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Home My WebLink AboutMinutes CC - 03/18/2013 - MINS 03 18 13 REG (Migrated from Optiview)L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page lof83 This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction ofthis summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted This document includes limited presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form. This is an official record ofthe Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio and video recorded. The Regular Meeting of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on March 18, 2013 at 6:00 PM. Mayor Joe Lockwood presiding. INVOCATION Tass Welch, Community Christ Church, Milton, Georgia CALL TO ORDER Mayor Joe Lockwood called the meeting to order. l ROLLCALL Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Lusk, Councilmember Kunz, Councilmember Thurman, Councilmember Longoria, and Councilmember Hewitt. Councilmembers Absent: Councilmember Large. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE (Led by Mayor Joe Lockwood) APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA (Agenda Item No. 13-070) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Meeting Agenda as amended. • Add an Executive Session to discuss litigation. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. PUBLIC COMMENT (No General Public) L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of83 CONSENT AGENDA JI 1. Approval of the March 4, 2013 Regular City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 13-071) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) I2. Approval of the March 11, 2013 Work Session City Council Meeting Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 13-072) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) 1 3. Approval of the Financial Statements for the Period Ending January, 2013. 1(Agenda Item No. 13-073) (Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager) 4. Approval of the Financial Statements for the Period Ending February, 2013. 1,I(Agenda Item No. 13-074) (Stacey Inglis, Assistant City Manager) 5. Approval of the Following Subdivision Plats and Plat Revisions. (Agenda Item No. 13-075) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) J I j , 1 Name of Development Action Comments I Braebum IV Revision Add buildings 37-39 Highgrove Final Plat Create 15 lots Hidden Forest Revision Remove Lot 92 and modify lots 93-98 Lee Tract Minor Plat Divide into 2 Lots Lee Tract Minor Plat Revision Remove easement improperly shown Greystone Farms Revision Add easement note Bell & Bell Revision Revise property lines between lots 2&3 Vickery Crest III Final Plat Create 9 lots Vickery Crest IV Final Plat Create 2 Lots The Highlands ! Revision Change name and change from public streets to private Rhonda Chatham Minor Plat Combine two parcels Aaron Larson and Robert Ullian Minor Plat Combine four parcels into tw~ 6. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement (Change Order) between the City of Milton and JBM&K, P.C. for Hopewell Road/Cogburn Road at Francis RoadIHopewell Road Right of Way Services. (Agenda Item No. 13-076) (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of83 7. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement between the City of Milton and BM&K, P.C. for SR 372 (Crabapple Road/Birmingham Highway) Intersection Improvements Right of Way Services. (Agenda Item No. 13-077) (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) 8. Approval of a Professional Services Agreement (Task Order) between the City of Milton and Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. for Additional Design Support for SR 372 (Crabapple Road/Birmingham Highway) Intersection Improvements. (Agenda Item No. 13-078) (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) 9. Approval of a Construction Services Agreement between the City of Milton and Baldwin Paving Company, Inc. to Haul and Install Concrete Blocks to the City of Milton Public Works Yard Located at 16050 Old Bullpen Road. (Agenda Item No. 13-079) (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. l REPORTS AND PRESENTATlONS Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager introduced the ICMA visiting team (Capstone Project). This team is here to research best practice and implementation in centralized Records Management for the city. FIRST PRESENTATION (None) PUBLIC HEARING (None) (ZONING AGENDA IS TRANSCRIBED VERBATIM) ZONING AGENDA 1. Consideration ofRZ12-171U12-02NC12-08 -Northeast Comer of Bethany Bend and Cogburn Road by Arrowhead Real Estate Partners to rezone from AG-l (Agricultural) to TR (Townhouse Residential) and request a Use Permit (Sec 64-1825) to develop a 95 unit assisted living facility and 19 single family detached residences on approximately 9.09 acres. A 4 part concurrent variance, 1) To increase the height to 40 feet from average grade to bottom of the roof eave and 2 stories to 3 stories (Sec 64-1095(m)). 2) To reduce front periphery setback from 40 feet to 20 feet along Bethany Bend adjacent to the single family lots (Sec 64-669 (h)(1 )). 3) To reduce the L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 40f83 minimum side yard setback for single family lots from 7 feet to 5 feet (Sec 64-669(i)(2)(a». 4) J. To reduce the minimum rear setback for the single family lots from 25 feet to 20 feet (Sec 64 669(i)(3». (Agenda Item No. 13-055) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager: Mayor and Council, I will step in for Kathy at this point. I wanted to let you know that this applicant has requested to withdraw this zoning matter before you tonight. I would just like to put that on the record. Secondly, I would like to see what your pleasure is. If it is to hold a Public Hearing because it has been advertised, that would probably be a good place to start. If the council is then so inclined to accept the withdrawal, we can simply handle that at that point. If not, we can go forward with a more thorough staff presentation. I would think that maybe tonight is appropriate to go ahead and handle the Public Hearing and see what your thoughts are with respect to the withdrawal. Mayor Lockwood: I would agree and ask the council that if there are folks here that are prepared to speak, we could at least J' have the Public Hearing and then council can make that decision. At this point then, I will ...are there any questions to Chris or Kathy or do we want to go ahead and just open it up for comments on this item. Do we have comments on this item? Sudie Gordon, City Clerk: In support, first, we have Curtis Hicks. (Mr. Pete Hendricks came to the podium). Pete Hendricks, 6085 Lake Forest Drive, Atlanta, GA Mr. Mayor and members of the Council. Pete Hendricks. I practice law at 6085 Lake Forest Drive. I was curious because the next item involves the same piece of property, the same applicant, the same issue over withdrawal. Do you want to just take them in sequence individually or do you want to go ahead and sound the other matter and then vote on them separately? Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: Do them sequentially, please. Pete Hendricks: The request from the applicant is to be able to withdraw the application. Your staff has recommended ; that the application be withdrawn. Your Planning Commission unanimously recommended that the application be withdrawn. Curtis Hicks, the applicant, is here this evening. If you have any questions of him, Curtis has been the one most primarily by having the conversation discussions with the community JI!folks that have an interest in the application. So, at this point, I would respectively request if you have any questions of Curtis, he is here to be able to respond to you, thanks. I l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of83 Mayor Lockwood: Do we have anyone else in support of this? Sudie Gordon, City Clerk: We do not, that is the only one, sir. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I will open it up. Do we have in comments in opposition? City Clerk Gordon: We do sir. Our first one comes from Daniel Shaw. Daniel Shaw, 2610 Trawick Chase, Alpharetta, Georgia. Good Evening. My name is Daniel Shaw. I live at 2610 Trawick Chase, Alpharetta, Georgia. I just have a couple of comments and I will ....I'm sure there's a whole lot of people behind me here. One is that the actual density does not really meet what they are expecting in that area. The second, I was struck by the number of waivers that this applicant has requested and it just seems that if you need this many waivers to build what you want, you probably don't have the space to build what you want. Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: Next. City Clerk Gordon: Our next speaker is Dot Blair. Dot Blair, 13965 Cogburn Road, Milton, Georgia Hi. My name is Dot Blair. I live at 13965 Cogburn Road, Milton, Georgia. Since November, the community members have religiously attended weekly meetings regarding this development. They have taken time out of their busy schedules to stand firm in opposition to allow rezoning of this parcel of land which is clearly defined now in the comprehensive land use plan as an area that should be protected from high density and commercial development in order to preserve the rural character and heritage of Milton. Yet, the city has chosen to include this parcel in a new visioning study for the Highway 9 area designed to reevaluate the original ideas established in the comprehensive plan. Citizens who have objected were recently characterized by the city in an AJC article as a band of activist residents. I prefer to think of these citizens as visionaries. Citizens who have bought into the vision of the City of Milton psychologically and financially and believe that the preservation of the city's original vision is worth defending. I would like ask the council to stand united with the citizens to protect the vision that the City of Milton and its residents have worked so hard to establish. Thank you. City Clerk Gordon: Our next comment comes from Byron Amstads. Byron Amstads, 125 Northstone Close, Alpharetta, GA Thank you. Byron Arnstads. 125 Northstone Close, Alpharetta, Georgia in the Oakstone Glen Subdivision. I appreciate that the applicant has withdrawn. I still want to highlight a few points which represent a couple of points on the agenda. With respect to the change from AG-1, I wouldn't actually Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of83 call it just a commercial but extremely high density development. If you run the math, considering the ]95 units and the assisted living, the 19 townhomes or single family homes, we are actually roughly at 12-13 units per acre which is substantially higher than what we as residents of the City of Milton expected in the AG-1 definition of the central Milton character district intent. In addition, one thing we think is not necessarily captured, at least when we reviewed some of the other meetings, was the fact that there are thirty some odd full-time employees, or at least the space for those to park twenty-four hours a day to provide care and assistance so the actual commercial aspect and the traffic doesn't appear to have been discussed in some of the prior discussions. I agree about the point about the multiple variances and it really does look like a round peg square hole problem when you are talking about cutting in half some of the residential variances making walls that are close enough that are literally in two steps you are going from house to house and deleting 75 feet of buffer and improvement setbacks. So, it does appear that this is truly trying to squeeze too much into one property. I applaud the work that the staff has done in the packet. I won't say that I have read all 441 pages of it but there is a great deal of analysis and the finding not suitable use the adverse affect expected on the adjacent properties and that the current land has AG-l reuse that is possible. And, that is one ofthe key points that I think we want to keep in mind as we go through this visioning process. I remember when we did the online surveys and things like that as part of the LCI and originally saw that Highway 9 stripe without what is being affectionately the boot extension down Bethany Bend. I think it makes sense for us to understand why that extension was pulled into there later in point and time and the specific drivers they are in because we are already looking at a significant amount of growth and congestion in the area. Some of the numbers provided by Fulton County in the packet were for this year showing Cambridge at half capacity. As we expect, Cambridge will fill over the next four years from 800 and some odd students to date to over 1900 plus over 100 people support staff. King's Ridge at that same corner building a new J high school numbers not provided in terms of the growth. So, we do expect that there are going to be continuing demands on both the infrastructure and as well as potentially and most likely degrading some of the experiences for those of us who have come to Milton specifically because we like the idea of the horse in our emblem and we like the idea of retaining some of our rural character. So, I do appreciate you taking the time to hear my comments this evening. Thank you. City Clerk Gordon: Our final comment in opposition is Elaine Decker. We have 5 minutes and 21 seconds remaining. Elaine Decker, 520 Oakstone Glen, Milton, Georgia 30004 Hi. My name is Elaine Decker. I live at 520 Oakstone Glen. Obviously, a resident of Oaks tone Glen. I won't repeat what Dot and Byron said but I definitely echo all oftheir views. The roadways and the study that was done, was done on current data. Neither of the schools are at capacity. The zoning has been AG-1 all along for a reason. To go to seventeen lots per acre just doesn't make sense for that piece of property. Allowing plumbing on that property scares me because I think it is just going to creep up Hopewell Road and up Cogburn Road just like it did on the other side of Highway 9 and then we are going to have a true traffic nightmare. I don't understand why the developer if they have done their due diligence and they say there is a need for it. There is plenty of property within Milton that they could put it on that wouldn't require rezoning. I've asked that question several times but not gotten an answer. And, then as far as the visioning study, I don't believe that that section should be, it is not on Highway 9 ]..•... so I don't know why it should be included with the Highway 9 plan. Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: We have a little bit of time left. Do we have anyone who would like to speak in support? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of83 Curtis Hicks, 8647 Ellard Drive, Roswell, Georgia I am the applicant, Curtis Hicks. 8647 Ellard Drive in Roswell, Georgia. I believe the property owner wanted to speak as well but just wanted to address Mayor and Council to tell them that we have met with the community several times, we have heard and understand the issues. We do know that this property is at least under evaluation as it relates to the envisioning plan. We wanted to withdraw to see what came out of that process and also keep the dialogue open with the community in hopes to come back possibly with a plan that meets with more support. City Manager Lagerbloom: Mayor, I'm sorry, I'm going to have to interject at this point. We are going to have to seek shelter. We need to stop the meeting at this point. What I would like everybody to do, and we will do this in an orderly fashion, is that we have several Public Safety officials here and we will have somebody lead the way out this door. Where we shelter in this building is in the middle of the building, where the cubes are, we will get to that location. This storm is due here in about seven minutes and it has pretty strong potential to it so let's go ahead and stop the meeting at this point and take shelter until it has passed. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I am going to go ahead and close the Public Hearing and I want to thank you guys for working with us. I can say that we have successfully weathered the storm. Hopefully, everything is okay. We will close the Public Hearing. The applicant has asked to withdraw and I believe staffhas recommended that. Are there any comments or questions for staff or for the applicant from council? Okay, if there is l nothing else I will open the floor up for a motion to approve denial or allow this application to be withdrawn as requested by the applicant. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to withdraw Agenda Item No. 13-055. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 2. Consideration of RZ13-01NC13-01-Northeast Comer of Bethany Bend and Cogburn Road by Arrowhead Real Estate Partners to rezone from AG-l (Agricultural) to 0-1 (Office-Institutional) to develop a 95 unit, 2 stories, assisted living facility on approximately 4.733 acres. A concurrent variance is also requested to delete the 75 foot buffer and 10 foot improvement setback along the east property line (Section 64-1 091 (b». (Agenda Item No. 13-056) (First Presentation at March 4,2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) City Manager Lagerbloom: Mr. Mayor and members of the council, again, this item has been requested to be withdrawn by the applicant. I would request that we move forward with the Public Hearing and after that decide if that is the pleasure of the council. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I will open this up for Public Hearing. Is there anyone in support of this application? Pete Hendricks: L -------~------- Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of83 Same comment as on the previous case. ] Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Is there any in opposition? City Clerk Gordon: No sir. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I will close the Public Hearing and open it up for a motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to withdraw Agenda Item No. 13-056. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 3. Consideration of U12-01NC12-07 -14325 Hopewell Road by Dean Riopelle for a Use Permit for Exotic Animals to operate a Primate and Exotic Animal Preserve on approximately 20.74 acres. A 2 part concurrent variance, 1) Not to plant to buffer standards for a width of 75 feet along the east property (Sec. 64-1 141(3)(b)). 2) To allow parking between the building and the right-of-way (Sec 64-1 145(6)(c)). J(Agenda Item No. 13-054) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Thank you Mr. Mayor and members ofthe City Council. We have before us, as the City Clerk mentioned, a request for primate and exotic animal preserve at 14325 Hopewell Road. The subject site contains 20.7432 acres. It is currently zoned AG-l (Agricultural) with one single family residence and associated bams and five animal enclosures. The applicant seeks a use permit for exotic or wild animals. Staff recommends withdrawal of the two part concurrent variances originally requested. The existing zoning is shown for this parcel. It is shown to be zoned AG-l. The 2030 City of Milton Future Land Use Map shows the future land use for this area to be agricultural, equestrian and estate residentiaL There was a revised site plan submitted to us January 4th which shows the existing condition and subsequently we have two revised site plans. The first one was submitted on March 8th , which is sheet 2 of 3, which shows topography with proposed improvements and then the site plan of sheet 3 of 3, again submitted March 8th , which shows tree survey with proposed improvements. By way of background, the applicant has owned the subject property since approximately 1999. For the past 14 years, Mr. Riopelle has been buying, selling, and breeding various types of exotic animals. Copies of current licenses from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Georgia DNR, and the United States Department of Agriculture USDA have been submitted to staff. In the summer of2012, the applicant came to the city inquiring about the possibility of exhibiting his animals to select groups and organizations. It was determined that exotic or wild animals were not permitted within the AG-l Agricultural District. In ] addition, the city attorney recommended the following text amendments to be considered that would allow both the possession and exhibition of exotic animals: That a new use permit be created. That we provide a definition of exotic and wild animals. That we amend the AG-l Agricultural District to allow l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of83 exotic wild animals within the AG-l District. All three of these text amendments were approved by the Mayor and City Council on October 15, 2012. After the approval of these amendments, the applicant submitted his application for a use permit for exotic animals on November 6, 2012. The original application included a two part concurrent variance not to plant to buffer standards along the east property line and to allow parking between the right-of-way and the primary structure. Since the initial application, the site plan has been revised to meet the development standards and, therefore, the applicant is requesting the withdrawal ofVC12-07 parts one and two. The applicant submitted a revised site plan received March 8, 2013 that shows the location of the trash receptacle and handicap space. The Planning Commission at their meeting recommended denial ofU12-01, the proposed use permit and withdrawal of the VC12-07 parts one and two at the February 26, 2013 Planning Commission meeting. Based on the applicant's revised site plan submitted to the Community Development Department on March 8, 2012, also the revised Letter of Intent submitted on January 9, and an inventory of the applicant's proposed exotic animals, staff offers the following considerations: Under Section 64-1838, Exotic or Wild Animals, pursuant to this section, exhibition or display of exotic or wild animals solely for education purposes or keeping rehabilitation or maintaining exotic or wild animals pursuant to a valid current state issued wild animal license or wildlife exhibition permit, shall be allowed only with a use permit issued in compliance with the development standards set forth in this section specifically and pursuant to the zoning ordinance generally. In the event of conflict, the terms of this section shall prevail. So, in terms of the analysis of the requirements for a use permit, the following requirements are listed and whether or not the applicant complies. In terms of subsection A, required district, there is compliance, it is in the AG-1 district. B, obtain the appropriate license from USDA, we L do have a valid license from USDA. C, obtain a US Fish and Wildlife Service Permit, we found that the Eurasian Owls are not included under this permit but are included under the Georgia DNR permit. D, obtain the necessary permits from the Georgia DNR. We have, in your package, showed you a copy of a valid license from the Georgia DNA that expires on March 31 st. I should note that this valid license forms the basis for the recommended conditions for the staff's report, specifically, as it refers to the number and type of animals and you will see that as we come to the staff recommendations. In terms of standards for a use permit, we did note the standards and look at whether the applicant was in compliance. In terms of the first standard, minimum lot size shall be ten acres. The applicant is in compliance. B, permitting curb-cut access shall not be from local street, in compliance. C, all activity areas including parking structures, areas where animals are housed, shall be setback a minimum of 100 feet, in compliance. D, a maximum continuous sound level of 60 dBA and a maximum peak sound level of75 dBA shall not be exceeded, again, that will have to be determined, we do not have any documentation on file at this point in terms of that. E, open to visitation by the general public only from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. No hours were indicated but the applicant would have to comply with that standard. Continuing with standards. F, if located adjacent to any residential district or AG-1 district use of single family dwellings, the minimum buffers and landscape strips required for the Northwest Fulton Overlay District, would be applicable. The applicant is in compliance. G, sanitary facilities or trash receptacles shall be located within 100 feet of the property line, in compliance. H, applicant shall inform the Director of Community Development in writing of the number and type of animals to be housed in the subject property and any changes thereto. In terms of that requirement, staff received a listing of animals by email dated January 15,2013 from the applicant's representative. Staffis recommending that the type and number listed in the Georgia DNR license to be approved for the requested use permit. Staff recommends that at which time the applicant submits a change in number or type of animals to the Georgia DNR and a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. I, in terms of compliance with all requirements of Chapter 5 of the Georgia Game and Fish code, the Community Development Department will rely on the appropriate enforcement agency to ensure applicant is in compliance with said requirements. Proposed animals to be exhibited. The L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page lO of83 applicant provided the following inventory in an email dated January 15, 2013 in terms of the type of animals to be exhibited. Please note that the categories listed below are in the definition of exotic J animals as approved by the Mayor and City Council on October 15,2012. So, the applicant requests under Category 1 each primate species there would be 15 total of each primate species and the applicant does note that we will have no larger primates such as chimpanzees and baboons. Staff, however, notes that the exact number of species was not given. We know that there will be a limit of 15 for each species but we do not know how many primate species there will be. Under Category 3, the applicant requests a total of five from the following type of species: wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals. Category 8, the applicant requests a total of two hyenas. Category 9, a total of three camels. Category 10, raccoons and coatis a total often. Category 11, kangaroos, opossums, a total often. Category 13, anteaters, sloths, and armadillos, total of four. And, Category 14, mongooses, civets and genets, a total of four. It should be noted that the site plan indicates a total of twenty additional enclosures in addition to the five enclosures for the property. So, the applicant would be requesting on the property a total of 25 enclosures. The Northwest Fulton Overlay District development standards require, and this property is under the Northwest Fulton Overlay District, they do require under landscape strips and buffers, requires a ten foot landscape strip along all public streets. The site plan indicates compliance with this requirement. The Design Review Board requested that evergreen material be utilized along Hopewell Road. This request will be coordinated with the City Arborist and a condition will be included at the end of the staff report. The two variances that were originally requested have been met by the applicant; so therefore, staff recommends that both of these variances be withdrawn. Continuing with the site plan analysis, staff notes that there are enclosures around the cages that are constructed of chain-linked fencing that are not black vinyl clad. These must be changed to comply with Section 64-1142 subsection 8 which states, chain-linked fencing except which is required along retention ponds is Jprohibited from public view. All chain-linked fences shall be clad, shall be black vinyl clad. In addition, all future enclosures proposed for the site shall comply with this requirement. The site plan is in compliance with the remainder of the development standards for the Northwest Fulton Overlay District and the development standards for the use permit. Shall a conflict between these standards exist, the development standards of the use permit shall prevail. Other site plan considerations, within the subject site there is a US soil conservation lake number 31, Starnes Lake, and a portion of the site is within the one hundred year flood plain limits. The site plan shows that there are proposed cages and enclosures within the one hundred year flood plain. These types of structures are allowed to be located within the flood plain. The site plan also indicates compliance with the required city and state water stream buffers and non-impervious setback along Chicken Creek and Starnes Lake. Section 64-1838, Subsection 2( c), requires the exotic animals to be a minimum of 100 feet from all property lines. Staff notes that the applicant also keeps various domesticated animals such as donkeys and dogs which are not required to be kept or to graze outside of this 100 foot limit. Parking requirements, within Section 64 1410, Off Street Parking, there are no standards for the proposed use or similar uses to provide a requirement. However, the applicant has provided a total of nine parking spaces based on the maximum of cars and one bus anticipated for this site. The proposed parking area will be constructed of gravel. Staff notes that a minimum of one parking space shall be designated as handicap which is shown on the revised site plan submitted on March 8, 2013. Periphery Fencing. The site plan indicates a wood/woven wire fence along the entire property except where it adjoins Starnes Lake. Staff notes that pursuant to VI2-08, the Board of Zoning Appeals approved a primary variance on July 17,2012 to allow the height of a five board fence to increase to 72" adjacent to a public street. The fence has not, as yet, been constructed on the site. Public Involvement. On November 28,2012, the applicant was present at the Community Zoning Information Meeting held at the Milton City HalL There were approximately 18 members of the community in attendance. Public Participation Plan and Report. The applicant has met the requirements of the Public Participation Plan. The Public Participation meeting was held on the l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 11 of83 applicant's property on Saturday, December 1,2012 between the hours of3:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. The Public Participation Report was submitted on February 6, 2013 to the Community Development Department. City of Milton Design Review Board Meeting on January 8, 2013, their comments are: A proposed new parking area must comply with all storm water regulations. Parking pad must have enough room for bus turnaround. All animal enclosures must adhere to state and federal guidelines. Add evergreen screening along Hopewell Road. The owner has agreed to work with Mark Law, the City Arborist, to determine the location and grouping and plant type of landscape screening. A building permit is required for the bathroom building. Complete building plans and landscaping plans will be required for review. Numbers and types of animals should be indicated. The owner agreed not to utilize outdoor lighting. In terms of the environmental site analysis. Staffhad received the applicant's Environmental Site Analysis on January 17, 2013. The proposed site does not contain wetlands, steep slopes, or sensitive plant and animal species. The southern property line is bound by Chicken Creek which is a state water as well as Starnes Lake which is a U.S. Soils Conservation Lake. The site plan indicates compliance with the required city and state stream buffers and non-impervious setback. The proposed use will not impact any historical or archeological entities. City Arborist. Existing trees are to remain throughout the site. Undisturbed buffers shall be required to be planted to buffer standards where sparsely vegetated. Use Permit Considerations. In the interest of the public health, safety and welfare, the Mayor and City Council may exercise limited discretion in evaluating the site proposed for a use that requires a Use Permit. In exercising such discretion pertaining to the subject use, the Mayor and City Council shall consider each of the following as outlined in Sec. 64-1552 of the Zoning Ordinance: Use Permit Considerations. Staffhas reviewed said items pertaining to the subject use, and, offers the following comments: Whether the proposed use is consistent with the land use or economic development plans adopted by the Mayor and City Council: The proposed primate and exotic preserve is not consistent with the intent and following policies of the City of Milton 2030 Comprehensive Plan which states: "We will encourage development that is sensitive to the overall setting of the community and will contribute to our community's character and sense of place." "We will consider potential impacts to air and water quality in making decisions on new developments and transportation improvements, and we will steer new development away from sensitive natural resource areas." The City of Milton 2030 Comprehensive Plan recommends that the subject site be developed as Agricultural, Equestrian, and Estate Residential (AEE). The subject site is located within the Central Milton Character Area and the Plan further states the following regarding this area: "New development should match the typical densities found within this area and should minimize undesirable impacts on surrounding rural/agricultural uses. Significant site features, such as view sheds and environmentally sensitive areas, should be enlisted as amenities that shape identity and character of new development within this character area." Therefore, it is staffs opinion that expansion of the existing use will negatively impact the existing development pattern within Central Milton. Compatibility with land uses and zoning districts in the vicinity of the property for which the use permit is proposed: The additional generated traffic into the property, noise, and inconsistency with surrounding properties may have a negative impact. The proposed primate and exotic animal preserve is not compatible with land uses adjacent and nearby the subject property area which are primarily estate residential and scattered agricultural uses. If developed in accordance with Staffs Recommended Conditions and the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, Staff recommends only the raising, breeding, importing, and selling of requested exotic animals utilizing the existing infrastructure on the site and not the proposed primate and exotic animal preserve which includes the building of 20 additional animal enclosures. The number and type of animals should only be those that are indicated on the Georgia DNR license which is valid through March 31, 2013. These are reflected in the Recommended Conditions and not the Alternate Conditions. Whether the proposed Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of83 use may violate local, state and/or federal statutes, ordinances or regulations governing land ]development: The proposed use may not violate any known local, state and/or federal statutes, ordinances or regulations governing land development if approved with the recommended conditions. In addition to land development regulations, the city is dependent upon state and federal agencies to ensure compliance with their regulations as described in the proposed Use Permit Standards for Exotic Animals (Section 64-1838). At the end of this report is a letter from the Georgia DNR stating that the applicant is in compliance with their current license as of January 7, 2013. The effect of the proposed use on traffic flow, vehicular and pedestrian, along adjoining streets: The proposed use should not create congestion along Hopewell Road if approved with the Recommended Conditions. The required site distance for the site exceeds the minimum required which is 550 feet looking to the east and 800 feet looking to the west. The Public Works Department has included a condition, that if traffic on existing driveway exceeds 29 daily trips, driveway shall be modified to meet standards in the City of Milton Code of Ordinances. The Milton Trail Plan is not located on either side of Hopewell Road. The location and number of off-street parking spaces: As indicated in the Site Plan Analysis, there is no specific requirement for this or similar use in the Zoning Ordinance. The applicant has estimated the maximum number of cars and/or buses that may be on the property at one time. The site plan indicates a total of nine parking spaces which are located on the site per the Northwest Fulton Overlay District requirements. In addition, the proposed parking will be gravel with exception of the required handicapped parking space. The amount and location of open space: The applicant's site plan indicates that almost the entire subject site remains undeveloped. Staff is of the opinion that the proposed development will provide adequate open space for the proposed development. Protective screening: If developed in accordance with the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance, the existing wooded areas and sparsely vegetated areas planted to buffer standards may provide adequate screening to the adjacent AG-l (Agricultural) zoned properties if approved for the existing use on the property and not for the proposed primate and exotic animal preserve with the additional animal enclosures. Hours and manner of operation: The applicant has not stated the hours of operation for the animal preserve, but the Use Permit standards only allow operations between the hours of7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Outdoor lighting. The applicant has indicated to the Design Review Board that there will be no on-premise lighting on the site. A condition will be included that will reflect there shall be no on-premise lighting. Ingress and egress to the property. The applicant's site plan indicates one curb cut on Hopewell Road and the sight distance is acceptable in either direction on Hopewell Road. The driveway will be required to be improved to provide for two-way traffic if the Alternate Conditions are approved by the Mayor and City Council. Conclusion. The staff concludes that the proposed primate and exotic animal preserve is inconsistent with Comprehensive Plan Policies, and Recommendations, some Use Permit Considerations, and, lastly, incompatible with the surrounding area. Therefore, staff recommends that the subject site be developed with the existing condition of five animal enclosures and other associated structures currently utilized on the site to house the current inventory of animals as licensed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, last amended 12/3/12. If the site is developed in accordance with the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and Staff s Recommended Conditions, staff recommends APPROVAL CONDITIONAL ofU12-01 for the existing conditions of the subject site. Alternate Conditions are also provided at the end of this report if the Mayor and City Council so choose to approve the Use Permit as requested by the applicant. In terms of the Staffs Recommended Conditions. To the owner's agreement to restrict the use ofthe subject property as follows: Restrict the use of the subject property to allow the keeping, rehabilitation, J breeding, or maintaining of exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 1 of 3 ofthe revised site plan received by the Community Development Department on January 4, 2013 which depicts the "existing l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 13 of83 conditions" of the site which includes: five existing animal enclosures and two existing bams related to the use on the subject site. The following species shall not be permitted on the site either temporarily or permanently: It should be noted that these species are listed via reference to the categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1, and these categories are as follows. And, again, what I am going to read is our proposed list of species NOT to be permitted. 1 Primates (no large primates) 2 Felidae (lions, tigers, bobcats, lynx, cougars, leopards jaguars but not domesticated felidae) 3 Canidae (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals but not domesticated canidae) 4 Ursidae (all bears) 5 Reptilia (all venomous snakes, all constricting snakes) 6 Crocodilia (alligators, crocodiles) 7 Proboscidae (elephants) 8 Hyanenidae (hyanas) 9 Artiodatyla (hippopotamuses, giraffes, camels, not cattle or swine or sheep or goats) 10 Procyonidae (raccoons, coatis) 12 Perissodactylea (rhinoceroses, tapirs) l 13 Edentara (anteaters, sloths, armadillos) 14 Viverridae (mongooses, civets, and genets) The following species and number shall be permitted on the site. These species and numbers come directly from the Georgia DNR Permit which is currently in place and which expires 3/31 of this year. And, so these species and number which SHALL BE permitted include: 9 ring tailed lemurs 5 White Headed capuchins 3 Red ruffed lemurs 3 Brazilian tufted capuchins 1 Cinnamon capuchin 2 spot-nosed guenons 2 DeBrazza's monkeys 2 spider monkeys 2 Erasian eagle owls 4 albino wallabies Staff Recommended Conditions continued. To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: To the revised site plan, Sheet 1 of 3, "existing conditions" received by the City of Milton Community Development Department on January 4, 2013: Said site plan is conceptual only and must meet or exceed the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and these conditions prior to the approval of a Land Disturbance Permit. Unless otherwise noted herein, compliance with all conditions shall be in place prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy. At which time the applicant submits a change in number and/or type of animals to the Georgia DNR, a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. To the owner's agreement to the following site development considerations: To provide a 10 foot landscape strip along Hopewell Road planted to buffer standards. l --.------.. -,----~.~--~~---- Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 14 of83 Now, we have also listed Alternate Conditions which reflect what the applicant has applied for and they ..J. are as follows: to the owner's agreement to restrict the use of the subject property as follows: restrict the use ofthe subject property to allow the exhibition, display, keeping, rehabilitation, breeding, or maintaining of exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 2 of 3 of the revised site plan received by the Community Development Department on March 8, 2013 which include five existing animal enclosures, and two existing bams related to the use on the subject site. Also included are an additional 20 proposed animal enclosures. The following species shall not be permitted on the site either temporarily or permanently. And, again, these species are listed via reference to the categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1, and these categories are as follows. And, again, it is proposed that these NOT be permitted. 1 Primates (no large primates such as chimpanzees and baboons) 2 Felidae (lions, tigers, bobcats, lynx, cougars, leopards, jaguars but not domesticated felidae) 4 Ursidae (all bears) 5 Reptilia (all venomous snakes, all constricting snakes) 6 Crocodilia (alligators, crocodiles) 7 Proboscidae (elephants) 9 Artiodatyla (hippopotamuses, giraffes) 12 Perissodactylea (rhinoceroses, tapirs) The following species and number shall be permitted on the site. These species, again, are listed in Jcategories that are contained within the Exotic Animal definition of our Zoning Ordinance and they are as follows: 1 Primates (monkeys) Each primate species 15 of each species (note: number of species not listed) 3 Canidae (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals) - 5 total 8 Hyanenidae (hyenas) 2 total 9 Artiodatyla (camels) 3 total 10 Procyonidae ( raccoons, coatis) 10 total 11 Marsupialia (kangaroos, opossum) -10 total 13 Edentara (anteaters, sloths, armadillos) -4 total 14 Viverridae (mongooses, civets, and genets}-4 total To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: To the revised site plan, Sheet 2 of3, received by the City of Milton Community Development Department on March 8, 2013. Said site plan is conceptual only and must meet or exceed the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and these conditions prior to the approval of a Land Disturbance Permit. Unless otherwise noted herein, compliance with all conditions shall be in place prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy. At which time the applicant submits a change in number and/or type of animals to the Georgia DNR, a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. To the owner's agreement to the following site development consideration: access to the site shall be J. subject to the approval of City of Milton Department of Public Works, prior to the issuance of a Business License, Land Disturbance Permit, Subdivision Plat or Certificate of Occupancy (whichever comes first). Entrance(s) shall conform to Chapter 48 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places of the City of Milton Code of Ordinances, or be reconstructed to meet such criteria as required by the l l l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 15 of 83 Department of Public Works. At a minimum the following shall apply: if traffic on existing driveway exceeds 29 daily trips, driveway shall be modified to meet standards in the City of Milton Code of Ordinances. Driveway shall be modified to provide for a minimum width for two way traffic. To provide a 10 foot landscape strip along Hopewell Road planted to buffer standards. And that is my presentation, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. If you don't mind, before I open it up to questions and open the Public Hearing. I would like to give, I did, for the record, have a, received a letter from a citizen questioning the ability for Councilmember Kunz to stay in this ·decision or abstain and I wanted to give Councilmember Kunz an opportunity to address that. Councilmember Kunz: Yea, in full disclosure, I just want to make everyone aware that in the past, I have had a business relationship with the applicant. I did consult our city attorney several weeks ago to see if I could even vote on the issue. Based on the details, it has been determined by the attorney that none of the facts pertaining to this vote and any prior relationship constitute a conflict of interest. Seeing as such, I would direct anyone with questions pertaining to the issue to the City Attorney and I suggest that we move on with the vote. Mayor Lockwood: Mr. Jarrard, would you like to comment on that? Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: I concur with that. I stand behind my opinion. Mayor Lockwood: Thank you very much. Before I open the Public Hearing, are there any questions right now for Ms. Field? Joe Longoria, Councilmember: Yea, I did have one. Kathy, when you were going through the list of permitted and not permitted, I think I might have gotten confused because I thought you said under canidae that you were specifically excluding certain species but then on the permitted list it looked like there was a conflict there and I just wanted to make sure. Kathleen Field: Now, is this under the Staff Recommendations or the Alternate Recommendations? Councilmember Longoria: I think it was under the alternate. It was one of the last slides that we saw. Kathleen Field: That would be under alternate. Let's see, are you under canidae which is the wolves, coyotes, foxes and jackals? Okay, so I am looking at C. which the following species shall be permitted on the site and under Category 3 wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals; for a total of five and that is Category 3. Now Category 3 is not listed under the species shall not be permitted so Category 3 was not under the prohibited ones but Category 3 was included under the allowed species. --.--.--~----~------ Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 16 of83 Karen Thurman, Councilmember: Under the alternate conditions. Kathleen Field: Under the alternate conditions, that's right. Councilmember Longoria: Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Are there any other questions before we open the Public Hearing? Okay. If not, we will open the Public Hearing and first we will allow those speaking in support of this application. City Clerk Gordon: Our first speaker is Don Rolader. Don Rolader, 11660 Alpharetta Highway, Suite 630, Roswell, Georgia 30076 Mayor and members of the council, I am Don Rolader. My address is 11660 Alpharetta Highway, Suite 630, Roswell, Georgia. I am here tonight on behalf of Dean Riopelle. Dean is in the audience. Also, is David BUITe who is our professional consultant and site plan designer, and Dr. Gary Innocent who is our DVM who treats the pets. Basically, Dean Riopelle bought this property in 1999. Since then, he has lived there, raised primates, raised wallabies, and raised two children. The use of the property was a lawful use in Fulton County and is a legal non-conforming use in the City of Milton. You have a copy of the opinion from your City Attorney. Just as a matter of legal announcement, you can go to sleep while I am doing this, applicant property owner asserts his legal rights to continue the existing use of the property. Nothing in this presentation or the use permit application shall be construed in any way to waive, alter, or vary those vested rights on the non-conforming use. Now that the announcement is over, let's address the staff report. Applicant has withdrawn both variance requests, we don't need any variances. The site plan Mr. BUITe has prepared is in compliance with the ordinances that affect it. Parking has been provided for as required by the ordinance. Parking area is gravel so that we have pervious surface. The site plan complies with all of the city and state stream buffers and non-impervious setbacks. Staff report states that there is no impact to historical or architectural sites. The use, it says, doesn't violate any state, local, or federal ordinance. We have all required state and federal permits. Inspections have been conducted on both in 2013 and the applicant is fully compliant without exception. One thing I need to explain to you. On a state permit when you obtain it, it lists the species of animals and the numbers. The reason it does that is because that is what they count on the site that day. If the applicant wants that permit changed, he calls the state back out there, they do a head count, and they add in what he has then and deletes what he doesn't have so it is entirely discretionary with the applicant so long as it meets the criteria that the animals are cared for and there aren't too many for the site. So, it is not an issue, it is just an inventory of what you have. The site distances from the driveway exceed the required minimums. Staff notes that almost the entire site remains undeveloped. I think that is a very important consideration and will provide adequate open space for the proposed use. The only planned permanent improvements on this twenty plus acres, is an 800 square foot restroom and one paved parking spot, which is a handicap spot. The rest is gravel and has no impact. It is not a condition at this point in time, but we have agreed that there will be no outside lighting on this project. This activity, which basically changes nothing, will not interrupt any view sheds nor will it change the character of the area. Right J J J l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 17 of 83 now, in the immediate area, people raise, breed, buy and sell horses, cattle, donkeys, llamas, goats, sheep, chickens, and alpacas. If those uses are in compliance with the Comprehensive Plan, then it is my opinion, that so is this use. The applicant has had the opportunity to review the conditions proposed by staff, the staff proposed conditions are not acceptable to the applicant. The applicant has reviewed the alternative conditions, a couple of those are fine, number two is alright. There is one that troubles us considerably and that is the requirement in the alternate conditions to expand the driveway with the anticipated use of this property there is absolutely no reason to add any impervious surface to this property whatsoever. It is a concrete driveway now, it is more than sufficient, you don't want to expand the opening, you don't want to expand the entrance way, you don't want to do anything that changes the rural character of this area. I think we need to address the concern on the fencing, the black clad fencing, applies to perimeter fencing and to sedimentation ponds and retention ponds that can be viewed by the public. The enclosures on this property cannot be viewed by the public. You can't tell me what kind of fence is around it as you are driving up Hopewell Road at 40-45 or maybe a little quicker miles an hour. It is better for the animals if it is not black clad. So, my statement to you in opening is basically this, everything that Dean Riopelle has done for the last 14 years is what he proposes to do now. It has had zero impact on his community. Houses continue to sell. People continue to move in. Lots of the people who would object to this moved here in the last three to four years. There has been no impact on the community. We are requesting that you give this legal non-conforming use a permit and make it a perfectly legal use that they city would have some input into controlling. At this point in time, we would like to reserve our time for rebuttal except to answer any questions you have. Thank L you. Mayor Lockwood: Do we have anyone else speaking in support? City Clerk, Gordon: Yes, we do, Mr. David Burre. Don Rolader: We will reserve his time for rebuttal. Ed Parsons, 1760 Redd Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 Hi. My name is Ed Parsons. I live at 1760 Redd Road in Milton. I am an agricultural landowner and I support Dean Riopelle's application for a land use permit. I acknowledge and understand that there are some people in Milton that just don't agree with him keeping animals in cages. It is what it is, you know. The bottom line is that he has a right to do that. Everything that we have heard so far is compliant with all the laws, all the regulations, state and federal levels; there are no violations anywhere. Some of the people that are complaining about things talk about traffic and talk about water quality and talk about noise, none of that stuff has been substantiated yet. So, you know, all I say is look at the history of what has gone on there. Fourteen years, has never had a violation about safety, has never been cited for any violation of environmental issues, has never been cited for any animal care violation, has always complied with every law to the letter of the law. So, Mayor and City Council, all I ask is you follow the existing land use in the animal keeping rules and regulations. You don't need to re-write the laws that are already in place. Although, not everyone agrees with what the farmer wants to do, we have to respect his desire to use the property to his interest. Thank you. Shelley Margo, 15146 Hopewell Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 180f83 Good evening. My name is Shelley Margo. I live at 15146 Hopewell Road. I run a special needs equestrian program and I am in support of Ed. That is all I have to say. Thank you. J Anna Fraker, 440 North Fields Pass, Milton, Georgia 30004 My name is Anna Fraker. I live at 440 North Fields Pass in Milton. I would like to start out that on December 4th I got an email from an Amy stating, sign this petition against an Exotic Zoo. I read the email. It seemed a little, to me, my opinion, a little like a witch hunt. It seemed very uninformed about poop and noises and Emboli and monkey pox so I replied to the email saying I'm not opposed, please remove my name. I then received an email from my kid's elementary school PTA saying if you would like to be removed from the PTA this is the way to do so. So, then I looked back at the email, the original email that came from this Amy that I did not know, I have never met, and so the email looked like it came from the Summit Hill PTA. I immediately called Ms. Murphy and Mr. Webb, the Principal and Vice Principal, yes, thank you, I'm very nervous, and they said that the email list had been infiltrated illegally and they were completely not opposed, they knew nothing of it, and it shouldn't have looked like it came from Summit Hill. So, there goes how I met Dean. In turn, I was just concerned how the whole humanity of the whole thing was going down. It seemed, again, like a witch hunt against this man and what he has been doing for 14 years on 20 acres. You know, everything that we talk about in Milton, how, you know, some people live in a subdivision and some people don't want that. I would just hate in had a bunch ofland to be so hated or whatever. So, in tum, I got in touch with him, I had ten minutes out of my day, I went by to see what everyone was so opposed to, to see if I was opposed to it also. It was a wonderful property. I know if any of you have ever been out there and seen his animals. First of all, his monkeys are tiny; I have cats bigger than that. It was a wonderful place. In turn, I brought my kids back, I brought my husband back; we spent hours there. My kids were so impressed and it was just a lovely, clean place. I didn't see anything wrong with it. When we were leaving, my daughter, my eight year old said, "you know, Mom, at school we are learning about prejudice" and she said, "I believe people are prejudice against this guy because they just don't know what he is about and that is what prejudice is, being against something that you don't really know much about." I believe that is great coming from an eight year old. Horses poop more than monkeys, noise, as far as noise goes, there are roosters behind my house that make more noise. If we are going to go against noise then I say get rid of all roosters in Milton. And also, I would like to say that the opinions and prejudice should not override the law. I am in favor of having a gem like Mr. Riopelle's property in Milton. Amy Stipancich, 810 Fox Hollow Run, Milton, Georgia 30004 Good evening. I am Amy Stipancich and I reside at 810 Fox Hollow Run. 1 stand here representing the residents of Greystone Farms, Sunnybrook Farms, Milton, and other outlying areas who are opposed to the applicant's request. You have received numerous emails and letters from these community members, your constituents. You have had an opportunity to review the Milton staff recommendations regarding the applicant's request. I want to point out that the alternative conditions mentioned in the staff report were not being recommended by the staff. They were presented as alternatives based on the applicant's request. The staff of Milton has recommended conditional approval for the applicant's use permit. The Planning Commission voted to deny the applicant's use permit. The applicant's request is not aligned with Milton's Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Tonight is important to all of us. You are voting and decision process will not only bring a degree of closure to this entire roadside zoo issue, but will also set a precedent to other Milton residents who wish to own wild animals. Back in November of 2012, the community was given the opportunity to directly ask the applicant questions about his J proposal. He indicated that he owned approximately 100 wild animals, half of which had just been relocated to a location not owned by him for the winter. The permit issued by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the DNR, on March 27,2012, which 1 have a copy of, indicates that the applicant Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 19 of83 l l l owned 33 wild animals. I urge you to ask the applicant to explain the difference between the 100 versus the 33 animals. A DNR permit is issued for each type of species and the related number of those species. The applicant is required to inform the DNR of changes in these species and/or numbers. Two species which the applicant told us via email that he owned, verdits and white fronted brown lemurs are not even listed on the DNR inventory. How will Milton know which animals are on this property if DNR doesn't even have a current list? Our understanding is, despite numerous requests by the city, the applicant has failed to provide an itemized inventory of owned wild animals. The applicant's attorney has indicated that he and his client have only had a couple of minutes to prepare a listing of all animal species to the city including numbers he planned to obtain for a zoo; therefore, the applicant included wild canine, wolves, coyotes, jackals, and hyenas as well. However, a letter dated November 26,2012, from the applicant to residents within a quarter of a mile of his home, indicate his plans for a zoo and references the desire to have these canines. It appears that it has been planned all along. These canines, hyenas, kangaroos, and wallabies on the applicant's list are all considered by the state to be inherently dangerous animals. I would also be interested in you asking the applicant how much liability insurance he currently carries for his currently inherently dangerous animals. The DNR also requires this. The applicant has a history of non-compliance. During 2012, he requested a variance to install a six foot fence along the right-of-way that was required by the USDA. He stated that the fence was to protect the safety, health, and welfare of the citizens of Milton. The fence was approved last July, and to this date it has still not been installed. Apparently, the safety, health, and welfare of all of us is not a priority to the applicant. And, what did he mean by this? What dangers exist? Georgia also requires a permit owner to have a local business license. The applicant has been engaged in the business of buying and selling animals for 14 years at his current residence. The applicant attorney confirmed that the applicant did not have and has never had a business license related to these animals. We have confirmed with Fulton County that this has always been required even prior to the incorporation of the City of Milton. How can this be explained? The applicant has failed to report two escapes. One wallaby was found in a neighbor's yard and had been killed by that neighbor's dog. The applicant's attorney told us that the dogs must have killed the wallaby and carried it back over the fence. Domesticated dogs typically kill for pleasure and not for food, therefore, would have no reason to go to the trouble of carrying a wallaby back over the fence. Nobody witnessed this activity. Related parties only saw the aftermath. Is it possible that a fence was open and the wallaby got out on its own? It is an escape nonetheless. According to Dr. Joe Gaston, who had been the applicant's vet of record, and whose property abuts the applicant, and I quote, "one of his monkeys entered my basement and made a mess and that same monkey ended up dying of a simian infection. And, as an aside, the simian bacteria is a precursor to the bubonic plague. As a veterinarian and neighbor, I find this inappropriate and unacceptable to the safety of our neighborhood. This situation can be dangerous since primates carry diseases that can be passed on to humans and many ofthese wild animals are dangerous and misunderstood and very hard to domesticate. Prior to Dr. Gaston's discovery, fliers circulated Sunnybrook Farms asking for assistance in locating this animal. A copy ofthis flier may be found in the binder that we provided to all City Council members as well as the Mayor. The applicant's attorney told us that a federal inspector left the cage open resulting in the escape. We spoke with the USDA and were told that their inspectors are mandated by law to accompany all permit holders at all times during the inspection and are not allowed to touch the cages. Regardless of the circumstances, an escape occurred. Permit holders are required to notifY DNR of any escapes; however, per my request, I have a letter dated March 6, 2013 from the DNR which states that, "we do not show any records by the permitee that were submitted to special permit unit for any escapes." The applicant has a history of non-compliance. Many experts agree that past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior. If the state has turned a blind eye to the applicant's lack of self-reporting for escapes, documentation, animal inventory updates, and business licenses, how comfortable can Milton be with this reliance? DNR is focused on issuing fishing and hunting licenses Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 20 of83 and the USDA on keeping our food safe. The monitoring of a roadside zoo is small potatoes to them. J. We have been circulating an online petition in opposition to the applicant's use permit and roadside zoo .. request. The target group is to you, Mr. Mayor and council members. As of this morning, there were 442 signatures, 393 of which were from Milton residents. I have a copy of this for your review. The applicant has been quoted as saying that his neighbors have always been great about his animals. His neighbors have been extremely tolerant over the years. They have chosen to remain silent for fourteen years when monkey screeching and lemur calls have been over powering nuisances. Only when the zoo issue arose did they voice concerns. Once the applicant saw the overwhelming resistance by his neighbors, whether it be regarding the opening of the zoo, or any commercial type of business, increasing the number or species of animals, noise problems, environmental risks, spreading of disease or devaluation of their properties. One would think that the applicant might either revise his plan or relocate it to a more open non-residential area. I beg you to consider this; owning wild animals affects all of us and not just one citizen. Are you willing to risk the well-being of all your constituents for the needs and desires of one man? We urge you to deny this request. Thank you for your time and attention. Jack Lindon, 14810 East Bluff Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 Thank you. My name is Jack Lindon. I live at 14810 East Bluff Road and I wanted to start out by saying that you all know that I am Chairman of the Milton Grows Green environmental committee but I am speaking tonight as a private citizen and not in their behalf. I wanted to talk to you about zoonotic diseases. I think you probably heard about that a little bit during the process of this application but I think you need to know a little bit about that to consider this application. I first became interested in zoonotic diseases twenty years ago when I came here to Georgia to take a job at Kimberly Clark JCorporation. My background is cell biology and blood chemistry and I was asked to set up a research lab doing blood research. That company was pretty conservative and they wouldn't let me use human blood so we decided we would use animal blood and they didn't really like that idea either so we had to do a lot of research to find out just what was going on with zoonotic diseases. Unfortunately, to do animal blood research you need to get blood from domesticated animals. That is the kind of research we were doing. So, all we had to find out was the kind of diseases that can come from horses, cows, and that sort of thing. So, I did the research on that and basically what I wanted to tell you is that zoonotic diseases are diseases that come from animals to human beings. Now, most infectious diseases are in fact zoonotic diseases. 60% of all infectious diseases are zoonotic. They come from animals to humans in various ways. They exist in hosts. They exist in what are called reservoirs and infectors. Hosts are animals that get the disease and exhibit symptoms to the disease. Reservoirs are animals that get the disease, carry the disease, but don't exhibit any symptoms. Infectors are animals that simply transmit the disease from one animal to another; such as mosquitos and bats, for example. Now, it turns out, as I said that a lot of the diseases that we deal with today are in fact zoonotic diseases. I'll give you a brief list here: Lyme disease, Q fever, E-coli, bubonic plague, Spanish flu, bird flu, SARS, HIV Aids, monkey pox, bovine tuberculosis, West Nile virus, malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, rabies, Hantavirus, and anthrax. Now, a lot of those diseases are pretty serious diseases. Fortunately, almost none of them exist in domesticated animals. But, they do exist in wild animals and exotic animals. Most of those diseases I listed came from animals like the sorts that are being proposed for the zoo, primates primarily. The way that these pathogens, the way that these diseases work, there are three different types of pathogens that exist that can be transmitted from animal to animal. The two most ]common ones are bacteria and viruses. The serious thing about that is that both bacteria and viruses can mutate very, very quickly. So, what happens is these ... City Manager Lagerbloom: I l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 21 of83 We have now carried on for an extra minute. I need to go ahead and stop the clock and get an action from the council if we are going to extend the time. Mayor Lockwood: Let me ask our City Clerk, do we have anymore speakers in opposition? City Clerk Gordon: Sir, we have three more in opposition. Mayor Lockwood: I am going to ask the Council to give us a total of five more minutes of which the current speaker has already used one minute of that. We will also give an additional five minutes to those in favor. City Manager Lagerbloom: The current speaker plus the three remaining have a total of four minutes, collectively. Jack Lindon: Okay. Well, I will make this quick and wrap it up. What I wanted, basically, what I wanted to say, I won't go into some of the mechanisms by which these diseases are transmitted and how easily they are transmitted but I wanted to point out that there has been an explosion in these kind of zoonotic diseases over the last 50 years. And, one of the reasons the scientific community speculates that this is happening is because ofthe huge explosion in the human population. We are at 7 billion people now and we are predicted to be at 10 billion in twenty-five years. That increase in population has put tremendous pressure on the environment and on the places where these wild and exotic animals live. And, that has caused a lot of interaction between humans and these animals and that's where you begin to get these transmission of diseases. I think in the case of the zoo, it would be very, it would concern me a lot if I had children, I wouldn't want them to go there and be exposed to the animals and particularly ifI don't know exactly what kind of precautions are going to be taken and I would assume this is not going to be handled as a professional zoo ... would ... with very serious enclosures around the animals. Robert Hargreaves, 14225 Hopewell Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 Good evening Mayor and Council. Thanks for your service first of all. Let's just quickly, so much has been said. I am going to look at my notes here. I've lived next to Dean and his family for 12 years. We have been good neighbors. You know, I want to put this on a personal level. Most of our time is spent keeping up our farm working to buy it to provide my kids, a place to have horses, etc. and I am really concerned about my property value. I just can't imagine putting in a monkey zoo that is larger than it already was and having our property values increase. So, just really concerned about our property value. That is where most of our family'S assets are, are in that farm. I think it is important to point out, we don't want to harm Dean and his dream. I think this goes over the line when it harms everyone else. When it goes from a small hobby farm to more of a commercial operation, this is just going to be out of control. It is really going to impact us. I think safety wise, too, particularly with my kids and horses, you know, if one of the little animals gets loose or one of the big ones for heaven's sake, I can't believe we are even talking about jackals and hyenas and things like that, you know, somebody is going to get hurt. Horses are spook animals not herd animals. So, there is going to be some safety issues here. Things have gotten out in the past and it hasn't been a big deal but with where they are headed, there is no way that this can't be a liability for us. This is just amazing. I think also, if it expands at all, you're Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March IS, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 22 ofS3 going to have some problems with regulating this. I mean, these guys are experienced hobbyist but if you have any kind of an animal herpes outbreak or anything that this gentleman was mentioning, how are we going to quickly control any of that? And, then we also have commerce concerns. It was mentioned several times that he has been selling monkeys for years, while I respect that, to take it to a new level, it is just going to create all kinds of problems. So, this is our home, it is our dream, we want them to have theirs but not at our expense. You know, we have moved from a technically correct to unreasonable. Appreciate your time and I just ask that you protect our interest as well. City Clerk Gordon: Mr. Hargreaves, could you please state your address for the record? Robert Hargreaves: 14225 Hopewell Road, and it is important to point out that I probably adjoin Dean more than anyone and we get to see the whole spread there, so it is, you know, scene, it is not buffered that well. Thank you. City Clerk Gordon: We have 22 seconds remaining and two more comments in opposition. Mayor Lockwood: Does the council want to go ahead and add another two minutes? Is council interested in that? I would like to give everyone who has been here this long to have an opportunity to speak as well as those in favor; they will have another three more minutes as well. Let's say another three minutes since we have two more people in opposition. Mary O'Brien, 14195 Hopewell Road, Milton, Georgia 30004 I'm Mary O'Brien, 14195 Hopewell Road. We also abut Dean's property and we are very much opposed to this Exotic Zoo. And, to rebut what Mr.... , what the lawyer said about the noise and the, you know, not bothering our lifestyle, is not true. We've lived there for 21 years and as the years progressed, the noise got extremely irritating and we couldn't, it was very, very bad. So, I'd like to say that, I had a whole thing to read here but I don't have much time so I'm just trying to get it in, we are very frightened about these wild animals. We have eight grandchildren that play out in the yard. The wallaby was killed right next to our house. We know that the donkeys have been out on the road. There was black plague in one of his, type bacteria mucinous species that was discovered in one of his monkeys. We know that the events of the animals escaping have happened. We would like to see this Exotic Zoo turned down for our safety, our children's safety, for our neighbors. If you pass this, can you guarantee that my eight little grandchildren playing in our backyard will be safe from these wild animals? Will Mr. Riopelle's mistakes in the past with his zoo keeping and the escapes, can you guarantee that this won't happen again? If you allow him to have this zoo, will you be at peace with your decision? If one of these animals escapes and injures one of our children, or your neighbor'S grandchildren, or even an adult. We are hopeful you will agree with us on this and make the right choice on this very serious matter. We also hope that our decision to establish the City of Milton will fulfill the promise made to us to have a local government that will heed the concerns and needs of the people it governs; your neighbors and your friends. This does not comply with the comprehensive use that we hoped we would have in Milton and I would hope that you will consider this. It is a danger to our neighborhood. Thank you. J< J< J. < L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 23 of83 Glennette Haynes, 2375 Saddlesprings Drive, Milton, Georgia 30004 Hello. My name is Glennette Haynes. I live at 2375 Saddlesprings Drive, Milton, Sunnybrook Farms. His attorney, Mr. Riopelle's attorney referenced wallabies, primates, and children that he raised. Well, that does not compare to hyenas and wolves. Are you serious? I drank the Kool-Aid and I bought into Milton being horse country. And, to allow this man to bring in wolves and hyenas, if we put this in the documents, he has every right to come back and put these on the property. I fear for my life, my children's lives. We already have a problem with wolves in our neighborhood so to add insult to injury by letting him have some. He is a hobbyist and no one is complaining about what he has now. Why can't he keep what he has now. I have no qualms with him. I don't want to make any rifts with my neighbors but can you please consider us that live in this neighborhood? He is making money selling, okay, keep doing it, but why do you have to expand on this? Are we going to be wild safari out here in Milton? I thought this was horse country? I don't want to be like LaGrange. I will take my kids, I take a travel, there, but I don't want to go around the comer from it. Thank you very much. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I think we have added ....... City Manager Lagerbloom: 8 minutes and 21 seconds l Mayor Lockwood: 8 minutes and 21 seconds so if there is anyone else who would like to speak in approval of this application, you are welcome to. Don Rolader: I will be very brief on behalf of the applicant. There are two issues in this zoning. One is supposition and worry, the other is history. I would suggest to the City Council that the history ofthis application of this property is that it has no history of non-compliance. It has never been cited by the federal or the state government. It has not been attended, prior to the filing of the application, by any officer on behalf of the City of Milton. There have been no complaints. There have been no issues. What may happen, what might happen, and 14 years of history tell us has happened are two entirely different stories. I think the City of Milton has an opportunity here to create a situation wherein the operation is defined as opposed to how it is not defined right now and to benefit all of its citizens as well as its applicant. The applicant is a citizen. He has been a citizen 14 years. He's let everyone see this property that wants to. The last time I was with him, he was approached by a lady with a special needs child and she said, "My child loves monkeys, may I please come see them?" Dean gave her his phone number and said, "My door is open when you are ready." That is the kind of person he is. Not one drop of harm has come from this. So, I ask your kind consideration. If you have questions of us, we will try and answer them. Other than that, we will close and appreciate your consideration. Thank you. Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any more comments? If not, I will close the Public Hearing and open this matter up for council discussion and any questions for the staff or the applicant. Before we get started, I would like to say that this is a tough decision that all of us here have to make. We've got on one hand our citizens who we represent that have concerns. We've heard lots of concerns and heard lots of feedback. We've also got a property owner here that has had property for several years and has used it and I feel we need to respect his rights also. So, I feel it is incumbent upon us as Mayor and Council to come up with a l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 24 of83 decision that may not make everybody happy, and I don't know what that decision is going to be, but J: takes everything into consideration and so, my point is, whatever we corne to tonight, I want to let everybody know that it is a lot of hard research and thoughts and considerations and all that. So, I believe, you know, on one side there is a connotation that, you know, when I hear the words, Exotic Animal Zoo, and picture flashing lights and cars pulling in and out and lions and tigers and hyenas and wolves and things like that, and I think some people are concerned about that. I think on the flip side, I think we've got somebody that has a use and has been using this property for years and just wants to be legal and expand on that since the city has corne up with an ordinance so I think we all need to keep that in mind. And, I am going to open it up for council discussion and questions and I will start with Councilmember Longoria. Joe Longoria, Councilmember: I just wanted to sort of make sure everybody's on the right page in terms of what outcomes could potentially corne from the vote and discussion itself, and I wanted to ask Ken's, get Ken's opinion on this. Essentially, there'S, we can vote to approve a special use permit and we can vote to approve it in two ways; either, well, let me just say that another way, we can vote to approve a special use permit that has any number of different criteria associated with it whether it is the staff s recommendations or it is the alternate recommendations or whether it is a set of recommendations that we corne up with on our own. Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: I agree with that. Yes sir. J Councilmember Longoria: The second is we could not approve a special use permit and it is in this particular area that I want to get some clarification, currently, the applicant is what we would call, legal non-conforming use of his property. Is that correct? City Attorney Jarrard: That is my opinion, yes. Councilmember Longoria: So, by not approving a special use permit, we would be leaving him in a legal non-conforming use status? Is that correct? City Attorney' Jarrard: That's correct. Councilmember Longoria: So, any vote to approve a special use permit, we convert that into a legal conforming status? Correct? City Attorney Jarrard: Well said. JCouncilmember Longoria: Okay"I just want to make sure I understood. Bill Lusk, Councilmember: Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 25 of83 L Good point I had the same concern. Karen Thurman, Councilmember: I've just got one other question for staff. The first speaker in opposition, Amy Stipancich, mentioned that she was speaking on behalf of a couple of subdivisions. I wanted to make sure that we had the right documentation for somebody to speak on behalf of a subdivision. Because I know that certain forms have to be completed in order for someone to speak on behalf of a subdivision. City Clerk Gordon: No, I have not received any forms from her. We can do this after the meeting. Councilmember Thurman: Were you speaking on behalf of the subdivision or were you speaking on behalf of yourself, individually? Because in order to speak on behalf of a subdivision you do have to have the paperwork completed and filed. Amy Stipancich: To speak to that, I had said that I was representing those residents within those communities who are opposed and basically who had signed the petition. So, I do have documentation of the petition with their signatures, with their names on those .... L Councilmember Thurman: What you said was that you were speaking on behalf of residents of those subdivisions. Amy Stipancich,: I am speaking on behalf of anybody in Milton who is opposed to this ... Councilmember Thurman: Okay. Amy Stipancich: Including people in my neighborhood. Councilmember Thurman: Okay. Mayor Lockwood: Thank you for that clarification. Yea, I think, to address Joe's point, I think, it is my opinion; we have three different options here. One, we can issue a special use permit based on our exotic animal ordinance and really the applicant would be only limited to by what the state agencies, the Georgia DNR, USDA, their regulations and they would actually monitor it. So, we could go from that extreme or we can obviously, we can deny any kind of special use permit, and again, the applicant could go back to doing what they have done status quo in the past which would be up to an agreement between them and the city as to what their actual status quo was. Or, we could come up with something in between that basically protects the neighbors but also makes this a positive thing for the City of Milton as well as the property owner. So, I think that, you know, that somewhere in between those three options is something we've got to go through tonight. Joe. L ------~---~------ Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 26 of83 Councilmember Longoria: ]Okay. So, the follow up that I would have to my earlier statement is that, obviously, you know we get a lot of email as City Council members. This particular issue has generated quite a bit of volume of email and, as such, it has caused, I'm pretty sure every single councilmember, to do a lot of research into the issue and what kind of decision needs to be made and that kind of thing. So, I would lead off the discussion by saying that after doing the research that I have done, talking to the individuals that I have, reading the email that has come in, answering those emails, I can really only see two results that I could potentially support. The first one is to deny the special use permit and thus leaving Dean to operate the property and his operation the way it has been since he moved to Milton because I have a real problem taking away anything from a citizen who has established himself in the manner that he has over that time period. So, I don't mind leaving current status alone, but I have a problem with expanding and allowing additional use, so, conversely on the side of support of a special use permit, the only special use permit that I could vote for is one that basically is attune to the staff recommendation which is current use covered only, not a commercial, not an escalation, and maybe escalation is the wrong term to use here, but not an expansion ofthe operation itself. So, I'll put my cards on the table and tell you guys that is where I am right now. Councilmember Lusk: I have a question for the City Attorney. Speaking to Councilmember Longoria's two proposals here, the first one would be to deny a special use permit. If that were the pleasure of the council here, what position would that put the city in as far as any controls on the property, or controls on the operation, so to speak? City Attorney Jarrard: Well, a legal non-conforming use is still governed by the Milton Zoning Code. The Milton Zoning Code specifically anticipates that there is such a creature as a legal non-conforming use so it doesn't remove it entirely from the purview of the city. We still have the authority to ensure that the legal non conforming use is being operated as it is defined under our code and that means, the general definition of that is, that a legal non-conforming use continues to operate in the same general scope and intensity as the day it became legal non-conforming and that day, in my opinion, is the day that Milton was created. So, that's when, first of all, we would have to establish the thresholds of the operation at the time that it became legal non-conforming and then the objective of the Community Development Staff and our Code Enforcement Staff would be to simply ensure that those thresholds are honored. That is what we would do. That would be our obligation moving forward. You know, my position, not with respect to this zoning application, but my position would be legal non-conforming is not where you want to be. It is a legal creation but it is not ideal. Ideally, you want to have uses not be legal non conforming, you want them to be lawful under your zoning code, that is what you want them to be, but that is, of course, up to you. Those are policy decisions. Matt Kunz, Councilmember: Legal non-conforming then from that standpoint, if there was, I mean, he then would not have to abide by the requirements that we have in our zoning ordinance that he provides a listing that he gives the same DNR, basically, right. He would be able to operate as he is and as a city, we would have to have staff that would go in there and count everything but that doesn't necessarily mean he would provide for us the information for what he currently has. J l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 27 of83 City Attorney Jarrard: Well, that would be somewhat of a collaborative effort but we would obviously start with the permits, with the state permits. I think that would set, quite frankly, a lot ofthe thresholds for what we think the level and intensity of use were. At the time, I think to the extent the argument was made that we were doing something different than that, I think that would be a hard argument to make. The whole notion of legal non-conforming is, is at the time you became legal non-conforming, just before that, a millisecond before that, you had to be legal which meant, would have meant, there had to have been state or federal permits so it allowed those animals to be legitimately on the property. So, that would have been a good place to start with, is what, in fact, had the state and federal government signed off on? We would want to know that, staff would want to know that. Councilmember Thurman: I've got a question, I guess for the applicant. What is it that you intend to have on the property? Because, I mean, I'm sure you are not going to have lions and tigers and bears and coyotes. You probably do have coyotes on the property they are probably just not in cages. Don Rolader: We didn't invite them. l Councilmember Thurman: But what is it that you actually have and plan on having on the property of these animals that are on this list? Don Rolader: I think that is a fair question. I have discussed this with Dean and my statement is, he is an aficionado and collector of small and medium primates. He would like to continue that passion and hobby. He has some of the rarest wallabies in existence. They are albino. There is a marsupial that he would certainly want to consider. We have birds covered under separate state permit. He enjoys raising those. There are some other non-offensive animals that he might have some interest in. To be honest with you, we really haven't discussed it in depth but the tapers and anteaters and things of that variety are interesting. Where I have been in Central America, they make pets out of them and they are kind of fascinating. But short of that, there are no wild, mean, crazy flesh-eating species that we look to house on this property. I think if you look back on Dean's history, it will give you a real good idea of where he wants to go in the future. Councilmember Thurman: So, no rhinoceroses or alligators or bears or elephants or... Don Rolader: No, if you look at our revised letter of intent, we tried to exclude all of the dangerous species at that point in time. In the bottom of the first page of my letter of intent, the revised letter of intent, I stated all of those different species that are excluded so there would be no question about them. Councilmember Lusk: I have a question of staff. In the recommended conditions, in Section 1 (b) you list the species that are to be excluded; in (c) it states the following species and number shall be permitted on this site and you list all of those. How does that compare, that list there, compare with what is on the state permit? l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 28 of 83 lCathleenField: ](c) is the state permit. Councilmember Lusk: (c) is the state permit? lCathleenField: That is correct. So, those are the only ones that we recommend be permitted. We went right to the state permit and used that as the basis for our permitted list. Everything else got excluded. As you know, the exotic animal amendment that you passed included a lot of different categories of exotic animals. We excluded every single one of them. Only the ones that were in the DNR license were included. Councilmember Lusk: I'm glad you clarified that. Thank you. Burt Hewitt, Councilmember: Kathy, just real quick; on the standards, one of them, was having to be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Is that the maximum amount of hours that one can be open? lCathleenField: Yea, the applicant actually didn't state specifically, but our general standards are that businesses such as this could be open from 7:30 to 7:30 and that we would expect him to comply within that time frame. J Councilmember Hewitt: It is not required for that length of time but just not after those hours. lCathleenField: Yes, but those are the two extremes. Councilmember Hewitt: Along those lines for the applicant, how important is the exhibition factor to you? Dean Riopelle, Applicant I am Dean Riopelle. I'm from 14325 Hopewell Road and that is the whole purpose of going through this; if! wasn't going to exhibit. It just got more and more and more residents dropping by and wanting to see them. I've shown them to old folks, I've shown them to special needs kids, I've shown them to every day care in the area, most of the schools in the area. Cambridge has asked me if they can come out next year when they have a pre-med program and see it. If the Council decides they don't want that, that's fine. I'll lock the gates and it will be private and I'll do what I have done, but I would like to go through and build the pathway and make it, just like the USDA said, with the fence dividing it and exhibit. Councilmember Hewitt: Would you be willing to entertain some very constrictive, not very, but constrictive hours? J Dean Riopelle: The state told me that the only requirement is that it be available to be open 30 hours per week, that's all, that's their only requirement. Yea, I wouldn't mind ifthe hours are cut. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 29 of83 Councilmember Hewitt: While you're up, I know I'm jumping all over the place, but while you are up, what is the status of the six foot fence that was mentioned? Dean Riopelle: Well, that's not true, what she said. Nothing she said when she was up here is true. I asked, and a perimeter fence six feet at least three feet from a cage is required to be around each cage. When I came through the variance and you guys did pass my variance for a six foot fence; that was so the whole area could be fenced in. It was not to keep the animals in, it didn't matter if it was forty feet. A spider monkey can still climb that. It is to keep rodents and raccoons, etc. away from the monkeys. We didn't even want to get started on it until we got the legal non-conforming which we got a couple of weeks ago. Yea, once we build that all the way around the area, six feet, then we can take down each perimeter fence around each cage. It is required by the USDA. Councilmember Hewitt: Is it started, that fence, or is it .... Dean Riopelle: The materials are there. We were waiting until tonight. Yea. L Councilmember Hewitt: And, currently, you have constructed on the premises five cages? Dean Riopelle: No, it's twelve. I believe that came when one of the members of the staff came out and took some pictures. She didn't even walk to the other side of the house. There are twelve on there right now. Councilmember Hewitt: Twelve now? Dean Riopelle: And, that's because I took down eight that were within 100 feet of a property line. We are in the process of relocating those to the other side so there will be at least 100 feet, ifs actually more, but at least 100 feet away from any property line. Councilmember Hewitt: So, you've had as much as twenty at one time? Dean Riopelle: Yes. Until two days before Christmas. Councilmember Hewitt: Okay, I think that is all I have right now. Mayor Lockwood: l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 30 of 83 I would like to comment too on your comment about closing and all. I have had, gotten lots of J comments, and lots of feedback and I've had several people that have asked about it and read everything and I've just told them to go meet with Mr. Riopelle and go visit his facility and every time that somebody that I recommend that comes back and they've just really enjoyed it, taken their kids, or whatever so, you know, I would hate to see it totally close down to any public access. I certainly would support some kind of limited, again, I don't want to see the roadside zoo and cars coming in and signs everywhere, but, you know, if you could have something by appointment only or a class of twenty kids come in there or a team or something like that, if we could work something out like that, to me it's like, you know, somebody with a horse farm and having people come check the horses out and kids and feeding them and learning about them. I think we could use this as an opportunity, again, as long as we abide by all the safety standards and everything with the state makes it and requires and would monitor, you know, we could turn this into something positive for Milton. You know, we are agricultural, equestrian, and whatnot, agricultural comes with other things other than just horses so, you know, personally, I would certainly support trying to find a happy medium here where it could be something we could be proud of and our citizens could get something positive out of it. Councilmember Lusk: I wanted the number of concerns that were raised by the opponents here, Kathy, was the noise generated by this operation. Just because there is no reference to the noise ordinance in this permit, does not mean that the noise ordinance does not apply. Is that correct? Kathy Field: That is correct and we do have limits per our noise ordinance. We have not established whether he is in Jcompliance or not. .. as to those limits. Mayor Lockwood: Just to point to that, you know, within the AG-l zoning you can have a dog barking or something else that would probably have as much or more noise. Councilmember Lusk: Or roosters. Councilmember Thurman: Staff, have we ever had any noise complaints? Because I know we get noise complaints all the time about dogs barking and ... Kathy Field: Not to my knowledge. Councilmember Thurman: So, for the time we have been Milton, as far as you know, we have not had any noise complaint issues? Kathy Field: Let me ask Robyn because she has the institutional memory. Robyn is shaking her head no. J1 Councilmember Kunz: Just a couple of thoughts in my mind; I think people are afraid of primarily four things. They are afraid of venom, size, numbers, and disease. And, as a city, we don't know from that standpoint and I went I l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 31 of83 ahead and contacted the Feds as well as the state and talked to both ofthem with regards to what they do. You know, with regard to those organizations, talking with the individuals who have inspected L Dean's property themselves, they have been very happy what he has done there from a compliance standpoint and I asked them the question, especially the Fed side, you know, what do you guys do if someone wants a Siberian Tiger and wants to put it in a community. Well, from that standpoint there are two things, if it is a private pet no one can touch it, but if it is a business, they do come and regulate. From the Feds standpoint they come in an actually take a look to see exactly ifthe animals are housed correctly, if they are diseased, you know, these are expensive animals, if they start killing each other in small enclosed areas, one, that is not economical for the owner as well. Two, they will tell the owner you have too many animals in this cage you've got to move it. So, that is the Fed side. On the state side they have a tendency to look at the animal from a health concern also from a disease, as well as, from an injury standpoint too. So, the state has been doing that. The Feds have been doing that, you know, handling that, they handled the numbers aspect by deciding the quantity of the animals that can be in those cages. So, that takes care of disease, quantity, size we handle in the ordinance that we have put in in regard to species. You know, and then venom, we don't allow any venomous animals from that standpoint anyway, from the non-poisonous snakes and things of that nature. And, of course we haven't talked about Arachnids or anything like that too. But, I'm sitting here looking at this and do we really want to legislate two other levels of government on top of what two others are already doing. And, I just worry about that with what we are doing on this standpoint. So, they are there. I talked to them. Because of complaints by the opposition, they came out and did another inspection on Dean in January. He passed with flying colors, again. You know, I mean, doing our homework, I'm seeing things here where I would like to see this from a city relationship with a resident who has been trying to work hard with a hobby for 14 years. How do we have a relationship going forward? And, I think that is what we are really asking the question here. So, a lot of things within that, I think it, as a city, I worry about us as a staff trying to regulate the property from that standpoint. I think if we pass it and we get that DNR list that is worthwhile to us as a city and for the residents so we know what is there. And, that involves a couple of other questions too and maybe for the applicant. On that DNR list, that is more of an inventory you said as welL The DNR list is an inventory of what you currently have? Dean Riopelle: It is an inventory and what they talked about in the staff report is page one of three. The state requires that I show them on the front of the license what is on the site at that particular time. Then on the back, the next two pages, are the inventory of what I have in other locations. So, they know everything I have and they know everything I have on site. I have to change it for the state. I can't even obtain an animal until I have the new license amended on that. So, as far as getting this staff what animals I have, not only can I get it to them instantaneously, I can get it to them prior to obtaining the animal because I have to get the state's amendment to my license. It is the only state out of 50 that does it but we do it and, so yea, that is no issue at alL It is on my desktop at all times. I get the amendment before I obtain the animal so, yes. Councilmember Kunz: And, that is a question for Kathy. Kathy, I have not seen a DNR report for animals housed in other locations. Dean Riopelle: It is not another report. It is the inventory that is on the back. The one on your license is what an inspector, licensing is there in the office and they have to send an inspector out there. They want him to look and see what is on your property at that time. But, I attach an inventory of what is at another l - ---------------~-----~-- Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 32 of83 location. When we took down the eight cages that they requested, they city, because they were within J. 100 feet of the property line, I had a friend down in East Dublin, Georgia house them until I could get the cages rebuilt and bring them back. Councilmember Kunz: So, Kathy have you only seen what he has currently on his property in the report? I haven't seen what he has. Kathy Field: Yea, we gave you in your packet the information that we had. And, it was given to us by the applicant. Councilmember Kunz: I guess the question to ask is how many animals do we have off site? Kathy Field: We only know what we know. Councilmember Kunz: Dean, how many animals do you have off site that would be on that DNR report? Roughly? Dean Riopelle: 46 or 47, I got a text right before the meeting that two of them had babies. JCouncilmember Thurman: I just have one question for the applicant. Clearly, you can be, you could stay as you were if we could figure out how it was back when we became a city, but that is probably not in the best interest because we really don't have any control over it. The best interest probably for us and for everyone involved to go ahead and approve some type of use permit. I see in your revised letter here that you would limit it to certain kinds of animals. Are you also limiting it to animals weighing under a certain weight so you don't end up with big monkeys and things like that? Dean Riopelle: Sure, this is my twentieth year doing this and I have never bought a large primate. I have never had an interest in it. Councilmember Thurman: So, you have no problem with us making it conditioned upon a 40-50 pound weight or something? Dean Riopelle: That is fine with me. 50 pounds, 40 pounds, either is fine with me. I don't have anything that exceeds that. My dogs are 180. Councilmember Thurman: J.•. I have a question of staff. Why is it that we want to expand the driveway? I can see expanding the driveway if the number of trips increased to the 29 and making him do all those improvements but why do we want to expand the driveway now because I thought we typically like to try to minimize the impervious? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 33 of83 Carter Lucas, Public Works Director: We probably do and I think we did try to tie that to the number of trips and part of that was because it is not necessarily a typical land use that we would see. So, under the current conditions, I think we can leave it as is. Councilmember Thurman: Leave it as is unless it gets above that 29, because the way I read it, it sounds like you have to expand it regardless but if it gets to be more than 29 trips you also have to do some other stuff. Councilmember Hewitt: I think you are talking, one about the entrance, and two about the driveway. Councilmember Thurman: I just want to make sure we understand. Because I prefer not to, I think it is going to make it worse if we put a great big wide street looking entrance into it. I would rather keep it just a little single family driveway going into it unless there was a reason otherwise. Carter Lucas: Yea, and I think we can tie it to that 29 trips per day. Our concern is that we have trigger in there because it is not a typical land use. Ordinarily, when we would do this we would make recommendations of what the driveway should look like based on that land use. This one doesn't fall l into our typical standards so what we wanted to do was to have a trigger in there that allowed us, if this became something more than what we expected, to evaluate that driveway and to make it a safe driveway for people both coming and going and traveling on Hopewell Road. Councilmember Thurman: So, you have no problem leaving the driveway as it currently is unless it gets above the 29 trips per day? Carter Lucas: I think that would be fine under how we know it operates today. Councilmember Thurman: Okay. Mayor Lockwood: I want to make a comment too, and Bill I will let you go after that, to Matt's point, we were talking earlier, you know, one thing we started looking at this ordinance, and I was a strong proponent of it, we were looking at it for zoning so that if this came up in the future, we would have an ordinance that we could look at. And, I also stress that we didn't want another level of government. Sometimes we've got too much government. You know, we don't have the resources or the knowledge here as a city to actually inspect animals and everything. We have to rely on the state for that, the DNR and the USDA. So, again, you know, to me that is the reason we first starting looking at this. You know, I'm going to throw out some thoughts that I have and, you know, council can go any direction they want. I think a great compromise for everybody would be, you know, if we went back knowing ...Karen brought up a good point, if it is legal non-conforming, the city really doesn't have any control, it puts the onus on us to try to go back and guess and he said, she said, if we come up with some rules that everybody can live with now, I think we are all safer in the future. And, obviously, we don't want this to get out of hand. We don't want what I am seeing from a lot ofthe public input. You know, it is going to be out of hand. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 34 of83 You know, I am going to suggest that, maybe, if we do give a use permit we could condition it with, I know the number of cages was if you've got 12 now, if you had 8 before, we could try to figure that out J if that was the case. You know, I would like to see minimal public access just for special school kids or on an appointment type basis keep it down under 29 trips, I think, that Carter said per day much less than that but so that it was open for, you know, some positive things, and then we could also limit the animals. The ordinance allows a whole lot of animals, limit the animals to take away from the quote, "dangerous" animals that most people are concerned about, as well as, having a weight limit, you know, if that is necessary too so I'm just going to throw that out there. Councilmember Longoria: Well, I would agree that it is better to have it as legal conforming as opposed to legal non-conforming so I would be agreeable we need to have the special use permit in place. Now, what that permit is is the real question. So, I had a question for the applicant. So, Mr. Riopelle, is there something, first of all I want to tell you that I have a lot of admiration and respect for what you have been able to do because becoming an expert at something is just not easy so the fact that you have become an expert in this area and devoted a lot of your time and energy into understanding these animals I think just deserves a certain amount of respect. But, and I certainly understand, the wish to obtain a particular level it comes along with that territory, so the question that I had is, does the ability to operate this as a preserve, everybody is using the term zoo, I don't necessarily see that as being identical, but does the ability to operate as a preserve gain you something, some advantage that you are seeking in order to get another type of permit or another type of level of expertise or something along those line, in other words, do you have a stake in being able to operate a preserve? JDean Riopelle: Not a financial stake. I just enjoy showing them, I really do. If I am home that is my favorite thing to do spend time with the monkeys and to show them to people. I've never turned anybody down if I am at home and I'm not busy doing something. That is what I want to do. Councilmember Lusk: I think what we are considering here are two options, either to deny or to approve a special use permit and as the Mayor has pointed out, we are not here to increase the layers of government out here. But, in essentially legalizing this operation by giving it a permit, we can assign certain conditions to its use and I think we would be better off, the community would be better off with the recommendations that staff has proposed here. And, we wouldn't realize those improvements or conditions or protections if we were to deny it entirely from my perspective. One thing, if it is appropriate, I know Mr. Riopelle's veterinarian is here, would we want to allow him a minute or two to address the diseases or maybe the health of the animals and how they are controlled or monitored. Mayor Lockwood: I think that would, you know, it would be up to the council, also it would also be up to the applicant, number one, would the applicant want that? Don Rolader: He had to leave. J Councilmember Lusk: I thought he was here. l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 35 of83 Mayor Lockwood: Never mind. Councilmember Lusk: Well, that was a major point that the opponents have come up here and I think that was something important to consider during this discussion. Councilmember Longoria: Ken, so in all of this, I mean, right now the applicant allows people to come onto his property, view the animals, interact with the animals, done under the control of him being present and stuff like that. What is the difference between that and providing on the use permit the ability for people to come and visit? Because I'm getting a little bit confused because I see some of the work that he has done in the past allows this interaction to take place and what are we just trying to do just memorialize it in the use permit itself saying that he is allowed to have people come on the property and view the animals? L City Attorney Jarrard: Yes. The reality is that this whole issue of the legal non-conforming use came up as a result of this process. I think there were multiple entities that wanted to know what the legal status was now and what the legal status would be upon a denial so it made sense for both the council and staff, and quite frankly, even the applicant to understand what the city's position was. But, with respect to the introduction of individuals coming onto the property, you know, there will be some work to do, if the council denies this petition or denies this application, then staff and my office will have to work together to get a good baseline as to what the existence and the scope and the intensity of the use was at the time it became legal non-conforming and that would include those sorts of visitations and what was allowed if that has been on going. Now, you may say, well yea but what if someone is legal non-conforming what is to prevent them from just having at their request they still have property rights, right? Can't someone just still come over and see their property? Yes, it is going to be a matter of the formality, though, and that is going to be a little bit of a defining rod for the staff to figure out and Code Enforcement to figure out formality, for instance, does he have hours of operation? Well, that's more formality. Does he have parking accommodations that look like they are more for the general public? That's formality. Is he open on weekends? That's formality. Does he, for instance, take admission pay? That's more formality. And, I was speaking with someone about this earlier and it's, do you ever invite individuals to your home for dinner? Sure you do. You have the right to do that, yes. Well, are you a restaurant? No, but what happens if you adopt a menu and what happens if you begin to ...do you see the difference? It is not black and white. Councilmember Longoria: But, the point I was making is we are specifically not able to limit visitors to his property if he is not labeled technically a preserve based on our use permit. But, your example is a good one because, you are right, as you take steps to become more and more of what you are not supposed to be, you are actually becoming that thing. City Attorney Jarrard: Exactly, so it begins to become, when does having individuals come visit this wonderful, or what is professed to be a wonderful thing, when does that go into, now, it is a true preserve or a true zoo and that is the line we would have to then try and hit. L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 36 of83 Councilmember Longoria: J So, Mayor, how do we start putting some constraints around because I'm thinking we are going down ... the road of a use permit but there are a lot of conditions that are going to go along with the use permit itself so how do we ... Councilmember Thurman: I think we just look at the staffs conditions. Mayor Lockwood: Let me first let Councilmember Hewitt had something. Councilmember Hewitt: Well, mine was kind of leading into that but I have a question for the applicant. How many animals have you had at one time there within, you know, 5 or 10. Have you had 100? Dean Riopelle: Oh yea, over that. Councilmember Hewitt: Okay, well, and then, I guess maybe easing on into those lines, how can we start putting some constraints on this? Let's start with animals, you want? And, it sounds like you are saying you don't want hyenas or tigers. Maybe we can start kinds reigning this thing in to, you know, three or four different types then move on down. j Dean Riopelle: If it were the council and the mayor's wish is to limit me only to primates, I would live with that. . I accepted a few recommendations when we went through the zoning process that now, I look back and say, well I was kind of being selfish, it didn't really, it only applied to me, for example, ten acres, ten acres for exotic animals, some marsupials weigh two ounces so if somebody wants to come to the area they have to get ten acres. I do have a good friend that wants two primates and doesn't want to move to Milton, he is looking at ten acres or more. So, things like that, if you want to limit the animals to me, specifically, I don't care because I have no interest in jackals and hyenas and anything like that. I have an eleven year old and a thirteen year old, also. This is my twentieth year doing this. I would have gotten them by now if that is what I had planned to do. So, limiting those animals is no issue for me personally. Councilmember Hewitt: So, right now on the ground you have ... Mayor Lockwood: Let me clarify. I think this use permit will just pertain to, this wouldn't pertain to anybody else. Dean Riopelle: I have marsupials, primates, and I do have birds. J Councilmember Hewitt: So that's the wallabies, the owls, and then the small ... l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 37 of83 Dean Riopelle: Small and medium primates. Councilmember Hewitt: Are you happy with those? Dean Riopelle: Yes. Councilmember Hewitt: So, that's one thing we can start reigning in. Councilmember Thurman: Are you okay with limiting the primates, the marsupials, the primates to 50 pounds? Dean Riopelle: Yes. Councilmem ber Kunz: I have one more question for staff. The staff recommendations also mentioned about limiting the number of primates as well to fifteen. Is that something that we want to do, the council, I don't know if L that is necessary. Dean Riopelle: Someone mentioned earlier cutting me back from the twenty-five to the twenty cages. I could live with that too. The cages are limited too. When the USDA comes out, they don't particularly say, this size cage can only have this many animals. What she does, is she looks at the health and happiness of the creatures and they have said this, you've got four capuches in that cage, five is the maximum, don't go to seven, you know, so it is limited by that. If you limit the cages, you limit the animals. A couple of the conditions it just wouldn't work. Number one is limiting the species for a couple of reasons, number one is, I'll just keep it private if I only want to stay with thirteen species. I do want to have an exhibit where people can see other species. Secondly, there's species, take a golden lion tamarin, I've been trying for eighteen years to get one, haven't yet, but I hope to. And, the next thing is that one of the recommendations, one of the recommended conditions was, limiting to the number of animals that is on site now. I would have violated that this week because I had three birds on site, so that wouldn't work either. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, let's go back. We were talking about primates, you know, is it something we could limit to weight. I'm sure there is primate species that none of us have ever heard of but the intent, I think, is to limit it to certain sizes that are safe. Would that be a correct assumption? Is that what you guys were thinking? Don Rolader: That is fine with the applicant; small and medium primates. Not to exceed X pounds. That is your call. Mayor Lockwood: Is that what you guys want to do? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 38 of83 Councilmember Longoria: JI would have some more definitive guidance there though. Mayor Lockwood: I'm just trying to get to a point that we could start to define it. Ifwe were talking about species and listing the number of species ... Councilmember Longoria: I think if we narrow it to the species, not necessarily the weight. Weight is a whole different issue. A pit viper is only three pounds but probably one of the most venomous snakes out there but a python, is probably, I've seen them, 50-60-100 pounds and pythons are constrictors. So, I don't think weight is necessary or a valid relationship between dangerous animals and non-dangerous animals. Mayor Lockwood: Just to clarify, I was just talking about primates; to limit them to a weight, or a non ... ,. I'm sure if there are some dangerous primates we would have to eliminate that. I don't know what they are. Councilmember Lusk: Well, I was wondering if you could limit them to the ones that have already been permitted by the state. Councilmember Kunz: That's the question I have. There's family, there's species, there's sub-species, right? When we are talking about these animals; we are talking about primates. That is considered a family, right? JMammals, gosh, I don't know what the Latin term is for that but, if we go to family, the primates limit weight, I think that takes care of a lot of things, because when you go into sub-species, there are species we haven't even discovered yet. Mayor Lockwood: Back to my point about trying to govern something that, as a city, we don't know anything about, again, I think that what we were talking about was animals, at this point, what type of animals, if we were to do a use permit, what type of animals we would allow. Obviously, we are talking about primates. Are there some restrictions on primates that the council would want to ... Councilmember Hewitt: At least call out small to medium. Councilmember Longoria: Yea, and Joe, the number. The whole point here is to allow the applicant the freedom to work his hobby the way he has and the way, historically, he has been doing that without any kind of expansion and I think number is a critical piece of that and limiting the category of animal, I guess, is a good way of putting it without getting into the details at this point. Councilmember Thurman: J'" I would just say, I think we need to limit weight for primates and marsupials because I have seen some pretty big kangaroos. Councilmember Kunz: Well, that is a question for the applicant. Dean, what is your largest monkey? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March IS, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 39 ofS3 Dean Riopelle: De Brazzas, probably 30, but the wallabies are a lot heavier. I haven't weighted them but they are a lot heavier. Councilmember Kunz: How much do the De Brazzas weigh? Dean Riopelle: Probably 30. Councilmember Kunz: 30 pounds. And, I looked at the marsupials, they are about 55. Dean Riopelle: I don't.." you can cut out kangaroos too. I don't plan to get them. Mayor Lockwood: We are talking about primates. Again, Ijust hate to ...but is there kind of a cut off between, you know, obviously, we've talked about, listed no chimpanzees, no baboons. Dean Riopelle: l The state has a break down that is large, medium, and small and that is why I always went with medium and small. I do have spider monkeys that are 19 pounds; they are considered medium, Mayor Lockwood: Would it be better rather than coming up with weight, to state it as small and medium based on state guidelines? Councilmember Hewitt: Are you happy with thirty pounds? Is thirty pounds something that works? Dean Riopelle: I've got some that are thirty now. If they get fat, forty would be the highest by far but I could live with that, if you wanted that. Even if these that I have grew bigger they would never exceed forty, never. Councilmember Thurman: Okay, forty pounds for primates. Councilmember Lusk: I think we are dealing with something that is subjective here as far as weight goes. Mayor Lockwood: Could be, I think the intent is small to medium primates that aren't the larger ones. Councilmember Lusk: In the permit, the recommended conditions we are excluding large primates, which includes baboons, great apes, orangutans, chimps. A small chimp could be forty pounds. L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 40 of83 Mayor Lockwood: I think we have excluded ...chimpanzees and baboons. J Dean Riopelle: You have already excluded those in the zoning ordinance. Councilmember Kunz: I think where we are going on this and looking at the weight issue, we have an exotic animal ordinance. We have already limited certain species, however, from where we are there are other species that we can't identify but if we have the Department of Natural Resources list of what you have, then our staff could easily look at that list and determine if the species is going to grow to a certain weight and then we would know ahead oftime if there is a danger of a particular species going above the limitations that we may set. So, you know, if he comes up with an orangutan on the list and it is only twenty pounds, we will know about it, because the DNR has it and at the same time we also know that it is going to grow to be a pretty big animal so then we could say to you that we don't want that ... Dean Riopelle: It is also in the large primate category, too. Councilmember Thurman: So, it would automatically be excluded. Councilmember Kunz: JRight, but still, exactly, that is how it would work, I think, from a funneling process are the staff going to be able to operate? City Manager Lagerbloom: I would like to interject if you will indulge me for a second. I think I am starting to capture a direction that the council might be going tonight and I think when the council actually goes in the direction that it is going tonight, we need to make sure we go in that direction correctly. It doesn't appear to me as though we are going to result in us getting to a place tonight that says either we deny or approve the staff conditions or the alternate conditions. It sounds as though there is going to be a hybrid that comes together as a part of those as I am starting to hear the discussion happen. But, I am wondering, if we might be well served as a group for you to kind of give us that sort of vision and let's not try to craft these conditions on the fly. What is the difference between 30 pounds and 35; what's the difference between 50 and 52? I think we are going to get to a place that we actually take action tonight. Those laws of unintended consequences that rise up and get you when you try to craft this kind of thing on the fly. I would almost be willing to, and you can certainly tell me, Chris, bad idea and you can continue with your discussion, but go ahead and give us a vision of what you have, let us work out crafting the conditions that match that vision. Not necessarily, in a minute to minute place, but let us go actually craft those that make some sense and bring them back to you, just an offer. Ken and I are sitting here conversing; we just want to make sure you don't take an action tonight that we are going to regret at a later point. I offer that as an option. Mayor Lockwood: J That is a good point the only thing, and I think we are getting where we are trying to itemize each item. What I would like to do, is get us to a point where we have a general direction and then we can probably start fine tuning it and then at that point if we need to converse with the applicant and staff, we can l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 41 of 83 definitely do that. Again, let's look at the big picture and I am just going to kind of step out and come up with a direction and see if you guys agree or disagree. You know, number one, if we talk about animals, species, primates, small to medium primates, we may not know right now the exact number of breeds, there may be a breed that, you know, is very, very rare and comes up that the applicant may want to have later, so small to medium primates, and we would want to probably limit that to if there is one that is inherently dangerous, eliminate that, we would have to do some research or, you know, with the state or our staff or whatever, but, you know, it's like if you were talking about dogs, maybe you would eliminate, say pit bulls or something but you are not necessarily saying 40 pounds or whatever because a lab can get heavier like mine or Karen's dogs, so, primates, the big thing is small to medium primates, marsupials, wallabies, is there any other species that, you know, we want to talk about, does the applicant want to, I know we have birds under a separate permit, is there anything else that we should consider or would you be happy, is the applicant going to be happy with marsupials, wallabies, birds, small to medium primates? Councilmember Longoria: Mayor, I understand what you are trying to do and I'm imagining that this is a difficult thing for all of us to get straight in our heads. The suggestion that I would offer, it goes back to the spirit of what I thought we were trying to do, and that was allowing the applicant to continue to operate in a legal conforming manner based on his history. So, why don't we use the DNR and federal paperwork that he is required to provide on a regular basis as what we allow today not to expand beyond that and the other issue that I am concerned about that we haven't really been talking too much about is, until we know more, I don't l think we should allow for the operation of the zoo or preserve; place where the public comes, you know, just on a whim, I don't mind the applicant continuing to invite people over to have people come over and show up on a scheduled basis but until we know more about this, I couldn't support anything that would allow for the operation of a zoo or a preserve in the formal sense of the word. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, in all due respect, I understand your position, you know, my position is not to go back to exactly legal non-conforming. I am trying to come up with something that works so, again, what I am trying to do is come up with some ideas that then, if we decide as a council not to move forward tonight, our staff can ... Councilmember Longoria: I thought I was trying to make that easier on you because if the applicant is required to update his DNR forms and his fed forms with inventory prior to actually getting them, all we have to do is go back to the most recent application and see exactly what he's got and allow that. Mayor Lockwood: Sure, but again, I'm looking at trying to put together something that maybe the council would support, moving forward, what I don't want to do is just stop right now and say okay let's turn around and come back a month from now ... Councilmember Longoria: I am not suggesting that. Mayor Lockwood: If we could come up with a consensus of it we can answer or clarify these three things, then give our staff time to do it, maybe the applicant would want to come back another time, maybe we would, maybe l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 42 of83 we wouldn't. So, that is all I'm saying so again, we talked about possibility of the animals which the J' applicant has agreed upon which, again, don't know if council is okay or not but primates, small to medium primates, marsupials, wallabies, and birds. Is there any consensus on that animal wise? Okay, you know, we talked about cages. The applicant stated that he has twelve now, I have been there, I can't say that I have, you know, I would have to go back and count or whatever, I do know that I think when I went with staff earlier on they were taking some down, taking some out of the buffers, so, you know, maybe there was twenty, I think that is what the applicant is asking for if we limit it to cages. You know, is twenty a number? Does somebody else want to throw something out? And, again, I'm not asking you to make the decision tonight, I am just asking or right now, but I am just asking to put a plan in place to move forward. Councilmember Thurman: Yea, but how big is a cage? Is a cage 8 by 10 or is a cage 30 by 40 so that makes it a tough thing. Mayor Lockwood: From what I understand, it is not necessarily the size, it is the number of animals you can put in there and as the applicant said, you know, you may be only able to get five in there because the state, the DNR will say you can only put four of this species or whatever so but that is up for discussion. Councilmember Kunz: I think that is a good point. If the applicant would speak to the size of cages he would require by the DNR. I talked to them and they mentioned that they do regulate some of the cage requirements but just kind of go through what you go through with the size and structure; things of that nature, so we have an j idea, visual of what you are talking about. Don Rolader: Cage size is very dependent on the size and type of monkey. Some cages are bigger and they only have two or three monkeys in them. Some of them are smaller and they might have five. There is not a standard size cage. It depends on how many and what type you have at the time. Mayor Lockwood: Is there an average size cage? Don Rolader: Let me see. 16 x 24 would be an average. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Councilmember Lusk: How many are existing? Mayor Lockwood: Applicant says twelve. J Councilmember Lusk: He wants eight more? l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 43 of83 Mayor Lockwood: He had eight more, he took them down. They were in the buffer, maybe or something ... Councilmember Lusk: I was out there previously and I noticed there was one barn had cages incorporated into one side and the opposite side of the barn was open like a pole shed. Rather than erecting new cages out there, could these eight replacement cages be incorporated in to these, I think there are two pole barns, rather than building additional cages on site, just use the existing facilities to incorporate cages. Dean Riopelle: It is not recommended by either the state or the USDA that we have different species that close together. That is why we space them out. The original plan when we, what you saw, where we had it all stepped out and ready to go, that was all going to be capuchins; all of them, every cage was going to be just capuchins, they can be side by side, that is okay but I wouldn't want to put a capuchin and a De Brazzas together. So, that wouldn't really work as far as the pathway to view them. Councilmember Thurman: I'm afraid we are starting to get into some of the details that really the state and the federal ought to be handling and not the city because we need to ... Mayor Lockwood: Again, I am looking at a 40,000 foot number right now, I am saying twenty cages, if somebody else wants to throw out a number they are welcome to do that. Twenty total. Councilmember Kunz: I'm okay with that. Mayor Lockwood: Another issue would be public access. David Burre, 10675 Steep Road, Roswell, Georgia The original drawings that I saw for this project had eight different cages in the 100 foot buffer adjacent to the eastern property line. I went out there and personally had those removed with his staff so that we would not have to ask for variances and those were not relocated immediately so when I did the drawing for the submission, those were removed from the site plan but if you look at the original drawings, they were in the 100 foot buffer, we were asking for a variance to plant, not to plant the buffer standards and the only way to plant the buffer for standards was to remove those cages adjacent to that east property line. Mayor Lockwood: Public access, you know, are there any thoughts on public access? Again, my personal opinion is if there is a way to, again, not have it as a commercial or exotic zoo but to have it available publicly with appointments and limited to X number of people and X number of times a week and limited hours of some sort, I would support something like that. Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 44 of83 Councilmember Thurman: For the public access, to me there is a big difference of whether or not people are paying a fee to come see it or if the people are coming to see it and you are just showing it to them on your own time and stuff. Do you plan on charging fees for people to come? Dean Riopelle: No. We never have. Councilmember Thurman: No, so to me that will partially limit him because when people are not paying, when people are doing it on their own time and not doing it as a profit bringing in people, they are less likely to have big groups of people constantly coming there. Councilmember Lusk: I would still like to see some restrictions on time or visiting hours particularly on weekends maybe restrict this 7:30 to 7:30 window to something less. Councilmember Thurman: Something less. Mayor Lockwood: I am open for suggestions. Councilmember Kunz: The state requires you for 30 hours, right? So, I don't know, maybe, Sat. and Sun. certain hours and then a couple of days a week open. Mayor Lockwood: You know, 7 x 4 is 28 if it was a four hour a day window or, you know, I don't know if it has to be a certain time but if we could limit it to a certain number of hours but between X and X but only if you have two hours one day you can't, you know, you've got to do two hours another day. I'm open to comments. Councilmember Longoria: If we don't specifically site hours of operation, I'm trying to figure out what language we need to include in this to not make it operate as a zoo or preserve to make it exactly what he has today. It is an ongoing concern, it is a businesslhobby that he operates on the property, he allows people to come visit when they call him up and ask, but I don't want to enable this in a use permit to be operated as something more than what it is today. So, how do we do that, Ken? City Attorney Jarrard: Well, I think that the distinction is that when you typically think of a zoo, you think of it being open daily. Zoos typically aren't by invitation only, that's typically not the way they work, so I think what J.. J J you are talking about is an invitation only sort of approach that is non-fee based. Non-fee based; invitation only; no general hours of operation. Councilmember Longoria: Right. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 45 of83 Mayor Lockwood: Which, again, I certainly agree with, you know, that was my whole point, it should be something where someone has to call and make an appointment. We can even limit the number of people, the number of vehicles if we wanted but to allow some flexibility. Councilmember Thurman: It is limited a little bit because if he goes over the 29 then he has to do improvements to the entrance and parking. Mayor Lockwood: I certainly don't ever envision this as getting 29 different visits per day but what else, if we go in this direction, what else would the council want to add? Animals, number of cages, access. Councilmember Thurman: Landscape strip and trying to look at the conditions that are there now, landscape strip is one of the staffs conditions on Hopewell Road. Councilmember Lusk: I would start with the recommended conditions. Mayor Lockwood: l Okay, do you want to list those or ... Councilmember Lusk: Why don't we start with what staff has come up with the recommended conditions; just modify them. Councilmember Hewitt: The ones on page 27? Councilmember Longoria: So, Joe, if I could just ask a question again. Are we trying to drive toward the exact language for a council vote tonight or are we just trying to give the city staff a direction so that they can come back to us with something that is specific? Mayor Lockwood: Personally, I would like to come up with some language to do it. The rest of the council may not want to do that. I would like to at least clarify it enough to where we can send staff with, you know, here are three items, here are four items, and also so the applicant knows that we are going to confirm these but not just defer this and then come back and start over again. So, Bill do you want to look at the recommendations from staff? Councilmember Lusk: Yes, I guess we can just start out with item number one; restricting use of the property, allow the keeping and rehabilitation, breeding, etc. depicted on sheet one of three. We don't have the large scale drawings here. I'm not sure ifI can really speak to that. I'm not sure we can adequately analysis this before midnight either. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 46 of83 Mayor Lockwood: ]Take some time. Councilmember Lusk: It is really just the "as built" conditions. Councilmember Thurman: The "as built", unfortunately, shows the "as" after they have already taken some down so it is really not "as built". It is "as built" with structures removed. Mayor Lockwood: I am going to go back to the twenty or if you guys want. .. Councilmember Lusk: Okay, that is a point of discussion. Mayor Lockwood: Is there a consensus for the number of cages and again, I apologize, but we are either going to have to spend the time now or later. Councilmember Kunz: I have a question. Being on that property when they took down those, really there were two structures, right, but multiple cages within those structures. Is that right? J David Burre: There were eight enclosures. There was an additional platform that didn't have any vertical walls and we also removed that because it was in the 100 foot buffer. Councilmember Kunz: Right. So, there were two structures, if I remember right, but there were mUltiple cages consisting of that structure. David Burre: Right. The enclosures had more than one wall, one vertical wall, exterior walls and there was a separator wall. But, there were eight cages in that 100 foot buffer plus there was another one that was under construction and I had them remove that as well. Councilmember Hewitt: So, eight cages and two structures. Councilmember Thurman: Is what was removed. David Burre: ]Eight were removed and there was one that was under construction that I also removed. It would have been two more so ... l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 47 of 83 Mayor Lockwood: So, if the eight were removed, what is there now? David Burre: Twelve remaining. Mayor Lockwood: So, that is where I came up with twenty. That's, as Bill said, we need to come up with a number. Councilmember Kunz: Does the applicant still own the material of which those structures were made? Does the applicant still own the material of which those structures were made? Are they still on the premises? Don Rolader: Could you ask that one more time into the mic. Councilmember Kunz: The structures that were taken down; is the material still on the premises? Don Rolader: L Yes. Councilmember Kunz: It still is so it could be, you know, put up again tomorrow if it was but then that would be it so no more purchase of additional material is what it is would give back those additional eight cages. Don Rolader: That's correct. Not required. It might be wiser to do something new but it is not required. Mayor Lockwood: Again, I go back to, if there are twelve now and there were eight removed, you know, is twenty the number that council is comfortable with or not? Councilmember Kunz: I'm okay with that. Councilmember Lusk: I'm okay with that. Councilmember Thurman: I'm okay with that. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. On the cages, again, going back to public access, I think we discussed that. .. Councilmember Hewitt: Not to interrupt but let's go down this list.. .so l(b). l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 48 of83 Mayor Lockwood: J Okay. No large primates. I think we have all discussed that; small or medium. I think we have all discussed no lions, tigers, bobcats, links, cougars, lepers, jaguars, and Kathy, I have to give her credit for being able to pronounce all of these other words. I'm assuming a felidae is a cat type creature. I think we we've talked about staff's recommending no wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals. No bears, no venomous snakes or constricted snakes, no alligators, crocodiles, no elephants, no hyenas, no hippopotamus, giraffes, camels, which I believe doesn't include cows, swine, sheep, or goats. No raccoons, rhinoceros, is a taper in the family of the rhinoceros? Councilmember Thurman: Must be. Mayor Lockwood: Anteaters, sloths or armadillos, mongoose, civets, or genets, I don't believe the applicant has asked for any of those. Councilmember Hewitt: So, if those are in the conditions and he asks for them, if those are the conditions, he won't get them, correct? Mayor Lockwood: Yea. (c) the following species and number shall be permitted on the site; it is what is on the state permit. I don't know how the applicant wants to address that or not. J Councilmember Thurman: I think I've got a problem ...this is the section, to be honest with you, I've got the most problem with because, you know, I just ...that may have been what was on that permit that one particular day but we don't know what was on the permit on the day that we became a city and what was legally non conforming or anything else so ... Mayor Lockwood: I think item (c) goes back to primates; small and medium primates. Councilmember Thurman: To me, I would almost get rid of item (c) and if we limit the number of cages, then state law will limit the number of animals but. .. Councilmember Kunz: I confirmed that with the state and the feds and that is exactly what they do when it comes to the: cages. They tell specifically, you know, how many animals you can really have per cage with the size, etc. so we, you know ... Councilmember Hewitt: I think we need to qualify, though, at least the types and I think he was in agreement with small to medium primates, wallabies, and birds. J Mayor Lockwood: But when you say types ... l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 49 of83 Councilmember Hewitt: Small to medium primates, wallabies, and birds. Councilmember Thurman: Yea, we've already said he can't have anything else so ... Mayor Lockwood: Okay, then we go to item 2(a) ... Councilmember Hewitt: I think it needs to reference that the site plan only have twenty cages. Councilmember Thurman: Right. Councilmember Kunz: Right. Councilmember Thurman: I like 2(b) because I think it is good for staff to have a copy of what he does have. Ifhe has to produce it anyway for the DNR, we might as well have a copy of it. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, then we go down to 3; ten foot landscape buffer, do you guys want to include that? Councilmember Lusk: That is what was approved by the DRB; recommended by the DRB. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Councilmember Hewitt: Do we want to make a 4 that goes to Councilmember Longoria's points about unofficial exhibition or whatever we want to call it? Councilmember Thurman: For non-fee based appointment only during hours of ... appointment only 9:00 to 7:00 or something like that? I don't think it needs to start at 7:30 in the morning. City Attorney Jarrard: Yea, that sounds, I mean, that sounds fine if that is the intent I think you might want to put on there, though, there are no, I think that was the point of limiting it, was there are no general operating hours, it is appointment only, within those times. Councilmember Thurman: Appointment only ... Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 50 of 83 City Attorney Jarrard: ] Within those time frames. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, does anybody want to set a time? 9:00 to 5:00 with appointments only between those times? Councilmember Thurman: I think 5 :00 is a little early on certain days but maybe not on others. Mayor Lockwood: You know, it's up to the applicant like 9:00 to 5:00 or 10:00 to 6:00? Dean Riopelle: Any hours you want. I actually clarified with the state when they came out for their inspection in January, and I told them, they said you have to be available to be open for 30 hours per week. I told them it would be by appointment only, we are not just going to open the gate and they said, as long as you have them within these periods you can say appointments can be made between 10:00 to 6:00; 9:00 to 5:00, so any of those are fine with me. Mayor Lockwood: 10:00 to 6:00? Councilmember Thurman: J 10:00 to 6:00. Councilmember Lusk: I guess I would get it before rush hour. Just my opinion. Mayor Lockwood: 10:00 to 5 :OO? Councilmember Lusk: 10:00 to 5:00; 10:00 to 4:00, that would give you six hours a day; five days a week; gives you thirty hours. Mayor Lockwood: I'm sure, even if you did 10:00 to 4:00, if they got there before 4:00, you know, necessarily most places won't run you out after that. Councilmember Kunz: What about after school kids or something like that? Mayor Lockwood: Yea, how about 10:00 to 5:00 just in case of schools? J Councilmember Thurman: That way, if a scout troop or something wanted to come after school, it gives them that opportunity. l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 51 of83 Councilmember Kunz: Right. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. What I am getting here and Chris, I don't know ... City Manager Lagerbloom: Give me a couple of minutes. Councilmember Hewitt: In the alternate conditions we were offered, which I am looking at page 30 of 33 is the part I am looking at, number 3, this would be number 3 which is different from munber 3 in the staff recommended conditions. The paragraph A; access to the site shall be subject to the approval of the City Department of Public Works and then you go down to A(l); if traffic on existing driveway exceeds 29 ...1 would like to leave that part in, however, not have the; driveway shall be modified for a minimum width for two lane traffic. Councilmember Thurman: 1 think it needs to be two if it exceeds 29 daily trips. I think both 1 and 2 need to be if it exceeds 29 daily trips. l Mayor Lockwood: 1 would agree that both of those items ifit exceeds 29, again, 1 think the intent here is to keep it certainly well under 29. Councilmember Thurman: Right. Definitely. Councilmember Hewitt: So, should we change 29 and bring it down a little? Councilmember Thurman: 29 is still a lot of trips. Mayor Lockwood: Yea, I'm sure that was a calculation based on traffic engineer. Councilmember Longoria: So, regardless of what we say in the use permit, if we put language in like that, aren't we actually suggesting that this be operated as a zoo or a preserve? When you consider, well if it gets more than 29 trips here today, you guys need to widen the road, the driveway, that sounds to me like what we are really doing is specifically carving out provisions for, as the use grows and intensifies. Mayor Lockwood: The other thing you could limit to where if it ever got up to 29 trips a day, they would have to come back for, this use permit is only good for less than 29 trips per day. Am I correct, Mr. Jarrard? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 52 of83 City Attorney Jarrard: Yes sir. Mayor Lockwood: If that is your concern. Councilmember Thurman: Well, but the problem is when you get to that, is if you end up having a party at your house and you had 15 people come that is more than 29 trips so we have to be careful that we don't get into limiting something and it ending up something different than what you want. Do want them to limit. .. the purpose of this is to make sure that the use is limited to the number of people coming and it doesn't end up being a commercial business and that's ...it is a residential driveway and you want to make sure it stays a residential driveway use. Councilmember Longoria: Understood. And, I guess the challenge that I have is that by putting any of this language in, what we are basically doing is we are saying that he is going to operate in this manner, whereas, if we didn't put the language in, he is restricted to the use of somebody picking up the phone and calling and say, hey, can I come visit the monkeys. Councilmember Thurman: Well, who has restricted that anyway though? Councilmember Longoria: Exactly, so ... Councilmember Thurman: But, this just adds another layer that discourages it from having that happen too very often. City Manager Lagerbloom: Okay, Mr. Mayor, I have something written down. Councilmember Lusk: I've got a couple of other things, Chris. Make reference to sheep; item 2 (a) were we including two ... Councilmember Longoria: Which page? Councilmember Lusk: On page 30 which is in the alternate conditions; it makes reference to sheep, two ofthree which is the proposed site plan and we don't make reference to it in the recommended conditions. City Manager Lagerbloom: J J J.... That is because they are two different types, so what I am capturing, in which I was going to explain, what I think I am hearing the council say at this point would be more than our basis for starting alternative conditions than the recommended conditions. The alternative conditions take very few tweaks to get to what at least I think I'm hearing from you all. So, let me, if you would like, I can walk through where I think, what I think I am hearing, then you can say, yea that was it, spot on, or not but if l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 53 of83 we start with alternative conditions we will start with me on page 29 and I am just going to kind of modify it as I go based on the notes that I took. Is everybody with me on page 29? Alternative conditions. If this petition is approved by the Mayor and City Council it should be approved for a use permit for exotic or wild animals (Section 64-1838) conditional subject to the owner's agreement to the following enumerated conditionals. Where these conditions conflict with the stipulations and offerings contained in the Letter of Intent, these conditions shall supersede unless specifically stipulated by the Mayor and City Council. 1 ) To the owner's agreement to restrict the use of the subject property as follows: a) Restrict the use of the subject property to allow the exhibition, display, keeping, rehabilitation, breeding or maintaining exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 2 of 3 of the revised site plan received by the Community Development Department on March 8, 2013 which includes five existing animal enclosures and twenty proposed animal enclosures and two existing bams structures related to the use of the subject site. b) The following species shall not be permitted on the site either temporarily or permanently: One and with the respective (a) through (h) remain as written. c) The following species and number shall be permitted on the site: i) (a) Primates (no large primates) (b) Marsupials (wallabies, specifically) (c) Birds (as permitted) 2) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: a) To the revised site plan, Sheet 2 of3, received by the City of Milton Community Development Department on January 4,2013. Said site plan is conceptual only and must meet or exceed the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and these conditions prior to the approval of a Land Disturbance Permit. Unless otherwise noted herein, compliance with all conditions shall be in place prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy. b) At which time the applicant submits a change in number and/or type of animals to the Georgia DNR, a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. 3) To the owner's agreement to the following site development considerations: a) Access to the site shall be subject to the approval of the City of Milton Department of Public Works, prior to the issuance of a Business License, Land Disturbance Permit, Subdivision Plat or Certificate of Occupancy (whichever comes first). Entrance(s) shall conform to Chapter 48 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places of the City of Milton Code of Ordinances, or be reconstructed to meet such criteria as required by the Department of Public Works. The remaining of 3 (a) stricken. The (c) that is listed there would become (b) to provide a 10 foot landscape strip along Hopewell Road planted to buffer standards. Adding a section 4) l Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 54 of83 4) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: J.. a) the location can be open for visiting by the public by appointment only b) visits by the public shall be non-fee based c) the location will not be open more than 30 hours per week and shall only be open between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5 :00 p.m. I think that is what I at least captured as your thoughts up to this point. Councilmember Lusk: Going back to the number of allowable cages on site on Sheet 2 of 3, I think that allows for 25. Isn't that how it reads? Councilmember Thurman: Yea. City Manager Lagerbloom: You are reading it to be that some of these animals; some of these proposed animal enclosures were inside the existing barn structures but you very well might be correct that I might need a chance to zoom on Sheet 2 of 3. It could read that five existing animal enclosures is fifteen animal enclosures. Councilmember Lusk: If it makes reference to twenty total. J City Manager Lagerbloom: I (a) that would be five plus fifteen. Councilmember Kunz: In section 4, did you also say no outside lighting? Did you mention that? I didn't hear that mentioned. I just wanted to make sure that was the case. Mayor Lockwood: We can always add that if you want. Councilmember Kunz: The applicant agreed to it, I think, it was in there, I just didn't hear it. Councilmember Hewitt: It could also be in Section 4, reference no signage or anything like that except where mandated by state or federal regulations. Mayor Lockwood: Let's see what the City Attorney would say. City Attorney Jarrard: J Well, to the extent, you've already got a sign code, what are you getting at with respect, because he is going to be able to do whatever the sign code would allow. l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 55 of83 Councilmember Hewitt: Well, okay, I was thinking more of something and this may be illegal on our behalf but not a big sign that says whatever ... Councilmember Thurman: Exotic Animal Zoo. City Manager Lagerbloom: We wouldn't be in a position where we would regulate the content so to the point that he would be allowed signage. AG-l has allowable signage that any property in AG-l; he would have to abide by that. But we would shy away, again, from regulating any content. Councilmember Hewitt: Understood. So, our sign code would speak to that without us having to speak to it in this. City Attorney Jarrard: We are really without the power to do that and to the extent that, not to suggest this applicant would do that, to the extent of patently conflicting or misleading sign was placed there ... Councilmember Hewitt: The sign code rules. Okay, got you. Understood. What about in l(a) to allow the exhibition. Does putting that term, exhibition, kind of go to what Councilperson Longoria has been trying to articulate the _best he could and he has done a better job than I could have. City Attorney Jarrard: Right, but I think those terms are going to be in the context of the other conditions which state that it has to be during these hours, non-fee based and by appointment only. Councilmember Longoria: So, to follow up on that Ken, sorry Burt if I could, if you look at the staff recommendations that language isn't in that particular section, yet, we are not eliminating the availability for somebody to call the applicant up and say, hey, can I come visit and the applicant saying yes. City Attorney Jarrard: Agreed, because that would be by invitation even though the request for invitation was solicited by an inside party, yes. Councilmember Longoria: I would rather remove that ambiguity to make sure that if somebody looks at this in the future and says well clearly an open gate policy was envisioned because it says exhibition right in the language of the use permit. City Attorney Jarrard: I would have no objection to that as far as from a meaning prospective because I still think that later on in the conditions it makes clear that it is "invitation only" accessibility to these animals. So, I see your point on the exhibit. Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 56 of83 Councilmember Hewitt: J.., SO, we could perhaps be agreeable to have a) the first sentence basically read; restrict the use ofthe subject property to allow the keeping, rehabilitation, breeding or maintaining exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 2 and so forth. City Attorney Jarrard: Yes, again and I think that is fine. I think even if that language is removed you still have later on the conditions that allow the allowance for those animals to be viewed by invitation only. Councilmember Thurman: Chris, under the list of animals that are not allowed you said (a) through (h) really shouldn't it be the (a) through (m) that are in the recommended conditions not the alternative conditions that are not allowed. And, then allowing specifically just the three ones that we were allowing because that list (a) through (h) doesn't include some ofthe ones that are in (a) through (m) that he says he is not going to have. City Manager Lagerbloom: I would be okay with that as long as the (c) is correct and I'm not as concerned about (b). Yea, (a) through (m) would be fine. Councilmember Thurman: Yea, that's the (a) through (m) because the other ones allowed some other animals that we are not going J. to allow now which includes the camels and the raccoons and the anteaters and things like that. Mayor Lockwood: You know, it sounds like we are looking at recommended conditions and also the alternate conditions too, so we certainly could include like you say, Councilmember Thurman (a) through (m) on the recommended conditions. Councilmember Thurman: Yea, because otherwise it was going to allow some things that I think; there were some animals that we weren't disallowing and we weren't allowing so I wanted to make sure ... I l Mayor Lockwood: Keep in mind we did also talk about small and medium primates, marsupials, wallabies, and birds, too. We can always limit it to that. f } Councilmember Thurman: ) Right. j', 1. Councilmember Kunz: I just have a question on what Joe is trying to get at too. I know we are talking about whether or not it is j an exhibition or display or what it is called but is there a way to really distinguish or would you be ! comfortable with it being distinguished as public versus private. By invitation only is kind of a private I invitation. They are exhibited to private invitation guests. I J l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 57 of83 City Attorney Jarrard: Right, I think the concern the councilmember had was that exhibit denotes perhaps something more aggressive than what the council has in mind; on the other hand, the private exhibit is clearly what it is going to be going on there by invitation only. CounciImember Kunz: I'm trying to get to where you are going on that and I'm not there. Just trying to make sure I understand. CounciImember Lusk: One point we haven't covered and I'm not sure if it was brought up by Planning or DRB was the, what you call a safety fence around each of these cages to preclude people from going right up to the existing cage so I believe it was a four foot fence that was called out somewhere in one of these review sessions; review reports. Do you remember that? City Manager LagerbIoom: The answer to that, and I stand to be corrected, was that the fencing and cage requirements is something that is regulated by GA DNR. It is a fence required by the DNR more so than would be required by our code. Councilmember Thurman: L I think there was an issue, though, whether or not the fence had to be the black vinyl clad or if it could just be the regular galvanized because it is not going to be seen from the street. Mayor Lockwood: I think it was the seen part; yea, whether it was seen or not. Councilmember Thurman: I don't see that in our conditions. I didn't know where exactly that fit in. City Manager LagerbIoom: To the extent that you wanted the condition in here, here I go speaking from memory, that gets you in trouble quite frequently, is that there is a requirement where you have one of these enclosures exist, a cage, and one of the secondary fencing requirements is that at some distance away from the cage there is fence of a certain height to keep either people or animals out presumably people or animals out as opposed to exotic animals in. The thOUght process, at least I thought the application was, was instead of having individual one of those fences around each of the pick a number 5, 10, 15, or 20 cages, is that there would be one of those fences meeting the height requirement around the perimeter of the property and, therefore, eliminate the need to have that additional fence replicated 15 times in the interior of the property. If it is replicated once at the property line that suffices for having each individual cage with a second fence around it, I think. To the extent that it would be at the property line and visible according to our standard, we do not allow galvanized chain linked fence be visible from the public right of way, so, to the extent that that fence is built on the property line that fronts Hopewell Road, it would need to meet our fencing requirements if, in fact, it is black vinyl clad, that is what would have to be seen from the public right of way. Councilmember Thurman: But I thought this was a fence that had to be like 3 or 4 feet from the animal cages so it would not be on Hopewell Road, it would be much closer to the animal cages for a reason. L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 58 of83 City Manager Lagerbloom: And, that is where I am thinking I am going from memory of what I am trying to explain is that those interior fences potentially go away. Councilmember Thurman: No, I think he by state law has to have the fences within a certain distance of the animal cages. City Manager Lagerbloom: If that is the requirement and they can be seen from the public right of way it has to conform with our standard. Councilmember Thurman: If it can't be seen from the public right-of-way because it is closer to the cages does it need to be ... City Manager Lagerbloom: I will have to look. I would say we generally prohibit. .. they do need to comply with our code. Councilmember Thurman: But the cages themselves don't need to be because you can't have the vinyl clad cages themselves or else that probably would not comply with the state law because the animals would be eating the stuff off the galvanized cages. City Manager Lagerbloom: A cage and a fence are two completely different things. Councilmember Thurman: Okay, so the cages are okay but the fences ... Mayor Lockwood: The cages are one thing but the fences around the cages have to comply to our code. In going through this discussion, the only thing I, and no offense to Councilmember Longoria, but it looks like 4 or 5 folks on each of these items seem to be in align. The only thing that we are not sure of is the small to medium primates. Are there species of primates we want to not include or restrict? Councilmember Thurman: Does the state have a list of primates that it considers to be dangerous or anything like that that we would want to allow the state to regulate that rather than us? City Manager Lagerbloom: Not that I am aware of. Mayor Lockwood: The question that is, you know, staff is there something you guys can go look at to find that or not? Are J. J J.. we, you know, spinning our wheels on that? Is that something that we would have to rely on the state that, you know, if it were an illegal species ... Councilmember Lusk: What if we restrict it to the species that he has on site now? L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 59 of83 Mayor Lockwood: Again, then you've got a, what ifthere is a, you know, another species that, you know, again, my concern is just to make sure it is a safe, not a dangerous species, but wouldn't there be; is there some kind of catch we can put in there Ken that, you know, based on if we said primates small to medium primates that have to be, you know, allowed by the state by the USDA and the DNR that aren't subject to, you know, being considered a dangerous, more dangerous than what they already are? City Attorney Jarrard: You know, I think once you begin getting into the, particularly once you begin getting into words like dangerous or not dangerous, that's got the City Council making judgment calls that they may not be in a position to make nor might even staff. I think you are doing the best you can do with the information you have. I think the small medium primates makes sense, otherwise, identify these discreet sorts of animals you won't allow and the conditions; I think so long as you otherwise require it to be properly licensed with the pertinent authorities, the state and federal government, I think you have done all you cando. Councilmember Longoria: So, Joe, you are saying that language that is related to the current type and number of animals that were part of the applicant's most recent filing with the federal and government agencies is a non-starter for you. In other words, you don't want to be restrictive in that sense. L Councilmember Thurman: Well, that is not what he has there now and that is not what he had there when he became a legal ... Councilmember Longoria: No, no, no. I understand that and, again, the interest that I had was that we not allow for the expansion of what he's got now, not that we go back to when the city was, you know, instated, but rather we look at what he is doing right now and limit it to that. Mayor Lockwood: You know, the only reason I, and I certainly respect and understand that, I mean, I look at it is if someone has a horse farm and raises horses and then us trying to limit the breed of horse and later they were able to get an appaloosa or something that they didn't have listed but it is still a safe and, you know, that's where I have a problem trying to ... Councilmember Longoria: And, I understand that. If horses came under the guise of an exotic animal, maybe I would agree with you but, you know, what we are talking about here is something that, from my point of view, I have not enough information to make a sound judgment. You know, I would like to call myself a primate expert but that's just not the case, so I would rather fall in the camp of allowing what's existing, what's going on right now, than expanding into an area that I just don't understand. Councilmember Hewitt: Not to muddy it, I think we are getting 90% of the way there but 10% may make a difference for me. Is there any way that we could go somewhat along those lines of what he has now, I mean, because to me as long as there, like he mentioned a type of monkey he has been trying to get for 18 years, ifhe could get it tomorrow he would. If we don't put that on the list, he won't get it. But, it is no more bad than something he has now, or good. Is there any way that we could start with a, if the majority was L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 60 of83 interested, a listing, like Joe is saying, what he has now and then have, if something else is coming, that J' can come down the pipe that we have the chance to, you know, and the Community DeVelopment Director is not an expert in primates either, probably more than she was a few months ago, but, you know, that we could look at that and say, or somebody could look at that and say, okay that is an acceptable ... City Attorney Jarrard: That is an interesting question, I mean, it begs the question really of how you would even enforce that sort of a regulation and what I mean by that, and it is not to be glib, but it is a good question, but, do we have, for instance, I throw this out hypothetically, do we even have the staff capable of making those calls with respect to certain type of primate is more dangerous than another or whether there are folks in our state or federal government who are more able to do that and, secondly, you get into just the general nature of enforcement as it is. Let's say, for instance, that you wanted to adopt this special use, this use permit, and say if you want to go outside of a particular type of primate that is different than what you have had, historically, on the property, you need to do X. Well, what would X be? Would X be to tender an application to our Community Development Department and ask them to sign off on it and if they did that, what would the criteria be for them to approve or not approve this; I guess I'm just saying, how much do we want to regulate going forward? Councilmember Thurman: I think we are getting away from it being a zoning issue ... City Attorney Jarrard: J Yea, and I'm just struggling to give you an answer. Mayor Lockwood: And, yea, to my point of being a double, triple government and do we have that expertise. The only alternate I could think of that is, you know, allow what he has now plus ifhe gets another breed that has to be signed off from the DNR or the authorities, but again, that puts us back in trying to manage rather than just, our original intent was for zoning, that put us into trying to run and manage ... Councilmember Thurman: Well, ifhe gets another breed he will have to report it to the DNR and we will get a copy of that report based on the current conditions, correct? Mayor Lockwood: Correct. Councilmember Hewitt: I think that what makes this difficult for all of us, there is a whole host of it, but usually when you are talking about zoning and intensity of use, it is buildings, etc. it is not species and families genus of monkeys and there's probably only one person, maybe two in this room that can speak to that, you know, in an expert fashion and I'm not one of them. That's what makes it difficult for me. JMayor Lockwood: Well, and again, we see where everybody is coming from and respect everybody but the bottom line is if someone, you know, if we wanted to go forward, make a motion and see if the council is willing to support that based on all this conversation we've had, based on, you know, we go back to the, from the Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 61 of83 l conditions on the list of animals he can't have or tie that in to small medium primates, marsupials, wallabies, birds, 20 cages, we have the public access would be invited only, we had come up with some hours 10:00 to 5:00, I think there were some other things, no outside lighting, you know, this and that but, you know, I think, my opinion is we, someone could make a motion and we could make a decision tonight that by deferring it I don't know that we are going to get any more answers. Councilmember Hewitt: Can I ask a question based on that to Chris? Do you think you can get us any more answers if it was deferred? Would it help rein in some of the things you hear or is that a shot in the dark? City Manager Lagerbloom: Since you are here at this point, what I would ask you to do, if you are going to say small to medium, we need to be able to enforce something we understand. We are not scientists. We can wait thirty minutes. You know, I can't tell you what species a spider monkey comes from but I do know what 31 pounds is versus 30 so, if you are going to condition it to a size, condition it to something that we at least have the ability to enforce. If you want to say small to medium not to exceed 30 pounds, I know what that means. Councilmember Kunz: And, if we are going to go that route, obviously there is the application of that. Is there a way we can require a scale on the premises? l Mayor Lockwood: You know, I certainly, I see your point 100%. That makes sense, although, and I know we don't, we aren't the experts, then again what we are talking about, we don't want to be the experts, we want to rely on the state. You know, if we specify the small to medium species, they are going to know, you know, what if you get say 30 pounds and one ofthem gets fat and eats too many bananas, you know, and gets to 31; that's different than getting a large primate that's skinny and weighs less than that. City Manager Lagerbloom: I don't know if I am more franticly trying to, I looked to see if I could figure out the definition real quick of small to medium, I went to the Webster's Dictionary to find out if it would define medium, that is typically what we rely upon words, and define it by what Webster says so there is not a real good definition of medium in Webster and it says it is something in between two other things. Councilmember Hewitt: But, is there something out there in the animal world that says ... I City Manager Lagerbloom: Right, I haven't been able to find it in the last seven minutes. I 1Councilmember Lusk: I l That is the key point and my point earlier; I don't think there is a relationship between weight and a dangerous animal. I think a five pound Chihuahua with rabies is a lot more dangerous than a 200 f ipound... J Mayor Lockwood: How about if we did small to medium primates that are ..... Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 62 of83 Councilmember Thurman: JExcluding humans ... Mayor Lockwood: ... listed by the state, under the guise of the state, that are not, well, I know you said you've got to be careful with dangerous ... City Manager Lagerbloom: What if you said small to medium primates that are permittable by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources? City Attorney Jarrard: I thought I understood from the applicant that these small to medium to large; those are terms of art in this particular sort of industry and, if that is true, just like any other field of expertise, they have .a meaning that someone in that industry knows exactly what those means so someone could readily lay eyes and say that is a medium primate and that is a large primate. It is not me; it could do that, but if it is regularly accepted in the industry then that is perfectly understandable. Councilmember Lusk: Well, I guess that is the question. Is it regularly accepted in the industry; are those specific terms? City Attorney Jarrard: That would be a question for, I think to Councilmember Longoria's point, only two people in this room Jprobably understand what that would be and they are probably out in the gallery right now. Mayor Lockwood: You know what, and again, it is like letting the fox go to the hen house, but I would like to hear if the applicant can come, you know, at least tell us his thoughts on that. Dean Riopelle: We asked the DNR specifically about that back when we were going through, I guess, the letter that went out to the public stating what we would have and they gave us a list at that time. They said, we considered it, the orangutans, the greater apes, the silverbacks, the gorillas, the chimpanzees, and that is why we excluded those specifically. Then they came back out in January, again, and said the same thing. He said, I don't have any code with me or anything, but he said that, you only have medium and small primates here now, if you go to exhibit are you going to get any large ones? And, I said no. So, I can't refer you to their specific code or page or whatever, but yes, he has said that. Councilmember Kunz: So, we can keep it according to the small and medium sizes according to the laws that pertain to the Department of Natural Resources? ~t~;-~::~~~~r::~~~. I think to the City Manager's point, though, that does in the realm of J.: enforcement puts us at a little bit of a disadvantage and we would have to rely upon the state agencies to tell us. l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 63 of83 Mayor Lockwood: But, from my perspective, that is the intent versus us going out and trying to weigh monkeys and try to decide ourselves. City Attorney Jarrard: Well, it is always challenging to have a city law and a city ordinance and a city zoning code that is filled with conditions that are challenging for city staff to enforce. Mayor Lockwood: Again, that's ... City Attorney Jarrard: Just where we are ...right Councilmember Lusk: One question, not necessarily a condition, a question for the City Manager or Community Development; now will this qualifY as a business and will he need a business license. City Manager Lagerbloom: Yes. Mayor Lockwood: Again, we've got a couple of, you know, ways we can go here, you know, I like meetings and I know our citizens do and our applicants but I'd prefer we, I feel like we've narrowed it down, I understand, respectively, Councilmember Longoria, you may, you know ... Councilmember Longoria: At this point, I don't want to leave tonight unless we get legal conforming status for this guy. Councilmember Thurman: Mayor, why don't you make a motion? Mayor Lockwood: I would be glad to make a motion unless somebody else wants to. Councilmember Longoria: Can you do that? Mayor Lockwood: I don't typically do but I think I legally can. City Attorney Jarrard: It is fully within your power. Councilmember Longoria: Knock yourself out. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 64 of83 Mayor Lockwood: J I will make a motion and you guys are welcome to, you know, change it or adjust it, or whatever. I am going to make a motion that we grant a use permit based on the applicant having small to medium primates that are permissible by the state agencies of the Georgia DNR and the USDA and also allow marsupials, wallabies, and birds as allowed by state law. I'd like to make this use permit that the applicant is allowed a total of20 cages, 8 in addition to the 12 that he has on site. That this motion includes public access will be invited only between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We will have no outside lighting, we can go through ... did I miss something from the recommended and alternative conditions,that specifically needs to be added to this motion? Councilmember Longoria: I think go back to the staff recommendations on the section 1 and then the listed animals or the non permitted animals I should say, sorry. Mayor Lockwood: Well, the only reason I, and I agree but, since we are naming the animals here it is basically a moot point Councilmember Longoria: Okay, yea, understood. Mayor Lockwood: It does away with them. And, we mentioned, you know, at this point no fee. J Councilmember Thurman: You also have the reporting it to the, a copy when it is reported to the DNR. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, and I think that was part ofthe ordinance anyway, I believe, so Kathy, did you have ... Kathy Field: That's fine. Mayor Lockwood: So, that is my motion. I will open it up to a second or if someone has something that they want to add to that. Councilmember Lusk: Question. Does that capture everything that you've captured? City Manager Lagerbloom: I think I've got it but you know how I am when we get to this point; the devil is in the details, so if you would allow me the opportunity to just as we are typing it tomorrow we can kind of just have a natural J. flow of what the motion is. I think what I heard is that the Mayor's motion is to: Approve a use permit consistent with the Alternate Conditions that were in the staff packet for Exotic or Wild Animals (Section 64-1838) conditional subject to the owner's agreement to the following enumerated conditions. Where these conditions conflict with the stipulations and offerings contained in L Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 65 of83 the Letter of Intent, these conditions shall supersede unless specifically stipulated by the Mayor and City Council. To the owner's agreement to restrict the use of the subject property as follows: Restrict the use of the subject property to allow the keeping, rehabilitation, breeding or maintaining exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 2 of 3 of the revised site plan received by the Community Development Department on March 8, 2013 which includes five (5) existing animal enclosures and fifteen (15) proposed animal enclosures and two (2) existing barns structures related to the use ofthe subject site. The following species shall not be permitted on the site either temporarily or perrnanently: (i) will be replaced with (i) that was published in the staffreport under Recommended Conditions: (i) The categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1, and being categories: (a)1 Primates (no large primates) (b)2 Felidae (lions, tigers, bobcats, lynx, cougars, leopards jaguars but not domesticated felidae) (c)3 Canidae (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals but not domesticated L canidae) (d)4 Ursidae (all bears) (e)5 Reptilia (all venomous snakes, all constricting snakes) (f)6 Crocodilia (alligators, crocodiles) (g)7 Proboscidae (elephants) (h)8 Hyanenidae (hyanas) (i)9 Artiodatyla (hippopotamuses, giraffes, camels, not cattle or swine or sheep or goats) (j)1 0 Procyonidae (raccoons, coatis) (k)12 Perissodactylea (rhinoceroses, tapirs) (l)13 Edentara (anteaters, sloths, armadillos) (m)14 Viverridae (mongooses, civets, and genets) (c) The following species and number shall be perrnitted on the site: The categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1 and being categories: (a) Primates (no large primates) (b) Marcupilas (wallabies, specifically) (c) Birds (as perrnitted) 2) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: a) To the revised site plan, Sheet 2 of3, received by the City of Milton Community Development Department on January 4,2013. Said site plan is conceptual only and must meet or exceed the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and these conditions prior to the approval of a Land Disturbance Permit. Unless otherwise noted herein, compliance with all conditions shall be in place prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 66 of83 b) At which time the applicant submits a change in number and/or type of animals to the Georgia J... DNR, a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. 3) To the owner's agreement to the following site development considerations: a) Access to the site shall be subject to the approval of the City of Milton Department of Public Works, prior to the issuance of a Business License, Land Disturbance Permit, Subdivision Plat or Certificate of Occupancy (whichever comes first). Entrance(s) shall conform to Chapter 48 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places of the City of Milton Code of Ordinances, or be reconstructed to meet such criteria as required by the Department of Public Works. (c) will become (b) and will read: to provide a 10 foot landscape strip along Hopewell Road planted to buffer standards. 4) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: a) the location can be open for visiting by the public by appointment only b) visits by the public shall be non-fee based c) shall not be open more than 30 hours per week and shall only be open between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. d) there shall be no outside lighting e) the applicant agrees to abide by the City of Milton fence requirements in its Code of Ordinances J Have I missed anything? Kathy Field: What about parking? I know it is sort of quasi exhibit and I don't know if you want to formalize it by having a parking requirement or not but I just want to bring it up. Mayor Lockwood: Does it go back to the site plan with the nine gravel spaces? City Manager Lagerbloom: I believe it is included in the ... site plan. So conditions of the site plan 2 of3, that's comparable. Robyn MacDonald: Yes, there is one that referenced the old January 4th but it is March 8th . Councilmember Lusk: Does that include the public toilet? City Manager Lagerbloom: Yes. J Mayor Lockwood: Okay_ For the record, you covered everything that I said plus qualified, you know, with these; can that count as the record or do we need to repeat that? l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 67 of83 City Attorney Jarrard: You just need to identify that as your motion because you don't have a second yet. Councilmember Kunz: And, I just have a question real quick on that too, and just to go back to that, we left off the exhibition and display as we talked about, does that mean we have the animals there and no one is allowed to look at them? City Manager Lagerbloom: Let's, can we confirm, well, let's get a second to that, if we can and then let's go into that discussion. Mayor Lockwood: As per our City Manager reading, that is my motion. Councilmember Kunz: Second. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion and a second. Now, did you have a question Councilmember Kunz and then Karen? Councilmember Kunz: Just again, just for definition there, I just wonder what would happen if, you know, if someone is there between the hours of 4:00 and 5:00, if someone is actually looking at a display of animals, you know, is that considered a display, I just don't want to disclude those words. City Attorney Jarrard: I am not in the least bit concerned that if we have authorized visitation by invitation only between these hours that someone could make the argument you can come on the site; but you can't .... I understand your point, but no, I am not concerned. Councilmember Thurman: My only concern is the way you said it was fifteen cages currently plus additional five; I think he has twelve currently plus the eight he had moved out so it is really twelve and eight rather than fifteen and five. Mayor Lockwood: I did mark that ... City Manager Lagerbloom: That was more just responding to the fact that that was referencing the site plan. I think we both end up getting to the number twenty. Councilmember Thurman: We are getting to the same number but I think it is twelve and eight rather than fifteen and five. · .~~.------._--- City Manager Lagerbloom: J. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 68 of83 Okay, so the condition that exists on the ground today would be twelve and eight; the condition that is listed on the site plan, which is what we are referencing here in these conditions, is five and fifteen; in any case you get to twenty. Councilmember Thurman: Why don't we say a total of twenty cages rather than breaking it down? Councilmember Lusk: No more than twenty cages. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, so we need to go back then; how do I need to go back and modify that motion to be specific to twenty total cages? City Attorney Jarrard: Withdraw the second. Councilmember Kunz: I will withdraw the second. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I want to modify my motion to clarify that it is a total of twenty cages. J Councilmember Kunz: Second. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, we have a motion and a second as read. Now, I will open it up for any discussion. Councilmember Longoria: Yea, I, you know, I appreciate everybody's effort in talk walking through that; if! were to summarize to somebody who had asked me what went on tonight, I would say that we wound up adopting the recommended conditions with very few changes, most of it had to do with the itemization of the particular animals that were being allowed or not allowed and then some additional conditions related to the non-exhibition quality even though they are not for exhibit so we are not trying to open up a zoo, there is a certain amount of exhibition allowed, it is private, by invitation only, and a specific set of hours. But, again, getting back to what I started with today, because of what I would call a looseness in the number, I mean, I don't care how many cages that are there because you could put one animal in one cage, you could put ten animals in a cage, I just feel like this is a little weak in terms of limiting the expansion of the operation itself, but I do respect everybody's opinion and I understand that this whole thing was trying to compromise between where we started and, you know, what the public is asking for so I appreciate that. JMayor Lockwood: And, I would just like to make, and, I certainly appreciate that and I know if this motion passes, you know, again, there are going to be some people that aren't happy. I do think it is a compromise because if you look at even the things that my own wife was telling me from, you know, one extreme to the l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 69 of83 other, this is truly a compromise, so again, I appreciate everybody's work and I clarify that, my own wife was telling me based on what she had heard and the rumors and this and that, so again, I think this is truly a compromise, Bill, and then Councilmember Thurman. Councilmember Lusk: Maybe to clarify what you stated there is this being an expansion; from what we have discussed here there were twenty cages out there at one time. Councilmember Longoria: Yea, I'm not worried about the number of cages that is not the thing that is bugging me. Councilmember Lusk: Well, I guess my point is, we are approving it as it was originally legally non-conforming with that number of cages on site so there is really no expansion, no expansion in what he is really requesting here, what we are proposing at this point in time. l Councilmember Thurman: Yea, what I was going to say is that we really don't know how many animals he had on the day we became a city so, to me, this is not an expansion at all but limiting the number of cages limits the number of animals based on what the state and federal say is allowed to go in there which, to me, is their the ones that should be making those determinations, not us. It should not be the city that goes out and counts how many babies or whatever animals have had but let the experts at the state and the federal make those determinations. We need to look at it as a zoning thing and how many of the cages do we need to have and I think this is a good way for us to limit what is going there to what has been there in the past. Councilmember Kunz: And just one more thing on that too, I mean, these monkeys are not cheap, I mean, they are, what, over $10,000. The applicant has an economic interest in their well-being and taking care ofthem, obviously, the state, the DNR do as well but for different reasons so there are a lot of incentives already in place for their protection. Putting too many animals within the cage will cause the detriment of that economic condition so I think limiting by cage is definitely the way to go, so I think it was a good motion. City Manager Lagerbloom: I hate to sit here and think that not all the information is on the table for you all to make a good decision. I believe we do know what the intensity was, as close as we can determine, to December 1, 2006. I do believe that we have, that we at least know what permit existed and what animals existed with that permit on December 1,2006. Now, we haven't explored even going down the road with the applicant to find out if they were agreeable to that but I don't want you all to think that we are, that we don't have that information or at least think that we are in that ballpark as you make your decision. It doesn't necessarily matter what that number is for the purposes oftonight because it sounds as though the council has generated some consensus moving forward. I want you to know that I think we can at least have that information. The second thing that I would ask you to do simply because some of these things that are on the table tonight, the applicant may be potentially new to the applicant; I would hate for you to vote on something then all of a sudden the applicant say, you know, that was a lot of work but I can't live with it. I think it would be worth it, at least you can see that because you are facing him but it is probably worth a question, you know, if this were to pass as a motion as read, is this something that would be agreeable. l ~----------------,---, Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 70 of83 Mayor Lockwood: ]Well, or, I guess, does the applicant understand the motion? Don Rolader: The applicant understands the motion, I believe, yes, we understand the motion. If it passes as it is proposed the applicant does not have any objection to it. Mayor Lockwood: Again, we have a motion and a second. We are discussing it now. If anyone wants to discuss or add to the point that Chris brought up or if not, I will ask for a vote. Motion and Vote: Mayor Lockwood moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-054 with the following conditions. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-1). Councilmember Longoria opposed. Councilmember Large was absent. This petition was approved by the Mayor and City Council, for a USE PERMIT for Exotic or Wild Animals (Sec. 64-1838) CONDITIONAL subject to the owner's agreement to the following enumerated conditions. Where these conditions conflict with the stipulations and offerings contained in the Letter of Intent, these conditions shall supersede unless specifically stipulated by the Mayor and City CounciL 1) To the owner's agreement to restrict the use of the subject property as follows: J a) Restrict the use of the subject property to allow the keeping, rehabilitation, breeding, or maintaining exotic or wild animals as depicted on Sheet 2 of 3 of the revised site plan received by the Community Development Department on March 8, 2013 for a total of twenty (20) cages and 2 existing barns structures related to the use on the subject site. b) The following species shall not be permitted on the site either temporarily or permanently: (i) The categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1, and being categories: (a) 1 Primates (no large primates); (b) 2 Felidae (lions, tigers, bobcats, lynx, cougars, leopards jaguars but not domesticated felidae); (c) 3 Canidae (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals but not domesticated canidae); (d) 4 Ursidae (all bears); (e) 5 Reptilia (all venomous snakes, all constricting snakes); (f) 6 Crocodilia (alligators, crocodiles); (g) 7 Proboscidae ( elephants); (h) 8 Hyanenidae (hyanas); J(i) 9 Artiodatyla (hippopotamuses, giraffes, camels, not cattle or swine or sheep or goats); 0)10 Procyonidae (raccoons, coatis); (k) 12 Perissodactylea ( rhinoceroses, tapirs); l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 71 of83 (1) 13 Edentara (anteaters, sloths, annadillos); (m)14 Viverridae (mongooses, civets, and genets). c) The following species and number shall be permitted on the site: (i) The categories of Exotic Animals listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance, Section 64-1 and being categories: (a) 1 Primates (Small and Medium); (b) 11 Marsupials (Wallabies, specifically). (ii) Categories of Exotic Animals not listed in Article VI, Division 2 of the City of Milton Zoning Ordinance: (a) Birds (as permitted). 2) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: l a) To the revised site plan, Sheet 2 of3, received by the City of Milton Community Development Department on March 8, 2013. Said site plan is conceptual only and must meet or exceed the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance and these conditions prior to the approval of a Land Disturbance Permit. Unless otherwise noted herein, compliance with all conditions shall be in place prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy. b) At which time the applicant submits a change in number and/or type of animals to the Georgia DNR, a copy shall be provided to the Director of Community Development. 3) To the owner's agreement to the following site development considerations: a) Access to the site shall be subject to the approval of City of Milton Department of Public Works, prior to the issuance of a Business License, Land Disturbance Permit, Subdivision Plat or Certificate of Occupancy (whichever comes first). Entrance(s) shall I conform to Chapter 48 Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places of the City of Milton Code of Ordinances, or be reconstructed to meet such criteria as required by the Department of Public Works. I b) To provide a 10 foot landscape strip along Hopewell Road planted to buffer standards. I 4) To the owner's agreement to abide by the following: l a) The location can be open for visiting by the public by appointment only. b) Visits by the public shall be non-fee based. c) The location shall not be open more than 30 hours per week and shall only be open between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. d) There shall be no outside lighting. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 72 of83 e) The applicant agrees to abide by the City of Milton's fence requirements in the Code of Ordinances. J 4. Consideration of RZ12-18 -To amend Chapter 64, Article VI, Division 2, AG-1 (Agricultural District) as it pertains to fencing. (Agenda Item No. 13-057) (First Presentation at March 4,2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March 11, 2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: You ready? Okay, Thank you Mr. Mayor. By way of some background, the Mayor and City Council approved changes to the AG-1 Agricultural District regarding fencing at their March 19,2012 meeting. These were in conjunction with amending regulations for barns. Since that time, it has come to the attention of the council that new fencing requirements may not be appropriate for all properties in the AG-l. Staff was directed by council to research how the zoning ordinance could be amended to allow for other types of fences. So, the first one in front of you is RZ 12-18 and this deals essentially with AG 1 zoned areas and what I have done here is broken down changes that we would propose for exterior streets, fronts of subdivision lots and then for side, side comer, and rear subdivision lots and side, comer, and rear of non-subdivision lots. And, essentially, I think, as we explained to you last week at J.. the work session is that we have given more flexibility for fencing keeping it, keeping the flexibility for . the fencing to a minimum on exterior streets but when you get to interior, subdivision streets, and to rear and side non-subdivision lots, we give much more flexibility in tenus of the design ofthe fences. And, so, this essentially represents the breakdown of this proposed ordinance text amendment to you all. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I know we've discussed this. Are there any questions on this? Councilmember Thurman: Are there any changes from what we went over in our work session? Kathy Field: No, there are not. Mayor Lockwood: I would like to wait one second for Councilmember Hewitt since he had brought this up originally, let him be here to vote. Did you have any questions on the fencing? Councilmember Hewitt: No, again, I appreciate you all looking into it and I think it has accomplishment what I was hoping for and what the residents brought up so, thank you. ] Mayor Lockwood: Okay, so then I will open it up for a motion. l l l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 73 of83 Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-057. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. Mayor Lockwood: Actually, you know what, that was a public hearing so I need to ask if there were any public comments? City Clerk Gordon: We have no public comments for any of the remaining zoning items. Mayor Lockwood: So, I'm going to close the public hearing. Do we need to vote on that again? Ken Jarrard, City Atrorney: I would prefer that. Mayor Lockwood: I think councilmember ... who made the motion? Councilmember Longoria: I did. Mayor Lockwood: Councilmember Longoria make a motion one more time. Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: Restate the motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-057. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 5. Consideration of RZ12-19-To amend Chapter 64, Article II, Division 8, as it pertains to fencing and walls. (Agenda Item No. 13-058) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March 1/, 2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Thank you Mr. Mayor. This text amendment applies to all the zoning districts within the city. Within this text amendment the goal is to clean up the general requirements for fencing and essentially what it does, is it incorporates all of the uses that we just covered under RZ12-18 plus it adds two others. Specifically, they are that it prohibits the use of chain linked fencing along right-of-ways with the exception of storm water facilities or recreational courts and lastly, prohibits the use of barbed wire with the exception of legitimate agricultural uses. And, there were no changes from our discussion of last week of this proposed text amendment. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 74 of83 Mayor Lockwood: And just to confirm, we don't have any public comment? City Clerk Gordon: We do not sir. Mayor Lockwood: I will close the public hearing on that. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Thurman moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-058. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 6. Consideration ofRZ13-02 -To amend Chapter 64, Zoning Ordinance, Article 1, in General, Sec. 64-1 Definitions. (Agenda Item No. 13-059) (First Presentation at March 4, 20J3 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March J J, 20J3) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes. Thank you Mr. Mayor. The previous two text amendments make reference to an exterior street and we need a definition of an exterior street so this amendment is to establish such a definition. Specifically, staff proposes the following: An exterior street means a street, either public or private, that is not located within a subdivision or final plat. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do we have any public comment? City Clerk Gordon: We do not sir. Mayor Lockwood: I will close the hearing. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-059. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 7. Consideration ofRZ13-03 -To delete Article VII, Division SA-Deerfield Plan of the Highway 9 Overlay District and concurrently adopt a new Article XX, DeerfieldIHighway 9 Form Based Code. (Agenda Item No. 13-060) ] J . J (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March J 1, 2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March IS, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 75 ofS3 Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Last week, we talked ... discussed the proposed fonn-based code for the Deerfield area and you had some comments and some requests for some modifications. Caleb Racicot is here to address those comments and modification requests to let you know where we stand. Councilmember Large is not here this evening and I did want to make a correction. He brought up the inquiry last meeting about whether or not that the city, through the purchase of Bell Park, could accrue some TDR credits as a result of that purchase and our consultant who were here that night said, well, we haven't passed the fonn-based code, therefore, you sort of put the cart before the horse in tenns of that purchase. But, after the meeting, we realized that indeed we had a TDR program established through the Crabapple Form-based code so you, indeed, can use and accrue some TDR credits for the purchase of Bell Park which can be sold on the open marketplace. So, I just wanted you to know that you have that. So, with that I would like to introduce Caleb. Caleb Racicot: There are some very, very minor changes so fortunately, I'm not going to speak a lot as I have a tendency to do in the past. Essentially, last week when we spoke we had talked about certain changes that were proposed to you. We have, in fact, put together a form-based code that makes all of the changes. Very quickly, the first significant change regards making townhomes a special use permit and that language has been incorporated into the code. In addition, as part of that, there was also language based on religious assembly. When staff looked at the use pennit section of the code, there was some concern that in T4, Open T5 and T6, which are again, the most urban that we were initially going to l make religious assembly a use permit. Those areas are primarily zoned commercial today. Religious assembly is not a use permit in those districts so staff recommended that we change those to by right so the new code reflects that. In addition, in Article 4-16.4, we had received a lot of comments from the Planning Commission about architectural treatment. Essentially, what we have proposed there in the version before you today is to establish a maximum articulation length of buildings of 200 feet and then a minimum length of twenty feet. The Planning Commission's concern was that you would have a building that broke it up for maybe five feet and didn't really achieve the articulation effect so, we have incorporated that. And, then, in addition, the Planning Commission had some concerns about single family homes. They wanted to allow stacked stone, so we have allowed stacked stone in the ordinance. They wanted to remove a specific reference to the hardy plank brand of cementitious siding so we have, in fact, removed that reference and put a speck for that type of siding. And, then, finally, they wanted to make clear that you could have enclosed porches as long as they weren't on the front of the building and we have also made that change. Finally, the only major change that we've also made is actually based on some indirect feedback from the comments that some of the council had. We have recommended creating a new definition for a child care center. You had asked previously about that, councilperson, and what we have proposed is that a child care center be a facility providing the care, protection, or supervision of children on a regular basis away from their residence. Child care centers specifically exclude kindergartens, pre-kindergartens, and similar facilities when such kindergartens, pre kindergartens, or similar facility is accredited by the Georgia Accreditation Commission. We wanted to make very clear that if you are accredited you are considered a school for the purpose of this code and would be subject to those use pennit requirements. So, that is a major change again based on some of the council's concern. Councilmember Thurman: But, I think that there was a question too on whether or not you had to still get a use permit and under certain T zones or if you were allowed by right, and we wanted to make sure you would have to get a l · -------------~-------~------- Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 76 of83 use permit because of the other restrictions that go along with what can be allowed close to a daycare J", facility or school. Caleb Racicot: As currently written now, you would have to get a, if you were accredited, you would have to get a use permit, regardless. If you were not accredited, let me just confirm before I answer that, this is in Table 10 which I am pulling up, if you are not accredited, it's late and I don't want to misspeak, if you are not accredited in T4 Open, T5, and T6, you are allowed by right. Councilmember Thurman: See, I think you need to have a use permit because you cannot have a restaurant next to a daycare if the restaurant serves alcohol, can it? Robyn MacDonald, Principal Planner: The code talks about schools and churches and that's why Caleb wrote it to require use permits for those daycare centers that have kindergarten ... Councilmember Thurman: So, if it is a true daycare center, then it is not a school and alcohol beverage licenses do not, restrictions do not apply to them. Robyn MacDonald, Principal Planner: Correct. So, it takes care of your question about distances with restaurants and use and all that. J Councilmember Thurman: Okay, because I would just hate to limit where you could put in a restaurant. Caleb Racicot: Well those ... So, that is that particular change. Now, the only other change that we have not responded to that we would actually need to have included this evening as an amendment which Kathy has is the issue of storm water facilities. Council had asked us to look at if we could work with the Public Works Department in coming up with an incentive for storm water. After looking at the shared storm water provisions, both in the metro region and what the practice was in Milton, we felt that it was not advisable to grant density bonuses for shared storm water facilities; however, we have proposed a new section, Section 4.8.4 which would read; the creation of shared storm water management facilities serving multiple properties is encouraged. It was really the best that we felt we could do without compromising the proposed TDR program and some of the other provisions of the code. So, that has been incorporated into the draft, or could be I should say, if you support that. Kathy has examples, or Kathy has an amendment that could be adopted concurrent with the code this evening. And, those are all the changes that we've made. Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any questions for Caleb? Ifnot, I will open up for a motion. J Motioll and Vote was stricken/rom the record/or Agenda Item No. 13-060 (RZJ3-03) because an opportunity for Public Hearing was not given at the meeting. The item will be heard agaill at the April 22, 2013 Regular Coullcil Meeting. l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 77 of83 8. Consideration of RZ13-04-To amend Article VII, Division 5, State Route 9 Overlay District, Section 64-1069(a), Regulations; applicability. (Agenda Item No. 13-061) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March 11, 2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes, thank you. This is, now that you have adopted the form-based code, we need to delete if from the map ofthe Route 9 Overlay District. And, so the map that you see attached in purple is, essentially, the remaining area outside of the Deerfield Form-Based Code area. So, that will remain as what's left, essentially of the Route 9 Overlay District. Councilmember Lusk: Have we captured every parcel in there to the best of your knowledge? Kathy Field: Yes, to the best of our knowledge. And, then this will be modified again should we move forward with the Route 9 North Corridor study. There will be further amendments to this map but right now this is the area that remains as the Route 9 Overlay. l Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do we have any public comments on this? Hearing none, I will close the hearing on that and open up for a motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-061. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 9. Consideration ofRZ13-0S -To adopt a new Use Permit within Article IX, Division 5, Miscellaneous Uses, Section 64-1839 -Apartments. (Agenda Item No. 13-062) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March 11,2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes, thank you. Mr. Mayor, both form-based codes that we have put in place now make reference to apartments by a use permit. We did not have standards in place for those apartments to be granted under a use permit and this is our proposed solution to that and you can see the standards that we have written for apartments. Mayor Lockwood: Okay, do we have any comments? l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 78 of83 City Clerk Gordon: ]We do not sir. Mayor Lockwood: Any questions, we might even ask, I see Mr. Hendricks is here. Would this have any input, or City Attorney, on our pending application next door that is in process? City Attorney Jarrard: It wouldn't have any, it is not going to have any impact with respect to that of any kind. Mayor Lockwood: All right, just asking. Any questions? I'll close the public hearing and up for a motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-062. Council member Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. 10. Consideration ofRZ13-06 To adopt the corrected City of Milton Zoning Map as indicated on the Geographical Information System (GIS) including all zoning actions prior to January 1,2013 J.. as shown on "Current Zoning Map Dated January 2013." (Agenda Item No. 13-063) (First Presentation at March 4, 2013 Regular Council Meeting) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes, Mr. Mayor, every year the staff checks all the zonings from the previous year and includes them on a new updated map and we do this on an annual basis and this is the annual update to the zoning map. Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any public comment? City Clerk Gordon: We do not, sir. Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any questions? Then, I will close the hearing on that and then ask for a motion or council discussion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-063. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. J Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 79 of83 l l L 11. Consideration of RZ13-07-To amend Article XIX Crabapple Form Based Code, Article 5 Standards and Tables, Table 9 Specific Function and Use. (Agenda Item No. 13-064) (First Presentation at March 4, 20J3 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at Work Session on March 11, 2013) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: Yes, thank you. Mr. Mayor, this is a housekeeping measure in the sense that the Crabapple Form-Based Code contemplated that Assisted Living, Convalescent Home, Personal Care Home, Nursing Home, and Hospices be permitted by right within certain transect zones; however, after the code was passed we found out that Table 9 within the code, which is the list of uses, did not include these proposed Assisted Living, Convalescent Home, etc. uses. So, what we are trying to do is just make the Table 9, which is the Table of Uses, consistent with the text of the Code. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do we have any public comment? City Clerk Gordon: We do not, sir. Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I'll close the public hearing. Any questions for ....? Okay, hearing none, do I have a motion and a second? Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-064. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. (END OF VERBATIM TRANSCRIPTION FOR ZONING AGENDA) UNFINISHED BUSINESS (None) NEW BUSINESS 1. Consideration ofa Professional Services Agreement between the City of Milton and Foresite Group, Inc. for Bell Memorial Park Master Plan Design and Construction Services. (Agenda Item No. 13-080) (Jim Cregge, Parks & Recreation Director) Jim Cregge, Parks and Recreation Director: Good evening Mayor and Council. I would like to take a minute and tell you about this contract that is before you. The contract has three tasks that we are seeking to fund at this time. The first one is the Master Planning and Public Involvement. The second is a three day fly through model of what becomes the final Master Plan. -. --- Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 80 of83 ---_._ The third task is a traffic study and intersection improvements recommendations. This work has a cost of$54,100.00. We will come back to you in approximately three to four months with a supplemental task order for the fourth task which is the creation of construction documents and construction management. We are handling the fourth task as a separate funding request as we will not know what that cost is until we have the Master Plan. A brief overview of this proposal. We released a request for qualifications on November 19th with a due date of December 20th. We received 20 responses. We put together a review team made up of Public Works, Finance, and Parks and Recreation. We also included a representative from the City of Roswell Parks and Recreation for an outside opinion. From there, we selected seven vendors to come in for a live one hour presentation. The selected vendor, Foresite Group, had the best combination of a clear understanding of our goals, recent local experience, and superior client references. Also, Foresite Group presented to us a fresh and innovative approach compared to their competitors. We believe that their difference will more closely match the innovative approach that the City of Milton brings to its service of its citizens. Councilmember Kunz: Good work on this. What was fresh and different about it, specifically, versus everyone else? Jim Cregge: Their ideas of using a 3-D fly through approach. Their ideas of some of the backdrops and backgrounds that they would put onto ball fields. The ideas that they presented of more use of social media. They were the ones that said, let's go out to the current ballpark and have one of our public meetings be at your ballpark where you are currently serving your citizens. They were the only group that thought of that. Councilmember Lusk: What other facilities have they designed in the area? Jim Cregge: They currently have a contract to do design demand services for Gwinnett County. They are currently working on several projects in Cherokee County and they are currently, I can speak to that, as it hasn't been awarded yet. There is another community very close to us getting ready to use them as well. Councilmember Lusk: How about completed projects in the area? Jim Cregge: They have a number of completed projects in the area and the information regarding those projects is in your packet. Councilmember Lusk: They have must have some conceptual budget in mind since their design documents and contract administration is going to be based on the total construction amount? What are we talking about in overall costs, construction costs and their design costs? J. J J' l Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 81 of83 Jim Cregge: First, if I may give a better answer to your previous question. One of the most recent facilities they completed is Bryson Park in Lilburn of which the Design Team went out and inspected their work to see what was done. Councilmember Lusk: What was the scope of that project? Jim Cregge: Civil engineering scope included permitting and construction administration for the new active park in Lilburn. It's a park of approximately 72 acres, roughly the size of what we are going to be doing. Councilmember Lusk: Do you know the overall cost on that? Jim Cregge: $11.5 million. And to answer your questions, listening to the projections and comparisons I have had, of course we don't have a design yet so we are not sure of what we are building, I think we should safely project that we are probably looking at about a $4 million project to re-do Bell Memorial Park, not counting any traffic or road improvements. l Councilmember Lusk: Does that include soft costs, design costs? Jim Cregge: I expect the design costs, the construction management and construction documents to be projected to come in at approximately $75,000 more. Councilmember Lusk: Who were the runners-up? Jim Cregge: Excuse me, Ken, am I allowed to answer that? City Attorney Jarrard: You are. Jim Cregge: The runner-up organization was Jacobs Engineering followed by URS and then followed by Loose and Associates. Councilmember Lusk: Major league players? Jim Cregge: Yes. l -~.-.---~------- Regular Meeting ofthe Milton City Council Monday, March 18, 2013 at 6:00 pm Page 82 of83 Mayor Lockwood: Any other questions? Jim, I know this is exciting, a lot of work putting that together. You have put a lot into it. We are excited. Mayor Lockwood: We can tell you were well studied. I will open it up for a motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve Agenda Item No. 13-080. Councilmember Kunz seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS Chris Lagerbloom: Mr. Mayor, can I inteIject, real quick. I just need to add something to the record here as you end the Zoning Agenda. There some question as to whether item No.7, which is RZ 13-03 was actually open for a public hearing and properly closed. The question is whether a public hearing mayor may not have occurred. We have staff on both sides of the table that remember it both ways so the only way I can clean it up is to look at it on the tape tomorrow to see if a public hearing was opened up. If it was not, my concern is that the attorney that was in the audience issued a letter today, potentially on one ofthe items he was here to speak on was that particular agenda item and you can see he is no longer here. If in fact, we didn't have a public hearing opened on that and then subsequently closed, we will re advertise and bring that forward again, just so that the public hearing component of adopting a zoning code can occur. We don't want to be traveling under a zoning code that didn't meet all of the criteria. Procedurally, we want to make sure we are correct. Mayor Lockwood: Anyone else, does council have anything they want to report on? If not, I'll open it up to the City Manager. Councilmember Kunz: I want to say that the library meeting went very well. We have a great group here. I think the people are very thrilled with what Fulton County is doing, as Karen Thurman alluded to earlier. It was a great conversation. The only thing that really came up on a regular basis was a traffic issue that was going to come up right in front it it which Karen and I are going to be meeting with one of the citizens specifically. Also we will try to get Carter Lucas to meet with him also. That was it. I think the citizens were very pleased. Councilmember Thurman: They want to know when the roundabout will be completed. Actually, the people at our district 3 Advisory Committee meeting this afternoon ... Liz had a copy of the Alpharetta library which had not gone out to public yet and was going to them at 5:00. It is very, very different from the Milton library and the comments from everybody at the meeting were "that really is a neat looking library." So, I think everybody was very happy that the library does look like a Milton library. ]".. J J • Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, March 18,2013 at 6:00 pm Page 83 of83 l STAFF REPORTS City Manager asked that we forego the Executive Session tonight due to the late hour. EXECUTIVE SESSION (None) Mayor and Council did not enter into an Executive Session. ADJOURNMENT (Agenda Item No. 13-81) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 10:40 p.m. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (6-0). Councilmember Large was absent. After no further discussion the Regular Council Meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m. Date Approved: April 8, 2013. l .,....--..." ./ \ \---.::::---lnn 6tzk Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe Locktod, Ma~l I l