City Council - Regular Meeting

She needs a little style.

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, good evening. I would like to call our City Council work session to order for July 28, 2026 at 4.01 p.m. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the roll?

Let's roll call for today's work session. The Honorable Catherine F. Ryle, District 1. 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 Keosha B. Bell, District 5. The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6. Present. The Honorable Linda Becker-Pritchett, District 7.

Here.

And the Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

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

Next item is Roman Numero 3, which is City Manager Reports by our City Manager, Sharon D. Subedan, Introduction of New Employees.

Thank you, Madam Mayor, Mr. Clerk. We have two people we'd like to introduce. Some of you have already interacted with them. Jill Strickland is our Interim Public Affairs Director. Jill? and Bailey Boyd, our newest constituent service representative for District 3, and from our inaugural intern class. So welcome. Stand up and take a bow.

I think you all have to come to the front, because I don't think people can see you all. Also, Ms. Strickland. Come on, do your walk.

There you go.

Yes. Holy Bailey.

Welcome to the team.

She is ready. Thank you and welcome to the city of South Fulton. All right. Mr. Clerk, sound the next item.

That brings us to enrollment number four, presentations. The first presentation is community development and regulatory affairs process improvement. We'll be introduced by Managing Director of CDRA, Mr. Reginald McClendon, and Byron Marshall with NFBPA I-4X.

Good afternoon, Mayor and members of Council. Reggie McClendon, Managing Director of Community Development and Regulatory Affairs. I am going to introduce to you Mr. Byron Marshall.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. My name is Byron Marshall. I represent the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. We have a contract with you to do an operational assessment of CDRA. So I want to talk to you about why we were doing this, and I'm sure you already know since this was the primary issue for you. But we were concerned, well, you expressed a concern, that he wanted us to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of CDRA to improve transparency, to foster greater customer service, and to test them against industry standards. The scope of work involved four complementary aspects. One, we interviewed all the council, the mayor, the city manager's office, and also some internal customers. that would be fire marshal's office along with the city attorney's office and then all of the executive staff for CDRA. It was phase one, or aspect one. Aspect two was we interviewed and surveyed developers, both developers who did work with the city or developers who don't do work with the city. And those who don't do work with the city, we asked them why and what it would take for them to do work with the city. The third aspect was did a four-day workshop with the CDRA staff. We went through processes and looked at process improvement opportunities and identified pinch points in the land development process. That was the only one we could actually get to in four days that actually spoke to all of the major findings that we came up with. And the fourth aspect was to do benchmarking against best practices in other jurisdictions. So the key findings were there was inconsistent staff communication. Now this was the, this finding was across all three of the aspects. The developers felt that way. Some of Council members felt that way. And also, um, some of the internal staff felt that way. So this was validated in both the interviews as well as a survey. There was an absence of performance metrics and accountability. That was a focus that came up over and over again and talking to staff. They felt they had internal metrics, but those metrics are not published. And there's no service level agreement with users so they would know what to expect and when to expect results. A third finding was there was insufficient staff capacity and perhaps some morale issues. I think we've worked through the issue of morale. I think that the very first meeting, some people didn't come. but that may have been as much of a communication issue as anything else. And by the second meeting, we were able to get full involvement of almost everyone who was there. We sensed, though, or feel and have recommended that you look at the overall staffing and the span of control for the general manager. We think he is overextended, that they need a deputy that focuses on operations. so that he could focus more on policy and longer range planning issues. That process has already begun. The permitting process is cumbersome. So just looking at land development, it could take up to eight months to get a permit. And when we looked at some of the jurisdictions around us, they had a service level agreement of reviewing 10 to 14 days in response. One of the things that has overtaken this issue is Senate Bill 447, which requires that in 45 days that all departments, planning departments in the state, have to give a result to a complete application, either up or down. And if there's a resubmission, they have 14 days to complete it. So in working with Director McClendon, I know he's been working with his compatriots around the state to make sure that they have a clear understanding, one, of 447. And one of the concerns that they would have is if you don't respond in a timely manner, then the applicant's application is considered approved. So that could be an issue if it's a poor application. There are also, I think it's January 1st of 2028, there has to be a public-facing public-facing computer data that shows people where they are in the process. If Tyler continues as is intended, then that will happen before 2028. But that is one of the things that we were recommending, that more effort be put on working through the Tyler process. It's been a couple of years. They've been trying to get Tyler up and running. And one of the things that came out of the workshop is that before you can complete that process, there needs to be more information gathered on cycle time for the various permitting processes and use those cycle times to set your service level agreements and then make sure that you can monitor all of that in Tyler. The fifth finding was that there was misalignment between governance and politics, political actually. So as we kind of explored that, this is from the perception of developers and also from the perception of some of the council members. So we explored that. We found that one of the things that would be helpful was working with the planning commissioner early on in the process so that things didn't escalate up to the council where the council had to make adjustments. What seemed as though what was happening is developers would make a recommendation. That recommendation was not necessarily agreed to by planning. Planning gave them an alternative. If they didn't choose to follow that alternative, they might come to council and say, well, we'd like to have a permit. But at that point, they may have made, they have already worked with the community. They may have made the changes that planning wanted them to make in the first place. And then the staff was overruled. Well, we recommend that the staff work earlier in the process to try to come up with the agreement. Also at the planning commission, that the city attorney's office assigned an attorney to the planning commission that would help them understand what the boundaries are for them making a decision. That has actually happened. They have assigned somebody there. Because when this process first started, we had asked Mr. McClendon, since he actually had a background in law and in planning, why he didn't offer some suggestions to the planning commission. He felt as though that was a conflict of interest because as staff, he was promoting his, his, um, his staff's recommendations. So we agreed and suggested that the city attorney, um, assigned someone and they did that. And I think that's actually made the process smoother. Um, one of the other things we've recommended though, is that during the permitting process, that there be a pre-application meeting, or at least one, maybe two, and that they be mandatory, not just voluntary, so that some of the issues can be worked out long before the application was submitted. We believe all of those things would benefit the process, and there would be fewer situations where developers were appealing to counsel to overrule staff. The sixth thing was economic development equity. So it looks like about 75% of the permits in this area go to jurisdictions north of here. And that happens in part because developers feel as though the process here is cumbersome. So to the extent that we can smooth that process out, you have a better chance of attracting investment, and it also helps small and local businesses. So when we get to recommendations, we'll talk a little bit more about how we think that can be addressed. So we actually have 13 recommendations, 13 high-level recommendations. There are actually more than that. They're probably closer to 50. but the high priority ones are the ones we've put up here. And what we've been doing over the last couple of months is working with CDRA to look at how some of these could be implemented, including how they'd be rolled out, who would be responsible, what resources are needed, those kinds of things. So the first recommendation is, I'm sorry, that these recommendations are broken into seven categories. communications, performance metrics, modernizing the permitting process, the customer experience, technology, data, and developer engagement. So the first one is develop standardized response protocols and reference materials. One of the things that came up a lot in our interviews was that it was clear that some developers were shopping for answers. They'd get one answer from one staff person, so they didn't like that answer, they'd go somewhere else. Now, to their credit, they also said sometimes when they talked to staff, they got different answers. So in talking in the workshop with the staff, they agreed that there was some communications issues internally and that they were going to work on a standardized response and a protocol for how things are reviewed, what the actual answers are, and how they would be escalated. And then they'll be working on reference materials. We see that as one of the most important things that they could do over the first six months, the next six months. To create a centralized knowledge base and formal engagement protocols, those two things are related. As I said, we were working with CDRH for them to put together a process for how they would get these things done. Our goal is not to just give recommendations, but also to give an implementation plan and to help CDRA and their staff put together the steps that are necessary to implement the plan, but also to have someone who can monitor the progress against the plan. To implement performance metrics and to define and track and publish them, that's pretty much self-explanatory, but basically you're defining turnaround times for particular kinds of permits, and the best way to get there is not just to assume, but to do the the cycle time analysis that we've mentioned a moment ago, figure out how long it takes to get things done. Look at, look for pinch points to see if you can speed that process up and then make a goal and a commitment to, to the developers. The fifth is adopt a 10 day first review standard. Again, that's, that's been overridden by a Senate bill for 47. They have to do it and they're under, that's already underway. Um, we, recommend that they enforce prerequisite checklists. So if somebody submits an incomplete application, it should be rejected then. In fact, we recommend that it be set up in whether Tyler or Sage's, that unless the application is complete, it can't go through. That would save time for developers, but it's not clear yet. Does the 45-day clock start when it's a complete application? So that would also help in monitoring 447. Implement concurrent, not sequential departmental reviews. This is one where there may be a miscommunication or misperception. So developers feel as though when they submit an application, maybe planning looks at it, then development looks at it. maybe then the fire department or then public works and so on and so forth, all in sequence. CDRI says that's not exactly what happens. They may be looking at it simultaneously. However, some results come out separately. What some of the surrounding jurisdictions have done with Tyler is as something is approved or comments are made, those comments are communicated to the applicant at that point so they know where things are in the process. And we recommend that as Tyler is implemented, if we can't do it in stages before then, that that ability be baked into the process. Create an express permit and a permit concierge role. So about 50% According to the staff, about 50% of the applications that they receive come from homeowners and small businesses, and therefore things that are kind of minor changes. You want to add a window, and the size of the window is not going to change. You're just replacing the window. You're putting a new door on. You're putting on siding. No real change, no structural changes. So the recommendation is that if I come in and I want to fence or window, I go to a particular desk. I don't have to go through the same line as somebody building a subdivision. They've, they put that plan together, CDRA has, and they're testing it and they want, they're going to, um, kick it off in the next few weeks. As I said, that's about 50% of the applicants. One of the things we've recommended to them, though, is when you are inaugurating that, let people know what is the test, how long it's going to last, what you're looking for. Make sure that you solicit from them how they feel about the service they're receiving. And then you can put it into full production. But also they'll know that the city is actually making adjustments to try to make things faster. And they should be able to see those adjustments. Um, along with that is a concierge. Um, and this, what the concierge basically would be is a fast track. If the fire department is one of your fire department headquarters, the police department headquarters are key projects for the city. They should get moved. If there's another project that has economic development significance, you're funding it, or one of the authorities that's funding it, maybe you want to move that ahead too. So that it has, because it has a great impact on the city. Um, the director McClendon is working on criteria that the council can consider in that area. And finally, um, during the employing a public facing GIS performance dashboard, that is something that's required by law, um, 2028, but in working with, um, the information systems department department, they're trying to speed that up in the next few months. Um, leverage Tyler ERP, but act now in stages, some of the, some of the changes that we were, that were agreed to in the workshop that could be implemented. Now the thought was, well, let's wait until Tyler's up. But if those things can be implemented now, you can test them and then migrate them to Tyler. I think the issue might be that Tyler stages has known for a couple of years. that the city is planning to move away from them. So they may not be as accommodating to say that. But NAMR is going to work with them on that. And then finally, formalized post-permit surveys and regular development forums. So if you receive a service, ask, well, did you like the service? How could we have done better? And then the same thing with developer forums. We interviewed developers. and also sent out surveys to developers. But we only got 11% response. So that was 250 surveys we sent out. We got 11% response. And that meets barely. It makes it statistically valid. But, as I said, barely. So the question is, why aren't they responding? And so having these forums might allow us to get a better sense of what's important to them and they believe that you're serious about making a change. And there was one other thing related to that. Okay. So then it's the collecting and analyzing the cycle time data. These are the recommendations that came out of the workshop. Pilot planning a first review process. So right now, This could be tied back to the expedited and the express plans. Have planning look first because a lot of things are kicked out when planning reviews them. It says, well, these don't qualify. So if they review first, then you would expedite the process, we believe. So they agree to a pilot of that and then reevaluate the ERP resourcing timing and migration strategies. so in working with Neymar he and the staff from CDRA have been working or have reached out to other local governments that are using Tyler to get from them lessons learned and they'll use those as a way to streamline their own process so that when it's presented it is a it's more likely to be successful rather than having another situation where having a situation where people are unhappy with the rollout. And that's basically my presentation, unless you have questions.

Mr. McClendon, did you have something, Mr. McClendon? Okay. Well, we'll move into questions. I see Councilwoman Pritchett.

Thank you for recognizing me, Madam Mayor. So my first question for either of you, it was mentioned that the council was interviewed. I don't have a good recollection of anyone talking to me.

So I can't swear that you were interviewed, but my understanding is we interviewed all seven council members as well as the mayor. I'll go back and look at the record, but I believe you were council member sometime around December, but I'll, I'll confirm that.

Okay.

I didn't interview you, so I can't, that's why I can't swear to it. But according to our consultants, they did.

So you also mentioned that, um, there was an attorney that is assigned to CDR rate at this point.

There was an attorney that goes to the planning commission meetings.

Oh, an attorney assigned to a claim. I think that's a great idea. I think that's a wonderful idea. Let's see. And are we, this might be a Ms. Subedan question or Mr. McClendon, are we locked into Tyler? Like, is that a done-done?

Yes, we've purchased, the software was purchased before I ever got here. We did the ERP, which is where we process all of our invoices and track our finances. This is part two. Part of the reason we haven't moved forward with this is because I wanted to make sure that it was going to be a good customer experience. And I felt like we needed to do more work on it. Additionally, I wanted the staff to go and see how they manage this and use it in other places. So they've reached out to Johns Creek and to Roswell and to Clayton County. to see how they're using that particular software. But it is important for us because then the software will talk to our financial software as well. So we'll all be on one platform.

Okay. And so I just do not recall our interview, but feedback for some developers that I've spoken with, with regard to SAGES, saying that it's complicated and problematic, that it really has hindered a lot of people from... getting business licenses or going through our zoning process so that, you know, if we're moving away from that then I think that's probably a good thing. And another thing, I know we've had this conversation, but I've had this conversation with Ms. Subedan, but years ago we had an inspector, a business license inspector, who was extremely effective. And I'm not sure if we have, and I think this predates Mr. McClendon, I believe. having someone who stays on top of the businesses, the brick and mortars, to make sure that they're paying their business licensing fees and that someone that was really no nonsense and had no tolerance, it really helped to keep the rate of compliance on fees. So I think that I heard something about hiring a consultant or do we have one, but we don't. So you all also mentioned that from a capacity standpoint that there will be a need for additional personnel to handle this load.

So we recommended a deputy director, but we also recommended that they look at their current staffing patterns and determine if there are additional needs and where those needs lie. With respect to the question you just asked about business licenses, I think Ms. Subedan has the answer to that.

MS. So we do have business licenses inspectors. I think there's a vacancy right now. We talked to a company, as I shared with you at the retreat, and kind of tried to negotiate something with them. But their rate is extraordinarily high. it doesn't integrate seamlessly in our system. And so we are going to do some interim things, some sweeps. The old national sweep was very helpful, and quite a few businesses. It created some, you know, pushed people out of inertia, and it seems like we're getting some applications. And we are next, I think, doing Cascade. And later on, the last one to be done will be Fulton Industrial, because that is going to be a heavy lift. But we are going to be taking the sweeps around the city to try to get more compliance. And then I have asked the staff to put together a staffing plan to include inspectors of what they would need in order for us to really bring more businesses under the umbrella. I've asked the city attorney to work with us on enforcement, sending out letters, strongly worded letters, and letting people know that if they're not compliant, that they will get shut down if they are operating in our city without a license. So there's a lot of pieces that are starting and expect to see more as we get into the budget process.

And my last question is, is regarding Airbnbs because I know we have about, is it 600, 600 Airbnbs? Do we have plans for a separate, not separate, but something that addresses that specifically and particularly because I know that that has been difficult to wrap, you know, wrap ourselves around that.

Thank you. It has been difficult. We do have a plan. that we're getting ready to begin to implement probably in the fourth calendar quarter of this year. One of the reasons why there has been some hesitancy for that was of course because FIFA was here earlier this summer and so we didn't really want to start the heavy enforcement piece during that time period because we were understanding that there was going to be a lot of activity around that. NOW THAT THAT'S OVER WITH, WE HAVE ALREADY BEGAN TO SEND OUT SOME LETTERS TO THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT IN COMPLIANCE, WHICH, OF COURSE, ARE THE VAST, VAST MAJORITY OF THE SHORT-TERM RENTAL OPERATORS IN THE CITY. AND SO THERE'S A PLAN TO KIND OF RAMP THAT UP IN STAGES. THERE WILL BE NOTIFICATION, AND THEN THAT WILL BE FOLLOWED WITH A STRATEGIC ENFORCEMENT PIECE.

Thank you, Mr. McClendon.

Councilwoman Rao. Thank you for that presentation, and I think it's consistent with what many of us have heard. Based on that list of recommendations, which were pretty comprehensive, what percent would you say have you moved towards implementation? Because you talked about them having started some components.

I don't have a percentage, but I know that about five of them have already begun.

Okay.

So, yeah.

I guess this is then a follow-up question for Mr. McClendon. Based on the recommendations outlined, are you working on a work plan to make sure that we can modernize our operations at CDRA? Okay.

We are working on the work plan. In fact, as part of Mr. Marshall's team's efforts, there's going to be a report, and in that report, I believe we'll include a work plan that's going to include timeframes for implementing each of the recommendations. Some of them are going to be short-term over the first two or three months. Some of them are going to be upwards of 18 to 24 months, I believe it's going to take for us to implement them. But there will be a work plan with benchmarks that we will be able to show you all that we are hitting along the way. And I think some of them we've kind of already, we can check off already. But the report will be comprehensive and we'll be able to kind of go back to the report and show you that we've touched all of those items.

Being here nine years, this department, this challenge has not been a new one. And one of the things that stood out was the recommendation for the deputy, and I know that's been some time trying to get that field. I guess I'm trying to figure out... How soon is the Cal Free showing up? I guess that's the best way to say it, because the volume in this department has always been a challenge, and I've seen several directors, you know, be challenged in terms of operating. I know some of the things we've broken out at times. Have there been any considerations, city manager, that maybe even look at that because sometimes business licenses have been in, sometimes it's not. It's been reconfigured a few times, and I don't know what the right fit is. Have you given any thought to that?

I have. I still support the consolidated model. If you remember when they were separated, we issued a number of business licenses improperly. Since we have consolidated, we no longer have that problem. I know there's a lot of consternation about business licensing, but we've issued thousands of business licensing licenses already this year, expect to do more. and collected a considerable amount of business license fees. So thank you for that, Reggie and team. But I think it's important, I know this model is a little bit more challenging, but having things under the same umbrella has also been very helpful to us to include code working closely with building. One of the things I've asked them to do is while code is out and about to make sure they're doing business licensing inspections as well to support the other department. So I think while it is a big piece, these things work together, and they're better when they work together than when they're working in silos. So in terms of the cavalry, it's coming. And I think the transition to Tyler will be an improvement. We just have to make sure we do it in excellence and make sure we bring our development community on board with us.

If I can make another brief point on business licenses. I do want to say that it has taken some time to To fully transition that into CDRA, I took over the department in 2023. I believe we got business licenses in 2024. We did a lot of work in 2024 to kind of understand what we had, what was already on the ground as far as what we had in business licensing in 2025. Specifically, we reviewed every single business license that was applied for to determine whether or not it was zoned correctly. We did our best not to reject anybody who had previously had a license because they were not in the correct zoning district, but we did kind of meticulously check through those and denote in each license whether or not it had the correct zoning. We didn't get a zoning. We didn't get a business license manager until the end of 2025. She hasn't even been here for a year yet. And so since once we got our manager in, then that really kind of ramped up our efforts of revenue collection, which we have attempted to focus on in 2026. And so it's, It's been a process, but we think that we have the right team in place in order to really manage that business license division very well moving forward.

I guess just one more follow-up question. In terms of staffing, do you think we have adequate staff in the department? for the volume that we have?

So I think that's part of the evaluation. You know, I don't. Some of that is vacancies that we have that we haven't been able to fill or we fill and there's turnover. We do have a lot of volume. I also think modernizing our processes is going to help as well. you know, if you talk to staff, there's never enough staff. Um, but I do think that there are some opportunities here and you'll see more in the budget.

And if I could add to that, um, we, yeah, there's never enough staff, but I think we're close. I think there are also some operational realities that we have to, um, acknowledge when it comes to staff. Um, We talked about business license inspectors earlier. We currently have an inspector on staff. She shares an office with two other people here in City Hall. And so office spaces is at a premium. Vehicles are at a premium. And they need those to do their jobs. So of course, as you all know, it takes a little bit more than just to kind of add positions. We also have to make sure that operationally we're able to We're able to support those positions with with facilities and with vehicles as well Thank You director McClendon councilman Johnson Well, I think we're working on the City Hall Park or the building space part, right?

We're working on it So first of all, thank you for the presentation having worked with the department for Seven years. Most of what you, most everything you said is right on point. And to Reginald or Mr. McClendon's point about staff and the issues that are related to staff, I think that is probably one of the bigger things because turnover was consistently just, you could never, it did make sense sometimes to get to know people because by the time you learn their names, They're gone, and that was for a myriad of reasons, but I think if we put a focus on that, we'll be able to do some great things. But one thing I want to bring up that I noticed in your presentation on the six key findings, the high-level summary, And I just want to get clarity. You say South Fulton faces a $44,000 income gap versus northern metro piers. Do you mean the South Fulton region or the city of South Fulton? Because your next sentence says the city of South Fulton disproportionate, the inefficient processes discourage development in the city of South Fulton. disproportionately disadvantaged small and minority businesses.

So the research, it meant the city of South Fulton.

So the city of South Fulton, because you go back to 1990. That's why I'm asking because it says since 1990. And in 1990, we didn't have a city.

I think what he did was he looked at the same area. When it was unincorporated, he looked at the same geographic area. But I will confirm that, and I'll give you an answer tomorrow, what he meant.

All right? Okay.

Thank you.

That's it then.

Thank you, Councilman Johnson. I believe Councilman Sebastian is next.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for that awesome presentation. I know some of us have been waiting on this. We have all, you know, council staff. We've all faced those challenges. And I'll tell you all, my very first orientation, I wasn't even sworn in yet, that department was presented at a meeting, and without even knowing anyone, I said, oh, that's too much for one person. So Mr. Reginald, thank you for the work that you all are doing. We know we asked you guys to do a lot. Hopefully, the recent comprehensive plan and future land use map will help us out a bit. But people still want to invest here. And so while I think doing these things to streamline will help, I think it's important, as was said, to figure out how we can beef up staff, beef up the technology. So around technology, I have one question, because I see this being pushed about by some of the industry and government affiliated groups. Is anyone looking at how we can use AI to streamline some of these more simpler processes, routine stuff, I know we all seem to be afraid of AI for some reason, but when computers were being pushed out smaller with a mainframe, some of the same things were being said.

So that's my first question. We've looked at it, and we are looking at it and studying it. in a few different ways. And I think that it's going to just be a matter of figuring out what works for us and how we can integrate AI into our to work with our staff as well. I do think there are some ways that it's going to be helpful for us. I think it's going to take some time for us to get there. We're probably going to have to get Tyler online and then figure out which clients they work with in the AI space that integrate well with that system. And so until we get Tyler, I think we're in a little bit of a holding pattern, but AI is certainly one area that we're going to be looking at.

I actually attended a session at GMA, and one of the things that they talked about, even in deploying AI as a government, is that the recommendation was made, actually by a mayor, that don't do it on an open system. If you have a closed environment, you can use AI to make stuff, streamline things, but don't use an open system. So I hope we can assign someone to actually look into this. I know it's something that's, I'm actually pushing that to . All right? The next question I have, and some of you may hear that I've talked about this several times, and it was mentioned in the presentation, to get these investors and developers sometimes to come to the table with a better project, right? A lot of times, It goes through iterations. And even when it gets to the planning commission and staff, and staff have to make a recommendation based on the law and planning commission, they're not sure what to do. And then developers then, as you said, come and work with council members and get a final product, right? And then we are voting on the final product that no one else has approved. And it's not that it's a bad product. but it has changed so drastically to being a better product. And I've said before, at what point in time can we figure out, go to the back of the line until you figure out what to do? And I know it may sound a little harsh, but I really think people have to come as much as they can with a good project because a lot of times it stirs up It stirs up controversy within the community, right? It might be a project that the city needs, but because there's controversy around it, it ends up leaving a bitter taste in people's mouths. So for me, I wish we could figure out a way in which when a project changes drastically by whatever percent, we say, you know what, you've got to go back to the planning committee. You've got to go back and do your public meeting so people understand it better. and then come back through the system. That's just me talking. But we all have been there. We've had these difficult projects that we have to deal with.

Thank you, Councilman Sebastian. Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. And so on the high-level summary slide under Four, or really four and five. I think I heard you say that there were some workshop days that you had. Yes, we spent four days. So for items four and five, and in particular, it says internal trust is rated two of four critically low. What was the, I don't want to say resolution, because it may not be a resolution at this point, but what came out of those conversations as related to the lack of trust?

So our recommendation was that Staff A laid out those things that they think are policies that need to be changed and that those be presented to the manager, that the manager work with council on making adjustments as appropriate. So some of the consternation I think is people are frustrated that We get beaten up about this process, but this is a process we brought from Fulton County. It doesn't make sense to us, but this is the rule that we have to work with. When we boiled down a lot of it, that's what it came down to, that and what Council Member Sebastian said, where a developer may change the process, change the project, After staff has given them a recommendation, they didn't follow it. They go around staff, come to council, and then it gets approved, and then staff has to deal with what was approved that they, if the developer had come to them, well, if the adjustments had been made early on, if they had come to agreement early on, it wouldn't have become a political issue. It would have been a process issue. There was more recommendations not, because there's no magic bullet to that. There's better understanding.

Right. And I don't know if this is for Attorney McClendon or the city manager, but in light of what he just said, when can we expect to get whatever this document, recommendations, et cetera, whatever it is that's supposed to be presented to the council? Because as you can see, at least two of us are reaching, trying to remember when we were interviewed, because it's now August. And not for nothing, lots of things get discussed, agreed on, and then people develop CRS. They can't remember stuff. It gets buried, and then everybody pretends like they've got no idea what anybody's talking about.

So we can give the full report, which is findings and recommendations, that can be available Monday. The implementation plan is the part that we're working on right now because without the implementation plan, it's just a report that can sit on a shelf. And that may take another month for us to kind of work with. Because we meet with Reverend. Director, Director McClendon.

Dr. Reverend Graham Poobah of the paperclips. Right, the business family, Dr. Reverend Graham Poobah of the paperclips.

So it may be another 30 days before we can have the implementation part, but we can have the, if you just want to see the recommendations and the findings, we can have that Monday. I mean, I'll give it to the manager Monday.

Yeah, I think I, at least I would like to see that while we wait on

implementation plan all right well this was really good this is something that I have been looking forward to and I know some of the council members as well so thank you for the work I do have a few questions not too many because the council has really talked on all of the things I One thing that I do have about the outdated policies that we've adopted from Fulton County as we've continued to grow, what is the process for that and what would that look like to our community?

I can tell you our recommendation. Okay. Our recommendation was that you put together a panel using developers and staff and maybe even other jurisdictions and kind of work through the existing ordinances and policies and then try to streamline them. That may take you a year. It's not a quick process. But then you'd have something that you'd have buy-in from the development community also. And they have a good sense of what works in other jurisdictions. Your staff has a good sense of what could work here. And that's what we'd recommend. That's actually one of our recommendations.

Okay. Well, I definitely think that's something that our community needs. So if we were as council able to really start looking at, you know, those top developers or those developers that are entrenched in our community. Maybe we can start kind of moving that forward and, um, starting sooner than later. And, and lastly, um, I'm excited about the 24 hour permitting 48. I thought it was 24. Okay, 24 to 48 hours.

Not more than 48 hours.

Not more than 48. I'm excited. And the reason why is because that will send a signal to the community that we are truly ready and open for business. And, you know, of course, we are trying to decrease their frustrations as we continue to grow. So thank you so much for that. And I'm looking forward to continued great work. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to our second presentation, Discussion, Regulation of Development and Operation of Data Centers within the City of South Fulton. City Attorney Sarah Kelly will lead us off.

Good afternoon, good evening, Mayor and Council, Mr. Clerk, Madam Subedan. We have a treat here. As you know, we have the first read of our new data center ordinance this afternoon, and in advance of that, we thought it'd be prudent to do a work session on data centers in general, and also a more specific presentation on the new proposed legislation. This has been a long time coming. The sponsors of that legislation have worked tirelessly over the last few months, have attended conferences and things of that nature. We've also consulted with a few of our experts who are here today. So first we are going to call up Ms. Celine Benoit. Hopefully I said that correctly. And she will give her presentation. Thank you.

Thank you and good evening, Mayor and Council Members. My name is Celine Benoit. I am the Principal Planner with the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, which is housed within the Atlanta Regional Commission. I would also like to take this time to congratulate the City of South Fulton for working through their first EPD audit and showing that they are in compliance with the Water Resources Management Plan. So congratulations. So I'm here today to present to you on data center trends across our state, as well as some considerations for local communities. data center trends. This is something that is not news to anybody now. They are not only global, they're national, they are local topics, they are having a variety of impacts, whether that is on our energy or water demands, and they can at times be putting additional pressures on our existing infrastructure or even call for a need for additional infrastructure that perhaps was not in previous comprehensive planning. It brings in concerns about land, water, air impacts, as well as some secondary concerns such as noise, appearance, and opportunity cost. This is also for many communities across the state of Georgia, a new type of development where local jurisdictions might not have the language already written or what that framework should look like when considering these development proposals for data centers. I always like to just show a little taste of how things are going across the state. If you look at that inset map, that is the 15-county metro Atlanta region of which the Metro Water District covers. The red dots are proposed sites. The red dots are existing sites. We have also noticed some applications having been withdrawn. or denied, and even some instances of data centers becoming now operational. Of course, that extends across the state. And so this is a trend that has been increasing over the past few years, and this is just based upon publicly available data. So it's possible that there are additional data points that are not being represented on this map. Metro Atlanta continues to be second, right behind Northern Virginia in regards to the construction capacity for data centers. If you look at this graph, you can see the pale green is the total inventory, while the dark teal there is under construction. So within the next Anywhere from five to 15 years, you can go ahead and take that dark teal stack and put it on top of that light green stack, and that is where Metro Atlanta will be. In regards to energy and data centers, we're hearing a lot of proposed megawatt usage. Sometimes it's hard to kind of understand what that means, perhaps at a community level. So to kind of bring that into some perspective, we see small data centers requesting as much as around 50 megawatts. You can serve that one data center. or you can serve a little over 32,000 homes, or maybe you need to take into consideration how to service both of those moving forward if you are looking for not only to welcome data center developments, but also building out more residential communities. But these data centers, their demands are increasing rather quickly, partially being driven by streaming services, cloud services, as well as artificial intelligence. The key about artificial intelligence and what it makes it so distinct is that the computing power needed for artificial intelligence compared to say, just storing some files or videos, is that the computational demands are much higher than what we have traditionally seen. And as AI, those models are continuing to mature, and we are better understanding them in ways of way we can integrate them, that can then kind of fuel an increase in that megawatt, excuse me. This is the forecasted peak demands put out by Georgia Power during their IRP process. It has been updated, you'll see here, three times, initially in 2022, revisited again in 2023, and again last year in 2025, showing an increase of almost 10 gigawatts in forecasted demands. And this is, again, largely being driven about 80% by data center development proposals across the state of Georgia. So what does that mean in terms of cooling and water use for these data centers? These data centers, they are operating 24-7, 365. And as those chips are computing and processing our language model prompts or what have you, they are in turn generating heat. Now, it is absolutely critical that this heat is efficiently removed from the data center system. Otherwise, they can experience something known as fatal heat. which is often detrimental and irreversible damage done to those chips. Now this is absolutely just not even a possibility for these data center operators, given that if their chips aren't running, due to damage, not only have they lost the billions of dollars that they have invested, but they are potentially also experiencing customer disruptions. And say it's a co-location site that houses multiple customers and in turn could have this domino effect where those customers are experiencing disruptions and even further down the line. So because of this, about 30% of the total power used by data centers goes towards cooling alone. Now there's a bunch of different types of cooling. This has changed over time, especially given the increased computational demands for these centers. But there are really two kinds that we are seeing most relevant here towards our needs in Georgia. The first is evaporative cooling. This is what we more have traditionally seen. Let's think about the root word here, evaporative evaporation. That means that water cycled to cool through that data center is being lost to the system. Upwards of 80% is lost via steam. So it's going back into the atmosphere, yes, but clouds don't know geographical boundaries. They are making clouds south of us, across state line, wherever, and raining over in those areas. And this is what is really critical for Metro Atlanta, is that we are 99% dependent upon surface water. So if we are not returning water to our local reservoirs, Lake Lanier, Allatoona Lake, Chattahoochee River, that can pose significant issues for us into the future. That's where this other type of cooling comes in. It's called closed-loop cooling or even non-evaporative cooling. Rather than a once-through cycle through the system, it's actually a water glycol mix that can cycle in several concentrations throughout the system, and of course eventually it needs to be flushed out and replenished. But the water demands associated with closed-loop cooling are significantly lower than what we have seen with evaporative cooling. Of course, there are some trade-offs to this. It is more expensive to install. It takes up a larger physical footprint within the data center. And yes, it uses less water, but it in turn does require more energy on the back end. So you still do have that water, that indirect water loss through the creation of energy. But still, compared to evaporative cooling, it is a much better use of our resources here across Georgia. Sometimes I'm asked about air cooling. This was formerly a more popular type of cooling method, but it just doesn't cut it anymore these days, given the computational demands, but it can be used in addition to, to help perhaps offset peak times. This is just some more information about evaporative cooling, but I have already covered that, so I'll skip forward. There are other things to consider when moving forward with closed loop or non-evaporative cooling is that when that system is flushed, there are potentials for wastewater concerns that need to be discussed with the developer when there is that discharge. It just needs to have an understanding of what is being discharged from the system and whether or not those contents and capacity can be met by the local wastewater treatment plant. If not, what can the data center site itself construct and manage and operate to help accommodate the receiving wastewater treatment plant? So good news is that we, when these development proposals were initially coming in, a lot of them were requesting evaporative cooling, but we have seen just a natural trend towards non-evaporative cooling systems, and that is because these developers have just become more aware of the unique geography of Metro Atlanta and what our needs and resources availability is. So that is a good sign. But it is just worthy of noting that it's still possible for sites to request evaporative cooling. It really just comes down to what parameters, perhaps ordinances or policies are in place or even conversations for what that would look like. The question that I always seem to get is, well, how much water are these data centers requesting? I really don't like this question. Because data centers are not data centers are not data centers. They're each unique. They each have different customer bases, different needs. How they impact their community all varies. But really, if you had to put a baseline to it, it depends upon the size. It depends upon the scale. Is it one building? Are there plans for expansions? Is it going to be a campus that houses multiple buildings? What is the nature of the facility? Is it our more traditional idea of data centers where it's just a data storage? Is it a co-location where they rent space out to other organizations or companies? Or is it a hyperscaler facility where we are going to see that AI processing? This, in turn, influences the associated energy demands and, of course, the type of cooling being implemented, whether it's supplemental air cooling with that liquid cooling, and if it is liquid cooling, whether it's the water exhaustive evaporative cooling or the better steward of our resources for non-evaporative cooling. I always like to kind of give a little bit of an idea of what those numbers look like. So if you look on the right hand of the screen, these are two initial water demand requests from two proposed sites, just very beginning conversations. There was a site requesting as much as 9 million gallons per day. Well, in turn, we were seeing another site requesting about 5,000 to 50,000 gallons per day using that non-evaporative system. For the evaporative system, when that number came in, the community was able to have a conversation with the developer and say, this just does not work with our vision for the community moving forward. That number was able to be revisited. and was lowered, and the community again said, doesn't work with our framework, doesn't match our community vision, and so they were actually able to move forward with a non-evaporative closed-loop design. So that's great. Why cooling matters here in Metro Atlanta? I touched on this a little bit. We are 99% dependent upon surface water. But on top of that, we are one of the smallest available surface water supplies of any major area across the nation. We sit at the headwaters of six river systems, but those are pretty small river systems given that they were at the headwaters and they expand out as they move down the state. So we really need to continue being good water stewards for our downstream neighbors. But on top of this, we are drought prone. We're currently still in a level one drought as we speak. So building our resiliency Now, in a proactive approach, really helps us if we were to go into more severe stages of drought. So now I'll shift a little bit to considerations for local communities, everything from local impacts, job creation, land use, additional infrastructure, and so on. There are benefits to bringing data centers to your community. The one where everybody's probably most familiar with is that significant tax revenue growth, whether that is demonstrated through property taxes, business taxes, or sales taxes. I do like to mention that even though we are seeing these tax revenue growths do come in for some communities across the country, We don't understand the long-term trends of that tax revenue growth just because we haven't had data centers of this nature for that amount of lifetime. We're still learning as a country what that looks like. But data centers can also provide direct revenues towards community priorities, everything from education, housing needs, fire and safety investments, even community developments. It's not really feasible for data centers to put solar panels on the roof, but they can put them on the public schools. They can help lower that energy bill for other community institutions. They can perhaps serve as an epicenter for additional commercial and economic growth, whether that's through hotels or just general shopping, restaurants, so forth. And of course, workforce development. Uh, yes, data centers themselves do not provide a lot of full time positions, but they can provide training and support for jobs perhaps in that field, or maybe not even necessarily related to data center itself, but for other needs of the community, other workforce programs that could serve the community to help raise that, uh, household income level. But even before that data center is operational, there are things to consider when just the dirt is first being removed. And that is, what is this site gonna look like? How does the construction and even eventual operations influence potentially other development plans across the community? How does it fit into the comprehensive plan? Does it need to be reevaluated? And it's important to consider the adaptive infrastructure of this building. When a data center is built, it is very hard, if not almost impossible, to retrofit it into anything else. So what kind of adaptive infrastructure could they put into the data center to avoid it becoming a stranded asset? And when I say stranded asset, I mean think about a poor strip malls. There are larger environmental and public health impacts hyperlocalized at the site, whether that is stormwater runoff and water quality, potential water quality degradation, our community awareness and considerations, and coordination with fire and emergency services. There are instances that I've heard where there was not as thorough communication with emergency services as there should have been, and it resulted in some interesting discussions. So it helps to have it proactive on the front end to help buffer that. And water service considerations, everything from the community's immediate demands to the projected demands as well as future capacity needs or what that community desires to grow into. And what does that look like for the need of additional infrastructure? It's important to communicate with the water treatment and wastewater treatment requirements as well as the plants so that everybody is on board understanding the needs for this site once it is operational in the construction phase, when it is online, and also when it potentially expands if that is in their plan. THERE ARE ORDINANCE DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATIONS WHICH IS BEING DISCUSSED LATER TODAY AND HAS INCORPORATED MANY OF THE POINTS THAT I'VE PUT HERE SO I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND SKIP THAT FOR NOW. THERE ARE ALSO OTHER COMPONENTS THAT ARE WITHIN YOUR ORDINANCE READING THIS EVENING, EVERYTHING FROM NOISE IMPACTS FOR GENERATORS, THE COOLING SYSTEM, THE HUM that is sometimes mentioned, the land development and how to buffer that as well as community awareness and communications. I would like to highlight air quality as this is a potential issue that is kind of coming, we're gaining more research and information on that across the globe. And that is due to the possible degradation of air quality during the construction and even potentially during operations, whether that is construction dust or diesel generators. The diesel generators, they serve as the backup energy supply for the data center, but these generators also need to be tested usually at least twice a month. So it's important to consider the location of the data centers and how it could potentially impact neighboring habitats or communities. There is also recent research discussing heat island effects created by data centers where large scale data centers or these campus sites, given that they are emitting this heat to cool off the chips, where is that heat being distributed? Is it being felt across the community or is it being localized to the site? There are some Primary novel building Considerations and what what we're got in regards to what the site actually looks like to help Decrease the potential for this heat island effect. But again, this is still Kind of cutting-edge research that's being conducted This just discuss Mars about the heat island effect And here are some examples from one company that mentioned different infrastructure buffers that they can do to help offset that plume from the heat island effect. So rather than it branching out and kind of covering across the community, it kind of like a candle flame will stay concentrated over the center itself. I just always like to throw a map layout of what a data center looks like just so everybody can kind of get an understanding of the physical layout and some additional buffers, whether that is onsite water storage. Onsite water storage is used to build the site's resiliency itself. Say there are water restrictions in place or there's an emergency outage, this allows the data center to continue their operations usually for an additional three to five days given that they will have onsite water. I covered this a little bit, but the question is, well, why not solar or green roof installations for these data centers? Solar is not feasible because it doesn't provide enough power for the constant need and power demands of these data centers. But like I mentioned earlier, it can work great for our schools or other community buildings. Green roof designs are also not preferred by developers because then it does open up a risk to potential water intrusion and damage, which would not be very good for the data center. Rezoning, we're hearing more and more proposals across Georgia asking for rezoning. So just being prepared for this and understanding what that change could look like, how it could impact other areas outside that immediate zoning, but really just recognizing that that is becoming a trend. There are community benefit agreements that can be developed to address some of these public concerns, identifying a lot of key concerns that are being expressed. It also provides a greater benefit in just kind of words in writing for how this data center developer or operator can give back to the community and help grow IT'S RESILIENCY OR ECONOMICALLY. IT JUST ALSO PROVIDES ANOTHER LAYER OF TRANSPARENCY AND COMMUNITY INVESTMENT WHILE ALSO THE SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE COMMUNITY. I MENTIONED THIS EARLIER. WITH THESE TECHNOLOGIES, THEY ARE RAPIDLY CHANGING. IT FEELS LIKE ALMOST EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEK, THERE'S SOME NEW COMPONENT. I MEAN, COMPUTERS USED TO BE THE SIZE OF THIS ROOM AND NOW WE'RE ALL HOLDING ONE IN OUR HANDS. And so there is uncertainty in knowing the long-term industry trends, whether that's for chip development or how that influences the stock market or anything like that. So it's just important. We don't have that answer right now. I wish I did. But it's important to just take it into consideration, whether that's how the chips are being cooled, how they are becoming more efficient, and what those capabilities would look like in the future. The Department of Communications receives DRI applications for these developments, which I'm sure many of you are aware of. I have just included for some reading at your own time some example comments that the Atlanta Regional Commission has provided in response to these DRI applications for data center developments. I always like to include a little what's going on around the state in regards to moratoriums and ordinances passed. We are showing strong support across the state of Georgia. And I would end with this quote from Prince William County in Northern Virginia that really emphasizes the need for strategic planning to ensure that community needs are addressed as early on as possible, even just acknowledging them to ensure the long-term economic prosperity and community resiliency and sustainability. So with that, big picture takeaways. For developers, it's important for them to engage with all stakeholders, but I do want to highlight water providers because they have been in the past maybe been a little late to the conversations when they could have provided input that would have been beneficial as those development plans were maturing. For water providers, it's understanding and identifying the existing parameters and the projected parameters and future demands for that water use, and of course for our local leaders to support policies for balance and resilience growth, which is being moved forward across the state. But really it comes down to identifying the trade-offs. Every community's trade-offs will differ, but using those trade-offs to make informed decisions for the best balance and resilient growth for the community and the county. And with that, that concludes my presentation. Thank you. I'm happy to take any questions, yes. Absolutely. Okay.

Do we have any more presenters?

Okay.

All right. I will recognize Councilman Mayor Pro Tem Beall.

Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Celine, for being here today. Your presentation was very thorough. I also want to thank you for being a part of our community meeting as we discussed data centers because this is always a hot topic. But you mentioned something as far as air quality. Can you speak to us as it relates to any carbon emissions, renewable energy? And then the second question that I have would be as it relates to noise mitigation. I know you touched on it briefly, but what would be some recommendations or information that you've seen? Because not only do we want to protect our communities, we want to make sure that the noise doesn't disturb or and even the environment with our animals and so forth. Thank you.

Yes, thank you. So in regards to air quality, it is predominantly being expressed in the construction dust. So when that site is being constructed, it can create a physical cloud of dust that if the wind were to carry, it can carry it across off site from that construction. Long-term is speaking about the diesel generators. Diesel generators have particulate matter in them, which even in low concentrations can have pretty adverse health effects, especially for susceptible citizens. So understanding... or excuse me, let me back up. There are EPA guidelines for tiers of diesel generators, and I believe that that is included in the language, so that is good. But having an understanding of when these diesel generators will be operating, that it is only serving as backup, how often they are being tested, how long they are being tested, Are they being all tested at the same time? Just understanding literally the logistics of that is very important. It's one thing to be testing one generator every couple weeks as compared to turning all 60 on at the same time. It would obviously have a different impact. In regards to noise, it is often expressed by communities or citizens, excuse me, that they're going to hear the hum from the data center. I would like to clarify that they are probably not hearing the hum from inside the data center. the workings and the guts of the data center, if you will. I've been inside multiple data centers. When I'm standing outside, it sounds very different from how loud it is when I'm standing inside with my ear protection. So what they're hearing outside is likely those cooling technologies, the diesel generators, if they are being run, or other supporting technologies that are not directly associated with the chips themselves. Now, there is a potential for sound decibel levels that are not heard by the human ear but can be heard by other animals, but there's still not a lot of research in that area, but it is being kind of expanded upon in a gap in the knowledge. You're welcome. Thank you.

Okay. I believe it was Councilman Pritchett. Councilman Pritchett.

Thank you. Excellent presentation. Thank you. Is it possible that we, I'm not sure if we have a copy of that in our portal. Is it there? Yes, in your package. Okay. It's outstanding presentation. Thank you. I heard you talk about wastewater. And so I heard somewhere that some of the water is recycled, like similar to a reverse osmosis system or, you know, could you talk a little bit about that?

Just for my own clarification, are you referencing reuse water systems? Yes. Okay. So there, the reuse water is where it is basically retreated the site and that there is a site within Georgia and actually within Metro Atlanta that has had a reuse facility but that If you zoom out, it's good for the data center itself and its operations, but if you zoom out, it is not returning water back to our overall regional water supply, and that's where I would put an air of caution. Again, it's not returning it back to our reservoirs, Lake Lanier and Allatoona Lake, Chattahoochee River, and so that can impact our resiliency and ability to provide those future demands just for our community members.

So if I understand you correctly, this water is a closed system. So you have a reservoir of water that provides the cooling mechanism. And it's not returned back in our system because it's still evaporating, but it's staying in

Let me try that again. So with reuse water, it is recycled, if you will, on site so that the site can use it again. And so one would think, well, that's great because then that leaves more water. but if you have all these sites that are constantly recycling that water, but still pulling water because they need to replenish their systems, then that lowers our overall giant bucket for the entire region. Does that make more sense?

It makes sense. But at the same time, I think, um, and I think that some residents may have concerns about the work contamination is, pretty severe, but the water that does evaporate, does everyone want that evaporated water versus water that it's used, reused and really doesn't come back to the end user, which is us.

Okay. I think I can provide some additional clarification here. So let's think about three different types of cooling. There is the first, the evaporative cooling where yes, 80% of that water is being lost to the atmosphere. going and making rain clouds, wherever it will. The second is non-evaporative cooling or closed-loop cooling. So this is the one where it can cycle in concentrations within the site but still needs to be discharged and replenished. And the third one, which is, I think, what you might be getting a little confused with closed loop is reuse cooling. Those are different types of approaches to cooling. So reuse is just constantly cycling but still taking. But closed loop is a mix that allows you to, it's more, it's like if you took the best of both worlds from the other two extremes to provide system cooling.

So with the water that evaporates, will that create like smog?

It should not create smog, because smog would be associated with smoke, but I recognize your concern for, are you expressing potential pollutants in the air? Okay. So there are systems or parts of the system within the cooling that remove those matters, and that's in the down blow, and that is siphoned off and that goes part to the wastewater treatment plant for processing. So what is being expelled from the system is just water droplets.

So you sound like a scientist. Are you a scientist?

I have my undergraduate degree in biology and my master's is in geography.

Okay. You would be available to any of us if we had, like I'm not going to ask you a million questions, you'll be available to us at some time in the future if we wanted to dig deeper, not right now.

Absolutely.

Okay. And the last question is, dealing with data centers, I know that with zoning, zoning requires a certain number of parking spaces that I assume is related to the size of the facility, but data centers have fewer visitors, employees, so will we be looking at regulations that have a reduced number of parking spaces?

So I do believe there is some language that covers that, and it mentions a minimum number of parking spaces. There are actually research that has been shared by the Atlanta Regional Commission about kind of flipping that, instead of rather than having a minimum number, that we can have a maximum number of parking spaces. And I can share that document with you. It was provided for another community within Metro Atlanta, those takeaways and recommendations can still be applied here.

Okay, thank you. I will be calling you soon.

All right, Councilman Sebastian.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you again for your presentation. I do have a couple of questions on one of these, specifically on one of the charts in here, the map that has to do with water. I was at a meeting the other day, and the concern was about how we not judge whether we have an adequate mechanism to capture some of the water that's here, whether it's from the river or from rain, right? I heard you when you just said that the closed system may not be the best because it doesn't return the water to the environment.

That would be the reuse.

The reuse system.

The closed system. The reuse system. Is the best one for.

Is the best one. Yes. Okay. So if water availability was increased, would the evaporated system be then better if you had an adequate supply of water?

No, because you're still losing 80% of that water as steam to the atmosphere. Regardless with evaporative cooling, however much water you have, it is not ideal. And this is not, I mean, it's definitely... important to Metro Atlanta, but across the country, across the globe, you would not want to lose 80% of your water supply on a site that needs to be replenished almost daily, given the amount that is being lost and evaporated every day.

But again, I believe that with technology development, that number would likely go down, right? But however, because I'm concerned, not only water for, we're talking about data centers here, but just overall development that's happening in Metro Atlanta, and especially on the south side, that water issue, it's really a big deal, even beyond the data centers. So when you put the data centers on top of it, you almost wonder if we're not reaching a critical point soon. Okay? With the issue of... data centers for us as a city being built in jurisdictions around us, it still affects us because we're all mostly on the same water system, right? We all share basically two power companies, maybe a third one. So it's almost like we are as a city between a rock and a hard place because Community benefits and the way how they set up and what we're trying to do in terms of putting our ordinances in place to make sure we control how data centers are built here, if they're built here. It does not make us immune from the impacts of data center development. And I'm going somewhere with this. I know at a state level, there's some discussion under the dome about data centers and controls around these. Has the ARC been involved in that conversation with all state representatives? Because this is not a city problem. This is a region and a state problem. So just like we heard before with the zoning, and they're saying, 45 days, you better give your initial feedback, right? I THINK WE NEED STATE INTERVENTION WHEN IT COMES TO DATA CENTERS BECAUSE WATER, ELECTRICITY AND ALL THAT STUFF IS AFFECTED NOT JUST AS A CITY BUT ON A REGIONAL AND STATE LEVEL.

Yes, and ARC has been involved and requested to present to state representatives at the Dome, at the Capitol, on more than one occasion, which we have done so. So when we are called upon to provide information or updated research, we do so.

Okay. That's all the questions I have for now.

Thank you.

All right. Councilwoman Toni Wright.

Yeah, so thank you so much for this. So I just have a question just by looking over your presentation. It was very detailed. And I was actually having a conversation earlier this morning talking about data centers and the impact. So looking at this chart, we are second to Northern Virginia. How is that? Like, what makes, you know, and we also know the capacity. I know it's saying that Metro Atlanta, we have the capacity, but we also have the concern in regards to the land and different things of that nature. And out of all the 50 states that we have, and we're number two to Northern Virginia, what makes us so attractive to house these data centers?

So... THANK YOU FOR YOUR QUESTION. I'LL PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT MORE CONTEXT ON THAT NUMBER TWO. I WANT TO SAY THAT WE ARE NUMBER TWO NOT IN THE NEWEST DEVATA CENTER DEVELOPMENTS OR THE NUMBER OF PROPOSALS BUT IN THE AMOUNT OF MEGAWATTS BEING ASKED. SO EVEN IF IT'S JUST FIVE PROPOSALS, THOSE FIVE PROPOSALS ARE ASKING FOR A LOT. Well, we are becoming known as the Silicon Valley of the South. We also have extensive existing fiber networks. Compared to other regions of the country, they just don't already have that set. We already have it set, or we are able to do so quickly. We still, compared to the country, have utility rates that are more favorable, and finally Even still within metro Atlanta, you can find large swaths of available land. That is harder to come by in some areas across the country. We are already a home for Google, for Microsoft, for Facebook, so that's why it's almost like a positive reinforcement, if you will.

Right, and so, you know, when I was having that conversation with someone, we were talking about the land space, right, because of the land. So one of the questions that was posed to me, so since you're here, I want to be able to pose it and someone can come back and listen to it. So when you say the available land, what happens, and this is a question I was asked when I was discussing it, what happens when all this land runs out because we're using data centers?

Yes.

then that would have been a question to ask back to, uh, the approved zoning. Yeah. Uh, because this zoning, like, as I mentioned before, it data, we don't have data center zoning. We are making it. So it is the conscientious decision to change this once family farm, agricultural zoning into a light and or heavy industrial zoning.

Thank you, because like I said, I would like it when a lot of our residents, people like to hear expert opinions instead of our opinions, so thank you for providing that. Thank you.

You're welcome.

Okay, thank you. And I do have a few questions. Your presentation was very good. My first question is, I hear a lot about data centers and their longevity. Most of it is that they have a lifespan of five years. Is that accurate?

Yes and no. That lifespan is to the technologies within the site. So not the physical infrastructure of the building itself, but yes, every three to five years they basically have to gut out those technologies and put in new ones.

Okay. Have you seen any other, I guess, municipalities or areas where they're repurposing some of their buildings? So like we have quite a few maybe warehouses or abandoned warehouses. Have you seen anyone repurposing those locations?

I have not personally heard of any examples, but I have heard of that proposed argument. And so in conversations with developers, they say, unfortunately, it's not worth their investment because the cooling systems for data centers is so unique that it is built inside the physical infrastructure. So they wouldn't be able to retrofit, say, a former logistics site. They would have to just wipe it clean and start again.

Okay. When we talk about community benefits, I was at a meeting today and they were talking about 25% of tax revenue going back to the community. Have you seen that? This was a company that was out of state, but the council adopted a community benefits agreement saying that 25% of any tax revenue will go back to the community. Have you seen anything like that?

No, I have not. But again, it's important to remember that what is the long-term lifeline of that tax revenue growth? Is it wise to put a stagnant percentage on it when that lifeline could vary over the coming years? But that's just something that would have to be considered.

And my last question is, with the amount of pushback that people are giving for data centers, it's my understanding now that a lot of these opportunities are leaving the metro Atlanta area and going out to rural communities. Is that a true fact? Because, you know, they are very lucrative from what I've heard. So my understanding is that because there's so much, you know, push back for data centers in the metro Atlanta area that they are targeting rural communities now.

So there's possibly truth to that, but I would like to say that all data center developers aren't the same. They don't have the same end goal. Sometimes it is directly your big five, your Microsoft, your AWS, your Google saying, we want a data center. We're going to put it here. Other times it is a developer who intends to be a co-location site and already has some potential customers that they're like, hey, we are building this property. Sometimes it is developers that are just Caching in if you will where they're like we're gonna build the infrastructure and we're just gonna find and worry about finding that occupant after it's built so I think those three different types of Development goals influence that decision.

Okay.

All right. Well, those were my questions I do see councilman Sebastian back in the queue for a second time Thank you, ma'am.

Just have one question, of course How do consumers help drive the need for data centers and And do you see that trend changing?

So I just want to repeat the question. How does consumer habits influence data center development and do I anticipate seeing that trend changing?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. Yes, we are buying more things on Amazon. We've become dependent upon Uber Eats when we don't want to cook. Those are not wrong. And so that does accumulate, yes. But there are some larger scale uses of AI that are pushing that even further. There are some international companies that are pushing that movement forward. There are software development companies that are pushing that forward. It's like, well, let's build it and we know that they'll use it. The public is demonstrating that they'll use what we're giving them even when what is being provided is not always matured or yet a final product. In regards to, do I see that trend changing? I wish I had a crystal ball. But I do not have a clear answer for that one.

Yeah, and the government that's implementing AI with their processes too.

Just saying.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, thank you for your presentation. Next presentation, please. Thank you. Oh, I didn't see you. Thank you, Ms. Benoit. My apologies, one moment. Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Burrow has a question.

Well, no, it was actually just a comment because I think that to Councilman Sebastian's point, when you talk about the ways in which consumers are driving the demand, One of the things we discovered in conversations with Wells Fargo about the closing of the branch at Old National and Old Bill Cook, that only 9%, and this is what's reported in the Wall Street Journal, so this has been known since the top of the year, only 9% of customers bank in a brick and mortar bank. So the entire industry has almost completely been gutted and taken over by digital banking. So if you think about, you've got an app on your phone. Someone gives you a check, you take a picture of it, you can deposit it from your phone. Or you can do your computer. All of those things. About the only thing they then, what they said was that they have employees sitting in their buildings that can go a week without ever seeing a customer come through the doors, that all of the business at that branch is happening at the ATM. So if you take that, just one bank, on one street and extrapolate that out across the entire Wells Fargo landscape, Bank of America, Chase, Truist, Fifth Third. If everybody who is banking, and this is just one example, if everybody who is banking is doing their banking digitally on top of all the other ways we live our lives through our phones, it gets to, it begs the question of how you balance the fact that digitization is marching onward, whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. It is going to happen with how do we protect our communities from some of the known negative impacts of having data centers. But I think that to his point, how we live our lives day to day, is driving why all these data centers are now needed. You know, before we throw a question into ChatGPT, because I'm just, you know, I don't know what Google is doing with their index, but it's easier for me to ask ChatGPT than hunt through Google to try to find the right answer. You know what I'm saying? So in incorporating all of this digitization, what does all of this look like long term? And do we even have enough land to put data centers on if the whole world is going digital?

And I think that's a great point, Councilman. I think it's a form of transformation of how we've traditionally used brick and mortar by going into a traditional Wells Fargo through the digitization, it's now a different type of brick and mortar with the data centers. I think also I'd like to thank Ms. Benoit. That was an excellent presentation, but it was very important for my office as well as the sponsors of this legislation for her to present to you all so she'll be a continued resource to you all in your individual districts. But one of the things that she mentioned is the constant changing of the technology. She kind of stole my example a little, but I remember when computers were the size of a room. If we as a municipality made long-term decisions based on computers staying the size of a room, then our land use and zoning would look very different today. And so some of the flexibility that's built into this legislation by having the special use permits, by having the different factors and things that the council can take into consideration, including the gross movement of technology, All of that feeds into the decision-making on a case-by-case basis. So Ms. Benoit was here to present to you all the logistics and to help inform the constituents as well as us as a whole on the logistics of Data Center. And Attorney Brandon Bowen is also one of our experts. He's also reviewed our ordinance and has provided insight as well. He's going to present on the legal aspect.

Thank you. Good afternoon. You all hear me? All right. Um, you know, I want to begin by following up with what Ms Williams Brown was saying with the bank. You know, it's not just the banking, it's everything we do. Did you do a team's call or a zoom call today? You interacted with a data center. You know, did you read the wall street journal, the New York times this morning with your coffee on your phone? you interacted with a data center. Are you going to go home and watch Netflix once we're done here? You're going to interact with a data center, OK? It's something we're all doing. That's just how our life is right now for virtually all of us. So I know I've met many of you before, but I'm a zoning lawyer. I practice in Cartersville, Georgia. I grew up on the other side of Atlanta, but I ended up there after law school and I stayed. And so I've done zoning work all over the state for about 25 years now. And one day, about three years ago, a company came in and said, we would like me to, or they said you, but they meant me, to help them put a data center in Cartersville, Georgia. And they had a site plan. And I said, well, you got to do two things. One, you got to tell me what a data center is, because I had no idea. And two, you got to convince me that this is a good thing, because When I looked at that site plan, my house was on it. It's right by my house. All right? And what they were trying to do is a 2,000-acre site will be one of the biggest data centers in Georgia, I think, once it's built out. Well, they convinced me that it was a good thing for my community. And in my community, we did not have the ordinances, didn't address data centers yet, nobody. Very few others. No one in the government knew what a data center was. I had to draft the ordinance that would allow a data center. And ultimately the city council and the planning commission approved that unanimously. And we saw a map earlier of data center dots in Georgia, and it's one of them. One of the things that they did, uh, to convince me that this was good as I, they took me to tour theirs. Um, and that was very helpful to me, um, to know what actually we're looking at and what it is. And that's what this, this discussion will be about to a large extent. I understand that South Fulton has, uh, several data centers in operation already. Have you all had the opportunity to visit those? Okay. So they're not in operation yet. Okay. Well, You do have a lot of data centers very close by that you could definitely go visit. And I would commend you to that. And I can give you an address where you can stand between four of them, very large ones. One of them, there was a picture of it on the wall earlier. And I think it's very helpful to do that, to understand what it is that you're looking at regulating. I'll talk about that more in a minute. OK, where do I need to aim? All right, what is a data center? It's a big box with an air conditioning system. It's a warehouse with an air conditioning system. That is all it is. If you go inside one, there's a bunch of servers, you know, just like the servers that you probably have in your back office. That's all it is. It has a bunch of those with an HVAC system that will keep it cool because when they're all running at one time, it gets warm. That's all it is. I think back. My mom worked for a company called Cathcart Ally Moving and Storage years ago. And what their business was, not the moving, but the storage portion, was to keep a bunch of banker's boxes full of company files. And it really is the same thing. It's just it's using servers now rather than a bunch of boxes on racks. But that's really all it is. It's not a manufacturing... Establishment, it's not a logistics establishment, unless you're talking about logistics of ideas. It's just a big box with servers in it. Okay, what do you need to have one? Power and transmission, fiber, and water and sewer. And prior speaker talked about the importance of fiber. That really is a big deal. And in Georgia, as I understand it, like every important fiber route on the East Coast comes through Metro Atlanta and spreads out through Georgia. And also they frequently run along transmission lines. So if you have a transmission line for a power line, you probably have fiber. And that's a big reason why Georgia is attractive. The other is that we have a regulated power system that's well run, and because of that we have capacity. A lot of other areas don't have that as well. Those are the reasons that Georgia has been an attractive area for it. So what do you need? When it comes to transmission lines, for a large data center, if we're talking about a hyperscale data center, ideally you would have a 230 kV transmission line. So 500 kVs are the really massive ones. They carry a lot of power, but they're hard to step power down to get into a data center or any other facility. On the other hand, you've got 115 KV. That is what heads out towards neighborhoods and things like that. They're probably not carrying enough power to power a large data center. So 230 is at the middle. And so now that I've told you that, I can show you how to go find a spot real easy. That's a 500 KV line. Those are the really big ones on the left. Those are the 230s. A lot of times big concrete monopoles or things like that. But those are the transmission lines that are in existence, that are carrying the amounts of power that a data center would be looking for. OK. I talked about fiber. Obviously, that's huge. And that's important because data center is a warehouse, but it does not ship its products with truck to trailers. It ships its products with fiber. Right? We talked a good bit in the last period about water and sewer usage. It's a big issue. And let me say this. In the time that I've been doing data center work, it is changing very quickly. I had cases early on where developers were asking for 5 million gallons a day. And that's just gone. I'm doing one in Cartersville right now. It plans to use 5,000 gallons per day. And how much is that? Well, if you've got a pool in your backyard and it's kind of like the full-size residential pool, that's 28,000 gallons. So 5,000 is a fifth, no, I was a history major, not a math major, a sixth of the size of a pool. Not a whole lot of water. It's about the same amount as a few houses would use in the course of the day. Now that's just one building, but that's a 200 megawatt site, so that's a pretty big Again, each one has different technology. I've talked to a number about them. And, you know, you hear, you know, there is the evaporative cooling or open systems, and you hear closed systems. It's really even more complicated than that. There are mixtures of the two, and I don't really understand it. I've had them try to explain it to me, and it's like right over my head. But what I can tell you is that they are dropping the usage rates a lot, very fast, because the big guys, the hyperscalers, they understand the PR problem that is created if it appears that they're going to use up all the jurisdiction's water. There are, to go to a question that came up earlier, there are a lot of different types of technology, there are systems that can use gray water, they can recycle, they can do storage systems where they put water towers, fill them up slowly, and then reuse the water in there. The point I would make is that the data center can be a solution to a problem. And what I mean when I say that, they can bring so much money to fix a problem if you've got a system that has issues, that doesn't have the capacity it needs, doesn't have the pipes it needs, or whatever. They can fix that problem. I was in a meeting one time where the city wished to serve a project, but said, they had their city engineer said, look, we've looked at it. We can serve. It's going to take $100 million in improvements for us to serve. And the response was, OK. Um, I can tell you of a County in middle Georgia that has, that has brought one of the big hyperscalers in on a couple sites. And that company has invested $150 million into the water system of that County to be able to bring water throughout the County where they did not have that before. Why would you want a data center in your community? It's a fair question. We didn't talk about revenue a whole lot in the last section. So I'm going to talk about a little bit further, but it can be a astounding number. Um, so the way a city like South Fulton would, would, uh, receive money from a data center. First, you're going to have your taxes that's real and personal, right? So that's the building and the ground is on that's your real property. And then also the personnel personal property, which is the computers. And those have to be refreshed every three to five years. So whereas in a lot of industries where you might have a valuable piece of equipment that is amortized over a long period of time, in this context, it's a very short turnaround, three to five years, and they're buying a new computer. And you're assessing taxes on that. So I don't know what your millage rate is. But let's assume that we've got a 100 megawatt facility, and it costs, it's valued at a billion dollars. So you do your tax, you do the assessment on the 40%, both real estate and personal property, multiply that by your millage rate, and that's what the tax is that you're getting from that. And I don't know what your millage rate is, but I've seen jurisdictions where that is, for a facility like that, it's like $10 million a year. It's a huge number. Um, if you are selling utilities, uh, obviously you would make money on that. The other big one from a city perspective is municipal franchise fees and under Georgia law cities can obtain franchise fees and it generally works out to be about 4% of the power company sales. So if the power company is selling to this facility, a hundred million dollars in power a year, What's your franchise fee on that? Yeah, $4 million. That adds up pretty quick. So some numbers. Loudoun County, Virginia was the first data center hub in America. They have a lot of data centers, although if you look at it, many of the initial ones are fairly small. And so because of that, their total number of megawatts, as I understand it, is not terribly high compared to what's coming in Georgia and Texas and other places. But Loudoun County makes well over a billion dollars in tax receipts every year now. So you can do a lot with that. And let's think about that. If you've got that kind of money coming in, what does that mean? And I talked about taxes, I talked about it applying to your millage rate, but I don't know what the school system's millage rate is, but in most jurisdictions it's higher than the local government's millage rate. So the school system is making even more money. So over time, what does that mean? Particularly if you are bringing this in and other jurisdictions around you are not. That means you're gonna have the highest paid police officers, highest paid teachers, that's where that money's going to go. And likewise, if you are not doing it and everyone else is, what position does that put you in? We did talk about employment in data centers. We can look at that one or two ways. A lot of times folks don't like data centers because they don't have hundreds and hundreds of employees. That's a fair point. Other jurisdictions I've worked in, I've been happy about them because they don't have a bunch of employees that they're going to bring to our community. The employment there generally is fairly limited. It's fairly well paid. It's generally technicians and security guards. And the security guards that I've met, they're usually guys that have spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan and they're professionals because they don't want anybody coming in. This is all about security. They want their files not to be messed with. I've heard statistics of average pay is like $118,000 a year, something like that. So it's pretty substantial pay for those jobs. And I've seen situations where they will actually partner with local high schools and colleges to try to create a stream of technology specialists coming in particularly. How do you compare that to a traditional industry? And I think that's a fair point to think about, you know, what is data center like in relation to other types of industry? You know, I was thinking about this the last time I filled out a DRI form, and we had to fill out how much water we expected to use. I told you 5,000 gallons per day. Well, there's a DRI form that's been around longer than, I've known about data centers, and it has one line on it is how much water are you going to use? And you're asked to express that in millions of gallons of water per day. And the reason I bring that to your attention is because the idea that industry is using a bunch of water is not a new one. Many industries use a lot of water. That's not new. But with data centers, it has become a hot topic. I was actually in something like this in rural Georgia last week, and we had folks who were very upset about potential water use. And it just struck me that as I was driving home, how many irrigation pivots I passed. And those irrigation pivots use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day or per hour, you know. So... using a tremendous amount of water. Now, a fair point is that that is water going to our food supply, which is also extremely important. My point is that I've never seen water usage be of such great concern in any other industry, even though other industries are also big water users. Okay. Comparing data centers to traditional industry, they have virtually no traffic, no tractor trailer. It's all going to be cars. and vans delivering servers, that kind of thing, but you don't see truck traffic. You don't have chemical processes, emissions, other than we did talk about if they're using generators, things of that nature, then those can have emissions, although they are regulated by the EPA. Is there any opposition? Well, I want to say that this is the first time I have done one of these in quite a while where there weren't a bunch of people in the room with red shirts on. And so I appreciate that. But, yeah, there's a lot of opposition. There's an awful lot of opposition. And there are a lot of things that we hear, I mean, the issues you hear. Noise is number one. And if you go to the data center, if you get on Google and ask about noise in Loudoun County, Virginia, you're going to see a bunch of people complaining about noise. I do think older technologies may have had noise issues. What I can tell you is that the modern ones that I have been to do not. I'll give you an address, One Switch Way. That's in Douglasville. You can park in a strip mall parking lot right there and be beside a massive Google facility and three switch data centers. Can't hear a thing. No buffers at all. They're all right there on the side of the road, and there's nothing to hear, at least in my experience. And the reason for that, and I'll talk about it in a minute in regards to the ordinances, but the reason is because once people recognize that it's a problem, they can engineer a way around it. They can make the equipment quiet. They can shield it. They can wrap it. They can use distance or buffers, but they can make... the noise, they can meet regulatory goals that you put in your ordinance. We talked about the air pollution. You hear about that a lot. You hear about the impact on the power grid. That is a benefit to being in a regulated state like Georgia is. As you all, I'm sure, are well aware, Georgia Power has to get approval through the PSC in order to be able to enter into contracts with the data center companies, particularly on the really large ones. And of course, we hear about the impact on the water and sewer, as we've talked about a good bit. This is an article that was on the cover of the New York Times three weeks ago. It is something that's real, I think. The article talks about how China and Russia have been found to be actively using open AI to spur debate over data centers in America. And why would they do that? The reason is because we are in a data center race. They want to have more computing power than us. And whereas we live in a democracy where people have the opportunity to talk about these kinds of projects and it's a hurdle to a data center project going forward, they don't have that problem. And so they know that if they stir up trouble and make it hard for people to get a data center put in place, Over time, that makes a big difference. And I fully believe that to be true. And I'll give you an example. On one of my projects, I just wanted to see if anybody, if there was anything going on. And so I went to my Instagram account and I hit search Cartersville Data Center. Just wanted to see if anybody was posting on it or anything. I didn't find anything about the Cartersville Data Center on it. But just that one search completely changed my Instagram algorithm. And then all I got was one fate after another. Oh, these things are the worst things in the world. They're going to destroy everything. I mean, just the sky was falling. That's all it took. It completely changed the algorithm. And the reason is because people are pumping money into that. So the reason I say all that is you hear things, you know, trust but verify. Okay. I talked about this a little bit. I think, let's see where we're going. Yeah. Well, so I was concerned about, um, noise when I took that first case I told you about in Cartersville. Last thing I want to do is have something come in that ruins my community and have my neighbors run me out with pitchforks. Um, so we developed an ordinance, a noise ordinance, which looks very similar to what's in your ordinance. that requires them to meet a decibel levels at the property line. You know, they can do that. They absolutely can engineer to be quiet. And in all fairness, I would say that the noise levels are a more effective way of regulating that than buffers or other things. Because if you just put a performance standard, you know, you say, We want it quiet at the border of your property. I don't care how you get there. So long as you get there, they'll figure out the most effective and efficient way to do it. It may be by distance. For instance, in Cartersville, the data centers are going to be very far away from the property lines. They have 2,000 acres. They've got room. But in some places, you can have data centers right up against a residential property line, and they can still be quiet. They just engineer to it. There are a variety of ways that I have put in or terms that I've put into zoning ordinances, and I've written zoning ordinances all over the state at this point. I think what you all are looking at is using a special use permit, and I think that is an effective tool. That's an effective way to do it that's going to require anybody who wants to I put a data center in, they're gonna have to come to you and get approval and they got to show they can meet criteria and run their operation in a, uh, an appropriate fashion. Um, of course we normally would see things like size limits. That's common, not just to data centers, but to all types of uses really, um, minimum buffer requirements. Commonly we'll see a vegetated buffer next to residential areas to make sure that's opaque and folks aren't staring out the window at a building. You can have architectural and design standards. That would be appropriate, I think, if you've got a building that's going to be not buffered, if it's going to be open where it's part of the public or viewable from the public. This is one that I like. This was actually requested by a council member in Cartersville, and we put this together. It's a dark sky ordinance. It requires all their lighting to be downcast so that you don't light up the sky at night. You don't lose your stars. That's the sound ordinance. I'm sure, well, your eyes may be better than mine are at this point, but that's in there. Very similar to what you have. Also, we normally require that the data center project obtain approval from whoever's going to be providing the water and sewer and show that to you ahead of time. Same with electrical supply. One thing I would say about this, there is a chicken and egg issue here. And the reason is, if you ask them to prove that the electrical capacity is there, before you approve, you're probably not going to get a data center. Um, and the reason is because the Georgia power, if Georgia power is a provider, they won't give confirmation to someone until zoning is there. They won't, they won't, they won't, they won't study it. So if you don't have zoning, they will not consider whether or not they will serve your property. Normally, in most development work, the zoning is kind of the key issue as to whether or not you're going to do this project. You get your zoning. Once you got it, then everything else should be straightforward. That's not the case with data centers. The most important thing is whether or not there is the power to serve the project. And if you're dealing with Georgia Power, which I think is the main provider here, they're not going to answer that question until after they study it, and they're not going to start the study until after you get zoning. This may be the last slide. This is obvious since we have a representative from ARC here, but data centers over 500,000 square feet gross are going to be developments of regional impact, so they would need to go through that review as well. So that's kind of gone back and forth, but that's the current standards. I understand it. I think that's my last slide. I appreciate you all having me here, and I'd be happy to try to answer any questions that you might have.

Councilman Sebastian.

I have a couple of questions. I'm curious. Do you still live in the house near the data center? Yes. And how's the noise at your house?

Well, they have not fired it up yet.

It'll be great to send us some feedback once they fire it up.

Yeah, well, I mean, I've been into and much closer than my house. to their facility in Douglas County. There's no noise there at all.

And I'm curious, have you been involved in any redevelopment projects? Because I know you talked about new centers, 2,000 acres. Have you been involved in any redevelopment ones where they're already like in an industrial areas? What are the considerations that were made for that project?

Sure. I've mentioned to you what I'm doing in Cartersville now, the one that the 5,000 gallons per day of water. It is on a site that is previously a Lever Brothers soap factory, giant factory. And that facility is at some point in the recent past gone out of operation. So if this project is approved, that soap factory will be leveled and replaced with a data center. It's a great location. It's already in our heavy industrial district. It has all the utilities to it. It's kind of a perfect site for a data center. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Sebastian. I think I saw a few. Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. And to your point about opposition, even as we are sitting here, I'm getting emails from residents saying, I believe that you have pretty adequately addressed the issue about the noise. However, this particular resident would like for me to ask how much it will degrade home values. I have done my duty.

According to my home and my tax assessor, it has made my home value go up by about 25%. I'm being a bit facetious here. I did just get my tax bill. I have no idea of whether or not that is as a result of being near a data center, but I've not seen any evidence that having a data center there would be. I mean, hold on. Let me back up. It's common sense that if a data center gets placed right by somebody's home in an area that is not suitable and it's not properly buffered, and things like that, then it can certainly have a negative impact. I'm not aware of a situation where that has happened. Thank you.

Councilman Johnson.

Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for the presentation. It was great information. Also, as Councilwoman Williams-Brown got an email, I got a group me message in my neighborhood group that said her cell phone is not working in her house. It's being very spotty. And she feels like it's because of the data center that they're building on Stonewall Tail Road. And I can show it to you to prove it. And I say that to say that it seems like anything that has happened in the last year, negative. is related to a data center. We've seen a Congresswoman come to Georgia and have this mason jar, I don't know if y'all saw that, with the dirty water and take it back up to Washington to talk about how the data center is polluting the water. But we can't get into everything because we'll be here all night and the mayor might get mad at me for asking too many questions. So I'll keep my question short. One of the things that I constantly hear about is power and how there is a question as to whether power going to a data center is actually being paid for by the residents that live around it. And additionally, that infrastructure that's being built around a data center, is that something that cost is given to, is put on the residents, or is that something that the facility has to account for?

That's a great question. So in every project that I have been involved in, the data center pays all of its expenses, both from a city, county, and developer side. I represent both local governments in some cases and developer in some cases. I understand that that can be an issue and it has been an issue in other States. Remember Georgia is a regulated power state. Georgia power is not, they are making the data center developer pay all of the anticipated costs upfront. In addition to they are making them commit and pay for 15 years of power upfront. I mean, they're making the developer and the data center carry the load. And we have some of the lowest rates in the country. Now, that said, I recognize it's been a hot summer and everybody's getting really big power bills. But I don't think, at least I can't speak for EMC customers, but for Georgia Power customers, my understanding is that rates are going down. And they are committing sales from data centers. This is part of a PSC determination. Sales from data centers is supposed to go to pay down a rate payer. So that should not be the case in our state.

So another question, you were talking about retrofitting, and the previous speaker mentioned you can't retrofit. But is that the big, massive, I call them prison-looking data centers that you're referring to? Because I've seen specifically downtown digital reality and a couple of other places, they've taken old, they've taken... towers and turn them into data centers. There are several downtown that if you just walk by, they look like just regular office buildings. And coincidentally, full disclosure, my office building is right next to a data center. Where I park my car on the back, you can hear the air conditioners because it's got about 1,000 of them back there. So on the backside, you do hear it because you're right there. But when you go around to the front and you're walking down the street, from block to block, you don't really notice it. And there's another one actually across the street about a block down. And I just found out probably about two months ago. that that was a data center as well. So when you talk about the sound, but my bigger question is about retrofitting. Is it something that would make more sense going vertical than going big?

There's a lot of question in there. So I think, well, the prior speaker talked about a data center is not a data center is not a data center. you could have a data center that's, you know, five or 10 megawatts and maybe it only serves one, one customer, a hospital or a school system or something like that. That's going to be a different facility than a Google facility that is, you know, 250, 500 megawatts a gig, right? That's going to be a much larger facility. And actually probably at that point it would be a campus of facilities. So that, massive system trying to retrofit an existing building, I think it's going to be a real challenge for the reasons that she gave. But if you're talking about someone who wants to create a small one, I think that's very possible.

Actually, that's it for me. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Johnson. Councilwoman Rao?

This is a question. I think it's more for the city attorney. I know your staff has worked extensively on that. Have both of our subject matter experts had an opportunity to provide input in the draft ordinance?

Yes, they have. They've provided extensive input. The closed cooling system that's in there the buffers, using landscape performance metrics, really trying to make sure with the unique ability of the city of South Fulton, even bringing the special use permit to you all, allows us the flexibility based on each data center on a case-by-case basis to look at all of those factors and make the best decision for the community.

Thank you. Also, although we're not there yet, we're looking at impact fees. these data centers will be subjected to that. They will not be exempt for that. Is that correct?

That's correct.

No further questions.

Thank you. I'm going to tap into my nothing, go really fast, unless you don't want me to go with the other part of the presentation.

I think that we may need to break it up because we are extremely behind schedule.

Agreed. All right. No problem. Thank you for your time, Mayor and Council. Thank you all.

All right. That was a very robust conversation. I'm looking forward to more. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the next item?

Next item is executive session, if necessary.

So at this time, counsel, I think we can forego executive session and we can go right into, we'll adjourn this meeting and go into our next meeting. But I will ask before we open up that meeting that I have a personal privilege of moving some of the proclamations up because we have Some little people here that are probably getting a little restless in the back, so if you all can oblige me. But if there are no objections, can we move to adjourn the City Council Work Session? Mr. Clerk? Sounds like we are adjourned.

Adjourned at 6.25 p.m. All right.

Mr. Clerk, can you call? I am calling the alcohol license and zoning public hearings to order July 28th at 626 p.m. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the roll?

Let's roll call for today's public hearings. The Honorable Captain F. Ryle, District 1. Present. The Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2.

Present.

The Honorable Tanya Tony Wright, District 3.

Present.

The Honorable JC Sebastian, District 4.

Here.

The Honorable Keosha B. Bell, District 5. The Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6.

Present.

The Honorable Linda B. Pritchett, District 7. And the Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

All right. Mr. Clerk, I believe there are some changes in the proclamation presentations.

Yes. Yes. So we actually have several presentations. And Council Member Pritchett is not here. I don't know.

That one is being removed.

That's being removed. Okay. So we have that will make us have four presentations that we have for this evening. First being presentation to the swordfish swim team.

Okay. Is the swordfish team here? Where? Give us one moment.

So we will, we will, um,

Address, you want to do it now? Okay. So one of our favorite staff members has gone through. We're here for you, brother. Come on up to the front real quick. We want to recognize you. All right, so let's go up to the front while the swordfish come to assemble.

So, as many of you know, I have the hardest working man in municipal government as my legislative specialist. And unfortunately, last week he lost his father, Coach Knight, who if you are a long-term resident of the South Fulton region who grew here and didn't fly here, you know that he has been a staple of the community, a staple of Parks and Rec on par with Outlaw and Mr. Frank in raising so many of us who grew up in the South Fulton region and took advantage of Parks and Rec as we were growing up. And we wanted to, before you leave out for St. Pete, FOR THE FUNERAL WANTED TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO RECOGNIZE YOUR FATHER AND ENSURE WE ARE TRUSTING YOU TO TAKE THIS TO ST. PETE TO PRESENT TO THE FAMILY SINCE WE WON'T HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE THERE. COME ON UP. YOU KNOW THE ROUTINE. OKAY.

WHERE'S THE MAYOR?

OKAY. Can't nobody see. Whereas Coach Anthony Knight, known affectionately as Rocket by the youth he has mentored, has dedicated more than 25 years of exemplary service to youth development through parks and recreation programs, and whereas Coach Knight faithfully served young people in Fulton County Parks and Recreation and the City of Atlanta Parks and Recreation, whereas leadership, encouragement, and example have inspired countless athletes to strive for excellence on and off the court and track, and whereas Coach Knight was the first employee to establish a 17 and under basketball team in the Fulton County Parks and Recreation Department at Boat Rock Gymnasium, creating an opportunity that continues today through his work at Burdette and Sandtown gymnasiums. And whereas through his guidance and commitment, the 17 and under basketball and track teams have achieved outstanding success, including multiple GRPA district and state championships, as well as recognition through Coach of the Year honors, and whereas Coach Knight's impact extends well beyond athletic achievement, as he has consistently provided youth with mentorship, discipline, life skills, accountability, and encouragement that have helped shape their character and prepare them for a brighter future. And whereas his unwavering dedication has strengthened families, inspired communities, and made a lasting difference in the lives of young people throughout Fulton County, the city of Atlanta, and beyond. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and city council of the city of South Fulton hereby honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Coach Anthony Rocket Knight, recognizing his extraordinary contributions to youth development, community service, exceptional leadership, and lasting contributions to the youth and communities he has served.

Wow.

I'm never one to be speechless. So again, on behalf of our family, I certainly thank mayor and council and staff for acknowledging my father, who has been a steadfast disciplinarian and a truly one to make you earn your keep. So I will tell you, I do this in earnest. It certainly has been ingrained in me since early in my early childhood. So thank you very much.

Take the picture. You kept a secret.

She kept a secret from me.

Safe travels. Safe travels.

The next presentation will be a presentation to the Swordfish Swim Team. All right. Sponsored by Mayor Gumbs and Full Council.

They are so cute. Now, I can't read this, so we're going to have to. Do you have some? Because the prescription is. We're going to start. We're all going to read them. Oh, my gosh. What is this, 250? Oh, this is good. Look at y'all. Congratulations. Get these babies ahead. Y'all been swimming for a long time. All y'all do is win and swim. All right, so I'm going to start this off. This is one of the highest honors, of course, the city can give you. And this is a proclamation honoring the City of South Fulton Swordfish Swim Team. Give them a hand again. They are, aren't they? Y'all got some proud moms and pops and grandmamas and granddaddies out there. All right. So whereas the city of South Fulton is committed to fostering youth development, athletic excellence, and community pride, and whereas the Swordfish Swim Team, under the leadership of Aquatic Supervisor Coach Alicia Raina Bashir, has exemplified these values through their outstanding dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout the 2026 summer swim season. You want me to read it all? Whereas at the 2026 Georgia Recreation and Park Association District 4 Championship Swim Meet held on June 27, 2026 at the Spaulding County Aquatic Center in Griffin, Georgia, the Swordfish Swim Team delivered a dominating performance, earning a remarkable total of 26 gold. 10 silver and seven bronze medals with the largest number of swimmers from any team qualifying to advance to the state championship. Whereas at the GRPA's A state championship held on July 17th through the 18th, 2026 at Boundary Waters Aquatic Center in Douglasville, Georgia, the Swordfish swim team represented the city of South Fulton with distinction bringing home three gold, five silver, four bronze medals, and ten ribbons for fourth through eighth place, an extraordinary feat accomplished by only nine dedicated athletes. And whereas these outstanding young athletes, Akisa Bashir, I hope I didn't mess your name, Askiya, I messed it up, Sophia Joseph, Grace Joshua, Zalyn Clark, Christopher Chris Passmore, John Taylor, Lauren Sheridan, Heidi Hurd, and Dylan Irby demonstrated exemplary commitment, skill, and sportsmanship representing their team, coaches, and our beloved city at the highest level. And whereas special recognition is due to Sophia? Sophia Joseph, age 7, who earned two gold medals, one silver medal, and nearly broke the state record in the 25-yard butterfly. And Christopher Chris Passmore, age 12, who achieved one gold, one silver, one bronze medal, and two fifth places. placed ribbons emerging as our top award winner at the state meet, and to Heidi Hurd, age 14, who achieved three personal bests, one silver, one bronze medal, and two additional ribbons. now therefore be resolved the mayor and the city council of the city of south fulton hereby proudly recognize and congratulate the sword fish swim team for their extraordinary achievements at the 2026 grpa district 4 and a state championship swim meets the city of south fulton commends the athletes coaches and family for their dedication and outstanding representation of our community let this proclamation serve as a lasting tribute to the Swordfish swim team's excellence, perseverance, and inspiring example they will set for all. Congratulations. You want to say something? You don't want to say anything? Okay. You can get in the middle, too.

I thought somebody was... You get in the middle.

Get in the middle. Come on, little people. She is a little people.

If y'all can't see the camera, it can't see you. On three, say swordfish. Swordfish! Oh my God, you're a little swimmer.

Go ahead.

For those that don't know me, I am Coach Reno. I've been the swim coach here in the city of South Fulton area since 1998 is when I first started this swim team program. Yes. And what I have, if Coach Todd and Aviel can come up here, these here are the future of the Swordfish Swim Team coaches right here that you guys see that work for the city of South Fulton. So at some point they will be taking Coach Reno's place. in this long journey of these great young athletes we have here, right here in the city of South Fullerton. I'm extremely proud of this team and what these guys have accomplished. I have a great group of young talent right here in the city of South Fullerton. And we look forward to continuing this trend again. Look at this youth right here in front of us. We have a long way to go and a long history of great swimming right here in the city of South Horton. So again, thank you guys. Thank you coaches. Thank all my athletes and my parents. I cannot do this without you guys. Thank you. Thank you mayor. Thank you councilwomen and councilmen for y'all continued support. Where's my city manager? Yes, thank you, Ms. Subedan. Thank you guys for all the support, my Parks and Recreation Department. Thank you. My police, my fire, every time I see you guys, thank you. Again, thank you.

All right. Thank you. All right. Go be great. And make sure y'all get some sleep. School about to start.

We got two more, yeah. So Madam Mayor and... So Madam Mayor and members of council, The next presentation is a recognition of the Finance Department for the acceptance of the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Presentation Award. It will be presented by City Manager Subedan.

Thank you. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to recognize our budget staff. our CFO and budget director and deputy CFO. And this wouldn't be possible without our support in the public affairs department. Please come up, deputy director. And so this award is given to those who demonstrate excellence in the preparation of a budget. And we have four criteria that we have to meet in order to get this. This is our first, but not our last, Distinguished Budget Award. See, they leave plenty of room for us to fill out all of the other circles. So thank you all for your great work in doing this. It makes me very proud to know that we are among the top 1,900 in the country to receive a Distinguished Budget Award. Congratulations.

All right, there you go. Three, two.

So mayor and member, oh, you got to take another picture. One more picture? I thought one more presentation.

One more presentation. Oh, okay.

Hey, was the camera ready?

So mayor and members of council, we have a special presentation this evening. We'd like to call up Dr. Christy Jones with the South Fulton National Day of Prayer Committee. They would like to make a presentation of the Unity in the Community Award.

Okay.

Hello, everyone. Is it on? Okay. Hi, my name is Dr. Christy T. Jones, and I'm a part of the Unity in the Community Award Committee, as well as the South Fulton National Day of Prayer Community Committee. We have been commemorating the South Fulton Community National Day of Prayer for the past 27 years in the city of South Fulton and the South Fulton County. And in the past 15 years or so, we have an award, which is the Unity in the Community Award. And it's really for an individual who really exemplars the tenets of service, faith, community, and unity. And we would like to present Mary Gonsworth Award for this year. So the award says South Fulton National Day of Prayer, Unity in the Community Award, 2026 presented to Mayor Cameron Letha Gumbs. Mayor Gumbs, we're so proud of you, and we just want to wish you a successful start and successful tenure. Yes, so thank you.

This award is given as an award of exaltation and also to encourage you to not remember your, like we're going to pose a photograph in a minute, Apostle Jones. Hands of praise to the international ministry here in South Fulton, 30 years. It's to encourage you to continue the work that you're doing. We see you, we're watching you, and we're praying for you. Remember, you are a light that sits on a hill, and you cannot be distinguished. Amen? Praise God.

Amen. Well, this is definitely for the entire council. Thank you.

Because we all are really pushing unity.

This is for the entire council as well, not just me. We are pushing unity. We want our city to be proud of us because we are elected officials and we do take the brunt of everything that comes first in local government. And unity is important. So what you see is what you get. We are working hard. This is the family here. So everybody, every day won't be rosy, but as long as we are praying and As long as we work together, we'll get the work done for the residents here in the city of South Fulton. So thank you, council, as well.

Y'all gotta tell me the instructions. Oh, okay, got it.

Should I count the whole hand? There you go, three, two, one.

All right. I think that's it. We need to go into the hearing really quick. Ms. DeClercq?

Madam Mayor, that brings us to the top of the agenda, which is alcohol license rezoning variance modification cases. For presentation and public hearing only, we have one public hearing, STA 26-003, an ordinance to amend the City of South Fulton zoning ordinance as amended to repeal ordinance 2024-034 and replace with an ordinance to regulate the development and operation of data centers within the city of South Fulton to establish zoning, permitting, population law limits, and performance standards to protect public infrastructure and neighborhoods. Staff recommendation was approval. Planning Commission recommendation was approval with the following conditions. Restrict data centers to M2 districts rather than M1 and M2. Required a utility capacity letter within 90 days. Required developers to repair property or infrastructure damage caused by the development. Number four, encourage utility towers and related equipment to be screened or placed away from prominent public views. Number five, add a reference to or requirement concerning solar power. Number six, include glycol cooling. as an available cooling option. Number seven, change the minimum lot size from 20 acres to 10 acres.

All right. So at this time, I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing for item 3A on the agenda. They have a total of 10 minutes to give a presentation, which we've already gone through. Also, Let's see here. If you do not have the use of all, if you do not use all of your time, you may want to reserve your time for rebuttal. Also keep in mind that the time that is allowed it includes public comments for any of the citizens who are also in favor of the application. And at the same time, granted for those that are in favor of the application must be given to those who are in opposition. Mr. Clerk, did you have any in favor and any in opposition?

We did not receive any cards for the public hearing in support or opposition to this item. All right. I guess Attorney Battle wishes to enter a comment. Yes, I have her card here.

All right.

And you are for?

Against.

Okay.

I am not accustomed to speaking in against, so I didn't remember that I had to actually fill out the card. Understood. Sorry about that.

Please state your name and your address.

Michelle Battle with Battle Law, 3562 Habersham at North Lake, Tucker, Georgia, 30084. Hopefully you all received an email that was sent from my office yesterday saying, to all of the council members and to Mayor Gumps with regards to the proposed text amendment. I do represent a number of individuals and companies that look to do data centers. And so this is not my first, as I say, rodeo with dealing with data center legislation. And I appreciate the comments and the presentations that were done earlier today. I think they were very informative and I think very accurate based on the information I have amassed as I've been representing data centers over the last two years. I think the thing about the one that you all are looking at adopting now, in my opinion, over all, I think, and this is my personal opinion but also my professional opinion, The data centers need guardrails. I am not here to say that there are not guardrails that are necessary and that cities and counties should not be seriously looking at the challenges the data centers can impose. But I think that if we have a one size all, that it really does not do justice to what data centers are. I think that there was great explanation about the different types of data centers. All data centers are not made alike. I know, for example, my nephew left the welding profession recently, got his certification so that he could work in a data center. And the data center that he works in is in downtown Atlanta and is literally directly across the street from a residential community. And that building has been there for decades. And there are many, many, many data centers. Data centers are nothing new. They have been around for literally decades. decades, so I think roughly I think I've heard about 50 years plus that we have had data centers around. It is just that now because of the need based on a lot of the AI technology as well as many of the things that were discussed up here today including like with the banking industry, it's not just the banking industry, it's also the medical industry, it's also the federal government, other government entities. at the state level and local levels that are using data centers because of the amount and volume of information, digital information that they are passing through. And so we're not going to get rid of data centers. There are a lot of people who think, well, if we just shut down all the data centers, then all of the need will go away. Well, that's not accurate. The need is what is driving the need for the data centers. So I think that One of the things that I would ask you all to consider, I do have a client, I make no bones about why I'm standing here today. I'm representing AmeriCold. They have two facilities right now, one located at 615 Xavier Drive and the other at 6500 Tradewater Parkway. And both of those facilities have been operating as cold storage facilities. And I think it's a very unique opportunity in the city of South Fulton because Cold storage facilities are not easily adaptable for other things. They have the uniqueness of being very large buildings, but they're very large buildings that have to stay cold. They have a little different operating system in terms of the aspects of keeping cooling in there. But think about it. It has to stay cold, which means that they also have generators. Because if the power goes out, they have to keep the stuff in there cold. So they have some of the attributes that data centers have. And in fact, if you look it up and you can see the redevelopment of cold storage facilities into data centers actually makes a lot of sense. And so my client has been looking at that opportunity because they are looking to relocate from the space that they're in now. And so with the two locations that they have, remember from a building size, They're very similar to some of the facilities that are already in existence throughout the Metro Atlanta area. We're not talking about the huge Amazon-type buildings. We're talking about right now in the city of South Fulton, off of Fulton Industrial, in that industrial district, they have one building at, I think it's at 6150 Xavier, that's 250,000 square feet today. And what they would be looking to do is to retrofit an existing building on that particular space. On the Tradewater Parkway side, they have two buildings. Now, both of these sites are in excess of 20 acres. One is roughly 37 acres, and the other one is around 27 acres or so. the minimum acreage that you all are talking about is not problematic from their perspective. But what we know is that the way that this ordinance is written right now, they would stand no chance of being able to come forth before this board with a special land use permit to present anything because they would be prohibited from doing so based on the way that this ordinance is drafted currently. And so while I appreciate one of my colleagues who came up here today As a zoning attorney advocating to a certain extent for data centers, and I heard how they have had the opportunity to review the proposed text amendment, I would like to differ that it is in the shape necessary to allow the type of development or redevelopment of an existing building that they suggested. And I think some of that comes from a couple of things. And I'll just highlight the couple of items that I think are most problematic. The first is the population cap. I'm not really sure how that came about. But having a population cap that you cannot have more than one data center per 30,000 residents, well, from what I understand, looking at information, you all have roughly about 112,000 residents. So with 112,000 residents, we're only talking about three, maybe four data centers. And if you already have data centers because you're not making any distinction between existing data centers and data centers that may be coming, then I'm not sure that you would get any data centers. That seems to me to almost be a prohibition. that you're not going to have any. So if you have any data centers, because remember, you're not talking about data centers based on the size. That's one of the issues that I have with the ordinance is that we are not making any distinction or tiering, which is what we have typically seen in most of the data center ordinances, that there's a tiering. that there's different types of data centers and different sizes of those data centers and what the wattage is being used. And so there's no differentiation. So therefore, you're just saying carte blanche. I don't care if you're a very small data center on 20 acres or if you're a mega data center, we're treating you all alike. And we only are going to allow one for every 30,000 residents. And then even more alarming is that if you actually were able to come through and apply. And then at some point, the resident numbers dropped below the threshold that you all have established, that they could have their certificate of occupancy Withheld so they have come through this board gotten a special land use permit but because the occupancy Numbers in the city drops their certificate of occupancy would be at risk Who would go through and think about all the money that they have to put down? To get to a finished product and then you tell them what we're not going to give you your certificate of occupancy potentially because the number of residents has been reduced in the city and That simply is untenable. There's not a business, not a financial institution that is going to give money to a project that they can't guarantee that once it has been built that they're going to get their CO. So those are the types of things would basically freeze any type of opportunities for data centers within the city. The next thing is the 2,640 foot setback. It's in the fine print. but it's in Section 3B in very small print at the bottom, which indicates that you have to be 2,640 feet back from any residential or mixed-use project. Well, if you're asking for these to be located in industrial areas, your biggest industrial area is along Fulton Industrial. Well, 2,640 feet Feet back. It's certainly on the property that I'm talking about That would be untenable. We wouldn't be able to actually apply for the special land use permit I'm not really sure that there's any place within the city where you've got Industrial uses that are that distance from residential or mixed-use type Environments, so I would ask that you all look at that it's okay to say a distance but put the distance to the test and look at where a and what it is going to prohibit. Because if you want them in industrial areas, and for example, the two projects that I'm looking at, I'll sit down, are in industrial areas, my projects would not even have an opportunity to come before this board. And so we would ask that you all just reconsider some of the provisions within the proposed text amendment to adjust those two things. I thought my time was up, but I think I got it. Is it up?

It's up.

There's a world on this side. So thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Battle, and I appreciate your email. Mr. Clerk, are there any further speakers?

None that I'm aware of.

All right. At this time, I will go ahead and close public hearing. All right. Mr. Clerk, are there any questions from any of the council members or any additional commentary? Who are you going to ask it to?

Um, probably the city attorney.

Okay. Proceed.

So I did have, so I did have the same question as related to population. If in fact, like Ms Battle mentioned, let's say it happens around, census time and the census changes, does that count the day before? Because it said according to the legislation, it's by the ARC or the Census Bureau, right? So say the Census Bureau came out and just for argument's sake, the population dropped. What would happen in that instance?

So as the policymakers and also the arbiters of the special use permit, it would be up to you all to make a policy decision at that point what should occur, which is why there's some language in there of what might occur as opposed to what shall occur. It gives you all the discretion to determine on a case-by-case basis what should occur.

And would that also apply to the ones that are currently under construction? Is that considered when you say we can only have so many per 30,000? Are the ones that are currently under construction already included in that calculation, which would reduce the number that would ever come in the future, are the ones that are under consideration now considered technically future?

The ones that are currently in existence and pending and under construction are taken into consideration, yes.

How is that?

So currently there are a total of six data centers in various stages, some completed, some permitted, some under construction. So those six data centers are taken into consideration with the 30,000 population cap.

So that means that the 30,000 cap would include those six so you couldn't get... anymore even in those areas?

In theory, yes.

Okay. Those are my two questions.

Thank you, Councilman Johnson. Councilman Sebastian.

I want to thank everyone for their input throughout this whole night and this very presentation. Attorney Battle, thank you for your public comment. For the record, you and I haven't spoken. I do agree that the population thing is an issue, and it feels like, let me back up a little bit. Before we run out and we say Councilman Sebastian is pro data centers, I am not. I am for pro good development, whatever that looks like. Right? Good development. I agree that having this 30,000 population, 30,000 per data center population thing is in essence a cap. Because if I'm hearing, we already have six. Six divided by 112. or 30,000 divided by 112 is not four. It's quite less than six, right? So it's a cap. I'm also concerned, and that's why I ask the question about redevelopment. Not every city can say they have the largest industrial district east of the Mississippi. The city of South Fulton can say that. Given where... industry and some of these other things are going. We're already seeing it. I drove through filter industrial about two months ago. There are a lot of empty spaces that have already popped up in there, right? So if now we're talking about even a limit to 30,000 population, we start to talk about these distance requirement, it means that we're actually MAKING IT MORE DIFFICULT BY LAW RIGHT NOW MAYBE TO PUT DATA CENTERS IN PLACES WHERE THEY SHOULD GO. WHEN WE WERE DOING THE GAS STATION ORDINANCE THING, ONE OF THE CONVERSATIONS I HAD PUBLICLY WITH RESIDENTS WAS THESE ZONING CATEGORIES THAT WE HAVE, AND I THINK I SAW WE'RE ONLY DOING M2, THERE ARE NOT A LOT OF M2 ZONING CATEGORIES IN THE CITY. AND WHAT I'M AFRAID FROM READING SOME OF THE THINGS IN THIS What I'm afraid that's going to happen, where there's vacant land here, people are now going to be trying to create more M2 zoning categories in places where we should not have them, right? And I'm specifically talking about District 4 and District 7. I really hope, based on what we've heard tonight, because even the distance requirement and the buffers, I believe, I may be wrong, the buffer requirement that I saw in the last presentation by the attorney, the buffer requirements were much, much smaller. And I'm not saying they should be that small. But it feels as if the current rules that we have on the table It seems pretty stringent. Now, am I saying we need 20 data centers? No, I'm not saying that. But you heard one of the attorneys said, if we're not at the table to discuss how these data centers are being built here, they're going to be built around us, and we're still going to have the impact and the effect of some of these data centers on our population, on our water resources, on our power resources, because we share these things regionally. So I'm just hoping we can go back, take a look at what we're doing, and see if we can, I would love more public input too, see if we can come up with something that seems more reasonable. Because again, that's why I ask the question, is the demand for data centers, is it going to go away? It's not going to go away. It's just going to get higher. You know, we heard it, federal government, you know, consumers, everyone. We're driving the need for this because of our behavior. So we have to figure out how we live with these things as we move along. And that's all I wanted to say.

Thank you, Councilman Sebastian. And we are able to, I have time to put, have more input. This is what, the first read, I believe. So we do have time to work on this. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to executive session if necessary.

All right. So what I am going to do, because we are behind schedule, I am going to ask that we hold executive session. The agenda is pretty light. Most of you all had the opportunity to read through the last, to read through the agenda. So I will, yeah, y'all can, y'all want to take. Well, what I will do is let me open up the meeting, close out this meeting, and open up the next meeting, go through invocation, and then you all can kind of take a break, okay? All right, so if there's no objections, we will go ahead and adjourn our public alcohol license and zoning hearing. All right, Mr. Clerk, can you start the next meeting, please?

Yes, that brings us to the roll call for the 7 p.m. July 28th regular meeting. Your Honorable Catherine F. Rauch, District 1.

Present.

Your Honorable Aaron V. Johnson, District 2. Present. Your Honorable Tanya Tony Wright, District 3.

Present.

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

Present.

Your Honorable Natasha Williams-Brown, District 6.

Present.

The Honorable Linda Becker Pritchett, District 7.

Here.

Honorable Mayor Carmelita Gumbs.

Here.

Madam Mayor, you have a quorum.

All right. Thank you. I would like to take a personal privilege and ask if Councilwoman Pritchett can read the Civility Pledge, please.

Thank you and good evening to everyone. The City of South Fulton 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. Amen.

Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Next item is invocation by the city chaplain, and it looks like it would be Chaplain Armster.

Good afternoon. Let us look to the Lord in prayer. Eternal God, most gracious Heavenly Father, it is another day that you have kept us, not because we've been good, but because of your grace, your mercy, and your tender, loving kindness. Lord, help us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the enemy. Lord, we thank you for all that you have done, all that you're going to do. Lord, I'm going to ask you to bring the mayor and the council people on one accord and let them have more love for one another. So that way they'll be able to see the needs of the people and they'll have eyes to see the needs of them as well. And Lord, we thank you right now for everything you've done, all you're going to do. And I'm asking you, Lord, the kids are getting ready to go back to school. Lord, cover the teachers and the children, keep them safe from all hurt, harm, and danger, and we'll give you glory, we'll give you honor, and we'll give you praise. In your precious name, amen. Let us pledge allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Mr. Clark, can you please sound the next item?

Yes, ma'am. That brings us to the adoption of the council agenda. Roman number five. They receive a number of additions for this evening. Um, council member Rob would like to add to events, uh, the Randolph elementary school open house Thursday, July 30th, 2026, as well as the camera ready, film ready, properties Georgia's booming film industry will be held on August 6 2026 and then we have Or an alternate date And then we have as walk-ons as well a donation for $6,000 by delivering opportunities through vocational education services doves for district for school supplies and a council appointment of Ms. Jane Williams as the District 7 representative for the Code Enforcement Board by Councilmember Pritchett. And then one last correction on the agenda. The Special Events Cleaning Services, the RFP number was listed as 2615. It should be 2621. That's the Special Events Cleaning Services item.

Okay. Counsel, you have all heard all the changes that have been opposed. If there are no objections, the agenda will be amended as sounded. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

It brings us to approval city council meeting minutes, regular meeting minutes, July 14th, 2026 work session minutes, July 14th, 2026 and alcohol zoning public hearing minutes, July 14th, 2026. All right.

If there is no objection to the consent agenda, this will be adopted by unanimous gross consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Brings us to Roman number seven, consent agenda items, items A through D. All right.

If there is no objection to the consent agenda, it is adopted by unanimous consent. All right. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Roman numeral 8, alcohol license, rezonings, variants, and modification cases for motion and vote. Letter A is a request to council consideration of an alcohol beverage license application for Southside Touche doing business at Southside Touche has been submitted and is requesting approval. for the consumption sales of wine, beer, and distilled beverages at 5495 Old National Highway, Suite B15, South Fulton, Georgia, 30349. It's located in Council District 5.

I will recognize Councilwoman Mayor Pro Tembelle at this time.

Thank you, Mayor. At this time, I would like to defer under Alcohol License Rezoning Letter A.

All right. Is there a second? Second. It has been moved and properly seconded. Can I get a show of hands?

Court that motion approved unanimously to hold until the next council meeting should be August 11th. Thank you, sir.

All right. This item has been deferred to August 11th of 2026. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Pregnancy letter B, second read or request council approval of a zoning ordinance Z26-009, U26-005, application by Brian T. Marks, requesting a rezoning from R3 in the Clifton Neal Overlay District to AG1, also requesting a special use permit for a country inn at 0 and 4965 Butner Road, located in City Council District 2. Staff recommendation and planning commission Recommendation was approval of both items.

If there is no objection, we can adopt this by unanimous consent. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

That brings us to public comment. 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, should observe all rules of decorum, no debate, disrespect, or obscenity should 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, we did receive four speaker cards. So I'll call your name. Please come to the center microphone. State your name, address, and your district, and you have two minutes. Ms. Jewel Johnson, Mr. Brandon Fulton, Mr. Mike Johnson, and Dr. Gloria Millow.

Press the button. Press the button. Just let me know when you're ready. We're ready. Okay.

Oh, I feel like I've shrinked.

Bring it down. Okay.

Okay. First of all, I want to say good afternoon to Mayor and Council. I believe this probably is my first opportunity of this year to really address you all about something that is really dear to my heart. And I want to just let you know this is a very, very friendly reminder that we have worked very hard.

on our impact fees.

We've had the study done and I'm just wondering to know when are we going to go ahead and continue to address that because it is good for not only the city alone, it addresses a lot of our other concerns about other things that we want to do because that is money that would be generated that we could use without having to pull away from our own money. So I just wanted to take a little moment to remind us that that is something that we worked hard for. to get that testing done. And that was all of you all, along with some of the citizens. So I hope that that will be coming up real soon. And if I'll ask my council person if she would be so kind as to let me know when we get to that point. Please make me proud, okay? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Johnson.

Brandon Fulton, District 2, 3332 Button Road. I have an issue. Fire's here. It's my second time up here. The judge is up here. My motion was denied to move my case to the state. It's clear on your website and on your fire brochure. And Captain is here. It says agriculture burns must obtain Georgia Forestry Permit in compliance with EPD. It does not say for agriculture burns, you should contact City of South Fulton Fire Department. This is what you have on your website. The city can go to the city website right now and see when it says agriculture burns, you're supposed to contact Georgia Forestry. Period. It also says who is responsible for burn and ban. Department of Georgia Forestry and EPD. If it's on the city's website, and they're not putting their own name to be responsible, then what gives them the jurisdiction and authority to approach me? You need to look at Section 133, OGCA 133. Any agriculture parcel that's over five acres is governed by the state, Georgia Forest and EPD. To even become a fire marshal, they put that in their training. As a captain, he should know that. You can call Georgia Forestry like I did, and they will tell you over the phone. So they're constantly coming over. I sent something to the attorney. They haven't responded back. I sent something to the manager. Fulton County even responded back to me on my issue and said they was out of it. Why hasn't the city attorney responded? We're talking about respect and following procedures. It's past 30 days. They have not responded. Council. This is your peers. This is who you represented. Why are they avoiding? Procedure. They want me to follow everyone, which I am, which your website says it. Go on your computer and look up the City of South Fulton Fire Department. Click on the brochure and see what it says for agriculture burning. I am zone AG1. My parcel is over five acres.

Thank you, Mr. Fulton.

Thank you, Mr. Fullerton. All right, Mike Johnson, District 4, Camberton-Fabbin Road. First of all, I want to say it's good to see everybody keeping their seat when I come up here and speak. Good to see that. But each week I come up here, each week I come up with different stuff. We're being subjected to several different lawsuits here centered around the police department. And there's some common denominators within this here. One of them is you, Comrade Gums. The other one is Sharon D. Subedan. There's no way that the disgraced Chief Keith Meadows could have done what he done without the help of you guys. Now, I'm hoping and I'm praying that what I'm getting off the streets right now is not true. that you guys are going to have to try to figure out some type of way to screw Eddie Smith, to flat out get him fired, terminated, or run him off because you want your beloved, your toy boy, Juba Rogers, to be that guy in that spot. Yeah. So we're going to sit back here and pay attention to that. But as I get more into this, I'm going to pivot just a little bit with my last few seconds. Helen Zenobia Lewis Willis, along with Carmelita Gumbs, abused our money here with a company called Blue Enclave. You know, Mitzi Bicker's wife. You know, the one that's serving her 14 years right now that Donald Trump just denied her plea for clemency. If you don't mind, Super Dan, take a look at that and find out how our money got entangled with that. And as I continue to look at this, it seems like to me that person was the campaign manager for LaVon Allen. LaVon Allen ain't keep coming up in more ways than one when it comes to the Willis family. So do me a favor, look into that. Because this management will change here. Thank you.

Good evening to all of you, Madam Mayor and all the council people. Good evening, I have one plea. As a mature citizen in District Five, I'm asking to please have us a class with technology. And I'm not just the regular sit-at-home mom, a community worker. I have an AA, BS, MS, and a PhD. And I do not know how to use the computer properly. So could we make that happen?

We haven't.

Well, please let me know where it is. I will be there. And thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Mello. If I may, if I could get the hardest working man in municipal government, because I do offer technology classes, he will get your info and we will get you into the next class.

And there are several programs as well through Parks and Rec. So Merlin will get you connected. Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

Madam Mayor, I just wanted to state for the record, actually to Mr. Fulton, he did submit another card for a brand new jockey club, and our rules do not allow speakers to speak more than once. So I just wanted to let you know that was the ruling. Okay.

We'll talk, Mr. Fulton.

Mr. Clerk, sit. Can you, I got you. Mr. Clerk, can you please sound the next item?

That brings us to council comments.

Starting with District 7.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. I want to thank everyone who came out on Saturday to Salsa in South Fulton. That was hosted by myself and Councilwoman Rao at Southwest Art Center. We had so much fun for the time that we had before we got rained out. And some of the people did not want to leave. They wanted to dance in the rain. So it was a great event, a great turnout, and thank you everyone who participated, and we look forward to seeing you in September for Azucar Music Fest at Wolf Creek Amphitheater. Also, on Saturday, this Saturday, August 1st, at Shock Fitness, which is in the Tri-County Plaza, the intersection of Old National Highway and Jonesboro Road 138, we will be having a school supplies and book bag distribution. From 11 to 1 p.m., if you have not signed up for your children to be able to receive free book bags, school supplies, we will have a lot of fun activities. Please, I guess, look me up on social media, register your children, and come out and see us. We'll be looking forward to giving you what you need and assisting you with investing in your children's educational careers. And with that, I yield.

Thank you, Councilwoman Pritchett. Next, we'll move to District 6, Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown.

Yes, thank you, Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you. It's a lot to thank everybody for, but thank you to everybody who came out to the back-to-school carnival. I want to particularly thank the management team at Walmart who is always very kind and gracious in supporting the activities of District 6, as well as the Zaxby's on Flat Shoals Road at Flat Shoals and Old National, who came, set up a table, and provided... coloring pages for the kids that if they brought the coloring page back to the Zaxby's they would be able to get a free kids meal because she is certainly a good partner with District 6 as well in supporting all of the activities that we have. I also want to thank all of the volunteers who came out on Saturday to help and assist with the monthly food distribution. which happens every fourth Saturday in Creel Park. I don't want to say that that way. Times are getting harder. And I have a lot of dedicated volunteers that show up each month to work with residents and help those residents who may be experiencing food insecurity. And even Saturday, there was a lady that came through with children who had just lost her job. And so... being able to provide this service in partnership with the Atlanta Community Food Bank is truly making a difference in people's lives, and I'm grateful to everyone that helps to support this, you know, as we seek to support our residents. We want you to save the date for July 30th. If you have a child attending Luv T. Nolan Elementary School, Starting August 3rd, the open house is going to be July 30th from 9 to 11. First day of school is August 3rd at 7, 8, beginning at 7 a.m. We will be there with our fire department, as always, for the welcome tunnel and maybe a thing or two for school. the kids, maybe possibly, we'll see. And a reminder that August 4th is a national night out at World Changers in the parking lot of the community building, the building that faces Old National Highway. We will be there at 6 p.m. Please do come out to see us. And of course, I could not... And without thanking our Parks and Rec staff, particularly Joan, Coach Pat, and Tanard and Tony, who work exceptionally hard making sure that all of our events go off without a hitch, but certainly the amount of work that it takes to pull off the back-to-school carnival, because y'all, it's an actual carnival with bumper cars and the whole nine, like the whole park, who worked extremely hard to ensure that that event was a success. And so I'm very grateful to them for all of their hard work and service in making sure that our future leaders have a good time. This is the part where I look in the back. the hardest working man in municipal government, and ask, did I get it all? I did good this week. Okay, these have been your what? Church announcements for the week, and we are going to do what? Govern ourselves accordingly.

Thank you, Councilwoman Williams-Brown. I am next. So I have a lot of wonderful information to share with you all. And it's so good to be back. Last week, we were actually in Alabama with the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials Conference doing the work for the city. So nevertheless, we are here, a new week, a new day. Definitely want to encourage each and every one of you to come out on Thursday. which is July the 30th, 2026, starting at 6 p.m. at the Southwest Art Center, we will be having a benefit performance, a benefit dance concert for our babies and our children right in our community with the South Fulton Dance Studios. They are accepting donations as we serve or as they serve our community, young girls, and tap that dance, ballet, you name it, they're doing it. So we do want to encourage each and every one of you to come out on Thursday, July the 30th at 6 p.m. at the Southwest Arts Center. Again, this is the South Fulton Dance Studios Benefit Dance Concert. Next we have another back-to-school event, but a little bit something different. This back-to-school event is scheduled for Saturday, August the 8th. at 11 a.m. This is not a city event. This is a collaboration with Grown Folks Cafe and 50 Yard Line. The owner will be proudly donating gift cards to the residents who need it, those parents who've already did their back-to-school shopping. You got your pencils, you got your book bags. Now this is an opportunity for the community to pour out to the community. So the Grown Folks Cafe starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 8th. We do encourage you to send an email to our office so that you can be blessed. We are blessing 100 individuals with gift cards. I'm not going to tell you the amounts because I know many of you will come just to get that. But it will be a significant blessing for you to not only help with your utilities or any type of gas that you may need in your cars, but really just to give you a boost up with you getting ready to get our babies and our children back to school. If you are interested, we are taking the first 100 names of residents, one per household, in the city of South Fulton. We will be checking your address. So before you send an email to our office, we want to make sure that this is a business in District 5, in our city, over 30 years who wants to pour back into the lives of those individuals in our community. So we are taking, again, the first 100. You will be blessed with a gift card. You must be present. on August the 8th at 11 AM in the Grown Folks Plaza. Next event, many of you have received those who registered for the Dream Big Teen Girls Lock-In. We have rescheduled and postponed that to August the 15th and the 16th. For those who have already registered, you have received information regarding that postponement. So we look forward to seeing our youth and young adults, our beautiful young ladies. on the 15th and the 16th at Burdette Park. If you were unable to register, your team, girls, we have four spaces left. Four, one, two, three, four. Four spaces left, so if you are interested and did not get an opportunity, to register your daughters, your grandbaby, your nieces. Please, you have the opportunity. As Councilwoman Williams-Brown mentioned, we have the National Night Out, which is sponsored by our City of South Fulton Police Department. We want to see you there. Residents, I'm calling you out. District 5, we're keeping it live in District 5, so we need you all to come out on August 4th from 6 to 9 p.m. right in your backyard at World Changers Church International on Burdette Road. I do want to take a moment to say congratulations to our inaugural graduates of our first 3D printing construction program. And so I want to give a special thanks to Jabali Construction and our phenomenal Parks and Recreation Department, who always helps to keep Workforce Academy ticking and ticking, right? But I also want to take a moment to highlight one of our residents, Ms. Glenda Collins, who is a resident in District 5, but she has taken every last one of the Workforce Development Workforce Academy programs. So we want to commend her. She is one of our seasoned elite, and she knows how to do everything from electrical to roofing to Brandon Yourself Entrepreneurship and now she has recently completed the 3D printing program. So be on the lookout for more information as we gear up for our new seasons of Workforce Academy. We're also starting a new program. Again, it's all about expansion, but stay tuned. If you're not receiving our email, please send us your information. Phillip is in the back if you're not connecting or receiving our email. he will be more than likely the one to help you get locked in. And then very last thing, special thanks to our Code Enforcement Department for their wonderful and amazing sweep that they did on the old National Corridor. Not only was it an opportunity for education and citations, but also making sure that we keep our area clean. So again, thank you to our Code Enforcement Department. That's it, Mayor.

Thank you so much. District 4?

Thank you all very much. First of all, before I forget, I want to thank our staff and our public works team for working with GDOT to finally get South Fulton Parkway cleaned up. It was a mess. And they started cleaning and cutting it yesterday, even though it's not our responsibility. Thank you, Dr. Cooper. Thank you to Director Antonio for coming out and addressing a couple of issues we had in District 4 this week. It's always a pleasure working with that team. I also want to thank the economic development folks for continuing to support our monthly community slash farmers market. We hold that every fourth Thursday at 6,000 . In August, we'll be having our second youth community market where we focus on young entrepreneurs and young farmers for that farmers market. Again, every fourth Thursday right there in the fabulous fourth district. I want to thank our staff, police, fire, parks, public affairs for supporting two events that we did since we were here. That's actually three. Farmers Market and also our food giveaway and our back to school supplies giveaway as well. And also I want to thank the sororities for coming out and supporting us and those who were volunteering, the Divine Nine, the Deltas, and even a few AKAs that were not in Vegas came out. The others were in Vegas and they said, what happened in Vegas? They're in Vegas, so I'm not going to ask that. Yeah, so thank you guys very much for your continuous support. And for the citizens volunteers of District 4, I have the most amazing citizens out there in District 4. They show up in numbers. So I want to continue to thank them for coming out and helping to support these things so that we can continue to support our community, continue to build culture, and continue to build community in the fabulous 4th District. Thank you.

All right, District 3. Thank you, Mayor. It was just a great weekend all around on Saturday. I had the honor and privilege to attend a back-to-school event at Solid Rock Pentecostal Church off Washington Road. The children were excited. We had a ball. We gave out a lot of school supplies. and they were just truly, truly thankful. And so on Friday, we're still in the season of giving. This is the season of giving. So on Friday at 11 o'clock, Seaborn Lee Elementary School will be having their open house at 11 o'clock. So I will be there at the open house. And after the open house, we will be at 3695 Roosevelt Highway for our District 3 community experience at Salone International. That is from 1 to 4, so please come on out for the community experience. We have more giveaways. We're having free... haircuts, hearing testing. Even if your children need to register for school at Seaborn Lee Elementary, if you ever had the opportunity to register your child for school, we would actually have on-site registration with the school staff. So please just come on out. We're going to have a good time. And I also want to shout out Parks and Rec. I had a great opportunity in District 6 to go to the Legacy Walk. It was, you know, you would have thought I walked like two miles, but I only walked like up to the elementary school and back. But it was great. We laughed. I mean, we laughed. We had a great time. It's always a good time when you can fellowship with one another and have a good breakfast after that. So thanks, Ms. Mumford, for the delicious breakfast. It was really good. So just excited about all the great work that we're going to continue doing in the city, and that's all I have. We're so excited to have you. District 2?

Yes, we are. What church do you go to?

I attend Salon International and E9. It's a church.

All right, just want to get that out there. All right, mine is very short today. A couple of things. Speaking of Enon, thank you to Sheriff Labatt for a great town hall you had the other day. I had the phenomenal pleasure of going to the fire department held Camp Embers, which was a graduation ceremony, which is a camp for young women who completed hands-on training leadership development, team building, and received induction to the fire service profession. The great thing about that night is, as chief is sitting back there, we had three recruits that were in the EMBRS program and are now in the training program that are about to be on our South Fulton Fire Department, which was pretty amazing. Two were in our inaugural class, and one was on the second class, right?

That's right.

So that was a great, great, great night. Great afternoon, rather. Also, I want to give kudos to the library dads. We had an amazing event on Saturday, last Saturday, at the Wolf Creek Library. If you haven't heard about library dads, it's a program where fathers come out And they read to their children and they start them at a very early age because we understand that literacy by the third grade is very important. So we have fathers that are spending time with their children and educating them at the same time. We had about 200 fathers. The heat stayed in Georgia just a little bit last week, too. But it was a great day. We had a lot of fun. Kids did everything. I took my granddaughter out, and she was very upset at Pop Pop for being ready to go. But we had to leave. We couldn't stay all day. Now, a little birdie told me that congratulations are in order for Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown. I heard, and I could be wrong, but correct me by your smile, that the Atlanta Regional Commission recently announced the 2026 class of the Regional Leadership Institute. And just to let you know, only 50 leaders from across the metro area are chosen, and our very own Councilwoman Natasha Williams-Brown was one of those 50 people. So congratulations. That wasn't really District 2, but you represented the city well. Speaking of District 2, Babyface will be at Wolf Creek, so y'all get ready. Wolf Creek is doing it. It's on the 9th, next Sunday. Next Sunday, yes. I'm going to get my hair done and everything. It's back-to-school time, so I want to give a shout-out to everyone who's doing the back-to-school giveaways as Councilwoman Toni. I think I'm going to call you that because I think that's cooler, has just talked about. We did one at Enon Church on Sunday. I want to say thank you to ACM Cooper and to Parks and Recreation for the information that was given out. My job was to provide information for students that the city of South Fulton is providing. A lot of people don't realize how many services that the city of South Fulton actually offers to our students through our parks and rec department and other departments, including tutoring programs, Saturday school. Now, I tell you, I tried to get kids to sign up for Saturday school, but they just weren't listening to me. but they were signing up for cheerleading, they're signing up for football, they're signing up for basketball. So we had a great day with the students. I don't know how many students was there, I'll find out, but we should have a good number of students signing up for those various programs. Those are the only things that I have right now, but that's it. I try not to be here all day every week. All right.

District one.

Thank you. There is a lot going on in this city, as all my colleagues have highlighted, and it continues. Fall registration is currently open for the Southwest Arts Center. For those who don't know, classes are free for individuals 55 years of age and older. And we also have a variety of classes for our teens and young adults, including visual arts, dance, theater, music, and more. I also want to give a shout out to Total Dance Co-Productions. They celebrated their 25th Mojo Dance Camp this past weekend. It was an amazing, amazing production on this past Sunday. So I was I'm pleased to celebrate them and with the support of the council, give a proclamation to Terri Axum, its founder, who was also celebrating her 75th birthday. And she danced at that production, completely inspiring. Everybody needs to be up and moving. That's all I can say behind that. Also, we have R&B and Southern Soul this coming Friday at Sandtown Rec Center from 6 to 10. We are sold out. When we put it out on social media, you respond. So we're going to have a good time with a live band, light bites, and mocktails. So come on out this Friday from 6 to 10 if you've reserved your ticket. We will have overflow parking. You know, it's a little tough at Sandtown, but we're going to work it all out. Also, I want to encourage you to take advantage, again, of the aerobics classes we have. Leslie Mangum in Tinnegan offers on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6.30 p.m. on Saturdays at 9.30. Grab some workout gear, a water bottle and a buddy, and come on out. They have a very active class. He gives amazing workouts, and the group that's there, they're very committed. I'm not going to go through all of these because I do also have a fabulous constituent service representative, but I want to tell you about the Power of Compliance workshop that's coming up on July 29th, which is this Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Southwest Arts Center. You can get answers about firsthand from our various departments, and we're looking at code compliance. We'll be teaching you about C-Click Fix. and they also do demonstrations. So this is at the Southwest art center this Thursday from six to eight. So come on out. Oh, Wednesday. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. It's so much going on. It's this Wednesday. So come out tomorrow. And last but not least Southwest art center is also looking for volunteers. I include that information in my newsletter. You can also find it in our city's website. Come on out. And after school program registration is currently open. So, For those who need after-school programs, that's at Sandtown, Burdette, and CliftonDale. So that concludes my announcements.

all right we are not short of things to do in this beautiful city so thank you all for your hard work and we appreciate it uh we all know that school is about to come in session i am super excited that the kids are going back i don't know about any of y'all but they was running through my neighborhood and i was just like i am so tired put them back in school all right also i want to take a personal privilege and thank all of the interns um they all also are heading back to their prospective colleges. And then we have one that has also joined the beautiful city of South Fulton's team. So I'm excited about that as well. We hope that program will continue to grow. You all did some great work. And I love the fact that our departments were exposed to the youth and you all learning to see how local government works. So thank you for that. I just want to share a few quick things. I am attending the Democratic Mayors Association Conference that's being held here in Atlanta. So had a lot of opportunity to sit alongside other mayors who are doing some great things, especially around the conversations of data centers as well. So this has been a really good thing. And it's being led by Mayor Dickens. But we have a lot of mayors that have flown in to support the Atlanta area with their dollars. Also, I want to acknowledge that I attended Fulton Leadership Academy, their graduation. They have some great students that have graduated from that school. I have always been impressed with that academy. And we also honored Dr. Walter Sullivan, who that was his vision. to build a school for outstanding young men, and they were very, very happy about that. On July the 31st, which I believe is Friday, I will be the keynote speaker, and we'll be speaking on South Fulton in development at a real estate class, and I'm excited about that. I will be there alongside Mayor Bianca Broome, and we'll be talking about development here in the area. There will be a back-to-school celebration or giveaway, all of that, with Gunner. That will be on August the 10th at Welcome All. And also on August the 18th, I will be with, we will have the Mayor's Breakfast, and this will be with South Fulton Mayors. I will be there myself, along with Mayor Williams. And we have a representative from Chattahoochee Hills. And it is a fire rapid session. Is it August 9th? I said September.

Oh, which one?

Oh, okay, August 9th. So right before y'all go to the Babyface concert. Right? Okay. So that will be, I believe, at 2 p.m. Two to five. So all that being said, there's a lot of great things happening in the city of South Fulton, so please know that we are doing the work. What is very important to me that everyone knows is that you can be loud, you can be seen, but it doesn't mean you're significant. So with that being said, Mr. Clerk, please sound the next item.

That brings us to enrollment number 11, agenda items, letter A, administration. Number one, request council approval of a resolution establishing a three-week moratorium on events leading up to and including the city's 10th anniversary, May 1, 2027, from April 17, 2027 through May 8, 2027, sponsored by Mayor Gumbs.

All right. Any other items? Oh, that's the first read.

That's a resolution. That's for press or vote.

Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

Yes. So with this item being a resolution, we're voting on it or it's going to be on, you know, by consent, correct? We can vote on it. I mean, whatever it is. I'm just asking. Yes. Okay. So what would be the reason to have this moratorium or the background on this?

Well, the reason for the moratorium is that this is our 10-year anniversary, so we will be spending a lot of resources of events leading up to it and wanted to make sure that we were being impactful in what we're doing because we will be using staff. Of course, the two weeks is just kind of making sure that we have that resource, and then the week after that is kind of like to recuperate so that all of our focus will be on the 10-year anniversary, so that is the reason why. You're welcome. All right. With that being said, sure.

Is it from April 17th through May 8th? Yes. May 1st is our actual birthday. Okay.

Yes. All right. Any additional questions? With that being said, do we have consent? Unanimous consent? All right. Mr. Clerk, say on the next item.

Brings us to letter B, first read ordinances. First read TA26-0XXX, an ordinance to amend the City of South Fulton zoning ordinance as amended to repeal ordinance 2024-034 and replace with an ordinance to regulate the development and operation of data centers within the City of South Fulton to establish zoning permitting population limits and performance standards to protect public infrastructure and neighborhoods. This is first read only.

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

That brings us to the walk on items. We had four, um, request approval of donation of $6,000 by doves for district four school supplies, uh, request the appointment approval of the appointment of Jane Williams as the district seven representative for the code enforcement board. And then we had the events for district one, which is the Randolph Elementary School Open House on July 30th, 2026, and the Camera Ready, Film Ready, George's Wilming Film Industry event on August 6th, 2026, or maybe, yes, or whatever date that is, okay. And that concludes those items.

I think I missed the last part, whatever date. All right with that being said do we adopt this by gross unanimous consent All right Mr..

Clerk please sound the next item brings us to executive session if necessary One second

My update, I can send in the consolidated report.

All right. Well, this will be a first. So with that being said, we will forego having executive session. We can adjourn if there looks like we can adjourn with unanimous consent. All right. Let's do it.