M I N U T E S

REGULAR MEETING OF MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF JULY 21, 2008

Call to Order: The Regular Meeting of Mayor and Council of July 21, 2008 was called to order by Mayor Corine Deyton at 7:00 p.m.

Invocation: The invocation was given by Mayor Pro-tem Sparkle Adams followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag.

Present: Mayor Corine Deyton, Mayor Pro-tem Sparkle Adams, Councilwomen Maudie McCord, Debbie Youmans and Linda Lord.

Also present were City Manager John Parker, Director of Finance Mike Blandenburg, Director of Public Works Mike Gippert, Director of Support Services Christine Terrell, Director of Planning, Building and Zoning Steve Pearson, Deputy Director of Recreation and Leisure Services Sharon Smith, Chief Dwayne Hobbs, Chief Eddie Buckholts and City Attorney Joe Harris.

Approval of Ms. Adams made a motion to approve the minutes of the

Minutes: Work Session of Mayor and Council of July 7^th and the Regular Meeting of Mayor and Council of July 7^th, seconded by Ms. Lord. Voting for the motion were Ms. Lord, Ms. McCord and Ms. Adams. Ms. Youmans abstained.

Comment Period: Darnell Moorer announced that the 3rd Forest Park Ministers Association Clean Up will be held Saturday at 9:00 a.m., tentatively to begin at the Hendrix Drive Elementary School.

Public Hearing: Mr. Parker explained the Ordinance states there will be ten minutes for each side to speak. He also stated the Mayor and Council have the responsibility of reviewing a rezoning based on the law and what the ordinance calls for. Superfluous information will not be considered.

Mr. Harris added that the Council will act on the zoning law, those criteria that is set forth in the Georgia Code and City Code and whether or not the amendment would be consistent with the land use and development plans of the City.

Ms. Youmans made a motion to recess for a Public Hearing, seconded by Ms. McCord. Voting for the motion was unanimous.

Public Hearing - Mayor Deyton opened the Public Hearing to receive Rezoning Request: comments on the rezoning request for two single tracts of

land (4020 Jonesboro Road and Tax I.D. #14015B B004) from R-80 Single Family Residential to C-1 General Commercial.

Mayor Deyton asked if there was anyone present to speak in favor of this rezoning.

Aubrey Villines stated he is in support of this rezoning change. He stated he is surprised Ms. Bell opposed this and asked if Hartwell Jackson, Larry White or the A-Group is in anyway involved in that opposition.

Suzanne Coe stated she understood the junkyard is there and a brownout condition exists and could not be used for residential purposes so the best use of the property would be commercial, otherwise people don’t won’t to locate their homes on land that has toxic materials.

Mr. Darnell Moorer spoke on behalf of the Planning and Zoning Board. He stated as they heard the petition, they made it clear that what they heard they entertained all information as pertaining to land use purposes and listened to the staff report by the Director of Planning and Zoning. He stated people stood up and gave their views and much discussion on who actually had the license of the establishments where the Crazy Horse is located. He made it clear they were not interested in who had licenses or ownership, only the property being used in the best manner possible. He stated if the Board agreed to recommend approval to Council then the Jonesboro Road corridor would all be uniform thereby allowing our land use purposes to be in uniform. He stated the second parcel to be rezoned was presented by City Attorney Joe Harris and the Board made certain all information pertaining to the decision was in reference to land usage only.

Mayor Deyton asked if there is anyone present to speak against this rezoning.

Mark Forsling, representing the A-Group was present to speak against the rezoning. He stated in reference to the 4020 Jonesboro Road property, Ms. Bell is not in favor of this and did not know about the application according to what they learned at the Planning Commission meeting and is totally opposed to her property being rezoned over her objection by this City and the City’s own motion. He stated that is the first reason it should be denied. He stated the second reason it should be denied is a procedural error he set forth in his letter, Code Section 8-102 of the City Code which requires notice of this hearing be published once a week for two consecutive weeks with the first notice of hearing not more than 30 days prior to the date the governing body holds this hearing. He stated the first notice was published on June 20^th, today is the thirty first day after June 20^th so the publication of this notice for this meeting did not fulfill the requirements of your zoning ordinance and any action taken would be invalid. He stated also a member of the Planning Commission, Dave Rashmir, stated he had a financial interest therefore he would not take part. The statute requires O.C.G.A. Section 36-67-A2 that a person having financial interest who is on the Planning Commission must disclose the nature and extent of the interest in writing to the Governing Body. The statute also says that the disqualified individual should not take any other action on behalf of himself or any other person to influence action on the application for rezoning. He stated when asked who was in support of this, Mr. Rashmir stood up. He stated under the law in Georgia, a neighboring property owner such as the A-Group has the right to object to zoning when that property owner thinks that the grant of the application would constitute fraud or corruption or will constitute the manifest abuse of the zoning power to the oppression of the neighbors. He outlined in his letter, the impact that the grant of this rezoning will have on the A-Group. He stated he believes the City instituting this rezoning application for the purpose of favoring one business over another, which is what he thinks has happened here, is a grant of rezoning to the oppression of the neighbors in violation of our Constitutional rights.

Mr. Benjamin Erlitz was present on behalf of Barbara Bell. He stated Ms. Bell was surprised there was a rezoning. He stated she had not known until three weeks ago that that was even proposed. He stated they went to the hearing two weeks ago, and at that time I had been hired two days and they were not able to present a lot as to why they were opposed to it and there was very little discussion about why this was the best thing for the City. He stated it is not good for the City and this is not good for Ms. Bell. He stated they have no opinion about which strip club should be owned. He stated Ms. Bell should not be a pawn; she should not be a victim. What she wants is to table this rezoning and give her a chance to talk to some real estate people, talk to your staff and figure out what’s best for her land. She has not had that opportunity. All she has had is this thing rammed down her throat as a rezoning. He stated about what has been said about the plan and the land use is not true. He stated Jonesboro Road is not all C-1, some of it is RM-85. The C-1 zones are rather narrow with a couple of exceptions along the strip, because C-1 is a highway zone. Ms Bell’s property is shaped differently than other C-1 zones that are on Jonesboro Road. He stated it is very superficial to say good planning requires that it all have the same color on the map, that’s not what planning is about. He stated planning looks at the land use and what is best for the land use. He stated her lot is 200 feet along Jonesboro Road but 1300 feet interior. That is not a highway commercial C-1 zone kind of land. He stated in fact, it should be more appropriate for residential, an entrance from the street and be able to use the interior. He stated it is asserted this is brown zone and no one has done an analysis of our parcel. He said to make the decision based upon an assertion when there is no proof or no study done to our parcel, it is not a good idea. If you table it, you have a chance to find the facts and then decide what is good for the City and not to create a dead zone. If this is C-1, there will be 4 or 5 acres of her parcel that will be useless and that is not good for the City and not good for us. He stated if the only reason you are doing this is to make way for this strip club, that’s not a good reason to rezone and if that’s not the reason, then you can give us a little bit of time and Ms. Bell a little time to figure out what she wants to do with her land. He stated you are not to benefit one person at the expense of someone else; you are to zone for the public benefit and the City as a whole and that has not been considered here.

Mr. Harris asked that Mr. Pearson’s report be a part of the record.

Ms. Youmans made a motion to close the public hearing and reconvene the meeting, seconded by Ms. Adams. Voting for the motion was unanimous.

Resolution - Request was made to consider a Resolution by the City Council of the City of Forest Park declaring certain city property listed on Exhibit A, to be surplus property and to provide for its proper disposal either by auction or other methods pursuant to the City’s contract with Nationwide Auctions systems; and for other purposes.

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

Rezoning Request: Request was made to rezone 4020 Jonesboro Road and Parcel I.D. #14015B B004 from R-80 Single Family Residential to C-1 General Commercial.

Ms. Youmans made a motion to rezone 4020 Jonesboro Road from R-80 Single Family Residential to C-1 General Commercial, seconded by Ms. Lord. Voting for the motion was unanimous.

Ms. Youmans made a motion to rezone Parcel I.D. #14015B B004, seconded by Ms. McCord.

Voting for the motion was unanimous.

Ordinance - Request was made to consider an Ordinance by the City Council of the City of Forest Park authorizing the Mayor to sign and accept a Community Economic Adjustment Planning Assistance Grant for Calendar years 2008 and 2009 from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment for the purpose of preparing an Outreach and Comprehensive Reuse Plan for Fort Gillem and to appropriate the matching funds from the transfer/capital replacement fund Line Item #100-22-1510-61-1001; to provide for severability; to repeal all Ordinances and parts of Ordinances in conflict herewith; to provide an effective date; and for other purposes.

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

Comments by Ms. Lord stated when decisions are made we have to look

Governing Body: at what’s best for the City.

Mayor Deyton stated Councilman Judson was not present due to the fact his wife had surgery today.

Mayor Deyton also reminded everyone of the Centennial Celebration beginning August 14^th thru August 16^th.

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

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.