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[Music] We worked on it for four days. My son, wife, and two kids came down there and destroyed it. Good evening everybody. Let's go ahead and get started. Welcome to the meeting of the mayor and council. Um we have with us tonight Pastor Dyke Verk with Life Church Assembly of God at 4100 King Springs Road. Pastor, come on up and if you'll uh lead us in the uh invocation, the pledge. Everybody, please rise. We thank you Lord for your wisdom, your guidance Lord uh for these council members, Mayor Derek Nordon tonight. Thank you for the opportunity and the blessing, Lord, to live in this city and in this country. We pray your blessing over everyone here tonight and over the citizens of Smyrna, Georgia. We give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen. Would you join me in the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice for all. Thank you, pastor, for being with us. Thank you to Pastor Shell and Missy and Life Church for all y'all do for the community. Appreciate y'all. All right, we don't have any agenda changes tonight. Um, under the mayoral report, the only thing I had uh was we have closed King Street, as you might know, on the weekends from uh Bank over to Powder Springs, and that's been wellreceived. I think everybody can enjoy the green space a lot better now on the weekends. It's closed from 3:00 Friday, I think, till uh Sunday night or Monday morning. A lot of y'all have come to to ask if um the the front part of the Market Village, we could do the same thing for the same hours beginning at the entrance to the Market Village on Atlanta Road uh to I guess where Spectrum Cable is.

Uh we are uh in talks with the businesses right now. Uh we think that's I think that's a good idea. Uh so if we can get buy in and it meets with the covenants of that uh of the businesses there um that'll be something we'll look forward to moving uh voting on uh here in the weeks to come. So just want everybody to know that's on our radar and we appreciate the input from the citizens. Uh with that we've got proclamation tonight. This is in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month and National Crime Victim's Rights Week. And to present that proclamation tonight is uh Councilwoman Hines. Thank you, mayor. Um, as a a person who's been um in protecting victims for over 20 years, as a prosecutor, um it's very important to me to be able to do this recognition. Uh and you'll see a picture that is up on the uh screens of the pinwheel garden, and I'll tell you a little bit about that. That's at the Smyrna Police Department. So this proclamation by the mayor of the city of Smyrna in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month and National Crime Victim's Rights Week. Whereas children are our most valuable resource and they are also most vulnerable. All of Georgia's children have a right to be safe and an opportunity to thrive, learn, and grow in an environment that fosters healthy development. And whereas in fiscal year federal fiscal year 2021, 3.9 million reports were made to child protective services. And whereas childhood trauma can have long-term psychological, emotional, and physical effects throughout an individual's lifetime and impact future generations of their family. And whereas child abuse and neglect can be prevented by supporting and strengthening Georgia's families, thus preventing the far-reaching effects of abuse and neglect and providing the opportunity for children to develop healthy, trusting family bonds and consequently building the foundations of communities.

And whereas effective child abuse prevention activities succeed because of partnerships created between child welfare professionals, education, health, community, and faith-based orb based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and families. And whereas communities must make every effort to promote programs and activities that create strong and thriving children and families. And whereas we acknowledge that we must work together as a community to increase awareness about child abuse and contribute to promote the social and emotional well-being of children and families in a safe, stable, and nurturing environment. And whereas prevention remains the best defense of our children and families. And now therefore, I, Derek Norton, mayor of the city of Smyrna, Georgia, do hereby proclaim April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the city of Smyrna, and recognize that April 6th through the 12th, 2025 as National Crime Victim's Rights Week, and urge all citizens to recognize this month by dedicating ourselves to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and families and victims of crime. And um I have I believe Irene Barton from the Cobb uh collaborative is here and I'll give a little explanation about the pin wheelel um garden that we have here. And as you look at the picture up there of the pinwheel garden which is there in front of the statue that uh is at our Smyrna Police Department. It states that the world may be different because I was important to the life of a child. And so what a better place to have that in our city. So Irene, if that plaque had not been there before, it should have been placed. I mean, it was just like the perfect combination. So, thank you so much, Councilwoman Hines, and everybody for having us once again.

Um, the pin wheels represent what childhood should be all about, which is a time of whimsy and play and not being concerned about the adults in your life being anything other than those safe and trusted um, champions and advocates of children. So, I have more pinwolves here. I'll leave with the city clerk um, if that's okay for you all. And thank you all for many of you wore blue. Don't know if that was just coincidental or you actually remember Councilwoman Hines made sure we all Yes. Everybody needs a Councilwoman Hines in in their life. So, thank you for that. And um I just want to also take this moment to talk about a shift in the child protection world. Um Prevent Child Abuse Georgia has recently rebranded to Positive Childhood Alliance. So, same acronym PCA, but you may see that more and more. And it really represents a shift in child serving agencies from surveillance to support. Just as the proclamation mentioned, what can we do to support and prevent um abuse? And that goes back to, you know, what do families need in that moment? Um a lot of times it's concrete resources. And so how can we meet families where they are um upstream in a prevention mode rather than a in a reactive mode after unfortunately malreatment may have already occurred. So thank you for this opportunity. So we have a proclamation. I'd like to take a picture with it. If you want to give out those uh pinw wheels to the council we can. And we have members from our community engagement of the police department that are here. and if they wouldn't mind coming up and being a part of that picture because they are a lot of times in the front lines of of protecting our kids. So, thank you. [Applause] Oh, okay. Wherever you like, sir.

You want to get a photo real quick with as a weapon. Oh, there it is. All right. All right. One for each child. Thank you. Let's get right here in the middle. Oh, hold on. Let's get some more color. There we go. I feel like a blushing bride. Thank you all so much for being here for what you do. Yes, I know Irene, you do so much for this community and if I remember right, I saw you on the front page of the paper not too long ago recently being honored. So, congratulations again to you and thanks again for all you do. Thank you, mayor. You don't want to be above the We never want to be on the front page, but that was a good reason to be. All right, we'll move on now to um community development items. First item is a public hearing. This is a variance request uh to reduce the side setback from 10 ft to 1 ft on land lot 3452596 South Cobb Drive, Silver Loadstone Incorporated. And this was um sent to us by the license and variance board at the request of Councilwoman Wilkinson. Any background, Kristen? just said the applicant is requesting a variance um of the side set back from 10 feet. Is that better? Sorry, I'll talk louder. Sorry. Um as as Mayor Norton said, the applicant is requesting a variance to reduce the side setback from 10 feet to 1 foot for the placement of a freestanding ice vending machine at 2596 South Cobb Drive. Section 802 establishes the building setbacks for properties in the general commercial zoning district. Thank you, Christian. We'll turn it over now to Rusty. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Rusty Martin, community development director. Uh before you guys tonight, you have variance case V25-17. Uh the applicant is Silver Loadstone, Inc.

Um, as stated uh previously, they are requesting a setback reduction from 10 feet to 1 ft for an accessory structure on the property. Uh, this case was originally supposed to be heard by the license and variance board on February uh 26. At that meeting, it was deferred to uh you all for a final action. The subject property is 2596 South Cobb Drive. Um it's approximately a half acre in size located in Ward 5. Um on the property there is a freestanding restaurant that is uh currently operating there and they're looking to uh build a an accessory ice vending machine uh that'll be located on the property um to serve uh the general public. Here's the proposed site plan. Uh, as you see um on the on the south end of the site, there is a 11 by14 accessory structure. This is a freestanding uh ice machine that you can come up to, put your money in, and then you get a bag of ice or um, you know, it goes straight into your cooler. Um, and then you can drive off and go from there. The the appin is looked at this location. So is outside of the front setback which is 50 feet and it has been pushed into the side setback to maintain uh the a minimum 20 foot buildings 20 foot separation between the vending machine and the and the existing building to maintain fire proper fire access. This is what the vending machine will look like. I've discussed with the applicant that this is not a request for uh sign variance that obviously the the machine will need to meet the requirements of the city's sign ordinance with respect to the amount of signage allowable for uh that structure. On the right hand side you'll sort of see the dimensions with respect to um sort of the scale of that building.