M I N U T E S

 

REGULAR MEETING OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF DECEMBER 2, 2008

 

 

 

 

Call to Order:               The Regular Meeting of Mayor and Council of December 2, 2008 was called to order by Mayor Corine Deyton at 7:00 p.m.

 

Invocation:                    The invocation was given by Bishop Fortson of Paradise Church of God in Christ followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.

 

Roll Call:                      Present were Mayor Corine Deyton, Mayor Pro-tem Sparkle Adams, Councilman Donald Judson and Councilwomen Linda Lord, Maudie McCord and Debbie Youmans.

 

                                    Also present were City Manager John Parker, Director of Finance Mike Blandenburg, Major Tommy Orr, Captain Jamie Reynolds, Detective Cotrell, Director of Support Services Christine Terrell, Director of Planning, Building and Zoning Steve Pearson, Director of Public Works Mike Gippert, Chief Eddie Buckholts, Deputy Director of Recreation and Leisure Services Sharon Smith, Management Analyst Angela Redding and City Attorney Joe Harris.

 

Approval of minutes:     Ms. Adams made a motion to approve the minutes of the Work Session of Mayor and Council of November 17th, the regular meeting of Mayor and Council of November 17th and the Special Meeting of Mayor and Council of November 19th, seconded by Ms. McCord.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

Comment Period:          No comments made by public.

 

Recess:                         Ms. Lord made a motion to recess to hold a Public Hearing, seconded by Ms. Adams.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

                                    Mayor Deyton opened the Public Hearing to receive comments with regard to the proposed amendment to City Code, Title 9, Chapter 12 of the Code of Ordinances pertaining to the regulation and licensing of adult entertainment establishments, by repealing the existing Title 9, Chapter 12 and substituting in lieu thereof a new Title 9, Chapter 12 to provide for the comprehensive regulation and licensing of adult entertainment establishments in the City.

 

                                    Mayor Deyton asked if there was anyone present to speak.

 

Public Hearing:             Ms. Suzanne Coe, attorney for the Crazy Horse and Pink Pony South spoke.  She handed out copies of zoning verifications submitted by Tops Show Bar and a letter from the owner.  She explained on March 6, 2008, the zoning verification stated there is no intent to perform construction or renovation at this location and attached to that, on March 4, 2008, a letter received by the City from the owner of that property, says that there is extensive damage to both the exterior and interior of the building to the point where extensive repairs are necessary to make the building safe and functional and submits a report.  She said she is not sure how they will open a bar in a place, by their own admission is unsafe to exist in.

 

                                    She also addressed the new ordinance proposed to regulate adult industries. First, she called attention to the Charter of the City which basically says acts of the City (which includes approving Tops License and would include Ordinances for adult entertainment) which have the force and effect of the law, shall be enacted by ordinance (Section 2-30 of the Charter) In the Charter, it also says no Ordinance shall be adopted on the same day it is introduced an sets forth the procedures, and from her understanding has not been abided by (Section 2-31b) more importantly in Section 2.32 that the Mayor has to approve or disapprove ordinances set forth in another provision of the Charter, which says that the Mayor has within 7 days of the actual passage of an ordinance to veto any resolution or ordinance of Council.  She said both the application  for Tops which would be a Resolution or Ordinance and the new proposed adult entertainment ordinance both would fall under Section 2.32B, under the mandatory terms of that Section, it would not have the affect of law if voted on unless the passage of 7 days occurred which is in the Charter.  In order to change this, she said you would have to hold a referendum of your voters; she would like for the Council to be aware that neither of these decisions would become law until the expiration of 7 days and the issuance of any license prior to the signing would be invalid under the City Charter and/or Georgia statutory law which corresponds to that.  She said since these are ministerial acts, that these would basically expose the individual issuer of the license to liability individually and they care very much about this.  She asked when the proposed ordinance was available to the public because they had significant trouble obtaining this until tonight.      

 

                                    Mr. Allan Begner spoke.  He stated he is the lawyer for Tops Showbar, the applicant for alcohol and adult licensing at the old location, next to what is now the Crazy Horse.  He stated he has practiced first amendment law and has helped open these businesses in every suburb.  He said his only interest is seeking licensing at an old location for Terry Stephenson and Tops Showbar. He does not represent the owner of the land, A-Group or Larry White.  He said having looked at the City’s alcohol licensing ordinance, he was able to conclude, that it ran afoul of clear law throughout the 11th circuit of Georgia in several respects and would be easily stricken if not amended  and he hopes they will amend it.  And he thinks their application which pre-dates the anticipated changes which are necessary, would easily entitle them to the licensing.   

 

                                    Aubrey Villines, attorney for Mia Luna and Red Eyed spoke concerning the proposed ordinance.  He said if you look at 9-12-1, finding of public purposes, basically what this is, is the preamble that sets forth the negative secondary effects on adult establishments and that is needed to get over constitutional muster.  He said it is seriously constitutionally flawed because the City basically plagiarized the Gwinnett County ordinance, and what someone will have to explain to a District or Federal

Judge is why you didn’t rely upon the Forest Park experience.  You have had adult entertainment here in Forest Park.  If there are adverse or negative or deleterious effects, why didn’t you look at Forest Park first.  Or if you didn’t want to look at Forest Park, why didn’t you look at Clayton County or if you didn’t want to look at Clayton County, why didn’t you look at what’s been marked as Exhibit A, Fulton County police report that they did, which found there were less negative effects in adult entertainment areas than there were in non, in fact it was double.  It was better and Fulton County is a stone’s throw from their club.  But you didn’t look at Fulton County, you have had an experience here with us as good neighbors for years, but that experience has been a good experience and a good experience won’t vouch for this preamble, you need a bad experience.  As exhibit A, you have to go to Gwinnett County which doesn’t have those adult clubs.  You went to Gwinnett County, why?  This preamble is based upon negative secondary effects in the community.  You don’t need to look any further than Forest Park or Clayton County.  You have to explain why you didn’t want to look at them because it didn’t help your case when we are going to get sued.  We wanted to go somewhere that supported what we wanted to do so we went to Gwinnett County.  He presented a study done not long ago about the myths of negative secondary effects which basically exposes almost all of those cases you have.  It is a very good study that debunks that and presented that as Exhibit B.  He provided demographics of Forest Park and Clayton County and Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County.  He stated demographically Forest Park is not similar to Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County is not similar to Clayton County, but that is what you relied on.  He said this is the very beginning of this ordinance, whether or not there are secondary adverse effects and then you can make changes because of the negative impact on the community.  You will not be able to explain why you didn’t look at your own experience in Forest Park.  He said if his folks end up suing this council or seeking injunctive relief, there might be those that indemnify you or defend your legal costs.  He said he hopes you don’t have to say the reason we agreed to go ahead and make these changes is because we didn’t want to get sued anymore and we knew it wasn’t right, but if someone was going to pick up our legal cost, we really had nothing to lose; we could do the wrong thing.  He said you took an oath to do the right thing and you need to look no farther than your own community to see the impact. 

 

                                    Diane Lunsford stated she did not like the Adult entertainment and the said most of our City residents don’t like the adult entertainment. She said I would appreciate that you consider this because each one of you are residents of Forest Park.  She said we don’t need another adult entertainment and she said, speaking as a resident of Forest Park, we don’t need it and it doesn’t have a positive impact in our City. 

 

                                    Roy Lunsford stated you were put in these positions by the people of Forest Park and you need to do what the people of Forest Park want you to do.  He said you should do what the citizens want and you are here to serve the citizens and do whatever it takes. 

 

                                    Dennis Williams said he doesn’t want another competitor right next door to him. For this size City, two clubs, we’re fortunate, we put these clubs in areas where there aren’t houses or residents and he understands a lot of people don’t like the business and that is acceptable.  He said what he doesn’t understand is what are you folks doing?  We are not defending the idea of another club here; we don’t want another club here.  We have been here 15 years, we have been good business people to the community, this all started out when we had a landlord and we wouldn’t appeal to his greed.  So we moved next door to proper zoning, proper distance requirements and a proper area to do this.  And for some reason, there is an 800 pound gorilla in the room somewhere that has influenced this council to start taking measures to change laws and direction to allow another club to come in and that other person is the property owner or client of Mr. Begner’s.  The bottom line is, this doesn’t make sense, we have been good citizens, supported the citizens in their community efforts with the seniors, we have paid millions of dollars of taxes to the City over 15 years and never had issues and now there is an 800 lb. gorilla banging on the table, we want to have our adult club because we made a smart business and economic move to move next door.  He said how many ball teams has the A-Group sponsored over the years, how many seniors have they helped, how many turkeys have they given out, how many fans have they given out, support to the Fire Department, the Police Department, all those 15 years and all those dollars we have paid, permit fees, taxes, being good neighbors, being friendly to the community.  He said bottom line this is wrong. He said we made our application, jumped through all the hoops, went to the letter of the law to put in the Pink Pony South and Crazy Horse legally. 

 

                                    Ms. Adams made a motion to close the Public Hearing, seconded by Ms. Lord.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

Renewal of retail           Ms. Youmans made a motion to approve the following requests for

Alcohol licenses:           renewal of a retail alcohol license for beer and wine, seconded by Ms. Adams.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.  

                                   

·        Nobel Business Enterprises, Inc. Happy Shop Texaco, 5604  Old Dixie Highway, no exceptions noted

 

·        Lioness Aliza’s Den, Inc. La Morenita, 4060 Jonesboro Road, no exceptions noted

 

·        Vaskar Enterprise, Inc. D/B/A Handy Food Mart, 4126 Thurmond Road, no exceptions noted

 

·        SNZ, Inc. D/B/A Chevron Food Mart, 4441 Jonesboro Road, no exceptions noted

 

New On-Premises        Request was made to consider a new on-premises consumption

Consumption                alcohol license for liquor, beer and wine from Tops Sales and

Alcohol license:             Services, Inc. Tops Showbar, 3950 Jonesboro Road, no exceptions noted.

 

                                    Ms. Lord made a motion to table this request, seconded by Mr. Judson.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

 

Ordinance -                  Request was made to consider an Ordinance by the City Council of

Buffer Zone                  the City of Forest Park, authorizing the Mayor execute an

Protection Program       agreement for a 2007 Buffer Zone Protection Program Grant,

Grant:                           Award Year 2007 in the amount of one hundred eight two thousand eight hundred and seventy five dollars to be added into the budget of the Police Department; to provide an effective date; and for other purposes.

 

                                    Ms. Adams made a motion to approve the Ordinance, seconded by Ms. McCord.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

Ordinance -                  Request was made to consider an Ordinance by the City Council

Title 9, Chapter 12:       for the City of Forest Park, Georgia, to amend Title 9, Chapter 12

(Adult                           of the Code of Ordinances of the City pertaining to the regulation

Entertainment)              and licensing of Adult Entertainment Establishments, by repealing the existing Title 9, Chapter 12 and substituting in lieu thereof a new Title 9, Chapter 12 to provide for the Comprehensive regulation and licensing of Adult Entertainment establishments in the City; to provide for severability; to repeal all Ordinances and parts of Ordinances in conflict herewith; to provide an effective date; and for other purposes.   

 

                                    Mr. Judson made a motion to table this Ordinance, seconded by Ms. McCord.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

Other Business:             Ms. Youmans made a motion to suspend the rules and add a Resolution to the agenda for consideration, seconded by Ms. Adams.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

Resolution to                Ms.Youmans made a motion to approve the Resolution by the City

Purchase Real               Council for the City of Forest Park, Georgia, to authorize the

Estate (763-771           Mayor to execute a Real Estate purchase agreement to provide for

Main Street)                 the acquisition of certain real estate in the City for less than appraised value and not to exceed the amount specified herein; to provide for severability; to repeal all Resolutions and parts of Resolutions in conflict herewith; an effective date; and for other purposes.  Seconded by Ms. Adams.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.  

                                   

Adjournment:                Ms. Youmans made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Ms. McCord.  Voting for the motion was unanimous.

 

                                    The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.