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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 06/18/2012 - MIN 06 18 12 REG (Migrated from Optiview)RegularMeetingof the MiltonCityCouncil Monday,June 18,2012 at 6:00 pm Page 1 of44 hwi This summary is provided as a convenience and service to thepublic, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim.Any reproduction of this summarymust include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council,but not quoted.This document includes limited presentation byCounciland invited speakers in summary form.This is an officialrecord ofthe Milton CityCouncilMeetingproceedings. OfficialMeetingsare audio and video recorded. The Regular Meeting of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on June 18,2012 at 6:00 PM,Mayor Joe Lockwood presiding. INVOCATION Community Minister Tass Welch,Community Christ Church,Milton,GA CALL TO ORDER Mayor Joe Lockwood called the meeting to order. ROLL CALL Councilmembcrs Present:Councilmember Karen Thurman,Councilmember Matt Kunz, Councilmember Bill Lusk,Councilmember Joe Longoria,Councilmember Burt Hewitt,and Councilmember Lance Large. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by the Mayor. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA (Agenda Item No. 12-148) Motion and Vote:Councilmember Longoria moved to approve the Meeting Agenda with the following changes: • Add Executive Session to discuss land acquisition. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion.The motion passed unanimously (7-0). r PUBLIC COMMENT (None) Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 44 CONSENT AGENDA 1. Approval of the May 21, 2012 Regular Council Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 12-149) (Sudie Gordon, City Clerk) 2. Approval of the June 4, 2012 Regular Council Minutes. (Agenda Item No. 12-150) (Sadie Gordon, City Clerk) 3. Approval of Financial Statements for the Period Ending May, 2012. (Agenda Item No. 12- 151) (Stacey Inglis, Finance Director) 4. Approval of a Contract with Robert Buscemi, AIA, for the Purpose of Providing Professional Design Services for Selected Development Plans. (Agenda Item No. 12-152) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) 5. Approval of an Interagency Agreement between the City of Milton and Progress Partners of N. Fulton Atlanta. (Agenda Item No. 12-153) (Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS 1. Proclamation Recognizing Bill Hayes, Code Enforcement Officer. (Presented by Mayor Joe Lockwood) FIRST PRESENTATION Approval of an Ordinance to Amend Chapter 4, Alcoholic Beverages, to Authorize the Sale of "Growlers"; to Provide for an Effective Date; and to Repeal Conflicting Ordinances. (Agenda Item No. 12-154) (Stacey Inglis, Finance Director) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 12-154. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). PUBLIC HEARING Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 44 (Zoning is transcribed verbatim) ZONING AGENDA 1. RZ12-05NC12-02 — 633 North Main Street by Jenmark Company to rezone from MIX (Mixed Use) to C-1 (Community Business) to expand a 6,000 square foot retail building by 6,000 square feet to utilize the basement for a total of 12,000 square feet. The applicant is also requesting a concurrent variance to delete the 10 foot landscape strip along the south and east property lines of the out -parcel [Section 64-1090(b)]. (Agenda Item No. 12-140) ORDINANCE NO. 12-06-135 (First Presentation at June 4, 2012 Regular Council Meeting) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: • Thank you Mr. Mayor and members of the City Council. • The subject site contains 1.01 acres. • The applicant seeks a rezoning to C-1 which is Community Business. • The site is part of an overall Mixed Use Development currently zoned MIX (Mixed Use) pursuant to RZ04-95 part of the Watercrest Village Shopping Center. • The overall shopping center is developed with sidewalks, landscape strips, and lighting. • The subject site is developed with a 6,000 square foot retail building formally a liquor store and a 6,000 square foot basement currently allowed for storage. • The next slide shows the existing zoning of the site and you can see the site is part of what is currently zoned Mixed Use. • The next slide shows a picture of the subject site from State Route 9. • The background of the subject site. • The applicant is requesting the expansion of the existing building by utilizing the 6,000 square foot of basement area for retail use. • By converting the storage into retail space the maximum approved square footage pursuant to RZ04-95 would be exceeded. • Staff knows that the applicant has applied for a business license and indeed has started business at this point to utilize the first floor as retail space and the basement as storage until the application is heard by the City Council tonight. • You have before you the site plan that was submitted to us. • We did the site plan analysis and under the required development standards under the C-1 zone, the minimum lot frontage requirement would be 35 feet and the plan is consistent with that. • The height for C-1 is 30 feet from average grade to roof eave and the plan is consistent with that. • The front yard needs to be forty feet from the right-of-way and again the plan is consistent with that. • In terms of the side yard and landscape requirements in the rear yard, we will move on to the next slide. • We have to go into the State Route 9 Overlay District requirements for landscaping. • As we look at the landscaping requirements, we find that the front yard, the 20 foot landscape strip is consistent. • The side yard along the west property line requiring a 10 foot landscape strip is also consistent. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 44 • However, the side yard along the east property line and the rear yard which is the south property line which require 10 foot landscape strips. • The plan is inconsistent, hence the need for concurrent variance. • The request to concurrent variance is to delete the landscape strips along the interior east and south property lines. • Based on the fact that the site is already developed with paving and parking, it is staff's opinion that relief, if granted, would not offend the spirit or intent of the zoning ordinance. • The existing paving creates an unnecessary hardship not caused by the applicant and would not cause a substantial detriment to the public good and surrounding properties; therefore, staff recommends approval of conditional VC -02. • Continuing along with reviewing the State Route 9 Overlay District requirements under fencing, we know that the applicant would be required to provide fencing per the Overlay District. • In terms of other site plan considerations, specifically parking, the site plan indicates 69 spaces within the 1.01 acre site. • A total of 48 spaces are required based on the calculation of 4 per 1,000 square feet and the plan is consistent. • Regarding public involvement, there were no comments from the DRB. • At the CZIM meeting, two neighbors were in attendance because they thought the request was to delete the buffer landscape strip between Winthrop Chase and the development. • The applicant's attorney explained that it was a request to delete the landscape strip within the development, hence, the neighbors were satisfied with the explanation. • The applicant has also submitted a public participation report. • Standards are reviewed which we are required to do. • We have determined that the proposed development will be suitable in view of the current use and development of adjacent nearby property and is consistent with nearby development of general service retail and restaurants to the west, east, and north of the subject site. • It is staff's opinion that the proposal will not adversely affect the existing or usability of the adjacent properties. • The subject site would have a reasonable use as currently zoned MIX Mixed Use. • Continuing along with standards of review. • The 2030 Comprehensive Land Use Plan Map suggests retail and service and the proposed use is consistent with the map suggestion. • The proposed expansion requires a request to rezone based on the fact that the additional retail space exceeds the approved density for the site; therefore, the applicant is requesting a C-1 which is consistent with the 2030 future land use plan designation, as well as, consistent with adjacent and nearby retail development zoning. • Recommended conditions are attached at the end of the staff report on pages 18 and 19. • The summary of those conditions are as follows: • The applicant be restricted to a total of 12,000 square feet for retail, commercial, and/or office with exclusions as previously approved by the City Council. • Shared parking is allowed as approved in the existing zoning RZ04-95. • Staff recommends approval of VC 12-02 to delete interior landscape strips along the south and east property lines. • In conclusion, the proposed re -zoning is consistent with adjacent and nearby zoning and uses. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Pagc 5 of 44 • In addition, it is consistent with the 2030 future land use plan which recommends retail and service; therefore, staff recommends approval conditional of RZ12-05 and approval of VC 12-02 to delete the 10 foot landscaping strips along the south and east property lines. Burt Hewitt, Councilmember: • So, Kathy, basically the only changes that we would see goes on inside this building, nothing on the outside changes except maybe the addition of a fence. Kathy Field: • Correct, Correct, that is exactly right. Pete Hendricks, 6085 Lakeforrest Drive, Suite 200, Sandy Springs, GA 30328 • Staff's presentation was pretty exhaustive. • I originally zoned this property back within the fold of Fulton County for Tony and he is the one who developed the overall property and it is sort of silly that we are having to come in front of you because we have a 12,000 square foot building as was commented as you see fit to make the approvals that have been requested. • The property will continue to look and function exactly the way it is right now. • As commented, the only question that bubbled up at the Community Zoning Information Meeting and that was with the folks to the west of the property concerned potentially that the request for deletion of landscape strip was applicable to what would be their common property line and when they understood that that was not the case, then there was no further issue and nobody else through the process has surfaced. • We had our public participation meeting that was required. • One person showed up just inquiring what it was that we were asking them to do. • This has come up because with the parcelization of the property, your development standards get triggered as to this piece of property; therefore, the landscape strips that we are asking for the concurrent variance relief on, all of a sudden came into play and obviously if you take a look at the site plan of the property, with interparcel access between the properties share parking with the properties the properties could not continue to function as it is functioning right now without that relief. • The owner/applicant is here as a new business participant for the City of Milton. • If you have any questions, they will be delighted to respond. • They agreed with the conditions put forward by staff and we simply would request that you approve the application as requested and as suggested to be conditioned by your staff. • Thank you. Bill Lusk, Councilmember: • 1 visited this site last week and met with the store manager who took me on a tour of the facility. • As regards to the landscaping issue that has come up here, I think the landscaping around the building more than compensates for any loss of any other landscaping strips. It is well done. A very nice job. I am happy to see them move into the city here and fill up a see through building and hopefully that will encourage other businesses to come in up and down the Hwy. 9 corridor. I am happy to see them onboard. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 44 Lance Large, Councilmember: • Again, I would like to reiterate what Councilmember Lusk had to say. Thank you for selecting Milton to open a business and fill up some of the empty space that we have here. I haven't visited the site personally, but I'm sure my wife will. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to approve Agenda Item No. 12-140. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). 2. RZ12-06/VC12-03 — Deerfield Parkway by Crescent Resources, LLC to rezone from C- 1 (Community Business) and O -I (Office Institutional) to A (Medium Density Apartments) to develop a total of 256 residential units at an overall density of 12 units per acre. The applicant is also requesting the following concurrent variance: To encroach into the 25 foot non -impervious setback by no more than 5,000 square feet [Section 20- 426(2)]. (Agenda Item No. 12-141) (First Presentation at June 4, 2012 Regular Council Meeting (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: • Thank you for your indulgence. • The subject site contains 21.36 acres which are undeveloped. • The applicant seeks to rezone to A (Medium Density Apartment District). • The existing zoning is currently C-1 (Community Business) for an assisted living facility and special school pursuant to RZ10-05/U10-01 for the northern portion of the site. • In the southern portion of the site plan, the existing zoning is O -I (Office Institutional) at a density of 19,191 square feet per acre pursuant to Z99-11. • Most recently approved pursuant to ZM 10-03 for a 40,500 square foot data center. • The site is located within the Deerfield Overlay District. • The next slide shows the existing zoning and you will see the C-1 as well as the O -I on that site. • This is a picture showing the subject site for Deerfield Parkway. • You can see it is undeveloped. • The overview of the applicant's request, the applicant is requesting to rezone to A (Medium Density Apartment District) for 256 multi -family apartment units. • No more than 26 three-bedroom units. • The balance of the rest of the units to be one and two bedroom units. • The proposed development would not be gated but provide interconnectivity to adjacent properties. • Provides open space to preserve trees. • Provides pedestrian paths within the development and interconnectivity with the existing sidewalk system. • Amenity areas would be scattered on the site. • A farmer's market near Deerfield Parkway is proposed for the general population. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 44 • The site will provide residential buildings along central roads with parking behind with some on street parking. • The next slide shows the revised site plan that was done on June Oh of this year. • Regarding the site plan analysis, we looked at the development standards for A (Medium Density Apartment District) and the standards are as follows: • For required building setbacks, the front needs a setback of 40 feet and the plan is consistent. • For sides and rear, a setback of 25 feet is needed and the plan is consistent. • The required building height is no more than 45 feet or three stories as measured from average grate. • The proposal by the applicant is 45 feet so it is consistent. • Staff has provided a condition to make sure that indeed that height is restricted to 45 feet. • Continuing with the site plan analysis, the required minimum heated floor area for each unit is 700 square feet. • The applicant did not indicate the minimum heated floor area. • Required maximum lot coverage. • The area of the footprint of all buildings and parking does not exceed 40% of the total land area and is, therefore, consistent. • In regard to parking regulations, based on the location of MARTA bus stops located within 1500 feet of the site, the zoning ordinance allows a 5% reduction of the parking requirement. • In addition, the applicant is requesting a 10% administrative reduction parking requirement; therefore, a total of 402 parking spaces are required and a total of 402 parking spaces are shown so the parking is consistent. • The next slide shows the parking chart in terms of the number of spaces that would be required plus the reduction of being near a bus stop, as well as, the administrative reduction which shows the 402 spaces. • The next slide talks about required landscape strips. • The requirement is for a 20 foot front strip along Deerfield Parkway and the plan is consistent. • There is also a 10 foot strip along the interior property lines and, again, the plan is consistent. • In terms of pedestrian circulation, staff recommends that the paths be constructed of pervious materials. • Staff requires that two MARTA bus stop shelters be provided with no advertising on them as approved by the Design Review Board. • The site plan indicates a comprehensive internal pedestrian network. • Staff observes that pedestrian interconnectivity and bus shelters assist in meeting the vision of the Highway 9/GA400 master plan. • The first two items listed above will be reflected in the recommended conditions. • Regarding vehicular circulation, the site plan indicates two full access entrances on the property. • The south entrance road meanders through the property and provides and inter -parcel connection with the adjacent Fry's parking lot. • This is consistent with the vision of the Highway 9/GA400 master plan. • The proposed connection also decreases the size of the super block and provides for vehicular connectivity. • Staff is also requiring a third entrance with a right in/right out access on the northern portion of the site to eliminate the dead-end on the original site plan that was submitted. • Staff is also requiring inter -parcel access with the adjacent property to the south which is currently undeveloped. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 8 of 44 • These access requirements will be reflected in the recommended conditions. • In regard to the concurrent variance 12-03 to encroach into the 20 foot non -impervious setback by no more than 5,000 square feet. • Staff has determined that the retention facility, whether earthen or wall structure, is permitted within the 25 foot non -impervious setback; therefore, staff recommends that there is really no need for this concurrent variance so, therefore, recommends that it be withdrawn. • Regarding comments from staff and outside agencies, the City Arborist has weighed in and says that the applicant should work with the existing conditions of the site as much as possible rather than modifying the site for mere simplicity. • Existing topography and vegetation should be given strong consideration. • For the revised site plan, approximately 11 specimen trees are proposed to be removed equating to 143.7 tree density units to be recompensed. • Recompense required will be 205 four inch caliber hardwood/canopy trees. • Since specimen trees removed or preserved may vary, final count will be done during a land disturbance permit process. • The Fulton County Board of Education has reviewed this application and finds that for a multi- family development with 256 units, the Board of Education expects approximately the following number of students: • Elementary School students — 43 • Middle School students — 9 • High School students— 10 • For a total student population of 62 at this development. • This development will be located in the Manning Oaks Elementary School, Hopewell Middle School, and Alpharetta High School zones for the 2012-2013 school year. • Public Involvement - The DRB reviewed this application and their comments a summary of which comprise that it looks beautiful, gorgeous, surprised it is not gated, applaud embracing the retention pond and expanding on it. • CZIM — one person indicated interest in the site. • Public Participation Report — the applicant submitted a Public Participation Report and there were nine members of the community in attendance at their meeting. • The required standards of review have been done and it is determined that although the proposed development is not consistent with similar type of uses in the area, it is consistent with the newly adapted Highway 9/GA400 master plan with a Regional Activity Center where this site is located. • The master plan recommends that the Regional Activity Center provide mixed-use development with higher density residential as one component. • There is retail commercial adjacent to the northwest and west, office to the north, south, and east, and residential to the southeast. • The proposed development may not adversely affect the existing uses nearby or adjacent uses if developed with the recommended conditions. • The property does have a reasonable economic use as it is currently zoned C-1 (Commercial Business) O -I (Office Institutional) as well as a 72 bed assisted living facility and special school. • In addition, a data center is approved for the southern portion of the site which is also zoned 0-1 (Office Institutional). Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 9 of 44 • It is staff's opinion that the proposed use may cause an increase burden on the streets and transportation facilities and schools; however, the increase should be mitigated with the recommended conditions that provide for interconnectivity between uses. • The Milton City Council approved the State Route 9/GA400 master plan on April 23, 2012. • The proposed development is consistent with the following plan policies for the Regional Activity Center and recommended parcel development approved with the recommended conditions as shown on the staff report on pages 20-22. • The policies include the following that were in the approved plan: • That development be medium scale; multi -story development or re -development. • That the development offer a mix of uses including regional office retail within a multi -use environment and residential. • Likely attached are staff products; not necessarily on the same site. • That it encouraged a more compact and connected development pattern. • That the development would connect adjacent residential, particularly new residential development, to commercial areas where appropriate. • That the plan require significant landscaping and green space as a component of development and redevelopment. • You can see we took a slide or picture, basically, out of a page within the recently approved Highway 9/GA400 master plan and, actually, this very site was included within that report and it is shown here for your review. • Continuing with the Standards of Review. • The Staff notes that the proposed re -zoning will not have a negative efYect on the environment and natural resources based on the fact that the site plan indicates compliance will require a stream buffer and non -impervious setback. • Staff has determined that the concurrent variance VC12-03 is no longer needed. • The site plan indicates that some of the specimen trees will be preserved as well as open space will be provided along the eastern property line and the area in the central area of the site. • Recommended Conditions. • Specific conditions are attached at the end of the Staff report pages 20-22. • A summary of those conditions are as follows: • That no more than 256 units be developed at 12 units per acre. • That there be no more than 26 three-bedroom units. • The height shall not exceed 45 feet. • Two bus shelters shall be provided without signage as approved by the DRB. • Internal multi -use trails should be constructed of pervious material as approved by the Community Development Department. • Two full access drives will be provided plus one right in/right out access on Deerfield Parkway. • A 50 foot access easement along the southern driveway from the Deerfield Parkway right-of-way the location on the south property line will be provided in order to provide interparcel access to the property to the south. • Also, to be provided, will be a 50 foot access easement free of any structures or utilities or vehicular and pedestrian interparcel access on the northwest property line (Fry's parking lot). • Conclusion. • The proposed 256 multi -family development is consistent with the policies intent of the City of Milton Highway 9/GA400 master plan if approved with the staff's recommended conditions. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 10 of 44 Therefore, staff recommends that this request to rezone to A (Medium Density Apartment District) RZ12-06 be approved conditional. Further staff recommends withdrawal of VC 12-03. Matt Kunz, Councilmember: • This may be a question for Carter Lucas as well. • One concern I have about this plan is the interconnectivity issue with Verizon. • The LCI Plan had actually talked about doing interconnectivity but having lived in an apartment complex like this, 1 worry about kids and safety when I look at this roadway, right here, being interconnectivity in the morning, kids waiting on a bus stop being there. • When I look at it, 1 just see cars zipping through that thing getting through and I haven't really been sure if we have looked at the safety of that particular interconnectivity based on it being an apartment complex and connection with Verizon. • This is just a thought but it concerns me and if we had thought about that. • In comparison, as well, if we look back at the LCI study that we did, we had a roadway going right in the middle of that with businesses on either side and living centers on the outside of that for that interconnectivity. • Right here, I see a parking lot right there where kids throw balls and things like that during an interconnectivity aspect when cars are driving through without a care for the people in the apartment complex. • This is just a concern. Carter Lucas, Public Works Director: • It could be a valid concern. • It is not something that we have looked at so far in this process but certainly something that we can review during the develop permit process. • Anytime you handle interconnectivity between parcels that is certainly something to consider. • I think the goal is to provide interconnectivity between the parcels but not necessarily create a convenient cut -through for traffic that may be trying to avoid some of the signals. • That is certainly something we can look at as we work our way through the development process if this proceeds. Councilmember Kunz: • That would be important to look at. .Joe Longoria, Councilmember: • Kathleen, I've got concerns about how this changes the dynamics of the type of property we have in the Highway 9 area. I mean, Highway 9 for the most part is most of the multi -family living area in the City of Milton. So, I wanted to know, do you have any idea how changing this impacts the amount of C-1 or O -I land that is available in the Highway 9 area by percentage? Does it represent 2% of the non-residential type of property that is available there? Do you have any idea what the percentage is? Kathleen Field: J., 0 No, Robyn, do you have any thought at all about that? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page I 1 of 44 Robyn MacDonald, Planner: • We just calculated 126 undeveloped acres that is sewered in this area which includes some in Crabapple so maybe 100 acres is left over. Councilmember Longoria: • Because obviously there is a tax revenue to cost ratio that is key to the city being able to operate and deliver services that the citizens have come to expect and not that the development wouldn't look good, that the property wouldn't be developed to a high standard, any of that, it's the impact that it presents to the city in terms of how do we generate revenue to deliver services. Kathleen Field: • That is a point, clearly, there is only a finite number of sites that are undeveloped and could be re -developed for additional density and they are finite. Councilmember Longoria: • I was part of the group that voted on VC 12-03 and I was looking forward to that type of development going in here because I think that Deerfield is one of the few places that we have that capability and so by changing it we are going to lose something that we can't put someplace else in the city is what I am worried about. Karen Thurman, Councilmember: • Yes, I have a question for staff. I know we have paid to have a consultant do us up a cost analysis of different kinds of zoning and different kinds of properties. When will we be receiving that because, to me, that kind of information is very important with this kind of zoning and I feel like even though the financial impact of any zoning shouldn't determine the decision that is made it has to impact the decision that is made so I would really like to have that kind of information prior to re -zoning a piece of property that is this large. Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager: • You will have it soon, I guess, is the best I can tell you. We saw the first example of that, I think you are referring to the Cost of Services model that we have the University of Georgia putting together for us. We saw the first roll out but it really wasn't a roll out it was kind of just a first presentation to members of staff last week. Obviously, when you go through and you work through assumptions and you work through models like that it takes a couple of different tweaks before you end up with something that is useable or presentable to the council. So, that is the phase we are in. I can't sit here and tell you that you are going to have it in your hands by the 10`h of July or the 25`h of June for that matter. But, I can tell you it's closer than it was. We've seen it the first time so soon is what I can tell you. Councilmember Thurman: • Soon? Because I feel like that would be very good information to have before we make any kind of zoning decision like this. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 12 of 44 Bill Lusk, Councilmember: • Kathy, you mentioned that this parcel was specifically noted on the Regional Plan. If this is the ariel view that you are referring to, I can't really determine the boundaries of this. Is there a larger plan? Kathleen Field: • I can have someone run go get the plan for you if you would like. Councilmember Lusk: • It is not that necessary, but I guess my point is that in the analysis here you say that the proposed development is consistent with the plan policies in the Regional Activity Center. I can see a development like this possibly further north on Deerfield where it adjoins other similar uses but to put it in-between 0-1 here and some other commercial uses, I don't see where the consistency factor comes into play. Kathleen Field: I think our thought was that the LCI Plan called for a mix of uses. And, I think most of the time we think of a mix of uses as being on the same parcel and it could go up or horizontal but on the same parcel. This, we are really looking at the whole area, the regional activity area which was a sub -part of the LCI Route 9 Plan which is this area. And, it showed a mix of uses, if you look at the site next to us as being the residential and behind it is commercial and then to the north is us which is office so there is a mix. It is done parcel by parcel not within the same parcel. And, we looked at the plan and the plan did show for some of the vacant parcels including the parcel that is under re -zoning tonight some proposed development patterns. And, we did work with the developer to see what we could do to come as close as we could to the intent of what the zoning was required. Now, is there a lot of mixed use on this site? No. It is strictly residential, there is a small component, however, for a farmer's market but they did not feel, they were hindered, and I am sure they will tell you when they come up here, but we did ask about further mix of uses and they felt from a financial point of view that would not have worked. In terms of higher density because the plan does require, it does say to support medium density, we did look at increasing density but clearly the medium district for apartment zones really goes up to 14 units per acre and this is at 12 so there really wasn't much latitude to add more density on this site. They are almost at the maximum. The mixed use which would be the other zone they could zone to would require three mixes of uses, office, commercial, and residential and again we backed into the issue about their financing. So, we did review and entertain with them various options but this is the one they felt would most closely respond to the policies of the plan while meeting their financial needs. That is sort of a long answer but. Councilmember Thurman: • But does it meet ours? Pcte Hendricks, 6085 Lakeforrest Drive, Suite 200, Sandy Springs, GA 30328 • While it is fresh on everybody's mind, let me comment on some of the comments that were forthcoming to staff just a minute or two ago. • You will have comment coming to you about the financial ramifications of this development if approved to the City of Milton. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 13 of 44 • I know questions have been raised as to what is burdening, spending money for services and not really getting back financially as offsetting compensation for the approval of this. • I think we have some information. • Mr. Ben Collins who is the Regional Director for Crescent Multi -family out of Charlotte is here to be able to speak to that. • Additionally, another side bar matter is that he is also going to be able to speak to the issue of kids that simply are not attracted, as has been proven by similar developments and similar areas, to this type of product. • One of the things that it is sort of an offsetting balance type of situation that you have here is you went through the steps of engaging and having land planning done and having paid for a land planning map to show you what you ought to be doing with this central core area and this is what came out of it so I fully respect you have another study under way to give you comment on cost and expense of different type of zoning and land uses but you have sort of taken step one and step one has brought us to exactly what it is that is in front of you. Including that is that interparcel access way and in doing an evaluation and examination of the property, physically speaking on the ground, the only place that made any sense because of the constraints of topography to be able to put that is where it is being reflected on the site plan. We will be happy to work with Carter and his department to put into place any type of traffic calming measures that might be appropriate to soften the impact of that and to go to the issues and the questions raised. • 1 think another thing we've got going on, I know that I just finished some months ago, during a mirror reflective development of this right in the bosom of John's Creek for my client, Technology Park. We filed with that application a similar semantic to what we filed with this application showing pedestrian engagement ability in and around this property for folks working in office buildings and for folks to be able to get out and engage from a retail sense not only as to use but also as to dollars capable of being spent. What was found with the John's Creek situation with a similar renovation of no more than 10% of the units being three bedrooms, was the expectation of that limited number, in this particular case 26 units, there is a high probability that more than half of those units will end up with folks renting them to have a master bedroom, to have a guest bedroom, and for the third bedroom to be used as a den or as an office, and here again, not for the purpose of attracting families with children. Also, as we have all gone through the unpleasantness of the last three or four years, we have had the dynamic of the tenant profile that has come to the table radically changed. There are so many people in our communities that have gone through the unpleasant situation of being chewed up and spit out and having lost a lot of money in homeownership, yet they still want a really really nice place to be able to live. We also have young folks, my kid's ages, that are trying to get into that first house, and the ability or lack of ability to be able to get a loan for that first house and those kids want a really really nice place to stay. Also, as we've gone through the vacancies of the marketplace out there, where do you find a job? And it could well crop up that you get a business opportunity that takes you, unfortunately, out of the bounds of the City of Milton, and so the thought and idea of being burdened and saddled with homeownership and how do I make myself available to take a nice job offer that I just got, also becomes complicated. So, we have had a lot of shifting that has gone on in the last three years as I said, brings sort of a new tenant profile to the table. And, I think very uniquely with this piece of property when I originally zoned this stuff back in 1996- 1997, 540 acres there was totally absent for that equation a for rent multi -family anything approaching the quality and scale of what is in front of you this evening. Ben will walk you through with some of the thoughts and ideas that they have to the actual development layout of Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 14 of 44 Ben Collins, Regional Director of the Southeast for Crescent Resources Multi -Family Croup 3443 Spencer Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28205 • Crescent Resources is a forty year old firm that is really focused on best in class development. • Over our history, we have developed 52 master plan communities, about 20 million square feet of office space, and 15 multi -family communities. • Namely Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, South Carolina which was just voted the number one resort in North America by Travel and Leisure magazine. the property but I know when we came away from Planning Commission they were just wowed. The only problem I've got here is that I come back with another multi -family and I have just set the bar. But, when you take a look at the plan, we reached out. As Kathy was just saying a minute ago, how do we get this site framed with some different types of uses because if you got to your MIX District, you got to have that residential component then you have to have two out of three of the Office Institutional retail. Well, that hits the wall as far as any type of financing is concerned because retail in today's financing market you are looking at a big box to then be associated with Mom and Pop independent retail so that was not going to be going anyplace in the market for office right now is not the best of all worlds, so I looked down under the accessory uses that are provided under the A District and came up with what I think passes mustard. And, that is being able to come in with three designated areas for farmers to come in on a Saturday morning and be able to have the ability to sell vegetables and stuff as closely as associated with residential ownership and the need for grocery shopping. As you go through the site plan, the most recent site plan that you had on file goes ahead and provides for the right in and right out that had been requested by the staff. The applicant much prefers not to have that right in and right out and I will just touch very briefly on the reasons for it then Ben can walk you in with the specifics. That right in/right out as shown on the site plan is right up in the area where the stream is and so in order to get that right in/right out, I think we would be running afoul of your 25 foot impervious and 25 foot natural and the state's 25 foot natural undisturbed from the edge of vegetation. Then that puts us in a whole permitting process with the state. I think you will find that Ben's statement is that they would love to be breaking ground and underway on this thing on the first of December if we can get through and garner your approval. The other part of what that does, this is the flip side, and this is the site plan and I believe you all have alternative site plans in front of you. This is the one that does not show the right in and right out and what happens with that is there is what we call the meadow area that is right in the center of the development that will enable pretty significant tree save and in addition to that give a nice open view. If that right in/right out is put in, then that area all but is eradicated with a shift in the buildings that take place in order to accommodate the right in and right out. So, there is a combination of reasons that there would be a strong preference not to have the right in and right out. You are also looking at the site plan that has unique things such as a grassy amphitheater that is being put in there within view of pedestrian engagement along Deerfield Parkway. There would be opportunities there to have small concerts where there would be no fees charged to the public to be able to walk in and be able to enjoy that. The clubhouse, as stated, is going to look like a barn in addition to that you will see that some of these buildings will have as few as eight units in them. The prototype at the rear is for 24 units but that is at the rear so the visual that you pick up from Deerfield Parkway would be the out buildings and the two -stories. With that, I am going to ask Ben to step up and introduce himself and hopefully get you familiar with who they are. Any other points of comment or refinement he has to some of the questions I have raised. Thanks. Ben Collins, Regional Director of the Southeast for Crescent Resources Multi -Family Croup 3443 Spencer Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28205 • Crescent Resources is a forty year old firm that is really focused on best in class development. • Over our history, we have developed 52 master plan communities, about 20 million square feet of office space, and 15 multi -family communities. • Namely Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, South Carolina which was just voted the number one resort in North America by Travel and Leisure magazine. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 15 of 44 • River Club just up the road in Suwanee, GA. • Phipps Tower in Buckhead and Circle Concord Mills in Charlotte, North Carolina. • We really developed a circle brand which focuses on environmental sustainability. • Today, we have six projects under construction worth $280 million. • This is a very important development for our company. • We have owned the property for roughly ten to twelve years and office is just not a viable use and hasn't been for several years. • I will hit briefly on a couple of items that I think is important to council. • One, regarding the school aged children; the study found that there would be 62 school aged children here. • We have a very similar community in a very wealthy suburb of Charlotte, NC. • We found that we had no more than eight children at any time really because we focus on housing for young professionals aged 25-35 and empty nesters whose kids have already gone off to school. • We have studied that fairly extensively and really none of our communities have seen any more than 6-10 school -aged children in 300 plus unit communities. • We felt like that was important from a tax revenue standpoint. • This $30 million project, which again, we would have our design team ready to go to start tomorrow to get this development to start construction this year. • We anticipate we would generate roughly $350,000 in property tax revenue. • Also, our average resident income will range from $50,000 to $80,000. • That generates roughly $9.5 million of discretionary income per year that our residents would spend at local businesses buying a car, going out to cat, shopping at the retail destinations. • We felt like that was also important. • And, then, finally from a vacancy and apartment demand standpoint, North Fulton County has the tightest apartment occupancy in the Greater Atlanta Metro area for overall residential apartments. • There is currently a 5% vacancy rate. • For those communities that are ten years or newer, the vacancy rate is only 3.5%. • As of the end of first quarter of this year, we feel like there is a tremendous demand. • One of the reasons Crescent Resources has not been able to build additional office in this location, is because the employers have said that there simply are no places for our workers to live and so this really truly creates a mixed use community where young professionals can walk to get groceries, walk to retail, and walk to work. • And, that really is at the heart of our circle brand that focuses on environmentally sustainable communities. • 1 will be happy to answer any questions that council has. Karen Richard, 135 Ardsley Lane Alpharetta, GA 30004 • Good Evening Mayor and City Council. • I live in the Windward Subdivision. • I am also on the Alpharetta Planning Commission and I wanted to share some experiences we just had last month concerning an apartment complex rezoning application. • There was an applicant who was requesting a rezoning on Westside Parkway and Webb Bridge Road for a 300 unit complex. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 16 of 44 • The staff report that we received indicated that the Fulton County Board of Education gave a projection on the number of anticipated students and they indicated in their report that Alpharetta High School, Hopewell Middle School, and Manning Oaks Elementary the three schools that would be impacted were at capacity and could not handle any new students. • So, when I was made aware that there was a new applicant for an apartment impacting the same three schools, I contacted Dr. Avosa's office this morning to ask why there wasn't any concern about capacity. • It seems that there was a discrepancy in his office with the initial information that was sent to Milton. • I think they originally projected 62, but I have a copy of the impact analysis they sent me this afternoon that indicated that they were projecting between 69-104 students total for those three schools. • Each of those schools cannot meet the demand for the additional students. • I realize this is new information and I wanted to make sure that council knew prior to any vote this evening that this is a different scenario for Fulton County Schools than was originally presented. • I have a copy of the report here if somebody would like to take it. Lance Large, Councilmember: • I live in this area. I live over off of Bethany Bend in Belcare. This is actually in the district I represent although I do represent the entire city of voters at large. First for staff, the right in/right out reasoning for requiring that? Kathy Field: • At the beginning, the idea was to breakdown any ideas of superblocks. • To really minimize the use of cul-de-sacs to promote interconnectivity which was clearly one of the main policies of the LCI study. • So, the original plan ended in a cul-de-sac toward the north end of the property. • The idea was to break open that cul-de-sac and promote that interconnectivity. Councilmember Large: • Basically, it ends in a parking field that allows through circulation in it. • Just looking at this plan, I had thought that perhaps to allow for not a cul-de-sac that lane over there could be an exit only right out only eliminating the need for a right in, eliminating a need for a taper, eliminating the need for encroachment into the conservation casement. I know it does squeeze them but that would give a way for vehicles to exit the site instead of having to go through the parking field and turn back around. It might help also emergency access whenever you have developments like that vehicle access, large fire vehicles may have to, hopefully never, access the site and have adequate turning radius for their access. So, this is something that could be potentially considered. Staff, that is it right now. A few for the applicant. You're more upscale, talking about empty nesters, young professionals. Ben Collins: 0 Yes sir. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 17 of 44 Councilmember Large: • I'm an empty nester. My parents actually live in a four-story condominium on the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. They live on the top floor. They are 86 and 80 but they have an elevator. If you are marketing this to empty nesters you may want to have an elevator. I noticed that none of your buildings have elevators included in them. Again, to give you some flexibility. I realize that drives up cost. Ben Collins: • We would anticipate that roughly 75% of our units are occupied by young professionals. That is what we have found in similar communities that we have developed. We would anticipate that the other 25% would be occupied by empty nesters and certainly first floor units. My mom is moving from Wisconsin down to Charlotte. We are expecting our first child this fall so we are thankful to have her down here but she has the same issue. She said she would really need to have a first floor apartment. We feel like that is important and we have contemplated doing elevators in a couple of the buildings. I don't think we are precluded from doing that through the rezoning. So, we have looked at doing maybe one or two buildings that would have that. The reality is the economics and just being able to finance. Despite the fact that we have roughly $300 million under construction it is still very difficult to get financing. It hasn't been commonplace to be able to do elevators across the entire development but perhaps a couple of buildings. Councilmember Large: • Guestquarters. How does that work? Ben Collins: • We began programming after our Palmetto Bluff development in Blufton, South Carolina. This development has primarily single-family masterplan but they also have 52 cottages that they rent for guests or prospective buyers. We would anticipate doing something very similar on a smaller scale. Whereas we have 2,500 homes in Palmetto Bluff over the full build -out and roughly 51 cottages. We have programmed three or four cottages on this site that could either be executive housing. So, an executive that comes in from New York for a period of, for a month every two or three months, that wants a very upscale place to rent or renting on a more temporary basis possibly to folks that would look to relocate to Milton or North Fulton County. Councilmember Large: • On the staff side, if we have units like that, does that play into taxation for lodging? I know short term some apartment complexes have short term and it has become a question in some areas where you have taxation, it is actually like hotel tax. I don't know if that would be part of that for these guestquarters but that is just something to think about. Karen Thurman, Councilmember: • If it is rented for more than a week and you don't provide the day-to-day services then it would not qualify. If it is up to a week then there are different rules. Councilmember Large: • Okay. Thank you. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 18 of 44 Ben Collins: • For what it is worth, we would be happy to pay any hotel tax on that. Councilmember Large: • Again, with your design, you will really need to take a look at turning radiuses and emergency access. I know staff will accommodate that if this moves forward. On the properties you own, in Charlotte where do you have properties? Ben Collins: • On the multi -family side, we have development on Circle Southend which is on the lite rail line just outside of uptown Charlotte. We just broke ground last week on Circle Southpark which is adjacent to Southpark Mall. We have Circle Concord Mills which is near Concord Mills Mall. Very good school district; higher income area northeast of Charlotte. Those are the three communities we have built or have under construction today. We actually have a re -zoning hearing tonight in Charlotte for Circle University City which will be a student housing development across from the entry to UNC Charlotte. We have Circle Alexander Village which is part of a very similar multi -use environment in the University Research Park area where we have plans for future office and future retail and luxury multi -family development on a 62 acre master planned area. Councilmember Large: • How much ownership of these properties? Do you put these into a LLC or LLP? Ben Collins: • Every property is individually financed. Crescent Resources is providing the bulk of the equity for each of these newly financed developments. We would go and get a conventional construction loan and potentially a joint venture equity partner but we have in a $30 million development, Crescent Resources would put somewhere between $7-9 million of equity into the development itself. We have built to create a portfolio, I would anticipate that we would own for a minimum of five years as much as 10, 15, 20 years. We brought in new ownership about two years ago and really the one thing that Crescent Resources has never had is a recurring income stream. We build master plan communities, we sell lots. During the good days, we had $500 million a year in lot residential sales, but we never had real assets that had recurring income. So, the multi -family development realm is an area that we have looked to create that. Councilmember Large: • Management of the properties? Ben Collins: • We hire professional third party management companies. Grey Star who manages roughly 18,000 units in Atlanta is one of the companies that we have worked with quite extensively. We have found them to be one of the best Class A multi -family management companies. They would work for us directly. Myself, and a Development Manager, and an Asset Manager would oversee this development directly from really today until the time that we refinance or sell down the road. So long as I am still working at Crescent Resources. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 19 of 44 Councilmember Large: • I guess that is one of the concerns a lot of the times on rental properties, on properties like this. The potential for sale and who ends up holding the property whether it is some out of state pension plan. Pension plans love buying up, at least they used to, multi -family developments and the fact that the original developer or roots of that themselves continue ownership. Because though it may look really nice today, under different ownership and different management consequently look different 10-15 years from now. You do sell off properties after you develop them? Ben Collins: • We do and that holding period is indefinite. We have not defined that as of yet. I will say that we develop communities to the highest Class A Institutional Grade standard and so groups such as Post Properties or Camden Properties of the such have been interested in purchasing properties that we have developed. As a property owner, really any property owner, your incentivized to keep the property at a high quality and generate good revenue. Councilmember Large: • Right. I understand. Again, I have seen some of your architectural samples and cut sheets that you have done. Types of materials, I guess again I don't want to get in to too much, but I would assume you would have mostly brick or synthetic materials that would be low maintenance. Ben Collins: • Yes Sir. Councilmember Large: • As far as roofs, like an architectural tab. Ben Collins: • 30 year architectural shingles, primarily, although for some of the amenity buildings we may use metal roofs. Historical Concepts who is really our lead concept designer who designed Palmetto Bluff has led this design process in concert with a broader team and they have really helped us define that vision. Councilmember Large: • I would think you would have a fair amount of enhanced landscaping and planting materials on this property. Would it include irrigation? Ben Collins: • It would. We generally try to provide more echoscope type of landscaping that does not require extensive irrigation. We have, for example, used retention ponds to supplement the irrigation system and we would plan on doing that here. Councilmember Large: • That is the main thing, enhanced landscaping, planting materials; all that is great as long as it is maintained. Most of the developments around here do a very good job of maintaining, again, it can be a concern as well. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 20 of 44 Ben Collins: • We would invite you to visit any of our communities whether it be multi -family or master plan. River Club is a great example close to home. We would really develop the landscaping in line with any of our other communities. Matt Kunz, Councilmember: • Does staff concur with the idea that we will get $350,000 in property revenue from this property? Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager: • This is the first time tonight I have heard that there has been evaluation of the actual building so we have not been able to run that calculation so, no, I cannot concur to that tonight. Mayor Lockwood: • I have a question. It is interesting how times have changed. Probably six years ago I would probably never be interested in supporting something like this but certainly the market has changed and there is, I'm sure, a market for something like this. A really nice property where what we have all seen in the real estate market and housing. The question is with a product like this would there be an opportunity down the road would these be able to be sold as condos? Ten years from now the market changes and everyone wanted to have home ownership again, would they be able to convert these over to condominiums? Ben Collins: We have programmed every one of our communities for condominiums if that market returns. That clearly is a very good return and a great strategy for us from an overall portfolio standpoint. We will have granite countertops, hard surface flooring, things that folks would look for in a condominium development and so very clearly this would be set up as a potential condominium conversion down the road. Karen Thurman, Councilmember: • Like I said earlier, I'll be honest with you, I am not comfortable approving anything with questions still out there. I really believe we need to see the financial impact of this. To me, the interconnectivity is an issue, this is a much higher density residential than what is in the area, we need to look at the LCI as a whole to see, yes it is a mixed use type thing, but we are looking at instead of a mixed use on one property we are looking at mixed use for the entire area so I need to know what part of the area is the different mixes that go into this mixed use here and make sure we understand the school situation because I think you are incorrect I think there will be a lot more students than that. In your Charlotte area there may not have been because it may not have been a desirable school, here, you will have people coming in just because of the school system so I think that is an important thing to look at. And, the fact that this, quite frankly, is not consistent with the adjacent zoning. That bothers me. So, that is why I think we've got to look at the whole LCI mixed use area as a whole to make sure that this is consistent with what we really want for the area and until I have the financial information in order to do that, I am not comfortable doing that. So, I don't know if you would be comfortable with a deferral until we had that additional information or if not, I guess it will be the pleasure of the council but I am just not comfortable voting in favor of something that totally changes the whole initial plan for the area as much as this does without understanding the financial implications of it. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 21 of 44 Bill Lusk, Councilmember: • As it relates to the questioning that Lance had there too, could you give me some idea of the total number of developments that you produced and the number or percentage of those that you have flipped over the course of the years. Ben Collins: • We have developed 15 multi -family communities today. Of those, all but three were either originally developed or sold as condominium units so today we own one multi -family community, the other three rental communities we have sold, there is one rental community that we still own, and we have six communities under construction, we have another six that will start later this year, and another six that will start the beginning of next year and this is really with new ownership, post recession, creation of our circle brand those are really the ingredients that have driven our investment philosophy from that standpoint. Councilemmber Thurman: • And I want to make sure that everybody realizes that $350,000 tax, that was combined Fulton County and City of Milton taxes. There is no way that would be a City of Milton tax because the City of Milton taxes on a $1 million house, the City of Milton taxes are about $1,200 so on a $30 million property like this you are not going to get up to $350,000. Joe Longoria, Councilmember: • My questions aren't really for the applicant. I have faith that you can do exactly what you say you are going to do. My concerns really go back to, again, how this changes the dynamic of not only this area, like Karen mentioned, but the city as a whole because I really see this as one of opportunity costs. We've got an issue that if we change this to A zoning we are losing out on something else and the thing that we are losing out on we can't replace very easily. The City of Milton has finite resources when it comes to the land, and more importantly, how the land is used. We don't seem to have a shortage of land that can be used for residential purposes whether those are multi -family or single-family, but we do seem to have quite a bit of a restriction on what land we have for commercial development or office, industrial, whatever and so, again, I'm of the opinion that changing this zoning is going to, we are going to lose one of the few resources in that category that we have so that's my concern and sort of playing on top of both the LCI and this idea of providing the citizens of Milton a place to work. I hate to think about Milton being a place to live and at 8:00 in the morning everybody gets up and leaves and they go someplace else. It would be nice to offer our citizens places to work other than retail, other than the Wal- Mart, and the Fry's, and the Target and things like that. We are lucky, right here on Deerfield, this is why this is so important, we have other options and so I would just like to see Deerfield maintain some of that. Mayor Lockwood: • I respectfully disagree. I like the project. I think there is a need in Milton, as Joe said, we have a lack of commercial and office land, but we also have a lack of reasonably priced properties where folks can live too. I think with the market, as far as the revenue from this, it very well could be, and I know we don't have exact numbers, it very well could be that this brings in less taxable revenue than what it is currently zoned for but on the flip side it may be five years, ten years from now before that ever generates any taxable revenue versus this is a property that within the next year or so would generate revenue so you have to factor in that. I also think there Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 22 of 44 will be a lot of sales tax revenue, it will be more businesses that can open up around the area and I think this will be a boom, help out the businesses. 1 agree, I can see everybody's points on it, but I think there is also a counterpoint that this could be good for our community and could help our local businesses and also provide a need that is not out there now. Again, unfortunately or fortunately things do change, and like I said, six years ago I would never think I would be supporting something like this but we have seen the economy and the dynamics so this kind of makes sense to me. Burt Hewitt, Councilmember: • I guess a comment and a question. There are two tracks that make this up. Both of these have come before us in the few years. One sitting at C-1 now and one at 0-1 and for whatever reason they didn't work so they are not built out. So, I hear you exactly what you are saying and I understand it. It is sitting over there as an attractive track of woods right now so if we could get something going that would generate some revenue other than that that would be positive in the short run. Do we have any idea what is out there now, what inventory is out there now, commercial and O -I space that is built out but not occupied? Mayor Lockwood: • Built vacant space. Kathy Field: • We just did an estimate, city wide, including the site next door, we have about 156 acres that is undeveloped and that includes Crabapple. Councilmember Hewitt: • I am mostly meaning floor space that is across the street or something like that that is vacant. Do we have any statistics on that? Councilmember Thurman: • 1 will tell you that my firm looked to move to Milton and there was no available space at all in one building and the other one only had a very small space that wasn't suitable to our needs. Councilmember Hewitt: • But we don't have any information that is official? Kathy Field: • You are looking at vacancy rates? Is that what you are looking at? Mayor Lockwood: • For commercial. City Manager Lagerbloom: • We can get it. I could put my hands on it. It would take two or three minutes. Councilmember Hewitt: • I'm just curious. Ben, you may know. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 23 of 44 Ben Collins: • I would be happy to offer some feedback. John Bell, our SVP of Commercial Development is the one responsible for developing the two office buildings in Deerfield that we have developed and we still own roughly 100 acres within the Deerfield area back towards GA400 that could be developed as commercial in the future. They have desperately tried over the last eight years to develop office use on this side. They consistently receive the feedback from potential employers and potential relocates' that there simply wasn't the housing for their employees, the folks that make $40,000 - $60,000 per year and that their employees were living back in Perimeter and Atlanta and driving and commuting up this way. That is one of the reasons, coupled with the LCI plan which we engaged very early on with Urban Collage, to review our plan to make sure we were fitting inside that plan. But the commercial space today, I think, is the 15-17% vacancy rate. That is the most recent quote that John Bell gave to me. Councilmember Kunz: • Which came first the chicken or the egg? I don't know if I really buy into the argument that people don't move because of where the workers are, I think people go where they want to be and then the jobs follow so if that being the case I'm not sure about that but I can see the point, I can see us needing something like this at some point, the question is that now? And is that going to be this location? I would love to see the senior housing idea that we had before. If it is going to be young urban professionals, that changes the dynamic. We need a place for that. I understand that and I like the idea. It is obviously a risk that you guys are taking trying to make a profit off that and prevent against a loss so I appreciate that as well but I agree with Karen, I would like to know the numbers. I want to know exactly what those are and I think staff has a �N little bit of homework on that and I think all the other points are great. I see what you guys are trying to do. I respect the Design Review Board's synopsis of what you are trying to create. I know my guy that I have on the committee was really impressed with what you guys are trying to put out there. One of the questions I have is do we know if the other apartments in the area are full to capacity. Is there any way to know? Ben Collins: • I would be happy to comment on that. They are. As I mentioned the vacancy rate in this sub- market is the lowest in metro Atlanta. Councilmember Kunz: • What is that exactly? Ben Collins: • The vacancy rate? 5.1 % for all apartments for apartments built since 2000 is 3.9%. City Manager Lagerbloom: • I would just like to interject because the last two questions that haven't been answered by staff have been answered obviously to the benefit of the applicant and those are numbers, where they roll off the tongue real easily, I would like the opportunity to confirm that they both are real. Councilmember Lusk: • Along this same line, I would like to know if those statistics are based on Milton vacancy rates or combined Milton, Alpharetta, John's Creek and those that impact our school district. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 24 of 44 Ben Collins: • Those specific numbers are the overall North Fulton County; Roswell, Milton, Alpharetta, John's Creek. I do have the specific communities in Milton as well. The ones that have been built since 1995 echo those same occupancy rates and the 1994-1995 are upward of 98%. I have plenty of data and reports on my computer that I can print out and will be happy to share. The most recent apartment study just came out. Reece is a big national firm that tracks this data and the statistics I was quoting were from that report. Councilmember Lusk: • My concern is that, as Mrs. Richard pointed out, we've seen the impact of unbridled growth up here on our school system and I see a couple of recently built schools here that have mobile classrooms they are putting in as we speak. It has a huge impact on our school system and the capability of the system to teach students. So, I would like to see more specific data as to the vacancy rate in the school district served by Manning Oaks, Cogburn Woods, Alpharetta High School. City Manager Lagerbloom: • I am trying to jot down the wants at this point. You want the vacancy rates of ... Councilmember Lusk: • Vacancy rates of similar apartment facilities in these school districts Manning Oaks, Alpharetta High School, and Hopewell. Councilmember Large: • 1 can't help but notice we've got our LCI guy sitting back there, Urban Collage. I do recall this parcel was shown on the LCI study as multi -family. It was particularly just mostly just that configuration of that parcel, I believe. I understand the concerns of the other people on the council. I do believe that having that this has been designated on our LCI study that we adopted and approved. This was an activity center; live, work, play area and part of what does influence people to locate is available and relatively affordable housing. We have talked about traffic congestion. Having affordable housing that is within even walking distance of employment centers definitely helps instead of generates it helps traffic. So, as far as what Joe said, this is a new normal that we are living in. Rental properties are becoming more of an option on a long term basis especially for the older generation and we are moving baby boomers through the system now for the next twenty years or so. For the applicant, I would think you would have covenants on these apartments about sub -letting that type of thing how people use the property. Ben Collins: • Yes sir. We have very restrictive residential leases that would be in place that would restrict sub- letting and certainly criminal checks, third party rental company that has the highest standards. Councilmember Large: • As far as what Karen said, if we approve this I want us all to feel fairly comfortable with this. I have stood where you are standing before and sometimes it comes to a point where okay we need more information. I have done full DRI's for developments and so to bring out those facts whether it is from staff whether it is information you collect and present. I think probably at this Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 25 of 44 point it would be prudent to defer this, get some more information in front of us to look at the considerations again of staff talk about that access lane through there and try to get everyone's questions as much as possible answered and then move forward. That's my two cents on that. Mayor Lockwood: • Let me ask staff a question. If some of these questions get answered what would be the time frame be that you would feel comfortable with it, Chris and Kathy, what would it take time wise to get some of these questions answered and concerns addressed. City Manager Lagerbloom: • I have written down about five things that seem to be reoccurring requests for additional information. And those five things are the percentage of office space that exists in this area, the percentage of apartment space, there is also financial model to confirm the school data and also Councilmember Lusk requested vacancies in similar type developments in these school districts. If you would seek to defer this I wouldn't be comfortable bringing it back until August 13th at the earliest. Councilmember Thurman: • I would like one other thing. I would like to know also if there are any other properties zoned for apartments or condominiums that have not yet been built in this area. I would like to know what that number is also. City Manager Lagerbloom: • I gave you the date wrong. It would be August 20"' that it would come back. Councilmember Large: • One last thing. As far as the apartments are concerned, back in the day when I first got married, the first apartment I moved into was adult community only, no children were allowed. Are they still legal? Ben Collins: • I consider myself not an absolute expert but a modest expert on Fair Housing Law and I don't believe that is something that you can restrict. Kathy Field: • I can add to that. There are over 55 communities which gets into senior housing. Mayor Lockwood: • I think everyone has had a chance to express their questions and concerns and we obviously have three options here one is to approve this, one is to defer it, and one is to deny it. Does the applicant have any interest in a deferral? Ben Collins: • I will offer this. We very much feel like it is important for our company to start this development this year. In order to do that, we would need an approval tonight. If that doesn't look viable, we would be happy to provide any amount of information and we feel very confident that once vetted through the information provided both by staff and us will address a Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 26 of 44 lot of concerns that have been raised tonight. I have no doubt in my mind that that's the case So, we would, we really do not want to defer but we certainly would take that into consideration. Mayor Lockwood: • My comments are everybody's points and concerns are valid but I just see this being a good project that could start immediately or this property sit vacant for five or ten years. I think this could help invigorate the area in both the businesses and folks living here and all that. So, I'm certainly in favor of this so I will open this up to a motion. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Thurman moved to defer Agenda Item 12-141 to August 20, 2012 to allow staff to answer council questions. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed (5-2). Mayor Lockwood and Councilmember Longoria were opposed. 3. RZ12-08 — To delete Article VII, Division 7 of Chapter 64 — Crabapple Crossroads of the Northwest Fulton Overlay and concurrently adopt a new Article XIX, Crabapple Form Based Code. (Agenda Item No. 12-142) ORDINANCE NO. 12-06-136 (first Presentation at June 4, 2012 Regular Council Meeting) (Discussed at June 11, 2012 Council Work Session) (Kathleen Field, Community Development Director) Kathleen Field, Community Development Director: • Thank you Mr. Mayor and members of the council. • This proposed Form Based Code was the subject of an extensive discussion last week at the City Council Work Session. • Based on that discussion, we sent out to you all and you should have it in front of you, the final draft V7 which includes the comments made last week at the work session. Mayor Lockwood: Kathy, I apologize, can I stop you for one second? I want to ask our city attorney, I know we are going to talk about Transfer Development Rights (TDR's) within this article and just to make sure I own a piece of property in Milton that possibly could be at some point available for Transfer Development Rights as well as maybe others on the council and I just want to address that to make sure there is no conflict of interest or anything in this discussion. Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: • Mr. Mayor, to the extent that you have a parcel of property or anybody on the council has a parcel of property that may in the future become the subject of some future sending or receiving area it is right commonly enjoyed by all the citizens of Milton who are equally situated to you or any other council member. I don't find that to be a conflict of interest at this time. You have the right to act upon it. If, in fact, there was a future attempt to actually have a transaction for the City of Milton involving that, at that point you would have to announce and recuse. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 27 of 44 Kathleen Field: • Based on our discussion last week, we have put before you in the final draft V7 that incorporates all the changes from the discussion items at the last meeting. What I would like to do is just walk you through the major changes. There are some very minor clean up changes that I am not going to address in red. I am going to move to the substantive changes that are in the document. Having said that I would like to start with page seven. And, this is a section toward the bottom that deals with Density Transfer Charge option and there appeared to be consensus that this was not an option that the council wanted to consider so we did strike it as a recommendation until we put it back in but that is what we heard at the last meeting. Moving on, I am moving to page twenty and this is under Architectural Standards and there was a lot of discussion at the last meeting about Architectural Standards as they related to commercial or retail office buildings as opposed to single family residential units and should the residential units have as strict of standards and review as commercial properties. So, what we did here is we did make some changes and let me walk you through them and give you a little further explanation. Section 4.50 and 4.51 states as follows: the following architectural standards shall apply to all buildings unless otherwise approved by warrant by the Community Development Director after consultation with the city architect. It goes on to say that all buildings except single family detached residential shall be designed under one of the following styles as defined in Article 7. It then goes on to list the seven different architectural styles: Architectural, Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Adam/Federal. So, what that is saying essentially is that all buildings need follow those styles. However, when it gets to single family residential buildings, the considerations for warrant for single family are less stringent than the warrant and the warrant of course is basically a variance from the style. So, for commercial buildings the criteria for a warrant to deviate from those styles would be essentially what is already in place for variances, i.e. a hardship. When it comes to single family structures, the criteria for a warrant is much softer and it essentially says that meets the intent of the design and will not adversely affect adjacent property or the public's health, safety, or welfare. So, for commercial it's hardship for single family it needs to be the intent. And, that will be the basis for the difference in the warrant. Councilmember Kunz: • And that is strictly by the interpretation of the Community Development Director? Kathy Field: • Yes, it goes on to say in here. If you go back to the warrant section as well that the Community Development Director either on the advice of the Review Board if it's a structure applicable for the Design Review Board for the HPC if it is a structure applicable to the HPC and if neither of those reviews then it is with the consultation of the city architect. So, there is always someone in conjunction with me reviewing for that warrant. Councilmember Kunz: • And that says that in here where? Kathy Field: • Okay. Let's go back to section 1.5 which talks about warrants. Maybe what I can do is just walk you through this under warrants. Section 1.5 if you look at 1.5.3 warrants relating to a physical element or metric of this code shall be based upon credible submitted evidence demonstrating Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 28 of 44 that approval, if granted, would not offend the spirit or intent of this code and there are such extraordinary and exceptional situations or conditions pertaining to the particular piece of property that the literal or strict application of this code would create an unnecessary hardship then it goes on to say relief, if granted, would not cause a substantial detriment to the public good. So, that talks about that wan -ant being related to a hardship. So, then if you go back... Councilmember Kunz: • So, the hardship automatically implies Design Review Board? Hardship equals Design Review Board or HPC? Kathy Field: • No, it is just talking about the type of warrant. Now, in terms of who gets the review, there is a section in here. I think it is a little further along. If you go back to architectural standards and move on to section 4.15.3 that talks about single-family residential buildings. A single family residential building shall be designed in one of the styles set forth in section 4.15.2 by -right, or in the simplified interpretation thereof by Warrant. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1.5.3, which was that provision I just read to you about the variances, considering whether to approve a Warrant with respect to architectural standards for single-family residential buildings, the community development director shall determine that the building design, while not strictly in accordance with the style requirements, meets the intent set forth in section l.l,which is basically just the general intent of the section, and will not adversely affect adjacent properties or the public health, safety, and welfare. Now, if you go on it says under section 4.15.4 and 4.15.5 it talks about a designated historic district. Compliance with sections 4.15.2 and 4.15.3 shall be as determined by the community development director following comment from the City Architect or city design review board, as applicable. One of the councilmen asked how does the HCP fit into this and 1 wanted to point out to you that is where the HPC comes in. It is a little complicated but it does discern the difference between commercial buildings and single -families in terms of the criteria for a warrant. Moving on if I may, I have finished with page 21 and I am moving on to table nine which is page 35. And on that page we have made some changes and you will see that we made some uses more restrictive in that either being by -right by an R or W for warrant; we made them use U. If you look starting in the second column, the fifth category down which is kennel we made both of those use and use, as you know, means permit. So, kennels would not be allowed without a use permit. And, then as you move down into section F, other; civil support, under cemetery you see we have added some use under T2, T3, and T4. Then section F, other; education, all of those categories: college, high school, trade school, elementary school, and childcare center all of the T zones are all use. You must have a use permit to locate a school in any of those T zones. So, those are the changes we made. I believe Councilmember Thurman has more changes for that table. I am moving along and I am on page 41 and we have added a definition for a city architect. And that definition says as follows: City Architect: a registered architect retained or employed by the City of Milton to support the community development director in reviewing development for compliance with the requirements of this code. We do make reference to a city architect and I felt like we needed a definition. And then, lastly, on page 47, the last page that we are proposing is the first paragraph under architectural styles under the top of the page and it now reads as follows: this article provides an overview of the architectural styles and their colors set forth in section 4.15.24 because the execution of specific styles can vary the description/definition of each style can vary and therefore, the information contained in this article may not be all inclusive. I think those last four words is really the intent of this. We have put forth styles, we put forth some recommended Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 29 of 44 elements of those styles but they may not be all inclusive. We just wanted to be able to say that. So, those were the changes that were made as a result of last week's meeting. I hope we caught them all. We might not have. They are here for your consideration and discussion. That is the end of my presentation. Councilmember Thurman: • Mayor, I passed out the, I actually spoke to Lew Oliver today and I passed out what I would recommend after I went through it line item by line item but I don't know if you want to take that now or go ahead and hear public comment. Mayor Lockwood: • We can go ahead and hear those recommendations. Councilmember Thurman: • I appreciate staff putting this together for me because I actually took their PDF, changed it to Word, made my adjustments, and then they summarized them for me which will hopefully make it easier. 4.5.1 — right now we are allowed to have a 25,000 square foot building in Crabapple. They have changed this to an 18,000 square foot footprint but are allowing three stories and I think that is a little too dense for the Crabapple area because there is nothing like that in there so I would propose to keep the 18,000 square foot footprint but to have a maximum building size of 36,000 square feet which means you could either have a two story building of an 18,000 square foot footprint or go up to three stories if you had a 12,000 square foot footprint. But, I just believe 36,000 square feet is more in keeping with what we are trying to do in Crabapple than allowing 54,000 square feet. • The next two things arc pretty basic. It just adds by the City Arborist saying trees specified that the Arborist has to approve the trees. The fourth comment is concerning drive-throughs and it is 4.12.4. I really believe that drive- throughs shouldn't just be automatic they should require a use permit and I have made that adjustment to the table 9 also. I don't think what we want in Crabapple is a row of two or three drive-through lanes but there may be times that if you need a drive-through for a Starbucks and it can be made to look like an alley way. So, I just believe that a drive-through should require a use permit so that we have some say so on how many of them we have rather than automatically allowing them. • 4.15.6(a)(i) it says that all four sides of a building needed to be the same material. I think that is probably okay for commercial but I think for residential that it because a commercial building is typically seen from all four sides where residential may not be and I thought that put an undue burden on a residential builder if they had to have all four sides be brick. What I was afraid of is that we would end up with very few brick homes just because of the cost associated with it. I just put in here after talking to Lew that basically you can have a three -sided brick house as long as everything that is seen from the street is of the same material. • On 4.15.6(b) 1 took out dry stacked stone being prohibited. I wasn't sure why dry stacked stone had to be prohibited since it is in a lot of historic buildings do have the dry stacked stone. Then also on the porches it is just so you can use stone or brick on the flooring or also stone on a chimney. And then under Table 9 it just says kennels, I'm not sure, kennels is a wide, I'm not sure if kennels is just a place that boards animals primarily overnight as its primary purpose or if a vet would be considered a kennel also but I wanted to make sure that a facility like the one we have in Crabapple that its primary use is a veterinary office wasn't prohibited where the dogs are Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 30 of 44 kept inside so I added a kennel with outside pens for that area. And it may be instead of outside pens we want to say primarily for boarding or something like that just to distinguish the difference between a kennel for boarding and a veterinary hospital. Councilmember Large: • I think you did a good job. Councilmember Lusk: Questions, mostly verbiage and definition. 2.2.4 regarding civic spaces, the first sentence reads each infill regulating plan for a site greater than four acres in area shall dedicate at least 5% of its total area to civic space. The second sentence says civic space shall be designed as generally described in Table four... My question is regarding the word designed. Do you mean designated or dedicated? When you go to Table 4 it shows some generic plan which I wouldn't necessarily call them complete designs. I am on page eight. Kathy Field: • I think the idea was that we were trying to designate different types of civic spaces, such as a plaza or a playground, so what we are looking for is that it does relate to design not designation. Councilmember Lusk: • Going to 3.4.1 e(i) and e(ii) addressing street trees. In e(i) it refers to complying with standards of GDOT along the state highway and other thoroughfares and complying with AASHTO. Do both of those standards address species of trees? Kathy Field: • Yes, usually they do because there are certain trees that are heartier than others and I know working in other cities and on state highways where we were only allowed to use very specific trees. There are specific trees to be used. Councilmember Lusk: It says further in the code it refers to the City Arborist referring to caliber and species of trees also so do you see there being any conflict? Kathy Field: • No, because the Arborist would go to the ASSI-iTO standards if it were a street tree rather than a regular landscaping tree. He will look into the different standards to make sure they were the right caliber. Councilmember Lusk: • 4.5.1(b)(ii) my page 15. A group of two or more building that share at least one contiguous wall will be considered as one building. Instead of contiguous, do you mean a common wall? Kathy Field: • Yes. Councilmember Lusk: 0 I see a difference between contiguous and common. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 31 of 44 Kathy Field: • Yes, I think common is probably a clearer word for it. Councilmember Lusk: 4.15.6(b)(vii) Hard -coat stucco shall be a 3 -coat plaster finish, integral finish, applied on brick or concrete block; control joints shall be concealed. How do you conceal a control joint? City Manager Lagerbloom: • Mr. Mayor, how do you conceal a control joint? Mayor Lockwood: • You can conceal it then you will have a big crack in it. I think maybe the intent is just to have a control joint that is very clean and inconspicuous. Dana Watkins, 12655 Birmingham Highway, Milton, Georgia 30004: • Hello, I am Dana Watkins and I am the property owner of 12655 Birmingham Highway which is currently zoned for T4O and I have a question why it is not zoned for T5. • It seems like it is going to be a turnaround turn about right in front of the property and the three corners are all T5 so I kind of thought just for the appearance of it alone it seems like it should all be congruent. Mayor Lockwood: • We cannot answer your question at this time but one the Public Hearing is closed one of our staff members or council can address that issue. Rhonda Thomas, 12518 Broadwell Road, Milton, Georgia 30004: • I am Rhonda Thomas and I live in Milton. • I want to thank you guys for making sure you have somewhere for me to be buried in that livable community which the United Nations calls a human settlement. • By the way, the term sustainable consumption comes from the United Nations in 1987. • Smart growth was a part of the regulatory make-up of federal agency and signed on to the United States Conference of Mayors, the National Governors Association and several leagues of municipalities to carry it out in our town. • It is called Think Global, Go Local. • There is a lot of involvement in this. • There is actually a letter in here from the Spartanburg County Council explaining why this is very dangerous. • You're actually not just taking control of private property you are actually bringing in behavioral; people's behavior, how we live, what our homes look like, and where we can plant a tree. • Some of this is good but it is being taken beyond good. • Conservative conservation easements are promoted as a way to gain private property. • According to the Golf of Maine Times article, the Main Coast Heritage press sold over 700 or their 850 easements and acquisitions to federal and state agencies. • Two-thirds of the nature conservatory operating budget is to purchase private lands that are then sold to federal and state agencies. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 32 of 44 • This is all about private property rights. • Basically, what we are doing is controlling, 0 The Atlanta Regional Commission has already laid out our livable communities and decided where we will live. • Governor Deal just passed and signed the Work Force Initiative which will be put into our schools which will teach us jobs that are government friendly. • There are actually Work Force Apartments being dedicated in Midtown. • Once the zoning commission passed everything, they had the citizens input. 0 'They have now gone in and are turning condos into Work Force projects. 0 And the citizens are very upset because that was not part of the plan. • But part of this is social equity and that is bringing all incomes together making sure everyone is equal in all form and fashion including resources bringing water and electricity to certain areas which is where the transportation comes in to play which is where we will live. • And, what you all are doing I know is meant for the good but you are not looking at ARC's 2050 plan which relates to the United Nations which every bit of what you are talking about comes from. • The fact of the process is to remove the decision making from the people and their elected officials and put the process and the outcome in the hands of the appointed professionals and special interest groups. • In Chapter 21, the soft law document that is set in the Agenda 21 chapter set forth a universal plan to transform the world into a planned community, a planned economy, and a planned culture and you all are taking part in that and it is very sad. • The non-binding which we call voluntary comprehensive land use map may be compared to the legally binding official zoning map. • We are talking about Greenville, South Carolina now and how they have land designers come in, facilitate surveys to albeit an already known outcome to get what they wanted to make sure that then the city planners could come in and take that and say they had stakeholders that participated to cover themselves and begin to proceed with what they wanted to do in the very beginning. • Public/Private Partnerships can be used as a way to diminish the size of'government. • I noticed that our architectural design was a Public/Private Partnership. • But, in fact, it increases the government's power because no one ever comes forward to tell the general public the entire plan for something as vast as the Security Prosperity Partnership. • No one ever calls for a debate or vote to implement the plan with public approval. • Public/Private Partnerships are becoming the fastest growing process to impose such policy. • State legislatures across the nation are passing legislation for what is called the implementation of PPP's. • Public/Private Partnerships will be used hugely. They will get government funds that they will never have to pay back. 0 The CSS railroad has received millions of dollars just to restore lines to fall into our public transportation that will be great for our livable communities and they are never going to have to pay that back, we are paying that, but yet, they are going to have the benefits from that money. • America's mayors are elected representatives closest to the people. • They are the ones that our founder's intended to have the most influence over our daily lives. • If the United Nations succeeds to enforce sustainable development policies through our mayors, the process will accelerate and an astounding rate and controlled government will cease to exist. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 33 of 44 • But signs adorned with green stars will certainly greet us at every city limit when we are voted a Great Global city. • This is all through our society; it is all through every county. • I have friends that have a lake place in the Ellijay mountains, the Tennessee Valley Authority is already putting pressure on them that we cannot have recreation on our lakes and you may ask, "Why is that?" because it is not sustainable. • Lakes we need for quality of water. • You know, our earth has gone through tornadoes, volcanoes, tsunamis and, guess what, God has healed it. • That is a great thing that we should do to be wonderful stewards of our earth because God did create it for us. • We are not creators. • And, to sit here and think that we have the power, the power to control what is happening to our earth is just beyond me. • There are great things that we should do as citizens to take care of our property, take care of our earth, and work together but that is different than controlling what people own, controlling where they work, where they live, where they die, and where they are buried. • And you all are not doing your research. • You are listening; you are not doing your research. • I appreciate your time. • I feel like you have become family because I have been up here three or four times and I just want to make sure that you know that this is the most important decision, you have no clue where it is going. • If this is happening all over our country, if 50% of what I say is true, you all should not vote tonight. • You should take the time you need and look at other cities. • Bradley County, Tennessee just voted it down. • Alabama just signed a bill against Agenda 21 for the entire state. • North Texas, Garland, Texas they are all fighting it. • You need to open your eyes and see that this is not about our comfort. • This is about our children and grandchildren. • Not where we live, not what we have. • I don't care if I rent a house, I don't care if I ride a bicycle but don't tell me that I can't have freedom within my community. • Thank you. Councilmember Kunz: • Again, this may be for you. There was a question earlier about the process going through this and obviously that the residential component had come in at a later point in this process and some citizens were concerned that there was such a big enough change that it may warrant another step in the process just from a community presentation aspect. I'm sure if you are aware of that or not. My question is, at what point does a change in the overall zoning require that you go through the process again? I just wanted to kind of get that out there for understanding. City Attorney Jarrard: 0 I'm not exactly sure when the debate that you are discussing occurred or arose. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 34 of 44 Kathy Field: • It was during the work session of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission had three meetings and the second meeting was a workshop session and that is when that item first came up. It was suggested by the Planning Commission at the workshop and voted on subsequently at their third meeting. City Attorney Jarrard: • With respect to the legality there is a difference of whether or not from a public policy perspective you might want to take some more time with it but from a zoning procedure, which is the law, I am very comfortable, particular if it arose at that stage of the game that the zoning procedure has been followed so I think legally you are on solid ground. Councilmember Thurman: • And, I believe, with the additional wordage you have put in here it gives you a lot more discretion. It is not near as restrictive for the residential as what the Planning Commission initially passed I know on a very split vote and is more similar to what the public meetings held that was discussed at those public meetings. City Attorney Jarrard: • And, that is another component of it as well if in the process the rule, quite frankly, gets a little more lax then I'm going to give you more discretion to do that which is what I hear you saying. Councilmember Lusk: • So, maybe to clarify that a little bit more. I think the objectors or the dissenters on the Planning Commission challenged the restrictive nature of residential design. In what these changes here, the red line changes, have made it more permissive or discretionary particularly giving the Community Development Director a lot more discretion. Is that what I am hearing? Kathy Field: • Yes, that is correct. I think this was the topic of significant discussion last week at the work session and so we tried to come up with some language that would address that issue. Councilmember Lusk: • So, this has become less of an imposition on personal property rights. Would you agree with that? Kathy Field: • Yes, the criteria is quite different between commercial buildings and residential buildings. Councilmember Longoria: • Kathleen, do we have any idea what the proposed cost is for implementing section 1.7.5 of this ordinance that says the community development director shall establish and administer a process for documenting and monitoring the issuance, transfer and permanent extinguishment of TDRs when they are used to increase density ... The reason I ask this question is because in the work session last week, I thought it was said that the city wasn't going to get involved in administering TDRs. I thought what was said was that the TDRs end up being a lien on the property; therefore, Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 35 of 44 the county really holds the burden of tracking these and keeping up with them and so I wanted to know what the difTerence was there. Kathy Field: • The way I see the staff's input in this is that we would have to certify how many acres a property had and of those acres how many were constrained and not constrained so we would be using our GIS data for that. And we would ascertain how many credits a property owner would be eligible to have and we would probably give him a little document saying you're entitled to 14 TDRs. When that person sold it to someone who was going to use it for development we would have to then consider that as we looked at the development plan from the person who sold it to see how many credits were being used to make sure that it worked. That is how I see the staff interfacing with this. Councilmember Longoria: • You're not suggesting that we are going to do this in advance of requests from a property owner and a sending area coming and asking us, hey, I'm interested in TDRs, we are going to do this on demand, right? Kathy Field: • Yes, on demand and we may also have a website page from an informational point of view where we can say as far as we know there are 200 'TDRs in the market if someone is coming in, which is good from a development perspective to let developers know that there are TDRs and we can point them out where they are. So, from that sense if we can serve from a public information point of view to show those to show the availability but that is the extent to where I think we are getting involved. We don't need any additional staff to do that. It should be something that we can very easily handle. Councilmember Longoria: • So, you are saying the cost is going to be negligible. The ongoing cost is something that the county will have not us. Kathy Field: • Right, in terms of assessing criteria and the process they have to go through. Councilmember Longoria: • So, if the county is involved, do we have to get permission from them to do any of this stuff? Do we have to make them aware that this is coming down the pipe? Have we already talked to them about this? Do they know that we are going to be implementing this if this ordinance passes? Kathy Field: • No, we haven't. The only extent of where the county has come in is that we have talked to ARC and Allison Duncan who was here the other evening has mentioned that the county assessor's office is aware of this process because they have used it in Atlanta and Chattahoochee Hills and they are aware that there is a process in terms of transferring that tax from the original owner to the new owner so they are familiar with the process. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 36 of 44 Councilmember Longoria: • So, we don't have to get permission to make them aware of this. It just happens and they have to be ready? Kathy Field: • That's right. Councilmember Large: • You hit on a point I was wondering about. So, when the process begins for a sending and receiving, staff will look at the actual parcel and it is not going to be just a one unit per acre, it is going to have constraints and actually come up with a reasonable ratio of, any piece of property you are not going to get one unit per acre because of streets and constraints on environmental easements. Kathy Field: • We will have to evaluate all the constraints that are there and then determine how large it was and whether it was going to go for just a private conservation easement or a public easement because there will be different equations we will use for the amount of acreage to find out what the TDRs will be. Councilmember Large: • Do you see us as part of that process say on a sending area a property owner gets a consultant that does an evaluation and submits it to the city and says this is the density that we could possibly underwrite to develop the property and submit that as part of the process to establish that the number of units that would be transferred to a receiving area Kathy Field: • If someone from a sending area wanted to hire a consultant we could certainly look at their information and I feel like we have enough expertise in house to evaluate that information. Certainly, if that helps us that's great. Councilmember Longoria: • If you can't tell Kathleen, 1 am mostly concerned with TDRs. I think the rest of this, the form - based code is all very sound and I appreciate all the work that not only you and the staff did but also the work that Karen did, apparently. But, we have gotten some feedback from citizens where their concern is that part of this whole ordinance includes some kind of changes in the base zoning that exists today. In other words, we are doing this in part because we want to change how certain things are zoned. Can you, just so that we have this on record, state that, and I think we said this last week at the work session, the base density zoning that is listed in Chart 10 Item A is identical to basically what is in the Comprehensive Plan today. Is that correct? Kathy Field: • Well, I believe the Comprehensive Plan, Robyn you can speak to this too, the Comprehensive Plan did say in there that this Crabapple area needed to have its own master plan done for it in a UJ more detailed plan. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 37 of 44 Michele McIntosh -Ross, City Planner: • The Crabapple area needed a master plan, which is what we did and the master plan would determine what the density would be. Councilmember Longoria: • I guess more important than that, a landowner isn't going to wake up tomorrow and realize his property is missing something that it had today. Kathy Field: • On the contrary, what happened is, per the master plan, the city hired Lew Oliver who came in to do the detailed master plan for Crabapple. And, we found that to implement that plan, we found that the current overlay that is on there right now did not provide enough zoning to implement that Lew Oliver master plan that was approved by the city for the Crabapple area so, basically, when we came up with the form -based code, we then put in more zoning in order to allow for a village concept to take place. Now what we did was we looked at the master plan and said how much zoning does it take to make a village, literally. And with this form based code we gave in a sense we allowed about 65% of what it took to make a village, so we increased the baseline up to here, so people actually ended up with more zoning. We said though the last 35%, and we felt like 65% was a good number because you still have a village but the true village that was outlined in the master plan that was approved by the city really went even higher, so that last 35%, that is what we said if you want that last 35% use the Transfer of Development Rights concept to put on that to create additional zoning so you have by right quite a bit and then the rest you would get through the TDR. Councilmember Longoria: • That was actually the first time I have heard it described that way which was a very good description and I appreciate that but I guess what it implies is that we decided when we put this together that rather than seek the regular zoning process that we would now introduce this TDR concept in order for us to get from 65% to 100%; thereby, creating the need to have the TDRs in the first place. Correct? Kathy Field: • Correct. Councilmember Longoria: • I didn't realize that so that makes sense now. So, also in section 1.7.5 which I talked about earlier, there is a line that says that the City of Milton may but is not obligated to buy, hold and resell TDRs. Do we have any when we might do that, why we might do that, what is the need for having that language in there? Kathy Field: • Actually, there is a line in here and it does allow for the fact that, when and if this is passed, if the city buys land for park land, the city can make use of TDRs from that park land so if you want some land in the future and if you bought 10 acres you would end up with probably 12 TDRs which you could then sell on the marketplace Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 38 of 44 Councilmember Longoria: • So, it would be a way for us to offset the cost of purchasing the land in the first place or maybe developing the land into its intended use? Kathy Field: • Exactly. Councilmember Longoria: • Okay. That makes perfect sense. I was a little more worried about the buying TDRs part of that or the resale part of that because that implies that we are somehow involved in speculation or something like that which would concern me. Kathy Field: • Well, you would obviously have to vote on that and everything else. Councilmember Longoria: • It has been stated, not only in this document but in the many discussions that we have had about this, that the TDR program is voluntary. Now, I don't think there is any specific language in here that says it is mandatory or voluntary but, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence and a lot of the feedback we are getting from some citizens, we get these quotes about how TDRs have been implemented but they are really only successful in areas where it has been mandatory. Now, I am not going to debate or argue that because I don't know if that has any impact but are we convinced that the voluntary nature of the TDR program is all that is needed to make happen what needs to happen? Kathy Field: • Yes, and I think that Rick Pruett's made mention of that in his presentation and said that it is clearly voluntary. It is a tool in the toolbox, as planners like to say, it is there, it can be used, it is not mandatory at all. It is just a way of someone increasing their base density and the sender creating a conservation easement. Councilmember Longoria: • I think it might make a lot of people who have concerns over TDRs have less concern if we put language into this ordinance, such that, it would prevent us from converting this program at some point and time in the future from voluntary to mandatory. Would you have a problem with that? City Attorney Jarrard: • You could put language in there that it is not mandatory but in light of 1.7.1 that might be redundant. I think it is fairly clear. Councilmember Longoria: • The other issue that I had some concerns about had to do with how we define sending and receiving areas. I understand why they exist. I understand what a sending unit is going to do and I understand what a receiving unit will do. Is there any chance, let's just say, there is a demand, we have already struck out from the ordinance the option for the council to sell additional development capability for money. That was one of the things that got struck out of the last revision of this. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 39 of 44 Kathy Field: • The Density Transfer Option. Councilmember Longoria: • And, I feel good about that. But, it is possible that we will exhaust the resource of TDRs from a demand side, in other words, people will want TDRs and there won't be any. Either because not enough volunteers step forth and offer them or they are all gone. There isn't any chance that we could contemplate TDRs coming from any land that exist outside the city limits, is there? Kathy Field: • Not according to this ordinance, no. I will say that in other states there are certain arrangements like that. We clearly did not put that in this ordinance. This ordinance only speaks to the City of Milton. Councilmember Longoria: • Okay, maybe you guys can educate me again like you just did. Is there a possibility that we can add language into this that would prevent the ordinance from participating in a regional or a state TDR program? Because Fulton County has a TDR program, the state has documented TDR programs and how they are used. I don't know if they sponsor any, but again, getting back to some of the concerns that we have gotten from citizens, it might help assuage their worry if we put that kind of language in there. Does that make sense Ken? City Attorney Jarrard: • It does. That is much easier. In no event shall TDRs be subject to a receive or send area outside of the jurisdiction limits outside the City of Milton. Councilmember Kunz: • I like the fact that we expanded a little more on the design aspects on the residential side. I assume that since it is sort of making a village that we might have some townhomcs in that area as we] I? Kathy Field: • Yes. Councilmember Kunz: • I assume they are under the same standards? Kathy Field: • Yes. Mr. Mayor, would you like for me to respond to the question from the audience? Mayor Lockwood: • Yes. Kathy Field: • Her property is directly to the south of the Crabapple Crossing Elementary School. So, immediately adjacent on the south side and it is currently designated as T4 Open and her Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 40 of 44 question was why not have it T5 and if you look at your little map in the back that shows the T zones, you will see that the property just next to it is T5 immediately to her south, so she's got to the north of her the school and to the south of her T5, she is T4. Caleb is not here but from a planning prospective I understand what happened. If you look at Table nine which is the one with all the uses on it that we just modified to some extent there is not a lot of difference between the, she is T4 Open actually to be precise, there is not a lot of difference between uses in T4 Open and T5 so that is not the issue. The issue comes down to Table ten on page 36 when you look at the density and there is a significant difference between density in the T4 and the T5. For instance, by -right in a T4 you get 5 units to an acre and in T5 you get nine units to an acre and because the property is immediately adjacent to the school, it is my feeling that Caleb made that a transition zone between her property and the property to the south of her which is T5. Her property is T4 Open because she is right against the school. So rather than having a T5 go right up to the school property line there was a transition zone there and that is why her property got zoned T4 Open. Mayor Lockwood: • I was looking at this too and I can certainly see her point. Would it be possible to designate say the front part of her property that maybe matches to the property next to her T5 and the back part of it T4. Kathy Field: • 1 don't know the width of that. I don't know if that would work. How wide that property is. It is hard to tell the scale of that plan. Councilmember Thurman: • Is that something that can be looked at in the future? Kathy Field: • Sure. Councilmember Thurman: • Do we know what her property is zoned at currently so we know that we are not being more restrictive than it is currently at? Robyn MacDonald, City Planner: • It is C-1 with the existing structure. Councilmember Thurman: • So, right now she really can't do anything other than use her existing structure for certain uses. So, this is really allowing her a lot more than what she currently has. Kathy Field: • Yes. Councilmember Lusk: • Are these transect zones the way they are shown on here cast in stone? Are they subject to the same rezoning procedures? Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 41 of 44 Kathy Field: • Yes, correct. Mayor Lockwood: • So, they would have to all be re -zoned anyway at the time specifically. Councilmember Lusk: • And that was addressed in the proposal that Joe came up with; dividing her parcel into T4 and T5. Kathy Field: • We could certainly do that and see if it worked. I just don't know how wide it is. Mayor Lockwood: • Compared with some of the other properties, as you mentioned it is 5 acres total, but not a whole lot, I was just thinking that might balance it out a little bit. Kathy Field: • It is really a policy decision. I just wanted to give you all the tools to make a decision. Councilmember Kunz: • Two questions, both on the baseline. One, 1 think there are some citizens that are concerned about the idea of down zoning as some communities have done. I don't think it is the intent of this council or anybody to actually do that. But, is there a way to put language in there that might restrict future councils from doing such? Kathy Field: • I don't think we, by law, can downzone. You are taking people's property rights away. Ken, you are the expert. Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: • Yes, that's correct. "There is really no way this council could do anything that would prevent next year's council or the council after that. Councilmember Kunz: • So, the other question from a baseline standpoint, if we were to raise the baseline at any point in time, that would have to be done in uniform through the whole area or do you raise the baseline in one section at a time if needed, how would that work? Kathy Field: • You could or you could go right down to the parcel level which is what we are doing next door. It is truly up to the council to determine. Soon, we would want to do a plan to look at the ramifications of that but you can rezone anywhere from one parcel to an area. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 42 of 44 Councilmember Large: • Chris, the study levels we are waiting to get, the economic study we talked about with the present implications, does that take into consideration form -base for Crabapple. City Manager Lagerbloom: • That model really looks at a development opportunity and tells you what the cost to serve is over time, like a 20 year period. I don't know how its applicability would be to this particular act other than to potentially look at a development strategy for a village long term. Councilmember Large: • Has it been discussed with the individual that is preparing? City Manager Lagerbloom: • We are looking now at doing, as you remember, the three simulations, the three development simulations and they will take into account the city as a whole and not just a certain portion of the city. Maybe to some degree we can extrapolate from that and have some different development strategies in this area and see what it looks like. I don't know the answer to your question as to whether or not this tool is going to be able to be used for that specific purpose. But, I don't think at the level that exists today that it would have any applicability to the decision that is in front of you tonight. Kathy Field: • If I could just add from a general planning prospective, when you are doing a more intense development, infrastructure costs are very high as you know and so the fact that the infrastructure is there and there are obviously some more roads that are needed but not to the degree so that your revenue is going to come out ahead of the cost because there is less of an infrastructure investment. Mayor Lockwood: • I would like to add to the motion that the area known as the Strawberry Fields property can have the front half of the property to match up with the properties that are around there as a T5. City Manager Lagerbloom: • We will add that by reference and address. City Manager Lagerbloom: • Approval of RZ12-08 — To delete Article VII, Division 7 of Chapter 64 — Crabapple Crossroads of the Northwest Fulton Overlay and concurrently adopt a new Article XIX, Crabapple Form Based Code identified as: • Crabapple Form Based Code Draft V7 with the following modifications: • In section 4.5.1(b2) remove the word "contiguous" and add in its place the word "common". • In section 4.15.6(b7) add "where possible" after the word concealed. • To include language written by the City Attorney which states in principal that the TDR function is solely restricted to the City of Milton and does not allow for sending sites to be outside Milton's incorporated boundaries. • To include the map titled, "Crabapple Regulating Plan Draft V7" dated June 12, 2012 as modified and signed by the City Manager in the council meeting and distributed to the council. Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 43 of 44 • Exhibit A titled, "Amendments to Crabapple Form Based Code V7" as well as Exhibit B titled, "Crabapple Form Based Code Draft V7 As Amended." Motion and Vote: Councilmember Kunz moved to approve Agenda Item 12-142 with the changes mentioned by City Manager, Lagerbloom. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. Councilmember Kunz withdrew the motion and made another motion to approve Agenda Item 12- 142 with the revisions stated by City Manager, Lagerbloom and the changes made to the June 12, 2012 Regulating Plan Map as modified and signed by City Manager, Lagerbloom. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed (6-1). Councilmember Longoria was opposed. (End of verbatim transcription) UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Approval of An Ordinance to Amend Chapter 42, Article III, of the Milton City Code to Remove the Requirement for Precious Metals Dealers to Obtain and Maintain a License and Indemnity Bond. (Agenda Item No. 12-143) ORDINANCE NO. 12-06-137 (First Presentation at June 4, 2012 Regular Council Meeting) (Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) Ken Jarrard, City Attorney: • This item is a modification to the recently enacted Precious Metals Dealers ordinance. • This pertains to a moratorium that the council placed on it which required all precious metal dealers in the City of Milton to obtain a $100,000 bond. • This was based on the fact that other jurisdictions had this same requirement. • Those jurisdictions have taken this requirement out. • There are plenty of other safeguards in the ordinance that will protect the city. Motion and Vote: Councilmember Hewitt moved to approve Agenda Item No. 12-143. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). NEW BUSINESS MAYOR AND COUNCIL REPORTS STAFF REPORTS Regular Meeting of the Milton City Council Monday, June 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 44 of 44 EXECUTIVE SESSION Motion and Vote: Councilmember Thurman moved to adjourn at 9:23 p.m. into Executive Session to discuss land acquisition. Councilmember Hewitt seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). RECONVENE Motion and Vote: Councilmember Lusk moved to reconvene at 9:32 p.m. into Regular Session. Councilmember Thurman seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). ADJOURNMENT (Agenda Item No. 12-15.5) Motion and Vote: Councilmember Longoria moved to adjourn the Regular Meeting at 9:33 p.m. Councilmember Lusk seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). After no further discussion the Regular Council Meeting adjourned at 9:33 p.m. Date Approved: July 2, 2012. Sudie AM Gordon, CY Clerk STATE OF GEORGIA COUNTY OF FULTON CITY OF MILTON AFFIDAVIT RE: CLOSURE OF OPEN MEETINGS Personally appeared before the undersigned officer, duly authorized under the laws of the State of Georgia to administer oaths, JOE LOCKWOOD, who in his capacity as Mayor and the person presiding over a Council meeting of the CITY OF MILTON, and after being first duly sworn, certifies under oath and states to the best of his knowledge and belief the following: At its Regularly Scheduled Council Meeting held on June 18, 2012, the Council voted to go into closed session and exclude the public from all or a portion of its meeting. The legal exceptions applicable to the exempt matters addressed during such closed meeting are as follows: [Check or initial as appropriate] 1. X discussion or voting to authorize negotiations to purchase, dispose of, or lease property; authorizing the ordering of an appraisal related to the acquisition or disposal of real estate; entering into contract to purchase, to dispose of, or lease property subject to approval in a subsequent public vote; or entering into an option to purchase, dispose of, or lease real estate subject to approval in a subsequent public vote pursuant to O.C.G.A, 50-14-3(b)(1)(B-E); 2. discussing or deliberating upon the appointment, employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal, or periodic evaluation or rating of a public officer or employee or interviewing applicants for the executive head of the city with the vote on any such matter coming in public pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-14-3(b)(2); 3. attorney/client privilege in order to consult and meet with legal counsel pertaining to pending or potential litigation, settlement, claims, administrative proceedings or other judicial actions brought or to be brought by or against the agency or any officer or employee or in which the agency or any officer or employee may be directly involved, pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-14-2(1). 4. other (explanation): certify that the subject matter of the closed meeting or the closed portion of the meeting was devoted to matters of official business or policy, with the exceptions provided by law as set forth above. SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me NN11Iy1 this 18th day of JUNE, 2012. �►� �` S NOT,�9 Notary Public My Commission Expires: MAYO JOE YL KWOOD