Ledes from the Land of Enchantment

Roswell sets qualifying period for vacant City Council seat | Alpharetta and Roswell News

ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell City Council signed a resolution July 11, calling for a special election to fill the unexpired term of Councilman Marcelo Zapata.

Zapata’s wife, acting under power of attorney, submitted his letter of resignation in an email to Mayor Kurt Wilson on June 28 after the councilman had been absent from his post all year for medical reasons. Zapata’s term expires on Dec. 31, 2023.

Because the special election will be held in conjunction with the state and federal elections on Nov. 8, the city will incur no additional costs for adding the Post 1 seat to the ballot. State law and the Roswell Charter require a special election within 60 days after the office becomes vacant.

The City Council set a qualifying fee of $540 for the seat. The qualifying period runs from Monday, Aug. 1, to Friday, Aug. 5, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at City Hall.

The agenda states, “time constraints did not allow for this item to go to committee.”

Roswell plans to replace absent councilman with special election

In other business at the July 11 meeting, the City Council agreed to abandon and sell about a quarter acre of city-owned right of way near Gray Hawk Lane for $17,600.

Roswell Transportation Planning Manager Dave Cox told the City Council in March that a resident who lives adjacent to the parcel offered to buy the property because she had already been maintaining it for several years.

Cox said the city’s Unified Development Code required the developer of the Windfaire subdivision, where Gray Hawk Lane is located, to donate the parcel to the city during the planning and development process in case it later sought to connect the road to Woodman Place on Martin’s Landing . The city never pursued any such plans.

In 1998, Roswell abandoned a sliver of right of way immediately north of the parcel via quitclaim deed at the request of several Martin’s Landing homeowners who wanted to prevent a future road connection.

Both residents on either side of the property have since expressed interest in purchasing the .2125-acre property. Under the agreement, they will pay $8,800 each and split it evenly between them.

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for July 25.

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reach Chamian Cruz at 770-847-8079. Follow her on Twitter @xchamian.

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