A familiar item on the Decatur City Commission meeting agenda this evening…annexation!

The commission is slated to take a vote on the petition of property owners along South Columbia and Derrydown Way – just south of the city limits – to have 31 properties of approximately 10 acres annexed into the city of Decatur.  According to the application, all lots are single-family residential.

Though a long, ongoing conversation, of late the annexation requests by groups of neighboring property owners have seemed to pick up steam.  Back in April, the entire Parkwood neighborhood west of the city was annexed by request into the City of Decatur.  Smaller annexation requests have been a semi-regular item on the commission’s agenda for the past year or so.

Decatur sent out this announcement this morning…

At their regular meeting on May 19, 2014, the Decatur City Commission adopted a tentative millage rate of 13.00 mills for general operations, capital improvements, bonded indebtedness and downtown development authority operations. This is the same as the 2013 millage rate; however due to property reassessments, this will represent an average increase of 6.62% in property taxes. This increase is consistent with new development and home sale data tracked by the City for the past three years. The State’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights requires that this increase be advertised. For property that was not reassessed there should be no increase in property taxes.

The Decatur City Commission will hold public hearings regarding this issue on Monday, June 2, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.; Monday, June 9, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.; and, Monday, June 16, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. The final millage will be set at the Decatur City Commission meeting scheduled for Monday, June 16, 2014. All meetings are held in the City Commission Meeting room, Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough Street, Decatur. For more information, contact Meredith Roark, Budget & Performance Measurement Manager or Andrea Arnold, Assistant City Manager at (404) 370-4102 or visit the City’s website at www.decaturga.com/budget.

The Decatur City Commission passed the revised tree ordinance in a 5-0 vote last night.  The ordinance promotes a “no net loss” of the city’s current 45% canopy coverage.  

Under the new ordinance, residents will be allowed to remove up to three 6-inch diameter trees every 18 months without incurring a penalty, though owners will be required to file a free informational permit so the city can track canopy changes.  It’s a complicated ordinance, but highlights include a “no net loss” requirement is triggered when a land disturbance permit is filed and the replanting requirement is triggered when impervious coverage is increased on a lot by 15% or more. 

In remarks prior to the vote, Mayor Baskett noted the fact that the City Commission meeting room was less crowded then earlier this year when the first version came up for a vote.  “The fact that this room is not full of people tonight may be construed as we wore people down. It may be construed, as the fact, that we’ve addressed a lot of the issues people had and they didn’t feel as strongly about it.”  He continued, “We’re not going to make people happy that wanted to see something much, much stronger.  We’re not going to make people happy who want government to stay out of their lives.”  He also reiterated his personal experience with a border tree nearly being cut down adjacent to his property and his desire for revised border tree regulation.

Commissioner Patti Garrett noted that she believed they had addressed many of residents’ concerns, including that there’s no longer a canopy goal of 55% for every lot when something is done to a property, there are now incentives to replant, and there is double canopy coverage for specimen trees.

Commissioner Scott Drake closed out the commission’s comments on the subject saying that “we need to trust our neighbors, and talk to our neighbors.  Tell them what we’re doing, ask them what their input is.”  He continued “It is a confusing new ordinance, so there’s going to be an education that needs to happen.  I think the arborist is going to be busy answering questions and trying to put this in a digestible package for people who are looking to do projects.”  He went on to express hope that the arborist would continually flag any inefficiencies in the process and that the commission would make changes in the future if issues were identified.  The Mayor concurred on this point.

Decaturish also has a good article on the topic this morning.  You can review the full ordinance HERE and you can view this portion of the Commission meeting HERE (click on Item V and VI A)

The effective date of the revised ordinance is Monday, July 7th.

On the agenda for tonight’s Decatur City Commission meeting, “approval of an agreement with the City Schools of Decatur and American Traffic Solutions, Inc. for equipment, installation and maintenance of an automated traffic enforcement system to detect vehicles illegally passing school buses when children are loading and
unloading.”

Back on May 13th, the Decatur school board approved an agreement with American Traffic Solutions that will result in no capital expense is required by the City or CSD.  Revenue from operation will be split between the city, CSD and the vendor, according to a letter from Police Chief Mike Booker to the City Manager.

How does it work?  Here’s the operational section of Chief Booker’s note…

The camera system uses digital image technology with integrated violation detection. The camera assemblies are bus mounted and work in both daylight and dark Each system monitors four lanes of traffic, and includes a wireless modem and GPS unit.

While students are loading or unloading the bus, the system monitors oncoming vehicles from both  directions. If a violation occurs, an eight second video is captured and three images are extracted. These show a before violation photograph, a during violation photograph, and a close up of the plate.

The images and violation data are combined into a single encoded violation file that is downloaded to the ATS office processing center. ATS reviews the images for license plate readability and transfers the video, images, and vehicle and registered owner information to the City of Decatur Police Department Each violation shows the location of the event, and a data bar also shows that the brake lights, flashing red lights,
and stop arm on the bus were extended.

The City of Decatur Police Department is responsible for reviewing all potential violations. ATS is responsible for retrieving owner information and vehicle description and printing and mailing the citation. Based on data collected from other jurisdictions with school bus safety camera enforcement programs, it is anticipated that after initial installation there will be 6-10 violations per day for ten buses. This should require less than 10 minutes a day of officer review time. As drivers become more familiar with the system, it is anticipated that violations will be reduced by 30-50%. The City Schools of Decatur may install up to 15 systems.

If approved, the system could be in place by the the beginning of the next school year in August.

Photo courtesy of CSD via WABE

As previously reported, the revised update to Decatur’s Tree Ordinance is scheduled for a vote this coming Monday.  You can view the full ordinance HERE.  A letter from City Planning Director Amanda Thompson to the City Manager summarizes the 9 month effort and the major points of this version of the ordinance.