City Council - Regular Meeting

I'm Barrett Alexander. I will be leading the meeting this evening. If you have any questions, please wait till we're finished speaking to raise your hand and be acknowledged. But we're going to go ahead and get the meeting started. These are a couple of our rules for the meeting. Please refrain from talking unless you are the speaker. Please be respectful. Please keep your questions and comments relevant to the topic of tonight's meeting. Please wait for the presenter to finish before asking your question and or stating your comment. And last but not least, follow-up comments will be emailed to planning at cityofsouthfultonga.gov. Here are some important dates to keep in mind. The Public Participation Plan Report is due on September 9, 2026. Our Planning Commission Hearing is due on September 16, 2026. Our mayor and city council, I'm sorry, it will be held on September 16th, 2026. Our mayor and council public hearing will be held on October 13th, 2026. And for the modifications, specifically the public participation plan will be due on August 25th and the mayor city council hearing will be held on September 8th. All right, the public participation plan report. As you can see right there on the right, there's Form E that you'd have to fill out after your meeting. All applicants for rezonings, special use, short-term rentals, and modifications are required to schedule at least one community meeting no more than five miles from the subject property with an audio-video recording of the meeting. Please include your hearing dates on your mailed invitation and the dates that I just repeated again, but the Public Participation Plan reports are due on September 9th. And that is, oh, for our rezonings and August 25th for modifications. Here's our calendar, our schedule for the upcoming meetings and reports that are due. We're in cycle nine if anybody needed to be reminded. And we're in cycle eight for modifications. All right, we're gonna go ahead and get started with our first case for the evening. We're gonna let you speak on your case and we'll allow everybody to ask questions after you're done presenting. This is Rhonda Hall with World Changers Church International, and they're requesting a rezoning from AG1 to C1, I mean to C2, excuse me, to operate a used automobile dealership on 0.4 acres. It is in Council District 5, and it is located at 5817 Old National Highway. We'll allow them to speak now.

Okay. Good afternoon. Um, like you mentioned, we're trying to operate as a used, um, automobile dealership, um, displaying about six to 10 vehicles at a time, um, with the average range of cost, um, anywhere between 5,000 to 15,000 offering cash prices as well as financing will be available. Um, We do have current financial partners now, which is Navy Federal, and we are in the process for Westlake Financing. But, yeah, that's what we're wanting to operate. That's the intent.

All right. Thank you.

We do have a mock-up. Do you have the mock-up picture? It might be. I do have it on my phone. I didn't realize I needed to bring it, but.

you like you could pass it around but we don't have anything but the site plan on here all right does anybody want to come up to the mic and address any concerns or questions they might have for the applicant state your name and you can go Excuse me, sir. Could you?

Yes. Are there going to be any changes to the existing building to make that amenable for commercial operations?

Yes, sir. That's the mock-up. Can I share that with you if you want to view this? Okay. I'm sorry.

I didn't bring the picture.

I apologize. So what you see there, um, the modifications include a 2,052 square foot concrete slab in their front. It includes the, you know, professional sign and the black fencing in the front as well as landscaping.

Okay.

All right. So you're going to use the existing one in grassy grass. How are you entering the building through the old national side?

Yes, so there's a driveway coming from the O'National side, and that's also there will be in the back a place where the parking would be for the customers. So pulling in would be where I would come in or the entrance for parking in the front, but then in the back would be the entrance for the customers to park. It actually won't even be an entrance. It's a fence there now, but that fence will come down, and they'll be able to park in the back. So it won't hold up traffic on the main highway from old national.

Okay. So the only lot that's being resurfaced, Mr. Mr. Venable could change the mic please. It's green is the only lot resurfacing going to be in the,

front where the customers park what is the surface going to be in that part yes so the only park the only displaying will be in the front where you see the um it should say displaying uh there in the front where you see the multiple um a lot of uh you know places for the parking in the front and then in the back is where the customers would park okay so what is that surface made of So that surface will not be concrete. That surface will probably be gravel. It's gravel now, but it will stay gravel in the back as of right now.

And I guess the last question will be for staff. How do regulations in the overlay address car dealerships?

I don't think there are any specific car dealership regulations in the overlay. Okay.

All right. That's all I have for now.

Am I able to ask... We can ask him back and forth? Sure. Because it is, you know, we want to be able to provide good quality business in the area. Is there anything that concerns you that I need to hear? Anything that you suggest that we need to... Because we don't want to, as you see the mock-up, we want to do something very professional, offering the community quality cars at a lower price in the area. So are there any... I would say suggestions or any concerns that you want to share.

It has just been longstanding throughout the city that automotive dealerships do not add value. If you look at these used dealerships, there always exist in urban areas on decline. You would look at Memorial Tribe and some others in there. It was the intent to raise the bar with all of our retail and commercial spaces along with our housing. And it's concerning that this would not be bring it on the other side of the fence that this would just be more of the same and not be, you know, appropriate, particularly for Carter. That's trying to move into a different direction.

All right. We're going to move on to our next case. Z2622-3470 Jonesboro Road. Ali Maman is requesting a rezoning from AG1 to MIX to construct a mixed-use development encompassing 30 multifamily residential units along with commercial and retail spaces on approximately 2.03 acres. It's in Council District 7. We have a representative here to speak on that case. All right. We don't have anybody here to speak on the case. So we're going to move forward with the next case. This case is Z2623. 952 Boat Rock Road, Benjamin Middlebrooks, T2K Properties LLC is requesting a rezoning from R6 to C1 to allow for office spaces to be rented by a small administrative base service. It is in Council District 1. Do we have a representative this evening? Yes, sir.

Benjamin Miller Brooks for T2K properties.

All right.

You can go ahead and present. Thank you, Mr. Alexander. Ms. Tomlinson, good to speak with you again. We are concerned that this particular project is not necessarily a time effective matter for the board. When we purchased this property, It was already C1 according to the records for Fulton County. It is a C1 zoning and it also is non-homestead. So therefore, according to all the way up to July 14th, according to the records at Fulton County, it is zoned C1 as a non-homestead. The use of the building at the time previously was a daycare, but it was not zoned for a daycare. It was zoned C1. So when we were given the information to change from a r6 to a c1 uh is determined through our attorneys at the closing that when t2k purchased the property they purchased it already as a c1 so our concern without siphoning the resources of time and that your time could be better invested with some of the major projects whether or not this particular matter should be better suited for a special staff review as opposed to a mayor council hearing and planning and commission hearing because the zoning, according to Fulton County, is already C1. We began this journey back in March, and we applied for a business license. And we were told at the time by an employee that's moved on that we were given the 56111 code for the use of the building. And we applied for the business license and were subsequently told that we had to get a building permit. We eventually met again after that with Ms. Henry and Mr. Williams on July the 8th, and we were told by Ms. Henry that we did not need a building permit to get the business license. So again, we went in with the 56111 code, which was for the administrative offices, which the classification of which the building is going to be used. the trajectory that we've been on since March has been going back and forth, back and forth to the point where we've done so many different things and trying to make sure that we were doing properly with what the city of South Fulton is acquiring. However, there seems to be an internal, uh, not necessarily coagulation of what actually is supposed to be done here in this particular matter. Um, We've done everything. However, again, when we first applied, the reason that the building was purchased in the beginning was the knowledge that it was a C1 zoning. That happened through the closing attorneys, title searches, as well as research of myself. And Fulton County's official documentation shows it as that. So what we solicit to you all today is... whether or not this particular address in this matter should be a staff review as opposed to a full-blown hearing because it already is C1. And there may be something between Fulton County and the City of South Fulton that needs to be done because not only has it been a loss of time, but a loss of money for T2K properties. Every time we speak with someone, we get a different trajectory of what direction we need to go in. Also, that being said, we believe that it's better suited for a special staff review to determine that this particular 56111 classification for administrative offices fits the C1. Now, we know the answer to that. The answer is yes. But whether or not this property and this project should even be a part of all of this, I think is Your time is better suited because I'm looking at a lot of the projects that you all are working on great stuff, but this is kindergarten stuff right here. And it probably is something that you all could handle in a staff review as opposed to. The all the different requirements that is necessary for. Planning and zoning mayor city council planning commissions. And we just thank you all for your consideration. Maybe this is something that you all can get together on and determine whether or not we can bypass all of that and just get directly straight to what we need to do, which is. Finish our building and start doing business there. We, we already zone for it. According to the county records any questions.

If you have any questions for the gentleman at this time, you can come up to the front and ask him what you like.

And it's Michael and I guess this would also be a question for staff. Assuming that it was an R6 zoning why did the request not go to office and institutional, since all he's doing is business offices? The applicant is probably correct. I'm looking in and see the signs there, but it's just a concern that we are overzoning or particularly overzoning properties that were not necessary since all the surrounding area around there appears to be all residential.

When you say overzoning, are you referring to the requested classification in this case?

Yes, assuming that, I guess you were thinking that it was going from R6 to something else, it would appear that an ONI zoning would have been more appropriate than a C1. Yeah, thank you for that question.

We allow applicants to determine which zoning district they want to request to be rezoned to. So I think that would be a question better suited for the applicant.

To answer your question, Miss Erica Oliver, Mr. Williams, and Miss Henry provided us with the information. So, when we began to do our due diligence before the property was purchased, we were told by Miss Oliver after going over the details that the business classification was 56111, which is administrative offices. And so taking that information along with what the closing attorneys provided with their title search. T2K properties purchased the building and here's a print out from that NAICS code that We don't know it has to be given to us by the city of South Fulton. So, to answer your question, all of the information that we were provided, including what to put on the application and what the classification is only should be was provided to us by the city of South Fulton. Obviously, we don't work for South Fulton, so we would not have known what these codes and classifications were. They were provided by the city. So we followed the city's instructions. And unfortunately, we found that there's some type of. challenges in which the syncopation of what's going on within the city has caused us to now be on a four, five, six-month journey that probably is something that could be done in one week. If the staff comes together and says, we've got a C1 building, it's already zoned commercial, they just want to do it as office suites, is it zoned commercial? Yes. Well, then Really shouldn't have to be going through it, but just answer your question all of the information on our application pages and everything that we have done to submit was provided to us by the departments. The business license division and planning is only for the seat of South. Thank you, sir. Howdy.

Hello, Adriana is my name.

Yes, ma'am.

I have a question about the office suites. How many suites do we anticipate having in this building and what's kind of the layout of it?

The number of suites is going to be a total of 10 suites. It's the owner here. And as far as the layout, we... We have provided a copy of the floor plan. Uh, I don't see it on the board. Oh, it's front porch on the front. You come on the inside and then you have like your reception areas and then you have the office suites that align on the backside of the building. And so it could be anything from a travel agency to, um, you know, tax accounting offices, things of that nature.

Okay. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Are there any more questions at this time? Did you have anything else you wanted to say, applicant?

Yes. Is there a Another procedure in which we can request a staff review, as opposed to a full zoning review in this situation, based on the trajectory that we've been on, and some of the syncopation of information. Because it is caused quite a bit of a hardship for the owner. And our concern is that as we're preparing for, we've already gone and gotten the public participation locations and. We got a list for mailings that were over 1,000 addresses. And at $4 a pop, you know, you do the math. So is there a procedure or some type of format that we can suggest that this be pulled from the full council and go into a staff review and allow the staff to make a determination of how we can approach this?

Thank you for that question. No, there is no other procedure. I believe you're now on the correct trajectory to get a rezoning.

All right, we're going to move on to our next case for this evening. I believe this is the last one we have today. Z-25, oh I'm sorry, I put it in wrong, Z-26-024, Medina Jet, TDS Capital 2 LLC, requests a rezoning from CUP to TR, that is community unit plan to townhome residential district to develop a residential community with 52 attached dwellings on 46 acres. Do we have a representative here to speak on that behalf? All right, you can come up and present your case.

I'm sorry. I figured this room's so small. I mean, I need full amplification. So a year and a half ago, we came before the council and sought to have this parcel rezoned from sub C to CUP. And at that time, we were planning to build 30 detached single family homes. As we got into the project and the difficulties surrounding the site and the topography, we realized that the site development costs were such that it couldn't easily be absorbed by just 30 small homes. And at the same time, we were having the public participation meetings where the residents were asking us to build something bigger, something nicer, something commensurate with the other homes in the neighborhood. So in keeping with all of that, we decided to pivot. And instead of building 30 single family homes, we are now looking to build 52 town homes And the reason for that is we already went through a year process of getting our land disturbance permit. We don't want to have to redo our site plan. And actually we've maximized the amount of buildable land anyway. And so what we're hoping to do is keep the same streets, the same layout, and instead of putting single family homes along those streets, we would put town homes, which are four town homes connected, And so each structure would have four town homes. And as you can see on the site plan, it's the exact same layout as we had before, except that we have a slightly higher density so we can have more lots. And those 52 lots are better able to absorb the $2.5 million site cost to develop the site. And so doing that, we were under the impression that because our zoning ordinance allowed us to have the CUP zoning, but one of the conditions was that we could build no more than 30 single family homes. We initially thought that we could request for a modification of that condition because the neighbor, the suburban neighborhood plan says that typically IT'S SINGLE FAMILY HOMES. IT DOESN'T SAY ABSOLUTELY ALL THE TIME. YOU CAN'T HAVE ANYTHING OTHER THAN A DETACHED SINGLE FAMILY HOME. WE THOUGHT THAT WE MIGHT BE GIVEN APPROVAL GIVEN THAT ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH WITH THIS PROCESS TO GET APPROVAL TO CHANGE IT TO 52 DETACHED, I MEAN, 52 ATTACHED TOWN HOMES. BUT GIVEN THAT THAT WAS NOT a viable option according to staff. We are now looking to rezone again this site from a CUP to a TR, which expressly does permit you to have town homes. But as the gentleman stated, we're also looking at a list of over 2,000 names at $4 a pop, plus a $4,000 zoning fee. And so we're asking for a TR, if the staff is absolutely certain that they will not consider as a staffing issue a modification of our zoning ordinance to allow us to build town homes in a suburban neighborhood classification.

Is that it? Are you finished? Yes, sir. All right. If anybody wants to come up and respond or have any concerns or questions they'd like to address the applicant with, you can come up at this time.

My name is Michael Venable. I was just concerned with that number where or might there be some type of amenity packages when we're talking about a clubhouse, not necessarily a pool or tennis court, but it seems like we're, we're adding the number here and not seeing any amenities for all of these residents to partake in, in that subdivision. So it was just wanting to get somebody to expound on any amenity packages that might be, you know, appropriate.

So my faux pas, and not mentioning the amenities, but even when we had the 30 homes, we had an amenity package. And so as you come into the development, we have a clubhouse with a parking lot. And behind the clubhouse, we will have a open grilling pavilion with grills and seating area. There will be a pickleball court, as well as a supersized fire pit for neighbors to congregate around, as well as walking trails, because we're not building on a majority of the acreage. And so we'll have walking trails around the community to really take in the nature element. And there's also a stream that runs through the community and we'll have benches and landscaping around the stream as well.

Does anyone else have any questions for the applicant?

All right.

I think that concludes that case. Does anybody else have any questions they'd like to address staff with?

So the question I posed in terms of a last plea of you guys taking this under review as a staff question, is that going to be answered?

Ask the question again, ma'am.

So my question was because suburban, the suburban neighborhood definition defines what can go in suburban neighborhood one as typically single family homes and because town homes are single family homes, but suburban neighborhood one contemplates that there can be some exceptions to that. There can be something other than a single family home because it says typically single family homes and because we are building single family homes, they're just, four of them are going to be attached. My thinking is we still fit within the CUP designation. We just need an exception to that condition in our zoning ordinance that says we have to build 30 homes. And that's just because that's what we asked for initially. but there is considerable cost as well as time associated with getting a whole new designation when we've already gone through that to get the CUP.

Because they are attached, they would probably be more suitable in the TR zoning designation. The CUP, you would be able to make your own regulations, but typically they're not attached homes in that zoning district. I guess we could talk to you more about it outside of the meeting about moving forward, but that's what I would have to say right now. I don't know if Anybody else on the staff has anything to say? That's how I look at it.

Can I pose one other question? And maybe you can just take it for thought and not answer right now. But when it says typically single-family homes in Suburban Neighborhood 1, what would you envision would be something that would fit that exception as to why you used the word typically, meaning not all the time? What would fit as an exception to that?

I'm really not sure. Yeah.

And like I said, you don't have to answer it now, but I was just wondering because it does use that word. It doesn't say all the time.

For sure. Thank you. Mr. Venable, you can come up if you have a question.

Oh, yes. Thank you again, sir, for the statement that we're on the proper trajectory for the rezoning. So the question would be to staff. If it's already zoned C1, what is a different trajectory? Because again, I received the fact that this is the process for rezoning. However, if it is not rezoning, what would be the trajectory suggested by the staff that we take if we're already C1 according to the records of the county and we're only changing the type of business that was in the building previously to the business that we're going to have? So is there a different trajectory that we should be going. In other words, to save our time and you guys' time, you got a lot of stuff you could be doing. Why would we be wasting your time with this trajectory if we don't have to do a rezoning?

Yeah, I would say that would be a question that would be better suited for the South Fulton legal department.

And I'm assuming that we can receive the information for the city attorney and we already have the city council's information. Where do we get that from? This is the attorney's information. I'll get that to you.

Thank you, sir. All right, Mr. Venable. I had a question on KC 26022. Since the applicant did not come, does that mean that his will be pushed back to the next cycle? Since he did not fulfill the informational meeting requirement.

That's correct. Czim is a required step in the process. So we'll reach out to them and see if they want to come in for the September meeting. Now, I will say that. It is possible that they have already scheduled their public participation meetings. I'm not sure. But if they have, it might be that we go ahead and allow them to maintain that public participation schedule and still come in for the September CZIM. So I say that to say that their public participation meeting Could possibly be held before the meeting in September. Not likely, but possible. So you want to keep an eye out for that. For that notice, and we'll and we'll post it on our website as well. We have a. A ZONING CALENDAR, NOT A CALENDAR, A MAP. THE ZONING PENDING ZONING CASES MAP. I DON'T THINK THAT'S WHAT WE CALL IT.

CASE LOCATOR.

ZONING CASE LOCATOR THAT SHOWS ALL THE TIMES AND LOCATIONS AND LINKS TO THE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION MEETINGS. AND SO KEEP AN EYE ON THAT, MAKE SURE YOU'RE FOLLOWING for that meeting in case it happens before the September CZIM. But they can't move forward in the process without completing this step.

If there's not any more questions for staff or any of the applicants, we're going to go ahead and conclude the meeting.

All right, thank you for everyone coming out as always will ask that our applicants stick around in case any members of the public want to ask you any questions offline about your projects. We appreciate it and we'll see you in the future.