Saturday, September 26, 2009

Agenda for Dunwoody's Monday City Council Meeting.

Monday, September 28st
Dunwoody City Hall
41 Perimeter Center East
Dunwoody, GA 30346
7:30 p.m.
Agenda

Introduction of new staff:
  • Heather Potter, Executive Assistant
  • Rich Hampton, Purchasing Manager
  • Michael Tuller, Community Development Director

Stage Door Players Proclamation

Second Read: Ordinance to adopt the City of Dunwoody Budget Policy.

Approval of Audit Committee Policy.

Approval of Contract 09-175 (Financial Software).

Second Read: Ordinance to amend Chapter 17: Traffic and Public Roadways.

Second Read: Ordinance to amend Chapter 4: Alcohol Beverages.

Amendment to Chapter 27: Zoning Ordinance to revise the text of the Dunwoody Village Overlay District.

Second Read: Ordinance amendment to Chapter 27: Zoning Ordinance to revise the text of §3C, the Dunwoody Village Overlay District.

Update on Ordinance to amend Chapter 27: Zoning, §5A and §5D: Public notice requirements for zoning actions in the City of Dunwoody.

Resolution to accept Automated External Defibrillators.

Resolution to revise building permit fee schedule.

Resolution to adopt Traffic Calming Policy.

First Read: Ordinance to adopt Purchasing Policy.

Consideration of amendment to contract with Pond & Company for Comprehensive Plan meeting schedule.

4 comments:

Joe Hirsch said...

I wonder why the city council is making any changes to the overlay district. Why bother?

While there are probably HUNDREDS of violations of the current overlay district code, it seems disingenuous to waste any time with amendments or revisions. I suggest Dunwoody stop making any changes to any code or create new ones (unless immediate health/welfare issues arise) until it gets its act together. Seriously. City council is wasting time and money by proceeding unless it intends on having the codes it writes actually enforced.

Dunwoody had a unique opportunity to clean up all the poorly written codes of DeKalb – but it seems we’ve continued on the same path of writing things into law that are contradictory, are ridiculous, never enforced or are unconstitutional.

Why does Dunwoody have so many asinine things on its books when we had a clean slate to start with? And how did the city council members agree to pass them? Each council member has presumably read our codes since they voted on them. They should perhaps re-read our codes and clean them up before adding to the mess.

Are these currently enforced or logical to have on our books [my legal interpretation of the laws may need corrections, but I think most are clear]:>>>

Dunwoody prohibits you hiring someone for mowing your grass or using of a leaf blower on Sunday (but permits you to do it yourself)

Dunwoody does not permit loud phonographs to be played.

Dunwoody does not allow grass to be higher than 8 inches.

Dunwoody does not allow string lights - but says holiday lights are permitted up to 30 days BEFORE a holiday. [meaning: you cannot have any string holiday lights on your yard on Christmas day (or ever?)– unless you claim they are for celebrating MLK day]

No one may do fortune telling in our city.

Urinating on Dunwoody sidewalks or streets is prohibited – but woods or grass seem ok.

Dunwoody residents must “prove” they cannot get a satellite signal from other parts of their yard if they want to have their dish in front of the house.

Dunwoody prohibits fences in your front yard from being higher than 4 feet – but it’s ok to have bushes that are as high as you want.

No bushes in the Overlay District shall be higher than four feet.

Dunwoody will not allow construction on Sundays.

Parking spaces must be paved, so perhaps brick driveways are prohibited

Residents are not allowed to move items from their house to another after dark.

Dunwoody city hall grounds cannot be used before 1pm on Sunday, but doesn’t state rule for Saturday.

For-profit sales are prohibited in residential areas (i.e.: church or home garage sales)


Perhaps some of our codes were rushed in haste with the formation of our city. But each council member apparently approved them. So, they each can also work to fix them before passing anything else. Otherwise, the respect of residents is diminished. Council members don’t need to pass new codes to justify their positions if the laws don’t make sense or are not enforced. I honestly think the energies of this body are not where they should be. Sometimes doing nothing is better than making things worse.

(This Monday night is a religious holiday for some, so I won’t be able to share my comments at the meeting.)

Paula Caldarella said...

Joe is correct. Monday is a holy day for many of the citizens of Dunwoody. Why is there a meeting? Would the City Council ever think of holding a meeting on Easter or Christmas? I do not think so.

Kcaj said...

Interesting points/concerns on the holiday issue... FWIW I'll be at work...

Anyway, having listened to the work session's traffic calming measure audio/discussion, I think we all need to ask Councilman Shortal for a refund on our taxes based on his belief that citizens should only share the costs for the services they actually receive!

Example: The police are X% of our budget; but for the first year of cityhood, we haven't seen a cop car on our street! Why should I pay taxes for unused services? Just bill me for whenever I need you. Al-a-carte government! Go Deny, go!

Also, aren't city staff paid salaries and generous benefits out of our tax dollars to administer stuff like zoning applications and studies? Or is the CoD already a blackhole of do-nothing nail-filers?

Go Deny, go! Now give me back my money or learn about community...

Ellen Fix said...
This comment has been removed by the author.