Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-19-1999 Regular Meeting Page 1 REGULAR MEETING COMMISSION CHAMBERS January 19, 1999 Augusta Richmond County Commission convened at 2:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 19, 1999, the Honorable Bob Young, Mayor, presiding. PRESENT: Hons. Beard, Bridges, H. Brigham, J. Brigham, Colclough, Handy (2:25), Kuhlke, and Shepard, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. ABSENT: Hons. Powell and Mays, members of Augusta Richmond County Commission. Also present were Ms. Bonner, Clerk of Commission; Mr. Oliver, Administrator; and Mr. Wall, County Attorney. I'd like to mention Mr. Powell is not with MAYOR YOUNG: us today, he is ill. And Mr. Mays is not here also, he's in a hospital in Minnesota. I spoke with him a few minutes ago, and he's up chasing the nurses and hopes to be out by tomorrow or Thursday. We will note their absences today. Let me call on Reverend Donald Fishburne from St. Paul's Church for our Invocation, and then please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. THE INVOCATION WAS GIVEN BY THE REVEREND FISHBURNE. THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE WAS RECITED. Madame Clerk, if you will proceed. MAYOR YOUNG: Mr. Mayor and members of the Commission, we have CLERK: a request for additions as per our addendum agenda: 1. Z-98-155 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from the Augusta Commission per Section 35-7 of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance seeking to revert the current zoning of HI (Heavy Industry) to Zone R-1A (One-family Residence) for property located generally at the intersection of Windsor Spring Road and Spirit Creek Road, and consisting of two tracts located more specifically as follows: a) Property located on the east right-of-way of Windsor Spring Road and west of the right-of-way of Spirit Creek Road; and b) Property located 1520 feet southwest of the inter- section of the centerline of Windsor Spring Road and Spirit Creek Road. (District 6) Page 2 2. Appointment of Ms. Carolyn Usry to Riverfront Development Review Board. (District 3 appointment) MR. SHEPARD:Mr. Mayor, I'd make a motion that those two items be added, and that, as to Number 2, that be placed on the consent agenda if it's added. Second. MR. KUHLKE: Anyone opposed? MAYOR YOUNG: MR. HANDY OUT. . MOTION CARRIES 7-0 Under the consent agenda, Items 1 through 34, CLERK: with the inclusion of Item 2 on the addendum agenda: PLANNING: 1. Z-98-151 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve, with the condition 'That the petitioner shall conform to the plan submitted except for changes as required by the U.S. Department of the Army, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, or Augusta-Richmond County', a petition from Coastal Piedmont Properties, on behalf of Georgia Vitrified Brick & Clay Co., requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone R-MH (Manufactured Home Residential) on property located where the centerline of Elbow Branch Road (private) intersects with the southeast right-of-way line of Gordon Highway. 2. Z-99-3 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from Cynthia Bynes, on behalf of Augusta Praise Tabernacle, requesting a Special Exception for the purpose of establishing a church as provided for in Section 26-1, Subparagraph (a) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County, on property located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Richmond Hill Road and Bungalow Road (2514 Richmond Hill Road). 3. Z-99-4 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from Oscar Coxson, on behalf of Macedonia Baptist Church, requesting a Special Exception for the purpose of expanding a church as provided for in Section 26-1, Subparagraph (a) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County, on property located on the southwest corner of the intersection of Jordon Road and Wrightsboro Road (1417 Jordon Road). 4. Z-99-5 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from Dorseta Bucknor, on behalf of Birnet L. Johnson, requesting a Special Page 3 Exception for the purpose of establishing a church as provided for in Section 26-1, Subparagraph (a) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County, on property located on the east right-of-way line of Druid Park Avenue, 123.0 feet south of the southeast corner of the intersection of Parnell Street and Druid Park Avenue (1108 Druid Park Ave.) 5. Z-99-6 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve, with the condition 'That the only use of this property shall be for the sale of burial vaults and grave markers, and if this use ceases then the zoning shall revert to R-1C (One-family Residence)', a petition from Julius Clark, on behalf of B.A. Williams, requesting a change of zoning from Zone R-1C (One-family Residence) to Zone B-2 (General Business) on property located on the southwest right-of-way line of Holloway Drive, 235 feet, more or less, northwest of the intersection of the northwest right-of-way line of Gordon Highway and the southwest right-of-way line of Holloway Drive (214 Holloway Drive). 6. Pulled from consent agenda. 7. Z-99-11 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from Tamsen McKinnon, on behalf of Shon McKinnon, requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone B-2 (General Business) on property located where the centerline of Willis Foreman Road extended intersects the southeast right-of-way line of Peach Orchard Road. 8. S-552-I-II - SABA TOWNHOUSES - PHASE I, SECTION II -FINAL PLAT - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve Saba Townhouses, Phase I, Section II, Final Plat. This phase is located on Saba Drive, 408.38 feet west of West Wheeler Road and contains 15 lots. 9. S-565 - HOPETOWN VILLAS - FINAL PLAT - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve Hopetown Villas, Final Plat. This subdivision is located on Bertram Road, 2297 feet north of the right-of-way of Washington Road and contains 22 lots. 10. S-561-I - HANCOCK MILL - SECTION I - FINAL PLAT - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve Hancock Mill, Section I, Final Plat. This section is located on Old Waynesboro Road, .75 mile north of Hephzibah-McBean Road and contains 41 lots. FINANCE: 11. Motion to approve a request for a refund for the dropped homestead exemption, Map 118, Parcel 166, for the tax year 1995, in the amount of $129.30. 12. Motion to approve a Resolution and First Amendment to the 1998 Augusta Money Purchase Plan so as to change the employer contribution to 2% of the employee's compensation, effective January 1, 1999. Page 4 ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES: 13. Motion to approve reclassifying four positions in Tax Commissioner's Office: Accounting Clerk II, Grade 39, to Accounting Technician III, Grade 41; Cashier I, Grade 37, to Accounting Clerk II, Grade 39; Salary Grade for Tax Clerk I from 36 to 38 and Salary Grade for Tax Clerk II from 35 to 37. 14. Motion to approve Subordination Agreement for Nicole D. Cooper and Janie M. Cooper in regard to property located at 2604 Whittier Place, Hephzibah, Georgia, which will be subordinated to a loan by James B. Nutter & Company, Mortgage Bankers. The Coopers are refinancing their current adjustable rate mortgage for a fixed rate mortgage with no cash out and no cost to them. 15. Motion to approve continuation of existing policy regarding additional retirement benefits under Richmond County 1977 pension plan for work-related injuries. ENGINEERING SERVICES: 16. Motion to approve and accept Deed of Dedication for the sanitary sewer mains with applicable easements for Ridgecrest Apartments. 17. Motion to approve a contract award to Arcadis, Geraghty & Miller for engineering services and construction quality assurance services associated with construction of Deans Bridge Road Subtitle "D" MSW Landfill Phase IIC-Cell 2 at a cost not to exceed $279,813 and to be funded from Account #05-4811-00-0442. 18. Motion to approve expenditure of $25,000 for purchase of Wasteworks software, training, conversion costs, and associated hardware for the Deans Bridge Road Landfill Operations. 19. Motion to approve construction contract with Price Brothers for installing eight 2½" taps and valves in the 42" raw water line. 20. Motion to approve a sales agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the City of Augusta in the amount of $55,060. 21. Motion to approve a request to execute the Georgia Department of Transportation County Contract PRLOP-8530-58 (245) C1 for their participation in the project in the amount of $370,978.09. Also authorize letting to contract the McCombs Road, Section II project. 22. Motion to approve Proposed Supplemental 1999 LARP Program List. 23. Motion to approve execution of a Supplemental Agreement with Georgia Department of Transportation at a cost of $99,580 to construct a handicap access at Sixth Street- Riverwalk. 24. Motion to approve a revised State-Aid County Contract Priority List. 25. Motion to approve text for Dedication Plaque to be mounted on Small Business Incubator Project, subject to review Page 5 by other Commissioners. 26. Motion to authorize signature on Norfolk Southern Railroad Permit for the jack and bore of an existing railroad spur. PUBLIC SAFETY: 27. Motion to approve purchase of services subcontract between Augusta-Richmond County, Herman Murphy and Jim Padgett to provide supervision of community services work groups. PUBLIC SERVICES: 28. Motion to approve request for addition of one (1) Groundskeeper I position at the Augusta Golf Course Enterprise Fund. 29. Motion to approve a request allocating up to $34,000 for renovations to the Lake Olmstead Stadium, subject to approval of agreement. 30. Motion to approve Crash Rescue Equipment Service, Inc.'s bid of $16,350 to retrofit E-One Titan vehicle with a 500-pound dry-chemical system, and M.E. La Pan & Sons' bid of $26,940 to supply specified rescue equipment. Total amount of the two bids is $43,290, which is within budget allowance of $50,000. PETITIONS & COMMUNICATIONS: 31. Motion to approve minutes of the regular meeting of the Augusta Commission held January 5, 1999. 32. Motion to ratify the letter of authorization dated January 12, 1999, rescinding Commission's action taken January 5, 1999, appointing Mr. James C. Proctor to the Augusta Aviation Commission and appoint Ms. Marcie Wilhelmi. APPOINTMENTS: 33. Appoint Mr. Jerry Wayne Peloquin to the Augusta- Richmond County Personnel Board, representing District 7. 34. Appoint Mr. James E. Harrison, III to the Augusta- Richmond County Personnel Board due to the resignation of Mr. William Mayfield, representing District 10. ADDED TO CONSENT AGENDA: 2. [From Addendum Agenda] Appointment of Ms. Carolyn Usry to the Riverfront Development Review Board. (District 3 appointment) 40. [From Regular Agenda] Motion to deny new application request by James R. Key for a consumption on premises liquor, beer and wine license to be used in connection with the Parliament House located at 1250 Gordon Highway. (District 1, Super District 9) MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I understand that there has been a letter from Mr. Key in regards to Item Number 40 on the regular agenda, that they would like to withdraw their Page 6 request. I would like to ask that this be added to the consent agenda as approved in committee. That should be--instead of to approve, it MR. OLIVER: should be to deny. It says deny in mine. MR. KUHLKE: You would like approval to have the denial MAYOR YOUNG: put on the consent agenda? Yes. MR. KUHLKE: Second. MR. SHEPARD: All in favor, please indicate by voting MAYOR YOUNG: aye. MR. BEARD ABSTAINS; MR. HANDY OUT. MOTION CARRIES 6-1. Mr. Mayor, I would also like to pull MR. J. BRIGHAM: Item Number 6 off of the consent agenda. Does anyone else have an item to pull from MAYOR YOUNG: the consent agenda? Do we have a motion on the consent agenda? So move. MR. KUHLKE: Second. MR. BRIDGES: All in favor, please vote aye. MAYOR YOUNG: MR. HANDY OUT. MOTION CARRIES 7-0. CLERK: Item 6: Z-99-10 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from Otis L. Crowell requesting a change of zoning from Zone A (Agriculture) to Zone B-2 (General Business) on property located on the north right-of-way line of River Watch Parkway, 1,635 feet west of the northwest corner of the intersection of Furys Ferry Road and River Watch Parkway. (District 7) MR. J. BRIGHAM:Mr. Mayor, I'm in favor of this item, but I want to add a stipulation to it. I want to move approval of the item and add a stipulation that there will be no requests for median cuts on River Watch Parkway. Second. MR. SHEPARD: Page 7 We have a motion and a second. Any MAYOR YOUNG: discussion? I couldn't hear the motion, Mr. Mayor. MR. BRIDGES: The motion is to approve it with the MAYOR YOUNG: stipulation there be no requests for median cuts on the River Watch Parkway. Cuts meaning-- MR. BRIDGES: In the middle of the road. MR. KUHLKE: What kind of cuts? MR. BRIDGES: To turn--for vehicles to turn. Turn lanes. MR. OLIVER: I see. MR. BRIDGES: Any other discussion? All in favor, MAYOR YOUNG: please vote aye. MR. HANDY OUT. MOTION CARRIES 7-0. CLERK:Item 35: Z-99-1 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to deny a petition from Virginia Bush, on behalf of Robert Bush, requesting a Special Exception for the purpose of establishing a tutorial center as provided for in Section 26-1, Subparagraph (b) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County, on property located on the southeast corner of the intersection of East Hale Street and Belafonte Drive (202 Hale Street). (District 1) Mr. Mayor, I believe we have some people MR. BEARD: here who want to speak for and against that, and personally I would like to hear from Mr. Patty in reference to what was done in that particular Planning session. This is a request for a special exception MR. PATTY: for a tutorial service to be provided in a home within a subdivision. The petitioner no longer lives in it. Lived in it at one time, I believe, but no longer lives in it. The property will be used exclusively for this tutorial service. And we had objectors, and the petitioner presented her plan to tutor children after school. I don't believe that she was real clear on what the age groups she would tutor would be and the number of children and the fee structure, and I believe that it was her uncertainty and things like that that may have Page 8 led to [inaudible] vote against it. Did we have somebody here to speak on MAYOR YOUNG: behalf of this petition? Would you please come to the podium and please tell us who you are and your address. I am Virginia Bush, 3954 Bolton Street, MRS. BUSH: Augusta, Georgia. I am here to request establishment of a tutorial school at 202 East Hale Street. There is no tutorial school in the subdivision of Sunlight Park. I checked with all the surrounding principals because I have worked in that area for more than 20 years. A group came here by the name of Sunlight Park Neighborhood Association, and they declared that they had tutorial programs at the various schools and they were in operation. Well, I visited all of the schools to talk with the principals. Each principal gave me a letter support- ing my tutorial program, and you're going to get that as a handout right now. And each principal told me that anybody who would like to volunteer or offer services to help the children because they have the lowest scores in the state of Georgia. East Augusta principal told me that his sixth grade children are reading on a first grade level, and that is true because I have a son who teaches social studies down there. Mrs. Bush, I don't mean to intrude in your MAYOR YOUNG: discussion, but I don't think anybody would object for the need for tutorial work for young people. Why should it be at this location I think is the question. The question before the Commission is to approve a tutorial school at this specific address, and that--is that the concern, Mr. Patty? Yes, sir. MR. PATTY: That it be at this location, and I think MAYOR YOUNG: that's what we need to talk about today. Okay. This address is vacant and it's MRS. BUSH: available and it's offering a free service on a voluntary basis. Does anyone have any questions for Mrs. MAYOR YOUNG: Bush? The place where you're proposing to put MR. BRIDGES: the tutorial service, is it like in a neighborhood or is it in a business section or where? It's a neighborhood and business MRS. BUSH: surrounding. So you've got homes and residences right MR. BRIDGES: Page 9 there around it? Yes, homes, residence. We have two health MRS. BUSH: care centers and-- What kind of hours are you proposing to MR. BRIDGES: operate it? Well, basically right now for after- MRS. BUSH: schoolers, helping with homework and--anyway, from four o'clock to seven. I think we had this once before, I MR. H. BRIGHAM: believe it was, and the people in the neighborhood were the ones who were kind of objecting to that. I think I know where the house is and everything, and there are people on each side of it; is that-- I brought in a petition of my supporters. I MRS. BUSH: brought in 70 names on the 11th of my supporters, and then I have supporters over there who are with me. I think, as the Mayor has indicated, MR. H. BRIGHAM: what we are supposed to talk about and discuss today is whether this particular place--I think nobody is doubting the program and its excellence, because we deal with a program like that ourselves, but the location is the one in question at this point in time. Well, I'm asking for a, you know, special MRS. BUSH: exception so people will know that there is a center there, but necessarily no signs or names of business or anything like that. The kids would be coming anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, and if they need more time it will be worked out with the staff. Good afternoon. My name is Tawana Bush and I MS. BUSH: live at 3954 Bolton Street, Augusta, Georgia. And in an effort to just give back to our community, we want to have it at this location because it's available to the neighborhood. Transportation would be a matter at hand, and it would be an easy location for the kids to walk and that's why the location is important. And we've included on the back of the--the schools that we are targeting are those neighborhood--the Craig/Houghton/Hornsby kids who are having problems in school as far as reading. And we've highlighted their test scores, and this is just an effort to tutor them in those areas so that their test scores would increase. And they won't be a behavior problem so much in the classroom if they are able to read, and this will allow them to come to us on a one-to-one basis. And it's just an effort to give back to our community. Page 10 Mrs. Bush indicated some other people are MAYOR YOUNG: here in support. Those people in support, would you stand up so we can see who you are? [SIX SUPPORTERS PRESENT] George, what are the specific zoning uses MR. SHEPARD: on the property adjacent to the subject property here at 202 Hale Street? This is a subdivision. It's strictly MR. PATTY: single-family. All around it? MR. SHEPARD: Well, I believe so. I'll have to look at MR. PATTY: the map to verify it. And my other question was are there any MR. SHEPARD: objectors, Mr. Mayor? Do we have objectors? MAYOR YOUNG: [ONE OBJECTOR PRESENT] Mr. Mayor, I can understand--Mrs. Bush, MR. COLCLOUGH: I can understand your need to give back to the community, but if there is so much opposition to this location from the community, do you think that you can [inaudible]? Yes. We don't have any opposition. There MRS. BUSH: are only two or three. Only two or three. There is no opposition. Everybody is for it [inaudible]. Excuse me, ma'am, could you speak into the MR. BRIDGES: mike? I can't hear up here. Oh, I'm sorry. There are only two or three MRS. BUSH: oppositions against us. And I walked the community myself and everybody in that community is for it. All right. Well, we have someone who MAYOR YOUNG: wants to speak to it here. And, of course, Mr. Thomas here. Now, there MRS. BUSH: is-- Well, wait, let's let Mr. Thomas speak MAYOR YOUNG: first; okay? And then I'll let you address that. Page 11 Okay. I just want to tell Mr. Patty there MRS. BUSH: is a health care directly across the street [inaudible]. Well, let's listen to what he has to say MAYOR YOUNG: first. Mr. Thomas, if you would identify yourself and give us your address, please. I'm Bert Thomas, I live at 108 East Hale MR. THOMAS: Street, and I represent the East Augusta Neighborhood Association. We, without any doubt, are against this tutorial program being housed in this particular area. As a retired principal, I have no doubt that there is a need for tutorial anywhere in this city. I have no doubt about it. Let me just get the record straight. The reason why the East Augusta Neighborhood Association is not here is because I heard just by chance this afternoon that there was going to be an appeal. I questioned why we haven't received some kind of notice to say that there was going to be an appeal. We came last Monday to discuss this matter in a great number. We did not know about this particular appeal until after twelve o'clock today. I called three of the principals. I knew--I heard that the letters were being written. They had written letters. They-- and I don't want to get this thing to be ugly because Mrs. Bush and her family are friends of ours. They asked the principals whether or not they had a tutorial program in the afternoon, and they said no. They asked them whether or not it would help, and they said yes. They asked would you write a letter to that effect. When I talked with the principals, they said little did they know that it was involving the zoning situation of a house in the neighborhood. Mr. Thomas, excuse me. Would you move MAYOR YOUNG: along and tell us what are your specific objections to this location. Sunlight Park has been in existence since MR. THOMAS: 1958. It is a single-dwelling subdivision. If we allow for zone changes--there have been one or two zone changes already, and if we allow for this to continue we will not have the single-dwelling situation in our area. And, therefore, the neighborhood is requesting that you continue to deny it. It was unanimously denied at the Planning Commission, and we're asking you to deny it here. We are not saying that they are not worthy of what their cause is, but the place for which they plan to do business is not one which we feel would be beneficial to our neighborhood. Mr. Patty, do you have an answer to Mr. MAYOR YOUNG: Shepard's question? We have 162 names on the petition that we MR. THOMAS: Page 12 presented last week against this, so there is some opposition. This subdivision is known as Sunlight Park. MR. PATTY: I believe Delta Manor housing project has an irregular boundary in the area to the east, and then to the west of that is all part of the subdivision. So with the exception of this area that is part of this housing project, everything in there except for the frontage on Laney-Walker is zoned R-1C, single- family. It's all part of the subdivision. MR. SHEPARD:Mr. Mayor, I'd make a motion that we concur with the Planning Commission's decision and deny the petition. I'll second. MR. BRIDGES: We have a motion and a second. Any MAYOR YOUNG: further discussion? All in favor, please vote aye. MR. H. BRIGHAM ABSTAINS; MR. HANDY OUT. MOTION CARRIES 6-1. CLERK:Item 36: Z-99-2 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to deny a petition from Roberta Lindsey, on behalf of Clarence W. Williams, requesting a Special Exception for the purpose of establishing a family personal care home as provided for in Section 26-1, Subparagraph (h) of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance for Augusta-Richmond County, on property located on the northwest right-of-way line of Twiggs Street, 28.0 feet southwest of a point where the southwest right-of-way line of Robin Lane intersects with the northwest right-of-way line of Twiggs Street (1523 Twiggs Street). (District 2) MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to get it on the floor, that we concur with the Planning Commission. Second. MR. SHEPARD: Do we have any people here to speak to MAYOR YOUNG: this issue? Mr. Mayor, I'm James Findlay, I'm an MR. FINDLAY: attorney. I represent Mrs. Lindsey, Mrs. Lindsey being the petitioner in this case asking for the special exception to the zoning. Would you like to hear from me, sir? Let's hear from Mr. Patty with the MAYOR YOUNG: Planning Commission first, and then we'll talk with the people involved in this. Page 13 We had some objectors to this one also. MR. PATTY: They want to conduct a personal care home which would allow up to six elderly and handicapped people in the home. There was a lot of testimony about the crime in this area, the fact that it's drug infested, numerous break-ins and that sort of thing, and that is one of the subjective criteria in our ordinance that allows us to make decisions to deny or approve these, and I think that was the basis for the denial. All right. Mr. Findlay, if you want to MAYOR YOUNG: proceed. Please. I take exception to what Mr. MR. FINDLAY: Patty said. That is, it would seem to me that it would be totally unfair to a person who has an ongoing business, who is not involved in any crimes, drug, etc., to have he or she denied a permit because of other people in the area violating city, municipal, and state laws. Mrs. Lindsey has a permit which allows her at this time through the State of Georgia to have five residents in this homeplace. Without the need of this Commission, of course, she can have three, and she does have three there. But, of course, in order to help this community and allow this area of the community to still thrive in some small part, she needs income. The people who live there with her at this time would be one person who is 80 years of age, we have a second person who is blind, and we have a third person who is exceptional. All three of these people have been raised in the inner-city, and these people don't find themselves wanting to leave the inner-city. Now, I know I'm burdening all of you. I'm going as quickly as I can, but I think it's almost imperative that you look at some of the pictures that we have. This lady is not the problem in the community, this lady is trying to improve the community. If she finds it impractical for her to have this business there, this will be one more crack house in a row of three or four crack houses. This lady has done something to an impoverished area of your community to make it better. To vote against it would defy any logic whatsoever that I can see merely by not allowing her to have a business. George says that this is an exception that they have to take when, in fact, there are drugs in the area, when there are police in the area. This lady has never called the police because of a violent crime. She has never been mistreated by any of the neighbors as to her business. This piece of property is located on Twiggs Street between Gordon Lane and Robin Lane, two small alleyways there. I know it's almost difficult for you to envision, but for her back door--she sees houses being dismantled a board at a time, being used by people for the purpose of keeping themselves warm while they probably smoke crack cocaine in the area. She also has a burned-out house on Robin Lane. The house directly Page 14 beside her has a window out where people go into it. It's not occupied. The house on the other side, may we say the north side, finds itself not being occupied. I want there to be some criteria, if you turn this down, that is reasonable and not merely capricious. I think to turn this down is just absolutely a capricious act without any objective standard whatsoever when this lady is, in fact, trying to keep up the neighborhood by putting in what is shown down here on the very bottom, her house. Her house has a ramp on the back side of it that has been set up in compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Her house has a burglar system on the back side of it. If you open the door at night, the burglar alarm will come on. She cares for these three people who live there, but she cannot continue to operate this business on an income of $1,500 per month. That's what she has. If she had two more people, she would have $2,500. I suggest to you that she's going to have senior citizens. Not one of these people would do anything to make your community a less pleasant place to come. No, it won't be like some of the hamburger stands on the Washington Road, it won't flourish with bright lights and whatnot, but it will give a person who is impoverished and poor a place to live and be cared for by a person who cares for them. If, in fact, a person from the Richmond County Sheriff's Department was here to tell me that this lady had violated a law or that the sheriff had to be called for some activity that she had performed, I could see that you should vote against it. But this is absolutely an arbitrary and capricious undertaking if, in fact, you could not see your way clear to vote in the affirmative to allow this lady to do what she wants to do and, in fact, overrule what's been done by Planning and Zoning. With that, I thank you. I'll be glad to answer any questions. I feel very secure in what I have said. As to what I have seen, I have been there. I have been inside of this house, I have been to the neighborhood, I have seen the houses around it. This house is the best-kept house in the entire neighborhood, and anyone that would object to it has a criteria--or an objection that is only known to he or she and does not meet any objective standard. Thank you. I believe we have someone here who wants MAYOR YOUNG: to speak against this, and if you would please come forward to the microphone and identify yourself and list your address, please. Good evening. My name is Mattie Mitchell MS. MITCHELL: and I live in the 1500 block of Twiggs Street, directly in front of that home. There are several of us that was here at the last meeting that opposed it. We oppose the home simply because of the drug activity that is in this area. We have Page 15 not said--we didn't even know that a personal care home was coming into Twiggs Street. But our objection was not, per se, of the home, it is about the drug activity that is there. Ms. Lindsey lives out in South Augusta, and I understand that. The owner, I talked with him when he was redoing the house for Ms. Lindsey. We had no idea that it was going to be a personal care home. Right now there are five people that's living in there, and my concern is--I also have the same pictures. Right beside it is a house that's owned by Ms. Charlotte Watkins, and this house--I run drug dealers out of there. They go in and they smoke crack cocaine. If you can see now, I took pictures this morning and this door is open where they sleep at night. And that's what I'm concerned about. On the left side is a house owned by Mr. S.S. Johnson. It has the same thing. They go into this house, they smoke crack cocaine. These are little old ladies, and that's what I'm more concerned about. That's the back door, you can see where they slept in it last night. This is Ms. Lindsey's home right here. This brick house is the one that's owned by Mr. S.S. Johnson, and they smoke crack cocaine in that particular house, too. The main concern on Gordon Street, the entire area is infested with drugs. When Ms. Lindsey and them did get into the home, there are three--well, five or six old ladies. And there was some gentleman there, and he was going across the street talking about sex and hormones and that kind of stuff, and it's just a nuisance to us. And my concern now, along with many others, is the safety of these people. These drug dealers are burning down houses. I've got five or six here where they have burned down. And right beside there, like within a few feet of Ms. Lindsey, the houses on Robin Lane, drug activity is in and out of that home all night long from one and two o'clock in the morning. Chestnut Street, this street right here, which is Gordon Street, is one of the highest drug activity areas in the CSRA. My concern, like I said, is for the safety of the people. If they should go in, God forbid, and burn those houses down, even with the burglar alarm system, it's impossible for those little old ladies to get out of there, and that's what my concern is. All right. Do we have any questions from MAYOR YOUNG: the Commissioners? Ms. Lindsey, are you living here? Is MR. COLCLOUGH: this your place of residence? I have around-the-clock staffing, 24 MS. LINDSEY: hours. They are never left there alone. And we have regular fire drills, three a month, with these ladies. And, also, my burglar system connects right to the police station and to the fire department. Page 16 Has your home ever been inspected by the MR. COLCLOUGH: ombudsman? No, the ombudsman itself has not been out MS. LINDSEY: there. The state has been out there. Mr. Mayor, I've got something for George. MR. BRIDGES: George, what's the reasoning for denying this again? What it appears to me is this house would actually be an improvement in that neighborhood if what I'm hearing is correct. Well, I'm usually here trying to defend MR. PATTY: someone against the use that Mr. Findlay wants to put in a neighborhood, and I think in this case we're maybe saying that the use that he wants to put in the neighborhood needs to be protected from the neighborhood. I think the various types of crime that were presented at our meeting make it unsuitable for this type use for the safety of the people who would reside in this home under the supervision of perhaps a paid worker, maybe a minimum wage paid worker. So the concern here is the safety of the MR. BRIDGES: inhabitants of the house then? That's correct. I mean, they've done a nice MR. PATTY: job fixing up the house, you know, and it is much nicer than most of the homes around it in the neighborhood. But if you were to ride around this area, especially the lanes that go back on either side of it, it's a bad area. May my client say something to you? MR. FINDLAY: Yes, briefly. MAYOR YOUNG: We have been there one year and we've MS. LINDSEY: never had anybody at all, none of those people, to approach us in a negative way whatsoever. They have come to my back door and asked for food and I've given it to them, but they have never, not one time, approached us in a negative way whatsoever, me or the clients. None of them have. They respect us with the highest respect. Do we have any additional questions from MAYOR YOUNG: the Commissioners? Let's move ahead with business then. All in favor of denying this petition, please vote aye. MR. BEARD & MR. H. BRIGHAM ABSTAIN. MOTION CARRIES 6-2. We'd like to welcome Mr. Handy to the MAYOR YOUNG: Page 17 meeting. Madame Clerk, if you'll proceed. CLERK:Item 37: Z-98-159 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from the Staff of the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission requesting to amend the map of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance by Gordon Highway extending from its inter-section with Bobby Jones Expressway southwest to a point 1,000 feet southwest of Gordon Highway's intersection with Fort Gordon Gate #1 as an SCA District (Special Sign Control Area). Mr. Mayor, can we take Item 37 and 38 MR. J. BRIGHAM: together? I so move, Mr. Mayor. MR. BEARD: I second. MR. SHEPARD: Any objection? Madame Clerk, if you'll MAYOR YOUNG: read the next item, we'll consolidate those two. CLERK:Item 38: Z-98-160 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from the Staff of the Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission requesting to amend the map of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance by designating a corridor 1,000 feet wide on either side of Doug Bernard Parkway from its intersection with Tobacco Road extending north to its intersection with Gordon Highway as an SCA District (Special Sign Control Area). MR. KUHLKE:So move. Second. MR. SHEPARD: We have a motion and a second. Do we have MAYOR YOUNG: anybody that wants to speak to this? If you would please identify yourself and your address. My name is Jeff White, my address is 1396 MR. WHITE: Salisbury Drive in Evans. I'm representing Lamar Advertising as the general manager. I'm not here to ask that y'all not vote on this, but to postpone it due to the lack of public notice to us, some of the business and land lease people to the clarification of the sign control. I'm a little concerned about the block-out zone, exactly what y'all are clarifying that, and I would just like an opportunity--I'm the new GM, I'd like to make that notice--just to get with the Planning and Zoning Commission to sit down. We're not opposed to this, but we'd like to have a little time so that we can be a little Page 18 bit more prepared. I found out about this this morning about eight o'clock driving from Florida, and so I'm just-- Welcome to Augusta. MAYOR YOUNG: Well, I've been here in Augusta, and I left MR. WHITE: and I came back, but I'm glad to be back. Mr. Patty, would you like to speak to MAYOR YOUNG: that? The text of your zoning ordinance allows you MR. PATTY: to designate certain areas as overlay zones in a SCA or sign control district. This has been in the ordinance since the mid 1980's and we've designated a number of corridors, downtown, the Riverfront, various areas as sign control areas for the purpose of establishing a little tighter controls over signage in the county in general. And these two particular cases, one of which is Gordon Highway from Bobby Jones to Gate #1 was requested by the Department of the Army, and the other is from Tobacco Road--basically the airport in to Gordon Highway is one that I think we all recognize a need to protect the aesthetics of, and I would like for you to do these today. I would tell you that we are getting geared up to completely revamp all of our sign regulations. A number of things have happened over the last 15 years in the courts and otherwise that I think it's necessary to do that. But I would very much like for you to do this today to protect this area from any kind of signage that would come into it on an interim basis before we can complete what we're doing. Mr. Timmerman, did you want to speak? MAYOR YOUNG: Please identify yourself and list your address. My name is J. Pat Timmerman, I live at MR. TIMMERMAN: 2712 Hillcrest Avenue, and I am here also to represent the sign industry. Mr. Findlay made a good point while ago. He said something to the effect of arbitrary and capricious. Well, we feel that these areas are being designated sign control areas in an arbitrary and capricious manner. Now, you have very little regulation or stated goals in mind. There are no means by which they have continuity; i.e., you can take Walton Way from 13th Street--I used this example at the Planning Commission--up to Richmond Academy. One side is a sign control district; in fact, the right side is, the left side isn't. Well, a merchant on the left side of Walton Way can have whatever signage he wants, whereas on the right side he is highly controlled. And who is to say that we are to have a regulation for East Augusta that you can't have in West Augusta, or a regulation on, you know, South Augusta that you can't have everywhere else? That's what this amounts to. If Page 19 you take into consideration 1,000 feet on either side of the centerline of a highway, you think about that. The Sheraton Hotel called me, for instance. They wanted to add an additional sign to their pylon that they have right now to advertise their restaurant. Well, there are probably 50 or 60 restaurants on the other side of the road and they all have signs. Well, come to find out the Sheraton is in a sign control district because it is approximately 350 feet from Wheeler Road which is a sign control district. So I'm not asking that you gentlemen defeat this motion. You know, our industry believes in regulation, but we believe in reasonable regulation, and we feel like this is somewhat over-control. We feel like this should be probably tabled until, as Mr. Patty so aptly put it, he can rewrite some of the regulations which are indeed, I think, antiquated. I go in and out of a lot of counties in different states, and I find a lot of different sign ordinances. But signs are a help to a businessman. Sixty-one percent of his revenue derives from signage. You can ask anybody that has them. And when you start to regulate and control his revenue, then I think that we are being very capricious. Thank you. Do we have any questions or comments from MAYOR YOUNG: the Commissioners? I have one for Mr. Patty. The gentleman MR. BEARD: said that he had not been notified, but have we notified all the business people and you've been working on this long enough to be satisfied that everybody publicly has been notified of this? The legal process for this would be the same MR. PATTY: as a zoning change--a zoning map amendment, actually. And we did run the required legal notice in the newspaper and we did put a sign on either end of these corridors. Now, no, we did not contact every property owner along this corridor and notify them personally. But you've been working on this long enough MR. BEARD: and the ads been run enough so that people should have seen this, and this is--this isn't something that you just started two weeks ago or a month ago; right? No, we have been designating corridors as MR. PATTY: sign control areas since the mid 1980's, so this is nothing new. And let me say for the record that this does not prohibit signage. It's a corridor that runs 1,000 feet on either side of these arteries, and within this 1,000 foot corridor, you know, you can have signage. I mean, there is no off-premises signage. It regulates the height--it further regulates the height, the number of signs, the size of signs, Page 20 and the type lighting that you use within the signs, but it does not prohibit signage for any business. Mr. Patty, what about companies that MR. KUHLKE: already have signs on this area, that the signs have some age on them and they may need to be replaced, what situation do you put those people in with this ordinance? The ordinance, I believe, allows replacement MR. PATTY: up to 50 percent of the value. It allows for replacement up to--I'm sorry, it says that signs cannot be enlarged, replaced or repaired to an extent greater than 50 percent of the value. So they can be repaired up to 50 percent of the value, but they can't be enlarged or totally replaced. Okay. And you said that signs can be put MR. KUHLKE: in this 1,000 yard [sic] area? Yes, sir. MR. PATTY: How do they get a permit to put a sign in MR. KUHLKE: there? What sort of hassle do they have to go through with the government to do that? The only hassle, other than the normal MR. PATTY: hassle of doing business anywhere, would be that they would have to come through our office. And License & Inspections started sending these people to us a year or so ago. A determination would be made on whether the sign conforms to this ordinance by us and then they'd get their permit. Mr. Patty, didn't we just do this for our MR. SHEPARD: Wrightsboro Road corridor from Bobby Jones Expressway out to Dyess Parkway? Yes, sir. MR. PATTY: And these two proposed corridors today, MR. SHEPARD: are they part of the gateways program that we're trying to work on, the gateways to the city: the airport gateway and the gateway to Fort Gordon? Yes, sir. MR. PATTY: I'd like to make one comment, Mr. Mayor. I MR. OLIVER: would encourage rather than postponing it, that you would vote it up or vote it down. Because a postponement would result in various establishments coming in and asking for the ability to put up signs before you may reconsider it again, so I think that would create an even greater problem. We are supportive of Mr. Patty's effort in this regard, and we believe that Page 21 there needs to be some kind of regulation on the installation of these type of signs. Mr. Jimmy Smith would like to address us. MAYOR YOUNG: Please come up and state your name and your address. Thank you, Mayor. I'm Jimmy Smith, I live MR. SMITH: on Brown Road in Hephzibah. I'm the President of Greater Augusta Progress, Incorporated, and we're attempting to revitalize our gateways and corridors into the city. And the drive from Bush Field in to Gordon Highway on Doug Bernard is a beautiful drive, it's been completed, and we'd like to see it stay that way and keep the signage down. Our gateway there will be refurbished at Gordon Highway and Doug Bernard. And there's about 200,000 people a year that deplane at Bush Field and come in that way into the city, and we would like to see it stay the way it is. As far as over on Gordon Highway from Bobby Jones to Gate #1, all of us know the millions of dollars that's spent there. And the Army wholeheartedly is supporting this, and we hope that you will see to it that the vote is in the affirmative today. Thank you. Any additional comments or questions from MAYOR YOUNG: the Commissioners? Okay, we have a--y'all have already spoken. Is there some new information you want to give us? No. I just wanted to let the Commission MR. WHITE: know that we have a great relationship and I doubt that we're going to oppose this vote. We were just asking for a little extension until I have that time. I haven't heard a motion to postpone, a MAYOR YOUNG: substitute motion, so let's move ahead. All in favor of the motion that's on the floor, a motion to approve the special sign control areas, please vote aye. This is for 37 and 38. MR. OLIVER: 37 and 38. MAYOR YOUNG: MOTION CARRIES 8-0. Mr. Mayor, if we could, could we take the zoning CLERK: petition on the addendum agenda, and that would conclude our zoning matters. Yes, ma'am. MAYOR YOUNG: CLERK: Z-98-155 - Request for concurrence with the decision of the Planning Commission to approve a petition from the Augusta Commission per Section 35-7 of the Comprehensive Page 22 Zoning Ordinance seeking to revert the current zoning of HI (Heavy Industry) to Zone R-1A (One-family Residence) for property located generally at the intersection of Windsor Spring Road and Spirit Creek Road, and consisting of two tracts located more specifically as follows: a) property located on the east right-of-way of Windsor Spring Road and west of the right-of-way of Spirit Creek Road; and b) property located 1520 feet southwest of the inter- section of the centerline of Windsor Spring Road and Spirit Creek Road. (District 6) Mr. Patty, would you like to speak to this MAYOR YOUNG: first, please? This is one of, I believe, seven areas that MR. PATTY: we looked at for down-zoning. I'm sure you all remember that. This particular area is the old racetrack on Windsor Spring Road. This is Windsor Spring, Tobacco Road would be up here, this is Fairington Subdivision. This particular piece of property was zoned HI for the drag strip back in the '60s, and it's obviously way out of whack with the zoning and land use patterns in the area. The current zoning can only lead to disaster, in my opinion, and I think you should reverse it and go back to R-1B, I believe it is, which is what the surrounding area is zoned. R-1A. MR. WALL: I'm sorry, R-1A. MR. PATTY: Do we have anyone else who would like to MAYOR YOUNG: speak to this? Please identify yourself and tell us where you live. My name is Phil Hibbard. I practice law MR. HIBBARD: at 1557 Gordon Highway, and I'm here representing Mr. Robert Arrington, who is the property owner of the property that's concerned here today. I came before you last month begging for a little bit more time and you were gracious enough to give it to me. And the purpose of that extension was for me to have the opportunity to discuss this zoning matter with the staff and perhaps find some ground between HI and R-1A. Gentlemen, as you're well aware, that is probably the most extreme rezoning that's available under our current code. I have come up with a proposal that I believe the staff would not be in disagreement with. I don't know how you feel about it and I'd like you to consider it. That is to grant an R-1C classification across this property here. You will note that we have R-1A zoning here. We have some R-MH's down below at the lower edge of the map that does not appear on this map, Page 23 but it's located in this approximate area. I feel that R-1C would be a very good buffer zoning for this parcel located here. Keep in mind, gentlemen, this is a very large tract. We're talking about almost 100 acres here being rezoned today. And there is a portion of the property which is currently zoned HI located on Windsor Spring Road. You'll notice that these two properties are separated by another zone that is not marked. This is currently R-1A. Now, in asking for the R-1C for this place, I'd also like you to consider rezoning, although it's not currently on the table, for the existing R-1A so that we have a contiguous buffer zone R-1C throughout this area. The HI that's located on Windsor Spring Road, I feel that B-2 would not be inconsistent with the other uses in this community. There is B-2 located throughout the Windsor Spring Road area in the immediate location, and I would like to ask that you consider that as a B-2 usage. Of course, we did not petition for the rezoning. We'd like to keep it HI, as I can imagine you would well expect. But rather than go to R-1A, we would appreciate your consideration of the R-1C across all this and B-2 here. And I would consider that perhaps the staff is not in opposition to this. Mr. Patty can speak to that. Do we have any other people who would like MAYOR YOUNG: to speak to this issue? Do we have any questions or comments from the Commissioners? I'd like to hear from Mr. Patty on this MR. BRIDGES: proposal. I think under the circumstances that's MR. PATTY: probably a good settlement. Now, if you do want to do that, we would have to readvertise it, and we've already missed-- because the state law requires a certain advertising period, we've already missed the opportunity to do it in February, so it's going to be March before we can do it. But if you're in agreement with it, we can go ahead and do that. What is R-1C, George? What would be MR. BRIDGES: allowed there, as well as B-2? That would be strictly single-family homes, MR. PATTY: single-family detached homes on small lots. Those lots could be as small as 60 by 100 feet. But what this gentleman, Mr. Arrington, MR. BRIDGES: wants to use it for is to continue his mobile home repair business; is that right? Yes, sir. Right now he has no plans to MR. HIBBARD: Page 24 develop it whatsoever. He may never sell it, may never do anything other than what he's doing on it right now. Currently there is really no usage at all over the greater portion of the property. I think a stump grinder was there at one time, and may occasionally operate there now, but there is no development in that area. Now, the area that I would ask for B-2 consideration is involved right now in a mobile home sales and repair business. And, of course, we understand that all uses would be grandfathered in notwithstanding the zoning. Mr. Arrington resides right here with his family in the parcel that's currently zoned R-1A. However, given the marketplace for land in this area, we feel that R-1C would be a nice compromise and would extend his value rather than the R-1A. What is the large tract? Was that the MR. BRIDGES: race track, George? Yes. MR. PATTY: That's our property, isn't it? MR. BRIDGES: The race track is all over here. MR. HIBBARD: Yeah, it was way down in here. This is MR. PATTY: north of your property. This is considerably north of your property. George, is this in conjunction--I heard what MR. BEARD: Commissioner Bridges asked you, but I didn't quite hear your answer. Is this in conjunction with what is being done in that area? Are we deviating from any of the master plans in the area? And, in your opinion, is the new plan something that we should enter into at this point? Well, the B-2 on the frontage does conform MR. PATTY: to the plan. And, in fact, the R-1 is a single-family detached zone. The R-1C on the back, you know, it would. But let me caution you that that allows an extremely small lot size and it's much smaller than the surrounding areas. Fairington, Walton Hills and Walton Acres, all those lots would be in excess of 75 or even 80 feet, and they would be considerably smaller lots. I think if you were going to do this, you would look at it as sort of a settlement given the fact that he's currently got heavy industrial zoning. If someone had come in on this property zoned agricultural for R- 1C, I think he might have had a tough time getting it. MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I would like to make a motion that we refer this back to the Planning Commission. I'll second. MR. J. BRIGHAM: Page 25 I would ask the Attorney, if we went to a MR. SHEPARD: too-restrictive zoning such as R-1A as is proposed, do we risk a constitutional taking whereas this would preclude a challenge on a constitutional basis, Mr. Wall? Excuse me, Mr. Hibbard, I recognize you're a member of the Bar as well, but this is a question of my attorney, not Mr. Arrington's attorney. Well, obviously one of the concerns when we MR. WALL: brought all of these rezonings--or down-zoning reversions back to the Commission was that an argument could be made. And, in fact, one lawsuit has been filed as a result of the reversion that was done the last time around. And, you know, in this case, as Mr. Patty has suggested, this would be the property owner's request, his request to rezone the property as a settlement. And so, you know, you eliminate that potential lawsuit as a result of the property owner coming forward asking for a change from the HI to the R-1C on certain of the property and B on certain of the property, so you eliminate that possibility, yes, sir. But to do that we've got to run this thing MR. SHEPARD: back to the--the case has to go back to the Planning and Zoning Commission for appropriate advertisement? That's correct. It'd be a change in zoning. MR. WALL: I mean, it's a procedural step that we MR. SHEPARD: need to touch base on. That's correct. And I think that you need to MR. WALL: include as a part of the motion, Mr. Kuhlke, if I may recall, that we had an agreement last time insofar as nonconforming use, that there would not be any change in the usage of the property, and I think that stipulation needs to carry forward while we go these procedural steps. And that's acceptable. MR. HIBBARD: Mr. Patty, how does this affect--we went MR. COLCLOUGH: through a mass number of rezoning of properties out in that area to get a handle on land use. We did 75 acres, I guess, on another piece of property in that general area and we didn't compromise in that sense. What's different now with this? Well, I think that's a good question because MR. PATTY: I think, frankly, that some of the other folks would have liked to have compromised. And I think maybe even that was presented to you and that was not done, so I think that's Page 26 definitely something to consider. I think what I'm hearing here, we're MR. COLCLOUGH: doing a compromise with one piece of property and we rezoned or reversionized a whole bunch of property. And these folks-- what would prevent them from coming forward again saying that we were going to do the same thing? Mr. Colclough--if I may, Mayor. This may be MR. WALL: speculation on my part, but I would anticipate that the one who has filed a lawsuit challenging the reversion of zoning as to his property, you know, we may be able to work something out with--as some compromise. I think the thing that--from Mr. Patty's viewpoint and the presentation that was made to the Commission as to the need, you had these time bombs ticking out in the middle of these neighborhoods, and our only recourse was a reversion in the zoning, which was to carry them back to the original zoning. Now, if there is something that will either remove the time bomb or lessen the effect of the time bomb that we can work out through an agreement that's acceptable to the Planning Commission and acceptable to you, then those avenues need to be explored. But really the only avenue that we had initially was to revert the zoning. We have Fairington on one side, Walton MR. COLCLOUGH: Acres and Walton Hills on the other side of this piece of property, which Mr. Patty made known that these are fairly large lots and large homes. If we down-zone this to R-1C with the smaller lots--we just had that same problem up in another subdivision. These folks find out that [inaudible] and we're going to have this place packed. If we want to go back and deal with that at that time, that's fine. But Walton Acres is very organized, Fairington is very organized. If they come in once they find out what's going to happen in the neighborhood, then we've got another situation on our hands. Mr. Colclough, the purpose of my motion was MR. KUHLKE: to carry it back to the Planning Commission. I would suspect that when the advertising is done, if there is an uproar of the communities around there, that there may be a compromise, but this may not be the compromise. But I think it gives them time to look at it, see if there is a way they can work it out, and see what comes out of it. Mr. Mayor, just some comments. I'm like MR. BRIDGES: Mr. Colclough, I think what we're doing here is if we go down to R-1C we're putting in smaller houses right next to larger houses, and once again we've got the same problem that we had when Mr. Jefferson came before us. I'm going to support Mr. Kuhlke's motion to send it back to the Planning Commission. I think that's the proper place for this to come from. But my Page 27 thoughts on it, George, are that the large tract, this HI, probably should be R-1A. Just based on the information you've given me, I don't see any problem with rezoning the area where Mr. Arrington is doing his actual work to B-2. I don't think that would be a problem either with our master plan or just as a practical matter. He's already there, already doing it, and that would, you know, allow him to continue his income. But those are just my comments and thoughts on the motion. If I may, Mr. Mayor. Addressing the MR. HIBBARD: concerns regarding the smaller lot sizes, I'd present this as a buffer zone type development. If you go R-1A on all the property that is currently zoned HI, what you end up with is Fairington R-1A, then the property rezoned is R-1A, and then you have R-1A uses next to B-2 uses, you have them next to R-MH uses. So you have the very big house, expensive, next to R-MH and next to B-2. If we go from R-1A to R-C3 [sic], then to B-2 and R-MH, it's a gradation of zoning that leads you to a transition in the neighborhood. It's a little smoother. You don't have the highest value home next to the commercial use, for instance. You have, you know, a segway throughout the community that seems to give it a little bit of harmony. That sounds like some good arguments, but MR. BRIDGES: present it to the Planning Commission and we'll see. All right, we have a motion on the floor. MAYOR YOUNG: All in favor, please vote aye. MOTION CARRIES 8-0. CLERK:Item 39: Enter into land lease with Val-U- Boards for one (1) Junior Billboard at each location of 1710 Highland Avenue and Wrightsboro Road at Daniel Field Airport. Lease terms to be reviewed and approved by the Administrator and the Attorney. No recommendation from the Engineering Services Committee. MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I'd like to move that we enter into a land lease with Val-U-Boards. Second. MR. H. BRIGHAM: Is there anybody here to speak on this? MAYOR YOUNG: Any questions or discussion from the Commissioners? We have a motion. All in favor, vote aye. MOTION CARRIES 8-0. CLERK:Item 41: Consider appointment of Ms. Deanna R. Williams to fill the unexpired term of Ms. Dorothy Bohler to Page 28 the Community Health Service Board as recommended by the Richmond County Board of Health. MR. KUHLKE:So move. Second. MR. SHEPARD: All in favor, vote aye. MAYOR YOUNG: MOTION CARRIES 8-0. CLERK:Item 42: The Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem offer the following ex-officio members be appointed: Augusta-Richmond County Planning Commission, Commissioner Richard Colclough; Augusta Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, Commissioner William H. Mays; Richmond County Hospital Authority, Mayor Pro Tem Lee Beard to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner J.B. Powell. Mr. Mayor, I would so move. MR. BEARD: Second. MR. BRIDGES: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to put in nomination MR. KUHLKE: for the Richmond County Planning Commission Mr. Freddie Handy. Mr. Mayor, I want to submit the name of MR. J. BRIGHAM: Henry Brigham to the Convention and Visitors Bureau. I appreciate that, but since the MR. H. BRIGHAM: Commissioner who is way out in Minnesota in the hospital can't quite defend himself, I would like to withdraw from that. Mr. Mayor, my concern is that the MR. J. BRIGHAM: plannings have not been very efficient within the Convention and Visitors Bureau [inaudible]. Mr. Mayor, I believe I need to explain to MR. BEARD: the Commissioners why we came up with this. And Commissioner Brigham may be right in what he's saying to a certain extent, but I want them to know that before making these appointments we talked to the people--the chairmen of these authorities, and they were in concurrence with these people, making the changes, simply because of what Commissioner Brigham just said, that their people have not been attending the meetings. The ex-officio members have not been attending the meetings, and these people on these authorities have asked to be placed--other people be placed. I talked with Commissioner Mays prior to him going to Minnesota and he assured me that he would be attending the meetings, I talked to Commissioner Handy about the change and he had no objection to that at the Page 29 time of our talking with him about that, and this is why we went on with the nominations. Mr. Mayor, a point of clarification. MR. SHEPARD: There has been some talk about the attendance of--or non- attendance of members. I thought we had on the books an ordinance about attendance. Does that apply to ex-officio members as well, Mr. Wall? I mean, for example, I'm in conflict right now this afternoon with a meeting of the Library Board, and I think since I'm a voting member here practicality dictates that I attend this meeting. But, at the same time, later this afternoon the Library Board is going to meet where I serve as ex-officio. What, if any, attendance requirements do we have there? Well, the ordinance was drafted to--not to MR. WALL: cover you Commissioners insofar as mandating your attendance where you serve as an ex-officio member. It was for the appointed members. The voting members. MR. SHEPARD: The voting members, that's correct. MR. WALL: Mr. Mayor, I would like to defend myself on MR. HANDY: attending meetings. As Mr. Beard stated, I cannot attend Planning and Zoning meetings when he assigned me to Engineering Services and they meet at the same time. And I've tried to do that. When something was important, I ran over here to Planning and Zoning, then went back to Engineering Services. But I cannot be two places at one time. And then I feel also that a person that we appoint to a board, and then that chairman should not dictate who should be on a board and who should not be on a board. We appoint them, and then they're turning around telling us who we should put on the board. If I may, it wasn't suggesting--like the MR. BEARD: others who have come to us--and this has been going on ever since I've been a member of the Commission, that the people on the board have made suggestions. We have the opportunity to either accept their suggestion or even deny those suggestions. But they have made this in the past and it's been things that we have talked about in the past, so it's nothing new. MAYOR YOUNG:Well, since we have two people nominated for the Planning Commission, why don't we take a substitute motion then to approve the appointments to the CVB and the Hospital Authority and then deal with the Planning Commission. MR. KUHLKE:So move. Page 30 Second. MR. SHEPARD: All in favor, vote aye. MAYOR YOUNG: MOTION CARRIES 8-0. Now we'll go back and revisit the Planning MAYOR YOUNG: Commission. Mr. Colclough was nominated first, and that's the order in which we'll take these. So all in favor of Mr. Colclough, please vote aye. MR. J. BRIGHAM, MR. HANDY & MR. KUHLKE VOTE NO. MR. COLCLOUGH & MR. SHEPARD ABSTAIN. MOTION FAILS 3-3-2. Now we'll vote on Mr. Handy for the MAYOR YOUNG: Planning Commission. MR. BEARD & MR. H. BRIGHAM VOTE NO. MR. BRIDGES & MR. COLCLOUGH ABSTAIN. MOTION FAILS 4-2-2. Well, neither candidate got six votes, so MAYOR YOUNG: do we presume that the current holder of that seat continues to serve unless there is a change, Mr. Wall? Until there's a change. MR. WALL: Okay. Next item, Madame Clerk. MAYOR YOUNG: CLERK:Item 43: Motion to approve an Ordinance amending Augusta-Richmond County Code so as to increase certain fees required in connection with the issuance of building permits and waive second reading. So move. MR. SHEPARD: Second. MR. BRIDGES: MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a substitute motion that we approve this particular ordinance, but we keep this as the first reading. And the purpose of my substitute motion is that I have had some conversation with some board members. They have no problem with the fee structure that's being presented, but they think that there may be a technical problem, and they would like to have at least a couple of weeks to be able to talk with our County Attorney and make sure that we're okay in this regard. Second. MR. HANDY: Page 31 Mr. Mayor, I'll withdraw the main motion MR. SHEPARD: in lieu of the substitute motion. I'll withdraw the second. MR. BRIDGES: Okay. Let's move on to discussion. This MAYOR YOUNG: item is a follow-up to the approval of the budget, and the revenue for this is in the budget; is that not correct, Mr. Oliver? That's right. The budget is predicated on MR. OLIVER: this revenue, and obviously if this revenue doesn't occur other budgetary changes are going to be necessary. All right. Do we have anyone here to MAYOR YOUNG: speak to this issue? Mr. Brush, would you come up and identify yourself and give us your address, please. I'm Ben Brush, Sr., I live in Appling. I'm MR. BRUSH: here today as Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee of the Builders Association of Metropolitan Augusta. BAMA is opposed to this raising of revenue by building permits for general purpose revenue. I'd like to read a couple of sentences from the Georgia code: No local government is authorized to use regulatory fees as a means of raising revenue for general purposes provided that the amount of the regulatory fee shall approximate the reasonable cost of the actual regulatory activity performed by a local government. The first example on here of people to be regulated is building and construction contractors, subcontractors, and workers. This has been interpreted in the past to mean that the revenue generated by building permits is to stay in the department and used to run the department and not moved to other departments or used for raising revenue. We contend that the state code does not allow you to raise revenue that is for other causes, even though they are worthy causes, and we think this is surely a worthy cause that you're talking about here. We would ask that you would hold off. We think it's not legal and we need to get a ruling on it from the Attorney General's Office. It's been contested once in Savannah, and we think it's not legal and we think our case is very similar to theirs. We're concerned that the government will continue to add--especially a 50 percent increase on fees is pretty tough to start with, and we're concerned that the government will continue to add for other causes and could destroy our industry. So we would like to especially do away with the waiving of the second reading and give us that length of time to get with the Attorney General's Office and other cases and have a presentation for you at that time. Page 32 I spoke with Mr. Kuhlke earlier and was aware MR. WALL: of the fact that he was going to make a substitute motion so as to delay, but let me respond insofar as the legality. And I am not familiar with the Savannah situation and obviously would be interested in that. I am aware of challenges that have been made elsewhere. In those counties the building permit and the inspection fee were a single fee. We do not have that in Richmond County. We have an inspection fee, which is a regulatory fee, and I fully agree with him that a regulatory fee has to approximate the cost of the service that is rendered. The building permit fee is not a regulatory fee, and I think that's the distinction, but I'll be glad to take a look at whatever additional information they may have. But I do think that that is the distinction. Again, I'm not familiar with the Savannah situation. But we were aware of this prior to the budget being adopted, aware of the concerns of the home builders association, and so we have looked at it, but we'll be glad to continue to look at any new information. Any further discussion on this? All in MAYOR YOUNG: favor, vote aye. MOTION CARRIES 8-0. Mr. Mayor, if we could, could we announce that CLERK: our next regular meeting will be February the 1st, Monday, beginning at 12:00 noon? You have just done so. MAYOR YOUNG: Mr. Mayor, I would request to go into MR. WALL: executive session--that there be a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing several items that--in addition to the litigation, a real estate matter as well as a personnel matter. Mr. Mayor, I move we go into legal MR. SHEPARD: session. Second. MR. H. BRIGHAM: A point of order for information. Did we MR. BRIDGES: do Number 2 under the additions to the agenda? It was added to the consent agenda. MAYOR YOUNG: Okay. MR. BRIDGES: We have a motion and a second on the MAYOR YOUNG: floor. All in favor, vote aye. Page 33 MOTION CARRIES 8-0. [LEGAL MEETING] MR. KUHLKE:Mr. Mayor, I'd like to move that beginning effective now we raise the base retainer fee or fee for our Attorney, Mr. Jim Wall, to $100 an hour, and his other partners in the firm, and that his associate fee goes to $85 an hour. Second. MR. SHEPARD: Any discussion? All in favor, please vote MAYOR YOUNG: aye. MOTION CARRIES 8-0. Is there any other business to come before MAYOR YOUNG: the Commission? That's it, sir. CLERK: We're adjourned. MAYOR YOUNG: [MEETING ADJOURNED] Lena J. Bonner Clerk of Commission CERTIFICATION: I, Lena J. Bonner, Clerk of Commission, hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Regular Meeting of Augusta Richmond County Commission held on January 19, 1999. Clerk of Commission