I'm not called the city council meeting to order, please.

First item of minute so I'd like to call upon Council Member Andy Mars for Board Forward to lead us in the invocation.

Thank you, sir.

I'll stand, please.

I'd like to take a moment to a silent prayer for the uh killing that happened this afternoon for uh Charles Kirk.

It was uh very if you were home watching TV, it was very uh emotional and sad thing for him, but we just to take a few just a few seconds to keep our eyes closed and pray for his family.

Thank you, dear Heroly Father.

We thank you for this wonderful day and for the blessings you bestowed upon us every day.

We thank you for our great city and our great state, and we thank you for all the blessings you have given our great country.

We ask for you to be with our troops and our family, both here in the United States and our troops overseas.

Protect them, bring them home safely and free of harm.

We also ask for you to be with our police officers and firemen as they protect our great city.

We pray for your wisdom and that you will guide this council and help us make the right decisions for all of Marietta.

In your name we pray, amen.

And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Good job.

Mr.

Kidd at the next item on our generous presentations, we don't have anything, but I'd like to ask Councilman Kent to introduce the first lady of Ward 5 to us tonight and his other special guest.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I'd like to introduce my wife Jocelyn Kent, please, and my sister Thelma Kent.

Y'all must be wondering where Carlisle goes on Wednesday night, is that thank you, Ms.

Kent.

Uh thank you, sir.

Proclamation.

Uh Chair, will you introduce do the 2025 Public Power and Clean Water Week?

I take it there's a proclamation down there from here.

Yes.

So I have with me today Mr.

John Dooley, who's going to receive this proclamation from the city on behalf of the Marietta Power and Water.

So whereas Marietta Power and Water was created in 1906 to provide energy and water services to the citizens of Marietta, and whereas water and power are the utilities most fundamental to daily life, and whereas it is vital to advocate the conservation of our shared water and energy resources through education, innovation, and community support, and whereas power and water utilities are valuable hometown assets that are essential to the economic and environmental health of this community, and whereas the dedicated and hardworking employees of Marietta Water and Power have provided continued high-quality service to its customers over the past years in spite of hot humid summertime weather and storms, and now therefore be it resolved that Marietta Power will continue to work to bring safe and dependable power and water service to community homes and businesses, and that the Marietta Board of Lights and Water does hereby proclaim October 5th through October 11th as public power and clean water week in the city of Marietta, and witness whereof I hereto set my hand and cause the seal of the city of Marietta, Georgia, to be affixed this 10th day of September, our Steve Tumblin, the mayor.

This is on behalf of the Tiger.

I just want to take a moment to say thank you to our uh Mayor Tumblin and the council, along with those on our board of lights and water and our general manager, uh Mr.

Ron, uh, for showing continued support and appreciation for those who work in the water and power field here at Barrietta.

Really appreciate y'all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate y'all.

Andre Sims, will you make another special event to present?

Good evening, everyone.

Um, next up we have our uh 90th anniversary of the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater, and I'd like to ask Director Andy Gaines to come down.

All right.

How are you doing?

I'm fabulous, thank you.

Oh my god.

Yes.

All right, so um this proclamation uh from the city of Marietta, whereas the Earl Rachel Smith Strand Theater has stood as a cultural cornerstone and architectural treasure on the historic Marietta Square.

And whereas the Strand opened its doors on September 24th, 1935, been around a while, as a premier art deco movie house, seating over a thousand guests and bringing the magic of modern film to the citizens of Marietta, Cobb County, and beyond.

Whereas over the decades, the Strand became a cherished gathering place, a beacon of entertainment, and a vital part of the region's social and cultural fabric and the community-led efforts of the friends of the Strand and generous supporters led to the theater's magnificent restoration and grand reopening in 2009.

Preserving its history while creating a vibrant hub for live performances, films, and special events.

And whereas the inscription on the theater's iconic marble fake, a monument devoted to the best in music, photo play, and theatrical arts remain as true today as it was in 1935.

And whereas in its 90th year, 90 years here in the city of Marietta, the Strand continues to serve as a dynamic performing arts venue, educational resource, and economic driver for downtown Marietta, attracting tens of thousands of visitors annually and enhancing the quality of life in the region, and whereas the city of Marietta celebrates the enduring legacy of the Strand and honors its extraordinary contributions to the arts, culture, history, and vitality in the state of Georgia.

Now, our mayor do hereby proclaim and honor the 90th anniversary of the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater.

Please.

Thank you all for 90.

Did you bring cake?

I'm bringing the cake afterward.

It's happening.

Speaking of the friend, the strand right now, they're sit at the strand there celebrating Deanne Thompson Monter Day at the Strand.

The City Council, we praise them the other night.

Can you share that video with us, please, ma'am?

This is being done at the strand as we speak.

They're showing this too.

Yes.

Good evening to those of you out there at the Strand Theater.

Here we're at the Marita City Council as a group or just excited about celebrating the life of our newest non- I can leave someone else.

Not a Gary person.

Which means somebody that's in their 90s, but a very young 90.

So I'd like to read this proclamation, and then we're all going to wish a very special birthday individually.

Whereas Deanne Thompson Bonner will be honored by friends and relatives on the occasion of her 90th birthday on Wednesday, September the 10th, 2025.

Whereas Dean was born in Dooley County, Georgia on September 10th, 1935, and has been a resident of Marietta since 1970.

And what a resident she has been.

Whereas during a long and productive lifetime, Dean has demonstrated in countless ways her dedication to the welfare of others and has earned the respect and affection of people from all walks of life and all ages, and especially here in Marietta.

Whereas Dean has lived during the most eventful century of this world's history, and in her quiet way, has been a force for good and a stabilizing influence of those around her during these years of seeking fairness and justice for all.

Now, therefore, I see Tumman, may of the city of Marietta, joining with the mayor of City Council, to hereby proclaim Wednesday, September the 10th, 2025, is Deanne Thompson Bonner Day, which honors a life of service in the city of Marietta, and we wish her a very happy 90th birthday as our newest non Gary and still going strong.

And now if y'all will step forward individually and wish you a happy birthday.

Mrs.

Bonner, have a great 90th birthday, a great party.

Happy birthday.

I can wish you a happy 90th birthday.

Happy birthday, Ms.

Bonner.

Happy 90th birthday.

Ms.

Bonner, I've always been appreciative of you.

You were the first person I went to when I decided to run for city council, and I gained your support on that wonderful lunch we had.

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Miss Bonner.

We love you, and we wish you many, many, many more birthdays.

Happy birthday, Miss Honor.

You bring more light to it by being there.

And I hope they're around for a few more bringing more life.

Happy birthday, Miss Bonner.

Thank you for so much that you've done for this community for so many years.

We've really been blessed to have you here.

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Happy birthday, Mr.

Bonner.

This is Carl Kent.

I want to thank you for all your service to the community at Marietta and Cobb County.

Especially representing Warfy with the rich history of War 5 that you have helped sustain and grow and make Warfy an active part of the city.

I thank you for all your work with Fonner.

Have a birthday.

Happy birthday, and we thank you for your friendship over the years.

Thank you.

Just again, on behalf of the city council, of police, every aspect of this, we're just delighted that you came from Dooley County and brought Jesse with you.

I'm proud to call both of you and Jesse friends, and uh happy birthday.

The only question I got about is the part where it says that in your quiet way that you brought back a lot of change, but uh I guess, but uh your quiet way spoke volumes, and God bless you, and happy birthday.

I mean, I think a moment of privilege just to say that party is going on right now in celebration of her 90th coinciding with our 90th, and she wanted me to send her regards and say thank you for the one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um are obvious.

Without saying is that tomorrow is uh September 11th.

And on September 11th, 2001, we had one of the worst days, at least in my memory.

Um so we thank all of the first responders who responded and went in to save people.

Many lost their lives.

We pray for the families of those who lost people, both in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.

So just remember that tomorrow is a day to remember those who lost their lives.

Going off of that, I would ask for a moment of silence for senior firefighter Preston Fant.

Uh firefighter fant was a firefighter in DeCab County, served for 21 years in their fire department, and died Monday in a duty-related incident while they were fighting a fire at a commercial building.

Um Firefighter Fant is from Cobb County.

And they had the honor ride today to bring his body to the West Cobb funeral home.

And so if we could just a moment of silence for him.

Thank you.

Next Wednesday, uh, September 17th.

The daughters of the American Revolution are going to have their Constitution Day bell ring ceremony up at the square at 3 30 p.m.

Um, I'll be out there.

I think a few, I think a few other people up here on the side will be out there, so hope to see you all out there.

We have our concert series uh which will be September 26th.

Uh that Friday night.

We'd encourage everybody to attend if they can.

Uh and also uh not in our not in September, but in October, we have Choctoberfest, which will be October 11th and 12th, and definitely would like to have everybody out for that great weekend.

Well thank you.

Next item of scheduled appearance.

We have one person signed up, Mr.

Don Donald come forward and the citizen to be heard.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor.

You don't know how hard it was for me not to get up and say something about you in Knickers 90 years ago at that strand.

But four more, Mr.

Mayor, four more.

Now, I'd like to thank the mayor and the council and all of the leadership in Marietta for providing our first responders with the best.

We just saw two of the first responders in DeCalb County.

No amount of equipment was going to prevent what happened, but we are training every day.

We have the best.

Another thing.

I had a busy couple of weeks.

I got another phone call.

Get your butt up here and do something.

What do y'all want me to do?

You know something.

It's easy to pick up the phone, pass the buck back to Joseph.

But I also have other people I can pass the buck.

And I want to thank you, Bill.

You jumped right on it when I have a problem.

Sometimes y'all don't know what the problems are.

Sometimes somebody's doing something that's probably not a good thing, and we can call on y'all.

We fix the problem.

The problem goes away.

And that's what we like about Marietta.

We live in a community where there's always going to be a problem, but can we fix the problem?

And yes, most of the time we can.

So uh congratulate everybody on that and get me out of the doghouse.

Other than that, we're gonna talk about things tonight.

Uh one of the things that bothers me is is Marietta for Marietta?

I say it is.

I say we are a good community, and Marietta is for everybody in Marietta.

Sometimes there's a bit of a question mark out there, and we all know it.

It just has to get better over time.

And we've done a lot lately to make things go better.

So in the meantime, I'm only going to get to do this maybe two, three more times before some of y'all are gone.

So in the meantime, I hope you all have a good evening.

Thank you.

I'd like to close the public session.

And next item agenda is a consent agenda.

And I'd like to mayor pro tem to conduct such.

Yes, good evening.

If everybody would pull out their agenda and notice on the left side of many of the items, most of the items tonight are has a little asterisk.

That means that these items are on the consent agenda, and we'll vote on them all at one time in order to save time.

And we have assumed that they will pass uh Mr.

Haney, is there any changes to the consent agenda?

Yes, sir.

Mr.

Barker, there are several changes starting on page nine.

The uh acquisition of easements for 1001 Burnhick Ray Road has been moved to consent.

The item below that.

Easements for 980 Wimberly Lane.

That has been added to consent.

The next change is on page 11.

The Marietta Cobb Museum of Art.

No change there.

It stays on consent.

It shows Mr.

Gilstein as abstaining.

The next change is on the top of page 12.

The wording on that item has been changed, but it has moved been moved to consent, authorizing the city to enforce the contract regarding 550 frankly.

Other than that, Mr.

Walker, that's it.

Thank you.

Any comments, sir?

I'd like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Second.

All in favor, please cast your vote.

Consent agenda is approved.

7-0.

Thank you.

Next item I want is a public hearing.

I'd like to ask the Mayor Pro Tim to conduct next item on the agenda is uh rezoning of first United Methodist Church 92 Whitlock Avenue.

Mr.

Haney, would you please conduct the uh public hearing?

Yes, sir.

As Mr.

Cummings comes forward, these two rezonings relate to 92 Whitlock Avenue and 96 Whitlock Avenue.

Is there anyone here tonight in opposition to either one of these?

Opposition.

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney.

For KZ 2025-18, the applicant First United Methodist Church of Marietta is requesting the rezoning of 92 Whitlock Avenue from OI Office Institutional to R3 residential.

Coinciding with this request is a variance request to reduce the minimum lot width from 85 feet to 84 feet.

And Miss Angie Smith is here to present on behalf of the applicant.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney.

My name is Angie Smith.

I live at 337 St.

Mary's Lane in Marietta.

And I'm here on behalf of Marietta First Methodist Church as the chairperson of their Board of Trustees.

Hold on.

Excuse me.

Did not want to cough into the mic.

I'm actually here on two properties.

And a lot of what I'm going to say applies to both of them.

The one that's on the screen at this at the moment is 92 Whitlock.

At the church, we refer to this as the Rock House.

At the present time, we have our youth minister, our chair of youth ministries, and they're not chair, she's the director of youth ministries.

She's a tenant.

We're asking to rezone this from OI to R3.

Um, we're also doing the same for 96 Whitlock, which we will discuss in a moment.

The purpose of this is that at the present time, the entirety of the campus is OI.

Um the church itself, the parks, everything else.

The Rock House is immediately contingent, or uh is immediately next to the church, and the parsonage is on the other side, it that's the 96.

At one point, there was an intention to consolidate all of the lots into one, and also at one point the rock house was used as a counseling center.

So the zoning was appropriate.

At this point, for the first part, both of the properties are being used as for residential purpose.

So it makes sense to drop the zoning back to that.

But also, the church intends to explore selling both properties.

We currently have a contract on the parsonage because we have not used it for any of our own ministers in over two years, and it just seems to be a better use of our funds to let it go.

To clarify, there will be two hearings, two votes.

Correct.

So anybody have any questions for Ms.

Smith on uh the first one, 92 Whitlock Avenue.

Any questions?

Once again, anyone in the public that would like to speak?

Mr.

Walker, the public hearing is closed.

Thank you.

Well, I guess since this is my ward, I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor, please cast your vote.

Please raise your right hand.

There we are.

Motion carries 7-0.

Thank you.

Next item is uh First Methodist Church 96 Whitlock Avenue.

Pretty much all of the my original comments applied this.

The only difference at this point is that 96 Whitlock is currently under contract, pending the approval of the zoning.

Any questions of Ms.

Smith on 96 Whitlock Avenue?

One last time.

Anyone here that would like to comment on that?

Mr.

Walker, the public hearing is closed.

I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor, please raise your right hand.

Motion carries 7-0.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Give me a little time.

Thanks.

The next item is 0202508, rezoning matter.

You conduct a public hearing, please.

Yes, sir, Mayor Tumlin.

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours on 31 Rock Street.

Is the applicant here?

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours, please.

Thank you again, Mr.

Haney.

For case V2025-21, the applicant VC properties ILLC is requesting the following variances pertaining to 31 Rock Street, which is zoned CRC community retail commercial.

Variants to continue using the property for outdoor storage, including inventory associated with automobile sales.

Variants to allow outside storage areas to be located beyond the side or rear yard.

Variants to allow outdoor storage outside of a solid wall or fence no less than six feet in height.

Variants to waive the 25% limit on land area use for outdoor storage, variants to allow outdoor storage as a primary use in CRC zoning, and variants to allow outdoor storage within 50 feet of residentially zoned properties or within 25 feet of city right-of-way.

And Miss Jane Hawkins uh is the applicant and is here to present.

Ms.

Hawkins, if you'll come forward, state your name and address and make your presentation, please.

My name is Jane Hawkins.

I'm at 272 Evelyn Street.

My residential address, Marietta, Georgia, and my business address is 533 Roswell Street and 31 Rock Street.

And what are you requesting tonight?

Um tonight I'm just requesting to a continuance of doing what we've been doing all along.

Um I came a few years ago, and we were allowed to continue as long as we made sure that we had all of the the parking lot on the outside of the fence striped and taken care of and everything is striped.

Um Sarah and Stephen Eldridge with ProShine parked their cars out there to be serviced in the in the um their unit, which is next to ours.

And then Jim Thompson is here tonight with IQ Motors.

Um he parks behind the fence and has for over two decades now been in that uh position.

Um primarily I'm here because we've had we purchased Rock Street um for our business, the veterinary clinic, um, so that when the widening of Roswell Street happened, we would have some place to park our vehicles if if we had a problem.

And um we have uh we had our our um parking in front of Broswell Street taken away, um, and we do need extra extra parking.

So what I'm asking for actually is that we have um TVC has the option to park cars in and out of the fence, so behind and in front of the fence.

That IQ Motors still has their ability to park behind the fence.

Um, and Stephen and Sarah can still be allowed to have their cars being serviced with cleaning there in front of the fence.

Any questions, Ms.

Hawkins?

Any questions?

This public hearing.

If there's anyone here tonight that would like to speak, please come forward.

Mr.

Barnes?

Thank you.

I can't say anything but good things about a business like this.

I would trade this for porta potties any day of the week.

It's something to laugh about.

This is a legitimate car business that's not doing anything, and they're staying behind the fence.

I can show you 75 to 90 percent storage.

I can show you a lot.

But in Marietta, let's let these people do their business as they should.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Barth.

Anyone else?

Anyone else?

Any further questions of Ms.

Smith?

I'm sorry, Miss Hawkins.

Public hearing is closed.

From Ward 5.

And this is you.

Yeah, five minutes.

Okay.

Um Mr.

Haney, I have a question for you to probably.

If we um motion to approve this, this stays with the with the land.

Yes, sir.

Unless you put a time, unless you put a time limit on it.

But yes.

Ms.

Hawkins, would you be uh open to like a 10-year period?

And then if you're still doing the same business, you know, come back in in 10 years.

Absolutely.

I love coming here.

I'm just saying if the if the business is changed, and I know IKEA's been here for 20 years, but if they decide to move, um I would like to not see that these variances are tied to that property for someone else because it's so close to the downtown area that we're looking at developing.

So my motion would be to approve the request for a 10-year period.

Second.

And may I ask one quick question?

Yes.

Um this is a little bit in touch with uh more so through the chair the to the attorney.

I know on the previous thing we talked about putting in uh parked lines and stuff.

Um the lines are now in, but uh there so is a requirement without it being stated that they sought to keep the keep up the lines and park within the lines.

Fine.

Or if do we does that need to be added into the motion as a stipulation?

Okay, not the permit part of the thing, but the the stit the stipulations about maintaining the fence, maintaining the asphalt, maintaining the lines.

Absolutely.

Um, would you be at this time, Mr.

Mayor?

Would you be would a motion to amend be appropriate?

I'd make a motion to amend to add in those stated stipulations.

Second.

And just so I'm clear, that would be what I already have, correct?

What you already have in requirement and the requirement to maintain it.

Absolutely.

Okay.

You were concerned that you know if there was a change, if you put a term of years on it.

Would it be this is good as long as she owns it?

We can't tie it to a property owner.

You you could put that condition on it if you wanted to ten years or transfer of title to the property if you would like to do that.

I mean, I think that's really what you were saying.

We're happy with the current folks.

All right.

You know, she's over two years from now.

It's okay.

Eight more years would still be in existence.

Is that what you want to?

Yeah.

I'm I'm agreeable to that, Mr.

Mayor.

I make a motion to amend to include the words or on transfer of title.

Ten years or on transfer of title.

Accept.

You see what we're doing?

Absolutely.

And I absolutely agree.

Thank you.

So an amendment to an amendment and then to an amendment.

Approved the other.

Did I jump in too soon?

You can do two layers, I think, under Robert.

So we're currently on an amendment to an amendment.

So we need to vote on that first.

All those in favor.

Amendment number two.

Please indicate your vote.

Motion carries seven vote.

Now we're on the first amendment.

Which is adding in the si uh re-adding the stipulations about striping asphalt and fence and make and that they be maintained through the through the time.

Through the time through the time period.

Any further discussion?

Motion carries.

And we're going to vote for me as amended amendments.

10 year period.

Any further discussion on the nail of motion before.

Please indicate your vote.

Motion carries.

Doctor thinking.

Thank you.

I'm not a doctor, by the way.

And you missed out on listening to my whole four-minute speech.

Darn here anyway.

Okay.

The next item is a public hearing V2025-22, 1288 Rawls Road and 50 Powers Fearing.

Mr.

Andy, will you conduct the public hearing?

Yes, sir, Mayor.

Timber the public hearing is now open on 1288 Roswell Road and 50 Powers Ferry Road.

Is there anyone here that would like to comment or object to that request?

Anyone?

Hang on just a minute.

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours.

Thank you once again, Mr.

Haney.

For case V 2025-22.

Accent Marietta Atlanta LP and Westplant investors are seeking variances associated with the modification of two signs located at 1288 Roswell Road and 50 Powers Ferry Road relating to sign height and sign face square footage requirements.

Mr.

Parks Huff is here on behalf of the applicant to present.

Good evening.

For the record, my name is Parks Hope with Sam's Larkin and Huff, and I represent the applicant in regards to this sign variance before you this evening.

There's one kind of at the old sports authority entrance or the movie theater entrance.

We have, as your staff did a great analysis, we have the right to replace those panels and leave it the way it is, but just replace the panels and and change the graphics and and we could do that.

But what we'd like to do is use the same location, some of the same structure, but modernize it and substantially bring it in in more compliance with the code.

So those are the two sites.

So we're going from 35 feet tall now to 23 feet tall.

So that's a three-foot height increase.

The other increase is that we're 18 feet overall square footage.

Again, when you think of square footage, 18 feet is not much.

What you are doing is increasing the chance of those commercial businesses to be successful.

That's what we want is those commercial businesses to be successful.

So it's a relatively minor increase in size that my client in the signed contractor thinks is needed to have that proper visibility.

So one retail tenant doesn't get you know shorted a little bit.

And when you sign a retail lease, one of the things you're looking for is what my signage is.

And so this will increase again the chances of this being successful.

Hopefully the rent will be a little higher because it's going to be a successful business, and because they have decent signage.

Again, we're using the same locations as they are now, visibly and height-wise, I want to point out this is next to a multi-story multi-u-tenant building.

So it's scale-wise, it makes sense.

Same for the other entrance or the other sign.

As you're seeing that, it's intermixed with the height of 75 and that bridge there.

So again, the scale and the height kind of makes sense and is significantly shorter.

So the request is to allow us very minor increases in the height of three feet and in the square footage to be able to monetize these signs.

It is not the cheapest route.

The cheapest route is to just leave the 35 feet and replace it.

That's not the goal.

The goal is to have attractive signage that gives good visible leasing tenant signs for everybody that's in there.

And we look forward to this mixed use.

It's going to have all these components, the retail, the multifamily, the for sale, and the movie theater, all intermex, and the signage will tie all that together.

So we think it's a very reasonable request.

We tabled last time to even refine a little bit more and reduce those down.

So we hope that you think that we've done a good job in meeting uh the code as closely as we can while doing what our we think our tenants will need and what our uh sign contractor and our uh tenant uh representatives say is needed.

So again, all it is is getting good signage uh for um for the tenants.

If I can go back to the other sign uh to the aerial, yeah, there.

Uh you know, one of the things is is that retail building is right there, and again, having all those retail tenants on one sign ties this together as a mixed use, and we think makes the most sense.

So thank you for your time and your thoughtful consideration.

Mr.

Huff, stay right there.

Any questions, Mr.

Huff?

Mr.

Um.

On the material, just so I can get the orientation correct.

Um go for one slide real quickly.

Uh yeah.

This one, this is the one that's over on Powers Ferry because it's close to the other the other buildings and whatnot.

Correct.

And is the brick side facing Powers Ferry or is it facing the uh buildings?

Just out wondering.

I think it is facing Powers Ferry.

And the brick will obviously be matching the brick on the buildings.

Okay.

And on the second sign.

The reason you went with the same the same uh material on both sides was the brick.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was because that the brick was tying into the buildings that are there.

This is at the intersection uh closest to the interstate, and that design look was what the contractor recommended, and or the sign contractor recommended to architecturally look appropriate.

Um, this is this is bringing us um more into what the city is wanting with the monument signs on all of our signs.

I think I think you've done done a good job of that.

Okay.

Other questions of Mr.

Huff.

Thank you, Mark.

Thank you.

Mr.

Barth, is there anyone else that will like speak on this?

Good evening, Donald Barth.

As a neighbor over there, anything we can get y'all to do to help to make this a success.

This is a blighted property that is going to go places.

We are going to grow in Ward 7.

We have the land.

Now we need is your help to make these things successful.

And being close to an interstate, the sign that's closest to the interstate needs to be seen too, so we can attract attention as people are heading north stuck in traffic.

Thank you.

You're forward.

Oh hell for it.

Is there anyone else that would like to comment on 1288 Roswell Road or 50 Powers Ferry Road?

Mayor Timman just.

Maybe I misunderstood.

I thought we were just going down to one sign.

If we go back to the aerial.

So the staff analysis mentioned the possibility of splitting up the sign and putting a monument sign in front of the retail.

What we did, what I did say the other night is we would agree that this would be the only monument sign for the retail.

So we wouldn't divide it up into two.

So there, but there that means there's only going to be the one sign that's over by the movie theater.

Correct.

There's the one sign at the movie theater and then the other one sign at Powers Ferry, which staff was mentioning is instead of putting all the retail tenants on this sign, we could shorten our sign and do an additional uh monument sign just north of that.

So that would put three sides.

What we said is we'd be agreeable that we wouldn't do any more monument signage on that out parcel for the retail, because we want it clear, it's a mixed use with all those uses.

Other questions are Ms.

Tough.

One other thing.

With regards to the variances, would you be okay?

Would you be okay if they got tied to the way the look is pres that was presented with materials and stuff?

Yes.

Thank you.

I'll make a motion to approve the five variances that are all listed on the agenda with the stipulation that the sign, uh the two signs match the uh look and look dimensions materials that are presented as part of our packet, the bri uh the one one of which having the brick being over on Powers Ferry.

Any further discussion no please indicate your vote.

Motion carries, thank you.

No, and I'd like to close the public session.

Any other vendors?

No more.

No sir.

Yes.

I'd like to reopen it since you didn't understand.

Come on down.

Okay.

Thanks, ma'am.

Oh, hi.

Hello.

Hi, how are you guys?

Wow.

My name's Gillian.

Uh good evening, Mayor Tumlin and Council members.

Thank you so much for allowing me to speak tonight.

My name is Jillian Benson.

I'm a public relations student at Kennesaw State University, and I also work here in the square as a bartender.

Uh, like so many others who serve and work here, I am proud to contribute to what makes Marietta Square such a vibrant and welcoming destination.

Tonight I would like to bring to your attention a challenge that nearly every employee here faces.

Parking.

Uh-oh.

Uh today, or every day, employees are being ticketed during their shifts.

Uh many of us work eight, ten, or even twelve hour shifts without the ability to step away and move our cars every two hours.

As a result, the very people who keep Marietta Square alive, the servers, bartenders, retail staff, and others, are being fined for showing up to work.

This isn't just inconvenient.

This is costly, unfair, and demoralizing.

Uh, we often don't know how much we'll make that day, and often, too often, our hard-earned money is gone before we even leave the square because of parking fines.

No employee should have to choose between paying their ticket or paying the bills that they have simply for showing up and doing their job.

Supposedly there is an employee parking lot, uh, but all of the employees that I've spoken to have received parking tickets in that very lot.

Uh regardless of that, it is half a mile away, and walking that far in the dark is not safe, especially for the ladies.

Uh safety must come first, and the current system does not protect us fully.

We're not asking for special treatment.

Uh we're asking for a fair and common sense solution.

My proposal is simple.

Exempt employees from parking tickets that they receive only during their work hours.

Uh verified by a time card signed by their manager.

This prevents the abuse of the system during employees' time off while lifting an unfair burden off of employees' shoulders.

By adopting this new system, you will not only protect workers but strengthen the very businesses that keep Marietta Square alive.

Supported employees provide better service, which improves visitor experience, boosts local economy, and reflects positively on this council's leadership.

Please know that this is just not this is not just my concern.

I have with me the signatures of Marietta Square employees and visitors who support this.

The only signatures that I'm missing are yours.

By adding them you send a clear message this council values its workers, prioritizes safety, and supports the businesses that keep our community great.

That's it.

Do I go sit down now?

Okay cool.

Awesome.

Now I'd like to close the public hearing is I mean the public session anything else.

No sir.

Jocelyn would you like to say something?

Anything else?

No executive session?

No sir.

No sir.

Meet your job.