City Considers Alcohol And Road Acceptance Ordinance Changes

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The main topics at the May 12 meeting of the City of Trenton Board of Commissioners were items that Alex Case (mayor) brought before the commission, many of which will be voted on in future months. These were: a new road ordinance, an alcohol ordinance change, House Bill 92, and the animal facility intergovernmental agreement.

First, Case brought a draft of the road acceptance ordinance before the commission to review this month before voting on next month. He explained that some private entities build roads and then turn over ownership to the city. This ordinance will provide regulations to ensure that the infrastructure is suitable.

For example, some of the requirements are:

• Fire hydrants must be installed within 1,000 feet of any planned development.
• The roadbed must be 28 feet, including curb and guttering, with 11 feet each side available for utilities, slopes and shoulders, for maintenance.
• Eight inches of compacted base which shall consist of six inches of chert and two inches of stone.

A second part of the ordinance requires dead-end roads to have enough room for large vehicles (garbage trucks, school buses, etc.) to turn around.

Per the ordinance, the road must be open for one year after the city’s final inspection before it can be handed over to the city.

Mike Norris (police commissioner) read the police report. In April, the Trenton Police Department answered 146 calls for service, conducted 935 business checks, answered two animal complaints, responded to 11 domestic disturbance, three trespassing, and 14 suspicious activity calls, and worked 14 traffic crashes. From 112 traffic stops, 39 citations were issued.

Case added that one of the department’s patrol cars was rear-ended. After insurance was handled, the department received two quotes for repairs. Case did not say the quote’s amount, but he said the city chose the quickest option.

Terry Powell (parks/animal control commissioner) reported that the city had two animal control work orders in the month of April. Currently, two dogs are housed in the city shelter.

During Monda Wooten’s (street commissioner) report, Case and the department noted that someone has been dumping mattresses, couches, and such on Wolverine Drive. The homeowner wasn’t able to remove the items, so the city cleaned them up.

Lucretia Houts (fire and utility commissioner) reported that the Trenton Fire Department answered 91 calls in April, 16 of which were fire related and 48 of which were canceled en route.

During his report, Case brought an alcohol ordinance change to the commission to consider (to be voted on in a future meeting). He said a local hotel/motel submitted a proposal to allow hotels and motels to sell alcoholic beverages in a lounge-type setting. The ordinance would only apply to hotels and motels and would allow the establishments to sell 90 percent alcohol and ten percent food.

The proposal was from Ryan Faircloth (owner of The Groovy Nomad) who told the Sentinel the following day, “Big, nice hotels have lounges. A big hotelier came and looked at The Groovy Nomad. He said the first thing he would do to improve the motel is add a lounge. He said we’re missing out on our corporate guests.”

Faircloth said that at least two of the Lookout Valley hotels have lounges. McLemore also has beverage offerings. To compete with places like these and offer a better experience to their guests, The Groovy Nomad would like to add a lounge.

Faircloth said, “I looked at the ordinances. I didn’t want to do straight alcohol sales, so we put in 90/10.” His vision is to add a quality, photo-ready area that offers cocktails, wine, shareable plates, and charcuterie boards in order to attract business travelers, wedding guests, and tourists.

Case reported that the sewer department went through a routine inspection with Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) this spring. Three adjustments needed to be made (like keeping some chemicals in separate rooms and moving records to a digital format). Case said that after the items were addressed, EPD gave the department a clean report.

As covered in this month’s Dade County Board of Commissioners meeting, House Bill 92 requires each governing entity to include an estimated roll-back rate in property assessments. (Refer to the May 7 Sentinel for a more complete explanation.)

Case explained this to the city commission. He recommended following in the county’s footsteps by using the previous year’s millage rate instead of coming up with a new estimated rollback rate. The commission agreed to this suggestion.

Jane Dixon gave a report on Tree City USA (which is in its 40th year in Trenton), noting that the newly established board is “a very active, good board.” The board came up with a list of potential partners to approach and is actively recruiting volunteers.

Bobby Dunn with Georgia Forestry Commission has been working with Donna Street to establish an inventory of all the trees planted by Tree City. Markers will be added to each tree with a QR code that people can scan to read more about the tree and who it honors. While working on the inventory, Tree City is also checking the health of all of its planted trees.

The board also reviewed the city’s tree ordinances trees and found that it needs to be adjusted. They will recommend that the city adopt a new list of trees that will thrive in our environment (those currently listed are not necessarily well-suited to our area) and replace the Bradford Pear as the city’s designated tree with a native tree.

The city named the Bradford Pear its official tree in 1979, but Dunn explained that many have worked to eliminate the tree across the nation. It’s fallen out of favor due to it not being a native species in North America, its terrible odor, and the branches’ tendency to split easily.