City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Thank you for coming out to participate in the SAP Special Administrative Permit process here, public hearing. And I do apologize for the late start. My name is Felicia Blair. I'm a planner here with the city of Stonecrest. And I had a presentation for you. But our screen isn't working. So we're just going to start and we're going to go through the meeting. And again, thank you for coming out. Today is our SAP Special Administrative Permit meeting scheduled for date June 16, 2026, time 3.30 p.m. City of Stonecrest Community Development Planning and Zoning Division. I would like to just give you an introduction of the staff members. Most are not here, but I'll give you those names for future reference. Staff members, Shawana Cowie, Director of Community Development. Ellis Steele, Deputy Director. Ramona Eversley, Senior Planner. Felicia Blair. planner abby coon abby coon zoning analyst and kobe brown administrative assistant standing in the back that welcomed you in our agenda today is for land use petition sa 26045 amelia Montaghan Osi Shiwa Monacan Heritage Foundation 7550 Star Magnolia Drive. This petition is seeking a special administrative permit, SAP, to operate a nonprofit organization established for administrative office use for cultural preservation, heritage documentation, and community outreach. And I'd just like to provide some meeting decorum for everyone who's here participating today. And we ask, please be respectful to applicants, citizens, and staff. Keep questions, comments, and or concerns relevant to agenda items. Please wait to ask questions after staff or applicant has concluded presenting their petition. Staff will ask each citizen or resident to approach the podium one at a time, where you will be given a maximum of three minutes to ask questions or to make a statement. And those minutes can be extended. So I just wanted to advise you of that. Staff ask that you be mindful of others wishing to make remarks and request your cooperation to be polite. The petition for today, as stated, is Ms. Amelia Muntaghan. Please forgive me if I don't pronounce this correctly. OC and the letter of operation is written and it states, I'm writing to submit an updated letter of intent in support of my home occupation. application. The purpose of this letter is to provide a clear description of the nature and scope of the business activity to be conducted at my residence. The business is the Chihuahuan Nation Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization establishment for the purpose of cultural preservation, heritage documentation, and community outreach on behalf of the Chihuahua Monacan Nation, a Southeastern I'm sorry, I can't see that. Is that Sion? Siouan people based in Georgia. The foundation serves as the administrative body of the nation, supporting its mission to preserve indigenous heritage, maintain historical records, and engage the broader community in cultural education. The activities conducted at the residential address are limited to administrative and organizational functions, including correspondence, record keeping, grant research, document preparation, and coordination of community programs. No clients, customers, or members of the public will visit the residence in connection with the business. There will be storage of inventory or equipment, and no activity, I'm sorry, there will be no storage of exterior signage, no commercial vehicles, no inventory or equipment and no activities that would alter the residential character of the property or create any nuisance to the residents in the neighboring communities. The home occupation is entirely incidental and secondary to the residential use of the property. I believe this application is fully consistent with the requirements of the home occupation and classification and respectfully request approval, please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any additional information. The current property is zoned RSM. That's residential, small, medium lots. And the home occupation rules are section 4.2.31, home occupations and private education uses. The following provisions apply to home occupations. A home occupation where no customer contact occurs shall be considered a type one home occupation. It may be conducted with administrative approval by the director of planning and zoning. The owner or operator of the business must reside on the premise. Up to two full-time residents of the premises are allowed to conduct separate home occupations in the same dwelling. In reviewing such a request, the local government may consider the reason, potential residential impact, parking needs, hours of operation, and other relevant factors. B, all home occupations other than type one home occupations shall be considered a type two home occupation and shall require a special land use permit. Additional conditions may be placed on the approval of the type two home occupation in order to ensure the home occupation will not be a detriment to the character of the residential neighborhood. One, customer contact is allowed for Type 2 home occupations. Up to two full-time residents of the premises are allowed to conduct separate home occupations in the same dwelling. In reviewing such a request, the local government may consider the reason, potential residential impact, parking needs, hours of operation, and other relevant factors. C, all home occupations shall meet the following standards. One, there should be no exterior evidence of the home occupations on the property. No use shall create noise, dust, vibration, odor, smoke, glare, or electrical interference that would be detectable beyond the dwelling unit. The use shall be conducted entirely within the dwelling unit and only persons living in the dwelling unit shall be employed at the location of the home occupation. No more than 25% of the dwelling unit and or 500 square feet, whichever is less, may be used for the operation of the home occupation. No more than one business vehicle per home is allowed for the home occupation. No home occupation shall be operated so as to create or cause a nuisance. No home occupation shall, the home occupation shall not include the use of a dwelling unit for the purpose of operating any automobile repair establishment or car wash Occupations that are mobile or dispatch only may be allowed provided that any business vehicle used for the home occupation complies with section 6.1.3 and is limited to one business vehicle per occupation. These are the rules and regulations for governing home occupations within the city of Stonecrest. And I would just like to emphasize and state that the type of application or petition that is being heard today is type one home occupation where there is no customer contact. That concludes the presentation for the petition of SA26045. We have the applicant here today. You may come up to the podium and speak on behalf of your application, please.

Hello, everyone. Hopefully a little closer. OK. Is that OK? Hello, everyone. I'm Amelia. I think once I can see again, I represent this year. I'm a knocking nation. I'm sure I'm a knocking heritage foundation.

A little louder. OK. You squat down because I'm tall.

Okay, I'm Amelia. Again, I represent the Sheral Monacan Heritage Foundation and the Sheral Monacan Nation. We are Piedmont Sioux and Indian. As I had stated in the application that the purpose of the foundation is strictly for cultural preservation. and to forward education, community building. Our hope is to also interface with the public as well. Initially, when we started out, our goal was to be simply a private foundation, but thankfully we've been able to establish ourselves in such a way with the IRS that they have determined that we are considered a public charity. So we're really excited about the works that we'll be able to do here in the city of Stonecrest and across DeKalb County, hopefully. Again, we don't expect to create any havoc, noise. Most people wouldn't even know we're there, actually, because it's just me and my husband and my children. The work that we're doing is purely administrative, as mentioned in the application. And that does include, you know, phone calls, outreach, emails, grant writing, research, and things along the, in that nature. I'm willing to answer any questions you have, but I don't really know if there's anything else you need from me.

Staff, do you have any questions? Thank you. Do we have anyone in the audience or here within from the community that would like to speak on behalf of the petition or in opposition of the petition? Please, when you step to the mic, could you provide your name, please?

Okay. My name is Kevin Keeler. I'm a resident of Parks and Stonecrest. And I just had a question. It's not really anything negative. This is an organization that you started or has already started, something that already exists. Please.

Yes, sir. So I have legally established the Heritage Foundation. At this point in time, the hope is to gain the occupancy license so that we can legally perform without issue, right? So at this point in time, while we do have authority to collect funds and fundraise, I want to make sure that I'm covering all of our bases because we're here to stay. Our hope is to establish proper communications between ourselves and our community leaders. And so it does exist. but today I'm making sure that I'm not putting the horse before the cart, if that makes any sense. Yeah, hopefully that.

The only other question is, as an organization, do you have members? As an organization?

So in terms of membership, Our organization represents our tribe. However, it is considered a public charity. And with that being said, in terms of the infrastructure of the charity or the organization within itself, I am the principal and there are two other officers. So we have a treasurer and a secretary. and our hope and prayer is to as the funding becomes available to expand because we do have good work to do you know from the public charity side of things so the current structure there's no membership currently so in the future hopefully with funding and other things you will obtain members Yes, sir, because again, as I had stated, when I initially applied to establish the foundation, my thought was, honestly, I was going for the lower hanging fruit because again, I thought that we would just essentially be a private foundation for tribal members, right? However, as I waited upon the IRS to give us a determination letter, they blessed us to become a public charity with various designations that really opened the floodgates. And it's a blessing, right? So I'm really excited about that.

Well, I wish you luck.

Is there anyone else? If there are no more questions for the applicant, this will conclude the presentation for the SAP Special Administrative Permit Type 1 Home Occupation for today, June 16, 2026. You will receive a letter of decision within a 48-hour turnaround processing time. Thank you all for coming out.