Key points:
• A 90-day moratorium on vape shop permits was passed 6-1.
• The council also voted to approve a pared-down ordinance to ban yard waste burning in the city, effective May 1.
• Police Chief Mike Carlson asked the council to fund two more police ambassadors at an estimated cost of $265,000.
The Dunwoody City Council at its Feb. 9 meeting voted 6-1 to approve a 90-day moratorium on approving any business-related applications related to vape shops within the city.
The halt applies to new retail applications, but not to so-called smoking establishments, such as the existing Habibis Lounge on Winters Chapel Road. It also would not affect existing businesses, including service stations, that sell vape-related products.
A staff memo accompanying the moratorium request said time is needed for the city to examine “potential impacts and externalities, and/or best practice regulations,” so it can adopt ordinances that protect the public health, safety, and welfare of its citizens, which could involve requiring minimum distance requirements, “heightened scrutiny through the Special Land Use Permit process, and exclusion of uses in specific zoning districts.”
Council Member Stacey Harris was the dissenting vote.
Yard waste burning ban
In other action, the city voted 6-1 to approve an ordinance regulating burning yard waste, a measure greatly simplified from one discussed at an earlier meeting.
“You all had many comments when this was discussed last, and we heard you,” said Paul Leonhardt, the city’s planning and zoning director.
A staff memo on the ordinance notes that the Environmental Protection Agency currently prohibits the burning of yard waste from May 1 through September 30, when ozone levels are highest.
“Of Dunwoody’s sister communities, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven, and Alpharetta all allow outdoor burning only for specified purposes, which does not include the burning of yard waste,” the memo noted. “Decatur and Roswell specifically prohibit the burning of yard waste.”
Harris was the lone dissenting vote.
Public safety ambassador funding
The council also discussed a request from Dunwoody Police Chief Mike Carlson to add two more Public Safety Ambassadors to the force.
“PSAs are non-sworn employees who work alongside sworn police officers, providing vital services so police officers can focus their time and energy on functions only officers can do, thus maximizing our finite staff resources,” a staff memo on the request said. “For example, Public Safety Ambassadors typically direct traffic, work
private property crashes, issue parking citations, take police reports when no
enforcement is needed, and have a myriad of other responsibilities.”
During the past year, PSAs have handled 532 incidents, 160 crashes, and participated in 10 city-sponsored events, along with becoming certified to staff the city’s Real Time Crime Center. The memo said the estimated first-year costs for staffing and equipment will total about $265,000.
Police Chief Mike Carlson said the ambassadors have taken pressure off the uniform division to handle routine matters and allowed officers to handle other, more pressing issues.
The council will take up the request at its next meeting.
In other news, the council:
- approved a $3.2 million contract to Blount Construction to resurface 13.8 miles of streets in 2026;
- discussed a contract with Advanced Sports Group totaling $88,000 for artificial turf repairs on the Brook Run Park baseball and multi-use sports fields using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds;
- administrated the oath of office to Dunwoody’s newest police hire, Terrence Kinslow;
- heard in City Manager Eric Linton’s monthly report that volunteers planted 84 trees at Dunwoody Nature Center, 5,000 daffodils at Brook Run Park, and rebuilt 15 pantry beds at the Dunwoody Community Garden during the Martin Luther King Jr. workday on Jan. 19.
