City Council - Regular Meeting

And we do have 10 present this evening. So now we'll move on to item number four, and this is special presentations. We do have a few short ones, council, so bear with me while I get there. All right, the first award, council, that I would like to present this evening, Patrick, if you would please come forward. Do you have anybody else as well here, Patrick? OK. And Miss Miller, are you here?

There we are. Come forward. Good. Good to see you.

You too. So council, it's an honor always on behalf of this community receive awards on the good works and service that not only the citizens provide the opportunity for us to do, but more importantly, the vision of our directors, our city employees, and volunteers from the community. And so Patrick is here to show you this evening. We did receive a volunteer, not a volunteer, excuse me, the 2026 Government Recycler of the Year Award. If you would hold that up, Patrick. We received that at the Arkansas Recycling Coalition. We didn't win this award, though, because it was just not about recycling. It's because it was the team approach that we've taken in the city. Not only has it been efficient and effective, it's also available to everyone to participate. So I want to say thank you to our sanitation department, our code enforcement departments, and our Keep Jonesboro Beautiful committee for working together to earn this recognition. Now, I will say we were the only city recognized amongst the peers of this type recycling organizations in our state. So I want to say thank you. And this has to do to our cleanups, the recycling programs that we have taken in hand. And Patrick can speak on just a few of those that we were recognized for. Patrick.

Just real brief, we were recognized for glass recycling. Almost 40,000 pounds of glass have been recycled and collected, sent to North Little Rock. 30,000 plus pounds of cardboard. The bulky junk program that we've done that has helped save the city at least 53, about 53% of tipping fees and things like that. We've collected almost 120 tons this year alone, and here it is September. neighborhood cleanups. We're at about 50 tons this year that we've collected, and that's just by us cutting them in half. We're doing six big ones and six small ones, and we still have collected almost 50 tons. And the future is open, and I can't wait to see what we're going to do.

All right, thank you, Patrick. Also, I would like Ms. Miller, she would like to say a few words on behalf of Jonesboro Beautiful. Okay.

On behalf of Jonesboro Keep Jonesboro Beautiful and other community members who champion green and sustainability efforts, we're proud to celebrate the successes of Jonesboro Recycling that we've taken part in. It's worth asking how we got here and how can we work together to replicate and even improve efforts towards a more clean, Green and Beautiful Jonesboro. One of the actions that we did was the glass recycling which started with a letter from Shelly Lamb and ended up with us starting with Embassy Suites Recycling and partnering with them on that and we've taken in about 13,000 pounds of glass out of the waste stream. Few months later, Mr. Curtis attended a recycling summit and he made that connection and we've just been going strong with glass ever since. That's only one business, Highlight and Embassy Suites. We have several that participate in the glass recycling program and we do that as well with the monthly recycling. So that's a lot that we're taking in and diverting from the waste stream. There's also cardboard, I serve on the Green Business Committee with the Chamber of Commerce as well as EcoWorks. I work at Jonesboro Human Development Center and we employ the residents of Jonesboro Human Development Center through recycling with EcoWorks. With the city, we have diverted about 8,000 pounds just in this past month. That's about three tons, almost three tons roughly, out of the waste stream, out of our landfill. So that's another good thing. And we create jobs for people with intellectual disabilities by doing that. We also want to recognize Mr. Scott Roper for his efforts and Beverly Parker for her leadership. She is great. She gets things done. And also our other volunteers who participate in some capacity with press releases or promotional flyers who dedicate their Saturdays to come out and do the Cleanup events and who work farmers markets educate the kids all of these things along with our wonderful Sanitation department go into making Jonesboro more clean green and beautiful and we look forward to doing that even more in the future. Thank you all Yeah

Gotta show off my photo chops every now and then. Perfect, congratulations.

All right, first of all, thank you council again for allowing me this time. Now we're gonna move on to a little bit different area. I wanted to, I think it's important that we always recognize volunteers in our community. And so if these volunteers would please come forward if you're here this evening. Antonio Ferris, Derek Lawson, Adam Brewer, Matt Simakoski, Jeffrey Littleton, Rollo Brown, Matthew and Megan Lamb, Michael Easton, and James and Jesse Harrell. Y'all can stand on this side. So these individuals that stand before you this evening, I'm pleased to say they're community volunteers. They help support youth sports in our parks department and their outstanding service and dedication to the youth of our community. We all know how important that is. You heard the numbers earlier. It's rising, rising every year. Throughout your commitment, To the Jonesboro youth sports, you have given your time, energy, and leadership to ensure that young people in Jonesboro have opportunities to participate, grow, and succeed. Your willingness to mentor young athletes and help strengthen our parks and recreation programs has made a meaningful difference in our community. The success of our youth sports program depends greatly on volunteers who are willing to serve. and your contributions exemplify the spirit of community that makes Jonesboro a special place to live. Thank you for your service, your dedication, and the positive impact you continue to make on the children and families of Jonesboro. So on behalf, as my role of the mayor and our city council, we want to say thank you very much. Please continue that support. We need more individuals with your heart and leadership. So if you would, one by one, I'm going to present these to you. And Brian, you got your phone? Amen.

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All right, that kind of thinned the room out a little bit. So we'll go ahead and move on to item number five, and these are items on consent agenda.

Move to adopt unless changes are noted. Second.

Mayor, I need to pull an item, if you don't mind. It's going to be resolution 26106. 106?

Yes, sir.

I'll amend my motion.

Okay. I have a second. Okay. All right. Council, if you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. Can we do 119, not 207? I'm in my statement. Thank you.

We have two on Pratt? Yeah.

OK. 119. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Eric?

I'll again amend my motion. I'll amend my second.

You'll amend your amendment? There you go. Consent agenda, and we're going to remove item 26.119. Okay. Council, if you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. Consent agenda. Okay, and that does carry. So now we'll go ahead and discuss resolution 26.119.

Resolution by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas to place a municipal lien on property located at 1506 Pratt Circle, parcel number 01-144082-09900 owned by Johnny Ridenhower in the amount of $365.

Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to table indefinitely. Okay. Would you have a motion on the floor to table indefinitely? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That's it. Thank you, Eric. Now, Council will move on to resolutions removed from the consent agenda. We do have resolution 26072.

Resolution by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas to condemn property located at 2210 Willow Road, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72401, parcel number 01. dash one four four two seven one dash zero five three zero zero. Owner Carolyn Ward, an undivided one-sixth interest. Charles Ward, an undivided one-sixth interest. Bobby Ward, an undivided one-sixth interest. Cindy Irway, an undivided one-sixth interest. Sharon Ward, an undivided one-sixth interest. And Jimmy Ward, an undivided one-sixth interest. The legal description follows. whereas the above property has been inspected and has been determined unseated for human habitation, whereas all the stipulations have been met in the condemnation process to proceed with the condemnation of this property, now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas that the city should proceed with the condemnation of the property located at 2210 Willow Road, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72401. Move to adopt.

Second. Do we have a motion on the floor to adopt? Any discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council members? I don't see any as well. If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that resolution does carry. So now council will move on to resolution 26123.

resolution of the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas certifying local government endorsement of Saney Nutrition Group LLC to participate in the tax back program as authorized by section 15-4-27060 of the Consolidated Incentive Act of 2003. Whereas in order to be considered for participation in the tax back program, the local government must endorse a business to participate in the tax back program, and whereas the local government must authorize the refund of local sales and use taxes as provided in the Consolidated Incentive Act of 2003, and whereas said endorsement must be made on specific form available from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, and whereas Saney Nutrition Group, LLC, located at 9401 East Highland Drive, Jonesboro, Arkansas, 72401, has sought to participate in the program, and more specifically has requested benefits occurring from the construction of the specific facility, and whereas Sandy Nutrition Group LLC has agreed to furnish the local government all necessary information for compliance. Now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, that Sandy Nutrition Group LLC be endorsed by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas, for benefits from the sales and use tax refunds as provided by section 15-4-276D of the Consolidated Incentive Act of 2003. Number two, the Department of Finance and Administration is authorized to refund local sales and use taxes to Sani Nutrition Group LLC. Number three, this resolution, it's unnecessary, the resolution always takes effect immediately. Move to adopt.

Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor. Any discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that does carry. All right. Next, we'll move on to resolution 26124.

resolution requested by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to amend the current lease agreement between the City of Jonesboro and the AGFC for property used by the AGFC for commission services and the Forest Elwood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center. Whereas the City of Jonesboro Arkansas is lessor and the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission is lessee entered into a certain real estate lease agreement which lease was duly recorded on September 26, 2001 in Craighead County Miscellaneous Book 43 at pages 348 to 354 in which lease commenced on October 1st, 2001 and remains in full force and effect. And whereas in July 2002, the parties executed an amendment, amendment number one to the real estate lease agreement for the purpose of adding one acre more or less to the lands that comprise the leased premises and that said Amendment Number One was duly recorded as instrument number JB2011R-0021712 in Craighead County, Arkansas land records on February 10th, 2011. And whereas in April 2011, the parties executed in Amendment Number Two, to the real estate lease agreement for the purpose of amending certain terms paragraph number six, number eight, number 10, and number 16 of the original real estate lease agreement recorded as instrument number JB2011R-005575 in Craighead County, Arkansas land records. on April 8th, 2011. Whereas both parties now wish to adopt this amendment and restated real estate lease, now therefore be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Jonesboro, Arkansas. Section one, City of Jonesboro approves updated lease language presented by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission for usage of city owned property for the public benefit. Section two, the Mayor and City Clerk are hereby authorized by the Jonesboro City Council to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this agreement.

Do you have a motion and a second on the floor, councilor? Any questions?

Well, I was the one who asked for this to not be on the consent agenda, but that was because of what was stated at the finance committee meeting about the nature center being kept closed. But you got that cleared up, and it's not staying closed. It'll be open.

That's correct. They will reopen. And that was stated firmly in email, and all of council should have received that. Thank you.

Was that just a miscommunication, or? How'd that come about?

That would have been on their half.

On their half? Yes.

OK. Yeah.

Mayor, I would just say, too, Representative Tosh called the Game and Fish Director that night, too. So he really jumped on it. So I appreciate you jumping on it, and I appreciate him jumping on it and making sure that that's protected, because it's important to kids and the community.

We had just had the conversation with the director not two weeks earlier, and he had enforced that that was going to occur. So that caught off guard. So that was straightened up. I appreciate everybody's awareness of that. Any questions from the audience? I don't see any. If you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot on that.

Council?

And that does carry. So now, council, we'll move on to items number six. That's in new business. Ordinances on the first reading, ordinance 26036.

Move to suspend the rules and offer by title only.

Second. We have a motion on the floor. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

An ordinance to amend section 1-7 of the code of ordinances to change general penalties to match state law.

Do we have any questions by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well. So that ordinance will now move on to its second reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26037.

Move we suspend the rules and offer by title only. Second.

We do have a motion on the floor. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

An ordinance for the approval of an application for a private club permit for 141 Prime Restaurant.

Any questions by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? OK. Yes, sir. One at a time. So all right. Please come forward. State your name and address.

James Elwynn Hines, 508 Ridgecrest, Jonesboro. Usually on these, they tell us where these are located. And I kind of wonder if this was left off of this one because it's not wanted for people to know where this is located. For those who do, any of you who do not know, this is right around the corner from this elementary school up here on Philadelphia and Church. It's right over, as you come around on Church, it'll be right on your left. Folks, this is way too close to an elementary school. The people in this, they had, well, they've had complaints about things, people they don't want hanging around that school, and we've, honored them in their request before but i think if people realize where this is being asked to do you might find that every parent that has a child at that elementary school objects to this okay anyone else in the audience yes sir if you would please come forward state your name and address

I'm Marty Lilly, 2300 Pleasant Grove Road, Jonesboro. I'm attorney for Key Construction and Shannon and Lane Key. And I think you have all the information in your packets that have been submitted to you. And I just want to let you know that we're here. In case you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them. And if we don't have an answer, we'll get one to you. That's all I needed to say. Thank you. Let's see if anyone has a question.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anyone else from the audience? I don't see any, so now that'll move on to its second reading. Next, we'll move on to item number seven. These are items in unfinished business. First of all, we'll start with ordinance 26031.

An ordinance to amend chapter 2-87 to clarify how a city council member may sponsor legislation.

Do we have any discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? I don't see any as well, so that item move on to its third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26032.

An ordinance to amend section 2-84 of the code of ordinances to add procedure for opening invocation during council meetings.

Any questions or discussion by council? I don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? Don't see any either. Next, we'll move on then to its third reading. Now we'll move on to ordinance 26033.

An ordinance to amend section 2-84 and 2-87 of the code of ordinances to correct outdated language and update timelines for providing notice of a special call committee meeting to the city clerk and for other purposes.

Any questions or comments by council? Don't see any. Anyone in council chambers? Don't see any as well. So that'll move on to its third reading. Now we're moving on to ordinances on the third reading. We do have one ordinance this evening that'll be voted on by council. Ordinance 26030.

An ordinance to amend chapter 117 known as the zoning ordinance providing for changes in zoning boundaries from PDM multifamily use to PDM commercial use for property located at 1411 Southern Ridge Boulevard as requested by Jeremy Beville on behalf of Southern Hills Apartments Development LLC. Move to adopt.

Second. We do have a motion and a second on the floor to adopt. Council, any questions? I don't see anyone in the audience. Anyone in the audience? I don't see any. So council, if you would, please go ahead and cast your ballot. And that does carry. So now we'll move on to item number eight. And this is the mayor's reports. Council, we've had quite an active time frame in the last two weeks. Obviously, Paint the Town Red was on September 11th. Downtown hosted the event in a partnership with Arkansas State, the Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Jonesboro Alliance. It brought a lot of community together ahead of the A-State football and included a block party among Main Street. So the involvement and support of our community is great. should really be high on our charts because of what the Arkansas State University is able to do with and enter our community in so many aspects. And what I mean by that is their enrollment has grown tremendously. We have so many more students in our community. We are working with them on transportation opportunities to get them in our community, to get them more engaged in downtown, our parks, et cetera. So these are things that we've got to continue to work on. The Arkansas Recycling Award, which I mentioned earlier, again, that was in Hot Springs on September 1st. And once again, Jonesboro was able to be recognized and stand out among its peers among the state of Arkansas. The Turtle Creek Wetlands Project. Now this is recently, the Turtle Creek Wetlands is a reimagining project. It's a partnership with the University of Arkansas, Department of Landscape Architecture, Keep Jonesboro Beautiful, and the Engineering Department. The pilot project, explores transforming existing stormwater and drainage property along the Greenway Trail into usable green space with concepts including an outdoor classroom for Nettleton students and opportunities for recreation and environmental education. So Brian was a participant in that event along with our Craig Light and many others from the city on how we can move that project forward in that partnership. Also, as we all are well aware, this past week was the remembrance of the 25th anniversary of September 11th. Representatives from the city, including myself, joined Jonesboro Elks Lodge 498 and VFW Post 1991 for their annual Patriot Day service commemorating the 25th anniversary on September 11th attacks. I presented a proclamation declaring September 11th, 26, a national day of remembrance in Jonesboro, honoring the lives lost and recognizing the courage and continued service of our own very own first responders. I would like to say, and if I leave anybody out, I apologize. I would like to say to our community partners, uh, for Honda, NEA Baptist and Kavanaugh Ford, they provided meals for breakfast and lunch for our first responders and our entire community. And so, again, I want to say thank you to our local community for their support as well of our very own. The 870 Bowl was there. Jonesboro and Valley View. Jonesboro and Valley View renewed their crosstown football matchup on September 11th, making it the first meeting of the two teams since 2015. The highly anticipated game drew a large crowd and showcased men of school spirit among both programs. So Valley View, did I have to say that, took the win? Okay, all right, Valley View took the win. 30 to 21, but I must say there were over 6,000 community participants there in support of both schools, and it was great to see always that type of activity in our community. Parks activities, I think Jim had mentioned to y'all earlier, a lot of things are going on, and they just started this past weekend with Fall programs that are moving forward and the increased enrollment and all of these activities set the tone for what this community is all about. I'm just telling you, the volunteers that we had in this room earlier, there's many more on top of that, and we couldn't do these programs without them. Also, today we met with Innovation. Innovation is the new facility. over 200,000 square foot facility in our community. And we had about a two hour meeting with them to move that project forward in a timely manner. All the departments were there. They brought everybody with them as well. And folks, that's how things get done. I will say this on behalf of the ownership from Japan, They bragged on our community on how we're able to achieve things that they have not seen before in the United States. And so once again, I want to say thank you to the team at Jonesboro as we continue to move forward with this. It's important that we recognize what we do have here and the individuals that we do have working for the city on what we're able to accomplish. September 19th, the Jack Deacon Swim Meet. Youth Center, that's going to be a big one. That's Friday and Saturday, Sunday event. That's coming up. Mothers of Angels Butterfly Release, Jonesboro Fun Day and Sunset Sessions at Craighead Forest Park will be forthcoming. And then the following week, we have United Way Day of Caring. And the Northeast Arkansas District Fair begins as well. September 26 will be Recovery in the Streets Union Park Pavilion event. And the Downtown Jonesboro Barbecue Festival will begin as well. That's the end of my notes. Next, we'll move on to item number nine. These are city council reports.

Ms. Porter. I was able to attend the meeting last week with the representatives from the University of Arkansas Landscape Architecture, and I'd just like to say the students were extremely impressive, and I'm excited about this new partnership.

Thank you for being there.

Mr. Emison.

Nothing at this time, thank you.

Mr. Moore.

Mayor, I had the opportunity to look at our new building on the inside on Highland this week, and I encourage the rest of the council to make a trip out there. It's really nice. I knew it would probably be okay for us to use on short term, but the building's pretty impressive. I think we're going to be happy. Do we have a timeline of when everybody's going to try to occupy that?

Well, I have an individual, a former full-time employee, Ronnie. Somebody might know Ronnie Shaver. working on that daily, and our timeline is probably about a month off before we can get all the upgrades that we need to have, we have to have. He gave me an update this morning. There are several things that are gonna take a little bit of time, but hopefully about a month we'll start seeing the move-in process.

You can deal with Ronnie, who gave me the tour through there, and like I said, by all means, it's... Are you moving out there, Carol? No. Okay.

I'm not sure we were invited, but no, we're not moving.

The other thing I wanted to mention before we move on, along with events this weekend, there's going to be a large car show in the parking lot of the Dillard's at Mall at Turtle Creek, and it'll be film for television. So I encourage everybody, if you have an antique car or an old car, to come out and bring your car to the event. They're expecting over 200 cars, and... It'll be a good time. Looks like the weather's going to cooperate for them.

I think it's going to be, aren't they having motorcycles and the whole deal? Motorcycles, cars, trucks, food, everything out there. United States will start around 9 o'clock, I think, in the morning.

I think so, and it goes most of the day. And Dennis Gage from My Classic Cars and his crew will be there. So that's all, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Gibson.

Nothing at this time. Thank you.

Mr. McClain. No, thank you. Dr. Anthony Coleman.

No, thank you.

Mr. Hafner.

Thanks.

Mr. Bryant.

I'll be brief. Mayor, thanks to your staff and Chairman Emison. I think we had a really good discussion on pedestrian safety. So thanks for the all-way stop. I know it's expensive, but it's important. And as you often talk about, and we all know, there's a lot of people that have one car, zero cars, and people doing it for recreation and for people doing it because they have to. So I think that's really important. And I think in public safety, the city attorney touched this briefly. but at some point it'd be great to have an update on loitering and how Attorney General Griffin's recent actions of using his officers to cite some people, what does that look like and what does that look like for the city and stuff. So I'd be interested to hear an update on that in the future.

Mr. Miller.

No, thank you.

Mr. Tree.

I just want to thank you for mentioning the football game. They're both great schools and they're both great athletic organizations. I'm a little bit leaning toward Valley View. Very proud of them, but it's a great game, great teams. Do you have any update on the Delta Peanut factory mayor? I mean, are they gonna be able to do something with this year's crop on a temporary basis?

We can maybe find out. Stephen's in the room with the Chamber of Commerce. I do know that there are conversations going on among the ownership because there's many players involved in that facility. And so hopefully they're going to be able to rectify something here shortly. So we're doing everything we can. I know the chamber's working with him as well.

It affects a lot of people. And the farmers, it's tough to try to come up with something at this late date.

Again, that's a growing concern across the United States. But Arkansas farmers are really being affected, period.

The diesel's maxed out, and they'll have to haul them 350 miles, so it'll make it even worse. But also, we had our MPO meeting today, and pedestrian safety was a big topic on that, as Brian can attest. There's a lot of construction going on around town. It's all looking good. Some of it doesn't go as fast as maybe everybody would love to see going, but we're really making some good progress. So it's a really good time to be right here with the projects we've got on from R-DOT and the city as well. And Washington's looking real good in the crossings. Again, with the pedestrian safety, it's awesome. So hopefully, we'll just keep improving. DAVID BURRAGE, All right.

That's the end of our council reports. Next, we're going to move on to public comments. We do allow individuals to come forward. You need to state your name and address. And you are limited on the time to speak.

Patty Lack, 4108 Forest Hill Road. I am here just to share some thoughts about our city's BZA. I had posted something on my Facebook page and maybe some of you read it, but this is concerning the decision or indecision that I know that there's still talks about TSC moving to the old Fred store. But some of my thoughts right here is that the Jonesboro Board of Zoning Adjustments handles administrative appeals, requests and zoning variances, requests involving non-conforming structures. The first question is that do we really need the BZA? In my opinion, there's a bigger issue that needs to be addressed. If some of our city ordinances were updated to reflect today's needs, property usage, restrictions, and community demands, rather than the regulations that were written 15 or 30 years ago, perhaps we would be far less for the need and the exceptions and the variances in the first place. So that raises another important question. Why should the final appeal from the BZA decision go directly to the city or to the circuit or state court? If a variance request is denied by the BZA, the applicant's next option may be to challenge their decision in court, potentially resulting in a costly and time-consuming battle for everyone involved. Yet when an applicant is denied by the MAPC, The final appeal goes to all of you, the city council. So why are these processes different? Shouldn't there be a more accessible, transparent, and consistent avenue to citizens to appeal their decision without immediately having to consider litigation? So how is this a fair process for the community? Maybe the answer is updating our updated ordinances. Maybe it's creating a more consistent appeal process and maybe it's increasing transparency and accountability within our zoning process. We shouldn't have to accept the system simply because that's the way it's always been done. Our ordinances and processes should serve the citizens of Jonesboro today and not the citizens that existed decades ago. We still have not heard a defined decision on the city's administration regarding whether TSC can go into the old Fred Store on Caraway building. I know that there is a process of communication going on right now. Jonesboro residents deserve a clear answer about this decision that affects our neighborhood and our community. Their first appearance at the BZA was on July the 20th, and it was variant 2617. There was three variances. Each one of them got voted separately, and that was almost two months ago. Today at the BZA, there was another request out there at Southern Hills by Carol Caldwell and Team Chick-fil-A. All the three variances that they had were voted at one time. There's been previous approvals by the BZA for cross access and that's what this whole thing is about and that was at the corner of Carraway and Parker Road. That variance was granted to that company and if you guys go out there is that there's only two ways in and out. There's one that's gonna be on Carraway which is gonna be a five lane road which is gonna be difficult and the other one is on Parker Road but they got granted to not put in a cross access a cross access, excuse me. Even though we know that in the city that there's lots of developments that don't have cross accesses that should have been to the BZA to get it approved. It's not consistent and it's not fair. the one thing that i noticed today is that chairman gilmore stated that in southern hills is that it's all local streets that takes traffic off of southwest drive and that's the reason for the cross access we understand that But lucky Southern Hill developers because now with stating that now is that there's no need for them to ask any more to get a variance for a cross access because now they can say that we have local streets and we don't have to have them. The BZA shouldn't even exist if we update our ordinances, and I think we need to start doing it now because what's happening is that this committee, as it appears, picks and chooses who gets granted and who doesn't get granted. So I hope that we can start updating our ordinances in this town to be fair to everybody. Thank you.

Is there anyone else that would like to make comments? Yes, ma'am. No, no, please come forward, state your name and address if you want to make a comment.

Maria Diaz, 2401 Twin Oaks. As you can tell, I'm a pretty old lady. I'm 73 years old. And all I'm complaining about is my ditch cannot be, well it's not my ditch, it's the city's ditch, why it cannot be mowed. At least once, maybe twice a year. It's not my property and they told me, the city told me that I had to mow it. And you know my son, he's got a learning disability. Now, if he goes and mows that lawn and falls down, is the city going to pay for his injuries? No, I don't think so. And I'm not going to pay $7,500. I can't afford it to have somebody mow that side. And this is what it looks like. And after that, property was, we thought they were building something there next to the Wood Springs Pharmacy, was mulched down and cleaned and everything. We had everything from three foot to five foot rats come across that ditch. And we had to take care of all that. And it's a nuisance. And then one side of the ditch is already fixing to cave in. We've been there since 07. And that ditch has not ever been looked at. But when that ditch claves in, the whole street's gonna cave in. And I think that's what they're waiting for, to pave it all in at one time. I just want that ditch mowed. That's it.

Anyone else like to speak? I don't see any. We'll move on to item number 11. That's adjournment. So moved.

Second.

We do have a motion on the floor. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed?