Mayor and Council Meeting
Video Transcript
Duration: 271 minutes
Speakers: 46
The council open forum of 06/30/2025.
This is the fifth Monday, which means it's open mic night. I am mayor Kurt Wilson.
I'd like to introduce my colleagues and council members present,
council member Sarah Beeson,
council member Christine Hall,
council member Anne Pro Tem Lee Hills,
council member David Johnson,
council member William Northland,
and council member Alan Sells.
At this point, I'll now turn the meeting over to our chief executive or city administrative officer,
mister Randy Knighton to explain how the meetings run. Mister Knighton? Alright. Thank you, mayor Wilson. And again, good evening and welcome,
tonight. We thank you, for certainly being here.
This is a public forum meeting, of course, a dedicated space for Roswell residents
to speak directly,
to the mayor and council
on any matter of interest. And, we welcome your engagement and appreciate your participation this evening.
To ensure a fair, respectful, and orderly meeting, we will follow a structured format this evening, and that is to ensure that everyone will have an opportunity to speak,
fully and completely.
You would like to speak tonight, please fill out a comment card and hand it to one of the staff members at the back of the room. Most of you probably were able to access a comment card in our staff at the back of the room. If you have not and wish to speak, please do so. Make sure that you fill out a comment card so so that we can ensure an accurate record of the meeting, and we'll make sure we'll call everyone who,
would like to speak this evening.
Each speaker will be given
a total of up to five minutes to
speak, and time may not be transferred or donated to another speaker.
Everyone wishing to speak must do so during their own allotted time.
We will begin with general public comment. So if you wanna speak generally about any matter pertaining
to the city of Roswell,
we'll take those comments
first or those individuals first to speak specifically about general,
Roswell issues and common issues.
And then we will have a second iteration
of speakers this evening,
on topics,
related specifically to Mimosa Hall or Founders Park. So for instance, if you obviously have a a total of five minutes,
but if you plan to speak on Mimosa or Founders Park,
for three minutes of your five minutes, we wanna make sure we we contain those in one section in the second iteration of speakers tonight,
in case there there is a need for response
and to ensure that all questions are documented.
After that, the mayor may call on staff to address questions or concerns.
We will then begin the public comment period specifically for Mimosa Hall and Founders Park as I alluded to earlier.
If you plan to speak about Mimosa Hall or Founders Park as well as other topics,
please make sure all of your comments,
make sure that you have all of your comments during this comment period, your total five minutes.
If it includes Mimosa and Founders Park, again, that will
be in the, second,
section of open forum.
Each person will have one five minute opportunity to speak this evening.
Please direct all comments to the full, council, the Baron council. To ensure respectful and productive,
environment, we ask that everyone refrain from any back and forth dialogue, speak directly to mayor and council, and we ask that, there be no interruptions
or
personal,
direct any comments directed to any particular person. We ask that members of the audience respect the rights of others and not create any noise or other disturbances that will disrupt or disturb,
those who are addressing the mayor and council, or otherwise impede the orderly conduct
of the meeting again, and that is to ensure that everybody has a full and complete opportunity to be heard.
If, any of these rules are violated, which I do not expect this evening, but if there are any rules that are violated,
the speaker will receive a warning.
And if the misconduct persists,
we wanna make sure that,
we address that particular person,
individually, which could, result,
in removal.
All questions and concerns
are being carefully documented,
so there's no need to repeat comments already shared.
This helps us make sure we hear from as many community members as possible,
and we appreciate, everyone's cooperation,
in advance.
As always, we encourage,
those in attendance and the viewing audience to visit the the city website for meetings, events, and departmental information.
There are a number of wonderful activities here in the city of Roswell,
which promote community physical activity and leisure as we all collectively,
make Roswell the number one family community
in America.
Mayor Wilson. Thank you, mister Knighton. At this time, I have a great privilege of calling the Reverend Christopher m Todd,
senior pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church,
to the front for our invocation and moment silence.
Good evening.
Would you join me in a moment of prayer?
Almighty God, we thank you and praise you for who you are and what you do.
You God are good,
great, and gracious toward your children in creation.
You're loving and faithful,
abounding in steadfast mercy.
Thank you for creating us and sustaining us day by day.
Thank you for creating us in your image and empowering us to live in community with others.
We thank you, Lord, for this city.
Thank you for the elected and appointed officials, the businesses,
congregations, families,
and individuals that make the city of Roswell the great place it is.
Enable us now to be a city of peace and hope,
one that welcomes the stranger,
cares for the needy,
and defends the innocent from evil doers.
To fulfill her mission to provide the citizens with an exceptional quality of life.
I pray for this council meeting tonight.
Lord, we lift up mayor Kurt Wilson,
council members Sarah Beeson,
Aaron Sales,
Christine Hall,
David Johnson,
William Morthland, and Lee Hills,
city administrator Randy Knighton, but and all of the city and staff before you.
Give the mayor,
council members, concerned citizens, and other officials
wisdom and guidance
as we seek to dialogue and deliberate on the matters before them today.
In the midst of a city,
society full of divisiveness,
help us to act with decency.
Where there is disagreement, help us
to disagree with civility.
May every decision be righteous in your sight,
seeking the betterment of all who call Roswell home in any capacity.
And in their decision making and dialogue, Lord, we pray
that it reflect
the desires of your word
to do justice
and to love kindness
and to walk humbly before our god
for the benefit of all and for your glory alone.
This we pray in your name and for your sake. Amen. Amen. Would you join me in a moment of silence?
Thank you.
Thank you, senior pastor Chris Retod of Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and thank you for bringing your family tonight to be with us as well. Thank you, sir. At this time, I have the great privilege of asking United States Army Medical Corps captain Leonard Berger
to come forward and lead us in the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation
under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all for all.
Thank you, Captain Berger. I'm gonna ask you, if you would, to please stay up there while I ask the council to come down and join me down for the proclamation for the esteemed veteran of Roswell
Proclamation,
office of the mayor.
Captain Leonard Berger,
esteemed veteran of Roswell.
Whereas the city of Roswell proudly recognizes the distinguished service of its veterans,
whose dedication and sacrifice
exemplify the highest ideals of patriotism
and public service.
Whereas, captain
Leonard Berger
faithfully served the United States Army, entering the service in 1957
at the age of 25
under the Berry plan.
A program developed under secretary of defense Frank Berry to support the nation's military medical needs.
And whereas captain Berger began his service, United States Army Reserves with the rank of first lieutenant
and was activated in 1958,
earning the rank of captain in the medical corps during his active duty.
And whereas his military career concluded service as a battalion surgeon in Germany,
where he instructed medics
in medical procedures
and performed wound care and minor surgeries.
He went on to serve as a physician at a military dispensary,
caring for American service members, their families,
and local German nationals providing physicals,
sick visits, and prenatal care.
Whereas, captain Berger was ultimately promoted to commanding officer of the dispensary,
assuming leadership responsibilities over the clinic
and overseeing both medical and administrative
operations.
And whereas he furthered his medical training
through specialized courses in war surgery,
including procedures such as tracheotomies,
suturing,
and the treatment of battlefield in battlefield injuries.
Whereas following his honorable discharge in 1960,
captain Berger continued to serve others
through his commitment to pediatric medicine,
pursuing a pediatric residency
in Brooklyn, New York, and continuing
a lifetime of service in the field of health care.
Whereas, captain Berger's service in Germany
and his leadership within the Army Medical Corps
reflects his dedication to both country and fellow soldiers,
exemplifying the noble spirit of the United States Armed Forces.
Now, therefore, I, Curtin Wilson,
mayor of the city of Roswell, Georgia,
do hereby name, captain Leonard Berger,
an esteemed veteran of Roswell,
and call upon all our citizens
to recognize his outstanding service to our community
and to our country,
and that there is no higher calling than those who serve the United States Armed Forces. Congratulations, sir.
I wanna thank you all for being here to honor me. It's my privilege as well.
I
certainly,
feel that
we need
a strong military service in this country
to back up a strong
democracy.
I
certainly
feel that
there is a need for us
to realize that
citizens have their rights
and that they should be allowed to have their freedom
and their liberty
the way that
it's said in
the pledge of allegiance.
I
served in Germany for two years was not wartime
was after the war.
However,
I did
stay with troops who were activated
and waiting to go to the front
because
Khrushchev at that time was saddle
rattling and we were afraid we're going to war with Russia.
We
had a lot of military troops in the town of Hanau On Main in Germany where I stayed
and actually we were mechanized with a lot of heavy weapons and
tanks
and trucks and atomic weapons even. There were a large number of American troops located there.
We were maintaining
our presence in Germany
to show that we will never allow them to do what they did.
And as a result,
we had our commitment there to do that and I was very glad that I was part of it.
We are
entering
July 4 this coming week
and it turns out that it is the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the U. S. Army where I served.
It really is a milestone.
We have to really
be patriotic
and really celebrate the holiday
to appreciate
what we have here in this country.
So thank you all for coming and being here to celebrate for me. I was very, very thoughtful of you to invite me.
Well, good evening, everybody.
I'd like to begin by thanking you for being here.
Many of you have taken the time away from your work,
your family, and other responsibilities
to participate in this forum,
and that speaks to your commitment to this community.
Tonight is more tonight is about more than just public comment.
It's about showing up,
listening and learning from one another.
Every person here brings a perspective
shaped by life experience
and when we engage respectfully,
we help to make Roswell stronger.
You may not agree with everything that's said tonight
and that is part of what makes public discourse valuable.
What matters is how we listen,
how we speak,
and how we work together
to move our city forward.
I thank each of you for being a part of this process
and your continued investment in Roswell.
Madam Clerk, how many speakers do we have for the general public comment?
Mayor, we have seven speakers.
Outstanding. Would you please call the first speaker, madam clerk?
Madeline
Hazelwood.
Welcome.
Thank you. Good evening fellow citizens, Roswell City Council and mayor. My name is Madeline Hazelwood and I live in Barrington Farms. My full address is on the card. I'm a rising senior at Centennial High School and I've lived in Roswell my entire life.
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend an amazing and life changing experience called Georgia Girl State. This is an opportunity funded by units of the American Legion Auxiliary and I'm forever blessed to be funded by unit sixty six located in Decatur.
This program gives dedicated and passionate young women the summer before their senior year of high school the opportunity to learn about what it means to be a citizen and a chance to meet other talented young women. During my time there, I had the opportunity to serve my beloved city of Tattnall as the city recorder where I would keep track of our city meetings. I also helped plan and run rallies for the imaginary party I was representing called the Federalist, which was very enjoyable and one of my favorite parts of this experience because I had the opportunity to introduce a drum line cadence that my marching band uses,
while also learning more about the young women I was around and the chants they had acquired.
I ran for many other positions such as speaker of the house and county school superintendent, which taught me valuable public speaking skills that will benefit me for years to come. I also served as a member of the state house representatives, which taught me a lot because I had the opportunity to learn about a variety of topics and hear ideas about how to address them. Additionally, we had the opportunity to write a bill. I chose to focus on the topic of music education, which has served an important part in not just my education, but also my life. The goal of this bill was to ensure that music education became an important part of the k through 12 public school system throughout the state of Georgia.
Funding for music education programs is often pushed aside, especially in rural areas.
This bill intended to change this by requiring the implementation
of music education into
all primary grade levels curriculum. Furthermore,
this is an opportunity that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.
The biggest things I will take from this
experience are the meaning of voting, that my voice matters, and the family I gained. If you're a rising junior boy or girl interested in learning more, please reach out to your American Legion unit about Georgia Girl State and Georgia Boy State. Finally, this experience not only taught me about how our government works, but also the many voices of my generation.
I hope to leave everyone here with something to think about tonight. In a year, I will be a proud Georgia voter. My generation has many voices that are not afraid to speak up, and we will.
Also, if you are able to vote, do so because your voice matters and has an impact on the local and federal government. The
make change is through action. Those of city council, I ask that as you make decisions, please consider everyone who lives here, whether they are old or young, so that the city of Roswell will continue to be an even better place. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much.
Madam Clerk.
Andrew Hazelwood.
Good evening. My name is Andrew Hazelwood,
and I live in Barrington Farms.
My full address is on the card.
I'm speaking to you today about building a skate park in the Roswell area. As a young skater, I love taking my skills and tricks to the park.
The only problem is skate parks are a long distance away from me. Luckily, I have a wonderful dad to take me to them. But some parents don't feel like driving an hour round trip just to take their children,
their child to the skate park.
A skate park would also help the community grow, for I see a lot of adults and children at the park to watch the skaters. And the skaters can meet other people with different basis of skill sets.
I have personally learned so much from the older skaters and have felt like I belonged.
A skate park closer to me and others would bring the whole Roswell
community together. Thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to me, and have a great rest of your night. Thank you so much.
Kara, I think skate park probably needs to go up there on a as a question on skate on group one.
Thank you, ma'am.
Madam Clerk?
Bill Lunney.
Good evening. Hey, Bill.
My name is Phil Lunney.
I live in Martin's Landing
for the last thirty eight years.
I hope you will indulge me for a poem.
Seven branches
park,
a hidden start.
It's been three years ago
that I walked these trails
to and fro,
for I got a replacement hit
to renew
my walking zip.
These land purchases were completed,
but little has happened
that is needed.
The trail barely exist.
It's certainly not without risk.
I was surprised that the creek crossings were removed.
Why put in
passages
only
to have them to redo?
There seems to be no plan for this parkland.
So here's my point.
You walk by on Eaves Road,
and it's a drainage ditch is your entry
that it seems to be covered up intentionally.
And the
the the
infrastructure they put in to do water work right by Martin's Landing at Martin Road
was then taken away.
So I walked all the way through the park from each road expecting to be able to walk out
into Martin's Landing,
but instead, I had to cross a neighbor's yard.
I'm not asking for much, you know, maybe a little sign,
maybe a little
connectivity
to East Road,
and then somehow to cross one of the branches
so that I can walk
from Kroger
to my house without going down Holcomb Bridge.
One other thing, to the mayor, I'll do this directly.
Last time I saw you was down at the exercise loop,
and I asked you when you were gonna have the instructors there. I look forward to that answer. Yes, sir.
Thank you, Phil.
Let me make sure. Carol?
What questions do you have there, Kara?
I think a follow-up on eaves,
the entranceway
into
seven branches.
Madam Clerk?
Lindsay Coates.
Hey, Lindsay.
Lindsay Coates at 715,
Oak Park Place. Good evening.
As you know,
but most of our residents may not know, Roswell is in the middle of updating its comprehensive plan.
The blueprint for how we grow.
And this plan shapes everything from zoning and transportation
to housing and it's legally binding.
It isn't just some feel good vision statement. It's the foundation
for what gets built here and where.
Since our last update five years ago,
that was very in-depth and
community
oriented. Housing prices in Roswell have jumped 72%.
Rents have followed.
As a resident and a realtor, I'm happy to have strong property values. But understanding this market and the lack of inventory
options for first time buyers, middle income families,
and seniors hoping to downsize
has all but disappeared.
And yet for something this consequential,
this city has offer has only offered two public hearings.
One added at the last minute last week and the next not expected until January when you're already considering approval.
That's not meaningful public engagement.
That's checking a box.
That's,
and unfortunately, it follows a familiar pattern that we've seen.
I'm asking for three things. One, more public input
sessions, accessible and advertised
to truly hear from the full community.
Two, transparency,
publish the housing and demographic data that the city's own consultants have gathered already.
Three, inclusion inclusion of real housing options like smaller lot homes,
duplexes,
triplexes,
and ADUs
so Roswell doesn't become the place where only the wealthy can afford to live.
Teachers, nurses,
restaurant workers, and retirees are being priced out. That affects traffic,
school enrollment,
and the strength of our economy.
We need a plan that reflects the Roswell we say we are,
inclusive,
forward thinking, and rooted in community.
Right now, we're not even coming close. Thank you. Thank you, Lindsay.
Do you have update on the questions, Kara Karen?
Thanks.
Madam Clerk?
Jerica
Lewis.
Hello, everyone.
I'll be quick.
It's just simply based off Roswell Housing. I understand that we have gotten
a new company,
and we're not understanding people anymore.
But I think our main focus is we have
we haven't been introduced to them, so we no no longer know who we are. I think we're under either DeKalb County or Decatur now,
but the main issue still remains the same. We don't get any type of help.
Nobody ever come out just to check and see if we're okay.
We do exist. I understand that. We are under Roswell housing, and I understand that you guys don't have anything to do with us, but my thing is so what are we supposed to do when we need help?
My house itself was without air,
last week for almost a month before we got any type of help. I have five kids.
Four of them have asthma severely.
So it was like,
we reach out to the property manager that we know, which is Diani.
From our understanding, she did what she could.
We got maybe a AC unit maybe, like,
the week before,
somebody even just came out to just even check the furnace or whatever you call it.
But it's
like, at what extent
do we exist to the people even though we are Roswell housing?
Just because we have that name,
I feel like we are fortunate just like everybody else that live in Roswell housing. We work just like the regular people,
and I feel like, again, that's our home. Even though it's affordable, it's our home.
Our kids grow up there.
That's like, why can't we have a playground in the back of our apartments for our kids to come and play? Why do they have to go all the way to Walla Park to
do something or
go to the gym? I mean, it's it's it's a nice area in the back of the house. Instead of a car's parking there, why can't there be, like, a small little playground?
We have small kids. Sometimes we're cooking dinner and the kids wanna go outside, so we can't watch them all the way down the street at the other park. Like,
I just want somebody to, like
we matter too, like, not just
the nice housing. Somebody come out and look at us or somebody come see what's going on. Like, you don't know what's going on because nobody come check. Or if you guys come check, they'll say, hey. We fixed this. But they don't fix it.
They'll make a they may rig it up or something, and then it's broken again. So
that's my only concern. Thank you. That's right.
Thanks, Kara. Thank you. And we'll address that. Yes, ma'am. Here here at the end, the conclusion of the comments.
Madam clerk.
Courtney
Rozier.
Hey, everyone. Hello. We're Courtney. My name is Courtney Rozier. I live at 540 Hembree Road.
Jennifer Donlon, founder of Roswell Empowered and a Roswell citizen wishes she could be here tonight but has a conflicting family priority.
I'm proud to share her comments
with mayor, council, and the community.
On Saturday,
June 21, we organized and hosted the first ever pride walk in
Roswell. The rock the walk was a great success with over 600 people showing up
to peacefully walk with friends, family, and neighbors down Canton Street.
The community of Roswell really showed up and rallied behind this event.
We had several businesses offer discounts and incentives,
open early, and host after walk celebrations.
So many Roswellians
jumped in to donate their time, talents, candy, buttons,
beads, and other pride goodies.
I would like to thank the Roswell Police Department for patrolling the walk and ensuring everyone stayed safe.
Towards the end of the walk, as I was bringing up the rear of the crowd, I was next to a patrol car that had its window down. I leaned in and thanked the officer for being there, and it was response was, of course. That's what we're here for.
We had zero incidents reported and reported and experienced so many people driving by honking and waving in support.
I would also like to thank all of the people I spoke with and coordinated with at city hall.
Every person I spoke to was so
helpful and kind each time I called and took time to answer all of my questions that I had. We wanted to ensure we were following all the rules by staying on the sidewalks,
not impeding traffic, and following all safety recommendations. The staff even helped with communications to Roswell PD. I'm The staff even helped with communications to Roswell PD.
I look forward to working with all of the incredibly helpful individuals at city hall in the future and for years to come.
We were featured on the Burt show, a morning radio show which is nationally syndicated
and airs in several markets.
They are in Atlanta,
Dallas, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis,
Nashville,
Charleston,
Kansas City, and New Orleans.
On Friday, June 20, when they had me on, Bert himself announced that he and Rebecca would be attending the pride walk.
When he arrived, he was stunned at the turnout
as were we.
We expected maybe a 100 people to show up and got over 615
dogs.
Bert said that he had done a lot of first time events, and he said it was unheard of to see this kind of turnout.
The Bert show then had me back on Monday, June 23 to talk about how great the walk
was and how next year the crowd will likely be doubled and that he hopes I've already started planning.
The day was full of pure joy, and so many people reached out to me and tagged me in post expressing their gratitude and excitement for such a simple but important event here in Roswell.
I'd like to share some of these comments.
Super proud of my family and grateful that they joined me in making history,
the first ever Roswell pride walk. Thrilling to be surrounded by families like ours and those who support us,
I never knew there was this much sameness and support in our southern suburb.
What a day for our family to see so much love from our neighbors.
A million thanks to Jennifer and her grassroots,
Roswell Empowered, for putting this together.
One mom trying to make the future safer for her son made history today.
Shout out as well to the Burt Show for showing up to support and Gate City Brewing Company for operating
for opening up early so we had a place to gather afterwards.
Also, thank you to the Roswell Police Department for being present to keep things safe and moving along. Here's to a 100 more Prosebel ride pride walks. And here's another comment.
The inaugural Roswell empowered pride walk, 06/21/2025.
Bravo, Jennifer Donlon.
You did this. You brought the Roswell community out in numbers and enthusiasm.
That was overwhelmingly
beautiful.
Roswell, you showed up and showed out.
The laughter, lightness, love, and legacy was so immensely moving.
Today provided witness for any queer child or person
that they are surrounded by love and support and community
here in Roswell.
It was a breathtakingly
beautiful day with family, friends,
chosen family, local business owners, political leaders, and hundreds of new friends and allies, young and old. I've never been prouder of our city.
Roswell Empowered's goal is to obtain five zero one c three status and to continue this important work of visibility,
love, acceptance, and acceptance.
Thank you Roswell for your support. I am forever grateful. Jennifer Donlon.
Thank you. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you, Jennifer.
Thank you, Courtney. Madam Clerk. Suzanne Crawford.
Hi. I'm Suzanne Mills Crawford, an almost four year resident of Roswell. I reside at 300 Merritt Drive in East Roswell.
So good evening to you, mayor Wilson Hi. Council, city of Roswell staff, and my neighbors.
I am grateful for the opportunity this fifth Monday affords us to speak to you and to listen to each other, to hear the ways in which our city government impacts our lives.
The idea of an open forum makes me hopeful and grateful for our representative democracy
of speaking and listening in all their forms, so thank you for this opportunity.
I was inspired to be here tonight by what happened to our neighbors at 9995
Old Dogwood Road.
That young people were being exploited and assaulted there is reprehensible.
That a 911
call led to arrests
suggests that a single person and an effective system
can change lives.
That a community can rally around neighbors, that city officials and departments as disparate as parks and rec and code enforcement and fire
can partner with county level support services,
school personnel,
and nonprofit social service providers,
and generous regular folks
to provide care is as our city as our Roswell City Communications described it, remarkable.
And yet, from my vantage point, the statement posted on Roswell connections that quote, together we turned a potential crisis into a story of hope and humanity
is an unfinished
story.
From my vantage point, the people whose home
was the Economy Hotel were my neighbors.
I've been a public school teacher for many years and I'm a parent of kids who attended and attend Esther Jackson Elementary, Holcomb Bridge Middle School, and Centennial High School. So when I learned
of the closing, my heart broke. Some of those neighbors were my children's classmates, my friends, students.
They were kids who should be studying for exams that were happening the very days that they lost their homes.
They were preparing to celebrate the end of the school year and getting ready to say goodbye for the summer,
not until maybe forever.
That unsafe living conditions were only addressed after the arrests strikes me as surprising
at best. The photos and videos that were posted on Roswell connections website show exterior
areas
that were grossly
unsafe and should have been remedied earlier.
Even a cursory look at housing and hotel options in Roswell tells me that it was unlikely
that families were able to stay here in Roswell to remain our neighbors.
When I attempted to learn more about the housing authority of the city of Roswell,
I was only able to find one agenda from a board meeting in 2025
in January,
and the most recent minutes were from October of twenty twenty four.
Our economy hotel neighbors have been referred to as occupants
in communications
in our city's YouTube channel, a term that I don't really even have words for in the context
of losing one's home of multiple years.
It's summer, so every teacher I know, even the ones who've just finished teaching summer school, the ones whose students are at preschool
or community colleges or prestigious graduate schools, the ones who drive over an hour from their homes, the homes that they can afford on their teacher salaries to teach in schools in Roswell,
they are all reflecting on the twenty twenty four, twenty five school year. They're thinking about that quiz that didn't measure what they were hoping to measure.
They're refining slides that supported their students in successfully mastering difficult calculus content.
They're meeting teacher friends for coffee and literally talking about what went well and what they can do better next year.
This is one of the best best best things about school, about being a teacher, that there are transitions between lessons
and units and years that invite retrospection,
that inspire contemplation,
that create opportunities to learn both from one's successes
and one's failures.
But I know this is not unique to education. I know that you strategize and evaluate
and problem solve in your roles as leaders of our city. And so my request for you tonight
is that the events leading up to the closure of the Economy Hotel be officially
and systematically
revisited,
so as to expose opportunities to do better, to be better.
I urge you to look at what happened,
to examine how the closure impacted our neighbors,
to allow the potential crisis
to become a story that continues to be written for dignity for our neighbors,
for inclusive housing,
and for the hope and humanity the city communications department saw in the closure of the Economy Hotel.
Thank you. Thank you.
Did you get that down, Kara?
Thank you so much. Madam Clerk?
That's all the comments for general topics. Thank you so much.
Alright. So in the meantime, I'm gonna ask some of the questions that are up on the table.
Is there a plan to build a skate park in Roswell?
Mister
Malone?
Good evening, sir. It is definitely something that we are looking into and looking at all
opportunities as we look ahead at park development.
It is something I think that we'll need to discuss and,
strategize with the elected body, but definitely something that we're looking at. No official plans are in the works yet for an official skate park location yet. Thank you, sir. What's the plan for 7 Branches Park? Can we add connectivity over Eaves Road and from Kroger?
I think, if possible, sir, I'd love to get talk to this individual offline and see what we can do with our trails team, see if there's possibilities for some in house projects especially with the activities
out there. I think there might be some opportunity.
Phil Loney,
it's a gentleman.
Public hearings for comp plan 2045.
Jeff?
Shell?
Mister mayor and council
excuse me.
Yeah. We absolutely are having more than just two public hearings. We'll have several events I need to finalize. We're just getting started now. We're just pulling together the data. We're just starting to meet. We wanted to make sure we had all the dates so we could plan through the fall, the different times and opportunities for community events,
the progress we're making with the plan. So we're looking forward to that and grateful for the attention,
on the comp plan. And we'll be updating the web page. I'm looking at it this week. I know that,
I needed to have that ready. So, we're looking to get it updated this week. And will we be publishing the housing and demographic data?
Yes. That'll be in the assessment. That'll there that's absolutely. There'll be quite a bit of data. And in fact, one thing different about this comprehensive plan is it's a lot more technical,
and focused on the financial impacts or economic growth,
that kind of data, the impacts of
economic change.
So you'll have a lot of technical data. We're anticipating many more technical memos at the beginning
than we have done in the past. Outstanding. Yes, sir. And will that include a diversion
of housing options?
So there's a that will be a policy question. So the, consultant team and the staff, we pull together technical information. We'll work with the community and bring forward,
observations about housing and
options and choices
to for you to consider as policy. Yes, sir. Michelle, thank you so much.
Randy, this next question. Who should residents go for help and support for the Rousselah Housing Authority?
Is there someone else residents should be talking to?
And I'll I'll save the last question for last.
So we
That was miss Lewis who raised that question. Yes, ma'am. I'll be glad to speak with you directly and connect with you and make sure that you are connected to the appropriate person
who currently or appropriate person and or entity that is currently overseeing
their, the,
housing location.
I think, I think you and I have spoken previously. Is that correct? Yeah. That's right. So I'll I'll make sure that,
I connect with you directly
and we'll get you in touch with, the appropriate person to address any of the questions and concerns that you have. I'll make sure that happens this week.
Lee Lee, can you follow-up on that as well? Thank
you.
Can this
the next question is can the city revisit the events leading up to the economy hotel closure to take a deeper look at at what happened and the impact the closure had on residents?
Sure. Let me ask that. Sure. And thank you for the question regarding the Economy Hotel. I will tell you that,
as many of you know, the the
the incident leading up to the economy hotel resulted in several arrests for people who are engaged in human trafficking.
This mayor and council over the past three plus years has made,
addressing human trafficking in this city a priority.
And as a result, there have been,
over 50 women rescued from human trafficking in the city of Roswell and upwards of
between eighteen and twenty,
spa massage,
establishments
closed in the city of Roswell.
In addition to a number of other steps that we've taken that have been very tangible
in addressing what really is a,
significant
human issue.
And so, the events leading up to,
the closing of the hotel,
I think quite frankly,
was,
one of the,
most significant things,
the city has done over several years.
One, because
of the human trafficking issue. Two, because of the,
decrepit,
living conditions that people found themselves,
living in at the Economy Hotel. The investigation
itself gave us greater entry
into the hotel,
to be able to assess what was really happening. There are certain provided
to,
hotels in terms of being private establishments that does not allow a full
assessment until or in this case,
until in this type of investigation
unfolded.
What I will say is that during the course of addressing the hotel,
we had to be sensitive to several things.
One,
it still was,
the end of the school year.
We understood that that was a significant issue with children still being in school, and so we engaged the Fulton County School System and had several people on-site
to help facilitate,
priorities,
for school children.
Secondly, we had the issue of a
a establishment,
a housing establishment that turned into a housing establishment
that was in peril. And so we had to balance the,
need to address the real housing issues that people were then faced with
and also with a building that was in peril and in jeopardy of,
not being unsafe.
And so I think, the city honestly did a did an excellent job of addressing those issues. We we detailed all of that at a public meeting
a couple of months ago,
and,
we were able to transition everyone out of the hotel,
find them housing,
and, assist the school children,
with,
priorities and being able to,
complete the school year in good fashion.
Obviously, we,
have done a number of of debriefing sessions related to the the Economy Hotel,
the manner in which we handled it, and the manner of which we could, perhaps improve in the future. We hope we don't have these situations in the future, but I can tell you we will continue to monitor and assess
these types of establishments because we want to eradicate
one human trafficking. We also want to eradicate,
deplorable living conditions,
here in the city of Roswell. And since that time, we've made a couple of other assessments and will continue to do so of other similar situations.
And so,
you know, we always want to be better.
I think given the, very grave conditions that we were faced with as a city,
one, the human trafficking issue, two, the rehousing issue.
I think the city did a a stellar job in being able to handle and balance all of those different factors
that were in play. Again, that doesn't mean that we can't improve and we continue we'll continue to do so.
But given the,
the magnitude of the situation,
I think, ultimately,
we're able to,
address all concerns,
in a manner that is indicative of the professionalism that we attempt to display and exhibit,
every day.
Thank you, mister Knighton.
Doctor Panino, is Ashley Glass on the general comments or moving to the mimosa comments? Thank you, sir. Alright.
Excuse me, mayor. I'm sorry. I believe there was one comment card
for miss Stone that should have gone to the general public
sec section. Is that correct, madam clerk?
That is correct. Okay. Susan Stone.
Welcome, Susan.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to speak.
I am talking about trees, not Mimosa trees. And this is something that I've wanted to address,
for quite a long
time and have not, so it's a little bit of a a serendipitous
jog to the front here with the mimosa issue. I'd like to address the demise of trees along Canton Street, which we all love and we know is such a precious, valuable, thoroughfare in our community.
In the last eight years since I've lived here, and I live right off of Canton Street and chose to live there because of the character, the historic nature, and the beautiful trees,
there have been,
over a dozen trees that have been removed.
Six at,
100175
Canton Street, which is the corner where the Lehigh offices are, one at 11:58,
one at 1137,
one at 1025.
It was a huge beautiful oak tree.
One in front of the residence at 1015,
one in front of 984
Canton Street, three in front of the tavern,
and two in front of Ips that were also
old specimens, very tall, had beautiful wide canopies.
And that's a total of more than 15, I believe 17 trees. And I I might be a little inaccurate and underestimating,
But that's 17 trees that have come down in my eight year tenure of living here and enjoying Canton Street,
which I walk almost every day. And
guess how many trees have been replaced in those locations?
None.
So
I know there are a lot of people who love trees. I've planted five on my property since I've been here. They're so important to our health, to the vibrancy of the community.
People say, oh, I love that tree lined street because it's a pleasant thing.
And I I just feel like whether these are public spaces or private spaces,
we should have some system, at least when it comes to a historical thoroughfare that we have other regulatory organizations
monitoring.
Maybe consider,
GLED to help in any capacity that I can,
some kind of
a defined process
when comes to eliminating trees along Canton Street. So I guess my questions for you all are, and I'd and I'd love to speak with someone about it, is what is the process
for removing trees along Canton Street? Because there are several left, but they're really not in great shape. So sooner rather than later, they're gonna be gone too.
And just imagine Canton Street without any tree canopy.
It would be very hot and uncomfortable and unattractive.
Is there an ordinance in place that perhaps when someone takes out a permit, if one's required,
to remove a tree that within an appropriate time period based on seasonal planting conditions
or another tree of similar,
not size, but species,
perhaps a mature specimen could be designated or required to go in in that tree's place?
And which city organ organization perhaps regulates,
the tree health or the tree
landscape? Is it the HPC?
Is it parks and rec? Is it the DDA? I mean, sort of I guess my question is who's in charge
or who's not paying attention?
And we all know with trees, if you don't
catch them or maintain them, next thing you know, they're all gone,
and then we have nothing and we have to wait, you know, twenty years to have a similar look.
So
am I a tree hugger? Most definitely.
Do I love Canton Street? Yes. Do I appreciate the opportunity
to speak with you all and address this?
Definitely. And if there's any way I can help,
please send me in the right direction.
Thank you. Thank
you, Susan.
Jackie, are you here?
Do you wanna address trees? The tree ordinance? Are you
I don't see Jeff or Michelle.
You guys wanna address the trees?
The specifics. Because of what is the plot what's the process for removing trees on Canton Street?
Are there tree ordinances in place, especially when a tree is taken out?
Which department of the city regulates the tree removal process? So the community development department is where the tree ordinance is in place. I'd say that again. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. The community development department is,
the tree ordinance is within the unified development code, which is run through the community development department.
So trees that come out,
if they were under on on Cannon Street, if they were businesses and they were going through a project or something, they might have had an expansion or I don't know. We'd have to take a look at the projects that went through over the last eight years.
Some of them might have been doing expansion or,
it could have been a dead tree.
They would have been looked at the city arborist.
I am not the arborist, in case anyone asks.
But, they would have been looked through the city arborist and we'd have taken a look at the code as to whether or not the tree, needs to be removed. And they might have gone out and taken a look at it, and everything else could have been struck by lightning. I have no idea. I'd have to take a look at all the locations
to see,
why
the trees were removed and take a look at this, the permits over the last eight years,
for those locations to see what,
what have been
indicated and asked for by the applicants when they removed them. And we do have all that information,
for the tree removal permits in the over the last eight years in our system. So we'll answer the eight the, Susan brought up, I think, several different locations. We can get those locations, Carol. Let's follow-up on those all those specific addresses, and then we'll answer those
one by one. That'll work. We can if you can get that to us, we can take a look at the,
addresses and review those over the last eight years for those 15 trees. Thanks. Are there tree ordinances in place, especially when a tree is taken out? We do have tree ordinance in place. We do have items that indicate,
what for replanting.
Depends on what how much you're taking out and what you plan on doing. And,
there might be some stuff that you have to replant and sometimes you do not.
And which arm or department of the city regulates the tree removal process?
Green development department. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much, Jackie. Thank you, Susan.
And Susan, we'll follow-up specifically on each of those addresses that you mentioned, and we'll follow-up on the if we miss it, we'll come back and look at the tape, and then we'll follow-up with you on that as well. Thank you. I am, I think that concludes
the
general items,
and,
thank you to everyone who participated in the general public comment.
We appreciate the wide range of
topics and concerns shared. At this time, I'd like to invite our city administrator, mister Randy Knight, to provide a brief overview of the Mimosa Hall Founders Park public comment process
for the rest of the evening. Mister Knight. Alright.
Good evening again and
sorry. Good evening again and, thank you, for your patience.
We will now begin the second segment of public comment, which is focused specifically on
Mimosa Hall and Founders Park project. This topic has generated, of course, significant interest,
and we want to ensure that those everyone's voices are heard,
respectfully,
and clearly this evening. As a reminder again,
please, if you have not, fill out a comment card, if you would like to speak,
and hand that to one of our members of staff. Ultimately, that makes its way to our city clerk,
at the back of the room to call names.
Each speaker, again, will be provided up to five minutes,
and time may not be transferred or donated to another speaker.
Each individual must speak, of course,
for themselves, and please direct your remarks to the mayor and council,
as a whole.
We are recording and documenting all comments and questions, and if a point has already been raised, you may not need to, repeat that item since we already have it recorded, and we wanna make sure that you maximize,
your time.
Of course, again, no interruptions
or,
direction to anyone personally.
And,
of course, no disruptive,
behavior, will be allowed. Again, I wanna make sure that everyone is given a full and fair opportunity to be heard.
And following, this segment,
the mayor may invite, members of staff,
forward to respond to any key questions or themes,
that have been raised. Again, thank you very much,
for your patience. We look forward to hearing from you this evening, mayor Wilson. Thanks, mister Knighton. At this time, I'd like to invite recreation and parks director, Steven Malone, to come forward
and give a brief overview. It'll be about five minutes of the Founders Park Mimosa Hole project for those who are watching
that may not be familiar with it. And then after that, I will ask madam clerk for,
speakers to come forward on public on Mimosa and Founders
Park. Director Malone, welcome, sir.
Good evening, mayor and council. I I'll try to make my comments brief tonight. I know there's a lot of people here tonight that wanna speak on the topic.
As an organization, we strive to get the most accurate and up to date information into the hands of the public as soon as possible.
All the information pertaining to this project can be found online at roswellconnections.com.
Real quick, I wanted to take this opportunity to go through some of the key mile stones and dates associated with this project.
And this project kicked off in March 20, March
in 02/2004.
We started this concept of what we're calling Founders Park. And the intent and purpose behind it was that we were trying to find an opportunity to create connectivity
throughout our historic assets. And when I say historic assets, I'm primarily
referencing
Barrington Hall, Town Square,
Holly Hill, Mimosa Hall, and Bullock Hall. They all have touch points and connectivity
within them. So in March,
we conducted,
sixteen hours of what we called a design charrette,
And that included staff, our design firm, the president of Friends of Mimosa,
the president of,
Bullock Hall, and additional representatives
that were part of those boards.
Throughout that exercise,
the team was able to identify
25 improvement projects,
to include in this Founders Park plan. And we also went through an exercise to say, okay. What were those top
five
improvement projects that we wanted to select that we could activate.
And that's where we started to drill into that plan a little bit more and kinda get more substance into the priorities.
From March to September of twenty twenty four, we kinda went internal, and the design firm and the staff started to work and were fine on those top five priorities
that came out of that design charrette.
Those concepts
were based and identified on those priorities.
I think it's important to note that throughout the design process
state historic preservation
office to ensure compliance
in historic preservation as it related to this project.
On 09/12/2024,
the project was presented to the Friends of Mimosa and Friends of Bullock,
where we kind of provided a very high level overview
we've kind of shared with the group.
The presentation included key elements such as stormwater retention,
an event lawn space, a restroom catering building, parking lot options,
and vendor access.
09/23/2024,
we brought this project before the mayor and council, and we received
initial
project funding through ARPA funding. And I think it's important to reference the funding source.
The ARPA funding that was received
had to be encumbered before the conclusion of 2024,
which meant all of those funding dollars
must have been
in internally
procured
or there was the potential and risk of losing access to those funds.
We also went through the process of describing what was the construction manager risk procurement,
which meant that we were bringing in a construction firm at about the 80% mark so that they could help push us through to the 100% design documents
as it related to this plan. And that allowed for,
much more refined and accurate cost estimation as we were going through the process.
10/09/2024,
the same presentation shared with Friends of Mimosa was also presented to the Historic Preservation Commission
per city ordinance nine point one point two. That requires the project,
be presented and,
the board be afforded the opportunity to comment.
No substantial comment was received at that time.
November 12,
additional ARPA funding was authorized by the mayor and council to complete all the phase one components.
And then December through April 2025,
the city, the design firm, and what we're calling the CMAR, the construction manager at risk,
advanced
the construction plans to a 100%
documents.
We received the final
conformed construction documents on 04/18/2025.
When we received those documents,
they were immediately submitted through community development
for all the official permitting process.
On 05/01/2025,
the approved land disturbance pit
land disturbance permit was issued for the project,
and that's where we were given
the notice to proceed to the contractor.
05/15/2025,
regular scheduled meeting of the Friends of Mimosa,
again, reviewed the high level project details.
May 26, we started to mobilize construction on-site.
And then June,
a final site walk through with staff and the contractor
was able to preserve three of the original slated trees for removal as we did our site walk.
I I will take that this opportunity
to to just tell the mayor and council that as professionals, we're always focused on continuous
improvement. We're always looking for opportunities
to be better. Communication
is one of our top priorities,
and we're actively
looking for ways to enhance
how we keep people informed as we move forward.
I also wanna thank this mayor and council.
It's an exciting project. We cannot talk about how great we think this project will be for all of the Roswell residents
to enjoy the relevance of these historic assets as we move forward. And I wanna thank the elected body for the over $17,000,000
in, city resources that you've provided over the last three and a half
years that have gone towards our historic assets.
Thank you, director Malone. Any other any other additional comments, sir? No, sir. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time and appreciate that short presentation. Thank you.
Madam Clerk, how many speakers do we have for Mimosa Founders Park public comment?
Mayor, we have 22 speakers on this topic. Outstanding.
Yes, ma'am.
Madam Clerk, would you call the first speaker, please?
Sally McKenzie.
Are you able to use the that's that's that's fraud.
It's it's really for your public comment questions. I don't think it's for a public presentation.
Is is any comments or questions you have or it's your time.
We've always had the option in the past. I know I've used it in the past,
at open mic nights.
Do we have the ability for However
Hold on a second. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on a second.
Do we have the ability for We haven't seen it. Have we seen the presentation?
Oh, it's just a video that that that shows what I'm talking about. I don't think you've seen the presentation.
I see.
It just helps
me convey my message is all.
I mean, I Hold on. Hold on. Wait. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Let's make sure that, you know, we're we're continuing to to engage and determine how we
to best handle this. I think the one challenge is with any video that we have not been able to see that's gonna be publicly
displayed,
there could there could be a concern there. Obviously, there probably is not here. I'm just I'm just making the point. So give us just a moment. Okay. See if we can make that happen. Yeah. Give us just a moment. Do you want me to tell you what it is? It's
Okay. Okay. Alright. Okay.
Let's see. Do we have the ability to get,
a thumb drive
a thumb drive?
Let's see. Hold on one second. We'll get it here for you.
We need to publicly say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hold on one second. We'll we'll get you here.
Figuring that out also because you said Yeah. We'll get that taken care of. Hold on one second.
Okay. Alright. Miss McKenzie, let us get you set up here. Just a moment. Thank you.
Well, just Yeah. Yeah. It's gonna be a point of five minutes.
You know
what?
Let's just
the the video is fine.
Alright. Are you
oh, we'll keep that going here. We can get it plugged up here in just a moment.
Thank
you.
There are errors on it.
Yeah. Alright. That's fine. Can I just I'll just do the overhead? Thank you for trying. Thank you for all that. I don't know what Alright. Okay. We're gonna Alright. Sell it. The video
doesn't work?
No. There's errors errors on the thumb drive. Not they tried.
Drive. I'm sorry. Alright. I can't I've well, I have my computer. I can send it, but I don't know. No.
Do you wanna Sally, do you wanna try to
come back later and try to send it?
Go.
Thank you.
You're good to go.
My name is Sally. Good evening, mayor and council.
Thank you for,
having us for this opportunity
to speak about something that clearly,
so many of us are passionate about.
My name is Sally McKenzie. I've lived in Roswell for thirty years.
The last 13 of those being at 47 Goulding Place in the historic district.
I've been active in my community, including serving on the twenty thirty five Roswell comprehensive plan
committee, and also the historic district master plan committee.
Soon after moving to our current home in 2013,
I watched in shock
as the majority of the 16 acre property surrounding the historic Goulding House at the end of my street
was clear cut.
The amazing,
amazing tree canopy and the specimen trees lining the street
were all clear cut. Gone.
I watched I also watched with disillusionment as the other developments in the historic district were approved. Developments that destroyed the very qualities
that define
that define it.
So along with several other engaged Roswellians,
I formed a group, a grassroots group called Citizens for Responsible Development in Roswell or CRDR.
We were vocal in our fight for the recognition and protection of our city's defining qualities,
including the tree canopy and green spaces that are woven into the fabric of Roswell.
In late twenty sixteen, I received a call from the then City of Roswell's
community development director.
Very concerned, she told me that a commercial developer wanted to buy Mimosa Hall and had a plan to put 56 homes on the nine acre property.
The plan called for keeping the house and most of the grounds intact
while taking out the tree canopy and grading the surrounding land.
Through CRDR,
I met
Michelle King and Gus Haydorn,
two people who recognized that Mimosa
Hall was a valuable natural, historic, and aesthetic asset, not only to Roswell, but to our state and beyond.
I reached out to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
about the proposed sale.
They placed Mimosa
on their yearly 10 places in peril list
because they also recognized the fact that Mimosa Hall was not just about the house.
It was about the historic gardens,
amazing specimen trees, and tree canopy that came together to make Mimosa Hall the amazing historic property that it is.
Michelle and Gus
took the ball and ran with it. Word quickly spread, and several more individuals
who were passionate about Mimosa Hall became involved.
And, thankfully,
after much encouragement from from Roswell City from Roswell residents, the city agreed to buy Mimosa Hall
in order to protect it from inappropriate
development.
In August of twenty seventeen, Michelle King, Gus Haydorn, Kelly Callan, Steve Gibson, and a few others, including myself, elected a board of directors for Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens,
a group
created for the sole purpose of advocating for the sustainable future of this amazing,
truly magical place in Roswell.
This early board dedicated so much of their time and even money to the mission of ensuring Mimosa would retain its historic integrity,
and they also sought to add a vibrant new chapter to its story, one of community engagement,
education, and enjoyment for decades to come.
They rec they represented an important perspective,
one not found
under the dome at City Hall.
They were the dedicated,
passionate
voice of Mimosa Hall and Gardens.
So that's a little bit of history about the recent history of Mimosa.
And I I just want to say that I know that maintaining our historic properties
is extremely expensive,
and I personally
understand
the city's desire,
almost need,
to monetize
Mimosa,
but only
if it does not destroy the integrity of the property itself.
Mimosa hall
and gardens
was worth so much more
than the yearly income
from an events venue.
For those that insist that this was not clear cutting,
we leave it to our fellow Roswell citizens to decide for themselves.
Before.
After.
And I have just been made aware that they have now they have now proceeded to the East Side Of Monmouth, so where they're clear cutting for the retention pond. Miss McKenzie.
Thank you. Yes. Your time has expired. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Shelley.
Thank you, Shelley.
Madam Clerk.
Will Cawley.
Good evening.
Hi, Will. My name is Will Collie.
I own several commercial properties
in the Roswell Historic District.
I've developed real estate all across
Atlanta.
And Roswell is the best community, and I think for two reasons.
The differentiators
are the river and our historic assets.
In fact, our company has saved two historic properties
from likely destruction, one in Marietta and one in West Point, which was listed on the Georgia Trust for historic preservation
places in Peril.
We refurbished them and work with the state and U. S. Department of Interior to have them placed on the National Historic Register.
So I'm particularly passionate about historic assets.
First, I would like to thank the mayor and council,
the staff
for our attention and support
of these historic assets.
I appreciate the city putting over $5,000,000
in the Mimosa project this year alone, plus about $700,000
every year into the historic assets.
And I also appreciate all the people in the community
that offer support either financially or through hard work.
We're celebrating the 120
of Teddy Roosevelt's historic visit here.
We have activated
great events such as the
Christkindl market at Bullock Hall.
Ultimately, I would like to see
many events at Mimosa, Barrington, and Bullock, and to make them self sustaining and even a greater draw to Roswell,
where many more people
get to come to this community
and see these great great great houses.
But
I understand that
this means parking. This means ADA compliance.
This means fire truck as access.
This means
many things that have to be built
in order for people to
to to enjoy these over the years.
But this is something not only for our generation, but for generations to come.
Clearly,
people in this room do not agree on the path on Nobody is gonna agree on the path taken.
But I think we can agree on the goal of preserving these living monuments and creating a one of a kind
Roswell
experience
that's accessible and open to the public.
So I would encourage this body to continue their support of the historic assets
and ensure their continued viability in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Will.
Madam Clerk.
Jerry Wood.
My name is Jerry Wood.
I live at,
10850
Stroop Road.
Been in Roswell now seventy six years.
Been in the mayor's seat for twenty.
First, I wanna thank this council for purchasing the grass field at the corner of Hardscrabble and Chaffin Road.
I supported the city's purchase of the 25 acres next to that in 2016.
I support the city's plans to develop
this property for athletic fields.
I support the city's plans to build trails to connect
the historic district.
And I hope the city expands these trails to create a trail from the Chattahoochee River all the way to Cam Street.
I do not support the unnecessary removal of 150 year old oak, cedar, and poplar trees
to make way for parking lots and detention ponds.
I do not support the destruction
of the gardens at Mimosa that were planted in 1850 by John Dunwoody.
I do not support the grading at Mimosa Hall
was which was done before conducting an archeological
survey as required by this city.
I do not support the city exempting themselves
from the rules that it makes its citizens follow follow.
Primarily, the tree protection ordinance, which this city completely ignored.
I do not support the city breaking the law and then trying to cover up and justify its illegal actions.
I have been told that the city will replace the trees that John Dunwoody planted.
If there's space to replant trees, why did the 150 year old trees have to be removed in the first place if you're just gonna tear them down and replace them?
Does the city really believe
it can plant new trees to replace those 150 year old trees planted by John Dunwoody?
I have been told that the city needs
to put a parking lot next to Mimosa Hall
to attract visitors.
Does the city really believe
that a parking lot will attract more visitors than the historic gardens?
I've been told that a parking lot is needed to generate income to maintain historic properties.
How much does the city really expect
to,
earn from these special events?
There's several other historic homes in Roswell
that are available for specs for special events.
None of these are making a fortune.
Roswell's track record for generating income from special events is no better.
As for the city's financial projections,
the city budgeted $2,000,000
of revenue from parking this year.
That's the value of the city's projections. They're valueless.
The city did not acquire Mimosa Hall to make money.
The city purchased most of Mimosa Hall to protect it from development.
Mimosa Hall used to be my favorite historic property
because of the gardens, because of the trees that surrounded the house that were there when Teddy Roosevelt traveled
from the White House in Washington DC by train and horse drawn carriage to visit his mother's home
and friends in Roswell.
It's no longer my favorite property. I'm ashamed of what's been done on that property.
Alpharetta has shopping malls in a new downtown,
and Milton has horse farms, but no one in Metro Atlanta has anything to compare to Roswell's historic district.
Our historic district attracts more than visitors.
It attracts people to live in Roswell and businesses to invest in Roswell.
We cannot afford to irreparably damage our historic district for the space sake of special events parking.
Now there's a debate about this, but I can tell you the city did not it let anyone know that the trees how many trees it planned to remove before clear cutting the 4.5 acres next to Mimosa.
There were no public hearings.
The Friends of Mimosa and Friends of Bullock were not told how many trees would be removed.
Historic Preservation in the Historic Society was not told. Not even the city council was shown the final plans that showed how many trees were gonna be removed.
Why wasn't anyone told?
Because the city knew that if they told us
they planned to clear cut 4.5 acres of specimen trees, the city citizens would rise up in opposition.
I've been told that the city didn't clear cut the land.
I agree.
The city just didn't just clear cut the land. They raped the land. Oh my god. They removed all vegetation.
I am Praise the ground law.
After no trace
There's what was there before the race. There's there's no room for that. How that construction has begun
In this context, he's doing nothing to protect the truth. Hold on one second, sir. Didn't cut down. Mister Wood, sir, please hold on one second. One of our council members,
wanted to speak and had a comment. There's no room for the use of the word rape in this context, sir.
It's in a it's not a no. No. No. No.
No. No. No. That's in there. You can use your term. I can use my term. I call it rape when
you Alright. Yes. Yes, sir. Mister Wood, mister your mister
Wood, your time has expired, sir. No. I've not my time has not expired because I was interrupted. Your time expired. Let me just say this. Your time expired. Is over until we say it's over. Mister Wood. And it ain't over. Mister Wood. The city has lost the trust of its citizens Your time expired, sir. Let this happen
Thank you. Thank you. Alright.
And, certainly, mister Wood, certainly thank, everybody's,
comments, opportunity to speak and, of course,
with the notation,
made by
council member Hills.
And also, I think it's appropriate at this point, given,
a couple of things that you mentioned.
You used the term breaking the law. You used the term
illegal actions, and I think it, is only appropriate when,
such stark allegations are made against the city,
that,
our chief legal counsel, mister Davidson,
perhaps address,
those allegations that were made.
No, sir. Thank you, mister You're five you're five minutes is up, sir.
Mister Davidson and the city has broken the law Sir. Sir.
Yes. Sir. Sir. Sir. Thank you, sir. We we are well aware of the complaint. Hold on. We are well aware of the complaint,
and I will not respond.
I I will call on the assistant city attorney, a former prosecutor,
and also the deputy director of the state ethics commission to come forward and address any of your concerns.
Alright. Hold on. Hold on. Want that ethics. Hold on one second. Hold on one second, ma'am, please. Let's let's be respectful to everybody who's who's given an opportunity to speak.
And since there were certain phrases that were mentioned, I think it's only appropriate,
that the city, have an opportunity to respond,
to, those terms. And I think it may bring some clarity to this discussion, which is what I think we all are here tonight, and we'll make sure that we continue to allow everyone an opportunity to speak. So thank you very much. Mister Cusack.
Thank you, mister Knighton. I I think it's important to
to talk about how this process went and sort of the background I'm coming from. So I served as the deputy director for the state ethics commission and,
enforced the campaign finance and ethics in government act for all the state government,
at the capitol.
Government ethics is something I take very seriously, and I've spoken at the council on government ethics and,
am a a panel member for them at their annual conference. And this was something when mister Wood,
filed an actual police report on Friday, it came to our office to make sure that we complied with
our ordinance and the processes that are in place.
Mister Wood
filed this
complaint at the Roswell Police Department.
When the UDC was actually adopted in 2014,
the enforcement agency for the UDC is is code enforcement. It's not the police department. It's not,
that's not their realm of specialty. That's not where they have the jurisdiction,
for the UDC. It it it comes into code enforcement.
But then he said that the city violated its own ordinance and the process behind removing these trees.
The tree removal ordinance for this particular project
was
evaluated by our arborist, and it was then approved by the engineering department.
Justification for removal of the specimen trees,
there had to be, as part of those construction plans,
a actual
tree removal permit done and a justification as to why those trees were being removed. Now part of this is for a stormwater,
detention pond,
which is exempt under our tree ordinance.
So what that meant was that about 40% of the trees were actually gonna be removed because they don't apply,
on the streamer tree permit. They're exempt. Now the other 60% that dealt with the,
with the parking lot,
there had to be the justification for the removal there. The justification was put on those construction plans, which was evaluated by the arborist, which was then signed off by the engineering division,
and those plans were then signed off by everyone else within the city. It's routed through community development to to the various different departments, transportation,
and all the other departments that weigh in on a land disturbance permit. So we actually did follow our ordinance to a t.
The city, it the proper processes were in place.
The proper people evaluated
what trees needed to be removed and why they were being removed and the justification
for their removal.
Those were evaluated by the people who have those qualifications.
I I certainly
sympathize with people who
want trees to to stay here, but also there is a process for this to occur and that process occurred here.
So
we followed our ordinance to a tee,
and there's there's really nothing from a procedure standpoint that we could have done any different in this matter.
Thank you, mister Cusack.
Alright. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time.
Madam clerk.
Janet Russell.
Good evening. My name is Janet Russell, and I've lived in Roswell in the same home since 1973
in the historic district.
I coined the phrase many years ago, Russell won the geography lottery.
Someone else who was running for an elected office said they did, but, no, I did. We're the only city in Metro Atlanta that sits on rolling hills
covered with forests
through which creeks run down to a full river with no commercial development.
Most cities would kill for one of those little winnings.
Unfortunately,
we're squandering like some lottery winners, one of the winnings, the trees.
Roswell has a nice long history of squandering their inheritance of trees, and I'll give you a few brief ideas.
But first, I would like to recognize
a man named Zachary Henderson,
who passed away last week at the age of 91.
Zachary was an architect who lived in Roswell.
His office was on Canton Street.
He designed the,
recycling center.
He was part of the Laidolith Foundation.
He was very active in the Young Life group and designed two projects, one in Colorado Springs and one in North Carolina.
He also designed this area around the Faces Of War Memorial.
So I worked with the committee to design this. I wasn't the designer, I was just one of the envelope pushers and things like that.
But what I find interesting is,
the last time I saw mister Henderson,
he was a very kind, gentle man.
His dad was a blacksmith. He grew up with a love of horses, so he and his wife had a horse rescue branch
nearby
till she passed away.
However,
one day, the last time I saw him was about maybe ten years ago in Room 220. You know I all everybody, I have a really good memory because I'm not looking at a telephone.
I'm listening
and I write in cursive.
No no
fast flash drives or any of that.
When I sat there at that meeting that day, he was invited because we were discussing the city green,
which I termed the city brown, because it involved clear cutting every tree on this property,
so we could be like downtown Alpharetta.
And,
mister,
Henderson
said was called to ask talk about it because he designed the area, not the memorial.
That was a national competition with anonymous submissions, and fairly and squarely, two sculptors from Roswell won it.
However, he designed all of this. There's a reason that is exactly on the axis of this building. It's about aesthetics.
And as he was discussing the need for the trees, because he was a lover of nature, he was an LEED certified architect,
long before that was a fashionable thing, he was building sustainable properties and projects.
He oh, he built the community center, the gathering center at the High Meadow School, among other things. He was active also in Jacob's Ladder
and a few other things. I have to talk quickly. I'm sorry. I was talking about mister Henderson.
But as he sat there and he discussed it,
the then mayor,
who has
left the building,
proclaimed,
we don't have to manage anything. There's no written contract.
Of course, in his wonderful bellicose manner.
And, mister Henderson said, sir, there was no written contract because it was an agreement among gentlemen.
And I thought, what a concept,
gentlemen.
Of course, in Georgia, I think an agreement between consent verbal agreement between consenting adults is a binding contract because our law is based on British common law.
So that said, two
one day, I come to the Saturday morning farmers market and there's truckloads of trees coming that are stacked up back here.
No plans,
no designs, no approvals, a 100 series were taken down in Friday nights and hauled off. No permissions, no designs. But we did spend $2,500,000
on design ideas that involved moving the memorial behind the slave quarters and cutting down all these trees.
So, they set a precedent
for doing things behind our back and hoping we wouldn't notice.
But we did.
The same mayor, when they were gonna cut down a 150 year old tree down by, what they built Old Town on King on Highway 9, when we told him it was a 150 year old tree, he said, so cut it down. We'll just plant another one.
Interesting
to me.
There used to be a tree at Holcomb Bridge in 9, where now it's a bank, Chase Bank.
That had a 200 year old tree and we fought crazy
and they didn't pay attention.
Please be aware that the, heart of gate the heart of Ros the Gateway Project will cut down all the trees on both sides of Highway 9 in our historic district,
and cut 70 feet into the national park,
which means the runoff into the river
through the water treatment plant will create a horrible sewage mess. I know my time is up. Your time has expired, ma'am. Okay. And one more thing, whoever came up with the name Founders Park, it's really boring. Thank you, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Janet.
Thank you, Janet.
Thank you, Janet. Madam Clerk.
Mary Robuchaw.
Good evening.
Obviously, there's gonna be lots of speakers about Mimosa Hall and other things
tonight.
And I and I wanna talk about that a little bit, but I also wanna start this out from my perspective
of reading the mayor's top priorities for 2025
from your own website and your postings.
And it states complete
continue transforming
how local government works.
Teamwork,
accountability,
responsive,
solution oriented,
innovative,
and stewarding with integrity.
Read it off of the website. Lots of great projects here.
I'm gonna say a few things.
I've been in some of your shoe
your shoes as an elected official.
I think what we all have to recognize
is that our constituents'
perspective
is their reality.
I think we're having
issues over and over and over again
because
I do not see a lot of active listening
going on
from our mayor, city council members.
It seems that things happen,
then the citizens
find out about it.
They start petitions.
They make lots of phone calls. Trust me, I've received plenty of those also.
But instead of asking what the citizens want beforehand
and being totally transparent and open,
that's not what happened here. Even in the pres five minute presentation before,
you said what was shown to many people
was the initial design or the high level design.
You had a high level design
that was completed according to what I believe I saw was on April
of this year.
But was also stated on May 15,
you once again showed only the high level design
to the Friends of Mimosa Hall.
I don't understand why that would have been done.
Then
May but but in between, April 18 is when you had your final design given to the city from what was stated.
You went ahead and got permits on May 1
issued by the city.
You then went ahead and, again, showed only the high level design on May 15
to Friends of Mimosa Hall,
and yet the cutting started May '26, eleven days later.
I've you know, it's it's difficult as a citizen
to understand
why were these things this high level only shown to certain people.
My problem also I think a lot of us, our problems is this isn't the first time, unfortunately, this has happened or that it appears to have happened.
The Masonic Lodge, it was done and then, of course, citizens
rallied,
petitioned, called, sent emails,
you know. And and I know I know what that's like.
In my time, on average, on some issues, I would see receive a thousand a day.
I always try to respond to all of them and it's difficult
or to at least try to talk to people beforehand.
I think we're getting into this cycle
that
the closure of Canton Street for, you know, for parking. Our parking situation that all of it was at one time it was gonna be paid, one time it's not.
We get into issues, the Rousing Housing Authority.
I understand, but you appoint the people that sit on that authority.
It is appointed through the mayor.
So when when we ask
why are we not informed fully or our input given
before these decisions
are made
or even discussed.
Citizens should be brought into the discussion and listened to
early
and often.
It's a hard thing to do.
Trust me. I know how hard it is.
It's hard to do.
But that, to me, is how we have that conversation
back and forth as you talked about as we talked about.
That's the way we all want to be governed, and that's the way I would hope you consider
moving forward at some point listening
before these kinds of decisions are made behind
closed doors because that's what's happened here. Because, again, from our perspective,
you're paving over the history
to put up a parking lot. And once again, you don't even seem to know what we've got till it's gone, and it's gone.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mary.
Madam Clerk?
Arandara Bromley.
Good evening. My name is Erin Bromley. I live in Martin's Landing. Good evening. I wanna read a statement from a friend because it clearly states what many of us think about one specific aspect of this project.
And she said,
I implore Roswell Leadership to step back and rethink their approach to this park, including its name. As an African American resident of Roswell for almost twenty years, I will not be at all excited about a new park that once again focuses on uplifting the antebellum
period
and our slave owning fathers.
That does not diminish their positive contributions.
This is about using cultural awareness and racial empathy to avoid putting an ever bigger spotlight on one specific time period in Roswell's history.
Roswell doesn't begin and end with the slave owners who formally established the city.
There is important history related to this land that happened before that.
There is important and compelling history that happened in Roswell during the twentieth century.
At this point, it feels like a very stubborn and different determination
of the part part of the city
to get deeper into a problematic position because god knows the city has done more than enough to at least these men.
It's an uninspired
and limited park name.
Now, that was her. Personally, I think that name is inappropriate for two reasons.
One is that it gives a heroic effect to the people who established this city using enslaved labor and built plantations
that further exploited and enslaved people.
Two,
the Cherokee inhabited this area.
This part of Georgia was called the Cherokee Nation.
So if we wanna make it about founders,
they were here first.
Albeit
one of during the Cherokee removal by president Andrew Jackson.
A name like Founders
chosen to celebrate the families of Roswell King
further erases native Americans from Georgia history.
So that's one part. The rest, I'm also not happy about seeing this part complete compete with other Roswell small businesses such as event menus and restaurants.
And I definitely don't wanna be in the news because my city is officially holding plantation weddings in the year of our lord 2025.
Another friend,
and I'm gonna put another friend,
He said, we are in the parking business. We're in the real estate business. We're entering the wedding and event businesses and the soccer business.
How about concentrating on the government business?
But to die to that, I reply,
let's reframe our vision.
Why don't we stop running our city as a business?
Our government is not supposed to make profits its main priority.
Does fixing potholes generate a profit?
Does picking up trash generate a profit?
Does providing a library provide a profit?
No. Our local government is supposed to make life better and safe for all its residents regardless of personal preferences in entertainment
or age or income. So let's reframe our work. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you, Aaron.
Go ahead. Do it now?
Yeah. Do it one more. Yeah. Okay.
One more. Madam Clerk.
Richard O'Donnell.
Hello, all.
Richard O'Donnell, 555
Lakemont
Court, Roswell.
Ten years, Roswell Planning Commission, twelve years, Roswell Board of Zoning Appeals, thirty six years.
In Roswell, forty three year Georgia
attorney.
I'm here to talk about the tree ordinance. There seems to be a fair amount
of dispute about it, and I certainly dispute some of the remarks that mister Cusack,
has made.
Let me start by dispelling
the
misimpression
that apparently someone on the council have, multiple members have had, they've expressed to
this group
that,
the city is exempt from the tree ordinance.
Clearly not.
Not in the twenty two years that I was on boards and commissions.
Was that the case?
And it was never the case when it was enacted in 1994
that the city was ever to be
exempt from the ordinances.
Certainly not as
a property owner. As a property owner, the city is subject to the same regulations,
and it's very clear in the tree ordinance and in the UDC in its entirety, it applies to all property.
There are exemptions
listed in the tree ordinance. None of them apply to the city as land.
And just to make it crystal clear,
I point you all to,
page.
Can we get the Yeah. We'll get we'll get that
I'll stop your time there. I'll stop your time for a moment. We got it in just a second. Thank you then. Let me cheat in the meanwhile.
You could you can you can place it there now, and we'll restart your time, sir, when you begin speaking.
Do that language
by taking off my glasses.
Note one,
provisions for pretree
protection of the site shall be as a minimum in conformance with the requirements of the latest edition of the City Of Roswell
tree protection
ordinance,
zoning ordinance, and administrative
guidelines
pertaining
to tree protection. So
the city admits in this project that it's subject to the t tree protection ordinance.
So what does that mean?
Well, it means that
there was a tree survey that was supposed to be done and submitted to the city arborist.
We've requested we never got
any tree survey.
Then the arborist had ten days in which to inspect
and then was supposed to make written
notations
on any suggest change to the tree survey. We never got any of that.
Then there was supposed to be a tree
removal permit obtained,
and
this is as close as the city got. And this is from
the actual
Open Records Act request.
Cool.
This is the
permit
of today.
O6042024.
Note the statement.
Permit issued,
tires
six months
after
issuance. This is
expired.
And then
we learn
from
mister Cusack
that there,
were justifications
for
as is required
by
the tree ordinance.
Classification
for removal.
Provide a written explanation as to why specimen trees cannot be contained.
Every tree,
the city admits,
it took 35 specimen trees.
Where is the justification
for each one of those? We never got it. The city didn't do it despite mister Cusack saying that it's in the plans.
I went through that comprehensive plan. One,
the tree protection plan is supposed to be completely separate document.
It's not. They tried to include it in the comprehensive
plan. In response to the open records
request, the city said
that the justifications
are in the plan. I went through every note on that thing. It's not there.
All there is
is save Mister O'Donnell, sir,
your your time has expired. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Alright.
Yes.
Thank you. Thank you,
thank you, mister O'Donnell, for your comments, and thank you everybody for, your patience thus far. We're just gonna take about a ten minute break, just ten minutes, and then we'll resume right at about 09:00 at 09:00. Take about a ten minute break, resume at 09:00, and We'll begin again,
calling out people to to bring forth public comments. So again, thank you very much for your patience, and thank you for the manner in which you have handled the the meeting tonight. We certainly appreciate it.
You good? Mhmm.
Allen.
Get out. Out and back out.
Madam Clerk, would you call the next speaker, please?
Jennifer Felipe.
We could have everybody come to order. We are ready to resume. Again, thank you very much for your patience this evening. We look forward
to continuing to matriculate
through all of the comment cards to ensure that everyone
is heard,
fully and completely. So thank you very much for your attention.
Madam Clerk. Jennifer Felipe.
Good evening.
Jennifer Phillippe, 3025
Manor Creek Court.
I'm speaking tonight as a concerned citizen, a Phoenix Circle member.
I remember back in 2017 when my good friend, Gus Hadorn,
brought to the attention of our Earth Ministries group the threat of Mimosa Hall being purchased by a developer.
He spoke eloquently about the very old specimen trees found on the property,
the habitats they created, and their enormous carbon capture abilities.
He and the rest of us at Earth Ministries cared about the historic home, but more than anything,
we cared about protecting the natural resources found on the property.
Then came the devastating day when we awoke to the news that this beautiful land had been clear cut.
We were beside ourselves. How could this happen?
Several of the original members of Friends of Mimosa reconvened
with the most immediate concern in mind, saving the black walnut tree that still stood.
Now there has been a public statement that the walnut and a couple of other trees will be saved. The attention has now turned to understanding how this has happened and preventing it from happening again.
The city has indicated that it has followed all approval processes,
which include communication with this council as well as with the historic society. But we are not seeing representatives
from either group stand up and own this decision.
Instead, we are hearing that everyone is surprised.
So what happened?
As the COO of my own company, I know that I cannot make assumptions or rely on vague plans.
I must look for the missing details and ask enough questions to ensure that visions align.
Is that the step that was missed
here? Or as some suspect, were members of these groups intentionally misled?
Neither answer is okay. And until we understand exactly how we got here, we are vulnerable to repeating this mistake again and again.
So my two final questions for you are,
please provide the, specifics of the justifications
and
how were the residents kept in the dark?
Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer.
Carrie, you got questions?
Thank you so much. Madam Clerk.
Michelle King.
Hi. Thank you for having us this evening. I'm Michelle King. And as Sally McKenzie mentioned,
I was one of the first people along with Gus Haydorn
and the many other folks that joined us on the Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens board, actually, before the city had even concluded the purchase of this home
because we did not wanna see the property
destroyed.
I have a a really important message I wanna share with you. It comes from the sixth generation
owner of Mimosa Hall and Gardens,
miss Sally Hansel.
Her family owned this home
for over a hundred years, and she wants you to know that she is profoundly shocked,
saddened, and feels betrayed by the current administration
and city of Roswell.
In selling Mimosa Hall to the previous administration,
she trusted the home and gardens would be well taken care of and used for the greater good. As her father used to say to her family,
we are just the custodians
of this cherished
historical monument.
Now you have assaulted Mimosa Hall's very soul.
Why have you perpetrated
such violence
on this property
that once offered
such serenity
for the citizens of Roswell.
For what?
So you can make as much money as possible from as many people
as possible that you can fit onto these grounds.
Understandably,
infrastructure is needed to accommodate large groups of people,
but the craven, thoughtless, obscene manner in which this was executed is unconscionable.
People of many walks have worked decades to preserve Roswell's history
and then current mayor and council Parks and Recs,
we're not sure who all else is involved,
have desecrated
overnight
these trees in this property.
She wants to give special thanks to Simone DeBois, Kelly Callan, and Gierwood.
And then from me, my questions are,
what's well, no. Who's gonna ask that? I would like to know how many of the members of council
know the history, the full history
of Mimosa Hall And Gardens,
its property, and its trees. I would like to know how many of the council members know who Neil Reed is
and know what part
he played
in this valuable property.
And lastly, I wanna give you a message from my 16 year old son who's been working on this project with me with since he was seven.
I made him go with me to look at this property because I knew just from seeing the snapshots that there was no way I could go and look at this property alone. I would need the support of my
16 year old son to go with me.
I just expected him to be staring at his phone, not interested at all.
And the things that he said out loud when he saw
the trees were completely gone, where he'd had his Christmas pic picture taken every single year with Santa Claus, where he saw his mother tirelessly work
forty plus hours for years to save this property,
the words that came up out of his mouth are not words I'm allowed to use here this evening.
The youth of this community
care.
The middle class care. The middle aged people care. What has happened,
it cannot be undone, and it's just
my heart is broken.
Thank you. Thank you.
Madam Clark? Kelly Callan.
Mayor, council,
my name is Kelly Callan, and I am a 14 plus Roswell resident, a founding member, and past board member serving eight years on the board, a Friends of Mimosa Hall and Gardens along with Michelle King and Gus Hadorn and,
Sally McKenzie said in the beginning with us.
I am also a retired executive assistant to Atlanta architect and developer John c Portman junior,
who I was working for at the time that,
Imosa was purchased.
And, really, the reason that I'm still standing up here today talking about Mimosa
was a comment that he had
shortly after we had become a board
and had,
discovered
through Simone Dubois, who I hope will be speaking soon, and her partner that they had come up with
a way an innovative way that we could make Mimosa Holland Gardens,
which needed a new roof. It had its original roof of a 100
years at that time. It needed a new roof,
that we could make it a solar integrated roof.
And in achieving that and running it for a full year once it's occupied after doing so, it would be, at that time and still to this day, I believe, once we get back in it, the oldest net zero home in the country.
I shared that with mister Portman who at the time,
even at his, advanced age of, I think it was 90 at the time,
he was a man of few words, but he was also somebody who,
was not astounded easily.
And the day I told him that, he stopped,
which he normally did not. I was normally chasing after him. And he said, Kelly, if you guys could do that, that would be remarkable.
I had never heard him use the word remarkable before, but I thought to myself as he got into the elevator, if John Portman thinks this would be remarkable, then who am I to say
it isn't? And so I went back and reported to those of us who are working
alongside Simone and her partner to make this happen and said, you know, I think I think this is worth really,
exploring.
So I wish somebody had, read, and, Gus, I hope you do, read the actual mission statement, which I believe is still in place today for Friends of Mimosa
Hall and Gardens. But a big piece of that was sustainability and ensuring that we were preserving and protecting
Mimosa and the grounds and,
and being a beacon of inspiration.
And that was, in a nutshell, what we were hoping to achieve.
Here we are now with the landscape that is scarred and devoid of ages old specimen trees.
We I I believe not just those of us who have loved Mimosa
for many, many years, but the residents who may not have been aware of this jewel in our backyard,
residents who may not have been aware of this jewel in our backyard
really feel,
this has been an irreparably
harmed by the removal of these historic cheap trees, which changes the entire feel and the impact of the beauty of Mimosa Hall and its surrounding property.
Again, Mimosa Hall And Gardens was supposed to be a beacon of inspiration
for what was possible with historic properties,
not a cautionary tale, which is what I fear we have become.
We have but one simple request at this point. You can't bring the trees back. That's true. But we could put an immediate stop order and halt any further destruction of the property and grounds in Mimosa,
and as many people have mentioned,
find out what happened with an independent investigation.
The second point is we'd like to present the final updated construction plans, the ones that,
were from April, the final construction plans, not the not the high above plans, to the historic preservation commission and give them the opportunity to review the plans and walk the property and give feedback as they should have done in April.
And finally, to accept the public comment on these plans, the final plans for the property going forward.
There's been a lot of talk. I think a couple of people have mentioned tonight that,
for whatever reason, not everybody agrees that it was a clear cut.
Again, I just wanna put up the, is there some way to turn
Alright.
I apologize your time. Let's make sure we get this up first and then
we'll we'll presume your time. Thank you. Thank you.
This is what it looked like before. I mean, if you look around it, you you can't hardly see anything but green and dense woods.
Haven't had a chance to get by.
This is what it looks like today. So Miss Callan.
We leave it to the Roswell citizens to decide if whether or not that's a clear cut. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you.
Thank you, miss Kelly.
Madam Clerk?
Susan Tizer.
I'm Susan Tyser,
and, I live in Downtown Roswell.
Everybody has basically said a lot of what I wanna say. So I'm only going to just comment
that,
mayor and council, you're you've been a little tone deaf on this one.
And what I mean by that is
you are not listening.
You are not hearing
what your constituents want.
You are simply telling them what you're going to do no matter what.
This is very reminiscent
of the closing Canton Street issue,
and it, reminds me of the fire ready aim
type of philosophy.
That's the wrong kind of a philosophy
for Roswell.
We need to know upfront what is happening
so that this kind of a thing never happens again. Thank you. Thank you, Susan.
Thank you, Susan. Madam Clark?
Denise
Roche.
Denise Rao, 170 Charleston Circle, Roswell, Georgia.
Well, the great
late
queen Elizabeth the second once said
recollections may vary.
And that is certainly true tonight
because my recollections
of Mimosa Hall
are pretty much opposite of almost everything that I heard tonight.
I wanna go back to 02/2017.
The city did quite an extensive outreach
to the residents
and asked them
different questions about Mimosa Hall. One of them being, how do you wanna finance it? And it was very clear overwhelmingly
that the citizens of Roswell, the taxpayers of Roswell,
wanted Mimosa Hall to be self sustaining.
And, you know, we're a a pretty smart group, so we actually
gave
the elected officials
a path to achieve that.
Basically, we said
we wanna do that by three
a three
pillared approach,
historic preservation
combined with
traditional visitors,
combined with economic development,
specifically an event center.
So I totally disagree with that very loud man who is here,
who
who's making me come back with very bad memories.
From the very beginning,
Mimosa Hall was scheduled.
The citizens of Roswell wanted it to be an event center.
Now a lot of people drop in and out of conversations as these things happen.
This has been going on for a really long time. I actually went back and listened to some discussions from 2020
that involved Melissa Hall.
Again,
some really bad times back in 02/2020.
But then again but then
the conversation kept on going along. A lot of people don't realize that.
They drop in, they drop out.
So, again, I tuned in a year ago. I know when you started talking about Founders Park,
I specifically
tuned into the mayor and council meeting of September 23.
And then I also tuned into the HPC meeting,
October 9,
where the city was notifying the HPC of the changes that would take place,
in phase one,
using the ARPA funds,
which, by the way,
brilliant move to use ARPA funds to get this done.
So I guess what I would say is it was a very good discussion,
great presentation.
I disagree with mister Malone.
Maybe this is a case of,
men are from Mars, women are from Venus.
I took away as a regular citizen
incredible amounts of information
provided by the HPC, actually.
New information. I didn't know that the walkway was actually in the shape of a champagne
glass. But what's more, one of the commissioners made the point
of asking where the facilities were gonna be. And it was clear, the the
new structures were gonna be in a place that had been cleared
eighty years
ago.
So
as I listened to the rest of the meeting,
I was really struck by the fact that the city
was really trying to be faithful
to that 2017
directive
of the citizens of Roswell
that Mimosa Hall should be self sustaining.
And the way we would do that is by combining a plan
that
had historic preservation
with traditional
visitors'
tourism
plus economic
development that involved an event center.
And it seems to me that is exactly
what this plan is doing.
I went down there. I was, with a fellow citizen. He was,
an architect. He said his specialty
was,
historic preservation.
And he made the point that
when this was done, it was gonna be beautiful.
And not and I agree.
And quite frankly, we talked. And the thing that we talked about is that
these historic gems
are living, breathing
entities,
and that's the way that we should treat them. They should go on living.
We can't lock them up and ask for them never to change.
So,
he and I agreed and we parted ways, and I kinda wish I had got his name because I think he would be a great,
addition to the HBC.
But all in all,
my perspective just as an ordinary citizen is just very different.
I was able to follow the public
conversation very well. Thank you.
Thank you, Denise.
Thank you very much for your comments.
Madam Clerk.
Gus Haydorn.
Mayor Wilson,
council members of the council.
I've lived in Pine Valley for forty years.
We need a government that practices democracy
and listens
to those
that it serves.
In Roswell,
hubris is in play
and decisions are made
from the top.
Had the net been cast wider, if the voices of citizens had been heard, the disaster
at Mimosa
would never have occurred.
If those elected
had not been so disconnected
from the natural world,
this would never have happened.
We're here tonight to make clear common resources
are not for sale.
They belong to the future.
We cannot monetize
trees that have witnessed
our behavior for more than a hundred years.
At Mimosa,
the trees were worth more than the historic homes.
They gave context and beauty and distinction
and utility,
not just to the historic
district, but to Roswell,
confirming our history,
our identity
as a historic city
in the trees
on the Chattahoochee,
an identity
that separates us
or did separate us from the surrounding sprawl.
But your best idea was a parking lot in a prominent place
in the middle of our most historic site
requiring
or access
destruction
of our finest
urban forest.
For rendering place,
identity and opportunity
to ensure that bribes from rich families can come and go with ease.
Eight years ago, when the for sale sign went up at Mimosa,
it was a small group of citizens who recognized the value
and the opportunity
and rallied the mayor and council
to to secure this opportunity for all of us.
A new board of unpaid citizens with a focus
on preservation
and sustainability
moved quickly
to build new possibilities.
An integrated
solar roof
designed and financed
by the philanthropy of citizens
gave expression to a new direction.
We worked cooperatively with the city,
bring the past into the future
for all citizens
by building on the foundation of architecture
and the surrounding natural beauty.
We created a meeting place,
and we're working on a model for sustainable living, a place where people could learn together
or work together building community and finding new direction
for changing times.
A place for repose
in the heart of a busy city where people could step away from an exhausting urban reality
to unwind,
relax, and connect with nature
and with each other.
Artists began working on the grounds.
Concerts and socials were happening in the house.
We had cultivated corporate
sponsorship and community partnerships with UGA
and the Carter Center.
The city did good work updating the house and the immediate grounds,
But a few
with the city had other ideas
and they had the power.
Their initial decision to connect
the historic district
was well received,
but soon it was clear that they had no interest in what the board had been working on for years.
Federal money became available
and there was a rush to spend it.
The big dogs had the power and they wanted to do things the way that it had always been done.
Scrape the earth, start over, think maintenance,
build a parking lot.
Apparently,
no thought was given to the fact that they would be feeding our greatest problem, traffic,
bringing cars into our most pedestrian
district,
which was
while there were much better options available.
But perhaps the most troubling of all, it seems no one in a position of authority raised questions
and no one stood up to the decision makers.
Nationwide,
democracy
is under attack.
If it is to survive,
we must make it so here.
Our natural world that our lives depend on
is slipping away,
and we somehow
accept that. Mister Haydorn. The state stripped 400,
and we went along. Sir? The city covered our playing field, and we started to fire. And
we remain spectators.
Sir? The loss of Sir, respect for me. Your time has expired.
Was a
Thank you for your comments, sir. Just as a reminder, we wanna make sure that we stay within the bounds of time simply because it's fair and equitable for everybody
to have have the same amount of time to speak and certainly appreciate your comments and everybody's comments tonight. Thank you.
Thank you, Gus. Madam Clark.
Liz Jackson.
Good evening. I'm
Liz Jackson.
I live on Wordsworth Drive and have lived there since 1979.
My husband and I have been fortunate, as have many in this room, that we have raised our family
in this great historic town,
and many of the people in this room have helped
to shape the lives of our children.
Our children now live away from Roswell,
but they stay in touch and they read,
newspapers,
social media
from all around.
I received
a text
from our youngest son
who happens to be in his forties. I know you can't believe that, but, yes, it is true. He is in his forties,
and I would like to share with you
the impact
that decisions
that are being made here
still have
on
Roswell's children.
The shameful
development
and sprawl has continued
almost unabated
from a mysterious
fire burning a historic church,
which conveniently
made way for a bank headquarters,
through the fiasco
at the Masonic Hall,
and now to this.
The first election I ever voted in included the mayoral
election
of the honorable
mayor Wood
on his campaign
of stop the sprawl.
But, unfortunately,
no man has been able to stop the outright destruction
and heartbreaking
devastation
of the historic places
and those cherished wild spaces
where I spent countless
hours, days, weeks, and months
as a young boy.
Accordingly,
I took my talents,
including
hundreds of hours
volunteering
as a docent
and interpretive
guide of historic sites
elsewhere,
and I now enjoy
wild spaces that are protected
for future generations.
I now visit
historic sites
properly
enshrined
in perpetuity.
History is full of lessons
if only
we care
to listen.
I am your children,
Roswell,
and I decided
somewhere else is better
because of what I saw happening
with my own eyes.
It's an absolute shame
I needed to move over 500 miles
away from the only home I had known
to find the things I loved as a boy in my hometown.
Actions come with consequences.
And, Roswell,
your actions have once more
broken my heart.
And for what?
It would seem to be for merely
a few more pieces
of silver.
Thank you.
Thank you, Liz. Madam clerk?
Larissa Perera.
Good evening, mayor, council, and my fellow Roswell citizens.
I'm Marissa Perera. I live off Gramps Bridge Road for the last, twenty eight and a half years.
It stands to reason that we in Roswell are in the news yet again
with the citizens protesting.
Let me quote the Georgia Bill of Rights, article one, section two,
paragraph one.
Origin and foundation of government.
I quote,
all government of right originates
with the people,
is founded upon their will
only and is instituted
solely for the good of the whole.
Public officers
are the trustees and servants of the people
and are at all times amenable to them, unquote.
I've been beating the drum for years about the lack of process
or the refusal to follow even limited process and codes
set in our Roswell ordinances.
Our mayor and council have turned a blind eye and deaf ear to this reality
and proceeded steadfastly
within this status quo
because
following a process would mean transparency,
thorough review,
and accountability
in sign offs and implementation.
Of course, this would be in stark contradiction
to the current prevailing goal of bragging rights
for getting getting
items checked off the list
in record time
with zero citizen input.
Imagine the concept of projects
actually
being done right.
Mayor and council,
no one expects you to know everything about everything.
Roswell is blessed with talented citizens
who have superior knowledge
on various topics and could easily offer counsel as necessary
to deliver optimum results for Roswell.
Unfortunately,
by excluding the voice of the people,
not only are you derelict in your duty to serve the citizens,
you've set yourselves as the authority
on every topic.
We, the citizens, are tired of being ostracized
from discussion
discussions or plans
for our city,
especially
when it's our money you spend to deliver
substandard
results.
We're tired of the lack of process,
transparency,
and accountability.
We're tired of you doing whatever you please
and then offering
either the nonchalant
mea culpa
or a shrug of your collective shoulders,
or better yet, a convoluted
rearrangement
of the facts
to justify your wrong actions.
We deserve better.
My fellow citizens,
the gateway project
was also approved
based on pretty pictures.
Just wait till you see the clear cutting there.
In this Mimosa case, while mayor
and one councilwoman
appear to be the primary decision makers,
the rest of council fell down on your duty when you signed off on the project
without supposedly knowing what you were signing off on.
It would behoove you to remember
that you are public servants
and stop acting
like the worst definition
of politicians.
Thank you.
Thank thank you for your comments, Marissa.
Madam clerk.
Dawn Horton.
You need the overhead, we'll get that set up for you, sir.
Can someone assist
mister Horton there?
It's just a moment. We'll get that set up. There we go. I think we will
come up in just a second.
My name is Don Horton.
Good evening, mayor, council.
I live at 9885
Robinwood Lane in Roswell.
I've sat in those chairs,
a number of years ago.
In fact,
when the
Mimosa property came up for sale,
and I learned about it through
individuals with the Friends of Mimosa,
I went to Sally
Hansel, miss Sally Hansel,
to talk to her about the possibility of the city acquiring the property.
I didn't talk to anybody else on on council or the mayor at the time.
The property had already gone under contract at that time,
but I asked her before she actually made a final commitment
to please let me have a chance to talk to mayor and council
to see if I could convince people
to, change their mind about
about the property because originally they said they didn't want to have another
historic property on the
as part of their real estate.
But with that,
I not only was talking with members of council, but I also met with the executive director of the Roswell I'm sorry, of the Georgia Trust for Historical Preservation.
And I met with, members of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, their historic preservation area.
And, and they told me a lot of things that that, you've already heard some of those things tonight. But, one of the things that they said that you absolutely must require of anybody that wants to develop the property
is to have a,
an archeological
an archeological
survey
of the property
as well as, ground penetrating radar
to see what might be under the property. There was some concern
that,
there might be
slave graves,
that was,
one of the things that they did during that period of time.
And because of the fact that it was,
originally
Native American land,
the Cherokee Indians
occupied this land for a long time before,
people from,
the South Of Georgia came here to, develop,
Roswell.
So in any way any case,
the
recommendations
that the two entities that I met with, suggested,
actually did take place. I think,
Dana Dana Bush
This is Dana Bush was one of the individuals that's on city,
payroll
who,
the the archaeological survey was written for her,
or her request in any case.
This
archaeological survey,
one of the conclusions was that when one looks at the nineteenth century finds, a clear concentration of artifacts is evident behind Mimosa Hall around the gravel circle and in the immediate
north and west of the circle. If this artifact density is consistent across the portion of the property, then one can surmise that thousands of artifacts still lie subsurface
in the area around Mimosa Hall. And that would include now this was just a subsurface,
just a very light surface,
superficial,
analysis.
They didn't go down deep enough to find any of the Native American artifacts.
So one of the questions I have for counsel is
before the decision was made
to
clear cut the property
and
and,
go forward with this plan,
Was anything done to review this
archaeological survey that's in your possession?
And if not, why not?
And then on top of that,
why wasn't a more in-depth survey done so you could find not only the, Civil War artifacts, but also the artifacts,
for,
Native Americans?
In any case,
I'm not certain where the recommendation for clear cutting, property was initiated.
If it was by a consultant and certainly if it was by the same consultant that, recommended tearing down the old Methodist church, then you should fire them immediately.
They absolutely have no they have total
have total disregard for the significant history of the city of Roswell. There is no excuse for what has been done to the grounds of Mimosa Hall. The level of destruction is beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
Some of those specimen trees were over a 100 years old and will not in our lifetimes
get to where they are today or where they were.
Where careful surgical removal of a few trees should have been done, you allowed chainsaws and bulldozers to clear cut a beautiful and historic property.
What you don't realize is that Roswell is the envy of the cities around us. Most of the cities around us had to create something out of nothing. Mister Horton? We had it all here. All of the assets, our rich history was right here. Mister Hofer. How could you know the effect this would have on our Time is inspired. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.
Thank thank you, Don. Cara, I can't see the questions up. Are they up on the last two speakers?
We're good to go. Thank you, ma'am.
Madam Clerk.
Simone DeBois.
Yes, ma'am.
Alright. We'll get it,
transferred over to overhead.
Just a moment.
Good evening.
My name is Simone Dubois.
I'm a licensed architect,
lead certified,
and, I was the former,
vice chair for the HBC.
I have several questions,
and concerns,
about,
Mimosa Hall.
The first
is looking at,
I'd like to ask, Steve Malone,
because he talked about,
the,
HPC standards.
As a licensed professional,
I'm quite concerned because,
first of all, I'd like to know how
you satisfied the secretary
of the interior standards for the treatment of historic properties.
This is a requirement of the UDC, and it is found,
age 113
of the UDC.
The first one is a property shall be used as it was historically,
or be given
a new use that requires minimal change to its distinctive materials,
features,
spaces,
and spatial relationships.
Now we've heard several people say here
that,
it is the belief of many, and not only many of the citizens, but many professionals
that the grounds were as important
as
the building.
Okay? The next question is, how did you satisfy
number three?
Each property
shall be recognized
as a physical record of time,
place, and use.
How could you have satisfied that when you have removed
so much of the essence of Mimosa Hall?
Number four, I'd like to know how you satisfied.
Changes to a property that have acquired
historic significance
in their own right
shall be retained
and preserved.
Not saying that either.
And this is one that many people are very concerned about, as am I.
Not only did I get my architectural degree from Georgia Tech, but I also studied archeology.
Now the reason that I did that is because I felt it was imperative
to understand
and respect
where we have come from
to help us make better decisions
on where we want to go.
Not only do I think that, but also the secretary of the interior thinks that too.
So they state in number eight, and I'd like to know how you did this and this was mentioned by the previous speaker, Don.
Archaeological
resources shall be protected
and preserved in place.
If such resources
must be disturbed,
mitigation
measures shall be undertaken.
I don't see any evidence that that was done.
Okay?
Now I'd like to go
I'd like to also know how
you met requirements
that are outlined in section thirteen point seven point ten, and this is b three.
The horse the Historic Preservation Commission will approve with or without conditions the application and issue a
on
aesthetic,
historical on aesthetic,
historical, or architectural
significance
and value of the historic property.
Okay?
I I couldn't find that.
Now some of the other things,
that,
I'm concerned about is when I served on HPC,
we actually visited the sites.
I don't see any
record
that there was any visitation to the site. The reason we did that is because we needed to understand
what was existing
and what was being proposed.
The other thing that I'm concerned about is,
the lack of openness
and the things that were
proposed that I believe are, inappropriate
additions and removals
to the historic property.
An event space for 200 plus guests.
How was that designed?
Was there a charrette?
I
Again, as a licensed professional working in the city, when I wanted to make,
changes or additions
to properties that were in the HPC,
I had to put a sign up. I had to invite the neighborhoods.
We had to have a meeting, and then we had to have a meeting at City Hall. I don't see that any of that No. Was done. To what?
Your time has expired? Okay. I would like to just say one one,
last thing is that the other thing that I'm really concerned about is the discrepancy in the tree totals. The Founders Park plan show a 136
total trees. Thank you very much. Living trees and the Bartlett survey are 229.
That's 93 undocumented Your time
Hey, Kara.
Five questions. You got five?
Okay.
Mister mayor, we apologize. We didn't get down the,
wording for each question. But if, mister Malone
can,
get back with the resident on the specifics,
that would be great. I I wouldn't mind answering though at the end of the evening. I wanna make sure we answer those questions. I think they're
all relevant questions to the matter at hand, and I think we can answer those. Right, Steven? And so now I just wanna make sure we get the exact nature of someone's questions.
The information here, and we will add those questions to the list. Thank you. Thanks so much.
She she gave her she gave her. She Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Madam Clerk?
Allison Froelich.
You need the overhead as well. So if we can convert to overhead projection, please.
Give us just a moment.
Hey. Good evening. My name is Allison Vroelich.
I live on Park Avenue here in Roswell. I'm a local attorney and previously served on the planning commission as well as on several other committees throughout the years. I'm here to talk about the process, what should have happened but didn't.
First, while it's true that city owned historic properties do not need to go through the same review as non city owned historic properties,
that doesn't mean they don't need to go through any review. In our code of ordinances, article 9.1 applies to city owned historic properties.
Section nine point one point two is entitled submission to historic preservation commission required
for structural change or major modification.
That section states, and I've got it up here on the overhead,
prior to undertaking any changes to historical property that would otherwise require a certificate of appropriateness,
the city shall notify the historic preservation commission of the proposed changes and allow the commission forty five days to comment.
So the actual changes that will be proposed
must be presented to the HPC.
The section continues, recommendations of the commission shall not be binding on the city unless,
in the commission's opinion, the proposed changes would threaten the historical integrity
of the structure
question. And I'd respectfully submit very simply put, this review did not happen.
First, it's important to point out that section nine point one point two clearly contemplates this review process to take the place of the review of a certificate of appropriateness
application
that normally occurs for non city owned properties.
So the changes to be considered by HPC
should be the changes that would normally be included
in the application for the certificate of appropriateness.
Here, a preliminary rendering was presented to the HPC on October 2024.
Online, there's no video for HPC meetings, but there are a bunch of different renderings that you all saw in September.
I'm guessing
that it was probably one of these.
So,
these are two very different images that I think were shown to you guys. I got these off of the video from your meeting in September.
I don't know exactly what was shown to them, but I think we can all agree that an artist's rendering alone
would not normally be sufficient to satisfy the requirements of an application for a certificate of appropriateness.
Since it wouldn't satisfy the requirements for a non city owned property,
property.
Additionally, HPC was told at the hearing that the renderings and presentation were for informational purposes only. That's in the minutes.
The commission was not told that they had forty five days to review and comment.
They were not invited to submit proposed changes.
What they were presented was merely the concept of a plan.
No tree removal plan,
no engineering plans, just these pretty pictures still showing an extensive tree cover on the property.
Nothing to allow them to conduct a meaningful
substantive
historical review. Nothing about presentation the presentation in October 2024
satisfied
section nine point one point two. So now in April 2025, the actual construction plans were submitted to the city. The actual plans were quite different from these concepts of plan renderings that were presented in the fall.
Now, finally, the time was ripe for presenting the plan to HPC in a public meeting affording the public a chance to comment and HPC forty five days to review and submit recommend recommendations,
potentially binding
recommendations.
However, that did not happen.
HPC was not presented with these final construction plans. The plans never saw the light of day at any public hearing. Instead, we're all blindsided when bulldozers
started ripping out the historical landscape surrounding Mimosa Hall, including the removal of many irreplaceable specimen trees
without going through any historical review process.
After public outcry, the city posted renderings on a website, renderings
which are different there's a lot of different renderings on that website. They're different from these two things.
And also on that website was the statement,
all decisions were based on approved construction plans and were reviewed by the historic preservation commission.
As I've just outlined, this is completely untrue.
What the HPC was presented in October
for informational purposes was a preliminary
rendering the concept of a plan. They were never asked to review the final construction plans as required
by nine point one point two.
This needs to be made as right as it can be made at this point in time given that the process called for in our city ordinance
was not followed.
Thank you.
Thank you, Allison.
Cara, we got those?
We got those. Okay.
Madam clerk.
Ashley Glass.
I'm Ashley Glass, and, you can start the timer. I'm just going to play what I recorded since I'm blind in one eye and didn't wanna have to read.
Tonight, not just as a resident, but as someone who believed you when you campaigned on transparency,
historic preservation,
public safety,
and support for our downtown businesses.
Like many others in Roswell, I voted with hope.
But today, I stand here before you with disappointment and resolve.
The promises you made to our community on on parking, transparency,
leadership,
safety,
and preservation
have been broken,
and that breach of public trust demands accountability.
Let's begin with the parking deck. During the 2021 campaign and the 2022 bond referendum discussions, we were repeatedly
told the parking deck downtown would be free
to support Canton Street businesses,
reduce the traffic strain, and invite tourism.
Quotes like the revenue from businesses will pay for it. That was what mayor Wilson said, or we promised Roswell voters we would use bond monies for a parking deck.
We're echoed at public meetings and campaign events. But in 2025,
the city budget, you plan to collect $2,200,000
in parking fees, fees, breaking that core promise you made. Local business owners now feel betrayed
watching other cities like Alpharetta and Woodstock thrive with free parking, while Roswell puts up pay stations and ticket threats.
This is not what the voters approved.
Then there's transparency.
One of your cornerstone promises, for instance, mayor Wilson, you admitted to using personal email accounts and deleting texts,
sidestepping the public records law you pledged to uphold.
Council members have been left out of key communications.
For instance, maybe a plan about Canton Street being closed down.
That's actually
strategic exclusion instead of transparent leadership.
As for governance, the body promised to promote professional city city management,
empowering a city administrator,
not concentrating
power in one office like you wanted to do when you wanted to change the city charter.
Let's talk about public safety. I speak not just as a resident, but as the wife of a fireman.
I am married to a fireman who's actually been a fireman for twenty one years and who was burned
in a house collapse sustaining fifteen percent
burns to his body. So I know firsthand what fire departments need to protect this community. Not only that, I was in public safety for twelve years myself.
In 02/2019,
Roswell leased a $1,170,000
heavy rescue truck for major emergencies. That would be like collapses, trench rescues,
high rise fires.
These are
these need to be fully staffed.
Like, in Atlanta, for instance, there's eight people on their squad. In Cobb County, eight people. DeKalb County, they have
a minimum of six, but mostly eight. And Roswell, how many do we have? We have two. Just two.
So what good is a million dollar rescue apparatus when it arrives with two people? I would say that's actually not safe. That is not safe.
And not to mention the fact that those two people are not trained on trench and many other things. If you want to dig deeper into that,
feel free to reach out.
And finally, let's talk about Melissa Hall. One of the most
historic
venues, properties in Roswell, a place that should be protected at all cost.
Yet dozens of historic trees were removed from that site.
Some hundreds
of years old.
Living
parts of our city's legacy.
That was not conservation.
That was destruction.
We are tired, tired of hearing one thing on a campaign postcard and seeing the opposite in action. Tired of trusting leadership that doesn't follow through.
You said you would preserve our history, protect our safety, and serve with transparency.
From now on, we are watching. We are organizing.
We are documenting, and we will remember, not just at the next city council, but at the ballot box. We will hold every one of you accountable for the trust you've broken and the promises you've abandoned.
And, I'm just gonna add, one more thing in my twenty six seconds.
Let me just pull it up real quick.
So for those of you who
talked about the hotel,
well, again, I was in public safety.
And,
eighteen
fifteen to eighteen years ago, we had problems with that hotel.
Y'all just decided to do something about it because it was in the news.
Madam Clerk.
Dottie Eitris.
Thank you.
I'm Dottie Etrus,
and it was my pleasure to help create the Roswell
CVB and services its
executive director for over twenty seven years.
Prior to that, I was involved in the community movement
to create the Chattahoochee Nature Center, then I went to work with them for fourteen years. So I have a long history with Roswell,
and value the assets that make it a wonderful city.
To market and promote them locally, regionally,
nationally, and internationally
was a true joy for me.
It's not unusual
for a city
to have a mill, mill ruins, or maybe a mill house or two, or to have some historic homes.
Maybe to have a river, streams, native people history.
To have an early farm home. To have restaurants,
breweries, and businesses in their historic district.
But Roswell has them all, and that is unusual.
It is due to the diligent
work done by many residents over numerous years,
far too many than I could possibly mention.
This combination makes Roswell's tourism product the envy
of other cities throughout Georgia and I would say the Southeast.
These assets are strong magnets for attracting residents, visitors and businesses.
When Mimosa Hall was purchased, my staff and I were so excited about the gardens being restored.
Those Neil Reed designed areas
would be a strong tourism asset, and we wanted to market them to garden clubs throughout Georgia
and in within our drive markets.
But if those gardens are destroyed,
that could never happen.
Sorry. It didn't happen in my time here that that we could do that.
When I first heard the city was going to create a park of the historic district,
I imagined it would keep intact that historic
integrity of the area by making it easier to cross roads, stroll stroll from one place to the next to provide connectivity.
I was greatly disappointed
to see the destruction
of such a beautiful natural area
that enhanced the ambiance of Bullock Avenue,
Mimosa Hall, and Bullock Hall, not to mention the wildlife
the area supported.
If a private nonprofit like Chattahoochee Nature Center can build a bridge over Willie 0 Road to get people back and forth safely, the city should certainly be able to create connectivity
without so drastically
destroying a piece of a historic property.
What many may not remember is that when we first started the tourism program in Roswell,
it was called the Historic Roswell District Owners and Business Association.
Its purpose was to promote the historic district and bring it back to life.
We were funded by lodging tax, so we had to branch out.
Later, the restaurant community exploded and gave us another wonderful asset to market along with the breweries and the many individual businesses.
But their stories become part of our history.
You see, history is about telling the stories
and preserving the spaces
in which to tell those stories, but it is ever evolving
as more and more people become involved and as our community grows.
I am very familiar with the events facilities in Roswell. My staff and I heavily promoted them along with other meeting spaces throughout the city.
I witnessed many different types of businesses in the historic district
attempt to enlarge their parking lot, add on to or modify their buildings.
Often, they spent funds and time going back and forth to the HPC
to get HPC's
blessing,
not to just present to HPC.
Hiring architects, arborists, and experts to draw plans to scale,
and yet they were often denied the ability to make changes to a historic property.
Cutting and bulldozing to establish a parking lot and amenities for an events facility the city owns
puts the local events facility businesses
on an unlevel playing field or other businesses in the historic district.
It definitely looks like it gives the city an unfair advantage
by do as I say, not as I do. That may not be the way it is, but that is the way it is perceived.
We do not we do need controls in place,
but we'd say that the city should abide by those same controls.
This action taken by mayor and council
was just wrong on so many levels.
On behalf of all the residents and businesses
who have worked tirelessly
throughout all of Roswell's existence
to protect Miss Citrus.
Roswell's historic district, I urge you not to ignore the safeguards in place.
The damage done to Bullock Avenue and Mimosa Grounds cannot be undone. Thank you, ma'am. Yes. It may look nice one year or one day Thank you, ma'am. But it will never again be what it should be. Thank you. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Dottie. Madam Clerk.
Lynn McIntyre.
Mayor and council. My name is Lynn McIntyre, and I live in Horseshoe Bend at 2210
Steeplechase Lane. I'm previously on the HOA
of Horseshoe Bend.
I serve on a number of nonprofits.
I was a former employee
at the Chattahoochee Nature Center like Dottie,
and I worked closely with Dottie
with attending the governor's tourism conferences
to represent Roswell and our wonderful assets.
I am the
past president of the Georgia River Network, which is working on big issues
like saving the Okefenokee Swamp, which just happened, thanks to the conservation fund,
putting in $62,000,000
to purchase the land that was going to be turned into a mine.
So we're very happy we're celebrating those big accomplishments.
I am a tree hugger,
unapologetically
a Lorax person,
and I do believe that trees are an asset worth saving.
I wanna ask a couple of things. I know the term clearcutting has been used a number of times tonight.
Clearcutting, by my definition, which I got off the e Google,
is the deliberate removal of all trees in a large area,
usually the harvesting of the trees for some useful purpose.
I'd like to know what the useful purpose is going to be done with those trees that were removed.
I saw them stacked up. I have pictures.
I don't know if we actually just sent them to the mill or what. I know the mayor, former mayor, has a mill at his house, and he could probably make some great wood out of it.
I don't wanna discount the fact that you all have a hard job to do,
and I appreciate the work you do.
I'm concerned that the city is actually competing
with the nonprofit sector and with other businesses.
We have a lot of wedding facilities already in Roswell.
If you're going to make a monetization
effort
at some place like Mimosa Hall,
perhaps doing something different instead of the same old thing would be beneficial.
The city actually has quite a few of these exact same kind of assets,
And I'll just use as an example,
Barrington Hall, Bullock Hall already have rental facilities in place, The Mill, and quite a few others. I think there are about eight right now, the River Landing.
So you must be making some money from the cumulative
effect of these rentals.
If not, you're not doing the right marketing
because, frankly,
there's a lot of business out there that's untapped.
People do wanna come to Roswell.
I would like to see something like a listening room.
At Ground And Pound in East Roswell, which has a capacity of about 50 people, we had Hal Coleman, Saturday night, do Bob Dylan songs and stories.
The place was packed.
A listening room is something we don't have anywhere. It's not for the cultural arts center. It needs a small, compact space, maybe a 100 people, but you could fill it up every weekend night and maybe some weeks
as well. The idea is not everybody has weddings or expensive events, but you could do something different. I'd like to see some creativity, and maybe that's back to you all at the historic home.
But I respect the work that they're doing, and I want to encourage you to find solutions that are out of the box. That's how we used to market the nature center when I was doing that job. We had to come up with some real clever ideas like staycations in Roswell
because people couldn't afford to leave.
Frankly, that's getting to be the case again.
Your own citizens are going to be your customers.
Don't piss them off anymore. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Yavi.
Thank you.
Kara, we good on the question.
Thank you, ma'am. Madam clerk.
Michael Deltero.
Right. Michael Del Cero,
Aversham Downs. Hello, mayor. Hello, council. Good evening,
and thank you, members and guests.
I'm speaker number 22.
And if my notes serve me correctly, everyone has expressed concerns.
We've heard
multiple times
the organizational
chart,
citizens up top,
then mayor and council.
The citizens with taxpayer money
bought Mimosa Hall in historic gardens.
I demand
an independent investigation.
You haven't earned the trust
to referee this evening with a q and a.
It can't just end here.
We have two CPAs on counsel,
a bank auditor,
and this is what we get.
We heard this evening over here
from a variety of people and experts,
three architects,
or three attorneys, an architect,
a lot of questions,
and disputes of information. For example, clear cutting. My goodness.
A case has been made this evening,
and a search for truth
for the root cause
of this disaster.
Communication,
sketches,
showing high level concepts from an artist.
A process with a clear breakdown,
no site visits by HPC,
the lack of flow of complete information through city hall,
missed reviews,
Accountability.
Who in the city
knew the number of trees to be actually 60?
We need to know this.
Transparency.
What are the guardrails
to protect projects in the future?
The city has certainly bought a lot of real estate lately.
A sweet descendant
had ashes buried at Mimosa.
Lots of lots of questions.
We can't just leave here this evening saying done.
It's just not gonna work.
This is not an isolated situation.
I'm a big baseball fan, so I got three strikes.
Strike one, save Canton Street.
Citizens spoke up.
It's gonna have serious consequences to our community. Job losses, decreased revenue for businesses,
reduced property values.
City stopped,
But it seems like it's an option for the future. Strike
two.
Save Roswell's history.
Me, the honorable Jerry Wood, and others
learned about eminent domain getting filed to seize the land
and demolish the 1859
historic Methodist church.
Mayor, you approached me 05/15/2024
at Roswell Next at Coastal Grill.
You did a slide deck and a Q and A.
I didn't have a question, but you came to me anyway.
I didn't have a question, but you still came to me and put the mic to my face.
So, I asked.
Can there be a town hall for people to ask questions about the historic building? You said no.
That's what open mic night is for.
And we need to trust the mayor and council.
You are elected.
That's on video.
Strike two.
Strike three,
it's this evening.
Citizens are outraged.
I'm here. It's open mic night.
I demand an independent
investigation get done
just like Oxbow Road.
To have this put on the next city council meeting agenda, a motion get made, a discussion, then have a public vote
to have an open investigation on this.
So my questions for our note takers,
because these are more than statements. I want answers to my questions.
One, who will put this on the next meeting agenda?
Two,
when will that meeting happen?
Three,
who will make a motion and second the motion?
Thank you.
Betty Price.
Good evening, mister Knighton. Can you turn this up a little bit? I had a hard time hearing the last couple of people.
You could turn up the microphone, please. I can start my time over.
Thank you. Good evening, mister Knighton,
mayor and council, mister Davidson.
And I said it in that order because I believe mister Knighton is the presiding officer this evening, although I don't know why.
My name is Betty Price. I've lived here for forty one years in Roswell, 295 Broadmeadow Cove. One of the first things I did when I moved to Roswell was join the Roswell Historical Society because I knew what importance it was in this city and the,
special place that I lived knowing that I wanted to know as much as I possibly could about the history.
Now some of the people behind me may see a shirt that I've got on. It says owner.
I got that at
a retreat
from mayor mayor and council
about ten years ago when I was on council.
And I remember when the staff gave me the shirt, I thought, I'm an owner of what?
And sometimes I think that,
council thinks they're the owner of the city, but the owners are back here. We own the city.
I I really have to suppress my supreme disappointment in what has happened.
Although, frankly, I'm not surprised. It seems to be a broken record these days.
We're getting into these situations
repeatedly.
And I I know it's a matter of public record, but could for the benefit of those of us in the room, could we review just who did vote for this approval of this? Was it unanimous? A show of hands if you voted for this.
Nobody voted for it?
Oh, nobody voted for it. Isn't that fascinating? Okay.
Well, then what are we doing here? How did this happen?
Well, I just have a few points, and I just wanna kinda echo and ditto what everybody else has said. I really wasn't going to speak tonight, but, I I felt compelled. I thought 22 people wasn't enough.
We in this room
yeah.
We in this room
agree that the mimosa destruction is profoundly
heartbreaking.
And, really, it seems to be for no valid reason.
What is the driving force?
Is it staff?
Is it mayor and council? Apparently, nobody voted for it.
Should we just follow the money? Is that what we're supposed to do?
I asked one council person. They told me the reason given
was that the historic homes are not paying for themselves.
And then we heard earlier this evening that 6 mil $16,000,000
has been allocated.
Are we planning to recoup that? I doubt it.
There have been so many violations.
Transparency,
violation of procedures,
violation of of HPC,
requirements, violations of the tree ordinance,
invalid
procedure with a tree removal permitting,
stakeholders not solicited in a meaningful way.
And then we have just the basic core function of government.
It is not to run it as a business,
but to provide essential services.
It's not a glamorous job.
It's it's really not a glamorous job. I know. I sat up there. It it's not glamorous.
But competing against private business
violates
the core
function of government.
And we're told
that Roswell is a Tree City USA community for thirty years.
Are we supposed to gasp or cry?
The tree ordinance was violated.
One time, I cut down a tree without a permit.
I was fined $300.
Is it too late for me to ask for my money back?
If you calculate out, what is it, 90 trees times
anyway, it's a big sum of money. I'm wondering who's gonna get the bit get get the fine.
Anyway, we just need to stop this project immediately,
reassess
reassess how to protect what is left and move forward in a responsible way. We can't turn back the clock.
What's done is done. It's sickening.
But we must reevaluate
soliciting sage and wise advice
along with broad public input
and how we will repair this damage done
in our
loving
home of Roswell.
Thank you.
As a as a reminder, of course,
as we've done throughout the course of the evening,
questions that are posed are being recorded and documented. So thank you very much.
Madam Clerk.
Mayor, there are no further speakers on this subject. Thank you very much.
Steven and team, let's let's start addressing some of the questions have been raised this evening.
Mister Leatherman, miss doctor Pannino,
Michelle,
mister Cusack.
Apologies in advance, Mayor.
I have my computer up here. I've been trying to take note. So Let's start with the I think,
we'll start with the first question. What's the proper process for tree removal? Did the city follow that process?
Do we answer that earlier? Yep. I'm gonna hand that over to our community development director, Michelle Alexander.
So for a large project for a major LDP for a major land disturbance permit,
part of that package, it's several documents. So an LDP
isn't just an LDP for one thing. It has several disciplines
So the tree permit is subsumed within the land disturbance
So the tree permit is subsumed within the land disturbance permit. We absolutely filed the same process
that we follow with any other major,
land disturbance permit that came in as a plan,
which is a set of documents of several different documents.
This one, it start with that that piece of it of of the procedure.
The tree ordinance is a set of calculations.
Not each tree is,
as valuable as the next. If I have a little skinny shrub or,
a little pine tree, that is very different than when you have, obviously, as you all know and love, and I hear the love and dedication from the community about what what you've seen,
and experience of this kind of change.
They're not the same. So the way tree ordinances work is they'd assign a value,
depending on the size of the tree.
So when you go through and you it isn't enough to say I chopped five trees down,
well, I don't know what that means. It's it doesn't mean anything for this code or for most tree ordinances.
So I'm going to speak a little bit about the numbers and
walk through what your certified arborist and, by the way, the person who is our certified arborist is also a registered landscape architect. So he was a very highly qualified or is a highly qualified,
certified,
arborist.
The
calculations, though, are just that. They're calculations. They come from the numbers and the size of the tree, so we absolutely had a survey. There is a tree survey.
We had, the calculations for what was proposed of,
being removed.
So there was absolutely discussion,
on the design team, that was the barge team, with the the
the planning and site design that was presented of where the alignment should be so that you could serve and open up this site so it could have access and be more utilized and then you could draw more visitors.
So the design
had,
you know, walk through the the construction
design, determine the different limits of of the development.
So this is a 22 acre site,
and this is four around four acres of it that were gonna be the limits of disturbance. So within that, what are we counting? So with these four acres out of 22 of this gorgeous forest. Right? You're looking at the four acres
and excuse me. Okay. I apologize if I'm getting my my dad. I'm not the arborist, and I'm reading from what our staff has worked together. But I also reviewed it, ourselves, and I also listened to every word of the H from when this was heard in October to sit to understand
what did HPC hear and what did staff respond to when we, shared the excuse me. I'm so sorry. Please address us. Thank you. The etiquette. I apologize.
So Go ahead, Michelle. The calculations, I just wanna I I don't know if you want me to walk through the calculations. I can tell you that we filed the same,
as any other applicant that would come in. We calculate for that area based on the tree survey what is the density of what it exists today using these calculations.
And when you use the calculation to say today, this is how much the value these numbers are of the tree
density units, the TDUs. So this is a c series of calculations, and we look at what is there today,
what are we discussing about removing,
and then there's a whole another set of calculations that we have to follow. We're required to follow it to say, okay. If you're taking down a certain size tree, you're supposed to there's a recompense. You have to compensate.
So a specimen tree is worth much more
than any than, any of the other regular trees. So there's a set of calculations. And I just
so that's the process, and we have all of that that we walked through the total amounts of the tree density units that were taken out,
as well as what is anticipated to be put back. And I think it's it's just difficult to imagine
all of the types of density coming back and over time when you plant initially
trees at six feet as well as trees that are planting will be 14 feet, and if they grow every two, you know, two feet every two years along the whole side.
And then we have renderings of and and
site plans of proposals that were shared with the, with the different respective organizations.
Don't know how much more detail you want me to go into that of the units and how much we're actually planting
four times more than the required minimum,
that would be required by the code,
for any other applicant. We are planting around four times more according to our calculations.
Did you want me to answer about HPC? Yeah. Did the city follow the process, I e, the tree ordinance?
Yes.
Why did existing trees need to be removed and new trees will be planted?
Mayor, I'll I'll jump into this and I think there's some context that we can bring to the table. I'd like to just quickly
run through the presentation very quickly that was presented at Friends of Mimosa and the Friends of Bullet Falls, September 12, your preservation commission. I just wanna make sure that we're showing the exact information that went out to the public.
So here's where we start to go through some of the details, and I'll go through this quickly. It's not the public. This
was the presentation that was presented at both
Friends of Mimosa Hall and the Friends of Bullock Hall as well as the Historic Preservation Commission, which was a public
meeting.
Please please
please please allow him to, proceed. Here here are the priorities that came out of our, design charrette,
starts to identify the priorities that we were focused on. We start to lay that out on a site review
as well as itemized phase one priority improvements.
As we start to go through, you very quickly start to see see this plan start to zero in
specifically on the area of Mimosa Hall and the five elements that we are,
activating as the primary elements of this project.
As you start to see, we did a slide and a presentation on specifically
the Bullock Pond and the Founders Pond as it relates to this project. These are the retention ponds that were required
as part of our,
stormwater retention
pieces.
You'll also start to notice that we're on the event terrace lawn. We start to provide a little bit of those details. I'll kinda go through this a little more quickly. This just starts to show the floor plan of the supporting structure, some of the just aesthetics of that. Then you'll notice we get into the event parking slide. This was our initial primary design of the event parking lot. We very quickly, throughout this process,
started to have a conversation about how that parking lot specifically in its design started to impede a little bit further into the property, which was a concern.
We actually
between Bullock Hall and Mimosa Hall. It is, has a lot of dense population in there or dense,
vegetation in there, including a lot of invasives,
bamboo, understory,
and trees as well. And who is who is this presented to? This was presented to the
Mimosa, Friends of Bullock, and this is the presentation that went to the historic preservation commission.
Fire board?
So here here is the additional
If you would, please allow mister Malone to proceed and perhaps some things will be illuminated
and, any other necessary responses,
potentially would be made. Please, mister Malone. This is the exact presentation that was presented to the historic preservation commission.
Here is the vendor parking. This actually is an element that we've had to remove out of the project based on cost. That's something that we've had to kinda scale back based on the budget for the project.
This gets into a little more of the reflecting pond, some of the materials, site furnishings.
But here at the end, we get into a very specific plant palette that we start to showcase
some of the plantings.
Michelle Alexander,
talked about reforesting and replanting.
This gets into some of that palette that we start to look at from trees that will be going back as well as shrubs that will be there presented in the ground. So this just gives you a little context. It's not it's not specific in numbers, but this just started to dig into those,
more of the details of the project.
That was the full presentation that was done to all three of those entities.
Thanks, Steven.
Hi. Can you show me the questions again? Sorry.
Karen, can you pull up the questions?
Thank you, Steven.
Okay.
Does a city believe that a parking lot will attract more visitors than his than the historic gardens?
My interpretation, sir, is that it's not the parking lot, but the special event venue itself will attract more guests and visitors.
How much does the city expect to earn from special events at Mimosa Hall?
Currently, in f y twenty five, and you have to remember in f y twenty five, we'll only be afforded about half a year of opportunities because we'll still be in construction through the summer. We're anticipating and projecting about a 468,000,
gross revenue for FY '26. And then as we're able to kick that off and we have more accessibility, meaning more dates to book because of the facilities online,
we're starting project in year two and three an annual,
gross revenue of approximately 861,000.
Thank you, sir. I'm gonna keep forgive me. I'm just gonna keep throwing down the questions and Yes, sir. Seem literal, I apologize.
Why were only high level designs for a mimosa hall project shown during public meetings? So I will tell you, we tried
recognize that, you know, we wanna make sure that we are always looking for opportunities to improve our communication. So we'll continue to look at that as we move forward. Alright. Why is the city of Roswell focusing on business? Example, parking, real estate, etcetera etcetera,
rather than focusing on government.
Anybody want that?
I can try to jump in. So Sure. So it has always been our hope and a goal that we've been working towards to try to create
more self sustainability
within the historic assets.
We're we recognize
that that is a large price tag and in some cases, an obligation
to maintain,
to
create, in some cases, the capital improvement items that go with that and just the day to day operations. So I would say as we start to look at opportunities for where we can generate revenue to help offset some of those costs,
that is a goal we strive for.
Mister mayor, I'd also Council member sales. Yes, sir. Thank you. But I also like to add that this is a this is activation of an area that has,
floundered recently. Right? So this is an opportunity to bring more visitors to the place, and it also will support the hotels the hotel that we hope to build. This is an important piece of that. So it's not simply that it's got to pay for itself. It's also a part of building a vibrant city and increasing
the the functionality
and the success of that area specifically.
Thank you, Alan.
Anything else on that in terms of OpEx or anything? We'll just leave it alone. Alright. What, did the city provide a written explanation to justify removing specimen trees? Sir, I believe,
director Alexander answered that question as it was related to the land disturbance permit in that process. And that was was that a written explanation
to justify removing so sorry. For me, I'm sorry to ask you such a literal question
that I know you gave an explanation about the LDP, which is comprehensive and there are a lot of pieces in the LDP of which trees are part of that. But I'm just going to ask kind of for a very literal answer. So that's on the record. Did the city provide a written explanation to justify removing specimen trees?
So the we didn't do a separate written report for each specimen tree that was removed.
There were different iterations,
when we discussed with the
design team of what they could and couldn't do,
and where to align
the the alignment of the proposed,
walkways and other disturbances.
And the other the main thing where there were some, specimen trees that there were some discussion
had to do with the critical root zone. So especially,
in the parking lot area where there were gonna be trees that were gonna be damaged. So take them down now instead of taking trying to take it down later was the the
thought of
because they're gonna get damaged, it's gonna be worse problem later. So most of that were based on, like, the technical side of the construction
as proposed with the design.
So we did not have a separate report about each specimen tree that went, but we did walk through
the rationale with the with the designer. I don't know if you have additional comments about how the conversations went and what we could preserve. Yeah. I think as we started to look at that, that was even the intent and purpose from the site visit as we started and kicked the project off. We wanted to make sure to do a very thorough walk through of the tree inventory and the tree removal process just to ensure that we were looking at any opportunities
to preserve any trees that were within the scope of that plan.
Asking these questions as they lay,
what are the specifics of justification for not making the public aware of the fact that the trees were being removed?
I would respond with while the total number of trees was not discussed at that at that that interval, there was plenty of public
opportunity for comment through this process.
Do council members know the history of the garden, the part played by Neil Reed? Council, any of you care to comment? Council member David Johnson. Yeah. I'll start.
First of all,
being a 43 year old male with three young kids who lives on the East Side Of Roswell, the historical homes have never been a highest priority in my life. I'll be the first one to admit that.
The passion
behind
Bullock Hall that that the
the leadership of, the Friends of Bullock and the leadership of the Friends of Mimosa have for these halls has changed my opinion on it. And I think that these homes are a good asset for the city to have, but they need to be activated.
One of my favorite moments is watching my kids like the Christmas tree at,
the Christkindl market this year. Like, this what a great moment. My eight year old had hot chocolate all over himself.
My three year old was screaming and crying,
and my beautiful seven year old daughter was probably just, you know,
drinking hot chocolate and being chilled like she is 99% of the time. So to get to the history of this home, you know,
I did a little research over the last couple weeks and kind of brought some down. During
the union army's occupation of Roswell, it was a served as a union hospital. I did not know that till earlier this week. I'll be the first to admit that. I thought that was really neat. What's also really interesting is 1869,
general AJ Hanson acquired the home
and his wife renamed it Mimosa Hall.
Can anyone guess why?
After the Mimosa trees.
So now I now have a question for mister Malone.
How many Mimosa trees are on this property?
Do we know? Unknown off the top of my head. I mean, do you think it's 50?
I would probably say much less than that. Okay. So this brings me, mister mayor of you indulging me for a second.
I had the
pleasure of listening to the entire HPC meeting on October 9.
And when he got to this, the comment from
I'll leave their names out of it. The first comment was made was, is this literally gonna be a pedestrian connectivity?
A sign and can we put a sign saying Historic Square this way? And and, what's what's Becky's last name? I'm drawing Hawkins. Thank you. It's a long night. Becky Hawkins was there. I assume you were not there because I didn't hear you on the recording.
And Becky said, yes. This is improved connectivity to help our historic district. And then someone asked where the money's coming from. It's coming from ARPA.
And have the Friends of Bullock have seen this? Has this historic society seen this? And the answer was yes to the Friends of Bullock, yes to the Friends of Mimosa, unknown about the historic,
society at the time.
Then then it said, where is the line gonna go? And mister Mullen, please correct me if I'm wrong, and I misheard this because I was watching three kids. And so the line is on the side of the pool, not on one of the Neil Reed Gardens. Is that correct? That's well,
in history, it is where the gardens would have originally had. He had several gardens. Been filled in. Was there. So it's it's basically okay.
And so then this member of the,
HBC said, you know, they would really like to put a mimosa tree. They have a mimosa tree at their house that either he hates or his wife hates and they wanna donate it. And I just found it really funny
that they that there's
very little to no mimosa trees on this property anymore.
You know, we're here talking about trees
and the history of trees, and it sounds like
and forgive me. Let me go back to my notes.
Oh, where is it? Oh, I forget. No. Neil Reed was one of the people from my notes that I have. He took out a lot of the mungusas trees
and planted with the trees that we have today.
So I, you know, I just find that really funny.
Moving on,
someone asked that we keep the design of the driveways of champagne glass. I never never realized it was a champagne glass. I thought that was really cool, and I hope we can somewhat do that. I believe that to the experts.
I just put people to sleep for a living. I don't build driveways.
And,
someone asked, Becky did a fabulous job. This will rival one of the many wedding venues she's been to in her life. And most people will bring will bus in guests, but she's glad to see additional parking.
And finally,
the the last comments were, you guys have done a great job.
We need to do something with them. We need to activate these home.
As I go down to them, I don't see folks there.
What does it really mean to activate them? And Becky, I think I'm paraphrasing for forgive me. You have a great answer. It means getting people there with a purpose and experience that people want to go to.
Worries if it's going to be too crowded,
and and and this commissioner said, I'm worried that this is going to be too crowded when it's activated.
So
I say all that to say,
you know,
this is I I will stand behind my vote.
Right?
I I think this is a good plan.
$17,000,000
over the last four years.
$17,000,000.
To the two women that got hit in my neighborhood
where we don't have sidewalks,
that money could have gone to the sidewalks. It could have helped change their life.
Right? It could go to resurfacing of roads. It could go to a lot of things.
But I am going to make a plan, and I'm gonna continue to vote for plans that make these homes financially sustainable.
And I'm not you know,
we're gonna there's gonna be change. Trees are gonna go down. You know? It is what it is. And I'm sorry about that, but I am going to support this plan. I will stand by my vote. I'll continue to stand by my vote. And finally, as a father of a seven year old daughter
I wasn't gonna say this. I'm not gonna say it.
To use the word rape
for cutting down trees,
to use that word
is immoral.
It's disgusting.
It's beneath the office of of of the prestige of a former mayor, a former elected official.
You know, you can say a lot of things to us. I'll take all the vitriol. I'll take all the hate. I really don't care.
But to use that word,
it's disgusting. It's disgusting that that happened tonight. And I I really hope I'll I'll I'll I will say this. There's two people that I voted for on this dice.
Hey, Sarah.
And me.
I
yeah.
I might not vote for me in November. We'll see.
I don't this I don't agree with councilwoman Hills on a lot of issues. Right? I mean, we we we have our disagreements.
Right? I am never gonna use that vitriol to you.
Right?
I'm never gonna I mean, Al, I voted against him four times, and I enjoyed I enjoyed that conversation with him. Yeah. I never would have voted for you, but you don't run. I didn't vote for Kurt. I didn't vote for Christine. I didn't vote for Will. I will not use that discourse in this city. It's disgusting. It's terrible. And this city would be a lot better off if we have some moral clarity
on how we talk to people.
Thank you, David.
Appreciate that.
Sad that, a lot of people who
make comments
don't understand. Feel free to I Oh, sorry. No. No. Go ahead. I just I think it's interesting. Like, part of part of discussion is having two sides talk and Yeah. One side walks out. So who's weak? Who's weak right now? Who can't hear the the other side of the story? You know, I'm I told y'all, I don't get mad. When I get mad, I get mad. I'm mad. I know you. You know? Forgive me. This is hockey day coming out.
My phone number is (678)
571-5112.
You
You do not know it. You can text me anytime you want. I will I'll tell you right now, we had three city two city council meetings, a design charrette that was two days of eight hours each,
HPC meeting. You when we voted to buy this property, how many council meetings were there?
One.
One. It showed up on the agenda on Friday at 5PM, and the public got to comment on it on Monday night at 7PM. It was unanimous vote. So I'm really tired of the, oh, you're not transparent or anything like that. You had two council meetings to come up and talk to us about this. It is not my job to spoon feed you information. It's my job to make votes and make decisions and that's what I'm gonna continue to do and I'm gonna make our neighborhood safer, I'm gonna make our police well paid, I wanna make our fire department full time. I wanna grow the economy of this city, and I'm gonna do it so we don't,
over border the taxpayers of this city. Because you know why we wanna run it as a business? And that's sarcastic for the online transcript.
Because we this city has not invested in itself
for twenty, thirty years. The economic growth of this city was buying out East Roswell, not doing crap to it. The economic growth was building single family neighborhoods and not doing crap with it. Alright? And letting 40 year old shopping centers just denigrate,
desecrate, and degenerate.
And we can't sustain a mose in Easter Roswell. You guys wanna talk to me about 30 trees.
Thank you, David.
It is interesting. It was just worth noting of it's a follow-up comment
that the, the reason there's been 17,000,000
spent by this mayor and council and senior leadership team in the last three and a half years is
is because we did listen to the people. The people across will said that our historic properties matter to us.
Problem was there wasn't an OPEX plan. OPEX means operational expenses. What does it cost to run those every year? They were in well excess of several $100,000, which is being funded by the general fund, I. E. You and me as taxpayers.
Was it a plan?
Another problem was, is that some of these historic homes were beginning to have as little less than 400
people showing up a year.
Think about that.
One person a day showing up at historic property, yet we're asking us, our fellow taxpayers, our fellow residents to fund those
in perpetuity
without a plan.
So, you know, I'm glad you made fun of the business thing. Call it business, call it strategy, call it good common sense. I don't know what you wanna call it. It's calling bringing an op it's calling bringing operational knowledge and execution
and being able to find ways to pay for things
that we believe that the residents want. It means also taking having a high level of a competence,
which has been demonstrated again and again in this budget,
and being able to maneuver money, the taxpayers money, and to make more and more things work.
I realized that most of the people came tonight were unfortunately aren't interested in a discussion or engagement. That's okay.
That's part of the process.
And it is interesting that as soon as some of the questions getting answered, the vast majority of people walked out. And I'm sorry for that, but that's okay.
The vast majority of residents,
do care, and they do care. And I think they they are evocative of David Johnson's perspective.
They don't want us to fight. They do want us to disagree.
And they do want us to
to,
believe what we believe and fight for what we believe and be able to work it out together. We are all in this together. This is a small community of a 100,000 people. It's a great community.
But it's not so great when you're unwilling to listen to somebody else. It's not so great when you're willing to denigrate, make false accusations,
and not back them up. That's not so great. That doesn't make us better.
And,
and
people in public service who are elected officials are just like you. They're just residents.
They're just residents who ran for office and they got elected.
And they're representing you and is a representative government.
And from an operational perspective,
this there's a tremendous trust level between the elected officials
and the senior leadership down to the middle leadership down to the lower leadership.
One of the faults that I would say to you as a resident that the city got into was that too much of elected leadership was meddling in operational activity
and
creating one off situations where they were being heavy handed
and directing outcomes
of what operational activity was doing often against its own policy.
And what I believe is that the representatives and a representative government, your city council, and your mayor are your representatives.
We are not superior
nor are we inferior.
We are your we are your representatives.
And you have
voted for us, not everybody,
to make decisions
based upon the the
the bet the most amount of information we could put
reality is is that we have more information. And if you become elected, you're gonna have more information.
And with that information is a responsibility
to do the right thing. There's trust.
And not every single answer can be completely tied up in every single equation. It doesn't mean that there's somewhat thing something being done wrong. And often that's thrown out there. And that's more of a product of today. And that's unfortunate.
Because just because you can't answer every question with every little dot, doesn't mean that there was some wrongdoing.
And I will tell you, as a fellow resident to my fellow residents,
I'm
immeasurably proud
of
the senior leadership that I get to deal with. It's amazing.
The the
the competence,
the
good faith, the character.
And David said this, I'm gonna say this, like, I will tell you,
I have disagreed and everybody here has disagreed with me. Every single person. But I would tell you that if any one of these people was running for city council today, I would support them. Be it Sarah, be it Will,
be it Christine,
be it David, be it Alan, be it Lee.
Because I see him behind the scenes. I see their hearts. I see their work. I see the product. I see how they're engaged.
It's certainly not because we agree with one another.
It's because I know they're committed people to continue to look at themselves and look at one another and look at saying, look, what's the right thing to do? And I think when you hear David just a minute ago, it's a frustration of being attacked
for wrongdoing,
which is not right. It's one thing to disagree with somebody.
It's another thing to characterize somebody's actions as continually
having ulterior motives,
being corrupt,
being mistrustful,
lying,
bad,
tyrannical,
yada yada yada. All these silly narratives are out there that aren't true.
And the reality is is that this elected body
gives a great deal of responsibility to the senior leadership because they're responsible for executing.
And if I were to say to you, and I don't Steven may say like, hey, you know what? Steven's guilty of Steven. You're guilty of you know what? I should have been very specific about the amount of trees that we were gonna take down in every conversation. That's what I probably should have done. Because the trees were coming down to your point because they were part of a plan. Right? They're part of a plan that makes sense
to activate and make Mimosa more relevant.
It ties into Bullock. It's important to this, not just today, but to the future of the city, to the people that are gonna come today, tomorrow, and ten years from now. Because we care about the historic properties. This charge is somehow we don't give a rats for rent. That's what the behind the question. Do you know who Mahosau is and
it's like a it's a charge. Like, well, you don't care. Well, of course you care or you wouldn't be involved. You wouldn't be make like you said, you're on the East Side of the city.
Alright.
Can the city adopt public comment on plans for the property moving forward?
Oh, you get the yellow yellow piece? Yellow. Okay. Yellow. Can the city present the final construction plans to the HBC, Historic Preservation Commission, and give them an opportunity to review the plans and tour the property?
Now I will say, I do like this ideal. I don't know if this true today,
but touring properties is always a good idea. And I don't know if we always do that or not. I do like that idea. That does seem to make some sense. Right? I don't know if it's always practical.
Right? But it does seem like, oh, that's a good idea. But I'm sorry, Michelle, that you answer the question. In fact, our zoning and planning directors was working for, July 1 for HBC to go to a specific site just for that.
We do not we did not present final construction plans to the HPC. Don't know that we would typically
the the application for the HPC is a site plan with details.
We don't normally require
so we can share with you the construction plans. We can make them available. It's open record of what we were submitted, but we did not just to be clear, we didn't have construction.
We just have we do have detailed site plans. Yeah. And it's our job to make sure that respective boards and commissions have clarity and understand what's being presented. Right? And so that they can make comments. Right? And say, I like this. I don't like this. Can you change this? That's part of the review process. And it's our response to make responsibility to make sure that's very clear to them. There's not any we're not trying to pull a wool over somebody's eye. You're exactly correct, sir. The whole point in engaging HPC at that stage is to get that comment so that we have an opportunity to make adjustments into a final construction document. And if there's anybody that feels like they're on the HPC that feels like that doesn't happen, I obviously you wanna know I wanna know that. Right? Hey. When you're not you're not shooting straight with me because they're an important part of this process, obviously. They have a massive
responsibility.
Can the city adapt accept public comments on plans for the property moving forward?
I mean, that's an easy question, guys.
Can the city accept
the the answer is you already accept public comment on plans
on multiple places. Correct?
Yes, sir. And the discus, can you on the plans for the property moving forward,
I'm not sure. They are there new plans that are coming out? No, sir. These are the only
funded and completed construction documents, Gaurav.
So it's suggesting that they were was not public comment on the plans previously, I suppose. Alright. Before decision was made to remove trees at Mimosa Hall, did the city review the archaeological survey?
I I love this question.
Yes.
In 02/2021,
the city went through an through an Environment Corporation of America conducted what was considered to be a phase one survey
covering the extent and current proposed land disturbance area.
Findings were documented and reported. It was determined that beyond the immediate area behind the house,
no portions of the property reveal any real potential for significant
subsurface findings
with the assumptions in that document stating that the previous property owners
had done tremendous amount of land disturbance previously,
which were pretty significant and any probably cleared any archaeological remains at that time.
I think it's important because I remember listening to I think it was mister Horton
talking about the segment out of that archaeological
survey. And I think for context, it's important to read the sentence right after what he quoted, which is due to norm
due to numerous generations of avid gardeners and landscapers,
the grounds at Mimosa Hall have undergone several developments
that have entirely
altered what came before.
Neil Reed and Gus Olsen substantially altered the grounds to the north and the Northwest of Mimosa Hall.
That is straight from the archaeological
survey
that's one paragraph below where mister Horton was commenting. So that's how you would obviously answer the second question as well.
Correct?
Yes, sir. Yep. How did the city satisfy the following of the secretary interior standards for treatment of historical properties? And there's several questions there.
So the the easiest response, and I think it might cover all of that, I think I mentioned earlier that throughout the design process, we had an independent contractor
whose sole purpose and intent was to create and present this project to the,
State Historic Preservation or, Association, SHPO.
And during that process, they go through an internal evaluation at the state level. And at that time, we received communications from them that basically stated that this did this project did not trigger any of the section one zero eight requirement. I was gonna say, you you talked about one zero eight when you talked to us a couple weeks ago in detail.
So you would just follow-up on that and make sure that it covers all these questions, standard one, standard three, standard four, and standard eight because I think there's a very specific. Understood, sir. Yes, sir. Can you address those?
I will dig into those with our,
missus Alexander. I didn't necessarily get all the answers to those. But to your point that really started with the secretary interior, you had a you had to comply with the state
and, the section one zero eight, if I remember correctly. Correct. And they finally said, hey. You're good.
We're not gonna you don't need to talk to us anymore. That's correct. Because we've seen enough of your plan and your plans and your plans. Alright. You're good to go. We'll leave you alone. And and they received a
a similar detailed site review that we had done that we basically was presented to the historic preservation commission. Very similar information. I'm sorry. This is redundant, but, again, repetitions from other skill. Were mitigation measures taken to ensure archaeological
resources
were protected and reserved in place? So based on the survey from 2021, we don't anticipate any
substantial
archaeological
resources to be found. However, we do have communication with the contractor, and there is a process in place that if anything is
potentially recognized on-site, we have a process that we go through. And that's in compliance with the State Historic Preservation Office. How did we meet requirements for HPC certificate of appropriateness?
So I'll allow
Michelle Alexander maybe to answer that one.
Mentioned we treated this project as we typically treat any of the projects coming through us. And for all of the city projects, we do not issue,
certificates of appropriateness for any city project.
Went through the HPC process,
brought to them,
but it was not through having a a stamp certificate.
So Joe, the question is gonna be there. Is there a leak are we are we illegally doing so? Are we not by we're making other folks do something that we don't make ourselves do?
Just going to answer that question because that's part of it.
Mayor,
may I answer that question? Please answer that, David.
So there's a I would disagree with miss Froelich. I respect her opinion, though,
that the plan that was presented
is all that is needed. Under the state law, all we have to do is notify them that we're doing the project. We actually took it to them and accept the comments, which is is what's required under ours, our ordinance. So I think we met it,
just fine.
Thank you, David.
Alright.
Is there a record of HBC's visitation to the site?
To our knowledge, no. Okay.
How was the event space designed? Was there a charrette that was open to the public?
So as we started to go through the site, we started to engage with our,
our special event venues
specialist.
This is her expertise in that area. Really, what we were trying to work through was functionality,
access, and what was needed to actually have a special event site be operational.
We knew at the onset that we were shooting for an occupancy
for an event around
two fifty. That seems to be the industry standard that we wanna try to hit. We wanna be able to offer the venue at that size, and that's how we designed that special event lawn space that's now on the current or sorry, on the previous spot where the pool used to reside.
Just a quick thing. I don't think it's a part of the question, so I just there's no but it came out kind of got raised a couple of times.
Alan, I don't know if you want to raise this or Lee if you want to raise this, but I'll just go on this a little bit. So as for, hey, why are you in competition with other small businesses?
And I'll give you a quick answer. I'm a book believer in my experience in life, exponential activity usually occurs.
It's also part of economic development plan to help promote business and and lots of other businesses. But you guys wanna tackle this one? Because I heard that comment three or four times. Yes, mayor. I'd love to.
Having over twenty year,
career in special event planning, catering,
selling of events, hosting events, doing site review events,
the I did many, many, many,
special events in Alabama and in North Carolina
and and in Georgia, where there are tons of historic,
properties
where people wanna host a wedding,
or a bar mitzvah or a corporate event. It's very similar, Mayor, to probably your career,
in owning franchises and restaurants.
You put one out, you may get some traffic. You have two or three that are in the area, and you suddenly have choices and it becomes a bigger draw. And I watched that in Raleigh, North Carolina with quite a few historic homes. And the more that came online, the more the desire was there. So it's it was almost like a a snowball effect, and I do believe that we have more business than we can shake a stick at here. The the beauty of this is that we'll have the city of Roswell promoting our, you know, we already promote our,
machine shop, the mill,
well, yeah, the mill,
the river landing, and then our historic assets, which we don't really advertise,
Bullock or Barrington per se in a big magazine or online
because they are more museum like and park like, so we want to take care of those. We certainly want to take care of Mimosa as well. But we've created that space specifically to be an event venue. That's the primary the primary purpose for that property. And what will happen is while we, the city, are promoting
our history of our city to come host an event there,
the other venues nearby,
I've been in every single one of them. I mean, I was I was competing with them and as an off premise caterer and referring them, Naylor Hall and, Primrose
and Kimball Hall. And I mean, I've known them all for twenty five, twenty seven years.
So it will continue to bring more people
their awareness. If they're looking for a wedding venue or an event venue,
they'll be more aware of the ones that are here. So and and they're all advertised together. So we'll be advertising the same place as they are, and they'll be advertising
bonnet to
looking for a certain or a specific look,
or feel for a venue, you'll start to see that we have a whole variety here in the city of Roswell, one of which will be owned by the city, and it'll in turn bring revenue in. So I'm a huge believer in that, and I think every single venue,
in in the city will benefit from that. Even if it's a restaurant, they will still benefit from that. You've got rehearsal dinners. You've got smaller events larger. One other thing I will add,
last year, a, city council member from one of our sister cities contacted me and said, hey. My kids are getting married in '26,
and I'm looking for something for about two hundred, two hundred and fifty people. And he was looking for a historic asset, and we couldn't fill the bill. Thank goodness he stayed in Roswell, and we'll be having that at the computer museum, but that was and I don't want not no discount. Delighted to have them, but they were looking for something much more historic and unique in the beginning. So we will have that pretty soon, and I think we'll fill it up. Most of our historic,
homes here cannot handle that size, not in in the fashion that we're going to do. Thank you. Thanks, Lee. And just to add, ma'am, we are in constant contact with all the other special event venues and networking, and I would share that sentiment that I think everyone is excited to be able to help each other. I I one follow-up. We are cross pollinating.
Our event team, has been hard at work, preparing.
You may know the interior upstairs is all outfitted and done beautifully to host anybody that's going to host an event there. If you need a a wedding suite, if you need business, meeting space, and then do some entertaining on the Ground Floor or out in the, tenet ballroom area that's to come.
All of those things were done in preparation. I people accused me of that being premature, but if you can't see it when you're looking for it, you're probably not going to be interested in it. So that was done with money that was available at the time, and and we took advantage of that. And that's been filmed, videoed, and is able to be used in a meaningful way to advertise. And for anyone listening, you can get a discount right now if you prebook before the site is ready. So we're actively
we're actively receiving
deposits. So,
jump in there while you can.
How was the event space designed,
and was there a charrette that was open to the public? We've never done one. There would sorry.
What are the future plans for the historic gardens? Thanks, guys. I think if that if that question is in reference to the historic gardens that sit to the north, the back of the property, those remain.
Yes, sir.
Outside of
the pool
garden, was any gardens have been
have any been touched during this process or any been destroyed or
No, sir. So so what I think there was, what, 15
historical gardens?
In Neil Reed's era, there were several
historic gardens on-site. Gotcha. So no one that we're gonna touch is the is the pool. Correct.
I'm sorry. I did heard a question on the floor. I will have to put it out there. Something about, are they going to be restored? So we're talking about gardens to be restored.
We have gardens there now.
Correct? Yes, sir. And I think the port the per the point of this question, right, was, hey, you took out some historic gardens. Right?
Technically, no. Okay. So let's get clear on that because that's really kinda what's behind the question.
Yeah. Yeah. Right.
I think we're gonna look at all opportunities to make that site the best it can be.
So the existing the garden how many did you take out gardens? No, sir. You did not? Correct.
Is there a belief that we took out gardens?
Depends on the context in which they're asking.
The area in which has been redeveloped time and time again over the decades
did used to have
Neil Reed style gardens on-site.
The current state in which that property sits now, we are not removing any of the gardens that are current or present on-site.
What is the useful purpose of the trees that were removed?
Will they be milled? That was part of the means and methods as we went through our contractor.
Guardrails
to protect
projects in the future?
Mister Knighton, would you like to turn us that one?
Sure. As always, the city, as in this case, as it was, articulated earlier, the city followed its rules, regulations,
and
ordinances,
and, the city will continue to do so. Obviously,
every moment, every
project is a learning experience, and we always seek to,
rise to an even higher level in the manner in which we, execute, said projects and communicate with the public.
But the city will continue to follows its, follow its ordinances.
Who will put the request for an investigation?
Example, Oxbow Road project. I don't remember an investigation on Oxbow Road project. I remember an internal
report by the then mayor that was requested.
Who will put the request for an independent investigation on the next meeting agenda?
I guess
anybody care to address that?
I'd like to do I got a call from
one of the,
front row members, rather
rather strenuous call, I would say.
And,
he he his four points included
a demand, as he put it, that we
pass a resolution
criminalizing
the decision making around this and
prosecuting
whoever was found to be responsible for that.
I was so stunned
by that
insane
question
that that I I went I I I'm a reader. I was reading the speeches of of, Abraham Lincoln, and he quotes this poem that that I happened on that day because I know David loves my poetry. This is actually Abraham Lincoln's poetry. So Okay.
It's not his. It's somebody he's quoting.
Good name in man or woman, dear Lord, is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash,
is something, nothing,
'twas mine,
'tis his and has been slave to thousands.
But he that filches
from me my good name,
robs me of that which enriches him not
and makes me poor indeed.
And this, allegations against the staff
are despicable.
He specifically said, and I asked him, I said, are you asserting
that someone knowingly
violated
the law
and you think they should be tried for this? This is not a question of what their opinions were or what process they went through. This is scalp getting and it's despicable.
And I I just I was just struck by that. And so I shall not be putting forward such an such a ridiculous
independent investigation resolution.
I second.
I third, I will not either.
These three are good. How about you three? You guys putting forward, putting putting together? We're all fine. Yeah. We're good. Okay.
Alright. Thank you.
What were the actually, exactly.
What were the council votes on the Mimosa Hall project? Unanimous.
I believe it was unanimous, but I for the record,
sergeant at arms They were unanimous. They were unanimous. Yeah. Alright.
Yes, ma'am.
Yeah. Council voted on this in the same way that HPC voted on it. Whether or not it was clear for all of us on the diocese to exactly
how many trees were going to be impacted,
I personally cannot vouch and say that that was something that I was extremely clear on.
Moving forward, though, I would say that this has been a learning experience for all of us. I would say both those who sit on the diocese and those who are on staff. As to the type of information, it needs to be very clear from the get go. I also realized too when we voted on this last fall, there was not a clear count as to how many trees were going to be impacted. So, yes, we've voted on it several several
times. These are things that come back from the engineering report. And to clarify on the last question too, as a request for an independent investigation, if it needs to happen,
I will say as somebody who sat in on, I'm let's say six hours of meetings just last week alone on this topic. Yes, ma'am.
And we can't have a quorum, so I can't vouch for how many hours of meetings my other elected officials also sat in on.
Every
single meeting
transcript,
recording,
video,
vote, document,
rendering was poured over.
That was how mister Malone was able to rebuild his timeline that was presented earlier this meeting. I don't know what one would try to get out of an independent investigation other than
where the fault lies in this. I'd wouldn't point fingers at anyone and say that the fault necessarily lies with one person or anybody. It was just more so a handling of communication that needs to be improved moving forward. I say that as somebody since we're we're giving out our,
our,
resumes this evening or CVs. I say that as somebody with a master's in environmental management.
I run an environmental consulting firm. I work on brownfield sites. I am
god, I hope a year shy of a PhD in environmental planning and design.
These are the types of questions that, honestly, I should have asked. I will own that. I should have asked that question whenever it was presented in front of council when we voted on this item. I said from the diast I wasn't thrilled about the project itself, but with the understanding that it was the only project in our repertoire at the time that was,
with the ability to be able to use ARPA funds for. So it was use it or lose it, that I've moved the project forward. So I will 100% own my vote. Should have asked the question,
should have asked the impact of the trees, and that's on me for not fulfilling my duty on council. But, yes, we all voted for it.
Let me add I'll just add to that, Sarah. I think to your point, I think I said this to the meeting, so it's funny.
A a very strong component of the people that were here tonight, we met with, a couple weeks ago because they asked to meet, and we're very concerned. So we met. And we do this routinely, by the way.
Public comment is something that we routinely respond to, whether it's an email, a text, a phone call, a personal meeting
here, there, wherever.
We're in that business to do that. And, during that meeting,
I think council member Johnson was in there with me in the meeting as well as well as, council member Hills.
And,
obviously, understandably very upset. And, look, nobody's happy about trees going down. Like this trees are a big deal to everybody on this dais. I think everybody in this everybody cares about trees. We love trees. We are a city of trees. We
are going to continue to invest in trees. It's important. They're important to, to our quality of life. I don't think anybody disputes that. I think everybody feels that way. We understand some people might have, you know, like, hey, I got a little more moral high ground on this, and that's okay.
But the truth of the matter is was,
I think, kinda like Sarah's point. Whether or not you should ask more questions or not, it's always a fair question.
You know, I'm more of a policy guy. Let's get the, you know, get the big pieces in line, and then I'm kinda trusting, you know, the senior leadership team to execute.
And,
yes, in a perfect world, I do wish that it had been very clear that would have said to the council and to the senior leadership team, hey, we'll let you know there's gonna be 31 specimens going down and 20,
junk trees. Right?
And I would say if we learned something that maybe that clarity of communication when we knew that, that should have been communicated to everybody.
But I'm not gonna make somebody a fall guy because if I had known that and if the council known that, it still would have gone forward.
Right? All it would have been is illumination of information. It wouldn't have changed the outcome.
So I don't want to pretend and posture like, well, if I'd known this, we would have done something different. That would be disingenuous.
What we were signed on to was a comprehensive plan. And by the way, I completely agree with people who say, I don't like Founders Founders Park. We are not sold on that name. It's just the name we put it's a placeholder.
So we're wide open to on on the public saying, hey, man. We got a better name for this. Completely agree. It's something that would get the piece going from a vision perspective. It's Jeff Leatherman's project. It's a great vision.
We have bought into it because we think it brings great relevancy to our historical properties. And it's a plan, and it activates them, and it makes them valuable five years, ten years, and twenty years down the road. But the truth of the matter is that if you had told me 31 trees, specimen trees are going down, I would have said,
does that meet the expectations of the plan that you've got going forward for the next year, five years, and ten years? Does it fit?
Are you needlessly taking trees out? I don't think I need Sarah, to your point, I don't think I need to ask honestly somebody who's a professional. Are you needlessly taking trees down?
Because they should look at me like I'm stupid
if I ask them that question.
Because I know they're not needlessly taking trees down.
I I trust that. There's nobody in this city government. There's not an elected official. You know what? Damn it. I don't like some trees. You take me some trees down there, the the mimosa.
Now get rid of trees, and I don't care what this interesting. I did hear a comment, but there's been some comments like that about the past. Maybe some people that were a little bit, let's say, arrogant about trees. This group is not. I trust the staff.
Bottom line.
Are they perfect? No. Show me somebody is.
This staff is damn good. It's a high level quality organization that gets it done, and I trust them. And they're not cutting down trees to cut down tree's sake. They're thoughtful, mindful, and they're following the guidance of knowing their own professionalism,
but of also other vendors. Yes, ma'am. Sorry. Just wanted to add one more thing. Well, first to clarify,
council member Hall rightfully pointed out October HPC meeting, there was not a vote held by HPC. Instead, it was just presented for comment. So it's not a binding vote in that situation. However, that still does meet the expectation. City ordinance nine point one point two.
Also,
one more thing to add.
I'm sorry. It's 11:30 at night. This is not my peak hour.
Wanted to also mention as well, in terms of mayor and council's commitment to this property,
I I will personally say that I walked the property with council member Hall and,
council member Northland
along with mister Haydorn and a couple of other concerned residents just to take an account for which trees were there. I will say that we on council allocated million
dollars in order to
accommodate changes to the driveway design when we were told that
600.
Six
I was it Sorry. This isn't my pet peak time. I'm sorry. No. $600,000.
So more than half a million dollars to
protect the historic trees that were on that property that were pointed out by some of the concerned residents this evening. I don't say that in a way to
say a he said, she said situation, but I I wanna make sure that it's very clear for the record and for the the whopping dozen of you that still remain in this room and whoever's still watching online,
that it it's not necessarily the council
or mayor,
Wilson
is just frequently
ignoring the trees or we're out there with chainsaws ourselves or we're somehow
running a wood hustle on the side. That's not the case.
It's very much been a commitment of ours for the last several years to make sure that we've been accommodating the historicity of the site as well as the environmental impacts.
So just wanted to flag that. Sorry. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. I don't think there are any more questions.
Customer yes, ma'am. Will?
Director Malone,
just wanted to follow ups on all this after all the commentary.
Very good discussion up here. You know, there's obviously some processes that can can get tightened up and and, you know, we're we're here to do those type things.
But going back to option one and option two at the driveway, we've talked about this in-depth,
several hours about this. Can you explain why Option 2 was chosen over Option 1 and how the Shippo
commentary
assisted in that decision? Yes. So initially, sir, when we looked at the Option 1 parking lot, it ended up,
impeding into the viewshed more of Mimosa Hall from Bullock Avenue.
And our independent contractor who was in communication with Shippo,
raised just a little concern that
that that could be concerning from, you know, historic integrity and what that impact of that new feature may do to the viewshed.
So that was along with
it being a more functional design was part of the design process and how we evolved and went with option two. Thank you.
Second second question here is, can you touch on the reason that the,
Bullock Pond
was not expanded
and we moved
for,
for this new project? Yes, sir. So when we originally started looking at expanding the volume at the Bullock Hall Pond,
what we quickly determined was two very important critical pieces.
A lot of that area was,
was made of granite,
subsurface granite. And also the
flows that were shown in the data analytics showed that if we had a hundred year flood, we would be potentially putting the historic assets at risk because of the new volume
and the and the amount of water in that space in that hundred year
flood. So very quickly at the site analysis, we knew that we had to try to find another option. And the option to move that over
then to be over on the east side of the property between Mimosa and and Holly Hill created a better area
to collect that volume with less impact and insurance of preservation of the historic asset.
K. Thank you very much. And, mayor Wilson, thank you for being open to the,
discussion around the Founders Park and what we're ultimately gonna land on a name.
Totally support that. You know, we're not sold on the Founders Park name as going forward
and, would certainly certainly appreciate
that discussion.
Thanks, Willie. But, look, it's a collaborative body. It's a body that yes, ma'am. Christine, I I was hoping you'd say something.
No. I just wanted to give a shout out to Lynn McIntyre to, remind us about,
Chattahoochee
Nature Center about the bridge, how they did that bridge over,
Willio because that's certainly in our long term plan to,
do a bridge connecting Barrington
to to the rest of the,
historic homes. So maybe we can
see how they got that done. Find your money.
Yeah.
Very good. Christine, thank you.
Sarah, Will, Christine, Lee,
Ellen, David, anything else?
Mister Knighton, anything else, sir?
Sir? All I have is night night. Night night.
Anything, sir?
Just thank you mayor, council for your leadership and for the staff and the innumerable hours spent
addressing,
citizen inquiries, questions, and concerns,
with the discourse tonight. Certainly hope and believe that, we're all better for it. And,
I certainly appreciate,
a great job that mayor and council continue to do,
to move the city forward and, appreciate the great work of the staff. And for the residents who are still here and for those watching,
thank you. Thank you for coming out tonight. Thank you for asking your questions, and thank you very much for engaging in your city government.
Thank you. You did that really good, and those are even written down, Randy.
I've got some written down comments that'll be really quick. Thank you to everyone who stayed tonight
and took the time to speak and took the time to listen. Thank you. Thank you. Seriously.
We obviously aren't always gonna agree,
but we will listen.
This council is committing to hearing from residents,
addressing concerns, and continue to move Roswell forward with clarity
and purpose.
Regarding the Mimosa Hall and, forgive me, Founders Park
project, we have listened and we have heard many of the concerns. And we will continue to improve
how we share information
on projects, whether major or minor. We can definitely improve on
it. What's coming at Mimosa and Founders Park
reflects years of planning.
It will be a beautiful, connected, and historically
respected space
that serves residents today
and for generations to come. I do truly believe that.
Thank you again for being part of this conversation, and thank you for your continued involvement
in making Roswell
the number one family and community in America. God bless you. Have a good evening. Good night. Thank you. And do I need to address this formally? Oh, good. Oh, being that there are another items. Says mayor and council meeting, open mic meeting of June
2025
is adjourned. God bless.