HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 09/13/2007 - MINS 09 13 07 WS (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction
of this summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted. This document includes limited presentation by
Council and invited speakers in summary form. This is an official record of the Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio recorded.
Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on September 13, 2007 at 5:30 PM,
Mayor Joe Lockwood presiding.
All Councilmembers were present.
Mayor Lockwood called the meeting to order and explained Work Sessions are a more informal setting to
update the Council on business items. There will be no votes taken during the Work Session. Public
Comment will be allowed that is germane to the agenda item. Public Comment will be heard at the
beginning of each item and further explained that once the item is called, no other public cards will be
accepted.
City Clerk Marchiafava stated Acting City Manager Chris Lagerbloom wanted to make some opening
remarks.
Acting City Manager Lagerbloom explained the reason for not having the normal work session set up
tonight is due to the fact that we are training a new sound technician and based on this fact, he wanted to be
sure that all microphones were working and that the meeting would proceed without any problems. We
will be back to regular work session format next month.
Discussion on Recycling Program and Green City.
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the first item is a Discussion on Recycling Program and Green City to be
presented by Councilmember Zahner Bailey. There is no public comment on this item.
Councilmember Zahner Bailey passed out a hand-out for green initiatives and recycling
recommendations.
• There is a national trend to move towards recycling programs within cities.
• Education: there is a need for environmental education within the City.
• There are partnerships available through neighboring cities.
• We can tap into the local schools recycling programs that are already in place.
• Possibly we can use our police and fire department locations for recycling locations.
• Our Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are already involved in making Milton a green community.
• CH2MHill would be a great partner with the City in moving forward with these recycling programs.
• There are the programs such as Rivers Alive, Keep Roswell Beautiful, Keep North Fulton Beautiful
and others that we can also partner with.
• She would like to move forward in seeing how Milton can communicate with these organizations to
move forward with partnerships as a City initiative. She would work with staff on how to best
proceed.
Councilmember Lusk said we might consider organizations that work within our City such as waste
haulers and, more particularly, Waste Management. On Saturday, September 22, 2007, they are having a
recycling effort at the Maxwell Road station to collect electronic items.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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Discussion on Tree Fund/Tree Bank/Sidewalk Fund
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the next item is a discussion on Tree Fund/Tree Bank/and Sidewalk Fund
to be presented by Community Development Director Tom Wilson. There is no public comment on this
item.
Community Development Director Wilson said that tonight our Arborist Mark Law is going to talk a
little about our Tree Fund, Tree Bank, and Sidewalk Fund.
Arborist Law gave an overview of the Tree Bank and Tree Fund:
• During the clearing of land for development purposes, protected trees shall be conserved on the
development site wherever and whenever reasonably possible.
• If protected trees are lost or destroyed, the developer or owner shall pay for their loss or destruction
by the replanting of recompense trees.
• Prior to the issuance of any Land Disturbance permit, a bond in the amount of the total planting cost
plus 125% will be submitted to the City of Milton and held until the trees are installed.
• We are still in the process of getting bonds transferred from Fulton County over to the City of
Milton for approximately $115,000.
• The money will be placed into an account designated as “Tree Recompense Bond Payable” or “Tree
Fund” and the money will be held in this account for up to one year after the issuance of a
certificate of occupancy or until the plantings have been installed and approved by the City
Arborist.
• If a job has not been completed as required, the Arborist may request only a partial release of funds
or continue to hold the funds until all requirements are met.
How to Determine the Tree Fund Contribution
• The City of Milton determines that a development site cannot physically contain all the required
landscape trees.
• A developer or owner will request that the tree fund alternative be utilized to satisfy the site density
requirements and/or specimen recompense requirements.
• The City of Milton will approve the request and the developer or owner determines the cost
associated with planting the trees. This cost will be the total installed price determined by an
average of three different landscape contractors plus 125%.
• Once this has been approved by the City Arborist, the developer or owner will submit the tree
recompense amount to the City of Milton.
How much money can be generated through a Tree Fund?
• This depends on the size of the municipality, the requirements of the Tree Ordinance, the manner in
which it is enforced and its formula to calculate the fees.
• For example, the City of Roswell generates tens of thousands of dollars as does Cobb County. It
has also been estimated that the Dekalb Tree Ordinance would generate close to a million dollars.
Who should control the Tree Fund?
• This should be controlled by the arborist, the finance department and with final decisions rendered
by the City Council.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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• These funds will be kept separate from the general fund and will be carried forward each year so
that no part of the fund may be deposited into the general fund.
Disbursements of the Funds
• The funds can be utilized to purchase and plant trees at City owned properties.
• They can also be used to for schools, stream bank restoration, planting trees along streets or
medians on county or City road projects and also maintenance.
• Departments within the City of Milton may apply for funds to purchase green space, the purchase
and planting of trees, shrubs and grasses and also maintenance with their primary focus being
planting of trees. There are requirements for the use of these funds, such as the reason for the
request, the amount requested and how the funds will be spent, also the types of trees and shrubs to
name a few.
Sites available for banked trees
• An inspection was done at each of the sites listed below to determine the need for trees to be
installed as they become available or as funds allow.
• These are listed in the order of those who have a more immediate need down to the least.
• This priority list is subject to change.
1. Summit Hill School
2. Northwestern Middle School
3. Bell Park
4. Fire Stations #10, 14 and #18
5. Bethwell Community Center
6. Crabapple Community Center
7. Birmingham Park
8. Providence Park
9. Birmingham Highway School Site (proposed)
10. Freemanville Road School Site (proposed)
11. Crabapple Crossing
12. Milton High School
13. Cogburn Woods Elementary School
14. Hopewell Middle School
The Council suggested we follow up with Fulton County on the outstanding bond monies. They also
asked Community Development Director Tom Wilson to start moving forward with a Tree Ordinance.
Discussion on Architectural Review of Single Family Home Plans.
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the next item is a discussion on Architectural Review of Single Family
Home Plans by Community Development Director Tom Wilson. There is no public comment on this
item.
Community Development Director Wilson introduced John Walker with Community Development to
give a presentation.
John Walker with Building Services stated:
• This review would include building code enforcement violations, correct application of construction
products, inconsistencies and clarity in an effort to eliminate potential defects.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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• The City adopted many of Fulton County’s existing ordinances and in them was the practice of not
conducting plan reviews of proposed single family residential units.
• The Building Department has required the submittal of basic building plans for proposed single
family residential units in the City. This was to have a minimum set of plans to review for major
life-safety issues, to verify the square footage of the building and to use on the job site to confer
about compliance issues.
• Plan reviews will not adversely impact a builder’s or developer’s construction timetable. Most plan
reviews can be conducted within 2 to 3 days and the building department guarantees a maximum of
five days for review.
• The purpose of the review is to analyze construction documents to identify built-in design flaws that
could lead to problems or even building failure.
• Plan reviews are becoming more common in the Atlanta area as cities focus on the quality of
construction that will impact its future tax base.
• These plan reviews are currently conducted for a fee of 50% of the building permit. This fee does
cost the builder on the front end of the process, but can eliminate costly and time consuming errors
in the field. This is not revenue for the City, but it is a fee for the service and will off-set itself.
• In our limited reviews, building department staff has already seen mistakes that would have
required stop work orders and field redesigns.
In conclusion, these plan reviews are an important part of the process of enforcing building codes and
protecting public safety. The application of plan reviews to single family residential construction would
assist in reducing the City’s and contractor’s liability while ensuring compliance with building codes and
local ordinances. Staff recommends the City conduct and charge for Residential Plan Reviews.
Community Development Director Wilson said they will be working on this with regards to the fees
charged and their other concerns and will bring it back to the Council.
Councilmember D’Aversa asked why all the jurisdictions are not doing this.
Community Development Director Wilson said most do not do it because they do not have the ability to
do it, but they would if they had the resources available. We do have the staff and the resources to do this.
Discussion on a Telecommunications Ordinance.
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the next item is a discussion on a Telecommunications Ordinance by
Community Development Director Tom Wilson. There is no public comment on this item.
Community Development Director Wilson stated we are asking you to review a Telecommunications
Ordinance, which will establish guidelines for all wireless communication towers and antennas by
encouraging the development of wireless communications and at the same time protecting the general
health, safety and welfare of the public. This will also address our desire to maintain the aesthetic integrity
of the neighboring communities in the future placement of these facilities.
• Staff began working on this ordinance because the City Council recently directed us to evaluate a
telecommunications ordinance for the City which would minimize the visual impact of proposed
vertical telecommunications tower structures and modern-day technological advances to integrate
these federally regulated communications facilities with the rural context of the new municipality.
• Wireless telecommunication towers have been approved in the past under the Fulton County Board
of Commissioner’s jurisdiction as use permits in Chapter 19 of the county’s Zoning Code. The
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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Milton City Council has requested additional performance requirements for the review of wireless
telecommunications towers and suggested a stand-alone ordinance as the best avenue to pursue this
initiative.
• Section 704(a) of the Federal Telecommunications Policy Act of 1996 gives local governments the
ability to regulate policy specific to wireless telecommunication facilities, but is rather limited, but
does have a comprehensively developed ordinance that provides reasonable accommodations for
these modern-day technologies and will place the City in a good position to defend aggressive
measures to install visually intrusive telecommunication towers through the municipal landscape.
• Staff has continued to create ordinances which will promote the agrarian context of the new City
and has carefully researched wireless telecommunications facility ordinances around the region.
Developing this ordinance will help insure that new wireless telecommunications facilities are
integrated into the natural fabric of the surrounding community and are designed to be aesthetically
pleasing where applicable.
• The ordinance promotes the co-location of new cellular service providers on existing structures in
an effort to minimize the need for additional vertical structures to be placed in Greenfield areas of
the City.
• It also considers encouraging wireless telecommunications towers within municipal properties when
it is determined that service delivery is lacking by the provider.
• The revenues from the telecommunication facility franchise fees would service the City of Milton
tax base.
• It does place the burden of proof on the wireless telecommunication providers to supply
professional engineering analysis that validates the need for new facility locations to be installed in
areas where service delivery is proposed to be limited.
• It also encourages the utilization of “stealth” technological design options where the appearance of
the telecommunications facility is not outwardly apparent to the public as first glance or can be
retrofitted into existing community-based structures as an effective alternative whenever possible.
Discussion on Changes to the Demolition permit and Text Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the next item is a discussion changes to the demolition permit by
Community Development Director Tom Wilson. There is no public comment on this item.
Director of Community Development Wilson said that tonight we are going to address two items at the
same time, since it involves the Zoning Ordinance. Senior Planner Robyn MacDonald is going to go over
some changes to the demolition permit and also the text amendments to the Zoning Ordinance.
Senior Planner Robyn MacDonald said that the only change to the demolition permit is under 12H.2,
Design Review Board, where it will now be required for both residential and non-residential structures to
have the plans reviewed by the City of Milton Overlay District Design Review Board who will make
recommendations to the Department of Community Development prior to the approval of a Land
Disturbance permit, Building Permit or Demolition Permit.
Work Session of the Milton City Council
Thursday, September 13,2007 at 5:30 pm
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With regards to the Text Amendments to the Zoning Ordinance, under I2A.3.8, Deadline for Consideration
of Application for COE,the time line has been extended from 15 days to 60 days. As it stands now, they."
only have two weeks in order to act upon an application.
Councilmember Thlrman wanted to be sure the 60 days was not too long a period and asked why it could
not be 30 or 45 days.
Director of Community Development Wilson said staff believes it will most likely never have to go the
full 60 days, but they did want to extend it adequately in case there were any problems with scheduling.
Any shorter time and you run the risk of not being able to meet the deadline because of when the different
bods meet, so this is just a safety net for those times. Most applications will be acted upon within the 30
or 45 days.
Discussion an a volunteer policv.
City Clerk Marchiafava stated the next item is a discussion on a volunteer policy by Acting City Manager
Chris Lagerbloom. There is no public comment on this item.
Acting City Manager Lagerbloom stated that we now have a need to put a volunteer policy in place since we are
moving forward with different volunteers on various projects. We have a prototype to work on, but will tweaking it
to fit Milton's unique needs in the future.
A summary of the policy:
* Provide opportunities for citizens to make meaningful contributions to the operations of the City.
Increase effectiveness of staff
Volunteers are to adhere to the same rules, regulations, and standards as paid staff.
Maintain confidentiality of all information to which they are exposed while serving and not discussing
private City business with anyone who does not volunteer for the City.
There will be a dress code.
* They will have to sign a release of liability waiver.
e Weare looking at the possibility of a background check on each volunteer.
Acting City Manager Lagerbloom stated again this is just a first drafi and we will be bringing a final draft to the
Mayor and Council in the near future for their input and comments prior to it being adopted.
Mayor ~kwoodstated there were no additional items to be discussed and ended the work session at 7:s 1 p.m.
Date Approved: September 13,2007