Tucker City Council debates pickleball complex bid process at heated meeting

The Tucker City Council meeting on June got heated when the subject of pickleball was raised Screenshot The Tucker City Council meeting on June saw heated exchanges between its members regarding a last-minute addition to the agenda to reopen the bid process for a controversial proposed pickleball court complex The motion passed - The discussion turned ugly as council member Alexis Weaver and mayor Frank Auman exchanged barbs about whether or not the public was properly involved in decisions about design and location At the beginning of the meeting Auman proposed that the council discuss the pickleball bid at the end of the lengthy agenda a discussion that occurred more than three hours later I would like to make a motion to return to the original bid and begin the bid process again Auman revealed However several council members pushed back on Auman s suggestion saying that they felt the current design needed modifications which could be minor or involve redesigning the orientation of the courts Alexis Weaver commented the last-minute addition of the agenda item did not allow the locality to be engaged in advance of meeting But Auman disagreed As far as the timing I am tired of all these emails that I am getting from both sides asking what is happening with the bid process Auman explained to Weaver I entirely and strenuously object to the message that the area has not been engaged The agenda item to award the bid was originally scheduled to be considered at the May meeting but was abruptly pulled on Friday May around p m after a citizen made charges that Complete Site LLC the low bidder did not have the proper qualifications As the May meeting was beginning city manager John McHenry stated after conducting due diligence decided that the City of Tucker will reject all proposals and not award a contract in response to solicitation ITB - titled TRC Pickleball Courts Construction at this time At the June meeting Auman reported his proposal to restart the bid process would give the locality a starting spot for discussion a comment that was met with differing views from the council This feels rushed because I just identified about this five minutes before I walked into the meeting council member Virginia Rece commented We need to earn the public s trust Roger Orlando noted he agreed with the mayor s position that restarting the bid process would get the ball rolling During council member Vinh Nguyen s remarks he and Weaver started a back-and-forth argument about Weaver s earlier statements forcing Auman to bang his gavel repeatedly until the two stopped talking I m just going to keep banging this gavel Auman reported to which Weaver replied You like to do that a lot to me The council had been discussing a variation on the original proposal that would involve a combination of pickleball and multi-use courts rather than the original dedicated pickleball courts Auman Cara Schoeder Nguyen and Orlando voted in favor of the motion while Weaver Amy Trocchi and Rece cast dissenting votes In other action the council also held a population hearing and voted to approve with modifications an application for a Special Land Use Permit for a special events facility that has been operating out of compliance for several years Along with the SLUP request the applicant Luxe Events had solicited for concurrent variance requests include relief of distance separation requirements from residential properties and relief from accessory structure materials and accessory structure location Courtney Smith Tucker Area Growth Director stated Luxe Events agreed to re-stripe the parking lot to bring the property into compliance with the city s codes Tucker agents and the city s planning commission had recommended approval of the SLUP and the distance separation variation but denial of the two others Smith explained Luxe has agreed to remove the ancillary structures currently on the property thus making the variance requests moot The property located on a -acre site at Northlake Parkway has been operating for at least two years without the needed variances and without an occupational tax certificate Joseph Wilburn representing the applicant announced the facility is compatible with surrounding businesses and pledged that parking lot striping and removal of the existing accessory structures will be made within days of the SLUP approval In other action the council heard from Tucker Parks and Recreation Director Rip Robertson about improvements to Rosenfeld Park s tennis courts including proposed repairs to three existing courts and the conversion of one court to add eight off-street parking slots Schroeder urged Robertson if the renovated tennis courts could be converted so that they could also be used for pickleball He explained the cost of the needed striping would be negligible He also mentioned that the city held two neighborhood meetings held prior to the design and engineering phase but recommended that if the tennis courts are to be modified to allow pickleball that another locality meeting be held and a sound evaluation be conducted The council also heard from Tucker Finance Director Beverly Hilton about a final budget amendment for the budget with a request to transfer the maximum amount allowed from the general fund to the capital and SPLOST funds to assistance the maximum proposed budget recommendations from city management to the mayor and council This would allow the city to fund a project in advance rather than arrears This is the greater part exciting budget amendment I have ever worked on Hilton commented We don t have a wish list anymore we have a let s do it list She announced tool improvements to make capital projects more transparent to the inhabitants was a two-year effort that involved lots of work and lots of meetings In other action the council approved a contract for a commissioned art sculpture for the Tucker Town Green passed on a second read an ordinance to adopt the FY operating budget and updated pay structure approved a resolution to adopt the proposed FY schedule of fees that sponsorship the operating budget discussed adopting a millage rate of mills which will keep revenues neutral and may even reduce taxes for homeowners The post Tucker City Council debates pickleball complex bid process at heated meeting appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta