Friends, we have arrived at Tuesday, November 4th, 2025.

And we're glad to have everybody here in City Hall.

We'll go ahead and begin by having the clerk call roll for us.

Here.

Taylor.

Here.

Right.

Present.

Fisher.

Here.

Johnson.

Call pepper.

Here.

Myers.

Here.

Thornton.

O beat is here.

Handy.

Here.

We have a quorum.

All right.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

All right.

We'll begin with a civility pledge that was provided to us by the Georgia Municipal Association and dozens of cities across the state have adopted.

And that indicates that the way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take, that our collective decisions will be better when differing views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered.

First formal order business tonight is approval of the minutes of meetings of Tuesday, October 7th, Tuesday, October 21st, and non-voting meetings of Tuesday, October 14th and Tuesday, October 21st.

Do I hear a motion for approval of those?

So I've got a motion from Commissioner Thornton.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second from Commissioner Fisher.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

Yes, sir, Mr.

Mayor.

On behalf of the Transportation and Public Works Department, we'd like to enter into the record notice of acceptance of Brittany Way, which includes the right-of-way deed, right of way plat, attorney's title opinion, lender's release, and owner's affidavit.

We also have for the Athens Housing Authority, North Downtown Athens Development, the Minor Subdivision Plat for the Athens Housing Authority.

All required improvements and appurtenances have been deemed acceptable by Athens Clark County Transportation and Public Works Department.

All right, thank you, Madam Clerk.

I appreciate that.

Alright, friends, there are going to be several opportunities for public input tonight.

Then there will be an opportunity for public input on old and new business.

There will be separate opportunities for public input on each of the planning and zoning items tonight.

And at the conclusion of our meeting, since we're at the first Tuesday of the month in our voting meeting, we'll have an opportunity for general public input on any item that was not on tonight's agenda.

The format for public input will be the same for all of these opportunities.

Every individual will get to speak for three minutes.

No.

Motion to approve.

Agenda item one, an ordinance to amend the FY 2026 operating capital budget, Brathans Clark County, Georgia.

So it's provided grant funding if awarded from the Georgia Department of Transportation Local Maintenance Improvement Grant.

And for other purposes.

An ordinance to amend the FY 2026 operating capital budget for Athens Clark County, Georgia.

So as to provide funding for solid waste charm processing and for other purposes.

All right.

I appreciate that.

All right.

Uh with the uh motion from Commissioner Wright, second from Commissioner Thornton.

And the reading of those ordinances by Attorney Drake.

All right.

All in favor of the consent agenda approval, please say aye.

Aye.

Are there any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

We're gonna move forward to our three planning and zoning items.

Uh first one of those is item 13 regarding 480 South Millage Avenue.

Is there anybody here tonight who would like to speak to 480 South Millage Avenue?

Good evening, sir.

I'm Brett Thurman, uh, engineer at Armitrump Matheny Thurman.

Um 330 Research Drive Athens.

I represent Alpha Z Delta along with Dave Matheny, who's here in the audience.

I appreciate all the input from staff during this process as well as well as the unanimous support unanimous support from the planning commission.

After tabling the project for a month at the planning commission, we resubmitted a much improved plan for the site.

The fire marshal was very pleased with the increased width of the existing drive aisles to 12 feet, the increased space on the parking lot side so that their ladder truck could put down stabilizers without having to move cars, and the three fire department connections we proposed at the front so that the pumper truck does not have to go on the property to fight a fire.

We designed a stormwater solution under the parking lot to detain the rainfall recharge amount.

All larger storms are also contained in the gravel bed, so there's no increase in stormwater from the site.

In fact, we will now be directing that water to the private alley, thereby reducing stormwater flow into Millage Avenue.

There is sufficient parking on site for the number of members living on site plus the house mother.

Our parking falls within the range of on-site parking for other fraternities and sororities.

For additional parking, Clark Central High School will be approached for an additional 45 spaces for use during chapter meetings and special events.

We believe this is sufficient parking for the sororities needs as they have a transportation policy limiting automobile access to the site.

Mainly are a lot of them are related to the site size and the existing conditions.

The site, of course, was already non-conforming, and the planning commissioners agreed that all the variances were acceptable.

The front apartment building would be demolished for a larger chapter house.

The apartment building just cannot be renovated to provide the space required.

The new chapter house design has been before the historic preservation committee, and we will receive the certificate of appropriateness.

Street trees are provided in front of the new chapter house.

They're placed a little further back than normal because we have to be 30 feet behind the power lines.

Also, finally, my client agrees with the two conditions in the staff report.

We will provide the sidewalk access to the Millage Avenue sidewalk, and we will obtain a parking agreement with Clark Central and have it recorded before the project can receive a certificate of occupancy.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Thurman.

Is there anyone else here to speak to 480 South Millage Avenue tonight?

Good evening.

I'm David Matheny.

Also with Armand Track Matheny Thurman at 330 Research Drive.

Basically, what I wanted to say, and Brett has already reiterated it said that uh the well, I just lost my words, but um that's a I've never had a loss for words.

We'll say that.

But the actually the historic preservation commission uh did approve our plan with some minor conditions, and so just wanted to bring that up again.

Also, I wanted to say that because of the site changes, there's not going to be any new impact on either side of this new uh house, um, either right or left.

So I think that's a good thing, and I'm very happy that we are at this point and can introduce a new facility for the Alpha Z Delta Sorority, who has been looking for a presence on in Athens.

Currently, they are just part of the panelic uh building.

And um, so they're anxious to have their visible presence on Millage Avenue.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Matheene.

Is there anyone else here to speak to us?

480 South Millage tonight.

All right, seeing none, I'll go ahead and turn to Commissioner Wright for a motion.

Motion to approve.

I'll second.

All right, I've got a motion with conditions.

Commissioner Wright for approval with conditions.

Second from Commissioner Link.

Uh Commissioner Wright, any remarks?

Um, just happy to have them have their presence and out of the tape center for the meetings.

I'm ready to vote.

All right.

Any others from the body?

All right.

Have uh attorney Drake read the ordinance.

Ordinance to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia with respect to special use approval in the COM commercial option avenue quarter special district overlay for one parcel of land located at 480 South Millage Avenue and for other purposes.

All right.

Uh the motion and a second are on the floor.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Are there any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

Uh item 14 uh is a request uh to amend section 9-15-16 of the code require regarding home occupations and accessory structures and cottage food industry allowances effectively to come into concert with state code.

Uh is there any member of the public who would like to speak to item 14 all right?

Seeing none, would a commissioner like to place a motion on the floor?

I'll move to approve.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right.

Got a motion from Commissioner Link, second from Commissioner Myers.

Commissioner Link, any remarks?

No.

Commissioner Myers.

No.

All right.

Attorney Drake, I'll have you read this ordinance.

Ordinance to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia, with respect to home occupations and for other purposes.

All right.

There's a motion of a second on the floor.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Are there any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

Uh item 15 regards an amendment to chapter 9 of the code of ordinances regarding the definition and permitted locations of veterinary clinics and kennels.

Is there any member of the public who would like to speak to item number 15 tonight?

Usually the animals draw a crowd, but not tonight.

All right.

Would a commissioner like to place a motion on the floor?

Commissioner Davenport, I know you have a commission to find option.

Yeah, CDO.

Um approved out of the port CDO.

All right, I've got a motion from Commissioner Davenport for the commission defined option is your second.

I'll second because I have a question.

All right, second from Commissioner Wright.

Uh Commissioner Davenport remarks, you may want to just outline the modifications.

Just slight modification and that keeping a status quo where if you want um uh a vet clear they are not allowed in AR residential neighborhood zones.

And that if uh in AR zones to get a permit for a kennel, you have to keep it um you have to go through special use.

So that's it.

The rest stays the same.

All right.

Uh Commissioner Wright, any follow-up?

I had a question.

It didn't it wasn't clear to me that this went through the planning commission.

It didn't have the pink sheet that the one before ahead of it did.

And I I was curious if this sort of modification might need to loop back through.

Uh I I'm seeing from uh planning director Bruce Lonnie that that this is sufficient to go through.

Okay.

All right.

Any other remarks from the body?

Commissioner Myers.

It was he's in it.

I'm just I know I saw the CDO in our email.

But I'm looking at the publicly available amendment.

He said it last week.

No, I know I saw I saw it there.

I'm just saying it's not is it is it on the public one as well?

It's on the agenda page.

It's also a model.

It's page 212 starts.

Yeah, I'm I'm just talking about the one that's publicly with I just clicked on it.

I just want to make sure that it's public.

That it's publicly available.

Yeah, that's all I just want to make sure that it's there.

All right, and our understanding is that that's publicly available on the web portal version, but which frankly I've not looked at.

I just downloaded the version from our internal court.

No, I'm looking at the web for so it's the first page of the web portal version.

Okay, just make it.

Is that right?

Okay, it's perfect.

All right, any other questions?

All right.

Uh I'll have uh attorney Drake read the ordinance for us.

Ordinance to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia in respect to veterinary clinics uses in the zoning ordinance of Athens, Clark County, Georgia, and for other purposes.

All right, we've got uh motion of second on the floor for the commission to find option.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Are there any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right, we're gonna move on to old and new business.

And tonight that is numbers 16 through 20.

And so if any member of the public would like to speak to any item of older new business, you can go ahead and line up the podium.

And uh rules of input are as as described earlier.

It's a generous community.

Everybody wants to let everybody else go.

Very polite.

Chris Ward, I'm a uh 140 Beverly Drive.

I also picked a terrible day to get my eyes dilated.

So I apologize.

I did extra large fonts so I could try to get through this.

Uh good evening, Mayor, Commissioners.

So when I first looked at the proposal on 295 East Doherty Street, I honestly thought I had opened the wrong file because it looked like it belonged in Chicago, not in Athens.

It's big, it's cold, it's boxy, it looks like it's ready for a Starbucks logo and a Tesla store to move in the bottom of it.

But Athens is not Chicago.

We build community and we don't specialize in concrete.

Anytime we are asked to approve a project like this, we should address three simple questions.

First, does this bring well-paying jobs for Athenians to have a future right here at home?

Second, does this move the needle to create accessible and affordable housing for working people and professionals who already live here?

And third, does this expand the delivery of the exceptional public service that Athens prides itself on and make it to avail available to more citizens?

Unfortunately, this project does not hit any of those marks.

What this project really builds is a wall, a literal wall between Lay Park and some of the most vulnerable communities in Athens.

It cuts off access for families and kids who rely on that park every day during the summer.

It replaces a public space with private parking and asks tax tape taxpayers to backstop a project that serves almost no one outside of the tenant list.

We are being asked to pay interest over 5% for 15 years to finance a parking deck that I cannot see improving mobility.

It doesn't expand services, it doesn't create opportunity, and it actually opens new issues that we have done little to make sure our citizens feel welcome using new facilities that this plan purports to address.

Even the project itself acknowledges how tone-deaf it is to build something like this when shutting out local Athenians.

And this is a wall that we're building and we are paying for.

She worked with Commissioner Thornton back in her days at Head Start.

She said, if we're gonna build something here, build something that helps the kids.

And she's right.

If public money is on the table, let's make sure that this project addresses the needs of the community.

Let's make sure that this project builds something like a tech center, a community tech and learning center, partner with Athens Tech, partner with the University of Georgia, put something in the bottom of this building that's actually going to help the people that need it the most in this community.

I'm gonna say something a little less serious, but it's still true.

The building doesn't look like Athens.

The facade is completely wrong.

Mr.

Ward, appreciate it tonight.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor.

Good evening, Commissioners.

I'm Reverend Dr.

Pippen Whitaker.

I am the Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens.

And I live in Commissioner Culpepper's district, not far from the congregation off Timothy Road.

I am here to speak on item 20.

And I want to thank you all for including this on the agenda.

The payment or the dispersal of funds to the food bank in the amount of 150,000.

As you know, there's a lot of people that are food insecure right now, people that are hungry.

There was a recent bill at the national level that could be it's estimated that about three million people across the country are gonna go without their food stamp benefits.

Food stamps save lives.

They are needed.

You all know people gotta eat.

So I I appreciate that with very little time that you got this on the agenda.

So that you could discuss this really important issue.

I know you're all doing other things to address food insecurity and to address hunger and the spectre of rising hunker, and I want to thank each of you for doing this.

Thank you for taking care of our community.

I don't even know what all of you all are doing.

But I want to thank you for what you are doing, and I want to thank everybody in this room.

I hope that you are all doing a little more than you have done.

Because we're gonna need all of us in this.

We're gonna need working across our differences because we have these and other needs that are rising before us.

So thank you for considering this donation to the food bank.

I personally am making my own dramatically increased contributions.

I hope everybody else can look into that.

We can call our elected officials.

I know y'all are elected officials, but you can call your elected officials at the state level too.

And ask for them to do more.

Because what we're doing here, what you're looking at is needed.

It's impactful and it's not enough.

But keep doing what you can do.

I know that's not super inspiring to say what you're doing may not be enough, but the fact is that just because what you can do isn't enough doesn't mean you can't do it.

It doesn't mean it isn't needed.

And it doesn't mean it's not seen and appreciated.

So I see you and I appreciate each one of you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Whittaker.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and Commission.

I am Oka Jasmine Johnson, POBOX 67 13, Athens, Georgia.

We're here tonight in support of funding the food bank.

Thank you guys for bringing this to the table and for taking action in such a short period of time, but we're also here to ask you to do more.

We're calling on our local and state leaders to explore every possible solution to protect Athens families impacted by the SNAP freeze and the ongoing government shutdown.

As of November 2025, more than 9100 households in Athens Clark County rely on SNAP benefits.

That's over 18,000 people, including children, seniors, and working families who depend on this assistance just to eat.

Yet Governor Kemp administration has stated that it will not release emergency funds to support food access during this crisis, claiming that the responsibility falls solely on federal relief and private charities.

So what do we do?

What do we do after the 150,000 in local aid is spent?

What do we do when thousands of Athens restaurant residents still still is left wondering where their next meal will come from?

Hunger doesn't wait for political decisions.

When families go hungry, it leads to illness, higher stress, poor school performance, and even increased crime and instability.

Food insecurity is not just a moral issue, it is a public health and is a public health and public safety issue.

We're urging Athens Clark County to just do more.

We appreciate what you have done, but we're asking you to not just stop here because this is an issue that is going to go on beyond this next 30 days.

We're asking you to reach out to Governor Kemp and ask him to release those urgent emergency funds.

We're also asking you to put a plan of action in place and be prepared to help people that need to file appeals because there's two things that's going on.

One is that the freeze has happened on November 1st, but there's also changes in work requirements and eligibility.

So even when the freeze free has, even when the freeze has been released, there's still going to be people that is hungry and is going without food.

So we have to prepare for this beyond 30 days.

So again, we support the food bank.

I encourage people to donate volunteer and do what they can.

This is going to be a problem for the community, so the community has to rise up, and we're asking our local government to do more, to do everything you can to get more money to feed families and to support this community.

Thank you, Mocha.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Jemia Wideman here with the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement, which is located on 3700 Atlanta Highway, Suite 67.

Also here to talk about the um ending of SNAP benefits.

So the end of SNAP benefits just before the holiday season is strained on millions of families.

In 2022, in Clark County alone, there were 15,853 SNAP recipients.

And while we're appreciative of the 150,000 being allocated to food banks, the food bank of Northeast Georgia feeds about 91,600 individuals, which means less than $2 a person.

$2 is a is two cans of evaporated milk at Walmart or one rusted potato at Dollar General.

One jar of peanut butter at Dollar Tree or a pack of tortilla shells at Family Dollar.

Two dollars is not a case of baby formula.

Two dollars is not a pound of veggies or a pound of meat.

Two dollars is not healthy meal.

Today I ask the local government to take immediate and compassionate action by increasing support for the food bank of Northeast Georgia and local food providers to keep shells stocked and food available for families in need.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jemia.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Barbara Dane.

I'm coming to ask y'all to not approve number 16.

I'm asking because I know it seems like a lot of money and everything, and a lot of stuff gonna get done.

But I can remember back in 2020, a lot of money got put out then, and nothing hadn't gotten done.

Affordable homes, we still don't have them.

Student homes, y'all still building them.

Kids, it's been pushed away, not only elder people, middle-aged people, kids.

They can't come outside to play because don't have any yard.

They play in.

So I'm asking y'all to let Lay Park stay, lay park, so the kid can have somewhere to go.

I'm looking at toward East Athens.

We have a problem there.

Kids can't go there.

This I say it over and over again, but I just don't understand why it takes so long for you all to buy to build affordable homes for people, low-income people.

But yet you can come out here and build student housing.

And every time I come here, that's all I hear is about student housing.

My heart is full.

And it's making me very angry, but I trust and believe in God.

And he said, stand still and I'll fight your battle.

And I believe he will.

But it becomes a politic thing.

I hear people talk about Democrat and I hear people talk about Republican.

But neither one of y'all know better than the other one.

So I can't understand.

Why can't you help people that need help?

It's not asking for too much.

It's taking four and five years to build apartments.

People are tired of apartment.

Kids need to be in a place that they can run around, have fun, have their own yard.

People get tired of being stacked on top of one another.

People want to be able to move around.

But you're pushing all the people that were here away out of town, and you bring the people from out of town here.

When is this gonna stop?

I don't understand why it's so hard to y'all see this.

But you keep talking about student homes.

I don't get it.

But I know it's gonna be it gonna come pretty soon.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening, Dr.

Tawana Smith Matters.

Um, born and raised on Pittle Road.

I represent all of Athens.

And my heart is heavy.

Um, it's just a burden for me when I think about how I'm watching people having to move out of Athens, being displaced, and we are saying watching you all mayor and commission, you know, going into the business of student housing.

That's how I see it.

You shouldn't be in the business student housing, you should be in the business of making sure that the people who are living here who are born and raised here, people who've been here for a long time are able to afford housing and they are able to stay here because my main concern is the next generation.

And the way that things are going, I don't know where my baby with these babies are gonna be able to stay or if they're gonna even be able to live here.

And the decisions that you all are making, I just do not agree with that.

And I understand, you know, it's a beautiful plan.

I understand, you know, about the you know the $7.8 million, but to me, that's a slap in the face when you say, you know what, I'd rather give you $7.8 million than your black and poor ass to stay in my establishment.

That's how I see it.

So just to have seven, you know, to give you know all of this money, and we don't even have a plan.

Like, okay, we got seven, we get the $7.8 million.

I think we already have $5 million.

I would have led with what is the plan.

When are we going to start seeing some building, some partnerships with you know, partners who are building affordable homes?

I would have started with that.

But there's no trust because we don't see any concrete plans for how we're going to keep people and allow people to be able to, especially hardworking people to stay in Athens, and it's not right.

And it's not right.

The next point, the next item, the TSPLAS project 2023.

I want to say thank you to Commissioner Link and Ms.

Diane Jackson and others who had that meeting.

You know, it was after the fact, but we have to do better with that.

You know, we are too reactive.

You know, we have to beg and plead for community meetings, and I'm tired of these charreds.

We need to have actual meetings where people can be educated and we can ask questions.

And that was that kind of meeting when it came to the prioritization of these projects.

And people from the community were able to ask questions and give their lived experiences.

Because I don't know.

I I trust the staff, but at the same time, we have lived experiences.

I don't know if if in I don't know how many of the staff even live in Athens.

So you're making decisions that impact us and our lived experiences, and I want us to have better communication going forward.

But I want to say thank you for for that and for item number 17.

Thank you, Dr.

Maddox.

Good evening.

Hello, my name is Shelley Branch.

I live at 287 Morning Drive.

And I represent the Athens Clark County Democratic Committee.

And we echo the similar uh the remarks made earlier about food insecurity in Athens and giving funds to the food bank and for the local government to do as much as possible to fill in the gap.

Has the state and federal government fail us.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Branch.

Is there anyone else here to speak any item of older new business tonight?

Yes, uh, my name is Eric Gisler.

Um I'm actually not a Clark County citizen.

Um, but I am running to represent Clark County citizens in the upcoming election in the State House.

Uh I just wanted to come and make a statement and express my gratitude for the mayor and commission uh for item number 20, uh the the money for the food bank.

Um the truth is that this really shouldn't be on your agenda.

This is on your agenda because of a failure of government at the federal and state level.

It's not really up to you guys to have to bail out the food bank in a time like this.

Um so I just want to express my gratitude that you did rush to get it on the agenda and you are considering it.

I hope that you you do pass it.

Um the truth is people have to eat, we all gotta eat.

Um and it really is due to uh dysfunction at the higher levels of government.

Um the only other thing that I'd like to say is uh whether or not I'm in the state house next year.

I really hope that the state government will reimburse you and other uh communities around the state for having to do this.

Um so thank you again, and uh that's everything.

Thank you, Mr.

Yes Lincoln.

Anyone else here to speak to older new business tonight?

Good evening.

Good evening, Aaron Barger.

I live here in Athens on Inverness Road.

It's an honor to spend just a few minutes with you this evening.

Um, just would ask everyone in this room to take a deep breath and think about what um hundreds of people are doing right now, which is hopefully sitting around a family table and enjoying meal, talking about their day, thinking about the future, maybe talking about the upcoming holidays.

Um, as the president and CEO of the food bank.

I can testify not only from the data, but when I look in the eyes of our neighbors who have moved from food insecurity to food emergency, that we are in a dire state.

This mayor and commission has been so generous with us earlier this year.

You supported the food bank of Northeast Georgia.

I can definitely testify to you that that has made a critical difference in Athens Clark County.

So you have moved our neighbors in this area to greater food security, and then snap cuts entered the picture.

Um so to put this in perspective.

Um if you compare year to date what the food bank has mobilized this period in 2025, compared to the same period of time in 2023, we have mobilized 45% more food.

That was before SNAP benefits were cut this month.

Also, our neighbor survey reveals to us that we have moved from food insecurity to actual hunger.

More than one-third of respondents to our survey earlier this year reported that they are going an entire day without food.

40% of them experience this hardship chronically, monthly or more.

So I really have two things to say to you.

Thank you for what you have done.

And I think the decision before us tonight is clear.

150,000 for the food make of Northeast Georgia has tremendous impact.

We will make the very most of it.

So private philanthropy, corporate philanthropy, everyday people experience hunger, and everyday people are working with us to solve this problem.

We know that local government plays a role.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Barner.

Good evening.

Good evening.

How y'all doing?

My name is Brian Middleton.

I'm from 110 Erwin Court on Ads of Georgia 30607.

One was the item number 16.

Lay Park is was uh a big thing for that community.

So if you're going to get rid of that part, I will hope that you have a plan to do something for the kids that that uh would uh replace it because this this park was a very historical park for them, and that that's a place where they went and they played and they was able to learn different things.

So if you're gonna take that away, I will hope that you have a plan to um have something in place of it to do something about it.

Now the other one was um item number 20, which uh I'm just hearing that um they raise uh money more money for the what um food bank.

Well um I wanted to say that um in uh Birmingham City, or if y'all check the news, Burnhouse City itself had a million dollars in his reserve.

Now I don't know if y'all have a reserve or uh anything like that, but um hundred and fifty thousand for um that amount of people is only gonna go so far.

So if y'all do have a reserve, that's or if y'all don't have a reserve and can create a reserve, that will be something that could be happening in the future where it can be an ounce of uh different problems and stuff where if it does arise, you will have a reserve that you could go into and use that as a um a way of a means of uh helping things.

So if my point is if you have uh 150,000, they're gonna have to stretch that for the amount of families that's gonna be uh for the food.

They would need more, but since she's saying that they uh raise more, then I think that problem is pretty much getting um solved.

But I do think that this uh city should have reserved, and if you can go in the reserve, it'll be much easier.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Middleton.

Anyone else here to speak to any out of older new business tonight?

Good evening.

Hey, Mr.

Mayor, uh Russell Edwards, Duncan Springs Road.

Just wanted to uh speak on item 16 and raise some some points perhaps to consider.

Um I've I've read information about uh the county commission planning to destroy Lay Park, and uh I'm not quite certain where that's founded, but that doesn't uh that doesn't appear in any of the materials that I'm looking at.

Um, I'd like to make is you know uh four we're about eight thousand dwelling units behind where we need to be to currently fit fulfill the demand on our housing market.

8,000 dwelling units.

It's a question of supply and demand.

We have uh a growing community here.

People love Athens, they want to live here.

We're trying we're trying to grow the community, we're trying to increase investment in neighborhoods.

We're trying to recruit businesses with high-paying jobs to come here.

That means growth.

And with growth comes a need for housing.

So if we're already 8,000 dwelling units behind, and we have some growing industries, some new businesses coming here.

You can imagine that uh folks are competing for homes, and it's driving up the price of housing across the county.

Here, one proposal, 1,400 units in one proposal to help well to help meet that demand.

When it comes to UGA students, um, UGA is the number one employer.

Some students can be annoying, but uh thousands of students are basically what helped keep the economy going here in large part in this community.

Uh there's been a lot of hate and shade thrown on students.

I would say unfairly.

Um,400 students living downtown is 1,400 students not competing for housing in other neighborhoods.

Maybe something to consider.

Uh allowing the students to live on private property that pays property tax is perhaps superior to having the university acquire more land, putting it off of the tax rolls and building dormitories.

So here we will collect uh funds.

Uh students living in private housing, they're not going to be going to our elementary schools, but they will be contributing property tax that support those schools.

Uh also uh having 1,400 more residents downtown where all of our services exist for the largest part, is going to be good for downtown business.

It's going to be good for downtown restaurants and venues, the creative culture.

Uh these folks are not going to be driving cars creating more traffic in your neighborhood because they're gonna be able to walk uh where they need to go.

Something to consider.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Edwards.

Anyone else here speak to any item of older new business this evening before we continue with commission deliberation?

Good evening.

Uh Alan Jones, uh, Xavier Drive.

Uh, thank you, Russell.

I echo those thoughts.

I'm gonna speak on one of the less sexy items that are up uh for a vote, and it sounds like it's gonna get pushed off until next time.

But the uh board and commission uh issue.

I serve on the Athens in Motion uh and the T Splossed Oversight uh committees, and I also have a day job.

Uh I work with the Department of Defense.

I'm in the some of the leadership that's uh modernizing some of their bureaucratic systems, and it to me it's kind of important, but I make time for my community.

And I drive down to these uh the the T SPLOSS meeting in the late afternoon, take off work early, show up, and over half the time we don't have a quorum, so it's a worthless drive.

So I go home.

There's another meeting right after the T SPLOS in the same building for the SPLOST group, and they have a hard time getting quorum.

So I thank you uh for this uh proposal where you would be combining those groups and making it so that the citizens of the community can participate in the process with without it being a an undue burden.

Um so thank you for that.

Uh I may be uh retiring early, so I may be able to be more involved and not have to worry about that, but that's yet to come.

Um I also appreciate that that codifies the Athens in Motion and the Land Bank and local ordinances making them permanent, so that is great.

Patrick and the rest of the GOC people, uh, you've done a great job with that.

And Patrick, you also mentioned at one of the last meetings, speaking of spost and T Sploss, about the fact that we fund those backward, which I wholly agree with.

We wait until we have all the money for these T Sploss projects before we do anything with them, because we don't want to do bond funding because there's there's interest.

Well, 10% interest on a loan to get something moving right now is a whole lot more effective than waiting five years for the price of that asset to overdouble due to inflation because we wouldn't pay for it earlier.

The community wants these things that are on SPLOST and T SPLOST built during the period that they are paying for them, not 10 to 20 years down the road.

So please support the the BAC commission, and when it comes around time for the next Blossom T S BLOS, reconsider the funding mechanisms.

Thank you, Mr.

Jones.

Is there anyone else here to speak to any item of older new business tonight?

Good evening.

Good evening.

Uh I'm Michael McClendon.

I live at 201 Hamilton Road, Athens.

Um I'm here to encourage you to table item 16, pending adequate commission and public work sessions to fully address a range of really significant issues and questions.

And I note Russell Edwards brought up four or five policy issues in what he was suggesting, which have never been yet talked about.

Uh, this proposal was born in secrecy over a period of months, then advertised as being about parking, when it's really about consequential, unrecoverable uh actions that will impact Athens Clark County for years.

And when you look at that and you look at when the property was transferred just a few months before that, it makes one wonder what the real game plan is here and who's been involved in this.

You know, there were a lot of questions, a lot or a lot of brochures, posters, but there's no accountability for those things.

And it reminded me very much of we've been here before.

We were here with the mall fiasco 31 months ago.

We've been here with the arena where a parking deck was promised, and now we are millions and millions of dollars in debt.

So it sounds like Athens Clark County kind of ignores red flags, then presses ahead without competent due diligence and without a care as to the consequences.

In my view, we are repeating behavior here.

If this proposed agreement cannot withstand being tabled for a comprehensive scrutiny by commissioners and the public in open forums, then it does not merit any consideration.

What's the secret?

What are people trying to hide?

There are a lot of policy issues with this.

I won't go into all of them, but let me just hit a few.

This is a sole source agreement to give public land to a developer without any competition.

ACC has no business enabling one developer over another to gain a competitive advantage in the real estate market.

This also sets a bad precedent.

ACC is telling two contradictory stories.

On the one hand, you want to enable them tearing down a hotel, but on the other hand, the classic center authority spends money to go do hotel studies that continue to show that there's a shortage of hotel space in Athens.

So the question I would ask to you is what's Athens Clark County government's policy on hotel capacity and the needs.

Seems like here you're you're you're taking action that's against what Classic Center is trying to do.

ACC's own data shows that 19,464 beds have been added in Clark County since 2018 through August of this year.

Thank you, Mr.

McClendon.

Is there anyone else here to speak to any item of older new business before we come to commission deliberation?

Hello, my name is Tammy Foote, and I'm at 223 Fairview Street.

I'm here in regards to the item number 16.

Um, as Mr.

McClinn has stated, the public needs the opportunity to find out and see what is really going on with this development.

Um, the liquidation or the tearing down of the playground for the kids and everything, as Mr.

McClendon stated, that is not being totally clear to the public.

We need to table this and do a work session with the public so we can know what's going on as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Foote.

Any other input on older new business tonight.

Good evening.

Good evening, Commissioners.

I'm Andy Savoy with Core Spaces.

We are the developer that is doing the development at 295 East Order Item 16 on tonight's agenda.

This is my fourth time in front of you guys, and typically I go through a spiel of different public benefits, millions of dollars of public benefits, off-site sewer work, all that.

Tonight I'd like to talk about something a little different.

It occurs to me that many of you may not understand what makes this vote such an urgent one for us.

And that's that's on us because we haven't really messaged it.

Um I believe we've been pretty forthcoming about the majority of the residents uh in this project are expected to be students at UGA.

Because of that fact, we need to deliver in the summer, and the current target is the summer of 2028.

Um in order to deliver in the summer of 28, we need to start construction in March of next year, and in order to start construction in March of next year, we need to start our plan review.