Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

26 meeting to order and ask commissioner steed to open us with the invocation please all right let us pray heavenly father thank you for all the many blessings that you've given us bless each and every person here tonight be with those first responders out there who protect us and protect them Be with all the people who need comfort today, Lord, and give us the wisdom today to basically do the right thing for the people. For it's in Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen.

Please join me in the pledge.

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 and justice

Let the record show we have a full quorum of commissioners. Commissioners, you have the minutes from the May 5th, 2025 commission meeting in your package. If you've had a chance to review them, I'll accept the motion to approve them.

Motion to accept is presented.

I'll second.

Any questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. from the May 5th, 2026 budget public hearing meeting in your packet. And the same request, if you had a chance to review them, I'll accept the motion to approve them.

Motion to accept is presented.

Second.

Any questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. I see no changes to the agenda. It is approved as is. I see no special recognition, so we go straight into the consent agenda. Commissioners, you have the consent agenda in front of you. Each item on this agenda has been through the necessary committees and received the necessary votes to be placed on the consent agenda, so if they still meet with your approval, we'll accept them all with one vote.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to accept all of the consent agenda items as presented.

I'll second that.

Any questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. That passes. On to the debate. And we have a couple of people who have asked to speak. Tammy? Tammy Pye? If you will, just state your name and address for the record, please.

And you have five minutes. Can you lean into the... Chris is on vacation. Okay, thank you. I am just asking that y'all please consider allowing us to keep our new cover that was an extension of our existing cover. This cover that we have had for many, many years has never caused any problems or any issues to anyone. It is inside our privacy fence, barely visible from the street. This extension, we had no idea that we needed a permit for this. It was just extending the shade that we already had over that area that had been there for all these years. More than half of it was already covered. We... The code enforcement officer that came out didn't even have an idea that we needed a permit. She said she was not even sure and she could see why we would think that one was not even needed. She took pictures. We had the framework up. We told her at that time that we were going to be completing it in the next few days on the weekend. All we had to do was put the top panels on and attach a gutter. And she said, well, she was going to take pictures, turn it into the office for me to step into the office in the next day or so to see what they recommended. And when I went to the office, they said, yes, you did need one. So at that time, I did apply for one. We did finish putting the top pieces on and attaching the gutter, and that's all there was to finish it. At that time, it was a few days later that they contacted me and said that we were going to need a variance. And they sent me all the paperwork for that. I filled it out and I sent it in. I didn't even know what that process was all about. And they were great in guiding me through it. And that's when I applied and here I am now. But we never intended not to do what The right thing was, if I even had an inkling that there was a permit, you know, provided, you know, that was needed, I would have done that to begin with. And like I said, even the code enforcement officer wasn't sure. But this area has been a great place for me to hang out with my little two-year-old grandson that I keep five days a week. We have got his sandbox and his little roller coaster and all his, a few of his little ride-ons and his... Basketball goal is bat and tee. It's a great place. He's safe and protected. We're out of the weather. Days that I'm too tired to chase him down the hill to the street and up and down the street and all around our pool in the backyard. It's just a great area for us to do. It has caused no harm to anyone, and we have done everything that we have been told to do and have been guided to do. And I would just please appreciate y'all's consideration on this. All right, thank you.

Any questions?

At any time was the applicant told that they needed to, was it at any time you were told you needed to stop or?

No, ma'am, I was never told that. Matter of fact, the code enforcement officer, when she was there, I told her, I said, we're gonna finish this up on the weekend, probably on Saturday. It wasn't but about a half a day's worth of work left. And I had the trailer sitting in my driveway with all the panels. All we had to do was attach the panels to the top. And even in the code enforcement office, when they told me I needed it, I filled everything out right there. I said, we're going to be finishing this up in a couple of days. And they never said, don't do it. They just said, you know, we'll have the permit like maybe soon because we are planning to finish it. Then she said, well, she didn't know they would be in touch with me. And the next I heard was, you know, you need the variance before we can issue it. I was never told I was denied a permit. I was just told it was on hold. They couldn't issue it at that time until I had the variance. And once I had the variance, then they could issue the building permit to us. That's all I was told. I was never told to stop. If I was told to stop, I would have stopped. We would have parked that trailer at my mother's or something until we got done to get it out of my way. So I would never have intentionally defied anything like that.

Okay, so I've got a couple of questions for staff. So we got several issues that I'm seeing. So the permit, the variance, and the easement? Is there an easement there? Engrossment. So there's three issues here. Can you talk about it, Mr. Sautner? That's correct.

So what Mrs. Pye has said is, for the most part, what I've understood as well. So the portion that was existing is kind of here in the photograph. We believe it was built in 95. Our permit records do not go back to 95, so we can't confirm anything. that a permit was issued or was not issued for that piece. Code enforcement did receive a call about this new awning, the new extension. They did go out and tell her she needed a permit, as she has stated. Permit could not be issued because this carport is attached to the house, and because it's attached to the house, it cannot extend into the side setback. This structure goes about nine foot into the side setback, so that's about a foot shy of the property line. There's also a drainage easement that runs down her side property line. So anytime you build into that easement with a permanent structure, you have to have an encroachment agreement from the commission. So the variance, the building permit, the easement encroachment agreement. Can't get a permit unless y'all grant the variance. So if y'all deny the variance, we'll deny the building permit. The structure has to come down. If you approve the variance, we can then issue the building permit, put it on file that it is a permanent structure. And if you approve the easement encroachment, it'll be allowed to stay as well. So that's the three things that have to happen for this structure to stay as is.

So this permit, all of this is for the new section only. The old section doesn't have records and it is what it is. Is that correct?

This will cover the old section as well. The variance will allow that old section to fall into compliance as well. Again, we don't have the records for it, but if you do vote in favor of the easement, in favor of the easement encroachment and the variance of the setback, it will cover the entire structure. The building permit is only for the new section.

Ma'am, do you have gutters so that this doesn't flow off to the neighbors? Yes, there are gutters. Yes, ma'am, on both structures there's gutters. And they also, there's a retainer wall that's in that area because I get all the runoff from above us, the property next door. And we just had to rebuild our retainer wall because it was falling over. It's been there since 1991, 92 when we were building the house. And it mounts on top of that retainer wall. It doesn't even go all the way down. It just mounts on top of the retainer wall that is in the easement. And then it mounts on the side of our garage. And as you can see in this picture, all the framework is up. When she came, all we had to do was just stick on the top panels and attach the gutter was all that was left to do to it.

That's all the questions I have for her.

Thank you. Thank you all very much.

And if you will, sir, please state your name and address of the records. Yes, sir. Wait for him. Can you hear me?

Is this picking me up? All right, thank you. Thank you for the opportunities to address each and every one of you tonight. I'm here for Tammy Pye, and I hate to admit this, but if I'd been in her situation, I probably would have put that up too, not thinking that, wow, I need a building permit. And, I mean, it was... it's basically a a ready-made shelter that you buy and you i mean it's like a kid's erector said if you would and um i'm afraid i would have made the mistake but be that as it may i understand the the situation here um the pies have been great neighbors their home is probably the best looking home in the neighborhood the yard is probably the best looking yard in the neighborhood they won when i was a hoa president they won the yard of the year they've been outstanding neighbors and speaking on my behalf for them I don't see any visual issue with that structure. It's behind a fence. And even if we took that structure down, you would still have the fence there. So all you're seeing is one piece of metal and a rod coming down. So I kind of plead with you to see, to see her side and please approve the variance. And again, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak and good evening.

Thank you. Mr. Joe Mitchell.

Good evening, all. Thank you. I'll try to be brief. I appreciate your time. My name is Joe Mitchell. I live at 418 Hastings Place, across the street and down a little bit. The houses don't exactly line up. I've lived there since 2005. I can see this structure and the Pies house out every window on the front of my house, and I support their variance request. As Lee Prim indicated, their home makes my home worth more. I'm a former HOA president. They were in compliance with the covenants when I was the president. The covenants have not been amended, so they're still going to be in compliance with those covenants. At the prior meeting, there was a neighbor who spoke against. I don't recall any harm being articulated other than it being within the variance. Ms. Pye has a gutter there, and I would just say that the homeowner previously who spoke against it moved to that structure. The original structure was there when they moved to the property. So I just ask that you consider Ms. Pai's variance request and you approve it as to both structures. Thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Schlochter, can you just give us like a 60 second lesson on why we have building codes?

Absolutely, so a lot of it comes to safety. Setback, Mr. Scarberry has a tough job of making sure that what you do on your property does not affect your neighbor's property. So when you build a structure up to the property line, there's fire issues. Chief's here, he can address if you need to. There's building standard materials that you have to do once you get close to a property line. It's all about safety. We've even had issues where light reflecting off these low-E windows can actually melt siding on the house next door if you build these houses too close. So it's all about safety between neighbors.

Is there a motion on the floor?

Yes, Mr. Chairman. I make a motion to approve the request for a setback variance to section 90-53 for property located at tax map 082I, parcel 422, and an easement encroachment agreement subject to the condition as follows, that the owner must apply for a building permit within 10 business days.

I second that.

Y'all have any questions? Questions? There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. I don't believe anybody's asked to speak to the next one.

You ready?

Mm-hmm. Please.

I make a motion to approve the request for variance to section 90-144 for property located at tax map 077I parcel 367 to allow an eight foot high fence along the rear and sides of the property.

I'll second.

We have a request for an eight foot tall privacy fence. You see a view from the back deck of this property. You can see the topo causes the yard to slope away. Currently you see a six foot fence. The applicant is asking for an eight foot fence to provide more privacy for her and her family while she is enjoying her backyard and her above ground pool that you see in the picture.

Are there any questions? There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. That motion carries. We have one person who wants to speak. Jason Wenger.

Jason is not here tonight. Mr. Ivey is here, but he's deferred his time to you. If you need him, he's here to answer questions.

I don't have any questions. I don't have any.

I make a motion to approve the request for rezoning from RA to PRD tax map 052-002N and 051-068 and a major PRD revision for tax map 051-048 and 051-049 and 051-049A and 051-049C. I second that.

Mr. Duder, do you have any questions? Questions. There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. The motion carries.

Mr. Chairman, the next two, I believe the next two items go together. Would you like explanation for those before we?

Yes, please. Thank you.

So the first one you have here is a rezoning from C2 to M1. It does have some companion variances that would go along with this rezoning. This is out on Gordon Highway. The current C2 property has a business license for Harlem Paint and Body. The applicant is asking to go to M1 to allow to add a business for towing of vehicles as well. M1 is required for the towing and the lot associated with the towing. However, M1 will also allow the paint and body shop to operate as well. There were some improvements made to this property without permits, and that brings up the variances. This property was before, I would say, a small motor, small engine repair place. There's a lot of lawnmowers and boats and stuff out here. You see here in the picture, they've done some work cleaning the site up. The variances they are asking for, involve a front setback request. They actually, go back. The front awning you see there was added to this property without building permits. That brought the front of the building closer to Gordon Highway. So they're asking for a front setback variance request to allow that open awning to remain on the building. The next one will be for the parking lot. You see here the parking lot is gravel. Our code does require that parking lots are paved. Behind this fence is also their storage lot. That storage lot is also gravel. We understand that when he's towing cars, he's gonna have damaged vehicles, there's gonna be tires missing, there's gonna be equipment that scrubs the ground as they're loading and unloading. can anticipate damage to asphalt. So staff is understanding that leaving the impound, the storage lot being gravel. However, we do recommend that the parking lot for the public that are visiting his patrons, that would be paved. We had a condition in here that it would be paved by the end of the year. The applicant is asking for more time. He's asking for three years to get his business up and running. He has a new business. He needs time to get up and running to generate the revenue to pave this. The condition you have that came out of the planning commission was to the end of the year. The request from the applicant is to have three years. The next one is for a fence allowance. The fence is currently 10 foot tall. Code only allows for eight foot tall fence. However, we do allow for a two foot barbed wire to go on top of that fence. So technically it would be a 10 foot tall fence. In this case, it's 10 foot of chain link. So he's asking for the 10 foot fence to remain.

Would that fence be covered as far as so nobody can see in there?

The storage area does require to be screened, so the fence will have to be opaque to meet code. It cannot just be a chain link fence you can see through.

I guess this is another lesson that we need to get permits for some of these things.

Absolutely. We are asking, we do have several conditions on here with these variances. Any future buildings that are added to this site, the fire department is requesting a fire hydrant be added. There's currently a line, a water line there, but the fire hydrant does not exist. So any kind of additional buildings, we're requesting fire hydrant. We talked about the paving, the 10-foot fence. We're saying they can stay 10, but we cannot come back and put barbed wire on top of it. And if the fence is damaged, it needs to meet the current code. So what we're asking for is for the fence that is there today to stay. But if it is taken down, replaced, it must meet the code as existed when the fence is replaced. And if the gravel parking lot is allowed to remain, they're going to have to do a stormwater analysis. They've done a lot of gravel work out there. We need them to do the analysis to provide the runoff numbers so we can make sure we're not impacting downstream properties. Do we have a time limit on that? It would have to be the time limit on these things are all before the business license can be renewed, which will be in December. January 1st will be the new fiscal year for business license. However, the parking lot, it's two options, staff's option or the applicant's request. So however you all decide to vote.

Since the applicant has asked for a change to what the planning and zoning conditions have been set forth, is there a commissioner here willing to advocate for a change beyond the end of the year? Yes, I am. Three years, please. Three years from today, three years from the end of the year, three years from... Three years from today. Three years from today.

I'll second that.

That wasn't a motion. I'm just asking.

I'm good with it. All right.

If you're all ready, I'll read these motions.

Please. Okay.

I make a motion to approve the request for a rezoning from C2 to M1 for property located at tax map 043A and parcel 043A. Is that correct? Tax map 043A and parcel 043A? Is that coincidence?

We'll verify. Can you check that real quick? Yeah, you need to verify it so we can...

Okay. Okay. It may be just a coincidence. All right. I'll start over. I make a motion to approve the request for a rezoning from C2 to M1 for property located at tax map 043A and parcel 043A subject to the conditions enumerated in the May 7th, 2026 planning commission report. That one is for the rezoning, not the variances.

Right. And just to clarify the, the conditions on the zoning also include the, the health department requesting that, uh, an inspection of the septic system be done. There's no permit on file for the septic system. It's been there for a long time, so they want to verify that it functions, and they want to restrict any kind of parking on top of it. So I want to bring that to your attention as well.

Second.

Are there any other questions? There's a motion to second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries.

I make a motion to approve the request for a variance to sections 90-98, list of lot and structure requirements. 90-133, parking, and 90-144, placement of building and structures on property located at tax map 043A, parcel 043A, subject to the conditions enumerated in the May 7th, 2026 Planning Commission report, except for the change that the parking lot paving has three years from today.

I'll second.

Any other questions? There's a motion and a second on the floor. I'll raise your right hand. Motion carries.

I make a motion to approve the request for a conditional use for indoor recreation for property located at tax map 072, parcel 231G, subject to the conditions enumerated in the May 7th Planning Commission report. I'll second.

So this property is currently zoned M1, and they're looking to put a golf simulator, golf instruction business in here. This is allowed in this use, but it does require a vote by the commission to approve it. It's a conditional use.

Any questions? All in favor of golf simulators, raise your hand. Motion carries.

I make a motion to approve a request to postpone RZ 260504 to the June 2nd commission meeting. I second.

So this is a request to go from RA to PUD. This is in the back of Killary. It is not part of the Killary subdivision, but it will use Killary's local roads to access it. There's been some conversation between the HOA and the developer, and I believe they just need a little more time to work through some of the details.

Any questions? Motion to second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries.

Do we have speakers, or should I continue?

Hold on, we have folks who want to speak. Dan Lanning? Dan?

How you doing? I've been well. Hopefully y'all have been well also. It's good to see you guys again. Dan Lanning, live off Rolling Brook Lane in Grovetown. I'll get there, I think. We, as the Crow Flies, we live probably half a mile from where this is happening. I don't have a whole ton to say. Hopefully, I'm sure y'all have, I've already spoken to a handful of you in the past, but We are in favor of approving this expansion for Vulcan. A couple things are, one is that they've been good neighbors. We've lived there for nine years, had no complaints living next to the quarry. They have given us ample time to prepare and to ask questions, open houses, meetings, taking tours to take a lot of the scariness out of it, of a court expansion, essentially. But one of the biggest things that we are interested in is that this is like a 50-year plan for us, so in our backyard. This part, if you kind of see where I circled, obviously the overburden is going to go there to begin. They're going to be taking the overburden there, building berms, planting trees, things like that. But once that is done in two to three years that this happened, and if they go the speed that they're suggesting, that stays there. land. The future mining stays up in this area, and that's maybe 15 years down the road, ideally. So what that does, because I live kind of over in here and a lot of my neighbors live somewhere in there, that gives us 15 years or so to allow that land to grow, to establish for trees to get big before they would do any more overburdening coming that way. And even with the you know, the potential quarry expanding in this area, it's not a whole lot different from my house to the current one as far as distance goes. They blast once or twice, maybe three times a month. It's not that often. And send text messages. They're, you know, a very transparent company from what we can see. And so we're, we look at this land and the character of it and we think, well, If they don't do this, 40,000 trucks go on the road because they want to continue to mine, at least for the next 10 to 15 years, in the spots that they can. that breaks down to about 50 trucks a day on the road where they could stay in-house. And these are owner-operator type trucks. I asked Kevin before. They're not ones that they own. They would be bringing in businesses from Columbia County to move the dirt back and forth in-house. So it actually goes quicker than if they have to take it all off-site and bring those extra trucks onto the road every day. And so, you know, there's a lot of reasons to let a business continue to function in Columbia County longer if they're a good business. And in my opinion, they've been a good business. They've been good neighbors. They've continued to alert us and give us opportunity to meet with them. And so, allowing this to happen keeping a business here that's been doing a good thing we always do need rock typically you know we don't want anything to happen you've seen me up here saying don't don't don't don't um man i think this is a different expansion than the lewisfield road quarry that happened four six months ago however long it was it was that's a whole like these are not apples to apples they're asking for in my opinion something very different keeping trucks off the road continue to grow their business as it's been since 1977, rather than starting something new and putting more trucks on the road. I think it's a worthy thing for something like this to be approved tonight, in our opinion. I just appreciate all the time you guys have dedicated to studying this and asking questions and having conversations with me. I know it doesn't go unnoticed, well maybe it does go unnoticed, but we notice that you guys are actually putting time into these things. paying attention and listening, so we appreciate that.

Thank you. The biggest thing to me was traffic. I was worried about traffic.

Yeah.

And it seems to me, just from what I've seen, that it's going to be in-house, and so it should be good.

Yeah, and I think one thing I had in here is, like, you know, this is what will be faster because it's in-house. As far as in-house, like, keeping it on their property back and forth versus driving however far down the road to find a site to dump it. But, you know, we might experience a little bit more noise, dust, whatever we'll hear kind of stuff for the next one, two, three years. But then after that, it's quiet again, you know? So I think we think a short-term situation for that for long-term gain is worthy for our side, so. Well, thank you for speaking. Yeah, thank you all for your time tonight.

Stevie Lanning.

Well, good evening. My name is Stevie Lanning, as you said, and I also live off of Rolling Brook Lane. I am for the rezoning. So when I first heard the words quarry, I was a skeptic too. But then I looked into the rezoning with an unbiased opinion, and I took a tour of actually Vulcan quarry. Mr. Kevin Court was very transparent about the whole thing. I was very intrigued and decided to write my research paper, my 10 page research paper on how to mine granite. So I felt called to speak because I know it affects us and I also studied it. You should approve the rezoning for multiple reasons, but specifically to eliminate the traffic and the additional large trucks off the road. Keeping these trucks off the road would help to prevent additional wear and tear and keep rocks and dust off the road. This company Vulcan has done lots of community outreach like texting before blasts and answering questions. They have been good neighbors and when good neighbors want to do more business like Vulcan, this should be a small victory we can give them. So thank you for letting me speak, that's all I have to say.

Well, thank you, and you did a very good job of public speaking. And is there any way we can get a copy of that paper?

Of course. Okay. Thank you.

Greg, one more speaker.

Greg Schleyer, 4053 Highfield Drive, Anderson Farms. Kevin's my neighbor. Chairman, commissioners, thank you. As you prepare to vote for the Vulcan materials quarry expansion, I want to highlight something that deserves real credit. Months before the project appeared on our agenda, Vulcan came door to door in the neighborhoods. They met with residents face to face. I had four of them come down my driveway one day. It was great discussion. Door-to-door, they met with residents face-to-face, opened discussions. They brought experts in on environmental impacts, seismic issues, and industrial operations. They didn't wait for a public hearing. They didn't wait for controversy. They engaged early because it was the right thing to do. Whether someone supports or opposes the expansion, the process followed is undeniably proactive outreach, transparency, and respect for community. I'd suggest that might be a model for Columbia County to consider. Too often residents only learn about major developments when the vote is already near. Although the previous zoning request that got delayed, that's a good step because now there can be discussion on that. I was at the planning meeting, there was a lot of people that were excited about that, let's put it that way. So Vulcan showed up early, meaningful engagements is not only possible, it's practical and beneficial to everyone. If a private company can set that standard, then our government can as well. I urge you to consider making every community outreach, early community outreach as an expectation for all controversial projects going forward. I thank you for your time. Thank you.

Everyone has spoken, is there a motion?

Yes, sir.

I make a motion to approve the rezoning from RA to S1 for proposed quarry and overburdened storage on property located at tax map 050 parcel 039F, subject to the conditions enumerated in the May 7th Planning Commission report.

I'll second that. Any other questions?

Do we need to talk about the conditions at all, just to get on the record?

The one condition that staff has recommended is that the access out of This area here will be closed so that they will not access the site through the Anderson Farms neighborhood.

And that's in the conditions? Yes. At Anderson Road. At Anderson Road. There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. Seeing no legal matters or requests for review by committee, we'll go straight to public comments. Mr. John Arnold.

Good evening John Arnold 516 Crystal Creek West in the Forest Creek subdivision. I've lived in Forest Creek for 34 years now and my wife has reminded me from time to time that that was supposed to be our starter home but that's a story for another time. There was no access when we moved there between Lakeside and our Forest Creek subdivision. I can't remember when that road was open but the neighborhood was against it because we knew that was going to be a cut through. But regardless, it was approved and it's opened. And it's still a problem today. But we asked for speed bumps to be installed, and they were installed partially on Villa Lane. And yeah, just Villa Lane partially. We asked also for Oak Chase to have speed bumps, but we've been denied twice. Apparently there's not enough traffic. But I'm not sure what the number of cars has to be to have speed bumps, but say if it were 1,000 a day, probably 500 of those. We might have 900 come through there, but 500 of those are speeding because there's no speed bumps. And it's a little over half a mile long, straight from Lakeside all the way to the end. So it's not the number of cars that's the main problem, it's the speeding that's the problem. We've asked for assistance with the sheriff's department, but they don't have enough manpower to man our neighborhood. They'll come in from time to time, write some tickets and be parking there, but they can't be there all of the time. So what I'm asking for is three-way stops to be installed. We would also like to have more speed bumps, particularly on Oak Chase. Right now, there is one intersection on Oak Chase, which is about halfway down. It's not going to get everybody to stop, but at least they'll slow down. And we would also like three-way stops at the other intersections on Villa Lane.

Matt, can you speak to what the, what it was, the process stuff? Yeah, they can't . I know with, as far as the speed bump, you just have to, we can connect with you afterwards and take you through the process.

We've been denied twice on that. The manual on uniform traffic control device, which is basically the traffic engineer's Bible, is very clear, and it says you shall not use stop signs to control speed. So if the ask is for stop signs to slow people down, that's a hard no when it comes to that manual. Now, if it's because of delay and accidents and other things like that, we can absolutely do a study. So if we need to do studies based on that, Mr. Thompson will have his folks come out there and look at the accident history. look at delay, people having to wait as all the high school students go by when they're leaving class. We can absolutely look at all that. I will tell you that it has been studied twice for speed bumps, and it's not the volume of cars that you fail on. You had 795 on our study that was done in January of 23. The 85th percentile speed was 32 then. To trigger speed humps, you've got to have at least 250 cars, so you were almost four times the volume you got to have an 85th percentile speed of 35 and that's that's where you feel short in that study and that was in 23. it was in 23 we did another study that we we received some feedback from the neighborhood that said the tubes were in the wrong place you didn't place them properly so we did another study to make sure that we put exactly where they asked us to they know their neighborhood better than we do so we went back and did again this time we had 993 cars our 85th percentile speed actually went down to 26 miles per hour. So one mile an hour above the posted speed limit. So based on the studies, it didn't qualify for speed humps based on speed. Out of those 993 vehicles that we recorded, only 26 were doing faster than 30 miles an hour. They live there, they see it every day. Our study did not show what they were complaining about.

And when was this done?

It was done in 23. So speed humps are done based on request. We don't go out and study every road. If a neighbor wants to have us do a study, they come in and ask us to. We do a petition for them. If 51% of the people on the road want the speed hump study done we will go out and do the speed hump study if it meets the threshold of 35 miles per hour we bring it to y'all we tell you that we've done it y'all vote yes or no on putting speed humps in we go install them i've never seen this body vote down a speed hump that met the criteria so

Is that people that own the homes or rentals? They have to own the home.

Yes, sir. So if we want to go through that process again, it's been three years. We can absolutely do another study. I would recommend we not do it now. School lets out tomorrow, so let's wait until August when school's back in and actually capture the big picture of what's going on. But if that's the case, we'll get you another petition, and we'll do the process again.

If I may make two other things. Residents are now taking matters into their own hands and parking their vehicles and causing a choke point. And we just had an accident, I believe it was last week, because of that. But it's long been a point of contention in our neighborhood about speeding through there, as evidenced by the request for speed bumps. Is there a way to ask for variance, or can the neighborhood fund their own speed bumps, or is there another way around this?

The choke points probably aren't the answer. Yeah, I wouldn't do the choke points with our own vehicles. No, no.

That's caused an uproar in the neighborhood too.

It does. I would say no. This policy, the process we follow, is pretty much a nationwide procedure. It's not something we just dreamed up. It's how traffic works everywhere. Ten mile an hour above the posted speed limit is pretty much the threshold. If people are exceeding that at a high rate, that's when we come in and take action. But I've never seen a variance granted to it. I'm not saying they wouldn't. I can't speak for them, but I've never seen it.

And we paid for it ourselves, too.

I think it's about the money.

It's not really the money. We have a budget to do speed humps. It's all about the qualifying and actually have the need for it. Yeah.

Well, the neighborhood definitely identifies the need for it. Now, the numbers might not meet what the standard is throughout the nation, but we are a cut through right from Lakeside to all the way. Are there any stop signs on that road? There's one at the very end of Oak Chase, and then there's another one at the very end of Villa Lane. So none in between those areas? No. And Oak Chase really, really needs a three-way stop there, something to, because it is just a superhighway through there.

At least that's our feeling about it. What has to happen three ways, Kyle?

So we go ahead and do a study. We basically do an accident study. We go back and look at a certain number of years and see how many accidents have happened at that location. We also do delay studies. So we look how long a person has to wait at the stop sign for an opportunity to enter into traffic. It's based on delay. I think it's 30 seconds, Kyle. I'll go back and bear. I think it's a 30-second delay. It takes a really, really crowded intersection to meet the requirement for a three-way stop. It's not an easy one to get.

But I can tell you, if you ride through Westlake, if you ride through Jones Creek, they have three-way stops everywhere. There's no way that they are more congested than what we are. Westlake's a private road, so they know what they want to do, but I don't know about Jones Creek.

Jones Creek is public. There's a couple of private roads in Jones Creek, but we'll absolutely go out and take a look at it. And see if there's anything that can be done outside of what we've already done.

You may go ahead and perform a study now with school out and do one with school in. You compare the two. Maybe with one out, it'll register.

We can do that. Okay. Thank you for your time. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Susan? Susan Warren?

Hello. Susan Warren Appling. Not only are data centers creating great increases for residential customers, in some instances the power providers are attempting to cut off power to residents in favor of data centers. Just in case you've not yet seen the stories, NV Energy has notified Liberty Utilities, the supplier of power to 49,000 plus Americans in the Lake Tahoe, California area, and whose grid relies on NV Energy transmission infrastructure, that effective May 2027, they will have all available wattage going to data centers in Northern Nevada. Why was this announced in March of 2026? NV Energy says this was planned all along since 2009 and that it's not because of data centers. And yet at a regional business event last fall, NV Energy's director of business development said the company was eager to serve the new industrial load that it would not impact our existing customer base. This is going to be a very complicated, expensive, and long-term fix. The newest report from NV Energy says they will provide power until that time, but did not specify a date. So I imagine these people are kind of trying to figure out what they're gonna do. Another story reported by numerous sources. Here in Georgia, we have a company, Quality Technology Services, constructing a data center in Fayetteville where residents were being told to conserve water while the company was using 30 million gallons of water without paying for it until residents complained about low water pressure. And an investigation found the data center construction had included two high impact water hookups that were servicing the data center without being built. The company has since paid almost $150,000 for the usage, but no fines. The county said they thought they wanted to keep good neighbors. This company has also promised that the 615 acre campus will use only the equivalent of four households once it's fully operational and that the reason their water usage is so high right now is that construction is still ongoing. But they then added that the construction usage would continue for a few years. And the Savannah Riverkeeper has already spoken about how the communities upstream from us were experiencing a shortage of water before the drought became level two. First, the story was power, then water, now money. On May 10th, 2026, Yahoo Finance reported on the $10 billion cost just to build Meta's Hyperion AI data center in Northern Louisiana. Meta, a $1.6 trillion company, got a $3.3 billion tax break by being made exempt from state and local income taxes on data center equipment for 20 years. The $35 billion they'll be paying for those GPUs cost Louisiana that $3.3 billion. That's the same exemption Georgia has. On February 11, 2026, Good Jobs first announced Excuse me, goodjobsfirst.org estimated that in fiscal 2026, Georgia will lose $2.5 billion to this exemption. There's also a strange arrangement for the land. After being blocked by state law from buying the land without a public bid, they are renting the 1400 acre parcel for $732,000 a year. But they have an option to buy the land for $12 million before the lease ends. I wonder how long that will be before they exercise that option.

I'm gonna do it real quickly. I bet they will.

Don't you think they will? Yeah, I would too. In exchange, META has pledged $200 million in local infrastructure improvements, $1 million to Entergy's low income rate payer support, and 1500 megawatts of renewable energy built in partnership with the utility. They have forecast 5,000 skilled jobs during construction with 300 to 500 operational jobs. Original impact analysis says 326 local operational and only one-fourth of the construction jobs would likely go to those locals. The agreement also does not require META to hire operational jobs locally. Oh, I'm going to digress and pivot back to power for a minute. energy is building a 60 mile 470 million dollar transmission line to feed the site but a coalition opposing the project argued that it not only could it use 20 percent of louisiana's electricity but warned of costs that could ultimately exceed a billion dollars for that transmission project the good news is our psc passed the law that

The end users have to pay all upstream and downstream costs.

Yeah, but we're talking about taxes lost because the state of Georgia also has the same exemption on those GPs.

If they buy the chips, that stuff? Yeah. Yeah. Not property tax. Columbia County didn't give them any. Seeing no executive session, I only need one more item on the agenda.

Make a motion to adjourn.

I'll second.

We are adjourned.