City Council is set to vote Wednesday on an item authorizing the potential sale of about 39 City-owned acres off Hopewell Road, among other measures.

The January 22 meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers. (This is happening on a Wednesday, rather than its more typical Monday, because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.) People can attend in-person or watch the meeting online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ip37tURAw.

As is customary for a Regular Meeting, the agenda is divided into distinct sections that have their own ground rules. For January 22, they are:

• CONSENT AGENDA, which is for routine matters that the Council votes on collectively (so one vote that covers all included items)
• REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS, the place for proclamations, reports, and presentations for which the Council may ask questions and offer direction but cannot take binding votes
• ZONING AGENDA, where you’ll find zoning-related items that appeared on a previous Council agenda under First Presentation that can now to be voted on conclusively
• NEW BUSINESS, the home for items on a Council agenda for the first time that can be discussed and voted on decisively

Below are summaries of every item on Wednesday’s agenda.

• Approval of the January 6, 2025, Regular City Council Meeting Minutes.

  The Council will vote on approving the “minutes,” or official written record, from when it last convened on January 6. At this Regular Meeting, City Attorney Ken Jarrard detailed what he called “unprecedented” support for Milton’s position in a legal case – Chang v. City of Milton – that the City has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to take up. Also at this meeting, Ralph Davia was appointed as the newest member of Milton’s Design Review Board and Councilmember Jan Jacobus was chosen as the City’s Mayor Pro Tem (stepping in when Mayor Peyton Jamison is unavailable). For a recap of this meeting, CLICK HERE: https://www.miltonga.gov/Home/Components/News/News/2764/1351/.

   

• Approval of a Vendor Equipment Storage Agreement and Liability Waiver Between the City of Milton and Milton Veterans Memorial Markers, Inc. to Store their Equipment on City Property.

  Ahead of Veterans Day and Memorial Day, the Milton Veterans Memorial Markers non-profit places hundreds of custom-made markers around the city that honor late armed forces members with Milton ties. With approval of this measure, this organization would store the markers and related materials at a City property off Bethany Bend Road (earmarked for future park use) free of charge. Currently, Milton Veterans Memorial Markers pays for a storage unit for this purpose.

    

  REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS

• Update on the Greenprint (Plan for the Greenspace Bond Properties).

  The City has purchased more than 400 acres of greenspaces since voters overwhelmingly approved $25 million in bonds to acquire land for passive parks, trails, and greenspace including conservation land, wildlife habitats, and other natural areas. The City’s in-the-works Greenprint will be a hands-on strategic guide to identify and recommend appropriate uses and improvements for these greenspaces. It aims to identify appropriate uses and possible improvements for properties that respect Milton’s rural heritage and align with sustainable best practices.

  On Wednesday, Public Works Director Sara Leaders will review what’s happened to date with the Greenprint – including pertinent community and stakeholders input – as well as seek the Council’s guidance on what should happen next. This will include a discussion of possibly enlisting an expert to get more data that can be used to potentially designate conservation areas and other land uses.  For more info on this project, visit www.miltonga.gov/Greenprint.

ZONING AGENDA

• Consideration of Text Amendment RZ24-04 to Article 7A Crabapple Form Based Code, Sec. 7A.1.6. Density Calculations of the Unified Development Code for the City of Milton, Georgia as It Relates to the Number of Building Units and Parking Structures.

This proposed text amendment would apply only to the area covered by the Crabapple Form Based Code. It specifies that developers wishing to increase building units for each parking space within a parking structure must meet one of several criteria – rather than meet all the stated criteria – to do so. This would change the City policy back to what it had been for years prior to the 2024 adoption of the Unified Development Code (which states that all of the outlined criteria must be satisfied to allow for such increased density).

This item appeared on the January 6 agenda under “First Presentation,” meaning the Council can vote on it conclusively on Wednesday.

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  NEW BUSINESS

• Consideration of a Resolution to Set Qualifying Fees for the 2025 Municipal Elections.

  The City of Milton will hold its next municipal elections in the fall of this year. This resolution, if approved, would set the qualifying fees for candidates to be on the ballot. Citizens will vote on who fills three City Council seats – one for each of the three districts in Milton (all for “Post 1”) as well as Mayor. Per State law, the qualifying dates will be from August 18 to 22 later this year.

   

• Consideration of a Resolution for the City of Milton, GA, Directing the Sale of Certain City-Owned Real Property Located at Hopewell Road.

If approved, this resolution would authorize the potential sale of just under 39 City-owned acres off Hopewell Road, south of Bethany Bend with a portion bordering Providence Park. This property was acquired in two installments following City Council votes in fall 2022 and winter 2023.

This resolution sets a minimum bid price of $5.159 million for this property. It specifies that the City will secure a soil study prior to advertising and opening up the sealed bid opportunity to potential buyers. Once the bid opportunity is advertised, it will remain open for 90 days.