[0:00] every you need it.

[0:02] just beat me up.

[0:19] how you doing?

[0:21] How are you?

[0:21] are you?

[0:25] [laughter]

[0:29] That's good.

[0:33] stay tuned.

[0:36] [thud]

[0:37] I call the meeting for the City

[0:39] of Richmond Hill City Council

[0:41] meeting for July 7th, 2026 to order.

[0:44] We will begin with an invocation by Andrew McClure

[0:47] of Community Bible Church.

[0:49] And then we'll have the Pledge of Allegiance by Council member Bose.

[0:54] Thank you for being here.

[0:55] Thank you, Mayor Collins.

[0:58] Well, I want to invite all of us to go to the Lord in prayer.

[1:02] Heavenly Father, we thank you for

[1:05] who you are, that you are loving,

[1:07] you're good, that you're gracious.

[1:09] And from your love, you've created each one of us here.

[1:12] You've given us the lives that we live, you've given us the breath

[1:15] that we breathe, and we want to be good and faithful stewards

[1:18] of these lives that you've given us.

[1:21] We can't do that apart from you.

[1:23] We confess that apart from you, we're prone to selfishness, to our sin.

[1:27] We don't naturally love what is good or walk in your ways, but we give

[1:30] you praise that we are not left to ourselves.

[1:33] You sent your son, Jesus, to live the perfect life that we could

[1:36] never live, to die the death that we deserve to die,

[1:39] to forgive us of our sins.

[1:41] To give us new hearts.

[1:43] Hearts that are bent towards you, hearts that live in alignment

[1:46] with your will and your ways, and we give you all the praise and

[1:49] all the honor for this.

[1:51] Because we gather here this evening, we specifically pray for your love

[1:54] and for your wisdom to be granted to these civil leaders, to our mayor,

[1:57] to our city council.

[1:59] Grant them the wisdom to make good decisions, the courage to do what

[2:02] is right even when it's difficult, the humility to listen well,

[2:05] the integrity in every decision and genuine love for those that

[2:08] they serve.

[2:10] Remind them this evening that every earthly authority is ultimately

[2:13] entrusted by you, and therefore empower them to steward that

[2:16] authority for your glory.

[2:19] We ask, Lord, that you continue to let the City of Richmond Hill

[2:22] flourish under their faithful service.

[2:26] Finally, Lord, we pray for this specific meeting this evening.

[2:28] Give the citizens and attendance clarity of mind, the ability

[2:31] to communicate clearly and in love and in humility and give our

[2:34] leaders guidance as they deliberate and determine the various agenda

[2:37] items.

[2:39] And we pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

[2:43] Amen.

[2:44] Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[2:46] [chair scrapes]

[2:47] Please stand at attention.

[2:48] [chair scrapes]

[2:49] I pledge allegiance to the flag.

[2:52] to the flag of the United States of America.

[2:55] and to the Republic for which it stands,

[2:58] one nation under God, indivisible,

[3:01] with liberty and justice for all.

[3:04] You may be seated.

[3:05] [chair scrapes]

[3:07] Thank you.

[3:08] That work?

[3:11] Right, now we have the approval of the agenda. Is there a motion?

[3:15] I'll make a motion we approve the agenda.

[3:18] Thank you. Is there a second?

[3:19] I can second.

[3:20] All in favor?

[3:22] So carried.

[3:25] Do want to remind everybody about public comment.

[3:27] It is limited to items that are on the agenda.

[3:31] So when I get to a certain topic,

[3:34] if you have something that you would like to say, please let us know.

[3:38] I don't know if anyone else that no one else has actually filled

[3:40] out the form, so, right, Linda?

[3:43] Okay.

[3:44] Okay, so I'm assuming nobody really wants to have any input.

[3:49] But we will move on to our consent agenda.

[3:54] You'll see there acceptance of bonds on there and the personnel

[3:57] with the skill bridge training apprentice program.

[4:00] Is there a motion?

[4:02] I'll make a motion.

[4:04] I can second.

[4:05] To approve.

[4:08] We have a second. Is there any discussion or any questions?

[4:13] Okay, all in favor?

[4:15] So carried.

[4:18] Now we move on to planning and zoning, Mr. Crooks.

[4:23] [paper rustles]

[4:32] Good evening, Mayor and Council. We have a few items on the agenda

[4:35] under planning and zoning.

[4:38] The first one tonight is the May 2026 permit totals and the June

[4:41] port summaries.

[4:44] Those are in your packet for any information.

[4:48] Any questions or comments?

[4:54] Questions?

[4:55] Okay.

[4:57] All right.

[4:58] So the next item...

[5:06] the annextion of 86.445 acres,

[5:09] a portion of pin 061055 by Court Investment Company on behalf

[5:14] of Savannah Health Sciences LLC, doing business as Royal Health.

[5:18] This is an item for action.

[5:20] Uh, we had a couple different points of conversation on this

[5:25] over the last several months.

[5:26] Uh, last week kind of spoke on this

[5:29] was there was some information and some action with the county that they

[5:34] were handling between the annexing party

[5:39] as well as us.

[5:42] So ultimately what kind of happened with that was that was worked out

[5:46] between the county as well as the applicant themselves

[5:49] without involvement with us.

[5:51] So county has not moved forward with any other objection,

[5:54] they tabled that item, so

[5:56] in terms of this, council would be able to move forward

[5:59] with the approval of such issues.

[6:04] Any questions on the annextion?

[6:10] Hearing none, is there a motion?

[6:14] I'll make a motion that we approve the annextion request.

[6:18] Is there a second? Second.

[6:21] Any discussion at all?

[6:24] Okay. All in favor?

[6:28] And all opposed?

[6:32] Just for clarification, you two were later, but everybody was in agreement.

[6:35] Okay.

[6:37] All right. So that passes.

[6:40] Okay. So the next item is an item for second reading and action.

[6:44] That is a rezoning of portion of parcel number 061055,

[6:49] referred to as part pod,

[6:51] excuse me, Port Royal Pod 4.

[6:53] So this is an item specifically related to the

[6:57] previous item for the annextion.

[6:59] This would be the zoning item to then zone that within the city.

[7:05] They are, the applicant has specifically requested a PUD for this.

[7:10] We've had a couple different conversations, couple different

[7:13] meetings on this as well.

[7:14] The PUD document is in your packet.

[7:18] Uh, essentially serving as an extension of the existing PUD, uh,

[7:24] in terms of what those standards are, what they would allow for basically

[7:29] a mirror image of the kind of remaining portion

[7:32] that is there on Port Royal.

[7:36] Any questions, feedback for me?

[7:42] Hearing none, is there a motion?

[7:49] I'll make a motion we approve the rezoning.

[7:53] Is there a second? Second.

[7:55] Any discussion at all?

[7:58] All in favor?

[8:03] All opposed?

[8:07] Okay, well then this comes down to a tie-breaker.

[8:09] So I am going to vote to approve.

[8:18] So the next item, Madam Mayor, is an ordinance to amend Appendix A,

[8:22] Unified Development Ordinance of the City of Richmond Hill Code of Ordinances.

[8:25] This is an item for public hearing as well as first reading.

[8:29] So Amanda presented this at the last workshop. We have had a couple of

[8:34] conversations on this

[8:37] a little bit more broadly at a few of the different workshops.

[8:40] had a memo with some of the bigger items that we were potentially looking

[8:44] at making some recommendations on some of those different sections.

[8:49] Several of those have been incorporated here and one thing you will notice is

[8:53] some of the items that we have been discussing have been left out

[8:57] from those recommendations,

[8:59] so that way we get a little bit more discussion and feedback.

[9:02] Most of those were items that would fall under Article 12,

[9:05] those are some of the things

[9:07] that we've talked about related to parking, uh, animals,

[9:10] things along those lines.

[9:12] Um, otherwise everything is in the packet in terms of what those

[9:16] redline revisions are.

[9:19] I have not received any questions or comments from Council

[9:22] from the last workshop.

[9:26] I will note that between the workshop and today, we did get some final

[9:30] feedback that we were looking at for some of the items for Article 13,

[9:35] and that was specific to the requirements for uh, multifamily

[9:39] in the commercial districts.

[9:42] So what those use requirements would look like, we finally got that feedback

[9:46] from some of the folks that we had reached out to on that,

[9:49] and had some conversations with them, made some, some tweaks based on that.

[9:54] And have something that we think is a little bit better

[9:57] than what we originally proposed.

[9:58] So between what you

[10:00] all at the workshop and what you have now before you central to the same otherwise

[10:06] that one provision for Article 13.

[10:09] that any questions before we open the public hearing?

[10:14] Any questions?

[10:16] Okay.

[10:17] turn it over to you for the public care.

[10:20] We will open the public hearing now. This is an opportunity

[10:22] for people to give their input if they are in support of or not.

[10:29] to this UDO revision,

[10:32] are there any persons that would like to give input?

[10:39] See no hands.

[10:41] Mr. Clark.

[10:45] any other questions from the?

[10:52] Otherwise this is an item for first reading.

[10:57] Mayor Council, if y'all have any other questions in between now

[11:00] and the next meeting for second reading, feel free to reach out.

[11:02] I'll be happy to meet with you, Mayor, either one.

[11:05] because we're available. Thank you.

[11:07] I will reiterate that, y'all please, there are a lot of red marks throughout

[11:10] this and it's a lot of pages.

[11:13] So please make sure you're prepared at the next meeting for that.

[11:18] Thank you, Mayor.

[11:23] Next up, we have new business.

[11:27] Mr. Clark.

[11:39] Good evening.

[11:41] The item in front of you regarding Elpass Keller water tank.

[11:47] The extension from our GFA loan, construction delays pushed us outside the original completion date.

[11:54] we've extended that through GFA.

[11:57] You'll see in your packet that it's to October of 2026.

[12:01] However, the tank itself is in the process of being finished within the next month to six weeks.

[12:07] as far as it being able to be serviceable with water to the area.

[12:12] But this is still a portable document that the GFA requires

[12:16] to complete the loan and to complete the construction project

[12:19] as originally presented.

[12:22] If you recall back in 2024, we did have some issues with

[12:25] the foundation type of the tank,

[12:29] that led to about a six-month delay and that's the reason for this extension.

[12:36] Nathan, when did you say the extension was to?

[12:38] We have to October of 26.

[12:41] Well, mine says February 1st, 2027.

[12:45] Oh, okay.

[12:46] Is that right?

[12:50] Yes.

[12:52] We extended the official, and if you look at exhibit three,

[12:55] the completion date of October of 26 is

[12:57] what we believe will be 100% complete by then. But then

[13:01] to February of 27, which is six months after that date.

[13:07] Thank you for catching that, Councilman Scollin.

[13:13] Any other questions?

[13:16] And the city attorney has reviewed and he's already signed off on all his documents.

[13:22] That is correct.

[13:24] All right, is there a motion?

[13:26] I make a motion to approve the extension of the GFA loan.

[13:29] Is there a second? I can second.

[13:32] All in favor?

[13:34] So carried.

[13:36] Okay, I am going to actually move the communication portion up

[13:40] because we're going to be going into executive session

[13:42] and we will not be voting on anything when we come back out.

[13:46] So, there are several things on here.

[13:48] I do want to say thank you first to everyone that had a part of the Fourth of July event.

[13:53] It was phenomenal.

[13:54] The fireworks were amazing.

[13:57] We know how many hours go into that and the time and effort that is put into all those special events.

[14:03] So thank you very much. It was a wonderful night. The rain did not win.

[14:07] And it was a great night for families to be out. Everybody

[14:10] was smiling and happy and

[14:12] it was just a great community event. So thank you.

[14:17] Several of us attended a GMA conference, June 26th through the 30th.

[14:22] And I'm going to be asking some of the attendants of classes

[14:25] just to share some updates

[14:27] at our next workshop about that.

[14:31] I want to remind everybody about the National Night Out, which is going to be held at JF Gregory.

[14:36] Thanks to our Richmond Hill Police Department on August the 4th from 3 to 7.

[14:41] We're inviting all the families to come out.

[14:43] It's going to be a lot of fun for everybody there, not just the kids.

[14:47] We're going to have fun as adults as well.

[14:50] Also want to remind everybody about the Mayor's table that's meeting the second Monday of each month.

[14:56] This next meeting next week though will not hold the

[15:00] morning session because I will be at Fort Stewart.

[15:02] So we're going to have to cancel the 9:00 to 10:00 in the morning,

[15:05] but we will be at the Weland Center from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

[15:08] That's an opportunity for you to come out and ask any questions,

[15:11] share your input, uh, suggestions, ideas and

[15:15] and so far it's been very well attended and, um,

[15:18] got a lot of good input from the the community.

[15:21] Uh, the last thing I do want to share is,

[15:24] if you notice that we have our new agenda.

[15:26] Um, those that are watching this through social media,

[15:29] don't see all that we have,

[15:32] but eventually we're going to get the entire packet uploaded,

[15:35] so as this is being streamed, people will actually be able to see

[15:39] not only the agenda, because I know a lot of times when we talk

[15:43] consent agenda, we're looking at what's on the consent agenda,

[15:45] but the people don't know what's on there.

[15:47] But it will actually have the entire packet that we all received.

[15:50] So y'all can actually see all the documents as well.

[15:53] So I'm looking forward to that,

[15:54] that should hopefully happen in the next couple months.

[15:59] With that being said, we are going to be going into executive session

[16:02] and Council member Hunter will be taking us into that.

[16:05] But I do want to thank all of you for coming.

[16:07] You're welcome to stay for when we come back out, um,

[16:10] but we won't be voting on anything.

[16:13] All right, motion to enter into a closed meeting of City Council by

[16:17] 7 of 2026. Councilman Dan Hunter makes the following motion.

[16:20] That this mayor and council now enter into closed session as allowed by

[16:24] OCGA 50-14-4 and pursuant to advice by the city attorney.

[16:30] for the purposes of discussing the following: legal matters as

[16:34] authorized by OCDA 50-14-2-1.

[16:40] That this body in open session adopt a resolution authorizing

[16:43] and directing the mayor or presiding officer to execute an

[16:46] affidavit in compliance with OCGA 50-14-4

[16:52] and that this body ratify the action of the council taken in

[16:55] closed session and confirm that the subject matters of the closed session

[17:00] were within the exceptions permitted by the open meetings law,

[17:04] said resolution to be in the form of an attached hereto.

[17:11] We need a motion for approval? Yes.

[17:16] I make a motion to approve.

[17:17] I second.

[17:18] I'll second.

[17:19] Okay. We're going to enter into executive session. Thank y'all.

July 7, 2026 City Council Meeting

Transcript