Official Minutes of Council Meeting April 16, 2009
approved by City Council 5-7-09
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Tipton with Councilman Ray leading in prayer. The Mayor presented the draft copy of the April 2, 2009 meeting for council’s consideration. Councilwoman Winn made a motion to approve the minutes with no changes, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes. Mayor Tipton presented the agenda for the April 16, 2009 meeting and Councilman Ray made a motion to approve the agenda. Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Councilwoman Winn reported that she had obtained one price on the veteran’s memorial and was soliciting others, but council needed to approve the proposed design. Councilman Ray reported he, Public Works Supervisor Ernest Grizzard and City Clerk Sandra Jones had met with Courtney Reich with Ecological Planning Group to review the City’s Water Conservation & Efficiency Plan document. Councilman Myrick commented that the park at Moore & Poplar Streets was nearing completion. Mayor Tipton reported that Fire Chief Tyler had just provided him with a copy of a memorandum of understanding regarding the dispatching and record keeping of emergency and non-emergency fire dispatching with Memorial Health providing the service to the fire departments of the West Chatham cities and the Isle of Hope and Thunderbolt Fire Departments. The Mayor stated that copies of the proposed agreement would be distributed to Attorney Dickey and council for their review.
OLD BUSINESS:
The Mayor reported that as scheduled at the April 2, 2009 meeting, a public hearing would be held on April 23, 2009 at 7:00pm for discussion of proposed changes to the Fire Protection User Fees Ordinance that included rate changes from a flat fee to a non-regressive fee based on structure/property values.
NEW BUSINESS:
Mayor Tipton presented a recommendation from Tim Baumgartner from EMC Engineering for payment of Pay Request #4 for $68,398.65 to OCS, Inc. for work at the Bloomingdale Park. Councilman Myrick made a motion to approve payment, Councilwoman Winn seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Council was advised that Thomas & Hutton Engineering had submitted Change Order #4 in the amount of $27,444.50 for the installation of guardrails and earthwork for the drainage improvement project. Councilman Strozier made a motion to approve the change order, Councilman Ray seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
The Mayor reported that the Planning Commission was recommending approval of a request for the rezoning of the Ortega property consisting of 4.11 acres located on Pine Barren Road from RA-1 to PUD. It was noted that the petitioner desires that the Bloomingdale and Pooler parcels be consistent with one another with respect to design criteria and density and was requesting that the PUD be considered an extension of the Morgan Tract PUD with an amendment in the density requirements from 14 units per acre to 18 units per acre. Mayor Tipton recognized Harold Yellin with HunterMaclean and Michael Altman with Cortland Partners, who provided information to council on the development. Mr. Yellin stated that the developer had met with the City of Pooler and obtain approval for the delivery of water and sewer services from Pooler to the project and the petitioner would install a water metering station to service the Ortega site. Attorney Dickey questioned them about the details of their agreements on water and sewer, but copies were not available at the meeting for his review. Several councilmembers expressed their desire to maintain the 14 unit per acre density. Mr. Yellin stated that due to the challenges related to financing, it would be very difficult to obtain funds for the project without the additional units and noted that the only change in the footprint of the development would be two rather than three story buildings if the density was not increased. Mayor Tipton asked Denise Grabowski to provide council with information on her review of the project. Ms. Grabowski pointed out that the portion of the project currently in Pooler was originally in Bloomingdale, but had been annexed into Pooler during the transfer of property related to the AMB project. She stated that the overall project would be consistent with the Morgan Tract PUD except for the requested change from 14 to 18 units per acre. Ms. Grabowski advised council that she felt this was a unique situation with the project crossing city limits and pointed out that the increase in the units per acre for this project would not require council to change the design standards for other PUD’s. Council was also advised that the project would be LEED-certified as environmentally sustainable and the site plan had been engineered to maximize green space, preserve trees wherever possible and minimize impact to the protected wetlands to the north and west of the site. Attorney Dickey pointed out that if council decided to approve the rezoning, there would need to be stipulations to its approval regarding the water and sewer agreements and the submission of a document providing PUD development guidelines specific to the Ortega site. Attorney Dickey also noted that there needed to be a separate meter for irrigation and Mr. Altman agreed to the request for the separate water meter. After additional discussion, Councilwoman Winn made a motion to approve the rezoning of the Ortega property consisting of 4.11 acres located on Pine Barren Road from RA-1 to PUD to include three-story buildings and 18 units per developable acre with stipulations. The stipulations were as follows: 1) Submission of development guidelines for the P.U.D. specific to the Ortega Tract for inclusion in the rezoning documentation; 2) Execution of a water agreement between the City of Pooler and the City of Bloomingdale for the Ortega Tract to include a metering station to be paid for by the developer; and 3) Execution of a water/sewer agreement between the City of Bloomingdale and the developer whereby the developer agrees to payment of all required fees, including, but not limited to impact fees, building permits, capital recovery costs, etc., and compliance with the City’s purple pipe ordinance. Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Council reviewed a request from Kevin & Kay Heritage to renew the “medical hardship” permit for the secondary mobile home located on their property at #1230 Bloomingdale Road. According to Dr. Troy Murphy, the medical condition of Kay’s mother, Ho Shim Shaw, still exists and she requires daily assistance from her daughter. Councilman Ray made a motion to extend the mobile home permit for six months. Councilwoman Winn seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Mayor Tipton reported that this concluded the items presented for consideration for inclusion on the council agenda prior to the deadline of Monday, April 13, 2009.
Mayor Tipton presented the accounts payable for council’s consideration. Councilman Ray made a motion to pay the bills, Councilman Myrick seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Being no further business, Councilman Waller made a motion to adjourn at 8:15pm. Councilman Strozier seconded the motion and it passed with six affirmative votes.
Mayor Tipton and all councilmembers were present.
Note: Section § 50-14-1 of the Official Code of the State of Georgia Annotated requires that the minutes shall, as a minimum, include a description of each motion or other proposal made, and a record of all votes. These minutes meet the minimum requirements. However, in an attempt to provide as much information as possible to the citizens, the recording clerk has included additional background data and discussion on the subjects presented to council. The statements of individuals are not verbatim and may be summary in nature.