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20090108 City Council Minutes
CONSIDERATION OF ITEMS FOR CONSENT AGENDA
Mayor Jason Buelterman called the Consent Agenda Meeting to order at 6:30pm on Thursday,
January 8, 2009. Council members present were Mayor pro tem Wanda Doyle, Charlie Brewer, Barry
Brown, Eddie Crone, Dick Smith and Paul Wolff. Also present were City Attorney Bubba Hughes, City
Manager Diane Schleicher and Planning Director Brannyn Allen.
Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda:
Council Minutes for 11/13/08
Council Minutes for 12/11/08
Special Event Beer and Wine License- Mardi Gras February 20 & 21, 2009-South End
Parking Lot.
Contract Amendment for Waste Pro regarding Garbage Cart Rate Changes
Rejection of Ante Litem Notice for Elizabeth Ledford
A MOTION by Councilman Wolff, seconded by Mayor pro tem Doyle, was unanimously
adopted (6-0) to approve going into Executive Session to discuss Litigation.
A MOTION by Councilman Wolff, seconded by Councilman Smith, was unanimously
adopted (6-0) to approve ending Executive Session.
OPENING CEREMONIES
Mayor Jason Buelterman called the regular meeting to order at 7:00pm. Those in attendance at
the Consent Agenda were also in attendance for the regular meeting. The invocation was given by
Reverend David Laughner of Chapel by the Sea Baptist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to
the American Flag.
CONSIDERATION OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS
A MOTION by Councilman Wolff, seconded by Mayor pro tem Doyle, was
unanimously adopted (6-0) to approve items on the Consent Agenda.
CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
Mayor Buelterman thanked the Fire Department for their quick response to the fire that broke out
on New Year’s Eve at the Fleetwood’s house. He said they did an incredible job.
Mr. Rusty Fleetwood said it was his family house that burnt. He said his cousins were staying
there and had just finished supper when the fire broke out. He said they had about three minutes to get
out and call 911. He said apparently the fireworks causing the blaze came from some unknown and
unthinking person on the beach. He expressed heartfelt thanks and requested council consider placing
beach patrols or extra personnel when conditions warrant on special occasions like this in order to
monitor and control persons exhibiting irresponsible behavior without regard to weather conditions,
locations or other factors.
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Mayor Jason Buelterman announced the first ever Island wide Sidewalk Sale on January24th
starting at 8:00am at the Islands Dentistry parking lot and on the Strand.
Ms. Holly Lanford, Principal of St. Michael’s School said St. Michael’s is the only school on Tybee
Island and recently celebrated its 60th anniversary. She said they serve children of all faiths and currently
have sixty four students enrolled. She said the school is supported by the stewardship of St. Michael’s
church and in addition the community has always supported their school. She asked citizens to consider
purchasing reverse raffle tickets or donating to their scholarship fund. She announced an open house on
January 24th from 9-11am.
Mr. Brian Beaudreau, President of the School Board said both of his sons attended St. Michael’s
school from K-4 through 8th grade. He said their school needs the help of the people of Tybee because
they are in difficult times. He said Catholic School enrollment is down not only in Chatham County but
nationwide. He said they need one hundred children enrolled in order to be a viable school. He said the
community can help by enrolling their kids in St. Michael’s if they are not currently enrolled or donating
money in the form of a scholarship or time by getting involved with the school in some way.
Father Thomas Peyton said he has known Tybee for forty one years. He said Tybee is special
because it is family oriented and has been blessed so much. He asked that this community come alive as
he has heard it does for various events. He announced their annual Oyster Roast on Super bowl Sunday
and said the grand prize for the reverse raffle will be $10,000. He said tickets can be purchased with a
donation of $100 each.
Ms. Judith Snow announced the World Peace through Inclusion tour. She said she is in the
research phase of the project to develop a strategy to get a message to the world that inclusion of people
with different abilities creates a peaceful environment and creates an opportunity for people to learn to be
peaceful with each other. She said they have made their home on Tybee Island while they are doing
research. She expressed gratitude for the opportunity to dig in and conduct this research and for the
hospitality shown at the Rivers End Campground. She said anyone wanting them to give a workshop or
speech should come to the campground and talk with them.
Mayor Jason Buelterman announced that he and Ms. Woods will be working on a policy for the
auditorium outlining where cameras can be set up due to the increased popularity of the meetings and the
fact that there are three cameras on them already. He said they will figure out how to handle this situation
and deal with it effectively.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Consideration of Conceptual Approval of a Major Subdivision of land(Section 5-130) and
Zoning Variance(Section 5-090) from Section 10-080(E), Street Design and Construction
Specifications: Mark Boswell, Site Engineer for Frank McNeal, 708 Butler Ave (private
drive to be named McNeal Lane) PIN#4-0005-20-006.
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Mr. Crone recused himself due to his employment relationship and the possible financial interest
of his employer’s family.
Ms. Allen introduced the petition and said the petitioner has made minor changes to the Site Plan
that was presented to the Planning Commission based on feedback received from the Planning
Commission. She said Planning Commission had Density and Green space concerns as well as
protecting the trees. She said the petitioner reduced the number of lots to ten consisting of eight single
family and two duplexes. She said they narrowed the roadway down to twenty feet which would hopefully
protect some green space and increase the front yard setbacks to thirty feet. She said one question that
came up at Planning Commission was about tree protection and those areas are shown on your plat and
will be placed in a conservation easement as well as some of the dune areas. She said Planning
Commission recommended denial.
Mr. Wolff said this plan is similar to the one presented in 2006 but the changes made since
planning commission is a step in the right direction. He said the only jurisdiction for protecting the dunes
behind the duplexes is DNR. Ms. Allen said correct. Ms. Allen said in applying the subdivision regulations
that are in the land development code and are designed for suburban developments in Chatham County;
a true hardship by the true definition of the land development code is not there. Mr. Hughes said he and
Ms. Allen have discussed this and they have had subdivisions approved with private drives for example
that are significantly narrower than what the regulations call for without addressing those as variance
issues. He said except for Battery Row there are a lot of subdivisions that have private drives narrower
than sixty feet. Mr. Hughes said depending on how it’s done, if you own to the lot line and your lot is
burdened by an easement, you still own to the lot line and your setback is from your lot line and so it
overlaps with the easement. He said if your lot line stops and abuts the easement, you still have to
setback from your lot line. He said not in every case of a private drive does your setback get measured
from the center of the easement as opposed to the edge of the easement and it depends on how you set
it up.
Mr. Brown asked if Planning Commission should review the changes first. Ms. Allen said no
because the changes were based on feedback from Planning Commission and this is only conceptual
review and the whole project will have to go back before Planning Commission and Council.
Mr. Mark Boswell representing owner Frank McNeal said they did reduce the number of lots from
15 to 10 as a result of the feedback from Planning Commission. He said other than narrowing the road
they also pushed the setback out five feet changing their building setback from twenty five to thirty feet.
He said they also put the dunes behind the lot into a conservation easement. Mr. Brown asked if the line
marked on the plan was a DNR toe of the dune line. Mr. Boswell said yes. Mr. Brown asked if they have
a building set back line from the toe of the dune. Mr. Boswell said the building setback should be shown
but he thinks they made them one hundred feet and they actually figured five feet in the middle from the
toe of the dune and it’s about twenty feet from the corners.
Mr. Wolff asked the last time the property had been flagged by the DNR. Mr. Boswell said she
went out towards the end of last week but she would not put the flags up until we get ready to send out a
surveyor because the last set she put out, somebody ripped them down.
Mr. Wolff said there are still Oak Trees slated for removal and these lots don’t have to be squares
or rectangles and could be more creatively designed to save these trees and the road doesn’t have to be
a straight line. Mr. Boswell said he intended to snake the road in but decided to keep it straight to avoid
confusion.
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Mr. Smith asked how many of the Oak Trees were going to be lost with the proposed plan. Mr.
Boswell said he has not counted. Mr. Wolff estimated six. Mr. Boswell said six or seven is probably right.
He said they intend to dig up the palm trees and line the road with as many as possible and relocate the
rest on site. Ms. Allen said they will have to mitigate the trees either by planting appropriate trees on site
or contributing to the city’s tree bank.
Mr. Smith said this does show a ten foot setback line from the toe of the dune. Mr. Boswell said
the line shown on there is not actually coinciding with the toe of the dune because the toe of the dune
kind of moves. He said they basically picked a point that would keep the dunes five feet from that setback
and squared it off. Mr. Brown asked if Mr. Boswell would consider drawing a ten foot line from the toe of
the dune. Mr. Boswell said yes he would consider that but ultimately that would be the owners call but he
thinks the owner would.
Mr. Aronson spoke in opposition to the petition. He said they did not receive a public hearing
letter for this petition. He said his first concern is that sometime in the future access to this property will be
sought through 8th Street. Mr. Boswell stated this subdivision will not be connected to 8th Street. Mr.
Aronson said he hopes this project does not disregard all of the hard work that went into the master plan.
Mr. Seiler said his main concern has been to protect the oak trees that abut his property. He said
the trees are depicted in what is called the conservation easement on the plan. He said he can’t find the
term Conservation Easement in the law but he finds it used a lot down here and he thinks he understands
what they are talking about. He said an easement is a right of way to go from one side to the other or to
put down sewer lines, gas lines or electric lines but what they are talking about here is a natural buffer.
He said in order to do this properly that property will have to be conveyed to the City of Tybee and they
will have to accept it and it will be defined as perpetuity and as a natural ground of oak trees. He said it
doesn’t have to be maintained by anybody and we certainly don’t want it to be a park. He said we need
for it to be conveyed to the City of Tybee and then it is taken off of the tax digest which helps everybody
except maybe the county. He asked if there was any hesitation on the part of the city to accept this little
plot of oak trees. Mr. Hughes said as Mr. Seiler mentioned it does result in a tax break and generally that
is one reason owners do them and they do have to involve a conveyance to a government body or a land
trust and are done with certain restrictions as to what can or can’t be done with the property. He said a
recent conveyance on 19th Street left it in its natural vegetative condition without any additional activities.
He said it would entail a conveyance to the city of the easement right. He said they would continue to own
the fee and get whatever tax benefit they could get out of it but the city would own the easement and
have the right to enforce the easement. Mr. Seiler said Mr. Boswell was nice enough to meet him on the
property and walk him through it in order to satisfy him on all of the issues his crowd was sensitive about.
He said he is very concerned about leaving that easement too loosely tied and he doesn’t want to hear a
chainsaw over there that is not tied to and enforced by the city of Tybee because they will be watching it
like a hawk.
Ms. Levy said she is very concerned that the petitioner has not done a drainage plan because
this is only a conceptual review. She said she is concerned and they need to revisit the drainage at some
point before the plan is approved. Ms. Allen said the drainage plans have been submitted to the city and
are currently being reviewed by the City’s Consulting Engineer, Downer Davis and standard procedure is
that comments go back and forth and the plan revised accordingly before it comes back before Planning
Commission and City Council for final review.
Mr. Edwin Longwater said he walks his dog down Butler Ave. adjoining this property. He said he
is speaking for two of the oak trees. He said they are the only oak trees on the island that extend out past
Butler Ave. He said these giants of antiquity are not only their connection to the past but our link to the
future. He said some oak trees live to be seven hundred to one thousand years old and these are only
two to three hundred years old. He said the developer wants to place what he considers “ticky, tacky,
stack-a-shacks” in a beautiful neighborhood destroying the integrity because this neighborhood only has
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single family dwellings on it. He said there are alternatives that can save these trees and enhance the
value of the property. He said at best we are the caretakers of this island and at worst we are the spoilers
driven by greed. He said he would hope that all of the trees are protected so that his grandchildren and
their grandchildren and future grandchildren enjoy them.
Mr. Longwater asked how many more toilets are going to be flushed during the peak season
here. He said we have a problem with our sewage. He asked what the average consumption of water
would be during the peak season.
Mr. Longwater said the dunes move and grow and who’s to say in fifteen years the dune won’t be
encroaching on this entire house that is proposed ten feet from the dune. He gave the following quote
from the Iroquios Confederacy “In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on
the next seven generations”.
Mr. Boswell went over to the plan and counted sixteen oak trees that would be saved. He pointed
out trees with x’s over them as the ones planned to be taken out and said they are small oaks. He said
they are not planning to touch the larger oaks at the front of the property. Mr. Wolff asked Mr. Boswell to
consider trying to save two additional trees with long arms that come out and are not located at the front
of the property. Mr. Boswell said they would consider it as this is not written in stone.
Mr. Boswell said in response to Mr. Longwater’s description of the houses, that he must have
access to floor plans no one knows about because he is not aware of existing plans for structures on this
property. He said they arranged the lots around the existing house so they would not have to move it.
A MOTION to approve was made by Mayor pro tem Doyle, seconded by Councilman Smith.
Mr. Brown asked if Mr. Boswell was willing to get approval for recommended changes from the
owners and bring this petition back to council. Mayor Buelterman asked Mayor pro tem Doyle if she would
withdraw her motion and Councilman Smith his second. Mayor pro tem Doyle and Councilman Smith
withdrew their motions.
Ms. Allen said there are a lot of issues to be worked out such as drainage and trees, etc. and those
will all be worked out before there is a final plan that comes before them. She said the owner wanted
feedback before going any further down the road. Mr. Boswell said they will take council’s concerns and
hopefully work out all the details before coming back with the final plans. Mr. Seiler said it was true what
Mr. Boswell said, that it is his opinion that there are trees there that should come out whether they build
anything in there or not because they are either dead or diseased and they are not all oak trees. Mr.
Seiler said Mr. McNeal called him and asked if he had received the new plan to look at and talked to him
about his concerns. He said Mr. McNeal said he was just as interested in protecting that oak grove as Mr.
Seiler was and he assured him it would be protected.
A MOTION by Mayor pro tem Doyle, seconded by Councilman Smith was adopted (3-2) to approve
this petition. Voting in favor was Doyle, Smith and Brewer with Brown and Wolff voting in opposition.
ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND ZONING VARIANCES
Consideration of 2nd Reading of the Text Amendment for the North End Cultural Overlay
District.
A MOTION by Mayor pro tem Doyle, seconded by Councilman Smith, was made to approve.
Mr. Wolff requested an amendment to include the exception of Miniature Golf
Courses in Section I number 4.
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AN AMENDED MOTION was made by Mayor pro tem Doyle for approval with addition to include
the exception of Miniature Golf Courses allowed in Section I number 4, seconded by Councilman Smith
and was unanimously adopted (6-0).
Consideration of 2nd Reading of the Map Amendment for the North End Cultural Overlay
District.
A MOTION by Councilman Wolff seconded by Councilman Smith, was unanimously
adopted (6-0) to approve for second reading the map amendment for the North End Cultural Overlay
District.
Consideration of a Resolution for the GMA Lease on Emergency Sirens.
A MOTION by Councilman Wolff seconded by Councilman Smith to approve the Resolution and
Lease.
Mr. Brown asked what the loan amount was. Mayor Buelterman said $123,000 and asked if this
was a part of the budget and plans when we approved the budget. Ms. Schleicher said yes and said the
rate has gone up but the GMA said they would hold the current rate.
Mr. Brown asked if this money would go back into the General Fund to be spent any which way.
Ms. Schleicher said it will go back into the General Fund but if Mr. Brown wanted to, they could put it in a
segregated account.
Mr. Brown said he thinks they should use this money on paving roads, the 14th Street Drainage
project if needed or the Byers Street Crossover. Ms. Schleicher said they are doing fine on the Byers
Street Crossover because of doing it in house and also on the 14th Street drainage project but they could
have it earmarked and set aside.
Mayor Buelterman said they would ask Ms. Kline to come back with a specific proposal to see if
council agrees with Mr. Brown’s idea of putting it all towards those projects.
Mr. Brewer asked what the advantage was for obtaining the leases now because he knows Ms.
Schleicher has held a million dollars back to protect city operations. He asked if taking on debt is a smart
strategy in this economy. He said he is being asked why the city is not taking a pay as we go strategy in
this type of economy. Ms. Schleicher said it’s a balancing act and she likes to use pay as you go if we
have the opportunity to do that. She said sometimes it is good to borrow for projects and spread it out
over time because you have multiple tax payers paying for that item and get to enjoy the use of that item.
She said they had planned to lease the sirens to help with their liquidity and that is what they talked about
during the budget.
Mr. Brewer asked if this could be tabled until the next meeting, when Ms. Kline will be giving a
financial report, and as they get the cash flow reports for January they could take a look at how this
liquidity is fitting into that cash flow picture. He said he didn’t feel good about making a big financial
decision now when they haven’t seen the cash flow and balances for January. He said he thinks they are
working in the dark a little bit and he is not comfortable with that. Ms. Schleicher said the rates will go up
and the Sirens won’t qualify. She said there is an aging process and you have to put things on a lease in
a certain amount of time.
Mr. Crone recommended they put the money aside for infrastructure and spend it mainly on
roads.
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Mr. Wolff said it would behoove them to lock in these interest rates because as the economy
improves over the next few years they could likely make more money investing the money that they would
otherwise be spending on this and gain some interest. He said in the meantime they will have positive
cash flow that will get them through the lean times. He said he doesn’t want to encumber that money and
believes it should go back into the General Fund without restrictions because they will need some of that
money to make payments on the leases and they don’t know where their true needs are going to come
during the economic downturn.
Mr. Smith asked Ms. Schleicher about the spread on the interest rate. Mayor Buelterman asked if
we would make the money back on our interest from our savings account. Ms. Schleicher said not right
now because our savings interest is lower than that right now. Mr. Smith said at the interest rate of 3.22
he would be in favor of it. He said that is a very low interest rate.
Mr. Brewer asked for the motion to be restated. Mayor Buelterman stated the motion was to
approve the lease for the sirens
THE VOTE WAS tied (3-3), with Wolff, Smith and Crone in favor and Brewer, Brown and Doyle
opposed. Mayor Buelterman broke the tie in favor of the motion to approve.
Consideration of Resolution for the GMA Lease on Automated Meter Reading System.
A MOTION to table by Councilman Brewer, seconded by Councilman Brown, was tied (3-3)
with Brewer, Brown and Doyle in favor and Crone, Smith and Wolff in opposition. Mayor Buelterman
broke the tie in opposition to the motion to table.
A MOTION to approve the Resolution and Lease by Councilman Wolff, seconded by
Councilman Crone and was tied (3-3) with Wolff, Crone and Smith in favor and Brewer, Brown and Doyle
in opposition. Mayor Buelterman broke the tie in favor of the motion to approve.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
A MOTION to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel was made by Councilman Wolff
and seconded by Mayor pro tem Doyle, the motion was unanimously adopted (6-0).
A MOTION to end Executive Session and return to Regular Session was made by Councilman
Wolff, seconded by Mayor pro tem Doyle, was unanimously adopted (6-0).
Councilman Crone left the meeting after Executive Session was adjourned.
A MOTION to adjourn was made by Councilman Wolff, seconded by Councilman Brown, was
unanimously adopted (6-0).
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Mayor Jason Buelterman
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Vivian O. Woods, Clerk of Council