Planning & Zoning - Regular Meeting

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like to call tonight's city of Covington Planning Commission meeting uh to order uh all stand foredge thank you R call please Mr Boone here Mr Davidson Miss swords Mr Celestine Mr Viller Mr Bullock Mr Hudson here we have the approval of the minutes from the last meeting uh Commissioners do we have any amendments or changes to make for those minutes not I'll entertain a motion have a motion in a second roll call Mr Boon yes Mr Davidson Mr swords Mr Celestine Mr villery Mr Bullock Mr Hudson yes okay we have uh two cases on the agenda tonight I uh am moving that we take the second case for Mr Vineyard and move it to the front so that we can dispose of that if possible uh is that okay Ron we going to move it okay um case the case is number 25- 03-02 sale it's a request to purchase an undeveloped portion of Joiner Street the uh located between Square 20 and the remaining portion of square 19 Connelly addition to the city of Covington between West Edwards Street and West 31st Avenue and Collins Boulevard and North Florida Street proportion of Joiner Street being approximately 275 Acres measuring 50 by 240 the petitioner is Ralph Vineyard and obviously the owner of the city of comington Mr Ro

sare the commission you have any questions for theity has

that's not correct so the way our code is written if you have a revocation a true revocation means that when the city revokes the street the ajoining property owners to the center line of the street become the owners of the property but the city cannot charge for that is free on a revocation the other option is what this is which is a sale where the petitioner requests to buy the street on a on a true revocation there is no consideration years a well you got to know the history of it years ago there was no such thing as a sale of a public Street the only enabling State legislation was to allow a revocation a revocation requires a petition signed by the owners of all adjoining properties on the street then the if the government governing body determines that the street is no longer needed for public purposes they can revoke it and then by law it reverts then ownership to the center line of the street to the joining Property Owners about 30 years ago this the parot of St Tam went to the state to have special legislation passed to allow another remedy rather than a revocation which is a sale difference being the sale does not require the signature of all the adjoining property owners the test is the same that the street is no longer needed for public purposes but then the the parish gets an appraisal and the petitioner has to buy the property from the parish now once the parish was able to get that legislation passed all the

municipalities in St Tam Parish liel Covington and mandville all followed suit and they pursued special enabling legislation and pursuant to that enabling legislation the city of Covington adopted their own version of the sale of a public street so both matters before you tonight involve the sale of a street when you go with a sale you don't necessarily sell to the journy property owners if they're not one of the petitioners because you can't force them to put up the money I would have I'm not sure when the legislation went into effect but the appraisal issue never arose before the sale issue before the sale was authorized which didn't take place right right well there now is a distinction between a revocation which is the old form which is giv it way and the S oh all the time well yes we have we've been doing that for 25 years the differ difference is it depends on who requests the sale in other words if I own one side of the street and my neighbor on the other side of the street says I don't want to put up any money I don't want the street well then I can buy the street myself if I want to put up the money on your revocation without the without the

petition of all of the adjoining owners you can't revoke the test is the same whether the street is no longer needed for public purposes the methodology of disposition varies with the nature of the original petition correct absolutely where where both sides wanted it absolutely correct any other questions commission to the city uh would the petitioner um or someone want to speak on behalf of uh Mr benyard so please come to the podium state your name and address for the record please okay Commissioners any questions yes just for another point of clarification uh the lady who owns lot four signed a letter of no objection even though she's not a petitioner she signed a letter of no objection yes of that going s going um I think the sale we kind of timed it with the meeting follow this processed if it gets approved tonight it would be on the council agenda for

introduction in April or May and then once the council votes yay or nay if the council votes for the sale then as soon as the sale is completed the purchase agreements are tied into the approval of the revocation or sale Commissioners any other questions or comments not I'll entertain a motion first and a second roll call please Mr Boon yes Mr Davidson M swords Mr Celestine Mr villery yes Mr Bullock Mr Hudson yes okay thank you very much thank you um let me uh also State what I forgot to say earlier in the beginning of the meeting please turn off all of your cell phones except me no I don't want any comments quote unquote from the peanut gallery when people are speaking don't want any Outburst or you can help yourself out the side door and when we have people speak for or against or for whatever reason during this meeting I want to limit you to five minutes uh thereabouts and I don't want to hear the same thing from each person over and over and over again you have something new to say then by all means please say it uh I don't know who has what to say with the cards that I have I have four or five cards uh with that said let's proceed with uh the case at hand this is case number 25- 03-01 a request to purchase a portion of South America Street described located in section 44 t7s r11e city of Covington the portion of South America Street south of Carol Drive being approximately

82 Acres measuring 44774 fat by 82.6 7 by 44411 by 79.3 five petitioner is favro Bell of favro bille LLC the owner obviously again is the city of comington um Mr rodri please just a quick comment from the administration if you look in your packet you'll see comments from the city engineer uh as you may be aware the Fabro family began acquiring the property on either side of America street from 16th Avenue to its dead end uh in the mid 1920s uh since that time the city Administration has searched the records of Public Works and we can find no evidence where the city has done any maintenance repair to America Street Beyond 16th Avenue nor have we uh expended any funds on any drainage uh and the city Administration does not want to assume the maintenance repair or upkeep of either the street or the drainage of America Street Beyond 16th Avenue or the area being revoked and we have the director of Public Works Mr Jim o Barry and the city engineer Miss C Baker here to uh comment from their respective departments you have any questions for right now

to I don't don't disagree with that but the city council wrote that the city council can do they want they well I don't I don't disagree with that language but I Mr Frederick has a private driveway I I don't think that the city has the obligation to open aad for an indiv that's

way no obligation open the road I think there is an obligation good evening I'm the Public Works director my name is Jim oerry um so I'd like to comment as far as drainage goes on that road so in my tenure with the city we have done virtually zero work on that road and if we were to make it a throughway it would require for like of a better term a complete rebuild and not only that we would have acquire several different lateral servitudes to get the drainage from the burn for La of a better word that we're going to build to get that to the river we would have to acquire lateral servitudes to go through those properties to get River I have open zero Joe um on the utilities that go from 16th to that burn um tried to find those again today on the city map all of these I have to assume that

all of these Lots two four five six or 8 10 12 13 15 16 17 24 25 is served served by that the lateral that from 16th Avenue South beyond the tennis court that I'm not that that I'm not sure of Mr so I haven't I haven't that there's a fire hydrant that is just south of the of the tennis Port between the tennis port and the um the the private drive that connects to South Hampshire uh is that in the City Maintenance U flush do you know if that's serviced by the city still or is it in my tenure we have not served it's and with the services that would have to be provided uh to these residents on what's considered South America Street um the the consequence of selling that to privatizing that street we would have to acquire or require adquate servitude for those utilities based on what's there that that's correct if it was open as a and u I'm certainly appreciative uh our our report from our engineer about uh what it would cost the city rejecting that if we put that street back into service and connected it to

that private drive we create we open Pandora's Box and I said that the last minute but we created a lot of problems with drainage and especially in it's close prop to the just so that was main question I had about the access and utility easement that have don't know I don't sir I don't know um for the city Mr M if nothing if nothing well let's just say we have before us something to to make a motion for so it's something's going to happen one way or the other um if at the end of the day uh it's denied and doesn't get overturned and the street stays as it is when is it the city's obligation to do whatever it should be doing with the street versus all the other streets that are on the list to be taken care of does it does it end up being on a list and they have to start doing something or do they just ignore it from Property Owners say well now now that you've got the street let's fix

it you don't think so what all I understand that but it creates an issue of an obligation to something potentially I think speak to yourself okay um all right uh let's go ahead and hear from the petitioner Mr Rome please uh state your name and address for the record please thank you Mr chairman Paul morone uh PO Box 1810 Covington 70434 um I'd like to uh start by addressing a couple of the U things that came up in the discussions just now with regards to to Mr vill's comments I I

respectfully disagree that what we're asking you to do is plat a private road that's not what this is about I mean we are not coming to you with a subdivision request saying we want to create some lots and we're going to create this drive right here but we want to keep it private that's what the code says that you can't that that I don't believe that you can do so I think that's different than what we're what we're we're asking here tonight um with regards to Mr Hudson very good question about the utilities that that are in that right away or may be in that right away um I would say that the code contemplates that very concern that you have and it specifically says in the code when it talks about the ability to sell the street or sell the rideway that if there if the city has utilities or needs utilities that servitudes would be reserved ered for that purpose to make sure that uh any services that are there are uninterrupted or if the city said look we may need the ability to put future Services there the code requires that there be servitudes put in place at the time the sale takes place so the city has that ability going forward um there's been some suggestions that uh that our request this evening is not proper because there was a similar request made last year and I'd like to address that that that prior request has been withdrawn this request is different than that request in that one the property that is subject to our request tonight is different than the property that we requested about a year ago we're requesting a smaller portion or less of the RightWay uh to be sold and we believe that by doing that it will allow the city to better continue to serve um provide services to the faville uh residents as well as provide a place where people can turn around

legally and safely on public property so for those two reasons we think uh and we know that that this is a different request now um I would also submit to you that as as any applicant has we always have the ability to withdraw a request and we always have the ability to bring a new request there is there is nothing in the law generally nor is there anything in the ordinances of the city of Covington it says once an application is filed it can never be withdrawn or that a new application can be brought forward so I believe that we're we're clearly within our rights uh this evening to bring this different request and we ask for your consideration uh this portion of uh of the RightWay is unopened and uh that's important there is not a street there we've heard that today there is no physical roadway right there there is a gravel driveway that was constructed by my my clients to get to some of their homes but there is not a roadway that is there or that has ever been there to the best of our knowledge um there's been suggestion that that my clients covered a roadway with dirt and grass and so forth what I can tell you is that for the last 70 years has been nothing but a green field there that's all that's ever been there in my lifetime I can never remember anything that was ever there uh other than what you see today so it's simply inaccurate I think to suggest that we covered a roadway there is a right of way there there are unopened rights of way all over St tamy parish and all over the city of Covington those rights of way um are created on paper but there is no physical roadway there and that's exactly what we're dealing with in this instance but for over 70 years my clients have owned the property

surrounding this area they've made maintain this area um they they've maintained cutting the grass removing debris uh taking care of the area after uh there were hurricanes and storms and yes there was a tennis court that was built in 1961 that's how long that tennis court has been there that that tennis court was built by an ancestor of my clients uh it was our understanding that there was a donation made to the city for playground equipment for the children and that uh my clients ancestors would have the ability to use the RightWay that this RightWay and that uh tenis court has been there since the 60s maintained entirely never once has there been an objection never once administrations have come and gone never once has there been an objection about anything that was there in 1988 the faville subdivision was formally created there was a process that we went through that the city was here uh and that that subdivision was created just as it is today just as it has been there was no objection to anything that that was done or that is being done all of that has been maintained through all of these years without issue we do now have an issue uh we have we have an issue that has occurred um because there is a there's a desire from the Fredericks to be able to access their home at the end of the rideway through the rway that is creating a number of serious concerns and problems I mentioned to you uh those of you that were here about 11 months ago uh that we were concerned that that would give rise to problems there have been problems since that time and some of my clients will will speak to that in more detail but at this point we have an issue we need a resolution to that issue we think that the best resolution to

that issue is the sale pursuant to your code of the right way and there are a number of reason reasons that I think it makes sense there is not anyone that needs that right away for legal access or physical access to their property except my clients we're the only ones the city has no public need for the RightWay if there are utilities they would reserve servitudes for that uh the city has not spent money on that rideway and should not have to spend right any money on that rideway the sale of the rideway would resolve long-term legal issues as to the right way and it would also resolve once and for all the safety concerns and safety issues that we're experiencing out there now if there is no sale of the RightWay respectfully um I don't think the status quo can just continue it it just there are too many issues that have Arisen something's got to happen one way or the other we don't believe the city should have to build a street and build out the drainage we believe the better solution is simply the sale of the right of way and what we're asking is not is not uncommon you just did it in the case before but it happens uh all the time a a quick look in the public records there were at least 10 other sales by the city Mr Viller mentioned ones that he's aware of just from his long experience uh with with the city um and the ordinance specifically States um that that there are four uh processes by which this can be accomplished one is the sale of the right of way that is what we are asking for I think Mr Rod did a good job of laying out what the law says and the law is very clear for a private sale it does not require the consent of any of the adjoining landowners it does not require this this request this evening does not require the consent of any adjoining

land owners um for 70 years um everything was tranquil and peaceful in that area that is not the case today nobody needs this right away for Access other than the people that are asking to have it sold today the city has been clear that they don't want the right of way the Fredericks respectfully don't need the right of way the right of way should be sold we strongly urge en you to consider what we've laid out this evening what you'll hear from some of the other speakers and that you make a positive recommendation to resolve these issues and sell this right away uh for the benefit of the city and moving forward thank you very much for your consideration commissioner if I if I could point out too you you've got multiple times in the city faille and the Fredericks are just two of examples of where there have been re subdivisions where there were private streets and and I would tell you that in this instance we have a very unique situation but with very real issues and very real concerns if there was ever a case for another exception I believe this would be it I think City

made I mean I just I and I understand I understand I I I respectfully disagree I think this would fix an issue commission any other questions my concern goes back toop striking structure so if that's not a functioning fire Hy what's to happen to that structure any structure if a fire starts jumping some of these are older structures if I'm not mistaken what happens if that fire that happen to lightning happens to strike and it jumps from trees from house from tree to house to house to house and there is not a functioning fire Hy there I think it's for the safety of those who live in this area no matter who they are that that needs to be a functioning fire I would I I would agree with everything you said um I wouldn't disagree with any of that uh I would just point out that our request would not modify that hydrant or the utilities that are there if that hydrant is not active uh and the city believes that it needs to be active after looking at it then the city would reserve a servitude so that they have the ability to to activate that hydrant our request this evening the sale of the rideway would not impede anything that Miss swords just just mentioned commissioner yeah I I agree even if even if that became a gated community uh I believe we have portion and a portion in our ordinance that the

the community has to provide a black box or brown box to give the the public utilities and the fire department and the police department access to that property that's available so I think that part of it is covered the second part the Catalyst for those utilities being upgraded maintained in place especially the fire hydrant fire protection the Catalyst for that would be the sale and the the the proper utility easement language that would go into that disposition U so I think that part of it is covered through the transaction and that was my that was my biggest concern for that part of it my the second part is all that you're standing there is uh and I know that it was noted um that to to in a revision to go back and to stop or to limit the the uh area or disposition up to Carol Drive um that's what you're considering as the turnaround would be a a deadend turnaround for the city to be able to utilize that as well as Services that's that's correct that would that would allow the city to more easily continue to provide garbage service and other services that they have uh continue to provide in that area uh and to do so on continue on public property to do it and to move that to move that line northward to the end where those two Bri columns are I I think if I plotted it out correctly it would be at the northern northern corners of lots 25 and two that's on Kelly McHugh's survey yes

I think that is correct if if that disposition from the sale from the city would move if that line would move to that point um do we do we see a hardship for um services to any of these any of these because we still end up having the same kind of condition that we have currently today by leaving a section uh a short section of that undeveloped America Street uh still belonging to the city my personal opinion is the city should not be in the real estate business other than specific properties uh specific to Services of the city and I like that we were able to dispose of some of this property and get it off our books and plus we have an income source for that so with that said uh what would be the hardships in your opinion if that line was Advanced to the corners of lots 2 and 25 at those brick columns and that is about where we were originally and our original request um so in doing that um that would essentially that would be then where the city services would stop and so right now um garbage and so forth is basically picked up right at that that Carrol Drive intersection right there so um it would it would it would push further away U the city services to some of these other Lots so moving it back would allow those city services to continue as they have been also if we move that line up to 25 and 22 two um it there is not really a place for uh for the public to turn around if we move it back to Carol Drive then there is more because of that Carol Drive right away there without

having to get onto a particular lot where people could could turn around if necessary okay good yeah and I'll wait to your your others Commissioners any any other questions for um Mr morone okay you sit um the petitioner now for Mr Fredericks uh please state your name and address for the record please Alex per Jan 527 East Boston Street s 2011 CT around 70 years ago somebody threw a bunch of dirt over the street let the grass grow around 61 63 years ago they decided that they' talk to the administration of the time and offer to buy them a bunch of playground equipment if in exchange they look the other way while they built a tennis court basically it's corruption they did they built the tennis court on top of a piece of city street that they took out of use because they didn't want it anymore now they want to be rewarded they want to be rewarded by having complete and total ownership of a public Street at first they argued that they had acquired it pres pres through acquisitive prescription which of course doesn't work that way you can't acquire property from the state from the government from the city can't be done their request to be rewarded is in direct contention of the app by Mr Frederick which is not before you tonight but which Mr villery very much

put on to the map of this discussion all Mr Frederick has asked for is the right to put a driveway to South America Street that's all he's asking a driveway from his house which is at the end of South America Street onto South America Street this is not a major request it is a minor request it doesn't require anything happen to their tennis court of course their tennis court as Mr rodri has told you is actually a public tennis court of course when people try to go play publicly they take the Nets down what we're dealing with here is Insidious these people took this property this public property and they put dirt over it they made it their little playground and now they want it completely theirs insulated from the city nobody can go on it they control it all right there in the middle of the city the statute says that every address in the city should be served should be should be should have access to a public road it's a simple statement people should be free to walk down the public roads anytime they want this is not a situation where someone is coming to you and saying oh please sell me this right of access you can quo it that way all you want what they're trying to buy is a city street it's reprehensible this situation has gotten worse because they're making request after request of the city council and of the Planning and Zoning commission for permission to do something that shouldn't even be within the realm of her this is not a reasonable request if you want to do this you should be able to do this go find your own subdivision

go and unincorporated St tamon and build your private area with all your families houses in it fine but don't take the city of Covington and start dicing it up because there'll be no end to it thank you Commissioners comments question I agree with you completely I was just using your right and and that's fine the application has not been uh calendar or anything the the application is not currently calendared I believe Mr Frederick's appli yeah there doesn't have to be any action taken the best thing to do is to Simply say no let's let the situation go on it hasn't been a crisis what they want is tock a piece of the city and declare it their own fom it is not something that you should consider doing it is up if it is up to the city council let it be up to the city council but don't put your approval on this don't stand for this I have question sure I'm Sor I I'm okay I deal with a lot of Comm I don't understand a lot of theing here that's why I ask

you're going back to an ACC made in was dumped on a roope you got pictures of that you got proof of that if not you're making an alleged accusation and I'm not going to argue with you I am just stating my opinion okay okay here's what I'm going to tell you Paul Marone their lawyer said at the prior application and at this application what they did was they got got what they thought was approval from the city to build a tennis court on a city street in exchange for buying a bunch of playground equipment they thought it was a deal there's no paper on it the the the tennis court was built maybe the playgrounds got their equipment I don't know but property never transferred it's a public road it's a tenis court on a public road movt early my husband and I dated us to and drive everywhere to my recol there never ayond intersection of 16 America when I started there was never a road there never black top there I believe that this happened in 1961 is the day we were given sor okay Commissioners any other questions for Mr and again this this commission is can only make the recommendation to the council we can't we can't determine yay or n we just make a recommendation based on what's being presented to us today so it's not like we can we can't

create that's absolutely correct sorry I completely Rec re recognize the accuracy of what you're saying this is simply a recommendation made to others I don't know hold on this this is not aour isiv a private drive just inform know the city

L right I'm aware we're not asking for any action as as there's been encroachments over going back to 1800 people en and those encroachments are still on yeah we're not asking for any action Mr biller I want to be clear about that I mean we we think the status quo is fine I mean status quo is you don't have access to yeah I know Rene has filed an application on that that's not before us today it hasn't been calendared at all okay Commissioners any other questions we have some more speakers to uh to get to thank you Mr um I have Mr Baldwin Reed come to the podium state your name and address hold the record good evening my name is Baldwin Reed I presently live at 616 South America street but before that I grew up and I lived at 622 America Street most of my life I am a member of the faille LLC and I appreciate some of the questions that you're asking tonight by approving the purchase of this parcel you can fix what has become a big problem and a safety hazard you can do something to greatly benefit the city of coveny we offer a solution that will restore peace and end this conflict once and for all and will provide a windfall to the city of cenon the Fredericks oppose our purchase and they want you to believe that they are entitled to a second driveway to their home to correct some kind of wrong committed against them in the city over 60 years ago on the contrary I'd like to tell you

what is wrong in February of 2024 the Fredericks chose bullying is their tactic to get their way first they launched a social media campaign against us that included name calling character smearing accusations of criminality invitations to destroy the tennis court threats misrepresentations and falsehoods including claiming that they have no Public Road access these attacks on us continue to this day I will not dignify their rants by providing all the specifics although we have documented all of it but I'll tell you that to call it incivility would be a gross understatement and and many comments would be considered Li us since then things quickly got worse they began driving on our driveways and access uh across the green space that we maintain sometimes at dangerous speeds members of the Frederick household and their invitees began using the right away and trespassing at will across our private properties they have vandalized our property they have vandalized the tennis court they directed Fus at us several times of course they use the actual world we have audio and video documentation of over 50 acts of hostility directed at us by the Fredericks despite all this aggression directed at us we chose not to engage and for over a year we have remained civil and non-confrontational yet we have nevertheless remained very concerned about vehicles in our safety the only Communications we directed at the Frederick's household were to ask them to not damage the tennis court which they proceed eded to do anyway we have been told Fu one too many times when asked City officials told us to protect ourselves and to stop uh start reporting any criminal activity so

we began to exercise our our civil right to report crimes of trespass on our private properties vandalism and disturbing the peace we were also told that the city officials asked Mr Frederick for safety sake to stop driving on the RightWay and until this matter was resolved he did not and we were directed to report these incidents to CPD as well Mr Frederick grossly misrepresents our complaints of trespassing as calling the cops on their neighbors kids for retrieving a tennis ball on the contrary members of the Frederick household have run rampant on our private Lots they have destroyed our property they yell at cities at us just steps from our front door and they have come up our driveways towards our homes to taunt us and call uh names for sport they admit to having thrown fireworks at our homes and they had yelled uh at us that they want a terrorist to blow up our house in response to Mr Bell's polite request to members of the Frederick uh household that they not damag the tennis court they yelled F you at Mrs Bell and they Ed the full word no we're not complaining about kids ret retrieving tennis balls and all of our complaints have accompanied by evidence as with the Frederick's personal attacks on us their misrepresentation of facts and the noise they direct at us simply indicates they do not have logic and facts on their side skip some of this stuff because I talk for a long time I'd like to point out to you that if you vote to approve this sale you would be prioritized in the safety of the citizens of cty you would bring significant immediate Revenue to our city you would create a recurring source of revenue for our city in the form of Perpetual property tax you have 302 I'm sorry okay well I have so much more to

say but to answer your question Miss swords there was never a street uh where that tennis court is I'm older than you are I remember the tennis board being constructed there was never a street I used to play in the Fabro home that the Fredericks now own it was never a stre so Mr Fredericks is making false claims he should be ashamed of himself and I think because of that you should take everything he says with a huge R OFA thank you for your time thank you Mr Frederick or Mr um perine would you like to respond to that I'm going to do that and then I'm not going to get into a match but you have a right to say something uh we have a photograph an aerial photograph from the 1940s it shows the stre um we're happy to introduce that into evidence or into the record in some fashion and I'll I'll ask you to leave to let us supplement the record tomorrow to throw that photograph in if that's okay with you uh sir you could turn it into the city I'll turn it into ride's office tomorrow um I just wanted to to note that um I want to make one other point this has gotten a little strange to me in the following sense we don't want anything other than not to turn private what is Public public is a good and we believe in the public good all we want is to maintain Public Access on public roads and not create little foms thank you um commission do you have any questions or comments at this time we have a few more speakers

d driveway off but I need to reiterate that's not what's before us at this point so it's it's not it's not open for no let me let me put this in order let's go with um Janet Fabro please come to the front state your name and address for the record please hello my name is Janet babro my husband Thomas and I own the home at 800 South America immediately adjacent to the Frederick property I want to thank you for allowing me to speak I would like to address three valid concerns we have our Public Safety trespassing and our risk of flooding and do the respect I would like to respect your request not to repeat some of the things that were just said so I'm going to pass over a few things about some instances but I will say that the traffic on our driveway in the green space has exploded one instance I will say is that another driver coming from the Frederick house slowed down only when my

granddaughter grabbed her small dog to avoid it from being hit by this vehicle recurring instances such as these leave us in constant fear of our safety the green space is not a drivable Street it is a lawn with oak trees the Fredericks have never spent money on the up keep of the tennis court or this green space they have their own driveway but they regularly use ours our driveway is not a street is our only means to our home we would never consider driving on the Frederick's driveway to access South New Hampshire even though it would be a much shorter way for us to get to a city street but it's interesting that the Fredericks choose to use our driveway which is for them five times longer than the one that they bought with their home it makes no sense in January the mayor informed us that Chief Fel concluded that cars using the right way as a thorough streak are Public Safety concern and we agree he also told Mr Frederick to please discontinue driving on the road the Fredericks did not heed his request in addition I consistently see that I do not recognize trespass or drive under the circular driveway that is on our private property and not on the road we have documented at least 62 separate vehicles turning around in our private driveway in a 10 week time frame it is unsettling to have these vehicles constantly pulling up to our home they cause us concern for our security the dogs bark headlights sh in our windows and our peace is compromised nobody's driveway should be used as a public

culdesac I wonder how the Fredericks would react if all of this traffic turned around in their circular driveway we urge the city to please provide a safe and legal way for the public to turn around if our purchase of this parcel is approved the public may be directed to turn around where South America Street meets Carol Drive rather than in our driver way lastly in 2016 our home flooded from water that entered our home from the road and not from the river adding additional driveway surface to the road will render our home even more vulnerable to the flooding the city engineer has stated the same thing please do not put us at a greater risk of flooding again we kindly ask for your support of our application and thank you for your attention Mr Marone you want to speak to that you state your name and address for the record please I reside at 810 South America Street and to answer the questions lot two is owned by the Richardson family lot four is owned by the small page family and lots 25 and 24 are owned by the maker give you their first are yes they're fa they're fa Rel that's what I was getting are they fa yes that's

correct go ahead state your name and yeah and I'm GNA put a stop to the back and forth yeah of comments ahead go five minut my name is Renee Frederick 8:30 South New Hampshire um I wasn't planning on talking tonight I was going to let my attorney do all talking but U my mother is in the audience and she told me I better get up and say something in response to these ridiculous allegations that have been made none of this is true I have been more than civil with these people I have offered every kind of compromise all I did was apply to us a city street that's all I did and they have opposed it I don't want to mess with their tennis courts they the city wants to sell them the tennis courts grade I don't care but it is a public city street my house is at the dead end of that street I am entitled to use it I am absolutely entitled to that I there's no doubt about it like you said I don't agree that I know that you don't agree with it but like you said every house has to have access to a public Street if bu fire hydrant sits out there all my utilities come down there I mean it it's I I'm willing to extend the same compromise that I've been extended from the beginning they can buy the the tennis court from the from the city if they want to but I should be allowed to use this street it should not be sold to them so that's my two minutes everything all the allegations of of kids saying stuff nobody's done anything to these people we drive down the street sometimes yes because it's a public city street they use it my neighbor uses it all the time to back up to his his garage everybody uses the public uses it because it's a public piece of property golf carts go and down there people walk up and down the street onto my driveway and go out to New Hampshire I don't say a word because I'm not nuts like these so that's my two

things oh not nothing in particular it's not that I don't want to use that actually I would like to if I had access to South America Street I might close that in and build a garage there or something but it would increase the my ability to use my own property like I would have to go down I mean nothing nothing like I don't mind you know I don't mind using the right away it is but why couldn't I have two accesses why I mean it doesn't make any sense no no please stop but no I mean I'm just answering his question no you can talk rest something I've beening yeah I mean nothing I would like to build a garage there I would like to close it off so that you know there's no there won't be any through tra they're worried about through traffic there won't be any through traffic that's what I'm hoping to do uh that's my plan yeah yeah I think I'd keep the right away just to for for trash service and stuff because I can walk my trash no no I can I can keep bringing it to to new hand I mean so I mean I'm going over my two minutes but I'm answering your question um right if if the if the dirt is removed that the the there's a street underneath it if if the dirt is removed my property drains all of fabric my so the my my application to the city said I will front whatever costs uh to to to do whatever whatever their engineer said my

Engineers well I think they'd have to tear out the tennis court to to bring it up to code I mean that's the reality is it right if if I had to bring it up to some code the ten the tennis court has to has to go if if we're going to beat the the city standard um but I don't think that that's required because if all I have to do is remove dirt my Engineers say the drainage will greatly improve back there before remove that what's that yeah no no it but but that no action has been taken on that application is my point opinion sitting on the mayor yeah that's a whole other issue and not before okay I agree let thank you let let me move on for the sake of time um I have one more person from faville M Bell you want to come say something I don't want to hear anything about what the Fredericks may have done or may not have done I'm not interested in rehashing any of that give me something new or don't give me anything and you can start good evening um and thank you so very much for um giving me the opportunity to speak my name is AE Bell and I live at in South America Street um I think it is important to understand what we've been going through over the past year Mr and Mrs Frederick have repeatedly claimed that we have freaked out and that we hate them they say that we are hysterical completely insane bitter unstable spoiled children and they have claimed that I personally have lost my mind we understand that people often Pro upon others what lies within themselves and perhaps that is what's happened here the Frederick's own words tell us how they feel about us and in

January a member of the Frederick household stated that Mrs Frederick hates us we don't hate anyone when the Fredericks moved in Janet and Thomas FAO brought them a bottle of wine and welcome to the neighborhood and I shared with them some awesome pineapp sugar venison sausage as upsetting as the continuous hostility and fals hoods directed at us we did not respond to them we simply pointed out to the city officials why vehicular traffic through the green space is a bad idea we don't care about the tennis court we care about our safety just this afternoon today just today this is a part of a dialogue that we hard in front of our home on the tennis court quote this is kind of boring do you guys want to go let's do a few more laps and piss them off okay let's go then one flips the bird at Mrs Murphy's home and yells F you this is daily this is what we live with we the subdivision residents are hardworking law abiding taxpaying humble citizens for over a century we have maintained an amicable relationship with the city of Covington and we aim to continue that good rapport now and in the future for over a year we have remained calm and civil we smile and we na wave at the folks in our neighborhood we offer good cheer we are grateful we are joyful and we are hopeful we wish to get this disagreement behind us and to and to enjoy with our

neighbors the South's friendliest town we respectfully request your your support thank you okay thank you um I don't know if I can pronounce the last name uh you want to give it a shot it starts with a g and it ends with a e yeah uh Sam you want you want to come to the front and state your name and address for the record good evening I'm Sam jurga there you go jurga okay 17th just like it sounds um thank you for uh giving me a couple of minutes I I want to introduce myself to you all I was the interim city councilman uh last year when all of these matters began to sort of manifest themselves and so I have a little bit of insight um you know to to the situation that I think might be helpful to you I guess the the most important uh thing that i' I'd like to to impart uh and and hope that that we can take away from this is this is a political problem this is a political problem and you're not a political body thank goodness right you're you're a you're a body that has been appointed by the political officials to serve in the area of planning ex zoning and you make decisions about planning ex zoning questions so the good news here is while we've heard all kinds of political angst and political issues tonight those are not issues that you have to think about right we have to let the politicians decide those questions they're the ones that are accountable to US citizens and so uh my my strongest uh wish is that we can get this from here to them there has been a political process or at least an administrative process that's happened from this point to here and and that is the city has made a judgment as a matter of City

judgment as a matter of City management that it does not want the obligation of own this land that's that's a decision the city can make we saw in the case right before this one that the city made a similar uh judgment right and it it comes to the Planning and Zoning commission under the statute and let me just read real quickly what the statute says because I think it's important to to ground ourselves says not with understanding any law to the contrary any law to the contrary if the city council of the city of C cumington determines that any servitude this is a servitude street or road which is owned by the city is no longer needed for public use it may dispose of such properties provided in this article okay so there has been a determination that has been made that this is no longer use useful to the city from a zoning perspective and it was such a great lesson we got earlier in the day on zoning from Alex right from a zoning perspective I think you all have legitimate concerns there right what if this particular piece of property is part of a zoning plan that you have you know that that that you're working on or what if it's part of a new project or something of that nature where you might want to say no no no City bad move we shouldn't do this but that's not what's going on here this truly is about maintaining the status quo there is no change the only change is a change in ownership from the city to a private owner right and the city has made a determination we don't need this that is a question I think that can be easily answered by you all from a zoning perspective only not a public safety issue not a

you know all of the other things we we've heard about which are unfortunate all of that will be heard at the city council but if you vote know if you vote know the problem is is that you upset the apple cart in terms of that political process because now the city council has to have a super majority to outweigh what you done again if there was truly a zoning issue that was in front of you a real zoning interest that was in front of you and you decided no then maybe that super majority makes sense but arguments about neighborly relations are not a zoning question it's a political question this ought to go to the city council and let them grapp with it thank you very much this is a planning question not I have a question C if if you will I'm kind of stuck on Miss C thank you for coming are you aware of yes I'm aware of the water meter and the fire hydrant that is there at the end of the of South America yes of South America and regardless of whether the fire hydrant is active the water meter should be and so if this is approved as a sale of property then we will need a utility server too through that area now with that said going back to what has been described as are there redundant utilities that come off the off of South Hampshire using private drive to serve the Frederick's Parcels I'm un sure if

there is a separate utility that comes off of New Hampshire more than likely it connects at South America okay so that servitude would extend all the way to that what's what's on the Sur uh survey as called a gravel drive I mean I took my work truck back there today and I mean it's basically just you're correct that would that would extend to the what's currently described as the gravel drive and so there's there's no way through this process that the hardship of utilities would be on the Fred is that correct because they would be forced they would be forced through the disposition of the city the buyer would be forced to create the servitude to maintain the utilities to that yes what what happens is uh if you recall we just had a revocation on 12th Avenue and in that case Public Work determined that there was an underground drainage covert in the areas to be revoked or to be sold and in fact the city reserved a 15ot drainage servitude to accommodate the existing Culvert running parallel to 12 same scenario anytime public works or the city engineer determines that their utility Lines within a servitude or Street to be conveyed or revoked the city always reserves to itself a utility

servitude to accommodate all existing utility thank you and it's also my understanding uh working with the city of coming as often as I do is that speaking of the tennis board if there's act an active line under that tennis sport if there was something happened to that line for not to disrupt any service the tennis court would be excavated right and that would be a that would be part of that easement so that everybody knows it could be dug up or it could be or the one could be replaced depending on what's most cost efficient for the city and that's the city's decision corre based on what because of that the width of that servit correct thank okay um we have a another uh card member a Roland uh Gallatin if you'd like to come to the front state your name and address for the record please thank you Roland Gallatin 530 South America Street um no one has brought up what might happen to the land if it is sold okay it's not city property anymore um because once it's private land people can do whatever they want with it right I mean within the code and permitting and such the reason bring this up is because the last time Baldwin Reed purchased property right outside the Gate of B Bill and he clearcut the entire parcel without a single Treet

permit scorched bir okay so now that this has become political isn't there a concern about what they would do with the property once they took possession of it they would try to um wouldn't they try to concrete the situation so that it could never be controversial again so they might clearcut the parcel they might drive pilings and build something there um that's my concern so I would ask that um this Council take that into consideration and I think that about dozen for speakers unless there's somebody else that I've missed go ahead pleas youe state your name and address for the record please good evening my name is C llo at 703 16th Avenue one block away from this Fiasco I moved in downtown Covington because of the history the family my daughters we'd have a great peaceful life ever since I've been there I've had problems with the fabrial group I walked down that street that we're talking about and got verbally assaulted by somebody out of a house walking down the street what are you doing here this is private property so this issue that the Fredericks are horrible people and I know them their kids ride their bikes right next to my

house all the time I have never had one problem with their children or them okay but I've had problems over here so I'm in the middle of both of I have no skin in the game I just want to balance it out from my experience my big question is this the Frederick's hes been there 110 years longer than anybody else's in faille who put that street in then who put that road then because we talk about the attorney goes back history 60 years ago they did a tennis court illegally 60 years ago they did this illegal we want to go back let's really go back to the beginning of it all who put their Road in there was a Road there there was a street there why can't they use it today and if you're going to put the price tag on the Fredericks that they have to pay all this money to maintain it or to fix it to whatever y'all think you need to do shouldn't the fabos have to pay their bill once it's paid shouldn't they be brought up the code to make it a street also if it's good for the goose it's good for the G we put in a price tag on them but nobody has said one word about what they have to do in maintaining that up to Cod doesn't that apply to them also so again my big question is this who put the road in originally and just because the city of Covington did not do anything in all these years that's not my problem that's their problem just because they kick the can down the road is not something I should be concerned about so again the

road was put in and they were using it 110 years ago so why can't they use it today there's some wonderful people in faville I know some of them they're probably going to hate me after this speech but I can't sit back and listen to this when I know the family I've never had any problems with them they just want to use a street that was there 110 years ago so I would ask you to stop and think Common Sense here if we going to use history as a basis of a decision let's use the whole history thank you thank you okay Commissioners question comments one quick question thank you for your mark 7th letter by the way U I've read it several times and it gives some clarification that we did our last um my question is when when we reviewed this a year ago or right right out a year 10 months ago um there was an appraisal done and then but it never got back on the agenda for the city uh for the council to review was there a reason because the withdrawal came after the fact after okay um okay I I'd like to make a comment or two um the city has a right to dispose or eliminate existing property if it deems so necessary but it doesn't want it

anymore um what's before for us is a request from a petitioner to purchase the property that the city doesn't want anymore what we decide whether it should or shouldn't be U is not a question of making determination can we or can we not that's what's before us and that's what's in the code so I understand the political side of it which I'm not going to get involved with um from our perspective and I appreciate all the Comm comments uh that they have to make about it so with that being said and that's what's before us I'm not going to make it any more of that or any less of that um but at this time I would entertain a motion for for anything we got we got to make a motion one way or the other well I can say I mean my position hasn't changed since the last timebody I Z I'll we have a motion we need a we need a second well we need to get a second first we got to have a we have have we either we have to have a second Motion

in order to move his motion forward otherwise we start over it dies for lack of a yeah right we have a second but I can't go out of order I've got to have a second or the motion's going to ask question you get a second and then we're going to have a vote so you're making the second she second in the motion we'll take a roll call okay they previously a FAL Bill and then they were sold did they PR access to thead and now there'ss here Rene's house and to Circular driveway they have access the lane faille that that home that the 100 years ago all I can tell you is that in the 1940s and 50s one of the fabos lived in the home that the Fredericks live in now that home at that time did not have access to South America it accessed off from New Hampshire

Street it has a South Hampshire address far11 hi my name is Jennifer Frederick and okay hold on I've got to get this process started I just want to say about the address our home the address was 121 South America for 60 years AO bought the home lived in it for 10 years at 121 South America they they got to the home that way I have an aerial photo from 1936 from the historian our home's 110 years old it's been there it was the only home on the street before fville even existed it's been there our engineer Mr Eddie Murphy there's drainage nothing has to be done we're talking about 10,000 maybe of of gravel to put down to get to the front of our home to the front of our home imagine owning a house and you can never access the front of it you have to go through a neighbor's yard to get to your house if you do not if you sell this home this home will never you'll never get to the front of it I'm not just fighting for myself I'm fighting for the people who are going to live here in 50 years and a 100 years they deserve a public road to their home we'll take the roll call please two this is to den Yes means no that's correct all right Mr Boon no Mr Davidson Miss swords yes not inor Mr

Celestine okay can we clarify this please the correct is AG greeing cor right corre is against corre so again I voted no you voted no Mr celese yeah okay Mr villery yeah Mr Bullock no Mr Hudson no well I will now yeah motion failed I will now entertain another Mo I'll make a motion I'll make a motion to to approve the request to purchase thetion case number 2531 we have a motion we have a second second from mroll call Mr Boone yes Mr Davidson the swords

yes is to approve to approve sends it to the council as present Mr Celestine Mr villery Mr bullet Mr Hudson yes the motion passes we'll forward on uh that being said I want to remind everybody if you haven't finished your ethics training to please finish it because tomorrow I will send out the excuse me ple please wait till the meeting is over it's really rude just to up and out let's just finish it we take two seconds tomorrow I'll be sending out the email so you can start your sexual harassment prevention training so you know that's for me yes with that we'll uh adjourn e

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