CITY OF BERKELEY LAKE

4040 BERKELEY LAKE ROAD

BERKELEY LAKE, GEORGIA 30096

PUBLIC HEARING/COUNCIL MEETING

Full Minutes for May 15th, 2003

Those in attendance for the Public Hearing and Council Meeting were as follows:

Mayor – Lois Salter

Council Members: Betty Covington, Frank Lombardi, Ken Massaroni, Delicia Reynolds, and David Steventon

City Attorney-Richard Carothers

City Clerk-Claire Grimes

Public Works – Marcie Zielazienski

Citizens Present-7

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Salter called the meeting to order at 6:05 PM at 4043 South Berkeley Lake Road.

CITIZENS' COMMENTS

Ron Phelps – 4371 S. Berkeley Lake Road – Ron read a letter attached to these Minutes. In summary Ron asked Council to consider having one City official in charge of the barrage of issues and complaints regarding the City police officers rather than having Officer McClure in charge of filtering the many questions, comments and complaints made by citizens. This way the City officials can evaluate and process the information and then contact Doug. He also stated that he does not want to see our beautiful City ruined by making the residents afraid to drive through their community for fear of violating a simple traffic law. He stated that he has been told that some residents of Berkeley Lake want the police to 'write more tickets’ but he believes the more sensible message would be 'write better tickets' by practicing some enforcement discretion.

Rick Rice – 12 Lakeshore Drive – Rick stated that he is very glad the police are here to protect the area but sometimes they are too aggressive. Rick stated he has been stopped twice by the police and he feels that for the most part the second ticket was unreasonable and unwarranted. He has spoken to other citizens who have had similar encounters. Rich would like the police to write tickets that are warranted and try to handle citizens' very minor violations a little more diplomatically. He further stated that he would like to see the police write a hundred tickets a day if they are warranted and reasonable.

MINUTES

Council Member Massaroni motioned to accept the Minutes with corrections noted. Council Member Reynolds seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Council Member Reynolds moved to accept the Financial Report as filed. Council Member Massaroni seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

Mayor Salter announced that she has received the following reports: BLEMA and OEO.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS

The Mayor stated that she has tried to contact Ben Nash to ask him to plant the cypress trees he promised to plant a while back. He has been difficult to contact. He promised again that he would plant the trees but stated that he is having some financial difficulty because the property is not moving. The Mayor stated that the City Attorney told her that there really isn't much the City can do if he refuses to plant the trees. Council Member Massaroni suggested that Mr. Nash be approached by the City to purchase a buffer area around the edge of the development. Clearly the development of the parcel is not selling like Mr. Nash thought it would and he might be amenable to approaching him to buy a buffer that the City could use to deal with the problem. He might be willing to go from eleven buildings to seven buildings in order for us to buy a buffer area.

The Mayor also stated that she has received some citizens concerns about the redistricting of Berkeley Lake Elementary as having an effect on property values in the community. She has talked with the Board of Education office and has found that the process will begin in September; preliminary lines will be drawn in October and things will be finalized and published in November. The Board will approve it in December. The Mayor further stated that she has more detailed information if anyone is interested.

OLD BUSINESS

Berkeley Walk Sidewalk Project

A letter from the Berkeley Walk Homeowner's Assoc. is attached to these minutes, which was clear that the Berkeley Walk Homeowner's Assoc. does not want the City to build a sidewalk between BW and the Berkeley Lake Elementary School. The Mayor suggested that the City not build something that costs money if people don't want it. Council Member Massaroni agreed with the caveat that the City has a view of tying itself together with sidewalks, which will be built throughout the City. Therefore Mr. Massaroni suggested deferring the building of the sidewalk until such time as sidewalks are built everywhere else in the community and at that point it would make more sense to revisit whether spending more money on that section of sidewalk would be feasible. Council Member Lombardi stated that it is his understanding from the County that they intend to build that section of sidewalk someday.

Council Member Massaroni motioned to defer building this section of sidewalk between Berkeley Walk and the elementary school and revisit the issue when the County comes through the City with sidewalks. Council Member Covington seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

City Hall Planning Update – Massaroni

Council Member Massaroni presented the new and more detailed drawings of the proposed new City Hall. We will have even newer and more detailed drawings by the next meeting. Mr. Massaroni suggested that Mr. Penny attend the next Council meeting during the Working Session in order to answer all questions and suggestions that Council may have at that time.

Public Works Projects – Zielazienski

The Public Works proposals are attached to these Minutes. After much discussion and many questions asked by Council the following motions were made:

Council Member Reynolds motioned to adopt the contract with Ragsdale Construction, which would eliminate the bid process on road repairs. Council Member Lombardi seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Council Member Reynolds motioned to do the work on the dam as long as the water level would not have to be lowered in order to accomplish the work. Council Member Lombardi seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Council Member Massaroni motioned to repair the entrances to Berkeley Commons, Berkeley Walk and Miramont. Council Member Covington seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Council Member Reynolds motioned to approve the engineering costs for not to exceed $5,000 for the project on Bayway Circle. Council Member Steventon seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

City Attorney Carothers explained that it seems that this erosion has caused a sinkhole under the River Mansions street. This is the subdivision drainage system which appears to have been accepted by the City. He further stated that he had a case where children had drowned in an area that had not been maintained by a City. "If it only costs $800.00 to fix the problem I will ultimately recommend that you do that because if children are playing in it the City will be a defendant if something happens to one of them."

Council Member Massaroni motioned to fix the sinkhole between River Mansions and Berkeley Walk and ask the City Attorney to negotiate the details with the homeowners. Council Member Covington seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Council Member Reynolds motioned to ask Tom Seldomridge to approve the proposal made by Chattahoochee Landscape to fix the drainage problem on Ridge Road for $5348.00. If Todd approves the plan then allow Chattahoochee Landscaping to proceed. Council Member Steventon seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Council discussed the Downey Detention Pond at length. Attorney Carothers stated that the question remains whether it is the homeowner's responsibility to fix if it is broken. Should the City require them to fix it if it is broken? Council Member Steventon suggested that this is the same problem that is happening with the detention pond behind Rodney Hammonds' house. Council Member Massaroni stated that Miramont has a similar situation and if the City fixes one the City should fix them all. Mr. Massaroni further stated that the City needs to be consistent in the way it deals with these problems. Council Member Reynolds suggested that since the problem has been going on for a long time that we postpone a decision until next month, which will allow time to get some legal advice.

Property Maintenance Ordinance

Council Member Massaroni asked to postpone further action until the suggestions of Council Members can be posted on the website.

Greenspace Land Trust Considerations

There was much discussion about suggestions and corrections to the documents. The Mayor suggested that Council should make the proposal in June and have a final vote at the July Council meeting so that citizens would have a chance to react to the proposal.

PIB Commercial Property Status

There is no report at this time.

Other

Council Member Lombardi reported on the status of the bicycle patrols in the City. The police officer that was on duty for the bicycle patrol only saw about 15 cyclists so we need to reevaluate the program. Mr. Lombardi has been in touch with the Atlanta Bike Campaign and the head of the local Gwinnett Bike Users Group and was emailed a flyer for the police to give out to bikers. There was much discussion. This flyer is available in City Hall.

Council Member Covington motioned to authorize the expenditure of $1500 for the upcoming Council Retreat. Council Member Lombardi seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

NEW BUSINESS

Council Member Massaroni motioned for the City of Berkeley Lake to continue its membership in the Gwinnett Urban County Community Block Grant and Home Programs and to notify Gwinnett Co. of such action. Council Member Lombardi seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

Other

Council Member Massaroni motioned that Council empower someone to contact Ben Nash about whether he would reconsider our original proposal to sell the City some of his property as a buffer. Council Member Reynolds seconded the motion on the contingency that Council Member Massaroni does the contacting. Approval was unanimous.

Council Member Steventon talked about the areas around Lakeshore Drive where it is hard to see around curves because of tall bushes and trees having been planted on the City right-of-way. When these bushes die they should not be replanted. Marcie Zielazienski was asked by Council to identify and send homeowners a letter asking them to cut the bushes on the City right-of-way, which interfere with the visibility for both pedestrians and vehicles.

Council decided to have a Special Called Meeting to vote on the City's Millage Rate for 2003. The meeting will be held on May 27th at 7:00pm. at City Hall. Other Agenda items will be Greenspace Use and Restrictions and Ridge Road Drainage.

Council Member Reynolds motioned to place on First Read to amend the Budget to move $150,000 from surplus to Public Works. Council Member Massaroni seconded the motion and approval was unanimous.

CITIZENS' COMMENTS

Cindy Phelps –4371 South Berkeley Lake Road – Cindy complimented and thanked Council for their hard work and time spent running the City. She also asked Council what the plans were for the 4th of July. She asked that the water be brought to the beginning of the parade so participants can have water while they wait for the parade to start especially if it is hot. Cindy also stated that her son was one of those ticketed by the police. She stated that her son had stopped and nodded to the officer and then went on. She wanted to clarify that these people are stopping, maybe not for three seconds, but they are stopping.

Council Member Steventon will report on the 4th of July at the June Council meeting.

COUNCIL MEMBER STEVENTON MOTIONED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. COUNCIL MEMBER MASSARONI SECONDED THE MOTION AND APPROVAL WAS UNANIMOUS. THE MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:50PM.

Respectfully,

Claire Grimes