Golfing, shopping and drinking were all topics during Monday night’s DeKalb City Council meeting.

Golfing

The annexation of a golf-course community at Gurler Road was passed unanimously.

This comes as a surprise after aldermen Kris Povlsen and Pat Conboy publicly stated they would not approve any annexations until the debate over impact fees was settled. That debate was settled by the DeKalb County School Board.

As discussed during the meeting, impact fees may increase to $75,000 an acre, which will be due when a permit is issued to build on the land. This new impact fee proposal would remain in effect until Spring 2007.

“I am pleased with the progress made by [the school board and the city],” Conboy said. “I support the annexation proceeding because of the compromise.”

He added that he supports the annexation of the golf-course community on its first reading, but may need a second reading to reconsider.

During the meeting, Gurler Road resident Barb Noreen read a letter from neighbor Debbie Cox. Cox said there are many small children playing in the area, and the amount of traffic created by the community and its development would be unimaginable.

She also said the development would detract from the way of life in the country.

“It seems the council has no consideration for the residents at Gurler,” Noreen added.

As a result of passing the ordinance, two additional related ordinances were passed. The first will annex the land while the second will change the proposed single-family residence to a planned development of residential, office and light industry. Those also were passed unanimously.

Shopping

In a 4-3 vote, the council approved the annexation of property at Northland Plaza to Joseph J. Freed and Associates.

Although it was passed, the ordinance met with some opposition from the council. Third ward Ald. Steve Kapitan was skeptical of approving the ordinance. His main concern was that the ordinance’s passage was too hasty.

“I’m not sure we would bring this forward if PGAV is not done with the study,” Kapitan said during the meeting.

During the last council meeting, $15,000 was allocated to PGAV (Peckham, Guyton, Albers and Viets Inc.), a company hired to complete a space analysis of Northland Plaza.

Kapitan warned that if the ordinance were passed, then the city would be obligated to Freed and Associates regardless of PGAV’s findings from the survey.

Drinking

Aldermen David Baker and Joe Sosnowski proposed a consideration of extending local bar hours from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Thursday nights.

Sosnowski said he wanted the extension because it would be safer for the community. He said he sees Thursday nights as critical because more parties occur because of the earlier bar hours; whereas the bars close at 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, nights which see fewer parties.

The DeKalb Liquor Commission also considered the extension, but unanimously voted against it. The council, too, voted against it 5-2.

“I think it is poor public policy to extend the hours for drinking socially,” Conboy said. “Because it is a night of the week, it doesn’t encourage class attendance on Fridays.”

The next council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Aug. 12 at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.