Despite assurances to the contrary, Gray’s City Council was once again a man short to settle a pending zoning issue that has been on hold for months.
When Mayor Ed Barbee called the meeting to order Aug. 5, Councilman Terry Favors was absent once again. The reason given for the absence was a non-emergency medical procedure.
The meeting went through the normal housekeeping items with approval of the agenda, minutes of the last meeting and accounts payable.
The first and only item of Old Business was next, and to no one’s surprise, the vote was once again 2-1. That meant the motion made by Councilman David Tufts to approve the zoning request neither passed nor failed and will be back on the agenda next month.
It’s an accepted practice that it takes three votes by council in order to be considered a legal vote, and the mayor can only vote in the case of a tie.
The first time the item was on the city’s agenda was at the council’s March 3 meeting and the request was unanimously denied. Developer Scott Jackson asked for a rehearing of the request to construct a development of 35 townhomes. Council members voted at their May 6 meeting to grant the rehearing, which is in their purview.
Favors did not attend the June 3 council meeting, and that was the first time for the 2-1 vote. He came to the July 2 meeting only to walk out of the meeting when the vote came up.
The councilman said he planned to be at the August meeting but was not. He has, however, been attending the mid-month all committee meetings.
Councilman Benny Gray remains in a long-term healthcare facility.
New business
Pines Homeowners Association President Don Johnson was the first to speak, and his topic was concerns with rezoning applications. The mayor told him he had three minutes.
Johnson contended that zoning notices were not updated, and basic information required on the applications was not submitted.
“I don’t feel like you are following your guidelines,” he said, and went on to read the zoning standards to council members.
Johnson said he has spoken to the EPD about drainage of the property and said they had serious concerns. He also said the water and sewer rates had already been increased to pay for the new wastewater treatment plant.
The speaker said the city should not be held hostage because of the test well and claimed the city could have it now, according to the agreement.
The second item of business was approval of the public consumption of alcohol at the Aug.
16 event. Tufts asked to revise the request to approve alcohol consumption at Main Street events through the end of the year and made that motion.
After the motion was seconded, Mayor Pro Tem James Collins said he was in agreement. Collins said he had concerns when the request was first brought to council. But he said seeing how it worked, and because it had caused no problems, he was in favor of not having to bring it to council for every event.
The vote to approve the motion was a unanimous 3-0.
Gray Downtown Development Authority members requested a change in the term ending dates for members Cecil Ethridge, Vickie Ethridge and Bert King from Dec. 31, 2026, to Dec. 31, 2025. The request was in order to stagger the terms for the authority members.
Tufts made the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
The final agenda item was a resolution to authorize the mayor to execute an agreement between the city and Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security in reference to a Hazard Mitigation Grant.
A letter from the agencies explained that Gray had been approved for a grant in the amount of $35,625 from federal funds and $4,750 from the state with required matching funds of $7,125.
The grant is for the purpose of purchasing and installing a fixed generator to ensure continuity of services to the community. The project is to be completed by Oct. 11. Collins made the motion to approve, and the vote in agreement was unanimous.
Comments
Barbee called for public comments, and several came forward to lecture the council and city attorney about how they should be conducting business and reminded the members that they worked for them.
One speaker raised drainage concerns about the Allen Green property, and another was against the proposed development because it would be rented and would never be owned by those living in it.
An attorney representing the HOA spoke about the letter he sent to mayor and council and the errors he saw in the city’s procedures in the zoning process.
Karl Zimmer spoke to council about a problem with the road behind Dairy Queen. He said the striping on the road caused confusion about who had right of way and could cause an accident.
Collins asked how many people the attorney was representing, and someone gave a ballpark number of 300. That number would have to be based on the unlikelihood that everyone who lives in the Pines, not all of whom are city residents, Piedmont Lakes and surrounding homes on both side of the highway – men, women and children – object to the Allen Green property development.
The number of people attending the meetings is less than two dozen.
The meeting adjourned to go into closed session to discuss real estate. The next meeting of City County is its Aug. 19 All Committees Meeting.
