Columbus, Georgia

MINUTES



COUNCIL

OF COLUMBUS, GEORGIA

WORK SESSION



MARCH 25, 2003



The regular monthly Work Session of the Council of Columbus, Georgia was

called to order at 9:02 A.M., Tuesday, March 25, 2003, in the Council Chambers,

Government Center, Columbus, Georgia. Honorable Robert S. Poydasheff, Mayor,

and Honorable John J. Rodgers, Mayor Pro Tem presiding.



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PRESENT: Present other than Mayor Poydasheff and Mayor Pro Tem John J. Rodgers

were Councilors Wayne Anthony, Berry Henderson, Julius H. Hunter, Jr., Charles

E. McDaniel, Jr., Evelyn Turner Pugh, Nathan Suber and Evelyn Woodson. City

Manager Carmen Cavezza, City Attorney Clifton Fay, Clerk of Council Tiny B.

Washington and Deputy Clerk of Council Sandra Davis were also present.

Councilors R. Gary Allen and Glenn Davis took their seat at 9:04 a.m.



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ABSENT: No one was absent.



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INVOCATION: Led by Mayor Pro Tem John J. Rodgers.



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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Led by Mayor Robert S. Poydasheff.

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MINUTES: Minutes of the March 18, 2003 meeting of the Council of the

Consolidated Government of Columbus, Georgia was submitted and approved upon

the adoption of a motion made by Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers and seconded by

Councilor Allen, which carried unanimously by those ten members of Council

present for this meeting..

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FIRE DEPARTMENT:



Mayor Poydasheff called forward Chief Roy Waters, Chief of the Fire

Department to introduce those individuals who were promoted on yesterday.



He said we have as good a Fire Department as any City in this Country,

which have been recognized internationally and national, and he thought it was

appropriate that we see some of the leadership there.



Chief Roy Waters said this is another example of quality people providing

quality service in Columbus. He then named the following individuals that were

promoted, as outlined below:



Lieutenant Robert Floyd, Sergeant Donald Renfroe, Lieutenant Brian

Dorriety, Sergeant Ronnie Robinson, Captain Janice Brunner, Lieutenant Lee

Spencer, Sergeant Keith Holden and Captain Glen Bahde.



Chief Waters said Captain Janice Brunner is the second female in the

history of the Fire Department to be promoted to captain.



THUNDER IN THE VALLEY AIR SHOW:



Councilor Davis said he would like to thank Mr. Chuck Hecht and all those

who were involved in the Thunder in the Valley Air Show event. He said there

was a tremendous amount of volunteers and said a lot of hard work went on

behind the scenes to make it a successful event.

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CONSENT AGENDA:



THE FOLLOWING TWO ORDINANCES WERE SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY ATTORNEY

FAY AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL ON SECOND READING, PURSUANT TO THE ADOPTION OF A

SINGLE MOTION MADE BY COUNCILOR ALLEN AND SECONDED BY COUNCILOR WOODSON, WHICH

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY BY THOSE TEN MEMBERS OF COUNCIL PRESENT FOR THIS

MEETING:



An Ordinance (03-18) - Amending Chapter 13A of the Columbus Code so as

to amend Section 13A-2 and Section 13A-8 relating to prerequisites required for

massage therapy practitioners.



An Ordinance (03-19) - Amending the General Fund Budget for FY-03 by

increasing the Muscogee County Prison budget by $50,000; amending and

increasing the FY-03 Greenspace Fund-Community Development budget by $326,633;

and by amending and increasing the FY-03 Risk Management Fund-Human Resources

by $500,000 for worker?s compensation activity; and for other purposes.

.

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THE FOLLOWING TWO RESOLUTIONS, NOT LISTED ON THE AGENDA WERE ALSO

SUBMITTED AND EXPLAINED BY CITY MANAGER CAVEZZA AND ADOPTED BY THE COUNCIL:







A Resolution (146-03) - Authorizing payment to Post & McDaniel, P.C.,

Attorneys for Mellisa Morgan, et.al., in the amount of $238,750.00 for the

mediated settlement of a jail lawsuit. Councilor Turner Pugh moved its

adoption. Seconded by Councilor Henderson and carried unanimously by those nine

members of Council present at the time, with Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers being absent

for this vote.



A Resolution (147-03) - Authorizing the City Manager to enter into a lease

agreement with Main Street Baseball LLC for the lease of Golden Park for the

2003 baseball season.



City Manager Cavezza said that the South Georgia Waves baseball team has

expressed an interest in coming to Columbus for the 2003 season and said that

he would like to ask the Council?s permission to sign a contract with them. He

said they will pay us $2,000 per month in rent for the stadium from April -

August, with the possibility of going beyond that a little, but said they would

pay accordingly. He said they will only be here for one season and then they

will be moving to Evansville, Ohio.



Councilor Allen then moved the adoption of the resolution. Seconded by

Councilor Woodson.



Councilor Hunter said he would vote for the approval of the resolution;

however, he does have some concerns about this particular contract. He said it

bothers him about the great deal of acrimony that is going on between our

Sister city Albany and this baseball team.

He said it also bothers him with the thought that they were going to leave

Albany and come to Columbus in the midst of that. He said it is his

understanding that a condition of them coming here is that the bills that they

have left down there would be paid or are going to be paid.



Councilor Hunter said their commitment to this City also bothers him, as

they are only going to be here for one year. He said basically we are serving

as a pass through for this baseball team. He said he knows that we want

baseball, but he questions whether or not we want it that badly.



He then made several comments regarding this matter, saying that he wants

someone with a Columbus interest running the baseball team here in Columbus. He

said he doesn?t think it is fair to the fans, to ask them to go out and commit

to watch a team that they know is not going to be here next year. He said he

would hope in the future that the Council be consulted before we take a step

like this.



Mayor Poydasheff and City Manager Cavezza then responded to those concerns

of Councilor Hunter. Councilors Turner Pugh and Henderson also expressed their

views regarding this matter, after which the question was then called on the

motion to adopt the resolution, which carried unanimously by those nine members

of Council present at the time. (See below for Councilor Woodson?s request to

add her vote to this resolution)



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DETAIL SHOPS:



City Manager Cavezza said several months ago, the Georgia Environmental

Protection Division came down to Columbus and said they were concerned about

these mom and pop detailing and car washing shops. He said a lot of the

drainage wasn?t getting into the sewer system, but that it was going out on the

ground, and they were pushing us to go after these people and take action

against them.



He said what we did, with the State?s concurrence was sent all of these

mom and pop shops, 103 of them, a certified letter, advising them that they

needed to clean up their shops, and get their wastewater into the sewer system;

and when they come for their new license in April, if they don?t have that

done; then, we can?t renew their license. He said unfortunately only 2 of the

103 up-to-date have complied.



City Manager Cavezza said they will send out another letter, although it

is not going to be certified. He said they are going to be coming in for new

licenses soon, and said they have had since last November to comply. He said he

is somewhat afraid that a lot of people are going to have problems, in that

they are not going to get their licenses renewed. He said he just wanted to put

them on notice that they have a few weeks left to do that; and hopefully, they

will comply.



Mayor Poydasheff then asked that we put a notice in the newspaper in that

regard.



City Manager Cavezza said they have been advertising it and will continue

to advertise it.



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LAWN CARE BUSINESSES:



Councilor Suber said he remembers someone discussing that the lawn care

business were supposed to put the clippings in a bag, and not blow the trash or

debris into the sewer lines. He said most of the ones that he sees in Columbus,

on Macon Road, Wynnton Road or downtown and everywhere else seems be doing just

that. He said he thinks that we need to quickly put some enforcement on these

particular individuals or let them know that they are violating the City

ordinance.



City Manager Cavezza said that they have cited individuals for doing that,

and said it is a matter of catching up with them. He said he thinks that we

just need to keep advertising it and said that's not something you can do.



Councilor Suber said he thinks that we need to send certified letters to

those that we know are the largest contractors per se and let them know;

because these are the ones that he thinks he sees. He said we need to start

citing people, even if we have to do it on Saturdays or whatever days they do

that, because it is continuing to get congested.



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LETTER FROM REX H. KINGREY:



Clerk of Council Washington pointed out that we have received a letter

from Mr. Rex H. Kingrey of Ashton Homes, LLC., requesting a public hearing be

called on his rezoning petition to rezone property located at 2569-A Alta Vista

Drive that was recommended for conditional approval by the Planning Advisory

Commission and denial by the Planning Division.



Councilor Suber called from the ordinance and public hearing.



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SOUTH GEORGIA WAVES BASEBALL TEAM:



At the time the vote was taken on the resolution to authorize a contract

with the South Georgia Waves Baseball Team, Councilor Woodson was not seated at

the Council table; therefore, she requested that her vote be added to this

resolution.

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WORK SESSION AGENDA:



LAND TRUST:



Mr. Ken Henson, appeared and introduced Ms. Joanne Wilkins, Mr. John

Turner who was also present in the Council Chambers with him. He then went into

some details in outlining how the Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust was

established, pointing out that about four years ago, Will White, who is a local

developer was putting in some subdivisions on Blackmon Road and said he came to

him and stated that he wanted to put a buffer on Blackmon Road. He said he

doesn't want the Popsicle fence, but wanted Blackmon Road to look nice and then

asked him, how could he do it.



He said he started out and came and talked with some officials with the

City and couldn't figure out a way to get the City to hold the buffer, and then

looked at putting it in a Homeowners Association, but decided it wouldn?t work,

because it would not protect the buffer in perpetuity.



Mr. Henson said after several conversations, he and Mr. White then decided

that they needed a land trust. He said they then went out and formed a Georgia

non-profit corporation and went got the 501-C IRS designation, to allow them to

accept charitable donations and then formed the Chattahoochee Valley Land

Trust.



He said they have a local board, which consist of Mr. John Turner, Mr.

Will White, Mr. Matt Swift, Mr. Jim Butler, Ms. Nora Garrard, Ms. Becky

Champion, Ms. Luanne Creighton and himself. He said they have been formed now

for three years.



Mr. Henson said recently they accepted their first conservation easement

on a development on Double Churches Road, where a group of developers went in

and developed the Ponouse Development, near the intersection of River Road. He

said they wanted to try and protect forever, two small creeks and watershed

areas that fed into Heiferhorn Creek. He said they wanted to protect that, as

well as the view on Double Churches Road and Heiferhorn Creek. He said they

accepted that easement around that subdivision of 25-30 acres. He said they are

currently looking at a 200-acre conservation easement out on US 80 Fall Line

freeway, as well as a farm in Taylor County and some other property in North

Columbus.



Mr. Henson said the reason someone would want to put their property in a

conservation easement is that it would permanently restrict development over

portions of their property. He said as a result of them putting an easement on

the property, they get a deduction because they have donated or given something

away to the land trust, when they give them the easement.



After Mr. Henson spoke for some fifteen minutes in outlining the purpose

of the Chattahoochee Valley Land Trust, he then responded to several questions

of Mayor Poydasheff and members of the Council.



City Manager Cavezza also responded to questions of Mayor Poydasheff and

members of the Council.



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HISPANIC BUSINESS OUTREACH PROGRAM:



Mr. Mike Gaymon of the Chamber of Commerce said as the Council knows that

our City has been involved in the One Columbus effort and said in realizing

that one of the strengths of our City is the diversity of our City. He said

our City is more diverse than many people realize. He said we have had many

initiativites designed to reach out to businesses regardless of their race or

gender or the type of the business and said the Council has supported many of

those programs, which included the BOSS Program. He said while the BOSS Program

has done a good job in meeting some needs, they felt we needed to explore other

interest. He said some of the materials that they have needed to be translated

into other languages, and that workshops needed to be presented in different

formats rather than just the traditional format that you and he may be familiar

with.



He said on last year under the leadership of Rick Alexander, they started

another new initiative, called the Hispanic Outreach Task Force. He said as we

talked about diversity, we started finding a lot of diversity within the

Hispanic community.



Mr. Gaymon said Mr. Keke Seda agreed to chair this outreach effort. He

said we asked him to explore what are the needs and gather support and let the

Chamber of Commerce know what could be done to assist.



He said today they are here to introduce some individuals who have helped

to take this idea to the next step and to make it a reality with the Hispanic

Business Outreach.



Mr. Gaymon then introduced Mr. Ron Hinze, who is responsible for working

with all their small businesses and minority business developments, who will

introduce the Committee Task Force and they will tell you about some of the

activities of the Hispanic Outreach.



Mr. Ron Hinze then introduced Mr. Efrain Hernandez, Chairman of the

Hispanic Business Committee, Mr. Hosea Richey and Ms. Reather Hollowell, EEO

Officer for the City.



Mr. Efrain Hernandez then appeared and said their mission is to develop,

support and grow the Hispanic business. He said some of their goals is to serve

as the bridge for the existing programs that the Chamber of Commerce has

available, as well as engage local employers for business. He said they also

want to design and implement and market the new programs that are directly

involved with the Hispanic Business Outreach.



Mr. Hernandez said they also want to identify participants for Leadership

Columbus, as well as gain representation on local boards and committees. He

said they also want to encourage Spanish language capability in service

provider organizations.



Mr. Hernandez also spent several minutes in giving statistical information

regarding the Hispanic owned businesses here in Columbus.



Mr. Hosea Richey appeared and pointed out how the Chamber of Commerce and

the BOSS Program helped him and his family to realize their dream by opening

their own business seven months ago. He said they decided to open up a business

in the neighborhood in which they live.

He said they have opened a successful business in South Columbus. He said he

would like to thank the Chamber of Commerce for all of their support and having

all of their forms translated into Spanish.



Ms. Reather Hollowell, the EEO Officer for the City of Columbus, then

appeared and outlined the following information as it relates to the City?s

participation with the Chamber of Commerce regarding the Hispanic Business

Outreach Program.



She said according to the 2000 US Census, the Hispanic/Latino population

is the fastest growing population in the US and this growth is reflected in the

Columbus community as well. We recognize the growing diversity of our

community and want to ensure that the services provided by the Columbus

Consolidated Government meet the needs of all our citizens, and that our

employees are prepared to embrace the various ethnic cultures that make up this

fine community.



The Purpose of the Hispanic Outreach Project



The purpose of the Hispanic Outreach Project is to determine how the Columbus

Consolidated Government can better serve the Hispanic population in our

community and to develop an inclusive atmosphere among employees and Hispanic

consumers.



HOP Committee Formed



A formal initiative of the Columbus Consolidated Government?s outreach was a

joint effort between the Columbus Consolidated Government and the Chamber of

Commerce to reach out to Hispanic owned businesses creating the Hispanic

Outreach Business Task Force. The Mission of the task force is to recommend to

Chamber leadership how to use existing programs as well as design, implement

and market new programs for Hispanic business owners and managers to support

and grow their businesses.



HOP has developed an Advisory Council of Hispanic community advocates to share

their knowledge and offer advice regarding the challenges Hispanics/Latinos

face in our community.



The Columbus Consolidated Government?s Internet Website is being translated

into Spanish. HOP developed a partnership with Shaw High School?s Global

Resources Magnet Program to have an intern student work with the City?s IT

Department to translate our website in Spanish.



HOP is pursuing opportunities to provide Spanish language classes to all

interested CCG employees. Employees who have the most contact with the public

will be targeted first.



Specific Service Needs Already Identified and Implemented by Departments



Columbus Fire/EMS ? Conduct CPR and First Aid Courses in Spanish. Courses held

at Our Lady of Lords Catholic Church where large populations of

Hispanics/Latinos attend.



Critical documents relating to fire prevention and emergency medical care

translated in Spanish. These documents are available to the entire community

and have been distributed in known areas of Hispanic population.



Police Department ? Cultural Diversity Training given to Police Officers

locally and is available through the State Law Enforcement Training Center.



Survival Spanish Language Classes conducted locally at the Police Department

and are available to officers through the State Training Center.



The Police Department maintains and has access to databases both local and

state that gives access to translators.



Recruit qualified applicants who have language and cultural diversity.



Spanish speaking officers are distributed throughout the different shifts and

divisions of the Police Department. They are on call to serve as translators

when needed.



911 has telephone access to translators who can be used in obtaining

information for dispatching public safety services as well as interpreting over

the telephone for officers in the field.



The Police Department actively participates and attends any Hispanic Community

Forums that are conducted in Columbus and participates in state programs such

as Bridging the Gap.



Sheriff?s Department ? Developed a Spanish Survival Kit; Conduct Spanish

Language classes for Sheriff Deputies.



METRA Transportation ? Bus schedules translated in Spanish and posted in all

METRA buses.



Government Access Channel ? Certain video presentations aired on the Government

Access Channel are translated in Spanish at the bottom of the screen. These

are presentation videos from the US Department of Education and Georgia

Department of Labor.



GA Cooperative Extension Service ? Completed a Hispanic Needs Assessment 2

years ago. Conducts Spanish to English languages classes for Hispanics

involved in agriculture and landscaping. Hispanics are taught proper tree care

and proper use of herbicides.



Have translated approximately 100 GA Extension Service publications in Spanish.



Conducts presentations on Georgia?s changing culture. Includes a must see

video ?The New Georgians.?



Human Resources Department ? Culture Diversity Training for all Columbus

Consolidated Government Employees.



Citizen Service Center ? Telephone access to translators/interpreters who can

be used to obtain information to help resolve complaints.



Parks and Recreation ? A bilingual employee participates in a local Hispanic

Radio program to highlight services and programs of the Parks and Recreation

programs and activities. Flyers will be translated in Spanish to advertise the

Summer Lunch Program.



Tax Commissioner ? Made presentations to the Hispanic Business Outreach

Committee (Chamber of Commerce)



Provided information to Chamber of Commerce to publish Newsletter on Motor

Vehicle tag registration insurance information in English and Spanish.



Created aRegistracion de Vehiculos Advertencia? Motor vehicle registration

flyer in Spanish.



Public Service Announcements on the CCG Government Access Channel are produced

and run in Spanish and English.



Recruit bi-lingual applicants. Current Staff includes two employees who are

bi-lingual in English and Spanish.



Utilizes WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) for

translations/interpretation services.



Utilizes the Internet translation websites to assist in communication with

Spanish speaking customers.



Ms. Hollowell said these are some of the things that we have done and said

they are not necessarily new initiatives, but are on-going. She said they are

working with the Advisory Council to determine other ways that they can

continue to serve the Hispanic community from a local government standpoint.



Mayor Poydasheff said he would like to suggest to Ms. Hollowell that she

check with the Council members to see if any of them are interested in serving

on the Hispanic Advisory Council.

He said he knows that Pastor Ron Collins and Mr. Dave Roberts in

conjunction with our Lady of Lourdes do offer English courses and said he was

going to suggest to the Chamber through the HBO that perhaps, they might wish

to set us courses to teach business personnel in the Latino community, the

English language.



Councilor Woodson said she would like to thank the Fire Department,

because they have done an excellent job, and said they were the first to come

to the table. She said when there was a meeting in the community, there were

over 150 people that showed up.



She said she has one suggestion for the Committee, she said the title of

it, the Hispanic Business Outreach sounds like HBO and then asked if we could

put a ?C? in front of it, to make it Columbus Hispanic Business Outreach

Program.



Councilor Hunter said he thinks that it would be appropriate to have a

resolution from the Council to go to the Shaw High School students who are

responsible for doing the translation of the City?s web site, because that is

really a service to the community that they are doing.



Mayor Poydasheff thanked the Chamber of Commerce and Ms. Hollowell for all

that they have done in regards with the Hispanic community.



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ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE ORDINANCE:



City Manager Cavezza said there is a restaurant on First Avenue, named

Felini's. He said they serve food, and is not allowed right now to serve any

kind of alcoholic beverages because it is within 300 feet of a church. He said

it is in fact about 295 feet from the church, and said in order to do that,

there would have to be a change to the ordinance and said that Councilor

Woodson has asked that we bring that ordinance to the Council on next week.



He said they have talked with the owner and the people involved with the

restaurant, and they have agreed that if we change the ordinance of 250 feet,

that they would only serve beer and wine with meals. He said at 9:00 p.m., they

would not become a pub and would limit their activities.

He said they can only serve outside if he gave them permission, which is

typical of what restaurants can do in Uptown. He said in no case would they

allow them to go out back, because the yard opens right into where the students

of CSU live.



City Manager Cavezza said Columbus State University opposes it, because of

the students living around it. He said they would bring it to the Council in

the form of a change on next week. He said he knows that the Council members

received a letter from CSU and have heard from other individuals on this

matter.



Councilor Suber said he talked with the owner of the business on last week

and said he would be opposed to just doing an automatic 250-foot away from

that, but said if we want to do a Special Exception, he don?t have any

problems, if the church will support it. He said if the church doesn?t support

it, he would not vote for it.



City Manager Cavezza said there is only one church within 300-feet of it,

and they have not taken a position on it and they would assume not to take a

position on it.



Councilor Suber said when we made the change for the previous business

off of Armour Road, the Lutheran Church and Pastor came before this Council and

said he would not be opposed. He said he has talked with this owner and she has

said that she can get support from the church.

City Manager Cavezza said he will follow up with her to see if she has done

that.



City Manager Cavezza said the only reason it was considered to be

changed is because it is in the entertainment district. He said it wouldn?t

apply across the City.



Some thirty-five minutes of discussion continued on this matter with

several members of the Council expressing their views. City Attorney Fay

responded to a question of Councilor Turner Pugh, pointing out that the State

does allow for this type of an exception for a restaurant. He said the way this

ordinance is drafted it is a restaurant only in the CRD, Central Riverfront

District, would be able to operate within 250-foot of a church. He said they

could not do the cover charge, live entertainment activities after 9:00 p.m.,

and they could not sell on the right-of-way without the permission of the City

Manager.



After the Council members expressed their views, there were several

referrals made by the Council, which are outlined as follows:



Councilor Henderson said he thinks that we need to have a separate

briefing prior to bringing the ordinance on first reading.



Councilor McDaniel said he would like to have the staff to provide a report

as to why the business around the corner on 11th Street is eligible to have an

alcoholic beverage license and this business that we need to do an amendment

for is not.



Councilor Davis said he would like to have the staff to go back and check

with the churches again and let them know what we are going to be looking at

here and see if their position is still the same.



Mayor Poydasheff also expressed his views regarding this matter, with

members of the Council continuing to express their further views on this

subject, after which it was then concluded.



Mayor Poydasheff said he and the City Manager will get together and then

decide how we are going to go about proposing this matter.



City Manager Cavezza said he understands the urgency, because this matter

has been put off for a long time and the owner has been very patient. He said

anytime we talk about alcohol ordinances and distances we open up a whole new

gamut and said he thinks that Councilor Henderson?s point is well taken, and if

we are going to fix it, we need to fix it permanently, as opposed to making an

exception, and said he thinks this is the issue that we are addressing here.



City Manager Cavezza said the distances to schools only applies to Grades

K ? 12, it doesn?t apply to universities. He said our issue here is the

distance to the church; however, Mayor Poydasheff said if the church has no

objections, then there is no issue.



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EXECUTIVE SESSION:



City Manager Cavezza, said he would like to request a brief executive

session after the adjournment of the Council meeting, to discuss a real estate

matter and a potential matter of litigation.



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COMPREHENSIVE PLAN:



City Manager Cavezza said they are getting ready to go back out to the

citizens to talk about the comprehensive plan. He said they have had

approximately 9 ? 10 public hearings with all the communities and have talked

with the Council informally and have discussed it at the Retreat.

He said they will go back to the citizens and inform them of everything that we

have heard thus far and this is the direction that we are going in, and then

will bring it back to the Council in a format for approval for the

comprehensive plan.



He said the Comprehensive plan is where we are going, where we want this

City to be, and said the existing land use plan is what is being done with that

land right now. He said it could be the same as the Comprehensive plan or it

could be different. He said when we come up with the Comprehensive plan, and

there is a zoning case that comes through and it comes to the Council for

approval and if it fits into the Comprehensive plan, then the Council will

approve it and everything goes on.



City Manager Cavezza said what he thinks we will have to do in the future,

if it does not fit within the Comprehensive plan and the Council approves it,

we will have to change the Comprehensive plan. He said that is one of the

things that we are hearing now, because we are talking about credibility of the

Comprehensive plan. He said as they go through it, they will talk with each

Councilor and the two at-large Councilors about their districts; so, they will

know what we will say to your constituents as we go out to your districts.



He said there are some areas where some administrative changes need to

take place. He said there are two areas, Wynnton and Boxwood area, where we

need to look at those R-4 areas that are clearly not R-4 and do we need to go

ahead and change that. He said we also have areas that are in transition,

particularly along the major arteries where there is a lot of commercial

development going on and there is some residential and commercial mixing

together, and said their concern there is to try to protect the residents as

much as we can.



City Manager Cavezza also said there are three areas that are emerging

rapidly, where we really need to pay some special attention to, with those

being CSU, the campus on University Avenue, the Medical Center, with the

Peabody Hope VI initiative, and St. Francis. He said we need to look very

closely on what the Comprehensive plan should be doing in these areas.



He said they have come to the conclusion that to go in and try to change a

lot of the Comprehensive plan would be an exercise in fertility. He said they

think that the buffer ordinance may fix the problem that is that we go ahead

and change the buffer ordinance requirements.



He said if the zoning is an A-1 going to an A-2, there would be no buffer

required, but said if A-1 went to R-1, then there would be a buffer

requirement, which would address a lot of the concerns. He said the compromised

solution seems to be appropriate buffer that has resolved many rezonings. He

said they are thinking in terms of a 25-foot undisturbed buffer or in the place

where there are no plants, then a planted buffer of 25-foot.



City Manager Cavezza said as they look at zoning classifications, they are

looking at the rural residential estate classification, one acre above, where

maybe A-1 could be changed to an R-1, rural residential estate in some cases,

and that is something that they are looking at. He said they are also leaning

towards taking R-2 out of the low density. He said currently low density

includes R-1, R-1A & R-2, and they are saying that low density should be A-2,

R-1 & R-1A

and then R-2 should be put in the medium density.



He said he thinks that going beyond that would draw this out for some time

and we would never come to a satisfactory solution. He said he would like to

have a system where we take the Council out of the process where it is simple

and easy; however, unfortunately in Georgia law, you can?t take the Council out

of the system, as they will always have to be in it. However, if we apply the

appropriate guidelines and those guidelines apply to the comprehensive plan,

then the Council will really just follow those rules.



Councilor Turner Pugh said while the City Manager is looking at the

Comprehensive plan, if the staff sees some areas like Springbrook that are

rezoned R-1, but the usage was A-1 on the one-acre lots, inform the Council so

that if the Council chose to, they can inform their constituents.



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EXECUTIVE SESSION:



Mayor Poydasheff said he would entertain a motion to go into an executive

session, as requested earlier by City Manager Cavezza to discuss a matter of

potential litigation and a real estate issue. Mayor Pro Tem Rodgers then so

moved. Seconded by Councilor Allen.





GREENSPACE COMMITTEE:



Prior to the vote being called on the motion to go into an executive

session, Councilor Henderson asked a question regarding the greenspace

committee. He said he has heard from some of the citizens that they have

offered assistance in identifying some potential areas to put in the

greenspace, to which City Manager Cavezza said that they are looking at those.



Councilor Henderson said he knows that we have a difficult task in trying

to assign someone to go do that and asked if we have considered forming a team

that would report to the Engineering Department about areas that we can start

cataloging.



Deputy City Manager Richard Bishop said we do have a Greenspace Committee

that Rick Jones is working with. Councilor Henderson then asked if they are

charged with going out and trying to identify tracts of land for greenspace.

Mr. Bishop said that they have not taken on that duty to date, but said they

would be more than willing to do that.



Councilor Henderson said that he would suggest that we go ahead and have

the committee to begin going out and identifying some tracts of land to present

opportunities for greenspace areas.



Mayor Poydasheff then called the question on the motion to allow the

Council to go into an executive session, which carried unanimously by those six

members of Council present at the time. Councilors Hunter, McDaniel, Suber and

Woodson were absent for this vote.

At 10:55 A.M., the Council adjourned its regular session to allow the

Council to go into an executive session to discuss a real estate matter and a

matter of potential litigation.



At 11:15 A.M., the regular session was called back to order at which time

Mayor Poydasheff pointed out that the Council did meet in an executive session

and discussed the possible purchase of real estate and a potential matter of

litigation, but there were no votes taken.



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With there being no other business to come before this Council, Councilor

McDaniel then made a motion for adjournment. Seconded by Councilor Allen and

carried unanimously by those ten members of Council present, with the time

being 11:16 A.M.



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Tiny B. Washington, CMC

Clerk of Council

The Council of Columbus, Georgia