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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20100610CCMinutesApprovedMinutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 1 of 14 20100610 City Council Minutes Mayor Buelterman called the Consent Agenda meeting to order at 6:30pm on Thursday, June 10, 2010. Council Members present were Mayor pro tem Shirley Sessions, Wanda Doyle, Bill Garbett, Frank Schuman, Sr., Kathryn Williams and Paul Wolff. Also present were Attorneys Dana Braun and Daniel Tucker, City Manager Diane Schleicher and Zoning Director Jonathan Lynn. City Attorney Bubba Hughes was out of town. Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda: Rusty Fleetwood-Appointment to Community Resource Committee Karen Kelly-Appointment to Community Resource Committee Resolution encouraging county officials to redesign and prioritize funding improvements to Highway 80 from Bull River to the Lazaretto Bridge. Access Easement agreements relating to the Crawford Trust on Estill Ave. Council discussed the Resolution to county officials concerning Hwy. 80. Ms. Williams said she is in favor of double-decking the roadway, having one direction going East and one direction going West on top of each other. Mr. Wolff said that is not a cost effective option. Mayor Buelterman said he doesn’t believe that is being proposed at this time. Mayor Buelterman said personally he would recommend an elevated causeway, but doesn’t believe there is budget money for it. Ms. Williams said in the last year there has been water over the roadway more times than in the past. She said an elevated causeway would be safe for getting residents off the island if the roadway was covered with water. Mr. Wolff said he doesn’t support the DOT plan for a 280 foot swath but he would be happy with a reversible lane and a bike lane. He said no matter what we do, we need to raise the road for obvious reasons. He said he attended a NOAA workshop in which some pretty frightening projections were given by scientist including the Georgia Climatologist. He said in all probability in the next 50 to 100 years, that road will be under water much more frequently. Ms. Williams said she worked in Thunderbolt when they widened hwy 80 from Johnny Mercer to the Thunderbolt Bridge. She said you would think adding one more lane or 20 feet of road is not that much but they filled in a tremendous amount of marsh. The traffic delays were horrendous for months and months. She said the current plan that DOT has basically destroys the rails to trail path. She said she doesn’t think anyone wants to see that path compromised. Mr. Wolff recommended amending the resolution to read widening and elevating. Ms. Doyle said she attended a luncheon with many engineers present and talked to one about hwy 80 and raising it to a causeway. She said he agreed that was the way to go but it cost so much more money. She said she did not have a problem with the way the resolution was written but would agree to add the language recommended by Mr. Wolff. Mr. Wolff restated the changes for the resolution as widen and or elevate. He explained that elevate did not mean he was suggesting a causeway but the roadway itself needed to be raised. Mr. Braun explained the access easement agreement relating to the Crawford Trust. He said there is an unopened right of way on Estill that the city owns and this agreement would grant an easement to that Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 2 of 14 property because the only access that property has is through the lots on Bay Street. He said the Crawford Trust would have an easement over the unopened right of way on Estill. He said any improvements needed would have to be paid by the Trust. There would be no obligation by the city to fund paving or anything else. Mr. Lynn explained that the property owners are concerned about the city selling off the unopened right of way on Estill which would cut off access to their lots. This agreement would insure that they maintain access. Mr. Wolff asked if the city would have oversight on how the improvements were done and if our use of the roadway for a bike trail or utilities would in no way be affected. Mr. Braun answered yes. Mayor Buelterman adjourned the Consent Agenda. Mayor Buelterman called the regular meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00pm. Those present at the Consent Agenda were also in attendance for the regular meeting. Father Peyton of St. Michael’s Catholic Church gave the invocation and everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Mayor Buelterman announced the annual Tybee sock hop will be on June 26th at the American Legion to benefit the Milton Project. Please call 786-0786 for tickets. The Marine Science Center is hosting a Kayak Race on Saturday, June 12th, registration begins at 7:00am. Additional information is on the Marine Science Center Website. Mayor Buelterman expressed appreciation for the additional citizens attending the meeting. He explained that over a decade ago the citizens elected to have a City Manager form of government on Tybee and changed our Charter. The City Council does not oversee department heads, the City Manager does. He said he understands a lot of people are here for personnel matters but those personnel matters are under the purview of the City Manager. He encouraged everyone to speak to any items already listed on the agenda but there are no items relative to personnel on the agenda tonight. Dr. Jerry Williams addressed council, requesting an Emergency Medical Stabilization Unit, to be established at the old school to provide stabilization care as needed. His request was to provide care for three major patient types; Cardiac, near downing and trauma patients when road conditions and/or weather conditions delay timely transport of critically ill patients to the Hospitals in Savannah. He said we have a helicopter service that has been called twelve times in the last year and was only able to come four times meaning two thirds of the time the helicopter cannot arrive. He said the Helicopter has very good reasons consisting of Mechanical, Weather or being on another call for a sick or injured person. He said we have a wonderful hurricane program but we have no program for mass casualties or multiple injury victims other than our ambulance that is here. They have numerous physicians that either live on the Island full time or part time and they have volunteered to be put on a list to be available. It is his understanding that Tybee has a tremendous resource of Nurses as well. He asked for everyone to be problem solvers and not problem creators as they address this proposal. He said he would like the unit named after Dawn Piper because it was her untimely death that provided the Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 3 of 14 inspiration for the idea. Mayor Buelterman recommended the Public Safety Committee take a look at this at their regular meeting. Mr. Wolff asked for an approximate estimate of space needed and set up costs. Dr. Williams said they would need approximately 250 sq feet and He said Memorial Hospital has generously agreed to stock this unit with already depreciated medical equipment. He said the equipment has plenty of life left in it and will be checked over by their medical engineering and equipment division and would be given free of charge. Mr. Wolff asked if they would only need medications. Dr. Williams advised the city to talk with the Med One ambulance service because they would be using the consumables any way. Mr. Wolff expressed appreciation to Dr. Williams for bringing this to them. Ms. Sessions asked council to think about this request and send their questions to Ms. Doyle so she can share them with Dr. Williams and he will be prepared to answer the questions when he makes his request to the Committee. Dr. Williams said his number is well published and he would be happy to have any questions at any time. Ms. Doyle asked Mayor Buelterman to request that all speakers coming to the podium speak directly to Mayor and City Council. Pam O’Brien asked Mayor Buelterman to read the Resolution to County Officials. She asked if this resolution basically approves the plan presented by the DOT. Mayor Buelterman responded that during the discussion at the Consent Agenda, council agreed to leave the resolution not as specific and just ask for their support to widen and elevate Hwy 80 and replace the two bridges. Ms. O’Brien asked if it could be interpreted to mean we are approving the plan as originally presented. Mayor Buelterman said not in his opinion because we have made it abundantly clear over the last four years that we would like to see them start with the bridges and separate the projects out and deal with the roadway in an environmentally sensitive way. Ms. O’Brien said she was fortunate enough to be appointed to the Citizens Advisory Committee of the Chatham Urban Transportation System. She was one of two representatives for Tybee on that organization. She said this project came before them many years ago with an original price tag of eighty something million dollars. She said the plan that was presented went through the process where public meetings were held with citizens and residents for their input. She said the feedback from those meetings was excellent and was pretty contentious at times. This has been a big issue for us as a little island. She said the original proposed four lane estimated twenty thousand cars a day on the road. She said she is concerned that we are opening a door to bring twenty thousand cars a day to the island and we are not prepared to handle them. She said the group had agreed on three lanes that would accommodate the emergency vehicles, the road needed to be elevated for safety in many areas and the bridges were a priority. She asked if we have new drawings from the DOT based on the feedback from those public meetings many years ago. Mayor Buelterman said we don’t, we still have the same plans in place. Ms. O’Brien asked council to be more specific as a body and not to leave ambiguity on this matter. Ms. Doyle said according to our traffic count we are already having 15,000 to 16,000 vehicles coming across that road and its bumper to bumper traffic. She said we have to start somewhere and if Pat Farrell is reaching out to us as a county commissioner in order to start some kind of dialogue, we’ve got to start somewhere. Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 4 of 14 Freda Rutherford addressed council concerning the Crawford Trust on Estill Ave. She asked why the request did not go to the Planning Commission. This council has had many experiences with land and roads in that area, related to this Crawford Trust. She had hoped it would get more scrutiny than just coming before this council and being put on the Consent Agenda. Ms. Rutherford addressed council concerning Hwy 80. She said she sent pictures to Mayor Buelterman several months ago of the causeway that goes from Tampa to Clearwater and had discussions with him concerning that causeway because it is at ground level, has fishing places along side of it and it is very scenic as well as user friendly. She said after the experience at Dauphin Island of Hurricanes undercutting raised access roads, she thought he was opposed to the road having raised access if it did get approved. She feels it would be a huge error to raise that road for safety reasons. She said the other point that has bothered her from the beginning is where we plan on putting all the cars that come to this island when they get here. Mayor Buelterman said he went before the CUTS Committee several years ago to express concern about the current plan that Ms. O’Brien was talking about because of what happened with Katrina and how the really high causeways were wiped out. Mayor Buelterman said he doesn’t think any of council wants to see the existing plans that DOT developed 15 years ago. He said the number one thing is if someone gets hurt out here in a wreck and there is a storm, there is no way to get anyone off the island. He said whether you have fifteen thousand, twenty thousand or two thousand, if those bridges are blocked like we had during that wreck on the Bull River Bridge; little kids were stranded at Coastal Middle School for eight hours. He said we need to do something about this just for us alone. He said there is no turn off lanes on those two bridges. He said they decided with all the stimulus money going to bridges and with that Minnesota Bridge collapse, we could potentially get the bridges replaced and that hasn’t happened. He said we tried everything and we couldn’t get it done and now the County Officials are expressing support for this. He is trying to give them Tybee’s support because we need to do something about that road. Ms. Rutherford said she is concerned that after all the letters written during the public meetings, there has not been one word of feedback from the DOT to the citizens of Tybee. MaryAnn Bramble said being a survivor of an accident on Hwy 80 she is here to tell everyone there are things that have to be tweaked with DOT’s plan but to open the communication is a necessary evil. She said there are no turning lanes and there will be people dying on that road and people evacuating due to Hurricanes… She personally commended and thanked council because maybe they will save someone else’s life by opening up this communication. Ms. Williams said to address some of the concerns could the council consider inserting in the last paragraph, second sentence; we urge Local, State and Federal Officials to redesign and prioritize improvements? She said that would make it clear that we do not want to use the existing plans that DOT has. Mayor Buelterman said he is comfortable with that and doesn’t believe this will slow anything down and would save the DOT money in the end. He asked if everyone on council was comfortable with those changes and they agreed. He asked Ms. Williams to repeat the changes for the record. Ms. Williams Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 5 of 14 restated the following suggestion: We urge Local, State and Federal Officials to redesign and prioritize improvements. Ms. Sessions asked if we really think this project will be on the table in the next five years considering all the budget cuts within the State budget. Mayor Buelterman said a lot of the funding is coming from Washington and they appear to be printing a lot of money these days. He said there is potential but what he has learned is, it is up to this county to prioritize this thing and the CUTS Committee now called the CORP Committee needs to prioritize it and we are urging them to do that. He said this project has to come after the Truman. Ms. Sessions said as council has agreed that since our commissioner has approached us for support to work with a document, she thinks what Ms. Williams suggested hopefully addresses some of Ms. O’Brien’s and Ms. Rutherford’s concerns. She said maybe we can support our commissioner because we will need his support when we start asking for funding. Maybe this is a good thing. Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Lynn to address Ms. Rutherford’s question regarding why the Crawford Trust Agreement did not go to the Planning Commission. Mr. Lynn said essentially this is a contract with the city and has nothing to do with Planning or Zoning. Consideration of draft minutes for the regular meetings of the Tybee Island City Council. 1. 04/22/10 Postponed 2. 5/13/10 Postponed 3. 5/27/10 Postponed Consideration for the Consent Agenda A Motion by Wanda Doyle to approve the consent agenda was seconded by Paul Wolff. The vote was unanimous. Public Hearings 1. Public Hearing on 2010/2011 Proposed Budget Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing. Mayor Buelterman said a couple of years ago the city switched from calendar year to July 1st to June 30th. He said this is the second year of that process so we need to approve this budget by the end of June. Mary Hogan said they have presented a balanced budget that has been on review in the Library and the Clerk’s Office. She said the highlights are that when the budget was published, we did an estimate on our property taxes that we are expecting to receive. It is balanced based on those numbers. She said no Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 6 of 14 positions have been removed from this budget. She said primarily it contains some deferring of capital projects to get it to where it’s at. She said the property values on Tybee have decreased and we will be receiving less property tax revenue than we were anticipating and that is reflected in this version. She said she thinks it’s about $176,000 and there is a possibility based on council’s decision that this can be remedied by deferring capital projects. Ms. Hogan said two weeks from tonight the final version of the budget will be presented to council for their approval. She said the budget process does lend itself that it can be amended if some new information comes in. She said as far as the operating budget so that we can continue to do operations beginning July 1st, we need to get the budget as entirely approved as possible. Mayor pro tem Sessions asked Ms. Hogan and department heads that have capital projects on the list, to determine the must haves, their good likes and then projects that can be put on hold before the next workshop. Chuck Eaton of the Marine Rescue Squadron said they have submitted a request for a budget item in order to support the Marine Rescue Squadron and he gave an overview of some of the things they have done last year and so far this year. He said last year they supported quite a few of the local things such as providing support for the Veteran’s Memorial. He said they had ten missions last year, eight of which were successful. He reminded council that these missions are supported by volunteers using their own equipment. He said some of the things they do in support of these missions is training. He said they are in the process of gearing up for better training. He said so far this year they have had three missions. Last year they supported parameter support for the off shore jump by the Army Special Operations Aviation Regiment. This year they did it again for the 160th and in the process they learned a lot about working with other agencies. This year they have reached a verbal agreement with the Coast Guard to provide them with training materials that will be Microsoft Windows supported. They have procured a computer for the squadron with licensed software as well as conducting a fund raiser to purchase a large television which is also a VGA Monitor that you can plug into a computer. He said he had his laptop hooked up and was showing pictures of their very successful fishing tournament for seventy kids just this past weekend. He requested the MRS be given the entire amount of their request and is hoping they will be the search and rescue squadron of choice on Tybee. He said they also support TEMA and work closely with the Coast Guard and they want to be prepared. Mayor Buelterman said the council is working towards a solution about the SPLOST but it is not guaranteed yet because they understand there was a commitment for funding back in 2002 and they would like to meet that obligation. Monty Parks addressed council in support of the Better Hometown Program. He told council his small micro business would not have grown as it has, without the Better Hometown Program. He said Better Hometown deserves a strong boost from this council and the Mayor in order to carry it forward. Keith Gay addressed council representing the TIARA group which suggested the city consider expanding their pickup days during (peak time) four months of the year to three times a week instead of two. He said during the off eight months you could offset that by reducing the number to once a week. He said most of the properties on the island are highly unoccupied during that eight month period except for fulltime residents. He recommended the city talk to residents about the importance of the twice weekly pickups but he and his wife live on the island and once a week would be acceptable to them. He said Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 7 of 14 most of the people he has talked to agree. He said it might reduce the overall cost of trash pickup and would have ecological benefits because you would not have the trucks on the island twice a week eight months of the year as well as cutting back on gasoline usage which should be beneficial to the trash company. He said it would help the island because they would be concentrating their trash pickup to the high time of the year which would make the island cleaner and more acceptable environment for everyone. Jim Boyle speaking on behalf of the American Legion, regarding some license waivers and any other funding requested because they do a lot of work on the island such as; the Children’s Christmas Party and Easter Egg Hunt, replace flags as well as they recognize policeman and policewoman of the year and so forth. He requested council see their way in the budget to help them out a little. Mayor Buelterman closed the Public Hearing. 2. Private Parking Lot request for the location at 114 and 115 Miller Ave., Land Development Code 3-250, Private Parking Lots. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing. Jonathan Lynn presented the request from the owners of the pedicab business recently opened on Tybee. He said they want the option to have a parking lot associated with their business. He said they have a very sizable lot consisting of 120’ by 110’. He said they have plenty of space for the thirty parking spots they are proposing with 24’ lanes and 9 by 18 standard size parking spaces. Mayor Buelterman asked if this were right behind the High Tide Surf Shop. Mr. Lynn said yes and the owner of the shop said he is okay with them having the parking lot there. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous. Zoning Public Hearings 1. Variance Request for Front Yard Setback (Section 3-090) at 1619 Chatham Avenue Lot 5-D, Zoned R-2, PIN 4-0010-05-016, George Hammond-Planning Commission recommended approval contingent on it being for a deck only (no stairs) with no heating or cooling allowed. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing. Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 8 of 14 Jonathan Lynn presented the request for variance for a front yard setback to be reduced from 20’ to 10’. He said the community character for this is the Back River neighborhood. He said this request was originally approved back in 2004 and no action was taken and the variance expired. He said an updated version of the plan was submitted today and is in the presentation. Mr. Wolff said he agrees with some of the Planning Commissioners that this is a plan based on the lot configuration and does fit the definition of a variance. He said when Planning Commission recommended approval they didn’t specify whether it could be covered so it’s going to increase the pervious surface into that concrete drive which is already huge. He said as a suggestion he would rather see it uncovered with a true deck and not a porch. Ms. Doyle asked if it was a deck or a porch. Mayor Buelterman said it is a covered porch. He said as he reads it they can have a roof on it. Mr. Lynn said yes. Ms. Williams said in looking at the minutes from 2004, some of the neighbors objected because the original owner created the problem. She said this is not specific to this request but she thinks we as a city need to develop a policy so that people cannot subdivide property and create lots that will require variances, which is what has happened here. Mr. Wolff said it would be nice if council had elevations on plans like this. He doesn’t think the Planning Commission had one because it would have shown the roof and clarified some things. He said we don’t require elevations on new construction and that’s something we might want to inject into articles that we are in the process of modifying. Ms. Sessions asked the applicant to address the questions and concerns. Susan Wiley, realtor representing the owner of the property said they want to have this structure line up with the other two properties that exist. She said as far as a porch or deck with no stairs, if you carry that line out all the way to where the stairs are drawn on the yellow drawing, it would not be as attractive as the other two homes. She said she didn’t know where the no stairs came into play. Mr. Lynn said the Planning Commission did discuss the stairs. Ms. Doyle said there are stairs in the setback and asked if they want the stairs. Ms. Wiley said yes, this reflects what the man buying the lot wants to do to make it suitable. Mr. Garbett said the drawing shown on the screen is not the same as the drawing in the packet and he really didn’t know why they would be voting on the drawing shown on the screen. Ms. Wiley said the new drawing was submitted to clarify the deck/porch and stairs. Mayor Buelterman read the motion made by Planning Commission. Mr. Braun said the problem is the drawing presented to council tonight is different from the one that went to Planning Commission. He said it seems an amended plan would have to go back to the planning commission. He said it doesn’t look as if the stairs would be in the setback. Mr. Lynn said they would be because the setback right now without a variance is 20’. Mr. Wolff said the problem with the drawing presented today is it’s not to scale. He asked how large the deck was going to be. Ms. Wiley said the adjacent porches are 6’. Property owner George Hammond addressed council and stated the thing that looks like a chimney on the drawing is a staircase. The yellow picture submitted today was to clarify what Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 9 of 14 it would look like within the setback if it had stairs on the front. The other two drawings in pencil to the right show the existing staircases and they are a lot closer to the road than ours are. He said they wanted to show that they wanted to build a house on that lot that would be comparable to the two houses that already exist there and would blend in with the neighborhood. The way the driveway is slices that part of the lot off and that’s why we were asking for the variance to simply give them a little more building space or a place to put a porch. Ms. Sessions asked if this was an explanation of what they have in their council package. She asked if what was approved by Planning Commission was what they were seeing on the screen. Mr. Lynn said the one in the Council packet is the survey drawing. Ms. Sessions asked are they tasked with approving what is before them tonight or sending the new drawing back to Planning Commission. Mr. Lynn said if the 10 foot setback was granted it would give the applicant the ability to do stairs or not but would not be allowed to go past that ten foot mark on either side of that property. Ms. Wiley said she presented the new drawing to reflect the 200 foot rule, but because there is a jag in the property, Mr. Lynn said they still had to come before council. Mayor Buelterman said if that property was straight across they would not have to have a variance because the 200 foot rule would apply. Ms. Wiley said she lives right next door and she is fine with this plan. Mr. Wolff asked if they did want this to be a covered porch instead of a deck. Ms. Wiley answered yes. Ms. Williams asked if the plans contained any attempt to address the runoff such as gutters or anything like that so that you don’t have the potential for runoff. Ms. Wiley answered no but there has been no drainage issues with the homes already located there. Mr. Lynn said when they would do their building plans, depending on if they got a permit, they would be required to submit a drainage plan to be inspected by our City Engineer. We do not allow anyone to drain water on someone else’s property. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. A Motion by Bill Garbett to send this back to the Planning Commission for further review due to multiple plans was seconded by Paul Wolff. The vote was Garbett, Wolff, Sessions and Williams in favor and Doyle and Schuman opposed. 2. Site Plan Approval (Section 4-050 (E) (1) at 22 Tybrisa, Zoned C-1, PIN 4-0008-03- 014, William Navon, owner with Montgomery Parks, applicant. Planning Commission recommends approval. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing. Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 10 of 14 Mr. Lynn said this request is on behalf of Montgomery Parks, who is the owner of the business. He is requesting to have Site Plan Approval to construct a permanent awning over the front of his store. The reason for the site plan is due to the Southend Policies and Procedures that require that all awnings be retractable. He said Mr. Parks is requesting a permanent awning similar to what has been approved at the Rock house or Nicky’s. He said it would be built to hurricane standards and will only project about five feet from the building with an eight foot clearance to walk underneath. Mr. Wolff said his understanding is these are built to withstand 130 mph winds without the canvas on them. He asked if we had a requirement in the rules and regulations in the C-1 district that the owners have to remove the canvas if there is a storm coming. Mr. Lynn said we do not have those requirements but we would hope they would remove the canvas themselves. He said just the frame has to be able to withstand 130mph winds. Mr. Wolff said maybe we need to address that because if the canvas is still attached in a 130mph wind, it’s a projectile. He said projectiles were the whole point to requiring the frames to withstand the winds. He thinks the awnings give the area a nice look and he is all for them. He doesn’t want to create a situation where the businesses down the street are going to have things flying through their windows. Mr. Parks said this awning will dress up the area and make it more attractive. He said permitting is approximately 15% of the total cost of the awning and the time it has added to the process is a little over six weeks. He asked council to keep that in mind as business friendly people that have development in their mind. He said this is the third time it has come up and we might want to put non retractable awnings in the code so that we don’t have this constant revenue stream coming from business owners. Ms. Williams asked if the specs guaranteed the frame to 130mph winds, with or without the cloth. Mr. Lynn said generally they get the specs without the material on them and it is just for the metal frame. A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve was seconded by Bill Garbett. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Paul Wolff to have the Planning Commission review the South End Policies and Procedures and the requirement to apply for a variance and add if there is a mandatory evacuation, the canvas must be removed was seconded by Bill Garbett. The vote was unanimous. 3. Site Plan Approval (Section 4-050 (F)(1) at 502, 504, 506 First Street, Zoned C-2, Pin 4-0003-12-012, 013, 014, 015, William Navon, owner with Mark Boswell, applicant. Planning Commission recommends approval. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing Mr. Lynn presented the petition for Site Plan Approval for a new retail center. He said the current zoning for the property is C-2 and the community character area is Arts, Eats, Eco Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 11 of 14 Business Corridor and the site plan shows a 5,000 sq ft shopping center and the applicant shows the 25 required parking spaces on the site plan. There are currently three curb cuts on Hwy 80 and they are proposing to only have one curb cut on Highway 80 and one on Miller Ave. which would reduce the amount of turns and traffic hazards there. Mr. Lynn said there was discussion about the buffer between the villages and the shopping area and the proposal is to leave the two lots behind the shopping area vacant creating a 100 foot buffer. Mr. Wolff said he would like to see the petitioner voluntarily put up a vegetative buffer consisting of a row of trees, shrubbery or a fence, even though they are not required in the C-2 district. Mr. Boswell said he could suggest the buffer to the owner and he might be agreeable to it since we will have to get a drainage easement in order to have a swale in back. He said the previous site plan approval was for an 8,000 sq. ft. building with two floors and this site plan only has one floor with 5,000 sq. ft. Mayor Buelterman asked if the lots around the circle were just currently undeveloped. Mr. Boswell answered yes. Mayor Buelterman asked if they were approved in the previous site plan and how many are left. Mr. Boswell said yes they were approved and he thinks four lots are left. Mr. Boswell said the front two are zoned commercial and the back two are zoned residential. Mayor Buelterman said that Mr. Wolff was buffering for the residents but right behind this site are commercial lots. Mr. Wolff said his memory is fuzzy but it seems as if the original developer said he was going to have development on the front two lots but the rest of the lots including the two commercial ones were going to be residential. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. A Motion by Wanda Doyle to approve was seconded by Shirley Sessions. The vote was unanimous. 4. Site Plan Approval (Section 4-050) at 211 Butler, Zoned C-1, PIN 4-0004-08-004, Ronnie Navon, owner with Paul Theron, applicant. Planning Commission recommended approval. Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing. Mr. Lynn presented the site plan approval for the property at 211 Butler that is currently zoned C-1. He said the proposal is to install railing around the second floor for esthetics. They were told there would be no access to this area in terms of stairs. He said the roof will be sloped so it will not be user friendly for any kind of regular use. Mr. Wolff said skepticism was shown at the Planning Commission meeting regarding the floor to ceiling windows and their not being used for access. Mr. Wolff asked Mr. Braun if it was within the council’s purview to limit it to that Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 12 of 14 extent. Mr. Lynn said if they actually decided to use the deck, it would affect the occupancy which would affect parking, which would affect the drainage and they would have to come back through the entire site plan process. Ms. Doyle asked if the railing was to make it look cottage style. Mr. Boswell said yes it is only for esthetics. Ms. Williams asked how many overall exits the building contained. Mr. Boswell said there is one main exit and every unit has one exit. Mr. Wolff asked if they could technically use this deck without coming for a site plan because of the building containing residences. Mr. Lynn said they would have to come back to council because the property is zoned C-1. Mr. Boswell said they could add a door instead of climbing out the window under a remodeling permit but anything else would have to come back to city council. Mr. Lynn said there is a provision in the LDC that if staff is not comfortable with the request, they can send it to Planning Commission and City Council. Ms. Bramble said she recused herself on Planning Commission but she lives directly behind this project and she remembers the question of whether or not it was a pitched roof being asked. Mr. Boswell said it is a pitched roof. She said are people going to go out of a door and lay on a pitched roof. Mayor Buelterman said if a door is requested the petitioners will have to come to Planning Commission and City Council to get it approved. Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing. A Motion by Wanda Doyle to approve was seconded by Bill Garbett. Ms. Williams asked Mr. Braun if there were contingencies that council could put on this approval that would empathically clarify the fact that people are not allowed on those pitched roofs. Mr. Lynn said Chatham County approved this plan which means any railings would be designed to withstand the pushing pressure. Mr. Braun said council could make it an item on the site plan that any change in the plans or anytime access is developed to that roof, that it is going to come back to council. An Amendment to the Motion by Ms. Doyle to make it an item on the site plan that any change in plans or anytime access is developed to that roof, it has to come back to City Council, was seconded by Bill Garbett. The vote was unanimous. Consideration of Ordinances, Resolutions 1. 2nd Reading -Ordinances to Amend Section 2-81 amending the Rules of Procedures of the Mayor and City Council. –Resolution and 1st reading approved on 5/27/10 Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 13 of 14 A Motion by Paul Wolff to approve for 2nd reading the rules of procedure for Mayor and City Council was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was unanimous. Mr. Braun said the resolution should be approved after the 2nd reading of the ordinance. Mayor Buelterman said we already approved the resolution at the first reading. Mr. Braun explained that after the 2nd reading the Council has the rules of procedure in place and they should adopt the resolution stating that those are now the council’s rules of procedure. Mayor Buelterman asked if it would be cleaner if someone made a motion to that effect. Mr. Braun said yes. A Motion by Paul Wolff to adopt the Resolution approving the rules of procedure for council as previously voted on was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was unanimous. 2. 2nd Reading-An Ordinance to Amend the Code of Ordinances adding Section 66.104 Limitations on Idling Vehicles/Engines Running. Mayor Buelterman asked if this ordinance applied to city vehicles. Ms. Schleicher said we already have a policy for city vehicles A Motion by Kathryn Williams to approve was seconded by Paul Wolff. Mr. Wolff said the first draft of this ordinance contained issues but he believes the way it is rewritten, it is not going to adversely affect anyone. It will improve the conditions of the community, air quality and noise and people will not be walking down the sidewalk breathing fumes from buses. We are still protecting people like Senior Citizens on Tour Busses that would be allowed to stay on air conditioned buses with motors running to maintain the air conditioning and Freezer King trucks would be allowed to run. He would like to see the city vehicles facing at least as stringent rules. He said he believes the existing policy states if the vehicle is unattended the motor is shut off. The vote was Williams, Wolff, Schuman, Garbett and Sessions in favor and Doyle opposed. City Manager Report Volunteer Policy Ms. Doyle said there were two things about this policy that she had questions on. With one being to minimize cost and with all the steps that have to be done will take a lot of staff time such as giving an interview, an orientation, job assignment training and things have to go back and be recorded by the Human Resources Director. Minutes prepared 06/28/10vw Page 14 of 14 Ms. Sessions said the National League of Cities is working with member cities across the county and encouraging cities to get more involved in establishing policies and procedures if they are utilizing volunteers. She said they have awarded ten grants across the county and Savannah is one of those cities who received a grant. Ms. Sessions said that Ms. Elliott probably started with suggestions from that body and the things that really govern volunteers. She thinks they found that a lot of people will volunteer their time but a lot of times they get somewhere and there is nobody there to direct them and give them a clear understanding of what they are doing. This keeps the city from being able to capture those hours and use them appropriately to report for grants and those type things. She believes this makes for a good process and system for volunteers but if it is going to be successful it needs to be understood that it will take staff time if they decide they have a use for volunteers. Mr. Garbett agreed with Ms. Doyle and said this appears to be pretty ominous for anyone that wants to volunteer for example to serve an appreciation meal to DPW. He asked if we are going to have to go through all of this just to serve a meal. He asked if there is a threshold of having to have so much responsibility before going through this because it is going to take someone a day to fill out an application and go through interviews. Mayor and Council requested this policy be put on the agenda for next meeting on 6/24/10. Executive Session A Motion by Paul Wolff to go into Executive Session to discuss Personnel was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous. A Motion by Paul Wolff to end Executive Session was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was unanimous. Adjournment A Motion to adjourn by Paul Wolff was seconded by Frank Schuman. The vote was unanimous. _ Jason Buelterman, Mayor _______________________________________ Vivian O. Woods, Clerk of Council