Before we get start the agenda, when people speak tonight, make sure you talk.

We're we have a good crowd all the way up to the mayor square tonight.

So uh but but just so everybody here speaking to the mic when when it's your turn to speak.

We we have several items on the agenda.

I know the people out in the lobby and there are people outside and just um you'll say as we go along, but you know we we have several public hearings, so there will be several presentations, and the uh I'd like to call upon uh Andrew Andre Sims, a council member from Ward 6, let us in the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance All right, guys.

Um let us pray.

Father, we come before you right now again thanking you for blessing us to see another day, Lord God.

We know this is a day that we will not see again, so we just thank you for coming into this place right now.

Touch each and every person, Lord God, and bless them uh as we go through this agenda today.

Lord, we ask that you bless the city council.

Uh we ask that you bless all of the different departments here in the city of Marietta that worked so hard so that Marietta is great.

Father, we know that uh today is gonna be a very interesting day, but Laura, we know that you are totally in the midst, and we thank you for those that have come out to express their opinions.

Um we ask it all in your son Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Of the United States of America, and to the Republicans under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Oh is there a is there a yes, yes, yes.

We have a special presentation for the distinguished service award.

So much family.

So it is my honor as the chairwoman of the personnel committee.

Don can't hear me.

It is my honor as the chairwoman of the personnel committee to present an award to a distinguished person who has supported this city.

I want to say for about 15 years.

We'll make it 15, okay.

Um and so if Mr.

Jim Martin would come up with his lovely wife Hannah and his daughter Courtney.

So later on tonight, we're gonna be placing somebody on the civil service board.

And the reason we're having to do that is well, you know how parents always want their kids to do better than they did, to go one step further?

Well, unfortunately, Courtney did that.

And because we selected Courtney as our associate or assistant, I never remember what we called you, solicitor.

Jim can no longer serve on the civil service board.

So she moved up, he moved out.

But we're still proud of him and her.

So what we have is Distinguished Service Award presented to James T.

Martin, Civil Service Board Chair Member 2011 to 2026, for faithful and dedicated service to the city and its citizens.

It is hereby presented by the mayor and council of the city of Marietta, June 10th, 2026.

So to Mr.

Martin, I say thank you, sir.

You want to say some words?

It's all you.

I appreciate all of y'all coming out tonight for this honor.

But I'll be leaving before you do.

Um thank you, City Council, for appointing me more than once.

Uh most or not most, but some of you weren't here when I was initially appointed.

City manager was here, and City Manager is the step in between the police and fire to reach the civil service board.

So is Chief Bean.

And so is do we have a new fire chief?

Okay.

Anyway, um the Civil Service Board takes care of any problems that occur in passing out discipline to members of the police department or the fire department.

And we take that seriously.

I notice that Mr.

Barth is here.

Uh that are currently serving, but it's been my pleasure to serve and thank you for knocking me off the board.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Present your two thousand twenty-six reader police citizens academy, please, sir.

Thank you, Mayor.

It's my pleasure tonight to uh graduate some fine citizens of the City of Marietta who uh recently graduated or attended the last class of it's not official until we hand you the certificates.

Recently attended their last class of the Marietta Police Department Citizens Police Academy.

That academy is a 10-week program that covers a lot of what we do on the job daily.

Uh it allows us to bring in citizens so they can see what we do so we can interact and become one with the community and they can become one with the police department.

Some of the things they uh went over and participated in over the last ten weeks include crime scene, investigations, criminal procedure.

Uh they had a visit from Cobb County Medical Examiner's office, a canine demo, which everybody always loves.

Um, our crime interdiction unit.

Uh we brought in Barney, the uh K9 from Marietta Schools, who is also our canine.

We adopt him whether they like it or not.

Um they were involved in mock traffic stops, which is always a lot of fun, and they get to see what it's like to be a police officer making those traffic stops and you know some of the split second decisions involved.

Uh they took a course on ethics, judgmental use of force, which once again split second decision making when you're behind that uh uh simunitions pistol and you're making a decision on whether or not to shoot or not.

They get they took a look at that and they saw what that's like.

And they took a co tour of our Cobb 911 Center.

So all that behind them.

Uh I'm glad that once you graduate tonight, uh you'll be reporting Saturday night for a beat.

So be ready.

And I will uh I'll turn this over now to the class coordinator, one of our senior police officers, not only in rank, but also in tenure, uh Officer Matthew Stasso, who coordinated this class and did a really good job with it.

So he will introduce you, bring you up, and uh certificates will be presented.

And when you receive those, please line up behind us so that we'll take a group picture at the end.

Thank you, Chief.

Sorry for the voice, getting over a little sickness, but uh okay.

Uh first one, Jan Blaylack.

Anthony Brewer.

Liz Colosimo.

Cynithia Edwards.

Kristen Matthews.

Thomas B McKeeturn.

John Michaelides.

Robert Saban.

Susan Saban.

Dwayne Sherman.

And Julia Debo.

Everybody that way.

Come on, man.

Congratulations.

Good looking class.

They are announced earlier.

Any announcements we might have left out.

The next item is the people that have signed up for the schedule appearances.

First one is Mr.

Ms.

Orser Young.

Will you please come forward, please, ma'am?

Ms.

Andy, will you give the rules and the Yes, sir?

Everyone that would like to speak, please come forward, give your name and address.

The rules adopted by the city council state that you should come forward, state your name and address, make your comment.

This is not a question and answer period.

So Mr.

Tumlin.

Mr.

Oster Young.

Am I pronounced it right?

Lindsay.

Is it Mr.

Walk?

Please come forward, please.

My name is Om Karwalke, and I'm a resident of the Bridgestone Acres community on Bells Ferry Road.

And I'm here to speak on behalf of my neighbors and fellow members of my community regarding the homelessness issue that we've been facing for years in that area.

Exposes himself inviting the lady for a sexual act.

Sir, that lady was my mother.

She was so traumatized that she has not since then refused to visit my family again.

Such incidents are faced regularly by members of our community, sir.

Firstly, I want to start by clarifying that none of them neither me nor my members of my community are opposed to the efforts by the church.

We respect that most of our Christians ourselves.

We support that effort.

That current situation is untenable for us, sir.

Um, this has been known to the city.

There's been plenty of uh complaints made in the past.

The city is aware of this.

The police department has repeatedly supported us by coming to the area to respond to 911 calls.

Unfortunately, sir, from our perspective, reactive approach by responding to 911 calls is not a sustainable solution to that problem.

We need something that will properly solve the problem, both for us as the members of the community at the same time, the people that are vulnerable and facing this situation themselves.

We understand that long-term solution will require multi-agency cooperation that will take longer.

We want to come in with a pointed suggestion that will help us solve this in the short term, hopefully quickly.

We want to bring in a suggestion to work with the church to find another appropriate location such that they can continue their donation program to support the people in need without impacting families of the community at the same time.

We really hope we're hopeful at this point.

Many of our members have lost faith and have probably probably given up.

It's not me, right?

I'm still hopeful with the with the leadership that you will help us take some immediate long-term actions that will help us with that situation.

I really hope we have people in our community that have little children who no longer feel safe letting them out because of the situation that's out there.

I have have provided some material to uh to the city clerk.

I hope that that gets passed on to you.

It shows the nature of the problem, sir.

It's not uh it's not one time, it's not uh inconsistent, it's daily, it's every time winter, summer, night, and day.

We see that all the time.

I have provided pictures that show all of that to you guys.

I'm really hopeful and pleading to you guys that some appropriate measures are taken soon.

Would really love to see some action on that, particularly uh any actions that could be taken to relocate the donation program to another appropriate place, such that any community, not ours, not anybody else's, is not impacted.

Well, we'll still find some ways to help the people in need.

Thank you for the time.

Thank you, sir.

Good evening, everyone.

Um to the mayor, council members, and fellow citizens of Marietta.

First, let me say that I believe the proposed budget is fiscally responsible.

It invests in public safety, infrastructure, utilities, and the core services that make our city one of the most desirable places to live in Georgia.

But tonight I want to talk about an investment that does not appear prominently in this budget.

I want to talk about our future uh for the next few moments.

As I reviewed the entire 180-page budget, I noticed many discussions about infrastructure, capital improvements, technology upgrades, redevelopment projects, and even the anticipation of major economic investments like data centers and emerging industries.

And while I support strategic economic growth, I believe we must ask ourselves a fundamental question.

What good is investing millions into technology if we fail to invest in the people who will inherit it?

What good is building a smarter city if we are not intentionally developing smarter opportunities for the next generation?

A data center can increase our tax base, but a prepared generation can increase our future.

The reality is that Marietta's greatest asset is not its buildings, roads, utilities, or future developments.

Our greatest asset is our people.

And yet, we talk about developing uh yet we have not talked about youth programming.

Uh too often the conversation begins with and ends with athletics and what other agencies have to offer our residents.

But while sports teach discipline, teamwork, and character, everyone isn't an athlete.

And some people are artists, entrepreneurs, coders, future engineers, future teachers, future elected officials, which is why our transitional age youth simply need mentorship, direction, and a place to belong.

Our city must provide opportunities accessible to all of them.

Because when we fail to create pathways to purpose, we should not be surprised when young people find pathways to trouble.

The Marietta Police Department's annual report shows that crime is gradually increasing over the last five years.

That concerns everyone, and it should concern all of us.

And we look, and when we look at the data from the Georgia Department of Corrections, we find that the overwhelming uh concentration of violent crime offenders and crimes committed against persons involve individuals between the age of 17 and 25.

And that's an interesting fact.

The very age group that we should be, they should be entering careers and college classroom and entrepreneurship programs and civic leadership opportunities, it's also the age group most represented and some of the most troubling criminal justice statistics.

This is not merely a public safety issue.

This is a youth development issue.

Youth development cannot begin when someone enters the courtroom.

It must begin long before they ever reach the criminal justice system.

Imagine if we invested just one to two percent of our general fund into comprehensive transitional age youth development strategy.

Imagine paid internships in City Hall.

Imagine workforce development programs, imagine entrepreneurship incubators, and imagine leadership academies, imagine mentorship programs, financial literacy initiatives, imagine innovation labs and technology training for the very industries that we hope to attract.

Those investments would not only create better results for young people, they would create better results for Marietta.

That is why I'd like to propose three initiatives for your consideration.

The first is the creation of a Marietta Connects Action Committee, a collaborative body of educators, business leaders, faith leaders, nonprofit organizations, public safety officials, and young adults working together to identify gaps in services and coordinate solutions across the city.

Second, the establishment of Marietta Youth Council, a formal advisory council that gives young people a voice and local government, civic engagement, policy discussions, and community improvements efforts.

If we want future leaders, we must start inviting them to the table today.

Lastly, the creation of Marietta Citizens Academy.

Many neighboring cities throughout our region already offer programs to educate residents on how local government operates, builds trust between citizens and public officials, and cultivate future community leaders.

The question is not why Marietta should do this.

The question is why Marietta has not done it already.

Because Marietta has never been the city that followed others.

Marietta established itself in 1824, long before many of the surrounding municipalities ever existed.

Excuse me?

Your five minutes is up.

Understood.

Thank you for your time.

Brandon McCroy.

First, thank you, Council, Mayor, the city employees, police department, fire department.

While we're bombarded with negative news these days, it's so refreshing to hear some uplifting stories.

On May 16, 2026, I called 911 for assistance.

The gentleman that answered the phone was very professional and kind and assisted me with what I needed.

After contacting my neighbor, we discovered that this young lady, this woman was suffering from Alzheimer's.

The 911 operator sent the police officer there without the alarms, which was what I asked for because I didn't want to make her even work whatever.

So while we were waiting on the police officer, my neighbor and I gave her food sandwich, bananas, V8, some oranges, and some water.

We could not locate where she was coming from.

We had no idea where she lived or any of that stuff.

When the police arrived, a kind officer named Samantha Lifford.

I'm not sure if I'm pronounced it right.

Looped it.

Was very calm, friendly, and respectful.

Her humane actions may be realized that while extensive employee training can be beneficial, it does not guarantee that that is the best candidate for the job.

Her actions fostered a sense of appreciation for the city and for our citizens.

And I just want to thank her.

She's not here.

Can I give you something to give her?

Absolutely.

Thank you, Brenda.

Next item before we go to the consent agenda.

Do you recognize Mr.

Ghosting for a couple of motions?

I can make a motion, suspend the rules and add an item to the agenda relating to denial of claim.

Second.

Yes.

Motion carries SIDMO, which is a prerequisite to add it to the agenda.

Mr.

Rainey, what was the exact what would be the exact language of the motion?

The motion would be to deny the claim of Mr.

Kubiako and to place the denial of the claim on the consent agenda for denial, please.

That is my motion.

Do we need a motion to take the other one off?

Yes, sir.

Do we do it separately?

Separate.

We can do uh would you like it as one motion or two motions?

It should be separate.

Second is so motion.

This is for the adding a one to the adding one.

Yeah, we don't yeah, we don't have to add it to the agenda because it's on there.

We're adding Mr.

Kubiaco.

We're adding the new one.

We're adding the new one.

Yeah.

So we added the item to the agenda.

Now we're setting what the item is.

Yeah.

Thank you.

All those in favor, please raise your right hand.

Motion carry 7-0.

And then a motion to remove the printed item from the make a motion to remove item 2026-054534 as that item had already been voted upon last month.

Second.

All those in favor, please raise your right hand.

Motion carries 7-0.

Anything else?

Well, I guess Mr.

Haney will cover it.

Yes.

I'd like to call upon our mayor pro team to do our consent agenda, please.

All right.

Um you guys can pull out your uh agenda.

You received those when you came in.

Uh the consent agenda items are marked by an asterisk on your agenda.

Um council is this discussed and approved these items prior to uh tonight's meeting.

Um a public hearing um was held, and these items marked by the asterisk uh require a public hearing tonight.

So Mr.

Haney.

Sir.

Uh do we have any additions to the consent agenda?

Yes, sir.

Mayor Pro Tim Sims.

The following modifications are applicable to the consent agenda.

The first change is on page seven.

The fire prevention and protection code comes off consent, but it remains on the agenda.

The next change is on page 11.

Item 20260606.

The 2028 proposed flossed intergovernmental agreement with Cobb County.

The public hearing is removed, but the item remains on consent.

The next change is on page 12.

The BLW action of June 8, 2026 remain on consent, but it shows Ms.

Richardson voting against that item.

Those are all the changes, Mr.

Mayor Pro Tim.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Do we have a motion?

Motion approved the consent of the gentleman.

It's been approved.

Do we have a second?

Second.

It's been moved and uh property second.

Uh all in favor, uh press yes on your aye.

Okay.

Uh the consent agenda uh passes 7-0.

Not for us.

We have more and more agenda going on.

Yes.

Pass 7-0.

I don't think we can do much about the outside, but I'd even if you favor what's going on outside, if why we're in these chambers, let's respect the proceedings.

Um the next item is next item is a public hearing in this item 2026-0406.

Mr.

Haney, will you conduct a public hearing, please?

Yes, sir.

Mayor Tama and the City Council.

The public hearing is now open on the property related to 544 Bernie Street, which is agenda item 2026-0406.

Rezoning Z 2026-07.

Mr.

Cumming, the floor is yours to start the public hearing, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney.

For case Z 2026-7, Webco Builders Inc.

are requesting the rezoning of.279 acres known as 544 Burney Street from CRC Community Retail Commercial.

So R4, single family residential, four units per anchor with an accompanying variance to reduce the minimum lot width from 75 feet to 64 feet.

And we have a representative from WebCo Builders here to present on behalf of the applicant.

As Webco Builder comes forward, is there anyone here that would like to speak in opposition to the rezoning request at 544 Burning Street?

Anyone in opposition?

Okay.

Sir, the floor is yours.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and the Council for hearing my request today.

Um my name is Henry Foa.

I'm a co-owner of the property located at 544 Burning Street.

Um over the past six months, my wife and I have been working to renovate this property.

Uh during that process, we've encountered zoning challenges, and I would like to respectfully provide some context regarding the situation.

The property was previously owned by my brother-in-law, Clay McNeil, who also owns several other properties on the same street.

My father-in-law, Ron McNeil owns the remaining adjacent properties.

Together they have been small business owners in the area for many years, contributing to the local economy through job creation and inconsistent tax revenue.

In early 2024, Clay Clay began renovating the property with the intention of improving it and offering it as affordable housing.

Tragically, excuse me.

He passed away in May 2024 after a long struggle with personal challenges.

Following the period of grieving, the property was transferred to my wife and me.

We have since taken on the responsibility of completing the project started.

As I began managing this renovation, I initially worked to restore the UK the utilities.

During that process, I learned that the electrical system needed to be brought to code before power could be restored.

While addressing those requirements, I knowingly proceeded without retaining the obtaining the necessary permits, which resulted in a stop work order since then have it worked closely with the city staff who have been extremely set helpful to better understand and comply with all the requirements.

It was also brought to my attention that the property previously held the commercial resident resident residential designation nonconform, which was contingent upon the building not remaining unoccupied for more than six months.

Due to the lapse in occupancy, the property reverted to the commercial zoning.

Since then we've been working diligently to apply for reinstatement of residential use.

We have now all we now have all the required documentation in order.

Given the surrounding properties on Burning Street, maintain the non-conforming commercial residential use.

We also uh while also creating a modest and sustainable income stream for my family.

We believe that maintaining consistent zoning along the street will not only benefit our family but also support the long-term cohesion and potential development of the area.

I fully understand that zoning decisions must follow established guidelines, and I sincerely appreciate your time and consideration in service of the city of Marietta.

Thank you.

Any questions?

May I ask to go?

So just confirm based on what you're asking.

You'd prefer you prefer keeping it as CRC, just reestablish non-conforming, of course, after with after after the renovation we can take into account.

Yes, if that's a available option.

If not, I will uh respectfully uh you know adhere to any any decision you guys make.

Okay, thank you.

Other questions?

Mr.

Kent.

Oh, I don't have a question.

I was just thought you were ready for a most hearing.

Yeah.

But I'll show up at you.

Thank you for doing this.

Bernie's I'd like to brag since we have a lot of guests here tonight that Bernie's name for the woman that started the PTA, a little girl from Marietta, over a hundred years ago.

So thanks for rescuing this house and making it better.

Yes, sir.

Thank you very much.

This is a public hearing.

Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of or in opposition of this rezoning request?

Mr.

Barr.

While he's coming down, is there anyone else that would like to speak on this matter?

Anyone else?

Thank you, Mr.

Barth.

The floor is yours.

Donald Barth, St.

John Avenue.

Mr.

Mayor, one of the things we've realized before is in our city there are not many mansions.

And we need to continue on with affordable houses.

Now, nobody should say what's affordable or what's not, but these neighborhoods that we're trying to protect are affordable for working class people.

And whatever we have to do to continue to have this, please take the time and make it happen.

Thank you.

Last chance for anyone that would like to speak.

Mayor Tumba City Council public hearings closed.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

I I'm gonna make a motion to uh to approve the request, but keep it as a CRC with uh what's the proper word of extended non-conforming, non-conforming and allow and after the renovations of the allow it to be non-conformant.

Mr.

Cumming has framed a motion which I will uh read if you would like to approve.

You ready for the motion?

The motion would be to approve this item, including the re-establishment of the previously existing non-conforming residential use at 544 Bernie Street to allow the completion of the current renovation project and subsequent residential use.

Mr.

Cummings, that good that would be the motion if you desire.

Second.

And Mr.

Mayor, just confirm that is keeping it with still keeping the CRC zoning zoning, just reestablishing the non-conforming with that.

That is correct.

Okay, thank you.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

I motion carries 7-0.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Riverstone Custom Homes, Mr.

Haney, will you conduct a public hearing, please?

Yes, sir, Mayor Timman.

The public hearing is now open on this item.

Uh Mr.

Cumming, the floor is yours to give an overview of this item, please.

Thank you once again, Mr.

Haney, for case Z 2026-08.

Riverstone Custom Homes are requesting the rezoning of 187 Mountain View Road from R1, single family residential, one unit per acre to R2, single family residential, two units per acre, and there are no associated variance requests.

And someone representing Riverstone Customs Homes is here to present on behalf of the project.

As the applicant comes forward, is there anyone here that would like to speak on this matter related to 187 Mountain View Road?

Anyone that would like to speak other than the applicant.

Sir, the floor is yours.

Good evening, uh, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Uh my name is Reggie Lopes with Riverstone Custom Homes.

Um this is uh Ms.

Bryan, she's the property owner.

Uh the property has been in her family uh since the late 40s, and uh currently there are two residential homes on the property as well as two other structures, a barn and a carport.

Uh we are looking uh for the purpose because the property, even though there's two homes, and at one point there was actually two parcel numbers, um, it is still one property.

And I was told in order for us to build uh two new homes, we would have to change the zoning, and hence the reason why we are here.

Um so as you can see, um we are looking to build two homes on the property, tear down the the four structures, um, and um and that's basically it.

That's that's really all we're asking for.

And in order to do that, we would have to have the R2 zone uh zoning.

Any questions, Mr.

Lopes?

Any questions, Mr.

Richard?

Um if you heard on Monday, just trying to uh uh make sure I understand with the two new homes.

Is it going to be driveways out on one only on Mountain View, only on Mountain View Ridge, on Polk Street, or is it going to be split between the two, going one on one street and the other going on another?

I'm going to keep the existing driveway on the house that faces Polk uh on Mountain View, which is there right now.

Um, and then the house that faces Mountain View Trace.

We will bring a driveway off of that street.

Okay.

So the drive driveway for each house will be on one street.

No, two, they'll not be sharing a driveway, it'll go into two different streets.

Two different streets, yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

And and I Mr.

I just want to make sure that I understand this.

You're taking down the four structures and putting up a total of two.

There's not going to be two plus two new ones.

No ma'am.

And you just have two houses.

Taken down four, I'm building just two houses.

Thank you.

Residential houses.

Two residential houses.

Got it.

Thank you.

Questions of the applicant.

One last time, anyone that would like to speak on this matter, please come forward at this time.

Mayor Telma seeing none.

Public hearing is closed.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes Mr.

Anderson for motion.

Um I'd like to make a motion to approve the zoning request from R1, single family residential, one unit per acre to R2, single family residential two units per acre.

Second.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none like to call the question, please indicate your vote.

Jason.

Uh rejection's vote.

It carries 70.

Thank you very much.

Next item is item Z 2026-09.

353 Campbell Hill Road.

Mr.

Haney, will you conduct public hearing, please, sir?

Yes, sir, Mayor Temman.

Thank you.

And the City Council, the public hearing is now open on 353 Campbell Hill Street.

Is the applicant here?

He would come forward.

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours to give an overview of this.

Is there anyone here that would like to speak for or against this matter?

Anyone that would like to speak.

Thank you.

Mr.

Cummings.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney, for case Z 2026-09.

And Mr.

David Floyd is requesting the rezoning of 353 Campbell Hill Road from NRC, neighborhood retail commercial, to R4, single family residential, four units per acre.

Associated with this request are four variances.

One variance to increase the allowable density from four units per acre to 6.3 units per acre.

Two, variance to reduce the minimum lot size from 7500 square feet to 7,011 square feet.

Three, variance to reduce the front setback for the existing structure from 25 feet to zero feet, and a variance to reduce the rear setback for an addition to the primary structure from 30 feet to zero feet.

And Mr.

Floyd is here to present his request.

Good evening.

My name is David Floyd.

I've been in college resident for 25 years.

I'm proud to be moving downtown to Mr.

Dynaton's property.

I'm here to represent uh Mr.

Knighton and uh Johnny Sinclair who is uh selling the property.

It's uh quite simple.

The property is uh zone commercial.

Um has uh you it the uh front the house is within a foot of the uh right-away, about 10 feet away from the uh road, and um it's about uh 45 feet from the apartments.

Uh the property line is about 10 to 16 feet away from uh the apartments uh fence.

So we're just simply asking for uh all the the approval and uh variances we approved.

Any question, Mr.

Floyd?

Um on the um for getting the few getting the uh setbacks down to zero feet, um what was the what were your main reasons to think of that?

Is it shape of the pro shape of the property?

Is it just trying to understand?

I can see I know I know for the existing proper existing building on there, it's going down to one foot on the front on the front side, and I know you have a shed shed on the property that's very close to the property line as well right now.

But I think you're probably tearing that down to try and build the proposed uh garage, correct?

So we are keeping the existing house.

That's why it's needed for the zero setback on the front.

We want to put up a nice veneer to protect the barrier of the house on the front side.

Uh we are asking to uh have it an an attachment, a garage on the back end, and that's why it's zero feet to the back, just to provide us uh subliway.

We don't want to build on the property line, we just want to build near the property line.

So it's quite simple.

The it's gonna be two-car garage.

Um it's gonna be attached to the house, it's gonna have a hallway that's entered through the uh kitchen.

It'll be uh an extra storage kitchen storage uh bedroom and bathroom.

So uh when we talk about affordable, I'm renovating a house, I'm making an addition, and it's gonna be affordable for an area that probably has homestowned from about you know a million five to two million dollars.

Uh when you ask about the uh uh when you ask about it being regular, it's highly irregular.

It also has uh Marietta sewer uh easement running through the northern uh call it 30 to five 35 to 40 feet of the property.

So that's why we're trying to maximize the southern two-thirds of the property.

Other questions?

I have I have a couple I'm just trying to understand because I'm looking at this drawing and I'm not quite clear.

So you're keeping the existing house?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay.

Um the existing house is uh one to two feet away from the uh right the sidewalk, which is the right-of-way.

Right.

So I don't know who's flying the.

So I I've designed that myself, and uh believe it or not, uh you the the way if you if you see the uh lower left, can I add please?

I thought that we'd have do we have one that we can pull up?

So if you guys if you see this not that would keep going.

I'm trying to see if we can get this.

Might be better to head back to the uh podium so you can still get the is that a better is this picture that's up better?

No, this is the one that you arguably it's it's better.

So where you see building clear 2.3 feet, uh that's the right feet side.

Um as it mentioned before with the um uh sewer easement, that is the uh green that is horizontally going uh you know encompassing the property.

Uh where you see the uh building clear one foot, uh that is a bedroom uh at the corner.

Uh there's a larger bedroom and the building clear 2.3, that's another bedroom.

What we are looking at doing is having a proposed uh addition going back to the property line, and also you see the uh the garage going uh the width of uh 20 by 22 feet.

Okay, so I guess I was looking at it in the wrong thing.

It's different.

It's it's very similar to this, though.

And so your proposed addition, the one that's in kind of the light blue color, which shows at 15 by 22.

That is going to be higher than the front current building, which is what's in the kind of gray.

So uh let's start with the gray.

The gray area is the existing house.

Right.

The blue proposed 15 by 22 addition.

That is gonna be ground floor.

Okay.

That will be where the kitchen is.

Uh the uh uh where you see two car garage, that's self-explanatory.

So you come off of the garage, you walk down into the kitchen, and you walk into the uh primary house.

The uh again, getting back to the addition, it's gonna be ground level.

It's gonna be first level.

The two-car garage will be second level.

Okay, so that was the structure that was going to be larger than the original.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes, I see a variance in here.

It's it's it's it's an amateur version of uh what I'm doing here, but hopefully it gives you a uh some insight of what I'm trying to do here.

Believe it or not, I'm trying to grow this house from twelve hundred and ninety square feet to about two thousand square feet.

It's not gonna be that big of a house.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm just trying to picture where because we have the variance in here to allow an accessory structure to exceed the height of the principal, and that is the garage.

Um I think that's a remote.

Yeah, the last two variants is removed.

Then that's what I missed.

Thank you.

It's only the four variants.

Yes.

Correct.

Okay.

Then I take back all of my questions.

Other questions, Mr.

Floyd?

Other questions?

I have a question.

Um so Mr.

Floyd, um rentals will be allowed in that area above the garage.

That is gonna be my primary residence.

Right.

It's you know, the the big picture is is as you see the floor plan, it's gonna be a um three bedroom, two bath.

If we build out the second floor, it'll be a bedroom and a bathroom that has access to uh, you know, has access to the house.

Okay.

So what we're saying is it won't be rented, it'll be used by your family, correct?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um final thing.

Just going back to the uh proposed the proposed structure with going down to the zero feet.

The intent of that is only for those struct those proposed editions to be built in the near future.

You're not talking about adding something, adding something way down the line that's down to zero feet past what you're already proposed.

I really don't think that if you if you look at the survey right here, I really don't think you have much room to uh go anywhere else.

You know, I've I've invested my time uh you in all of this to do this right the first time.

Uh you know, I'm sure you know there's a lot of properties that are out of conformity in Marietta.

And uh this is uh something that I'm trying to bring into conformity all in one meeting.

It was the question for me, the question for me was more so you're trying what you're trying to get done now, require you're saying requires the variances.

I'm just trying um no one concern I concern I usually have whenever granting these uh these setback variances is usually tying it to a particular plan so that it doesn't get over doesn't get overbuilt by someone later down the line that we're not an unintended consequence later down the line.

Understood.

For me, again, it gets back to I do not want to build up to the property line.

I want to build near it.

So if there's ever a discrepancy in the survey, uh, you know, I could say that I'm on my side of the property line.

If there is any discrepancy of me being you know a foot away from the uh property line, I don't want to have uh a concern with the city or somebody pointing back to me saying that you're within a foot of the property line.

So the the variant what I'm asking for is a variance of zero, because I don't want to build on the other side of the property line.

I want to build it within my side of the property line.

Um just have that uh capability of you this is the clarity uh of the ordinance.

And for me, I was just saying if for for what you're proposing basically right now.

You're not talking about something in the future, and would you be okay not you're not looking at doing any future stuff outside of what you're proposing?

No, sir.

No, sir.

So this is saying just saying maybe time time limiting it to the stuff here, so you don't have a future building coming up that under the it would still have that.

You know, we're uh what I will say is is uh the neighbors uh while they're not here, they're excited about this.

It's not gonna be a brand new house.

You know, brand new house in this area would probably go for about a million five to two million dollars.

Um we are just simply adding on uh you know taking the existing structure, making the Knight and family proud, and uh just uh adding to it.

And something I think that works within the city of Marietta.

Is that answer your question?

No.

Um I understand what you're trying to do on that.

I was just trying to sort of.

Let me help you be clear.

Well, no, I'm I'm building these improvements in 20 years.

If somebody wants to come back and bulldoze this house, that's the same case and everywhere else in Marietta.

You're you're within the you're within the zoning ordinance.

Right?

So they'll also have all the way down to the as well.

Correct.

I'm doing this to for my forever home to be walkable to the downtown square to Session Street and to the hospital.

And I'm I was only asking to say it was tied, you're trying to get it tied to this particular home.

I was not trying to say that it was more so in the future.

If someone came back, it would be back under the regular ordinance, not on your the house though, the as built would be compliant as you're requesting.

That's I think we're both trying.

I think you're trying to we're both trying to get to that point.

It was just trying to I was trying to ask about stuff for protecting for unintended consequences in the future for regarding setbacks of the build setbacks for anything in case something does have his case this is torn down or someone else tries to add something else, building techniques might have changed and they might start building up and over, and they have a zero setback setback thing as opposed to what's already been shown here, going all the way to the next property.

Understood.

So that's that's where the concern that's where one my concern lies on that.

So it's not so much your your stuff here that you're posing.

I understand that.

I can see that in the future.

It's knowing that it's getting the full thing without tying it to something, or means that whoever has it next, they can build all the way up to there past what you're looking at here.

Understood.

Okay.

Any other questions?

I have a question, and maybe more for Daniel.

The part of the building that's the uh that goes over into the green that's in the sewer easement.

Well, he's the garage is shown there, is shown outside of that sewer easement.

The front corner there where it's in the case.

Uh the front corner.

Right there.

Yes.

So is that there are variance to allow that?

Because it it has to be what is that, 20 feet?

Yeah.

So that sewer easement would actually be Marietta Waters to consider.

Um unfortunately, just due to the age of the city, we have a number of situations where that protected easement isn't necessarily honored.

So I think if that building ever came down, it would be honored.

Like they would it'd be enforced to be honored.

But if there's an existing building, um the existing conditions allowed to remain.

Okay.

But that would be grandfathered.

That's that's right, yes, sir.

Thank you.

Other questions?

This is a public hearing.

Is there anyone that would like to speak on this matter related to five?

I'm sorry, 353 Campbell Hill Street.

Before Don comes down and speaks again, um let me just ask a quick question of you, sir.

I'm sorry.

So looking at existing conditions, the shed.

The shed is being removed.

Okay, so temporary shed, but it's showing in the easement, but that's gonna go.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Barth.

Down birth.

Well, I say I like affordable, but I also like a minimum of three feet from one property line to another.

The person that owns the property next door has every right to use every square inch of his.

If he builds an eight-foot fence there, he will never be able to access that side of the house.

If the police or the fire have any reason to get in there, the fire department needs a minimum of three feet all the time.

We had a talk about one up off of Canton Road.

And it was brought to our attention then by Mark, where less than three feet we have to meet certain fire code.

When we start squeezing, where he needs to do the squeezing.

All it takes is a pencil.

Move it over.

He's talking about living in it or renting it.

Too close to the other property line.

Thank you.

Last chance for any speaker.

Mayor Tim, the city council of the public interest.

Do you want to live?

Pardon?

Yes.

Yes.

So the council members, just to reabut uh the opposition, you know, personally, if you go back to the survey, uh can you pull up the survey, please?

Or the uh the exhibit that okay, so you see where the addition is.

You see where the property line is.

The fence is 10 to 15 feet, 10 to 16 feet away from our property line.

If you see the uh red arrow, that points to the apartments being 45 feet away.

So this is uh there there's no access from the apartments through our property.

There is no uh detriment to them whatsoever.

Any questions?

Is that the only place you're asking for zero setbacks?

Yes, sir.

Is that Pacific enough?

Um, he's asking for zero setbacks in the front, too.

I thought yeah, but that's the existing house on the sidewalk.

So you can't tear the front of the house off.

Right?

See where it says building clear 1.0?

Yeah.

So it's not at zero, it's at one.

It's at one and two point three.

So it's the four-sided.

Yeah, I was just clarifying because the mayor said it was only the back, but it's actually both back and front.

Right.

Front because of existing and back because that's what he's requesting.

Right.

Yeah.

I was just trying to clarify.

Other questions?

The public hearing is closed.

Thank you.

Chair recognizes the councilman from ward four, Mr.

Anderson.

Um, I'd like to make a motion to approve the request from NRC to R4 along with the four variances written in this application.

Second discussion.

Um just for staff uh just for staff on the ordinance.

There's a scrivener's error where the uh Campbell Hill is not capitalized, and there's an uh section one beginning.

Um I'd like to make an alternate motion, please.

Yes, I'd like to make a motion to approve with variances one, two, and three.

But striking variance four.

Um the rear setback should be no closer to three feet to the property line.

I'll second.

I'm sorry, so it's from thirty to three.

Yeah.

Yeah, even though it says two in this variance, he's saying that he's gonna go to zero.

I would like it set at three.

Okay.

If the amendment passes, can you live with that?

I'll have to accept it, sir.

Okay, that's first we'll vote on the amendment.

Any further discussion?

And the amendment basically is changing item four from to three feet rather than three feet.

Oh, the amendment, please indicate your vote.

No.

No.

The amendment passes six to one.

Now we're back to the original motion as amended.

Any further discussion?

And to clarify this the basic motion is that item four is through three feet.

The further discussion?

Hearing none on the overall motion, please indicate your vote as amended.

Said it again, Jason.

He said aye.

I said aye.

Motion carries 7-0.

Thank you.

Mr.

Haney, we conduct a public hearing on uh home occupation as amendment of our code 71204.

Yes, sir, mayor time.

The public hearing is now open on the code amendment proposed for section 712.04, the home occupation regulations.

Mr.

Cummings, the floor is yours, all right.

And the public hearing is now open.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney.

For case CA 2026-04, the City of Marietta is considering a proposed amendment to modify Section 712.04, home occupations to explicitly prohibit alcoholic beverage manufacturers as a home occupation activity and other adjustments.

Public hearing is now open.

Is there anyone that would like to comment on this proposed change to the mayoretta city code?

Anyone would like to speak?

Mayor Tum, the City Council, the public hearing is closed.

Make a motion to approve.

Second.

Any further discussion?

7-0.

Thank you very much.

Next item is item 0552 with the motion being dated just for the payment as to the tree fund.

No.

The property owner was invited and just any discussion on this particular item.

Yes.

I have a problem, and I've been very clear on that with what happened with the fact that two very old trees were taken down, and all that is being assessed is the amount that covers the tree fund, which actually won't even leave us whole because we still are going to have to grind the stump.

My issue is that there needs to be something more.

We are a tree city.

We say we value our trees, and here is someone who, whether knowingly or not knowingly, and that remains up in the air, cut down three trees that you can't plant back a hundred-year-old tree.

Or whatever the age of that tree was.

And all he's paying is the same thing that someone would pay if they couldn't put in enough trees on a new development.

And so I don't think that this should be the end.

I think, however, that we have received payment, and I think more discussion needs to be on exactly what happens.

So I would ask that we table this for a month and determine a full restitution, whatever that looks like, whether it is just we've already accepted the tree fund and we we're stuck with that, or if as the mayor suggested, we say that this is not in full accordance satisfaction, and there needs to be additional penalty.

So I ask that this be tabled for a month.

Mr.

Mayor?

Yes.

Um ask a question through the chair to count Councilman Richardson.

Would it be better to refer this to a committee for discussion at the committee agenda?

I'm fine with it going to, I think it started in public works.

Finance.

Finance?

Oh, definitely.

Finance.

I'd rather go to public can't be recognized and you can't see me, but I agree with that in terms of referring it to the committee.

Just take it one step forward.

I mean, to remediate what all was done, besides, I mean, there's no doubt the 9845 is correct just for the trees.

For the trees.

So that's not an issue, but uh I think he ought to submit.

I think ought to make it.

I mean, the landscaping on that piece of property doesn't look good.

Has he submitted a plan on what he's going to do with it?

Which is correct in our property.

Did he damaged?

Yeah, I'll have to ask staff if they've received that at this point.

I know they're working with the property owner on a bunch of issues that they need to resolve.

And Mr.

Mayor, just make sure I have the have this correct.

This is because of the trees that were cut down in the right of way.

Not talking about trees that are on their private properties.

Is it right because they cut them?

These were our trees.

They were in our right-of-way.

There are trees.

There were, I believe, three.

Um they were old.

Mayor, to answer your question, uh staff has received plans from the uh prospective tenant.

Um, and on those, they're being required to plant new trees on their property uh as well, because they also took down a number of trees on their own property that should not have should not have been done.

No, that was perfect.

Just when we do it, I think correct it all the days will look good going forward as good as it can.

But just that he would have to remediate at a minimum.

I mean, it just one of our nicest older neighborhoods that it's in front of.

But I don't want to make that part of the motion.

I don't know I mean I know that we can interchangeably do things on different committees it started in finance because it was the remediation because it was a budget amendment because it was a budget amendment.

Because it involves budget usually goes to finance rather than jail.

Yeah if you're talking about additional stuff it might make it right for either one of the committees did we have a second nope there wasn't a motion I can't hear who's talking but let me know when I can say something.

Okay Jason is Cheryl talking I'm about to I don't think we have a second so I want to just change my motion to have it go to JL again tabled to JL for a full and final discussion of the entire situation not just being reimbursed for the trees.

Thank you I I agree with that.

I'll second the motion to refer this item to JL for the June committee meetings our procedure is the city manager decides where it goes okay I mean that I mean I think we ought to be consistent.

Okay.

Motion to amend just to refer to committees discretion to city manager because he sees the big picture so now it's just to go to agenda as normal yes as directed by the city manager.

Yes.

Any further discussion with we have to second his amendment Cheryl already seconded my amendment I think if not second you second laundry seconded I'm sorry I so there has been a second now yes I've second this is to the amendment to the amendment yes sir all those in favor of the amendment please indicate your vote aye seven oh motion carries now to the to the table yeah now to the to the table please indic indicate your vote motion carries seven oh thank you next item is fire prevention and protection code sure thank you and good evening Mr.

Mayor members of council uh presenting an amendment to the fire prevention protection code as code section 26040 without change to your current draft and recognize this is the the chairman of public safety for a motion that's you um I'll make a motion to approve this I'll second and ask one more one quick question just confirm please do this is the and this is the version dealing with the uh the not the not intended to be part of fire sprinkler system correct that's correct yeah okay thanks to make sure I have the right version any further discussion I have a question we wanted to waive the second reading is that in another motion another motion okay immediately following please indicate your vote I motion carries 7-0 Mr.

Mayor would you like a motion?

Yes sir make a motion to suspend the rules to waive the second reading of item 20260566 the fire prevention and protection code second discussion hearing none waving the the second rating please indicate your vote motion carries 70 thank you all thank you thank you next item Mr.

We conduct the public hearing on the 2028 SLOS wait did we miss something?

So the next item is two names before from the personnel committee after interviews and applications.

We have two people to choose one is basically, I guess.

I make a motion that uhriel Carson.

The selected civil service board.

Second.

Any further discussion?

Or subject motion?

I would like to make a substitute motion that um Derek Greenacre be appointed to the Marietta Civil Service Board.

Second.

Another substitute or second.

There's a motion second any further discussion on the subject.

Hearing no one, please indicate your vote.

Can you clarify what we're voting on which one we're voting on?

The substitute motion for Derrick Greenacre.

Okay.

Four to three.

So the uh sub tube fails.

We're back to the original.

Any further discussion?

Please indicate your vote.

I'm sorry, since I'm not there.

I mean what we're voting on.

This is for Ms.

Carson, the nomination of Ms.

Carson.

Okay.

No.

Motion carries four three.

Sploss, Mr.

Hay, will you conduct this public hearing?

And yes, sir, Mayor Tumblr.

And while you explain it, unless you bought up in the consent agenda of the public hearing board on the next ones.

So it would be appropriate maybe talk about both if you chose to.

Yes, sir.

Mayor Tumman and City Council and the public the public the public hearing is now open on the proposed 2028 SPLOST.

And Mr.

Rice will present the discussion.

Mr.

Rice.

Thank you, Mr.

Haney.

Um, anticipation of the 2028 SPLOSS referendum to continue the current once one Patial Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Cobb County and the seven cities are evaluating projects to benefit the community.

The SPLOSS is expected to generate approximately 13.038 million dollars annually over six years to the City of Marietta.

Public Works has held three public input meetings together.

The total project expenditures for the City of Marietta for this proposed splost is 78.2 million dollars.

This includes $33 million for citywide uh projects, $3.5 million for council uh ward allotments, $9.2 million for parks and facilities, $25.6 million for public safety, 1.2 million for public works projects, and $5.4 million for transportation related projects.

Is there anyone in the public that would like to comment on the proposed 2028 SPLOST?

Yes, ma'am.

Ms.

Huck, come on down.

Uh good afternoon or evening.

My name is Robbie Huck.

I live at 191 Summit Avenue.

I'm here to once again ask each member of this council to vote no.

I'm moving the spLOS forward.

This would be this proposed new sales tax would be charged on our groceries, our gas, and everything else that the state charges sales tax on.

And right now the amount of certainty are zero zero.

A couple of weeks ago, was there a way to accurately predict what one pound of butter will cost in the city of Marietta in the year 2033?

And so he goes through, well, most of the time they use a projection of inflation rate and project it out.

But then he s laughed and said, No.

There's no accurate way to project it because there's that much uncertainty and the price of everything.

So it even if this list that would encumber the project list that would encumber the next what one or two councils with the list, that once they make it to that A, they have to be built.

We don't know how much the price of paving or concrete or rebar or labor or um work workmen's comp.

We don't know what that's gonna cost in the year 2033 or the year 2034.

So I say please just vote no, stop the um taking from the people, because I don't know how many people want a new courtroom or a new indoor pool or fancy sidewalks.

It doesn't mean that much to us right now.

Maybe later, and then you could raise the money later.

So uh thanks for your time and uh please vote no.

Thanks.

Is there anyone else?

Mr.

Barth, would you like to speak?

Donald Barth, we didn't come here to ask you to make a SLUST.

We came here because you worked diligently with Mark and all the committee people to make a list of where we could spend the money should the SPLOS pass.

There's no guarantee it's gonna pass, but if it passes, we had to have a budget set for it to be spent.

I want to thank every one of you for the hard work that you did to get this to where we can move forward if it passes.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the new splot?

Mayor Thomas City Council, the public hearing is closed.

The chair recognizes the finance chair to make a motion.

I make a motion to approve the 2028 proposed.

Second.

Discussion?

Question?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

Um we actually need to do that.

I can't, I couldn't second it.

Someone else needs to.

Okay.

So Audrey seconded us.

Do we need to revote?

Yeah.

I don't think that's how it works.

Motion do you may please indicate your vote.

All right.

Motion carries 7-0.

Next item is the details of the splash, Mr.

Rush.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Uh, this is the intergovernmental agreement that will allow Cobb County to collect the sales tax revenue and then distribute the uh proceeds out to the city and monthly installments.

Um this particular spLOS is subject to approval in the election to be held on November 3rd, 2026.

It would continue for six years with collection beginning on January 1st, 2028.

Uh as I stated earlier, this would this is expected to generate 13.038 million dollars annually for the city of Marietta, along with the uh attack for the uh attached uh project list.

This would authorize the mayor to execute the intergovernmental agreement with Cobb County.

And I ask one question real quickly.

The previous vote is now passed.

That our version of exhibit A, the part for Marietta that's now been replaced with the proposed list that was just passed.

That that project list will be inserted into this intergovernmental agreement.

Okay, thank you.

Second any further discussion.

Hearing none, please indicate you vote.

Motion carries 7-0.

No, that could cancel.

Next item is unscheduled appearance.

How many people have signed up?

Total of seven, but there's a waiting list of 31.

Um, the public hearing, as Mr.

Haney stated in the beginning, was removed with the opportunity to discuss both items during the first public hearing.

He stated that in the beginning when we did the consent agenda.

Okay.

Because this was done ahead of time.

We said it at the beginning of the meeting.

It says printed on 6-9 at the bottom.

So when did y'all make that?

Yeah, I don't know.

I think they're completely talking about that.

They they think it's not scheduled.

They think it's not.

Okay.

I never mind.

Respectfully, the first speaker didn't even show, so why couldn't one of us on schedule replace the one speaker that didn't even come?

Yep.

Oh, we're wrong.

To clarify, the only thing that was removed was the uh item which was dealing with the SPLOSS.

It doesn't have anything to do with the unscheduled appearances.

They're still on.

They're still on.

Thank you.

We're wrapped up.

Sales tax on the road.

Thank you for clarifying.

Okay.

I think we ought to clarify.

We did advertise it as a scheduled appearance, so I think we ought to have a schedule appearance on it.

Yeah.

That's on the $78,000, right?

Oh, um, yes, sir.

Yep.

Let me we did put it on there.

Yes.

Yep.

Let me so I guess the first thing in order would be to rescind a motion to rescind the vote.

Motion to rescind the vote.

Uh no, I can't make the motion.

Second.

I don't know.

There's a motion or second to rescind.

Yeah.

Please uh please indicate your vote.

Jason.

Okay.

Mr.

Haney, we conduct a public hearing as advertised.

For the 2028 proposed splash intergovernmental agreement.

Yes, sir, mayor time.

The public hearing is now open on the 2028 proposed splash intergovernmental agreement between the city of Marietta and Cobb County.

The public hearing is now open.

If anybody would like to speak to that matter, is Huck?

Um Robbie Huck, 191 Summit Avenue.

Um the SPLOS, um again, I'm asking each member of the council to vote no to stop this proposed new sales tax moving forward.

Um but if you decide to move it forward, I ask that you serve the people by making the information about what will be on our ballot very easy to find and very easy to understand, especially the wording of the ballot question.

Because if I remember this last one, last vote that sales tax that we're spending on our grocery giving on our groceries today was passed in 2020 when the turnout was less than 40,000 voters out of a register of over 500,000 voters in the county, only less than 40,000 people weighed in.

So it's not a popular thing.

And people don't understand that it's being charged on groceries, and they need to know that.

Make it super easy to find.

Make the um and the project list, make that super easy to find so that people can spend some time, educate themselves, and vote their conscience.

And so please I'm asking you to not keep things uh secret, especially when it comes from taking money out of our pockets.

Thanks.

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on the item that's on the floor?

Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this item?

Mayor Tom, the city council, the public hearing is possible.

Come forward, state your name and address.

Is there anyone else after this gentleman that would like to speak rather than coming forward?

Come on down.

If you want to speak, come in.

Go ahead.

Good evening.

My name is Jared.

I'm born and raised in Marietta.

Um I would like to know where the list of those projects are.

Where is where is where where can we, as the public access that list that was approved for the SPLOS projects.

And I would like it to be stated clearly so that we all know.

Is it on our website?

Did I ask?

We've advertised several times.

Please state to the public your website, sir.

He has the floor.

No one else has the floor.

Please be transparent.

I have asked for you to tell me what the website is and also state it clearly so that everyone else in the room can hear and know where they need to visit to read this list.

Anyone you put on the screen, Stephanie.

And I would also like to state that the number there is not 78,000.

I mean millions.

Million.

You're right.

I'm actually about three zero second.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

So I just typed in SPLOS project list.

And it comes up on Marietta.gov.

Um it shows up a notice of public input meeting, City of Marietta 2028 SPLOSS project list.

It starts from the discussions that we had back in February.

It goes down about halfway.

And it says review City of Marietta 2028 SPLOSS project list, and it has a link to everything.

And all I typed in in my bar was Marietta Sploss Project List 2028.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

If you want the specific HTTPS website address, HTTPS colon forward slash forward slash www.marietta G A dot gov forward slash document center forward slash view forward slash 21306 forward slash 2028 dash S P L O S T I E R capital I because of the new Roman numeral.

Thank you, sir.

Welcome.

And for the record, the chair says it's 78,227,427 and 76 cents.

76 cents will come from Mr.

Ghosting.

But that's and also for the record that number was at every public hearing that we had.

I mean we presented just one each and every time, right?

Right.

We did three public hearings.

Uh we did them in different areas of the city.

Uh we did them in conjunction with the county also, and we uh had message boards out, we had advertising in the paper, we did social media advertising.

Uh we sat for two hours at each one of those public hearings.

It was a drop-in where folks could come in and find out.

We I must have had 12 staff at each one of those so they could explain everything on the list.

Okay.

It will pop back in when we the seven cities and the county saying dinner goma agreement.

Yes, sir.

And then there'll be um educational materials and everything else that'll go out after that, so everybody will know exactly what they're voting on.

Mayor Tumman City Council, the public hearing is closed.

You you want to take a second shot at it, Mr.

Mr.

Kim?

Motion to approve the list.

Any further discussion?

All those in favor, please indicate your vote.

Aye.

Motion carries 7-0.

So I was unscheduled appears, and I'd have been outside very patient.

Well, occasionally they've communicated well.

But normally we have it for 30 minutes.

I'd like to say we go to 45, which could give as many as nine or ten people a chance to speak.

And then with that being at least um for the rules, I think that's the in the form of a motion to extend the make a motion to extend the public hearing to 45 minutes.

Second.

Can I formulate it first?

Yes.

You you formulated and I'll I'll make the motion.

Yeah, it initiates with the chair, so that's what I was so.

But I think one or two ought to be invited to come in from outside.

You know, for a sense of fairness.

And I've kind of asked from the crowd if that's our video.

All right, somebody go grab some folks from outside.

So make a motion to extend it to 45 minutes with allowing one or two people to come in from outside for a sense of fairness.

And this is a formal procedure.

Mr.

Haney will conduct it.

The time limit, which is five minutes with a cumulative of 45.

So if you self-discipline went down to three and a half each, you could get more people to speak.

Since I can't make a motion, and will you make the motion for me?

I made it.

Cheryl's made the motion has been seconded and up for a vote.

All those in favor, please raise your right hand.

Do you have the I guess we're it's based on that list and extra names will come off the waiting list.

Yes, sir.

I have a starting city clerk's just gone up to get the those on the waiting list.

I have the first seven.

And uh if you would like me to conduct it and thank you.

Please call the public session.

As you just heard, the city council has extended the normal rule of 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

There is still a limit of five minutes per speaker as you come forward, state your name and address.

There will be no comment and no public discussion while another speaker has the floor.

Give them the respect of the floor.

Um this is not a question and answer period.

And um when the five minutes is up, the time will be called.

Let me read the names of the first people that signed up.

If if your name is read, please come forward so there's not a lot of time wasted in between speakers.

The first speaker is Tracy Stevenson.

Second speaker is Robert Smith.

Third speaker is Perry Barrett.

Fourth speaker is Rebecca Graham.

The fifth speaker is Dr.

Patrick Thompson.

The sixth speaker is Gabriel Sanchez.

The seventh speaker is Olivia Cajust.

And there will be more people.

I'm sorry.

The eighth speaker is Aaron Stoddard.

The ninth speaker is Rosser Sutherland.

Tenth speaker is Sam Foster.

Each one of those will be will be given five minutes.

If there's more time within 45 minutes, the city clerk will have the next list.

That's not correct.

Okay.

Mr.

Stevenson, the floor is yours.

Hello, council.

I want to first of all say, gee, the DSA and ABC really turned out some folks tonight.

Good for them.

I like freedom of speech.

I like people to be able to say what's on their mind.

I like it to be respectful and clean.

I've tried to add facts to posts on next door.

I've chased my tail and chased people, and they've chased me.

I've been misgendered.

I am Tracy, by the way, I am a guy.

None of that hurts my feelings.

I don't care.

At the end of the day, my whole problem with the post and the way it was all put together originally, and everybody in here knows what it is.

Was that they were trying to essentially say the city council didn't do due process in bringing this forward?

The great irony is tomorrow is the one year anniversary of when this was passed.

There's been one year to talk about this, and today we're talking about it again.

That's fine.

I'm neither pro data center on that site or nay data center.

I've tried to clean up the facts from day one on what happened, the things that happened, so I'll go through it.

On June 11, I forget the date in May, something.

Uh it was tabled at uh the planning and zoning hearing.

On June 11th, it came forward here.

Y'all passed it unanimously.

It was based it was a zoning change from ZRC to L1.

I mean LI.

So that really just says it was with stipulations and restrictions.

What can I fit in this?

Agreed to zone this property and allow a data center there with these stipulations.

The broad strokes were 108 megawatt, 400,000 square feet.

And um, I'm trying to think if there were the any other couple of others, the 65 foot lowered um uh elevation, so it didn't conflict with the townhomes.

There might have been several others.

So then it went on to some negotiation.

That was a vendor, that was a landowner, grand cap grind capital who brought that motion.

They had an operating partner.

That operating partner wanted that size data center.

That operating partner decided maybe with the stipulations it wouldn't work for him.

Oh, I know what it was.

It was the power plus three percent, price plus three percent.

Somehow or another, they didn't want to be do this deal anymore.

So that deal collapsed.

It's being reported vehemently that that deal is still active.

It is not.

The next deal that came on, as I understood it was 60 to 70 megawatts, about half the size of 150 to 200,000 square feet, same stipulations.

We're gonna be on it, same restrictions.

From what I understand, the last 30 days, that deal has collapsed, and there's somebody's talking about an 18 megawatt data center.

108 megawatt data center, big.

18 megawatt, much smaller, less than 100,000 square feet.

Entirely different.

I've heard a lot of stuff, it's about AI.

Data center that's small will not run will not operate AI.

It'll be your internet users, your streamers, all that kind of thing.

Be companies that hold medical files.

Do I have the floor?

You have the floor, please before I won't know the speaker has the floor.

So at the end of the day, that actually is true for the most part.

It is not an AI data center.

800 acre site in Cowita County.

My God, that's AI.

650 acres in South South Georgia, South Atlanta, AI site.

We cannot tell you what the power consumption is going to be.

No one can tell you on this data center what the water consumption will be.

No one can tell you the decibel levels that it will produce, nor the size of the building.

Why?

Because there is no deal yet.

When there is a deal, there will be drawings submitted to the to the uh uh department to the uh building department, and they will be reviewed for to make sure they're consistent with the stipulations.

The board will say counsel will vote on it again.

It'll be, you know, and you'll have another chance to talk about it.

But we do not know what we do not know.

So that's the end of the story on that.

Uh there's more mileage to go, but my gut tells me it'll be 25% of that 108 megawatts when it's done, or it'll die.

And it won't have anything to do with all this noise.

Thank you.

Next speaker.

No, no, no.

Next speaker.

Next speaker's Robert Smith.

Quiet, quiet in the chamber.

Mr.

Smith.

Um, well, yeah, good afternoon to everyone.

And I'm here for um a totally different reason.

I'm here because I'm a retired law enforcement officer.

My parents passed away, and I retrieved some property from them and bought it here.

It was a car.

And I got all of the documentation.

A third party and uh attorney wrote a letter from you guys saying that y'all saying that none of this was true.

What happened?

I go to the Marietta police to show them all of my information, and they arrested me.

They took me to jail, hurt my shoulder.

I'm up in a jail house where I worked in a the the uh the um the penitentiary downtown.

I am not a criminal.

I got arrested, and they hurt me, and then when I went to jail, they gave me a shot.

I don't even know what they gave me to this day.

It's been two years.

I've been fighting this case.

I've been trying to get in contact with Chief Bean for the last two years.

I have not had a response from him.

I keep getting uh uh uh letters from certain people saying, Oh, well, we gonna we're doing an investigation.

You're investigating me.

I I have all of the documentation, everything is right here.

They humiliated my family, they made me look like an idiot and everything.

You can look at the video and see they laughing and joking like it's a joke.

It is not a joke, it's wrong.

This racism in this country is wrong.

What's going on?

I have not did anything wrong.

I got this paperwork right here, and I can prove it that this car was mine.

The tone company stole the car, stole the car, it was my mother's car.

I got the documentation to show it.

This is embarrassing what's going on in this country.

It really is.

I have not did anything wrong.

I got PTSD, anxiety, and everything, all because it added on to what happened to me.

You can't even go nowhere to show these people uh the information to give it to them to let them see it.

I got the proof right here.

It's right here.

I haven't spoken to my family in six years because of this.

And then this the the uh one of the guys, he's from California.

I'm talking to him back and forth.

He's calling, he's calling that state the bar in Alabama, telling them that my statute of limitations ran out, and it did not run out.

An estate case can be open for five or ten years, and it's still open.

I'm still fighting it.

But yet he sat there and told them that the statute of limitations ran out.

They didn't even look at they no, nobody's looking at evidence.

You just taking the word because I'm coming because I'm I'm just a normal black man just walking up.

I have to get an attorney to prove that I'm right.

I know I don't need an attorney for this.

This is basic one-on-one.

I got a degree in criminal justice.

I know the law.

And I filed a lawsuit and I'm still waiting.

I haven't heard anything.

So you're just brusting it under the rug, it's just gonna go like that.

It's wrong, man.

It's really wrong.

What happened, man?

It really is wrong.

If you need the information, he got a copy of everything right here.

Mr.

Perry Barrett is hi, my name is Perry Barrett.

Um I'm a current Marietta resident, and I currently live in a neighborhood off of Bells Ferry Road.

Um I do want to thank uh City Council for the opportunity to speak here and uh extending the time.

Uh I normally consider myself a well-informed individual, but between work, personal life, staying informed with global news, national news, state news, sometimes local things do just slip by.

Um, and I know I'm not the only one uh because in the last week uh there was a large social media outcry from folks who had only learned recently that the city voted last year to approve a rezoning of 31 acres to support the construction of two data centers in an area surrounded by hundreds of residential homes and apartments.

Um additionally, many of the residents of these homes were similarly devastated to learn about this data center for the first time as well.

And I can confirm that because along with the help of a few amazing volunteers, uh we spent the last weekend making sure people in my neighborhood were informed about the project, and if they couldn't make it to public comment to present their displeasure, if they'd like me to present their name to City Council to show their opposition.

Uh together we collected about uh 40-ish names, two more from this uh couple as well, uh, who live off of Bells Ferry uh by hand uh and of two digital petitions circulating online.

I last counted about um 66 on one, um the other, all opposed.

Um and on a website named Stop Cobb Data Center, a poll was conducted with a simple yes-no answer, either in support or opposition for the data center, uh, with 11,471 votes cast.

The poll shows 97% of respondents oppose.

Um to say people are distraught to have learned uh about these plans uh being approved uh would be an understatement.

I spoke with many of my neighbors over the weekend, many who have never even heard about the resone rezoning.

I spoke with some legacy homeowners, people who have lived in these homes longer than I myself have even been alive.

Um, and they were all heartbroken, fearing the sheer noise coming from these data centers would just displace them.

Uh while many other folks who are more recent residents, they told me they chose this area for its more moderate seclusion and peacefulness.

There are many working class families here, retirees, there are churches, daycares, and people's lives are settled here.

Um the publicly available documents that show the construction plans detail that these centers are uh going to be built within a hundred feet of the nearest home.

Um for some data centers, the sound uh coming from their cooling systems can travel for miles.

Um if permits for construction are approved, this is going to force us out of our homes.

Um often residents who share a power grid with these data centers see their monthly utility rates increase, meaning that the burden of support for these data centers is pushed back onto us.

Uh I'm a full-time worker, and with the current cost of living crisis, I cannot afford increased rates, and I cannot afford to move.

Um I urge City Council to please place a moratorium on the construction of any data center planned in the city, at least until an independent environmental impact statement can be conducted.

This is within the city's power.

You can do this.

Many other cities have already done so.

And for the sake of the families who live in this area, please stall the project until we know for a fact what impact this data center will have.

I thank you all for your time.

You Rebecca Graham.

What's the name?

Rebecca Graham.

Good evening.

I'm Rebecca Graham.

It is my pleasure to speak at the Marietta City Council meeting.

I live off of Bells Ferry.

When I was in college, I had a professor say there will be a war for water.

At the time, I was 18.

And so I was like, have you ever seen the ocean?

Have you ever seen, you know, like hurt the water cycle?

But the reality is there will be a war for water.

Fresh water is one of the most valuable resources we have because we all need water.

And how this ties to data centers is data centers use a lot of water.

And so I'd like to bring up an example.

Um to quote a previous speaker, you know, he gave a very um great timeline about where you know how the project stalled, so that's you know good to know that um, but we also need to look at other surrounding examples and what's happening in Georgia and the rest of the United States to get an idea of what could happen here.

And so in Fayetteville, Georgia, there was a data center that was supposed to use a closed loop system.

And right now it is currently in construction.

The data center has used 29 million gallons of water.

That is the equivalent of 44-sized Olympic pools, just to put it into perspective.

So how and one of the reasons how it was caught was because a subdivision nearby said, hey, isn't it weird that you're losing the water pressure in your home?

And so when the city went out to investigate, that was one of the things that they uncovered was that the data center had not paid for any of the water, and they were able to siphon 29 million gallons of water.

Right now, Georgia is under state one drought conditions.

For most people, we haven't noticed any differences.

We just continue on with our life.

However, if the drought continues to get worse because we haven't had enough rainfall, then they will say we can't water our lawns at a certain time, which to me is a first world problem.

I get that.

But what happens when, you know, we're now putting, like, oh, you can only water your lawn for this much this time, when really if a data center comes, we should be more concerned about the power and the water usage that they are using.

And then the other question is if it does come, if a data center comes, who provide who provides the oversight to how much water consumption or power consumption when the data center is used?

Who pays for the increase in that cost?

Is that us?

I don't think so.

Or I don't want it to be us.

And what happens when the diesel generators that are supposed to run 24-7 aren't as quiet as they should be?

I'm sure all of us have ended up working at jobs where we were like, this was not in the description, or this was never brought up.

And what happens when the project doesn't bring the tax rubber supposed to bring, or it only gives five jobs.

The reality is we can think of better things we can do with the 31 acres that are there, because I have seen you guys ask so many questions about garages and turning two houses into four houses, and power.

So I I know y'all are capable of asking those critical questions that we need to know if a data center proceeds in Cobb County.

And so what I'm going to ask is that you ban data centers coming to Cobb County.

We don't want them.

We don't want them.

I I learned that today.

And uh, you know, and the thing is, if you're going to move forward on data centers, um, you know, Paul, you may thank God for your seat.

God can also give you opponent to run against you.

So you know, and here's the thing we should always want to improve the quality of life for the people who live here and for the future and for our future.

I have two young children, and I want to give them an environment that has clean air, that has clean water, where we're not concerned about microplastics in the water.

And I can't help but think we are robbing the future generations if we allow a data center to be built here.

Um I would like to quote a poem that I had to read in college.

Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.

Don't let this data center be an albatross in your city.

Do the right thing.

Make sure no future projects come no future data projects come to Cobb County.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Patrick Thompson.

Patrick Thompson.

Is he here?

Next speaker is Gabriel Sanchez.

Thank you.

I'm State Representative Gabriel Sanchez.

I represent House District 42, which includes parts of Southern Marietta.

And I'm here today to talk on behalf of my constituents on this data center.

First off, I want to thank you very much for extending public comments.

We really do appreciate that and having the people's voices heard.

Thank you.

It is our job as elected officials to hear from our constituents and also be a voice for our constituents.

And you did show a sign of good faith with this extension.

I appreciate it.

However, leading up to this meeting, it seemed like there was some condescending comments coming from the communications of the city that I don't think were very much appreciated.

There was an implication that it's too late or not appropriate to talk about this meeting, uh talk about this topic at this meeting, but that's actually not true.

It's not too late at all.

Uh nothing is stopping you from undoing that decision or rezoning it into something else that's actually useful for the community.

The only thing you're lacking is the political will occur to do it.

I also want to note as a fact check that when you actually look back at the June 2025 meeting where this was approved, two-thirds of the people who made public comment were against it, and you still approved it unanimously.

So just want to take that over there.

No one asked for a data center here in Marietta, or at least no working class person did.

Maybe the wealthy elite and corporate interests did, but not the regular people.

Or 71 million dollars in revenue over 10 years, that may sound like a lot, but when you actually look at it, there's a lot more you could do to increase revenue tax revenues and use that property much more efficiently with much more tax revenue, especially because data centers get a nice tax break from the state.

So I think what we have to realize is the question isn't the specifics of how big the data center is, how much exact water is it gonna be used, but more so, why are we even doing a data center in the first place?

Right?

That's the question we should be asking.

And let's just be real about the broader context, right?

Across the political spectrum, people are fighting against this across the country because we're seeing a huge push by this very elite class of tech billionaires who want to push this AI bubble, which is a bubble that is artificially increasing all this uh wealth and you know, probably money laundering and corruption uh in this system for something that we don't actually need.

We don't need this.

So I implore you that we focus in on what the community needs.

We have an affordability housing crisis, you know.

We have a health care crisis, there are so many other way more important issues to talk about.

And using the the use of this land could be used for something addressing some of those issues instead of something that's not gonna bring any benefit to the community.

And you know, we saw what happened in 2025 with the public service commission races where two Republican commissioners were completely wiped out in the statewide election because of things like data centers and the huge increase in utility bills.

You also saw you also saw in 2025 a very close election here in the city of Marietta within 87 votes.

And you're also seeing tonight, the city marriage behind me, what it means if you go against the people's will.

So as a fellow elected official, I would recommend you start listening to your community and look for something else to put on this land.

And also, let's do a moratorium on data centers here in Marietta.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Olivia Cajuste.

Hi, I'm Olivia Cajust, and I live off of Bells Ferry, and I work here in uh Marietta Square at Max Chop House.

Um I came here just to express that the data center is just not beneficial to our community.

I'm confused actually how the majority of Americans across the country and clearly here in Cobb County don't want these data centers.

And but the politicians are clearly um clearing the way in sec the secrecy to approve them.

Yes, for the profit, but no one is ready to accept the consequences of the county's suffering here in Georgia.

Favot uh county has unpaid water usage of a hundred and forty thousand dollars for the 28 uh 29 million um gallons of water.

And again, like the speaker before me said, that's 44 Olympic pools.

Newton and Morgan County has water that is undrinkable.

People have to buy their water to drink, cook, bathe, and do to the data center.

I'm gonna mispronounce this representative's name, but Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, AOC, presented jars of discolored water to the Congress that came from the counties and which triggered the environmental protection agency.

Cobb County gets its water from Lake Alatoona and Chattahoochee River to supply almost 200,000 homes, businesses in Cobb County.

The water pressure would be so low that businesses like my restaurant won't be able to perform at the levels that Cobb County public um health requires.

Like the actually having to wash your hands for 30 seconds because of our pandemic, or having hot water so everyone can wash their hands in the bathrooms.

Running data centers require industrial HVAC systems and bank baked up diesel generators that generate persistent noise and emissions.

The continuous hums and exhaust risks with diesel generators will release high amounts of nitrogen oxide that will cause respiratory respiratory issues and become public concerns.

While construction creates temporary jobs, operating a data center um requires few employees providing little long-term economic growth.

Instead of building this data center, why don't you plant those trees?

Our county commissioners approve them, and I asked the city council to stop them because we can run we it's not even Ken.

We will run out of water.

And we have to pay for their part of electric electricity and being taxed on a huge infrastructure that goes from city to city.

Data centers have been proven to be bad.

The first speaker that said that we do not know or do not have the facts, these are all facts across the country are showing that these data centers are ruining it.

So again, I know that right now it's not a problem, but all of us are telling you that it is.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Aaron Studd.

Aaron Studd in the hall.

Lived here my whole life, resident taxpayer in the city of Marietta.

And I just want to come down and talk about how great our city is right now.

Um, you know, we're right in the middle of the World Cup.

Um we got the soccer fest coming up this weekend.

And uh we got the Uzbekistan national team came into town last night in this training on Franklin Road at the uh Atlanta United facility.

And uh we got the women's soccer team coming, which is only gonna enhance the area.

Um we got um the squares all decorated for the 250th uh anniversary of our country.

It looks great.

Um looking forward to the 4th of July this year, parade and all the fireworks.

Um also want to talk about um we got one of the best high schools in the country in our town.

I always like to throw that out there.

Um that um my whole family's uh graduated from and got a one-month-old uh or one-year-old uh nephew that's uh hopefully gonna continue the same track and grow up in this wonderful town.

Um and speaking of my nephew, um we got recently the brand new uh Larry Seminski Park off of uh West Dixie Avenue.

Um it's a wonderful park.

Uh he's already been there several times to swing on that swing set, and um because of the new um trail along East Dixie, being able to cross Atlanta Road, um that neighborhood very accessible to the park where my sister and brother-in-law uh just get to walk right on over to the park and the baby gets to play, and it's a wonderful thing.

Um also want to talk about our streets.

Um I'm glad that uh we have um I'm glad that um we recently took over Whitlock Avenue that streets usually uh pothole city.

Um I'm glad now that our um public works department can uh swiftly get over there and um take care of the issues.

Um hopefully one day code enforcement can take care of the Nick's property uh on Whitlock as it's just become a total eyesore in the in a gateway to our city.

Um other than that, um I thank all of y'all for what you do, and um I support just about every one of you.

And um, you know, a lot of people back here may laugh, you know, but you know, I have I have a feeling most of them aren't uh taxpaying citizens in the city of Marietta.

So um so quiet, quiet.

Quiet, quiet, quiet, inappropriate.

I have as much as right to speak as anybody else in this audience, and uh and um I have uh quiet, quiet, someone has the floor.

You know, so um I think I think I've had enough to say, but um but but I had I have as much right to speak as anybody else.

This is an open public hearing, and uh they they've gotten their chance to speak, and then and then when I come down here to praise our city, it's meet with chairs and booze.

Thank you.

Next next next speaker, Sam Foster.

Sam Foster's the next speaker.

Uh you know, for someone who ran for office, I I do not like attention, but uh here we are.

Um no matter what it is, uh unless it's something truly reprehensible.

I I always enjoy seeing people come out to speak.

Uh it's been a little chaotic, but uh it's been pretty orderly, and I I love the spirited debate around what our community continues to look like.

I know some of you have gotten uh some hateful messages, uh, some concerning messages.

We have increased uh security out there, uh, but as we can see, everyone in here uh does not have any intention of harm you, thankfully.

I'm very happy to hear that.

Um this is an issue that has escaped our bubble.

You know, usually we come in here, we do votes, we talk about trees, we talk about how far away the edge of your house is from the property line.

Uh but when we have votes like these, uh sometimes it's easy for us to forget the national moment that's going on right now.

And just because we did everything correctly, just because we didn't break the law, doesn't mean that we didn't mess up here and there was an opportunity to do this differently in the future.

Even at the time this was voted on.

I know there were so many different things going on.

Uh, all of you were stuck in re-election campaigns.

Uh, but even when this was going on, this is a big big issue uh in the national discussion.

It's only gotten bigger.

And our first speaker asked, why is this coming up now?

You know, why why is this happening?

It's because this has only gotten worse.

This has only become more and more and more of an issue to everyday Americans.

If we if we don't want our community to rip itself apart, if we don't want to hate each other, when we have votes like these, it's important for us to speak about them, not only when we vote on them, but I know town halls were held to discuss this afterward.

That should have been held before the vote.

Uh when we talk about informing the public, it's not just about what happens in this room, it's about when when big topics like this come up, we need to go above and beyond to inform the public.

Because not everybody is gonna come to this meeting.

Not everybody is going to know what's going on uh at a committee meeting or a work session.

It's just reality.

Uh so in the future, I I would implore us to to consider our citizens more and and reach out to people more in good faith.

And even if all of you voted unanimously, at least the people who were on that previous council, my apologies.

Uh you know, you can still disagree and still uh be a person who was willing to speak about their votes and go above and beyond to reach out to the public.

And also, uh, it's always wonderful to hear you speak, rosser.

I I want to push back on this idea that the people in here aren't citizens or they're not residents of Marietta.

Even if they aren't, this isn't happening in a vacuum.

If we were to do a poll specifically, if we were to look at specifically Marietta residents, the room would look very much the same.

This is your community.

This is what it looks like.

And your community always isn't going to present itself in the same way, but this is our community.

And whether we like it or not, we're going to have to address that community in a way that makes people feel heard and makes people feel seen.

Thank you.

The next speaker will be Hudson Coleman from outside.

Hudson Coleman.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh good evening.

I'm a student at Kennesaw State University here in Cobb County.

For owls.

Uh for over a year now, the campus community has had no shortage of privacy concerns when school administrators agreed behind all of our backs to install dozens of surveillance devices owned by Flock Safety.

Automat automated license plate readers or ALPRs have enabled a dragnet that cannot be charted in its full scope.

A dragnet that has already produced a civil rights crisis for many cities across America.

This is before even getting into the many, many vulnerabilities of the tech itself, which Cobb-based journalists such as Ben Jordan were able to uncover in as little as 30 seconds.

One flock safety invoice cited by concerned KSU students points out that the city of Marietta spent about 298,000 on 35 flock safety ALPRs in 2020.

These students have been able to confirm that at least 49 such devices are utilized by KSU, meaning about 417,000 of our tuition money has gone to further eroding our Fourth Amendment.

There are also an unknown number of flock safeties AI-power microphones scattered across campus.

Data centers like the one this city is seeking to approve are integral to a much grander push towards a future of AI-driven surveillance.

Elsewhere, elsewhere in America, even the people who have done everything right are not safe from the tech giants who want this project at the rest of the world's expense.

I'm referring to Celine, Michigan, a small yet affluent town where both the citizens and the city council stood up against a data center and were punished with the prospect of a lawsuit that would have literally bankrupted the city.

This specific project insulin has been described by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a quote template for how we engage with communities.

Mayor Tumlin, you recently said, quote, knowing human nature, if they thought it would it was an agenda item, and then we didn't hear it, we'd provoke an argument that shouldn't exist.

And that's the reason we told it's not on the agenda.

I mean, because it's already been resolved.

This leads me to ask.

Did the city of Marietta have to make sure we had no say in the matter because you all fear being made an example of uh by Silicon Valley?

The city keeps telling us that our window to stop this data center is closed, but they control when the window opens and closes.

We saw this game, we saw this game years ago with Atlanta City Council when there was a petition to put Cop City on the ballot.

Over 115,000 signatures collected to let us vote on whether we want this, no matter how symbolic the vote would have been in the end if it truly was a done deal, and even that couldn't be permitted.

Why?

It's because there are much larger forces at play than these individuals right here.

And these people are scared of the power those forces hold in our political and economic system.

We're seeing the health consequences already of data centers elsewhere in America.

The city is voting to bring that here, despite the obvious problems.

Councilman Sims asked the developers of this data center about the environmental issues around heat generation specifically, which the developer acknowledged the existence of, yet voted for this project anyways.

Not a single no vote.

City councils find technical excuses not to hear the popular discontents of their constituents all the time, the cop city ballot being one such example.

We're now seeing this play out in real time with data centers and AI-powered surveillance.

Marietta should not bow down to the agenda of Silicon Valley.

Metro Atlanta.

Metro Atlanta is being used as their laboratory.

Don't play along with their experiment that none of us consented to.

Diana Martin.

Hello, I'm Diana Martin.

I've lived in Marietta since 83, so I am a resident.

Born and raised in Georgia.

I'm not a politician, I'm not an engineer, I'm not an organizer, and I'm not a business owner, so I'm here really just to speak as a regular citizen.

I did work in the healthcare industry for 23 years, though, before I retired.

So I will say from the angle of health care is that there has been a lot of proof with some of these early AI centers that have come out, what's happening in terms of the air pollution, increasing the incidence of a respiratory diseases significantly, uh including asthma.

So you're gonna see a big increase in claims for people that even have the benefit of having insurance.

Um the drain on the system, a lot of people have spoken of that.

One thing I didn't hear addressed was yes, a lot of drain on the infrastructure systems, even if they quote unquote pay their own utility rates and they pay for it.

Once you strain the system to a certain level, you're gonna be seeing the rates go up for everybody, not just the system itself.

So that will be affecting everybody, and that's just been seen across the country.

There's no denying that.

Also, in terms of fire department usage, I was studying uh a data center that went up in Ohio uh a couple of years ago, and over two years I saw 87 calls to this one data center, and only one of them was a fire, so it's not that it causes a lot of fires, but things like battery issues and and other electrical systems issues that uh necessitates a call by the fire department.

I see that causing this situation where you're gonna have to hire more firemen, you're gonna and women, uh, you're gonna have to buy get more fire trucks, you're gonna see property taxes increase to pay for that, and you'd probably sales tax as well.

So we can't act like this is all in a vacuum and it's not gonna affect our cost or our health.

At the very least, you should be doing some feasibility studies on the outcomes of health and on uh the outcomes downstream of pollution, and uh revisit the approval of that after that time because you can make the decision to revisit this decision based on what the community wants.

And I would implore you strongly, because if you don't, we won't forget in two years when you're up for re-election.

Next speaker is Gavin Badell.

Gavin Bedell.

All right, um, oh, that's wobbly.

Hello, City Council.

My name is Gavin Bedell.

I am a student at Kennesaw State University, and like many of the other people here today, I am an extremely concerned citizen regarding um grind cap corporations' plans to encroach on our community by building a data center.

Growing up, I was taught that as Americans, we have a unique right to privacy that citizens in countries such as China or the UK maybe don't have.

Which means that we should reasonably expect that corporations and our own government aren't spying on us.

But as the years have passed, tech companies have utilized AI trained at data centers to surveil everyday people like you and like me.

And in exchange for using our data without the consent of residents, what do they get in return?

Dirty water.

Dirty air.

Water that's so dirty that it's unsafe to drink.

And one specific part of our community that I am particularly worried about are the people that live right along the construction lines of the Bells Ferry Data Center.

About 100 feet away, as it was previously mentioned, is the closest town home.

People are raising families here.

The noise pollution in particular is something that I don't think we talk about enough.

Water pollution and air pollution are very important, but this is something specific that should be noted.

The World Health Organization warns that sounds of 75 decibels for eight hours a day can cause permanent hearing damage.

The Bells Ferry families will hear rumbles of up to 80 decibels for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Permanent hearing damage for children.

And this can even noise pollution can also cause cognitive impairments for children growing up.

I mean, as I stated, families are raising children here.

The benefits that the GrindCap Corporation, they claim that Marietta will um the economic benefits that they say that we will feel are not going to be felt by us.

The only changes that we will see are increases in pollution, increases in energy costs of up to $500 per year, which I know a lot of people cannot afford, and they shouldn't have to pay for another corporation's business.

That's not how the free market works.

And I like what the other KSU student had to say about this being a grand, this is just part of a grand scheme for pushing AI in our everyday lives.

So I again I would ask the council to imagine if the data center were being constructed less than 100 feet from your own home.

Would you sign off on that?

And would you would you allow it to be constructed right there?

I think not.

So for my closing statement, I please ask that you guys hear the voters now, or you will hear them during the next election cycle.

Thank you.

Next speaker is Reggie Copeland.

Tonight I'm here for a different reason.

I'm one of the candidates who applied for the Civil Service Board.

And the U.S.

Census tabulation revealed not too long ago that our population in our beautiful city of Marietta at the time was 31% black, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 3% Asian, Native American, or Pacific Islander, and 42% white, with another 8% identified as two or more races.

These numbers clearly indicate that our population in Marietta today is very diversified.

Everybody shout diversified.

However, as we continue to take a panoramic view and look closer at the makeup of the boards and committees in our city, we very rarely see that the boards and committees adequately reflect the diversity that our aforementioned per Census Bureau tabulations.

For example, tonight, prior to the night, would you all not know?

And I'm gonna say this without in fear of successful contradiction.

It is a shame.

All white males.

And we are taxpayers, Rosser.

We do live here.

I don't know where you got your information from, but I don't believe in alternative facts nor fake news.

What I want to say tonight, to add insult to injury tonight, we had three other white males, T.

Anderson, Gaddis, and Jason Waters, who after Carl Kent, the councilman, nominated a black woman, you had three other white males to turn around and nominate another white male when you already have an all-white male committee.

I say to all of you, you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

This city is for everybody.

We are taxpayers, and we should be adequately represented, and that's why I'm running for another seat in the next term.

God bless America and God bless Marietta.

No women, Mayor Tavern, Mayor Tamman and the City Council, the extended time frame has expired.

Any other bidders come for this committee?

No, sir.

How many more people are signed up?

Can we know that?

That was a 45 minutes.

Yes, sir, sir.

45 minutes.

Exactly.

We're retired.

Go ahead.

Thank you for coming and made an adjourn.