City Council - Regular Meeting

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Wednesday, Thursday,

Good evening. I would like to welcome Billy Low, lead pastor with City Church, who will lead us in tonight's invocation. All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for another day. Thanks for the great weather. Um Lord, like we always pray, we pray for wisdom for this council, God, that you would give them discernment and help them to to lead this city well. that it would um be prosperous because of your your guiding hand on it. Lord, tonight we do pray for those around the world that you would keep them safe. Um that you would protect lives and Lord that you would um continue to bring peace to our world. So we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. I would like to call the regular meeting of the Milton City Council for Monday, March 2nd, 2026 to order. The city encourages you to review tonight's agenda carefully. Each citizen who chooses to participate in public comment must complete a comment card and submit it to the city clerk prior to the agenda item being called. While the Milton rules allow a speaker to turn in their comment card up until the clerk calls the agenda item, once the agenda item is called, no more comment cards can be accepted. Will the city clerk please call the role and make general announcements?

Good evening, mayor and council be happy to call role for the March 2nd, 2026 regular meeting. I would like to remind those in attendance to please silence all cell phones at this time. As the mayor mentioned, if you would like to make a public comment, you are required to complete a public comment card prior to that agenda item being called. All speakers will identify themselves with name, address, and or organization before beginning your comment. If you're representing an organization, a notorized affidavit is required stating you have the authority to speak on behalf of that organization. If you have not done so, please bring your cards to me now. Demonstration of any sort within the chamber is prohibited. Please refrain from any applause, cheering, booing, outbursts, or dialogue with any person speaking. Anyone in violation may be asked to leave. Mayor and council, as I call roll this evening, please confirm your attendance. Mayor Payton Jameson

here. Council member Brian Dolan here. Council member Carol Cookerley here. Council member Jan Jacobus. And council member Phil Kanmer here. For the record, council members Doug Haney and Juliet Johnson are absent. Mayor, you do have a quorum. Would everyone please rise for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge algiance 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. Okay. Next is approval of the meeting agenda. Uh Steve, we will not have executive session, correct? Okay. Uh, do I have a motion to approve the meeting agenda?

I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as proposed. Second. Have a motion from Council Member Cranmer and a second from Council Member Dolan to approve the meeting agenda. Please place your votes. That is unanimous. Okay, we next have general public comment. Do we have any general public comment? Mayor, I just have one, please, that I would read into the record. I don't have an inerson public comment. Do I still need to read the rules then? I wonder if I only have one to read into the record. Do you want me to read the public comment rules if we have one email to read into the record? There's no one hereating. Okay. Thank you.

This is from Ben Copeka at 14115 Brittle Road. Good evening, mayor and council. Thank you for the opportunity to provide readin public comment in my absence. I would like to give notice and provide a thank you for the efforts that the city staff took to during the AG1 public input forum on the 25th of February. While I was unable to attend due to work travel, I listened to the meeting and input and would like to reiterate a few things that were stated via public input. Firstly, that 95% of the minor plat process is functional for use today and the entire process does not need to be thrown out and recreated. Second, that the new minor plat structure should include a statement on the property deed for the specific lot subdivided during the minor plat process of the max allowable impervious area. Thirdly, that my by stating the max allowable impervious area on the deed, any prospective owner or purchaser will know what they are able to build before purchasing a prospective lot, allowing the city the ability to reinforce to enforce my apologies. Fourth, the city implements the requirement for an asb survey post construction that records the amount of impervious service installed or constructed. If this asbuilt option were to become a requirement, I would like to see the pro city provide this asbuilt service to existing residents that build new to help keep development cost off of existing residents andor utilize an impact fee from developers for those homes or lots that are not developed by current residents or owners. Finally, and fifth, freedom is maintained should an owner wish to sell a smaller piece of parcel of their acreage and no more restrictions are placed on small lot owners who currently have the most restrictions and challenges when it comes to development. Mayor, that concludes general public comment.

Okay, thank you. That will close public comment and I will now move on to the consent agenda. Will city clerk please the items?

Thank you, mayor. That first item, mayor, is approval of the February 18th, 2026 regular city council meeting minutes, agenda item number 2665. Our next item is approval of the financial statements and investment report for the period ending December 25th of 2025. It's agenda item number 266. Our next item is approval of change order number one to task order number one between the city of Milton and BM and KPC for Bethany at Providence roundabout project right-of-way acquisition services. Agenda item number 2667. Next we have approval of a construction services agreement with Wrecking Corp of America LLC for the demolition of abandoned structures on various owned properties. Agenda item number 26 068. Next, approval of task order number one to the professional services agreement with NV5 Engineers and Consultants, Inc. for design services of State Route 372, Birmingham Highway School Zone Operational and Safety Improvements. Agenda item number 2669. Next, we have approval of a resolution of the mayor and city council of the city of Milton, Georgia, denying a claim for and for other purposes. Agenda item number 2670. Our next item is approval of subdivision plats and revisions. The name of the development is 15385 Birmingham Highway. It's landlock 486. It's district 2 section 2. That's a minor plat to subdivide the existing 3.357 acre parcel into three parcels with acreage ringing from 1.118 to 1.120 acres, a total of 3.357 acres and a density of 0.893 lots per acre. It is agenda item number 26071.

Mayor Jameson. Thank you. Uh do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve the consent agenda as read. Second. Okay, I have a motion from Council Member Jacobus and a second from Council Member Cookerly to approve the consent agenda as read. Please place your votes. Okay, that motion passes unanimously. There are no reports or presentations or first presentation items. We'll now move on to public hearing. Will city clerk please sound the first item?

Mayor, that first public hearing item is consideration of the issuance of an alcohol beverage license to aphasis Turkish Kitchen LLC. It's at 5310 Winward Parkway sweet here in Milton. It's agenda item number 26072. Our deputy city manager, Miss Bernardet Harville.

Good evening, mayor and council. Evening.

Evening. We have an alcohol beverage license application for Ephesus Turkish Kitchen LLC. They are at 5310 Whimmer Parkway. They are applying for consumption on premises of wine, malt beverage, distilled spirits, and Sunday sales. The advertisement for this public hearing was ran in the Milton Herald on February 19th and February 26th. And you can see the required hearing notification signage was posted on the property here in the photo. Here's a map of the location off Wimward Parkway for reference near other um alcohol beverage license holders. Ephesis Turkish Kitchen does qualify as a full-ervice restaurant. The seating is 40% um of the gross square footage of the restaurant. They also qualify as an eating establishment deriving a minimum of 50% of its total annual gross food and beverage sales from the self-prepared food and meals. And they also qualify for Sunday sales under the state law code for that ratio. Now, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Any questions for Miss Bernardet? Do we have any public comment for this? We do not, sir. Okay, I'll close the public hearing and I will open it for a motion. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we approve agenda item number 26-072. Second. Okay. A motion from council member Cookerly and a second from council member was that Jacobus uh to approve agenda item number 26-072. Please place your votes. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Okay. Okay, please stay on the next item.

Mayor, the next public hearing item is consideration of the issuance of an alcohol beverage license to Celtic Rising LLC. It's doing business as Old Blind Dog Irish Pub at 12650 Crab Apple Road, Sweet 10 here in Milton. It's agenda item number 2673. Miss Bernadette Harville.

Mayor and council. This alcohol beverage license is for Celtic Razing LLC doing business as Old Blind Dog Irish Pub here located in downtown Crab Apple at 12650 Crab Apple Road Sweet 100. This is a application due to new ownership. They are applying for consumption on premises of wine, malt beverage, distilled spirits, Sunday sales, and resident caterer. This advertisement was in the Milton Herald on February 19th and February 26th. And again, you can see the posting in front of the building um as required by the code. Here's the location for reference off of 372 Grabable Road and they do qualify as a full service restaurant with 40% of the square footage um dedicated to seating as well as the food and beverage ratios for eating establishment and Sunday sales. Happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. Any public comment on this? There are none, sir. Okay. Council, have any questions? Hearing none. Great chili. What? I said great chili. noted for the record. Thank you. Um, I have a motion to approve this item. I'll make a motion to approve agenda item 26-073. Second. Okay. I have a motion from Council Member Cranmer and a second from Council Member Dolan to approve agenda item number 26-073. Please place your votes.

Yeah. Good. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you. Go. Okay, we have nothing. We have no zoning agenda or unfinished business items. We will now move on to new business. Will the city clerk please say on the item?

Mayor, that item is consideration of a resolution authorizing speed limits established by the approved radar permit. It's agenda item number 26074. Our community development and public works director, Miss Sarah Leers. Good evening. This item is the final step in updating our speed limits to reflect our recently approved radar permit. And the radar permit is the document that allows police radar enforcement of posted speeds. I'll outline why this evaluation was initiated, explain the process that we've gone through, and summarize what's changed and end with next steps. So both our strategic plan as well as our local road safety plan include components within those related to vehicle speeds and safety. Within the strategic plan, that goal number five is the one that calls for a um traversing Milton in a calm, safe, efficient manner. and the local road safety plan. I'm going to go through some of the components of that that relate to speed limits. So the local road safety plan structured with emphasis areas, engineering counter measures, and a prioritized action plan. So these were the emphasis areas that were part of that plan with vehicle speeds being one of the first ones that was identified. These were the top counter measures. So, things to look at doing to address different safety concerns with engineering review of posted speed limits as well as speed specific speed limit zones being in that top four. And finally, our action plan from that

same study uh with a specific project to study and review possible changes to posted speed limits. So those documents showed the reasoning why we were ev why we've evaluated speed limits and we have this is actually our third round since the local road safety plan in looking at speed limits. I'll talk a little bit on the next slide about the incremental and expanding strategy. But with this slide I just wanted to show the process that we've gone through. So this process is very data driven. um starting with analysis, it's safety based and we do have state agency review and approval as part of this process. So we begin with review of our network as well as request or concerns accident data for speeds. Then the city collects traffic counts. Um we select several roadways. We collect counts at multiple places along those roadways. Following that, actually our local road safety plan consultant is still under contract to assist with preparing engineering reports once we have the data. So some of the things that we look at are the 85th percentile speed, which I'll explain in just a minute, crashes, the roadway geometry itself, the land use around the roadway, the number of driveways, other users, as well as average speed. So all those things go into what's called an engineering traffic investigation or an ETI. So back to the 85th percentile speed. So that is the speed where 85% of the cars are going that speed or lower. And historically that has been had been the only avenue that the state Georgia Department of Transportation looked at in setting speed limits was what speed is at least 85 of the cars going that speed or less. So again in another way

to look at it is if you mapped all the all the speeds along a roadway, you'd find the point where only 15% of those cars were actually going faster than that speed. So that had historically been the only method for setting speed limits. In recent years, the state um considered other criteria. There's actually a tool that federal highway developed called the US limits 2. And what it does is it it is more of a holistic look at the roadways and at speeds. It considers safety as well as the surrounding environment. So those are the things with the roadway geometry, what the curves are are like on the roadway, the number of driveways, is it in an area where you have a lot of walkers or biclers. So a lot of different factors um now play into those reports. So once that data is compiled in that ATI study, then a resolution is brought before you all to submit that list of roads to the state. So we did that actually back in September for this list that is before you today. So once that resolution is approved then we can submit for an updated permit. So that goes through Georgia Department of Transportation as well as Georgia Department of Public Safety review. And once it's approved, a new radar permits issued. And then we we go back and we look at exactly what they approved. And that's what the resolution before you tonight is is to reconcile that list. And it it actually is the exact same list that we submitted in September. It's just taken to this step to get all those reviews. Any questions on process before I move along? I know it's a there's a lot of lot of things that go into this. Okay, so these are the roadways where

the uh posted city limit will change based on this new radar permit and it is the the very heavy weighted lines. So we have three new 40 mph roadways. The first being New Providence from Birmingham Highway all the way to Arnold Mill Road 140. The entire length of New Providence Road. It was previously 40 45 sorry. Thompson Road the segment from Hopewell Road down to Red Road dropping from 45 to 40 and then Bethany Bend from Hopewell Road to State Route 9. So the expanding and incremental look at how we select roadways as well as how we we conduct the studies is looking at what the adjoining roads to those segments are. Um Bethany Bend is a good example. Bethany Way is already was already at 40 miles an hour and then Bethany Bend east of Nine was at 40 and the segment between was at 45. So that's it's kind of that expanding look at at where and what adjacent speeds are. Another item we included in this radar permit was expanding the school zone at Cambridge High School to include Kings Ridge. So the current school zone prior to this radar permit update was just the the two orange um segments shown on this map. So, Cogburn Road just north of Bethany Bend to just south of the Cambridge High School property and then Bethany Bend just to the west of Cogburn um all the way to just to the west of

Highway 9. So, in looking at this, it was also that school zone was set at 35 miles an hour. Previously, Cogburn was at 40 and then Bethne Bend was at 45. Now that Bethany Bend's dropped to 40, both Cogburn and Bethne Bend are at 40. So, we recommend dropping the school zone speed limit to 10 miles an hour below instead of just the five. It also included expanding. We're going to move the a single sign on Bethany Bend um to closer to the north park entrance to be able to encompass that that entire length. is the is the school. So you're reducing it 230 miles an hour,

correct? For the school zone. Is that consistent with Hopewell Middle School just down Cogburn or is that 25? That I will need to look at. I don't recall. I believe it's also 25 too. So it web that one's going to have a little piece of Web Road and then it'll have Cogburn and then actually

Well, I think it starts just north of Winward. No, it's actually a little south of Winward. So it's got a piece of Winward. It's got a piece of Web and then Cogburn. So those roads are all 35s. So it might be that that school zone and we can pull it from the the radar permit to confirm, but that one could be 25 because all of the the three other adjoining roadways were 35s and Cogburn was the only one that was 40. So So school zones vary. They do. Yes. That's interesting. Typically they are 10

to think about. Do we want to be consistent or does it not matter? I don't know the right answer, but if you got one that's 25, people just come become accustomed to that. I don't know. Usually they are 10 miles an hour over the over the posted speed. Yeah.

Um but definitely something we will we will look at. All right. So, our next steps are to update the signage. We have some orange placards that say new that we would post alongside with the new actual posted speed limit. We'll need to move that school flasher on Bethany Bend. We will coordinate with the police department um on setting the effective date of when we get the signs up as well as that'll determine their education period for the new speed limits. We'll notify um our geographic information systems or GIS. There's some base mapping that that can be updated as well as some other core data sources that influence some of the mapping services the ways or Apple Maps and we are prepared to start looking at the next round. Um look again at that that systemwide look look at where we've we've had complaints about speeding and safety and and look for what could potentially be the next round of some speed limit evaluations. Sarah, is that how typically this gets started is by citizenry stating that there's too many speeders potentially going on the roads? That's how we get

right. We keep up with a spreadsheet of all the the requests we get. So, that's one of the first things we do is look at that citizen input. Great. Love it. Thank you. And we started this in September of 2025. We the council approved the resolution in September. We started the studies back in probably February. Okay. So, it is a is a process. I'm learn I'm learning that. Thank you, Sarah. I've lost track of time. So, other streets have gone from 45 to 40, right? Yes.

So, is it is you make that move and then you apply to get the radar opportunity? I'm sort of So, we do the we'll do the study first. Yeah. And then we'll bring the list to council to consider submitting it. Right. Then we submit the studies and then once it's approved, it's now on the radar permit and then we would change the signs. So Providence went down, right? Right. So, and we submitted for radar. Radar is being used on Providence. On Providence or New Providence? Providence.

Providence was in round two. So that was um in 2024 that that one was changed. Yeah. So, it's radar. It is. Yes, it is on the radar permit. And so are the other ones in that that that batch, right? Okay. Thank you. Correct. Any other questions for staff? Yeah. Sorry. When do these go into effect? When do these go into effect in your speed? So, we have we have all the signs in in um inventory. So, it's just a matter of getting them put up. I would say within the next couple weeks, we'll have we'll have them up.

Thank you. the speed the school zone may take a little longer because it's a a flasher sign. So, we'll have to have it it moved um by that specialized crew that does that sort of service for us. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you. Any public comment? There are none, sir. Okay, I'll close public comment. I'll open it for a motion. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to approve agenda item number 26-074. Second. Okay. Okay, I have a motion from council member Dolan and a second from council member Zachus to approve agenda item 26-074. Please place your votes.

Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Council have anything to report on? I have one thing. Yeah. Last week we had the uh ribbon cutting for the Milton Park and Preserve and there was a you know a lot of people were concerned about how long it was taken and what was going on. If you go visit it, you'll understand now why it took so long. It It was a great job. It It really looks nice and I think staff all deserves a real big thank you. Yeah, I agree with you. It is just great. It was worth the wait. Absolutely. Yeah,

and we got raving reviews from Alpharetta as well. I saw Morgan up at the ethics training, so he came directly over. He goes, "Dad, what an unbelievable park." So, he was very happy for us. So, all right. Anything else? None. All right. Have a motion to adjurnn. Second. Can we electronically? May I make a motion to adjurnn? Second. All right. Do we need a vote on that? Yes, please. Okay. All right. That's unanimous. We're adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.