City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you for joining us live for the City of South Fulton City Council Meeting. We are proud to introduce the leadership entrusted with guiding our city forward. Mayor Carmelitha Gumbs. District 1 Councilwoman, Dr. Catherine Rao. District 2 Councilman, Aaron V. Johnson. District 3 Councilwoman, Latonya Toni Wright. District Four Councilman, Jaycee Sebastian. District Five Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem, Kyosha B. Bell. District Six Councilwoman, Natasha Williams-Brown. District 7 Councilwoman Linda Becker Pritchett. Supporting the work of this body and the operations of our city are City Clerk Corey Adams, City Manager Sharon D. Subedan, and Interim City Attorney Sarah Kelly. Thank you for being the best part of the City of South Fulton, a city on the rise.

All right, good afternoon and welcome to our City Council work session for September the 8th, 2026 at 4 p.m. Mr. Clerk, can you please sign the next item?

This is a roll call for today's meeting. The Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1.

Present.

The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. Present. The Honorable Latonya Toni Wright, District 3. present the Honorable JC Sebastian district for here the Honorable kill should be bail district 5 present the on one Natasha Williams Brown district 6 The Honorable Linda Becker Pritchett district 7 present remotely and the Honorable Mayor Carmelita gums Here at a merry of a quorum.

All right, mr. Clerk. Can you please sound the next item?

I

Next item is city manager's item. Sitting in for manager Subedan is Dr. Mark Anthony Cooper, assistant city manager. MARK ANTONY COOPER, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER, CITY MANAGER, SUBEDAN, Thank you, Mayor, council.

The city manager's report has been submitted in writing along with the finance and public works report for your review and prerogative.

Council, do we have any questions for Dr. Cooper in reference to the city manager's report?

I said Cooper. I almost asked.

Sorry. It looks like no questions at this time. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to our presentation for this afternoon. It's a presentation. by the Just Serve organization. We have Ms. Sand Gray with us today, as well as Ms. Kristen Lowe, who will be presenting.

Thank you for allowing us to be here. I'm Sand Gray, and this is Kristen Lowe, and we are here as representatives from Just Serve. Can everyone hear us okay? Or me, I'm the only person talking. But appreciate the opportunity to be here and to share with you something that's very tender to our hearts and that is service in our communities. and just serve is a wonderful platform that allows organizations, individuals and families an opportunity to get involved in their communities and to safeguard and protect their communities by volunteering in different capacities. Um, the city of South Fulton is being awarded a just serve city, which is a wonderful distinction amongst all the other cities. So we have a, an award back here that we can give someone that we hope that this council will consider a great distinction. It means that the city of South Fulton has a great endeavor to be involved in their community and to actually serve. So we wanted to tell you just a little bit about just serve, how it impacts your city and how it can actually help you with the community with it. So there is just a quick video we're going to watch, and I think it's only about 40 seconds long.

Opportunities for service are everywhere. You just need to know where to look. We now have a free community resource It's called Just Serve. This is how Just Serve works. Faith, nonprofit, and community organizations submit their needs on JustServe.org, including how long the service will take, when and where it will happen, what skills are needed, and what ages it may be appropriate for. Then you match your situation to their needs. Do you want to serve in the community, but you only have an hour and a half on Thursday? Go to JustServe.org and the site will show you projects that match your availability. Want to find ways for your family to serve together? Looking for a simple way to recommend service projects, reach out to volunteers, or build friendships and unity in the community? Go to JustServe.org. Getting involved helps people in need and provides opportunities for you to serve side by side with others in the community. So let's start with our communities and JustServe.

Okay. Thank you for allowing us to share that with you. And just so this council is aware and those that are present just serve is an app and also an online platform that allows individuals to sit in their own homes or on their jobs and find service opportunities by zip code. So if you are a family, you can sit in your own home, put your zip code in, and find things to do as a family to serve in your community, whether it's to clean up or whether it's to help out a food pantry that falls within your boundaries. It's actually a really beautiful thing. I know that I live in Mableton, and this is a volunteer opportunity that we do. It is a free platform. And I know that I live in Mableton with my family. Even though the platform was created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is actually overseen as the advisory council by so many different organizations. And I believe that you guys should have the paper that shows you who actually sits on the advisory council. It's amazing because you have some of the biggest volunteer organizations in the world. You have Catholic Charities. You have the Salvation Army. And they oversee and try to get as many people as possible to post their volunteer opportunities. And the church oversees the maintenance of the website only. And for those of you who are not familiar with the church, we have one that is right here in your boundaries. And this is Cassie Van Dyke. Her husband is actually the Bishop of one of our churches. That's right on Lee street. Um, so we wholeheartedly want every family to serve and to get involved in their communities.

Thank you all for having us. One way that my family has taken advantage of the JustServe platform is connecting our youth groups to opportunities. So we've made sandwiches for the unhoused. We've put together kits for menstruation for women's shelters. And it's just a great tool, especially to mobilize people quickly as well. So kind of these standing projects will be ongoing, the sandwiches and the putting together resources for different shelters. But it's also a great platform to mobilize people quickly. whether it's for emergency or disaster responses, it is free, and so it makes it an easy entry for any other organizations to put their volunteer opportunities on there. And with South Fulton becoming a just serve county and city, you also receive support that you might need with the platform to kind of understand how it operates and works. And then just some of the initiatives that we've been able to kind of work towards recently They're to celebrate and honor America's 250th anniversary. We've had food truck deliveries, massive semi trucks with 40,000 pounds of shelf stable food have been distributed to 250 food banks in the area and across all 50 states as well. Um, another nice thing about this is that volunteers can log their service hours. So I know I have a couple of high school students who are trying to, um, get service hours. So that is a newer feature that people are able to log. So they don't have to, you know, keep a tally in a notebook somewhere, but it logs it in their, uh, account so that they can see over the longterm what their impact has been.

So one of the things we wanted to make clear is that, um, this is the 15th year of just serve. And Kristen mentioned that this is 250 years of our country. And one of the most beautiful things that Kristen and I and Cassie got to participate in was most of, most of you are probably familiar with Dr. Carter from Morehouse who just went out. He was the chaplain and we were able to, uh, donate a food truck in his honor, a complete truck with 25,000 pounds of nonperishable items that were distributed from over 35 different organizations that were able to fill up their pantries. And so these are the types of things that can happen. I see the city of South Fulton posting service opportunities, a cleanup day wherever you are, You can sign up wherever your family is and go clean up your community. I see libraries needing help and asking for volunteers to come and fill their shelves or to help organize. I see food pantries within your boundaries posting and looking for help. I see youth groups, like Kristin mentioned, different churches being able to sign up and to go and to help in their food pantries. This is an opportunity for us to come outside of ourselves and to help serve other people. I know that my life has been blessed by being able to do service opportunities because we know that life is hard and you can get so bogged down by what's happening in your own life. But as we promote volunteerism in our area, it will get us outside of what's happening, like right in ourselves and get us out serving, um, with our families. And just so you are aware, since its inception, more than 800,000 volunteers have registered and participated in more than 150,000 projects and the app and the website are free spaces for the community to post their needs. Um, it is a wonderful opportunity for the city of South Fulton to become a leader. in the state, you already are with volunteering. We just hope that you will use the site to garner more opportunities and foster volunteerism in your boundaries.

But I wanted you to meet Cassie because she's pretty amazing and she, thanks. I appreciate that. I will take that on behalf of my husband. So my name is Cassie. Ooh, thank you. My name is Cassie Marino Van Dyke, and my husband, Sebastian Van Dyke, he is actually the bishop of our congregation. So just for a little bit of background, we have a lay ministry as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, everyone that serves in our church is a volunteer. So my husband also has a full-time job, which is why he could not be here today. My full-time job happens to be for the church. So I am a church volunteer and I'm also a church employee, so I'm able to be here on his behalf. Our congregations are divided up geographically. So the congregation that my husband oversees encompasses the city of South Fulton, goes as far south as Fairburn, and about as far north as I-20, and encompasses all members of our church, friends and neighbors in that community. So as a church volunteer, I have helped to oversee the youth groups who have participated in the Sandwich Project, who have helped pack food at the Atlantic Community Food Bank. As a church employee, I'm also the one who's been able to help manage where those food trucks go. So just for your context, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a headquarters. At our headquarters, we have a farm, we have a dairy, we have a cannery. And what we do is we produce enough food to supply storehouses all over the country for members of our church who might be falling on hard times or who might be in need. If they are struggling with job loss or maybe displacement of their families due to death, divorce, any of those things, they are able to free shop at our storehouses and use whatever cash they might have to pay their bills. Now, we typically produce way more than we need. And so when we have excess, we put that out in the community. And so part of my job, part of my responsibility is to determine where those food trucks will go all over the Southeast region. And so I've had the privilege of being able to participate in setting up food trucks to go to the Atlanta Community Food Bank right down the street as a paid employee. but also as a volunteer at our church, seeing our youth get together and create sandwiches and pack bags and distribute it in the community, help out with cleaning up parks and things of that nature. So really appreciate the opportunity to see it from both sides. I think it will absolutely be a blessing to the community and that we'll be able to link arms with one another. It's open to anybody, regardless of background, race, religion. It's just an opportunity for us to come together as a community and uplift those around us.

Thank you, Cassie. So since the city of South Fulton is already great at volunteering, it is awarded as a just serve city. And not, yes. Thank you. Yeah. So this is, I don't know who to get this to, but I will figure that out later. Um, but we are very grateful for the work that's already been done here in the city. Um, so, this council should be commended for all of its hard work. And so thank you very much for creating a safe and loving environment for the residents of the city of South Fulton. And it's created a great role model for other cities. So that is commendable. Thank you to all of you here.

We'll do a group picture for you after we finish with the questions.

Okay. Thank you.

So don't go away.

We will not go anywhere. But we just want you all to know that it's amazing what you're accomplishing and what you're doing. And we actually have a... storehouse, um, that is here, uh, that is not far from here that has provided nonperishable items to so many different areas. And it provides so many, so much food to different pantries and different areas. So we have a lot of work to do in our, in our state. And I'm glad that we have an avenue such as, just serve to help us sort of streamline the process so that it is organized. And I can't wait to see what the city of South Fulton will do. And don't worry, we will not leave you hanging. We will help you get started. We will help you, um, get organized and just need to know who the contact person will be for that. But would love to know if you have any questions for us for about just serve or about,

You have quite a few questions. We'll start with Councilwoman Rao.

First of all, I want to thank the representatives from Just Serve being here, and I want to thank the City Council because we adopted this Just Serve resolution, I guess about a month and a half now. And I want to thank the staff, Dr. Cooper in particular, as we have compiled a list of all the volunteer opportunities in the city, which there's a pretty extensive list. So that's where we're going to start, making sure people in the community know about the opportunities that already exist in the city. We're working with nonprofit providers in the city to also promote their volunteer opportunities because, as you know, there's always something going on in the city of Southfoot, and it would be nice to have it parked in one place for people who want to volunteer. So, again, thank the council for your leadership, and we look forward to continuing to promote this and working with public affairs to do that. Thank you.

all right thank you i believe i saw councilwoman wright from district three thanks madam mayor um i'm excited about um this program and the opportunities because you know i grew up volunteering all my life so being able to give back to the community is very vital um just quick question in regards to the app and people being able to go and see the different volunteer opportunities is it somewhere on the app where if people volunteer that they can track what they, you know, their volunteer hours.

The app and the online, because there are some people who don't use apps, so you can do the online version of the website and it, you can either create an account by creating an account. It tracks the volunteer hours and the opportunities that you have engaged in, you're more than welcome to just go to the website, put your zip code in and find opportunities that way. And that doesn't keep a track of anything, but if you download the app or you create an account, you can keep track. And one thing that's amazing is that I believe once you get to a certain amount of hours, you are awarded a just serve hero award. And the council is able to award that to citizens who have and students who have accumulated so many hours. And then whoever is determined as the person to work with us, we will help you keep in track. I will call you and say, do you know that sand has completed 80 hours and we will help you give this award, um, an award award that to them at the appropriate time.

Mayor Pro Tem Bell.

Thank you, Mayor. I just had a few questions. And again, I appreciate the work that you all do in the community as someone that works in the nonprofit sector and have been for years. we have had the pleasure of working with some of the JustServe volunteers. So, kudos to you and your organization. I've had an opportunity to see you are represented at Georgia Municipal Association and some of the NLC events, I do believe. So, thank you. But I did have a question as it relates to additional nonprofits being added, especially in the sector of providing food. As you probably know, in this particular area, we have food insecurities. We have a lot of nonprofit organizations that partner with various council members to provide food. How can they go about, I guess, being added to the list, especially as it relates to the food distribution? And then we have a lot of college students who volunteer. And so I want to make sure that we can also advertise to our college students who are always, they need the hours, they need service hours, but they're also going to need those letters. So would there be a component? where they can get those letters, those two questions. Thank you.

She will discuss food. I will discuss the, um, awards or things like that. We definitely can help with students and being able to get those recommendation letters because we need those, we need those scholarships to come in. Uh, so we will definitely work with the students and we will help them keep track and we will help get them the letters that they need for it. So you will have a dedicated person to, work with you with JustServe. Thank you. You're welcome. And then food. Yes, so food.

So a part of my job, my actual job title is that I am a welfare self-reliance manager. And so my work is to help people, families, communities that are struggling to be able to get up on their feet and provide resources, programs, education, things that are going to help them become self-sufficient. And so part of the way that we do that, as I mentioned, is that we provide food to the community. What San was sharing is these are full semi-truck loads coming out of our headquarters, coming from that church farm. And so there's only specific places I can send them to. They have to be able to, they have to have a loading dock, they have to have a warehouse space to bring the food directly inside. It can't be brought outside. They have to have a pallet jack and staff and all the things to be able to receive and store that food. So typically I work with large, very large warehouses similar to the Atlanta Food Bank. And then what I ask is that those smaller food pantries, churches, food banks work with them. So I know that they support about 200 partners and so I would really suggest that if there are churches or pantries or food shelves that are not partnering with Atlanta Community Food Bank that they would get with them and then get the food directly from them because a lot of what we also want to do is build community relationships. We'd rather have them building a relationship and creating an alliance with the Atlanta Community Food Bank than necessarily with us, per se, if that makes sense. We will get the food to the food bank. They will get it out to all those other pantries and then strengthen those relationships within the community.

And I'll speak with, there is a community food bank near us. It's Georgia Feeding Families. So I would definitely want to give them that information. I think this would be great. because they do provide food and shelf life products right now currently.

If they're not on the food bank, if they're not part of their partners, double check with them. I'm also happy to chat with you afterwards. We are in a, it's 26 pallets full of shelf stable food and commodities. So sometimes they'll be laundry detergent or other items like that. But there's a lot of food that comes out. So we have to have very specific guidelines as to where we can send it. But where they pass it on to, totally up to them. So we'd like to build those relationships within the community.

Thank you.

Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you guys for what you do. I think this is going to help us tremendously. And also maybe help take a little bit of pressure off of staff. one of the reasons why I live where I live is because we tend to reach out and take care of ourselves and so we have a lot of volunteers that tend to come forward and to work whenever we put out the call properly but it's sometimes it's not well Organize a little bit you have to start early and sometimes make calls So I'm looking forward to you know, having folks join your tool so that we can then Use that as a more organized way I'm gonna go to to what you said from the point of view of growing the food Because we're having a lot of discussion about producing food In certain areas of our city, right and And so the question I have, do you have volunteers at the farm or they just do the events? And do you also provide any technical assistance for maybe other churches that may have farms and they need some help in increasing their production?

That's a great question. So the church farm, the cannery, the dairy, that is at our church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. They do not take volunteers. They actually have, they use it as a job training for refugees who are resettling and need to learn kind of the ins and outs of working in the United States, being able to feed their families, just kind of trying to get the gist of what it's like to be here in the United States. And so the church farm, while it produces food for all the storehouses all over the nation, they also use it as a training ground for people that have just come into the country. Now, I will say that my specific region, I cover North Atlanta, Columbia, South Carolina, and Raleigh. I believe I was talking with the Catholic Charities in Raleigh. They were asking a similar question about advice on how to work with farms, and so I can get your information afterwards. I do have some information that I shared with them that I'd be happy to share with you as well. They were kind of at the beginning of trying to set something up and asked for our advice and some assistance, so I was able to give them some information I can share with you as well.

Thank you. You're welcome. So last question. So I was at a local farm just last Wednesday. We did a feature for our community market last Thursday on a young farmer. So I was at their farm, and they have a patch, maybe no bigger than those groups of chairs, or maybe a little bit larger than those groups of chairs, that they said last summer produced 500 melons, right? And so I found that was amazing for the size that we were looking on. And I had some discussion with them as to what will they and others need that have big patch of land, that have the ability to plant stuff. They may have the technical expertise, but they're short on labor. Now, I keep hearing you talk about events. But do you also try to model? I know you talk about your farm being in Utah, right? Um, but I'm interested in having a model where we have these community farms where people can also volunteer and learn their own farming at the same time. Cause we are, we are actively trying to do that where, you know, the community where I live.

Yes, I'm happy. I can share information that I sent to Raleigh. I'm happy to give you my information and we can communicate afterwards. I can share the information I gave with them. gave to them, excuse me, with you so that you can look through that and see if that's going to help get you where you're looking to go with the local farms here. I think the ones that are out west are so, so large. They're a great model to start with. We don't have anything local, though. What we have here is the storehouse where all of the produce and shelf stable and supplies and whatnot are stored. And then our community members, church members, those people that need a free shop can go there. But we don't have any farms locally.

Thank you. You're welcome. If it's one thing we learned from COVID, we have to be in the position where we produce some stuff for ourselves. So when that supply chain gets interrupted for whatever reason, at least we can feed ourselves. Thank you.

Okay. I have one question. Um, in reference to your volunteers, is it just, how do you go about screening them or just anybody say they can volunteer and they're accepted?

Each organization that posts an opportunity list criteria. You list age, what limitations there are to make sure that you're getting the right kind of people. So we, your person who is assigned to work with you can help to make sure that you streamline the kind of help that you're actually receiving.

Okay. So they have to come through an organization. They just can't sign up individually and say they want to. come and volunteer if you have an event.

They have to go on the website so you know who's coming to your event. Yes, ma'am.

All right. Well, I don't have any further questions. I think we're ready to take the picture. OK. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Your presentation was wonderful. Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three.

one more time one two three and last one one two and three thank you very much oh no i'm sorry the real camera one two three one two and

Oh, thank you.

Okay, council. We have no further presentations. Would you all, do we need an executive session? Okay. City attorney said that we need to have an executive session. If there's no objections, we can recess for executive session. All right. We are officially recessed at 434. Going to reconvene. If there's no objection, was there any action taken in executive session?

Madam mayor, there was no action taken in executive session that requires a public vote.

All right. At this time, if there is no objection, we will go ahead and adjourn this meeting. All right. This meeting is adjourned at five 11. Okay. Okay. We are opening up our next meeting. Welcome to the Alcohol License and Zoning Public Hearing Special Meeting for 5 p.m. What is today? September the 8th, 2026 at 5.11 p.m. Mr. Clerk, can you sound the next item, please?

the roll call for today's alcohol zoning, alcohol license zoning public hearing meeting. The Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1.

Present.

The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. Present. The Honorable Latonya Toni Wright, District 3.

Present.

The Honorable J.C. Sebastian, District 4.

Here.

The Honorable Kale Shabee Bell, District 5. The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6, is coming through the door. And the Honorable Linda Becker-Pritchett, District 7.

All right.

And the Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. And we do have Mayor Pro Tem and Councilwoman Williams-Brown that are here as well. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

That brings us to Roman numeral 3, which is a list of rezoning cases that are requesting deferral. We have three of them listed, letter A, B, and C, Z25-022. Z26019 and U26-008. All right, council.

Wait a minute.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. We're requesting that all of these items be moved to October the 13th, which I believe is our first meeting in October.

All right, council, if there's no objections. we will move these items to October the 13th, 2026. What objection? Sorry. Yes, ma'am. You are councilwoman Williams Brown.

The item three a Z two five dash O two two slash CV two five zero three three. I would like to defer that until November 10th.

All right. So if there are no objections, council, we have, that was the A. So the first two items that are deferred will be to October the 13th and the next one will be November.

Item A. I'm requesting a deferral until November 10th. Till November the 10th. For item 3A.

For item 3A. If there are no objections with the changes in this agenda. All right. That is approved by unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

That brings us to Roman numeral 4 alcohol license rezoning variants and modification cases for presentation and public hearing only first case is the 26 dash 0, 0, 1 CDP 26, 0, 0, 3 bridge logistics care of Henry Bailey requesting rezoning from sub a in the sandtown overlay district to m 1 to develop approximately 1,600,500 square feet of light industrial warehouse distribution campus consisting of six buildings on 157.86 acres. Also requesting a future land use amendment from Suburban 1 neighborhood character area to the industrial character area at 0 Camelton Road, 0336, 2230, 6460, 2391, 2331 Chattahoochee Drive. It's located in City Council District 1 Staff recommendation is approval of both cases, and Planning Commission recommendation is denial of both cases. Staff?

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Reggie McClendon, Managing Director of Community Development and Regulatory Affairs. You all have in front of you a physical copy of the updated version of the staff report for this case, Z26-001. This case has been around for a while. It did go through a DRI review of its original footprint, which, as you will see as you look through the staff report, has been reduced. There are two site plans in that staff report. One of them was the original site plan, and then there is the updated site plan that the applicant will be presenting to you today. WE DID WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU SAW BOTH VERSIONS OF THAT SITE PLAN BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL SITE PLAN IS THE PLAN THAT WENT THROUGH THE PLANNING COMMISSION PROCESS. PLANNING COMMISSION DID RECOMMEND DENIAL. AS FAR AS THE NEW SITE PLAN GOES, Staff has updated our recommendation from denial to approval conditional with the following conditions being recommended that the site plan be adhered to that has been presented to you. I believe that's dated August or August of 2026 that the 100-foot buffer be maintained adjacent to the residentially zoned properties. And let me make sure that's the final one. that the properties be re-designated to the Fulton Industrial Business District Overlay District and that all ingress and egress to the site be from Fulton Industrial Boulevard.

All right.

Thank you. Is the applicant here?

I am. Good evening. This is Henry Bailey. Excuse me. My name is Henry Bailey at 3630 Peach Street Road, Northeast.

Okay, one second. I've got to open up public hearing. Oh, my bad. You was ready. I'm always ready. So at this time, I'm opening up the public hearing for items 4A. on the agenda. Sir, you have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time. You may want to reserve some time for rebuttal. Also, keep in mind that the time allowed includes public comments for any citizens who are also in favor of your application. The same time granted for those in favor of your application must be given to those in opposition, if any. You may proceed.

Thank you. Again, my name is Henry Bailey, counsel for the applicant 3630 Peachtree Road Northeast. Suite 7000 at Clark Hill PLC. As Mr. McClendon stated, this is a request to rezone the property at 6550 Fulton Industrial Boulevard from Sub A, Sandtown Overlay District to Light Industrial, Fulton Industrial Business District Overlay. We have clickers working. OK, here we go. So in addition to that rezoning request, we're also requesting to amend the comprehensive plan to industrial from suburban. And some of you all have seen a portion of this property before as the majority of the property is already zoned light industrial. At this time, we're asking that 9.2 9.16 acres that my client owns already be added to that site plan and that rezoning to accommodate the site plan that you'll see here in a second. The DRI recommended approval of the original site plan, but also asked that we make some adjustments to ameliorate stream and environmental impacts. And you'll see on this revised site plan that we go above and beyond that remediation request to accommodate the DRI recommendation. So this was the first approved plan back in 2022 along Fulton Industrial Boulevard, relatively small compared to the plan we're presenting today. It was for a single building there along Fulton Industrial Boulevard. The second approved site plan is a part of a rezoning that we did in 2024, included two cross dock buildings. And then in 2025, 2026, when we first submitted this application, The plan that you see before you on the screen was what we were presenting. This is a total of six buildings, over 1.6 million square feet. And currently what we're proposing is the plan you see here, where the majority of the property that was included in that plan is no longer a part of the request. It's kind of hard to tell based on the colors on the screen, but only the parcels outlined in orange. being requested to be rezoned here. Again, the balance of the site that's along Fulton Industrial Boulevard is already zoned light industrial. So this will equal a total of three buildings, roughly 745,000 square feet, adhering to all string buffers, not requesting any variances, and maintaining all the buffers required and supplied by City of South Fulton zoning code. And this is the proposed plan in color so you can get a better sense of where the streams are and how we're staying out of them and not making an impact on them and the amount of vegetation that surrounds the existing property as of today. And so this map shows the Fulton Industrial Business Overlay District, which is what we're hoping to be moved into. As you can see, it's kind of hard to see, but there's a little dot. Excuse me. The little clicker doesn't show me the red dot, but there's a red box in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, which essentially shows where the property interacts with both Fulton Industrial Business District overlay and the Sandtown overlay. But for the sort of geography, if you will, of this area of South Fulton, the Fulton Industrial Business District overlay would be straight down with an equidistant buffer on both sides, but that's not the case here. So that's why we're requesting the uh, amendment to also include a move from Sandtown overlay into the full industrial business district overlay. Um, is a closer look that posture you see in the green, uh, is roughly 9.9.16 acres that we're requesting to be rezoned. Um, all that parts, all the, the, the shaded red area next to that green was originally included, but it's no longer included as a part of this plan. We've limited to just this green section shown on the screen. And you can see on this screen where there are other industrial properties that abut to the north and to the south and to the west across across Fulton Industrial Boulevard to this project. And so as a part of this process, as you all know, there's a significant public participation element. We've met with the Sandtown Neighborhood Community Association in February 2026, met with Zion Hill Baptist Church on at least four occasions. Between February and June, we held a public participation meeting at Wolf Creek Library on June 2nd. And some of the common things that we got from that public participation process was traffic, and our DRI study shows there's no appreciable impact from a traffic study as a part of the DRI approval, and that was based on the original plan at 1.6 million square feet. We've thus reduced it by roughly a million square feet to what you see today. Jobs and economic benefit, we're looking at roughly 600 jobs. I know this says 1,000 to 2,000, but this is what it was when the original plan was submitted. And our end users are light industrial end users, not the type of users that you might find that will result in the fire like you had a couple of days ago. These are purely light industrial uses that we'll get into here in a second. So why should city council vote to approve this? Again, just to harp on this a little bit more, since the original plan was submitted and DRI recommended approval, with their recommendations, we've reduced the square footage on this site and the acreage on this site By one million square feet, we've eliminated all the encroachments and the stream buffers. We've made sure that we've maintained all the required buffers and will commit to maintaining those buffers throughout the duration of this development. And this property is located along Fulton Industrial Boulevard. Time and time again, I come to these hearings and I hear citizens and I hear the council and I hear staff say, that location matters the most when you're talking about industrial properties. And in my eyes, when you look at an industrial property in the city of South Fulton, there's only but a few places where that makes a whole lot of sense, and Fulton Industrial Boulevard is one of them. And 600 permanent jobs, at least an 8X increase to the tax base, significant existing vegetative buffering, and then our support for this resulting from the Fulton Industrial Boulevard CID, as well as the Sandtown Neighborhood Association. And so one of the questions that we got at Planning Commission was who are these types of tenants that will be able to go in here? There's a bunch of them. So I've only shown a few here on the screen to give you an idea. Again, light industrial users, not the types of users that's going to bring about a bunch of noise, bring about a bunch of pollution, or anything along those lines. As an example, let me give you a good one. Amazon is one of them, Coca-Cola company. 1-800-PACK-RAT, these are the type of uses that you would see on a site like this that are already tenants of bridge in other areas for their other properties that would be willing to move to populate this site. And at this time, I'll take any questions, except for I'll wait for any questions to come up from you guys. Thank you.

Mr. Clerk, do you have any that are in opposition of this application?

Stopping this clock at three minutes left. We do have one person that signed up, Danny Withers. Danny Withers.

Good evening. Sorry, public speaking doesn't ever get easier. My name is Danny Withers. I live down the block from this proposed development. Oh, sorry. Good evening. It feels like every time we come to a meeting, the ground shifts under me because we come- I need your address. Oh, sorry. 2608 Muskeg, right down the block at Falls Cascade subdivision. It feels like every time we come to this meeting, the ground shifts because we keep getting another site plan, and another site plan, and another site plan. And it's hard to really give a yay or nay because we don't know what the next thing is because they've been here three, third time. And it feels like every single time they're just biting off another piece just to see what sticks to the wall. What can they get away with? I hope it's not like a negative context, but that's what it feels like. And they're using the precedent of what they get approved before as a reason for approval now. So, it seems just, it feels like to go against the comprehensive development plan that was just firstly minted this year, to just ignore it completely, I feel like the plan shouldn't be written in concrete, but any exceptions to it I feel like should be exceptional. And the neighborhood from my neighbors who we talked to, they, uh, want amenities, uh, not necessarily more warehouses, uh, even despite facing full initial Boulevard, uh, this, uh, land is designated residential. And I've heard the argument that to get more amenities in South Fulton, we need more roofs. We need more density, but it feels like it's counterintuitive to actually take this chunk of 150 acres, even though the new proposal is only building on nine. it's still blocked out to where they're still taking the 150 acres, unless I'm mistaken. So you're taking away the roofs to get the amenities to actually put a warehouse. But again, that's going on information I have already because every time I come to a meeting, the site plans changed. And I really don't think we should be going to against the community plan that much. And it feels like by proving this, You're setting precedent for, okay, we make this an exception, but it feels like down the line, is there going to be another proposal for another warehouse? Using this approved proposal, should it be approved as reasoning for the next approval? Because this is literally the third time. I'm kind of foreseeing a fourth and a fifth and a sixth. That's all I have. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Any more?

No, ma'am, I did not receive any additional cards.

All right. Attorney, you still have three minutes left.

Thank you. Respect the comments from the young lady tremendously. I think in this particular instance, Fulton Industrial Boulevard is most certainly one of the three corridors in the city of South Fulton where industrial makes sense. There is no reason to believe that we would suggest using precedent from prior rezoning to create a justification for this rezoning. The long justification for this rezoning in this particular area is because it is located on Fulton Industrial Boulevard, where there's extreme and heavy demand for industrial development in the southeast as a whole and the city of South Fulton more specifically. With respect to the comprehensive plan, I respect everything that you all have done with the comprehensive plan. I know it took a lot of work and a lot of time, but there's hundreds of thousands of properties in the city of South Fulton, and the comprehensive plan is built in the way that there's a mechanism that allows for changes between when the comprehensive plan is adopted and when the next one is reviewed and also adopted. In this particular area, given where it's located, carved out between other industrial properties, to us it makes sense. It makes complete sense that this land use amendment that we're requesting be changed to industrial on these two parcels as we've shown you on the site plan. And the reason why these site plans continue to change from meeting to meeting, I totally understand that, is because we're responding to the comments that we get from the boards and the staff when we come and speak. The common thing that we keep hearing is the site is too dense or the site is too big. You need to reduce it. So that's what we're doing to try to respond to the comments that we're receiving from staff and from, in this case, planning commission. So with that, I'll rest. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. At this time, I will be closing the public hearing, and we will take questions from the district representative, Councilwoman Rao.

Thank you for recognizing me, Mayor. Just to clarify, is it not the fact that 148 acres are already zoned for industrial? It's just nine that are not.

No. So the 140 acres, the remainder of the site, if I can go back to it. Am I able to go back to it?

I thought you were only trying to get the future land use on the nine. That's correct. So 148 is consistent with the future land use map.

Correct. Yes, but that's residential. We're not rezoning. We're not rezoning any of that or changing any of that.

It's only nine acres that you are seeing.

Correct. 9.16 acres. And it's those parcels shown in orange on the screen. The remaining parcels that you see on the screen are no longer part of this rezoning, no longer under contract.

That's what I understood. I guess this is a question for the staff. I know ARC had given a number of recommended changes. Has this revised site plan addressed all of those questions raised by ARC?

It has. All of those questions were related to the environmental impact on the site, specifically the streams and construction that was proposed in the vicinity of the streams and the stream buffers. And this updated site plan takes all of the construction out of that area. And of course, being that it's a much smaller footprint, there are many less trees that are going to be taken out.

Okay. And I guess my other question is can you speak to your feedback of your meetings with adjacent property owners, particularly Zion Hill, and thank you for reaching out to them.

Absolutely. So when we were talking to Zion Hill, we were talking to them with respect to the original plan of 1.6 million square feet. And the feedback was at that time traffic and safety concerns and then the types of end users that were going to be on the site. We answered those questions then. There was not hardly any pushback at all once we answered those questions. So we had very productive meetings with them, Sandtown, and in our public participation meeting as well, because Zion Hill also showed up to the public participation meeting as well.

And, Ben, I think my last question is I know it's at least a 100-foot buffer to any residential. Is it greater than that?

Yes, it is. It's actually 132 feet plus the stream buffers in addition to the buffers that they would have to impart on their side of the property if they were to develop it.

Okay, thank you. I don't have any further questions.

Thank you, Councilwoman Rowe. Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you. Are there any directions being given about the type of lighting that's used on the premises? Because I know one of the issues, the type of lighting. Because I know one of the issues that residents, especially in my area, have about development in other cities that they get a lot of light pollution, especially in the wintertime. And while I appreciate the size of the buffers, it just depends on the trees, right? Whether you have light pollution. So has any direction been given to specify how those lightings for those facilities will be set to minimize the light pollution?

Well, I think the plan is to use the type of lighting that does just that. I think it's called sheathed lighting or down lighting or something along those lines that we've had conversations about previously.

Okay. Are you saying it's an overlay? Thank you. And I just want to make this one comment. Cause I've heard this several times since we have adopted the comprehensive plan and future land use map. And I said this on the night that we adopted that plan, that plan, it is not perfect because in order to make it absolutely perfect, we would have those consultants here for a very, very long time looking at every single parcel going over a lot of scenarios. I was just looking at them up in my district the other day. and I found a piece of land that is zoned agriculture, and it's completely surrounded by commercial recommendation. So, if someone wants to use that, yes, we'll have to go through and amend the future land use map. So, I just want to, we as a council, I believe we're disciplined enough to know when to make these decisions to recommend changes because that's why we wanted and we supported doing that comprehensive plan and future land use map. And it's to support our staff and it's to make sure applicants who come here have the ability to look and see where some stuff might be approved easier rather than going through this whole long battle. But at times, it will just make sense in tweaking those future land use map recommendations. So I just want to, for education's sake, that we know that this document, it is not perfect. And when we look at an individual parcel, it might be at times where we say, yeah, that should have been a little different than what's recommended. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. Do we have a date of when this will be coming for vote?

Yeah. September 22nd. Correct.

Okay. So we'll see you next meeting. Two weeks, right? Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to letter B, case Z26-011, case by Diane Lloyd requesting rezoning from R6 in the Clifton Dale Overlay District to AG1 to subdivide property into four lots for residential use on 10.68 acres at 0 and 7930 Cedar Grove Road. It's located in City Council District 4. Staff and Planning Commission recommendation is approval.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Hopefully, we're getting to the end of this one. We've brought this one in front of you a couple of different times for deferrals. I will first note that the correct address is 7930 Cedar Grove. We had transposed a couple of those numbers on the earlier version of the caption. This property is zoned R6. It achieved that zoning for the purpose of having a daycare center on the property at some point I believe in the late 90s or early 2000s. It's completely surrounded by AG1 property. The owner is now looking to use it strictly for residential. And so the initial request was to remove the condition about the daycare center. that kind of went back and forth and what the owner decided to do was to ask to rezone the property back to AG1. And so that brings us here today. The request is to rezone from R6 to AG1 on these two parcels and staff's recommendation is approval.

All right. Is the applicant here? Well, welcome. I just have to read you a few things and then you state your name and address. Okay. At this time, I'm opening the public hearing for item 4B that is on the agenda. Ma'am, you have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time. You may want to reserve some of that time for rebuttal. Also, keep in mind that the time allotted includes public comments for any of the citizens who are also in favor of your application. And that same time must be granted to those who are in opposition. You may proceed.

Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Diane Lloyd, and my address is 5715 Old Bill Cook Road, 30349 Atlanta. Just as was stated by staff, we originally were, years ago, going to have a daycare. And that's how I got to R6. And then after the housing market crashed and whenever it crashed, we were thrown out of that. So right now I just want to get it back to the place where I can divide the land and be able to have single family homes on each land to be able to pass it on to my heirs in the future. So that's all.

Okay. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we have any questions? Comments for those in favor or opposition?

No, ma'am. We did not receive any cards in support or opposition to this case.

Okay. At this time, I will close public comments, the public hearing, and we can start with comments from the council with their starting representative. This is in District 4.

I don't have much to say except to say thank you for your patience while we work through some of the issues that we've encountered in this one. Thank you.

All right. This case will be heard again.

September 22nd.

On September the 22nd. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us a letter CZ26-013, case by SD8 Central Georgia LLC. Carol Battle Law requesting rezoning from HE1 to CUP to develop 72 single-family detached homes on 25.50 acres. at 7,750 Bishop Road located in City Council District 4. Staff and Planning Commission recommendation is approval conditional.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This is a project which we did some revisions. We worked with the developer and suggested some revisions, which they did include in an updated site plan. This went from a 75-home proposal down to 72 homes. and we asked them to increase some open space and to enlarge some of the parcels that were adjacent to some residential parcels in the area. They did accommodate us with those requests and our recommendation is approval conditional with the condition that the site be developed to the site plan that has been presented.

Okay, well the applicant is here. You know how this goes. So I will open up the public hearing. You have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time and you may want to reserve some time for rebuttal. Also keep in mind that those that are in favor of your application, that same time must be granted to those who are in opposition. You may proceed.

Thank you. Michelle Battle with Battle Law, 3562 Hebersham at North Lake Tucker, Georgia, 30087. Sorry, 84. As stated by staff, we're here looking at 7,750 Bishop Road. The property currently has a zoning designation of AG1. And the feature land use map is suburban neighborhood, which allows up to three units per acre. On this site, we have reduced the total number of units to 72, and we are below the three units per acre. To be exact, we're at 2.83 units per acre. When we first started the project, this was the original site plan. It does provide for all of the requirements under the code. However, due to comments that we received from staff as well as from the community, we did the following. One, we increased the buffer on the north side from 25 feet to 35 feet. There's also a mulched walking trail on the north side of the property. We removed one of the units as you were coming into the subdivision. We also placed a landscape berm along the frontage of the property. It went behind the homes that we were proposing to develop, but it did not extend down to where the detention pond was located. And we'll talk about that in a minute. The playground and gazebo were moved from the interior of the site to the exterior. That allowed us to remove some of the abutting homes that were challenging for staff and we were able to put the playground and gazebo in that location and there will be fencing around that as well. There was already a storm water detention facility on the other side of that, and so that reduced it so that there's actually only two homes that are kind of located in that particular area next to the Bishop Trace subdivision. Additionally, we are abiding by the 100-foot buffer along the city of Fairburn, and that is, again, in compliance with what is required under the zoning code. After the Planning Commission meeting, Based on some of the comments that we received there, we did extend and increase the length of the front landscape berm so that now goes all the way down, giving more visual, obscuring more of the stormwater detention pond. So that landscape berm, again, will be along the entire frontage. It will no longer stop at where the stormwater detention pond was starting. And additionally, on the north side of the property, you can see where we said we're installing a black vinyl coated chain link fence. And where that comes from is the neighbor on the other side. It was our understanding that not only, I think they do some hunting. They had mentioned even doing some hunting on the property that we have, that we will be developing. There is a dilapidated barbed wire fence along their property. And in order to ensure that we don't have any kids going into that area or getting hurt with that fencing, we proposed to put a black vinyl coated fence along the area outside of the wooded area. So the back portion, that 35 feet, is all wooded area. And so our fence will be in front of that wooded area. So what you will see is the mulch trail along that back portion. Then you'll see that black coated fence. It won't be visible from the side streets. It'll be in the very back. And then that will prevent hopefully any kids from going into that wooded area and ending up over by that barbed wire fence. So we just wanted to make sure that we were trying to keep kids safe because we know how they tend to roam into areas where they may not need to be. These are some of the elevations that have been proposed for the site. And what's unique about what Smith Douglas is looking to do here is that they feel that a number of folks are now looking for ranch style homes. And this also allows for seniors and others who may have challenges with stairs and the like to be located in these homes to be able to stay within the community. And so we've got quite a few versions of single family ranch style homes that are being proposed for the site. And then we also have the two story homes that are being proposed for the site as well. You can see that there's a mixture of textures where we've got either stone or brick on the front facades. We have some brick water tables. During the planning commission meeting, they talked about having maybe more farmhouse type looks. And so we are very receptive to either traditional looks or the farmhouse look or some combination of the two. As staff has indicated, they have recommended approval, as did the Planning Commission, and that we would adhere to the site plan. I did submit to staff earlier today this updated site plan that shows that increase of the berm and the black vinyl coated chain link fence along the back area, again, for those safety reasons, and we did submit that to staff. to the clerk as well as to District 4 Commissioner, Council Member Sebastian. So I will reserve any remaining time for rebuttal and thank you.

Okay, thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we have any in favor or in opposition?

No, ma'am, we did not receive any cards in favor and we did not receive any cards from anyone in person in opposition, but I did send you previously Comments submitted via form letter for written comments in opposition to this case Okay.

All right at this time. I will close the public hearing Well, yeah, I will close the public hearing and I will reserve the time for councilman Sebastian who is the district representative Thank You mayor Just a couple of things

Was there any discussion around traffic calming in this community? Because there are some very straight streets here. And one of the things that I am imploring developers to do is that don't wait until when we have an issue to come back to Access City to pay for traffic calming when we're actually putting in straight roads that we know people are going to speed on. Let's build them. And we all know that there are techniques that we can do with those from the onset.

Yeah. The streets do have a little bit of curvature to it, but I understand what you're saying. And we have no problem with addressing that.

OK, so before we vote on this, can you get with staff and try and figure out?

Yes.

Right?

Yes, sir.

The other thing, explain about the connection to Fairburn. in what would be in the back of this community.

Yes. There is, and I apologize because of my headache.

I am not feeling my best today.

I think it's Silver Maple Street that's located on the back Which you see in the hundred foot buffer That street we will be connecting into which goes into the city of Fairburn There had been some conversation by the community that they did not want that connection however staff indicated that that connection was necessary and I actually think that it's not a bad, and so does the developer, to have that connection. You never know what may happen on Bishop. And that's one of the challenges with a lot of the older subdivisions that if something happens at the front entrance, then nobody can get in or get out. And this would allow people to still be able to access the community without having TO WORRY ABOUT THAT TYPE OF ISSUE AND MAY ACTUALLY BENEFIT OTHERS THAT LIVE WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. IF SOMETHING HAPPENS ON BISHOP ROAD AND THEY CAN'T GET TO THEIR HOMES, THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO COME THROUGH THE SUBDIVISION IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE THAT.

SO IT'S GOING TO BE AN OPEN CONNECTION. YES. NOT NECESSARILY A PUBLIC SAFETY CONNECTION.

THAT IS CORRECT.

OKAY. ALL RIGHT. AND THE LAST QUESTION I HAVE, I THINK see that it would solve. There was one of the neighbors during one of the meetings that talked about the driveway being too close to her own driveway. Did we change the access here? The access road is too close to one of her driveways.

The access road has stayed as is. I know the folks across the street had asked for the berm, and we did install that. They also asked for us to get a little bit further away from the property. Interestingly enough, at the corner that is not a part of this community, that actually also has an address of 7000 Bishop. I'm not exactly sure how that has occurred, but nonetheless, We did add some additional buffering around that property, and that's also why we removed one of the units, and that seemed to satisfy. I do think that there was also a question about there's a little area right behind the buffer that's kind of unidentified. There's not intended to be any development on it, so that added some additional buffer as well between the rear of their homes and the units on the other side. But otherwise, we did not make any changes to the entrance location.

Okay. Thank you. Those are the questions.

Councilwoman Wright. Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to clarify something that I think I heard you say. I want to make sure I... Hopefully I didn't hear it right. That in regards to where the barbed wire fence and you all are going to replace that fence and area.

Yeah, so we're not replacing. That fence doesn't belong to us. It belongs to, our knowledge, the adjacent property owner that has the barbed wire fence.

Okay.

And so we're trying to put a fencing on our side so that she's got the fence on the backside and Then we'll have this 35 foot buffer area that it will be wooded and our fence will be on the inside of that line so that no one can literally get into that wooded area so that will be still belong to the HOA and they're responsible for maintaining it but we don't want kids to be over in that area where that barbed wire fence is located I was a little my heart was beating real fast when they said something about they hunt over well that's what we were told at the very beginning that they had been doing some hunting on the property because of the deer that and there was some concern about relocation of deer and all that kind of stuff so I'm not really sure I don't know if they're still hunting or not but we didn't want to take those kind of chances

Okay, yeah, because straight bullets, yeah, that was a little alarming for me, but okay.

I feel you.

Yeah, you know, we want to. I would assume that they won't be hunting anymore. You know, hopefully, you know, we can't control what other people do, but, you know, we don't want to, you know.

Yeah.

Just a little concerned about that.

I think that they were doing that because they felt that there was a large deer population and they were trying to help it out. I assume that that's what was going on.

Okay.

All right. Thank you. Well, we don't have any further comments or questions in the queue. Mr. Clerk, when is the next time that this item will be heard?

September 22nd.

Oh, it's going to be a busy day on September 22nd. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to letter D, Z26-014, CDP 26-004. This is a case by Talia King requesting rezoning from AG1 in the Old National Overlay District to R4 to develop two single-family detached dwellings with the land use amendment from regional live-work character area to suburban one neighborhood character area on 0.52 acres at 5250 Northfield Boulevard, located in City Council District 5. Planning Commission and staff recommendation is denial.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I won't say much because I'm sure there will be some questions about this, but the staff's recommendation is denial. That is based on the future land use plan.

Is the applicant here?

Hello. Hi.

So I have to read you some information and then after you finish you can give your name and address. So at this time I am opening a public hearing for item 4D that is on the agenda. You have a total of ten minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time. You may want to reserve some of that time for rebuttal. Also keep in mind the time that is allotted for public comments for any of the citizens who are in favor of your application must be allowed for those in opposition. You may proceed.

Good evening, Mayor and City Council. So my name is Talia King-John, and I'm here representing LRP Capital. Our property is located at 5250 Northfield Boulevard, Atlanta, Georgia, 30349. And we are requesting to do a rezoning from AG1 to R4 zoning. And the future land use is regional live work. And we're requesting an amendment to Suburban 2. All right. And right here you can see the location. It's pretty small, so make sure you have your eyes on. Um, so we are located, um, at Jolly Road and North, um, Northfield Boulevard and the houses will be the frontage of Jolly Road. So the property is currently zoned agricultural. Our parcel is AG1. It's approximately half an acre. We're planning on subdividing the lot to develop two single family homes. The proposed lots are approximately 11,000 square feet each. And each lot will contain a detached single family home. All right. So this is our project details. Um, as you can see the site plan, you'll have a staggered setback of 35 foot frontage and then the other one will be 40 foot. Um, the homes are intended to be mid size around 16 to 1800 square feet. We're looking to do three to four bedrooms, um, and two and a half bath. And the goal is to, um, be able to develop here. Um, as you know, when you have a vacant infill lot, sometimes dumping can occur. Um, and with that future land use map, we do want to develop something, but unfortunately we have a half acre compared to the full acre that's needed. Um, so that was the reason why we decided to move forward with the suburban two neighborhood in the art form. And so this is the proposed homes that we're planning to develop. We want something modern and to be able to uplift the community, and we think it will be a good benefit. And one of the things I was able to do after the previous meeting was deferral, was to reach out to the community members within the neighborhood. And I did a neighborhood petition just to let them know what the project would look like. And we actually got a couple signatures, some good feedback, so we're looking forward to hopefully being able to move forward with this development plan. And then also I do have the petition available if you guys would like to review it. I do have the hard copy. And also I submitted it into the planning group as well. All right. So we believe this project, just to sum up everything, we believe this project will add two quality homes that will benefit the community. Um, the current future land use map just does not allow us to develop with the amount of acreage that we currently have. Um, so we want to do something to prevent, um, the ongoing dumping and the issues that we're having within, um, this parcel and that will be all. And thank you guys for listening.

all right thank you mr clerk do we have any in favor or in opposition madam mayor we did not receive any cards in support or opposition to this case all right well at this time i will close the public hearing and i will recognize mayor pro tem bell who this project is in our district thank you mayor and thank you miss king i appreciate it thank you for your patience i know we have had to

pause and go back, and I appreciate your efforts in making sure that we get this right. When we talk about development, we don't want to just have houses. We want to have quality development, especially as it relates to District 5. So I appreciate you taking the extra steps and going above and beyond to make sure that you get out, get the petition. I would like to see the petition. I don't know if we have that information been provided to our clerk. Um, but I would, I do want to say thank you for that. Um, can you confirm the square footage of the homes? I know there's two. Um, I didn't remember if it was 11,000 square, but 1500, it will be the minimum.

Okay. Okay.

And, um, as far as going back after your public participation meeting, can you talk to me a little bit about that as far as knocking on the doors, going into the community because i know one thing that i encourage you to do is make sure that you go and speak with those who would be impacted by this project and so can you speak to me a little bit about that please okay yes so it's a hot sunny day you know it really was this weather has been

Really hot but I was able to meet those in the community some of those people have been in the houses since the 90s So it was really good. It was a good experience. I would say a lot of the feedback They were just like oh, it's your land you do whatever but I had to let them know like, you know Hey, this is this is a development that can impact you as far as the construction and Would there be any concerns? And everyone was just like, no, go right ahead. And then the cool thing is there's actually a woman's clinic right next to the lot. So I was able to speak to the provider. We got their approval for it. And so that was something that was really exciting. There is, I did go to Heritage Elementary School, but there's like certain procedures, but that's still in the works and I'm still communicating with them. I just have to go through the HR to be able to get their approval when it comes to petitions. But we do believe that this will be a good project for the community and hopefully we're able to have families in the household that will be able to enroll their students in the elementary school.

And if we can pull up the renderings again, I know that we initially spoke about stucco, brick, siding of the homes.

So it's like hardy plank.

And these are three and four bedroom units, correct? With a one car garage?

It'll be two car garage.

I thought we made that modification. Okay, perfect. Um, I think that's all the questions I have, but again, thank you. Um, this has been noted as a area that for illegal dumping. And so I would much rather like to see some housing. Um, we know that we can definitely use more housing. We have shortages all throughout our state and especially in our city residents who need housing. affordable and quality housing. So I thank you for this presentation.

Thank you. Okay. At this time, Mr. Clerk, can you please share when this item will come back to the agenda?

September 22nd.

All right. September 22nd it is. Thank you. Thank you all. That's a lot. All right. Mr. Clerk, please tell the next item.

Brings us to letter E, case Z26-018. It's a case by Dwayne Parrish requesting rezoning from ONI in the Old National Overlay District to C1 to operate a restaurant and lounge on approximately 1.03 acres at 5440 Old National Highway, located in City Council District 5. Staff recommendation and planning commission recommendation is approval.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Staff and Planning Commission recommended approval on this case. So the only thing that I want to add is not specifically about this case, but about our newly adopted comprehensive plan. We included some what we call focus areas. And one of the focus areas in our comprehensive plan was we're calling it Entertainment District, which is generally along the National Highway area in that and so I believe this is the first case that we're hearing of a property which is in one of our focus areas and so some of the focus area other focus areas are we have an agribusiness focus area we have I think riverfront development focus area and but this particular property is in the entertainment district focus area. Uh, and staff thought it was inappropriate, um, use in that focus area. Uh, and, um, so we recommended the profile.

Thank you.

Okay. Is the applicant here? All right. So I just have to read you a few things, and then please state your name and your address. So at this time, I will be opening public hearing for the items on 4E that is on the agenda. You have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time, but you may want to reserve some time for rebuttal. And those that are in favor of your application must be granted the same for those that are in opposition. You may go ahead and proceed with your presentation.

Okay. Good evening, honorable mayor, members of the council, city staff, and community members. My name is Wayne Parrish. I am here tonight. Okay. I'm here tonight to rezone this property located at 5440 Old National Highway. Since 1971, this address has been an eyesore. Since 1971, it was closed in 2002, which made it 24 years being an eyesore. We are seeking this commercial transition to bring a premier upscale rooftop dining destination to the heart of Old National Highway corridor. From the outset, our team has approached this project with a deep respect for the vision you all have set for the city of South Fulton. Under the city comprehensive plan, This specific section of Old National is designated as the regional live work charter area, character area. Your master plan explicitly notes that the C1 zoning is intended to create vibrant transition into the active commercial hub by moving away from By moving away from an underutilized office institutional status, we are fulfilling the exact promise, transforming from the lot into a high utility asset that keeps the entertainment and hospitality dollars right here in South Fulton. We have listened closely to the staff and the community feedback because this is a rooftop concept. We are... We're proactively addressing the quality of the life consideration, first, being the noise. We're installing the top tier down-firing directional sound system designed to ensure music will never spill past our property line. Second, age verification, seating rules, alcohol service, supervision requirements. as well as, uh, uh, we also will be recognizing the vibrant rooftop lounge required, you know, by the aggressive pro proactive security. We're not relying on, um, uncertified unarmed security guards to monitor this establishment. We have structured our budget to explicit and higher certified off duty city of South Fulton police officers to manage our premier our perimeter parking lot and the traffic layout on the weekends nights with this, uh, with this, it guarantees that our business will never become a burden to the local, to the local beat officers or the drain or drain the city resources. And from there, um, by approving this C one rezoning, we're, uh, We're choosing to replace the unutilized office footprint with a premier revenue-generated culinary landmark. We are fully committed to investing in the corridor pertaining with the South Fulton Police for safety and delivering the high-end dining destination that our community deserves. I respectfully request your vote of approval and, and I am open to any questions. I'm not a risk.

All right. Thank you very much. You have six minutes left. Mr. Clerk, do you have any respondents that are in favor or in opposition?

No, ma'am. We did not get any cards and support. We did receive one in opposition. Mr. Michael Venable.

Good evening, Michael Venable, 5720 Montelli Circle. You know, in the past, when we have gone about zoning and we looked at other cities that put things right on the border of our city, particularly your warehousing, data centers, that sort of thing, how upset it was. Now, this is one to where you have an entity in one district but all the effect goes to the residents in another district. Let me be clear. We're talking about a rooftop entertainment. You know, when you go somewhere and you wanna get a better view or better audio, you step up in a chair. You get a ladder. The volume goes I need you to look at page 10 of the staff report and look at the green. The houses are one property over from where this facility is. Now, I'm thinking, yes, it's maybe a good idea and maybe great. My thing is to get mitigation to make sure when we all talk about quality of life that it still exists. We can talk about zoning and rules and regulations, but we don't address what it means to have a good neighborhood. My thing is to mitigate any possible disturbances to the residents is that all outdoor powered audio, we're talking about music speakers, microphones, et cetera, that be limited to 11 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday and 11.59 p.m. Friday and Saturday. When you come up high like that, that audio carries. There is no blocking of the sound. And again, I encourage you to look at page 10 of your staff report so you can see exactly where this is and where the homes are. This is probably great for the community, and I can see it right now. Across the street, you have New Orleans Daiquiri. Here, you're going to have Taste of Miami. I can see the war going on right now, good friendly competition. And it's almost probably going to be loud because everybody wants to front and see who's got the best entertainment property there. This is what I'm saying, not to deny this process, but you have got to put some mitigation in here to make sure that the community people here still have the quality of life necessary to have a decent community. Thank you.

Thank you. Any more? Mr. Clerk?

No, ma'am. That was the only one.

All right. You have an opportunity to rebuttal. You have six minutes left. Did you want to come back and say anything?

We could put restrictions, you know, on Taste of Miami. I mean, you know, I was clearly trying to point that out, you know, that we are installing top-tier down-furing directional sound systems designed to ensure music never spills past our property line. I mean, you know, but we can put restrictions on it. I mean, you know, we can keep the music inside. All we're trying to do is bring Rays on the River to Old National without the lake. You know, you're going to have a rooftop, but you might not have a lake. You know, that's all we're trying to do. I mean, you know, we're here in the public. I mean, we had a good turnout with this, you know, with the sign-in sheet, the community. You know, we had a good turnout, and I listened to the people. The people say they have nowhere to dine. They're going out. The money is going out. We're trying to keep the money here. You know, I mean, you know, we had a restaurant in South Florida for 16 years, and, you know, we decided to close it because, you know, due to COVID. But I'm going to tell you, if y'all welcome Taste of Miami, we got a dish that's not even here. We got to bore fish with grits and Johnny cake with a Bahamian twist that I'm telling you from the pineapple to the big apple to the state capital, you know, it's going to, you know, it will set the mark for Old National. You know, I mean, you will get those people like raised on the river to come to Old National. I mean, from my history, from what I'm hearing, y'all used to have red lobster. I believe it was olive garden. you know, all those big chains used to be on Old National. You know, what happened? You know, I mean, you know, we came here, we invested in it. I mean, we came here, we invested in the bank, and, you know, we here. You know, if you all approve it, you know, you won't regret it. I mean, the other chains probably will follow once they, you know, like I say, we hired the best architect in Atlanta, Mr. Boye. And we're working together to set a mark and enforce it. Right now, Old National don't have anything. There's no fine dining. I mean, I wouldn't take my wife. I mean, my wife is right here. I mean, I wouldn't take her. I don't see no way I can go and really sit down and get experience. You know, I really don't. So, you know, with that being said, you know, I just want to thank you all for hearing us out. And you, I mean, if you approve us, we're here. Thank you.

Thank you. And yes, let's reinvest in O national. So at this point in time, we will go ahead and close the public hearing. And we will start with comments from the council with the representative Mayor Pro Tem Bill.

Thank you mayor. I appreciate this presentation as it relates to new businesses. And one thing we are doing is revitalizing old national. It does not look the same and it will not look the same. However, as Mr Venable stated, we already have a noise ordinance in the city of 12 o'clock that has to be adhered to. We've communicated that with you as well and you're aware of that. So I think taking those necessary steps with the times, that you can have posted, but we also have a noise ordinance already in our city as well. But I did have some questions as it relates to public safety, and I know you breezed through it quickly, but if you could come back up and talk to me a little bit about safety. Again, we are happy to have a decrease of crime on the old national corridor, and we want to continue to have that. I came in office, it was a negative 12%, and we are, I think, at 38%. So we are doing the work and working with our police department to make sure that they're vigilant and that they're seen on the old national corridor. But talk to me a little bit as far as the public safety. I know you breezed through that a little bit when you said You have some officers, but can you clarify?

I would love, like I said, I want to come together with South Fulton Police Department. That's the only way it's going to work. and off-duty officers, because I know they need to be on duty. But for safety, yes, they would, you know, there will be no, they couldn't come in, they would have to be searched to come in. I mean, no weapons inside. You know, it's going to be a protocol put in place. So, you know, but I won't South Fulton Police Department, you know, off-duty officers to be involved in this.

So are you looking, I know you mentioned off-duty police officers as well as having your own additional security.

I have actually spoke to some off-duty police officers, and they're willing to come in and help us out here. So, you know, I don't think we have a problem with the safety. you know, with them as a backing. You know, that's why I'm not, you know, I'm not hiring anybody that's not qualified. I want South Fulton Police Department if we're going to do it.

Okay. And then can you talk to me about the age? I know we had a conversation regarding your menus, and I know you'll be opening, I believe, is it breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Yes.

So it'll be a breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes. restaurant facility, I guess a restaurant with a rooftop, correct?

Correct.

Talk to me a little bit as far as the age, if there's an age requirement, especially in the evenings, and then two, about the parking, because right now what we see when we drive in that area, it was an old bank, and the year was 2011 when that property was sold. It used to be years ago, I think, South Trust, and then Wachovia may have purchased it years ago. So it's been Vacant since around 2010 2011 You have a beautiful rendering but talk to me as far as the parking how big is this actual? Because this we see the bank, but how big is the actual property the actual parking?

I mean the parking is we're gonna have 52 parking spaces because we when we do the rooftop is going to be 5,000 square foot and Now, my neighbor to the east of me, which is AutoZone, you know, we spoke to management. They said that they're willing to, as an overflow, they would let us utilize their parking since we're going to be open a little later than them because they are open, I think, tonight. You know, so with...

And so it currently has 52 parking spaces, but with 52 parking spaces with this restaurant and a rooftop, do you have any plans to add additional parking on that lot?

Yes, we do. Because we're sitting on an acre point three, acre point two. So we're going to go inside to the north and create some more parking, you know, back there. Okay. for now we probably going to do the 52 parking spaces, uh, you know, that's required according to, you know, um, 10 parkings per thousand square foot.

Okay. And then as it relates to, um, is there a de-selling lane that can veer off into your property? I can't remember.

Yes, there is a de-selling lane that could be in the back. you know, as well as the front, because right now, Mr. Boyer, he's, you know what, let me see.

We have the render.

I know everybody want to see it, but.

Okay. There he is.

I'm sorry, I know that all of you hear that voice. In fact, this is the site. Okay, he's planning on creating... He's got them all the way on the perimeter. He's got them all the way on the perimeter, all the way around. And he's just did an amazing job creating this. But the desailing lane, yes, we could create a desailing lane if it's an overflow, you know, with that. You know, I don't see that being a problem at all.

And I think what I mean that the selling lane to help people right now, Old National is a very heavily trafficked area. We want to make sure that we're keeping our residents and those who are commuting in that area. So is there a lane to actually get off of the main road to get into your restaurant?

Yes, it is. It is. It is.

And I know as far as the age, you're opening breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as mentioned, correct? You have a little bit of that different flavors from Miami. But what is your age? Because it's going to be 21 and older. It'll be 21.

And it's going to, you know, I mean, let me see here. We're 21. Oh, yeah, there will be age verification. There will be seating rules put in place because, of course, we can't have your minor sit to a bar. It also will be supervision if, you know, because I got little kids, so if they came in there, they would have to be, you know, supervised in another section as well. So, yes, it is protocol put in place there as well.

So this is, and I just want to get some clarification. So this is a family restaurant?

Yes, ma'am.

During what time to what time? Because we also have a curfew here in the city as well. But I know you plan on being open a little later in the evening. So is there a cutoff time where you have to be 21 age or older? Yes.

What is that time? We probably will put. some kind of restriction in place for, we're going to say maybe 10, if you're on the age, you know, 10, something like that, we'll put in place. Because, no, we were talking about rest. We were talking about, huh? Okay. Bless you.

How are you doing today, everyone? My name is Andrea Gulley, and I know a lot about restaurants and the rules and regulations. I did 42 years with the military, and I was working as far as running the club systems and the catering area. I retired about six years ago and I came to Atlanta to help out a friend in about three restaurants. I am now the general manager of three restaurants. One is called the Daiquiri Factory, one is called Cirque, and one is called Blue Seafood House. Now, getting back to the lighting, the safety. Safety, we know that it's very important. Working with the military, we understand safety. And so what I would say is this right here, the lighting in that area will be lit up. That will be there so customers will feel comfortable in going to their cars. Okay, we will be checking ID as well. We will be checking ID as well to make sure that they're old enough to get in and plus they're old enough to drink. Along with that, we're going to have bartenders that is qualified to check IDs so there won't be no underage drinking. This is my cousin. He has a lot of experience. I definitely have a lot of experience. We're going to do what we have to do to make sure that Fulton County will be proud of the taste of Miami. Now, anything that you have for us, we will have no problem in making sure that everything is by the law, definitely, without a doubt. But to say that we will really make sure, as far as the safety part of it, that the kids that come in, normally the age, they can come in normally any time before six. Now, at the other restaurant, That's what you was looking for? Okay, so I know that at the other restaurants that I have worked in, and working in as of right now, that they can come in at, you know, until probably about nine o'clock or six o'clock. So it depends on what you all require of us. OK, so whatever you require of us, we're going to make sure that we're going to abide by it. But normally kids do come in because they come in with their families. They come in with their families. They come in and eat as a family. And Mr. Parish and his wife is a family. That's their family. So we understand that. But we will do everything possible. I'm certified. I'm certified in a whole lot of things as far as dealing with military and ID and just making sure everybody is safe. And so we just want you to know that we're going to do everything that we can in reference to that. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, when do we hear this next item?

September 22nd.

Oh, gosh. September 22nd, we'll see you then. Thank you very much. Okay, thank you so much. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the last item?

Last case is letter FZ26-017. It's a case from Yeruchem Lipset. Please excuse my pronunciation of the name. And there's a question rezoning from AG1 in the Old National Overlay District to R6. to permit the use of a duplex structure on two acres at 2300 Flat Shoals Road, located in City Council District 6. Staff and Planning Commission recommendations to NIOA.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. As a reminder, we'll only be voting on these cases on the 22nd, so it shouldn't take up too much of our time. Case Z26017 is a request to resolve from AG1 to R6 to permit the use of a duplex structure. This is at 2300 Flat Shoals Road in Council District 6. Staff and Planning Commission recommend denial.

Thank you. Is the applicant here? All right. Welcome.

Hello.

I have to read you a few things and then I need you to state your name and your address. At this time I'm opening the public hearing for items 4F that is on the agenda. You have a total of 10 minutes to give your presentation. You do not have to use all of that time. You may want to reserve some time for rebuttal. Also keep in mind that the time allowed includes public comments for any citizens who are in favor of your application and that same time will be allotted for those that are in opposition. You may proceed.

Thank you. Name is . For that, just 2300 Flat Shoals Road in Atlanta, Georgia. Zip code, I think, is 30296. So I feel like I need to give a little bit of background over here. I know there's denial over here, a recommendation over here. I moved from Canada back in 2020. My first year, I found this property. I decided we're going to make it into a duplex. and not knowing the rules or anything like that, I decided I'm going to hire a contractor to take care of all the stuff for me to work, the zoning, the correct permits, and paid him for all those steps. We did all the work. We did get some permits, like electrical permits. I only found this out after the fact, so got some of the permits. We did the work, moved in two families inside the units, duplex, fast forward, This year, I'm getting a knock on my door saying, hey, you don't have a permit for a duplex. I said, what do you mean? I have all these permits over here, and I have it in front of me as well right now. And they said, you need to get a building permit. I said, OK. Let me go call the city, see if I can get a building permit. They said, you need to get a retroactive building permit, whatever it was. And they said, hold on one second. The zoning is not correct. It's AG1. It's not the correct zoning. I said, OK, I'll do the zoning. So here I am. I'm not trying to do any work. I'm not trying to do construction. I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just trying to fix this issue of it being the wrong zoning, incorrectly done. We paid close to $15,000 for our contractor to take care of all the permits and all the zoning. I have the wires sent for it. I have the invoices showing that it was specifically for zoning and for permits. Obviously, this contractor did not follow through with the correct steps. That might be my fault. I should have followed through, done a better job being on top of him. But I honestly at the time did not know the steps, the correct moves to do, and I'm just trying to fix this problem of getting the zoning to the correct standard, to the right thing to allow duplex there and afterwards ask the city to give me retroactive permits for a current building that's already with tenants with a duplex so I could be within city code and not in violation. That's why I'm here. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. You have seven minutes left for rebuttal. Mr. Clerk, did you have any for opposition or favor?

No, ma'am. We did not receive any cards in support or opposition to this case.

Okay. Well, at this time, we will close public hearing, and we will have comments from the District Representative, Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for that explanation because I was thoroughly confused on how we got here. As far as I can tell, everything around you is a single-family home.

There are townhouses next door to us. There's mostly single-family and there's

But there's no other duplexes, correct? No, not that I know of, at least. Right. So this is kind of an island unto itself in the middle of houses and townhouses.

I mean, it's a two-acre property. Yeah, but yes, essentially, yes.

This is probably a question for staff. OK, so given the explanation that's been given on how we got here, obviously, we've got a duplex that have people living in it currently, if I heard everything correctly, versus permits, permitting issues where things seem to fell through the cracks. If this is denied, what happens next?

If this is denied, then the property would constitute a continuing zoning violation until the time that it is converted from a duplex back to a single family home.

OK, thank you.

Okay. Mr. Clerk, can you please advise when the next, oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you. I guess I just, I'm a little bit confused as to if it's possible that they went through the process of getting certain permits but weren't, but no one picked up that this was a duplex being built or that would not have come out when they applied for those other permits? There was no way to tell.

So my understanding is that they didn't get any building permits. At least that's what I understand to be the case, is that it was converted without building permits.

So they paid for permits, thought they had permits. Wasn't that what you just said?

Yeah, so there are certain permits. I even have them if you want to see them. It's up to you. But we did the permit. Again, all this I found out after the fact when I got this violation saying, hey, this is not correct. So the permits that were got by the contractor, again, I didn't know what I was doing, and I apologize for that, and that's why I hired somebody. I paid the contractor money to get all this stuff done correctly. What he did with that information, that's why I'm here. He didn't follow the correct steps. However, he did get electrical permits, plumbing permits, mechanical permits. We have septic tank permits as well. I have all those. We did get those things.

What he didn't get was... You got those, sorry, you got those from the City of South Fulton?

I believe so. I mean, I have to look it through, but yeah.

Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt you. Does staff have all of this information?

I got it from the City of South Fulton. I'm not sure if I sent it all in when I first did the application, I believe. I hope. But the issue is building permits. He didn't get building permits. Building permits, I believe, would have triggered this problem. I'm guessing the contractor knew that, which is why he didn't get them. But again, I'm reading into this, so maybe I'm missing some things here, but yeah. I hope that helps.

Because again, if your permits are legitimate, and we don't know if they are, and I would suggest that someone check these, because if your permits are legitimate, The question I have was that during that process, should there have been something to trigger to say, one, there's no building permit, and two, because I just heard this is a single-family house that was converted, right?

Yes.

So something, in my mind, if you applied for permits in some way that documentation says, I'm building a duplex here, and there was no building permit presented, or there was nothing to say you needed some sort of additional rezoning or whatever. I'm trying to figure out how all this could have happened because it's not only you. I have a similar case. So I want to make sure there's not some hole in the system that would cause us to be issuing permits legitimately when there is something that's required, be it building permits or zoning or whatever. Because that does not typically happen.

I can provide, yeah, whatever you want. No worries. It could be the case this house wasn't really a livable house. It was almost a teardown kind of house. So maybe when they did the permits, you might not realize because it was, I mean, it was a 2,000 square foot house that is the roof was falling through and the walls didn't exist and that kind of thing. So when you're going for electric permits, it was, I don't know. I'm not a, I don't know, but I'm just trying to think. Okay.

Um, Rachel, do you have anything to add?

Right. So, uh, the, um, I certainly agree with what you're saying. The, there were trade permits that were pulled for the property, um, but not, uh, permits to do, um, structural renovations. And so that's what would have triggered an inquest into ensuring that the property continued to be in compliance with the zoning. I'll say this, I don't think there are any holes in our internal processes. We've actually worked very hard over the past few years to try to get in front of any of those issues. We used to see it quite a bit more than we're seeing it now. If the proper permits would have been pooled for this property, a zoning review would have been completed and we would have flagged it as being a property that was not appropriate for a duplex.

Thank you. As I said, I'm just asking the question just in case because this doesn't typically happen. Thank you.

Mr. McClendon, you have another question. Councilwoman Williams-Brown.

And bear with me for a minute because obviously construction is not my strong suit, but I'm familiar with the condition of the house, what the condition of the house was prior to I'm going to call it a renovation. I'm currently renovating my own house right now. I'm wondering if because there was already a house on the land, regardless of the condition that it was in, did assumptions get made that this was something similar to what I'm doing right I'm getting new windows on the house and you know Home Depot's getting the permit they're going to come put the windows in but there would be no way of you or in CDRA knowing the actual condition of my house unless you go and look at it, correct?

That's correct. And I'll add by saying that only certain permits are going to trigger an inspection. And so unless you get the type of permit which is going to have one of our building inspectors come out and actually look at that property, then we're really just going by the information that you present to us. And so if you're just doing electrical work or plumbing work to an already existing structure, Um, we're going to confirm that you have a, um, a contractor that is licensed by the state. Um, we're going to trust that they know what they're doing and, um, we're, um, unless something structural is changing, we're not going to come out and inspect that for the most part.

So there would have been no way to know that this house was falling apart. Correct. Basically. And so the permits coming in for, I'm, I'm redoing my kitchen and so I need a permit cause, I want to change from a single sink to a double sink.

Right.

You would have no way of knowing that, oh, by the way, the roof is also falling in. I would agree with that.

Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Mr. Clerk, please tell us when this item will be heard next.

September 22nd.

That day should be etched in your head. So we'll see you on September 22nd. Thank you so much. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Next item is Roman numeral five proclamation presentations. We have one this evening presented to APEC Learning Center for their 20th anniversary sponsored by Council Member Johnson.

All right. They brought the energy today. You ready?

So this is the fun part of the event.

Come on up.

Come on up, everybody.

We're going to fill up both sides.

We're going to fill up both sides. Just pick a side. Just pick a side. All right. Minka, come on now. Come on. We got people to do that. They got a camera right there, I promise. We'll give you the video. Y'all can squeeze in a little bit.

So, come on, Sierra.

We got a cameraman, I promise.

All right. I am so excited. I want you all to know that this is my first official city council meeting proclamation, and I cannot think of anybody that I would rather have that be than the Dutch family and the APEC family. I'm going to tell a quick story, even though the mayor is going to get mad at me. When we first moved, when my wife and I first moved to, we were getting ready to move. We had been married about five years. We had that one and the other one who couldn't be here today. And we were wanting to move into a community that was a community. We wanted to move somewhere where it felt like family, where it felt like we can trust these people with our children, where our children can grow up in a community that loved them and cared for them and treated them like their own. So we got here, my oldest son was in pre-k at the time when Stonewall Tale had pre-k and this guy we needed a place for him to go because you know after school care ain't cheap and you got to have it so this is uh Shannon Flanory he was the principal of Stonewall Tale at the time and he said oh it's only one place to send your child I was like okay where do we go right down the street call Dutch here here's his cell phone number So he gave me Mr. Dutch's cell phone number. I called Mr. Dutch and let him know I want to find a daycare for our child. He answered the phone and he said, hold on a minute. So he left me on hold for two, three minutes, came back, hold on a minute. I was like, look, now I'm trying to pay you. He said, he came back, he said, man, I got all these debt, these families outside. Can you call me back tomorrow? I said... I guess I better call him back tomorrow. And I almost didn't, because y'all know me. I give you one shot. But something told me to call him back. And I tell you, that is the greatest decision that we have made since we moved to the city of South Fulton. Because we got connected to a family that has taken care of our children, have taken care of us. Mika babysat him. CJ has taken care of both my boys. And then he went to Clark with my daughter over there. And Mr. Dutch's first haircut for my son, Mrs. Dutch taking him, taking the boys rather, for food drives, for cleanups, for Thanksgiving. I mean, you name it, they have done it for our community. And that's why I am honored today to honor you for 20 years of business in South Fulton County, in the city of South Fulton. They are still at Stonewall Hotel at Clifton Dale. I'm just going to talk about the ones in District 2. And just District 2. And so, you know, y'all are at Wolf Creek, too. And my daughter just happened to move over there, so we're going to send you one more. We got one more. She got two more years, but she'll be over there in just a minute. And this must be a special day because y'all know this is the first time my wife has come to a meeting. Since I've been here, she came here, my wife and my daughter. So APEC, bring them out. So I am going to read this proclamation honoring the Dutch family and all that they have done for not only the city of South Fulton, but for my family and my children. So this proclamation honoring APEC Family Foundation, whereas the city of South Fulton recognizes and celebrates an invaluable contributions of the APEC Family Foundation. a nonprofit organization founded in 2003 and formally established in South Fulton in 2006 under the leadership of the Jeter Family and the Coalition of Dedicated Community Parents. And whereas since its inception, APEC Family Foundation has partnered with Fulton County Parks and Recreation, now the City of South Fulton Parks and Recreation, to launch APEC at Clifton Dale and expand rapidly serving over 250 students in its initial programs, which I forgot to say my oldest son was one of those first kids that first year. So we go way back. Whereas APEC Family Foundation has continued to grow, establishing programs at numerous additional school sites and to date has served an estimated 15,000 students and families across Metro Atlanta, making a profound and lasting impact on the community. And whereas APEC has been recognized as an outstanding school partner by multiple schools and was named the 2024 Fulton County School District Business Partner of the Year, reflecting its unwavering commitment to excellence in youth development. And here's my favorite part. APEC Family Foundation has provided over $4 million in scholarships and direct support for families in need, demonstrating extraordinary commitment to educational access, equity, and community uplift. Whereas the four pillars of APEC, after school, preschool, employment, and community, represent the core areas that defined its mission and portfolio, which includes serving over 1000 students annually, employing more than 160 team members operating one preschool location and 15 after school locations. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and city council of the city of South Fulton do hereby honor and commend the APEC Family Foundation for more than two decades of outstanding service leadership and dedication to the children, families and communities of South Fulton and beyond. We extend our deepest gratitude for your positive impact and lasting legacy. Thank you both so much.

I'm going to make this quick since we've been here a long time. So I want to thank Councilwoman Roa for recognizing and established the APEC Day several years ago. But now I really want to thank Mr. Johnson because being one of those first families to trust us with your children, He's a barber, and I'm a contractor by training. So this was a big leap of faith for them. The people that stand here with me are the reason why we are. This would not have happened without Dr. Flannoy, who now serves on my board, Viva Jones now, who was my son's pre-K teacher, my dearest and closest friends are all here in support of us, Ms. Smith, who came on board in 2006 and is still an APEC employee. We're so thankful. She runs C1 League. She's at Seabourn Lee. Yes, yes. The school and the after school program. And most of all, my family, without whom none of this would be possible. So we're so thankful today and so honored and humbled by all of you all coming out and supporting us and all the support we've received in South Fulton.

Yes. Thank you. We love you. All right. Anybody, any council members want to say anything? All right.

Well, as you said, you also raised my baby too. So now she's a senior at Kennesaw State. So shout out to all those who you've raised up at A. Philip Randolph. Everybody knows we love the Dutch family. So congratulations again.

So I'm a former Stonewall Tale mom. And I love Stonewall Tale. And Principal Fenori was my daughter's. But I can tell you, one day I got off extremely late. And it's never a time you go through Stonewall to elementary and you will not see these black and yellow shirts everywhere. And I remember my daughter telling me that this lady, I don't know who she is, but I knew that it was Apex that stayed with her because she said, the lady had on black and yellow and she just stayed here and waited with me. And I will never forget that. So thank you for all the work that you do in the community and even watching for people's kids that ain't even yours. So thank you. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Next item is executive session, if necessary.

All right. We have decided that executive session is not necessary. So if there's no objection, we will go ahead and adjourn. Looks like there's no objection. So we have some time for the next meeting. See you at 7 o'clock.

adjourned at 6.54 p.m.

All right, you ready to start?

Thank you for joining us live for the City of South Fulton City Council Meeting. We are proud to introduce the leadership entrusted with guiding our city forward. Mayor Carmelitha Gumbs. District 1 Councilwoman, Dr. Catherine Rao. District 2 Councilman, Aaron V. Johnson. District 3 Councilwoman, Latonya Toni Wright. District 4 Councilman Jaycee Sebastian. District 5 Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Keosha B. Bell. District 6 Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown. District 7 Councilwoman Linda Becker Pritchett. Supporting the work of this body and the operations of our city are City Clerk Corey Adams, City Manager Sharon D. Subedan, and Interim City Attorney Sarah Kelly. Thank you for being the best part of the City of South Fulton, a city on the rise.

All right, welcome to our City Council regular meeting for September the 8th, 2026. It is 7.03 p.m. We are calling this meeting to order. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

This is a roll call for tonight's regular meeting. The Honorable Captain F. Ryle, District 1. Present. The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. The Honorable Latonya Toni Wright, District 3.

Present.

The Honorable J.C. Sebastian, District 4. Here. The Honorable Keosha B. Bell, District 5.

Present.

The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6. Present. The Honorable Linda Becker Pritchett, District 7.

Present remotely.

The Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

All right. I want to take a moment of personal privilege and ask Councilwoman Rowe to read the civility pledge.

The city of Southland civility pledge. The way we govern ourselves is often as important as the positions we take. Our collective decisions will be better when differing views have had the opportunity to be fully vetted and considered. All people have the right to be treated with respect, courtesy, and openness. We value all input. We commit to conduct ourselves at all times with civility and courtesy to each other.

Thank you. All right, Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Next item is Roman numeral three, invocation by the city chaplain.

God of our weary years and God of our silent tears, we thank you for the privilege of gathering together in service to the people of the city of South Fulton. Your word reminds us that if any of us lacks wisdom, we should ask of God who gives generosity. So tonight we ask for wisdom. Give wisdom to our mayor, our city council, our city staff, and all who have been entrusted with the responsibility of leadership. As decisions are made about resources, priorities, and the future of this city, remind us that stewardship is more than counting what we have, it's deciding what we value. Help us to count the costs but also to consider the collective. Help us to remember the families behind the figures, the neighborhoods behind the numbers, and the people behind every policy. May we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly. Give our leaders the courage to make difficult decisions, the humility to listen to one another, and the wisdom to recognize that disagreement does not have to become division. God, we stand tonight on ground made possible by people who dreamed, sacrificed, prayed, marched, built, served, and believed that those coming behind them could inherit something better. So as we lift every voice, may we also accept the responsibility that comes with having a voice. Keep us forever in the path, we pray. May we remain true to our God and true to our native land. And may being true to this land mean being faithful stewards of what has been entrusted to us. its people, its resources, its neighborhoods, its children, and its future. Remind us that none of us secedes alone. We are because others were. And what we do tonight shall make it possible for others yet to come to become all that you have called them to be. Now God, establish the work of our hands. Bless the city of South Fulton. Bless every person who calls this community home. And let justice, wisdom, stewardship, and love guide the work before us. In your name we pray. Amen. Pledge of Allegiance. for the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to Roman numeral five adoption of the council agenda. I did receive one item, uh, to add to the walk on agenda. That is a special event for the shock wave five K run on September 26 on old national highway sponsored by the old national council members, district five, six and seven. This was, uh, added to the agenda by council member Pritchett.

My understanding is that item has already been approved on previous agendas.

Madam Mayor. Yes. Can you hear me? So although the item was approved, what I was told by Dr. Cooper is that we had to formally explain or formally request that the council waive the fees for the police and fire. And for that reason, I'm bringing this back up on the agenda for that approval.

Do we have a number?

I don't have a number. Dr. Cooper can speak to that.

I don't know the full route, what they're using, because they are, from what I'm told, blocking roads, and they will have to go to the state to understand what it would take to block the roads with the state, because they're blocking a state road.

Madam Mayor, they have been approved by DOT at this time.

It appears that there are a few questions from the council. So do you all want to use the queue? I think the first person that had a question was Councilman Sebastian. OK. Councilmember Williams-Brown.

The the I heard Councilman Pritchett say that the DLT has has given the approval. Do we have a copy of that? Can we get a copy of that?

I don't have a copy of it at this moment, but I definitely will obtain that from Miss Frazier with Shock Fitness and make sure that it gets to the mayor and council.

The 26th of September. Go ahead, Councilwoman.

The cost for that we're waiving is for the police and fire to help barricade or block off the roads and I guess just having them as EMT personnel?

So I'm answering questions just because this kind of, Ms. Frazier came to me because this became an issue, but initially I was not involved in organizing the planning of this event. I believe that Mr. Merlin Knight, from District 6 is who was helping Ms. Frazier organize this, but somehow it just came to me. And because this event is on September 26th, we wanted to make sure that we got this on the agenda for approval as soon as possible. But perhaps Mr. Knight can help answer some of these questions. I don't know, you know.

So, Mayor, Council, this is just as with any other special event. When a special event is put on the agenda for Council, it's basically approving the location, things like that, but it's not necessarily waiving the fees for PD that will do the security, waive that fire that's there to have an apparatus there for different things. Those things are costs that are normally borne by the organizer, not the city. So, With this situation, just as a previous situation that we'll be voting on tonight, I told the councilwoman if that's what we were looking to do, the council would have to vote to waive those fees, which are fees that we would then incur.

Okay, so what you just said is different from what the clerk read. Because what the clerk read was an approval of a walk-on item for an event that has already been approved. If what we're trying to do now is waive fees, I for one particularly sense it's my aide that has been doing the work with Ms. Frazier to bring this to fruition. And I would personally need to ask some fact-finding questions, you know, which we can't get answered until Mr. Knight is back. But if we're going to be waiving fees, what we had prior to tonight's agenda item, we had an estimate. We actually had two estimates. I pose the question, what's the final number? I already had in my head that it was a number between X and Y. This is asking us to approve blindly an amount of money that we don't know and no one can answer whether or not it's even been discussed. Because the person who's been doing the work the whole time for a year isn't here and I'm not even sure that he knows that this is developed.

And that is the bigger issue because He would have to let us know so we would know how many PD would be needed, how many fire would be needed, and that way we could ascertain the cost. I can get the cost for council within the next couple of days, no issues, but they would have to let me know what they're doing. I didn't know they had the GDOT approval until Councilwoman just said it. I didn't know they had it yet.

So, Council, what's your pleasure? Do you want to hold this item or do you want to approve it?

Madam Mayor, I'm in the queue again. I've pressed the button.

One moment. Councilwoman Pritchett.

Thank you. So, I just want to make this clarification. This business is located in District 7. As Councilwoman Williams-Brown just stated, yes, it was her aid that did all the work with the exception of this part that Dr. Cooper brought to my attention. Now, I particularly don't really care to be involved in this situation, although the owner of this business asked for my support. But, you know, whatever you guys want to do is fine with me because I wasn't involved in any of the work. But approving this part and whether... Councilwoman Williams-Brown had an estimate or a number. From what Dr. Cooper is saying, this has to be either approved or not. If it's not approved, I don't know what the event, what that will do for the event. When the owner called me, these are the steps that I took because there was an issue that no one else involved in these conversations was approached with that. Or if they were, they didn't get to this point. So whatever the council's pleasure is fine with me. I wasn't involved. I'm making that very clear. But when people start calling me, asking me, well, what do I do now? And when Dr. Cooper is saying, hey, in order for this to work, this is the procedure we need to follow, I followed that procedure. And whatever you guys want to do, if you want to push it off to the next council meeting to gather more facts and then somebody else presents this to the council for approval, that is absolutely fine with me.

Do we have any more comments in the queue, any more? Council again, I'm asking, uh, I'm sorry, city attorney.

Thank you, mayor. Um, just because there are so many questions around this and it seems like the organizers also have questions and need to discuss amongst themselves. Um, I don't think it'd be wise to just kind of approve a blank check. I do think we need some more information. So it'd be my advice to hold this at least until the 22nd.

All right. Counsel, you've heard the advice from the, uh, city attorney. All right. So are you willing to hold that item? Okay. Mr. Clerk, what else do you have?

Yeah, we just need a motion or unanimous consent to approve the council agenda as written.

Okay.

Sorry, Madam Mayor. With no change? I have an addition to change.

Okay. Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Um, and I apologize for not sending this earlier, but I was all caught up in these decisions of a budget. Um, April 3rd, 2027, Madam Mayor, I've had the initial conversation with you about the city's sports recreation and enrichment expo for 2027, April 3rd. Uh, And it's a date that we wanted to lock in because we need a lot of time to advertise this. We need to get families, kids and others prepare for the summer of 2027 so that they can get information on all the great programs that are happening right now in the city of South Fulton and the great ones that are on their way. So I wanted to add that to the agenda.

Okay. Do you have that, clerk? And I believe there's one more change.

Thank you, Mayor. Just the removal of 9A, there's still some additions that we're making to, some tweaks we're making to that ordinance. It's not quite ready yet, but it will be ready for the September 22nd agenda.

Okay. All right, Council, you have heard all of the amendments to this amendment. Is this council agenda? So at this point in time, if there are no more changes, we can adopt this with unanimous consent.

All right, Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

BRINGS US TO RUMOR NUMBER 6, APPROVAL OF CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES. REGULAR MEETING MINUTES, AUGUST 25, 2026. WORK SESSION MINUTES, AUGUST 25, 2026. ALCOHOL ZONING PUBLIC HEARING MINUTES, AUGUST 25, 2026. AND SPECIAL CALL MEETING MINUTES, SEPTEMBER 1, 2026.

ALL RIGHT, COUNCIL, IF THERE ARE NO OBJECTIONS, WE CAN ADOPT THIS WITH UNANIMOUS CONSENT. MR. CLERK, PLEASE SOUND THE NEXT ITEM.

BRINGS US TO ROMA NUMBER 7, CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS, LETTERS A THROUGH E. ALL RIGHT.

IF THERE ARE NO OBJECTIONS, COUNCIL, WE WILL ADOPT THIS WITH UNANIMOUS CONSENT. OKAY. MR. CLERK, PLEASE SEND THE NEXT ITEM.

Brings us Roman numeral eight. This is the FY2027 budget presentation presented by Althea Fillard Bradley, our chief financial officer.

GOOD EVENING, HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL, CITY STAFF AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. AT YOUR REQUEST, MAYOR, I WILL TRY TO BE AS BRIEF AS POSSIBLE. TODAY I WILL BE PRESENTING THE CITY MANAGERS FISCAL YEAR 2027 PROPOSED BUDGET. AS YOU MAY RECALL FROM OUR INITIAL PRESENTATION, THIS YEAR'S BUDGET THEME IS LET'S BUILD, WE'RE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. WELL, WE'RE UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THIS THEME REFLECTS NOT ONLY THE SIGNIFICANT CONSTRUCTIONS AND CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS UNDERWAY THROUGHOUT THE CITY, BUT ALSO OUR CONTINUED EFFORTS TO STRENGTHEN THE CITY'S FINANCIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL FOUNDATION. Our 2027 proposed budget totals $390,889,445 citywide. No. Again, go back. You went too far. Again, our theme for 2027 is let's build. And when we say we're under construction, we're talking more than buildings. We're continuing to build the foundation of the city, build upon initiatives already started in 2026 and make investments that will have an impact well beyond this budget year. We're also continuing to invest in our parks, facilities and infrastructure while building an internal team and organizational capacity needed to support those investments. So as I walk through the budget tonight, you will see that a significant portion of our 2027 budget is really about continuing the work we've already started in positioning the city for the future. Our highlight slide gives us a high-level look at some of the major items included in the 2027 proposed budget. First, I want to state that the budget proposes no change in the millage rate. Our current millage rate is $12.399, and our budget was developed using that millage rate. THE BASE BUDGET PROVIDES FOR THE CONTINUATION OF CITY OPERATIONS AND EXISTING SERVICES WHILE ALSO MAKING SOME INVESTMENTS, TARGETED INVESTMENTS, WHICH INCLUDE EXPANSION OF THE BUSINESS LICENSE TEAM, A NEW HOMEOWNER HOUSING ASSISTANT PROGRAM AND ADDITIONAL GEORGIA CRIME INFORMATION CENTER POSITION SUPPORTING PUBLIC SAFETY. And one of our largest areas of investment continues to be our public safety facilities. 67% of the public safety bond proceeds are programmed for construction in 2027. The next slide, which is our budget comparison slide, which compares our 2026 amended budget to our 2027 proposed budget. Overall, the citywide budget decreases from 427.9 million to 390.8 million, which is a reduction of 37 million. And I want to put that $37 million reduction into perspective because the majority of the increase is related to our capital projects funds, which I touched on in a minute. The general fund decreased by $7.4 million from $193 to $186.2 million. This reduction is primarily related to a decrease in transfers out to other funds, largely the capital improvement fund. The largest decrease, again, however, is our capital projects funds, which is declining by $29.9 million. That reduction is primarily driven by the amount we anticipate spending on the police and fire projects in 2027. As you may recall, in 2026, we budgeted the full $96 million in public safety bond proceeds. BECAUSE THESE ARE MULTIYEAR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, WE DID NOT SPEND THE ENTIRE AMOUNT IN ONE PHYSICAL YEAR. SO IN 2027, WE'RE BUDGETING $64.9 MILLION. OUR OTHER FUNDS REMAIN RELATIVELY STABLE, INCREASING BY $343,000. Now, before we move on to numbers, I'm going to spend a little bit time on this slide because I would briefly, not briefly, but because I want to address the 2026 tax digest and the temporary bills that our residents may have already received. First, um, I want to note that the city of South Fulton does not prepare your tax bills, nor the tax digest property values are assessed by the Fulton County board of assessors and your bills are mailed out by Fulton County. There was a court order issued on August 4th because the tax digest had been delayed and Fulton County have basically not yet fully assessed all the properties within Fulton County. So as a result, the tax digest cannot be submitted to the state for final approval. And for us, that's significant because property tax is our largest revenue source for the general fund. And it also determines the taxable value we use to project property tax revenue. So because the digest was not completed in time for our normal billing process, the court authorized Fulton County to temporarily bill and collect 2026 property taxes. Again, at this point, many of us have already received our tax bill, but I want to emphasize this is just a temporary bill. It is not your final property tax bill. In fact, many homesteaded properties may currently be showing a lower tax amount, and there are a couple of reasons for that. I'll discuss one of those reasons on this slide. And that one reason is your 2020 tax bill is being calculated using 2025 millage rate. for all taxing authorities in Fulton County. If you filed an appeal, the temporary tax bill may not reflect 100% of the 2026 assessed value. Under the court's order, certain properties under appeal are temporarily billed using 85% or the prior year value to assess your tax bill using a 2025 millage rate. So that means right now you may have, if you received a green piece of paper with your tax bill on it, you filed an appeal and it may not show 100% of your property tax assessed. So you should not assume that the amount shown on a temporary bill is necessarily your final bill. And even though the bill is temporary, it should still be paid as issued. Once the final digest is certified and all the taxing authorities have established and adopted their 2026 millage rate, those temporary bills will be reconciled. And depending on the final assessment and millage rates adopted, you may owe money, may owe additional funds, or you may receive a refund. And from the city's perspective, that means our property tax revenue projection remains an estimate until the final certified tax digest is received. Moving on to the property tax credit slide. I want to highlight some property tax relief available for eligible homesteaded properties in 2026. The state of Georgia has provided homeowner tax relief grant, which provides about 500 in property tax relief. However, I want to emphasize again that this is not a recurring credit, so some of you may look at your tax bill and see that it's a lot lower than the prior year. That does not mean homeowners should expect to receive this same tax credit every year or assume it will be available again next year. So your bill most likely next year will go up because there won't be a state tax credit on your property tax bill. So expect it to go up by that much, at least. We also wanted residents to be aware that there are new senior exemptions for Fulton County School District, excuse me, the Fulton County School District portion of your tax bill. At age 65, your eligible homesteaded properties may receive up to 25% reduction in assessed value, increasing to 50% at the age of 70. Again, those senior exemptions apply to Fulton County School District taxes, not the city's portion of your tax bill. And if you have any further questions, we would recommend that you visit the Fulton County Assessor's website or call the tax office. Now that we've covered some of the property tax consideration affecting the budget, we're going to move into the financial details of fiscal year 2027 proposed budget. Okay. The citywide slide provides a high-level view of the proposed citywide budget, which totals 390.8 million. I'll spend a moment explaining what we mean when we say citywide. The city operates through close to 30 individual funds, and each fund has a specific purpose. So the 390.8 million you see here is not one big large pool of money that can be used interchangeably. The general fund makes up for 186.2 million of the citywide budget. The next largest component is our capital funds at 159.7. The remaining portion of the budget is spread across special revenue funds, debt service, enterprise, trust and custodians funds. Our citywide revenue sources slide by type, excuse me, by type slide gives us a picture of how we are funding the 2027 proposed budget. We've separated our funding sources into two categories. We have our operating revenue and we have our non operating revenue. If you look at the upper portion of the table, you'll see operating revenues listed. And in 2027 proposed budget, IT STANDS AT 218,171,769. OVERALL, OUR OPERATING REVENUES ARE PROJECTED TO INCREASE BY $9.2 MILLION COMPARED TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2026 AMENDED BUDGET. RATHER THAN GO THROUGH EVERY SOURCE, I WILL JUST HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE MORE SIGNIFICANT INCREASES. STARTING WITH PROPERTY TAX, WE'RE PROJECTING 67.9 MILLION, AND COLLECTIONS THIS YEAR ARE TRENDING ABOVE BUDGET, SO WE'VE TAKEN THAT PERFORMANCE INTO CONSIDERATION WHILE WE AWAIT THE TAX DIGEST. OUR LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX IS PROJECTED AT 30.9 MILLION, AN INCREASE OF $2.1 MILLION. AGAIN, WE'RE TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE PERFORMANCE WE'VE SEEN THIS YEAR. OUR INSURANCE PREMIUM TAX, increases to $12 million. That's an increase of 1.5. This is based on the activity that we're seeing this year. Our TSP loss increases from 27.7, excuse me, it increases to 27.7 million, an increase of 5.1. Next again, we have our bond proceeds, and this is the most significant decrease. Again, the decrease is based on us budgeting 96.3 from the prior year and budgeting 64.9 million in 2027. You'll also notice a decrease in investment income or other revenue. A significant factor is the interest rate environment. As rates have declined, we've taken a more conservative approach to projecting investing earnings rather than ASSUMING THE HIGHER LEVELS WERE EXPERIENCED IN RECENT YEARS. FINALLY, WE HAVE OUR 66.9 MILLION IN BUDGETED USE OF RESERVES CITYWIDE. I WANT TO ALSO NOTE THAT THESE RESERVES ARE SPREAD ACROSS MULTIPLE FUNDS AND ARE PRIMARILY ASSOCIATED WITH CAPITAL PROJECTS, PREVIOUSLY COMMITTED RESOURCES, AND OTHER ONE-TIME EXPENDITURES. MOVING ON TO OUR CITYWIDE EXPENSES BY FUNCTION. This slide looks at the other side of the equation, which is how our resources are being spent across the city by function. This will be all inclusive of all funds. So when we talk about a function such as public works of public safety, we're not necessarily talking about one department or one fund. We're looking at the total investment in that particular service across all funds. For example, public works expenditures are not limited to what you see in a general fund. It also takes into consideration TSPLAS and other capital funds. The same goes for the public safety. A larger investment in citywide is the public safety function, which represents 136.7 public works. increases by 7.4 million citywide. Solid waste increases by 1.7 citywide. Overall citywide expenditures decreased by $37 million, which I mentioned earlier in the presentation, and that's primarily reflected of the decrease in the public safety funding for 2027. The next slide just gives you a percentage comparison THIS IS JUST ANOTHER WAY TO LOOK AT HOW OUR RESOURCES ARE SPREAD ACROSS THE MAJOR CITY FUNCTIONS. UP TO THIS POINT, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THE CITYWIDE PERSPECTIVE, WHICH INCLUDES ALL CITY FUNDS. NOW I WANT TO NARROW THE FOCUS TO THE GENERAL FUND, BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE THE MAJORITY OF OUR DAY-TO-DAY GOVERNMENTAL OPERATIONS ARE FUNDED. The comparative revenue analysis for the general fund by type, you'll see some of the familiar numbers we talked about in the citywide budget. So I'll just touch on it briefly, which again, the highest revenue source for the general fund is property tax. Our second largest revenue source, local option sales tax. then third with our insurance premium tax for a total of $186.2 million for the general fund. It represents a $7.4 million reduction, and that's primarily due to the reduction in budgeted use of reserves, which is a good thing. THIS GRAPHIC REALLY ENFORCES WHAT WE JUST DISCUSSED SHOWING THE MAKEUP OF OUR GENERAL FUND RESOURCES BY PERCENTAGE. ALL RIGHT. I DON'T WANT TO CONFUSE YOU ALL BECAUSE I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS SLIDE LOOKS SIMILAR TO YOUR CITYWIDE SLIDE, RIGHT? HOWEVER, THIS FOCUSES ONLY ON THE GENERAL FUND BY FUNCTIONS. THE DIFFERENCE HERE IS BASICALLY WE'RE JUST LOOKING AT THE PORTION FOR THE GENERAL FUND. SO OVERALL AGAIN THE DECREASE FROM THE GENERAL FUND IS 7.4 MILLION. BUT SIMILAR TO THE CITYWIDE SCHEDULE, I want to simplify focus on why a number went up and provide some context around what is driving those changes. I'll be brief with what's driving those changes. So starting with public safety, the general fund shows an increase of $4.7 million, but on the citywide function side, you saw that public safety showed a reduction of $29.9 million. And again, that was because the timing of the capital um construction for our public safety facilities but here on the general fund side is showing a 4.7 million dollar increase and that increase is primarily related to personnel costs which includes the full year impact of merit increases associated associated with merit increases that took place during 2026 and we're seeing the full year cost in 2027. it also includes the cost of collective bargaining agreement Moving on to the general government, this function includes many of the departments that support city's overall services, like our executive and legislative functions, finance, and general services. That is reducing by $2.7 million, and that's primarily because we don't have much capital equipment budgeted in the general fund, like we had purchases this year, and basically we're not funding those at the same level. Moving on to public works, DECREASING BY $3.5 MILLION, AND THAT'S DUE TO THE RECLASSIFICATION OF CERTAIN EXPENDITURES THAT ARE MORE APPROPRIATELY FUNDED IN TSPLAS. HOUSING AND DEVELOPMENT INCREASING BY $6.4 MILLION, AND THAT'S DUE TO THE EXPANSION OF THE BUSINESS LICENSE TEAM. CULTURE AND RECREATION INCREASES BY $5.9 MILLION, AND THAT'S PRIMARILY DRIVEN BY PERSONNEL CAUSE. AND FINALLY BUT NOT LEAST, TRANSFERS OUT. Expenditures decreased from 45.7 to 38.6, which is a reduction of 7.1. And we're happy about that reduction because there's a reduction in capital improvement plan, which is funded by the general fund. So our next slide, our previous slide discussed the expenditure by function. Now we're going into the expenditure by category. Again, I won't spend too much time here. Personnel services makes up our larger expenditure category. Purchase and contractor services increased by $3 million. This category includes services the city obtains from outside vendors and contractors. Supplies also decreased from 14 to 13.5 million. We also see a significant decrease in capital outlay within the general fund in which I've already discussed that. Again, this is just a visual representation of that same $186.2 million. As I mentioned earlier, transfers out are not dollars leaving the city. They represent general fund resources being moved into other city funds to support specific purposes and obligations. And total transfers out to other city funds and a breakdown of which funds those dollars are going to are listed on this page. Now moving on to special revenue funds which account for revenues that are legally restricted or designated for specific purposes. Collectively, these funds total $21.2 million, which is a 1.4% decrease. I'm going to just briefly touch on ARPA, and I'll move on. We do see a significant decrease in ARPA from 1.7 to $283,000, and that is because we're winding down on the remaining ARPA funds, and we have to spend these funds by December 31st of 2026. Moving on to enterprise funds, trust and custodial funds, and component unit funds. This slide just shows the 2027 budgets associated with each of those funds we just discussed. I won't read the numbers. If you have any questions, please just ask. All right, our last two remaining funds, capital and debt services. Again, our capital is reducing by 29.9, but I do want to touch on the new debt service for our capital public safety bonds. It went up from $3.6 million to $7.3 million, and that's primarily because the principal and interest are due in 2027, so we have to account for how we're going to pay for those bonds. Okay. This just provides a breakout of the $64.9 million I've been mentioning throughout the presentation, how it's being spent. This is our five-year capital improvement plan. We're in year three, which the total is $88.8 million. IN CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, AND THAT INCLUDES, AGAIN, THE $64.9 MILLION AND THE $23.9 MILLION MENTIONED EARLIER. AND THIS IS JUST A BREAKDOWN OF THE $23.9 MILLION I'VE BEEN DISCUSSING, WHICH IS FUNDED BY THE GENERAL Another major component is TSPLOS again. It's a dedicated three-quarter of a cent sales tax used to fund transportation projects. We budgeted $55.1 million in 2027 for TSPLOS projects. This slide just shows the specific projects that we are funding this year. And if you have any questions, Dr. Cooper would be happy to answer. I'M TRYING TO MOVE. I DON'T KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON THIS, BUT THIS SLIDE IS THE PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2027 FUNDING FOR MAYOR AND COUNCIL EVENTS TOTALING $170,000. THIS CALENDAR JUST SHOWS PAST AND CURRENT SCHEDULE MEETING DATES FOR OUR BUDGET. ANY QUESTIONS? WHAT'S THE TIME ON THAT? I was trying to move. Thank you.

We're hoping that we don't have any, but I think there is a council member in the queue. Are we ready? You didn't see this presentation. Nine times. Councilman Sebastian.

You don't have to make me feel that bad, ma'am. I guess this question is to Dr. Cooper. Since you said to ask Dr. Cooper about questions. So, Dr. Cooper, do you know if those tax bills that came out already have the senior schools exemption applied? Do we even know that?

No, if they didn't apply for it, they do not. Correct.

So if, well, yes, Council Member Bell. So if seniors are paying these bills, they could be overpaying on their taxes once those things are applied?

Say that again? Because if they applied, it would show.

If they have not been applied and they're paying,

No they have to apply for the exemption.

That's not what I'm asking. Okay. So if the exemptions have been taken out of the temporary bill that we got or not?

They have not.

Okay. They're still there. So technically when those exemptions are applied if a senior pays their bill before that could be overpaid on their taxes.

No, they should already be applied. If they apply for it by April 1st through the county, it should already be applied to their property tax bill, that credit.

We will talk about this offline.

Okay.

Yeah. All right. I don't think I see any other questions in the queue. Thank you so much for your presentation.

You're welcome.

All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Madam Mayor, Roman numeral 9A was removed from the agenda. So that brings us to Roman numeral 10, public comments. Comments regarding zoning cases will not be allowed. Speakers will be granted a total of two minutes each, and public comments will not exceed 30 minutes. Speakers will not be allowed to yield or donate their time to other speakers. Speakers must identify themselves and their addresses prior to speaking. Speakers may only address the presiding officer to observe all rules of decorum No debate, disrespect, or obscenity shall be tolerated. The presiding officer shall rule any such individual out of order that fails to comply with the foregoing. With those rules read into the record, Madam Mayor, members of council, we did receive two comment cards regarding zoning items, but the public comment portion was during the 5 o'clock meeting for these items. So that leaves us with three. Speaker cards, call your name. Please approach the center microphone. State your name and address. You have two minutes. Ms. Jewel Johnson, Kendall Arrington, and Mike Johnson.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Jewel Johnson, and I reside in District 1. I'm here tonight just to reiterate some things that we talked about before, and that is about our stakeholders. We definitely want to have conversation and collaboration with mayor and council for the mere fact that just listening to some of the things that has already been said that we are still building. And there are a lot of things that was shared with us by the city manager, which was some very good things. And some of those things cost money. And one of the things she let us know was that there will probably be something put a referendum put out for us to vote as to whether or not we would like to have our taxes increase. So I think this is a fabulous time for us to get together to have conversation and collaboration. There are so many things that we can do together and I'd like to say it may help us too for us all because I have I've done it myself you might want to remind yourself to kind of look at what the Georgia and the National says about stakeholders, that is. They are very, very important and they're people that really want their city, county, and state to really thrive. So I'm asking today, I asked before, to at least acknowledge the fact that we can have conversation and collaboration. And I can assure you, you will come out feeling like this should have been done a long time ago. So I just want to say thank you for the opportunity of sharing that with you. And if you want to have some conversation even before everybody get together, like there's seven people. If you want to speak with me, everybody knows my number. So give me a call. I'm open. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, good evening, Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Kendall Arrington, and I'm here tonight to speak about the data center development in the city of South Fulton.

Ms. Arrington, where do you live? You got to state your street address.

Glenview Drive.

Glenview Drive? Glenview, yeah. Glenview, yeah.

Okay, I want to begin by recognizing that this, this council has already taken steps to address the data center development, including the adoption of or 2026 dash 024. But I believe there's a larger question that still needs to be answered. I'm not asking South Fulton to reject economic development. I'm asking the city to determine what role data centers should play in our long term economic strategy before we continue making these decisions one project at a time. We know these developments can generate a significant revenue. The question is whether revenue alone makes additional data center development the best use of South Fulton's limited land and infrastructure. Every major development represents a long-term choice. When land is committed to one industry, we should understand what opportunities that investment creates and what other opportunities we may be giving up. That means looking beyond the impact of the next individual project. We should understand what our existing and improved facilities require. We should know the long-term economic return they provide. We should also compare South Fulton's development pattern with the rest of Fulton County and understand whether our city is taking on a disproportionate share of large-scale development. I'm asking the council to develop and publicly adopt a long-term data center strategy before approving additional major projects. That strategy should give residents a clear accounting of what we already have and what we receive in return. Most importantly, it should establish how much additional development actually fits in the future of South Fulton is trying to build because the question should not simply be whether another data center can be built here. The question is whether or not another data center should be a part of the South Fulton we are building for the next generation. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. All right.

Mike Johnson, district for camera, the fabric road. First of all, you know, I tried to follow the budget situation just now. I really didn't follow what the real purpose for removing 27 million that's look like about sixteen point point five percent out of public safety budget But I guess if I look into it more I'll probably get a better understanding later Normally my comments are centered around the deep-rooted corruption within our local city government Involving the mayor the city manager and the former disgraced police chief Keith Meadows and his unfair treatment of fellow officers under his command and This week, I'm going to pivot a little. I'm not going to address the allegations of Juba Rogers bragging to his fellow officers about his direct conversation with our city attorney, Sarah Kelly, and her directly assisting him, yep, Juba Rogers again, in suing me for bringing the distasteful truth to the council and taxpayers' attention. And their attempt to silence me and violate my First Amendment right And deny me from speaking at these meetings. Surely, surely, just surely, Sarah Kelly would not put her law license and all her years of higher education on the line by crossing that line. I'm not going to get into that this afternoon, but what I am going to get into... is the courageousness and the braveness of our city of South Fulton public safety, police, and fire. In the past few days, there have been several call-outs and incidents involving our police and our fire department. One involved our officers being fired upon, where it took teamwork and extreme caution to ensure that every one of our team members within the department returned home safely to their families. On behalf of the taxpayer and citizens, thank all of you for your bravery. I really appreciate it, and I know the council and the entire city of South Fulton appreciate it, as well as the assisting local people agency that also assisted. And I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the passing of one of the team members here, Officer... Danielle McClendon. I would be remiss by not saying anything about that. We appreciate her. We stand shoulder to shoulder with her family. And I know I'm going over right now, but I think it deserves some attention on that particular officer and the stuff that our officers are going through right now. Thank you.

All right. Do we have any more public comments?

Thank you. Please. The public comment for today's meeting.

All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound.

The next item brings us council comments.

District one councilwoman round.

Thank you for recognizing me. Um, we have a lot going on as usual. Um, first of all, um, I didn't get a chance to do this at the last one, but I wanted to thank everybody who came to the National Seniors Day Conference. We had a great time, shared a lot of good information about estate planning. Thank Councilwoman Bell for stopping by. I appreciate your attendance. Again, we need to figure out how to get more people in that session. You know, we wind up moving to a bigger stage because we were originally in a black box, I have heard so much feedback from residents about the information being really, really valuable, so we might need to figure out how to take some of those smaller parts of the program on the road. I want to encourage everybody to come out to Anthem III Senior Living Community on tomorrow. From 11 to 4, they have an open house for residents 55 and up. This is our newest senior housing in the city of South Fulton. They have a move-in special. You can receive $1,000 off your rent if you move in by September 30, and they're waiving the application fee. So stop by tomorrow. This is on, I know you were looking for a place. I understand. Anyway, if you know some seniors who are looking for new housing, the facility is beautiful. I've had a chance to tour, so stop by. The Friends of the Cascade Library, they are looking for volunteers. If you are interested, call Rich Wilkins at 404-394-6700. This is at the Cascade Library at 285, if you don't know. a very active group, and they're looking for more volunteers. The inaugural Roots and Routes Festival is taking place September 11th through 12th at the Southwest Arts Center. It's the celebration of culture, history, and tradition, and storytelling. Attendees will enjoy storytelling workshops, a story swap, a story slam, an evening. storytelling concerts featuring nationally recognized storytellers, regional performers, and workshop presenters. Take advantage of it. This is the first year at the Southwest Art Center. I think it's going to be a great event. And last but not least, I want to encourage you to participate in our monthly cleanups with the Cascade Business and Merchants Association, where we clean the commercial corridor along Cascade and 285. Um, we're still on a summer schedule. So we meet again on September 26th at 8 AM. We provide all the supplies. We just need to muscle power for a couple of hours and help us keep, make sure we keep our commercial corridor beautiful. And that concludes my comments. Thank you so much. District two.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam mayor. It's been a tough couple of days, a few days for the city of South Fulton. Not only did we lose our officer, Danielle McClendon, But we also lost a District 2 resident who was an Atlanta police recruit, Moses Russ, 24 years old, same age as my oldest son. So when you see things like that, it hits you in a whole different way. So we want to lift up both families, two people who chose service as their life's mission. And it was just very unfortunate. Um, I also want to make sure we remember that October 3rd, we are having praise at the park, praising the park at a Wolf Creek amphitheater. It is going to be a phenomenal concert. It's going to be Mary. Mary is coming together for the first time in 10 years to sing together, uh, to perform together. And they're going to do it right here in the city of South Fulton at Wolf Creek amphitheater. So I know everybody is going to be, there is going to be an amazing night. Uh, the only thing I really want to make sure I highlight this time is our ask Aaron series. We're going to do a couple of smaller town halls, make them a little more intimate at Clifton Dale Park. Our first one is going to be September 15th from 6 until 7.30. Each one is going to feature one department where they'll come and do a highlight of what's going on with them, but at the same time you can come and ask about anything. Our very first one is going to be public works and some of the projects that are going to be going on around in the district. October 1st from 6 to 7, 30, the fire department will be there. October 8th, Fulton County government is going to come and talk about the new health center that they're putting on Stonewall Hill Road. October 14th, code enforcement. And October 15th, parks and recreation. So please come out. A lot of people say that it's hard to reach us, but I think we're always out and we're always trying to connect with the community. So look forward to seeing you.

Thank you so much. District 3, Councilwoman Wright.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Last week in District 3, we had a lot of things going on. And I personally want to thank our residents for just all the things that they do to continue to keep the city fun, inviting, and growing. And I want to do a special shout out to the residents of Legend Oaks. They had jazz under the stars. I don't know how they knew that their councilwoman loves jazz. So they invited me to go out and listen to a live jazz band, so thank you Legend Oaks residents for that. It was a wonderful time just fellowshipping with community. I wanted to talk about the Partners Breakfast at Renaissance Elementary. My CSR, Ms. Bailey Boyd, was able to attend the Partners Breakfast last week, and we were able just to get some more information in regards to what the schools need so we can continue to support the local schools and the district, and how we can work together as a city to support them with strengthening student support. And we cannot forget Forever Fridays, Forever Fridays Came back on last Friday. It was over 50 couples that were married for free at the South Fulton Annex. And Madam Mayor, Councilwoman Raul and I, we had the privilege of watching the celebrity guest, Pastor Troy. He came and married the couples on last Friday. It was a fun time. They filled with love, laughter, family, gifts, and things of that nature. So that was really exciting to see them participating in. And just real briefly, just the things that we have coming up. I know Mayor Pro Tem will be discussing it, but we'll be partnering on Friday to have Canvas in Courts at the South Fulton Tennis Center. So that will be Friday, September the 11th. Come on out at 6 o'clock while we do Canvas. Of course, go ahead and get your painting on. If you think you're Michelangelo, DaVinci, whatever, just come on out and just show your skills as we paint and fellowship together. And also want to remind everyone, on September the 17th at 8.30, they will have the HBCU Tennis Tournament at the South Fulton Tennis Center. It's actually the 25th anniversary of the HBCU Tennis Tournament. So it's on September the 17th. it's a thursday september 17th starts at 8 30 and it climaxes on that sunday so come on out to south foot and tennis center so you can see tennis in action and that afternoon with that evening we will continue t with tony and our special guest at the clifton dale park will be public works director antonio venezuela is talking about the different things the public works that is happening right here in the district, in District 3. And I also want to, I was reminded to also make sure that everyone is aware at Welcome All, the senior programs have started back this week for my wags out there. So please make sure you come out there. It's a lot of different activities at Welcome All. We have book club, line dancing, tai chi, quilting, you name it, it's there at Welcome All. So please feel free. to come on out to Welcome All, sign up for those different activities. And that is all I have, Madam Mayor.

Thank you so much. District 4.

Thank you Madam Mayor. I will be short. Just want to thank everyone for their participation in last Thursday's farmers market. This month we focus on youth and we had to put it back because it rained kind of heavily the week before. But we still had a very good time. We have lots of young people that came to the market. And so we are going to repeat that next year with some lessons learned. Also want to let everyone know that our final community market is going to be on September 23rd, same time, same place, at 6000 Linmark Way and at 4 p.m. until about 8 p.m. So come out and visit the amazing District 4 community market where you may never know what you might come across in that market. And finally, I want to invite everyone out to Wilkerson Mill Park on the 19th of September. That's Saturday from about 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. for the only Southside International Cultural Festival. So yes, there'll be jerk, yes, there'll be music, there'll be steel pan, there'll be dancing, and there'll be all that good stuff to show our diversity. And yes, there will be an amazing jazz singer from District 4. If you have not heard our talent in District 4, you need to come out, see the talent that we have out there. So again, I invite everyone to come out on September 19th at Wilkerson Mill Park at the third annual International Cultural Festival. Thank you.

I'm proud of you. That was short. District 5. Well, we don't know. Mayor Pro Tem.

I'm going to be brief. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to take a moment to thank the Urban Food Movement here in our community, a nonprofit who has been giving out food now for the past few months. So I just want to thank them. They were able to service over 175 people on last week. Special thanks to my District 5 board member, Ms. Stacey Williams. Their nonprofit is fantastic. is a combination of black farmers. So all of the produce that they get from the farm, they bring it right to Burdette, make sure that our families of our babies, our Burdette babies, as well as the community gets resources, fresh produce and shelf life. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything that you're continuing to do in the city of South Fulton. to help with addressing food insecurities. As my colleague mentioned, Councilwoman Toni Wright, we will be gearing up for Friday, our Canvas in Court. So please join us from 6 to 9 at the Tennis Center in District 3 off of Mason Road. It is sponsored by Councilwoman and I, as well as the Atlanta Suburban Alumni of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. So I just want to thank them for joining us. So come out, ladies. We've got a beautiful picture that we're going to be able to paint that will really embrace Women's Month, right? So this is the time for us to get together, fellowship, have a good time, but paint, right? So please join us from 6 to 9. I promise you won't be sloppy or messy, but come on out and have some good time and let your hair down. I also want to announce that the Urban League of Greater Atlanta and Walmart Distribution Center will be doing their second hiring event, but this time they are bringing it into the community. So it is scheduled for Tuesday, September the 15th, 2026 from 9 AM to 3 PM at Burdette park. I do encourage people to get there early, bring your resumes and be sure to complete your seasonal applications and assessments prior to attendance. Um, it is second chance friendly. They have over a 1000, um, available positions right in our city. And so it's off of Stonewall till at the Walmart distribution center. the rate started $21 an hour up to 24 in some positions or $26 an hour. So there are opportunities for people in our community to receive employment right in your backyard with a livable wage. And they also have second chance opportunities for those who may have been impacted by the justice system. So please mark your calendars for September the 15th from 9am to 3pm bird at park. You can go directly to the Urban League of Greater Atlanta's website, which is ULGATL.org for more information. I'll also post that and probably include that in our newsletter once I receive the information. And as our residents said, thank you to our public safety department, fire, and police for their vigilance and their amazing work. Um, in this past week, especially as it relates to the commercial building fire, which was not a toxic hazard to our community, but thank them for just being there. making sure that you advise this council and mayor on what's going on in real time. And so, again, we do encourage individuals to be connected, get engaged. If you have not heard information or received, as I would like to say, a statement, then I ask you or request you to make sure that you're engaged with all council members we have newsletters we have social media pages where we post real-time information about real-time situations so before we are receiving emails about what we did not do I ask that you stay engaged so that you know in real time what is going on throughout this city so if you would like to be a part of our newsletter it's it's open to everyone districts one through seven please feel free to send us the email you can contact us at four seven zero or 525-1974. You can also email phillip.watley at cityofsouthfultonga.gov. Thank you so much, and have a wonderful evening.

She's coming with a little feistiness today. Okay. District 6, Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Well, Councilwoman Bell stole my thunder. Just a couple of reminders. This Saturday, September 12th, is the District 6 Recycle and Shred. Please do bring your aluminum, your glass, your papers, your cardboard, anything recyclable or shredding that you need to have done. As well, on Saturday, August 26th, at Creole Park will be the monthly food distribution starting at 10 o'clock, same time, same bat time, same bat channel. I think we all know the drill on that. And then at the same well, this will be immediately following the Shock Fitness 5K that is happening earlier in the morning just down the street at Shock Fitness at the corner of Old National and Jonesboro Road. So that's 279 and 138. And as Councilwoman Bell said, certainly do want to encourage residents to get engaged, to stay engaged. I think we all have newsletters, emails, phones. We're out and about in the community. We're easily accessible. We're easy to find. We respond. But what we cannot do is come to your house, knock on your door, sit on your sofa, and spoon feed you information about what is happening in the city. I can send out 5,000 emails. I need 5,000 people to open them and read them. please know that I do look at the statistics every month to see who is and is not reading the newsletter. I'm sure I'm not the only one. And so when people call us and email us to say what we didn't do, we've got the data for what we did do, but what we cannot do is open the email on your computer and read it to you. And so I'm going to echo my colleague in saying, please, please, please be engaged. Stay engaged. Read the information we're sending you. Watch the council meetings. They're on YouTube. You don't even have to come. You don't even have to watch it today. You can watch YouTube any day that you have time to find out what's going on. None of the things that are happening in the city are secret, and none of them are conspiracy theories. We are trying to do work, and we are communicating about the work. But we need everybody to do their part as well. If you want to be an informed citizen, you're going to have to actually engage with the information that's already being provided. So, Mayor, I have also been spicy.

A lot of spiciness up here today. Thank you. Thank you very much. District 7, Councilwoman Pritchett.

Thank you for acknowledging me, Madam Mayor. I will not bring the salsa to the situation, but good evening to everyone. I'm not present in person because I'm in Livonia, Georgia at this time, getting a certificate from the Georgia Municipal Association on Municipal Revenue Administration. And this is a week long course. So that's why I'm not there with you. But I do want to give a shout out to Global Minds, who co-sponsored with myself and District 6 at Creole Park a few weeks ago. They had the second annual youth block party. And it was really impressive because they had a lot of performances from the children that live in our communities. So I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows that that event was really nice, very successful. We have pictures and videos that I'll be posting on my social media as well as next door. And as we prepare for Hispanic Heritage History Month, I do want to announce that we will be adding a new event, which is called Mexico En Corazon. And what that is, it will be performances by more than 60 mariachis. and this will be on Sunday, September 20th at Wolf Creek Amphitheater. And so this is something that has been hosted at Times Square, at a lot of prominent cities, and they decided this year to come to South Fulton. So Mexico En Corazon is a free event, and it is Sunday, September 20th at Wolf Creek. Look up on our city webpage for more information. on their flyer and asuka music fest this year will be on september 26 as well at wolf creek and that is all my comments thank you all right thank you very much so

down to the last uh south side day happened at wood creek amphitheater this weekend on sunday it was a nice event it was hot so i do want to take a moment to thank our public uh safety as well as our police and fire it was hot and i know people were passing out because it was hot but thank you for all that you did to make that event successful um also i would like to mention that um We will have our next talk around town at the Old National Shopping Center from 6.30 to 8. This is this coming Thursday on September the 10th. Well, we will be talking all things MARTA and public transportation. So I do encourage if you all are interested in getting those answers about why your bus shelters are not clean or you want to know what's up with MARTA REACH, I would suggest that you come and talk to those people because they will be there. Also, as it was mentioned from the council as well as the community, it has been a very busy week for South Fulton, but we handled it with grace. Again, thank you to our public safety for all that they do and making sure that everyone makes it home. That is truly important, especially coming from a daughter of a police officer. I understand. So I commend you all for being professional in all the work that you do. I would also like to say congratulations to our police department for working very hard to keep our community safe. And it was mentioned, and I think many of you saw the story that over the past year, there has been a decrease in crime and that our city crime is down 16% in double digits. I wish we had a bigger crowd so we can clap and applaud. But again, that is very, very good. And we want to continue to see that. So our officers are doing a good job. So kudos to twinning them. September the 12th, we have partnered with Grady for prostate cancer awareness screening. We're partnering also with local men, divine non fraternities, as well as local organizations such as the 100 black men. So please come out on September the 12th from 10 to 1 and learn more. You will be able to eat, but you'll also be able to take your screenings and learn more about prostate cancer. This is something that a lot of black men do not pay attention to. And then when you get to your old age and you're ready to, you know, settle down with your wife and all that other stuff, now you got this. So it's early detection. I need for you all to be there. September 21st, in partnership with the Economic Development Office, there will be access to Capital Expo. That will be happening at Burdette Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. so we're calling all businesses entrepreneurs and those wanting to know more about starting a business to come and learn more about how to access capital but again it's so much happening as the council has shared please stay tuned in stay involved tap into their newsletter so you can show up and show out for our city and that is all that i have at this point in time if i missed something i apologize but you know where to find it okay Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

It brings us to Room 12. Under Agenda Items, Procurement and Contracts, Number A1, the Procurement Department requests Council approval to purchase a global ARFF brush truck from 10A8 Fire and Safety LLC, using source well contract number 082025 for the City of South Fulton Fire Rescue. The purchase includes a stock unit in the amount of $375,000 and a one-year annual service agreement in the amount of $4,500. For a total amount not to exceed $379,500, the apparatus will support emergency response and firefighting operations across all districts subject to approved funding, issuance of a purchase order, and city approval.

All right, Council. If there are no objections, we can approve this with unanimous consent. It's always fun buying new fire stuff. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next items.

That brings us to first read ordinances. We have a number of items that, as we mentioned previously, will appear on the September 22nd agenda for approval. The first is the first read, request council approval of an ordinance adopting the FY2027 budget. Number two is the first read of a zoning ordinance, Z26-001, CDP26-003, for a project at 0 Camden Road, 0336, 2230, 6460, 2391, 2331 Chattahoochee Drive, located in City Council District 1. Item 3 is the first read of zoning ordinance Z26-011. This is located at 0 and 7930 Cedar Grove Road in District 4. Number 4, first read of zoning ordinance Z26-018, located at 5440 Old National Highway, located in City Council District 5. Number 5, first read of zoning ordinance Z26-017, located at 2300 Flat Shoes Road. located in City Council District 6. Number 6 is the first read of the zoning ordinance, Z26-014, CDP 26-004, located at 5250 Northfield Boulevard, located in City Council District 5. And then the last first reading is first read of the zoning ordinance, Z26-013, located at 7750 Bishop Road, located in City Council District 4. Those complete the first three ordinances.

All right. Thank you. Mr. Clerk, do we have any walk on items?

We have one walk on item that was added earlier this evening. It's a event for April 3rd, 2027, uh, city sports, recreational and enrichment expo located in district four.

If there are no objections, we can adopt this with unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to executive session if necessary.

We are probably not ready for, okay, no executive session. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Adjournment of the meeting.

Oh, okay. All right. At this point in time, if there are no objections, we will adjourn this meeting at 822. All right. Looks like we're good.

Thank you.