$38.56 million budget up for council approval —
Two traffic ordinance amendments may have more day to day effect on Peachtree City residents — especially kids, their parents and cart path users — than anything else on the Aug. 6 City Council agenda.
They are “Traffic ordinance update – no parking on north side of Battery Way,” and “Amend multi-use path/park enforcement regulations in traffic ordinance.”
If the council approves, the city will make it legal to operate an “electric play vehicle” on the cart path and defines it: “An electric scooter, electrice skateboard, electric unicycle or other device” that can carry one person at a time and has one or two wheels.
But there’s a bite in the regulation changes: Parents are going to be held legally liable for their kids under 17 when the young ones break the rules or violate the city regulations related to golf carts and other motorized vehicles. That means a parent could be cited by police and forced to show up and answer to the city court judge for the misdeeds of their minor children on the city streets and cart paths.
So, if your 12-year-old takes your golf cart on a spin on a city cart path — and if you permitted it, “whether knowingly or through negligent supervision” — and that kid gets caught, you could end up paying for it in city court.
The change on Battery Way is going to cause parking problems for folks who have been using the 1,245 feet on the north side of the two-lane road to park while enjoying the lakeside park.
$38.56 million FY 2021 budget
The most expensive item of the City Council agenda Thursday night is proposed adoption of the Fiscal Year 2021 budget to pay for city operations.
The city plans to spend $38.561 million beginning Oct. 1. Since income will be be less than what the city plans to spend, City Manager Jon Rorie is proposing to dip into the city’s ample reserve fund and take slightly over $1 million from the piggy bank to make up the difference.
One noticeable figure in the city’s budget is the expense category for public information: Zero.
Also on tap are approval for $1.4 million for operating the city’s amphitheater — The Fred — and about $2.5 million for the Stormwater Utility Fund.
Redwine Road annexation request
The council also will consider a Step One annexation request for 38.7 acres on Redwine Road. The parcels back up to Wilshire Estates and Foreston Place subdivisions inside the city’s southern border.
CORRECTION — The developer wants to rezone the undeveloped land from its county designation as A-R (agricultural reserve) to city zoning of R-12, which will allow up to 3.63 dwelling units per acre, a minimum of 1,200 square feet of floor space per unit, and a minimum lot size of 12,000 square feet. [This definition of R-12 from the city zoning ordinance corrects the maximum number of dwelling units allowed.]
The council must approve the Step One request for the process to move to the next step.
Hey Cal. One comment about the public information budget being zero; there is a section in the executive services called public communication that does have budgeted funds. I’m guessing that because they haven’t/aren’t refilling Betsy‘s position, the funding has been moved to support other activities like the blog and Facebook, etc. under the city manager’s budgets. Pure speculation on my part, but I get the conspiracy theory you may be floating 🙂
Does this this prohibit the infestation of electric vehicle “sharing” companies such as Lime, Bird, Lyft, etc.? If they were to pollute the community, there will be accidents, injury, or worse. One of the many reasons we moved away from the city — piles of them littered the sidewalks and users frequently crashed into pedestrians. VOTE NO on this amendment for enabling “electric play vehicle” alone. (Also “Any other vehicle” is vague, and is there language in the amendment for a max speed? Some of these devices can top out at 30 mph).