HomeMy Public PortalAbout010_20100812 City Council Minutes
20100812 City Council Minutes
Mayor Jason Buelterman called the Consent Agenda meeting to order on August
8, 2010 at 6:30pm. Council members present were Mayor pro tem Shirley Sessions,
Wanda Doyle, Bill Garbett, Frank Schuman, Kathryn Williams and Paul Wolff. Also
present were City Attorney Bubba Hughes, City Manager Diane Schleicher and Zoning
Manager Jonathan Lynn.
Mayor Buelterman listed the following items on the Consent Agenda:
6/24/2010 City Council Minutes w/corrections
Appointment of James P. Locklear to the Community Resource Committee
Council Approval and support of the City of Tybee Island Shore Protection
Permit application to DNR for locating four (4) volleyball courts on the beach
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between 16 and 18 Street crossovers.
Special Event 3 day Alcohol permit for Beer/Wine, Applicant Tybee Island
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Tourism Bureau, Inc. dba Tybee Fest for October 8, 9 and 10.
Alcohol License application for Beer, Wine, Liquor, Sunday Sales and
Entertainment for PJ’s Spirits LLC. Dba Seagrass Saloon & Grille, 725 First
Street.
Contract for Georgia DNR to provide drinking water testing and related services
for Chemical & Coliform-3 annual payments of $8,910 Line Item #505-4410-52-
1310.
Proposed Capital Improvement Plan for FY 2011
Mr. Wolff asked why 4 volleyball courts were needed on the beach. His concern was
people not using that part of the beach because of being cramped up at high tide. Mayor
Buelterman said he is down there a lot and they are in use all the time. Ms. Schleicher
said the permit gives us flexibility when our beach changes.
Ms. Williams asked if the volleyball court locations were selected because of the Last
Song. Ms. Schleicher said yes and also because that is kind of our business district area.
She said that was also where they had the professional tournament and all.
Mr. Wolff asked how often the DNR testing of drinking water will be conducted for the
$8,900. Ms. Schleicher said she did not know and she wished he would have asked her
last week. Mr. Wolff said he read the contract and assumes it will be what we need. Ms.
Schleicher said it is the state contract according to the state requirements.
Mr. Schuman said he had talked with Interim Chief Bryson about the Golf Carts
registered on Tybee and Bryson said there have been no problems at all. He said there
had been a few problems with some of the buggies and all. Ms. Doyle said this ordinance
started at the public safety committee and needs to go back to the public safety
committee. Mr. Schuman said there is no difference between the Golf Carts registered on
Tybee and the carts that Charlie Brewer rents out. They all have lights on them and
everything is legal. Ms. Doyle said there is nothing in the ordinance about running them
at night and so it needs to go back to the public safety committee. Mayor Buelterman
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confirmed that Mr. Schuman was requesting to have the ordinance changed to allow them
to run at night. Mr. Schuman said he had talked with Jimmy Price about this and Price
said if you can get the Golf Carts allowed you should just go for running them at night.
Schuman said no one seems to have a problem.
Ms. Williams said regarding public safety and the issue she had e-mailed about, Jones
Avenue and the bikes and signage and asked if it had been discussed at public safety. Ms.
Doyle said the committee had talked about Jones and the bicycles and truck traffic. She
said Interim Chief Bryson was going to have his guys take a look at it over the next four
weeks and bring it back and put it on the agenda to discuss again. Ms. Doyle said signs as
far as bicycles go were tried years ago and there were a lot of complaints about the
signage being on there regarding no bicycles. Ms. Williams said a good bit of the
problem before was that it was illegal to ride a bike on Jones. She said most of the people
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she notices are visitors to the island and they may not be aware that 2 Ave. is dedicated
and much safer for bikes. She said she is not asking for an ordinance but is suggesting
they use signs to educate people. She said little kids will be a whole lot safer a block
over. Mr. Wolff suggested a sign saying bike trail one block over or east or something
like that. He said it would be helpful to let the people know there is a lot safer route than
Jones. Ms. Doyle said they will put that item back on the public safety agenda and
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discuss the signs directing them over to 2.
Mayor Buelterman asked Ms. Schleicher what the procedure was for getting projects
going that are on the Capital Improvement Plan. Ms. Schleicher said a priority is the
McKensie Project and she would like to contact the engineer to start talking to DOT
about getting a permit for that. Ms. Schleicher said she would like to use the same
engineering firm that did the study because they have already made contact with DOT.
Mayor Buelterman closed the Consent Agenda.
Mayor Buelterman called the regular City Council meeting to order at 7:00pm on
Thursday, August 12, 2010. Those present at the consent agenda were also in attendance
for the regular meeting. Denise Woodard gave the Invocation and everyone recited the
Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
Recognitions and Proclamations
Mayor Buelterman presented a Plaque and Letter of Commendation to Les “Sarge” White
for apprehending a burglary suspect @ Beachside Colony and detaining him until officers
arrived.
Citizens to be Heard
Bill Cannon representing Tybee Beautification announced adopt a highway for Saturday,
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August 21 at 8:00am at the Tybee Sign. He also announced that the committee was
soliciting sponsors for their always popular Beach Sweep T-Shirts. He said contact any
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TBA member for information. He thanked Mayor, Council and Staff for their continued
support.
Betty Ann Brooks was not present to make her request for speed bumps at various
locations on the Island.
Consideration of Local Requests & Applications-Funding, Special Events, Alcohol
License
New Water and Sewer Rates-Recommended by Infrastructure Committee.
Mr. Wolff said this item came from staff because there is a $200,000 plus hole in the
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water/sewer budget that we should have plugged by going to the 2 or 3 tier of the
water rates that were implemented a couple of years ago by the last council. Mr. Wolff
said 20% of the people on the island are using half of the water. He said 80% of the
people on the island will be minimally affected if these rates are implemented. He
explained to be truly a conservation tiered rate, the top tier should be double the bottom
tier. He said the rates adopted in January 2009 do not encourage water conservation. He
said the last council said instead of going right to the top tier, why don’t we phase it in
over time? The idea was to start at the January 1, 2009 rate, review it again before July
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and go to the next tier and then again on January 1 of this year and if we hadn’t become
revenue neutral we would go to the next tier. Ms. Schleicher said $245,000 is the un-
audited loss at this point. Mr. Wolff said anyone using 3,000 gallons a month or less will
be totally unaffected by this increase and that’s a good percentage of the island. Ms.
Doyle asked if the consumption was more or less or about the same as it was when we
started the tiered rate system. Mr. Wolff said it was about the same. Ms. Doyle asked if
he thought that increase would stop the 20% of people who are going to use their water
regardless. Mr. Wolff said if we go to the January 1, 2010 rates that are proposed here,
that will go a long way towards plugging up the $245,000 hole in their budget. Ms.
Schleicher said there are two issues here, one is conservation and the other is money. She
said staff recommended the infrastructure committee approve the proposed rates to shore
up the financial gap and then in the meantime the committee could recommend to
council, to look at what measures could be taken to encourage conservation and they
could spend 6 months to a year to do that. She said they need to take care of the financial
part first because the city is getting close to crisis mode. Ms. Williams asked that Mr.
Hughes or Ms. Schleicher explain how the city is not supposed to subsidize the enterprise
fund. Ms. Schleicher said enterprise funds are supposed to be self supporting and council
should be setting rates so that they are. She said some of the bonds that we have taken out
in the past are self supporting and our auditors look at that to make sure we comply.
Mayor Buelterman said they held discussions before in order to help people understand.
He said he doesn’t think it would hurt anything if they had a chart on the screen for
people to view, explaining this a little bit better, maybe visually. Ms. Doyle said a hotel
has to pay the base rate on unoccupied rooms and she feels that is unfair even though
they chose to have a hotel. She asked if there was an adjustment that could be made in the
base rate for hotels. Mr. Wolff explained that it was important to have the base rates as
they are in order to be able to provide the same level of service to the businesses in the
off season rather or not they are occupied. Mr. Garbett asked for a little bit more public
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input. He said he knows they are not generating the funds to cover the water and sewer
system and they are obligated to do so. He thinks they could use a little more explanation.
He suggested calling a public hearing soon. Mayor Buelterman said he doesn’t know if
they need a special meeting. He thinks they could put it on the agenda two weeks from
now. Ms. Sessions said she agreed with everything having come from the days when we
were subsidizing funds and getting findings at every audit. She asked when the last time
this was written up in the audit was. Ms. Schleicher said the last time. Ms. Sessions said
this is another example of the citizens not knowing why council is having to take steps
like these. How it impacts them personally and the island as a whole and not just showing
a visual. She said keep in mind that not everyone watches these meetings. She said
maybe having a brochure or something and constantly trying to find ways to reach out to
people in a succinct manner while council is trying to make these types of decisions. She
asked who was on the infrastructure committee. Mayor Buelterman said Williams, Wolff,
Garbett and Brown with staff acting in a support role. Sessions asked who on staff. Ms.
Schleicher said the Water Sewer Director, DPW Director, Finance Director, Community
Development Director and the City Manager. Mayor Buelterman asked where the
$245,000 will come from. Ms. Schleicher said the undesignated fund balance.
Buelterman asked if that was what happened last year and how much it was. Schleicher
said yes but she didn’t know the amount off of the top of her head. Sessions said maybe
looking at a different approach on how we do the education process. Williams said the
council realizes what steps are taken to conserve financial resources for water and sewer
such as doing repairs in house instead of hiring contractors. She said she gets
compliments from the public all the time on how courteous and efficient our water sewer
department personnel are. Mr. Schuman asked if vacant houses and condos are charged a
monthly fee. Schleicher said a base fee. Mayor Buelterman asked if this item was going
to be heard at the next meeting. Schleicher said yes.
Consideration of Approval of Consent Agenda
A Motion
by Paul Wolff to approve the Consent Agenda was seconded by Kathryn
Williams. The vote was unanimous.
Public Hearing-Zoning Packet Separate
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing
Side Yard Setback Variance, 1514 Second Avenue (4-0008-08-002, LDC
Section 3-090, Applicant: Lori Golterman.
Mr. Lynn explained the request and said this is a residential unit in the R-2 Zoning
District. He said the request is to reduce the side yard setback to seven feet to install a
protective cover over a recently installed heating and air system.
Mr. Wolff said he would consider it if they would build a peaked roof with no reflective
shingles, that didn’t extend any farther than the stand on which the unit sits. Ms. Williams
said there is plenty of room on the other side of the house to have set this ac unit without
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infringing on the setback. Mr. Lynn asked the homeowners about that and their response
was they wanted to save that portion of the lot in case they wanted to expand their house.
Mr. Garbett said he understood that the ac unit was not a part of the structure and that it
was allowed within the setback. Mr. Hughes said he thinks the ac unit itself is required to
be outside of the setback. He said the definition for setback doesn’t exempt it and there is
no provision as there is for the height issue about serving the interior for Chimneys and
Elevator Shafts. He said he believes it would meet the definition of structure. He said the
issue here is moot because the ac unit was replacing one that was already there and would
have been grandfathered and the petitioner could have fixed it as a non conforming use.
He said he would like for City Council to address this issue before another request like
this comes. Mayor Buelterman asked if anyone had talked with the petitioner about why
they wanted this. Mr. Lynn said the petitioner said they wanted to provide protection
from the elements for their ac unit.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
A Motion
by Kathryn Williams to deny was seconded by Bill Garbett. The vote was
Williams, Garbett, Schuman and Wolff in favor of denial and Doyle and Sessions
opposed.
Side Yard Setback Variance, 1310 Bay St. (4-0022-02-006), LDC Section
3-090 Applicant Barry Brown for Owners: Gary and Elizabeth Wisener.
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing.
Mr. Lynn said this property is zoned R-1 and is currently a single family residential unit
and the Master Plan shows the character as part of the Historical Battery Neighborhood.
He said they are requesting a reduction in the side yard setback. He said currently there is
a house at 1310 Bay Street that sits in the middle of two lots of record. He said the
homeowner is proposing to take the house and move it to one of the single lots of record
in order to clear up space on the other lot to allow for a Tybee Cottage if one becomes
available to move there. He said there is a porch on the structure that will require a
setback reduction of eleven feet in the rear yard and six feet on the side yard if the house
is moved. He said R-1 required the setbacks to be twenty on the rear, ten on each side and
twenty on the front. Mr. Brown said the biggest problem they have is a set of steps on the
left hand side of the house. He said those steps will be removed and replaced with wood
to reconstruct the original cottage look. He said the hardship is they have a 32’.6” house
and are trying to push it into a 30’ hole. He said in order to save this cottage they need
variances on the side yard and the front yard. He said they are trying to move the house
back to allow for a twenty foot setback in the front and its creating a need for a variance
in the back. He said the owner wants to be able to save this cottage and open up lot #7 to
allow for a cottage to be placed there if one should come available. He said this would be
instead of placing a two story structure on the open lot and being out of character with the
surrounding one story structures. Mayor Buelterman asked if the existing cottage was an
historical structure. Mr. Chambers speaking as a private citizen said he didn’t want his
comments in support of this project to be inferred as being disrespectful or in
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disagreement with the Planning Commission. He said he does not support variances in
general but the ones he has supported have been related to saving Tybee Cottages. He
said this particular request has the potential not to save just one sixty year old Tybee
Cottage, which is the baseline for historical but this has the potential to save two Tybee
Cottages because the property owner has committed to moving a second Tybee Cottage
there. He said he has been involved with moving Tybee Cottages all over this island and
one of the challenges now is finding available lots to move these historic cottages to and
very often it’s a move or lose situation. He said it is an historic structure and merits that
extra consideration. Mr. Wolff said he is concerned about the neighbors; there have
already been complaints about this being a rental house. He said he would be more likely
to grant a variance if Mr. Wisener would be willing to push the house towards his other
lot instead of towards the neighbor. He said that way only the two properties that he owns
would be impacted. He would like to see this moved towards the front which would not
affect anyone. Mr. Brown said there was discussion at the Planning Commission meeting
about moving the stairs under the front porch. He said he is willing to remove the steps
on the side and put them at the front door if that will work with the FEMA Code. Mayor
Buelterman said council could put that as a contingency on an approval. Ms. Williams
asked Mr. Brown to restate exactly what he would be asking for in terms of variances if
the steps were removed. Mr. Brown said the setbacks would be about eight feet on the
sides and nine feet in the back. Ms. Williams said she received a letter from an elderly
neighbor concerned about the impact on her property and she hopes the owner will be
mindful of that if this project is approved. Mr. Brown said the owner is mindful of all of
the neighbors concerns. Mr. Herman Peavy said he lives right behind the lot. He said he
has no objections to the side setbacks that wouldn’t affect him but when you start moving
that house back and you get within eleven feet of the line, it would be sitting right on me.
He asked if this property was on city sewerage or spectic. Mr. Brown said city sewerage.
Mr. Peavy said if they move the steps to the front they will need a boat to get in the house
when it rains. Mr. Lynn said the owners are required to submit a drainage plan to be
approved before the project is permitted. Mr. Peavy said there is a large old tree on the
back property line and he asked if it was going to be removed. Mr. Brown said it’s a
protected oak tree and you couldn’t touch it if you were Obama. Ms. Doyle asked Mr.
Brown about shifting the house towards the front. Mr. Brown said it would be fine with
him. Mr. Lynn suggested reducing the front yard setback to sixteen and the back yard
setback to fifteen, creating a middle ground. Ms. Sessions asked Mr. Peavy to call the
city if he notices suds in the yard again. Ms. Williams referred to the code stating a sub
standard lot of record can only be built upon if its single family and meets the front, side
and rear setbacks. She asked Mr. Hughes for his opinion. Mr. Hughes said they have been
dealing with that for a long time and its one of the sections in the proposed article that
would be changed or clarified. He said a substandard lot of record can only be used for
single family home but the right to request a variance still exists. He said at least one
superior court judge believes that the substandard lot of record may be the hardship for a
variance to be granted. A next door neighbor said his only concern is that this is a rental
cottage and there are noise concerns. Mr. Brown said he doesn’t know about this issue
but he asked if the neighbor knew how many police reports had been written to verify the
fact that he has had complaints against the people living in the house. Mr. Garbett asked
Mr. Brown to show where the property line would be. Mr. Brown said he thinks the
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property line is between the pine trees and the house to the right and approximately fifty
feet from the property line. Mr. Garbett asked how close those homes would be. Mr.
Brown said he would guess the neighbor has a ten foot setback but he doesn’t know. He
said you would still be looking at eighteen feet between them if a two foot variance was
granted. Mr. Schuman asked if Mr. Brown could move the houses closer together and
away from the rear and side yard setbacks. Mr. Brown said his intention is that the other
house to go into the lot would meet the current setbacks and the houses would be side by
side.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
A Motion
by Wanda Doyle to approve a five foot variance on the front, five in the back
and two on each side with the contingency that the stairs be placed in the front left
portion of the home was seconded by Paul Wolff.
Mr. Wolff asked for an amendment to give the petitioner a five foot variance on the front
and a four and one half foot variance on the back in order to get him farther away from
Mr. Peavy and eight foot setbacks on the sides exclusive of the chimney and make it
contingent on moving the stairs to the front of the house. Mr. Lynn clarified the exact
variances as a ten foot side yard setback with no variance on the west side and a four
foot variance on the east side, a four foot variance on the back and a five foot variance in
the front. Mayor Buelterman said, also there would be a contingency requiring the stairs
to be moved to the front of the house.
Ms. Doyle withdrew her motion and Mr. Wolff withdrew his second in order to allow Mr.
Brown to speak.
Mayor Buelterman reopened the public hearing.
Mr. Brown said as long as the math adds up he is fine with it. Mr. Lynn said if you
subtract all the setbacks you would still have thirty six feet for the thirty two foot house.
Mr. Brown agreed.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
Mayor Buelterman clarified a four foot variance on the east side, four feet in the back and
five feet in the front and a contingency for the stairs to be moved to the front
A Motion
by Wanda Doyle to approve the variances as just stated by Mayor Buelterman
was seconded by Paul Wolff. The vote was Doyle, Wolff, Garbett and Sessions in favor
and Schuman and Williams opposed.
Updating Land Development Code Article 5, Section 5-090(F),
Compliance with ordinances dealing with applications for “after the fact”
variances.
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing.
Mr. Lynn explained that this amendment would allow applicants to apply for a variance
however the applicant would still have to show how the variance was created, when it
was created and who created it. He said the planning Commission recommended the last
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sentence be changed from “ no variance may be granted which retroactively excuses a
prior violation” to “A variance that’s granted under this ordinance does not excuse prior
violations including those that resulted in enforcement action by the City of Tybee
Island”. Mayor Buelterman asked Mr. Hughes if he was comfortable with the wording
recommended by the Planning Commission. Mr. Hughes said yes and added another
suggestion for the last sentence “or may result in enforcement action” rather than it has
resulted in. He said the point was to allow a variance but not to excuse the existing
violation that occurred and depending on the violation that occurred, the city could still
take action to seek a penalty for the violation of the zoning code. He read the ordinance
as it should be worded “A Variance that is granted under this ordinance does not excuse
prior violations including those that have resulted or may result in enforcement action by
the City of Tybee Island”. He said the point is to keep the penalty option open even if the
variance is granted.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
A Motion
by Paul Wolff to approve the suggested changes was seconded by Wanda
Doyle.
Mr. Garbett asked Mr. Hughes if this change is truly needed. Mr. Hughes said he thinks
the text as it now exists does not permit someone to file or even request a variance to
structures that are non compliant. He said that has always caused him concern because
there should always be the opportunity to at least ask with an explanation of how it got
there. The reason it was put in was because a lot of people were asking for forgiveness
instead of permission many years ago when building was going strong and that may
happen again in the future. He said another thing that has not really come up in this
context is how that section applies to a non conforming structure now. He said our
ordinance does not permit you to ask for a variance and we have non conforming
properties that frequently request variances and those two ordinances in his opinion are
inconsistent with each other. He said this would eliminate that problem. Ms. Williams
asked if they pass this will there be any kind of criteria or will it be totally subjective
every time someone comes before council. Mr. Hughes said nothing changes as far as
what the criteria is for granting a variance whether it is before the fact or after the fact.
He said this only permits the application to be filed and in the event where there is an
existing non conformity, how it was created. Ms. Sessions said Chuck Bargeron brought
the existing ordinance to them in 2004 and she asked Mr. Hughes if he helped write it
then and if he thought it was a good thing then, why that opinion changed. What
happened to change it? Mr. Hughes said as he recalls he did not like it then and had
prepared two options with one being the way it is currently on the books and one that this
one was created from. He said he thought then as he thinks now that someone should
have the right to apply. He said the council at the time was pretty well fed up with people
asking for forgiveness after the fact instead of permission in advance and preferred what
they considered to be a stronger measure. Mayor Buelterman said several years ago the
city had a brochure that explained what you could and could not do as far as zoning was
concerned. It was easy to understand. Mr. Lynn said we do have a guide to permitting
which is available at city hall and on the website.
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And the vote was
Wolff, Doyle, Schuman, Sessions and Williams in favor and Garbett
opposed.
Front Yard Setback Variance, 1403 Solomon Ave. PIN 4-0022-01-325,
Zone R-2, Steve Day, petitioner.
Mayor Buelterman opened the public hearing.
Mr. Lynn explained that Mayor and Council tabled this petition when it came up at the
first meeting in July. He said this property is foreclosed and the bank came to council
requesting a variance which prompted the change in the text of the ordinance. He said it
was determined that the builder had built the stairs eighteen inches into the front yard
setback. He said because of the cost involved to remove the stairs and piers the bank
wanted to request a variance to address a problem they didn’t create and allow them to
sell the property. Mr. Ron Weller from BB&T said he handled the foreclosure on this
property. He said the bank financed this property but was not the builder, developer or
general contractor. He said the borrower defaulted on the loan and the bank inherited the
property by foreclosure. He said at the time they foreclosed they lost approximately
$200,000. At the time of foreclosure the property was 100% completed on the exterior
and was not complete on the inside. They spent another $100,000 completing the inside
in order to get it ready to sell. They requested a Certificate of Occupancy which requires
an as built survey and at that time they discovered that the property was somewhere
between twelve and eighteen inches inside the front setback. He said they want a C/O so
that they can sell the property and get a homeowner down here that will pay property
taxes to Tybee.
Mayor Buelterman closed the public hearing.
A Motion
by Wanda Doyle to approve was seconded by Kathryn Williams.
Mr. Wolff said he was contacted by a builder who resented that council was using this
petition as a spark for considering requiring survey’s for foundations which would save a
lot of money in the long run. He said it’s been pointed out to him that the bank was a
willing partner to this building. He said they have a shared responsibility to make sure the
house was built to legal standards.
And the vote was
Doyle, Williams, Schuman and Sessions in favor and Garbett and
Wolff opposed.
Ms. Williams asked if it was the City’s responsibility to go out and measure and
determine if the house is built and the pillars are within the building footprint or is it on
the owner, the contractor or is it a situation where if they don’t get that survey then they
assume that responsibility. Mr. Lynn said that responsibility falls to the developer or
property owner. He said that in the past the city has had someone go out and pull a string
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but the city does not have anyone on staff that is a licensed surveyor. He said the city
depends on the asbuilt to tell them where the piers are.
Mayor Buelterman asked if there was a plan to add things to the acceptable variances in
order to address Historical Structures. He said the Planning Commission did an excellent
job on staying within the codes concerning the historical property that was discussed
earlier. He thinks it would be easier for Planning Commission to grant exceptions if there
was some language in the ordinance to address the preservation of historic properties. Mr.
Lynn said that would be a part of Article 5 and they haven’t looked at Article 5 yet.
Mayor Buelterman called for a short break.
Mayor Buelterman called the meeting back to order.
Consideration of Ordinances, Resolutions
st
1 Reading to Create Section 66-185 regarding use of Parking Decals and
limitations thereon for the City of Tybee Island.
Mayor Buelterman allowed Steve Smith to speak because of a misunderstanding of the
rules as explained earlier in the meeting.
th
Mr. Steve Smith said he and his wife live on 14 Street and they own Smith Tile
Installation Service. He said after the council meeting last month he agreed to move one
of his trailers off of the city streets and he did. He said his other trailer is used for his
business and is not a recreational vehicle or a storage unit. He said all of their vehicles are
registered on Tybee and taxed accordingly and they have had no restrictions for the last
fifteen years. He said he will purchase a sticker for the trailer but he doesn’t understand
the purpose of having to move his trailer from one spot to another spot every twenty four
hours. he said these are not storage trailers but he uses them to make his living. Mayor
Buelterman asked where this proposal had originated. Mr. Garbett said part of it came
from the parking committee and part of it came from staff. He said it was obvious that
people were using trailers to store items, take the t-shirt shop for example. He said Mr.
Smith is taking up two valuable parking spaces in the prime season and it seemed we
wanted to use these spots for visitors at all the right parking locations. Mayor Buelterman
asked if it was recommended by the parking committee. Mr. Garbett said yes. Mr. Lynn
said they also tweaked it to have the twenty four hours in place from St. Patrick’s Day
through Labor Day in order to make this consistent with our private parking lot
ordinance. Ms. Doyle asked if this could be amended to apply to weekends and holidays
instead of the blanket St. Patrick’s Day through Labor Day. She said there are two parts
to this ordinance and the second part of it is that no automobile or vehicle may be parked
by use of a decal, in a parking spot continuously in excess of seven consecutive days. Ms.
Williams asked to further amend the ordinance to read “Decals applied to trailers,
recreational vehicles and boat trailers may not be used to authorize parking for more than
twenty four hours in one parking space from St. Patrick’s Day to Labor Day” and then
add a second sentence saying “commercial trucks and commercial vans with parking
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decals may not occupy a parking space for more than twenty four hours on weekends and
holidays”. Mr. Schuman said he can’t see robbing the residents to cater to the tourists. He
said if you live on Tybee and pay taxes on Tybee and spend money on Tybee, you should
have a place to park your truck and trailer in a designated parking area. Mr. Wolff said at
the beginning of the second paragraph where it says “not withstanding in either provision
of the code decals apply to trailers, recreational vehicles, commercial trucks and vans of
any type, and boat trailers may not be used to authorize parking. This way it excludes any
kind of van including SUV’s. Mayor Buelterman and council agreed to send this back to
the parking committee with the understanding that the committee is going to look
carefully at not impacting Tybee owned businesses.
st
1 Reading on the ordinance to amend the code of ordinances Section 70-
43, Bill adjustment for water leakage and special circumstances.
Mr. Hughes said this removes the break given for swimming pools. Ms. Schleicher said
the EPD mandates that when you empty your swimming pool it has to go into the sewer
system to be treated so why wouldn’t we charge a sewer charge for that service.
A Motion
by Paul Wolff to approve was seconded by Kathryn Williams.
Ms. Schleicher said it is illegal to drain a pool into a storm sewer. Ms. Williams asked
the meaning of the terminology in the last paragraph saying situations where water
accidentally floods the premises. Mr. Hughes said that is in the current ordinance and he
didn’t change that part at all. Ms. Williams asked for an amendment to the motion to
strike situations where water accidentally floods the premises.
An amendment
to the motion by Paul Wolff to say “the city shall have the right to
adjust water and sewer bills in case of water leakage and special circumstances such as
breaks in the water line”. And strike situations where water accidentally floods the
premises, etc. Kathryn Williams seconded the amended motion. The vote was
unanimous.
Executive Session
A Motion
by Paul Wolff to go into Executive Session to discuss Litigation, Personnel
and Real Estate Acquisition was seconded by Kathryn Williams. The vote was
unanimous.
A Motion
by Paul Wolff to end Executive Session was seconded by Kathryn Williams.
the vote was unanimous.
Adjournment
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A Motion
by Paul Wolff to adjourn was seconded by Wanda Doyle. The vote was
unanimous.
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