Albany City Commission holds off convenience store discussion

ALBANY — In what may have been the longest “non-discussion” discussion of a topic in recorded history, Albany city commissioners spent the better part of a half-hour going over details of an item City Manager Sharon Subadan had recommended they table until their work meeting next Tuesday due to the absence of Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff.

The “non-discussion” centered around a rezoning request at 2402 Whispering Pines Circle, which is located in Langstaff’s ward. The property owners want to build a convenience store/gas station with an attached restaurant at the location, but nearby residents have voiced their opposition.

The Albany-Dougherty Planning Commission cast a split 5-4 vote to approve the request at its Jan. 7 meeting.

Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta pushed to move the discussion back an entire month, but staff indicated doing so would lead to additional costs for advertising the meeting. Ward VI’s Tommie Postell and Ward III’s B.J. Fletcher opposed moving the meeting to February and paying additional costs, leading Marietta to withdraw his motion to table the matter for an additional month.

The commission, which had met with their county counterparts in a joint meeting earlier in the morning to pass resolutions providing funding for the move of the National Guard’s Command Sgt. Major Billy G. Manning Readiness Center onboard Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, addressed a number of issues during the work session.

In addition to agreeing to terminate a lease with the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity on property at 102 S. Lee St., the board:

— Reappointed three members to its Citizens Advisory Committee;

— Approved travel for both Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and Subadan;

— OK’d purchases for a mobile broadband plan ($75,220.20), software/hardware maintenance ($96,312.57), a ready-mix concrete contract ($310,400), road signs and posts ($48,901.73), fire department uniforms ($51,367.75), an Internet bandwidth upgrade ($417,420) and a walking gas leakage survey ($81,060); and

— Formalized an encroachment agreement for a Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia fiber optics line.

City Attorney Nathan Davis said the fraternity wanted out of its lease with the city because of the condition of the Lee Street property.

“It seems fair that we would allow Kappa Alpha Psi to terminate their agreement on that property,” Davis said. “They’re paying only $500 a year rent, but they’ve given us copies of receipts where they’ve paid over $8,000 in repair bills in the two years they’ve been in the house. They want to seek an alternative rather than continuing to pay for repairs; they feel they can find better use for their money.”