Votes at a glance: Carrollton council approves rezoning items, two ordinance updates and election fee schedule

At its January meeting the Carrollton City Council handled a slate of routine and policy items, approving several zoning requests and adopting curbs on amusement machines, a fire code update and the 2025 qualifying fee schedule.

Key outcomes:

- Appointment: Councilmember Jacqueline Bridges was appointed mayor pro tem for 2025 by voice vote.

- Rezoning approvals: The council approved two connected rezoning requests to allow a 54‑unit townhome development near Abbey Lane/West White Street (see separate coverage) and a rezoning/special‑use permit for roughly 21.08 acres of out‑parcels along Bankhead Highway (Fastenol site), adding conditions in both cases (a development agreement and specified fencing for the townhomes; GDOT compliance before occupancy for the Bankhead rezoning).

- 91 Hay Street: The council approved a rezoning from R15 to R8 and granted a waiver to reduce a front setback along Alabama Street from 40 feet to 20 feet, subject to the planning commission’s conditions that the new residence front Alabama Street and have driveway access from Hay Street.

- Ordinances adopted: The council adopted a coin‑operated amusement machine ordinance based on municipal models to limit machine counts and set proximity limits (e.g., to churches and schools), and a fire code ordinance amendment to align certain local thresholds with state fire‑code requirements while retaining local Appendix D standards for hydrants and road widths.

- Election fees: The 2025 qualifying fee schedule was approved; staff cited a councilmember qualifying fee of $216 (3% of salary calculation).

What’s next: Items approved at the meeting will proceed to permitting, engineering and implementation steps as required. Several approvals were explicitly conditioned on follow-up actions (development agreement, GDOT‑required improvements, and engineering sign‑offs).