Meeting discussionsStart with a topic.

And additionally, um, the claim of the reduction of 163 apartments to 45 town homes does not make sense to me. It just doesn't pencil. While it may mean less traffic from onsite residents, it certainly will not diminish any traffic from people going into a fast food restaurant for in dining room service or drive-thru. Uh I thank you for your time and please uh vote to oppose this. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Um, thank you very much. Next we have uh Debbie Stallman, 2228 Misty Lane. Good evening. Thank you. In consideration of approving this plan and allowing it to go forward, I am adamant that it should not be approved. And here's why. The land is zoned as mixed use and according to code, drive-throughs are not allowed. However, it has been stated that drive-throughs can be deemed design features rather than use features, which I find to be very convenient for Chick-fil-A. Um, I will say it for the record. Chick-fil-A is a restaurant fundamentally built around its drive-thru. It is not merely a design element. It is actually a primary function of the business. And using a turn of phrase like design feature as opposed to use feature is simply a convenient way to shoehorn in a variance that has should have never been approved in the first place. But setting the past aside, we, the residents of a highly residential street of Oakdale, are now faced with the very real and impending consequences of a double drive-thru Chick-fil-A restaurant that for all practical purposes is being plopped directly into our front yards. The very situation that zoning laws are meant to protect protect the residents from. These impacts include, but are not limited to, high intensity traffic that in our existing infrastructure just simply cannot sustain. Increased danger to our children and the pedestrians, disruption to our buses, bus routes, and emergency vehicles, and the inevitable reducing and lowering of our property values.

it. So, it looks like they'll have two uh each house would have two garages. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. So, David, this will be a continuation of your existing project, just adding on, building on to it. That's correct. Okay, great. Great. You you answered my question. I think you do understand you're going to have to go back for for a detention revision on your existing lot. Correct. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh, thank you. Thanks. Project. Uh, this is a public hearing. If anybody like to be heard, please come on up and be sworn in by your city attorney. All right. Seeing none, we'll close this portion of the public hearing and turn it back over to Mr. Welch. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I make a motion to approve item 7 Z26-003 as presented. Got a motion by Mr. Welch. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Mr. Lindley. All in favor? Excellent. Motion passes 5-0. Russ and Joey, thanks for your work on it. Thank you. Thank you, David. Uh, we have no privileges, license, and show cause hearings. Moving on to formal

Um the high school band will go over to the Reed House and from 6:00 to 9:00 the support Smyrna will have our second annual gala there. Um it is it was awesome last year. It's a a great way to uh mingle with other community members and and raise some money for a great cause. There's a silent auction that is um very robust. a lot of good things on there and um I hope you'll come out for both of those things for the for the homecoming parade and come over to the Reed House afterwards for a a great event. As a reminder, Support Smyrna is the hyper local nonprofit that uh assists seniors and children and families and others veterans uh right here in our Smyrna community. So, thank you Ricky for your mention of that, man. I'd have been I'd have been in trouble. Um, Mike Jones, anything you want to add tonight? Yes, sir. Judge, anything you want to add? The honor is ours. Miss Heather, Jill, anything? Not this evening. All right. If there's nothing else to be brought before this body, we uh adjourn from the Jonqual City at 8:00 PM.

Um both will both both of which will offer an extremely high-end experience. Uh class A amenity package for both the hotel and the multif family. Uh we wanted the apartments to be attractive to young professionals and family who want to make Smyrna home. Both of these projects we anticipate will be managed by PEG's in-house multifamily and hospitality management team uh which are very experienced in ma managing properties across the US. Um, and I think with these uh renderings, it's clear to say that our um our design teams really came together and met the objectives that we had set out to them uh set out for them um in developing proposing a a project that I think we can all feel extremely proud of when this will be delivered. Um just again quick overview of PEG. Um been around 20 years um coast to coast developer, real estate investment um firm, but most importantly we're vertically integrated. So, what that means for you is um we have a long time commitment to the project. We've owned this site for multiple years and managed as a as a hotel. Now that it's um realizing its operational obsolescence in its current form, uh we're going to be the ones that reimagine and redevelop the site and then we will um manage it and lease it up and get it stabilized. Um from that end to end vertically integrated experience um we feel that we can best manage the value proposition that comes with these types of projects and really manage the quality uh of that delivery um to your community. Um the next couple of slides I'll go through uh fairly briefly. Um they're just examples of some of the projects that we've done that are similar in nature.

You know, pretty much, you know, it's going to be nice. I know that. [laughter] So, so it should be good for the neighborhood. Uh, and and I I didn't know when I saw Michael Hall, I didn't know that you were going to be the one coming up. Todd's son and my son have played baseball um several several years, not not of last in the last few, but he's a great ball. So, so I invite the council to please grill Todd at at will here with any questions that y'all have. Uh, I don't see any questions. Thank you for coming up. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. This is a public hearing. I'd invite anybody who wants to speak for or against this item to come up and be sworn in now by our city administrator or by our city attorney. You don't get to swear anybody in, but he does. All right. Um, seeing nobody, we'll close the public hearing and I will entertain a motion. This is in ward two. Yes, mayor. And, uh, I'm sure that your, uh, father-in-law will make sure that it's a very nice house. Indeed. [laughter] And but with that being said, um I would make a motion to uh approve. Have a motion to pass. I'm assigned second by Mr. Lindley. Everyone, please vote. And that's approved. 70. Congratulations. You don't have to stay either, but you can, but you don't have to. [laughter]

Um so the front setback's 35, the east side setback is 8 feet. The west side setback is 10 feet and the rear is 30 feet. It's a side entry single family home, approximately 4,000 square feet and uh 32 feet in height. There's a detached garage that is two stories in the back of the property. [snorts] They are required to have storm water detention on the property which they're um located in the rear yard. There are five variances requested. Um, four of them are for for the detached garage. Uh, one is to allow the side setback reduction from 10 feet to 8 feet on the east side. A driveway setback reduction from 5T to 2 feet. Uh, to allow a detached accessory structure greater than 25% of the primary structure, it's approximately 33%. um allow an increase in the accessory structure height from 15 feet to 18 feet and to allow an increase in impervious coverage from 35% to 39% and that is why they are required to have storm water detention. These are uh proposed elevations for the main home and for the detached garage in the back. some pictures of the property as it is today and some adjacent properties. Staff is recommending approval of the reszoning from limited commercial to R15 at 1521 Roswell Street for one single family home. It'll have the standard conditions regarding the architectural composition. They'll have to meet the tree ordinance requirements. Um standard conditions regarding the setbacks I mentioned a minimum 22 uh length driveway. They will have to replace any curb, gutter or sidewalk that's repaired during that's damaged during construction and they'll be responsible for any water and sewer uh improvements. 13 and 14 tie this um to the site plan and elevations submitted with the application. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Covered it all.

County regarding housing Smyrna jail inmates, and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. Mr. Jones, background, please. Uh, please, mayor and council, after we've analyzed this, the city decided to close its jail and work towards a plan to repurpose the facility. So current Smyrna jail inmates and future inmates will be housed at the Cobb County detention center pursuant to the turn of the intergovernmental agreement with the Cobb County Sheriff's Department and the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. U this is very similar to the operations of that other Cobb County cities have already implemented. In fact, the city of Smyrna is the very last municipal jail to turn over inmate actions to the care of the Cobb County Sheriff's Office. Uh we recommend approval. Thank you, Mr. Jones. And I know that um chief and the police department and everybody's done a extensive deep dive into what this looks like from cost perspective and from executions u perspective getting the people where we need to go to the to the sheriff's department and working with the other cities. So I'm I'm I'm pleased at all the work that's gone into uh putting forward this proposal. Is there any discussion or questions from council? All right. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Motion do pass by Mr. Lindley. I think it was a tie, but I'm going to give it to Mr. Gould. Uh has a second. Everyone, please vote.

project uh I I know you care deeply about Williams Park and it shows and how you went about this so I appreciate that uh wish everybody that came before us had done that sort of leg work so thank you uh and look forward to uh much success on that site um with that motion do pass have a motion do pass second by Mr Welch all those in favor please vote have it by hand all those in favor and that's approved 60 I should note uh councilwoman Wilkinson was unable to be here uh this evening uh before we move on to the next agenda item I need to announce that the um Smyrna Citizens Academy is with us this evening and uh how many how many is Carson in here there must be it's the biggest class I've ever seen there must be how many are there 20 25 uh this is a group of folks who are um taking time uh away from their families to learn about the the processes and departments in the city and um and just get a better feel for how they're Community operates and I just want to tell yall how much I appreciate you publicly for doing that um I told y'all earlier I've never seen anybody go through that process who has wished that they didn't they always learn and and are glad that they did so appreciate you all being here tonight I'm sure that the sure Robert was worried that y'all were going to speak against his thing but with this big crowd but um no I just appreciate y'all's time and and for being here with that we'll move on to Item B this is also a public hearing this is zoning request Z 2 5- 003 allow rezoning from mu to Li conditional 1.21 Acres landlock 492 2201 Dixie Avenue Gordon Brands Joey tell us about this please yes sir this is z25 d003 applicant is Gordon Brands the pnz board recommended approval 60 and you can see my presentation is brand appropriate now with the new branding the uh property is 2201 Dixie Avenue 1.2 Acres this property was reson to Mu conditional in 2019 the applicant wanted to have a residential structure on the property that structure is gone um he's adding a new storage building on the property now so we thought it would' be appropriate to revert back to the light industrial zoning that it was previously the land use is industrial mixed use which will stay that way it is surrounded by cob County heavy industrial so this is the property this is where the new storage building

So, we are showing massing that includes some town homes, some flats as well as some um multifamily apartments. And the reason for this is the development strength that you all have here in the region uh to attract some of these uses. You have really great uh comparable rents in the area that are supporting one-bedroom units for 1,800 uh two-bedroom units for 2100. You got really healthy housing ecosystem supporting um you know single family homes or town homes between 4 415 to 500,000. Uh so really um you know great comps that will signal to the development community there's a lot of opportunity. 350 homes might sound like quite a big number and the grand scheme of things as you look at pre other developments in Smyrna, it's actually quite um similar to other concepts of course at a at a density more suitable for downtown. The sink apartments at Jon that's to about 290 multifamily units and the Belmont development is about 274 multifamily units and then 215 single family homes. So this is not an unprecedented amount of residential to add to downtown to Smyrna, but it is an significant investment in the downtown that will bring a lot of new activity. Like I said, all of this is centered around the historic chapel. The chapel in, you know, our own assessment in talking to the community, this is the heart of any future redevelopment. The way we envision redevelopment happening is really opening up the area around the chapel and then focusing redevelopment around a new uh chapel green uh that really highlights this historic structure, opens it up with a glassy or contemporary addition uh and really becomes more of a front lawn for the redevelopment. Brings them about an acre of green space. And then you can have things like mixeduse buildings with parking behind them. uh perhaps an event space um connected to a hotel.

Um what was mentioned by several of um the neighbors before was uh the elevation. So, this would be uh one of the tallest structures uh just in the visual uh surrounding area. And I know that we um discussed earlier that they had proposed dropping the garage um and we could see it in some of the pictures here. Um but I had the opportunity to read through some of the documents that were uploaded to the meeting notes prior to this. And in one of them, forgive me, there was like 10. I don't remember exactly which. Um, but I believe it said that uh they would have to be held to the elevations that were submitted on June 9th. So, I guess one question for whoever to answer would be um if what they discussed tonight is accurate, um are they held to that? If it was not in the plans that were uh submitted on June 9th. So, that's one thing that I would um if I were you, I would be asking that question for some clarity. Uh the second thing is we did talk about uh the retaining walls at the front of the property. Um, I haven't and it may have been just me not picking up to it. Uh, but for where am I where my walk out my back deck, I'm at the low point and so I'm not quite sure what I would be seeing. Um, as far as the grade goes, I think it's about a 20 to 25 foot uh slope. I know because every uh spring I have to walk up with my machete and cut down uh the old neighbor's bamboo, which by the way, thank you to the city for helping to take care of that problem a few years ago.

Because demand is expected to be high, peak hour vehicle activity will concentrate at the most constrained parts of this intersection. Oakdale Road serves the nearby homes, including the 45 additional town homes proposed in this application. Uh carry school bus routes and function as an emergency access corridor. Each of those functions depend on a predict on predictable operations, not assumptions. The planning and zoning board recommended approval by a nar a narrow 3 to2 vote. That matters. It shows that concerns remain unresolved. staff has recommended approval subject to 49 conditions and that work is appreciated. But under the zoning ordinance, the the restaurant use is permitted, but the drive-thru is a design element approved through conditional zoning. That gives council the authority to require operational safeguards. What those conditions do not address is how the site will operate once it's once it's open. The original 2021 zoning included a traffic impact study, but the analysis was not updated for this high throughput drive-through request. There's no requirement to verify that these cues stay on site. No prohibition on spill back into the intersection. No post occupancy operational review. And no requirement to address ongoing operational noise, including sustained exterior noise above approximately 55 dB. State and county agencies will review driveway access, and that's appropriate, but they do not evaluate drive-through Q behavior, noise, neighborhood noise, or postoping performance. I'm speaking tonight as a nearby resident who has reviewed this proposal carefully. These impacts are foreseeable, not speculative. This is not about trusting the applicant. It's about how the operational risk is managed once once approved if it's granted. But once this site is built, the location, the layout is fixed. If problems arise, the city's op options become reactive instead of preventative. So tonight, we respectfully ask for one of two outcomes.

So you're kind of locked into generally where you go with it. I trust staff to work my question. I I trust staff to work with the applicant to find a good solution there. My only want it to be enclosed and it must be. So I'm good. Any other questions for the one quick question. It might might be a given given the uh pictures and slide you showed of your other projects, but do you have a committed hotel partner? Do you have a committed hotel partner? We own and operate. So in-house hotel partner. Yes. Oh, maybe ask it the correct way. Do you have a brand? Oh. Oh, I I apologize. Um, we are in early conversations with major hotel flags. We currently have a Marriott um hotel flag and it wouldn't be a stretch for us to continue on with that flag. Um, but there's we're extremely early on in the process. That doesn't happen until closer as as we uh after we get approval and then we start really um delving into that partnership. Thank you. But as we design it will be with a specific um flag in mind, hotel brand in mind. Um we also intend for this project to be dual branded. Um meaning that we will um have two brands within the same uh family of brands within that hotel. Um the intent of that is we can um we can attract both the business traveler as well as the recre recreational traveler and the types of rooms that we provide. Any other questions or y'all want to have a vote? I'll entertain. Uh, we got to do well, we got to do a public hearing first. If there's anybody Thank you. There's anybody who wishes to speak for or against this item would like to come up and be sworn in by our city attorney now. Welcome you up. All right. Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing. Now we'll entertain a motion. Motion do pass as presented. Have a motion due to pass uh by Mr. Lley, second by Mr. Welch. All those in favor, please vote. That's approved unanimously. Thanks for doing business in Smyrna. Thanks for doing it the right way. And uh tell your friends to do it the right way when they come. We don't always have that. We're appreciative of y'all. Thank you. All right. We don't have any privilege license or show cause hearings this evening. We have a few items under formal business. Uh the first item, item