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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20060309_TybeeCouncilMinsCouncil Minutes Page 1 of 8 Meeting of 2006-03-09 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the Council Meeting to order at 7:00PM. Council members present were, Wolff, Doyle, Williams, Sessions, Crone and Pearce. Also present were City Attorney Edward Hughes and Assistant City Manager Dee Anderson. Reverend Hale Bishop gave the Invocation and the Tybee Memorial Color Guard posted the colors. Everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Ms. Doyle said she wanted to congratulate Tony Ryan for being selected as the Grand Marshall for The Savannah St.Patrick’ s Day Parade. Lou Off announced that Burke Day called and said that yesterday the Full House in Atlanta had passed our request for the 2.93 million ($2,930,000). Buelterman said it was not in the Governor’ s budget so the house put it back in. He said Mr. Day felt that Eric Johnson was going to support us pretty strongly also. Off said that he wrote an article last month about the Tybee road possibly being under water if a hurricane came through and he received about 100 calls about the article. Off stated: “We have people on both side of the issue with some wanting 4 lanes and some wanting no changes. I want to say I’ m in favor of 8 lanes with a monorail but I’ m willing to compromise. He asked Henry Levy to do some sketches for him of what he would like to see for two reasons. One being it would be almost criminal if we didn’ t improve this road. Number two is we need some leadership from the new Council before Ga. DOT says hey go away. I also think we can come out of this with something everyone can agree on. Referring to the letter I sent to Council we need four things with the first being a foundation. I have heard that in 1933 they built this road on a bed of oyster shells. Certainly our engineers that build roads have come up with something better than this. I’ ve also heard that it has been sinking but I can’ t prove that. We need a safer roadbed. We need to Hurricane proof the road. Six months ago when the hurricane hit New Orleans they were pretty much dumb and happy because someone said they had levees to protect them if they were hit by a category 3 hurricane. When Katrina hit it was a category 1 hurricane but it still broached the levees. We have one road coming into Tybee. If that road was broached it could be a possibility that we would not have access for six months. I’ ve talked to people who specialize in mold and mildew cleanup and they said a house that has been water damaged and closed up for fifteen days has a good chance of having irreversible mold and mildew damage. In as little as thirty days the house could become terminal. There are a lot of people in New Orleans that are suffering from this and some insurance companies are putting exclusions in their policies not to insure for mold and mildew. It is important that we have the best possible road. I don’ t know if it is possible to build a road that is one hundred percent storm proof but I think we need to get the best we can. We need to have Ga. DOT tell us what they can do. I’ ve been to two of their open houses and I’ ve never heard one person from Ga. DOT mention designing a road for a hurricane. We need to look into that. The fourth thing I advocate is a good-looking road because this is the entrance to our island. The other thing is I cannot find the numbers to prove that we need more than a one-lane road in either direction. He showed a slide to Council showing traffic totals for the four day Memorial Day weekend eastbound traffic from 1997 to 2005. From 1998 to 2005 they actually did not go up, and actually fell from 2004 to 2005 so we have kind of peaked out. There is only so much parking and room on Tybee. I’ ve called and talked with a Traffic Engineer from Ga. DOT and he said one lane of traffic would carry about 2500 cars an hour. The merging slows things down but there are ways to get the traffic off of the island. When we have an event that brings ten or twelve thousand people it really doesn’ t take a lot of time to move them off of the island. We have approximately 3500 to 4000 residents on this island and if everyone had cars and we had to evacuate. Everyone would probably be gone in about three hours. So evacuation isn’ t really a critical basis for making this wide road. The other thing is an Council Minutes Page 2 of 8 emergency vehicle; if we have a wider road it would be able to travel 60 or 70 MPH because the people can get off the road out of their way.” “Concerning Hurricane proofing the road, I talked with Eric Olson an Engineer in Jacksonville, about running a road across the marsh. He said the important thing to making it storm resistant is to get as much roadway as you can and keep it a low profile. If you build a six or seven-foot wall and you get a 140 MPH wind driven surge it will wash out. The other reason for keeping it a low profile is it will be much easier to rebuild. Currently the road at its lowest point is 9 feet above the mean low water mark. If we have a very high tide with a Northeast wind blowing we get water on the roadway. It’ s only happened about three times in the last five years. If we take the road up to ten feet it would be almost tide proof. The Ga. Dot proposal is 136 feet wide. I paced off 60 feet so they are adding about seventy-six feet to the existing road. If we put in a 14-foot roadway and put a bike shoulder of 10 feet plus a shoulder of 12 feet, it would only be 84 feet wide meaning it would take less than 20 feet out of the marsh and we could maintain the Palm Tree line. I have not heard Ga. DOT address the construction plans. The tree trimming is holding up traffic now so you can imagine what could happen if the construction isn’ t planned well. If they put a new lane in on one side and then shift the traffic over and put a new lane in the other side then they could clean up the road and down the middle and end up with a nice 84-foot road. I propose that Council go to Ga. DOT and find out what they think and ask the people what they think. I presented this at the Neighborhood Association Meeting and there were people on both sides but we almost came up with a consensus. If we go in polarized with the competition being so tough we may not get anything and I think that could be a disaster for our island. We need to get together about what we want. Ms. Sessions said that Council has agreed to address our concerns as a body to the Ga. DOT. We will give our input to Anderson and he will compile our ideas. I think the letter you have given us will help us come up with ideas and Thank you.” Ms. Doyle thanked Mr. Off for showing that there is a possibility of compromise and balance concerning this project. Mr. Levy spoke on the subject. He said, “I wrote to Governor Purdue several months ago telling him this was a one hundred million dollar ($100,000,000) boondoggle, because they are estimating it at seventy two million ($72,000,000) so by the time they get around to it, it will be one hundred million ($100,000,000)”. Governor Purdue directed the head of the Ga. DOT to respond to me and I challenged him to give me any instance of anyone anytime being prevented from leaving Tybee due to a Hurricane in the last fifty years. The reason I challenged him was because he said we needed the road for Hurricane Evacuation. I proved we do not need this road for evacuation and we have better notice now than we’ ve had in the past. There is no reason for anyone to remain on the island when we receive seventy-two and thirty six hour warnings. I asked him to give me a name of any individual that has been killed or maimed on the Tybee Road in the last fifty years that wasn’ t caused by an infraction of the law. He could not give me a single name. Mr. Brenall did an exhausting study based on national highway standards and it showed we wouldn’ t need this road until 2030. There is no reason for this four-lane road and I endorse everything that Lou said. Mr. Off said “, if we can get Henry to agree we can get anyone”. Ms. Rutherford pleaded with Council to consider Mr. Off’ s suggestions. He has said there is a way to cantilever the bike trails on the existing bridges so that we would have bike trails coming all the way out. Mr. Hank Buckley said he has been on Tybee for fifty-three years and he believes a four-lane road is needed. He said it was supposed to be done in 1997 and would have been if not for delays with the federal government. There are many people on this Island that want this road expanded and it needs to be done and we do not need to stand in the way. Mr. Nesbitt said we need to do something about the bridges. Last July 4th there was an accident on one of the bridges and the traffic was backed up for hours. He said bridges need to be built with four lanes and then we could get off the Island safely and orderly. Ms. Sessions said she has never understood why we have two lanes coming on Tybee right before the bridge and then we have the two lanes leaving right before the bridge. It seems that if you flipped them they would work for efficiently. Ms. Williams said she would like to ask the DOT what the alternatives are. I don’ t think it would hurt to ask them what other alternatives there are. Mayor Buelterman said He thinks they are all in agreement that there needs to be some action taken. We need to move forward on this. Ms. Council Minutes Page 3 of 8 Sessions asked Mr. Anderson if he received responses from Council as to what they want put in a letter to DOT. Mr. Anderson said he had received three responses from, Sessions, Crone and Williams and that was why he had put it on the Agenda for discussion tonight. Mayor Buelterman thanked Mr. Off for his work on this and his work on getting that money at the state level. He made several trips to Atlanta with Council members to help get that taken care of. Ms. Sessions also thanked Mayor Buelterman and Mr. Wolff for their part in getting the state money. Mayor Buelterman reminded everyone about the parade on Saturday saying he and most of Council would be in it. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearings with the first one being a Site Plan Approval for an addition to a commercial building at 802 First Street, petitioner was Solomon Properties. He introduced Lawanna Tsoulos as the Chairperson for the Planning Commission and congratulated her for being selected for that position. Ms. Tsoulos said that the Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve this Site Plan. Mr. Keith Gay said it is a simple request to expand the building footprint 14 by 38 feet. Mr. Wolff asked if it would be stick built. Mr. Gay said yes. Mr. Crone said he saw a lot of trees on the plan and asked if they were planning to plant them. Mr. Gay said it was requested as part of the drainage that three trees be planted and we have agreed to do that. Mr. Crone asked if they were going to be planted over the Sewer Line. Mr. Gay said he hopes that they will have some dialogue with the City in regards to locating the trees where they are not in conflict with the sewer line. Mr. Crone asked Mr. Gay if they have about thirty trees already existing on the property. Mr. Gay said we do have a lot of trees. Mr. Crone asked if they wanted to plant the trees or it they were requested too. Mr. Gay said the entire lot is white rock even under the building except for a 12 by 18 section of concrete. The intention is to raise the building. We do not think it is necessary to plant the trees but we are willing to if that is what the city wants. Mr. Pearce said he was on Council when the original plan was approved and there were some trees removed that were not replaced or mitigated so he thinks the request is fair. Mr. Gay said he must have been referring to sometime before he owned the property. Mr. Pearce said it was many years ago. Mr. Gay said the City makes them provide adequate parking for their customers and there are trees all the way around the edges of the property but if the city wants them to put in more trees then they are certainly willing to do that. Ms. Williams motioned to approve the project, Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Tsoulos presented the Site Plan Approval for 1605 Inlet, petitioner Philip O’ Dell. She said it is the relocation of a building from 601 First Street. The Planning Commission unanimously approved it as a Sketch Plan. Mr. Wolff said the plat showed the building sticking into the five-foot setback and if it were scooted back towards Chu’ s it would not be in the setback. Mr. Anderson said there is no setback in the C-1 district for a commercial restaurant. Ms. Kelleher said she attended the DCA meeting at the Gym on Monday night and seventy five percent of the people seem to want a cohesive plan from City Council on streetscapes, control of roads and traffic problems. How are the citizens of Tybee going to benefit from having a big vacant restaurant that is a red, white and blue structure with big glass pieces of brick? How that works into the plan for the enhancement of the business district? This isn’ t an approved project, it’ s being presented as; “I’ ll just park this here until I get the plans done”. Mr. Wolff said “it is just to save it from being demolished.” Ms. Kelleher said she understands there are twelve parking meters along the front of Inlet Avenue. He has only four parking spaces so what would happen to the twelve meters? Can anyone come and decide that they want to take out parking meters for a business? “We have plans for Tybrisa Street and we’ ve spent a lot of money on the Park of Seven Flags. Do we really want this odd building coming down there and sitting next to other odd buildings”? Mr. Wolff said in response that the meeting Monday night went really well and they are responding to the business owners concerns. Wolff added “The one thing that people agree on is we need more businesses that might work and I think it might, and I love the Art Deco style of it. The other thing I hear all the time is that people love Tybee’ s eclectic nature and the fact that there are buildings like this stuck in with buildings Council Minutes Page 4 of 8 that are architecturally different. I think this is the right thing to do to save this building”. Mr. Anderson said concerning the Parking Meters it was determined at the Planning Commission meeting that the restaurant parking could be in the back and it would mainly be for the employees. “This would be a walk up take out business and the meters won’ t be touched”. Ms. Tsoulos said to keep in mind that this is a sketch plan and Mr. O’ Dell will have to come back to the City with a Site Plan including drainage and parking. “For a take out restaurant he does not have to have parking spaces for customers but he will have to have spaces for employees and those would be in the back”. Ms. Kelleher asked what guarantee the city has that the building would not remain vacant. Mr. Anderson said we have a signed agreement that it will not sit there vacant and we have a bond amount for the demo should the city have to go in and do that. Ms. Williams said going back to the parking in 3-080 items C-2 there is a stipulation about parking and outdoor seating and I want to know if this applies to this particular project. Mr. Anderson said he thinks the owner agreed to take the picnic tables out. Ms. Tsoulos said all of that will be addressed when he comes back. Mr. Gay said he owns the property that the restaurant is currently on and he was prepared to demo it and had already hired the company when he received 100 calls from people on Tybee that did not want the Deco restaurant to go away. Gay said Mr. O’ Dell agreed to take control of the restaurant and find an alternative location and this location is the one he felt was appropriate because of it being in C-1. He said Mr. O’ Dell has many plans that he is considering for the building and he was the person originally responsible for bringing the building to Tybee he said “it is a portable building.” Mr. Gay said he had so many people call and tell me how it had gotten to Tybee and what a parade it was he decided to assist him in everyway possible. He believes Mr. O’ Dell has every intention of making it compliment the area. Mr. Wolff motioned to approve contingent on the non-removal of parking meters, Mr. Crone seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Tsoulos presented the petition from Mr. Goode for a Zoning Variance at 503 Seventh Street to build in the Marsh buffer. She said this petition was denied with 2 PC members voting for and 4 members voting against. Mr. Goode introduced his Wife Beverly and said they have a vested interest in building a home on this property to move to. Mr. Goode said lot 182 which is the farthest to the South; he inherited from an Aunt in 1982 after she had paid taxes on it for fifty years. He was able to buy lot 181 in 2000 and it had enough land to build on. He started his quest for necessary approvals. He had it set up where he didn’ t need any variances from the City if he worked his way through the DNR and the Corps of Engineers. He said he completed that process in 2002 and had all approvals needed from the state and federal government to build a house. The only thing he didn’ t have was access to the property because the city deeded away the Fifth Avenue right of way in 1968. In 2004 he thought he would be able to solve this problem and bought lot 180 for that purpose. It fronts on Seventh Street and all he had to do is cross the ditch to gain access to his property plus it gave him more upland area”. In 2000 when the Corps and DNR were out there and the DNR said “it is not a wetland” and the Corps said “it may not be but we have jurisdiction over it because two or three times a year on spring tides the water comes onto it”. DNR said “there is not enough vegetation to label is a wetland”. The Corps of Engineers said “it is not a wetland but it is jurisdictional”. Mr. Goode said they are calling it a mud flat now for lack of a better term but the point is “it is not a wetland.” He said when you run the 25-foot buffer lines out they are so jagged you would not be able to build inside of it them. Mr. Goode said he has two thirty foot areas on the property where he would not come into the buffer. He said it is just the jagged areas that force him to need a variance. He said if he is denied a variance the value of this property goes to next to nothing and it seems that if the city doesn’ t have a legal obligation they should certainly have a moral obligation because in 2005 when the new ordinance was put on the books he was already invested based on all the rules that existed up until that time. He has put a lot of time and money into this. He said the city could have put a grandfather clause into the new ordinance since it had a major effect on property located next to the marsh. They could have said it takes effect when someone buys property after this is on the books. He said the only thing he should need is the DNR approval to go over the ditch on Seventh Street and he can’ t apply for that permit until the city says he is complying with all the zoning. Mr. Goode said his house will occupy eight percent (8%) of his land because he has combined the lots into a single parcel. That Council Minutes Page 5 of 8 means ninety two percent (92%) will be left in green space. He said he believes it is a hardship because the rules changed after he had invested in this property by relying on the rules that existed. Ms. Doyle asked if there are fresh water wetlands around this property. Mr. Goode said no. Ms. Williams asked if the Tybee setback lines for the buffer were drawn in. Mr. Goode said he actually tried to draw them in but he couldn’ t because if you swing the arcs from the points where the wetlands converge it comes out as a meaningless drawing. Mr. Wolff said he visited the site and it seemed like a series of little hammocks with ditches in between them and he said the reason Mr. Goode couldn’ t draw in the delineation line is because the whole thing would be in the buffer. He said he had looked at it from every direction and he couldn’ t see how this property could be build able or how anyone could build without impacting the marsh. Mr. Goode said he would be willing to shift the house forward it that would help. Ms. Doyle asked if that suggestion wasn’ t made at the Planning Commission meeting. Mr. Goode said yes it was and he would be willing to make the commitment to move it forward. Ms. Doyle asked how much room he was talking about. Mr. Goode said it was about five feet and he would make the house smaller or move it forward or both and the driveway would be pervious. Mr. Buckley said he owns the property to the West of Mr. Goode’ s property and he doesn’ t have a problem with what he wants to do and he feels that the City of Tybee should work with Mr. Goode to let him build there. Mr. Markin lives directly across the street from Mr. Goode’ s property and he feels that if Mr. Goode is willing to leave 92% green space then the city should be willing to work with him. Ms. Doyle motioned to approve, Mr. Crone seconded. Ms. Sessions said she would love to find a solution here but in the past two months they have had one or two similar situations come before them that they have turned down and for consistency she couldn’ t justify it. Mr. Pearce said he agreed with Shirley about consistency and in looking at the plans he observed that, if they pulled the house in where it is right adjacent to the marsh, they would not have a practical house. The vote was 2, Doyle and Crone in favor and 4, Wolff, Williams, Sessions and Pearce opposed. Motion Denied Ms. Tsoulos said the Site Plan Approval for 11A Second Ave has been withdrawn by the petitioner, Vince Merkle. Ms.Tsoulos presented the Site Plan approval for a 3-unit condo at 8 Seventeenth Street, petitioner is Tommy Reese. She said the Planning Commission approved this petition unanimously. Mr. Sam Liberti representing Mr. Reese said they are asking to build a 3 unit building without variances it would be within the setbacks. They would have parking underneath and approved drainage with the runoff going into a leech pipe and then dispersing. He said they will landscape it to look nice. Mr. Wolff said the lot is only 48.3 feet wide and we require a sixty-foot width for a building lot. Mr. Hughes said it probably is a sub standard lot of record and grandfathered in. He said he doesn’ t think the lot width requirement impacts what he is trying to do if he meets the setbacks. Mr. Wolff motioned to approve, Ms. Doyle seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mr. Anderson told Council that the Coleman’ s asked for their Zoning Variance at 8 Second Ave. to be tabled. Mr. Anderson said the 200-foot rule applies and they are trying to redesign the house. Mayor Buelterman asked if there was anyone wishing to speak about this petition. Mr. Hughes said there should be a motion made to table the petition and it will have to be re-advertised. Mr. Wolff motioned to table the petition, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Tsoulos presented the Site Plan Approval to construct an office building at 1010 Hwy 80, petitioners Carrie Effird and Amy Gaster. Ms. Tsoulos said the Planning Commission voted 5 in favor and 1 opposed and there were conditions for the approval. One being the rear deck would not be placed in the 25 foot buffer and the other being native trees would be planted. She said they have a very nice landscape plan. Ms. Sessions asked if this was a variance. Ms. Tsoulos said when it came before the Planning Commission the variance was not listed but we approved the plan without the variance to put the deck in the buffer. Ms. Sessions asked if the variance was advertised on the property. Mr. Anderson said Council Minutes Page 6 of 8 no it was just advertised for site plan approval. Mr. Hughes said they could not vote on a variance that was not advertised. Ms. Doyle asked what that would mean, as far as no deck in the 25 ft buffer. Mr. Hughes said there are other issues concerning this property and the big one is the water sewer issue. He said “Council could approve the Site Plan contingent on the Water and Sewer getting there and the variance part could be dealt with later. “They wouldn’ t need the deck to build the building so they could apply for that later.” Ms. Effird asked if council wanted her response to them voting on the Site Plan. Mr. Hughes said without the variance there would be no failure to advertise and the Site Plan could be voted on. Mr. Wolff said that would not prevent them from going forward with the plan, it would just exclude the deck. Ms. Effird said that they would like to go forward with the site plan and later if they decide they need to build the deck in the buffer they will come back for the variance. Mr. Wolff moved to approve the Site Plan without the deck, Ms. Sessions seconded and added contingent on the Water and Sewer Issue being resolved. Mayor Buelterman asked if that was necessary. Mr. Hughes said he would not want building permits issued until the water and sewer is on the way there. “There have been discussions about a joint effort to get it there and I believe that is the safest way to handle it”. Mr. Wolff amended his motion to be contingent on an agreement being reached on running water and sewer to the property. Ms. Sessions seconded the amended motion and the vote was unanimous. Ms. Tsoulos said concerning the Text Amendment to Title 8 and section 3- 090 of the Land Development Code, limiting the build able area. She said the PC had a lively discussion about this and they ended up denying it unanimously. Ms. Doyle said she was concerned with this from the beginning and she thinks there should have been a lengthy explanation that went along with this to the planning commission. She said she would like to see this Council work on improving their communication with the planning commission. Ms. Sessions said several council members have communicated to Dee Anderson and Lawanna Tsoulos that they need to take more ownership, be more proactive, and communicate with the Planning Commission and Staff to make sure they understand what the council is wanting. She said anything that is not clear at the agenda meeting for planning commission needs to be addressed with staff to get the answers from council. She would like the Council to have a retreat with the planning commission. Ms. Tsoulos said she thought it might be a good idea to take minutes at the PC agenda meeting. Ms. Williams said a couple of months ago she had called Mr. Anderson to ask some questions about a project and it had been discussed at the agenda meeting but there was no record of it because there was no video or recorder on and no minutes were taken. She said “if there is anything pertinent to our decision-making that comes up along the way we certainly need to be aware of it.” She said she believes some type of checklist would be helpful, such as there is no variance requested, there is enough green space, the driveway is pervious and so on. “That would give us a very easy mechanism to go down to make sure everything has been addressed.” Ms. Doyle said at the Classes she attended in Athens for newly elected city officials they said you should have meetings between planning commission and council members so “I think a checklist would be good.” Mayor Buelterman said “let’ s put this on the Agenda as communication between planning commission and council, for next Council meeting and have written policy and procedures that we can vote on and approve.” He said staff would be responsible for coming up with something for them with Kathryn Williams’ assistance. Ms. Williams said she talked with Lawanna Tsoulos about setting up meetings between council members and the planning commission as maybe an annual thing or just when there are new council and new PC members, having a get together to go over procedures and issues. “That way we could iron out any problems to make the process easier for everyone.” Mr. Pearce said he has served on council many years and this has happened periodically, so he believes there is precedence for having joint meetings of the Planning Commission and Council. Ms. Sessions said she thinks Ms. Tsoulos would want to poll the commission members to see if they are on board with this and in addition to hearing what our expectation are from the commission we need to hear what their expectations are from us and not forget the role the Zoning department plays in all of this. Ms. Tsoulos said she will ask the PC members what they think and she will try to put a workshop together. Ms. Tsoulos asked Mr. Hughes if they should be taking minutes at the agenda meeting. Mr. Council Minutes Page 7 of 8 Hughes said yes. Mayor Buelterman asked for a motion concerning section 3-090. Mr. Wolff motioned to table it, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. Mayor Buelterman opened the meeting for business legally presented. Mr. Pearce motioned to approve the minutes from February 23, 2006, Mr. Crone seconded. Ms. Williams noted some clarifications concerning the trashcans being built for JC Park to also include Memorial Park. She asked that DPW and the Beautification Association be added to the Thank You concerning the Tree Planting at the Gym. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Wolff said there is some grant money available through the DCA and keep Georgia Beautiful for items like the trash cans and he believes we could probably tap into that for a couple thousand dollars. Mayor Buelterman said the hiring process for the City Manager had gone very smoothly and they had many applicants. Mr. Crone motioned to approve hiring Diane Schleicher as the new City Manager. Buelterman said she was originally from Memphis moved to Georgia until she graduated from UGA and then she headed to Wisconsin. Mr. Pearce seconded. Ms. Sessions added that Ms. Schleicher also had gotten her Masters Degree in Wisconsin and has been in her current position for eleven years, “which is very impressive”. The vote was unanimous. Mayor Buelterman thanked Dee Anderson for the wonderful job he has done as the Interim City Manager. After discussion concerning the Butler Avenue change orders, Mr. Anderson said earlier at the water sewer meeting Jan Fox had said that Council could go ahead and give the approval contingent on a budget adjustment and she would have it ready by the next meeting. Ms. Doyle motioned to approve paying Garney $133,000 contingent on a budget adjustment. Buelterman asked if this was the consensus of the water sewer committee meeting. Ms. Doyle said yes. Mr. Crone seconded. Ms Sessions said she was glad to see all the participants willing to negotiate something everyone can live with. She said Hussey, Gay, Bell & De Young had done an excellent job with the bid process. And Garney has done an excellent job on the project. She said “It is good to see it end on a good note.” Ms. Doyle said she was glad that everyone at that meeting including Paul and her were able to come to a consensus. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes said we need to sign a $280 License Agreement for the SAGIS program. It allows us access and we agree not to violate the copyright laws. Ms. Williams motioned to approve, Pearce seconded. Mr. Crone asked how often we have to pay this. Mr. Wolff said it is a one-time deal that the DCA team needed to get this information ready for their process down here. “It is a one-time fee to pay for mapping”. He said he had watched as someone updated the map of city owned property and recalled that the city paid someone $500 to do the same thing a couple of years ago. “This was just one small thing that this $280 allowed us to do and I think it was money well spent”. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Hughes said the Marine Construction Ordinance concerning dock construction work needed updating according to the DNR with input from the County Attorney. Hughes said It is presented for first reading and it essentially requires dock builders to register with the city and requires that they be properly insured and bonded with respect to any damages that they may cause. They must report any events within two hours of occurrence. He said this had been going on for some time and is the result of the accident with the crane on the Back River. Ms. Williams said she hasn’ t been able to find out about the barge but there was oil leaking out of the crane last week and it’ s been a year since it sunk. Ms. Williams motioned to approve the Maritime Construction Ordinance for First Reading, Mr. Wolff seconded, Mr. Crone asked if they had to apply for a business license too. Mr. Hughes said yes but they would have to apply for a business license anyway. The vote was unanimous. Council Minutes Page 8 of 8 Mr. Hughes said the Land that is being considered under the Land Swap has been surveyed and the Surveyor left the markers up in case anyone wanted to go over and take a look. Mr. Wolff asked if they were located inside the wooden fence. Mr. Hughes said they are not located inside the wooden fence but they are located inside the cyclone fence. Mr. Hughes said they had to have the survey done in order to run the ad. They are waiting for the owner’ s attorney to give them a legal description. “It’ s a six-week process”. Mr. Anderson asked about the letter to the DOT stating that the three responses he received were all different and he would like to get a consensus from Council as to what to say in the letter. Ms. Williams said they know that four lanes is an option but she was wondering if the Council would be willing to ask what other alternatives are available. Mr. Crone said he thinks the bridges need to be more than two lanes because that is where the congestion is happening and we won’ t be able to resolve it if we don’ t do it now. Ms. Williams said that may be one of the alternatives that the DOT responds with but, “we won’ t know unless we ask them for viable solutions”. Mayor Buelterman asked if the letter could ask: 1.) what the status is on putting in four lanes on hwy 80? and 2.) What alternatives would you consider for the bridges and the road? Ms. Williams said she thinks they are aware of this being a volatile issue down here and we would be remiss if we didn’ t ask them what our options are. Buelterman said this letter will be a starting point and “we owe it to the people of this island to try and come up with a proposal concerning what we want”, instead of dilly-dallying around waiting for them to decide for us. Mr. Crone said he hopes a letter will not make them hostile. Ms. Sessions said if we can just agree on this approach and copy CUTS on it to keep them involved in what we are doing. Ms. Doyle said in the letter we are just asking for alternatives to open up communications but not suggesting alternatives at this point. “I think we shouldn’ t start off pushy by presenting them with an alternative plan at this time”. Mr. Pearce said he has talked to some of the Special Events Committee Members and they did not mind being dismantled but they were disgruntled because they had not received a letter informing them of Councils decision. Mr. Anderson said the letters have been sent. Mr. Crone motioned to adjourn and go into executive session to discuss Personnel, Litigation and Real Estate, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous. . __________________________________ Mayor Jason Buelterman ____________________________________ Attested by Respectfully submitted by Vivian Woods