City Council Takes on Zoning and HR Issues

Zoning Matters

City Council failed to render a decision on a request to change zoning on the 8100 block along McGinnis Ferry Road from AG-1 to MIX Conditional to allow for a two-story, 8,320-square foot office building and a 6,223- square foot artist studio.

City Councilwoman Bev Miller, a resident of the Shakerag community, offered an amendment to deny the proposal, saying she wanted to protect the residential integrity of the area and called the proposed zoning inconsistent with the surrounding area.

The area in question is residential along the Fulton County side, but faces a commercialized thoroughfare along the Forsyth County line.

In their recommendation to council, city staff said taking the zoning flavor of the entire area into account was part of their recommendation to support the zoning application.

Liz Hausmann said she was concerned by what else could be proposed for the area.

“What we have before us is probably a good compromise,” Hausmann said.

Miller’s motion failed by a vote of 3-4.

A second motion to approve with conditions made by Councilwoman Karen Richardson failed for lack of a second.

Councilman Ivan Figueroa made a motion to defer the decision until the March 10 council meeting. That motion passed by a vote of 6-1.

A second re-zoning application for townhomes at 11885 and 11895 Douglas Road was completely over-hauled by city council.

In 2005 Fulton County approved the property usage for up to 38 townhomes and the developer came before the city to modify that zoning from R-4 Conditional to TR (Townhouse Residential District).

Council not only denied the developer’s request, they changed the zoning to NUP, limiting the number of units to 26 detached units with a maximum of 5 units per acre.

Councilmembers cited the county’s inappropriate 2005 zoning decision as their reason for move.

However, Greg Swinks, the owner of the property, said the decision was “shocking” and said that the new zoning imposed by council left him with an unworkdable plan for the housing price point.

“This is our crack at correcting the Fulton County decision,” Mayor Mike Bodker said.

New HR Procedures for City Employees and Police IGA

The council discussed new human resource procedures for current and future employees of the city. The new HR procedures will eliminate all compensatory pay and instead will replace it with over-time pay. Meaning, if an employee works additional hours, they will not be compensated with time off, instead over-time and time-and-a-half pay will be issued.

Chief of Police Ed Densmore, said the lack of compensatory pay would not hinder his recruitment process.

“Paying over time for hours work is viewed as positive by new recruits,” he said.

City Manager John Kachmar, said he believed paying employees over-time rather than compensatory pay would save the city money because they would not have to pay one employee over time, while another one had time off for as compensation for hours.

While the council will not vote on the changes until the March 11 meeting, Kachmar told council members it was vital for them to be fluent of the measures.

“It is important for each employee to know and understand their HR policies,” he said. “The overall issue is to understand what we’ve done.”

Also, on March 11 the council will decide whether or not to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Doraville to allow Doraville to handle dispatch of warrants.

According to Densmore because the city does not have a dispatch center with 24-hour employees the city can not handle its own bench warrants.

“In order to enter warrants we have to have a dispatch center open 24/7,” said Densmore.

Densmore also said that when a person is pulled over for a traffic violation their name and identification is run for warrants there is a mandatory 10 minute response time that the city would not be able to meet without the assistance of Doraville.

“We do not have the capacity, so we’ve got to send the calls out,” he said.

The agreement with Doraville will cost Johns Creek approximately $1,400 monthly.

-- Compiled by Lydia Senn and Liz Flowers