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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 07/11/2011 - 07 11 11 WS Mins (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, Julyl 1, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of 8 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. The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on July 11, 2011 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding. Council Members Present: Councilmember Zahner Bailey, Councilmember Lusk, Councilmember Hewitt, Councilmember Longoria, and Councilmember Tart. Councilmembers Thurman was absent/excused from the meeting. Mayor Lockwood: • Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items. • No votes will be taken during these sessions. • There are four (4) items on our Agenda tonight. • Public comment is allowed that is germane to an Agenda Item. • If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk staff. • Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2 minutes per person. • Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item. • Once the item is called, no other comment cards will be accepted. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1. 1. Discussion of Impact of the 2010 Census on Redistricting Requirements for the City of Milton. (Paul Frickey, Jarrard & Davis, LLP) Paul Frickey: • I have reviewed if the City of Milton is required to go through a redistricting process based on the 2010 Census. • The reasons this issue came up is because the results showed that several districts were disproportionate to other districts. • District five and six were larger than others. • I have provided the city with our formal opinion on redistricting. • Georgia State law provides the opportunity but it's not a requirement for the city to go through a redistricting. • We had to look if the United States Constitution requires the redistricting process to go forward. • There are two areas we looked at. • First, is a general equal protection for a "one person one vote" standard. • This looks to make sure that each person's vote has the same weight as someone else. • From the conclusions that we have reached, there is a law that says if the elections for the districts occur At Large, then no one district is having any particular overweight. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, July 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 8 • We had to look at the Civil Rights acts to require there not be an impact on minority voting. • Based on the results, there does not appear to be a substantial minority in the city to require the city to go forward with a redistrict. • At this time, it is our conclusion and recommendation to have to redistrict on a legal basis. Mayor Lockwood: • If we wanted to in order to balance things out, what would the process be? Paul Frickey: • The process would require it to run through the state of reapportionment office. • They would provide assistance in drawing the new district boundaries. Councilmember Tart: • District six is the most racially diverse district. • If it is also the largest, would that not prevent people of different races from potentially occupying more than one slot on this board? • What about providing more opportunities for citizens of other ethnicities to run for Council? • District five and six are by far the most racially diverse areas of this City. • Is there a cost involved for redistricting? Paul Frickey: • The numbers suggested that there wasn't a large enough population of minorities that it would change the strength of the minority vote that redistricting wouldn't be possible. • You can get significant assistance from the state for redistricting if you provide them with the information of what factors you want to consider in the redistricting. • They would draw one, two, or three options at no charge. • You can get full copies of maps at cost. Councilmember Longoria: • If there is a possibility that at some point in time the population shifts enough for us to need to redistrict, I would be in favor of redistricting when the Census data comes out. Councilmember Hewitt: • What would be the time frame that it would take for them to go forward with this? Paul Frickey: • The state offices are backed up through about January to get things approved with the legislature. • The process ahead of that but there isn't an urgency for it right now. • Once you have something from the State office, you can make your decision. • After that you would have to go through D.O.J and that is around a 60 — 120 day process. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #2. 2. Discussion of Proposed Text Amendments for Pawn Shops and Gem/Gold Buying Businesses as Conditional Uses. (Paul Frickey, Jarrard & Davis, LLP) Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, Julyl 1, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 8 Paul Frickey: • My first step here would be to see what is out there for state regulation and local legislation. • The council can provide our office with information and suggestions for what they would like to see. • I have divided this topic up from pawn shops and gem/gold buying businesses. • There are some separate regulations at the state level. • Pawn shops are regulated at the state level. • The state level states that all pawn transactions shall be for 30 day periods but may be extended and continued for additional 30 day periods. • There is a distinction between that pawn transaction and a holding period. • The state has regulated what are allowable costs on pawn transactions. • They provide interest with each 30 day period. The maximum is 25% during the first 90 days. • Beyond 90 days, each 30 day period is 12.5%. • Items that involve title transactions, essentially cars, boats, water crafts, etc. Pawn brokers are allowed to charge fees for the cost to register a lien, storage fees, and repossession fees and there are set maximum amounts. • The state prohibits anything that wasn't indicated in the state statute. • Pawn brokers are required to maintain a permanent record book. • It says it has to be spelled out in legible English and is to show each loan, purchase, or sale. • The list must also include the date of the transaction, name of the person conducting the transaction, the name, age, address, and general description of the customer. • The state does require a driver's license or federal identification. • The record shows an identification description of the pledged or purchased good including serial number, model numbers, etc. and specific identifying marks. • They have to attach and record the receipt upon ticket number and the price paid or amount loaned. • If the pawn broker issues a check for the proceeds, they have to record the number of the check. • It has to include the signature of the customer. • The log must be in ink, chronological order, no blank lines, no obliterations, alterations, or erasers. • The only way to change an entry is to draw a single line while maintaining the legibility of the entry that was crossed out. • The permanent record book is required to be open to inspection of a duly authorized officer. • State requires this record book be maintained not less than four years. • The seller must sign the disclosure statement and the shop must maintain a copy of that disclosure for two years. • Other jurisdictions require annual permits. Some charge $100.00 for the application. • You have to have a business license and a pawn broker license. • They require all employees to have an annual permit card. • Some states require a photograph of the customer in addition to the states required general description. • Some cities require a fee for each transaction around one to three dollars. Councilmember Longoria: • Does any city require photographs of the merchandise as well as a photograph of the customer? Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, July 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 8 Paul Frickey: • Yes, it is required to have a photograph of the merchandise. Mayor Lockwood: • If a pawn shop wanted to open now in Milton, it would open under the state's guidelines, correct? Paul Frickey: • Yes sir. Mayor Lockwood: • If we made changes to the laws, would that location be grandfathered in or would they have to follow the new rules? Paul Frickey: • Its permit tv operate would be grandfathered, but you can impose rules and rcgulations on thc;lr operations. C fillc.-I- m—cr i art: • If we were to put regulations on pawn shops, I would want to consider certain distance requirements. • I think we should have more stringent requirements and consider limiting them all together. Mayor Lockwood: • Would the council be interested in going forward with an ordinance? Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • Yes. City Manager Lagerbloom: • We will look at putting something together for you all. • We will look into further regulation on good quality of the items and the customer bringing the items in. • We can look into a finger printing requirement. • We will look into distance requirements and hold periods as well. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #3. 3. Discussion of Intersection Improvements at the Hopewell Francis Cogburn Intersection. (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, July 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 8 Carter Lucas: • This project began in January of 2011. • To date, we have completed the concept analysis and surveys of the intersection. • On April 28th we held a public information meeting which was well attended. • We received over 40 comments at that meeting. • We have received close to 90 comments throughout the entire process. • The distribution of the traffic surprised us in the beginning. • On an average day, we expected heavy traffic northbound -southbound movement. • We were surprised to find that it was more evenly distributed. • The morning peak of traffic flow is more at the southbound Hopewell movement. • 29% of the traffic came straight through the intersection and 10% turning right onto Hopewell with only I% turning left. • There was heavy movement on the westbound Francis Rd. • 18% of the traffic was headed westbound across the intersection from Francis to Hopewell and 13% of that was turning left onto Cogburn Rd. • In the afternoon, the traffic flows were opposite. • 17% of the traffic was coming eastbound through the intersection and 13% of that traffic was turning left onto Hopewell. • Our concept design analysis provided two alternatives. • Traditional traffic signal with turn lanes were associated with that and in accordance with the transportation master plan, we have identified this as a potential round -about location. • We reviewed a single lane round -about at this location. • The roundabout will take away more from the right of way. • In either case, we have six parcels that would be affected by right of way acquisition on this project. • The construction cost is where the prices vary by $200,000 mainly due to signal equipment. • The signal requires twice as much right of way as the round -about. • Our yearly maintenance would require annual inspections due for the signals and electrical. • Right of way acquisition is not included in the prices we have estimated for the projects. Councilmember Tart: • This summer I spent some time in Sedona and was surprised at how fast traffic was moved from one side to the other. Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • On a weekend, could we help direct people through the round -about to show how it is used? • Where do we go from here? Carter Lucas: • In comparison, the round -about will have lower life cycle costs, lower speeds, less potential for accidents. • This will also help reduce delays. • The safety of the intersection shows that with a light, there are 32 potential points of conflict. • In a round -about, there are eight potential points of conflict for a single lane round about. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, Julyl 1, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 8 • Our recommendation is go forward with the design of the round -about. It will take about five months to complete these plans for this intersection. • We are looking at around a full two years until completion of the reconstruction of this intersection. City Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #4. 4. Discussion of the Mayfield Mid -Broadwell Project. (Carter Lucas, Public Works Director) Carter Lucas: • This project also began back in January. • This was the development of intersection improvements in the Crabapple area at the 372 Broadwell — Mayfield intersection. • The project has changed a little since we have developed the Lew Oliver study for the entire Crabapple area. • We want to include the transportation components outlined in the study in this intersection evaluation so we can determine what has positive or negative effects. • This is one of our federally funded projects so we will move a bit slower on this. • We looked at this project from a historical and environmental standpoint. • We have done traffic analysis in that area and began our concept meetings with GDOT. • We wanted to look at those projects that provided some sort of connectivity, mobility, affordability, constructability and sense of community. • A traditional intersection would impact this area by reducing pedestrian mobility and doesn't suit the area of the Crabapple area. • Rather than move forward, we looked at alternatives for this intersection. • We looked at bypasses for this area to reduce congestion at this intersection. • As we laid out these alternatives, the east -west movement operates at an F. • To make this work, we have included a round -about at the other end of that to improve the east - west connectivity at the tie in to highway 372. • We would also be looking at the possibility of adding turn lanes and creating intersection improvements. • This solution will slow traffic significantly in the heart of Crabapple. • Right now, we are looking at around $500,000 for the intersection improvements and the construction of the left turn lanes. • We are looking at around $2.5 Million for the northwest bypass. • Under this existing funding, we would like to move forward with our concept plans and develop improvements at the intersection and evaluation of that northwest bypass. • We will have to do some more research to find exact totals if we include right of way acquisitions. • We are close on the available funding and it will be an alternative that I recommend pursuing. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, July 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 8 Councilmember Zahner Bailey: • Does $2.5Million total include the round -about at Crabapple, the round -about at Birmingham Highway as well as the intersection improvements of turn lanes to go north onto Birmingham Highway? • If you were start to proceed, how much time are we looking at? Carter Lucas: • Yes, ma'am. • Under our plans right now, there would be left turns on all legs except for the Mayfield leg in that Birmingham intersection. • We want to look at environmental issues for this project before we proceed. • Any impact to a historical property will push us into a three year time frame. • The northwest bypass is mostly developed, so we anticipate environmental studies would be short. • We are talking about including an environmental study for the Charlotte extension so when we complete the north-west bypass, we can move forward with the Charlotte extension which would be the number two priority. • An environmental impact study would cost around Councilmember Lusk: • With the environmental study, would you include the number four and number five legs as well from the chart? Carter Lucas: • Initially I didn't think I would. Councilmember Lusk: • What would be the additional cost to have it done? Carter Lucas: • I would have to go back and look at our environmental assessment to see if there are any historical structures. • I think we would have larger impacts on priority three from our charts. • There is a potential that we could include all six points on the environmental documentation. Councilmember Tart: • Because we can't do a left hand turn onto Mayfield because of the property, would it cost too much more to shift that intersection more towards the northwest to take it away from the east? Carter Lucas: • I think for the distances to shift that, the cost would be too much. • As we move through the process, we will develop cost estimates for the other legs that are outlined in the charts for this presentation. • We may be able to do some of the other projects with local funds rather than federal. • This was just an update as to where we were headed on this project. Work Session of the Milton City Council Monday, Julyl 1, 2011 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 8 After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 7:55 p.m. Date Approved: August 15, 2011. Sudie AM Gordon, City Clerk Joe LockwoojMayor