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I'd like to call the ORD this connected
city council committee meeting for
Monday January 6 2025 happy New Year
everyone and our first um committee is
finance thank you madam president so I
would like to call the finance committee
to order and one item on the agenda just
connect to the police department
temporary portable bathroom trailer
chief on
good evening good evening good evening
uh we are going through the transition
and update in the city uh police
department currently we are without
showers or bathrooms in the basement um
so we are respectfully asking uh the
mayor design to enter into contract with
Mike's Portable they are a local company
uh that's currently offering us portable
showers and um toilets uh in their rate
is $5,200 per
month can you just tell them about the
background a little bit on that there's
a bit of a background right so initially
um Mike's we contacted them because they
were local and they've done a great job
we put it out to bid we had two biders
uh one the winning bidder for $5,200
came from Tent South LLC they're out of
uh South Carolina uh they they came up
here and ultimately experienced problems
with uh freezing temperatures and um
basically just just bad luck on their
part they pulled out the next day and
could not honor the contract anymore U
Mike's Portables really kind of give
them some accolades and and a shout out
initially their uh contract was for 6560
per month but um they they actually
suggested that they can honor the $5,200
per month uh which was the lowest
bit Mr chair follow what theant just
said this was terminated for the mutual
convenience both the uh for us and for
the uh the vendor um they couldn't
perform they thought they could it was
logistical was as as the lieutenant has
indicated so we both mutually terminated
the the city as well as the uh as the
vendor that's on the record in the city
purchasing officer office so my
recommendation is that the resolution go
forward and will'll make reference to
the previous resolution in the new
resolution that the other one is is
recent previous resolution we awarded we
seem and we're awarding it uh to the new
vendor at the at the price
indicated so so we don't need to Res no
it will be be incorporated by reference
into that so you we don't have to do you
don't have to do a separate Standalone
resolution you can do in one resolution
which makes reference that the reason
why you're doing this new re resolution
is that it was terminated for
convenience okay any other questions I I
support this um but I just was wondering
so the contractor on the bathrooms does
think that it could take a year for the
new bathrooms in the no we're actually
expecting the uh project to be completed
by uh February of 2 this year so
mid-February of this year which uh is
ahead of schedule okay I think when we
originally written The Proposal uh we
had put in there um a potential six
Monon extension uh just to just to kind
of cover cover all the grounds
okay any other question
seeing may have a motion to move this
item forward second second all in favor
thank you thank any other business
support Finance motion to adjourn so
move all in favor thank
you I would like to call the order of
the Public Safety Committee we have
three items on the agenda tonight the
first of which is the discussion update
on vehicle vandalism Mr
M thank you Mr Williams I asked for this
item to be added to the agenda um over
the weekend because of What's um
happening over the last two weekend
there have been multiple U vehicle uh
vandalism in the city in specific into
area like Hamilton Hill and mon Pleasant
and you know it's like a pattern last
Saturday the previous Saturday and I
would like if Chief clip may can give us
an update as what can we do or what
action can be take to kind of like
increase Patrol in these areas to kind
of you know push these um corpet trate
off that not power in the future go
ahead please chairman again the uh
police
department an hour ago
or more put out a press release
summarizing some of that and asking for
Public's assistance put out some
photographs Tings to help
identify uh the individuals depending on
what questions you're going to look for
would questions be done an executive
session because it's still a active
ongoing criminal
investigation I I can some some of the
question or thing been asked to um by us
on the resident and said what can the
police do to help you know push this off
people on show back again next weekend
again and you know vitalizing car what
action what increase Patrol things like
that I don't think we want talk about
you know the arrest or you know what is
the investigation or things like that to
be it's more of an action kind of item
as so increased Patrol will be there you
know somebody helping identify those
pictures very quickly make sure it
doesn't happen so in the press that I
went out today it has image it has yes
there are images available okay would
you like me to read you the press
release so you no that's fine that's
fine we we'll grab all of it but I just
wanted to know um can you and your
officers have increase Patrol in those
hot spot areas to kind of U detour them
from doing this again because I mean
it's like almost 100 vehicle sure and
you know a lot of expense talking about
6050
$60,000 of expense that's a lot
especially in working class neighborhood
where people are struggling and have to
you know wake up in the morning trying
to get to work and here are four tires
or two tires are slash and they can't
get to work and i' only get to work but
you're putting them in additional
expense to to do that so they're asking
us what can do to help and that's why
here putting an agenda to ask we need to
do something to help them sure so I
would say that uh the first thing that
we can do is is the public in the in the
Mount Pleasant neighborhood because
that's primarily where these are is to
be extra vent with with looking outside
their Windows if they hear a noise if
they hear uh kids walking down the
street making loud noise it could be
these individuals um we don't know if
they're juveniles or adults but we we we suspect the juveniles we're just not
sure what age they are um if they have
cameras call us there's a tip line
that's going to be put out um with a
press release call the tip line let us
know about it lock their car doors don't
leave anything in sight of them a couple
cars have been stolen so lock their
doors if they had the ability to park
off Street in their driveways where
there's motion detecting lights that
would be very beneficial um so that
you're limiting your risk to having your
playes uh vandalized
um as far as what we're doing um we have
our our detective assigned to this case
that works our 800 p.m 4 a.m. p uh uh
time frame he''s been Consulting with
our school resource officers our uh our
the probation department um every every
Network that we have Citywide that might
be able to ENT identify young
individuals that we believe are doing
this and
um we also have increase Patrols in
those areas so uh we spoke with the
patrol Chief this uh this morning and we
will be having uh additional patrols
regular a regular timed interval uh
overnight uh throughout this week um so
that we can we can make sure that we're
out there um and as the mayor already
indicated we put some photos out um that
do have identifiable clothing we'd like
to know who these individuals are so
please give us a call if they have any
idea and uh we're looking to identify
them and get restitution for the for the
victims if
possible that's
for thank you so is there a special
number people should call should they
just a non-emergency number what number
should people call to for this
particular our tips line is 518
788
6566 and you can always call the
dispatch the non-emergency dispatch
which is
518 um
63911 too many
numbers and and your website's wonderful
too for reporting a tip or a crime if
you're on your computer so yes yes Mr so
thank you Chief my question was I don't
necessarily want you to say anything
that's going to like tip the people off
like so then they're like where what
this I guess my question is is there a
like a certain time frame or like that
this is happening in or is that
but only obiously answer that if you
feel like that that won't impede on your
investigation I was just like wondering
if there's like a theme there in both in
both instances they've been the
overnight hours okay yeah okay if if you
had a chance to look at the ring cameras
the videos it's about like three-ish two
around that time most most of them not
all of them but some of them press
relase release time because a lot of
residents have been uploading the U the
videos so if you get a chance you can
look at the videos and help I encourage
to do that because that's how we are
getting information on the calls yeah um
you know because of what's going on if
they if they have any outdoor lights
leave them on overnight the better the
lighting the better the cameras work you
know they don't work work great in the low light situations um but you know
we have a lot of cameras in Mount
Pleasant you know there's no doubt that
we will be able to identify them so with
the public assistance we'd rather do it
sooner than later and uh find out what's
going on with these individuals and get
them stopped
no I appreciate U the proactive approach
U you're taking on your your department
is taking because it's a serious um
concern of there res sure we certainly
understand that and uh you know
detective konis is the tough sign
detective and he's been working on it
for the last week I want to make sure
everybody is aware of that that he has
been working on it he's been making
progress It's just unfortunately hasn't
been able to make an arrest yet one of
the concern and I told most of the
residents who be calling is that they're
asking that the police response time to
them is like you know couple hours out
but I can't you know notify them that
they have to deal with so much um so
much of complaint so much of call for
the very same thing so they're working
their way towards that is that a true
statement is the kind of tell from yeah
from a Tre perspective we always uh
prioritize uh you know incidents that
have all people over property so that
most so that that's it's possible that
especially on a weekend that may have
happened
so so I did get some of this information
but 100 cars is
missing I think it's up of that TS I wow
I didn't know was that significant I
know it was a lot yeah we had
uh 25 to 30 vehicles on the first night
then
approximately it says the second
night yeah so it it it could be close I
don't think it's nearly 100 yet but it's
might be 100 tires I think closer to 60
Vehicles
yeah
30 Chief you mentioned about storen
vehicle do you have look at the number
come that because I know the first the
first Saturday I mean last Saturday this
have avable to a stolen vehicle is that
correct correct two stolen vehicles both recovered and crashed crashed and
recovered so of course you know there's some leads that'll follow those recovering vehicles
too still working on
that and if people have videos can they
how can they get them to you um so the
best way to do it is just to call us and
let us know that they have it and then
we'll walk through the process but
there's a an easy way that they can
upload them to us but we're going to
want to speak to them and you know
verifies their video and all that but we
have an easy way that they can send them
up to us um via the internet but they
should call First yes all right thank
you thank you any other questions or
comments no just thank you Chief and and
your off you know for doing this awesome
thank you thank you apprciate you the
next item on the agenda is a discussion
to amend city code chapter 183 which is
nuisance um if you can recall our
conversation previously it highlighted
that the ongoing nature of just noise
complaints throughout the city is
definitely something that continues to
affect us the quality of life for a lot
of our
cadians um in the special meeting that
we had the commissioner Divine
recommended adjusting our nuisance code
specifically and improving or raising
the value Point threshold for noise from
fre and he didn't give us an actual
number to change it to however my
recommendation is increasing it to six
which would be the maximum and I think
that takes into consideration just the
ongoing nature of just how disruptive
noise is to our residents and although
it would lower it from three or four
instances to two to have to meet that
12p point threshold I think it takes
into consideration not every call is
having one infraction there might be
multiple calls associated with each
infraction
um so I think it shows or presents a
very aggressive response from the city
and that this is something that we do
not want to continue to tolerate and
absolutely we understand that
individuals enjoying their themselves uh
and their parties or with their vehicles
is definitely nothing we're trying to um
disrup but making sure you do that in a
manner that is appropriate and not
infringing on other people's um personal
space so if there any question questions
or comments Mr Mr chairman you've got in
your packing of a copy of the proposed
ordinance which the chairman indicated
increases uh the penalties from one
category up to the sixth category so a
lot of that's adding it on and deleting
you know ring the paragraphs and also
the bottom portion of it is dealing with
the actual fines Mone money portion
there's no you can that's the current
schedule I didn't do anything to amend
what the penalties are there for 250 400
Etc the council wishes to as part of
this overall package which wishes to
increase
those fine amounts if you do so part of
the overall Amendment of the
ordinances thank you any questions or
comments Mr L yeah thank you when we had
initially discussed this we had talked
about the um application fee I know that
I some templates for the Corporation
Council and he updated some we're
working on but the current code allows
for a permit process and we have to
develop the form so we'll be in the
process of developing that particular
form for the sound permit the code calls
for it but as far as the form has to be
developed and we're using the forms that
you provided as the basis in which to
create a simple form for folks to
use can we at that find
together two cycles from yes two cycles
so we'll have two cycles talk The Form
application the form the form
okay thank you any Mr T yes I appreciate
the work you've done on
this Mr Williams um you said your
recommendation is six points I'd like to
know you know just in reading through
sexual performance by a child versus um
gambling offensive they're all six
points I I would think that some would
be a little higher and I mean there I
mean this is your personal
recommendation can we have um maybe the commissioner come back in and give
us his recommendation I'd like to see
some of these things a higher point six
and then some a little lower I'm not
sure
um what is your well I guess my my my
issue would would be six points for um
offenses involving marijuana so would
that just be smoking it on the street or
you know six points I mean since it's
kind of legal you know and we're selling
it at dispensaries and things so should
that be six points versus um you other
things that that are on here that may be
especially yeah a little bit more un LLY
dealing with a child I mean different
things like that
so yes if you understand what I'm saying
I I'm in favor of this I just wondered
these are your recommendations if we
could get some you know I say with
respect to the noise it is if there are
other items that are U other individuals
like to address absolutely but I would
say for me was specifically highlighting
on noise um and focusing on adusting
that one issue um I think often times
when we do expand our scope sometimes we
lengthen the timelines and I think this
has been an issue that's been ongoing
for years since I've from the council so
I think wanting to just remain um with
addressing this one area but if you'd
like to expand that absolutely I would
just want to make sure that did not
delay our response in total um I think
that's for Mr just to follow up on that
Mr chairman I mean you can move forward
with a call for a public hearing on
amending this portion of the noise and
then always revisit whatever portions of
those various C you know those other
categories as points so you can do it as
a stand alone rather than doing all at
one time so that's that's your option so
you can go back and revisit those other
sections thank you m Patrick no I just
was not in agreement with that mooving
yes so section two is saying that the
following um violation is going to um
generate um six points and if you go
under section three that will say these
offenses generating three points
so there is a comparison there certain
offens is high level one versus are low
level point so I kind of think it's it's a good step and I agree with
Corporation let's move forward and call
for the public hearing let look at this
here but we need to move forward because
we have been discussed this way until
last last year and we need to move on in
because next couple months will be
summer
again we need we need to do something
about it because you go across the city
and you hear complain about the time you
know loud music you know exhaust and all
these things are happening loud music
from Cars so we we need to act
so it's it's a good working
document any other questions or
comments probably because I agree uh
with uh Mr M was saying as far as like
addressing this now before we weather
breaks and we have more people outside
more people having events things of that
nature and I would just you know kind of
um also let the amplify the fact that
this again that there's an educational
component to this as well um so as we're
making these changes we're just you know
letting people know that you know that
we are taking a more um a Ser stance on
this therefore I think that some of that work can be preventative so
I think that that's an important part
there I just didn't want of those in
conversation Mr and that will factor in
the the permit um application process so
that if if someone has an event they can
come and apply for a permit so we know
all the details who who's promoting this
event and you know the approval process
they contact information so the police
can directly contact them they don't
need to go show up on the property they
can call them or let them know you know
we're receiving complaint you permit is
11:00 or 10:00 you need to shut down we
don't need to come over there they can
do that in house so that perit process
will help but this
also and I would say last comments I
know a lot of people uh within the city
say well I call the non-emergency number
and I don't necessarily see a response
uh in this case this will help build a
justification on the back end for
Corporation Council to proceed with
legal actions so if you are experiencing
these types of noise issues in your
immediate area please document it by
calling the nonemergency number um and
then that will help us understand uh how
many times and that'll fuel into this uh
nuisance adjustment moving forward Mr
Tor thank you
so again you know
you can get a permit to make noise from
noon to 6 when your neighbors whatever
and I'm sure we're going to work that
out but I'd also like to ask Chief
Clifford maybe if he can come forward to
maybe address um just a little bit about
the new ticketing system um that you
have which will make your officers and
Patrol men uh easier to ticket uh when
these instances come up like right away
and how that's moving along with the
department and getting to the courts
so um so City Court ordinances um the
way that we enforce that is it's it's we
process it the same as we would do in
arrest so the old way was we have to go
and take a person into custody literally
which may or may not involve handcuffs
we have to we have to write an incident
report um and then we have to complete a
master name on the individual go back to
the police station
jump on a computer write an accusatory
instrument file that paperwork with the
death Sergeant book that person and then
released them on an appearance ticket
that was the old way um we've we've now
streamlined that process to make it more
like receiving a traffic ticket where
right there on the spot we can do all
the paperwork issue a person an
appearance ticket on the spot go back
the death Sergeant would still have to
book the person but there's a lot less
paperwork and that means that we we can
make the arrest a lot uh faster more
efficient um while accomplishing the
same goal um so that what that does is that that encourages our officers to
make that arrest um so that we hold the
people accountable um a lot of the
hesitations in the past which led to um
advisements is that it's a Saturday
night we're low on Staffing the call
volume is up and officers just didn't
want to get bogged down for 45 minutes
making a loud music arrest when they
know that we have other more important
calls um I should say not more important
but more violent calls coming in calls
that really needed their attention were
coming in and they didn't want to get
tied up on them so um so we've been able
to implement that process we had a few
hiccups with the court system and we we
finally worked it out with all the
judges to make sure that they're all okay with it uh we we tested
the process this year uh specifically in
the summertime it worked well so we're we've implemented that and we're
starting to utilize that more often now
thank you Mr parley yeah so Chief I
remember in the conversations um well
some of the conversation was around like
how do we distinguishing or measuring
kind of like that noise like the valume
and like how how that's going and my
question is to you is that you know is
there anything that you need you know
further from us as city council to be
for you to be able to enforce that like
cuz I don't know do we have the right
type of instruments or to to to make
that distinction between okay you were
just being allowed but now you're kind
of over this thing or do you need
anything from us for anything further
from us to support from that uh right
now I don't believe we do that might
change in the future as we test this
process and they go through more through
the courts if the if the judges require
some some kind of instrument reading
then we might um but but as of right now
I'm not aware of it if an officer shows
up and they feel that's unreasonable
noise um they can make the
arrest thank you Mr Chief is this the
same ticket process we had passed
through city council several years ago
and you had some problem with it the
office is there and they were thrown out
by the court and it was pushed back to
Corporation Council for them to revisit
the tickets yes so that was done a
revision and the done by cooperation
Council the ticket that you're rolling
out now yeah okay yeah and you have
discussion with the the court system to
make sure that we're not going to have
another sort of a problem correct yeah
we uh we had to change the form um so
it's all on the front page so so so
nothing on a second page correct yes
that that was the problem with the
second page uh constitute another um
incident so instead of one incident it
was two incidents and it was not
recorded properly something like that yeah the judge
wanted it um Wanted The Originals um and
by by putting it on the back that wasn't
sufficient so we made pH photo copies
and so the judge just we we compli with
what the judge was asking for and then
we tested the process and it's been uh
it's been working fine so so when we had
passed that ticket I'm trying to
recollect back a couple years ago on the
city council here it was more not for
noise it was more General to purpose you
can go there and site for for
litter uh things like that is is it the
same it's the same yep Yeah we actually
on the ticket itself it has multiple
City Court coordinate violations that are you probably the the ones that
are um that people mostly complain about
that are on there but we also have a
last spot that we can put anyone in
there that we wanted to so that we could
just like an other where we could write
it in there is it possible you can share
that template to the council so look at
that um the revise um that VI good I'm
thank you thank you me a couple years in the works when we passed it
originally and then we had some push
back from the court system and I'm glad
working with Corporation com to move
forward because that was a big quality
of live back in then we move forward
with that and I think it's going to be
well received out there and kind of make a difference in our city
yes um so people don't now get any
warning at this point in time so if
someone gets a loud if there's a loud
noise will call your officer show up
there's there's before it was like turn
the noise down so we don't have to come
back Etc so now is that no longer
happening there there's no guaranteed
one warning okay you know there's a lot
of misconception out there that you got
the first first one for free there was a warning and that's not the case it
always comes down to discretion of the
officer and the condition of what they they walk into okay um and you know
they'll look at the premise history and
see if they've been they've they've been
spoken to before um but um you know
there's it always comes down to the
situation and you know they're not out
there looking to write tickets uh you
know for any reason other than
enforcement and um you know if if they
can if they feel that they can get the
mission accomplished by speaking to the
person then they do it they feel like U
this needs to be sent before the judge
then they'll write the ticket and and
ask them to to go and speak to the judge
about it okay thank you danan I remember
part of the um we the discussion
assistant chief an noic spoke about when
an officer responds then you have your
change over making sure that
communication is transferred over to the
next shift um but I think in a similar
fashion to the response with vehicle
vandalism I I think there were a lot of
trigger words back in the day where you
hear community policing it's important
to recognize that putting all of the
onus on to law enforcement might not be
the best and most appropriate Way
Forward so it's working collaboratively
with the community um to make sure that
this is received well and that we're
also doing our actions on our
part there were no other question one
more question in terms of a timeline for
an officer to complete that process K I
know back in then when we we pass like
45 minutes do you have like a timeline
to that now if you were to go there and
write that ticket how much of a time
would it take yeah I mean you're you're
right in that um the old way it was
definitely 45 minutes probably somewhere
between 45 minutes in an hour and now
it's probably more like 20 to 30 minutes
so it's it's I'd say cut in half
nice so the in Chief if there are no
other questions or comments Mr Mr
chairman I just you know uh section four
increase of penalties you wish to
increase penalties since you're going
for the you know calling for a public
hearing on you know increasing the point
system do you wish to double the range
that's already in there from a minimum
of 250 to second offense from 250 to 400
are you at this point okay with the uh
the penal the fine phase at this point
just want to increase the uh points
system for the nuisance I would say for
me personally just wanted to U ensure
the process works complete so I think at
this point is just making sure the
points actually reflect the degree of
Destruction to the community so I am
safe with leaving the fines as is okay
um but I'm only one of members in the
committee
else I would agree that we should um
leave finds as is um and increase the
points okay I'm okay with that too yeah
I think that's what that was discussed
when we discussed this last year in
terms of
General consensus was to keep it as as
is so hearing no other questions or
comments may have a motion to does need
to be call for a public hearing for the
amendment of The ordinance increasing
the points
voice so second all those in favor I
thank you and the last item as a
reminder amending the certain sections
of the scy city code chapter 248
regarding setting a Citywide speed
at 25 mph there is a public hearing that
will be on January 13th H Patrick did
you have any other no that's I mean we
just wanted to remind folks to about the January 13th public hearing um
and again reinforce the idea that we're
uh proposing this as a safety feature uh
and and we'll see how it
goes if there are no other items to
Public Safety may have a motion for so
all in favor
I'd like to call the order government
operations we have one item on the
agenda um that is to review the chap
chapter 28 the city council of President
Porterfield thank you um so this well as
we all know the chapter 28 governs how
the city council works and this is
coming before you because at our for our
last special meeting there was some
question about whether or not the
notification was proper in terms of our
special meeting um so in particular that
the um it was delivered via email and
whether that was considered personal
delivery so um based on the
recommendation from Corporation Council
it seems uh the best course of action to
actually include that specifically in
the code to make sure that that that it's no longer a question so um
what's coming before you tonight is
actually to amend section
28-3 regarding special meetings and that
email um
be accepted as a a notice of delivery uh
I will say that there were other
questions that came up regarding the
entire chapter which everyone has
printed out for you um and in
particular one of them was and Mr uh Mr
O'Brien has given us copies of the the
amount of time required for notice so at
this point in time it's 3 days um there
was a question whether it needed to be
three days and he provided with the
second City's class laws which says it
can be um at least 24 hours and
um yeah so um so really opening that
discussion up whether we're um first of
all to amend regarding the email
notification and secondly whether we
want to um to change the the length of
time that the notice is required to be
out in front and let me just add one
other um one that I looked at that no
longer longer really even makes well
makes any sense actually is uh 28-31
smoking in council chambers because you
can't smoke indoors anywhere so we could
just lose
that so um so it's opening up for
discussion on these
items I just have a suggestion in terms
of us saying um by email can we use the
word
electronic delivery
I'm looking at this one
yeah
transmitter is this the um proposed
resolution gra yeah so I'm suggesting to
take the the electronic transmit here
and replace it by by email so that way
we're covering all the all the bases in
terms of like we don't have emails we
can do by Tex or any other forms of
electronic mayor okay Mr
Mayor well I would question that that
you know it's how do you verify people
are getting the proper
notification and my preference for the
wording would be for this official City
email address you know because you say
email addresses people
have multiple ones they have business
ones they have some that are active they
have some that are
inactive uh
and you're going to get
the fact pattern where again it becomes
a question of whether or not people were
properly
notified president Port um I have the
same concern saying electronic that
means that you could text it to someone
and none of us are given um none of us
have phones that are given to us by the
government we we're using our own
personal phones so if something should
come up then we and they need to look at
our text message Etc that means you're
turning over your own personal phone so
I I would agree that email and
government email I hadn't um thought
about narrowing it down to that is
probably the best way to do it um
because I guess I was electronic also
was indicated that it meant that by
facts people are facts but that is
electronic delivery so um I I support um
you know using the government email but
um I I would caution against us just
opening up to electronic delivery
especially given the fact that we don't
have phones that are given to us for
work
purposes any other questions comments on
that Mr Williams uh so thank you for
bringing this forward um I did have a
chance to read the chapter in its
entirety and I think as you get to
section
2018-14 uh there tends to be a lot of uh
certain pronouns and I thought it would
be important to have some gender neutr G
gender neutral language um as glad to
see that there have been a lot of
progressive steps taken since
1989 thank you Mr I guess I would just
the fact that uh as we're as we're um
reviewing anything in the city code we
want to make sure that we're using our
Uh current luns of today so I think that would just be a best practice Mo
for to have like home pigeons on so I
think any other uh questions
or thoughts on this so are we talking
about meing this right
now we couldn't because this is just
Essen to review it and to bring up what
people are bringing up the the gender
using the government email and um what
I'd like to see is for us to to provide
the feedback that from today's meeting
and then to bring it back in two weeks
um to provide it to uh Mr O'Brien and
then to bring it back for us to um
review the changes that people are
bringing
forward Mr M can we just go ahead and
call for public Hearing in the meantime
because we have to amend the city chart
at the same time just you know flushing
out information because I don't think
it's a lot of information needed to
amend this section is more of a a few
change language I I'm certainly fine
with that I just want to make sure that
people have an opportunity to give their
input yeah find move we call a public
hearing to amend the
section Mr Mr chair chairman as the
council president has said this this is
an opportunity for you all to review
thew the chapter 28 see what other
things need to be amended call for the
public hearing I guess that would be on
January 26 uh 27th and now we'll give
another committee cycle then to go
through 28th and then do the the final
res divisions and get that out prior to
the uh prior to the public hearing so
all those changes can be made at one
time as just doing each
here so I'll AC a motion for a public
hearing um so second second those in
favor I I have nothing else to come before
government operations so motion to
adjourn
so we
areour um all those in
favor thank you I'd like to call the
City development and planning we have
two items on the agenda the first item
is recommend recommendation to the city
council from the Planning Commission
regarding draft cannabis dispensary
zoning legislation Miss
barash
um um IAM chair I'll take mrri okay um I
also have uh Mr Connelly from the uh
planning department here also to give
out uh uh maps of of the districts uh as well as to explain what some of the
districts are and while he's doing that
um just a a bit of
a you know refresh everybody's
recollection this was last before you uh
last month referral was made to the city
plan commission to uh pursu of disc
connected city code for their review and
input uh they uh reviewed it and then
they have submitted a uh their
recommendation to you regarding this um
the moratorium is still in effect
however it's expires next month it's
February 11th so with the cycle that
they are and the time that it the time
that it is um you're going to have to
call for that public hearing for January
27th on the draft and then pursuing to
article 12b the general Municipal
law amendment of a zoning code that hits
on the orders of other municipalities
has to be ref uh referred to the County
Planning Department because this is
Citywide so these districts obviously
are hitting the boundaries of all the
neighboring communities so assum article
12b of the general Municipal law just as
you recall from back in the spring of
last year we had to do a referral up to
the uh County Planning Department for
The Vape ordinance for their comment and
review uh uh review and comment the same
thing here they have up to 30 days so
you can see how time is now moving along here so um the two asks U
before we get into the details here the
two asks added for this committee and
for the council for the next cycle one
calling for that public hearing on the
draft on on on the 27th of January and
two a transmitt resolution of the draft
up to County planning for their review
and comment so those are the the asks
the immediate asks that you uh that are
before you to move the process along
um regarding the uh the the the proposed
ordinance is that the Cannabis
establishments which include uh retail
dispensaries um as well as uh uh onsite
consumption
and uh retail dispensaries uh and micro
businesses with a retail portion with a
retail portion that's the kind
of aspect that brings them into our our
code here um cannabis estab
establishments is defined above and
that's in the in the code that's
highlighted for you and those
definitions are before you um are going
to be limited to as we discussed before
the M1 the industrial districts M2 C4
and C5 Zone districts and C2 and C3 Zone
districts subject to special use permit
and uh uh Mr coning will tell you about
the special use permit and then uh so at
this point I'll let I'll turn it over to
him regarding the maps and as well as to
explain those districts and giving
examples into those districts thank you
so what the map is showing the the map
is showing schools and churches as uh
provided by our assessment office um as
the the legislation is going to prohibit
any new dispensaries or onsite
consumption spots within 500 ft of those
so all those dots whether they be in
residential zones or not um no no
establishments going forward could be
within 500 ft of those locations and
vice versa if there is a new dispensary
or outside consumption spot that comes
in um a new school church so on and so
forth could not operate in those areas
without getting the approval from the
zoning board to for those uses as uh you
know dispensaries and onsite conception
establishments have been deemed by the
state and the office of can Canabis
management as locations that are not fit
for these locations you know around youth miners so on and so forth
um the planning commission's
recommendation was to have it have uh
their main change from Mr O'Brien's
original legislation was to have onsite
consumption spots via special use permit
only um as that gives them essentially
more authority to protect the
residential interests um General site
plan approval well if it's just
permitted as of right they don't
necessarily have the authority to look
at issues such as
nuisances um if there's any fumes from
uh you know smoking outside whatever it
may be they don't if it was permitted as
of right that wouldn't be aspects that
they were able to look at having the
special use permit gives them the
opportunity to do so and although the
Office of canas canabas Management has
the authority to issue onsite
consumption licenses they have not
rolled any out yet so we don't know what
these on-site consumption spots are
going to look at and the Planning
Commission made the recommendation to be
more proactive with their zoning and if
the time comes when these establishments
are rolled out and they're relatively
unobtrusive to neighborhoods and and
Residences then we can roll back a
little bit but the intent was to be
proactive instead of reactive um and
give them the most Authority possible to protect the interest of the
residential neighborhoods that might be
adjacent to our commercial
corridors um Madam president yes um I
would just ask Mr Connelly to tell us
about M1 M2 C4 and C5 what are those
districts and uh you know give us
examples for those districts yeah so M1
and M2 are strictly strictly industrial
and warehousing no no residentials
allowed um no single family multi family
none of that nothing of that sort um as
you can see in the second half of there
Technology Drive is an example of a
heavily industrial Corridor um the Lower
Broadway and grand grand uh Street areas
as well off of Broadway industrial
they're very there there aren't many of
these M1 and M2 corridors um but their
Express purpose is to have the uses that
aren't fit to be around the residential
NE so we thought it would be appropriate
to have it as of right in those areas um
C5 is the least restrictive commercial
Corridor it's it's essentially the
closest commercial corridors that we
have to these industrial districts so
while it's closer and more adjacent to
residential neighborhoods um we there aren't very many of them and we
generally allow higher leniency in terms
of the impact that uh businesses may
have so for example Upper State Street
past cross toown Plaza is one of our C5
business districts um cross toown Plaza
itself C5 um the section of Dwayne
Avenue if you familiar with the the big
storage Warehouse off of 890 over by
Odell Street these are just to give you
a brief overview of some of our C5
districts um commercial but not
necessarily in the same regard as a C2
District like uh Broadway in bellw or
van Franken in the north side which are
commercial in nature but are much more
residentially oriented than some of
these C5 districts um and then C4 is our
downtown which is intended to be uh you
know very commercial in
nature we have or should I say New York
State the ocm has uh legislation in
place to restrict how many
establishments can be in proximity to
each other I believe we can't have any
dispensaries within 1,000 ft of one
another so even though the downtown
district is very residential in some aspects um that prohibits sort of
an over congestion of U dispensaries in
that
area um Madam chair regarding the
special use permit for um what are the
criteria when what's the planning board
mandated to to look at what are the
things that the planning board has to
look at if they have to if applicant has
to go before and get a special use
permit that's going to look at it it
looks at the impact the the more
holistic so to speak impact that it
might have on the on the residences if a
general site plan approval we look at
purely code is this curve cut legal um
you know as is the sidewalk up to code
so on and so forth this is going to look
at how traffic patterns might be
impacted as a result of this um we were
talking earlier about the noise
pollution that's been happening
throughout the city that gives us a
greater authority to analyze that um for
example something that's already
issuance to AAL shoes permit is is
drive-throughs in most areas um the
reason being is because of the pretty
significant traffic impact that that can
have on Commercial areas that might be
next to residential corridors um so it gives us an expanded area to to view
those impacts and how it might impact
the day-to-day lives that we wouldn't
have if you know for example a more
mundane use that that could be allowed
in those
districts if that answers your question
thank you yeah
um so Mr Brian so the current
existing um locations for cannabis will
they will not be impacted by that that's
correct they'll be grandfathered in in
other words there'll be IL legal non
performing use as long as they remain in
that particular business the minute they move out and if a cannabis
establishment does not move in then they
lose their legal nonconforming use so
those entities that are where they are
right now that may not have fit into
this category will stay there until such
time they they're no longer business and
for those there's some that um haven't
opened yet but they they've chosen their
location which is outside of what we're
currently discussing that this ises
impact anything that's that's already in
the pipeline anything that was already
in the pipeline would have wouldn't been
impacted they would have been
grandfathered and this pursuant to the U
the moratorium that you all put in place
back uh in November I think and if they
had put their applications in then they
were grandfathered in as well um and I
know that two of them also had to go
through special use permits the ones
that were already in the process also
had went through the special use permit
process uh and approval by the planning
board and that there's only one
outstanding there's one outstanding it
still needs to get a special use permit
as well that is for a drive-thru it's
not a special use permit to allow the
use
um to the locations wanted
drive-throughs for their establishments
that's why they need the special use
drive-throughs are you know I know that
drive-throughs are allowed by the office
of Canabis management are they
yes
okay all right Mr F sure I was just I
was just uh curious as to like um is is
this kind of similar to like what we
look at when when people are like maybe
trying to open up a a bar or a pub or
something like that is there any kind of
consistency and we view that to for the
time being no in terms of onine
consumptions for the comparison for
consumption to consumption no no no just
um right now it's going it right now
it's a little bit more restrictive the
reason is for two reasons first of all
ocm has restriction guidelines in terms
of distances that are not in place for
bars um and secondly as I mentioned
there's we don't have any guidelines on
how on-site consumption spots are going
to look yet um so if it turns out to be
an instance where maybe it's it's only
THC infus selters or gummies or things
of that sort where there's no smoking
allowed maybe we could roll back some of
the restrictions we could analyze it as
those licenses come out but we don't
know if that's going to be the case yet
we don't know if it's going to have
outdoor smoking patios or whatever it
might be we just don't know so that's
why we did it the way we did I guess I
was thinking along lines of like um the
churches and schools like the proximity
the church schools as far as like what our so if somebody wants to open up
a pup next to a school or something like
that it doesn't we don't have anything
that this wouldn't be anything that
uh closely mirrors how that not on the
local level I don't know the state lier
Authority keeps those distances as far
as and a lot of the distance you see
here are based on state law the 200 ft
the 500 ft to a school
to state law from state that was
something that was discussed at the
Planning Commission meeting they wanted
to in some instances expand those to
make it different Mr O'Brien advised us
that we couldn't alter it one way or the
other just because we had to comply with
the state
guidelines Mr Tom thank you how how many
applications are still pending that
would be grandfathered in just one
there's one there only one only one
outstanding we had two at the last
meeting um we have one outstanding one
on Eastern Park way going into they want
to go into the Old Key Bank across from
the Family Dollar over there that's the
only outstanding one that's left on our
agenda on your agenda okay how how many
dispensaries are open in the city or how
many with that one pending would there
be eight or nine or so we have one on
Upper
Union three or four downtown one in the
I knew there were a lot in PE kind of I
the applications coming in so there were
three that got in right before the
atorium two of them two of them have
passed along um one of them has not
provided all the sufficient application
materials necessary so there's still so
kind of this is it really have there
been any more that have come in no not
since the moratorium has been in place
no well just to clarify this is it for
within you know that we that's not going
to be relegated to the areas that we're
talking about they can still be within
the city it's just like M1 M2 and then
speci I wondered if there were any p
applications no the the only one that I
mean the one on Eastern Parkway would
not fit in with this legislation um
that's the only last one that that would
be grandfa and as Mr O'Brien said if the
one on Eastern Parkway opens and then
has a change in ownership or same same
goes for the one on up Union Street
those would then be subject to these
regulations and and the process would be
different going forward um so let me
just there was another one on Eastern
Park like almost across the street did
that one not get through the process
this is the same same owners so so that
Family Dollar location didn't work for a
myriad out of reason so they purchased
the lot across the street oh okay okay
interesting uh my and this question
actually probably is for you Mr O'Brien
so there is within the state guidelines
no limit of the number that we can have
within a municipality right if we can't
cap
it okay
wow if we can't we can't but
geez who do we talk to about I mean
there could just be a number so I think
um based on what we're doing it's
probably the best way to go at least we
can limit where they are if we can't cap
the number within our
municipality so at this point in time um
those were recommendations and Mr
O'Brien you're I'm sorry were there any
other questions or comments thank you
very
much so Mr O'Brien so are you saying
that we need to both call for a public
hearing and and also pass that with
transmit it to County Planning yes Madam
president yes two two resolutions uh to
pass you one call for the public hearing
on the 27th on the draft and the draft
going up the county planing for its
review and com right Mr man did you have
are there yeah are there um would this
apply to any site that want to cultivate
cannabis well that you know the
cultivate is the micro business has to
have a retail aspect to it and then you
know if it's a if it's a a micro
business is is for an analogy like a
micro Brewery in other words they
develop their own product they grow
their own product and then
sell so they have to have a retail
aspect and that's what this is is
looking at is retail and you know
and as indicated every Everything uh is
going to require a special use permit
whatever can this establishment in the
C2 and C3 distri
districts and the uh on-site consumption
is is Mr
uh is indicated is is that that
regardless of zone is going to require a
special use permit because you would ask
The Regulators the the
applicants um and and us this is a
developing area of the
law and that's you know we're all going
through this so if you ask any any of
them um uh any of the actors The
Regulators the local municipalities the
applicants it's a a developing area of
the law and I think that recognizes that
fact giving local control but
also allowing these but also taking in
consideration how they fit in
and so just a follow because you and I
had already discussed it's about the
micro businesses right and you have to
have a we know that you already have to
have an establishment um but my concern
was that if you were had an
establishment where could you actually
what is the distance does it have to be
25 miles outside the city is it within
25 miles of of their business what is
yeah Madam chair it's it's 25 miles if
they have one in here within that 20 M
radius their
cultivation part has their cultivation
part of the operation has to be within
that 25 mile radius of where they're
located for the retail
operation and they would have to have a
special permit to for the
cultivation um in those those C2 or C3
now you know you know regarding the
cultivation aspect that has you know
whole separate requirements as far as
you know how many square feet
Etc so
um you could ask for a special use for
the cultivation aspects of it for
example cultivation aspects only not the
retail aspects right so cultivation
aspects because that's a whole different
aspect it's not a retail it's not it's a
cultivation well for the sake of the
council um I I think that that may be
something we want to consider uh for a
special permit for a cultivation aspect
because based on what what I'm
understanding is that conceivably if you
have a large enough property within the
city you can use it for cultivation if
you own or own an
establishment I don't know how long is
the large Jack you
know I I don't know exactly the
specifications for the lot size that
would be required for this but you
couldn't just put it anywhere you know
it would still need to be commercial
owned um and it would it would still be
sub you know if it was M1 M2 C4 or and
C5 C4 would probably not fit into that
just because the generally speaking the
lot sizes are smaller um M1 M2 C5 have
been determined that those would be more
suitable for it as they're more
commercial more business
oriented if it was that case C2 C3 would
be as we said before special use permit
and it wouldn't apply to any residential
zones at all so Mr if you could just provide us with
the information about the cultivation
part of it I know that we're going to
move ahead what you can do just you know
just move things forward here is just
you know we change that one aspect where
it requires a special use permit for the uh the on-site consumption and just
say micro bus the cultivation
aspects not the retail but the
cultivation aspects of of a micro
business will require a speci
yes I would I think that would um make
it at least that would be some say and
have to come before the Planning
Commission
yeah we can do that I I can you know
I'll mark that up add that into that one
section down there and then you can go
forward with the resolutions and and
you'll have the final draft for next
week anyhow because it has to be
transmitted up to the county so I'm
going to add that language okay thank
you any other discuss discussion on this
okay so um our next item is to actually
call for a public hearing regarding the
zoning ordinance so second all in
favor and um also additionally we need
to um um have a motion to transmit to
the count to County
Planning some second all those in
favor is there anything else to come
before development and
planning if not ask for a motion to
adjourn so move second all in favor we
are adjourned thank you like to call the
order of the claims committee we have
three items on the agenda tonight um
three of these will need to be discussed
in the ex
session have Mo ex
session second session all those in
favor all we are exective session
members of the public will have to
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oh