Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Marietta City Council convened for an Agenda Work Session on Monday, October 12, 2026, at 5:15 PM. The primary purpose of the session was to prepare for the October 14 regular council meeting. The council received the monthly Board of Lights and Water (BLW) report, debated a code amendment regulating data centers, and discussed the preliminary plat for the Roselane development, in addition to an executive session for property acquisition.
Staff presented a temporary “stopgap” zoning amendment to create a Special Land Use Permit for data centers in the Heavy Industrial (HI) district. Councilmember Waters opposed the stopgap, advocating for an extension of the moratorium until a comprehensive ordinance can be developed with Georgia Tech. Councilmembers Anderson and Kent supported the stopgap to provide an immediate decision-making framework, noting the comprehensive study will take additional time. Staff confirmed the moratorium can be extended as needed. The motion to authorize advertising the code change passed 5-2 (Councilmembers Waters and Gaddis opposed). The amendment will move to the Planning Commission and return for a final council vote in December.
Councilmember Anderson added this item to the work session. The applicant presented two alternative plats for sidewalks and a crosswalk to the Mountain to River Trail. Option A proposed sidewalks only on Roselane Street. Option B proposed sidewalks on Roselane and the north side of Jordan Street. Both options tied the waiver of internal sidewalks to the installation of a protected crosswalk. The developer argued internal sidewalks would create dead-end gaps due to existing lots they do not own, making the crosswalk a superior benefit. Councilmember Gaddis stressed that sidewalks are a standard safety requirement in infill developments. Councilmember Kent supported the applicant’s proposal, citing the crosswalk’s value and the development’s low unit count. Mayor Tumlin and Councilmember Gaddis raised concerns about approving the plat before the legally required public hearings for the zoning and sidewalk variances, describing the process as “plat roulette.” The council took no action on the plat. The zoning and variance requests remain scheduled for the October 14 regular meeting. The applicant requested a special call council meeting to approve the plat following a favorable resolution.
The council reviewed the October 14 draft agenda. Presentations are scheduled for new police officers and Fire Safety Week. Public hearings are set for North Hillcrest and a stream buffer amendment. An executive session for property acquisition was approved.
Good afternoon. I'd like to call the city council junior work session order, please. For Monday, October the 12th. Minutes. Motion to approve. Second. All those in favor, please go to Ryan. Motion carries 7-0. BLW report, Mr. Corland. Yes, sir. We had a very nice and concise meeting today. Shortest that it's ever been. So I'm gonna try to keep the BLW report just as uh as short. The main two things on well, two of the main things on the agenda was an approval for an easement. Uh for one of them was uh a motion to approve the easement associated with Atlanta United landing. This is for the bridge on uh power ferry, I guess. Motion two gateway Franklin Gateway Franklin Gateway. Motion two was to approve the easement for the apartment complex. Both of those motions carried, and there was one dollar each, I guess, for the um the cost. The other was a uh approvement for the uh the payment of the easement that was associated with the Air Force base. I I think the the work had been done, I don't know if uh Ron is here, uh back two years ago. There were two different entities in the government, and I I guess it was assumed that one of them had the authority to approve it. And so we approved it, and there is a um a cost of somewhere around $32,000 associated associated with the approval. But those were were two main items that we voted on to uh approve. Uh that's what the federal government is. Yeah, yeah, and there were a lot of requirements within that federal government easement as far as insurance was concerned that well, liability, um, and I think Ron indicated that they have you know made sure that all that's in place. That answers any question I was gonna have. Go ahead. You had a question. You used answered the question I was going to ask. Because I know I read through and saw the insurance other stuff. I also want to make sure we were all good and ready to go with the policy limits and everything there. Okay, the next we have financials from Tina. Good evening. So I'll be presenting both the supplementals and the financials for the month. So if you look in your packet, this is a summary of pages one and two for our revenue. The total project cost for the uh for our total project cost for the month was 7.27 million dollars. Our energy costs raised the total bill to 7.45 million.