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Mayor and Council Meeting
Speaker not identified in source
Regarding area support, the developer stated that they've gone down Highlands Parkway and met with all businesses they could possibly meet with to gather support signatures for their intended development. There were 13 on the list as of the revision. Uh that's considerably more than 13 businesses on Highlands Parkway and I'd imagine that the low quality of signatures or quantity of signatures is likely parallel to the support. Regarding affordable housing, the developers August 21st Crawford Conditions letter to you all stated that they would provide five affordable units with rents set at 80% of AMI or area median income. According to HUD, 80% of that would be considered low income. Five units out of 250 is only 2%. That concession would not be enough to say that this proposed development should be one that addresses affordable housing. 2% does not even move the needle. Lastly, the May 7th traffic impact study stated that the impact of the proposed development would be minimal. I welcome the author of that study to tell that to the people that drive on that road daily. I believe they would respectfully disagree. If for some reason this is approved, would the developer be willing to install a separate pedestrian activated flashing crossing as currently installed on South Cob Drive at Novvice Apartments? Would the developer consider an overhead crossing like the one at Glock just up Highlands Parkway? A proposed 395 bedroomedroom development housing 400 to 800 people dwarfs what Glock employs in Smyrna on Highlands Parkway. Would the developer consider what sort of precedence this would set in the area? And if the coffee shop fails, will there be restrictions on what sort of retail can go in a limited 2500 foot area when there's 395 bedrooms available? 395 units, pardon me, or excuse me, bedrooms available. In other words, as a member of the planning and zoning commission said, if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
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Meeting minutes · summary
Committee of the Whole Meeting
Summary in the published minutes, not a verbatim quotation.
A. COW2026-017 Review of the March 2, 2026 Mayor and Council Meeting Agenda ATH2026-026: Kristin Robinson, Deputy City Administrator / CFO, provided the following background: • Parks and Recreation has requested weather monitoring/alerting equipment to be installed at River Line Park and Jonquil Park to provide safely for patrons of those parks. This was not included in the FY 2026 Adopted budget, so we need to amend the Parks Maintenance departmental budget to cover the equipment and related implementation costs ($26,650) and the annual fee ($2500/site, total $5,000). • Council approved the use of a new software platform at a previous meeting. We need to amend the Parks Admin departmental budget for the implementation costs associated with that switch. • We have contractual obligations related to a former employee that were not included in the adopted budget. We need to amend the Administration and General Government Allocations departmental budget to cover expenses, contractual salary, and benefit amounts. • On the February 2, 2026 agenda, Council approved phase 1 of a new meter project. We are requesting to move existing meter and dial replacement available budget to this new project to show all the costs in one project rather than three different ones. • We need to amend the project length budgets for the 2016 SPLOST fund budgets to true up LTD balances on both revenue and expenditure accounts. AGR2026-003: Paul Osburn, Interim Public Works Director, stated this is a request based on a need after a review of the safety of the pedestrian access located at the Hawthorne Avenue at Atlanta Road railroad crossing. It has been identified that there are some valid concerns that need to be evaluated and addressed. We have also received numerous citizen complaints and concerns about the pedestrian safety at this location. This project will be performed in 2 phases: the initial phase is design and then a construction phase will follow. Both phases of the project will be funded out of 2022 SPLOST – Traffic Calming line item.
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Mayor and Council Meeting
Speaker not identified in source
What does the system cause? How often is our data accessed by outside agencies? How often is it misused? As my colleagues stated earlier, there has been several instances of this happening around Georgia and around states around the country. So, the burden should be on our government to demonstrate that surveillance is necessary, effective, and proportionate. I'm asking the council to establish a comprehensive pol public safety technology policy requiring three things. First, a public inventory of surveillance and AI technologies, including their cause, purposes, retention policies, and data sharing agreements. Second, regular independent audits and public reporting on effectiveness, access, and misuse. Third, public notice, community input, and an affirmative council vote before acquiring or substantially expanding these technologies. And these protections must follow the technology, not the company. So changing vendors cannot circumvent public oversight. We see that in a lot of local municipalities where they're moving to Exxon and various other companies. The technology and the rules that we establish should follow this. Follow the technology, not the companies. Public safety should not mean watching the public. It should mean working with the public to build a community where people are actually safe. Thank you. Next we have Rory Dryer, 2404 Woodlands Drive, Southeast Smyrna. Welcome. Hey, how's it going y'all? Thanks. Thanks so much for hearing my comment. Um I was coming in the the last two speakers already spoke uh more eloquently uh than than I'm going to be able to. But uh I just was thinking more holistically um about the surveillance you know installations that we put up uh the last few years. Um uh when I think about you know these little league kids and these art students that we just had in um I I I worry about what the message that some of our security infrastructure is sending to kids.
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Mayor and Council Meeting
Speaker not identified in source
Essentially almost a U-turn left for a 40ft bus is an already difficult maneuver before any additional traffic is introduced. Now those 60 cars may quue on site and not stall back, but they have to get off the site somehow. I called Smartipedia this morning to confirm this bus crash after hearing about it selling Girl Scout cookies this weekend. And without much info to offer, the staff said immediately, quote, "I know that intersection." Quote, "Because that intersection is crazy." Quote, "Accidents happen there all the time." I spoke to the city engineer this morning who sent me a document that there have been 110 crashes at this intersection in the last three years. The math on that is one every 10 days. Please see exhibit C that I've entered the record of the bus crash. I continued to speak with Mark in great detail today and he confirmed that no one would be studying the safety on Oakdale. He confirmed he does not remember receiving a single safety study request despite months of my boy's concerns over child pedestrian and school bus safety. None of the 49 conditions require Cobb County DOT signoff. I believe council member asked that question and was given a different answer. You do have one condition that says it's got to be reviewed by G DOT. And although DOT has jurisdiction over South Cobb Drive, it does not have any jurisdiction over Oakdale Road where this curb cut and bus stops are located. This cannot be punted to GDOT because they have no authority over Oakdale and they're not there to catch the ball. You are now publicly unnoticed that a school bus crash happened at this exact location less than two weeks ago. We know you care about us because you are our neighbors. And nothing about denying this application deprivives the applicant of a use of this land.
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Meeting minutes · summary
Committee of the Whole Meeting - A. MAX BACON CITY HALL, HR TRAINING ROOM
Summary in the published minutes, not a verbatim quotation.
Works •Traffic Sign & Striping Improvements $50,000 •Traffic Signal Improvements $70,000 •Backflow Testing & Replacement $25,000 •PW Restroom Addition $25,000 •Green Energy Projects $1,000,000 •Water Heater Replacement $75,000 •Leak Detection $75,000 •Bridge Repairs & Maintenance $175,000 •Sanitation Carts $100,000 •Replace Underground Sanitation Carts $25,000 Vehicle Replacement Fund FY 2026 FY 2027 FY 2028 FY 2029 FY 2030 Scheduled Replacements 3,552,000 1,038,000 2,429,000 2,100,000 1,607,000 New Req. and Early Repl. 26,000 470,000 - - - Emergency Funds 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 Total 3,678,000 1,608,000 2,529,000 2,200,000 1,707,000 New Personnel Requests Recommended Department Title Number Requested Impact Human Resources HR & Risk Management Specialist 1 86,588 Parks Facilities Parks Maintenance Tech I 1 59,169 Total 2 145,757 Reclassification Requests Recommended Dept Old Title Old Grade New Title New Grade Budget Impact Comm Dev Planner I GOVT- 10 Land Development Svcs Coordinator GOVT- 11 - Engineering Traffic Signal Tech GOVT-6 Traffic Signal Tech III GOVT-7 3,735 Engineering Traffic Signal Tech GOVT-6 Traffic Signal Tech II GOVT-6 - Engineering Traffic Signal Trainee GOVT-4 Traffic Signal Tech I GOVT-4 - Fire Admin Admin Coordinator GOVT-6 Certification Manager GOVT- 11 3,744 Fire Prev Admin Assistant GOVT-4 Admin Coordinator GOVT-6 2,954 Hwys & Streets Warehouse Supervisor GOVT-9 Streets Maintenance Worker GOVT-1 (20,502) IT Web Administrator GOVT- 10 Information Systems Specialist GOVT-9 - Sanitation Sanitation Worker GOVT-1 Sanitation Worker II GOVT-2 9,896 Water Dist Water & Sewer Supervisor GOVT- 10 Administrative Assistant GOVT-4 - Total (172) • Budget impact at full fiscal year. Schedule •May 1 First presentation at COW Meeting •May 15 Discuss any changes at COW •May 19 Formal budget presentation and public hearing at Council meeting •June 2 Formal budget adoption at Council meeting
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Meeting minutes · summary
Mayor & Council Retreat - Lanier Islands - Combined Session
Summary in the published minutes, not a verbatim quotation.
• Smyrna is staying competitive with salary • The department is authorized for 95, but because of all the changes in the city, the department is not as busy with calls of service compared to five or six years ago Brian Marcos, Fire Chief • Fire Department is currently at 88 staff • It is highly competitive to retain firefighters – able to keep them because of the reputation and culture • More competitive pay, more responsibilities, more opportunities – the more variety of incentives (tuition reimbursement, proficiency pay, sellbacks, etc.), the better situated we are to retain employees • Create levels of ownership at every level • An anonymous survey resulted in 87% saying they would highly recommend someone work for the Smyrna Fire Department • Facility improvements were just completed, all on budget, all on time • Fleet/apparatus lag time is crushing – current schedule for replacement does not correspond with lag time • EMS – demand for services has increased – state regulatory burden has intensified • City events are getting bigger and bigger – need to lay groundwork for safety policies to avoid dangerous occurrences Dat Luu, IT Director • Consolidated staff computers and reduced the number of subscriptions • Just purchased 200 computers to meet an October 14, 2025 deadline • Just put out an RFP for five-year cybersecurity – 40 proposals came in – they will evaluate and assess to determine potential policy changes, funding necessities, etc. • Had the first penetration test – those issues presented have not been fixed yet • There may be a request in the future for cybersecurity in-house staff • Still trying to hire a Network and Server Engineer • Cameras – Community Center has issues with their old cameras – but these will probably be the next big issue in the future • Consolidate multiple door lock systems – it takes money to change the systems out, so this is moving forward but slowly Lanier Islands Legacy Lodge & Conference Center 7000 Lanier Islands Pkwy Mary Moore, Library Director • Some departments have an opportunity for progression • Other departments do not have opportunities for growth or promotions – someone would need to quit or retire before someone else could move into that position Mayor and Council expressed their appreciation for leadership and staff.
Summary in the published minutes, not a verbatim quotation.
A. COW2026-030 Review of the May 4, 2026 Mayor and Council Meeting Agenda ATH2026-056: Paul Osburn, Interim Public Works Director, stated that this is a request based on the need for city staff to install the newly purchased traffic bollards around the green space area in three different locations. Two locations along King Street and one location on Village Green Circle. The requested length of the closure – 10 days – is based on the required design specifications from the manufacturer. ATH2026-058: Paul Osburn, Interim Public Works Director, stated that this contract modification is based on a request to add six additional city roads to be milled and overlayed due to additional funds acquired from FY 2026 LMIG supplemental funding from GDOT. While C.W. Matthews was previously awarded RFQ-26-014 they are still currently the city’s paving contractor. It will be beneficial to utilize their contract pricing to perform the additional work. The previous contract amount was $4,094,504.67 the additional amount is $966,769.78 to bring the new total in an amount not to exceed $5,061,274.45. CNV2026-005: Paul Osburn, Interim Public Works Director, stated this is based on a citizen request that has a segment of land behind their property located at 1565 Roswell Street SE. The property owner has requested the City of Smyrna deed ownership of that segment to the individual owner since the city has no use or plans of utilization for the old alley way segment. PH2026-021: Paul Osburn, Interim Public Works Director, explained that he has not received everything needed to move forward with this yet, and if he does not receive those documents tomorrow, this will be removed from the agenda. This allows for use of towers to be able to use the new water meters reading system. More information will be provided later.
Committee of the Whole Meeting - A. MAX BACON CITY HALL, HR TRAINING ROOM
Summary in the published minutes, not a verbatim quotation.
5. Other Business / Staff Comment Scott Cochran, City Attorney, stated that he and Russell Martin, Community Development Director, have been discussing a vape ordinance that patterns Atlanta’s. It has to go through a zoning process. It defines what a vape store is, addresses permitted uses in certain categories, requires that vape stores be 1,000 ft from other vape stores, from schools, etc. Their gross revenue has to be 35% from vape sales. It will go before Planning and Zoning Commission then come before Mayor and Council when it is ready. Mayor Norton stated that Friday Night Lights starts a week from tomorrow. The city has been in talks with Campbell High School and the school district about a shared use agreement to give the city a long-term use agreement for the fields. It is about 16 acres, has an 8-lane track, etc. The district looked at the stands, and an audit stated that the stands are unsafe. Mayor Norton also mentioned to council members to please remember, when traveling for conferences on behalf of the city, to be mindful of taxpayer money and choose accommodations and meals that reflect conservation. Councilmember Oglesby spoke of the Pink Caps swim team and their accomplishments. Councilmember Pickens will be out of town on Monday and will miss the Mayor and Council meeting. Councilmember Lindley reminded all about the public engagement meeting will be at 5:00 PM at the Community Center on Monday. Mayor Pro Tem Gould said there was a good meeting with the Smyrna Business Association Alive After Five event. Campbell Middle School Traffic – Mark Wolff, City Engineer, spoke about working with the school and observing traffic concerns. This will be ongoing. Richard Garland, Community Services Administrator, stated that they have expanded the area of disturbance at Tolleson Park, so more areas are closed. They will begin work on the bridge replacement project on September 2. 6. Executive Session (As Needed)
Item E, authorization ATTH206 005 authorization of the closure of the south side of the West Spring Street traffic circle circle for the installation of public art on Thursday January 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm for council member Lindley. Item FTH 2026-00007 approval to use council chambers for Concord Lake Village HOA meeting on Sunday, February 1st, 2026 from 4:30 to 5:30 for council member Lley. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Moved by Mr. Lindley, second by Mr. Welch. All those in favor, please vote. And that's approved. 70. Also, and I just want to note, item E. If y'all have seen all that construction activity outside of Zuka in that little space that we couldn't grow any grass and has looked terrible for a long time, there's going to be a great piece of public art put there on the 22nd and we'll do a ribbon cutting at the end of the month. I think you all will be very excited about what's going there. I sure am. All right, we've u reached the citizen participation uh portion of our meeting. Uh is there anybody signed up for public comment? Okay, please come forward. Miss Burns, it's been a while. Happy New Year to you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Pat Burns. I live on Concord Road at the confluence of Smyrna and Mapleton. I am a Smyrna property owner. It's been said, "The greatness of a nation is not measured by whom it casts out, but by whom it gathers in." I'm from Minnesota. Lately, my heart is there grieving. Grieving the shooting death of Renee Good. Renee Good died on Portland Avenue, a street I know well. I worked on Portland Nav as at a social service agency when I was a student at the University of Minnesota. That era, the late 60s, was also a time of community and national turmoil.
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Mayor and Council Meeting
Speaker not identified in source
And the plan that you currently have reflects uh that's been replaced with a ride in ride out. And that right in has a right turn storage of about 150 feet plus another 100 feet or so of taper to provide additional stacking. Um, and I mentioned that it was looked at two different ways. Well, the property is already zoned and it's currently zoned for about 20,000 square feet of commercial and 163 multifamily housing units. So the other way they looked at this was they did what's called a trip generation comparison. How many trips would that development generate versus what is currently being proposed? And what is currently being proposed is reducing the family housing units from 163 to 45 and reducing the square footage on the commercial from 20,000 to 5,000. Now, that's not apples to apples because the trips generated from the 20,000 square feet of commercial as it's zoned is not quite as intense as what would be permitted under this proposed plan. But the net of those two is a reduction of about 164 trips a year between what is currently allowed that zoned versus what is being proposed. So, it would change about a 12% reduction based on what you could do versus what they're proposing to do. So, that in a nutshell is the um the summary of what was presented last Thursday. Thank you, Mr. Jones. Um, council, you have heard extensive testimony from residents. You heard from the applicant. You now have the results of the of the traffic study. Um, I'd open it up to y'all for any questions that you have of our staff or any comments that you'd like to make. Uh, now this is in ward seven. Mr. Oglesby. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, first of all, I want to thank everyone that has come today and and obviously uh exercising their rights as citizens to display their uh their disregard and obviously want for us to deny this this uh motion.
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Mayor and Council Meeting
Speaker not identified in source
I'm not representing Aerys, but I'm here representing Chick-fil-A. We've got the entire Chick-fil-A team here with us uh this evening. uh staff has done a very good job of of evaluating and presenting this matter to you. Uh and I'm just going to re-emphasize a few points. First, and I think this has been said a couple of times, this is effectively a downzoning of the property. It's about 25% of the number of of residential units and about the same in terms of of of the the commercial space. And granted, it it is quite possible that a Chick-fil-A of 5,000 ft would generate more traffic than a 5,000 ft, you know, just dining in restaurant only without the drive-thru. Uh, but I I think Rusty is correct that that's likely to be offset by the fact that it's 5,000 square feet instead of of 25,000 or 20,000 square feet. Uh second, while we understand the concerns that some neighbors expressed during the planning commission of the visibility of the site, I think when you combine the the elevation change that that's on the site, which is quite significant, as well as um the landscaping that that we're committed to and required to install. I think that provides a very effective uh screening of the site from view particularly from Oakdale Road. Uh third, um the proposal addresses the traffic and safety concerns uh that that uh a number of people uh expressed. We've got the deceleration lanes uh at both restaurant entrances as well as at the entrances to uh to the town home property um to allow for safe access uh to the site. Uh the drive-thru itself uh is designed to accommodate about 60 vehicles. Uh that's more, you know, more vehicles on site that you can handle on site means less likelihood that those vehicles are going to queue up back into adjacent roadways.
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