Public Hearing Dominates Smyrna City Council Meeting

Monday’s Smyrna City Council meeting ran long largely because of a public hearing concerning a zoning request for Vintage Square subdivision in Ward 6.

Jeff Freeman, the property’s developer, sought the Council’s approval for an alternative site plan to the one that was approved when the subdivision was originally planned. He also sought to modify the zoning conditions to allow some two-story townhomes to be built in the subdivision. The existing townhomes in Vintage Square are three and four-stories.

Some residents of neighboring streets were in favor of the two-story houses, while some owners of the three and four-story townhomes were concerned the smaller houses would negatively impact their property values. Council ultimately voted 6-1 to approve Freeman’s request with Ward 2 Council Representative Andrea Blustein casting the only dissenting vote. Smyrna-Vinings Patch will have more coverage of the public hearing later Tuesday.

In other news from the meeting, Council voted unanimously to reappoint members of the Downtown Development Authority with the exception of Jim Pitts who Mayor Max Bacon said did not seek reappointment. Former Ward 7 Council Representative Charles “Pete” Wood will fill Pitts’ position. Council also approved Joan Mayfield as Ward 5’s representative to the tree board.

Council also voted to enter a service agreement with Brockington and Associates Inc. to inventory and conserve a collection of Civil War artifacts donated to the city by the estate of Gerald Cox. The City will pay approximately $9,900 to Brockington and Associates, which will come from revenue from the city’s hotel/motel tax.

“I really think the mechanism that we’re doing this with tourism dollars is so appropriate and perfect to what it is,” said Ward 3 Council Representative Teri Anuleiwcz. “The timing is serendipitous because this is the 150^th anniversary of the Civil War. National parks and sites around the country are doing many things to commemorate this. The purpose of tourism funds is to bring tourists, people from outside of Smyrna to Smyrna.”

The measure passed 6-1 with Ward 6 Council Representative Wade Lnenicka casting the only dissenting vote.

Council also unanimously approved the consent agenda, which included the award of a contract for a 2012 F-150 pickup truck to Hardy Family Ford, approval of liability insurance renewal, the use of Council chambers for a Regional Transportation Referendum town hall meeting in June and an agreement between the city and Cobb County for use of community development block grant funds. Council also voted to table a public hearing concerning the city's filming ordinance.