Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening again. Welcome to the committee meeting of July 8th, 2006. The time now is 6.08. We are ready to begin with the roll call. Chairman George Turner is here. Mayor Flo Temp, Tyra Graves is not here. Mayor Jasmine Carmel, ex officio, is not present. Council member Alicia Washington.

Here.

Council member Karnesha Smith.

Present.

And the City Manager Ex Officio, Ms. Kathy Turner. First thing on the agenda, or the second thing on the agenda. Ah, there she is. City Manager Kathy Turner. good activism yeah okay thank you um you should have a copy of the agenda and on that agenda you should have an item added Oh, because there was an agenda that went out earlier. It did not have it on it. So the one you should be looking at now has H already added. And I think we need to consider that in the approval. Anything else to add to the agenda? Modifying the agenda.

Um, chair.

Um, I must not have the agenda for today.

Yep.

H I do see. Thank you.

Any need for correction? And now I entertain a motion to approve the agenda with H added to the official agenda.

Councilwoman Turner? I want to approve the agenda for tips for July the 8th. Second.

Second. The agenda for July 8th, 2026. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, say aye. Opposed, dismayed.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. Motion carries 3-0. The agenda is approved. We should also have a copy of the minutes. We're on the 13th and the 6th meeting. And I think we have time to look it over. Any corrections, comments? There's a hard copy in front of me. Yeah, we killed some trees. Any comments, questions about the minutes? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion for approval.

Councilman Turner? Chair, I would like to make a motion to approve the minutes for our previous tips committee meeting on May the 13th, 2026.

Second. Second to approve the minutes of May 13, 2016. Are you ready for questions? All those in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Opposed, nay. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, nay. Aye. Aye for approval. Motion carries 3-0 for approval of the minutes to May 15. Thank you very much. Next item on the agenda is the public comments. The overall limit on public comments is 20 minutes, limited to two minutes per speaker. We can only speak once in public comments. Public comments are restricted to topics regarding the TIF committee. At this time, is there anyone wishing to make public comments? and we're wishing to make public comments. Here now we move on to item five. That is the outline of the agenda item for this evening. First item is capital project status update for Salem Park and Sarangin Park. We've had it before, but it's a matter of staying up to date as to where we stand. Harry, are you going to be ready to go over here?

most of the items in that item five. And the first item is capital projects for Salem Park and Fenton Park. First one is at the Salem Park. The park monuments, we have demoed the existing monument at Salem Park on July 7th and the construction starts next week. Expected completion is in July 2026. It's going to be a quick two weeks of construction, but they'll be constructing the base and then the columns and then the sign is already manufactured that is in Concord, North Carolina. And then they will be moving once they have the base, strong base in the columns, they will bring it here and store it. So it will be a quick turnaround. They moved that on yesterday and then they are doing the hydro, they're using the hydro power to locate the depth. And that'll start construction. And the second project at Salem is the sewer line extension. We have a very big meeting on April 21st for that. And that is... Are we working? Okay, good. I'm sorry. That is combined with the restroom construction. And we held the three construction meetings on April 21st. preliminary design is complete. uh design is being reviewed uh next step is going to be coming in and uh look at that design i'm going to pass it until we hear it to the city manager and uh you can understand it and do that with us let me know i made only one i didn't want uh one too many three so i made only one one plan for that and then why um you know that you passed through there yesterday uh taking pictures at the location um and um we're talking to georgia power trying to use the gazebo underground power cables to police and uh the next one is instruction pad is already installed there doing your power direction on the board for um for the power it's complete that you can see those drawings they were popping off next to that and the materials that they would uh yesterday we had some snafu and trying to get that in there and the city manager helped me to get that sorted out and then we had the materials wrapped uh inside the and we're expecting the completion end of August 2026. Actually, that is a generous statement. We're hoping that it can happen really before that. Before that, the construction and then the building will be energized, the building, during that time. there's any unexpected delays or anything that will be . And then the train construction, For Salem Park, we have big documents ready to go. We have to work out some funding moments there, and then we'll be working with the city manager and finance director here that I'm about before we release those ITBs. This ITB for Salem Park trade is combined with Farrington Park trade also, so there'll be one ITB current work. and that is the salem park and perrington park active projects that they are the monument same thing that they more completed yesterday and uh in fact we saved the signs of both of them we threw away the columbia thing we have we have all those signs and we're storing it in case we can use it in other places let me take a long shot um

it just went in and i think it came out the right way when you said you were combining salem and barrett park contract not combining salem and parents but but but but but you have a sidewalk does it by chance reach to the sidewalk near Big Miller Grove, because if it does, basically you could connect the two parks. And there are those who had asked for connectivity and the ability to get from one park to another park or from one subdivision to a park that might not be within the subdivision itself and having that connectivity. So I know there are those who have put the footpath that cuts through the back of Salem going over to the church that leads over to the grocery store. So there's almost a connection between there and the sidewalk from Panola that goes all the way up to Farrington. So I'm just curious, when you look at it, look at the map again to see if that connectivity is there intentionally or unintentionally, that you can connect the two parts to.

It's coming up in the slides later. Just tell me, I'm jumping ahead. He's warming it up so we can bring it back. I have sidewalk layers open here too. I can go over that. And then it is again, it's a couple of weeks of construction and the end of July is the deadline for that. Gazebo same status, they delivered the materials wrapped up, sitting there in Farrington Park. And then they're coming back next week and expected completion in August. They have also ran the bridge of power from the site road under those areas and we have that operating. and then both locations will have a separate transformer for powering you know green boxes for power and then in the future we have to use those transformers we can you know use power from there so both will have power yes and then the parking lot paving for Farrington Park it was needed yesterday and then it will be paved today tomorrow Farrington Park Good timing. So one good news there is that I was expecting it was massive from there. The good news is that 85, 90% of the parking lot is in Dixie, once a million. So there will be a limited amount of catching we do at the back of it. There was an area where I thought there was no payment, but there was a payment under the third. So that's a good thing.

You're doing, there are two parking lots.

I'm talking about the upper area parking lot.

Upper area parking lot. And you're not going to pay the low area parking lot.

Yes, that's in the next slide. The other one is the low-level parking design, including the basketball court. Design is completed, permitting underway now. Two permits we are doing is, one is with DeKalb County to extend the sewer line from the apartments across the parking for the future restaurant there. And the second permitting is with Georgia Southern Border District because of the moderate disturbance. that's that and uh holding place uh surface area for the older children's play area is the next project and we have the bits we received it and then um we're hoping that we'll come to the council um for a pool uh soon and uh we just completed two projects i just listed listed there at the bottom and the outdoor exercise equipment we spent 42 000 plus for that and in the last project we've completed the children's play equipment those two looking really shiny and colorful there we have the strong press colors and more colors in those two areas and those people are using them and then that's the item a uh in our agenda and the second is um

Wait, wait, wait, wait, let's not jump ahead.

I have a question. For Mr. Chair, for the play area, you said the bids were received. Do we have a date or a timeline as it relates to selecting

There was a date. I will, you know, there was a date, but I'm going to have to confirm that with Ms. Franklin.

All right. So if we can get, this is good that vids were received, but what's next? If we can get some dates surrounding what's next, that would be wonderful. And we're looking to have this completed when?

uh you're going to come to the folding place um all in place with surface case too it takes just two days so the first day um just like the other one they'll come and um remove those boundaries that plastic border and then uh scoop up all the wood chips there and grade it that takes one day okay and then you'll come back and then the next day they put the rock and come back to the next day they come in for the whole thing maximum three days because they did the new area within three days so again construction is three days and the procurement process of full bid it takes about a year i will get the date hopefully it is going to be the council council meeting in july but i'll confirm that with finance right now

Okay. And the children's playground, what's our anticipated completion date for the playground period?

You're talking about at the bottom? That's completed. The bottom one is completed. That was being used. That just completed last month.

Oh, so maybe I'm not understanding the poured-in-place. What's the poured-in-place, sir?

That is for the older. So there are two play areas. One is old and the one we just built. Right. The older play area, right now, we have hoochies there.

Got it.

OK. And we're going to remove that. And just like the new one, we're going to have that rubberized material. And by the way, that is a recycled grant, one involving that. Okay, this is the old playground. Got it. Yes.

So you said a year? This will take up to a year for the dates?

I mean, it is, you know, fitting it out.

This will be another year before?

No, no matter. It's ready, ready to go. When it comes to the council, council of food, we'll get it done. So all this, we went through that process already.

Okay. These are in, so we're just waiting for the selection.

We have a selected vendor that we just have to present that to the council.

oh so the only thing we the next step is to approve this okay well all right director franklin i see you're on next step is to approve let's let's make it happen yes i have that noted thank you if there's no questions i'll move on to the b

This is the 2026 ELARI application brand code list. So it's a $778,000 grant. The application is due on 6-15, but we completed the application on 4-20. And the street segments that we included in that application is North Carter Road from Klondike Road to 3977 North Coral Road. That is close to that shooting uh range area that's the uh that's the worst section uh rated uh poor so we are doing that so all the way from klondike to the range okay that's a pretty good that's the worst one and the other section is the fetish right and the next one is uh in uh district one triple street uh there are some um very poor to poor sections in that And that is from Latonia to the city limits of Latonia and Stonecrest. And then the Rock Springs Road from Ottawa Trail to 2587 East of Wood Crossing. So this will actually join pretty much the area where the new subdivision is. So that's going to take care of it. That's in batch AP. all that out of 20 traffic i used to cut through them some of this field cutting okay i think i know where the other section um on the east of that new substitution entrance that is repeated this in this cycle now so it happens in the road it's not quite famous in the road but most of that area is there okay but um we are going to be um it was scheduled to be paid uh earlier but we pushed it to the last uh we're going to use all the remaining quantities into that and stretch it right straight all the way there that's fine okay any questions uh And the next item is the review of transportation master plan. You know, this is, I did not put a whole lot of information in the PowerPoint. Mr. McCoy has done a summary, a two-page summary here. And also we have the tourist transportation master plan. I don't think that is, how many days is it? It is, most of it is there.

yeah let me just say that before we start there was some suggestion about projects we should take on msu uh without having looked at transportation plan and that was put in place how long ago since the city has been in the city but i think the first year of the city being incorporated september 2020. But my point is that we probably spent about a year on it, working on the transportation master plan. We also spent a considerable amount of time working on the parks master plan. And both of them were rather extensive. And that's where a lot of the projects that we're working on now came from. They all probably should have come from there, but you could say most of them emanated from those two master plans. And they should be in concert with the 2038 comprehensive plan. So my point is that, particularly to the newbies, that these plans are out there, and they are rather expensive. But when you look at them, you'll find that a lot of what we're dealing with now has already been addressed and just has not been executed. And when it comes to addressing it, that's one thing. It's kind of like a wish list. And you've got to find a way to pay for it. They can come to fruition. So that's what we're currently dealing with. So before we reinvent the wheel on some things that need to be dealt with, we might want to take a look at what has already been proposed through these master plans. And the transportation, when I ask them to print the introduction, and the introduction is quite long. I think that might be all you have there. That's how in depth it is. So it makes for a good reading late at night. But the things that we talked about, have been touched upon and some of them have gone away i happen to notice that there's a dog park at barrington in one of the plans and i and i didn't get a chance to go back to all of it there may well be some others so just to point that out that before we reinvent the wheel we got a couple of wheels lying around on the shelf that we need to dust off and keep up with i know harry works from it a lot

so just to give you another um nugget here we did another plan with two plants actually after this um it's called bicycle pedestal and trade plan and uh all these projects were incorporated in that plan um i'm just trying to exit out of this and show you something else here

but you look on the um website where you got all the important documents i think it's under documents the charter the old charter the sb 21 and the new charter and then it comes in the comprehensive plan the master transformation plan and the best part master plan so um it's there for a reason and we need to even use it are updated because some things that are in there we talked about the mob station is going to be over by the mall and the stations in between is that going to happen right but it's in the plan so that's important to know the things that are there that can still come about or some things that are there that probably need to be taken out and update just trying to make sure that the new beans were brought in today i know you're drinking out of the old proverbial fire hole but turn it up another night thank you mr chairman that's what i have on the screen is basically all those projects in the transportation master plan will basically

exported or imported into the vice of the pedestrian plan and this map is showing what we have is here these purple things are all existing sidewalks and trails in city of stormcrest you can see the trails here and then you can see the sidewalks here And then the bicycle pedestrian plan has three types of projects. One of them is one of the point projects. The second one is lane projects. The third one is the transit stop projects. So I'm going to turn off some of these and you can see what we're talking about. So the first one is the lane projects. So I'm going to go back and forth to show you. These are the that land projects that was recommended in conservation master plan and the vice president plan. So these land projects, some of them are trays, most of them are sidewalks. So the sidewalks that I presented in the retreat, those gap sidewalks are coming from this map here. And then each and every line is assigned that number. And that's how it is. And then these projects here, we turn off the line projects. And then these are point projects. That means these are pointing some of these intersection improvements like cron dyke and hidden quarry. We have those projects actually here from this one. So you can see this intersection, there's a dock there. So that project is the one we took and we just completed the design on it. And then you can go here and see this project here at the point here um you know each project has a dot and then i'm going to turn off the point projects and then the next category is transitive start on points you can see some of those popping out those are the three points and with the existing sidewalk inventory so all those projects are back back here so it started at um transportation master plan and over the moment the bicycle pedestrian trail plan and then it's met we have that information uh in our gis and it's interactive we can access it if we're so inclined and so that is the transportation master plan so these were categorized three short-term projects we have almost completed all of them except maybe one or two that we give you some other reason we could do it but we completed it and then the midterm and long-term project the long-term projects are larger projects each projects are several million dollars and uh you know it's 40 30 million dollar projects so that's the long-term projects and the small projects are you know around $50,000 to $200,000 to $300,000 and then we took a bite at most of those parties and then completed. And so that is the transportation master plan and the park master plan. Mr. McCoy has put together this one here summary and then there are food copies of the parks master plan also here. And just to give you a little synopsis on this, the Park Master Plan was adopted in October of 2020. I think Mr Turner was in that sitting council member at that time when it was done. And then you can see these, if you look at it, the parks. specific projects are listed in those pages there and each of them and the recommendations that section five is a recommendation that is starting on page one or three and then we have that um and again what you have is not the complete plan that's the introduction complete plan the apprentices you know the public meeting and then all those things are not

meet this uh in this uh framework okay it's one of three yeah it's not you don't have that it's in the website yeah i don't i don't need any paper i can i'll go to the website i looked at it i glanced at it i have not looked in detail already but um i know how to find it

it's uh it's on the parks uh page parks and recreation page at the bottom right uh corner of the website and that is the item we talked about there's been no other questions i mean go to e such as the 2020 seven capital project for the uh budget so these are some of the um you know the idea to take direction from the committee or suggesting for next year um we have not um really do go into the sidewalk construction uh in the first uh several years of city's existence because we focused on the free resurfacing name because uh you know that was not by choice it was you know we have to be better also in batches that's the reason we decided uh particularly The thoroughfare and collector was in Bradstreet and that was the first project we took over from 2018, 19, 20. In 22, we went into residential. We spent $12 million in the residential streets in 2022. In 23, 24, 25, 26, we continued to do residential streets and when we added some some collector's fees, like the section of here in Aquarius, and this area here in Roxbury, and things like that. Hopefully, the council will allocate the same amount of money that allocated last year, $300, in 2007. And then the other projects are, there are four or five sidewalks being, we just, put out the RFP for design. And I discussed that in previous meetings. And the RFP is out there on the street now, on the website. And what we are recommending or suggesting is to fund the construction of those sidewalks, and then also fund some additional money. There was several funding happened in the past years, and we haven't. all of them and i'm working with miss franklin to basically move for those money in the current because and previously when the the end that we we did not make the money said we are working with this frankly to get them moved so that we have some funding from the previous years we can use in 27 to uh gap field sidewalks there are several gaps in sidewalks um i i presented us a retreat and uh we wanted to build those also and also we want to continue to build these uh capital sidewalks and these are quick and easy they have some sidewalks and uh you know we can because you know one of the council town hall meeting um there were two or three people came and asked about sidewalks so i think we need to seriously focus on sidewalk compression um you know every time we go out i see people walking on the grass so today i still want to do a walk on the grass i think we have to prioritize those uh sidewalks um because you know it's dangerous for people to be walking And that's my suggestion to fund those things. We can keep on doing these small sections.

And most of the funding comes out of loss. And how much are we collecting per year now roughly? It's about $10,000.

It started about $8,000 and now people are buying stuff now. methodically set the priorities as to what we want to get done first and then two other projects i'm suggesting recommending is the council approved three intersection projects and one extension of head inquiry into robert county you know two projects have some serious safety implications And also one of them is coming around a million dollars, plus around a million range. And there is a comeback in South Carolina road construction. The design is complete now. You know, that red light has been there for, I don't know, maybe it's there. And there's a school. involved in that. And then particularly in the morning, the people coming out of the school, you know, they don't get respected by the people who are going on quarantine. So we need to do something there.

Which one from the start?

The red flashing lights. So we'll come out of the red flashing lights. School, high school. And they have to line up because people are going to work up and down. And taking kids to school too. So compared to the other two intersections, you know, I'm suggesting that it was made easier than the other two. I hope for that one as well. And there's a snow right away more than that, not a whole lot right away. That was one of the corners. That's something I'm recommending council consider funding that because of the amount, the larger projects, I don't think we can fund a million local projects. And also I have this, the next project is, this is just a, in the first shot of the picture. I had the plant review meeting this morning from 930 to 1030. I'm going to pass this. This is 230 pages. Again, I didn't want to run all the trees out of here.

And this is the one to align paid inquiry. Instead of going this way and that way, it's going to be a straight and turn a hill. That's important too, very important.

So what I'm recommending is to allocate funds to purchase the right of way this year. And then once we have the right of way purchase, we can go for grants to do the construction. The reason is the amount from the estimate is smaller. And then it's gonna cost us a big amount of money to do the construction. I think we should go for grants for that. And those are the two recommendations from an engineering point of view. And then we are here to take any direction from the county, and if there are any other items to be added to this, we are here to listen and take notes.

So I have a question surrounding Fondite and South Goddard. The request or the consideration is being asked for us to consider this as a 2027 project. What will happen in the last seven, six months, five months of 2026 as it relates to preparing for this to happen in 2027? Anything? Are there any permits? What happens in 2027? if the council says, yes, let's go ahead and do this project.

We finalized the design. So we have the final design now. We have the final design now. That came first, and then this came today. And then they are working on Miller and Thompson. That will be delivered soon. So what we need to do is There's a small right-of-way purchase there. We need to do that this year. It's not a monumental amount of money. We have to engage a right-of-way acquisition firm, and then they will go and do a price up and make the offer. And if the owner accepts it, we'll bring that to the council and purchase that right away. If the owner doesn't accept it, we will bring that to the council for compensation for condemnation and uh and then purchase that right away and um you know we'll be starting to start working on the itv documents to visit out for construction once we know that council is going on in 27 we can start working on the big documents so the right-of-way acquisition firm what's the process for that do you have to trade out a bid or how does that work or is there someone that we work with we have we have uh the cap county test of lot forms we can piggyback on that uh the amount of money that will be involved is uh for these kind of a smaller right away would be within city managers uh

No, I don't.

I have another. How long does that process typically take?

The happy scenario.

with whoever is selling, whoever we're purchasing from. They say, yeah, go ahead, you guys.

The prices will take 30 days and make the offer. And I would say four to six months. That is because of the size of the right of way. If multiple parcels are involved and you have to do multiple appraisals and all, it's going to take some time. But if you use the reputed form for an appraisal and the owner is happy to help us to reduce the risk, safety issues there and they accept it quickly.

So in parallel, do, of course, after the council, you know, decides whatever they decide, hopefully. Yes. In parallel, do you all start the leading process for the construction?

Once the money is coming, yes, we can. We don't want to be putting on a big regard for money.

Oh, yes, definitely. That's why I say after the council makes a decision on it.

And I think the council's got to take a look at what's priority for the city, not for a particular district. And we need to kind of get them all on the table and decide. Is fixing for Nolan more important than fixing Hayden Quarry? can we do all of them so those are the things we have to take a look at how much how much funding is available and why do we want to commit if we can't do it all next year yeah yes sir um that is uh there is no any other suggestions or anything wrong that Let me do an intro to that one. We had constituents having to set priorities to suggest that we cut down some of those trees that are leaning over every mill. And my reply to them was, well, some of that's on private property. We just can't go out and cut someone's trees down because they're leaning towards the street. We need to work to get them to remove the trees. And some of them may well be in the right way that we can remove for safety reasons, not because they look bad or, you know, I mean, we just don't like them. But is there a real threat to the safety of the corridor in terms of ice storms that we might have or wind storms that we might have that will close off some of these streets for extended periods of time when the trees fall over? And when they talked about Evans Mill, I kind of found out there might be some funds available already identified to get portions of Evans Mill said well okay what about some other streets that have situations that are just as bad i mean i didn't want to say it but rock springs road uh is pretty bad so we need to look at the whole city if we're going to talk about streetscaping to the point of First of all, safety. The next one is aesthetics. I think it will boost property value and boost the appeal to stone crests if we clean up the trash, but also clean up the way the landscape removes when practical. So some of these trees can be removed, and I don't mind cutting a tree when a tree needs cutting.

I said it.

I said it in a minute.

If it needs to be removed, it needs to be removed.

So I talked to Harry about it somewhat, and he said he could take a look at it.

So that's the intro, and now we got him. Yeah, so a few things. I was thinking a sort of different way of thinking. I thought we were looking at like what we're doing here. That too. That too.

First things first. You know, you can't get to that point. Then you get those big old dead trees that are leaning over some of these major gardens.

Can we get Roy's confidence to go Let me check out the streets of Rock Springs and instead of the corridor. Yeah, because I just had a first constituent let me know about a tree fell while she was driving down Rock Springs when they put the thunderstorm warning and she was trying to get home and it fell on her car, the back part of her car. Her grandbaby was sitting in the back seat, you know, in the baby seat. And it hit the baby, the glass shattered all in the baby's hair. She sent pictures of the baby's head with the glass all in the hair and the back of her car is damaged. So definitely rock springs need to be looked at. Of course, you know, I turned her over to legal. She wanted to know what we're going to do about what happened to her grandbaby, what happened to her car. So definitely we need to really look at that, really look at that, you know, so. So we've already had an incident, you know, that has endangered a whole family on that street.

And that will take us into another arena, but.

Right, but I'm just saying we need to, there's plenty of trees that we need.

I know, but without . People don't call in just to happen. When you see a threat, when you see a threat, like there are a couple of trees I've called in. I can tell the trees are dead and the limbs are falling off one by one.

It's just a matter of time before the whole thing comes down and hurts someone.

Well, Roy and I rolled out and he did show me a few detrimental ones that are going to fall up and down by sprays. when we went out so he did show me some some really bad ones i don't know if they're residents or how many i don't i don't know but there are definitely yeah that's a more barrington too quite a few um actually some on klondike as well yeah so they're all over the city so so

yeah so that has to be an assessment of some sort so this is you know this is uh two different things you know if it is a sight distance issue or safety issue within the right of way that is coming from engineer if it is identified as a sight distance issue or safety issue within the right way the city engineering department has to do a station with the right way so we will decide which one to take down regardless of whether it is whatever the trees we do there's no others involved right we can't so uh if the county is there that's the wishes of the council and uh if the funding is allocated and then the streets identified you know um particularly you know collector streets that we we take a lot of volumes and then um evidence, you know, rock springs. Those are the three, the long and straight roads that we have. They just cross from one end to the other. We can look at it, you know, we can, we can approach, we can identify these and then we can approach our chief decadutical and then try that. And if it doesn't work, the council allocate the money, we can have our own contractor and take down. We have a few issues on these . One of them is the shoulder is either non-existent or very tight. And also, the standard is to have those and then have another two-figure outside of that. um and then you have a four-foot absorber most of these folks are not built to that standard i know because these are older they're 100 years old or more so that is also something that we need for long term because our traffic traffic volume is not going to go down and it's going to go up and up so help me with the regulation i've been told without really knowing that first 10 feet is public property of my yard is that true yeah it's it is not your yard to start okay right away which varies um you know the residential streets are people 55 feet uh if it is an above ground it is 50. uh you know all the utilities around it is 50 feet if it's underground it is 55 because you need to have that with the very uh and then some of the collectors things range from 60 to 80 feet and then major thoroughfares go up to 100 feet so you know say say rock springs road payment width is only 24 feet and if you take 60 out of 24 you have another 36 left 36 means 18 feet from nature payment it is Unfortunately, Mr. Turner, that's not your property.

Oh, wow. Excuse me.

It is right away owned by the public, not by you.

So those trees that are there, have you taken down without?

Taken down if it's a safety concern. Yes. And then if there's a potential danger of some drivers hitting it, we can take it.

yeah okay the 18th will is when they come through there illegally they kind of trim the tree for me because it's leaning over the over the street so i don't know who's wrong my tree on the 18th wheel it's natural i'm sorry okay yes oh please do so

Trees after .

. .

That food that we have. Yeah.

But we have to have a professional to identify the hazard. I mean, I get called regularly about the trees on Brownsville. The tree's falling down. It's away from the street. So it's not a hazard anymore. But I just didn't agree. And they self-confirmed and called me again and again. What you going to do about it? It's down. It can't fall. So where did it come from?

That's because they leave them, they don't always move them all the way to the curb, so it can become a hazard down the street.

If you want to offer the street.

Yes, the one on Browns Mill, yeah. It's kind of close to the line. So is there, who handles that?

We've taken down trees.

But the tree is already down.

It depends on the size. If it is a good size, a smaller size, we can handle that. uh if it is larger uh we have to have a separate contractor we have done both um the corner who drove and uh the pine trees there we we took them down and then we took down two tweets on brownsmith uh when uh those were gleaning after his home event You know, we don't have dedicated funding for that for now, but if we wanted to look at the unsafe trees, we can look at the funding. Because like Mr. McCoy said, we have a prior knowledge of it, we become liable. As soon as somebody calls us and informs us, we are on board with that.

But then someone goes and examines it and says, well, it's not a hazard. It's ugly. And it could be in the way, but it's not going to fall if it's already down. But again, that's something for the professional to make a decision on, not me.

You mentioned approaching DeKalb-Beautiful. How does that process work? What would they take care of?

So the sanitation department has this. So that's funded out of our trash point. And they maintain certain streets. They do trash pick up. For example, Perrington, Walmart area, they handle that. You will see them coming. And then, you know, they don't handle everything. So, we have hired private contractors to provide maintenance and class pickup in a list of roles. These roles are not the subdivision or residential streets. These are collectors and the major thoroughfare, minor thoroughfare, we handle those. know lately um you know we we pay them monthly fee we have a two man and two boys group with the truck and all they park right here every day every night yeah and then also uh we have uh we have we do some special work uh like type figure maybe we haven't hit hard but yeah We used to pick up 10, 15, now it's in hundreds.

That's because they know you won't pick it up. Let's be clear. When they know you're coming again, it's like, there's some more out there.

They drive through, you know, after six o'clock and then they dump it right there.

I know we've bounced them a little bit, but I think the Cal County has put together a program

how to control that are we working with them so um may program asked me to give some locations to uh get into that camera program and i gave a three locations he started asking me i got some places for camera god um you know she asked me i gave it to her and she was talking to the company i think trying to get onto that camera most places that

but that was a part of the uh streetscaping as well because i get that same complaint about certain streets um you know there's a designated dump street right yeah and why we can't put cameras there uh

have someone staked out because they dump so often.

But it is so high within the city on our soil, and we can do more to control it with the camera, but we need to find out if that's something we can legitimately do. i'll i'll try to do an update um and see where that is uh and then see whether we can have more location for that too okay all right well the reason again the reason i brought this here was because of the remaining trees uh over certain major thoroughfares see if we could find getting some of the some of the streets cleaned up or at least initiate the process if we don't get into manicuring that part of the street that doesn't belong to us, that belongs to Kelly or whomever, somewhere down the road. So if we just start looking at it.

So every road within City of Stormcrest is owned by only two entities, either City of Stormcrest or DDOT. There's no county streets here. Every single one of them will give it to us. There's no county space within the city streets and that's OK.

So when it comes to roads and drainage, that is still the idea. We own it.

They are our contractors.

Yeah.

OK. So I and then you know that. We are in need of a renegotiation or negotiation of that idea.

yeah that's another discussion yeah okay but uh you have done something for us for streetscape what did you come up with you said you thought we had something else in mind when we mentioned streetscape in various corridors right so we're doing it at stonecrest boulevard now you know when you drive through you can see we have fine stars and then those will trend almost every other week

um you know i don't know whether the council is you know i think there was a pretty beautification one of the previous meetings i'm going to invite um mr mcbride to come to

probably the next council meeting to talk about the East Metro CID. They've done a certain amount.

They're still doing it. Yes. Stonecrest, Turner Hill Road, south of I-20 bridge, they are still doing it. There's a sign saying that they're doing it. And that is done.

Okay.

And, you know, if we approach them, they will only do it within the I don't know.

Well, whatever they can do, every little bit helps. And they've been in operation a long time now, so I think they have adequate funding to do more, as is my professional opinion, that they can do more within the city of Stonecrest with the funds that they're collecting. And the same thing with the newly formed slip CID. that's one thing that they'll be in a position to do and that is to help with beautification um perhaps some landscaping so we need to get a uh an agreement with them to um allow them to work in our right way so that you will probably see in the next meeting or two because um it's called community improvement district for anything yes making them true the appearance first of all and that means uh some cleaning up of the uh area for which they are responsible yep i've been responsible for which they've taken charge to reactivate okay all right so much for the uh streetscaping various corridors updated delivery status for monument signage for the 2026 project.

Yes, sir. So we have, I made the contract this week. We have finalized the, you know, fine tuning the location for Everett, Salem, and Brownsville, and Canola Shoals. Five locations. We have finalized them. And then if you drive to any of these parks, you will see we had one state for a while. Now we have two states. That's where those two columns are going to go. And two states, hopefully nobody knocks out. And then one of the city monuments at Connaught across the bridge was a flat flatbed, the road, the flatbrick. So that single brick monument, say welcome to Stormcrest or whatever, that's also included in this package. And I visited with the contractors for every single one of them this week. Yes, this week. And they're coming back next week. you will see them doing the foundation and start building those next week. This is a very quick turnaround. You know, they come from Concord, North Carolina. When they come, they don't want to be staying in the hotel for two, three days. So they will start those and get it done. The monuments will go up and then they will bring those signs and put them there. uh those five parks and then the street monument will uh be going out going up and finished by end of july in the july yes i'm holding you to it in july i have a date given i like it i have another date i don't want to give it to you And then the other sign, the major sign, the big, the 10-foot-tall stone crest sign, that is in the bidna for Canola O.H., Canola I-20 O.H. That is in the package. That bid is out. And, you know, if you go on Canola, they're knocking the BP out there right now. So that is included in there. And then there are several other monumental signs. We submitted to and we rejected it first time. And then we submitted second time. And then the person who submitted was my former capital project manager. And I don't have a passport and everything. So we signed all of them again. And, you know, they were very, let me not say that, there's a lot of comments on that. And then I drive to Gurnet and then I see these signs popping up everywhere. And I felt that some of the comments that were addressed were not addressed in those lines. So we're going to resubmit those again. So those are, two on both ends of I-20. And then there's one on... One on Canola.

One on Canola. One on Tannum.

One on Tannum, yes, one on Tannum.

One on Canola.

Yes, so there are five torrents, five signs. Those are large, big size torrents. So we're going to resubmit that. Hopefully, We will be done with... By the way, I don't know whether any members of the council noticed that we have five RRFs in action right now. Salem Middle School has one. It looks like nobody has seen it. um those are talking and flashing if you press the buttons now and then we have turning yellow flashes flashing in the night now if you drive through there and we have flat drop killing the crew salem um you know there's two in that area so there are five in uh there So they're fine. I went with them Friday. I got some operating manuals and I sent an email to DeKalb County to say come and take over these. So in fact, we need to work on that topic a little bit more. So because we don't maintain our public works requirements at DeKalb County. and hopefully um three of those projects will be completed all the festivals will be completed parent and parking lot will be paid so i'll have more time to focus on those five permits submit them and um you know we submit them and get those going So, and the paving will be done very soon. They are out of a trailer built here today. They're from Roxbury. So why, you know, when you focus on... Could you tell me those lights again for the flashing lights?

Turner Hill?

Turner Hill is yellow flashing on both sides. There's a solar powered I found out that we can we can upload or download the app on the phone and then you can change the frequency and then these RFPs are they're beeping constantly they beep constantly 24-7 and then when you press it they talk and then it gives you 10 seconds she crossed from one side yeah and then it talks louder notes so once you press it you'll hear it those are new standards 20 26 25 standards uh unfortunately um our drive was uh not used to it they they were trying to hit me and the technician the other day when we pressed them no sailor mode yes

so are those the ones that say uh walk across and if there's a street name in savannah they had those it's giving the street name and you know You gave the street name and the seconds that you had to process to learn something. They didn't talk too much.

That's another form of AI.

We can change the frequency and then the flashing frequency and the timing and everything. So I want to hand it over to the Capcom technicians who are qualified for that to take over. There will be one concern they say is that if we get hit, we don't have money to replace it.

I'd like to design that 20 in Vanola. Are they going to put that in before they do the divergent diamond or that's going to be all?

It's part of that one deal. So when that goes last, they will widen the bridge and then construct the, you know, the reverse lanes and everything. And then the last one to go is the site passage on both sides. We have signs on both sides, on both eastbound and westbound.

Do we have a date for completion?

No, sir. So the bid was released in April and most likely uh they were awarded some time before uh close to thanksgiving something like that and then there's not i mean there is a schedule but uh um the schedule hasn't changed you know they don't know if they're ready to work there's so many chunks of stock so um in order to get an understanding of the process that the be it process then i would work with miss franklin to

understand that via process and the steps what happens yes okay yes all right okay i do have a question on signage since we're talking about science this might not be the science we're talking about but um we talked about it in the tips meeting before and that is um something that i'm very passionate about science on the freeway you say you're gonna talk to g dot

Yes, so before, you know, you became a council member, we hired a consultant from Virginia, and then they did the design of all these things. You know, they are a nationally prestigious company, and we thought they designed you. Oh, not that.

I'm talking about the exits. because it was in the original plan with the new signs for Stonecrest to be on the exit signs for our four exits.

So what happened was that was one of the items we discussed in the GDOT meetings. We went back and forth, back and forth, and then the response at the last minute was those were not in Toges Bay or Hill Bay. They didn't want to you know by the time you know this project uh was on books for a long time this this one and then the i-20 285 that was that's the reason we were not included um but we were given a proposal to add signs and um there was price for that and then we were trying to tried to get that paid by GDOT to include those signs. So that's where it was. And then once we started the GDOT meeting, we had several life insurance people in Manhattan, Canada talk about those signs.

So what I'm hearing is Stonecrest is not going to go on any of the exit signs on I-20. For now.

The original did not include those signs. And then we actually asked for every exit. You know, we asked for Manola, Turner Hill, and . And by the time the documents were gone and the contract was awarded, so it was still late.

Have they already made the signs yet?

No, they did not make a sign, but it was in the big documents, you know, all these standards saying the lettering and all those things. So Latonia got in first.

Yeah, I see Latonia is on a sign.

We pushed for that and, you know, we did not get a positive response. so are they making us content with the big sign that's going to be on the side on the side of the big signs we got in the right time yeah so because that time they were still on the criminal design we pushed it and then uh we asked for red and black and they pushed back and say no red um they said we want a sign we don't want to miss that out and then um that standard is already there the design standards are there and when uh turner hill and My 20 widening project is when it happens in the future, we want to use the same standards for that too. The same big, 10 foot tall, stone crisp letters.

Do you mind sharing with me the rendering, what it looks like?

The stone crisp? Yeah, the sign, yeah.

A little disappointing, but something to be revisited. You said for now.

I don't know what for now means. That means that we can pay for it and replace it. We have pay for it. Are they going to cost it?

Again, you know... Say that again? I just said I mean very costly.

We have a congressional representative that lives in the city.

Yes, yes, sir. So that's what I was saying. We need to bring those meetings back.

And I know that Arabia Mountain was able to get on I'm trying to see if it was a big green sign or a brown sign, but they were able to get into the expressway right away with the sign. And I don't know who paid for it, but I doubt that they paid for it. So it's been done. That's why I say we might need to turn to our congressional rep to help us with the sign.

So this is what I was, we were asking, you asked, and then I put together this. And so you only have two signs before snapping and saying that. Stormcrest next three exits. Same thing here passing the rough data. The boundary says Stormcrest next three exits. Both sides next to exit. And then when the exit comes in having a sign on top of that, you know, they want to say Tonia, that's fine, and then Belanda, Stormcrest. and all three of those. So these are three signs each, that is six signs, and then two signs. So that's what you ask them for.

All right. We have to ride it till it's done.

All right.

We have to find a way. OK. Anything else on the signage? And last item. discussion on dog park we turned down the recommendation for the dog park at southeast aspen complex he said we have to revisit it so let's revisit what are some of the options i know we bought a piece of property at the corner of salem and evans mill about eight acres and that was mentioned that it could be a site for a dog park at one point in time. But we never decided what we were going to do with that park. And looking through the National Parks Plan, Barrington has a spot designated for a dog park. I wonder if there are other spots that we had already identified as a possibility for a dog park. We, some of us, kind of talked offline and said that instead of building one big dog park on one side of the city, why not build a couple of medium sized dog parks at two or three spots within the city, which would allow greater access versus having to pack up and drive across town to get to the one and only dog park in the city. So those were some of the discussions that have come about. And if we're not going to just simply rebid what's already there, hoping for a better deal, maybe we want to take a look at a different design, a different location, and maybe come in with something smaller that would cost less. If cost was really the only thing that caused us to turn back last year.

So would this be a priority project that you're talking about the dog park that we make it as a priority?

That's up to us as a priority. And how do we get to that point? Did we establish it as a priority to get on the agenda in the first place? Was it just something that came through the land and we just said, Okay,

Where do they come from?

I don't know.

So there are two locations mentioned in the master plan. Yes. Poodle Farms, Brownsville and the New Barrington Botanical Garden. Okay. And the discussion through various park directors and the former city manager and managers trying to move it out of the New Botanical Garden. because, you know, botanical gardens was going to be, you know, a little different, different purpose. And then when that, when this was made, you know, Barrington, sorry, Southeast had lack of And it is, you know, when you push it to the front, people don't have to go there with the dock to the backside and then, you know, mix up the other activities and everything. But that was the whole process to move that to southeast, close to, you know, Compton Island. They come out there and go and then use it to get out.

okay and that is not going to be mixed with the more people that made activities there it was just the decision made internally i don't think it was uh i was holding that as you mentioned it when we acquired the land for the danica garden there was some concern about having a dog park mixing with some of the activities you might have there because we talked about it making it a

um botanical garden with various facilities for weddings uh other cultural events okay and then more of a revenue generating facility i would think that i still would have several i'll have two because very seldom us on this side would end up on southeast side So I would say put one on this side and one on that side. So one is Southeast, one on Salem, and what's that, Salem and Evans Mill. I mean, since we have that property right there on the corner, I mean, it seems like a really good place to have a dog park in the middle of everybody that's in that area. First thing, having to go all the way over to Covington to Southeast, those people have the, you know, they are able to use that one because they're closer to it over there and the ones that's closer over here.

That's my suggestion to have two. Who has spent a lot of time working in the park is Porter. Do you have any suggestions that's a good place, several places to consider for a dog park?

Well, definitely we have the master plan. Thank you for that. And the master plan does talk about . So we have an opportunity in this room, this district. Ferry to Park was another one that was suggested here. And then as you stated, Salem. But we did a walkthrough of the Salem and Everett. And I need to find that assessment. And I can follow up with you all about that particular area in terms of the terrain and everything from the assessment that we did walk out that way. um but neighborhood walkability trails those things help complement whatever we've got um i'm sorry yeah okay okay i'm just curious so which one out of the three did you say you would consider well what parents and whatever the product we're watching here and um

but i really would like to also suggest as we explore for this one okay thank you for your attention who can take a look at you mentioned the property that we own on salem and davis mill

At some point, we need to do an assessment as to what's the most practical or best use for that property. It's in back of an RSM subdivision. And it's across the street from property that's zoned commercial. They're trying to get it rezoned residential. But it's currently zoned commercial. And it's next, it's just right up the street from the creek.

and i'm not sure how close and it's not too far from south goddard the end of that south goddard trail where that parking lot is so that would be a connection that we could make um yeah so yeah so who makes that decision i don't know we could work with the our folks in planning and zoning

And we'll take another look at the comprehensive plan to see what was suggested. But before we turn it over to a dog park, you have to consider what's the best use for eight acres of land at that location.

well i kind of have some thoughts on it i mean it would not just be in a dog park first day ever a little small dog park area a dog park area for large and small dogs but i mean i've experienced smaller parks less than eight acres that have parking and a basketball court and you know, a trail around the park, a lot of green space. So I think it's a good idea for us to kind of look into that.

I don't mind having a park on every block, but you got to save a park just right up the street. And you got Brownsville close to the wing. So that's two parks already there. And again, it's not bad to have a park, have several parks. But how many do we need? And can we justify putting another park there? Although we talked about the dog park, still it's not a park. So to do an assessment as to what's the best use for that property. The way we acquired it is that it was on commercial. And the owner of it wanted to put a gas station there. And we didn't see a way to stop it. So we bought it to keep the gas station from coming in. and i'm not going to talk to you about the deal but it was yeah it was a duty of a deal and we now own the property but it's still zone commercial so it's up to us to resolve that that's not a problem because we own it and we wanted to split it and put half of it as a dog park we could So just something to think about because when we rejected the proposal for the dog park, we said we'd revisit it. So we have got to say never in the city of Stonecrest will we have a dog park. We will come back and put in four or five dog parks.

We rejected the amount. We didn't necessarily reject the...

you know the park so that's the possibility as well they can just simply rebid it hoping for a better deal right or you could get a worse deal so you don't know i don't think so i have one additional question from your supporter um as it relates to park plans when it comes to brown's mill is there brownsville park are there plans to modernize the brownsville well if

with the master plan, and I'm glad we're having this discussion because having a discussion would help us work towards simplification and execution. And that's where we've kind of been at a standstill for a little while. But in addition to the master plan, the things that's in the master plan can also help us with our goals of becoming CAPRA accredited. And so it's very important for parks to be at the table and also have the vision for these plans because they work hand in hand and um we actually are working on what we have worked on where these are the parts so i can share it with the city manager okay about individual plans but also shifting to a comprehensive um uh cip program that aligns with the master plan and for those who don't know what it is can you tell us what capra accreditation is yes it's commissioned uh accreditation for parks and recreation and so um your agency or your city They look at eligibility in terms of your vision, your master plan, your strategic plan. Are you accomplishing those? Looking at your schedule and your milestones. They also take a look at your SOPs. And so just working on our framework is a goal that we've been working on and would like to continue to work on uh with the city management we need to kind of share some more things about that but just set in the framework so that we can become eligible to um have our agencies accredited and recognized for the work that we have done and we have tried somewhere you know we've done a lot of something through the master plans in terms of increased events um community engagement we are increasing programs um um actually um We'll be sharing something with the city manager with some of the goals that we've already accomplished with the master plan, but we want to be able to keep track of our accomplishments, keep track of what we're doing in terms of keeping internally our own scorecard. That's what we've been doing, our scorecard for our master plan to see where we're at and see where we're going because the CAPRA accreditation also wants to see your three-year plan. And so having this discussion now is great because it helps us get back on track because they want to see how far we are planning out and how we're meeting those deadlines and where we're at in our planning and business structure of the department in general.

And at Browns Mill, they're getting ready to redo the parking lot.

Yes.

And we redeemed the school board. I have them gone by the look at the school board. And what else?

The scoreboard is definitely, we're just waiting on the electrician. Yeah, the scoreboards are done.

But just kind of establishing the maintenance plan too is something that they look at in the CAPRA accreditation.

establishing and continuing to formalize our maintenance plan bringing our fields up those are definitely priorities within our master plan um taking care of the assets that we already have and also the agent infrastructure is in our master plan so that that goes with our parks our fields those are priorities in the master plan recreation not just a project but when you look at some of the parts that you the field, the upkeep, the concession, what we can do with the building at Southeast Athletic Complex, not just expanding the restrooms, but actually get the destruction, the plumbing, because you can't build a current old.

Yeah.

Concession stands at Brownfield. Is that going to be really work?

Well, once the park directors come on and they meet with the city manager, and express how that is a priority, and then work with the team to add that to our list.

And that goes back to where we opened up. There are a lot of great projects out there, but we can only do so many, so we've got to decide priorities. And I know, yeah, we played Brown's Mill. That was going down, down, down years ago.

Yes, and the community, They swarmed on me at one of the games, like, okay, what is the city doing? Since we've been a part of Stonecrest, even some leagues, they lost some funding because they're no longer a part of the county that provided certain incentives if you moved on to the next level, those type things. And the restrooms and the concession stands was one of the major things that they were

questioning and pushing and of course the field but yeah lighting out there and that's why we work on some strategic investment um priorities that we'll share with the city managers because that can help you all with the time uh working working in collaboration some of those strategic investments looking at athletic excellence um southeast athletic complex is actually a complex for athletic sports. We have had opportunities where we could have been commissioned for grants in partnership with the Braves. So that is important. That's a priority also, especially if they're having discussions with the TAP Parks and Recreation Committee. I actually met with the director of Parks and Rec with TAP County. We had a really great discussion about some things But other people are looking at what are we going to do with that? So whatever we decide, I think that is important to know that. Improvement stopping the field and the building to get the power to reach. Also, again, infrastructure renewal. We're still modernizing our 80 parks. Safety and security is one of our strategic areas where we can improve lighting, fencing at Southeast and Aronson and Brown Hills. And park sustainability, park identity and wayfinding, which we are definitely accomplishing that goal. So I'll take that out of the tracker for that. Operational excellence. And then just thinking about finds and destination projects, like the Sonoma Shoals and Everett Park. That's one of our strategic priorities. And then future recreation from there. So that's a highlight, but I'll be sharing it with the city manager.

Thank you.

Very good. Any other, well, I started with a discussion about the tell part.

But we did come to the conclusion that we definitely do want to hold on to the dog park conversation or it being a project. We just don't know where we're doing the assessment of the Salem and Evans Mill and find out if that's something we want or we want to break it up and do two of them. You know, we can further discuss that.

Okay. Harry, what do you think literally drove the price of the dog park? I mean, fancy toys?

Yeah, there are a few things that broke the price. We can reuse it. We already own the land, so that was not a problem.

It's a design thing, yeah.

Specifications, and then some of the bonding requirements. We can look at some of the licenses. You know there's some good things that we have. two separate ones for smaller dogs, 100 by 50 and 50 by 50. That's a little bit. And then we had some fancy glass underneath it. And then we had the water fountain and multiple clay equipments inside for both sides. So we can look at all of them. And then going back to the events in Salem, you mentioned about we have two parks. Passive parks are not expensive, mainly. We can put the capital projects, but the maintenance needs to be always thought about because this is not throwing the money and leaving it there. Passive packs are not expensive. A parking lot and a natural craze and a small dog park is not going to kill us. If you start putting other stuff, it's going to drive the price, not just one time.

Okay, and we have to revisit Dog Park? Should I have some more discussion on it?

I'm good.

For tonight.

We're tonight, yes. Okay.

Okay. That's the last item on the agenda. If we missed something, there's comments. Nicole, you got anything to add? No, thank you.

All right, sir. Nothing more for me. Okay.

We know who is here, but somehow we have to sign the record.

Nothing else to add.

We will declare this meeting adjourned.

All right, thank you.