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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20080925CCMinutesPrepared on 10/13/08vw Page 1 of 11 20080925 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda to order. Present were Mayor Pro Tem Wanda Doyle and Council Members Charlie Brewer, Barry Brown, Eddie Crone, Dick Smith and Paul Wolff. Also attending was City Attorney Bubba Hughes, City Manager Diane Schleicher and Planning Director Brannyn Allen. Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda: - Revised City Travel Policy incorporating a daily per diem rate in lieu of actual meal expenses. - Hussey, Gay, Bell & DeYoung Engineering Fee Proposal-14th Street Drainage. Not to exceed $37,000-Line Item # 320-4250-54-1400 - Cancellation of Marlowe & Company Contract by November 1, 2008. - City Council Minutes 9/10/08 - Appointment of Denise Byrd as Clerk’s Assistant - Increase in Judges Salary from $100 to $200 monthly Line Item # 100-2650-52-1101 - Grant Award Agreement Marine Science Center $17,741 for Sea Turtle Conservation - Grant Award Agreement Marine Science Center $23,184 for Invasive Species Research. - One Day Alcohol Permit for St. Michael’s School, October 4, 2008. - Contract with Waste Pro Mayor Buelterman adjourned the Consent Agenda. Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00pm. Those at the Consent Agenda were also in attendance for the regular meeting. Reverend Eddie Adkins of the All Saints Episcopal Church gave the Invocation. Everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Holly Lanford, Principle of St. Michael’s school along with Father Tom Peyton and a group of students gave a short presentation about the history of St. Michael’s and their 60th anniversary. A Proclamation honoring St. Michael’s School for their 60th Anniversary was presented by Mayor Buelterman. Visitors: Mr. Ed Cawley requested that council declare a moratorium on demo permits for any of the Ft. Screven Gun Batteries In whole or in part until a determination of effect can be performed for the Ft. Screven National Historic District. Ms. Kathryn Williams invited everyone to the Tybee Beautification Beach Sweep scheduled for September 27, 2008 at the Pier. She thanked Karen Reese and Mayor Buelterman for securing the pier for their use at no charge. Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 2 of 11 Mr. Mallory Pearce spoke in opposition to repealing the Shore Protection Ordinance. Mr. Ross Howard of Tybee Fest requested ordinance 23-2008, be amended to allow for a petting zoo to be conducted during the Pirate Fest event. He returned the key to the city to Mayor Buelterman to allow the pirates to take it again during the festival. Ms. Linda Gladin said she knows this council does not intend to suppress Tybee Neighbors survey results simply because votes and comments are not associated with specific individuals. She requested council find a way to respect a community resource and process that has integrity and value. Ms. Sandy Major spoke on behalf of the Tybee Neighbors Planning Team. She said the Tybee neighbors group has been conducting surveys since 2005 in order to help council and citizens understand the various sides of issues. She said the website states that while the survey results will be shared with council no names or e-mails will be included. She said they believe the surveys have real value because they provide a way to show various perspectives on issues with community leaders. Clerk of Council Vivian Woods introduced Denise Byrd as her new part time assistant. Ms. Kathryn Williams spoke on Public Hearings and expressed dismay at the way the proposal of the Memorial Park Ad Hoc Committee was handled. She said in her opinion making changes to a proposed plan during the period of public input makes a mockery out of the public hearing process. She said this week they have two major first readings on the agenda without public hearings. She said given that the Shore Protection Line and the Ethics Ordinance have both undergone major changes and in the spirit of open and transparent government public hearings should be held. She requested that council adopt the proposed Shore Protection Ordinance but make necessary modifications. Ms. Williams requested that council table the Ethics Ordinance to allow the commission more time for review as requested and to hold a public hearing when it comes back. Ms. Williams said her research revealed that almost all polls are anonymous and asked that council not suppress public input but encourage it. *** Disclosures/Recusals: Mr. Hughes said it is his understanding there are no disclosures on the matters for public hearings. Mr. Hughes said all of council has previously had recusal appeals with respect to the Shore Protection Ordinance and those same decisions should control when we get to that issue tonight. *** Public Hearings: Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing on a Zoning Variance (Section 5-090) from Section 3-090A, Schedule of Development Regulations, and Section 5-010J, Shore Protection with variance clause. Michael Foran-Savannah Bar Pilots, Inc. extension of porch at 1 Van Horn pin # 4-0003-10-009 Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 3 of 11 Zone R-1. Ms. Allen said the Planning Commission recommended approval. She said staff recommended denial based only on the strict interpretation of the variance requirements and the code. Ms. White spoke in favor of the petition. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. Mr. Crone moved to approve, Mr. Smith seconded. Mr. Wolff said he doesn’t have a problem with this request but thinks council should not consider any variances to the shore protection ordinance while it’s under review. The vote was Crone, Smith, Doyle, Brown and Brewer in favor and Wolff opposed. *** Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for a Zoning Variance (Section 5-090) from Section 3-090 Schedule of Development Regulations, Richard Fitzer/Front Setback variance for new single family structure at 20 Taylor St. Pin # 4-0001-02-004 Zone R-1. Ms. Allen said the petitioner is requesting a ten foot front setback variance. She said planning commission recommended denial of this petition. She said staff recommended approval and DNR has also approved. Mr. Cawley spoke in opposition to this petition. Mayor Buelterman read a letter from Dale Patterson and Dale Critz, Jr. opposing the project. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. Mr. Crone moved to approve, Ms. Doyle seconded. Mr. Wolff said any hardship to this property was self imposed by the subdivision. He said he has a lot of problems with this including destroying a piece of a historic structure which also provides storm surge protection. He said there are a lot of options that could be used to build a livable residence with architectural value short of requiring variances to the setbacks or demolishing any historic properties. The vote was Crone, Doyle, Brewer, Brown and Smith in favor and Wolff opposed. *** Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for a Zoning Variance(Section 5-090) from Section 3-090, Schedule of Development Regulations, James McLeroy/Side Setback variances for deck addition at 1405 Fifth Ave. Pin 4-0011-06-011 Zone R-2. Ms. Allen said the petition had been withdrawn and went back in front of planning commission in September and will come back to council in October. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. *** Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for an Amendment to Section 8 Flood Damage Control, and Section 5-100, Standards for Variance from the Flood Damage Control Regulations. Mr. Hughes explained that last week council approved the new Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and as part of that had adopted the standards for a variance from the requirements in that ordinance. He said it basically says that the standards for a variance are contained in the Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance and not in the zoning ordinance. Ms. Allen said planning commission recommended approval. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. Mr. Wolff moved to approve, Mr. Smith seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 4 of 11 Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing for an amendment to Section 4-050 District Use Regulations, Memorial Park Development PC Public Parks-Conservation District. Ms. Allen said planning commission recommended approval. Mr. Harper asked council to include the buildings in Memorial Park as part of the conservation area. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. Mr. Crone moved to approve, Mr. Brewer seconded. Mr. Wolff said he understands Mr. Brown’s motivation for this ordinance but doesn’t agree with shrinking the boundaries of the park when there is green space between the buildings. He said he doesn’t think they should limit the area they have to work with because they are essentially ignoring potential improvements to the park as a park. The vote was Crone, Brewer, Brown, Doyle and Smith in favor and Wolff opposed. *** Business Legally Presented: Consent Agenda: Mr. Wolff moved to approve the Consent Agenda. Mr. Smith seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mr. Wolff moved to ask staff to investigate the repercussions of destroying any historic structures within historic districts, Ms. Doyle seconded. Mr. Brewer referenced Mr. Chamber’s letter that work could be done on that property without effecting its historical value which implied this wasn’t an issue from his perspective as our renowned expert on historical structures. Mr. Brown asked for the word could, to be clarified with either it is or it isn’t going to make a difference. Ms. Doyle asked if this research can be done and if useful information can be obtained. Ms. Allen said certainly they can do that. Mr. Smith clarified that they were not voting on a moratorium. Mr. Brewer asked for a point of order and asked Mr. Wolff if this was a structural question or just related to historical integrity. Mr. Wolff said his intention is to find out what risk our Historic Designation would suffer due to destruction. Mr. Crone said he feels they are starting a little too late because most of those batteries already have houses on them and he doesn’t see how this one could hurt everything and destroy the historical value. The vote was Wolff and Doyle in favor and Brewer, Brown, Crone and Smith opposed. *** Action Items: Ms. Doyle asked where they were with the Byers Street Crossover. Ms. Schleicher said at council’s request it will be on the agenda for the 2nd meeting in October. Ms. Doyle asked that it be included on the agenda for the first meeting in October because Burke Day is waiting for the permit application to expedite it for us. Mr. Crone said he thought council made it clear when they voted to put a crossover there. Ms. Schleicher said it was clear but they were waiting for the homeowners to get together to put a road in and it made more sense to let them go ahead and do the permit. Mayor Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 5 of 11 Buelterman asked that Ms. Schleicher look back and determine if they were supposed to go ahead and file for the permit and if not put this on the agenda for October 9th. Mr. Wolff asked Ms. Allen when the Way Faring sign proposals were due in. Ms. Allen said they received 28 proposals and they have narrowed it down. Mr. Wolff asked when they would get to review them. Ms. Allen said probably after the first of the year. She said they will have to come in and do an island wide audit and inventory of existing signs. She said they look at pedestrian and vehicular movement so they can best place the signs and they will probably look at prototypes in January or early spring. Mr. Wolff asked if this would be in place by next tourist season. Ms. Allen responded possibly. She explained that the proposals that came in are just for the first phase of designs and will not be an island wide complete face lift in this phase. Ms. Doyle asked for council to start receiving some kind of communication on the re writes of the land development code. She asked if they were going to have workshops on this. Mayor Buelterman asked that this be part of the work session on October 18th. Ms. Allen said she will be out of town October 18th and will not attend that meeting. She said a joint meeting with Planning Commission and Council has been discussed with Ms. Schleicher in order for the first draft to be reviewed together. Ms. Doyle said the action item list is a good tracking tool to keep up with things. Mr. Brewer said on item #17 assigned to him and Councilman Brown regarding public restrooms on the beach front; he ran into the royal restroom representative at the chamber expo and they had just come back from Galveston and had some interesting comments about what happened with removable versus immovable restrooms on beaches. He said it would be nice for them to meet with the City Manager and have her arrange for them to come out and give us a report about lessons learned in Galveston and also delve into recycling and water conservation issues. Mayor Buelterman said he didn’t see the Electric Cars on the Action Items list and asked where we are with that issue. Ms. Schleicher said Mr. Wilson is lining up a few vendors to come and speak to council. Mr. Brewer told Mr. Hughes that a local publication had expressed a question regarding his involvement in discussions about electrical cars as an ethical issue. He asked Mr. Hughes if he felt that any discussion by himself on the electric car issue was a breach of his ethics. Mr. Hughes said he recalls it coming up in the context of the golf cart ordinance and whether the golf carts would be permitted on the island. He said he looked into it at that time and concluded it was not a conflict and any interest Mr. Brewer would have in the Golf Cart issue would be too remote or speculative to require recusal. Mr. Hughes said he spoke with Mr. Brewer about the city using and purchasing electric cars and they had determined participating in that would be not be appropriate for Mr. Brewer. Mr. Hughes said in his opinion Mr. Brewer can participate with the Golf Cart Ordinance but cannot participate in discussions about the electric cars. Ms. Schleicher said she has lined up a vendor to come and bring information on a small single use compactor. Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 6 of 11 Action items List Additions were: - Electric Car Use by City of Tybee - Memorial Park Plan-Follow Up - Bike Friendly Designation *** GMA contract to provide Hotel/Motel audit services line item #100-1320-52-1201. Mr. Hughes requested to communicate with GMA to add determining properties not paying H/M tax. No Action. *** Mr. Crone moved to approve for 1st Reading the Repeal of the Shore Protection Ordinance, Ms. Doyle seconded. Mr. Wolff asked about recusals of the other five members of council. Mr. Hughes said at the beginning when he was talking about disclosures and recusals before the public hearings he recommended they just adopt what had been done when they had the public hearing. He said he hopes everyone agrees that this has island wide implications and full participation would be appropriate. Mr. Wolff said council needs to consider the fact very seriously that they are affecting people and property. He said you just have to look at Galveston to understand the repercussions of building too close to the water line. He thinks relinquishing local control over their shoreline would be a huge mistake. He said a lot of the people he knows within DNR say off the record that the worst thing we can do is resort to the state ordinance because it is inadequate protection because local control is vital to protecting our own resources. Mr. Smith said the DNR can give a permit without a subdivision ever having come to the Tybee Council as evidenced by Mr. Fitzer’s petition earlier tonight. He said Ms. Shipman who is head of the DNR in Brunswick sent an e-mail earlier today stating someone can build in the dunes without a state shore permit if our shore jurisdiction line is seaward of that area of the dune. He said this is what can happen if we don’t put 10 feet from the toe of the dune in our ordinance. Mr. Brown said he doesn’t think anyone knows where that line is or where it would apply. Mr. Brown asked Mr. Hughes if they could revisit this at any given time. Mr. Hughes said yes. Mr. Hughes said they had a public hearing on the earlier draft that included the repeal of the existing provision as part of the intention to adopt what was then proposed. He said there was a lot of discussion or misunderstanding and maybe some misinformation about what was in there like someone mentioned tonight about the 250 foot rule. He said it wasn’t a no build area and since the last meeting there was communication about just eliminating the 250 foot and leave it as build only by special review if you don’t have the toe of the dune or a seawall. He said council’s choices are unlimited but should another text be presented it should go through the Public Hearing process. Mr. Brown asked if most of the property owners gave up twenty five feet of their property for the first beach renourishment back in 1979. Mr. Hughes said he wasn’t here but as a part of the first renourishment the city had to acquire all of the rights in properties east of the Seawall in front. Mr. Hughes said when the Back River area was renourished the second time the owners had to grant easements to insure there was access to the public. He said they retained ownership of some of Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 7 of 11 those areas but gave up a significant amount of rights. He said Tybee’s Charter isolates 18 feet Landward of the Seawall from any construction in the area that was formerly fronting the strand. He said at the time the strand ran from 18th Street to the curve. He said the seawall kept going but the strand didn’t. He said apparently in connection with the seawall being built that provision was placed in the Charter allowing the city to convey its rights in the strand to the abutting owners but restricted what could be done with it. Mr. Brown asked who trumps who. Mr. Hughes said the State would ultimately trump the Charter but the Charter would govern what we can do on a local level. Mr. Smith asked if we give up our right in Shore Protection and rescind all of our ordinances then the state controls and the 18 feet is a mute point. Mr. Crone said the 18 feet is in the Charter and all we are doing is giving it back to the people but we still can control what they do with it. Mr. Hughes said he thinks if someone applied to build within 18 feet of the seawall to DNR and if they fell within their line that is the big issue is where their line is and would you know about it. He said he thinks the city should take the position that they cannot be authorized to do that under what is the local charter. He said he doesn’t know if DNR would acknowledge that and agree or not. Mr. Brown asked who controlled the Shore Protection Line prior to 2001. Mr. Hughes said the state. Mr. Brown asked if Mr. Hughes knew of anyone that had been allowed to build in the dunes in the last 25 years. Mr. Hughes said they apparently got pretty close since they had to remove the dunes from their house. Mr. Brown said they would have to move those dunes regardless. He said the state only gave permission for them to move the sand from their back porch. Mr. Hughes said those houses would have been there long before the dunes. He said the State got into Shore Protection in the 70s and before that Tybee had its own Shore Protection Ordinance that required an Engineering Survey every five years and it cost a fortune. He said when the state came along Tybee got out of the business. He said years later when the state was thought not to be restrictive enough and they do permit construction; the state encouraged the city to adopt an ordinance of its own and the city did. Mr. Brown asked if the state denied a permit for an emergency access road on the beach by the pavilion. Mr. Hughes said the state tabled the permit until December. He said regardless of if the state gave a permit to build within the 18 feet; the owner would still have to get a building permit from us and he doesn’t think we would issue the permit. Mr. Smith asked if the ten foot from the toe of the dune requirement was in the state ordinance. Mr. Hughes said it is not in their ordinance it is just something they do for right now. Mayor Buelterman asked if the city could deny someone that wanted to build within 18 feet of the seawall even if they were outside of the jurisdiction line. Ms. Allen said as long as they were 18 feet within the Seawall. Mayor Buelterman said that restriction ends at the curve and you can go north of the anchor all the way around to the Lazaretto Creek Bridge and if you have been out there lately there are a lot of trees 20 feet high. He asked if there was a possibility of getting sued because of people knowing the city had more restrictive ordinances and now someone would be allowed to build. Mr. Brown said we don’t know who owns that property. Mayor Buelterman said the idea of a tree delineating your line doesn’t make any sense to him. Mr. Smith said the area in front of Captains row is owned by the association and is maintained by the association. He said the property in question and in the conservation easement is the property to the right of Van Horn and around to the front of Lighthouse Point and it has several Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 8 of 11 twenty foot trees in it. Mr. Wolff said several meetings ago they had a proposal in front of them that was discussed at length and had input from several scientist as well as the Planning Commission and DNR. He said they proposed some changes that would plug the holes that concern some of us and he thinks they need to look at that again instead of just retracting everything they have on the books and leaving themselves at the mercy of DNR. The vote was Crone, Doyle, Brewer and Brown in favor and Smith and Wolff opposed. *** Mr. Crone moved to approve for 2nd Reading the Amendment to Section 6-12 Alcoholic Beverages at Special Events to allow on Private Property, Ms. Doyle seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mr. Crone moved to approve for 2nd Reading the Amendment to Chapter 54 Article III- Alcoholic Beverages at Special Events to allow on Private Property, Mr. Wolff seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mayor Buelterman asked council to allow staff to look into Tybee becoming designated as bike friendly. Ms. Schleicher said it will be cheaper to do it now because we can pursue it along with the City of Savannah and have the bike community work with us on our assessment and evaluation. She said she would like to continue to investigate and bring a report back for council’s consideration. Mayor Buelterman requested this item be added to the action items list. Mr. Brown asked that bikes on Jones Avenue be included on the action items list. *** Mr. Brewer said for the last few months he has followed some of the information that is brought before us at council meetings about polls and data. He said he questions the validity of the information. He said from what he can tell a lot of the information is submitted through e-mail and doesn’t contain a person’s name but instead contains an e-mail name. He said they have found over time that some people that speak to them have multiple e-mails and have submitted information under one name and now have a different e-mail. He said a city that allows for information to be distributed through the city needs to have some test of validity for the information. He said he read an article recently that said city’s that have public meetings should be very careful about the information that is passed across the media. He said groups that use political type statements on subjects that are political in nature continue to drive the division of this island. He said he has had people tell him that they responded to a survey and their response was not accepted. He said that tells him there is someone that gets to choose who gets into the poll and who doesn’t. Mr. Brewer moved to require any Polls or Surveys brought before City Council be submitted to City Clerk and verified to contain addresses of Tybee Residents. Mr. Smith seconded and asked for clarification on whether this pertains to items listed on the agenda that Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 9 of 11 are pertinent to the survey. Mr. Brewer said no because surveys are given at almost every meeting whether they involve items on the agenda or not. Mayor Buelterman asked if this was a 1st amendment or constitutional issue. He said he should have let Mr. Hughes know he was going to ask that question. Mr. Hughes said there is a lot going on in this area about anonymous publications, particularly political things. Mr. Hughes requested to look into possible 1st amendment implications. He said one issue is where they control the information that comes before them where they have a good bit of control and at least that it be verified who the information is coming from but content you would not have any control over. He said if it all remains anonymous it is up to council to determine how much credit they give it. He said he thinks they could require that all petitions be signed with an address provided. Mr. Smith asked if the group’s website is linked to the city website. Mr. Wolff said he feels that the more people they hear from the better and he feels that anyone that goes through the time and trouble to put out a survey and bring them the results should be listened to. Mr. Brewer said he feels they should be presenting accurate information to the community and there is other media that could be utilized for the survey information to be given to the public. Mr. Smith said he agrees with both Mr. Wolff and Mr. Brewer in that we need all the help we can get and if you have an opinion there is nothing wrong with signing your name to it. Ms. Doyle asked Mr. Hughes if they should allow him to look into this before they take a vote. Mr. Hughes said he would like to look into this before it becomes policy to keep council from running afoul of the 1st amendment. He requested to see the article Mr. Brewer referred to. Mr. Brewer said if it is council’s wish to allow Mr. Hughes to do his due diligence and bring this back for the next meeting it’s alright with him. Mr. Hughes said he would bring it back for consideration at 2nd meeting in October. Mr. Brewer withdrew his motion, Mr. Smith withdrew his second. *** Mr. Hughes said a while back council directed a more concise version of the ethics ordinance be prepared and submitted to the ethics commission and that was done. He said he attended one meeting with them but they had an additional meeting and made suggestions that he thought were incorporated into the ordinance but were not. Mr. Wolff said the commission has not had time to review the changes and it would be a great disservice to not allow them time for their review. Mr. Brown moved to send the Revised Ethics Ordinance to the Ethics Commission for their review and recommendation, Mr. Wolff seconded. The vote was Brown, Wolff, Brewer, Doyle and Smith in favor and Crone opposed. *** Mr. Hughes said they need to remove a specific recycling charge from the ordinance and have it as an amount established by the Mayor and Council to be provided. He said this is consistent with what we have done regarding other fee schedules and eliminating having to go for 1st and 2nd readings if you want to change what the charge is. Mr. Wolff moved to approve for 1st Reading the amendment to section 22-196. Solid Waste Ordinance regarding recycling fees, Mr. Crone seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 10 of 11 Mr. Hughes said this ordinance will permit animals that otherwise would not be permitted on the island except in cases of special events. He said this will be included in the event application and dealt with at that time. Mayor Buelterman requested a line be added to the application to list what animals the event is planning to bring. Mr. Wolff moved to approve for 1st Reading the amendment to section 10.7 Special Events-Animals temporarily permitted, Ms. Doyle seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Jet Pay Contract-Mr. Hughes requested holding off on this contract due to the regular issues which are the contract terminating at the end of the calendar year. *** Comcast/Campground Contract-Mr. Hughes requested holding off on this contract because it has to be adjusted to read the campground is actually owned by the Recreation Authority and not the city. *** Mr. Hughes said the printer was approved as part of the budget but this contract has council submitting themselves to the jurisdiction of Illinois and Illinois law controls and it has an indemnity provision. He said the current printer agreement that was signed by the Manager at the time had us already under the jurisdiction of Illinois. Mr. Hughes said Ms. Schleicher explained that we agreed to use GMA leasing for items like this in order to avoid this situation but the rates have changed and made it cost effective to lease with someone else. Ms. Schleicher said staff has looked at three machines and this is the best one for making the office more efficient and will be able to interface. She said there is some risk. Mr. Brown asked if there were a local contractor to provide this printer. Ms. Schleicher said it is a local contractor but their home office is out of state and that is where the contracts are generated. Mr. Wolff move to approve the OCE Financial Services Contract for Planning Department Printer based on staff recommendation, Mr. Brown seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mr. Wolff moved to go into Executive Session to discuss Litigation and Personnel, Mr. Brewer seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mr. Wolff moved to end Executive Session, Mr. Smith seconded. The vote was unanimous. *** Mr. Brown moved to adjourn, Mr. Smith seconded. The vote was unanimous. Prepared on 10/13/08vw Page 11 of 11 _____________________________________ Mayor Jason Buelterman ____________________________________ Vivian Woods, Clerk of Council