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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes CC - 01/18/2012 - Mins 01 18 12 WS (Migrated from Optiview)Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page I of 7 This summary is provided as a convenience and service to the public, media, and staff. It is not the intent to transcribe proceedings verbatim. Any reproduction of this summary must include this notice. Public comments are noted and heard by Council, but not quoted. This document includes limited presentation by Council and invited speakers in summary form. This is an official record of the Milton City Council Meeting proceedings. Official Meetings are audio recorded. The Work Session of the Mayor and Council of the City of Milton was held on January 18, 2012 at 6:00 PM, Mayor Lockwood presiding. Council Members Present: Councilmember Karen Thurman, Councilmember Kunz, Councilmember Bill Lusk, Councilmember Burt Hewitt, Councilmember Joe Longoria and Councilmember Large. Mayor Lockwood: • Work Sessions are an informal setting to update Council on business items. • No votes will be taken during these sessions. • There are two (2) items on our Agenda tonight. • Public comment is allowed that is germane to an Agenda Item. • If you wish to speak you are required to fill out a comment card and turn it into the City Clerk staff. • Public comment will be allowed for a total of 10 minutes per agenda item and no more than 2 minutes per person. • Public comment will be heard at the beginning of each Item. • Once the item is called, no other comment cards will be accepted. Katie Reeves, 4165 Big Creek, North Fulton, GA: • Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. • I am with the Fulton County Board of Education. • I wanted to share some feedback from the board. • The Fulton Board of Education as well as parents and education experts believe that students will do well if they are connected. • Sports are one of the things that we connect with in our community. • I made a motion a few years ago to change our education specifications from one practice field to two practice fields. • This motion was not supported. • There is never enough space at our schools to support all of the athletic clubs. • I ask that you all take that into consideration and try and make that a priority with the schools in Milton. Scott Stachowski, 3154 Chipping Wood Ct., Milton, GA: • Tonight I come before you to speak in my role as the President of the Hopewell Youth Association. • I am joined by some fellow board members tonight. • This year, we will enter our eighth season of baseball at Bell Memorial Park under our agreement with Hopewell. • Our spring season will have 639 players on 58 teams playing on your four fields. Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 2 of 7 • On field four alone, we will have 18 teams that play baseball every week. • Almost four teams will practice every weeknight, Monday through Friday and on Saturday there will be nine games starting at 8:30am and ending after Bpm. • In Alpharetta, their program has 642 players on fourteen fields. • Some experts suggest that each field should have ten teams per field. • We need an additional two fields in the city of Milton to satisfy the current demand for baseball alone. • We have watched and participated in the ongoing development of the parks plans especially for Birmingham Park and were appreciative and supportive of the efforts of you all to expand the recreational fields and programs for the citizens of our city. • We encourage you to support the development of additional fields in this city in all shapes, diamonds and rectangles. • Thank you for your time and attention. Dennis Covington, 16484 Freemanville Rd., Milton, GA: • I have lived off of Freemanville Rd, fnr 36 years. • I have had horses that entire time and I am fortunate and blessed to live in a community where that is an option. • I have also coached youth football for the past five year and last year I was the 6th grade head coach for the Cambridge High feeder team. • I have also served on the Alpharetta Youth Football Board for the past three years. • One challenge that we have with the explosion of lacrosse, soccer and football, we are running into capacity restraints. • I know that the city of Alpharetta residents would have first choice on the Alpharetta fields if the board required a cap on how many children can sign up. • My concern is that we don't have enough rectangle fields in this area. • I would like to see the Council and Planning Commission work toward meeting the demands of this area when it comes to lacrosse, soccer and football. David Winshess, 1735 Windsor Court, Milton, GA: • I have lived in Milton for seven years. • I am the president of the Eagle Sticks Club (a girls lacrosse program). • We have 200 members in our lacrosse program. • In the spring, half of our members play for Alpharetta parks and recreation where they pay a 75% premium to play in the league. • The other half play in backyards and community neighborhoods as we have no space. • We have a fall program where we do not use any of the City of Alpharetta fields or parks. • We have 200 members without any use of any fields. • We would like to see more fields allocated towards sports programs in our area, specifically for girl's lacrosse. Gayle Battersby, 3655 Preston Ridge Road, Milton, GA: • I came to speak to you tonight because I work for the YMCA in Alpharetta. • Recently, we have not had enough field space for residents in Milton. 9 There is a big need for rectangle fields in Milton so residents don't have to travel to other cities. Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 3 of 7 Cite Clerk Gordon read Agenda Item #1. Discussion of Project Overview of Milton Parks Comprehensive Master Plan, Trails Update Master Plan and Birmingham Park Master Plan. (Presented by John Rebar, Parks & Recreation Director) John Rebar: • Tonight we are presenting an overview of the three master plans we are working on. • We are currently working on a Comprehensive Master Plan which is a 20 year view of what your parks system should or shouldn't look like 20 years out. • This is a living document and it will get updates in the next 20 years. • We are also updating the Birmingham Park Master Plan that was completed by Fulton County. • We are also giving the Milton Trails an update as well. • Tonight, the consultants from Moreland and Altobelli are here. • Chris Kingsbury and David Gjertson are here to speak. • We started this process about 75 days ago when we did a kick off meeting with staff, a focus group, and a series of public workshops as well as a website for the public to participate in the planning. • We want to bring you up to date with what we have done up to now. • It is our job to project things that we will need in 20 years such as land acquisition. Chris Kingsbury: • This has been a very interesting city to work with. • To work with a city that is brand new is a once in a lifetime opportunity. • There are a lot of unique things that we have been excited to be involved with. • Trails have always been considered a separate element but more recently they have been a motive for transportation. David Gjertson: • I want to go through the process and where we are in terms of this plan. • We have gone through a lengthy public involvement process so far. • Tonight is considered our third workshop in this process. • The reason these three studies were combined were for efficiency. • Project one is the Comprehensive Master Plan. • Project two is the trails update. • The study was done by Georgia Tech and it was done in 2007. • Our job is to use what we think is relevant from their study to use for ours. • Project three is Birmingham Park which was originally a Fulton County park. • The original plan was designed as a regional park but now is a Milton park. • Some aspects that were concentrated on are no longer relevant now that it is a city park and not a regional park. • Workshop one was an interactive meeting on November 29, 2011 for the Comprehensive Master Plan. • The second evening was specifically for the trails update. Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 4 of 7 • Workshop two was the 14th and 15th of December, 2011 which was dedicated entirely to the Birmingham Park project. • Today is the third workshop. • The big question is how you deal with a 20 year plan. • The questions that are being presented tonight are questions that were brought up throughout the public meeting process. • We have to balance active and passive recreation in the city of Milton such as neighborhood pocket parks, civic and cultural facilities such as the Hopewell Community Center. • Based on the population in 2010, Milton was at 32,661. By 2030, the population will jump to around 51,900. • Regardless of public input, our hard data are the numbers that will need to be addressed over a long period of time. • Based on the national standards, we have to prepare for what park facilities that we will need in the future to accommodate the population increase. • Based the demographic, you need two to three more community parks. N 1 1 1 1 • Seven to ten neighborhood parks are required. • Pocket parks require 12-15 more. • Three to five more community centers. • Special sports facilities as determined. • You want your service areas to be close to your population centers. • When we started talking about the parks system, we know there will be a need for additional park facilities either in acreage or in programming. • If there were opportunity for acquisition for Milton in the future, where would it be? • We have drawn up a map and outlined some areas for acquisition sites that are located in your packet. • The most important aspect of the Master Plan will be the park types and level of service standards. • NRPA standard requirements is the most important aspect. • The Shapiro study that was done gives us a real life aspect of what is needed for the City parks. • Currently, we have Birmingham Park, Bell Memorial Park, Providence Park, and a few small parks plus the trail system. • You can satisfy all of your programming needs if you go outside the boundaries of Milton or use shared facilities. • As we went through what the level of service requirements were going to be for the Parks and Recreation system for the city, there was more stuff than would fit. • Birmingham Park can accommodate a good deal of the needs for the Milton Parks and Recreation facilities in lieu of acquisition. Chris Kingsbury: • Please feel free to contact us directly or go through John if you have any feedback for us. • Acquisition is a big issue because of cost. Mayor Lockwood: 0 I found it eye opening to see how much land we will have to acquire over the next 20 to 30 years. Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 5 of 7 Councilmember Kunz: • Has there ever been a study done as far as property values and demand for housings where there are parks? Chris Kingsbury: • You have to try and find cities that are similar to Milton to compare. • There is an economic development component to Parks and Recreation development. • As you develop a park system, it draws people and increases values of homes. Councilmember Thurman: • Are you going to give us information concerning what the standards should be for Milton before we start drawing things out based on the national parks standards? Chris Kingsbury: • Yes ma'am. • We are currently around 30% at the moment and we know based on your demographic what is required for the city. Councilmember Thurman: • There are a few things that we won't need as much of as the standards may show, such as tennis courts. • Some neighborhoods already have tennis courts meaning in the city parks, we won't need as many. • I want to make sure that we don't go strictly on standards. Chris Kingsbury: • Part of the master planning process is to identify private facilities and public facilities. • The private facilities offset the public need. • When you have a certain demographic, your needs for those public facilities are less. Councilmember Thurman: • We have already received from the Milton Horse Council saying they support plan A. • Are there plans out there for people to view? David Gjertson: • The workshop that we held created two plans, but they were sketches. • They are not working plans currently; they have not taken into count any of the national parks standards or the surveys. • We do design parks where you have four ball fields and one building in the middle. • You can design the parks more smart so you have fewer needs. Councilmember Lusk: 0 Do you see us having a priority list in the Master Plan? Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 6 of 7 David Gjertson: • There is a prioritization plan for investment up front to create flexibility on programming later. Mayor Lockwood: • I would just like to say that I am excited for the opportunity that we have moving forward with all of our existing land and acquisitions in the future. • Birmingham Park is a great start, and we know what we want in the city such as more fields and structures. 2. Update and Discussion of the Moratorium of Issuing Business Licenses to New Pain Management Clinics within the City of Milton. (Presented by Ken Jarrard, City Attorney) City Manager Lagerbloom: • On May 2, 2011 the Council enacted a moratorium against Pain Management Clinics or "Pill Mills". • We want to make sure that as May approaches when the moratorium expires, that we are covered as far as regulating those Pill Mills. • We watched what the state was going to do to regulate Pill Mills. • What they did was effective enough and we are comfortable with it in the regulation in Milton or conversely if we are not. • We want to put something in place like what we did in December with the regulation of Pawn Shops and Gold Buying Businesses. City Attorney Jarrard: • One thing in the moratorium is that the state was working on Senate Bill 36. • We wanted to monitor and see if it directly regulated the Pill Mills or what we would have to do. • What it does is set up a computer database regulatory system with respect to controlled substances. • There will be a state wide database showing where these drugs are being given from and given to. • This database has to be funded before it becomes effective. • How long will it take to make a statewide prescription database once it is funded? • The only way law enforcement will have access to this is by subpoena and it will not be commonly available. • The state of Georgia has touched this item, but I don't know if it will address the concerns that you all have had. • The moratorium expires at the end of April and we have to decide if we want to let -it expire or not. • You all may want to extend the moratorium. • You could also work up an ordinance of a modification to our zoning code that would prevent or prohibit these institutions in Milton. • You could also rely on the State to have this worked into the system and allow the moratorium to expire. Work Session of the Milton City Council Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 6:00 pm Page 7 of 7 Councilmember Large: • Does this also control acupuncture? City Attorney Jarrard: • Just narcotics. Councilmember Thurman: • Until the plan is implemented, the plan is no good. • I believe we should extend the moratorium until the plan is in effect. Councilmember Lusk: Do we have any sense of a time frame as to when this will be completed? Are there any model ordinances that we could adopt if the state doesn't move forward with this? City Attorney Jarrard: We can call the Georgia Drug and Narcotic Agency to find out if this is being funded or not this year. • The first step we would make is to find a model ordinance. Councilmember Longoria: Do we run the risk of being in trouble for extending the moratorium too many times? City Attorney Jarrard: • I don't believe so; we just have to hold public hearings. • Also, I have not heard of any interest in a Pill Mill in Milton. Mayor Lockwood: The smart thing for us to do would be to extend the moratorium and wait to see what the state will do. • Also, we can look up model ordinances for this particular subject. After no further discussion, the Work Session adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Date Approved: February 6, 2012. Sudie AM Gordon, Cit Clerk Joe Lockwoo or No Text