City Council

City of Bowdon CALLED Mayor and Council Meeting Thursday, January 18, 2024 1:00PM Mayor and Council Chambers, 182 Grammar School Road I.- IV. Agenda Items: The Mayor and City Council met for a called meeting Thursday, January 18th, 2024. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Randy Saxon at 1:00PM. The invocation was led by Mayor Saxon and was followed with the Pledge of Allegiance. Members present: Mayor Randy Saxon Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson Councilmember Jan Johnson Councilmember Wes McEntyre Councilmember Bobby Elliott Staff present: City Manager Gary Bullock City Attorney Kevin Drummond Police Chief Mark Brock City Clerk Susan Pierce Main Street Director Jan Gibbs Motion by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson to enter into Executive Session to discuss possible litigation; second by Councilmember Elliott; motion carried unanimously. V. Executive Session Motion by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson to exit the Executive Session; second by Councilmember Elliott; motion carried unanimously. VI. Reconsideration of variance request decision for 340 E. College St. – Mayor Saxon stated that due to additional information the council has decided to reconsider the variance request for the former Styles Service Station located at 340 E. College Street. He then opened the floor for public comments. VII. Public Comments 1. Dalton McLeroy, 11 Dogwood Lane – When he decided to sell the service station due to health reasons, it was open to other buyers. Mr. Gillani offered to buy the property and checked with the city. He was told he could open a convenience store but would not be able to sell alcohol due to the distance from the church. Now the church is gone. He asked the city to give the buyers a license, and give them a chance, and let the market determine their success or failure. A business at the location will be more profitable to the city than an empty building. 2. Lisa Morchower, with the firm of Berman Fink Van Horn PC, attorney for the Gillanis. – Ms. Morchower stated that she has represented the Gillanis in several of their business entities for several years. They do beautiful redevelopment work. She has a Preservation of Constitutional Rights letter to submit into the record. If the business license is denied, they will likely take it to court because there are some legal issues with the process and how the city has handled the applications. She thinks they were entitled to a business license and didn’t need to apply for a variance because they are grandfathered in. The Code already allowed for gas stations and convenience stores in C1-  City of Bowdon Mayor & Council Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 Commercial when they bought the property. They had also confirmed with the city clerk, Susan Pierce, that a gas station and convenience store was a legal use for the property. Since the variance issues came after the assurance from city officials that the use was allowed, they should not have been required to apply for a variance. After looking at the City of Bowdon Codes, she did not see a section concerning business licenses, and there are no definitions for gas and service stations, and none for convenience stores until after the purchase of the property. The property is grandfathered in; she thinks the moratorium itself was illegal, and that we did not apply proper notice before enacting it and used it to stop a business license issuance for uses that were not defined in the Code. These are all listed in the Constitutional Rights and objections, and based on the fact that they relied on Ms. Pierce’s confirmation that the uses were allowed they moved forward and spent a significant amount of money to purchase the property and working with architects and engineers to get this property brought up to a great standard for the city. They have also been very active with the community, and they intend to continue to help make improvements whether monetarily or in service projects as they have done in other areas. She also requested that her objections be made part of the permanent record. 3. Erica Henderson, 419 E. College Street – As she reviewed the code, Chapter 4, section 4-38, Standards and Guidelines for Granting or Denying Licenses, it wasn’t the proximity to the church that was listed first; the first consideration in issuing alcohol licenses was if it was immediately adjacent to residential properties. There are homes surrounding this area. Also, would it increase or promote traffic in the area and the number of similar licenses already issued in the city limits. She asks that because of the proximity of residences will the council consider the bright lights, lessening noise, and fencing or screening the property? She would like these to be addressed beforehand rather than afterward. 4. Noah Steed, 401 E. College Street – He lives in a 123-year-old historic home in R1 district directly across the street from the property, 100 feet from the gas pumps. The sign on the door about this meeting says it is to reconsider the decision on the variance request taken in December. The distance hasn’t changed in a month. He said the applicant called him up with a threat to demolish the existing building and put up a 4000 square foot building, then he could have a convenience store in whatever form he pleases without further approval. He asked what it would take to gain Mr. Steed’s support; he said he would do whatever he needed to do because convenience stores were their only business. He said he would close by 10:00 at night. Mr. Steed said the conversation did not progress beyond that because he does not suffer threats very well. He also said he would not be surprised if other people had received similar calls. He feels that 401 E. College Street has been under threat and assault ever since he decided to buy it, save the house, and improve the property and the neighborhood. He said the city should be helping him defend it. He shouldn’t have to defend it against the city. “But I will, there is a threat for you, for each of you and the municipality as well. I presume someone is about to say that mistakes were made which potentially harm these gentlemen. I would urge you to recognize that if you are not absolutely certain that you are perfectly following your own code and customs and the law with absolute precision then you should also consider your liability for the harm your missteps potentially bring upon me and others. You’re not just exposed to litigation from the applicant; your actions will be scrutinized. Reconsidering doesn’t make the liability go away, it just shifts the burden and the harm onto my back. You consider the difference in value for a use like mine.” Just one example, and again just discovering the notice on the door I haven’t had time to bring in a lawyer today, but it is at least a well-established custom that when a variance request is denied and then an appeal is filed and it is denied and then the council upholds and concurs with the recommendation that the issue is dead for a year. I’ve served on this council, that was certainly the practice. I realize that we’ve had some modifications to the code and some computerization to the code, and some copying and pasting and I don’t know what all may be different now but if that’s in there, it’s only been a month.  City of Bowdon Mayor & Council Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 5. Ammar Gillani, owner of 340 E. College Street – would like to reserve his time for his attorney but presented posters showing before and after pictures of similar projects they have completed in other cities in Georgia. He gave his assurance that they would work with the neighbors on lighting, noise and traffic concerns. His attorney then asked if she could reserve the remaining time until the end of the Public Comments. 6. Jan Gibbs, Main Street Director – She informed Council that the applicants had shown a lot of interest in the city of Bowdon by becoming a Main Street Sponsor, offering to participate in the Main Street Scholarship Program, and she would like to publicly thank them for their interest in downtown and the way they expressed that. 7. Lisa Morchower – She wanted to address that she thinks Erica Henderson was talking about the alcohol license not this process so she asks that Council would disregard what Ms. Henderson said because we are not here on an alcohol license application; that might be one day, but not today. So the section she was talking about was from the alcohol code. Ms. Morchower reiterated what she said earlier that her clients moved in reliance and on assurances from Ms. Pierce, who did admit that that is what she had told them, that they are grandfathered in because this property had already been under C1 and authorized to allow convenience store sales and gas service sales which were not defined in the code; that she believes that the moratorium and perhaps the ordinance that was passed later were not done under constitutional law procedural methods, and she does not think you can rely on the moratorium to deny them the business license. She thinks they should have been granted the business license and then they would not have needed a variance because the business license would have allowed them to operate no matter what the distances the new ordinance put in the business requirement. Based on the grandfathering of this property they should not have come under this new law, and the fact that this type of business was already operating there, she asks that Council considers all of these points. She said she is really not sure we are here procedurally correct either because she doesn’t think the variance should have been required and she doesn’t know if the city council even rules on variances. Her understanding is that it goes before the Zoning Appeals Board, who rules on variances, then it can be appealed, but they deferred it to the council so she’s not sure how that happened or that the process is constitutional. Mayor Saxon asked if there were any more public comments. There being none, he asked if any of the council members would like to speak. Jan Johnson, Councilmember Ward 1, 442 E. College Street – She said in talking to the people who live near the property, they have concerns about the traffic, which is already dangerous. The traffic, lighting and other concerns figure into the quality of life and the preservation of historic neighborhoods. This is why she has been vocal on the issue because she represents the area. She said we are a tiny city, and we already have five convenience stores; this would make six. She does not see a need for more convenience stores. This would make six convenience stores, with five of them in Ward 1. The intent was not to have such a density and to have a variation of commercial businesses. Her thought has been that the neighbors don’t want a further destruction of their historic neighborhood. She does not want to block a business or revenue but is considering the effect on the residents who live nearby. Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson said he agreed with Ms. Johnson and Ms. Henderson, but due to the information that we have now, knowing that these gentlemen came in good faith and purchased property, which if they had gone ahead and gotten their license at that point they could have legitimately gone ahead and done what they wanted to do at that point, for us to deny them that, he thinks would be absolutely wrong regardless of the other factors. VIII. Business Session A. Decision on reconsideration of variance request for 340 E. College Street  City of Bowdon Mayor & Council Meeting Minutes January 18, 2024 Motion by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson to rescind the decision made by the City Council in December to accept the recommendation of the Zoning Appeals Board to deny the variance request from the applicants concerning property located at 340 E. College Street; second by Councilmember Elliott; motion carried by a 3-2 margin, with councilmembers Marty Johnson and Bobby Elliott voting in favor of rescinding the decision and councilmembers Jan Johnson and Wes McEntyre voting against rescinding the decision. The tie vote was broken by Mayor Saxon, who voted in favor of rescinding the decision. Motion by Councilmember Elliott to adjourn the meeting; second by Mayor Pro-tem Marty Johnson; motion carried unanimously. XI. Adjournment _________________________ ________________________ Mayor Randy Saxon City Clerk Susan Pierce