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members who came to support as well yeah so I don't know the family's here but new sports in this town whether it's at the high school level or peeee baseball or soccer or basketball whatever it's swimming whatever it is we have got a ton of talent in this city and something to be really proud of congratulations again guys really good and this is a part where we say you you don't have to stay you can stay but you don't have to I would go appreciate y'all being here all right while they're going to enjoy the rest of their evening we'll move on with the agenda um the next thing we have is proclamations and presentations and Smyrna fire chief Brian Marcos is going to give us an update on the Strategic plan from the fire department thank you for being here Chief yes sir good evening mayor and Council it's my honor and privilege to present the spurn of fire department strategic plan this has uh been a long time coming for us this is the third strategic plan in 127 years of our Department's history and what's unique about this particular plan is that in 22 after being appointed fire chief this body uh supported us in Consulting with Dynamics consulting which help us deliver our first Community risk assessment this is the City's community risk assessment which allows us to understand our risk in our community and build strategies off of those risks to determine how we prioritize and build programs and so this was very important for us because it really informed our strategic plan the other part about this that makes this plan unique is that we had a lot of involvement uh in external stakeholders and even internal stakeholders within the department participate at all the community events that we've had we were surveying and reaching out to Citizens for their input on expectations and priorities that they had and you won't be surprised that getting to them fast is important having the right resources is important um so so it was very informative it helped us uh de develop the 11 major goals that you see on the screen now we took our time and went out to the cob Chamber of Commerce for an off-site visit where we took 20 members of our Smyrna fire department from one year folks all the way to 30 plus year veterans to have input on what this looked like so we feel very good about the participation and where this road map is into the future and I'm excited to tell you I've got some members here that participated as well

but this is this is a huge milestone for us because we are pursuing agency accreditation and one of the three legs for us is having our self assessment completed having our CRA completed our community risk assessment and now our strategic plan which we are now a candidate to become an a accredited agency uh in that process which is only 133% of the fire departments across the country reach that gold standard and so I hope within 18 18 months to 2 years you're going to see this fire department be the gold standard that we all know it is but we'll have it proven and validated through the center of Public Safety Excellence with that thank you Mary I'm happy to answer any questions uh around the Strategic plan any questions for chief I'll just say thank you for all you and the department does uh you know we're talking about youth sports right before I can tell you that we have the best public respond First Responders whether it's police Fire EMS anywhere in the state and um the you know you y'all go about your jobs and and we we go about our lives and and but you're always there and let me just tell you something y'all when you need them we got the best in the business when when my son was little he had a seizure and man they were right there and you just you just I don't know it it I'm so pleased with what yall are doing and how you're doing it and how you serve this community every day thank you very much it's our honor and if they'd like to learn more about the Strategic plan they can go to sperity fire.com and and take a look at the plan themselves or come to one of our community open houses if they have any questions but thank you for your support thank you mayor we appreciate I noticed on your uh on the presentation there the the picture of a nice new fire engine nice that you added that there is a push in ceremonies this Wednesday at 10: at Station 2 if they'd like to come and see it so they had that thing at the Smyrna um little league parade and that was people were it's sharp like that a lot yeah thank you thank you [Applause] sir all right we're going to move on to item seven Community Development uh 7A this is a public hearing zoning request z252 allow rezoning from R15 to Mu conditional for use as a church single family home and artist Studios 1.86 Acres landlot 559 1464 Spring Street

with Robert Harrison as the applicant um Joey you want to tell us about this please yes sir good evening Joey stabs planner two with Community Development this is rezoning KC 25-2 applicant is Robert Harrison the Planning and Zoning um commission recommended approval 60 in their February meeting the subject property is 1464 Spring Street it's the location ofing Spring Street Baptist Church uh currently there is a church there a residential structure and then two accessory buildings this resoning would be from R15 to Mu conditional to keep the home there to keep the church there and then to allow art studios in the two accessory buildings this would require a future land use change from moderate density residential to mixed juice also to be compatible with the mixed juice zoning district and this is the property this is the home on the property the church will remain a church it's got two two congregations that meet there and then here would be the artist Studios and they're currently like Sunday school buildings and classrooms so some modifications will happen in those but more for ADA compliance and just to make them functional spaces and the bottom of part of the property is a stream buffer some pictures of the subject property and adjacent properties and staff is recommending approval of the resoning from R15 to Mu conditional which with the following conditions one the zoning would restrict the property to only these four uses dwelling detached attached multif family townhous townhouse and Condominiums institutional uses such as churches synagogues Sunday school buildings and art galleries Studios for artist um sales of items produced on the premise shall be permitted twice a year and then the the the last is schools providing adult training in any of the Arts Sciences trade and professions shall be permitted on an inter intermittent basis number two are all of the uses in section 20 that are not allowed they're just listed out um but I won't go over all of them three uh the existing buildings shall be inspected by the fire marshall office and brought into compliance with Ada and life safety requirements four the parking lot shall be restriped and brought into compliance with ADA requirements and five approval of the subject property for the MU conditional zoning District shall be conditioned upon the development of the property in substantial compliance with the survey that was shown so any changes to add any new structures on this property would need Council approval going forward I'd be happy to answer any questions uh Mr stubs or Mr Tucker can you speak to I know there is a deed restriction on

the sanctuary building can we pull that that image back up I want to just make sure we're clear on that this survey the deed restriction on the sanctuary building that we talked about in Cal yeah I don't have the deed restriction on here but from what I understand is the sanctuary building has to remain a sanctuary building and they're they're not planning to change that at all now Mr Lindley it's it's quite common um when when um when when any kind of religious institution uh and it's not it's not always the case because obviously this is not going to happen with the what's going on with the First Baptist Church but it's quite common when a religious institution changes hands um because religion religious groups have an interest in having their spiritual activities continue for them to write into the deed that they that the the property whoever acquires it must continue the religious activities that have been going on there and and by my understanding that applies to this property that that it's it's a of record that that the the church must stay a church thank you I got a question and maybe this is better for the applicant I'm curious how many artist lofs we're going to be able to do in that space is my first question and my second question is under one and I hadn't planned to ask this but I just saw it uh of all the uses under that zoning category listed under number one it's you know painters and uh all jewelry and different things I I noticed that gymnasts are in there why are they in there because I don't anticipate any gymnastics going on in there no I I just did not eliminate all of the different I wanted to keep it open but I doubt there will be any gymnast there Robert you're not going to have any gymnastics in there are you any other questions for Joey and then I'll invite the applicant up uh not for Joey for the applicant okay Robert you want to come up he'll state your name and address for the record top of the evening to you Robert Harrison 2889 Alexander Street I'm hurt that you would think that I'm not into gymnastics I mean I don't know if you are or not I just don't you know just just a little bit no I don't I'm not sure where that came from I think that's just part of I can assure you I will not be doing gymnastics in there if I fall off a ladder that's the closest I come to that so how

many uh how many Lofts are you going to be able to put in there how many that's two buildings that will be artist studio spaces there's a middle building and that currently is divided into classroom spaces it was built as a school room so there's uh nine rooms uh one of them's an office and so there'll be eight Studio spaces in there plus a break room restrooms uh 88 88 compliant bathroom in addition to that so that building is already set it was in pretty good shape the second building the fellowship hall building which is one in the back that is more of just an open room dining hall so at some point in the future uh that will be divided up into similar artist studio spaces about 12T X 12T uh those seem to be the a good size that artist is big enough for them to use uh but it's for what we call clean Arts uh unlike my art that makes a lot of smoke and fumes and noise this is more artist that we have one person Susie uh lives across the street she does fabric design uh we have Kim back here she does Pottery uh so those type of Arts that go well together in a space where you don't annoy each other too much and so that's the primary use for those two buildings is more of the clean art what else you want to tell us about the space uh I came to an agreement with the uh congregation last year after helping them out and getting to know them over the years I mowed their grass for about six years and so we're finally moving ahead with it it's I can't believe it it's happening so we're the sanctuary building is we mentioned is going to stay sanctuary building the original congregation still meets every other Sunday and I help them out U make sure everything's maintained there's a new congregation that had been meeting in my neighborhood in somebody's house and they've now moved in in the afternoons uh Waterstone church and it's made up of uh younger uh cross-section of people from the neighborhood uh so they're going to be the residents of the sanctuary building and there's classroom spaces like Sunday school spaces uh inside that building and is to the yes the deed restriction applies it's going to it it's going to stay a sanctuary anyway that was the plan all along regardless of the deed restriction so it works out fine um and then the middle building is artist studio space is the back building eventually Art Studio spaces it'll need

substantial renovation at some point I'll pull a permit we'll get approved designs but not yet um and then there's a house on the property that uh Kathy lives in she's one of the original members there that stays a residence and that's part the plan is to let her live there and I'll look after that house for her uh today we uh delivered two trailer loads of dirt and we're creating a neighborhood Garden on the grass area behind the church because I'm tired of mowing it so we're coming up with all kinds of uses where I don't have to mow the grass anymore but we had 24 spaces and I didn't even announce it and we have 24 reservations paid ready to go from the neighborhood that shows the demand for something like this the smyna community garden is awesome well-run has a the waiting list so we decided to one do one in our our neighborhood so we don't have to drive other over to North Cooper Lake we've got a lot of trees in the neighborhood and it's kind of challenging to Garden uh so that's getting started and it'll be ready for spring planning in about two weeks uh so uh at some point like I said later this year we'll start Renovations on the back building but that's a whole another uh process we'll we'll talk about that later any questions from Council Robert I just had one um the signs yeah and and just a comment thank you so much for what do for the Arts in the community you could do this other places but you've committed to doing that here in smna so we are thankful for that um and it sounds a little bit like old King's plow um so kind of excited about that um have you spoken to your neighbors because obviously you have neighbors who are around you and everything um are they okay with this yes as a matter of fact we had a uh informational meeting at the church a few weeks ago publicized it uh Mr Bennett was there I had a good turnout we had about 30 people show up and we talked and answered questions for about 45 minutes then gave a tour uh so in addition that I've talked personally with the neighbors especially on Foster Street uh one one of the artists lives on Foster Street and the other people on Foster Street I know them pretty well and so we've been in communication with them the entire time they were the first people to know about it in fact I went to them before I even had

it under contract just to make sure that I wanted to do something that was positive uh change for the neighborhood I didn't want to bring anything controversial we jokingly said it was a car wash and you know that was wrong because people took it seriously so we're going to do something that's positive for the area how many people got riled up about that yeah exactly imagine that but it is something that's sorely needed uh We've Lo we as artists in Atlanta metro Atlanta have lost the vast majority of Studio spaces because artists are the first ones to move into an old warehouse and then it becomes cool and then developers buy it and then the artists get kicked out and we've seen it go through the goat farm uh King Plow was completely unaffordable for most people so I wanted to bring something to Smyrna that was similar to King Plow goat farm you name it the Metropolitan that has become either unavailable unaffordable and I've seen how it is a uh has a halo effect on the area once you bring in the artist and you have classes there and so one of the plans for the back building is small Studios but to leave at least one room semi large like maybe 30 people so that we can have a classroom and so any of the artists that have Studio spaces on site they're able to teach a class and it's for the community it's for the neighborhood it's not you know to make a big profit on but we need that here we we've come a long way in the past two or three years and I think it's time to build on that momentum and keep it going any other questions Mr Gold so uh Robert thanks uh for what you do two two things one you reached out to me and I assume all the other council members and you know talked about the program your ideas and stuff which which is really helpful you know and we appreciate that right so we have you hear from you firsthand but secondly I really want to thank you for what you do as lonia said what you do for the Arts Community like you you're going to host this another art show for the Campbell High School IB art program right so you open up your home literally open up your home to allow the artist student artists come in and other folks so really appreciate what you do for the community and and your willingness to to step up and be creative and help you know make keep keep Smur

a great place to to live so thank you very much I I see the potential and we lost a lot of that Community Vibe during the pandemic and it's just now starting to thaw out and I see people wanting like I said with the the community garden filled up like that and I've see people want more things like that to get together and have reasons to get to know your neighbors and I it's extremely important you've heard me everybody's heard me so I don't need to go on about that but it's it's a I'm excited I can't tell excited this is something I've been thinking about for years so to see it actually happening it's pretty wild else thank you thank you all right this is a public hearing we'll go ahead and open that up and if you want to speak for or against this item come on up and be sworn in by our City attorney I will you ttim you matter truth whole truth and nothing but truth are to God I do thank you welcome good to see you thank you good to see all of you uh thank you for the opportunity to speak my name is Lim Ward I live at 1496 spring I'm basically about three doors down from the church and I'm here to speak and support uh I've been here many times in opposition to overdevelopment but here I am wholeheartedly in support of what Robert is doing uh Williams Park has always been more than just a group of houses it has had a certain Vibe if you will it has also been a real true neighborhood but in terms of what something like a community garden an artist space will bring is much more important to us than simply bringing more houses and it also stabilizes something which has been the uh Apple of many a lustful developers eye to try to overdevelop here and I know Robert well and I know he's going to be a good Steward of this property and going to prevent that kind of thing the idea that Robert has brought here is something that I am fully in support of and I hope that you'll vote in favor of it thank you for the opportunity to present mayor and councel thank you for being here anybody else all right we'll close the public hearing this is in Ward three I'll turn it over to councilman Lindley thank you Mr Mayor and uh thanks to Mr Harrison for uh as several have noted for your your work in the community uh but particularly uh with your work on this

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

is there there's some buildings on the property and some chimneys there um they're they'll all stay that way the only new thing is the storage building here's some pictures of the property so we're recommending approval of the resoning from mu to light industrial conditional the following conditions a building permits required for the storage building um the 2019 resoning required 10 to RightWay dedication we're following that um recommendation the structural Integrity of the existing structures should be inspected by the fire marshall and building official and four it is conditioned upon the development of the property according to the survey that was shown I'll be happy to answer any questions any questions for Joey covered it all thank you we'll invite the applicant up now Mr Brans good evening mayor councel May doing tonight good um have any questions I'd be happy to answer them any questions at all anything else we need to know it's a storage building pretty straightforward that's it all right appreciate you all's approval uh this is a public hearing is there anybody wants to speak for or against this item come on up and be sworn in seeing none we'll close the public hearing and I'll turn it over to councilman Lindley thank you Mr Mayor uh and thanks to the applicant I got to visit with him a couple of weeks ago and uh happy to see his business expanding in Smyrna with that motion due pass is presented motion due pass do I have a second second by Mr Pickins all those in favor please vote we got to do a hand vote again or no okay and that's approved 60 we'll move on now to formal business we have four items tonight the first is item a authorization to amend the fiscal year 2025 adopted budget to increase the parks programs departmental budget for Heritage celebrations in the amount of $122,000 Mr Bennett pretty straightforward any background yes sir it is no sir it's just a a movement um from general fund to add to the budget line item for the Heritage celebrations very good any discussion I'll entertain a motion all right so move motion to pass by Mr Oglesby second by Mr G all those in favor please vote and that's approved 60 Item B authorization to approve the reclassification of the Public Safety Systems administrator position to system administrator and transfer the role from the police department to the information technology department to establish a team of system administrators within it to oversee all the city's major software systems Mr Bennett any backham please yes sir the Poli the police department's Public Safety Systems administrator

position is currently vacant due to a retirement transferring its responsibilities to the IT department this reclassification request seeks to establish a team of system administrators within it to oversee all of the city's major software systems this creates a dedicated team that will enhance cross training opportunities and provide additional support for police fire and Citywide operations this request will reclassify the Public Safety Systems administrator to a system administrator while maintaining the pay grade of government 12 additionally it will formally transfer the position from the police department to the IT department thank you Mr bennon any discussion from Council all right we have a motion to Due pass by Miss Hines to have a second second by Mr Oglesby all those in favor please vote and that's approved 60 move on to item C authorization for approval of a professional Engineering Services proposal from Croy engineering 200 C Parkway North building 400 site 413 in Marietta in the amount of 1,218 395 to be paid from the 2022 spast for the talison park aquatic center development and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related items Mr Ben at the background please yes sir Croy engineering will provide Civil Engineering Services for full design construction documents doents permitting lighting architecture architecture and pool design all part all part of the Redevelopment of the Aquatic Center at toison Park fees are broken down by Services phases including pre-design design phase permitting and bid phase construction phase and subc consultant Services parks and recck and finance recommend authorization thank you Mr Bennett any discussion I'll entertain a motion motion du pass by Mr Mr Lenley second by Mr Pickins all those in favor please vote and that's approved 60 and this gets the process started with the um the new Aquatics facility coming in at talson uh the question was asked earlier tonight in the pre-council meeting when is all that debris from the talson demolition going to be removed the geohydro is going to be done in the next few days and after that they'll remove all the debris and then they'll uh bring a a final design to us to vote on that'll have features that we've talked about in the uh Citywide Town Hall that include a a heated competition pool a recreational pool with a um with a lazy river component a a separate water slide uh and a Zero Entry little kids area so it's going to be a huge Improvement to what we've had and a real um Jewel for the City of Smyrna so excited to get that process started we'll move on to item D authorization to amend the adopted

arpa project length budget for the playgrounds repairs and maintenance project to increase the budget in the amount of $7,500 to account for a change order to contract previously awarded to lagap development company uh this is in w six Mr Bennett any additional background yes sir during the preconstruction it was um realized that there were a set of trees that were not originally identified as being on city property this amendment is to allow these trees to be removed easy enough any discussion Mr Gold uh thanks Mr Mayor make a motion to approve as previously read motion due pass by Mr G second by Mr Lindley all those in favor please vote who we missing nobody it's approve 60 next is the consent agenda Mr Bennett can you please read the consent agenda for Council approval and don't forget to add that item for closing King Street please item a minin 2025-the of the whole meeting minutes Item B Min 202-4794 approval for Atkins Park through event coordination by Red Bird events to hold the 2 3rd annual crawfish boil in the market Village taking place on Saturday May 3rd 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. the outdoor music ending at 10: p.m. and for delivery and setup will begin on Friday May 2nd 2025 and all event Festival Festival items will be moved off the roadway by midnight on May 4th 2025 with equipment pickup on Monday May 5th 2025 with approval to include Associated street closures as noted in the background in item d ath 202-441-8850 between Bank Street and powder Spring Street and it will be effective tomorrow which is March 18th 2025 through November 2nd which is the end of daylight savings time 2025 for the periods of 3 p.m.