Thanks for your patience. We can get started now.
this is the regular meeting of the decatur planning commission for december 10th.
10th. Thank you. Running away from me? December 10, 2024.
my name is greg chilik. I will be chairing the commission this evening.
this is a seven member commission of decatur citizens.
and sorry, it's hard to do this on the phone.
decatur residents appointed by the city commission. This commission hears applications for land use and zoning changes, conditional use Permits, special exceptions and land subdivisions.
it also reviews and recommends changes to the city's zoning regulations and future land Use plans.
I would like to acquaint you quickly with the procedures this commission follows in the Conduct of its meetings.
we will hear applications tonight in the order they are listed in the printed agenda.
applicants are given time to present their case when their application is called.
supporting and opposing parties are also given an opportunity to present their remarks to The commission.
please be sure to state your name and address when presenting.
individual speakers are also.
sorry. Since the burden of proof is on the applicant to convince the commission to vote In their favor
applicants are also allowed to present rebuttal to any opposition against them.
opposing parties are not granted an opportunity for rebuttal.
while we do not formally limit the time for multiple parties to speak in support or Opposition to an application, we do ask speakers to refrain from spending time repeating
arguments that have already been presented. Individual speakers are also asked to be as concise as they can when making their remarks.
once all interested parties have been heard, we will close the public hearing for the Application.
please refrain from any applause or dialog during or after presentations.
all remarks should be addressed to the commission, and we ask for you to refrain from Engaging anyone else directly.
please show the same respect to anyone who is speaking that you would expect to receive Yourself.
the planning commission renders final decisions on subdivision applications but makes Recommendations on all other applications to the city commission, which has the final
decision making authority in those cases. We are supported this evening by our planner, casey kurzweg.
at this time, I would like to ask my fellow planning commissioners to introduce Themselves.
we'll go from my left, starting with our member, joe. I'm joe greco. Good evening, john macfarlane.
jason friedlander. Jenny stein. Thank you. And we have a quorum tonight.
we do. Number of members. Very good. Okay. Our first piece of business is the approval of minutes from our last meeting, the September 10th, 2024 regularly scheduled meeting.
has everyone had an opportunity to read through the minutes?
are there any corrections that need to be applied to the minutes?
none spoken. So motion.
do we have a motion to accept the minutes as they're written now? So moved. And a second.
second. Second. Okay. All in favor of accepting the minutes?
say aye. Aye. It's unanimous. Okay. Our next order of business is our one and only case for the evening.
actually, you. Oh, I'm sorry. We have a meeting schedule. You do? So, this past 2025, planning commission meeting schedule.
and you'll see your deadlines in there for the applicants to submit.
okay. And these are the second
tuesdays. That's correct. Every month, except for the july meeting.
okay. Any discussion necessary about the meeting schedule?
any objections or recommended changes? August 12th, 2024.
should read. August 12th, 2025. Oh, you're correct. That's fine. I'll correct that one.
they caught me there. I must have walked away from my computer to see if we were actually looking.
yeah. Just wanted to see if you were reading it. That one in there? Yeah.
you got the lollipop.
okay. With the correction of the august meeting date are there any other comments or Corrections for the schedule?
the schedule with the amendment that all the dates be in 2025?
we have a motion to approve. Is there a second? Second. Seconded.
okay, so all in favor of approving the corrected meeting calendar?
say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nay. Any opposed?
it's unanimous. Okay, now we can bring our first case.
this is two actions related to the same case.
the oakhurst center for community is requesting a land use plan amendment to change the Property at 232 east lake
drive to first is to change the land use plan amendment from rl low density residential To rm medium
density residential. And the companion motion is the request for rezoning for the same property at 232 east Lake drive to be
rezoned from r 60 single family residential to rm 22 multiple family residential district For the use of a rooming house
with professional on site staffing and case management for women.
and if you're if it's your pleasure, we can actually hold the public hearings together.
but then you would need to make two separate motions. So, since they're related to the same outcome will hold the hearing on, on both the Motions, and then we'll
vote on them separately. Is there do we do the do we go over the report first, or do we have the applicant speak First?
the applicant. Come on up. Yes. Speak. Hi, everyone. Thank you for having us here.
I'm princess futrell. I am the executive director for the center for community.
we are a nonprofit, and we currently oversee the oakhurst baptist church property which Is the church building in addition to the home that they own, which is the
232 east lake drive property, which was formerly a recovery program for men for over 20 Years that operated until 2022 before it
closed. The mission of the center for community is to amplify local nonprofits that Support social justice, economic justice,
and equity by providing resources, training and tools. And we do that with the current tenants of the church building, and we are looking to Continue that work with our collaboration with the home for everyone.
and georgia works and bringing the first of its kind women's workforce transition program To the city of decatur.
as you all know, we are in a state of need right now for supportive services, wraparound Services, transitional housing, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive
options for our most vulnerable populations. This program is a testament to that.
in addition to all of our missions, of the agencies that would be supporting of this Program and project, we will be providing supportive services.
georgia works would be providing supportive services in the form of case management, job Skills, life skills, workforce development, and training and tools.
in addition to the opportunity to have temporary housing while they save and work toward Self-sufficiency and will be able to move out into
more permanent supportive housing options. This collaboration would be between us, like I said, a home for everyone.
rob board chair is here and can speak more to a home for everyone's work in this Community, in this space, as well as darlene.
she was not able to be here in person, but she is the ceo of georgia works. She should be on zoom.
okay. And can also speak to operations, programmatic structure and answer any questions That you all may have.
this program would be modeled after georgia works current program that they operate in The city of atlanta.
and that is a that is a workforce transition program for men.
I am very happy to be here and to answer any questions or address any comments or Concerns that you all may have.
but like I said, just happy to be here and to continue this conversation and bring vital Services to not only the oakhurst community, but also to the city of decatur.
thank you. Do we have any to introduce? Yeah. Real quick. We have another commission member who's just arrived.
hi, mark. Sorry I'm late. No worries. Thanks.
people can't drive in the rain. This is brutal.
parking doesn't help either. No excuses but thank you. Sorry, mate. I've got just a clarifying question.
in reading your application, you're from a work on the bill.
on the on the on the home or the or the building on the property right now. It's everything is inside.
you're not changing any of the exterior. It's still going to look exactly like it does. Yes. Everything is just, get it up to code for the rooming house that you that you want To use.
yes. Correct. I want to clarify that. What was the use of the property before I, it was mentioned that it has been vacant for One and a half years.
yes. And the use prior to that, it was run. The name of the program was oakhurst recovery program, and it was a recovery program for Men, and it was operated for over 20 years, I think 22 years.
okay. So that operated up until 2022. Two. Okay.
all right. Thank you. Yes. How is the previous recovery
program operating? Under the current zoning and land use versus what the intentions are for the new recovery Program.
so, the current, I mean, the existing recovery program is no longer a program.
right. This program in itself is a workforce transition program.
and so the women that would be in this program would have to come into the program sober Already.
and so then they would have to make that maintain that sobriety while they're in the Program.
so, was the previous use also a rooming home for men? It was. Yes. Just with the existing bedroom structure?
yes. It was just a legal, nonconforming use. And since it ceased for over 12 months, that's the reason it's coming back in this form.
I don't have any true documentation that they got approval before, but it looks like in The code, it just it just occurred it.
so we just consider it legal. Nonconforming. But since there was that gap, that's why we've been working on this new Application.
okay. So during the 20 years the previous program was in existence, decatur's ordinances Changed.
is that the case? I believe so. Yeah. We.
there's just no documentation about it. But, yeah, I mean, everyone kind of remembers pieces here and there, but with it being a Nonprofit associated with the church, we don't have a clear
business license. But it was there. The interior was rooming houses.
whether they classified it as something separate just because it was still church owned Property, that that kind of predates me in 20 years ago.
so we are working in new codes. Okay. Okay. Thank you.
thank you. Are there any other questions for the applicant?
just clarifying. So you're going from I think it's 14 bedrooms down to 11.
is that correct? Yes. It's 15 bedrooms. Yeah. There's ten bedrooms downstairs and there's five bedrooms upstairs.
the five bedrooms upstairs were used as a workout room and then staff offices for prior Use.
and so now what we're looking to do is take down some walls, create a bigger bathroom Downstairs.
and so, there'll be eight rooms downstairs instead of ten, and then two bedrooms Upstairs, one for the ra and then an ada accessible unit.
in addition to expanding the bathrooms to create an ada accessible bathroom as well, and To also add a kitchen because there's currently no kitchen in the home.
and are you? I don't know how much you're able to speak to the prior use, but are you Able to speak to how much like the capacity that it typically stayed at in the 20 years
that it was in operation? Yeah, from my understanding, it was fully staffed for the ten Men throughout the duration.
last chance for any more questions for the applicant. Are there any other variances around parking or anything else around those lines?
and we don't foresee any parking issues. The previous recovery program.
the men weren't allowed to have a vehicle. Okay. And we're going to hold that kind of same rule.
there is parking behind the church, very limited parking. But if needed, we can utilize that parking lot.
and if I can just chime in and say, this is darlene schultz, I'm the ceo of georgia Works, that we focused on men when we were launched
11 years ago because that was the majority. 70% of the homeless population in downtown atlanta were men at the time.
but we have realized that women have a real need for our workforce development program.
so in the last couple of months, I have received hundreds of calls from women who need The service.
so, we have an excellent track record at georgia works, and we've graduated over 1100 men From our
program and saving you and I as taxpayers in the state of georgia, over $40,000 per man Per graduated.
so we will hope to continue this with the very first satellite program for georgia works For women.
and we want to we want to extend this. We want to make this the model that we can replicate, you know, throughout the state.
and so this would be the first and it would be amazing.
thank you. Thanks, darlene.
you can just open the public hearing. Yeah. Oh, okay.
so if there are no other questions for the applicant. Thank you very much for your time.
thank you, guys. We'll open the public hearing portion of tonight's meeting.
first, we'll hear from applicant people who wish to speak in support of the applicant.
when you approach the podium, please state your name and address.
good evening, I'm rob johnson. I am the board president of a home for everybody in the cab, which is one of the Collaborating partners.
I live at 14. Little closer address.
I'm sorry, sir. Your address? Can you share? Yes. Our address is 1424 tucksworth circle here in decatur.
thank you. 30033. A home for everybody in dekalb has been around.
we started way back in 2018, just as an ad hoc group helping to fill some gaps in Homeless services here in dekalb county.
and our first couple of winners, we were helping several churches open up because dekalb County had no cold weather shelters.
when the temperature got below 35 degrees, city of atlanta did another.
but four years ago, we incorporated.
we are continuing to work on cold weather shelter, so we collaborate, and we are part of The overall dekalb cac
program. But we collaborate right now very closely with the city of decatur and the County on these cold
weather and now warm weather shelters, particularly with frontline response.
and our main issue of cold weather is we give out round trip marta tickets to get people Moved out so they can get there.
but we noticed right from the beginning that there were a lot of single women our downtown Streets, who had no
place to stay. And they were walking around with their bags and their suitcases, and we Began a year ago thinking
we need something like a women's dormitory where at least these women have a place during The day, that they can store their stuff and have a
secure place at night. That's when we got in touch with georgia works that we knew very well.
and began looking at can we collaborate some way?
georgia works was eager at some point to replicate their men's workforce transition with Women.
and when we approached them, darlene's eyes lit up. And let's look at this.
so with a very sophisticated property management company, good places we started looking Around and we got in
touch with oakhurst baptist church and their affiliated nonprofit.
so we've been exploring this for about six months. Bottom line is we're finalizing mous on how this is going to work.
but as we're starting out a home for everybody in dekalb that already bought a house.
snapfinger road for three and a half years. We bought a house and have three men living there who've been homeless, and we've Transitioning them, so we've got some experience with that.
but our agreement is we're pretty confident we can essentially, after we get all of this Approved early in january, kick off a capital
campaign, and we are going to raise the money to finish the renovations that are needing On that house.
we are also going to provide first year operating expenses for georgia works.
and I will say we already have pledges for about half of the money that we're going to Need to do the capital campaign on.
so we're very, very confident that come january, if we kick this off with georgia works That has been renovating
the oddfellows building in downtown decatur, and they were getting ready to move their Offices and their men's program.
they expect to be done with that later in the spring. So as of right now, our target is to get this all renovated and up and running, you know, Around early summertime.
so we will have plenty of time. And last thing I'll say is, to the credit, really appreciate casey and her help in Gathering stuff.
but the oakhurst people who had very, very strong support the last 20 years from the Oakhurst neighbors with their men's program
we very carefully during oakhurst porchfest, we had fliers for all the people in Oakhurst.
hey, here's what we're planning on doing. And the church itself had a town hall meeting the beginning middle of november invited Everybody in the
neighborhood to come and hear about it. November 2nd. November 2nd.
so did reach out to the community just to let them know. And I think what I'm hearing not living in oakhurst, but we're very expectant that the Oakhurst neighbors are going to be very supportive
of this and themselves will end up volunteering and being resourced.
so. Thank you.
are there any other audience members who would like to speak in support of the applicant?
I'll say something briefly. My name is jim holmes.
I am a resident of tucker, but I am a member of oakhurst baptist church.
could you just share your street number and street? Oh 3984 foxglove road.
thank you. Right off of brocket road. And I am.
the reason I'm here is not only as a member of oakhurst.
I'm also an employee of the oakhurst center for community. I'm the building manager for the tenants that are operating the building.
and I've also been trying to maintain or keep the get the property ready for renovation.
and so, I've been very intimately involved in the last year in getting the house up to at Least a safe thing.
we had a little problem a year ago, and we've gotten that all fixed.
and oakhurst repair repaired that it was a mold issue as what I'll share.
but we've gotten that all straightened out, and so we're ready to move on this.
I'm very excited that we're finally getting this house getting going towards occupancy Because it's been sitting
idle, and I'll just maintain that our I just had, I had some homeless people move in Around the
hvac unit of the church, and I said, it's such a, it's so ironic that we're that we're Asking
them to, to move out of there. And we have this house that is still empty. So, I am very glad that we're finally moving on this and getting, getting advancement on This.
and I hope you'll consider this. Thank you. Thank you.
are there any members of our audience here who would also like to speak in support of the Applicant?
are there any audience members online who wish to speak in support of the applicant.
I'll say something really briefly. Can you all hear me? Okay.
yes. Okay. I'm melanie von caldwell. I'm a pastor of oakhurst, along with ashley robinson, who's also on the call.
and I have been at oakhurst 17 years now and actually was there as an intern
when the men's program first moved into the house next door.
so I just wanted to say that both for the church and for the neighborhood that the Oakhurst recovery program and the men's program
there did, as several people have already said, really enriched our connection to the Community through volunteerism and
a sense of community engagement with the residents who lived there.
and we had totally for all of those years that it functioned positive experiences with That program being on the church
property. So we're very excited for this new opportunity with women and really looking Forward to it and really looking forward to
being in community with the residents of the home as well as continued community with the Oakhurst neighborhood.
so thank you very much for considering this.
thank you. Are there any other members of our online audience who wish to speak in Support of the applicant?
yeah, I will. I would like to second my colleague melanie. I'm ashley robinson, I'm one of the pastors at oakhurst baptist.
and part of my purview is community engagement.
and so I've spent a lot of time getting to know the neighborhood and welcoming folks into Our building.
and part of the reason we are partnering with the oakhurst center for community is so That the community can get involved in our
love for justice and loving our neighbor without religious language attached.
and one place that I have seen that kind of playing out is at the oakhurst porchfest, Where people come into our building.
and the thing that I heard over and over was, I'm so glad y'all are here.
so while I cannot speak for the neighborhood at large I do feel like they would be very Invested in this
opportunity to welcome these new neighbors into the neighborhood.
and I think they would be very invested in helping us love them and care for them.
I have seen that in the way that our neighborhood has gotten to know us as a church, and Hopefully we'll continue to get to know us as a center for community.
thank you very much. Any other online participants who wish to speak in support of the applicant?
I would like to just say one brief little bit. My name is laura johnson, and I also am a member of the oak ridge baptist church, but Also the former director of the center
for the center for community. And I also wanted to, I wanted to put an exclamation point on everything that's already Been said.
but I also wanted to let you guys know that we did have community involvement and had a Had a meeting that said, you know, just explain to
the neighborhood about what we're going to do. And it was overwhelmingly appreciated and supported.
so there was no one there that was against it. And so I just wanted you all to know that, too, that we have done due diligence in trying To let the community know this as well.
in many different avenues. Thank you. Thank you.
are there is there another member of our online audience who wishes to speak in support Of the applicant?
hearing none. I think we can then move on to anybody in here present who wishes to speak in opposition To the
applicant. No.
okay. That was a pretty easy process of elimination.
is there anybody in our online audience who wishes to speak in opposition to this Application?
no. Okay. That's that would close our public portion, our public forum portion of the meeting.
and now we can have our discussion here amongst the commissioners.
anybody have anything they want to discuss, or any follow up questions?
yeah, I think overall, I mean, I'm in support of both of the proposals, the one regarding Zoning, I do I do have some
proposed language changes, I think. And I'll talk about why.
so, the first the first one, no issues. You know, we have to change the land use and from rl to rm from a zoning standpoint, We're going to change from rl [inaudible]
. So that does change how much?
how big the building can be. It changes setback and it also changes tree canopy coverage.
it goes from 60% to 45%. Since the applicant is not seeking to make any external changes, I feel like what I'm Proposing probably would sit very well with them is basically
the setback requirements, those aspects that are the exterior of the building still Comply
with rs 60 or r 60. After we rezone.
so it will be rezoned to allow for the rooming house. But if they were to change the exterior of the building, they have to meet the setbacks Of r 60.
if they were, the lot coverage has to meet their current lot coverage, which is 52.5% per The plat.
they have to maintain that that's actually slightly above what they're allowed, but we'll Just keep it at 52.5 so it doesn't create a non -- what would you call a case.
a nonconforming. Yes. We don't want to create a nonconforming. Yeah, we don't create this. So, rezoning can't be greater than 52.5.
their tree canopy requirement is still 60%.
so that would since we're not looking at rezoning everything on eastlake, everything else Is staying r-6.
yeah, I think this keeps it in character with the rest of the street.
it doesn't really impact their ability to do what they want to do.
and in the event that at some point in the future that the property gets sold, the new Owner has to comply with these conditions that we're setting
here. And so the conditions you're proposing in, in a sense, just maintains the property As if
the structure is the only conforming use in going forward.
yeah. And it doesn't precluding the, yeah, it doesn't say they can't change the Structure.
they just have to meet the setback in size and height requirements of r 60.
yeah, they can still change. I mean, anybody can still change the structure, but they have to meet the setback of our 60 so they don't go from 10ft to 3ft of their next door neighbor.
and then the number of dwelling units grows to a large extent if the building were to be Replaced with another one.
correct. So that's my and casey passed around the, we worked before the meeting to come Up with the right kind of the.
oh, she corrected me. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure. Sometimes we go back and forth with talking through these.
casey was able to put this in print while you were speaking. Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing.
same wavelength. Yeah. It's your pleasure on how you want to do it, but just so you could see the language.
I think sometimes we get caught up in talking about it and crafting it kind of Wordsmith.
yeah, but I think it's a great applaud the applicant for
everything they're doing for the community. Absolutely. I think the proposed use is very well in line with, you know, the mission of Georgia works, the church and the use of the
property and the house in historically.
yeah. Yeah. And I appreciate all the outreach that you guys did. It's a testament that nobody's here in opposition.
yeah. Yeah. Having the meeting on november 2nd was a very positive thing.
and thank you for doing that.
well, I'm fully in support of your proposed conditions on the zoning ordinance?
probably have to be the first ordinance. Yeah. We will. Yeah. Well, I'm not sure you, decatur, some municipalities have ordinances in place that In a single family zoning, there would only be a certain number of unrelated
people being housed. If it's classified as a single family house.
that's my only concern. This this is not classified as a single family house.
so once this rezoning happens and it is for the rooming house, that's exactly what it's For.
it may still look from appearance wise from the street as a single family house.
but technically it is functioning as a what we call a rooming and a boarding home.
but then that's not so looking under the r 60 zoning, and it permits detached houses, Carriage houses, duplexes, walkup flats and civic buildings.
so which one of those is it? No. So they are asking to rezone it from the r 60 to the rm 22.
with those. So that's what john and I worked on, is it's really just setting the footprint.
okay. So we're not we're not saying you're rm 22 and you have to follow all of single Family.
it's just setting the footprint. I misunderstood; I thought you were trying to keep it under 60.
right. I understand if that makes sense. Yeah. The only. Yeah, actually, there's a couple of tweaks to the language that you have In front of you.
so the maximum number two, the maximum lot coverage rather than say shall be 53% shall be No greater than
52.5%, which is the current lot coverage for the. And that way we don't want to make somebody have to do to go up to the maximum.
right. So, they want to take out pavement. They can. So shall not exceed 53%.
yeah. Yeah. So we can say shall, shall, shall not exceed 53% or 52.5.
it's, it's we're splitting hairs at that point. So 53 is fine 53?
that's the only change.
all right.
are there any other discussion items, or does anyone wish to say anything more?
I'd like to just ask the applicant if that changed or what we're proposing here.
is that good? This is good. Thank you.
okay. Well, the. With the applicant's acceptance.
are we ready to consider the two ordinance amendments?
yes. Yes. Okay. First, we'll consider the land use plan amendment.
and I'll read the text of it.
this is an ordinance amending the comprehensive land use plan for the property.
whereas the decatur city commission.
yeah. We didn't attach any conditions to that one. So you can just read it from the application.
and then that's the ordinance that will forward to city commission.
so the amendment proposes the land use designation for the property located at 232 east Lake drive and otherwise known as
parcel number 15 212 01066, is changed from rl low residential, low density residential To rm
medium density residential. Do we have a motion to approve the ordinance for the amendment as stated?
move to approve. We have one motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second.
okay. All in favor say aye.
aye. Any opposed? None. I believe the amendment passes unanimously.
okay. We'll consider the second amendment, the amendment for the zoning
map. And as we have modified it, it reads as such.
the property located at 232 east lake drive and otherwise known as parcel number 15.212-01066
is rezoned from r 60 single family residential to rm 22 multiple family residential with The following
conditions. Condition one the site setbacks shall be front setback 25ft, side setback ten Feet on the
north side and seven feet on the south side. Rear setback 30ft.
condition two. The maximum lot coverage shall not exceed 53%.
and condition three. Future additions and or improvements shall meet the minimum tree canopy requirements Identified for single family
residential in 9.1.5d1-4.
so moved. I have a motion to accept the amendment as modified.
do we have a second? Second. Second.
all in favor of accepting the amendment? Say aye. Aye.
any opposed? None. So that also passes unanimously.
and that concludes this particular case.
thank you all for your participation tonight. Thank you. Thank you.
and thank you. We can move on to.
thank you to everybody who participated online as well.
georgia works is really grateful for the support.
like I said, you're going to be you're going to be the footprint of what can happen for The rest of atlanta, georgia and the united states.
I'm telling you, you're going to be at the footprint. Great. Thank you for all the work you do.
our final piece of business is to announce the date of the next meeting, which will be January 14th, 2020.
currently, we don't have any items. Okay. So we would look forward and ahead to february.
that's correct. And I'll email you as normal. So you know, and then I didn't put it on but I you will be coming off our board.
correct. That's right. Two of us. So, greg and rachel will be leaving this board.
their terms are up, so I want to thank them for all their hard work, their time, their Dedication.
one last time and I wish rachel could be here with me because she's put in her
time and efforts, and we basically came in together and we're leaving together.
she's been a wonderful colleague. It has been an honor to serve the city of decatur.
and meet all of the commissioners who preceded me and all the commissioners who are now Moving
this board forward after my departure. Thank you all for volunteering your time and expertise.
the city is always very well served by the citizens who volunteer for the planning Commission.
and thank you to all of the applicants who have passed through this room in the last six Years.
we've had such fun. Yeah, we've had some very interesting hearings.
it's a very vigorous, robust hearings.
we've heard many different points of view and it just shows the health of our community When so many people are willing to come out and voice
their thoughts and visions for what our future shall be.
so thank you all for that. I appreciate having been able to be here.
thanks. Thank you, thank you. All right. So, with that, I think we can bring this meeting to the to a close and Adjourn.
oh, there we go. Good night.