Windy Hill, Sunday Alcohol, Pride, SPLOST: Smyrna City Council

SMYRNA, GA — The roughly one-hour Smyrna City Council meeting had a slew of items on the agenda.

Among the list included: a proclamation recognizing LGBTQ+ Pride Month; adjusting the Sunday alcohol sales law; extending the Smyrna Handmade Market road closure; a cost update to the Windy Hill project; and contract approval for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax project management.

Here's what you need to know:

1. Sunday alcohol sales hours are extended for most alcohol businesses in the city.

Before Monday, businesses with pouring licenses for distilled spirits, wine and malt beverages — excluding growler shops, wine shops, cigar shops, breweries or those with educational tasting permits — were the only ones allowed to sell alcohol by the drink before 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.

Now, all of those businesses can start selling alcohol by the drink on Sundays starting at 11 a.m.

Smyrna City Council members approved the change Monday, which was raised by Stout Brothers Growler Store's owner. The business wanted to add to Smyrna Handmade Market — which began May 16 and runs each Sunday through Oct. 17 — by offering the ability for marketgoers to buy drinks and walk around.

The market starts at 11 a.m. each Sunday, so Stout Brothers wanted to offer drinks to coincide with that time frame. The alcohol sales law change is permanent, though, so those businesses will still be able to sell alcohol by the drink at 11 a.m. even past the market's end in October.

Read more: Shop 29 Local Vendors At Sunday's Smyrna Handmade Market

2. The road closure for each Sunday's Smyrna Handmade Market event is a bit wider.

Due to overwhelming vendor participation in the Smyrna Handmade Market, council members approved a change to the weekly event's road closure, extending it out to King Street from Spring Street.

This will allow 14 more additional vendors each week, compared to the 28 vendors the event could previously hold.

3. June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month (nationally and now, officially, in Smyrna).

Mayor Derek Norton signed a proclamation Monday night recognizing LGBTQ+ Pride Month, which takes place each June and honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, according to the Library of Congress — a tipping point for the LGBTQ+ movement in the U.S.

"The city of Smyrna denounces prejudice and unfair discrimination based on age, gender identity, gender expression, race, color, religion, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation or physical attributes as an affront to our fundamental principles; and ... it is imperative that young people in our community, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, feel valued, safe, empowered and supported by their peers and community leaders," the proclamation reads.

June is now officially recognized as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in the city of Smyrna.

4. The price tag for the Windy Hill project is a little steeper.

Council members approved an amendment to its agreement with Cobb County to increase the construction cost of the Windy Hill road widening project from $18 million to $23 million in SPLOST 2016 money. The change reallocates the total paid by the city and Cobb County, so that the county pays up to $23 million in expenses.

Related: Windy Hill, Cobb Parkway Improvements Move Forward

5. Council took an initial step to advance SPLOST road projects for 2022.

Council members signed off on a contract between the city and Croy Engineering for project management of the city's 2022 SPLOST projects, which total $55.75 million over 22 projects, including three joint projects with the county.

You can see the project list on the June 7 agenda here by downloading the PDF document.