these come along. 00:28:19
Kind of be determined by what the market looks like at that time, kind of how we would would approach it. But as Michael said, 00:28:22
leaning towards probably that scenario if it even works out that way. 00:28:27
And echo what data? 00:28:33
Devin just said This is really going to work in two phases, right? We're going to build out our office space. That's first and 00:28:35
foremost. We've got to get out of the crunch that we're. 00:28:39
We need that additional space. So the first thing we'll be doing is rebuilding the interior of the building to accommodate the 00:28:44
needs of our business. 00:28:46
And we will be adding the parking because we will be needing that, which means the retention wall will go. 00:28:50
But, but as opposed to being a retention wall. 00:28:54
If the circumstances are. 00:29:00
The purpose of these plans are to allow for in the permit those residential buildings to be there. 00:29:02
Tell us a little bit about. 00:29:11
The, you know, the library is kind of a unique architectural style. I don't, I don't even know what you'd call it, but it 00:29:14
certainly speaks to when it was built, which I think is, what, the 70s, early 80s? 00:29:18
It's had a couple of modifications, yeah. I think it was originally built in the 70s, but. 00:29:23
Modified again in the 80s and even something else in the 90s. So do you intend to do much to the exterior? Do you want to? Are you 00:29:27
going to retain the look and modernize or what do you see it? What do you see us looking at as we go past it with the laundry? 00:29:34
Side clinics, I think the number one, number one in the exterior of the building will not change much at all. The biggest thing 00:29:43
you'll notice, and you correct me if I'm wrong, is there'll be a few traditional entrances to it, will have to accommodate ways 00:29:48
patrons and other people can enter the building. And then in addition to that, we're going to modify the road going around the 00:29:53
back. 00:29:58
And then the road right in the front, right where the current book drop up, the drop off is, we're going to bring that road closer 00:30:04
to the building. 00:30:07
Because in the event that we put a retail pharmacy in it, it's going to be on the left side of. 00:30:11
The white part of the library. 00:30:16
Where the current flip drop off, drop off period is and you'll be able to pull a car underneath the hauling. 00:30:18
Other than that, it won't be a lot of competition to the exterior. I think we'll probably change. We'll probably pay. 00:30:29
And. 00:30:35
Changed some of the. 00:30:36
Some exterior, clean it up a little bit. We will do new landscaping around. 00:30:38
The entirety of the impression. 00:30:42
Other questions? 00:30:49
All right. 00:30:52
It's six I think is the plan since you show 6 units there. Is that correct, residential? 00:30:55
It shows things. I've seen one with four, one with six, but I think they show 6 on what came to us. 00:31:00
And I hate to ask you to do this, but since you did offer, would you just because I want to make sure we capture what you're going 00:31:08
to do inside the building, if you would just go back over that one time, I've got somebody listening for me and for whatever 00:31:12
reason, we just completely, you know, we didn't get any any of that. 00:31:16
So just to recap briefly, you know our company was founded in 2006. 00:31:24
It started out as a remote pharmacy services company. Behind it is that in rural hospitals throughout the state, throughout the 00:31:28
country, we service 11 different states currently, mostly in Georgia, pharmacists leave at 5:00 and there's nobody there to review 00:31:35
medication orders after hours. And So what our business allows us to do is dial in. 00:31:41
Clarity in order to keep patients safe and we do that across Georgia as well as several other states. In fact, I didn't mention 00:31:48
this earlier. Devon's heard it. So it's entirely hearing in a few other people here heard it I think. But in 2020, the hospital 00:31:53
here in Jordan who didn't use a service like ours, my dad was in ICU. 00:31:59
Doctor ordered the laces, which is just a chemical that pulls fluid off your body. 00:32:05
Makes you go to the restaurant. 00:32:11
With that and giving it a sort of a new, a fresh look and then of course some of the modifications you see on the. 00:33:17
Thank you. We will count on repeating against your time limit. 00:33:27
In case we have a lot of people here that want to comment on it, so at this point we'll open the public meeting members of the 00:33:33
public. If you want to address the rezoning matter, this is your time to step forward. Public comments are limited to 4 minutes 00:33:38
per person. 00:33:42
While we wait on the people to come forward, Julie, did we receive any? 00:33:50
Queries in advance? No Sir. 00:33:54
I don't see anybody coming forward, so I'm going to close the public hearing and that'll wrap up the public hearing. We'll move on 00:33:58
to the vote on the same matter. 00:34:03
Council. I don't think we need to repeat anything, Engineer Campbell. Anything we need to hear that's different. Attorney. 00:34:08
Reitman. Anything else? 00:34:12
Well, Council, this is the time for a discussion or a motion. 00:34:17
I make a motion to approve the rezone from public institutional to downtown and also amend the zoning map. 00:34:22
Council, you've heard the motion. Do we have a second? 00:34:30
We have a second from Councilman Garrett. Any discussion? 00:34:34
Hearing none all in favor, say aye, aye. Any opposed motion carries unanimously before the applicant leaves I. 00:34:39
I think it's important to note this is how many employees do you have, Michael, that will be in that office. 00:34:47
In that particular building we currently have. 00:34:52
Around 15 years, eight one or two we are bringing all, there's several that work remotely currently because we just don't have the 00:34:55
space for them. They will be coming in at all so around 20, so in the in the beginning whenever we walk in so but I think it's 00:35:01
important to note that. 00:35:06
The library is still in Watkinsville, It's going to be at Wire Park. It's going to be amazing, but this is a wonderful reuse of 00:35:12
that space to have. 00:35:16
Have, you know, have a have a company invest in Watkinsville. Company of Y'all's caliber, a growing company. 00:35:20
Choosing to be in Watkinsville and choosing to be that close to downtown as a great vote of confidence and we're grateful for 00:35:26
that. So we look forward to seeing what your plans are. 00:35:30
As you come forward and. 00:35:34
Hopefully you've got good engineers and architects and it fits right in with what we're trying to do in the city, so welcome and 00:35:35
congratulations. 00:35:38
We'll move on under appearances. I don't think we have any. Is that right? 00:35:43
Item 12 We took off the agenda and moved to November. Item 13 we added the Thomas Farm property update, so I'll invite Wes Riles 00:35:49
from. 00:35:54
Smith Planning Group Excuse me again. I apologize for my cough to step up and give us the. 00:35:59
Results from our two public meetings that we've. 00:36:07
So the past two Mondays? Or was it Monday? No, it was not. 00:36:10
Past two Wednesdays, OK. I was thought it was not Monday. OK, So it all blends together. So we've had two public meetings. Sharon, 00:36:14
you want me to cover this? That's right. OK, This is our timing. 00:36:19
City Council meeting. We shared the timing in the process for planning this property. We had our Steering Committee kickoff 00:36:24
meeting on September 12th. On September 25th, the Steering Committee. 00:36:30
Visited the property, had a great visit. Reuben, I'm glad to see you here. Rubens, a member of the steering committee who's here 00:36:36
with us tonight. 00:36:40
And then on October 4th and October 11th, we hosted public input meetings here at City Hall. And tonight we're providing an 00:36:44
update. We'll have a few more steering committee meetings and in the meantime, we're going to be refining our concept design. 00:36:50
Ideally we're hoping to have that refined design back to council for review on December 21st and at that point we can begin to 00:36:56
actual schedule, budget the improvements and have an idea of when all that will begin so. 00:37:03
With that set up, Mr. Riles, I will turn it over to you. 00:37:10
In terms of forest, yeah, it's it's about 66 acres, I think, of pasture. 00:37:54
33 acres of forest and seven. 00:37:59
And hope my math is right. No, no, 33 and 66 is not 66 acres of pasture, 7 acres of water, and then the rest is the rest is woods. 00:38:03
So we submitted an initial master plan I guess about a year ago. 00:38:13
I've got somebody listening. I may be running on battery. You just make sure that light is on. 00:38:30
Do I need to step back? 00:38:39
OK. All right. 00:38:41
Everything's owned now. 00:38:44
Good. 00:38:47
These next efforts are really just to take into account public input and feedback. 00:38:51
In addition to information that we received from the the various committees they're working with, the city will refine the master 00:38:58
plan based on those efforts. 00:39:02
And should deliver those results in about a month. 00:39:09
So Sharon, if you want to. 00:39:13
In terms of the feedback that we've received, so based on the sign in sheet, I think we had 30 individuals that took part. 00:39:16
I understand that that was more that attended both the Harris Shoals and the Rocket Field public input session, so very well 00:39:24
attended. We got a variety of input from the the public this graph just kind of. 00:39:31
Speaks to the the programming opportunities that the public identified. 00:39:39
So the the framework for the public input was kind of an open floor. 00:39:44
Kind of discussion based, but. 00:39:50
We had a board with various programs that were identified that the public could go up and mark the program of their choice. 00:39:53
There were also options for writing in. 00:40:03
Programs that were not part of that, so this. 00:40:07
Move this whenever and we'll get that report right now, so try that. 00:40:29
All right. So what we're seeing first, first and foremost was a trail connectivity. 00:40:34
This is interconnectivity to the various neighborhoods that ring the. 00:40:40
A fishing do. 00:40:45
To take advantage of the wonderful positive on. 00:40:47
A myriad of different trail types. So mountain biking, hiking, walking, nature walks. 00:40:51
Also received high marks. 00:40:58
And then you know different ways to kind of use the space. 00:41:01
Native plant gardens and pollinator gardens. 00:41:06
So if you want to advance the. 00:41:10
This is feedback and notes that we received from the public. So the the ones that are highlighted are ones that we heard from more 00:41:14
than one individual. So we'll be looking into ways that we might preserve the existing barn or reuse the existing structures on 00:41:19
site. 00:41:25
We want to revisit circulation and and parking and access to the site. 00:41:31
They kind of pull away from some of the adjacent neighbors. We'll be looking into that. 00:41:38
You can advance. 00:41:43
Again providing connectivity to the various subdivisions that surround the property. 00:41:45
And then a consideration for how emergency vehicles might access the property. 00:41:51
There's also input on restrooms, and so not only clustering those at the entrance, but finding ways to spread those out across the 00:41:59
property. 00:42:04
As I mentioned it, it's rather large, so having some additional restrooms in the rear of the property would probably be well 00:42:10
received. 00:42:14
Bow hunting, Yeah, that was a that was a good one, too. That's the first time I've seen that, and I'm kind of, I'm laughing about. 00:42:21
I don't know if they mean thin the deer hurt, or if they're what they're referring to. I did not give the suggestion, but I didn't 00:42:26
hear. I was there. 00:42:31
OK. 00:42:36
It's all run around the area. 00:42:40
And so this is the master plan as it stands now. But as I mentioned, we're going to be revising this and revisiting. 00:42:45
The the use of, excuse me, the circulation of the site and how these various components are configured. 00:42:54
Is that it? I think that's it. All right. Thank you. 00:43:06
Council questions. I know some of you were at various meetings, but you have any questions for us or? 00:43:09
Any other items we want to discuss on the parks while we're on it? 00:43:15
This might be a question as much. 00:43:21
Mayor so in the timeline of. 00:43:25
The next the steering committee meeting. 00:43:29
Are y'all coming with a proposed? 00:43:32
Plan or is that more of a time where the steering committee is really going to have a lot of time to talk through things like I 00:43:38
guess I'm wondering what? 00:43:41
The You've gathered this information. 00:43:46
Do we know what? 00:43:50
And then again, this may be too specific for this Council meeting. That's what I was thinking is it might be rough, but maybe we 00:43:52
were able to come in with some looks at what are some refinements that we can make. 00:43:57
And then I think the other thing is we have the subcommittees and I need to get an e-mail out to them just saying here's clearly 00:44:02
what we need from you as subcommittees prior to November. 00:44:07
Prior to November 9th, IE the trail subcommittee needs to do some thinking and some planning, your Subcommittee on Buildings and 00:44:13
Structures probably needs to do some thinking and then the group that's working on. 00:44:18
Property maintenance and sustainability and things is going to. 00:44:24
Set some priorities out and circle back with us then, but I think in order to meet our goals, we're going to have to have some. 00:44:28
You know, we're going to have to think through what a refined plan looks like. 00:44:34
At that point, but Wes, I'm we're also at your, you know you guys are driving the bus on that. How do you feel about that? 00:44:37
No, I think some of the those aspects we can revisit now. I mean circulation access, I mean certainly we can look into you know 00:44:43
altering that. 00:44:47
And then some things we'll just we'll wait on I think feedback, trails and. 00:44:53
Circulation, and that's going to be more conducive to your your committees. 00:44:58
So for things like parking, because I know that was the I came to both of the public input and that's what you, I mean you 00:45:03
highlighted that that the the neighbors are a little concerned about the original parking spot so by the steering committee 00:45:07
meeting. 00:45:12
Is it appropriate to have like kind of mapped out looking at? Because I mean, I can have ideas, but I am not a land planner, I am 00:45:17
not an engineer. I have no idea what's actually practical for that kind of thing. 00:45:23
I think Wes and our meeting on Friday. 00:45:28
You know to kind of talk through that and kind of what what we can anticipate at the next committee meeting. So it's probably best 00:45:31
if we get aligned before we talk that through. 00:45:36
Any other questions? Updates. 00:45:43
You know one thing that I. 00:45:47
You know, bounce this around out of councils feedback and we might have to partner up with. 00:45:49
Somebody to do this, But I do think thinking through before spring, you know while it's falling reasonably warm, what we want to 00:45:55
try to do. 00:45:59
An opportunity for the public to see the facility as well you know whether we. 00:46:04
Almost did it, Hey, Rod style or, you know, whether it was a hike or something like that. 00:46:09
Under which all's reaction is to that, you know, trying to pull that together on. 00:46:14
Sunday afternoon or something like that, or Saturday afternoon. I know our Saturdays are busy with city activities, so sharing 00:46:19
closure years, we'll take care of this without you having to do anything. But I do think it might be helpful for members of the 00:46:24
public who want to see the property to be able to get out there before it's January, February. 00:46:30
So if you guys are interested in that. 00:46:36
You know, I'll work on putting something like that together and seeing if I can arrange it. If y'all think it's a good idea, well, 00:46:38
I think something like picnic at the park everyone. 00:46:42
You know, bring a meal. Personally, I believe anything that brings community together is a plus as long as it's not adding heavy 00:46:46
lifting to staff that already is doing a lot of heavy lifting if it can. 00:46:52
Yeah, pretty, yeah. Thinking this would have to be counseled, right? Because Staffs got Halloween, they've got Christmas parade, 00:46:59
they've got a million things going on right now. So I think if we do it, then we'll need to kind of. 00:47:04
Roll up our sleeves and sort of make that happen at whatever level we can, but I'll give that a little bit more thought and be in 00:47:09
touch. But I think I'd love for the public to begin to. 00:47:13
See it at this stage and understand what's going to happen and we need to think through the timing. It might make sense to do that 00:47:17
once that updated concept plan is available for us to kind of walk people through and they're there too, so. 00:47:23
OK. Thank you. Anything else on Thomas Farm? Wes, thanks for being here. We appreciate SPG and all your help on this project. 00:47:29
Please. 00:47:38
All right, public comments. This is that moment where anybody who's here can come up and say anything they want for almost as long 00:47:41
as they want 4 minutes per person. Same rules as before. So you know, don't insult each other, don't insult the council, speak to 00:47:46
the council. 00:47:51
Refrain from debate and argument if you get out of line. If Joe or I don't drag you out of here, the police officer as well. So 00:47:58
come on up 4 minutes. 00:48:02
And on cue, here they come. 00:48:09
All right. I'm not seeing anybody come forward. 00:48:12
Yes, everybody's OK You're just here. We're going to be done pretty soon. You also hang around. All right. Mayor's report, we'll 00:48:17
move pretty quickly through this, but a lot is happening in Watkinsville right now, so I have a lot to share. 00:48:22
Sunday we reopened Rocket Field and it was awesome. Y'all. 00:48:28
It was a fun day. We highlighted our history. We shared stories. We celebrated the new field. 00:48:33
And Adam Hammond was our MC. He led us through the program. We celebrated. We've got the plaques that'll go up on the concession 00:48:40
stand. We celebrated our donor, Kelly Mahoney, and his family. Mr. Mahoney has donated the majority of the funds that made that 00:48:47
level of revitalization possible. This is Kelly and his family here. And that plaque will go on the concession stand, along with 00:48:54
one that outlines the history of the project. This is the team that rolled up their sleeves to make it happen. 00:49:02
Marcus Weed Hour Sam Phillips KE. 00:49:09
And then Brock tool. 00:49:12
We made a joke that we ought to call it Rocket Field. As much time as he spent out there, But Brock Brock was a tireless advocate 00:49:14
for the city. Saved us. Saved. 00:49:19
Probably 10s of thousands of dollars with his his work with Kelly's team out there and value engineering and creating value. So 00:49:24
we're we're grateful to Brock for his leadership on that. 00:49:30
This is the first pitch. 00:49:36
So that's Kelly Mahoney, our donor, and his daughter plays for a travel team. Throw into Rebecca Verner Holcomb, who is the third 00:49:42
of five generations who have played on that field. Rebecca's I think it was. 00:49:47
And they were cute as a button. We only had one crier. Everybody else was pretty happy out there, so, but it's really great to 00:50:25
see. 00:50:28
Everybody out on the field and then we all gathered for a photo on the field, but it's just really great to see families using it 00:50:32
and frankly, you know, to see them enjoying it, to have clean restrooms. 00:50:38
And really nice facilities and also to see the public enjoying that space, which I'm sure Mayor Pro Tem will update us on what 00:50:45
happened on Saturday night during her report. 00:50:50
Banners and bleachers look great. The patent court still has some work to do. We had a great meeting with Lawrence and Laura Rose 00:50:55
out there on Monday. So that's you know, I'd say we're probably 50% there, but there's some work that we need to do around what's 00:50:59
the right. 00:51:04
What's the right? 00:51:10
Material in there that lets the baton equipment move as it should. We may have to do some tiers and some other things there. So 00:51:13
we're doing some work on that with to make sure that's right. 00:51:18
So big weekend at Rocket Field. We also had a big event on Sunday. We were talking about how busy it was. Ashford Memorial 00:51:24
Methodist Church celebrated its 40th year of ministry on Sunday. This is a picture from the event. They invited all their founding 00:51:29
members back. 00:51:33
Then had their full membership there. Ashford has Those are the people who came together to save that church 40 years ago. Y'all 00:51:39
when the Methodist Church is split in Watkinsville. Watkinsville First Methodist built its. 00:51:45
Church and they were going to sell this property and they were a group of members who said we want to remain Methodist and we want 00:51:51
to save this historic building and they did that and. 00:51:56
Did probably save the most architecturally significant building in the city of Watkinsville when they did. And so. 00:52:02
That church for 40 years has served and has been an anchor of downtown, and we're grateful to. 00:52:08
For everything they've done. So they had a wonderful gathering on Sunday, then they had two or three more nights of revival after 00:52:13
that. And I can say for the level of energy in the church, it is revived. There's a lot of good stuff happening there and we're 00:52:19
excited about what's happening there and then about a lot of our faith community in Watkinsville. 00:52:24
We were had our EPD folks come out and do their annual inspection. One of those things you've got to do for storm water needs and 00:52:31
I'm glad to say we passed check. Thank you Engineer Campbell for that and for taking care of them. 00:52:37
We built sidewalks on Industrial Blvd. to allow those folks to safely get from building to building and also access wire. 00:52:44
I think a lot of you know also when Wire Park has large events, the industrial park on the weekends can be overflow parking and so 00:52:52
this now creates a Safeway for people to get from the industrial area to Wire Park, whether it's people walking there for lunch. 00:52:58
Or walk in there for a special event or going from building to building. Speaking of water park, the Flats started framing this 00:53:04
week, so there is some horizontal vertical construction on the front of the property. 00:53:10
And that is coming along. That's good to see. And then advance voting has started, so we have. 00:53:16
That going on at the county administrative building right now until the actual election. 00:53:23
And I think we've had a grand total of 60 people vote so far in that election. 00:53:29
Fall festival is Saturday. 00:53:38
On the new Rocket Field, the Chamber has done an amazing job of managing through that change and getting ready 200 vendors. It's 00:53:42
always a blast. Come one, come all to the fall festival. And then on October 31st we'll have our downtown trick or treat. 00:53:49
Exciting for kids. A challenge for commuters, so please plan your schedule carefully if you're going to be driving through 00:53:56
Watkinsville on Halloween. Leave extra time or maybe travel around Main Street and I'm sure the Chief and his guys will have the 00:54:03
signs up. Or if you just want to watch cute kids in costumes on Main Street, come on through. Or city officials in costumes 4 to 00:54:09
6. 00:54:15
And then last you want to announce until November 10th, we're going to have a fall decorating contest for Watkinsville residents, 00:54:22
Decorate your porch. 00:54:26
And then e-mail the directions to and e-mail the pictures of the decorations to Angela and we're going to post it on the city's 00:54:30
Facebook page. And then we will vote. 00:54:34
Whoever gets the most. 00:54:39
Will get a prize and be recognized at our November meeting. So thank you again to Councilman Thomas. 00:54:41
For putting this together for us so far for Watkinsville Council, I expect robust participation. 00:54:47
From all of. 00:54:52
Christine So. 00:54:54
Council reports. Moving on. Councilman Garrett, you're up first, post one. 00:54:56
Not a whole lot to comment on other than as I've been out knocking on doors and talking to people that really excited about the 00:55:03
sidewalks. 00:55:07
And what they're seeing in town so right, Good to hear. 00:55:12
I hope all sixty of them were voted All right. Councilwoman Massey post 2. Nothing to report. 00:55:17
Councilman Thomas is not here. Mayor Pro Tem Tucker. 00:55:26
All right. So thank you for letting me go see my twins and their senior year the new. 00:55:30
New newly revived homecoming parade. So you may have said why? 00:55:37
Late, but that is why so fortunately are both at the very front. That's why it didn't take me very long. I got my picture, I got 00:55:42
my video and I said I'll see you later. 00:55:46
So yes, we have celebrated our first year as a downtown development authority, which is amazing and we are continuing to be led by 00:55:52
Kate, our Director who is doing a great job and also. 00:56:00
Are starting to see a little bit of momentum and. 00:56:10
I'm mainly and only hearing good feedback from people and seeing the changes in downtown and our goal is really to promote the 00:56:15
businesses that we have and encourage others that the community will enjoy. 00:56:22
We also we had y'all might have heard about this plenty now, but we got a grant. 00:56:31
To put on an event. 00:56:38
And that happened Saturday night at Rocket Field. 00:56:41
And we had a fantastic committee of volunteers that we have been meeting since, I think March or April to put this on. 00:56:44
We had public art that I saw many of y'all help paint. We have the splits band's and she moved the whole time. I was like wow, she 00:56:56
had a lot of energy, but here you'll see some of the art. These are five pieces that Francis Byrd was is you can see her up right 00:57:05
behind Brian up there in the upper right hand corner. 00:57:13
She created these five pieces that represent different aspects of Watkinsville. 00:57:22
And then the community painted them. She had them outlined. 00:57:31
Looks kind of like paint by numbers. The community painted them. She's going to clean up. We did have a few precious 3 year olds. 00:57:34
Some were a little more careful than others, so if she's going to, you know, just kind of clean up a little bit and then be 00:57:41
looking for these to be displayed and they're going to help activate a new little pocket park. 00:57:47
Which I feel strange saying the place across from what used to be Dobies. 00:57:55
And we also had food vendors. We had chops and hops we had. 00:58:01
Austin, who does BBQ from the farmers market and then also some amazing boiled peanuts and lemonade and then beer from our what 00:58:07
should I say? I guess I can say that we drank beer from our local brewery and it was a great crowd. I mean my overall. 00:58:15
I think they're about 150 people who came out. There were a lot of events going on this past weekend that kind of spread out 00:58:24
things, but. 00:58:28
It everybody was connecting with one another and it was great to see people that I haven't seen in five and six years and having 00:58:33
conversations. And then also it was an opportunity to meet new people. And so it really did meet our goal and our motto and 00:58:40
Watkinsville have come connect create all of that happened and we are hoping this will also compel future events. 00:58:48
And the new gathering space that we will be having that will help further connect downtown. So overall, I think great success. I 00:58:57
saw just about everybody. 00:59:02
Here there, thank you guys for coming out and and taking part and umm. 00:59:08
And you won't have to hear about the creative placemaking event every month now. So it is done. 00:59:14
At other deep. 00:59:24
All. 00:59:30
Councilman Campbell Post, 5. 00:59:31
On economic development this Saturday we have a new business opening up a Coney outpost. 00:59:34
And downtown in the former Welcome Center. So that's going to be a good retail business for the community. So please check them 00:59:39
out. That's exciting. We'll have a couple more retail style businesses opening soon. 00:59:45
Christine mentioned Dobies. They did close, but I know, I know quite a few people looking at it, so I don't think it'll stay empty 00:59:53
long at all, and couple people I know looking at it. 00:59:59
We'll be glad if either one of them moves in. And then historic preservation, we're meeting tomorrow with the class that is 01:00:05
working on that project for us. So Christine and I are going back to school at U. 01:00:11
And meeting with that class, they spent the last month kind of researching historic preservation in Georgia. Now we're meeting 01:00:19
them to kind of narrow or focus in on what we would like for the city of Watkinsville. So we'll have more to report next month on 01:00:24
that. That's it. 01:00:29
Christine, we can only hope that Jeff has some out of school, back to school level antics to repeat to report on next next week or 01:00:35
maybe old school, You know, let's see. Keep him under control down there. 01:00:41
All right. We, I think that's it for council reports. I don't think we have an executive session and I see heads shaking. Nobody 01:00:48
needs an executive session. 01:00:51
So with that, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. So have a second. We have a second. All in favor, 01:00:55
say aye. Aye. 01:00:58
Thanks for coming. 01:01:03