All right, all right, all right.

Welcome everyone.

It is Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025.

Uh, if you are here joining us in City Hall or via digital media across the globe, we're glad to have you with us.

We're here for the monthly voting meeting of the Athens Clark County Mayor and Commission.

We're gonna begin by having the clerk do a roll call.

Here, here, Taylor, why president Fisher?

Here Johnson.

Here, Carl Pepper.

Here.

My yours here, Thornton.

Here.

Handy.

Here.

We have a call.

All right.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

All right.

Uh begin by noting our civility pledge provided to us by the Georgia Municipal Association.

And we have embraced 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, that all people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness, that we value all input and commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other in this room.

So uh first formal item of business tonight is approval of the minutes of meetings of Tuesday, November 4th, Tuesday November of November 18th, of which there were two meetings, and non-voting meetings of Tuesday, November 12th and Tuesday, November 18th.

Can I hear a motion for approval of those minutes?

Second.

All right.

Have a motion from Commissioner Taylor and a second from Commissioner Myers.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Same sign.

Hearing none, motion carries.

Uh Madam Clerk, do we have any written communications this evening?

All right, thank you.

All right.

Uh we are going to have many, many, many, many opportunities for public input tonight.

Um we're gonna have an opportunity on the consent agenda.

We're gonna have an opportunity on each of the several planning and zoning items.

We're gonna have an opportunity on old and new business, and then we'll have an opportunity for public comment on any item that was not on tonight's agenda at the conclusion of the meeting tonight.

Uh terms of public input with the exception of uh two pieces of input on planning and zoning, call for three-minute opportunity on each occasion.

Uh you see a light in front of the clerk, it will turn green when you begin speaking and give us your name and place of residence.

It will turn yellow when you have 30 seconds left, and then it will turn red when that three minutes is ended, and we'll thank you for your time with us tonight.

Um if there's an opportunity when there are many folks wishing to speak on the same item, uh you can go ahead and line up at the podium that way we can kind of move expeditiously through public comment.

So uh first opportunity for public comment tonight is on our consent agenda.

And these were items that at the prior meeting were determined to be handled with a single vote.

And currently the consent agenda items are one through eleven.

Is there any member of the public tonight who would like to speak to any of those items?

One through eleven.

Again, just provide your name and place of residence, and then your three minutes will begin.

Yes.

Uh my name's Jamie Hillmeyer.

I live at 250 Pendleton Drive.

And uh just wanted to talk about this uh multi-use uh project.

So I believe the proposed multi-family development in Homewood Hills, if approved will create a major traffic issue.

Sir, just so you know, uh number eight is a multi-use path.

It's a it's a path that people can fight on.

So am I talking about the wrong one?

Yes.

But in mere minutes, we will be back there.

So hang tight.

We're gonna hook you up.

We'll not be disappointed.

All right.

All right.

Would anyone like to speak to one through eleven?

Including the multi-use path if you are a biker or walker.

All right.

Um is there any commissioner who would like to remove an item from consent for later discussion by the body.

All right, seeing none, I believe we have uh some ordinances, so I'm gonna turn to attorney Drake.

The ordinances that are part of consent agenda.

Yeah, we have it.

We have an ordinance for number one.

An ordinance to amend the FY 2026 operating and capital budget for Athens, Clark County, Georgia, so as to provide grant funding if awarded from the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils, burn justice assistance, existing local project grant program for the continuation of four police department investigator positions directly supporting the efforts of the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force and for other purposes.

All right.

Do I hear a motion from a member of the body for approval of the consent agenda?

So move.

Second.

All right, I have a motion from Commissioner Fisher and I have a second from Commissioner Taylor.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

All right, hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

We are now moving on to those planning and zoning items that are hotly anticipated, beginning with item number 13.

Um I do have one individual who was signed up for the 10 minutes, which somebody had to do in advance.

Uh so I'm gonna begin by calling up Chase Zek for item number 13.

Good morning.

All right, it's the evening now.

It's not morning.

Apologies.

My name's Chase Zesh, um, 330 Research Drive.

I work for Armatron with Any Thurman, and we're here tonight representing Connection Church Athens.

Uh the request before this body is to rezone 30 acres up front Charlie Bolton Road from AR to CR for the sole purpose of constructing a church.

Uh, I want to thank everybody for the time and effort and attention to detail that's been invested in this project to get us to this voting session tonight.

Churches in Athens, Clark County zoning are a difficult use to place.

Uh the request before you simply put is a zoning change with restrictive conditions that will allow a church to be uh the church used by right.

CR conforms to the future land use map and comprehensive plan for the area, and I believe the planning staff and planning commission have done an excellent job in sculpting this request to perfectly fit the church use.

The action has been given approval by planning staff and approval with three conditions by the planning commission.

Uh just some background on the project.

The the current parcel at 255 Missonian Road is actually 72 acres.

Uh that's uh proposed to be divided into 30.

Uh and we're proposing to split that 30 into two tracks, a 20-acre track and a 10-acre track.

Uh the subdivision plat is currently under review at the planning department.

We received some minor comments uh that's being corrected now.

Uh track three is closest to the city of Winterville, and track four is furthest away, being the 10 acres.

Uh public water is available, and the capacity request has been approved by the utilities department, and a septic system has been preliminarily reviewed by the health department as within acceptable ranges for the area.

So Connection Church Athens currently meets in the Winterville Auditorium, and they have rented that space uh for Sunday mornings and the occasional event, uh, such as a single Good Friday service for about five years.

Uh they've started this process looking for a permanent home for about a year now and have settled on on this tract of land just right up the road from where they currently meet.

Uh since the agenda setting meeting in mid-November, AMT and partnership with the church have developed concept site plans and architectural elevations for the pro's development.

These plans have been shared with our commissioner and the residents located around the property, and I believe you all uh should have received a printed copy as well for review during uh the evening.

Uh these plans are developed to address uh concerns that were voiced through the input process, and I believe they've been received well by everybody who's reviewed them.

I would like to discuss uh just a couple of these items in a little more detail uh before my time is over tonight.

Uh the first concern that was mentioned is the project is gonna be too big for the neighborhood, and thus detracting from the rural character of Charlie Bolton Road.

Uh there were some photos that were provided to this body at the agenda setting meeting by the residents.

Uh these photos were of other churches in the connection network.

Um at the time, these are the only visuals that could be referenced for what this church may be is the concept plans uh for connection Athens were not finished yet.

Uh these other churches shown are much larger than what Connection Church Athens proposes and are more modern and warehouse feel than desired for this project.

Connection Church Athens is part of a network of churches, but each church is individually governed and independent from each other.

The Athens project is completely separate from other churches.

That means the proposed church will be completely separate from the others as well.

That includes design team, building committee, funding sources.

And when looking across the network, there are churches that are much smaller as well.

Some churches have less than 100 people in them across the network.

The planning commission agreed with this idea that the project could get too big if the rezone was allowed just straight.

So they placed a condition that coverage shall not exceed 20% on the site.

That's a reduction of the allowed 35%.

The existing zoning of AR does allow 10% of non-agricultural buildings, but if those buildings are intended for agricultural uses, storage, things like that, then they there actually are no limits for coverage.

The church is proposing two solutions to this concern.

The first is that the construction be limited to only tract three.

That's the 20-acre tract located nearest to Winterville.

The 10-acre tract called tract 4 in the plat and the attached plans shall be kept in conservation and undeveloped.

The church is proposing to purchase and maintain the whole 30 acres because that is the amount of land the seller was willing to sell.

The second solution is to reduce the overall size of the project.

This concept site plan shows 13.54% coverage on only the 20 acres.

That is all in building driveway parking, all impervious surfaces.

If you consider the full 30, then that actually gets us down to about 9%, which would be below the allowed coverage for AR.

So the church is not proposing anything bigger than what could be allowed in in the current zoning to stick with the rural feel.

The building architecture is also dramatically different from those churches shown at the agenda setting meeting.

The elevation shown are a shorter building, being about a story and a half with gabled roofs and exposed timber.

The exact color palette is to be determined, but will be on the lighter side, likely warm whites, grays with the smallest amount of accent colors.

The siding and exposed stone will be selected to match the local elements of the site and maybe local granite or river rock.

The second concern we heard was that this project is located in the green belt of Athens.

Would this project detract from the sanctuary or natural feel of the area?

We believe that it will actually restore some of the rural character while improving habitat for wildlife.

As part of the rezone, the minimum tree canopy coverage requirement increases from 0% in AR to 60% in CR, which is the requested zone.

This means that the project will be required to plant about 5.22 acres of trees.

If the large canopy trees are selected, that would mean about 143 trees would be planted.

Since we want a diversity in large, medium, and small canopy, that'll actually probably be more like 200 trees to reach that canopy.

These would be trees such as native trees such as birch trees, winged elms, tulip and yellow poplars, which the pollinators love, oak trees for the deer and squirrels, maple trees for some color.

And we're proposing some of the trees actually be more of like foraging trees, honey locusts and persimmon type trees.

The goal is to create a top-to-bottom sanctuary for the insects, birds, and all creatures in the planting.

The proposed canopy will add to the existing 6.68 acres of for a total of about 12 acres of trees on track three.

That leaves only about eight acres not covered by trees, significantly increasing the canopy coverage.

The canopy is located in two primary areas.

The first being a double row of street trees to help screen the building from Charlie Bolton Road.

The second is about a 70-foot-wide planting strip along the northern property line between the 10 and 20 acres.

This creates not only a natural conservative buffer of 10 acres, but also a dense visual screening between the church and the neighbors to the north.

These trees shall be selected from the Athens Clark County Tree Species list with a focus on diverse and native species installation.

I consulted with the Athens Clark County Community Forester about what should be included in this planting of 5.22 acres.

If he could dream up a perfect planting scenario, what would he propose?

And he provided several ideas for tree species selection.

Some mentioned earlier diversity and general guidance on how to create a complete ecosystem in these plantings.

The church intends to seek further advice from the forester when it's time to develop a complete tree management plan.

So this project will increase the haven for wildlife and be good for the pollinators as well.

This will all be done as a requirement to the CR zoning.

The final concern that we heard was that this may just be the first parcel in the creation of a new commercial area in this part of the county.

I understand the concerns that if one parcel is zoned to commercial, then others around may want to follow suit.

It may appear to be a lucrative course of action if they can sell as commercial rather than AR.

I firmly believe that the planning staff and planning commission would not support actions the same as they have supported this one for the church.

The planning commission has limited the use as a part of the condition to only church.

The rezone is not just for any commercial rural application, a dollar general, a self-storage, a data center.

The church can't sell to somebody else who doesn't intend to be a church use.

So through all the conditions and limitations placed on this rezone, the approval of this action is only an approval for the construction of a church.

Nothing else is allowed to even be considered.

Supporting this rezone does not invite the next commercial node to this area.

It supports the sole use of a church finding a home.

The final condition placed on the rezone by the planning commission further protects the rural field of the neighborhood.

The condition is that the lighting standards for agricultural residential zone be applied to the subject area.

This reduces the allowable light intensity to lower levels than commercial zones.

And this will essentially eliminate any light pollution concerns from the development.

I believe that this request has been perfectly crafted and refined by this process through the planning staff, planning commission, and then here tonight to serve Connection Church Athens and Clark County as a whole.

In conclusion, I kindly request tonight that you agree with the planning staff and the planning commission in motion to approve this rezone so that a church and only a church can create a permanent place in this community, a sanctuary, both inside and out.

Thank you for your time and attention tonight.

Thank you, Mr.

Sash.

Is there anyone else here to speak to item number 13, 255 Smithonia Road?

And uh you can approach the podium if uh anybody else is here, just line up behind it.

Uh my name is Roger Hilton.

I'm a resident at 801 Charlie Bolton Road, directly across from this proposed development and rezoned uh area.

So firstly, I wanted to say good evening, Mayor Gertz, commissioners.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to weigh in uh on our concerns on this rezoning on the 30-acre parcel.

This rezoning proposal, if approved, would change this parcel from AR to CR under AR densities permitted at one house, 10 acres.

Um if it were rezoned to CR, it could potentially add up to 650 people to this property with the church as designed.

At the current zoning, uh AR.

One house, 10 acres, that's three houses.

The average household size in the U.S.

is two and a half people.

So we would be introducing less than 10 people onto this property, as opposed to 650 people that this church would be bringing.

Uh if we assume two cars per household with six houses, that's three, that's six cars, as opposed to the potential two hundred cars that are proposed in this design for the church.

Darty on paper, 200 cars.

So I'd like to pose two a question to the committee.

Does changing the zoning of this property serve the Athens Clark County community?

So if we say yes, we would expect that this facility, the large church, it would support and host members of the ACC community.

If this is true, what this would mean is we're bringing potentially more than 600 people, 200 cars from Athens out to the very very edge of the county.

There are already several churches in Winterville.

This doesn't serve Winterville.

Winterville has 1,200 people, not 650 people.

They're churches already in Winterville that serve the community.

So people coming from Athens go through Winterville to the very edge of the county to go to this facility.

People going from a city center to the edge of the county is by definition sprawl.

The worst kind of sprawl.

Which I hope in this green belt, to hope is the goal of the commission to avoid sprawl in the county.

Because of this, to avoid the proliferation of sprawl, please vote no on the proposal to rezone.

But if, on the other hand, we assume the residents of Athens Clark County will not be attending this church, they'd be coming from other counties.

The decision to alter the zoning to allow this type of development does not serve the ACC community.

In fact, an example of the community that this church might serve.

We went around and looked at the church where it is now and looked at the tags for the cars.

Only three were Athens Clark County from about 50 in the parking lot.

We meant to neighboring churches in Winterville, almost all the tags were Athens Clark County tax.

So this church, as again, Mr.

Hilton.

I appreciate your time with us today.

Thank you all for your time and attention.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Annie Cheatham.

I live at 801 Charlie Bolton Road.

You guys heard from me two weeks ago, so I don't want to repeat too much of what I said.

I believe the rezone request should be denied for many reasons, three of which it isn't right for Charlie Bolton Road.

If you happen to drive out there, if you were on the road, you just know it wasn't right for it.

It doesn't fit with the vision of Winterville, and it sets a bad precedent with the green belt, not just destroying what's already on the property.

It is a cow field now.

So it sounds great to add trees, but what you're doing is the all of the surrounding parcels are going to be looked at, and I do think it will set a precedent.

But Winterville Mayor Dodd Farrell has his own commissioners' meeting tonight, but sent this for me to read at the meeting.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of my comments and concerns.

I am writing you today to voice my opposition of the rezone before you.

We have worked hard as a city over the last 10 years to create a destination that uses the city's existing structures, feel and charm.

Even though this parcel is largely outside the city limits, it would most definitely impact what we have created and what we continue to vision regarding developments in and around the city of Winterville.

Changing the look and feel of an area with a single development is not sound strategy for the county and definitely works against what we were doing in Winterville City.

Thank you and happy holidays.

Sincerely, Mayor Pharrell.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Cheatham.

Is there anyone else here to speak to item 13 tonight?

Good evening.

My name is Liam Hardy of 371 North Church Street in Winterville.

I'm the pastor of Connection Church Athens.

Connection Church planted in Winterville in January of 2021.

So next month marks our five-year anniversary as a church.

And for the entire life of our church, we have rented from Mayor Gold Auditorium and Winterville Community Center.

We love Winterville and we've seen an enormous response from the community, which has affirmed that we needed a church in this part of the community.

And we've been blessed to just call the spot home for five years.

So it being a setup and teardown church has its limitations and its challenges.

I um led a funeral the day before Thanksgiving for one of our congregants, and I'm so thankful for being able to rent this facility, but I had to ask permission before I could tell the family if we could have the funeral at that time.

Just one of the limitations of renting a building.

We have an attendance of about 250 people, not 650.

And the church that was shown in your packets from Statesboro is a mega church in our network by that threshold.

It is not our intention to copy that church or to build a church that size.

We can't afford that.

That church congregation is 10 times our size.

And this project would be funded directly from our congregation.

We do not receive financial support from other churches.

And we are committed as a network to planning autonomous churches which reflect the character and makeup of our communities.

I've learned a lot about zoning and special use and things in that.

I've learned a church is a very hard place to kind of put in zoning regulations.

We're not agricultural.

We don't plant crops, we don't raise cattle, but we're not commercial either.

We're a house of worship, we're a congregation of faith, and we're a nonprofit that serves the community.

And we are already in Winterville.

We've been there for five years.

While we are not agricultural and we're not commercial, I do believe churches belong in the rural.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Hardy.

Is that everyone with item 13?

All right.

We'll come for commission discussion and I'll turn to Commissioner Taylor to make a motion regarding this item since this is in District 3.

Yes.

Um I'm going to be making a um I'm going to be making a motion to um deny the rezone.

Um I think the residents in this area has spoken to this enough.

I appreciate the engineering firm for their due diligence and for reaching out as well as um the edited version, but um listening to the residents as well as Mayor Dyes.

I think that this would be a um not a good feat.

So there's a motion to deny on the floor.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, I've got a second from Commissioner Wright.

Commissioner Wright, any follow-up remarks?

No.

I'll ask Attorney Direct to read the ordinance for us.

In orders to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia, with respect to rezoning a parcel of land comprising approximately 30 acres of a of a 71.544 acre tract located at 255 Smithonia Road from AR agricultural residential with conditions to see our commercial rule and for other purposes.

Thank you, Attorney Drake.

All right.

Uh motion to deny from Commissioner Taylor, second from Commissioner Wright.

All in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Any on the other side.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right, we're gonna move to item number 14.

14 regards 2415 Jefferson Road.

And I do have somebody signed up for the 10 minutes for this item as well.

So I'm gonna call Jack Murphy to the podium to begin our comment.

Hello again, everybody.

I'm Jack Murphy.

I'm with Carter.

Uh thank you for having us back tonight to discuss the homewood village redevelopment.

Um at the agenda setting meeting, we walked through the revised plan that was shaped by community feedback and staff input, how we addressed scale and transition, our approach to activating the ground floor, the stormwater upgrades and significant increase in tree canopy and the key design moves.

Adding townhomes as a visual buffer, reducing and shifting the northern apartment uh massing to the south, and introducing a modest amount of ground floor retail, the public plaza and amphitheater.

We also noted the level of neighborhood support, more than 40 signed petitions, as well as a number of personalized letters sent to the commissioners.

Tonight we want to go a little bit deeper on a few of the items that were brought up last time.

So, first, the amphitheater.

Uh it's not a concert venue.

So there's no stage, there's no roof, there's no power for amplified shows.

Think of it more as like a tiered green space.

So flat green terraces that would work for picnic, relaxing, reading, letting the kids run around.

Programming from us would be light and low impact.

So fitness or yoga classes, an occasional movie night, maybe an acoustic guitarist, but certainly nothing that would create any noise issues for nearby neighborhoods or residents.

Uh the next piece, so phasing.

Heard a little bit about that last time.

So the way we would describe it is phase one has kind of two sub-phases.

Phase one A includes relocating La Pueria to the vacant 5,000 square foot building on the north side of the site, decommissioning the former or the current Chevron gas station, renovating that building, and releasing it to a similar sit-down or fast casual restaurant, milling, overlaying, and restriping the entire parking field, adding tree wells to that parking field, uh repairing and repainting the facades that are to remain, um, and updating existing tenant signage, and then improving and releasing about 12,000 square feet of the existing retail.

These improvements alone are going to make a huge difference to the center's image and the experience of customers.

Um we would expect to begin kind of late 2026 and be complete by early 2027.

Then we would start phase one B, which includes demolishing the retail sections that are not remaining, constructing the two new apartment buildings, the townhomes, the ground floor retail, patios, plaza, amateur, etc.

So we expect that to be complete around mid-2028.

Regarding phase two, so there are six existing tenants with control of their space through various dates 2030, 2032, 2034, 2037.

We also have a Georgia Power easement that runs over about two acres of the site and kind of cuts almost directly through the site.

We know that some of these tenants may or may not uh use all their ex their future options, and apparently Georgia Power no longer needs these lines and is planning to relocate them.

But we don't have a firm grasp of when this phase two land is going to be fully unencumbered.

So because of that, we really can't responsibly lock in building locations, sizes, uses, elevations today when we just don't know where we're gonna be, you know, five or ten years from now.

So when we are ready to advance with phase two, we will return through this same process, a PD modification to propose whatever phase two development we believe is right for the community, and at that time, community staff, planning commission, everybody will have time to comment and review that again.

So, really, it actually is putting a lot of control as far as what happens into phase two with the community.

Um regarding community, there are a few kind of recurring questions that we wanted to touch on.

Um on building heights and kind of transitions.

We implemented the townhome buffer along the western edge, as we mentioned, um, reduced and shifted the northern building to step down towards the neighborhood.

We did all of this, you know, despite being our current our building heights being within the current code, but we wanted to try to address neighborhood comments as best we could.

Um it's also important to note the grade drops deeply from homewood drive down to where the buildings are.

So from homewood drive, the topography makes the buildings read more like three or maybe four story, and then if you're on Magnolia Blossom, the apartments will either be completely blocked by the townhomes, or if you were on either side of the townhomes, they would uh kind of feel to have the same scale as a three-story townhomes due to the fact that they're set further back.

Um questions we've gotten on our commitment to phase two.

So sometimes we do act as merchant developers, but on more of our kind of complex mixed-use projects, we take a long-term view.

So Homewood Village clearly fits the long-term category.

We love the location.

We believe it's only going to get better as Athens continues to grow.

And candidly, the phase one economics are a little bit thin on their own, and the returns we're underwriting kind of require us to unlock that value of phase two.

So we're incentivized to stay and make sure that phase two happens.

On traffic, we acknowledge there will be more people living at the site than currently living there today, but residents are not going to come and go at the same time.

So we commissioned a third-party traffic study to project out when these trips would happen over the course of a day.

And the findings were that the apartments would have a minimal increase in trips and a no more than two-second delay added in any direction the traffic flows.

Transportation and Public Works have reviewed that traffic study and approved the findings and recommendations of it.

Last one on parking.

So while we are improving pedestrian and bike access and adding a century located transit stop, we recognize that most visitors are probably still going to drive.

But rather than overbuilding two separate lots that sit empty half the time, we applied the ULL ULI shared parking guidance so that the daytime retail demand and nighttime residential demand will use the spaces spaces efficiently.

There was a staff note about conflicting information and you know an off-limit parking area being used as shared parking.

But I think there's just a little bit of confusion there.

So there is a parking field that must remain as part of one of our existing leases, but it is not an exclusive right to park there.

So we can't get rid of it, but that doesn't mean we can't use it as shared parking and overflow parking, especially at night when the store is closed.

So yeah, just want to clarify there's no kind of conflicting info there, just maybe a little bit of confusion of how it was written.

So that is uh kind of everything we wanted to talk about.

Um happy to answer any questions, and again, uh just appreciate all your time and thank you guys for everything you've done so far.

Thank you, Mr.

Murphy.

Uh other uh folks in the chamber tonight would like to speak to number 14 if you just line up the podium.

Good evening.

Told you it wouldn't be long.

Yeah, thank you so much.

Um I'm Jamie Hillmeyer.

I live at 250 Pendleton Drive in the Homewood Hills neighborhood, and I uh have some comments here.

So I believe the proposed multifamily development in Homewood Hills, if approved, will create a major traffic issue unless there can be alternative access points both in and out.

There's over 250 homes in the neighborhood that are traveled by probably over a thousand vehicles daily.

And if Jefferson Road only has one access point for both in and out traffic, and you add 500 additional vehicles to it, it's gonna create a major traffic issue for Homewood Hills and other developments in the immediate vicinity.

Also, afternoon traffic could face major issues.

Residents in Homewood Hills using loop 10 West will be required to exit onto Jefferson Road, then cross two lanes of three traffic to access the turnway for Homewood Drive.

This intersection is not built to handle an additional 500 cars per day.

The proposed development will only add more congestion and be more dangerous for residents.

Lastly, another concern is the property values, and the traffic congestion could affect that.

So just wanted to make those comments.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Hillmeyer.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Uh, my name is Keith Hubbard.

I live at 125 North Homewood.

And uh I'd like to acknowledge and respect your your comments tonight.

I'm an architect.

I appreciate all the work you've done.

I am not in development.

However, I have significant concerns about this development and the impact on the neighborhood that I now call home.

That intersection is a tough intersection.

This is a tough piece of property to get in and out of.

There's three ingress access points to this property.

One is absolutely a right turn only on the prints out of the property, so that's limited ability.

Primary entrance is immediately adjacent to the intersection on South Homewood.

South Homewood has three traffic lanes.

Obviously, the westmost lane is the drive into South Homewood.

Rightmost lane is right turn only onto prints.

The middle lane is two left turn queue spaces to turn on to Jefferson.

Transitions by striping into a two-car length queue to turn into the development.

And the development does not propose any revisions or modifications or improvements to this condition.

In the previous meeting, it was pointed out that well, people could drive further down South Homewood.

Well, they can.

But if they do, they're turning into that existing entrance into the site that per their redesigned development would take the intended commercial traffic down into the dedicated residential area to drive through, which I question is a good decision.

So I really think the circulation into and out of this site is problematic at best.

There is already people who cut through the neighborhood to avoid the congestion on Jefferson slash prints.

With the difficulties of getting in and out of this property, that's got to increase.

People walk, they stroll babies, they walk dogs.

It's curvy, it's heavily vegetated, sight lines are not real good.

I'm seriously concerned about the impact and the safety of the community.

And it would deeply deeply impact the quality of this beautiful little neighborhood that I now call a home.

Quickly, I'm running out of time.

Thank you, Mr.

Hubbard.

I appreciate your time to tell you now.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Dr.

Carol Hubbard, the other Hubbard at 125 North Homewood.

I'm considerably shorter.

Sorry, y'all, that's how our relationship is.

I am asking you to please vote against a project that, as you have heard, is 50% unknown.

The unknown phase two means that once phase one is started, my commissioners, you're gonna be plowed over.

They're going to come to you with options that you will not be able to vote against because it will be five, six years down the road, and many of you will be in different positions, different roles, and you will not, they will not, or if you're still here, will not be hearing the same concerns from our my neighbors.

Please don't be steamrolled by voting for the unknown.

It's easy to come and say, this is gonna be great.

That's nothing but hot air until we actually see the plans.

Please be concerned as if this was your neighborhood, as if these were your grandkids running around, this was your dogs running in the street, this was your friends exercising and walking.

I'm scared of the unknown because that phase two is not detailed enough for you to vote for it.

Thanks, y'all.

Thank you, Dr.

Hubbard.

Good evening.

Hi, I'm Gurtis Downs.

I live at 738 Cobb.

I'm very familiar with the site.

Um first of all, I'm glad to see all of y'all.

I'm also really glad I'm on this side of the rail, not yours.

Um I look at this a couple different ways.

One, I have a lot of empathy, um, and I live on a cut-through street too, and I have issues of encroachment right near our property, our neighborhood, our uh strollers and kids and bikes and dogs.

Um so I I understand those issues and the effect that a particular piece of property is gonna have on a eco that's probably not the right word, but the system, the the um the area right around it.

Uh and so that's a big concern.

I you know, I wouldn't know how to read a traffic study personally, and I sometimes am pretty skeptical of them uh when I hear, oh, it wouldn't be a big deal on traffic, and common sense, as you said, might tell you otherwise.

But I do also think there's something to the argument that residents don't all come and go at the same time, and commercial doesn't all come and go at the same time.

Um I'm familiar with the intersection between doctors and um uh shopping there, dining at La Prie and some of the other places over the years.

But I guess the thing I want to say about why I would support this, I think there's an argument for supporting it.

Uh is twofold.

One this is being done by developer who everything I've read about them and know about them in Atlanta, especially from people who actually are involved in the Summer Hill development in Atlanta, which was a very controversial development, have sung their praises.

Two, what's there now?

I've heard it described as an ISO.

I don't know if it's an ISOR, I don't know exactly what the definition is, but it's a tough, it's a tough site.

It's got the slope going the wrong way.

Um I think that what's there now is not really I guess it's sustainable as like a low rent shopping center.

That it's uh I guess the rents are cheap, so maybe that's good.

But I just don't really think that the the use right now is the highest and best use of the property.

I think that communities do need have needs for housing that's relatively accessible with public transportation with its location.

So on balance, I'm worried about the traffic too on behalf of the neighbors.

But assuming that there can be a solution to that, uh I have to think that the developers know what they're doing, and I uh would vote for it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Downs.

Good evening.

Hello, my name is Georgiana Ingram.

I live at 160 Honeycut Drive.

Um, I wanted to speak in favor of the homewood village development.

Even though these plans are never going to be perfect and make everybody happy, I do believe these plans are as good as we're going to get for that piece of property.

These are high-end apartments.

The plans they have are for high-end retail.

These developers have asked for feedback, they have listened to our feedback, and they have made changes based on that feedback.

My concern is that if this development is not approved, no other high-end developer is going to come in and look at this piece of property.

And then my concern is what we're going to get at that point.

My concern is that we get lower end apartments that take up the entire space, and that is a real concern, I think, for everyone in the neighborhood if you're talking about um values, home values.

I understand the concerns about traffic.

We have a major traffic problem in this neighborhood already.

We are a cut-through ways of sending people through every day.

Speed is a concern.

We have had numerous meetings in the neighborhood and with our commissioner about the speed problems in this neighborhood.

This traffic is going to be a problem with whatever's in that parking lot until you, the county, help us with the traffic problem that we already have.

I don't believe this is going to make the traffic substantially worse than it already is.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Ingram.

Good evening.

Hello.

My name is Ken Blimrick.

I live at 1146 Townsquare Lane, Athens, Georgia.

Um I'm the owner of AKF Athens Martial Arts, which has been in the Homeland Shopping Center since 2019.

And as one of the current tenants, I want to express how very excited and enthusiastic I am about this redevelopment.

As everyone here knows, I believe, Homewood is badly in need of an upgrade.

The proposed improvements and additional housing will absolutely result in a revitalization of the area that is long overdue.

And it's my thought that this uh project will be a huge boon to the community.

I urge the mayor and commissioners in the strongest possible terms to approve this redevelopment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Bloomerick.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight.

My name is Bred DeLoach.

Uh my wife and I live at 130 Sharon Circle, as well as uh my in-laws that also live in the Homewood Hills neighborhood.

Um we are all impacted by what happens at this site and care deeply about the character safety and long-term health of our neighborhood.

What is before you is more than a rezoning request.

It's a chance to transform one of Athens' most persistently underperforming commercial sites into something productive, safe, and reflective of where our community is headed.

Homewood Village has struggled for years with deep vacancies, low visibility, and aging infrastructure.

The rear of the center in particular has become a place of inactivity, lost opportunity, and declining economic value.

This project offers a real tangible asset.

It introduces thoughtfully scaled housing, neighborhoods serving retail, new public spaces, and meaningful pedestrian connections, all while respecting the surrounding neighborhoods and stepping down intensity at the edges.

The townhomes, the plazas, the streetscape improvements in the new main street corridor are not speculative ideas.

They are binding commitments.

They bring life, lighting, safety, and year-round activation to a part of Athens that has long needed reinvestment.

We also know redevelopment rarely happens in perfect conditions.

This site has topographic challenges, access constraints, legacy leases, and utility limitations that could easily discourage investment.

Instead, the applicant has worked with those constraints, is incorporated community feedback, added conditions recommended by your planning commission, and created a plan that is achievable, not theoretical.

If we wait for a proposal that solves every challenge at once, we might be waiting another decade.

This project is responsible phase approach that gets real improvements underway while laying the foundation for the long-term town center vision we all want to see on this corridor.

Approving this redevelopment does not just upgrade a shopping center, it creates housing close to major employment centers, strengthens existing retailers, improves safety, and brings new vibration to an aging gateway corridor.

Mayor Commission says this is the right project at the right place at the right time.

Respectfully ask for your support and move it forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Loach.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Grace Shushak, 146 South Homewood Drive.

I've been the main point of contact with the development team for this project.

And I organized the petition found in your packets.

And I'm here speaking against this proposal, primarily because a majority of the concerns from the petition have still not been addressed in any significant way.

So I do appreciate the development team's efforts to work with the neighborhood, and I'm happy with some of the changes they made during the process.

I recognize this site is encumbered with many constraints.

However, both as a neighbor and an urban planner, I think we need a project that's capable of really transforming this site into a pedestrian-friendly town center that draws on and serves the 300-plus neighborhoods, uh, sorry, households surrounding it.

This proposal is offering a piecemeal approach and asking us to take the developers' word that they will come back and complete phase two, despite offering no binding site plan for it.

There's just no guarantee, particularly if they are allowed to max out the residential density for the entire site during phase one.

I don't think we're a neighborhood of NIMBY's.

I think most of us are okay with introducing some multifamily housing.

But many of us also feel that five stories is simply uh the wrong scale.

And that 200 plus units will generate a lot of additional traffic and discourage biking and walking.

But I ask that if we're going to tolerate that additional traffic, that this project will truly revitalize the site and provide us a place to gather with our friends and neighbors.

Should the project be approved?

I respectfully request inclusions, inclusion of the provisions recommended by planning staff.

If only 8.8 acres of the site are to be redeveloped under phase one, then it follows that phase one should be limited to the number of units allowed on 8.8 acres.

This would leave some residential capacity for phase two and encourage a true use of mixes.

If this is approved as proposed tonight, I expect we'll end up with a really odd-looking juxtaposition of a modern five-story apartment complex, sandwiched between some low density cottages and single-story retail structures.

This will remain that way for at least 10 to 15 years, if not for decades.

So the question is with no guarantee of a phase two, is this what we truly want for the next 30 plus years potentially?

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Tushak.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Mayor and Commissioners.

Yes, so uh my name's Elizabeth Little, and I live at one I have lived at 170 North Homewood Drive for 20 years.

I have seen all the changes in this.

Uh there was a grocery store when I moved in.

Um we all want it.

I mean, it's been neglected basically the whole 20 years.

I haven't seen any improvements.

And we all want to see improvements, but this is uh this development just isn't uh real it just doesn't fit the site, and I want to address a couple of um my concerns.

I am have concerns about the uh what it's all been mentioned.

I've had my car rear-ended trying to turn into North Homewood, and it caused substantial damage uh off of 129.

It's a raceway out there.

But I do want to focus on a couple infrastructure issues.

If you're going to zone for this density, you should make sure that there's infrastructure to begin with.

And one of the problems is that the number one waiver that was on that staff report initially was lack of adequate sewage.

They call it wet weather sewage.

What does that mean?

It means the pipes are compromised.

And this is all through the Honeycutt area and other parts of the county.

These are 65-year-old sewer lines running through the floodplains, and they uh get filled with water due to numerous compromises in there.

And what happens when it rains, it bubbles out.

I have one bubbling bin my backyard, dump sewage into my yard, but all along there, all the way down to Ben Burton Park.

This this sewer line has been notorious.

Twenty years of U own data is shown after rain.

There's very high levels, and you have people down there in Bed and Burton Park in that stream without knowing what's going on.

Anyway, I think putting this many rooms on this sewer line is a recipe for disaster.

The public utility said, oh, they can bury a box to store sewage unmonitored by the county.

And how long is that going to last?

I mean, who's going to monitor that?

This is not, is this really how we're solving building on antiquated sewer lines?

And the other thing I want to mention, so I do recommend waiting until you have either reducing the scale or doing away with it.

Also, storm water, there's no 75-foot buffer on this plaque.

If they're cutting and filling what looks like into the 75-foot buffer with more parking lots, the stormwater is a disaster all the way down.

Where's the retention detention that is required for such a big redevelopment?

And so if you're going to redo this, do it right.

Not just this piecemeal, stick everything there, jam it in, and uh you know, too many.

So that means I gotta go.

Thank you, Ms.

Little.

All right, thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Chris Moore.

I live at uh 260 Magnolia Blossom Way.

My neighborhood is on that western side, but right up to this development.

And um, I'm gonna be real quick.

I don't come here with the data, but I will say those out of the three yes votes you just or heard, two of those folks don't live in my neighborhood.

So I vote for tasteful redevelopment, but no vote for five-story residential building.

And what I ask of you, I urge you to vote as if you lived in my space there.

Thanks for the time.

Thank you, Miss Moore.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Heather McElroy.

I live at 228 Magnolia Blossom Way.

Um, as Chris just said, we are not opposed to redevelopment.

Um, but we think it should be smart redevelopment.

Um this plan lacks vision, quite frankly.

This is an apartment complex that's being built.

They're not addressing the commercial stuff.

They talk about legacy leases.

Um everything's negotiable.

This property never hit the open real estate market.

There were not competing bidders for it.

If this is such a ripe area to be redeveloped, then put it on the market and see who can come up with the best thing.

No one says that these are not good developers, but this plan is not good for our community.

Please listen to all of the citizens who have voted y'all into this seat, who do not want it.

We don't want five stories next to our community.

We want you to listen to the staff.

That's why we have staff who have great educations to implement the zoning codes that are in place.

This doesn't even follow the future land use.

This is an apartment complex only.

The density is the biggest issue that we have.

There are a lot of things that could be made better about this.

Traffic will be absolutely horrendous.

Please tell me that none of y'all believe that there will only be a two-second delay if there are 358 additional bedrooms added to eight acres with one red light.

That is not common sense.

Um, and no, everyone won't be leaving and coming at the same time, but there's traffic throughout the day there already at different times of the day.

But they're removing so much commercial space and replacing it with apartments, which we already have all over town.

And they're not even five-story apartments.

The Holden at Oak Grove is three stories tall, and they have 40 plus vacancies right now.

The flats at um across from Terrapin, um, Westclocks.

Those have vacancies right now.

100 prints has vacancies right now.

None of those are the height that this is recommended.

This is insane to put five stories next to two subdivisions.

Please, please, please.

As everyone has said, vote as if you live there.

Vote as if you your children.

We want our children to be able to go up and enjoy this commercial complex.

We don't want they're to have to walk through two apartment complexes to get to commercial stuff.

They haven't listened to us.

They have not made the improvements that we've requested.

Instead, for Magnolia Blossom Way, they've ripped down the fence and canopy tree, and they want to add more townhomes that will directly impact our neighborhood.

So I urge you to please vote no as this is proposed.

Thank you.

Thanks, Ms.

McElroy.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is John McElroy, and I live at 228 Magnolia Blossom Way.

First of all, I'd like to say thank you for your public service and dedication to serving our city.

It does not go unnoticed, and you're greatly appreciated.

I don't think you guys hear that enough, so thank you.

Like you, I'm also a public servant for our community and have been for the past 23 years.

Also serve as a board member for the cottages at Homewood HOA, which is why I'm speaking here tonight.

The cottages at Homewood has 56 homes and is a neighborhood that will be the most impacted by this pros proposed redevelopment.

I would humbly ask that you vote no.

Athens deserves better than approving another luxury student housing development with not enough parking.

The planning department staff recommendations got it right the three times the plan came before them, each time a little change, never changing the giant five-story scale of the two buildings.

They denied all three times on all vehicles.

When the plan finally came up for vote, there were two members from the planning commission that uh could have changed the vote to a no that were absent.

You have the opportunity to listen to the people that will that this will directly impact and vote no.

The developer and property manager have told you this shopping center is no longer viable, and they can't find commercial tenants.

They have told you the development plans are hindered by legacy leases.

They have told you about our power line easement running diagonally across the property.

They have told you that this is why they are cramming all the allowed residential space for 16 acres entirely on the western edge of the property.

We have been told this is the reality of the parcel.

What they won't tell you is that they have strategically not leased space on purpose, and that the legacy leases that are hindering them are also self-imposed.

They won't tell you that the power line on the list is due to be to comb decommissioned.

The reality is that this development could be improved drastically and should be cohesive with the county's master plan.

It could be a true town center, and you all can make it done.

The developers asking you to use your imagination of what a non-binding phase two or three could look like for approval of phase one.

I would kindly ask you use your imagination of what this redevelopment could be if the legacy leases and power line easement were addressed by this developer or another one.

As much as the neighborhood would like to see this parcel redevelop, the plans presented are not what is best for the community.

Thank you for your time and please vote no.

Thank you, Mr.

McElroy.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Um my name is Adrian.

I live at 1101 Spartan Lane, Athens.

Um I'm one of the owners of Tacarella Parrilla.

Our family-owned restaurant has been in business for 26 years at the Homewood Village Shopping Center.

Uh back in 1999 when we first opened our restaurant.

Homeboard Village was very busy, full of activity.

There was a pharmacy, grocery store, social spots, multiple dining options.

And unfortunately over the years, all those businesses have either permanently closed or relocated somewhere else.

When um when Dixie closed in 2005, we noticed a decline in traffic.

Um in the recent years, that decline has become even more severe.

And has put our business in the in jeopardy.

We just don't know how to we know that that space needs um attention.

I do hear the concerns from the people that live in the neighborhoods, and there are our customers, so it's kind of a tough situation to be in the middle of our customers, our neighbors.

Um in the same spot.

Um I'm here today to express our full support for the proposed multi-use development of the shopping center, and the new plans or restaurant will be moved to the front part of the shopping center, which we believe will tremendously help our business and also be able to give a better experience for our uh customers that are coming in to dine with us.

We strongly believe this new concept will have a positive impact on our business and surrounded communities.

Thank you for your time and your consideration.

Thank you for coming to us this evening.

Good evening.

Hey, how are you?

I am Brian Austin at 245 248 Prince Avenue.

I grew up in Homewood Hills and lived in Mosside for 19 years.

I'm here tonight to speak in favor of the proposed redevelopment.

For decades, the shopping center has struggled to attract quality retail that survives in the far corner, the same area these new buildings will replace.

This struggle is due to the lack of visibility from vehicular traffic, topography as it sits in a hole, and the distance from the primary entrances.

We are fortunate to have an interested and qualified developer with a proven track record to come in and redevelop this center into a quality mixed-use development.

This will remove the sea of parking and replace it with green space, amenity space for the neighbors, facade improvements to the existing retail, tree islands, parking lot lighting, landscaping, and proper stormwater detention.

These improvements are designed to support the quality retail tenants currently in place and poise it to attract new retail tenants that the neighbors desire.

This PD is the first step towards a new homewood as they have further plans of improvements once the Georgia Power Easement and some lease terms expire to continue to enhance this community.

This redevelopment will poise this area of Athens for success in retail and residential and support our growing population along this corridor, partially spurred by the growth in our hospitals and medical campus.

As a whole, well-designed, built and maintained mixed-use developments such as this thrive in our town.

This proposed project has a developer with one of the best track records in the Southeast behind it.

They plan to hold this property as a long-term investment, and if approved, they are able to move forward.

We will see a developer and the neighbors' interest in cultivating a successful future for homewood aligned.

This center has struggled since when Dixie moved out when I was in the fourth grade when I used to ride my bike there, and that was quite some time ago.

It is time to breathe a fresh life into this underserved retail area of our community and watch it flourish.

Thank you, Mr.

Austin.

Good evening.

Hi.

I'm Colette Walsh.

I live at 225 Magnolia Blossom Way.

Enough people have talked about the traffic issue that I guess I won't use that one.

Um we were really excited when we heard that someone was coming to renovate the shopping center.

But then from the very first meeting, we saw that it wasn't renovating the shopping center.

It was increasing traffic problems and building two five-story apartment buildings.

The shops that stay won't get anything more than an exterior paint job.

While the apartment dwellers get brand new buildings, a swimming pool, a clubhouse, a gym, a coffee shop.

We asked for shopping for us on the ground floor of the buildings.

The developers said they can't do that because the shops won't get any visibility.

Well, guess what?

The cottages at Homewood can see the back of the building.

All of all of Homewood Hills can see the back of the building.

All of those college students driving around trying to find a parking space because there's not enough for all of the cars.

They'll see the back of the building.

If they put the right shops there, they would be able to make some money in them.

But the ground floors, if they put them in the ground floors, it would be less apartments for them, and they wouldn't make as much money.

If they came down with the parking spaces, if they came down with the residential ground level things, they wouldn't need the variances that they're asking for.

But they're not interested in anything less than making money and they don't really care about our traffic problem.

I urge you to vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Walsh.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Patrick Stanley.

I'm uh at 185 Ashton Drive.

Um I think any project like this, right?

Multiple parties need to be able to benefit.

The developer, the larger community, the neighborhood it goes in.

Uh we know the developer has a way to benefit, otherwise we wouldn't be here talking, right?

It seems like there are some benefits to the city.

But from the get-go, I've been a little bit hazy on what the benefits are to our neighborhood.

Um as the process has has moved forward, it seems there's not really an improvement to the retail growth that could be there that is talked about.

There is the addition of traffic and people, which, regardless to what studies say will increase.

How much?

That's debatable, but it'll increase.

It was an afterthought.

And honestly, the green space plan that is there now is not one that I could see myself or my family using with any sort of regularity.

It's not really accessible.

I've heard that, you know, this the space is an eyesore in drastic need of redevelopment.

And I agree with that 100%.

I do.

But I think the other side of that is many of us in this neighborhood see what is being proposed as an eyesore.

So I have to ask what is the difference between an eyesore in need of redevelopment and a redeveloped eyesore.

The final thing is that I've heard that you know this is the best we're gonna get.

Nothing better can come from it.

But those same people are the ones who are telling us all that Jefferson corridor is exploding.

It's booming right now.

Everybody wants to build there, everybody wants to develop there.

If that is the case, someone else will want to develop this space.

As was previously mentioned, opening that up to the public, to public input and to public bidding can only benefit.

If this is indeed the best plan, then prove it.

Prove it by allowing others the opportunity to submit something else.

And if it is the best plan, it will rise to the top.

I hope that as many others have said, you will vote as though you live in this neighborhood and vote no as this plan currently sits.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Stanley.

Good evening.

Hi.

Derek Eberhard, I live at 233 Magnolia Blossom Way, which is the cottages at home with neighborhood, which as you've heard would be one of the most impacted.

So let me just start by thanking you for your service.

I respectfully ask that you vote no on this proposal.

Um I think we can all agree that the site needs to be redeveloped.

I don't think there's any doubt about that.

The developers have addressed some of the concerns that were put forth by the residents, but I think the key concerns that have not been addressed are really the scale and the density of this development and the fact that there is no commitment to either phase two or phase three development.

So we're sort of taking it on their honor that they're going to continue that development.

And yes, I agree that they have a good reputation, but without anything sort of binding or in writing, I think it's too high of a risk to accept a proposal in its current form.

So again, respectfully ask you to vote no for this proposal.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Eberhardt.

Good evening.

Hello.

Good evening.

I'm Michael Voltzer.

I live at 120 Valleywood Drive in Homewood Hills.

I'm gonna ask you to vote against this redevelopment proposal.

Um all the folks that have come before me.

I I pretty much can't disagree with what they're saying.

What I can say is that staff didn't support any of these waivers that the developer asked for, but the planning commission ended up approving this anyway.

I think staff has done a good job with this, and I think that their input should have been taken more into account.

Um I'm also noting these are five-story buildings.

Why are they five-story buildings?

Because in order to get that many units into the part that they're choosing to develop, um, we're getting 16 acres worth of units onto a little less than nine acres worth of land.

So all of that is kind of front-loaded.

Um, the developer gets to build those, sell them, and 10, 12 years down the road, when it's time for phase two or phase three, I don't see what could bind them to making improvements that have been promised.

It's kind of like a pig and a poke.

You don't know what you're gonna get.

It's a lot can happen in five or ten years.

Um I do agree with uh likelihood that traffic, especially northbound on Jefferson coming into the neighborhood is gonna be impacted, especially if you're getting off the outer loop and you have to get over to get onto Homewood.

It's a very short distance, and even right now, it's a little bit tricky sometimes with a car.

Um yeah, this shopping center has been neglected.

The property needs to be redeveloped.

It just doesn't seem to me that we're getting everything that it could be, and it does seem that 10 or 12 years down the road, other people might not make the decisions that you're hoping them to make.

So thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Balter.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Uh, my name is Corey Sabah.

I live at 121 Magnolia Blossom Way.

Um, I'm here to just echo what my neighbors have said that we're are opposed to this development.

We agree that this, you know, that this shopping center needs to have a facelift, but by adding 200 plus apartments is only gonna make the traffic worse.

Specifically on Magnolia Blossom Way, it is a dead end street where there's limited parking as it is.

And so I just am concerned that there's gonna be overflow into our neighborhood from the shopping center or you know from the apartment complex, uh making it even more difficult to you know to come and go.

Um I emailed each of you and asked you to join me in my commute uh to and from work every day.

I hope you did that just to see how difficult it already is.

I have a really hard time believing that by adding 200 apartments, you're not gonna have an impact, you know, a negative impact on the traffic.

That's already a problem.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Saber.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Angela Stanley.

I live at 185 Ashton Drive.

Um, I think at the agenda setting meeting, uh, Commissioner Link, you uh expressed surprise that you uh didn't see more uh public comment.

Um so we have certainly um addressed that here tonight.

Um I want to thank all of you for uh you know hearing us out.

Um I really appreciate all of my neighbors um speaking to um their concerns with this development, and I would ask you to please uh vote against this development.

Um our neighborhood, I live in uh the Homewood Hills neighborhood right behind the shopping center.

Um it is a walkable neighborhood, as many have mentioned.

There's uh, you know, kids love to ride their bikes uh over to the shopping center, which is a totally agreed, definitely in need of redevelopment.

Um, but you know, again, I would just echo that the um proposal as it currently stands does not redevelop the shopping center.

It introduces you know many, many units of uh apartment buildings and really does not benefit um the area or the residents.

Um I you know we have a 13-year-old daughter, um, we regularly go to La Puria to Cantoritos Cafe.

Um we get Chinese takeout.

Um, and so we are constantly in that shopping center using it, and uh removing those businesses that are currently there would really be um a detriment to our family and to our neighborhood.

Um we really loved the initial proposal um to include to retain the shopping space in the ground floor, um, but to have apartments in that ground floor would eliminate the possibility for um having the retail space down below.

Um I uh also encourage you to listen to the ACC planning staff who have expressed their reservations um about the uh waivers.

Um we need a renovated shopping center and not an apartment complex.

Um thank you for your time this evening.

Thank you, Ms.

Stanley.

All right, uh, we'll come to commission deliberation.

This is in District 5, so I'll ask Commissioner Fisher to make a motion and provide any comments.

Okay, thank you.

Um I'm gonna make a motion to approve this um redevelopment.

Um you know, we when we started this process, we started this process months and months ago, um, had over eight meetings with the community, and when we first started out, it was gonna be all apartments.

Then we said, can we add in condos?

So we added in condos um into the show.

So it's not just apartments, it's condos also.

Um this is difficult.

Um I look at that shopping center and I'll come by that shopping center a lot.

And what I see is a deteriorating shopping center.

Um this developer came forward, we're trying to put something there as with the resident I was excited to.

Um was the plan perfect?

It wasn't a perfect plan, but I thought it was a plan that can revitalize that particular space.

Now, if this fails, then what happens moving forward?

Does it fit for another five, ten or fifteen years, and the space continue to deteriorate, you start losing the tenants, they're there, then you gotta get up to space.

One of the first calls I got um when I got elected was um people was complaining about people hanging out and um that some of the crime has started happening in that particular area.

What best way to eliminate some of that is to redevelop that project.

Now, also we don't do anything because how this particular project exone somebody can come in without our permission and do a plan of development without our input at all and put whatever they want there.

Also, from a buffer perspective, they can do a 10-foot buffer and be done.

Then you just have a development there that wasn't have any input from the community.

So there are some pros and cons to all of this.

But um, I like to see something done.

And some of you all called me today.

I had a good conversation with uh Mr.

It was a very good conversation and what we see this project going.

I just think if we don't do anything, in my opinion, are other developers gonna come forward?

I don't think so.

Now I was told there were four bidders for this particular space.

That's why I was told.

And Carter presented the best plan.

Now, can we put it back on the open market?

Yes, we can and see what we can get, and can we get something better?

I don't know.

That you all know that particular property is a the way to configure it's difficult to do something.

Could we do all just retail there?

Maybe so.

Could we do, but that's no we need housing.

Um I think with a new medical center coming on board with a new nursing school coming on board, less than three miles from the youth medical center that I think is gonna be some um young people that's gonna be living there.

I don't think it's gonna be UGA students, gonna be students that's going to the military school, it's going to um to the nursing school.

Right, right down the street from from y'all, less than three miles, Mr.

K with additional time for Commissioner Fisher.

That besides thank you.

Right down the street from you all, three miles away.

There's 280 single family homes going up.

So traffic is gonna still be impact from that 281 home right outside the country clubs of state.

So a lot is going on in district five.

Um I love living in District Five.

I respect um the um community and homewood heels.

I just want to see something positive coming out of that particular um development.

If we don't do anything and this vote fail, I truly believe it was for another at least five years, maybe or longer.

And then what do we have there?

A really really I saw.

If we're gonna have an eye source I'd rather have for an household that looks like something in the bay of assholes.

So um we'll just say like I said, I'll support the project and um I leave that mayor.

Commissioner Fisher has made a motion for approval of the planning commission recommendation.

Is there second?

I'll second it.

All right, got a second from Commissioner Culpepper.

Commissioner Culpepper, any further remarks?

No, I agree.

I think this uh subcenter needs to be redeveloped.

It's been an I saw for a while, and I think it's a good opportunity in a uh for the area.

Uh additional remarks from the body.

Commissioner Link.

I'd like to make a substitute motion to put this on hold till our next voting session.

No, substitute mission from substitute motion, excuse me, from Commissioner Link.

Is there a second for that substitute?

I'll second that.

I've got a second from Commissioner Myers.

Uh Commissioner Link, any further remarks?

Yeah.

Um I understand there are some pretty substantial constraints to this property, and it's desperately in need of revitalization.

Um I'm not necessarily opposed to the density.

I I definitely empathize with the residents' concerns about the height.

Um what's really getting me right now is I I don't have a full understanding of the sewage issue.

Um I don't want to see um a whole lot of new density approved for this area and have the public saddled with a need, a desperate need for sewer line improvements in the future.

Um we've seen that happen downtown.

Luckily, we've been able to attract a developer who's committed to improving public sewer lines.

Um but but I'd like to hear more from staff one-on-one and and maybe have some further conversation with the developer.

I did have really good conversation with them, and um, I mean, they they do have a really good track record.

Um I I do trust them to further the improvements in train phase two, but but I I understand that the density concerns, the infrastructure concerns, and traffic is a hot mess there.

I mean, I visit this shopping center probably once a week.

Um GDOT has committed to improving Jefferson Road, but I I've not heard any word on when the to expect those improvements, so I'd like to hear more about that.

Um I I think there are a handful of unanswered questions um before we can make a real um informed decision on this.

I you know, this is a situation where you don't want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and there's no such thing as perfect in in the development world, honestly.

Um, but but I think we we could answer some more questions and have a little bit more conversation about it.

Commissioner Myers, we're second substitute, Commissioner Hambey.

Okay, um, yeah, I I could end up voting on this tonight if that's where the will of the body is.

Um, but I also do have some questions.

Um I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of time looking at this and thinking about it today.

I read over this long agenda item this morning, including all that public comment that was very nicely uh formatted and very helpful.

Um I went over and visited the site.

Um it is one, I've been to that site a bunch of times.

Um it is treacherous to turn I come from the north side, and getting into that site is treacherous when you have to cross over those three lanes of traffic in a very short period of time.

Um also one of the people who wrote today was writing about how I know the times that I've used that uh uh that shopping center, I have gone down to the second entrance into it because it's so short right there.

So I go down to the second one, and now you'd be turning into the residential area, not even to the shopping area.

So I think there are some traffic situations as well.

Um I came back, I read through all those comments.

Uh I even made a chart, pros and cons.

But um I one thing I I come down to is that the developer is getting the increased density over what's allowed by right because this is a PD.

Uh but yet the PD is less than half developed.

It's like one part is a first, a final draft, and one is a rough draft.

And it's not a matter of trusting the developer from my point of view.

Um because situations change.

Finances change, the world changes, the economy changes.

Lots of developments that I think are really good.

You know, they don't get fine, something changes and they don't happen.

So there's no guarantee that the remaining retail space will be renovated.

And it does.

I mean, it it is it's rough over there.

It is rough.

Um I also have questions about, and perhaps staff can address this, the questions about the um environmental concern.

Um I wanted I wanted to hear, and I didn't, it's it's really hard to get into those drawings.

Maybe where's there?

Those drawings, you know, because they're small, big, and just a question specifically.

The 75-foot riparian buffer.

Commissioner, do you have some questions specifically for the question?

Yeah, yeah, that's it.

That's is there the the 75-foot riparian buffer there?

Is that protected?

Yes.

Okay.

Is that so maybe later on you can tell me what page that's.

Happy to walk you through that.

The um what is shown on there is at a tough scale to read.

But there is actually paving in that area that's being removed that is within the 75-foot buffer.

So it's we could talk about it.

Okay.

And then the sewage holding tank, which I read about as well.

It seems like this is, you know, this is because we have this uh we have these leaky pipes and they fill up with water when it rains, and so there's not enough room for the sewage, so we put it into a big tank, right?

So, but who takes care of that tank over like in five years and ten years?

So those are some questions that I would have if it is um accepted to be held.

Um but even moving forward, those are questions I have.

Do you want some response from the manager or public utilities on the maybe in the question?

And the cost, does that get paid by HOA like the pump stations?

Yeah, it's all privately maintained and private.

It's the private responsibility, at least as it's proposed.

Um I think there's indication in the staff report that um this is new territory.

It's not something that has been uh necessarily done by the utilities before, but it's um as I understand it from what what's been reflected, it's uh probably the only option to see the property redeveloped given the limited capacity that's in the area.

And are there state regulations, environmental regulations for keeping that up and how that's has to be evaluated?

More associated with the design of it and the installation of it, and then it becomes incumbent upon our utilities folks to make certain that actually it's being maintained adequately in order to keep the system functioning.

Um I don't there wouldn't be I don't know that there would be any state inspections unless unless Bruce knows though.

So it would just be our focus.

But it would be up to us to sort of double check that it's I mean, hopefully the the developer would be doing that as well.

Similar to uh you actually on the same agenda, I think you have a private uh lift station or uh a pump that's going to be used to go from a restaurant up to our sewer system that is privately maintained, it is incumbent upon our utilities, make certain that it continues to function properly, and if it doesn't, the private party has to take action actually to correct it.

So similar just on a much larger scale.

And do we have a timeline for fixing those pipes?

Um in the report in the information provided, it simply references decades.

I have a meeting later this week to get a more final um information.

Because that is our responsibility.

Correct.

Oh yeah, the the lack of capacity that exists in the area because of the um I and I that's occurring within the pipes is part of our asset management plan that is our responsibility to actually be upfitting those those pipes and fixing and addressing that issue.

Thank you.

We've got Commissioner Hambey and then Commissioner Thorpe.

Sure.

Thank you, Mayor.

I I guess I'm just kind of wondering uh tabling it tonight how and whether or not that's fair to the to the neighbors that are here and have been at uh three previous planning commission meetings to uh to talk about this project.

Um I also kind of wonder, and Commissioner Myers uh kind of hit on this a little bit.

How are how is it that we're voting on a planned development when we don't have a full plan?

Uh to me that sets us down a slippery slope for future request.

Um and future it kind of it kind of just takes the heart out of a planned development, really is what it does, because it doesn't give the neighbors around there uh a part of doing a planned development is so that the neighbors understand what's going to happen, not only for tomorrow, but five or ten years from now.

Um and that that to me is is is a bit troublesome.

Um so and it's not fair to the neighborhood or fair to the neighbors around there, and it's not and in essence a planned development at that point in time.

It's just uh a rezone.

Uh you know, and looking at it, I don't understand why uh they couldn't go ahead and do like the one A part of all of this that uh read um kind of re fixes up the shopping center.

Certainly it worked for Beechwood uh in doing that.

Um so I don't I'm I'm not quite clear on you know you can start with the 1A, and once you figure out what you want to do with a planned development, come back to us and and get the planned development going through at that time.

So I'll be voting no on the tabling just because I don't think it's I don't think it's fair.

I think I think we've had had enough um enough um comments on this.

I think we had enough presentation.

So uh let's move forward one way or the other.

I agree.

Commissioner Thornton.

I guess um Commissioner Hambi um led into my my question about the PD.

And is there any reason that this was not a binding um was not binding?

I think uh I I heard I I I I because I heard concern about phase two, and I'd be concerned too, no disrespect, but is there any reason this was not binding, especially for the phase two?

So the plan that you have in front of you and that they proposed is binding.

Oh, okay.

What what I think the comments are focusing on is that that phase two area is relatively unchanged.

So what would be binding is the fact that there aren't any significant changes happening to the balance of the property other than landscaping and and some improvements that the applicant mentioned.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh anyone else before I return to Commissioner Fisher?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Stephanie, yeah, yeah.

Commissioner Fisher had a question.

Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Johnson, then I'll return to Commissioner Fisher.

Thank you.

You know, I went to the very first planning commission meeting and I saw all of you all plus another probably 20 or 30 folks from the neighborhood speak on this um proposed development and speak against it.

And it made sense then, you know, and I'm I don't have to live there.

And I think the best line that that was repeated over and over and over tonight is is you know, make a decision based on if you live there, if you had to live there.

And I think that that is really important.

Two weeks ago, I thought after you know the multiple meetings that the um disenchantment and or the things that um were not agreeable were worked out.

And it I'm hearing some new stuff that concerns me.

So to when I came in here and I read through it, I thought I was going to vote yes for it, but if we voted tonight, I would vote no.

I do not support apartment complexes everywhere, in every corner.

I mean, to dim the light of a well-established subdivision, I I think their apartment complexes, you know, there there's a place for them, but I just don't think there everywhere is the place.

I think um eight townhomes and two five-story buildings, that's not um it's not it's not a comparable.

I mean, it's it's the town homes that are going to be for sale, they they just fade in comparison to two five-story apartment buildings.

I mean, I someone made a comment about the afterthought of the green space, and this seems like an afterthought of uh of property tax revenue generation.

I would if we voted tonight, I would vote no.

I do agree with Commissioner Hambi.

I I was there at the first meeting um almost six months ago, and four days it will be six months, I think.

So I just I would not recommend, I would not vote for delaying the vote.

That's all I have, thanks.

Return to Commissioner Fisher, who's got some questions for planning director Ronnie.

Booz, would you um explain what I mentioned earlier so everybody can understand about would that be a commercial?

What can actually go there if nobody came with a plan?

So the zoning of the property right now is commercial general.

Okay.

And that zoning does allow for mixed use, it allows for the density that they've proposed.

So they're not actually achieving any extra density than what would otherwise be allowed by the zoning that's on the property today.

So the by-right development option to do this is remarkably close to what's being proposed, with the exception of ground floor commercial being required.

Okay.

So that's a waiver that they've requested and is part of the PD.

And then some of the other developmental kind of particulars that go along with the CG zone, they've asked for relief from some of those aspects.

Um but there's no extra density that's being approved with the PD.

It's pretty much in line, it is exactly in line with what the base zoning would allow for without a PD.

Right.

So that's why I want the community to hear.

So if all those waivers go away, somebody can come in.

And bill by right.

Pretty much the density that you just recommend.

That's correct.

That's there.

Okay.

I just want to make that clear.

And so again, I hope that wouldn't happen.

And again, if this doesn't pass, you know, I hope some other developers come knocking down the door.

But I just of again, and I uh keep repeating this.

I just don't hope this property sits for another five years and nothing is there.

We still got the plight of that particular, and we use those restaurants that may leave because of the um nature of that particular space.

You know, but but again, I'm gonna um um respect whatever my colleagues decide to do, you know.

I talked to some of them today, and and um I hold no hard feelings um about how this vote goes, but I just um think that you know I love to see the housing there.

You know, we keep saying apartments, but they are gonna be um condoles there, which is gonna be a HOA condo's there.

So there will be some things put in place with those um condos there.

But um, but uh I respectfully like to say I'm gonna support the project and we'll just see what the shoe falls.

Got uh Commissioner Lincoln and Commissioner Myers.

Yeah, um I just want to remind everyone that um a vote to table would allow the developer time to withdraw the project and improve it and resubmit within a year's time um a vote to deny would pretty much keep it off the table for a year.

Um you know, I believe that there are you know some can set further concessions that could be made to make this more palatable because I know that by right you could get something that is much worse.

Those townhomes could go away and you could get five stories on the existing footprint of the already developed shopping center.

Um so I I'm I'm just throwing that out there.

A vote to table could offer an opportunity to um make some improvements and and see that this works out for the better.

Commissioner Myers.

You could um I just want to question then if this could be built by right, why is it a plan development?

Could someone explain that to me?

I I can explain the procedural side, and you may have questions for the applicant about why they opted for this approach.

Um with the waivers, the list of waivers that they were asking for, the planned development was the approach to go rather than having a series of variances.

Um they did engage with uh a design firm that has been through that process before, was comfortable with that process, uh, felt like this was probably the way to get those questions to the community and in front of you all, and ending up with a binding plan was something that they were comfortable with, and they had expressed that comfort to us.

So that's why they opted for the plan development.

But those waivers were key to their development scheme is to not necessarily have vertical mixed use, but to have horizontal mixed use.

So commercial on-site would be retained, and then residential would be sort of to the western end.

If that helps.

So it was a way to deal with the uh what do they call the considerations?

Right?

I mean, you know, right.

The approved right, right.

It's the the consideration.

So the by-right requirements in the code were ones that didn't fit the scheme that they had anticipated for the development.

So they went for the plan development approach to be able to get flexibility from those standards that would have let them build by right, the same density, um, buildings at that height, um, keeping the commercial.

All of that could have been done by right, but there were things that would have come with that, um, the expectation of ground floor commercial throughout those two new buildings and that type of thing.

They wanted flexibility to to not do that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

The substitute motion on the floor is to table for a cycle, which is uh loud by code.

I'm gonna go ahead and have attorney Drake uh read the ordinance just so we've got that on the record.

Ordinance to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia with respect to rezoning one parcel of land comprising approximately 15.95 acres located at 2415 Jefferson Road from CG Commercial General to CGPD Commercial General Plan Development and for other purposes.

All right.

So uh the motion on the table is again to hold.

We'll do a round Robin beginning with Commissioner Link.

Link, yes, Taylor, no.

Right?

Yes.

No Johnson.

Sorry.

Yes.

No.

Myers.

Yes.

Norton.

Yes.

Hambi?

No.

Six years.

Sorry.

Yes.

Okay.

Seven years, three nine.

All right.

Uh we will see this again next cycle, everybody.

All right.

Give everybody, I know there are probably some folks to depart, give them a moment to do that.

Until she said that's what about that move wrong.

Yeah.

No body.

Stop being a greedy ultimately.

Yeah.

So that means they're not.

Yeah.

Okay.

Right, right, right, right.

So I mean, a little street.

Okay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like they have to go through a process.

All right.

We're going to go ahead and uh pick up with item 15.

Item 15 is 250 Little Street, Unit A 208.

Is there anyone here to speak to item 15?

Anyone here to speak to item number 15?

All right.

Uh seeing none, we'll go ahead and come for a commission discussion.

Uh Commissioner Myers, this in District 8.

I'll ask you to place a motion on the floor.

Yeah, I make a motion to approve this.

All right, motion from Commissioner Myers for approval.

Is there a second?

I second it.

All right, second from Commissioner Thornton.

All right, Commissioner Myers, any remarks?

No, I just I just want to uh repeat again what we learned and is in the agenda report that these are um these are apartments that actually were meant for short-term use um and so they sort of fit what's a lot of people here.

Okay, they they fit what a short-term rental is.

So anyway, that's that's what I'm doing, and I'm getting a little distracted by the noise, but um you second it, right?

I I have no comment.

No follow-up.

I I apologize.

I I did see that the applicant entered and and may have been in the hallway uh when I called for public comment.

Uh would would anyone like to speak to item number 15?

Uh we're present if there's any questions.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

Uh so we've got a motion, we've got second.

Any further remarks from the body?

I'll ask Attorney Drake to read the ordinance for us.

To amend the code of Athens, Clark County Georgia with respect to special use of approval in the RM-2 mixed density residential district for one parcel of land located at 250 Little Street Unit A 208 and for other purposes.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

No.

No.

One record uh uh uh Commissioner Hambee and Commissioner Taylor opposed.

Any others opposed?

And one recuse.

And uh and recusal from Commissioner Wright.

Okay.

Thank you.

I appreciate it, everybody.

All right, uh moving on to item 16.

Is it any public comment on item number 16?

All right.

This is like the last one in District 8.

Would you like to put it in the middle of the case?

And I'll make a motion to approve.

And I want to again uh publicly thank the applicants because they had a third unit that they withdrew that's in the apartments that are not set up as short-term spaces, and these were short-term spaces that don't have the uh full kitchen and such.

So this this was enough reason for me to make that exception and approve these.

All right, there's a motion for approval from Commissioner Myers.

Is there a second?

I can think of second.

I'll second it.

Second from Commissioner Thornton.

Commissioner Thornton, any remarks?

No.

Anything else from the body?

I'll go ahead and have attorney Drake read the ordinance.

And for other purposes.

Since we had some diversity of response last time.

Yes.

Thornton.

Yes.

Hamby.

No.

Davenport.

Yes.

Link?

Yes.

Taylor.

No.

Right.

Recused.

Fisher.

Yeah.

Johnson.

Yes.

Call pepper.

Yes.

Seven yes, two no, and one recusal.

All right.

Motion carries.

Thank you, everybody.

All right.

We're moving on to item number 17 regarding 115 McClung Road.

Is there any public comment on this tonight?

And again, just uh give us your name and place of residence, and then you have three minutes.

Good evening, Eric Johansson, 6083, Shadburn Ferry Road, Beefford, Georgia.

I am the uh agent for the applicant, and we're also the property owner of this land.

As we uh stated at the um agenda study meeting, we agree with the planning commission decision and the conditions that came with that.

Just a reminder, we are a second tier uh commercial property.

We're not the frontier on highway 29 out front.

And uh we're down zoning the property from CG to uh EO to allow this.

Because of that downzoning to allow the uh self-storage in that zoning district, it requires a special use permit.

It also requires a zoning change and a variance uh to get the FAR to 1.0 instead of 0.75 as currently zoned if self-storage was still allowed on a CG property, the FAR would have been 1.5.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have and respectfully um request your support for this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Johansson.

Is there anyone else to speak to McClung Drive?

All right.

Seeing none, uh I'll ask Commissioner Thornton to make a motion.

I make a motion to approve this um request.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

All right, got a motion from Commissioner Thornton and a second from Commissioner Wright.

Uh Commissioner Thornton, any remarks?

No.

Commissioner Wright?

Um just one comment that I just need that um storage units are um give people versatility in the changes that they have in the stages of their life with housing.

I think it's an an asset to the community.

Any other remarks from members of the body of attorney Drake, read the ordinance?

Located at 115 McClung Road from C-R commercial rule and C-G commercial general to E-O Employment Office and for other purposes.

There's a motion and a second.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

Uh number 18 is uh part two of McClung Road.

Uh would anyone like to speak to McClung Road again?

All right.

Seeing none, we'll come to Commissioner Thornton for a motion.

I so I I move to approve uh this request uh item number 18.

I'll second it again.

All right, we've got uh another motion and another second from Commissioners Thornton and Wright.

Any further remarks, Commissioner Thornton?

No, Commissioner Wright?

Ready to vote?

Covered it already.

Attorney Drake, what you got?

On a parcel of land comprising approximately 2.13 acres located at 15 McClung Road and for other purposes.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Are there any opposed?

All right, hearing none.

Motion carries.

Thank you all.

All right.

Uh item 19 is uh regarding several addresses on Hull Road.

Is there anyone here to speak to this tonight?

You got a busy channel.

Good evening.

This one I have a question.

Hey, uh good evening, uh Frank Pittman.

I'm here speaking on behalf of the property owner.

Um as I mentioned in the agenda setting, this is uh three small parcels on whole road that are uh currently zoned CR.

Um the request is to be uh rezoned to CG, which is very similar.

You guys earlier this year um approved a CG zoning for the property right beside it.

Um it does have uh sewer capacity, which is important for CG.

One of the reasons it was CR because sewer used to not be out there, but it is now.

Um the uh does meet the future land use map.

Uh the current zoning does not meet the future land use map, so this would be bringing into compliance with that.

Um and um I would like to ask for you guys to y'all support tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Pittman.

Is there anyone else here to speak to item 19 whole road?

Seeing none, uh turn to Commissioner Thornton for a motion.

Um I'm I want to I'm gonna I think I'm gonna make a motion.

Um I got a question for the gentleman, Mr.

Pittman.

Yes, ma'am.

Mr.

Pittman, I drove over there and I rode around and is my GPS took me to the U Haw place.

No, this there's nothing on this property.

Though there was an old house, but they I think they have just recently demolished the house.

So this is if you go around that curve.

No, this is on the straightaway just before you get to modern body shop on the same side of the road as modern body shop.

If you're driving toward Old Overton or toward City of Albert.

Oh, that okay.

I went old.

Okay.

Yeah, this is on Hull Road, so this is on out past the super croger.

Super croker, yeah, out there on the left, right before you get the modern body shop.

So it's right beside where the entrance to the tally development will eventually go in there.

And and and you're saying there's sewer there now.

Yes, ma'am, there is sewer there.

Okay.

Uh I make a motion to approve.

Got a motion from Commissioner Thornton.

Is there a second?

Motion from Commissioner Thornton and a second from Commissioner Link.

Uh anything further, Commissioner Thornton?

No, thank you for that clarification.

Commissioner Link?

No, I'm good.

All right.

Anything else from members of the body?

All in favor, please.

Oh, let me have attorney Drake read the ordinance.

An ordinance to amend the code of Athens, Clark County, Georgia, with respect to rezoning three parcels of land comprising approximately 1.54 acres of land located at 1065, 1075, and 1085 whole road from C R Commercial Rule to C commercial general and for other purposes.

Thank you, Attorney Drake.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed to the motion?

Aye.

Please note opposition from Commissioner Taylor.

Please do.

All right.

All right.

Item number 20 is uh an amendment to Title IX of the Code of Ordinances regarding special use permits for short-term rentals.

Uh is there any member of the public who would like to speak to this tonight?

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Linda Carroll Portafil.

I reside at 1020 Chestnut Glen, Athens, Georgia.

As a local realtor and a citizen, I am committed to protecting private property rights, and therefore I'm asking for you to support in number one, removing the Sunset Clause that is proposed.

And number two, allowing STR permits to transfer with the sale of a property.

STRs are very important to the local economy and a significant tax revenue for Athens Clark County budget.

And it seems inconceivable to me and to many of us that we would do away with STRs because of the income that they generate.

There are not nearly enough places for individuals to stay when they come to Athens for many events.

And we're not talking about football games because there are only six or seven of those.

People who visit here, they eat here, they shop here.

If they go to surrounding areas, they're going to spend their dollars in these surrounding areas.

We believe that there needs to be some clean and consistent policies that ensures fair treatments that preserve the values of the real estate.

And also there are ordinances already in place for noise, trash, parking.

If someone violates those, they need to be punished.

There needs to be some fines put in place.

And those people do need to be punished.

But we don't need to punish people who are following the laws.

And I do have some concerns about rental registration because there is laws on the books that prevent rental registration.

We shared our concerns with the Planning Commission staff and commissioners.

And we've been steadfast in in our belief that anyone that has an STR, they're a good thing for the community, and they're good for business in Athens, Clark County.

And as always, I appreciate your concern.

And we know that it is a very difficult job for you to please everyone, but we are asking that you protect private property rights.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ms.

Porterfield.

Is there anyone else here to speak to item number 20 tonight?

No.

Entertain a motion from any member of the body.

Commissioner Culpepper.

Are we talking?

We're not talking about the sunset in this, are we?

No, the sunset isn't part of this component.

Okay.

What about um with the sale of STR and it being able to be transferred?

Is that in that's not part of this either?

Is it?

No, component of this is not the kind of uh continuity of STR availability upon transfer of property.

Commissioner Myers?

I'll make a motion to approve.

All right.

Got a motion from Commissioner Myers.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

I've got a motion from Commissioner Myers, second from Commissioner Thornton.

Commissioner Myers, any remarks?

Yeah, I I just think this uh is some needed clarification.

The first part of this is really about saying that short-term home occupation can happen in uh multifamily developments as well as the single family, and probably the more significant one is the uh changing of where the commercial short-term rentals are allowed and where they're permitted without any limitation in the EO.

But uh for for most of us, the big change, and perhaps the county manager or someone can address this if I'm leaving something out, but the uh they will not be permitted, and this is for new ones.

This is not talking about ones that are already existing, um, not be permitted in RM zones in just like they aren't permitted in the RS single family zones.

So that's for the commercial ones, the ones where there's not someone like it's not me renting out my house.

That's a home occupation one.

Anyway, is do you all need to make any clarification of what I said?

I I see affirmation from Planning Director Lonnie for everything you said.

Okay.

Uh Commissioner Thornton, anything else?

No.

Commissioner Hambi.

Sure.

I just have a few questions for uh Manager Carroll or the planning director.

Um I'm reading through 915 26 or whatever it is.

915-16, home occupations.

Um list the requirements and criteria.

Um I guess I'm looking at age just as an example.

Parking and business related vehicles.

No on street parking and business-related vehicles, including occupants of STR should be permitted any time.

How is that enforced?

Bruce has got that.

Stepping up to the mic.

So, as part of the original adoption of the ordinance, you also authorize the funding of a position to handle code enforcement on these issues.

And so is it getting enforced?

It is.

Um, it is, and it's on a complaint basis, really.

Um there is no outward display.

We don't have any sort of yard sign to say that we're short-term rental is or is not.

So as complaints come in for that kind of activity, it's for that code enforcement officer to do their due diligence and gather evidence and follow through on them.

But we have we have been doing that.

Okay.

My second question is this.

And for most of these, um they're renting out, you know, most of the house and going somewhere for the for the weekend.

So if it's a home occupation.

Shouldn't somebody be home.

So, I mean, if you're asking if it's a business and a home occupation, like if you're cutting hair or or child care or doing whatever in your house.

You're there.

It's a home occupation.

But here.

It's a home non-occupation.

Uh you see where I'm going.

It's not an home occupation.

I'm being a sm I'm being sarcastic.

And but it's not, it's not a home occupation.

No, I think you're raising a key distinction for sure.

And it's a hotel in a neighborhood.

There the question of accountability is is the way this has been framed.

There is somebody accountable for the operation of that who is the owner or the long-term tenant of that property.

So it it allows for that code enforcement officer, for example, to have a direct line of contact for that responsibility of how it's operating.

Yeah, I see exactly why you're doing it, uh, Bruce.

I you know, I know I'm being difficult, I know, but I'm just being difficult because the whole STR thing to me has been difficult.

I understand.

And uh it's been difficult for a lot of neighbors, a lot of neighborhoods, and um and and let's just call it like it is.

I mean, if we're gonna approve a hotel in a neighborhood, and then let's call it a hotel in a neighborhood.

So any rate, I'll be voting no on this.

And Commissioner Hamby could coin the away from home occupation category of some future zoning code and some municipality.

I did want to make just one clarification on the code enforcement piece, which is one of the pieces we have been struggling with is being able to secure code enforcement staff for weekends.

Um so I just want to be clear.

That's been very difficult.

Um we're trying a couple different options to try to increase the staffing, but um we know that that's a need.

You funded that need.

We just haven't been able to successfully get someone who wants to do that.

So that hasn't started, I thought it was gonna be.

Uh we've had I think we had somebody or we were actually doing interviews or something, but we actually haven't secured anyone for weekend work.

That's right.

Anyone else before I return to Commissioner Myers?

Commissioner Johnson.

Uh Commissioner Johnson.

Thank you.

I wanted to know for code enforcement, they currently don't have hours over the weekend, and a lot of STRs, at least in my neighborhood, the the visitors come on the weekend.

How do they manage any issues, challenges, or respond to them if they don't have weekend hours, if the officer and or officers don't work on the weekend as it is as today?

Go go ahead.

I was gonna say that that's actually what I was just referring to.

We we do we are intending on having staff that would be over those weekend hours.

We've just been having difficulty actually securing that staff.

Is there someone actually though able to take complaints right now or no?

Sorry.

So that's something that they've been brainstorming some recruitment options, but they do have a staff member that's been working uh those uh complaints weekends.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Taylor and then Commissioner Myers.

How easy is it to enforce these complaints?

Because I've been working with the Git committee, and it's hard for us to even get residents, students, to even work with code enforcement for them to even be able to take the complaint even further.

So is this theoretically?

Because right now I I think we're just speaking like theoretically, this is how it's supposed to work, but it's not actually working, it's not even working residentially.

So I can't see how it would work for the STRs.

I mean, because and also this will also allow for someone to buy up uh in a whole apartment complex and rent it out as STRs because or no, Jill, you shook your head, no, and I just want to be right, you know.

Not not as a commercial short-term rental noon.

Not as a short-term, but we've also established the fact that if it's home occupation and they ain't at home, that the STR could steal so because one thing that I do know is that when we do these things, and I'm new to the commission, but there are always ways to go around what we establish to the point where we're back to square one.

Like GOC was working on short-term rentals, and we had a hard time with the sunset clouse because of litigation.

So we kind of altered it to not have to be sued as much.

And now we're here.

I'm just trying to understand, because we don't even have places for residents to live, like permanent residents.

So for for me and and in my district, because we have STRs in district three.

And we also have a housing crisis as well as a lot of homeless people that are just dropped off in Athens.

And so, you know, having this in-depth conversation about um people coming into town, and I and I get STRs or whatever, but I also feel like because we are elected officials, we really should be having a conversation about where to put residents and not allowing language to um have potentially a whole complex rented out as an STR.

Because I know we say, well, that's not gonna happen.

Well, theoretically, we can't enforce a lot of stuff, which is the complaints from um code enforcement, because um residents don't have to open the door, nor do they have to ask questions.

And that's um came from Jack from code enforcement.

So Commissioner Taylor, as a sort of a matter of that kind of line of inquiry would a question.

Would it be helpful to hear just sort of what uh what a model response looks like from a staff perspective?

Is there something that we can do that is and maybe this is it that's just gonna be like well, we're gonna I don't know if you're manager cowell, you know, you know, get given supervising.

Yeah, the only thing I would would add is um because the commissioner's correct because she knows from experience with the homes and Bruce has said it that you know we respond to these and anticipate responding to these on a complaint basis.

So if there's not a if there's not a complaint, then it is quite possible that someone would violate the ordinances to go through.

There's also I think ultimately we'll have one code enforcement person dedicated.

We currently have one dedicated to short.

So also think of the resources that have been committed.

Thankfully you've committed resources to that, but those resources are limited.

So certainly if someone goes into this, like all of our codes, someone goes into it intending on violating the code, it's not going to be you know an automatic that we're gonna be able to actually close that loop.

We'll obviously do what we can, but you shouldn't approve a code.

Uh you shouldn't approve a code amendment what that is completely dependent upon code enforcement to be successful.

Um I'm not saying that this is actually moving us in a direction of regulating these more so than we have before, but um and the home occupation piece is a piece that's challenging.

Um I think that you know to Bruce's point, it's structured such that you've got to you know you live in the residence, rent out a part of your residence um either in the house or adjacent or in the yard, if you will, in another structure.

Um but does that prevent someone from packing up and leaving for the the day?

No.

I mean, I and I don't know how you'll ultimately necessarily can regulate that.

But get uh Commissioner Link and then return to Commissioner Myers.

Yeah, um I just want to remind everyone what we're voting on is um making sure that STRs are no longer permitted in those RM zones where we are having a big problem.

Um so this will at least take those zones off the table, and if anybody wants to start a new STR, they're gonna have to look to a commercial zone.

And I would say that even though the enforcement of that isn't going to be perfect, I guarantee it certainly will be better than if we are not regulating those.

We wouldn't have any tools if we weren't regulating those.

Commissioner Myers.

And and to further clarify, it's we are restricting the commercial STRs in the RM with this ordinance here.

In terms of addressing a question that Commissioner Hambi had, and uh because it is very complex in here, and I cannot remember the answer to this.

Did we make any was there any something was there a restriction in the number of days one could rent out their whole house as a STR like 10% of the do we have any restriction?

I mean, could I say rent out my whole house?

So the restriction we we do we do not.

We do not have a restriction that that talks about a percentage of the year.

What we have is a duration of any one booking, and if you exceed the 30 days, you are considered a long-term renter.

And if you're less than that, you're short term.

But that we don't have anything other than this zoning telling you where it can function and where it cannot, and then how it can function, but that how does it reach into a percentage of the year?

Does uh does our homestead exemption which is a way of telling if it's a homeowner, does that have a certain uh you know, like you have to have it for 70 percent of the year be living in there?

The homestead exemption, as I understand, and somebody may correct me if I get this wrong, but it it is your primary residence.

So it doesn't require you to be on site any amount of time, it just requires that that is your primary residence.

Okay.

So you could use wording there to say it's my primary resident residence.

Okay.

That's just that's legal argument here.

We'll work on this another day.

Return to Commissioner Hambee.

Sure, thank you, Mayor.

And and more I was being um um kind of um kind of facetious about what I was saying.

I do mean what I was saying, but I am supportive of this simply for the reasons that Commissioner Link uh expressed that it does it does make the STRs uh um makes our ordinance stronger in cutting back on the number.

Uh but I do think moving forward, uh we just need to call call it what it is.

So thank you.

Any other remarks from Body?

All right.

Um I believe the motion was from Commissioner Myers, so we'll do a round robin beginning with Commissioner Myers.

Oh, I'm gonna have attorney Drake read the ordinance and then we'll get the round robin beginning with Commissioner Myers.

Yes.

Davenport.

Yes.

Taylor.

Right.

Yes.

Call Paper.

Yes.

One now.

Yes.

All right.

Motion carries.

All right, everybody.

It's at eight oh five.

We're going to take just a ten minute break.

So we can continue with all new business.

We now are ready for any public input on old and new business.

Those are items 21 through 27.

And so if any member of the public would like to speak to any of those items, 21 through 27, now is the time to line up at the podium.

And we're glad to hear you.

And if somebody's already said what you want to say, you can just give thumbs up.

That's an option.

All right.

Good evening.

And again, just uh let us know your name and place of residence and the item to which you're speaking.

Awesome.

Uh good evening, Commissioner Jameyer.

Um, I'm Isaac Johnson.

I live at 367 Rosenell Howard Street in Athens.

Um I'd like to speak on item 27.

Uh while I appreciate the proposal of a moratorium uh on the data center measures, um, I would say that a moratorium is not enough.

Well positive economic impacts of a data center are clearly pretty limited.

I think the risks to public safety and health are very clear.

There's an intense amount of energy use um from these data centers at a time when utility costs are already uh causing working families to struggle.

There's light pollution, noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution.

Um, and uh even greater environmental impacts than that, and also it puts a strain on our existing transportation infrastructure.

Um I think that Athens Cork County residents don't want a data center in four months when the moratorium is up.

They don't want the potential for a continuation of current projects like the one that's proposed at Athena Drive.

Um, if data centers are a threat to public health and safety, which the uh document of the moratorium seems to lay out a pretty clear case that that's that's true.

I think if that's true, then I would like to encourage the commission to go further than just a moratorium and take necessary zoning actions to ensure that no diet data centers are built in our county.

Um I think you can see around the country and communities where these data centers are being built.

People are almost universally unhappy with their construction, and I think there's a lot of consequences that we haven't seen yet.

Um thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Johnson.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Jay Boyd.

I live at 142 Oxford Court, and I'm a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation here in Athens.

Um I would like for you to vote yes on the data server uh data center moratorium.

Um further, the proposed data center at Athena Drive needs to be included in this moratorium.

It is well documented that the data centers that have popped up across the country have only brought with them higher electricity bills, noise, heat, and pollution.

The companies that are building these and rezoning them claim that these data centers' harm is reduced by new closed loop systems and the draw of new jobs, but these talking points are completely false.

Closed loop systems actually use more electricity than about evaporative systems and other systems, a cost that will only be subsidized by the community and not the corporation.

The computational equipment and generators that these centers use run 24-7, which creates sleep disrupting, low frequency noise pollution, and air and water pollution from the diesel fuel used.

So it's called.

But what they have done is forced local residents to absorb increased electricity costs, lower air quality, and noise disruptions.

These consequences are immediately felt by the community.

So please vote yes on the data center moratorium, but please continue the fight in these next four months against the conversion or construction for a data center here in Athens-Clark County.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Boyd.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Marisella Twazen.

I live at 385 River Road.

I am also a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation here in Athens.

I'm speaking here about item number 27.

I hope that you vote yes to implement the temporary moratorium on establishing new data centers in Athens.

Furthermore, it is currently unclear if the moratorium will apply to the proposed data center in Athena Studios.

The Athens community needs clarity about this.

The data center at Athena needs to be included under this moratorium, and it should not be built.

John Williams, the president and CEO of WA Engineering, says that this data center will use a closed loop cooling system.

His argument that this system will result in lower water consumption and be more environmentally friendly is a misleading characterization of these closed loop cooling systems.

The closed loop cooling systems are more energy intensive.

This will lead to a higher carbon footprint.

They need uh more um higher generation of electricity, which will require more use of water.

So this is the indirect use of water.

Um for most US data centers, the indirect water use is significantly higher than the direct on-site water use.

So the zero water label about closed loop, um closed loop cooling systems is smalling.

The water consumption is not going down.

It is just changing from direct water use to indirect water use because of the need to generate more electricity.

So it is not more environmentally friendly.

Um closed loop cooling systems are not going to solve the real environmental problem of data centers.

It is only going to solve a PR problem for the corporation.

The PR problem for the corporation in response to the wide criticisms from the Athens community who will bear the consequences of these data centers.

Athens needs to reject these data centers, including the proposed center at Athena Studios.

It must be included under the temporary moratorium.

Um I hope that you vote yes for this temporary moratorium, but I hope that you provide clarity about whether Athena Studios will be included in this.

Um, and I hope that you respond to the needs of the community.

Thank you, Mr.

Twazin.

Good evening.

Hi, my name is Daria Kalantari, and I live off of 120 winter circle.

Um I'm also here to speak on item 27 underneath business uh for the data centers.

I would like you all to support the moratorium that's being proposed.

Um we've already kind of talked a lot about the environmental issues.

Um, but I would also like to talk specifically that they pose not only a risk to the community as a whole because of these things, but also especially the display.

Proportionally harm marginalized communities, and that is a big concern for me.

Um I also have a personal concern about this.

I live less than a mile from Athena Studios, and considering a lot of the unknowns, uh, the environmental impacts, living so close to this potential data center that could open at Athena Studios.

I'm very concerned.

Um then one last point too that I like to make.

It seems like the potential environmental issues that data centers pose could directly work against the goals of the 100% uh Athens renewal energy initiative that was passed in 2018.

Um so that is another concern that I wanted to raise.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you, Dara.

Good evening.

Good evening, everybody.

Um my name is Evan Mills.

I live at 517 Ashbrook Court.

I'm here speaking on behalf of advanced beautiful health systems for item number 24, the mental health recovery facility.

Um, brief history that many of you guys probably already know.

Um, but we were awarded you know, spLOSS funds of about 5.3 million um to develop a 32 two-bedroom unit mental health recovery facility on our property at 240 Mitchell Bridge Road.

Um the uh the intended and projected budget for that initially was between 10 and 12 million.

Um we were uh in light of all of that, you guys graciously approved um additional ARPA funds to um of about 5.2 million um to support that with the recent costs uh and development cost of you know exponentially increased.

This overall budget has turned into about twice that amount.

Um we have been very diligent working with um state and federal and other local funders, um, and I am very proud to say that we have been able to largely procure and fill that budget gap to the point where we are expected to break ground on this development this month before the end of the calendar year.

And it's been uh it's been a labor of love.

Um I do want to give props to the the SPLOSS office here, Keith Sanders and his group.

Um they have been a tremendous partner in the development of this um this project.

Um that being said, um, we have had to do a lot of what I will say creative value engineering in order to get this project in budget to where we can uh break ground without having to minimize the number of units and minimize the square footage.

That has included um cutting significant costs around the landscaping, around some of the exterior, um, some uh some issues around uh FF and E costs as well as just the infrastructure in order to get it to where we could fit it in in budget at this point, especially in light of the the federal funding that we're going through and the precarious nature of the future of federal funds um that might come into this county with the populations that we are intending to serve.

We are really looking at every opportunity to be able to stretch the value of not only this development but of our services as well.

And I am looking at any opportunity we have in order to build a strong and stable, not only recovery community within this building, but also the building itself.

And if we do the things and at the risk of finding cheaper materials ongoing with that building, will you know, especially given the population that we're looking at serving, we're looking at more and more operational costs associated with that and that building deteriorates.

Thank you, Evan.

Appreciate your time with us tonight.

I apologize.

Thank you so much.

Good evening.

Hello.

Dr.

Tawana Smith Mattis.

I represent Pitt Road.

Live at 295 Fairway Drive.

Um, Mayor and Commission, uh, please vote yes on the ordinance to adopt a temporary moratorium on data centers in Athens, Clark County, including um the Athena um proposal.

This moratorium is not a rejection of development.

It is necessary um to pause to ensure responsible, transparent, and community-centered planning.

Athens also already has one data center that was approved with no public um information in the back of Pittard Road, an environmental victim zone.

Critical questions about zoning level electricity and water demands, renewable energy commitments, and community benefits were left unanswered.

No community should be placed in that position again.

And unfortunately, with the um all of the data centers um proposals that are coming up, they're in the same area.

The Black Rural Working Class area.

The second zoning request was recently made near COIA Middle School, and I thank you all for shutting that down.

And again, now we have the Athena Studios project.

Data centers require enormous amount of power and water and create long-term infrastructure burdens that residents often end up subsidizing.

Without guardrails, companies can also seek pathways through state level entities such as the Public Service Commission, limiting local control and oversight.

ACC must have the time and structure to create clear regulations that prevent this.

A moratorium will also allow all relevant departments, the marin commissioned planning and zoning, and then I just learned through the Athena studio that we've been overlooking the public utilities area that they are coming up with a 20-year plan and a five-year plan.

The Marin Commission planning and zoning, and then I just learned through the Athena studio that we've been overlooking the public utilities area that they are coming up with a 20-year plan and a five-year plan.

So we have to be, you know, make sure that we as community understands these connections as well.

To work together to close loopholes and develop enforceable standards.

These standards should include mandatory disclosure of resource usage, environmental impact review, renewable energy expectations, community benefit requirements, and protections for already overburdened neighborhoods.

Many of the areas currently facing industrial clustering, including the existing data center, the quarry, are predominantly black rural and historically undisturbed undiscerned.

Without thoughtful policy, these communities risk being disproportionately affected by high intensity development.

A temporary moratorium is simply good governance.

It ensures that Athens is not reacting to development pressure, but proactively shape it in a way that is equable, sustainable, and aligned with community needs.

Thank you, Dr.

Smith Matt.

I appreciate it.

Good evening.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Olivia Asher, and I live at 105 College Station Road.

And I'm also here to comment on item number 27.

I do computational science, and I'm here with the coalition of Athens scientists, and I've been looking into this data center issue over the past year.

Georgia already has 98 data centers.

They use the amount of power equivalent to three million homes and 67 billion gallons of water a day.

Before we bring more data centers into Georgia, we need to thoughtfully consider is this right for our community, not just our community, but the state of Georgia as a whole.

I ask that you do instate this moratorium that you include the Athena Drive development in this, and that you use the time that you have during the moratorium to thoughtfully consider zoning ordinances specific to data centers for Athens, Clark County.

For example, making data centers have to have special land use permits so that they would be subject to community review before being built.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms.

Asher.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor Gurtz and Commissioners.

My name is Summer Blanco, and I live at 135 Garden Court.

I'd also like to speak on item 27.

I really just want to echo the sentiments of my neighbors and express my strong support for the ordinance to adopt a temporary moratorium on data centers.

I'm a researcher who uses high performance computers that often rely on large server centers, and I understand that data centers can offer valuable resources, especially to science and tech sector.

I think that data centers are here to stay, but I want to make sure that they're good citizens of Georgia.

And right now I don't believe they are.

As Olivia said, there's 98 data centers in Georgia and 32 more planned developments in the pipeline.

They'll use as much energy as Olivia said as 3.9 million homes, and for reference, there are 4.6 million housing units in Georgia.

So that's that scales wild.

With regard to water, data centers are currently not required to track their water use, and so there's a lack of transparency that raises important questions that our community needs to understand before decisions are made about data center development in Athens.

For example, how much water will a data center use?

Is our water infrastructure able to handle this increased demand?

How much power will data centers use?

Will it require new power infrastructure, including substations and transition mission lines?

How much tax revenue will this generate?

How many permanent jobs will this create after construction?

Who's going to pay for the power and water infrastructure upgrades?

What will the lighting look like?

Who will monitor the noise levels?

How long is the lease for?

And if we give tax incentives, do they pay them back if they leave early?

What is the end-of-life plan for the data center?

Who gets the water during drought protocols?

Athens deserves the right to be well informed about data center development in our city, and I support this temporary moratorium, and thank you for taking this first step to ensure that data centers are good neighbors here in Athens.

Thank you, Ms.

Bronco.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Tim Johnson.

I live at 545 Sunset Drive in Athens.

And I'm also here to speak in support of the moratorium on data centers.

And the only things I would add to what's already been said are that there's now a bubble of data centers.

There's been this explosion because Wall Street says this is where all our money is getting invested.

So they're throwing money at this data centers being built all over the country.

So there's not a need, even if you support the ultimate goal.

And that bubble is going to pop.

The only other thing I would add is that Clark County is the smallest county in Georgia.

And we're challenged with sites for new industry coming in that will employ a lot of people.

Data centers notoriously have tiny in employment compared to the acreage.

In fact, I've seen it that McDonald's employees I a McDonald's employees more people than a data center.

And the land then becomes unavailable for other development.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Johnson.

Good evening.

Good afternoon, you all.

My name is Hampton Barno.

I live at 255, the preserved drive, and I'm here to speak in favor of item 27 about the moratorium.

I want to further elaborate on the claims that we've heard so much about the environmental cost that this has, uh, the the cost that it will have on infrastructure.

But I also do want to talk a little bit more about the economical side of it, that being that data centers, in terms of the amounts of land, the amount of energy they use, produce relatively few jobs, and what jobs they do produce are mainly associated with things like construction and not and long-term maintenance, things that aren't necessarily going to be enriching our community as much as other endeavors will.

Additionally, I do want to talk about the fact that as mentioned earlier, one of the main drivers of data centers has been the growth of AI, which right now is in a bit of economic precarious softly.

Recently, the CEO of Google has stated that there might be an AI bubble, which is concerning considering that Google is deeply invested in AI.

I think that there is a very decent chance that if more data centers were to be built, both here in Athens but Georgia and the country at large, that much of these will be sitting vacant in the event of a bubble or an abrupture of side belt poll, and that the demand that these are supposed to be built for is not going to be there.

Additionally, I do want to speak a little bit more to the environmental side of this.

We are seeing uh increasing problems with, of course, um water um supply uh here in Georgia but at the country at large, and I do want to think about the fact that here in Athens we are committed towards 100 percent green energy in the future, and I feel that considering how energy intensive this is, that this is a step in the wrong direction.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Bernard.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Rhea Satheva.

I am a resident of 425, River Bend Parkway.

And I am here to speak on item 27, the moratorium about data centers.

Data centers provide us with the internet, but Athens really doesn't need one.

New data centers support AI, which is a industry dominated by a few big companies that ultimately will result in a lot of us losing our jobs.

Furthermore, I'm an ecologist, and I'm here to speak about the environmental impacts of uh data centers in further detail.

Data centers evaporate approximately 80 percent of the water that they use.

In Athens, that water is going to come from the middle and north Oconee rivers.

These rivers are already at risk.

They are heavily polluted.

I know this because my lab goes out and tests them.

Uh and they suffer from, you know, fecal coliform, um, heavy metal pollution, and that is only going to exacerbate.

We won't be able to walk into those rivers.

We can't drink from them already as they are.

So those rivers also flow into the Altamaha, which is an incredibly important river for our entire state.

This river provides clean drinking water to all of Metro Atlanta and several other places around the Southeast and contains several rare species.

It's also one of the only uninterrupted rivers, which means it doesn't have a dam blocking it that we have left in the entire Southeast.

So AI data centers will put a serious risk.

Not only do they evaporate a significant amount of the water, but they also discharge heavy metal pollutants.

And I don't want that for any of the residents of Athens, and I don't think they want that in their water either.

So in the face of a changing climate, this data center will exacerbate several of the issues that we're already bound to face as a result.

Our electricity bills will skyrocket, and the good people of Athens will be the ones bearing the price as these outside companies pocket the profits.

The environmental issues that arise from this kind of um, I suppose, decision disproportionately affect communities of color.

Athens is a historically black city and has a vibrant culture that I don't want to see disappear.

And I think that putting a data center in here risks us being the next Mossville.

I don't want that to happen to any of our residents.

I want us to be well.

I want us to be healthy, and I think creating a few short-term jobs at the cost of many of us losing our own dying of disease, getting sick is absolutely not worth it.

Having 98 data centers should be enough.

Thank you, Mr.

Tava.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Hi, my name is Barry Irwin.

I live here in Clark County.

I'm not going to sit here and spout off a lot of data to you.

I uh I'm not a scientist, so I may play one in your dreams after tonight.

But uh the moratorium I'm supporting item 27 for the very reason that you people need to take the time to learn about these things.

Um perhaps all of these people put my thumb up there, Kelly, for all of the invice of these people who know all this to come speak to you about it.

But other than just letting this stuff come in here, you can spend two days watching a YouTube video or two, and you're gonna learn about all the problems people are having all over the country with these data centers coming to their area.

The one in Tennessee that Elon Musk put in there and all the fraud, apparent fraud that is associated with that facility.

I mean, it's just horrible.

And you got time pass the moratorium, look into it, and pass a good ordinance.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you, Mr.

Irwin.

You're welcome.

Good evening.

I'm Denise Horton.

I live at 815 Boulevard.

Um can echo all of these things that have been said, but I also would like to say that I hope that this group will take a leadership role in working towards statutes about data centers for our surrounding areas also.

Um the water that we use is of course not just our water, it's water used by our surrounding counties and such, the power, all these things are connected.

And the I think that it's really important that we realize the impact that a data center here or a data center in a neighboring county has on all of us.

The other thing is I know that there's some question about whether the moratorium would affect the Athena uh studios, and I do question whether there's not ways of looking at things like the issues of the amount of water that would be used, the power that would be used versus what was thought to have would be happening when those when the studios were built, um, and the number of jobs that would be here and those sorts of things.

It just seems like there's a lot of things we could look at before you know having to approve data centers at the Athena Film Studios.

Um that's that's it.

I thank you, and I want to thank uh Commissioners Myers and Link who have been meeting with the uh Athens Land Trust and those committees that have been exploring some of these issues already.

Thanks.

Thank you, Ms.

Horton.

Good evening.

Good evening.

My name is Tammy Foote, and I reside at 223 Fairview Street, and I'm here speaking on item number 27.

Um a lot has been said already regarding the um moratorium for the Athena Studios um data center.

I just want to say and reiterate as I see it.

We do do not need another data center in our area.

And um, as it was stated in regards to the cost is already a marginalized um community.

We will soak up the cost for the water.

We will soak up the cost for the electricity in the area in which they're proposing it.

We already have power surges because there's not enough infrastructure to carry what we already have.

So I'm in support of the moratorium.

We don't need we we really don't need the data center at all instead of a moratorium if you can just ban it, period.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Foote.

Yes, I just want to Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Laura Eyer, and I'm with the Southern Sustainability Institute, and we do um community education, really local community education on clean energy and other sustainability, and and this data center issue um kind of crept up on us.

We were doing some maybe energy burden talks and things like that, and we kind of learned about the data center on Boyle Road.

This was beginning of October, beginning of the fall.

We knew nothing about this.

And I really we have had to pivot in terms of our community outreach and community education from more energy education to what is a data center.

So really October 7th, we had our first um Southern Sustainability and Athens Land Trust Advisory Board, Athens Land Trust came together.

We started bringing the community together.

Again, thank you, Commissioner Myers and Link for coming to one of those.

Then we started going to Atlanta to also educate ourselves and to go their several workshops, all day workshops.

Several people in this room attended those as well.

So our community is doing a really good job of educating ourselves.

We have a lot to do, so hopefully we'll get on it right away.

There's a lot to consider.

We're not alone since there we've got some pioneers in Georgia have already started putting ordinance out there.

There's some very good templates we can start from.

And so I think we start on it.

We have another community meeting January 6th, where we're going to bring the community out again to start talking about this.

So your community is very educated.

I'm sure you've gotten a lot of emails, hopefully.

Um, but we're we're really we're on top of this, and and I'm glad to hear that you are too.

And so I'm also supporting a yes for the moratorium this evening.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Ire.

Good evening.

Good evening.

I'm Tachana Nina.

I live at 131 Wendy Lane in Athens, and I like most everyone else here.

I'm supporting the moratorium on the data centers agenda 20 27.

Um there's not not a thing I could say that hasn't already been said by everyone before me.

So I just wanted to say that I agree with all of them and I hope that you all take their words into consideration when considering uh question of data centers in the future from now on because I'm not particularly convinced that it's worthwhile having one in Athens at all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Nino.

Good evening.

Good evening, good evening, Mayor.

Pleasure to meet you this evening.

My name is Tavara Smith.

I live at Sunset Drive, and I'm here for Agenda 27.

Uh I want to support the moratorium, and I do support the band.

Uh this is amazing.

This is my first time coming here seeing uh the Democratic Republic in in action.

Uh how our government works.

I think the citizens should be here in droves.

Uh the guys on Agenda 14, they did a wonderful job having you guys table that because they had uh they didn't want that development, and this is what our democracy is about.

Uh the pollution, the toxicity, the damage of the data center, it needs to be set aside.

But I do believe the data center will come because uh progression uh evolution uh it's inevitable, right?

Convenience will be the death of us, and we're walking that way.

Thank you, guys.

Good night.

Thank you, Mr.

Smith.

That's uh everybody on old and new business.

All right, we'll come to commission deliberation.

Uh first item number 21, the uh recurrent GOC report recommendations regarding the board authority and commission procedures.

Uh Commissioner Davenport, would you like to place a motion on the floor?

Motion to approve with a condition.

Second.

All right.

I've got a motion from Commissioner Davenport and second from Commissioner Thornton.

Commissioner Davenport, you've spoken to this quite a bit.

Is there anything else you'd like to say this evening?

So just getting feedback from some of my colleagues and from community to combine all the TADs together into one, except the Inter East Athens um TAD group.

Anything further, Commissioner Thor?

No.

Can you say that again?

I didn't want to hear that.

I don't think I heard the question.

Combine all the TADs except the Inner East Athens TAD group.

This agenda item is setting in motion.

These changes, you know, that there'll be it'll come back for the TAD.

Should have to amend the the uh the TAD neighborhood.

Redevelopment plan to match this.

So and it says that in the agenda item, and I just want to clarify that for everyone.

That there will be a subsequent.

There's a several of these items are gonna require some ordinances and changes, you know.

This is directing the staff and the attorneys also begin preparing those.

Commissioner Fisher.

I'm a second.

Oh, I'm sorry, you're saying Commissioner Thornton.

I I second it because I do have concerns that uh that you only pulled one TAD.

But um I think we all need to have that same courtesy.

So I don't understand the rationale, but if this is going to roll back around to us, I'm good with it.

But I do want to go on record that um that there are other TADs too that would like that consideration.

But if this is going to come back around, right?

This is just recommending direction.

I mean, you're going to have to approve the amendment to the redevelopment plans formally.

Okay.

It is clear in the agenda and that's the way it works.

I yeah, I I I and and that's why I second it because I needed to.

Okay.

I'm good.

Got uh Commissioner Fisher Johnson and Myers.

Yeah, my thing, I'm just following the board commissioners all request also.

I think if we're gonna do that, um it's coming back around that we should celebrate all the tags now than not just single out one particular tag to step with those house.

So again, if it's coming back, I'm good.

Commissioner Johnson.

I don't really like to do work more than one time if I could talk about it.

Well, I was gonna say that.

I mean, if y'all are for that, I would say that you know there's no reason for us to start drafting it all, you know.

I mean, uh, well then no, I'm not I I've got Commissioner Johnson who's got the floor, so I'm gonna let Commissioner Johnson continue and then I can call on other folks if they'd like to.

And ask for more time to be put on the clock.

That was a joke.

Uh I I yeah, I d the it coming back is just I don't agree with oh well that's fine then it'll it'll come back, we're gonna forget something else is going to be the priority, there's going to be a distraction.

Life is going to be lifing.

And if we can prevent from like having things loop back to us and make a decision about it, I don't agree with it.

I would love to learn more about the methodology to come to the decision.

And I have further comments, but I'll pause there and let someone else address that particular one, but I have other comments.

Commissioner Myers.

Yeah.

Um, I just want to make sure I'm sure I'm clear on this.

Because if this is clarification, yeah, on the recommendations on the TAD.

I'm like looking at the recommendations that we're like the government operations committee recommends that the mayor and commission and where is the one, isn't there one about number at F.

Yeah.

So I mean, in terms of moving forward, could we make a substitute motion to approve this with the exception of F.

F has to do with the TADs, make it one committee?

If you'd like to retain the current TAD structure, yeah.

You should make that explicit tonight.

Um, you know, we I I think I agree with the sentiment of those who've said you know, let's let's not change things and then change things back in a subsequent decision.

Now there still will have to be many subsequent decisions because as was previously indicated, staff of the attorney's office will have some work to do post this vote, regardless of which TAD direction, but if it's the will of the body to retain the current individual TAD advisory bodies, let's just make that explicit.

Well, I thought I did.

I'm making a substitute motion to approve this with the exception of F, which has to do with the consolidation of the ads.

All right.

Got a substitute motion from Commissioner Myers, second for that substitute motion for Commissioner Fisher.

All in favor.

Is there uh any any other input?

I have comments.

I do have comments.

Commissioner Johnson.

Thank you very much.

I'm so sorry, y'all, but I do I'm I apologize.

I'm not I'm not sorry.

So here's the thing.

I asked on November 18th for some information um specifically, how does one know what to apply for if they don't have a description of the BACs?

I don't recall, I mean, I get a lot of emails, but I don't recall receiving an email with that response.

I mean, all of the descriptions, um, this the Georgia State statutes for some of them, the or origin for others was listed originally in the old document, and it has been removed.

I don't know if it was to save paper or whatnot, but if one is truly interested in serving, how does one find out?

We're not the experts at over 50 BACs, so I would never ask a resident to go to the ACC website.

I have enough you know, trouble myself finding something as specific as one thing.

So yeah, did I miss an email or did it just not come out?

There is with each of the enabling um actions that were taken.

Probably the closest would be as was mentioned on the website under the boards and commissions.

There's a statement of purpose for each of the boards and commissions associated with that.

I think what Commissioner Johnson was referring to is actually a separate document that's not on the website piece, which I don't think exists currently as one consolidated document.

It was removed from the old one, which is we don't have like that is the only one place that everything was in there.

I mean that being updated is is one thing, but to be removed and information taken out of it, it just provides less information to the people.

And when I say, you know, it's it's very, very challenging to find something on the ACC website.

You can do the you can do the quotations, you can put a very specific word or phrase, and it will give you a bazillion options after your query, after you hit enter that don't relate to what you what you are looking for.

So what I'm getting to is that we're causing um challenges, we're creating challenges for people who may be interested in participating in our in our local government process.

I this I don't know how to make it easy to say as a prospective solution, Commissioner.

Uh what one could ask the substitute motioner to direct staff to have a uh complete description of uh each of the board authority and commission members and functionalities.

Can I can I amend that motion?

You may to amend it to include the uh descriptions uh updated uh as they were origin in the original, the previous uh draft of the back manual that includes the descriptions and make sure that it's updated and that everything is in there.

Is that right?

Is that the number of members?

Yeah, yeah.

So you have to do that.

Yes, yes, I want to amend it to include that list um as is exists right now on page 19 to you know, with any up to 19 to 43 of the present back manual.

And I know Commissioner Johnson had some uh additional input, and then I'll move to Commissioner Fisher.

Okay, this is uh probably the last big one is that also on November 18th, I asked the body this question.

So if you have a conflict conflict of interest, what is the what is the recourse for a conflict of interest?

We just complete the form and we all acknowledge, hey, you have a conflict of interest, or is there something done about it?

Is what's the purpose of the form if there's nothing done about the conflict?

So I guess that's the same.

I guess that's a question either for staff or the attorney's office.

Is uh is indication of conflict of interest cause for a prohibition of membership on a board authority or commissioner.

But Julie has to do with the individual vote.

I mean, are you talking about a particular matter, or are you just saying they have I mean if they had an overall conflict of interest, I would think it would be.

But I'm not I may not be following up Commissioner Johnson.

So here's an example.

So you have um members of the body, or you have members of the community that serve on more than two, serve on more than three, or serve on more than four boards, authorities, and commissions.

In our ordinance, it does not allow that.

Oh, well, yeah, you're right.

So that's a conflict of interest.

But we do it.

It should not, but we continue to appoint those individuals.

Um when the mayor has those boards that he self-appoints, not self-appoints, but appoints individuals directly, or when we write the other.

I would happy to look at the language of that provision and see if it maybe the may if the if it's written different so that the mayor's appointments don't apply.

You know, I don't know.

I'll copy and write.

I'm happy to look at that and give you some guidance.

I don't know what it says.

No, I understand that.

No, I just want to make sure I heard you.

I do it's the detail that we're gonna do.

I get that part, thank you.

I just want to make sure I heard you.

I'm happy to look at that and get back with you some guidance with it for an entire commission, but but as a general rule, I if we have the provision, the ordinance that says you can't serve more than two but I don't know what it specifically it says.

I mean, if it says does it include the Some going to say BAC, boards, authorities and commissions and if that general, then I would say that's just two.

That's it, you know.

Well, you're gonna have some people say committees.

But in this but in this document, authorities and commissions, so now the argument is is a committee different.

You follow where it gets into that.

I can say this, if you want to clarify it, just we should want to clarify the audience.

I mean, well, I don't send the policy, but I understand that.

I do.

I was just asking Patrick.

And I do know that uh uh assistant manager Andrew Saunders has worked on this and had a response.

Uh and Commissioner Davenport maybe headed the same direction.

This did come up in the work of the committee.

The simplest answer is the air's committee is a specifically enabled power of the charter.

The mayor may create and disband as many committees as they would like.

Those committees are not boards, authorities, and commissions.

This this document applies to boards, authorities, and commissions, which are largely uh bodies created by you all.

As it relates to multiple membership, it does say that there should not be overlapping membership between boards, authorities, and commissions.

But because there is a mayor's enabled power in the charter, the discussion was is that it was beyond the purview of the document to try to constrain a charter power.

And then the last thing is a good question.

I've got another comment.

Sorry.

A more simplified conflict of interest would function just as it does for this body.

So if it's not multiple membership, if it's I own an interest in a business, I'm on a board authority and commission that's hearing something about that business.

I've declared that conflict, and therefore I should recuse myself from that item.

Okay.

What's the recourse if there is a conflict?

You are you say remove yourself from the from the um commission or the board or the authority?

The intent of the conflict of interest stuff, which actually exists in the original document that this body approved was to declare those conflicts so that they were known and publicly accessible.

The appropriate behavior is for an individual that is conflicted to recuse themselves, just as has happened multiple times tonight on different votes.

If they were to not act in that manner, that could be flagged.

And ultimately, this body and uh for locally created boards and authorities and commissions can remove members that they feel are not acting and consistent with the enabling legislation that created them.

But there is not, to your point, staff are not enabled to say your acting on ethical, you need to go, nor is a board chair uh empowered to do that.

It it is a power that resides with the ten of you all.

Thank you so much.

So here's what here's what I'm getting at for the people that think like, oh, it's just nothing, people are gonna be fine.

What I'm trying to say is there are boards, authorities, and commissions that are included in the book that have members, members, people serving on the membership that professionally do things that they would benefit from by serving on the board authority or a commission for an example.

There let's take a look at the planning commission.

You have you have a real estate agent, maybe a builder, maybe someone that's in planning, I'm not sure.

But I well, I am sure I'm not gonna say anything more than that.

But then they make planning decisions about real estate building.

Do you see where I'm going that that is come that's a conflict for anyone on the outside looking in?

And if anyone says, oh, perfect, perfect right, right, fine, fine.

That's good that's called semantics.

I'm just trying to be as clear and transparent.

And Patrick, I know you are I'm sorry, Commissioner Davenport.

But you know, no one knows outside of this this little you right here, the a self-opponent uh, you know, uh a committee, you know, a short-term committee, a board authority, or a commission.

No one knows that until they know that.

And so to say that, oh, he could, you know, he could do whatever he wants to you, he as in you, Mr.

Bear, um, and appoint whoever he wants, and it could be short-term, long-term, or whenever he wants it to end.

No one knows that until they know it.

And we could clear up a lot with without being confusing on purpose.

I know uh Commissioner Fisher had some follow-up as the prospective seconder of the substitute motion.

Yeah, of course.

I did want the um apply to Commissioner Johnson's um and I want to make sure I'm clear when I ask you this.

You ask me you go to the website, you can't um find things when it comes to boarding authorities.

No, I didn't say you can't find us, it's hard sometimes to find it.

Well, but if you go to the website and you go to get involved, uh board authorities and commissioners, or they we know how to find it.

We so I'm not uh well I'm well I'm confused, and I get a phone call.

I got a phone call from a from I I get phone calls because in my newsletter I encourage people to apply.

They want to know more about it.

Where can I find it?

And they they Googled the phrase of the commission, the board or the authority, and they get a ton of things.

So just to get that one description, I know there's a board's authority and commissions page.

I know there's a get involved page, but individuals that read the newsletter and then find they find themselves encouraged.

And so as as it's uh understood by me, um the intent of the revised substitute motion is to ensure that there's a single description of each of those boards, authorities, and commissions in one place where one can look at a brief description.

Uh it doesn't have to go to a separate set of websites throughout the ACC Gov page or elsewhere.

And it sounds like that would be in the manuals what you're actually praying to.

So you can send them the manual.

All that's on the website.

We're just taking what's on the website and making sure it's in the manual.

Consolidating it in one place.

Okay.

Uh got uh Commissioner Wright and Commissioner Link.

Just uh in the um board authority and commission category where the commission is interviewing folks and they've listed their experience, whether they're currently or have been on one of the ones that they're applying for, Mr.

Mayor, they the discussion follows uh about the number and we keep it at two.

And I have been in interviews where the person didn't realize that, and they would were more interested in the current thing they were interviewing for, and they would roll off of the other.

So there have been those discussions in the interview process for us to keep it to the two, and um, and you know, there's been various times when they knew it coming in and some that didn't, and we always had an agreeable discussion in that information exchange, so that they were going to be on the board authority and commission that was the most passion to their um current place and um that sort of thing.

So it's a dialogue that happens during the interview process as well as the research that people do before they get to the interview.

And are we not timing ourselves tonight?

The there there was some crosstalk, so I think uh the clerk was attempting to manage the kind of multiple queries that were emerging simultaneously.

Commissioner Link.

Thank you.

Yeah, I I think Commissioner Wright touched on this um, you know, as far as serving on two.

I mean, for those of us who you know sat through these interviews and Commissioner Johnson, I I'd suggest that you know sitting through them would help clear some of this up.

Um folks reveal their experience, and it's up to us as the those who appoint these bodies to determine if that experience is relevant to the position or a conflict of interest.

That's our charge on this body.

Um so I think you know that that clears up that portion of your concerns.

And I I I would ask you if you have concerns about those, please attend those interviews so you can help participate in this process.

I did, thank you.

I think uh everybody understands the substitute motion on the floor, which is to uh approve uh retaining individual cat advisory groups and to also consolidate all those descriptions in one place in the manual.

Everybody feel good about that?

Yeah, I just want to say I do think we need to, and it won't get settled today, but when we do have a conflict, there needs to be addressed because we did have a conflict in 2023.

Um and I spoke to Commissioner Myers about it, and I spoke to Blaine about it, and it didn't move.

It didn't, but when when we realize that because serving on these boards, depending if if people play their play their car, it's a very influential position.

It really is.

I know it's they make recommendations, but if you have one person that is on a whole bunch, and have all of that power and influence, that's a conflict of interest for me.

And I brought it up to um uh the former manager.

So we do need not today, but we do need to address when we see it, we need to what do we do?

Because it has happened.

Bring it here.

Bring it to you?

No.

Here should I bring it right now?

Should I bring it right now?

The reason I say it is because the manager has no authority to address that conflict.

But but there should be something that we that is preventive from having a conflict like that.

Yeah, and I think that and especially if the all those positions are similar.

Yeah, and it really is it gets into what was just talked about too, is keeping in mind that there is a there is a what all of us would recognize is a conflict of interest with a particular action in front of the body.

For example, Commissioner Wright recused herself twice tonight because of that piece.

So there's that that kind of conflict of interest.

And then there is this other, and I know you're using the terminology of conflict of interest, but it's really goes back to Commissioner Link's point, which is the influence that that particular individual is going to um place upon the board and those board's decisions.

And that really is a decision that you all have to make when you make those appointments.

And if that appointment is made and that person is using that influence, that decision was made.

That's not a conflict.

That decision was made, and you all made the determination that it was an appropriate representation.

It's really those other conflicts that you have to be most cognizant of, which is they've got a financial interest and an item that's before them, they really need to be declaring that conflict of interest.

I'm mainly talking about policy.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think that's and that's heavy duty.

I'm talking about policy.

And that really rests with the consideration of when you appoint those folks on that board.

But but then when you go back to the charter, though, you have appointments, and then the charter gives the mayor some power too.

So when you mix it all together, it can get coming to the case.

And that's why I say bring it here because placing it with the manager the manager can't do anything about that.

But let's hope it don't happen again since you don't have a result for it.

I've got uh Commissioner Myers and then Commissioner Fisher, and then hopefully we can move to a vote.

Yeah, hopefully we will move to the vote on that.

Uh I think some of this might have been covered because uh I think the uh the manager made the differentiation between the uh discussion of the conflict of interest, which we're the forms in here, and it does talk about how the member should exercise caution by deciding to whether participate or not.

Could be more direct, it could say then member, you know, that that, but it does address it, and it says that the attorney is uh the guidelines in the charter will be the basis by which the attorney will make an interpretation in each case.

So it does it does act as if the attorney is I'm I'm reading from the the manual we're about to approve from page 20.

Uh paragraph under conflict of interest, the last paragraph, the last sentence in that section.

So it's there is something about conflict of interest.

I wasn't on that committee.

Okay.

I have no idea.

I mean, I would just like to see that.

I mean, because I I there's we have ethics provisions in our code of ordinances and in our charter.

Uh and it actually says the commission makes those determinations.

It doesn't say the attorney.

Well, I I'm just reminding this might have been in the old party.

That may have been in the old version, and I'll say that version, but I think that's contrary to the charter.

I'd like a chance to look at that because I don't want to create any confusion here.

And you know, to not belabor this, but to identify that it may be one thing to make a formal decision, such as a removal of a member, and it's a different to get legal guidance.

There you go.

Yeah.

Right.

And so, you know, we we can get legal guidance and we can act or not act on that legal guidance.

But I don't think I have the authority to make a determination like that, you know.

I think the manager is right.

I know that that's what the charter says.

Y'all ultimately can make those determinations.

It does say the guidelines in the charter will be the basis by which the attorney will make it, but the that the attorney will be make the interpretation based on the guidelines and the got a couple other folks who would like to provide some input before the end of the calendar year.

So I'm not sure.

I'm gonna move to I'm gonna move to uh Commissioner Fisher, who I think has some brief input.

So yeah.

So let me let me say this about any with the conflict of interest.

You know, it's tough when we're asked to do these boards and authority, and only four or five people show up.

And then we have these conversations.

So one thing I say I said is our last meeting.

When people apply for those boards, it really would be nice if all ten of us are sitting down at that seat to interview those uh uh folks.

But when four of us or five of us are trying to make these decisions, then we talk about conflict of interest, it comes back like we're not, you know, we're not being transparent.

Well, it's tough to be transparent, and and we only have a quorum there.

So I'm saying all that to say if we're serious by the board authority, the commission when Miss Christine um tell us we're gonna have these meetings.

Everybody need to be at the table.

And I understand sometimes conflicts come up and everybody can't come there, but when citizens come to those meetings to be interviewed, is up to us to be there to respect them enough for all of us to show up.

And to be present.

Can we can we vote on this now, please?

Yes.

So yeah.

So go yeah.

Anything else, Commissioner Davenport before we vote.

That's part two.

We're gonna work on that, but let's read it.

I'm ready for the vote.

Yeah.

All right.

So we have that substitute motion on the floor that includes those two components that everybody understands.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed.

All right, hearing none, motion carries.

All right, we're gonna move on to item 22.

This is the um reallocation of recaptured ARPA funds for affordable housing projects.

Uh would somebody like to place a motion on the floor right now?

Move to approve.

Second.

All right.

So I've got a motion from Commissioner Link and a second from Commissioner Davenport.

Commissioner Link, any remarks?

Yeah, I just have um kind of a quick, somewhat relevant question.

Do we have any idea when we're starting we're going to have discussions about how we are going to spend the I believe seven-ish million dollars we have in our affordable housing fund so we can allocate some additional monies to these needs.

Commissioner, with all due respect, this is really just about kind of one narrow frame of funds, and so let's leave that for some future.

I want to put that out there.

So if the manager can get back to me on that, thank you.

Yeah, it's housing and there's more um future process of money.

Yes.

Uh Commissioner Fisher.

Yeah, I thought we received the letter from um the habitat president that um was not withdrawing his request, but for us to spread the request.

Oh, so do I need to um um do we amend it um motion on the floor for we can spread those dollars out if if a commissioner would of of that person's own volition be interested in a different allocation than the staff recommendation, that would require a substitute motion.

I would like to make a substitute.

So I'd like to make a substitute motion.

Send it back to committee.

So my colleague is so um I'll make a substitute motion that we send it back.

Um to HCD and for them to look at real real allocate that money over several nonprofits as we move forward.

Second year.

And Commissioner Fisher, just having looked at the kind of scoring criteria and the results, would you like to just give them carte blanche to do that, or or would you like to suggest that the top four scored items would be the ones that would have the money distributed among them?

I I I think we would benefit staff by giving them slightly tighter direction.

And it's by default, you would I don't want to speak for staff looking at it, but by default, I think they would just simply take if there's five or six, whatever it is, and you're just gonna divide it between five or six.

That was gonna I would say by them on all the five.

And I apologize, my laptop has died.

I I I remember there was a clay tightly clustered set of applicants that were like above about score of 84, if I'm remembering correctly.

Yeah, can you help me a little bit?

Yeah, they were all pretty closely together in scores with the exception of the last um the last one that was on that list.

Um the reason primary reason the staff made the recommendation that they made was so that the larger dollar amount would have meaningful impact.

There's some question if we spread it out across the entire group, whether or not those can actually even do the projects with those lower dollar amounts that they're they're discussing.

Um but really absent any other criteria that we would use.

I don't know what we would do besides simply divide it out or um or not allocate the funds and just hold on to those until we combine them.

So yeah, uh there were there were all but the one were pretty tightly scored together.

Uh just a second.

Commissioner Wright?

Yeah.

Um well if in my mind I thought that the committee and um had more information that we don't need to be batting around behind the rail, and they would understand if these entities are at their capacity with what's awarded to make sure they can fulfill what's being redone.

But I if if um if habitat has withdrawn, basically, then the uh reallocation I think should go back to those that can discuss making sure um I can remember when we learned about historic Athens why they weren't doing more, there was amount of capacity for them to fulfill it.

So um that's why I seconded your motion because I thought that that going back to making sure these entities can um fulfill their larger amount if allocated.

Yeah, and maybe I'm being naive.

Well, just for clarification, uh habitat's not withdrawn their request for funding.

They just said that they were certainly open to the idea of sharing in that funding.

Um yes, I think that is the question that you're asking is a critical two questions, which is one is with it being reallocated, can these other entities actually do a meaningful project?

That would be one they can answer that question.

The other question is even if they could, is it enough impact that it makes sense from your perspective to actually do that?

That's really a question you all will have to answer.

Right.

So on page five fourteen in the whole packet, um, there's the supplemental request, and then there's um the original ARPA contract.

So it seems to me that if we could get the money closer to their request.

Might I suggest that just given the that would be outside of here.

Uh I think an action that this body could take is simply to hold this until the agenda setting session when we can have a specific dollar amount, commission defined option.

Would would that be acceptable to the body?

It'd be acceptable for me because didn't we just say didn't no, we didn't just say Bob said I mean Mr.

Cowell said that in January, we're gonna be looking at more money coming, maybe.

I don't understand why we're dipping and dabbing.

Why don't we just wait till all the money come back?

And that was my um my suggestion.

If you remember, we found early on in this case because they could not spend the money, the money was available.

You all said, since we've got time, let's do an RFP.

But yes.

But that's my we we do this stuff, these knee jerk reactions.

We know we're gonna to me it's only um what a month away.

Well, it it'll probably be so January is the the due date, the performance date, so it will actually be February or March before we come back.

I'm not gonna fall fall on the floor of this, but on this, but uh I will say that I am very concerned how we have managed all of this ARPA money.

I'm very concerned.

But um I'm I'm not gonna this is not the one, this is not the hill I'm gonna die on.

But we chop up this and you don't have nothing to show for it at the end of the day.

But and that's I think part of our concern if we spread the money out across six different groups.

You're kind of magnifying that.

I've got commissioners link myers and Davenport here.

Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Handy.

Or there already is a substitute motion.

I believe based on our procedures, we've got to either handle that substitute motion or have that withdrawn.

Maybe Commissioner Fisher can amend his substitute motion to uh to hold this until the agenda or till January meeting.

Okay, I'll make a motion that we hold you.

Hold the money until our January meeting.

We have all the funds that's gonna be available tools, then we can um figure out how we want to divide it up.

So revised substitute motion is to hold this item until January.

Is there a second?

Second.

All right, we got a second from Commissioner Taylor.

Right.

Uh continue to uh uh respect the desire for input from Commissioner Link.

Yeah, my concern is that we've got a deadline to get this money spent.

Um we need to get it out the door to organizations that definitely can use it and have proven a track record of of being able to produce housing.

Um that's that's my big concern.

And and if we're to like divvy it up and whittle it down, like you can't build a house with 150,000, and if we're spreading it out, I mean I'm I'm I'm just concerned that by spreading it out, we reduce the the chance that they're gonna be able to actually follow through on the plan, and we just end up getting the money back anyways, and it goes to waste because it has to get spent by the end of next next year.

Yeah.

I mean, the sooner we get this out the door, the sooner these organizations can start doing the good work, and we need to have the discussion about how we're gonna spend the affordable housing money that we have on hand and and get it out to the other organizations.

Commissioner Taylor.

Rental assistance.

Oh, I don't even know.

I'm not talking about the government.

Um, so um I agree with everything everybody said about the ARPA funds and recapturing these funds.

The list that that was put out because we did uh staff did exactly what we directed them to do as far as the RFPs goes.

So for everyone who was listed or who is listed, all of these um organizations do great work.

I um I know that there is some hesitant as far as holding these funds until January, but by reading the list, all of these organizations are already um like I'm not trying to say financially equipped to just go out tomorrow and do the work, but when the money is available, I don't think that there's gonna be like a standstill for months for them to be able to do the work because all of them are already like currently doing ARPA funded work.

Um I would also um kind of advocate um for us to use some of those dollars for um more rental assistance and eviction prevention.

Um because if we're building more houses and more people are getting put out, it's kind of redundant.

Got uh Commissioner uh Myers Davenport Thor.

I'm gonna make a um probably not popular suggestion and just say that I'd rather us do what this agenda item says to do.

Um this isn't a large amount of money.

The amount for Habitat for Humanity is a bigger project.

It can use the money right away.

The other, and then it's clear that the feeling on the commission is that we should work with these other organizations with more money comes in.

Many of these are the rehab, so they're smaller projects, so we can get and and as Commissioner Um Leak has pointed out, we have this ARPA um we have this ARPA deadline.

So uh staff has put a lot of time into evaluating this following what we suggested.

I will uh uh push for us to go along with the original agenda item and then to clearly address some of these other organizations with the money that comes through, and it sounds like it might not be here till February.

So um, but it's with shorter projects, they can deal with those shorter projects where where habitat needs the money.

Commissioner Davenport and Thor.

Yes, that's just echo Commissioner Link and Myers is the fact that this organization that we have it's chosen, they're struggle ready.

And if we delay anything, what is that process gonna look like next year?

We only have 12 months, and those projects have to be started, right?

Not completed, have to be the ground has to be broken in.

Most of these some of these organizations are rhetorization, um, and they do you know they already have some of the funding, but um, just knowing that we're gonna get some more funds in January.

I would prefer just to move this forward because they are ready to go today.

That's a thorne.

We're ready to vote.

Ready?

Well, we got the motion open forward.

Yeah, we're going with you.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

The motion on the floor is to hold till January.

All right.

Um, I'll go ahead and do a round robin.

Commissioner Fisher was the motioner.

So we'll begin with Commissioner Fisher.

Fisher?

Yes.

What is it?

To hold until January.

I think yes.

Yes.

Call pepper?

No.

Myers?

No.

Thornton?

Yes.

Hamby?

Yes.

Davenport?

No.

Link.

No.

Taylor?

Yes.

Right.

No.

Six years, four no.

Wait.

Five, five.

That's five.

I think five, five.

Okay, mayor.

Bye bye, Mayor.

Do it.

Is it five, five?

Is that correct?

No, what do we read?

Let's make three, four, five.

Yeah.

Who are we all using?

Oh, I'll vote with the yes.

Raise your hand.

Five of us.

Why would it be so crazy?

Yeah, I think it's five, five.

Okay.

It's five, five.

Commissioner Johnson, you was a yes, what you did.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, all the yeses.

Hi.

It's five.

There are five.

Yes, five minutes.

Mayor.

All right.

I'm gonna vote not to hold and to a return to the original motion.

Okay.

Which was to allocate the funds as recommended by staff.

And I believe it was Commissioner I'm having to um Lake and go back in time decades.

Um Commissioner Link who made that motion.

And Davenport was just second, huh?

All right.

Uh we're gonna go ahead and do a round robin with Commissioner Link.

Yes.

Okay.

Taylor.

Yes.

Right.

Yes.

Fisher.

Yes.

Johnson?

No.

Hello, Pepper?

Yes.

Myers.

Yes.

Thornton?

No.

Hambi?

Yes.

Davenport.

Yes.

Eight years, two no.

All right.

Motion carries.

Thanks for playing, everyone.

All right.

Item 23 is uh is the uh long gestating.

Improvements on Barber Street.

And um Commissioner Link has uh made a commission defined option, so I'm gonna ask you to make a motion, Commissioner.

Yes.

Um I'll move to approve the commission defined option.

Second uh Commissioner Link remarks.

Yes, I want to thank the mayor and manager cowell and um Josh from our Capital Projects Office to um for spending taking another walk down Barber Street.

Um we've got a CDO here.

I mean, first of all, the the uh item on the table only gets sections one and two of Barber Street uh bike accommodations done.

Um sections two and three, which includes that last section from Boulevard to Prince.

Um we'll have to wait, but um I have a little bit of direction on that final section, which is an extremely difficult section.

Um, you know, that involves the interface with the Prince Avenue bike lanes and it involves a lot of infrastructure conflicts.

Um so basically I I'm just asking that we have the appropriate public meeting with the engineers present um when it comes time to go forward with a design for that section.

We didn't get that initially because this came through during the pandemic.

We couldn't have those face-to-face meetings.

Um and I'm also asking that we deal with some of the um near-term safety improvements that have been requested for many many years.

Simple low cost, um adding a stop sign at Barrow Street and um a little extra traffic calming signage and and painting just some of the near-term um safety issues that can that can be implemented right away to at least calm the traffic on that that one short little very difficult narrow section.

Commissioner Hamby.

No, I'm I'm good with thank you, Commissioner Lang.

Thank you.

Yeah, thanks for everybody for coming out for the for the hike.

Uh any further comments?

Yep.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, we're going to get some improvements on Barber Street.

All right.

Love it.

All right, moving on to item number 24, and I believe there's a commission to find option from Commissioner Myers.

No, no, there is a motion to table from Commissioner Myers that I am bringing up now.

Well, we're going to explain it after I get a second.

Sarah's second to table number 24.

I'll second.

On 24.

All right, got a motion to table from on the advantage.

I don't second.

Commissioner Myers and a second from Commissioner Thornton.

Commissioner Myers, go right ahead.

Yeah, um, Commissioner Fisher and I had discussed submitting a CDO to consider providing 100% of the connection fees.

Um, but then with Thanksgiving and such, and just learning yesterday that it required a an ordinance revision of the possibility of an ordinance revision, and because it was so rushed and want to make sure everyone had it, and the attorney's office had enough time to do that.

We didn't want to push that through.

Um the manager also had some uh want to give him in the manager's office an opportunity to provide some information about how this affects the public utilities uh funds as well, so that we can make a more informed discussion.

Um we changed the the as a body changed the policy last June in 2024 on June 5th, uh which was a very busy time right around budget.

Um, and perhaps uh this will give uh the manager time to sort of review how that decision was made and see if we should proceed then to put forward a CDO on that.

Commissioner Thornton, anything as second or no?

I was just helping out.

Well thank Commissioner Myers and we can do a little bit of research and we have some questions, so we thought this would be the right thing to do at this particular time.

Right.

All right, all in favor of the hold.

Please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

Uh staff developed uh report uh based on commission interest in potential relocation of mill houses from 110 Puritan Lane and 1060 Macon Highway for future affordable housing use.

Um produced that at report, and I know there were some options that were considered.

Commissioner Thornton, I know you'd like to place a motion to hold this item.

I'll allow you to do that at this time.

I would like to uh put a motion uh to hold this um until when are we going to do that work session, Mayor?

Um I believe it's gonna be it it may be February, but uh until following our work session on the following out um gig work session.

I sent everybody uh uh a very detailed email um outlining some of the things that I've learned um um working with GIC and working with uh HCD.

I do want to thank Judd for doing um for drafting the CDO cell.

The workshop when we do the work session, this will come back to us whether we do it or not.

That's fine.

I've also reached out to the um the developer.

They are very behind, so it's no rush about moving the houses.

So um if we can just hold this for after our work session on affordable housing on affordable housing from gig motion to hold until following that work session from Commissioner Thornton, second from Commissioner Wright.

Commissioner Wright, anything further?

Elvita asked me not to talk much, so I'm gonna respect her.

She didn't listen.

Appreciate appreciate that respect.

Any uh anything else from members of the body?

Ready to vote.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right, hearing non-motion carries.

We have two items of new business.

I do need a motion for suspension rules.

I've got that from Commissioner Wright, and I've got a second from Commissioner Taylor.

All in favor of suspension rules, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Hearing non-motion carries item 26 are as previously noted.

Uh this round of appointments to various boards authorities and commissions.

You have a list of those appointments, and I appreciate those members of the body who are available for interviews.

Uh, can I have a motion at this time regarding number 26?

So moved.

Second.

All right, I've got a motion from Commissioner Taylor.

Got a second from Commissioner Fisher.

All right.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Yes.

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

And so I want to thank Dale Van Cantford, who will be on the Industrial Development Authority.

Aaron Redman, who will be on the Athens and Motion Commission.

Shikonda Sturdevant and Felicia Floyd who will be on the DFACS board.

Kirsten Krishner, who will be on the DBHDD, Region 2 Advisory Council.

Katie Mirages, who will be on the Historic Preservation Commission, Mocha Jasmine Johnson and Grayson Griffith, who will be on the Human Relations Commission, and Henry Kern will be on the Solid Waste Advisory Commission.

So thank you to all of those folks and everybody else who applied.

All right, moving on to item 27.

This is our ordinance to adopt a temporary moratorium on data centers.

I'm going to ask Attorney Drake to read the ordinance at this time.

An ordinance to impose a temporary emergency moratorium on the establishment of new data centers in Athens, Clark County, and for other lawful purposes.

Is there a motion to that effect?

So move.

Okay.

I've got a motion from Commissioner Link.

Second from Commissioner Myers.

No, okay.

Second from Commissioner Thornton.

Commissioner Link.

Yeah, I'm I'm this is overdue.

Y'all remember, I believe two months ago I asked for this.

Um I guess um better late than never, but um I hope we can come up with a clear ordinance and guiding any potential future data centers in our community and uh and just make note this is through the first Tuesday of March 2026.

Yes.

Uh Commissioner Thornton.

I just wanted to say that um the first data center snuck on snuck up on us.

Um I do appreciate Elka driving me around, giving me a brief introduction.

Uh I know that Commissioner Myers also went to a training.

I had some training, but we never ever, ever, ever would have expected another data center trying to come here.

I I I think here I go again.

I think when the first one popped up, it should have it it should it should have set some alarms for us.

It should have set some alarms.

But here we are.

We have a moratorium and we'll move forward.

Commissioner Myers.

Yeah, I'm really glad to see this on here.

Um I I want to um thank all the people who came out today.

Um there was a lot of education for us for me.

I also just noted today for my colleagues at um ECC, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia is also having a webinar uh about this in the beginning of January that some might want to attend online, right?

Um and to point out that on December 11th to our audience that it's already on the the planning agenda commission agenda, the text amendment for the uh uh data centers.

And I did want to ask the manager's office if they could make any comments about the Athena studio uh whether or not, because there's a lot of people brought this up, whether or not this applies, or if you can make any comments at all about how that Athena studio planning review that happened today interacts with this moratorium.

Yes.

So the the Athena so we don't have in our ordinance currently a data centers are not identified in our ordinance.

Data centers are newer than our ordinances, and so what that requires the staff to do is at this point in time to interpret which zoning classification does it go in for all of the reasons that were stated here and all the reasons you all have stated before, electric consumption, water consumption, just general impact, and so on.

Um staff's determination is that that requires an industrial, it's an an I industrial um zoning requirement for that use.

The Athena Studios property is not zoned in that manner, therefore our conclusion is that it cannot go there under the current zoning.

Now they have the right ultimately to appeal that to uh a hearing officer with it as well.

So that's kind of where that one is in that in that process with as well.

The original data center that was referred is different in that it was actually as I understand it, this was back some time ago when this interpretation was made, but was because it was being brought forward by Georgia Power that there was a consideration under the um public service corporation that removes it from local authority.

So the zoning didn't we didn't have the same opportunity with the zoning as we did with the Athena Studios um provision.

As you've mentioned, staff is bringing forward the beginning stages of the um to the planning commission, and there'll be hearings in front of the planning commission as well for actually not relying on that kind of interpretation, but actually defining specifically data centers in the ordinance and applying appropriate regulations and placement within the ordinance as well.

So that's kind of how it's gonna move forward.

Thus the timeline for the moratorium, all that's gonna happen within that timeline.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anything further?

Uh there's a motion, a second on the floor.

Attorney Drake has read the ordinance.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

All right.

Hearing none, motion carries.

All right.

Uh now is that time for public input on any item that was not on tonight's agenda.

So if anybody would like to speak to any item not on tonight's agenda, uh same rules of public input, the three-minute opportunity apply.

Uh anybody who would like to speak to any of those items uh may step up to the podium.

Good evening.

Um good evening, guys.

My name is Merritt Melansa, and I live at 260 Willow Run, um, 30606.

Um I've lived in Athens Car County for 26 years, which means I'm really old and I'm very tired talking to you guys tonight.

Um I want to thank everybody for sticking it out with us or sticking sticking it out for all of us, I guess.

And I know this is not the most fun thing, but I want to talk about the 2026 T Splost.

Um I know you guys are kind of in the process of planning some work sessions to plan those projects.

I'm here tonight to talk on behalf of Friends of the Greenway, which is a nonprofit which advocates for expansion, upkeep, and continued support of our greenway trail system in Athens Clark County.

Um the 10 miles that we have today of Greenway have been built bit by bit by bit, and slow and study is awesome as long as you keep moving.

And we are really concerned that we may be losing momentum on our trail system.

Um just as a community, it's a huge asset, and we want to keep that keep moving forward with that bit by bit construction.

Um ACC voters will go to the polls next year to renew our T SPOS, we all know that.

But um last time we saw the list of projects, there were no trail projects on the list that you guys are going to be considering.

We think it's really important that we have some trails on the T on the ballot language when T S PLOS goes to the polls or when people go to the polls to vote.

And we're asking commissioners to commit 10% of the total T S BLOS revenue to trail projects of some type.

You know, there have been a million projects floated.

So you guys just look at what's on the we've submitted to T Splash Committee already, pick one, put 10% in.

Um over the past two months, we've collected 580 signatures from people in every single commission district who also want 10% of the T SPLAS revenue to go to trail projects.

The coolest part about this project of me and all these different people is hearing how strongly they feel about the Greenway network.

Um people from every district love the Greenway.