HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - CC - 06/07/20211
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Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 1 of 63
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Lockwood: Good evening, I'd like to call the Regular Meeting of the Milton
City Council for Monday, June 7`t', 2021, to order. The city
[strongly recommends that you review tonight's agenda carefully
and if you wish to speak on any item on the agenda, then please
bring your comment cards to the City Clerk as soon as possible.
While the Milton rules allow a speaker to turn in their comment
card up until the clerk calls that agenda item, once the agenda item
is called, no more comment cards can be accepted. Would the City
Clerk please call role and make any announcements?
ROLL CALL
City Clerk: Good evening, Mayor and Council. I will be happy to call roll for
the June 7th, 2021, Regular Meeting. I would like to remind those
in attendance to please silence all cellphones at this time. Those
attending the meeting who would like to make a public comment,
you are required to complete a public comment card prior to
speaking on the item. Your comment card must be presented to the
City Clerk prior to the agenda item being called. All speakers,
please identify yourself by name, address and organization before
beginning your comment.
If you are representing and organization, an affidavit is required
stating you have the authority to speak on behalf of that
organization. Please review tonight's agenda and if you would like
to make a comment, please bring your comment card to me now.
Demonstration of any sort within the chamber is prohibited. Please
refrain from any applause, cheering, booing, outburst or dialogue
when any on person's speaking. Anyone in violation will be asked
to leave. As I call roll this evening, please confirm your
attendance. Mayor Joe Lockwood.
Mayor Lockwood: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Peyton Jamison.
Mr. Jamison: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Paul Moore.
Mr. Moore: Here.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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City Clerk: Councilmember Laura Bentley.
Ms. Bentley: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Carol Cookerly.
Ms. Cookerly: Here.
City Clerk: Councilmember Joe Longoria.
Mr. Longoria: . Here.
City Clerk: And Councilmember Rick Mohrig.
Mr. Mohrig: Here.
Mayor: Mayor Lockwood present.
Councilmembers Present: Councilmember Peyton Jamison, Councilmember
Paul Moore, Councilmember Laura Bentley, Councilmember Carol Cookerly,
Councilmember Joe Longoria, and Councilmember Rick Mohrig.
Councilmember(s) Absent:
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
City Clerk: Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chamber: I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America, and
to the republic, for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA
Mayor Lockwood: Good evening. I want to welcome everybody here tonight. And uh,
just on a little personal not if — if I look like I'm standing pretty
stiff and maybe in a lot of pain, it might be because I am because I
cracked four ribs and tore my verte — or cartilage in my chest
yesterday. I'm maybe standing a little stiff. It hurts when I move.
But uh, thank you guys for being here and uh, look forward to
hearing uh, all items that you guys were interested in. Tammy, if
you'll please call the next item.
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Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 3 of 63
City Clerk: That next item is, Approval of Meeting Agenda, Agenda Item No.
21-172.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I'd like to see if we can move the new business items to
procedural reports and presentations. Um, is there anything else on
the agenda? Any changes staff or council would have? Okay. I'll
open up for a motion on the agenda.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve the agenda as
amended.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval, and I believe a second was
from Councilmember Moore. All in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the Meeting
Agenda with the following amendments:
• Move up the New Business items to proceed Reports & Presentations.
Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay. Next item is public comment. And
general public comment is a time for citizens to share information
with the mayor and city council and to provide input and opinions
on any matter that is not scheduled for its own public hearing
during today's meeting. Each citizen who chooses to participate in
public comment, must complete a comment card and submit it to
our city clerk or raise your hand if you are attending virtually, prior
to the agenda item being called. Please remember, this is not a time
to engage the mayor or city council in conversation.
When your name is called, please come forward, unmute yourself
if y — you're virtual and speak into the microphone, stating your
name and address for the record. You'll have five minutes for
remarks. The city encourages you to review the agenda and if you
wish to speak, bring your comment cards to the clerk or raise your
hand virtually right now. All right, Tammy? Do we have any
public comment?
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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City Clerk: We do, Mayor. We have three. Our first general comment is Felix
Zents, if you will come to the podium, please. And as a reminder
just state your name and your address, please.
Mr. Zents: Thank you very much for allowing me to speak. My name is Felix
Zents and I live at 800 Hopewell Place Drive in Milton, Georgia.
My residence is directly beside Hopewell Road. Since I moved in,
in 2011, there's been a lot of excessive speeding going north and
south on Hopewell Road. Uh, there has been three accidents since
2011 at the intersection of Hopewell Road and Hopewell Place
Drive. There's also been one accident and uh, in late 2017 or '18 at
Plantation Drive and Hopewell Road. Uh, couple of times, the
Milton Police were parked at the intersection at night, at Hopewell
Place Drive and Hopewell Road.
Uh, FYI, there's also a meeting tonight at Alpharetta City Hall
regarding peace watch, where they're going to discuss a uh,
possible roundabout at the intersection of Vaughn and uh, at the
beginning of Hopewell Road. Uh, and since my uh, my residence
is directly beside Hopewell. Road. So, I see a lot of speeding
occurring. Sometimes in the morning, during morning rush hour.
Sometimes in the afternoon at morning rush hour. And a lot of
times in uh, later evenings and on the weekend.
Uh, where I live, if I have to make a left to go down towards
Alpharetta, it's kind of a blind spot and I have to creep up into the
intersection just to see who's coming north in order for me to make
a left-hand turn and go south. Uh, you know, I don't know if this
has been brought up before, but I wanted to attend here to uh, at
least uh, make it known of the situation. I mean, I don't know what
can be done. Uh, but you know, it's uh, to me, you know, I — I
know that the ambulances go back and forth and they're pretty fast
and I understand that. But this — this is not ambulance, fire or
police. So, that's it.
City Clerk: Thank you, very much.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you very much and uh, obviously the public safety and
public works will duly note those comments.
City Clerk: Mayor, our next comment is Ms. Kathy Cobb. If you'll please
come forward to the podium.
Ms. Cobb: Good evening. I have laryngitis. It's gonna be very hard for me to
speak. But I have been a resident of Alpharetta since 1987 and I
watched this city really bloom. I've inaugurated the City of Milton
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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with my horses when they became a city. And that's what this
town is about, I thought, was for the horses. And I used to take big
groups to go ridin', you know, back up on the dirt roads. You can't
do that anymore. Uh, there's so many speeding — so many speed
people out there, it's dangerous. I can't even walk across my street.
I can't get outta my driveway. Pamelot got people parking in my
facility with no permission.
Why is it right for people to come up and park at my house when
they don't have my permission? I've been — I — my — I've been
havin' to call the cops because I've had my trailer tags stolen. I've
had my vehicles vandalized. My horses have been injured. You
just don't know what I been through. And never anything like this
has ever happened since I lived here. And I love this town and this
stuff — kinda thing's gotta stop. I've got little kids that might be out
on the driveway at midnight. My d — granddaughter's 13, she likes
to talk on her phone. Well, what am I supposed to do when some
idiot comes whippin' in there and parks in my driveway and we
don't even know him?
And just to mention, the speeders and the trouble it's causin' with
my animals, they're not expectin' anybody that time of hour. It's
just not right that somebody like this can just carry on and carry
on. And then all of a sudden, I get these reports of my website is
stolen. That they're using my location as her location. Saying I'm
training — I am a trainer of horses and have been for 50 years. And
I've never trained anywhere but my farm. And now some kid
comes and tells me I'm training at Pamelot. I do not train at
Pamelot. And would never train at Pamelot, the way they treat
their animals.
Those are the skinniest animals I've ever seen. They don't get
taken care of. I don't even wanna be associated with it. But the two
big thing — three big things, are speeders I can't get outta my
driveway. People are parking illegally on my farm; I live at 13940
Hopewell Road. And since this lady has started her business up,
I've got so many incidents at my property, it's not funny. You can
call it the City of Milton, or you can call it the City of Alpharetta,
can look up every incident that is associated with something weird.
People are vandalizing my house.
This is insane. Plus, to mention the fact, I can't have a party on a
Saturday Night. When her music is so loud, I can't hear over her
music. And I get in trouble, somebody pulls up, Ms. Cobb. Your
band's too loud. Ms. Cobb, your music's too loud. Well, what
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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about her's? I mean, is she the princess of Milton? This is really
wrong. Yeah.
Mayor Lockwood: Ms. Cobb, can you — thank you for your comments. Do you mind,
you stated your address and, uh —
Ms. Cobb: Yes, my address is 13940 Hopewell Road.
Mayor Lockwood: And state your name too, just for the record.
Mr. Cobb: Katherine Anne Cobb. Kathy, to you, Kathy Cobb.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you.
Ms. Cobb: And I started western riding in this town. And I will continue,
because she's not runnin' me out. This is wrong.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, very much.
City Clerk: That completes our general, Mayor.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Then we'll move on to our consent agenda. And if you'll
please call the items.
City Clerk: Thank you, Mayor. That first item is Approval of a Construction
Services Agreement between the City of Milton and Vertical Earth
Inc for Hopewell Road, Bethany Bend, Bethany Way Intersection
Improvement Project. Agenda Item No. 21-173.
Our next item, Approval of a Construction Services Agreement
between the City of Milton and Triscapes Inc for Cart Path
Removal and Trail Construction at Former Milton Country Club.
Agenda Item No. 21-174.
Our third item, Approval of Grant Funding from the State of
Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, known as a CJCC,
for Use of Force and De-escalation Training, Agenda Item No. 21-
175.
Our fourth and final consent agenda is Approval of a Subdivision
Plat and Revision. It's located at Big Ten Farm at 2535 and 2545
Hopewell Road. Land Lot 678 is District 2, Section 2. It's a minor
plat subdividing one parcel into two tracts. A total of 4.303 acres
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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with a density of 1.46 lots per acre. Agenda Item No. 21-176.
Mayor?
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I'll open up a motion on the consent agenda.
Mr. Mohrig: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve consent agenda as
read.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I've got a motion from Councilmember Morg with a second
from Councilmember Kirkley for approval on the consent agenda.
All in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to approve the Consent
Agenda as read. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the
motion. The motion passed (7-0).
REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay. We'll move on to Reports and
Presentations.
City Clerk: Thank you, Mayor. That re — that item, it's proclamation and
recognition of the Milton Police Department Chief's Advisory
Board for Excellence and Service to Our Community.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Before uh, before I read this proclamation and present it, I'd
like to uh, recognize our Police Chief, Rich Austin and uh, uh,
welcome Chief Austin to say a few words.
Chief Austin: Thank you, Mayor. Amongst COVID last year, also a very difficult
time was with law enforcement within our country. And
fortunately, we have a very great group of police officers in Milton
and I'm very humbled to serve in the capacity as the police chief
for the city. But the difficulties over the last summer prompted a
lot of very productive conversations. And I had some very — some
very good conversation with community members of our citizenry.
And I had some folks that I wanted to serve at a deeper level. And
so something that I had been wanting to do since coming to Milton
was develop a Chief's Advisory Board, just to hear counsel from
several members of a — a wide cross section of our community.
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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And so, the board kind of organically came together and we have
been meeting weekly since shortly after last summer. And they
have been instrumental in helping me to — to vet initiatives and just
to be a sounding board as we best chart a path forward how to
serve our community citizens. So, I appreciate their excellence and
what they have done for me and for our police department as they
have helped us to fulfill our mission, vision and values. Okay.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, Chief. Okay. I'm proud to present this proclamation
for recognition of the Milton Police Department Chiefs Advisory
Board for Excellence in Service to Our Community. Whereas the
City of Milton Police Department understands the vital importance
of engaging with our community. And whereas, the City of Milton
Police Department invites regular and meaningful dialogue, with a
wide cross section of citizens, who through their contribution, can
help the department best fulfill its mission value — miss — mission
vision and values.
And whereas, as part of efforts to be productive and innovative in
— in its engagement, the Milton Police Department implemented a
Chief s Advisory Board. And whereas, the Milton Police Chief's
Advisor Board has provided critical feedback, enacted as a sound
and board for the Chief of Police in the matters of police initiatives
and activities. And whereas, members of the Milton Police Chief's
Advisory Board serve as ambassadors for the Milton Police
Department to facilitate accurate, meaningful communication.
Whereas this relationship can serve efforts to reduce and prevent
crime, to protect life and property and to enhance the quality of life
in Milton.
And whereas, Chief's Advisory Board volunteers have given freely
of their time and perspective in order to help the Chief of Police
fulfill the department's goal of continual, exceptional service to
our citizens. Now therefore, we, the Mayor and the City Council of
the City of Milton, hereby proclaim and recognize the Milton
Police Department's Chief s Advisory Board members for their
selfless volunteer services to our police department and our
community. And this is given under our hand and seal of the City
of Milton Georgia on the 7' day of June 2021. And if I could have
those members step forward and, Chief?
Chief Austin: Thank you. If I could have Mark Amick. Andrea Bartels. Barry
Cohen. Amy Donnelly. Marilee Hamilton. Hub Kelsh. And
Camilla Worrell. Ms. Deborah Jones could not be with us this
evening, although her husband Raymond is in the audience tonight.
[No dictation] [00:18:45 - 00:19:491 Thank you, Mayor. Just in
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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addition of, we're gonna go over and have some dinner and our
meeting and they will also be receiving the Chief's Award for
Excellence for their service.
Mayor Lockwood: Great. Great. And I — I just wanna thank you Chief Austin and —
and everybody here tonight that we presented with this
proclamation. I never want to lose an opportunity to just shout out
our — our public safety and always try to remember everybody, that
these are the guys that get up every morning and go to work,
willing to put their lives on the line to keep us, even if we're a
stranger safe. And so, you folks that've helped out here, you're
helping support those guys, so we appreciate everything. So, thank
you very much.
Chief Austin: Thank you.
NEW BUSINESS
Mayor Lockwood: All right. If you remember, we moved our new business items up
in our agenda, so if our City Clerk would please, call those items.
City Clerk: That first item is Consideration of an Amended Emergency
Ordinance of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton,
Georgia. Under Section 3.18 of the Charter of the City of Milton,
Georgia to Provide for the Operation of the City of Milton during
the Public Emergency known as the Novel Coronavirus Disease
2019 Global Pandemic, to Become Effective as Stated to
Supersede the Existing Emergency Ordinance and for Other
Purposes, Agenda Item No. 21-177. City Attorney, Mr. Ken
Jarrard.
Mr. Jarrard: Mr. Mayor, members of the council, I know that you are intimately
familiar with this ordinance at this point. This is simply yet again,
another 30 -day extension as we attempt to run out emergency
declaration co -terminates with the Governor's Emergency
Declaration. Uh, there may be light at the end of the tunnel soon.
We may actually come out of this at a statewide basis. Of course,
that will likewise termini — terminate hours.
We do this and have continued to enact this over and over and over
again, simply out of an abundance of caution to ensure if there is
any particular funding initiatives that're based upon a locally
declared emergency, that we don't forgo those. And that has been
the primary basis for this, particularly at this point, Mr. Mayor.
And it may — we may be at some point where the city and city staff
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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get together and just decide that we may need to come out of it
anyway. But right now, I still think it is the cautious approach to
continue to extend it.
Male Speaker: Okay. Are there any questions for Ken?
Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any public comment on this?
City Clerk: We do not, Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Then I'll — I'll open up for a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I'd like to rnake a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 21-
177.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Bentley
with a second from Councilmember Moore. All in favor, please
say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve Agenda Item No.
21-177. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay. Tammy, if you'll please sound the next
item.
City Clerk: And that next item is Consideration of a Resolution Authorizing
Disposition of Certain Golf Cart Easements within the Former
Milton Country Club Property. It's Agenda Item No. 21-178. Our
acting Public Works Director, Ms. Sara Leaders.
Ms. Leaders: Thank you, good evening. In April of 2019, a resolution was
approved that authorized the disposition of uh, 22 lots, the golf cart
path easements on 22 lots. And as we were developing plans for
Phase 1, which has now been awarded for construction. Uh, we
realized there were four lots that the cart path existed on that didn't
have easements. Um, so this — this resolution would authorize to
dispose of those easements once the cart paths are removed and the
um, ground is stabilized once construction is complete.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, any questions for Sara on that? Do we have any public
comment on this item?
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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City Clerk: We do not, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Um, then I'll open up for a motion.
Mr. Mohrig: Mr. Mayor, I make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 21-178.
Ms. Cookerly: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Um, I have a motion from Councilmember Moore with a
second from Councilmember Cookerly. All in favor, please say,
aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Moore moved to approve Agenda Item No.
21-178. Councilmember Cookerly seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-
0).
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay, Tammy. If you'll please call the next
item.
City Clerk: That next item is Consideration of the Issuance of an Alcohol
Beverage License to Billy Allen's, located at 3000 Heritage Walk,
Suite 201, Milton, Georgia. Agenda Item No. 21-179. Ms.
Bernadette Harvell.
Ms. Harvill: [Inaudible] [00:24:34] food restaurant — Here I am. Which means
that they have a 70-30 ration between sales from food and sales —
or sales from alcohol versus sales from food. So, they will not be
able to serve on Sundays. They are in compliance, and we
recommend approval.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Are there any public comment on this?
City Clerk: No, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, are there any questions from council? Then I'll open up for
a motion.
Ms. Cookerly: Mr. Mayor, I recommend we approve Agenda Item No. 21-179 as
read.
Mr. Mohrig: Second.
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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Mayor Lockwood: Okay, 1 have uh, a motion for approval from Councilmember
Cookerly with a second from Councilmember Mohrig. All in
favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Cookerly moved to approve Agenda Item
No. 21-179. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed
(7-0).
Mayor Lockwood:
It's unanimous. Thank you.
Ms. Harvill:
Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood:
All right, if City Clerk would please sound the final new business
item.
City Clerk:
That final item is, Consideration of the Issuance of an Alcohol
Beverage License to Milton and Mane LLC. Located at 15800
Birmingham Highway, Suite 601 in Milton. Agenda Item No. 21-
Bernadette:
180. Ms. Bernadette Harvell.
Milton and Mane is an establishment in the Birmingham Crossroad
area. They will be having an application for an incidental service
license. Again, you may recall this license has parameters around it
prohibiting any more than 16 ounces of wine or 24 ounces of beer
to be served to an individual patron in any given day. They also
have a restriction to spend no more than two percent of their gross
receipts on alcohol. And they can only give it away, there will be
no sales. They are in compliance and staff recommends approval.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Do we have any public comment on that, Tammy?
City Clerk: We do not, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: All right. Any questions from Council? We'll open up for a
motion.
Ms. Jamison: Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 21-
180.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Jamison
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with a second from Councilmember Moore. All in favor, please
say, aye.
Councilmembers: Ave.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jamison moved to approve Agenda Item No.
21-180. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood:
Ms. Harvill:
That's unanimous.
Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thanks, Bernadette. If the City Clerk will please sound the final
new business item.
City Clerk: That was, sir. That was the final.
ZONING AGENDA
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. I'm sorry. So, we don't have any — first presentation for
public hearing, so we're gonna move onto our — our zoning
agenda, if the City Clerk will please read the rules, the zoning rules
and sound that item.
City Clerk: Thank you, Mayor. The zoning agenda does include items like
rezoning petitions, modifications of zoning, use permits and
associated concurrent variances. In addition to ordinances,
resolutions and text amendments, I would like to acquaint you with
some of the rules and procedures for this meeting, which includes a
zoning agenda. The applicant, and all those speaking in support of
an application, will be allowed a total of 10 minutes to present the
petition. The opposition will also be allowed a total of 10 minutes
to present its position. If time remains, the opposition will be
allowed to review it. The applicant may choose to save some time
for rebuke — rebuttal following the presentation by the opposition.
Since the burden of proof is upon the applicant, the applicant. The
applicant will be allowed to make closing remarks, provided time
remains within the allotted time. Those called to speak, you'll be
taken in order the speaker cards were received by the city clerk
prior to the beginning of tonight's meeting. All speakers will
identify themselves by name, address and organization before
beginning their presentation.
The Planning Commission has heard the rezoning agenda items
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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and their recommendations have been forwarded to the mayor and
city council for consideration and disposition. The applicant should
— shall not submit material to the council during this meeting
unless requested to do so. All material that you wish to be
reviewed by the council in consideration of your application
should have already been submitted to the Community
Development Department and is included in the normal
distribution of packages to the council. When an opponent of a
rezoning action has made within two years, immediately preceding
the filing of the rezoning action being opposed.
Campaign contributions aggregating $250.00 or more to a local
government official of the local government which will consider
the application, it shall be the duty of the opponent to file a
disclosure with the govering — governing authority of the
respective local government, at least five days prior to the Planning
Commission Meeting. A violation to relevant state statute
constitutes a misdemeanor. Therefore, if you have contributed
$250.00 or more to a councilmember and you have not filed a
disclosure prior to the Planning Commission Meeting, the city
attorney strongly suggests that you have someone else speak for
your point of view.
Our first zoning item this evening is Consideration of Zoning Text
Amendment RZ21-05, Section 64 Article XIX Crabapple Form
Based Code, 6-1, Definitions Table 9, as it relates to breweries and
distilleries. Agenda Item No. 21-157. Mayor Lockwood.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, do we have any who's going to present this? Or...
City Clerk: Robyn.
Mayor Lockwood: Robyn?
Ms. MacDonald: Good evening, Mayor and City Council. Um, so this item — these
series of three items U21-01, U21-01 and U 21-03 of the last one,
03, the applicant. Um, oh I'm sorry.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah.
Ms. MacDonald: We're doing the —
Mayor Lockwood: It's the text amendment.
Ms. MacDonald: Text amendments, I'm sorry. I have my assistant, Sarah. I'm sorry,
excuse me.
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Mayor Lockwood: I'm sorry, I had Bob's name on here, so I got — messing you guys
up.
Ms. LaDart: Okay. Put that up on the console screens. Okay. Good evening,
Mayor and Council. We are back before council with text
amendments relating to breweries, microbreweries, distilleries and
micro -distilleries in Crabapple and Deerfield. We first brought this
to council for input in February. Took that to CZIM and then to
Planning Commission. Which unanimously voted to recommend
approval. And first presentation was at the last council meeting.
We recommend adding breweries... We recommend adding
breweries, microbreweries, distilleries and micro -distilleries as
definitions in the Crabapple and Deerfield form -based codes.
And add, as uses allow by warrant and T4 open and T5 in
Crabapple. And then T4 open, T5 and T6 in Deerfield. Um, this
will ensure proper oversight by our community development
department, while not creating undue hardship for the new
businesses. Applicants would be required to submit the same
information and pay the same fees as if they were applying for an
administrative variance. Giving professional oversight to the
community development director and giving him or her the
responsibility to determine if the use in the land is appropriate.
Thank you. Are there any questions for staff?
Mayor Lockwood: Any questions?
Mr. Jamison: I have one. How does this affect the one that's supposed to be
coming into Crabapple?
Ms. LaDart: So, the one is already in T5, which is — light industrial is already
allowed by warrant, which is considered light industrial. We're just
calling it out specifically.
Mr. Jamison: Okay.
Mayor Lockwood: Paul?
Mr. Moore: Sarah, in reading the information for tonight, I noticed one of the
things that was changed was a recommendation what we move to a
two-year core license under this as well instead of a one year?
Ms. LaDart: That was changed before.
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Mr. Moore: Okay. Just wanted to confirm. What — what's the rationale behind
that?
Ms. LaDart: So, the core license were the individual server, so the — the
manager still has to get that annually. But it's keeping in mind that,
in general, a server is going to have to take time off to go get
fingerprinted and to do all of these things. So, it's just in
consideration of the server.
Mr. Moore: So, the — so, a restaurant though, still has a one-year core license
for their servers?
Ms. LaDart: Yes. The owner and the registered agents...
Ms. MacDonald: Owners, managers, any of their officials and the registered license
agents.
Mr. Moore: So, is it more of a burden for one than another? Why wouldn't it be
the same?
Ms. LaDart: To keep — yes, we are removing the burden for that hourly worker,
the server. Of going in every year to get fingerprinted.
Mr. Moore: Yeah, but you understand my point?
Ms. LaDart: Yes.
Mr. Moore: One — it's one way for a restaurant. When it's another for the
brewery and distilleries —
Ms. LaDart: Oh.
Ms. MacDonald: Yeah — oh, every establishment would have their owners and all of
their managers, their officials if they're um, have any chief
officials. Their licensee or registered agent, no matter what type of
establishment they are. It's the serving staff that's just literally
taking their order that would have the two-year license, in any
establishment.
Mr. Moore: All those? Okay.
Ms. LaDart: Yes. Sorry.
Mr. Moore: I appreciate the clarification.
Ms. LaDart: I misunderstood that question.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Laura?
Ms. Bentley: Just a question for staff. As far as the warrant. How — how many
breweries do we envision for Crabapple of Deerfield? Is there a
percentage? I mean, I have a concern with an open laudio cuts
out] 100:34:291 unrestricted, no conditions, place that on the
community development director. I mean, I love Bob but, you
know, at some point, as we're merging Chapter 4 with our land
use. I, you know, have some concerns.
Mr. Krokoff: Opposite of what you have from our traditional, I think more
Euclidian zoning. So, the — the benefit of having — having it as —
under a warrant um and having the many criteria that — that's listed
gives the authority to the — the Director of Community
Development to determine when we've hit that threshold. Bob and
I actually just had this conversation just before I came in here, so
it's great to hear that it's coming up in conversation now.
What I recommended to Bob as the Community Development
Director, that this should be a regular topic of conversation, when
we come before work sessions and council. So, we as a — you as
the leaders of the city can determine when you think we maybe
have too much of one use or we need more of another use. Because
that's really what form -based code is based on. The different uses.
Ms. Bentley: So — so, it's somewhat fluid. So, it's subject to change as well?
Mr. Krokoff: It's subject to the — to how the council feels. At what point have
you hit too many of anything. And that's the — when you use —
when you look at form -based code, it's more about he design as
you know than it is the use. And if you start seeing more micro -
distilleries and microbreweries than you're comfortable with, that
would be the time to communicate with Bob. Say, I think we've
got enough and when you — uh, as — as some of the requirements
on it would be impact on the neighborhood. You'd be able to use
that to determine no, I'm not gonna — there'll be no more warrants
for that in — in those zones. I don't know if that helps.
Ms. Bentley: Because I mean, do you — for example, do breweries um, typically
have live music and outdoor, you know um, events like that? I —
I'm thinking about the mix of uses that we're envisioning for
Deerfield. And having residents, you know, over um, you know, a
brewery. So, I just wanna make sure that, you know, we're
thinking about all of the different uses merging with alcohol and
um, you know, and let's be honest, we have — we have our first
farm winery, and we are living some — some growing pains with it.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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And I just wanna make sure that we think ahead and make sure
that as — as long as we have the ability to change. Um, and it
doesn't put uh, undue pressure on our community development
director. That we can have a work session and say, we're seeing
too many um, breweries or whatever. Distilleries. Because it's my
understanding that, you know, there — there — we've relaxed the
food percentage and we are now offering package beer and spirits
out of those, as well, is that right?
Ms. LaDart: Out of the 70-30? Not packaged liquor. They can get an additional
license to sell like, a to go bottle of wine. But they can't sell a to go
bottle of tequila.
Ms. Bentley:
Okay. What about beer?
Ms. LaDart:
Beer, yes.
Ms. Bentley:
Okay. Those — those are my questions. I just — as long as um, the
community development director we have, the council has the
ability to convene and reassess um, what the mix is, if there's no
set percentages of breweries and distilleries in Crabapple and
Deerfield.
Mr. Krokoff.
It should be a regular topic of conversation as we build out. And
the conversation that Bob and I had today, you know, it's kind of a
different animal when you're filling an entire downtown all at the
same time. Um, and you're having all the different uses, new uses,
coming in at the same time. What's the correct mix of any type of
use? What creates that vibrant downtown? I know that — that no
one here is looking for a Bourbon Street type environment. Um, at
the same time uh, we wanna make sure we have the right mix to —
to be able to keep the place vibrant at 3:00 and — and at 8:00. Um,
we don't have the exact mix.
But uh, I think that we as a community will be able to feel when
we're hitting that point. And then uh, the way I've equated it and
Ken could correct me if I'm wrong, Bob has uh, it's actually a
significant amount of authority with that warrant. Almost like —
almost as if he was evaluating use permit on his own. Um, to
determine whether or not uh, that is a good fit. And not only that,
but to be able to create the conditions.
Let's say we're looking at a uh, at one use in one location that's
nowhere near any residences. Maybe that place can stay open until
11:00. But another one that backs up to — to uh, maybe a handful of
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Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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Page 19 of 63
residences, maybe that is not an 11:00 establishment. That's the
way I'm reading it as far as — as the authority that would be vested
in our community development director.
Mr. Jamison: Just a follow up to that. Thanks, Steve. That was one of the things I
realized I wanted to go back and clarify was hours of operation.
So, if I heard you correctly just now, we can measure that both
individually based on the establishment and what the experience is.
If it's an hours of operations thing that appears to be imposing a
hardship on the nearby residents, we have the ability to revisit that,
even if the original warrant suggested they could go until 11:00. If
that's too late, it could actually be adjusted by the Director of
Community Development? Or would it be adjusted by council?
Uh, maybe that's too deep — deep in the woods for today. But we
have the ability to address, is that I guess the right one...?
Mr. Jarrard: Always. Council always has the final word if something's not
functioning appropriately, you have the right to reign it in.
Mr. Jamison: Same thing with sound — sound levels um, because the — the
vibrance may be too much if it's a residential area.
Mr. Jarrard: We can go back and address that later.
Mr. Krokoff: Conversely, the Community Development Director can determine
that — that music may not be appropriate to the venue. Whether in —
inside or outside.
Mr. Jamison: Which leads me to one more question. Sarah, again in reading,
wasn't the definition as to why we remove the restriction on the —
on happy hour, we — we lifted restrictions on the happy hours
according to what I was reading about uh, all three of these. The
microbreweries, the uh, distilleries and um, uh, craft.
Ms. LaDart: We did that a while ago with the —
Mr. Krokoff: Yeah, we did.
Ms. LaDart: Okay. Um, we removed them because there was nobody, I mean, I
don't really remember. There was a reason.
Mr. Jamison: That's okay. It's not something you have to answer tonight if you
don't know the answer.
Ms. LaDart: Okay, I will find that slide and explain that to you.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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Mr. Jamison: That's a follow up I look forward to.
Ms. LaDart: Okay.
Mr. Krokoff: I think the state removed the — I don't remember exactly, but I
thought it was because the state removed certain require —
regulations there, but it's been a little while since —
Mr. Jamison: And happy hours can mean a lot of different things.
Ms. LaDart: Right.
Mr. Jamison: It could mean, you know, an event in terms of something festive
Where they're planning a theme. It can mean uh, drink specials
where there's multiple drinks for a period of time. It can mean
outside versus inside activities. It might be surrounding a cornhole
event or it might be dart throwing or axe throwing. I mean, the
things that we're seeing as part of, you know, today's um, event, I
guess recreation, adult entertainment — adult activities in — in those
kinds of settings. And so, I was interested in the fact that we lifted
that at a point in time. I just wanted to make sure that we
understand the parameters.
Ms. LaDart: Okay, I will get that to you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Any other questions? Do we have any public comment on
this?
City Clerk: I do not, Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Then I'll close the hearing part of that and uh, open up for a
motion on the first one.
Mr. Jamison: Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 21-
157.
Mr. Longoria: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. And I have a motion from Councilmember Jamison with a
second from Councilmember Longoria. All in favor, please say,
aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
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Motion and Vote: Councilmember Jamison moved to approve Agenda Item No.
21-157. Councilmember Longoria seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-
0).
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay. Uh Tammy, if you'd please sound the
next item.
City Clerk: The second item is consideration of Zoning Text Amendment
RZ21-06 of Section 64, Article 20. Deerfield Form Base Code 6-1,
Definitions Table 10. Agenda Item No. 21-158. Ms. Sarah LeDart.
Ms. LaDart: That's the same presentation.
Mayor Lockwood: Any questions or any public comment?
City Clerk: I do not, Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: I'll close the hearing and open this up for uh, motion.
Mr. Longoria: Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Yes, sir?
Mr. Longoria: I move that we approve Agenda Item No. 21-158.
Mr. Mohrig: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Longoria
with a second from Councilmember Mohrig. All in favor, please
say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve Agenda Item
No. 21-158. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed
(7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: That's unanimous. Okay. If our clerk would please sound the next
item.
City Clerk: Our third item, consideration of RZ21-07 at 14140 Freemanville
Road, vie — via Hopewell to rezone from AGI to CUP known as
community unit plan. A 9.079 acres to develop a six lot, single
family residential subdivision. Applicant has requested withdrawal
in planning commission. Recommended withdrawal. Agenda Item
No. 21-159. Robyn?
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Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 22 of 63
Ms. MacDonald: I'm up here at the correct time, I believe. Again, just to reiterate
what the item explained. This proposed rezoning from AGI to
CUP. The applicant has requested for a withdrawal. At the
planning commission last month, they also made a
recommendation for withdrawal. So, this is before you as well. To
conclude and finish out this process.
Mayor Lockwood: Any questions for Robyn on this? Okay.
City Clerk: No, Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Do we have any public comment?
City Clerk: We do not, Mayor.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. We'll close the hearing and I'll open up for a motion.
Ms. Bentley: Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve Agenda Item No. 21-
159.
Mr. Moore: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for approval from Councilmember Bentley.
Mr. Moore: Just approving the withdrawal.
Mayor Lockwood: Approving the withdrawal. We're clear on that? Yeah. Okay. So, I
have a motion from Councilmember Bentley approving the
withdrawal and a second from Councilmember Moore. Okay.
Second. So, all in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Bentley moved to approve the withdrawl of
Agenda Item No. 21-159. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The
motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, that's unanimous. Okay, if the city clerk will please sound
the next item.
City Clerk: Thank you, Mayor. That item is consideration of U21-01, VC21-
03. At 2105 Bethany Way for a total of 18.07 acres by the PFAJ
Revocable Trust, dated 2/17/2019, to request a use permit for
agriculture related activities. Section 64-1797 and a two-part
concurrent variance. No. 1.) To allow the existing parking areas,
with pavilion, horse arenas and driveways within the 100 -foot
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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activity setback. Section 64-1797D. No. 2.) To allow the structures
housing animals to be located within 100 feet of a property line.
Section 64-1797E. Agenda Item No. 21-160. The next item is
consideration of U21-02 at 2105 Bethany Way.
It's containing multiple parcels for a total of 18.07 acres by the
PFAF Revocable trust, dated 2/17/19, to request a use permit for
rural event facility. Section 64-1842. Agenda Item No. 21-161.
Final item is consideration of U21-03, VC21-04 at 2105 Bethany
Way for a total of 18.07 acres by the PFAJ Revocable Trust, dated
2/17/2019 to request a use permit for festivals or events. Indoor,
outdoor, Section 64-1812. And the following seven -part concurrent
variance. No. 1.) To delete the requirement for an 8 -foot high,
100% opaque fence adjacent to residential districts or AGI
districts used for single family dwellings.
Section 64-181B2. No. 2.) To allow the existing parking within the
100 feet from a residential district, or AGI districts used for single
family dwellings. Section 64-1812134. No. 3.) To eliminate the
three-year period from the date of the city council's approval.
Section 64-1812136. No. 4.) To allow the 10 -foot -wide strip along
all public streets to be planted with the existing landscaping
vegetation along Bethany Way and Hopewell Road. Section 64-
1142A1. No. 5.) To reduce, or eliminate, the 75 -foot -wide
undisturbed buffer or alternative screening design with a 10 -foot
improvement setback adjacent to a AGI Zoning District.
Where existing structures, driveways, activity areas and parking
are shown on the site plan. Section 64-1142A3B. No. 6.) To
eliminate sidewalks along Bethany Way and Hopewell Road.
Section 64-1142E. And finally, No. 7.) To allow for lighting plan
without light pole installation. Section 64-1142F. Agenda Item No.
21-162. City Attorney, Mr. Ken Jarrard.
Mr. Jarrard: Mr. Mayor and members of the council. Thank you very much and
thank you Madame Clerk for reading these under a single tab. So,
let me, if I can, sort of advise the council as to where we are this
evening. The applicant uh, with respect to these three -use permit
uh, agenda items has made uh, a series of requests. Uh, the first
request is to withdraw. Uh, you — you just did a withdraw so you
understand what that looks like. A withdrawal of the festival use
permit.
So, that is one request that is being made of you. With respect to
the other two use permits, there has been a request to defer until
July and I think uh, in meetings with staff, it would appear that if
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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the council is prepared to withdraw probably something along the
lines of July 19'h would be in order to ensure that the holiday is not
implicated since everyone's in town. So, those are the pending
requests this evening. Uh, and is — is typical uh, in Milton. I know
there is also a interest in taking those matters up with respect to
whether you will take the referral uh, and other wise, allow the
withdrawal.
But if you're gonna do that, our recommendation is not to have the
zoning procedures at public hearing this evening. However,
individuals are here that may in fact, want to speak. And the way
we can accomplish both objectives would be to have a public
comment opportunity with respect to those three items
consolidated, if that makes sense. So, in other words, if you came
here this evening to speak on either of those three items, it could be
opened up for our typical public comment opportunity. Uh, come
up obviously, condense your comments so it's encompassing all
three items, related items.
Uh, but it would not count as the public hearing, which actually
accomplishes a very laudable objective is, is it means that this will
not be your only opportunity to speak. And if in fact it is deferred
until July, you'll have another opportunity to address the council at
that time. Uh, so that would be my recommendation to the council.
If that is what you choose to do and because deferral is, quote
unquote, on the table. There wouldn't be the normal presentation
by the applicant. There wouldn't be necessarily a staff full report
like what you're used to if we're going forward. But there would
be an opportunity for citizens to come and engage the council, if
that is in fact your — your wish.
Mr. Moore: Okay. Um, [inaudible] [00:51:48] for one second, Joe. You know,
I wanna just make a couple comments right now, just in general.
And — and this case is an example of uh, some times our job up
here is — is very hard. And I know sometimes from the outside, it
can seem pretty, you know, pretty dry — cut and dry. But uh, we get
a lot of input from citizens and those affected. Those property
owners. Um, we get a lot of uh, input and information from our
staff, legal and whatnot. So uh, again, that can — can make
decisions very hard. And as I said a second ago, sometimes uh,
what seems like a simple decision uh, has ramifications that uh, are
uh, unwanted consequences.
And I'll just uh, you know, make uh, an example might be, and I
know uh, I know this isn't — isn't exactly true, but let's say um, on
a zoning case, we've got half the — half the — the room is uh, is in
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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support. And to — to — from their perspective, the easiest and best
decision is to approve it. And let's say the other half of the room is
uh, is uh, not. Is — is — is recommending denial and wants a denial
of an application. And that seems like the best decision. But
unfortunately, sometimes those decisions can backfire on the other
side.
Let's say, you know, you approve something and decide that uh,
the folks that want it approved, they — they — they might be happy
but then you realize there's all these other unintended
consequences and — and what not in operation moving forward
with other legal issues and whatnot. Or let's say you deny
something and half the room's excited you denied it until you
realize well, wait. If they denied this but they can still do this or
that or whatever. So, my point to that is that, sometimes we have to
look at all the options and then think outside the box a little bit.
And uh, I'm happy to say, you know, staff had presented us that
the applicant had asked for not only a withdrawal on the festival
permit, but also um, requested uh, a deferral. But we've had some
uh, affected neighbors and citizens that were interested in — in
meeting. We've got some council members that're interested in
meeting. As well as the uh, you know, commend the property
owner uh, and — and interested to meet. To see if they can come up
with some win-win ideas or a solution that would work good for
everybody. Um, or at least get close than where I believe we are
with a yes or no decision.
Uh, or an approval or a denial. So, that being said, I know we've
got the uh, support of staff and legal on — on a deferral. Um, and I
believe the council, you know, will support me too. I think that is
in — in the best interest, so that we can hopefully have uh, some
other options to present. That being said, we appreciate that
everybody's here tonight that has feelings one way or another and
wanna express their — their opinions and concerns. Uh, so we
certainly want to allow everyone to speak. We'll note all those
comments and then as Ken said, if this is deferred, you'll also have
another opportunity to come back if — if you choose to.
But again, tonight's comments won't be waste — wasted because
they'll be on the record and again, it's a good tool for our counsel
and staff and — and applicant and neighbors to move forward with
because we get, you know, an idea of what the issues are. So um,
that uh, you know, that would be my position on hearing support. I
think Joe, you know.
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Mr. Longoria: Yeah, the only thing I was gonna say is if, you know, we have to
vote on whether or not to defer this, because we've already lumped
everything together. And so, we've made certain assumptions
about how we're gonna proceed. If we don't support withdrawal,
then in rescheduling this, then we're gonna have to take this apart,
read it one at a time and do the process the way we normally
would've done and then those comments would be germane to
whatever agenda item we were gonna present.
Mr. Jarrard: Councilman Longoria, that's exactly right. So, this was done
simply out of utility exercise. After the public comment
opportunity — because remember, in your zoning agenda, you
typically don't have public comment. Because the public comment
is the zoning hearing. So, this is stepping outside the box and
allowing the public comments. But to Councilmember Longoria's
point, if at the end of the public comment, we then now have to go
through each item and take — and make a decision uh, on the two
deferrals and the single withdrawal, independent upon how the
council votes will dictate the rest of the process this evening.
Mr. Longoria: Well, what I meant was, we need to vote first.
Mr. Jarrard: You wanna do that now?
Mr. Longoria: Well, I thought that made the most sense because, if we're not
gonna support withdrawal, then we have to vote on each tonight.
[Crosstalk]
Ms. Bentley: So, can we vote on one at a time, the withdrawal and — and hear
public comment and then decide on the deferrals?
Mr. Jarrard: Well, my expectation is that there would be public comment for all
three items at once. And then we break them out. What we're
going for with the public hearing this evening, and there will be a
bona fide zoning procedures act public hearing after public
comment. But my expectation was uh, that we would at least have
public comment on all three items first to allow individuals that
were here to speak, make sure they get —
Ms. Bentley: I just want to hear the public comment first before — that's my —
my decision.
Mr. Longoria: So, let's just pretend for a second there was no public comment.
Are we voting on this as a group of three things or are we voting
on withdrawals individually?
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Mr. Jarrard: You would — if there — if we were not gonna do this public
comment approach, we would call out each agenda item, each use
permit individually. It would have the staff presentation and then
there would be a ZPL [audio cuts out] [00:57:37].
Mr. Longoria: So, there's a chance that we allow withdrawal of one and vote on
the other two?
Mr. Jarrard: Depending upon the will of the council, yes.
Mr. Longoria: Okay.
Mr. Mohrig: Well, the continuation of the conversation has kinda gotten to
where I was gonna get to it anyway. My point was gonna be, I'm
not prepared to cast any vote until I've heard public comment. I
think we've assembled the community here for a reason this
evening, I think they're entitled to allow their opinions to be heard.
And I think it would be a — a misrepresentation of the process if we
were to cast a vote prior to hearing public comment.
Mayor Lockwood: I think we're all — we've all been on board with hearing public
comment. It's just the um, sequence. So um, Ken, with your
guidance, would it be okay to go ahead and hear public comment
then vote for — for deferral or not, withdrawal and deferral. Then if
that does not pass, then we'd have to go into public — how would
that work?
Mr. Jarrard: Every — exactly the way you said it. This — this public comment
opportunity was to address the issues raised by Councilmember
Bentley, Councilmember Moore — and all of you. I think that is the
sentiment of the entire council. And to let the folks that have come
this evening, to have their voices heard. Then, let's sound the items
individually and take them one on one. And if for some reason uh,
they're not deferred, then we have to do the full public hearing
next.
Mayor Lockwood: Go ahead, Rick.
Mr. Mohrig: Okay, so that was the clarification I was looking for. So, we will,
once we finish public comment, then we'll bring each one of these
up individually for deferral. Two deferrals, we'll vote on one by
one and then withdrawal.
Mr. Jarrard: They withdraw.
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Page 28 of 63
Mr. Mohrig: We'll vote. And then depending on what the vote is, that
determines —
Mr. Jarrard: The rest of the procedure. Yes, sir.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, and if council is okay, I'm good with having our public
comment first. And then vote on deferrals and then if, you know, if
.,that uh, depending on how that goes, then we go from there.
Mr. Jarrard: Agreed.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Um, and also, make uh, we'll make a um, comment. We
discussed — we have had some email uh, some emails come in um,
that wanna be on the record. Which they will be on the record. Um,
we probably wouldn't have time to read them all out tonight, but
they are on the record, and they'll be read into the record when this
is a hearing. When this — if this — if this gets deferred and it comes
back as a public hearing, those will be in there. So, those are not —
certainly not wasted. They've been seen 'by everybody, and they
are on the record and will be read about — read at during a — during
the —
Mr. Jarrard: Read or totally. And Mr. Mayor, the only other point of order I
would make with respect to the public comment is, is that this will
be public comment for all three agenda items. So, there's — right?
That's — it's for all three. So, come on up and speak.
Mayor Lockwood: And — and again, feel free to um, Tammy, you got the cards and in
order. No — no specific order. Um, [inaudible] [01:00:31] to
speak. So, with that I'll go ahead and open up for public comment,
if you'll please call the first speaker.
City Clerk: Thank you, Mayor. Our first public comment will be from Collier
McCleod. If you will step to the podium and state your name,
address and you will have five minutes. And I'll give you a one -
minute warning. Thank you.
Ms. McLeod: Good evening uh, Mayor and city councilmembers. My name is
Collier McLeod. I'm an attorney with Parker, Poe, Adams and
Bernstein. Our offices are located at 1075 Peachtree Street, Suite
1500, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309. Joining —joining me tonight is my
client Pamela Jackson who represents the applicant. We
respectfully request the Application U21-OINC21-03 be deferred
until the city council's July 19th hearing.
We also respectfully request the Application U21-02 be deferred
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Page 29 of 63
until the city council's July 10, 2021, hearing. Finally, we
respectfully request that Application U21-03NC21-04 be
withdrawn. We appreciate your consideration and reserve the
remainder of our time for rebuttal. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, thank you. And again, I —just to clarify a point of order. The
last comment with rebuttal and all, this is just a general public
comment at this point so, but, uh... All right, Tammy. If you'll
please call the next speaker.
City Clerk: Our next commenter is John Peoples. Please come to the podium.
Mr. Peeples: Good evening, Mayor. And uh, city council. My name's John
Peeples, I live at 1835 Bethany Way. Milton, Georgia. My wife
Leslie and I have been there on our six acres since 1985. We're in
opposition to the rezoning. Um, not only because of the uh, the
winery. We have no issue with the winery at all. In fact, we think
it's a good business type of activity. Um, it's the noise and the
traffic. There was a line of people behind me that wanna comment.
I know they'll expand on that much more eloquently than I can, so
I'll leave it at that and grant my wife's wishes to be brief. Thank
you very much for your time.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Thank you.
[Laughter]
Mayor Lockwood: All right, Tammy. Next speaker, please.
City Clerk: Thank you. Next, Mr. Tony Rich. Please come to the podium.
Mr. Rich: Good evening. Uh, my name is Tony Rich. Uh, my wife and I own
the farm in 1950 and 1960 Bethany Way here in Milton. Um, you
know, one comment that I'll make before I uh, go through my
prepared comments. Um, I'm concerned that the winery has
already published something on social media saying that this
meeting got moved to July. Um, that sounds very presumptuous.
Um, for what it's worth, I don't know what that means. But the
fact that, you know, we all took out time to come out here and
speak tonight um, I just think it says volumes about the order in
which priorities are. Um, first of all, I would like to say thank you
to our mayor.
Uh, our city council. Our city staff and all of our neighbors for
taking the time to come out here tonight. Uh, and for the uh,
amount of time and energy that all of you have invested in this
whole situation. Um, we all have lots of priorities in our lives.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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They compete for our time. And uh, it's unfortunate that this has
become one of them. Um, Sarah and I moved to Milton from
Sandy Springs and purchased our 25 -acre farm in 2017. Uh, we
were drawn to Milton for a peaceful small-town lifestyle. Uh, and
this whole situation has certainly taken away from all that. Uh, that
only positive that I can think of um, is that this has given us uh, the
opportunity to get to know more of our neighbors.
So uh, that's my attempt to be half full uh, and I appreciate that.
Um, we live about a half a mile from the Painted Horse Winery,
Uh, so we get an up close and personaltaste, almost every
weekend, of how large this business has become. Uh, please hear
me clearly uh, when I say that Sarah and I have absolutely no issue
whatsoever with the idea of a farm winery in Milton. In the very
beginning, this seemed to be a new, creative use of agricultural
property and a great way to save yet another farm from becoming a
subdivision. Uh, we were hoping to enjoy a Friday evening at a
small, charming winery down the street from out house where we
could meet other Milton residents.
Um, but as you know, this is not a small or quaint operation as it
sits today. Um, as the smell of revenue and profit often does uh,
the winery has gone from uh — uh, well past being small or quaint.
Uh, Pam uh, Jackson is asking for permits that would allow up to
250 people uh, on her property at any given time. Um, that is not
small, nor quaint. As I'm sure you're all aware, there was quite a
PR campaign done a few weeks ago called, Save the Farm. Uh,
and I received many copies uh, of what all that said. Uh, you
know, clearly, they hired a very talented person to create a
campaign uh, saying that they only want to do what they've done
for the past 25 years.
Uh, she also said that only a very small handful of neighbors have
voiced opposition uh, to what they've always done. Um, but I think
that the category of very small number of neighbors is uh, very uh,
underestimated. Uh, the winery itself didn't even start until 2019,
so I'm not sure how that fits into the last 25 years.
City Clerk: One minute remains.
Mr. Rich: Thank you. Uh, there are a lot of um, there actually a lot of people
on social media who say how great this winery is, how unfair it is
for our city to prevent her from what she's done uh, and always
done. And how they're pulling for her to prevail. And when people
live miles away, perhaps not even in Milton uh, and just show up
occasionally to enjoy the wine and the music. I can certainly
J
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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understand how they fell the way they do. Um, they don't have to
live down the street uh, from what goes on there every single
weekend. But what about, you know, all of us that do?
You know, what about all of us on Friday Night that sit home and
listen to music and see the police cars parked out front uh and
worry about the traffic and the safety and all those types of things.
Um, honestly, going down there on the weekends um, it feels more
like a bar than it does a uh, a quaint winery. So, we're certainly
concerned about that. Um, I actually caught my daughter sitting on
the porch a few weeks ago singing to a song uh, because it was
coming in our back door. So, I — I thought that was certainly
interesting. Um, again um, we don't have a prob — a problem with
this winery. Uh, I really wish Pam the best.
And I certainly wish that she had kept it small. But unfortunately,
for those of us that live down the street, she didn't. My — my final
thought, you know, they seem to be asking for permission to do
what she's done for over two decades. Uh, if she's referring to
riding and boarding horses, giving lessons, having kids' birthday
parties and having a small boutique winery with a couple dozen
people um, I hope she figures that out and I'm hoping you all will
do the same. So, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you.
City Clerk: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: And can I butt in here one second just to clarify something. I was —
the point I was gonna make um, I know there — there may have
been some information sent out but uh, if you could clarify,
basically even though deferral was requested, and it was
recommended to us. As you can see tonight, the deferral doesn't —
we — we vote on the deferral here after public comment.
Mr. Jarrard: Uh, it's not deferred until the council defers it. Obviously, we can't
control the messaging.
Mayor Lockwood: Right.
Mr. Jarrard: That comes out. But uh, the council and everyone uh, that I believe
on our end uh, knew exactly what the reality was and that is, the
council was the final decision making with respect to this —
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah. I just wanna clarify that the city has not put out any
information as far as, you know, that this will definitely be
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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deferred or whatever. It's — it's on the agenda and it's
recommended. But okay Tammy.
City Clerk: Jesse Shannon. You're invited to come to the podium, please.
Mr. Channon: Uh, good evening. I'm Jesse Channon, I live at uh, my wife and I
live at 1820 Bethany Way. About a half a mile away from the uh,
winery. Uh, we live on two acres. Um, I'll bring a different
perspective to this as I think I'm one of your newer residents in the
area. Most of the neighbors that you've heard from and will hear
from have lived here for quite some time. I grew up in Alpharetta
for quite a bit of my life, but we just purchased uh, about a year
and a half, two years ago. Um, a part of the reason why we chose
Milton, and specifically the area that we chose um, was all the
things that I think make this area unique. That everyone has spoken
to. It's quiet.
We relocated from downtown Manhattan. It's a considerable uh,
difference. Um, I am cornered by neighbors that have more
property than the property in question her. Uh, the Richs who just
spoke on one side, the Levitans across the street on the other. Um,
what I'd like to say is, that if we had known honestly, in full
transparency what was potentially going to transpire on this street
with regards to the activities of the — the proposed activities of the
winery for the festivals and larger gatherings, it may have — we
may have made a different decision on where we chose to live.
Um, we — we could've lived in downtown Alpharetta, we chose
not to.
We chose to move to Milton and live off of Bethany Way. Uh, my
wife and I fully support the first permit uh, based on what I've
heard. Um, that they are asking for, which is the agricultural
related activities with regards to the winery, the horses, everything
else. We think that's an incredible asset to the community. Um, our
problem, and we're terrible barometers of noise. [Inaudible]
[01:10:25] Manhattan, I'll be the first to admit that. So, it's less
about noise and more about public safety. Um, we've already
fished a young man out of our front yard in a flipped over pickup
truck on that corner.
It was August of 2020. Um, turned his truck over about 35, 40 feet
from my front door. Um, that's terrifying. And for those that've
already spoken to it, our street is no picknick to live off of. Um,
it's basically a drag strip. And the idea of increased drinking and
driving on that street again, frankly is — is terrifying. Um, we have
tried to — to uh, get as much transparency as possible into things
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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like impact studies or any sort of additional work that's been done
or sponsored by the applicant with regards to understanding what
the — the risk mitigation would be for — for that increased capacity
on the street and we haven't seen anything yet.
And I think that's — that's part of the frustration for us specifically
through this process. Um, I'd like to mirror what Tony said and
thank this uh, this council and — and members who are sitting up
here for attempting to engage and provide as much transparency
though this process. Uh, as someone who's fairly new to this, it's
very difficult to understand what we're even talking about half the
time here. Um, but from what I can gather, it seems like we're
trying to — to bifurcate a — a farm winery and an agricultural
operation from one that is — is extensively a concert venue and a
wedding venue.
And so, too — to make it — to oversimplify there, we fully support
everything to do with the winery and the agricultural business. Uh,
and small events. We — we don't have a problem with. But the
larger events that cause traffic and potential issue and safety, noise.
Out of respect for my neighbors, I do know that their noise impact
is more than ours. We do hear it at our property, but we're not as
close. Um, those are things that we just can't — can't fully support.
I [clears throat] the last thing that I would say with regards to —
and again, it's a bit confusing, the process. But the last time that I
was here um, I did hear about the potential withdrawal of the third
application, but I also heard a request to uh, you know, allow for
the additional uncorked uh, concerts that were contracted. As a
good neighbor, I would like — I — I would hope that there's some
opportunity to meet in the middle with regards to that.
And potentially, allow some of those events to — to transpire so
that there's no harm to Ms. Jackson from a business point of view.
I don't agree with contracting things in advance of having uh,
approval. But at the same time as a neighbor, I'd hate to see her put
— put out and I'm sure that many of us wouldn't be okay with —
City Clerk: One minute.
Mr. Channon: With a — a few more — few more days over the next few months of
— of traffic and — and noise in order to make sure that she can
fulfill that contract. Um, so long as it was explicitly written to
know that we weren't giving carte blanche for her to — to have
those events in an ongoing... So again, I thank you guys for — for
hearing us out and for the time and — and appreciate it.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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Mayor Lockwood: Thank you, Mr. Shannon and I'm sure, coming from Manhattan, it
is a change. My — my daughter lives in Manhattan and I remember
last year, come to visit and brought a couple of friends from there
and I noticed out back, they just kept staring up at the sky. Like
they didn't know what all the stars were.
Mr. Channon: So, we moved from — we lived right on top of basically, where the
Staten Island Ferry building is. Uh, right on the water. Um, we
moved from the financial district and our neighbors, the Richs,
rode up and greeted us on horses, at — at our fence.
[Laughter]
So, it's been an experience.
Mayor Lockwood: We did the same when we moved here 28 years ago. The neighbor
came over on his tractor. They invited us to dinner and my wife
said, well how're we gonna — I said, we'll ride our tractor over
there.
City Clerk: I'd like to invite Mr. Dudley Garrett to the podium, please.
Mr. Garrett: Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen of the council. My name is Bill
Garrett, and this is my wife, Dolores. We [clears throat] live at
13450 Hopewell Road and our north property line is contiguous to
the south property line of Ms. Jackson's land. And there's a few
widely spaced trees along Ms. Jackson's side of our adjoining
properties, but they can never be considered any type of a buffer.
The area between my home and the activities Ms. Jackson is
sponsoring is virtually wide open. We bought our 9.4 acres and our
home place on January 3, 1978. I began construction of our home
in the — on the land and I believe we finished it in August or July
of 1978.
We moved in September of 1978. I was 41 years old at that time.
We have lived there on this site in our home for the last 44 years.
[Clears throat] And have never had any reason or concern that
anything would ever happen to jeopardize our established quiet
enjoyment of our property. We are now in our 80s, but rather than
being able to relax and enjoy our home and property, for our
remaining years, we are forced to spend our time trying to protect
what has taken us 44 years to build up. All of our — all because our
neighbor decides that she wants to make money and convert her
home and land — and land into a commercial winery and attendant
— with attendant and supplemental activities.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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But first, I want to be clear about one thing. I have had no
complaints [clears throat] against Ms. Jackson. In the activities in
her house — her horse business or her horse stabling, riding uh,
lessons or equestrian activities. Or even her creation of the grape
vineyard. The activities that can be expected of — by these things
are all in agricultural um, zoning. In fact, I even made a comment
to Ms. Jackson when she was talking — we was talking about her
vineyard, that I thought it would be an enhancement to the area.
But the activities that Ms. Jackson is uh, presenting to try to begin
now, will not enhance the area. We did not realize we had any kind
of a problem until either March or April of this year.
We were inside our house, and we were literally blown away by
loud, amplified noise, emanating from Ms. Jackson's property. On
top of that, there was a person that sounded like a disc jockey,
yelling at the crowd and the crowd yelling back to him. I'm certain
some people called it music. But I called it noise. And it continues
long — over a long period of time. I did not [clears throat] time to
say — the length of time it was, and I should have. But at that time,
I felt like it was just a party that Ms. Jackson was having that
anybody has now, once in a while. But I did not know it was gonna
turn out to be an — a preview of a regularly scheduled
entertainment venue.
The next thing that became apparent was the large crowds that
began attending her parties. Then I found many articles uh, on the
internet advertising the event, including the planned schedule
[clears throat] showing the dates, times and activities and the
names of the entertainers that was gonna be comin' — comin' in.
Found out that they'd even built a — a bandstand on the property.
The — there's information on the internet where people refer to it as
an outside amphitheater, and that's exactly what they used it for.
Ms. Jackson kinda summed it up in an article where she said that
the —
City Clerk: One minute.
Mr. Garrett: Sorry? That uh, the situation that this — this is not Buckhead or
Atlanta. But it's doing the City of Milton a great favor because it's
something that people can go to and entertainment that they don't
have to drive a long way to get to. I did not inquire about the
activities beginning [clears throat] when — with the first idea.
Because I did not know her intentions. But the — it's evident that's
what the intentions are. She places the — one thing that she's doing
and in addition to the uh, noise. In fact, which I did not know until
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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this past week. I've seen a plat that she's presented.
And the — she's presenting, the plat was showing a location of a
winery building and construction on her property. And that winery
building is located right out my backdoor. I noticed one thing that
jumped out at me, that building is as far away from her home as
she can get it and it's as far away from her children's home who
live there on the property with her, as she can get it, but she can
put it right next to me and my backdoor. I don't appreciate that at
all.
City Clerk: Mr. Garrett, five minutes has expired, I'm sorry.
Mayor Lockwood: Mr. Garrett, if I could just ask you to uh, try to wrap —
Mr. Garrett: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: No, try to wrap it up. If you've got a couple more comments but in
order for time.
Mr. Garrett: I'm sorry, thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you very much.
City Clerk: Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Tammy, could you please call the next speaker?
City Clerk: I'd like to invite Mr. Jeff Levitan. I hope I said that right, to the
podium. Close enough, I'm sorry.
Mr. Levitan: Thank you Mayor and city council. Neighbors. Uh, Jeff Levitan,
1865 Bethany Way. Got 26 acres right down the street. Uh, five
children under the age of 12. Two of them have autism. Uh, I've
been living there for about four years and for the first two years,
we really didn't notice um, the farm at all. Just passing it. Looked
like a cute little uh, equestrian place. As a matter of fact, my wife
took some of the kids over to enjoy the agricultural uh, related
activities. Um, as of late, this last year, it picked up quite a bit. The
traffic was really bad. Um, the presence of the police officers on
the corners, which are there to help, I understand.
Um, but it — but certainly, driving past that every day coming home
and to work and pretty much everywhere we go, goes right across
that intersection of Hopewell Road and Bethany. And even the
roundabout comin' in isn't gonna solve the problem, I promise. It's
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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just not going — it's gonna — it's — it's a step in the right direction,
but it still isn't gonna solve the traffic problem on that corner. And
uh, just for public safety and the safety of my children and other
children down the street. Bethany still doesn't have shoulders on
the sides of the road. Um, I always have tire grooves outside of —
on — on my front lawn. You know, trucks, cars, whatever,
swerving.
Um, further down the road, there's a deep ditch on both sides. No
sidewalks yet all the way down. So, there's — there's some need for
safety concerns uh, down the road. And if the — if the area turns
into more traffic and more of a venue for large groups, it's gonna
be more dangerous just by default. Um, I'm a freedom loving
entrepreneur. Um, I've got more acres and flatter acres if — if we're
gonna start issuing a lot of permits for concerts, I — I love `80s rock
music.
And I will get Def Leppard and Led Zeppelin and some really
good uh, classic rock bands uh, out on my property. And many
others. I — I just don't wanna see tenfold requests for permits
everywhere. If uh, it starts to become a concert venue city instead
of uh, an equestrian city. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Tammy, could you please call the next speaker?
City Clerk: Next is Mr. Theodore Cox. Please come to the podium.
Mr. Cox: My name is uh, Ted Cox. 13860 Bethany Oaks Point, Alpharetta,
Georgia. Um, Mr. Mayor, it's good to see you again. I just um,
wanted to say that there are people here that live directly adjacent
to the facility and what they have to say is much more important
than I would say at Bethany Oaks. There are 10 families at
Bethany Oaks that've written either to staff or to uh, city
councilmembers. Who've shown up at the CZIB. Shown up at
planning commission meeting. We had a meeting with three city
councilmembers last week and people came out. I would hope that
city council would decide this matter this evening.
I think it's asking an awful lot of the people that aren't directly
adjacent to the facility keep coming out and keep getting involved.
The deferrals and things, I think really favor the applicant. So, I
would ask that you consider actually voting this evening. The
second thing that I wanted to mention goes to the truthfulness of
the applicant. Um, at the CZIB meeting, the question came up
about what time music ended and whether we would hear it in our
homes. And I had made a comment that I heard music inside my
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 38 of 63
home at 8:00 at night.
And the applicant and her attorney made a comment that I must've
been confused because the music is acoustic, and it ends at 7:00
p.m. Yet, one week later, they ran a full-page ad in the Milton
Herald advertising their Uncorked Concert Series. And that concert
series talked about music running from 6:00 until 10:00 at night
that was amplified and electrical. So, I think when we talk about
something where there's an element of trust with the community,
when you have an applicant at a CZIB stand up there and blatantly
mislead people about what their intentions are.
And say, we have acoustic music, and we end at 7:00 at night and
you're confused if you don't hear anything else to the contrary. To
me, that's not being truthful and um, I think it's uh, a basis for
something the city council to consider. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you for your comments. Tammy, could you please call the
next speaker?
City Clerk: Next, Mr. William Stampfel. Please come to the podium.
Mr. Stampfl: Good evening, Mayor. Uh, coun — city council, William Stampfl.
13820 Bethany Oaks Point. Um, Milton, Georgia. I've lived here
25 years with my wife and my three daughters. Uh, those three
daughters learned to drive on the streets of Milton as well so,
watched them grow up. Um, I've seen a lot of change over the 25
years here. And being uh, a resident of Bethany Oaks, we've seen
a lot of change and we've been impacted by a number of things,
right? We've got the roundabout coming, which is going to
directly impact us. My — my big concern of this whole applicant is,
traffic safety, you know, impaired drivers, drunk drivers.
Um, I've seen too many accidents there at Hopewell and Bethany
and with the roundabout, it's probably still gonna continue. I hope
it doesn't, but it's probably still gonna continue. The traffic, I've
already seen Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, parking in the Bethany
Oaks uh, Clubhouse parking lot already, waiting to pick people up
from the events that have already been taking place. Uh, the drunk
drivers, I mean, the road of Milton are bad, right? We know that.
People are getting into accidents all the time and I just fear for a
bad accident happening there [inaudible] [01:25:36].
Um, you know, the music, it's loud. I'm the third house in on the
left. On — on the west side of Bethany Oaks Point and I hear the
music. And at all times. Uh, the traffic, I still continue to see trying
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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to pull out of the neighborhoods at times, Saturday afternoon,
Sunday afternoon, there's traffic. And I'll just end this, I'll show
you guys a picture. This is last Tuesday evening, 7:00. There was a
car that tried to drive into the exit of the uh, Painted Horse Winery.
7:00 on a Tuesday night, this person, whoever they were, were
trying — was trying to back out, right into Bethany and Hope Road
and thank God, nothing happened. No one got hurt but that's the
stuff we're gonna have to deal with. Thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Thank you, sir. Tammy, please call the next speaker.
City Clerk: Next, Kasey Sturm.
Ms. Sturm: Good evening Mayor and city council members. I'm Casey Sturm,
I'm an attorney with Wiseman, PC in the area of environmental
land use and zoning law. I have the pleasure of, for the record, our
offices are located um, at 1 Atlanta Center, Suite 4. We are in
Atlanta Georgia, 30326. I have the pleasure of representing Joseph
and Erin Canouse. Both Mr. and Mr. — Mrs. Canouse are here
today. Um, they live in the Cooper — the Lake at Cooper Sandy
subdivision. They are directly caddy corner to the Painted Horse
uh, property at 800 Cooper Sandy Cove.
I will let Joe in a moment, talk to you about his family and
children, but they are just some of the community members
directly impacted by the activities at the Painted Horse. I wanna
talk broadly about these three applications. Um, I feel it's
important not only that you hear from Joe, but obviously the
community that's impacted on the grounds. So, there's just some
legal issues that I'm sure your council has also brought to your
attention, but I think bear mentioning. And one is um, this huge
disconnect we see.
While this may have been presented before the community at some
point as a benign farm winery, there is a huge disconnect, as you
hear from the neighbors, between what is actually happening on
that property and what was supposed to be happening. And what is
legally allowed to happen. So, I ask this body to think about, when
does the [inaudible] [01:28:14] use become the primary use? And
when does the primary use become ancillary to that? Okay? So,
here, what we have, what has been licensed and arguably
committed as a winery, that is not without limitation, even under
state law.
And under state law, there are certain requirements that the winery
has to show, that it is meeting, to maintain that winery license. And
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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I ask you whether the applicant has met that burden. I was hired
shortly before the planning commission. I came before the plan —
planning commission and said, I will tell you up front, I am way
behind the eight ball. I have the least knowledge about what is
going on. Part of the problem though, is in reading the applications
that were put forth, it's hard to tell what the applicant — applicant is
requesting and under what authority.
When I dug through your meeting minutes, I learned that there
were some allegations and threats of litigation based on
grandfathered uses and entitled uses. Yet, it was hard for me to tell,
and I've talked with opposing counsel; or I should say, the
applicant's counsel. What is it you contend that you're entitled to
do? What is it you contend that is a grandfathered use? For the
public, that is a hard concept to understand, particularly when you
have community members that've been here for over 25 years and
can tell you that never happened.
So, the burden of proof, on any applicant before you, is on the
applicant to show not only that they meet the application
requirements, that they are entitled to what they're asking. And
here, when we look through these applications, I see nothing in the
record by the applicant showing that it has established a
grandfather use to carry out music events. Arid when we talk about
music events, in the context of a winery use, the applicant is unable
to clarify what those music events should' be, should they be
ancillary to the use. Is that amplified?
City Clerk: One minute.
Ms. Sturm: How often? And so, I ask this body, on behalf of my clients, that
you deny deferral to the extent you're going to engage in any
deferral of these applications. That you consider, should this
applicant be able to carry on any music during that time. The
public has had to suffer this entire time that the applicant knew,
they may not be allowed to do this. And yet, they did it anyway.
So, we would ask that you deny deferral. And it — and vote to deny
all of the applications.
Mr. Canouse: Yeah, I only have a minute. You guys, uh — uh, I sent several
emails to the council how I feel and there's two sides to every
story but, reality is, it should be very apparent. What the applicant
is asking for, what's going on in the community are two different
things. We do not have one concrete uh, permit request because it
changed. It changed in the planning meeting. Now they're
withdrawing it so they can do it again. They're playing defense to
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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see what we're gonna say. And the best course of action is to cease
and desist right now.
City Clerk: Time has expired.
Mr. Canouse: Until we figure out what's going on. And I have to say, this is a
cancer on our community. It's a cancer on the community for
people who just wanna go home are here, they're mad, they're
upset. They're gonna spend their own money and they're gonna
litigate as well. And I respectfully thank you for being here, I hope
[inaudible] [01:32:06] thank you.
Mayor Lockwood: Tammy, will you please call the next speaker?
City Clerk: I'd like to invite Mimi Sullivan to the podium, please.
Ms. Sullivan: Hi. I have a little voice tonight. But my name is Mimi Sullivan. 29
[audio cuts out] [01:32:31] Bethany Way. And you heard all the
arguments for a year and a half about problems with this winery.
The problems with traffic, congestion and speed. With alcohol use.
The loud music. With having a commercial um, use inside —
embedded in the midst of a residential community. Um, we've met
with a lot of you individually and um, and in congregate. And I
guess, for me, what it comes down to is, these user permits are not
about preserving the rural integrity of Milton.
They are being sold, as doing that. But that is not what this is
about. This is about one woman's ambition to make money out of
her farm. If this were about the community and benefit in the
community, then this — these user permits would not be happening
at all. Because the — all the adjacent neighbors in that area, save for
supposedly there's five who are supporting it. Um, have indicated
clearly that they do not want this type of use in the middle of our
neighborhood. I think it's especially disturbing that there has been
this public campaign of what I call deception and misinformation.
This is not about saving the farm or saving the winery. This is
about the commercialization of an agricultural property.
We have had to listen to this music every weekend. We cringe,
there's the police car. Now we know it won't be long before the
music starts. It's upsetting because you dread every weekend. So,
in the Milton Herald, I saw where a representative of Painted
Winery said they have five neighbors who support their winery. I
can give you 50, 50 neighbors who have met in meetings with you,
who have written emails, who have talked with us. They are
encompassed in Bethany Oaks, in Cooper Sandy, all along
Bethany Way, including directly across the street and behind them
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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on Hopewell Road and Cooper Sandy.
Um, all the way down Bethany onto Haywood. And they're all
concerned, they're upset. They're hearing the music; they're seeing
the traffic. We already know Bethany Way is a terrible speed trap.
Um, we've all had cars turn over in our front yards. Uh, there
hasn't been anything really done to make Bethany Way safer. For a
year and a half, I have worked to reach all the neighbors and find
out what their feelings are about this. How do they feel about it? A
lot of them were reluctant to come forward. But then encouraged
that their voice needed to be heard. They could make a difference
in Milton.
That everybody's voice matters and if you show up and if you send
emails and if you speak, that the government will hear you. The
bureaucracy will hear you. I think that you all have heard us loud
and clear. What worries me is, what might be going on in the back
door that the rest of us don't know about. What's being given
away, supposedly for our benefit down the road? And I think about
these people being so courageous and so willing to speak out,
knowing that one minute one neighbor or another neighbor might
know how they feel and what position does that put them in?
I'm asking you tonight, to show courage and commitment to
actually preserving the rural integrity of our neighborhood. And I
know that is a difficult thing to ask you but all of the neighbors, 50
at least of the neighbors have done that. And I'm asking you to do
that. I'm asking you not to defer this. We've fought it for a year
and a half. The music goes on, the traffic goes on. So, if we defer it
for another month, what're we talking about?
We're talking about how many more weekends of more traffic and
more noise that we're all gonna have to put up with until July 191.
And then how many people are on vacation or aren't available or
we've lost momentum. So, I'm asking you to have courage tonight
and commitment to Milton and to not vote to defer.
City Clerk: Time has expired.
Ms. Sullivan: Thank you for your time.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you. Tammy, will you please call the next speaker?
City Clerk: Mr. Curtis Mills? Would you please come to the podium?
Mr. Mills: Good evening. Uh, my name is Curtis Mills and I live at 16355
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Birmingham Highway. Uh, I am not speaking uh, for or against
um, my uh, my neighborhood is not close enough to have standing.
Uh, as most of you know, I'm the property owner and the applicant
for Matilda's Under the Pines. Uh — uh, the music venue and
almost exactly three years ago tonight uh, is when I stood before
you uh, making that application. Uh — uh, not going to drag you
through all that again. Really uh, the reason I'm here is to say, I
recognized then and we know now that we knew very little about
music venues uh, in uh, in Milton.
We had little experience with it, and you all had to be hyper careful
and — and vigilant and uh and setting parameters to make sure that
it wasn't unintentionally damaging. Uh, recognizing that uh,
Matilda's venue is in a commercial zone, I uh, I understand this is
not um, uh, that's a difference. But I just would ask you all, if you
do go forward with this in July or tonight or at some future point.
Uh, if you consider relaxing the constraints that uh — uh, were put
on Matilda's, I'd like for you all to consider allowing us to uh — uh,
share in that relaxation. That's it. Thank you, very much.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank, you. Tammy, if you'd please call the next speaker.
City Clerk: The next is Alexandra Givens.
Ms. Givens: Hello. Um, I'm Alexandra — Alexandra Givens. I live directly
across the street from Pamela. I'm at 2170 Bethany Way. I've
lived there since 1998. We moved out there for horses and
peacefulness and um, tranquility which we had for many years.
Until recently. Um, I just wanna mention a couple things that
nobody's brought up. The fact that it is a cut through, it's a very
busy road. Um, my daughter grew up with Pamela's daughter. I
witnessed my daughter almost getting hit by a car and I witnessed
her daughter almost getting hit by a car. And they just pick up
speed.
And, um ... a couple things I wanted to point out is, that it's just
not made for the influx of traffic it will have when she's having
[inaudible] [01:40:57] weddings and as far as the horseback
riding, it's always been fine. It's been quiet and peaceful, and our
daughter would go over there and swim and there was never a
problem with — with it until recent. With the winery. And even
with the roundabouts, I'm not sure that it's gonna help the traffic
and then if we have weddings and then there's another um, piece
of property a stone throw away that's for sale right now on
Hopewell. That also has the um, permission to have events there.
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So, that's really too close — very close and she got approved you
could have as many as 400 cars trying to come through there one
given time. So, the traffic's not suited for it. So, I've seen large
delivery trucks that can't get into her property, it's a small [audio
cuts out] [01:41:57] cars that speed down the road and I see that
as a problem. Emergency vehicles, I've had to call 911 to come
and [inaudible] several times. Weekly, we've got emergency
vehicles going across that — across Bethany Way because it is a cut
through. And I would think that somebody [audio cuts out].
The noise comes up my driveway just over the weekend, just
listening to concerts. Um, very early on when I first heard about it,
Sally and I would go participate. See what it was all about and
have a glass of wine. And so, Sally called Pamela and it's not
wheelchair accessible. [Audio cuts out] [01:42:52] why is
somebody allowed - why is accessibility always an afterthought?
So, it wasn't even something I could participate in. Her answer
was, she hasn't done any accessibility yet.
That was several months ago. And our property value. What's
gonna happen to my property value? It's gonna take a special
person that wants to buy my piece of property right across from
[audio cuts out] [01:43:23]. I don't think it's right. I hope ya'll
will consider um, making a decision tonight and not [audio cuts
out] [01:43:53] deferring it. Um, thank you very much.
Mayor Lockwood: Thank you very much for your comments.
City Clerk: So, Mayor, that concludes the public comment, but I will call back
up, can confirm, Collier McLeod. They were the — no, we're not
doing that. Okay, my apologies. Okay.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, so that's the — all the public comments?
City Clerk: That — that concludes.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Then I'll look to you. What's our next —
Mr. Jarrard: All right. So, now we need to — actually, we've done public
comment on sort of the collapsed the permits together. Now you
actually have to address them in a standalone item again, we
allowed public comment because these are in the nature of zoning
items. Now you need to decide if you wanna handle them like a
zoning item tonight or if you want to defer them. Or are you going
to uh, allow the withdrawal of the festival use permit. Mr. Mayor, I
recommend that you start with Zoning Agenda Item No. 4, 21 uh,
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1AC2103. That's the first one and this is where the council needs
to make its first decision. There is a request to defer this until some
time in July.
Um, you can take action on that. You've had public comment. If
your decision is not to take action on it, you need to open it up for
a bona fide public hearing with a staff presentation. Uh,
opportunity for the applicant to come up and present, just like you
would any other.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. All right. So um, at this point, basically this item is up for
um, uh, deferral.
Mr. Jarrard: Deferral at the request of the applicant.
Mayor Lockwood: At the request of the applicant. So, I'll open up to council on that.
If there's any questions for staff on this. Or if anyone wants to
make a motion.
Ms. Cookerly: Just excuse me, just repeat please exactly which one it is.
Mr. Jarrard: Right. So, this is U2101 VC2104 No. 4. This is the agri —
agricultural land [audio cuts out] [01:45:43]. This is the first in
order of the three use comments and this is one of the ones to
which the applicant has requested a deferral some time in July.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Open up to either, if there is action or um, to questions.
Ms. Bentley: I have some comments.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Go ahead.
Ms. Bentley: So, I wanna make it clear to the people in this room, that this
council makes the decision. So, I was very disappointed to um,
read on social media and spent all weekend being sent um, um,
social media posts and — and one of the things I know as a farm
owner. Is that it takes um, common sense and compromise and
courtesy to your neighbors. To make uses work. And I'm all for
the agricultural uses of the land. And what I hear from people, the
neighbors, which are my priority. Those are the folks that I
represent who don't have a choice. Um, they live with what's
happening in their backyards every weekend.
Um, you have to figure out a way to compromise and
communicate. So, the Save the Farm communications is so
confusing to the community because some of your neighbors are
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the farm owners. And so, it's disappointing to see how the lack of
communication has taken p lace among the applicant and the
neighbors. Um, as we sit here tonight, I applaud those that've come
out and spoken their minds. I know that for the winery to be
successful, and the equestrian business. Those are things that this
community supports.
We want those things to be successful. But you have very little — a
lot of intensity on not a lot of acreage. So, as I sit here and listen to
your neighbors who don't have an issue with the buy right uses. I
think that perhaps, you guys getting in a room and going through
what it is that you need to make your buy right uses viable. But not
to offend your neighbors. This is what it is to be a neighbor. And
when we have farms bumping up against neighbors and other
farms, you have to do more to communicate. So, as we sit here, we
have to choose whether to deny everything, which leaves us with
nothing. Not a great option. Or approve something that we haven't
defined.
So, one of the options that I considered is some sort of meeting or
a mediation to determine if there is any common ground. I don't
know if there is. The gap is huge. Staff has recommended the
denial; the planning commission has recommended denial. And we
have a whole set of neighbors here that are not happy. But if there
is any common ground, I suggest that we try to find it. Within not
30 days or 40 days, within two weeks. And those are my
comments. And — and certainly, if anything were to go forward,
everything should cease and desist, out of respect for the
neighbors.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Anybody else? Paul? Okay.
Mr. Moore: Yeah, thanks Joe. Um... I'll start by echoing that I am in
agreement with Councilmember Bentley's uh, comments. Um, I
think she makes some very valid points. And it's, you know, once
again uh, we — we've uh, I've been following this all through the
process. Through the CZIM and through the planning commission
hearing. And what I continue to be troubled by is the
misinformation that's out there and misrepresentation of — of the
facts and so many um, instances by the applicant.
And the Save the Farm campaign couldn't be more inappropriate
for what this is. This is Save — what it really should've read was,
save the commercial entity that we're trying to force a square peg
into a round hole. And yet, I recognize that by right, the landowner
has an opportunity to conduct business as has been approved by
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conditions in AG1. And what a farm winery can be. And so,
there's a complete disconnect. And I'm troubled again this evening
by again, basically a misinformation campaign. When I too saw the
advertisement to the community, or the social media advertisement
to the community that there was a deferral that was basically — it
had already happened.
Well, that doesn't happen until we cast a vote tonight. So, when we
hear only from the surrounding community tonight that is in
opposition, or in — let me qualify that because we heard folks
tonight say, immediate neighbors, say that they're willing to
support some of the activities that're by right. But they — they take
offense to the things that're far exceeding the — the buy right
activities that they expected to uh, take place there. And yet there
is no representation of a community that might've been here
tonight, except for the misinformation broadcast by the applicant.
That the deferral was gonna take place tonight. So, there isn't even
a fair hearing to hear both sides. So, I'm equally troubled by that.
Of course, it's easy to stand tall for the community that's standing
here in opposition tonight, to support them because that's the
constituency that we vowed to represent. Why we decided to run
for council. So again, we're compromised by the applicant, by
propagating misinformation to the community. So, you've set up
your own deep hole to dig out from tonight.
So, how do I struggle with giving the opposition, or the applicant,
more time to uh, prepare a case which was compromised, when the
community who is most affected by it has assembled this evening,
spoken eloquently in favor of their position. Have given a sound
reason to say no to so much of these things. And yet, how do I then
sleep tonight thinking I have or have not given a fair hearing to this
when the applicant has compromised the hearing. So, I'm not sure
where I'm gonna go with this tonight but uh, the misinformation
campaign has to stop.
If we are gonna choose to defer, there has to be a meeting in the
immediate future of the interested parties to look for an appropriate
compromise with the most affected neighbors represented
profoundly at the table to give their — to give their uh, best hearing.
The best opportunity for success in this. I couldn't be more
frustrated.
Mayor Lockwood: Carol?
Ms. Cookerly: Frustrated. Perhaps angry. I think the misinformation campaign
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crystalizes what has happened throughout this process. It wasn't
that long ago that we assembled, and we supported this winery. We
supported it because we thought it was a good use, there was buy
right opportunity. And we thought, great. Won't become a
subdivision. But since then, it feels like the owner has been
loophole hunting and commercializing in a neighborhood. Sort of
in the vagueness of direct, which I think are less vague as we've
moved forward. I think there's been a level of deception, and while
I am — I have a high opinion of the applicant, I don't like the
practice.
And I think that we have um, come to this place where you folks
have spoken well and fairly and gone to a lot of trouble to express
your opinions. I also was extremely dismayed to see the building
place — well, first of all, that they were building that size. When
you mix everything together. So, not only am I disappointed at
where we are today; 'I stand in full opposition of your plans? And
you just need to know that because I'm not gonna mince words.
Um, I also feel that ,if there's a deferral, there needs to be a very
large adjustment to how many people will be at your buy right
farm winery.
Because there is no way am I willing to tolerate, we take out this,
we take out that, which is out right to do. And there are hundreds
of people there at the winery. That's just not gonna work. So, I
just, I'm a candid person and I think you need to know where I
stand. Um, that's it. I feel very strongly about this.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Anybody else? Joe? Joe go First?
Mr. Longoria: Yeah, I mean ...um, I would say that uh, it was good to hear it in
front of the citizens tonight, the thing that I, you know, I try to
remember when we get into these situations and discuss these
important topics that the adjacent um, neighbors are certainly um,
an important part of this. But the landowner is an important part of
this as well. You're all citizens. They all, in their minds have a
point of view that's valid. I would agree with my fellow
councilmembers that um, that a lot of good things — we heard a lot
of good opinions, a lot of statements of fact tonight how this is
impacting everyone. We've also received quite a bit of email. And
I would say that email is both for and against.
So, we have had a little glimmer of support of what's being asked.
But um, I do share the concerns that um, uh, the councilmembers
have stated regarding uh, this seems to be a moving target and it
seems like part of that movement is designed to buy time and uh,
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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we need to get this to a point where we make some decisions. And
so, I would actually be in favor of uh, addressing all of these things
tonight. But certainly, given the fact that we've got an opportunity
to perhaps, gain some common ground as — as one of our
councilmembers mentioned. I can certainly see that. But — but one
of these items though, the withdrawal, I think is something we can
vote on and take care of.
Mayor Lockwood: Rick?
Mr. Mohrig: I guess I would echo a lot of what the fellow councilmembers have
said. I've been frustrated with the misinformation. I've met with a
number of the neighbors who've come forward, clearly expressing
their concerns. And what I don't hear, is I don't hear people with,
you know, with pitchforks going out saying, we don't want this to
happen, what you've been using in the past. They're basically
saying, we support what's been going on. It's — what's been here
for a long time, we're in favor of that. I think you even heard
support of the winery. But what does that entail? That's the — the
buy right use. What does that look like?
Is, I think the thing that is a concern is, it's not really defined uh,
what the applicant wants. And because when we approved, I was
part of the council that approved the winery. We thought it was a
great — great thing. We, you know, we worked through it. And
made it so that you could actually do wineries within — within the
city. And I can tell you, one of the things that we just recently just
said that we're — we're going to basically put a hold on future
wineries because of the things that've happened with this — this
use.
I think that's one of the things that made us say, well maybe we
need to look a little harder at what the restrictions should be or
how we're gonna format this. I hear the community's still open to
things that've been going on. Um, and what I've noticed in the
emails that we've all seen that're in support. Most of those are
really saying they're in support of an event facility. Concerts. The
very things that I'm hearing the — the neighbors say they've got
concerns on to them, the negative impact for them. Um, the other
thing I guess that's a concern with — with the communication that
I've seen, it's dividing our community. It's not pulling it together
to make this be a great thing for the community.
What I'm seeing is, people who are less impacted by — by the
potential use are directly pitted against the local landowners
who've lived there for a long time. And that's a concern for me
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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because we do try to represent everybody, including the landowner
that's coming forward to — to basically give us — ask for what she
would like to — to have. And we try to consider these things fairly.
We look at them. We try to look at all sides. I think we do have a
little bit of an issue because uh, and I saw the notice too basically
saying that this item has been deferred. Not that the applicant has
requested deferral and the council will actually be voting on it.
It's basically, it was a foregone conclusion and don't — don't show
up. We're gonna do it. So, now we don't have the other side of the
people that would talk to hear their perspective. But I am very
thankful that the — the local folks came out to actually tell us what
they've been experiencing because you guys are the best arbiters of
what is the experience. Um, you know, I'm sure people can come
and go to the concert series and really enjoy it, but they're not the
ones that're listening to the music and most directly impacted. I
think it's gotta be something that we're both parties. Um, both the
applicant as well as the neighbors have some type of compromise.
So, Paula, just some - where you're at, if we have a hearing,
because the applicant actually said, don't show up. We're not
gonna hear any of the other side. It's gonna be very limited. Um,
so I guess I'm still struggling with, there's not a good solution here
tonight and if — if we do here the thing, then we're gonna have to
go through and actually vet all the individual components of each
of the requests. Uh, and I will say, I'm a — I support voting um, on
the — I mean, I think it would be easy to vote on the withdrawal.
That to me is pretty straight forward. That I know.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Peyton.
Mr. Jamison: Mayor um, [clears throat] I guess my main issue tonight is, the
only reason why I am supporting a deferral is, I don't know what
she's legally entitled to by — by right. And I'm worried that if it's
an outright denial, what could be the long-term consequences, for
the residents. Um, I think by the applicant knows what council is
going in this direction and I think a deferral might be the best
outcome for both parties.
But I totally respect — I mean, I — a deferral is the last thing that I
want — want to do and now we're talking, today's June 7th and I
probably shouldn't — we should probably have that answer. What
she is legally allowed to do by right. But we don't have it and I
don't feel comfortable making a decision.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah. I would say — let me just and I'll give you another
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opportunity. I — I echo pretty much what, you know, parts of what
everybody's saying and — and in general. We're on the same page.
Um, to Paton's point, that's been my biggest concern is, with an
outright denial, what're the — what're the things that'll pop up that,
even those that're supportive of denying that may sneak up on — on
us and — and the citizens.
So, to me, the reason I would support a deferral is the opportunity,
I think even Councilmember Bentley said, that you know, if — if
the neighbors can work together and if there can be a better
outcome. If there's not, if there's not a compromise that comes,
then we always have the opportunity to approve or deny. But this
give us — gives an opportunity for the community and for the
neighbors to possibly get a better outcome and for us to get a little
bit more information.
Mr. Jamison: You guys — sorry.
Mayor Lockwood: Go ahead.
Mr. Jamison: Um, I just wanted to bring this out there, and my assumption is,
during this time, the applicant, her legal counsel is willing to
restrict some of her buy right use. I mean, is that correct?
Ms. Cookerly: Do we have any commitment?
Mr. Jarrard: We have no commitme
commitment I have heard
That will not be, uh...
Mayor Lockwood: Joe?
it. Except I would say, the only
is with respect to the Uncorked Series.
Mr. Longoria: Well, the thing I was gonna point out is, we got three items that we
need to vote on. One of them is for a withdrawal, so that — I think
that's a no brainer because it has no impact if we vote to withdraw
in support of the applicant's request to withdraw. That — there
remains two other pieces of business. One is asking for variances,
which no one is entitled to a variance. So — so, we can vote to deny
that if we wanted to.
The other is for rural event facility permit and that is the thing, I
think Peyton, that you're getting to is, what rights come along with
that and what is our understanding. So, that certainly should be the
thing that we defer. But I don't know that we have to defer two
things and approve the withdrawal. I think we could vote on one
thing — actually, vote on two things and defer one.
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Mayor Lockwood: Ken, I'm gonna look to you on that.
Mr. Jarrard: Well, if you're gonna — you're gonna take up Item No. 4, which is
the agricultural activities, you need to go ahead and decide you're
gonna do that, have the staff report and go ahead and open a public
hearing. Um, that's what — that's the protocol we came up with this
evening. That's the appropriate thing to do if that's what your
objective is.
Mr. Longoria: _ Is 4 somehow tied to 5? I — i — is there a reason to keep those two
things together? From a deferral point of view?
Ms. Bentley: Well, here's the way I see it and I don't know what the technical
answer is. But this is 18 acres and we got - we've got a winery.
And we've got an equestrian facility with 20 horses, okay? So,
everything is conversion and there's no lines separating the use
we've got a request for events, weddings. We've got a rural event
facility. Or — or — or rural uses. So, I don't - I don't know if I can
make these decisions on, you know, separately. And that's why I
think council is so confused about what we — what we would be
approving and what she would have a right to. That scares me
because I don't know that I know that. And I don't want the
neighbors to be disappointed in the decision.
Ms. Cookerly: Can I just say one thing? I think that for those of you who have just
come out and — and spoken and you certainly have been heard. The
concern that we have, and I think I'm putting this maybe in a
language -that might be very clear. Is whether the buy right um, we
— we share concerns about noise. We share concerns about traffic
and attendance. Um, those three things are at the gist of what
you're concerned about.
Those things can happen in a farm winery without necessarily a
special event. And we wanna get a handle on that. Out of fairness
to the neighbors that're very unhappy. So, while it may look to you
that deferral is some sort of a dodge. We're very concerned about
that in total. Okay? Not just on these one-time events or these
sequenced events at — at parties, etcetera. But on a day-to-day
basis. And that has to be told.
Mayor Lockwood: And I wanna echo that, too. My support of deferral is in interest of
— in main interest of the neighbors and to come to some kind of
solution so that there's not a lot of something that, you know, again
if it's buy right but then again, is worse than uh, than is anticipated.
So, you know, definitely, I support deferral in order to try to work
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out a — a better solution, not a — not a worse solution. Paul?
Mr. Moore: Thanks, Joe. Um, and I — I can support some of what you just said
from a — from the interest of making sure we're doing what's right
for those who are most affected. And I also agree with um,
Councilmember Jamison and his concern about what the buy right
part looks like. And I wanna make sure that we're not conflating
two issues. I don't have any confusion about whether or not I think
it's okay to park cars within the 100 -foot setback. I don't have a
problem understanding whether or not the horse arenas and the
driveways can be within 100 -foot setback.
You know what, that's real simple for me because that has nothing
to do with the buy right use. Those are things that're already a — a
request for a variance. I have no problem saying, you know what?
No thank you to all those things. I have no problem with
supporting the withdrawal. That's easy. Um, Councilmember
Longoria spoke very eloquently to the fact that that's a no brainer.
You know what, that's easy. The part where it's still confusing is,
Councilmember Jamison's concern for the — the conflating of the
two issues of the buy right winery use and the special event things
that may go along with that.
Not necessarily special event, but the kinds of events that may be
measured as music or concerts, of some scale. Which, I don't know
what that scale looks like. Because I don't understand yet what the
buy right part of that looks like. So, I struggle with No. 5, the
U2102. Uh, and I might be willing to support a deferral for that
part. The rest of this is real easy for me. No thanks.
Mayor Lockwood: Anybody else?
You know, to be the most conservative and cautious. You know,
we got that possibly splitting — splitting these and the one that the
applicant — the applicant has asked to withdraw. But I will ask the
question, if — if the council is willing or, and I know I support
deferral on the other items. Is there any harm to just, you know,
wait to vote on that when we have the whole — the — the hearing on
everything? Uh, Ken is that —
Mr. Jarrard: Of course, of course not. No, I mean I think that uh, you know the
package, for all the reasons that some of you have stated knowing
the totality of all the things on the table and all the things that
could be potential concessions, may make the most sense to have it
all wrapped up together. Um, you know, the reality is, is many of
you have met with these constituents, as have I, many of the
questions that've been raise tonight, we have discussed those with
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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them. Uh, there is always gonna be time to disagree.
Um, but there may be a limited time to come up with an omnibus
solution to some of these issues. And that is the concern of what
has driven at least the way I have approached this. Um, and so,
whether or not it is worth the additional time is gonna be up to the
enlightened wisdom of the council. But my recommendation is,
this additional time might yield some long-term dividends. You all
know that. You all know that's my position.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay. Joe?
Mr. Longoria: All right. Can we make — can I make a motion then to um, defer
um, Agenda Item No. 21-160? We're gonna do these one at a time
Ken, is that correct?
Mr. Jarrard: That is correct, Councilman.
Mr. Longoria: Then I make motion to defer Agenda Item No. 21-160 to the July
17"' —19a' meeting. Oh, right.
Mayor Lockwood: And hold on, before we have to say anything, I want to have time
Mr. Longoria:
Mr. Jamison:
for comments, too.
No, that's it.
Second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, so I have a motion and a second for deferral.
Councilmember Longoria, second Councilmember Jameson. Now,
I'll open up for discussion. Or questions on that.
Ms. Bentley: I guess I'm trying to figure out where we're going with this. Are
we — I'm concerned about the date of the deferral? That it's even
longer than what I had hoped for. And the conditions of the
deferral for the applicant.
Mr. Longoria: So, I'm perfectly — if we can get it shorter, I'm all in favor of that
but I don't know if [inaudible — crosstalk].
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Lockwood: [Inaudible — crosstalk].
Mr. Jamison: I heard that was the preference of the date.
[Crosstalk]
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Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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Mr. Jarrard: Well, if the council wants to defer it to the first meeting in July,
that's July 7t', is it not? That Wednesday?
Ms. Bentley: What about June 21 Sc?
Mr. Jarrard: I'm afraid we're not gonna have time to readvertise.
Ms. Bentley: Okay, that's an — that's an answer that I can accept. I — I just
wanna, you know, prolonging this is my — my question. And I — I
would love to hear the applicant um, what're we gonna do during
the deferral period?
Mr. Jarrard: All right. So, the — the thought would be that, if there is an interest
by certain councilmembers. And if there is an interest by
representatives by the applicant. And if there is an interest by
stakeholders and neighbors who have a unique interest in — in this
piece of property coming together and seeing if there's any
opportunity for common ground and an omnibus solution to work
out something that is perhaps a win for everyone. Uh, I suspect we
would find that answer out fairly quickly. Uh, and if the answer is
no, then we will have lost time.
Ms. Bentley: So, fairly quickly as I agree with that and I'd — I'd love to — I
mean, this is what's unfortunate about what happened tonight is,
you know, that good faith intention on behalf of the applicant.
Because a deferral comes with strings. And conditions. And then
this council decides that. So, I um, you know, if we can't make
June and I don't wanna do this during the week of July the 41'.
Then we'll go with the date. But what about her — what about her
activities? Now we're getting into, you know, 30 plus days.
Mr. Jarrard: Councilmember Bentley, what — what — I would just, this is just
me, is that if we're going into a deferral and we're going to go into
this meeting with the residents and the applicant and their
attorneys. You know, it's on Ms. Jackson and if — and you know, it
probably won't help her cause during those meetings if she
continues and the outcome might be worse.
Mayor Lockwood: I would agree with that, yeah. Joe?
Mr. Longoria: I'm gonna ask a question that maybe everybody else on the council
understands the answer and I'm the only one that doesn't. Are
there unlawful activities taking place right now? Is there anything
that is non -conforming about the current property's use?
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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Mr. Jarrard: I think that's probably a question for me. Um, and I think that
given where we are in this process, I would prefer to not answer
that in this forum. But there are um, a variety of different answers
to that question.
Mr. Longoria: Well, it's important to understand because if what we're concerned
about is the date for deferral because we don't want too much time
to elapse. It — there's a — an implied, because we don't want more
damage to occur. And so, that makes it sounds like something's
going on that shouldn't be going on.
Ms. Cookerly: Joe, I disagree with that. I think these people are out of patience
and I — I think just in — in neighborhood consideration, we're just
trying to come to a resolution for the angst and — and the
discomfort and I don't know that that leads to...
Mayor Lockwood: I think, you know, honestly, I think the 30 days would be a perfect
timing. You have enough time but not too much. The problem is
30 days puts it in a - a vacation week which would not be fair to —
to us and — and citizens.
Uh, so I don't know that seven more days would, you know, is
gonna be negative — impact it negatively. Um, I would say this to
answer the question, I think what we hear the most, and I believe
the neighbors the most concerned are concerts where they've had
the two special event permits which, by our ordinance of code, you
— you only get two. They've already had their two. So, would it be
safe to say Ken, that over the next five weeks or whatever the time
is, that that is — that would not be a concern?
Mr. Jarrard: Representation has been made from me — to me, is that those will
not occur. Not any longer.
Mayor Lockwood: Rick?
Mr. Moore: Yeah. Concerts will not — concerts —
Mr. Jarrard: The uh, the so-called Uncorked Series.
Mr. Mohrig: What — what I heard was, and again this is — and I'll talk about
this. What I heard were residents being concerned, not just about
the Uncorked, but also the ongoing, every weekend, the traffic —
the traffic and the music and them still being able to hear even
though it wasn't a special use permit.
But that gets into the fuzzy area of okay, what — how are we
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
Monday, June 7, 2021
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defining what's by right. That's the issue. And — and again, back
to, you know, Peyton's comment is, it would behoove the applicant
if in good faith, they really wanna try to work with the neighbors,
then don't do things that you've heard are gonna be an issue. Or at
least, tone it down so it's not as — not as big of an issue in the
meantime, so that you can all try to work together.
Mr. Longoria: I made a motion because I thought that was the logical choice that
we were already willing to make. If — if people are not um,
comfortable with deferring this until July the 17th — the 19th.
Mr. Jarrard: 19th.
Mr. Longoria: The 19th, then I'll withdraw my motion.
Mr. Jamison: Well, I have a question. On Ken's point. If to Councilmember
Bentley's point, June 21St, if we're deferring it. I mean, we're just
like, that whole advertising thing, why um, I mean, does it go to
the planning commission? It doesn't go to — it would just come
back to us. So, could we defer it to June 21St?
Mr. Longoria: I'm gonna want at least 15 days for legal ad[inaudible]
[02:19:11].
Ms. Bentley: So, here — and I understand what you're saying uh, and so, for —
for me to put — if — if we are going to try to allow some sort of
holistic solution, omnibus, with the neighbors in good faith. I — I
don't think that, you know, I think that pulling this all apart is not
going to serve that purpose. If that's what we're trying to
accomplish. Because this is one property with several different
uses being applied to it. So, I would be not in favor of pulling
things apart before that negotiation can take place.
Mayor Lockwood: And I would agree and that's the reason I asked the question, you
know, if — if we —
Ms. Cookerly: So, we keep the two deferrals but grant them court withdrawal?
Mayor Lockwood: The festival.
Ms. Cookerly: They festival.
Mayor Lockwood: What harm would it be if they were all — they were all deffered.
Mr. Longoria: Okay. We can only vote on one at a time. I am voting — I made a
motion to defer this to July the 19th.
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Monday, June 7, 2021
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Mayor Lockwood: For the first one?
Mr. Longoria: Correct. You have to vote on one at a time.
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Lockwood: Now motion is seconded and —
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Jamison: Yeah, one more question and you're probably gonna kill me. So, if
we can't do it June 211, can we have a special meeting or is that
just off the table?
[Crosstalk]
Ms. Cookerly: I'd be in favor of that.
Mr. Longoria: I'd be willing to have a special meeting.
Mr. Jamison:
Ms. Bentley:
Okay.
Sooner the because
— sooner — I believe that, you know [inaudible]
[02:20:53].
Mr. Jarrard:
It's what we signed up for.
Mayor Lockwood:
So, then a what? What would need to be —
Mr. Jarrard:
I wanna hear from staff about the legal ad.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Longoria:
That'd be the 28ths?
Ms. Cookerly:
Twenty eigth as far as legal.
[Crosstalk]
Mayor Lockwood:
That'd be 15 days.
Ms. Cookerly:
It wouldn't be published until the 17th. Doesn't give you enough
time.
Mayor Lockwood:
So, the 28th would not work?
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Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 59 of 63
Ms. Bentley: No, that's just — it's such a long time for the [inaudible]
[02:21:43].
Ms. Cookerly: So again, one question, would the people who spoke tonight,
would they be entered into the record the same way like, emails
have been in the past? And not have to testify again?
Mr. Jarrard: You mean at the next public hearing? Council could certainly
recognize those comments and have — have them become part of
the record. I think that would be in order.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah. And I — I wanna stress that because I've told people also that
tonight, their comments count. They didn't waste their time
coming here even if it is deferred.
Mr. Longoria: It always counts.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah. Always — your presence counts. Your presence counts. All
right, so right now I've got a motion and a second to defer this
item until the 19th of July. Okay. Any more discussion?
Mr. Moore: Yeah, just real quick. I don't know who brought it up, but whether
or not the deferral comes with any other conditions like a mandate
to meet with the community by that time. You know that there's —
there needs to be an assembly of some kind of the property owner,
the applicant and the interested members of the surrounding area.
To suggest that there is some action to move this forward.
Mr. Longoria: So, one of two things is gonna happen, okay? Either we're gonna
convene on the 19'h of July or whatever date this winds up being
on and vote on these things exactly the way they are today. Or
people are gonna get in a room, figure out what really needs to
happen and we're gonna wind up withdrawing these items, in favor
of something else that makes more sense out of this whole
situation.
Mr. Moore: Yeah, I'm after that. But I'm not sure how that whole process gets
facilitated.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Longoria: I'm not worried about that getting facilitated. Either it happens or it
doesn't. If it doesn't happen, we're gonna be voting on this the
way it is.
Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council
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Mr. Jarrard: Well, what I can tell you is the applicant has expressed a
willingness to do this. Uh, however from a coordination
standpoint, it's not gonna become coordinated until this occur.
Because there was no knowledge of whether this would occur yet.
So, if this occurs and there is in fat the additional time. The
applicant will either do it or they won't. The neighborhood will
either participate or they won't. Uh, and that will simply be a
product of me working with various attorneys involved.
Ms. Cookerly: I think the council has sent a very clear message where the burden
is.
Mayor Lockwood: Yeah, the burden would be, you know, again —
Ms. Cookerly: Council's been very clear.
Mayor Lockwood: [Inaudible] [02:24:20] here's the deadline. So, okay. So, I have a
motion for a deferral, second. A motion from Councilmember
Longoria. A second from Councilman Jameson. We've had
discussion. All in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Any opposed?
Mr. Moore: Nay.
Motion and Vote: A request for deferral to the July 19, 2021 Council Meeting was
made on Agenda Item No. 21-160. Councilmember Longoria moved to accept
the deferral of Agenda Item No. 21-160. Councilmember Jamison seconded the
motion. The motion passed (6-1). Councilmember Moore opposed the motion.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, that passes six to one with Councilmember Moore opposing.
All right. Let's, uh —
Mr. Longoria: So, in a similar fashion — oh, we have to read out the —
Mr. Jarrard: We don't have to resound it, but we are on No. 5 now, U21.
Mr. Longoria: Right. So, I was just gonna make a similar motion to defer Agenda
Item No. 21-161 for the same date as the other item that we just
deferred.
Mr. Mohrig: Second — second.
Mayor Lockwood: Okay, I have a motion for deferral from Councilmember Longoria.
A second from Councilmember Mohrig. Any discussion? Hearing
none, all in favor, please say, aye.
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Councilmembers: Aye.
Mayor Lockwood: [Inaudible] [02:25:28].
Ms. Bentley: Opposed.
Mayor Lockwood: Those opposed? Okay. That looks like it passes — it passes but
Councilmember Moore and Bentley in opposition. Okay.
Motion and Vote: A request for deferral to the July 19, 2021 Council Meeting was
made on Agenda Item No. 21-161. Councilmember Longoria moved to accept
the deferral of Agenda Item No. 21-161. Councilmember Mohrig seconded the
motion. The motion passed (5-2). Councilmember Moore and Councilmember
Bentley opposed the motion.
[Crosstalk]
Mr. Longoria: All right, on to Item No. 6. I move that we uh, withdraw agenda
Item No. 21-182.
Mr. Jarrard: May I respectfully just — we accept the withdrawal of —
Mr. Longoria: Correct. We accept the withdrawal.
Mayor Lockwood: And do we need any kind of presentation from staff on that? Okay.
Okay. So —
Mr. Mohrig: Second.
Mayor Lockwood: All right, I have a motion from Councilmember Longoria with a
second from Councilmember Morg to approve the withdrawal of
this item. Any — any discussion? All in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers: Aye.
Motion and Vote: A withdrawal request was made. Councilmember Longoria
moved to accept the withdrawal of Agenda Item No. 21-162. Councilmember
Mohrig seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: Any opposed? Okay, that passes unanimous. Um, let's see. Looks
like that may be — may be the end of our agenda. I do wanna
personally thank everybody, no matter which side you're on for
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Monday, June 7, 2021
Page 62 of 63
being here tonight because I think we stated, every — everything
that we discussed tonight is of value. Comments are value,
opinions are value. We're only hoping for a better outcome, if
that's possible. If it — if it's not, we — we can make — we will make
our decision on the 19''. So uh, thank you very much. All right.
Um, anything council had to report on? We are good? I'll uh — go
ahead, Paul.
Mr. Moore: Um, on um, May 21s'. Um, Councilmembers Bentley uh, Jamison
and — and I participated in a Fulton Academy um, student speech
um, event. There were uh, 16 bright, young um, students that gave,
um ...couple minute speeches on a variety of very topical, global
um, uh, topics. And uh, they were ex — extraordinary um, speeches
and I applaud, I don't remember the teacher's name. Do you
remember?
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:29
pm. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: Unanimous. Thank you.
1
But it was uh, it was an event that uh, we participated in last year.
And uh, if you ever get a chance to participate in the future, it was
very rewarding and I applaud all those um, students for their — for
their uh, level of preparation, the quality of their presentations and
the um, time and effort they put into it. It was just a very — very uh,
rewarding event.
Mayor Lockwood:
Okay. Thank you. All right, I'll open up for a motion for
adjournment.
Mr. Mohrig:
Motion to adjourn.
Mr. Longoria:
Second.
Mayor Lockwood:
I have a motion from Councilmember Morg and a second from
Councilmember Longoria to adjourn. All in favor, please say, aye.
Councilmembers:
Aye.
Motion and Vote: Councilmember Mohrig moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:29
pm. Councilmember Moore seconded the motion. The motion passed (7-0).
Mayor Lockwood: Unanimous. Thank you.
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Date Approved: July 19, 2021
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Joe Lock4qd, A ayor