Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

good evening everybody and welcome to the may 28th um 2026 board of commissioners zoning meeting i am commissioner shakira johnson district 4 commissioner and presiding officer we will get into business um i will ask if my fellow commissioners will allow a shift in the agenda planning and staff has requested that items Thank you. 14, 15, and 16 be heard first. So if there's no objections, I will call those out first. No objections. No objections. Thank you so much. So item... N14 is 2026-0628, all commission districts, application of the Director of Planning and Sustainability for a text amendment to amend Chapter 24 pertaining to an excise tax on short-term rentals and Chapter 27 pertaining to zoning for the purpose of clarifying provisions. This text amendment is countywide.

Good evening, Commissioners. Good evening.

Okay, I think this would, let's see. Okay, okay.

Okay, good evening. I'm Yvonne Trammell, and I will be presenting some information. These three text amendments will be presented together, short-term rentals, residential entertainment, and chronic nuisance. And this is a modern response to evolving lifestyles. The current regulations are kind of designed for a different era. So we've been working on proposing some ways to kind of accommodate some of the changing

I was going to have them read it before we open public comment since I forgot, but if we need to read the rules now.

And we're going to ask that you hear all three of them together. So we're going to ask that you read them all three.

I apologize. Madam clerk, go ahead and read the rules.

Citizens may speak for or against an item that is considered by law to be a zoning ordinance. And each side will have 10 minutes to present its case. Citizens may also speak for or against an item that is placed on the public hearing agenda, but it's not a zoning ordinance. In that case, each side will have five minutes to present its case. In the event there is more than one speaker per side, speakers must divide their time in order to complete their full presentation within the 10 minute time allotment or the five minute time allotment. When the buzzer sounds to indicate that time has run out, the speaker will be expected to immediately cease speaking and to leave the podium area. Prior to speaking, a speaker shall complete a speaker card and present it when approaching the podium. If a speaker has any documents for the commissioners, the speaker shall provide 10 copies when approaching the podium. Seven copies are for the commissioners and the remaining copies are for the planning director, the county attorney, and the clerk. Applicants or citizens speaking in favor of an item shall speak first, and applicants in zoning ordinance cases shall have the right to reserve time for rebuttal. Opponents of a zoning ordinance item shall have no right of rebuttal. Once the citizens have finished speaking, staff shall make a recommendation for action to the commission. At this point, citizens are no longer allowed to speak unless called to the podium by an individual commissioner to answer questions or provide information. Excuse me. Speakers should always talk directly into the microphone and begin by stating their name, address, and the name of any organization they represent. Abusive, profane, or derogatory language will not be permitted. Holding up signs, clapping, yelling, standing, or laying in the aisles to show support for or opposition to a speaker will not be permitted. But a show of hands or quietly standing in place will be permitted to show support for or opposition to a speaker's position.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. So I will read these three items together. And 14 is item 2026-0628, all commission districts' application of the Director of Planning and Sustainability for a text amendment to amend Chapter 24 pertaining to an excise tax on short-term rentals and Chapter 27 pertaining to zoning for the purpose of clarifying provisions. This text amendment is countywide. N15, item 2026-0453, all commission districts, application of the director of planning and sustainability for a text amendment relating to residential entertainment and residential estate or office institutional and office institutional transitional, light industrial and heavy industrial zoning districts and for other purposes. And then finally, in 16, it is item 2026-0629, all commission districts, application of the Director of Planning and Sustainability for a text amendment to identify repeated nuisance properties and establish pathways for notice, corrective action, and related administrative fees. This text amendment is countywide. Good evening. Good evening.

Good evening, Whitney Fuller here, your zoning administrator. As our deputy director stated before, we would like to present all three cases together because all three cases relate to the modernization that our code needs when it comes to how people are visiting our county, when it comes to short-term rentals, how people are entertaining in our county when it comes to residential entertainment and how we enforce and make sure there's accountability for both of those lanes when it comes to chronic nuisance. So we'll first present N-14. We'll present them in order and ask that you take action on them separately.

Appreciate that. Thank you.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Good afternoon. N14-2026-0628. This is an excise on short-term rentals. Community councils, their recommendation was four approvals and one no quorum. The planning commission recommended an approval, and the staff recommendation is a 30-day deferral. And for the short-term rental amendments, the initial short-term rental ordinance was approved July the 24th of 2025. The county registration process began on May the 20th of 2026. And the proposed amendments are to clarify requirements and strengthen administration and enforcement of the existing ordinance. And some of the highlights are to require a 24-7 local agent within 30 miles clarify exemptions for stays related to domestic violence, standardize language to reflect license and not a permit across the ordinance, and establish a 24-7 complaint hotline system. And then some of the restrictions are going to be to prevent party houses and residential entertainment venues in the short-term rentals. along with designing certain properties as chronic nuisance properties and expanding enforcement authorities for licenses, denials, and suspensions and revocations. And the other item for the ordinance is to protect the quality of life. And that will reduce the disruptive STRs that are in the neighborhoods, establish clear accountability throughout requirements, enable faster responses to complaints through the system, and then will also create a clear enforcement penalty for chronic nuisance properties. And collectively, these updates do strengthen the county's ability to regulate the STRs. And then the second ordinance is the residential entertainment, which is N15-2026-0453. And community council had three approvals, one deferral and one no quorum. Planning commission's recommendation was to approve only two events per year in the residential, in the RE district. And staff recommendation is deferral to the August 13th BOC zoning meeting. And for residential entertainment, it would only be allowed in certain districts with a special administrative permit. The only residential district that it's allowed in is RE. The other districts are OI, OIT, M, and M2, and those are non-residential districts. And for residential entertainment, the proposals are to establish a definition and usage for residential entertainment, which includes the use of a fee for a property. And then for applicable properties, a single family, two family, multi-family, and it also includes the accessory structures and the entire lot. And then examples of some events are large-scale birthday parties, pool or outdoor gatherings, similar type events, weddings and receptions. And then for key criteria, it's a fee charged by the owner or the tenant for the use of the property. property functions as an event venue, and the guest admission fees may or may not be required. And then under exemptions, 501c3 nonprofit organizations, business, civic, or professional groups, political organizations, or campaigns. And also under residential attainment is to set up supplemental regulations. The eligibility would be a minimum one acre lot and 2,000 square foot of heated floor space. Also, it needs to be located on a major or minor arterial. And for the operational standards, the events are limited to a primary structure or a fenced yard. It's indoor music only, and it is subject to the county's noise ordinance. And then standard residential lighting only. And therefore, event limits, it's a maximum of eight events per year, which would be two per quarter. Events must end by 1230 AM. If they want to operate past 1230, they would need a slug. A permit issued to the property owner only, and it is non-transferable. And for neighborhood protections, parking security and logistics plans are required. Neighbor notification within 500 feet. And then there's to be no public advertising of events. And then lastly, with the location and compliance, it is not to be operated within parks, schools, or senior housing, or to be operated near certain residential districts. And it must comply with zoning, fire, parking, and there to be no alcohol sales. Alcohol can be served. However, alcohol cannot be sold. And then next, we will have the chronic nuisance portion.

Thank you again. So N16 is about the chronic nuisance property, and it's a text amendment that provides a framework to create increased enforcement and accountability for property owners as well as any responsible party who continues to conduct themselves in such a way to arise to being designated as a chronic nuisance. So this ordinance establishes that framework because one doesn't exist as our code is today. It establishes fees that escalate to recover undue burden to the county's resources when it comes to a number of incidents that require county response. To begin, the definition of chronic nuisance, again, one doesn't exist today, establishes that a property or responsible party that has a number of incidents that rise to the point of requiring law enforcement and potential citations. Such examples include disorderly conduct, repeated noise violations, alcohol and drug abuse. If you have... up to three violations within a five-month period, examples that I just provided, your property can be designated as a chronic nuisance property. Or five incidents within 12 months. There's an escalated... Actually, let me go back. That designation comes with three parts. First, there's a warning. The warning involves citing the disorderly conduct as well as citing this ordinance. And any continued activity that doesn't come into compliance with the code can subject that property owner and responsible parties to being designated a chronic nuisance. The warning letter will also cite the fees that that responsible party may be subject and responsible for and require a compliance plan to help that responsible party. Again, if they're not aware of what the ordinance is, be aware and come into compliance. On the second and third incidents, there are fees that are accruing for each incident to be capped at $5,000. In addition, if they aren't compliant at that time, which we found in our research, after you get the first warning and understand that fees are going to escalate, in our research, those parties have come to compliance in other jurisdictions. But if they do not, we can escalate our actions to not only the administrative fees, but also escalating to pursuing any permitting, licenses, slupts, and revoking those fees. revoking those entitlements for that property or property owner, including leaning any fines or fees not paid against that property. And that actually concludes the presentation of all three text amendments in 14 through 16. And thank you, Director, for cap ending us.

Good evening, Director. Good evening, Council. I apologize. Ran into a bit of traffic along the way. I do want to add to the presentation that you guys have heard this evening, specifically regarding the chronic nuisance. We're very excited at the fact of the matter that we are working in partnership with our public safety and code enforcement to look into the way that the chronic nuisance can be administered so that we can perfect the text amendment. We're looking at the fact that we've done some significant research to create this baseline. And we've added it to these specific ordinances because we know that people are living differently. There used to be a time when homes and residential areas were just about living. Post-pandemic, they have become places where people are making income. and people are finding different aspects of what they can do with residential living. With that... we must take a secondary look at what we call nuisances, where things have gone across the line from the days where we were more communal. As my staff has presented to you guys, residential entertainment is giving the baselines. We're hoping to be able to get back to community where we can inform people that we want to be able to have larger gatherings beyond what is typical to a usual use of a home. However, we know that's not always the case. We wanted to draw a clear line for when you become a party house. We wanted to draw a care line of what to do when you're using your home as a short-term rental, that it's to be used for rental alone. And then we wanted to give our public safety and our enforcement units the capacities for us to move in a specific direction to kind of draw attention to one specific fact that I want the council to definitely bear in mind. as we're perfecting these ordinances is the fact that we're spending taxpayers' money for those that refuse to come into compliance. We are using our enforcement team to continue to go out to places for those that refuse to come into compliance. And we want to make it clear that there's a cost behind that, significant cost to the county over time. And that's what we've seen in our research. 47 of the 50 major cities in the United States have nuisance and habitual nuisance laws out there. And for the ones that we've spoken to in our research, they've seen significant, significant decreases in chronic nuisance behavior in residential areas, leading into other significant areas where there might be vulnerable communities next door. And we want to be able to introduce that to DeKalb County and to the council so that we might have an opportunity to have a real conversation about nuisance and nuisance laws, as well as what we want to put out there to make it clear that there is a cost for this behavior. So I wanted to add to the fact that although what you're looking at is our proposed language that we're now receiving comments in from our public safety community, from fire, from the police chief and working with our code enforcement. The two specific areas that we're looking forward to continue the conversation will be what we call, when does this trigger? When does the activity that we're describing here become a nuisance? So this is not a Karen bill. This is not a call every time you don't like the music bill. This is an ordinance that has to end. I said that. But this is not about that. This is the moment where we know that your behavior is intentional, deliberate, causing public safety and could cause public harm to your surrounding neighbors. And when it stays consistent and over time, therefore, we want to be able to take continuous action. And lastly, I want to make the point clear that this doesn't replace all the actions that we have before. So we are adding an additional tooth to our teeth. So everything that has transpired before will still go forward. You will still be warned. You will still be fined. You will still see magistrate court. In criminal behaviors, you still would be jailed. You will still face any other action that we have in play. But with the possibility of us being able to talk about the administrative costs for the chronic nuisance of our enforcement officers to keep coming to your property because you refuse to come into compliance, this is the additional opportunity. So I want to make that clear that as you're reviewing the text, as we've asked for a little bit of time for us to be able to get our safety and enforcement team involved in this, that this is an addition that will hopefully lead to the gateway for us to start getting back to a real sense of community. We should have a great time side by side, but it should not to be at the point of the detriment of a neighborhood or to the detriment of people's livelihood or their right to quiet enjoyment. And that is what we're hoping to do as we're introducing short-term rentals, as we're introducing the residential entertainment and party house ordinance. Thank you.

Thank you, Director. At this time, we will open the public hearing for comments. So if there is anybody who is here to speak in favor of this item, he will come to the back podium. yeah well I think we can take comment on in 14 and 15 and in 16 but the action will be separate so if anyone is here wanting to speak in favor of any of the three that were just presented on please come to this back podium seeing no one wanting to speak in favor is there anyone here wanting to speak in opposition One more call. Anyone here to speak in opposition of these three items? All right. Seeing no one. If staff will come up and give their recommendations again.

The staff recommendation for N-14 is a 30-day deferral.

For N15 through 16, it's a deferral to August 13th, Board of Commissioners.

With a public hearing or without public hearing? Without. Without public hearing, decision only?

Okay.

Public hearing for the first one.

That's when it's 30-day deferral public hearing, thank you.

Okay.

So for the first item, 2026-0628, is there a motion?

I move to defer item 0628 for 30 days. Second. Second. With public hearing. Second.

Do we need to be hitting our buttons? The motion buttons aren't up. There it goes. Can you guys hit your buttons? And who seconded? I did. Thank you. And you've requested to speak, Commissioner Long-Speers, you have the floor.

Yes ma'am, thank you so much. So could you pull up the slides again for short term rental?

Where is it?

While you're doing that, I do want to sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, thank the Planning Department, Public Safety Code, CO Williams, for convening a meeting with my team to discuss the party house issues. As you all are very aware, we've had significant challenges in District 2 with these party houses, to the point that I receive text messages almost every single Friday and Saturday either late night or early morning. So I am truly praying that this helps us address those issues. And from what I've read in your presentation today, it does look like we're certainly moving in the right direction. All right. If you go to the next slide, please. Thank you kindly. All right. So my first question is under ordinance highlights requires a 24-7 local agent within 30 miles. How are you going to enforce that just to ensure that they're within that 30 miles and physically within that 30 miles?

That would just come at the time of registration if approved, that local agent would have to be listed with that address stating where they're located and it would determine if it was within 30 miles from that property.

So if that individual moves six months later, a year later, is there any kind of language that states if you move to a different address, you have to come back and register your new address to confirm that it's within that 30 mile range?

That is language that we are still working on. Okay. And that actually is something we're kind of working through with law, if that is going to be part of the proposal. So I will definitely take note of that as a question to follow up on. Thank you so much. All right.

I believe that is, well, while I have a little bit of time, yes, ma'am, go ahead.

As I'm capturing your language, would you also consider it to be satisfactory if we also do the double check when they come to renew their licenses because we're registering them there to make sure that they have the consistent mile radius if it does pass through legal? Will that also be something we can add that you would consider to be satisfactory?

And forgive me if it's here, and I'm just not remembering you said that, but do they have to register every year? So you could confirm that every year?

We confirm that when we do our business license deals, if you would like for us to add that.

Just explore it and see if it's acceptable to legal and doesn't present any issues. Sure. Why not? Yeah, thank you. All right. Thank you so much. My next question is, I know one of the reasons that you are pursuing these text amendments related to the World Cup. And now that we're, I guess, the 30-day deferral, where are we at now? June? That would be in July. No, it would be the end of June. The first game starts mid-June, right? okay so none of these are going to be all right well i don't need to ask anything else about that okay all right thank you so much and i yield back on this item 0628 but i will have further questions madam po for the other two all right thank you so much if i can get my screen back up

Okay. Seeing that no one else has requested to speak on this, Commissioner Patrick, just under the wire.

Just for clarity, our comments are only for N-14 or is it for all three? N-14. Hold my comments.

Okay. Commissioner Terry.

Is it at all possible that we get deferred this for two weeks? Do you all need four weeks? And I speak for myself. I feel like this, because I've had enough time to go over it with the planning staff, I feel like it's ready for action. And if there are any major changes.

I'm going to fight for it. So for short-term rentals, I think that we could try for two weeks. The thing that I will say about short-term rentals is we do already have the ordinance in place and we are implementing it. We are getting active applications. They're coming in and we are approving them. So the short-term rental, we do have a baseline ordinance in effect as of today. So these would just be changes, relatively small changes to that ordinance.

So you feel that the existing ordinance is satisfactory to handle any issues that we might have been concerned about with increased, I guess, usage of the rentals during the World Cup? We believe so. Okay. All right.

So we can try for two weeks, but there are just some things that we really want to make sure that we get it right on this one.

No, I was just throwing that out there, but that's fine. I don't mind waiting for 30 days. No, thank you.

Do you yield, Commissioner Terry? Okay. Commissioner Patrick.

All right. I apologize. I thought it was for the others, but I do have a question for N14. And sort of following up with what Commissioner Spears had asked about, the 30 miles for the registered agent. Yes. Is that 30 miles from the location, or is that 30 miles from county boundary? From what? Or have you guys decided that? County boundary.

It would be 30 miles from the location of the STR. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Commissioner Davis-Johnson.

Okay, thank you. And I just want to point out the fact that this legislation was my legislation. And that the purpose of it was to cure any defects that it may have, that it was falling through the cracks. We had a lot of people. calling. They were upset. I was upset because it was in my neighborhood as well. So this was not for the World Cup. And so I want to stress that to say that we need to get it right, not rush it, because there are laws already in place to deal with the World Cup. And so I just wanted to say that. I don't feel it should be rushed. I feel it should be done right. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears, for your second opportunity.

All right. So my next question related to the short-term rentals, and I guess maybe more for the other two. We're not there yet. But whenever they pass, is there any type of, like, transition period before the implementation can occur? Is that 180 days?

So it depends on whatever we write into the ordinance. Sorry about that.

So we can dictate that in the drafting of the ordinance?

Correct. So for short-term rentals, if you remember, it was originally supposed to go back into effect in December. And then we came to you and requested an extension on that implementation period. And so it officially went into effect last week. On May 20th. So that's why that ordinance is in effect and we are accepting applications and it will be in effect for the World Cup.

Okay. So we have an ordinance in place.

That's excellent. We appreciate all the support to give us that additional time to get all those pieces into place as well. And so, as Commissioner Davis Johnson was saying, this version that's before you now is just to make some corrections that we noticed as we were implementing it.

Fantastic. All right, thank you so much. Again, appreciate your hard work on this.

Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears. Seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. For the next two items, I do have a question. Since the action would be the same, can we vote on them together or we still need them separate? Still separate? Okay, that's fine.

And just to clarify, the request is for a deferral to the August 13th Board of Commissioners zoning meeting, and that is a public hearing. It is a public hearing, yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And that's for both 15 and 16. Okay. All right, so for N152026-0453, is there a motion?

Motion to defer to the August 13th Board of Commissioners.

Anyone accept who hit the button or who verbalizes first? Madame Pia. Let's do button. All righty. So my motion for 20-26-0453 is to defer to the August 13th Board of Commissioners zoning meeting with a public hearing.

Commissioner Messiah has seconded. Commissioner Patrick has requested to speak. You have a floor.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. So I've got two questions. And the first is just a scenario. So it's District 1. There's an ONI building that's been rehabbed into multifamily housing. What's the process if someone wants to have an event as this is intended to address?

They would need to apply for an SAP. Once they apply for the SAP, they would have to submit that parking plan, submit the requirements of where they're in terms of the minimum square footage. All of that would have to be approved through planning, and then once it's approved, they would get that permit, and then they would be able to host that event.

Okay. And I guess the expectation would include the specific units. So whatever the unit is within the building, those individual units would have to be called out with that as well, not just the entire property, but the specific units. Yes, the specific units. Okay. And then the second question I have is, and this sort of captures all three of these ordinances. So what's the plan for communicating this ordinance? How do you intend to make sure that People, property owners are familiar with this ordinance and can come into compliance.

That would be advertised through some of the same processes that we're using now to get information out to the public through newsletters, through different types of news feeds, media. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Commissioner Patrick. Commissioner Masaya, you have the floor.

Thank you so much, Madam PO. So there is just a couple of quick questions that I have, some of which I want to see if we rectify from before. And that is as it relates to communication with the court. And because all of these are only as good as the ability to enforce it. And it comes to a point of evidence and proving the case. Had we had an opportunity now to confer with our court system that would also be engaged in helping partner with us to enforce these ordinances.

Yes, ma'am. We've, we are definitely making a headway as we've added in the, um, assistance and the support of public safety and code enforcement. We've also started to talk about the introduction of the solicitor's office and the other court systems here. We wanted to be able to go to them first with some of our language that we have perfected and what we've done with legal. So in our step-by-step process and what we've found out in our research for the two that you're looking at residential and nuisance. The court system cannot be divorced at some point in time because the nature of the way that, if you look at it from a scenario standpoint, that the ordinance works, it does gather evidence for when it's time to take additional action. So each and every time that a nuisance activity is happening and it's documented, it's verified, it's a legal action that is going on, it builds up the case for any further action that the Board of Commissioners might choose to do. So we definitely have started talking about that. We want to include them in the process. We will want to make sure that we have the language correct so that we can talk about the alignment component to it. But I have made that introduction from your last comment last time.

All right, and I could appreciate that response. So have we specifically spoke to one of our judges with the relationship to these ordinances and the forcibility of it?

No, we've not. Not the judges. We haven't spoken to legal yet.

All right. Yeah, so that's, again, going to be part of my ask, and it has been for some time now. And then lastly, I think we were also dealing with, and I'm sorry, not lastly, we were dealing with weddings and pool parties. which under the entertainment ordinances would be something that they would need to go through the same process. And so that includes a small backyard wedding or if someone were to have a pool party in their home. So can you speak to how we're going to address that where people can have enjoyment of their home and a small wedding or a pool party with their family if they so choose?

Yes, the residential entertainment doesn't impede that. It's looking at when that becomes a large scale event, then administrative permit would be required for you to come so that you can inform your neighbors. What this does is actually it gives good guidelines for any place that isn't already governed by an HOA. Obviously, this does not supersede an HOA, but the guidelines is informing sign adage that indicates a telephone number to reach. a plan that's documented there so we know the time where it actually concludes and ends, the adherence to our noise ordinance as well. So it's good practice. And then if you know you're going to be doing an event at your home, your home is at that scale, we expect for you to come and get an administrative permit so that we will be aware of when it's happening, when it starts, when it ends, and the guidelines that the county is requiring through this ordinance.

Again, I can appreciate that response. And so in the ordinance, does it say specifically how large the party can be, like how many individuals before they'll have to apply for the permit?

Does it say specifically that?

Because to the extent it doesn't, I don't recall that it does, then we might want to consider that to make sure that we're putting our residents on notice of that specific fact.

Absolutely understood. It doesn't currently have a number. What the ordinance does or what the goal of the ordinance is to say if it's a for-profit party, then that's treated differently than if you are hosting a party in your own home. And so that's the difference where if you're having your wedding in your backyard or in your parents' backyard, then that's something that is considered a traditional home event and would not fall under the residential entertainment ordinance. So you would not be required to have an SAP if it's not a for-profit enterprise.

All right, just a suggestion to just make that clear so that residents are noticed. And then lastly, do we have something in there that says that this ordinance does not supersede an HOA? Correct. We have the language that says specifically that this ordinance does not supersede any provisions or bylaws in an HOA or civic association?

That is correct. There is language in there that says, relates to the HLA. Okay.

I think we should make it clear. With that, I yield back to you, Madam PL. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Long-Spears.

Thank you so much. So, a couple of questions on residential entertainment. Again, awesome job. My first comment, and I brought this up in the meeting that we had with you guys. I believe you hosted one with hopefully all of the commissioners, was around the entities, the exemptions, the entities that are exempted, 501C3 nonprofits, business, civic, or professional groups, political organizations, or campaigns. And after we left that meeting, I went back and was reading through what you had given us, and I still think that, you know, it's pretty easy to form a 501C3. And so, if you want to host, for example, a pool party. It's not your family's type thing. You're inviting a whole bunch of people. You could form a 501c3 nonprofit and then have it. It's an exemption. So have you looked at, and maybe this is in it and I don't recall, is where the nonprofit entity would have to have a two-year history of So they couldn't go and form a nonprofit, it takes like that to do it, and then the next week host a party. Instead, they'd have to have some organizational history.

Well, we can definitely look at that, and I think the exemptions were one of the sections that we've highlighted to take a closer look at anyway. Okay.

Wonderful. Thank you for that. And my next question on 0453 is, I believe you stated that y'all are recommending eight events per year, two per quarter. Now, remind me, did the Planning Commission recommend two per year?

Yes. That is correct. It was two per year for the RE districts and then eight per year for the other non-residential districts. So we are still exploring that as an option as well.

That's a pretty big difference between what the Planning Commission recommended and what you all are recommending. But if you're still working on it, I can certainly hold that question.

I think that some of the confusion with that are the basis of their recommendation had to do with I don't think we explained well enough the size of the RE parcels that we're talking about. So the residential entertainment, I mean, sorry, the rural, what is it? Residential estate. Residential estate zoning district classification is actually for parcels that are for an acre or larger. So I don't know that we made it clear about the size constraint tied to that size. So their concern was about hearing noise from their neighbor up to eight times a year. So I think that's something that we can revisit, but from our staff perspective, we think that on parcels that large, and given the rest of the stipulations included in this ordinance, that it would not have an adverse impact on neighbors.

Okay. Very good. But I look forward to learning what you end up, where you end up landing on that one. My next comment is under the supplemental regulation slide. It is the last section location and compliance. And I did ask this in our meeting. I just don't recall. I don't remember. I actually got an answer. The near parks, what is that proximity

That is 2,000 square feet of the parks, and we are doing some preliminary mapping, and there was no parks anywhere near those residential districts, the residential estate district. We're still doing some mapping for the OI and the other districts that we're looking at permitting. But it would be 2,000 square feet for the parks and the schools and senior housing, and then it was 1,000 for the residential districts.

away from schools from parks from senior housing okay very good and then just confirming you said no alcohol sales but they can serve alcohol so you can't can't pay for it can't pay eight dollars for something but it's included it can be included in like a overall Is that what you're recommending here?

Oh, and we're still exploring that as well with the alcohol ordinance and how that relates to this. But it's just listed that you can serve alcohol. If you go to your friend's house and they offer you a drink, that's fine. But we just didn't want to have it where people are offering alcohol packages and actually selling alcohol.

Okay. Well, we're lucky that we have Attorney Jones with us today because I know he knows.

I was going to say, don't look at the men in the background, okay? We're still working with them on these ordinances.

That's funny. All right. Well, that exhausts my questions for this item. Thank you again so much. You yield back.

Thank you. Commissioner Davis-Johnson.

Thank you. I think that... Most of my questions have been asked and answered. So I'll just use a couple of a minute to give my condolences out to Shanae Brown. Her grandmother passed. The funeral is tomorrow, and so you have my condolences. Thank you. She's in the clerk's office. I meant to say that as well.

Thank you, ma'am. Commissioner Bolton.

I really didn't want to go after that. My condolences as well. But I did want to just mention, I don't want you guys to go down the rabbit hole when it comes to the nonprofits versus 501c3s. Of course, a Georgia nonprofit is very easy to get. You just pay your money and keep it moving. But with the IRS approved 501C, whether that's three or four, that's another level of accountability because you have reporting every so often. And because you indicated this is for revenue generating or for-profit institutions, if they apply to become a 501C3, now they have to report that income. And so that's a whole other level of accountability. So don't go down the rabbit hole. I know it was mentioned. You can look into it. That's not something we probably need to get that deep into regulating.

Thank you.

And that's from a non-lawyer.

Thank you. Commissioner Patrick.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. Again, following up on the scenario of an O&I multifamily with housing, I believe the O&I that I'm referring to may have a restaurant component with it. So if there's a restaurant and there is alcohol sales... on the property, not necessarily in the individual units. I know we want to make a distinction with that, but if your research can sort of dig into that issue right there so we don't cause a larger problem for a potential business coming in. Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer.

Thank you. Anyone else wanting to speak? I did have just one question myself. I think it mentioned that the permit would be issued to the property owner only. So a tenant at a residential, specifically I think the residential estates, it couldn't be issued for a tenant. It'd have to be for the property owner.

It would be for the property owner. We are looking at maybe exploring a tenant, but right now it is written strictly just for the owner only.

Understood. Thank you. All right, that was my only question. You guys asked everything else? Okay, Commissioner Davis-Johnson, your second opportunity.

Tenants are usually transit, and so why would we look at the tenant rather than the owner?

So even in a scenario when we look at a tenant applying for a permit, they still would have to have the permission of an owner. So I think the only circumstances where that would be viable is if you're talking about some kind of long-term lease or long-term partnership. Okay.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other requests to speak, please. Okay. I didn't hit your button. Your button's not hit.

Okay, go ahead, Commissioner, I'm sorry. All right, thank you so much. And to that end, just to piggyback a little off of my colleague, it just reminds me of someone getting a speeding ticket. The owner getting a speeding ticket because someone borrowed the car, right? Or even driving through a red light. And so I think that is something that can be considered. As to how we navigate through it, particularly when it can escalate to a point where it is in court and there are fees that are acquired. And then if we are looking to have the individuals resolve those fees by potentially taking possession of their property, I think that is just extremely important to ensure. that we are being mindful of the notice and just what those dynamics may look like. So that is just a grave concern, but I know that you guys are working at it diligently and will continue to do so. And so I appreciate all of your work and your effort. I yield back, Madam PO.

Thank you so much. Now seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. And now we're on N16-2026-0629. Commissioner Bolton with the motion.

I move to defer item 0629 to the August 13th zoning meeting for public hearing.

Thank you. And Commissioner Davis-Johnson has the second. I'm seeing no request to speak on this one, so please open the machine. Public hearing. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. All right, thank you so much. We will go back to the start of the agenda. We have two deferred cases. First up is D1, which is 2025-1621. Commission Districts 5 and Super District 7 application of D.R. Horton Care of Battle Law PC to rezone property from R85 Zoning District to RNC Residential Neighborhood Conservation Zoning District for the redevelopment of up to 214 single-family detached dwellings at 8277 Norris Lakeway. Good evening.

All right. Good evening, Commissioners. Adam Chappell, Senior Planner, and I will try to keep this as brief as I can. The subject property is to the north of what is currently under development as Champion's Run, formerly known as Red Stag. Phase 1 is mostly complete. Phase 2 received preliminary plat approval in the last year and is currently undergoing LDP review. The rezoning from R85, and we did some research and confirmed that this parcel is solely R85, would comprise phases three and four of the overall development, again, containing up to 214 dwelling units. Due to the size and the number of units that were being proposed, a DRI, Development of Regional Impact Study, was required by the Atlanta Regional Commission. We have received some preliminary comments prior to the Planning Commission. But we did not receive the final decision until very, very recently. And as such, staff had originally requested a full cycle deferral of this case. We have received the DRI. However, we have not had time to, again, digest those comments. At the request of the applicant, we are also recommending a two cycle deferral, which differs from the staff report that you see before you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of this application? Good evening.

Good evening, board members. My name is Josh Mahoney, Battle Law, D.C., 3562 Habersham at North Lake in Tucker, Georgia. As Mr. Chappell stated, we only recently got the NOD from the ARC, and so we are continuing to work on our site plan to address the comments that we received, both from the ARC and as well as from the community. So we have gone ahead and requested the two-cycle deferral, so I'm here tonight just to make that formal request of you. That's all I've got. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Anyone to speak in favor of this application? Seeing no one, anyone here to speak in opposition of this application? Anyone in opposition of this application? All right, seeing no one. Mr. Adam, if you'd come back up and give your staff recommendation.

Staff recommendation is for a three cycle deferral.

Thank you. Is there a motion?

I make a motion for a two cycle deferral on this item.

Second. We have a motion and a second. I see no request to speak. Please open the machines for the vote. Motion carries. Thank you. Item D2, 2026-0146. commission districts 5 and super district 7, application of SAWA partners LLC care of for special land use permit to allow a recycling plant in the M zoning district at 1313 and 1303 Lithonia industrial boulevard. Good evening.

So the D2 is the deferred case for a slot for a recycling plant in the industrial district at 1313 Latonia Industrial Boulevard. The community council had no recommendation. Their motion to approve failed, so it went forward with no recommendation. The Planning Commission recommended denial, and the staff is recommending approval with conditions. As you may recall, the property is in a light industrial character area and also a light industrial zoned area. And the property in the immediate vicinity, there's truck parking, landfill and vacant land. They have provided a concept plan showing the internal traffic circulation. They're also proposing these truck out mats where trucks leaving the site will deposit all their mud that's caked onto their tires before getting onto Lithonia Industrial Boulevard. And there's some site photos. The applicant has indicated that They will comply with all of staff's 10 recommended conditions, and the conditions are aimed at addressing noise, air, water quality, and visual impacts. So the staff is recommending approval with conditions.

Thank you so much. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of this application? Good evening, sir.

That's for the commissioners. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners, staff, and neighbors. Thank you for the opportunity to present Sawa's sustainable concrete recycling facility. My name is Abraham Hagos, and I'm here today speaking on behalf of Sawa Partners. The owner of the property, , I know that was a hard one. He's here today with his family as well. has been operating dump truck business here in the community for over 20 years. Our team currently runs a fleet of 22 active dump trucks that haul concrete waste from the nearby facilities to landfills about eight miles away. Our vision and goal with this project is to divert that concrete waste from landfill and turn it into valuable, usable recycle aggregate for construction projects right here in DeKalb County. Our project fully embraces the principles of reduce, reuse, and recycle. And we will use industry leading equipment and systems to exceed Georgia's EPD requirement. We will maintain full accountability through multiple layers of oversight, and we will obtain all permits necessary. Georgia EPD conducts ad hoc and unannounced inspections, and our goal is to exceed these EPD's requirements and to be compliant with all health, safety, and environmental through processes and documentation.

Hold on one second, sir. Can I get the timer on the screen as well?

Sure.

Thank you. You can continue.

Okay. In closing, this project delivers clear benefits to DeKalb County. It diverts concrete waste from landfills. It produces valuable recycled aggregate for local construction. It creates jobs and it reduces the need for mining natural resources. In addition, it offers cheaper alternative than freshly mined concrete, and it reduces construction costs for roads, new development, and new development in DeKalb County. We are committed to being a responsible neighbor and a good steward of the environment. Thank you for your time and consideration. At this time I would like to Tell I guess everybody who's here in support to stand so I can acknowledge that they've been here for a long time. You may be seated. And I know some of our people left, but again, today I implore you to do the right thing and approve this special use permit so we can start reducing impact on our county and on our planet. We welcome any questions from the commission and the public. And we also have our engineer if we need to answer any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. The next speaker in favor of this application. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, my name is Awet Yasu, a long time resident of DeKalb County. I'm here today on behalf of, I mean, in support of this application. Being a resident of Clarkston, where my former colleague, former mayor is serving as our commissioner right now and we have been very avid about environment and I believe DeKalb County is definitely thinking of being environmentally responsible and going to the future and this is possibly a little more, one more step towards the right direction in terms of recycling concrete that would have ended up in the landfill. So I'm really hoping that you would approve this and that this would be great for the environment and for possible impacts in our construction costs overall. But thank you so much.

Thank you. Next speaker in favor of this item? Good evening, sir.

Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for your service. I'm here to support the special permit. I'm also to be grateful to be in this great country. Came as a refugee himself, just like us. Came and built such good providing services and job opportunities here in DeKalb County. So this would be one more opportunity for the immigrant communities and the residents of DeKalb County to find a good employer. I know how good he is, so please, if he follows all the rules, he should get the opportunity to do this project in DeKalb County. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, Commissioners. Just to add, we call him Sami. He has been in the trucking business over 20 years. As we all know, it's a very brutal business where you have to follow a lot of rules and regulations. So he was able to make it and now furthering his business. So if this permit were to be approved, We can guarantee that with his proven track record, he can maintain that kind of accountability. Also, Sami is one of the strongest supporters of our community. By the way, my name is Isaias Siyoum. I am the public relations officer for the Eritrean American community of Georgia. Also, he supports fully for the church that he attends. So he has been our backbone both at our church and our community. He employed over hundreds of employees over the years. So his character speaks for his business model that he carries. So I respectfully ask for your support. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to speak in favor of this application? Good evening, ma'am.

You can't just let the men speak. There you go. Good evening, commissioners and everyone here with us and everyone up front. I want to say thank you for giving us the opportunity.

And did you give us your name, ma'am?

I'm sorry. My name is Eden Anenya. Thank you. Go ahead, ma'am. Yes, my name is Eden Anenya, and I'm here to support Selwa Partners LLC as they are opening a new venture. in Lithonia in DeKalb County. I grew up here in DeKalb County. I barely spoke English. I am a refugee. I've known Sammy since I was 13. I am 48 years old today. He is a great role model for me as a mother of two. He's been an advocate for me in the community from all aspects of how we can grow. And today as a mother and as a small business owner here, in georgia he supports me and guides me and shows me the mistakes he's made in the past the adventures he's opened in the past and he's the absolute role model and i'm so glad he's here in this county coming in with a new venture support each and every one he's not only creating an opportunity but he's a role model anyone can go to him and say hey I'm interested, I have this idea, what do you think? He's an advisor, he has an open arm any day, each and every day. So I'm here to speak and support from my heart, not from a business perspective, not from this or that, or side of any type of business to support or advocate, but I'm here from my heart to inform you that you have the right individual who has the right vision, who's here to lead, who's here to open an opportunity. I've seen him hire fathers. I have sent them referrals, interviewed him, give him a chance, and he's done that. So I don't see why such an individual cannot come here and grow with you and show the beautiful DeKalb County and give you that chance again. And thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Anybody else wishing to speak? Good evening, sir.

Hello, my name is Phil Strong. I've been knowing Sammy for over 10 years. He helped me start my own trucking company, personally financing it, because my credit wasn't up to par. And so he helped me get the financing that I needed to start. One thing I will say is he's safety compliant, safety first. He also is DOT compliant. All rules and regulations from the county, state, and federal, he put first. He's been a great mentor and a great advisor in the community and along with my church. He annually... give donations and I attended Seventh-day Adventist Church on Keller Road and We take and we support the homeless and anybody's in need. So it don't matter what color you are, your religion, or your ethnic background, no one's turned around. And with his donations annually help us with that.

Thank you very much. Thank you. There are about 20 seconds left if someone else wanted to speak in favor of this application. All right, the clock is ticking. I think he said reserve the rest of the time. Got you. Now, is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? Good evening. Did you hit the button?

Can you hear me? There we go. Good evening. Just a point of procedure. Every time I testify, I'm asked for my address. And I'm Gina Mangum. I'm chair of the East DeKalb Community Coalition. I'm a 30-year resident living at 8179 Pleasant Hill Road. While we certainly support small business, this is not a... matter of who's doing business, but where this project is proposed to be developed. Just a quick poll. All of the people that stood, I'm sure they're very nice people, but they don't live in the community. And that's really the issue here. I simply ask the first row lives in Stone Mountain, the second lives in Decatur. And so I would just say we are opposed because we actually live in the community and we have some real concerns about how this will affect our community. On January 22nd of this year, this BOC approved the Creekside Village mixed-use development on Rock Chapel Road, extending back to Pleasant Hill Road in unincorporated DeKalb. This is adjacent to the city of Stonecrest, and in fact, some of the property for this project is actually in the city of Stonecrest. The development that was approved in January is actually an unincorporated DeKalb. I think there was some question as to whether or not it was in Stonecrest. But nonetheless, it's pretty much directly across the street from where this proposed development is to go. The development is comprised of 331 single-family homes with retail center to include a grocery store such as Publix, something we've been asking for forever. We worked on that project beginning in 2018 and finally got it approved in 2026. We worked eight years to come to some agreement with the developer on this project because it was mixed use and there were a lot of issues. And we do appreciate that we now look like we're getting a fire station and a blasting ordinance, but it was a very complicated process. We live pretty much in a food desert. We don't have any decent grocery stores around. And this is a real opportunity for real economic development. Now, there's been some question as to how far away the Latonia industrial project is. But I actually walked it and drove it, and it's really half a mile. I do believe what they're looking at is where the homes begin, which is down towards Pleasant Hill Road. But the vacant land that is where these homes are going to be developed extends all the way down past Lithonia Industrial Road. So if you look at the map... Lithonia Industrial Road dead ends at Rock Chapel, and that's where the retail center is supposed to go. Now we're looking at possibly compromising our opportunities for decent retail in the area. Now we're dealing with the prospect of a dust-emitting, pollution-generating concrete recycling facility that will bring no substantial value to our community. And though they promised to implicate mitigation procedures, the measures will not eliminate the negative effects. According to the Clean Air Act, If you want to have a grocery store in close proximity to a dust-emitting industrial site, it has to comply with extra environmental features and building codes. To protect the public health, local operators need to implement advanced air filtration, rigorous facility sealing, and strict sanitation protocols. This could compromise our opportunity. SAWA and the Planning Department argue that the proposed site is in an industrial zone. But this area is changing. The Lafarge Quarry, which is further down on Rock Chapel Road, has been there for years, and it's working on a limited basis now. Now the only real industrial development there is truck parking, a salvage yard, and a warehouse. The landfill was closed years ago due to community efforts, and we fought off a biomass plant, an asphalt plant, and a composting facility that was kicked out of Lamar County. When the city of Stonecrest was formed, a developer came in and tried to rezone the area to heavy industrial, and it failed to pass under Stonecrest. zoning. So what we're saying here is the area has changed. Even though there's light industrial, we don't need any more heavy industrial development in our communities. Lithuania is already saddled with pollution, saddled with other industrial development that we have kept out, and we'd like to keep it to light industrial. At the last zoning hearing, Representative Zasawa claimed that City of Stonecrest had sent them a letter saying that they had no problem with this development. But that's not true. I have an email here that says, thanks for reaching out. We are currently having an issue with a concrete company. We'll review this request and give comments. That was in April, which was after the last hearing. So I'm not sure they're being straightforward. Also, at the last hearing, Commissioner Marita Davis-Johnson, who lives in Stonecrest, stated that she fought the Metro Green concrete facility, and we appreciate that. You worked with the citizens of Stonecrest, and all we're asking you to do is do the same for the citizens of unincorporated DeKalb. There's a question on the application that says... Will the proposed development be consistent with the needs of the neighborhood or community as a whole? And SAWA's response was, we believe the needs and desires of the construction community will be provided. That says it all. Our residential communities need, desire, and quite frankly deserve development that will enhance rather than detract from our neighborhoods, health, and quality of life. The Planning Commission has recommended denial of this application. We ask that the BOC deny the issuance of the special land use permit here as well. And I'd just like to point out that this area is right between the city of Stonecrest and the city of Lithonia. And so there has been a lot of residential development in this area. As you know, we're as far east as you can get. We border Gwinnett and Rockdale counties. This is no longer an industrial area. And with the coming of 300 more homes and a retail space, this is no longer... compliant it's no longer in line with what's happening we need to look to the future of what's going on in the community not what's happened in the past and we would just ask you to help us get there rather than take us back. Thank you very much.

Thank you anyone else wishing to speak in opposition. Anyone else wishing to speak in opposition.

I was leaving my time, but she doesn't want to speak. So if you don't mind, I'd like to finish a couple of other points. The other thing I just wanted to point out is you talk about bringing a nuisance to the community. And we so often hear that, well, because there's already industrial development, we can add more industrial development. But that logic really is not good. It's one thing to come to the nuisance. It's another thing to bring a nuisance to the community. And I'm really here not only on behalf of our community, but on behalf of the poor, unsuspecting folks that are buying homes that have not yet been built. This is affordable housing at the price point of about $300,000 to $400,000. They're for home ownership, not for rental. So we're really making progress on a lot of the goals that DeKalb County is trying to meet. And to put in a facility like this, I think, would be a slap. I don't have a problem with the plan. I have a problem with the location. And a lot of my neighbors have a problem with the location as well. They just could not be here tonight. And these are young families. They're starting out. A lot of them are first-time homeowners. And the last thing they need is a concrete facility across the street. Thanks.

Thank you. That expires the time. If staff will come back and restate. Well, the applicant had like 10 seconds left. If you wanted to use that 10 seconds.

Yeah, there are no residential areas in the area. There's only across the street is a landfill and behind us is 102 acres. We are sitting on 38 acres only using about five acres of it. That's about it.

Thank you. Staff, if you'll return and give your recommendation.

Actually, we're recommending approval of the substitute we mailed out. We had a change to condition number five. that better clarified the fire marshal condition so we're technically I recommend approval of the substitute thank you is there a motion on this item yes I make a motion to approve this item with the 10

conditions with the substitute.

Second. We have a motion and a second. I see no request to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. We're now on to our new cases. Item N1, which is 2026-0443, Commission District 3, Super District 7, application of optimal consulting LLC to rezone property from R75 to RSM zoning district to allow residential homes at 1942 Columbia Drive. Welcome back.

Thank you. So this next case is a rezoning request, 1942 Columbia Drive, and it's to rezone from R75 to RSM residential small lot mix to allow for 12 single-family attached units. The community council recommended approval with condition, and the planning commission and the staff recommendation is approval with conditions. The site is at the intersection of Snapfinger and Columbia, which are major and minor arterials, and there is RSM zoning to the south. The property also sits within the suburban character area, which calls for maximum densities of eight units an acre, while also protecting surrounding residential neighborhoods. Uh, the site is also across the street from a church and institutional use. And, uh, further north is actually another Churchill side Presbyterian. And then east of the site is snap finger elementary on the bottom, right? Uh, down there. Uh, this is the proposed site plan. There's one access off Columbia and one off snap finger. It's currently shown as the cab County public right away versus a private street. The applicant, this is a conceptual elevation. Their maximum building heights are two stories, which is consistent with the two story maximum heights in the area. Um, so given that there's RSMs zoning to the south and that they're at a major intercept, major, minor arterial intersection and across from institutional use stuff, believes the RSM is appropriate zoning. Uh, we are recommending four conditions. We, this is a little bit of a change from what we emailed you, uh, because we got rid of condition number two relating to fee, simple ownership, because. the county can't enforce fee simple ownership. But we are recommending approval of four conditions. Number one, maximum of up to 12 single family units. Number two, maximum building height of two stories and generally consistent with the submitted conceptual elevations. Number three, provide a minimum 20 foot undisturbed buffer along the north and east property lines. And number four, the approval of this rezoning application by the Board of Commissioners has no bearing on requirements for other reviews and approvals by the Zoning Board of Appeals. So staff is recommending approval with four conditions.

Thank you, sir. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of this application? Good evening.

Did the timer start? Yes. Good evening. My name is . I am a licensed engineer. Will the presentation be over here? OK. So my application to rezone. That moved pretty fast. Okay, so we're rezoning from R75 to RSM to accommodate 12 units. There's a lot of engineering and correspondence with community members, leaders. In support of this, there's a lot of feedback. This is the current site plan. The two units on the north was a recommendation for front-facing by Planning and Development, but this is a conceptual plan which that can always change as well to be a little bit more integrated with the plan. It's a thorough road through to help congestion at the intersection of Columbia Drive. It's an infill lot. existing infrastructure and underutilized property. And this thing moves.

Yeah, green moves you forward, red would move you back.

Well, I just touched it once and it moved. Okay. Let me see if I can go back. So I want to be aware of everybody's time. So I'm just going to hit on some highlights with the presentation. So the property is identified as a corridor for revitalization with the 2050 plan. It's a strategic investment in the area reducing the density. It's a modest density under the RSM with the density of 4.6 versus the 8, which is allotted under the RSM zoning. You see, I didn't even touch it. All right, I'll forget about that. But I'll just speak on the highlights. So the property is in a strategic location. It's underutilized. It's 12 units. It's in line with the existing residential single family lot. The documentation that I provided was to show you the intersection. I've personally stood at that intersection and witnessed many accidents just being at that intersection. So if you notice, the site plan actually sets the home's bet. It allows visibility at that intersection. It's going to put a monument sign and beautify that area for oncoming and for people making a left turn and a right turn. So I took traffic considerations in, which is why there's a road that goes through. It will be a public road. I met with, I had about... AT LEAST EIGHT COMMUNITY MEETINGS WITH THE MEMBERS. I PERSONALLY KNOCKED ON DOORS, RECEIVED FEEDBACK, AND INTEGRATED INTO THE DESIGN IN ADDITION TO THE MEETINGS WITH THE ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT WITHIN DECAB COUNTY AND PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT. THIS IS A CONCEPTUAL PLAN WHICH WILL GO THROUGH AN LDP PHASE. I DON'T EVEN GET THE REMOTE, BUT IT'S A CONCEPTUAL PLAN AND A LOT OF ENGINEERING WAS DONE. to make sure that it can come to fruition. 12 units, originally we started off with a higher density. We reduced that down based off the community's feedback and planning and development as well. So we're only asking for 12 for the fee, and we did a feasibility study. So anything less than 12 really doesn't bring a product to market that's achievable with the current demands. Because as you know, it's the horizontal development, those costs, all of that. And also the burden of reduced units enforcing the HOA will also have a higher cost per homeowner within the community. So we found 12 was the right number as far as bringing the project in our feasibility study and get a product that's affordable, achievable, and actually hitting that middle housing class, right? So I like to reserve my time for anyone here in support. I don't really see anybody, but I've met with community leaders and other members within. I can mention some names, Mr. Ed Williams, Candace Edge, Marvin's Oliver and they're all in alignment with me. I had personal meetings with them. I sat down with them. I Presented a lot of the feasibility. I personally walked the property with Candace and mr Williams as well to get feedback and to get alignment from community leaders in addition to the other homeowners in the area All right.

Thank you, sir. I Will ask if there is anyone else in the audience. I would like to speak in favor of this application. I Anyone else to speak in favor of this application? OK, so there's about three minutes left if you need to come back up later. Anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? Anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? OK, seeing no one. You do have three more minutes as the applicant to continue.

I would like to consider everybody's time. Everybody's here. There's a lot of cases. You guys got a lot of things. So is there anything you guys like to ask me as far as the design is concerned, anything that I've done within the last eight months towards the property?

So we need to conclude this public hearing section and get the motion. And then if the commissioners have questions, we'd ask questions at that time. So that's next step.

Okay. I'd like to conclude mine.

Thank you so much. John, if you want to come back up and get a staff recommendation.

Staff's recommending approval with conditions.

Thank you. If we can get our buttons back on the screen. And is there a motion on this item? Motion to defer for 30 days. Second. Motion and a second. Commissioner Messiah has requested to speak. You have the floor, ma'am.

Thank you so much, Madame Pio. And Sarah, first I want to say I do appreciate the renderings. I do have some questions, and maybe John, you can help me out here in terms of the lot sizes of the surrounding homes. 12 homes, given that lot size is a large amount. And I would like to be able to speak with Mr. Tolliver regarding this, because it has been brought to my office in the administrations on several occasions, just some of the concerns related to traffic, as you alluded to. It's been an ongoing challenge, and that's one of the considerations, of course, that we have to make in terms of increasing density, particularly right there on the corner, though I appreciate your design to have a setback. So, John, Mr. Reid, can you share with us what the lot sizes are of those surrounding homes, if you're familiar with that information?

I believe those lot sizes would be 10,000 square feet for R75.

So 10,000 compared to this lot size is? I believe 5,000. And there's one home on the 10,000, and for this 5,000 square feet, they want to put 12 homes. Is that correct?

Right. And it's 2.6 acres.

Okay. All right. Then the other consideration, and I'll just tell you, out of the three, out of the four zoning cases on our agenda for specifically District 3, Three of the four are to rezone the properties from R75 to small residential mix. So that becomes a question in terms of the character consideration. So with that, I've made my motion. I have a second. And I'll just follow up with the applicant, the community, and also planning. I yield back. Thank you so much.

Mr. Messiah, just to come forward. Clarify, is it 30 days with a public hearing or decision only? Sorry, Madam PO, decision only, please. Decision only, thank you. Commissioner Bolton, you have the floor.

Can we have someone put the site plan up, please?

Can we get the presentation back up? Working on it, thank you.

So to the applicant, one of my concerns were that I communicated to the planning department is the plan doesn't appear to be community-centered to me, especially when you consider the majority of the homes are essentially on an island, the island that's on the corner of Columbia and Snapfinger. And then you have one unit across the street. And then, so if we have families move into that space, if the children want to play, if folks have dogs, they go across the street, away from where the rest of the communities are. But the one unit, Well, I guess it's actually two. But the units that are across the street, also the way that it is arranged or the way that it's positioned is a bit irregular. And it gives the impression that we're more concerned with getting more bang for our buck with respect to the amount of land that's available, as opposed to really coordinating a site plan that's meant to entice families to move into this space, especially because you have two major thoroughfares. I do appreciate the road. I believe you said that was a private road. I guess you weren't telling a fib earlier.

No, actually it's public right away.

A public right-of-way. Okay. But in any case, just the site plan was unattractive to me in a space where it was communicated. The vision was to be community-centered, to bring families. You're down from several schools. You have Snapfinger down the road, Southwest DeKalb. Chapel Hill is a little bit further up. You have the Rec Center, Exchange down the way. You have churches and all these other things. So... If we could go back to the drawing board and come up with something that speaks to community, then I believe we could have more of a consideration for what you've presented. I yield back.

OK. Thank you. If I can get our buttons back on the screen, please.

Am I able to say one thing to that?

Did you need an answer from him, Commissioner Bolton?

I'm curious to hear what your response is. Go ahead.

My response to that was that that was planning and development that wanted it facing Columbia Drive. It actually can be orientated to face inward to be more community centered for the two units on the north side. The lot size actually meets the buffering zone. There's actually an updated site plan that has that orientated And the floor plan can accommodate front or rear entry.

Okay. Do you have a plan that demonstrates what you just described that could be shared?

Correct. It's pretty much, I can pull it up.

Well, not right now. Something that could be emailed.

I can send it over, yes. I can email it where the driveways are to the public road. It's not a private road. It's a public road. And the floor plan can accommodate both front or rear entry. So it's really more centered toward that community area. And the consideration with the stormwater management, the reason why there's no lots there, Because as that changes the amenities will change as well. So The dog park the playground. I think there was a question about parking spaces as well There's 10 visitor parking spaces that will accommodate that area and a general seating area to drive the community feel everybody knows their neighbors because there are two units attached which except for the last four units on the south side because I did not want to give up on the through road, which is why I attached those, taking into consideration the feedback from other neighbors and traffic. That's kind of where that design and the history of that came from. But me personally, I would prefer it to be orientated 90 degrees to the public road to have easy access in and out because with the way that it sits, I would have to create an alley for those two units and the infrastructure for that as well.

Thank you.

Thank you so much Commissioner Messiah for your second time to speak.

Thank you so much Madam PO and that's where the opportunity lies to during this deferral period to have a conversation in terms of any modifications that are more in line and compliment the current feel of the community. I could appreciate the dog park and just some of the other open spaces located within the design, but essentially it's creating a community in a community opposed to adjoining with the community that's in existence. And I think that's just an important element to be able to work with the confines in the community that's there and improve the community structure as it stands, opposed to just creating a separate oasis away from. So during this time, just looking forward to be able to have more conversations and to be able to work towards yes, and I appreciate very much your time. I yield back. Madam PL, thank you.

Thank you so much. Seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer 30 days for decision only carries. We are now on item N2, item 2026-0444, Commission District 2, Super District 6, application of SWIG, care of Gaskins and LaCroix for a major modification to remove existing zoning conditions pursuant to CZ88168, in the C1 zoning district and replace them with new zoning conditions at 2960 North Druid Hills Road. Good evening.

Greetings, commissioners. Lucas Carter, planner for DeKalb County. My first request is to hear N2 and N3 together.

Okay. Okay. So item N3, top of page 3, item 2026-0445, Commission District 2, Super District 6, application of SWIG care of Gaskins and LaCroix for a special land use permit to allow a drive-thru facility in an activity center in the C1 zoning district at 2960 North Druid Hills Road.

Thank you. And I'll keep this quick. This was for a soda drink shop that is soda based. So as you see from the Community Council and Planning Commission denial recommendations, this application fizzled out and fell flat. And therefore, they have recommended or requested a withdrawal without prejudice. And staff is reflecting as well. And that's all I have to present.

Thank you, sir. Love it when we're brief. Is anyone here to speak in favor of these applications? Anyone here to speak in favor of N2 and N3? Is anyone here to speak in opposition of these items? Anyone here to speak in opposition of these two items? All right. If you'll restate the staff recommendation.

Withdrawal without prejudice.

Is there a motion?

Motion to withdraw items 20-26-0444 and 20-26-0445 without prejudice.

Second. Second by Commissioner Terry. I see no request to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. The motion to withdraw carries. The next three items are in District 4 and Super District 6, so I will pass the gavel to my Deputy Presiding Officer.

Received. And before I get started, I do want to confirm that N4 is by itself, but 5 and 6 will be called together. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct, Commissioner. I'm going to have the case together. There are concurrent cases, but I will ask that you vote for them separately.

Okay, I'm going to start with N4.

N4 and N5 can be heard together.

Four and five.

And then N6 can be heard by itself. Six is separate. Yeah, thank you.

Okay. All righty, I'm going to proceed with the reading of both N4 and N5. N4-2026-0448, Commission Districts 4 and Super District 6. Application of My Next Home Pro LLC to amend the character area from CRC commercial redevelopment corridor. Character area 2TN, which is traditional neighborhood. Character area to construct a new single family residence in the R60 small lot zoning district at 711 and 705 Hillmont Avenue. And N5 is 20260449, also Commission Districts 4 and Super Districts 6. Application of My Next Home Pro LLC to rezone properties from C1, which is local commercial zoning district, to R60 small lot zoning district to construct a new single family residence at 711 and 705 Hillmont Avenue. Okay.

Good evening, Commissioners. I am Howard Johnson. I'm a senior planner here with the current planning division. As I stated before, both cases are going to be heard together. N4 is a land use amendment, as you just mentioned, from CRC to traditional neighborhood. And N5 is the rezoning case from C1 to R60. Okay. As you can see here, this is a zoning map showing the parcel, which is currently in Zone C1. To give you a quick reference, this site is located within a quarter mile of the Sam's Crossing intersection. As you can see here, it's adjacent to the College Avenue commercial corridor just south of that. And also, to give you a further reference, this property faces the rear of the Waffle House Museum. So that gives you a general point. The land use map also shows the current, the land use of the neighborhood along, if you can see here, along Hillmont Avenue and the residential properties to the south. So we're proposing to amend the land use map to traditional neighborhood to blend in with those areas. And this is also consistent with the comprehensive plan. Here you can see the aerial photograph. This shows the surrounding properties. And this is a current photo of what the property looks like now. This property was originally built in 1945. The applicant is proposing to remove this structure for the new home they're proposing to build. This is showing the site plan. One thing I wanted to point out that this property is slightly more than a tenth of an acre at 1.75 acres. So it is kind of a smaller lot. This is the proposed site plan. The footprint of the proposed home will fit within the existing setbacks. And so therefore, no variances are expected and would be needed at this time. This is showing the right side elevation of the home. And this is showing the left side elevation of the home. As you can see here, I just want to point out one point here, that this is showing a three-story structure, but the top level is a covered patio with an open deck. So the staff recommendation is with one condition that we, this is standard language for our sidewalk ordinance, well, you know, under the sidewalk section of our ordinance, a five-foot landscape strip and a five-foot sidewalk. We would ask that they put that in prior to issuance of the CO. That concludes my, this concludes my presentation.

Thank you, sir. And at this time, do we have anyone to speak in favor of this item? Thank you for joining us.

Raymont Walker, 306 River Lake Road, Edenton, Georgia. We just wanted to say, as the design team, we thought this would be a good use for the lot. Basically, that's it.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of these items? Anyone to speak in favor of these items? Seeing none, is there anyone here to speak in opposition to these items? Opposition. Okay, it looks like we do not have anyone to speak in opposition. Can we have staff come back up and restate your recommendation, please?

Staff recommendation is approval of both cases, the first case being the land use case 2026-0448, and the rezoning, which is case number 2026449, with one condition. That is staff recommendation.

Okay, and at this time, do we have a motion for item 2026-0445?

Yes, ma'am. At this time, I move to...

Excuse me. 20260448.

Thank you. I was just rolling with it, too. At this time, I move to approve item ending in 0448.

We have a motion and a second. Can you open the machines for the vote? Motion carries. Do we have a motion for item 20260449?

Yes. Yes, ma'am. At this time, I move to approve with the stated condition.

Do we have a second? We have a first and a second. No request to speak. Can we open the machines for a vote? Motion carries. All right, we'll move to in 6 which is item 2, 0, 2, 6, 0, 4, 5, 0, this is commission districts for and super district 6 application of more Taza Mohamadaz Zai Mohamadaz Zai to rezone property from our 85 which is medium lot zoning district to see one local commercial to allow a tire shop in a mission station at 4700 East Ponce de Leon Avenue.

Good evening, commissioners. My name's Andrea Fulguray. I'm a senior planner with the current planning team. The applicant has requested withdrawal without prejudice of this application, and staff supports that. Thanks.

Thank you, ma'am. So at this time, do we have anyone to speak in support of this item? Anyone to speak in support? Okay. Okay. Looks like we do have someone. Thank you for joining us. Come to the podium.

GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. GOOD EVENING, EVERYONE. withdraw the application so I can review and improve the project plans before moving forward again in the future. Thank you. Thank you to the staff, commissioners, and community for your time. Thanks.

Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else to speak in support of this item? Okay, seeing none, is there anyone to speak in opposition to this item? Anyone in opposition? Okay. At this time, do we have a motion for item 202? Excuse me. Staff, can you return and state your recommendation?

Staff's recommendation is withdraw without prejudice.

Thank you, ma'am. May we have a motion?

Yes, ma'am. At this time, I move to withdraw without prejudice.

We have a first and second, no request to speak. Can we open the machines for a vote? Motion carries and I am passing the gavel back.

Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate you. I will hand it back soon because I got a couple more items for District 4. Now we are on item N7, item 2026-0451. Commission District 5, Super District 7, application of three ladies and a hard care of Sharika McKenzie for a special land use permit to allow a personal care home for up to six adults in the R100 zoning district at 1179 Old Coach Road. Welcome back.

Thank you. Lucas Carter, planner for DeKalb County. This is for a special land use permit for a personal care home only up to four adults. As you see, community council recommend denial, planning commission recommend approval. However, recently we did have to switch our staff recommendation from approval to denial, and I will get into that. Here is our zoning map. We see it's R100 in character, and of course it's suburban and land use. And here's an aerial that best shows the character of the area. But what I would like to point out is the distance requirements. Just right around the corner, as the crow flies, it's about 200 feet away. Over at 4245 Autumn Hill, there is an existing community living arrangement. that's currently hosting up to three adults maximum. And it is permitted through DeKalb County through that permit number on screen. So for this reason, it doesn't meet that 1,000 foot distance requirement, which is why we switched our recommendation from approval to denial since planning commission. And I would also like to point out the second most one is 1,300 feet away. That is a personal care home, which is licensed for six adults. And there's also been community concerns regarding some other personal care homes. Some of them are potentially unlicensed, so I couldn't factor those into the staff report. And I would like to point those out as more of a enforcement issue rather than a legislative issue. However, here are the image shots that were supplied by the applicant, showing the nature of the area. And here is an up-close view of the house. Otherwise, that's all I have to present. And I believe the applicant is here and does have their own presentation.

Thank you so much. Is the applicant present and would like to speak at the back podium? Good evening.

Hey. Hello.

you say to move forward is up the green button.

Okay.

So we are three ladies in the heart. This is Wendy and together we bring over 60 years of combined caregiver experience. Our background includes personal care, nursing home care and hospice and we are still active in the healthcare field. Most importantly, we are committed to providing safe quality care for every resident.

Can you move the microphone just a little closer to you? Thank you, ma'am. You're welcome.

In addition to our caregiver experience and commitment to quality care, we also understand the importance of operating responsibly and in full compliance with all required regulations. Everything we do, we will follow state and county regulations. We are currently in the process of obtaining all required licensing and we will operate fully under the guidelines of the Georgia Department of Community Health. We are committed to proper oversight, accountability, and maintaining a safe, well-regulated home at all times. Before moving forward, I would like to briefly touch on a topic that was brought to our attention about the staff report. And so I wanted to respectfully clarify that our proposed personal care home serves a different population. And it operates under a different care structure, and it follows different licensing and regulatory process focused specifically on elderly supportive care through the Georgia Department of Community Health. And at this time, I'll pass it on to my partner, Wendy.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Wendy Parker. I am a part of the Three Ladies and a Heart. And we are dedicated to serving the elderly community in ways that they need us to help them. I will be providing the medication and the medication reminders. I'll also be focusing on safety and have the environment supervised. while also encouraging social interaction throughout the community with outings. We also offer respite care services and short-term stays along with open-door policy with scheduled visits so that families in the community can stay connected without disrupting community relationships. routines or residence routines. We also have a registered nurse available to provide additional oversight and support, ensuring a higher level of care for our residents. Along with providing family quality care inside the home, we are also committed to being a positive addition to the community. Our home will operate in a quiet residential style environment with a small number of residents, so there will be no disruption to the neighborhood. We plan to stay connected through community engagement and social outings, and we will provide a monthly newsletter to keep the community informed. We also aim for a resource for the community by offering guidance and information on services such as home care, hospice, veteran services, and other senior support resources. that you never know who might need that as well as in the community. Additionally, we will host small, occasional gatherings such as birthday celebrations or simply cookouts for our residents, also keeping them low key and respectful of the neighborhood. We believe in community engagement. Our business is not to disrupt, but to bring together a community of seniors and everyone involved. Thank you.

We can skip past the financial stability. This is the exterior view of the home. It's a quiet resident location. It's easy access and parking. It's warm, welcoming home environment. This is a kitchen view, which is a functional and clean layout. It's a spacious preparation area, and through that door is the dining area as well, but it's just the kitchen part. And this is one of the resident's room, and this is the bathroom, which you see is comfortable, clean, and is designed for resident safety. So at the end of the day, our goal is simple. We want to provide a safe and supportive home for our elderly residents, because we've seen firsthand that not everyone has access to the level of care and attention they truly need. We're committed to doing things the right way, following all regulations, maintaining a well-kept home, and being respectful to neighbors. We're not here to disrupt anything. We're here to provide a peaceful, caring environment and be a positive part of the community. Since the beginning of this year, we have remained committed to this process by working cooperatively, preparing responsibly, and following the proper steps required for approval. We respectfully ask that our proposal be considered based on the nature of our specific care model, our commitment to elderly care, and the positive support we have received throughout this process. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application?

please come forward sir hi good evening my name is howard young and i'm a resident of that community for 34 years and i welcome this idea because i am 74 years old and just in case i want some place to stay i would love to realize in my backyard I can go to you and see. So I'm in favor of this. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor of this application? Yes, ma'am, you can continue.

And I just want to say that's our landlord as well.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of this application? Good evening, sir.

Good evening, commissioners. Good evening. My name is Henry Love. I live at 1223 Sheridan Drive, Stone Mountain, Georgia. I've been in my home for 49 years. I am currently a member of the board of directors for our Carriagewood Civic Association, which represents approximately 125 single family homes where this proposed care home will be located. Our primary objection revolves around the provisions of State Charter 27, Article 4, which provides mandatory requirements for state licensing of personal care facilities and Section 4.2.41 of the DeKalb County Zoning Ordinance, which provides supplemental regulations. but those regulations being for personal care facilities and their licensing. Both sets of regulations require a minimum of 1,000 foot distance separation between facilities. Using GIS estimates to locate the nearest personal home care home the process identified a position at 1198 Sheraton Drive. The planning department apparently utilized this GIS locating, the location provided by GIS to be the closest location facility to the proposed location on Old Coach Road. This is not the case. There's a fully operational licensed personal care home operating under the name of Little Debbie's Autumn Hill, which is located at 4245 Autumn Hill Drive. It was licensed in December of 2022, and it is currently operational. The map that you're looking at now just is a visual of... The location on Old Coach Road, the location is referenced as number one. The unit that is currently operating Little Debbie's is noted as operation two. Is that my phone?

No?

Sorry for that.

Somebody's phone. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you. The location two, which is Little Debbie's Autumn Hill, is literally right around the corner from the proposed location for the Old Coach Road property. As the crow flies distance between the proposed site on Old Coach and the existing operating location on Autumn Hill is, as you can see from my map, is 335 feet. So we believe commissioners that given the addition of this information that updates the closest operating locating location that it is in the interest of our development in our community to request that the application be denied. Thank you. And I have a couple of other of our community people to speak.

Yes, if there is anyone else here to speak in opposition, please step forward. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Ms. Taylor, and I reside on Autumn Hill Drive. And respectfully, I ask to omit my first name as well as the numerical number because of my occupation. So respectfully, I ask to omit those two details for my safety. As Mr. Love stated and Mr. Lucas stated, the 4245 Little Debbie's property is directly in front of my home. No slight to the applicants. I respect what they do and the nature of why they want to do it. Unfortunately, we've had several both licensed and unlicensed applications. applicants who've told us the same story. I've had my doors kicked in. I've had my car vandalized. I've had to call 911 at least 15 times as an advocate, ensuring that people who cannot advocate and speak for themselves are safe. I've had Sergeant Biggs from DeKalb County Police Department come out to do safety home checks and evaluations. So again, no slight to the applicants, but It's become a nightmare in our community. We have four known both licensed and unlicensed personal care homes, multiple pass splits. In 2010, we had a licensed personal care home that was set ablaze by an occupant. Two people lost their life and four people were burned. So this is not something that we are faulting on the applicants, but wanted to bring to the commissioner's attention that we are not new to people coming into the community. These are older homes with very large lots. There is a lot of space. I think one thing that's being omitted from the applicant is that there is a fully functional basement that does have additional bedrooms and a bathroom. And it's been stated that there were three bedrooms, two baths. There are multiple bedrooms downstairs as well. I know this because it's behind my home. And also, I would like to recognize the other long-term Carriage Woods community members that are here.

Mr. Love.

Mr. DJ, who lives across the street, we've all been directly impacted by the personal care homes in our community. We understand why they're needed. We're just saying that there are one too many in Carriage Woods. And when does it become... When does it become okay for us to advocate for our quality of life as well? My seven-year-old daughter is no longer allowed to sleep in her bedroom because she hears screaming and banging on windows at all hours of the night. My high school daughter who's a senior in high school is embarrassed for people to come home to our home because we have people who've eloped and walked the community at all hours of the night. We had an elopement on yesterday in which a a community member who lived in a personal care home. This is not his third time walking into a neighbor's house. It's not just about our safety, but also the residents of the other homes within our community. So we just respectfully ask for you to decline this application. Again, no offense to the applicants. Carriage Woods just has one too many homes that we are trying to maintain the integrity of our community. And I think we have a right to a peaceful community as well. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in opposition to this application? Good evening.

My name is DJ. I'm a resident of the surrounding neighborhood. And I just wanted to respectfully express a few concerns that I have regarding the proposed special land use. It's mostly just to add on to what they're saying. As in the past, we've had quite a few personal care facilities in the neighborhood, a lot of which have resulted in break-ins or even residences, just walking in on properties, breaking in people's houses, different things, and it has been an issue in the community for a few years now, and it just doesn't make sense to add yet another personal care facility within less than 4,000 feet from yet another one that already is having a lot of major issues. And that's all I would like to add. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else? We have about 30 seconds left. Anyone else in opposition?

I think I can stand right here if you can hear me, but I'm also a resident of Autumn Hill, and I live on Autumn Hill Court. And it was a personal care home around the corner from me. And they had to close it down because it was constantly fighting and going on a policeman call all the time. I just talked to this guy two weeks ago and asked him about the home. He acted as if he didn't know anything about it. On my street, I have a lot of dope heads, dope dealers, and I'm trying to get rid of them. We have a lot of people, older people, elder people in our residence.

Thank you, ma'am.

Oh, that's it.

I'm sorry. We were exhausting our time. And thank you, Monica, for bringing the microphone. We've exhausted the time for public hearing. If we would come back up and give staff recommendation.

Staff recommendation is for denial.

Thank you. Is there a motion on this item?

Yeah, I'll make a motion for the purposes of discussion for denial. And can I have the applicants come back?

Commissioner Bolton has seconded. Can you go ahead and hit your request to speak? All right, Commissioner Davis-Johnson, you have the floor.

Okay. Evidently, There's a question of the CAP regulations, and I don't know what regulations. You all may be speaking of state regulations. But I want to give you an opportunity to withdraw your application without prejudice. I tend to believe that you are committed that you're qualified, and that you're heartfelt. But it may be in the wrong community at this time. If we go forth with a vote on denial, you won't be able to bring this up for another two years. If you decide that you want to withdraw, Without prejudice, you can get with whomever you need to get with and see what the regulations are. And since you say you have a landlord, you may want to get another one at a different location. No offense to you, Mr. Landlord. You will be in compliance with our regulations. So would you like to withdraw it without prejudice?

At this point, we would like to withdraw it because right now I'm puzzled because we followed everything that was told us to do.

Well, then you need to go back to planning. Okay, then we need to withdraw this. And then you need to talk to them to see what it is that you did or did not do, and you all can explain to them.

Can I say this?

Yeah.

We had an approval, but it- Well, you don't have it from the county. No, I'm saying, well, staff recommendation, I'm sorry, that it was, you know, for approval. The thing was that this personal care home came about, which is a CLA, which is different from a personal care home. It falls under a different category.

But we're going to let you discuss that with planning. And you just reapply if planning agrees with what you say. And if they don't, they'll let you know why your interpretation It may be different. Okay. Okay. So I'm going to change my motion to a motion to withdraw without prejudice. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Your second stands, Commissioner Bolton. Second stands. Thank you. And you yield, Commissioner Davis-Johnson.

I'm sorry.

You yield your time. Oh, yeah.

Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Bolton, you have the floor. Thank you. And I just wanted to reiterate that it has nothing to do with whether you followed the process, whether you're qualified, nothing like that. It's strictly based on what's in our code. And the code says a similar use, even though it may be categorized a little bit differently, because it's a similar use and it's almost identical. across the street, essentially, that's the reason for denial, which means so just not in that area, maybe a little further down in an adjacent community, which is why the withdrawal, it would be better for you because you could come back. Okay. Yeah, that's it. It has nothing to do specifically with you, but everything to do with what's in the code.

Right, I got you. Okay. We understand.

Got you. I yield back. Thank you. Seeing no further requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to withdraw without prejudice carries. And I have to say, Ms. Sharika, your name is very close to mine. I get called Sharika quite often. Thank you, ladies.

Thank you. I appreciate y'all.

Next, we are on item N8, item 2026-0452, Commission District 3, Super District 6, application of Torrey Engineering Care of Amber Lee to rezone property from R75 zoning district to R60 zoning district to allow 12 single-family homes at 2697 Kelly Lake Road. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, commissioners. My name, again, is Andrea Fulbright, senior planner with the current planning team. So as stated, this is located in District 3 and Super District 6. It has received approval with conditions from Community Council Planning Commission, as well as staff recommendation is for approval with conditions. The rezoning is from R75 to R60 for 12 single family homes. You can see here by the green dot, this is the subject site. It's just south of Candler Road, which as you can see here has a multitude of commercial type zonings. So it aids as a transitional parcel, adding some incremental density between a heavy commercial corridor and more suburban style neighborhoods of R75. It's also just south of a neighborhood center. Again, you can see here there are some more dense apartment building complexes to the south where the town center is and where it's suburban, you can see there are more subdivision type housing developments. Here's the aerial view just to give you an idea of that. This proposed development is actually quite smaller than some of the existing developments that are surrounding it. The only difference is they're adding density on one lot. So it will have 12 different lots with 12 different homes. Staff has incorporated a few conditions in regards to the design and to add some connectivity, some of which include to add a sidewalk along Kelly Lake Road and to turn units 12 and 1 towards Kelly Lake Road so that they can be in formation with the units that exist across from the subject site there. These were the proposed renderings that staff received from the applicant. There are three different housing types that range from 1,900 square feet to 2,300 square feet. Another point that staff had talked with the applicant about was making sure that the units proposed have porches. And that's what these renderings were able to show. Again, staff is recommending approval with conditions. These are those conditions. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

Excuse me. Is the applicant present? Good evening.

Good evening. I am Warren Lee. As you can tell, I am not Amber Lee. She recently gave birth to our healthy son, William Lee. And so I'm here filling in on her behalf. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. You know, our sleep schedule is upside down. So if I'm stuttering over my words, please forgive me. Here we also have Richard Penoit. He is the developer for the project. And we will briefly talk about the project. So what we know about the community from speaking with the community members, it's a long-standing active neighborhood, many senior citizens with a strong investment in the area, and there's a desire to maintain peaceful and consistent development. We would like to point out that the farmhouses at Augusta Point, about half a mile away, was constructed in 2020 and has proven to add value to the neighborhood. through adding additional kids to the school system, creating connectivity with residents in the community. All right, what we're proposing, 12 single-family homes with garages. Again, the homes will be similar in size to farmhouses at Augusta Point, efficient and modern construction with garages with front yards, backyards, and traditional driveways and sidewalks to help foster community. As a resident of District 3 myself, I will say if my neighborhood had sidewalks within it, I think we all would agree that we would use them. We would walk the neighborhood more, which would foster more connectivity. So that's one of the things that we added to this plan. As already discussed, here's the renderings for proposed houses. These will have garages attached to them. And as shown as our site plan, in an effort to keep it near R75, we've decided not to build at the full R60 capacity. If we went with the full R60 capacity, that would net around 17 lots. And as mentioned, we're proposing 12, which would fit comfortably and still allow good sized yards, sidewalks, and et cetera. And I want to point out the average of all these individual lots come out to be 9,000 square feet and the R-75 minimum is 10,000 square feet. So if we take an average of all these lots, we're not far off from the R-75 minimum. Um, so we had a brief meeting with commissioner Terry, uh, recently, and he asked about some ways and how we could increase density. Um, and so this is one of the things that we added to our presentation at, you know, we're still working through, um, essentially adding accessory dwelling units. So ADUs, right. So that will help us increase the density more on this property. Um, as mentioned, um, commissioner Terry pointed out some things that, uh, Our concerns for the county and some visions for the county and that's obviously having more density in some areas. And so this is a way. So as you can see on the two lots that are roughly 14,000 square feet each, it's adding an ADU on those lots. So addressing the community concerns. So we met with the community virtually. And at the request of them, we additionally had an in-person meeting because some were having some technology issues. And then we also met with some individuals after our meeting. our community council meeting based on the recommendations from the community council to continue to engage with the community. So maintaining the lot sizes consistent with the neighborhood. Again, as I mentioned, the average across all of them would be 9,000 square feet, which is only 1,000 off the minimum for R75. Not to overwhelm the current county-owned infrastructure. So we did a sewer capacity analysis that was approved by the county. And again, No issues with the drainage or water retention. We're, in fact, retaining more water post-development than pre-development. Maintain the neighborhood character. So one of the questions or requests from the citizens were to add some type of beautification to the neighborhood. So developer Richard has agreed to add beautification where necessary. um the neighborhood has mentioned they struggle with speeding so we underwent some traffic calming procedures with the dekalb county department transportation in which we've initiated that process and since then we have sent out the requirements and signature requests and all the forms that were given to us by the county. We sent that out to all the residents of the community. Everyone that was on the email list that we had for community, I think it was roughly 90 members. So we've sent that out in order for them to move forward with that process. The benefits of the neighborhood. So it supports and strengthens surrounding property values, brings high quality new homes that refresh the underused land, attract long term and stable homeowners, maintains the low density character, and contributes tax revenue to supporting county services. and attracting businesses. Again, I too am a resident of District 3, and one of the things that I've always talked about with commissioners is how can we improve Candler Road? I live on Candler Road, and how can we improve it? And the thing that's always been brought to my attention is bring the income and the businesses will follow. And so what that looks like is bringing in stable homeowners in this case. Again, traffic and resources and safety. We completed a traffic impact analysis that only showed 17 vehicles traveling out of the development during the a.m. peak hour and 15 trips traveling into and out of during the p.m. peak hour. There will be no cut through streets. Emergency access will be met. And sewer impact analysis, we will not overburden the county current infrastructure. Questions?

So we won't take questions at this time. We'll do that when the commissioners, after we've made a motion so we can continue.

We reserve the time.

Okay. Or if anyone else wanted to speak in favor of the application from the public. Okay. Seeing no one coming forward to speak in favor of the application. Is there anyone here to speak in opposition of the application? Good evening, ma'am.

I'm a little old, so just bear with me.

We will take your time.

My name's Yvonne Jobe. I lived in this community for 53 years. Same house and same phone number. I've seen a lot of changes over there, and they haven't been all for the good. But we have stuck together as a community, and made things the way we wanted them to be. We made some changes to some things. If it was up to the county and other people, there would be 250 apartments at the corner of Candler and Kelly Lake Road. We stuck together, and we got them down to 169. If the community hadn't stuck together up there on Whites Mill Road, and Lloyd Road, there would be 80 houses being built on those acreage, which was about 14 if I remember right. My mind's not as good as it used to be. We stuck together, we told them no. We stuck together and we told them no. You're R75 and you're gonna not build on OR60. And the county heard us and that's how it was left. This gentleman is supposed to be building 39 houses on this acreage. Some work has been done, but there's not a house standing yet. But we stuck together, and he was allowed, I can't remember if it was 39 or 36 houses, but he had to stay R75. So what I'm saying to this nice gentleman and this handsome young man that I've been talking to, that He can come in our neighborhood. He can build his houses. We only asked one thing. And there was one person on the community council, and there was one person on the planning committee that agreed with us. They said, what's the issue? They welcome you to the neighborhood, build us some houses, but just leave our zoning alone. We're not into what the houses look like. We care about everything about our neighborhood, and they will add to our community. But people want to come in and dictate zoning. This gentleman said, yeah, if he builds only 10 houses, he'll lose money. Then go somewhere else and build. Don't be staying there worrying the hell out of us. Excuse me. You know, it's the thing of it is, I have a petition. I've lived there in my neighborhood so long, I've gotten old. But I got on the phone and my neighbors came to my house and signed those petitions. I have 30 names that I got alone. And all these other petitions that I've had to do over the years, I got out there and walked, but I can't walk anymore. But I can come here and ask you to listen to the neighborhood. Build your houses, but leave our zoning alone. Two more houses is not gonna make that much difference in the tax revenue for the county. So what I'm saying is to these nice people, welcome to the neighborhood, but leave the zoning R75. That's all I can ask. And I think there's been two smart people on these other planning and the community council that heard us and they've been around a much longer time than some of you all. Listen to the community. We've been paying the taxes, keeping up our neighborhood for years. These people will probably do the same. But don't change our zoning. And I've got the names. Total, we got 69 names saying leave the zoning as it is. Build your homes on R75. And I'm asking you. Two houses, if it makes that much of a difference, then maybe they don't need to be building houses now.

Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much, ma'am, for joining us. Is there anyone else from the neighborhoods wanting to speak tonight in opposition?

Good evening. Good afternoon. Good evening, it's true. Anna Reuven, and I'm here to speak in opposition to rezoning. And I'd just like to say, to begin by saying the residents of the Kelly Lake Road and its neighboring interested and affected homeowners are opposed to any rezoning from R75. Honestly, we find it to be mind numbing that residential opposition has continued throughout this process from community council to now the meeting with the board of commissioners in this zoning. And it is as if our voice has not been heard. Our neighbors, homeowners, and residents are the ones who will be left to regain our sense of balance and equilibrium after the developers and builders have gathered their profits and moved on to the next profit-ridden venture. We are left With overburdened infrastructure, roads and utilities, overloaded emergency responses from police department, fire, ambulance, increased vehicular traffic, unwanted noise and light pollution, while builders openly admit their motivation is money and more houses built at the community's expense. the better for their bottom line. we say no to rezoning. Further, our community want builders to respect and appreciate area zoning R75 that hold the character of home style of an established residential community. So we'd like them to respect the zoning that is there at this time. And according to those rules and regulations, they can build their homes. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else wishing to speak? Good evening, sir.

Good evening, thank you. My name is Paul Glaze. I'm a resident of the Kelly Lake community. I live at 2609 Yale Terrace. And I'd like to say that I'm not here speaking in opposition to this project, but in support of my neighbors. And the truth is, my wife and I and our young child moved to this neighborhood a few years ago. And it's because of the people you see sitting here that my son gets to play safely in our neighborhood. It's because of the improvements, specifically from a safety standpoint and from maintaining the character of the neighborhood that we get to participate in a really lovely and beautiful community. And there actually are a good amount of young people and young families in this community as well. It's just hard to find childcare and get folks out. But a lot of them have signed this petition as well. I want to throw out there just two quick things to know we're going to run out of time. We have at least one more speaker. One is it was mentioned earlier, I think pertaining to N1 on a very similar sized lot that 12 units was a little bit crowded. for that size. And what the map doesn't show, it kind of cropped out right away, is that we are adding a lot of housing in this area. That there's another five or six unit lot right on White's Mill, right behind me, just around the bend from that 39, 36, subdivision, we can't sell all the houses we got now on the market and they're already adding at least 40 or 50 more. So I just would ask that the commission consider this request and we'll be back if not, right? Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in opposition? We have just over a minute.

Hi, my name is Vittonia Jarrett. I'm at 2632 Callowoods Drive. I wanted to say that, once again, like she said, we welcome them to build the houses. We just don't want them to rezone us. We love our R75 community, and we want it to stay that way. In the last meeting, they was approved with conditions. And one of them was to meet with the community again, which that has yet not happened. And we just want our R75 to stay the same. They're welcome to build the houses, but R75. Thank you.

Thank you. We have just over 30 seconds left. Good evening, sir.

Good evening, good evening, good evening. Tommy Travis with the South DeKalb Coalition. I stand with these residents who stand in opposition to this petition. We talked to the developer. We had extensive conversations, even as of tonight. And I want to say that we want to do the right thing about residents and deny this application or even give them an opportunity to withdraw. But one thing I'd like to say is to Ted Terry, how dare you talk to a developer without talking to the residents? You accused the same thing with that commissioner sitting right there next to you, but you did the same thing by talking to developer 101. Did you have some sort of backdoor deal? So I ask the commissioners. Thank you.

Your time has expired. Thank you. I believe the applicant had some remaining time for rebuttal.

Commissioners, commissioners.

Good evening.

Good evening, sir.

First, I'd like to start off by thanking the residents for one being here and the lovely compliments as well from Ms. Jobe. I wanted to touch on a couple of the topics, one being the decreased enrollment at Kelly Lake Elementary. being an issue, bringing in some nice homes into the neighborhood would help steady that enrollment at Kelly Lake and not allow it to shut down. Another thing is we're kind of caught in between appeasing to the residents as well as appeasing to what this community or the county is also requiring on this housing shortage. It's been a couple of times that in our meetings that tiny homes were recommended to us. suggesting 30 tiny homes in the community. And we kind of pushed back because we know that the residents don't want that type of density. So trying to meet in the middle of what the residents want as well as what the county wants is kind of that rock in a hard place situation. As the property sits currently, We can fit nine homes on the property. I know it was stated before 10, but currently with the size of the retention pond, only nine homes can fit on the property. And so we're just asking for an additional three homes. And the reasons for that is because mainly, let me go to my... The first issue we have is terrain and physical constraints. The property is not flat, and that really limits on how we can build on the property, and therefore limits what we can do. And so that sets the first limit in why we would like to push for the R60. In regards to the character of the neighborhood, we also aren't changing, as you heard. The average lot size of the properties are 9,000 square feet as opposed to 10,000, which is required for R75. So we are more in line with R75 than we are with R60. Of course, touching point again on the housing shortage, we acknowledge that that is the case, and so this is why we're pushing for adding the additional three units. Every parcel is unique. Of course, like I said, the topography issues, we've tried to appease to both the housing shortage as well as the wants and desires of the residents. And so that's kind of where we are right now.

All right. Thank you, sir. So at this time, if you yield the rest of your time, we will have staff come back up and give the recommendations.

Staff recommendation is approval with conditions.

Thank you. Is there a motion on this item?

My motion is to deny for the purposes of our discussion, please.

If you can hit your button, please. Hit it again, I'm sorry. Is there a second?

Second, for the purpose of discussion.

He will hit your button. Commissioner Masai has requested to speak. You have the floor, ma'am.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. One, I'm going to suggest that the developer consider withdrawing, and I'm willing to entertain a motion to withdraw. I have a quick question, so if you wouldn't mind, just approach the podium back, please. Thank you, sir. And so you mentioned tiny homes and the county's request to build 30 tiny homes. Where did that request come from?

Hello, that was during our meeting with the Planning Commission.

Okay, all right. I will just tell you. I have been extremely challenged with some of the proposed developments in and around District 3. I would have loved the opportunity to have a conversation with you. I sit here as your District 3 County Commissioner. There used to be something called a warrant courtesy where the district three county commissioner or the commissioner itself of the district would actually sort of lead and there would be discussions at minimum with both the commissioners, both the district commissioner and with the super commissioner. Unfortunately, in this situation, it seems like that did not take place. If you would consider withdrawing, I'm happy to have the conversation, but you hear that the community's position. I'll also say to the community that I have specifically fought an agenda item which would have removed your opportunity to notice and be heard in terms of reduction of square footage from R75 and R85 homes. So as a matter of right, that would have taken place if one of my colleagues had their way. I am here to fight for what is best for the community and keeping in context the fabric and what we need to do to make sure that we don't have just density without having amenities. That part is extremely important. So I again offer that opportunity to withdraw and I'm willing to amend my motion from a denial to a withdraw without prejudice if you so choose at this moment.

All right. One quick moment, Commissioner Messiah. I am a resident of your district. Yes. I voted for you in the past. Thank you. I'm the engineer of record on this project. Sure. And we reached out to your office to have a conversation with you and your team approximately a month ago about this project. Unfortunately, we were not able to get on your calendar. It's just so happened that we also reached out to the super district commissioner and we were able to get on his calendar. That was our being forthcoming and recognizing and explaining all the issues that the residents brought up and what we've planned and designed and had done so far to address all of those concerns from the residents. So again, apologies we couldn't get on your calendar, but I do want to note we did reach out to both your district and the Super District.

And I'm happy. Thank you for that. I'm not sure what happened from a scheduling standpoint, but I'm happy to hear that you had at least reached out. And so it seems like you've had several conversations with the community. And again, they've made it abundantly clear in terms of their position. So I am willing in this moment to consider a deferral. for 30 days to have the conversation. Because again, my motivation isn't density. My motivation is community and neighborhoods. And that's what I will fight for. So if you're willing and amenable to make modifications to consider what is best for the communities themselves, taking all things into consideration, then I'm happy to, again, my chief of staff is right there, try to have a conversation in conjunction with the community. So I will amend my motion to a motion to defer for 30 days.

Second stands. With a public hearing?

With a public hearing, absolutely.

All right. So the new motion is to defer for 30 days with a public hearing. I see no further requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Motion to defer carries. And that was in eight. So next three items are back in District 4. So I am passing the gavel to the Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you, ma'am.

Yes, ma'am. And so we are moving along to item N9. This is 20260447, Commission Districts 4 and Super District 6. It's an application of Quick Trip Corporation for a special land use permit to allow a drive-through facility, car wash in particular, and an active... And an activity center in the C1 local commercial district at 4733, 4773, and 4775 Memorial Drive.

Good evening. I would ask that we take N9, N10, and N11 together. They are all companion applications.

Okay. In 9, 10, and 11. Come on now. All right. Well, I'll read through 10 and 11 at this time.

Thank you.

20260489, this is also Commission District 4 and Super District 6, application of Quick Trip Corporation for a special land use permit to allow an accessory alcohol outlet in C1, local commercial zoning at 4733, 4773, and 4775 Memorial Drive. N11 is 20260490, Commission Districts 4 and Super District 6, application of Quick Trip Corporation for a special land use permit to allow fuel pumps in an activity center, town center, character area in local commercial zoning at 4733, 4773, and 4775 Memorial Drive.

We're ready. OK. Thank you. So I'm going to try to make this as organized as possible. N9, as stated, is for the car wash. N10 is for the fuel pumps. And N11 is for the alcohol outlet. As you can see, the recommendations from community council, planning commission, and the staff recommendation have a few different recommendations. The denial, to be clear, is for N9, and that is the car wash. whereas N10 and N11 are for approval with conditions as the staff recommendation. The uniqueness of these application is because N10 and N11 are already existing. So there's actually... a quick trip fuel pump and alcohol outlet that is already on site. However, part of that original approval, because you would still have to get the SLUP in the town center, was that they could not have a car wash on site. Because you can't modify a SLUP, you have to reapply for SLUP, hence why they've come back with those two applications and the additional N9 car wash application. So it is along the commercial corridor of Memorial Drive. It is in a C1 zoning district. However, because of the town center, this is where policy and goals of connectivity, pedestrian-oriented design come into play.

Excuse me. Can we have the presentation on the screens? Thank you.

N9, the car wash, is a audio audio. auto-oriented use, which isn't furthering those goals. This is also along the small area plan for the Memorial Drive corridor revitalization plan. Proposal of the car wash does not put forth the goals and policies of that plan, which reiterate the connectivity, walkability, placemaking tools, and designs to really offer some rehabilitation to existing commercial buildings along Memorial Drive. This is the proposed site plan. The red line is just differentiating where the existing fuel pumps and alcohol outlet is versus where the car wash is being proposed. The proposal originally required variances. I believe the applicant has been able to address those. Today, they will present an updated site plan, and I will allow them to go over what those updates are. However, this does meet the C-1 requirements as well as the supplemental regulations such as offering loading spaces that's required for drive-throughs. These are the proposed conditions for the alcohol outlet as well as the fuel pumps. These are the existing conditions that were part of the approval a few years back when these originally came before the board. The only new condition that staff has proposed is number seven for the fuel pumps, and that is if Quick Trip vacates the site, the fuel pumps should be removed. Staff is recommending denial given the town center character area. Thank you.

Thank you ma'am. At this time, can we have those who are interested in speaking in favor of these items come to the podium?

Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Bryson Mercer with KDS Development and Engineering on behalf of Quick Trip and Bubble Bath. 952 Old Peachtree Road, Northwest, Lawrenceville, Georgia, 30043. All right. So I'm going to kind of breeze through some of this. Staff gave an excellent summary of our request here. Just to make sure it's clear, there are three special land use permits being asked for tonight. I'll refer to SLUP 16 as the car wash, SLUP 43 as the alcohol outlet, and SLUP 44 for the fuel pumps going forward. If there's any questions with that, I'd be happy to make that more clear. I'm going to come back to this slide a little bit later. Here's our site plan here, and I want to make one correction from staff. We are requesting there are two variances that are relevant to this application, the first of which is a height variance, a wall height variance. If you can see on the site plan north, we're proposing a 10-foot sound and light attenuation wall. This was to address some of the neighbors' concerns of headlights and sound from the car wash. um coming into the neighborhood that's directly behind the proposed car wash we've also proposed on the quick the existing quick trip side a sound wall adjacent to the dumpsters to help alleviate any sound concerns that those neighbors have been hearing recently we've also changed the hours of operation that trash has picked up so hopefully we're not waking anyone up The next variance is a building setback variance. The building proposed here is about 103 feet from the front property line. And that was also to address some of the neighbor's concerns where we could put the vacuums in front along Memorial Drive and have the building set back a little bit further. And then I wanted to address, staff pointed out that this may or may not comply with the town center activity center, specifically related to walkability. This land use application actually proposes several pedestrian improvements. We recently got GDOT approval to have six new crosswalks installed at the Memorial Drive and Collingwood intersection, as well as there's some green space, kind of like a dog park area along Memorial Drive that's going to be along the 10-foot sidewalk. And then additionally, Quick Trip is willing to make a notable contribution in the form of a joint development agreement, and I'll kind of get back to that, for the Memorial Drive POETA improvements at the Rock Bridge and Memorial Drive intersection. We want this area to grow. We want it to be walkable. There's a lot of people that walk to the Quick Trip that's there today. um and we think this would be a really great accessory use to that end i'm going to go back a few slides to zoning conditions and i believe staff may have cleaned up some of these but i want to make sure a few of these are collected The first of which is Quick Trip is willing to add three additional overstory trees to the landscape plan. As long as, you know, we're trying to be uniform with the existing landscaping that's there, but we'll have a three-foot hedge as well as some understory trees. There's an overhead power easement preventing overstory trees going directly along Memorial, but we're willing to move those directly behind that overhead power easement. Additionally, the applicant is willing to install a roof-mounted or other solar panel farm system that's on-site that's appropriately sized for the proposed use and building size. And then lastly, I mentioned it a second ago, prior to the approval of a land disturbance permit, the applicant shall enter into a joint development agreement with DeKalb County for a contribution towards other pedestrian-related improvements outlined in the Memorial Drive POETA for no less than $25,000 in value. And I think the legal department may have to possibly clean that up or review. But moving on, we did obtain, and it's actually 11 letters of support for this application. All of those have been turned over to staff at this point. And we do have a couple people here that are going to speak after me. Here are a couple renderings. You can see that 10-foot sound and headlight attenuation wall in the back. There's a stream buffer behind this property that is to remain, and then the 10-foot sound and headlight attenuation wall that's behind the existing dumpsters on the quick trip. This will be the hedges that are proposed, three-foot minimum at the time of planting, and then we'll add some overstory trees that will also screen Memorial Drive as well. And here's an aerial photo of an existing bubble bath car wash and quick trip at a different location just to kind of give a feel for what it's going to look like. These are some of the building materials that will be used for the construction of the bubble bath car wash. Your stone, quick trip colors, things like that. So we would respectfully ask for an approval. And if there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer those and I'll reserve any remaining time for rebuttal.

Just to be clear, I thought you indicated there were some folks that were going to speak behind you, but you also said you wanted to reserve your time.

I'll have him speak, and then I'll reserve time. We've got plenty.

Yes. Yes, you do. We gave you 10 minutes per item. Anyone else speaking in support of this item, please join us at the podium.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen of DeKalb County. My name is Amal Lipkins. I'm a I've been a resident of that subdivision for the last almost 30 years, say 28 solid years. And I can really speak for the subdivision because myself and my neighbor, Will, we have been meeting with QT about the last five or six months in reference to this project. And we spoke with them in reference to, as he said, about the lights and the sound and whether it's going to affect the water. And they've been very transparent about and coming forward with all kind of information as to how they plan to move the project forward. And my personal opinion, since I've been there for so long, that's the best thing that's happened to that corner in about 25 years. And I think with the car wash, there's a makeshift car wash there now. And they probably, man, I tell you, they probably got many neighbors on Brentwood that complain about them people partying all night long. And so with a solid car wash coming in, not some kind of makeshift, I'm not even sure how they got that approved, but they're there and they party all night and throwing trash on the wood line. And so I think with the QT car wash coming in that has set hours, this will really eliminate all that late night partying. And I think, like I said, that's the best thing that happened at that corner the last 25 years since I've been living in that subdivision. And now that they're going to possibly approve the dedicated turn signal to left on Memorial Drive, I think that's going to be very beneficial to the neighborhood as well. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else to speak in support of this item? Okay, seeing none, we're noting it's 22 minutes remaining. Is there anyone to speak in opposition to these items? Anyone here to speak in opposition? Okay, it doesn't look like we have anyone. Did the applicant want to return to the podium and say anything else?

To expound upon the gentleman that just spoke in favor, we are in agreement of the hours of operation proposed by the staff conditions on SLEP 16. Those hours are from 8 AM to 7 PM during winter months and 8 AM to 8 PM otherwise. So other than that, I'll yield my time.

Thank you, sir. And can we have someone from staff return to give your recommendation?

Staff recommendation is for denial. I'm sorry. It's denial for N9 and approval with conditions for N10 and N11.

Do we have a motion for 20260447?

Yes, ma'am. At this time, I move to approve with conditions to include the stated conditions from the planning staff as well as the proposed conditions added by the applicant.

Second.

I'm good. And do we have a second? Commissioner Marita Davis-Johnson, I don't see any- Are you good with that?

I was trying to second, but it's just too quick.

Okay, do we have any- Go ahead, Ms. Burke.

I think for the sake of clarity, it may be best if we read all of those conditions into the record.

OK.

Sorry for your time.

I don't have the staff ones.

They should be in the staff report. I don't have the whole report.

One through five.

I just have the abbreviated. You don't have them either?

I have staff and the conditions that I read. We're going to get there.

We're getting tired.

Are the conditions for different items? OK. I can't remember which one is which.

This is for N9, right?

This is the car wash, correct. Great. Yep.

But there's three applications for the car wash, so this is for the first. Yes.

Yes. So N9 for the car wash. Number one, the site plan submitted for a land disturbance permit shall be in substantial conformity with the site plan submitted on 4-22-2026, titled Quick Trip Bubble Bath, number 61-808, sheet 2. The subject site will be developed to minimize impacts to adjacent properties, including orientation of vacuum and service areas will be located between the building and Memorial Drive, maintenance and or enhancement of existing tree buffers adjacent to residential properties to the southeast of the subject site, and the placement of the refuse and service areas will be located between the proposed building and Memorial Drive, screened in accordance with county standards. Number two is the hours of operation shall be limited to 8 to 7 p.m. during the winter months, which is December 20th to March 20th, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. otherwise. There shall be no overnight operations permitted. Number three is prior to the issuance of land disturbance permits, the applicant shall revise the plan to demonstrate compliance with section 5.4.3, including required sidewalks, landscape strips, street lights, street trees along Memorial Drive subject to the review and approval of the Director of Planning and Sustainability or their designee. The last one is number four. Prior to issuance of the land disturbance permit, the applicant shall revise the plan to demonstrate enhanced pedestrian connectivity between the public sidewalk along Memorial Drive and the building entrances, including clearly defined walkways connections to the outdoor seating and green space areas.

Thank you. And for clarity, this is N920260447, a motion to approve with conditions made by Commissioner Shakira Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson. And we do have requests to speak. We'll begin with Commissioner Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Deputy Presiding Officer, yes. So for clarity, the staff recommendation was for denial, but they did give us conditions that could be used if we decided to approve. And I wanted to make sure we included those. I do appreciate the applicant not only speaking with both the commissioners, but also working closely with the community. If the applicant can also restate the proposed conditions that you would like to add that you've mentioned earlier, just so we get them for the record.

Thank you. Yes. So the first was the applicant shall add three additional overstory trees to the landscape plan. The second was applicant shall install a roof mounted or other solar panel farm system onsite appropriately sized for the proposed use and building size. Lastly, the next one is prior to the approval of a land disturbance permit, applicant shall enter into a joint development agreement with DeKalb County for a contribution towards other pedestrian related improvements outlined in the Memorial Drive POETA for no less than $25,000 in value.

Thank you for that. So those were the additional conditions I wanted added in based on communications between District 6 Commissioner Ted Terry as well as myself and to the residents that got up and spoke. I really appreciate hearing that the quick trip has added value to the community because we, you know, decisions are made, but you don't always hear the impact to the community. So I appreciate you coming to speak. And there is that existing car wash, if you want to call it that, in that area. So this will definitely be an improvement to what is already there. With that, I yield.

And also just to communicate for record, Commissioner Davis-Johnson yielded her second to the Super District Commissioner over this area, Commissioner Ted Terry. And we do not have any other requests to speak, so at this time, can you open the machines for a vote? Motion carries. All right, moving on to item N10. This is item 20260489. Do we have a motion for this item? Yes, ma'am. I move to approve with conditions. If I may.

Just a moment, sir. Thank you.

We have a motion to approve with conditions. Do we have a second? We have a second by Commissioner Terry. And now we can open the floor to... for commissioners who may have comments first. Commissioner Johnson.

I'll give the applicant an opportunity to speak on this one.

Thank you, Commissioner. There are two zoning conditions on slot 43 and slot 44 that state no car wash is allowed. We would request that those be removed now that N9 has been approved to avoid any confusion in permitting or any time down the road.

Thank you. I will restate my motion to approve with the amended conditions.

That's not a part of the new conditions for these slubs. Those were the original conditions. Now that they've applied for two new slubs, those weren't a part of the new conditions.

Thank you.

There's no amendment.

Thank you.

Okay. I don't see any other requests to speak. Please open the machines for a vote. Motion carries. Item N1120260490, do we have a motion for this item?

Yes, ma'am. I move to approve with conditions.

Do we have a second? We have a second by Commissioner Terry. The original motion made by Commissioner Johnson. No request to speak. Please open the machines for a vote. Motion carries. And at this time, I will yield the gavel back to our presiding officer. Thank you, ma'am.

We are now on N12, item 2026-0534, Commission District 3, Super District 7, application of Avondale Church of Christ Care of Battle Law PC to rezone property from R75 zoning district to office institutional zoning district to allow for an existing place of worship at 4017 Memorial Drive. Welcome back.

Thank you. As you stated, this request to rezone from R75 to OI to allow some improvements for Avondale Church of Christ. The Community Council Planning Commission and staff recommendation is for approval. The property falls within the Covington overlay as well as it's currently zoned single family as an underlying zoning. There's an abundance of OI zoning both adjacent to this property as well as across the street. And there's also several institutional uses. It does fall within commercial redevelopment corridor character area that calls for beautification as development comes online. And it does have front edge on both Covington and Memorial. Uh, I actually borrowed this slide from the applicant. I hope he doesn't mind. Cause I thought it was a pretty good slide that kind of shows what they're trying to do. Um, they're, they, the first thing they're trying to do is the existing canopy. When the church patrons are dropped off and picked up these large vehicles tend to run into the canopy. So they need to raise the canopy up to 15 feet. And then secondly, um, they do, they are expanding the fellowship hall in that area. that you see with the red arrow to the right. They're just kind of filling that area in. It's about 4,000 square feet. So they're not going beyond the building footprint and the height of the canopy is still gonna be less than the height of the existing church. And so with that, we are recommending approval.

I think we both forgot who had control of the gavel there for a second. It's a long night. Thank you for that. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of the application? Good evening, sir.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm Josh Mahoney. I'm an attorney at Battle Law PC, 3562 Habersham and North Lake in Tucker, Georgia. And I'm here this evening to speak on behalf of Avondale Church of Christ. So, Commissioners, earlier this year, Avondale Church of Christ, they approached Battle Law and they told us a story. They told us that they've been around for decades. And earlier this year, they decided they wanted to kind of give back to their congregation a little bit. And they wanted to do that by expanding opportunities for fellowship in their existing building. And so their plan is to expand into that cutout area that you saw on the image there, as well as raise that canopy. When they started exploring this, they found that they were a legal non-conforming use. Their property is zoned R75, and they don't have a special land use permit. They've also been there long enough to predate the existing zoning ordinance. So they're a legal nonconforming use. They can't do the development that they want to do without coming into compliance. And so when Attorney Battle and I met with Avondale, we decided that rezoning to OI was the best option here given the area. And so I'd like to go through, I think I've got a presentation. Yes. I'd like to go through the presentation that I've got for you this evening real quick and just explain our reasoning as to why this rezoning is the best bet. So this is the property. I've got it highlighted here in green. It fronts Memorial, which is the road going kind of diagonally here. It also fronts Covington on the other side. It's just south of the intersection of the two, and it is immediately north of another church and a Christian bookstore. It's immediately south of Georgia Power property. No one's using the property besides Georgia Power. And then across Covington, there are a number of other churches, offices, institutional uses like libraries and things of that nature. And so this is a pretty institutional and office heavy area. And that is reflected on your zoning map. Everything you see in blue is office institutional. In fact, There's only two R75 parcels here. One of them is Avondale, and the other one is actually at the Dekalb County Library. They don't have to abide by the zoning rules, so they get a pass. Avondale is here really kind of as an anomaly in the area. R75 in an OI area, it really doesn't make a lot of sense, especially given that the church is there and has been there for decades. This is never going to be used as R75. It'll always be the church. And so it made sense to bring it into conformity, as well as bring it into conformity with the surrounding parcels, which is why we went OI rather than a special land use permit. And so what the rezoning will allow is the work that Mr. Reid mentioned. Raising the canopy in the front is important because right now it's too low. There are some ADA vans that come in, and they're quite tall. They've had a couple instances where the vans have hit this canopy, and so they want to raise it up to make sure that those vans can get right up to the front door so those folks can get out of the van and get right into the church. rather than having to kind of go around and go a little further than they have to. Here's an image of what that canopy will look like. It's just a little higher up. It won't be any higher than the church is now. And then here's an image of that cutout space. Really for this area, it would just be filled in at this or pretty close to this level. And this would be accessible from the inside as well as the outside. And this will just be a fellowship space for the congregation to gather, fellowship, meet each other, things of that nature. And then here's an elevation of that. One more thing to mention. I skipped over it here, but you can see where that new fellowship area is will be accessible via a sidewalk. A small sidewalk will be built from the existing one to access those doors so folks can get over to the doors that way. And that's all I've got for you this evening. Take any questions you have. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here to speak in favor of this application? Anyone here to speak in favor? Anyone here to speak in opposition of this application? Anyone in opposition? Seeing no one, if staff will come forward and give the recommendation.

Staff recommends approval.

Thank you. Is there a motion on this item? Motion to approve.

And then I've got a quick question. Second.

Can you hit the motion button, please?

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Madam Pio. And so just to understand, there's no specific conditions related to this. Yeah, I mean, at this point, they've been utilizing it as a church. It seems like what they're trying to do is just functional and making sure they get into conformity. with the county, which we very much appreciate. And not just with the county, but with the neighboring communities trying to go to OI based on what is there. So my motion to approve stands. I yield back to you, Madam PL, thank you.

Thank you so much. Seeing no other requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. Motion to approve carries. Thank you so much. We are now on to N13, item 2026-0630, Commission District 3, Super District 6, application of the Director of Planning and Sustainability to amend Section 27. to update the Boulder Crest Cedar Grove Moreland Overlay District to allow limited office uses when subject to a special land use permit and additional criteria with Tier 5 of the overlay. Welcome back, John.

Good evening again. Um, actually we have a substitute on this one, um, to, to hand out to you. We, we, uh, corrected the ordinance for this. Um, Oh, you're handed. Okay. She's got them handed out. Uh, this is a ordinance, a text amendment to the Boulder crest overlay district tier five to allow, uh, office uses as a special land use permit. And, uh, The community council recommended approval. The planning commission actually recommended a three cycle deferral and the staff recommendation is for approval. Uh, some key points on this text amendment. It only deals. It only, uh, applies to office uses. There's no other retail or restaurant. It's just office. And it's only tier five, which is the single family residential tier of the, uh, boulder crest overlay. So it's only applying to those. two situations and no other tiers and no other land uses. And to even qualify to apply for a special aid permit to allow office in the single family tier, you must have an underlying non-residential zoning district. You also must have frontage along Boulder Crest Road. And then finally, you have to have at least 100 feet of frontage along either Boulder Crest or a minor arterial road. And based on the research to Cab County zoning maps, there's only five properties that actually would be eligible to even apply for this lot. And I think that you should also have the map of the five properties. It's on the screen as well. So if one of the five properties were to apply for a slot, they still have to meet additional standards, which include maximum building size of 5000 square feet. Maximum two-story building heights. Ground floor entrances must face public sidewalks to make it as pedestrian friendly as possible. Private sidewalks to connect the public sidewalk with the building. Minimum 50% of ground floor must have windows. Minimum maximum building setbacks and minimum 30-foot buffer requirements abutting residential properties. And these are the five properties that would be eligible to apply for this lab. And given that there's only five properties involved, then it seems like any adverse impacts would be minimal or none. So staff is recommending approval of the text amendment.

Thank you. Is there anyone here to speak in favor of this application? Anyone in the public to speak in favor of this application? Anyone here to speak in opposition? Good evening, ma'am. Come to the microphone.

I'm Megan Payne, 1712 Cedar Grove Road. And on behalf of the East Conley Zoning Committee and the Boulder Crest Corridor Small Area Planning Committee, which comprises 30 plus and growing in membership, we respectfully request that you vote to deny or defer the text amendment that's being presented by Michelle Battle tonight to open up the overlay to change current residential properties into commercial properties. for two reasons. One, it's clearly an attempt to do away with the restrictions that were put into place to protect the residential properties in the overlay. Such a change would cause cascading effect up and down not only Boulder Crest Road, but possibly Cedar Grove as well, right through the heart of our residential community. The second reason is that the work that both Commissioner Terry and Commissioner Messiah have already put in to this neighborhood with us. We have been working for the past year to put together a new plan that would preserve the natural beauty of the community and encourage economic growth. Both commissioners have contributed $50,000 each of their allocated money and your time and your care and your effort to develop a plan with the community that would be accepted by the community. Boulder Crest Corridor's small area planning committee have been working throughout the community to develop a consensus about what should and should not be in our neighborhood. One plan is already complete. Hopefully, we'll have a second plan in just a couple of months. It makes no sense to destroy those efforts by allowing a hodgepodge of text amendments or SLUP requests before those plans have either been accepted or rejected by the Board of Commissioners. Please, we ask that you vote to deny or defer. Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good evening. Jackie Malcolm, and I live in District 3 off of Boulder Crest. And yes, it's almost a year that we've been planning a small area plan for our area. And we appreciate District 3, and we appreciate Super District 6, because they gave this amount of money so we could have our own small area plan. The deal is we've seen plans for one developer completely and we have not seen plans for the other developer. We were on a Zoom with Michelle Battle, I believe, and she actually, I think it was planning sustainability. They deferred it for two cycles. I'm saying to deny it because we're not finished with the small area plan and we need to try to finish and they agreed. to see how we're going to do this plan thing to see how it's going to work out. And that's what we're all here for, because we thought that we'd get the opportunity to finish. And we've been working very hard for the last year. So my recommendation is to deny it, because we're not completed yet. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, sir.

Good evening. My name is Kenneth Stewart, and I live at 1868 Sybil Street, and that's right in the heart of that Boulder Crest overlay. couldn't articulate it any better than the two previous to me about concerns. There's been a lot of sweat equity, a lot of hard work on behalf of the community as well as the commissioners to develop a plan that would beautify the community and establish the value of our properties and maintain that value of our properties. So we come and ask for at least a deferral or a denial because we don't want all this hard work to go to waste. Uh, we just witnessed in this case of D2 where, uh, communities have worked so hard and then they come back and eight years later, this late young lady mentioned, uh, all their efforts went to waste. So we're trying to avoid that. There's a lot of sweat equity, a lot of work. Personal investment has went into this as well. So we ask that you, at minimum, defer this until we understand the impact of this zoning and which way it would go and how it would fit in our small area planning. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening. Good evening.

I'm Natalie McCants and I live at 1755 Conley Trace. I'm only a few steps away from Cedar Grove Road. So I'm a part of that community and a part of the SAP, Small Area Planning Committee. We have put in a lot of time and we would like to continue to pursue our efforts to grow our community, to have the amenities and things that other areas have as well. So we are asking that you deferred We would like the denial, but we are asking that you at least defer it so that we can continue with the plans that we have. And thank you, commissioner Messiah. and Terry for bringing in the planners to assist us with that. So we would not like to see that money go down the drain by having these plans that we're trying to put together be totally disrupted by not allowing us to proceed with what we have planned and would like to go forward with what we have. So please, at this moment, we ask that you do We're asking you to deny it, but if not, please defer it, that we can continue with that and complete our progress that we have in place. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, commissioners. I am Dr. Carol Hutchison, and I have been a resident of District 3 for 23 years. And I would like to, uh, thank commissioner Terry and commissioner for stop Messiah for your support in our efforts in district three. But I also would ask that you consider that we have spent hundreds of hours. Canvas in our communities, making sure that we have our hands on the pulse of the community and what they truly desire. And that's why we're working on the Boulder crest area, small area plan, um, uh, plans. We just need more time and we are asking for a denial and if not a denial, a full cycle deferral. And I support the people and what they've said that came before me. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, Commissioners. I am Lorene Chills Robinson. I've only been a resident of the neighborhood for seven years, jumped on the bandwagon, and I highly respect these residents. It all makes sense. And I'm just curious as to what will we have allowable for these office spaces. So we're asking for a denial or more time so that we can continue our process. Thank you, Commissioners.

Thank you so much. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening, Commissioners. I'm Regina Roberts, and full disclosure, I am on the Community Council. And I have lived in the area, 1896 Cedar Walk Lane, since 2003. And the community at large, there are people that want to stay in the community and make the community of DeKalb County better. So right now, as you've heard, the small area plan is in progress, and many surveys have gone out to people all around, and we've gotten some good remarks about what they want to see in the community, because we're thinking about going forward. So I would just like to also say that I support the people that have spoken before me, but it's not only them. It is the community at large. And I do hear from a lot of people and they're very excited about it. We would like for it to not, uh, you know, not be disrupted so we can continue on. And I do appreciate both commissioners working with us and having the planners to come in and help us with it. So hopefully we can continue this and we ask that you deny it or if not denied, please defer. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening, ma'am.

Good evening. My name is Sharon Wiggins. I've been a resident of the Cedar Grove community for over 30 years. I've seen a lot of things come and go. I've seen a lot of things we didn't want still come. Every time we come before the board and say we don't want something, it's still coming to our community. The builders and the people who come in and try to build in our community, they don't live there. They don't have to stay there. They don't have to come and go there. We have children, we have residents, and we want a family oriented community. We don't need a whole lot of office buildings, because to be frankly, a lot of people are not coming to Boulder Crest to work. And so I pray that you listen to us and that you hear us as a community this time and not just discard what we say. And we say no to the construction that is trying to come into our community. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. There are about 40 seconds left. If there's anyone else who would like to speak in opposition. Okay. Seeing no one else coming forward to speak in opposition, if staff could come back up and make a recommendation.

Um, the staff recommendation is for approval of the substitute. This is a very limited tax amendment. Um, we have spoken with both district commissioners about this text amendment, even prior to putting it on the agenda. Um, staff is unaware of any timelines for any small area plans. Um, so we do respectfully request, um, approval of the substitute for this item. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there a motion on this item?

Motion to defer for 30 days with decision only, the substitute.

And can we get the motion buttons up on our screens?

Second.

Can you hit it again, Commissioner Terry? Okay, motion on the second, Commissioner Masai has requested to speak.

Thank you so much, Madam PL, I'll keep it brief.

Without public hearing, I'm sorry.

Without public hearing, so decision only. Decision only, thank you. 30 days to substitute. So just briefly, I just want to clarify, Mr. Reid, in terms of the applicant, the applicant is actually the Director of Planning and Sustainability, is that not correct? I just want to just make sure I'm clear. And as to who the applicant, Deputy Rachel Bragg.

Yes, the applicant is the Department of Planning and Sustainability.

Okay, thank you. I just want to make sure that is clear, because that was my understanding. That's correct. And I also wanted to make sure that that was clear for the community as well. That it's not an outside applicant, but is indeed our Director of Planning and Sustainability who's making this recommendation. With that, I know that, thank you Deputy Director, I know we have some planning that's going on with and just very much being mindful of the considerations of the public and what they are sharing. So my motion again is to defer for 30 days. I'll be in touch, we'll have a couple more conversations and I'm happy to engage in more conversations with the communities as well. With that, I yield back to you Madam PO, thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no other requests to speak, please open the machine for the vote. That motion to defer carries. And we are on our last item. Item N17, item 2026.0509, Commission District 1. Commissioner Patrick, you've been a champ.

I have a conflict and would like to recuse myself on this one and I' m a team player so I stuck with it the whole evening and I' m going to go ahead and leave so please excuse my absence.

But I didn't abandon y'all. You did not abandon us. Okay, let me finish reading the item. Commission District 1 and Super District 7, this is 2026-0509, application of Shaliford Grocery Atlanta, Inc., care of Terry Bailey for a special land use permit to allow for an alcohol outlet, beer and wine sales in the C2 zoning district at 2615 Shaliford Road. Welcome back to the podium.

Thank you. Greetings again. Lucas Carter, planner for DeKalb County. This is a special land use permit for 2615 Shallowford Road to allow an alcohol outlet as part of a convenience store for beer and wine sales. This is a follow-up from last year where it had approval through community council, planning commission, as well as staff recommendation. However, we are updating our recommendation to approval with conditions as we'll get into. Here's the zoning map showing at C2 bordering MR2, which is hosting some apartments and across the street is a public shopping center, which is on C1. Here's the land use map showing at CRC, commercial redevelopment corridor. And here's an arrow map that shows the character of the area. Now, I... The follow-up is that we have these conditions, and I apologize. This is the last case. We've had a long night, but I was advised by legal that I do need to read all of these out loud, verbatim, word for word. So with that said, all 13 conditions 1 through 5, which is related to displays. One, alcohol displays shall not exceed 25% of the closed floor area devoted to retail sales. Two, beverages exceeding 8% alcohol by volume shall not be sold on the premises. Three, alcohol shall be sold only from fixed retail shelving. Alcohol shall not be sold from behind the counter, through windows, from coolers or buckets, or through any other temporary or non-fixed display method. 4. Alcohol display areas shall be located away from customer entrances and exits. Alcohol shelving shall be arranged so that alcohol products are not prominently visible from outside a building. 5. Alcohol sales shall be limited to the hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. 6. The applicant shall maintain an operational video surveillance system on the property. Cameras shall, at a minimum, provide coverage of alcohol display areas. CUSTOMER ENTRANCES AND EXITS IN THE PARKING LOT. SEVEN, THE APPLICANT SHALL COOPERATE WITH LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REGARDING PUBLIC SAFETY MATTERS. UPON LAWFUL REQUEST, THE APPLICANT SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE RELEVANT SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE RELATED TO INCIDENTS OCCURRING ON THE PROPERTY. EIGHT, THE APPLICANT SHALL POST AND ENFORCE A NO LOADERING POLICY. SIGNS STATING THAT LOADERING IS PROHIBITED SHALL BE POSTED IN VISIBLE LOCATIONS ON THE PROPERTY. NINE, The applicant shall maintain and enforce a trespass policy. The applicant shall cooperate with law enforcement to address trespassing, loitering, and other nuisance activity on the property. 10. All employees engaged in the sale of alcohol shall complete responsible alcohol sales training. Training shall include age verification, refusal of sales to underage or visibly intoxicated persons, and compliance with applicable alcohol regulations. 11, the applicant shall maintain a written identification check policy. Employees shall be required to verify verification for any alcohol purchaser who appears to be under 35 slash 40 years of age. 12, the applicant shall utilize a point of sale age verification system for alcohol sales. The system shall require entry or verification of the purchaser's date of birth prior to completion of an alcohol sale, subject to confirmation by the county attorney's office. Exterior alcohol advertising shall be prohibited. No alcohol-related advertising, promotional signage, banners, or window signage shall be displayed on the exterior of the building or in the manner visible from the public right-of-way. And that is all.

Good job. Thank you. Is the applicant or, yes, the applicant, please step forward. Good evening. Good evening.

Good evening, Presiding Officer, members of the Board. My name is Terry Bailey. I'm an attorney on behalf of the applicant. Here's my card. I have Mr. Riaz Varanis here, and if he can answer any questions you guys have as well. That's a good rundown of the conditions that we've agreed to, I mean, we're amenable to. I do want to... to remind you of this area. This location is right at the corner of Shalifah Road and I-85. So it's very close to the expressway. Also, there's an apartment community, as mentioned, right behind. So this is a place, although it's listed as a convenience store, it really serves more as like a neighborhood grocery store. It has fresh items, fresh fruits. It actually has a... My client calls it a Mexican deli, but it's like a mini restaurant that has Mexican dishes inside of there as well. And when you go through these conditions, some of these conditions are actually offered by us as well. And I'm not going to read them verbatim, but I just want to... I'll tell you a little bit more about what the plans are. As mentioned, there's going to be certain limitations that we've agreed to. The conditions say that displays not exceed 25% of the gross floor area. In reality, we don't anticipate it taking up more than 5%, maybe 10%. We don't anticipate the alcohol sales being over about 5%, maybe a little more, a maximum. Also, there's a limit to the alcohol sales. PERCENTAGE OF ALCOHOL BY THE VOLUME. MY CLIENT DOES NOT WANT TO SERVE ANY WINE. THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS, THEY WANT TO HAVE JUST BEER AVAILABLE TO THE CUSTOMERS THAT COME IN THAT DO REGULAR GROCERY-TYPE SHOPPING. THE MAJORITY OF THE BEERS WILL BE BETWEEN 4 AND 6%. WE JUST ASKED FOR A COUPLE OF PERCENTAGE POINTS HIGHER IN CASE, YOU KNOW, THEY WERE TO, I TALKED TO THEM AND SAID IF THERE WERE ANY IPAs OR SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE AROUND 6 POINTS SOMETHING OR 7% LIKE A SWEETWATER, FOR EXAMPLE. BUT ALSO, If you guys are aware of the area, there was a Publix there before. The Publix has actually shut down recently. So the purpose of this is just to add the beer menu for people who are already coming in for grocery type items. As the conditions state, there's going to be no advertising of beer or alcohol. There's going to be no, you're not going to see those single alcohol in buckets or anything else of that nature. It's just to add that amenity for existing customers. So that when they, as you may have heard from other retailers in this space, if somebody's going to go grab a few items, grab some eggs, grab some other convenience store slash grocery items, and they want to get a six pack of beer, they'd rather go somewhere they have one stop, not go somewhere else as well. So with that being said, I want to reserve the rest of the time for rebuttal. We respectfully We appreciate your time and respectfully request your approval. And we're here to answer any questions or concerns you have. And I'll reserve the rest of my time.

Thank you, sir.

I still have to ask. Oh, sorry. My address. I apologize. I should have said that first. My office address is 2221 PC Road, Northeast, Suite D 341, Atlanta, Georgia, 30309, Fulton County. My apologies.

Thank you so much. I still have to go through the routine of asking the question. So if there is anyone else here to speak in favor of the application, even though there is literally no one else in the room, is there anyone else here to speak in favor of the application? Come on up, sir.

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Riaz Varani. I'm the manager at this location. I'm in favor of an approval. Thank you.

Thank you so much. All right. Is anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? Anyone here to speak in opposition of this item? Seeing nobody. Lucas, if you'd like to come back up.

Staff's recommendation is approval with conditions.

Thank you so much. Is there a motion?

I move to approve this item with the 13 conditions.

Is there a second? Seconded by Commissioner Davis-Johnson. Commissioner Bolton has requested to speak. You have the floor, ma'am.

Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. I do want to say thank you to the applicant for providing services and products that caters to the diverse community that lives in the area. And I also just want to remind the community that this is an application that we've seen before. It was actually denied last year. And that was because there were adjacent properties, businesses that sold beer and wine and alcohol, that Publix was one of them. And so we just didn't think it would add value to the community to have another one all in the same area saturating the community with alcohol sales. And thereafter, of course, the applicant did seek legal counsel, sought out legal counsel. Apparently, our argument wasn't strong enough to sustain the denial. However... through negotiations, we did come up with the 13 conditions that both we are amenable to, the applicant is amenable to, and then the conditions of the area has changed as well. So with that, my motion for approval with conditions does stand.

Thank you, ma'am. I see no other requests to speak. Please open the machine for the vote. Oh, that is everybody.

We did lose.

We lost somebody. Thank you so much. That motion to approve with conditions carries. And now for the most important motion of the evening.

Motion to adjourn. Thank you.

Second. Oh, I'm hitting the button.

Surgery. It's that time again. DeKalb County government and the I Am A Father 5K Inc. are joining forces to host the 12th annual 5K Run Walk on Saturday, June 13th. The race will kick off at 8 a.m. at Mason Mill Park, located at 1406 McConnell Drive in Decatur. This event is all about family stability. The goal of the nonprofit is to strengthen families one mile at a time. The event also raises awareness about the critical need for organ, eye, and tissue donation, particularly within minority communities. A portion of all race proceeds will benefit the Georgia Transplant Foundation. To register for the race, learn more about the organization's mission, or find information about organ donations,