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Home My Public Portal About19710519CCMeeting1 1 1 Savannah Beach, Georgia May 19, 1971 The regular monthly meeting of City Council was called to order at 3:00 P.M. today by Mayor Michael J. Counihan, who presided. Councilmen in attendance were Jack Daniels, Edward Jung, Robert F. Cary, Edward Towns, James Stettler, and George Schwarz. City Attorney Bart E. Shea was also present. Visitors at the meeting were attorneys Bobby Herndon and David Cohen. Also present were Mr. James A. Brown, Mr. T. S. Chu, and Mr. Joe Chauhan. Mr. Bobby Herndon appeared before Council on behalf of Mr. Herb Hall, who was the operator of a lounge and package shop known as "The Tank ". He requested Council to grant Mr. Hall an opportunity to continue the operation of his business by renewing his license. He stated that Mr. Hall was willing to eliminate those things which tend to aggravate the community. Mr. Herndon stated that he did not know exactly what Council's reasons were for withholding this license, but he felt that it was due to a violation of the law which Mr. Hall was charged with for an occurrence some two or three weeks ago. He further stated that under the Constitution you are innocent until proven guilty and until Mr. Hall is proven guilty, City Council does not have the right to pass judgment upon him and that his license should be renewed until such time as he is proven guilty in the courts. Mayor Counihan then requested the Clerk to read a letter which was written to Mr. Hall on May 20, 1971, in which Mr. Hall was advised that his request for the renewal of the liquor license had been reconsidered by Council and unanimously denied. Mr. Herndon stated that Mr. Hall was willing to comply with all Savannah Beach laws and codes and requested Council to again give consideration to renewing this license. He was then excused. Mr. Earl Anderson, a visitor to the meeting, proposed several projects to Council which he felt might help attract more tourists to the beach. Former Mayor, James A. Brown, appeared before Council on behalf of the Savannah Beach Chamber of Commerce to request permission from City Council to stage a music festival at the site of the old Go -Kart Track in Fort Screven. He introduced Mr. Joe Chauhan, Who was heading this project for the Chamber, to explain the details. Mr. Chauhan stated that at a Savannah Beach Chamber of Commerce meeting last month all of the members present felt that something must be done to stimulate business on the beach and appointed him �3� FS vice - president in charge of promotions and directed him to do something to help improve business at the beach. He stated that, after contacting some of the business people and discussing several projects with them, they had agreed on a music festival which would be a total community project. He stated that it would consist of country & western, folk and gospel music. Mayor Counihan stated that he had been told that this musical festival would start at 2:00 O'C1ock P.M. and end at 6:00 P.M. and would run for five days. He also stated that the Chamber would provide its own security guards to keep order. Mr. Chauhan stated that this would be a community project and not a money making enterprize. HE SAID the various musical organizations participating in the event would be paid on a percentage basis. In answer to a question regarding the type of people this attraction might draw, Mr. Brown stated that if it is found that this event is bringing an undesirable type of people to the community that it would be closed down immediately. He stated again that this would not be a rock festival and that the people they hoped to attract was the family type and children. Mr. Brown also stated that if the town would allow them to have this first one and it did not work out to the satisfaction of everybody, they would not try it again. Mayor Counihan advised Mr. Brown and the Chamber of Commerce delegation that this matter would be considered later and that he would advise them of Council's decision. The- meeti -ng was opened by Mayor Counihan for the trans- action of business. The Minutes of the meeting of April 28th and the special meeting of May 12th were approved as written. Councilman Cary Displayed a sample of the new water bill which he stated would be going out monthly beginning June 1st. Councilman Cary noted that there were four or five residents who had deep wells and moved that they be sent a letter informing them that they must cap these wells and connect to the city water system within sixty days; and, also that they be charged the minimum sewer rate during this interim period. The motion was seconded by Councilman Schwarz and unanimously carried. With reference to our newly acquired playground equipment, Councilman Cary recommended that the two lights presently at the tennis court be moved close to the playground area. 1 1 1 Councilman Schwarz, on behalf of the committee investi- gating the feasibility of placing parking meters on the east side of Butler Avenue In the vicinity of Strickland's Store, recommended that the parking meters be put up immediately and that the location of these meters be left to the police committee. There were objections from the Police Committee on this handling so the Mayor stated that he would handle this himself. Councilman Daniels reported that he had received some complaints from both the Police Department and the Department of Public Works that Mr. Richard Grosse had dug some trenches and built some barriers along the street right -of- way adjacent to his property in Fort Screven. City Attorney Shea stated that in placing barriers on city property, Mr. Grosse was jeopardizing the status of the municipality. Councilman Daniels requested that the Clerk write Mr. Grosse a letter telling him that these trenches must be filled and the barriers removed by Saturday morning, May 22nd, or he would be placed on the docket. Bills for the various departments were approved for payment. Mayor Counihan informed Council that we had run into a zoning problem concerning an application for a building permit by Mr. Delano Maurice, a Savannah Attorney. Mr. Maurice came to City Hall about six weeks prior to the ad®ption,of the new zoning ordinance and got information on set - backs, etc.; however, he did not actually apply for- his"permtit until two days after the adoption of the new ordinance at which time he could not observe the required set- backs, When informed of the situation, Mr Ken Schafer of the Georgia Southern Area Planning and Development Commission stated that he felt Mr. Maurice was due some relief and recommended that, in lieu of a Zoning Board of Appeals, Council Could take jurisdiction and grant the variance. There being no objections from Council, the Mayor so ordered the granting of the permit. A motion was made by Councilman Cary that the matter of the selling price for a portion of Beechwood Drive which Mr. Richard Grosse wanted to acquire, be turned over to the City Clerk for him to research and come up with a sales price for the land. The motion was seconded and unanimously carried. Mayor Counihan stated that he felt there were some cases where we needed yield signs and that he would have Mr. Reed order some. 69 70 Councilman Cary recommended further research in regard to our fire ordinance and fire limits which are not in our codified ordinances at the present time. He was assured by Mayor Counihan that when we got all of our revisions to the code up to date we would have a fire ordinance. The meeting was then closed by the Mayor and adjourned to the next regular or special called meeting. After a short break the Mayor declared the meeting re- convened for the purpose of reconsidering the application for a package shop and beverage license by Mr. Herb Hall. There were no motions forthcoming from any of the councilmen and the question died for lack of any action. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned to the next regular or special called meeting. CLERK OF COUNCIL