City Council - Regular Meeting

SPEAKER: May I have your attention, please? It is now 530 in time for our work session to begin for February 3rd, 2026. And during our work session, it appears as if we have a presentation from the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Will you please come forward? If you need a mic, it will be at the podium to my left. KIMBERLY JACKSON: Good evening, everyone. My name is Kimberly Jackson, and I serve as the President of our local chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated Nu Sigma Omega chapter. And we are elated to be here tonight to share in this presentation on the actual initiative that we've been working on with the City Council and the overall Opelika City Schools. We are donating over 8,955 feminine hygiene products to the City of Opelika City Schools, and we do have a few of the city schools here with us tonight. And I will turn it over to my Chair, Janelle Royston, to give you those names. JANELLE ROYSTON: Good evening, everyone. SPEAKER: Good evening. JANELLE ROYSTON: Alright, so as our President of our chapter mentioned, we are giving these products to schools within Opelika, along with a few other organizations. So that's going to be Opelika High School, Opelika Middle School, Big House Foundation, Fox Run, Opelika Learning

Center, Girl Step and the Boys and Girls Club. So thank you. KIMBERLY JACKSON: And again, we would like to say thank you once more as we are combating the initiative to ending period poverty in our local community. So thank you again. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: How can we get a picture. SPEAKER: With. SPEAKER: With the City Council? SPEAKER: Well, I don't see why we can't. If you will, please. SPEAKER: And the Mayor, of course. SPEAKER: Of course. SPEAKER: Here. Move these chairs out. SPEAKER: OK. I'll do it. SPEAKER: Shall we. SPEAKER: I think I can see everybody. If we can switch just a smidge, that'd be awesome. That's awesome.

SPEAKER: That's great. SPEAKER: OK. SPEAKER: Can you see all of us? SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: Thank you so much. SPEAKER: If the schools are here and the agency, Boys and Girls Club, Fox Run. SPEAKER: Yeah. SPEAKER: Thank you. OK. Thank you. SPEAKER: And the next item on our work session agenda is the presentation of a resolution by the Opelika Youth Council. SPEAKER: Miss Holmes. SPEAKER: Miss Holmes and Chief Healey.

HOLMES: Good evening, everyone. So I'm standing on this side because we have come together and we've decided to present a youth council of government for the city of Opelika. It is a result of some surveys. Well, the end result of surveys that we already had. But Russell and I have started working on this about three years ago, and now it's just the perfect time to bring it before the council. So happen I am elected to serve on the council now. And so, this is a perfect time that we were able to get it completely done and everything done. So we're excited about our Youth Council of government. I will let Chief Healey just put some little nuggets in of why this council is very important. It will consist of 11th and 12th grade students in the city of Opelika enrolled at Opelika High School, and that will start in September. And we will get the application process out of what we'll do with that. Right, Russell? RUSSELL: Yeah, we'll get it. HOLMES: Thank you. CHIEF HEALEY: So this came out of last summer's tragic incident over at Jeter School when a young 16-year-old girl was the victim of some gun violence. And so, we came together through our community liaisons and worked with a bunch of people were involved in doing a survey that the Boys and Girls Club helped put together for us. We had about roughly about 400 kids in our community that completed this survey. And we were trynna find out some things that we could do from the police department side, from the community side on how to help our kids feel a little bit safer and feel a little bit more involved in what was going on. And I just wanted to kinda give you some a few nuggets out of this survey about what these kids are saying and why this stuff is important. One of the things that we asked them was if they'd ever been asked for their opinion.

The majority of them said no. They've never had an opportunity to really give their opinion as to how can we as a city, we as a community, drive some things based on youth where they have a voice, where they feel like they can stand up and speak and talk to the city about, hey, we would like to see some of these things. Now, obviously, you know, those ideas that come from that youth council would have to go through appropriate channels to be vetted and see how can we fit that need. But it really became evident when I started to look at some of these comments from these kids talking about what they had to say about their involvement. One child said the information and resources easily given to our demographic. What I mean by this is there are many foundations and community involvement resources for those who are over the age of 18, but nine out of ten times when teens are given the opportunity to try and advocate, we are overlooked because of our age, lack of maturity or lifestyle. Teens wanna help make a change, and not every adult realizes this. Where teens are more involved, the things related to them school wise, rather than adults who have been in school for ten plus years. When asked about if you had one thing that you could do in your city that would help change this stuff, these are some of the comments they made. For adults to be more aware of the dangers that teens can often be involved in. So what better way than to have a youth council where we get kids from throughout the city, throughout the school system, to be able to come together almost in a setting like you guys are as a city council, as a city government, and they

get to learn not only how that process works, but how they can have some input, how they can try to put together a project, how they can budget a project so that they can come and then make a presentation to you guys from the beginning to the end of, hey, this is what we would like to see. This would help us in our community. So when we got these results and we were asking folks in the community to stand up, you know, Janataka and Russell were talking about, hey, we've worked on this. So they went back to the drawing board, kinda pulled it out and started going through it and got it put back together in a way that I think could be impactful for the city and give our youth a voice. So and it is obviously definitely something that they want. So I think it's a great opportunity for our community to drive something for our kids and give them a little bit of a voice. SPEAKER: Yes. HOLMES: Thank you Chief. SPEAKER: Thank you. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Council members, there are several things that's before us on our agenda, whether the regular agenda or the consent agenda, that you may need questions answered. And we do have members from each department or department head that might can help us answer questions. So we will take the remainder of this work session to see if there's anything you wanna discuss before our regular meeting. SPEAKER: Not yet. SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: Mr president, I would like to discuss the ordinance for the moratorium, please.

SPEAKER: OK. Any particular one you wanna address your concern? I mean, is it, any person you wanna address it to or just open to discuss it? SPEAKER: I think it would be beneficial for us to openly discuss it. Starting out. SPEAKER: OK. SPEAKER: Mr President, I had some discussions with constituents and business owners, and also talked with Mayor Smith on the phone, and I was wanting to get some more information about what exactly the moratorium consists of, how it came to fruition and why it's sitting before us today. MOSLEY: Good evening, Mayor, Council members. The ordinance that is before you is laid out as a moratorium. Some people think of that as a building moratorium. What this does is it is more of an entitlement moratorium. So, if you've been in Opelika for any time, you've seen the tremendous growth that we've seen and experienced. And I think that is a positive. As we've grown, we've reviewed, you know, making sure that all of our utilities, infrastructure, transportation networks, schools, all of those items are meeting the goals and needs of the city of Opelika. And at times, we have to take steps to review those, make sure that those items, like sewer, like transportation where we need to make improvements or build for current or future development. And so, the moratorium is basically does that it provides the opportunity for some ongoing project or

ongoing studies and work regulatory work to take place while during the moratorium that would allow us to review and update regulations. It would also provide some time to look at bigger picture issues, look at our zoning ordinance, look at multiple other factors that would play into the growth and development of the city. What this moratorium does not do is it does not stop overall development and construction in Opelika. It simply looks at items like rezonings, like master development plans through a planned unit development, where someone goes in and shares a master development plan and then gets entitled for a certain amount of development based on that. Also looks at conditional uses for residential or mixed use that have not been acquired previously. So those items like a apartment complex or things like that, it doesn't stop those projects where people have worked and invested and gone through the steps before the planning commission, before the City Council to get entitlement and approval on those projects. So we're not stopping someone midway through the development of a project. But what it does is it pauses entitlement and approval of potential new projects so that we're not continually adding to the number of units that are possible in the city of Opelika without giving some opportunity to study where we're at, what regulations we need to address and make amendment to before we move forward. SPEAKER: I appreciate that, Mr Mosley. Can you tell me what goals we want to accomplish from the start to what we wanna see at the finish?

MOSLEY: Sure. So I think there are quite a few goals. Like I said, we have some projects that are ongoing now that we would like to see in place so that new developments meet those regulations. That includes our public works manual, subdivision regulations. I think it's time, probably beyond time, that we address our zoning ordinance and made sure that it is brought up to date with current standards, current goals, because we're working off of 1991 standard, which we've updated and made work through the years, but it I don't believe it gives us the best opportunities we have there. I think that would be a key goal. We're currently assessing sewer capacity and infrastructure throughout the city. And I think looking at those areas and making sure that we know where we need to make improvements, where we have capacity and where we can address those. And then we're always working on transportation goals, which I think roads like the Thomason Extension, which is currently underway and will continue for the next few years, we wanna see some of those improvements made as well. SPEAKER: Is there any plan to bring in a consultant to help us accomplish some of these things? MOSLEY: Yes, sir. So the City Council with the annual budget, did approve some funds for consulting work for the planning department to look at studies. And one of those particular would be the zoning ordinance. SPEAKER: Is that just with the zoning ordinance, are we looking at infrastructure and transportation as well? MOSLEY: We are constantly looking at those items. So you've approved a couple different studies. There's Columbus Parkway Access Plan, which looks at transportation through Columbus Parkway corridor. Of course, the Thomason extension. We've been working on that for quite some time and used multiple consultants to look through kinda how to best place those. And then with sewer, we're additionally looking at using consultants for that type of work. SPEAKER: Do you know about how much last year we took in for permitting and fees?

MOSLEY: I don't know that off the top of my head I could find that for you, though. SPEAKER: This is a opportunity for us to figure out a lot of what goes on in our city. So last term, about six months ago, you're familiar, we approved close to 1,200 homes in the Ward five area, especially in South Uniroyal Road, Chewacla Road, Oklahoma Road, Crawford Road. And we asked about a lot of these things, transportation, infrastructure, sewer. And we were given a clear on a lot all of it. So what changes? What's the difference from now from then? MOSLEY: I don't think my answer would change to you on those. I mean, we do continue to look at that now. What did happen throughout last year, and we saw this kinda ramp up towards the end of the year especially, is even with approving many of those developments, we still had contacts and discussions with many more people that never made it to this board or commission because there were either some issues and things that we felt we would not recommend or needed further review, or we thought that, you know, continuing to add on to those numbers that you provided would start to push us towards an entitlement amount of units that we may not be comfortable without taking some time to study some of these things and get our regulations correct. SPEAKER: OK. I wanna go back to the consulting. And I wanna be clear about this because I just I need answers for what our plans are and what we're looking at. Are we going to be working with a consultant? MOSLEY: Yes, sir. That's my my goal. SPEAKER: OK. And is that consultant just gonna be looking at planning the ordinances and all that?

Or are we also gonna be working with consultants that deal with sewer water infrastructure? MOSLEY: We're already working with those. SPEAKER: OK. SPEAKER: Yeah. We actually have that in place already. And we have an assessment done. SPEAKER: Mr Mayor or Mr Molly, can you enlighten us a little more on what the moratorium is about. That way, we'll make sure the three of y'all whatever, we know you've been working on it for a long time, and we feel like that you probably can clear up any misunderstandings. SPEAKER: So ongoing, the City council has approved over the last several months a contract to study our sewer system. You have approved road studies with Sane and Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood. We are constantly looking through OPS, that's an ongoing thing on subdivisions. So that is ongoing, and it's the money's been approved and voted on by the City Council. So that's what I have. SPEAKER: Mr Mayor. MAYOR: Yes. Thank you, Mr President. You all have in front of you a sheet of paper that's titled Key Advantages of the Temporary Development Moratorium. And many of your questions, Mr Out, are addressed inside that the first one, it says for a time for planning and assessment. And you can see in there that we wanna assess our existing ordinance. Right now, the ordinances are, there is not time to read them, address them, get with our legal department and see if they are up to date and correct. And the reason that they're not is because Matt is

basically a one man show in the planning department. And if you would come to the Planning Commission meetings, you would see that Miss Cannon, of course, runs a great meeting. But Matt has to be in charge or be prepared. And he presents those things every time. And it is my recommendation, and it was my, it is my recommendation for the moratorium to be put in place. And all I'm asking for is us to pump the brakes a little bit on the number of new houses and apartments and condominiums that we're doing just simply because we need to get the ordinances up to date. We have road things that we need to look at. We have schools, as you all know, that we're looking at, and then we have the sewer issue that we have been dealing with for quite some time. We are now waiting for the. SPEAKER: Final plans to come back on that where we would do a sewer line from the northeast industrial part to the east side wastewater treatment plant which basically would come down the interstate. So, we will be presenting that to you all in the very near future. As you know, Mr Rock, there's been a lot of issues in the subdivision surrounding West Ridge School that I think we got them resolved, but we need to resolve them permanently and especially as we're looking at building a bridge and opening 200 more acres that we have in the northeast industrial part. The second one just talks about infrastructure management and funding alignment.

Obviously, the infrastructure has got to be in place. If we have or as we have 3,000 lots entitled, if you put a four-person family in there, then you got 12,000 people and if you got two school children and each one, then we just grew our school system by 6,000 people. We got to know that we're prepared to do so-and-so, then you can see the rest from preservation of resources and community character. We can grow our neighbourhoods, and we can take advantage of our quality of life and our natural resources, but we can't let the number of houses we're building outpace the infrastructure, therefore not being able to do projects. Going forward, we are very much going to stay in business. We have enough things in front of us to build for a year without adding a new subdivision. Now we also, I would remind you that the date on the begin date of the moratorium is May 1st so we've got February, March and April for people to that are got projects that are going and if it gets to the... What is it, April 26th? Is that the last Thursday? SPEAKER: I believe the 27th is the last planning commission date. SPEAKER: OK, but you can see that they have some time if they've worked, got some projects that are close to being ready to be presented, and they will be, as Miss Cannon will,

in her leadership, they will be looked at and if they are, have all the parts to go to it then, you know, there's no reason to assume that they would not be approved. The next issue on here talks about public safety and environmental protection. I think Chief Healey can tell you that as the city has grown, our police force has grown, but not to the capacity to continue to do the things that we need to do on a daily basis. He is, he may not be right now, but he was at full capacity, but full capacity doesn't necessarily give him enough people to monitor the city. Same thing with our fire departments and so we're in the process of building another fire house that will be out on Opaloc Road, basically across from Miss Storey Dairy Queen, everybody knows where that is, so next door to the... What is the name of it? SPEAKER: Masonic Lodge. SPEAKER: Thank you, next door to the Masonic Lodge. And so then finally community engagement and transparency. Part of what we're talking about tonight is the fact that we would like to be able to get into the communities, get into direct centres or wherever the possible places are to talk about, OK, what is in your neighbourhood that needs attention and or part of our ordinances to protect you and protect your property rights. And so the whole thing is not, it's not to harm anyone, it's not to take anything away, it's simply to allow us to catch up.

SPEAKER: Miss Prick, go ahead. PRICK: Yeah, and also just so we'll be clear, I know a lot of people are looking at trying to figure out the overall what it is, and I know we're saying duplexes, developments and big developments, but can we be clear to the people that if you have a home that you're trying to build, does that affect, if they're just looking at building, we need to be able to specify the difference between how this moratorium affects individuals versus businesses and developers that come into the city and also once you do that, I have one more? SPEAKER: Sure, so if you look at the requirements, there are some things that we talk about wanting to regulate through the moratorium. That includes new plants over five or more lots, new conditional uses for multifamily which is typically your duplex town house and apartment units, rezonings that would increase density for residential uses whether that be through traditional zoning or through a planned unit development and then just generally additional units. Now, what that doesn't do is if you have an existing lot of record or even if you're working with potentially a builder who is developing a subdivision, those lots are not affected by this ordinance. They would be allowed to continue to develop as a previously done. If you have a mobile home and want to replace that mobile home on an existing mobile home lot, you would be able to replace that same as we've always done. If you have approved multifamily unit or town house or duplex, those would be allowed to continue under this as well. What this does is again, we saw so many last year multi or three, four, five, six hundred unit planned unit developments

that came in to get approval and those projects are anywhere from two to some of them ten or ten more years. This looks at slowing down the approval of those until we feel like we've got the regulations in place, we've got the infrastructure in place to make sure that we're not exceeding what we have. SPEAKER: OK, thank you. Thank you, Mr Thank you, Matt. The work session is from five thirty to six. Now, we got to remember that this is on the docket for the first reading. You have two weeks, the mayor and his administration are open for any discussion that you might have during these two weeks, and then we come back and our next meeting we will also have this open discussion as well. SPEAKER: That's understandable but as we look at the transparency and the community engagement on the bottom you have people that want to know now and if we just do individual conversations we don't really have a chance to ask those questions that we're getting emails and stuff about throughout the days and phone calls. SPEAKER: Well, we will have two weeks to work on it and hopefully, we can get those taken care of but like I said if not when we come back on our second meeting we will continue the discussion, but we need to leave a schedule for a six o'clock council meeting. The work session ends at six. Thank you. It is now six o'clock in town file february 3rd, 2026 Opelika City Council meeting to be called to order. Call the roll, Mr Jones. JONES: Ms Holmes. HOLMES: Here. JONES: Ms Walton. WALTON: Here. JONES: Mr Baines. BAINES: Here.

JONES: Mr Ralph. RALPH: Here. JONES: Mr Allan. ALLAN: Here. SPEAKER: Tonight our invocation was given to us by Terrence Nolan from the Bridge Church and our pledge will be led by Anne Danielle Fulford and Wayne Thomas from Morris Avenue Intermediate School. Let us all stand. TERRENCE NOLAN: Thank you, Mr Mayor, City Council. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, for this is the day that you have made, and we shall rejoice and be glad in it. We're grateful, Father, for the opportunity to live through this day and we thank you. You said in all things that we ought to give thanks and so, Father, today we thank you. We thank you for our mayor. We thank you for the City Council and leaders at every level in this city. May your grace be with them as they weigh the pros and cons of each constituents and their requests. Give them wisdom on how to best represent everyone that they have sworn to serve. Father, give them wisdom so that they may solve problems, distinguish between right and wrong, and bring order, stability, and prosperity to our community. Father, we also ask that you give our leaders courage so that even when it's hard, they would continue to boldly represent you as you will instruct them of the needs of those most vulnerable. Strengthen them with your wisdom and grace for the heavy burdens that they carry. May they manage their teams and projects with love, keep their hearts pure and their eyes turned towards your face as they work in the best interests of the people they are called to serve. Father, we pray that as they hold office, they will never lose the people's trust and confidence. Nor may they never forget that it was you

who placed them there. And Lord, we also pray for their families. Keep them as well as they support these great men and women who you have appointed to serve your people. And finally, Father, give all the people in our community a spirit of unity as we follow you so that with one heart and mind we may work together for the good of our sitting and glorify your name. Give us your humility and let all barriers, walls, strongholds, and divisions that keep us separated from you and one another come down in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. (RECITING PLEDGE) SPEAKER: We got to make a little room. We got a lot of features to say here. We got a couple other events. Can you go ahead and bring the rest of you? Yeah, we can make room. We got several seats, maybe line up the teachers on the wall back over there. It'll be great. If there's an empty seat beside you, could you please shift out?

There's a lot of people in the lobby trying to get everybody in here. Thank y'all. Thank you for your understanding. (BACKGROUND CHATTER) SPEAKER: The next thing that's on our agenda for the night is the adoption of the agenda. Is there anything you want to add to remove a change from our agenda that was presented to you? Having none, is there a motion for approval? SPEAKER: So, moved. SPEAKER: Second. Any discussion? Having none, call the roll. Mr Jones? JONES: Ms Holmes? HOLMES: Aye. JONES: Ms Walton. WALTON: Aye. JONES: Mr Baines. BAINES: Aye. JONES: Mr Ralph. RALPH: Aye. JONES: Mr Allan? ALLAN: Aye. JONES: All voted aye to approve the adopted agenda. Council members, you received a copy of the minutes from our last regular meeting on January 20, 2026. Is there a motion for approval? So, moved. Is there a second? Second. Are there any corrections? Addition of deletions? If not, the minutes were sent. Approve is presented. Mayor, comment. SPEAKER: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr President. First thing is I'd like to reappoint Mr Tom Pinton to the Opelika Planning Commission for a new term to expire February the 15th of 2032. And then now I'd like to go down front and get you to join me, Mr President, as we recognise some special teachers. SPEAKER: OK.

SPEAKER: We are honoured to have you with us today and want to thank you for your time. As we get started on recognising some teachers, we want to also recognise some principals. First of all, I would like to recognise Dr Kevin Davis and ask him to come up here and join us, please. Alright. So, we're going to go in the... I guess this is the alphabetical order. We will start with the Carver Primary School, Ms Rhiannon Barring and her principal, Mr Joe Ross. If you all, if you two would come up, please. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: We have a gift for you. Good to see you. Morris, Jeter School is not here, but we'll recognise the teacher of the year from Jeter is Ms Katie Amos and her principal is Mr David Carpenter. Morris Avenue Intermediate School, I invite Cole Watkins, who is the teacher of the year, and her principal, Laura Sellers. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Excuse me, Cole. I won't make that mistake, yeah. Next, I'd like to invite the Northside Intermediate School Teacher of the Year, Ms Lori Dease and her principal, Emily Grace.

(APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Now we have West Forest Intermediate School Teacher of the Year, Ms Jada Todd, and her principal, Jason Lowe. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Fox Run School Teacher of the Year, Nikki Middleton and her principal, April Brock. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Opelika High School Teacher of the Year, Holly Christopher, and her principal, Kelly Fisher. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: And now, what we've really been waiting on is the Opelika City School Elementary Teacher of the Year, Brianna Comer from Opelika Middle School, and her principal, Dr Mary Salmond. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: I've worked on different ways to say it, so I apologise. And the Opelika City School Secondary Teacher of the Year, Brianna Comer from Opelika Middle School, and her principal, Kristen Williams. (APPLAUSE)

SPEAKER: Dr Davis, do you have something you'd like to say? SPEAKER: Well, we have a lot of great teachers to pick from, and I think we've picked the best here today. They've done a great job this year, and I want Dr Hemsworth's principal to take it for all that they do, and that's been a great year so far, no doubt. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: (BACKGROUND CONVERSATION) SPEAKER: Thank y'all very much. (APPLAUSE)

SPEAKER: Public hearing, Mr Jones. JONES: Mr President, we have one public hearing tonight. That public hearing is to about the imposition of a temporary moratorium on new residential and multiple occupancy projects. JONES: I declare this public hearing open. Anyone wants to speak far or against this item, please come to the podium to my left and state your name and address, and remember you have three minutes to speak. RACHEL WHITE: Hello, my name is Rachel White. I live at 1401 Piedmont Avenue, and first I would just like to thank you. Thank you for taking the pause, the reflection, time and effort and energy to consider this motion. It is a big deal, and just the fact that you're considering it is incredibly refreshing to have elected officials represent their constituents and do it in this manner, so thank you. I'd like to say I'm in favour of at least a one-year moratorium. For the last week, I've thought about what I wanted to say, running through all the numbers, how we've had 4% growth in Opelika year over year, how we have roughly 6,500 single-family units in the pipeline for construction, 2,500 more multifamily. That's 9,000 lots for a town of 35,000. I mean, that's a lot of properties in the works. And I thought about what it would do to our infrastructure, how we could potentially almost double our school population, add about probably over 10,000 vehicles to our road system, and then the amount of actual

SPEAKER: People that we would need to serve in our infrastructure, both water, fire, safety, police officers. And I was running through census data in my head because I love Excel spreadsheets and numbers. I just paused for a moment and I thought, you know what? More than all of those numbers is I love this small town. I love it. I am from a huge city. My husband's from here. I moved here to start a family. I've lived in some of the largest cities in America, actually. And to give you an idea, the smallest place I've lived besides Opelika was over three times the size of our population here. And it's just a fantastic place to live. And it's a wonderful small town. And it's not just me that thinks this. A few years ago, Southern Living voted this and voted us one of the top small towns in the South. And their list of reasons were vibrant and rejuvenated downtown, our beautiful historic district, our sense of identity, and strong community. And as we're considering doing this moratorium, we just need to consider the fact that we know who we are currently. And for growth sake is just not a way to keep Opelika. We need managed growth. And I think this moratorium would be a way to do that. And so I would just ask that you please adopt this moratorium. I would love to have it for multiple years, but at minimum one year. And let's not turn one of America's best small towns into mediocre midsize one. Thank you. AUDIENCE: (APPLAUSE) DREW WHITE: Good evening. My name is Drew White. I am her husband. I also live at Fortune 01 Piedmont. And I just want to commend the mayor and the city

council for considering this. I think it is a testament to a responsible way of thinking about how we want our city to grow, what we want our city to look like. We spoke at the planning commission last week. And that's why it was there. The mayor was there. And I told a story about the town we lived in in Texas before we moved back to Opelika. And I'm gonna tell that again. I think that's important. We were in a place called Georgetown, Texas, which is just north of Austin. And when we lived there, it was about 55,000 people lived in Georgetown. When we moved back to Opelika in twenty twenty one, that number was up to almost eighty thousand. And today there's almost 112,000 people there. And if you ask the residents who live in Georgetown, Texas, the longtime residents, multigenerational folks, they would have absolutely given an arm and a leg to have a city council considering a moratorium because they think they've lost their community. The developers came in. They rubber-stamped everything. They didn't really think through. They just wanted growth for growth's sake. And church attendance is down. Crime is up 35% just in the last five years in Georgetown. And you're in a situation where they just don't even know who their neighbors are anymore. And Opelika, you know, I love that line. I think that's right. We're one of the best small towns in the South in America. And we don't just wanna grow into something that's not recognizable. At the end of the day, I think the sense of community and identity is ultimately what's the most important thing. And so I commend you all for considering this moratorium. I encourage you guys to pass it. I think a one-year minimum is probably the minimum. I think we probably could do more than that. But at the very least, this is a responsible decision. And I want you all to know that I think you're representing the community very well with this. Thank you. AUDIENCE: (APPLAUSE) JEFF REICHEL: Hello. My name's Jeff Reichel.

And since guys have a tendency to wander, I'd like to read if I could. I live at 544 Town Lake Parkway. The question before the council tonight is considering the significant growth of the past decade. It is a time to step back, slow things down, and reevaluate the permitting process in total. Since I have only three minutes, the following are six reasons why we need a moratorium. The document I made available to each council member contains greater detail. I believe that the parties involved need time to evaluate how to make more effective development rules, better provisions for their enforcement, and improved accountability on all sides. Point number one is require and enforce well-planned community green space for all new developments. Current regulations allow for clear-cutting and complete sterilization of the land. Eliminate never-ending, poorly planned project developments. Some developers just are not equipped to follow through on their plans. Provide for smaller, secure, and affordable homes for retirees, singles, and others. Write rules that incentivize the construction of smaller, less expensive homes and 55 and over communities. Establish and enforce a framework for uncovering and stopping malfeasance by a developer. If a property under development is producing excessive noise, dust, environmental damage, or general disruption in the quality of life of the surrounding residents, a framework is needed for these residents to halt such development while the issues are evaluated and resolved. An example can be seen south of the intersection of South Uniroil and South Lake Drive. The property's been under development for more than three years. It has produced unending noise from blasting earth-moving equipment. Dust has repeatedly filled the air.

Erosion runoff has choked a nearby stream and pond, and surrounding homes are difficult to sell. The city has rubber-stamped permit extensions, so the developer continues to disrupt the lives of the residents with no indication of homes being built and no end in sight. Control the amenities that cause future burdens like restrictive HOA rules and higher fees. The only reason for developers to build amenities is to sell homes. They don't care how their actions impact future homeowners. And the last one is to apply the zoning and development rule changes to the 65 single 6500 single family homes already approved. If they haven't broken ground as of this date, all new developments should meet these regulations. So please vote for at least a one-year moratorium and provide the necessary time to write rules and regulations that will maintain Opelika as a great place to live. Thank you. AMANDA GUIMETTE: Hi, I'm Amanda Guilmette. I live at 1086 Borough Circle. And what I wanna talk to you about tonight is I am in favor of this. And I thank you guys for even taking it on. I am a hairstylist here in the community. I recognize a couple of people in the room from Davisman. I work with a variety of different people my age, older retirees, and what I am seeing is that we do not have the infrastructure to support this amount of growth. There are nurses and teachers that do not have the resources for the amount of children in the schools, for the amount of people coming in for emergencies that are happening at the hospital. I am one of those people. I was recently bitten by a dog, and I have not been able to receive wound care at AMC or get the care that I need because it's overrun by people.

And so I'm currently having to go to Columbus to Piedmont to get my wound care, which is unfortunate. But I'm also a part of a community called Fox Run Village that is now in phase five and six. We were originally told our phase was going to be maybe one to three phases. And unfortunately, our developer, Holland Homes, was allowed to continue building. We spoke in front of the council against that. And our infrastructure, even our community is suffering. It takes us anywhere, or me specifically, I'll speak for me, 10 to 15 minutes to get out of my neighborhood in the morning to go to work. Fox Run Middle School is right there. We've asked for a light traffic studies to be done by Holland Homes so that we are able to leave our community. And that's been really hard. We've gotten no traction from the developer. We see a lot of issues with the way our community in Fox Run is being developed. And I think that a pause would give us all time for you guys to audit the hard and soft infrastructure to make sure that our community stays a well-run community. And I just want so much for this to continue to be the small town that I chose to move to. I was from Cincinnati three years ago, and so I've really enjoyed my time here. But I want sustainable growth for Opelika, not short-term growth. And I want my property values to continue to grow if I choose to upgrade and go to Cincinnati, or I mean, excuse me, buy a bigger home in Opelika or somewhere else, I want to be able to recoup that. And so I just ask that you adopt this year, and that we could just take some time to audit to make sure that this is what's right and what's sustainable for Opelika. Thank you. AUDIENCE: (APPLAUSE) RACE CANNON: Mayor Smith, esteemed members of the council. My name is Race Cannon.

My address is 1435 Turn Lake Drive. And I rise to speak about this as well. I'm not sure of the wisdom of doing it. That's in y'all's hands. I would like to point out a couple of cautions, though. One is unintended consequences of a residential moratorium that might scare off business. Another is related to a project that I'm involved in that would be affected by this because I chose not to go the plan unit development route for it. This is about the public's on 280 and veterans. That is a joint... as a project that will share joint infrastructure between an apartment complex across the street from it and the commercial public's and its out parcels and shadow space. If this moratorium passes, the only route that I could have to getting apartments approved right there would be conditional use, which is fine. But to get conditional use within two months is gonna be challenging because of the rigors on Section 8.16 of the current ordinance. I don't know that that can be done in two months. We don't have three months to get this done. We have to the deadline for the final planning commission at the end of April is in the first week of April, the first days of April. So we have two months to submit new plans for developments. I provided to each of you, I believe I was a little bit. I believe I missed you. If you were not sharing, Mrs Whatley, some text that I would like to propose as an amendment to this resolution. What this text would do is it would identify projects that share installed infrastructure, privately installed infrastructure.

And it would allow any residential portion of that project to continue. The challenge that I face in getting the public's to come out of the ground is getting two hundred and fifty units built within my surrounding acreage of the land where public's would be 80 of the way there. Those are in the city limits of Auburn, but an apartment complex of 250 would put us there immediately. I can't get that apartment complex built if I can't get it approved if it's subject to this moratorium. And if the apartment complex can't get built because I can't afford to put in the infrastructure, and not get a return. I'm afraid the public's might not come as well. So this particular language addresses the issue where there is not a pud related to a development where commercial and residential infrastructure are shared. Thank you for your time. HARRY ATCHISON: Harry Atchison, I live at 701 Lake Condi Road. I've lived there for 49 years. I have just recently retired. 45 years in a sawmill right down the street. I had been blue-lighted on a bicycle by Opelika's finest, and I climbed up in a public truck, and I was 13 years old. So I'm obviously not qualified to give you numbers. I have confidence in you all and other people to do that. I want to talk to you from the heart. Opelika has an opportunity to be a place very different from just most everything else in this state. I could name plenty of communities all over our state that grew for the sake of growth and did not think through it.

Did not lead well, and they're a mess today. We don't have to do that route. We can be prosperous. People can earn a lot of money here, and we can do it the right way. There is an influx of people who want to come here simply because we have a balanced budget and there's money to be made here. We don't want those people. We want people that will put something, some thought into what they're doing and people can raise a family here. And hopefully, three or four generations of that family can be here and play football for Opelika. Be careful. We're at a crossroads. Think with your heart and your head. I wanna thank you all so much. You know, we are people, and we are never satisfied. There's always something else we want from you. But you did run for public office. So part of that is your fault as well. But Opelika is a wonderful place. There are people who live in Auburn that would love to live in Opelika. But I'll say this is in to show you where we are, and a kind of a comical small picture of the big, very serious picture is we don't have a grocery store on our side of town. I'm about to starve to death. And we need to look, think, and then make a lot of money the right way. Thank you so much. AUDIENCE: (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: And others. Having none, I declare this public hearing closed.

Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me, sir. SPEAKER: Please. Guys, if y'all spoke tonight, will you sign the sign in sheet with your contact information, please? Thank you. SPEAKER: Sir. JERRY KELLY: Good evening, mayor, members of the city council. My name is Jerry Kelly. I live at 1200 Willow View Drive, apartment number 3308. I used to live on Opelika. Still do live in Opelika on Hill Flow Avenue. I had two acres of land and 2800 square feet. That's too much land and too much house for two 80-year-old people. I'm coming with a little bit of a different slant. I hear the residents speaking in terms of their concerns about the phenomenal growth and the magnitude of it. My concern as your former planning director and being in five different states over 48 years in different planning departments are concerned that, we need to be very cautious about how we structure our moratorium. People here have raised some very valid points. I think what the developer has indicated is some of his concerns. I remember one moratorium that I was involved in, and that was in Durham, North Carolina.

Of course, that had 80,000 people, and it was growing phenomenally. And so happened that a moratorium went into effect for six months. It really wasn't enough time. So I believe the merit of a one year, given probably what the staff has recommended to you in terms of their concerns and their needs, and how to meet them. And to go through the various committees, Planning Commission Board of Adjustment. A number of different things have to be reviewed, particularly from just the planning side, from zoning and subdivision. So my concern is that, I would like to see based on my experience, and with a larger city. Maybe not a moratorium of a full year. But move it down to nine months. Second of all, I think that I've seen pods that have done right. I've seen pods that have done wrong, that have had a combination of either some commercial and office development, as well as single-family residential. And I'm getting the sign to close it up, and I will. I appreciate your time. The only other comment that I would make is that I think 60 days is enough for the development community to get their act together to get something under that deadline. Thank you. SPEAKER: Any others? SPEAKER: (INAUDIBLE)

SPEAKER: This is not the topic I came here for tonight, but nonetheless, I want to say that personally, I'm not sure a moratorium is a good idea. What I would prefer to see is our existing planning board, our existing counselors, to scrutinize harder now what has been put on the plate for development. Ask questions. Maybe it's too much time involved. Maybe you need an assistant, but you need to really look at these projects hard and see how they will affect people. And I wish sometimes the planning department would say, no, it's not OK to put a big well building out here on Geneva Street. It's not OK to put an apartment downtown where you don't have enough parking as is. Say no now. And that means it's really up to your standard as counselors. How do these projects work? Who are they affecting? What danger are they creating, if any? Moratorium may or may not be a good idea, is what I'm saying. But we can kick in now. And look at these projects. And say, wait a minute. Thank you. AUDIENCE: (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: And in others.

SPEAKER: Having none, I declare this public hearing closed. SPEAKER: Agenda related public hearings, Mr Jones. MR JONES: OK. At this time, if you'd like to speak to the council about anything that is on tonight's agenda, please come to the podium to my left like we just did. State your name. Your address. Please keep it to three minutes or less. This is your time to shine, Mr Garner. MR GARNER: Yes, sir. ALAN GARNER: Did I say my name is Alan Garner? I live at 1304 Crawford Road. I'm concerned about the development that has been proposed at Crawford, the 1300 block of Crawford Road. I feel like it's going to cause more danger. And you've already heard my argument on the matter, the council has, that is. As an audience, I feel like they're going to overload that particular area, which is at the far end of Crawford Road, leaving out of town. I do not feel like anything should be done in the way of that size of project until that road has been improved substantially for safety. And I've already listed those safety items that I want you to be concerned about, council. I appreciate you all being here. I meant to say that earlier. And doing this job. But I'm still mystified by what the traffic study was. I asked questions of the state of Alabama, ALDOT, and the people who do that study, and they were reluctant to give me certain information. Who did the study, et cetera. Whenever there's secrecy, I get suspicious. And I don't think Mr Koppelman over here in the building department, where he oversights building of facilities, would agree that we could just let an owner of

a property decide who is going to do that traffic study. So, I want to know who did the traffic study. You should want to know who did that traffic study. And I'm also concerned about some other things, and that is the safety of children getting on and off buses. I'm looking at how we can improve things there. I believe we should almost have our own inspection of these situations, our own traffic studies, is what I was trying to say earlier. Now, I believe the PUD system that was mentioned earlier, that that has been abused. The idea was originally concepted in England, maybe, and it was meant for a village atmosphere. We're not getting a village atmosphere. We're getting a car wash and some monkey bars and some different-sized buildings, sure, some different-sized residences. Thank you. I have 27 seconds. I don't know what to say. Thank you, councillors. Thank you. I've said enough about the project. What can I say but the golden rule? SPEAKER: If no other, we'll move on. If we look at our consent agenda, does any council member wish to remove an item from the consent agenda and address it as part of our regular agenda?

Having none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? SPEAKER: So, moved. SPEAKER: Is there a second? SPEAKER: Second. SPEAKER: Call the roll, Ms Jones. JONES: Ms Holmes. HOLMES: Aye. JONES: Ms Watley. WATLEY: Aye. JONES: Mr Baines. BAINES: Aye. JONES: Mr Routt. ROUTT: Aye. JONES: Mr Allan ALLAN: Aye. JONES: All voted aye to approve the unanimous consent agenda. SPEAKER: Resolutions, Mr Treese. TREESE: Thank you, Mr President. Good evening. Our resolution tonight consists of approving the naming of the 6th Street Bridge after Lieutenant John T. Pruitt, Sr SPEAKER: Thank you. Is there a motion for approval? SPEAKER: So, moved. SPEAKER: Is there a second? SPEAKER: Second. SPEAKER: Any discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr Jones. JONES: Ms Holmes. HOLMES: Aye. JONES: Ms Watley. WATLEY: Aye. JONES: Mr Baines. BAINES: Aye. JONES: Mr Routt. ROUTT: Aye. JONES: Mr Allen. ALLAN: Aye. JONES: All voted aye to rename the 6th Street Bridge. Alright, family. (APPLAUSE) JONES: Y'all want to come down? Everybody want to come down? Let's all get in front of the sign, and then we'll have the mayor and president. We'll pull this off, so everybody can see it, and then we can take a picture with it and celebrate. Ms Carolyn... Do you want to let Ms Carolyn pull it off? SPEAKER: She'd get on when you're done. JONES: Absolutely. Alright, let's go. (BACKGROUND CONVERSATION)

SPEAKER: Before we pull the... Before we unveil the sign, I would like to read the resolution because I think it says a lot. Whereas John T. Pruitt Sr, born on March 18th. SPEAKER: We want you to hear this. SPEAKER: Whereas John T. Pruitt Sr, born on March 18th, 1933, the ninth and last child of Charlie and Hastie Pruitt, was a lifelong resident of Black Albina. Whereas in 1966, John T. Pruitt Sr was hired as an auxiliary police officer earning $2 an hour. On April 15th, 1967, he became the first black officer hired by the city of Opelika by Mayor T.K. Davis and Chief William J. Trussell. He retired at the rank of lieutenant after serving the city for 26 years and 8 months. Whereas, while John T. Pruitt Sr served with the Opelika Police Department, he was an instructor for pistol training and considered an expert marksman and sharpshooter, receiving over 500 awards and trophies. Whereas, John T. Pruitt Sr was a former member of the Alabama Combat League, where he was honoured with the governor's 20 awards for being included in the top cheers in the state of Alabama. Whereas John T. Pruitt Sr was an active member of the Pleasant Grove Missionary Church, where he served as a trustee and a layman, sang in the male choir and the men in black choir, and was chair of the builders of the grounds. Whereas John T. Pruitt Sr was appointed by the mayor of Opelika to serve on the Opelika Houses of the Board of

Commissions in 1994. Whereas John T. Pruitt Sr's easygoing manner and ability to communicate with people were assets not only in his job but also in his community. He received many certificates and plaques of appreciation for his willingness to serve the city of Opelika and its citizens. Whereas the Opelika City Council sees fit to honour John T. Pruitt Sr who made the lives of fellow Opelikians better and brought honour and respect to the community. Now therefore be it resolved, the City Council of the City of Opelika, as follows, that the Mayor and City Council recognise with great admiration and appreciation of achievements and contributions of John T. Pruitt Sr The 6th Street Bridge in Opelika is hereby named in memory of John T. Pruitt Sr as the John T. Pruitt Sr Memorial Bridge. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: And we also deem it very, very important as we celebrate Black History Month, this is an opportunity for us as a city to let the Pruitt family know how much we appreciate them lending their fathers, sisters, and brothers to us for all those years. For all that he has done. And we will let you know how much we appreciate it. You just come to the end over there. And maybe one of the siblings will come over here. And we're going to count to three, and then you will do the unveiling. OK?

SPEAKER: Pull the black sheet down. SPEAKER: One, two, three. (APPLAUSE) SPEAKER: Amen. SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: Well done. SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: Thank you. (BACKGROUND CHATTER)

SPEAKER: May I have your attention please? May I have your attention please? (BACKGROUND CHATTER) SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: Ordinances. Mr Treece. TREESE: Mr president, the first ordinance is To amend the Zoning Ordinance and map for 2001 Cunningham Drive, consisting of 5.1 acres from R-4 to a PUD. This is the second reading. SPEAKER: Is there a motion for approval? Is there a motion for approval? Is there a second?

Is there a second? SPEAKER: Second. TREESE: Call the roll Mr Jones. JONES: Miss Holmes. HOLMES: Aye. JONES: Mr Routt. ROUTT: Aye. JONES: Mr Allen. ALLAN: Aye. JONES: All voted aye. SPEAKER: Ordinance number two is to amend the zoning ordinance and map for the 1,300 block of Crawford Road, consisting of 73.3 acres from R1 to a PUD. This is a second reading and comes of course with a positive recommendation from the Plan Commission. SPEAKER: Is there a motion for approval? SPEAKER: So, moved. SPEAKER: Second. SPEAKER: Second. SPEAKER: Any discussion? SPEAKER: Discussion, Mr President. Is Mr David Green here? DAVID GREEN: Yes.

SPEAKER: Do you mind coming up here to the podium? I got a couple of things I want to say. Talking to numerous constituents in this area, especially the Crawford Road area, with it being an Alabama highway, and just with the amount of density and traffic that we have in that area, especially because we have a lot of logistical storage buildings. So, we have a lot of semi truck traffic. We have log truck traffic. We have rock trucks and everything. I appreciate you giving me a call and having the opportunity to talk with you. I know whenever we talked, an idea that I would like to have for areas for developments in this area are locations where at least we are protecting the students that are going to our schools. And I brought you up here because I wanted to make sure that I have it on public record. I would highly encourage finding a location on this, the front of this property. I talked to you about Creekstone subdivision that's on South Unaroyal. They have a designated bus stop for the kids that are going to school. This is specifically important for this area because a lot of these children are getting picked up at an early hour in the morning, anywhere from 630 to 7 o'clock. Standing on a road like that is incredibly dangerous, and especially with the amount of traffic that we have in that area. I also have constituents every single school year that always give me a call in the beginning because we've had several students that were almost hit by vehicles that don't stop for school buses. And just because the amount of traffic and density that we have on that road, I just, I would, again, it's not a a restriction

or anything like that. I would just strongly recommend that we do that for so that we can do every single thing that we can, especially in these rural areas, in these rural developments, to make sure that we're looking ahead and watching out for our school children because the last thing that we would ever want to need would something to happen, an injury or a death due to that. So, I want to thank you. Can you give us a little bit more information on the work that you've done for this? DAVID GREEN: Yeah, absolutely. I know the traffic study has come up several times and I'm fine to say that Dr. Dorsey is the one that completed the traffic study and that's nothing that I've tried to hide and I'm happy to share, if you guys haven't already seen it, I'm happy to share his findings as it relates to the traffic study and even correspondence that we've had with ALDOT. There's nothing that we're trying to hide and I have the same concern as you do. You and I have spoken on the phone and we want to create a safe development. We want to put turn lanes in. We want to provide a place for buses to be able to pull over. You and I previously spoken about bus stop. I'm in favour of that. I think it's a good idea and the overall scheme of the development, it's it's very important. You get a good return on your investment for that. You know, monetarily wise, it's not a huge investment, but you get a huge return on safety and so that's something I'm in favour of, and we'll do everything we can to get that installed. SPEAKER: Thank you. That's all I have, Mr President. SPEAKER: Any other discussion? Having none, call the roll, Mr Jones. JONES: Ms Holmes? HOLMES: Aye. JONES: Ms Watley? WATLEY: Aye. JONES: Mr Baines? BAINES: Aye. JONES: Mr Routt? ROUTT: Aye. JONES: Mr Allen? ALLAN: Aye. JONES: All voted aye. SPEAKER: The third ordinance is for first reading to approve

the purchase of real property from Stone Martin Builders LLC. SPEAKER: I would like a member of the council to introduce this ordinance for first reading. SPEAKER: My pleasure. SPEAKER: Thank you. SPEAKER: And the final ordinance for first reading is to impose a temporary moratorium on new residential and multiple occupancy projects. SPEAKER: I'd like to ask a member of the council to introduce the ordinance for first reading. SPEAKER: My pleasure. SPEAKER: Thank you so very much. Second roster of public comments, Mr Jones. JONES: (INAUDIBLE) SPEAKER: I am furious. Do you not understand that there are ten driveways in that area? There's going to be a confluence of traffic in that point. What do you not understand? Do you, Mr Tanaka? SPEAKER: (INAUDIBLE) ALAN GARNER: Mr Allen, do you not understand that? Ms Whiteley? Mr Beams? So, you're so desperate for development that you could disregard the safety of the public. I do not thank you. PATRICIA PATSY: Good evening. I'm Patricia Patsy

Jones, 1407 Harper Street, Opelika, Alabama 36801. First, thank you council for what you do and for my own intelligence. I wanted to make sure about the consent agenda because I have members here from the Relay for Life and I want to think that I'm smart enough to understand that, that when you voted for the consent agenda that these things were automatically approved. Thank you very much. SPEAKER: (INAUDIBLE) SPEAKER: As we continue, the character trait of the month is honoured, to regard with great respect. And now I will entertain a motion to adjourn. SPEAKER: Second. SPEAKER: Meeting adjourned. SPEAKER: Do you want to vote? SPEAKER: We don't have to. SPEAKER: OK, alright. I'm doing what you say.