HomeMy Public PortalAbout20070927CCMinutes20070927 City Council Minutes
Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda Meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Present in addition to the Mayor were Council members; Sessions, Crone,
Pearce, Williams, Doyle and Wolff. Also attending were City Manager Schleicher
and City Attorney Hughes.
Mayor Buelterman listed the Consent Agenda Items as:
Savannah Striders Marathon, Half Marathon and 5 K on February 1,
2008.
Approval of Dot list for Speed limits-reducing the speed limit on Butler
Avenue to 30mph between 3rd and 14th Streets.
Change Order for BRW Group, LLC-#1 Sewer Repair 2005-2007 Butler
Ave. $16,290.
City Council Minutes for August 23, 2007
One Day Alcohol Permit for Tybee Arts Association-November 4th at the
Gym
Pony Rides for Children during Tybee’s Birthday Celebration-October
20th.
Mr. Hughes said regarding the DOT list; what they sent to us does not reflect the
speed limit change on Campbell Avenue. He said this has to do with the ability to
monitor speeds using radar. He said the list they sent us can’t be changed
without starting the process over again; and it will take another six months. He
suggested we sign what they sent and initiate a new application to have it
corrected with regards to Campbell Avenue.
Mayor Buelterman announced the quit claim petition for Samuel Adams has been
tabled until the next meeting.
Ms. Williams asked Mayor Buelterman about his progress on getting CoastFest to
consider relocating the event to Tybee every other year. Mayor Buelterman said
he had people express concern over our ability to handle such an event. He said
when he contacted the Department of Natural Resources; they said they would
like Tybee to get involved by having the Marine Science Center and others go
down there and be represented at this event. He said he wants to get input from
Staff to make sure we can handle such an event. Ms. Williams said if we can
handle the Beach Bum Parade and Pirates Fest, we can handle a coast week
event.
Ms. Doyle asked if the Coast Fest is held on the same week every year. She said
the first weekend in October is Pirates Fest on Tybee.
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Ms. Williams said it is held in October but she is not sure it is on the same
weekend every year.
Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Schleicher to get input from all parties and bring it
back to council.
Mayor Buelterman asked that everyone please speak into their microphones
tonight.
Mr. Wolff moved to go into Executive Session to discuss Litigation and potential
Real Estate Acquisition, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Doyle moved to end Executive Session, Mr. Wolff seconded and the vote was
unanimous.
Mayor Buelterman called the Regular Meeting of City Council to order at 7:00
p.m. City Officials present at the Consent Agenda were still in attendance.
Reverend Eddie Atkins representing the All Saints Episcopal Church gave the
Invocation and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Mr. Sam Adams gave an Audit Committee update. He said three years ago the
city contracted with Mauldin and Jenkins to conduct our audit. He said overall the
committee has been satisfied with their audit performance. He said the
committee has been anticipating an increase in the annual audit cost based on
the new requirements of the statements of accounting standards 104 through
111. He said they have tentatively agreed to have Mauldin and Jenkins conduct
the audits for 2007 and 2008 with a cost increase of only $1,000 and at the most
our cost will increase by less than 5%. He said Mr. Redmond along with the
committee is recommending approval of Mauldin and Jenkins. He said after the
next two years audits are completed the city will send out RFP’s as
recommended every 5 years.
Mr. Wolff thanked the Audit Committee members for taking on the task along
with former CFO Jan Fox, to clean up the city’s audits and bring them to where
they are today. He said our audits have gone from being horrendous to squeaky
clean and it’s largely due to this committee’s hard work.
Mr. Gene Kindrick, Commander of Legion Post #154 on Tybee said he is also the
1st District Commander for the State of Georgia. He said the 1st district requested
that he come before council and request to erect a memorial at the end of
highway 80 in front of Seven Flags. He said DOT has agreed to remove the small
green sign that says the end of Hwy 80. He said at the end of every war it is the
responsibility of the veterans of the previous war to honor the veterans that are
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coming home. He said after the Korean War it was not immediately declared a
war and was considered a conflict. He said the declaration stating that was a war
did not come about until the late 80’s so nothing was done by the WWII
Veterans. He said when the WWII Veterans Memorial was erected in
Washington, DC the WWII Veterans felt that they should do something for the
Korean War Veterans. He said they went to congress and received permission to
dedicate US Hwy 80 from coast to coast to the Korean War Veterans and name it
the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway. He said there are certain states
where parts of this highway are dedicated to other people and this will not
supercede those dedications. He said there will be a memorial at the crossing of
each state line and a big memorial in San Diego at the other end of 80. He said
their request is for a 5 foot by 5 foot monument at the end of US 80. He said it
would read “End of US 80 Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, Dedicated
this date 2008, by the Citizens of Georgia, Tybee Island, and a Grateful Nation”.
He said underneath it will have a base plate that says The American legion
Department of Georgia.
Ms. Williams asked about the possibility of listing local Korean War Veterans on
the back of the monument. Mr. Kindrick said the local Legion will do a dedication
on the back of the memorial and list the names of all Tybee residents who
served in the Korean War. He said they would also indicate with a star, those
who fell during the conflict.
Mr. Kindrick said when this memorial came up the WWII Veterans were trying to
figure out where they could get the money for it. He said they went to South
Korea and asked for help building the memorials. He said there will be three in
Georgia alone. He said South Korea wrote them a check for $500,000 and said if
you need more come back and see us.
Ms. Mary Ann Street announced the YMCA Haunted House that will be on
October 26th. She said between 5:00 and 7:00pm there will be their normal
Pumpkin Patch with hay rides and hot dogs for free. She said the City Hall
Auditorium will be a gentle Halloween for little little kids from 7:30 to 8:30 and
will consist of “Happy Ghosts”. She said the cost will be $2.50 and they will have
cider and popcorn at the old school afterwards. She said the old school haunted
house will be for adolescents and adults and will cost $5.00 but you can go
through it more than once. She said they will also have a little shop in the
cafeteria where you can buy gummy eyeballs and French fried fingers and will
include a movie being shown continuously to entertain the younger children
while their siblings are going through the scary house.
Ms. Susan Off responded to council concerning the comments about member
participation at the Ethics Committee meetings that were made at the September
13th Council meeting. She said as the audit committee representative to the
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ethics committee she attended all but one of the meetings and actively
participated in forming the ethics ordinance that council unanimously approved
on May 24th. She said the minutes will verify that committee meetings were held
with active participation, spirited discussion and voting on each section to be
included in their final draft. She said she has no knowledge of controversy or ill
will or disregard for individual work. She said from the onset they implored City
Attorney Hughes to take their final product and review, edit and structure with
legal jargon as to comply with City, State and Federal law. She said she never
thought that what she and the committee wrote would be inserted into the code
verbatim. She said as they submitted the final draft ordinance to Bubba they
acquiesced to his professional experience and opinion. She said on the night the
ethics ordinance was unanimously passed she sat in the audience with fellow
committee members; Carolyn Smith, Fretwell Crider, Randi Bryan, Ann Miller and
Roma Harper as they collectively showed their support for that ordinance. She
said she knows of no other committee actions since that date. She said not much
has changed from the ordinance that was presented during that meeting and the
ordinance before council tonight. She said her understanding is the revised
ordinance corrects grammar, spelling and omission errors. She said she is baffled
that members of council would vote against such minor housekeeping changes
to the original document that was unanimously approved. She said she had the
pleasure to work with professional, hard working and respectful individuals and
to diminish the committee’s work in public and tarnish its reputation with
unsubstantiated, one-sided, after the fact innuendo, minimizes the
accomplishment of the committee. She said in the future should council take
exception to individual appointees or committees as a whole; she recommends a
process be established such as speaking to the council liaison, speaking to the
committee as a whole and reviewing minutes before going public. She said let us
focus on the positive, a group of council appointed individuals; many of whom
were strangers to one another came together with divergent backgrounds and
collectively accomplished with countless hours of volunteer work a monumental
task; the formulation of the Tybee Island Ethics Ordinance. She presented a copy
of her response to the City Clerk for the record.
Mayor Buelterman thanked Ms. Off and the Committee for all of their hard work.
Captain Jack Calico and Friends invited everyone to the Tybee Island Pirates
Festival on October 5th and 6th. Mr. DeVivo thanked Council for their support of
the Pirates Festival.
Mr. Edwin Longwater told council he has 3 Chocolate labs and is a lifelong
resident of Tybee. He said he understands that the city council recently amended
the animal control ordinance to separate dogs on the beach from dogs at large
and reducing the fines from $200 to $20 for the 1st or 2nd offense within the last
5 years. He said the Honorable Judges decisions do not always reflect the spirit
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of the law. He said the law reads a minimum fine of $20 to a maximum fine of
$1,000. He said he thinks there is too much latitude there. He said his two 5
month old puppies were apprehended in his front yard on September of 04 and
he paid the fine of $134. He said this year in July he went to a party in town and
his three dogs escaped to roam in his front yard again. He said Officer Hagan
came and tried to let his dogs back into his home but could not and ended up
taking them to the police station. He said when he arrived home he immediately
called the Police and were told that they had the dogs. He said when he went to
pick them up he thanked Officer Hagan for picking up his dogs. He said he
missed the court date of August 28th due to missing his plane and received a
letter from the city two days later. He said the letter said he had been fined
$100 per dog and $150 for contempt. He said he felt the fines were excessive.
He said he went to the Police Station and they rescheduled his court date. He
said the judge dropped the contempt of court charge but charged him $2.00 per
dog plus court cost which came to $820 instead of $450 original fines. He said
the judge said he was lucky and he felt he was because he could have been
fined $1,000 per dog plus court cost, which would have amounted to over
$4,000 for his dogs sitting on his front steps. He said the fine does not fit the
crime. He said he wanted to talk about dogs at large that do not involve attacks
on humans. He requested council change the penalty to a schedule of fines with
the 1st conviction being $20 and the 2nd $50 with the third having a cap of $100.
He also requested that an off leash dog park be established on the beach at the
end of Chatham Avenue south of 18th Street. He recommended everyone drive
over to Charleston and visit the dog park at James Island. He requested leashed
dogs be allowed on the beach during the season from 6:00am to 8:00am and in
the evenings from 7:00pm to 9:00pm with the off season being 24 hours
excluding the area on North Beach where the birds are nesting. Ms. Doyle asked
for clarification of where the dogs were when they were picked up. Mr.
Longwater said the police report stated they were in front of his house. Mr.
Longwater responded to the copied police reports that were given to council in
their packets. He said on December 18, 2006 he was not charged with anything
and he fixed his gate. He said on January 15, 2007 he was not charged with
anything because he ended up building a steel fence so that his dogs and his
neighbors dogs cannot see each other. He said on April 4, 2007 the charges
against his dogs were dismissed because it wasn’t his dogs. He said they have
been convicted twice and he has pleaded guilty both times.
Ms. Schleicher said there has been multiple times that Mr. Longwater simply
received warnings so his encounters with the Police Department have not been
completely negative.
Mayor Buelterman extended sympathy to the Sheehan family.
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Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearings. He said the first zoning variance
for 1811 and 1813 Butler has been withdrawn.
Mr. Hughes said the petitioner modified his plan and brought it to conform to the
ordinance.
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for the shore protection
variance request for 21 Pulaski Street by Lou kietzman.
Ms. Allen reminded both petitioners that City Council approval is not a permit.
She said they will still have to come through the permitting process if the
petitions are approved by council.
Ms. Allen introduced the first petition and said the petitioner is Lou Kietzman and
the property is 21 Pulaski Street. She said he is requesting a variance from the
Shore Protection Line. She said Planning Commission recommended denial of this
petition.
Mr. Harold Yellin representing Mr. Kietzman introduced Mike Demil and Craig
Jacobs, Scientist with Environmental Services, Jeff Cramer, Architect with
Diversified Design, Whitley Reynolds, Surveyor with
Whitley Reynolds Surveying and Dr. Stuart Stevens, Environmental Consultant
with many years experience with DNR and particularly at Tybee. He said they
were all available to answer any questions anyone may have. Mr. Yellin
referenced the exhibits being shown are numbered to correspond to a notebook
given to Mr. Hughes.
Mr. Yellin said the only matter before Council tonight is a variance to Tybee’s
Shore Protection Ordinance. He said they do not believe they need a variance.
He said the original ordinance was enacted in 2001 and read that the shoreline
went from structure to structure. He said subsequently someone used a gazebo
as that structure and Tybee amended the ordinance in 2005 to read dwelling. He
said the definition of dwelling from the ordinance is any building or part thereof,
primarily used and occupied for human habitation or intended to be so used. He
said the battery has been owned by private hands since 1946. He showed the
1946 deed from the US Government to Tybee dated January of 1946. He said
Tybee decided in turn that it did not want the property. He said it deeded the
property in February 1946 to the Ft. Screven Development Company. He said the
deeds appear as A-3 and A-4 in the notebook. He said in 1971 the property was
purchased by Mr. Tuten who built a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house there and Mr.
Tuten and his wife raised 4 children at this site. He said during the seven years
Mr. Tuten lived there, he improved the fort by adding a number 4 bar on 12 inch
centers. He said Mr. Tuten poured concrete 5 inches thick to stabilize his house.
He showed several pictures of the house on the battery and said this house was
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destroyed by fire in 1978 and was never rebuilt. He said it is still located in the
R-1 district and there has never been a petition to rezone this property. He said
Water, Sewer and Electricity are all currently available to the site and stubbed in.
He said this building or structure was used and occupied for human habitation
and is intended to be so used by the petitioner. He said exhibit A-6 in his
notebook shows that the Tybee shore protection line should include this battery
by going dwelling to dwelling or this ordinance is ambiguous. He said there is no
doubt Tybee will amend this ordinance when this petition is done. He quoted
Georgia Law in the JWIC verses City of Sylvester and said zoning ordinances
need to be strictly construed. He said they are construed always in favor of the
property owner and not construed in favor of the municipality. Any ambiguity in
the ordinance is resolved in favor of free use of the property. He said not only is
this ordinance ambiguous because of the definition of dwelling but is also
ambiguous because there is no guidance on how to determine your line. He said
the ordinance is one paragraph and says that the Tybee line will be based upon
dwellings. He said does this line go lot to lot or have a minimum or maximum
distance and said he has no idea. He said they are seeking a variance without
any prejudice that we may have to our position that in fact no variance is
required at all. He said if this ordinance does apply and this property is not
counted as a dwelling should a variance be granted. He said the answer is
absolutely and positively yes. He said it is his understanding that Tybee is the
only municipality that has their own shore line protection in Georgia. He said
there are unusual consequences for your ordinance and we know that by looking
at the petitions that have been before you in the past such as Bobby Chu last
year and this petition where the end result is a line that takes on the shape of a
deep V which is a most unusual shore protection line. He said Tybee’s ordinance
says a variance may be granted pursuant to section 5-090 and in fact variances
have been granted. He said he is aware of nine that have been granted since the
ordinance was enacted. He said 5-090 does permit a variance where there are
unique physical circumstances or conditions beyond those of surrounding
properties and because of such unique physical circumstances the property
cannot be developed in strict conformity to the code without undue hardship to
the property. He said there is no question that Battery Backus is unique. He said
it is not like surrounding properties and without the variance there will be undo
hardship and the property will not be able to be used for anything. He said a
variance is appropriate because a residence at this property does not negatively
impact your dunes. He said there is nothing about this line that protects the
shore. He said Pulaski Street runs through the middle of your shore protection
line and if you are serious about dune protection and you believe the shore
protection line protects your dunes, you need to close the street allowing no
more cars or delivery trucks. He said their proposal will improve dune protection
and shore protection at Tybee.
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Mr. Yellin said there were a number of comments made during the previous
meetings that led them to change their illustrations. He said they increased the
distance between the houses. He said they used to be 20 feet apart and now
they are 33 feet apart. He said they did that because there is a gun turret and by
increasing the distance they could allow that portion of the battery to be obvious
and conspicuous and a part of our rehabilitation. He said one speaker candidly
stated he would rather see the battery destroyed than have them put a house on
top of it. He said they respectfully disagree and believe the adaptive use is equal
to or better than the current uses of batteries. He showed maps of Battery
Garland, Battery Brumby, Battery Backus and Battery Gant. He said Battery
Garland is currently a Museum; between Battery Garland and Battery Brumby is
a restaurant. He said it is his understanding that this restaurant sits very neatly
and is a part of the battery system and pays rent to the City of Tybee. Mayor
Buelterman asked if the restaurant was a part of the parking lot. Mr. Yellin
responded that the walls of the batteries form a portion of the restaurant. Mayor
Buelterman clarified that the restaurant sits outside of the battery walls and is a
part of the parking lot. Mr. Wolff said the battery does not touch the restaurant.
Mr. Yellin showed pictures of the social Club on top of Battery Brumby and
pointed out air conditioning units and 5 trashcans and said this clearly indicates a
commercial use. Ms. Williams pointed out that the club is a non profit and not a
commercial club. Mr. Yellin said he agrees it is a non profit club but the use is
commercial and not residential. He showed a picture of the retaining wall that
extends from Battery Brumby to a residence that is built at the end and said it
was a part of the same battery system. He showed a picture of the house on
Battery Fenwick as well as the house on Battery Gant. He showed a picture
showing the 5 houses built between Battery Backus and Battery Gant that were
originally the latrines for Ft. Screven. He said the common factor in all of these is
that they are a part of the battery system; they are all adaptive uses of existing
batteries; they are all considered habitable structures according to the Tybee
ordinance. He said of the nine petitions that have been granted variances all of
them requested being closer to the dunes. He said in the case before council
their only request is for a vertical expansion and they will not be any closer to
the dunes than they are today. He said the petition is about shore protection and
not about whether a house should be built over a battery. He said if they don’t
want a house over the battery there is a remedy and they should do exactly
what they are capable of doing which is condemn it or buy it.
Mayor Buelterman asked if the petitioner needed to bring heavy equipment in
over the dunes to accomplish the request. Mr. Yellin said they will not need to do
anything to disrupt the dunes. He said there will be demolition involved but it will
not harm, interfere or impair the dune system on Tybee.
Mayor Buelterman asked about impact to nearby structures. Mr. Yellin said he
had spoken with Mr. Arnold that was involved with the News Press building on
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Bay Street and the Ellis Square Parking Lot. He said Mr. Arnold will be involved in
their demolition. He said Mr. Arnold said this is a simple project and they have
seismic meters to make sure they do not exceed seismic meters. He said there
will not be disruption to the neighborhood. He said the city is welcome to
participate in the process.
Ms. Williams asked Mr. Yellin to clarify the dates of the shore protection
variances that were granted by council. Mr. Hughes said four of the nine were
dune crossover structures. Mr. Yellin gave the variance dates as; December 13,
2001-Dune Crossover, September 12, 2002-Construction of new home beyond
jurisdiction line, January 9, 2003-Addition of deck to second floor of dwelling,
January 8, 2004-Dune Crossover, September 9, 2004-Prepare site plan for new
construction, March 10, 2005-Dune Crossover, April 14, 2005-32 foot
encroachment for support pier for porch, December 8, 2005-Dune Crossover,
February 8, 2007-New Construction. Ms. Williams said there has actually been
only one since this council has been in office.
Ms. Williams asked if the work on Ellis Square was halted for a time due to
damage to surrounding buildings. Mr. Yellin said yes that was true but it dealt
more with the actual digging of the hole than the demolition.
Mr. Mike Demil, President of Environmental Services, which is a private
consulting firm, said he has worked with these issues since 1992. He said the
pictures he shows tonight will be to clarify the issue of dune protection. He said
there will be no effect to the dune or sand sharing system.
Ms. Sessions asked Mr. Demil to provide the correlation of the deepening of the
Savannah River and the fact that it is a vertical project and has a great impact on
sand in the channel and his claim that this vertical project will not have an
impact on the sand. Mr. Demil said he will show photos that show how the dune
system has grown over the years. He said if council’s objective is to protect the
dune system he will demonstrate that what they are proposing will not effect
what is there today. He said in fact this system is growing. He said this council
may need to look into the deepening of the channel further but he is not the
person to explain that to them.
Mr. Demil showed a 1938 aerial photograph and it attempts to show the location
of the dune line but in this case there was a hard structure. He said the distance
between the battery and the hardened structure is approximately 53 feet. He
showed a 1960 aerial photograph and said it shows the distance as up to 73
feet. He showed an aerial photo from 1997 that shows approximately 159 feet of
dune vegetation away from the front of the battery. He showed a 2004 photo
and said it showed approximately 234 feet. He presented a new slide that shows
approximately 278 feet of dune vegetation. He said in 7 years it shows 5 times
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the linear distance from the front of the battery to the high water mark. He
described a concrete slab in front of the battery wall that will keep the integrity
of the dune in place. He said the elevations on the West end of the structure are
at 15, 16 or 17 ft. depending on where you are. He said at the west end of this
property there will be a retaining wall constructed because the existing wall is
falling away and the new wall will be built before the vertical construction is done
and will protect the integrity of the dune. He said if you look at any type of
coastal geology you will see that the dune system actually goes throughout
Chatham County and into the other counties westward of where we are. He said
from a practical matter this is part of the dune but from historic matter this is
sand that may have come from the ocean that is part of a dune. He said in his
opinion it is not part of the dune sharing system. He said it is not the type of
system that has any sand sharing capability with this property. He said if the
objective is to truly protect the sand sharing system then the parking lot may be
against what the ordinance is trying to say. He said if anyone has evidence that
this proposed project will negatively impact the sand sharing system then we
could help with that dialog. He said they have not been able to figure out what
the negative effects of this project could be.
Ms. Sessions said in the report given to council it mentions several times that
they don’t warrant or guarantee that the site is free from environmental defects.
She said several times Mr. Demil mentioned that the project was completely safe
and there would be no problems with disrupting the sand. She asked Mr. Demil if
he guaranteed there would be no problems. Mr. Demil said he would not be in
business today if he could guarantee that.
Mayor Buelterman asked what safeguards are in place if a problem occurs with
the neighbor’s property. Mr. Demil said he is an environmental consultant and
not a construction guy. Mr. Yellin said at a previous meeting Mr. Michael Sikes
with Saussey Engineering left this letter saying this site requires demolition prior
to new construction, monitored continuously with seismographic type
instruments to monitor demolition vibration. Mr. Yellin said if we do cause
problems he is sure the neighbors will contact the city of Tybee and we will stop
what we are doing. He said they are not coming to this site to do any harm to
anyone to the left or right or to the dunes. He said the contractors will be
bonded and insured and if there is a specific requirement the city would like to
impose please tell us and we will communicate it to our contractor.
Dr. Stewart Stevens said he has spent many hours in this room working with City
Council. He said he retired from state government with 27 years with the DNR,
managing the states sand sharing system. He said he does consulting now but
rarely does he get involved with government issues. He said this project caught
his attention because he didn’t understand why it was an issue to start with. Dr.
Stevens said he wrote the comprehensive revision in 1992, to the shore
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protection act and therefore understands the intent of it. He said he encouraged
Tybee to initially set up the Beach Task Force years ago and it is the only one of
its kind in Georgia. He said in the state law there are very specific guidelines to
follow if you want to build a house or do an engineering activity like groins or
beach renourishment. He said the dwelling has to occupy the landward portion of
the parcel and a third of the parcel has to be left in a natural vegetative
topographic state. He said the house has to be built to hurricane resistant
standards in construction. He said in permits it is a common requirement that if
you go beyond the dunes during construction you have to restore the dunes. He
said in talking to the contractors they will be able to build this project from the
landward side but even if they go into the dune the state permit will require that
they restore whatever damage they cause. He said when the state staff
evaluates the site they have an extensive list of things that are available to them.
He said there is historic information of rates of erosion and accretion along with
cutting edge technology that might predict how the project could impact any
aspect of the sand sharing system. He said it is state law that the local
jurisdiction has to give approval before an application to the state can be
submitted. He said this all comes down to the movement of a particle of sand.
He said in this instance the sand is not moving because there is a structure that
is already there.
Dr. Stevens responded to Ms. Sessions’s earlier question about the vertical
development and its effect on sand. He said vertical can go up and down and
when you dig down as the harbor is done sand moves north and south and falls
into the channel. He said that is different from what we are talking about here
because this is going up.
Dr. Stevens said in looking at Tybee’s code it is clear that it is a no build code.
He said the state law is not a no-build line. He said it simply says if you cross
that line you have to meet certain standards and if you meet those standards
you get a permit.
Dr. Stevens said he believes this case fits Tybee’s variance requirements.
He said with his 35 years of experience he can’t imagine how this project could
impact the sand.
Ms. Doyle asked how the DNR established the line and why the Tybee
jurisdiction line on this particular one is the same line. Dr. Stevens said the DNR
can go from a structure on site that was there to a live native tree 20 feet tall to
establish their line. He said the law was passed July 1, 1979 and anything prior
to that was grandfathered. He said the DNR found out what structures were
there prior to the adoption date and also looked for trees. He said they moved
parallel along the beach looking for houses and trees to see where they might
draw the line. He said in this case there were no trees 20 feet tall so they had to
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use the structures. He said the Tybee ordinance says don’t use trees and they
give the definition of a dwelling which is a contradiction to the state law because
a structure is any kind of structure.
Mr. Pearce said City Council has acknowledged that they need to revise the
ordinance and it is currently being discussed. He said they tried in a local
ordinance which he introduced to follow the structures as the state law said but
they eliminated the trees at Dr. Stevens suggestion, because some of the trees
are right on the beach. He said the ordinance is stuck in the Planning
Commission but once this is resolved and they pass it this problem may
disappear. Dr. Stevens said he applauds Tybee for moving forward with a
revision and said they need to clarify some things to avoid issues like this in the
future. He said in this particular case this is not impacting the sand sharing
system.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said she recalls back in 2000 when Dr. Stevens was
working with the DNR and told Tybee they needed to take more ownership of
their codes because the DNR was not really interested in getting a lot of law suits
from neighbors who didn’t like what they were continually approving. She asked
Dr. Stevens if he would be completely comfortable with the demolition around
the sand dunes and saying go for it. Dr. Stevens said if someone comes in and
wants to add an additional floor on a condominium or hotel on the beach that
does not impact the sand sharing system development. He said the concrete and
how you tear down the walls can be an issue. He said you could add conditions
as simple as requiring the applicant to put up a construction fence that consist of
a chain link fence with a filter fabric barrier and no one goes beyond that fence;
to insure that the dune is protected. He said you can tighten up the conditions
on the permit to protect the dunes.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions asked if the state had put something in force to make
dock builders and marine builders have liability insurance. Dr. Stevens said no.
Mr. Yellin said they should focus on the request for a variance to the shore
protection act. He said they feel they do qualify for a variance.
Ms. Williams asked for date clarification of a conversation that took place
between Mr. kietzman and City Marshal, Chuck Bargeron and if it preceded the
purchase of the property and exactly what was discussed. Mr. Yellin said he and
Mr. Kietzman met with Mr. Hughes, Mr. Bargeron, Mr. Cramer and Mr. Solomon
at the site in June after the purchase of the property. He said during the
conversation there were two primary issues; one being where is the Tybee line.
He said there is a dwelling on the west and a dwelling on the east and if they
drew the line from dwelling to dwelling the battery would not be within the
jurisdiction line. He said it was possibly a mistake that they drew it the same
way. He said the other issue discussed was whether or not this was one lot or
Page 12 of 31
two and he subsequently drew up a letter asking Mr. Hughes opinion. Mr. Yellin
said at the Planning Commission meeting Mr. Hughes stated for the record this
was two lots and not one. Mr. Hughes said it is actually two lots along with a
small sliver. Mr. Yellin said the other issue discussed was the height and if they
would need a variance if they built on this property. He said because of the slope
they asked if it would be measured from Pulaski Street or the natural grade. He
said Mr. Hughes was of the opinion that the grade should begin at Pulaski. He
said they believe they can build a house using Pulaski Street as the grade within
the 35 foot height restriction. Mr. Hughes said those issues were discussed but
no decisions were made. He said they all knew the issue of whether or not a
variance would be required under the shore protection line. He said there was
also the height issue and questions regarding lateral support for two separate
owners with one foundation. He said he received the letter which he did not sign
and Mr. Yellin came up with the dwelling theory which he disagreed with also
and they have been going through the discussions ever since. Mr. Yellin said he
agrees with everything Mr. Hughes said and reasonable people often disagree
and he finds Mr. Hughes to be very reasonable. Mr. Yellin said they do disagree
about the definition of dwelling and as to if they need to be here at all.
Ms. Williams asked if Mr. kietzman had a conversation with Mr. Bargeron before
purchasing this property. Mr. Yellin said to his knowledge no. He said they felt
the issue would be whether or not this was one or two pieces of property. He
said the fact that they are going vertical instead of horizontal lead them to
believe that shore protection would not be the primary issue.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said even though Mr. Yellin has requested that council
only consider the shore protection aspect of this project; he has in the basic
project details addressed the history of the bunker in detail along with tentative
plans on the two houses. She said he addressed in great detail the
environmental assessment. She said it makes it extremely difficult for them to
simply look at the shore protection issue when the petitioner has brought all of
the other issues into the mix. Mr. Yellin said they did not mean to present other
issues but the report prepared by Michael Demil’s group is actually a part of the
permit application to the state and they thought council would like to see it.
Ms. Schleicher asked why the DNR line went across the street and back again
instead of structure to structure in this case. Dr. Stevens said that was a DNR
staff decision and he questioned that as well. He said in the years he spent at
DNR he would not have gone to the back side of Pulaski Street. He said he has
already asked to meet with DNR staff to ask why they drew the line this way
instead of from structure to structure on the east and west. He said he thinks it
was an error. Ms. Williams asked if Mr. Yellin has contacted the DNR staff to ask
why the line was drawn that way. Dr. Stevens said he did contact Ms. Thran with
the DNR and asked what their intentions were and what they thought of this
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project. He said she told him they will get a permit for this project from the state
so where the line falls really does not make any difference to the shore
protection act process with the state.
Mr. Hughes clarified that the meeting between Mr. Bargeron, Mr. Hughes and
Mr. Kietzman occurred in early June after Mr. Kietzman closed on his property on
April 30, 2007. He said Mr. kietzman had conversations with Mr. Bargeron about
the issues before then. He said the application that he is here for was filed at the
end of May before the meeting at the property in June. He said someone told Mr.
Kietzman along the way that there was a shore protection issue involved.
Mr. Hughes said they have had several plans presented that dealt with portions
of the bunker to be restored, damaged slab to be removed and a set dated
August 9th. He said there is a restoration, demolition plan from June 18th. He said
Mr. Demils report refers to a set from June 5th. He said the permit set is what
they are referring to and it is a reduced size copy that looks as if it is dated
January something of 2007. He said it is important that this council knows when
this vote is taken as to how much variance there is and which set of demolition
plans are involved. Mr. Yellin said he will get the date but he is sure it would be
the latest plans because they have been changing it based on comments. He
said originally they were 20 feet apart and they moved it to 30 feet to preserve
the gun turret in the middle. He said the demolition will include the primary
bunker and the platform on top along with the retaining wall on the Northwest
corner. He said a retaining wall is added to reinforce it as recommended by their
engineer. Mr. Yellin said he will make sure that they are all looking at the same
set of plans before he leaves tonight but none of the plans involve expanding the
footprint of what is presently there. Mr. Hughes asked if the outermost piece of
the structure will be removed and replaced. Mr. Yellin said yes.
Ms. Williams asked if they had received any report from an engineer regarding
the stability of the bunker. Mr. Yellin said there is a letter from Mr. Sikes that
said there are areas that need to be removed because they are in terrible shape.
He said the alternative is they leave it like it is and it continues to deteriorate and
who knows what will happen in the next 5 to 20 years. He said no matter what
this becomes, steps must be taken to stabilize it. He said whatever they do they
intend to use the best science to protect the neighborhood not create additional
problems. He asked that council tell them what they need to do and they will do
it.
Mr. Cullen Chambers asked if prior to the purchase of this property; did Mr.
Kietzman and or his attorney through their due diligence have any idea, concept
or knowledge of litigation and action on Tybee dealing with the issues of shore
protection lines that would have given Mr. Kietzman an indication that he might
need some specific determined lines of delineation regarding the purchase and
the ability to develop this property. Mr. Yellin said Mr. Kietzman said at the time
Page 14 of 31
he purchased the property he was not aware that there were all of these issues
that needed to be faced. He said at the initial meeting concerning the property,
Mr. Kietzman’s concern was whether he could place one house or two on this
property. Mr. Chambers asked if the litigation between Mr. Chu and the city over
the shore line was in process when Mr. Kietzman bought this property. Mr.
Hughes answered yes. Mr. Chambers asked if Mr. Kietzman contacted Mr. Chu’s
attorney to ask if his property would be as problematic as Mr. Chu’s was. Mr.
Chambers said Mr. Kietzman purchased the property without doing due diligence
to determine that there wouldn’t be any complications in developing this
property to what he perceived to be the fullest potential. Mr. Yellin said if you
look at Battery Brumby and Battery Gant there is nothing that would make you
assume you couldn’t do the same thing with Battery Backus. He said in a perfect
world we would all do extensive due diligence but in this case Mr. Kietzman
looked at the neighborhood and assumed that the battery could be developed as
a residence which it had formally been in the 70’s. Mr. Chambers said all of the
modifications to the existing batteries do not apply because they were developed
prior to Tybee’s Shore Protection Act. He said Mr. Yellin is determining the
dwelling of battery backus based on the fact that there is water and electricity
there. He said battery garland also has water and sewer along with a bathroom
but it is a museum and not a dwelling. He said rational people looking at Backus
and seeing it in the state of ruin that its in and realizing there has not been a
residence there for well over 30 years would say; that being the case what is the
existing law and what are the existing ordinances and what are my property
rights within those ordinances where I would not violate the intent of the
ordinance nor interfere with the property rights of my neighbors, my community,
my island. He said he was the person speaking as a representative of the Tybee
Island Historical Society speaking pro bono historic preservation advisor to the
City that he would rather see battery Backus destroyed than bastardized by what
is on the illustration presented to council. He said he stands by that comment
because at that time there was no mention of the plan being for illustrative
purposes only. He said his comment was based on them completely destroying
the historical content and integrity of battery Backus and there is no reason to
keep it if you do that and you might as well tear it down.
Mr. Chambers said they have been well informed regarding the impact to the
dunes but no one has answered the structural integrity question. He gave the
three examples of Cape Hetaeras, Morris Island Light House and the Cockspur
Island Lighthouse. He said all three are built on wood pilings like many Endicott
period batteries. He said over time exposure to the atmosphere has introduced
micro organisms into the wooden elements which are the structural supports and
undermined the integrity. He said he believes no one can tell us if battery Backus
is built on wooden pilings or not. He said many of the earlier batteries were and
battery Backus is an earlier one. He said it would be good to know if that battery
is structurally sufficient to support any additional load on top of it. He asked Mr.
Page 15 of 31
Cramer what kind of dead load calculation has been done on the battery to show
it is capable of supporting additions to it. He asked Mr. Kietzman’s consultants
what kind of testing they’ve done to determine what kind of foundation that
battery is on and whether is can withstand additional construction. He asked Dr.
Stevens if he would recommend the construction of a coastal structure that
might not be structurally sound and if in fact that might not cause future
degradation to the dune system. He also asked Dr. Stevens to comment on the
concept of vertical erosion because the structural integrity of Cockspur, Morris
and Hetaeras compounded with the microorganisms’ deterioration of the wood
structures were worsened by what was called vertical erosion.
Mr. Tom Sullivan said with all due respect to Mr. Chambers the serious issues he
is addressing are not the issues before council tonight. He said the reason Mr.
Kietzman is here tonight is because three councils ago they wrote an ordinance
where they should of taken the DNR code and said ditto but they tried to make it
more restrictive. He said there is nothing wrong with the City of Tybee trying to
be more restrictive than the state or federal government. He said this ordinance
is very ambiguous. He said Mr. Kietzman is asking council if the Tybee
jurisdiction line makes sense in this case and it does not. He said all the voters
on Tybee should watch this because it is a very serious issue. He said if council
decides that Tybee should be more restrictive than the federal government, we
can all live with that. He said in the forum last night every candidate said we
need to strike a balance between the rights of property owners and the serious
issues that effect the environment. He said this is a perfect case for that. He
said does the Tybee jurisdictional line make sense in this case where the line
goes across Pulaski Street and into someone’s living room and back across the
street again. He said this is an opportunity for the city to come in and take
someone’s property; which is flat out not right. He said one candidate mentioned
common sense and this is just a common sense decision. He implored council to
think about just the issue before them.
Mr. Ed Cawley said he has abbreviated his 18 minute presentation and said if
anyone wishes to see his full presentation to review the previous council
meetings and Planning Commission meetings where this petition was heard. He
asked council to remember the pictures showing sand accretion from 1979 on
were due to beach renourishment and not the natural action of waves and sand.
He asked City Council to deny this request. He said this request has too many
unanswered questions. He asked how much of the Battery will be demolished;
can the proposed remaining portions of the battery stand alone; how will the
demolition affect the sand dune system; how will the demolition affect the
neighbors property and will Fort Screven lose its National Historic District
designation? He asked where the architectural drawings are that show the actual
footprint of the proposed town homes and how much of the battery will be
demolished. He said the concept drawing submitted by Mr. Yellin shows
Page 16 of 31
driveways on both sides of the steps. He said behind these steps is steel
reinforced concrete making it almost impossible to make a garage within this
space without completely destroying this portion of the battery. He said this is
just a shore line protection variance that could give a green light to other
developers to tear down the Fort Screven Gun Batteries, thereby destroying
Tybee’s unique history to make a dollar. He asked where the detailed
engineering study determining that the proposed removal would not undermine
the remaining portions was. He asked where the detailed analysis was to
determine the long term affect on the sand dune if major portions of the battery
are demolished. He said this is just a shoreline protection variance that could
result in storm surges or just very high tides damaging the homes of nearby
property owners after the integrity of this 110 year old concrete battery is
compromised. He asked where the risk management appraisal was regarding the
effect on the adjacent and nearby homes and corresponding loss protection
program. He said this is just a shore line protection variance that could damage
nearby homes including his across the street. He said will allowing this portion of
the battery to be demolished be the final straw that will cause the loss of the
Fort Screven National Historic District designation and thereby negatively
affecting the values of every other piece of property currently within the 200
acre tract of land that was part of the original 1982 designation. He said
preserving the existing sand dune system and protecting the property rights of
adjacent and nearby property owners and everyone else in Fort Screven and
preserving Tybee’s unique history outweighs the construction of two more town
homes on the beach. He said in 100 years we will all be dead; what kind of
legacy will we leave. He said he would like to leave as much of the fort as
possible.
Mr. Jamie Maury an adjoining property owner to the West said he has been here
for 18 years. He said he echoes Mr. Chambers and Mr. Cawley’s comments and
appreciates the research they have done. He said initially when he heard the
battery had sold he was glad because he felt they would put a house on it and
there would be no people coming and camping and littering the property. He
said when he previewed the plans and saw the initial three town homes that
were proposed he became very upset. He said when he realized they were
going to demolish part of the battery which is right next to his property he
became more concerned. He said he doesn’t know if it has been determined
whether it is one lot or two. He said when Mr. Snider went to the courthouse he
understood that those two lots were designed as the lot of record and one lot in
order for the Tuten’s to build their house. He said density and parking in that
area is already pretty bad. He said he is concerned about the demolition and the
fact that they have no plans from the Corps showing how that battery was
constructed. He said the only reason the one section of the battery is fallen is
because of the attempt to dynamite it down 30 years ago. He said he will be
upset if this is allowed and does damage to his house. He said he would like a
Page 17 of 31
fence that goes North and South along his property line so that the construction
equipment will not damage his soil. He said he has nice vegetation and doesn’t
want it torn up.
Mr. Henry Levy said he is a resident, an Architect and a Planner. He said he has
served on the Tybee Planning Commission as Chairman and the Savannah
Planning Commission as Chairman. He said there is a great line in the Jaycee
Creed that says Government should be of laws rather than of Men. He said this is
a perfect example of when laws fail to define what they mean and it becomes a
government of men. He said this shows how ridiculous our zoning laws are and
they contradict each other in many cases and are not fulfilling and do not follow
standards. He said this law is one of the most ridiculous laws we have. He said
taking the Chu property for instance if you had followed that line from dwelling
to dwelling where the blank lot is you would have crossed Butler Avenue. He said
if you really want to protect the dunes you need to vacate Pulaski Street if it’s in
the line. He said you shouldn’t have the Shrine Club or the North Beach Grill and
the worse violation is the North Beach parking Lot. He said property rights and
the ownership of private property have made this country strong. He said that’s
the difference between us and Socialistic and Communist countries. He said if
you believe this property should not be built on then you should buy it and
vacate Pulaski Street and the North Beach Parking Lot and push the North beach
Grill and the Shrine Club out. He said otherwise you need to give this man the
right to use his property.
Mr. Charlie Brewer speaking as a private citizen and an Advisory Member of the
Marine Science Center. He said for the last three or four years he has been on
the science center board and now he is on the advisory board and serves with
Ms. Williams and Mr. Wolff. He said this is the same situation that is where the
proposed location for the Marine Science Center is. He said the City has worked
with the Science Center to promote moving the center to that location. He said
Tybee has the same situation just around the corner. He said his concern is
fairness in the application of the ordinances. He said this will be a test of how
council applies this ordinance because you have identical situations. He said if
you deny one and you don’t deny the other then you’ve got a dilemma. He said
as far as the Historical concerns go he has sat with Ms. Williams in a meeting in
which they were excited about getting the property for the Science Center and
were talking about parking. He said an idea was to go to the second floor of the
Shrine Club and knock down the existing wall and build walkways out to the new
Marine Science Center. He said he personally feels that Shore Protection line
doesn’t serve any purpose but wants to make sure council treats all parties
equally. He said in the Master Plan a high number of people want to preserve the
Historical properties of the island and this might be one of those properties that
needs to be preserved and if so the city should buy it. He asked if council was
going to be objective and treat the two properties identical.
Page 18 of 31
Mr. Yellin said if council does approve their variance tonight they will then have
to file plans with the building department. He said they will submit Architectural
an Engineered drawings done by a State Licensed Engineer. He said they will do
a land disturbing permit and agree voluntarily to put up the fence suggested by
Dr. Stevens. He said even if they are approved tonight it is only the beginning
and the detailed drawings come next and go to the building department.
Ms. Sessions asked Ms. Allen to repeat the Planning Commission’s
recommendation. Ms. Allen said the Planning Commissions recommendation was
to deny by a unanimous vote.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
Mr. Hughes said he was given a notebook from Mr. Yellin prior to this meeting
and has not had time to review its contents; and thinks it would be appropriate
in light of the many meetings that have been held by both the Planning
Commission and Council; that the records of all of those be considered as having
been part of the record at this proceeding. Mr. Yellin said they absolutely agree.
Mr. Crone said he thinks Mr. Kietzman needs an answer about the jurisdiction
line and Motioned to approve. There was no second to Mr. Crone’s motion.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions motioned to deny, Ms. Williams seconded.
Ms. Doyle said it is hard to make a decision about this without looking at the
battery itself. She said it’s hard to look at it and not think of everything involved
and the consequences. She said she has always disagreed with the Tybee Shore
Protection Line but when she looks at the drawings it is showing the DNR line
and the Tybee line as the same line. Mr. Wolff said there have been good
arguments on both sides. He agrees that our shore protection ordinance is
flawed and that’s why the city set up a committee to study and revise it. He said
he thinks they would not be good stewards if they made any variances to the
existing ordinance without allowing that committee to complete its work. He said
that committee should continue its work and they should set a deadline to bring
something to council including a reasonable amendment or revision to the
ordinance that might very well allow this without a variance.
Ms. Sessions said she was on the council that listened to DNR when they told
them they needed to get their local ordinances stronger than DNR’s if they
wanted to protect their island. She said she agrees it is flawed but hopes they
will continue to improve and thinks it is better than just letting fate belong to
another body that doesn’t have the passion that the citizens on Tybee have and
have elected the council to be good stewards. She said it is impossible to look at
one issue for this although it’s the most important issue. Ms. Williams said she
Page 19 of 31
agrees with everyone’s comments and agrees that they have all acknowledged
that their shore protection line is flawed and they are working and getting
excellent input from experts like Dr. Alexander. She thinks it would be a huge
mistake to grant any variances and as they have seen tonight they sometimes
come back and haunt you. She said even though one variance was granted since
this council took office it was not a unanimous vote. She said she voted against it
and would be hesitant to vote on a variance to our current shore protection line
before they adopt a new one. She also feels that the lack of information dealing
with the stability of that structure is something they cannot ignore. She said if
the building fails then they’ve opened up a huge problem as far as the sand
sharing system and also the dunes. She said there may be wooden pilings or
there may not be but at this point they don’t know. She said if they don’t know
they have to err on the side of caution.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said they have voted one way or the other on many
variances and she has tried to look at each situation before deciding and she has
listened to everything on every variance. She said every variance is different.
Ms. Doyle said if this is denied and they work on the ordinance what is the time
frame for coming back if they choose too. Mr. Hughes said he thinks it is six
months for the same variance. Mr. Wolff asked if that would apply if the
ordinance changed. Mr. Hughes said if the ordinance changed it would not be
the same variance request.
Mr. Hughes said if the motion to deny fails it will not mean the variance is
approved.
The vote was 5 with Sessions, Williams, Doyle, Wolff and Pearce voting
in favor of the motion to deny and Crone opposed.
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for 1 Shirley Road,
Howard Reeves Petitioner.
Ms. Allen said this petition was tabled by City Council in October of 2006 and the
petitioner is Howard Reeve requesting a variance of the Shore Protection Line in
order to relocate one structure and construct a new duplex.
Mr. Reeve said he was here to renew his building request for 1 Shirley Road
which was tabled due to the controversy surrounding the Tybee Shore Protection
Ordinance. Mr. Reeves said his first birthday party was on Tybee in 1956. He
said his mother purchased her home on the south end of Tybee in 1967 and
celebrated the 100th birthday of her home just a few years ago. He said he and
his wife are living in the completed restoration project next door to his mother’s
house. He said he has a long term commitment emotionally and financially to
Page 20 of 31
Tybee. He showed pictures of his completed restoration projects on Tybee. He
said he wanted to show the pictures in response to the accusations that he was
going to rape the property on Shirley Road and add a cement box there and clog
the space and spoil the landscape. He said it has always been his goal to
preserve the old Tybee houses. He said he hasn’t seen another place on the East
Coast that has 100 year old beach houses on it. He said his wife owns the
property at 1 Shirley Road consisting of lots 44, 45 and part of the strand. He
said he plans to move the existing house on lot 45 back to lot 44 and convert it
back to what an old Tybee house would look like. He said he is requesting a
variance 10 feet back from the DNR Dune Line which is a little different than the
original proposal. He said all other aspects of this plan are the same except the
10 foot setback. He said he was invited to join the parties that are in litigation
with the city but didn’t want to and thought direct communication would be
appropriate.
Mayor Buelterman asked how much further the proposed duplex would come out
than the existing structure does now. Mr. Reeves answered 24 feet from the
heated space which doesn’t include the existing porch or steps. Mayor
Buelterman said it is about 5 feet seaward of the existing steps. Ms. Sessions
asked Ms. Allen to review what council asked for when it was tabled and how it
was resolved pertaining to the location and the street. Ms. Allen said she was not
on staff at the time but in reading the minutes the motion was made to review
the shore protection act and to establish ownership of Shirley Road. Ms.
Sessions asked if that had been done. Mr. Reeve said he had a title opinion done
by an attorney and the warranty deed reads that his wife owns Shirley Road. He
said the neighbors have a memorandum through their lawyer saying it is not
conveyed. He said basically it is one lawyer’s opinion against another lawyer’s
opinion. He said he is going by what the warranty deed has stated for the last 40
years that states this property owner owns this piece of property. Mr. Hughes
said everyone has spent a lot of time trying to determine who owns Shirley Road
and the bottom line is it doesn’t matter. He said the setbacks are from the lot
line and not from the end of the property that you might own. He said you might
own two lots next to each other but you still have to honor the dividing line
between the two.
Mayor Buelterman said the Northern side of the house is on the property line
between lot 45 and Shirley Road. He said in order to comply with the setbacks
that side has to be 10 feet back. He said but all they are dealing with tonight is
just the Shore Protection Variance. Ms. Allen said that was correct. Mr. Reeve
said he is not asking for any setback variances. Mr. Hughes said Mr. Reeve’s
chain of title shows that footage east of lot 45 up to 18 feet of the seawall is
included in the chain of conveyances that goes back at least 50 years. He said it
is not a part of lot 45. He said even though Mr., Reeves said he wants to
recombine it that hasn’t been done yet and there could be an issue about doing
Page 21 of 31
that. He said the significance of that is without that recombination and having
that portion of the strand; there is not enough room on the lot to put a duplex.
Mr. Reeves said that is correct. Mr. Hughes said this issue became apparent
yesterday and Tybee has a unique provision in its charter that has obviously
been there a long time for unique situations. He said in the powers granted to
the city it includes the power to continue to deed, transfer or quitclaim all of the
city’s right in property and the beach formerly know as the strand; which abuts
property eastwardly to within 18 feet of the seawall. He said it goes on to say;
provided that the city and said property owner shall not utilize the 18 foot area
abutting the seawall and the land so deeded except for the purposes of repair,
maintenance, prevention and control of the seawall, groins, beaches and sand
dunes. Mr. Reeves asked if he was saying the city owned out to the seawall. Mr.
Hughes said yes but the city was authorized to convey portions of the strand in a
westerly direction to the abutting land owner; which appears to be what
happened here at some point more than 50 years ago. He said it also says the
property so deeded can only be used for purposed of repair, maintenance,
prevention and control of the seawall, groins, beaches and sand dunes. Mr.
Reeves asked if Mr. Hughes was saying he couldn’t build on the strand section of
the property or use the area to reach the minimum square footage. Mr. Hughes
said he doesn’t know. He said he wanted an opportunity to look further at that
and it can be addressed in the recombination issue. He said it obviously says you
cannot have any portion of the structure there but doesn’t know if it answers the
question about square footage. He said the way he would interpret it based on
what limited information he has that it likely can’t be combined to the lot
because that would include a use of the deeded property that is beyond that. He
said he is assuming that the portion of the strand at some point got into the
earlier owner from the city but he doesn’t know that. He said the abstract that
was provided in connection with the issue of who owns Shirley Road; did not go
that far back. Mr. Reeves asked if that was the title opinion he had done. Mr.
Hughes said yes when he was provided the opinion he eventually received an
abstract to that lot. He said that abstract is what he is referring too but that only
addresses building into the portion of the strand. He said on Mr. Reeves diagram
lot 45 is lot 45 and his setbacks are from his lot lines like everyone else’s. He said
the strand side of the property could be used as the front yard setback so that
you would have 20 feet but obviously there is an existing structure there that is a
lot closer than 20 feet to the lot line of lot 45. He said he doesn’t know if they
can combine a portion of the strand to lot 45 so as to increase the square
footage of where you want to put the duplex.
Ms. Doyle asked if there was enough square footage on lot 45 for a duplex. Mr.
Hughes said there would not be enough square footage on lot 45 for a duplex.
He said it’s an R-2 zone and requires 6750 sq feet for a duplex and this is 67 x70
which is 4200 square feet. He said the only thing you can build there if you can
only build on lot 45 is a single family home because it would be a sub standard
Page 22 of 31
lot of record. Mr. Reeves said that is assuming he couldn’t combine them with
Shirley Road. Mr. Hughes said he couldn’t combine them with Shirley Road
because easements are along Shirley Road. Mr. Reeves said who owns title to it.
Mr. Hughes said it is not part of lot 45 it’s Shirley Road. Mayor Buelterman said
he can’t do the combination because of the easements. Mr. Hughes said correct.
Mr. Hughes said council has the same options that they had on the last hearing.
He said because of this other issue; and this is unique because of the strand
title. He said council could hold it until they get the strand issue clarified or they
can address the variance request because he may need a variance from Shore
Protection whether it’s single family or a duplex. Mayor Buelterman said it may or
may not be as much of a variance as is currently being requested for a duplex.
He said that leaves the ball in Mr. Reeves court as to if he wants to proceed on
getting this exact variance from Shore Protection or if he wants to go back and
reconsider and come back with less of a variance from the Shore Protection. Mr.
Hughes said that would be his understanding. Mr. Reeves said he wants to go
forward with his current petition. Mr. Hughes said what is not clear to him is if
you look at lot 45 as lot 45 and that was part of Shirley Park subdivision and so
was lot 44 but the strand was not. Mr. Reeves said but he owns it. Mr. Hughes
said yes but it wasn’t a part of the subdivision so he will have to look into it. Mr.
Hughes said in his opinion they cannot combine a street that has easements
across it to increase the square footage of a lot. He said it’s his opinion that the
charter provision was put in to allow property owners abutting the strand to have
an interest between them and the beach. He said all of the property east of the
seawall was acquired by the city for the first renourishment. He said we’ve got
this gap between the seawall and 18 feet to the beginning of that portion of the
property. Mr. Hughes said it was his understanding the city acquired by
condemnation or conveyance the property of all the abutting owners who
claimed the right of title to the Atlantic Ocean. He said not everyone had that
and it could be that there’s no conveyance on the other side of the seawall from
you because whatever interest you have would of stopped west of the seawall
and not east. Mr. Reeves said he wasn’t convinced that he does not own the
property and can’t utilize it.
Mr. Arden Joly a resident of Shirley Road said he lives there with his wife Susan
and daughter Elle. He spoke in opposition to Mr. Reeve’s variance request. He
said he respects property rights as much as the next person and believes in
smart growth. He said when Mr. Reeves previously presented his petition he was
not the owner of the property and the Planning Commission denied his request
by a unanimous vote; but Mr. Reeves proceeded with the purchase. He
requested that council uphold the planning commission’s recommendation to
deny. He said even though the application is presented in a humble way in fact
the plan is bold and brazen in terms of the magnitude of the disregard for safety,
property values, neighbors and the environment as well as the magnitude of the
request for a variance of 24 feet from the Tybee shoreline ordinance. He said Mr.
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Reeves and Mr. Gay both said there would only be one variance requested but
there are many legal issues involved. He said this Tybee Cottage has no trace of
blight and doesn’t need to be rescued of salvaged. He said it is perfectly situated
and paneled in old wood and about 70 years old. He said it is already large and
stands pretty close to the shore. He showed pictures of the garden between Mr.
Slotin’s property and Mr. Reeve’s property. He said the plan as presented shows
the existing house being moved and rotated and placed in the garden, thereby
eliminating all of the beautiful trees that are there and a new duplex being
constructed and built further towards the dunes than the existing structure. He
said Mr. Reeves plans to move all of that towards the existing little road and
would bring everything closer to Shirley Road. He said it’s a bad plan leading to
higher density and congestion and making it difficult for safety vehicles to pass.
He said the question is can it be done legally. He said he has at least five large
problems to overcome. He said without a permit the plan violates the DNR Shore
Protection Line; the plan violates the Tybee Island Shore Protection Line and
doesn’t qualify for a variance because these are regular lots with no
irregularities; The plan for lot 44 violates the minimum lot area requirements of
the Tybee Land Development Code but he would be allowed to build a single
family residence on the sub standard lot of record. He said on lot 45 he has 4765
and doesn’t have the 6750 required for a duplex. He said the plan violates the 20
foot setback required by the Land Development Code and shows the duplex right
on the line of Shirley Road with no setback and the front of the duplex is on the
line where the strand property starts and you can’t build over a lot line whether
you own the adjoining property or not. He said the plan violates the subdivision
regulations required by article 10 of the Land Development Code. He showed a
picture of the Shirley Park subdivision and said every deed that belongs to every
landowner in the neighborhood refers to this document. He said Shirley was one
of the first subdivisions ever recorded on Tybee Island and was recorded in
1931. He said the recorded document shows Shirley Street and it runs from
Butler to the strand. He said three property owners on Shirley Road hired an
attorney and his opinion is that you cannot convey a recorded street of a
recorded subdivision to anyone. He said in 1961 a man named Garfunkel
purchased from A.P. Solomon quietly by quit claim deed the street. He said this
is what appears to give title to Shirley Street to Mr. Reeves. He said in 1952 the
courts decided that no one owned the street if it was recorded as part of a
subdivision and could not be sold. He read code section 3-020 that says that no
such non conforming use or structure shall in any way be expanded or extended.
He said if Mr. Reeves plans to reorganize it and change everything he would
have to conform to the existing subdivision regulations. Mr. Arden Joly said he is
a citizen of Tybee that needs Council’s protection.
Mr. Gay said he finds it offensive to have Mr. Reeves classified as a brazen
individual when in fact he has demonstrated consistently his ability to build
quality housing on the island that is consistent with the historic spirit of the
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island. He said Mr. Reeves has won awards and has gone to extremes to protect
historic elements. He said his goal is not to go in and create problems for people.
He said you have lots that are going to be used and regardless of what happens
they are going to be used. He said he takes exception to anything but the fact
that Mr. Reeves is a good neighbor.
Ms. Nancy Slotin spoke in opposition to anything being put on the lot in front of
her. She said talking from the heart that Shirley Road is one of the last lanes that
are an old Tybee setting. She said most of the houses are the old Railroad
houses that have been lifted up and we have trees. She said we are turning
Tybee into concrete and tar. She said the foliage on Mr. Reeve’s property is
absolutely beautiful. She said in order for the houses to be built she cannot tell
how many crepe myrtles and palm trees will have to go along with regular lawn
and beautiful shrubbery.
Ms. Arden Joly told Mr. Reeves that she hopes the emotions that this kind of
project brings up does not create any bad feelings because one thing that is very
beautiful on Shirley Street are the neighbors. She said she does admire that Mr.
Reeves tries to save old buildings. She said the word brazen was used because
last year before he bought this property he was aware that there were serious
problems with this plan. She said this project is just too large for the land he has.
Mr. Reeves requested that Council table his petition in lieu of what Mr. Hughes
said earlier.
Mr. Slotin said he thinks there should be a decision made tonight. He said this is
over a year old and if Mr. Reeves wants to change his plan he can wait for the
proper time and bring back a plan. He said this calls for a decision and its time to
vote on it.
Mr. Arden Joly said given the time that has elapsed and that no one has asked
that this be brought to the agenda and Mr. Reeves is well advised by good
advisors and a very good lawyer; he does not believe he could of walked into
tonight’s meeting and found out there were elements that he didn’t know and
suddenly decide to withdraw his application or have it tabled. He asked council
to defeat this plan and said he can always come before council with a different
plan.
Mr. Wolff moved to deny, Mr. Pearce seconded, and the vote was Wolff,
Pearce, Doyle, Williams and Sessions voting in favor and Crone
opposed.
Ms. Schleicher said the Tybee signs have been updated with Welcome back to
Tybee along with thank you for visiting. She said that was part of a DCA grant
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that we received from a local assistance grant and the results were from
suggestions she received from Tybee Beautification and Sally Bostwick. She said
they also installed six Palm Trees on each side as you come onto the island. She
said they will also be installing sixty five crepe myrtles.
Ms. Williams asked about the post to the old sign that are still remaining. Ms.
Schleicher said they will be painted to match the sign post but will remain
because that is where the electrical is. She said it is a work in progress.
Ms. Schleicher said banner posts will be installed in front of the dog park to look
like the banner post at the entrance. Ms. Schleicher said Jimmy Bostwick was
part of that design. Ms. Williams said it looks really good and everyone agreed.
Ms. Schleicher said they really appreciate Mr. Bostwick and the hard work of
DPW in putting that together.
Ms. Schleicher said she wanted to explain the estimated water bills. She said the
city has been doing estimated bills because they are in the process of doing
automatic meter reading and installing the fireflies. Mr. Redmond said the
company recommended the city start with the meters nearest to city hall so they
started across the street. He said the first group of meters was actually buried in
concrete so they had to do digging to get to them. He said they ran the first test
today and the fireflies are transmitting to our receiver at city hall. He said the
approximate date of completion is January 1st and from there we will go to
monthly billing. Ms. Williams asked if bills will be estimated until January. Mr.
Redmond said yes. He said it doesn’t make sense to hire meter readers and to
train them when they will be gone in a few months. He said the three people on
staff are busy changing out the meters. Ms. Williams asked that an explanation
of what would happen when the new system was up and running be given to the
public. She said Ms. Schleicher said they will analyze the bills and anyone
overcharged will be credited. Mr. Redmond said that is correct. He said anytime
there has been a discrepancy or abnormal reading they actually go out and do a
physical reading. He said Nalene that is part of billing has gone out and done a
number of those reads. He said they have found the estimated bills were more
accurate than some of the readings.
Ms. Schleicher said she was glad they were going with the automated meter
reading and accuracy was one of the main reasons for that decision along with
monthly billing ability.
Ms. Schleicher said she received another petition for a speed bump and the
petitioner is coming on the agenda next month. She said the staff has been
talking about what to do concerning speed bumps and the amount of requests
that are received. She said the recommendation is that not only should a petition
be submitted but a traffic study conducted by staff should give a report to
council concerning each request. She requested petitions be postponed after the
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present one until the city has in place some way to monitor speed. She said a
devise that will count traffic and monitor speed will be in the budget. She said
that will provide more data to city council when they are making speed bump
decisions.
Ms. Schleicher said the city is working on planting one hundred trees to celebrate
Tybee’s 120th Birthday and they are a grant from the Savannah Tree Foundation.
She said planning is being done utilizing the Ad Hoc Memorial Park Committee
and DPW to plan where the trees should be planted.
Ms. Schleicher said a skateboard group requested doing an exhibition during the
120th birthday festivities on October 20th. She said they suggested putting
skateboard ramps where the existing slab is.
Ms. Schleicher said in December council approved Hussey, Gay, Bell and
DeYoung doing the Tybrisa portion of the engineering and construction and we
were working with EMC at the time on the strand portion of the project. She said
we received some plans from EMC and went to bid and we weren’t comfortable
with what we received and the timing was disastrous for the downtown
businesses. She said we basically decided to step back and do that project as a
joint project. She said after looking at the EMC plan HGB&D had to do a lot more
work with the plan including going back and doing additional surveying and
shooting elevations. She said basically HGB&D have worked on both the Tybrisa
and Strand plans and combined them and they submitted a new contract where
they will have the engineering together and they will oversee the project. She
said this is the new contract under one umbrella. Mr. Wolff asked if HGB&D was
able to salvage parts of the EMC plan to save us money. Ms. Allen said the
problem with the plan EMC submitted was there was very little survey work done
so there was no topographical information for them to pull shots or elevations
from; making them virtually unusable. She said in terms of marrying two designs
they had to start over from the construction design standpoint.
Ms. Williams asked if EMC did not fulfill their contract. Ms. Allen said that
question came up this week but they don’t know the deliverables in the contract.
She said that can be looked into. Ms. Williams asked for the EMC contract to be
put on the Action items list.
Ms. Doyle asked Ms. Schleicher if she felt the business owners had bought into
this project. Ms. Schleicher said a lot of the business owners are concerned
about it. She said as soon as they have a contract and know the schedule they
will work with the business owners so they know what the impacts are. She said
Brannyn and John have worked on Streetscape projects and will work with the
businesses so that it is not a total disaster for them. She said there will be a
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contact number provided for when city hall is closed so that we are open and
accessible.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions asked if HGB&D were not given criteria and if that is
something the council would find out about before awarding the contract. Ms.
Allen said this is just the engineering contract. She said it’s up to the city to work
with the contractor on scheduling the work but HGB&D are involved in that
conversation to establish the construction schedule. She said this contract is for
the design work and project administration through the construction.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said if this does get approved she thinks they all
remember what a good project the Butler Avenue Water Line was and would
want a similar experience with everything being very clear and ironed out and
the work was done by a professional company. She said the CFO was right on
top of it and criteria were developed for a report card along with someone from
DPW being on the job every day. She said all of those things have to happen if
they decide to go with this. She asked Ms. Schleicher is she was in contact with
the businesses. Ms. Schleicher said they had arranged and economic
development committee meeting at 3:00 just so that business owners could
attend. She said last year they went door to door to let people know what was
going on with the Strand and if they need to they will do that again. Ms. Sessions
said some kind of documented information would be appropriate instead of just
verbalizing.
Ms. Williams said those things were done in the beginning right after the election
and before they took office. She said she attended a meeting at Fannie’s on the
Beach where they were discussing this and with the exception of one or two
business owners they were all in support. She said they were upset because they
thought the budget would be cut and it wouldn’t happen. She said she thinks the
problem is with it being so drawn out and we naturally forget what happened
two or three years ago. She agrees they need to do major outreach to the
businesses along with the media to let them know the businesses are still open.
Mayor Buelterman opened the business meeting and called for a motion on the
Consent Agenda items as discussed earlier.
Ms. Williams moved to approve the Consent Agenda, Mr. Wolff
seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Williams moved to approve the installation of a Veterans Memorial
for the Korean War in the Park of Seven Flags. She said they had
discussed setting it back a little from the existing sign just to protect
the monument from traffic, Mr. Pearce seconded. Mayor Buelterman asked
if it could be amended to allow staff to look at the issues. Ms. Williams
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amended her motion to approve making it contingent on working with
the city staff to make sure all regulations and concerns are addressed.
Mr. Pearce accepted the amended motion. And the vote was
unanimous.
Mayor Pro tem Sessions said she thinks in the situation concerning Mr.
Longwater and his request that it is always a good idea to get the opinion of
those that enforce the laws meaning the Police Department and the Judge. She
said she doesn’t think they are necessarily in a position to automatically
understand. She said when she first saw his request she though how awful but
when they received the follow up information regarding the 15 previous citations
for dogs at large that were issued over the past years it put a different spin on
everything.
Mr. Crone asked if council didn’t just redo the dog ordinance and adjust the
fines. He said why should council do it again for someone that is continuously
breaking the law.
Ms. Williams said the main change they made to amend the ordinance pertaining
to this situation was they changed the automatic $200 fine for dogs at large by
separating the dogs on the beach from the dogs at large and making the
minimum fine from $20 to $1,000 for dogs at large. She said she did request
information regarding the changes made and what effect they have had on the
fines and will give that at a later time.
Mayor Buelterman said if council decides at a future date that they want to
reconsider Mr. Longwater’s request they can put it on the agenda.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions moved to approve ramps being placed on the
existing slab during the birthday celebration for skateboarding
exhibitions, Ms. Williams seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mr. Crone moved to approve the agreement from Hussey, Gay, Bell &
DeYoung for the Tybrisa-Strand Project, Mr. Wolff seconded, Ms.
Sessions reiterated everything that was said earlier. She said they are under the
microscope and this needs to be done first class.
Mayor Buelterman asked that someone from DOT be invited to talk about the
Hwy 80 repaving project.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said she feels it’s a good idea to have regular meetings
with the contractor and staff to make sure progress is being made.
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Mayor Buelterman asked if this project would change the facade of any of the
businesses. Ms. Schleicher answered no.
Ms. Allen said one of the requirements of the funding because it is DOT funding
is to have very close interaction with the contractor and the engineers. She said
we are required to maintain daily contact with them and they are required to
submit daily reports as part of the grant.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions encouraged one or two council members to interact
with this project also.
And the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Williams moved to approve the 2nd Reading of the Reaffirmation of
the Ethics Ordinance, Mr. Wolff seconded. Ms. Doyle said she appreciates
Ms. Off coming forward and she listened to everything she had to say but stands
by her original concerns she voiced at the last council meeting. She said she
wants to show her support for this ordinance and all the work and effort that
went into it. She said she may be at fault for not reading word for word this
ordinance. She said the last couple of weeks she has read it page to page and on
the whole it is a good ordinance but there are a couple of issues that at some
point in time need to be discussed, Sections 3-13 and 3-26. She said she doesn’t
know if it needs to be done in a council meeting or with Mr. Hughes.
Mr. Hughes said there was a lot of work to get to the ordinance. He said he was
at most of the meetings and he did have some editorial role in it. He said what
is before council is the same ordinance they approved in May with corrections of
a grammatical nature including type Po’s that were found last week. He said like
any other ordinance it is subject to improvement and work as it continues. He
said that whole committee worked hard to get the ordinance to council within
the timeline that was established.
Ms. Doyle said she needed to make a correction to the section she named and
said it was Section 3-21 #6 that dealt with the commissions.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions said we are planning to have a volunteer reception
recognizing all the volunteers on the commissions and committees that Council
has appointed. She said they put the money in the budget and Chantel and
Vivian are working on having it after the election.
And the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Doyle showed a proposal for the new Tybee Flag and said they just want a
plain field with the new Tybee emblem. She said she asked Todd to come up
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with different colors and he did an excellent job. Sessions said she liked the top
right color for the flag. Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Schleicher which color
would go with the tennis courts and all of the things she is trying to get to
match. Ms. Schleicher said the top right.
Ms. Doyle moved to approve the top right color for the flag, Ms.
Williams seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mayor Buelterman thanked Ms. Doyle and Ms. Sessions for their work on the flag
design.
Mr. Hughes said it’s important that our ordinance match our agreement with
DOT regarding the speed limits. He said it won’t until we get the new application
regarding the speed limits on Campbell to them again. He said we don’t have
much choice in order to get the speed limit reduced on Butler we have to go
ahead and agree with what they have. He said leave the signs up and don’t use
radar on Campbell.
Mayor Pro Tem Sessions moved to approve the DOT agreement for
speed limits, Ms, Williams seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Ms. Williams moved to accept the Audit Committee’s recommendation
to extend the contract with Maulden and Jenkins for two years, Mr.
Wolff seconded, and the vote was unanimous.
Mr. Wolff moved to adjourn, Ms. Doyle seconded, and the vote was
unanimous.
______________________________________
Mayor Jason Buelterman
___________________________
Vivian O. Woods, Clerk of Council
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