Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening everybody. We'll go ahead and get started. Welcome. We got a good crowd tonight. Thank you all for being here. Uh we have with us um on the night that we'll read the um proclamation in honor of Black History Month, we have Reverend Ernest Stallings of Greater Zion Hill Baptist Church at 2020 2010 Village Parkway with us tonight. Come on up and lead us in the pledge and uh invocation please. Everybody please rise.

Yes sir. Let us bow heads. Our father God who art in heaven, the father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Lord, we are calling unto you just to say thank you Lord God. We thank you for our for our laying down last night and our early rising this morning. God, we thank you for this day because you have protected us all throughout of this day. We ask you, Lord God, to bless our city of Smyrna, bless our mayor, and bless our city officials. We ask you Lord uh to bless everyone here on tonight and our city. Lord God we do pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let all us join in together. I pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stand. One nations under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Amen.

Thank you for being with us, pastor. Appreciate it. We don't have any agenda changes this evening. Uh under the mayoral report, um I just have a couple of things. The first is on uh February 8th, coming up on Sunday, February 8th at 3 PM out at the site of the new First Baptist Church. They're going to do a ribbon cutting at three o'clock. Um I know they would invite anybody who would want to be there. That's right in between the reed house and the and the bank on Atlanta Road. And um please please join if you'd like to. They're going to be getting underway on their construction of their new facility. And then the only other thing uh I wanted to talk about was the new art installation that many of you all might have seen at the beginning the the front of the market village. If there was any question that we're the Jonquil city all you got to do is look when you come into our downtown and you got a 8 foot I guess with the base it's 10 foot uh Jonquil flower uh and it's it's great. We just cut the ribbon on that on Friday. Robert Harrison is here who helped shepherd that process through. Uh that's part that's kind of our marquee piece to what we call the Smyrna artery with art and capital letters and that's idea from Robert um that that has 50 plus art installations from Belmont to Bronner on Atlanta Road and this this will be a a marquee centerpiece where I would imagine people get their photograph taken and uh who knows maybe proposals and all these things for a long time. Uh so thank you for for that and I hope you all enjoy it. Uh we'll move on now to proclamations and presentations. Um and I should mention uh first Susan Wilkinson's unable to join us. Had a family commitment. And then Latonia Hines is joining us from Milan, Italy this evening. Latonia, can you hear us?

Yes, Mayor. And I hopefully you can hear me. We we can just speak loud and clear. and Latonia is going to read the proclamation uh for black history in recognition of black history month to from Milan, Italy tonight. Miss Hines,

thank you mayor. Thank you, mayor. Uh hopefully you can hear me. in recognition of Black History Month. Whereas each year during Black History Month, the city of Smyrna celebrates the history and culture of African-Americans, discovering stories of triumph, courage, and c creativity through lectures, discussions, exhibits, and educational events. And whereas the origin origins of Black History Month date back to 1915 when Dr. Carter G. Woodson founded the organization known today as the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. And whereas Dr. Woodson initiated Black History Week, February 12th, 1926. And for many years, the second week of February, chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, was celebrated by African-Americans in the United States. And whereas in 19 76 as part of the nation's bicesentennial black history week was expanded and established as black history month and is now celebrated all over North America. And whereas the contributions of African-Americans to the fabric of this country should be recognized and celebrated. In observation of Black History Month, the Smyrna Public Library and Museum will host a series of activities and the city in and the city in celebration of this year's theme 100 years of Black History Month observance will have its first ever taste of black history event. And whereas the continued efforts to historically preserve areas in the Rose Garden community and recognize significant African-American leaders who helped in the building of our city are examples of the city of the city of

Smyrna's continuing commitment to solidify the legacy of black history in the city of Smyrna. Now therefore, I, Derek Norton, mayor of the city of Smyrna, do hereby proclaim the month of February 2026 to be Black History Month. Thank you so much, Mayor, for allowing me to do this all the way from Milan, Italy. And tonight, we should have Lisa Castleberry, who is one of the community leaders of Rose Garden here, to be able to accept this proclamation. It's important that we continue to do the um upkeep of Rose Garden and the improvement and I'm happy to say that we are working on a a great program. Um mayor you can mention that more yourself uh for Rose Garden Park uh where a lot of the community events for Rose Garden is held and um the church in which uh Reverend Stallins uh who is from is also from the Rose Garden Davenport area. So, thank you. And please remember everyone, our Black History Month program will be on February 27th.

Talk a little bit about that program, Miss Hines. Yes. So, we we traditionally do a dinner program and what we're going to be doing is taste of black history. As we stated just a second ago, it's a hundred years of observance. And so what we're going to do is food is a very very important to the African-American culture and we're going to celebrate it with different food vendors from all around. Um and it'll be a little bit of friendly competition as well to see who has the best um uh in a sense food that speaks to the soul. So I'm excited about that. So hopefully people will turn out and taste some of the best food they probably have ever tasted.

Thank you, Miss Hines. What time is it in Milan, Italy right now? It is currently 10:08 a.m.

Oo. Well, thank you for for joining us. Miss Hines mentioned the improvements that are coming to Rose Garden Park and u they include a pavilion that a hundred people can be under seating and a new playground and new handicap accessibility there, new volleyball sand volleyball court and some other things. It's going to be a really awesome thing and I'm I'm real proud that um that this council is bringing that forward. Um anybody want to comment on anything on the park or anything about the Black History Month or anything before we get a photo and no? All right.

Why you doing that, Mr. Mayor? No, Lonia, I really appreciate you calling in and and uh um yeah, being part of being part of the process and and uh with Miss Castleberry here and her husband and such an important part of our community. So, we have some special special guests here in the front row. Um so, it's a wonderful uh wonderful recognition and start of a great month. I think it's only fitting that Miss Castleberry uh accept that proclamation, all she's done with the community for all the years and keeps Ma beautiful and everything else. Thank you all. Thank you so much for your service. Next on the mayoral report, we have a special recognition of Alphafi Alpha fraternity, the Omacron Mu Lambda chapter. We have several gentlemen from that chapter with us this evening and they do all kinds of good things in our community, including at Campbell High School. They were named alumni chapter of the year, Alphafi Alpha fraternity um at the Alpha Georgia District Association convention held on November 14th of last year. This honor reflects the chapter's outstanding leadership, strong community impact, and commitment to the mission of Alpha Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. standing out among alumni chapters across Georgia is a significant achievement and a d and a and a testament of the dedication of all of your members and I was visiting with these gentlemen before uh the meeting and hearing about some of the things that they do and the commitment that

they have not you have eight different chapters I think you said across metro Atlanta including based in Cobb County. Um so we're very pleased to have you here and have this recognition. Uh Mr. Oglesby did you want to add anything?

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, first of all, I want to congratulate you all and, uh, best wishes. We'll say best wishes for your South Regional Competition. I'm sure with the work you've done in this community that you should absolutely be considered, uh, for the award. Uh, also, thank you for commitment to service in general with our students here. Uh, to my understanding, you have about 60 students at Campbell High School alone. Uh, we need more of that from members of our community. So, we appreciate your leadership on that and your example. Uh, most importantly, as a fellow member of the CO panel at Council, I'm a little biased. I think you all would do well. So, bring it home. All right. Uh, and, uh, we'll we'll talk soon in the future about other things we can do to partner as a city with you all to bring more service to the community and to our young men. Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. Do any of you want to say anything? Mr. Mayor, Mr. Councilman, I would just like to thank you for this opportunity to be recognized by the city for the work we've done. This is our 40th anniversary of being chartered in county and we are using this opportunity to cate.

Thank you all very much. Next on our agenda is something that has been in the works for quite some time and a ton of public input um from this community shephered by MKSK um and Councilman Lindley and the committee many of whom are here and spent a lot of their time volunteering in this effort. This is a presentation of the Smyrna downtown Development Plan by MKSK who is the urban planning and design architecture firm who has done a fantastic job um with this process and and I think you all will like the high level concept that they have come up with based on the input that you've provided. So come on up.

Thank you. Uh good evening. Uh thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you council. Uh it is a pleasure to be with you all tonight and present uh this vision for the First Baptist Church uh site. Um for today, what I will do is I'll just uh talk a little bit about the planning process. Then uh you know give you an overview of the great engagement that we had throughout with the community. Then I'll go into the vision for the site. Um walk us through the different components of how we are reimagining uh this fantastic uh portion of downtown. And then as I share the site, I'll pause and I'll give you a fe some of the feedback that we received from the community when we shared this vision at the third public meeting. I'll also end with talking a little bit about implementation and about how to translate this vision, this concept into a real development project that you all can take following the adoption of this plan hopefully tonight. So, first a little bit about the process. We've been working um with city staff um with the community for the last year on this. We divided this into three phases of work. In the first phase, what we call initiate um we asked big questions of the community. What do you want from downtown? How do you see this site integrating with the rest of downtown? Uh what does it mean uh to redevelop? We talked with stakeholders. Um we mobilized our plan ambassadors. We held our first community meeting. Then as we moved to a second phase, we took all of this feedback and we developed alternatives. And those alternatives were different ways to reimagine the con the site uh and we tested those with the community at a second community meeting. Then we took all of that feedback and we went to a third phase of work where we synthesized it into one uh preferred concept that summarized everything we heard from the community but also what we um found through our own research with market conditions uh and then understanding mobility um implications. All of this is summarized in um very succinct 100page document that is

available on the project website right now. Uh it includes all of the visuals uh and the materials that I'll walk through us um tonight. Uh but it has accompanying narrative. It has an full implementation chapter and it has so much more information that you all can peruse as well and is available for the community as we take this plan forward. The plan is very graphic. Um, all of the graphics that I'll show have additional information in this report. It goes into greater detail on the types of things that I'll discuss at a higher level today. And I think one of the the main things about this plan and honestly one of the the the joys in working through this process has been the engagement process and the great reception that we've had from the community. We held three community meetings all at the community center. The first meeting alone had 250 people. We had about 200 at the second community meeting and 150 at the third community meeting. Uh we also had um a project website downtown Sarna redevelopment. Over the life of that website we had about 13,000 unique visitors who visited the website about 20,000 times. We also uh interviewed um roundts with stakeholders. We had about 70 stakeholders that we had 15 focus group meetings with. We did two online surveys uh which had about 3,200 almost 3,300 responses. The first survey alone had 2,000 responses. These are huge numbers for online engagement. Um and uh you know one of the my favorite parts of this process and we had 20 project ambassadors. Uh these are dedicated folks from the community who volunteered their time to go to community events, attend our public meetings, staff the sign-in sheets uh and really you know become champions for the process. Some of these folks are here today um as well um and it has been a real joy working with them as this process with the pro the help of ambassadors. We attended uh the taste of Smyrna and Jono festival and we had about uh 300 or so folks that

we chatted with. So about 17,000 voices engaged in about a year of work. So really fantastic things. Some of the engagement that I'll share today will be focused on the feedback we received at the third community meeting uh in mid November where we shared uh this vision for the site and we had folks tell us what they thought, what they like, what they didn't like. Uh and I'll share some of the results from this last meeting. So I'm going to start with talking a little bit about the vision for the site. So, as we all know, the First Baptist Church site, this is a fantastic redevelopment opportunity for the city. It's really a once- ina generational opportunity for you all to double the size of downtown. Very rarely does this type of contiguous land right next to your walkable core come up for redevelopment. And very few times do you have the opportunity to purchase this and then to shape how it continues to grow. As we think through the redevelopment, um, one of the things that drew us the most to the site was the historic chapel. As part of your purchase agreement, this chapel is to be preserved and reused uh, as a public use. We think the chapel is the heart of any future redevelopment. It has been part of the community for more than a hundred years and it is something that really uh, becomes the focus of any future redevelopment for the site. It's what brings it its authenticity and will really will ground it and help anchor this district. We think there's an opportunity to do an expansion to the site that still honors that historic architecture. I'll share a little bit about how that can be placed, but really showcase and open up the chapel from what is currently a hidden backside uh into a future green space. The other organizing element for this vision uh relies around connectivity. One of the things that people told us through this process is that they do not want to see an old downtown and a new downtown. They wanted everything to feel part of a single experience. And for that uh we are proposing what we're calling the

Jono mile but can really be shaped later after this process into any nomenclature. Uh the really the point here is a really high quality trail that is beyond a path. Uh it is a linear green that connects uh the market village, your village green um to the rest of the site. Uh and it is be something that can become more than a trail itself. Um you know, not unlike the belt line nearby, but you know, kind of similar to some of my favorite trail examples, a cultural trail and the Monon Greenway in Indiana where they use unique branding, lighting, uh wayfinding, uh you know, sculpture, public art, it all become comes together to become a destination in it of itself. We think there's a great opportunity to make this type of investment in the public realm in downtown to help connect the market village to the site. And the reason that this is important is because as we think through redevelopment of the site for us and for the community, it became uh crucial for this to be a vibrant, walkable extension of downtown. And we know as as urban planners um you know, as as folks involved in uh in redevelopment that that vibrancy really starts at the ground level. This is where we experience, you know, walkability. Uh, and this is where you all as a city have control. You know, you can set the stage with great streets, great open spaces, great squares, parks, and really set the tone for the redevelopment with your investments in place through the Jono Mile. What this select uh signifies to the development community is that you have a highquality public realm that needs to be matched with a high quality development. And that vibrancy doesn't end at the sidewalk. That really only sets the tone. However, the vibrancy is really crucial at the ground level. And this is where you can influence the future development. You want a well-designed ground level that has a great mix of uses, has good urban design, so you have something interesting to walk to that uh encourages meandering, and you have to work with a development community, have

a solid tenant mix that really brings in the types of businesses that one, the community told us that they like to see, but two, businesses that you all know will contribute to what's already here in your market village where you have great collection of long-standing businesses. And to make that happen, what happens above the ground level is really crucial. You know what the development that occurs there, whether it's residential, office, hospitality, you know, all of that can be influenced by you all, but will be shaped by the market and by the development market. And what happens there will allow for that ground level to occur in a way that you all want it in the way that the community told us that they'd like to see, which is more restaurants, more retail, and more local businesses. And we know that to get to this you have to have a little bit of market flexibility. Uh and that you know because people told us that they want certain things and they expect certain highquality things from this development especially after a process like this. You know we heard from the community the number one thing they'd like to see more restaurants more retail making downtown a destination bringing high quality dining more things to do downtown. How do you make this work? It really is by bringing residents and housing to the site to support some of that redevelopment. Make it feasible from a development perspective. Have an appropriate amount of parking and a well-connected downtown. Making sure that people can, you know, conveniently park here. It doesn't have to become a parking district, but it has to be convenient and easy and intuitive. And then to support the redevelopment, think through other complimentary uses like hospitality or office that will support those businesses um in you know in during lunchtime or during slower times when residential or visitors don't support it. And this is at the back of our head as we think through all of the designs. Um and some of the things that we use to organize how we think through the site um is what we call the our framework. uh and it's really how we

organize downtown and how we think through um how to place a re redevelopment vision. So just to orient folks to uh the graphic on the screen um the you have King Street um kind of moving north south and West Spring Street through your Market Village. On the upper left you see the community center and the library and then on the lower right you see the historic chapel. Um you know one of the key things here is the the key corridors that anchor and organize the downtown. really it's the investment on King Street and West Spring Street. These are your two main corridors and one of your key assets. You also have some of your great civic anchors um that organize some of your spaces and bring folks to the community. You've got your library, city hall, um you've got the historic chapel, and then of course the the businesses in the market village. You also have amazing green spaces that you've recently invested on that already serve a great purpose in bringing people downtown. your investments in the village green. Um you know your uh the great kind of tranquility of Memorial Cemetery uh some of the the green spaces that are scattered throughout downtown. All this comes together and is connected through what we're calling the Jono Mile which is the line that you see in in orange moving through downtown. We see the investment in the Jono Mayo something that goes uh through King Street through the heart of the redevelopment, goes up Memorial Place uh right by Memorial Cemetery and then goes through West Spring Street to the Market Village connecting the site to uh the Market Village and then goes up on uh King Street toward the Village Green and connects the pond and the arburetum back to the site. This is a connective tissue that will bring all of downtown together. So, the vision for the site is is a is a kind of a nexus of all of these ideas come together. It's a it's a mixeduse spine on King Street. Um, it's the idea of bringing the Jono Mile through downtown, anchoring redevelopment around the chapel uh

through a new chapel green that's connected to the historic chapel. All in all, the massing that you see here is conceptual. This is your a starting point for you all to engage with the development community. And what we're showing here represents a site redevelopment that will add about 350 new homes to downtown, about 8 to 12 businesses, a food hall with about 4 to six restaurants, and a hotel at the corner of church in Atlanta, near the corner of a church in Atlanta that has about 120 rooms. So, I know this is quite a a big graphic to start with. So, I'm going to break it down into some smaller areas and talk a little bit about what they mean. However, I know that one of the key things that you all want to know and the community told us about is housing. So, one of the things that you know when we talk about 350 new homes, I want to be very clear that this is a mix of forale residential and opportunities for for rent as well. So, we are showing massing that includes some town homes, some flats as well as some um multifamily apartments. And the reason for this is the development strength that you all have here in the region uh to attract some of these uses. You have really great uh comparable rents in the area that are supporting one-bedroom units for 1,800 uh two-bedroom units for 2100. You got really healthy housing ecosystem supporting um you know single family homes or town homes between 4 415 to 500,000. Uh so really um you know great comps that will signal to the development community there's a lot of opportunity. 350 homes might sound like quite a big number and the grand scheme of things as you look at pre other developments in Smyrna, it's actually quite um similar to other concepts of course at a at a density more suitable for downtown. The sink apartments at Jon that's to about 290 multifamily units and the Belmont development is about 274 multifamily units and then 215 single

family homes. So this is not an unprecedented amount of residential to add to downtown to Smyrna, but it is an significant investment in the downtown that will bring a lot of new activity. Like I said, all of this is centered around the historic chapel. The chapel in, you know, our own assessment in talking to the community, this is the heart of any future redevelopment. The way we envision redevelopment happening is really opening up the area around the chapel and then focusing redevelopment around a new uh chapel green uh that really highlights this historic structure, opens it up with a glassy or contemporary addition uh and really becomes more of a front lawn for the redevelopment. Brings them about an acre of green space. And then you can have things like mixeduse buildings with parking behind them. uh perhaps an event space um connected to a hotel. All of these things kind of centered around this new investment in green space. What that could look like um you know this can take a variety of different forms. Today if we're going down Church Street, you've got the frontage of the the 1962 portion of the building. You've got the monument sign. This is looking toward Atlanta Road. So, we've got a sidewalk um and really uh some good tree canopy, but a little bit of an uninspiring uh procession through downtown. As we think through how this can be re-imagined, you know, our vision for this area is really opening up this portion of downtown, making uh making it a down a southernmost gateway for your downtown. Uh honoring that historic architecture with a contemporary addition that really brings light and energy into the site. Perhaps things adding like things like a coffee shop or a visitor center or some sort of uh uh business that brings a little bit of life and activity to that green and then having redevelopment allow um to front that green to bring eyes on that on that space and have the

Jono mile kind of connect right through that green space as well. The other main element of the concept is King Street. So like I said, King Street is one of your key corridors for downtown. It is that north south corridor that really connects all of your Keith um assets, all of your, you know, your city hall, the library, the village green. It brings that all together. So, we see King Street as this really fantastic opportunity to make it a walkable, vibrant corridor, uh, and really, you know, support the businesses that are already on King Street and then bring that energy south toward the the the um the redevelopment site. things like a new food hall kind of facing King Street, mixeduse buildings on both sides of the street, the historic chapel with green space edition, uh, and then having the investment of the Jono Mile on King Street itself. And King Street today, uh, is a really great connector, but it's not living up to this opportunity. Uh, despite being one of the the the only north south corridors that are walkable through downtown, the walking experience on King Street is a little bit lacking today. you've got a good sidewalk, you've got some tree canopy, um but you don't have consistent sidewalks on both sides of the street. Um luckily in the image here, we're showing the First Baptist Church on the left and then the parking lot on the right. You control both sides of the street. So, this gives you a lot of leeway into how you influence development here and then what types of investment you can do. So, if we were to rethink King Street when the investment of the Jono Mile, you know, mixeduse um um retail on both sides of the street, what that can look like is a completely different corridor that really highlights more of what Smyrna can be. So, you know, a a really generous uh 12 to 15 foot path with landscaped edges on both sides of the street, really great tree canopies, of course, jonquilles because of course, and then great

signage, wayfinding, lighting, um you know, opportunities for businesses to front um kind of ground level retail, that great tenanting mix that we talked about, and then having balconies um and you know, residential on both sides of the street, creating eyes on the street and making a little bit more of an active corridor. So mixed use is great. You know, as a planner, of course, we appreciate that, but we also have to acknowledge that downtown is in the middle of a residential area and it's surrounded by residential. We heard a lot from the community that they wanted to make sure that any future redevelopment doesn't feel like an intrusion of multifamily or an intrusion of density in the surroundings. they wanted a blend that really gradually built up to the density. Uh so one of the things that we do in our concept is to show kind of that gradual um density um as we move into um sing the single family neighborhood surrounding downtown. So if you look at the the graphic you see some town homes or some flats facing Steven Street or Reed Street. uh a little bit of a a green space in between any multifamily and the the town home uh frontages and it's really to create that gradual uh blend into the existing residential uh character of the areas around downtown and really bring some of that neighborhood feel to that edge and bring it that highquality architecture. And I do want to be kind of very uh clear about the fact that people expect highquality architecture from this development. Um, this is a pivotal redevelopment for you all and as such it needs to look and feel like a highquality redevelopment. People told us that they'd like to see a balance of for sale and for rent housing like I mentioned something that does include apartments, but crucially the opportunity for town homes, condominiums, things that they the

community wants you all to work with the development uh uh you know developers later on in the process to figure out a good mix. But all in all, people told us that they are more comfortable with density, more comfortable with change if that the quality of architecture matches that of what is currently in downtown and kind of hits the moment for what downtown can be. So, I'm going to pause for a little bit and talk about what folks told us about this concept and then we'll talk a little bit more about connectivity and mobility. But in our third community meeting, we talked with 150 Smyrna residents and they gave us uh feedback on what they liked about the concept, how we can continue to change or improve it. And then we asked them uh to rank it from 1 to 10 on how closely it matched their vision for the site. What people liked about the concept, there was actually uh quite a bit. So people told us they liked the walkability of it, that they really enjoyed the Jono mile and the connectivity, the green spaces in particular. There's a lot of support for the plazas and open spaces. The concept that had a mix of uses, especially since it had retail and dining as a key element, people really enjoyed that. Um, people really liked the idea of a food hall or an event center. Um, the fact that there were a lot of different uses and there was not a singleuse development. Uh, and a ton of support for the chapel being the highlight of the redevelopment and the chapel edition. However, uh you know, with any type of redevelopment, you are going to have um some apprehension for change and there's going to be some challenges that you all will work with a development partner to overcome. People are somewhat uneasy with the density of residential, especially since this is a new addition to downtown. There's some concerns of how this addition can impact traffic. Um, you know, people are, you know, concerned that this will impact their ability to access downtown. People told us that they like to see more mixed use elements. Even if you have things like a

hotel, they'd like to continue to have ground level retail. And of course, people uh really like the green spaces and they would like to see more green spaces. Uh, and I have a little bit of uh to show on that here in a minute, too. And of course, parking and accessibility, the location of parking. These will continue to be concerns and things that you all have the power and the ability to negotiate with the development community to make sure these are welldesigned uh so they are complimentary to the downtown and don't overwhelm your transportation network. When we asked folks what they thought about the preferred concept on the ranking from 1 to 10, originally we asked this in our second public meeting when we had three concepts and those ranked about four, five out of 10. Um, we were really glad to see that the preferred concept rent uh significantly higher at seven out of 10, which is a really positive uh thing to see as part of a process like this. We also asked folks what they thought about King Street. People told us that they love the the walkability, the outdoor dining, the Jono Mile um on things that they'd like to see uh improved. They told us that they'd like to see more of what's already there. So, more bike parking, um you know, more space for outdoor popups or dining. And then there are still some concerns about how does this work during rush hour. And there are some design elements that you all can consider. But of course, King Street is not uh meant to be an arterial road. It's a kind of a low stress street to for walking and biking through your downtown. And connectivity is something that we'll continue to hear about. And you know, this is a conceptual um design, but this is something that we want to make sure, you know, as you all work with a developer to ensure that you continue to see the site as an extended an extension of your downtown and something that remains well connected. And you do this by creating internal streets, by creating alleys, by well placacing your parking so it has multiple access points and by continuing what is a great strength of your downtown which is the fact that it has

such a great interconnected street grid. Uh I mentioned green space a couple of of um slides ago and you know one of the things that you know people really liked about the concept was the green space and one of the key plays in connectivity is having a system of green spaces that connect folks from your market village down to the village green. The chapel green like I said is one acre but overall we're actually creating about two new acres of green space through the site redevelopment. Uh compared to the village green that's about three acres. you know, we're about twothirds there. Um, however, we're breaking it up into smaller pieces because these are smaller, more intimate greens. You already have the big event lawn that you can host your big events. You already have your landmark green space. The purpose of these green spaces is to create more intimate neighborhood moments, uh, places where you can work with a development community to have, you know, your development create great little courtyards, pocket parks, uh, neighborhood greens, things that feel special and unique. And all of this works together in what we think is an improvement to your downtown circulation both for um walking and for driving. So as you consider redevelopment, one of the the key strengths in your downtown is that it already has a connected street grid. You have streets that go through you um you know what you want to maintain is um a street grid where you don't put all of your inbound and outbound trips to one single road. So you don't want to have a superb block type of development and you funnel all your traffic to Atlanta road. You want to make sure you have internal streets and internal alleys that connect folks from your from Concord and Atlanta down to, you know, through your redevelopment and uh well placed uh through um to your parking structures. Parking, you know, as we see it has to be accessible from two different locations. Has to be visible but screened so it doesn't feel like you're just driving through a parking district.

I don't know about you all, but when I visit a great place, I don't really remember how easy it was to park. I remember how great the space was, but I do remember if it was really tough to park. There's a little bit of a balance. But the main element here in a mixeduse development is the fact that, you know, it's not encouraging you to drive, it's encouraging you to walk. And that's one of the the key drivers here in in our concept is the idea of the Jono mile. the fact that you're having a mix of uses. Uh, and all of this is to encourage folks if they're driving to drive and park once and then walk through your entire downtown. And you can do that if it's a good environment. You know, feasibly if you come in and visit the site, you could park in one of the parking garages here and it is a five-minute walk to the village green. Similarly, if you're parked northern on downtown, five minute walk. What doesn't encourage that walking is if you have a poor pedestrian experience where that's not an intuitive walk or if the walking experience is not great. If you do have a great uh mixeduse development, you can see that you know about 30% of anticipated trips can be non-motorized because you've got residents, you've got office visitors, you've got visitors from on the hotel. You know, all of those folks won't necessarily need to drive in uh to access some of these businesses as well. Lastly, I do want to talk about a couple of your key streets that you want to make sure you invest on. Um, one of which is Church Street. Uh, as an east west connector, um, toward Atlanta Road, you know, Church Street will, you know, see a lot of infield development with the site. Um, and it will also see potentially some stress in your transportation, especially as you get closer to the intersection with Atlanta Road. You want to consider some of this traffic and you want to continue to have a great walkable church street to take some of those elements on King Street that I mentioned and make sure they're incorporated along um Church Street so it continues to feel like a walkable road and not like a southern edge. You

don't want your downtown to end at Church Street. You want it to feel like it's a great connector. And lastly, um, from the very first meeting, people told us about not having an old downtown and a new downtown. The easiest way to feel like you have a dated an old portion portion of downtown is by not investing in some of your um more mature portions of your of the district. And that is really West Spring Street. You have a really great corridor with restaurants, businesses, and people who have been there uh quite a bit of time. you know, how do we make um the West Spring Street feel like it's better connected to the new investments on the south? And it's really uh there's an opportunity here to refresh the streetscape, bring a little bit more life. Um you know, our understanding is that some of the streetscape is actually toward the end of its lifespan. Uh so you'll have to uh invest in the streetscape soon regardless. And there is a real opportunity here to make it a more usable space both for events and for daily use. As we were chatting with folks as part of this process, they told us that it feels unsafe, especially with kids playing in the median. There's not enough space on the sidewalks. Um, you know, with cars moving through. There's a real opportunity to make it feel um like a better street and still have more safety. Um, our vision for West Spring Street narrows that median from 22 feet to 4 feet. you can still have a great landscape uh middle uh with some lighting and you know signage, some great landscaping and then you take that excess um you know distance and you apply it to both sides of the street and you expand the sidewalks on both sides and perhaps bring some of the character of the Jono mile through the heart of West Spring Street and make it feel connected uh to the investments happening elsewhere on the site. When we shared this with folks they really enjoyed uh this vision for West Spring Street. People told us that they like the idea of having more outdoor dining. Um, you know, revamping Market Village,

having wider sidewalks. Um, we did hear comments about pedestrianizing West Spring Street. Ultimately, um, you know, in our own expertise, uh, we think that actually will be detrimental to some of the operations on West Spring Street. You do have businesses that depend on road access on West Spring Street uh, for their servicing. There's no alleys there. Um so you know this solution really allows you to keep things like on street parking um outdoor dining and still have the street function for the businesses that are there. Folks told us that it very much matched the vision for the site about for the for the corridor about eight out of 10. So we heard quite a bit uh from the community through this process toward the end of the third phase. You know, some of the things that I want to leave you all with as we as you all move toward um you know, working with a development partner is one, retail and restaurants. That is crucial. We heard this over and over again. Folks really want to see that type of uses in in the redevelopment. Number two, housing and having a balance of housing. People really want you all to work with the development community to have uh for sale products and for rent products as a balance. Three, traffic and parking. That will continue to be a concern. Um, you know, that's something that you all can ensure is well designed uh so it doesn't overwhelm your transportation. And fourth, you know, people really want to see investments like the Jono Mayo and the green spaces as part of this. This is what brings life and character to the development so it doesn't feel like it's generic or could be anywhere in the metro area. This is something that will really make it feel like it's only here in Smyrna. So with all the inspiration, um I do have to leave you with a little bit of an action plan to bring the inspiration and make it a reality. So the last few uh pages in the plan are what we're calling the action plan. This is your implementation section. It is a little

drier than the rest of the plan. There's more words. Um but this is really important for us um and for you all to take this vision into make it a reality. So, one of the first things that we are recommending is for you all to work um with a development community to select a development partner. This can look uh in many ways. The way that we are recommending it is through an RFQ, an RFP process, a request for qualifications followed by a request for proposals. Uh this is a process where you issue an an RFQ to find uh qualified developers that have shown the experience and you know kind of that proven track record of doing this type of development. and then from a narrower list you issue a single RFP to those um short-listed um development partners to give you their vision for the site. We have been very forthright through this process that with the community that the development that one day will happen on the site will not look exactly like what's on these concepts. In fact, we expected you know the developer will come in with their own quals. They'll come in with their own vision. you know, your job as council, as city staff, is to align these two into a vision that fulfills those community priorities that we heard through this process. And these are incredibly important as you think through an RFQ and RFP. You want to make sure that these are incorporated into the scoring or how you pick and evaluate development partners. Uh and that's you know prioritizing local businesses providing a mix of businesses having high quality architect architecture and public facing facades having a mix of residential product types and different residential scales having a development that includes for sale and for rent products and then ensuring that a meaningful amount of green space feels open and welcoming. It's really important that you don't end up with things like interior courtyards that are only accessible for residents. You want to make sure that the design feels like you have all of these great little spaces that are to the public benefit of Smyrna residents and visitors to

downtown. And the action plan to accomplish all of these things uh has four parts. Uh I'll go through one each one at a time. The first one is to establish design and community expectations. These are the kind of the nerdy planning things that you all can do right away to help, you know, set the the tone for the redevelopment. things like updating your of urban design standards, adopting design guidelines for the site, aligning the site's zoning which is um you know representative of the development that used to be and not representative of the development that you want there to make sure that that is up todate and through it the process maintaining a transparent and open communication with the community because they you know you've built this plan and this vision on this foundation of engagement. You want to continue that and one of the ways to do that is through your advisory committee which we've met with four times and have been briefed throughout this process. Work with your pro your project champions. You know all of these folks will be really crucial to m ensuring that there's not just momentum but support for this plan moving forward. The second element is to advance your public realm and infrastructure readiness. So you know we we've shown you a conceptual alignment for the Jono mile. can, you know, work with design firms to confirm that alignment. Kind of refine your visions for King Street, West Spring Street, and the Chapel Green. Uh, identify some, you know, public realm improvements you can get to work right away. Kind of look at mobility and safety upgrades on your key corridors. I'm thinking, you know, intersections with Atlanta Road and then assess your utility and infrastructure to make sure that any future redevelopment, you know, will will you are well informed on the needs of any future redevelopment for the site. The last two implementation action items are really development focused. So first prepare that solicitation like I mentioned through the RFQ and RFP process. Before you do that and this is something that city staff is already doing. It's share that redevelopment vision. You are not in a

procurement process. You can openly talk to the development community and get feedback right away. In fact, they are calling uh as I am aware and they're even calling me in some instances to learn information. So you know use this to your benefit. You can also retain a real estate advisory firm to act as your representative and guide you through the solicitation process. And then you issue your RFQ, your RFP. And then you work um you know with your partners to select that development partner. And after you selected a development partner, you want to collaborate with that developer to turn that vision into long-term redevelopment. So first establish a clear partnership through anou coordinate, you know, the p the delivery of public realm elements that we've discussed. you know what should come first to uh faith for a phased in development. Um work with a developer to ensure the mix of housing types that you all want and expect and will be feasible for that developer. And then you know as you work through a development process you know think through what incentives what things you can do to support local businesses and community serving businesses to be part of the redevelopment mix. And lastly, longer term, define some of the responsibilities for maintenance, programming, and activation of your open spaces. You all know how expensive it can be to maintain uh your green spaces, your streets, your alleys to the level of care and quality that residents expect. You can work with a developer earlier on to understand what is your role as a city, what is their role as a developer in the ongoing maintenance of some of these spaces. Some of which might be public and some of which might be privately owned but operate in a public manner. All of this is organized in an implementation matrix. It sets out the recommendation, our suggested timeline for it between a short term which is less than a year, a medium-term one to three years and a longer term of three to five years. and then kind of a lead um the city department to lead some of these efforts and then partners within

the city to help support that effort. You see here um you know uh the implementation matrix for collaborating with a selected developer. It shows you know everything itemized including things like you know working uh to get retail tenanting strategies working with a developer to ensure a mix of housing you know things that are important to you all. So, with that, I would love to open it for discussion and thank you all uh for being such great partners through this process and with the community.

Thank you. You've done incredible work. We're we're so happy that you were that you were the one chosen to do this uh because it's been it's been a great process all the way and I think what we've come up with is something that the citizens can be proud of and and as kind of a like you said, it's going to change but a really good starting point for what's possible. uh expanding the downtown. Mr. Lley, anything you want to add?

Uh no, I know we've got uh got some folks here that have worked uh handinhand with the city, but uh a huge thank you to Louise. Uh your leadership is much appreciated. Uh and I think it has been uh crucial to guiding uh the public comment engagement to a concept here tonight that truly starts the starts the process. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Welch. Yeah, very quickly and you you really don't have to answer this question. You can get with Andrea and she can give me the feedback. But in the the RFP process,

RFQ, RFPI, how we go about that. We're going to be asking these groups to put together real detailed presentations, I'm assuming, with a a heavy cost. I mean, there may be 20, 30, $30,000 worth of preliminary work to go into this. Are we considering some type of reimbursement or or payment for this or and and you Andrew, you don't have to answer it right now if y'all don't have it, but um I'm just curious about that.

I'm happy to start the the answer, but that is one of the benefits of doing an RFQ and a process first and followed by an RFP. The RFP process like you said is a costly time consuming endeavor especially if you have um you know things that you want to see like their vision for the site. The benefit of doing the RFQ first is that they only have to prove that they have the experience, the qualifications and um you know that they are willing partners. So then you narrow it down. Uh ideally in an RFQ process you narrow it down to three to five developers. That way they're already invested and more willing to do that in time consuming and cost uh you know costly endeavor of putting an RFP together. There is significant interest uh in this process already. So it it is something that you you will expect to see uh you know quite a lot of development um engagement. Andrew, is there anything else you'd like to say?

Yes. So I he answered the question about the RFQRP and what the advantage of that is but to the point of significant interest um you know when we got a little news coverage on the third public meeting uh the phone's been ringing off the hook uh with interested parties and again right now you know the message to them is you know we've been meeting with them asking them you know what would they like to see in an RFQ RFP so they will respond in a way that we want them to respond but the number one thing I think folks have said so far is when they see the amount of public engagement and the amount of support uh that this plan has. That's what gets them excited. They've already passed one level of, you know, complication, so to speak, to know what the community really wants to see. and and that is one of the reasons that I u we recommend working with a real estate advisory firm to guide you through uh the RFP process and ensuring that you know you all are asking the right things and not asking things that are removing, you know, otherwise qualified developers. You know, of course, cities can do this without an owner's representative, real estate advisory firm. You all have incredibly talented staff that could do this in-house, but if you do want guidance, um, you know, there are experts there that will do, uh, developer outreach, um, you know, things that you are already doing. uh and then we'll help you kind of figure out what are the the the terms to include in an RFQ or an RFP because I agree with you. You don't want to create a a document or a process that's so honorous that you know you disencourage folks to participate in it.

The great thing like you mentioned we've got Andrea who's been through this in Sandy Springs and and is familiar so we'll follow her lead and and and get a good process going. remind us when the RFP is scheduled to or RFQ. When does that process begin? Because like you said, there's a lot of people calling and meeting with a lot of folks and having discussions. Once that goes out, those stop, right? So, when is that? I would recommend that we look at that sometime later this year, mid year. We've still got some work to do on the front end. Again, want to consider whether or not we want to hire um someone to be on our side, so to speak, in representing our interest. So, we've got further discussion before we want to open that up, but I would anticipate by the summer.

Any other questions or comments from council on this? Mr. Gold, just a uh thank you, Lewis, Louis, and uh and Andrew, of course, right, and and council member Lindley. um really appreciate your expertise, your guidance and as we talk think about going forward, right, knowing the value of somebody who's been through this process before, right, to to help us, Andrea has of course, but the process that I've seen to be successful in the city is when we've had some expertise involved in throughout the So this point has been highly valuable along with our community who's been engaged and uh some really talented folks on the committee too that uh lended their input. So, thank you very much.

Thank you. I appreciate it. And I would just like to state how fantastic city staff has been through this process. The engagement doesn't happen by itself. Uh Andrea and Jennifer have really done a fantastic job getting folks to the meeting and making sure people know that this process has been happening.

Thank you. I'm going to go off script a little bit. Um we are going to vote on this on our first uh action item of the night. We're still under the presentations and I know a lot of you have made an effort to be here tonight. If there is anybody in the audience who would like to speak on this or any have any thoughts on this development, I know we've had a ton of public input already, but if if you've got a thought that you'd like to share with us about it, um this would be the appropriate time. Or if you even think you want to come in and get sworn in by our city attorney, don't don't need to be sworn in. All right. Don't need to be sworn in. Okay, come on up. if you'll just state your name and address for the record for us and be glad to hear what you have to say. Good evening.

I'm Marie Smith from 1215 Bank Street and great proposal. It looks great. I'm really excited about it, but I'm hoping that the city would have learned our lesson on green um trees for what we'll be able to keep for this one because sales do not provide the shade that trees provide. So hopefully we'll look at keeping more of the trees for this development.

Good evening. Sean Murphy, 3282 Lee Street. Um really a kind of a question uh I don't think I heard it mentioned but uh is there a chance that we would look at breaking this into pieces or is it going to be considered all as one development done at one time? Just wondering what kind of thoughts have gone into with like two potentially multif family large pieces. Is there a chance we would separate this into two pieces or is it definitely going to be done as one? Andrea, you want to take that one? Yeah, I don't think we've determined that yet. Again, that's more discussion, more phasing. We've got some steps to go before we get there. Okay. Hey, what's up, guys? Mr. Mitchell.

Uh, my name is Mike Mitchell. I live at 1181 Church Street, and I actually was one of the plan ambassadors. Um, so I have been to all of these engagements and helped push the word about the survey, etc. And I just wanted to comment and thank Louise specifically for all of his hard work. It was really cool being part of that process. and coming to the first town hall meeting and we worked at action stations where people came and asked questions and got involved etc. and then coming to the second meeting and seeing that those thoughts had actually been put into work and they had been exercised and they had been thought through and they had been evaluated. Um, oftentimes in our culture, we government officials say, "We've talked to people and this is ultimately what was decided." In this case, it actually happened. The voices of Smyrna have been heard. Um, it it's going to be a headache. I live right off Church Street. It's going to be sure it's going to be a headache, but it's going to be an amazing opportunity for us to showcase what this little city can do. So, I just wanted to say thank you. I really really appreciate it and thank you specifically. It was great working with you.

Yes sir. Hi. I've been in this process from the very beginning. I just want to say this is a great opportunity for the city of Smyrna to make this place a destination and appreciate the hard work. He didn't say his name and address, but he's on the committee. I bet we can find it. Yeah. Thank you, sir.

Yeah. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. I appreciate y'all being here. This is obviously something that is so important to this community as evidenced by all the people who have come out um not only over the past several months but also this evening uh for this vote. So we'll we'll move on now then to um our first action item under community development items. This is item A, resolution 2026-00005, authorization for the approval to adopt the Smyrna downtown redevelopment plan 2026 and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. I'll turn this over to Mr. Lindley for a motion.

Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, it's sort of a a monumental night, I think, for for our great city is one of the first major steps to a new uh a new era and a new age. As we've said many times over the last several years, this was a unique opportunity to set the course for an enormous expansion of our downtown. And to that end, we have a a concept that will set the course, I believe, for the next 50 to 100 years. So, uh a moment truly uh for for history hopefully and hopefully developers will continue to call uh call Andrea and the team. um has been noted uh but I think it it is worth stating again as re is we move into the motion process but over the last year Smyrna has engaged uh quite frankly like it never has before with over 17,000 residents engaging in public comment. It is indeed historic and Smyrna's residents have spoken and their voices have been heard and the uh the plan uh and the concept reflect that. Uh and to to those of you uh in to here tonight that were part of the process, thank you. And uh a huge thank you to the 17,000 residents uh who who stepped up and were part of the process and really guided this effort. Um as with many recent projects, the concept reflects public engagement. And to uh thank you to Mike Mitchell, uh one of our ambassadors, he he hit it on the head. Uh this uh unlike any other project in uh recent Smyrna history really was driven solely by public engagement. Uh there were no parameters placed on it uh other than it would be redeveloped. Uh so to that end a a great concept has been derived directly by uh our residents and I think as a government uh I know I'm proud of it and I suspect all of uh all of the members

before you are. A huge thank you to Andrea Worthy uh and her team and to Jennifer Bennett uh for for their tireless work and to our entire city staff. Uh we as a city have much to be proud of with the outcome of this concept before us tonight and uh again I hope it is the the first of many big newsworthy items uh on this issue. Thank you to MKSK and their team. Uh it has been a great uh working partnership. Uh and a huge thanks to Luis Calvo. Uh I think he thinks his work here may be done, but uh we'll see about that. Uh Louise, your leadership has been much appreciated. Uh to the to the to the next two groups uh that I wanted to recognize, a huge thank you to the downtown redevelopment committee. Uh the committee has worked very hard, been very generous with their time and energy, revisited many cities uh throughout Metro Atlanta. Uh some there's some irony. Some of the cities uh at one point about 30 years copied Smyrna and now it's come full circle where we're going back to look at some of their successes. Uh so a lot of what we learned has been incorporated uh in the final concept. Um and I I would like to ask uh any members of the uh the committee if you would please rise and be recognized for your your work and uh effort and time. Thank you all. I also want to thank the ambassadors is uh Mike Mitchell and I see see a number of them out there. We had a a truly a ground swell of folks that wanted to be part of this process. uh and like with all other parts of it, wanted to incorporate them uh in those efforts and they really helped drive energy uh at all of our city functions. Uh and I know most of us were very pleasantly

surprised at the very first meeting to walk into our large gym and see it largely full uh with folks that were excited about what we were talking about. And with that, I would like any of our ambassadors to please please rise and be recognized as well. I know Mike Mitchell, Toby, I know. There you go. Thank you all. And again, Mr. Mayor, I am uh excited about the uh the opportunity. Uh Council Member Welch and I were commenting uh three to five years takes uh takes us well into the future. uh and then of course uh the finished product uh hopefully will uh be before the city and uh sort of stand the test of time. I think certainly uh it's going to be hard for anybody to argue we did not listen to the residents of Smyrna. So very proud uh of where we are tonight and at the appropriate time I will motion do pass.

Second. I think it's the appropriate time. We have a motion due pass second by Mr. Welch. All those in favor, please vote. Do we still have Miss Hines with us? Uh, yes. And I vote in the affirmative.

Voting in the affirmative. Now, now it's like getting on 2, three in the morning in Milan, Italy. Thank you, Miss Hines. And that passes unanimously. That is Thank you all again for being here for this. I was going back and forth with with Scott just a minute ago and uh getting a little bit nostalgic because uh you know we we we wanted to six, seven years ago when I spoke to so many of you all you wanted was more people downtown, more energy, more restaurants, more retail and uh and so we did the green space and that's been a huge success and a ton of people are down there every day. And then I got a phone call from Pastor Pennington who said, "Would you would you have lunch with me?" and we went had lunch in that back room of Atkins and he said, "You know, I think I think the church might be moving. Would y'all would y'all entertain uh talking about that?" And so in that back room of Atkins that you were in that room for many many of those for about 18 months, we talked about it and over just slowly uh worked on a deal and uh and the fact that we're here now uh with this plan in front of us is u it's it's pretty unbelievable. So I'm really excited what's ahead for our city. And um when we're talking about those discussions uh that those developers have been having with us, y'all wouldn't believe, I'm not going to say it publicly because then if it doesn't happen, well then you're going to come get me. But there are some really good restaurants that you all know uh that are um that are excited about the potential opportunity to come down to downtown Smyrna. And I'm excited about that, too. So, thank you all again for all of your hard work. And thank you, Mr. Lindley, for your dedication to this.

All right. And this is the part. This is the part say if you were here for the downtown, we got a little more business and you don't have to stay. And we're not going to think you're rude if you go back to your families. So, uh, thank you all for being here. And it doesn't look like there was a lot of people here for the rest of the agenda, but that's okay. That's all right. Yeah, Travis. Travis is even taking off with y'all. We'll give him a minute to come back.

I'll go ahead and start reading this because it'll take a minute for him to get back. Anyway, under formal business, we don't have any privilege, license, or show cause hearings tonight. Under formal business, item A uh is authorization for the approval of an agreement with Connect and Go uh out of Montreal attraction ticketing for an initial cost of $6,500 for deployment and training and an approximate yearly cost amount of $25,000 to be paid from parks athletic and aquatics for the splash pad and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. Miss Christian, is there any additional background? Jess, this is going to be the system that's going to streamline all the operations. Can y'all hear me? Is that better? Sorry, wasn't close enough. Sorry. This is going to be the software that's going to streamline all the operations for the splash pad and the future Talison pool and it's going to provide um inventory management and rentals and ticketing uh for both of those locations.

Any discussion or questions from council? One simple question is this set up for both installations. It's going to be um set up initially for the splash pad and then we're going to use what we learned from that to do the TS and pool. This is for the price right now is just for the splash pad.

Yes. And just as a reminder, the splash pad opens this spring and then the aquatics is May of next year. 27. Okay. Any discussion? Any more questions? Mr. Bickens. Anything? Good. All right. I'll entertain a motion. Move to pass by Mr. Lindley. Do I have a second by Mr. Oglesby? All those in favor, please vote. Miss Hines, how do you vote? I vote in the affirmative. Okay. From Milan, Italy. You know, we've had we got Milan, Italy, we've had Antarctica, and China. Uh

that these dedicated members have called in from all over the world. Did everybody vote? All right, that passes unanimous. I can't see that on my screen, but that's okay. All right. Item B, approval of the appointment of Ward 7 resident Walter Kolas to the Smyrna Planning and Zoning Commission to serve a two-year term through December 31st, 2027. This in W 7, Mr. Oglesby. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, really happy and sight to uh nominate Mr. Walter Kas. He's a well-known name in our community for work he does with our youth and youth sports and also other organizations within our school system. So, with that being said, I'd like to motion to pass. Have a motion. Do I have a second?

Second by Mr. Lindley. All those in favor, please vote.

Miss Hines, I vote in the affirmative.

And that's that's approved 6, right? Okay. Item C, authorization to approve Kendall Supply Incorporated in Atlanta to perform a three-year 2026 through 2028 AMI meter replacement project to be completed in phases. first phase on the project in an amount not to exceed $3,640,4715 to be paid from the water CIP fund and to amend the adopted fiscal year 2026 water cip fund budget to establish a new project in the amount of $2,900,000 titled AMI meter integration and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all documents. Miss Kristen, any background, please? Yes, this project is being requested to integrate AMI technology into the meters citywide. This technology will allow us to be able to read meters in the office versus having to drive around and radio read from the cars. As the mayor stated, this will be done in three phases with the first phase starting immediately upon the approval of this agenda item and then the next two phases will be part of the CIP plans for 27 and 28. Any comments or questions from council?

Okay. May I have a motion? Approve. Motion to approve by Mr. Welch. Second by Mr. Gould. All those in favor, please vote. Miss Hines. I vote in the affirmative. Miss Hines, I bet you're ready for this meeting to be over, aren't you? I I I I would kind of say that, but I'm here. I'm here. And that's approved. 6. We'll move to item D, approval of the proposed agreement with Croftton Associates Incorporated out of Kennesaw for architecture and engineering services for the 1088 Concord renovation project in an amount not to exceed $36,825. This is the Georgia Power Building. Uh, Miss Robinson, any background, please?

Yes. Um RFP 25-026 was awarded in September of last year and after that um award we went through a design process with several of the vendors approved under the agenda item for on call services. Um Croft is the one who um rose to the top during that process and we selected them and this agreement is going to assist the city with getting the contractor selected through the procurement process and assist the city with project management. Thank you, Miss Robinson. Any questions or comments for council? All right. May I entertain a motion? Motion do pass by Mr. Lindley, second by Mr. Pickkins. All those in favor, please vote. Miss Hines,

the affirmative.

Okay. And that's approved. 6. Item E, it's a bunch of budget amendments. uh authorization to amend the fiscal year 2026 adopted general fund budget to increase or reclassify the departmental expenditure budget line items of finance, IT, facilities, parks administration, parks athletics and aquatics, parks facilities, parks maintenance, police administration, and sanitation for a net amount of $431,682 and increase the general fund insurance premium tax revenue line item in the amount of $431,682. 2 authorization to amend the fiscal fiscal year 2026 adopted multiple grant fund budget to increase the revenue and expenditure budgets in the amount of $900,000 for a department of housing and urban development grant that was not included in the adopted budget. an authorization to amend the fiscal year 2026 adopted water and sewer fund budget to increase the revenue and expense budgets in the amount of $14,800 to cover costs associated with the technology and training costs with meter upgrades. Miss Robinson, any background, please.

That was a lot to say. I just wanted to hit on a couple of highlights. A lot of um the general fund transfers are related to just housekeeping items. Um but a couple of key things included in this amendment is funding for the artery um which was mentioned earlier and then uh funding uh for the a parks position for the splash pad and the future Talison pool development. Um to touch on the $900,000 for multiple grant that relates to uh work we're doing with the trust for public land down by the river to get a pedestrian bridge down there. And then the last item for water and sewer relates to the item we just talked about for the meter replacement and that's some technical services that we have to do related to that project.

I know there's a lot of great things in there, but the one that gets me most excited is the artery uh funding that's been a long time coming and that's the that's that central arts district that I mentioned earlier with the Jonqual. So um very good. Is there any comments or questions from council members? All right. I'll entertain a motion on item E. So move do pass and second by Mr. Gold or Ogles. Mr. Oglesby. Okay. Uh all those in favor, please vote. Miss Hines, how do you vote? I vote in the affirmative.

Okay, that's pass 6. Thank you. And item F is our last item under formal business, I believe. uh authorization to add a full-time position aquatics operations coordinator within the parks and recreation athletics and aquatics division. Mr. Robinson, I'm guessing this is for the splash pad and for the aquatics center. That is true. Any other background? That sums it up. All right. Any questions or comments from council? May I have a motion? Move approval by Mr. Pickkins. Second by Mr. Gould. All those in favor, please vote. Miss Hines, I've owned the affirmative.

Almost done. Miss Hines, what time is it there now? It's currently 2:18 in the morning. We appreciate your dedication tonight. That's approved. 6. All right. We'll move to the consent agenda. M. Robinson, can you please read the consent agenda for council approval?

Yes. Item A, MIN2026-013, approval of the January 8, 2026 committee of the whole meeting minutes. Item B, MIN2026-015 approval of the January 12th, 2026 pre-consil meeting minutes. Item C, MIN2026-017 approval of the January 12th, 2026 mayor and council meeting minutes. Item D, authorization 2026-011, authorization for the approval of city organized event dates associated with and associated street closures and approval for management of alcohol sales at spring junk festival, taste of Smyrna, and the crafts and drafts festival. Item E, authorization 2026-012, approval to use council chambers for Cretwood at Binding's annual HOA meeting, February 22nd, 2026 from 6:00 p. p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Item F, authorization 2026-013, approval of the settlement agreement resolving MBK Trucking versus Foundry Watkins Property LLC in the city of Smyrna, Cobb Superior Court case number 23109638 and authorize the mayor to sign all related documents.

Thank you, Miss Robbins. And do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved by Mr. Lindley, second by Mr. Pickkins. Everyone, please vote. Miss Hines. I vote in the affirmative. All right. Can we do a hand vote? All right. That's approved. 6. Thank you. We're now to the citizen citizen participation uh portion of the meeting. We had one person signed up to speak, Mike Mitchell, but he's already spoken and left. Um so we'll move on now to our ward and staff reports and start tonight with Mr. Glenn Pickkins. Thanks, Mayor. No report this evening. Mr. Lindley. Uh, no report. Mr. Welch,

no report. Mr. Gould's got something, I bet.

Always got something. Um, hey, two quick things. Uh, the Spurn Business Association lunch this Thursday features a well-known uh cop, longtime Cobb County resident, Miss Joyette Holmes, who you may know as the former chief magistrate judge of the county, also the former district attorney. and is currently the vice chair of the state board of pardons and paroles. So, come on out to the business association and catch up with uh with Joyette. Wonderful person. Finally, coach uh Nord, who coaches this Campbell Junior Spartans football team, wanted me to let you know two things. That registration opens this week for the football season. And third, they are going to go for a three repeat.

So, the third they're they wanted it in the sixth grade and seventh grade. and this year they hope to win it again in the eighth grade. So if you're interested go to uh campellspartans.com and sign up today. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Thank you Mr. Google. Mr. Ogensby.

Wow. Coach Nord man he's amazing. He started real real early this year. My son was on that last championship team this so yeah really proud of them. They're great team coaches. Uh thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh I want to say uh happy Black History Month. uh take some time to read about black history which is American history when you get opportunity only takes about five minutes out your day to learn something new about someone could be your neighbor. um want to personally uh congratulate the members of Alpha 5 fraternity here, our local chapter here in Cobb County and wish them the best of luck. And um thank you to all the citizens award 7 who came out to our town hall meeting this month. Um and those who could not make it, if you have questions or concerns or have some feedback you would like to share, reach out to me. I'll be willing to come by your neighborhood or or we can have a one-on-one. Last but not least, I want to personally thank the Smyrna Police Department and Smyrna EMTs for being there for me during my time. Uh, as everyone can see, I'm healing, doing a lot better, and every day I'm getting better. So, it's awesome. Glad to be here. Glad to be back in this seat. I yield back.

We got the best in the business on the first responder side of things. So, Miss Hines, anything to report from Milan, Italy? No, the Olympics at the end of the week. Yes. Um, but once again, Black History Month, uh, and our celebration. So, I hope people come out. It's going to be a great time. Have a great trip. Scott, anything? Miss Kristen? Is Heather? All right. There's no other business be brought before this body. I will say good night to you all from the Jonqual City.