HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 02/22/2012 - MIN 02 22 12 SCWS (Migrated from Optiview)Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 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 video/audio recorded.
The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on February 22, 2012
at 5:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding.
Council Members Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Matt Kunz,
Councilmember Bill Lusk, and Councilmember Lance Large.
Council Members Absent: Councilmember Joe Longoria and Councilmember Burt Hewitt.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items.
• No votes will be taken during these sessions.
• There is one (1) item 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 on 12450 and 12500 Arnold Mill Road and Owners Purchase of Sewer Taps
from Mountain Park.
(Presented by Ken Jarrard, City Attorney & Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager)
Ken Jarrard, City Attorney:
• Does everyone have a copy of the map?
• It shows the sewer boundary in respect to Milton.
• The pink area has sewer. The light green area does not have sewer.
Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager:
• The pink area is not Milton.
• Everything that is a shade of green is Milton.
• The green lines represent pipes.
City Attorney Jarrard:
• The eight areas in red are the parcels that were the subject of much debate during the summer
of 2010.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
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• You may recall that in the process of discussing sewer, even going back two years ago, we
have been involved in the service delivery strategy negotiations between Milton and Fulton
County.
• This has played a part in those negotiations because the provision of sewer is a service that is
part of the strategy.
• In 20103 I came to you with a request by the presiding mediator who is Judge Norman
Fletcher.
• He provided a map which was the sewer boundary between Milton and Fulton County.
• He circled some parcels on the map with "yes" and "no". "Yes" meaning the area that has
sewer and "No" meaning no sewer in that area.
• He asked for a vote whether Milton would allow Fulton County to provide sewer service
within those parcels that were identified as "Yes".
• He did this as a means of trying to resolve the dispute with Fulton County as to what
properties would have sewer versus properties not having sewer within Milton.
• The City Council reviewed that map in May and concluded, based upon the limited number
of parcels and the limited number of encroachments of sewer into Milton, that they would
approve all of them as parcels with sewer and put this issue to bed once and for all.
• That is also what occurred in Fulton County about the same time. They also approved the
same map.
• That is where we have been since 2010.
Since that time, Mr. Lagerbloom and I have continued to work with Fulton County with the
understanding that Fulton County and Milton have an agreement with respect to the sewer
boundary.
• We have to have a sewer boundary because a county cannot provide services within a city
unless we have an agreement to allow them to provide those services.
• We did what the mediator asked, however, we did not enter into an intergovernmental
agreement.
• We approved two sewer maps that absolutely corresponded.
• As time went on, an individual named Mr. White approached Mr. Lagerbloom, and possibly
several of you, to indicate that he had acquired some sewer taps from Mountain Park with
respect to two parcels; 12450 and 12500 Arnold Mill Road.
• If you look on your map, those parcels are identified in blue.
Various correspondences back and forth between us led me to conclude that, based upon the
maps that were approved in 2010, there was no permission for Fulton County to serve sewer
with respect to those two parcels.
• However, Fulton County has clearly indicated that they are willing and able to do so and the
developer has clearly purchased taps for that parcel.
• I am comfortable about where Milton is presently.
• We have been involved for the last couple of years in a very tedious and difficult process of
identifying and regulating the services between all the various jurisdictions and Fulton
County.
a Part of that has been an agreed upon sewer map between Fulton County and the City of
Milton.
• Mr. Lagerbloom and I have tried to keep a united front and preserve what we believe was the
intent of the council.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
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• However, Fulton County is the provider and if Fulton County were here tonight their position
would be that they did not contemplate the Little River basin in our map; they were thinking
only of Big Creek.
• My position back to them has been that the City of Milton was thinking about sewer in
general terms and those parcels should have been a part of the negotiated process.
• Fulton County is willing to service and provide sewer to the parcel in blue as well as to the
other areas in red, but they are going to need your permission by the way of an
intergovernmental agreement or a modified map to do that.
• Fulton County has also indicated that they are not concerned about adding sewer to the
remainder of the Little River basin.
• If we need to create an IGA that makes it clear that in the future, if there is ever an interest in
doing that, they would have to come back to the council for further permission.
• Right now, I would like your permission to go ahead and craft a very short intergovernmental
agreement with Fulton County to memorialize what we agreed to in May 2010.
• Secondly, I wanted to make you aware that we have a pending request from these developers
that states they own the taps and have Fulton County's permission to provide the service and
need Milton to provide -permission in that IGA to add these additional parcels at 12450 and
12500 Arnold Mill Road.
• I am seeking direction from you to put together the IGA, which I heartily recommend, and
your guidance in respect to those two additional parcels in blue.
Joe Lockwood, Mayor:
• Could you please reiterate the timeline?
• We had discussed this map in 2010, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Yes, May 2010.
Mayor Lockwood:
• These taps were purchased prior to that?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Yes.
Mayor Lockwood:
• When the property owner purchased it, what would the county's position have been?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Fulton County's position has always been that they are ready, willing, and able to provide the
service. That has not changed.
• Mr. Lagerbloom and I have taken the position that the last manifestation of the intent of the
council was "X" and we feel like we need to honor that.
• They have been very reasonable and have listened to us.
• I don't think they necessarily agree with all of it; however, that is the position that Mr.
Lagerbloom and I feel like we need to advocate.
• It is also fair to bring it to you and say that we need the IGA.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
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• Fulton County is prepared.
• The time is right.
• Is there an interest in opening this issue up in respect to these two additional properties?
Mayor Lockwood:
o Regarding these parcels, the property owners purchased sewer taps thinking they were doing
the right thing.
If they communicated at all with the county, the county led them to believe that they could
have sewer to it, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Yes, and some of Milton staff members were copied on some of the correspondence with
respect to the sewer.
• I have told Mr. White that it is not binding on the City of Milton just because a member of
staff may have received an email or other form of communication regarding this issue.
• However, from their perspective, Milton knew that progress regarding this issue was moving
forward.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Several of these properties in red had the rights to sewer before we did this.
They probably weren't aware that we had been having meetings.
s
We weren't aware that they had already purchased sewer taps.
• So, all of this could have been a part of that discussion if we had know about it.
Lance Large, Councilmember:
• It looks like this is the only red parcel in Milton that is in the Little River basin.
• All the other red parcels are in the Big Creek basin, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• We have taken the position that it is probably in the Big Creek basin but it may be on the
ridge line.
• It is unclear.
Councilmember Large:
• Obviously, the Public Works Department that operates the sewers in Fulton County is
amiable to connections.
• Are these properties zoned commercial right now?
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• They are zoned agricultural.
Councilmember Large:
• Do the taps that were purchased specify an allowable flow or number of units?
City Attorney Jarrard: 7
• Yes, and I believe under the existing zoning there would be an allowable land use that could
make use of these taps which is senior housing.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
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Bill Lusk, Councilmember:
• Please tell us again how many taps there are?
City Attorney Jarrard:
48.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Which I am going to assume are more taps than the property is zoned for, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Correct.
Councilmember Lusk:
• What is the total acreage?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• It looks like the blue area would be eight acres.
Karen Thurman, Councilmember:
• It is my understanding since this area is in the Little River basin it was necessary to purchase
the sewer taps because the capacity is limited for that basin, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• That is correct.
• These taps were purchased prior to the moratorium.
Councilmember Thurman:
• So there is no reason to worry that sewer would spread to the rest of the Little River basin
because right now there is not capacity for it even if we wanted it, correct?
City Attorney Jarrard:
• That is correct.
Mayor Lockwood:
• When I look at the timeline and the events that have taken place; I am comfortable in saying
that this slipped between the cracks and we could have just as easily been considering this
one blue spot in with the red spots that we previously approved.
• I would be fine with going forward.
City Attorney Jarrard:
• Mr. Lagerbloom and I have met with our peers at Fulton County and they are extremely
deferential to Milton and will take our lead with respect to this.
• If we were to draft something that was very iron -clad they would be very comfortable with
that.
Special Called Work Session of the Milton City Council
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 5:00 pm
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Matt Kunz, Councilmember:
• The sewer taps were purchased and because of that no one else is making those purchases.
• Is this going to make a precedent and open the doors for a lot of other people to want to buy
into sewer? 7
City Manager Lagerbloom:
• 1 don't know how many of these taps are outstanding.
G Also, if we had known these taps were outstanding when we were having this discussion a
couple of years ago, we would have called Mountain Park city hall.
• We know that there were 60 acquired by Mountain Park; 48 of them are here and the other 12
are being retained by Mountain Park.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Is everyone on the council good with this decision?
All Councilmembers:
• Yes.
Mayor Lockwood:
• Mr. Jarrard, I think you have your direction.
After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 5:27 p.m.
Date Approved: April 9, 2012.
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Sudie AM Gordon, Ci y Clerk Joe Lockw yor
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