Good evening, and welcome to the City of Roswell Mayor and City Council meeting for October 24, 2022.
I'm Mayor Kurt Wilson. I'd like to acknowledge my colleagues and Council members present. Council member Christine Hall. Council member Lee Hills. Council member William Mortlin. Council member Michael Polermo. Council member Dr. Peter Vandstrom.
I'd like to turn over to our city administrator, Mr. Randy Knighton, to explain how the meeting
is run.
Mr. Knighton.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
In accordance with section chapter 3.70 of the city code, the city council shall hold regular
public meetings.
The purpose of city council meetings are for the public to participate and speak on agenda
items, which constitute formal decisions by the elected body.
These items are listed on the published agenda which can be accessed via the city website prior to the meeting.
This is a public meeting and some items to require a formal public hearing.
A significant and important component of city council meetings are to hear directly from citizens on the items listed on the agenda.
public comments or questions are essential for the bear in council to incorporate as they contemplate each decision.
Citizens are at the top of the organizational chart and therefore it is imperative for bear in council to hear from citizens in these meetings.
If you would like to speak on an item, we ask that you fill out a comment card, which are located in the back of the room and at the podium in order to ensure
and accurate record of the meeting.
We ask, of course, that everyone observed the principles of mutual respect and display the appropriate
demeanor during the course of the meeting this evening, which should be in his reflective
of this great community.
The mayor is the presiding officer of the meeting and will ensure the orderly exchange of
comments, questions, and discussion leading to decision making by the elected body.
But also encourage everyone in attendance in the viewing audience to visit the city website
for meetings of Vincent Department of Information.
We also encourage you to review and participate in the various activities and offerings
in the city.
There are a number of events in special meetings scheduled coming up in the city of Roswell
that the mayor will talk about under the mayor's report, which promote community physical
activity in leisure, as we all make Roswell, the number one family community in America.
There we'll see.
Thank you, Mr. Niting. Yesterday, myself and Councilmember Christine Hall and Councilmember
Lee Hills had the great privilege of being at Roswell's first Baptist Church to celebrate
the 150th commemoration in Anniversary of the Church, and we're
fortunate tonight that we have the Pastor Kevin Hidd from
First Baptist Church here in Roswell, and I'd like to ask Pastor Hidd to
come up front and lead us in an indication of moments on it.
Pastor Hidd.
Thank you, and thank you for recognizing our 150th anniversary on behalf of
our church.
We are grateful to be a part of this city and thankful for all that you did to make any
great place.
Join me as we pray together.
As we gather together this evening, we are grateful that we gather as free people, free people in a great city, state and nation, prepared to so many people in this world we are blessed for we are free to pursue the life we choose, free to worship as we so desire, free to serve others to work and strengthen this community.
But even as we give thanks tonight for these blessings, we remember that there are those
around us who are still in need.
As good as life is for many of us difficulties remain.
There are those in our city who are anxious and concerned and afraid.
Some in our community have lost jobs and are emptying their savings.
other suffer physically from disease, failing health, some are impacted by drug abuse, addictions
and other aspects of life.
All of these experiences are sometimes magnified by economic concerns and political divisions
and strife.
In this dark world we need light, we need grace and mercy for each other.
We need love in our communities and in this great city.
We ask for peace to replace anger, assurance to overcome fear and worry, and grace to look past our differences and to work for unity.
Be with these city leaders, bless them, empower them, grant them wisdom, patience, and a keen sense to do what is best.
Guide them to creative ways of dealing with the challenges that we all face.
Help them and all of us to know that even when we cannot do great things, we can do small things in great ways.
May each of these leaders know of our appreciation for their service and leadership among us be with them as they strive with integrity and determination to do that which is good for all of us.
for I make this my prayer in your precious and holy name. Amen.
Thank you, Pastor Kevin
Head, of the Roswell First Baptist Church. At this time I'd like to call David
Redrick, who is a member of the Roswell Rotary Club, and also a boy scout troop, 1985, from
Northbrook, United Methodist Church, and boys scout troop, 432, from Roswell, United
of Beth message church to come forward and lead us in the pledge.
Your veteran or in the service please salute if not put your hand over your heart and join us.
Me, I am brethren, and the two troops here saying the pledge to the best nation.
I'm going to play the allegiance to the flag, which is saying one nation, under God, indivisible, and then be in justice law.
I just wish they play ball after that, but we can't.
Thank you, David Reddick.
Thank you, Boy Scout Troop, 1985, from Northbrook United Methodist Church, and Boy Scout Troop,
for 32 from Roswell United Methodist Church.
Thank you so much.
Well, next on the agenda is the Mayor's report.
And my first item is the reading of a proclamation
for the esteemed veteran of Roswell Award.
To United States Army War War II veteran,
private first class, Harry Douglas Allen Jr.
At this time, I'd like to call, United States Army War
War II veteran, private first class, Harry Douglas Allen Jr.
forward for the proclamation.
I'll let you have the hope for the rest of the time.
I promise you, they want to hear you much more.
They want to hear for me.
Proclamation, Office of the Mayor, Private First Class,
Harry Douglas, Ellen Junior, World War II,
esteemed veteran of Roswell.
We're as in 1946, shortly after Harry Douglas Allen Jr.'s 18th birthday, he had listed
into the United States Army.
Doug had just completed his first year at the University of Virginia studying economics.
Doug first reported to the induction center, Campwood, New Jersey, where there were still
German, prisoner of war soldiers being detained, and then he was transferred to nearby Fort
It was later realized that the Army had lost his paperwork and not only did he have to do all the paperwork again, including re-taking the general reclassification test, sorry the general classification test, but he received the highest score reported at the base.
Doug completed Infantry Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, volunteered for paratroopers
school and was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia. After several weeks of training, flying
and gliders, and attempting a jump out of a C-46, he realized he was terrified of heights,
so he withdrew his application.
Doug was then sent orders to go to camp Stoman, California,
where he was ordered to report to the USS General William Wiggle Tripshup Tripshup Tripshup
ship in San Francisco and sell to Korea. He disembarked at the port of Inchon, going as
sure in a landing craft in the mud and snow due to poor docking facilities for such a
large ship. And whereas Doug was assigned to the Army Postal Service at Young Dong Poe,
New Cell and his duties were to handle and process postal money orders requested by the
soldiers, so they could send money back home to the United States.
He also performed guard duties as well in the base.
He would ride as a guard on trucks, head to Kim Poe Airfield, and the port of Inchon,
to pick up incoming mail arriving by plane and ship.
And whereas while the hostilities had ended in August of 1945, War War II was not officially
declared over until December of 1946 by President Truman.
During his tour in Korea, Doug and a fellow soldier hiked into a nearby forest several miles
away from the base toward the 38th parallel which divided north and south Korea.
Before open warfare between the two areas began in 1950, it was the location of frequent
across the line firing and other incidents between the two countries.
While hiking in the forest, they were suddenly confronted by several North Korean soldiers with bayonet rifles and ordered to march towards the 38 parallel.
After an hour of being captured, they reached several small huts.
Dog and his fellow soldiers found an opportunity to evade the North Koreans and ran into the surrounding thick forest.
The North Korean soldiers followed them and chased them for ten very long minutes, but finally
retreated, and dug in his body, arrived safely back at the base.
Whereas in August 1947, the United States Army bestowed and ordered private first-class
Harry Douglas Allen, the following metals.
Army Occupation Medal, Japan,
and Rifle Markman Ship Medal.
Following his military service,
Doug returned to the University of Virginia
and graduated in June of 1949
with the degree and economics.
Doug initially worked in banking
and then in the retail credit industry
becoming a pioneer in the consumer credit industry.
He received numerous recognitions, consulted with members of Congress on creating the Consumer
Fair Credit Reporting Act, and ultimately retired from his career at Equifax as Regional
Vice President.
Doug is proud to be a father of six, grandfather of 13, and great-grandfather of 32.
All wonderful children and blessings in his life at a resident Roswell for 36 years.
Now, therefore, I, Curtain Wilson, Mayor of the City of Roswell, do hereby name
Warwar II veteran, Private First Class, Harry Douglas, Alan Jr., and the steam veteran
of Roswell, and call upon all our citizens to recognize as outstanding service to our country,
and our community, and that there is no higher calling than those who have served in the United
States aren't forces.
Thank you very much, Mayor Wilson, and thank you to the City Council.
I appreciate what you're doing.
I know there are thousands of veterans out there, and they appreciate fact that you all are willing
to make it a point to say thank you to them.
and I appreciate that on there by half.
And everything you said, I remember all that.
And of course, I was only 18, 19 years old at the time.
I thought I was having fun. You'd be surprised how fast you can run, but somebody point, about five
fellows, point rifles have me. I could have outrun anybody.
So I do thank you on behalf of the other
veterans. It couldn't be here and my family for being here. I thank all of you and thank you
May I have very much.
Thank you, Mr. Helen.
Thank you, sir.
So, we just stay here on O'Counsel,
what's it come down for a picture?
Yes, yes.
Yeah, let's just stay right here for a second.
Yes, sir.
Oh, okay.
Thank you.
That's a good one.
Thank you.
I can't believe it.
Yes exactly.
I have.
Please.
Excuse me, please.
I have.
Oh, yeah.
I'm going to get a good picture.
Hold on.
Yes, right.
Right.
What's the problem?
Hold on.
It's right.
the
greatest generation.
Thank you all so much. The last item under the mayor's report is
coming events in the City of Roswell and quite a few that our City Clerk Marley Press is
giving me a bunch here so bear with me. This Saturday October 29th from 2 to PM here on City
Hall grounds will be the day of the dead celebration. Great fun for all the family. Visitors
of all ages are invited to celebrate this traditional Mexican holiday. The day of the dead
is traditionally celebrated on October 31st or November 2nd in the central and southern regions
of Mexico, and this holiday is centered around the remembrance of lost loved ones as communities
come together to celebrate their memory and pray for their safe spiritual journey.
So come join a society and city hall grounds from 2 to 8 o'clock to celebrate day of the
In reverence to the bond road shows that the staff and city council and mayor of the city have been participating in.
We have a meeting tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 25th from 7 to 9.
7 PM to 9 PM at the adult recreation center at 830 Grimesbridge Road.
The following night, Wednesday, October 26th.
There is also a bond roadshow meeting at the, at St. Andrew Catholic Church.
The church is located at 675 Riverside Road.
And that meeting is also from 7 to 9.
And there is one more scheduled for next Tuesday, November 1st,
at Brookfield Country Club at 100 Willow Run Drive.
The time of that meeting will be 515 p.m. to 630 p.m.
All are welcome. Again, a meeting tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 23, 5th from 7 to 9,
a meeting Wednesday, October 26th from 7 to 9, and a meeting next Tuesday, November 3rd,
that will be the end of, I think, 10 or 11 meetings that counts on staff have participated on the
road show, and obviously we look forward to meeting all of our fellow residents. Obviously,
Early voting has begun and we'll be continuing through November 4 for the city's special election for the Bond referendum,
the three questions on the ballot, and for filling the unexfired term of Roswell City Council post one,
and remember you can also vote on election day, but early voting is available.
City Council meeting, date change.
Next week, the Open Forum, I think, was scheduled for Monday, October 31st.
It has been moved to Tuesday, November 1st.
That's the City Council meeting, Open Forum, was originally scheduled for a Monday, October
31st.
It's been moved to Tuesday, November 1st.
Also, there's a location change.
I don't know if this is a first or not.
I'll ask the resident historian, Mr. Davidson.
But on November the 14th, the mayor and city,
the mayor and council meeting will take place,
not here at City Hall, but at East Roswell Park
Recreation Center at 7 p.m.,
a lot of logistics and telepices are having to be put together
to make sure that that meeting can be properly broadcast.
But on November the 14th, the mayor and council meeting
will not be here, it will be at East Roswell Park Recreation Center at 7 p.m.
Let's see.
Oh, I have two things that are brand new that I know we're very excited to tell you about.
This year, on Veterans Day, Friday, November 11th at the Roswell Area Park.
That's 1495 Woodstock Road, the Roswell Area Park, on Friday, November 5th.
We will be having a breakfast and an honor walk and a ceremony to honor our veterans here in
Roswell.
And I ask that for a sign up for veterans and their families for the breakfast and ceremony,
we'll be available starting this Wednesday, ADM, is that right, Robin?
So starting Wednesday, today's Monday, obviously.
So Wednesday at ADM on our city's website, Roswellgov.com, we ask for Roswell veterans and
families, the sign up for the breakfast and for the ceremony. We're very excited about this.
This will be at the Roswell area park. The breakfast will be at the Bill Johnson Community
Activity Building. The breakfast will be by flying biscuit. There'll be a very, very, I guess,
a big part of the summer ceremony will be an honor walk to the lake at 9.30 a.m.
And then
will area park pond at 10 a.m. So I urge all veterans here in the city of Roswell starting
this Wednesday at 8 a.m. to sign up for yourself and your loved ones and we look forward
to seeing you there. Something that this council and staff have been working on for several
months is very excited to let you know. I think that there's something that's a big change
and that is the Christmas tree lighting. The city will be holding the Christmas tree lighting
this year at the heart of Roswell Park on Canton Street from 6 AM, sorry, 6 PM to 8 PM Friday
December the 2nd to kick off the holiday Christmas season.
That is the Christmas tree lining.
This year we'll be at the heart of Roswell Park on Canton Street Friday, December the 2nd
from 6 to 8 PM.
We'll be celebrating with Christmas carols, hot chocolate, fire pits and s'mores, a special
reading of Quest the night before Christmas, and a lighting, first time ever, of a 40-foot Christmas
tree.
We'll also obviously have a special visit from Santa Claus, and I will tell you at the historic
town square, the city is providing 36-foot Christmas trees for groups or individuals to
come and decorate, but you have to apply and register to secure a tree.
This is on a first-come first-served basis, so if you're interested, the application will be
On the city's website, Roswookup.com, also beginning this Wednesday, November the 8th.
So two things were very excited about the Veterans Day Program and Christmas Tree Lighting
those are new for us.
And let's see.
Next is the Consent Agenda.
Yes, ma'am.
Point of clarification from Councillor member Christine Hall.
Well, I don't have my notes here, Christine.
So anything I say might be, might be suspect, but would you like to elaborate on that?
Christine, would you like to elaborate on that?
Okay. Thank you for that question.
There will be no charge for those thirty six-foot trees to be
obviously register on the website.
And decorate.
We look forward for all kinds of great community organizations
in our great community design up for that.
Next is the consent agenda.
Does council have any questions or comments regarding the consent
agenda already items on the consent agenda.
Thank you, Council. Is there anyone any
Rosswell residents that would like to speak on the consent agenda?
Being that there are no Rosswell residents who like to speak on it, I would like to bring
it back to Council. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?
Motion to approve the consent agenda. Motion made by Council member Hills, do I have a second?
Seconded by Council member Will Mortlin. All those in favor of passing the consent agenda, please
raise your hands. The consent agenda passes unanimously. Thank you very much.
Next is the community
development department. Council member Mike Polarmo, would you read the first community
development item please sir. Thank you, Mayor Wilson. Item number one approval of RZ20223893
to remove his zoning condition at zero river rapid strife. Ms. Martin?
We have Resoning 2-022-3893, put into the system is 0 River Rapids Drive, but it is also known
as 1-001 Old Alabama Road.
These are the River Walk Townhouses.
They are requesting a change of zoning conditions.
They would like to remove the condition to build a meandering walking path.
Here's the area showing the location.
There's going to our TH.
A little site analysis.
There is 12.55 acres on the site.
There are 56 townhouse units.
The build out is complete.
The project was approved in March of 2016 with 24 conditions.
And one of them read the site plan is amended to include the meandering
walk-in paths shown on the applicant's rendering presented to the board of directors of Martin's
landing on February 23, 2016.
This is a staff approximation of that meandering walking path.
You can see it's entirely contained in the River Walk development.
One portion of it does connect to Old Alabama Road.
It also connects to internal sidewalks in the development.
Does not connect to any other development.
The condition was added during the March 2016 mayor and council meeting based on a request from the representatives of the Martin's landing subdivisions.
However, as shown on the plans, you can see the trail is not connected to Martin's landing.
Application to remove the condition to build the trail.
Include the signatures from 38 townhouse units of wherever
Walk indicating opposition to the installation of the trail.
That's about 68% of the units.
Here's a 2021 aerial image.
You can see it's pretty much built out.
There are internal sidewalks.
Staff has approximated the meandering walking trail in red.
staff recommends approval of the request to remove the zoning condition for the meandering walking path.
The applicant is present tonight, but won't be making any further presentations.
Do you have any questions?
Any other additional questions or comments on the matter?
Absicent is obviously welcome to come forward, but there's an applicant need to come forward at this point.
As he does not.
Okay, very good. Is there anyone from the public that would like to come speak on this item? Yes, ma'am.
What can you come on up here and come join us if you like our bring a microphone if you'd
rather stay in the back, but please keep your comments to less than 27 minutes.
You got five, Jokey.
Please tell us who you are and where you live in Roswell.
Even mayor and council members, thank you for this opportunity to share.
My name is Katherine Copp.
I'm an Atlanta native and a 12 year resident of Roswell and I'm a public river walk at Roswell.
I'm a licensed clinical social worker and void as a therapist with JF and CS Atlanta.
Personally and professionally as a mental health clinician, I believe that nature and exercise
offer a measurable benefits for our overall physical and emotional health.
Trails, parks and open space are encouraged throughout the Roswell 2030, 2035 and 2040
comprehensive plans.
This last week, during early voting, I cast my ballot in support of Roswell's bond question
number one, which seeks $107.6 million for recreation, parks, bicycle and pedestrian paths
and sidewalks.
As you know, most of not all of those projects included in this bond involve trail improvements.
Tonight, though, you'll be asked to believe that a nature trail in Riverwalk will post
significant risks to the environment as well as to the health and safety of our neighborhood.
We will also be told that the majority of homeowners are opposed to it.
The Riverwalk HOA Board also spoke with homeowners and found that a majority are in favor of the trail,
and I have a copy of those signatures as well.
If it seems illogical that anyone would refuse such an amenity,
let me share how we now find ourselves here.
This past spring, the community development department, was made aware that told brothers had neglected to install the nature path at Riverwalk and subsequently directed told brothers to complete the project.
On June 21st, stakes were placed in preparation for the trail.
Immediately, the HOA board was made aware of opposition to the trail by several homeowners who claimed they were promised by told brothers that nothing would ever be constructed in the rear of their homes.
For the site plan, which you have just seen, and with the exception of just two units,
no other house will be as close to the trail as mine.
As I look out my window at where the trail would be, it will be a challenge to see it
through the trees.
And while I can't comprehend how a meandering much faster through the woods could be considered
construction, nonetheless a hostile and intimidating opposition campaign began in the community
hitting neighbor against neighbor.
This small group of homeowners went door-to-door collecting signatures, either in favor or opposed
to the trail.
Some votes have undecided, could be considered as opposed.
One of those homeowners is a tolbrothers' employee, and his warning that tolbrothers will
intentionally do a crappy job in stalling the trail, was unwittingly clung video by a
doorbell camera.
Miss leading an erroneous information was distributed to the community.
I also have a copy of this memorandum to illustrate the dishonest statements that were presented as facts.
The intent of this campaign was to incite fear, anger, and paranoia, and it was successful.
A few of the arguments made against the trail were that it would jeopardize the personal safety, security, and general well-being of all homeowners.
It would cause habitat loss and also lower dangerous wildlife onto the property.
One homeowner argued that a trail would provide opportunity for someone to come into the
neighborhood and steal her bait.
With the hope of putting people's minds at ease, the HOA board responded quickly with
clarifying statements from the Norbromberg, J.R. Crow at Tolbrothers, the vendor charged
with installing the trail and ray engineering incorporated.
I have a copy of the board's riverwalk mulch trail FAQs that were disseminated to the neighborhood.
Unfortunately, the prevailing hostility that had galvanized some also silenced many.
Of the three board members, one moved away and the other two resigned.
Even now, I find it difficult to comprehend the degree of animosity and wild behavior that I've witnessed.
Primarily from just three households, not just directed at the HOA board members, but also towards vendors who came into Riverwalk to perform requested maintenance and repairs, as well as towards our management company.
For our recent annual meeting in September, a Roswell police officer was hired by the management company in response to aggressive communications received from one of those households.
The homeowner who was in favor of the trail said she was reluctant to make her opinion known for fear of being bullied.
Another neighbor was told that she had to make a choice.
You can't be friends with us and friends with them.
I say it is not to air the difficulties that we're working through as a community.
But instead to encourage you to challenge the inaccurate perspective being shared that the community is against the trail.
We move to Riverwalk for access to nature and trails consistent with surrounding communities.
Thank you, ma'am.
Thank you so much.
I really appreciate your time.
I appreciate your courage coming up here.
Thank you.
Are there other reasonable residents to be able to speak on the matter?
Yes, sir.
Please share with us your name and where you live in Roswell.
Yes, my name is Don Goodman.
I live at Riverwalk, subdivision.
I've been in the real estate business for 40 years, and I don't want to, I don't have a
prepared statement.
I didn't think I'd have to have a prepared statement, but I can tell you that the 38 residents
that did sign it were under no pressure to sign this.
Basically what we were worried about is the connection onto Old Alabama Road, having public access
number one. Number two, once the trial was prepared, then the H2A had to maintain the trail.
And so, you know, looking at a budget, it was going to be 3,000 a year, 1,000 a year,
5,000 a year to maintain the trail. And right now, we want to work on our current landscape
and on our current flowers rather than having to maintain the trail on the back. You can see that
the trail is very close to the one set of buildings in the back back there. Those people
had beautiful decks back there and to watch the dogs walk by constantly was an issue. The trail
that Catherine speaking about, by the way, I do appreciate Catherine speaking up here. There was
from my perspective, nothing was negative ever said about her or her husband who was on the board
from my perspective. But the trail that's on that side already exists and it existed prior to
the things being built.
So our main issue was access from a public road to the fact
that we have to maintain three.
It's not even an amenity.
The trail is going to be a little three-foot mulch.
There's not going to be any landscaping layer underneath
that we're going to have to constantly maintain it
from the weeds.
And then with wash, so there's no siding or anything to maintain
the trail, it's three foot wide.
And you can, there's no way that anybody could pass on the trail.
That was a, no thanks.
So we didn't even think it was an amenity.
What was the purpose of it?
It was too close to our homes.
And she is correct that every home that was purchased,
the 26th of the 56 were told by Tolbrothers
that nothing would ever be constructed back there.
That is a buffer.
It's a protected buffer.
I think it's part of the Chad of Huchin National.
Part of the Chad of Huchin National force or something like that.
I know there's a big 150 foot, I don't know.
Maybe Togra could speak to us a little bit more.
But we just thought that nothing would ever
be constructed back there.
And that's why there's definitely 38 residents
that were under no pressure to say have the trail,
or not have the trail.
That's from our perspective.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Can there's a question from Council?
Do you have a, sir, can you take one question from Council?
Yeah, just real quick.
You mentioned part of this trail was already in existence, what was that?
So from, again, I don't have a way to point, but from the very far right, on my far right,
there is a section that goes out, I mean, it's not the red, if you look on your thing,
you can see there's a little path that's already back there.
I mean, you walk down the end of our road this way, you walk down stairs, and then there's
a little tiny rock trail that goes right to the wish I could point to it, but I can't.
But this is Julie, if you look at town house 3045 and just to the right of that.
It down.
Sound a little right there.
Right there.
And then follow that great path down.
And then come up this right there.
That's it.
That's what already exists.
Thank you, sir.
Very much.
Thank you.
Yes, sir.
Welcome.
Hi.
My name is Ken Palmer.
My wife and I live at Ripper, Ripper Walk.
I just wanted to say, when my wife and I were going to purchase in the community, we're
never told that there was going to be a trail.
It's supposed to be a gateway community.
We do outgates on both sides.
We have walls.
And if I would have known that there was going to be a pathway so close, we wouldn't have
moved in.
It's an unscarrows, and that's to get her probably the leaf for 30 years.
It's unscarrows. In fact, across the road, I believe it's west.
There's encampments of transients.
I see them all the time on Old Alabama walking.
It's just something that concerns us.
Also, the fact that people that are using the so-called path
make it injured. They can use our green space. They're cutting right through the dog park.
We've got a dog park. I don't know the dimensions.
And also, I don't think that's accurate because I've walked it as the path in the back.
There's 20 homes on the back side.
This right, if you stand up on the hill, there's a hill, you can literally, it's like this far from you.
You can look into their bathrooms, you can look into their homes.
It's very, very close.
If you look on the end there, it almost cuts into, I think it's 70 or 70, 70, 50 right into their backyard.
And another thing, when the trail was explained to us by Paul Kopp, who was at the time
he stepped down a board member, we were totally misled.
He did not explain the trail, in fact, I think it was a little bit more of them being misled.
I think it was purposely misled because he wanted the trail because he wanted, as he said,
and my wife is witness. He wanted told brothers to pay for the trail because he was
disgruntled with told brothers. I don't think it's a good idea and I believe that
it's not right for our community, it's supposed to be a secure community. That's
what I'll have to say. Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Welcome.
Thank you.
Thanks so much for being here.
Please share with us who you are.
Your name and where you live?
My name is Hannah Span.
I live at 50, 30 River Rapids Drive.
I'm a single woman.
I live by myself.
Again, I was not told by the River Well, I'm sorry.
The sharp community when I purchased my place.
That there would be a trail.
We were told about the side little dog walking trail.
But we were not told that there would be this me and during walking trail behind.
And so I'm asking for the safety of people like me to consider that.
So I have to thank you.
Thank you, man. Very much. Yes, sir.
The Red and Blue shirt. Welcome.
Please share with us your name and where you live here in Roswell.
Good evening, sir. My name is Gustavo Jamosa.
I live in the River Walk in very close to the construction of the trail.
I'm not going to take time.
your time speaking about security privacy, which would be lost for some of our houses there.
I love walking in trails, but what hasn't been mentioned here, Riverwalk is probably a hundred
guards away from the Riverwalk from the Riverside trails. We have miles of trails,
maintained by the city. So there is no need for very small trail, which wouldn't be any advantage
to walk in there, you know. So it's very easy to walk down the street from all Alabama road
and you have a thousand miles of trails that we love hearing in Roffell as you know. So there is no
for this additional frame.
Thank you, sir. Very much.
Much appreciated. Anyone else, would like to speak? On the matter? Yes, sir.
He's feeling that that yellow comment card.
Might as well get started on yours.
My name is Michael Dacy. I am a resident of Riverwalk Community, 4010 River Rapids Drive.
My unit is the unit on the image there at the bottom right corner.
healthy, southeast corner, if you will, as you can see with the location of the trail, the
supposed location of the trail, my unit would be affected on two sides, like some of the
others have mentioned, I was promised, sorry, like some of the others have mentioned,
oh, okay, like others have mentioned, I was promised that there would be no trail ever
I would not have purchased my unit if the trail was to be installed.
In fact, excuse me, in fact, I paid extra for that specific unit,
because I was assured there would be privacy there forever.
I do believe that there is a privacy concern.
I do believe there is a safety concern.
I do believe it would negatively impact nature.
I will have to say.
Thank you.
Thank you, sir.
appreciate your time.
Would anybody else like to speak on the matter?
Now, is your chance?
Now, Jason, you don't really have to say in this matter.
Come on now.
Let's leave it to the community.
Give me one second.
Let me make sure, I think there's anybody else in the Riverside community
who likes, yes, ma'am?
My name is Joey Antishman.
I live at 50, 20 River Rapids.
And I would just like for everyone who is against the trail to raise our hand
because we all can get up and speak.
And if you are for the trail, please raise your hand.
Our community is very strong in our opinion on the trail.
Most people, I've talked to, do not want the trail.
There's one or two people that I know that want the trail.
And we're just asking for your help because we really
just don't want people walking in our back here.
Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am, very much.
I, Mr. Yao, thank you.
Thank you, sir.
Welcome.
Nobody knows who you are, so you're going to have to make sure everybody is clarity.
Who is coming?
And you are limited to five minutes, by the way.
It's going to be clear.
I won't even get close to it.
But I'd like to ask, say it's the next your time for later.
Jason, y'all, 50, 10, old oak trace.
The issue that I have is clearly the people don't want it.
And I think that has to be respected.
The issue that I see is that the developer builder made representations in order to get the approvals,
and then you made completely opposite representations to the homeowners.
And that kind of deceit should not be rewarded by them just walking away and going,
we don't have to spend the money.
I don't think you should compel the walk to go in,
But I think you should compel the developer to give the money that they would have put towards
the walk, perhaps, to the parks fund.
Because he shouldn't get a material benefit from lying at both ends of the transaction.
And that's what would happen if the walk doesn't go in and he keeps the money.
But you don't want to force him to put the walk in because that's not what the people want
because they were told something else.
So I just have a real problem with that deception that was played at the city and with the
people who bought the units, that's reprehensible and it can't be a walk for the developer.
He benefits by putting money in his pocket.
That's all I have to say.
Thanks Mr. Yell.
Yes ma'am, redirect.
I totally agree with that.
In our neighborhood has some problems that we are trying to fix with told brothers.
We have landscaping problems.
we have units with no sprinkler systems, and we're trying to set up a meeting, we'll tell
brothers, to fix all these things.
And so we can have that money that he was going to spend on the trail to take care of some
of these other things.
That would be amazing for our community.
Thank you.
No, thank you.
I actually, when somebody on staff, please bring some historical information to this piece, thank
you, man.
Okay, thank you.
Good evening, Lenovo Bromber, Deputy Director.
Welcome, Lenovo Bromber.
And was city engineer at the time that most of this
is going to the process.
I'll be happy to answer any questions.
What would you like for me to start with?
No, I think when y'all brought this before us, potentially,
there was some historical context.
You had on why this was originally done, if I recall correctly.
Can you put that in perspective?
Correct.
So at the council meeting, then this item was being heard
for the rezoning in 2016.
team, I believe, is the date. There had been a number of presentations and maybe some
community meetings that the then developer Sharpe was having Sharpe was having with the
neighboring developments, Martin's Landing, for example. And so in February 2016 there was
a presentation made by the developer to the Martin's Landing HOA, is my understanding. And at that
meeting there was a graphic that was presented that showed this meandering walking path. And at
council meeting, it was presented and then added by council as a condition in the process of
approving the rezoning to RTH. The trail has continued to be shown on all the plans since then.
It was on the preliminary bot, designer D-board site plan, the land disturbance plan,
and the preliminary bot.
So, Lannor, just for clarity sake, who initially requested the trail?
It was a request by the Martin's Landing homeowner's association, I can't remember the exact name of the group.
They have a very long title.
At Mayor and Council, the presentation was made to the Board of Directors of the Martin's Landing homeowner's association in February of 16.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you, and this question, maybe you can answer Ms. Frumberg.
So, this abuts the portion of Martin's landing. I don't have it up, but I don't believe
they have an active homeowner's association and have not for a number of years.
I'm not sure about the hillside area. I know they have a number of sub-HUA's and underneath
the master HOA. I'm not entirely familiar with that. So I don't know who was being represented
at that meeting if it was the entire HOA.
It was the entire HOA.
It was the big umbrella in the little ones underneath.
And we're talking about 2016, Mike. You want any other edification to this process?
So what came about was certainly the Martin's landing entire HOA, so for the entire
neighborhood came out in support of this support of this project and in
support with nature type features aspects for the for the future
residents and and what I would say is just enough my my focus or or
belief was wanting to create more green space opportunity for the for the
current residents so I actually wanted it to be slightly fewer houses just to
more more nature and more more green space. And since this was, of course, the number it was supported,
I actually ended up doing the motion that had the support but actually abstaining on the vote because I did see
the community support and also wanted more green space. So, I just want to say that for me, for me personally,
I think it's clear at a bare minimum. I'll tell you, I absolutely do not support the walking path going
to Old Alabama for the reasons brought up.
I really, at the same time, knowing that it was a developer
that actually did show an image of the walking path
and all that, so it wasn't just out of a blue
for Martin's Landing, so it was something that was shown.
And I really am big on wanting to absolutely be responsive
to the residents, the majority residents.
And at the same time, make sure that a napbook
and making a promise for a community benefit,
There should be there should be a community benefit investment made in changing this so something just for thought that we'll certainly discuss
Michael this in action. I did you want to do you want to add anything to that?
What I say is so so as I mentioned I have stained in 2016. I don't plan on abstaining tonight
That that being said given that I think that it would take a little bit of input from the community
My initial reaction is preferring to defer this to find a good win-win where obviously there's a there's a strong number of residents that don't want to see this path built
And obviously the developer would prefer not to build the path and so I think there's really a win-win on
On
All right if there's not going to be a path
What is something else that the developer would would rather build instead and so I'm seeing there there certainly be be discussion with that
What I want to clarify though is for me, what I want to discuss is purely benefiting here,
which is what the condition included.
I included that condition based on the community at the time.
And so one for me, the discussion I want to have is if we were to remove this, what's the different
future that would be added. And for me, it's not sprinklers, because it's my understanding.
The law requires the sprinklers should be working. So, so this would not be saying that
that they required to build something that they are already required to build.
So, that's my initial perspective for discussion.
Thank you, Kelsma, we're polarimal. Kelsma, we're Christine Hall.
Thank you, and thank you, Councilmember Palermo, on your perspective.
And that's I was going to follow up on that that this is an amenity that was promised and if this amenity is not presented, I think it would be only fair than another amenity would be offered.
So this is where I'd certainly like to hear from the applicants, but you know, even just
hypothetically heard about the dog park portion as other ways to enhance that or
other things that would get community support.
But what I'll tell you is I have concern with coming up with it tonight.
So for that reason, I prefer to lean towards the deferral to just give the opportunity
for the community. And again, although I've heard some great ideas from some that live outside
of Iraq and I love hearing those ideas, certainly for what the solution is. I really
want to hear from the residents within Riverwalk in a time to really even gauge the interest
of others because I'll say I'm looking for a great win-win where those in opposition to the walking
path and those in support of the walking path all agree that there's actually perhaps a different
community that could be used to replace this, and obviously some that's a win-win for the applicant as well,
because, again, it gets them out of having to build a walking path.
Community development system development director, Lenore Bromberg.
I just wanted to make a quick point of clarification that told brothers is not opposed to putting the walking trail in.
They made the application on behalf of the residents approached them and not building it.
So I just wanted to make that point of clarification.
And this was not a situation where they were not going to build it, but we went to do the
close-out process for the land of Starbucks permit for the overall development and went
through the conditions and realized, oh, you haven't finished mulching this trail.
We need to complete it.
And that's when the rest of the summer that you've been provided tonight occurred.
So I just wanted to make that point of clarification and they are not opposed to installing
it unless that's what this council chooses to have.
But just for clarity's sake, staff recommendation on this matter is?
We recommend removing the condition.
Thank you. Thank you, Lino, or.
Did anybody also saw hand go up? Did you asserted, did you want to address something?
Yes sir.
Well, come on up to the, come on up. Please sir.
Please tell us who you are.
Sir person I live on that backside. I'm against the trail.
Welcome, Sam, and I just wanted to ask could the community be compensated for the trail?
Well, for this matter at hand, that is not part of the consideration.
So, and I heard Council Member Plairmo suggest that he is certainly in support, I think
there's some discussion.
I think he suggested he'd want to get into solution hearing this evening.
Correct.
I do not want to get into the solution.
Tonight, however, I guess just a quick question, Mr. Davidson.
I pathetically, if the developer were to just know they say, all right, it costs $1,000
to build the trail.
And to do a great improvement, hypothetically, to another amenity, it would cost, you know,
extolors, and let's say that's something that's amenable, would there be the opportunity
where the developer instead were to give money to the HOA to do the improvement for them?
Is that something that you see as feasible, or do you feel it's more feasible to stick it to?
They were required to build amenity and need to build amenity?
I think if the developer agrees and the HOA agrees, then the council can fashion a condition in either way.
Okay, and that's where I don't want to come up with a solution tonight, because again, I want to do, I do want to make sure it's one that has a lot of input from all the residents.
But I would like to see a deferral that gives the opportunity for stakeholders to get at the table within your community and with the developer.
Sam, did you have a follow-up question, sir?
No, the only other comment I would back was there was a mention of how contentious this whole thing got.
You know, we had a board in place and we had a couple of members that were really interested in this trail.
And it did, it got very contentious.
And the homeowner said,
There were a lot of them, a majority of them, I feel like they said, we don't want this trail. And then at these
meetings, I think the feeling was the reason it got so contentious is because we, the homeowners,
that did not want to trail felt like we weren't being represented. This board kind of wanted to know what the desire was
of the homeowners that did not want to trail. Now, you heard the statement, I think, that came from one of those
board members. And we were prepared to remove those board members at one of the meetings
because we said enough is enough. We're going to remove them. We've got a great board
of directors now at the HOA and we want to move forward to squash the strip. Because the
majority of people don't want it. Nobody was threatened. It wasn't any kind of coercion.
People don't want the train. You know, you could you could understand that. So that's
Thank you, Sam. Thank you. Yes, sir.
I've been patient back there with your hand.
Come on up. See us.
Welcome.
Please share with us your name and where you live.
I'm going to guess you're in the Riverside community.
My name is Greg Lathum.
I'm a resident of 40, 20 River Rapids Drive,
which is back up to where this trail would be.
I too am opposed to the trail,
but the comment I really have tonight is
what I've heard
It sounds like we can really replace the trail with something the neighborhood wants.
Now, I've volunteered for the new board to be the head of the landscape committee, and we have a lot of issues.
We have grass that's on rock, and we need new side.
We've got sprinklers, we know everything, dead plants.
We have way more need than we have budgets just to do our landscaping.
There are also many, many amenities that we talked about that would be nice to have.
Not question for the Council would be, would it be possible to see if a resolution could be reached to night,
so that this isn't deferred and dragged out, that the homeowners association perhaps could agree with,
to just give us the cash, the same set to do, whatever the HOA chooses in the future to do with that cash.
So if we were to say, look, give us 75% of what you are going to spend on the trail and let us decide what amenities to do.
If we want to add a fire pit or we want to just improve the look of our landscape.
Whatever that may be, it seems to me that they can be resolved and not have to become
bad before Council.
So this is with all due respect.
This is where elected officials get in trouble, because the matter before the matter before
us is to remove his own condition at zero rapid rapid rapid rapid rapid rapid rapid.
It is not a matter for this Council to be solutionary, a negotiation between the developer
for compensation.
As good as that thought may or may not be, the matter with all due respect before the council
is to remove a zoning condition at 0 River Rapids Drive.
So with all due respect with all the difference, I would like to suggest to my brethren
that you run away from that suggestion as quick as possible, yes, sir, Dr. Van Strue.
Yeah, what I'd love to see is your great new board sit down with the landowner, and I mean
developer and try and hash this out. I'll bet you guys can take care of all this and put it all
a bit and that's what the deferment all allow for. So I think that's a nice motion by Councilman
Palermo and I'm sure that we'll probably hear from you guys that it's all been resolved and taken care of
and that'll be some good news. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. Yes, sir. Redirect. All right. You've always
at three minutes and 47 seconds. You got a hustle. I'm joking. You're good.
Don Goodman, Jen. What I would like to see it with due respect of the council would be to
remove the zoning conditions tonight so that that's proved it's off. We don't have to go through
this whole thing again and that the deferral would be for the community to sit back down with
whole brothers and determine what the costs of the trail, what that would be and that we work
some type of solution that the cost of the child, whatever that might be or whatever they're going to do.
So, Mayor.
Thank you.
Councillor Mayer-Polarmo.
So, I appreciate the suggestion.
I definitely understand the thought process and efficiency.
I can't support that because there's toll brothers.
If we just go ahead and remove the condition.
There's no reason that toll brothers would fall through anything.
And I'm sure there's great people there.
I'm sure they would for the out of the goodness out of their heart.
They do it, but it surely be the goodness of their heart.
And so what I'm telling you right now, my position is I do not support removing a condition.
I do support changing a condition and I support changing a condition,
knowing that the communities work together for a compromise.
And you have to remember, Palermo, excellent.
I do.
Would you like to elaborate just a little further on that?
Because I'm sure you don't want that to happen this evening, correct?
So, basically, tonight, what I support is, is it a furl, because I want, I want to win
when for the community.
I do feel, I do feel developers should have to follow the conditions that they accepted
in frankly even shown.
And at the same time, I always accept and support when there's changes in variations that benefit
the neighborhood.
And the last thing I would want to do tonight is vote for a new condition that is actually
not easily be easily enforceable or beneficial to the residents.
It sounds very confusing, doesn't it?
Yes, sir?
Yes, sir.
So, Councillor Mayer.
I will be just to give everybody a heads-up in a sneak preview,
and I don't know if this Council will support it or not.
Tonight I will be motioning for a deferral to next month's
Com-Dev Council meeting.
And it's something where although I love seeing so many people
in the Council chambers and certainly hope that you'd want to come.
At the same time, I'm hoping there would be a good opportunity for compromise in which case perhaps
a signed letter of petition, whatever it might be, which suffice for those that don't want
to join us on Monday.
Well, in other words, we'll see at East Roswell Park on November the 14th.
Is that the, yeah?
Yeah, that's that'll be the appropriate date.
Yes, sir.
Briefly, if it is, if we elect tonight to defer,
that they don't care one way or the other, but whether the trail goes in.
So if it's simply a deferral, what safety do we have as opposition to understand
that told brothers might just throw their hands up and say, okay, forget it.
We'll just install the trail and move on.
Is that a possibility or does the deferral mandate that told brothers work with the community?
That's an excellent question that deserves a fair explanation you want to touch that little or that's a really good question
It isn't my understanding
Yeah, let me let me interrupt, sir. Just the practical matter
The practical matter as they say money if they don't they don't did it's just from a practical perspective
At this point there isn't anything that would stop them from installing the trail
If there is a direction made as a part of the motion that they
It was home doing it until a decision is made, then that might be a way to do that.
Excellent.
I did.
Councillor Mortlin.
I know you had a comment, sir.
Just had a question for Councillor McLaren and his last statement he said, Com'dab, Council
meeting.
Was that Com'dab committee meeting or Council meeting?
Council meeting.
Take a straight to Council meeting.
Oh, absolutely.
I remember the 14th.
I think it's the appropriate date.
Yeah.
That sounds right.
So, I think the answer to the question is, is there, would you like to make a motion and an amendment to the motion?
Well, I haven't made a motion yet, so.
Would you like to make a motion?
I would like to make a motion.
Well, let me ask you, is there any other comments from Rosal residence?
Steve?
And Mr. Henderson was here as a part of Martin's Landing in March 2016?
Well, I was doing the math.
Polarbo is the only one that was here that on that meeting.
I was seeing right here.
So Steve's a slide.
Did everybody know who you are and where you live?
I'm Steve Henderson.
I'm from Martin's Landing.
At that point in time, and this was approved that night,
I actually was one of the official representatives from Martin's Landing
to put the position of Martin's Landing regarding this.
And as I was talking to Lord Noah, it just just met or so ago.
I'm trying to go through my memory what our thinking was back then.
But I know one thing, Martin's landing put all that thinking in deriving, and I haven't seen
that present in the night when Laura said she couldn't find it, but I know it exists.
If she can't find it, I can probably find what was signed by Martin's landing.
And most of the issue regarding the walking path is I remember from memory by what quick
disclaimer.
I'm not representing Martin's landing night.
I'm just representing my memories from when I was here that night.
And because Martin's Lane doesn't even know this is going on right now.
We had a lot of extensive discussions with the developer at that point in time about the density and how many units
are going to be in the different amenities and all that.
And I don't want to be held to this, but I believe the walking path, I'm not sure, but I think what's in writing
will show that Martin's Lane may not have had that much of an opinion on whether it exist or not,
that there wasn't issue over what the developer, the way he was tithaling it, and the way he was
labeling it, and the way he was representing it, it needed to be changed. But as far as
the existence, I don't even believe this thing connects to Martin's standing, if I remember correctly.
So anyway, what I'm saying may actually be supporting with the people in this community want to
do, but if you do your deferral, I know we can get all that information back out on the front,
So nobody's wondering what the heck happened back then with very extensive discussions and agreements
that were done back then.
So if you had a question for me, I'd be glad to answer it if I can.
Otherwise I just wanted to provide that might provide a little clarity towards moving this forward
after you're deferring.
Thank you, Steve.
Yes, ma'am.
Welcome, please share with us who you are.
I'm sorry.
A realist of River Walk also.
My name is Shari Taylor.
Shari?
I don't know if it's possible, but it would be really nice if we could have an extension
on the date that you've mentioned, because we do have a new board.
It's going to take some organizational, you know, a lot of meeting and putting our heads
together, because just getting to this point took more than three weeks, which is what I think
It would be from now until November the 14th.
And so I don't know if it's possible for us
to request that that maybe we not be calendared for November
the 14th, but the following meeting to give us time
to capitulate.
I don't think Council will have any great heartburn on that.
No, ma'am, yes ma'am, I'm sure we can find a date
that will be amenable for the board to get together
and spend time thinking about that, yes ma'am.
Any other thoughts, questions or comments?
Thank you so much for your passion and for your concern for all of you.
Thank you.
Council member Hills.
Thank you, Mayor.
I think we're at a good place, but I do want to just weigh in as one of your council members.
I was prepared very easily this evening to vote to remove this
quick and disowning condition, strictly for privacy, just so you know where I'm coming from.
I will always air to that, and I think that's an important piece to where we live in
Roswell that we feel like we have a safe place and a private place.
I know you all are probably closer together than some residents geographically, but you
have a lovely community, and Ms. Catherine, forgive me, I didn't get your last name, but I
want you to know that I understand where you're coming from as well, I'm being outside
and in nature is certainly important to our health and well-being, so it looks like you
have a lot of green and right now maybe brown space with pine needles falling.
But I do think that with the creative thinking of Mr. Yowl and the support of Council Member
Palermo, there could be maybe a solution that can work to the benefit of all of you.
And maybe with the changing of your board, which isn't the business of this council and
mayor that you can mend some of those fences and work together.
I drive by there a lot and I think it's a really lovely place and you all seem great.
So I really want the best for all of you.
But I just want to need to know where I'm coming from and I will defer back to this council to see if you all can come to a good solution.
Thank you, Councilmember Hills, Councilmember Pillar, do you have a motion?
I do, first have a comment and a question and a motion.
No comments, I'm looking forward to that, sir.
So I definitely appreciate the discussion tonight.
I hope you all see as productive in the opportunity for a win-win.
And I'm very sorry to hear that there has been a divisive topic and just really that feeling
a division.
And I am hoping this can be seen as something that will unite your community because I'm
hoping it's something that will be great for everybody and something that everybody can agree
certainly much better than nothing.
Because I think it is important that developers are making amenities and obviously amenities
that the residents will support and enjoy.
And so with that, I'm going to have a question for the North, Jason David, which will be relevant for my motion because I think getting back in a completely agreed with the mayor from a practical standpoint.
What was already brought up for the developer?
One resident brought up, they'd support something that costs 75% of what they'd spend on the trail.
So obviously, it'd be in the developers interest to try to see if the majority of you would support something that was,
was a little less than the trail.
That being said, for making sure that we're doing our due diligence, the suggestion on what
would be a way to...
To make it that until the November 28 meeting, which is next month, what would be a way to just make it so that there is not going to be the closing out of the LDP or whatever the wording is.
How would you word that motion and do it in a way that the combat is comfortable with it as well as legal is comfortable with it?
Are you specifically wanting to make sure that the trail is in built? Is that what your end goal would be or is it?
Beyond that bigger than that so it's it's the not being closed that because I would think if they can't the only reason
They'd want to build the trail is to close out the LDP in which case. I'm thinking as long as we're saying they can't close out the LDP until after that meeting
Just because that you say not close out the other peak is not prevent them from installing that trail. They choose to do so
We still have a couple other minor things that they have to do for us that we were holding
off to this tournament where they're going to build the trail and not because it's associated
with that.
And so at this point, my recommendation would be that as a part of the deferral that Trollbrothers
postpone the installation of the trail until this council takes an action.
David, that works for legal standpoint.
as excellent as he Jason likes, that is well, and so therefore I have a motion to defer
this item to the November 28th Mayor and Council meeting, and that the applicant will
delay any push it back, push it back to December, because November is Thanksgiving.
Oh yeah, that's true, that is during Thanksgiving week, so the first regularly scheduled
of mayor and council meeting in the month of December.
And that the applicant will not install the trail
until after that date, in which case, of course,
if in that meeting, it's determined that's no longer
a condition that, of course, they would not need to do that.
Is that completely clear for staff
is there anything that I should be clarifying
with that motion?
Would you like to restate that Julie with?
So the only thing I would maybe suggest is the modification is until Mayor and Council
take action on that condition, because if I think that would be more clear until you
take action on that date and then be on that would be when they would do whatever that next
step is going to be.
But doing it the date you've recommended, which I believe is December 12th, is fine as well.
Okay, that was the, the motion is to defer, right,
with the zoning condition at zero river rapid strife.
And,
and, and not taking action on the zoning condition
until after mayor and council holds that, holds that hearing.
And this makes it a decision.
Makes it a decision on this item.
Thank you.
on that motion. Do I have a second? It is seconded by Councilman Wilmoreklin. Would you like to
state that in totality? Councilman Wilmoreklin, you don't have to. All those in favor, please raise
your hands. Thank you very much. The firm it is passed and would make conditions. And what is just for
the record? What is the regularly scheduled meeting in December that first one? December 12th?
Well, so Monday, December 12th, so the hope is that there's some working together and
some compromise prior to that, and hopefully a win-win for the developer as well as for
the residents.
And it was Jason Niel, not a member of the community who came in with the ideal, so Jason,
I'm sure the community appreciates you doing that.
Next is a transportation department, Council Member Pilarmal, would you read the transportation
I don't believe sir.
Excellent.
Item number two, approval of the Riverside Road Concept, Mr. Cox.
We're good evening.
We're here to talk about the Riverside Road Concept proposal that was presented at the
Admin Committee earlier this month, just for the benefit of the audience and the
Americans, I'll give a brief recap on the project.
The project was originally identified in the bicycle pedestrian master plan approximately
three years ago, and it was then recommended to be put on our T-Splash for our friend
from last November for the voters to approve.
The scope was actually the same.
The only modification to the scope for the T-spospo last year
was intersection improvements.
We added that onto the multi-trailed sidewalks
and the bike lanes for an estimated amount of about $8.7 million.
Earlier the spring, we had a very large public outreach campaign.
We had an open house at the Catholic Church down on the corridor.
We had a virtual public meeting as COVID was still
kind of on the tail end.
And we also had an online survey,
which I believe had over 170 responses back earlier in the spring.
We originally brought this to the committee at the end of June, and it was originally
deferred then, and with a lot of discussion with our stakeholders.
And as I mentioned a moment ago, it was recommended the admin committee on October 11th,
and that's why we're here tonight.
Here is a graphic of the current concept that was approved at committee.
I just want to note this is slightly different than the slides that you're in your packet.
They were from the admin committee two weeks ago. I went ahead and modified this into one slide
Just to show you where we stand
So I'll go through this from West to East, and I'm Greg I don't know if you have a mouse. You can highlight the different spots because they can't see the laser point
But basically starting over near Riverside Park the existing traffic signal will remain
We would be adding to new roundabout at the entrance to the Catholic Church
And then you'd be adding a new traffic signal in front of the A-San company
That's where the new park and rex project that we'll be commencing in the years ahead that we're really excited about
Further east. We'll have a new phb that is a pedestrian hybrid beacon. That's also called a hawk signal
That's the same kind of traffic signal. We have right outside a city hall here
across highway nine linking the city hall grounds to Can't and Street
We also have a couple landscape median islands in there for traffic calming purposes near the entrance to a Don White Park
And then the existing signal down at Dogwood will remain, and so will the signal over old Alabama work.
Now I'm going to talk about the pedestrian facilities going back to the West, sorry Greg, we're going to go back over to the West and the project.
We would have a new multis trail constructed, basically from the trails of Riverside Park, in front of the Catholic Church, and linking up to the sand area.
That's where the existing multis trail is currently, so it would be connecting to into that, and that's what you kind of see there in that faded orange color
We tie into the existing multis trail, which will take you all the way over their Don White Park and link you over to
Part of Don White underneath the 400 overpass. We would be constructing a new piece of multis trail from 400 over to the intersection of Old Alabama
That's very important because that provides a valuable link to the existing multis trail going up the hill
going to old Alabama road towards the subdivision we just spoke about.
The more employee that links us up to the fire station,
Holcomb Road Road, and ultimately to the big creek park and the greenway,
so that this is a very valuable kind of city-wide connection
in our multi-stral system.
The other component we mentioned two weeks ago is the area right there at Dogwood
and Riverside Road.
There would be a new piece of multi-stral we tie in there.
There are a few ADA concerns we want to be mindful of,
to make sure the grades and slopes don't violate ADA standards, but we're fairly confident
we can accommodate a new multi-says trail connection into the intersection. That is important
because we have another multi-says trail as part of another project that's going to go up dogwood
road and link up to Grimes Bridge. So we're trying to connect the neighborhoods on top of the hill
on the bluff on Grimes Bridge road and dogwood so they can come down and enjoy the river
front amenities. And then lastly there would be a five-foot wide sidewalk basically from that same
intersection at Dogwood and Riverside coming back to the west all the way down towards Riverside Park, forming a complete street.
The last part of the concept I want to share is the typical section.
And I have a slide showing a bigger version of this, but this is basically what the road would look like.
It includes ten foot travel lanes, a buffered bike lane, and then the sidewalk which I already mentioned.
Here's kind of what the typical section looks like from the top down.
It's approximately 44 feet across, as I mentioned, the multis trail in some areas on the project is further away from the road.
It's only along the road in some areas near the church, so it's not pictured here, but it is included.
So again, the 10-foot bike lanes were very popular that is something we had a lot of consensus on from all of our stakeholders.
The bike lane with has been a matter of debate over the past couple months.
That is kind of one of the things we've been discussing is how we can do traffic calming with that,
and how the bike lanes will play in.
One of the solutions our stakeholders had was to add rumbel strips
along the edge of the pavement.
I can show that Greg.
It's the edge line closest to the road.
So if you're in a vehicle and you wander out of the lane,
you would hit these very small, very narrow rumbel strips.
And then we try to add some of those things like raised pavement markers.
Those are the reflectors you see on the side of the road.
It's some areas.
Here's basically the same thing.
You're just looking at a cross section of it.
You can see the travel lanes are 10 feet along with the four foot bike lanes and two foot buffer.
And we also included it's hard to see here the fence, if you can highlight that Greg, thank you.
There's a small wooden fence that was a recommendation from our citizens advisory committee.
That is kind of more of an aesthetic feature, which is basically mere what you see over on a zillion drive.
If you've driven the riverfront over west of Highway 9, there's that nice wooden fence that separates the roadway from the multi-strail.
so we try to incorporate that as well.
So as we discussed at the admin committee,
a few weeks ago staff are recommending the approval
of this concept of the 10-foot travel lanes
and the barrier or the buffer bike lanes,
the bumble strips and other things that were approved.
If we receive approval tonight from the Mayor Council,
we could generate a task order
and get it under design at the committee meeting
after Thanksgiving and could start design work this winter.
So without our yield for questions.
Thank you, Mr. Cox.
Palman's question from Council.
Council member Christine Hall.
Thank you.
Thank you for this presentation.
I'm very excited that this is here tonight.
Long time coming, six months delayed.
Could you just go over the time frame for us
from concept design to when we're going to break ground
and complete the project?
I will try to answer that.
asked by steam colleague Greg Nicholas to help me with this, but it's my understanding that
if this were approved tonight we could start the design this winter that would take
approximately six to nine months so that by taking into late summer then we look at any
right away acquisitions. We don't think that'd be significant but any right away would likely
take six possibly another nine months so that would get you into early maybe winter's early spring
of 2024. I don't think there'll be a lot of utility relocations but there could be some those
can be problematic and can take three to six months.
But likely, we're targeting construction in the second half, 20, 24 is a safe estimate.
So completion would be towards the end of 25?
Probably summer of 20, 25.
I think we're anticipating approximately one year for construction,
summer of 20, 25 for
the completion.
OK.
Thank you.
I can't come soon enough.
Thank you, Kristi.
Anybody else from Council?
Being that there are no further comments or questions from Council.
Is anyone from any Roswell residents who'd like to speak on the matter?
Yes, sir.
Mr. Michelle.
Just for the record, Jason.
Tell everybody who you are and where you live, please, sir.
I'm Jason Yao.
Let's start the clock until I get that five out.
Looks like two minutes is already gone by, Jason.
I'm sorry.
Okay.
There we go.
Okay. This is an alternative concept plan.
There's a lot of, I don't know if it's a misunderstanding or misrepresentation on the part of staff about the required width of pavement in Roswell.
They refer to the International Fire Code being 26 feet, and that's not true.
The minimum is 20 feet.
It's 26 feet within 20 feet of a fire hydrant.
The entire width of the corridor is not half to half that 26 feet of a pavement.
I'm not a fan of the proposed plan for the cross-section, we have an 80-foot right-of-way.
It's a larger than usual right away.
We have a lot of room to work with.
And to have the kind of expansive, long-broken pavement that our dot has proposed is just going
It's going to make it look like a landing strip.
It's also going to induce truck traffic.
You can't prohibit truck traffic from the scored or because the traffic count has exceeded
the threshold that you would have that ability.
It will look like hell and you're asking the people of Roswell to approve $100 million dollars
for the parks, and you're going to lay an air, a landing strip next to the crown jewel of the parks.
It's a huge...
A huge mistake. Opposing losing the curb and gutter and the sidewalks altogether, you don't need the sidewalk on that side of the street. Opposing wider bike lanes and instead of curb and gutter and additional reinforced concrete pipe to channel the water on conditioned into the river, I'm advocating for bioswales that would be the same.
landscape that would look better, that would show that Roswell is committed to environmental
sensitivity. There's no environmental sensitivity to the plane we just saw up there. It looks
ugly, it will be ugly for the environment and it will induce truck traffic. One of the things
in the gateway, I got my water.
G-DOT has required for the great separation at Highway 9, the 14 feet, which is minimum.
That's not adequate.
They want 16 feet of clearance on that.
Why would they want that if it was not their intention to create a de facto truck route from
Welcome Bridge Road down Old Alabama and across Riverside Drive and as Alia.
This is, this will, our dots proposal will cost more money.
It will look worse and it will induce higher speeds of traffic.
It will induce higher volumes of truck traffic.
It is not, it does not in any way shape or form or reflect your commitment to make Roswell the most
friendly, friendly city in America.
It's a mistake and I just hope you won't go with that plan that you'll give this more
consideration.
This is a better plan, this is a less costly plan to execute, and it's a plan that people
We'll go, wow, Roswell finally gets it.
You do their plan.
It's going to be ruck a road all over again.
And people are going to look at it and go, wow, Roswell,
just can't get transportation right.
Everything they do looks horrible.
And that's an embarrassment.
And I don't think that's the image we want to project
to the region.
That plan will be a disaster when it's done.
and it will be a source of mockery for us.
Thank you.
Any other, sir?
Please, please come join us and share with us your name
and where you live.
Thank you for joining us again, as always.
Good evening.
My name is Frederick Ween.
I live in Longwater, COVID, and rather.
So I have a question really for staff
that you indicated that the portion of the plan
calls for a very critical voltage is
in the curve under 4,400, so again connected, the multi-us trail on the old Alabama.
Where is the multi-us trail on the old Alabama? If I may ask,
the multi-us trail is on the old Alabama road,
thank you Greg, people that have it.
It's on the west side of old Alabama road,
and it runs from the traffic signal there at Riverside Road,
and it goes up the west side, headed north kind of northeast
up to Market Boulevard,
and I believe it stops near the fire station.
We also have a T-Splash project that's part of our new T-Splash 2 program that will be adding two new multi-strails from the fire station, traveling north of Odao, Alabama Road, Doke Bridge, and then linking it.
There's a separate project.
Okay, so on that portion that you're referring to on the west side, we have two things.
We have the sidewalk, and we have the alleged bike lane.
And if that's what you're referring to be as the multi-use trail, then I think that I
better get educated on the definition of a multi-use trail because you have two separate
things.
Now, let's be clear.
On that portion of all the album, and the reason I bring this up is because I used to use
it to go from my house to a big, quick park, while bicycling, I don't do that anymore.
I don't do that anymore for two reasons.
One, the sidewalk is not maintained.
It's bumpy and it has also sort of debris on it.
And second, the lane, the bicycle lane,
is not even established as such with markings for bicycles.
It's extremely narrow.
The portion from the dip to market street is 11% grade,
which makes it extremely, well, at least for a note,
He's like, he makes it difficult to climb.
And therefore, you go about 7K per hour.
Well, most vehicles are going at a higher rate of speed,
even going up, and going in a curve where it's blind.
And so I have stopped using this multi-use trail,
because it's frankly, it's frightening.
So maybe I'm a little bit out of scope here.
But I want to clarify for this counsel and mayor that this is not a multi-use trail in my
definition.
And again, perhaps you don't have the opportunity to provide me with the specificness to
what defines a multi-use trail.
We have an unmaintained, never cleared, never removed, never cleared sidewalk, and we have
very now, a portion of the roadway that maybe you clarify, you qualify as a bicycle in,
and I might say, I qualify that as just a, I don't know what it is, but it's just something
that cyclists will use at their great peril. So, I just wanted to really bring this attention
to Mayor and Council, because this is not the multi-use trail, at least in my definition,
and I'd be happy to have a better understanding on that
on the definition of a pay-off trail.
Thank you.
Just to clarify, the definition of multi-strail is basically a sidewalk
or a asphalt paved trail that's at least eight feet wide.
It has the name multi-use because once a sidewalk
is at least eight feet wide, you can allow pedestrians and bicyclists
to be on it without being in conflict with each other.
I mean, measure this sidewalk?
Yes.
Okay, so this is eight feet regarding the maintenance issue.
I just want to point out that is something we identified in our master plan.
Two, or no, it was in our bike pit plan, sorry, three years ago.
We had some concerns from our stakeholders about maintaining the bicycle lanes,
mainly on the river firm.
So usually this time of year when the leaves are falling or after storms,
we have to brief all the transmission department to close our streetsweepers out there
to the bike lanes along Riverside Road primarily east of 400 in those wooded areas where
the tree canopy is significant and also on Willy O Road. Make sure the bike lanes are clear.
We actually just did it. I think Thursday last week we wanted to get it ready for the weekend
as the weather was nice and we needed to be a lot of cyclist out there. But that was something
we put in there just to make sure that wasn't being neglected. You mentioned it was on Old
Alabama Road. So if there's concern out there, I'll be glad to talk to our maintenance folks
to go out there now. The only wrinkle with that plan is that the city of Atlanta is doing their
water line relocation project and they have portions of Old Alabama route kind of torn up
right now with all the construction barrels. So it may be difficult to get in there, but we
could definitely take a look if there's any concerns.
I mentioned there's some broken sidewalks, a lot of that investigated as well.
Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks. Councillor Vervanchor.
Yeah, Frederick, just to maybe clarify for you, is your question more on Old Alabama or on the
perversite project.
I did a little bit out of scope, but in the context of what the gentleman described as
dispersion under the curve, there are under 400, that is a key connection to the multi-use
trail, I use his words, to all that Obama, I was suddenly surprised to have this sidewalk
described as a multi-use trail.
But hey, I have no fear. I have a measuring tip, and I will go check on the ATT.
And I'd just like to clarify on Riverside, that will be the multi-use trail we separate from the bike trail,
just like where we live on Azalea, where you've got a separate bike trail on separate,
multi-use trail, which is, I just want to clarify that. Right. But on Riverside, you have
at least three feet of bicycle lane. Riverside is a very comfortable cycling road. All
out of my ma's murder.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Frederick.
Thank you, Peter.
Any other thoughts, comments, or questions from
rural residents?
Being that they're not, I'd like to bring it back to
Council.
Council any other additional thoughts or comments
on the matter?
Council member, Palermo.
Thank you, Mayor Wilson.
So this has certainly been a long process, and I certainly hope
that there'll be efficiencies found for the future.
That being said, I
I do think the project has greatly improved from what staff originally presented.
So I think there were some great suggestions raised by the Transportation Advisory Commission
and in many of which were incorporated and there were certainly some that including what
was discussed tonight where I think there were certainly some good points but some different
challenges. I'd say for one, I do not support reducing the sidewalks. I think when the public
process was done on this, the sidewalks were certainly very popular among the neighborhoods
on the north side of Riverside. So I do not support removing the sidewalks. And then as
for, as for the, some of the other details, so you know, just obviously the challenge was brought
that where there's fire hydrants is the 26 foot requirement, that being said, I think one of the
big great ways that this was improved due to the risk of the city working harder to discourage
cut through traffic and big trucks going through, et cetera. The fact that the lanes were narrowed
from what was originally suggested and proposed. There's, you know, just the fact that by having
those bumps in that graded pavement area, certainly going to be not encouraging high speeds,
which I think is helpful for the safety of the many pedestrians that are here, etc.
And certainly with just the safety that median islands, islands bring, I will mention
with the grass, there are certainly aspects I personally really do like about it.
the two meeting the grass in between the bike lane and the road.
There's aspects I certainly really like and prefer with it.
But two major concerns that I have one is around the costs.
So I have concerns that although there's parts of what Jason you presented tonight that I certainly prefer,
I'm not convinced that it ends up being cheaper than the current project being discussed.
So one is just the cost and then number two is hearing from from those in the bicycle community of having concerns with the with the grass separating it there, you know, just the risks of needing to pass et cetera.
That's where I just have some concerns with some of the details.
But again, I don't want to hone in on what we're some of the few areas for some separate views.
And I do want to focus on the fact that the plan we have tonight has a lot of better stuff than it was originally proposed.
And that better stuff would not have happened if we didn't have this process.
And we didn't have the great opportunity for more residents getting involved in the discussion.
Thank you, Councillor Miller.
Councillor Miller, Christine Hall.
Thank you.
Yes, thank you.
I also think that there was a lot of public input, a lot of work, a lot of very work and this
is very excited about this plan as presented.
I also am excited that it ties in its consistent with the extension in Australia other
and the width of the road and we lose some of the width for the bike lanes, but with
the fence adding the fence, it'll be consistent and just more of a appropriate look for
extending azalea to that side. So I'm very much in support of this plan.
Thank you, Councilmember Kristina Hall, Councilmember Wilmorethland.
Mr. Cox, there were two questions that were posed in Mr. Eales presentation right there.
He brought up two ideas that I made note of.
One was increasing the bike lanes to six feet.
And the other is removing curbing gutter.
Can you speak to those two points?
Yes, regarding adding extra widths to the bike lanes, there would not be an issue operation
with that.
That would give an extra two feet cyclist, one thing that might be beneficial is if bicycle
riders are down there, they might ride two abreast, you know, something like do those larger
group rides.
We see down there pretty regularly, that might allow some more room for that to occur, it
would just be a matter of space, and you will find what there might be increased cost to those
operations or one will it fit with space to, you know, is there an increase cost? Is it possible
with removing carbon gutter, you know, the whole scenario? Yes, so if we were...
We're going to remove the curb and gutter. There would have to be some additional drainage aspects put in. One of the concerns is there's approximately, I think there's nine or ten driveways on the north side of where the curb and gutter is proposed. There is currently no curb and gutter on the south side of the roadway.
So staff would have to look at drainage structures. We would likely have to reconstruct many driveways, the ten are so they're out there to make sure you get the pipe underneath the driveway.
and we'd also have drainage structures to drain any storm water under the road
towards the river. That's the natural drainage pattern. So we'd have to basically
have a drainage system, I don't want to call it a French drain, it's more complicated
than that. But it's definitely possible. One thing that the current estimate we have
for this concept originally was around $8 million. The budget in the T-spost
a lot and it was 8.7 so it had extra 2 feet or 4 feet total to the bike lanes and you remove
the curb and gutter you would have to have a 5 foot grass strip between the edge of the
road and the sidewalk. If there's curb and gutter you only have to have 2 so there might
be a slight width increase I think the right of way or the typical section was 46 feet
across. That's correct so you'd be kicking that up into nearly 50 feet. So there is room there
would be some additional cost for the drainage.
I don't know if wide away would be coming to play more there.
It's have to take a closer look at that.
The one thing we are wary of is if you widen it,
we don't want to involve any of the parks projects
that are in there.
There's some permitting and environmental things.
We want to be mindful of.
We don't want to adversely impact their projects.
So we want to make sure we stay.
In the right away, we have available
and that might mean possibly shifting the road slightly
to the north.
But I don't foresee the major problem with that, but the cost will go up probably anywhere from 500 to
$800,000 I'm guessing, but something we need to study a little more.
No, sir. Your time is up.
Councilman, Portland. Any other additional comments?
Yeah, I will tell you. Any other comments from council?
That
the
received?
The only thing that I wouldn't
As far as the cost, if there's an opportunity to not spend an additional 5 to 800,000 and
use that towards sidewalk gaps and other parts of the city, you know, I'd be interested
in that.
Yeah, that is a concern we may want to make sure we stay within our T-spos budget.
Another aspect I apologize I've failed to mention is we're also exploring any opportunities
are maybe to improve the traffic signals there, replacing the wire mounted signals and use the
mass storms. That might be a feature I believe we have some money for. So that would make
that more likely to happen to replace the existing signals but mass storms out there like you
have out here in the historic district. Just come more as aesthetic or beautification effort. So those
are something staff are considering as well. I think it's important to note that in the process of
of going through and trying to do the, what's in the best interest of fellow residents.
This merit council went to great length, one through the creation of the Transportation
Advisory Commission and putting this issue in the Transportation Advisory Commission's
hands, seeking additional input from other stakeholders in the city, having this come to
committee and then pushing it back to allow the Transportation Advisory Commission to
evaluated again and then to meet with stakeholders and then to meet with our dot. Then again
having it come back to committee and having further negotiation on it. So I think this
council has shown tremendous discretion on this matter and has given it a great deal of time
for a digestion period in terms of consideration. I find it unfortunate that this is a perfect
example and this we're often people I think get in trouble politics is that if a couple
of people don't like it, it continues to get forestalled just because and it's already
been deliberated upon. It's been deliberated upon by the Transportation Advisory Commission,
been deliberated upon by our done, it's been deliberated upon in committee. This matter has
been deliberated upon at great links by the processes put in place in the city. And this is
a perfect example where I think in the past,
the city has gotten itself in trouble
because somebody or two people or three people
don't like it, and if they yell loud enough
and say enough things, then the elected officials say,
oh, we're not gonna do it.
That's a perfect example where this process
was exhausted internally.
All parties were brought to the table and discussed
and again and again.
And somebody doesn't like it at the end
and come up with who's part of the process.
That's amazing to me.
So I congratulate the council.
I congratulate the Transportation Advisory Commission.
I congratulate our dot.
And I congratulate the stakeholders
who are outside of those who were involved
in the deliberation process.
This was a great deal of time put into this.
And I appreciate all the work that we didn't do.
And Dave, I appreciate all the work of you and your team.
This was an excellent compromise
of a lot of different stakeholders in our city.
So thank you.
Councillor McLaren, would you like to make a motion?
Motion to approve.
This concept has presented by Mr. Cox.
Thank you, Councillor McLaren.
Well, do I have a second on the second?
Seconded by Councillor McLaren, Christine Hill.
All those in favor of the, let's get the right one.
Christine Hill?
But that's it, something else, Christine Hill.
Christine Hill, again, shows up.
Thank you, Council member Christine Hall, for the second.
All those in favor of the approval of the Riverside Road
Concept, please raise your hands.
It passes unanimously.
Thank you very much.
Next, we'll now go to the City Attorney's Report.
Mr. David Davis, and David, please read your first item on your report.
Thank you, Mayor.
The first item I have is approval of a resolution authorizing use of
to acquire interest and property situated at 50 maple street.
This would allow the city to condemn property that's needed as one of the last parcels needed for the Oxford Road Project.
It is 1368 feet for fee simple and 2947.47 square feet of property for temporary easement for the slope easements.
this would also authorize the Mayor to sign on necessary documents, including a declaration of
taking in order for the city of Roswell condemning the property and recommend approval.
Thank you, David. Does council have any questions or comments from Mr. Davidson?
Surely, this
is a historic night in the history of Roswell. This little moment matter just comes on like city
attorneys report. No, he's got any thoughts or comments or questions on this?
And I'll finish it off with a motion of this mayor and council will allow, at the end of
day I certainly do not want the city to be making an easy decision of a very difficult
decision.
And at the same time when there is transportation projects that clearly have a lot of support
from the residents, that the last thing the residents want is overpaying for a property when
there's someone not, and any time there's any one not willing to fairly negotiate and
also any time that someone does not want to fairly negotiate to have to slow down projects,
et cetera.
I'm not speaking at all to this specific project, but instead just sharing my philosophy
on there are certainly situations when the company, when the city should use eminent domain
in the best interest of its taxpayers and residents.
Yeah, thank you, Michael.
Any other thoughts or comments or questions from Council?
I saw that Mr. Jason out for the public, so comments from public, Roswell residents.
Mr. Yow.
Welcome.
What a surprise that are got bailed again to tell you months and months and months
ago that they didn't have all the right away that needed to complete the oxbow practice.
And yet you accept their explanations that my concept for Riverside is more expensive than
theirs.
So, Mr. Biao, are your comments and reference to this particular
revolution?
If they're not, they're not relevant and I can't allow you to
continue to speak.
I just want to say that it's shocking that the project is this far
along, and there's more right away that needs to be acquired.
It goes to the credibility of our dot,
and personally I don't
Why anyone I'm here in Council, of course, and any measure of credibility because they've squandered it. Every turn every time you turn around
It's really this is how it is. I'm I'm I'm baffled. I'm just baffled. And that's all I have to say thank you, Mr. Yelph anybody else from the public for other reasons like to speak
Okay, thank you. I'm gonna bring it back to council
Council member Pilar. Well, I'd like to make a motion to approve this resolution. I would like to make a comment.
actually before we could make the big thing.
So this is, if you look at the side of the
Oxbow, the Gerard Oxbow report.
One of the pieces in it was the inability
of the city, longstanding to use in it domain.
The city for decades has had a policy of
not using in the domain, and nobody takes that lightly,
particularly when you're dealing with private property rights.
However, not having that as a tool, which is identified in the Gerard Report and Reverend
Stockspot, cost this city and the taxpayers millions of dollars.
And so I won't tell you tonight to historic night because this council and the staff
recognizes that that tool has to be part of the arsenal of protecting the taxpayers'
And so for the first time that I know in the history of Roswell in the domain is being used as a tool as what governments do to help protect cost.
And that's really what this is all about. This is a significant, this is a historical night quite frankly.
And if this is a tool could have saved our taxpayers and millions upon millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in the past.
And Knoxville is a perfect example.
So I'm glad you brought up Knoxville because as a perfect example we're in the domain
was not used and it cost myself and my fellow residents a lot of money.
So with that being said, council member polarimal would you like to make a motion sir?
Motion to approve this resolution to authorize the use of eminent domain to acquire
interest in the properties situated at 50 maple street.
You can't so member-paramble. Do I have a second? Seconded by Councilmember Vance from yes, sir. Sorry.
I'll give me a second. No second. Thank you, sir. So all those in favor of the approval of resolution authorizing the use of imminent domain to acquire interest and property situated at 50 maple street. Please raise your hands.
The motion passes unanimously. Thank you very much.
David, please read your last item on the report.
Thank you, Mayor. The only other item I have is a recommendation for closure to discuss personal litigation and real estate.
Thank you, sir. Do I have a motion for closure? Thank you, Councillor Plober. Do I have a second?
Second of my council member, here's all those in favor please, where your hands. It is unanimous and it passes unanimously.
Thank you very much, being that there are no other items. This mayor in council meeting of October 2014.
We'll see you in closer, Jamie, because we thank you for being here.