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e e for we'll call this meeting to order at 7 o'clock welcome everybody uh we have with us tonight uh Reverend Derek Porter for with smna First United Methodist Church my pastor uh welcome you up now uh to lead us in the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance everybody please

rise let us pray gracious God we thank you for this night we thank you for the privilege of coming and being together we pray that all of our Representatives all of our city leaders will experience your blessing experience your wisdom and your guidance gracious God continue to guide them and lead them as they do this important work and gracious God continue to guide them and lead them as they do the good work they have been doing and will continue to do gracious God be with our First Responders tonight especially on nights like tonight where it is cold where they are cold and where they are serving people who are cold gracious God help us to remember those who are less fortunate and almighty God bless each citizen of this great City that we love with a great year of Love kindness and peace in Christ's name we pray amen I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you Pastor for being with us and for all you do for the community appreciate you we don't have any agenda changes tonight um the mayoral report I'll I'll

keep it brief just wish everybody a Happy New Year uh I hope yall enjoyed uh all of the festivities and Lights downtown over the last month um we've had a great year and we've got another great year coming up in 2025 uh this Council will will meet on Thursday and Friday at our annual Retreat to talk through some details on upcoming projects we got a lot going on in the city uh from a development perspective and special projects and there'll be a lot of details forthcoming in the upcoming weeks uh once we get everything ironed out at our Retreat so we're looking forward to that with that I will move to um we have no proclamations and presentations tonight uh to Community Development items item 7A resolution 202- 005

authorization for the approval of resolution 2025-the of days beginning on January 10th 2025 for the accepting or processing applications seeking the issuance of assigned permit for for freestanding signs and authorize the mayor or mayor protm to sign and execute all related documents pretty straightforward Mr Bennett any background yes sir a legal challenge was made regarding the legality of certain provisions of the sign ordinance for the City of Smyrna at chapter 82 of the Smyrna code of ordinances and the city council concluded that on July 15th 2024 it was necessary and desirable to adopt a moratorium for 60 days on accepting or processing applications seeking the issuance of ass signed permit for freestanding signs while a legal review of the sign ordinance is conducted in resolution 20249 was adopted by the mayor and city council additionally resolution 2024-25 extended the moratorium in additional 60 days beginning September 12th 2024 resolution 2024-25 extended the moratorium in additional 60 days beginning November 11th 2024 Regal legal review has not concluded therefore it is necessary to extend the moratorium in additional 60 days with resolution 2025-the Mr Ben anything else on that no okay all right any discussion amongst councel may I have a motion motion do pass moot do pass Mr Lindley second by Mr Pickins all those in favor please vote and that's approved 70 thank you the next three items b c and d are

relating to a proposed development off Windy Hill um we'll have staff uh present to us and then we'll have the

applicant come up and then we'll have the public hearing after that I guess we'll get everybody sworn in after yall make your presentation uh Z Item B is Z2 24-16 uh this is not a vote this is a public hearing zoning request Z2 24- 016 annexation and rezoning from GC and Li Smyrna uh and hi cob County to Mu conditional for mixed use development with 295 units at a density of 29 units per acre and a Civic building landlock 491 9.8 Acres 1101 Windy Hill Road zero Dixie Avenue zero Atlanta Road and 1278 Davis Road wsse Development LLC and why don't we you want to read any background or would you want to turn it over to Rusty we'll turn it over to Rusty uh good evening uh this is resoning case z uh 24-1 016 um the appin is uh wsse development um this rezoning case uh was submitted back in November and it was heard by the the Planning and Zoning Board back on December 2nd they made a recommendation for approval by vote of 60 and obviously it's it it's come before you guys um with this request there's an Associated annexation that'll be the next item you guys will act on after the public hearing um there's um approximately a quarter of an acre uh property that's owned by Cobb County off Fixie Road that's incorporated into uh this as part of this development and as you can see on the on the map um it's the uncolored piece at the northwest corner of the property um the site we're considering today is 1101 Windy Hill Road it's a iGo Church site um and then there's a small parcel on the Eastern side that houses a a landscape company um the property is just under 10 acres it's located in ward 3 um the the property has a zoning of GC which is General commercial Li which is light industrial and then the portion in cop county has a zoning of heavy industrial hi the alcin is proposing to change those zoning classifications to mixed use conditional uh for the development of um a mixed use development which would include 295 multif family units along with a 30,000 foot Civic uh building the requests to reone a property uh also encompasses a future land use map change um the subject property has a uh future land use designation of public institutional um that needs to um be changed to Mi isues to be um compatible with the requested zoning um if you look at the the feature future land use map the the properties to the north have a future land

use designation of industrial mixed use uh the properties to the East are uh public parks um the properties to the South are moderate density residential and then the properties to the West are uh Community Activity Center so you have a variety of um future land use types this is the proposed site plan and just to help you get oriented uh Wy Hill is on uh the bottom of the site uh Davis Drive is on the east or the right hand side of the site plan uh Hills Hillside uh Avenue is on the north at the top and then Dixie uh Avenue is on the west side or on the left left side of the site plan along the railroad the multifamily uh component of this development is 295 units um there are two main buildings that Encompass most of the units for the site uh the building on the leftand side is a four-story building and then the the building on the right side is a four story five five story split so um the the the side of the buildings that face those internal roads will be four stories and then the side that faces the pool uh is five stories um and then it it it has pool and and amenities to go with that there are some uh garage buildings with with a couple uh residential units above them and then there are two 4unit uh town home buildings uh up at the north side of the property the 30,000 foot CI Civic building is oriented towards Windy Hill Road and it has its own uh parking that surrounds that building to support that use and then the mo the Zoning for the property is in line with the mixed use zoning uh 10ft front set back back on the front 10 foot on the side and 10 foot on the rear the mix use uh zoning designation is trying to pull uh these buildings up to uh the street Frontage um with this request you have a total of uh 472 parking spaces surface level parking spaces and then there's a two twole deck uh Parking Deck with 146 parking spaces and in addition to that there are uh 141 parking spaces around the uh Civic use this property has um an access drive off a a full access Drive off of Dixie Avenue a full access Drive off of Hills Hillside uh Avenue and then two accesses off of Davis Road one for the for the parking for the parking under the parking deck and then a second one uh for the private road that that connects the property in

addition to uh those access points a new deceleration Lane on a Windy Hill will be added as well as a a full access uh traffic signal Davis Road RightWay um will be dedicated in and Road Improvement will be done in a in accordance with City standards for a new public rideway and Hillside Drive right away will be improved to meet uh minimum standards and that is that that RightWay is located in cob County uh so that that'll go through their review process and and through their approval processes there's an underground storm water Detention Facility um in the parking area for the Civic use building and then also underneath the the parking deck at the northeast corner of the property with this request there's uh four uh variances associated with it uh the first is to allow the the setback reduction to 10 feet for all the sides on the property um second is to allow reduction in the minimum parking requirement from 1.75 spaces per unit to 1.5 uh spaces per unit and then to allow an increase in density from 25 units up to 29 units per acre and then finally uh allow parking between the building and rideway here uh are the proposed elevations for the property um for the multi uh family development and then you have pictures of the subject property as it stands today and then uh pictures of the adjoining Area Community Development is in is recommending approval of the requested annexation and resoning um with following conditions um standard conditions uh from section 121 apply except for number two three 4 six and 16 and 17 uh the first standard condition it deals with composition of the building make sure it has the mixture of elements uh related to Stone uh brick uh Hardy Shake uh uh stucco those type of elements uh number two uh deals with the placement and screening of the detention Pond number three requires the utilities to be Underground number four requires the de developer to be responsible for any traffic improvements number five requires the installation of the deceleration Lane number six uh requires any streets that are constructed to meet City standards um number seven uh prohibits debris from being buried on site and number eight requires installation of decorative street lights 9 10 and 11 I'll deal with the city's tree ordinance and um making sure that we meet the requirements of the tree ordinance and that the plan is designed by a registered landscape architect in addition to the standard conditions we have 12 we have uh special conditions 12 is the minimum uh building setbacks 13 uh requires

the developer to meet all fire access requirements and 14 requires the developer to meet uh to be responsible for any water and sewer improvements deemed necessary for the development uh 15 requires the developer to be responsible for storm water management improvements 16 requires the the average unit size floor area for the for the units to be have an average of 900 square feet um and then 17 requires that those units be Class A amenitized type units 18 um requires that those units be maintained in that in that fashion and then 19 sort of sets the minimum standards that that and finishes that we need to see within those units 20 uh calls out the the mixture type of the units you have 70% one bedroom uh 27% two bedroom and 3% three bedroom uh 21 limits the maximum Building height at 66 feet 22 requires the the HVAC units and the mechanical units to be screened from public rideway uh 23 requires the dumpster to be screened and uh in position so it's not uh visible from the public RightWay uh 24 requires 5 foot sidewalk along Dixie Avenue Windy Hill Road uh Davis Road and Hillside Drive 25 um requires dedication RightWay dedication for uh Davis Road to meet the minimum standards and then to be constructed with curb and gutter and uh sidewalk 26 requires dedication along Hillside Drive to bring that road up to uh minimum standards 27 uh require there's a decorative brick exterior where visible from the RightWay for the parking deck um and then 28 uh calls for the minimum amount of parking space to be 472 spaces uh for the multif family 29 uh is calls for the developer to be responsible for the traffic signal on Windy Hill and 30 uh is the developers responsible for the diesel Lane 30 31 ties the development to the site plan and 32 ties the development to the elevations you saw here today with that I'll be happy to answer any questions for you any questions for Rusty I have one can you put the U Zite plan back up again the possibly it's up online I don't I can't can we put the site plan back up on the screen there you go there thank you um so is Dixie um is it Dixie Drive is that a Dixie Avenue Dixie Avenue is that a public uh is that one of the public streets or it is a public road yes okay it's an existing Public Road okay um no I like the uh plan and everything I was just going to ask about is that also includes parking

spaces uh is that what that those lines are along no was being reflected along um Dixie Avenue the oh that's the darker the darker lines are the five foot sidewalk that's being added the lighter gray is the existing currently the existing sidewalk along Dix okay Joe just pointed out the the the road that I was thinking was talking about was an interior Road I guess um not Dixie but the one where the uh circular Drive is yes that's a that's a brand new private interior Road oh okay and that will be part of the apartment the development not the the Civic building in the front that'll be shared between both properties okay and that includes parking as well oh yes yes okay thank you any other questions for Rusty right thank you like to invite the applicant up now Jeffrey do we need to swear them in not the applicant okay we'll do that after Rusty you do have to give up your spot though thank got it good evening Mr Mayor thank you Council thank you for having us here my name is Michael McGuire and I with the Worthing companies we're based here in Atlanta and with me tonight is Darren CER who's the president owner of theany company um and we're really pleased to be a part of this development um I'm going to stop right here and just say that um you guys should all be really proud of your staff we've been at this for John well over a year uh working on this together with everybody from Joe to Rusty to to U Joey and the staff's been great in guiding us and making sure that we adhered to what your long range plan was as we got got in devolving the site so Worthing has been based here in Atlanta since 1985 small firm privately owned principal driven and when I say principal driven I mean that the people that you see here tonight Darren CER and myself we are the two people that you will be dealing with dayto day or the staff will be dealing with as we develop this project together there's nobody else I'm not turning it over to anybody so if you got a question we're the two people that you'll come come to see um so we're here again um Rusty stole most of my thunder so I'm going to in deference to your time uh I'm going to just get through this really quickly and then leave the rest of the time for questions or public to ask us questions so this is a Redevelopment opportunity obviously at this corner um

where there's a lot of activity that's already occurred with Belmont and what's happening with the Windy Hill district uh Redevelopment plan and so what as as rusty said we've assembled a number properties here gracious I mean U Southern uh the the Landscaping Company there there's a little box over to the right um You got the little sliver of land 0. 21 Acres it's cob County it is an island um and that's part of what your comprehensive plan was trying to deal with and then Maple and and Park Drive honestly when we go through some I'll give you a little history slides on this but when the church was built I think the thought was that Maple that portion of all of maple and that that portion the park was actually abandoned it was developed as part of the church problem you see but as we got into title it's not real clear that that was done well so as part of this process we want to do that and get it done correctly so that the title is real real clear on that um as rusty said we're asking for a Amendment to the comprehensive plan to get this to Mu conditional and I will say that obviously there's a lot of conditions here attached to this and we've agreed to all of those conditions so know that Annex the sliver of land from Cobb County Cobb County has agreed to that their Council has voted on that uh it's just a process now to get it from the County's hands into the cities and we'll work with the city to make that happen obviously reson this to mix use conditional officially abandoned the portion of Maple and Park Drive that are that are transacting the property and approve the variances that we we requested quickly just we went through the 2040 comprehens a plan looked at it and just made sure that we were thinking that we were doing exactly what you were asking us to do and clearly this is a key Noe in the city and one of the things that it asked for was to look at these key noes and corridors and to redevelop them if you if we could which this this this project is doing uh with an investment into the community and with some infrastructure improvements which we're clearly doing we'll talk about that to add a mix of Housing and Civic uh activities which this plan does and then to add some lifestyle amenities for the city um if we looked at as we continue to look at the plan and we looked at Suna today

one of the two of the things that we jumped out at us was that Activity Center should be a priority to re for redevelopment and that's what this will be it'll be a clear Activity Center really literally across from Belmont which is a good activity center and then uh get rid of some unincorporated Islands again which this this project is doing encourage uh intensity of housing uh in activity centers which we're we're asking for and then have opportunities for organized Recreation again the project does that all right subject property history I thought I'd take you through some pretty fun three Quick photos history in the 80s this is what the property was the the parcel lines are the parcel lines that we've we've collected and you can see Maple and park and what was there there was nothing there in the 90s iigo came came along and developed the church and you can tell at that time it was really just the corner surrounding Landscapes wasn't there there was another facility that's on the project which you'll see in a second and then all the lines that you see on there are really the Alleyways of the parking that's in there now and today this is what the property looks like is IO grew it needed more parking the facility is a 42 or 3,000 square foot building um and it had a pretty good crowd that was there and then surrounding Landscapes bought that the house that sits there and made it into a business and then the church expanded and built a little building it's a little school building out there on the top of that hill hill along Davis Drive um and so over time it the church had started to it's its membership started to decline and then covid hit and really devastated the church from in many ways as we've seen a lot of churches including people going online and not showing up to going to other churches and so the church's board got together and made the decision that it was time to find a new home which I will tell you I think I can say this out loud in on the record they have found a new home still in Smyrna that they're going to go to so they're not leaving the city they're just relocating and this was an opportunity for them to harvest this land into something in higher better use than what they were using it for and so that's where the opportunity came from um couple of things about this that you can tell that Davis Davis over there is buried in the