Dunwoody Homeowners Association sponsoring Thursdays forum on City of Dunwoody

Informational Forum
City of Dunwoody
Dunwoody United Methodist Church, Fellowship Hall
Thursday, May 15, 2008
7:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Sponsor: The Dunwoody Homeowners Association

Panel Participants:
Citizens for Dunwoody, Inc.
Perimeter Community Improvement District (PCID)
DeKalb Chamber of Commerce

Also Invited:
DeKalb County Administration
DeKalb County Commission

Moderator: Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker

Neighbor Newspaper, By Tom Spigolon 5/14/08

Gordon Jackson does not believe Thursday's forum designed to air facts about potential incorporation of Dunwoody is a water-shed event in his organization's 40-year history. But the Dunwoody Homeowners Association president believes it could rank highly for his community and the direction its 40,000 residents want to take. The association is scheduled to host the meeting from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Dunwoody United Methodist Church on Mt. Vernon Road near Ashford Dunwoody Road. Jackson said it is designed to inform residents about each side of the issue of incorporation, which Dunwoody voters will decide in a July 15 election." As laid out in our bylaws - we have to be nonpartisan. DHA has not taken any side on the city issue," he said."We do, however, feel that as an overall entity in Dunwoody representing the homeowners of the entire area that it's incumbent on us to try to host a meeting for the purpose of simply allowing people to ask questions and getting a response to those questions," Jackson said.

Jackson's group will not be represented on the panel, but has invited representatives from the DeKalb County government, Board of Commissioners, DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, the Perimeter Community Improvement District and Citizens for Dunwoody, a fact-finding group which commissioned a University of Georgia study on the effects of incorporation.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker will serve as moderator. Each representative will be allowed to briefly speak, followed by them responding to questions from the audience - which Jackson said could total at least 300 people. The association's members wanted to invite groups who had factual information about incorporation, he said."We wanted to go to groups who had real information to put out, in other words, if you're an advocacy group strictly for the purpose of being an advocacy group, we did not feel that they would have any kind of independent information," he said." I don't know that (all groups will) have specific information about taxes and that sort of thing - they may or may not," he said. "They may have a different perspective."

District 40 state Sen. Dan Weber, R-Dunwoody, said he was glad the event had been organized. Weber led the three-year effort to approve the state legislation needed to allow the incorporation vote. "The people have a right to be well-informed before they vote. We have some good citizen groups who are working hard to make sure that happens," he said. Weber, an ex-officio member of the association's board, said he has had no involvement in organization of the event. He said he anticipated possibly being asked to provide some factual information at the meeting.

"I like the fact that the incorporation effort is sort of a citizen-led effort rather than an elected representative or a politician," he said.

Traffic Study / Road Configuration for Womack - New Dunwoody Academy

Dear Ms. Pope,

When you and I last communicated, I was acting as President of the Dunwoody North Civic Association and was concerned about the traffic signal and intersection improvements at Peachtree Charter Middle School, which is directly adjacent to my neighborhood. I’m very happy that the intersection is now complete (except for the countdown timers which the county has promised) and I would like to thank you again for your professionalism in assisting me in rectifying that situation.

Today I am writing to you as Chairman of the Citizens for Dunwoody, Road & Transportation Task Force. I have a few questions regarding the traffic flow of the new school on Womack and I was hoping that you could help me clear up some issues. The drawing of the new school identifies Womack without any traffic lights, cross walks, nor left turn lanes entering onto the school property. As there are separate entrances for both school buses & passenger vehicles, I want to ensure that traffic flow is not impeded nor safety compromised in any way. I have had a road engineer who is also familiar with the site recommend that left turn lanes and crosswalks will need to be installed and another traffic safety professional gave me the opinion that alternative traffic calming designs be considered for this busy thoroughfare along with possibly dedicated bike lanes for the children who may want to commute via that mode of transportation.

Could you please inform me if the attached site plans are the most recent and if a comprehensive traffic study was conducted on Womack for this project?

Has a final engineered traffic site plan been developed for the site which would show all needed road, striping & signal improvements?

If neither a traffic study nor a final traffic site plan has been developed, I would like to request that both be conducted in the very near future so that the information can be presented to the community in order to alleviate their concerns over the location of the school and the related traffic patterns.

As my committee is also looking into storm water compliance, we are also interested in obtaining these plans and other technical drawings / reports on the construction of the new school. At the meeting at Peachtree which initially introduced the Academy concept, you stated that all drawings and construction plans were and would remain available on line. That evening I reviewed your website and downloaded everything which was available but just recently the documents were taken off the web and or transferred to a different internet location. Could you please provide me (as well as the community) the internet address to continue reviewing these documents as they become available from your shop, the DeKalb County Government and/or the construction contractors? The old address to find the documents was http://sammoss.dekalb.k12.ga.us/Bids/closed.htm

If the City of Dunwoody is created at the end of the year, I would hope to have a smooth transition between the new city and the DCSS, therefore I am interested in ironing out these and other related issues like this, well before the school is ready for occupancy.

If road and or signal improvements are required to be done by the new City, I fully expect that we be informed of these needed improvements ASAP so that we can budget them appropriately. I also expect that all engineering and design plans of the needed infrastructure improvements be handled by the County government currently in place.

I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

John Heneghan, Chairman
Roads & Transportation Task Force
Citizens for Dunwoody

Electronics Recycling @ Brook Run, Saturday May 24 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Electronics Recycling Day
Saturday, May 24th

Brook Run Park

4770 North Peachtree Road
Dunwoody, Georgia 30338

Keep DeKalb Beautiful will offer residents of DeKalb County and metro Atlanta another opportunity to recycle their old electronic items properly and reduce the environmental liability of hazardous material entering Seminole Landfill.

It’s estimated that there are at least 4.4 million PCs and 8 million Televisions in 3 million households in Georgia. This e-waste will eventually become 334,800 tons of e-waste that will end up in our landfills.

Our goal is to promote the recovery, reuse and recycling of obsolete electronic equipment, and to encourage the design, manufacture and purchase of environmentally responsible electronic equipment.

For further details on the equipment accepted for recycling, click here.

For details on "recycling" a 42 inch or larger plasma flat screen TV along with the accompanying Wii system, please click here.

DeKalb County School Board approved a 4th-5th Grade Academy for the Dunwoody cluster in a unanimous vote

This evening I was unable to attend the DeKalb County School Board Meeting but received word of their decision to finalize the plans for the 4th & 5th grade academy prior to vetting the idea to the community in a meeting which was scheduled for this coming Wednesday evening. I have already received a few e-mails on the topic and wanted to share one of the better ones which also sums up the situation very well. Mr. David Clinch has children in Austin & Peachtree and sent the following e-mail to over 160 individuals, including the entire school board.

The DeKalb County School Board approved a 4th-5th Grade Academy for the Dunwoody cluster in a unanimous vote at their meeting this evening.

Dr. Lewis had told the Dunwoody Chamblee Parents Council meeting at Peachtree Charter Middle last week that he would ask the Board to delay the vote and that they “usually” adhered to such requests from him. In fact, he told the Board only that he had been asked by people at that meeting to make the Board aware of their request for a delay but that he himself was committed to a 4th-5th Grade Academy. While there was some discussion and commentary by some Board members about asking for a delay, it was clear that there was a consensus to vote on the issue this evening and not to delay. Per Board meeting rules there was no opportunity for people in the large crowd to comment.

Dr. Lewis also told the Board that the purpose of the Community meeting that has been set up for this coming Wednesday is not, and never was, to get more input from the community before making a decision on this issue but was arranged only to discuss concerns about why Kingsley and Hightower are being left out of the Academy. This was not the way the meeting was described at Peachtree last week.

There will hopefully still be an opportunity for those that did want a delay in order to get more information to voice their concerns about being denied that opportunity and perhaps also a chance to get some answers for the questions many people still have about an Academy and the affect of this decision on our Elementary Schools.

Whichever solution you supported in this process, the result is that we will soon have four schools in our cluster that are either completely new or structured in a completely new way...a new 4th-5th Grade Academy and the three schools (Austin, Vanderlyn and Chestnut) that will now be K-3 Elementary schools. Kingsley and Hightower also have issues of their own that have not been addressed by an Academy.

Each one of these schools will have serious educational and logistical issues to deal with and, as usual, it will be up to the residents of Dunwoody to do whatever it takes to make each as good as it possibly can be. I hope that we can find ways to work together to help all these schools provide the best possible education for all the children in Dunwoody while we also work separately to ensure that the County improves its communication and decision-making process.

I also hope that we can also find a better way to communicate on a continuous basis as a community about these issues so that we never again get caught by surprise by County decisions or become needlessly fractured along partisan lines because we don’t have an opportunity to come together to discuss these issues properly. If this process has revealed anything it has shown clearly that there is a wealth of energy and passion in this community to get the best for our children and now we need to work hard to channel that energy into creating an inclusive and comprehensive system to help us achieve that goal for years to come.

David Clinch
An Austin, Peachtree (and soon to be Academy) Parent

Dunwoody Beer Festival - Sat May 17 @ Perimeter Mall

Dunwoody Beer Festival
Saturday, May 17th at the Perimeter Mall.
2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

In its seventh year, the Dunwoody Beer Festival hosts a combination of over 150 beers, malt beverages, and liquors from countries all over the world.Your admission includes great live entertainment and all the beer and cocktails you can safely consume.

The Dunwoody Beer Festival: Hops For Hope.

One great party for one great cause. All proceeds benefit Camp Twin Lakes, where young spirits soar. Camp Twin Lakes is a not-for-profit organization that offers year-round recreational, therapeutic, and educational programs for children facing serious illnesses and other physical, emotional and life challenges. With its network of partners, Camp Twin Lakes provides life-changing experiences for thousands of children each year at its state-of-the-art, fully accessible facility, located on 500 acres in Rutledge, Georgia, and at other locations throughout the state.

Admission includes souvenir pint glass and all the beer you can safely consume. Festival T-Shirts will be available for purchase

Must be 21 or older to attend.

Atlanta Business Chronicle - City of Dunwoody would be good for business

The Citizens for Dunwoody task forces are working hard and interviewing various organizations that are related to operating the future City, including organizations like the Perimeter Community Improvement District. The task forces are not only on fact finding missions but I can tell you that they are building coalitions with future stakeholders so that the transition to city hood would be as smooth as possible for all involved.

Friday's Atlanta Business Chronicle has a nice story outlining the relationship between the new City of Sandy Springs and the business community, and the likelihood that the City of Dunwoody would have that same strong working relationship.

http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/05/12/story3.html

Dunwoody Yes group formed & Website

I discovered that a pro Dunwoody group has formed and want to bring it to your attention, their web address is, http://www.votedunwoodyyes.org.

If a citizen group is formed opposing the creation of the City, I will gladly post that information as well, but I have not found one.

Dunwoody Right to Vote Celebration - May 12th

On May 12, the Citizens for Dunwoody, Inc. are hosting a fundraising gala at Café Intermezzo (in Park Place shopping center across from Perimeter Mall.) I invite you to come and I encourage you to use this as an opportunity to provide financial support to Citizens for Dunwoody while having a very pleasant evening of wine and heavy appetizers. Tickets are $50 each.

If you would like to attend, you must have a reservation, as capacity is limited and the final tickets are going fast. If interested please contact Mary Jo Chambless at:

E-mail: MaryJo@vcmssearch.com
Phone: 770 452-9020
Address for mailing your checks is: 2577 Briers North Drive, Dunwoody, GA 30360.

Public Meeting announced by Dr. Crawford Lewis re: new 4th & 5th Grade Academy in Dunwoody

Dr. Crawford Lewis has confirmed a community meeting will be held to address the 4/5 academy, next Wed, May 14th 6pm at Dunwoody High School.

History of the topic.

http://dunwoodynorth.blogspot.com/search/label/Dunwoody%20Academy

http://www.thecrier.net/articles/2008/05/06/front/academy.txt

http://savedunwoodyschools.com

	Dunwoody ES Enrollment and Forecasts
	Dunwoody ES Attendance Areas