City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome. We're glad you're here. It's 6.01. I'm late getting started. Oh, dear. But this is the August meeting of the mayor and council, and I will call it to order. We'll all stand and have our Pledge of Allegiance. Remain standing, Dr. Lander. Would you do the honor of our invocation?

Bow your heads, if you will. Gracious, wonderful, almighty God, we thank you today for the many blessings you have poured on this community. We are especially thankful for the wonderful summer activities that has brought families, friends, and neighbors together. Thank you for the work of these city leaders. And we give a special thanks to you, to all who have worked tirelessly during this summer to make all events a wonderful opportunity. As summer draws to a close and a new school begins, We ask for your hand of protection on every student And we lift up the teachers, administrators, support staff, and all who are involved in the education of these students. Encourage them in this great work, dear God. Bless this council meeting tonight. Give these officials and city staff wisdom and discernment. May your peace favor us and all who live in this great city. In the precious name of your darling son, Jesus Christ, I pray. Let every heart say amen.

Amen. Thank you, Dr. Landry. Okay. Do we have any citizens' comments?

None? Okay.

You have the minutes of your July meetings. Do I have a motion to approve? I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, same sign. Hearing none, motion carries.

Okay.

The next item on our agenda is our mayor and council announcements. Councilman Uglum, you want to start with us?

Sure. Good evening, everyone. I'll reiterate something Dr. Landrum touched on is back to school. and urge everyone to show great caution with school buses about to roll in a week from today. And maybe our city will send out, they're pretty good on our Facebook page or our city website about the rules. Sometimes it's confusing on these four-lane roads about if you have to stop or not, but it's my understanding, and the police chief could correct me, but it's my understanding unless there's trees or... It's no turning in the median that all four lanes have to stop. Is that right, Chief Richards? Yeah. So be careful with back to school. It starts a week from today. That's it.

I will reiterate Dr. Landon's beautiful prayer. Oops, sorry. From Dr. Landrum's beautiful prayer, as always, that we did have a great summer with a lot of events. I attended a lot of them myself, and I look forward to the remaining concerts and what we've got up ahead.

Good evening.

Ever since we redid Lake Carroll Park, I don't go more than a week or so at a time without somebody complimenting what a great job was done out there and how much everybody's enjoying it. And so I wanted to let you know that we've been... working on another park in our community, Hobbs Farm, we're creating an all-inclusive playground out there, which is all-inclusive not only for children with disabilities, but also parents that have disabilities that have children that they need to be able to get around and see after when they're on the playground. So that's going to be opening up soon. I think we have a ribbon cutting out there August 28th, I believe. And so I'm excited that it's going to be coming to a conclusion here very soon. And I hope that if you know someone that would be a need for that park it'll be open to all children but if you have somebody that specifically has a child that would benefit from that park or an adult i hope you'll pass that information along thank you okay councilmember north uh good evening everyone um just a few things here uh

Last week I attended two community actions and community event days in Ward 1 with the police and the other with a local leader in the community. And both of them were well attended. And kids were just, all the smiles on the kids' faces for back to school and et cetera. So we do need to be quite safe during this time. Also, I'm looking forward to August the 20th, it's a little ahead of time, but it is the Police Academy, Ward 1, and I'm looking to get as many individuals and constituents in our ward to attend the Police Academy and learn. and become a mutual part of our community.

That always helps to understand the police.

Without a police force, we would be somewhere else in this. It would be chaos. So we need a strong police force, but we need a police force that understands the individuals and enforces the rules as they always do. And I know we have a good group, and I really applaud them. Chief, thank you for all you've done. And I hope that we can do something for our past patrolman that passed away. I hope we can get some type of memorial set up for him. And that's about it.

Thank you. Well, I attended with Council Member North the back-to-school giveaway over at the Robert Hendricks Art Optimist Park. And it was a great turnout. I think they gave away like 350 book bags. And there were children. And there were different things going on over there that day. And a lot of people attended. And that's always a good thing. And we really do appreciate the efforts that that group, West Carroll Community Outreach Program, that puts together these things that benefits their community. are all communities and the children, but yeah, Dr. Landrum's prayer was very appropriate, except you forgot one group of people, and that's the parents. And I say that because I have one going into high school this year, so yeah. I don't know who's most excited about school starting, me or her. But anyway, and what Councilman Ledbetter said, we're really excited about the all-inclusive playground. We've just, we have been so blessed in this city about things that have happened and the progress we're making and how it benefits and uplifts our community. When Ms. Connie McNeil first brought that idea to us, I never thought about it. I never thought about, you know, parents that have children with some type of disability that are not your little tots but bigger children needing a changing table. you know, for those children or adults. And, I mean, there were so many things. And, you know, you can have the playground for the children, but if the parents have some kind of disability, you know, they may not can come. So with this playground, the parents can bring their children. If they're in a wheelchair, they'll be able to go anywhere on this playground. But, You'll hear more about it, but it's really great. It's got covered pavilions for birthday parties, and in the summer when it gets hot, the little kids will be covered up with shade. It's just a really, really good thing, and I think it's going to bring a lot to our community, and we have to actually applaud Superior Playgrounds, who've been a great partner in getting this done, and we really do appreciate what they've done. And other than that, I don't know of anything else other than it's just a great day to be in Carrollton. So, Mr. Brooks.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I actually had a chance to go out to Hobbs today. Our city engineer, Tommy Holland, and myself went up there and walked through both playgrounds for the younger kids and the older kids, and it's going to be a great, great playground for everybody. It's all ages, all abilities, so there's going to be a lot of folks in Carrollton and outside the community enjoy this playground. Hobbs Farm is beautiful, and it just Accents the playground as you drive if you drive up of course you see some construction now But you see that just a beautiful landscape of Hobbs farm and then and you see that in the background of these pavilions and up in the in the playground, so it looks really really nice the settling pond is We started filling it up back at the beginning of the summer We started getting all this rain. You know we come out of a drought During the spring and in the summer. We've had plenty of brains. We started filling it up and You could fill the first third of it up as fast as you could, and so we did that, and then the second third was two feet a week. You had to make sure, and now we're at the last third, which is one foot a week, and so by the end of September, we should have the settling pond full, and that's really good for us and for the city, and we'll be glad to get that on board. The only other thing I've got is we've got a, individual that comes to a lot of our mayor and council meetings and here tonight and be this last one for a while. Mr. Cole Allen, from what I understand, is leaving to go to Kennesaw State University on August the 21st. Awesome.

Yay.

Cole's been pretty regular at our meetings since I've been sitting in this chair. So for the last five years, he's been a regular attender to our council meetings. We'll miss seeing you, but we are excited for your new adventure.

Absolutely. Congratulations, Cole.

That's all I got.

All right. Well, we're very proud for you, Cole. Okay, the next item on our agenda is approval of our agenda items for consideration. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the items for consideration on the agenda. Do I have all those in favor? Say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none, motion carries. Okay, our first item is a special use permit request. Ms. Connerly?

Yes, the first item on your agenda is a special use request. It was an item that was tabled at your meeting last month. I said at the time that staff wanted to continue to work with the applicant to get the best project we could put forward before you guys make your decision. Haley, will you put the latest site plan revision up on the board? Just real quickly, this special use permit request is essentially a density increase in the C2 zone, which is the general commercial zone, at 109 and 111 South Park Street. The request is to basically, instead of building two houses, they wanted to build three homes. They also wanted a waiver to reduce the required side setbacks for the internal setbacks for the project. We did work with the applicant. We've had various meetings and discussed how we might make this project better and we do have a set of staff proposed conditions that should reflect some of the comments I think that some of you have made over the course of the last couple of meetings when we've reviewed this and then some things too that the applicant's done in some other projects that they've worked on. Number one is any construction must adhere to the design standards set forth in Article 4.02.01 of the Unified Development Ordinance. These particular set of design standards do include six foot deep front porches. I know that was something that was discussed at one of your meetings. So we don't have that as an individual condition because it's wrapped into that first condition. Number two, the owner developer is responsible for the installation of water and sewer infrastructure. Number three, the owner developer is responsible for GDOT approval of any driveways along South Park Street. As you can see on the submitted site plan, they do intend to utilize the existing curb cut, and they don't intend to make any more curb cuts or get any more permits from GDOT at this time. But we did put that in there just in case. Number four, the waiver to reduce the side setbacks from 15 feet to 5 feet shall be granted. Number five, the site plan submitted to staff on July 31st, 2026, which is the one that Haley just showed, that includes the driveway design, it includes the side garages, and it includes some landscaping. All that shall be binding. So those are the staff conditions. Just as a reminder, initially the Planning Commission had recommended denial of this at their June meeting. I know we've been working on this one a couple of months. The applicant is here if you have any questions. Unless you have a question for me.

Yeah, Eric, I've got one for you. What's the total acreage of this?

It's 0.32 across two lots.

Okay.

So the entrance to the homes would be from what? what would be their exit? I mean the.

So yeah, so if you look at the site plan, all three homes are proposing side garages. They are, so the driveway that you see on the site plan is the location of the existing curb cut. And right now I think it's a parking lot. And then they're proposing a decorative treatment to the drive so that it doesn't just look like a bunch of creed out in front of the homes. And the applicant can touch on that a little bit more. He did this at a project in Atlanta where they were really trying to get the driveways also to almost look like landscaping. But all three would have side garages with one shared driveway, essentially.

And the entrance and exit to the three homes would be on Highway 27 on Parr Street? Yes.

Yes, I had a question.

I could see it in your eyes.

Thank you. Do we have any idea what the traffic count is right there?

The last time I looked, I would say it's not 30, but it's close. That's probably, I want to say, GDOT provides those traffic counts on their website. They've got a tool. But I would guess somewhere between 28 and 30 right there.

30,000 cars per day? Yeah. And what's the speed limit right there?

Hang on one second.

Joel? 35. 35. 35. 40 miles per hour. 40. Would that present with the amount of traffic at certain times? I think you showed us something on a retreat where that amount of traffic coming through the city of Carrollton I live on that side of town, and you can hardly get out of there. I mean, this Carrollton is really growing, or the businesses are growing. So how do you stop and turn to get to your home without impeding other businesses? vehicles in and around that area?

Yes, sir. I think the intent of the applicant is just to treat it like a standard driveway. There are standard driveways for both residential and commercial along that corridor and some institutional because there's some churches up the street as well. They are not proposing any sort of like diesel lane or anything like that. I think they're just going to use the standard driveway. That area does get congested at certain times of the day. Certainly, we don't have any statistics as to when, you know, times of the day that it's worse than others.

I would, you know, my vote is, you know, for the best of the city, but I would ask our traffic engineer to look at the aesthetics and to look at the, try to slow down to pull into that particular lane to get into and from and try to,

like it would be a disaster eventually the one thing i'm all in favor of the homes but the location of it where we plan to uh right i want to hear from the applicant no i was going to ask you about is there any special provision for school buses if if there were school-aged children there what do you do with a school bus and it has to stop all four lanes of traffic and

think that that would be the plan and I know the applicant the intention I mean obviously we can't restrict children from being there but I think the plan would be that I mean David you might could help a little bit with this I don't know the their policies but I would believe they would stop in the street right there at the driveway and collect the children let me ask you this is with we've had quite a few citizens

expressed concern about trying to get out on 27 on other streets in that area without traffic lights like Spring Street and so many other ones. But is it up to us, or do we have any say-so in the speed limit through there?

No. But that formula to reduce the speed limit is based on the number of cars times the feet. I'm not a mathematician, but our engineer knows how to fix that if we could. It looks like a disaster eventually. If it doesn't happen once those homes are completed, it's eventually going to happen.

We don't have anything to do with the speed limit there. That's all set by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

That's correct. And we did also look, as you all discussed at your work session, into comments by Dr. Albertus regarding the school buses. There are multiple stops along Carrollton Highway with school buses and other places for residences. So that route includes residential and commercial already.

Just south of Kingsbridge, I think there's a few residential, a couple of single-family homes, but then also some homes that have been divided up into some apartments. I think they have possibly schoolchildren. I know there's been some school buses there that have stopped before that I've seen.

Thank you.

Hey, Council and Mayor. My name is Alex Popham. I'm from 8599 Estelle Street. I'm the applicant slash owner of the property. Excited to be here in Carrollton. I feel like it's part of my hometown, just being in neighboring Douglasville. I think we came across doing three houses as opposed to two when we applied for our building permit for the two homes. We feel like it's going to give us a better chance to do facade improvements, do better landscaping, put a better product here for the city of Carrollton as a gateway into this wonderful downtown. I do hear your concerns about these school buses. Is it going to happen if it's two homes or three homes? I'm happy to answer any further questions y'all may have.

Does anybody have any questions?

Mr. Popham, I think your houses look fine. The location concerns me, but tell us again why you're already approved, I guess, by the codes to do two houses. Why we should look at doing three?

I think it's going to be a better massing. It'll be a better curb appeal. I just think it makes for a better project, and it's going to be something as everyone drives down. And to answer your question, it's 27,000. That's not a good traffic count for my case, but just to be transparent, it's going to be a lot of eyeballs there. I want it to be the best looking product that it can be.

Good.

Any other questions?

Okay. All right.

Thank you, Mr. Poppin.

Thank you.

Is there anyone here in opposition of this special use permit? Okay. I will entertain a motion at this time.

I...

A motion that we consider, but we need to look at a motion to, I don't know if we can go back in. Table it again. I don't know if we can table it twice.

Am I correct that since we tabled this last month, we've got to vote a yes or a no tonight?

Okay. Okay.

Don, it's in your ward.

If you've got strong feelings one way or the other, you know, I'd –

Yeah, I'm just looking at the outcome over time. I think they're beautiful homes. I lived in homes, as I told the council, so I'm similar to that in Detroit.

I'm sorry to interrupt your discussion, but you have to have a motion and a second before you can have discussion on the item, sir.

I'm sorry to interrupt you.

I motion that we table this. Can't table it? No, sir.

Table it again.

I'm going to make a motion that we approve it with the proposed conditions for 109 and 111 South Park Street.

And does that motion include the five conditions as presented by staff?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. Is there a second? Hearing none, motion dies. Okay. The next item on the agenda.

Just to clarify for the applicant, Melissa, the motion failed for lack of a second, so therefore the petition is denied, right?

That's correct.

Yes, sir.

Next item on the agenda is Resolution 08-2026, Electric Bikes on the Greenbelt.

Yes, you do have an amendment to our ordinance. Our code of ordinance is Chapter 70, which is the Parks and Recreation Ordinance, as it relates to the rules and regulations for the Carrollton Greenbelt. This particular ordinance, I think over time, e-bikes have become part of our daily lives. And with that, you know, for a long time, currently the ordinance does not allow for anything motorized, even if it is an e-bike. The state of Georgia has begun to recognize certain classes of e-bikes as actual traditional bicycles. So where traditional bicycles are allowed, so are Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes, unless a local entity, local government, county government specifically excludes them by ordinance, which is what we had with the Carrollton Greenbelt regulations because we had specifically excluded non-motorized vehicles. We've been working with the Carrollton Police Department. They've been a huge help. What you see in front of you today is very similar to what the state law, how the state law reads. We do classify e-bikes as Class 1s, Class 2s, and Class 3s. This particular edition, I guess, of this draft, does allow for Class 1s and Class 2s. Those are essentially e-bikes that are 20 miles an hour or less. It also adds some provisions as far as how those have to be identified. This is directly from the language in the state law that they have to be identified as Class 1s and Class 2s. They have to have the sticker stating that, and they also have to have the top assisted speed capabilities identified. Manufacturers build and construct these e-bikes with these stickers now, so that should not be an issue. This will allow for the e-bikes on the trail. However, it does not allow for Class 3s, which are those ones that go quite fast, that are a lot more robust, and not suitable for the Carrollton Greenbelt. You guys reviewed this at your work session. We made the appropriate changes, and we also added the penalty for violations, the first conviction being a mandatory penalty of $50, the second $100, and the third and subsequent conviction would be $500. If you have any questions, I'm here to answer them.

Okay. All right. I need to read this whole thing. Okay, Resolution 08-2026, a resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of Carrollton, State of Georgia, to amend Chapter 70, Parks and Recreation, by amending Article 5, Rules and Regulations for the Carrollton Greenbelt, to establish regulations for electric assisted bicycles. Whereas the city of Carrollton, Georgia city is vested with substantial power to regulate the use of city owned or maintained parks, trails, and recreation facilities to protect public health and pedestrian welfare of park and trail uses users. Whereas the Carrollton green belt is a popular 20 miles shared use path with both pedestrians and bicyclists. And whereas the city has been recognized as a bicycle friendly community by the league of American bicyclists since 2018. And whereas the city acknowledges that the electric assisted bicycles have become a popular mode of travel on the Carrollton greenbelt. And whereas the state of Georgia classifies electric assisted bicycles into three groups, by motor size, pedal assistant, and maximum speed, and whereas certain electric assisted bicycles whose speed are greater than 20 miles per hour are not compatible with other users on the Carrollton Greenbelt. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Mayor and Council Carrollton do hereby amend Chapter 7 of the Carrollton Code of Ordinance to include the regulations of electric-assisted bicycles as follows.

Madam Mayor, it's Chapter 70. 70. Instead of seven. And then I think you can just reference, instead of having to read through the rest of this word for word, what has already been posted. It was attached to your agenda and posted on all proper formalities. So instead of having to read all these pages, I think just the initial part is fine. But it is an amendment to Chapter 70. And the way it was published, Madam Mayor included, the red is what is being amended to what is already there. So it's just the red that you are amending. Okay.

Okay. All right. And this is available for your review, but you can see it on the screen. There's definitions of a class one electric assisted bicycle. It means an electric assisted bicycle equipped with a 750 watt motor or less that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and not And that ceases to provide assistance when the device reaches a speed of 20 miles per hour in accordance with OCGA 40-6-300. And then class two, electric assisted bicycle means an electric assisted bicycle equipped with a 750 watt motor or less that may be used exclusively to propel the vehicle but is not capable of reaching a speed of 20 miles per hour. And that's in accordance with OCGA 40-6-300. And then class three electric assisted bicycle means electric assisted bicycle equipped with a 750 watt motor or less that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and that ceases to provide assistance when the device reaches a speed of 28 miles per hour in accordance with OCGA 40-6-300. Electric-powered personal vehicle means any electric-powered self-balancing device designed for personal transportation, including electric skateboards, electric unicycles, hoverboards, and sedgeways. Stand-up scooters mean stand-up electric scooters weighing under 100 pounds and equipped with handlebars and an electric motor capable of a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. Bicycle helmet means a piece of protective headgear which meets or exceeds the impact standards for bicycle helmets set by the American National Standards Institute or the Snell Memorial Foundation. So those motorized vehicles that are prohibited are electric assisted bicycles, electric powered personal vehicles, and stand-up scooters. It says, no person shall operate a motorized vehicle, a Class III electric assisted bicycle, or an electric-powered personal vehicle, or a stand-up electric scooter in or over or through or upon the Greenbelt Trail, or any portion thereof, except when specifically authorized by law or authorized below. Okay, and that is motorized wheelchairs and or Class 1 and Class 2 electric assisted bicycle as defined in Section 70-70 and manufactured after January 1, 2020, shall be equipped with a permanently affixed label in a prominent location which identifies such device as a Class 1 or Class 2 electric assisted bicycle along with the wattage and top assisted speed capacity capability printed in at least nine point aerial foot. Okay, the next session that's amended is 70-3, operations of bicycles and electric assisted bicycles. No person shall operate a bicycle or an electric assisted bicycle on the Greenbelt Trail in a reckless manner or any other manner which endangers the user's of the Greenbelt Trail. All persons under the age of 16 are required to wear a bicycle helmet as defined in Section 70-70 when operating any bicycle on the Greenbelt. The helmet shall be a good fit and fastened securely upon the person's head with the straps of the helmet. Any person operating a bicycle or other non-motorized vehicle on the Greenbelt Trail shall come to a complete stop prior to entering any roadway, driveway, or crosswalk at every location of the Greenbelt Trail intersects a roadway, a sidewalk, or a driveway. And then the penalty, as Ms. Connerly says, the penalty shall be imposed upon conviction of 70-71 through 70-78 of this article. First conviction, a minimum mandatory fine of $50. A second conviction, a minimum mandatory fine of $100. And third, and subsequent conviction, a minimum mandatory fine of $500 per occurrence. Adopted this third day of August 2026. Do I have a motion to approve this resolution? So moved. I have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

I have a motion and second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Resolution is approved. Okay, the next item on our agenda is resolution of 920 26 Georgia transportation infrastructure and bank grant application and miss beaver you have that for us.

Currently, city staff is in the process of applying for a $2 million grant with the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank through the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority. This grant is for a downtown streetscape project for Newnan Street, Alabama Street, Rome Street, and Old City Hall Ave. The project will include landscaping, traffic control measures, sidewalk work, and lighting with improvements being pulled from the 2024 downtown master plan that the city adopted. The grant application requires the mayor and council to provide a resolution supporting the project as part of the grant application. The resolution does state that the city will provide up to a 20% match for the funds for this project.

OK. A resolution of the mayor and council of the city of Carrollton, state of Georgia, approving the submission of a Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank grant application to the Georgia State Board Tollway Authority whereas the City of Carrollton is eligible to apply for the GTIB fund from the Georgia State Road and Tollwell Tollway Authority and whereas the City of Carrollton has held the required public hearing for the submission of the application and whereas the City of Carrollton Mayor and Council approved the Carrollton Renaissance strategic vision plan downtown master plan in 2024, including the authorization of design and engineering of downtown pedestrian safety and streetscape project, whereas the city of Carrollton will seek up to an 80% funding for the downtown Rome, Alabama, Old City Hall, and Nuna streetscape project, whereas the city of Carrollton will provide the GTIB grant match from other funds available to the city. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the City of Carrollton, Carroll County, Georgia, and the City of Carrollton shall submit an application for the grant funding from the Transportation Infrastructure Bank and that it shall, in the event that the application is recommended for funding, take action to assure that it will finance the remaining project costs using other funds available to the city. Read and adopted in a meeting of the mayor and council held on August 3rd, third day of August 2026. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none, motion carries. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Haley. All right. Do I have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

I have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Landry.

Yes, I have a quick question. I just want to understand, because we didn't get a second, does that mean that there will still be a

That's correct.

They have the ability to do so. To do two houses.

You're welcome. All right. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Same sign. Hearing none. Motion carries. Meeting adjourned.